Tag: health

5 days of Walking 10,000 Steps A Day!

Published 05/16/2016

I was recently inspired by a friend who has walked 10,000 steps, EVERY DAY consistently for TWO YEARS STRAIGHT. Incredible! She even walked the 10,000 steps during the busiest times in her life including Christmas.

I’ve been checking my iPhone Health App, and I usually get anywhere from 4,000 to 8,000 steps a day. I do want to invest in a better fitness tracker like the FitBit.

So this week I’m challenging myself to do 10,000 steps a day. The whole 10,000 steps idea actually first came from Japan as a marketing campaign for one of their pedometers.

As someone who does most of her work at a desk, I need to get up and start walking more. And our bodies are designed to move. Not sit on our butts all day. Although I do exercise as much as I can – riding my bike, weights, runs etc. But walking throughout the day is an added bonus.

Like I keep mentioning, comfort is a lie. Yes, sometimes there are times when the sofa looks so comfortable, because walking might be too much effort. (This is what goes through my head anyways lol). I’m trying to stay as fit as I can, so this will be good for me.

So who’s with me this week! Let’s see how we feel 🙂

*Update*

I did it! Five days of 10,000 steps (or more) a day.

Monday: 10,057 steps
Tuesday: 13,616 steps
Wednesday: 10,126 steps
Thursday: 11,247 steps
Friday: 17,983 steps

Not bad! Can I keep it up?

The first few days, I was exhausted and my body was burning out as it wasn’t used to moving this much. But now, I’ve gotten into the groove, and it’s not as tough as I thought it was! I think having some sort of step tracker is a really great way to gain awareness on how much we move. I also have more energy, and feel less sluggish in general.

I bought the Misfit Flash (below) to keep track of my steps. But the tracker kept falling out of the wristband, so I was using the clip-on instead. But I kept forgetting to keep it on me.

So my partner also ordered me a Jawbone Up2 (below) for my birthday. I’m excited to start using it to track my progress.

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That’s all for now folks!

I’ll keep you posted on the next challenge 🙂

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5 Days of No Junk Food

5 Days of No Junk Food

Published 05/09/2016

Alright folks, I’m on week 2 of my 5 day Comfort Is A Lie Series!

Week 1 of having no coffee was awesome. I was able to wean off my coffee addiction with full awareness. I’m still continuing the no coffee habit, and I’m ready to introduce a new lifestyle habit.

The idea behind the 5 day challenge is to notice and learn how our bodies react, while slowly introducing new lifestyle habits (or seeing if it’s something you want to continue) so that we can get rid of excess distractions and live more intentionally.

What that means for me this week is no processed foods.

Nothing packaged and filled with chemicals and preservatives, no processed sugar, no chips, no french fries, no chocolate (except the raw, natural 2 ingredient kind), no ice-cream (except nice cream!) and no donuts.

I was doing SO WELL on eating clean (I even lost 4 pounds in a week from doing that!), and then I went on vacation and it all sort of went down hill again. So I’m back at it again, because the person I want to be takes good care of her body, and feeds it nourishing foods. Whole foods. Real food from the earth.

We all need food to survive, but it’s important to ditch the crap.

This is where comfort really is a lie. Oh, I’m craving those donuts so bad! They taste SO GOOD. They make me so happy! Your body is lying to you in that moment. Because, eat too many donuts and you’re on your way to:

weight gain (junk food is high in calories)
type 2 diabetes (so the research says)
depression (my mood has definitely not been in tip top shape)
pimpes (blech)
dull looking skin
nutritional deficiencies
digestive problems
fatigue (yep, I’m pretty dopey)
afternoon crashes
foggy brain
memory problems
irritability
increases risk of heart disease and/or cancer
cravings for even more crappy food

Yup, I don’t want any of these things. I want:

A clear mind
A healthy body
A good mood
An efficient digestive system
Nice, glowing skin
Steady energy levels
A flat non-bloated stomach
Better sleep

And yes, yes, yes. Everything in moderation. But I need to start somewhere.

So who’s going to join me! Starting tomorrow (Monday!) Let’s see what we can learn and how our bodies react.

Stay tuned for updates on Friday as an edit on this post.

Pia

*Edit*

It’s now Saturday and how did my 5 days of no junk food go?

I’d say, overall it was… okay. I failed once on the Monday, because I had leftover chilli flavoured Crispy Mini’s in the cupboard (whoops), so I caved and ate them.

But from that, I learned that I should not stock unhealthy foods in my cupboards, so I’m not tempted to eat them. Healthy snacks should only be available.

On Tuesday, I noticed I had wayyy more energy and was able to wake up early, without feeling like I was hungover. I feel intensely groggy and sleepy in the mornings when I eat poorly.

By Wednesday I had even more energy. I rode my bike to work, was up at 6am and felt great! Thursday was positive too.

There were several times I wanted to eat something that wasn’t healthy so that I could cover up boredom or some other feeling. Sometimes it was just for the sake of convenience. I wasn’t even hungry. I was probably also just thirsty too at times. It was great to learn to be aware of when my cravings came up.

I’m going to continue this habit, as well as no coffee into next week. And next week I have a few ideas in mind for what I want to do for my next challenge.

Stay tuned!

Pia

Series Kickoff – 5 Days of No Coffee!

Published 05/02/2016

I’m so excited for today’s post.

Today I kick off a new series of 5 day challenges.

What does that mean?

We all want to be the best version of ourselves. Maybe we want to exercise more, or quit eating sugar. Maybe we want to go vegan, spend less money, meditate or be less wasteful. Or maybe our goal is to spend more time towards our personal dreams or careers, instead of choosing Netflix.

But doing all of these things all at once can be overwhelming. I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried to change my habits in one go and it just led to failure. There were too many things to keep track of at once.

Comfort always kicked in. But comfort is a lie. In this context, I am referring to those times when we wish to be or do certain things, but choose the easy option that feels good instead. Like choosing the sofa instead of going for that run we promised ourselves we’d do.

Of course comfort is good in healthy doses, we all deserve some relaxation, but when you find yourself frustrated in where you’re at in life, this is when comfort is the enemy.

Realize that in every moment you have a choice. You can choose to build character and look back on your life knowing you lived it as the person you wanted to be, or you can choose the easy thing.

**Let me emphasize that everyone’s struggles are personal. What I struggle with, you might not struggle with at all and vice versa. The way I want to live my life, is not necessarily the same way you want to live your life. Everyone’s ideal self is going to be their own depending on their environment, personality, situation etc. With that being said, if you can relate to these challenges, follow along! 🙂 If not, maybe you’ll be into the next one.

Starting tomorrow (Monday), I kick off the Comfort Is A Lie Series with 5 days of no coffee!

The idea is to build upon my habits, to notice and track my experience, learn something new and hopefully ease my way into a new and improved me while inspiring others to do their own version.

There are many benefits to drinking coffee such as improving your energy both mentally and physically, and preventing certain diseases such as cancer and type 2 diabetes.

But there are also some drawbacks to coffee such as altering your state of mind from what you would naturally be, staining your teeth, causing anxiety/restlessness, and it is dehydrating.

Right now, I’m experiencing more drawbacks than benefits. I’m addicted to coffee, and if I don’t get my daily 3+ cups of coffee, my head starts to pound, I become angry and irritable, depressed and I hate everyone around me. It stains my teeth (yuck) and my mouth just doesn’t feel as clean as it does when I don’t drink coffee. Coffee breath anyone? I want to rely on my own energy and get it naturally from eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Coffee also bloats me like crazy, well, it’s probably the cream inside the coffee, but the combo isn’t good for me anyhow. I’m too dependent and feel like I can’t go a day without a cup or 2. I want to free myself from that.

But oh, the warm aromatic scent of fresh coffee in the morning and the boost of energy are very enticing and comforting, but I can do this! As an alternative, I’m going to only allow myself to drink Green Tea (it has much less caffeine) or Water.

I’ll follow up on my experiences by editing this blog post this Friday, and maybe in between as I go. I’m excited (and nervous) to see what I can learn from a week without coffee. I’ve done it before, so I’m prepared for headaches and flu like symptoms haha!

Anyone want to join me? It’d be fun and I’d love to hear your experience below if this is something you can relate to. Follow along as I attempt other 5 day challenges to make myself more into the person I want to be. And if you relate, join me, or create your own personal challenges that resonate with who you want to become.

<3 Pia

**Edit**

5 Days Later (Friday)

I made it! Here I am, and it’s been 5 days of NO COFFEE.

This week, I noticed a few things. I didn’t crash as badly as I thought I would. No Advils were needed. I was however, extremely tired. Especially by 9pm at night, and waking up in the morning was very difficult as well for some reason. Even today, on the fifth day.

On Monday, I was nauseous, and fell asleep really early. On Tuesday, I was still very tired, and my brain was super fuzzy, I couldn’t form a proper thought. My eyes were really itchy and tired too.

On Wednesday, I realized that my gums were less swollen and red. Coffee is acidic, and if you have sensitive gums like me, then they suffer a bit. My mouth felt clean, and I didn’t have morning breath anymore. By Thursday I was still tired and had low energy, but felt ok.

Today is the last day, I’m lethargic, but it’s good for me to continue the no coffee thing. I even lost a couple pounds because I didn’t crave as much food as usual. Coffee is known to increase cortisol, the stress hormone, which makes you crave sugary, salty and fatty foods. And I wasn’t bloated this week because coffee and cream bloats me.

So the benefits of no coffee for me? And maybe you?

No more morning breath
No bloating
Clean mouth, no swollen gums
Weight loss
Less cravings for sugary, salty, fatty foods

So that’s that! Next week I will do a new challenge and see what I learn from it.

If you have any suggestions you’d like me to try, please let me know!

A Fresh Start to Living with Intention!

Published 08/01/2015

Hey everyone! Long time no chat. I’ve been a bit MIA these days because, well, basically life just sort of took over, but I am back and I want to give this thing the love and attention it needs. I’ve also been fighting a fear between just being myself vs trying to be objective and informational, if that makes sense. But a good friend helped me realize that, what is the worst that could happen if people I knew in real life knew me as personally as I shared myself on this blog? So I’m going to be more real, as I definitely enjoy reading those blogs more than pure informational ones (i.e. 10 Ways to Get Over a Cold!) Be warned, this is a long post, but it’s an intro to a new start, so if you have the patience to read it, then cool!

A lot of things have changed and I must admit that I got distracted from the Minimalism thing because I had moved into a new house with my SO and had a promotion a few months back so I was very busy and overwhelmed. The result was a house full of things (combining my things with his things) and being too mentally exhausted to focus on anything else with all the work stuff going on.

After having gone through some intense personal development workshops and seeing the person I want to be wasn’t exactly who I was currently, I am committing to live a more intentional life starting today, August 1st, 2015! I plan on checking in weekly to see how I am doing, and I am happy for you to point out of I miss any updates (eek!). One thing I need to work on is committing to tasks that are somewhat ‘repetitive’. I seem to have a difficult time with this. But my coach said something brilliant.

Building Character means doing the things that uphold your values and who you want to be, despite you not feeling like it or wanting to do it.

Amen to that. But first.

I kicked off my “Fresh Start” by reading this book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. It’s absolutely incredible! Talk about a unique, quirky perspective on minimalism. Basically, Marie talks about the Japanese KonMari method of decluttering, where you hold every item in your hand, and only keep it if it “sparks joy”. She anthropomorphises objects, teaching you to show them love and appreciation, and thank them for their purpose. For example, if there are gifts or cards you don’t want to keep but feel guilty about getting rid of, know that the purpose of a gift/card is to convey someone’s emotions about you. Once that purpose has been served, you have no other obligation to keep the item.

I finished this book in a few hours and was well on my way to decluttering what I had accumulated since my last purge. I got rid of 4 giant garbage bags of clothes/linens, a bunch of books, dishes, and random knickknacks that had no meaning. I also went through useless documents that I thought I had to keep for record keeping sake. Granted, I don’t have a ton of things because I did do a huge purge last year, and I am not the biggest shopper. But I did well! I am so lucky to have a partner who was super supportive of it all.

“Go ahead! I like my office but the rest of the house is yours!”

Yay!

Anyway, pick up this book. It’s very cute, but extremely practical and claims to make you a tidy person for once and for all.

Let’s take a moment to talk about Minimalism for a second. I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately on minimalism,

Here are a couple I absolutely love:

but most of the Minimalists I am running into, whether on YouTube or on the Blogosphere, focus on extreme minimalism. Like, literally living with only, probably, one item of everything you need. Their decor is very neutral, simple, and clean. Which is really cool, and I wish I could do it, but I can’t ignore who I really am.

You know what brings me joy? Anything antique/vintage/retro and bohemian looking. Think eccentric grandma! Ornate designs carved into wood, colourful eccentric patterns against a neutral background, and textures. I do like to keep the bedroom fairly neutral and relaxing though as a space to clear my mind. Also, my wardrobe is pretty minimalist and neutral. My home just has to be eye candy. Here are some photos below.

So while my tastes don’t match what the norm seems to be out there in the Minimalism world, I adore every piece I own and they all spark joy. This is what it means to me. It means many things to different people. For instance, the world traveler minimalist who lives from their backpack, or a van converted into a home. I think it’s important not to confuse minimalism as one way of being because the purpose is ultimately the same – to get rid of the things we don’t need, to make room for the things we want.

And now, I must move onto to my Intentional Living! I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit nervous to start this. But the blog, Blonde on a Budget (another one you need to check out) really inspired me. Not only is she living more intentionally, but she has been on a Year Long Shopping Ban and onto her second! Amazing work Cait!

Below is a list of things that I intend to focus on so that I can live more intentionally, simply, and meaningfully. I’ve already been doing these things, but the goal is to STICK to them and remember the higher purpose.

Health and Fitness:

Daily Pilates: Currently I’m doing Blogilates daily. (Guys it’s so much fun!)
Bike to work at least 3x/week.
Intuitive eating which is creating a good relationship with food, mind and body. Learning not to eat for emotional reasons, just eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.
Vegan/Vegetarian diet. I love animals way too much to eat them. Also not eating processed foods, too much sugar/alcohol/caffeine/crap. Currently I’m open to eating seafood, but most of my diet is primarily vegetarian. Let’s see if I can get to vegan. Any advice?
Cook more! Less eating out. Save money. I’ve been doing pretty well here.

Spiritual/Emotional:

Everytime I have the impulse to eat something bad because of emotional reasons (boredom/sadness etc), sit in the feeling, recognize it’s a misguided opportunity to connect with ourselves. Being ok with just feeling the emotions.
Be more present.
Astrology!: I must admit, whether it’s true or not, I find it so fascinating because the things I read seem to be extremely accurate. Been reading a bit of this book everyday. The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need.
Be more aware and ethical in my lifestyle choices, whether it’s cleaning products, food, clothing etc.
Practice my daily Bliss feeling and no suffering so I can learn to push through uncomfortable feelings when I don’t want to do something.
The minimalist lifestyle, living simply, enjoying the little things and open up space for what is important.

Finance:

Currently live on half of my paycheque, and save the other half. Only buy things I need such as food and toiletries. Spending a minimal amount on ‘going out’ and other miscellaneous things.

Giving Back:

This Blog: Writing consistently, and personally, to hopefully inspire others. And I will be honest when I fail on any of these things in my weekly updates.
Animals: Donating money or supplies to Katie’s Place, a local animal shelter in my hometown, Maple Ridge.

Relationships: I think I can sum all of these into really honouring the time I spend with those that I care about. Being truly present with them, instead of being distracted by the next thing I need to do.

Friends: Make an effort to see how people are doing, being more supportive of people’s dreams and aspirations.
Family: Being present with my family, recognizing they won’t be around forever, spending more time with them.
Partner: Also being more present, giving my full attention, appreciating how much I love this man and how amazing he is.

Career/Personal:

Grow my Virtual Assistant business here at Less of the Excess, the ultimate goal for me is to become location independent and self sufficient. Through living a minimalist lifestyle and not buying into consumerism, we need much less money to survive on!
Less time surfing the internet, more time on goals…this one is difficult. Less distractions!

Phew! That was a long one…

I’d love to hear some of things you guys are all doing in order to live more intentionally.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Published 07/04/2014

“The secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy toward doing it. Once you do this, abundance flows into your life and all your desires are filled with ease and grace.” – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

I just finished this amazing book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. It’s about a very successful lawyer, who one day gets a stroke, which makes him question the meaning of life. He goes away for a while and tours the East, meeting some Sages along the way, who provide him with the wisdom on living a meaningful life.

If you are looking to live a life with more purpose, joy, peace and happiness, I highly recommend this read. It is really inspiring and is a really great guide to get you to a place of self-actualization whether you’re just beginning your journey or still learning. It focuses on the topics of mastering your mind, following your purpose, self-mastery and enlightenment through the body, mind, and soul, living with discipline, respecting your time, being selfless and embracing the present. Furthermore, it talks about the importance of solitude, physicality, live nourishment, abundant knowledge, personal reflection, early awakening, music, spoken word, congruent character and my favourite, simplicity!

Basically, our minds filter our world, and we can live in any world that we want. I’m going to write a post about filtering, aka the law of attraction, aka priming, aka prayer, aka the universe, aka whatever you want to call it. Yep.

You can Purchase the book here and help out the lessoftheexcess website! Let me know if you’ve read this book. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or send me an email at lessoftheexcess at gmail dot com.

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Make Ice Cream out of Frozen Bananas!

Published 07/03/2014

This must be shared! I have recently discovered that you can make ice cream out of frozen bananas, and I’m mind blown. It’s a much more healthy option too. I’ve already made strawberry and chocolate/peanut butter flavoured ice cream. I’ve just taken the original posting from here and posted it below. You HAVE to try it!

Yes, that’s right; you heard us. Creamy, soft-serve style ice cream with just one ingredient — and no ice cream maker needed! What is this one magic ingredient that can be whipped into perfectly rich and silky ice cream, with no additional dairy, sweeteners, or ingredients needed whatsoever?

If you guessed BANANA, congratulations! You’re right!

What? You didn’t know that bananas can make some of the best ice cream? Well, I didn’t either until last week, when my sister called me up and mentioned that she’s been freezing bananas and then pureeing them into ice cream.

“That’s the sort of thing you discover,” she sighed, “when all your friends are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-allergic, and you’re on a sugar-free diet.” I’d deal with a list of dietary restrictions twice as long, though, if it meant discovering more treats like this one.

It turns out that frozen bananas are good for more than just dipping in chocolate. If you freeze a banana until solid, then whiz it up in a blender or food processor, it gets creamy and a little gooey, just like good custard ice cream. I was surprised at this bit of kitchen wizardry; I assumed that a blended banana would be flaky or icy. But no — it makes creamy, rich ice cream.

Some bananas, depending on their ripeness, have a bit of that green aftertaste. My sister has been experimenting with adding in another ingredient or two, like a tablespoon of peanut butter and another of honey. Delicious!

Have you ever tried frozen-banana ice cream? Try it! It’s an easy way to stay cool and use up over-ripe bananas at the same time.

Want more detailed instructions and step-by-step photos?

→ Step-by-Step Instructions for One-Ingredient Ice Cream

Now try more flavors…

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Minimalist Exercise for People Who Don’t Like To Exercise

Published 04/25/2014

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live in.” – Unknown

Ah exercise… Some of us love it, and some of us hate it. But the truth is that health is the most important thing we have. Without our health we would never be able to enjoy the other parts of our lives that are also important to us.

People who know me know that I am not the most physically active person the on the planet. But that doesn’t mean I don’t value my health, because I definitely do! It’s extremely important to me. However, I tend to be so cerebral and stuck in my head (hence this blog!), that I tend to ignore the physical world from time to time, including my body. Oops.

That’s until now! When I discovered a minimalist exercise routine that has completely worked for me. It’s simple, and breaks it down to the basics. No fancy stuff going on here. I’ve been doing it for the past month (with a few modifications) and I find it quite fun as I can actually see my progress. I wanted to share it with you guys in case there was anyone else out there feeling the same way as I did. It isn’t a hardcore exercise routine for those of you who really like to push it, but it does the job pretty well and studies say you just need 12 minutes of high-intensity exercise in order to reap the benefits. I can already feel my stomach, butt and arms getting firmer and more toned.

This routine is called the Lifetime Ladder. I discovered it here on the Lifehacker.com website.

It’s free and it requires no equipment, just your own body. It also doesn’t take any longer than 15 minutes a day! That’s nothing. Play 3 of your favourite 5 minute songs while you exercise and you’re good to go! (I’m pretty excited to tell you about this). The best part is you can actually visually see your progress in numbers via the ladder rungs. If you get sick and are stuck in bed for a week, you can notice how your progress has gone down.

The website explains the Lifetime Ladder like this:

The program is organised around a “fitness ladder” with 48 rungs. Each rung prescribes a given number of repetitions of five exercises. The first 15 rungs constitute the Introductory Ladder and involve easier variants of the exercises in the Lifetime Ladder, rungs 16 through 48. The exercises are intended to be done every day. Completing all the exercises typically takes between 10 and 15 minutes.

Spend one week on each rung. On a given day of the week, for example Sunday, try the next higher rung. If it seems as easy as the current rung felt the week before, move up to that level. If you have difficulty completing any exercise of the new rung, or you can’t complete it in 15 minutes, or you feel pain or exhaustion at that level, stay at your current level for another week.

How great is that! So easy! I’ve modified the “bends” into squats, and I’m going to add some calf raises. Also, for the “steps” portion, if I have the time I like to either go for a run, a long walk, or a bikeride to keep things interesting.

Here’s the direct link to the instructions: What, Me Exercise?

That’s it!

Let me know if you try this exercise routine in the comments below or send me an email at lessoftheexcess at gmail dot com.

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