Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Healthy Substitution

Lately, I have been trying to cook as healthily as possible. Whether it being trying new diets, new recipes, or new fresh ingredients, I am trying! However, I have decided what my new favorite health food is - cauliflower!
I have always liked steamed cauliflower or even raw cauliflower. I didn't know of its versatility until recently. I have been substituting it for rice! Who would have thunk, right?

Cauliflower Rice

Cut the stem off of the head of the cauliflower. Next, cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Place pieces into food processor and pulse until large chunks look like the consistency of rice or couscous. Dump the pulsed cauliflower rice onto a baking sheet or stone. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix together and spread mixture evenly across baking sheet. Place in oven at 450 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes. Pull out shelf in oven to stir rice up so that it doesn't burn or stick to pan. Put back in oven and repeat. After the second stir up, only bake for an extra 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve!

Now you have a way to cut down on starchy carbs and bring more veggies into your diet! Serve under your favorite rice toppers (mine is stir fry!) and you will never even know the difference!

Here is what the mixture looks like after being pulsed, drizzled with some EVOO, and sprinkled with some s&p!


Thursday, February 23, 2012

My WOD

This is going to be a complete disappointment to everyone... so I am sorry in advanced.

Ever since I have been on day shift (about 7 months now... wow!) I have had a goal with my husband to stay healthy and fit. My husband started doing CrossFit just over 2 years ago to lose weight and stay in shape. When I switched from night shift to day shift I started doing CrossFit with him in order to not end up like the people I have been taking care of in the hospital for the past two and a half years. Since July, I have advanced so much and I see how different I personally feel from day to day. I have so much more energy and my body can physically last so much longer. Who doesn't want to feel better everyday?

I am going to start posting small workouts that I have come up with that takes absolutely nothing but yourself and self motivation. You do not need weights at home or anything special to do what I am posting. That is what is best about CrossFit; such a small amount of equipment is needed... all you need is yourself! You are the machine!

I am going to post my first WOD (Workout of the Day), which includes a small warm-up, a workout, and some stretching. If you don't know anything about exercise movements you can still participate, because I will either post a picture, a video, or something that shows what the movement is. If I don't, just google it.

Please join me in the best self respecting thing you can do... get up and move something! :)

Stretch:

Do some leg stretches that will warm up your hamstrings and your quads.
You can do some high knees or butt kicks to help in the process.

Warm up:

Run -- just run!
(I know, I know! I hear the complaining already! Almost everyone on this Earth hates to run, but guess what? It is SO good for you AND you feel so good after you just get up the umph and DO IT!)

I don't really care how far you run. If you want to run to the mailbox and back, down the street and back, or a mile and back, I DO NOT CARE. Start off small and over time you will see a change! Just make sure that you do get your heart rate up a little bit. We are exercising, remember!

For my own WOD, I ran 1 mile.

Stretch:
Stretch out your legs and your shoulders/arms. At CrossFit, we do what is called the pigeon pose. It is a great way to stretch your hams and quads, as well as your hips.

Work out:

Four Rounds for time of:

10 Burpees (How to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M)
15 Jumping leg lunges (How to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLTDUFjbXA)
20 Sit ups (please tell me you know how to do a sit up)
25 Squats (How to do a real squat here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDdSZmWNYQI)

The beautiful part about this workout is that you can "scale" the workout to your fitness level. If you only want to do 1 burpee, 5 lunges, 10 sit ups, 15 squats, you can! If you want to do the reps from the workout above but can only do one round, do it! Whatever combination will make you get up and move something is the best option. My best advice is, don't OVER do it because it will not be fun and you will not do it again. Also, it is better to have good form then work yourself to death trying to do something that you are not doing properly.

Just a tidbit: you know that your dog is super lazy when you have to DRAG her the WHOLE time you run because she is just THAT lazy!

Also by the way - ladies, this workout will get you in that bikini in no time! Just saying....

Have fun kids! Get up and move something today!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Silence

So.......

One of these days I am going to break the silence, but for now......

........just silence.