Don’t Forget Breakfast

Published by Grace | Filed under Stuff

Lately, I’ve been making a point to eat more in the morning to help prevent unnecessary snacking. Eating a good breakfast is not only key to preventing snacking, but helps kick start your metabolism after having slept for so many hours, hence the “break” of “fast”ing in “breakfast”. My favorite breakfast is almond butter on a whole grain english muffin, topped with some fruit (strawberries, raspberries, bananas), or on its own. Yum! Something I picked up from the recommendations sent over to me by the personal training guys over at Strive Fitness. In addition to eating breakfast, a quick 20 minutes of exercise in the morning before eating can really get that metabolism in gear, whether it’s lunges, squats, or cardio. I like to do 30 lunges on each leg, 30 squats, and some upper body work like bicep curls, reverse flys, or dips.

Almond butter is a healthier alternative to peanut butter, and also has more protein. And although an english muffin is a carb, you still need some complex carbohydrates to keep your hunger satisfied. I like Orowheat’s Double Fiber english muffins. The extra fiber also helps to keep you satisfied, and aids in digestion.

Although I’m not diabetic, I found this article on breakfast foods for diabetics helpful in just figuring out what we should be looking for in breakfast foods. Low-fat and low-cholesterol foods are best for diabetics, but that also means they’re even better for everyone else!

What are your favorite healthy breakfast foods?

This Week’s Fave: Purifying Sea Soak

Published by Grace | Filed under Arbonne, Healthy Living, Spa

Ok, I’m typically not the type of person who has time for baths, what with 3 different jobs, my exercise addiction, and the rest of life, but I had to blog about this. On Saturday, I had an intense hour-long workout with the guys over at Strive Fitness in Miramar. We seriously hit the ground running on Saturday, with lots of athletic drills up and down the astro turf as a warm up, followed by 10 minutes at legs, cardio, and abs stations. We stretched of course, but even with good n’ proper stretching, you overdo it, you’re gonna be hurtin’ the next day. With my competitive nature, it doesn’t help that it’s in a group setting, and I tried to make it through each drill. That didn’t work out so well for me the following day. Sunday, I awoke to horrible pain in my quads. I’m sure there was pain elsewhere, but my brain could only think of how unbearably sore my thighs were. I mean, GREAT! I’m going to have fantastic legs this Summer! But, NOT so great, because I can barely walk! I felt like I had knives stabbing them at every step I took from then until Wednesday. Surprisingly, the most painful thing was walking down stairs, not so much up them. It was crazy to discover how many simple things we need these quadriceps for, everything from stepping on a gas pedal, to sitting down in a chair.

So, Wednesday night is TKB (Turbo Kick Box), which I couldn’t miss because I had already missed Monday night and hadn’t worked out since Saturday. I figured, “well, I need to get some kind of activity going to release all that fluid in my muscles”. Wrong. I could barely make it half way through the class I left already feeling that familiar wobbly leg syndrome from Saturday, so after posting my complaints on Facebook, a fellow consultant, Terri Enck, recommended that I soak in Arbonne’s Purifying Sea Soak. I was like, “Terri’s crazy if she thinks this is going to make the pain go away!”, but at that point, I was willing to try anything. After a soak in that and massaging some of the herbal muscle massage gel into my poor little legs, I woke up Thursday elated, and with brand new legs! It was like magic!

How To Use: Run a hot bath and pour contents of sea soak as water runs. Soak in the bath for 20-30 minutes. When done, towel off or let minerals dry onto skin so that they can be absorbed. Can follow with a cold or hot shower. Follow with remineralizing lotion, if desired.

It does have a very strong mineral scent, so after your hot bath, you may want to rinse the tub with something if it’s not to your liking. My favorite is the Rescue Wash in that line because it leaves a really nice crisp, clean scent.

I just had to post this story because my results were truly amazing. Even as a consultant, I still find myself to be pretty skeptical. Terri was definitely my savior this week!

Last Week’s Fave: Perfecting Liquid Foundation with SPF 15

Published by Grace | Filed under Arbonne, Makeup Tools

I have to play a little bit of catch up here since I haven’t posted a fave in a few weeks. I’m posting the Perfecting Liquid Foundation with SPF 15 as last week’s fave. As a consultant, I have a few full-size foundation bottles, and the rest I can grab from sample cards. But I’m telling you, I can’t believe how great the coverage is with this liquid, and how light it feels. You’re more than welcome to apply some concealer, but you’ll have a hard time finding where to put it. You do have to be careful, though. The consistency of the liquid is pretty thin compared to other liquid foundations I’ve tried, but that’s actually a good thing. That means that you’ve got more coverage for much less on your skin, and your skin can breathe!

How To Use: Using fingertips, a sponge, or a brush, take 1/2 to a full pump of the liquid foundation and blend evenly throughout face. If needed, apply concealer where more coverage is desired. Now, lightly dust setting powder (or the FC5 Mattifying Powder for oily skin) over face to set foundation. For longer-lasting makeup, apply makeup primer before. View this video for more tips on applying foundation.

The great thing about their makeup is that they all have anti-aging benefits. The SPF in it is a for sure anti-aging ingredient, as well as ingredients to help lift and firm the skin. The makeup primer is also a thing of beauty. It’s loaded with vitamins and anti-oxidants to help “feed your face”, while also smoothing out your skin to create the perfect canvas for makeup application. The makeup primer will get it’s own blog post soon enough. Stay tuned for this week’s fave!

This Week’s Fave: Figure 8 Fizzing Beverage Tablets

Published by Grace | Filed under Arbonne, Healthy Living

With Summer practically here, it’s time to watch those snacks and get that rear end in shape. Arbonne’s Figure 8 NRGGO3 Fizzing Beverage Tablets have been super helpful in squashing my afternoon snack attack. Bye bye, munchies! It’s perfect for keeping your energy up during workouts, and curbing your appetite so you don’t feel hunger pains in the middle of your cardio.

How To Use: drop one tab in 8 oz. of water. Wait for tablet to completely dissolve before drinking. Enjoy!

I usually drop a tab in my water bottle and drink before heading to the gym. It’s a little more diluted, but the taste is pretty strong when only using 8 oz. of water as directed. Be sure to drink plenty of water when using with 8 oz., and get ready for that boost of energy! I highly recommend only using in the morning the first time, and if you’re using in the afternoon, probably no later than 3pm to make sure you’re not up all night. My favorite is the Citrus Surge one, but they also come in Pomegranate.

Before & After

Published by Grace | Filed under Arbonne

I thought this would be fun to share on a Friday. We usually have these in a little booklet and pass around at parties, but it’s just as fun to look at online Click on images to enlarge. My favorite is the body wash/firming cream one, quite dramatic! The woman who took the before/after photos for that one actually tried the sample we received at the annual training conference when they launched the new RE9 products, so for real, she only had the product for 4 days.

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