Where's The Meat?

Not on my dad's plate anymore! My dad just spent 3 weeks in West Palm Beach, Florida at the Hippocrates Health Institute seeking a way to rid his body of cancer and avoid the typical western medicine path. Most cancer patients are given three treatment options: radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery. Those are the only three cancer treatment options that have been offered for over 100 years, but they don't work. Chemo pumps your body full of toxins and often makes some patients worse off than they were before treatment. White blood cells and other lines of defense in our immune system are the only things that can actually kill cancer cells... so why not try something obvious, and make these natural defenses stronger instead of weaker by pumping the body with chemicals and filling it with radiation? Simply, because doctors wouldn't make enough money if all people had to do to cure their illnesses was eat a specific diet, and the drug companies would be out of business... and let's be honest, drug companies do a large part in running this country. Think about the number of commercials you see in one commercial break that are advertising some new drug. At the Hippocrates Health Institute, they are curing people by simply providing them with the knowledge that they need to cure themselves. It all has to do with diet and exercise, but mainly diet! My dad has been following an all vegan, raw foods diet since being at HHI. His macronutrient needs of protein, carbs, and fats are still met everyday but he eats no meat of any kind, no alcohol, no sugar, no processed foods, and nothing heated over 110 degrees. I have a lot of questions about this lifestyle, and am excited to go to HHI next week and just be a sponge for a week, absorbing all the information I can. I saw my dad for the first time in 3 weeks yesterday, and let me tell you, the results do not lie! I have never seem him look so good or so happy. He was full of energy and life, and at almost 50 years old, was sporting a set of 6 pack abs! He was only there 3 weeks and he looks like  he lost 20 pounds, looks 10 years younger, shaved over 100 points off of his cholesterol, and has been more excited about living than I have ever seen a person be before. He got up at 6 am this morning to go running, went to lift weights with me at 9, then went to hot yoga at 4. The man cannot be stopped! I am so excited to go down to Florida and learn everything I can about making my body as healthy as possibly and living a lifestyle that will keep me strong and thriving for the rest of my life. While a completely raw and vegan diet may not be a realistic lifestyle for a busy college student like myself, after I learn all I need to know, I am going to incorporate this diet into my life so that I will be following it about 70-80% of the time.

<3 Health and Happiness

Smooth Operator

It's summertime.... And for summer reason it is particularly hot and sticky this summer, so who doesn't love to sip on a refreshing smoothie?! Smoothies are great ways to get something healthy and filling in a hurry. However, you might be getting more than you bargained for with a smoothie in the sugar department. In Virginia Beach everyone loves Tropical Smoothie. Other areas of the country have places like Jamba Juice to cool them down in the summer. When you go to these places and look on the menu you can see what the main ingredients are in the smoothies, but not EVERYTHING is listed. One day I was curious so I tried using my eagle eye vision to look over the counter at the back wall to see where they had all the recipes listed for each smoothie. These are the complete recipes that only the employees see, so they know how to make each smoothie. I noticed that in each smoothie, the first ingredient for almost all of them was 1 scoop of turbinado sugar, and the 'scoop' was not a little one. Now, for those of you who don't know, turbinado is a less refined and less processed form of table sugar, so it is a better option in that sense, but sugar is still sugar. Fruit is already very sweet naturally, so next time you go to a smoothie place, ask them to skip the sugar, and if you wanna get even more out of your smoothie tell them to throw in a scoop of whey protein! I promise that smoothie will be just as tasty and refreshing and your body will thank you! :)

<3 Health and Happiness

BACK AND ABS

Woke up early today to hit the gym and was lucky enough to have my girl Stephanie Alexander to go with me! When I told her we were going to start with stiff legged romanian deadlift I couldn't help but notice a mixed look of both fear and confusion on her face haha. First, she told me that she had no idea what a romanian deadlift was and then she told me she had never been in the part of the gym before with all the weights because she usually just sticks to the ab room (or the "girly room" as she called it). Steph is an athlete so I wasn't worried at all about whether or not she would be able to keep up, but it did make me laugh a little bit because I forgot that most women are like Stephanie, and are kind of intimidated at first by the weight room.... And it's not because they aren't capable of lifting weights, but they just don't know what to do or where to start! Do some research on weight lifting, ladies (there's a lot of info out there!), grab a good girlfriend, and have fun together in the weight room learning what to do! You have nothing to lose, but everything to gain, so don't be scared of the iron! :) Today we did a back and abs workout! Tomorrow I'm gonna throw a crazy leg workout at Steph, so hopefully she'll still love me after I turn her legs to jello haha :)

Romanian Stiff Legged Deadlift
Hanging Leg Raises
Seated Cable Rows
Kneeling Cable Pulldowns for Abs
Bent Over Barbell Rows
In n' Outs with Physio Ball
Back Extensions... full and partial range of motion reps

<3 Health and Happiness

Muscle Mashup!

I haven't been able to get to the gym for a few days since it was closed for the holiday weekend, so today I did an intense total upper body workout. I used a combination of weighted, body weight only, isolated, and compound exercises, so it was a bit of a mashup of a workout, and 90 minutes of nonstop intensity! I moved quickly today between sets, trying to keep my heart rate up throughout my entire workout, and let me tell ya I was exhausted by the end! It was awesome and extremely fast paced... just like me! haha... It felt amazing to get in the gym and workout really hard after a few days of not lifting, and my body is definitely thanking me for getting out all of that built up energy! (I'm a naturally hyper person and after a couple days of no intense exercise I kinda get like a hyper puppy that hasn't been walked or played with haha). So here's my workout! It's a lot of different exercises, but if you keep your waiting time between sets to a minimum you will feel like this workout flew by.

Pushups (4 sets of 15) SUPER-SETTED with...

Side to Front Shoulder Raises (raise your arms straight out to the side, around to the front, then down to your thighs... do this for 10 reps)

Dumbbell Bench Press (3 sets) SUPER-SETTED with...

Tricep Kickbacks with Dumbbells (3 sets)

Lat Pull Down  (3 sets)

Hammer Curls (3 sets) SUPER-SETTED with...

Back Extensions (3 sets)

Tricep Cable Pulls (3 sets)

Seated Cable Row (3 sets)

Hanging Knee Raises (4 sets of 15)

Plank on Bosu Ball (3 sets for 60 seconds each) 

In n' Outs with Physio Ball (3 sets of 15... get in push up position with your feet on then physio ball then bring your knees towards your chest then back to the starting position)

An awesome workout ALWAYS makes you feel better! Even if you don't feel like going to the gym, make yourself go because once you get in there and get into your zone of focus, your mind and your body will be thanking you later for getting off that couch! 

<3 Health and Happiness

Hungry? Don't Grab a Snickers!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Unfortunately, because it's a holiday weekend the gym has been closed and I don't have much to blog about in terms of my lifting routine... No offense America, but your birthday is really not helping me in my fitness goals. Nonetheless, I have adjusted my nutrition for the weekend based on the fact that I cannot get into the gym to lift. Here I have a few pictures of foods I have been eating the past couple days. I always love looking at pictures people post of what they eat because it gives me new ideas and inspiration for ways I can shake up my meals! 

This is a steak I grilled up (cooked medium-rare of course!) with some mixed greens. Gabe and I found this amazing salsa at the store that is literally just chopped veggies, cilantro, and some lime juice... It tastes amazing and is much better for you than many other salsas that have a lot of added salt. I like using the salsa as my salad dressing and I like dipping my steak in spicy guacamole instead of the steak sauces that are filled with salt, sugar, and ingredients that are definitely not natural! Just making small substitutions in your diet can make a big difference!

Here is what Gabe made for breakfast one morning... It is an omelette made with egg substitutes, turkey bacon, spinach, and topped with that yummy salsa. He also made some oatmeal and added some cinnamon and fresh strawberries. Cinnamon is a really great way to add flavor to your breakfast foods without having to add sugar.

Gabe and I got some fresh salmon portions from the grocery store and created this delicious dinner! We brushed olive oil and a mix of Mrs. Dash spices (all salt-free!) onto the salmon, squash, and zucchini and then grilled them. We also added some mixed greens to our plates and cooked some fresh broccoli in the oven for about 15 minutes. That dinner was so amazing! Grilled veggies are a great side dish in the summertime.... they are filling, full of vitamins, and low in calories and fat.... what more could you ask for?!

This was my breakfast this morning... An omelette with egg substitutes, diced veggies, and turkey bacon. I then toasted some ezekiel bread and spread sugar free strawberry preserves on top. Since I can't lift for a few days I have been limiting my starchy carbs to breakfast time.  

It wouldn't be 4th of July weekend without some kebabs! We had some steak kebabs with onions and green and red peppers that we seasoned with Mrs. Dash grilling spice. I then just had a salad of mixed greens with a little splash of Marie's Parmesan Caesar Yogurt Dressing. Marie's brand dressings are definitely something to add to your refrigerator. They are all natural yogurt dressings, so they are low in sugar, salt, and fat compared to other dressings, and they are also made from all natural ingredients. It is not something I use often, but nice just for every once in a while on a day where I haven't had much fat.

This last item on the menu may not look the best, but it is definitely my favorite when it comes to killing a sweet tooth. This is protein pudding! I get a box of instant, sugar-free, zero calorie Jello pudding mix (cheesecake is my fave), and I add a scoop of vanilla protein, some skim milk, and a bit of cinnamon. Then, you just whisk it together and let it sit in the fridge to get that pudding consistency. It tastes amazing, and is more filling and less guilt-ridden than that candy bar or ice cream you would usually reach for.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend! Not that I don't love a long weekend, but I can't wait for the gym to reopen tomorrow! :)

<3 Health and Happiness

Work Those Quads!

Today at the gym I did a leg workout, but most of my focus was on my quadriceps since I did a specific hamstring workout earlier this week. With my workout today, to make my legs even more sore than usual, I did heavier weights on the weighted exercises and gave myself hardly any waiting time between sets for some extra fat burning.

Seated Leg Extensions (4 sets supersetted with 12 Jump Squats)
One legged squats using the smith machine (3 sets of 6 on each leg... hold one leg out straight in front of you as high as you can and squat down as low as you can with the other leg; keep the elevated leg up the entire set)
Split Legged Lunges with Smith Machine (3 sets of 8 on each leg... place a bench behind you and place you foot behind you on the bench while the other foot is not directly under your hip but a little in front of it; then do 8 lunges and switch legs)
Push-Press Barbell Squats (3 sets of 12... hold the BB at your chest with your elbows pointed down, then squat as low as you can; as you come up from the squat simultaneously press the BB over your head)
Leg Press Machine (4 sets)
Side Lunges (3 sets of 8 on each leg... start with your feet together, then reach out to the side with your right leg and lunge so that your toe, knee, and nose line up... make sure your toes stay pointed straight ahead the whole time. Do 8 then switch legs)
Ab/Adductor Machine (3 sets on each machine)

Enjoy that jello leg feeling! :)

<3 Health and Happiness