Lifting, Diet, and GRATITUDE

HOLA! Finally the sun is shining again this morning, its been pretty rainy this past week, which I didnt mind at all since it gave me a chance to get caught up on my tornado-like mess at home. Ive been really busy focusing on my training the last couple weeks, upping my reps and weight. This has been a really awesome challenge, I forgot that I need to be challenged to stay motivated. For the remainder of this week I want to start adding more cardio to my regime again (I miss running!) I wanna do half hour 3 days a week at a moderate heart rate. I really need to get a monitor! Hint Hint KIRK! ;) 

I've also been focusing a lot on my diet- specifically counting calories and macros (eg: any nutritional component of the diet that are required in relatively large amounts; protein, carbohydrates, fat). Before, for quite a few months I was eating a bulletproof-paleo-hybrid-self-created-diet where I focused on high fat (probably 60% minimum) low carb (20% or less). Typically bacon and eggs and a veggie for breakfast, the famous butter coffee in between, maybe a herb salad for lunch, and then usually steak and veggies for dinner. This worked great at first, I lost huge inches and about 10 lbs of my already small frame (bound to happen with any drastic diet change) however I found I was starting to get a layer of fat on my abdomen LOL- I think it worked great while I was following it strictly, but the moment ièd eat carbs (or drink alcohol, lets face it, its summer, bring on the cold ones!) Id put on pounds (and not the good muscular ones). So now im focusing on leaning out again, counting my foods and keeping a journal. (ive been using the calorie count ap but I may switch to my fitness pal). This week my days have looked like pre-work out I have a coffee (still my butter coffee, unless I grab one after school drop off I get a non sweet latte with regular milk) then iève been having a egg white omelet with veggies or a protein pancakes. I want to start supplementing flax for some paleo-style fibre but I need to pick some up. Snack has been plain full fat greek yogurt and berries, or maybe celery and almond butter. Lunch: salad with palm sized chicken (I really need to get a food scale) and quinoa. Dinner is the same as before, typically a protein and veggies, but iève been trying to add more starchy veggies like yams or brown rice and a leaner protein (I've been eating more chicken than before). Ive been drinking A LOT less coffee. Only one per day now, and plain green tea the rest of the time.

I feel good about this diet revamp, it keeps me in check to keep track and know where my calories are coming from rather than drinking butter coffees all day.

Aside from my fitness, ive been trying to get out of a mental slump. I have been depressed for the last couple of months and really struggling with my home life because of some family problems. This has inspired me to keep a gratitude journal so I can not sweat the small stuff, so to speak:) Im actually really enjoying it- it reminds me how lucky I am and ive been wondering a lot how I forgot in the first place.

-Steph
(PS- if your wondering why my grammar is so terrible today, itès because my computer sucks and clearly im illiterate ;) é..^è^pè HELP! ;)

Baby blue arsenal leads to pancakes..recipe!

Today was the second day of the BC rotating teacher's strike in our region, so Becca was home from school, which was such a relief as i'm recovering from stomach flu/food poisoning so I didn't want to get up and rush out the door as per our usual routine. I have been too busy to do any baking or elaborate breakfasts (doing it butter-coffee-in-mug-out-the-door-sleep-zombie-girl-STYLE) for weeks...months maybe. However this morning I was inspired by Beccas baby blues and pouty lips, mummy can you pleeeeeeeaaaaseeee make pancakes. I could not say no, despite my tornado like kitchen (lasts nights dinner dishes still on my dining room table. ) They were super good, my littlest even at 3! Which is pretty much a miracle because she NEVER eats (unless its cheese:)

Blueberry Cinnamon Paleo Pancakes
local/organic ingredients whenever possible
Serves 4 

Ingredients:
5 eggs
3/4 cup coconut milk (or other dairy free milk alternative)
1/2 cup coconut flour (+ maybe 1tbs or two if it needs to be thicker, it takes a minute or two to 'fluff up' -patience:)
-1/4 cup coconut milk or grassfed butter (melted)
-1tsp baking soda
-1tsp cinnamon
-1tbs honey (optional)
-1/2 cup fresh blueberries

The Method:
Preheat pan to medium-low heat. Melt coconut oil or butter. While oil is melting, beat eggs and milk with a hand or electric mixer, then add the melted oil/butter. Mix coconut flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and honey into the wet egg mixture. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken. Fold in blueberries. pour in 1/4 cup diameter and cook 2-3 minutes per side, again, patience!

I served mine with some grass fed butter, and a drizzle of real Canadian maple syrup! Enjoy:)

staying active while away

My video from yesterday! I meant to post this earlier this morning but I had technical difficulties while uploading. It also gets cut off suddenly at the end because I had a giant blooper at the end which I had to cut out (lol) One day i'll master the Vblog, I promise;)

If you are interested in finding out what I included for my prepared meals this week you can find yesterdays post here.

Some pics from my vacation to the Island:)

BC Ferries

Running a long the ocean:)

My workout zone in Kirk's parents basement with the equipment I packed

My girls getting ready to go into Science World

Lego Exhibit! Which was amazing.

body parts

Beaver Dam

We <3 T-Rex

Hollow Tree

My New(ish) Niece, Kaycee

Becca, my not-so-baby-bro Noah, my mom and Summer, and myself.

***The entire content of this Blog is based upon my own opinions, the information on this blog is not to be used without your own research and advice of a qualified health care professional. The information is not intended as medical advice, and I will not be held liable or responsible for any injury sustained in your home, gym, or elsewhere. Please consult your health practitioner before starting any new diet, cleanse, detoxification, or exercise routine.

my post vacay meal plan

I'm back! I was trying to make a quick little vblog about my trip but it got overwhelming so i'll try and post the video later :)

I only made it through 10 days of my Spring Clean Cleanse, though I still ate really clean on my trip I found it really challenging to make smoothies while on the road a lot. I also remember why I avoid fruit generally (I try to eat 1 serving of berries, unless i'm really craving something sweet). I find fruit never keeps me full, and then I get hungry with a vengeance! So back to the butter and bacon for this girl;) As I mentioned in my video I made my lunches/snacks packed in the fridge so I can focus on blogging, writing/doing my workouts, and paying catch up this week.

A typical breakfast for me is a vegetable (steamed broccoli/asparagus/green juice and soft poached eggs (you can read about the benefits of yolk, especially when 'runny' here), which I make post morning workout usually.

My prepared meals are (I used organic ingredients, do whenever possible):

Mid Morning Snack:

Day 1 & 2:
1 cup fresh rasperries
1/2 cup (shell on) pistashios

Day 3 & 4:
1 medium gala apple slices, sprinkled in cinnamon
1 tbs almond butter

Lunch:

Day 1 & 2:
-1 palm sized baked chicken breast (I cooked for 30 minutes on 350C- tossed in 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs oregano, 1 tbs basil, 1 lemon zested and juiced, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and cracked pepper)
-handful of chopped cucumber
-handful of chopped red bell pepper
-1tbs red onion
-2 cups each herb salad mix
-my green goddess salad dressing (I divided and used half of the ingredients)

Day 3 & 4:
-1 palm sized baked chicken breast
-handful of chopped cucumber
-handful of chopped red bell pepper
-1tbs red onion
-4 cup chopped and pitted kalamata olives
-2 cups each herb salad mix
-tossed in 1 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of fresh lemon

Afternoon Snack

Days 1-4:
1 cup sugar snap peas
8 oz buttered coffee (1 tbs grassfed organic butter, 1 tbs mct oil, and a dash of cinnmon buttered)

If I get hungry I may add a green juice somewhere in there, but so far I've found it filling enough until bedtime. When I eat a high fat breakfast I feel satiated throughout most of the day. 

Dinner: 

Tonight I'll make a palm sized local steak, small salad and some steamed broccoli latthered in butter;) maybe some avocado on the side. That's pretty typical for me, a meat, a salad, and some steamed veggies. I like to keep it pretty simple. |(i'll try and post my dinners but I don't have them preplanned because dinner plans sometimes change for us depending how crazy life gets:)

-

Spring Clean Cleanse 2/21

I SURVIVED DAY 2 of 21 of the Spring Clean Cleanse! And by some miracle even got my workout in. I think getting my sweat on actually really helped me de-stress, and yes i'm feeling some detox symptoms (irritable, hungry mostly, no headaches so far). My breakfast was a ton of lemon water, a bulletproof coffee and then a passionfruit/pineapple/strawberry-avocado/chia seed smoothie. That was more sugar than I typically eat but since I will be eating mostly liquid diet I wanted to be sure I had enough carbs to survive until lunch and fuel my workout. I even went for a walk with my sister but then discovered it was colder and icier than we anticipated so decided we'd hit up 'coffee' instead, which I resisted my usual honey latte and got a herbal tea, black. Definite will power. Coffee Fiend Resistance at it's finest.

 For lunch (my solid meal of the day) I had a mixed green salad with home made avocado dressing and a palm sized local steak. 

I actually did my run later in the afternoon and was feeling pretty weak so I ended up having a second bulletproof coffee (okay so not a complete success, but at least it wasn't a sugary latte:) and a organic rice cake with almond butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon, post run. My dinner smoothie will probably actually be a juice, i'm thinking lemon-cucumber-cilantro, maybe a bit of spring mix too.

My workout was whole body today, the usual 30 on 10 rest with my gymboss timer (if you don't have one maybe try for 10-15 reps for 3 sets)

1. Squat and Press
2. Spiderman Pushups
3. Stability Ball Crunches
4. Plie Squats
5. Dumbell Flies
6. Bicyle Abs
7. Ball Bridge
8. Bicep Curls
9. Tuck Abs
10. Squatting Side Lunge

I then did a half hour fast run, cooled down with 10 minutes of hula hooping and a stretch:)

Spring Cleaning (and no I'm not talking about my closet)

HOLA! This morning I woke up to a beautiful 10 degree celsius day in FSJ. I was supposed to take my dad and his girlfriend, Holly, to the airport this morning; they are on route to Puerto Vallarta as we speak. I am sooo envious. Unfortunately my body had other plans for me, and I got hit hard with the stomach flu. :( This would suck enough if our family wasn't already one man down with Kirk and his broken leg. Anyways. In the spirit of looking to the bright side, this has inspired me to kick my ass into gear and put my full focus into food, and feeling good. For the next 21 days (starting today, since solids are out as is), I will be doing a 'cleanse' (I use this word loosely as I already eat pretty strict paleo, so a lot of the foods you may have to cut to join are already not a part of my diet. Based on the Clean Cleanse, advocated by Gwyneht Paltrow. Now that's 'Spring Cleaning' at it's finest. ;)

Basic Guidelines:

1. Liquids only for breakfast and dinner—and allow 12 hours in between dinner and breakfast for optimal digestion.

2. Solids are allowed for lunch.

3. No soy, dairy, gluten, caffeine, or alcohol.

4. Moderate intensity exercise daily to aid circulation and cleansing of lymph nodes

I don't eat soy, gluten or dairy as is, but the alcohol and caffeine will be hard. I'm planning to still have my one bulletproof coffee with breakfast smoothie, but green tea for the res of the day, as I'm a true believer in the benefits of coffee, and think the fat content will be beneficial to stay energized throughout the cleanse. Since this morning I was very ill I skipped breakfast, had a bulletproof coffee, and water all morning. By noon I finally mustered up the strength to stumble in the kitchen and make a smoothie, so i'm thinking i'll skip the solid meal today and hope my stomach feels better for the schedule tomorrow. My solid meal throughout the cleanse will probably look like a big green clean salad with a lean cut of red meat, bacon, free range eggs, or wild salmon. I find my digestion works best when I'm not doing the vegan thing, and I try to avoid chicken most of the time. My liquid and solid meals will be abundant in healthy fats like nuts, seeds, coconut, avocado, olives, ect, and I will probably add hemp protein powder most of the time. I typically workout 45 minutes of HIIT/cardio (running), but I may have to adjust depending on my energy levels and hunger. I will drink green juices in between meals when necessary.

Clean green goddess dressing from last post, herb mix, and local bacon!

My smoothie this afternoon was:

1/2 cup organic passion fruit juice
1 cup pineapple
1 cup strawberries
half an avocado
1/2 cup cucumber
1 scoop chia seeds
2 tbs organic virgin coconut oil

For the duration of this cleanse I'm going to include 1 cup organic dandelion root tea with organic lemon on an empty stomach in the morning. I will be supplementing with cod liver supplements, 10 000 iu vitamin d (in the morning), a multivitamin, 2-3 acidophlilus (spaced throughout the day)  and 2 coconut charcoals (before bed).

I am so excited to feel rejuvenated by the end of this, I've been feeling very run down from being super social (and the liquid confidence that goes along with that;) and from the stress I've been under at home lately! I would love to hear your feedback via Facebook or email! Have you done a cleanse similar to this? Are you 'spring cleaning' your body with me? Support helps build adherence:) Happy Spring Cleaning! <3

fitness, food, and fashion = material heaven

Spring is in the air! Actually, not really in my 'neck of the woods', however, brown snow banks and gravel and dust is in the air which means 'summer' is just a round the corner. I love fashion just about as much as I love fitness, and I live in a place where my shopping options have been extremely limited; so you can only imagine my ecitement when it was opening day this morning at our new local WINNERS! Wahoooooo! I think I died and went to material heaven. My sister and I hit the racks bright and early at 8:40 am and shopped until we dropped. I am pretty impressed with my shopping skills. I had my eye out for bright pops of color (orange, yellow, red, turquoise, ect), bold black and white prints, and chevron stripes.

We worked up quite the apetite... thanks to our dad for treating us to a sushi feast. :)