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With results you can see, fitness + nutrition makes a great start!

**I'm not an expert, just a trainee!**

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Does Your Back Hurt?


My husband and I have this Inversion Table and we LOVE it!  We've owned it for about a year and it's so great to stretch out your back on.  I can highly recommend it because I've used it!!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Still Losing....

I've been on a healthy weight loss journey for 2 years and I've lost 63 lbs.  That's not too bad.  I started Weight Watchers in May 2011, 5 months after my youngest child was born.  I had a lot of weight to lose and I knew I had room to improve on my nutrition.  In January 2012, my youngest son was started on a gluten-free diet at a year old and my family was thrown into eating cleaner and working closely with a dietitian to meet our nutritional needs.  In March 2012, I partnered with BeachBody as a Coach to help others with their health, nutrition and fitness goals.  I can't believe how my life has changed in the last 2 years and how much better I feel.  I'm not going crazy with insane workouts, I'm not doing crazy health food crazes and kicks.  I'm eating right and losing weight the right way, slow and steady.

The largest change I've made lately is incorporating the healthy nutrition into my favorite foods.  I recently made homemade tenderloins (that's right!) fried in coconut oil.  Lets talk about the benefits of coconut oil for a minute.  Now, I've used virgin, not virgin.  I know virgin is supposed to be better, but both beat butter.  (I do eat butter in my diet, but a variety of healthy oils in your diet is good.  And, everything in moderation.)

Straight from care2.com

Health Benefits of Virgin Coconut Oil (cold pressed):

1. Thyroid-stimulating: Research shows that coconut oil contains a medium-chain fatty acids accelerate that stimulates metabolism, gives you more energy.
2. Get candida in check: Coconut oil has a good quantity of caprylic acid in it which is well known to kill off excess candida by targeting harmful bacteria.
3. Lowers cholesterol: It is rich in lauric acid which protects your heart by reducing total cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol.
4. Helps with weight loss: Here is an interesting fact about coconut oil; even though it is a fat, it actually helps with weight loss!  Read more here: Weight Loss With Coconut Oil. The healthy medium chain fatty acids do not circulate in the bloodstream like other fats; they are sent directly to the liver and are converted into energy. Thus the body does not store the fat in coconut oil as fat; it uses it to produce energy instead.
5. Helps keep diabetes in check: It does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream. Instead it helps control blood sugar by improving the secretion of insulin. Note: This is not a free pass to eat a lot of sugar and other dumb carbs
6. Reduces heart disease: studies on people in the Pacific Islands found that their total caloric intake included thirty to sixty percent from fully saturated coconut oil. These Pacific Islanders have nearly non-existent rates of cardiovascular disease.
7. Gastrointestinal malabsorption diseases: Combining Vitamin E supplements with coconut oil through the skin proved to be a good alternative for those with gastrointestinal malabsorption diseases. Study in Canada 1999 University of Western Ontario
8. Supports the immune system. It is rich in lauric acid, a nutrient that supports the body’s immune system.
9. Good for the skin: When applied externally it forms a protective antibacterial layer protecting the infected body part.  Also, coconut oil speeds up the healing process of bruises by helping to repair damaged tissue.  http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/coconut-oil-super-powers-pt-2
10. Nourishing for the brain: Studies show that it improves cognitive function, and stalls, or even reverses, neurodegenerative diseases in their early stages.
11. Ancient medicine:
Coconut oil has been part of Ayurvedic medicine for 5,000 years in India.
12. Speeds Recovery:
People in Panama drink a glass of coconut oil to protect themselves from illness as it is also believed to speed recovery from sickness.

 I've found that the more kinds and types of food you eat, the more healthy you eat because you have a wider variety of foods and flavors in your diet.  Fry something in coconut oil, like a tenderloin and you'll be surprised.  Just note, use low temperature or you'll burn the oil!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Crossift Shoes



Check out these crossfit shoes!  Love them for my workouts.  I lost 8 lbs last month with clean eating.  Hoping to chop off a few extra lbs with crossfit this month!  What's your workout?