Low Carb Waffles

Low carb waffles

I'll admit I love waffles and stumbled across this recipe and with a couple alterations made it my own:

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1 egg
2 Tbsp coconut flour
2 Tbsp almond milk unsweetened (sweetened may be good too)
Stevia for a little more sweetness
Touch of pure honey (about 1/2 tsp)

Directions:
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form
Once peaks formed add in rest of ingredients.
Mix until smooth.

Heat up waffle iron and when ready pour half waffle mix in. Cook 3-4 minutes until done. Then take
out waffle and pour renaming batter in and cook second waffle. Add a little pure maple syrup and strawberries and enjoy!

Both waffles = 1 serving.

Lower back pain? Moves to stregthen your back

Keeping a strong back can help avoid lower back pain- which is especially common to those sitting for long hours, or if in Public safety the weight of a duty belt can also cause back pain.  Back strengthening exercises: 

1. Hip Bridge: Lay down on your back with your knees bent, hip-width apart. Place arms along side of your body. Pull your abs in tight and raise your hips until there is a straight line between your knees and shoulders. Hold for 5-10 seconds.- slowly lower without touching ground then raise back up. Do 10 sets. 

2. Superman: laying on your stomach- arms at sides with finger pointed towards toes. Using your lower back muscles, lift your chest off the floor not lifting head more than 5-6". Hold 1 minute- repeat 3x
Legs should stay on floor to avoid injury to lower back.
You can do advanced level with arms raised in front of you or more advanced with arms behind eats in a reverse crunch position if you have the strength.

3. Swimming: start in same position as superman but arms stretched in front of you. Raise your legs a few inches around. Kick the legs like you were swimming (flutter kick legs). While legs kicking add in arms (opposite arm to opposite leg). Swim for 15 seconds- lower - repeat 5x.

4. Opposite arm/leg raise: 
Start in tabletop position (on all fours- arms below shoulders, legs hip width apart- straight back). Pull
Abs in tight for support. 
Raise your left leg and right arm- keeping hips square and abs tight so you could balance a glass of water on it. Hold 5 seconds, crunch in and repeat 10x then switch leg/arm. 

5. Cat/Cow Yoga Pose: start in tabletop position. Keeping abs in - Inhale and raise chest and sit bones toward sky- belly "sinks" towards the floor. Hold 3-5 seconds then slowly arch your back, as if you're pulling your abdomen up toward the spine- hold 3-5 seconds. Return to tabletop and repeat 10x

Hope you had a great 4th of July

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July and holiday weekend.  I know I ate a little too much this weekend- between a drink (or two), burgers, ribs and German Sweet Chocolate birthday cake for my husband I know it is time to hit the reset button.  I did still manage to workout though- with some help from 3 little people (yep the kids tried to join in- LOL).  My biggest "helper" was my youngest.  I am doing PIYO and he thinks he can also.  I did manage to get a sneak peek at a little of the program with out him video bombing it :-) 

If you are looking for a low impact but high intensity workout PIYO is it.  I had ACL surgery 15 weeks ago and just a couple weeks ago got the go ahead to jog not run.  For me that is a struggle as I am a runner.  But I am finding my knee still isn't 100%.  PIYO is all about strength and flexibility training and I am loving it!  I am not flexible and this is perfect for me.  It is also helping strengthen my knee more.  Plus the workouts are SHORT so with 3 kids I have plenty of time to sneak one in.

I teach Pilates and am thinking PIYO is a must to get certified in next and start teaching!

3 Day Refresh Complete

I am glad I did the refresh.  It was not easy in the sense I wanted chicken but it was only 3 days.  I was not starving and definitely needed the fruits and veggies.  After 10 days of vacation and not eating well it was a great way to reset my body.  As you can see the bloating is gone!  My clothes fit better, I feel better and I am back on track.

IF you are looking to recover after a vacation or holiday weekend then the Refresh is a great option.