Green Juice & Workouts

Hey friends! Sorry its been a few days since I posted - I've been busy with life and school! I'm currently watching Cupcake Wars on Food Network as I type this - there's nothing better, right? Sticky Fingers Vegan Bakery is competing tonight!!

Today was Day 8 of my 30 Day Shred challenge. Although I can't tell you if I've lost weight or not (I hate weighing myself), I can tell you that I have gained a LOT of ab and arm muscles. My arm muscles are looking great! I actually have shoulder muscles now - who knew? I've also now moved on to Level 2 - which is much, much harder than Level 1. Mostly because everything in Level 2 is plank based - and planks are hard! I usually take multiple breaks while doing this level. I need to work my way up to being able to complete it all the way through without stopping, much like I did with Level 1. Over the weekend I have been doing both Level 1 and Level 2 back to back since I have more free time than I do during the week. I'm feeling great!

Yay for working out!

I also made my first green smoothie yesterday - which I am sharing the recipe for below. I geared it towards beginners, like myself, who are still getting used to the flavor of green juice and smoothies. If you want this to be a little sweeter and not as "green" tasting, add the full banana instead of just half.

Yummy green smoothie!

Beginners Green Juice
Makes 5 cups

Ingredients:

2 c. Goodbelly Mango Juice (or any fruit juice - pineapple would work well here)

2 small pears, diced

1 large grapefruit, segmented and diced

1/2 banana

1 t. chia seeds

1 large handful spinach leaves

4 medium florets broccoli

Directions:

1. Add juice, pears, grapefruit, chia seeds, and banana to blender and blend until smooth. 

2. Add spinach and blend. 

3. Add broccoli florets and blend. 

4. Enjoy! 

What do you think of green juices/smoothies?

Much love, 

Back to School Stress & Raw Food 101

**Have to entered my giveaway yet? Only ONE DAY left to enter!!**

I've only been through one entire day of school so far, and I am already feeling extremely stressed.

I have a terrible, terrible case of the Mondays.

Let me explain. From 9:30am - 1:30pm I am in class. From 3-5pm I meet with my spiritual mentor, from 5:30 - 7pm I meet with the leaders of Navigators, from 8-9pm I lead a small group, and from 9:30 - 10:30pm I have my RA staff meeting.

Needless to say, Mondays are CRAZY. At least for the moment. I'm debating what I can do to lighten up my schedule!

So yesterday, being a Monday and the first day back to school, was crazy. I was feeling really physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted, and then finding out that my Jane Austen class will be reading approximately 15-22 chapters of a Jane Austen novel for each class sent me a little over the edge. Thankfully, today I am feeling a bit better.

Today was also Day 4 of my 30 Day Shred challenge! So far, it's going pretty well. I'm still on Level 1, and after briefly looking at what is in store for me on Level 2, I decided to stick with Level 1 for at least a full week. I'm always sweating buckets after each intense 20 minute workout and feeling pretty good about myself. I can definitely tell that I am building strong muscle! However, I am still incredibly terrible at push ups... I don't know if I'll ever get better at them! I can usually do the initial few, but then have to stop because I just can't push myself back up. Hopefully, after spending some more time doing the shred, I'll become a lot better at them!

I also received 3 other Jillian Michael's DVDs for Christmas: Yoga Meltdown, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism, and No More Trouble Zones. I will most likely move on to one of those after I finish my 30 Day Shred challenge. I am a bit concerned about Yoga Meltdown....because I am extremely inflexible and bad at bending. According to Jillian, she isn't flexible either, although she is still more flexible than I am.

However, exercise just isn't enough if I really want to lose those 20 pounds in 30 days. It also involves a change in diet; a switch to healthier eating. I am trying my hardest to eat more fruits and veggies, since I rely a  lot on processed foods and junk foods, because I know that will help me develop a lean body, burn the most calories I possibly can, and shred away all that fat!

Before I cut my hair and dyed it back to my original blonde. How I miss my long hair :( 

In light of healthy eating, I'm going to talk about a newly released DVD from raw food expert Tanya Alekseeva of Better Raw. This lovely lady really knows her stuff when it comes to raw food! A Russian wellness coach living in London, I heard about her raw food expertise through her e-book, Seduced, which contains tons of great raw chocolate recipes! 

Basically, I REALLY need to purchase that e-book. I would love to make raw chocolates!

Her new DVD Raw Foods 101 is a 2 and 1/2 hour guide to everything you need to know about raw foods, including health info, food prep, recipes, how to use a dehydrator, making nut milks, and much more. The program is divided into short sections, so you can choose to watch different parts or all of it at once. I found this DVD to be extremely insightful. For example, I learned: 

-Maca is good for your hormones

-We crave chocolate on our period because of body is lacking magnesium

-Chia seeds are much easier to digest than flax seeds

-There are two different types of juicers, masticating and centrifugal

-The molecules in greens resemble the molecules in human blood, so drinking green juice is like having a healthy blood transfusion

-1 glass of soymilk = the same amount of estrogen found in 8 birth control pills. Yikes!

And so much more! Her recipes we very easy and sounded delicious, not to mention looked beautiful. 

Complaints? My only complaint is that, at the endings of sections, the final word sometimes gets cut off. Still, this isn't a big deal, and it only happens on a few of the sections. Because of the amount of information provided and everything you will learn from this program, the DVD is worth the money you will spend purchasing it. 

For more information on purchasing Raw Food 101, click here.

The Daisy Rating

4.5/5 Daisies

Thanks for allowing me to review your DVD, Tanya! Best wishes to you on your raw food journey! It has definitely inspired me to try to incorporate more raw food into my diet. 

Have a great day, everyone! 

Much love,