Game Planning

Author Karen Lamb said it best when she said, “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” 

And last year that’s exactly where I was.  After a year of not paying attention to what went into my mouth, I finally came to the harsh realization that summer was creeping in and needless to say I was far from feeling comfortable struttin’ my stuff around the pool.  I was frustrated, embarrassed, and fed up with myself.  I absolutely had to make a change, although making a permanent lifestyle change is never easy especially when it comes to food.  Whether you are trying to lose weight or just trying to start living a healthier lifestyle you have to “Sacrifice what you are, for what you will be become” –Eric Thomas.  I think THE most important thing a person can do when starting this journey is to remember that it is a JOURNEY.  It’s a process and it’s far from easy, but it’s completely possible to achieve those dreams and goals.  There will be good days and there will be bad days, there will be easy days and there will be hard days, but a year from right now will you be so happy that you started today.

The Mental Part 

For me personally there has always been an emotional attachment to food that I never realized I had before I started to cut certain things out of my diet.  For example, I like going out to eat on the weekends, I enjoy curling up on the couch with some popcorn while watching a movie, and when I find a sweet recipe on Pinterest that I can make for others, I feel like I hit the jackpot.  When I started to cut those things out of my life, I almost started to feel empty! How weird is that?!  On Friday night (a night that I would typically go out to eat with my parents) staying in felt foreign.  This to me was the hardest part about continuing to live a healthy life-style…. The mental part.  I’ve heard many people say before that diet is 80% of losing weight and the gym is the other 20%.  Well, my own personal opinion is that diet is 98% and the gym is 2%.  I constantly have to remind myself of a quote by Bill Cosby “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it” because that’s what it really comes down to…We are afraid of missing out, or not afraid of not tasting something.  We MUST cut ties with what our “norm” was and accept the new!

Getting Discouraged

We all get discouraged at times.  It’s just a part of the journey.  Getting discourage can hit us out of nowhere and sweep us right off of our feet!  These are the times we have to remember why we started in the first place.  If you fall off track with your diet… it’s not the end of the world. It’s so important to take BABY STEPS.  If you eat healthy for one day, you are not going to see results immediately (very unfortunate, I know) it’s a process that takes time.  And likewise, if you have been eating very healthy… one “bad meal” will not cause you to gain 10lbs.  If you end up cheating at lunch that doesn’t mean you have to cheat for dinner as well.  Someone once said to me, “If you dropped your phone on the floor, would you keep smashing it until it was completely broken?”  Of course my answer was no, and their reply was, “Well then why would you do that with your diet?”  It’s something that we all do at times… We have a slice of pizza that we weren’t intending to have and we think “well I already cheated… now where’s the dessert?!”  There will be days when you give in but that doesn’t mean you should give up.  Keep going, keep striving, keep dreaming, and keep reaching to achieve those goals!

Making a Game Plan

I am a firm believer in game planning.  It’s so important to sit down and actually take the time to write out your goals.  “A goal without a plan is just a wish” There is something about writing your goals down on paper that makes them so much more realistic.  I highly encourage you to do this! Once you have your goals written out, hang them somewhere so that you can look at them everyday! I have mine on my bathroom mirror and I read them every morning while I brush my teeth.  I also like to set mini goals.  If my ultimate goal is to drop 10lbs by a certain month I will divide the pounds by the amount of weeks I have and then I will set mini dead lines.  For example:

(Let’s say you weigh 135)

You want to weight 120
by May 1^st, 2014…Which means you have to lose 15lbs in 3 months.  That is about 1.25lbs a week. 

 I like to make mini deadlines so every two weeks I would set a different goal.  This
helps keep you on track and holds you accountable. 

I also like to sit down on Sundays and write out my meal plan.  I mean like, to the T! Every meal and every snack down to the portions! If you do this, there will never be any question on what you are going to eat, leaving minimal room for error! We fall off of our diets when we’re confused and unprepared.

Create A Dream Board

I know this may sound like a silly and tedious task but I am telling you it’s so worth it! (and I think it’s fun :) )  Make a copy of your goals and paste them into the middle of a blank poster board.  Once you have done that go thru magazines and cut out anything that inspires you! It could be a quote, a food item, or maybe someone’s physique.  I also like to print out pictures of people who are close to me that inspire me.  Giving your dream an actual vision is a powerful thing! Hang your poster in a place where you can look at it everyday and constantly be reminded of why your making
these changes!

What You'll Need 

I'm not finished yet but here is what my dream board is starting to look like. 

 I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful week! 

xoxo

-Ashley

For Daily Tips and Recipes follow me on: 

Instagram: ashleynicolemora1 

Twitter: MissAshleyMoora 

 

JUICING 101

ITS TIME

It's time for us to take hold of our health.  It's time for us to learn how to say, "NO" to certain foods.  It's time for us to finally start turning our dreams into goals and achieving them once and for all! We must start taking responsibility in order to achieve our goals and by this I mean it's our own personal CHOICE to live a healthy life-style.... or not to.  No one is going to swat your hand when your office brings cookies, candies, and donuts on Valentines Day and tell you, "Excuse me, You can't eat that"... You have to make the concsious decision whether or not that cookie is worth it.

For those of you who are on this juicing journey with me, I wanted to do a little Juicing 101 for all my beginners.  Hopefully this provides a little more knowledge and few more tips and tricks! 

JUICING 101 

I love juicing because it provides me a way to add more fruits and vegetables into my diet which I have never been able to do before.  Previously, I would say that I ate the typical American diet.... I didn't get anywhere close to the recommended serving of fruits and veggies, I ate a lot of foods that were high in calories, sugars, and fats.  When I tried my first juice, I surprisingly loved it and I was amazed at how many vegetables were in the ingredients (and I wasn't able to taste any of them.) Once I started to do more research on the benefits of juicing, I finally went out and bought a juicer...needless to say I have been hooked ever since and my result have been more than amazing.  

So why juice? Our bodies actually naturally break down all of the food we eat anyways, when we are juicing it's kind of like letting our bodies skip a step which gives us more energy (because our body isn't having to work so hard to break down the food) and it gives our digestive system a break as well.  

I get asked alllllll the time, "Why don't you just blend instead of juice?" or someone will tell me, "I juiced this weekend with my blender"  Juicing and Blending are different.  Let me tell you why... when we are juicing we are separating the liquid of the produce from the pulp.  A juicer liquifies everything that goes into the juicer.  The juice part of the produce is what our cells absorb.  So when we make juice it's basically just a big glass of nutrients that goes straight to our cells.  When we are blending, yes we are still liquifying the produce and the fiber is important however it's the juice that our cells need desperately.  The nutrients in a smoothie are not separated like they are in juice.  I personally think juices and smoothies complement each other well and doing a mix of both is great. 

If you are juicing to lose weight, it's best to use produce that is HIGH in nutrients but low in calorie.  Here is a a good list to stick to. 

Bell Peppers 

Parsley 

Kale 

Broccoli 

Spinach 

Celery 

Brussels Sprouts 

Cauliflower 

Carrots 

Cabbage 

Beets (Very Earthy in Juices) 

Pineapple 

Cantaloupe 

Watermelon 

Tomatoes 

Apples 

Strawberries 

Pears 

Oranges 

Grapes 

Preparation

Juicing takes a lot of preparation.  I know when you think of "juicing" you probably think "sweet, now I can throw an entire orange into my juicer and not peel it" 

Ahhh! Please DO NOT DO THIS! You still have to prep your fruits and vegetables before throwing them into the juicer.   You cannot use frozen fruits... even after they have been thawed out (they are usually to squishy).  Bananas cannot go thru the juicer.  If you want to use bananas then you would have to create a juice and then throw the juice and the banana into a blender. 

Here are pictures from my Juicing session this Sunday! 

This one's called 

Fire Me Up! 

Carrot 

Orange 

Lime 

Jalapeno 

Get everything you will need out  (This serves 2)

 Wash your fruits and veggies

Cut off stems... They cannot go thru the juicer

I like to put a liner inside the "trash" bin of the juicer... especially when making multiple juices so that I don't have to clean it every single time it fills up

Assemble your juicer!

You MUST remove ALL peels.  It take less time to cut them off than sit down and peel each one, So typically I just cut off all my peels.

Once peeled, place fruit in the shooter.  Don't turn the juicer on until your shooter is filled with produce. (If you have a small juicer you might only be able to do one fruit at a time) 

I like to keep a grocery bag around that way I can throw all the peels and excess stuff in the bag immediately.  It keeps the kitchen a little more clean and it makes the final cleaning a lot easier.  It's better to keep it all in one place!

You don't need to do anything to carrots other than wash them.  Here is a picture of them going into the juicer. 

.... and coming out of the juicer

Oranges need to be peeled... it saves a lot of time to just cut the peels off. 

And into the juicer they go.....

The jalapeno's only require the stem being removed.  Other than that...it's good to go straight in!

End Product

STIR ALL INGREDIENTS TOGETHER 

Pour over ice and enjoy :)

 The Fire Me Up was delicious!!! A must try!

RECIPE: Hello Sunshine!

 Pineapple

Kale 

Orange

Kale only needs to be washed and then it can go straight in

Here are pictures of the Kale going in and out... Kale doesn't juice very well and by that I mean not a lot of juice comes out.... So it's better to throw in an orange or an apple first, then Kale, then another orange or apple after.  For some reason it helps the Kale juice better.  

 Remove the skin of the pineapple 

This is how I like to cut up the pineapple before placing it in the juicer

 Stir up!

 Pour and Enjoy! 

I made these for this upcoming week.  This recipe made two big juices and two small juices.

Apples... Makes sure you remove the sticker!

Wash Em'

Remove the stem

Cut em' up

And then they are ready to be liquified!

  Juicing is so much fun! I hope this helped some of you who have just recently started juicing! If there are any other types of fruits or vegetables you have questions about please leave me a comment so I can do a demo in an upcoming blog! 

If I can do it.....

Have a very blessed Sunday! 

Xoxo

-Ashley

For Daily Tips and Recipes follow me on: 

Instagram: ashleynicolemora1 

Twitter: MissAshleyMoora