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{Guest Post} Food & The Daily Battle

Welcome to Part II of the Women’s Health series here on Moi Contre La Vie. Today we’re going to hear more from Megan of Kaia F.I.T. Sacramento on the daily struggle to eat well. If you’re new to this series be sure to check out Megan’s bio {Guest Post: Women’s Health} and her previous post – Fashion of the Fitness World.

Part 2: Food… The Daily Battle

I love ice cream, especially cookies & cream. I love cheeseburgers and extra crispy french fries. I can put down a serious amount of pizza. I love crafty cocktails and champagne. I worked in fine dining restaurants for 10 years and was privileged to indulge in some amazing dishes and glasses of wine…

But now I work in the fitness industry. And I constantly try to balance my view of food… Fuel or Delicious Goodness? My answer is both.

The majority of the time, on the day-to-day, food is fuel. Looking at it that way leads me to eating cleaner, leaner, and healthier. I view myself like a machine and if I want to run properly, perform well in my workouts, and feel energetic all day, I need to provide myself with the best fuel available.

I personally feel the best when I eat multiple times throughout the day, always beginning with breakfast. I feel great when I eat lean meat and eggs, lots of veggies and greens, and fresh fruit. I like nuts and trail mix for snacks and dried fruit for dessert. Avoiding the starchy carbs, dairy, and sugar is essential to feeling good.

However, coming from the restaurant industry, I love nothing more than a nice dinner out. I appreciate a perfectly cooked noodle and a salty piece of pork belly. And I absolutely love home-made ice cream and cookies at my mom’s house. These are the good things in life.

So, how do I balance it? When do I decide to devour a sandwich and when do I stick to a salad full of veggies? I practice MODERATION. I try to stick to healthy ‘fuel’ most of the time. When I treat myself to ‘carbs’ and sugar, I view it just that way… As a TREAT. I think it’s better that way anyway. I feel like crap when I eat sugar and bread days in a row and I stop appreciating it.

Everyone has to make their choices, each and every day. But awareness is where it all begins. If you never go without bread, dairy, sugar, alcohol, etc., how will you ever know how you feel without it?

Our go-to detox at Kaia FIT is 7 days without the following:

All starchy ‘carbs’ (bread, tortillas, rice, potatoes, etc.)
Sugar over 9g per serving (besides sugar naturally found in fruits/veggies)
Alcohol
Dairy
Processed Foods (if you can’t pronounce something on the label, avoid it!)

Eating clean is a great feeling and I highly recommend letting yourself experience it. And remember, “All things in moderation, including moderation.”

A big thank you to Megan for this great insight into her way of thinking about nutrition. It’s very easy to get into patterns of binging or restricting, so avoid all the negative side effects of both of those ways of eating and try practicing moderation as Megan has suggested.

What’s your personal approach to your daily diet?

February 1, 2013 | Categories: Fitness, Food | Tags: American River Crossfit, ARCFit, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, beginners fitness, Beginners workouts, Choosing Raw, Cinnamon Caramelized Cauliflower, Core building, core strengthening, Core workout, Cross Training, CrossFit, CrossFit instructor, Crosstraining, Crunch, Crunches, Crunchies, eating fat will not make you fat, female gym, female health, female workout, female workouts, Fitness, Fitness Blog, Fitness Blogger, Fitness for beginners, FitSugar, Food blog, food blogger, Forward Lunges, Gena Hamshaw, getting in shape, gym, Gym Fashion, gym goddess, Gym Style, health, Health Blog, Health blogger, healthy, healthy choices, healthy eating, Healthy Fat, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, healthy snacks, Kaia, Kaia FIT, Kaia FIT Sacramento, Lunge, lunges, Maple Cinnamon Candied Pumpkin Seeds, Mark's Daily Apple, Natalie Jill Fitness, Nutrition, Nutrition blog, personal trainer, Plank exercise, Plank How To, Planks, Prevention, Prevention Magazine, prevention.com, pumpkin seeds, Reverse Lunge, Sacramento gym, Shape, Shape Magazine, Stationary Reverse Lunge, The Fitnessista, Trainer, Walking forward lunge, walking lunges, Women's gym, Women's Health, Women's Health Magazine, Womens Health Mag, working out, working out for beginners, workout, Workout blog, Workout fashion, Workout style, workouts for beginners | 4 Comments

Beginner Fitness

In 2012 a reader came to me with a simple request – Could I help her ease into a workout routine that would put her on the path to overall better health? I documented a part of the process in the following series of posts – Want To Achieve Gym Goddess Status?, Part II, Part III, Part IV & Part V.

I’ve recently received a similar request and thought that 2013 would be a great time to share some of the details with my readers again because I think it’s such a worthwhile topic and achieving better health is widespread goal. I’m sure there have been countless New Years Resolutions related to this so why not get started on your path to health and happiness now?

In addition to providing short beginners workouts for the next few weeks, I’ll be recommending reading and do my best to keep you all motivated and inspired – Which is half the battle.

Workouts:

You want to ease into a new workout regime regardless of your current level of fitness, however if you’re not currently working out, attending classes, and/or running on a regular basis I would suggest starting with one or two small workouts a week and gradually increase to 3-5 as you start improving and feeling stronger.

Let’s start Week One with two short workouts to get us in the mood:

Day One

Warm Up: 5 minutes of cardio {Walking quickly, jogging/running, elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, stair climber…}

Elbow plank {Mark’s Daily Apple’s How-To: Proper Plank Technique} Hold for 10 seconds, relax, return to plank & repeat – 3 rounds of holding for 10 seconds
Walking lunges {FitSugar’s Back to Basics: Walking Forward Lunge} 3 rounds of 10 lunges on each knee
Plie Squats {Women’s Health Magazine’s Plie Squats} 3 rounds of 10 squats

Warm Down: 5-10 minutes of intervals on a machine of your choosing {See the suggestions under Warm Up}

30 seconds as fast as possible
1 minute 30 seconds recovery – moderate speed
30 seconds as fast as possible
1 minute 30 seconds recovery – moderate speed

*My recommendation is to turn this into a mini circuit workout – After your warm up do one set of planks, one set of lunges, and one set of squats, then repeat the process a second and third time to complete the circuit before your warm down.

Day Two

Warm Up: 5 minutes of cardio {Walking quickly, jogging/running, elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, stair climber…}

Reverse Lunges {FitSugar’s Back to Basics: Stationary Reverse Lunge} 3 rounds of 10 lunges on each knee
Crunches {Dummies.com’s How To Do Crunches} 3 rounds of 20 – Be sure to watch your form & keep your chin & elbows UP form is important w/ this move
Leg Lifts {Shape Magazine’s Double-Leg Lower & Lift} 3 rounds of 20

Warm Down: 5-10 minutes of cardio {Walking quickly, jogging/running, elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, stair climber…}

Nutrition:

Following diets, participating in cleanses, and going through detox programs are interesting ways to find out how your body responds to things, but they’re not a way of life. Learning to eat well & make smart food choices on a daily basis is going to do much more for you than any short-term healthy eating “fix.”

Depending on your typical diet transitioning to a clean eating regime can seem pretty daunting, so to make the switch more manageable I’ll just recommend a few tips and suggest some things to cut out of your diet each week.

To start, it’s time to get cooking! Your first goal should be to cut out packaged, processed, and pre-made food from your diet. Don’t panic! That doesn’t mean that you’ll never be able to order Chinese again or never enjoy a handful of chips in the future, but if you want to transition to a clean diet the first step is to eliminate all of these types of foods. So your mission for the next two weeks is to start giving up anything processed, stop hitting the drive-through, and spend more time in the kitchen and less time at restaurants.

Here are a few alternatives:

If you like chips or salty other snacks – Try raw almonds, butter-free air popped popcorn, or baby carrots w/ hummus
If you crave the beta-endorphin rush of sugary treats, baked goods, or candy – Switch these high calorie picks for fresh fruit, natural almond butter, or homemade sweet treats like Choosing Raw’s Cinnamon Caramelized Cauliflower or Maple Cinnamon Candied Pumpkin Seeds

Homework:

Understanding why you feel the way that you feel and how to improve your health is important. Anyone can blindly follow instructions, but learning about health, nutrition, and your body will help you for your entire life.

So with the goal of educating yourself and expanding your horizons here are some interesting articles you might enjoy:

Healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, and nuts & seeds {in moderation} are an important part of a healthy diet. Learn more about this subject by reading Natalie Jill Fitness’s Eating Fat Will NOT Make You Fat…
One of the things that impacts your health almost as much as nutrition and fitness is stress. You need to pay attention not only to how much stress you have in your life, but how you deal with it – How Stress Affects the Body.

So what do you think of this new series? Are these topics and the information I provided above interesting and relevant to your life?

Disclaimer: I am not a trainer, doctor, or dietitian nor do I have any certifications associated with physical fitness or nutrition. I’m merely an enthusiast {and former athlete} who reads & does research daily and has worked out alone or with coaches & trainers since the age of 6. I am lucky enough to have access to a handful of blogs, websites, and trainers to answer my questions though. Prior to making any dramatic changes to your fitness routine or diet I suggest that you consult a physician.

For more inspiration, my daily workout routines, and more Moi Contre La Vie you can find me on these platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moicontrelavie
Twitter: @moicontrelavie
Instagram: @moicontrelavie
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mclv/

January 11, 2013 | Categories: Fitness, Food | Tags: American River Crossfit, ARCFit, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, beginners fitness, Beginners workouts, Choosing Raw, Cinnamon Caramelized Cauliflower, Core building, core strengthening, Core workout, Cross Training, CrossFit, CrossFit instructor, Crosstraining, Crunch, Crunches, Crunchies, eating fat will not make you fat, Fitness, Fitness Blog, Fitness Blogger, Fitness for beginners, FitSugar, Food blog, food blogger, Forward Lunges, Gena Hamshaw, getting in shape, gym, gym goddess, health, Health Blog, Health blogger, healthy, healthy choices, healthy eating, Healthy Fat, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, healthy snacks, Huffington Post, Lunge, lunges, Maple Cinnamon Candied Pumpkin Seeds, Mark's Daily Apple, Natalie Jill Fitness, Nutrition, Nutrition blog, personal trainer, Plank exercise, Plank How To, Planks, Prevention, Prevention Magazine, prevention.com, pumpkin seeds, Reverse Lunge, Shape, Shape Magazine, Stationary Reverse Lunge, Stress, The Fitnessista, Trainer, Walking forward lunge, walking lunges, Women's Health, Women's Health Magazine, Womens Health Mag, working out, working out for beginners, workout, Workout blog, workouts for beginners | 5 Comments

Links You’ll Love

Health & Fitness:

Packing lunch during the week is a great option to save money and make sure that you’re getting a healthy, nutritious meal mid-day to keep you going. I like to do some work in the kitchen during the weekends to prepare for the week {Sunday Prep}, you can also get some killer tips from Choosing Raw – Monday’s Lunchbox.

Thinking about jumping on the treadmill or elliptical for some cardio and neglecting the machines and weight racks are you gym? Think again! I’m a huge advocate of not only changing up your gym routine on a regular basis but of foregoing machine cardio for walking and weight training. If you don’t believe m just read this piece from Natalie Jill Fitness: Only WEIGHT and INTENSITY Will Change Your Body – You HAVE to lift HEAVY if You Want to Lean Out and Change Your Body!

Fitting in a workout is a MUST during the hectic holiday season – It reduces stress, gives you some much-needed alone time, produces endorphins, and keeps you healthy & fit so you can enjoy the holiday festivities with your friends and family. Regardless of whether you have an hour or 15 minutes available, or if you even have time to make it to the gym – Make time!

HallowLEAN Hill Workout from The Fitnessista
Total Body Tabata Home Workout from Blonde Ponytail
Easy Interval Plank Workout from Purely Twins

Fashion:

I love the old Hollywood, film noir feel of killer black & white photographs. The subjects somehow always manage to appear chic and timeless, regardless of the year, the pose, the style of their clothes… I just can’t get enough and neither can A Fashion Friend – It’s Better In Black & White.

Have you ever been tempted to run off to Paris so that you can live a fashionable, glamorous life? If the answer is yes, you probably shouldn’t click on these links because you will most likely run off to Paris to live a fashionable, glamorous life.

As you may know – I adore stripes – Whether they’re the traditional nautical variety for Spring or demure pinstripes for the office. So why not take this fabulous print into the Fall season as well? Harper’s Bazaar definitely agrees – Shop the Street Style Look: Summer’s Stripes for Fall.

Are you a jeans girl? There are so many varieties this day in age there are almost endless choices when you head into a store and start to peruse their denim department. 70’s flare, wide-leg, cropped, skinny, cut-off, distressed, boyfriend, boot cut… Check out Love Me Jeans for some serious denim inspiration and worship – What’s your favorite pair?

We’ve all had the rule “No White After Labor Day” repeated ad nauseam over the years, but is this a rule for our grandmothers and not for our generation? Well The Man Repeller is making quite the argument against this rule with her fabulous photographs from Nolita – Accent In White.

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Links You’ll Love

Fashion:

Outerwear is always one of my favorite parts about dressing for Fall, and with all of the fun patterned and colorful blazers in stores this season I’m even more excited than usual. Not sure where to start? Time to check in with the experts! The Glitter Guide’s Fall Shopping Guide: Blazers.

One of my new favorites to keep an eye on during Fashion Month is Russian designer and photographer Ulyana Sergeenko. Her style is dramatic, eye-catching, and perfectly over-the-top. And luckily for us fashion lovers she’s just one of many chic up and coming Russian fashionistas making the scene these days! You’ll thank me after you check out all of these lovely ladies in Bougeotte’s Modern Russian Czarinas Are Being Born.

Beauty lovers have been buzzing about the new Courtin-Clarins beauty blog that launched last month. If you haven’t gotten a chance to see what these French beauties have to say now’s the time! WhoWhatWear – The Scoop: Claire & Virginie Courtin-Clarins.

Patterned pants and all-over-prints on suits and shorts suits are all things that I’m excited to wear this Fall and next Spring, so why not check out some fabulous versions worn lately to get you in the mood? The Next Evolution of Fashion’s Print Obsession: The Printed Suit.

I recently discovered a fun new fashion blog that I’d love to share – Advanced Style was created by Ari Seth Cohen and celebrates the fabulous fashion of the older generations. As someone who grew up on Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant movies, couldn’t wait to start working after college so I could have a formal wardrobe, and dresses up to travel – this is right up my alley. I love the formality and classic approach to fashion celebrated by previous generations and this website is a great place to find stunning photographs of just that. Enjoy!

Health & Fitness:

I remember thinking at 18 that 30 was so old but now as I’m swiftly approaching the big three-oh my thinking has changed – I’m looking forward to the things that I’m going to accomplish in my thirties, the goals I’m going to set, the places I’m going to visit. Needless to say I was thrilled when I saw this article – Does life really begin at 30?

Sweet potatoes are a great favorite of mine – I love that there are an endless number of recipes that you can make with them, from snacks to savory dinner to sweet desserts. Versatile and delicious, what more could a girl want? More recipes to try of course! 10 Healthy Sweet Potato Recipes: Easy and tasty sweet potato recipes, each with about 300 calories or less.

Finding new recipes, reading about food, health & nutrition, and finding great food blogs written by creative, passionate people are some of my favorite pastimes so I was thrilled when Green Thickies posted a list of the their favorite blogs – Some I already knew and others I eagerly looked up. I had dozens of recipes printed in minutes! 🙂 Check out 8 Best Vegan Blogs for links and recipes to try!

Sometimes when I look at a recipe I’ll immediately think “no” in my mind when I look at the amount of oil, butter, or sugar being recommended. Rather than count certain recipes out, we can substitute healthier, nutritious ingredients for the more calorically dense, fattening ones. Apple sauce is one of my go-to ingredients to lighten up a recipe, but for Fall why not try pumpkin? How to Substitute Pumpkin Puree For Butter and Oil.

Speaking of pumpkin, this was one of the first pumpkin recipes I made this season when Trader Joe’s started stocking the shelves with canned pumpkin – How To Make A Quick Healthy Pumpkin Pie Fudge. So. Good.

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Links You’ll Love

Fashion:

Whether you’re watching the US Open or America’s Cup, a stylish spectator outfit is a must – US Open 2012 from Net-A-Porter.

Are you starting to prepare your wardrobe for Fall? A great skirt with tights & killer boots is always a fabulous option so check out WhoWhatWear’s suggestions for Fall 2012 – Market Watch: Fall Skirts.

One thing that I always look forward to when Fashion Month rolls around are the Garance Dore and Net-A-Porter Fashion Week video collaborations Pardon My French. She talks to fashion greats, reviews the collections, meets designers, interviews fashion insiders, and just generally gives you a great behind-the-scenes look at all of the Fashion Month madness.

You know how much I adore a versatile piece in my wardrobe – especially when it comes to packing for a trip. Refinery 29 clearly agrees – Oxford Shirt Styling Tips: 1 Oxford Shirt, 3 Easy Ways To Style It.

One of the fun Fall trends this year will be finding pieces that have your favorite artwork translated onto them – Whether you’re a fan of the Renaissance Masters or Graphic novels, there are pieces out there for everyone! This Time Tomorrow – Wearing Your Art On Your Sleeve.

Health/Fitness:

Don’t have time for a run? Not interested in the membership fees at your local gym? Why not head online to find the perfect workout for yourself – Fit Club: The Country’s Best Virtual Workouts.

Are you looking for some healthy meals to feed your family to ensure that they’re getting all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that they need? Here are some great recipes to try:

OhSheGlow’s 7 Favorite Vegan Recipes From Family Fresh Cooking!
The Wannabe Chef’s Grain-Free Muffins

No matter how much time you spend in the kitchen familiarizing yourself with new tools – or re-familiarizing yourself with tools you haven’t used in a while – is an important part of staying on top of things so check out The Blissful Chef’s Cooking Tool of the Month Series.

Medicine and bosu balls are two of my favorite gym toys – If you use them right they can keep your workouts both challenging and fun. Don’t believe me? Check out FitSugar’s Don’t Let the Medicine Ball Intimidate You — 5 Easy Moves!

September 30, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: 1920's, 20's, 20's fashion, 20's inspired, 20's style, Amanda de Cadenet, America's Cup, America's Cup World Series, Angela Liddon, Anna Dello Russo, Apartment decor, Apartment decorating, art deco, Autumn Decor, Autumn decorating, autumn decorating ideas, Autumn decorations, baroque, Baroque art, Baroque Masters, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, behind the scenes, Belle Maison, Blogger, Blogger fashion, Blogger Street Style, blogger style, Bohemian, bohemian chic, boho, boho chic, bombshell, bosu ball, bosu ball workout, brights, Brocade, cartoon fashion, circle skirt, Comic books, comics, Cooking appliances, Cooking tools, Daisy, Decor, decorating, decorating ideas, Decorations, DIY, Do It Yourself, dramatic, easy decorating ideas, Easy Fall decor, Easy meals, easy recipes, Easy vegan recipe, Evan Thomas, Fall, Fall 2012, Fall 2012 clothes, Fall 2012 Fashion, Fall 2012 skirts, Fall 2012 Style, Fall 2012 Trends, Fall clothes, Fall Clothing, Fall Decor, Fall Decorating ideas, Fall Decorations, Fall Fashion, Fall Muffins, Fall skirts, Fall Style, Fall trends, Fall/Winter, Fall/Winter 2012 Trends, Fall/Winter 2012/2013, Fashion, Fashion Blogger Fashion, Fashion Blogger Street Style, Fashion Blogger Streetstyle, Fashion Blogger Style, Fashion interview, Fashion Week, Fitness, fitness goals, FitSugar, fluted skirt, Follow Your Bliss, Food, Food processor, Garance Dore, Gatsby, Gatsby chic, Gatsby Fashion, Gatsby Girls, Gatsby Style, Gatsby-inspired, Glitter Guide, gluten free baking, gluten free muffins, Gluten-free, gluten-free desserts, gluten-free meals, grain-free, grain-free muffins, graphic novels, Great Gatsby, Halloween, Halloween decor, Halloween decorating, Halloween decorations, health, healthy life, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, Hippie, hippie chic, Hollywood, Hollywood Golden Age, Home decor, Home decorating, Jazz age, jewel tones, Kitchen appliances, Kitchen tools, mandolin, MBFW, medicine ball, medicine ball workout, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Mini skirt, Miss Lily's, mix and match, mix n match, mixing & matching, mixing & matching patterns, mixing and matching, Muffin recipe, Net-A-Porter, New York Fashion Week, Nutrition, NYFW, OhSheGlows, old school, Old school glamour, one shirt three ways, online workouts, Oxford, Oxford Shirt, panel skirt, paneled skirt, panels, Pardon My French, patterend panels, Patterns, Pencil skirt, Photographer, pilates, Pin up, pin up girl, pinup, pinup girl, printed skirt, prints, Pumpkins, quick & easy, quick & easy meals, quick & easy recipes, Quick meals, quick recipes, Quick vegan recipe, Race watching, Refinery 29, Refinery29, Renaissance, Renaissance art, Renaissance Masters, Retro, retro-inspired, San Francisco Fashion, San Francisco Fashion Blogger, San Francisco shopping, San Francisco Street Style, San Francisco style, Seasonal decor, Seasonal decorating, secretary look, secretary skirt, sexy secretary, SF Fashion, SF Fashion Blogger, SF Shopping, SF Street Style, SF Style, sheer panels, simple decorating ideas, Simple Fall Decor, Skirts, Spectator, Spiralizer, sport, sports, Sports watching, squash noodle, squash pasta, Street style, Streetstyle, Style, The Blissful Chef, The Glitter Guide, The Great Gatsby, The Wannabe Chef, This Time Tomorrow, US Open, Vegan, vegan baking, Vegan meals, vegan muffins, Vegan recipes, veganism, vegetable noodle, vegetable slicer, Vegetarian, vegetarian baking, Vegetarian meals, Vegetarian recipes, vegetarianism, veggie noodle, veggie pasta, veggie slicer, Versatile, versatile pieces, vintage, Vintage inspired, vintage inspired fashion, Vogue, Vogue.com, WhoWhatWear, working out, workouts, workouts for beginners, workouts online, yoga, zucchini, zucchini noodle | 1 Comment

Links You’ll Love – NYFW Edition

Welcome to the New York Fashion Week edition of our Sunday Links You’ll Love posts. This week will be all about New York Fashion – From the style on the streets to tips from the models who walked the runways to beauty & skin products that have been tested.

Fashion:

It’s always fun to see the developing trends that emerge from the tents – Patterns, silhouettes, color scheme – 12 Fresh Trends With Serious Staying Power.

A big part of who’s wearing what is their accessories – The bags they’re carrying, the sunglasses they picked, the jewelry that was added, the hats they chose, the lipstick color that was worn – Fall Fashion Accessories for NYFW Spring 2013 – What to Wear to Fashion Week.

What the fashion insiders, models, bloggers, and Hollywood stars are wearing on the streets, to the shows, and at the afterparties of NYFW is nearly as important – and photographed – as what the designers send down the runways. Refinery 29 – What 5 Top Editors Are Wearing To NYFW.

Vogue offers a video overview of New York Fashion Week – This Is New York: A Look Back at Fashion Week Spring 2013.

Health & Beauty:

As far as I’m concerned the products that the Fashion Week attendees use to keep their skin and hair healthy during one of the most intense and hectic times of the year are worth knowing about. Fashion Indie and WhoWhatWear certainly seem to agree:

Curious how the models prepare for and survive four weeks of Fashion Weeks twice a year? Check out this Harper’s Bazaar piece featuring Supers Natasha Poly, Jourdan Dunn, Arizona Muse, Miranda Kerr, and Candice Swanepoel talking healthy breakfasts, workouts, and must have beauty products – Top Models’ Secrets Revealed.

Horrifying! If you want to learn to appreciate your figure better read this scary account of some of the horrifying things that models do to stay thin from Refinery 29 – The Dangerous Lengths Some Models Go To Stay Skinny.

What’s your favorite part about New York Fashion Week? What do you look forward to most about the shows?

September 23, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: anorexia, Arizona Muse, beauty, Beauty products, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, Beginners Guide to Running, Blogger, Blogger fashion, blogger picks, Blogger Street Style, Blogger Streetstyle, blogger style, bulimia, Candice Swanepoel, catwalk, Daphne Groeneveld, Digital Fashion Show, disordered eating, Eating disorders, eating habits, Editor picks, editors, Fall 2012 New York Fashion Week, Fall accessories, Fall Extras, Fashion, Fashion Blogger, Fashion Blogger Fashion, fashion blogger picks, Fashion Blogger Street Style, Fashion Blogger Streetstyle, Fashion Blogger Style, Fashion Editor Street Style, Fashion Editor Style, fashion editors, Fashion Indie, Fashion show, Fashion Week Fashion, Fashion Week Outfits, Fashion Week Street Style, Fashion Week Streetstyle, Fashion Week Style, FashionIndie, Fitness, Get in shape, Ginta Lapina, harper's bazaar, Harper's Magazine, health, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, Jourdan Dunn, makeup, Makeup products, MBFW, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Miranda Kerr, model, Model Beauty Secrets, Model eating disorders, Model fashion, model picks, model skin care, Model street style, Model Style, Model tips, Models, Natasha Poly, New York, New York Fashion, New York Fashion Week, New York Style, Nutrition, NYC fashion, NYC Fashion Blogger, NYC Street Style, NYC Style, NYFW, NYFW essentials, products, Refinery 29, Refinery29, Running, Runway, runway collection, Runway models, Runway show, San Francisco Fashion, San Francisco Fashion Blogger, San Francisco Street Style, San Francisco style, SF Fashion, SF Fashion Blogger, SF Street Style, SF Style, Shu-Pei, Skinny, Skinny models, Spring 2012 New York Fashion Week, Spring 2013, Spring 2013 Collection, Spring 2013 Collections, Spring 2013 New York Fashion Week, Spring 2013 NYFW, Spring 2013 Ready-To-Wear, Spring 2013 RTW, Spring 2013 shows, Spring 2013 trends, Spring trends, Stay in shape, staying healthy, Street style, Street style accessories, Streetstyle, Style, Supermodel, Victoria's Secret, Victoria's Secret Angel, Victoria's Secret Angels, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Victoria's Secret models, Video, Vogue, Vogue Magazine, Vogue.com, What editors wear, what to pack, working out, workouts | Leave a comment

Links You’ll Love

Health & Nutrition:

Sometimes going to the gym sounds like the worst thing in the world. Sometimes the weather is awful when you were dying to go for a run. Well if you have a set of dumbbells (or you could easily use a kettlebell or weighted bosu ball) you can tackle this rainy day workout!

I’m always on the lookout for new and exciting smoothie recipes so when I was browsing Organice Your Life and saw this Raw Green Coconut Shake recipe I was thrilled.

Don’t think you have time for a full workout? Why not try this Women’s Health Get Fit In Only 15 Minutes: Skinny Jeans Workout which includes the very important squats & lunges or FitSugar’s BOSU Circuit Workout.

In the mood for something sweet? Or do you want a treat for family or friends that’s healthy as well as tasty? Check out the super healthy and oh-so-simple Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies over at Peas And Thank You or

I always get excited when I can add a fun new recipe to my rotation of favorites. Something quick, easy, and delicious. Well, if you’re like me, you’ll want to try Choosing Raw’s Curried Quinoa & Aduki Bean Patties – They’re savory and filling, and easily adapted based on the ingredients you have on hand, a home run in my book.

Fashion:

Whenever I want a dose of inspiration one of my go-to websites is WhoWhatWear – From Style Stalker posts to reviews of new collections to street style breakdowns, they’ve always got you covered – Styling Tips For September.

Street style is a fun and evolving part of fashion and fashion blogging and I’ve been enjoying the pictures online for ages – From bloggers to fashion insiders to models to celebrities. It’s a great way to get inspired or to see what’s trendy and hot right now. And with four Fashion Weeks coming up, it’s time to give it a closer look – A Street-Style Primer For The September Shows. Or check out one of my favorite model street style blogs out there for up to date shots from the shows – Altamira: Models Off Duty.

The accessories are probably my favorite part about dressing for Fall and Winter. Scarves, gloves, hats, outerwear… Swoon! FabSugar agrees – Best Fall Scarves 2012: It’s a Wrap — Shop the Best Layering Scarves For Early Fall.

I love vintage-inspired styles and loved this post on finding some great pieces that are perfect for Fall and fabulously retro – Finding the perfect 1970s shoulder bag.

I’m a bun girl through and through so I was excited by all of the buns on the runways for Fall. If you’re of a similar mind, check out Harper’s Bazaar’s The Return Of The Bun or Best Celebrity Top Knots: The Fun Bun Hall of Fame.

September 17, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: 15 minute workout, 1970s, 70's, 70's fashion, Altamira, Altamira Models Off Duty, at home workouts, barbells, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, Beginners workouts, boho, boho chic, Bosu, bosu ball, Bun, Buns, butt workout, celebrity buns, Celebrity hairstyles, celebrity top knot, celebrity updo, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Clean, Clean eating, cleanse, coconut shake, coconut smoothie, Craig Arend, Cristina's Blog, detox, easy recipes, easy workouts, Eleonora Carisi, Fabsugar, Fall 2012, Fall accessories, Fall/Winter 2012/2013, Fashion, Fashion month, Fashion Week, Fitness, FitSugar, Get Fit In Only 15 Minutes, gluten free baking, Gluten-free, gluten-free cookies, gluten-free desserts, green coconut, Gucci, hairdos, hairstyle, harper's bazaar, health, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, healthy recipes, healthy shake, Hippie, hippie chic, Home Workouts, how to style for September, Indoor workouts, Kale, Kettlebell workouts, Kettlebells, leg workout, Lonneke Engel, lunges, medicine ball, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, messenger bag, Model fashion, Model street style, model streetstyle, Model Style, Models Off Duty, My Dress.My High Heels.My Style, Nutrition, Organice Your Life, oxblood, Peas and Thank You, Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love, quick & easy meals, quick & easy recipes, quick & easy snacks, quick recipes, quick workout, rainy day workout, raw cleanse, raw detox, raw diet, raw food, raw food diet, Raw Green Coconut Shake, raw recipes, Retro, retro bag, scarves, September shows, September styling, September Styling Tips, shake recipes, Shakes, short workout, shoulder bag, Skinny Jeans workout, smoothie recipes, Smoothies, Spring 2012 Fashion Week, Spring 2013, Spring 2013 Collections, Squats, Street style, Streetstyle, studio 54, Style, Style Stalker, style.com, Styling tips, suede, sumo squats, Teresa Lourenco, The Fitnessista, the return of the bun, top knot, Updo, updos, Vegan, vegan chocolate chip cookies, vegan desserts, Vegan recipes, veganism, Vegetarian, Vegetarian recipes, vegetarianism, vintage, vintage handbag, walking lunges, WhoWhatWear, Winter 2012, Winter 2013, winter accessories, Women's Health, working out, workouts, workouts for beginners, zucchini, Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies, Zucchini Cookies | 1 Comment

Links You’ll Love

Health & Fitness:

Adding some healthy recipes to your repertoire is a great way to stay in shape and make sure that you’re getting all the necessary nutrients and vitamins. Here are some great options to try out:

Choosing Raw’s Quinoa Chickpea Burgers with Za’atar Spice and Creamy Tahini Sauce
FitSugar’s Tasty Twists on Traditional Hummus Recipes
Prevention’s Summer Fruit Recipes And Vegetable Ideas

Interested in the benefits of a raw diet and how eating high raw can help your health and digestion? Why Raw? Revisiting the Question from Choosing Raw.

Staying hydrated while you’re working out during the summer is key, whether you’re hitting the gym or going for a long run, it’s something that you need to be sure that you’re considering – 5 Tips for Staying Hydrated in the Heat.

And what’s life without a little dessert? 25 Vegan Desserts – Including every delicious thing from Coconut Tiramisu to Fudge Daddy Brownies to Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread to Caramel Peach Sticky Buns.

You can eat it or you can take it in a pill, but you should be sure that you’re getting enough! Enough what? Garlic, of course. Read Organice Your Life’s Garlic health benefits.

Fashion:

Here’s a fun, quick project that will help you entertain fashionably at your next dinner or cocktail party – Cupcakes & Cashmere’s Sparkly Rustic Tray DIY.

Need some new nail art ideas? Check out Refinery 29’s Nail Art’s New Wave: How To Get The Bubbly, Beautiful “Pop Fizz” Look.

I’m a fan of Fashion Vibe’s Zina Charkoplia’s personal style so it’s great to see her showing up on others radar as well – Looks of the Week & Looks of the Week. Check out some of her best looks on WhoWhatWear’s Style Stalker piece.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

August 12, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: bathing suit, Brownies, Caramel Peach Sticky Buns, Choosing Raw, Cinnamon rolls, Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread, Cocktail tray, coconut tiramisu, Cupcakes And Cashmere, Desserts, DIY, Do It Yourself, easy recipes, eating raw, Emily Schuman, Fashion, Fashion Vibe, Fit Bottomed Girls, Fitness, FitSugar, Food, Fudge Daddy Brownies, Garlic, Garlic Health Benefits, Garlic pills, Gena Hamshaw, gluten-free desserts, harper's bazaar, healthy, Healthy eatin, Healthy food, healthy lifestyle, healthy recipes, heath, Home decor, home decor project, home project, homemade hummus, hummus, hummus recipe, hydrating, hydration, Lonneke Engel, Monkey bread, nail art, nail polish, Organice Your Life, Prevention, Prevention Magazine, prevention.com, Quick workouts, raw diet, raw eating, raw foods, Resort wear, resortwear, Street style, Style, Style Stalker, Summer, Summer clothes, Summer fashion, summer wear, swimsuits, The Family Kitchen, tiramisu, Vegan, Vegan cooking, vegan desserts, Vegan recipes, veganism, Vegetarian, Vegetarian recipes, vegetarianism, WhoWhatWear, working out, workouts, Zina Charkoplia | Leave a comment

List Girl

My June Listing post was such a success that I thought I’d make it a semi-regular offender, so get ready for some information about me and details about what I’ve been doing lately.

What I’ve been eating:

I can’t seem to get out of the kitchen actually, something which I blame this new 11-Cup Cuisinart Food Processor for. I was thrilled to upgrade from the 4-cup to the 11-cup but I haven’t stopped baking since it arrived, and that’s rough on the jeans!

I’m still eating tons of veggies, cooking healthy meals for Arianna at least once a week, and eating my body weight in fruit every day, but everything I eat seems to come with a side of baked goods these days…

{JL Goes Vegan’s Cherry-Oat Ice Cream Bars, Peanut Butter Protein Balls & OhSheGlow’s Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins}

The boy has been thrilled by this little development and no one in my office is complaining about the abundance of cookies and zucchini muffins, I can assure you!

What I’ve been reading:

It seems like lately I’ve spent a lot of time on the train or in the car, so reading materials have been a must. The benefit is that I’m all caught up on my favorite magazines now, which is a relief, and I’ve read a handful of books over the last few weeks.

Recently I’ve gotten through the too cute Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Martin Cruz Smith’s Russian crime novel Stalin’s Ghost, and the international espionage novel Moscow Vector by Patrick Larkin. Now it’s on to Robin Maxwell’s Signora da Vinci and Lucrezia Borgia by Sara Bradford, both of which have been gathering dust on my bedside table.

What I’ve been writing:

Um… I take the 5th. I swear I’ll have an answer in my next Listing post. I swear!

What I’ve been wearing:

I’ve been making an effort to trade in my easy-to-wear dresses for fun separates and that’s given me a chance to be more creative with colors and prints and accessories so far this Summer.

Hopefully I can keep this up through the end of Summer and start Fall off right with lots of great skirts and pants paired with fabulous tops and all the cold weather accessories I’ve been missing!

Some Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me:

I spend most of my waking time thinking about food – I love to cook and eat, and trying a new recipe is one of my favorite parts of the day.
I compulsively double lock my front door whenever I walk inside my apartment. Even when Sean’s just walked out to drop off the garbage. I can’t help it!
I love swimming and spending my vacations in the water, but I’m afraid of lake monsters. Don’t ask.

How have you been spending your time lately? Have you eaten anything great? Read anything new? Worn anything fabulous that you’d like to share?

August 9, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, MCLV Style | Tags: 11-Cup Food Processor, 4-Cup Food Processor, About me, Angela Liddon, baked goods, baking, Bloomingdales, Books, Carmichael Farmer's Market, Cherries, Cherry Oat Ice Cream Bars, chocolate muffins, Choosing Raw, coconut flour, Cuisinart, easy desserts, eating, Elk Grove, Elle, Energy balls, Energy Bites, Farmer's Market, Fashion, fashion magazines, Ferry Building, Ferry Building Farmer's Market, Fitness, Food, food blogger, Food processor, fresh produce, fresh vegetables, Gena Hamshaw, gluten free baking, Gluten-free, gluten-free recipes, Grease, Guys and Dolls, harper's bazaar, Harper's Bazaar UK, healthy, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, healthy recipes, Holly Woodcock, Holly Would If She Could, Home decor, Home sale, Ice cream bars, Interview questions, JL Goes Vegan, Kailey, Kitchen, kitchen electronics, Listing, Lists, Lucrezia Bordia, Mademoiselle Boleyn, Mange, Martin Cruz Smith, Michael Buble, OhSheGlows, Oil-free baking, Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins, oil-free recipe, Pandora, Patrick Larkin, peanut butter, physical therapy, powedered peanut butter, protein balls, Protein bites, quick & easy recipes, quick desserts, quick recipe, quick recipes, Rachel Getting It, Rachel Wilkerson, read, reading, reading list, Reading materials, Recipes, Robert Ludlum, Robin Maxwell, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Francisco Fashion, San Francisco Fashion Blogger, San Francisco Street Style, San Francisco style, Sarah Bradford, SF Fashion, SF Fashion Blogger, Signora da Vinci, slip n slide, SnackFace, soundtracks, Stalin's Ghost, Stephen Chbosky, Street style, Style, Summer baking, Summer magazines, Sun Warrior Protein Powder, The Life & Lessons of Rachel Wilkerson, The Moscow Vector, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Vegan, vegan desserts, vegan ice cream, Vegan recipes, veganism, Vegetarian, Vegetarian recipes, vegetarianism, veggies, Vogue, What I've been Eating, What I've been reading, Women's Health, working out, workouts, zucchini muffins | 1 Comment

Weekend Adventures

Over the weekend this little city girl escaped San Francisco for a weekend of wind, water, and family at dreamy Fallen Leaf Lake near South Lake Tahoe – Virtually the same weekend as last year actually.

After a short stop in sweltering Sacramento we headed up to the breezy, welcoming mountain air of Tahoe. I’ve been visiting my family’s cabin on Fallen Leaf Lake since I was a baby and it holds so many memories.

Day-long hikes gone awry with their destinations never discovered, swimming in the freezing snow-melt lake, climbing up waterfalls, boating on the lake in everything from a canoe to a kayak to a Sun Fish sailboat, and even flipping one of the boats & getting stranded at the opposite end of the lake with a friend.

Needless to say a jolt of excitement and anticipation always thrills through me as soon as I can see the distinctive roof top and the vacation actually begins.

And this was an especially fun weekend as the boy and I joined my parents, aunt, uncle, and grandparents at the cabin for a relaxed weekend of hikes, boat rides, reading on the deck, vino, and huge family meals. I mean the amount of food, not the number of people by the way. 🙂

How was everyone’s weekend? Do you like to get out of your hometown on occasion and relax in the country or are you a city mouse through-and-through?

August 6, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food | Tags: Alpine lakes, backpacking, Cabin, Camp Richardson, casual, city girl, country girl, Emerald Bay, exercise, exercisew, exercising, Fallen Leaf, Fallen Leaf Lake, Fashion, Fitness, Food, health, healthy, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, hike, Hiking, Lake, long hikes, long walks, Low-Intensity Fasted Cardio, low-key, Nevada Border, Northern California, relaxing, Road trip, Roadtrip, Sacramento, San Francisco, Stanford, Stanford Camp, Street style, Style, Tahoe, The Y, Three day weekend, Travel, traveling, vacation, vacay, walking, walking as exercise, walking for health, waterfalls, work outs, working out | 2 Comments

Links You’ll Love

Let’s start this Sunday off with some INSPIRATION – Wise Words: 24 Inspiring Prints to Start Your Day

Fashion:

I’d hate to label myself as lazy, but even I have to admit that I definitely get into fashion ruts so… Stop Being Lazy: 7 Chic AND Easy Switch-Outs from Refinery 29 with fun new options like trading your old, torn cut-offs for some adorable printed shorts or trying cropped trousers so you can give up your legging habit. Definitely some great ideas!

If you’re looking for some new products to add to your skin care routine why not take some Kiehl’s suggestions from Italian blogger and fashion It Girl Eleonora Carisi – I Can’t Live Without.

Need some fabulous fashion inspiration for your next tropical vacation? Unstoppable Style: Poppy Delevingne Shares Her Ultimate Summer Wish List.

Want to create the perfect pair of jean shorts this Summer? Follow The Glamourai’s step by step instructions and enjoy the fabulous results! { DIY } Denim Cut-Offs.

If you’re in the market for updating your accessories stash or just looking for some advice on styling, why not turn to a professional? Anna Dello Russo – 10 TOP Rules for ACCESSORIES.

Health & Fitness:

A major part of finding internal motivation to hit the gym or trails is feeling comfortable and confident in your workout clothes. A great pair of pants that highlight your assets are going to get you out the door much faster than a tattered, stretched out pair of yoga pants. Trust me. Check out The Fitnessista’s recommendations – Summer Workout Gear.

Who better to give health & fitness tips than someone whose livelihood is based on their body? Top model Izabel Goulart shares her Five Minute Brazilian Butt Workout with Modelinia. What else does she mention? Walking! I just can’t recommend it enough – Low Intensity Fasted Cardio!

If you need to amp up the healthy fats in your diet avocados are the perfect choice during Summer, so pick some up next time you’re at the store and take of these recipes for a spin – 5 New Ways to Use Avocado.

Finding the right snack to give you energy and satisfy you before a workout without causing a sugar crash or an upset or overly filled stomach is a balancing act. See what Fit Bottomed Girls suggest – 4 New Healthy Snacks to Put in Your Gym Bag.

In the mood to get a little creative in the kitchen? Why not whip up some healthy desserts in the form of vegan ice cream? I made Choosing Raw’s Blueberry Ginger Ice Cream and it was divine, so follow my lead and give one of these tasty recipes a try – Veg Out: Dairy-Free and Delish Ice Cream Recipes.

No matter what your diet is, putting together a good grocery list is a Must. Check out FitSugar’s 7 Grocery Shopping Tips For a Plant-Based Approach or Caveman Strong’s Grocery List Paleo Style.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend and has a great Sunday! I’ll be back tomorrow to share with you all weekend in sunny, secluded Fallen Leaf Lake.

August 5, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: 10 TOP Rules for ACCESSORIES, accessories, accessorizing, Anna Dello Russo, avocado, Avocado recipes, Banana Chips, Banana Ice Cream, Banana Soft Serve, Blueberry Ginger Ice Cream, Brazilian butt workout, Brazilian Fitness, Brazilian health tips, butt workout, caveman, caveman diet, Caveman Strong, chic and easy switch outs, Choosing Raw, Conde Nast Italia, creating a new style, cut off shorts, dairy free ice cream, Denim Cutoffs, DIY, DIY cut offs, DIY Shorts, DIY: Denim Cut-Offs, Do It Yourself, dried fruit, Editor of L'Uomo Vogue, Eleonora Carisi, Fabsugar, Fashion, Fashion editor, Fashion rut, Fit Bottomed Girls, Fitness, FitSugar, Food, French women don't get fat, French women walk, Fruit Chews, Funky Monkey, Gena Hamshaw, Grazia.it, grocery list, Grocery shopping, gymbag, gymbag snacks, healthy bars, Healthy fats, Healthy Fruit Snacks, healthy snacking, healthy snacks, inspiration, inspirational sayings, Italian fashion, Italian fashion blogger, Italian Style, Izabel Goulart, Joujou Villeroy, Kiehl's, Kind Bar, KIND Nuts & Spices, Larabar, Low-Intensity Fasted Cardio, mixing up your style, model fitness tips, model workout, Modeling, Modelinia, motivation, motivational quotes, motivational sayings, Paleo, paleo diet, Paleo Grocery List, Plant-based diet, Poppy Delevingne, post workout snack, pre workout snack, Primal, primal eating, protein bar, Refinery 29, resort clothing, Resort wear, Sharkies Fruit Chews, Shorts, snack bar, Squats, Styling, Summer Workout Gear, The Fitnessista, The Glamourai, Uber Larabar, vacation clothing, vacation fashion, vacation style, Vegan, vegan desserts, Vegan diet, vegan ice cream, Vegan Ice Cream Recipes, Vegan recipes, veganism, Vegetarian, Vegetarian diet, Victoria's Secret Angel, Victoria's Secret mode, Vogue Italia, Walk, walking, walking as exercise, Walking like the French, Women's Health, Women's Health Magazine, working out, workout clothes, workout gear, workout motivation, workout snacks | Leave a comment

Links You’ll Love

Fashion:

Who knows more about traveling in style than a model who spends her life hoping on planes to new destinations for short periods of time? So check this out – Jessica Stam Shares Her Best Travel Tips with Modelinia.

If you’re decorating like The Glamourai than you’re probably in the market for new and exciting wall art. Next to rugs and furniture, art is one of the most expensive parts of decorating a home, so why not make a piece yourself? { DIY } Tumbling Block Art.

Do you have Olympic fever? Why not admire these fantastic athletes for more than just their athlete prowess – 6 Stylish Olympians Who Have Amazing Off-Duty Style!

the-glamourai

Sometimes you need to turn to the experts for tips and ideas – 5 Style Tips Stolen From Our Favorite Bloggers.

As you know I’m quite dedicated Zara fan, so why not indulge ourselves in some fabulous fashion courtesy of the much-loved Spanish retailer – Lace & Leather, Florals & Frills: 12 Fabulously Femme Zara Finds.

Health & Fitness:

One of my favorite apparatuses in the gym is the medicine ball, it’s versatile and always gives me a great workout. Don’t believe me? Ab Exercises Using a Ball – 3 Core-Strengthening Moves Using a Medicine Ball.

10 Foolproof Ways To Get The Happiest, Dreamiest Sleep Ever!

If you want to be healthy one of the most important factors is getting enough sleep. From hectic schedules to stressful lives to poor diets, there are many ways that your sleeping habits can be affected for the worse. Gala Darling has you covered – Hey, Tired Girl… Here’s How To Get The Happiest, Dreamiest Sleep Ever!

If you’re interested in a vegetarian or vegan diet but are worried about your protein intake – Don’t! Read my Plant-Based Protein post or The No Meat Athlete’s Protein for Vegetarians — A Simple Guide to Getting What You Need.

Dessert time! Check out these delicious, raw, nut-based vegan bars from FitSugar (Forget the Oven! Nutty Vegan No-Bake Treats) or try mom, baking genius, and author of Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love Sarah Matheny of Peas and Thank You’s Triple Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

My number one suggestion to people who ask for dieting and healthy lifestyle tips is to keep track of what you’re eating. Mindless snacking and eating multiple servings in a sitting are the biggest threats to a healthy diet, so check out these apps and start keeping track of what you put in your mouth – Food Journal iPhone Apps to Lose Weight on the Go.

July 29, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: 2012, 2012 Olympics, Ab Exercises Using a Ball, Ab rollout, Ab workout, Abdominal workout, Allison McNamara, Almond Butter Apricot Bites, Amazon, Backbend Crunches, Ball Pass, Beginners workouts, Bosu, bosu ball, British fashion, Carry-on, Chocolate Zucchini Cake, core strengthening, Core workout, Core-Strengthening Moves Using a Ball, DIY Home Decor, DIY Tumbling Block Art, DIY Wall Art, Do It Yourself, Do It Yourself Home Decor, Easy dessert, easy workouts, European fashion, European retailers, Fabsugar, Family meals, Family recipes, Fashion, Fashion Blogger, Fashion Models, Fitness, FitSugar, Food, food journal, Gala Darling, Get a good nights sleep, Get the best sleep, Gina Marinelli, gluten free baking, gluten free foods, gluten-free desserts, Healthy desserts, healthy diet, Healthy food, healthy lifestyle, healthy recipes, Home decor, Insomnia, iphone apps, Jessica Stam, keeping track of food, Kelly Framel, London Fashion, London Olympics, London Street Style, London style, Maria Sharapova, Matt Frazier, Meatless Meals, medicine ball, Mindless Eating, mindless snacking, Modelinia, Models, No bake cookies, No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispies with PB "Fudge", Nutty Vegan No-Bake Treats, off duty fashion, Olympian fashion, Olympians, Olympic fashion, Olympic Fever, Olympics, Peanut Butter cookies, Peas and Thank You, Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love, plant-based protein source, Protein for vegans, Protein for vegetarians, protein sources, raw baking, Raw cookies, raw desserts, raw foods, raw recipes, raw snack bar, Refinery 29, Sarah Matheny, Self Love, serving size, Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love, Sleeping, Spanish retailers, Style, Style bloggers, Stylish Olympians, The Glamourai, The No Meat Athlete, The Radical Self Love Project, tips for sleeping, tracking food, Travel tips, traveling in style, Triple Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Tumbling Block Art, vegan baking, vegan desserts, Vegan fudge, Vegan protein, Vegan recipes, veganism, vegetarian baking, vegetarian desserts, Vegetarian protein, Vegetarian recipes, vegetarianism, versatile workouts, Wall art, weight loss apps, weight loss aps, What to put in an overnight kit, What to travel with, working out, workouts, Zara, Zucchini cake | Leave a comment

Summary Saturday

For this Summary Saturday I want to share some of my Instagrams from the past week or two with you all. Everything from jewelry and clothes to snacks and vegan recipes – Enjoy!

Instagram – You can follow me on Instagram @moicontrelavie
Twitter – You can follow me on Twitter @moicontrelavie
Pinterest – You can follow my Pinterest boards here
Facebook– You can LIKE my Facebook page here
Lookbook – You can see my Lookbook looks here, you can FAN me to get an email update when I post a new look, or you can HYPE my looks if you like them!

Have a great weekend!

July 28, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, MCLV Style | Tags: Asos, Asos.com, bangles, BCBG, bling, bracelet, bug jewelry, California, Catstagram, chicken, coffee, Farmer's Market, Fashion, Fitness, Food, fresh fruit, fresh produce, fruit, health, Instagram, jewelry, Layering, Necklace, new shoes, Northern California, physical therapy, Pleated Skirt, pleats, Prada, produce, ring, Sacramento, San Francisco Street Style, San Francisco style, SF, shopping, stacking, Street style, Style, Sugar Plum Bakery, Summer style, Vegan Bakery, vegan recipe, Veuve, working out, workouts for beginners, Workoutsw | 1 Comment

The Man Behind The Camera

Other than my dear friend Liz, the remainder of the MCLV Personal Style photographs are taken by the current boyfriend Sean. He has written a guest post for us in the past and trained me in the ways of CrossFit, but has never been featured on the blog for his fashion prowess before.

That is, until today.

True, he spends the majority of his waking hours in workout clothes, but when he does deign to put on street clothes, he has a great personal style.

When we initially met in our senior year of high school he was extremely preppy – Polo shirts, button downs, and wool or cashmere collared coats. But over the years his style relaxed, becoming more and more low-key, and when we got back together two years ago he wore very little other than t-shirts, jeans, and flip-flops.

But miracle of miracles, over the last two years his sense of style has begun evolving again. And more than that, he has actually started to enjoy clothes and fashion more, like he did when he was younger. Now he shops online, asks for advice on putting together pieces in his wardrobe & picking things out, and genuinely has an interest in shopping and expanding his wardrobe.

These days he prefers to keep his daily look low-key and minimal, and primarily wears black, white, and navy. Jeans are usually his preference and he traditionally pairs them with a Lacoste Pima V-Neck, a button down, or a Polo shirt. As for brands, we’ve found that the shirts that fit him best are Express for Men and Lacoste, they both have slim fit versions that work well for his frame.

When it comes to shoes he’s tried virtually everything, from boots to slip-ons to boat shoes to loafers. He loves slip ons and its all I can do to make sure he doesn’t wear his rubber soled slippers out of the house. The most worn pair of shoes he has are his tan, lace-up Banana Republic loafers, but he did just get a new pair of slip-on boat shoes that are very versatile.

They can even be worn with pink!

And a style post wouldn’t be complete without mentioned his creativity, he picked a kick-ass Halloween costume last year that suited him quite well despite being an incredibly last-minute choice – The Travelocity Gnome! 🙂

In the mood for more? Check out my Let’s Hear It For The Boys post filled with tips, ideas, and inspiration for putting together a complete and stylish wardrobe.

What do you like most on the men in your life? Are there certain styles that appeal to you more than others? When it comes to mens accessories, do you think less is more?

July 26, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food | Tags: American River Crossfit, ARCFit, Banana Republic, boat shoes, boy clothes, Boys, Button down, button down shirt, cashmere coat, casual, casual clothes, casual clothing, Coat, collared coat, CrossFit, dress clothes, dress shirt, dress shoes, Express for men, Fasting, Gap, Gnome costume, gym, gym clothes, Halloween, Halloween costume, Intermittent Fasting, intermittent fasting and meal frequency, Intermittent Training & Stubborn Body Fat, jacket, Jeans, Lacoste, loafers, Low-Intensity Fasted Cardio, low-key, male clothes, Martin Berkhan, men, mens clothing, mens style, Menswear, online shopping, Pima V-Neck, polo, Polo shirt, relaxed, Sacramento CrossFit Gym, Sacramento gyms, shirt, Slacks, slip ons, slippers, Street Clothes, street fashion, Street style, T-shirt, tee, top siders, Travelocity Gnome, v-neck, wardrobe must haves, what a man should have in his closet, Wool coat, working out, workout, workout clothes, worn jeans | 2 Comments

Links You’ll Love

Fashion:

Here’s a serious, fashion-forward French manicure that’s perfect for your next big event – DIY Nail Art: A Modern French Manicure Inspired By Marchesa.

If you love the current reigning queen of fashion, Diane Kruger, as much as I do, you’ll adore this interview from the Wall Street Journal – Diane Kruger: 20 Odd Questions.

I’m a huge devotee of ballet flats, they suit my classic and simple, but feminine style to a T, but I love to mix things up. This summer has been all about topsiders, smoking flats, and Oxfords. Don’t believe me? WhoWhatWear – How They Wear Summer Oxfords featuring celebrities like Audrey Tautou, Jessica Alba, and Rihanna, and fashion insiders like Olivia Palermo and Annabelle Dexter-Jones.

Shoe porn anyone? How about closet organizing and gorgeous shoe storage? Thought so… Be Frassy – Shoescribe & Frassy.

Health & Fitness:

If you’re like me and enjoy trying new and interesting ways of eating in order to find the best way of eating for yourself, then here’s another to try. Paleolithic, primal, caveman – These have all been used to describe the high protein, gluten-free diet known as Paleo. Check out this health nut’s experience –30-Day Paleo Challenge: I Tried It!

If a gym membership is too pricy for you right now or even if you’re just not in the mood to head to the gym, it doesn’t mean that you have to skip your workout. Try Women’s Health’s Work Out At Home for great body weight moves you should incorporate into your workouts.

Some new duds always motivate me to get my booty to the gym, but that doesn’t mean you need to break the bank! Get Your Om on For Less: Yoga Tops Under $30.

Not sure about you, but I whole heartedly believe that there are healthy desserts out there that you can indulge in without guilt. And while I wouldn’t say it’s my life’s goal to try them all, that statement wouldn’t be too far off. Case in point? The Fitnessista’s Sweet potato chocolate chunk cookies – I made these with a few little adjustments, MCLV Mange post to come soon!

Whether you’re a native San Franciscan like I am or new to the City By The Bay, if you’re looking for some great places to workout look no further than the FitSugar headquarters – Work Out Like a Local: San Francisco Edition.

July 22, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: 30-Day Paleo Challenge: I Tried It!, A Modern French Manicure Inspired By Marchesa, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Audrey Leighton, Audrey Rogers, Audrey Tautou, Ballet flats, Be Frassy, Camisole, caveman diet, Champion, Champion Double Dry+ Fem Cami Long Top, cheap tops, cheap workout gear, cheap yoga gear, Dairy-free, Diane Kruger, DIY, DIY Nail Art, DIY Nail Art: A Modern French Manicure Inspired By Marchesa, Do It Yourself, easy workouts, exercise, Express, Express Sexy Racerback Cami, Fashion, Fit Bottomed Girls, Fitness, FitSugar, Flats, Food, French Manicure, Gap, GapFit, GapFit Drawstring Tank, GapFit Loose Shelf-Bra Tank, gluten free baking, Gluten-free, gluten-free cookies, guilt-free recipes, health, healthy baking, healthy dessert, healthy eating, healthy living, healthy snacks, Home Workouts, inexpensive workout gear, Jessica Alba, Karen Walker's S/S 12 collection, lace up oxfords, Marchesa, masculine, MCLV Mange, menswear inspired, Modern French Manicure, nail art, Nike, Nike Legend Women's Training Tank, Old Navy, Old Navy Padded Camis, Olivia Palermo, Oliviapalermo.com, oxfords, Paleo Challenge, paleo diet, Paleolithic, Paleolithic Diet, Primal, Primal diet, Racerback tank, Rihanna, Robb Wolf, San Francisco, san francisco working out, san francisco workouts, shoe organization, Shoescribe, slip on flats, smoking flats, Style, summer flats, sweet potato baking, Sweet potato chocolate chunk cookies, Sweet potato cookies, sweet potato recipes, The Fitnessista, The Real Olivia P, The Stylist, The Wall Street Journal, top siders, WhoWhatWear, Women's Health, Women's Health Magazine, working out, working out in san francisco, Workout at home, workout gear, workouts, WSJ, yoga clothes, yoga gear, yoga tops, ypga gear | Leave a comment

Links You’ll Love

Happy Monday everyone!

Here are some fun links to get your week started right. Enjoy!

Fashion:

diy nail art manicure

When I saw this shot I was pretty intrigued. This is quite the vampy, sexy manicure! DIY Nail Art: A French Manicure That Fades To Black.

How you style a look is nearly as important as the pieces itself. Want some new ideas and tips on how to mix the pieces in your closet? WhoWhatWear to the rescue – June Styling Tips.

Does the ethics of a brand affect how much you like it? Vogue – Style Ethics: Olivia Wilde’s Bag for Alternative Apparel + Our Favorite Eco-Friendly Picks.

Did you enjoy all of the 2013 Resort Collections? Well Eat, Sleep, Denim has a must have a list from the shows for you – Denim Trends: A Wishlist.

Health/Fitness:

I don’t know about you, but I’m at a loss without music. Can’t work out. Can’t run. The right playlist not only gets you amped up for your exercise routine, it can keep you going when you’re ready to quit! These gym-regulars have just the play list for you – Victoria’s Secret Angel Erin Heatherton, Dutch model & Organice Your Life founder Lonneke Engel, and model slash DJ Harley Viera-Newton.

I don’t know about you, but fresh veggies and colorful salads are always a highlight of the summer for me. I love crisp, bright, refreshing recipes full of farmer’s market fare. If you agree check this out – Sweet and Savory: 3 Ways to Enjoy Summer Carrots.

A raw diet is something that I tried when I first went gluten-free and vegan a few years ago, after reading Carol Alt’s Eating in the Raw: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Slimmer, Feeling Healthier, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Way. While I don’t follow a 100% raw diet 100% of the time, I definitely appreciate the health benefits and continue to eat a high raw diet – usually I eat raw until dinner. Well, luckily for us Miss Alt is back with a new book called Easy Sexy Raw: 130 Raw Food Recipes, Tools, and Tips to Make You Feel Gorgeous and Satisfied. Check out the review on Amazon or the piece on her new book in the NY Daily News.

It might not be news to you, but studies show that Sleepy Brains Are Drawn To Junk Food. Which means that in addition to introducing major health problems, reducing concentration, and causing forgetfulness, sleep deprivation can cause weight gain. Are you getting enough sleep? Check out my post on sleeping – Confessions of a Former Insomniac.

Just as I love braids for summer, there are certain makeup looks that just scream Summertime to me. From dewy skin to bronzed perfection, find the perfect look for warm weather days. The Zoe Report’s 10 Summer Beauty Wants – Hot Topic and Gala Darling’s beauty obsessions on Beauty Bender.

June 25, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food, Links You'll Love | Tags: 2012 New Years Resolutions, 2013 Resort, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Way, and Tips to Make You Feel Gorgeous and Satisfied, Animal friendly fashion, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Arizona Muse, Be Positive, beauty, Bella Heathcote, Black French Manicure, black nails, black on black nails, Cannes Film Festival, Carol Alt, carrot recipes, carrots, Chanel Resort 2013, Chloe's Nails, Dani Stahl, Denim, denim guide, Denim Trends, denim wish list, DIY, DJ, Do It Yourself, Doing your own nails, Dutch model, Easy Sexy Raw, Easy Sexy Raw: 130 Raw Food Recipes, Eat, Eating In The Raw, Eating in the Raw: A Beginner's Guide to Getting Slimmer, eating raw, eco fashion, Eco-friendly, Eniko Mihalik, Erin Heatherton, Feeling Healthier, Gala Darling, getting a good nights sleep, getting enought sleep, Harley Viera-Newton, harper's bazaar, Health Magazine, Health.com, healthy diet, Henry Ward Beecher, high raw diet, Hilary Rhoda, http://www.fitsugar.com/Low-Calorie-Carrot-Recipes-23616642, Insomnia, Jeans, June Styling Tips, Lonneke Engel, Low-Calorie recipes, Mani/Pedi, manicure, MCLV's Makeup Bag, MCLV's Medicine Cabinet, Model Citizen, Model fashion, Model street style, Model Style, monthly goals, Monthly Planning, nail art, New Years Resolutions, NY Daily News, Nylon's Editor-At-Large, Olivia Wilde, Organice Your Life, Oscar de la Renta Resort 2013, playlist, positive outlook, Positivity, Raw Cooking, raw diet, raw eating, raw foods, resort 2013 denim, resortwear, Resting, Running, skincare, skincare products, skincare routines, Sleep, Sleeping, Style Ethics, Style secrets, Styling, Summer clothes, summer jeans, Summer Salads, Summer veggies, Supermodel, The Stylist, Tools, Victoria's Secret, Victoria's Secret Angel, Victoria's Secret models, warm weather clothes, WhoWhatWear, working out, workout inspiration, workout music, Workout Playlist, workout tunes, WWW, Zoe Kazan | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Paleo Lifestyle

I’m a strong believer that each body has different needs and requirements. From allergies and intolerances, to dietary preferences, to work and sleep habits. Both our lives and our bodies dictate how we should fuel ourselves, and listening to your body is something that you need to learn to do. And that’s why I believe in trying different diets. Not diets as in crash diets – diets as in lifestyle changes that allow you to experience different ways of eating, that give you the opportunity to discover the best and healthiest lifestyle for yourself.

Personally I’ve tried a number of different diets and excluded various foods over the years, from high raw to mostly vegan to gluten-free. I want to feel my best every day – I want to sleep well, wake up rested & not need caffeine to open my eyes, have energy throughout the day, not suffer from headaches, and be alert & able to concentrate. And believe me when I say that it can be a long journey of trial and error to determine what foods will give you all of that.

Today I’m here to introduce Kyle Lawlor, one of the co-authors of the Tumblr blog Eat. Drink. Paleo – Two foodies who fell in love and are now transitioning to a Paleo lifestyle. If you look up “Paleo Diet” in wikipedia or check out the Paleo Diet website you can get a full list of do’s and don’ts, what you can and can’t eat, and why the Paleo supporters think that their lifestyle is the best choice out there. But what those websites won’t/can’t/don’t tell you is how this lifestyle will make you feel, how hard the transition is, what the noticeable benefits and downsides are, and how you will feel on a daily basis.

But Kyle can.

This is his story of discovering Paleo eating, making the transition, joining CrossFit, and how those choices have affected his daily life and outlook:

My journey to a healthy paleo lifestyle has taken far longer than I wish it would. I look back and kick myself for not doing this sooner but as is constant with me, I have to do everything in my own time or I will never stick to anything. I came across the Paleo Lifestyle when I joined American River CrossFit in July 2011. At the time I weighed 280lbs and I still (unfortunately) stand only 5’8 ½”. I was out of shape. I was constantly out of breath from even the simplest of tasks. I didn’t sleep well. I snored like a band saw. And worst of all, I looked terrible! When I started at CrossFit it was terrible. My body hadn’t felt so sore since JV Spring Training for football. My quads hurt, my back was tight, and my shoulders felt like they would drop off at any moment. The funny thing is that at first, a lot of what I was doing in CrossFit was just moving myself. My first month involved very little weight training, except for my own 280lbs. But I stuck with it and kept going. Soon I started seeing improvements. My clothes began fitting better and the pain I felt after workouts transitioned into soreness. The only problem was that my gut didn’t go anywhere and the scale hadn’t changed much. The reason was a simple one, one that I never really shared with neither my trainers at the Box nor my girlfriend, Rochelle. Every night after attending the 6pm class at ARCFIT and working my ass off I would stop at Wendy’s or Taco Bell on my way home and demolish a couple bucks worth of fake food before pulling into my drive way. THEN I would go inside and eat the dinner Rochelle would have prepared for us. To understand why I did this we need to take a quick trip down memory lane.

Fast forward to February 2012! I read The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and it changes my life. I had been living a 20% Paleo lifestyle at best while trying to work my ass off at CrossFit. Unfortunately, as we are fond of saying at ARCFIT “you can’t out train a shit diet”. It is so incredibly true! Somehow I expected that if I worked out an hour a day twice a week that gave me permission to eat whatever the hell I wanted. February was a great month for me because it was the start of a lot of life changes for me. The first was the 30 day Paleo challenge Rochelle and I began. We cut out all the grain, all the dairy, all the sugar and all the legumes. And at first it was awesome! NOT! It sucked! But, after the first week and a half all the cravings were gone. Then the amazing things started happening. I began feeling better. I was sleeping the whole night through with much less snoring then before (much to Rochelle’s delight), my pants started literally falling off of me because they were too big, and not to get gross but my bowel movements were noticeably healthier and less frequent than I was accustomed. All in all, my body was beginning to heal the wrongs I had done to it for 24 years.

What I have come to realize over the last year, specifically in the last 4 months, is that through taking care of myself I have become a happier person. 6 months ago, someone who knew me well might consider me a good friend but hateful of just about everyone else on the planet, and that’s putting it mildly. To be plain, I had been unhappy with my life for the past few years, and despite being moderately intelligent I could not see that the problem was staring back at me every time I went to McDonald’s for breakfast, Jack in the Box for lunch and perhaps Taco Bell for dinner. These foods had a hold on me. If I’m honest, I’d say they still do. While I rarely, if ever, crave some kind of fake burger from a fast food joint, I know that if I succumb to weakness at any time and have one I will be hooked once again.

When Rochelle and I began the 30 day Challenge in February, I didn’t think it would stick. I figured I would find someway of returning to old habits. However, since we decided to eat only the foods listed in the 30 Day sample menus I was stuck. I would actually have to follow the rules on this one and see where I could go.

My life is much different now. I do my best to go to the gym 5 days a week and I don’t drink as often or as much as I used to. I wake up at 6:30am, which is early when you consider the fact that I don’t have to be at work until 10am every day. I look at the WOD (Workout Of the Day in CrossFit speak), weigh myself, prepare myself to leave the house and head to the gym for the 7am class. When I get to the gym I feel like hell. My body and mind haven’t quite adjusted to being upright yet, there’s usually loud music on and in a couple of minutes someone I consider a friend is going to tell me to go run around the building, row 1000 meters, do pushups, or wall balls, or air squats, double-unders, burpees, and what the hell go run around the building again. At that point I’m warmed up. My morning headache is gone, my back has loosened up, and my hips are just about opened to where I need them to be in order to do whatever is planned for the day. Depending on the program I’m on there will be skill work before the WOD (ie pull ups or muscle ups) or weight lifting and then the WOD. I do my best on skill work and WODs, sometimes do a second WOD, foam roll, then drive home. The maximum amount of time I am ever at the gym is 2 hours, and those are days when I’m bored and Rochelle hasn’t given me a honey do list while I’m off on a weekday.

Time for some real honesty. Life happens, accept you may eat off diet and adjust accordingly (ie work your ass off the rest of the week) Sometimes you’re at your mom’s place and she’s making spaghetti and meatballs. You clean the plate and ask for seconds. Also, sometimes you’re in a hurry and forget your lunch. Does that mean you get to hit up McDonald’s for a Big Mac? NO! Think smarter. Is there a Thai restaurant near your work? If so, do what Rochelle does when she forgets lunch, call them up, order a red curry with beef, no rice, go back to your desk and eat something delicious and most likely entirely paleo. No Thai place? Craving fake Mexican food? Chipotle. I know, it is all that is wrong with this country but sometimes you want to eat fake Mexican food. A burrito bowl with no rice and beans will do the trick. Smile and ask politely for the person behind the counter to hook you up on peppers and onions. You like real Mexican food? Fine, hit up that taqueria by your work and grab a half pound of carnitas with a side of guac. No, you don’t need to order the rice, beans or tortillas! And finally, what about a good old American hamburger? All I can say God bless In N Out and Habit burger for lettuce wrapping their burgers, they can be a life saver! Have I done all these things? Yep! Am I proud of it? Not really, but I’m still going to eat and live my life. The difference is now when I eat things that are absolutely terrible for me, my mentality is different. Gone are the days when pasta made me think wistful thoughts of Rome. Now all I can think about is how much I just poisoned my body and how soon I can get it out of me. Funny how much things can change in 4 months.

My girlfriend and I constantly talk about how different my life has become in the last 4 months, none of it negative, and the one thing we always point out is that it started with my nutrition. When I got serious my life got better. Now I don’t usually like to look to the divine in such moments, but the timing sure is coincidental.

Please note that this is a shortened version of Kyle’s article, you can see the unabridged version here which includes great recipes and more details about Paleo eating.

Please note that neither Kyle nor I are a doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist. I recommend speaking with a professional prior to making any dramatic changes to your lifestyle, diet, or exercise regime to ensure that any changes you make are done safely.

June 19, 2012 | Categories: Fitness, Food | Tags: American River Crossfit, ARCFit, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, beginners fitness, caveman, caveman diet, Caveman eating, Caveman recipes, CF, CrossFit, Diet, Dietary changes, Dieting, Dr. Cordain, Dr. Loren Cordain, Eat like a caveman, Eat.Drink.Paleo, Fitness, Fitness for beginners, gluten free baking, Gluten-free, Gluten-Free Food, gluten-free recipes, going paleo, grain-free, Gyms, health, healthy, healthy changes, healthy eating, healthy life, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, high raw diet, How to eat Paleo, How to go Paleo, Kyle Lawlor, Lean Gains, legumes, lifestyle changes, Martin Berkhan, neanderthal diet, Nutrition, Paleo, paleo diet, Paleo dieting, paleo eating, Paleo Grocery List, Paleo recipes, paleo shopping list, Paleokit, Paleolithic, Paleolithic Diet, Primal, Primal diet, primal eating, Primal food pyramid, Primal recipes, raw foods, Rob Wolf, Robb Wolf, Sacramento, Sacramento CrossFit, Sacramento gym, Sacramento gyms, Stevesoriginal.com, The Dietary Cure for Acne, The Paleo Diet, The Paleo Diet for Athletes, Two foodies who fell in love and are now transitioning to a paleo lifestyle, veganism, vegetarianism, Wikipedia, working out, working out for beginners, workouts for beginners | 4 Comments

A Healthy Mentality

With bathing suit season nearly upon us I think that now’s a good time to turn our thoughts to health and fitness. Rather than crash diet or give ourselves 10, 15, or 20 days to reach specific goals in the upcoming months, why not change our habits and lifestyles so that we can stay healthy, happy, and in-shape all year around?

So with that goal in mind here are some health and fitness-related to links to get you motivated and in the mood for positive, healthy life changes. It’s a well-rounded list of reading materials, from interesting new workouts to healthy daily changes you can make to recipes you should try out. This is a great first step in a healthier direction!

Workouts:

Whether you’re a fan of free weights, classes at the gym, running, or yoga, we all know the importance of staying active in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Getting your heart rate up a handful of times a week is vital and adding walking to your daily regime will make all the difference in the world. I promise. You can even try low-intensity fasted cardio and get some walking in first thing before breakfast. Or ride to and from work each morning on your bike! Below are some ideas for different types of workouts to try, ways to mix up your trips to the gym, DVDs you may be interested in trying, and running tips.

Fit Bottomed Girls shares their 10 Favorite Workout DVDs From a Guy Who Knows His Workouts. This list includes virtually everything you can think of – martial arts-inspired workouts, circuit training, yoga, and dance DVDs. Quite the comprehensive list!
If you’re dedicated to the gym be sure to keep your workouts interesting and challenging by mixing things up each week so that no muscle groups are overlooked and you wont plateau on your goals. For inspiration on creative ways to mix up your workouts read FitSugar’s From Total Body to High Intensity: Elliptical Workouts For All, Mark’s Daily Apple’s The Importance of Pull-Up Bar Training, Prevention’s 7 Reasons You Need To Try Kettlebells Now, Self’s The Insanity Workout: 20 Minutes to Totally Toned, jump roping, and 3 CrossFit Total-Body Workouts. Add some new moves to your circuit workouts or try a new tempo on the elliptical, whatever it takes to keep your body, and mind, engaged and enjoying the results!
Were you brave and ambitious enough to sign up for a race this Spring? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a 5k, 10k, half marathon, or triathlon, just getting out there is what really counts. Here are some tips and tricks and no-no’s: Most Common Running Mistakes, 25 Marathon Training Tricks, The No Meat Athlete’s How to Run Long (and Strong!), How To Start Running: Couch to 5k, and From Training Schedules to Meal Plans: Everything You Need For Your First Race.
Want to try a new-to-you workout on for size? Whether you’re in the market for a new daily exercise regime or just something fun to do with a friend, here are some interesting choices: Ballet Boot Camp: Barre Fitness, Pilates, P90X, Cycling, Spinning, The Hunger Games Workout, yoga, or CrossFit.

Food:

How we fuel our bodies is the single most important thing that we do for our health on a daily basis. We make countless decisions every single day about food and beverages, and its easy to make the wrong choices if you’re not paying attention, haven’t educated yourself, or even if you procrastinate and wait until you’re starving before reaching for something. Fad diets will come and go, but eating a healthy, balanced diet is always going to be the best approach. Always.

A big part of starting a healthier way of eating is making better choices, whether you’re swapping calorie-dense processed foods for fresh fruit and vegetable-based snacks on a daily basis, reducing your portion sizes each meal, or giving up refined flours and sugars. Cooking in your home is always going to be the best way to ensure that you’re eating the healthiest that you can eat – Here are some tips and ideas to get you started: What can you make with avocado, 7 Nutrient-Rich Juice Recipes, 6 Healthy, Crowd-Pleasing Spring Soups, know your good fats from your bad fats, summer salads, 10 healthy raw recipes, oven-roasted vegetables, 10 healthy egg recipes, vegetable quinoa pilaf, 5 healthy hardboiled egg recipes, and Recipe Roundup: Bars, Kale Chips, and Other Ideas for Quick, Easy, High Raw and Vegan Snacking!
Interested in trying out a plant-based this Spring but worried that you’ll miss out on your favorite foods? Check out Vegetarian Comfort Food Recipes from Women’s Health, Fitness Magazine’s Endurance Athlete Brendan Brazier on How to Fuel an Active Lifestyle the Vegan Way, FitSugar’s Filling Veggie Meals That’ll Boost Your Metabolism, or even hit the grill with vegan-friendly burgers or Bourbon Tempeh Sliders!
Try a healthy, nutrient-dense, filing breakfast to start your day out right: Vegan Overnight Oat Parfaits- 12 Recipes To Kick Off The Season, Smoothie Love, Mouthwatering ways to improve your oatmeal, Green Juice & Smoothie Recipes, or Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Asparagus and Goat Cheese.

Motivation:

Finding the internal motivation to lace up your sneakers or grab your gym bag can be a challenge sometimes – when you have a bad day, when your schedule is hectic and you swear you don’t have time, when you’re tired, or it’s that time of the month…

Sometimes it’s the little things that motivate get us to the gym – Wanting to show off our new gear, being excited to listen to a new playlist, meeting a buddy for a workout… Don’t be embarrassed, use anything you can think of to get yourself to the gym! Read Rachel Wilkerson’s Lesson #115: How to Bribe Yourself to Work Out, FitSugar’s Foolproof Ways to Motivate a Weekend Workout on Friday Night, Prevention’s 7 Home Workout Excuses to Bury, Shape’s 12 Sayings to Get You Moving, Lifting, and Laughing, and Real Simple’s Friday Find: Style Firm.
Different ways to motivate yourself: 5 Crazy Fit Female Athletes, 3 Motivational Musts That Get Me To The Gym, Motivational Quotes to Get You Moving, 9 Ways To Use Your Smartphone To Stay Motivated, Move It or Lose It! How to Motivate a Lazy Friend to Exercise, Why Eating Right and Gym Motivation is Mental, and How to Jump-Start Your 2012 Workout Action Plan.
I love looking at inspirational sayings and pictures to amp me up before a workout (or to encourage me to hit the gym when the couch sounds amazing…) – Check out Pinterest for all the motivation you can handle!

Extras:

If a great playlist is a must have check out Gala Darling’s Workout: A Mixtape!, Fit Bottomed Girls’ 80’s Workout Playlist, Women’s Health’s Workout Playlist: Pop Music, or FitSugar’s Top 100 Workout Songs.
Want some new workout duds to spice up your workouts? Check out FitSugar’s 5 Places to Find Cute, Cheap Workout Clothes, Refinery 29’s Cute Workout Gear You Actually WANT To Wear, or MCLV’s Workout Gear vs Streetwear for some great ideas.

And if you’re just starting out in the fitness arena and feeling a bit unsure of where to begin read through my Gym Goddess posts for workouts, inspiration, and things to keep in mind for beginning gym-goers:

What are my personal health and fitness goals for this Spring and Summer? Finally get through my spinal injury, start running, hitting the gym for circuit training, going to Pilates classes, and get up the courage to check out boxing and martial arts classes!

And just to make you guys laugh, here’s Shit Girls Say At The Gym!

April 14, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food | Tags: Blogger, Fashion, Fashion Blogger, Fitness, gym, health, San Francisco, San Francisco Fashion, working out | 2 Comments

Health & Your Relationship

When I read Rachel Wilkerson’s How CrossFit Has Helped My Relationship it got me thinking.

A lot.

Rachel said that by encouraging her boyfriend to take up a healthy hobby – in this instance CrossFit – their relationship ultimately benefited despite the fact that in the end it actually meant less alone time. I have no trouble at all believing this. In my experience, if there’s a substantial disconnect between how much two people value health & nutrition in their lives it can potentially lead to problems down the road.

I don’t believe that you need have all the same views, do the same workouts, or approach food the same way. But if only one person takes their health seriously and devotes time, energy, and effort to maintaining said health, the other individual may become resentful, jealous, threatened etc. Or things can go the other way around and as one person becomes healthier and more fit they begin to pity, worry about, and/or neglect their partner.

Take a look at this piece by the Primal Parent entitled When Good Health Destroys a Marriage. It’s written from the perspective of a woman who changed her diet and was feeling her best, while her husband was… Not. Ultimately their marriage couldn’t survive because she has a strong, well-tested belief in the importance of good health & nutrition, and refused to settle for someone who couldn’t – or wouldn’t – put forth the effort to investigate improving his own health.

{Kyle & Rochelle – The authors of Eat Drink Paleo}

If you can find someone who shares your views, that’s fantastic – like my friend Kyle & his lady-love who write the oh-so-entertaining Eat. Drink. Paleo – Two foodies who fell in love and are now transitioning to a paleo lifestyle. But at a minimum you need to show an interest in the other’s routines and goals, and be able to talk about and share your successes and failures.

Take my relationship for example, on the surface my boyfriend and I have virtually opposite views on all facets of fitness and nutrition:

He eats an incredibly regimented high protein, low carb diet composed primarily of chicken, eggs, and vegetables which he tracks on a daily basis. I eat a mostly vegan, gluten-free, high raw diet.
He does intermittent fasting – meaning that he doesn’t eat until early afternoon & only eats three meals a day. While I eat at least every two hours after my 4am wakeup time.
He follows a lifting schedule & does CrossFit-style workouts that leave him wheezing, covered in bruises, scrapes, and rope burns, and stress his nervous system for days. I run, do circuit workouts & go to Pilates, martial arts & boxing classes.
His ultimate goal with his work outs and eating regime is to retain & increase strength while dropping body fat. I’m only interested in being healthy and not having daily back pain.

Pretty different, right? But the truth is that those are fairly superficial differences – underneath it all we’re both incredibly passionate about health and fitness, and that’s what really matters.

We love going for walks & hikes, cooking, eating, going to the farmer’s market, and planning our meals and workouts for the week, and most of all, we love debating our positions on these topics. If you looked through our emails, Facebook messages, Tweets, and text logs you’d find photos of our meals, new recipes to try, books to add to our Amazon basket, articles to read, great blogs we’ve found, documentaries & movies to add to our Netflix queue, and questions about what we’ve eaten, what workouts we’ve done, and how far we’ve walked that day.

Every day.

{Hers vs His}

It doesn’t matter that we’re not spending our days doing the same things, what matters is that we both approach our lives with a profound respect for our bodies, what we put them through, and how we fuel them. Yes, we debate topics like veganism versus paleo eating, different types of fat, which oils to use in cooking, fasting, detox programs & cleanses, and strength training. Yes, sometimes I question his sanity when he comes home with his hands shredded from doing hundreds of pull-ups or muscle-ups or toes-to-bars. But mostly, we just talk about it.

Our shared passion for health and nutrition was not what brought us together 12 years ago, nor is it what has kept up together, but it does give us something to talk about and share every single day. And because it’s important to us both, we appreciate the other’s routines and ambitions, even though they’re different.

Like Rachel said:

One more lovely side effect of the fitness revival: Eric and I are back to bonding through nerdy, fitness-related conversations. (We’re also bonding over our sore muscles.) I’m really enjoying little things like talking about our workouts and progress, discussing an article about diet or exercise, trying new healthy foods together, or going shoe shopping for new athletic shoes.

You don’t need to be 100% in sync with your partner, you just need to be with someone who has the same appreciation and respect for health and fitness as you do. Added bonus if it becomes something that you can share and bond over!

March 29, 2012 | Categories: Fitness, Food | Tags: American River Crossfit, ARCFit, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, beginners fitness, Beginners Guide to Running, Beginners workouts, cardio, caveman, caveman diet, Caveman eating, Caveman recipes, Caveman Strong, CF, changing eating habits, changing fitness regime, Changing your lifestyle, CrossFit, CrossFit gym, Eat like a caveman, Eat.Drink.Paleo, eating healthy, Fasted cardio, Fitness for beginners, fitness regime, Gluten-free, Good Health Destroyed My Marriage, grain-free, health, Health in relationships, healthy, healthy cooking, healthy eating, healthy life, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, healthy recipes, High protein diet, high raw diet, high raw foods, Home Workouts, How CrossFit Has Helped My Relationship, Intermittent Fasting, Intermittent Training & Stubborn Body Fat, Lean Gains, lifestyle changes, Low-carb diet, Low-Intensity Fasted Cardio, Martin Berkhan, Paleo, paleo diet, paleo eating, Paleo Grocery List, Paleo recipes, paleo shopping list, plant based protein, Plant-based diet, Plant-Based Power, plant-based protein source, Power of a Plant-Based Diet, Primal, Primal diet, primal eating, Primal recipes, Rachel Wilkerson, Rob Wolf, Robb Wolf, Sacramento CrossFit, Sacramento CrossFit Gym, Sacramento gym, staying healthy, The Life & Lessons of Rachel Wilkerson, The Primal Parent, Vegan, Vegan diet, vegan pancakes, Vegan recipes, veganism, Vegetarian, Vegetarian diet, Vegetarian recipes, Vegetarian Thanksgiving, vegetarianism, working out, working out for beginners, workouts, workouts for beginners | 12 Comments

How to Survive a CrossFit Meet

This past weekend was the 2012 LaLanne Fitness Garage Games Kickoff. An all-day CrossFit event Saturday at LaLanne Fitness in San Francisco and the first big competition of the season for my boyfriend and his teammates from American River CrossFit in Sacramento.

After last year’s introduction to the joys of CrossFit competitions – the Fittest of the Sierra’s in South Lake Tahoe was the 1st big competition I attended – I wanted to share my advice & lifesaving tips on how best to survive one of these high intensity, rowdy, crowded events.

(1) What To Bring:

Bring food – Lots of it. These kids can EAT, so pack unprocessed, lean meats, cheeses & nuts for snacking between workouts.
A close second on the must have list is booze. You’ll need it and so will they. Trust me. These are work hard, play hard types and blowing off steam immediately after a brutal competition is a MUST.
Water! I can promise you that a giant water bottle will come in handy. This weekend all three competitors ended up using my Nalgene which had to be refilled every 5 minutes.
Camera – The biggest issues that I’ve had photo-wise is that the athletes are moving so quickly that in some cases the pictures are blurry or the camera doesn’t reset quickly enough to capture the next shot. As much as I love my Canon, this season I invested in a little HD video camera that also takes stills. Success!

(2) What To Expect:

Lots of people – These are busy, crowded events and in addition to lots of competitors, you’ll be surrounded by members of the hosting team and tons of spectators. Expect to be bumped or asked to move to accommodate events.
No place to sit – In some cases events will be outdoors and you’ll have bleachers to sit on, but primarily the events are indoors and you’ll be standing pressed against a wall, craning to see over the heads of the other spectators.
A fast-paced environment – With large numbers of competitors and a handful of workouts to get through, the organizers may be rushing to get through the events. Some workouts can be “blink and you miss them” short so keep an eye on your competitor to make sure that you see everything.
LOUD and offensively bad music. This weekend was bad. R&B bad.

(3) What To Do Afterwards:

Plan to go out – You’d think everyone would be beyond exhausted after a day full of crazy workouts, but my experience has been that the adrenaline is still pumping and they have a few more hours of energy left in them.
Head straight to a restaurant, trust me when I say they’ll be ready for a big meal. And if they’re paleo-people I’d pick a restaurant in advance to make sure that the menu is acceptable.
Make sure that the restaurant you’re going to has a bar. Your competitors will definitely want a drink. Or two. Or three.

I can’t recommend checking out one of these events enough – they’re exciting and fun to watch, never a dull moment.

P.S. Ladies, in case you need some more incentive, the shirts come off about a fourth of the way through. I’m just saying.

January 18, 2012 | Categories: Fashion, Fitness, Food | Tags: 2012 LaLanne Fitness Garage Games Kickoff, American River Crossfit, ARCFit, B-Stock Creative 2nd Generation Vado HD Pocket Video Camera 4GB, beginner fitness, beginner workouts, beginners fitness, Beginners workouts, Blog, Blogger, Canon PowerShot, CF, CF Competition, CF Meet, Competition, CrossFit, CrossFit Competition, CrossFit Meet, Fitness Blog, Fitness Blogger, Fitness for beginners, Fittest of the Sierras, food blogger, Garage Games, Garage Games Competition, Garage Games Meet, Health Blog, healthy life, Healthy lifestle, healthy lifestyle, How to Survive a CrossFit Meet, Jack LaLanne, LaLanne CrossFit, LaLanne Fitness, LaLanne Garage Games, LaLanne San Francisco, LaLanne SF, Lifestyle Blog, Meet, Paleo, paleo diet, paleo eating, Paleo recipes, Paleolithic, Paleolithic Diet, Primal, Primal diet, primal eating, Primal food pyramid, Primal recipes, Sacramento Competition, San Francisco, San Francisco Blogger, San Francisco competition, San Francisco Gym, San Francisco LaLanne, San Francisco Meet, San Francisco workout, SF, SF Competition, SF Gym, SF LaLanne, SF Meet, SF Workout, South Lake, South Lake CrossFit, South Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe CrossFit, Tahoe competition, Tahoe CrossFit, The Paleo Diet, The Paleo Diet for Athletes, working out, working out for beginners, workout, workouts for beginners | 4 Comments

Motivation

Personally I find an external motivator to be great incentive to keep up with an exercise regime. I wish I could say that I have all the internal motivation that I need in order to meet all of my goals, but unfortunately I don’t. Sometimes on days when I’m tempted to skip my planned workout, knowing that I’ll have to admit my failure aloud to someone else is usually enough incentive to push through.

Usually. 🙂

I’m registered to run the San Francisco Half Marathon on July 31st and haven’t run consistently for months, so I need to begin training, um… Now! It just so happens that one of my best friends is training for the Death Ride (which I lovingly call The Ride of Death) a 129 mile bike race with 15,000 miles of climbing through the Sierra Nevada’s near Tahoe. Her race is July 9 and although we’re training for different types of races in different cities (she’s in Sacramento), she has been acting as an unofficial sponsor and motivator for my last-ditch training efforts.

Monday mornings I email her my proposed workouts for the week (subject to scheduling changes) and each morning I send her a confirmation of what I accomplished the previous day. I’m going to include various types of exercise in my training program in addition to running, specifically circuit training and Pilates.

Below is a draft of a proposed schedule for one of the weeks of training:

Monday:

Run to work (1.3 miles)
Mini cardio session (2 miles stationary bike & 1 mile elliptical trainer)
Pilates Mat class (5pm – 6pm)

Tuesday:

Jog to work
15 minute circuit training workout
Run (pm)

Wednesday:

Walk to work
High intensity interval training on the elliptical
Pilates Mat class (5pm – 6pm)
Yoga Flow (6pm – 7:15pm)
Walk home

Thursday:

Walk to work
25 minute circuit training workout
Run (pm)

Friday:

Jog to work
15 minute circuit training workout

Saturday & Sunday – Rest & stretching (maybe a massage if I can be convincing enough) and long walks or a hike

Hooking up with a workout buddy who you can share your plans with or a like-minded friend who you may not workout with but who has similar goals, can be a great motivator.

If the idea of sharing your workout goals/plans with someone else isn’t appealing, or if you’re just getting started and want to hold off until you feel like you’ve made some progress, there are other external motivators that may help you when the odd lazy day rears its ugly head.

(1) A kick-ass play list can do wonders. Put a super charged playlist on your MP3 player or blare it over your computer/sound system. Everyone has their own style and different beats that get them pumped up, and I personally refresh my Nano weekly, but here are some artists/bands that never fail to get my heart rate going, regardless of my mood: Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Chemical Romance, Finger Eleven, Breaking Benjamin, My Darkest Days, Jason Derulo, Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi, K$sha, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Sean Kingston.

(2) Sign yourself up for a class on a day when you don’t think that you can make yourself do a work out. You’ll feel guilty not showing up after having reserved a spot in the class and even guiltier when you see the charge on your credit card! The two days of the week that are the hardest for me to get off my booty are always Monday and Wednesday, so I’m getting into the habit of doing at least a Pilates class at Glow Yoga each of those days. And now that I’m getting to know the other students and the instructor, there’s even more motivation not to play hooky!

(3) If you have a movie or a book that you find extremely motivational, that can be a great way to get yourself going. If hearing Jillian’s commanding voice shoots you out of your seat, start your workouts with some Shred, even if you don’t plan to do the video it can give you the push you need. Personally I’ve found that popping in a dance DVD before my 5:30pm after-work runs or reading a few pages of Born To Run are a sure-fire way to get myself going.

(4) Finally, one of my favorite pieces to read when I need to stoke my motivational fires is The Better Man, about the (then) 75 year-old fitness guru & health nut Don Wildman (my friend Jim sent me this YEARS ago and I saved a PDF in case of emergencies). This always gives me the kick in the pants that I need to get off of the couch.

Good luck getting yourself onto the trail, treadmill or into the gym. Make me proud!

June 29, 2011 | Categories: Fitness | Tags: allergy-friendly Thanksgiving, Andie Arthur, Angela Liddon, auto immune diseases, autoimmune, Avocado Sweet Potato Salad, •Healthy Pumpkin Pie Alternatives, •Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls, •Sweet Potatoes with Candied Pecans, •Sweet Potatoes with Candied Pecans Recipe, Baked Apples, Baked Apples Stuffed with Cinnamon Date Pecan Oatmeal, Black & white photos, Black & white workout photos, blended salad, Blogger, Blogger fashion, Blogger Street Style, Blogger Streetstyle, blogger style, Blondie recipe, Blondies, Born To Run, Bourbon Vanilla Cranberry Sauce, Brownie Cupcakes, Carrot Soup, Carrot Soup Recipe, Challenge, Chef Amber Shea, Chickpea Tart, Child Thanksgiving, Children's Thanksgiving, Chocolate chip pumpkin blondies, Chocolate Protein Powder, Choosing Raw, Cinnamon Dijon Vinaigrette, Cinnamon rolls, cleanse, Cornbread stuffing, Cranberries, Cranberry Raspberry Relish, cranberry recipe, Cranberry sauce, cranberry sauce recipe, Creamy 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