Exercise Demo: How To Do a Jump Lunge

Here is a demo for a jump lunge.  Start in a lunge position, making sure your knee stays directly above your toe and never goes beyond.  Push your hips back further if your knee keeps trying to go forward.  Power through your legs and jump into the air.  Switch your legs mid-air and land back in a lunge position.

Exercise Demo: How To Do a Burpee with a Push Up

For those of you taking the 4 Week Tight and Lean Challenge, I've done a few demo videos for the first HIIT IT workout.  First one up: Burpee with a Push Up.  Keep your core tight, shoulders back, and keep your hips lifted during the push up!

The 4 Week Tight and Lean Challenge!

As promised, here is my very own 4 Week Tight and Lean Challenge!  I did this challenge myself last month and saw noticeable results!  This challenge gets progressively harder as the weeks go on, so get ready to FEEL a difference in your physical performance.  Your stamina, strength and flexibility are all going to improve dramatically!  For the stretching, you can do your own routine, or you you can follow my video on stretching which is posted down below.  Just click on any of the schedules to get a larger view and download them to your computer.  If you have any questions on how to do any of the exercises, just let me know and I'll post a how-to video for the exercise.  Keep your healthy lifestyle fresh with a challenge!  It always feels great to compete against yourself and WIN!

Finally....Healthy Habit #7 and a Monica Rant on Body Image

Hey everyone!

I know it has been a while since the last Healthy Habit and I apologize for that!  I've had so much going on with traveling, my business and things going on in my personal life.  It never quite felt like the right time to make a video, but today I felt inspired to bring you the next habit on your journey to better health.

Most of the habits so far have focused on nutrition, and that is because a fit, healthy body is 80% what you put in your mouth.  Now it is time to start moving your body.  I want you to start making exercise a priority in your life if it isn't already.  I want you to find an activity you love to do and do it consistently!  Consistency is the name of the game here, folks.  You could work your tush off for a month, and then slip up, not work out for a month and all of your progress would be lost.  I don't want you to put in all that energy for nothing!  Stay consistent!  Even if it is only a quick 10 minute workout, MOVE! I know life can get in the way.  We all get busy.  There will be days when we just can't work out.  That's okay.  Don't beat yourself up about it.  It happens.  We're in it to win it, for life, and one day off won't kill us.  Two days off might hurt.  You'll start to feel sluggish and beat yourself up.  But even two days off is okay.

I personally do my very best not to let three days go by without moving my body in some way.  A perfect week for me would be exercising Monday through Friday, and taking the weekend off to rest and recover, and maybe just do something light and fun.  Those recovery days are just as important as the days you work out, if not more so.  Those are the days your muscles repair and build themselves up.  The rest days give you results.

All I'm saying, is PLAN your rest days instead of being a victim of them because of your schedule, your broken down car, the babysitter cancelling, or whatever other reason pops up to prevent your workout. In the video, I also go on a bit of a rant about body image.

Lately, as I've struggled with my own "last ten pounds," I've come to the conclusion that perhaps we shouldn't stress on those last few pounds as much as we do.  I have a little sumthin sumthin hanging onto my hips, but you know what?  It is NATURAL for our bodies to hang onto those last few pounds!  Our evolutionary history has taught our bodies to keep a little fat in case of famine or a harsh winter.  Those pounds are there to protect us!  And to be perfectly honest, when I get much smaller than I do now, I just don't feel as good, or as healthy. I've read quite a few articles from fitness models and figure competitors lately about how unrealistic it is to keep their "perfect body" all year round.  They have to severely restrict their diet to end up on that magazine cover, and that restriction can lead to all kinds of health problems, from poor digestion, loss of their period, not to mention the dry/brittle hair, skin and nails.  And even then, they get Photoshopped!

We live in a Photoshop world, where the idea of beauty has been severely distorted. I posted a picture recently on my facebook of a model and how she was Photoshopped to be on the cover of a magazine.  Her cellulite (yes, she had cellulite--it's NORMAL) was smoothed out, a hip roll was removed and she was made to look like a plastic Barbie.  She looked beautiful before, and they distorted her image to something ridiculously unattainable.  And this is what they tell us we need to look like.

Well, I for one am DONE with this fake body image nonsense.  I love my body exactly how it is.  And I vow, right here and now, to focus on how my body feels and what my body can do, instead of how I look.  Looking amazing will be a natural by-product of eating delicious, nutritious foods and moving by body daily.  I don't need to worry about it.  If I'm consistent, my body will become the best it can be.  My body will feel energetic and light and strong.  I will be able to lift myself up, touch my toes, run fast and far--and look great doing it.

 I challenge you to change the way you think about your body.  Ditch the Photoshop mentality and be easier on yourself.  Accept that the idea of beauty changes with the decade.  One decade, curvy is on, the next it is skinny.  Accept that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and what is beautiful to one isn't to another.  Accept YOUR body as it was created.  Accept the little bit of fat that nature gives us for protection.  Eat well.  Move your body.  Love your body.  The rest will fall into place.

Much love to you all!  Find me on my facebook and tell me how you are moving your body this week!

Monica

My Very LOW MAINTENANCE Veggie Garden

Hey everyone!
Check out my super simple, easy peasy, functional, anyone-can-do-it-no-matter-where-you-live veggie garden this year!  I used 5 gallon buckets for my containers, and just put them on the side of my house and on my deck. I'm growing three different kinds of tomatoes--a purple one :), a big juicy red variety, and grape tomatoes--beans, zucchini, yellow and orange bell peppers, dill weed, strawberries, and stevia!  I'm kind of excited about the stevia--since it is a staple in my diet.  I'm not exactly sure how to process it yet, but I'll figure it out.

I used FoxFarm Happy Frog Soil and once a week I'm fertilizing with Vital Earth's Seabird Guano, Cal Mag, and my shop's very own living compost tea, which introduces live beneficial bacteria and microbes to the root system.  Those friendly microbes and bacteria support EXTREME root growth, and as we say, the bigger the roots, the bigger the fruits!  I'm also foliar spraying with liquid kelp once a week.  Everything I'm using is organic and I can't wait to bite into all of my delicious, homegrown food in a couple months!

 Up next...the indoor herb garden on my kitchen counter.  My goal is to eventually become as self-sufficient as possible, which means growing as much of my own food as possible.  Not only does it help my lil ol' carbon footprint by saving gas and pollution trucking these foods all over the world, but I know EXACTLY what is in my food, what fertilizers/pesticides were used, and I can eat it right off the vine--unlike at the grocery store where the fruits and veggies are already a couple weeks old.  Um, can anyone say nutrient loss?  Help the environment, help ourselves....seems like a win-win to me.

 I would love to see what you're growing this year!  Post your pics on my facebook!  Oh, and if any of you have a magical way to keep the slugs at bay, PLEASE let me know!

Have a great week!
Mon

Vegan Recipe: Warm Spring Quinoa Salad

I LOVED this meal the other night. The warm, crisp veggies 

were bursting with flavor and the fresh lemon juice 

added a tangy spring-fresh feel to the dish.

Ingredients

Serves one

Extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 mushrooms, thinly sliced

lemon pepper salt

dash of garlic salt

1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced 1/2"

1/2 orange bell pepper

5 asparagus, cut into 2-3" pieces

1/2 zucchini, cut into 1/2" slices

handful of small tomatoes

2 cups cooked quinoa

1-2 lemons, cut in half

How To

1. Drizzle oil in a saute pan and heat on med-med/high heat.

2. As oil starts to heat, add garlic to pan.

3. Add sliced mushrooms to pan and coat in oil.

4. Season mushrooms with lemon pepper salt and garlic salt to taste.

5. After you saute the mushrooms for about 2 minutes, add the rest of the vegetables to the pan.  

6. Add a little more oil and seasonings to coat the veggies.

7. After you saute the veggies for 3 minutes, add the quinoa to the pan. Stir occasionally.

8. Stir the veggies and quinoa often until the mixture is warm but the veggies are still warm.

9. Garnish with lemon halves and serve.  Drizzle the salad with fresh lemon juice before eating. 

A heaping plate of goodness :)

I've Made a HUGE Decision

Hey everyone,

I made a MASSIVE decision on Friday night, one that is going to impact me for the rest of my life.  I'm telling you because it is directly related to my health, which means it will affect my blog too.

I'm giving up animal flesh.  No more beef, chicken, turkey, none of it.

The crazy thing is that if you would have suggested this to me 6 months ago, I would have laughed and eaten a steak.  I have always LOVED meat.  The bloodier the steak, the better it was to me.  And chicken is a staple in my diet, especially since I've gone healthy.

So, you may ask, what changed?

Well, I think the Universe has been conspiring against me.  Or for me, depending on how you look at it.  For months now, it seems everywhere I turn I see and hear pro-vegan images and statements.  I have a few facebook friends who are raw vegan and always posting something thought-provoking.  I've been getting the message loud and clear that meat is very difficult for the body to digest and somebody lovingly referred to it as "putrified flesh rotting in your bowels," which is a mental picture that has stuck with me.  But the health reasons alone weren't enough for me.  I mean, every other year, there is a new diet where they tell you to give up SOMETHING, so I try to take those kinds of messages with a grain of salt.

It was a video that finally did me in.  The video below, actually:

I have always loved animals, since I was a kid.  In fact, I'm kind of obsessive about my dogs, in case you haven't noticed.  But I guess somewhere along the way I became removed from exactly how we get the meat we eat.  Intellectually, I'd heard it before.  I'd heard people talk about the poor conditions that animals are raised in, the antibiotics they pump into them.  It wasn't until I saw it with my own eyes that it meant something to me.  It wasn't until I saw animals strung up by their hind legs, their throats slit, entrails hanging out, still alive, as the butcher cut them into pieces.  It wasn't until I saw animals squished together, walking on top of each other, sick, hurt, trying to eat each other, clubbed to death, that it really meant something to me.  It wasn't until I saw their very real pain first hand that it hit me. I cried my eyes out for an hour.

One of the images that really got to me. 

 It disgusts me that someone would eat a dog, 

but is it really that much different than eating a cow?  

In India, cows are sacred, and they probably 

look at us the same way as I look at the men in this photo.

Something changed inside of me in that hour.  Something clicked over in my brain.  I held onto my dog, imagining Lola going through that kind of pain.  For the first time in my life, it hit me that these animals that we slaughter and eat are living creatures with feelings, and by eating them for dinner I contributed to all of those images in the movie I had just watched.  (Well, only half watched, I couldn't even finish the movie--it was awful.)  I realized I was a murderer.  Maybe I wasn't the one clubbing them to death, but someone had to do it for me, didn't they? I no longer want to contribute to what I now see as heinous acts against living beings.  I will never again consume animal flesh.  My decision is strictly moral and ethical.

 A few weeks ago, I attempted to give up meat for the health benefits (and there are MANY) but the health benefits alone were not enough for me to stick with my decision.  But after seeing those images, I really don't know how I could ever eat a piece of animal flesh again.  Someone asked me on Saturday if I wanted to grab a burger and I almost puked in my mouth.  I feel like the smoker who suddenly quits and never picks up a cigarette again.  I'm done.  Just like that.  I don't really know what to label myself now.  I don't really plan on labeling myself anything, as I really hate labels.  I don't want to eat any animal product that contributes to the mistreatment of animals.

That being said, I live in the country, surrounded by farmers.  So I will continue to eat farm fresh eggs, the ones laid by chickens that hang out in the field all day long.  And if I can find a good dairy farmer, I will continue to eat cheese too.  I've already given up milk because it is extremely hard for adults to digest, so that doesn't affect me.  I'm undecided on fish, especially the fish my boyfriend brings home from his weekend fishing trips... Right now, I'm studying up on the nutrition of the Meatless Way and gathering yummy recipes (even though, to be honest, most vegetarian and vegan recipes look pretty gross), but I have found some that look promising.  I'll keep you updated as I go and pass my best recipes along.

For now, I'm eating a TON of fruits and veggies (way more than I'm used to), quinoa, nuts, seeds, and making sure to take my vitamins.  I actually feel great, and totally satisfied, with my new way of eating. I would also like to say, I don't plan on being one of those "judgy" vegans/vegetarians/whatever the hell I am now.  I won't attack you or look down on you for eating animal products.  But I will throw in some education here and there.  I understand it is a very personal decision, and it is one that took me months to get to. I do encourage you to check out the videos above and below.  And if I have any vegan/vegetarian readers out there, I would love to hear from you--your stories, advice, recipes, etc.!

Thank you for reading,


Mon

 PS This is another eye-opening, and very graphic, video about the meat industry.  I could barely look at the screen and didn't get through the first few minutes.  I will NEVER eat meat again.