Workout Jams and Green Juice

To begin this week, I’d like to sincerely thank each and every reader.  The feedback I received was surprising, empowering, and it really made me excited about what’s to come! It also made me realize how many amazing people I have in my life and I am extremely grateful for that.  ❤

I’m hoping to become better at blogging and to start posting a few separate days per week about specific topics.  Today, I’ll re-cap the past week and cover everything I’d like to write about.  I needed a quick title for this post and honestly, I wouldn’t have made it through this week without my music and I had the most delicious juice today that I’m definitely going to get into in a little while.

Let’s begin with My Questions for Readers….

1. What are your top songs/stations that you listen to before/during/after your workouts?  Whether your workout is intense cardio, yoga, walking, etc, I want to know what gets you pumped and motivated!  For me this week my during workout Pandora stations included Pop and Hip Hop Power Workout Radio and Spice Girls Radio.  I’m sorry, but nothing can top the feeling of when you hear the beginning of Wannabe.  To wind down, I listened to Amos Lee Radio and Zac Brown Radio after my workouts.  I’m a big country rock girl, so Zac Brown always calms me down and Amos Lee Radio plays a good combination of Amos Lee, Ray Lamontagne, Jack Johnson, Ray Charles, and numerous other super soothing artists.
2. What kinds of healthy smoothies, shakes, or juices do you love to drink?  Today, Matt and I decided to break out our juicer that we haven’t used in years and made some of my favorite green juice.  I will share the recipe below.  I’m also a big smoothie drinker.  The easiest way for me to have a healthy breakfast is to prepare a smoothie the night before work so I can drink it on my commute.  I typically use bananas, kale, blueberries, chia seed, and coconut milk.  Sometimes I swap out blueberries for strawberries or add in a little peanut butter or cinnamon.  I’d love to get some more recipes and ideas!

Moving forward from last week, I am continuing to get myself back on track with motivation and to ease some anxiety.  I’m happy to share that I worked really hard this week to make a change.  This doesn’t mean I ate 100% healthy and worked out every single day.  There may have been a delicious slice of pizza  I accidentally purchased when I walked to the ATM during my lunch on Friday, buuuuuut I’d like to say I deserved it after what I did.  I still had my moments, but I noticed a difference in how I was feeling.  Here’s a little re-cap of the week:

Exercise:  I do well with checklists, schedules, calendars, lesson plans, blah blah blah, so I guess creating a workout calendar was a good idea because I stuck to it!  Knowing that there was a plan ahead of me and that I could cross off each workout made me come back each day, ready for my next challenge.  Here’s a picture of my calendar.  I’m trying to keep it consistent, but varied.  I hope to make my workouts more challenging in February, leading up to my surgery.  After the procedure, I’ll have to take some time off, so I am really hoping that I can get back into it after.

I liked being able to work out at home a few days a week and my runs/walks outside were awesome,  but nothing compares to the feeling I had after Boot Camp on Thursday and my first Yoga class today.  Boot Camp kicked my butt and I definitely embarrassed myself on the steps once or twice being the first-timer there/uncoordinated person I am, but I left feeling exhausted and empowered to return.  I think my favorite moment, however, was Yoga today.  I decided to take a Hatha Yoga class.  Hatha Yoga is a type of yoga that focuses on breathing control as well as physical exercises.  This is something that anyone with stress/anxiety should definitely consider.   The combination of breathing control, new stretches, relaxing music and having the lights off left me super relaxed.  I did some research on Yoga and the benefits it has on thyroid issues.  What I found was really interesting.  If anyone would like to read up on this, see the link below:

http://www.artofliving.org/us-en/yoga/health-and-wellness/how-combat-hyperthyroidism-yoga

Healthy Eating:  I feel like Matt (my husband/best friend) deserves a major shout out here.  I’m really lucky because he is super into cooking and makes the best food ever.  He is also making a strong effort to eat healthy and get back into his workouts.  We eat at home pretty much every night, except for going out on weekends/football sundays/etc once in a while.  One of my favorite healthy side dishes Matt made this week was a sauté of brussel sprouts, purple baby potatoes and regular baby potatoes, balsamic, and a little bit of onion, parsley, and oregano.  Yummo.  I also stuck to my healthy food prep for lunch during the week, with the exception of my pizza on Friday.  Breakfasts consisted of my smoothies.  Today, we broke out the juicer and made my favorite juice that is featured in one of my favorite documentaries, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (so worth a watch).  Which leads me to another big shout out to my mom.  My mom is amazing for so many different reasons.  Something that she is really good at is listening and helping me.  Another thing she is really good at is her job.  She teaches high school Family and Consumer Sciences and one of her classes is Food and Fitness.   A few years ago she told me about Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and Matt and I were so excited to try juicing after watching.  Here is the recipe for “Joe’s Mean Green Juice”  cut + pasted from Pinterest.  Other than coffee and red wine, I think that this may be one of the most delicious drinks that exist.  Plus, the raw fruits and veggies in this juice are good for Hyperthyroidism.  Kale is a “Goitrogen” which inhibits iodine uptake in the thyroid.  This sends signals to the pituitary gland to release TSH.  My levels are suuuuper low (.001), so I’m hoping eating a lot of these specific fruits and vegetables helps my levels.

I look forward to challenging myself again this week and from hearing back from readers.  To finish the week, here is another quote…

Thanks for reading!  xoxo