Sassy Activewear Must Haves!

Getting my workout in today with Kate Hudson’s active-wear line Fabletics.  To say I am little obsessed with this active-wear line is an under statement. My current my obsession includes these Salar Capri pants which come in an array of fun colors and the Oula Tank with its perfect fit! Now head over to Fabletics and get your Sassy Active-wear must haves! Report back with pictures!! XO-Jennifer

Time To Get Your Sweat On!

 

It’s workout Wednesday-time to get your sweat on!  Now if you’re in AZ no-our dry heat days do not count… Get your butt to the gym and sweat!! If you were in my Pilates class today, we turned it into a “HOT” Pilates class and boy did we sweat!! XO-Jennifer

Parabens, Cancer and You…

Workout Motivation!

“Never Skip A Monday Workout!”

Consistency is the key to success for our health, happiness, and our relationships in life.

XO-Jennifer

What Is A Plant Based Diet?

 

I have been researching the Plant Based diet for the past six months. I have interviewed numerous doctors, nutritionist and friends along the way.  What I have learned is that a Plant Based diet is a total lifestyle change, it leans out the body, improves health, increases strength, and energy while also increasing total life expectancy!

Changing the way you eat can be difficult, but in this guide Leo Babauta share’s how to change, talks a bit about why, and what foods examples are good to eat.

What’s a Plant-Based Diet?

The simple answer, of course, is that you eat plants. You eliminate animals and (eventually) animal products like dairy and eggs.

Some of Leo’s favorite foods include: tempeh, seitan, tofu, kale, broccoli, quinoa, ground flaxseeds, ground chia seeds, raw almonds and walnuts, raw almond butter, olive oil, all kinds of berries, figs, avocados, tomatoes, lentils, black beans, spirulina, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, organic soymilk, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, apples, peaches, mangoes, pineapple, garlic, red wine, green tea, brown rice, sprouted (flourless) bread, brown rice, steel-cut oats.

Why Are People Adopting Plant Based Diets?

1. Health. The basis of this guide is health, and many people switch to eating plants because they want to lose weight, improve their heart health, stay healthy as they age, improve blood pressure or deal with diabetes. A plant-based diet has been shown to help with all of these things — if you also stay away from the processed foods. A diet of processed flour and sugar and fried foods isn’t healthy even if it’s all plants (more on this below).
2. The healthiest populations in the world are plant based: the Okinawans (traditionally at almost all plants such as sweet potatoes, soybeans, lots of veggies, with a little fish and occasional pork), the Sardinians (beans & veggies, red wine, some cheese, meat only once a week), and the vegan Seventh-Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California who are the longest-living Americans. Eating plants is the best thing you can do to reduce your risk of the leading causes of death.
3. Environment. Honestly, while this is very important to me, it’s probably the least important of the three reasons on this list (for me personally, that is). But it’s huge: the biggest way to reduce your carbon footprint is to stop eating animal products — better than giving up a car (next best) or using less energy in your home or traveling by plane less or recycling or using solar energy or driving an electric car or buying fewer things. The animals we raise for food production use a ton of resources, eat way more plants than we do (which in turn also require resources to be grown), give off huge amounts of planet-warming methane, breathe out a lot of carbon dioxide, and create a lot of pollution. This 2006 United Nations report concludes that “Livestock have a substantial impact on the world’s water, land and biodiversity resources and contribute significantly to climate change. Animal agriculture produces 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalents), compared with 13.5 percent from all forms of transportation combined.” And it takes 4,000 to 18,000 gallons of water to make the beef for one hamburger, according to a recent report from the U.S. geological survey.
4. Compassion. For me, this is the most important reason to move away from eating animals. I’ve talked a lot about compassion on this site, but by far the most cruel thing any of us does each day is consume animals (and their products). The cruelty that is perpetuated on these living, feeling, suffering beings on our behalf is enormous and undeniable. If you don’t believe me, watch this video with Sir Paul McCartney or this video about pigs. While I became vegan for health reasons, I stick with it for reasons of compassion — wanting to reduce the suffering of other sentient beings.

But … if you don’t do it to avoid pollution, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, increased death rates, animal cruelty, global warming, deforestation, and higher costs … maybe weight loss would do it.

Vegetarians and vegans weigh less on average than meat eaters. That’s even after adjusting for things like fibre, alcohol, smoking … and calorie intake! Half of Americans are obese, but vegans tend to be much less obese (with exceptions of course).

That said, just going vegan will not necessarily cause you to lose weight. You could easily eat a lot of sugar, white flour, fake meats and fried foods and gain weight.

If you eat whole plant foods, you’re likely to lose weight. Plant foods, for starters, have pretty much no saturated fat, low calories and tons of fiber, while animal foods all have saturated fat, lots of calories and zero fiber.

Beating Death: I highly recommend watching this video on uprooting the causes of death using a plant-based diet. It’s a bit long, but well worth the time.

How to Change Your Eating Lifestyle:

It will be no surprise that I recommend people start small and change slowly. A good plan is to make the change in stages:

1. Slowly cut out meat. This stage is actually several smaller stages. You might try starting with Meatless Mondays and then, over time, expanding to other days of the week. Another common idea is to start by cutting out red meat, and then poultry, then seafood, in gradual stages of a month or even six months. There is no rush — do it at the pace that feels good to you. Another important point is that, as you eliminate meat, don’t just fill it with starches (which don’t have that much nutrition). Try new foods, experiment with ethic recipes, and explore different nutrients as you make these changes.
2. Eliminate eggs. After you cut out red meat and poultry, you’ll be pescatarian (seafood). When you eliminate seafood, you’re vegetarian! If you’re eating eggs and dairy, that’s called a “lacto-ovo” vegetarian. You can then eliminate eggs — and no, they’re not cruelty-free. This is one of the easier stages, in my experience.
3. Cut out dairy. This tends to be harder for most people. Not because of milk (soymilk and almond milk are good alternatives that just take a few days to adjust to) … but because of cheese. I hear a lot of people say, “I can’t give up my cheese!” — and I empathize, as this was a sticking point for me too. It helps that there are better and better cheese alternatives these days (Daiya being a favorite of many). But for me, what made all the difference is not focusing on what I was giving up, but on the good things I could eat!
4. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. This is the phase that I’m in, and I wholly recommend it. You can go straight here if you have no problems changing your diet, but people eating the Standard American Diet will find it difficult, because the foods are very different than what most people eat. For example, most people in the U.S. don’t eat many vegetables, and find them distasteful, especially dark green leafy veggies, which are the best. I now love vegetables, and kale is my best friend. Most people dislike protein-rich plant foods like tempeh, tofu, seitan, and beans. Most people don’t eat raw nuts — they eat roasted and salted nuts. However, all of this can change over time, which is why I recommend that you move into this slowly. What exactly is this phase?

What to Eat?

So what do you eat when you’re on a plant-based diet that focuses on whole foods? Lots!

A few categories of foods to include regularly:

1. Beans and other protein. This means the regular kinds of beans, like lentils, black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, etc. But it can also mean soybeans (edamame), tofu, tempeh, and seitan (protein from wheat, not good for gluten-intolerant people). It can also mean soymilk, soy yogurt, and the like, which are often fortified. Get organic, non-GMO soy.
2. Nuts and seeds. My favorites include raw almonds and walnuts, along with ground flaxseeds and chia seeds, and hemp seed protein powder. Almond milk is also good. And quinoa — it’s like a grain, but really a seed, and full of nutrition.
3. Good fats. Fats aren’t bad for you — you should just look to avoid saturated fats. Luckily, not many plant foods have saturated fats. Plants with good fats include avocados, nuts and seeds mentioned above, olive oil and canola oil.
4. Greens. This is one of the most important and nutritious group of all. Dark, leafy green veggies are awesome, and full of calcium, iron and a ton of vitamins. My favorites: kale, spinach, broccoli, collards. Eat lots of them daily! They also have very few calories, meaning they pack a ton of nutrition in a small caloric package.
5. Other fruits and veggies. Get a variety — I love berries of all kinds, figs, apples, citrus fruits, peaches, mangoes, bananas, pears, bell peppers, garlic, beets, celery, cauliflower … I could go on all day! Get lots of different colors.
6. Good starches. Starches are not bad for you — but ones that have little calories aren’t great. So find starches that give you lots of nutrition. Sweet potatoes, red potatoes, squash, brown rice, sprouted whole wheat, steel-cut oats, among others.
7. Some other healthy stuff. I love red wine, green tea, cinnamon, turmeric, spirulina and nutritional yeast.

OK, by now you might be overwhelmed by all of this. How do you put it together? It’s not that hard once you get used to it. Start learning some recipes that combine some of these foods into meals, and over time, you’ll have a few go-to meals that you love that are full of nutrition.

Some examples that I like (but don’t limit yourself to these!):

• Tofu scramble w/ veggies: some organic high-protein tofu crumbled and stir-fried with olive oil, garlic, diced carrots and tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms, and spiced with tamari, turmeric, sea salt and coarse black pepper.
• Steel-cut oats: cook some steel-cut oats, then add ground flaxseeds, raw nuts, berries, cinnamon.
• Stir-fry: Here’s my secret … you can make an endless combo of meals by cooking some garlic in olive oil, then cooking some veggies (carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, etc.) and some protein (tofu, tempeh, seitan, etc.) and some greens (kale, broccoli, spinach, etc.) and some spices (turmeric or coconut milk or tamari & sesame oil, black pepper, salt).
• Veggie chili over quinoa: Black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans with olive oil, garlic, onions, tomatoes, bell pepper, diced kale, diced carrots, tomato sauce, chili powder, salt, pepper. Maybe some beer for flavor. Serve over quinoa or brown rice.
• One-pot meal: Quinoa, lentils, greens, olive oil, tempeh (or a bunch of other variations). Read Tynan’s post on cooking this all in one pot.
• Whole-wheat pasta: Serve with a sauce — some tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic, onions, bell peppers, diced kale and carrots, diced tomatoes, fresh basil, oregano.
• Big-ass Salad: Start with a bed of kale & spinach, throw on other veggies such as carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, snow peas, green beans, tomatoes … then some beans, nuts and/or seeds … top with avocado. Mix balsamic vinegar and olive oil, or red wine vinegar and olive oil, sprinkle on the salad. Yum.
• Smoothies: Blend some almond or soy milk with frozen berries, greens, ground chia or flaxseeds, hemp or spirulina protein powder. Lots of nutrition in one drink!
• Snacks: I often snack on fruits and berries, raw almonds or walnuts, carrots with hummus.
• Drinks: I tend to drink water all day, some coffee (without sugar) in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and red wine in the evening.

Post By: Leo Babauta, simplicity blogger & author. He created Zen Habits, a Top 25 blog with a million readers. He’s also a best-selling author, a husband, father of six children, and a vegan. In 2010 moved from Guam to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he leads a simple life.

 

Do You Have What it Takes to Make a Pilates Body?

“Patience and Persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.” ~ Joseph Pilates

Top 5 Reasons Your Body Shape Changes With Age!

SPECIAL FROM  

Ever noticed that the waist you used to have has been replaced with a thicker middle? Or that you seem to be shrinking? It’s not your imagination. Read on to find out what’s going on.

1. Obesity/Overeating

“A lot of factors contribute to our body shape changing, and the first one is overeating,” says Donnica Moore, M.D.,president of theSapphire Women’s Health Group. “More than half of adult Americans are overweight and a third are obese. Many of us are starting out behind the eight ball before we even factor in other changes.”

The average American man eats 2,638 calories a day and the average American woman eats 1,785 calories a day, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveyconducted by the Centers for Disease Control. That’s far more than the recommended 2,000 calories for adult men, and 1,600 calories for adult women.

“After the age of 40, a whole host of factors contribute to overeating,” says Pamela Peeke, M.D., author of Fight Fat After Forty. “This includes business-related travel and meals, higher levels of stress and stress-related eating, more celebratory social dinners, and more alcohol use.”

What can you do? Start with small changes like adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet while cutting out sugary, fatty snacks. You can also cut down on how much alcohol you drink. “Cut out diet soda,” says Dr. Moore. People have the mistaken belief that you won’t gain weight with diet soda, she says, however, diet soda is loaded with artificial sweeteners, which have been shown to cause food cravings.

2. Hormones

As men and women age, sex hormones decline, which can wreak havoc on your body. “Throughout a man’s life, excess fat will be stored in the belly region because men are born with more fat cells there than women,” says Dr. Peeke. “Women have more fat cells in the hips, thighs and buttocks, and when they gain excess fat prior to age 40, it’s usually in those areas.” But as menopause approaches, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone gradually decline for women. That means fat in women’s bodies begins to deposit around the belly and inside the belly. Dr. Moore calls this the thickening of the belly area the “meno-pot.“

For men, declining testosterone levels also make it much easier to redistribute fat to the belly. Whether for men or women, the problem with belly fat is more than cosmetic. “It can can greatly increase the risk for diabetes, cardiovasular disease like heart attacks, and even lifespan,” says Dr. Moore. “Women with waistlines of more than 35 inches are believed to be twice as like to die of heart disease and cancer than women whose waistlines are under 28 inches,” says Dr. Moore citing the Nurses Health Study conducted by Harvard University.

3. Lack of exercise

“The reality is, we become more sedentary as we age, which means we’re eating more and burning less,” says Dr. Moore. The reasons for slowing down can range from having a disability or medical condition, to retiring from work and not being as active. The problem is that being more sedentary means having less muscle mass, and muscle mass is responsible for effective calorie burning.

“Muscle mass decreases significantly if you don’t do any strength training,” says Dr. Peeke. “This is a major reason why food is not more effectively metabolized as men and women age.” She suggests doing a combination of physical activities several times a week which include both aerobic activities (like walking) and strength training (like lifting weights or using resistance bands).”

The Mayo Clinic recommends doing about 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a day and weight training twice a week, but points out that if you’re trying to burn fat, you’ll need to increase those amounts. “Start slowly, even doing five or ten minutes a day and gradually building up,” says Dr. Moore. Always talk to your doctor beforehand to help you plan your fitness regimen and find out what types of exercises are right for you.

4. Gravity

“Gravity is not your friend,” says Dr. Moore. As we age, our bodies naturally begin to sag in places. Breasts often drop and “your belly can pull down if you’re overweight,” Dr. Moore says. The best thing to do to help minimize a sagging belly: Watch your weight and exercise.

5. Loss of height

Did you ever notice that people tend to look shorter as they get older? It’s not an optical illusion. Osteoporosis can cause rounding in the spine and shoulders, which is why getting enough calcium is important. Also, men and women both lose height with age. “Women lose height dramatically in the first five years after menopause,” says Dr. Moore. “In general they can lose about one to three inches over their lifetime, and men can lose one to two inches. And, points out Dr. Moore, loss of height accelerates after age 70.

Post By: Ellen Breslau

Ellen Breslau, Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President of Grandparents.com, is the former executive editor of Woman’s Day magazine, the nation’s seventh largest magazine with over 4 million readers.  Ellen is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and was a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors. She is a member of the corporate advisory board for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and was a 2001 National Fellow at the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families, She has served as a Big Sister, volunteer English teacher through a Columbia University program for inner-city high school students, and sat on the New York steering committee of the Hebrew College. Ellen resides in Manhattan with her husband and two children.

Why You’re Gaining Weight and How To Start Losing!

Tired of gaining weight? Of course you are – none of us enjoy it when the number on our scale begins to climb. So why are you gaining that extra weight now?

That is a valid and frustrating question. And the answer is often found in recent changes in your life.  According to Edward Abramson, Ph.D. the author of Emotional Eating, “Any change in your life circumstances can produce changes in eating and exercise, which leads to weight gain.”Let’s dive into the major changes in your life that have caused that annoying weight gain…

Life’s Fat Traps: We all gain weight for different reasons. You often hear about one-size-fits-all weight loss solutions that take little or no consideration of how the extra weight piled up in the first place. To experience true weight loss it is important to understand why you gained it in the first place.

Think back to the time in your life when your weight was just right. Were you in your teens? Your twenties? Or maybe your thirties? Picture yourself as you were at your ideal weight. Now when did things change? Was it a gradual addition of pounds that accumulated over a span of multiple years? Or did you gain it all at once?

Check out the following weight gain triggers and determine which one is responsible for your plight.

College: The college years are some of the easiest for gaining weight. In fact, a recent study by Cornell University found that on average, college freshman gain about 0.5 pounds a week – almost 11 times more than the average weight gain among 17-and 18-year olds and almost 20 times more than the average weight gain among American adults.

Marriage: There’s nothing like holy matrimony to encourage a barrage of calories to overtake your diet. Late night comfort snacks are always more enjoyable when you have someone to share them with—and who better than the person who pledged to stick by your side through sickness and health?

Pregnancy: Talk about a great time to gain weight! And we’re not just talking about women here—most men admit that they gained ‘sympathy’ pounds right along with their wife. Hormonal changes along with strong encouragement from everyone you know to indulge in anything their heart desires leave most pregnant women with a feeling of entitlement when it comes to food.

Career: Though you may not realize it, your career choice plays a major hand in your weight. Those who go from an active lifestyle to spending 8 hours a day behind a desk and another 2 hours commuting almost universally gain weight. Conversely, people who spend their 8 hours in constant motion find weight loss a natural byproduct of the job.

New Habits: Close your eyes and go back to the fat trap that triggered your weight gain. What changed in your lifestyle? To help sort things out, I’ve broken things down into two specific behavioral categories.

Eating Habits: Did your eating pattern change at this time in your life? If your weight gain occurred in college then maybe you went from eating 3 square meals to an all-you-can-eat buffet style cafeteria. Or if marriage was your weight gain trigger, then maybe you went from eating small meals to fattening comfort food. Pregnancy brings on the perfect environment for a change in eating habits. You go from eating normally, to eating ‘for two’, to munching on your baby’s snacks right along with him! Your job can also dictate your eating schedule. Long hours and early meetings may cause you to grab a donut or chips from the vending machine.

Activity Level: The second category that leads to weight gain is your activity level. Simply put, what kind of exercise were you doing before your life changing event and how does it compare to your current exercise regime? Chances are good that you were doing more exercise before your weight gain began—which means that you are doing less exercise today! Go ahead, think back to the exercises or physical activities that you used to do and compare them to your schedule today.

Your Transformation: You’ve figured out which fat trap in your life led to weight gain, and then narrowed down the exact behaviors that changed as a result, so this naturally leads us to a solution.  It’s time to make a change.

Post by Jolene Goring a certified Holistic Nutritionist. She believes in the power of healing health with whole foods. Using food as medicine, she utilizes unrefined, unprocessed, real foods in balance and variety to maximize health and vitality.

Is Your Pilates Instructor The Real Deal?

The Importance of Instructors Corrections in Pilates Class

Post By Holly Furgason is the founder and CEO of Blue Sparrow Pilates

Client + Instructor If you’ve ever taken a Pilates class or private session at Blue Sparrow Pilates, you probably noticed how many corrections our instructors give; corrections about form, movement quality and muscle engagement. They cue, adjust, describe, and take the time to really explain an idea. Maybe it feels like we’re nitpicking about something that doesn’t matter that much. I can also understand the feeling of impatience and wanting to get moving. However, without corrections you could get away with disengaged muscles the whole session. With improper form you could be training faulty movement patterns that may injure you in the long run. For these reasons and many others, a teacher’s corrections are simply an indication that they have your best interest at heart. Corrections are about you becoming the best you can be, not about pleasing us.

Here’s why corrections are so important.
They could mean the difference between engaged muscles and disengaged muscles. With improper form, you may not be using the correct muscles or you may be depending on the same muscles that you already use in your everyday life. Pilates should train the whole body, including all of the small, deep muscles that help support the bones and joints. The muscles you didn’t even know you had. In the beginning, it takes a lot of thinking and a lot of cuing to get those muscles to engage.
They protect you from injury and train your body to protect itself. By practicing correct form and execution class after class, you’re training your body how to work in the healthiest, most supportive alignment possible. By increasing strength in vulnerable areas, you’re protecting yourself against injuries that may result from unusual demands on your body. The stronger your body and the better your alignment the lower your risk of injury.
They train the brain-body connection and improve body awareness. The majority of people walk around, blissfully unaware of their bodies unless they’re dealing with an injury or handicap.

Our culture and our activities often separate the brain from the body, under-emphasizing the importance of engaging both simultaneously. Pilates re-engages that brain-body connection. It increases your body awareness so that you remain physically engaged in your daily activities even if they’re sedentary. Think of taking corrections as exercise in and of itself. You’re exercising your brain and your body awareness to understand and implement them in a split second.
They are the foundation of the Pilates method and they show we care. Imagine going to a Pilates class and doing exactly what you could and would do at the gym. The teacher doesn’t bat an eye or utter a word when your ribs pop off the carriage and your shoulders are by your ears. Why then are you going to Pilates? Pilates offers you something that you can’t get anywhere else. Specificity and deep muscle engagement. We, and all great instructors, want you to truly understand the Pilates method and get the most out of every session. In order to do that corrections and adjustments are necessary.
If you’re attending Pilates classes or privates and not getting the kind of corrections and specificity described above, you might want to think about whether or not you’re getting everything you deserve out of each session. Find instructors who truly care and build a relationship with them. They are going to be your biggest supporters when things get tough and they’ll always challenge you to be better.

Holly Furgason is the founder and CEO of Blue Sparrow Pilates with locations in San Francisco (2007) and Oakland (2015), CA. Renowned for excellence in the Bay Area, Blue Sparrow Pilates attracts students from around the world as the only STOTT PILATES® Licensed Training Center in San Francisco. Holly is the creator of Fit4Real.com, a mentorship blog for Pilates instructors, and Prenatal Pilates, a mobile Pilates app designed to train prenatal and postpartum women at home.

Sexy New Pilates Active-Wear Line Must Haves!

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