Category Archives: Weight Loss

yoga helps detox the body

Yoga Helps Detox the Body

IMG_20140507_135109[1]Toxins get a bad rep.

We all know that in order to be healthy we should do things to Detox the body.

Detoxes come in all shapes and forms with some being as extreme as week long juice cleanses to things as simple as making sure to drink 8 glasses of water a day.

By definition a toxin is, “ is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms,” (Wikipedia) which means that our own bodies are actually what produce toxins.

We produce toxins when our cells break down unnatural or unhealthy substances we put into our body.–Meaning it isn’t the toxin that is bad, but rather it’s precursor.

Therefore, the best way to detox is to refrain from putting unhealthy substances into our own bodies.

That being said, even the healthiest food has waste product associated with it as our bodies break it down to absorb the food’s nutrients.

Therefore, rather than do an extreme form of detox; I’m a fan of doing the daily things I can do to detox the body, like spinning classes, they really help because you sweat a lot and your body gets detoxed fast, in stretch-studio.com you can find the best classes and routines, that you definitely need to try.

That’s where water, exercise, and yoga come in.

Drinking water increases the effectiveness of our kidneys.

When the extracellular matrix is well hydrated, cells, nutrients, and other components of the matrix can move freely.  Toxins and waste products can migrate out of the matrix into the blood or lymphatic system to be removed from the body.” -The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga

Here’s an oversimplification of this process:

  • Making sure to stay hydrated makes the toxins in the blood stream less concentrated so as blood pumps throughout our system, toxins and waste products filter out of our muscles and cells into the bloodstream
  • They are then transported to the kidneys and disposed of through our urine.

This is the first step you can take daily to detox the body.

The next step would be to sweat.  As we sweat, we release fluid through the pores in our skin to help cool the body.  This releases of fluid also cleanses our skin, the more we sweat, the more water flushes through our pores flushing away toxins and waste products stored.

Many say hot yoga is a great detox and in part that is because it encourages us to drink more water and if you’ve ever taken a hot yoga class you know you walk out of class drenched from head to toe.

Similar effects can come from running and strength training assuming you push yourself hard enough to work up a good sweat, but there is one more avenue in which yoga helps detox the body daily that running and strength training don’t.

Yoga helps rid the body of toxins stored in your joints.

Immobility of a joint causes stiffness and therefore storage of toxins in 2 major ways.

  1. Decreased functionality of Fibroblasts.
  2. Thickening of Synovial fluid

Yoga postures on the other hand compress, stretch, and twist joints in a safe way increasing the production of functionality of fibroblasts as well as transforming your synovial fluid from a gel to a more fluid material.

Here’s a little more detail on these 2 effects of yoga on our joints.

1.  Yoga helps decrease the toxins stored in the joint by making the joint less cluttered and dense, thus healthier.

Joints just like muscles and bones break down and rebuild themselves in response to stress.

Whereas bones have osteoblasts to rebuild stressed bone stronger, joints have cells called fibroblasts.

In active states, fibroblasts produce collagen and elastic fibers that align locally usually in parallel clusters increasing joint functionality as well as allowing room for for fluid to flow through cleansing the joint.

In inactive or damaged states, fibroblasts become their inactive state, fibrocytes, as well as begin mitosis (the division of 1 cell into 2 cells).

Fibrocytes are smaller and spindle shaped.  As they form and divide, the parallel structure of the cell breaks down leaving less room for the flow of liquid material through the joint, therefore toxins stay trapped in the joint.

Yoga stresses the joint allowing for proper stimulation of fibroblasts to keep them functioning properly and from becoming their inactive form, fibrocytes.

2.  Yoga Makes your Synovial Fluid more like a liquid rather than a Gel

The 2nd way Yoga aids in the detoxification of joints is by making the fluid capsule inside the joint more liquid.

In an unstressed state, the fluid capsule between 2 bones is more like a gel.

As the capsule is compressed this synovial fluid begins to transform from a gel like substance to a liquid like substance to lubricate the joint to aid in movement.

You may feel this effect in the morning as knees and ankles can often be stiff until you’ve had the time to walk around properly allow the joint to warm up, you don’t want to have to wear a Zenith ankle brace around.

Imagine you’ve poured out bacon grease into your sink.  It’s cooled and solidified forming a gel like substance over the drain.  If you pour cold water, some might trickle through, but you’ll have a blockage.

Now think about what happens as you pour hot water on the cooled grease.  It turns to liquid allowing water to flow through.  As long as you keep the hot water flowing it will all eventually wash down the drain.  (Hopefully not to only solify and create a bloackage futher down….why it’s best to just not pour bacon grease down the drain!)

This is similar to the movement of fluid through a joint.  When synovial fluid is in it’s gel-like state plasma is unable to flow through the joint to cleanse it of toxins, however a stressed joint will have liquified this synovial fluid allowing movement through the joint.

Obviously, running and other forms of exercise like strength training work the larger joints such as the knees and ankles, but very few movements work the smaller, less used joints such as the hips and spinal column.

The hips and lower back particularly are areas where most people are stiff and therefore are storing the most toxins.

The harder a posture is for you, the more you need it.

If you’re not drawn to yoga, I’m not saying you need to give up your favorite form of exercise because as I said before sweating is one way to detox the body.  However, yoga detoxes areas of the body other exercise can’t so it’s important to include yoga in addition to anything else you are doing, we also recommend to check out the products from https://www.stockybodies.com/id/detoxic-ulasan/ that will help your body cleanse a lot faster.

Here are some postures you could add to your daily routine to help open up and detox your joints.

These are yin postures as yin yoga works deep into the joint rather than just stretching the muscle.

Work to hold these postures for 1-2 minutes building up to 5+ minutes.

Focus on your breathing.

With every inhale envision energy rising through the spine helping you create space.  Try to elongate your inhalations for at least a count of 4.

With that extra space you’ve created with your inhale, your exhalations should feel relaxing allowing you to move deeper into the posture.  Make your exhales just as long as your inhales if not longer making sure to completely inflate the lungs with every inhale and completely deflate the lungs with every exhale.

These postures are best done in the morning before your muscles have warmed up so that you can actually work deep into the joint, but if you only have time at night while watching TV that is better than nothing!

Just because you teach at a school or studio that has liability insurance, check for the life insurance wa has to offer to see if you can work with it, you can’t assume you are protected as well. Not all school or studio insurance plans extend coverage to their teachers but with this one is possible as it is really flexible.

yoga helps detox the body

Spinx pose works deep into the lumbar spine

yoga helps detox the body

Seal is a deeper version of Spinx

yoga helps detox the body

Saddle is a great hip flexor stretch as well as lumbar spine opener.

Shoelace with a twist works both the hips joint and spinal column. Make sure to do both sides!

Shoelace with a twist works both the hips joint and spinal column. Make sure to do both sides!

Caterpillar stressed spinal ligaments as well as stimulates the kidneys.

Caterpillar stressed spinal ligaments as well as stimulates the kidneys.

Frog opens up the adductors, deep muscles of the groin as well as stimulates the lower and upper back.

Frog opens up the adductors, deep muscles of the groin as well as stimulates the lower and upper back.

Swan (The yin name for pigeon) is a deep external rotator of the hip, as well as a good quad stretch.

Swan (The yin name for pigeon) is a deep external rotator of the hip, as well as a good quad stretch.

Sleeping Swan (Swan is the yin name, similar to Pigeon) is a deeper version of Swan.

Sleeping Swan (Swan is the yin name, similar to Pigeon) is a deeper version of Swan.

 

Comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

What’s your favorite posture?

If you don’t do yoga, what’s keeping you from trying?

 

 

Word count: 607 Draft saved at 11:09:05 am.
take your yoga practice deeper

Take Your Yoga Practice Deeper: What I’m Working on This Year to Deepen My Own Practice

take your yoga practice depperThis year I’ve been reading the book Mediations From the Mat.  It is a 365 day journey to help you understand Patañjali’s yoga sutras.  I’m kind of cheating in that I started the book in Nov and only on day 50, but as the new year catches up with my reading I’m slowly syncing my 365 day scorpion challenge with the book.   As anyone who follows me on InstagramTwitter, or Facebook would know Handstand Scorpion is the physical goal I’ve set for myself, but as is the case with Hatha yoga, the posture or Asana is only a tool to help you practice yoga.

It is great to show up to class and work on your strength and flexibility, but at some point you might start to wonder how to take your yoga practice deeper.

Here are some of the other struggles I’m currently working on to deepen my yoga practice:

IMG_20140126_112529Being still
This is something I will always be trying to improve.   I still catch myself in class wiping my eyes, adjusting my hair, and bending down wiping the sweat off my legs–but I have the intention not to.  I don’t get mad at myself when I do, but rather remind myself to not do it again.

Being still is not an easy task as it involves not acting out on impulsive thoughts. Knowing me I had a very hard time learning how to calm my head and learn to just ease down and be still.

This is the best you can do.  Have the intention to be more still in your practice today than you were yesterday.  Some days this may happen, others it won’t but the best you can do is try every day.

Prayer
I choose to use my practice time as a quiet time to pray.   Ideally I like to get into the studio early to pray before class but if I am running late I take the time to do it after, before I rush off to whatever else I’m doing.

Prayers are intentions.  By taking the time to pray you send energy into the universe setting thought towards action.   Through prayer God (whichever you choose to pray to) can answer your needs or lead you to a place where you realize you may not need what you thought you did.

Prayer is a powerful medium allowing you to work through you thoughts and wants setting you closer to making whatever you pray for a reality.

IMG_20140209_155139Moderation

Day 42 in Meditations from the Mat is a lesson in brahmacarya.  Many choose to simplify this 4th yama simply as “chastity”, but the literal meaning of brahmacarya means “walk with God.”  Iyengar said,”To focus on celibacy is to miss the power of the final yama altogether.  Brahmacarya is not a call for abstinence but a call for temperance.”

“As we practice brahmacarya, we have the opportunity to enact the balance that is yoga in all that we do.  We can bring brahmacarya  to our thoughts, words, and deeds.  -Meditations from the Mat

Moderation can be a difficult thing.  We as humans like the black and white.  The do or do not.

“Brahmacarya is the feeling of freedom that comes when we have let an addictive craving go–when we can eat to live, not live to eat; when we can work to live, not live to work; when we stand firmly and with ease of heart in the postures of life.” Meditations from the Mat

Many think the answer is to give up a vice completely–and yes maybe there are vices that should be completely given up, but there are also many that aren’t so bad in moderation.  Giving something up completely means when you do give in you fail.

Creating rules that set you up for failure lead to negative self talk and can actually lead you to binge in whatever vice you may be trying to cut out.

The freedom of moderation leads to a healthy state of mind and physical well being.

“On the middle road I am free; in immoderation I am compromised, sidetracked, shackled to negative self-talk.  As we experience these lessons, we begin to learn the extent to which the choices that we make affect our inner world.  We begin to see that the only peace to be found comes through moderation.” -Meditations from the Mat

IMG_20140114_224328Being Present

I’m getting better at this in class but struggle with being present in my day to day life life.

In class I remember I used to count down the postures in my head.

At this point there are times I find myself thinking at rabbit there are only 3 postures left.

I used to think about this at camel when there are 4, and before that as we early at locust pose when there are 9.

The progress is that every now and then I find myself in savasana never having thought how many postures are left.

Those are the best classes.  I have the power and strength to do that every time.–However, I struggle with the discipline to get there every time, but I’m getting better day by day!

The same discipline applies to life, but that is tough with all the distractions we have in our lives.

For me particularly I find huge distractions on my phone!

One tool I’ve started using to help keep me focused on specific tasks is Toggl.

Toggl allows me more time to be off my phone so I can be more present in my daily interactions and use my time more efficiently.

I’ve made it a goal to spend more time working out and reading then I spend on facebook and watching tv.  It’s pretty humbling when you log your time and realize that isn’t the case.

These are 4 struggles that I’m working on both in and out of the yoga room.  I may not reach my ideal each and every day, but every day I work on them, just as every day I work on the asanas to help me achieve handstand scorpion I am happier and one step closer to my goals.

 

fitness accountability

Fitness Accountability: The Secret to Achieving your Fitness Goals This Year.

fitness accountability

What’s going to keep you on track this year?

 

Yesterday was officially the first real day of the New Year.

Sure we’ve technically already had 5 other days, but given that our holidays fell in the middle of the week this year most of us were probably still on Holiday until Jan 6th.

So here’s a question for you.

Did you work out?  

Did you start that new healthy meal plan?

Are you waiting until tomorrow or next week once you get back into you routine?

If you answered yes to the first 2 questions, GOOD FOR YOU!   Nice work?

How long will it last?

I say that, not to doubt you or be pessimistic.  I’m being realistic.

Most of our lives are very busy.  Every day we are pulled in a million directions.

Some obligations physically keep us from keeping up with our most genuine fitness goals, getting rid of stubborn belly fat, while often they just provide convenient excuses as to why we fall short.

So eliminate the excuses this year.

IMG_20131229_104026

Hold yourself accountable!

Accountability can come in many forms.

My fitness goal this year is to be able to do Handstand Scorpion.  In order to this, I’ll have to work each day on my strength, back flexibility, and balance.

One of the ways I plan to stay accountable to this goal is to post a picture a day to instagram.  You are my accountability!

What will be your fitness accountability?

Here are a couple options:

Get a Workout Buddy

The easiest way to hold yourself accountable is to find yourself a workout buddy.

I’m not talking about asking your best friend to workout with you.  That could work–if your friend LOVES to workout, but if they are going to convince you to go grab a beer instead of hitting the gym, your best friend is not your workout buddy.

A workout buddy should be of the same fitness level.  If one person is always holding the other back, the relationship will fail.  A personal of similar physical abilities will push you to preform your best, but will also allow you to have success so you don’t feel defeated at the end of your workout.

Make a Calendar Plan

If your workout time is your time to yourself than a good way to keep yourself on track is to use the calendar system.

I’m a big fan of writing down the workouts I need to meet my goals on a calendar and posting it to the fridge, at my desk at work, or on the mirror in your bathroom.  The goal is to post it somewhere you will see it everyday and make sure to cross off each day as you do the work or stick to the plan.

If you feel comfortable writing your own workout plan, GO FOR IT!  Just make sure you stick to it.

There are also plenty of online resources out there to get you started.

Check out my 7 Day Healthy Eating Guide or 1/2 Marathon Training Program.  

Hybrid Athlete is also a great resource for training programs.

Hire A Professional

If you a complete newbie to this whole fitness world or just want someone committed to helping you reach your goals, think about hiring a professional.

They will teach you what you need to do so you don’t hurt yourself as you get started as well as provide personal one-on-one attention and accountability.

If you belong to a gym look into meeting with a trainer once a month to lay out a plan.  If you have someone  you need to report to once a month, it’s more likely you’ll stick to your goal.  Better yet if you can afford it, meet once a week so that you keep yourself on track at more frequent intervals at gyms in Lafayette CA if youre local.

If you don’t belong to a gym find an option online.  Skype with me online and we can develop a plan for you.  Meeting online can often be more convenient because you don’t have to go anywhere.  We can develop a plan that will work for you in your home!

Regardless of how you do it, accountability is a must to hit your fitness goals this year!

What’s your preferred Method of Fitness Accountability?

Share below to help keep other readers accountable for their health! 🙂

 

secret to fitness is to establish a routine

The Secret to Fitness is to Establish a Routine

Picture2As the New Year approaches, I thought as a personal trainer/yoga instructor it would be important to take some time to send a message to everyone looking to make health and fitness part of their New Year’s Resolution.

So often at the beginning of a New Year, we look back on the past year and realize we fell short of our fitness goals.

A large reason for this failure is that we didn’t take the steps to make our New Years resolution a life style change.

The only way to actually succeed in losing weight and/or living a fit and healthy life is to create systems that are healthy.–The Secret to Fitness is to establish a routine!

Your New Years resolution shouldn’t be to lose weight, it should be to establish a fitness routine.
Humans naturally fall into routines.

  • You wake up and take a shower.
  • You have a Starbucks Frappuccino on your way to work.
  • You go out to lunch with colleagues.
  • You get a bag of chips in the afternoon to hold you over until dinner.
  • You eat ice cream after dinner.
  • You watch the Biggest Loser on Tuesday night.

What if instead of those habits your life looked more like this:

  • You workout first thing in the morning, then take your shower.–Rather than watching people work out later at night you workout yourself!  You will be more awake and energized for your day + already have a calorie deficit to start the day!
  • You have a protein shake mixed with coffee on the way to work–refueling your muscles and caffeinating your system at the same time, something that is highly recommended.
  • You pack your lunch with healthy food from home.
  • You eat a chocolate peanut butter think thin bar instead of the bag of chips to hold you over until dinner.
  • You watch The Biggest Loser on Tuesday night.

If the second set of habits doesn’t sound appealing to you, that’s because you’ve programmed your brain to do the first set.

The first week of starting a new routine, we break bad habits.

The 2nd and 3rd week we reprogram our brains to start to anticipate and crave the new habits.

After about a month, these new healthy habits become our routine.  

Meal trackers don't lie. They help keep you to your calorie goals

Meal trackers don’t lie. They help keep you to your calorie goals

Because our cravings and wants often work against our best intentions to start new routines, using tools such as Loseit.com and Fitbit can help keep you to your new habits until they’ve become routine.

Create rules for yourself.

  1. You have to stick to your calorie goal on Loseit.com
  2. You have to get 5,000 steps a day in addition to exercise or 10,000 steps on the days you don’t, make sure to read the ladyboss review here to find out more information.

These are easy rules to follow.  They are black and white–there is no room to make excuses.

The nice thing about rules is if you follow them you make room to sneak some of those bad habits back in every now and then.

  • Fitbit is a tool that keeps you accountable for your movement.

    Fitbit is a tool that keeps you accountable for your movement.

    If you keep the rest of the day lean and get your exercise in, you may have more calories at the end of the day to have that small ice cream after dinner, or beer, or starbucks frappuccino–whatever your vice is. Take some deca pills for mass gaining if you need to every time you workout for the extra push.

That’s why loseit and fitbit are good tools.  They will tell you in black and white if you have the room to indulge.  If you don’t–YOU DON’T INDULGE.  It’s that simple.  Who knows perhaps after doing so much to be healthy, you may not even want to break the progress you’ve made by indulging at the end of the day.

When you think about it, being healthy isn’t hard it’s breaking the unhealthy habits that is.

So make the commitment to your health this New Year to establish new routines.

What day to day habits are keeping you from reaching your goals?

What are you going to do this year to turn an unhealthy habit into a healthy routine?

 

 

health and fitness while traveling

Health and Fitness While Traveling

One of the hardest things about personally training is countering my clients  excuses.

Now, it must be said some people just don’t have the intention to EVER get healthy and fit.  They find eating a pizza they saw on the way to the check out with their lean steak and veggies, after canceling their session with me because they are tired  a valid excuse.–It’s obviously not, but hey at least they are making an effort to change by hiring the personal trainer.

And in all fairness that’s fine.  They are in the contemplation/preparation stage.  I’m happy if I can push them into the action phase.

The ones that are harder to answer are the ones who actually have legitimate excuses:

  • Traveling 5 nights a week so all meals are eaten out.
  • Hosting clients and having to “entertain” 3-4 nights a week.
  • No access to a gym while traveling.
  • Getting 15,000 steps daily except for the days they are on planes for over 20+ hours up to 2x a week.

My job as a trainer is to counter all of your excuses giving you no reason to veer off your health and fitness plan.

I figured since I know every trick in the book, I should have no problem maintaining my health and fitness while Tom and I travel for a year.

I’m quickly finding, however, despite my best efforts staying health and fit on the go is turning out to be a little tougher than I originally thought.  Here are some challenges I’ve encountered during the past week and what I’ve doing to keep up with my health and fitness while traveling.

health and fitness while traveling

Use Your Jet Lag

When Tom and I flew to Hawaii we gained 3 hours. Getting up at 5am feels like 8am right now for us.   We could have chosen to sleep those extra hours, but rather we’ve decided as we travel west,  we’ll continue to keep our  internal “clocks” set to wake up early.  When we finally get to our resting point we hope that early bird clock stays set.

These hours have bought us time to get work in saving the afternoons for workouts and site seeing.

They have also bought us a couple sunrise morning runs! Get food crated delivered to your house before you even land. Think ahead and plan this out well If youre going to the uk for travel then itl be easy to find a Crate Hire UK.

If you are traveling east, hit the gym at night.  Don’t lay there trying to fall asleep, do something productive with those restless hours. And don’t forget to get a brazilian wax, you’re on vacation after all!

health and fitness while traveling

Make Your Workout Your Activity for the Day

One of those cool sites that we have gotten so see is the stairway to heaven hike.    We climbed up 3,922 metal steps to get a an amazing experience and a spectacular view!

Make sure when you travel that you take advantage of the natural sites there are to see where you go.  Not only are you burning calories, (aka adding to the beers you can consume later) but you are also saving money.

Remember, Outside is free!

health and fitness while travelingGet Creative with Your Lifting

Those that follow my blog probably know all ready how much I love my mini bands!  They are the perfect workout tool for anyone who travels frequently.

I created a body weight/mini band workout that you can do on the go in any hotel room.

The one exercise that I do miss, however, is squats.

I have always loved doing squats at the gym.  I pride myself in being good at them and I hate that I don’t have access to a gym to do them, so Tom and I got creative and have started doing partner squats a couple times a week as part of our workout!

health and fitness while travelingEat In Whenever Possible

Obviously when you travel eating in isn’t always possible, however, that is why it is very important to take every measure to eat in when you can.

Since we’ve been traveling Tom and I have tried to keep up with our normal breakfast of Bacon and Eggs.  We eat dinner in whenever possible, making stir frys, burgers sans bun over veggies, and steak dinners.  This has helped save us calories and carbs for when we inevitably end up at a bar.

Make it your goal to find hotels that have kitchenettes.  If you know there will be times you won’t able to stick to your diet, build in as many opportunities to stick to your diet plan as possible.

When You Do Eat Out, Pick the Right Options

Since we’ve been on the road there have been times I’ve just had to eat out.  I try to use these times not as an excuse to go off my diet plan, but rather search for new ways to prepare proteins and veggies. Being on the road is one of the best time to research on new supplements such as mk2866, as the more you’ll be able to research and study on additional supplements, the better food source you’ll be able to provide your body. (Get inspiration for your own cooking from what you eat out!  Soon you’ll start to realize you prefer to make it at home!) Magnesium is a BIG one I recommend for health on the road. Surprisingly there are actually many different forms of magnesium. I prefer to take magnesium blends to get the benefits of them all.

I’ve been very successful sticking to plan with Appetizer menus.

Even if you order protein on a menu, it is often served with carb and most often served with way too many carbs.  Even if you just eat the protein, you are left either full or still hungry but either way with temptation sitting on a plate right in front of you.  If it’s hard enough to say no when it’s an option on a menu, don’t let the option become a physical item in front of you.  It’s near impossible to not eat something that appeals to you when it’s sitting right in front of you.

The nice thing about Appetizer menus is you can often find proteins like steak bites, poke bowls, or Ahi Sashimi.  I recommend going at Happy Hours because then these items are discounted.  If you are still hungry, 2 orders of an all protein and veggie app Typically allow you to stick your diet plan better than 1 normal entree.

(Related: Consider the Clenbuterol cycle for fatloss if you are looking for quicker ways to shed those extra kilos)

Have Go To Options at Popular Chains

For Breakfast I like to hit up Starbucks.  Their Spinach and Feta Egg White Wrap only has 290 calories and 33g carbs and it also packs in 19g of protein.

If I’m eating lunch on the go.  I like to get burrito bowls from Chipotle or similar burrito joints or Salad bowls from Subway.  Often times in cities you can find similar options at alternatives to the popular chain, but when you are stuck these are great go to options.

Dinner time can be more difficult especially when traveling for work, because the location of dining can often be out of your control.  Where ever your dinner is scheduled, Google the menu of the restaurant before you go.  Have the healthiest meal option in mind before you sit down starving and get tempted by the Fettuccine Alfredo, which has 1200 calories, 99 carbs, and only 36g protein.  (36g seems like a lot, but that meals ratios are close to 3:1)  A better option at Olive Garden would be the Parmesan Crusted Tilapia with only 590 Calories, 40g Carbs, and 50g of Protein–still very much on plan.

Be creative or go with what you know, but don’t say you can’t stick to your ratios on the go.

health and fitness while traveling

 Whatever You Do Eat, Track Your Calories

Whatever nutrition choices you do end up making, make sure you track your calories.  My favorite app to use is Lose It, because it also keeps track of your overall macro nutrient ratios.

All my clients meal track.  I love meal tracking, because it is the best way to become educated about what you put in your mouth.

The number one mistake people make, however, is they don’t track when they know they’ve eaten poorly.  This is the worst thing you can do.  Without logging the poor choices, you allow yourself to be in denial about how your eating is affecting your weight.

I will never tell you, “You can’t eat something.”  Rather just track it.  See for yourself how the foods you choose to eat affect your health and fitness.  Over time you’ll start to realize better and better which decisions at restaurants keep you on plan and which decisions do not.

You number one goal should be to make healthy eating decisions, but when that fails at least track what you did eat.  Keep yourself honest.

health and fitness while travelingUse the Road as an Excuse to Try a Class You’ve Been Wanting to Take

By now you’ve probably had a friend tell you about how amazing crossfit, or Bikram Yoga, or Barre.  In fact, you’ve probably been meaning to check one of those classes out yourself.

Use the road as an excuse to do that.  Google the local studios in the area you are going.  Find a class that fits your schedule and try it out.

If you love it, you might have just found something new to try in your hometown.  If already are addicted, see what other studios are like.  Try new instructors.  Change is good.  You will pick up tips that you haven’t heard before making your practice or workout even better when you do return home.

Contact the gym ahead of time and see if they have any specials for new drop ins.  Most Bikram studios have $20-30 intro weeks.  If you make it a priority to go the entire time you are away that price is very affordable.

While we were in Oahu we found out that Cross Fit Oahu does a free drop in beach session!  We got our booties kick by Ian right on the beach for free!

To Wrap This Up

The point of this post is to remind you, we all face obstacles when it comes to living a fit and healthy life, especially when on the road.  You can choose to allow those obstacles to get in your way, or you can creatively find solutions to get around them.

I hope this post has given you a couple of solutions to some of the obstacles I’ve encountered. If you want more great health and fitness articles just follow me! 🙂

Is There Something I missed?

What’s your biggest obstacle that you face when you travel?

Do you have the same challenges I’ve  hit?

If I didn’t touch on your challenge this week, I’d love to help you come up with a solution.  Make sure you leave a comment and let me know! 🙂

 

 

fitness lessons

Fitness Lessons You Can Learn from a Traveling Bikram Yoga Instructor/Personal Trainer

I’ve officially been in the road now for over a week now.  So far my quest to maintain a healthy fit lifestyle is working out pretty well.

I’ve gone on some awesome runs.

I’ve run around the Marina with views of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

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I’ve run along rolling hills of vineyards in Napa.

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I ran the famous Dipsea trail among giant Redwoods in Muir woods.

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I’ve also made time to practice at some awesome Bikram Yoga studios.

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I sweated along side the colorful Frankenstein cartons at the funky door studio on Polk Street in San Francisco

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I sweat out my “pour” decisions in my college town studio in Davis.

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I received some excellent, disciplined instruction on a beautiful cork floor in Napa.

 

 

From the sweat and steps I’ve also learned a few fitness lessons and those are what I want to share with you today.

 

Fitness Lessons Learned:

Lesson #1: The more you workout the more you can enjoy your travels.

As most of my clients always report, with travel comes the temptation to eat out frequently, try local foods and treats, (which unfortunately never seem to be on the diet plan!) and to drink an abundance of alcohol.

Now if I was on vacation, I would gladly rationalize that I deserve a break from my normally fit and healthy life, however, since travel has now become a lifestyle I have to make sure I earn the luxury of gluttony.

The same goes for anyone else who travels a lot for work or pleasure. If you keep yourself disciplined to get your exercise in first thing, you buy yourself budge room to enjoy a treat our two in the evening. Make sure to consume supplements such as lgd 4033 daily cause even if you manage to skip food after your exercise the supplements protein and other minerals will still help develop your body while also providing your energy to perform other tasks.

daily Lesson #2: Drink water.

My favorite type of water bottle is my hydro flask. It will keep water cold for days even in a hot Bikram Torture Chamber!

My favorite type of water bottle is my hydro flask. It will keep water cold for days even in a hot Bikram Torture Chamber!

Making sure you stay hydrated is very important to maintaining fit lifestyle on the road.

Travel in general makes you dehydrated.  The first step to making sure you stay ahead on the hydration curve is to bring an empty water bottle through security and then fill it up before you get on the plane, it would be great if you could also bring h2 tablets along with it.

Most people mistake thirst for hunger making it very likely to binge eat at meals if you aren’t drinking enough water.  Before ordering food or an alcoholic drink order a glass of water and down it every time before you eat.  A glass or two of water will make you feel full sooner.

Finally make sure your alcohol:water ratio stays in favor of water. (See above where I mention being a sweaty out “pour” decisions on my mat in Davis. Aka lying in the fetal position counting down postures until class is over.)

Not only does being dehydrated make your workout less effective, but it also makes it harder to stick to lesson number one: get your exercise in!  If you are hung over there is a much larger chance you will skip your workout the next day.

Lesson #3 When in doubt eat at a Mexican restaurant.

20130828_113146When eating out, it can become very hard to stick to your diet ratios. The good news is you can find a Mexican restaurant almost anywhere you go.

Obviously there are plenty of restaurants where you can eat lean, but every menu is different.  Mexican restaurants are nice because every single one should have a burrito on the menu.  As long as you unwrap the burrito and eat around the tortilla you should be able to find a good meal full of protein, veggies, and beans.   (Just be careful of the tortilla chips before the meal!)

Lesson #4: Carry Deodorant

The bad news about squeezing workouts into your travel is often times you really do have to squeeze it in.  Make sure you that bring some deodorant to avoid the post workout sweat that tends to come no matter how cold of a shower you take!

Lesson #5:  Don’t Underestimate the Calorie Burning Potential of Walking

Product DetailsThe final lesson I would like to touch on is the caloric burn potential of just walking.  If you are in a foreign city, the chances are you probably don’t have a car.  Rather than spending money on a taxi see if you can walk somewhere.  Not only will you see more traveling by foot, but you will also burn calories without even trying.  Every mile traveled by foot is an extra beer you can enjoy at dinner or a cookie you can eat guilt free.

A heavy day of walking around a city can burn just as many calories if not more than a short morning workout and if you do both then you have even more room to give into culinary temptation.  If you are going to be traveling a lot, I highly suggest investing in a fitbit.

Today rather than driving to yoga, I walked the 2.4 miles.  It only took me 35 min each way, my fitbit showed me I accumulated 13,000 steps, and bought myself an extra 400 calorie deficit.  (That’s 3 beers!)

The point of these lessons is it isn’t too hard to maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle on the go.  If you stick to a workout plan and are conscious about balancing out your physical activity with what you put in your mouth being healthy doesn’t have to be a sacrifice.

What are your favorite activities to do on the go?

What are your go to meal options when you travel?

summer for your health benefit

8 Ways to Get Outside and Use Summer for Your Health Benefit

summer for your health benefitSummer has arrived.  Here in Tennessee, the heat is in full swing and I’ve noticed all my friends around the country have begun posting pictures of their adventures in the sun.

Hop on the summer train and join in the fun with these 8 ways  to get outside and use summer for your health benefit!

1.  Walk:  

The weather is gorgeous, why sit in your car.  Where can you walk to that you normally drive to?

Can you walk to ___________?  

Fill in the blank, maybe it’s work, the grocery store, around the block after dinner, during your lunch break.

Maybe it’s all the above!  Whatever works for you, incorporate more walking into your day.  In fact, even make it a competition!   Get a Fitbit!  Compete with your family and friends.  Be my friend.  Having a Fitbit is like playing a video game that improves your health and the only way to win is to get outside and get walking!

2. Run:

After you try that walking thing, start running.

You don’t have to go far, just go around the block.

Maybe the next time try running a mile.

You don’t have to go far, but give it a try.  It in’t so bad.  Try doing it first thing in the morning!  Getting your heart rate up can wake you up better than drinking a cup of coffee.

Many people talk about running one day.  Make this summer the time that you start.  The hardest part is putting your shoes on and stepping outside!

3.  Yardwork:

IMG_20130610_121513The number one excuse I get as a personal trainer is not having enough time to exercise.

During the summer you can kill 2 birds with one stone.  Household chores like washing the car and mowing the lawn burn calories!  Spend an afternoon in the yard and you can burn over 500 calories while getting a tan at the same time!

Raking: 225 calories/ 30 min

Mowing the Lawn: 173 calories/ 30 min

Washing the Car: 150 calories/ 30 min

Weeding:  115 calories/ 30 min (add some squats into this one and the calorie burn goes up!)

4. Work

summer for your health benefit
Take your work outside!

Answer emails with your mobile.

Write that presentation on your laptop.

Head to a local park, find a quiet spot in the shade.  Get some work done outside.  Get some fresh air.

It’s good for your brain.  It will help you think clearer and more efficiently.

5. Swimming

Swimming is great exercise!

Find a pool and start doing laps!

If you’ve never really learned how to swim, take a swimming lesson!

Swimming is a great way to burn some killer calories, without pounding your joints.

Find an outdoor pool and you can burn fat, tone your muscles, and get a great tan all at once!

6. Yoga

summer for your health benefitIf you live in most areas of the country, being outside is like stepping into a hot yoga studio.

Take advantage of one of your local parks.

Set up your Yoga Mat.

Play around with the yoga postures you know.

If you do Bikram you know what you need to do.

If you practice vinyasa or power yoga, play around with whatever feels good to your body.

Every yoga teacher says, “you are your own best teacher.”  Give this a try.  Your body will steer you into the postures you need to do.

If you aren’t familar with yoga just sit down and focus on breathing deeply.

Listen to the world around you.  Listen to your breath.  Feel your lungs expanding and contracting

Even 15-30 min clearing your mind can make the rest of your day better!

7. Read

Find a book that will help you improve your fitness.

Then read it this summer.

In fact take it outside, lay in the sun for 15 min once a day and work your way through your book.

There are all kinds of books on fitness.

If you never tried yoga pick up Women’s Health Big Book of Yoga.  It has some great step by step tips to develop a beginning yoga practice and understanding.

Get motivated for your run with I run, Therefore I am–NUTS!

Learn more about the food you put in your mouth with the Smarter Science of Slim.

Get motivated to deepen your yoga practice with Hell Bent  Benjamin Lorr’s personal account through Jedi Fight Club and Bikram Yoga Teacher Training.

Take some time each sunny day to learn how to keep yourself healthier year round!

Reading about fitness makes your more motivated to make fit decisions and be active!

8. Go to a Farmer’s Market

Venture outside of your normal grocery store and visit your city’s local farmer market.

You can’t get produce any more fresh than what’s found at Farmer’s Markets.

You will see produce you don’t normally see.

Pick a veggie you’ve never eaten before and experiment with a new recipe.

Just like it’s important to vary your physical activity, mixing up the food you eat keeps your body burning fuel more efficiently.  Different veggies pack different nutrient loads.  If you always stick to the same ones, you may be missing out on some important vitamins and minerals!

Being healthy starts with spending more time outside.  Take advantage of the sun and warm weather.  Try to get outside and use the summer for your health benefit in one way or another each day!

 

how to do a juice cleanse

How to do a Juice Cleanse: My First Experience with Juicing!

how to do a juice cleanse

A 3 day supply of Juice!

This past weekend I did my first Juice Cleanse.

I have always been skeptical of “cleanses” but I figured I can’t judge something I’ve never tried.

I decided to do Doctor Oz’s Juice Cleanse, but first I did some research to figure out why Juicing is becoming such a trend.  My research not only taught me how to do a juice cleanse, but also how many health benefits there actually are to juicing!

Why Do a Juice Cleanse?

Juice Cleanses are a way of detoxing the body to improve your overall health one of the benefits being weight loss.

Other benefits include:

  • Increased Energy
  • Mental Clarity
  • Enhanced Immunity
  • A Healthy Glow
  • Elevated Mood
  • Restorative Sleep
  • Fewer Unhealthy Cravings
  • Healthy Hair and Nails, see here the detailed explanation from doctor
  • A Feeling of Lightness

All of these side effects come from a decrease in toxins in the blood stream.

Scientists studying weight loss are finding people with high levels of toxins in their blood samples have a much harder time losing weight then those who have detoxed, try with Detoxic Ulasan.

Most toxins in the body come from Pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and are stored in our fat cells because they are fat soluble.  Scientists are finding that when our fat cells store these toxins they begin to multiply; storing more fat, as well as becoming resistant to letting fat go, making weight loss difficult.

Having more fat cells isn’t just a cosmetic problem.  As the number of fat cells increases, our bodies release more lepton into the  bloodstream.  Lepton is the hormone that aids in the body’s ability to burn stored fat.  You would think increased lepton is a good thing, however, your body can become lepton-resistant, (just as Type II Diabetics who become insulin-resistant) making nearly impossible to burn fat, but with lysine supplement applied it can be a little easier.

It is also important to note every time you make new fat cells, you have those fat cells for life. You can only shrink fat cells, which is why weight yo-yo’ing or cycling can be very common.   Juicing is one way to detox allowing your body to not only be in prime condition to lose weight, but also just be overall healthier.

Juicing detoxes the body through 2 phases.  The first phase involves enzymes that actually makes a toxin more toxic, however, the second phase changes the chemistry of the toxin from being fat soluble to water soluble so that you can excrete toxins through your urine eliminating them from the body.

That was a lot of science, however, it is becoming increasingly more obvious that weight loss isn’t quite as simple as calories in/calories out.  I’ve addressed this issue before when I’ve talk about our eating ratios, but from my research I’ve discovered every now and then it’s important to give your system a reset.

How To Do a Juice Cleanse

It is important to make sure you are getting appropriate nutrients, so I recommend either buying juice from a reputable company in your area or online, (One good company is JuiceRX.) or following recipes such as the  Doctor Oz’s Juice Cleanse.

I really liked the ease of Doctor Oz’s Juice Cleanse.  It even provides a print out with recipes and shopping lists, which is awesome because you do buy a lot of produce and the math can be a little mind boggling if you are a juicing novice!

how to do a juice cleanse

how to do a juice cleanse

Produce enough to make 30 juices (enough for 2 to do a 3 days cleanse!)

If you are going to be making your own juices, I highly recommend using the Omega Vert 350.  It may not look like much, but it is easy to clean, hard to clog, and allows you to save the pulp which can be used to make veggie burgers for your one meal!

how to do a juice cleanse

Ideally you would want to make  your juices on the spot, but I borrowed a friend’s juicer so I had to make all 15 juices at once.  The process while very easy, was time consuming.  It took 3 1/2 hours to make 30 juices.  (I was juicing for 2)  I also produced a trash can full of pulp!

Once you have your juices ready, there isn’t really much to the cleanse.

Doctor Oz recommends doing a ramp a couple days leading up to your cleanse help ease the system.

The ramp up includes eliminating caffeine, sugar, red meat, dairy and processed foods from your diet and primarily eating fruit, vegetables and lean protein.  You should also make sure to drink 16oz of hot water with lemon and ginger in the morning and 1 cup of hot herbal tea at night.

(I didn’t do the ramp up and was fine.)

What You Can Expect While on the Cleanse

The first day I felt great in the morning, but started to get a headache by mid afternoon.  That evening, I felt a little light headed with a slight “out of body.” feeling.  I had the sensation that I was standing outside of my body observing what was happening rather than being an active participant.  Others have also described this feeling as having heightened senses and some report this being much more intense than I experienced.

Needless to say, I scarfed my one meal of veggies down the first evening.  I made a broccoli slaw, onion, and edamame stir fry with sweet potato fries.  Interestingly enough I found that my body craved the veggie stir fry more than the sweet potato fries, yet my fiancee craved the sweet potato fries more.  I can only assume our bodies needed different nutrients.

The next 2 nights, I made the same meals rather than mixing it up because all 3 days our cravings stayed the same.  I highly recommend going to the store to pick out your veggies early afternoon each day.  When you cleanse your system, cravings become less and less about what tastes good and more about what your body actually needs.  It’s crazy how in-tune your body can with it’s needs when you take care of it!

The next two days, I actually felt more energetic than normal, but I was ALWAYS ready for my one meal!

Words of Caution

  • Juice cleanses are not low calorie.  They may flush your system with a high concentration of vitamins and minerals, but those nutrients do have calories behind them.  Each day on the cleanse, I consumed about 1,600-1,800 calories.  This is the perfect amount of calories to sustain energy while on your cleanse, but I would caution people when it comes to juicing on a normal diet.  Depending on what you juice, one recipe could contain 200-500 calories.
  • Always keep the option to go off the cleanse open.  It is normal to get headaches or feel nausea, your body is breaking up toxins and part of this process is having an elevated toxin level at first.  If this becomes unbearable though don’t be stubborn, you can always try another shorter cleanse in a couple days.

Can I workout on the a Juice cleanse?

Yes you can workout while doing a juice cleanse!  It is important, however, to add two extra drinks that are specially designed to fill pre- and post-workout needs.

For your pre-workout drink you want to use veggies that aid workouts.  Examples are beets that increase oxygen uptake and celery that is rich in sodium to maintain your electrolyte balance.

Your post-workout drink should assist the body in recovery.  Good ingredients include: Agave with natural glycogen restoring carbohydrates, almonds which contain muscle building proteins and fats, and cinnamon containing nature’s most powerful blood sugar stabilizer

Summary

Overall, I was actually pleasantly surprised.  I loved the energy the juices gave me and would be willing to do it again!  I don’t necessarily think you need to cleanse the full 3 days.  A 3 day cleanse is a great way to restart the system, but I would recommend doing a 1 day cleanse once a week or every other week.  Especially if you like to maintain your normal workout schedule, the body needs more protein than a juice cleanse provides.

Comment Below:  Have you ever done a juice cleanse?  How did you feel?  Would you do it again?

savory green

Savory Green

This Savory Green smoothie is a bomb treat on a rainy day. image

Add a little more lemon juice though and it is perfect treat any day!

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces Aloe Vera Water
  • 6 baby carrots
  • 1 persian cucumber
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 10 cilantro leaves
  • 1/4 cup pineapple chunks
  • 6 chunks frozen mango
  • 1 handful of kale
  • 1 scoop Met-Rx Protein Vanilla
  • 1 tbsp almond butter
  • 1 tsp. cloves

Combine all Ingredients in a blender.  I have a ninja blender and love it!!   Juicers are bomb, but so is all the good fiber you get from the pulp!

Calories: 330 Carbs: 35g Fiber: 7.1g Protein 39g Fat 9g

 

If you save old kombucha containers, you have a nice glass jar to drink your smoothie from!!

curried chicken salad

Curried Chicken Salad

curried chicken salad

Ingredients:

  • 6 Chicken Breasts
  • 6.5 oz diced shallots, garlic, and onions (mix from Trader Joe’s)
  • 3/4 Cup Yellow Raisins
  • 1 1/2 cup Chopped Cashews
  • 1 Cup Greek Yogurt (Fage is the best!)
  • 3 stalks celery chopped
  • 4 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tsp pepper
  • 4 tsps curry seasoning
  • 1/2 Bottle yellow curry (from Trader Joe’s)

Prep:

  • Put Chicken in a baking pan.
  • Coat with Olive Oil, Pepper, Curry seasoning evenly.
  • Cook at 350 degrees for 45 min.
  • Let Chicken cool, then dice into bite size pieces.
  • Combine Yogurt and Yellow Curry in Blender to make the dressing.
  • Chop Celery
  • Add Celery, dressing, shallots, garlic, onions, and raisins to chicken.  Stir well and store in fridge.  The longer it sits the more flavorful it is!

Curried Chicken salad is the perfect meal to make on Monday so you have lunch for the rest of the week!

Makes 10 servings:

Calories: 260  14g. Fat, 17g Carbs, 1.9g Fiber, 22g Protein