What’s for dinner? Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Ravioli

February 11, 2015Leave a comment

This past Sunday, my husband and I were home and wanted make something fun for dinner! I found this recipe HERE. It was relatively easy and I’m glad I got to use my ravioli maker kitchen aid attachment we got at the wedding! But you can definitely make this without a ravioli maker – just roll out the dough and make the raviolis buy hand!

This is a very hands-on recipe and was fun to see what goes into making ravioli. The recipe is kid friendly and a great way to teach them at a young age about what to put in your body and how to make it!

If you make this or have any other versions of it make sure you tag #maketimeforfit!

Positive Thinking

February 8, 2015February 8, 2015Leave a comment

You over slept, late for work, missed a meeting, spilled your coffee – it’s easy to chalk the day up as a loss and continue living in that mindset. But if you change the way you think, you can change your attitude and in turn changing your focus off the bad and onto the good!

We often set the bar so high it is almost impossible to be reached leaving us feeling unsatisfied and disappointed. With so many unattainable expectations we have each day, we overlook all the good things we have in our lives!

Try to take time to name 3 things that you are happy about at the end of each day. Big things, little things it doesn’t matter what, just anything that made you feel good! Training yourself to focus on the good will help you keep the negatives from creeping in! I bet you’ll be surprised at all the wonderful things in your life that many times go over looked!

Sweat it out

February 6, 2015February 6, 2015Leave a comment

If you’re like me nothing sounds better after a good workout than to sweat it out and relax in the sauna – but do you know what you are sweating out??

The answer is toxins! Sitting in a sauna and sweating helps your body rid itself of many toxins that have built up from processed food, alcohol, chemical and pesticides from the air! Regardless of how perfect your diet is there are tons of chemicals in your body simply from living and being around other people (don’t get too grossed out!).

Here’s where a sauna comes in. On an average day, your eccrine glands put out about a quart of sweat. But when you hang out in a sauna, they pump out that much in 15 minutes.

But the benefits of the sauna don’t stop there! It also helps your heart! A post-workout sauna session helps improve blood flow!

Japanese researchers have found that sitting in a sauna is particularly helpful for congestive heart failure. After taking daily saunas for four weeks, 13 of 15 patients with serious heart failure had significant decreases in blood pressure and improvements in ejection fraction (a measure of the heart’s pumping ability), exercise tolerance and oxygen uptake.

Sauna sessions can help with –

Improved blood circulation: The sauna increases and improves the rate of blood circulation and breathing.
Weight loss: Sauna is similar to mild exercise, it burns about 300 calories per average session. Regular sauna treatments combined with a healthy diet and moderate exercise will help you lose weight and stay fit and healthy.
Skin cleansing: A profuse sauna-induced sweat followed by a shower cleanses your skin far more thoroughly than just taking a shower. It makes it soft and healthy with immediately noticeable effects.
Body relaxation: Stress build-up creates tension in the body manifesting in various aches and pains. The heat and humidity of the sauna diffuses the pain and relaxes tired muscles. A sauna in the evening will leave tense muscles and sore limbs totally relaxed. Sauna also temporarily relieves arthritic pain.
Mind relaxation: The sauna is essentially a place to relax. Regular sauna adepts all agree that it effectively helps relieve physical and mental fatigue and stress.

And most of all it just feels great to sweat it out! After your workout – go for a sit in the sauna and reap all the benefits!

***Try this: When you sit in the sauna, brush, lightly scratch, or tap the skin on your arms, legs, belly, and back. This will stimulate your pores to open more while you’re in the sauna, and boost the circulation at the surface of your body. Immediately after you leave the sauna you have to immerse yourself in cold water! This will close your pores back up, pull the blood back to your core organs, and reinforce your natural defenses. This means that you will actually lose less heat when you are out of the sauna, boost your circulation, stay warmer longer, and keep your vital organs happy and functioning at the same time.***Reference 3

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How is your New Year’s resolution going?

February 1, 2015Leave a comment

So it’s February 1st.

Shockingly if you look at this graph from Frobes.com you’ll see more than 36% of those with New Year’s resolutions have already given up!

Are you one of those people in the 36%? I’m not here to patronize just here to remind you that, there’s still time.
It doesn’t have to be December 31st for you to set new goals. That’s all a resolution is really, just a goal.

Here are some ways to get back to achieving your goals!

● Be Specific
Setting a big picture goal is great but having multiple big goals can be a daunting task.

♢Instead of “I want to lose weight” try “I’m going to cut out fast food and candy.”

♢Instead of “I want to read more” try “I’m going to read this book in February, this book in March.”

Narrowing down your goals makes them manageable.

●Be Positive
Often times when we fail we are over come with guilt and fear that we aren’t good enough. Stop beating yourself up so much! Not sure where I hear it or read this quote but I wholehearted agree with it!

One positive thought in the morning can change your whole day

Many things that cause us pain, stress and anxiety in life are simply based on our reaction to them. It’s not the end of the world if you make a mistake – it’s how you deal with that mistake that makes all the difference.

Keep your head up and keep working to your resolutions – Happy February 1st!

Teach kids the importance of exercise!

January 15, 2015Leave a comment

Did you know that children spend more than 7.5 hours a day in front of a screen – TV/Video/Computer.

The majority of kids are not active and not getting enough physical activity. Take your kids on a walk, work out with them, teach them HOW and WHY it is important to exercise daily! Plus teach them the impact food (good and bad) has on moods, headaches and overall well-being. They will follow whatever example you set – so be an example of what you want them to be.

Teaching your kids healthy habits such as daily exercise will help them stay healthy and help keep you accountable! Don’t forget they are always watching!

Turkey Sweet Potato Quinoa Crock Pot Chili

January 13, 2015January 13, 2015Leave a comment

I saw this recipe on my friend’s time line and had to check it out!
The recipe is from here.
I changed a few of the seasoning based on my taste the overall premise is the same. The best part is that it is so easy and makes plenty for the whole family, or since it’s just me and my husband I kept some for leftovers and froze the other half!
Hope you guys like it! Definitely a new staple in our house.

Run less, lose more

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015Leave a comment

Happy Monday! January 5th – lots of resolutions and goals for the new year. As you start or continue your fitness goals – here are some things I’ve learned to help get you seeing results!

I am a runner by heart. I used to not feel like I got a good workout unless I ran. Little did I know that was the reason I hit a plateau and was just staying on that plateau, month after month.

After getting my certification in personal training I began to understand the benefits of cardio in combination with strength training.

Change up your cardio regiment, try incorporating intervals, sprint work, swimming, jumping rope or stationary bike to change up your daily routine. With that and adding a few more strength training exercises you will see results and move away from that plateau! Share your results and tag @maketimeforfit and #maketimeforfit

Why wait until January 1st?

December 28, 2014Leave a comment

Go to the gym.

Go for a walk.

Skip dessert.

Grab an apple instead of party mix.

A recent poll showed that only 59% of people stick to their health and fitness goals! Start incorporating simple steps into your daily routine RIGHT NOW! A healthy lifestyle is an on-going progress – start with easy things and then keep working to add more things into your routine. Goals don’t have to start on a certain date or time – why wait? START NOW!

Give the gift of Health!

December 22, 2014December 22, 2014Leave a comment

Need a last minute gift? What about a gym membership? You are helping not insulting by giving someone the gift of health!

Every new years there 1000’s of resolutions made to get healthy – you can help save someone’s life by helping them keep those resolutions!

Dont be worried about hurting someone’s feelings – you are truly helping them in the long run!

And if you don’t know where to start once you’re in the gym? Email maketimeforfit@gmail.com to get a personalized workout plan tailored to your goals! GET moving in 2015!

This isn’t working…

December 8, 2014Leave a comment

Ever have the feeling no matter what you do, you aren’t getting the results you want? Maybe it’s time to take a look at your routine and see if there are things you can change.

Isolating small muscle groups – Doing isolated exercises like bicep curls and tricep kick-backs will NOT get you any significant results. These one-muscle-at-a-time moves simply don’t stimulate enough muscle fibers to build lean muscle or expend enough energy to maximize your calorie burn.

Too much cardio can be an issue with many women who are not as comfortable lifting weights or fear they will get too bulky. I promise you; you won’t get too bulky, you need a ton more testosterone and if you aren’t supplementing that – don’t worry.

If you want to build lean muscle while burning fat so you can get serious definition, you need to perform exercises that stimulate as many muscles and expend as much energy as possible at the same time.

Try super settings moves or adding jump rope, jump squats or a cardio boost between sets.
Try doing full body moves that work both and small muscle groups. Ex. Lunge with over head press, step ups with lateral raise.
For added difficulty try adjusting your balance – the smaller the the base the more challenging the move.

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Tag: fitness