OthFit.com's Newsletter
August 30, 2020
Hello and thank you for reading OthFit’s newsletter. I cannot believe that we have reached the end of August! It just doesn’t seem possible. 2020 has gone by slowly and painfully but also quickly if that makes any sense.
As always, things have stayed hopping around here, in fact, you may have noticed that our newsletter is a few days later than normal. I typically have them sent every other Thursday. Our development has been having construction work done which means we have had electricity/internet connection issues on and off for the last week or so.
This last week was also my husband’s 45th birthday and we celebrated in quarantine style with an ice cream cake at home with just the three of us. It was relaxing and lovely but it is an odd feeling to not be around family for things like that.
Let’s get right to it, there’s a lot to cover! Thank you again for joining me, I hope you enjoy this issue.
~Summer
Weekly Blog Roundup August 15, 2020
The week ending August 15th was a hot one here in New Mexico, we’re still mostly quarantined only getting out for groceries and the occasional necessary errand. It’s been a long 5 months but we are very grateful to have avoided Covid and helped keep our neighbors safe.
It was another great week for content in the health, fitness, and wellness realm so sit back and enjoy what we’ve put together.
HOW TO UNF*CK YOUR BRAIN W/ KARA LOWENTHEIL
This episode of Steph Gaudreau‘s podcast, Listen to Your Body, is a really good one featuring Kara Lowentheil. Kara is a Master Certified Coach and hosts the podcast, Unfuck Your Brain. She’s on a mission to help people retrain their brains to stop believing in the toxic things we have internalized from society. I definitely think this is one that everyone should listen to.
TUNA POKE BOWL RECIPE
This recipe is one of my all-time favorites, Tuna Poke. It’s brought to us by Mark Sisson from Mark’s Daily Apple, and how delicious does it look? This one is going on next week’s menu plan for sure!
SEX AFTER 40
Our bodies change and hormone levels drop in women AND men after 40. These changes can impact our sex lives in various ways. This post explores the changes in men and women and how our sex lives are impacted. I also give you great tips on how to address those impacts and keep your sex life sizzling into your senior years.
MY GUIDE TO CONFIDENCE IN 6 STEPS
Leslie Nichole is the blogger from Balanced Mochas and she had a great article on confidence. Confidence is not my strong suit and I struggle with self-doubt as many people do and sometimes even writing a blog post about topics I know forward and backward makes me question myself.
So I was glad to see her post come across my feed because I really needed it that day and now I’m including it here for you. I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
YOGA TO BOOST YOUR STRENGTH AND COURAGE
This 15-minute yoga flow is a great one to get you moving to start your day. It’s from the lovely ladies at Fit Bottomed Girls.
Green Flags: Have a Healthy Relationship
When I came across this post from Vitamin Jae I was drawn in. You always see warnings about red flags, what not to do in relationships, and stories about what went wrong. I thought it was a refreshing change of pace to see a post that flipped the script a bit and gave us a look at the positive side.
The author at Vitamin Jae is Janice and she not only is a great writer but she truly understands what she’s writing about so her advice and insights are powerful. I recommend this post to everyone.
How Much Water Should You Drink in a Day?
You’ve probably been told that you need to drink more water. Better hydration can help prevent headaches, stave off hunger, improve your complexion, and get you through the two o’clock slump. So, how much water should you drink in a day?
The exact answer seems to be elusive, is it an ounce for each pound you weigh? 8 glasses a day? A gallon of water each day? This article gives you that answer and so much more.
Breathing Practice to a Calm Mind: Nadi Shodhana - Alternate Nostril Breathing
Christina Maldia from Be in the World Yoga brings us a wonderful guide on how to calm the mind using Alternate Nostril Breathing. Not only does she guide you through the practice but she explains the benefits and even an alternate way to do it so you can choose which works best for you.
If you haven’t tried this type of pranayama (breathing) practice, I really recommend that you give this post a read and start here.
Essential Nutrients - What They Are & How To Get Them
We are constantly told we need to eat healthful foods, get our vitamins and minerals in, and strive for a balanced intake of all of the essential nutrients but has anyone ever really defined what that means? This article takes a look at what the essential nutrients are, why we need them, and ways we can make sure we are getting them every day.
The Ultimate Self-Care Checklist
I don’t know about you but I find that I typically push my own needs to the back of the line. There are so many things that I have to do for my family, for my job, for my community, the list goes on. By the end of each day, I am often frazzled, I catch a glimpse at the basket of unused bath bombs next to the tub and sigh. They will probably remain there untouched until they crumble.
When I came across the Ultimate Self-Care Checklist from the Santosha Sister’s site, I was drawn in. I have been enjoying their posts, I like their focus on ethical consumerism and sustainability.
This post was really helpful, I may put off self-care but one thing I love is lists, especially checklists. They have a cute printable for FREE that has tons of self-help ideas separated into 3 categories Self-Help for My Body, Self-Help for My Mind, and Self-Help for My Soul. This is one that you are definitely going to want to bookmark!
Weekly Blog Roundup August 30, 2020
Our son, who is now a freshman in high school, moved to the garage. We have an air-conditioned room out there that the previous owner had made out of half of the 2-car garage. He wanted more privacy and a place to be able to be a bit louder and we were ok with that!
Of course, the health and fitness content creators online stayed super busy this week and for that, we’re always thankful. It is amazing the amount of talent, creativity, and hard work that abounds around us. I am so thankful each week when I’m putting together this blog roundup to be able to read, listen to, and watch such awesome folks!
I’m also really glad to be getting to know so many of you, rather we talk on social media, over email, or message each other I really enjoy the conversations I get to have and the insights I get. You all rock!
MINDFUL EATING
Susan from A Humble Delight brings us a really insightful post about mindful eating. I know that when I decided to get healthy one of the things I realized about my eating was that it was habitual.
I didn’t really enjoy it, sometimes I wasn’t even that aware of it, it was almost mindless eating. Susan shows us how to do the exact opposite. This is something that I learned on my own but I wish I had her blog post a few years ago to help me through!
She eloquently explains the importance of being present while eating and listening to your body and then gives great tips to help you develop a mindful eating practice. I definitely think that this is something almost everyone could use and that’s why it’s in our blog roundup. We get so busy in our lives and rush through everything, including meals, or we zone out while Netflix is playing and snack without paying any attention.
CREAMY LEMON-GARLIC ROASTED CAULIFLOWER
This delicious recipe is from the lovely and talented Chenée from Chenée Today I love cauliflower and we eat a lot of it so when I find a new recipe for it I am always excited to throw it into my weeknight circulation!
Roasted cauliflower is one of my favorite side dishes and she amps it up with the delicious flavors of garlic, lemon, and scallions mmmmm! Do not miss this recipe!
HOW TO PREVENT MUSCLE LOSS IN A CALORIE DEFICIT
Rob from Nothing Barred Fitness had a really great post with strategies on how to keep from losing muscle while you are maintaining a caloric deficit. I’m at the point in my health journey where I’m trying to gain muscle and not am basically in maintenance as far as my caloric intake goes.
However, as Rob points out, we naturally start to lose muscle as we age, and ya’ll I just turned 40! So, I got a ton of great information out of this post but of course, I recommend it for anyone who is actively losing weight currently.
Rob does a great job of showing how building muscle (and keeping it) helps you burn more fat while at rest, makes it harder for your body to store fat, and how more muscle is better for your long-term health and wellness.
The strategies he gives including lifting heavy and resistance training are solid and he explains everything thoroughly. I included it in our blog roundup because I think it is pertinent to so many people. Make sure you read this one!
“BUT THOSE WEIGHTS WILL MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A MAN!”
Another post about lifting really struck me because of how often I have heard this! Ladies, this is just bunk! Carrots ‘N’ Cake is one of my favorite sites and Tina is one of my favorite fitness writers. She is fierce, she lifts heavy, and she definitely doesn’t look like a man!
In this post, she outlines all of the ways that women benefit from lifting and there are so many! I can tell you from experience that just the feeling you get from lifting, that you are strong and capable, is amazing. It carries over to so many other aspects of your life, for real!
THERAPEUTIC KETOGENIC DIETS WITH JOY KIDDIE LCHF RD
In this episode of Vinnie Tortorich’s Fitness Confidential Podcast, Vinnie sits down with Joy Kiddie who is a Registered Dietician. They discuss her own weight loss journey that happened after she had already discovered low carb/keto and had been recommending it for her clients for 2 years!
I really enjoyed this episode because listening to Joy describe how she just felt sick but couldn’t really put a finger on why or what was wrong reminded me of exactly how I felt for years before I found the ketogenic diet.
Joy kept a record of her own journey online and you can read about it on her website. She recorded and tracked everything as if she were her very own patient. It is incredibly interesting.
Joy uses therapeutic ketogenic diets to help her patients with seizure disorders, glioblastomas, and type 2 diabetes. She uses different types of low carb diets with different people and tailors them to their specific needs.
20 MINUTE QUICK THIGH & LEG WORKOUT!
This workout is isolated for thigh sculpting, slimming, & toning and doesn’t require weights. It is brought to us by Cassey Ho from Blogilates and is a lot of fun!
That will wrap up this edition of our Newsletter. If you have something that you would like to be included in an upcoming edition just let me know. You can either catch me on Twitter @OthFit or email me contact@othfit.com.
Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you have an amazing couple of weeks!
~Summer