Exploring the art of creative expression through movement
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Low Carb Diet: Zucchini Noodles
I'm so in love with zucchini noodles! I can't believe I waited so long to experience the deliciousness that this vegetable offers in the form of noodles when spiralized. I tried a Pinterest inspired recipe where I made a lemon chicken garlic zoodle (that's how people refer to zucchini noodles) dish that was absolutely amazing. Check out the recipe below for this mouth watering dish.
Ingredients
1. Start by adding some olive oil to skillet or wok to brown the chicken. Season with lemon juice and pepper.
2. Once chicken is browned, add garlic.
3. While chicken is cooking, spiralize zucchini using 3mm blade to create spaghetti size noodles. Add noodles to skillet after chicken has started to brown.
4. Season zucchini noodles with lemon juice and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes on low-medium heat. Serve when noodles are to desired tenderness.
Additional Ingredients
You can also add spinach, tomatoes, and black olives. Top dish with Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchinis (peeled)
- 1 garlic clove (chopped)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon
- Boneless chicken breasts (cut into chunks, I usually use 1 large chicken breast for just my husband and I)
- Pepper for seasoning
- Non-stick cooking skillet or wok
- spatula
- spiralizer
- knife
- cutting board
1. Start by adding some olive oil to skillet or wok to brown the chicken. Season with lemon juice and pepper.
2. Once chicken is browned, add garlic.
3. While chicken is cooking, spiralize zucchini using 3mm blade to create spaghetti size noodles. Add noodles to skillet after chicken has started to brown.
4. Season zucchini noodles with lemon juice and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes on low-medium heat. Serve when noodles are to desired tenderness.
Additional Ingredients
You can also add spinach, tomatoes, and black olives. Top dish with Parmesan cheese.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Favorite Home Gym Equipment
I've collected quite a bit of fun fitness gadgets over the years. I love having the ability to change up my fitness routine to keep myself from getting bored. Aside from the expensive fitness toys like a dance pole, I do have some more affordable favorites that I wanted to share with my readers. Check out my list below of my go to affordable home fitness essentials.
1. Mini Stability Ball: I took a Ballet Barre series class at my local YMCA a few months ago and many of the exercises in the class focused around this miniature stability ball. I immediately fell in love with the use of this little ball as it focused on muscles that I hadn't been able to target with my regular workouts. You can purchase one of these balls from Amazon.com. I ordered mine from Pure Barre's website. I also believe if you have a local Pure Barre studio, you can purchase one from their on site studio boutique.
2. Resistance Bands: This shouldn't come as any surprise considering I'm currently hosting a Pinterest Fitness Series of 4 weeks of resistance band routines for all my followers. If you've been following my blog and social media posts then you will have noticed all the posts for this month have focused on this particular piece of equipment. Resistant bands are a staple for any home gym. They are convenient for travel and versatile in their many uses. You can get a total body workout that you will be feeling the next day with just a resistance band. An amazing piece of equipment for strength and toning work.
3. Workout Labs Exercise Cards: Not necessarily a piece of equipment but an essential workout tool nonetheless. All you need is an exercise mat or a small carpeted space where you can perform any number of the exercises you choose within the deck. I love these cards for implementing ideas for conditioning with my students in my aerial silks classes. These are also amazing for travel or when you want to get in a quick workout without having to mess with a DVD or online video access.
4. Foam Roller: Such an important piece of equipment for flexibility and injury prevention. When you workout a lot your muscles can get achy and tight. It's important to factor in a self care routine so as not to over stress your muscles and cause injury. A foam roller can be a great tool for working on areas of the body that are over worked and tense. With regular use of the foam roller, you will experience less post workout soreness related to muscle tension. I will often use my foam roller before and after a workout as both a warm up and cool down approach.
1. Mini Stability Ball: I took a Ballet Barre series class at my local YMCA a few months ago and many of the exercises in the class focused around this miniature stability ball. I immediately fell in love with the use of this little ball as it focused on muscles that I hadn't been able to target with my regular workouts. You can purchase one of these balls from Amazon.com. I ordered mine from Pure Barre's website. I also believe if you have a local Pure Barre studio, you can purchase one from their on site studio boutique.
2. Resistance Bands: This shouldn't come as any surprise considering I'm currently hosting a Pinterest Fitness Series of 4 weeks of resistance band routines for all my followers. If you've been following my blog and social media posts then you will have noticed all the posts for this month have focused on this particular piece of equipment. Resistant bands are a staple for any home gym. They are convenient for travel and versatile in their many uses. You can get a total body workout that you will be feeling the next day with just a resistance band. An amazing piece of equipment for strength and toning work.
3. Workout Labs Exercise Cards: Not necessarily a piece of equipment but an essential workout tool nonetheless. All you need is an exercise mat or a small carpeted space where you can perform any number of the exercises you choose within the deck. I love these cards for implementing ideas for conditioning with my students in my aerial silks classes. These are also amazing for travel or when you want to get in a quick workout without having to mess with a DVD or online video access.
4. Foam Roller: Such an important piece of equipment for flexibility and injury prevention. When you workout a lot your muscles can get achy and tight. It's important to factor in a self care routine so as not to over stress your muscles and cause injury. A foam roller can be a great tool for working on areas of the body that are over worked and tense. With regular use of the foam roller, you will experience less post workout soreness related to muscle tension. I will often use my foam roller before and after a workout as both a warm up and cool down approach.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Summer of Self Exploration
This summer has been a rollercoaster of emotions and changes. My sweet little Boston Terrier has had issues on and off with pain in the neck region for several years. In the first week of June he started having pain and was unable to walk. He was paralyzed in both his front and back left legs. After being told by a neurologist he may have a brain tumor and we were expecting the worse, he underwent a MRI and was diagnosed with a herniated disc at cervical vertebrae number 3 and 4 with a large amount of bruising and compression on the spinal cord. He also was diagnosed with intervertebral disc disease at C5 & C6. Treatment was recommended as an aggressive medication approach and if that did not work, then surgery. Little guy was on bedrest for several weeks and pain meds every six hours. It was an intense month of June but after three weeks, he started to walk again and regain voluntary control of his legs. A month later he was weaned off pain medications and I started to wean him from his steroids. He also began a physical therapy regimen where I began increasing his leash time around the neighborhood. We have stuck to a strict no jumping up and down from furniture and no stairs policy in our home. It has been very challenging and I have been extremely grateful for having opted years ago to work as a school nurse and have the ability to have my summers off. I really wish we would have done the MRI a year prior when he was taken to the vet for a severe pain episode and they diagnosed him with a pinched nerve. If we knew what we were dealing with, we could have made lifestyle changes to prevent this bad episode from happening. I guess you can't really go back or have regrets but just be grateful that everything is better now and we know what we need to know now. He has always lived a very active lifestyle and I want to maintain as much of his activity as possible. We've gotten creative with how we're incorporating getting him out and about and the jogging stroller I purchased for him has become more of his means of travel nowadays than a luxury for when he gets tired walking.
In the midst of dealing with my ailing pup, I started to work on studying tarot. I've always wanted to learn what the cards mean so I wouldn't have to rely on looking up meanings for every card in books. It has been such a fun and interesting experience of study this summer. I have learned a lot about myself in the process. I look at tarot cards more in a holistic approach and a form of brain mapping. A tool that helps you to organize your thoughts regarding situations or just daily happenings. I don't believe in tarot cards as a means to foretell the future, unless you count self fulfilling prophecy from a reading but even then its not technically a means of "telling the future."
This summer has allowed me to have a lot of self reflection and put into perspective situations I have had to go through. I hadn't really had the desire to sit down and write. With everything going on with my dog and some other things I haven't discussed that went on at the same time as everything with my dog, this summer has been highly emotionally draining that has taken it's toll mentally and physically. I've just recently returned to being able to teach my aerial classes after having been put on bedrest myself for a few weeks. The tarot studies were a welcomed distraction. I'm hoping to get back on track with blogging and my fitness journey. I'm exploring new things with recipes so I plan on sharing those experiences here and how they relate to both pole dancing and aerial. I also moved my home pole to another area in my home which will allow me more space. I'm hoping to gain some inspiration to get back on the pole and look forward to diving back in with pole related content very soon.
In the midst of dealing with my ailing pup, I started to work on studying tarot. I've always wanted to learn what the cards mean so I wouldn't have to rely on looking up meanings for every card in books. It has been such a fun and interesting experience of study this summer. I have learned a lot about myself in the process. I look at tarot cards more in a holistic approach and a form of brain mapping. A tool that helps you to organize your thoughts regarding situations or just daily happenings. I don't believe in tarot cards as a means to foretell the future, unless you count self fulfilling prophecy from a reading but even then its not technically a means of "telling the future."
This summer has allowed me to have a lot of self reflection and put into perspective situations I have had to go through. I hadn't really had the desire to sit down and write. With everything going on with my dog and some other things I haven't discussed that went on at the same time as everything with my dog, this summer has been highly emotionally draining that has taken it's toll mentally and physically. I've just recently returned to being able to teach my aerial classes after having been put on bedrest myself for a few weeks. The tarot studies were a welcomed distraction. I'm hoping to get back on track with blogging and my fitness journey. I'm exploring new things with recipes so I plan on sharing those experiences here and how they relate to both pole dancing and aerial. I also moved my home pole to another area in my home which will allow me more space. I'm hoping to gain some inspiration to get back on the pole and look forward to diving back in with pole related content very soon.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
August 2017 Pole Challenges
It's a new month and I'm ready to get motivated and back on track with fitness after having the summer off. I'll be incorporating my very own Pinterest Fitness Series utilizing the resistance bands this month in addition to some pole workouts and circus physio. Check out the fun fitness August challenges below!
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