I'm a big believer in probiotics. I have taken various ones over the years and have definitely felt better when I'm taking them consistently. And if you do any research, there are plenty of studies out there that confirm the potential benefits of probiotics, such as supporting gut health and vaginal balance. But the hard part is figuring out *which* probiotic actually has the right strains in the right amounts. Seed probiotics takes care of that for you. I recently got the chance to join up with Seed as an influencer. I'd been considering trying Seed for a while as Mamavation had done a report on the best probiotics and they were one of the few that stood out in her study. While I am fortunate enough to be generally healthy, I was … [Read more...]
Move More, Sit Less: Keeping your heart healthy with exercise
Confession: I want to be that lady running races in her 90s. While I will totally admit to being a bit of a serial racer and a mileage addict, when I'm being completely honest, I run so that I can be healthy enough to run when I'm older. That's why I'm partnering with the American Heart Association to run their Lawyers' Have a Heart 10K. Since I'm training for a 50K right now, I will be running the Lawyers Have a Heart race in the middle of a long training run. We'll call that a tempo run with a long warm up and a long cool down. The location is perfect for me to run to the race, race, and run home. In addition to running a race with the American Heart Association, I'd like to share some of their tips on improving and … [Read more...]
Practicing Self Care in my 40s
I read an article recently about how self care is not all spa trips and girls' night outs. It's more about doing things that make your whole life better rather than trying to recover from a life that's wearing you down. I realized that many of the changes I've been making in my life in the last 6 months had exactly that goal. I was tired of feeling run down and stressed and I started making some changes. I'm still very much a work in progress and there are definitely areas that are as yet untouched, but I feel like I'm moving in the right direction now. (Links below may be affiliate links that if you use them to buy, I get commission.) I joined the Faster Way to Fat Loss program. I've been struggling with balancing running and my … [Read more...]
Green Enough by Leah Segedie – Book Review
Disclaimer: I received this book free in exchange for a review. If you purchase from various links below, I will make a commission. I don't talk on here often about my crunchy granola chick tendencies. After all, this is a running blog, not a parenting or green living blog. But in my daily life, I try to make choices that are good for the environment and good for my family. We buy grass fed beef from a local farmer, I get organic produce as much as possible, my husband takes his lunch in reusable bags/containers, vinegar is my favorite cleaning agent, and I recently started replacing all of my beauty products with Beautycounter items. (And Shoo was born at home, but I'm not sure if that helped the environment LOL) But I'm not … [Read more...]
Upping my supplement game with Intelligent Labs
Intelligent Labs compensated me for this post, but all opinions are my own. I'm one of those people who very seldom takes a supplement of any sort. Not so much because I don't think I need them, but because I forget to take them. I need to be taking B12 because my number are low, so I've been working on making taking the B12 a habit. When Intelligent Labs reached out to me to try their products, I figured it was a good time to be adding some other supplements to my healthy habits. Intelligent Labs sent me two of their supplements to try out: Ultra Pure Omega3 and Probiotics and Prebiotics. I've never taken Omegas before, but I'm a huge fan of Probiotics. I know that when I take probiotics regularly, my extremely sensitive … [Read more...]
Equilibrium Energy Superfood Review
This post was sponsored by HoneyColony and any links back to Equilibrium Energy Superfood on their site are affiliate links. I was recently given the opportunity to try out HoneyColony's superfood product: Equilibrium Energy Superfood. This product is a blend of organic and wildcrafted ingredients in a base of raw honey. All 12 ingredients were chosen to support those of us who live an active lifestyle. The 12 ingredients are: Active Natural Prebiotics Phytoplankton Blue Algae Medicinal Mushrooms Double- Directory Adaptogenic Herbs ORMUS Ginger Organic Turmeric Raw Honey Bee Pollen Bee Propolis Royal Jelly Each of these ingredients brings it's own special benefit to the combination. Suggested … [Read more...]
#LetsMove at the White House
If you follow me on pretty much any form of social media, you know that on Tuesday I got to attend an awesome event at the White House. I was part of a group of about 150 bloggers who were invited to participate in "A Conversation on the Health of our Nation's Children." As you might imagine, I was pretty excited to be invited and spent Monday evening frantically texting a couple of friends for fashion advice because, umm, my usual fitness attire was not going to be appropriate. Once I got the outfit settled, it was time to stress about whether or not the Metro would be running. (Thankfully it was that day and waited to do the big shut down the day after the event. Also, Beer Geek informed me later that it only takes 80 minutes to … [Read more...]
Making a Healthy Choice on Busy Days
How is it only Thursday? It feels like this week has been a month long. Of course, I've managed to cram a crazy amount of things into the last few days. Seriously, since last week, I've gone on an all day field trip, taken Shoo to soccer practice, attended the RNR DC expo, gone on a tour of the Capitol building, run a half marathon, taken Shoo to two days of a soccer tournament, and attended an event at the White House. Add in normal things like my job, laundry, chores, etc. and I've been feeling a little pressed for time. Just a little. Unfortunately, when life gets crazy, two things fall by the wayside for me: sleep and healthy eating. I tend to go to bed around midnight normally with a 6:00am wakeup. This is just *barely* enough … [Read more...]
Cleaning up my diet + a Kohls Giveaway
We all know that I love to run. And lately (well, until Snowzilla arrived), I've gotten back into my old gym habit of elliptical and weights. But judging by the way my jeans are fitting and the number on the scale, the saying "you can't out exercise a bad diet" is definitely a fitting one around here. It's not necessarily that I'm eating unhealthy foods, it's more that I'm eating too much in general and far from a balanced diet. Marathon training definitely played a role, but what has really brought the issue to a head is being busier in the evenings. Two to three nights a week I am out at dinner time for practices, rehearsals and social activities. I'm eating at odd times and I'm grabbing whatever is convenient, which usually … [Read more...]
Holiday Fitness Challenges
I believe in embracing the holidays. I believe in indulging myself during the holidays. You won't see tips here about how not to overeat at a party or how to avoid holiday weight gain. Nope. Don't get me wrong - I don't change my generally healthy eating habits and I don't treat every event as a party (and we keep our events to a reasonable number at the holidays.) I just allow myself to enjoy the tasty treats and drinks at those parties we do choose to go to. Instead of policing my eating at events, I maintain my water intake, eat extra veggies when I'm at home, and try to move more. To that end, I am participating in a number of fitness challenges this holiday season. First, I am joining Another Mother Runner's Stride Through … [Read more...]
It’s definitely Monday
It’s Monday and my kids are in camp this week. And I've already taken the "scenic route" on my way back from dropping off Jones at camp in DC. This is the only week they are in camp all summer. As you might guess, I’m trying to accomplish more this week than all the other summer weeks combined. I’m taking my car in for its annual inspection. I’m taking the cat in for her physical and rabies shot. And I’m scheduling my mammogram. I know, I really know how to party. I’ve been getting mammograms since I turned 40, even though there is some controversy about how early to start. I have a (recent) history of breast cancer in the family, and even though my very first mammogram led to an extremely stressful month, … [Read more...]
The Comparison Trap – do you fall into it?
Everybody knows you shouldn't compare yourself to someone else. I mean there are tons of quotes on Pinterest telling you not to compare yourself. In face, you can find the quote "Comparison is the thief of joy" with dozens of different design options. But Carla AKA MizFit recently raised the question of whether you should compare yourself to yourself. Again, if you check Pinterest, you'll see that you should only compare yourself to the you of yesterday. But really, should you? Is that really any healthier? Should I compare myself to what it looked like when I was younger? Look! No grey hair! No wrinkles! No under eye bags! When I hadn't had kids yet? Or even after I had kids when I was super skinny from nursing? Legs like … [Read more...]
