Water & Workouts

Water is defined as:

Noun A colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of...

Verb Pour or sprinkle water over (a plant or an area of ground), typically in order to encourage plant growth.

Water is essential for our body to function correctly. Approximately 60% of our body is comprised of water. Years ago I switched from drinking sugary sweetened drinks to all water. I literally don't drink anything but water anymore (well, ok I do have the occasional wine or martini, but for my everyday drinking it's all water!).

So, here lately though I have been getting a bit bored with drinking water. I drink a lot of it everyday at minimum 64 oz (on my rest day) to up to 120 oz. Needless to say after a few years of this one gets a bit tired. So, after browsing Pinterest I saw that people were making aqua fresca. Many of these though were sweetened with honey or agave, which if you are going to have a sweetened drink those would be my first two sweeteners to use! But, I am trying to watch how much sugar I consume so I wondered why I couldn't just put fruit in & let it steep. In '08 when my family & I resided with my parents for a bit my mom made some water to help with digestion that she found in a magazine so I just adopted the same concept. Here are a few of my faves:

The one on the left is 8 oz water, a mint green tea bag, a handful of frozen strawberries, and one half of a sliced lemon. I let it sit over night & then squeeze the tea bag out when I am ready to drink & then I use a fork to muddle the lemon & strawberries. After I drink it throughout the day I just refill the cup! I do discard the fruit at the end of the day/

The one on the right is what I love to call "sunshine" water. It's so yellow and happy isn't it?! It's just 8 oz of water, one half of a lemon and a handful of frozen peaches. When I am ready to drink I muddle this as well & just keep refilling throughout the day! I do discard the fruit at the end of the day. :)

This is the water my mom used to make. The original recipe calls for mint & to peel the cucumber but I am too lazy to peel the cucumber & I didn't have any mint so those two things didn't happen. I prefer it this way so this is the recipe I"ll give. One whole lemon, one small cucumber (or half of an English Cucumber which is what I used), and one teaspoon of grated fresh ginger. I drank an entire pitcher of this yesterday. It is very refreshing. I refilled the pitcher last night & just added a bit more ginger. I only reuse the same fruits in this one 3 times. :)

Some other fun things I've been eating lately:

From the top left: Bacon & veggie saute with half a sweet potato,  oatmeal from our local grocery cafe (it's amazing), homemade granola, fruit, and yogurt parfait, veggie tacos with homemade shells, and hubby's fave dinner steak, cheese fries, and corn! Totally decadent but so worth it ;)

The final thing I want to talk about are my workouts. Last week was my last week of month one of Insanity. This program is so amazing. Seriously, if you want something to whip you into shape fast  & make you crave fruits, veggies, and healthy proteins this is it! So, Sunday I started my recover week. I had to make up for our cheerleading carpool so I had to take the kids on Sunday to cheer practice & it's three hours so I spent an hour & half doing a great 80 min walking workout where every 5 minutes you stopped & did some sort of full body exercise. I then came home & participated in a weekend tabata challenge. I was so sore on Monday, talk about a way to start your "rest" week! It's very much been an active rest. Monday I did Insanity Core Cardio & Balance DVD. Then yesterday I did the P90X X-Stretch DVD along with a nice long walk along the sea wall to the part with my daughter & some serious swinging. I woke up feeling like a new woman this morning! Then, I was back to Core Cardio & Balance today. Thursday (tomorrow) will be Core Cardio & Balance along with X-Stretch. Friday will be just Core Cardio & Balance. Saturday will be just X-Stretch, then Sunday I will walk up to our local Lulu Lemon & participate in their free Sunday morning yoga. If you have a Lulu Lemon near you look into this it's an amazing way to start your Sunday and get in touch with your community. My 13 year old even loves to go with me! ;)

What have your food & workout's looked like this week? Are you eating delicious things that make you feel good?

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