10 Things I Do Now That I Didn’t Do Before I Started Working Out

1- Wearing sleeveless top

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Sep 13, 2015 at 10:39am PDT

2- Wearing dresses without leggings

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Jun 20, 2015 at 5:08pm PDT

3- Going out without my extensions in

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Sep 5, 2015 at 6:49pm PDT

4- Okay with getting dirty

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Aug 2, 2014 at 6:13pm PDT

5- Not caring if you see me all sweaty with no make up on

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Sep 2, 2015 at 7:50am PDT

6- Wearing a bathingsuit, or not wearing one

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Sep 6, 2015 at 10:39am PDT

7- Swimming in the ocean and not caring if my hair gets wet

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Feb 14, 2015 at 1:04pm PST

8- Eating a mindful healthy and balanced vegan/vegetarian diet

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Jun 9, 2015 at 12:09pm PDT

9- Owning almost as many sneakers as I do Dr. Martens

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Jun 1, 2015 at 8:07am PDT

10-  Buying all of the pink things…

A photo posted by Kristin Jackson (@kristinjackson) on Jul 10, 2015 at 5:36am PDT

oh wait, I did before too, only now they are all fitness related

My Fit Decision Got A Make-Over!

Hey Guys!

If you haven’t noticed My Fit Decision got a make-over!  Even better it is now moved over to www.myfitdecision.net!! If you are currently following me at the old myfitdecision.wordpress.com you are going to miss out on some cool stuff, and eventually might even lose my blog completely, which would make me sad!  So how do you subscribe to my updated blog?

You can click this link if you have a bloglovin account or want one!
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with that said, if you want me to spam your inbox (not really, but if you want to get e-mails when I update!)

just sign up over in the sidebar to the left when you are on www.myfitdecision.net, its super easy!  Also make sure you check out all my other social networking pages!

6 Health Reasons to Choose a Plant-Based Diet

 

This is part two of my reasons to chose a plant-based diet.  If you missed part 1 which is the environmental reasons, look here, this list is showing the 6 health benefits, check them out!  They are huge!

 

1. Reduce risk of Heart Disease: Vegetarian diets are naturally lower in saturated fats and cholesterol.  Studies have been shown that vegetarians have a 24% lower risk of dying of heart disease than meat eaters.  It has also been found that patients on a low-fat vegetarian diet have actually reversed coronary heart disease.

2. Prevent Cancer:  Studies have shown a significant reduction in the risk of cancer among those that have chosen a plant-based diet.  Meat has no fiber or other nutrients that have a protective effect.  Meat also contains saturated fat and in some cases carcinogenic compands such as heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) form when it is cooked at higher temperatures.  The PAH’s that are formed are believed to increase cancer risk.  Along with the high fat animal products also increase hormone production increasing the risk of hormone-related cancers like breast and prostate cancer.

3. Live longer, and prevent aging: An Oxford study found that vegetarians outlive meat eaters by 6 years.  Plant-based diets are usually rich in fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals which strengthen the immune system and slow down the aging process.

4. Avoid toxic food contaminants:  Meat is loaded with dangerous poisons and contaminants, like hormones, herbicides, pesticides, and antibiotics.  These toxins are fat-soluble, so they concentrate in the fatty flesh of the animal.  Not to mention viruses, bacteria and parasites such as salmonella, trichinella, and other worms and toxoplasmosis parasites.

5. Control or prevent type II diabetes:  Vegans have a 60% less chance of developing diabetes than meat-eaters.  In 2006 a Diabetes Care study that involved 99 people with type II diabetes, both a vegan diet and and ADA-dietary guidlines diet improved the control of blood sugar levels.  However the benefit was greater in the vegan group.  Researchers also found that the vegan diets may have a beneficial effect on hemoglobin A1C levels, which measure your blood sugar levels over time.  After 22 weeks the begans decreased their hemoglobin A1C levels by .96% compared to .56% amung the ADA dieters.  $3% of vegan dieters reduced the number of diabetes medications that they were taking, while only 26% of the ADA group.

6. Lose excess weight and keep it off:  While this isn’t always true (like me for instance lol) but on average, vegetarians tend to be slimmer than meat eaters.  Obesity rates in the general public are extremely high and climbing, the obesity rate in vegetarians is under 6%!  A plant based diet low in fat and rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes along side of daily exercise is the perfect formula to lose weight in a healthy way.

His Plate / Her Plate # 6 – Cilantro Lime Marinade

This week, limes were on sale and I bought a ton of them.  I couldn’t juice them fast enough so I set out to figure out something to make with them for dinner.  I recently got a Vitamix  (!!!) and it came with a huge cookbook and I was looking through it for some ideas.  I found a cilantro lime marinade that sounded really good and simple.

All you need for the marinade is

• 3 limes peeled and cut in half
• 1 cup of cilantro
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Throw that in your blender and blend until its smooth, then just pour it over your chicken and veggies.

I put Jake’s chicken breasts in a sandwich bag and marinated his chicken while we were at the gym and  for me I marinated vegetables and white beans.  I sautéed my vegetables but I would have rather grilled them on my George Forman grill.  The problem was I only have one grill and I was grilling Jake’s chicken so to save time I just threw mine in a pan.

I also made a fresh salsa with avocado in it.  I don’t know why I never made my own salsa before.  It was so easy, and so much better!  for my salsa all I used was:

• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/4 red onion
• 1 avocado
•  juice of 1 lime
• cilantro to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

All I did was dice the tomatoes and avocado, and the onion and jalapeño I chopped really fine squeeze the lime juice over it, stir and put it in the fridge for the flavors to come together.  Now I am going to start experimenting.

Mine was so hard to make it look pretty so I ended up giving up and just put it on the plate.  We were so hungry and I didn’t want to dirty anymore plates.  Pretty or not it was really good but I think next time I might sweeten up the marinate for the veggies.  All that acid works well on meat and probably tenderizes it but the veggies tasted a smidge tart for my liking.

Some of you might be wondering what the heck that pile of rice is in the back.  Well its black rice.  No, it is not marinated with anything, it’s just simply black.  I was honestly nervous the first time I made it for Jake, but turned out he loved it and now I stocked up.

So what are the perks of black rice aside from looking cool on your plate?  It is actually even better for you than brown rice.  A spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries.  It also has less sugar and more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants.  Anthocyanin antioxidants can reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and other health issues.  Sounds good to me.  It is kind of sticky rice so I kind of want to try to make sushi out of it next.  Try it and let me know what you think!

Fit Thursdays!

A couple weeks ago I was able to attend a great blogging workshop called The Blogcademy.  Not only did I learn a TON but I also got great feedback about my blog from people who have made blogging their job.  The class is taught by Gala Darling, Shauna Haider, and Kat Williams all amazing women that have built themselves up to form their own brand and now have joined together to help other aspiring bloggers find their way.

One of the biggest things they told me is that I needed to be more consistent and come up with weekly posts.  As you saw on tuesdays I am now going to do Healthy Tuesdays where I discuss healthy lifestyle choice and post healthy recipes.  On Thursdays I am going to start Fit Thursdays.  Each month I am going to pick a body part then every week I will show a different workout that targets that area.  This month I am going to focus on the triceps.  Let’s face it every girl feels self-conscience of their jiggly arms.  When I wave I don’t want my upper arm to wave too, so the strength training exercises that I am going to show this month, while they are basic, will help make a huge difference in your arms.  Let’s all work towards saying good-bye to that jiggle.

So check back next Thursday for the first exercise!   

Healthy Tuesday: Animals Are My Friends, and I Don’t Eat My Friends

I have been vegetarian since I was really young.   I started off omitting red meat, then slowly worked each type of meat out of my diet.  It was hard when I was younger.  My mom didn’t really like to cook in general, and I was really too young to cook for myself so I ate a lot of side dishes.  I wouldn’t totally call myself a carb-loading vegetarian, but it wasn’t a perfect diet either.  No one else in my family is vegetarian, in fact they all think I am a little crazy but they have embraced it now.

I honestly am not totally sure how I decided that I didn’t want to eat meat anymore.  I was never much of a fan of fish, and I would never eat veal.  In fact I still remember (sorry for throwing you under the bus mom) one night my mom made veal parmesan for dinner and actually took the time to mold my piece of veal into the shape of a chicken breast and tried to trick me into eating it, but I figured out as soon as I cut it open.  I suppose that is something I wouldn’t have done, but I get where she was coming from.  She was tired of chicken all the time and needed something new.  I mean really I am sure all of you parents out there have fibbed to your kid at one point, or realized that you as a child were tricked by your parents.

How about the time that my dad told me that an artichoke was a fish and I believed it and never tried it until I was in my 20’s.  I didn’t know he was joking, and he forgot he made the joke.  When I was a kid it made sense since he was eating the heart, I honestly thought it was like some weird living sea plant looking animal.  Sounds crazy now, but I didn’t even find out I could eat it until I was 22 at T.G.I Fridays when my friend wanted to order spinach artichoke dip and I told her I couldn’t eat it because I didn’t eat fish.  I can still see the look on her face when she heard me say that.  All those years I was missing out on just how amazing artichokes are.

anyway…..

Now that I am 31, I have a lot more control over my diet, and I am completely settled in my vegetarian lifestyle, I also know what things are vegetables and what things are meat (lol).  I can tell you now exactly why I eat plant-based and it is for a ton of reasons.  Firstly it is the most obvious reason, animal rights.  By now I am sure everyone is familiar with the horrors of factory farming and I really shouldn’t have to preach about it.  At this point you either care or you don’t, but I hope eventually everyone starts to care.  The animals that are suffering just so people can have a cheap fast food hamburger are astounding and heartbreaking.

In this month’s Healthy Tuesday articles I am going to break down the other two less obvious reasons that I am vegetarian into two parts.  This week I am going to cover the environmental reasons, next week I will be back with a his plate/her plate recipe, then on the 16th part two:  the health reasons of being a vegetarian and lastly I will finish off every month with a new smoothie or juice recipe.

The biggest reason for having a plant based diet is for the environment.  The meat industry has a huge impact on the environment that I choose to not be a part of, here is why:

 

Six  Environmental Reasons to Chose a Plant-Based Diet

1. Our waterways are being polluted:  The waste, antibiotics, and pesticides from factory farms are running into our water supply.  A typical pig farm produces the same amount of waste that 50,000 humans do, but they don’t have the same sewer system to take care of it.

2. Our Forests are being cut down at an alarming rate:  Since 1967 our forests have been destroyed at an estimated 1 acre every 5 seconds for cattle in order to keep a cheap supply of beef for our fast food restaurants.  At this rate some of our rainforests could be gone in as little as 30 years.

3. We are using our land inefficiently: The amount of land needed to feed one person on a meat-based diet could feed 20 vegetarians.

4. We are wasting our resources:  It requires 16 pounds of grains and 2,500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat.  Growing that amount of grain for human consumption could feed 16 people and only uses 250 gallons of water.

5. We are wasting our energy:  It takes more than 10 times the fossil fuels to produce one calorie of animal protein versus the same amount of plant protein.

6. We are destroying our oceans:  Commercial fishing nets catching everything in its path which destroys coral reefs, home to billions of different aquatic animals.

There are so many other environmental reasons for adopting a plant based diet, if these facts have sparked your interest start googling and you will see so many more.  Even changing one of your meat-based meals to a vegetarian meal can help make a difference! 

Check back every Tuesday for a new Healthy Tuesday article or recipe!

8 Reasons Why its Hard to be Goth and Workout

Training for Tough Mudder: What do you mean this isn’t a proper workout outfit?

• No Eyebrows:  I have no eyebrows by choice.  But this means when I sweat I have nothing to stop my sweat from dripping into my eyes and it stings!  Even worse, I can’t workout with my eyebrows on because they will smear.

• Hair Color:  Fantasy colors aren’t permanent.  When my hair is freshly colored it stains my neck and my clothes, and having to wash it more makes it fade faster.  It’s so much work!

• Being Pale:  Trying to work out outside is a nightmare.. no matter how much sunscreen I put on I still burn to a crisp, or even worse….. get a tan! ew!

• Tattoos:  I have to plan getting my tattoos around my workout schedule so I can give them some healing time.

• Workout Gear:  Finding black sneakers is so hard, and when was the last time you saw proper workout clothes with skulls on it?  Never.

• Music:  Goth music isn’t the most motivating, in fact sometimes it might slow me down.

• Classes:  Have you seen a goth girl do Zumba?  Probably not, our industrial dancing just doesn’t translate well (example here).  I am glad I tried it in the privacy of my own home first before I embarrassed myself.

• Sleep Schedule:  How many goth kids do you see up in the morning that aren’t on their way home from the night before.  We are night owls by nature and need gyms that cater to that and there really aren’t many.  I unfortunately am now a morning person in order to get my workouts in.

 

But with all this said, I still love it and I feel so much better doing it.  It might be hard to get over certain hurdles, but it’s worth it in the end.

I used to never like wearing my hair in a pony tail or a bun and was never happy if I had to go out without a full face of makeup or my hair perfect.  Now I am more comfortable with my own skin that I can do that with confidence which is amazing.  You have to make every negative a positive, sure my hair is faded, but pastel colors are in, and maybe I can’t do Zumba to save my life, but I can definitely punch and kick which is perfect for kick boxing.  The only thing I can’t fix is my tan, but I am dealing with it I suppose and I am keeping the sunscreen companies in business.

What about you guys, do you have anything to add to my list?  Any problems you had to over come?

Get Fit With My Favorite Music! July Playlist!

Last weekend I took an amazing blogging workshop called The Blogcademy.  On top of learning an insane amount of useful blogging information the three “head mistresses” Gala, Kat, and Shauna read through your blog and give you feedback and tips.  One of the biggest things they suggested for me was to have some more consistency to my posting and to also come up with regular features.  I have been brainstorming like crazy and have some good ideas in the works but one of the first features that I want to roll out is a monthly playlist.  I mean music is one of the things that gets me through a workout when I am at the gym alone, and it can totally set the tone of your whole workout.

You might think, but Kristin we have nothing in common, what makes you think I will like your music. You never know, you might love it and you might hate it, but I put a little bit of everything on there from Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, to Marilyn Manson and a few things in between or louder.  Give it a chance, you might like it, and some of the louder more intense songs might help you beat your squat PR.

My Fit Decision Workout mix: July 2013 from KristinJackson on 8tracks Radio.

His Plate/ Her Plate #5 – Taco Bowls

There is no secret about it Jake and I love a good taco night.  But the problem with taco night is you can gobble down a ton of tacos before you even realize it.  Having all the fixings laid out in bowls ready to pile into our tortillas makes us forget about portion control which can be a problem, especially on my end.

To change it up, but still enjoy our mexican food I decided to bake tortillas into my own little bowls.  I am sure you have all seen the as-seen-on-tv gadget that bakes up perfect bowls in a few minutes.  Thats all good, but i decided why should I buy another thing to cook only one item, so brain storming I went.  I have heard you can just flip over muffin tins and put the tortilla in there to get the shape, but the problem is I baked vegan brownie cupcakes at Jake’s house over the holidays and have been to lazy to take the tins home, so what else did I have that was oven safe?  MASON JARS!!

I know, that doesn’t look like it is going to work, I was skeptical but you’ll see.  All I did was take the jar and flip it upside down on a cookie sheet, then sprayed each side of the tortilla lightly with coconut oil.  Drape the tortilla over the jar and bake it at 350 until its crispy, usually about 10 min or so.  This would probably work better if you heated the tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds to get it softer, but this was the first time I tried it and I wanted to start with as few steps as possible.

Now for the filling.  Jake’s go to protein is turkey and chicken.  The poor guy seems to eat it every day.  I always ask if he wants to change the turkey for beef but he always declines, so don’t think I am a one protein wonder.

Sorry to the vegetarians on my page, I know yuck… I cooked the turkey in no oil and seasoned it with different taco-eque seasonings.  Jake says I do a good job seasoning it, I have never tasted it I just go by color and I never measure.

My filling is a little prettier.  I cut up zucchini, red onion, and every color bell pepper you can buy.  I usually have a huge bag of this mixture cut up in my fridge, and I pretty much just add it to whatever I am eating that day.  It’s super easy and keeps me eating my veggies.

I also made a natural spanish rice mixture from a box, and unfortunately had to buy guacamole because none of the avocados were ready at the store I was at but it worked out because it was getting late and I honestly didn’t really need another thing to make.

Now for the good stuff!  Check it out all piled together

Jake’s is rice, black beans, turkey, salsa, cheese and jalapeños that he picked off right after the photo was done.

Don’t worry my bowl isn’t nearly as bland as his!

Mine starts with raw baby spinach, a little rice, black beans, my sautéed veggie mixture, salsa, and guacamole, then I piled on more jalapeños when I was done lol.

I baked the tortillas just a smidge too long, but I also think they also needed to go a bit lower in my oven to be more centered since the jar was holding them up.  So if you cook them as I did maybe lower your rack before you put them in.  I liked them super crispy though so they were fine for me, plus these were whole wheat so they are a little darker than the standard wheat tortilla anyway

Let me know what you think and if you try it!  It was so easy and really good!

 

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What Happens in Vegas….

Gets posted on instagram.

So I am fired, I seriously haven’t made a post all month.  I would say I was busy, which I suppose I was.  But that isn’t totally my excuse, I’ve just been lazy and a little uninspired.  I had actually written a post on the plane when I was on my way to Vegas, but there was no wifi on my flight or my hotel!!

So judging from my title, yes I was in Vegas this week.  I was hired by Hasbro to do make-up for their booth at the Licensing Expo to hype up My Little Pony.  I was only working Tuesday and we were there from Monday afternoon and flew out Friday morning so we had lots of time to have fun!

Monday when we arrived we took it easy since Fleury and I had to work Tuesday from 9-5.  So we just ate dinner then Fleury and Chantal went to the pool and I went to the gym since it was leg day Monday and I didn’t want to skip it.

I think that Vegas is stocked with skinny mirrors

It was pretty fun working at the expo, I met a lot of cool contacts, and it was interesting to see some of the new things that are going to come out.  Also while I was there this woman who was attending the show also went to the last zombie crawl that I went to and recognized me immediatley, she even showed me the photo that she had taken of me.  I had a lot of fun though, I met a lot of great people and contacts, and I mean what girl wouldn’t have fun working with My Little Pony, at least a girl in my generation.

After we were done working Fleury and I wandered around the closed show to see what was around and found a couple cool booths.

We even found the WWE booth and I shot a photo with a giant CM Punk wall for Jake.

After the expo, we went back to our rooms and met up with Chantal and headed over to the Mirage to go to this rockabilly party in a tattoo shop.  It was an amazing party the last time that I was in Vegas for my friends wedding we went for her bachelorette party.   We walked all the way there from the Luxor and when we got there we found out it was closed!  It was even written about in the Vegas magazine in the room.  Bummer.  I went back to the room and went to sleep because I was still totally on NY time and was exhausted.

The next day I woke up early, went back to the gym, ran 3 miles and did arms and back

Am I lame for going to the gym like this on vacation?  I really only went 3 days out of the 4 full days hehe.  But a girl has goals to meet!  After that we just sat by the pool for most of the day until we had to get ready to go to see The Chippendales! The Chippendales show was crazy but super fun.  I honestly was not expecting it to be as racy as it was.  We couldn’t take photos during the show but the highlight of the entire show was the group little old ladies front and center and when one of the Chippendales took one up on stage and gave her a lap dance.  (The later highlight of the trip was that very same woman was on our flight home!!)

post Chippendales

After the show, since it was in the Rio, which if you are familiar with Vegas is kind of a hike to get to since its off the strip, we figured we would try out their rooftop party in the Voodoo Lounge.  The party itself, I am not going to lie was pretty lame.  Not very many people were there, but it was also a Wednesday.  What was awesome about it was the view.  We were all the way on the top of the Rio and the weather was amazing.  Totally worth it.

Thursday was our last full day there.  I went to the gym in the morning then stayed by the pool most of the day, got a little sunburnt on my back, but honestly for the amount of time that i was in the sun, that is a victory in my eyes.

Afterwards we went to what I had been waiting to see the whole trip, Eli Roth’s Goretorium!  It is a year round haunted house that was super scary!!

This chair shocked you if you held onto the arms!

This is seriously the best photo of the trip, at least of me.  Not to ruin the surprise for anyone that wants to go, when they have you line up to go in, they take you into a room with your group to take your photo and when they take the picture they scare the crap out of you.  This was me mid-scream.  I kind of ruined the surprise for the other people waiting in line though, a lot of people saw it coming and their photos weren’t nearly as hilarious.  I was literally holding on to this super cute gay guy who was just as scared as me, and we were both walking though the haunted house jumping and screaming at the same things.  I never even got his name, I just used his arm to squeeze when I was scared, how rude of me!

I had originally planned to just go back to my room and pack afterwards but my friend Paulo had a totally different plan.  He had just flown in for the Electric Daisy Carnival that weekend so of course we had to hang out.  We ended up trying out the club in the Luxor called LAX, it wasn’t very good FYI but we stayed for maybe an hour to give it a shot, then hopped in a cab and headed over to the Wynn to club Tryst which was amazing.  The club was open to the outside and the DJ was outside in front of this gigantic waterfall.  Rusko was DJ-ing that night but by the time we got there he was finished, oh well.  We closed down the club then got lost in the Venetian for a while, then I headed home around 6 and dropped into bed and woke up like 2 hours later to catch our flight to go home.

All and all it was a fun trip, I am so glad that I got to go, but I am also glad that I am home I missed my kitties and my boyfriend and I am super tired.

Don’t forget to follow me on instagram!  there are more photos from my trip, and everything else that I think is cool!