Why Its Time To Check Out Crossfit!

A Better Butt than This! (Freephotos.net)

1) The Butt You've Always Wanted: People who crossfit have the best derrieres. Just Sayin'.

2) Christmas Abbott - be you guy or girl, She's Hot. Nuff said (google it).

3) Get out of Your Cardio Rutt (I don't mean to call you out but we both know its not working). Stop spending hour upon boring hour on the treadmill trying to kill calories and start getting in shape sister!

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4) Personal Training - without paying someone the big bucks; A new challenging workout every day with an entire community to motivate you.

5) Its Addictive. Ever had that problem before....Being addicted to your exercise program?

6) Theres No Excuses. You can do a crossfit workout at home or on the road with little to no equipment. 

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7) Break Through Your Plateaus. You will always make gains with crossfit. You will also almost always be sore (but thats how you know its working).

8) You will Eat Better. You just will. You didn't work that hard doing 150 wall balls to go out and down a double cheeseburger or eat half a cheesecake at 10 p.m.

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9) You'll stop weighing yourself and start counting how many burpees and double unders you can do

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10) The Group Dynamic: you will always push yourself harder in a crossfit class than you will doing the same workout that you've been doing every day for the last 3 months. I guarantee it.

"Gee Doris I've been doing my workout every day. How come its not working?"(Freephotos.net)

11) You'll do things you never thought possible. You will see a workout written on a board. It will seem impossible. But you will do it. Because it is written (and hey you can't exactly leave halfway through).

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12) Guy or Girl, It will make you feel powerful to Lift Big

13) You will have the Best "Crossfit High."

14) You will be in the Best Shape of your life (while likely spending less overall time working out!)

Check out Crossfit. It Rocks!

The Home and Happy Housewife

Suck It Up, and Down a Green Smoothie!

Over Christmas we watched a number of documentaries including "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" which I definitely recommend. The star of the film sat on a precipice - he could change his eating habits and live, or continue on his path and die young. What struck me about the film was the sense of entitlement to eat shitty food. Many of those interviewed felt that they would rather eat crappy food and die young leaving behind children and spouses because they were unwilling to change their habits, because it took too much willpower to be healthy and they were somehow ENTITLED to eat crappy food (this sense of entitlement that you see everywhere in the Western world may be at the heart of the obesity epidemic we are battling!)

The overweight man embarked on a 60 day juice fast - pretty extreme but by the same token what he had done to his health was pretty extreme as well and really did call for some drastic measures. Nothing but juice for 60 days! It made me feel appreciative of my own health, and also reminded me that it probably wouldn't be that painful for me to throw in a couple of green smoothies a day - that maybe didn't taste the greatest (by that I mean on par with a booster juice or your favourite protein shake recipe) but that were super-good for me.

I already eat a ton of vegetables but this spot-shot of extra green and protein goodness is a great addition to my diet, very affordable and awesome for the Mom on the run. Plus if I eat a crappy dinner or have an overindulgent day I feel I can redeem myself by upping my green smoothie quota.

Cheap Raw Food Green Protien Smoothie:

Basic Recipe

1 small gala apple
1/2 cup apple juice
2 - 4 TBSP raw pumpkin seeds
3 spears celery 1/2 cucumber
2 cups + of greens of your choice
sprinkle of sea salt

There are many variations on the greens: kale, swiss chard, spinach. I pack as many in as I can fit. I always add a couple of spears of celery and up to a full cucumber if I have it on hand to make it more filling (sometimes I thicken it up with some avocado). Then for sweetness I usually use about a 1/2 cup of flash pasteurized apple juice (not the greatest, but its a conduit for all this other great stuff and it really is super-quick and convenient). The sprinkle of sea salt is key, sounds counterintuitive but it actually acts to sweeten up the whole shake (like a shake of salt in oatmeal).Then I put in about 2 - 4 TBSP of raw pumpkin seeds, or another great source of raw protein.

On a SIDEBAR - RAW PUMPKIN SEEDS - one of the greatest and cheapest sources of raw protein that ever lived. About 18 grams of protein in 200 calories of seeds! That beats even hemp which is also an amazing source of raw protein and super-energizing, chia seeds and flax come next. I think its great to include a range of protein sources - plus all of these seeds have great health benefits. If you are always making the same smoothie with say kale and hemp seeds you are mono-dosing yourself with nutrients. Its like my skin care regimen - some days I use coconut oil other days, olive oil, sometimes argon oil - it pays to mix it up so that you are getting different things from different sources (on a sidebar coming next, my complete, natural, DIY, home skincare regimen!)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my green smoothie recipe. If you are having trouble motivating yourself remember, at least you don't have to drink nothing but juice for 60 days! Suck it up! Your health will thank you.

Cheers,

The Home and Happy Housewife

My Breakup Letter to Lululemon

Dear Lulu,

I'm breaking up with you. Don't get me wrong, I believe we've had a good run together: those early awkward years in college when the freshman ten were upon me and none of my clothes fit except my old faithful lulus, not to mention how a fresh outfit always got me back to the gym after a bad breakup. I appreciate that in an "Aritizia-esque" way I can go into your store anytime and am basically guaranteed to find something that looks great on me.

"Its Not You, Its Me Lulu...." (FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Understand that "its not you, its me." I still have absolute faith in your product, and love the choice of color and the super-flattering, ultra-functional high-quality designs. But I gotta say Lulu, I no longer love shelling out $100 or $100 plus for a pair of workout pants. Yes I know they last forever - I could literally send them through the dryer for like the next four years (like that chair you see being sat on every 3 seconds at Ikea). I have tops from like 8 years ago that are still totally wearable...

However times have changed, Seeing your logo no longer sends a chill down my spine. I've got a mortgage to pay now. Don't get me wrong I'm a stay-at-home Mom and workout addict so the yoga pant is like a uniform for me. However the days of your competition having nothing to offer but racks of ill-fitting too-tight workout clothing are over. There's now an abundance of online shopping with free shipping. Great workout fashion is now available at an affordable price, oh and I'm not obligated to wear it for the next 8 years because I paid such an exhorborant price for it, or wash my workout gear multiple times a week because I spent so much on a few pivotal pieces that I don't have enough to go around.



"Okay Its You Too, You've Changed Lulu!" (FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

When I say its ENTIRELY me, I'm not ENTIRELY telling the truth. You've changed. You used to be my cool West Coast vice no one knew about. I would return from Vancouver in my hip and unique Lulu Athletica attire and people would ask me where I got it and mispronounce your name when I told them. Then you went West. You opened a flagship store in - gasp - Calgary. Pretty soon everyone in Western Canada was rocking your designs (I won't even mention what happened in the Okanagan), no longer - what felt like - just an ultra cool Pamela Anderson and myself. 

Our relationship just didn't feel special anymore. While still luxury you became mainstream and "common" when EVERYONE started wearing you......(Don't feel bad Lulu, the same tragedy befell Louis Vutton).

But you got SO mainstream I actually see straight men wearing you now.....

I hate to even bring it up Lulu but you must admit we've had some rough patches, there was the whole see-through pant incident we won't speak about, the time you rolled all your sizing back so a six became and 8, a 4 a 6 and so one and so forth (if you don't remember this thats how far back me and Lulu go!), oh and the fact that you used to make all of your clothing in Vancouver Canada before you sold out of your pseudo-spiritual mandate and started mass-producing it all in China, land of no costly human rights regulations (and charging even more for it!)

Its not that I don't still love you Lulu. I will always have a place for you in my heart. I'll pay good money for what is unique and good quality, but I feel like a fool paying $70 for a different color variation of a shirt every girl in my crossfit class owns. When I can shop C9 at Target and buy 10 comparable items for the price of your two, its a total deal-breaker. The other day I complimented my girlfriend on a pair of workout pants and she told me a girl at her gym sewed them custom for her - for $60!!

Bottom line is, you did this to yourself Lulu. You got so huge so fast and you decided to jack up all your prices and forget about all the little people that believed in you and supported you along the way. So I'm on to find the next thing...

Its not that I still don't want to see eachother on occasion, but I will no longer allow myself to pursue you with such single-minded abandon. You ain't my ball and chain no more Lulu! When someone tells me with pride what a "Lulu junkie" they are,| I think to myself: I hope you'll be really happy together, because you and Lulu deserve eachother.

Love,

A Former Lulu Addict

 

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