Risks of extreme exercise

Exercising and staying active is great for your health in all ways-psychologically, socially, emotionally, and mentally- but too much exercise is just as unhealthy as no exercise. I just came across an article on Greatist on exercise disorders.  These disorders are seen as being similar to and may be connected to eating disorders. People with exercise disorders may have low self-esteem about their body image, their weight, and other factors just like with eating disorders have.  This article also goes into mentioning how the fitness industry and media play an affect on people and their body image and the symptoms shown by people who may have an exercise disorder. One of these symptoms is exercising two, three times a day-which is just too extreme! I'm guilty of working out more than once in a day before, but I have only done that probably twice ever and now after reading this, I definitely will keep it to just once a day!  It is great for your body, inside and out, to be active and healthy, but remember, you need to let your body and mind rest. It's very important. Allow yourself one of two days a week of rest from exercise. You'll feel better, won't be exhausted, and you'll be less likely to injure yourself because you will be allowing your body and muscles to rest. Please read this short article (link below the picture), you may find it to be as interesting as I did. 

http://greatist.com/fitness/eating-exercise-disorders

Healthy Guac and Pico de Gallo

Two of my favorite dips are guacamole and pico de gallo.  I dip everything and anything in it and I put guacamole and pico de gallo on top of everything! Eggs, burgers, burritos, quinoa...you name it! Pico de gallo is very healthy and simple-fresh veggies, herbs, and lemon juice! Its a much healthier option than ketchup or salsa.  Guacamole on the other hand isn't always so healthy, but I found a way to healthify it by using greek yogurt! The recipe for the guac is also very simple and easy to make. I hope you enjoy these two simple, healthy dips!

Guacamole with Greek Yogurt

• 1/2 cup of non-fat, plain greek yogurt
• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 small tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2-1 freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp of cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• paprika or tabasco sauce to taste

1. Chop up your tomatoes and mince your garlic. Set aside.
2. Mash up your avocado and stir in your greek yogurt. Put your lime juice in immediately to keep the avocado from browning.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, and spices mentioned above into your avocado mixture.
4. Enjoy!

For more flavor, add: cilantro, onions, jalapenos, and other spices.

Pico de Gallo

• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, diced, optional
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1/2 of a fresh lime or lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop up all of your veggies and mix together.
2. Add in the cilantro, lemon/lime juice, and salt/pepper to your veggie mixture, mix and stir it all together.
3. Enjoy!

Feel free to mess around with this recipe-add more tomatoes, spicy peppers or other herbs!


 Recipes found by Blogilates, but modified a bit by myself.
 *I personally do not add salt to either of these recipes, but that's only because I've trained my taste buds to not like salt. By all means though, add what you need to make it as tasty as can be for yourself :) *

Apple Season is here!

I love apples! Especially honey crisp apples.  Apples are in season all year around, but their peak is during July through November, which means it's already apple season and I want to eat them all! Many apples are ready to go by September, so start stocking up. Here are a few nutritional facts, apple facts, and recipe ideas:

Nutritional Facts for a medium-sized apple:

• 72 calories
• 3 grams of fiber, mostly from the skin, so eat it!
• 11% of your daily vitamin C
• Contains flavonoids, which are said to help fight heart disease and cancer
• Contains beta-carotene. This is vitamin A, which helps build healthy bones, skin, and eyes.
• Helps lower bad cholesterol and high blood pressure.
• Helps stabilize blood pressure and it has an ingredient that works as an appetite suppressant (so you'll stay fuller, longer). 

Did you know?

• That apples are part of the rose family. Pears are too!
• That there are over 7,000 varieties of apples in the world.
• The average American eats over 20 pounds of apples a year.

Recipe Ideas:

• Homemade applesauce-my goal is to actually make homemade applesauce this year! I've always wanted to, I just never have gotten around to it.
• Candied apples
• Scotch apple pie
• Apple cake
• Baked apples

Click here and here for my sources and recipes that I've mentioned above!

Happy eating, happy cooking, and have a happy day!

Cookies and Friends

Cowboy Cookies are food porn.

These were so damn delicious! I could keep eating them all day long! This was definintely my YOLO meal/treat that I'm making for this week.


Cowboy Cookies

They had oats, pecans, chocolate chips, sugar, flour, and all of the other essential ingrediants for making cookies. They were chewy, dense, and even a little crunchy around the edges- just the way I like it!  There were bursts of sweet and salty from the chocolate chips and nuts. YUM!!

 

 

Total. Food. Porn.
What is your favorite yolo meal? Favorite food porn?  Tell me, I want to know!

After eating a half dozen cookies... it was time to work it off with my workout buddy, Justin!

What's better than working out?  Working out with a friend, of course!  My friend Justin, whom I met through working at Starbucks, and I love working out together. It's a time for us to catch up with one another, get super sweaty,and  kick each others ass's...well more like I kick his ass ;)

 I finally figured out what this is that I'm doing! It's called a tricep plank. It will create leaner and stronger triceps. I like me some sexy arms :) You start out in a military push-up position, keeping your tricpes and elbows glued to your rib cage. (See, my elbows are NOT sticking out from my sides.) Then you lower yourself about 75% from your starting position.  Try doing this 3 times, each for 30 seconds.

 

Justin is working his core by doing crunches and sit-ups on an incline bench. Using an incline bench will really help strengthen your whole core and abdominals. The incline bench will also work your hip flexors. For more resistance, hold a weight in front of your chest and perform sit-ups and crunches.  Mmm sexy abs!

 

 

Seriously, though? Get up. Grab a friend. And go workout! It is so much better than working out alone. You'll have more energy, more stamina. You'll be able to run longer, faster, you'll be able to complete more reps. You and your friend will push each other, push limits, and help each other become stronger! I know that when I workout with a friend,especially Justin,  that I have much more energy than if I were to workout alone. We have so much fun together-mostly laughing at each other! Seems like fun, right?! Right! So go grab a friend, some water, and go workout!