Why Eat Kale

1. Flat Belly Kale Smoothie from Fitsugar 2. Lemony Kale Salad from Marthe Stewart 3. Spicy Tahini Baked Kale Chips from Pumps and Iron 4. Best Fish and Kale Recipe from P+K

Kale is a great way to get plenty of vitamins and nutrients along with fiber. Most of us know this already, and most of us eat is already. Here are just a few more reasons why we should all have some kale in our diets. Raw kale is 72% carbs, 12% fats, and 16% proteins. One cup of uncooked kale has:

• 33 calories
• 6.7 grams carbs
• 1.3 grams dietary fiber
• More omega-3 fatty acids than omega-6
• 206% the daily recommended vitamin A
• 134% the daily recommended vitamin C
• 684% the daily recommended vitamin K
• 26% the daily recommended manganese

We try to add kale to as many things as possible. Baby kale is great in smoothies with strawberries, bananas, and spinach. Cooked kale is incredible with fish, salt, and garlic, and kale chips are one of the yummiest splurge treats ever! 

5 Great New Things at Disney World

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We will be taking a trip to Disney World in the next few days for the next few days and I simply cannot wait. A lot has happened since our last trip to Disney World, but what is more exciting, is all the things that have started and will be opening this year! Every year the hubs and I wonder whether we should renew our Disney Annual Passes or not, and every year Disney entices us with tons of new things that we can simply not say "no" to. 2014 is a bit different since there is not one new thing, but several. 

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Man am I excited about the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride opening at Disney World in Magic Kingdom this spring! This mine train ride is the last project in New Fantasyland and is going to be massive. Work for the mine carts has recently started, which means we are getting close! So far, the ride looks to be as thrilling as Space and Thunder Mountains with a bonus fantasy aspect along with some incredible scenery. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is located between Fantasyland, New Fantasyland, and the Dumbo ride.

My Magic+

If someone at Disney does not send me the My Magic+ wrist band soon, I think I may explode. My Magic+ is Disney World Resort's new way of dealing with rides, tickets, meals, and even purchases. The My Magic+ bands will be linked to guest rooms and can be used for opening your room and paying for park/hotel services through the card attached to your account. These wrist bands also count as your ticket into the parks along with your PhotoPass and will link to the new Fast Pass+ system.

The My Magic+ system has an app and personalized online account for making reservations for dining along with Fast Pass+ planning. Wristbands come in multiple colors and sizes and are able to be customized much like Disney pins customize lanyards. This is going to be a massive industry for Disney World and will also give a better understanding of crowd flow and park statistics.

Fast Pass+

With Fast Pass+, guests no longer need to run from ride to ride getting Fast Passes after their current pass runs out. Instead, you can use the kiosks located throughout the parks, your My Magic+ page at Disney.com, or the mobile app attached to the My Magic+ system to schedule all fast passes up to 180 days in advance. Fast Pass times can also be changed depending on changes in your day at the park. But, one of the most exciting aspects of this is that every park guest can only have three fast passes per day.

When Fast Pass was debuted over a decade ago most of the complaints were about increased wait times in the stand-by lines since so many Fast Passers were slowing things down. Now, Fast Passes will be much more limited, allowing for wait times to come back down to a normal level. Disney World's goal in this is to make visiting the parks a more enjoyable and easier experience for all guests.

Festival of Fantasy Parade

The Festival of Fantasy Parade in Disney's Magic Kingdom will be replacing the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade that had it's last run a few weeks ago. This new parade looks to be an epic addition to the Magic Kingdom park and will be released in mid-March with lots of new floats celebrating some of Disney's newest movie additions. This parade will have a focus around the movies "Sleeping Beauty", "Tangled", "Cinderella", "Pinocchio", "Peter Pan", and "Dumbo".

Although most of the floats have not been debuted yet, there have been a few that we get sneeking glimpses of. The float that I am most excited about would definitely have to be the steampunk Malificent dragon float. This float looks quite incredible and is pretty well timed with the new Malificent movie starring Angelina Jolie. Other floats that we know of so far include a Tangled float and Cinderella float.

Avatar Land

Avatar Land has been a years in the making project associated with the James Cameron movie and the Animal Kingdom Park. Up until a few months ago, many believed that it would not happen; then, Disney moved Camp Minnie Mickey to it's new location in Animal Kingdom Africa. Now, ground has been broken for Avatar Land and the project is well on it's way. Although the actual area will not be open until 2015, there are some exciting aspects that Disney will be releasing throughout 2014.

In a recent press release, Disney executives acknowledged fact that Animal Kingdom is not seen as a one-day park, but a park you visit for a few hours during your trip and wants to change this. The new Avatar Land will have a big part in that change with at least two new rides and aspects that can only be seen at night. As we get closer to the opening of this new land, Disney will be adding new shows and longer park hours that keep Animal Kingdom open after dark.

Workouts I Will be Trying in 2014

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One of my New Year's resolutions for 2014 was to try a new workout a week. So far, the greatest example I have of this is aerial yoga. This form of yoga is something that I have been interested in for quite some time and only recently tried. Now, I am an addict and have brought a few friends in on this addiction with me.

Honestly, I was not expecting to have so much fun stepping out of my comfort zone, but am sure happy I have. This super fun and super new experience has pushed me to try a few other classes and forms of exercise that I have seen and heard of, but have never tried before. Here are just a few classes that I am set on trying this year. Funny, but most of these i have never even attempted before!

Pure Barre

There is a Pure Barre facility about 5-minutes from my house, but I have shamefully never tried it. What makes it even worse is that I have a close friend who swears by pure barre for getting her back in shape after her first and second child. This type of workout combines ballet work, pilates, and weights to work all those areas most us women have some massive issues with.

It is embarrassing that I have not tried Pure Barre yet. Not only is the studio closer than almost any gym, but it focuses on all the areas I try to focus on as well. Them bum- check. The wiggly parts of the arms- check. The inner thighs- check. This will probably the next class I am going to try. Classes are a bit pricier than the $15/class I am use to, but my wallet is going to have to take a backseat to my curiosity.

CrossFit

This form of intense cardio, weight lifting, and gymnastics is something I never thought would be on my list to try. Sure, it will burn some massive calories, and sure, it is super popular, but it is also a bit scary. This no frills form of fitness keeps things simple and boasts of circuits that do not have break in between. That's right, you do intense cardio and Olympic style weight lifting without breaks.

I have a close friend who co-owns a CrossFit gym and many friends who love it. They will all have to give this yogi the courage to try something so intense, but with some encouragement, I am sure I can do it at least once! Then, I can (hopefully) add it to my list of classes I was afraid to try but am now completely addicted to... And be able to bench a car, of course.

Dance

Yes, this previous ballet dancer has dance on her list of workouts to try in 2014. Although I was trained in ballet for over a decade, I have hardly tried any other form of dance at all and am starting to believe that my rhythm is abominable. The only way I will know if this rhythm curse is real or completely in my head is to try something that puts my abilities to the test.

Zumba is first on my hit list of dance classes. I was recently in the grocery store with another Jenni who owns a Zumba studio and she was able to convince me that I needed to try it out while we were in the check-out line. Zumba is a dance fitness program created over two decades ago by Colombian dancer Alberto Perez. If you have never heard much about Zumba, it combines many different dance styles including samba and merengue along with martial arts. Although I am a bit of a fish-out-of-water when it comes to Latin dancing, I sure am excited to try this!

 

 

This Week in Workouts: All Mixed Up

This last week in workouts was a bit more mixed up than usual, but it sure did workout (pun intended) great! There was plenty of yoga and a new workout or two as well. I am still in search of the studio where I would like to complete my yoga teacher certification, but feel like I'm getting closer. What would be the best is if my hot yoga studio had teacher training, but alas, they do not.

This week I will be trying a new aerial yoga location that has teacher training and certifies for hot yoga as well! Their curriculum seems like the most intense yet, and that kind of makes me like them all the more. I cannot wait to try this place out, everything seems great about it, except when the actual teacher training is... Some things may have to be changed around to get it to work, so we will see!

Sunday: Rest day where we went to a wonderful seafood place that we tend to go once a year and I gorge myself on all things food!

Monday: 4.5 mile run followed by headstand work to work off Sunday's gluttony.

Tuesday: Rest day

Wednesday: This incredible 20-minute workout that I will be doing again and again and again, followed by aerial yoga with my sister-in-law. Aerial yoga alone is great, but it is way better with friends! The pic above was taken by Melody after class. Side note: both of these together made my bum sore for days!

Thursday: 3-mile jog followed by headstand work

Friday: The Cassey Ho Legs on Fire workout followed by this core yoga flow and then more Tara Stile inversion work intermediate and advanced. All of these were great and the core flow made me feel like a baby seal flosping around on the floor- still deciding whether that is good are bad.

Saturday: Nutrition Ella's workout of the week which was fantastic and I finished in just over 17:30 followed by Cassey Ho's Hard Core Ab Workout. Will be doing Nutrition Ella's again for sure!!!