ashleyd /

Have you sipped your greens today?

I’ve always steered clears of juices as they tend to be high in sugar since they are often highly concentrated fruits. Therefore, I’ve never tried green juices or other natural juices in the past. Nor have I envied fellow bloggers juicers or daily juicing routines. However, our Monday trip to the new and updated Chelsea Market changed all of this. As we exited Amy’s Bread, I saw a chalkboard sign for One Lucky Duck. I’ve had the opportunity to taste their all natural treats once before when Melissa of FitnessNYC brought them to the blogger brunch. One Lucky Duck is a fabulous juice and takeaway business which is also associated with the famous vegetarian favorite hot spot, Pure Food and Wine. Their take out business consists of juices, smoothies, sweets, cookies, prepared foods, shakes, and salads. As their website states, everything at One Lucky Duck is made by hand at Pure from local and organic ingredients. This ensures their flavor and freshness! On Monday, the staff was sampling an array of green juice samples. Apprehensive at first, since I am not a fan of cucumber, I took a sample. Much to my surprise, it was love at first taste. The sample I tasted was their Thai Green juice. Thai Green features greens, cilantro, lime, and pineapple. The pineapple helps offset any bitterness from the greens and keep it from tasting too much like grass! After seeing my surprise delight, they offered a sample of their green giant. The kind staff suggested that I test having green juice during my afternoon lows when my energy is drained and I often turn to Diet Coke or coffee. After enjoying my first taste so much, I happily purchased three, planning to enjoy 1/2 of each bottle per day. Thus far, I have absolutely loved this afternoon treat. The greens and nutrients give me a burst of energy while leaving me full and refreshed. Tomorrow will be the real challenge as i’ve saved my Green Monster, the most intense, for Friday. I highly suggest that you try a daily dose of greens either as a morning or afternoon energy boost. If you’re in NYC you can hop over to either their main store at 125 e 17th street or order online at www.oneluckyduck.com/takeaway. In addition, you can follow their inspirational founder, Sarma, on twitter!

I can’t wait to try more of their products! In fact, I hope to soon plan a dinner date with either Bo or my girlfriends at Pure Food and Wine!


Share Button
Follow:
ashleyd /

The Fitnessista Winter Shape Up 2010: Day 1

I was more than excited when I read that the fabulous model of health and nutrition, Gina, was hosting a Winter Shape Up. This will be the first complete challenge I participate in and am thoroughly excited. It comes at the perfect time. Over the past two weeks, I’ve been able to focus on my workouts and making small changes but having a plan that updates weekly will help me stay on track and not get bored. This challenge will help me focus on my health and nutrition while also having a great coach and support group. I love that Gina is participating in the Winter Shape Up as well. 


While I could have used today’s work holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a day of rest from the gym, the Shape Up motivated me to get moving and head into the city to enjoy a great workout at Equinox. Since I am also trying to get back into running shape and train for the NYRR Longest Throw 4 mile run, I added some cardio to today’s plan. 

My workout was as follows:


45 minutes on treadmill: 5 min warm-up, 3.1 miles on treadmill at 6.0mph and 1 incline, 15 minute incline walk cool down while catching up on this month’s InStyle.
3 rounds of the Day 1 interval Gina provided:
Int/Adv:
-Warm up with 5 minutes of moderate intensity cardio
Circuit:
–Lateral raise squats (15) 10 lbs

–Renegade row (12 on each side) 7.5 lbs (wow this one was tough but I loved it!)

–Bicep curl Plie Squat (15) 10 lbs

–Mountain climbers (30 seconds)
–Stability ball back extension (12)

–Tricep dips (15- with straight legs makes it more challenging)
–Squat jumps (30 seconds)

–Weighted Ball crunch (light weight behind your head- 25) 7.5 lbs

–Calf raises with wall tap (15) 4kg medicine ball

–Burpees (1 minute)

I wrote everything down in a small notebook that I’ll use to keep my food journal and workouts. It’s weird how hard it is to write everything down again. I haven’t done this since I did Weight Watchers back in 2005-2006. But, thus far I’ve been diligent today and I hope that after a week it will become habit. Gina also challenges us to focus on nutritional changes as what you look like is 10% genes, 10% workout, and 80% nutrition! I am not going to waste all the time and energy I put in on the 10% workout portion by eating horribly! 


Thanks Gina for an awesome plan!

Share Button
Follow:
Share:
Comments Off on The Fitnessista Winter Shape Up 2010: Day 1
ashleyd /

Summersaults, Yoga Goals, and Gnu Bars

I’m exhausted! The work week, two a day workouts, and decreased sleep has definitely caught up with me! I’m absolutely beat right now and am so glad to be curled up in our living room sporting my pjs, eating a yummy, quick turkey burger dinner, and waiting for the newest episode of Grey’s! Bo and I watch very few shows on a weekly basis but we have enjoyed Grey’s since it’s first season. Almost every other show we watch is via iTunes or Netflix live streaming. Lately we’ve been hooked on Gossip Girl. It’s such a guilty pleasure but quite fun, especially enjoying the New York scenery. It’s amazing how quickly trends come and go; not only with clothes but also with food and places in the city. Some of the places they frequent during Season 1 are no longer the NYC hot spots and have instead been replaced and long forgotten.

Having a blog is a funny thing sometime as I often forget that A) twitter updates my facebook page and B) quite a few of my friends read the blog previously and therefore were automatically alerted when I returned. Today at work, my dear Lauren, called to my attention the fact that I left out a few key points when discussing her gym habits. I must say that she is quite right and therefore deserves some explanation. She frequents the Meat Packing and Greenwich location because she is lucky enough to live less than a block from the Greenwich location. The fact that this happens to be the Equinox hot spot is only a reflection of her apartment’s great location and she and Casey’s taste in neighborhoods! In regards to exercise, Lauren is the type gal I only dream of being. She had her Equifit assesment a few months ago and found that she had the lowest body fat percentage for someone with her cardio ability! 🙂 *oh sigh* While she may not be a cardio expert, she is my yoga inspiration! When she lived in Minneapolis she practiced at a local studio regularly and therefore is far beyond my level. She has helped challenge me and push me to the next level. Even today in class, when my headstand attempt turned into a full summersault she never even laughed! Instead, she reminded me that when she wad a young girl she always used the tripod before going into headstand. I think, like her, I will use this method until my core becomes stronger.

This brings me to my yoga goals. Tonight, during Tracy Matthew’s Power Vinyasa class at Equinox,  she pointed out how important breathing is to each of our individual yoga practices. Therefore, over the next few weeks I am going to focus solely on my breathing versus speed during class. I think this will help me gain more from the class while also furthering my practice. In addition, Lauren and I have decided that we’d each like to go to at least two yoga classes a week in addition to our cardio. It looks like I’ll be frequenting the Thursday night Power Vinyasa and Saturday morning class at 44th and Lex. If you’re a local NYC reader, let me know if there is another class you’d suggest. I’m hoping to join Lauren at the Sunday night Greenwich class next weekend. She and Sara have both raved about it! What do you all wear during yoga? Do you have a favorite brand? I absolutely love the fit and feel of my Lululemon Groove pants but I wish they were lighter weight or breathed more. Half way through class today I was drenched! In addition, do Yogitoe mats make a big difference? It seems like spin shoes and yogi toes are two things I need to invest in if I keep up with these habits!

Last night while I was picking up my favorite calcium chews at GNC, I rediscovered Gnu Bars. I’ve had these a few times right when they entered the market but I didn’t realize how many flavors they have! They were on sale at GNC so I decided to grab one to sample. At work, I enjoy breakfast after my workout around 8:15am, a mid morning snack, lunch, and then a midafternoon snack. I try to ensure that one of my snacks is fruit or vegetable while the other is often a carb. I found that I tended to load up on empty carbs during my midafternoon snack when I was especially hungry or thirsty. I thought that pairing a Gnu bar with a large bottle of water would be perfect. Today I enjoyed the Peanut Butter. The flavor was not as strong as I was hoping but overall the taste was better than many other high fiber bars. These bars pack more than your average bar. One bar delivers HALF your daily fiber needs! The nutritional information is also pretty good considering the fiber and all the ingredients are easily pronounced and part of a list that is less than 18 items long which is much better than Fiber One bars! Each bar is 140 calories, 5 grams of fat, 12 g fiber, 4 g protein, and 15% of iron needs. I wish there were a few more grams of protein or nutrients packed in the bar but that would probably come through artificial means.  The craziest fact is that ONE BAR equals FOUR GLASSES OF METAMUCIL! WOW! I hope to stop by GNC tomorrow morning to grab a few more bars in different flavors. Depending on my taste test results, I may opt into their Joy of Fiber program! $45.89 is the cost for 30 bars when you order them via the website! I will have to shop around to see whether this is a good deal. I may also check out Amazon.com
Share Button
Follow:
Share:
Comments Off on Summersaults, Yoga Goals, and Gnu Bars