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. 

No Sugar, Part 2

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diets trends so you don't have to. I decided to give up sugar for the second time this year. This time for 5 weeks.

Why give up sugar?

Well I workout daily and eat extremely heathly but I'm still lacking the six-pack I want. Last time I gave up sugar I could see a difference, I'm a naturally skinny person but with sugar cutout of my diet I was even leaner. 

My birthday is coming up on Halloween so I decided to give up sugar until my birthday. You don't relalize that sugar is in everything until you aren't eating it. The first couple of days were the hardest and the first night I was craving anything with sugar in it. You also don't realize till your off sugar is how addictive sugar is, it's kind of like a vicious cycle...have a little sugar than have more sugar. I have also been craving pumpkin everything because it's October. I have seen pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies. Everything I have seen featuring pumpkin flavor has sugar in it! I did get some pumpkin tea, which obviously doesn't have sugar in it but it didn't really fulfill my pumpkin sugar craving.

One of my friends asked me the other night if giving up sugar really did anything? If I could see a difference in my body? I told her yes, I can see that my body is leaner without it. I'm the Try-Athlete so I'm always trying new diets and cutting out foods that are "bad" for me. And since I've cutout sugar I have seen results unlike any other diet change. I have about two weeks left till my birthday but I'm looking so good I'm not sure if I want to stop. I encourage you to give up sugar for a week or a month and see what results you get. Until next time stay fit and stay strong.

Slack-Lining

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 tried slacklining, have you ever seen it or heard of it? 

Slacklining is kind of like tightrope walking between two trees. The slack line looks like a dog's leash and you use rock climbing carribeeners to connect it to 2 trees about 20-30 feet away from each other. 

Slacklining takes tremendous balance just like tightrope walking. You start by trying to balance on the line with one foot and then try to walk. When you first start your leg shakes and it makes the line shake too. You have to push yourself up quickly as not to shake the whole line. 

First I tried my left leg and the whole line shook but then when I put pressure on the line it stopped and I could stand up for maybe one second. I then would alternate each time to the opposite leg so they both got a good workout. It was a workout too I started sweating and my friend I was doing it with told me to take a break. 

So I took about a 10 minute break and when I went back and started again I was much better. My friend said this happened frequently, when you took a break and then attempted the slackline again you would improve. I was staying up for 5-10 seconds this time. I decided to try and walk and I was almost getting there when my foot slipped and I fell off the slack-ine and directly onto my shoulder. I heard a crunch and it hurt but I wasn't seriously hurt so I continued. 

I tried a few more times to walk but my balance wasn't as good as it was before my fall. My shoulder was sore so I decided I had had enough slackline for the day. I had such a great time slacklining that day. I had watched people on a slackline before but I had never tried it. It was really fun and everytime I got up on it I wanted to improve. I was impressed by how good my balance was for my first time trying it. I would definitely encourage friends and other workout enthusiasts to try slacklining. It is great for your balance and your confidence. And even though I fell off I didn't let that get me down because I had stayed up all those other attempts. So until next time stay fit and stay strong!

The Asylum, Insanity Hybrid

Welcome to Try-Athlete, the blog where I try all the latest fintess and diet trends so you don't have to. Last week I started a new workout routine. I have done the Insanity workouts for the past 3 years and Asylum workouts for 10 months but I have never done them together. 

Each workout program comes with a calendar which tells you what day to do what workout. On the Asylum calendar it has a Asylum/Insanity Hybrid and a P90X/ Asylum Hybrid as well. I have never attempted the Asylum/Insanity Hybrid before and I thought why not. I'm ready for the challenge and since I just finished the entire Asylum program for the second time I thought I'm in good enough shape to try it.

The first day was Strength from Asylum paired with Pure Cardio from Insanity. Basically weight training and cardio paired together lasting for about an hour and a half. I powered through it pretty well, I was excited I was doing so well. After I finished Strength I immediately started Pure Cardio and I could tell I was tired from the other workout but I told myself I would finish it so that's what I did. The next day my shoulders and inner thighs were really sore. 

I have to admit the next day the weather was so ideal for a run I couldn't resist deviating from the workout calendar and going for a run. We aren't talking about a easy run around the block I pushed myself on this run. I usual run 3 miles but instead I pushed myself to run 4. I was really tired at around 2.6 miles but I told myself I could do it and I think that is the only reason I finished cause I was running on empty.

The next day I went back to the calendar and the next workout was Max Interval Plyo which is an hour of cardio circuit training. My knees were sore from my run the day before so it was tough at first but when I loosened up I felt better. This workout is one of the harder ones but I tried to pace myself. The rest of the week was pretty much like this I was sore every morning but I knew that was because I was working my muscles harder than they were used to.

The Good:

I knew I was getting in even better shape because I was doing double workouts on some days. I've done 2 a days in the past but it was nice having a set schedule so I always knew what I had to do. 

The Bad: 

I was literally sore this whole week! 

The Unexpected:

I was actually surprised by how well I did this first week. I know I am strong and fit but I really hung in there. I was strong mentally and that's really what I was excited about. 

Recommendations: 

I would only recommend this workout to people who are in very good shape. People who like to push themselves and do hard works like Cross-fit on a regular basis. This workout isn't difficult to learn but you need stamina and endurance to get through all the workouts. So until next week stay strong and stay fit!

Detox your Life

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. This week was about detoxing. 

I recently watched the documentary called Food Matters and the film highlighted how important it is to eat organic. It also touched on how you have to get all the bad toxins out of your body first before the good stuff comes in. 

This gave we an idea, I've been wanting to detox for awhile but not just what I eat but what I use in my home to clean and what I use on my body to clean myself too. 

I started this journey because I had chronic stomach aches and everything I ate upset my stomach. Now that I'm eating predominately fruits and vegetables I don't have the stomach aches I used to. I wonder how my body would react with getting rid of all the old toxins into body...probably wonderfully. 

I started transitioning to all natural products, new dishwasher soap is Eco, the laundry detergent is unscented Arm & Hammer baking soda detergent. I just got a new body wash from Trader Joe's it's a organic tea tree body wash. 

I have only been buying organic fruits and vegetables. Ralph's and Trader Joe's are the grocery stores I frequent and they both have good organic selections. Recently our organic produce section grew at Ralph's and I can usually find everything I need there. I started drinking this Peach Detox tea nightly, it supports healthy liver and kidney functions. 

I feel as though with this new detox lifestyle I am being more socially and environmentally responsible, I am only putting toxin free things back into the earth and I feel refreshed and better than I have in a long time.

 

I understand detoxing isn't for everyone but if you can start to transition to natural products you will feel good and you will be helping the environment too. I will continue to detox and cut things out of my life I don't need or are toxic. 

Pound

Welcome to Try-Athlete, the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have. Last week a friend asked me if I had ever tried the workout "Pound," I hadn't so I was instantly intrigued.

What is Pound? Well she explained it to me, you use drumsticks and drum to the beat of the music. You are in different positions for each song, sometimes in a standing squat and drumming the ground in front of you and to the side as well. Pound is a full-body workout working abs, arms, legs and butt. Some songs you are in a seated position pounding the ground to the sides of you and working your core. 

I googled "the Pound workout" and watched a couple videos and I had to try it. I love any workout that involves rhythm and music and sweat dripping down your face. I found a class at a gym in Santa Monica, and since I go to Los Angeles every week for a on-camera hosting class, I decided to sign up for my very first Pound class. 

The Good:

This class was really fun! It was completely different from any workout I had ever done. Using drumsticks or as they are called in class "ripstix" was truly an art form. I could feel my muscles working and using muscles differently than they were used too. The music totally pumps you up, it's loud and the beat is easy to follow. The music kept me going even when I was really tired. 

The Bad:

Since it was my first time trying this workout some of the moves I would mess-up on. I got off the beat a bit sometimes when it was a new move. I was right in the front row too so I wanted to make sure I was doing everything correctly for others watching. I could feel my leg muscles cramping up halfway through the workout, we didn't stretch at all before the workout. Next time I would stretch out before the class so my muscles don't cramp up. 

The Unexpected: 

I've been doing the Asylum workout for the last four weeks and feel really strong so you can imagine how surprised I was when I was sore right after this class. My legs and lower back were so sore I could barely move let alone drive home after class. I thought I was in great shape so it was exciting to see I can step it up another notch. 

Recommendations:  

I would recommend this workout to anyone who wants to have fun while they workout. It's a tough workout but you're having fun while doing it so your mind doesn't dwell on the pain. Pound does take coordination and rhythm, but with practice I think anyone would be able to stay on the beat and follow the instructor. I'm already signed up for another Pound class I liked it so much, so until next time stay fit.

Asylum Strikes Back

Welcome to Try-Athlete the blog where I try all the latest fitness and diet trends so you don't have to. After doing a few weeks of T25 the new workout from famed trainer ShaunT and BeachBody I felt I needed to step my game up. Some people only have 25 minutes to spare to workout but I make working out a priority and put aside an hour to improve myself daily. No judgement to anyone who likes T25 or only has a short period of time to workout, that's just not me. I love to workout and when I'm dripping sweat that's when I know I'm working my hardest. 

Earlier this year I completed Asylum and loved it, because its all about bringing out your inner athlete. I wanted to get back into the shape I was in when I did it before so I decided to do Asylum again.

The Good:

I got into great shape fast, I was sore every day for the first couple days. I like when I'm sore because then I know I'm working my muscles differently than before. Since I have done this series of workouts before I knew what I was doing so I excelled at moves that had been hard for me in the past. 

The Bad:

One of the workouts I literally hate the warm-up and I had to face that workout. It's not that the warm-up is really tough it's just annoying and repetitive and for some reason I just don't like it. Since only one of the workouts has that warm-up I just decided to do it. And once I had, it actually wasn't as bad as I had built it up in my mind.

The Unexpected: 

I was surprised how fast I was able to see changes in my body. My abs started to get more chiseled within a week and so did my shoulders, thighs and butt. I was also surprised that I remembered everything from when I did it before and it all came back just like riding a bike as they say. 

Recommendations:

I would recommend this workout to advanced fitness people. Beginners shouldn't start with this workout as it is very intense. This workout is an excellent way to get your cardio in and enjoy doing it. I feel like an athlete when I do these workouts and everyone has an athlete waiting to come out. 

So until next time stay strong and stay fit.