Hello Loves!

How are you this wonderful Thursday morning??

Yesterday's workout consisted of a 45 minute sweat session on the treadmill in the morning and then teaching my strength training class in the afternoon! Love it!

I have confessed my love for avocados many times here on the old blog, and I am going to do it again. I LOVE the little green guys.

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They are not only delicious, versatile, and the perfect addition to just about any salad, sandwich, or wrap, but they are also a nutrition power house. Check out these stats.

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When I got home from work yesterday, I was completely famished and wanted something quick and healthy to eat. I saw a little avocado sitting all by itself in my fruit basket and voila, I knew what I was going to make. Meet avocado toast! My friend Kelley introduced this to me back in high school, and it is just as good now as it was then. You can tell how hungry I was since I started devouring the toast before I remembered to take a picture. Woops!


To make this delicious snack, simply toast a piece of whole wheat bread. Then drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top. Next, take 1/4 of an avocado and smear it on top. Finish off with a nice sprinkle of garlic powder or garlic salt. Kelley always topped hers with a slice of tomato, but I'm not a huge uncooked tomato fan. I promise this makes an amazing and satisfying snack. :)

While we are on the subject of snacking, check out this great article over at Runners World: "Healthy Snacks For Runners." These snacks will satisfy your cravings while still keeping your nutrition on track.

I hope you all have a great day!

Q's and A's:
What is your favorite way to eat an avocado?

In health,

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Happy Thursday,

How are you this evening? I hope you have had a great week. I seriously can't believe it is already Thursday. This has been one of the busiest weeks of all time. E and I drove back in from College Station on Tuesday morning. I packed my lunch and headed straight to work. I've been trying to catch up ever since. I definitely have no right to complain since we got to see the National Championship basketball game! What an experience!!

On Wednesday, I went to a 6:30am yoga class and had a doctor's appointment right afterward so I didn't have time to come home and make breakfast. Since I had to leave my house at 5:50am to make the yoga class (it was near the doctor's office, not my house), I didn't have time to eat beforehand either, and I didn't have access to a microwave. What is a girl to do??? Take oatmeal to go of course. I poured all of my favorite oatmeal ingredients into a coffee mug, boiled water in the microwave, then poured the water in the mug, put the lid on, and let it cook while I was in yoga. After yoga, I enjoyed a delicious glass of oatmeal! :)

I was pretty excited about how well it worked! I will be using this technique again tomorrow morning.

On my way to train a client yesterday, I stopped by a My Fit Foods. Has anyone ever been there before? My Fit Foods makes meals that you can grab on the go and heat up at home or work for a quick and healthy meal. They have everything from breakfast muffins to turkey meatloaf for dinner. All meals come in small, medium and large, and the nutrition facts are right on the outside. I picked up a package of blueberry muffins that were absolutely delicious, and check out those ingredients. You can't get much simpler than that!




The package really came with 6, but as you can see, I did some damage on them. I also picked up a turkey meat loaf dinner with mashed sweet potatoes and broccoli. It looks delicious, but I am saving it for lunch tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes! I will definitely be visiting this place again!



I'm off to work on a project for school. I hope you have an amazing evening.

Q's and A's:
Have you ever tried My Fit Foods?
If you have, what was your favorite meal?

In health,

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Howdy!!

How has your day been so far? I hope your Thursday has been terrific. Between my crazy schedule and my annoying cold/sinus infection (I'm not really sure which it is), I have been a little behind in the blogging world!

The other day, I was reading Tina's blog Faith, Fitness, Fun, and she said she cooked her oatmeal on 50% power with extra water to make it more voluminous. I had heard that adding extra water and cooking it for longer makes the oatmeal absorb more water and therefore look and feel like more, but I had never tried cooking my oats on a lower power. Let me tell you, Tina knows her stuff. I made 1/3 a cup of oats with 1 tbsp chia seed and 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries and you would have thought I used the entire bag of oatmeal. Talk about a super satisfying breakfast!

This morning, I had a client at 6:00am and had to head to work straight from the client so I had to be ready for the day when I left my house at 5:30am. This meant makeup on, hair straightened, and lunch packed, which also meant there was no time to make my normal oats. Have no fear though. I would never ever, ever skip breakfast. It simply needed to travel with me, so I put 1/3 cup oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 packet of stevia, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a handful of raisins in a zip lock to make once I got to work.


Due to my 4:45am wakeup call, I felt like I deserved a little morning treat (aka Starbucks)! I ordered my favorite non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte, and it was delicious!! When I got to work, there was a tiny bit of coffee left in my cup. I needed something to make my oatmeal in, and I thought my Starbucks cup would work perfectly. Instead of drinking the last bit of coffee, I decided to leave it in the cup and mix it in with my oatmeal. Yummy! It gave my oatmeal mixture a little extra kick (thank you caffeine)!


I cooked it on 50% power for double the time again, and look how much oatmeal it made! I was one satisfied little blogger. :) I was ready to hit payroll running.

Q's and A's:
Do you ever have to take your breakfast with you on busy mornings?
What's your go to portable breakfast?

In health,

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Happy Thursday!

How are you this glorious morning? I hope you are having a good day so far!! I started my day off with an easy 3 mile run in absolutely perfect weather. When I headed out for my run, the sun was starting to climb in the sky and it was a wonderful 51 degrees.

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Towards the end of my run, I found myself very dissapointed it was over and really wanting to continue running. I have come to realize I am awful at tapering before a race. My training plan called for a 3 mile run on Tuesday, a 5 miler on Wednesday and then a 3 miler on Thursday. I taught strength training and did 30 minutes on the elliptical on Monday, ran 4 miles and taught yoga on Tuesday, ran 5 miles and taught strength training on Wednesday, and then I did manage to stick to my plan today and only run 3 miles. As you can see, I didn't exactly follow my training plan to a "T." The fact that I'm not going to run again until Sunday makes me a little sad. Is that crazy? hahah Not in the oh my gosh I have to work out all day every day kind of way. Running is such an amazing stress reliever and gives me time to just relax and think, so I find myself missing my "special time" when I cut back on my mileage. Does anyone else feel like this? I promise I am going to be good from now until Sunday! Rest and the foam roller here I come! :)

I LOVE Greek yogurt. It is delicious, versatile, full of protein, and easy to take with you on the go (if you haul around a big pink lunch box like I do). I usually always buy the plain kind and add my own extras to try and keep the sugar in check. My favorite mix ins are peanut butter (duh), raisins, granola, plain oatmeal, and stevia. Until now, I haven't found a plain Greek yogurt that I like to eat all by itself with a little bit of stevia. Usually, they are still a little too tart for my taste without mix ins.

When I went to Kroger the other day, Brown Cow Greek Yogurt was on sale for $1. I decided to give it a try, and I absolutely loved it! It was so creamy and when mixed with a little stevia it was like eating a mini dessert.


The best thing about this little guy is his nutrition facts!


Only 80 calories, 0 grams of fat, 6 grams of sugar, and 15 grams of prtein. Wow!! This yogurt is a great snack that will help you sneek more protein in to your diet without extra fat. I must say I was very impressed. I have to tell you that many of the flavored versions had a lot more sugar, so be sure to scope out the nutrition facts if you are buying any of those.

I'm off to work! I hope you all have a terrific Thursday!!

Q's and A's:
Do you ever find it difficult to taper before a race?
What is your favorite type/brand of Greek yogurt?
Do you prefer your yogurt plain or flavored?

In health,

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you remember to wear your green today? Did anyone pinch you because you forgot? :)

Today's workout consisted of a 4 mile run, followed by 10 minutes of power walking at an incline, and LOTS of push-ups. I'm getting ready to participate in Morgan's PIPES challenge! Zillions of push-ups and toned pipes here I come! Head on over to Life After Bagels to join the Pipes challenge and push your way to toned arms in 6 weeks.

I admittedly have a pretty strong sweet tooth that likes to rear its ugly head around 9pm every night. I have tried many things to calm my angry cravings and lately majool dates have been doing the trick quite nicely! They are so sweet and juicy and knock out my craving with a one-two punch while still allowing me to stick to my healthy eating goals. Dates also work great in recipes to help hold your creations together such as Raw Oatmeal Cookies or Chia Power Balls.


You can tell I like them since there are only three left! :)

Since I've been doing more push-ups lately, I've been trying to shake things up. Try this move, compliments of Fitness Magazine, to take your push-up to a whole new level!


How To: Start on all fours (knees under hips, back flat), both palms pressing into ball directly below chest, fingers pointed toward floor. Extend legs behind you and balance on toes so that you form a straight line from head to heels, with feet about 2 feet apart. Bend elbows to lower chest toward ball, keeping arms by sides, abs engaged and back flat. Exhale as you push back up, straightening arms. Do 8 reps. Rest 60 seconds; repeat.

Another way I like to use the ball while performing push-ups, is to place one hand on top of the ball and the other hand on the ground in a plank position. Lower your chest towards the ground and then press back up to your starting position. Roll the ball to the other hand and perform another push-up. Continue alternating hands for 12-15 reps.
Hurry, today is the last day to enter my Healthy Steps Giveaway! I will be giving away two amazing sets of Healthy Steps products tomorrow. You have until 12:00pm tonight to enter!



Q's and A's:
Have you checked out Morgan's Pipes challenge? Anybody want to join me?
What's your go to food to curb a sweets craving?
Have you entered my giveaway yet?

In health,

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Happy Try This Thursday!

I can't believe this is already the 13th installment of Try This Thursday! This year is flying by a little too fast! Anyways, how are you doing this wonderful Thursday? Hopefully Terrific!

I have a couple of things to share with you this week. First, I need to tell you about my new love - Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars! Really, I love anything with peanut butter in it, but these things are stinking delicious. The fact that the only ingredients are peanuts, dates, and salt is pretty amazing too! No artificial ingredients that you can't even pronounce here! The Apple Pie Larabar still holds a special place in my heart; however, this might have taken over as my new favorite.

I ate mine before I remembered to take a picture. Woops! [source]

I absolutely love fresh bananas! I don't know about you, but I can't stand bananas when they start to turn all brown and mushy. I usually try and buy really green bananas in hopes that they will make it through the week without turning into brown monsters. I have heard of Green Bags before that are suppose to keep your produce fresh for longer; however, I have never actually tried them until now. I came across these Pro FRESHionals produce saver bags at the store the other day and decided to see if they could save my bananas.


To test them out, I decided to do a little experiment. I purchased bananas last Friday and put them in the bag to see how long they would last. They banana selection was a little low, so I had to get fairly yellow bananas, I'm a terrible scientist because I forgot to take a picture. Normally, these would have only made it about 3 days before they turned really brown. On Tuesday (so after 4 days), here is what they looked like. That's the bag sitting next to them.


Look at that. After four days, they are still so fresh and so yummy! Do you remember the song "So Fresh and So Clean?" That definitely just popped into my head as I typed that. :) The experiment continued, and this morning the remaining banana looked like this.


Sorry, I kept eating the specimens. I told you I loved bananas. I was pretty impressed that the bananas were still really fresh almost an entire week later! The box contained 20 large bags, and it says you can use each bag 5 times. For only $5.99, I think they are a steal. It recommended that you reuse the bag with the same type of produce. So far, I have only used them for bananas, but I will definitely be putting all of my produce in these handy bags from now on!

Two planks from Women's Health that I am loving right now:

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Bird Dog Plank

SETS 2 to 3
REPS 8 to 12
REST 30 to 60 secs
Assume a pushup position with your hands slightly wider than your shoulders and your back straight (A). Brace your abs as you extend your right arm and left leg (B). Lower them both--but not your torso--and repeat, lifting your left arm and right leg. Continue alternating until you've completed 8 to 12 reps on each side. That's 1 set.

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Side Plank with Abduction

SETS 2 to 3
REPS 8 to 12
REST 30 to 60 secs
Lie on your left side with your elbow directly beneath your shoulder and legs stacked. Brace your abs and lift your hips off the floor until you're balancing on your forearm and feet and your body forms a diagonal line (A). Lift your right leg at least 6 inches (B). Lower and repeat. Complete all reps, then repeat on your right side. That's 1 set.

I hope you have an amazing Thursday, and I will talk to you tomorrow! :)

Q's and A's:
Have you ever tried produce saver bags? What did you think?
What is your favorite version of plank?
What is your favorite core exercise?
In health,

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Happy Thursday!

How you doin? (Please imagine I sound like Joey from Friends.) :)

Yesterday was a busy, but productive day. It started out a little rough when I woke up with a headache, but luckily my head felt better by noon when I had to give a healthy living talk. My workout included teaching a strength training class, dripping every ounce of sweat I had in me out on the stair master for 30 minutes, and then 10 minutes on the elliptical to finish up. Overall, it was sweaty and satisfying!

While on the stair master, I was reading this month's edition of Shape Magazine and came across the ALL TIME COOLEST APP EVER! I'm totally serious; it is beyond cool. It's called Fooducate, and it grades food based on its nutritional value simply by scanning the bar code.

You simply scan the barcode on any grocery item, and it will grade your food and tell you exactly why it received that grade. Check it out! I scanned my Quinoa, and this is what it said.


Is that not the coolest thing you have ever seen? But wait.......it gets better! Out of quinoa and need a good alternative? Simply click the alternatives tab at the top of the screen.


And there's still more! I am starting to feel like an infomercial, but this is so stinking exciting. You can even compare two different products, and it will tell you which one is the better choice. I compared Eric's favorite Spanish rice to Quinoa, and guess who won?


Grocery shopping will never be the same again. Imagine trying to decide between two granola bars with similar calorie, fat, fiber, and protein content. You scan them both into your phone, and it tells you one of them is packed with artificial ingredients and the other isn't. Decision made!

Did I mention this app is free? I couldn't believe it either. Now go download it from the app store, and start scanning! Unfortunately, this app is currently only available for the iPhone. However, I did a little research and found out one should be available for the Android in a few weeks! :)

Q's and A's:
Have you ever used the Fooducate app?
What is your favorite health and/or fitness app?

In health,

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Howdy Everyone,

How are you this evening? I have to be honest, I've definitely been better. I just got home after spending 3.5 hours in the dentist chair! Yes, you read that right, 3.5 hours. Luckily, he had me juiced up on laughing gas but it still wasn't fun at all. I was so nervous about going to the dentist, that I hardly ate anything for lunch so I was starving after my appointment. There was just one problem, I couldn't feel my mouth at all! My bottom lip is ginormous and I can't feel my tongue! The dentist warned me not to try and chew anything, seeing as I could bite my tongue and not even know it. Yikes!

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I decided to play it safe and make a green monster. However, my green monster turned into a gray monster. It contained blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1 handful of spinach, a little bit of almond milk, a few ice cubes, and a spoonful of peanut butter. The blueberries are to blame for the gray color. Seeing as I was still in a laughing gas daze, I forgot to take a picture. It took me forever to drink the smoothie, but I felt much better after I was done! Ok, enough complaining.

Since I knew I would feel pretty yucky this evening, I made sure to get my workout in this morning. I woke up early to get in a 5 mile run and then taught a yoga class at 11:30am.

Maryann, over at The Balanced Bean, mentioned that she loved the protein bars "Think Thin." I have seen them at the grocery store a few times, but never picked them up. I happened upon a coupon for them the other day, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to try them out. I purchased the crunchy peanut butter bar and the fudge brownie bar. They did not disappoint!

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Each of these bars contain between 15 and 20 grams of protein, 0 sugar, and are gluten free. They contain around 200 calories each, which is a little more than I would typically like in a bar but they're perfect on days when I know I'm not going to eat dinner until 8:00pm. They did a great job of keeping me full all afternoon, which is hard to do. I would definitely recommend them! Thanks Maryann for the great suggestion!

I'm off to bum around on the couch and try not to drool on myself. ;) I hope you have a wonderful evening!

P.S. please forgive any typos in this post, I'm still a little loopy. hahaha

Q's and A's:
Have you ever tried Think Think protein bars?
What's your go to bar when you have to last a long time between meals?

In health,

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Hello All!!

How is everyone this afternoon? Are you having a good day? It is day 3 of being snowed in, and I am officially starting to go stir crazy. I ice skated my way over to the apartment complex gym and ran 6 miles and walked 1 this morning.

Eric made it home safely from Kansas yesterday at around 3:00pm! I was so excited to have him home. We even got to venture out for a birthday dinner. I felt a little safer with Eric driving his 4-wheel drive vehicle than I would if I tried to go somewhere in my tiny car. I think the driver had a lot to do with it! ;) We went to Hoshi hibachi and sushi which is my all time favorite sushi place. If I had to choose one type of food to eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be sushi! After dinner, we made a stop by the grocery store since I haven't been brave enough to go myself since the storm. The store was pretty picked over, so we settled on a not-so-traditional but still delicious birthday cake.

I think this might need to be a new tradition. That cake was stinkin AMAZING! :) Let's just say I took advantage of the fact that birthday cake calories don't count on your birthday! That is a fact isn't it?

On Tuesday night, I was raiding my pantry to see what I could cook for dinner and came across these little guys. I forgot to take a picture of the package before I poured it into the boiling water so here is one I stole/borrowed from their website. Ooops

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I purchased these noodles a while back, but was waiting for a night when I was just cooking for me to try them out. I'm pretty sure Eric wouldn't go for anything with the word tofu in it. I first learned of these noodles through the Hungry Girl cookbooks and my friend Mallory assured me they were good.  They are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and only have 20 calories, and 3g of carbs per 4oz serving. So you can eat the entire bag for 40 calories and 6g of carbs. Talk about a guilt-free way to enjoy pasta.

Noodles check, now what can I put with them? I found a can of stewed tomatoes in the pantry, 1 zucchini, and some mushrooms in the fridge, and a chicken breast in the freezer. Voila, a yummy well balanced meal in no time flat! The noodles literally take 2 minutes to cook. You simply boil them for 2 minutes and they are ready to go. They have a slightly different consistency than regular spaghetti, but once I put the tomatoes and veggies on top, I could hardly tell the difference. Honest!


I will definitely be purchasing these noodles again!

Now, on to our new moves of the day! As many of you know, I don't like to spend hours upon hours in the weight room. When I go to lift weights, I love exercises that work more than one body part at a time. That is why I am a huge fan of these two moves.



Side lunge with a shoulder press [source]


This move works your shoulders and entire lower body. Although it is snowing outside right now, Spring will be here before you know it and so will tank tops and shorts. This move will have you ready for both in no time. Grab a pair of 8- to 12-pound dumbbells and stand with your feet together and your arms at your sides (A). Take a giant step back with your right leg, landing with your toes turned out. Sink into a lunge until your left thigh is parallel to the floor, then lower the dumbbells and your torso until the weights are on either side of your left ankle (B). Straighten your left leg without locking your knee and stand up, bringing your right leg forward so your legs are together. At the same time, press the dumbbells overhead with your palms facing each other (C). That's one rep. Do 12 to 15 reps, then repeat on the other side. That's one set. Do two sets, resting for 30 seconds between sets.

One leg dead lift with a row [source]

This move works your core, back, glutes and hamstrings. The hamstrings are one of my favorite muscles in the body, so I love this move! Grab a pair of 8- to 10-pound dumbbells and stand with your arms at your sides. Place your right toe on the floor about two feet behind you (A) and bend forward from the hips. Keeping your right leg straight, raise it off the floor until your body forms a T and your arms hang straight down from your shoulders (B). Row the dumbbells toward your ribs until your elbows pass your torso (C). Lower the dumbbells and return to start. That's one rep. Do 12 to 15 reps, then repeat on the other side. That's one set. Do two, resting for 30 seconds between sets.


Try adding these two new moves to your next strength training workout and let me know what you think!

Q's and A's:
What is your favorite type of birthday cake?
If you could choose one genre of food (Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, American, Thai, etc.) to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Have you ever tried Tofu Shirataki noodles? What did you think?

In health,

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Good Morning Friends!

How are you this lovely morning? I have good news, I survived the dentist! It was only slightly awful. ;) I'm such a baby!

I had a date with this guy this morning:

I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a treadmill near by, especially in this bone chilling weather we've been experiencing lately. (Again, I'm just a baby, it's probably not THAT cold to most people.) My running workouts have been feeling a little ho-hum lately. I usually hop on the treadmill or head outside and run at my comfy pace for however many miles my training plan calls for. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this, but I know I am not getting the most out of my training (example A: I ran 6 miles on Tuesday without my heart rate getting over 155bpm).

We all know that to increase your speed, you need to incorporate speed work into your training, so that is precisely what I did this morning. Surprisingly, I really really like it. My five mile run flew by in no time. The only negative was that I had to pay attention during my run and couldn't tune out (this is usually my time to de-stress and give my brain a break). Check out this morning's workout: (You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)


I added an extra 10 minute power walk to the end of this workout so I could finish watching Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. It was a very challenging but fun workout! My Garmin was a fan for sure. Since I was on the treadmill the distance reads 0.00 because it could not pick up a satellite signal, but my heart rate monitor still worked!



Try This Thursday Quick Tip: Before you head out for a run (or walk to your apartment complex gym), throw your clothes in the dryer to warm them up. This way when you start your workout, your clothes will keep you warm until your body temperature rises. I have heard this tip before, but haven't done it in ages. I tried it this morning and it was Heaven!

Product Review

I received a product to review from NaturalSkinShop.com through a promotion on SheBlogs.org. They very graciously sent me a Glycolic Peel set. The set included a daily exfoliator, glycolic peel, and a hyaluronic moisturizer. According to the directions, you are suppose to use the exfoliator for a few days before you try out the peel to make sure you don't have an adverse reactions. I have been using the exfoliator for about 1 1/2 weeks and I absolutely love it. My skin feels smoother and looks more even. I have also seen a little reduction in the appearance of my lovely laugh lines. Overall, my skin looks much much healthier! I am hoping to do the full peel this weekend (it takes a little preparation so I need to set aside some time), and I will let you know how it goes. Thank you again to the folks over at NaturalSkinShop.com for the great products!

Although I was given the products, I was in no way compensated for my review. The thoughts and opinions are all my own.

I hope you have a great day!

Q's & A's:
Do you incorporate speed work into your training?
Have you ever tried putting your clothes in the dryer before heading out for a run?
What would be your #1 tip for staying warm during cold weather workouts?

In health,

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