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Fitness

In the Balance

Posted on April 30, 2015

This month has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me personally so when GoodLife Fitness asked me to come up with a reply to the question, “how do you find balance in your life?,” it was a moment for me to stop and truly reflect on everything I was dealing with at the moment.

Trying to find balance between work life and the everyday big and little stresses of life can be tough and everyone deals with it in different ways. I try to achieve balance in my life by de-stressing before I’m stressed, that means making ‘me’ time. Going to a yoga class with a friend or going for a run is time for me to clear my head and be good to my body at the same time.

For those times I’m really stressed, I find it’s easy for me to fall into the habit of focusing all my time and energy on work or other projects to keep my mind off things, but those things are a distraction from dealing with my stress. What really helps to actually relieve my stress are those moments of being active and whether that’s intense cardio like going for a run on the treadmill at GoodLife Fitness, or something a bit more low key like doing a yoga class, it’s physically getting out there and working up a sweat that make me feel happier and balanced again.

Lately, I’ve also been hyper aware of how much time I spend on my phone texting and talking to friends vs seeing them in person so I’ve been trying to spend less time on all my tech. These are all other ways of distracting myself from real life vs being out there and enjoying it. Taking a moment to unplug and spend time with friends to just relax is the best stress reliever ever. Or what’s better than that? Going to yoga or a run with a friend! I need these little active moments to remind myself that just because I am having a bad day or a few bad days in a row, life’s not all bad.

Stay tuned for a new fitness post next month!

This post is written in partnership with GoodLife Fitness as part of the GoodLife Fitness Ambassador Program, however all opinions expressed are my own.

Back To Basics

Posted on April 3, 2015

I’m back from Miami and trying to detox a little from my vacation diet which was pretty much all pizza, dinners out, more pizza, sodas, and Tiramisu Starbucks Frapps (How could I resist? They don’t make those in Canada!). After my first few days back, I really felt like I needed to hit the gym, so I went to Goodlife Fitness for a run on the treadmill and a workout sesh. Nothing feels better than getting a good sweat on after a few days of bad eating!

I’ve also been trying to stick to a clean diet. This morning, I made my favourite smoothie and had a fresh bowl of pineapple – my favourite!! You can find the recipe for my Blueberry Honey Vanilla Smoothie here, but this time I added a banana and some pineapple to make it juicier and get some more vitamins and colour in my diet!

Do you have any tips for getting back to your healthy self after being off the wagon for a little while? I’d love to hear them!

This post is written in partnership with GoodLife Fitness as part of the GoodLife Fitness Ambassador Program, however all opinions expressed are my own.

Fitness

Winter Workouts

Posted on February 28, 2015

With spring and bikini season hopefully just around the corner (fingers crossed!), I am setting a new goal this month to push myself harder. As I mentioned in my Eating Colourfully post last month, I stuck to adding more colour to my daily diet. This month I’m hoping to set a goal for myself that’s a bit tougher and I know that braving the cold more often is something that I’ll need to push myself on because if you know me, I am NOT a winter lover. I would rather be hot and sweaty than cold and outdoors if I could avoid it, which is why I’m hoping once I get in the habit of making it to the gym at GoodLife Fitness more often, it will get easier because there’s nothing like a good run or full body work out to warm you up!

There’s also nothing better than coming home from the cold and having a tea. I’ve gotten into the habit of adding lemon to black tea when ever I drink it, instead of sugar and milk, and also putting slices of lemon in my water, which I like to think boosts my immune system in the winter. Anytime I feel a little under the weather, my cure is always getting the biggest jug of fresh squeezed OJ I can find and trying to drink as much of it as I can within a day or two. For me, the extra vitamin C makes me feel like I’m being extra good to my body. Extra citrus in your diet can also aid in losing weight I’ve heard, so it can’t hurt to add more of that into my meals this month too!

Stay tuned for my fitness post next month and see how I’ve done with sticking to my goal!

This post is written in partnership with GoodLife Fitness as part of the GoodLife Fitness Ambassador Program, however all opinions expressed are my own.

Fitness Recipes

Eating Colourfully

Posted on January 31, 2015

I’ve been working late almost every day the past few weeks, so after hitting the gym at GoodLife Fitness, by the time I get home, I am in no mood to cook. To stick to my health and fitness goals, rather than skip healthy options for something like pizza, I’ve been making one of my go-to favourites – Mango Avocado Salsa. It’s so easy to make – you just need a couple of ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 ripe yellow mango

1 avocado (ripe but not too soft)

1 or 2 small roma tomatoes (or a red pepper if you prefer)

1 red onion

1 lemon

What You’ll Need:

Sharp Knife

Cutting Board

Lemon Juicer

1 Large Bowl

Directions:

Wash the mango and cut it into cubes. Do the same with the avocado. Wash and dry the roma tomatoes and dice them into small chunks. Toss everything into the bowl together. Dice as much red onion as you like and add it to the bowl. (The flavour of red onion can pack a punch so you might want to add a little bit at a time). Finish the recipe off with a squeeze of lemon juice. The lemon juice really brings out all of the flavours of all the ingredients. Gently mix everything together with a large spoon. This salsa recipe is a tad on the sweeter side, but the onion cuts it and gives it a little kick, while the avocado adds a savoury element. You can serve this salsa with tortilla chips, but it would also taste great with chicken or fish tacos. It’s a pretty versatile recipe so you can experiment with it. Switch up the recipe by substituting roma tomatoes for a red pepper, as they both and a touch of sweetness and juice to the recipe.

The past few months, I’ve really stuck to my goal to eat colourfully. I decided that next month I am setting a new fitness goal- check back next month to find out what it is!

This post is written in partnership with GoodLife Fitness as part of the GoodLife Fitness Ambassador Program, however all opinions expressed are my own.

Fitness

Greenhouse Juice Co.

Posted on December 31, 2014

Last month in my Do The Bright Thing post wrote about how I was trying to incorporate more colourful foods into my diet and that I wanted to try juicing. I figured rather than investing in a juicer, I would try it out first to see if it was for me. I’d been hearing a lot of buzz about cold-pressed juice lately, so I looked into juice spots in Toronto and discovered Greenhouse Juice Co.

After a workout at GoodLife Fitness this week, since it wasn’t too far away from my gym, I popped into Greenhouse Juice Co. The moment I stepped into this adorable little shop, I became the girl with kaleidoscope eyes – so many colourful juices, and sealed into such cute little glass bottles -I couldn’t get enough!

^The lovely selection of juice at the Greenhouse Juice Co.^

All of the juices at Greenhouse Juice Co. are made of 100% organic, raw fruits and vegetables. Every juice is cold-pressed which means that the contents retain nearly all of their nutrients because they haven’t been heated during the juicing process.The juices are also packaged in glass which means no harmful leaching that can occur with other types of bottling processes.

^Looked up to spot this adorable design detail – greenhouse light cages.^

I sampled some of the flavours and chose several juices that fit my ‘eating colourfully’ requirement. The juices were the perfect thing to sip on after a run – so refreshing! I felt great knowing that my body was enjoying the benefits of vitamin-rich, bright and colourful juice! Yay to getting my colourful food goal checked off my list!

Here are all the juices I brought home with me:

Even though I am kind of skeptical of drinking kale juice, (I’m not a fan of the stuff!) I figured if I’m going to do this, I should go all the way and green is definitely a colour I should be eating more of! Here’s the kale juice I got:

I’m going to be reviewing the juices over the next few days and adding to this post. Wish me luck with the kale juice :I Still feeling skeptical about that one. Make sure you visit again next month – I’ll be sharing a bright and beautiful, colour-rich recipe!

This post is written in partnership with GoodLife Fitness as part of the GoodLife Fitness Ambassador Program, however all opinions expressed are my own.

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