Dairy Free

Well Hello There!

Here we are back at Sunday. Ready to start the week yet? Yeah, me neither. The good thing about a new week is good TV. For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a TV junkie. It’s not like I don’t have a job, or take care of my health. I do all that. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. Let me have my TV!  😀

So some big changes are coming my way this week which I am not too excited about. I am cutting out dairy. Why you ask? Well it is completely destroying my insides. Every morning I have my coffee with creamer, and every morning about 10 minutes later I feel like a little animal is clawing out my insides. Graphic, I know, but it is torture. I don’t know why I continue to put the darn creamer in my coffee, besides it being delicious! But is delicious worth me suffering for hours every morning? Nope! So out it goes. I’m going to give it a week trial run to see if I feel different. I think I might have a slightly hard time with it because I love my greek yogurt and I love my cottage cheese. Luckily, soy milk and almond milk are fair game!

After my insides got their act together again, I had a low key breakfast which consisted of almonds, rice cakes with PB2, and a green aloe shot.

I was reading the other night about wheat grass and aloe shots. I can’t believe I have been missing out all this time to get my greens in!

I did not know, but now I do! And I will be trying to include wheat grass and aloe in my diet from now on. It’s a quick way to get your greens, but it can also be a bit pricey. The aloe I took was part of the swag I received from FitBloggin’. I expected it to taste TERRIBLE, so I was ready with water to chase it down. It wasn’t that bad and I was able to drink it in two swigs.

Here are some benefits of wheat grass I found:

• 30mls of freshly squeezed wheatgrass juice (a wheatgrass shot!) is equivalent in nutritional value to 1kg of leafy green vegetables
• Wheatgrass contains over 90 minerals, including high concentrations of the most alkaline minerals: potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium
• It contains the essential enzymes: Protease (assists in protein digestion), Cytochrome Oxidase (a powerful anti oxidant), Amylase (facilitates digestion), Lipase (a fat splitting enzyme), Transhydrogenase (strengthens the heart muscle) & Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) (found in all body cells and is known for its ability to lessen the effect of radiation and slow cellular aging)
• Just one teaspoon of Wheat Grass powder, weighing a mere 3.5 grams, is nutritionally equal to an entire spinach salad weighing a full 50 grams – it packs a punch!
• Wheatgrass has more vitamin C than oranges and twice the vitamin A as carrots!
• Wheat grass juice helps your body to build red blood cells which carry oxygen to every cell. By increasing the oxygenation in the body, you can help offset smog and carbon monoxide and increase your endurance during physical exercise
• It also contains 19 amino acids, the building blocks of protein making this one of the most powerful wheatgrass benefits

Source

I also read it gives you tons of energy, which makes sense because look at all those benefits! And makes your skin look amazing (sold me here).

Then I headed to the gym. I had a GREAT workout and wondered if it was from the aloe shot! I think it definitely helped but there were other variables that played into my workout: caught up on sleep, was feeling stress free, and felt confident.

I started with 20 minutes on the stair master, then hit chest and triceps! Here was my workout:

• Tricep dips (assisted), 10-12 reps x 4 sets
• Tricep overhead extensions, 12lb kettles, 12 reps x 3 sets each arm
• Chest Presses (machine) 70 lbs- 10-12 reps x 4 sets
• Chest Squeeze (kettles up like a shoulder press, squeeze them into each other and back out- open and close), 15 lb kettles, 15 reps x 4 sets
• Tricep kickbacks, 20 lb dumbbells, 12 reps x 4 sets
• Tricep pulldowns (rope), 50-60 lbs, 10-12 reps x 4 sets
• Chest Fly on stability ball, 15 lb dumbbells, 12 reps x 3 sets

When I was doing my tricep kick backs a vein in my right forearm was pumping SO HARD I thought it was going to burst right out of my arm. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

I ended up doing 10 minutes on the arc trainer, and then another 10 on the stairs. The last 10 minutes on the stairs was slow and controlled stepping, and I skipped steps.

To finish my workout I did my 100 pushup challenge. I had to tweak it some because there was not a bosu in sight. But it DESTROYED me.

• 10 regular pushups 
• 10 walking pushups (walk hands to one side, go down putting weight on one side, back up and walk over to the other side and repeat)
• 10 TRX pushups
• 10 regular pushups
• 10 hop pushups (feet hop out, push down, back up and hop feet back in)
• One minute rest and REPEAT!

Here was how I looked when I finished

Don’t I look like that little girl from the ring who crawled out of the well? Yeah that’s how I felt after too! I was dead. One of my Instagram followers was kind enough to tell me that little girls name is Samara, so call me Samara I guess! 😉

But I was all smiles when I finished because I felt like a beast!

Healthy and Happy!

When I came back home I made a fluff *Yum*, and took Miss Buffay for a walk. She is still being quite the little trouble maker by the way… Let’s just say I caught her red handed (or pawed?) How does my dog get RED food coloring.. oh boy!

Then we went to check the mail and look what came! My new Skinny Minnie shirt I designed 🙂

Isn’t it cute? The back has a super secret design that I can’t show you guys just yet! I just love the fit of it too. Super flattering. If you want one Email Me

For dinner I made my specialty: A fridge clean out. Sense my sarcasm? Basically I had ingredients in my fridge and freezer that needed to go, so I made a meal with those!

This is sliced white onion, zucchini, mushrooms, and swordfish cut into chunks.

The sauce is: 2 Tablespoons of Sriracha, 1 Tablespoon of coconut nectar, 1 Tablespoon of coconut vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 2 Tablespoons of Walden Farms ketchup, and guar gum to thicken it a bit. It was sweet and spicy!

After dinner I read a tweet saying if you pair a dried apricot with an almond on top it tastes exactly like a cookie! So I tried it.

That lady must be super starving because it did NOT taste like a cookie at all. Don’t waste your time on this little trick guys, try one of my fun desserts instead.

Speaking of desserts, I am going to try to post a new one tomorrow! Working on a couple things and I’ve been having a sweet craving lately so I need to make something 🙂

Enjoy your Sunday

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie