Instagram Inspiration

Yo playas!

You may have noticed that it's been awhile since I've written a new post. The hubby was off work for the holiday season so we spent our time gigging, remodeling, moving, celebrating and best of all...PLAYING WITH OUR BABES!

Getting the time and space to blog has proven difficult with two little ones. How dare they demand all my attention, love and adoration?! Instead I've been giving and receiving lots of health and fitness inspiration via Instagram! I love that I can search #paleo #fitness #planks, etc and make "friends" with like-minded peeps!

Follow me on Instagram: blazerella

Here are some pics I've put up recently:

Paleo Cookbooks and Kitchen Experiments!

Vitamix. Juicing. Yum.

Shout outs for the people who inspire my eats and workouts.

Loving doTERRA Essential Oils!

Object Runway 4 Gig. Being body painted while singing with celeb judge Joshua McKinley from Season 9 of Project Runway.

Check out the girls at Tone It Up! I've been doing their workouts lately and loving it. Here's a sweet leg routine:

Life 7 Months Post-Baby...

I am the healthiest I've ever been. I'm physically fit. Why did I avoid vegetables, push-ups, and natural remedies for so long? My taste buds were trained to love grease and high fructose corn syrup. Taste buds can change! I was lazy and worked out in aggressive spurts only to release anger. I was only told to trust the doctor. Yikes. I'm experiencing spiritual and emotional growth. Why was I so afraid of sharing my feelings and even crying on occasion? I thought I was alone and that if I shared my traumatic past and my feelings about it that I would scare people off, get pity, or worry others. And if I cried I wasn't sure I'd ever stop. Turns out, I'm not alone. I'm not unique and I did stop crying.

I'm frequently asked how I got in shape so here it goes...

PHYSICALLY:

• Paleo Diet! No grains, No dairy, No Soy, No Legumes. Very little sugar. Lots of Veggies, Meat, Fruit, and Nuts. I saturate everything I cook in Coconut Oil! The Vitamix and Juicer are used regularly. I tried adding rice back into my diet when I started dropping weight too fast but my body did NOT like the reintroduction of rice so I cut it back out and just upped my avocado and sweet potato intake. 
• Primal Workouts. Dancing. Now that winter is here we haven't had the regular trips to the park where we were sprinting and exercising together. The past month or two I've been doing planks, push-ups and squats very infrequently. The kids keep getting heavier so I lift a 17 and 25 lb weight many times a day. And we gig a couple times a week so I'm on my feet for a few hours making sure I move continuously.
• doTERRA's Essential Oil, Slim and Sassy. (Silly name.) It's a completely safe, natural effective weight loss aid. It's a blend of Ginger, Grapefruit, Peppermint, Lemon and Cinnamon. Most importantly it's treating my hypoglycemia. It regulates my blood sugar level while detoxing my fat cells. Impressive. Find it here, www.mydoterra.com/blazeanderic/ or contact me if you'd like to try a sample! Also doTERRA's Essential Oil, Breathe which has replaced my 2 asthma inhalers that I puffed over 35 times a week. Now my asthma is completely manageable with 1-2 drops a day of Breathe. Miracle for me.
• Supplements! With extra Vitamin D!
• Pre-Pregnancy Weight with Baby #1: 130 lbs. Gained 40 lbs during the pregnancy. Born 3.29.11
• Pre-Pregnancy Weight with Baby #2: 130 lbs. Gained 35 lbs during the pregnancy. Born 5.4.12
• Weight Today, 7 months post-partum:118 lbs. with more lean muscle than my body's ever had!

MENTALLY:

• A strong program of continuous recovery that enables me to help myself, help others and live the life of my dreams!
• Limited screen time. We took a month long tv break to let our brains relax a bit.
• Choosing Acceptance over Control and Faith over Fear.
• doTERRA's Essential Oils; Basil, one drop 2-3 times a day for mental renewal. I was struggling with becoming extremely overwhelmed on long days alone with the kids and this oil has turned that around. I finally feel capable and stable. Serenity layered with Frankincense or Balance to help me cope with stress, especially at bedtime. Find them here, www.mydoterra.com/blazeanderic/
• Incredibly supportive, wise, helpful husband.

If you'd like any recommendations on easy Paleo Meals, Primal Workouts or doTERRA Essential Oils just shoot me an email, blazemusically@yahoo.com or send me a message on Facebook! Life is good. It used to be such a struggle. I was choosing to sit in my pain, medicate with things that made it worse and I didn't know how to stop. I realized if nothing changed I'd be stuck there forever so I've been working hard to be the person I've always dreamed of being and life gets better every day! 

Emote, Eat and Take Your Vitamins

Emotions are not emergencies. Deep Breath and Repeat.

The past two weeks have been chock full o' emotionally charged dates. There was the anniversary of a traumatic event that changed the course of my life and the anniversary of the day (years later) that I decided to stop escaping every emotion by any means necessary. I got through the tough day without doing anything to make it worse, which was a feat. I let the memories surface. I felt the fear, anger and pain and I did my best to let it go. Then the happier date came along and I felt the gratitude, humility and the hope that was deserved. Apparently feelings don't kill me and sometimes they even make me all warm and fuzzy!

Before- 8 months prego w/ Jazz and After- Last weekend at Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse gig.
I'm excited about the muscle definition in my arms. Carrying two babes has an upside!

The worst thing I did was some emotional eating but I've forgiven myself. :) Have you ever had a Fast Break candy bar?! It's like Mr. Snickers and Ms. Reese's knocked boots and had the most glorious baby ever! And I ate 3 of their babies...

My diet is still 90% Paleo 10% shitty sugar. I'm considering doing Balanced Bites 21 Day Sugar Detox or The Whole 30. Have you done either? Any suggestions?
I've been asked a lot lately what I eat so here are some pics from this week:

Breakfast-Banana (I have to force them down. I can't stand the texture but they're so good nutritionally. Sigh.) Steak strips w/ peppers, onions and asparagus and of course, COFFEE!

Love hydrating with Coconut Water!

I'm a big advocate of supplements! Most of us have deficiencies we aren't aware of that are bringing down our quality of life. I learned so much from the book, "Depression Free, Naturally" by Joan Mathew Larson. I notice a dip in my mental state when I stop taking B vitamins. D is an essential which I already preached about here. Iodine, Iron, Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium are my other dailies. I've recently upped my Flax intake to help with my Omegas since I'm allergic to Fish. And after most meals we take Papaya Enzymes to help with digestion. (Pregnant ladies, papaya enzymes are a life saver for heart burn.)

What supplements do you find work best? 

4 Months Primal Check-In!

Current results since going PRIMAL!

That's a picture from yesterday. Jazz is a few days over 4 months. So with almost 4 months of eating a Paleo Diet (plus lots of added sugar binges) and 2 months of sporadic Primal Workouts I'm already seeing and feeling GREAT results!

My husband is doing this all with me and yesterday he flexed...YEAH BABY! I was pretty turned on, not gonna lie.

Lyric is the only one in the family that's not eating paleo since he's allergic to most meats and some veggies...and some fruits...and some nuts. Poor little dude! Jazz is thriving on my paleo breast milk though!

The MDA Primal Blueprint Challenge started this week so go to the website and join in! I can't wait to see how I feel and look in another 4 months! Lean mean fat burning machine! As someone who battled bulimia for 10 years, eating well and feeling strong is an amazing accomplishment that I'm really proud of and incredibly thankful for.

Will you join the challenge?

A Typical Day of My Paleo Eats

Thank you Jenny for my first Paleo Cookbook, "Well Fed" by Melissa Joulwan! Paleo recipes for people who love to eat. Grain, Legume, Dairy and Sugar Free. The layout is amazing and I can't wait to share my favorite finds!

I've had a few people ask me lately what I eat, so here's a day in the life of my tummy:

Breakfast - 3 eggs w/ veggies and sometimes bacon or turkey bacon. And Coffee w/ Coconut or Almond Milk and occasionally a few drops of liquid Stevia.

Snack - Nuts (Pistachios or Macadamia lately) and Dried Fruit made in our Dehydrator. Water.

Lunch - Big Ass Salad! Tons of lettuce, kale and/or spinach. Veggie-Palooza and sometimes chicken.

Dinner - Veggie, Meat Combo. Beef, Chicken, or Steak w/ Peppers, Avocado, Asparagus, Any and All Veggies I can find in our fridge! Coconut Water.

Late Night Snack - Hopefully I'll omit this someday but lately I want sweets all the time so I've been indulging in Larabar's uber. Not the healthiest but much better than what I really crave, frosting. ha!

What are your favorite Paleo Cookbooks?

My First Time Using a Recipe vs. A Microwave

Cooking, cleaning, and caring never came easy to me. I decided at young age that I was going to be rich and famous so I would of course have a cook, maid, chauffeur, masseuse, etc. That's still the plan but in the meantime I think I'd like a more serene living space. And it might be okay if I'm able to feed my children...

I've been having a great time keeping up with Paleo, Fitness, and Healthy Lifestyle Blogs. This week I tried out two recipes. That's two more than I've ever attempted before. 

Both recipes are Grain, Dairy and Sugar Free.

First I made Coconut Flour "Oatmeal" from Katie Did's blog. (She is an awesome Paleo Eater, Crossfit Monster and Sweet Photographer.)

The only variation I made was to add ground flax seed and honey as a topping and I omitted the peaches. I've been having the toughest time avoiding sugar but this was a sweet treat and I even felt like I was eating carbs again. I don't miss them but it was a nice texture. 

That was so much fun that I decided to try something a bit more ambitious. Protein Thin Mint Cookies from the awesome sisters of Purely Twins. I used Variation #5 No Carob. I struggled with this creation a bit. I decided to buy new measuring cups because I rely heavily on them! The cookies didn't turn out that great since I kept screwing with the amounts of ingredients. Instead of throwing in the towel I got creative and turned the runny mint chocolate soup into balls by adding Crunchy Flax Cereal, Flax Seed and Shredded Coconut. Voila! Delicious!

Making treats in the kitchen turned out to be a fun, calming, enlightening experience for me! For the first time I was able to hear both my husband and mom say, "Wow Blaze, that actually tastes good!" Maybe one day I'll be so good that they'll take out the "actually"... 

Do you enjoy cooking? Where do you find your favorite recipes?