Uncomplicated Becca

SUMMER TIME!!!!!! Especially here in Texas means lots of water activities. The first part of summer was pretty busy for us this year but I try to get to our neighborhood pool with the babes at least once a week. Of course the pool is a ton of fun and the kids love it, but you can also get some serious low impact exercise in at the same time.  Additionally, you are able to do things that normally hurt outside of the water.  My husband is a military veteran who suffered several orthopedic injuries resulting in back surgery and multiple knee surgeries.  For him personally, water exercise allows him to work on flexibility and full range of motion without the pain of high impact exercises.  There is no better place to get in a quick workout than the water.  Don’t just soak either, you need to get moving around. Stretch, relax, swim, repeat. As much and as often as you can.  Some days this is our workout, other days it’s an opportunity to put in more work...

In most cases if you’re not born with or predisposed to a hereditary condition, you have full control of your heart health. How powerful is that?  You control the primary organ that supports your life.  Wow!  You lose control, you may lose your primary lifeline. Prevention is simple. Pack your diet full of heart healthy foods like fish, berries, nuts (preferably almonds and walnuts), flaxseeds, spinach, red wine, & dark chocolate (>70%). And be more physically active, if you are able to and do nothing else for hearts sakes, take the stairs. They are safe(ish), super efficient at getting that heart pumping, and convenient. Find them at home, at work, gyms, department stores, and hotels for instance. For my fellow HIIT lovers- find a set of stairs about 10-20 stairs with or without landings, and run them for 20 min. Make sure you stretch the heck out of your legs, especially your calves, before and after and follow up with a good quality BCAA.  Whats your f...

I love to bake, unfortunately baking doesn’t love me back. I am rarely successful when it comes to baking, but because I never give up, and I don’t give in to the baking Gods who clearly hate me, I always figure out a way to make it edible. Ok “always” may be a stretch, but at least sometimes. Case in point, a time that was successful, here we have a box of King Arthur GF Brownie mix for a quick and uncomplicated dessert for company coming over. “Hard to mess up a box of brownie mix!” you proclaim... well leave it to me- I messed it up. Still not sure how, but the brownies came out over-cooked on the outside and under-cooked in the middle. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t cut any shape out of them to make them look even half presentable. Nor did I trust I would be serving a fully cooked brownie. So here is what I did and here is the result: 1 package King Arthur GF (or your preferred brand) brownie mix Made as directed except I used coconut oil in place of butter Cook as dire...

Why use the word “uncomplicated”... ?  Uncomplicated is necessary right now regarding many things but for the sake of this blog, let’s talk fitness and nutrition first. In an over saturated industry of fitness and nutrition, with all of the advice, guidance, workout and nutrition fads, it can be pretty hard to navigate and sustain any form of a healthy lifestyle.    After personally changing my diet, lifestyle, habits, and fitness regimens MANY times over the years, to fit mainstream guidance, I failed time and time again. Recently, I stopped. I stopped and evaluated what WAS working, and I stopped doing what wasn’t working, and voila! I started seeing results.  For example, my food choices and meals most satisfying, delicious, and convenient were the most simple ones. My fitness regimen went from complicated and time consuming to short sweaty and to the point. I found what works for MY body and I continue to see results. I have veered away at times and ...