Earn Money for Being Healthy

 

Walgreens is now rewarding customers not only for their spending but for their healthy behavior.

The System

 

When you make a purchase at the store, your car is swiped and you receive points depending on what you purchased. Every week they have specials for certain items with a high point value. Every time you fill a prescription or get an immunizatio you earn 500 points. Every time you receive a receipt, your points are at the bottom.

 

Healthy Behavior 

 

 

Now you can earn points for being healthy! For every mile you walk or run you can earn 20 points. You can also earn 20 points from tracking your weightloss. This is great way to set personal goals and achieve them!

 

The system also allows you to engage with others who are doing the same with online community forums. This is great place to communicate with others about their progress and give your advice to inspire them.

 

 

 

Depending on your points, you will receive an amount to spend at Walgreens. This allows you to save and earn more points! 

 

Listen to what the host of The Biggest Loser, Alison Sweeney has to say about this great program!

 

 

 

 

Take the first step in your healthy journey by signing up today!

 

 

 





Books Key for Weightloss

Book 1: Skinny Bitch

If you truly want to be thin, READ THIS BOOK. It is blunt, realistic, and a huge wake up call. This book was #1 on the NYT best sellers.The authors use a direct tone with a tough love approach. Once I picked up the book I COULD NOT stop reading it. It's like a diet book with a drill sargeant coaching you. I learned so much that you would think would be common sense but the delivery of this book really makes the information engrained in your head and makes you really start thinking healthy.

 

"Stop Being a Moron and Start Getting Skinny!"

"If you can't take one more day of self-loathing, you're ready to hear the truth: You cannot keep shoveling the same crap into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight."

"Soda is liquid Satan"

"You are a total moron if you the Atkins Diet will make you thin"

This diet book inspires women in a whole new way. The blunt approach delivers solid guidance to living a health lifestyle and is extremely motivating. This is probably the only diet book out there that is HILARIOUS!
 

 

Visit Skinny Bitch to learn more about the authors and their collection and follow them on twitter @SkinnyBitch!


Book 2: Eat This Not That

 

 

This is another must read book for weight loss and healthier decisions when you are out and about. This book offers the worst and best choices to order when you are out to eat as well as when you're at the super market. This book offers tons and tons of simple food swaps that could lead to a lower scale number and a healthier you. This is great eye opening read. The information may shock you and you come to find what you thought was healthier is not...

 

 

 

 



 

This series offers great information that is really beneficial and can make you feel not so guilty about going out to eat. It also assures you that you are buying the healhiest products over another. Check out the Eat this Not that app so you can always have this information with you and follow it on Twitter!

 

 

 

Take a look at all the different Books to make even more healthier choices!

 



 

Number One Way to Detox

Juicing is a great way to cleanse your body and has many benefits. It is such a simple way to consume natural foods with high nutrients giving your body real fuel .After watching the documentary Hungry for Change , I got inspired to start juicing and do some further research.

Benefits of Juicing

• Increases metabolism
• Flushes away unnatural toxins
• Creates clearer skin
• Natural body glow
• Increases energy
• Highly rich in vitamins and nurtients
• Cleans our your digestive system
• Boosts your immune system
• Jump starts weight loss

Listen to what Joe Cross a personal juicer himself has to say about the benefits of juicing!

Green Lemonade Juice
This recipe I found at Juice Recipes. This is such an amazing website for juicing ideas and information. Not only does it tell the ingredients, it tells what health benefits are found in all the fruits and vegetables and its nutritional value. 

 

Ingredients

2 Apples

1 Cucumber

4 Leafs of Kale

1 Lemon

2 Cups of Spinach

Health Benefits of This Juice

• Weight Loss
• Colon Cancer Prevention
• Asthma Help
• Breast Cancer Prevention
• Lower Blood Pressure
• Bone Protection
• Digestion
• Diabetes
• Lower Chlolesterol
• Cancer Prevention
• Cataracs Prevention
• Heart Disease Prevention
• Reduce Inflammation
• Blood Cleanse

With only five ingredients in this juice, the amount of vitamins and nutrients it contains, creates it to have a crazy amount of health benefits. This is only recipe out of many. Check out these websites for more Vegetable Juices  30 Days of Juicing Omega Juices & Mean Green Juices 

Nutritional Value Liquid vs. Solid

 

I mean seriously how cool is this? They offer the nutrition facts of the ingredients before and after you juice. 

 

This website is a goldmine! It has tons of great juicing recipes and tells you what exactly it benefits in your body. If you want to boost your immune system or even prevent cancer, the site tells you what recipes have the ingredients you need.

 

Whether you're a beginner or a juicer veteran, I highly suggest you visit Juice Recipes For Your Health.

 

CHEERS!

 

 

Change the Way You Think About Food

 Hungry For Change Documentary

 

This documentary was nothing shy of eye-opening, shocking, and inspirational. This film has health and nutrition experts exposing information the food industry does not want you to know about. It also includes personal stories of people who were once obese and decided to make a change and are currently living a healthy lifestyle. This film educates you on how to incorporate healthy food choices into your life and assist you avoiding the dangers of "fake" food.  The film hits on five main points: how to overcome food addictions and cravings, why fad diets don't work, how to properly read food labels, what fat is, and the most effective strategies for dexoxifying your body.  All the following information, I learned from the film.

The film stresses the fact that our population is over fed but starving to death. Meaning our modern civilization intakes a high amount of calories and very low nurtrients because we aren't consuming real food, we're eating "food like" products. The food industry knows exactly what they are doing when marketing their "fat free" and "healthy" foods. Since 1940 there has been 75,000 synthetic chemicals released, chemicals we use in our food. When food marketer's put things on their packages such as; zero calories, sugar free, or no fat, it can be extremely deceptive. It leads consumers to believe their products will make them skinny, sexy and healthy, when in reality it does the opposite. When a product says "no fat", it is usually replaced with lots of carbs and sugar. This makes the consumer want more.The industry manipulates food with all these chemicals that make you think you're eating something healthy, but you're really not.

The film compared eating foods with MSG (Monosodium glutamate) to smoking cigarettes. MSG is 80% of our modern day food and is the same chemical researchers used on rats to make them gain weight. Simply disqusting. The chemicals in cigarettes make you addicted and MSG chemicals in food have the same effect.

Our society needs to become more educated on the ingredients and nutrients of everything we consume. The film gave examples of how people need to know the definition of sugar. Some people say they are on a sugar free diet but they are still consuming, bread, pasta, sushi, and pizza. All of these have extremely high levels of sugar. The film gave a great example of a Ted Talk , explaining the importance of knowing what you're children eat and how much sugar they actually consume just from drinking chocolate milk.

The chemicals and sugar levels in these types of food make our bodies become habituated to the effect it has on us and makes us keep wanting more. These are known as comfort foods, foods that people run to when they are stressed thinking it will help.

In reality man made food causes hormonal chaos. All the additives in food  products are linked to mood swings, depression, and other diseases. People think that food is the solution to their problems when in reality it is the cause.

Real food such as; fruits, vegetables, meat, and nuts were put on this earth for a reason. Our bodies are biologically enginereed to live off these foods and love it. People need to step away from "diets" and simply add natural foods into their life.

A great way to cleanse and detox your body is juicing. Juicing creates higher energy levels, clearer sking, glowing eyes, and healthy hair and nails. Combing multiple natural foods and drinking all the nutrients is beyond healthy for you. It takes only 15 minutes after you drink the juice for the nutrients to go into every cell of your body. If you give your body real food, you'll start noticing a mood change, weight loss, a glowing appearance, and higher energy levels. All the artifical products on the market hinder all of these.

I would reccomend this film to anyone. Every single person should be well educated on how to properly fuel their body and know the tricks of the food industry. All this information does'nt do a justice on how eye-opening the film truly was. I encourage everyone to watch it!

Save yourself the headache and weight gain, EAT REAL FOOD

 

 

 

Get Carrie Underwood's legs

Carrie's Workout and Diet 



Shape Magazine reveals Carrie's workout to her sculpted sexy legs. Carrie's previous trainer Tony Greco states to get legs like Carrie's, it takes a series of lunges, squats, stepups, and toe taps along with a balanced diet.

In the article, Greco stated, “Carrie is very knowledgeable in the world of health, and she does a lot of workouts on her own,” Greco says. “It’s really a lifestyle for her. She currently has trainers in both Los Angeles and Nashville and is even known to take one on the road with her while touring. Instead of eating out, she’ll stock her fridge with healthy greens from the fresh store.”

Get some more fitness tips from Tony Greco!

To maximize your fitness results, it is very important to maintain a healthy diet. Rachel Ray's website offers the details of what exactly Carrie eats and when. Get some frist hand tips from the start herself A Day in the Food life of Carrie Underwood.
 
Greco suggests doing these exercises three days a week along with a 30 minute cardio session.

Exercise one: Bulgarian Lunge
Works: quads, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, & core
8-12 reps on each leg

Exercise 2: Stepups
Works:Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings, & Hip Flexors
Step up and down on each leg for 30 seconds to 1 minute

 

 

Exercise 3: Toe Taps



Works: Calves, Butt, Hamstrings, & Legs
10-15 reps on each leg

 

 



 
Exercise 4: Skater Lunge

 

Works: Thighs, hamstrings, and glutes
Do for 30 seconds to 1 minute



Jump Off Your Calories

Lunden Souza's Jump Rope and Burbee Workout 

 

 

Lunden Souza is a personal trainer, writter and blogger. She has great ideas for workouts! I just did this workout and felt amazing afterwards.

 

You do a pyramid of jump roping starting at 10 jumps then 20, 30, 40, and 50. Then you work your way back down starting at 50 jumps then to 40, 30, 20, and 10. In between each jump set, you do 5 burbees. Altogether you do 300 jumps and 40 burbees.



This workout took me about 15 minutes, burning about 150 calories. I calculated how many calories I burned jump roping with Self Magazine's Health Calculator. Doing different jumping styles such as one legged, side to side, and open close, really helps to work different parts of your legs such as your outer and inner thigh. This also helps you really feel the burn!

Another great idea in this workout is using a weighted handle jump rope. I had no idea they even existed, but this is great way to give your arm muscles a better workout. Rogue Fitness has plenty of options for weighted jump ropes to better your workout. This workout is great because you can do it anywhere, especially great with nice weather approaching.

Follow Lunden on twitter @LundenMichelle for more workout ideas.

Feel The Burn!

Fear No Beer, Your Workout is Here

Since my last post was focused on cocktails, I figured I should help out the beer drinkers too! If you want to keep your figure but don't want to say goodbye to beer, follow this chart to have the best of both worlds. You can use any of the activities to equal to your beer calories.This picture has great suggestions to prevent a beer belly especially summer being RIGHT around the corner!

 

 

Don't Forget One Beer Usually Leads To Another...

Booze SMART!

It's no secret that all of us college students like to have fun on the weekends which of course means lots of drinks! A lot of drinks means a lot of calories. This picture shows you just how little you can drink before you consume 100 calories. Us boozers need to be smart about what we are drinking so we can get our buzz on without getting fat!

This blog  has great recipes for Healthy Drinks ! This drink list also gives you a good idea of what to order when you go out!

Another awesome drink list! It gives you the drink recipe and the calories as well, so you know exactly what you are drinking. Again, also more healthy ideas to order when you go out. Check it out! Skinny Cocktails

These alcohol brands are low calorie and eco friendly! This website Fit Sugar has tons of great ideas for healthy cocktails. They even have step-by-step videos to show you how to make them. More great ideas! Keep these bottles in mind next time you hit the town.

 

Skinnygirl cocktails are always a good go to, not to mention each bottle is only about 14 dollars, SCORE! This brand offers different flavors of wine, vodka, and margaritas. They also have a pina colada flavor, a mojito, and a cosmo. Only 75 calories per glass! This brand won't break the bank or the scale. Check out their website to see what flavor best fits you! Skinnygirl Cocktails

Bad Ass Commercial

This commercial is absolutely FIERCE. It shows how powerful women are and makes you want to get up, kick ass and SWEAT! I love the variety of workouts in the clip, so many activities to put your beast mode on to. I don't know about you, but I want to go buy some Under Armour workout gear now!

Bravo Under Armour, Bravo!

Spring Break Prep!

With spring break less than a week away, it is prime time to prepare your body for that fun in the sun!
With being in the sun and consuming alcohol, possibly large amounts of both.......HYDRATION IS KEY. Giving your body plenty of water is critical for your spring break A game.

Hydrating Foods

(% H2O Content)

Lettuce: 94%
Zuccini: 95%
Cataloupe: 90%
Watermelon: 92%
Bell Peppers: 92%
Oranges: 87%
Strawberries:92%
Broccoli: 91%
Celery:96%
Tomatoes: 95%

Carrotes: 87%

 

Fruits and veggies are not only a great way to get water but they also are packed with the nutrients and vitamins your body needs to work properly. Moral of the story, fruits and veggies should be your best friend before you leave on spring break.

Electrolytes

Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electric charge, a charge your body needs to regulate nerve and muslce function and maintain fluid balance. Sweating and consuming alcohol causes your body to lose electrolytes and you need electrolytes for your spring break A game. So get ahead of the electro game!

 

Drinks with high electrolytes

Gatorade

Powerade

Coconut Water

Propel Fitness Water

 

On top of drinking plenty of water, drink these before, during, and after spring break. These will help  build and restore any electrolytes lost helping your body function at its best.

 

Foods with high electrolytes

Bananas

Whole grains

Seafood

Meat

Nuts

Potatoes

 

Eating these foods can help prepare your body for your spring break adventures. I highly advise you to consume these drinks and foods. You won't be let down with the results. Giving your body the vitamins and nutrients it needs is key to proper body function.

Just like you wouldn't go on a 17 hour road trip without putting oil in your car, you shouldn't go on spring break without hydrating your body with water and vitamins :)

Go Flax!

This small card is a BIG deal

 

 

It's no secret I am a health nut and love finding new ways to be healthy. My roommate brought me this card home and right away it intrigued me. Flax Seed is the new IT thing! On this small card there is 17 ways Flax Seed is beneficial to everyone and that's huge. Such a small seed can help you in many ways. Flax seeds are high in lignans protein and fiber but what does that even mean....

 

What the heck are lignans?

Lignans are a group of chemical compounds found in plant-based foods such as flax seed. Research is saying flax lignans may have what it takes to prevent pre-cancerous cells to develop as well as slow down the development of cancer cells that are already in place. Lignans can help prevent cancer....and flax seeds contain lignans, so flax seed may be a cure for cancer. That is one giant reason to eat flax seed right there!

 

What is so great about fiber?

Fiber gets rid of your body's garbage. The fiber in flax seed is called soluble fiber meaning it attracts water and slows down digestion. This makes you feel full longer and causes your stomach to not feel like it's running on empty. So when dieting, fiber can be your best friend. Fiber cleans up your cholesterol toxins and gets rid of digestive and cellular debris. This assists in lowering your risk of heart diease and diabetes. Fiber does your body's dirty work and takes care of you. Flax seeds are high in fiber, another great reason to eat them!

 

What could Omega-3 be?

Omega-3 is an essential group of fatty acids for our bodies to function normally. Since our bodies don't produce the type of fatty acids we need, we need to take repsonsibility in consuming them. Omega-3 is known to reduce inflammation whichs assists in preventing inflammatory diseases like heart disease and artritis. Fatty acids are also an important ingredient for your brain's behavior and thought process. Flax seeds are high in Omega-3 and Omega-3 fights disease and helps your brain work. Yet another great reason to eat flax seeds!

 

Gluten is so last season..

Gluten free is the new way to be! Gluten is a protein found in wheat grains, barley, and rye. Many of our favorite foods contain gluten like pizza, pasta, and bread but that doesn't it a good guy. Gluten is known to prevents absorbtion of essential minerals in your body. Gluten can lead to conditions such as celiac disease, migraines, and extreme fatigue. Not to mention put a serious damage on your weight loss goals and make stepping on the scale a little harder. Being gluten-free can improve your cholesterol levels, aid your digestive health and make you an energizer bunny. So integrating gluten free foods into your life only makes perfect sense. Gluten is out of season and flax seed is in!

 

You're hooked now, but how do you eat them?

You can sprinkle the seeds over your morning yogurt, toss some on your salad, or even blend them in with a smoothie. There are also many products now that contain flax seed such as; cereal, bread, granola, and nutrition bars. There are plenty of options for you to start showing your body you appreciate it and don't want it to expire soon, so join the club!

 

Once you go Flax you never go back

 

 

 

 

 

Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping Experience

Do you want to get back into shape but are intimidated by the gym? Or maybe you want to switch up your work out routine. I highly recommend Farrell’s Extreme Body Shaping (FXB). It is truly a life changing experience. I started the 10 week program my sophomore year in college and I am currently still working out at Farrell’s my senior year treating it like my gym membership. It is only a 45 minute class that will change your whole day. They have many class times through out the day to make it easy for you to get your work out in on top of work and class. The classes are 6 days a week altering from kickboxing on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and strength training with resistance bands on Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday.

Farrell’s is not an environment to be intimidated by. The coaches are extremely motivating and want you to get the best work out and feel empowered. No matter what age or athletic ability you are, you won’t feel out of place. Once you start you won’t want to stop. It is hard work and you will sweat your ass off but that’s the point isn’t it? You will be extremely sore and feel muscles you never even knew you had but it is a great feeling of accomplishment. You can truly feel your body getting stronger and you will love the results.

It is a complete body workout. Rather than just going to the gym and doing the elliptical or running, going to Farrell's is like having a personal trainer every day but for a much cheaper price! You learn to work out your entire body and solve problem areas you didn’t even know were possible. You will feel so much better about yourself. I highly encourage anyone and everyone to try it. I promise you wont regret it.

Keeping your body in shape is critical to good health and once you start this program it will become part of your  healthy lifestyle not just a 10 week program. If I don't make it to Farrell's, I feel like my whole day is thrown off and incomplete. It is also an extremely great stress reliever and time to get your mind off things. There is nothing like getting a killer workout in when life is stressing you out, it releases so much tension! Going to Farrell’s is “my” time of day. It is a time when I can go let lose, release some stress, and feel good about myself. This could be you too!

Everyone has to start somewhere and tomorrow is a new day! Take care of your body, you only get one!
Check out some FXB memembers inspiring stories
FXB Blogs

WHEN you do join, I highly reccomend the gloves on the left verse the ones on the right. They are more convenient when doing a variety of different work outs on kickboxing days!

Sandwich Substitutes

Lets start this blog off by breaking bread together. One of my all time favorite things to eat is a yummy sandwich. I wanted to find a clean and healthy way to keep my sandwich addiction without some of the main components having no nutritional value. I wanted to find bread that wasn't loaded with bad carbs, bleached flour, and refined sugar. I have tried many different wheat breads and Rudis organic bakery is my absolute favorite brand. It is lite and refreshing. You can find it at your local Hy-Vee in the health market section. Not only is their bread organic but they offer gluten free products as well as vegan. For all my fellow health-nuts out there I reccomend you check out their website Rudis Organic and explore their products! Good bread is critical for a good sandwich.

After saying goodbye to the bad bread the next step was getting rid of fatty mayonaise. I experimented with hummus and avocado substituting for other sandwich condiments. It was love at first bite. My favorite hummus is the Sabra roasted red pepper flavor. I spread it on one piece of the bread and put avocado on the other. Since avocados are not always in season and tend to go bad really quickly, I buy Wholly Guacamole packets to use instead. You can purchase these packets and hummus at any grocery store.

Switching to these healthy substitutes now doesn't defeat the nutrients of the protein and vegetables I put on my sandwiches. Pairing mayonaise and bleached flour with chicken, spinach, and tomatoes makes about as much sense as getting your car washed in a snow storm, it just doesnt!