 Group Fitness Instructor
She is a wife, mom to 3 boys, dog mom, Group Fitness Instructor, Podcaster, and former on-air Radio Personality, who was born and raised in Michigan, but now resides in Naples Fl. She loves to workout for her own personal mental health and believes physical fitness is like brushing your teeth, done daily and is essential for a healthy mind and body. Stephanie's fitness instructing started before her 2nd child, as a Personal Trainer, for a Mom & Baby Stroller class in Michigan and she is excited to be back teaching a fitness class in Florida! Sleep is imperative for those wanting to live a healthier life. It has been proven that if you are not getting enough sleep you will have increased stress, anxiety, and depression; you will want to snack more through the day; and will hold onto stubborn belly fat due to hormone levels being all over the place.
Therefore it is important for you to practice healthier sleep habits. The 5 that I am recommending are ones that I live by to help me and have helped others as well get a better night sleep just by practicing these as well. 1. Put down your cell phone not only because of the blue light but also because it creates stress and anxiety when you are scrolling "mindlessly" through social media. 2. Create a routine-practice the same routine nightly to help your body and mind know when it is time to start getting ready for sleep. 3. Breathing techniques-boxed breathing to help calm the nervous system. 4. Ashwaganda-this is medicinal herb to helps to relieve depression, anxiety, and stress. 5. Go to sleep earlier in the night, around 10:00pm would be ideal as your skin is able to process light so it is best to work on waking and sleeping with natural light to help your own circadian rhythm.  This month we will be focusing on our planks each day along with some gratitude sprinkled in throughout the month. Want to join us?
Join our Accountaiblity group to see the exercises and share your pictures and posts. Feel free to also tag us and share with your friends for added fun!  One of my families favorite dinners is when I make bowls. I will usually make quinoa or rice to place in the bottom of the bowl and then some form of protein and then from their it is left up to the kids what else they place in the bowl. I cut up some vegetables and then each person picks whatever they want, but there is always some yummy offerings which allows them to try just a bit and keeps my children from complaining. This one was our buffalo chicken quinoa bowl with spinach, celery, carrots, red onion, and microgreens. And don't forget some sort of sauce to have on top, this can make or break the bowl so definitely don't forget it. Take a look at some of my favorite recipes for sauces here. I will post a video below of how this was made. When making your own bowls make sure to:
Need more ideas for picky eaters? Here are some of my other favorite dinnertime meals.
 Now that kids are heading back to school, even if it's virtual; we head into more of a routine which means we need to have more options for healthy breakfasts on the go. Here are some of my favorite, quick breakfast ideas that are high in protein, delicious, and can be made quickly the morning of or the night before.
Watch this video where I go over all of the above as well and grab our pdf of a few high protein breakfast you can make.  I understand that times are truly tough right now, but I also know that it is important to look for the positive things in life that are occurring as well to help stay uplifted and positive. One of the biggest silver linings is that since families aren't running around with hectic schedules and so many restaurants were closed for a period of time, there was a resurgence of family meal time.
It has been proven that when families eat meals together they:
and thanks to COVID 40% more families are cooking meals at home. Which, I'm not sure about you, but I truly believe that is something we can all feel good about. I know that life will begin to pick up again for everyone as things start to find a new rhythm and I understand that it may be difficult to eat dinner together every night, but I do hope that you will practice eating more with your family. It is the #1 best healthy practice you can have as a family, it keeps you and your family connected, and it is the foundation for a healthy nation. We must start making our own personal health and our families health OUR priority! We must research, gather, learn, and determine what is best for our own family in regards to health and wellness. It is imperative for us to become an ACTIVE member in the health and medical decisions that we are being faced with. I know that for my family I am focusing on supporting their immune system with exercise, plant based nutrition (we do eat everything, but focusing on plants), drinking plenty of water, getting enough sleep, practicing breathing and meditation techniques to decrease stress and practicing positive thoughts. Have you found a silver lining during this time of social distancing?  It can be hard getting our families to eat healthier but there are definitely things we as mom's can be doing to help provide our families a healthier lifestyle and it begins the moment you head into the grocery store.
Make sure that you have eaten prior to heading to the store so you aren't tempted by all of the different unhealthy foods, go with a plan (usually following a meal plan will help), and make sure you are purchasing mostly around the perimeter of the grocery store. I do keep some junky snack foods on hand for my family such as pretzels, goldfish, and cereals but if you try to keep mostly healthy food that will help. You can't expect to have your child make the decision to eat an apple if a pop tart is the other option. Now once you are home you will need to help your family to make smart choices by reminding them the importance of eating fruits and vegetables to help them get faster and stronger. Here are some things that I require for my children to practice eating healthier:
Some other things that I try to do are:
And lastly, spend at least 30 minutes at the dinner table. Practice slowing down as it's important to take time to chew your food so that you get all of the nutritional value out of your foods. We love to play fun question games at the dinner table to get us talking and having fun.  If you are struggling to eat more greens I highly recommend you try some new sauces and dips-they may just change everything!!! One of my most favorite sauces is Chimichurri and I will pour it over EVERYTHING! I usually will make it for a flat iron steak meal that we eat but I always make sure to make extra as it's delicious over scrambled eggs in the morning, on roasted potatoes, or anything else you can think of. Piri-piri is another sauce I love and will pour over rice and beans or any other rice bowl I make. Definitely give these dips a try and let me know what you think. These are my favorite two but I try to make different dips each week to help increase the good for you veggies and fat into my diet.  Chimchurri 1 cup parsley 3/4 cup olive oil 3 tbsp red wine vinegar 2 tbsp oregano 1 clove garlic 1 tsp crushed red pepper 1 tsp salt Mix all ingredients together in a food processor and store in a jar in the refrigerator.  Piri Piri
1/2 lemon, squeezed 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp red wine vinegar 1/2 jalapeno 2 small red or orange sweet peppers 2 garlic cloves 1 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp salt Add all of these ingredients into a blender and store in the refrigerator. This recipe was adapted from the cookbook Skinnytaste Fast and Slow to accommodate my families palate. |
AuthorMom, personal trainer, and corrective exercise specialist who wants to help you live an active and pain free life Categories
All
|
| Follow me |
|
RSS Feed