My health and workout plan...Consider this a "Healthy" post

You know, the more I mature & grow up, the more concerned I become about things that did not bother me before like my health, for example. I remember when I cut my hair, I started going completely gaga on vitamins in order to make my hair grow. Every morning was like a pill cocktail party (ugh that sounds wrong but whatever lol): B12, multivitamins, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, 2 Nutricaps and more! After a few weeks, I realized that if I wanted to REALLY be healthy, I couldn't simply rely on the vitamins. So...well... I changed my lifestyle completely and wanted to share this with you guys, especially since I get a lot of questions about my diet and workout regimen aka the "Sassou workout plan" hehe. 

Check out my health and fitness regimen below!

"HEALTH" 

First off, I'd like to say that I am NOT a health freak (notice the ")... I am trying to get better and that is all. The problem is I am the biggest meat, fat and sauce lover: My favorite part of any meat is the fat portion and my favorite part of chicken is...the skin. I know, I know... Not good. I also love my occasional poutine, Benny BBQ chicken and other super fatty foods & deserts (who follows me on Instagram & Pinterest??? Who saw the Nutella Pillsburry crescents I made the other day?? SMH!).  So to continue eating my occasional crap, I had to cut off some other crap in order to keep some sort of balance. Here are a few things I changed/added in my life to sustain "balanced" diet:

-I cut coffee. 
YES! Who would've thought??? Sassou, the coffee addict, the Starbucks and Tim Hortons subscriber. Yes. I swear. I now only drink coffee occasionally on weekends. Heck, sometimes I'll spend a whole weekend without drinking any! I mean, don't get me wrong. I love the taste. It was what it did to me that I didn't really like. It would get me super excited, and  super down in the afternoon and then I'd have to take another one. It really is a drug! So every morning, I now drink tea to replace my coffee. I like the strawberry green tea by Kumsi and my green Chai. I am now more...zen. More relaxed and even...awake!!! Oh and I find that I sleep better #JustSayin

-Instead of eating McDonald's or Tim Hortons for breakfast, I now make my own breakfast smoothie at home during the work week. 
I use the Herbalife vanilla flavored meal replacement powder, add some protein (either a banana or the Herbalife protein powder), some frozen fruit bought at Costco and either water or vanilla soy milk. Mix everything in the Magic Bullet and VOILA! An easy, healthy breakfast. When I don't feel like drinking a smoothie, I eat cereal with soy milk and a bit of brown sugar or oatmeal with sliced bananas in it. Not bad eh? By the way, contact my girl Natasha on Twitter if you need more info on Herbalife! 

-Less alcohol. 
Yeah. I used to drink wine A LOT. I had to cut back on that. Not good for me. I drink less of it. Meh. 

-Started adding some chia seeds and flaxseed to some of my food. 
These seeds are super good for you and full of protein. I add some to my cereal, smoothies, egg salads and more. Click here to see 10 benefits of chia eating chia seeds. 

-Replaced white bread with multigrain &/or flaxseed bread. 
I loved my white "D'Italiano" bread but I had to make this sacrifice since I love eating bread so much. I get the multigrain flaxseed bread from Aliments Naturels Tau. Surprisingly it tastes pretty good, especially when toasted with butter!

Yummy multi-grain flat bread from Costco. Very good!

-No more sugar in my tea. 
Hello Splenda

-More fruits and vegetables. 
I don't mind this at all and you wanna know something cool? My favorite vegetables are actually some of the healthiest: Spinach and Broccoli. Woohoo!!

Homemade spinach & potato soup.

Homemade pizza with lots of veggies

-When reaching for crap like Lays chips, I reach for almonds instead. 
Or healthy cereal. You get the point. Gotta satisfy that salty-crunchy craving somehow, right?

-8 glasses of water per day, less juice and sodas. 

BOOOOHHHH. I love my Pepsi. 

-I eat more fish. 
It's cool though, I really like salmon. And shrimp. And tilapia. And tuna. Etc. 

By the way, my American friends keep making fun of me because I pronounce the "L" in salmon. I pronounce it SAHL-MON but supposedly I should be saying SAH-MON. ANYWAYS!!!!! 

-Vitamin cocktails are still in effect. 
I asked my doctor and he said it was okay to take all of these vitamins. Hehehe! #Victory Check out my desk at work #DontJudge

And finally I'd like to say that the easiest way for me to cut down on some things was to STOP BUYING THEM. I swear this works. Like, for example, let's say I want a sandwich. I open the fridge and what do we have here? Yeah. Multigrain bread. I have no choice but to eat it. Same goes for when I'm thirsty, I open the fridge and ohhhhh!!! Only water and cranberry juice??? I have to drink it. No choice. Get it? Get ittt??? Good.

FITNESS

Okay so when I don't workout, here's what happens: I feel like crap, sleep like crap, tend to be more depressed and I'm never ever hungry and when I am, I get full by eating crap. But when I do workout, I feel great overall, physically AND mentally. Here is what I do:

-Muscular workouts 3x a week.

I have a trainer and a specific program to follow since I am NOT trying to lose weight: I am simply trying to tone up and maintain my look. I go to Nautilus Plus and the trainers there are awesome. I see him every 2-3 weeks and although it can be a tad expensive, it's totally worth it if you have specific goals. Some of the workouts I do consist of squats, push ups, rowing and planks.

-Cardio 3x a week

I hate this, but I have to run on the treadmill for a minimum of 20 minutes before each muscular workout. Ugh. 

-Zumba once a week.

I LOVE zumba! Again, I do it at Nautilus Plus and the teacher is amazing! She makes you sweat and have lots of fun. Oh yeah, and she teaches you how to wine hehe.

-I walk everywhere downtown. 

Sounds like nothing but walking instead of taking your car everywhere helps.

-When it's rainy or just don't feel like going to the gym, I work out using the Nike Training App on my iPhone.
It's awesome! The workouts are intense and you don't even need equipment! Plus, the lady (well...digital lady) talks to you and the app can be synchronized with your music so you can do your exercise to some of your favorite beats! Great app. Download it!

And speaking of music, here is a Top 10 of favorite workout songs:

1. David Guetta - Titanium
2. La Banda Gorda - La Vaca
3. JW & Blaze - Palance (soca music pumps me up!)
4. LMFAO - Sexy and I know it
5. DJ Gregory - Vem Rebola 
6. Omega - Paleta
7. Rihanna - Where have you been
8. From Miami to Ibiza
9. Kelis ft Calvin Harris - 4th of July
10. Sak Noel - Loca People

Until next post!!

xoxo

Sass

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