Surround Yourself With Good People {Week 1}

I find that surrounding myself with people that have the same love towards their personal health makes me a better person, which brings me to my good friend Catherine. I convinced her to start a blog and I am so excited for her! You should for sure check it out {here}

Katie, Me, Catherine, Ashley

Two years ago! Catherine and I

Catherine and I became friends in ninth grade. We have always been 'good friends' until we went to college. We both changed, but I would like to think for the better. Since college Catherine has become one of my best friends.

Senior year (two years ago!)

One year ago... My birthday weekend in Duluth

We have so much in common from our love of living a healthy lifestyle and exercising to be FIT. Catherine is very similar to me, for example she is a mature college student who loves to have a good time but still likes to stay classy. (I like to believe I stay classy 90% of the time)

My birthday this year

Country Jam

Working out!

 Over the last few months Catherine has grown to love exercising, has transitioned into eating healthy foods and overall is taking control of her health.

Once she started taking control of her health she has lost weight and feels better. Catherine has grown to enjoy running (I need to take some tips from her) and she is going to complete her first 5k this weekend. Good luck girl!

Catherine has told me I inspire her, which means so much to me. But little does she know that her dedication to her own health inspires ME. Catherine is working towards a couple of goals- her first goal is to fit into a certain size by her cousins wedding at the end of October. Her second goal is to get a fancy workout watch/heart rate monitor. I am definitely cheering her on!

Yes... It's a repeat. But we are showing off our guns!

Make sure to check out her blog!

I Think I'll Just Do The Pill ..... NO!

I was having a talk with a friend and they said that they wanted to just take some pill to lose weight. I wanted to scream and shake them at that moment.

A pill is going to get you no where because as soon as you stop the pill you will gain weight back. Not to mention what the pill can do for your insides.

Those weight lose pills destroy your body and you will have major side effects.

I know someone who did take a pill to try and lose weight. What happened? They immediately got side effects: they were tired, they were having to go to the bathroom A LOT (not in a good way if you get my drift), they didn't look good in the face (pasty white), and in general they didn't feel like the normal them.

And not to mention they didn't even lose weight. Now people can do all sorts of diets to lose weight, people will do pills, packaged meals, over cleansing, shakes, and so many more. Now to set the records straight, a protein shake a day or two is OK. Because you are fueling your body with the right nutrition before and after a workout.

I do protein shakes! Delicious. But I still make sure I am getting the proper amount of calories in my body everyday. A lot of protein shakes are not meant to be ‘meal replacements’ and may only have 100-250 calories, which isn’t ok for a meal replacement. To read about the protein shakes I do click {here}.

Now, I am not an expert. These are MY opinions, but I can certainly tell you a pill will not be the best way to lose weight. At the end of the day you need to be determined and want it so much that you are willing to work for it both in the kitchen and at the gym.

When you lose weight you should want to make a lifestyle change. Not a temporary change.

So when this person told me they wanted to try a pill I was so frustrated. I talked with them and I hope that I convinced them NOT to use a pill. I want this person to do it the right way, the old fashion way, the HEALTHY way. 

And just because no post is complete without a picture, I thought I would share a funny text my mom sent me a few weeks ago.

HA HA! She was referring to my
homemade salsa! I got a good laugh.

Simple Yet Delicious

On Sunday I shared a ice cream recipe made with avocado’s and yesterday I shared a pizza recipe made with cauliflower. Today I am going to share another favorite new recipe of mine, which is asian peanut slaw. I got this recipe from my trainer/nutritionist.

It is one of those dump, stir and serve recipes - what could be better? This is a perfect quick side dish that could go along with any meal and would be super easy for a BBQ.

I got all of my ingredients from Trader Joe’s in Woodbury but I bet you could find similar ingredients at different stores. I just love Trader Joe’s so that's where I went. When you are going somewhere other Trader Joe’s make sure to look closely at what you are getting. Watch the calories and fat. But DON’T settle for 'fat free' or 'half the calories' or ‘sugar free’. That stuff is usually garbage and is almost always much worse for you. It has other things added to it to make it not good for your body. Try to go off the saying ‘if you can’t pronounce it don’t put it into your body’.

Anyway, back to the recipe, you need three things:

One bag of broccoli slaw

1/4 c. Trader Joes Thai peanut dressing

1 cup chopped nuts (I do peanuts. You could also do sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, etc.)

I just mix it all together in a big bowl and serve it. I find it is better the next day because the sauce has gone into the broccoli slaw more.

Enjoy!!

I obviously couldn't wait two seconds to try it :)

What to look forward to this week:

• Tomorrow (Thursday) I am going to share a story about a person in my life who just wanted to use ‘the pill’ to lose weight.
• Friday I am going to share my friend Catherine’s new blog.

..Stay tuned..