Almond Flour

Almond Flour/Meal

Almond flour is made by grinding blanched almonds. Almond meal is made by grinding almonds with the skin on them. Both are an excellent replacement for wheat flour.

Pros= Lower in carbohydrates, gluten free, rich in Vitamin E, magnesium and potassium. They are also high in monounsaturated fats, which help fight heart disease.

This is a perfect Paleo option. I recently made Paleo Blueberry Muffins, and now I am addicted. Here is the recipe.

http://paleomg.com/simple-blueberry-muffins/

More recipes to come!

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

Why wheat and gluten are bad for you!

Check out this article!http://paleodietlifestyle.com/11-ways-gluten-and-wheat-can-damage-your-health/

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

Paleo Week 2

Paleo Week 2

Carol and I are starting week 2 of our Paleo journey. So far, we are doing well. I usually encourage my clients to take a cheat day during the week. It helps people feel like they don’t have to completely give up one certain food and usually keeps people on track. We decided to not have a cheat day and just have a few cheat meal/snacks during our weekend. We thought an over indulgence in food would cause us to have a food hangover. So Friday we eat had an Easter snack, Saturday we had tortillas with our fajitas and Sunday we had another Easter snack.  Pretty good we thought!

For the week, we make sure we had plenty of food prepared. Here is the list our or prepped foods.

Rotisserie chicken, turkey tenderloins, hard boiled eggs, tuna/chicken salad, strawberries, blackberries, paleo blueberry muffins, and random veggies.

We have found that the more prepared we are, the better we do. We are also noticing that we aren’t craving certain types of foods anymore. We feel better and have more energy. Oh and I lost 2 pounds in one week. Yay!!!

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

Our Paleo Journey

My partner and I have decided to try to bring a paleo style diet into our house. Meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and nut (healthy natural fats). No processed foods no grains, and definitely no sugar (accept the natural sugar in fruit).

To make it more manageable, we have decided to wiggle our way in, allowing for the occasional cheat. Mine will be Muscle Milk and Carol’s will be yogurt. These are both healthy non-paleo foods that will help us with our busy schedules.

We started this weekend with our purchases. At the farmers market we got spinach leaves, mushrooms, and eggs. At the store we bought bananas, strawberries, salmon, and lemons. And for my Chicken Cacciatora crock pot recipe, I got chicken, green, red and yellow peppers, onion, celery, and garlic. We had a few items at home already.

My plan is to make chicken or tuna salad today for the week and eat on our crock pot dish. The hardest thing for me will be not eating sugar. I will keep everyone updated on our journey. It won’t be perfect, but our hope is to be healthy and happy.

If you are interested in joining us on this journey, let me know. I love swapping recipes.

Enjoy Life – Workout!

Mandy

Pull-ups

Pull-ups are one of, if not THE best upper body exercise. It works almost every upper body muscle, including your core. The major issue of course, is that most people can’t do a pull-up. There was even a point just a couple years ago, when I couldn’t lift my own body weight. Here are a few things that helped me to progress.

1.      Lat Pulldowns. No, this isn’t the same thing, but for beginners, it will help to increase strength in your arms and back.

2.      Planks (see picture below). You have to have a strong core. Keep increasing your time. You can also start off on your knees.

3.      Hangs. Just hang from the bar. Get your hands use to gripping the bar and supporting your weight. Work up to doing this for 2-3 min.

4.      Assisted pull-ups. This is one of the best ways to get better. If you workout at a gym, they probably have a machine. If not, get a chair and push off as much as needed.

5.      Just keep trying. Just the act of trying to pull yourself up will strengthen your muscles and core.

Enjoy Life - Workout!

Mandy

20 min workout!

Wanting to mix up your cardio? Try this 20 workout.

Make sure you are good and warmed up. This doesn’t mean you did two arm circles and a few hip rotations.  Get a good sweat going.

Run (as fast as you can) for 2 min

Jump Rope for 1 min

Kettle Bell swings (see below) 1 min

Sit-ups for 1 min.

Do this 4 time. Make sure you are giving an all-out effort.

Enjoy Life - Workout!
Mandy

Back Pain?

Client: My back hurts.

Me: Stretch your hamstrings.

Client: You are obviously not listening.

Actually I am. Remember that everything is connected. Tight hamstrings cause the hip and pelvis to rotate back, which flattens the back and causes pain. This will also have an obvious impact on your posture.

The easiest fix is to focus on stretching out your hamstrings on a regular basis. Both dynamic stretching (Yoga, walking lunges, leg swings) and static stretching (sit and reach) with improve flexibility.

Here are a couple examples that I feel work the best.

Try both of these every day for two weeks and see if your back feels better!

Enjoy Life - Workout

Mandy