If getting in shape is on your resolution list, this video might help for some mid-week motivation:

What is your current favorite workout?

xo,

coco

It’s the time of the year again for holiday party invitations, eating tons of yummy food and drinking.  Celebrating the holiday season is a lot of fun but I’m a little scared because I’ve made so many efforts this year to change my eating habits.

As much as I love food (and I so do) and I love being social, I really don’t want to gain or lose weight this holiday season; I just want to stay steady.  I’ve signed on to Lyzabeth’s Double Hell Week to help keep me physically on track, but when it comes to food, I needed to call in some extra reinforcements.  Not being a health and fitness professional, I consulted Julian Scott, personal trainer and Biosignature Practitioner of Trinity Personal Training to help me with this dilemma.

1.  START YOUR DAY WITH PROTEIN:  Recognize that the holidays increase your total daily consumption of refined carbohydrates (fruit cake, cookies, eggnog, chocolate and alcohol).  This increased consumption of refined carbs will do a “number” on your waistline.  By starting your day with a carb free breakfast you can reduce the carb load on your body considerably.  Rotate protein sources with raw nuts.  For example:

Day 1: Salmon Omelette + handful of Almonds

Day 2: Turkey Cold Cuts + Cashews

Day 3: Bison Patty + Macadamia Nuts

Day 4: Breakfast Sausage + Pecans

Research shows that eating protein and the “good” fats contained in nuts will balance blood sugar, reduce cravings later in the day while increasing mental drive and focus.  Give it a try, your washboard abs await you.

2.  EAT BEFORE YOU GO PARTY:  If you take the time to plan ahead you can feed yourself wholesome foods that satiate before you head out to your holiday engagements.  Once again, I recommend foods that satisfy without driving up blood sugar.  Meats, fish, raw nuts and avocado along with some fibrous greens are ideal choices.

3.  MAINTAIN OPTIMAL HYDRATION:  I know you’ve heard this one before but bare with me.  Even slight dehydration can result in increased cravings for food.  Also consider that dehydration is interpreted by the body as stress. The result is increased levels of stress hormone (cortisol) and reduced fat burning hormones (growth hormone and testosterone…yes, ladies should cultivate testosterone because what little testosterone they do have compared to men helps keep the body lean!). To determine the optimal amount of water to drink daily, take your body weight in pounds and divide it in half.  The resulting number is how many ounces of water you should drink over the course of your day. For example 140 pound woman should drink 140/2 = 70 ounces of water per day.

4.  BRING ON THE GREEN TEA:  Green Tea is full of powerful antioxidants that have been shown to reduce the fattening effects of alcohol and sugar consumption.  Understanding that your holiday consumption of alcohol may be higher that normal increase your green tea to mitigate the possible fallout.  Additional benefits of green tea consumption include reduced systemic inflammation (slows down the aging process…bonus!!) and increased mobilization of fat stores.  Don’t forget to keep your green tea free of sugar.

5. ENJOY SPRITZERS:  Adding some soda water to your wine is a refreshing option that keeps you better hydrated (refer to tip #3) and reduces your cravings for the fattening foods typically presenting themselves at a holiday gathering.  Adding some lime to your drink will also help to alkalize the body, improve digestive health and slow the absorption of refined sugars.

6.  SUPPLEMENT WITH FISH OIL: A high concentrate fish oil is your best source of Omega 3′s.  Omega 3′s from fish oil is in my experience, by far the best supplement for fat loss.  It works at the cellular level to improve cell activity, which results in a more efficient metabolism.  You’ll burn more fat and dispose of those extra refined carbs without converting them to waistline.  1 – 2 tsp’s of liquid fish oil or 5 – 10 gel caps taken per day will do wonders for your body, increasing the health of lean tissues and helping you melt fat so your curves stay in the right places.

7. WORKOUT MORE OFTEN:  It seems obvious, but my rule of thumb as a trainer is that carbs are earned.  All things being equal, if you exercise more, you can afford to eat more carbs.  Consider that triathletes at the elite level consume up to 10, 000 calories per day – the majority being carbs in order to adequately fuel their high training volumes, yet they still manage to stay relatively lean.  Simply adding one additional workout per week during the holiday season can give you the metabolic blast to help you earn those Christmas cookies.

8. KEEP REST PERIODS SHORT:  In the gym, if your goal is fat loss, it is critical that you keep your rest periods between exercises short – Aim for 45 seconds or less.  Provided your circuit in the gym uses full body exercises such as squats, lunges, rowing and pressing exercises, keeping rest short you will quickly generate enough lactic acid to boost your body’s production of growth hormone.  Growth hormone is your best fat burning hormone!  Cut the social chatter in the gym, keep your body moving and your clothes will fit you after the holidays as well as they did before.

9. FAVOR INTENSITY OVER DURATION:  You don’t need to workout for long if you use maximal intensity intervals of 45 to 60 seconds.  Compare the duration of an all out sprint to a  light jog: You may be able to jog for hours, but sprint for only seconds.  In the weight room, you might be able to press the 2 lbs dumbbells for days, the 20 lbs dumbbells for only 45 seconds.  The advantage of using heavier loads or higher intensities is that you’ll elicit a hormonal reaction from your body that favours fat loss.  Choose a load where the full body exercise cannot be maintained for more than 60 seconds.  If you can go for longer than 60 seconds then the weights are too light.   Rest 45 seconds and repeat 5 to 6 times.  You’ll completely exhaust yourself in less than 10 minutes this way.  Including warm up and cool down, you could be in and out of the gym in less than 30 minutes, saving you precious grooming time for your next holiday event.

10.  CHEAT WISELY:  When it’s time to indulge in the treats associated with the holidays, try to favour foods that still have some nutritional value.  Example: Eat dark chocolate covered almonds instead of Skittles.

Hope Julian’s tips are as helpful to you as they are to me!

See more from Julian HERE

Bisous,

Winy

Reason 1,000,000,001 I love the iPhone – the Nike Training Club App.

If getting a personal trainer isn’t in the cards for you, the Nike Training App falls in as a more than suitable replacement.  With the ability to pick which type of workout you’d like to do; Get Lean, Toned, Strong or Focused, you can customize your workout and even have the ability to choose a workout based on your time restrictions.

Each workout has detailed instructions with pictures and video for each exercise with additional audio information playing over your music selection.

This App is perfect for traveling because most workouts require little to no equipment.  Sweet!  Plus you can track your progress and unlock bonus rewards like workouts created by celebrities and athletes.

As the weather gets darker we all need a little more of a push at the gym.  Nike Training Club is mine.

More info HERE

xx,

coco

Now that some of you are coming out of your turkey-comas, I thought this might be a great time to share my interview with Carol Belmonte of Belmonte raw.  I first met Carol when I went ‘raw‘ for a few days last winter and I kinda fell in love.  Not only is she gorge on the outside, she is even more beautiful on the inside which shines through with her passion for what she does and her love for her clients.

After a lot of travel I wanted to try a juice cleanse to get myself back into a healthy eating routine and since trying the raw cleanse I thought it might be interesting to take the next step.  The detox packages start at three days and can go up to fourteen, so I decided to try somewhere in the middle with a five day cleanse.  Surprisingly, I didn’t die!  (Regardless of if on day one I thought I would.)  By day three I was totally into it and by day four I was feeling so clear that I thought I could continue on much longer than the five days.

The coolest part about the cleanse is realizing how little your body needs to survive and how much we become totally dependent on.  Belmonte’s juice cleanse comes delivered fresh to your door every morning with five juices and one ‘mylk’ (almond or cashew) and are all packed with natural vitamins and nutrients.  So it wasn’t that I was starving my body of the things it needs, but rather a lot of the things it doesn’t.  I once again roped the Mr. (who is 6’5) to do it with me (because I wasn’t about to be drinking juice while he ate pizza) and he finished it with almost no complaints and a new appreciation for what he actually needs VS what he thinks he does.

So now that I’ve given you my story, I thought I would ask the magician behind the magic a few questions and share them with you:

Carol Belmonte

How did you learn all that you know about nutrition and food?:

For the most part, I taught myself.  My fascination with food and it’s effects on behavior started when I was living in Seoul Korea.  After I left, I had the opportunity to travel around Asia for 2.5 years and it was during that time that I saw how food impacts culture.  I fell in love with markets and learning all about how other cultures eat and prepare food.  I was invited into many homes of Shaman, Medicine Men and regular families who, despite the language differences, taught me the importance of food to them.  Since I had nothing but time on my hands, I began to read anything I could about nutrition.  It was while I was living in India (doing yoga for 10 hours a day) that the whole idea of using food as a way to be not only social, but to heal became clear to me.  I follow a lot of Ayurvedic principles in my food preparation, all learned during that time.
It was also at this time that I began to  strictly eat a raw food diet.  It made me feel better than I had ever felt in my life.  I then became aware that it is only when you start to feel good, that you realize how bad you actually felt.  So I began to study the raw food diet and recipes on line, practicing ideas and recipes on fellow yogis/yoginis.

You seem so passionate about what you do, was it always your goal to open Belmonte Raw?

Thank you!!  With everything in me, I LOVE what I do.  To answer your question, no, it wasn’t even a thought!!  I wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to do when I came back to Canada.  After leaving India, I headed to Thailand to do a fast to ready myself to come home and ended up staying and working at that fasting and detox center for a few months teaching yoga, raw food preparation and counseling clients during their fasts.  All I knew was that my heart told me to come home and so I did.  To be honest, my first thoughts were that I was going to open a furniture store!  I had no idea that Belmonte Raw was ahead of me.

You have an amazing following of clientele, how did you gather such a great following?

I have AMAZING clients!!! My business has grown solely by word of mouth.  I started by delivering boxed lunches to my girlfriends in the King West area two summers ago.  One friend told another friend, who told another company, who told another and before I knew it, we were everywhere!  It is very humbling that Toronto has been so receptive to what I do.

Because I’ve just finished your 5 day juice cleanse (loved it) and have had a bunch of people asking me about it, could you share with our readers what the benefits of juicing are?

Juicing has been prescribed for thousands of years as a great way to rest your digestive system.  Most of our bodies’ energy is used for digestion.  By not over-loading it with heavy processed foods, this will allow your body to catch up on stagnant digestion and to focus on other tasks such as healing, cellular repair, and detoxification of built-up chemicals and toxins. As a result, you will feel full of energy, have bright skin and clear eyes, clarity of mind and will lose weight.

Who would you recommend to go on a juice cleanse?

Almost everybody!!  Whether you are male, female, younger or older, everyone can benefit from doing a Juice Cleanse.  We live in an environment that is very polluted and no matter how clean we live our lives, toxins are hard to avoid.  By removing the stress of a congested digestive system, you are opening up blocked energy pathways and thus begins the healing process.  From time to time, we all need to rest, rejuvenate, and reconnect our mind, body and spirit.

Why is it important to prepare for a cleanse/detox?

Doing a Cleanse is not something to be taken lightly.  Changing your lifestyle drastically, without a proper pre-cleanse, can lead you to experience the discomfort of a healing crisis.  With proper preparation your physical and spiritual bodies will transition easier into your Cleanse and in turn you will see more results.  Comparatively speaking, a pre-Cleanse is similar to warming up before a work-out.  Without it, the possibility of hurting yourself is greater.  This concept also applies to Cleansing.

How do customers get your juice or raw cleanse?:

To order our Cleanses, you simply have to head to our website www.belmonteraw.com and we will send you all the information that you need.  If you decide that it is something you want to do, we then deliver it fresh to your home or office.  We leave you with no excuses not to do it!

From creeping your Facebook page it looks like your opening a storefront!  Very exciting!  What can we expect?  Will there be any changes in your services?

Thank you!  It is so exciting.  Our core services will stay the same in that we will always continue to deliver our Cleansing Packages.  Once we open, you will be able to come in, have fresh juices, smoothies, chocolates, boxed meals to go or you can sit down and enjoy Belmonte Raw in a more Cafe style setting.  The Leslieville Boutique also gives my clients the option to pick-up their Cleanses as opposed to having them delivered.
We have now expanded our services to include individualized meal plans with guidance from our resident Registered Holistic Nutritionist and will be teaching more classes in the very near future.
One of the things I am most excited about are the private dinners we will be hosting starting in the New Year.

Now totally off the topic of nutrition, one thing we always like to ask people is: What advice would you give the younger you?

To dream big and to achieve bigger while still keeping time for yourself.  Balance is everything and you must always follow your heart no matter what anyone tells you.

Thanks for the interview Carol!

Check out Carol’s website HERE

xo,

coco

Summer wasn’t probably the best time to have an orthotic appointment. Orthotics are custom designed insoles that you wear to help correct or enhance support needed in feet and joints to be properly aligned, so wearing flipflops to this appointment probably wasn’t the best choice.

“What kind of shoes do you typically wear”, the doctor asked. Ummm…I didn’t want to start listing off my 5inch heels and my strappy sandals so I just said, “ones you probably wouldn’t consider supportive” with a guilty face.

*victoria beckham's feet btw*

After an assessment of my walking motion and a few more questions, the doctor couldn’t believe I had waited so long but lets be honest, how many pairs of shoes could I really wear these in??

The last thing he said was, “I can’t tell you not to wear heels or flipflops but just be aware that there are plenty of shoes on the market that you can wear with orthotics”.

So, after some research and a shoe closet clean up, I concluded there were many more options than I had originally thought. Here are a few pairs that can accommodate ‘fashion orthodics’ (slim, thin custom insoles)

I’m digging the open toe, closed back flats and motorcycle boots, even for summer.

Any styles I missed?

xoxo,

lowe