CAPTIVATING YOGA TITLE

What if there was a way to build strength, get your heart rate up, and walk away feeling totally relaxed all in one 60 minute workout?

I can tell you that after trying Vinyasa yoga, I am never turning back.

Vinyasa yoga, or ‘power yoga’ is a more intense yoga practice where you quickly move through a sequence of flows that help you build strength while you focus on your breath. The goal is to move through the flows fluidly and quickly to help you stabilize and strengthen your body.

https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/types-of-yoga/vinyasa-yoga

You get a wider variety in Vinyasa practices. Vinyasa flows utilize stretches, strength poses and end with 5 minutes of Savasana. This ensures a well rounded yoga practice that will leave you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.

Yes, Vinyasa Kicked My Butt At First

I have been practicing yoga for about 7 years now, and up until this year I had never tried Vinyasa yoga. My first experience with it was completely accidental. I went in for a yoga class at my local gym, and it was not stipulated that this particular class was power yoga. Once we started I figured this wasn’t like other yoga class I had taken before.

I had trouble keeping up with the pace at first, but once I focused on my breathing rather than the flow it seemed to be more manageable. I stayed through the class and it was a huge challenge for me because I was not nearly close to being at my strongest. I ended up falling over 30 seconds into the 3 minute plank session the first time. Three months later and I can get 2.5 minutes in without having to break my plank!

Time after time, I walked away from class feeling both refreshed and utterly exhausted. After a few weeks, I noticed huge differences in my strength and I looked leaner and more toned. After looking into it, it turns out Vinyasa yoga is probably one of the most beneficial forms of yoga for your overall physical and mental health.

Psychical Benefits:

Vinyasa helps increase your muscular strength

I always felt that the yoga I was practicing was an amazing supplemental fitness strategy. I always felt stretched out and relaxed, but I enjoy walking away feeling like I worked after exercise. One thing I love about Vinyasa is that I seem to get stronger and stronger every time.

While standard yoga practices do indeed help sustain muscle mass, studies have suggested that power yoga may be more beneficial to building and maintaining muscle.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229916302953

Yoga increases cardiovascular health

Studies suggest that yoga practice is correlated with building and maintaining good heart health by decreasing blood pressure and reducing damaging arterial inflammation. As we all know, good heart health is key to living a long and healthy life.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193654/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/how-yoga-may-enhance-heart-health

You tend to burn more calories with Vinyasa yoga

Vinyasa yoga is one of the top yoga types for caloric burn. It is estimated that a woman who weighs about 150 llbs (68Kg) burns an average of 594 calories in an hour of Vinyasa. However, that would be an hour of constant flow, so you’re looking at closer to 400-500 calories in the hour, taking into account Savasana and warm up.

https://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/wellbeing/this-is-how-many-calories-you-actually-burn-in-yoga/news-story/26e2a7294715a6028dee66c4a019b902

When paired with exercise, yoga can enhance your physical fitness

If you do other forms of fitness, yoga in general is an amazing way to supplement your routine. When pairing stretch with other forms of fitness, you help your muscles recover. Plus as discussed above, Vinyasa yoga has the added benefit of helping you build strength. This can enhance your overall physical performance!

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12405/5-reasons-yoga-strength-training-combine-perfectly.html

Because Vinyasa spends so much focus on breathing, it may ease asthma symptoms

I have horrible asthma, I am talking, lungs at 50% capacity without treatment, bad. After doing Vinyasa for a few months, I have noticed that I’ve had far fewer flare-ups than normal. A study done on 57 adults with asthma supports the notion that yoga may have a positive impact on asthma symptoms.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/yoga-benefits-beyond-the-mat

Mental Benefits:

Yoga increases your mindfulness

Apparently, practicing yoga may help you become more mindful in general. However, an article from Harvard suggests that there is a correlation with yoga practice and an increase in mindful eating. This in and of itself can help with BMI control and maintaining a healthy weight.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/yoga-benefits-beyond-the-mat

Practicing yoga reduces stress and anxiety and builds up your overall stress resilience

Not only is it suggested that yoga helps reduce stress, but it also helps build up your resilience to stress. Plus, yoga has been proven to lower cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and reduce overall anxiety in those who practice yoga regularly.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193654/

Yoga has been shown to strengthen neurological pathways and cognitive functioning:

Practicing yoga helps to strengthen neurological pathways and aid in memory and learning. Plus, it is suggested that practicing yoga is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Integrating yoga into your fitness routine can do wonders for both your body and your mind.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5483482/

I could go on forever about the benefits of practicing Vinyasa yoga. But why do that when you can see the amazing benefits yourself!

Try Out Vinyasa Flows With These Free Resources:

• This 10 minute flow from PopSugar Fitness is guaranteed to get your blood flowing

• This 30 minute ab and butt flow will have you toned up and feeling relaxed

• Try having a look at these Vinyasa sequences to explore a flow at your own pace

No matter if you do Vinyasa yoga in the studio or by yourself at home, make sure to focus on your breathing. That is the key to a successful flow.

Happy Vinyasa flows my yogis!

30 Days to Healthy Living Challenge:

*This post contains affiliate links

Hello there babes!

Hopefully you have been keeping up with me during my 30 days to healthy living challenge on Facebook and Instagram. If not, don’t fret, because this post covers it all.

For those of you who don’t know, I have become and independent consultant for Arbonne International. Arbonne sells vegan, GMO free, plant based, ethical beauty and health products. In my count down to going home, I wanted to make a significant stride in making my life healthier. It was so important to me to use botanical products that were ethical and clean in my journey and Arbonne offered just that, along with 40 years of scientific and clinical data.

I have completed Arbonne’s 30 Days to Healthy Living challenge, and the difference speaks for itself!

Before:

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Why Did I Want to Do This Challenge?

I have always struggled with my body image, and throughout the years, my weight has fluctuated significantly. In high school, I went from a size 16 to a size 8 in my senior year. I continued working out and following a strict food plan through my Freshman year in college where I became a size 6. I had felt amazing, but college was starting to get more intense and I found myself with 3 jobs and going to school full time. This meant that my health was put on the back burner. Well, fast forward 5 and 1/2 years later where I gained a lot of that weight back.

I became very sporadic about working out, and I ate what I wanted, especially when the dinning hall had late night hours or when middle of the night Pho runs were encouraged. I went back up to a size 8 by the time I ended up in Scotland for my MSc. I wasn’t bothered by that, because I still felt healthy and could fit in most of my clothes. Plus, by this time, I was doing pole which kept me in okay shape.

Then, I moved back to Colorado in September of 2018. I have to say, moving away from my new home, away from all my friends and my lovely partner was very hard. So much so, I stopped working out, stopped going to pole and took comfort in lots of mac n’ cheese. I didn’t notice the impact it had on my body until I went to Mexico for my brother’s wedding. I saw a picture that was taken of me and I felt so low. I had already started to notice that my pants were a little tighter and clothes I was buying in my normal size were not looking quite right. But this picture was the cherry on top. I had been reluctant to take photos of myself or wear clothes I like because my confidence dropped.

I was up to a size 12 US. My jeans wouldn’t even reach around my abdomen anymore. This was when I decided that I needed to make more of an effort for my health. Not just to feel better about the way I looked, but to feel better about the way I felt overall. In May, I started hitting the gym and adopting a healthier diet. Around July, I had gone back down to a size 8. And better yet, I had started to feel better about myself.

INSERT PANTS TOO BIG PIC

Though I was happier and healthier, I knew I was on my way, but not quite at my goal. So, long story short, I decided to do Arbonne’s 30 Days to Healthy Living Challenge in order to push through the last month of me living in the States. I had about 30 days left until I went home, so I thought it was a perfect time to invest in my health and go for this____ I am currently a size 6 and have made physical gains that have made me a stronger athlete.

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE

GUIDE

GOALS

WEEK ONE

Day one:

OMG the berry shake I had for breakfast was so good! I was surprised at how long I stayed full for as well.

lunch rolled around and I wanted so so badly to go downstairs to the food truck extravaganza that happens outside my work at lunch time. But I was good, and I had a chocolate spinach crunch shake. I don’t think I could have raided the downstairs food trucks even if I wanted to after that! I was so full!

I had so much liquid. I had to pee constantly. I had 2L of water, plus another Liter between the teas and the various drink powders.

Day 2:

Day 2 did not go as planned. I ended up eating out for lunch, thinking I would do my meal replacement shake after Pole for my dinner. However, my Dad ended up in the ER after running into a wardrobe

WEEK TWO

I went to a bar bike for my friend’s birthday Saturday night, so the end of week one was a bit rough..(had a wee bit of a time the next day as I really don’t drink anymore). But, the beginning of week two went off with a bang! I found some new recipes 🙂

I also started eating more mindfully

Processed vegan food…?

Okay, so I have been bad, I have really only been eating one shake and two meals this week. BUT this will CEASE next week, and I have planned my grocery list accordingly…

I realized that I stopped tracking my water intake. So I have an app for that

WEEK THREE

something I learned about myself in this process is that I am a comfort eater.

WEEK FOUR

THOUGHTS

Before and After

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Want Results? This is What Your Workout Routine Needs:

Hello Lovely Readers!

I have gone through many ups and downs over the years when it comes to sticking to fitness. The big thing for me is sticking with it, no matter the crazy things that are going on in my life. I always forget that sticking with my health and fitness and striving to meet my goals will help me cope with all the other things going on.

As some of you may know, I am in the midst of completing Arbonne’s 30 Days to Healthy Living challenge. If you’ve been keeping up with me on social media, you will know it’s been such a rewarding journey thus far. I feel more confident than I have in a very long time. Plus, I am becoming a stronger Athlete, a more confident person, and overall happier.

Knowing Where to Start…

When I first started going to the gym in my senior year of high school, I literally would run on the treadmill to Fergalicious, jump off, and peddle on the spin stations as fast as I could for 20 minutes. I had no clue what I was doing, and at the time, didn’t even know that you could change the resistance on the bikes…

oh yeah, and let’s not forget the period of high school where Just Dance Wii was my go to exercise (don’t judge).

Well this was great for losing a lot of weight, but it didn’t really change my body composition. For years I worked out, and though I learned a few things along the way, the one thing I wasn’t integrating into my work outs was strength training. This resulted in my plateau and huge frustrations that I was working out regularly, but nothing seemed to be changing.

Well fast forward to the Fall of 2017. I joined pole society at the University of Glasgow and started to pole regularly. This sport has always been a great love of mine, but also has been one of the most challenging things I have done. It required a lot of strength that I did not have, and I again, became frustrated that a year and a half of doing this sport and I could not even begin to try half the moves my other pole friends had mastered.

So back to this health journey. I knew that getting in shape needed to be different this time and so I did a ton of research. Turns out strength training would solve all my issues that I had been having, however, it was having a balanced work out routine that would yield the best results.

My doggo likes to join me for a wee pole sesh ❤

Having a balanced routine that includes a mix of strength, cardio and stretch will help your muscles build, burn the most fat, and allow for flexibility and muscle recovery.

What do you need to include in your fitness regimen?

Your fitness regimen will entirely depend on how active you want to be. If you are just getting into fitness, it is suggested that you start with maybe 2-3 days a week and build up to more days as you get more in shape. This will keep you from hurting yourself or causing too much strain on your muscles.

ACSM Guidelines suggest that we should be getting 150-300 minutes of exercise in a week. This equates to about 3-5 days a week of 1 hour work outs. However, this includes NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). These are activities that would not count as exercise per say, but that you burn calories such as vacuuming, taking the dog for a walk etc. Basically, the more that you make a point to get move throughout your day, the healthier you will be, (sounds like common sense right?).

Ideally you should have a good mix of exercise methods in your fitness regimen in order to burn fat and to increase fitness ability. Here is what you need to include:

1. Cardio

The ACSM recommends about 75-150 minutes a week of intense aerobic activity. So about 2-3 hours a week you should spend doing some vigorous cardio such as spin, running, cardio dance, or HIIT.

However, not all cardio is created equal. If your focus is weight loss, studies show that HIIT training is the most effective for burning fat and building endurance and stamina. Plus, most HIIT exercises incorporate strength moves, so you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. This form of exercise is when you do short bursts of high intensity workouts with short rests in between. HIIT trainings are great because they can be incorporated into just about any routine. Plus, HIIT has been shown to be very efficient in burning fat and actually has shown to increase your metabolism! Plus you are building endurance through raising and lowering your heart rate.

I recently did a quick 15 minute HIIT on the treadmill before working on some strength moves. In 15 minutes I was clocked at having burned 160 calories. It was the most intense 15 minute work out I had ever done! But it felt amazing 🙂

Check out this 25 minute HIIT workout here

2. Strength Workouts

So I do lift weights, but only about once a week. Plus, I haven’t worked up the nerve to take a gym selfie yet, so you get to see my lovely at-home-barre workout selfies! whoohoo!

I consider pole, barre and Vinyasa yoga a strength workout. They work your muscles and help you build strength and flexibility, plus they are so much fun! I love Barre because it is easy to do from the comfort of your own home, and you can use a chair.

Barre is my fave way to tone when not on the pole 🙂

Strength workouts are a great way to see results because as you build muscle, you burn more fat. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate. If you build muscle it helps you burn off unwanted and stubborn fat and it helps you keep it off! So if you want your workouts to be efficient, it is important to include strength training.

There are so many other advantages to incorporating strength training into your exercise routine. By doing so, you are actually helping your body protect bone and muscle mass and increase cardiovascular health.

My favorite strength workouts are those that incorporate some sort of dance or stretch. So I only lift actual weights about once a week. Barre, pole and vinyasa are all amazing ways to build strength throughout your entire body, so don’t be afraid to stir up the pot and try something new!

3. Stretch Days

I love yoga as a means of exercise because while you are giving your muscles a nice stretch, you are also building strength! So, double win 🙂

There is a lot of argument on whether yoga should be treated as a recovery workout. While some forms yoga deliver amazing benefits to recovering muscles, not all forms are good as a means of recovery per se.

Yoga such as Hatha yoga, which is low impact and focused on stretch, is an amazing way to recover. This is true especially if you do a lot of weight lifting or put your muscles under a lot of strain. Vinyasa yoga, which incorporates strength exercises, should not be used for muscle recovery.

I love to integrate yoga with the rest of my strength workouts. I practice primarily Vinyasa flow, which allows me to build my strength as well as my flexibility and balance. I have become much more flexible and my pole practice has become much better since starting Vinyasa.

But either way, practicing yoga reduces your risk of injury when doing other work outs, helps build stamina and helps increase your mood!

4. Rest Days

You need to take days off to be successful. Your muscles need recovery time!

Yes, You really do need to take rest days

When we work out, what happens is you are creating micro-tears in your muscular tissue. These tears get filled in with more tissue which becomes a larger muscle 🙂 However, the only time that these tears heal is when we are resting. If you don’t properly give your body a chance to rest after workouts you will plateau in your progress. In fact, overstraining your body can lead to immunity issues and may even lead to injury.

However, just because it is a rest day doesn’t mean you should lounge about. Aim for an active rest day, where you focus on low impact activities such as going for a walk, hatha yoga or even counting those NEAT activities 🙂

Constant work and strain on your muscles can be more detrimental to your fitness gains than help. It is important to give your muscles the time they need to repair themselves and grow stronger! Like you, they need a little bit of a rest period.

So like everything else, your routine needs to be balanced.

Switch it up

Constantly doing the same routine will end up in a plateau. If you keep doing the same circuits, your muscles will actually adapt and will stop building. Not to mention, the more you switch things up, the more muscles you will end up working. Thus, you will become stronger from head to toe.

Here are some ideas to help you mix up your routine :

Stregth:

• Barre
• Pole
• Vinyasa Yoga
• Wight lifting
• Les Mills Body Pump
• HIIT Strength

Cardio:

• Zumba
• Running
• Spin
• Swimming
• Kickboxing
• HIIT Cardio

If you don’t want to go to the gym for whatever reason, YouTube and Pop sugar are amazing resources for free work out videos that you can do from the comfort of your own home.

I usually do most of my work outs at the gym, but because my gym doesn’t offer a Barre class, sometimes I will just resort to doing one in my bedroom. These are my favorite ones, they are short but are very effective:

What my routine looks like:

So I aim to have two rest days a week, but I try to make them active rest days. This might mean that I go for a small walk, or make an effort to walk and stretch more at work. I aim to get 10,000 steps in on my rest days. So far, I have not even come close to this goal! I’ve been hitting around 7,000 steps on my rest days thus far. I know this will increase when I move back to Scotland for Uni, because I will literally be walking everywhere.

I have always kind of stuck to dance cardio as my work out of choice. If you can’t tell, I prefer work outs that are fun and integrate some sort of dance or stretch 🙂 I also do various strength exercises such as vinyasa yoga, pole, body pump, and sometimes a wee barre session.

Here is how I schedule my current workouts 🙂

This schedule is based on a 300 minute exercise week. I attempt to so some form of exercise 5 days a week. This has really been helpful for fitting in cardio, strength and stretch. On days I don’t have time, I aim to do a 15/20 minute HIIT workout and maybe some yoga just to make sure I am still doing something active.

I take two rest days, two cardio, and two-three strength days. I practice a type of yoga known as Vinyasa flow, which is designed to be more physically demanding. While you do stretch in Vinyasa, you also do a lot of strength building, so I count my yoga day as a stretch/strength day. I do switch this up time to time just to make sure I am not plateauing!

What is your favorite type of workout?

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Learn How I Am Meeting My Health and Fitness Goals in 30 Days

Hello Everyone!

Thank you as always for taking the time to visit my little blog here ❤

This is an exciting post for me, as I have been blogging for a little while now. The world of blogging has been an amazing opportunity with a strong and supportive community behind it. But I have wanted to branch out a bit more lately and expand my blog by involving more of a business aspect.

That being said, I am excited to formally announce that I have become an Independent Consultant with Arbonne! I am so excited for this business venture and the opportunity for personal growth and development. This means, I will be doing more posts that have Arbonne products featured and will be posting about it more frequently. It is very important to me that I am using and promoting brands and products that I trust and that I believe in.

What does that have to do with healthy living you may be asking? well Arbonne does a 30 days to healthy living challenge for preferred clients and consultants. To be honest, this program was a huge reason behind my personal involvement with Arbonne.

Upcoming 30 Days to Healthy Living Challenge:

If you all have seen on my social media, I have been posting a little tiny bit about my weight loss journey. One reason a lot of my older blog posts don’t have personal pictures is because I gained a lot of weight over the period I was writing my Dissertation and when I had to move back home. However, I have been working extremely hard to transition to a healthy lifestyle over the last few months.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz6FD1pgX6p/

I have also made great strides in my athletic abilities. I have been doing pole dance fitness for about a year and a half, and had really hit a wall in terms of what I could and could not do. It made me feel insecure and all my friends were advancing far more quickly than I was. Once I started working out to supplement my pole, I became better at the sport. It only took me a year and a half, but I can finally invert! whoot whoot! These small victories have motivated me to continue to push myself and become better.

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I know this challenge will allow me to push through the end to help meet my health and fitness goals. I have noticed a huge change in not only how I look and feel, but my overall confidence levels.

So for this 30 day challenge I have set some goals:

1. I will continue to change my body composition to be more muscular so that I can continue to advance in sports
2. I will learn to transition off of processed foods and refined sugars to support a healthier lifestyle
3. I will get settled into a routine with meal planning and fitness so that when I start school again, I can have a solid system of self-care in place.

My Steps to 30 Days:

I have started the challenge today, and will be participating until August 21st. I have a little over a month before I move back home. So, I will be starting this challenge in time to finish it before I move. I will be updating all you with my progress over social media so be sure to follow so you can be updated regularly!

I have embedded a video from Arbonne that goes over a bit of what the 30 Days to Health Challenge is, so if you have a moment, take a wee look 🙂

For 30 days here is what I will be eliminating:

• Animal Based Products 3-4 days a week
• Refined sugar – that means NO sweets, no Yogurt with added sweetener, tomato sauces with added sugar etc.
• Processed Foods -I will be sticking to whole foods, so no salt and vinegar crisps for me.
• Dairy -I will be switching to plant based diary products full time during the duration of this challenge. I have already eliminated pretty much all diary from my diet (Except cheese), but I will be stricter about it for these 30 days.

I will be replacing 1-2 meals a day with meal replacement shakes. Meal replacement shakes are different from basic protein shakes because they require an assortment of fresh fruits and veggies as well as healthy fats. This ensures that you are still getting the nutrients that your body needs in a day.

The other meal of my day will be proportioned as such:

Half the plate- fresh veggies

1/4 of the plate- lean protein

1/8 of the plate- Complex carbs (sweet potatoes, whole grain pasta, brown rice etc)

1/8 of the plate- Healthy Fats (Avocado, nuts etc)

If you want more information about the 30 days challenge, send me a wee message either via the contact form or my Facebook page

Make sure to check in on Instagram and Facebook over the next 30 days! I will be posting lots of recipes, tips and updates to social media. Additionally, I will post my results the day I leave for Scotland on the 22nd of August.

If you have any questions about the 30 days please feel free to drop me a comment or a message 🙂

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Why You Should Aim to Have More Plant Based Foods in Your Diet

I know all the benefits of a plant based diet and I have many friends and loved ones who have chosen to switch to plant based and vegan lifestyles, but for me, switching over to a lifestyle that cuts out animal products all together wasn’t something I could realistically do. I have never been someone who could give up eating meat, or more specifically, cheese.

However, I was watching a video where celebrity dietitian and Well+Good council member Kimberly Snyder helped out a team of people on Buzzfeed create custom diets. The video is very informational and contains some good tips on how to clean up your diet a bit. Plus, the morning routine she assigned each of the women had aspects I wanted to integrate into my own morning routine, so I started looking into Kimberly’s books and articles a bit more.

You can find the Buzzfeed video here.

Glowing Green Smoothie ❤

Maybe you too will become inspired to include some of Kimberly’s amazing tips! The one tip that stood out to me was when she suggested that one of the diets should strive for 2-3 vegan days a week. This got me wondering, can a part time vegan diet be beneficial?

After doing some research, I have found that you don’t have to completely eliminate animal products if you want to experience some of the benefits. In fact, striving for a vegan diet part time can also allow you to maintain some essential nutrients that are harder to get with a completely plant based diet.

So I have started a part time plant based diet, where I limit my intake of animal based products such as meat, animal based dairy, and refined sugar to 3-4 days a week.

While there some great health related reasons to eat more plant based foods, some people have given up meat and animal products for moral reasons. So if that is more you, well then you can still read all about the amazing benefits of a plant based diet, maybe even learn about a plant based swap or two 🙂

Benefits of a Plant Based Diet

Turns out, the consumption of meat is significantly impacting the environment.

I am sure you have heard that the consumption of animal based products is killing the environment. Well this seems to be a true claim. According to a 2006 study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock activities accounted for at least 18% of global emissions. Additionally of all the global emissions that the agriculture industry had contributed, livestock contributed nearly 80% of all agricultural emissions.

Basically, just farming livestock for consumption contributes a huge chuck to our global emissions. The more we consume meat and animal products, the more livestock is farmed, supply and demand. Thus, by decreasing consumption of animal based products, you are lowering your carbon footprint. In fact, experts say that giving up beef alone would reduce carbon emissions even more than giving up cars.

Even going part time vegan, reducing or even eliminating beef from your diet is a great way to make an individual stride towards reducing your impact on climate change.

Not only is a plant based diet better for the earth, it is better for your body.

Studies have shown that those with a plant based diet often have better weight management and lower BMI’s. According to PopSugar, including more plant based foods in your diet will help you to achieve weight loss as you are naturally consuming less saturated fats and more fiber.

Fiber is such an important aspect to a balanced diet, and many people don’t get the recommended daily amount. Fiber helps keep your digestion tract healthy, reduces bloat, and helps control blood sugar levels. Plus, you are less likely to overeat, as consumption of fiber helps control hunger levels.

If you are like me, and you want to make strides towards having a good environmental impact, and increasing your health, but you aren’t ready to give up all your guilty pleasures, reducing your intake of non plant based foods can still have a hugely beneficial impact.

Plant Based Alternatives/Swaps

One concern with switching to a plant based diet is the reduction of essential nutrients we often get from animal products. However, when done the right way, switching to a plant based diet should allow you to get all the nutrients your body still needs.

The important thing to keep in mind when switching to a plant based diet is intake of essential nutrients often found in animal products, such as B-12, iron, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, if you are not careful, you will heavily reduce the protein in your diet which could have negative impacts on your overall health.

If you have no idea where to start, check out these easy plant based swaps.

My Journey to a Part Time Plant Based Diet:

Check out all my vegan goodies from this week’s grocery haul!

I have reduced my animal product intake to 4 days a week. Which means the other 3 days of my week I have been attempting to stick to a completely plant based diet.

Small Swaps helped me along…

I thought that this would be easy, because I don’t eat a lot of meat anyway, mostly because it costs an arm and a leg (no pun intended..?) and I really don’t like milk. I was so wrong. There are so many things that have animal product in it that you wouldn’t think about if you’ve never had to. Like pesto, totally forgot about the cheese! I think the biggest challenge in this is forcing myself to cook more foods, so that I can control what goes in them.

I have also been trying to have probiotics before breakfast. Probiotics are live cultures and bacteria which help your digestive track. I was drinking a Yakult lite every morning and trying to eat more yogurt as a snack. Problem is, these are both diary products. So, I switched to powdered drink supplements that contain probiotics, and I am eating coconut yogurt rather than diary. It’s small swaps such as these that have kept me from feeling completely overwhelmed in reducing my animal product intake.

I found myself eating more veggies and high fibre foods.

Okay, I have never been a poster child for routinely getting my 5 a day. In fact, I have a friend that invites me over for dinner and feeds me copious amounts of veggies to preserve my health. So yeah, it has been a big challenge getting all the good nutrients I need. Well the good news about a plant based diet, you kind of have to eat your veggies!

Simply by following a plant based diet 3 days a week has helped me to focus my meals on nutrients I was often neglecting. Additionally, it helped me to increase my fibre intake which aids in digestion and the feeling of fullness, so you don’t overeat.

Another plus of plant based foods? There is much less bloating. I have noticed that I don’t feel as bloated after plant based meals, and I feel lighter. You know that not so great feeling after a heavy meal? like you have a rock dwelling in the bottom of your stomach? well I don’t have that feeling since switching over to a plant based diet. Even on days that I do allow myself to eat animal products, I am much less likely to overeat.

Okay Let’s Glow

I would be lying if I didn’t say that one big reason I chose to partake in a part time plant based diet wasn’t the promise of healthy, glowing skin. Not only does that sound brilliant, but healthy glowing skin is the key to getting up in the morning and not having to put on foundation (really my reasoning is I am just lazy but want to look cute).

To be frank, a huge part of healthy glowing skin is a healthy diet but unfortunately there is more to it. Not only do you need to eat a healthy and nutritious diet for healthy skin, but you need to hydrate, reduce stress and invest in a solid skin care routine void of harmful chemicals and ingredients. Basically, eating healthy skin foods will only get you part of the way.

So, I had a look at my habits and identified what other things I needed to do to bring about my lazy day skin. I found that for me, the biggest issue was my water intake, or lack thereof.

Ideally, you should be drinking half your body weight in ounces of water a day. The standard recommendation by health officials is that you drink about 2 Liters of water a day.

I downloaded a water tracking app because I am that person that grabs a coffee when I am feeling meh. I also sometimes have good intentions, but I end up forgetting to drink water until the day is done. I end up super dehydrated and guys, apparently dehydration is the literal devil. Dehydration impacts your skin, your hair, your cognition and focus levels as well as your digestion. Fun fact, did you know that drinking up to 1 glass of water can improve your cognition by 14%? This is me after finding that out:

After downloading the water tracking app, I have consistently been hitting my water target for a couple weeks now. There are a lot of apps that not only allow you to track your intake, but send you hourly reminders to drink water!

At first, I had to use the bathroom every 5 minutes (not even joking) but after the first two weeks of consistent water consumption, this side effect ebbed a bit. But I did indeed feel more productive and focused, and I saw a huge difference in my skin. It looked more fresh, plumped and hydrated, plus the bags under my eyes became quite a bit less noticeable. Not sure if this was the water or the daily eye masks I’ve been using? Either way, I am happy.

Part Time Plant Based Strategies:

There are a few ways to modify your diet to be plant based on a part time basis. First is by following the diet a certain number of days in the week ie. 3/4 days a week, adhere to a plant based diet. OR you can do PB until 6pm. So essentially, you eat vegan in the morning and the afternoon and after 6 can have grass fed/ lean meats.

For me, I know I would have a hard time sticking to it if I didn’t have a full day of plant based foods. It is much easier for me to go, no, I am having a PB day than waiting until 6pm. I know I would probably try to cheat if I allowed myself animal products after a certain time.

Stock your fridge with easy PB options

As you have seen by my grocery haul, my fridge has mostly plant based options. I bought some easy things to make for when I am tempted to eat out (which is a lot harder to do on a PB day). One thing I’ve started keeping around are vegan veggie burgers. These are super easy to heat up for a quick meal and have lots of protein which is great after one of my evening work outs. I just slice some avocado and put it all on whole wheat, diary free bread.

One thing I like about the glowing green smoothie is that it makes A TON. I literally had to blend it in batches because it was wayy to big for my blender. This meant that for one day’s effort, I had three-four amazing plant based breakfasts ready to go! This smoothie is super thick and full of fibre, so it is a great way to start plant based days.

don’t mind me in my morning get up 🙂

What are some of your strategies to keeping to a plant based diet?

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