Whole Foodie Fitness

The weather has been so wonderful lately, it is finally cooling down here in Northern California.  I’ve switched over to hot coffee instead of iced & have been baking up a storm which makes it official in my book, it’s finally fall! I’ve been making quite a few different things but my favorite creation so far was a cake that I made to celebrate game two of the World Series.

Behold the Giants cake aka a giant orange edible baseball:

(This picture was taken with Derek’s crappy camera phone so it’s kinda blurry but you get the idea.) When I made this cake the Giants won.  Today I didn’t bake at all & sadly they lost so I may have to bake some sort of Giants themed creation for the rest of the series!

Yesterday morning I got a surprise in the mail from my twin sister.

She works at a Natural Foods Co-op about 40 miles from where I live & I’m always telling her how much I wish we had a place as awesome as her work to shop at around her so she sent me a box of her favorite goodies.

In the mix

• A 4 pack of Pacific Foods Vanilla Almond Milk
• Two Lara Bars
• Two individual packs of Justin’s Nut Butter
• Oatmeal flavored animal crackers for Bella
• Crofters Super Fruit Spread
• Dagoba Chai flavored chocolate bar
• Once Again Peanut Butter
• Late July Vanilla Bean & Green Tea Cookies
• Sunspire Almond Butter Cups
• Ground coffee
• Energy bites from the bulk bin

…and probably what I was most eager to try

Cheezy Kale!!

I’ve always wanted to try kale chips sprinkled with nutritional yeast but could never stomach paying for nutritional yeast before trying it. That stuff is expensive & I have been forcing myself to be a bit more thrifty lately. They were awesome & I can’t wait to make them myself.

I’m trying to think of what I should bake for her now, I really wasn’t expecting a package with this much stuff in it. So far on my list is almond butter cookies & macaroons! Derek’s dad saw the package & was kinda teasing me for it. He thought I called her & said I was going hungry or something!

My sister and are twins & are super close but are complete opposites. One of the biggest things that we have in common  has to be our love for “different” foods as some people would call it (I don’t think the things we eat are that different from other people but whatever.) Anyways, I guess this is just one of the ways we can bond while still living an hour away from each other!!

 

Hey everyone! A question I get asked a lot at work is what to do to loss fat in the mid section of your body & if it is a good or bad idea to do endless crunches. Well the first thing that I’ll say is something that many people are sad to hear,  it is IMPOSSIBLE to target one area of your body and lose fat in just that area.  You lose fat by burning calories (the best way to do that is through cardio) and where you lose that fat is somewhat based on genetics. Doing crunches are highly ineffective if that is the only thing that you are doing.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way… The good news is that you can target the areas that you want to define your muscles, this is done through resistance training!  So the magic formula for getting a flat stomach is cardio  (to burn fat)+ abdominal resistance training (to define your muscles).

Here are my 5 favorite core exercises!

1. The Plank

 

In my opinion this is by far the best move that you can do for your core & it is very challenging! Even holding this position for 30 seconds will make your abs BURN!

2. The Jack Knife

Takes a little getting used to but it is not as scary as it looks. You can start with the ball resting on your thighs for more stability.

3. Bicycle Crunch

This is a fun move that is also really challenging and effective.

4.  Mountain Climbers

I love this because it combines my favorite move, the plank, with some cardio when done at a fast pace.

5. Side Planks

Same idea as the regular plank but it targets your obliques!

Those are my 5 favorite moves! Try them out along with a regular cardio routine and you’re on your way to a flat stomach!

Also, it’s not a good idea to only focus on your stomach while in the gym. You want to build lean muscle all over to turn your body into a healthy calorie burning machine! Focusing on just one part of your body isn’t effective and leads to frustration. You will get the best results from training all of your major muscle groups, not just your abs.  Women should not be afraid that they are going to “bulk up” from resistance training. We simply do not have the hormone levels to do so, unless of course steroids are involved. 

Good eating habits are also very important & I can’t stress that enough. The saying goes, “Abs are made in the kitchen” & it is 100% true. You can workout all day but if you aren’t eating right you will be running in circles trying to reach your goals.

Good luck! Anyone can reach their fitness goals with a willpower and determination. It takes a lot of hard work but it will payoff in the end if you stick to it I promise! Thank you for reading my little blog, I’m having a lot of fun putting it together & I hope that someone out there is having fun reading it!

Something to talk about:

What are your favorite core exercises? What are your least favorite? Leave your answer in the comments!

Something to read:

An article & short video form two of my favorite fitness trainers about spot reducing fat and why it doesn't work.