Fitness Cure

So, for the last couple weeks I’ve been sucking on ice cubes when I”m hungry. Literally! LOL. But these aren’t regular ice cubes…they are small, green and taste pretty good. Most importantly, these little suckers are supposed to curb my appetite thus helping me lose weight!

The new, revolutionary, ICE CUBE DIET, has raw Hoodia in it, a cactus-looking plant that has scientifically shown causes weight loss. Many people take Hoodia in pill form – some in liquid, but I’ve never tried it via ice! That was exciting.

Since it’s been so hot here in Sacramento (it is 106 degrees here today) I keep opening my freezer for something cold to eat. Of course, I have ice cream (soy) and some fruit bars (for my son) – and naturally I want to grab one of the two, but instead, I ‘ve been grabbing an ice cube. Of course, it doesn’t cure my sugar craving, but it definitely cured my ‘need for something cold’ craving and my ‘get something out of the freezer because I’m bored’ craving.

As many of you know, I’m already in ‘weight loss mode’ – I’m only 6 pounds aways from my pre-pregnancy weight. I already lost 30 pounds! I workout 5-6 times a week, I try to eat fairly healthy and take my regular protein shakes. But I don’t really use a weight loss pill. So, it’s been fun incoporating SOMETHING into my routine these past couple weeks.

The Ice Cube Diet is a cool, alternative to all the other diet’s out there – so try it! It’s convenient, it’s cool, it’s tasty and it’s green! I LOVE GREEN!

I finally had some time to sit down and read this AWESOME book about back pain. I personally don’t experience much pain, but have found that since I gave birth to my first son, I’m feeling some tension back there. Many people experience back pain because we live in a highly sedentary society. We have bad posture when we drive, when we sit, when we sit on our computers! In fact, I was just talking to my trainer-friend today and we were discussing how hard it is to train a client who has postural issues. Applying any type of weight/stress to the body only creates more muscle imbalances, pain and possibly injury.

8 steps to a pain-free back by Esther Gokhale is a great book because it gives you easy solutions to help relieve the pain. My fiancee’, David, read the book and loved it. He now stacks his pillows when he sleeps because he read that it was more natural for his spine. I think anyone who experiences back pain would benefit from reading this book and trying the Gokhale method.

Did you know that:

• 90% of adults experience back pain at some point in their lives.
• This year, 50% of working Americans will experience back pain.
• Back pain is now the leading cause of disability in people under 45 years old.
• By age 15, more than 60% of all adolescents have experienced back and/or neck pain.

I’m always seeking the newest, greatest, tastiest, sugar-free water that will make my life a little less bland. AND I think I have found it.

Hint water has no sugar, no artificial sweeteners…it just has a ‘hint’ of stawberry, or grape, or whatever your favorite flavor is.  This is important stuff to me because my tummy CANNOT handle sugar-free stuff. I can barely chew an Orbit gum without feeling like my stomach just inflated into a huge balloon.

My favorite? I’ve always been a strawberry-kiwi everything person. So try it out! You can find it at many of your grocery stores today!

I haven’t enjoyed reading a fitness/diet book for a while; mainly because all of them seem to say the same stuff or not provide any new revelations to me. However, I really enjoyed the useful information provided in the The New ME Diet book. This book answers one of the biggest questions I always get and am never educated enough to answer (now I have the answer!). The question a lot of people ask is: “If I’m only eating 1500 calories a day and consume a sandwich, a bagel and a cookie (with that all adding up to 1500 calories) then why can’t I lose weight?” And the answer is: HORMONES. It’s all about what hormones those unhealthy foods trigger in your body and what it causes (fat gain or fat loss) So YES, the quality of the food is more important than the quantity.

This book goes over how your body processes foods and your metabolic organs. It goes over which hormones are vital for fat loss and how to create them. It goes over the most efficient and effective workout (which I might add is similar to my workout routine right now). And it does all of this without being a heavy, condensed book that gives your head a migraine by the time you’re finished.

Because of this book I am going to start sleeping earlier…at least by 10pm when the sun has well gone down.  Since my bedroom gets so much light in the morning, I’m already disrupted to wake up at 5am – so instead of fighting it, I might as well join it! According the book, “Sleep is like a horomonal reset button…it lowers leptin, insultin and cortisol levels and elevates melatonin, HGH, testosterone, and other hormones.  Sleep improves mood, burns fat, and slows the aging process.”

If you are looking for a book to help you better understand YOU and give you some new pick-me-ups, then check out their site and order a copy! I highly recommend it.

This book was written like it was made for someone like me….a person who knows NOTHING about yoga but always tells herself: “I’ll try it sometime…”

I took a couple classes before but always felt awkward because I wasn’t familiar with the names of poses or how I’m supposed tobe ‘feeling’. When I performed yoga I sometimes felt bored, other times I felt like I was in pain from the stretch…but most of the time I felt out of place. Why? Because I had no idea what yoga was all about. Was it a stretching exercise? Am I supposed to be working my core? What about meditation? And what’s up with the breathing?

Yoga for Dummies goes through a step-by-step Yoga 101 chapter where it simplifies your understanding of the in and outs of yoga.  Here are a few things I felt was interesting:

- Yoga is a tradition that has been around for over 5000 years.

- Yoga means ‘union’ or ‘integration’ and also ‘discipline’

- If you practice yoga you are a  yogi (for male) or yogini (if female)

- There are 7 principle branches of yoga.

I practiced some of the exercises they demonstrated in the book and am adding it to my routine little by little towards the end of my intense workouts. I especially like the breathing aspect. It helps me to focus and meditate. Besides the usual ‘downward dogs’ that we are all accustomed to, this book also goes through addition exercises that I’ve never been introduced to. In Chapter 10 you learn all about Inversions…which is basically exercises that trick the force of gravity and as a result, can reverse the effects of aging, improve health and add years to your life!

There are chapters for beginner routines for both men and women, as well as exercises to perform throughout the day.

All in all, I am so excited to begin practicing what I’ve learned from this book. Expect more updates from me in my weekly fitness journals. My goal this year is to have a more balanced workout routine that includes cardio, strength and stretch.

Order yours today!  Click here for more info