Homemade Almond Milk

Sharing a quick recipe today! Store bought almond milk used to be my go-to for coffee; however, the ingredient list is less than ideal. Last month I started making my own almond milk and I haven't looked back since. It is super easy and only has three ingredients, almonds, water, and a pinch of salt. Cinnamon and vanilla extract are great additions but not necessary. Most recipes for almond milk require a nut milk bag or a mesh sieve, I am cheap and don't have either of those so I chopped up a clean pair of nylons. Voila homemade nut milk bag. Below is there recipe I have been using.

 

Homemade Almond Milk

1.5 cups raw almonds

4 to 4.5 cups water

pinch of salt

Cinnamon

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Soak the almonds in a couple cups of water for at least 2 hours, although overnight is even better.

 

Rinse almonds and throw in the blender with 4 to 4.5 cups water.

 

Add salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Blend until almonds are pulverized. Place nylon over the lid of a large mouth mason jar (make sure it is big enough to holds 6 cups).

 Pour almond milk through nylon into jar. Squeeze out the nylon until the almond bits inside are as dry as possible. You want to get every last bit of almondy goodness out.

Discard leftover almond mulch, shake up your jar of milk and enjoy.

 

The milk will separate when stored, but just shake it up and you are good to go.

My Go-To Abs Workout

Just ignore the horrible background music and focus on contracting those abs

Heyo, quick post for today. When I am looking for a good ab finisher for my workout, there is one program that I always go back to. It is a bit embarrassing, and I definitely try to hide the screen on my phone from other gym-goers while I do it.... but old school 8 minute abs is where it's at. Not only is it a killer ab workout, but the commentary is hilarious. Seriously, count the number of times he says 'gang'. But don't let the spandex onesies deter you, it gets your abs burning! 

Feel the Burn. Check the intensity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNqrkGnkUWc

Week One 21 Day Fix

So I started the 21 Day Fix on Monday. I was terrified when I got the box in the mail. When I saw the containers I had a full on freak out. My poor boyfriend, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to do it, that my old ED (eating disorder) habits would pop back up, that I would be hungry, etc. During my time with ED (my eating disorder) I was constantly hungry and I never listened to my body's cry's for food. So now, if I feel hungry I tend to freak out a little bit, so a program that makes me feel hungry was not gonna work. I Facebooked my coach, she sent me a pic  example of a meal she eats in the containers and then on a plate, it actually looked like a lot of food on the plate. So I stopped freaking out and got to planning. I am a type A personality, and I am also too busy during the week to worry about what I am going to make and bring for the next days meals, so I came up with a meal plan and shopping list (shared below). I went to the store got everything I needed and got to prepping. Once my food prep was done, I enlisted my boyfriend to take some 'before shots', ate some dinner and fell into bed, ready to start the week with a bang! 
Woke up on Monday, worked out and downed my shake. I felt so energized! I did not get hungry again until 10, when I had my snack. Before I knew it, time for lunch! Then afternoon snack, dinner and a bit of food prep. That is pretty much how my days have gone this week. I am happy to report that I have never felt more energized. Before the 21 Day Fix, my breakfast was a whey protein shake and banana. The energy I got from that is nothing compared to the energy I get from my Shakeology shake. I am going to be honest in my review on this blog though. The one drawback is that the shake kind of separates if you make it the night before. I figured out that if I add a bit of water, pour it into my shaker cup and give it a good shake it mixes back up no problem. So far the benefits are: energy, tastes yummy, not hungry throughout the day, super simple plan to follow. 
Cons: I miss my heaping tablespoons of almond butter :( , requires a bit of planning

Overall - super stoked on the program! 

Here is my week 1 meal plan. Let me know if you have any questions!

Hi all! Welcome to my new fitness and health blog! Lets begin at the beginning of my journey with a quick review, and then talk more about why I have started this blog.
 I have been going to 24 Hour Fitness for the past 3 years, I started out just doing Zumba classes, then gradually began branching out. When I first started coming to  24 I was in the early stages of recovery from an eating disorder. I truly believe that exercise done right can have a healing effect on the body. I have had to learn that moderation is key, and it has been a long process but I am definitely in a healthier (although not perfect) place mentally now. Anyways, as I began to learn more about fitness, I started trying out lifting weights. My first forays into the weights section were terrifying! Anyone who has been to a typical gym knows that generally women are in the back on machines and the dudes are in front on the weights. I had no idea where to start, so I began pinning weight lifting workouts to try on my Pinterest Boards. Every week I would try a new workout, I was loving it! Unfortunately, many of the popular fitness sites that I pinned workouts from encourage women to stick with the light weights, any higher than a 15 and you might bulk up... hmm.. . well after more research and observing the women at the gym who did lift heavy, I decided that was bunk. The women who were lifting heavy weights looked awesome, the women who spent hours doing steady state cardio and lifting puny weights... not so much. I began incorporating heavier lifting and high intensity cardio, and I was loving the results. But as hard as I was working and do work in the gym, I wasn't seeing the results that I wanted. Having had a severe eating disorder wreaked havoc on my metabolism and I have worked hard to reverse that damage. I am NOT willing to starve myself again to get where I want to be. I have tried every diet out there, Atkins, Dukan, South Beach, etc. and none of them worked for me. I had tons of trouble sticking to them too, I had deprived myself of food for so long while I had an active eating disorder that my body and mind rebelled whenever I tried a new diet. If I restricted my intake I would get horrible cravings, be in a terrible mood, and be so preocupied with food that I was taking up all my time dreaming about recipes and the food I would eat once I got off the diet. So that leads me to this blog. I recently started going to the new Grit classes at 24 hour, I began talking with the instructor Holly, and she shared with me the nutrition program she uses. She looks amazing and has tons of energy (you have to to lead a 5:30am Grit class), so I though, why not try it? I reviewed the information on the 21 Day Fix website and scoured the internet for details and additional reviews. I did not want a program that feeds you processed pre-made crap instead of real food. I am a big advocate of eating whole foods with as few ingredients as possible, so I wanted something that would work with that. I also eat a mostly paleo diet, I became a paleo advocate after watching the documentary Fed Up, and reading up on the philosophy behind paleo. I am not 100% die hard paleo, as with my history of ED I need to allow myself flexibility, being to rigid is not a good plan. So after all the reasearching and thinking and going back and forth, I decided to give Holly's program a try! This blog will not be only about the program I am on though, I want to share the health and fitness tips that have worked for me with all of you. Hopefully I will be able to contribute to the
greater good and help others get healthy. I hope you enjoy the blog, and if you have any questions or need to talk, always feel free to email me. 

Also, you may also see some posts and pics of this little nugget... Her name is Frida, and she's my fave. 

You can reach me at erswain@gmail.com