anahorvath.com

Category: Health

  • It Takes Guts

    It Takes Guts
    GIF by Botanical Paperworks

    Something I’m learning as I work on my overall health is just how important a healthy gut is. To feel your very best, it takes guts! And good guts at that!

    While I’m no functional health doctor or nutritionist or dietician, I’m learning a lot by reading books by functional health doctors and nutrition specialists. Even in my nutrition class during undergrad, I came to learn just how important a good gut really is. A lot of recent research shows that your gut health can have a major impact on every bodily system. So if you’re out of whack, there’s a chance it could be tied to what goes on in your intestines. There are some studies that show that the makeup of your gut microbiota can affect menstrual cycles in women and even a person’s susceptibility to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s! I’ll cite some papers I recommend you check out if you’re interested in reading more about just how impactful gut health is on overall health! You may need access to PubMed to check them out though, just a heads up. 😉

    If you’ve been under a lot of stress or taken a lot of antibiotics throughout your life the microbiome of your GI tract has suffered! High levels of stress can ultimately result in less production of stomach acid. With less stomach acid, you will likely suffer indigestion and also increase the risk of infection in your intestines. So, opportunistic organisms (whether that be bacteria or yeast) will then attack! When looking at antibiotics, those are medications that wipe out both good and bad bacteria in order to remove an infection. If you’ve taken antibiotics frequently, you’ve frequently exposed your GI tract to this clearing. Any organisms that have survived will see your cleared GI tract as an opportunity to divide to no end. Ultimately, in either situation, you are dealing with opportunistic bacteria/fungi/yeast that have taken advantage of a situation they were lucky to get. Your microbiome is in disarray and you may begin to observe symptoms like indigestion, bloating, and a variety of other less favorable symptoms.

    So now how do we take care of dysbiosis or a disruption of the healthy microbiome? See a functional health doctor! At least, that’s my recommendation, because I have found a wonderful functional health doctor and we are working to heal my gut. At least for me, something I’ve done to begin healing is eliminate glute and dairy from my diet. We plan to reintroduce some products in the future, but there will be a specific time for that. I’ll begin a specific antibiotic soon to clear a bacterial infection in my small intestines that will be properly taken in conjunction with personalized supplementation and probiotics. Watching my sugar intake and where I get my natural sugars from has also been a huge thing in helping me feel better.

    If seeing a functional health doctor is something that won’t work out for you, then there are other things to be done! You can look at different testing options offered (likely breath, stool, and urine tests). You can see what your primary care doctor recommends. You can also educate yourself through books written by functional health doctors and other experts in the field of gut health and its impact on your health and go from there. If you’ve been told nothing is wrong, but deep down you just know you’re not 100%, then be persistent. It takes guts to be pushy with people that know a lot about health. It takes guts to fight for what you need to know, but you deserve to know what’s going on and how to fix it! Most importantly, you deserve to feel your best!!

    If you’re interested in a few scholarly articles or a book related to some of the stuff I’m mentioned in my post today, feel free to check out some of my recommended reads. I hope you’re all staying happy and healthy out there! Have a wonderful week. ❤️

    Recommended Reads!
    • Roy Sarkar S, Banerjee S. Gut microbiota in neurodegenerative disorders. J Neuroimmunol. 2019 Mar 15;328:98-104. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2019.01.004. Epub 2019 Jan 9. PMID: 30658292.
    • Qi X, Yun C, Pang Y, Qiao J. The impact of the gut microbiota on the reproductive and metabolic endocrine system. Gut Microbes. 2021;13(1):1-21. doi:10.1080/19490976.2021.1894070
    • Beyond the Pill by Dr. Jolene Brighten – this is a great book that talks a lot about female hormones too!!

  • Going Gluten and Dairy-Free

    So, it’s May now! That’s pretty crazy. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve had some health-related issues recently and in response to everything, I decided to look to a functional health doctor for some guidance and help. From our first appointment, she determined that I need to go gluten and dairy-free for a bit.

    Now this isn’t something that will solve everyone’s problems, but we’ve determined that cutting out all gluten and dairy may be a way to resolve some of my problems. I’m going to see how things go this way, and then adjust if needed in a couple of months. I’ve really only been doing this gluten and dairy-free thing for a week or two now so I don’t have much to report, but things do seem a little better which I like to see!

    When I first started this, it was reallllly shocking to see just how much gluten and dairy there is in the food we eat! Milk wasn’t a huge loss for me because I cut milk from my diet back in high school. Pasta has been out of the picture for a while now too because I’ve been sensitive to it for some time now. Instead of regular pasta, I’ve substituted for chickpea pasta and found that I like that just about the same. But looking at something like mac’ and cheese now, there’s so much to consider! No butter, no cheese, and no pasta. But if I substitute, I can maybe make it work! I think I just need to do some research and I’ll figure things out.

    Becoming more aware of how I fuel my body has been very eye-opening. I’m learning to look more into what is actually in the foods I eat and I have actually really enjoyed the process! It’s cool to be able to figure out how I can feed myself so that I feel the best I possibly can. Sometimes, it has been a bit frustrating or hard though. When the rest of my family is enjoying a dessert that I would’ve loved to eat a month or two ago, now I’m sitting out on that. But that’s ok! I honestly feel grateful to even be having a problem like this.

    I just hope that with these adjustments to my diet, I am able to start feeling better internally and that this will ultimately help me feel better about myself overall! If any of you out there are gluten and/or dairy-free and have any suggestions or tips for me, I would gladly appreciate your insight. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the beginning of your May!!

  • 5 Pounds Away

    It feels so good to move, doesn’t it?! Well, I really think it feels good. And yesterday, I found myself 5 pounds away from my goal of bench pressing 100 pounds! I think that’s pretty cool.

    After whatever it was that happened earlier this month, I find myself more and more grateful to have a body that is healthy for the most part that can do so much for me. Exercise makes me feel so good. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t feel strong. I think being strong is empowering and beautiful. I feel like I can handle myself and I feel capable of a lot too.

    I came into my fitness journey with the idea that my upper body strength was pretty decent from all the tennis that I play. Boy was I wrong about that!! My upper body strength was garbage, to put it nicely. I couldn’t do a pushup. I could barely bench press a 45 lb bar. Looking back on things, I have come such a long way. My pushups are pretty subpar, but they exist now. I’m on the brink of bench pressing 100 lbs. I’m working on getting pull ups now too!

    I think working out is so rewarding. You set a goal and you work toward it. You meet that goal and then you set another one. There is always room for improvement. I’m very excited to keep pushing myself and see what else I can do! Now let’s go get this next 5 pounds and I’ll see you all next week!

  • A Little Health Scare

    So it’s been an interesting past couple of days for me… On Thursday, I had a bit of a health scare that made the end of my week pretty exciting. Here’s what’s going on…

    Currently, I’m doing a bit of work as a nanny and while I was nannying on Thursday I had the most excruciating and awful pain in my pelvis come on. It felt like I had been stabbed or hit by a bus or something. Regardless of how I describe it, I was in a lot of pain. From that moment on, it was pretty tough to do much. Obviously I had to be there for the kid, but my mood dropped and I felt like I couldn’t move much. I didn’t want to eat and the only thing that made me feel good was hugging my knees to my chest. I also noticed that I was pretty bloated too. And when I say I was bloated, it felt like I was maybe 4-5 months pregnant (not that I’ve been pregnant, but it looked like it for sure)…

    I managed to make it through the rest of my nannying day somehow. Then, when I got home, I decided I needed to sleep. The pain I was feeling had traveled up into my abdomen as well but it was also starting to feel the worst on the right side of my pelvis. It was pretty tough to sleep being in that much pain, but at least lying down felt good. I had chills and a fever too to add on to everything now. Going through my head I wondered what could be going on. I hadn’t eaten anything out of the ordinary so I wasn’t sure that it was a food poisoning problem. Plus the only thing I had eaten on Thursday was my usual protein shake in the morning! Thinking about the fever, I wasn’t sure that I had some virus or other bug because I wasn’t showing any other symptoms.

    Thursday night was horrible. I was still in a lot of pain but my fever dropped off pretty quick so that wasn’t a big concern. Bloating was still horrible though and I didn’t have much of an appetite. I did force myself to eat dinner though. Sleeping was an absolute joke though. Any time I tried to turn, I was incredibly uncomfortable. Not a fun night. Yes, I was still in a lot of pain but I decided I didn’t need to go to an ER right away because my fever had gone away and I was feeling ok enough to eat dinner Thursday night. My mom and I decided that regardless of how I was doing Friday, I needed to see a doctor in the morning.

    And so that’s what I did. I went to an urgent care office Friday morning. My pain was still pretty bad (slightly better than the day before though!) and the bloating was still bad. Thank goodness I didn’t have another fever or the chills though. My biggest concern throughout all of this was that my appendix may have burst. Fever is typically a sign of infection, so if something was wrong with my appendix, this could be a sign. The pain was in the right part of my lower abdomen which could be my appendix. Bloating is also commonly seen with appendicitis or a ruptured appendix. At the doctor’s office, I was very happy to find out that whatever was going on was not appendicitis. Unfortunately, though the answer I was given still wasn’t definitive. That being said, the doctor was pretty sure that an ovarian cyst had ruptured. The symptoms of a cyst rupture are pretty similar to that of appendicitis and the location of the pain can also be very similar. With his conclusion, I was told to take Aleve as needed and take it easy the rest of the weekend. I asked if there’s anything that can be done in the future if this happens again, and I was pretty discouraged to learn that there really isn’t much I can do beside take pain meds. If anyone with a medical background could provide some more insight, I would greatly appreciate it.

    Looking back on my little health scare now, I’m incredibly thankful that I’m okay and feeling better now. I’m still in some pain and there’s still some bloating, but it is much much better than it was. Thursday night, I was fully preparing myself to need surgery the next day for a ruptured appendix or something like that. I am feeling so blessed that wasn’t the case. I really hope this isn’t something that I ever experience again and I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else ever. Worst. Feeling. EVER.

    Make sure to take care of yourselves and have a wonderful rest of your weekend. See you all next Sunday. ❤️

  • I’M GOING TO DENTAL SCHOOL!!

    Well, based on the title of this week’s post I think you all have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. I’m going to dental school!! I am so excited to announce that this past Wednesday, I received an offer from the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine to start in the fall.

    The past week, and particularly the days leading up to this past Wednesday, were interesting for me. I became increasingly stressed as decision day crept closer and closer. I really didn’t expect to hear back on the first day to possibly hear back but I’m glad I did. On Tuesday night, I called my mom on my way back from tutoring anatomy and she could tell just how stressed and worried I was. She told me to stop worrying otherwise I would probably make myself sick. She was so right on that too. My heart was racing and I was definitely on my way to a stress headache or something. So, Wednesday morning I woke up and thought nothing of dental schools or acceptance letters.

    But there was something inclining me to check my application page. Something deep down was teasing me, telling me to just take a peek and see if anything new showed up on my status page. I tried to ignore these feelings and did some yoga that morning, but all I could think about was whether or not I would hear back that day which was horrible. Right after I finished my flow for the day, I made a bee-line for my laptop and went right to the status page on my laptop. And that’s when the world stopped. Under the University of Colorado, it said “Offer made” and I started to cry.

    If I’m being honest, I didn’t think I had the best chance of getting into dental school. I’m a good student and I make good grades, but so do a lot of other people applying to dental school. I’m hard working and responsible and organized and detail-oriented, but so is the majority of the applicant pool for dental school! As decision day approached, I remember even starting to see what other options I had beside dentistry with my degree because I really wasn’t very sure of myself. Getting that offer has changed my perspective on myself. I am capable of doing hard things. I am good enough. I am smart enough. I am worthy and deserving of everything I have worked toward.

    Wednesday morning ended up being really special to me and it turned into a really good day in general too. My friends, sister, and I went to Dutch Bros like we always do at the beginning of the month for free stickers and that’s when I told everyone I had been accepted. I received a call from one of the professors at the dental school, congratulating me and letting me know how much he appreciated our conversation during my interview. I was with my friends and sister in the car when I got that call and I will never forget how we all screamed when I got off of the phone. I received so much support and love that day and it really touched me in ways that I don’t even think I can comprehend or thank everyone for enough. Later that evening, I also happened to receive an acceptance notification and offer from Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of University of Southern California which I am so honored to have received. Receiving two offers to two incredible dental schools is something that I am so grateful for. Despite the fact that I received an offer from USC, I will be attending University of Colorado, sticking closer to home. 😊

    So with the end of my application journey comes another one! Dr. Ana Horvath DDS coming to a dental world near you (give me about 7 more years though because I want to go to into orthodontics so it’s gonna take a bit)! Before I end this post, I just want you all to know that you are also more than capable of anything you set your mind to. You are smart. You are deserving. You are also capable of doing hard things and absolutely crushing them. Have a wonderful week. ❤️

    I'm going to dental school!!
  • Meeting Goals!

    Meeting Goals!

    This past week, I finally met a goal of mine that I have had for an incredibly long time: I hit my goal weight. While this used to be something so meaningful to me, I have come to realize that there are other places where meeting goals are much more important. There are bigger and better things to focus on than how much I weigh. There’s a lot I have to say reflecting on my journey to this point and all of the details associated with that, so if you’re looking to learn more about my mental and physical journey over the past year or so, stick around!

    I’d like to say that when I began my fitness/lifestyle journey when I felt that the biggest thing to me was to lose weight. I was fairly unhappy with how I looked as a result of some things that have happened in my past and as a result of incredibly low self-confidence. I had this idea in my head that becoming a certain weight would make me happier. And now that I’m at that point, I am happy, but it is NOT because of that goal I had set for myself over three years ago. Just because past Ana had this desire to be a certain weight, and current Ana has met that, it doesn’t mean all my problems are solved. It also doesn’t mean that I’m the most confident person in the world either. There is a lot that I still feel I need to work on, but I’m very happy with all the progress I’ve made. There is so much more that I have come to realize over the past year and that is what I am much happier about.

    As I have developed a more sustainable workout routine and worked on how to properly fuel my body, I have realized that there are more important things to focus on than what I weigh. There are more vital things to look at like moving my body for at least 30 minutes every day/getting a good workout in 5 days a week, drinking enough water, and eating when I’m hungry. If you’re also in a place where you feel like you want to make improvements for yourself, there are a few things I think you should focus on most:

    • How much water you drink. I go for around 100 oz of water, but again this is for me!
    • How many hours of sleep you get. This is when your mind and muscles recover!!
    • How often you move your body. Aim for 30 minutes a day at least and 4-5 days a week. Do what works best for you though and do what you think will be most sustainable!
    • Eat when you’re hungry. Food is fuel and your body needs it to function properly. I give my body what it wants and I know how to balance things out.

    While my body has been changing quite a bit in its composition over the past year, I think that I have also changed a lot of things mentally, and that has been the most impactful. It can be really hard to stay consistent and positive when you aren’t seeing what you want right away. It can be challenging to stick to what you’ve been doing when you see others progressing faster in a shorter period of time. What I’ve come to realize is that my journey is my journey. There is no need to focus on anyone but yourself when you’re working to improve yourself. Making progress more slowly is more sustainable for me and I know that I’m creating good habits with the things I’ve been doing.

    Meeting goals, whether they’re big or small is huge. Celebrate every little milestone and accomplishment you make because you’re so worth it! I hope you’re able to take something away from this post and just remember that no matter what you’re doing or what you’re working toward, your journey is your’s and your’s alone. Focus on doing what will allow you to improve and grow and good things will come. Have a good week. ❤️

  • I Have PCOS

    PCOS

    Hi everyone! Sorry for missing last weekend. It was a bit crazy! It was good though, so nothing too crazy is going on in my life. This post may be a bit personal and if you’re not that into health-related content, then maybe you come back next Sunday! Please do what’s best for you. I will be talking about some stuff that relates more to the female body also, so again, if that’s not your thing, that’s totally fine! So this past week, I was informed that I have PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome. I just wanted to take this time and dedicate this post to reflecting on that and sharing a bit about it.

    According to the Office of Women’s Health from the US Department of Health and Human Services, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is:

    a common health problem caused by an imbalance of reproductive hormones. The hormonal imbalance creates problems in the ovaries. The ovaries make the egg that is released each month as part of a healthy menstrual cycle. With PCOS, the egg may not develop as it should or it may not be released during ovulation as it should be.

    – Office on Women’s Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    As a result of failed ovulation and improper development of the egg, this can lead to the formation of cysts (which can vary in size) in the ovaries. In some women, this can be painful and in others it may not bother them. Some women don’t even actually develop cysts and may still be diagnosed with PCOS. And when referring to “hormonal imbalance”, the Office on Women’s Health is referring to high androgen (“male” hormone, even though women do naturally have a small amount of these) levels and high levels of insulin. Again, not all women with PCOS present with both high androgen levels and high insulin levels, but this is typically the case. Typical other symptoms or signs that a woman may have PCOS include but are not limited to hair loss, weight gain or having a difficult time losing weight, increased presence of facial hair, acne, and/or irregular/non-existent periods.

    Before I discuss my own personal experiences, I would just like to say that by no means am I a doctor. Just because I experienced one thing doesn’t mean it will hold true for everyone, so please keep that in mind. I speak only for myself when I say what I’m going to say. 😉 When looking at my case, my biggest issue was my extremely irregular period. And when I say irregular, I mean that it would typically come every 2-3 months and if I was lucky, it might show every month like it is supposed to. Yes, I did breakout more around the time of my period but I figured that was normal. When my period skipped, I experienced what I thought was cramping/pelvic pain, and I thought it might come and then it never did. I did experience some hair loss beginning when I was about 15 or 16 but I feel that might have been related to going on a steroid inhaler for an extended amount of time. I don’t think I’ll truly ever know if that was correlated though, because my hair is growing much thicker and faster than it ever has now (and I’m SO thankful for it!!).

    In an attempt to treat what I thought was just irregular periods, I was on birth control for about a year. This did help regulate my period but I began having heart palpitations. The longer I was on the pill, the more frequently I had palpitations too, which was concerning. As a result of that, I came off the pill and thankfully the extra heartbeats or lack of a heartbeat came to a stop. I thought that maybe a year of regulation on the pill would serve as a jumpstart for my body. Maybe my hormones had finally figured it out. But oh boy, WAS I WRONG. I understand that birth control can do strange things with your hormone and that some women don’t see their period for a year after coming off of the pill, but something just felt wrong. My period did not come and I was just concerned.

    So, I ended up finding an OB/GYN in my area and I shared everything with her. After discussing some things with her, I had an ultrasound done and two separate blood tests. During the ultrasound, we were looking for the appearance of cysts in my ovaries. They were there. During the blood tests, she was looking to see what my follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels were like. She checked other hormones, but these were two key ones. My LH was higher than my FSH which on a very basic level means that my ovaries would be unable to ovulate properly, hence so many missed periods. In a normal case, on the third day of a woman’s period, FSH and LH should be at a 1:1 ratio. Again, my levels did not look like that.

    At this point, my OB/GYN was pretty confident I had PCOS, but I had my second blood test done to confirm that it was PCOS and not some other disorder/disease that mimics polycystic ovarian syndrome. I had a full lipid panel done in addition to having a diabetes screening, and had a few more hormone levels checked. From that blood test, my diagnosis was confirmed.

    Prior to officially knowing what was going on, there was a lot of uncertainty. I fear the unknown and it was honestly troubling and frustrating not knowing why my body wasn’t working right. I had done some research on PCOS prior to being told that’s what I had and it was a bit scary reading some stuff. The biggest red flag that came to me was the word infertility. Every source I combed through mentioned that it may be more challenging to have kids and that was disappointing to me! But, from what I learned with my OB/GYN and the ultrasound technician and with further research, PCOS is the most common, but treatable, cause of infertility in women, which was incredibly encouraging.

    I think it’s important to note that prior to getting a diagnosis or a result, it’s okay to feel scared and unsure. But, you shouldn’t allow yourself to jump to conclusions and get all worked up over something you don’t really know much about yet. You need to educate yourself and properly do your research to look for solutions and a brighter perspective. Yes, there is no cure for PCOS but there are ways to manage it. Yes, there may be a slight challenge with fertility but I know that it is extremely possible to have healthy, normal pregnancies even with PCOS and that penalty of women been through that. Yes, there might be a lot that I still don’t know about this condition that I have but it will not change how I function as a person. If anything, it will help me be more in-tune with my body and see what all I am capable of in attempting to become the best version of myself.

    I’m just going to continue working out, eating healthy, loving food (because who doesn’t?!?), and loving life. Have a wonderful week everyone! ❤️

  • Fighting with Food

    fighting with food

    I find it funny that last week’s post was about food and how much I love this one protein shake I’ve figured that I really like. Now here we are, talking about what I realized this past week as I’ve worked through fighting with food. I feel like I’m finally winning this fight. 🙂

    As I’ve focused more on my fitness and developing a sustainable routine for my lifestyle, I realized how some of the things I’ve done in my life have really affected my relationship with food and with myself overall. In particular, pageantry and modeling have created a strange complex that has made me feel angry and frustrated with myself for not always eating “clean” or healthy. So if I were to eat a cookie, for example, to treat myself after an exam or rough day with classes or something, I might enjoy that cookie in the moment but later feel disgusted with myself for allowing myself to have that extra sugar and junk in my body. I might work out harder the next day or make my lunch or dinner somewhat smaller the next day to compensate for that which is SO WRONG. And I have just now realized that.

    Since freshman year of college, I have been struggling and fighting myself so hard every time I eat something that my mind has decided to deem as “unclean” or “unhealthy”. I’ve always been a bit lenient on special occasions like birthdays and other celebrations. I have always allowed myself to relax a bit then, but in general, I have been so rough with myself in terms of food because I thought needed to be that way in order to look a certain way. While I have learned that I can cut out certain foods and feel good, I have also learned that I’m much more miserable by restricting myself to the salad bar and produce aisle at the grocery store. I haven’t been happy feeling afraid of eating certain things. There hasn’t been progress made by fighting with food like I have, so I knew something had to change. And no, it was not my diet. It was my mindset.

    Ever since I began working with my trainer, I feel like my eyes have opened so much more and I am so thankful to have her and my mom in my life. They have both helped me so much with building a better relationship with food and I really cannot thank them enough for helping me with this. I feel like my fighting with food has become much less of a fight and I’m so much happier for it. While I still restrict or limit certain things, I feel much more free with my eating. There is much less shame, frustration, and anger associated with allowing certain foods every once in a while which is amazing and I’m so happy that I’ve had this change in mindset. It has not been easy to reach this point, but we are here and we are in a much healthier position with food now which I am so happy to say.

    I’ve substituted pasta for rice and quinoa because of how much more rice and quinoa can give me nutritionally. And there are still days where I really just want spaghetti or penne. What do I do in situations like this? I make myself what I want! It might be gluten-free or whole wheat, because that benefits me more and I’ve found works better for me and what my goals are, and that’s ok! I’m ok with it! And what if I’m at a restaurant and I’m really wanting pasta? I allow myself to have it. I allow it because I know this is a once-in-a-while thing and that this one meal isn’t going to cause me to gain five pounds or lose any progress. I’ve learned to avoid milk because it causes inflammation and irritates my stomach. Instead, I have substituted that for oat and almond milk. I still enjoy ice cream though. 😉 That’s too hard to give up haha. Again, in moderation it can’t hurt me too bad! I’ve increased my fiber and protein intake and that’s because I have goals set for myself. I focus on including more veggies and meats or eggs on my plate and I’m much happier for that.

    There are some days where I feel like I deserve a piece of chocolate or two. I allow myself that treat and I move on with it! I work out the same amount I have been for the past seven months and I feel no pressure to work out extra to work off those calories. And why is that? I now know that I’m not eating large amounts of chocolate every day. There is moderation. This was a one-time thing and if it becomes more of a habit, it’s something I can work on and learn to manage. This is something so important to keep in mind and is something I wish I had allowed myself to think about in the past.

    As mentioned earlier, I am truly so thankful to have people like my mom and trainer in my life. They have helped me build healthier relationships with food and working out, but most importantly with myself. I am finally learning to honor my body and love myself. I am feeling like a more confident and free person for it. Of course, there are still days where I struggle and I still have moments where I’m frustrated or upset, but I recognize that it’s okay to have days like that. I truck along, keep moving forward, and keep working hard. And I encourage you all to do the same. See you next weekend.

  • The Perfect Protein Shake

    the perfect protein shake
    Image credits to Tasty Kitchen. I wish mine looked this fancy, but I do know it tastes pretty good. 🙂

    I’m definitely no nutrition expert or dietician, but I feel like I have also learned a thing or two trying to work on what I eat. While I definitely am still figuring a lot of things out, I have found one thing I really like: peanut butter chocolate banana protein shakes. There was never a specific recipe I found, I just decided to try things out and I loved it. So if you’re interested in learning how to make the perfect protein shake (at least according to me!!) then stick around. All you need is a blender, a banana or two, peanut butter or peanut butter powder, and your favorite chocolate protein powder.

    Here’s my recipe!
    – At least one banana
    – A good tablespoon of peanut butter powder (PB-Fit All Natural)
    – Half of a scoop of Simple Truth’s chocolate protein powder
    – Califa Farms unsweetened almond milk (I just pour this until it covers the banana, peanut. butter, and protein powder)

    With all of your good stuff in your blender, just blend until smooth and then enjoy! I really like to have this for breakfast in addition to an omelet or some hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes, this is really good on its own in between meals. I find that it serves as a good filler until I’m ready to eat an actual meal. Yummy yummy! 🙂

    I’ve really been working on adding more protein to my diet and I’ve found that this is one of the many ways to do so. Eggs and chicken are a few more of my favorite ways to get my protein in! If there’s anyone reading this that also enjoys a good protein shake, share your recipes with me! I’d love to try them. 🙂 Have a great week and I’ll see you next Sunday!

  • A Breakthrough!!

    I don’t know what it was, but something amazing happened this past week and I think I’ve made a breakthrough! I’ll just go ahead and share what I wrote in my workout journal. 🙂 I might edit it so it makes a bit more sense formatting-wise and for this post as I upload it today. Again, I’m pretty sore today but today’s soreness makes me feel so proud of where I’m at now. 🙂

    I’m down almost two pounds from last weekend?! Not that weight matters an extreme amount but I’m genuinely surprised. I was going for 100 lbs with my bench press but I don’t think it happened and that’s ok! I believe I benched around 75 lbs and that’s still a PR!! 🙂 (Sidenote: My previous personal record, or PR, was 65 lbs for those of you that were wondering and I’ve been making good gains with my upper body as of lately, so my trainer and I thought it was doable.) I honestly think I had a breakthrough this past week. I don’t know what it was but I’m starting to feel better about myself. Yes, I am still working on things and I am also still extremely hard on myself but I’m learning and I’m making big improvements. I wasn’t too worried about food this week as far as worrying I was eating too much or too little which is a step in the right direction if you ask me. (Another sidenote: I’ve never been obsessed about tracking my food or anything but as I’ve started working out more I would definitely say that I’ve become a bit more aware of what I eat and sometimes it feels wrong eating certain things because I worry about it affecting my progress. Working to adjust that mindset has been challenging but I think we are making good progress with that!!) I just told myself that as long as I’m eating a lot of fiber and protein (and still including carbs!) then I’m good. As long as I see veggies and fruits on my plate, I’m good!

    And with this thinking, I’ve actually started noticing changes with my body. The biggest for me has been around my hips and lower back which is where I’ve carried a decent amount of fat. Suddenly this week, things felt much slimmer to me! And I was able to fit into a pair of pants that I wore during my pageant times and I know that I weighed less than I do currently!! My trainer told me that I shouldn’t worry so much about what the scale says, and I agree because that doesn’t mean everything. She said that I should focus more on how things are fitting. Since I started working with her, I have definitely noticed a difference with that but just now and am I really starting to celebrate and feel proud of the accomplishments I’ve made. Workouts are still feeling good and I think it has really helped that I’m incorporating walks and yoga into my workout routines too. I think that has helped me learn to appreciate and honor my body more. 🙂

    Now we’re back to me writing in the current time. Yay for this breakthrough!! I really am so proud of the progress I’ve made thus far. It bothers me that it took me this long to see it but I’m glad that I’m finally getting there. I’m so happy that I’ve made this breakthrough and I’m truly very excited and so motivated to see where we go from here. If any of you out there are working to accomplish something, do not give up. Dig in and get to work. You may not see progress and things may feel hard but others notice and you will eventually see it too. See you all next weekend. 🙂