I'm Back, thank you for your support

Hello Try-Athlete's, welcome to Try-Athlete, the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. It has been awhile since my last post and I wanted to explain where I've been at in my life.

I started this blog because I'm passionate about health and fitness and I wanted to share my experiences with others. In February I found myself doing the same workout program and had nothing new to share about trying new workouts. I ended up not writing, and I also lost my drive to share my experiences. This year my priorities have changed a little and although I'm still very passionate about fitness sometimes I would like to write about others thinks such as diet, health and vegan recipes.

Last year I tried becoming a vegan for 30 days, after that 30 day period I continued to be vegan. So I have decided to revamp my blog a little to encompass being a vegan too. I will now include vegan recipes and knowledge about being a vegan athlete. I will continue to try different workouts but instead of doing something different every week I will do it for a month to see the further results of the new workout. 

With that said I have been doing Insanity and Asylum DVD's and kind of burnt out with them since I have done them for so many years. I was also not seeing the results I wanted and I am in a Six-Pack Challenge with a co-worker to see who has a better six-pack by July 28. I've been eating super healthy and working out daily but not seeing the results I want. I am already very fit but I am ready to take my fitness to the next level. I have decided to shake up my workout routine because I feel like I have just been going through the motions since I have done the same workouts so many times.

Since becoming vegan I have been researching how to get everything my body needs without eating animal protein. I am going today to the book store to find a book about vegan athletes so that I can become an expert on that too. I have been told on numerous occasions that abs are made in the kitchen and I completely agree. I have also found out that you must eat the necessary calories that your body needs as well or you won't see results. I feel like I wasn't seeing results because I wasn't taking in the all the calories I needed. 

I have a new plan of attack, changing my workout routine to work different muscle groups and research exactly what to eat to have the six-pack I have always dreamed of. I also believe food combining has something to do with it, not combining the right foods together can also affect your results. 

I hope you are excited to join me on this journey and I look forward to seeing the progress I make and sharing it with all of you. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to catch up with me. Until next time stay strong and stay fit! 

Goodbye caffeine...it's been eye opening

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. This week I started a cleanse, I decided since it's the new year why not start fresh and get rid of all the bad toxins in my body. I bought a "Complete Body Cleanse" at Trader Joe's that contained three capsules, fiber, liver and digestive.

While on this cleanse you are supposed to limit your consumption of processed foods, carbohydrates, beef, pork, dairy, wheat and soy products. Since I am a vegan I don't eat most of those foods anyway, but under that list was another that stated best to avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugar, potatoes, saturated fats, trans fats and artificial sweeteners. The word that stuck out the most to me was "caffeine," I really enjoy my cup of coffee in the morning. Even though I wake up most days with lots of energy I still enjoy drinking my coffee as kind of a morning ritual. 

New year and new me was starting to be a little harder than I thought. But since I always finish what I start I decided to cut out coffee and caffeine during this two week total body cleanse. This was my first week with no coffee in my system and although it was tough at times I was able to get through it.

Week 1:

As that famous song goes the first days are the hardest days, and isn't that the truth when you are trying to illiminate something from your diet. I always seem to find the first two to three days the most challenging when cutting out sugar,  carbs, etc. as well. 

The first day was weird it was like my body didn't register it didn't have coffee in it. I don't have coffee every morning so my body probably thought it was one of those days. When Day 2 arrived, my boyfriend and I went out to breakfast and we usually both have a couple cups of coffee but I obstained. His smelled amazing and I even asked him if I could smell his cup up close and personal, he let me. The aroma of coffee is almost better than coffee itself. I was low energy that day and I think it was because it had finally kicked in, no coffee and no caffeine. Later that night when I was going to bed, I couldn't get to sleep. I thought it was odd that I hadn't had caffeine and yet I could fall asleep. I think when you detox, toxins that have been in you for so long come out it many ways. I think the fact I couldn't get to sleep was caffeine coming out of my body. 

The third and fourth days were easier but I still thought about coffee and I still craved it. On the fifth and sixth day I was ok I didn't think much about coffee. Since I'm doing this two week cleanse I feel like I've stopped eating a lot of different foods and I miss coffee and sweets the most. I don't eat pasties but for some reason this last week I've been craving breakfast pastries like scones and crossiants. I just think about dipping those pastries in a heaping cup of coffee! But I won't, I have another week to go on this cleanse so I won't be having coffee for another week. Overall, I think this cleanse will be worth it, I am starting to feel healthier and clean inside and out. I recommend doing a cleanse a couple times a year just to refresh yourself. So until next time stay strong and stay fit!

Medicine Cabinet Makeover

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. Did you know you can fix anything that is wrong with you with plant-based medicines?

Last night I attended a "Medicine Makeover" party hosted by this new company called Saffron & Sage. The event was all about plant-based essential oils and how they can replace everything you have in your medicine cabinet currently. 

I am a big believer that diet and exercise can cure any problem you may have. I met a woman last night who had two tumors and by eating raw/vegan and using essential oils her tumors went away. She was very inspiring to listen to and it was amazing meeting someone in person who has used plants to cure themselves. 

I learned a great deal and I want to share what I learned with you. I already knew oregano oil was very good for our bodies but I wasn't sure why. I learned that oregano oil keeps you healthy, if you are feeling under the weather or are sick or feeling low energy taking a few drops of oregano oil can make you feel better. Last week I was feeling low energy and my sister gave me 5 drops of oregano oil in about a half a cup of water and after drinking it I felt better. I no longer felt low energy, I recommend oregano oil whenever you feel like your getting sick. 

Something else I learned was lemon oil detoxes the body and regulates blood pressure. I intend on telling my dad about that one since he is on high blood pressure medication. To demonstrate that lemon is a detoxifier and gets rid of toxins the host of the gathering put three drops of the lemon essential oil on a styrofoam cup and within 10 minutes it had eaten through the cup. 

Another thing I learned was wild orange oil is a mood elevator and gets rid of depression. Putting one drop in your palms and rubbing your hands together and smelling them is all you need to do to lift your mood. You can also put a few drops in a diffuser and use it that way as well. 

Onguard is an essential oil blend that keeps you healthy. It is made up of orange, clove, eucalyptus and sage and is an anti-viral oil. Onguard is known as "the theives blend," because back during the time of the plague there was a group of theives that would rob the dead. They never got sick and didn't catch the plague, eventually when they were found they confessed they had rubbed themselves with the blend of "onguard" and that's why they didn't get sick.

I was fascinated by what I learned at this event. You can basically replace everything in your medicine cabinet with plant-based essential oils! This medicine has been around for thousands of years and I'm not sure why we ever got away from it. 

A couple other things:

Lavender oil is good as a sleep aid, ditch the Tylenol PM and try lavender oil instead. 

Peppermint oil helps with an upset stomach or digestion problems. Fennel, carraway seed and peppermint is a blend that helps with acid reflux so you can throw away your Tums. 

Plants and herbs are truly amazing things that come from the earth and I urge you to try one of these oils instead of the over the counter pill and see how you feel. Until next time stay fit and stay strong. 

Vegucated

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. Last week I watched a very informative documentary called "Vegucated." It was about a young woman who is a vegan and got 3 New Yorkers to become vegan for 6 weeks. It was a very inspiring film and I learned a lot about how farm animals are treated in this country. Some of the scenes in the movie where hard to watch because they showed the inhumane treatment of the animals. At the end of the film all 3 of the people stayed vegan.
I decided hey I should do that, I already eat mostly fruits and veggies. I do indulge in the occasional turkey burger with cheese, which would have to be cut out. I realized that not everyone knows what a vegan is when my co-worker brought ceviche (fish) to our employee party and said he thought it was vegan. A vegan is no meat (including fish), poultry and dairy. Vegan's don't purchase leather or any animal products to wear as clothing as well.
I decided to try a week of being vegan and see how I felt at the end of it. I usually eat oatmeal with almond milk for breakfast. No meat or dairy to start my day. Almond milk is a fabulous milk substitute and it's delicious. I work at a breakfast/lunch joint which serves epic bacon. I haven't had a piece of bacon in probably over 6 months but I serve it everyday. This week I felt conflicted serving bacon after I had watched what happens to pigs in the film. The restaurant I work at serves local farm fresh food so I was optimistic that the bacon I was serving was treated with respect. All week at work I was bothered by how much meat and dairy people ordered. Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day and all these people were starting their day with grease, fat and cholesterol.
Lunch was a little hard because the kitchen staff makes our lunch and they made a salad with cheese covering it and fried chicken sandwiches. I didn't eat either of them instead I waited till work was over and went to our local organic cafe Palm Green and ordered a hummus wrap. No meat, no cheese and it was amazing!
The week started to fly by and I didn't really struggle with being a vegan because when I saw meat or thought about it I remembered all the horrible but true facts I had learned about in the film Vegucated. One night I made myself a smoothie with spinach, banana, mango, coconut oil and almond milk and I got all the protein and nutrients needed and was full just from eating a smoothie that was 100% vegan.
At the end of the week I decided to stay vegan for another week, it wasn't that much of a challenge for me any more to eat vegan so why stop. I challenge everyone to research where your food is coming from especially the meat products you are eating. If everyone saw what was happening to animals behind closed doors they would be vegan too.
Overall I recommend becoming a vegan I had more energy this week, so until next time stay fit!

One Week Without Sugar

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. One week without sugar could you do it? Sugar is in almost everything, their is natural sugar like the sugar that is in fruit and then their is refined cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice the list goes on and on. So for one week I cut sugar out completely which meant no alternative sweeteners either no honey or agave even though I believe those aren't bad for you I wanted to see what it was like not having that added sweetness. Natural sugars were allowed because fruit is healthy and delicious and nature's sugar.
Let me start out by telling you that I have a major sweet tooth and I love my desserts. I was interested when I read up about having a sweet tooth to find out it doesn't really exist it's just your taste buds and food cravings rearing its ugly head. In nutrition class I found out that if you had desserts after every meal as a kid you would always crave that because you were used to it but you can always retrain yourself too. I don't indulge in donuts, cakes and really unhealthy desserts but I enjoy my frozen yogurt and dark chocolate and always want dessert after dinner. I used to put sugar in my coffee but broke that habit last year after having a cavity filled at the dentist.
I started my no sugar week with plain oatmeal for breakfast with no sugar added, I sometimes add nuts, fresh fruit, unsweetened almond milk or coconut oil but no sugar. It was pretty easy to stay away from sugar for breakfast because I usually did already. Lunch I usually ate salads but made sure the dressing didn't have sugar in it. I work in a restaurant that makes all dressing from scratch so was able to ask which dressing did or did not have sugar in them. I also had rice cakes with almond butter for lunch and bananas, other fruits or nuts for snacks during the day.
Dinner was easy not to incorporate sugar because I had fish and ground turkey with sautéed vegetables so I didn't need sugar. The challenge came at the end of dinner when I would usually reach for the chocolate or want some ice cream or frozen yogurt. The first night was the hardest night I had a cranberry natural tea instead of dessert but was still craving sugar. The next day I did feel like I had more energy and it was getting easier not to think about sweets and lack of sugar. On my third day of no sugar one of my co-workers brought a box of mini chocolate donuts to work and although I normally don't crave donuts they looked good because I hadn't had any sugar for a few days. I didn't have one but it was tempting. I'm a woman of my word and when I start something I finish it.
I noticed that I wasn't able to have a lot of processed food because when reading the labels almost everything had sugar added to it. I usually eat healthy but noticed that I was eating even healthier this week. I feel really good and have a lot of energy so I decided to continue and do a month of no sugar.
Overall I would recommend trying no sugar for a week sort of to detox yourself from sugar because it is a highly addictive food. And if you can get over that addiction you will feel and look good. Until next week stay fit!