Thanksgiving Workout

Well, we are officially running off for the holidays! I am so excited about Thanksgiving FINALLY being here, I simply cannot wait. This year, my Mom will be staying with us and her room is just about ready for her. We had the guest bedroom all finished, but then, around 1:00 AM on Monday evening I decided to completely redesign it and move all the furniture around. Two days later and we have some really cute mirrors, floating shelfs, a new nightstand, new bedding, a simple and gorgeous pendant light the hubs installed (my hero), and we are down a dresser that there really was not enough room for anyway. I also found this awesome bed from Target and am waiting for Black Friday/Cyber Monday to order it. For now, Mom will make due on the bed she has :) 

Oh, and pictures will be on the blog when it is all done, promise!

Aaand, back to Thanksgiving, the rest of our family will be arriving today as well, but we will probably not see them until tomorrow. As for what we are cooking, I am doing this vegetarian stuffing, a quick and easy bread bowl of artichoke dip, Brussels sprouts, and a breakfast crustless quiche for our house in the morning! Ahh, it will be so fun! 

Of course, with all this massive, massive eating comes a workout or two. Yesterday I did a 1.5-mile uphill run-a-thon followed by a bum workout and today I am thinking P90X Plyometrics. The little workout guide above was on the Elf 4 Health Facebook page and I thought you would enjoy it as much as I did. Goodness, we could make a pretty fantastic workout with just following what we eat. Mine would include about 30 push-ups, 150 jumping jacks, a whole ton of squats (maybe mix in some Sumo and jumping ones), and more burpees and mountain climbers than I can comprehend. And that is just the first set. Seconds and thirds would be a sure thing. 

Happy Thanksgiving! What would your Thanksgiving workout look like? 

4 Health and Fitness Books I Will be Reading

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There are plenty of health and fitness books out there, some great, some not-so-much. So far, I have pretty much lucked out on reading the good ones and steering clear of the crazies. In the past few months this has mainly occurred through only reading fictional books about love during the Regency era and a few in our post-apocalyptic future. To get back on track and feel less like a time-waster reading books that I love but are not increasing my knowledge base much,  have decided to read some very highly reviewed and very much anticipated books from the health and fitness world. Which ones, you ask? Great question! Let's get into four that have caught my eye and I cannot wait to read! 

The Big Picture by Tony Horton

We all know and love him from his insane P90X workouts, one of which I will be doing today! But, did you know that he is also an inspirational author? True! The Big Picture is Horton's first book that is no fitness related, but does still talk on health.

I have heard tons of fantastic things about this book and cannot wait to read it for myself. Horton talks all about how to achieve life goals and set a purpose for your life in 11-steps that will also help you attain optimal health. I have heard that this is a really great outline for things we may already know to do, but have not started for whatever reason.

If you are interested in Tony's other book, Bring It!, you can find it here.

Yoga Anatomy 2nd Edition by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews

This may not be for everyone, but I have been seriously wondering about how to really make sure all the right muscle groups are feeling what they should be feeling during each pose. It is so ridiculously easy to be just a little bit off in a pose and think we are doing it right. Goodness, I am guilty of this so often. This book even goes into the psychology of flows and breathing. 

Leslie Kaminoff, is pretty well known in both the yoga community and health and fitness world. He is a world renown yoga instructor who, if you ever read Yoga Journal, you have probably already learned something from. The book is separated into pose types such as sitting, standing, and inversions. Oh boy, I cannot wait to get my hands on this goodie!

Note: I say, "get my hands on" because I have read many kindle reviewers complain that the picture size is too small. Paperback seems to be the way to go for this guy.

Also, these cards may be a bit better for those who feel a book of yoga anatomy is a bit intense. Besides, they look super fun :)

Eat to Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek

I first hear about this book at least a year ago when Scott Jurek was being interviewed on a popular running blog. Although I do not remember which running blog it was, I do remember being enthralled by his story. He is an ultramarathoner, a record breaker, an extreme high performance athlete, and a vegan. If that last one surprised you like it did me, get ready for what I think will be a mind blowing reading experience. A high performance athlete who does not eat meat or any animal by-product- whhhaaatt?!

Jurek also adds in some inspiration to help us overcome the mental barriers as well as the physical. It has surprised me how many people talk about this book in relation to philosophy as much as fitness. It also surprises me that I have not read it yet. Let's just stop the embarrassment and read it now, ok?

The Body Book by Cameron Diaz

I recently hear Cameron Diaz talking about her new book on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and though, "yep, that is something I want to read." To be completely honest, I have always though of Cameron Diaz as a super fit and fantastic looking girl, but never really considered her to know a whole ton about nutrition. Seems like that thought would be wrong and her book would be crazy interesting to anyone who enjoys knowing the interactions of chemicals on a cellular level. Yes, yes that interests me a lot.

This book looks great for learning easy recipes and quick tips, but it also seems to be full of health information we all have wondered at some point bet never known the answer to. I also very much enjoy what Cameron said about healthy people not dieting and that those who are the most healthy eat a lot; they just eat a lot of really great things. Nothing speaks to this food-loving girl more than throwing those constrictive diets to the wind and deciding to eat lots of yummy, healthy things!

Do You Plan to Have Children?

Warning: This is a pretty personal post that has nothing to do with health or fitness or Disney. 

I currently have 5+ friends and family members who are either pregnant or had a baby within the last two months. This, like any other time when I see people changing around me, has started some thinking. From the time that I was about 14 the thought has been that I do not want to have children. And, since childhood I knew that I did not want to birth a child. All of my baby dolls (I had many) were, actually, all adopted and I would have told anyone if they had asked. It is not that I dislike children or think them unimportant or hate the idea of childbirth- really, it is quite the opposite.

Having a child that you must cultivate into a caring human being that gives back to our world is a large task and one that I am not quite sure I am cut-out for. My personal goal has always been to help as many children and as many animals as possible all around the world. As far as the childbirth goes, I do not know where the love of adoption came from but the idea of having a child when so many others are without homes and parents never really sat right with me.

There have been a great many articles and news reports from bloggers, magazines, and news stations about women who do not want to raise families. Since the 70's, the number of women who do not have children has doubled. This could partially be because of infertility, but it also has a lot to do with women and families making new choices that were not always available to them. Now, we can decide what age, job position, home, and income we want to be before starting a family

When I was younger I thought, "maybe in about ten years, when I have done enough good in the world and am ready to settle down, we can look into adoption." Now, six years later, I am still saying maybe in ten years and have even thought of ten plus years from now. Funny, but when people ask my husband and I about when we are having children and we say, "maybe in ten years," the responses are always different and almost always odd. My Dad is totally fine with it and thinks if we have them we should wait a long long time while my Mom cried when I told her I did not want children. Most people, however, look at me like I have three eyes or say something like, "well you will change your mind when you get older." That is the most hated response. To anything. From anyone. Ever.

For my husband, the most difficult part of the not having kids deal is the idea that we are selfish because we are not having children. That is not the case. In fact, we both feel like we can do more good for more people without children at this stage of our life. This article from Cup of Jo got me thinking about the whole selfish bit and the idea of feeling we can pass judgment on someone for their choices. It is common for a person to be asked why they would not want children, but almost rude to ask someone why they would. Personally, they both seem like interesting questions that could get us to learn a bit more about each other.

The decision to have children is a pretty big deal, as one Cup of Jo writer put it, "There are three positions people should probably feel a calling for: any sort of religious leadership, teaching or childrearing." This so well sums up the importance of such a simple decision that can so often be overlooked. With that in mind, what are your views on having children? Do you have children or want them in the future? Why or why not? I would love to hear your thoughts either personally or publicly. 

Side note, this picture is the first time I met my two cousins who have always been more like sisters to me. As of next Saturday, the one holding me will have officially introduced me to Barry's fitness. Cannot wait!!!