Are You Natural?

I used to think that being natural pertained to aesthetics. Living in New York City, I am immersed in the height of image-obsession. So, to me, ‘natural’ meant being free of restructuring bodywork, from nips and tucks to inserts and pulls. However, the past few months have led my life on a new journey, both in terms of my health and my career and have drastically altered my perception of the term ‘natural’ and what it means to my life. I truly believe (as cheesy as it may sound) that God only gives us what we can handle, and for every seemingly ‘bad’ thing that happens, there is always a ‘good’ that comes through- trust me, I have learned first hand...


For those of you who follow my blog, you have probably gathered that I have had to postpone production of my first video series. I have had some health problems and was recently told the reason was likely due to a version of celiac disease. The lamens definition for this disease is: “A chronic nutritional disease, caused by the inability to metabolize gluten, which results in malnutrition, and causes a host of other problems in the body. The disorder can be controlled by a special diet that emphasizes the elimination of all foods containing gluten. In the beginning, people with this disease must also eliminate all refined sugar and dairy from their diet”.


Let me tell you, everything I ate up to this point contained one if not all three of these things – so the diet I must now adhere to is traumatically life changing and difficult to follow. Going through this I have seen some of the best western and eastern doctors in the world, along with top nutritionists. Not only did I want to learn how to eat this way, but I wanted to know everything I could about our bodies (celiac or no celiac) and how nutrition plays a direct role. At first, I thought “no dairy, sugar, sweetner or gluten?? My life is over, I might as well live in a cell, and even inmates probably have more to choose from”. However, I have learned that it basically means everything I eat must be true whole, natural food. If you think about it, this is what our bodies were originally meant to eat in the beginning. Hundreds of years ago, humans did not eat processed foods, refined sugar etc. They ate whole fruits, vegetables, grains, lentils and meat. Eventually I will be able to add back in dairy and sugar, but I am no longer having withdrawals, I have a new way of eating and cooking which I enjoy and makes me feel better than ever. I’m not going to lie, I still have my cravings and it’s not always easy, but it’s a discipline just like anything else and it’s one with a positive outcome. Keeping my eye on the goal is what keeps me motivated and eating ‘clean’ really does make you feel different – I urge you to try it even just for a week!





Above all, this journey taught me more than just nutrition, it changed my state of mind, I learned that natural is not just physical & aesthetic, its also what you put IN your body. It’s all about mindset and the way you live your entire life, which includes how you eat, how you train, the way you carry yourself and how you treat the world, the environment and others. Bill Lange, VP of Marketing at ZICO Premium Coconut Water put it best when he said: “It’s about believing in the value of “being natural” and having the discipline to act that way in almost everything you do”.


My connection with ZICO has been fateful to say the least. I have recently taken over the face of their ‘natural enough’ campaign, while simultaneously going through one of the scariest health problems of my life. The ironic part is that aside from water, almond milk and seltzer I don’t have many beverage choices… but ZICO is the one brand I can still drink. I actually got into ZICO last January when a friend introduced it to me as an incredible recovery drink, then I started drinking it after flights to rehydrate and restore energy, now with this disease I’ve had to eliminate anything unnatural or remotely unhealthy – GOOD NEWS: Zico is all natural!


In working with ZICO I have met some of the best quality people. When I told Bill about my condition we had a lengthy discussion about it and how the team at Zico could help. Being natural in every aspect of life is truly what they are all about which is why I see Zico has having a completely different brand personality and value than any other beverage choice. I am proud to be working with them and enlightened on how the combination of my condition and working with ZICO has turned me into a healthier, more natural person. For more Zico benefits visit: http://zico.com/products/benefits

Behind the Scenes

The Crew





Hello!

Wow, I know I've been talking about news to come for quite some time, and to be honest, I jumped the gun a bit and wanted to spread the good news as soon as I could, but needed to hold off. However, the information was released publicly today, so I will be soon to follow on my website with the full details of everything. It has been an incredible experience and I am so thankful to everyone I work with and also to you, the readers who follow my blog. I want you to know that I personally read all emails and try to respond as quickly as I can to any questions you have.



I have recently been asked a lot about a couple of the new pictures I have posted on my facebook page and website. Yes, I do modeling, mainly swimsuit and fitness but have been branching into other areas. I decided to start sharing some of the work that I do, and will put up a few galleries. The modeling industry is something I have been fortunate enough to get to know and has been an incredible experience. Most of us only see the finished product so I thought it would be interesting to see a glimpse into what goes on 'behind the camera', and what a typical day on set looks like. I had someone take pictures at one of my recent shoots and will get them online as son as I can, in the mean time here are a few! Thanks to everyone at this shoot!

Cheers,

Amanda

ANNOUNCEMENT!

I know I have been talking about my big news for 2 weeks and still haven't said anything (I really couldn't)! I'm sure you're probably wondering if there actually is any - well the time is finally coming! I will make my announcement Monday which is very special to me - if you are in NEw York City area, you can come in person! It will be at the corner of Thompson and Watts in Soho at noon - so drop by on your lunch hour if you can!!

And the perk: I will be giving away free samples of ZICO PREMIUM COCONUT WATER!!

Hope to see you all there, and if we haven't met - please introduce yourself, I'd love to meet you :-)

Amanda

How to be Caffeine Free - 5 ways to wake up without coffee

Caffeine gives many people the perfect morning jolt they need to make it through until lunch hour…but for some, the dreaded “caffeine crash” that comes along with a cup of coffee is just not worth the high it initially provides. Try one, or all, of these tips this week in those early morning hours rather than reaching for your usual cup of java.

1. Take a cool shower - not a cold shower! A freezing cold shower will shock your body (making you less than happy) but a cool shower will rev up your senses for the full day of work ahead of you. The clean, refreshing feeling that you experience after taking a shower will energize you and kick-start your day. Don’t have time for a shower in the morning? Splash cold water on your face for a mini pick-me-up.


2. MOVE! Take a brisk walk (or run) around the block in the sun. The exercise will release feel good chemicals to your brain and pump energizing oxygen throughout your body, while exposure to sunlight in the early AM hours increases energy and keeps you alert. Because exposure to sunlight also increases your level of serotonin, your level of fatigue will decrease and your mood will skyrocket.


3. Eat an energizing breakfast. The wrong morning meal will send you straight down the rabbit hole and back into sleep mode before lunchtime. Avoid sugary foods such as danishes, doughnuts, and sweet cereals – the sugar high you get from these will quickly dissolve. Your breakfast should include some complex carbs and proteins. Try egg whites with turkey bacon (hold the salt!) or whole grain cereal with skim milk and fresh fruit.



4. Have an icy cold glass of water. After you roll out of bed and before you do anything else in the morning, the first thing you should do is stumble your way to the kitchen and get a tall glass of icy cold water and drink it in its entirety. Providing your body with fluid in the AM hours will prevent dehydration, which can easily tire your body throughout the day. Not only will the water energize you, but it will also fill you up and make you feel better.


5. Listen to something. Waking up to a radio alarm clock, flipping on the TV during your morning routine, or even turning on your favorite audio book could help you to snap out of sleep mode and into alert mode. Listening to your favorite workout tunes could get your blood rushing and pump you up, while even just engaging yourself in the current events of the TV or radio station could instantly perk up your mood and make you more alert.


Rid yourself of the caffeine dependency, and try to go ‘au natural’ in the morning. Not only will you free yourself of the 3 o’clock caffeine crash you’ll save some serious money in the long run! Happy Energizing!

5 Myths About Your Partying and Drinking Habits

1. Detoxing or “Pre-toxing” during the week cancels out the effects of partying on the weekend.

False. “One drink a day can be good for you,” says Lisa R. Young, R.D., Ph.D., author of The Portion Teller. “But if you skip Wednesday and Thursday, that doesn’t mean you can have three drinks on Friday and toast to your health,” she says. “Your body (namely, your liver) can’t handle so much alcohol at once, even if you didn’t drink for a few days beforehand.” It’s better to drink moderately than to do restrict and binge pattern.

2. Alcohol Makes Sex Better.

Wrong again. Alcohol can make people feel less uncomfortable in a social situation. But the reality is that alcohol can actually keep guys from getting or keeping an erection, and it can lower girls' sex drives, too. More importantly, alcohol can affect your decision-making ability: You might put yourself in a risky situation; you might think you're ready to have sex when you're not or you might forget to use a condom — which can result in pregnancy and/or contracting a sexually transmitted disease. And if that’s not enough to deter you, alcohol induced sex tends to make for sloppier sex and more known to be ‘bad sex’.

3. Diet Soda Mixers Gets you Wasted Faster.

Diet mixers, such as low calorie tonic water, diet margarita mix and low calorie soda, spare calories but speed the rate that alcohol enters the bloodstream. High sugar liquids empty from the stomach more slowly than water or low calorie drinks.

Diet mixers contain little or no sugar, so the alcohol in the drink leaves the stomach quickly and enters the bloodstream rapidly, which makes you drunk faster. Australians researchers, using ultrasound, measure the rate that drinks containing diet or normal mixers emptied from the stomach.
Drinks using diet mixers left the gut 15 minutes sooner and caused nearly 50% higher blood alcohol levels. Women should be particularly care using diet mixers. Consuming the same number of drinks, blood alcohol increased more in women then in men. Also, women are more likely to use diet mixers.

4. Mixing Red Bull and liquor let’s you party longer.

True. Red Bull and other caffeinated drinks let you party longer — but not smarter. They make you feel like you’re alert but don’t reduce the real effects of alcohol, including slower physical and visual reactions. And be extra careful: They can make you think you can drive when you’re actually seriously impaired. In addition, mixing liquor with Red Bull is a straight-path recipe for a hangover. All of those sugars are going to dehydrate you and really that's what leads to your feeling less-than-great the next day.

5. Beer Before Liquor Never been Sicker. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.

False. This is an urban legend shared but not scientifically true. In reality, alcohol is alcohol, and the overall quantity you intake will determine your resulting sobriety or hangover. Drinking beer before drinking hard liquor may prolong the onset of inebriation. However, it won’t ultimately matter whether you drink beer first or last; it’s the quantity of alcohol that does the damage.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I SWITCH UP MY EXERCISE ROUTINE???

If you’re like me, you probably get bored with your routine, but often it is too uncomfortable or time consuming to try to figure something else out. Then you wonder – how often should I change my routine?

I usually see two different situations when it comes to people changing their exercise programs. On one hand, you have individuals who rarely change their programs at all. They go into the gym and repeat the same mundane routine (i.e., same exercises, same reps, same equipment for the same amount of time). These people often look the same after months of training.

Then, there is the other group. These people change their training programs way too often; for some, almost every workout. Ironically, many of these people workout with a trainer. I always tend to get on the fitness topic with these people when they find out what I do, and they'll start to tell me all about their training regimen. The conversation usually goes something like this:

"I love working out. I have a trainer who I see three, four or sometimes even five times per week. He or she is so amazing. Every time I go to the gym, we always do something different."

Now, at this point in my career, I've had this conversation a hundred different times. So basically, I've come up with this analogy to see if I can get them thinking as to why this might not be such a great idea.

"Interesting ... and, what if I was to say to you that every time I see you I am going to try and teach you a different foreign language. (They usually look at me like I'm nuts, but I continue on.) Do you think that you will ever be able to understand, speak or fully master any of the languages that I'm trying to teach you?"

They usually give me a very puzzled look. So, then, I explain to them that when you are training, you are not just training the cardiovascular system and the muscular system, but you are also training (i.e. programming) the nervous system. The nervous system is what actually sends the messages to the muscular system to perform a particular exercise. It's also what helps you refine various exercises and allows you to get stronger and have more control and fluidity when performing these patterns.

According to my training and conversations with world-class strength and endurance coaches, unless you are an elite level athlete, you do not need to change the training program as frequently as many people do.

Of coarse elite athletes will need to change their program about every six workouts, but consider the volume that they do. Back to my analogy, if you spent your full time job learning languages, then you could probably learn them more rapidly than if you just learned them in your recreational time.

I recommend intermediate/advanced level exercisers change their program every three to four weeks. Beginners can stay on the same program even longer—up to six weeks. Now this does not mean you have to do the same thing every day for three weeks. It means you may do cardio on day one, lifting routine A on day two, cardio + yoga day three and, lifting routine B on day four. The idea here is to keep this the same for 3-4 weeks. Then switch it up! If you were running, switch to biking, or run longer or faster

So rather than feeling pressured to do something different every time you workout, or on the other end, maintaining your same workout day-in-day-out for weeks or months, have confidence in knowing when to switch it up and when to keep it the same. Master where you are at, and then move on!

Fit Tips for Airport Travel

There’s nothing like the feeling of long travel days, the dehydration and swelling you experience from those oxygen-lacking flights, the less-than healthy processed foods you grab in the airports and the skipped workouts. All of this combines to make you feel, well, less than your best self.

My schedule entails a lot of time in airports and on long flights so I am no stranger to this feeling. Every trip I go in with the mission to combat this feeling and attempt to stay feeling good, energized and fit.

After personal trial and error and experimentation, I have found a few things that have drastically help me both look and feel better, as well as keep fit and healthy on those travel days. So next time you’re in for a long one give these a try – Happy Travels!

ü HYDRATE! – If nothing else, stay hydrated, I under-estimated the importance of this. Just look at what happens to a bottle of water (all suctioned at the end of a flight), this is essentially what happens to your body. Dehydration not only makes you feel sluggish, your skin will look dull, and you will likely feel hungrier, causing you to eat more than you normally would.

ü Go to the Bathroom every hour on flight – This forces you to stretch your legs and help get your blood flowing again, reducing the amount of swelling in your body. Challenge yourself to drink enough water that you actually need to use the restroom every hour. This is harder to do than you may think on the plane, but you will feel exponentially better if you can do this.

ü STRETCH – Try to stand up and stretch you arms, legs and back. Stand in place in the aisle for a few minutes and do this. I tend to stretch my quads a lot on flight because these muscles seem to tighten up most for me (plus it’s an easy stretch to do – just bend one knee and grab your foot with your hand).

ü SNACK – If a flight is short, I encourage you to eat meals either before or after the flight. The airport options are not diet-friendly (and don’t think ordering a salad is a healthy option – most airport salads are loaded with high calorie ingredients and dressings that are worse for you than a standard fast-food meal). Try to bring your own snacks such as apples, nuts, bananas, whole grain bread with almond butter etc. These snacks should keep you feeling satisfied and get you to your destination without packing on the high-fat, high-calorie options.

ü If you must have a MEAL…..choose your meal wisely (think of what you will feel like after versus what looks good in the moment). Opt for a sandwich and soup or chili. I love Wendy’s baked potato and chili. Baked potatoes are often avoided because of common ‘carb-phobia’ but they are actually high in something called resistance starch, which speeds up your metabolism, keeps you full longer and activates mood-boosting hormones in your brain. So go ahead – indulge!

If you are in for a long flight and must eat on the plane – they usually give you an option of meat or pasta + a vegetable + salad + appetizer + dessert. Go for the meat and eat the veggies and salad – skip the dessert if you’re really trying to keep healthy.

ü WALK- Weather it’s a long layover or you have time to kill before boarding, airports are huge areas with lots going on – so get out and walk around. Rather than going directly to your gate and plopping yourself down for an hour, explore the airport, browse the shops, and if you’re lucky enough to have minimal carry-on luggage take a brisk walk around for 10-20 minutes. You will feel better and more relaxed on flight.

ü Wear comfortable shoes and clothing so you are more apt to move around, walk and if you have enough time, you can pay a small fee to store your belongings at the airport and go for a walk or jog outside.

ü When you reach your destination, the best thing you can do to rejuvenate yourself and fight jetlag is to get in a workout. It doesn’t have to be long; even 15 minutes can do the trick. As tired as you may feel, the hardest part is getting started, it will be more than worth it! Bring a jump rope and try my 15 min rope workout: http://dynamicworkouts.blogspot.com/2009/10/jump-your-way-fit-in-less-than-15.html

ü

Fun Flying!!

Amanda