Beat The Winter Blues + Quick Body Update!

Coming back to Buffalo at the most inopportune time has made the transition back to the States umpteen times harder. The snow and cold has been wayyy too much for this South America loving girl. Um FedEx me back pretty please? Especially since I left Lima right as it was beginning to get super warm, which breaks my heart even more. So unfortunately yes, I have succumbed to the winter blues. When does spring start by the way? Didn't Punxsutawney Phil say it was coming sooner? Geez louise already! 

I've had to come up with some techniques in order to keep myself mentally sane and in positive spirits that spring summer will be here soon. Getting ahead of myself? Maybeeee. 

1. By catching some extra z's. People naturally want to sleep a little more during the winter, but with all we have going on - sleep is normally the first thing to go. With a little time management, and some self-discipline, you can meet your shut eye needs. I personally aim for about 8 to 9 hours each night and go to bed around the same time as well. This is so your sleeping patterns are on more of a schedule and this will encourage you to have more energy. Naps are great too! A short 10-30 minute nap may be all that you need to put that extra pep into your step. 
2. Getting social support aka hang with my family and friends.
3. Drink coffee. I love warm beverages in the middle of winter, they warm me right to my very soul.
4. Embrace the season, I think an ice skating date may be in order. Any takers? 
5. Relax! and meditate. 
6. Treat myself where I can, even if that means just having a night to unwind, paint my nails and delve into a good book. 
7. Avoid binge drinking. I'm one of those all or nothing type of gals. I rarely drink, but when I do - I tend to go a bit overboard. Obviously I don't feel my best after a night of tons of drinking, but right now with nothing else to do - going out and getting a little cray cray is irresistible. 
8. Act on my resolutions. Keep up with my healthy eating and workout plans and keep striving towards my goals. 
9. Get some sun, whenever the suns out to make a point to be near it - even if that means just opening the shades and letting some natural light in or taking the pooches out for a walk. 
10. Exercise! 

And speaking of exercise, on to today's workout! It was a doozy, but I loved every second of it.

•  
• Warm-up/stretch
• 30 minutes jump roping in the sun :-) on our patio 
• Today I decided to focus on legs. 
• Thigh toner workout as seen to the side there. Where it says 20 donkey kicks, I included lifting my leg straight back 20 times as well. I only did it twice because I ended up getting a little bored and looking to change it up. 
• 3 sets of 100 - 15 lb. resistance band oblique exercise done in a controlled rhythm 

This next part was an abs circuit which I completed 3 times. 

• 20 regular mountain climber
• 1 minute regular plank 
• 1 minute right side plank 
• 1 minute left side plank 

Following was a mini-obliques circuit done again 3 times.

• 20 left side crunch
• 20 left side fish leg raise (lift both legs up and down while laying on your side)
• 20 right side crunch
• 20 right side fish leg raise

To end the routine, I did some cool-down flexibility work. Each held for the duration of a song, and every song averages around 3 and a half minutes.

• Right side stretch
• Left side stretch
• Pike stretch
• Spread eagle center stretch
• Butterfly stretch
• Center split (this was not held for three consecutive minutes, I'm not cray! at that level just yet. Right now I'm at a point where I'll hold my split for 1 and a half minutes at a time for 3 times and each time push a little bit further into it.) 

The song that drove me absolutely wild during today's fabulous workout was... 

Pressure! The Alesso Remix featuring Nadia Ali, the Starkillers and Alex Kenji. 

The Eats! 

• Breakfast: 2-ingredient banana pancake + an orange. Cup o'joe with French vanilla creamer. 
• Lunch: A berry smoothie mixed with raw oatmeal + a tuna patty. Shocker on the tuna right? 
• Dinner: Hmm, TBD. 

A couple quick body shots to give you an idea of where I'm at...

Nothing too crazy, hence the lack of emphasis on the body shots this time around. 

On a completely random, but 100% necessary note you may or may not know that we're dog sitting this week, so we currently have 4 dogs in the apartment. It's complete and utter mayhem, but as a self-proclaimed animal lover am eating up every  single moment of it. There is mi hija -Lolita, who of courses run the joint, Ollie + 2 female chihuahuas, Peanut, who is literally the size of a peanut and looks and runs away from me as if I have leprosy - and the other named Princess, who is currently laying on my lap as I type this post, so basically when this week is over I may have to kidnap her. Shhh, that'll be our little secret. Little BFF. 

News news news.

News news news. 

Sooo.... I haven't worked out in 2 days, but in my defense I've been working out my mind muscles. I've been addicted to reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, drinking tons of green ginger tea and coffee with York Peppermint Patty Creamer and just chilling in bed with Lolita at my side. Also, I've been watching tons of Pretty Little Liars. I just can't help myself! 

The cleanse? Wah wah wah. Over before it started. I will eventually do a proper cleanse. 

On the plus side, I have a job interview with the Buffalo Athletic Club on Tuesday, so keep your little blog reading fingers crossed for me! I would be bringing my fitness and nutrition knowledge to club goers in Downtown Buffalo. 

Today's eats? Well breakfast was a little delayed because I realized I had no groceries whatsoever to work with, so I ran out to the store before Nemo hit. I spent a good hour shopping and before I got into line I realized I forgot taco seasoning and ran to get it, then reached to grab my card. Wah wah wah againnn... I forgot it at home. Son of a... so I used my epic cart hiding skills and camouflaged it with a rack at Wegmans and hoped that I could go home and come back and retrieve my booty. I went home and searched for the card, promptly found it, then returned on my quest to get my groceries. Were they where I left them? Si pues! What luck! Plus I didn't skid into a tree on my slippery ride home either, double luck!! At noon I finally sat down to breakfast, which was a banana mixed with an egg mixed with a scoop of protein powder pancake with a side of Dannon vanilla yogurt. Lunch was a tuna croquette with some pickles and an apple with some pecan butter. Dinner was taco dip where I mostly used sweet peppers for dipping and some artisan tortilla chips for dippage as well. 

Hmm, I do have plans to workout in a way tonight. Dance Central Battle part two, Team Jay and Amber: You are going down. 

Detox: Day 1

Overall Day 1: I started off the day looking forward to jumping head first into my cleanse, but I ended up changing it a little. At a couple points, I had a few really bad headaches/migraines. It's a pretty common side effect due to the caffeine withdrawal  And when I got hungry, I almost went into kill mode. Like put food in my belly now or you are going to die. Probably a sign of low blood sugar because of my increased water intake and my lower caloric intake today. Didn't make the lemon juice this morning because I'm not prepared food-wise really for this detox, but tomorrow I'm gonna be sure to get out to a store and grab some goods. Meditation was super relaxing. Like I said yesterday - I don't put special time aside for myself to meditate, but it was nice to just sit and focus on breathing. Listening to my own respiration and feeling the breath come in and then leave the body was a sensation I never really noticed before. It's given me this new respect of my body and I'd like to keep further developing that relationship with myself. I made a list of mantras that will help to inspire me on an everyday basis, I encourage you to do the same! 

• I am a caring and loving person.
• I am becoming more aware of my thought process, gaining control of my thoughts and reducing my anxiety. I control me and my thoughts. 
• I am calm, confident, and happy to be alive.
• I have a lot of positive energy. 
• I radiate love and happiness.
• I choose to make positive choices for myself. 
• I choose to exercise regularly.
• I believe in myself and so do others.
• I choose love, joy, and freedom, open my heart and allow wonderful things to flow into my life.

The Eats

• Breakfast: Mashed banana, blueberries, vanilla yogurt
• Lunch: Miso soup, Avocado eel roll, Ohinko (marinated pickle) roll
• My biggest dilemma of the day was to kind of go against the detox a smidge, but because I was on a lunch/coffee date with a lovely lady I simply could not refuse a French Toast soy latte. 
• Dinner: Tuna croquette + massaged kale salad 
• x229277 glasses of water + green ginger tea 

Soooo... oh my wooooord, but actually the massaged kale salad dressing was amazing. It took all the strength in me not to go into the kitchen and lick the bowl clean. 

Basically all you have to do is mix 1/3 olive oil, 1/4 apple cider vinegar, 1.5 tbsp Dijon mustard, salt, Adobo seasoning, nutritional yeast and pepper. Then slowly dress that kale baby up in a blanket of the dressing. Add more nutritional yeast on top. 

The Workout

• Warm-up and stretching
• 1 hour Zumba 
• Cool-down and flexibility work

Jam of the Day! 

Try and listen to that without moving. Impossible.

7-Day Detox Diet

So as you can probably tell from the title of this post that I'm going to be embarking on a 7-day detox program. 2-days seems too short and 21-days seems too drastic ...Martha's Vineyard Detox...sorry Martha, I love you and all - but you cray, so 7 seems just right to me. 

I have been emotionally stressed and stretched to the max and just ready to do something really healthy and productive to cleanse my mind, body and soul to help me personally feel better. So what better way then a detox? This may look shady to some of my readers, but fret not young grasshoppers - this is far cry from what seems to be a desperate attempt to lose weight. The purpose of my plan is to take some pressure off of the organs (like the liver, kidneys and bowel) that detoxify the body in order to enhance their performance. Basically I just want to give my body the R&R that it damn well deserves. So I will be following this completely safe and doable 7-day program.

Foods Avoiding

• Alcohol and other liquid calories
• Milk products 
• Sugar, honey, artificial sweeteners
• Coffee, enter sad face... :-( and caffeinated beverages in general
• Fiber-free carbs, wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt
• Dried fruit

Foods Enjoying 

• Fruit: any and all fresh fruit
• Vegetables: again any and all 
• Brown rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat
• Fish
• Kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils
• Eggs
• Olive oil, coconut oil
• Raw nuts, baha too easy.
• Raw seeds
• Green tea, white tea, decaf tea
• Water 

Detox Plan for the Next 7 Days

1. Morning lemon juice: Squeeze the juice of half a lemon (or 2 tbsp of lemon juice) in a cup of hot water. Drink first thing in the morning before breakfast.
2. Exercise: For one hour daily. Easy peasy, I've been going for about 2 hours daily. Stupid unemployment. 
3. Detox and declutter my mind. I usually meditating before bed to help me calm my mind in order to sleep, but I am actively going to also put aside 15 minutes to meditate during this time and focus on proper breathing techniques. 
4. Focus on raw foods. Aim to cut out the cooking process and eat mainly raw foods as they contain more nutrients and enzymes. 
• Some foods especially high in enzymes are papayas, pineapples, sprouts, asparaguses, avocados, bananas, figs, grapes, kiwi, mango, and raw onions. 
5. Drink. My goal is about 3 liters of fluid daily in order to support lymph and kidney detox. Sooo... lots of water, fresh veggie juice juice and herbal teas. 
6. Body brushing. Yeah sounds totally weird, but all you do is take a loofah and brush the skin in small circles before you take a shower. I will start at my feet and work my way upwards. Then you take your shower and finish it off with a one-minute burst of cold water which helps bring your blood circulation close to your skin. Don't knock it til you try it!

I will keep you posted on what I eat/my daily exercises/how I feel with the detox on each day. 

Tuna Croquette Recipe

Since on the blog I have tuna croquettes basically on a daily basis I have received a request to break down how to make it. It's super simple and I would love to share how to do it with y'all. 

First you start out with these ingredients... 

Potato Starch
Egg 
Salt and Pepper 
Bumblebee Tuna

Turn on the stove, let it warm up while you take all those ingredients, and put them into a bowl where it will look a little something like this...

And then you mix it all up... 

And then you dump it into the hot skillet with extra virgin olive oil aka EVOO... and you let it brown on the first side, flip it, then let it brown on the other side... (excuse the mess on the stove, oops!) 

and then take it out the pan, put it on your plate and feast!! Pair it with something delicious on the side - like a green apple and Nutella! 

Notice the smile. That's sriracha, because let's face it... everything and everyone is happier with sriracha. 

Basically the 2 ingredient banana pancakes are made the exact same way, but obviously minus the tuna, salt and pepper (unless you're into that kind of thing), and add in protein powder, fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter, etc etc. 

The Workout 

• Warm-up and stretch
• Arm focus 
• Cool-down, stretch, yoga, flexibility 

The Eats 

• Breakfast: 2 ingredient banana pancakes mixed with blueberries and chocolate protein powder. Topped with more blueberries. Dipped in Dannon vanilla Greek yogurt. Cup o'joe with Almond Joy creamer. 
• Lunch: Tuna croquette as featured above with green apple slathered dipped delicately in Nutella and eaten like a Nutella loving Tasmanian devil fiend a lady. 
• Dinner: Fish tacos.

What's in your gym? + New Playlist

Right now, I currently do not utilize a gym membership. That might change in the future - but for the time being, I have some workout gear that I use on a regular basis at home. I thought I would share just exactly what I use. It's like a blog show and tell, so come one - come all and gather round to see just what I personally have in my house to keep in shape without going to the gym. 

The Essentials... 

Yoga mat and of course a pair of sneakers.

I love how open Jay and Liam's living room is! 

It's like having access to my own personal yoga studio. 

Okay... so there's a lot here. So I'll start in the top left hand corner going downward, then upwards to the top right hand corner and again downwards. Sounds more confusing than it is, and if you have any questions about what anything is or how to use it - don't be afraid to ask! 

Here it goes:

Ab roller, 15 lb. resistance bands, push-up bars, 10 lb. dumbbell and a 5 lb. dumbbell (there's two to the set, but I only put in one of each), an exercise ball, and last but certainly not least: my jump rope! 

The iPod loaded with tunes.

My certified personal trainer, nutritionist and yoga expert.

The ever so intimidating pull-up bar that lurks outside my room. 

Coach telling me to get it together and that it's time to start training and stop messing around with the photo taking of the equipment. She's sooo pushy. 

And lastly, of course... the trainee. 

Because after all, having all this equipment does not necessarily mean that one uses it.

The Workout

• Warm-up and stretch
• Leg focus day
• **Plies are done with a chair, any old thing that you can use to support you will work. Plies are about focusing on your legs.**
• 3x30 center plies as slow as possible (lemme tell you, slowing it down really makes the muscles burn) 
• March in place to stretch out
• 3x30 legs spread, feet facing forward plies
• March in place to stretch out
• 3x30 legs spread, feet facing outwards plies
• March in place to stretch out
• **Using a wall as support, the following moves.**
• 10 front kicks, each leg
• 10 back kicks, each leg
• 10 side kicks, each leg **Make sure you really point your toes, A) It gives a better workout, B) It looks prettier.**
• "The Screw": Basically you pick a song... for me it was In My Trunk by Dev, but any song that makes you feel sexy and grab the wall and basically just Zumba grind downwards as far as you can go and then upwards resembling a screw that you would use to hang something, actually normally its a nail, but you get the point. It makes your legs and glutes BURRRRNNNN and the next time you go out dancing you can impress that hot guy in the club with your dirty dancing floor moves.
• 1 minute regular plank, 30 second plank right side, 30 second plank left side - repeat 3x. 
• 3 bridges held for 30 seconds.
• Ab focus
• Cool-down and stretch, flexibility work. More center split practice. 

The Promised Playlist! I put this on random, so the songs weren't exactly in this order. 

• Turn Up The Music - Chris Brown
• Bassline - Chris Brown
• Don't Wake Me Up - Chris Brown 
• In My Trunk - Dev
• Bass Down Low - Dev 
• Whistle - Flo Rida
• Stronger - Kanye West
• Hello - Karmin
• C'Mon - Ke$ha 
• Culo (Miami Mix) - Pitbull 
• S&M (Remix) - Rihanna and Britney Spears
• 22 - Taylor Swift
• I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
• Treacherous - Taylor Swift
• State of Grace - Taylor Swift
• Red - Taylor Swift

The Eats

• Breakfast: 2 ingredient banana pancake mixed with chocolate protein powder. Dannon vanilla Greek yogurt for dippage. Cup of coffee.
• Lunch: Tuna burger doused in sriracha and ketchup. Green apple with a packet of Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut butter.
• Dinner: Tofu Stir-fry 

What's in your home gym? Leave it below in the comments :-) 

Calming My Anxious Soul: Meditation 101

Anxiety is one of the hardest emotions for me to control. Lately I've been under quite a bit of stress and so my anxiety is definitely on the farthest end of the meter so to speak. Imagine how a chihuahua or any small dog with attachment issues freaks out when their owner leaves, well that's the perfect way to describe how I've been feeling. I'm perfectly a-okay during the day because I keep myself for the most part good and distracted, but its at night where it's become to bigger problem and I have been having problems getting a good nights sleep due to these racing thoughts about life in general and my future bouncing to and fro in my head. 

So at three am or whenever last night, I did what any girl does when they're in trouble...I talked to my mom about it. She suggested I try meditating. Why hadn't I thought of that myself sooner? 

Some good reasons to meditate are...

• It relieves stress and helps you to relax.
• When you practice mindfulness, it can easily be translated into your daily life.
• Mindfulness helps you to savor life, change habits, live simply and slowly, be present in everything that you do. 
• Meditation has been shown to have mental benefits, such as improved focus, happiness, memory, self-control, and academic performance.
• Some research on meditation has shown that it may have other health benefits including improved metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and more. 

So my plan to incorporate it into my daily life is... 

1. Committing to 5 minutes (at least) everyday. 
2. Pick a general time and trigger. I'll probably do it right after I wake up.
3. Finding a quiet spot. AKA the confines of my comfy comfy bed, beneath my down comforter. Even if it means booting Lolita from my side for 5 minutes. 
4. Being in a comfortable position when practicing. Ohmm.
5. Focus on my breath. Breathing is super important, so following my breath in through my nostrils, then into my throat, then into the lungs and belly while closing my eyes is proper way of doing so.

I'll keep you posted how it goes and if I notice any effects on my well-being. 

The Workout

1. Warm-up and stretch
2. 30 minutes of jump roping continuously  
3. 60 minutes of mixed abs/oblique focus 
4. Cool-down and stretch/yoga

The Eats

• Breakfast: 2-ingredient banana pancake mixed with chocolate protein powder. Dipped in Dannon vanilla Greek yogurt. Cup o'joe and multivitamin. 
• Lunch: 2 eggs, sweet baby pickles and green apple with Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut butter.  
• Dinner: Vegetables and rice. Banana and apple slice fruit salad dressed in algarrobina.