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Fitness Articles of the Week #50 – Berries For the Brain, Mood Elevation Tips and a Homemade TRX system

image courtesy of Dano

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Eating berries benefits the brain

The benefits of berries amazing. You can reduce the risks of age-related memory loss and other issues by including more berries in your diet. Who doesn’t love strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries anyway? Mmmmm, delicious.

Pre-Marathon Checklist: What I Am Packing

It’s interesting to see what someone packs for a marathon race. I have no idea what I would pack. I’d probably pack some of those Vega gels, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’d pack marmite and nutritional yeast though. Ack!

V e g a n D a d: Pizza Dough

I’ve had such a craving for pizza lately for some odd reason, and I’ve been thinking about seeking out some new pizza recipes, so this one came at a great time. I sure do wish I had a nice stand mixer. My arm feels tired just thinking about mixing this dough.

How to Create a Happy Mood

This is a great method to elevate your mood. It’s healthy to be happy! I’ve worked out with a trainer who tries to drive out anger and frustrations to squeeze more out of a workout, but that never works for me. It might for some people, but I work out better when I’m in a good mood.

How To Get Fit With 3 Minutes Of Exercise A Week: BBC Doc Tries “HIT”

Ahhh, the powers of HIT training. The article titles doesn’t mention the additional 6 minutes of gentle cycling, but still, 9 minutes total of training per week?! Good stuff. I’m going to try doing this as a warmup before a workout. Or maybe I should do it after a workout. Maybe I’ll try both. 😀

How To Make a Home Suspension Training System Under $25 – YouTube

To hell with the $250.00 TRX training system. I’m going to Lowes to buy what I need for less than $30!

Vegetarian cutlet: New method to prepare a meat substitute

It was big news last week when it was announced that scientists may be close to perfecting the replication of real meat. Now there might be another replica, but this one is made entirely of vegetables and is more likely to be in our supermarkets soon. This vegetable meat will be presented at the Anuga FoodTec trade fair from March 27 through March 30. I can’t wait to hear how it goes.

How Much Fiber Should I Have Per Day?

Fiber is a very important part of our diets, especially for people who eat meat. I think this also something important for people who are doing juice fasts. Fasting can be great for your health, but can’t be sustained forever. No matter who you are, eat more fruits and veggies!

Separate Bananas to Slow Down Their Ripening

Oh the humanity! Just think of all the bananas I could have saved if I had known this simple trick. I actually ate a bunch of brownish bananas last week as everyone at work looked at me in horror. Hey, I don’t like to waste food! 🙂

Reminder from Italy: Get B12!

This is such a scary story and an experience that could have been entirely avoided simply by taking a B12 supplement. If you’re vegan, make sure you’re getting enough B12 in your diet! Jack Norris also updated his article about B12 in vegans, and is a must read for any vegan not currently supplementing with B12.

Video: What Happens In Your Body When You Eat Ramen And Gatorade

Watch this video and you’ll learn why you should stop eating processed food. The human body is not designed to ingest it and it’s just not healthy for you.

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I Bought a Cheap Magnetic Bicycle Trainer From the Flea Market

Last week, a coworker of mine asked if I wanted to do the MS150, which is a 150 mile bike ride here in Colorado to benefit multiple sclerosis. He talked our boss into sponsoring us by paying for the registration fees and the jerseys, and gave us permission to ask our clients for donations so that we can meet the $400 donation requirement to race.

We haven’t had time to talk much about it since then, and I haven’t registered yet, so I’m still thinking about doing the race. I’m very likely to do it though, which is why I went to the flea market and bought a cheap ($25) used bicycle trainer, so that I can get as much cycling training as I can before the race.

I’ve done a lot of research into bike trainers over the last year, and I never thought I would buy a crappy magnetic trainer, but I don’t have the money for a nice $300 fluid trainer, so I bought this one (in the picture above). Anything is better than nothing, right? By the way, I actually bought a new $120 wheel and a trainer tire (not in the picture) to switch out on my bike, so that I don’t wear out my current tire. I hear regular tires can burn out in a couple of weeks on a trainer, while trainer tires can last a lifetime, or at least several years.

I actually really like it and I’ve been using it a lot already. I’ve never used a fluid trainer so I have nothing to compare my magnetic trainer to, and I won’t try one either, because I don’t want to ruin my experience with the one I have already. At least not until I have the money for a nice one. 😉

It feels good to ride my bike again. My butt is sore from the saddle and my legs get tired fast, but I’m getting back into the groove of things. I’m excited to get back on the road again!

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Fitness Articles of the Week #49 – Squat Progression, Chin-ups For Women and Towel Workouts

image courtesy of Artur Andrzej

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Simple Squat Progression

If you’re a beginner lifter or if feel like your squat form could be better, read through this guide and consider following the program. I think My squat form could probably use some work so I’m going to try this out.

Rising Food Prices – Grow Your Own Organic Garden

There are some great recipes for organic and non-toxic pesticides here that you can use for your own garden. I’m gonna try the Tobasco concoction.

Nutritional Profiling: 6 Unhealthy Food Ingredients To Avoid

I really like this article because it gets straight to the point and explains exactly why you should avoid these foods, in an easy to understand way.

LES MILLS PUMP – Sneak Peek! – YouTube

I hate when programs like this show tons of super-fit people who claim that their program is the best in the world to get in shape and to lose fat, and they say it as if this is the program that got them in shape. The reason I’m linking to it though is because the program actually does look fun, much like it’s Beachbody cousin, P90X. They aren’t efficient programs, but I think keeping things interesting is a good way to make sure you stay on track with your fitness goals.

Fasting can help protect against brain diseases, scientists say

Just a few months ago, I would have been amazed by this news, but I’ve read so much about fasting recently, that I totally believe this is true. I haven’t fasted myself, but I would really like to give it a try sometime. When I do decide to fast, I’ll probably start with a 7-day juice fast, and perhaps a 3 to 7 day water fast sometime further down the road. The juice fast will likely come soon, because I found a cheap Juiceman II juicer at the flea market for only $5 just the other day. I have a nice expensive Breville at home, but I don’t want to take that one back and forth from work.

YouTube Trends: Don’t Try This at Home: First-Person Perspective Puts You in the Extreme Action

This is a great set of first-person perspective sport videos. I don’t have the nerve to do any of these things, so it’s fun to at least watch what it might look like if I did. 😉

How to Use Tech to Plan and Optimize Your Garden

I hope you read the article I posted earlier this week on getting your garden started by planting seeds indoors. If not, read it, then check out this great article from Lifehacker on getting a garden plan in order and figuring out how you to maintain it this gardening season.

Chin-Up Progressions for Women (The One Rep Hump)

Pull-ups aren’t only difficult to women. Overweight men and men who are just getting started in working out might have issues too. Don’t be ashamed. We all have to start somewhere. This is a great guide to getting started. Here’s part II of the series.

Surprisingly Effective Workouts You Can Do with a Towel in 20 Minutes or Less

Need a fun change to your workout? Throw one of these routines into your week. Judging by the faces of the people in the first video, it looks like you can get a pretty good workout using a towel.

Zen to Fitness – Raw Foods for Athletes

Everyone can benefit from these fruits and veggies. Read about the 10 most important foods athletes should be eating (according to the author) and why these foods are beneficial to our bodies.

The Real Way to Lose Weight Fast – With Pen and Paper

If you’re trying to lose weight and get in shape, you need to record it. I completely agree everything said in this article. I don’t keep a journal, but I can see how it could help someone who may have psychological issues in regards to their weight.

RotatoReliever: An Effective New Option For Repairing Shoulder Injuries

I’ve had many shoulder injuries over the years due to lifting weights. Nothing ever serious, but it really sucks not being able to get a full upper body workout due to a strained muscle in the shoulder. The RotatoReliever sounds like an interesting alternative to expensive therapy or rehab, and it’s only $130. There’s a great review of the product in this article and an interview with doctor who created it.

How To Train For a Marathon | Six Week Workout Program

Here’s a really simple schedule to train for a marathon. I’ve never run a marathon before. Even this schedule looks daunting to me. More than 40 miles in the first week makes my feet hurt just thinking about it. 6 weeks of training would probably fly by though. I might try this just to see how it goes.

10 Foods to Make Your Intestines Happy

Having digestion problems? Here are plenty of foods you should consider adding to your diet to get better gut health. I hated sauerkraut as a kid, but it’s been so long that I might like it now. I’m going to have to remember to pick some up next time I’m at the store. I don’t know how to eat it though. Do I eat it plain? Do I season it? Does it go well with other foods?

Sneaky Sources of Omega-3s

Omega 3 fatty acids are important to have in our diets. I used to eat fish to get my omega-3’s, but since going vegan, obviously I don’t consume fish anymore. Now I get my Omega 3 from avocados and flax, which I consume daily in my large salad. I just purchased a bag of chia seeds too, so I guess I’m covered.

Vegan Nutrition 101 with Jack Norris – YouTube

This video covers the basics of vegan nutrition and just a small portion of what Jack Norris, a vegan RD, covers in his book. The video is basic, but I actually learned about the importance of iodine in vegan diets.

Buy it now: Cold weather running gear

Here’s a good list of things you should buy while they’re cheap. The link they added to the Runner’s World “what to wear” tool is really cool too.

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Get a Head Start On Your Garden By Planting Seeds Indoors

It’s about that time to start getting ready for gardening season. I just bought my little Jiffy greenhouse and some seeds, so I’m ready to go! I’m so excited to get my garden going again. I’ve been planning for the last month on what I’m going to grow this year and yesterday I got my seeds started indoors. Here’s how I planned everything out.

The Last Frost Date

For many states, the last frost date of the year is somewhere around April 1st. For Colorado, where I live, it’s around April 20th. Knowing the last frost date is important, because a little plant won’t survive a freeze outdoors. Check out this handy list of first/last frost dates by state from Victory Seeds to find the date for your area.

Planting Seeds Indoors

Once you know your average frost date, look at the backs of your seed package to find out how early you should plant your seeds before the last frost date. Various plants have different planting schedules, for example the carrots package I have tells me to plant 2 weeks before the last frost, but the tomatoes tell me to plant 5-7 weeks before.

You don’t want to plant too early or those veggies are going to outgrow their containers. I had this happen to me in my first year of gardening and it was a lot of work transplanting them to larger pots. I also had some crazy large plants overtaking my kitchen table and counters. It was a mess, but also a great learning experience. 😉

Not all seed packages will tell you how soon to plant the seeds indoors, but you’re generally safe if you plant them at least 4 weeks before the estimated frost date. Even 6 weeks might be fine, depending on the vegetable, but you’re pushing it if you plant any sooner than that.

I’ve purchased a somewhat large (72 plant) Jiffy greenhouse to get my plants started this year. I bought everything that I needed a couple of weeks ago when it was still too early for me to plant my seeds inside, but I wanted to get everything in order and planned.

Based on the average last frost date for my area, I’m counting back based on that date and marking in my calendar when to plant indoors. I’m actually using iCalendar on my Macbook so that it pops up a reminder on that day, but you can use a simple wall calendar if you want.

Here’s an example of my planting schedule, based on the estimated last frost date of April 20th, here in Colorado. I used this online calendar to count back from my last frost date.

Start indoors 8 weeks before last frost date – Feb. 24th

  • Tomatoes
  • Green onions
  • Yellow onion
  • Peppers

Start indoors 6 weeks before last frost date – March 9th

  • Broccoli

Start indoors 4 weeks before last frost date – March 23rd

  • Swiss Chard
  • Spinach
  • Cucumber
  • Kale

You might notice that there aren’t any root vegetables in my list, which is because root vegetables don’t like to be handled, so it’s best to directly sow the seeds into the garden.

Watch Out For a Freeze After the Estimated Last Frost Date

Weather is unpredictable. It’s impossible to know if there will be a freeze after the estimated last frost date. If you get a freeze, some of your vegetables could be toast. If you’re worried, you can plant your vegetables a little later or you can buy a cold frame. I haven’t actually used a cold frame myself, but I’ve been doing a lot of research about them recently. I’ll probably set one up over my garden near the end of the growing season to get a few more weeks out of my garden.

Plant What You Need

I’m so excited to get started with my garden this year. This is only my third year of gardening, but it has a whole new meaning to me this time. I became vegan back in July of last year, so plants are now a major part of my diet.

In the last couple of years, I sort of just planted random vegetables because they sounded good, but I found that I wasn’t using them as much as I should have. I still ended up going to the grocery store for stuff that I really needed. This time I’m only planting foods that I eat regularly. I’m not wasting space this year.

Update: If you live in Colorado, here’s a great planting schedule.

* image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/scrap_pile/3081087267/”>Scrap Pile

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Fitness Articles of the Week #48 – Static Stretching, Vegan Diets for Athletes and 50 Free Fitness Courses

image courtesy of Tobyotter

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Q&A: Is Static Stretching Good?

Here’s a very detailed post about the different types of stretching and when you should do them. I almost always do dynamic stretches, but I think I’ll start trying to work in static and even some EQI’s, which I’ve actually never heard of before.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Vegan Dieting

Here’s a great follow-up to the interview that FitBodyHype did with Channa Serenity a couple of weeks ago. Channa makes two claims that I’ve never heard before, and I read a lot when it comes to nutrition. She says that you should never eat fruit with other foods and you shouldn’t drink water during meals. Interesting.

Plant-Based Diet For Athletes

This article provides a lot of information a vegan athlete should think about when it comes to their diet and what they should and should not be consuming. I’ve been a huge fan of Ben Greenfield for a while, but some of my respect has been lost after reading one of his comments in this article. He says one of his reasons for not going vegan is that he “likes meat.” What a fucking terrible and selfish excuse.

Weight Training Program – Why It Should Be Part Of Your Routine

This one will cater more to the ladies. I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard a woman tell me that they don’t want to lift weights because they don’t want to get huge and muscular. Well, it doesn’t work that way. Building muscle burns more calories and can get a female body into great shape, without causing bulk. There are plenty of other benefits too, as you’ll find out from reading this article.

The 50 Best Free Health & Fitness Courses on the Web (Voting Open!)

This is one of the coolest curated resources I’ve ever seen online. I wish there was a way for me to print out every single program with one click. There are so many great programs here, it’s not likely you’ll ever get bored in the gym. I can’t believe Stronglifts isn’t in this list though!

Ways To Burn Fat: 1 Insanely Powerful Dietary Change

It took a looooong time for this article to get to the point that we should cut wheat and gluten from our diets, but once the “secret” is finally revealed, there really is a lot of good information here about the negative effects that gluten has in our bodies and why we should remove it from our diets. With all of the research coming out about gluten and wheat these days, I’m thinking about cutting it out of my diet too.

Easy Ways to Give Any Meal a Powerful Nutritional Boost

This is great stuff, because these are foods that most people don’t even know about. What’s funny is that when I went vegan, these highly nutritional foods seemed to be in just about every vegan cookbook I own. If you want to take your nutrition to an even higher level, check out Thrive Foods from Brendan Brazier.

Pullovers: Bodybuilding’s Most Controversial Exercise

I’ve seen lots of articles for and against the pullover. I don’t currently do pullovers, but not for any reason specifically. I really like this move. If you need to be coerced into adding it into your routine, read this article.

Highly Effective Old School Back Training

Here’s another article talking about a classic exercise that we should be including in our weight lifting routines. I wish I had a better bar to do this one, but a straight bar will have to do. I can feel this exercise just by looking at the photos.

How To Breathe When Working Out

This is one of those things that a lot of us forget – breathe out when pushing or pulling the weight and breathe in when releasing. Even if you forget when to breathe in and out, it’s better than holding your breath. Don’t hold your breath when lifting! Read this article to learn why.

Vegan Diets, Critical Thinking, and 9 Blogs You Need to Read

If you haven’t heard of “The Vegan R.D” blog by Ginny Messina, you’re missing out and should definitely subscribe. She promotes an evidence-based approach to vegan advocacy and this great post links to nine other blogs which take a similar approach. I’ve subscribed to all of them!

The myth of the eight-hour sleep

There are lots of articles on the internet about hacking sleeping patterns, many of which I’ve read, but I’ve never come across something that explains this part of our history and sleeping. This is great stuff! I have problems with sleep myself, often waking up in the middle of the night, laying in bed and then falling asleep again. Maybe it’s not a problem after all, and it’s just the way my body is meant to work. I don’t know how much I believe that though, because it seems like it would be difficult to reach REM sleep within only four hours.

Antibiotic Use Causes Superbugs

It’s been long argued that antibiotic use could result in drug-resistant infections, yet farmers continued to use antibiotics anyway. Now a drug-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus is in nearly half of all meat in the U.S. Nice…

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Fitness Articles of the Week #47 – Upcoming Wellness Symposium, a Possible Alzheimers Cure, and Congruent Exercise

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Wellness Symposium | Learn It Live

This is going to be huge! Register for free to get access to watch the top experts and authors in the health industry speak all next week, from Feb. 20-26. I can’t wait for this. I’ve registered to watch all of the featured speakers and then a few presentations from some of the others.

Drug quickly reverses Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice

Wow, this is amazing! A possible cure for Alzheimer’s would be one of the biggest breakthroughs ever to happen in science. Just think of all of the families that could be reunited with a cure.

How Do You Know If You’re Gluten Intolerant?

I don’t have any of these symptoms, except for possibly fatigue. I keep reading articles about gluten and they always make me want to try giving it up. One of these days, I’ll try to put together a simple 7-day gluten free meal plan so that I can see if I notice any differences.

How to Be a Vegetarian Bodybuilder

I’m not usually a fan of posts like this when they are written by someone who is not a vegan and doesn’t have actual personal experience being vegan, because they often don’t understand the whole story. I get that feeling from this article too, but I think many of the points made are generally correct.

Bill DeSimone on Congruent Exercise – YouTube

This is an hour and a half, but is a must watch. You’ll learn about being aware of how your body moves and operates. There are some very interesting things about common workouts most of us do, such as the barbell squat, and how they cause damage to our bodies. This will definitely help me think more about my form while lifting weights and which exercises are forcing me into unnatural states.

Why Running Drills are Bad for You

As soon as I saw this title, I thought “Damn! and I was just going to start trying out running drills,” but after listening to the interview, I learned that they are only bad if you’re using bad form. Check out this interview to learn running drills that will teach you to run without putting strain on your joints.

The 21 Most Innovative Gyms in the U.S.

All of these gyms look amazing. It would be awesome to travel the country and visit each one. Too bad there aren’t any in Colorado. Well, there are some Curves, but since I’m a guy, I’m not welcome there 😉

Figure Out Which Oils to Use for Your Cooking Needs with The Cooking Oil Comparison Chart

I think most people tend to stick with canola, corn and olive oil, but if you like to cook, you’ve probably got many more. I’m a good example. In addition to the three I just mentioned, I also have hemp, flax, coconut, and grapeseed oils in my cabinet. I didn’t realize there were so many others though. Download the PDF chart to learn more about each oil and how they should be used.

Top 17 Dietitians You Can Count On in Social Media

Excellent list. Too bad there are only two vegans though. I still decided to follow them all on Twitter, but I also subscribed to the blogs of the vegans. The vegans get more love from me 😉

Weightlifting Academy

I haven’t listened to this podcast yet, but the description sounds good and it’s put together by some really smart people in the industry. If you want to learn more about olympic lifting, this looks like the place. I’ll probably listen to this over the weekend. Should be good! I hope they put the podcast on iTunes soon.

20 Minutes of Exercise a Day Is Enough to Get You Fit

According to a study from the Journal of Physiology, 20 minutes a day might be all the time you need to get into shape. 20 minutes per day? Count me in! Actually, I like to train for a lot longer than that, but this is good news for people who find it difficult to find time to workout. There’s no reason you can’t carve out 20 minutes of your day for a simple, but strenuous, workout.

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Fitness Articles of the Week #46 – Vegan Girl Scout Cookies, a Sprinting Guide and Knee-joint Stretches

image courtesy of Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Vegan Girl Scout Cookies

I didn’t think I would be able to eat any Girl Scout cookies, but as it turns out, as longs as they don’t carry tagalongs, they are selling from one of the two commercial bakeries that doesn’t put whey into the Thanks-A-Lot and Thin Mints cookies. If they do carry the Tagalongs, you’re out of luck.

Food PH Chart – Most Alkaline and Acidic Foods

A lot of the foods that we grow up thinking are healthy are actually acidic in the body, for example chicken, grains, rice and peanuts. This handy chart will help you modify your diet to include more alkaline foods.

At the gym: who is looking at whom

A hilarious comic strip about what everyone at the gym is thinking about each other.

Denny’s Vegan Burger – Pretty Darn Good

I didn’t know Denny’s had a vegan burger. Another restaurant I can eat at with my friends.

Deadlifting From Blocks

I don’t currently have the need for deadlift blocks, because I’m still seeing good progress from the floor, but this is definitely good stuff to know. Check out the comments too. Paul gives some great answers to his readers.

The Five Kings Of Intermittent Fasting

I thought there was only one king of intermittent fasting, Martin Berkham, but it turns out there are several other gurus in the IM field that I should be following. I haven’t tried intermittent fasting personally, but I hope to find time to put together a meal plan one day.

Losing Weight with Wolfram|Alpha

I think it’s really cool that Wolfram|Alpha put together an entire post on using their super-nerdy tools to help you lose weight. I’m a nerd myself, so I have a great appreciation for amazing research tools like what these guys have built.

The 6-Week Sprinting Solution

I keep coming across sprinting articles lately and I think it’s a sign that I should give it a try. This program is perfectly laid out and I think I’m going to give it a try sometime soon. I don’t have access to a treadmill right now (but I’m thinking about buying one), so I’m going to have to wait a month or so until the weather gets a little nicer.

How To Stoop And Reach Without Hurting Yourself

Bending and lifting properly seems so simple, but this instructional video is a great reminder of how we should all be doing it to prevent damage to our bodies over our lifetime.

5 Steps I Used to Take 104 Minutes Off My Marathon

It’s getting closer to the season of marathons, and if you’re planning on doing one yourself, you should consider downloading this 15 page report from Matt Frazier, the No Meat Athlete.

5 Myths About Intermittent Fasting, And Why They’re Not True

Intermittent fasting doesn’t seem to be a topic that many traditional health advocates understand, because once they hear about it, they’re shocked that anyone would do something like this to their bodies. There’s a science at work here. It just needs to be understood. By the way, I only counted 3 myths here, but maybe the other two were accidentally edited out.

Exercises Saved From the Dumpster

It’s not often that a health professional will admit to being wrong about something. Many are hard-headed and stick to their guns, even when evidence has been provided. It’s awesome to hear that Michael Boyle has changed his mind about not teaching his athletes the “get up,” loaded carries and the deadlift. Read the article to find out why.

Knee Joint Stretches with Kevin Cornell of California Strength – YouTube

Great stretches for improving your position in the lower part of the squat exercise.

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How Falling Out Of The Fitness Routine Affected My Body

For the first time in probably 2 or 3 years, I’ve taken an extended break from working out. I shouldn’t even call it a break at this point. I became lazy.

I haven’t exercised at all in a month and a half. No weight lifting. No jogging. Not even simple stretches or yoga. I’m extremely disappointed in myself. Every morning, I wake up and I’m disgusted that I won’t bring myself to go into the basement (my gym) to do a simple workout.

First let me explain how it happened. In early January, I caught the flu. As much as I wanted to lift weights, I wasn’t going to make my sickness worse. My body needed to fight off the flu, not spend time repairing my muscles. So I took a week and half off until I was all better.

I had planned on starting my routine back up the following Monday, but over the weekend, I started feeling dizzy and sort of nauseous. I thought it might have something to do with the cold and I figured it would work its way out of my system. It got worse and worse, so I went to the doctor, where I found out I got an ear infection from the cold. It was messing with my equilibrium and that’s why I was dizzy all the time. I can’t remember ever having an ear infection before so I was a little scared of the symptoms before finding out what the problem was.

Anyway, there went another week, for a total of about three weeks.

I hadn’t worked out for about at all during this time and I got used to sleeping in. I didn’t have the drive to work out anymore. I took 2 more weeks off, for no reason other than that I wanted to sleep longer.

I’ve noticed that I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish lately and working out in the morning has always given me tons of energy. It prepares me for the day ahead. I wasn’t feeling that way anymore so I knew I had to force myself to start working out again.

Yesterday, I had it in my head that I was finally going to start working out again. I think I was truly ready to get back into the gym this morning, because my internal clock woke me up at my normal training day time, 4:45am (I know, super-early). I was wide awake and ready to go.

It felt great!

Sadly, I lost some strength during that short amount of time I took off. I can still lift the same amount of weight I was lifting a month and a half ago, but I can’t do as many reps in the same amount of sets. 🙁

It sucks, but it’s a great reminder of how important it is to keep going and and to never stop. I’ve made a ton of progress in my lifts over the last 6 months and it’s all for nothing if I don’t continue putting in the work. I’m not going to let that happen. I feel so much better today and I’m determined to feel that way every day!

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Fitness Articles of the Week #45 – Cruciferous Veggies, The Perfect Guacamole and a 56 Day Juice Fast Summary

image courtesy of photofarmer

It’s snowing like crazy here in Colorado, so I’m working from home today. I love being able to watch the snow from my home office window, knowing that I don’t have to drive in it. I’m guessing I’m going to be snowed in all weekend, but I might make the trip to my Mom’s house to watch the Super Bowl. She’s only 10 minutes away, anyway, so I’ll probably go if the family decides to get together. It should be a great game. Have a good weekend!

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Power Plants: Feast On These Vitamin-Dense, Cancer-Fighting Veggies

I didn’t know what cruciferous meant, so I had to look it up and basically, cruciferous veggies are simply those that come from the Brassicaceae family of vegetables. These are the best cancer-fighting vegetables you can eat, but this article claims that not cooking them can lead to thyroid gland problems. I’ve never heard of that before. I guess I should limit how often I eat raw cruciferous vegetables from now on.

Why Running Drills are Bad for You

I’m sad to say that I’ve never even done running drills, but my new goals this year consist of doing more cardio-based activities, such as 5k runs and military-style mud runs, so drills will probably become a new part of my routine.

How To Make The Perfect Guacamole

I love guacamole, but I’ve never been able to find a really good homemade recipe. My favorite guacamole comes from the pre-mixed stuff that comes in a packet near the avocados in the grocery store, but it isn’t vegan, so I can’t use it anymore. Next time I make some guac, I’ll try the recipe and the tips in this article.

How to Make Rice Milk and Horchata

Ooh, this looks so easy. I’m actually not a big fan of rice milk, but I am a fan of horchata. I can’t wait to make this.

A Beginners Guide to Biking

This is such a fun and entertaining article that I was sad when it ended. If not for the great writing, you should read it because you’ll probably learn something along the way too 😉

Power Rack Fun Time! | DIY Power Rack and other stuffs

If you’ve got $400 laying around and have the time to build your own power rack, this post is for you. I would rather just buy a nice used one on Craigslist for that price, but this is still pretty cool.

Recipe: Blueberry Buckle

Mmmm, this sounds tasty and it’s nice and healthy.

The Best Nut Milk Recipe Ever {Really!}

Yep, this certainly sounds like the best nut milk recipe ever, based on those ingredients. Personally, I would rather drink plain almond milk without the sweetener and salt, but I’m still probably gonna try this one.

Pull Pause Clean Press Dip Power Jerk Drill

I’m way too scared to try anything like this myself. I don’t have the right weights or space to do this anyway. I’m fascinated by lifts like this though.

Swole.me – The automatic diet planner

This is a great idea for a dieting tool. It’s completely free and you don’t even need to create an account to use it. Simply enter the amount of calories you want to eat, in how many meals per day and that’s it. You can remove options containing dairy and meat for vegan/vegetarian meal plans too. You’ll probably notice that it still needs some work. Sometimes the meal plans seem a little wonky, for example, one plan suggested eating 3oz of ground beef and cup of oranges for breakfast.

My 56 Day Juice Fast Summary – How I Lost Weight Every Day! – YouTube

People say that juice fasting is extreme, but as long as you do it right, I don’t see it that way. It’s super-healthy, you get plenty of calories and tons of nutrients and your body doesn’t waste energy by digesting food. Difficult not eating food, yes, but I don’t think it’s extreme. Check out this guys amazing 56 day juice fast transformation.

12 Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat

In my own experience with the amount of fat I’ve placed on my body while trying to bulk up, I will agree with a lot of the advice here. I plan on creating some lower carb meal plans for myself to get some of my current body fat off, and I hope to replace more of the nuts and fruits in my diet with vegetables. It’s hard making changes like this as a vegan, but even eating more carbs, in my opinion, is healthier than putting animal fat, cholesterol and cancer-causing foods in my body.

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Fitness Articles of the Week #44 – Interview With a Raw-Food Athlete, The FitDesk Exercise Bike and Coconut Bacon

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Channa Serenity: Raw Vegan & Fitness Model

Channa Serenity is a gorgeous raw-food vegan athlete who takes her health very seriously. She doesn’t even partake in cheat meals!

Grocery Sale Cycles – When Do Things Go on Sale?

This is helpful month-by-month guide for purchasing all kinds of things at the grocery store, but the most useful for me are the lists of seasonal vegetables.

The FitDesk is a Space-Saving, Apartment-Friendly Exercise Bike and Laptop Desk

I would love to have one of these. At $229.99, they aren’t too expensive either. The article mentions that resistance can be set with dials, which could be a bit of let-down. I’d be interested in seeing how it actually feels on various resistance levels.

PaleoVeganology: Speciesism = Creationism; Treat It That Way

This article brought up some very interesting points about being vegan. Why should I have to explain myself for being vegan? Why don’t omnivores explain themselves for eating eat?

Markus Rothkranz: The Power of Raw Foods (1/2) – YouTube

I’ve never heard of Markus Rothkranz, but it seems that I should. I’m becoming more and more interested in raw foods and Markus looks to be well known in the community.

Make an Impromptu Heat Pad

If you don’t have a heating pad nearby, but you have a sock and some dried rice or beans, you’re good to go!

10 Tips to Help You Find the Right Doctor

There’s one tip that caught my eye in this article – find a doctor who shares your beliefs. I’ve been looking everywhere for a list of vegan-friendly physicians, but no directories seem to exist.

How to make FAST Fake Bacon from coconut meat – YouTube

After finding Markus Rothkranz, I started following his YouTube channel and I came across this great recipe. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will. I miss bacon, but I don’t like any of the fake bacons I’ve had so far, so hopefully this will be the answer.

The Science and Practice of Low-Carb Diets – YouTube

I find it very interesting that Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University suggests that it’s ok to eat the Baconater, a nearly 1,000 calories sandwich from Wendys, as long as you remove the bun. I’m sure there are many other health professionals that would disagree with that. If you have time, listen to the entire 40 min. interview to see what you think. I admit that he makes some compelling arguments, but I don’t believe all of his claims.

Quickie Vegan Cookie Dough Ice Cream at Home

Before going vegan, my favorite item from Dairy Queen was the cookie dough Blizzard. This recipe sounds so easy, I think I’m going to be making it soon.

Squat Exercise Builds More Muscle, Burns More Fat

These are the reasons you should be doing the squat in your workouts. It’s such an important exercise!

Interactive, motion-sensing walls to motivate gym-goers

I guess this is cool. Seems gimmicky to me, but the idea of seeing what your body could look like if you continue to work out sounds really cool.