Drink More Water

Drinking water is so important!! But lets be honest, how many of us drink as much water daily as we should? Probably VERY few of us, or none! Sometimes it just doesn’t sound appealing to drink plain water all day. But I also do not like the idea of using the liquid flavors either, because who knows what garbage is in those! So, I have a solution for you……make your own delicious flavored water!!!

I found this awesome water jug at Home Goods, but you can find them anywhere. (Just search water infuser jug and the options are endless.) What you do is fill up the compartment with whatever you would like to infuse your water with and then just add water. Let it sit and as the week goes on you will have the most delicious flavored water ever! This one has strawberries, raspberries and mint in it. Other ideas are: lemon, oranges, cilantro, pineapple, limes, etc etc. Just be creative. I promise you will enjoy drinking your daily water when it tastes like this!!!

Hope this little tip will allow you to enjoy your daily water a little more! 🙂

Friday Fun Day – Burn Up Your Fat at Home

I realized lately that I needed some motivation. I used to go running a lot, but would constantly injure myself. So, I stopped running all together. I workout in the comfort of my living room, doing body weight strength building exercises, yoga, etc. I love the way these exercises make me feel….ESPECIALLY when you stay on top of them and do them 5 times a week. It is amazing how great you can feel by working out at home with some light weights 5x a week for 20-30 minutes. But, we all know that life gets in the way. Between work, laundry, kids, meals, sports, family, etc…..sometimes we can lose sight of our goals. It is easy to fall out of a routine like working out. Even when you are just doing it at home. SO, this is my post to say……no more excuses. 5x a week. Summer is coming up and I know NONE of us want to feel icky in a bathing suit 😉 SO let’s get working!!!!!

Friday Fun Day

Warm Up:

100 Jumping Jacks

2 minutes Jumping Rope

30 seconds High Knees

30 Seconds Butt Kicks

30 Seconds Sprint in Place

Get Burning:

20 Kicks Around The World (each side) – Kick forward, kick to the side, kick back – that is 1

40 Alternating Cross Over Backward Lunges – Hold Weight At Chest with Both Hands

20 Tipping Rows (each side)

50 Squats

20 Moving Lunges with Kettlebell or Weight Exchange between legs of Lunge

10 Supermans – Lift legs up to knees, arms and chest off the ground, hold for a 10 count – that is 1

20 Single Leg Bridges (each side)

50 Alternating Step Ups

60 Bicycle Crunches

60 Second Plank

Warm Down

100 Jumping Jacks

60 Second Butt Kicks

60 Seconds Speed Skaters

10 Burpees

CONGRATS on an awesome workout! Now you will be energized to start your weekend off on the right foot! Remember to drink lots of water!! Especially out in the west, spring is in full effect! We have to remember to hydrate as the heat picks back up! I want you all to remember that happiness is a choice. We can’t just tell ourselves to be happy…..but we can make changes in our lives that will bring happiness into our lives. 🙂 Have an awesome Friday!

#ourprimallife #athomeworkouts

Motivation Monday – Get in a QUICK sweat!

One thing I know for certain is that you do not need a ton of time to get in a good sweat. If all you have is 10-20 minutes. Then hit it hard, get sweating and get on with your day. I promise that just getting in a quick workout will give you energy, brighten your attitude toward the day and will make you feel SO much better than if you just skip it all together. Take what you have and make the best out of it!

Motivation Monday:

50 Squats – In-between each squat kick leg forward and touch toe with alternating hand – alternated which leg you kick forward after each squat

60 Bicycle Crunches

20 Push ups – if you can’t get through 20 either lower your knees and do the remaining on your knees – OR – set a timer for 60 seconds and do as many as you can in the 60 seconds, resting as you need.

50 Alternating Forward Lunges

50 Pilates Toe Taps

50 Alternating Weighted Bicep Curls

30 Seconds – Sprint in Place

60 Alternating Speed Skaters

60 second Elbow Plank

50 Alternating Shoulder Presses – with weight

50 Alternating Backward Lunges

60 Alternating Straight Leg Lifts

30 Butterfly Presses – with weight

Stretch It Out:

Forward Bends

Torso Twists

Arm Stretches

Congrats on a good quick Monday sweat! I hope you enjoyed this quickie but goodie! Sometimes when you don’t have a ton of time, getting in SOMETHING is way better than nothing!

#ourprimallife #quickworkouts #sweatathome

Thursday Cardio

Hope you are all having an awesome week. I must say……I am ready for Friday night. I am ready to have my family home, spend some quality time together, get outside and play together, go on walks, maybe go to the rock climbing gym…….just have a fun weekend. Today it is gloomy here 😦 Which isn’t common…..so, I suppose to have it once in a while is nice. BUT it is definitely harder to get motivated!! So, what a better reason than that to get off of my butt and get some cardio in?

Cardio Workout

100 Jumping Jacks

2 Minutes – Jumping Rope

30 Seconds – High Knees

30 Seconds – Butt Kicks

100 Jumping Jacks

2 Minutes – Jumping Rope

30 Seconds – High Knees

30 Seconds – Butt Kicks

20 Burpees

50 Squats – Last 10 Jumping Squats

60 Seconds – Jogging in Place

45 Seconds – Mountain Climbers

50 Squats – Last 10 Jumping Squats

60 Seconds – Jogging in Place

45 Seconds – Mountain Climbers

40 Alternating Backward Lunges with Forward Kick

40 Alternating Forward Lunges with Backward Kick

40 Alternating Side Kicks

100 Jumping Jacks

2 Minutes – Jumping Rope

30 Seconds – High Knees

30 Seconds – Butt Kicks

10 Burpees

Congrats!!! Hope you are feeling the sweat from that workout! It is as easy as that to get an awesome workout in, at your own home. You do not have to go to the gym to get in a good workout. Utilize what you have at home……learn to use your bodyweight alone to get a good workout. 🙂 I promise you, at home exercises CAN and WILL change your body!

Hope you all have an awesome Thursday and remember to drink LOTS of water!

#ourprimallife #exerciseathome #nogymneeded #30minuteexercises #getfitathome

Beef Jerky – Part Two

First I must say….the beef jerky is DELICIOUS!!! I was so surprised at how simple the whole process is, and how delicious the end result turned out. Why would you ever spend the outrageous money on packaged beef jerky when you can make your own!?!? I am sold for life – on making our own beef jerky. No preservatives, you know the cut of meat, you know the source of meat, you know the spices, etc……I mean, it is a no brainer. If you missed the first part of the post, here it is for you:

Beef Jerky

We made 3 lbs of flank steak, so it didn’t all fit in the dehydrator…..so, I put some of it in the oven. This worked JUST as well. So, don’t worry if you don’t have a dehydrator…..just use your oven!

As you can see I put the beef on a rack and had it over a aluminum foil lined baking sheet, for quicker clean-up. Some of the beef had started to brown a little from sitting in the marinade/seasonings for the roughly 36 hours.

Just 3 hours later I was delighted to see that we had PERFECT beef jerky. Made fresh from our own kitchen!! How awesome is that? It looked like beef jerky and tastes AWESOME!!!

Our daughter LOVED it! She has enjoyed having some in her lunch or as a snack. What a delicious and nutritious treat to have! 🙂

I hope you all enjoy and try for yourself to see just how simple this is and how delicious homemade beef jerky is!!!!! Hope you have an awesome Thursday 🙂

#ourprimallife #paleorecipes #homemadebeefjerky #primalkitchen #deliciousandnutrition #healthysnacks

Homemade Beef Jerky

We are so excited! We are in the middle of making our first batch of homemade beef jerky in a LONG time! My husband used to make homemade beef jerky and turkey jerky….but somehow, life happens. You have kiddos and they have schedules and all of a sudden you realize it has been WAY too long since you used your dehydrator. SO we bought some yummy flank steak at Costco and went to work. My husband gave taught me a good lesson this weekend….you don’t want to marinade fresh beef jerky in fats (oils) ~ BECAUSE, they will go rancid more quickly. Good tip!!!

We decided to refer to a recipe this time to make the beef jerky. Typically we freeze it, take it out and let it thaw a little, slice it really thinly, then just season it up really well and throw it in the dehydrator. BUT we wanted to follow a recipe to see how it tasted. So we pulled the beef jerky recipe from the Primal Palate website: http://www.primalpalate.com/paleo-recipe/beef-jerky/ (PS..these people are AWESOME, if you haven’t seen their site or read they cookbooks ~ you should!)

We are just at the beginning stage. We froze our meat, let it thaw, cut it up and put it in with coconut aminos and garlic over-night.

Now it is all seasoned up and waiting until tomorrow morning to go in the dehydrator…..

so, stay tuned for the official review. 🙂 I will give you an update on the dehydrator and finished product tomorrow!!! Have an awesome Monday!

#ourprimallife #primalrecipes #paleo #homemadebeefjerky

Let’s Talk About Health

I get so frustrated watching TV commercials these days. I swear all you see is commercials claiming “pop this pill and lose weight…..no exercise or diet needed”. Really?! What in the world is in most of those pills? I don’t even want to know. Truly, the thing that disturbs me the most is that we are marketing to people with a true disease, yes obesity is a disease, telling them to keep on living their sedentary unhealthy lifestyles and just pop a pill to deal with the weight. WHAT?!?! NOOOOOO!!! We need to be educating people on how to eat healthy, how to exercise…..how to take care of themselves and get healthy. Believe it or not, the majority of people do not know how to eat healthy, they never had a good example set for them. They don’t know how to start exercising and what to do…..as a community we need to stop contributing to yo-yo dieting and easy fixes and start educating our youth on health and staying physically active. It is a crime that PE is being taken out of schools from budget cuts. I mean, what is wrong with us!?!? How does that seem like a good idea when we have such a problem with obesity in this country?

Let’s talk about some good ways to live healthy:

Walk:

• Park further away from the door so you have to walk further
• Walk for 10 minutes at lunch, everyday (if you live in snow, walk around your office)

Exercise:

• Do lunges, squats, push-ups, crunches, planks – whatever you can think of, during commercials when you are watching TV at night.
• FIRST thing in the morning – get out of bed and do some jumping jacks, squats, push ups

Your Plate:

• ALWAYS use a small plate. There is no need ever for a large plate. Put it back and get the small one.
• Fill half of your plate with vegetables. Every single meal. 1/2 of your plate should always be veggies. The majority of the remaining plate should be protein, with a small portion left for carbs.

Food Preparation:

• Buy raw vegetables – but when you get home, chop them up IMMEDIATELY and store them in ziploc bags or tupperware. That way when you go to the refrigerator the healthy food is ready available for you.
• Buy bulk healthy meats (we buy at Costco) – when you get home immediately put them in ziplocs with a marinade and freeze them. That way you can take a lean protein out in the morning and have it ready to grill up when you get home from work, or all your kiddos activities.

The number one thing you have to know is that living a healthy lifestyle does take work. BUT….it is completely worth it, to put in the extra effort and time in order to feel so much more alive. I promise you that if you challenge yourself to move more and eat real healthy foods, you WILL feel like a completely different person. Please, don’t just pop a pill and hope to lose weight. Put in the effort for yourself, because you are worth it.

#ourprimallife #healthylifestyle #healthyliving #eatwell

Butt and Leg Burn

I feel like it is time for a good butt and leg workout! It is definitely one of those days where there is too much jiggle in my behind 😉 I know you know exactly what I mean. What is better than to get a good burn?! I am feeling a little under the weather today……so what better way to forget about my sniffles and get some good energy flowing in my body? Hope you enjoy the workout!!

Butt & Legs

Warm Up:

100 Jumping Jacks

30 seconds High Knees

30 seconds Butt Kicks

120 seconds Jumping Rope

20 Burpees

Set One:

60 Alternating Leg Forward Lunges

50 Squats

50 Alternating Step Ups

20 Calf Raises – on each leg

Set Two:

30 Kettlebell Swings

30 Static Ball Leg Curls

5 Clam Digs (25 each side) – can add band for resistance

60 Alternating Toe Taps

Set Three:

60 Alternating Backward Lunges

30 Single Leg Bridges – on each side

60 seconds Lateral Jumps – over either a string/line or a box

30 Backward Leg Lifts – on each side

Repeat Set 1, 2 & 3 2-3x

Cool Down:

100 Jumping Jacks

60 seconds Jogging in Place

10 Burpees

60 second Plank

Congratulations on an awesome workout! Sure to leave you feeling the burn in your legs and butt. Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

#ourprimallife #buttworkout #legworkout #athomeworkouts

Beets, Quinoa & Kale Salad with Grilled Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

How often do you feel like your dinners are just on repeat and are boring the heck out of you and your family? Often it is hard to think of new ideas……especially at the end of a long day. Sometimes a good way to venture your mind to the unknown is to think of items that you have ordered at a restaurant, seen on a menu, or a cooking show. We were sick of the same old thing and wanted to venture out and try something new……so we made a salad that was different than our usual spinach and veggies.

This meal was seriously easy. The only thing it did was dirty a few more dishes than normal…..but that is okay when the end result is a delicious meal!!

Beets, Quinoa & Kale Salad

Ingredients:

Kale

Romaine (or other lettuce for mixing)

Bunch of Beets

1 Cup Quinoa

Balsamic Dressing *Recipe Below

Directions:

Wash and cut the kale and romaine into bite sized pieces. To make the kale softer you can wash it and cut it up, then toss it with some coarse salt. Rub the salt into the leaves and it will soften them slightly.

Peel and chop up the beets. Boil the beets for about 20 minutes over medium-low heat. You can test the beets for readiness by trying to poke them with a fork. If you can easily, then they are fully cooked.

Bring quinoa to a boil. 1 cup of Quinoa and 2 cups of Chicken Broth. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

Now, once everything is cooked it is time to toss. In a bowl put your kale and romaine, spoon in some quinoa, beets and balsamic dressing. Slowly add in beets and quinoa so that the proportions are to your desire.

ENJOY! It is truly an amazing salad!!!

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

1 Clove Garlic

Oregano

Pepper

Salt

Directions:

Pour in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar in a 3:1 portion. So it you use 3/4 cup of olive oil you would use 1/4 cup of balsamic. Chop/Mince up 1 large clove of garlic and add it. Crush in ground black pepper and salt to taste. I use just a little salt and more pepper…but truly alter this to what you prefer. Shack in some oregano and shake it up. Let it sit for roughly 15 minutes before using. It is best to give it some time for the flavors to combine.

Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

4 Chicken Thighs (boneless-skinless)

Olive Oil

Fresh Lemon

Pepper

Salt

Paprika

Directions:

Mix together some olive oil, the juice of a lemon and the remaining seasonings to taste. I use lots of pepper and paprika and just a touch of salt. Sautee the chicken in the marinade for about 20 minutes before grilling.

I will not tell you how to grill….but the breasts over direct heat and the thighs off the direct heat it takes about 20 minutes to grill them up to perfection 😉

Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet Potato

Olive Oil

Chili Powder

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Chop the sweet potato in either chip like slices or fry slices. Mix with some olive oil until the sweet potatoes are coated. Sprinkle with minimal salt, pepper and chili powder and toss. Place the sweet potato slices out on baking dish so that none are overlapping. Bake for 20 minutes then flip and bake for an additional 20 minutes. The cook time will depend on how thick you slice the sweet potato. Check on them at the 15 minute mark to ensure they are not burning. If they are already browned, flip them and watch them on the other side as well.

I hope you enjoy this delicious, easy, nutritious meal as much as we did!

#ourprimallife #beetrecipes #saladrecipes #kale #eatinghealthyathome

Motivational Monday

Hey everyone! It has been TOO long…..I have been so busy with life that I neglected my posts. Sorry about that. But, I promise I will be consistent with these posts. I wanted to start the week off right and get a good sweat in. I am in the middle – well really beginning – of my Lent challenge. My husband and I are attempting to be STRICT paleo. Typically we live more of a primal style life. We allow ourselves dairy and live more of a life in moderation, choosing to eat healthy, real, fresh foods…limiting grains to a rare occasion. But right now we are trying to be completely PALEO for the lent season….so far it has been going so well. One thing we don’t like though is our morning coffee. *sigh* I usually put a coconut milk creamer in my coffee and my husband usually uses half ‘n half…..so it has been quite bland and not as exciting to wake up to. BUT adding some cinnamon truly makes a difference. That being said…..we have been on vacation skiing in Telluride, CO for the past week. So, I am in NEED of a good sweat this morning.

Monday Morning Sweat

100 Jumping Jacks

10 Burpees

50 Squats *last 10 jumping squats

120 Jumping Jacks

15 Burpees

60 Squats *last 10 jumping squats

SET ONE:

15-20 push ups

40 Alternating Lunges

60 Bicycle Crunches

Repeat 2-3x

SET TWO:

20-30 Tricep Dips

50 Step-Ups (alternating legs)

60 second Plank

Repeat 2-3x

SET THREE:

30-50 Alternating Bicep Curls with Weight

30 Static Ball Leg Curl

30 Static Ball Knee Tucks

Repeat 2-3x

COOL DOWN:

100 Jumping Jacks

5 Burpees

10 Squats

50 Jumping Jacks

5 Burpees

10 Squats

CONGRATS!!! You are done with an awesome workout that should leave you feeling awesome from head to toe! Remember to take a few minutes to stretch out once you are done. I promise you will feel the amazing results of this circuit workout. Hope you have an awesome start to your week!!

#fitnessathome #circuitworkouts #athomeworkouts #ourprimallife