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Benefits of Eating Yogurt
Hey Everyone!
Today I am talking about the benefits of eating yogurt. I know that a lot of you probably already know that eating it is very good for you, but you might not know all of the benefits. I am also going to talk about my favorite type. I think it tastes like a treat!
The first benefit I am going to talk about is that yogurt supports healthy digestion. Yogurt has something called probiotics in it. Probiotics are healthy bacteria. This might sound disgusting to you but we actually have a ton of bacteria normally in our gut. When the good and bad bacteria get out of balance, more bad than good, it can cause you to become sick. When you add probiotics to the mix you are adding more good bacteria, which is exactly what we want. Yogurt can boost the immune system. This also stems from the probiotics. It can help regulate your mood. Studies have shown that good gut health is directly related to better mood. It lowers the risk of many diseases. Some of these diseases include: Diabetes II and Colorectal Cancer. Due to the probiotics in the yogurt, your gut stays healthier for longer. As a byproduct, your risk of colorectal cancer is decreased. This has been proven in medical studies. Since yogurt promotes a healthy gut, it also improves the absorption of nutrients in the gut. This can improve blood sugar regulation, which in turn, can prevent Diabetes II. It prevents osteoporosis and can increase bone density. This is because it has both calcium and vitamin D, which are crucial for bone health! Both of these vitamins strengthen and maintain your bone mass.
My favorite yogurt is Noosa. My favorite flavor is lemon. You can find this at most grocery stores and they also sell it at Costco!
I hope that you learned something from today’s post. Please let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading.
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How to do a Proper Squat
Hi Everyone! Today I am talking about how to do a proper squat. Again, I am not a personal trainer. I have, however, learned a lot about squats from my trainer and through doing them for years. I am hoping to pass that knowledge onto you!
Why should you learn how to do a proper squat? Doing squats incorrectly can lead to injuries. You can put extra stress on your ligaments and tendons. You won’t get as good of a workout as well. There are also many benefits to doing a squat properly. They can improve knee stability. They help you to perform daily activities more easily. You don’t need any equipment to do them. They help you to be able to lift heavy items correctly. They are working out multiple muscles at the same time, making your time better used during your workout.
So how do you do a proper squat?
- Start by placing your feet shoulder width apart. Your feet can be parallel or slightly pointed outwards.
- Make sure you are “sitting back” so that you aren’t just bending your knees. You can practice with a chair to start. This feels pretty uncomfortable when you start, but you really want to make sure your knees are not going past your toes. Also make sure that your knees are not pushing in when you go down.
- Don’t hunch your back. You want to make sure your back is as straight as possible.
- You don’t want your heels to leave the ground ever. The thing that I have found to help me most with this is squatting with only socks on, especially when you start piling on the weight. You can also find shoes that are good for squatting if that grosses you out.
- When you get the first steps down, make sure you are going down low enough. Your knees should bend about 90 degrees and your thighs should be parallel to the floor. When you are more advanced you can go even lower.
- Practice, practice, practice. The best thing you can do to get better at squatting is practicing. I can tell you that it took me a while to get the best form for me. Once you get better, you can start adding weight! There are also several variations of squats but once you get a simple squat down you can move on to those!
Here is a video of me doing a couple barbell squats.
Thanks for taking the time to check out my post today. I hope that it helps you in your fitness journey. Let me know in the comments below what you would like to hear about next.
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Using Vision Boards To Accomplish Goals
Hey Everybody! Today I am writing about using vision boards to accomplish your goals. I thought it would be an appropriate time since everyone is making New Years resolutions. I know some think that doing this is “weird” but try to hear me out.
Vision boards are a visual representation of things you want to attract to your life. This could be a poster with things taped or glued to it, a collage on your phone, or a collage made on the computer. These are only a few examples of what you can do. The trick is putting it somewhere you will look at multiple times a day. You can change your desktop on your computer or the background on your phone. My favorite is a poster in my bedroom.
You want to place it somewhere you can see it all the time because your subconscious will be thinking about it even when you aren’t. I know this sounds a little bizarre but try it out! You wouldn’t believe the stuff I have accomplished from making my own vision boards. I put pictures of places I wanted to visit and without even realizing it I took the same picture while I was there! I didn’t even realize that I did this until months later looking through my trip pictures. It still blows my mind!
You can make these for long or short term. I’ve made them for the current year up to the next five years! It’s completely up to you.
Thanks for reading! If you loved today’s post please subscribe below. Happy New Year!
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My Fitness Pal
Hey Everybody!
Today I am informing you about an awesome app that can help you see what exactly you are eating. It is called MyFitnessPal and it is free! You do not have to use it in premium mode to use any of the things I will mention below.
I first learned about this app when I was doing personal training at VASA. My trainer recommended it to me to see how many calories I was eating compared to what I should be eating to hit my goals. Sometimes you have no idea that you are eating, way too much or even way too less than you should be. I originally typed in what I wanted and it really did turn out that I was not eating enough. Not only that but I was not getting the amount of protein that I needed in order to build my muscles.
Through the app you can track your weight, water intake, exercise, and what you are eating. My two favorite features are the ability to scan the package of the food you are eating and being able to input your own recipes into the app. Scanning the food takes away all the guessing, all you have to do then is figure out how much you ate. The recipe feature is also very helpful because if you are anything like me, you probably eat the same recipes over and over so you can just select it and put in your own serving size.
Once you have input all of your food intake for the day, you can see what your macros look like too. You can see if you are eating in one category more than the others. Knowing this can help you adjust your diet for the future to achieve your goals. It also shows you your daily nutrients so you can also see how you are doing in that aspect.
I chose to write about this app today because I know that a lot of people really stress about eating around the holidays. My personal opinion is eat what you want on the holidays but don’t make it a habit. Everything should be eaten in moderation. Also don’t completely stuff yourself to the point of making yourself sick. You won’t feel good or be happy. Just get a little bit of everything you want.
This app can help with New Years resolutions as well. You can type in how much weight you would like to gain or loose and the app will help you to find a healthy way of achieving that.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog! I hope you have a happy holidays and get to spend as much time as possible with those you love.
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Perfect Pesto Pasta
Hey Everybody!
Today’s recipe is one for a crockpot pesto chicken pasta. Shane and I have been really interested in finding meals that we can prepare in the morning and eat pretty soon after we get home from skiing. We are always exhausted and the last thing we want to do is cook. I originally got this recipe from Pinterest from themagicalslowcooker.com by Sarah Olson. I have made a few modifications as I wanted to make it a little healthier!
This recipe generally takes about 5 hours and 15 minutes from start to finish. Although you can cook the chicken longer if you are not home during that time frame! This recipe is for 8 servings so plan accordingly. Shane and I usually half the recipe!
Ingredients
1½ lbs. Chicken Breasts
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
1 jar (6 oz.) Pesto (I used Barilla Rustic Pesto)
¼ cup Salted Butter
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 box Veggie Rotini (I use Ronzoni)
½ cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Lowfat Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
¼ tsp. Dried Basil
Instructions
- Add
liner to your crockpot. This will make cleaning up 10X easier! - Add the chicken to the crockpot. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Spread over the pesto, pour the lemon juice over the chicken. Cut the butter into slices and lay over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time. *We have cooked ours up to 10 hours like this and it still tasted fine!
- Near the end of the cooking time, cook the pasta according to the package directions and drain well.
- Shred the chicken by taking it out of your crockpot and putting it into your KitchenAid. Use the flat beater attachment, lock the KitchenAid and turn it on 3 for 30 seconds. This should shred your chicken evenly. Add the chicken back into the crockpot. (You can also shred your chicken with forks, I just prefer to use my KitchenAid because it is easier!)
- Add the cooked pasta and the parmesan cheese to the crockpot, stir everything until the pasta is coated with the buttery pesto sauce and the chicken is evenly dispersed throughout the pasta. Add the mozzarella cheese over the pasta. Cover for about 15 more minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Garnish with dried basil. Serve and enjoy!
I really enjoy this recipe and I hope you do too. It is perfect, heated up for leftovers as well! Let me know what you think about this recipe in the comments below. If you love this please subscribe as well!
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Commit to Acts of Kindness
Hi Everybody!!
Today’s post is about committing to doing random acts of kindness to help with your self-care. We often times have way too much going on in our lives and are extremely busy. When you do an act of kindness it doesn’t have to be something elaborate. It can be something small like: holding the door for someone, smiling at someone, greeting someone, giving someone a compliment, helping someone with their groceries, picking up something someone else dropped, etc. The possibilities are endless!
By doing something small you can have a huge impact on someone. They may even want to do something kind for someone else. This can cause a ripple effect and may even come back to yourself one day!
Doing kind things for others can have some amazing benefits. It can reduce your stress levels and boost your mood. It can increase your life satisfaction. It also helps to create a positive atmosphere around you. These benefits alone would make doing these things worth it but there are even more benefits!
Doing a kind act can really help the person that you do it for as well. We don’t know what is going on in others peoples lives. Maybe they are having the worst day ever and you just helped them through it. Maybe they were losing hope, but you just gave them one more thing to hold onto. You really never truly know.
“A Random Act of Kindness, no matter how small, an make a tremendous impact on someone else’s life.” – Roy T. Bennett
Commit to doing at least one random act of kindness every day for the next week. See how it makes you feel. Come back and leave a comment on what you did. If you already do this please share your experience below! I would love to here about it. The holiday season is a perfect time to start this!
Let’s make this world a better place to live.
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Biceps Workout
Hey Everybody!
Today’s workout is a biceps workout! As I have explained in previous posts, I struggle with golfer’s elbow so I normally don’t do a ton of bicep workouts as they seem to aggravate it the most! Here are some of the exercises that I do in order to keep my biceps toned. I like to use lower weight while doing these, somewhere in between 10-20 pounds.
4 sets of 10 reps
10 Reverse Barbell Curls
10 Barbell Curls
10 Dumbbell Hammer Curls
10 Bicep Cable Curls
Here is a video on how to do each of these exercises. It is sped up just a little bit.
A few tips are: keep your elbows at your sides, don’t bend your wrists, and grip the barbell so it is parallel to your shoulders. As always, listen to your body. If something hurts don’t do it. Always start with the lowest amount of weight and increase from there.
I hope you liked today’s workout. Don’t forget to subscribe below so you don’t miss any of the workouts or meals! Thanks for your support and I will see you again next week.
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Get Fitted
Hey Everybody!
Today I am going to talk about something I have wanted to talk about for a long time, my running shoes. I’m not going to tell you a specific shoe to go out and buy. Why not? Everyone is different and my shoe might not be the best fit for you. Finding the right shoe for you is very important! You may be a pronator or supinator and not even know it! I am and I didn’t know it. Having the wrong shoe can lead to some very serious injuries such as: plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, tendonitis, and corns. I have actually had very painful corns from the wrong shoes.
My sister Ashleigh (my personal running expert) has been working in run specialty for four years! Here’s what she says about running shoes “Getting into the right shoe is important to keeping you healthy when running. They can prevent injury, blisters, and make you a more efficient runner. Getting a gait analysis at your LOCAL running shop can ensure you are in the right shoe for YOU. They will measure you, and film you on the treadmill and suggest a handful of shoes that would work for your specific needs. By then, go by feel, whichever shoe feels the best/most natural/ least noticeable is the shoe you should pick. *Spoiler Alert: you should have about a thumb’s width of room at the end of your shoe for room for your feet to swell, and to prevent your toes from curling and your anterior tibia from getting overworked (shin splints).”
The gait analysis will determine whether you are an overpronator, neutral pronator, or supinator (under pronator). An overpronator’s ankle pushes inwards toward their other ankle when they run. A neutral pronator’s ankle stays neutral, basically parallel. A supinator or under pronator’s ankle pushes outwards, away from the other ankle. As you can probably tell, if someone is wearing the wrong shoe for their condition, they could worsen it.
I used to hate when my sister would bring me shoes home that were a size too big. Now when I put on “my size” shoe, they feel extremely tight and uncomfortable. When I went to get fitted for my marathon shoes, she told me that I had to size up or I would have some extreme consequences. I thought I would be tripping over myself with a size larger or that my foot would slide out of the shoe. I decided to trust her because she has been doing this for so long and I am very glad that I did! I finished my marathon and my feet felt better than any of my previous half marathon experiences.
So moral of the story… Go get fitted for the right shoes for you! Your future self will thank you!
If you are in Utah here is a list of local running stores you can check out!
Utah Running Shop
1895 Washington Blvd. Suite 200, Ogden, UT 84401
Wasatch Running Center
316 N Marketplace Dr. C200, Centerville, UT 84014
Salt Lake Running Company
2454 S 700 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84106
St. George Running Center
2736 E Red Cliffs Dr., St. George, UT 84790
De Boer’s Running Store
135 S. Main St., Bountiful, UT 84010
If you loved today’s post don’t forget to subscribe below! Thanks again for reading, I appreciate your support!
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Flavorful Fajitas
Hey Everybody!
Today’s recipe is one for flavorful fajitas. I love this recipe because it is so easy to make. I got this recipe mostly from the back of a McCormick’s mix packet but I have altered it a little to make it a little healthier.
This recipe generally takes only about 20 minutes from start to finish.
Ingredients
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 pkg. McCormick Fajita Seasoning Mix
1 Large Onion (diced)
1 Green Bell Pepper (sliced into small pieces)
¼ Cup of Water
4 Tortillas (I use Mission Whole Wheat Chia & Quinoa)
1 Container of Pico De Gallo (We love Salsa Queen)
¼ Cup of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
¼ Cup of Low Fat Plain Greek Yogurt
Instructions
- Heat up your frying pan on medium-high heat. (I love my copper pan that is nonstick, I will insert the one I use below)
- Add meat, cook and stir for about 3-5 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink.
- Remove meat and put it into a bowl with a paper towel under the meat. (This will soak up the grease)
- Dispose of the remaining grease in the pan.
- Return the pan to the heat and add your onions and green peppers. Cook and stir for about 3-5 minutes then return the meat to the pan.
- Stir in your water and seasoning mix. Cook and stir for 3 more minutes.
- Add mixture to tortillas, along with a sprinkle of cheese, a tablespoon of Greek yogurt and a tablespoon of Pico De Gallo.
- Enjoy!
I really enjoy this recipe and I hope you do too. Let me know what you think about this recipe in the comments below. If you love this please subscribe as well!
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The Importance of Mindfulness
So, what does Mindfulness even mean?? Dictionary.com defines mindfulness as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. What I define mindfulness as is being present in what you are doing, no matter what that is. Maybe you are feeding your baby, enjoying music at a festival, eating dinner with your spouse, listening to your grandmother tell you a story. Regardless of what you are doing, you are present. You aren’t thinking about what you are going to have for dinner later, what you are going to respond with, or recording every song or performance so you can watch it another time. You are simply being there and living in the moment.
I first learned about mindfulness in college in my stress management course. It could not have come at a better time for me. I was trying to do way too many things at the same time! It also helped me to learn how to be present even in times of extreme stress. Being present really helped me to relieve the stress I was feeling and deal with it at appropriate times.
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” – Jon Kabat Zinn.
Examples of ways we can be mindful in a normal day
- Thinking about your breathing
- Doing one thing at a time
- Listening without Fixing
Why should we be mindful? PositivePsychology.com states that there are actually seven benefits to practicing mindfulness. They are: improved working memory, heightened metacognitive awareness, lower levels of anxiety, reduced emotional reactivity, enhanced visual attention processing, reduced stress, and managing physical pain. There are many incredible benefits to practicing this, as you can see. I have personally had the benefits of less emotional reactivity and less stress.
What are some benefits you have experienced through practicing mindfulness? Please comment below with your answers. If you loved today’s post, please subscribe below!
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