Low Carb Your Life

The holidays are a time for cheer and joy, love, family, and gifts, right? not for everyone...I have a love-hate relationship with the holidays. Sometimes I love them, other times I hate them. For a large portion of my life, I hated them.  Often times the holiday season triggers depression in people who are missing loved ones, feeling disappointment, or who are unable to afford what the season has become about. Many people during this time actually come down with holiday blues symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, fatigue, restlessness, boredom, and an overall general feeling of sadness. If you are someone who battles the holiday blues, today I am going to provide you with some tips that can help to make it better.  Tip #1: Redefine Your Ideal Holiday  Who says that your ideal holiday needs to be filled with extravagant dinners, parties, and gifts? Most of the time, the "ideal holiday" is based on childhood memories or holiday movies. There is no definition of

Have you heard of the crab mentality? It's also known as crabs in a bucket...and refers to what happens when crabs are actually in a bucket awaiting their death. It's strikingly similar to the behavior of human beings when we see one of our own doing big things or moving forward in life. You see, what happens is, when you have a bucket of crabs waiting to be cooked, or who knows what, they are all frantically trying to figure out what the hell is going on and how to get out. As soon as a crab starts to make their way to the top to crawl out of the bucket and save themselves, the other crabs pull him back down, "if I can't have it, neither can you".  The analogy in human behavior is that members of a group will attempt to reduce the self-confidence of any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, spite, conspiracy, or competitive feelings, to halt their progress.  I see this all too often in coaching. I have challengers wh

I love all things health, fitness, and wellness. I especially love when I get health and fitness gifts that I can actually use in my day to day life. It shows me that the people I love actually pay attention to what my interests are, and even if they don't live as healthy of a lifestyle as I do, they support it. For that reason, I am sharing my 2017 top 10 picks for the health and fitness freak in your family in hopes of helping you get them a present they actually want this holiday season...you're welcome!  #10 The Powerblock 24-pound Adjustable Dumbell Set This is the perfect gift for people who like to workout at home, but don't have a ton of room for a large collection of weights. All you have to do is place the pins in the dumbells and get your pump on with anywhere between 3 and 24 pounds. Know someone who these would be perfect for? You can get them right on Amazon here ! #9 The Oster Travel Blender This is one of my personal favorites.

When I joined my first challenge group almost 6 years ago now things were very different. Programs were 90 days long and 45 minutes to an hour which was a HUGE commitment, but since I wanted lasting change, I put in the work. I completed two 90 day programs before shorter programs began to come out. First, they were 60 days, then 30, then 21... I'm not knocking the shorter programs. I realize that people don't have a ton of time to devote to workouts or want to see quick wins, but I realized a change in my own mindset when programs began to be shorter. It became less about building my mind and body and more about fitting it into my busy life. For many people that is a great thing, but for me, I LOVE the work part of building myself. My first two programs didn't just craft and build my body into a stronger version, it crafted and built my mind as well which is what I needed most.  When I heard that Autumn Calabrese was going old school and bringing us a har

Thanksgiving has taken on a new life since I began following a plant-based diet. I find holidays to be the most difficult time to follow what lifestyle unless I bring my own food. Being someone who loves to cook, I am completely fine with bringing my own stuff and have put together a list of my favorite plant-based sides for your Thanksgiving pleasure! They are in no particular order just sharing the recipes.  #1 Vegan Biscuits   I love me some biscuits especially when they aren't filled with Dairy. They were fluffy, and tasted so damn good! Check out the recipe here! #2   Creamy Cauliflower Mash I have always been in love with mashed potatoes. The problem was, they weren't in love with me. I thought that I would never find a recipe that would fulfill my mashed potato needs and also my healthy living lifestyle UNTIL I found this recipe! #3 Clean Eating Fig, Apple, and Sage Stuffing When I think of stuffing I don't think of figs, apple

I absolutely LOVE sweet potato casserole so I was pumped when it won the vote this week for Recipe Thursday ! I found a delicious vegan recipe over at Oh She Glows and could not wait to test it out. I am giving this one two thumbs up because it is everything I expected and then some. I usually can't eat most things at my family holiday because of dairy so I will be bringing these with me this Thanksgiving! Let me know what you think and head over to Oh She Glows and show her some love as well!  Ingredients:  f or sweet potato mash 4 1/2 to 5 pounds sweet potatoes  1 1/2 Tablespoons vegan butter 1 1/2 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil  2 1/2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract  3/4 teaspoon cinnamon  1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg  1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt  for the Crunchy Nut Crumble: 1 cup rolled oats  1 1/3 cup pecan halves, chopped 1/3 cup almond meal or almond flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

This weeks recipe Thursday was Chickpea Fritters! They were tasty enough but only got one thumb up because I felt like they needed a little extra kick. The good news is, with just a few tweaks I feel like this could be one of my favorites! When making these I really suggest using the optional flour for binding purposes. I will definitely be trying this again with some added spice!  Ingredients  1 can chickpeas, drained  1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree (canned) 1/4 cup hemp seeds  1 tsp. garlic granules  2 tsp. apple cider vinegar  a few dashes of pepper, cayenne, and salt to taste optional: 1-2 tsp. flour to assist in binding if needed  1 cup panko breadcrumbs for coating  1/4-1/2 cup safflower oil for frying  Directions   Add the chickpeas and pumpkin puree to a large mixing bowl.  With a large fork or potato masher, mash the beans until at least 75% of them have been mashed together with the pumpkin. Add spices, apple cider, hemp se

Have you been looking for fun, healthy ways to spend more time with the people in your life? Beachbody's new program Double Time was made just for that reason! Tony Horton, creator of P90X had families in mind when he came up with this program. All too often these days people have their head down in a device instead of interacting in person. Not only does this take away from in-person fun and socialization, but it has also affected the health and weight of many. Growing up overweight I would have LOVED to have had a program like this available that not only would have helped me to understand exercise and nutrition but would have allowed me to interact and have fun with my parents.  Double Time is Tony's first program that makes living a healthier lifestyle something that you can do with another person. Now couples, friends, kids, and parents can take on daily workouts and healthier eating together for 30 days!  Studies have shown that people are more likely to s