Enter to WIN a Monat Replenish Masque!

I LOVE giveaways! I've won my share of them recently, time to spread the love!

The Replenish masque is a repairing and hydrating masque ideal for damaged and moisture starved hair that penetrates and nurtures the scalp while helping boost natural hair growth, improve follicle strength and reduce hair thinning.

The masque infuses essential moisture and delivers vital nutrients to help eliminate frizz and reduce split ends. Hair is left silky and more manageable. The masque is safe to use on color treated hair and extensions!

Here is my hair using the Renew Shampoo and Replenish Masque!

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Contest closes February 26th 2016. 9pm MST.

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PMS Smoothie

Aunt Flow likes to visit every month, and while she is a natural process in life, most of us aren't fans. Check out this smoothie recipe for some relief before she packs her bags and leaves

The base is Raspberry Leaf Tea that’s been brewed and chilled. Some moms might know this from being pregnant to try and induce labor. It has antispasmodic properties (supresses muscle spasm) that helps with cramping.

The flaxseed has essential fatty acid that also helps relieves symptoms and aid in proper grandular function (hormome balance).

The kiwi and spinach are high in calcium for backache, cramping and nervousness. The higher magnesium contents in these foods, also helps you absorb the calcium.  Banana’s potassium and B6 help with water retention, not to mention have the right sweetness to kill the sugar craving.

Recipe:

  • 1 Cup of cooled Raspberry Leaf Tea (less or more depending on how thick you like your smoothies)
  • 1 tablespoon flaxseeds
  • 2 kiwis peeled
  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • half a banana
  • 1 cup spinach
  • handful of ice cubes

Blend smooth and enjoy!

 

Love, 

Jen

Bundle The Bissell

My friend Christine over at Just Another Edmonton Mommy contacted a couple of us about wanting to do a drive for the Bissell Center. A local to Edmonton non for profit company that helps the homeless and vulnerable of our city. With her heart of gold and best intention I was inspired and offered to run a yoga class or two to support this drive. People could come and attend the class for free as long as they brought a donation for the Bissell Center.

Then another wonderful and generous friend, Deanne from Box Social Event Planning, who works with some local malls on events, said she would check to see if someone had a space for this type of thing.

Well lucky for us, Kingsway Mall was gracious enough to donate some space for us to hold this drive. Here is some wonderful pictures from the weekend.

At the end of the first day the bin was overflowing and even more came in on the second day. We didn’t have as big of a turnout as we had hoped (was a very super cold weekend, and many yogis were shopping a super sale) but even then, the people who should up, really showed up!

It was a great pleasure and wonderful honor to guide these generous people through a yoga practice.

 

The Bundle The Bissell Drive is going on until the 22nd of January. If you missed the yoga event you still have time to drop off donations at these locations:

WHAT TO DONATE TO BUNDLE UP THE BISSELL

o    Gloves

o    Toques

o    Scarves

o    Winter Work Gloves  

o    Winter Jackets

o    New Underwear/Long Underwear  

o    New Thermal/ Wool Socks

WHERE TO DROP OFF DONATION ITEMS

Dominelli School of Music North -#203, 8119-160 Avenue
Monday-Friday 1pm-9pm Saturdays 9:30am – 5pm

The Grange Physical Therapy – 2484 Guardian Road NW
Monday –Thursday: 8am – 9pm Friday: 8am-8pm

Wheaton Toyota on the Trail – 5210 Calgary Trail Edmonton
Monday -Thursday 9am-9pm Friday & Saturday 9am-6pm

Pamper & Play Salon and Spa – 228 – 91 st SW
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00 – 6:00
Thursday 10:00 – 9:00
Saturday 10:00 – 5:00

 


Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also those who need it so much. - Daphine Rose Kingma

 

Thank you everyone for your support!

Love, 

Jen

Healthy Chocolate Protein Muffins

So the gym is doing a Halloween bake sale to raise money for toys and stuff in the daycare. Since I go a lot, I offered to bake something. At first I said sugar cookies. But then rethinking, it's a gym. If we want their money we need macro/calorie friendly protein rich items! So here I made this muffin. Not to bad if you ask me!

Ingredients (Makes 18 medium muffins):

  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup egg whites
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 4 pcs of 70% baking chocolate
  • 2 scoops chocolate protein powder. I used Allmax All natural so the chocolate taste isn't as strong as some. 
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon pink himalayan salt

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin tins or add wrappers. 
  2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and put aside. 
  3. Put the egg whites in a mixer and start beating to get some air into the eggs. 
  4. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil on the stove. Use a medium low heat to avoid burning. Watch and mix often, it will melt quickly. 
  5. Whisk cold Almond milk into the coconut oil and chocolate mixture to cool it down before adding to the eggs. 
  6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. 
  7. Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake for 8-12 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. 

Eat like this or my favourite is to put peanut butter on top!!!!! Let me know what you think!


Love, 

Jen

Workout Gear Review: Winners Balance Collection Athletic Pants

I get a lot of people ask me about reviewing workout gear, they want to know what's out there. So, I thought today I would write about the these yoga/athletic pants I got from Winners.  Being from Winners and costing $25 makes me think they are accessible and affordable to most people. Now I know you may be thinking "But Jen, Winners prides themselves on the fact that every time you go there is something new. They have commercials saying the item could be gone in a hour!" Yes, this is true. And I can even think of sometimes I didn't buy something only to regret it later when it was gone. The one thing I've noticed they keep pretty reliable is their workout gear section. There are brands (such as these) that I've seen every time I go. 

Moving on to why we are here. The pants. 

The pros:

I really like the fact that they are lightweight. I love them for hot yoga and cardio. I don't feel like they are make me even warmer and they are breathable. I like that they stay on me for these types of activities too. Some pants I find start falling down as I hit the treadmill. (Subscribe to email to watch for which ones!) These pants don't move. 

I like the fun design/colors they have. The crazier the better seems to be the trend in workout gear and they've got a lot of great options. Side note here; with the designs and so on it hides sweat marks really well! 

The wide waist band rocks. This is basically the very first thing I look for on workout/yoga pants. Being a mom of two, the lower part of my stomach doesn't always "behave" with pants. Wide waist bands are nice to keep everything tucked in and secure. 

They are not see through. I went to take some pictures to show you how they aren't see through and decided against posting pictures of me basically bent over full bum in the frame shots. So here is one of me off to the side. The flash is really bright here and you still can't see through them.

They cost $25. Yeah that's a big difference between some brand names of upward to $200.

The cons:

There is no small key pocket. I used to think these were useless. But I use these pockets in pants alllllll the time. I usually take off my rings for weightlifting and put them in these pockets. If they are big enough and the location works, I sometimes put my music device in there too!

I have bought pants basically exactly like this and enjoyed them immensely, but after about a year the had a hole in the side, where the seem split a bit. I haven't had this exact pair that long but they are the same material and stitching. This is the difference in pricing. The expensive pants usually last a really long time and these types not so much.

Final Verdict:

Great for activities like running and yoga.

Good choice if maybe starting to workout and looking for something inexpensive to start with. Also if you are planning to very dramatically change your body (read as loose say 40 lbs) they would be good. This way you aren't buying really expensive stuff that wont fit. (soon hopefully)

Share with me some brands you'd love to see a review of!

Love, Jen

Gymnasts and Savasana

Over the course of the summer I have had the pleasure of working with a local gymnastics company. I've been doing conditioning and yoga with their competitive girls. A few had taken a yoga class or two and that's about all the exposure they've had. 

I remember telling a few people that I was going to be teaching gymnasts yoga and the response was like, "but why, they are so flexible and strong already?". True enough but they are strong and flexible in just the things they work at. Like any person, you become skilled at what you put effort into. I was, and still am sometime baffled at the fact there are some poses they cant do or cringe at as I show them it.

But aside from their strength and flexibility, two big parts of any athletes training is mental focus and learning the ability to relax. Especially for competitive athletes. Here is where I think simple Savasana is important. This seems sort of simple doesn't it? Relaxing I mean. I sometimes think I'm the master of it with my Netflix binges. I don't think it's quiet so simple for athletes to do this. 

Bringing me back to the gymnasts, at the beginning of the summer, our first Savasana was a bit "rough". Most, if not all of the girls were fidgeting, some kept opening their eyes and looking around, and some were even still talking. Now I can completely understand the awkwardness of their first Savasana. Not to mention they are 7-12 years old. I'm pretty sure at 7 I personally had the attention span of a goldfish.  

My 4 year old can do about 30 seconds. Ha Ha. 

Some of my wording with these girls is "Lying down in Savasana, working out any last stretches, itches and scratches and finding that comfortable spot." Little more talking and as they settle down say "coming to lying completely still". Over the summer they would tell me that every time I said that they would all of a sudden have an itch again. I know. That's the point. Stay still. Let that itch be all you think of or let that stuff go. Sounds weird that you wouldn't scratch an itch right? But the itch only comes because they basically mentally created it from me saying that. Makes sense that mentally they itch it I think. Let it go. Relax.

Mental focus, or unfocus for that matter. As a competitive athlete there is a million things that can go wrong or we do wrong. This is why we practice. While learning not to point our foot that way or grab this way on the bar, we also need to learn to let go afterwards. Constantly focusing on the way we are bouncing off the board incorrectly or the "itch" is the same thing. Honor it for what it is, learn from it and let it go.  

Finally, last week was our last summer session. And before sending them off to their final weekend of summer, school starting and coming to focus on training for competition season over the fall I had them in  a 10 minute Savasana. And wow. Almost from the time they put their heads on the mat they were still and peaceful. For the full 10 minutes. To the very moment I started with "starting to slowly move the body". That's progress if I ever saw some. I mean I can't tell you what's going on in their heads, but as young, high energy athletes (that talk A LOT) seeing them still, speachless and relaxed for a full 10 minutes was amazing. My hope for them is that they be able to take that ability to relax the mind and body during high stress times, say the evenings after a day of competing. 

I'm excited to work with them through the fall and can't wait to see them grow even more. 

As an athlete, what do you do to unwind and relax from the stresses of training?

Love, 

Jen


Easy Homemade Face Wash

I love stuff I can make at home for skin care. Because A) I know what in it and B) well, to be honest I hate running out of stuff and having to drag my two kids to the store. Or waiting to long before it runs out to reorder it from wherever. 

This facewash is soooooooo simple and so good for your skin. I took it camping and made my face feel fresh even when all grungy and camping. 

What you need:

  • Brewed chammomile tea. 1/2 cup
  • Castile Soap, 1/4 cup
  • Almond Oil, 1/2 tbsp
  • Lavender Essential Oil, 2-4 drops

*Tip: You can usually find all these ingredients at a health food store! And there are many many uses for all these ingredients! 

 

1.Brew the tea. I made a strong cup and let it brew a while. Chammomile is moisturizing, while being an anti imflammatory, helps retore natural pH levels and provides some sun protection even.

 I found this awesome tea EARTH TEA where they help feed starving children of the world through the United Nation World Food Programme. Their tea is also grown right here in Alberta.  I mean you can use whatever tea brand you want, but supporting local farmers AND feeding starving children, I'm in. 

 

2. Put castile soap into a medium bowl. I used the lavender here, but you can use whichever suits you or you have. Lots of recipes I've seen calls for the baby one. I have also heard to avoid the citrus. I'll get to why I used Lavender a little further down. 

3.Add Almond oil. Almond Oil is an antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti inflammatory. It helps reduce irritation, itching and promote healing of the skin and scars you may have.

4. Add a few drops of Lavender essential oil. Maybe you're really into oils and want to add you own mix and that rocks. I used lavender soap and oil because Lavender is also an antiseptic and anti fungal. Additionally it is a calming scent for nerves and anxiety. Maybe stress is adding to your blemishes and calming those nerves helps with breakouts? Try it out?

5. Add cooled tea to mix and put into containers. I started with this small batch. I got a small bottle and put the rest in a  glass jar. Just make sure to shake before using. It comes out a bit runny so be careful, but it's super super sudsy! 


Enjoy and let me know how it works out!

Love,

Jen

Fitness Takes A Village

We often say this when talking about raising children. And that is very true. I will not contest that in the slightest. What I don't think that gets spoken about often is that its needed in our health and fitness lifestyle too. 

In our day to to day lives, how many times are we exposed to offerings that are not in our diet or meal plans? Daily, hourly, every minute (thanks Instagram and Facebook and your damn food accounts pfft). Oh sure we can argue it takes willpower. Sure it does. That's not the whole bit of it though. 

Starting a journey into fitness can be exciting. Being honest though, like most new things, the novelty wears off a bit. You have to find that sort of love for it. Read my Love Your Fitness post talking all about that subject. But one thing that can keep you motivated is finding your "village". 

Thinking back on to the hot new fitness regimes out there all the time. A big part of it seems to be the people. Crossfit being the best example of this I think. They compete with each other but in a supportive way. They all do the same daily workout. They are a village in it together. The Zumba phenomenon years ago. A village, dressing in bright colors expressing themselves through their creative dance. Yogi's looking to each other for support and guidance and assistance. Body builders coaching and spotting and competing together. From what I've seen most successfully winning in groups. Families. Villages. 

Taking that outside of the gym, zumba room or barre class, you need your village in support of your friends and family. And that's the more difficult one. You may want to change your ways but your husband or friends don't. You want to stop the Saturday nights binge drinkfests, ball team cookout that could feed an army or just fast food picked up daily by the family. So many motivational and inspirational messages tell us we can't change others, only ourselves. It is a matter of willpower and strength. Half right. Half wrong. We can not change them, but we do not just have to grin and bear it. Seek a village. Seek those with goals like yourself. Connect with those that inspire you, lift you up and support you. 

Something I found profoundly powerful? Asking to be supportive. I tell my husband, "Hey I need to really stop with the wine and candy for a bit. I'm not feeling so hot these days." Now my husband is amazing and he says "okay, I'll be as supportive as I can". Because you know, he's one of those jerks that can eat like crazy and loose weight. *Love you babe* But even if he didn't say that, now he knows my intention. My reason for not having a beer on the deck with him, but a water, or a salad instead of ordering pizza. 

Put your intention out into the world. Really the scariest thing that can happen is you get what you ask for. And hey who knows, maybe you are the one that inspires those around you!

 

Take care and you are ALWAYS, ALWAYS welcome to share with me here and we can be our own village. 

 

Love, 

Jen


Home Remedies For PMS

I know in the past I've read of ways to help alleviate pms symptoms, a lot of them being things you can do the weeks before, such as reducing caffiene intake, tennis ball fascia release, exercising, and so on. These  help but let's be honest, every month during the time we say over the next month we will and two days after we have forgotten all about it. So, here I am writing about things that can help in the now.

Raspberry Leaf Tea

If you've had a baby, you may know this one from pregnancy to either help with labour or try and drink at the end in hopes of bringing on labour. This tea is a uterine tonic with many benefits, one of which being to relieve menstrual camps. Drinking a couple of mugs a day during the cramping phase helps quite a bit. Ive boughten it at health food stores for between $7 and $9 but recently saw it being sold at Shoppers for under $7!

Magnesium and Multivitamin

Magnesium can help relax muscles and some say that a lack of magnesium is linked to cravings chocolate. I like to think taking it helps curb the craving a bit.  Now dark chocolate is a better source then the sugary milk chocolate most of us reach for, so maybe if you don't like 80% cocoa try a supplement. Keep in mind, to much can cause diarrhea, so start with lower dosage. I take mine before bed. 

I agree a multivitamin isn't something we need everyday usually, but I make sure to take mine during the monthly visit for an extra iron source.

Rescue Remedy

I use this stuff when my kids are cranky from teething, I'm having a rough day and especially when I'm on my Aunt Flow rage. Come one, admit it, we all get it. It really helps calm me down and think a little more clearly. You can buy the drops, gum, candy and so on from Bach. I've used them all and usually by this stuff for new moms in their Welcome Baby basket. It's that good.

 PMS Smoothie

This PMS Smoothie from my personal blog does wonder for bloating and other symptoms. Using the tea mentioned above as a base too!

Yoga Poses

Moving your body in general will help, and of course taking a yoga class would be great. But if you are looking for something to do a bit at home here are a few poses. 

  • Sage Twist

 

  • Camel (More experienced practitioners and/or warmed up)

 

  • Lying Chair Twist 

 

  • and gold old fashioned Child's Pose. This one feels so good for lower back pain, especially if you get your toddler to come along and sit on your back while doing it. 

When all else fails and go easy on yourself, love yourself and when it's really just sucky, give yourself a break have your indulgence (in my case and oreo with nutella) and take a deep breath. 

Love, 

Jen

No Shampoo? No Problem.

Since my husband and I got together nearly 11 years ago he's been calling me a hippie. At first because I am a vegetarian and all mushy and gooey about being nice to animals and saving bugs from the house and putting them outside.

As the years have passed I've gotten more and more "hippie" for lack of a better word. But I think my newest adventure takes the cake.

I'm not washing my hair. *Insert whispers and funny stares*

Well, actually I am, but not in the traditional sense. A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post Nature Powered Skin Care, and spoke about my awesome new face stuff that helps maintain my natural oils in my skin instead of stripping them. This is the same reason hairstylist tell you to go as long as you can in between hair washes. When you shampoo your hair you are washing the dirt and product but also stripping your natural oils from your hair. From this your body goes "hey we are missing something up there, start producing oil!!!!" Thus, making your hair greasier and greasier each time you skip a wash day. You've gone into over oil production mode trying to make up for the lack there of on your scalp. This is why I only wash my kids hair when really dirty from say ice cream in it or like once every 1-2 weeks. *insert more whispers and stares*

Sooooooo, No shampoo? No problem. I've researched a little bit about going natural with hair washing and it is so simple it's worth a try. Maybe even once or twice a month as sort of a reset if it's not your thing all the time. No crazy ingredients you need to run to the health food store and cost you a fortune. It's literally baking soda, apple cider vinegar, water and bottles to hold the stuff. 

I used an old conditioner bottle for the "shampoo" mixture and a spray bottle for the "conditioner".

Shampoo:

  • Couple of tablespoons of plain old baking soda. ( my bottle is an old Dove 338 mL so scale to your size)
  • Fill remainder of bottle with water.
  • Shake and put on the scalp. Here try and keep it to the scalp, avoiding putting it on the ends of your hair. Leave a minute or two and rinse. First time I tried this was mixed in a mason jar for cuteness. Yeah that doesn't work well. Use something that you can kind of put specifically on the scalp in areas, such as a squirt bottle or old shampoo bottle.

Conditioner:

  • 1 part apple cider vinegar
  • 4 parts water
  • Shake and spray onto all of the hair. Leave for a few minutes and rinse. The vinegar smell DOES rinse away. :)

The hair will not feel sleek and shiny most likely after your normal conditioning regime. I even used a tiny bit of leave in conditioner just on the ends. I imagine eventually over time the natural oils work there way to the ends of the hair and this will not be a necessary step.

I have this awesome Wet brush that I bought like 6 of for in my house. It will brush through any wet hair, even crazy knot filled toddler hair (dry or wet) without pulling and children screaming. As a licensed hairdresser I get them directly from the professional hair distributors for like $12 but they should be under $20 in a salon. Worth it. Buy some.

Style your hair as normal. I did notice it takes a bit longer to dry your hair, but it is crazy soft. The ends are very soft and have none of those dry fly aways. I barely had to straighten my hair. The top is not greasy exactly but not that super clean feeling after stripping it. Again I imagine this goes away after time. I will update with another post after its been a while.

So I did this 5 days ago. My hair felt a little like straw on the ends, but I think I had to much baking soda. I've read you need to adjust to your hair. A bit of trial and error. The next day I washed with normal shampoo and conditioner, because it was my birthday and I just wanted to feel pretty and was worried it would look yucky halfway through the day. I normally wash my hair every second day. Well yesterday would have been a wash day, but I already noticed it wasn't that bad and wasn't itchy. I know you know what itch I mean. The one that makes you wash your hair before you go to the gym itchy.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Jen 


Nature Powered Skin Care

Since about the age of 12 I have had problems with my face. Pimples and so on. I turn 30 in a week and it's been driving me nuts that its carried into my adult life. I've switched to a lot of products and used harsh this and that to cleanse my face.

The thing that's worked the best? I've made the switch to natural everything around my face. I started using Twisted Sisters Skin Nutrition . The Cream Cleanser and Face Fertilizer and I don't think I will use anything else ever. Instead of stripping the oils from my face, it's actually helping keep them, so my face doesn't have to go into overdrive creating more, this making the problem worse.

Secondly I've switched to natural toothpaste. I'm a half and half person. Meaning I have always used some natural face or body products, but about half have been normal drug store options. After learning a little more about acne face mapping, and that switching to a natural toothpaste can help with acne around the mouth (my main issue) I thought I'd give it a try. I found one on Well.ca  along with my next item. Use the coupon code SelfCentered to get $10 off! I got some for my kids too.

Lastly I bought a natural foundation. I've used a few natural makeup products before and didn't seem to make a difference, but I'll keep with my three combo because whatever it is, it's working. Plus, this one I also found on Well.ca and it's made here in Canada! Pure Anada Brand.

So if you're like me with your face still making you crazy over half your life, or maybe looking for more natural options (And some Canadian made too!) Check out some of these new products I'm in love with!


Glute Isolation Workout

I love lifting weights and body building, because I get to be in control of what shape my body takes. Working muscles I would like to grow and not working ones that don't need it as much. Big butts are all the rage now. And I am soooooo on that bandwagon. Ha ha.

Problem is. When working lower body muscles, a lot of them work together. Like during your squat "hey butt I see you strugglin', quadriceps and I we're going to help you out here." Maybe not a bad thing, unless you have quadriceps that develop pretty quickly. And your goals are to tames them, but grow a butt. There is many posts about this so I wont beat a dead horse.

Here is a glute/leg workout I put together to focus on isolation of the glute muscles, plus some hamstrings and calves. Because yeah, I want that curvy shape all the way down.

Good mornings - Target the gluteus maximus and the hamstring muscles, the semitendinosus, bicep femoris long and short heads and semimembranosus.

Barbell Lunges - Target Gluteus Maximus and quads. If you take a bigger step it will focus more on the gluteus, shorter step will focus on the quads. I'm really into doing these heavier weighted on the smith machine at the moment. Lower weight, walking lunges will make you feel the burn to.

Hip thrusts - Focus on gluteus Maximus and hamstring muscles, the bicep femoris (long & short heads). I like switching these up between very heavy and lighter with a resistance band around my legs above me knees. Try both and notice where you feel the muscles.

Cable Kick Backs - Gluteus maximus and bicep femoris. Some variations being the knee bent and kick back or grab a platform (think like step class ones) and step up then you can straight leg kick back better.

Hip Abduction - Focus is on Gluteus Medius. This muscle shows more on the side, giving the round shape. I like these on the cable myself, but you can usually find a machine that works these.

Then I round out the workout with:

Standing Calf Raises - Focus on the triceps surae, the three major larger muscles of the calf (gastrocnemius lateral head, gastrocnemius medial head and soleus) as well as the plantaris.

In the "inner butt" is the gluteus minimus which is an important hip stabalizer. Deep in the minimus is the piriformis. Behind the piriformis is the sciatic nerve. I bet you've heard of that one before. Or felt that sucker when he's angry. So it's important to stretch after working out for many reasons, but I think especially after a glute isolation workout, because if the muscles are all tight and the piriformis is, then it will irritate the sciatic nerve, causing you mucho pain.

Here are some great yoga poses you can do to stretch out those glute muscles and hamstrings.

One legged pigeon

Standing Pigeon

Single Leg Seated Forward Fold

Rock A Baby

My computer hates me and does strange things to my images. Perfect example this clown face thing. (LOL)

Thread The Needle

Always warm up before working out! And take care of your body. Listen when it's telling you you've done to much.

Jen