New Blog!

I’ve started a new blog. I’ll still be using this one but my new blog will be more geared towards my fitness stuff. Here it is.

Let’s Shop Vegan!!

Okay so I was just surfing the net & this website with these two cool Vegan grocery lists popped up. I’m posting the links to the grocery lists here and here! The first is from Oprah and the second from Katie. They’re amazing, big lists, very comprehensive; wonderful for those of us who are still at the beginning of the journey to being vegan/vegetarian or just want to incorporate more of the lifestyle into their lives.

Needing My Own Bathroom = Musing over other Shit I’ve Got to Deal with!

I need my own bathroom!

This early morning, like other VERY, VERY, VERY early mornings before them, I ha and upset stomach and had to got to the bathroom so bad! (Use your imagination, that way I won’t have to get all TMI!) I get up to go and who else in the bathroom but my brother. He’s always in the bathroom, at the most inopportune time, and VERY, VERY, VERY few times is he urinating! Then to top it all off, he never turns on the fan!

My mom, my dad, my brother, and my grandmother moved into the home that we currently live in the summer before last (2011). It has a lot of space and though it’s not perfect, it’s pretty nice. But the thing is that I don’t think any of us (esp my mom) thought about all of the deal breakers in this house, like it only having two bathrooms. One bathroom is on the second floor and one bathroom is in the basement.

The bathroom upstairs seems to always be occupied by my brother. Though we have a second bathroom in the basement, it’s reserved for my grandmother. The rest of us, which now includes three foster children, cannot use the bathroom my grandmother uses b/c she can’t use the b

This whole situation then leads me to these other thoughts, conclusions, and feelings.

1. I’m annoyed that my my brother is always in the bathroom. = My mother needs to take him to a doctor AGAIN! She took him to a doctor when he was a lot younger to see if anything was wrong with him b/c he has always immediately pooped out everything that he eats. I do feel guilty when I yell or kick up a fuss about him being in the bathroom. I don’t like when people rush me out of the bathroom so I don’t want to have to do it to anyone else but then again it has to be acknowledged once again that I’m no the one always in the bathroom and then for a very long time.

2. Annoyance at my grandmother getting her own bathroom. = I’m annoyed that my grandmother gets her own bathroom AND because she can never make it to the bathroom or leaves a mess of sorts so I cannot use it AT ALL! This then sends my mind onto something that I don’t always want to acknowledge because it’s guilt inducing and I guess mean. But the fact is that I feel it anyway, so better to acknowledge it. I resent the fact that my grandmother lives with us. I know that’s mean and horrible & I’m probably a selfish (I do have selfish tendencies so it’s very possible and something I need to work on) person because of it, but there it is.

A couple of years ago my grandmother & three cousins came to live with us. This was when we still lived in our INCREDIBLY small house in WJ. It was a nightmare, everyone was on top of each other, someone was always yelling (my grandmother mostly), the boys didn’t want to follow the rules at all. At our new though, my grandmother is the only one that lives with us but even with just her I still feel like we got the short end of the stick. I hate that feeling! Everything changed when everyone who lived with my grandmother decided that they wanted to move and not care to take her with them. My mother was the one who paid the rent for the house she lived in and bought food. My mother was the one who took in my three cousins when she died of aids a couple years ago. My mother is now the one who has to take care of her everyday and no one in the family helps at all. Heck, no one in the family even calls her let alone comes to pick her up and take her out. Everything changed when she came to live with us, and though I’m not the biggest lover of change, I’m not completely adverse either. I just in no way like how during the high school years everything seemed to change for the worst.

3. My diet is pissing me the fuck off! = Though I’ve not been been eating huge quantities of food, the quality of what I’m eating is crap! It’s really pissing me off and I need some fresh food and lots of vegetables and lots of fruit. I’m trying to really get on track with that. I can’t wait for winter to be officially over and for the Farmer’s Market to open. I can’t wait to get a job so that I can pay for my own trips to Whole Foods. I know how to do the right thing. Then there’s the fact that I think my stomach is naturally sensitive to a lot of things now that I’m older (good Lord! that makes me sound old! For the love of God, I’m only 19!). But the fact is that my stomach has a love hate relationship with a lot of foods. One day I can eat a hamburger, simple hamburger that’s most turkey these days, and it’s like my stomach has gone to heaven. The next day if I try to have one my stomach says fuck this LOL. The same for other foods. Of course, I’m completely lactose intolerant. I can’t even eat a milk chocolate candy bar b/c my stomach just … and yes I still eat milk chocolate sometimes lol, complete knowing that my stomach will hate me for it. I try to drink it with extra cold water b/c that for some reason calms the stormy seas of my stomach lol. I most definitely have to keep my diet simple and I gravitate to more simple dishes: fruits & veggies, little bit of chicken or beef, pasta w/ no meat. Nothing too crazy, nothing too greasy, and most definitely nothing junky!

The more problems I experience with my stomach, the more I feel like I’m ready to go vegetarian.

4. Uncertainty about my future making me upset which in turn is making me physically sick = I’m stressing about my future a bit lately. I’m on track to finish my requirement credits so that I can apply to a nursing program. I want to work for two years as a nurse and then become a traveling nurse. Unless of course I decide to move to another country and work there. I’m seriously considering moving to one of the Scandinavian and countries. I’ve always loved Denmark and Norway, beautiful countries with incredibly high standards of living. I don’t think that I want to be a nurse for the rest of my life, at least not for money. I think I’d like to do more volunteer work. Financially I want to make a living with my own fine jewelry collection. I just have no idea how much money I will need to fund that and get my business off the ground. I’m going to do it but I’m nervous and I want it to succeed. To be independently wealthy is very much a goal of mine.

There’s so many things to think about as you get older and start to set off on your own and in this economy …. #UGGGGGGGHHHHH!

So there’s my rant, I’m done. I have officially released all of my issues that I’m dealing with at the moment. That’s what I love about writing down my feelings. Every time I do so, they’re no longer knocking around my head as loudly as they were before. It’s 3:40 AM now and I’m going to go finish filing in my study guides for my A&P Exam and practical that I’ve got coming up.

Good night/Good morning! 🙂

Frig Inspiration

Do you have a frig that inspires you? No? Well I do. In fact, I have two:

The first and my favorite is the refrigerator of my #Health Inspiration Kimberley Snyder. (For those that don’t know Kimberley Snyder herself is my Health Inspiration. I’ve also done a review of her book which is just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I reviewed it here. Plus she’s just so gorgeous, terribly flexible, amazing skin, and a great body that you don’t just get by way of genetics.) It’s just stocked to the hilt with fresh and fruity fruits and vegetables lol. Not to mention that I have no doubts that the majority and most likely all of her veggies and fruits are organic. (BTW food there really is a difference in the flavor of foods grown without pesticides and genetic tampering and whatnot: They have flavor! LOL. My father grows tomatoes in our backyard and as much as I can’t stand tomatoes, when my mother cut one up and I ate it, it was so delicious and juicy and tangy.)

Gorgeous! Lets see if I can name everything in the fridge. Lovely Kale, Lettuce, and Spinach. There’s two types of cabbage, tomatoes, young coconuts, celery, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, pears, alfalfa sprouts, squash, pomegranates, limes, lemons, hemp seeds, coconut water. I believe that’s a cucumber in the bottom right drawer. After that, you can’t see into those bags.

The second is Noelle Twiggs. Her refrigerator is just so cute and besides the fruits and veggies, I love the way she has arranged all of various herbs.

For more frig inspiration, visit Good and Well NYC. Just maybe you’ll find a person that inspires you to put something different and or healthy in your frig. It’s great because the frig look books aren’t done with just vegetarians and vegans but carnivores and omnivores too, lol.

My Fitness Inspiration

My fitness inspiration board/page is finally done and can be found here. To go there just move your mouse over the Fitness tab at the top and two more tabs will drop down, just click on the sub-tab that says Inspiration. All of my inspirations are female bodybuilders, fitness models, fashion models, and professional athletes. I’ve also added my Bucket List which can also be viewed at the top. It’s great to have your goals written down. It makes them so much more tangible.

Photo of the day

Get them started early…

Via

New Page

I added a new pages, or rather new pages. It’s called fitness and under it is where I’ll be keeping a log of my workouts that I’m doing to reach my goal weight. I’m also going to do one that’s going to have pictures of women who inspire me.

Supplements

What I use: USPlabs OxyElitePro

 

There are plenty of people in the business, personal, both, (otherwise) of health and nutrition who will tell you not to use supplements. As I am not about to be legally responsible for someone else’s health, I will NEVER tell anyone whether or not to use diet pills or anything else that could possibly effect health (and after writing that I will be putting a disclaimer on the right side of my blog). I will say that I do agree with professionals who say to not using diet pills/supplements as a crutch. I do not and will never do that but I do use diet pills, or rather a diet pill. I’ve just started using them so I cannot say anything about weight loss, but they definitely help me with cravings. I do have a sweet tooth, but what I noticed (a long time ago) is that though I eat out of boredom, the biggest problem is that I tend to eat my feelings, which since starting college is stress. Though my weight has gone down, when I went to the docs the last time my weight had an extra 20lbs on it! I felt terrible and I knew immediately that I had been hit with the freshman fifteen +5! So these pills help with that, and will help even more when school starts up. I’m 18 and I take responsibility for my health, I follow all directions, I don’t take extra. I haven’t had any side effects. Most reviews I’ve seen on the bodybuilder site/forum/shop I’m a part of either say they have no or slight side effects when using/going off them. A couple people who used them said they got the jitters, but only a couple people said that. Some said that when they stopped using them they experienced a crashing effect, which I think mostly involved headaches. Most people didn’t have any side effects, the ones who did, didn’t seem to experience anything serious. Majority talked about having a lot of energy which is great. I also do have a lot of energy, which can be a downside when I want to sleep, especially because I’m already a night owl. I also read that you can pee a lot when taking the pill, so you are to drink plenty of water.

USPlabs OxyElite Pro is the only diet pill that I’ve ever used, so I can’t say what could work better or worse. I’m also not into experimenting with different this or that so I’ll most likely never do a post like that. I think this is the only pill I’ll ever use/try.

Coconut Water

Coconut Water is so delicious. This is actually a post that I should’ve done a while ago, because that’s when I opened the coconut lol. At first I was a little put off because the color and smell of the coconut wasn’t exactly the same as the C-water out of my Vita Coco cartons. I looked it up and from what I could see the color of the water varies from coconut to coconut and that the younger it is the less clear it’ll be. My water had a slight brown tint to it, so at first I thought it was a bad coconut, but it actually turned out to be okay. It turns out that pink water from a coconut is what you really have to look out for and that of course if the water/coconut smells stinky, gross, it’s obviously bad and you shouldn’t ingest it. The smell was also a little different, but when I  tasted it, it was better than the Vita Coco water. It was so fruity and I think it was sweet. I say think because it just tasted like something that should be sweet but wasn’t sweet, but whatever!!! LOL it was delicious, everyone go get a young coconut, you’ll love it! I’m getting some more as soon as I get out to Wegmans. I also scooped out the meat that’s on the side of the coconut. It’s easier to do this if you cut the coconut in half first. You can eat the meat or use it to make coconut milk.

Sidenote: Also, I have to say when I first tried coconut water, I bought two cartons of Vita Coco (it’s 100% C-water just like ZICO), and it didn’t taste bad but it wasn’t what I expected. I’ve gotten very used to the taste though, it tastes good and I will be continuing to buy it. It’s good that I’m trying new things, I need to try new things, and I have to remember to be open minded and that some things I’m going to like/love right off the bat and some things are more of an acquired taste.

Get Fit!

I’m a P90Xer. I bought my DVDs last summer, and I used them, but it was late in the summer and then school re-started and I got distracted. This summer I’ve been trying to get back on my health kick. It hasn’t been easy and my diet hasn’t been perfect, but I think I’ve done pretty well. I like Tony Horton, I LOVE that the people who exercise with him are people who have actually done the program and aren’t professionals. Don’t let anyone fool you, these DVDs are very DO-ABLE, you just need endurance and commitment. I think the hardest ones are actually the Plyometrics and Yoga and stuff because stretching is hard, flexibility is one of the hardest things to obtain.

I’ve also used Tracy Anderson DVD’s before. I will admit that I didn’t commit to using them everyday or at least a couple times a week, so that was my fault. They were great though, I have to say. I’d recommend them to anyone to use. I know it gets on some trainers and bodybuilders nerves that she talks about using small weights so that you don’t bulk up. But let’s face it women don’t give a shit about that. Women (and men) give a shit about what works for them and it cannot be denied that the Tracy Anderson Method works. She makes it look so easy, but I’ll let you know that it’s hard and it hurts lol but is TOTALLY DO-ABLE! What makes the workout hard is that it’s really A LOT of stretching and it’s using your own body weight as your workout tool, and once again flexibility is just so hard to obtain. I also love that she’s so short. The last time I went to the docs, I topped the height chart at 5’2″ LOL, which for me was a mile stone. You have no idea how much time I spent praying to make it to 5’4″. The nurse said I still had more time to grow. So I could make it to 5’4″, but if I don’t it’s not the end of the world, either way I’ll still be a shortie, but I’m okay with that, I love myself for who I am. But Tracy shows that you don’t have to be 6’whatever” to look hot! I will definitely be getting her new line of DVDs (as soon as I save up some money lol).

Zumba is one that I haven’t tried yet, but has worked for so many people, is kick ass and it’s fun. It’s definitely on my list to buy. When I’ve bought it and used it, I’ll give my own review. But I’m sure it’ll be a good one.

Lastly, having done the Tracy Anderson Method, I know that people say with the Tracy Anderson Method that she doesn’t give any ques as to when she’s going to change exercises in her first set of DVD’s. In her new ones, I haven’t heard those same complaints, so maybe she’s corrected that. I for one don’t care I’m okay with just going with the flow and she doesn’t go crazy fast so I wasn’t really bothered. I also LOVE that with P90X and the Tracy Anderson Method, there isn’t any of that old school 80’s, 90’s, early 2000’s, skinny woman/muscular man, in the video, hype as shit, screaming at  you that “You can do it! You can do it! Only 10 more to go!” I hate that crap, there is encouragement, Tony definitely gives encouragement, he’s excited but it’s not over the top for no reason, and he and Tracy definitely underline, doing YOUR best and doing it in your own time, and it being okay if you can’t completely keep up, or do the exercises the exact way that they’re doing it.

There are a lot of good workout DVDs and plans out there, though these are my favorite, but it’s more about having endurance and commitment.

Workout equipment: I use small dumbbells and I have three different resistance bands: red, blue, and green.