Become a JuiceMaster.

Very exciting News! Well it is to me anyways, I got a juicer for my birthday! Oh, and not just any juicer, exactly the one I wanted! A beauty of 11 lbs, with a masticating powerful setup and clean design with small footprint. Here she is:

I think that investing good money in quality appliances, especially on a raw diets, is a not brainer. The best juicers on the market are the masticating type because they keep every nutrient intact during the juicing process. Others, like centrifugal types, heat the juice up with their high RPM's and cause nutrient loss and separation. I think that getting higher quality juice is what's important.

I chose this one because I've seen a very similar one in action and just loved it! My friend Julie, an inspiring woman that you can check out here, is a great advocate of juicing and raw foods, and after tasting juice from hers, I just had to get one.

So for my first test run, I made some yummy grape juice:

... I may have drank it all before I could get a picture of the actual juice. They yield was awesome! Again this morning I made spinach-beet-apple juice that was also amazing :) Only thing is I forgot to change the strainer to the finer one so ended up with a juice that I had to chew, which I normally love with strictly fruit juices, not so much with the green ones.

My morning was great too, did some yoga and meditation, as has become my habit in the morning, plus I woke up to these faces:

Fitness-wise, I've laid off the calisthenics for the last week, and opted for packing and moving as well as some walks and general busyness on account of the awesome weather we've been getting! I should be getting back into running soon enough with outside being much more welcoming!

Every morning I do 10 Sun Salutations and an average of 10 minutes of meditation. It starts off my day on such a great foot and I plan on continuing this forever more. I also realllly need to print out my voucher for 20 yoga classes. I want to get back into it more often, say about 2x a week to start and go from there :)

I am planning on doing a juice feast very soon. Spring is a great time to cleanse and detox, and I think that it will be a great starter to this new season of renewal. I will start with a goal on 14 days and see where I can take it from there. My longest before now was 5 days on only orange juice. I think that with much more variety I can do much longer than that. I will be combining it with a liver cleanse, a herbal mixture with milk thistle and such. I started it not long ago, but haven't finished yet. I can't wait!

Have a great week everyone, and remember to stay fruity!!

xxooxx

New Beginnings, New Habits, Better Living!

Since my life's theme this year seems to be change drastically and permanently, I figured I'd go with the flow and implement some good habits and better routines into my day-to-day life. Sometimes I forget that health is a balance of many things and only concentrate on food and fitness, when water, sleep, emotional balance and spirituality are just as important.

This week I started implementing a morning routine that, so far, is working perfectly. I wake up, check emails and social networking sites, spend time with doggies and let them out. Then I drink 500ml of water and do a little yoga (10 Sun Salutations, pictured below) while drinking another 500ml. Next comes meditation time! I've always loved meditating but lacked the discipline to do it everyday. I've joined a group of people on Facebook who are all doing a 30 day meditation challenge for March, it's crazy how knowing there are other people doing it with you, even though you only know them online, can motivate you so much! The support there is great and just the thing I needed to implement it daily. I plan on continuing this routine forever more, it makes me feel amazing and get my blood flowing and mind balanced from the start of the day!

Sun Salutation

It's my 24th Birthday on Wednesday and I plan on getting the 25th year of life off on the right foot! I will be starting my usual spring cleanse the day after and I am planning on doing a 30 day one, although as usual, my body will decide when I am ready to stop. I also find it much easier to be 100% raw after a cleanse. I just have to truly stick to it this time. I realize that after having cooked food a few times after a 100% bout, I just get lazy and become a creature of habit. I have to implement strategies that will keep me on the path I want to be on. That's my task for the next few days and throughout my cleanse, to find the best ways to keep my goals in mind, to keep visualizing myself successful in this venture.

As per my usual Monday posts, here is my exercise for the past week!

Feb 27th

Mountain climbers	100	100	100
Bicycle crunches	75	85	89
Butt Lifts	200	200	200
Chest fly's	50	50	40
Chest Press	40	32	33

Feb 28th

10 Sun Salutations

10 minutes Meditation

High Knees	120	150	120
Squats	65	70	80
Crunches	75	75	85
Dips	30	25	24

Feb 29th

10 Sun Salutations

8 minutes Meditation.

Mountain climbers	120	130	130
Bicycle crunches	130	130	110
Butt lifts	150	250	300
Chest fly's	35	40	45
Chest Press	35	40	45

March 1st

10 Sun Salutations

12 minutes Meditation

OFF day

March 2nd

10 Sun Salutations

 13 Minutes meditation

March 3rd

OFF day

5 minutes meditation

March 4th

10 Sun Salutations

 11 minutes Meditation

My minimum workouts per week now is 3x, I want to get that back up to a minimum of 5 in the next few weeks. I think that I'll just be switching it up more and go to the gym 2x a week, plus the calisthenics that I am already doing. 

Have a great week! Smash it every single day. :)

Sweet Validation.

Days like this make it feel like all the hard work, sweat and emotional growth are worth it in every single way. I've had days lately where I just didn't see it, looking in the mirror and just being unsatisfied with what I see.It happens to so many of us to see ourselves in distorted ways despite most people telling us we look good! It's a psychological issue that I have dealt with most of my life, even when I was at a lesser weight. I think that most of the time we forget to look at how far we've come instead of where we want to be. 

In the last  weeks I've had 3 pairs of pants fall apart from wear. Pant shopping has never been my favorite thing to do, even when I go with only that in mind, I tend to get frustrated with fit and come home with shirts and underwear instead. Well now, I didn't really have much of a choice! I went to a second hand shop yesterday and again wasnt happy with fit. I found pants that fit very well, but most were boot cut and in my mind just disproportionate my body. Did I mention I was picky about pants? 

I spent the day with my sister-in-law and 7 day old nephew (cutest baby everr) and we passed by a shop I used to go to all the time. I mentioned needed pants and she immediately offered me some for my birthday. Long story short, I found 2 pairs that fit PERFECTLY, and bonuuuus they're a size 7!!!!!

Ahhhh sweeeetttt validationnnnn. Since my goal is to be a size 5 right now, this is awesome awesome news for me and just gave me that extra motivation to kick my own ass and keep working harder and harder. Training this week has been great! I'll write about it in my next post as I've changed a few things up. 

Moral of the story? Keep pushing it. Yes, it hurts. Yes, there will be days where you literally have to beat yourself threw your workout. But! IT. IS. WORTH. EVERY. SECOND. Never give up.