fitness

Green Smoothie FTW

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

I usually have to google acronyms like “FTW“, but I’ve finally started remember what this one stands for–mostly because I’m trying to live my life with more #ftw . Life is too short not to. And, life is too short to drink gross green smoothies.

I’ve been experimenting a lot lately with using up the greens in my fridge, putting them in a blender and whirring it around for a while. I’ve definitely had some fails (ex: I accidentally used a bag of ‘mixed greens’, which included mustard greens. If you’ve ever had raw mustard greens you know that they’re a bit spicy–that mixed with almond milk is kiiiiiiiinda gross, and not a pleasant surprise at 5:30am. OR, that time I used kale with all the stems on and couldn’t stop pooping–TMI, my bad, but really. Be careful.)

SO. I am no Registered Dietitian, but I love food, I obsess about nutrition and here are a few of the great things about green smoothies.

  • They are a great BLAST of nutrition first thing in the morning
  • You can add protein in it, so if you don’t like eating first thing in the morning these are a great option to sip on while you sip your coffee.
  • Fiber. See above, just be careful with HOW much fiber you’re consuming…
  • They can TASTE amazing. (I say ‘can’ because they can also taste like dirt.)

Here’s my favorite recipe so far:

1 big fist full of spinach (I’ve found spinach has less of an ‘earthy’ flavor than kale, and it’s what I had in my fridge this morning)
1/2 of a frozen banana (adds sweetness to cut through the grassy taste. I’ve also used frozen berries)
1 scoop of collagen protein amino acids (made from beef, tastes like nothing, I PROMISE)
2 table spoons of Jif Powdered Peanut butter (more protein, a nutty flavor)
1 cup of cashew milk
Dash of cinnimon and some vanilla extract
3 ice cubes
Throw all this in the blender and let it go for 3-4 minutes. I’ve found the longer you spin it around the better–especially if you’re using a heartier green, like kale. 

Enjoy the toxic green beverage out of whatever glass jar you have. I put mine in old peanut butter jars with a tight lid so I can bring it with me where ever I’m headed and enjoy it while I write or get settled at work. Let me know your favorite way to enjoy a green smoothie–I’m always up for learning more about these guys!

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Four Letter Words

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

To me
Coming from you
Friend is a four letter word
End is the only part of the word
That I heard
Call me morbid or absurd

I was obsessed with Cake when I was in high school. I wanted to be that girl in a short skirt and a long jacket–in fact, I think my friend and I tried that look and then realized it was way to ’90s fashion and not enough early 2000’s fashion and we gave up and just belted the music from my 1988 Grand Marquis as we drove around our small N. Michigan town. It wasn’t until she and I got into a fight that I really started finding meaning in some of the brilliant lyrics they were putting out there.

When I realized what “friend is a four letter word” meant it hit home, mostly because my best friend since I was 14 had just ditched me for a guy and I was left calling her four letter words alone in my car. And it clicked–friend is a bad word, coming from her, to me… it hurt.

WHY am I talking about Cake when it’s New Years Resolution time? Or four letter words when ‘friend’, F-R-I-E-N-D is clearly a 6 letter word–Yeesh, Sloan, get with it–amiright?

Well, I want to blow your mind–I have news for you–D-I-E-T is a four letter word. Both literally and in the message I want to convey to you and your friends.

“Wait, wait, wait. Sloan–you are a personal trainer, a health coach AND know more about nutrition that most people I know… Aren’t I supposed to go on a diet January 1st? Well, January 2nd actually–I’ll be too hungover and needing carbs on the 1st. But all the magazines tell me to do a juice cleanse, a raw vegan, sober, high protein, with the lunar moons and my hormonal cycle DIET. This is what we do EVERY YEAR!!!”

I get you. Most people’s New Years Resolutions made every year have to do with losing weight, getting into shape and making this year the best year EVA! However, how often do we fall off the wagon, only to get super down on ourselves by mid February, drown our sorrows in post Valentines Day candy sales and say “next year”?

Image result for resolutions calvin hobbes

Here’s what I propose: Don’t make resolutions. Make a commitment to one or two small health changes in your day to day. Here’s what that can look like:

-Get a skim latte instead of a full fat one.
-Get off a stop earlier and walk a little bit more.
-Wake up 20 minutes earlier so you have time to do some yoga or gentle stretching.
-Pass on that hump day glass of wine.
-Swap brown rice for white rice.
-Order the fish instead of the steak.
-Try a new class at the gym.
-Do research on hiring a personal trainer or a health coach. Ask questions about who they are and what they do.
-Set an alarm for once an hour to get up from your desk and walk around, do 10 squats and stretch your arms in the air, (this feels really good, I promise!)

DIET’s set us up to fail. They set us up to do xyz for XX amount of time and then when cabbage soup is falling out of our ears it’s over. The 30 day cleanse is no longer a constant after February 1st and guess what? We lose everything, errr or we gain everything back. By making small manageable changes we develop habits. Life long skills that don’t encourage an end point. There is no end point to a balanced lifestyle.

Resolutions give us the idea that we accomplish this one thing and then we’re done. But guess what? Living a healthy life, walking your daughter down the isle at her wedding this summer, playing with Legos on the floor with your grandson, keeping up with your marathon running significant other–these are all things that will not happen with a ‘resolution’. They will happen when you make sustainable, maintainable changes in your life. 

One. Step. At. A. Time.

So. As we kiss 2016 goodbye (FINALLY), let’s start 2017 not with a list of huge resolutions. Let’s break that habit and start small. Start with manageable. Start with a 20 minute walk and some extra stretching at our desks. Let me help. Email me. Leave a comment. I want to hear what you’re doing in 2017 and beyond. I want to know how I can help you!

The Inside is What Counts

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

A couple days a week my alarm goes off at 4:02 am. Honestly, it usually scares the shit out of me and all I want to do is throw my phone against the wall and curl back up and fall back asleep. But 4/5 times I don’t. I have a conversation with myself that goes something like this:

Go back to sleep, now. Really. Do it. 

No, no, no. 

Do it. That extra 35 minutes will make a huge difference in your day!

But will it really? I don’t think it will.  Get your booty up!

SLEEEEEEEEP. 

Nope, you’ll be so mad at yourself. Get your ass up, brush those teeth and go. 

And then generally, I get up. A little mad at that voice still, but I go. I go to work 40 minutes early and I get my work out in. (I usually snap about it @sloanderr) with a pic of myself, not so happy and whatever time it is, usually 4:43am.

 

I am a huge proponent of finding your own intrinsic motivation. What does that mean? It means being able do something because you’re motivated by how it will make you feel, not by some sort of external reward dangling in front of you. Another, non fitness, example–for me, this blog. I’m both intrinsically AND extrinsically motivated.

Intrinsic: I do it because I love writing, I love teaching and I the feeling of accomplishment I get when I finish a post. It’s really uplifting and I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Extrinsic: I love seeing the ‘views’ number go up. I love comments, I love getting ‘likes’ and responses. Engagement is huge (hint hint…)

Trust me: if I was ONLY extrinsically motivated for writing, I would fall short most times I post. My followers are growing, but it’s happening very very very slowly and that can be frustrating in this day and age–we all want immediate gratification, right? But I enjoy the process and hope that eventually others will enjoy my site as much as I enjoy the process of it.

Let’s bring this all together–if you can hone in and develop your intrinsic motivation, it will make not hitting the snooze button a lot easier. Try to start listening to that little, tiny, quiet voice that is egging you on to get up and get moving. That voice that mentions maybe you don’t need that second cookie. Maybe it’s a voice suggesting you need help. Try to listen and see if there is any internal reward by listening. I trust that when you start doing this, that voice will get louder and clearer. I can help you find that voice, if you let me.

When you start to listen, start to pay attention to how you feel inside. Fitness and healthy habits really start by acknowledging the internal feels, and then you start to see the external results. Eventually, all of this stuff becomes habit–

…unless it’s 4am…I’m not sure if you ever get used to that.

 

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