In a Yoga State of Mind ♡

 

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self” – The Bhagavad Gita

 

Hellllo Friends!

Yes I know it has been a while since I have posted but I assure you the reasons have been for the better. In a few short months I have realized so many amazing goals and aspirations. This has allowed me to take the steps needed in order to follow what my heart has always wanted.

So between assignments and so on I have been working real hard on a few  goals. One I will tell you right now is I am becoming a personal trainer. While I have had always the desire be a trainer, I was always self conscious about how to become one. While I am not perfect, I have come such a long way and want to share the world my experiences. In the end I hope to one day inspire others to change, and if that can happen with just one person; I feel like I have brought something amazing to this world.

“Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists. Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists.”

So now that you have the gist of where my life has been  going I wanted to show you that no matter what size or how long you have practiced yoga, you should be proud of how far you have come. I have gotten into my practice since May and I have to say I am in love with practicing. Whether in a life class or online videos, yoga has taught me so much more about myself. We as humans are so much stronger than you can even imagine. Yoga has shown me with consistent practice and the love and the want to change you can do ANYTHING. I hope that you take the time to practice and feel the wonderful benefits of yoga ♥

Namaste,

Norah ♥

Even if your pose is not “perfect” it is always beautiful ❤

What did you have for lunch?

As I’m on the journey I am learning so much more and my relationship with food has changed for the better. I don’t look as food as an escape but as nourishment. Today for example I had a filling breakfast of oatmeal made with almond milk and banana slices.

And for lunch I made this delicious grilled chicken taco. Inside is grilled chix chicken marinated in a tomato sauce I created, sauteed with spinach, corn, and red cabbage. Lastly I added a lil salsa and avocado. .let’s just say DELICIOUS!

So I hope today you take the time toneay something not only delicious but will nourish your body 🙂

Happy Eating,
Norah ♥

Nourish Your Body!

Love your body by giving it what it deserves…you only have one life to live so make the most of it by giving it what it deserves!

Norah ♥

For The Love of Running!

At the end of the day it is you against the road! [Image from: momsrunthistown.com]

Hello again my friends!

I know I have been MIA for a while but to be honest I have been so busy that blogging was the last thing on my mind! As hard as it is, I am determined to get into the swing of things and write about what I love. That being said I hope to post a lot more when it comes to fitness, food, health, fashion, and even beauty. I hope that I can keep my promise to give the best posts and hope to gain new followers from it! Now on to the fun stuff! So while on vacation ( I spent a glorious month down south!)

Vacation highlights!

I picked up on running. I love love the feeling of being free and while there are others either on the road or track it is you against the world. Even though it can get difficult I love it and I hope for the upcoming fall I can do a 5k or two.

As we know life can be hectic and while many chose other ways to de-stress, I chose to run.

Highlights of my new obsession 🙂

Now that you know my new obsession. What is your new found obsession? What makes you happy and even forget all your worries (hopefully safe and legal of course!) LOL. Now that you know mine, what is yours?

Norah ♥

Why I run… [Image from: facebook.com]

Motivation Monday! Have You Truly Looked At Yourself in the Mirror?!

Love Your Body [Image from: http://www.choosingraw.com]

Have you looked in the mirror?…

Like truly looked at yourself?

What do you see?

Do you like what you see or do you cringe?

Shaking your head in disappointment

Sighing at disbelief

Maybe even shed a tear

But breath my friend

Smile at yourself 

Cheese so wide you hurt your cheeks

FOR YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Throughout the change I still love the body I am in ❤

YOU ARE HANDSOME!

Who cares what the world thinks!

This is the real you, and this is your real body!

And if you do not like it

Smile because you are ready for change

Smile for the haters you know you will soon make envious

Smile for your health

Smile for your upcoming new life!

No one says it will be easy

You may be in more pain than you ever been in your life

You may even feel defeated at times

But one thing I can promise you!

You will be happier

You will be healthier

And you will become more motivated than you have EVER BEEN IN YOUR LIFE

So my friend

If your ready for change

LETS DO THIS

And always remember

Love your body NO MATTER WHAT!

Because

YOU

ARE 

BEAUTIFUL 

Love the body that you are in throughout your journey in life, it is the only one you have! Hope you enjoy the small and big accomplishments in your health journey for not only this week but throughout your WHOLE LIFE!

♥ Norah

 

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL [Image from: debbie-debbiedoos.com]

 

 

Change in Pace – Realizing My Blog Identity!

Always believe

Hello My Blog Family!

SO SO SORRY I haven’t posted in like FOREVER! I have been so crazy busy and when I was not I was too exhausted to blog anything. Lately it has been short and sweet posts, but what I loved about them was my motivation was getting out there. Than I realized that the direction that not only my life was going but my blog was going in a different direction. Lately you have all noticed I have been focused on health and fitness and that is what I would like to focus on. I want when you go on my blog you find inspiration in your daily lives, and with that I decided to give my lovely blog a MAKEOVER! With that being said I will focus more on health and fitness but also giving you guys random but emotional poems, awesome recipes that I created or tested and LOVE and lots and lots of pictures of great inspiration.

I hope you follow me in this journey of self discovery and I hope I can maybe even inspire you to change your life just a little! Whatever the case may be I hope you follow, read, comment, and just have fun! Anyway before I leave my loves here a couple of pics of inspiration and a challenge I have been working on Instagram that I want you ALL to join whether you have Instagram or not!

May Fitness Challenge

If anyone is familar with Instagram you know they have daily to monthly photo challeneges where you can post daily pics on different topics. This month I decided to do a #mayfitnesschallenge and it has been loads of fun. Each day you post a pic of the topic of the day and it actually keeps you motivated during your fitness journey and you can even meet new people throughout it as well.

May Fitness Photo Collage

I have chatted with many people on this journey and it is very inspiring to see people’s progress and how they conquered their health. I will TRY to post my daily pics with you all and if you have Instagram look for me (sn is CulinaryGirl138)and see the awesome pics I post daily as well! I hope you all have an amazing weekend and remember YOU ARE WORTH IT!

♥ Norah

Creating your life is an everyday thing…[Image from society6.com ]

When The Going Gets A Little Tough….

Becoming who you were really meant to be takes time…[Image from: Women’s Health]

Today as I was trying on clothes that I was once not able to fit in and I felt great. Than a sadness came over me because I was angry that I had let myself go soo many times and now have to work hard and sacrifice once more. But unlike the other times I feel soo much stronger and I am determined to become the woman I was meant to be…I just need to keep reminding myself that it is one day at a time…

So my friends while in your journey no matter what it is remember to…

Stay DETERMINED

Stay STRONG

And of course…

BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Because ANYTHING is POSSIBLE 🙂

♥ Norah

 

One step at a time..[Image from: yourhealthkick.blogspot.com ]

Let’s Do Something New This Week: Smoothie Challenge!

Highlights of this weekend 🙂

Hello My Fit and Fun Foodies,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was filled with great company, food, and not so much relaxation. I went to see one of my best friends in the lovely city of Brooklyn and we had a great time! We went out to a chic art mag event followed by ending the night with drinks and not so healthy but great food from Soco. The next day I started off the day right by going to Cornerstone and having delicious Steak and Eggs

Steak and Eggs were sooo good!

while sipping on some DELICIOUS Mimosas

Mimosas!

. The rest of the day I went home and relaxed and today I enjoyed a great and spiritual day with my family.

This weekend I have learned that I have become wayyy more positive and upbeat about life. Who knew that make healthy and great life style choices can make you so much more happier and see a more positive outlook on life. This fitness and clean health journey has been something that I have fallen in love with. Its become almost an obsession and while I do have times where I am so tired I cannot even move, I still will force myself to have my workout. Dedication is key and I am happy to say that I am BEYOND dedicated to leaving a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Essential smoothies: [Image from: ipad.appstorm.net]

This week what I would like to do is start a two week smoothie challenge. For two weeks I will have a smoothie for both breakfast and as a afternoon snack. They will be generally low carb smoothies, but there will be days where I indulge in a higher carb fruit. I also will limit my carb intake and eat loaded veggies with either chicken or fish on the daily. It will be fun and interesting to see where this will go but I will let you know how it goes and meanwhile I will posts my most favorite smoothie recipes!

Smoothie Recipe Chart [Image from: goodcleanhealth.com]

So my friends on that note hope you all have a happy and healthy week filled with great food and good memories! And remember, try to create something exciting and new this week 😉

Found this lovely quote while shopping: Create yourself a new life ❤

Motivation is Key

Fitness is MY way of life ❤

 

Stronger

Faster

Leaner

Clear of mind

I am changing every day

Newfound inner peace

New way of life

One month down..

Two more to go…

What will happen next 🙂

Becoming stronger every day [Image from: blog.fitmarkbags.com]

7 Days Clean and Awaken! My Journey Through The 7 Day Slim Down…

Food and Fitness go hand in hand [Image from: http://www.healthcareguaranteed.org ]

Hello my fellow foodies especially Team Fit and Clean! (Or getting there like me! lol)

So this is a couple of days in the making, my schedule this week has been fun but beyond busy and now we are here at the end of the week! I wanted to talk about my journey through the 7 day slim down challenge designed my Jillian Michaels through the Body Revolution (90 Day Fitness Challenge). I was inspired to buy this because I honestly wanted a workout routine that I knew would give me results but I also wanted something that was longer than 30 days but also realistic. I am NOT going to lie, I have not worked out in a MINUTE! Thank God for my job that keeps me busy and active throughout the day, because without it I have NO CLUE where my “fitness” would come from lol. Unfortunately I have been lazy for quite some time using the excuse, “Oh I am so busy I have no time to workout!”, but truth was I just did not want to workout, mentally or physically.  I had rather laid in bed catching up on my favorite shows eating ice cream or going out with friends, baking, the list goes on. While in this state of laziness, I was not happy with myself. I did not like the way I looked, I felt so unmotivated about life, and health wise I felt sluggish and gross. One day I looked at myself in the mirror at work and said, “What the hell happened to me!” I used to love life so much, I was ambitious, I felt like the world was at my fingertips, but now I was so mad at everyone but I really had to say I am mad at myself. I made myself this way, no one but me. So I said, ENOUGH is ENOUGH! I am too young to feel like this, and I went on the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution website and bought the DVD set after looking at all the great success stories of real people. I felt like if they can do it, so can I so after about a week of waiting I finally received it and got to it!

Jillian Michaels Body Revolution Kit

So as you guys had noticed I had been on a slow but positive journey of clean eating. Clean eating (in my opinion) is consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, whole grains, etc and excluding lots of things like processed foods, fast food, high calorie/sugar foods; basically all the fatty but the oh so tasty stuff! I had also stopped drinking coffee as well which was sooooo HARD! I am a avid coffee drinker who had at least 2 cups a days. So when I stopped, it felt like an addict going through withdrawal, I felt so so sick that I thought I was dying! Well after that lovely experienced subsided and eating pretty clean for almost a month helped me transition into the 7 day slim down. Now the 7 day slim down may seem easy but I DO NOT suggest to go cold turkey or binge right before this diet. If your a big eater try to eat less at least a week before this diet, if you love carbs, try to consume fewer carbs, or love sugar, ease your way down. If you can do this for at least a week, the transition to the 7 day slim down will be ALOT easier than if you just jumped right into it. Now to some of the key components of the 7 day slim down:

• No fruit, sugar or artificial sweetners such as Splenda, or carbs throughout the whole 7 days
• You are allowed 3 meals and one snack which is great so you are eating throughout the day
• 1 low calorie dairy product a day such as plain non fat greek yogurt
• No alcoholic beverages, and only one serving of caffeine if otherwise
• Now raw veggiess such as broccoli cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and kale, bamboo shoots
• No bacon (I know tear), lunch meat, hot dogs, or sausage
• Drink lots, lots, lots of water – Great concept but I will not lie I have been making A LOT of trips to the bathroom….(Not fun AT ALL…)

With these rules in mind I knew my meals would consist of lots of greens and protein such as chicken and fish. Jillian Michaels gives you an option of following her meal plan during this slim down and I have to say it was pretty great. She had lots of stuff like steak salad, poached eggs, turkey burgers, greek yogurt with almonds,

Yummy non-fat vanilla greek yogurt with silvered almonds and cinnamon

to say a few. I did not follow it to a T because I was not crazy about all the items, plus I do not have time to make myself a full fledge breakfast but I did enjoy the greek yogurt with the almonds, which I ate everyday. Also you do two 30 minute workouts everyday instead of one. This was a bit challenging at first because the workouts are intense but you feel soo accomplished after that it is all worth it. Now throughout the weeks was some highs and some lows, heres how my week looked like:

Monday – Yes I am so excited about this, I do miss carbs but I can do it!

Baby Veggies with Grilled Chicken and Sauteed Spinach

Tuesday – Wow I feel soo light today and yesterday was not so bad. The workouts were intense and I am sore but hey I am good!

Spring Mix Salad with lean steak strips and avocado

Wednesday – Okay…no offence I would KILL for a piece of bread (damn today is roll day at work….) I can do this though..I feel lighter than ever and hey is my face shrinking!

Thursday – Sore but I feel strong  and lighter than ever before. Well I am sick of eating nothing but boiled eggs for snack so lets try a scramble with avocado (Yum!)

Friday – I want PIZZA! Oh well I have this yummy stir fry to hold me off. Workouts kicked my ass but I am still feeling good!

Broccoli and Chicken Stir Fry with Green Beans and Almonds

Saturday – I am hungry and a bit tired. The week was long and the transition was not so bad. For some reason I am feeling a bit bitter (I did 2 intense cardio sessions)…I crave chocolate and keep telling myself two more days in my head…

Sunday – its the LAST DAY YAYYYYY!!!! I ate my spinach and tomato omlette like a champion

Spinach, Tomato, and Cheddar Omelette..yumm

and enjoy turkey burgers and veggies. I feel soo light and strong and the fact I have a break feels sooo awesome 🙂

Delicious homemade turkey burger with low fat cheddar cheese, tomato, natural guacamole on a bed of romaine lettuce

Now as you can see I experienced some highs and lows but it was a great feeling to finish. I have to say I have not once cheated throughout the whole 7 days and I was BEYOND proud of myself. I reminded myself a couple of things, first how I love working out, how I love the euphoria feeling at the end of it, how eating more healthy can give you energy that you forgot you had, and I am A LOT stronger than I thought I was. This week was not only a test but a HUGE wake up call. It reminded me of goals I wanted to accomplish and I am so excited to continue to do this journey. It has been 2 weeks since I have started Body Revolution and I have to say I am in love with it. I have lost over 10 pounds and I feel soo great and have energy for days. I hope I can continue this amazing journey with you all and I will strive into bringing not only yummy but healthy dishes that I love.

I hope you guys think about goals you once had and really see if you can tackle them. Whether fitness, health, fashion, beauty, baking, whatever it is, if you have a goal, YOU CAN DO IT! I am working on my goals and I have to say, my outlook on life is better than ever! If I can do this, you sure can accomplish ANYTHING!

♥The Sky Is The Limit! Go For It And GOOD LUCK ♥

Always remember no matter what…