Vegetarian Artichoke Adventures!

Did you know that Artichokes are one of the WORLD'S most healthiest foods? 

YES! But Why?

• REALLY high in anti-oxidents 
• Cancer fighting properties
• Really good for the liver *Also known for as a hangover treatment for you drinkers out there!*
• Reduces cholesterol
• Really high in Fiber (which helps with digestion)

If you had asked me a year ago to eat this weird flowery looking cactus shaped vegetable... I would have looked at you like you were crazy. 

Now that my taste buds are developing, I tried them for the first time about a year ago and I AM IN LOVE WITH THEM!

If you've never tried an artichoke before, I highly recommend it!

MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS BEFORE YOU TRY AND EAT ONE! They're complicated to eat, but totally worth the extra effort.

How to eat an artichoke:

After you've steamed or boiled it for 25-35 minutes begin to eat.

1. Pull off outer petals, one at a time
2. Dip white fleshy end in melted butter or sauce. Tightly grip the other end of the petal. Place in mouth, dip side down, and pull through teeth to remove soft, pulpy, delicious portion of the petal. Discard remaining petal.
3. With a knife or spoon, scrape out and discard the inedible fuzzy part (called the "choke") covering the artichoke heart. The remaining bottom of the artichoke is the heart. Cut into pieces and dip into sauce to eat.
4. I dip mine in a home made garlic sauce that I make myself with FRESH garlic. This not only adds to the flavors of the artichoke, it adds another entire health benefit from the fresh garlic!

It's a brand new year, try something brand new!!

Xox Brittany,

The Fitspirational Blonde

Baked (7 minute) Garlic Parmesan Asparagus!!

Vegetables used to be the Villain in my Fairy tale food life.

I used to HATE vegetables. If the word vegetable crossed my lips, it was immediately followed by the words "NO WAY!"

As I've grown up, I've slowly developed the taste for vegetables and have found different ways to prepare them so that I LOVE them!

This is one of my favorite recipes that I absolutely adore. 

If you hate vegetables, THIS is the recipe that I recommend you taste. It will change your mind for sure




What you need:

• Fresh Asparagus (I bought mine Organic- at Trader Joes for 2.99)
• Parmesan Cheese (it tastes best if it is freshly grated) 
• Fresh Chopped garlic cloves
• Olive Oil
• A garlic chopper (makes it easier to chop the garlic!)
• One big freezer bag

What to do:

1. Chop up the garlic into little minced pieces. 
2. Shred your Parmesan cheese
3. Wash and cut the bottom ends off of your asparagus (about 1 inch)
4. Put the above into your freezer bag and add about 1 table spoon of Olive oil.
5. Use your hands to spread around the garlic and Parmesan so that it gets on every asparagus piece (make sure to zip the bag closed really tightly or you'll have asparagus on your floor.)
6. After it's evenly spread throughout the bag, put the whole bag in your fridge for about an hour. (This is not necessary, but helps the delicious flavors soak into the asparagus.) 
7. Pre-heat your oven to 325
8. Place the Garlic Parmesan Asparagus on some tin foil and spread it out evenly so none of them overlap.
9. Take out in 7 minutes and EAT!

It is easy, takes 7 minutes, absolutely delicious and REALLY healthy for you! The best part is, you can make a LOT of it at once, and keep the left overs in the freezer bag and use it throughout the week. 

It's a fabulous go-to snack when you're hungry and not sure what to munch on. Definitely beats Ramen noodles :)

To make this vegan, just leave out the cheese!

Finished ^

Xox Brittany,

The Fitspirational Blonde

Don't let this be your heart

This made me SO nauseous.

Sometimes it takes looking at something out of our comfort zone for it to become real.

That just got real for me.

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

How long does it take to get full?

It is surprising how many people don't know this!
From the time that you begin eating, to the time that your brain tells the rest of your body it's full is TWENTY MINUTES!

This is why when you're really hungry you over eat, and then feel like you're going to explode... with 348503458 pounds of food in your stomach.

EAT SLOW! The world is not going to end by the the time you finish your spaghetti, it will still be there if you eat it SLOWLY.

I bet if you don't scarf it down, you'll surprise yourself when you're full and there's still a lot left on your plate.

Anther great tip: drink a glass of water before and during your meal! Sometimes when you think your body is hungry it is actually dehydrated.
Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Good morning everyone!

As you know I always push having a big healthy breakfast. This handout has some wonderful examples and ideas on what you can eat!

If you usually have a hard time trying to decide what to eat in the mornings, make your own list and PUT IT ON THE FRIDGE! 

I'm serious about this, it will keep you from grabbing the high sugar Trix cereal just because it's easy and you forgot you have fresh eggs and veggies to make an omelette in the fridge.

Have a fabulous rest of the day <3

Xox Brittany
The Fitspirational Blonde

15 tricks to make a habit stick!

Did you know it takes 21 days to form a habit? Creating a new habit in your life is REALLY hard, but not impossible! Forming new healthy habits (even if they are small) can accumulate and turn into BIG life changes!

I know you can do this, I believe in you!





1. Commit to Thirty Days – Three to four weeks is all the time you need to make a habit automatic. If you can make it through the initial conditioning phase, it becomes much easier to sustain. A month is a good block of time to commit to a change since it easily fits in your calendar.

2. Make it Daily – Consistency is critical if you want to make a habit stick. If you want to start exercising, go to the gym every day for your first thirty days. Going a couple times a week will make it harder to form the habit. Activities you do once every few days are trickier to lock in as habits.

3. Start Simple – Don’t try to completely change your life in one day. It is easy to get over-motivated and take on too much. If you wanted to study two hours a day, first make the habit to go for thirty minutes and build on that.

4. Remind Yourself – Around two weeks into your commitment it can be easy to forget. Place reminders to execute your habit each day or you might miss a few days. If you miss time it defeats the purpose of setting a habit to begin with.

5. Stay Consistent – The more consistent your habit the easier it will be to stick. If you want to start exercising, try going at the same time, to the same place for your thirty days. When cues like time of day, place and circumstances are the same in each case it is easier to stick.

6. Get a Buddy – Find someone who will go along with you and keep you motivated if you feel like quitting.

7. Form a Trigger – A trigger is a ritual you use right before executing your habit. If you wanted to wake up earlier, this could mean waking up in exactly the same way each morning. If you wanted to quit smoking you could practice snapping your fingers each time you felt the urge to pick up a cigarette.

8. Replace Lost Needs - If you are giving up something in your habit, make sure you are adequately replacing any needs you’ve lost. If watching television gave you a way to relax, you could take up meditation or reading as a way to replace that same need.

9. Be Imperfect – Don’t expect all your attempts to change habits to be successful immediately. It took me four independent tries before I started exercising regularly. Now I love it. Try your best, but expect a few bumps along the way.

10. Use “But” – A prominent habit changing therapist once told me this great technique for changing bad thought patterns. When you start to think negative thoughts, use the word “but” to interrupt it. “I’m no good at this, but, if I work at it I might get better later.”

11. Remove Temptation - Restructure your environment so it won’t tempt you in the first thirty days. Remove junk food from your house, cancel your cable subscription, throw out the cigarettes so you won’t need to struggle with willpower later.

12. Associate With Role Models - Spend more time with people who model the habits you want to mirror. A recent study found that having an obese friend indicated you were more likely to become fat. You become what you spend time around.

13. Run it as an Experiment - Withhold judgment until after a month has past and use it as an experiment in behavior. Experiments can’t fail, they just have different results so it will give you a different perspective on changing your habit.

14. Swish - A technique from NLP. Visualize yourself performing the bad habit. Next visualize yourself pushing aside the bad habit and performing an alternative. Finally, end that sequence with an image of yourself in a highly positive state. See yourself picking up the cigarette, see yourself putting it down and snapping your fingers, finally visualize yourself running and breathing free. Do it a few times until you automatically go through the pattern before executing the old habit.

15. Write it Down – A piece of paper with a resolution on it isn’t that important. Writing that resolution is. Writing makes your ideas more clear and focuses you on your end result.

Make a list. That makes it real. Put it somewhere you’ll see it. That makes you remember Tell someone about it. That makes you motivated.

You got this :)

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

Surround Yourself With Things That Motivate You.

I don’t know what it is about PINK fitness gear and clothes that just makes me want to JUMP up and start running around the block with a smile on my face.

This may explain the fact that:

• I own 6 PINK sports bras 
• My running shoes are PINK 
• My weights are PINK
• My water bottle is PINK
• ...and I’m not even going to talk about my underwear collection on here (but it’s Pink too.)

What can I say, I like to surround myself with things that motivate me to do what I love!!

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

25 ways to get yourself motivated to be healthy

1. Try a workout video.
2. Take a fitness class.
3. Get outdoors.
4. Do something different.
5. Do something with a friend.
6. Reward yourself.
7. Create some accountability (blog, facebook, or call a friend).
8. Get a new workout outfit.
9. Play the “get dressed” trick – tell yourself you just have to get dressed in your workout clothe and shoes. You’ll be more likely to work out once your ready.
10. Tell yourself you just have to work for ten minutes. By that point you’ll likely keep going.
11. Picture how you’ll feel when you’re done.
12. Read motivational blogs (in moderation, not so much that you don’t have time to apply it.)
13. Search for motivation on Pinterest or any other websites
14. Set a specific goal.
15. Sign up for an event.
16. Create a physical board of quotes that inspire you and put it in a prominent place where you can see it.
17. Put on some upbeat music .
18. Play an active game.
19. Let yourself dial back the exercise intensity for your next session.
20. Log your exercise so you can visually see progress.
21. Just do it!
22. Hire a trainer.
23. Create a list of the benefits of working out (or losing weight) and review that. There are so many benefits. List the ones that are most pertinent to you.
24. Use new fitness gadgets. I love fitness gadgets and think they are so motivating! 
25. Use fitness apps for for your phone. There’s also lots of free fitness apps for your smartphone or ipod touch. 

I refer back to this list whenever I'm feeling unmotivated and need that extra kick to get myself back on track!
It's a BRAND NEW BEAUTIFUL YEAR so now is the absolute perfect time to start.


Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

The future of your body

Fill your body with foods that you want to support you when you’re 70.

Imagine how you’ll look and feel if you’ve spent a lifetime filling your body with pringles and jolly ranchers.

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

My Fitspirational Thursday Lunch!

Today’s fabulously healthy lunch I made!

Freshly sliced Avocado over melted Cheddar cheese on toasted Oat-nut bread!

With a side of DELICIOUS baked garlic asparagus that I made all by myself!

(I’ll post a recipe soon)

And of course a fresh glass of Orange Juice and a cup of water to take my 7 daily vitamins with.

I threw this together in less than 15 minutes and it was FULL of nutrients that my body will use for the rest of the day.

Treat your body right and it will treat you right!

Have a healthy day everyone :)

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

RawTella

RAWtella

Do you ABSOLUTELY love Nutella?

Could you eat it ALL day and night on EVERYTHING from bagels to strawberries??

I KNOW I COULD!

Today, after searching the web for new creative healthy ideas I stumbled upon "RawTella"

It's a healthier version of "Nutella."

It's Raw, vegan, gluten-free, and safe for people with peanut allergies!! IT still has that amazing chocolate sweet flavor that Nutella has, except the ingredients are only hazelnuts, cacao nibs and coconut sugar.




It is a bit pricy, but with the high class ingredients that go into it, I'm not surprised and will gladly pay it! 


PLUS if you add "Rawtella" on Facebook, you can get an additional 25% off :)


Order Rawtella Online HERE


Have a healthy Fabulous Easter everyone!


(I hope the Easter Bunny leaves you Rawtella Easter Eggs instead of chocolate ones today!)


Xox Brittany


A-Fitspirational-Blonde

A Chopstick Catastrophe! -Portion Size in America

Portions, Pool Boys, and Pad Woon Sen.

By Brittany Turner

The Fitspirational Blonde

Did you know, the portion sizes that we are served in America today, are DOUBLE what the ACTUAL portion sizes should be? So, that means if you are served a full plate of spaghetti, you are technically eating a meal that was originally meant for TWO people! However, American's don't usually know or talk about it. 

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday, so we spent the day together lounging by our beach side Marriott's pool, basking in the warm sun, sipping on Virgin Margaritas while simultaneously checking out the gorgeous pool guys who brought us everything we could have possibly desired!

Ok, I have a confession. We secretly kept sending our beautiful pool-side waiter to the kitchen for more drinks and napkins just so we could watch his beautiful butt strut back and forth! Come on ladies, you KNOW you would have done it too!

Anyway, sitting pool side (feeling great in my bikini by the way after just coming back from the hotel's gym) of course I was reading the latest issue of Shape Magazine. As I read I became particularly engaged with an article about portion sizes! Like I said earlier, in most restaurants we are served DOUBLE what we should be eating for each meal. Scary right? What's REALLY scary is if we finish it every time!

Ever since we were little, we have been TRAINED to eat everything on our plate. Didn't your mom used to yell at you saying, "Honey, you can't have dessert until you finish EVERYTHING on your plate!!" (so you'd secretly feed your broccoli to the dog under the table.) Then they wonder why their children are obese… and yell at them for being fat. Have you ever noticed that before? Life is a vicious circle. I was lucky enough to have parents who let me eat what ever I wanted, but I know I was just lucky kid. 

When we grow up, mentally our bodies are already trained to eat EVERYTHING on our plates because that's what we've always know to be correct. So now when we have grown out of kid's menus and have been thrown into the real world of oversized portions, we feel the need to finish every little thing served to us!

Back to the pool, I still laid out gazing at our hot waiter and reading my Shape Magazine (While SHARING a Caesar salad with my best friend) and continued reading the article on portion sizes. The article suggested eating your meals with a dessert fork to slow down the eating process. I've read that it takes approximately 20 minutes for your brain to tell your body that it's actually full. 

Something I usually do is stop about 1/2 way through my meal, drink a glass of water and wait a few minutes to decide if i'm still hungry or if I've already eaten enough to be satisfied. Usually though, if I wait the right amount of time it usually ends up being that I am infect full and glad I stopped when I did. I think people forget to take the time to stop and actually ENJOY what they're eating. Food is such a beautiful part of our daily lives, and if we eat the right foods in the right portions, having meals should be a perfect delightful experience every day. 

Advice- next time you eat, take your time and don't rush through it. Have a RELATIONSHIP with your meal! Chew each bite 7 times and shut your eyes and think about how incredible what you're munching on actually tastes! Shutting your eyes will help you block out other distractions around you and help you focus on what you're eating. Not only will your meals be more enjoyable, but you will eat slower and get full quicker. I bet you'll be VERY glad to avoid that "OH NO I ATE TO MUCH WAY TOO FAST" feeling. EVERYONE has felt that before, I know I did overtime the words "free unlimited breadsticks" slipped the waitresses lips at the Olive Garden. I swear they're trying to kill me over there, "unlimited" and "free" are such a dangerous combination of words when it comes to food. 

On my way to Starbucks (to write this article actually,) I walked by a new Thai Cuisine that I had never been to before called "Bai Yook". The smell of my favorite Thai Dish (Pad Woon Sen) pulled me in like a girl with her first credit card passing a shoe store. I got SUCKED in and within seconds sat down and ordered it JUST for me. Choosing water instead of soda, and passing on the appetizers I was ready to eat my vegetarian dish filled with delicious proteins and vegetables and not feel guilty about a single bite! BUT I had just read the article about portions, and when my "Pad Woon Sen" arrived in front of me I remembered what I had read yesterday about larger portions. It was completely right, I realized they had served me enough food for me AND my 2 best friends… who weren't with me. So I needed to make a choice.

I could either finish the HUGE plate of food ALL BY MYSELF… or I could take on my ultimate enemies…. CHOPSTICKS. I knew using chopsticks would definitely slow me down.

Can someone please explain to me, why I can knit an entire closet full of scarves, but can't handle picking up ANYTHING with chopsticks without unintentionally vigorously flinging it across the restaurant at the poor waitress? (Yes, if you're wondering I HAVE accidentally done this on more that one occasion.) 

I'm a BLONDE CHOPSTICK CATASTROPHE!

BUT if you've been following me for long enough, you KNOW I don't give up that easily. I was DETERMINED to control my portions, so I sucked it up, ripped open the chopsticks like they were a new pair of my favorite Jimmy Choo stilettos, and began attacking my Pad Woon Sen with them.

This helped!

After about 1/2 hour of fighting to get EVERY noodle/vegetable in my mouth, and having been offered a fork about 12 times by my waitress (who I could see laughing hystarically at me with ALL the cooks in the kitchen), I succeeded, and finally felt full! I had only eaten 1/2 of my food and I had already began feeling satisfied! 

Chopsticks, you've got NOTHING on me! 

I felt GREAT! I didn't eat too much, didn't feel overly stuffed, and to top it off I had some left over to eat for lunch tomorrow! 

Eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day, has yet again been proven to be the best way to eat. I hope you remember this post next time you eat out and are served WAY too much. Don't listen to ANYONE, you DON'T have to eat everything on your plate!

Have a Fit and Fabulous day everyone <3

Xox Brittany

The Fitspirational Blonde

Motivation

I think EVERYONE needs to have a day like THIS

Carbs and Sugar- My Toxic Affair

Carbs and Sugar- My TOXIC Affair!

By Brittany Turner

At the very beginning of this year, I knew it was time to end my toxic affair with sugar and carbohydrates. After reading about the terrible effects they have on our body (especially sugary drinks such as Coke-a-Cola like that picture to the left), I decided January 1st would be the day when I would no longer be a victim of  "Coke" and "Carb" addictions.

I told my self, "cottage cheese causing carbs" and "sweet devilish candy"  would be a thing of the past and no longer a part of my future.

This ALL seemed like such a terrific idea in this blonde head of mine... that is, until January 2nd came around. Yes, I know, it had ONLY been ONE day and the only thing I could think about was getting my luscious lips around a juicy sweet piece of dove milk chocolate, or M&Ms or ANYTHING that started with the letter "S" and ended in "ugar". It was ALL I could think about. How could I have let carbs and sugar become such a HUGE part of my life??

Not to mention, if I stared at my baby Yorkie puppy (Locket) for long enough,  she began to transform into a moving milky way! (Sorry Locket)

Needless to say, I knew that ending my sweet affair with sugar and carbs would not be nearly as easy as I'd hoped. 

So, I did a little research to see if my addictive behavior was common, or if "mentally" turning my dog into a barking candy bar meant I should cancel my afternoon plans, and head straight to the loony bin.

5 news papers, 7 magazine articles,  and over 25 Google searches later, I was relieved to discover that an "addiction" to sugar and carbohydrates was very common. Sorry Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, I won't be meeting you in a crazy home any time soon!

In an article on Foxnews.com, a scientist named Dr Simon Thornily actually claims that carbohydrates and Sugar are "Just as addicting as Cigarettes." I was SHOCKED to read this! I instantly threw down the 'carb-a-licious' chocolate croissant from Starbucks (mid-bite) that I was LITERALLY eating as I read his article.

Dr Thornily went on to say, “Heavily processed carbohydrates such as cornflakes, sweets and croissants quickly raise the amount of sugar in your blood. “This rush of sugar stimulates the same areas of the brain that are involved with addiction to      nicotine and other drugs." 

Terrifying right??!!

After reading his entire article on carbs/ cigarettes, It secretly made me feel a little better to know that my passion for carbs and sugar was common. 

I instantly realized though, that if I was having a hard time cutting down on the carbs, there HAD to be HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of other people who must be just as "addicted" to them as I am!

Think about this for a second, YOU may be addicted to carbs too and not even know it! Do you get sugary cravings throughout the day and night? Do YOU choose pie and ice cream over fruit and vegetables? Try completely quitting ALL sugar and carbs for just one week and you'll know your answer instantly! I bet it will be MUCH harder than you expect.

So, this post is now dedicated to all my readers out there that (like me) are having a shameful toxic affair with carbohydrates and don't know how to quit!

GIRLS, it's time to put down the chocolate, and pick up some protein powder because this is going to be a LONG ride. If we're going to cut down the carbs, transforming our diets from sugar to celery will take a LOT of dedication and strength.

The question is, will this addiction ever let us be free? Will we EVER be able to walk past a candy store with out melting down in front of it like the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz?

Can we ever earn the self-control to choose the yellow brick road made of heathy CORN, or will our self- confidence be SQUISHED by a house filled with lolli-pops and candy canes flattening us like the wicked witch? Will we ever be able to control our bad habits after living with them for our entire lives?

YES! I KNOW WE CAN! 

I don't know about you, but I DEFINITELY don't like the idea of being addicted to ANYTHING. I've never let anyone or anything have control over my life before, I was definitely not about to start now! 

Sorry Sugar, take your sweet hands off of this blonde, because I'm officially putting this sweet affair to an end! 

Grab your tissues Carbohydrates, because WE'RE OVER!

So THIS is where my carb cutting, sugar stopping journey began, and THIS is how I did it!

Now that my taste buds and I were officially packing up and leaving candy land for good, I needed to come up with a plan and some goals/rules for myself to avoid a "Carby" relapse like last time. I was determined to keep my baby Yorkie from becoming a barking Milky Way in my eyes ever again.

Sugar, you can KISS MY NEW SUGAR-FREE BUTT and go give someone else cavities!

Like any break up, I knew this new HUGE change in my life was not going to be easy, but would be worth it!

-BRITTANY'S NEW GOALS/RULES-

Starting off slowly was KEY to sticking to my plan. Obviously, quitting cold turkey didn't work the first time around, so I needed to SLOWLY start replacing my sugary habits with healthier foods.

The first thing I did was literally sat down and wrote a list of rules for myself.

Weeks 1-2

1. Soda- ONLY on weekends! I used to LOVE soda as I said before, so this was going to be tough to quit. Every time I began to crave a coke or any other sugary drink, I would drink 2 glasses of water. This kept me hydrated and quenched the thirst that my body would have gotten by drinking the soda.
2. Restaurants- My "Pass the bread" rule. My family liked to eat out a lot, and of course most restaurants put bread on the table to keep you happy while you're waiting for your food, but one of my eating out rules is to "Pass the bread" and wait for what I actually ordered to come.
3. Dessert at Restaurants- Usually I would be tempted to get a sugar and carb RICH dessert like some delicious ice cream or a slice of cake. My new dessert rule was if I HAD to get dessert, I would order a bowl of fresh fruit to satisfy the after dinner sweet tooth I had gotten used to craving.
4. Drinking at Restaurants- I LOVE sugary drinks especially like juices and sodas, so when I went out (if it was a week day Monday-Friday) I would ONLY order water. 
5. Surrounding Temptation- So I am blessed to have a lot of friends and family, but watching them eat the foods that I was trying SO hard to cut down on was like TORTURE! I couldn't stand watching someone chug a coke right in front of me while all I had was water.. especially in the beginning of my new health journey! So I had to be honest with my family and friends (that I was used to eating out with) and tell them about my new eating habits. To my surprise, they started to eat healthier around me too, which was FABULOUS for me because I got to see my family put down the sugary drinks and get healthy WITH me. Also I didn't have to suffer through watching them eat/drink it right in front of me!
6. Late Night Snacking- Ok so I am and have ALWAYS been a night owl, so eating late was just one of the terrible habits I grew up with. I especially loved midnight snacks PACKED with sugar. My new late night snacking rule was NO sugary foods after 7pm and NO food at all after 9pm. Our bodies need time to burn the foods we've eaten all day, so 9pm was a good time to stop the snacking already!
7. Going out- I am one of those people who isn't home very often so I was usually tempted to get fast food where ever I ended up that day. SO my new going out rule was now to PLAN my lunches ahead! This definitely became one of my most important rules I created! Every day, I would get up a little early and whip out the 'glad-ware' and 'snacking baggies' and FILL them with fruits and healthy snacks to keep in my Purse for all day snacking :) This was a great way to avoid temptation! 

^^^Those 7 rules were the rules I was determined to stick to. ^^^

Now, I'm going to be completely honest with you… Weeks 1-2 WERE SO HARD!!! I'm not going to lie to you, and say that they went perfectly and it was all smooth sailing after I mentally decided to change over to a healthy life style. I had 4-5 days that I couldn't control my cravings and ate chocolate after 7pm (breaking rule 6), a few mid-night sugary snacks (Breaking 6 again), or occasionally sneaked a soda on a Tuesday afternoon (Breaking the first rule!)

I literally felt SO bad for myself after I did it EVERY TIME though. I felt like I was cheating on… well... myself! 

Everytime I popped a Pringle, I would get SO mad at myself. I remember thinking, "Brittany, you are SO pathetic you can't go two weeks without sugar and carbs? You Suck!" 

It took a while, but I finally realized that I'm HUMAN!!! Humans make mistakes, we have to go through hard times to make ourselves stronger. After coming to peace with myself, my new lifestyle and rules got A LOT easier!

By Week 3 of trying my best to stick to my rules, I could NOT believe how far I had come! Not only had I cut SO SO SO much sugar and carbohydrate filled foods from my daily meals and snacks, I actually surprised myself and began LOOKING FORWARD to eating fruit every day! 

Can you believe it??? 

When Week 4 came around, I was no longer craving sodas AT ALL, and didn't have a panic attack when someone at the table next to me was sipping on a Coke. I   was actually SO used to drinking water, it seemed weird to order any soda at a restaurant at all! I found myself not even needing to drink soda's on the weekend like I allowed myself in rule 1! Sure, I would still drink one on a special occasion, but it would be because I WANTED to drink it.. not because I NEEDED it like before! 

To tell you the truth, most of the desserts that I was so used to previously consuming before, began to start tasting TOO sweet and I didn't even enjoy them as much as I remembered.

My new rules had even gone as far as changing my sleeping habits! Since I wasn't eating sugar after 7pm, I started to go to sleep earlier. In my WHOLE life I had never been able to go to sleep at a decent time, and now after cutting the sugar down, I was getting sleepy at 10pm! I don't think I have ever gone to sleep at 10pm since I was 5 years old! 

After a week of going to sleep at 10pm, I began getting up earlier too! After getting up a few mins earlier with every passing day, I was able to accomplish SO many more things in my day! I added morning runs to my daily routines, and began making protein smoothies EVERY morning!

So now, here I am 4 months later feeling full, fit and fabulous! Looking back on that ENTIRE experience and my unhealthy ways seems so insane. I'm now going to sleep EVERY day early and waking up even earlier the day after! 

Soda, Carbs and sugar no longer control my life, I tell THEM who's boss :)

I've taken a complete 360 spin into a new healthy lifestyle, I'm more energetic and happy ALL the time. (Don't get me wrong, even to this day I STILL have my bad days, but I learned to accept them, learn from them, and come out stronger than before!) 

As you've read, it wasn't an easy journey, but because of all of my hard work and dedication, IT WAS WORTH IT.

Everyone reading this who thinks "I'm the exception" and "I could NEVER do that", I am living proof that ANYONE can. STOP making excuses about why you can't dow something, and do what I did and make PLANS towards how you CAN.

 I've created this fitness/ health blog, and also my Fitness&Health Tumblr to help anyone and everyone realize that they can change the way they run their life's to be more fit, healthy and happy with me!

So join me in "kicking sugar to the curb" and end YOUR toxic affair with carbs. Take control of your life, click your ruby red healthy heels together, and believe "There's no place like home" ---->"There's no FEELING like FIT!" 

What are you waiting for? You CAN do this.  

I did!

<3

Xox Brittany,

A-Fitspirational-Blonde