Sinful Snow Food

Hello citizens of the Internet! If you're like me, then you are currently snowed in due to the impending doom of the East coast's most recent snow storm. Snow days are a great way to rest up, recharge your motivation fuel, and catch up on work that may be overwhelming you. Most importantly, however, snow days are the perfect day to, as they say on Parks and Rec, "Treat yo self!"

In my larger days, I definitely discovered my fair share of delectable food creations...most of which are PERFECT for snow days. Even though I am certainly more responsible about my health/exercise plans now, than in the past, I know that it is OKAY to take a day off every now and again!

Here are a few of my personal creations for you to try/enjoy:

Nutella, or Die:

• Scoop out the center of a carton of vanilla ice cream ~ Scoop in a generous amount of Nutella ~ Place the top layer of ice cream back on and refreeze ~ et Voila! Nutella ice cream! 

No-Fire S'mores: 

• Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil ~ cover foil with graham crackers ~ cover graham crackers with mini- milk chocolate bars ~ place a layer of mini marshmallows on top of the chocolate ~ spread a layer of nutella on the top layer of graham crackers before placing them on marshmallows. Leave in 175 degree oven for thirty minutes.
  

 C-Squared Cookies & Cream Milkshake:

• cover six individual oreos in chocolate chip cookie dough ~ bake in oven until thoroughly cooked (usually for 15 min. in a 350 degree oven) ~ scoop two generous amounts of vanilla ice cream into a blender~ add choco-chip oreos~ add desired amount of milk ~ go to town with the blender!! (served best with whipped cream, drizzled with melted milk chocolate or melted nutella) 
  

Nutella Cookie Sandwiches:

• This one's simple ~ make chocolate chip cookies ~ spread nutella in between two ~ either eat while warm, or freeze to make a wonderful spin on an ice cream sandwich. 
  

 And, if all else fails...you can never go wrong with this (below)...unless you are allergic to hazelnuts/tree nuts:

 In which case, you might want to stick with cinnamon buns. EVERYONE likes a good cinnamon bun :-)

Thank you for tuning in to my post! As always, Peace, Love and Nutella!

 

Why the Newspaper is Still Relevant

Hello again, citizens of the Internet! Today's post is off topic from my normal subject area, but I certainly think that it is worth mentioning. I'm talking about what used to be the most prevalent form of media in the United States and even the world (and in some areas, still is): the Newspaper.

Growing up (in Atlanta, GA...sorry, I had to throw the shameless plug in there!), I remember the newspaper being a regular presence in my house. My father would usually stop to get his morning cup of coffee and a newspaper before going to work each morning, and would always bring a folded up copy back to the house in the evenings, sticking out of his briefcase. This is something that he still does until this day. On Saturdays and Sundays he would typically spend a solid hour, sometimes more, sitting at the table reading the paper from cover to cover. Some of his regulars were the Atlanta Journal Constitution, The New York Times, and USA Today.

So, you're probably thinking, why am I talking about the importance and relevance of newspapers on a health/wellness lifestyle blog? The answer is simple. Knowledge is power...and certainly does not always mean strictly academic knowledge. The newspaper is an excellent, DAILY resource of knowledge...and what's the best thing about something that comes out daily? IT ALWAYS REMAINS CURRENT. You can find anything about the United States or the world in the paper. Everything from domestic and foreign affairs, to the arts and health/wellness discussions and articles. I make it a practice to grab the New York Times out of my lobby each morning before heading out to my classes for the day. I also stop by the student center and grab a complimentary Wall Street Journal, to stay on top of my financial and corporate governance headlines.

The best thing about these news outlets is that most of them can be found online. The majority of people my age (Early 20s) rely on social media outlets to deliver what may or may not be faulty news coverage on events that may or may not have even happened. Unfortunately too much of social media has been focusing on the Biebers and Cyrus' of the world...and unfortunately that's the majority of the "news" that people in my generation receive. There is almost an adopted attitude with individuals in their early 20's (generally speaking) that "if it's not populating or trending on facebook, twitter, etc. then it's obviously not worth my time." There are plenty of people my age or closer that are missing out on so much valuable information.

So, without further ado...Here are some tips to help you step up your newspaper game:

1. If your university, place of work, or other frequented location offers a complimentary subscription to a major newspaper, grab one! Take advantage of your resources!

2. In the age of smartphones, download an app(s). This can go beyond newspapers as well. The NYT, WSJ, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc. all offer apps for IOS and Android technology! There is nothing like staying informed on the go!

3. If you grab a newspaper, you don't even have to read the entire thing. Often, you can learn a lot by just looking at the headlines on the front page of each section of a paper. Do this, and you'll be able to hold, at minimum, an intelligent conversation about current events at school, work,  during an interview and even at the gym!

4. Often newspapers will direct your attention to other types of media outlets like suggestions for apps to download, social media to get involved in, or even blogs to follow (Ahem!)

5. Instead of spending a combined 2 hours+ mindlessly scrolling through social media, direct your attention to the newspaper you have sitting on your desk, collecting dust. The amount of knowledge you will learn within a short amount of time will surprise you and anyone you have a conversation with.

6. If you are still going to spend hours of mind-numbing scrolling on social media, at least follow a few news-pages on facebook, or a few newspaper accounts on twitter, etc., in order to get your daily dose of current global news.

7. When you're done with your newspaper, it makes a great place for you to place your wet, snow and salt-covered boots on to dry! 3 cheers for recycling!!


Thank you for visiting my blog! As always, Peace, Love and Nutella!!!

Playlists or, How I Survive My Workouts

A few days ago, I hopped on the treadmill for my usual workout. The machine was working great, as usual, as I began to start on my four mile run. During the first tenth of a mile, I plugged my headphones into the treadmill to add some music to my workout. By the time I approached the half-mile mark, I noticed how demotivated I was.  I just wasn't mentally willing to finish the remaining three and a half miles of my workout. I knew exactly why...I had been listening to the same exact playlist in the same exact order for all of my workouts over the past three weeks. I had listened to the same tracks over and over again, that the effect of the music on my motivation was non existent. The order in which the music played did not even matter, because I wore out the playlist until it was unbearable.

I stopped the machine, grabbed my belongings, and headed back to my apartment (definitely convenient for me to do, considering my gym is only right down the hallway from my apartment). I opened up my laptop, hooked up my phone and began to download an entirely new set of songs to a new running playlist. After the download was complete, I grabbed my things again and went back down to the gym...only to find that all of the treadmills were occupied (such a shame). I walked back to my apartment, frustrated of course, waited thirty more minutes until I was able to go back to the gym and triumphantly claim a vacant running machine!

The feeling you get when claiming a treadmill!

I connected my phone to the system via wi-fi and plugged in my headphones and WENT TO TOWN. The songs that I downloaded in my playlist were all throwbacks, but upbeat. There was everything from Journey to Salt n' Pepa, with Biggie, Heavy D, and even the Ramones thrown in between. I set my playlist on the shuffle function to give me a bit of variety.

I'm sure the other people in the gym must have thought that I was a little insane, because I really got into the music that I was listening to, while completing the workout. At one point, I even held one of my arms up as I was running, pretending that I was carrying one of the small Olympic torches into a stadium, to light the mother-of-all Olympic torches. Then, my power song, "The Time," by The Black Eyed Peas came on shuffle, as I was ending my run, just to pull me through the last quarter mile.

My playlist means so much to me while I'm working out. There have been plenty of times where the perfect song started playing and it re-vamped my motivation midway through my workout. Certain playlists can change your perspective on an entire routine. For me, depending on what I'm listening to, I pretend that I'm either running from a tornado, or sometimes even running next to Mufasa on an African savannah. 

A lot of people think that you only have to stick to one genre of music when creating a workout playlist, but the more variety you have, the more chances you have of being able to re-motivate yourself consistently throughout a workout. I even know people who plan their playlists, based on the different points of intensity throughout their planned workouts. If they know that they are going to be doing some extreme sprinting, crunches or heavy lifting, they choose music that will stay upbeat for the duration of that particular exercise. They will choose music with less frequent bpm (beats per minute), for the cool-down sections of their routines.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post! As always, Peace, Love and Nutella!!

  

Destined to be F.A.T.

Ever try escaping your destiny? Seems like a difficult task to accomplish. I don't think I have ever met anyone who has escaped their destiny...maybe because none of us know what our final outcome will be...we do not know what will be the pinnacle of our success...I mean, unless of course you have fortune-telling abilities [couldn't resist throwing in some dry humor.] The point I am trying to make is that we will not know what our fate is until we get there. That being said, why is it that most of us try to avoid what is standing right in front of us?

Over the past couple of years, I have played with this question. College is a great example. A lot of people use college as an excuse to start over...to re-invent themselves. College provides plenty of opportunities to meet new people, create new social circles, and join different clubs and organizations. A good amount of people figure out what they want to do for the rest of their lives [career-wise] within the tenure of their stay at university. The environment offers a clean slate, especially if an individual wants to erase and/or forget about his or her high school years. This is completely fine...everyone deserves a fresh start; however, sometimes we miss out on the opportunity to capitalize off ourselves, because we are too busy trying to satisfy friends, acquaintances, and the people with whom we work. What I'm getting at is the reasoning that we are too occupied with other activities that we tend to overlook our own potential...

 

Photo Credit: Taylor Krenza

But college is just one example. The reality is, the overlooking of one's own potential abilities is a characteristic that sticks with most human beings throughout life. There are so many talents, so many unique abilities that are never discovered, because we go too far out of our own way to pay attention to ourselves and exercise/practice upon the skills that we have to offer. I certainly did not know, nor could I predict the amount of success I have encountered in turning my health around; but I encountered the beginning of my journey during a particular period of time. The difference between me and others, is that I decided to stick with that encounter and ride it out, as far as it would take me...which, as of today, has been one of the best decisions of my life.

 

Photo Credit: Taylor Krenza

Because of this journey, I have unlocked a multitude of abilities that I did not know I had before. I can now approach difficult and mentally trying situations head-on. I now know what it's like to fall down and get back up, as well as rising after being pushed down (metaphorically speaking). I found out that I LOVE food. I love food so much, that if I had the opportunity too, I would have taken a few nutrition courses in college. I probably would have also taken a few courses in exercise science and human anatomy. I certainly do not regret my two majors that I have undertaken in college; however, who could have known that one day I would develop such a passion for health/wellness/exercise/nutrition/dietary habits.

It's okay to pay more attention to yourself. It's okay to make a few sacrifices in order to spend more time with yourself, appreciating yourself, and discovering what you have to offer not only to yourself, but also the positive impacts you can make in other lives and even the world!

As always, Peace, Love and Nutella!

"F.A.T." (my initials)
Title Credit: Alice Ree

Diet vs. Lifestyle

Over the course of my journey, I have received a lot of questions on how I changed my dietary intake in order to compliment my exercise routines. Many people assumed that I was dieting...you know the typical (paleo, low-fat, crash/fad diets). I, too, am guilty of attempting the Atkins low-carb (carbohydrate) diet plan. The issue with not only the Atkins diet, but with any other diet that I would have tried, is not the diet itself, but the fact that I did not have the patience or concentration to rigorously stick to the plan or method that was being advertised. I attempted this diet after seeing my mother's results (although my mother has much more patience for sticking to plans or "lifestyle" as she called it.)

I found myself eating an Atkins bar for a snack, and then pairing it with a soda or chips or candy, etc. This pairing of a low-carb product with junk food is a HUGE dietary no-no. Many dietary products in general (especially low-carb products) contain edible chemicals which I like to call "-ols" (because many of them end in the suffix "-ol"). These are meant to curb your appetite, as well as stabilize and regulate your hunger patterns. If these are combined with obviously unhealthy food items, they can potentially cause unwanted side-effects.

Diets ... The word "diet" implies a temporary situation, or a relative short amount of time. I needed something Long Term to work with. I needed a plan that I could try to stick with for the rest of my life. I spent a long time trying to start over and over from a dietary perspective. I would attempt to stick strictly to the Atkins diet and then, whenever I would eat something that did not "fit within the recommended guidelines," I would mentally beat myself up for it. The situation became more daunting, rather than fun and complimentary. It became both a mental and exhausting task to try and force myself to stick with the unreasonable plan that I willingly created for myself and accepted.

Lifestyle... The word lifestyle indicates a plan of habits that become a characteristic of the individual involved. A lifestyle is just what it says "routine for life." I turned my "low-carb diet" into a "low-carb" lifestyle. This plan allowed/allows me to eat foods that are low in carbohydrates and high in protein (meats, eggs, peanuts, veggies, etc.) This plan also allows me to be generous (but intelligent and aware) with my junk/unhealthy food  intake. 

The "lifestyle" plan taught me and still teaches me how to eat in moderation. Moderation is something that is very important when it comes to both healthy and unhealthy food consumption. Ever heard of the saying, "too much of a good thing is bad"...yeah, well whoever came up with that wasn't lying. Yes, yes it is easy to even go overboard with healthy food and health products. The goal of any diet and or lifestyle (depending which one works for you, should be to either provide/and or restore some type of dietary balance among your food consumption. Once you achieve balance, you'll unlock other possibilities for your plan.


When I was here (see picture below), one of the largest mistakes that I made was not putting in enough research into the different possibilities for dietary changes. Research will take you a long way if you are willing to put in the effort. Staying informed about all of your options can very well be the beginning of new dietary/lifestyle options for yourself!

Thank you for tuning in to this post! As always...peace, love, and Nutella!!

Sticks and Stones: Bullying and Body Size

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Most of us absorb this cliche statement in our youth and store it somewhere in the back of our minds. But does this children's nursery rhyme paint a true picture? Do words, however hateful and discouraging, not have any affect on the way we view ourselves and others? The harsh reality is that words can sometimes be sharper than a knife, and often leave invisible wounds.

I'm almost positive everyone reading this post has come into contact with some form of bullying in their life [whether you've been on the receiving end of it, or whether you've been dishing it out.] A bully, for the specific purpose of this post, is roughly defined as an individual(s) who uses verbal force and/or verbal threats to manipulate a particular reaction or behavior out of the individual on the receiving end of the comments. While some forms of bullying are certainly more severe than others and often have greater consequences than other situations, bullying is still an issue that has been on the rise in the United States and around the world, within the past decade, regardless of the severity of each case.

WEIGHT JUST ONE MINUTE! What does body size have to do with bullying?


During high school and even during my freshman and sophomore, and junior years of college, I was on the receiving end of my fair share of unnecessary, demeaning comments, concerning both my body size and my weight. These verbal attacks were given directly and exchanged behind my back. The source of these comments were often individuals that, at the time, I considered to be friends or acquaintances. [Brings a new meaning to "behind enemy lines" doesn't it?...okay, my humor is the driest...I know].  The comments were directed toward me while I was at my heaviest, and even after dropping a significant amount of weight. I have heard everything from "Go hop on a treadmill" to "I bet he had weight loss surgery." Surprisingly [but not really] most of these insults came out of people's mouths during conversations, discussions, and debates that had nothing to do with body weight/size/health/wellness/exercise at all. In American society [generally speaking] it seems that the first place people go to throw insults is at body image...a characteristic that has always intrigued me.

Just to be clear....I am not blaming, nor will I ever blame anyone for my weight gain. That was 100% all me; however, this post is to address those verbal forms of bullying which attacked characteristics of my body at the time of each incident.

Handling the insults... was not always easy. I have rarely ever been one to show my true emotions in public, but I certainly found myself moping a lot and doing even more stress eating due to the periodic slandering. During this period, I had to re-learn and re-absorb a few lessons:

1. My exercise journey was for me, and me alone. 
2. The benefits of my journey far out-weighed any negativity thrown in my direction.
3. "You shouldn't worry when people are talking about you....it's when they're not talking, that you should worry."
4. "Anybody who has the power to change my atmosphere, has power over me."

The key to your overall success is not measured by the amount of strides that you take, or by the amount of crunches that you do, or by the amount of diets that you embark on...it is gauged by the amount of confidence you allow for yourself. If you are not confident in yourself and what you are doing to improve your healthy lifestyle, then you cannot expect others to have confidence in you. I'll leave you with this quotation:

"People are going to talk about you until the day you pass away, and there is nothing you can do about it; however, the true power lies within the dignity and strength of your response."

 As always...Peace, Love and Nutella!

Find Your Niche

We all have a routine that we like to stick to. Wake up. Brush teeth. Shower. Get dressed. Grab newspaper and coffee. Off to class/work/wherever. We know what time we like to wake up, what toothpaste we prefer, which garments to wear on a particular day, which coffee shop to caffeinate at, etc. Our routines are comprised of activities that we are comfortable with, brands we are comfortable with, and places we are comfortable with. So, why shouldn't exercise be the same?

As mentioned in my previous "Gym-timidation" post, I started out doing exercises in my dorm room. Not long after, I began to go running outside, when the weather permitted. How could I have known that nearly two years later, running would be my favorite exercise?

I'll even take it a step further...I love running so much that it is more than just an exercise for me. It's a culture...a lifestyle even. Whenever I'm feeling stressed, I know that I can just pop in my headphones, put on an awesome power-workout playlist, and zone in on my goal.

Running has taught me a lot of transferable life lessons: i.e. going the distance, endurance, sustainability, being thorough, overcoming failures, to name a few. The amount of joy it brings me is kind of geek-worthy (no shame :-) To say that I found my exercise niche in running just might be an understatement.

Sooooo....How do you find your exercise niche? 

Try as many different activities as possible! You might enjoy crunches more than running, or the treadmill more than the elliptical. You just have to get out there and try it! Once I found my comfort zone in running, I began to diversify my options. I ran on the track, in my neighborhood, around parking lots, on the treadmill, in the city, etc. The weather can make the experience fun too...if running is your thing, try going for a run in the pouring rain, or after a fresh blanket of snow has fallen!

The most important thing to do is to BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. Nobody knows your body, your habits, or comfort zone, like you do. You have to stand up to yourself and say "Look {insert name here}...whether I want to or not, I'm going to try this exercise today." By diversifying your options, you never know what exercise opportunities you will be exposed to; and, who knows, maybe you'll find your niche somewhere along the way!!

Peace, love, and Nutella :-)