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Its that time of year, New Years Resolution!  

This is when the gyms get overly crowded.  All the trainers and sales staff are rubbing there  hands together ready for a new customer but slightly smirking at the same time.  They know that half of these overly excited, pumped up new comers swearing they are ready for real this time aren’t gonna make it past March.

I know, its a harsh reality.  Especially for the ones who really believe in their hearts they are gonna do it this time.

But the ones who really suffer are the dedicated gym rats who have been coming faithfully 2-5 times a week since last year and the year before that.  Look at their angry and frustrated faces as they unsuspectingly walk toward the next machine with their heart-rate still racing, only to be let down when they realize its being used by someone who clearly doesn’t even know how to use it.  “Their range of motion is way too wide for that machine!”  The gym rat yells to themselves.  The poor gym rat looks around to find the alternative to that machine, only to see that its also taken. “Ah!”  “I’ll just use the free-weights.  Sure my heart-rate has gone down a bit but I can get it back.  I should be free-weighting it out anyway.  Let me quit being lazy.”  The gym rat thinks.  But just as they go to the barbell rack, they notice everything is taken.  After scanning the room in frenzy, they see 2 skinny teenage boys struggling to use the size barbell they wanted.  “Oh come on!  Are they even old enough to be here?”  They look towards the dumbbell rack.  “Taken!”  “I hate January.”  They Gym rat bellows.  “I’ll be glad when March comes and everyone gets over their stupid New years resolution!”

If your a trainer, gym employee or gym rat, you know what I’m talking about.  If you’re a January-March fitness buff, you should know this is whats is going on behind the scene.

Don’t let this turn you away from the gym or your resolution.  Maybe you can just let this be motivation for you not to be so predictable this year.  Keep your commitment.  Be strong, then come June, look that gym rat right in the eye come and give them a  nod like “Yeah Homie, break yo self, I’m here to stay!”

You can do it!

Tip to not being a January-Marcher:

Pace yourself.

If you haven’t been doing hardly any working out the previous year, don’t try to be a super hero now.  You are not gonna make up for what you did over the holidays by going crazy at the gym all of a sudden. Start with 2 days a week.  Sustain that for a month, then go to 3.  If you do too much too fast you will only burn yourself out.  This goes for nutrition too.

Don’t diet.  

Simply come up with healthy manageable adjustments.  Start planning ahead what your gonna eat.  Before you get hungry.

Introduce yourself to a healthy new dish once a month.                                                 Experiment with different spices and vegetables.

Also try out a new way to get active.  Maybe a dance class, swim lessons, ooh how about   YOGA!

And if you need help with what to do or accountability, then get it!  Be honest. Invest in yourself.  You are worth it!

Don’t be that person done with their goals after 3 months.

Be better than you were last year.

~Ayana                                                                                                                                                                 The Nataki Wellness Center

 

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I really don’t understand when talking about eating healthy why people say “we all got to die sometime, and if I’m gonna go I’m gonna go happy.”  I just don’t see a lot of depressed, angry miserable healthy people.  And if eating poorly makes people so happy then shouldn’t America, with our consumption rate of fast and processed food be the happiest  place on earth?  Shouldn’t we just eat a big mac to cure depression instead of those prescriptions that cause all those side effects?  And If those people really don’t care since we all got to go sometime, why do they rush to the doctor to get toxic prescription to prolong their life.

Do we forget that a lot of times dying from diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure usually doesn’t go in order from happy to  fun to a peaceful death?  It usual starts with tiredness, pains, lots of medication, side effects, missing out on fun out doors with love ones, death, then love ones possibly repeating the cycle… I’m personally not sold on the fun. 

Of course there’s things we cant immediately control, like pollution in the environment but the things we eat, the amount of exercise we do, the level of stress we take on, the positive or negative vibes we keep around is mostly u to us.  

Living a life whether short or long that is free, happy, full of energy, exploration and adventure in my opinion is priceless and no BBQ rib, fried chicken, mac n cheese, Big mac, taco bell, Carls Jr. meat lovers pizza, Baskin and Robbins or grand slam breakfast is worth taking that away. 

Decide what living your life is worth to you.  If you need help get it, don’t be ashamed.  Start somewhere, it’s not going to go away.   A great place to start is the Nataki Wellness Center.  Start with a 15 day detox or a consultation for a plan that’s right for you.  Virtual personal training is available.

~Be good to yourself.

~A

 

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1560 calories is what I need to eat a day if I want to stay the same weight.  Being a vegan that doesn’t eat soy, a personal trainer that tries to stay away from fattening things and an advocate for natural living& healing, you can imagine that my diet doesn’t include a lot of things that may be common to others.  A lot of my clients ask me what the heck do you eat.  I always respond everything!  Well everything that’s in my list of things I eat.   I laugh every time.

I eat all day long like a  Gazelle,  and even though I’m full at the end of the day, I find it hard to get enough calories in.  I live in Cali so most people here would say that’s a good problem to have.  But I’m not trying to lose weight.  I like where I’m at.  About 5 months ago I was 111 pounds .  Even in high school I was 115-125 pounds.  Most of my adult life I’ve been a consistent 120.  Most people think I’m 105.   But I remind them I’m a trainer and muscle weighs more that fat.   Recently I weighed myself and I was 117.  Perfect!  That’s where I wanna stay.  115-122 is fine by me.

Now I’m not big on counting calories for the rest of your life but I do believe everyone should do it for a while so that they now where they stand.  Then you can let it go for a while  but check in with yourself from time to time.  If you’re over or under weight, do it until you’re not.

111 pounds is under weight for me.  I know some of it had to do with muscle loss but a lot was my diet.  So I decided I better pay attention.  Yesterday I went over my calories.  I consumed 1692.  I was happy about that cause exercise can easily bring that down to 1560.

Now I’m not necessarily proud of how much bread I consumed yesterday, being a trainer and all but I know I can spare a day.   But I thought it would be a good idea to share what contributed the most to the extra calories.  That way people who want to lose can keep that in mind.  So here it is:

About a cup of Still cut oats w/ raisins added gave me a whopping 710 calories.   FYI the still cut has the most calories but I need it.     Two whole wheat waffles  with peanut butter=325  calories.   FYI this was part of my lunch not breakfast.                                 Amy’s California Veggie Burger with 2 pieces of wheat bread=307 calories.

Of course this isn’t all I had to eat but I just wanted to point out what gave me the most calories.  The breads and oatmeal win.   So if you had the same thing but had a beef burger instead  you can add on an extra 1-200 calories unless you get a really small lean cut.   Now a turkey patty is about the same as the veggie.

If I wanted to cut down some of the calories I could have had a little less oatmeal instead of a filled to the top bowl, and added an apple to my breakfast.  Also I could’ve had just one waffle and added a small green salad with vinaigrette dressing.    With these small adjustments, I could have knocked off about 100 calories.

So why don’t you try it.  If you’re looking to lose weight, write down everything you ate and  total up ALL your calories for one day.   Then look it  over and see where you can make tiny adjustments for the next day.  Notice my adjustments didn’t involve me completely taking anything away.  I wanted that waffle!  But I could’ve chose to just eat one and add a salad.

Try this everyday for 1 month and I guarantee you’ll be amazed!

~Lady A

 

 

 

 

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It’s 2012!  You’ve spent the last 2 months eating, drinking and being merry.  Now it’s back to the real world.  We all want to start fresh when the new year begins, so why not start with a fresh body?  You know calivegans loves a good detox and so we’ve decided to start out the new year with our very own specially designed full body cleanse.  Howzabout you join us and start the new year off with a clean body and a clear mind?

Before we get into our specific program, I want to talk a little about setting an intention for your detox.  What do I mean by setting an intention?  What’s your purpose for detoxing?  What are you trying to achieve by cleansing?  Even if your cleanse is to do just that, cleanse, then you have set your intention.

A couple of years ago, Lady A did a detox cleanse, which she told me about.  Her intention was for creativity.  Soon after she completed her cleanse a new passion was ignited within her; painting.  The last detox we did together was for the purpose of healing our fibroid tumors, health in general.  Through the detox we became vegans, even though we were very content vegetarians.  I personally experienced amazing emotional healing in the months following the detox.  I felt as if I took a shovel into my unconscious and dug out all the crap.  I’m a healthier person physically (my fibroid is shrinking), mentally, emotionally and best of all spiritually.  I have never felt as connected to The Universe as I do now.

So, we absolutely suggest you set an intention for your detox; whatever you want.  Direction in life, clarity, peace, love, health, creativity, drive, etc.  Whatever you would like more of in your life.  What’s calivegans intention, you ask?  Financial abundance.  Calivegans is looking to attract more of the green stuff!

Alright, here’s our full body detox.  If you can’t find the products we mention in your local health food store, then see if you can find a close substitute.  You can email us or leave a comment for help!

Here’s what we’re using:  ~Trader Joe’s ® colon cleanse~~Nature’s Secret Urinary Cleanse and Flush Caplets~~Planetary Herbals Bupleurum Liver Cleanse Tablets~~Wellements Daily Detox Tea~~Yogi Detox Tea

This is a 15 day cleanse.  5-day colon cleanse, 5-day liver cleanse and a 5-day kidney cleanse. 

Colon Cleanse (5 days):  Start each morning with a large glass of water with 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon.  Follow suggested instructions of TJ’s colon cleanse.  Have 1 bag of Wellements Daily Detox and 1 bag of Yogi Detox throughout the day and before you go to sleep.  I did Yogi during the day and Wellements at night, but whichever you prefer.

Liver Cleanse (5 days):  Start each morning with a large glass of water with 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon.  Take 2 pills 2x daily.  1 bag of Wellements tea and 1 bag of Yogi tea throughout the day and before bed.

Kidney/Urinary Cleanse (5 days):  Start each morning with a large glass of water with 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon.  Take 1 capsule 2x daily.  1 bag of Wellements and 1 bag of Yogi throughout the day and before bed.

**You should be drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily throughout all 15 days.

For the Liver and Kidney cleanse phases of the full-body detox, we highly recommend that you eat only fruits, vegetables, and vegan protein.  Here’s a sample of a good daily meal plan:

Breakfast:  fruit smoothie and a full glass of water.

Snack: Plantain chips.

Lunch: Salad (spinach, carrots, beets, cherry tomatoes, almond slices, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, whatever else you love, and a balsamic vinaigrette), or fresh or canned vegetable soup

Snack:  Pistachios.

Dinner:  Kale, bell pepper, mushroom Stir-Fry with Seitan or Field Roast® Vegan Sausage.  If you are okay with soy you can buy ready-made seitan from the store, or use tofu or soy meats.

Snack:  Fresh fruit.

If you want to take your detox a step further, we recommend you meditate for 15-20 mins daily upon your intention and/or visualize yourself experiencing your intention realized.

Calivegans will be starting this detox on Monday, January 9.  Join us!  Leave a comment with your intention below.  We would love to hear from you!  Let’s bring in the new year together, rejuvenated and revitalized!

Detox 2012 here we go!!