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outdoor workouts are good for us

1/9/2020

Get outside, it does amazing things for your health.
It is absolutely beautiful this time of year in Southwest Florida so take advantage of it. It also can help you live a healthier life when you take that workout outdoors.

1. Vitamin D-the fat soluble vitamin that is essential to strong bones and healthy immune systems can safely be attained by the morning sun.

2. Gives your eyes a rest-our eyes look at so much close up which requires the muscles in your eye to work more. By looking at things outside and far in the distance it allows the muscles in your eyes to relax which is important for overall eye health. (Katy Bowman-Movement Matters, Alignment Matters)

3. Less anxiety and stress-green spaces have shown to decrease stress and increase mood of those who spend time outdoors and provide for mental well-being.

4. Boosts white blood cells: interacting with phytoncides (airborne chemicals emitted from plants that protect them from rotting and insects) help to boost white blood cells and reduce stress in our bodies (Katy Bowman: Movement Matters, pg 79)

Drop that indoor gym workout and join us. Do you workout outside? If so, what benefits do you notice for yourself?

Happy New Year!

1/2/2020

Are you noticing a trend?
I'm seeing it and I can't be happier!

It's a New Year and instead of trying to change yourself, its time to surrender to who you are right now and begin to love that person.

Stop feeling like the New Year is a time when you need to make big changes. You have been through this before and you know that all of these plans and goals you are setting for yourself may start to fall to the wayside because life is busy, you made to many goals for yourself, or you are to hard on yourself and wanting to change the way you look/are for ALL the WRONG reasons.

Take a moment,

breathe,

now:

decide on one thing you can begin to do today for yourself or your family because you want to be happy and healthy and you love that you are able to move, eat, laugh, cry, play and be!

Once you have determined that one thing that you are going to do, I want you to be able to hold yourself accountable; so I would love for you to join our Mom's Healthy Living Group and let us know what is the one thing you are going to work on changing.

Make it something that pushes you a little but is reachable (maybe by setting some mini goals to help you get to your bigger goal). Understand that there will be some hiccups along the way; this doesn't mean that you give up and throw in the towel,

NO

this is what life is all about. Access the situation and decide how you are going to move forward. Believe in yourself and know that by making one simple change you can accomplish big things!

healthy holidays

12/12/2019

With all of the EXTRA things we have to do during the Holiday it can be really tough to get that workout in. I am not here to tell you to wake up an hour earlier during this time of year, because I get it; you may have been up late the night before wrapping presents or going to a Holiday event.

No, I'm here to help you find ways to make the most of the time you already have and get a little extra movement throughout your every day.

First tip: Keep moving! Try to move as much as possible throughout the day (this should come fairly easy if you are out buying gifts to put under the tree), get on the floor to wrap presents to change up the position your body is in, go for a walk around the neighborhood in the evening to look at all the Christmas lights. Take the kids to the mall to see Santa and try to park on the opposite end so you get some walking in that way as well.

Tip #2: Get in the holiday spirit and play that Christmas or seasonal music. It is so hard not to sway, move your hips, or have a little more pep in your step when holiday music is on. These little bouts of dancing around add up to big calorie burn (steps made) during the season.

Tip #3-Convenience is killing you! Do not rely on the convenience of packages delivered to your door and sitting in your car outside of Target while they conveniently bring your packages to you; unless of course you have little eyes in the back seat. I understand it is easier but think about all of the extra time you are just sitting in your car waiting for someone else to get their movement in while you wait. If you live an active life, than this is not a big deal; but for those that sit at a desk all day and then drive to and from work, and then have everything delivered so they can relax and watch Netflix, this is not helping you live your healthiest life.

Tip #4-Get together with family or a friend to workout with you. We always think about getting together for lunch or coffee with friends to catch up, but what if you asked to go for a walk instead? You get to catch up with a friend and get your exercise in. It's a win-win! Looking for other mom's in your area? Look into stroller friendly fitness classes to meet other moms. Working out with friends is always more fun!

Tip #5-Consistency is Key! Try to make it a daily habit to perform some sort of fitness regimen into your life. Even if you don't have a lot of time, most people have 5 minutes to devote to something. Do a Sun salutation at the beginning or end of your day, follow along with any of my 5 min workouts; the key is to set aside at least a little time each and every day for consistency and then it will become a habit. Once it becomes an every day thing, you will start to find more time to commit to it as you will probably start to see the positive effects it has on your life.

How are you getting in your exercise this holiday season?

Eat the rainbow

12/10/2019

Eat a rainbow of colors!

Your liver is designed to detoxify a lot of the chemicals that are now in our environment, but there are a few things you can do to help it.

-Give digestion a rest, you shouldn't be eating all day long; you can do this by doing some intermittent fasting or drink a smoothie in place of a meal each day since these are easily digestible.

-Listen to your body, take a lot of the higher inflammatory foods out of your diet so that you can determine what hinders your digestion.

-Take care of intestinal flora, avoid antibiotics and processed foods that can mess with the natural flora and bacteria in your intestines.

-Eat more fruits and vegetables and the more variability you have within your diet of these fruits and vegetables the more variability you will have in your flora and the more they will thrive.

-This variability of color helps the liver get the nutrients it needs to detoxify the body.

This information was gleaned from The Model Health Shows Podcast #386 if you want to hear more.

One way that I make sure to get the rainbow of color with fruits and veggies into my diet is through fruit and vegetables powders that have been encapsulated for ease and convenience. If you are interested in learning more, email me.

Have you thought about becoming vegetarian?

12/4/2019

So...

My husband watched The Game Changers on Netflix a few weeks ago and ever since then he has pretty much eaten a plant based diet, save for Thanksgiving dinner; which I must say has been interesting.

I am all for Plant based diets and I definitely am one to promote eating more veggies and fruits each and every day; but have found making meals completely vegetarian rather difficult and time consuming. The chopping and prepping has doubled, trying to figure out what dishes will taste good together, and then making sure the foods we are eating will satisfy us. So the meals have been a salad, some sort of flavorful vegetable main dish, a healthy starch which usually is some sort of wild rice or roasted potato/sweet potato but am noticing I'm really missing the animal meat on my plate.

So I have decided for my children and I, we will practice more of a flexitarian diet, which is eating mostly plant based and use meat as a garnish or have a few meatless meals and enjoy the meat from time to time-this makes more sense to us as a family. This ensures that we are getting our Iron as needed, since its imperative for us who workout and are growing. (Iron helps our muscles to take in oxygen from the bloodstream).

This is much more manageable and I have to say it has been fun to try a lot of new recipes this past month and these are some of my favorite places to go for delicious vegetarian options.

The Forest Feast-I have two of her cookbooks already and have asked for the other two for Christmas. They are absolutely beautiful and are worth looking at for just the pictures.

Pick up Limes- I have tried a few of her bowls and they are delicious; her YouTube videos are beautiful and I truly have gotten lost just watching her create these exquisite dishes.

Chloe Coscarelli-oh my goodness, she is the cutest thing and she has beautiful cookbooks as well that I love. My son loved her vegan meatballs, and said he might just become vegan after eating these

I would love to hear if you have ever tried going vegetarian and your thoughts on it; or did you determine a more flexitarian diet was the way to go? Any recommendations for vegetarian/vegan cookbooks or blogs would be greatly appreciated as well since I love to find different ideas for inspiration.

In health and wellness-Courtney

smoothie bowls

11/24/2019

Smoothie bowls are yummy!

There are a few reasons I recommend you make your own smoothie bowl.
1. It's really easy to make your own, rather than heading to that new bowl shop, and therefore can ensure their is no added sugar/ingredients you don't want.

2. If you have a little extra time, make a smoothie bowl rather than a smoothie. You may not eat as much when you eat with a spoon as it slows down the eating process and you may not consume as much since you aren't drinking it quickly.

3. If you deal with morning headaches you might be missing a key component to your morning routine. The act of chewing. For some if you deal with those minor headaches in the morning, you might be clenching your jaw at night and you need to release that tension. One of the easiest ways to release tension in the jaw muscles is by actively working them by chewing. Add crunchy things to help your jaw release tension in the morning, like granola and nuts.

Oh and they are really pretty
😊.
Blueberry Smoothie bowl Recipe:
1/2 cup almond milk
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2/3 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp sweetener of choice (honey, maple syrup, agave) I used my plant based protein
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Blend then add some granola, coconut, nuts, seeds (chia, hemp, flax), and fruit of your choice.

busy Mom's Kitchen

11/18/2019

This is my business bestie! We met back in 2007 when we both owned Stroller Fitness businesses and have become really close over the years as we have been building our own businesses. We have always supported one another (in EVERYTHING!) and we were always going back and forth about the next best podcast to listen to.

I am so excited for her as she just started her own podcast where she is going to be sharing ways to make life easier in and out of the kitchen as a busy mom. I would love for you to subscribe to her channel to support her.

Also if you are interested in hearing about ways to keep active during the Holidays, you might hear a familiar voice :)

So definitely go check it out and let me know what you think!

meal planning

10/28/2019

One of the hardest things to do as moms is to plan healthy meals for our families each and every week. Not only do we have to plan it, go to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients, but we also have to make it healthy and something our kids will enjoy as well.

I understand how tough it is, as this is something I myself struggle with at times. My kids are older now, so there isn't quite the argument that I used to get but it can still be trying at times.

Which is why I want to help you! I have a weekly meal plan that goes out to all of my clients and am excited to be trying something new. This month, I am ordering my produce from Produce Buddies and will be creating meal plans that match one of their boxes.

If you are interested in trying a week out, let me know and I will email the plan to you along with the recommended box to purchase along with any additional items you may need. If everyone enjoys this, we will continue to incorporate both the box and the meal plan together.

backpacks and kids

10/7/2019

Do you know what is wrong with this picture?

One of these backpacks are on correctly, and one is not.

The one that is not could be causing back pain for your child, so make sure that your child's backpack is fitted properly.

The arm straps should be pulled so that the full backpack fits securely on the back, it should not be sagging down past the butt. Once it is fitted correctly, it should ease their back pain. If they continue to complain, then it might be time to get out of the seated position and get them moving as they need to work on strengthening their core.

With kids, exercise should be fun and be a part of their play time; not "working out". So make it a game!

Go to the park and have them climb things, swing, and practice using the monkey bars. This will help them to strengthen their muscles in a more natural way.

Some other exercises they can do for fun are:

Bear crawls
Frog jumps
Racing others
Hopping on one leg
Jump rope

Children love to emulate and spend time with YOU! So don't just send them outside to play on their own, get outside and play with them. You will not only build better relationships with your kids, but you will also be showing them that exercise is fun; and while you are at it, it will be providing you with a great workout as well!

are you eating enough greens?

9/19/2019

I know you have probably always heard that you need to be eating 5-7 fruits and vegetables every day but this is no longer the recommendation. It has since moved up to 7-13 fruits and veggies each and every day due to less nutrients in the soil therefore less vitamins and nutrients in our food.

It also needs to be mostly greens, vegetables, and then 1-2 fruits depending on the season. Are you getting that in every day?

I understand it can be tough! That was why I decided to give you some ideas to help you get more greens into your diet.

Add them to your breakfasts; if making eggs, you can cut up some zucchini, onions, peppers and spinach and make a yummy veggie scramble
We all know to add spinach and kale to our smoothies, but have you ever tried cauliflower or zucchini? It doesn't change the flavor of the smoothie, but it does add nutrients
Keep homemade chimichurri on hand to use as a dip, smother your eggs in, add to a sandwich, use as a dressing, or put on top of anything-it truly is the best stuff ever!
Add more herbs to your salad for extra greens; so many times we just think of the lettuce but adding fresh herbs to your salad can change the flavor profile so much
Grow your own herbs so that you have them on hand for all of your meals; we use our Tower Garden to grow our salad greens, herbs, and microgreens
Hide them in muffins and breads. Yes, I know, remember the sneaky cookbook from Jessica Seinfeld? It doesn't have to be to hide them but just so you get more in every day
Add them to spaghetti and taco meat. You can hide pretty much anything if you cut it small enough

How do you practice getting more greens into your daily diet? I'd love to hear what you are doing below!