Diet Beta Test

Sometimes you get the opportunity to work with someone that you greatly admire on a project that isn't public yet. Wouldn't YOU jump on this opportunity if you had the chance?

Duh! 

So here I am! Halfway through week 3 of the Diet Beta Test that has been put together by Chalene Johnson.

It's no mystery that I'm an uber nutrition nerd. I don't what's happened over the last several years, but I have really found a love for everything having to do with nutrition. How it can heal us. How we should use it to fuel our bodies. Why we have an emotional connection to food. How God provided so much natural medication for us in our natural plant system. It all fascinates me!

So when Chalene started sharing all this nutritional science on gut health recently on her podcast, The Chalene Show, my ears were PERKED UP! Let me tell you....I was eating it up! Haha. And then she said, hey - join me in this diet beta test that I've formed with a bunch of amazing registered dietitians and scientists!

Heck yeah! Where do I sign up!?

I signed up in a heartbeat! I started listening to the lessons and making my plans to implement these changes into my diet.

Now I'm three weeks in and I've learned so much. Some of what I've learned debunks what I've always known to be true and some of it supports some of the things that I've researched myself.

The thing that I like the most about this Diet Beta Test is that everyone who is participating (just under 15,000 people, by the way) is presented the scientific evidence and then WE get to make our decisions on this diet and how we want to apply the principals of what we've learned. Our bodies are basically a big science experiment and it's pretty fun.

I will be giving a full review in another two weeks at the end of my journey, but for now here are some of the things that I've been incorporating:

- Bulletproof Coffee
- Intermittent Fasting
- Lots of cheese and eggs
- Little to no fruit
- Electrolyte water

If you have done any nutritional studying you can see what type of diet these five items are taken from. 😃 But I'll leave the details to when I recap the entire process - because it's a bit more involved than you might think it is based on the details that I just gave.

I know....I'm leaving you hanging, sorry. But I want to wait until I've gone through the whole process to come out with all of the details and my overall impression and opinion of what I've been doing. I will say that I've learned a whole lot about my body, my relationship with food, and what I'm capable of controlling!

More to come....

For more information and the opportunity to jump on the next Diet Beta Test with Chalene Johnson, visit www.dietbetatest.com to get your name added to the wait list for the next group! 

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My TOP 10 Mother's Day Gift Ideas!

May brings a lot of happiness, doesn’t it?

Flowers

Memorial Day a.k.a the OFFICIAL day of summer

Warmer weather

All of these things are awesome and make us so happy. I always get excited when I start to see the kids in their yards in their kiddie pools or when I start to plan what’s I’m going to do with that glorious 3-day weekend at the end of the month.
But there is also one very important day in May that we should all make sure to recognize.

MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Moms are the most amazing people on earth, are they not? When we’re kids, moms give up their dessert so that we can have some. Moms stay up late when we’re scared so that we will feel comforted. Moms will sacrifice their valuable time to ensure that their kids know they’re loved. And even as adults, moms are still calling and worrying because their kids will always be their babies no matter what.
I know that I am unbelievably thankful for my mom. The sacrifices that she made for me in my life are too many to count. And even though she THINKS she did a laundry list of things wrong, she did a pretty darn good job in my eyes.

Did you know :
1) One quarter of flowers purchased annually are purchased on mother’s day?
2) In the United States alone, around 122 million calls are made to moms on Mother’s Day?
3) Approximately $14 billion is spent on Mother’s Day.

Yep, moms are sure special people. I wanted to share with you my top 10 list of gifts to get for mom on mother’s day. Some are more traditional, while others are unique gifts that you might have not even thought of. In any case, I hope this list will help you narrow down what you’re going to be giving to YOUR mother to show her your appreciation:

1) An hour of cleaning services from an at-home cleaner, like Merry Maids! (Hint: check Groupon for some awesome deals)

2) A Fandango gift card (This is almost the PEAK movie season. I’m sure mom would love to be able to have some funds to go check out a couple.)

3) Take her to a local botanical garden. Even if your mom isn’t huge into flowers, she’ll truly enjoy that quiet time with you and will appreciate the beauty of nature!

4) A basket full of items she can use to have a few moments of relaxation. A bath bomb (Lush is my favorite), a bathtub pillow, maybe a new playlist you’ve downloaded for her of some nice jazz music. Help your mom just take a load off for awhile – moms are always go, go,go

5) Pay for a service to deep clean her car. I’m talking the “works”. Carpets, upholstery, cleaning in and out, of course.

6) Flowers

7) Give the gift of health. Hook your mom up with a year’s access to an at-home streaming service so she can get fit right in the comfort of her living room (Get more details here)

8) Buy her a 60 minute relaxation massage (Groupon again!)

9) Put together a photo flip book or album of some of the best memories over the last year. (I recommend Snapfish)

10) Take her to her favorite local restaurant and allow her to order whatever she wants. Again, she’ll enjoy the quality time with you more than the meal itself. But food dates are always fun!

So there you have it! My top 10 gift ideas for mom this Mother’s Day! Some of them are traditional, but I hope I was able to give you some unique ideas for 2017. Leave me a comment below and let me know what you ended up doing if you use this list! Would love to see a photo with you and your mom as well!

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New Recipe: Quinoa Enchilada Stovetop Dinner

Its so great to find a recipe that's full of real food ingredients, tastes good, is healthy, and that you can whip up on a weekday evening in about 45 minutes or less!

One of the staples of the dishes we eat in our house is quinoa. We are vegetarians, so getting a good complete source of protein in addition to the other key macros we need everyday is very important. And while we do occasionally eat the meat substitutes, generally we try to stay away from them due to their high sodium content and processed ingredients. So quinoa is an excellent meat alternative as it is the only plant based food that has all 9 essential amino acids!

I recently came across a blog that was full of amazing recipes to try and I decided to give this one a whirl tonight! It was a hit with both myself and my husband! 

Score!

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)

1 small onion, diced

2 bell peppers, cored and diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

15 ounces tomato sauce (no salt added)

1 and 1/3 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet warm 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. 

Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until translucent. 

Add the bell pepper, garlic, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 

1 teaspoon cumin, and 1 teaspoon oregano then stir 

everything together and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Next add the drained and rinsed beans, rinsed quinoa, 

tomato sauce, and 1 and 1/3 cup water. Stir together

then turn the heat to medium high and bring to a low boil. 

Cover with a lid and allow to cook for about 30 minutes, stirring

intermittently. When its finished the quinoa will be soft and most 

of the liquid will have absorbed.

Let me know what you think! Leave a comment below!

Credit to: makingthymeforhealth.com

Book Review: Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley

Over the last two years, one of my favorite things to do has become to read books that inspire me, motivate me, educate me, and push me to be better in my life and my business. This is otherwise known as Personal Development.

For the longest time I assumed that personal development was for people with "problems". For people who needed to be fixed. You know what I found out? That's TRUE! But guess what? That's ok! We all need help and we all have areas of our lives that need fixing! Attempting to work on YOU to make yourself better....what the heck is wrong with that?

If someone gives you a hard time for that, you should encourage them to read some personal development. Tee hee! 

For my business I read a lot of books on leadership, organization, self-belief, self-doubt, and how to be an effective communicator. But I can't neglect my personal or spiritual life in the process. These areas are actually even MORE important than the area of my business because they are the areas that develop my character to help me run my business more efficiently! 

A few weeks back I was at Barnes & Noble with a friend and something drew me to this book, Grace not Perfection. Maybe it was the pineapple on the cover or maybe it was the color pink.... Whatever it was, I was drawn to it. I read the subtitle, Embracing Simplicity, Celebrating Joy", and something told me that this was the book I needed right now.

From day ONE I have been nothing short of absolutely blessed by this book. Emily Ley is a beautiful writer who does a fantastic job of bringing you into her world so that you understand her heart and her personality and her REASON for writing this book. It took me on a journey through remembering the grace that God gives me in my life and made me realize that I need to give myself more grace than I have been giving.

What this book also did was help me to realign certain areas of my life in my mind. Though I'm not a mom, I am a full time wife, an full time worker, a network marketer, a group fitness instructor, and mentor, and a health and fitness coach....that translates into a LOT of stuff going on all the time! It's easy in this life to get priorities misaligned, isn't it? Especially as women. We have a tendancy to do this with straight-up emotion instead of logic and that can put us in a bit of a pickle when it comes to priorotizing things! 

I am thankful that Emily took the calling to write this book seriously because it has truly blessed my life! I looked forward each morning to opening it up and seeing what God has ready to communicate to me through the words of Emily! 

Emily

Who should read this:

Any woman who is juggling multiple things in life. Any woman who feels like her world can come crashing down at any moment. Any woman who just needs to be encouraged by another woman who has a million things to do. A woman who needs to be inspired through creativity and humor. 

In other words: ANY WOMAN!! 

Pick up this book NOW! 

I am now looking forward to getting my hands on a Simplified Planner! ← Click on the link to order your Simplified Planner.

I hope you find yourself as blessed by this book as I was! 

Introducing: THE SHIFT SHOP. The newest THREE WEEK Beachbody workout (Coming July 2017)

Just when I thought Beachbody had outdone themselves with workout programs, in comes THE SHIFT SHOP!

I was excited to see that we'd added a new Supertrainer by the name of Chris Downing!

See who he is in this video...look at that smile!

Chris packs a serious fitness credential punch and I'm super stoked to have him part of the Beachbody family! It shouldn't come as any surprise that we found another incredible trainer out there to bring into the impressive list that we already have. What trainer WOULDN'T want to work with Team Beachbody. I mean, c'mon! 

So what exactly IS The Shift Shop?

Let's just say that if you're looking for a challenging, effective, exciting workout that you can do in less than an hour from the comfort of your home and complete the whole thing in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS....this is the program you're going to want to get your hands on! 

Check out this video to see what it's all about: 

The thing that caught my attention is the progressive intensity through the three weeks. The thing that gets a lot of us stuck and plateauing in our weight loss journey is that we don't trick our body and give it something new to challenge it. We are creatures of habit and tend to stick with what's comfortable. This program will automatically get you out of that habit my progressively adding 10 minutes to your workout time each week! 

This program is set to launch in July and I have no doubt it will become another hit in the Beachbody library and a favorite among Beachbody customers! 

   Who is this new program FOR? It's great for ALL fitness levels. If you have a lot of weight to lose, Shift Shop  will be your on-ramp to fitness. If you've spent some time away from your regular routine, Chris will lead you        through a fitness tune-up. It's perfect for literally anyone.

 
   Workout Length:
25-45 minutes per day, 6 days a week for 3 weeks.

   Is there a Modifier?
Yes

   What's Included in the Shift Shop?
You will get 8 workouts that start slow, then accelerate. You'll also receive a Jump Start Guide that helps you start achieving your goals on Day 1, Agility Markers that can help you improve your coordination and agility, a 3-week calendar, and the Simple Shift Nutrition Guide - all specifically engineered to help you achieve maximum results.

   How much is it? 
Just $59.85 if you wish to purchase the DVD set, but if you have Beachbody on Demand All-Access subscription, you will automatically get it for free! (See below for additional details)

   When will Shift Shop be available?
July 2017. Info will be posted here when available!

***Did you know that any of our All-Access On Demand subscribers will automatically get access to this program when it releases in July without having to pay anything extra or order any new DVDs! That's pretty awesome! One of the great things about the new All-Access is that it keeps subscribers up to date on the latest and greatest from Beachbody so that they can always jump right into the new thing! ( CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ALL ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION)

TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS ANNUAL ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION AND JOIN ME IN MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNTABILITY FIT FAM, MESSAGE ME HERE

What do you think? Are you as excited about the Shift Shop as I am!! I can't wait to do it! I know what program I'll be kicking off in mid-July! 

Just when you thought my Superfoods shake couldn't get any better.... Introducing Matcha and Chaga Mushroom!

The earth is an amazing place!

Stunning landscapes. Beautiful oceans. Amazing animal diversity!

The earth is also an incredible food source and humans have been using natural ingredients from the earth to heal and nourish for thousands of years. In fact, that is the whole idea! This trend of man-made synthetic food has only been around for a few short decades. And interestingly enough, there are only a few people groups on earth who live on a mostly man-made diet. Most countries around the world are still growing and harvesting different plants, herbs, fruits, and grains to keep themselves healthy and fit! There are people groups on this earth who rely 100% on things from the earth to treat sickness, heal injury, and prevent diseases! They probably don’t even know that they’re doing it to be honest; it’s just the way that they’ve always done things.

We’re missing out on a lot of things in our Western word, sadly to say.

That’s why when I discovered Shakeology I was intrigued by the science that went into making this product. How the creator would literally trek across the globe finding groups of people who approach things 100% holistically and thrive doing it! 

See more about Superfood Hunter, Darin Olein, here

The trend of holistic medicine is definitely catching momentum in the Western world; but we’re still apprehensive about it because we’ve been so conditioned to think that everything has to be treated synthetically. But I challenge that thought process. I argue that a TON of the everyday ailments, chronic diseases, and auto-immune issues that we suffer from could benefit tremendously from a more holistic healing approach. Though I’m not negating that there is a time, place, and purpose for synthetic medicine as needed, what I am arguing is that we rely too much on IT and not enough on NATURAL OPTIONS.

God put things on this earth for our good! And we should be using them.

This is one of the main reasons that I love Shakeology so much! There are ZERO synthetic ingredients in this stuff. All of the natural ingredients from the earth itself, allowing for optimal nutrition for the body. It’s no wonder why hundreds of people have found relief from RA, IBS, Diabetes, inflammation, high blood presume, high cholesterol, etc. (This is not a medical statement, simply a summary of  testimonies from several individuals along with the results of clinical studies. Please consult your doctor directly for a full recommendation of Shakeology if you are concerned about certain health issues.) Shakeology is designed to repair your body from the inside out by filling it with pro and pre biotics, adaptogens, phytonutrients, protein, carbs, vitamins and minerals, from some of the most amazing superfoods on the planet. Not only does this put unbelievable nutrition into a bag for you, but the process by which Beachbody sources these ingredients is also helping to sustain communities through farming efforts! That’s something that I’m very proud of!

LEARN MORE ABOUT SHAKEOLOGY HERE

A huge announcement that came to the coach network this weekend during our quarterly even was that we will be adding two new ingredients to the lineup of superfoods: MATCHA POWDER and CHAGA MUSHROOM! But what are these new ingredients and why should you even care? Well, let's take a peek at them! 

MATCHA POWDER 

This crazy superfood jumped on the healthy popularity train a few years back. One of the biggest health benefits is that it delivers a mega dose of antioxidants. In fact, according to the latest superfood research, it has exponentially more antioxidants than any other superfood.  

What are antioxidants and why are they important? Antioxidants are naturally occurring chemical compounds that prevent aging and chronic diseases. Some sources you may be familiar with are blueberries and pomegranates. To put it in perspective, matcha has 20 times more antioxidant content than either blueberries or pomegranates.  

Matcha also contains an ingredient not found in other food sources: catechins. Catechins are potent antioxidants that provide cancer-fighting properties and counteract the effets of free radicals that we get everyday from things like pollution, UV rays, and chemicals. In other words, stuff that we're exposed to everyday in everyday life that we can't control. 

From a weight loss perspective, matcha helps to boost metabolism and burns fat. And while it does this it surprinsigly doesn’t raise the blood pressure or heart rate, leaving it a great alternative to questionable products for weight loss that come with a list of potential, scary side effects. Matcha came to Japan over a thousand years ago as an aid to meditation practice to remain calm. It might be new to us here in the Western world; but we should be happy that now we have access to it in Shakeology!

CHAGA MUSHROOM

Chaga has been consumed for centuries in the East, typically as a tea. This is a non-toxic fungus that will typically grow on the side of birch trees in the Northern Hemisphere. There are quite a few health-beneficial properties to the chaga mushroom. 

Beta-D-Glucans help to balance the response of the body’s immune system. This means that is boosts the immune system when necessary, but slows it down when it’s overactive. 

Though research is still ongoing, chaga has proven effective in supporting standard cancer approaches, such as chemotherapy since it has been shown to active the immune cells responsible for combating cancer initiation. 

Chaga also supports the integrity of blood vessels and provides soothing properties in times of irritation. This can prove helpful for individuals suffering from pain, neuropathy, and even diabetes. 

Studies have shown that the betulinic acid found in chaga is able to break down LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) in the bloodstream!

Similar to matcha that we looked at before, chaga also shows helpful in the area of antioxidants!

As you can see, adding these two ingredients to an already amazing blend of superfoods will only serve to set Shakeology apart from the competition even further. I can’t rave enough about this daily part of my diet, and I hope that you will give it a try!

****PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE TWO NEW INGREDIENTS ARE ALREADY ADDED TO OUR NEWEST FLAVORS: VEGAN CAFE LATTE AND VEGAN VANILLA (AVAILABLE NOW) AND WILL BE PHASED INTO THE REMAINING 7 FLAVORS OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS****

To order a sampler pack of Shakeology from me, click HERE

To find out more information about joining my monthly accountability group using Shakeology and a fitness program together, message me HERE!