1. My latest article in Canadian Cycling Magazine came out. It’s about dabbling in paleo eating as a cyclist. I’m darn proud of this article! Shameless self promotion here, there, and everywhere. Lucky for you you can read it online. Or buy a copy and have me sign it so you can say you knew me when! ha.

2. Mark Sisson’s newest book. I’m loving what I’ve read so far of The Primal Connection. In my future, I want to have one day a week dedicated purely to reading. In my underwear.

3. Jillian Michaels’ latest podcast. She talks about how she uses compulsive shopping to soothe herself/meet her unmet needs, similar to how people use other things (food, drugs, alcohol, facebook, whatever) for the same purpose. She’s got this right. #girlcrush

4. This video, which less makes me want to buy clothing and more makes me want to go on an adventure. What are we here for if it’s not to have a little fun?!

5. This song, which I put on repeat this week.

Morning!

In a twist on the TGIF posts I love so much, here are some things I can’t help but share with you from this week!

1. A new inspiration I’m adding to my list of “life coaches doing cool things”. I stumbled onto Stephenie Zemora’s website after reading an article or four of hers on the huffington post last week. It was easy to get sucked in!

2. “Stop Saying ‘Healthy’ When You Mean ‘Thin’”…short, sweet, and cheeky. Amen to this!

3. “Stefani’s Soul on a Plate” on Paleo for Women. Love: her honesty, her story, and this site. A lot of what she writes about in this post, which chronicles her struggles–and eventual successes–with eating and health, hits close to home. For that, it’s inspiring!

4. “What is it here to teach you?” from Brooke Castillo’s blog. She’s talking about overcoming overeating but I think the idea applies to “getting rid of” any problem you might be struggling with. Highlights were:

• the fact that she introduces the post with a stellar quote:“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Even if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other side of the continent, we find the very same problem awaiting us when we arrive.” -Pema Chodron
• the fact that she overcame her overeating (which she says is just like the other issues people use to cope):

“It wasn’t until I did the freeing work of asking myself, “Why?” that I begun to learn what I needed to know.  Once I moved past the behavior and results (which were just symptoms of my thinking) and focused on the cause, I began to learn about the person I really am.  I learned to listen and trust my body. I learned to pay attention to myself and find out what really mattered to my soul.  I uncovered and removed programming I had received as a child that was not helpful or even true for me anymore.  I found out what I needed to know.”

5. This cheese from Andrea Owen’s facebook page (it wouldn’t be a Friday post without some inspirational schtuff, right?!).

TGIF! I hope you have a stellar Friday. This weekend’s major goal for me? Sleep, recuperate, and spend time with friends. Tackle ever growing to do list…later!

xo

Happy Friday and happy fall. It’s hard to believe it’s back to school and the leaves are changing colour, but my calendar says September so I’m accepting reality and embracing the change of season.  

5 reasons I’m embracing fall

1. boots – I have too many. Cowgirl, combat, knee-high, ankle. Bah, I love boots!

2. pumpkins – Eating them, carving them, the scent of them (soaps, candles, etc.) pulling over on the side of the road to snap photos of them. What’s not to love?

3. fall fairs 

4. sunflowers

5. getting closer to Christmas! (108 days, FYI)

4 inspirational images 

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4.

3 songs I added to my playlist this week 

1. An old fav pump-up:

2. One I’ve meant to add to the yoga list for a while:

3. Random but lovely:

2 things I’m pumped for this weekend

1. A trip to Sarnia which promises some sisterly/motherly bonding. We’re heading to Art in the Park, a spot where a bunch of vendors set up and sell their crafts/creations. I love it and going was a yearly tradition for so long until university kicked around but I’m looking forward to going back. In Sarnia, it’s a small world so I’m sure I’ll see some familiar faces. We’re also planning on getting some breakfast or brunch, which is sure to be delicious!

2. My first sweat session at West London Crossfit this Sunday. I don’t start my learning experience (the on ramp program) ’til next week, but oh am I eager!

1 podcast I have to share. 

1. Yes, I still love the Life By Design podcast every week. But I’m loving loving loving the Live. Love. Eat. podcast by Stefani, whose site Paleo For Women is oh so awesome. Go there. ASAP. Listen to these. ASAP. LOVE! My fav page on her site? Her mission and description of her movement, which I want in on. My fav take-away from it:

“Paleo for Women is about empowerment. It’s about embracing a woman’s body as a natural, evolved organism, and about using whatever experience and knowledge a woman has to nourish and love herself as that organism. It’s about owning womanhood as evolved, as powerful, as individual, and real. It’s about saying Yes to life and No to social norms about body image, identity, presentation, and lifestyle.”

She’s on my wavelength. Health is bigger than weight. Abundance rocks.

“Just because you are beautiful does not mean that others are less beautiful, and just because they are beautiful does not mean you are less so.”

Did I mention I love this site?!

That’s all folks!

What are you up to this weekend?
What’s one site/blog/podcast you’re loving lately?
Any good songs added to your playlist this week? 

Holy poop – it’s Labour Day weekend.

How the heck did we get here so fast?

This week’s TGIF post came together really easily…

5 wordy (awesome) images

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4

3 

2 

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4 links I loved

4. Charlotte’s “Would you say losing weight is the “hardest, most important” thing you’ve ever done?”  post yesterday. My favourite insight was about how weight loss is “it’s one of the great narratives of our time. Dieting is a near-universal experience for first world people.”

3. Another Great Fitness Experiment (love!) link, this one about crossfit that I think touches on something a lot of people struggle with. I know what I thought before was that it was too high intensity and not based on much progression (i.e. I thought it was just random, which I think a lot of people who just check out the main site might think). The thing that people realize later–and I realized after talking to one of my friends who is a crossfit trainer in London, after hearing how the SC is bringing crossfit into what they’re doing, and after reading/deciding to do my cert–is that it’s not like that. Within a crossfit facility, things DO make sense. Workouts are scaled. Planned. Progressive. All that good stuff.

2. Paleoista’s take on orthorexia. I’m not sure if Nell Stephenson has ever had an eating disorder, but this is a topic I definitely want to get into at some point…soon. Her question, “Ok, so being interested in what we put in our bodies, where it came from and how it was prepared is a mental health concern?” screamed out to me because I think it’s a bigger concern to NOT care. That being said, caring about what you put in has to come from a healthy point–the source of motivation is what’s important.

1. 

3 weekend goals

3. Bicycle! Bicycle!

2. Making it to the farmer’s market.

1. Spending as much time with friends and family as possible — beach day, lunch dates, barbecues, etc.!

2 quotes I love

2. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~ Harold R. McAlindon

1. “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” ~ Paul Valery

1 song I have on repeat this week

1. This one, which I heard at the lululemon event last weekend and abso-freaking-lutely loved!

What did you love this week?
What are you up to this weekend? 

Oh hey there — for those of you who are missing me dearly at the Healthy Living Summit, know that I’m not there because I registered early for the CanfitPro conference and trade show and Tough Mudder this weekend way back when…bad planning!

I’ve been slacking on the Friday posts but if you have me on facebook you know I’ve still been linking up to all kinds of interesting, cheesy, funny, etc. things!

Here goes — I love these posts!

5 quotes to inspire you

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4 books I have on the go

I actually think there’s more than these going — but that’s okay. I like to have my mind in a bunch of really great places at once — it keeps things itneresting!

1. The Book of Awesome – Great for whenever I need a little pick me up!

2. Six Pillars of Self Esteem - I’m refusing to rush through this — I’m taking notes, highlighting, and having a lot of “aha” moments along the way!

3. Real Food: What to eat and why – Memoir like and filled with common sense, this book is comforting.

4. Good Calories, Bad Calories – This one is on my “get reading eventually” list since it’s the next LBD book club book. I’m looking forward to it because Taubes’ newer book (Why We Get Fat) was eye-opening!

3 links worth checking out

1. Paleo For Women’s “Self Love and Weight Loss: Enemies of Bed-fellows?” post, which oh so eloquently summed up the issue of trying to change your body without deeming it wrong:

“Self-love is not antagonistic to weight loss. Nor is self-love antagonistic to those of us who need to gain weight. Instead, self-love is about working in partnership with our bodies to achieve a holistically healthy and beautiful existence, for all of us. Self-love is about providing the body with the tools it needs to get healthy and vibrant and radiant, while never hating it for looking or behaving a certain way.”

2. “The Politics of Food Guides” on CBC. Important issue. I like that Yoni Freedhoff was in here!

3. “Is Paleo Even Paleo? And Does It Even Matter?” on Chris Kessler’s blog. His thoughts are that it doesn’t really matter what people ate way back when but it does matter that we know what we need to eat now to feel and perform our best. And he touches on the kind of stigma around the name, which I found interesting. Amen to eating what’s healthiest for us without stressing over the label.

2 songs I have on repeat

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2.

1 thing I’m pretty freaking excited about

1. Tough Mudder!

Anything worth sharing today?
What’d you think of the article about food guides?
What song is on repeat for you right now?

Oh hey there! I’m safe and sound in Pennsylvania en route to Delaware to bike like a maniac or die trying. What better way to keep you up to date with my beloved wireless than to use my TGiF as a recap?! I promise tons of random links and cheesy photos upon my return.
ps I am writing this on Thursday out of pure excitement for tomorrow
5 meals/eats on the road

In this respect the best word to use is random. Luckily we have full kitchens as of tomorrow night so things should get a bit less eating beef jerky and dried fruit and apples from my bag like its going out of style. And today I had an amaze balls steak so win win win.

5 Cobb salad sans cheese from panera

4 I’ll gladly sample off someone’s appetizer — 80/20 right?

3 makeshift lunch

2 breakie on the go

1 tonight’s crowning glory – god did I want a steak!

4 things I bought today
Tax free in Delaware? I don’t mind if I do!

4 a bunch of bars – has anyone tried these LARA bars? I’m going to give em a shot.

3 A shirt from target – I didn’t try it on so I’m hoping for the best!

2 a tube – being prepared is key!

1 chamois butter – number one for a reason!

3 embarrassing selfies
3 cleaning my bike

2 Rest stop washroom?

1 in the car

2 workouts
2 Today’s 30 minute run on some awesome Trails at a park nearby, which I added 15 minutes of rounds of 15 each jumping jacks, squats, pushups, sit ups, bench step ups or jumps, and triceps dips = short and sweet and sweaty and sunny!

1 last night’s hilly ride – I stayed upright. But I won’t lie I’m really scared of riding tomorrow down fast hills. Oh god I hope these “screaming descents” get easier with practice!

1 Adorbs photo of our greeting committee
1

…and a bonus!

Don’t worry, I’m not running away just yet. And I promise not to totally neglect the blog or you guys while I’m gone, but I’m gonna miss posting and running bootcamp and yoga and I think this is a good sign — when you love your life enough that vacation is taking you away from fun things and putting you in other fun things, I’d say that’s abundance and living and carpe diem-ing.

That one’s just a bonus. On to the good stuff:

5 inspirational moments

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PS I am adding a ton of cheese to the inspiration reel this week!

4 reasons you should come to bootcamp (besides the fact that you love me)

1. It costs less than your frappucino — and will undoubtedly leave you healthier!

2. Where else will you find the motivation to do burpees in the middle of the summer?

3. It’s too cheap to use money as an excuse. Seriously, $5. I’m GIVING this away!

4. When I’m bigger and better than Jillian, you’ll be able to say you knew me when. Seriously, I’m kind of the go big or go home type, and in case you haven’t caught my drift lately, I’m going big!

3  workout resources I like

1. “35 Kick-Ass Partner Exercises” at greatist.com. So many ideas!

2. “Challenging Partner Exercises” on Real Simple. New ideas!

3. “Low Impact Cardio Blast Workout” on about.com. I need some low impact options for folks with knee issues, etc.

2 Podcasts you should check out

1. The Life By Design series I mentioned earlier this week is awesome. I’m downloading them all to my iPod for my super duper long trip. I swear these folks didn’t kidnap me and make me drink koolaid, I just feel drawn to what they’re all about! Get interested–I’d love to hear what you think! I particularly liked the podcasts talking about the differences between LBD’s eating principles and the paleo diet and their exercise prescription and crossfit. Very interesting stuff–this is something I want to learn more about.

2. Jillian Michaels’ latest. She was just bang on–talking about foam rolling, talking about pursuing an unconventional career, doling out some life coach advice. Like I think she must have read my diary or something and made this episode just for me!

1 sad realization

1. I saw this tweet:

 and whipped out this stat:

and channeled my inner mathlete:

…to calculate that if this applied to just the US, that’s 105,941,252 women whose main goal is losing weight. What if our main goal was like helping someone once a day? Or being the best daughter/mother/sister/friend we could possibly be? Or living eco-friendly? Or WHATEVER — anything more noble than changing our weight?!

And with that, have an awesome weekend!

Thoughts?