Join me in January! SLOW-CARB DIET

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As much as we love this time of year,

I think we are all looking forward to

a NEW BEGINNING.

a FRESH START.

a NEW YEAR!

thePlan:

SLOW-CARB DIET

by Tim Ferriss!

Let’s get focused, healthy

and REACH OUR GOALS!

This is a 6 WEEK plan that will change your life. My husband and I have done it multiple times and NEVER FAIL to see results!

Three years ago I invited a small group of friends and clients to join me in this. I had read all about the diet and needed to put it to the test. ACROSS THE BOARD, every person that stuck with it was left with a great testimony!

it’s HEALTHY

it’s SAFE

it’s TESTED

it’s EFFECTIVE

theDIET

6 weeks long
6 disciplined days per week
1 mandatory “cheat day” per week

Details HERE.

Here’s a great book by the creator of The Slow-Carb Diet Tim Ferris

THE 4-HOUR CHEF

Share pictures, recipes, cheat foods, restaurant experiences, highs, and lows through my Facebook page

AshleyBensonFitness

Be sure to ‘LIKE’ it!

Oh, and invite your family and friends to join you!

It’s more fun with more people!

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8 HEALTHY SALAD OPTIONS

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Men’sHealth shared

8 SUPER SALADS

Eat This, Not That!

Make good food choices this season!

Click on the link to get the recipe!

Curried Chicken

Mediterranean

Riviera Salmon

Tuscan Tuna

Apple-Blue

Asian Chicken

Chopped Salad

Fiery Egg Salad

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Smoothie Shopping List

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I realized today when I was shopping at Trader Joe’s that I have a mental smoothie shopping list that I use. I keep foods from this list in my kitchen so that my family can have a variety of smoothie options available to them. So I’ve decided to put MY list down on “paper” and share it with you! With smoothies, I encourage you to be creative! Some are better than others, but soon you will find combinations you LOVE! This happens to be my list, so feel free to add other foods to your list.

FRUITS

bananas

apples

oranges

strawberries

rasberries

blueberries

blackberries

pineapple

mango

papaya

kiwi

dates

*If possible, choose ORGANIC and SEASONAL fruit. If not, consider frozen fruit. Also remember that fruit has a lot of sugar, so go easy and leave room for your green friends I list next!

GREENS

kale

spinach

parsley

cucumber

PROTEIN SOURCE

high quality time-release chocolate protein powder

organic greek plain yogurt

almond butter

oatmeal

LIQUID

water

almond milk (we don’t have much dairy around here)

orange juice

coconut milk/water

and yes, coffee and herbal tea

EXTRA GOODIES

coconut oil – click HERE to check out the best coconut oil! If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you!
honey

bee pollen

flax seeds

hemp seeds

spirulina

mint leaves

cinnamon

ginger

agave nectar

stevia

WHY I’M A FAN OF SMOOTHIES:

Blending food takes care of the first step in digestion: chewing! Food breaks down faster in the stomach. It’s like a mini-vacation for your digestive system 🙂
Smoothies offer a chance to “eat” food you usually wouldn’t eat. For instance, I dislike Kale… a lot! I’ve tried it different ways, it’s just gross to me. One day I got brave and put a small amount in a smoothie. Surprisingly I didn’t hate it! In fact, I kinda liked it. Slowly I began adding more and more kale. Now I’m to the point where I crave it. Yes, I’ve gone there!
Smoothies offer a chance to sneak food to your kids body that they would NEVER imagine eating! THIS REALLY WORKS! At first my kids had no idea what they were “eating”, but by this point, they know I put all sorts of stuff in. Both of my kids like their smoothie different ways, and I adjust them according to their preference.
They are easy.
They are fast.
They are yum.

These are some of my favorite smoothies:

CHOCOLATE COCONUT POST-WORKOUT SMOOTHIE

BERRY GOOD SMOOTHIE

POST-WORKOUT CHOCOLATE ALMOND SMOOTHIE

SUPER HEALTHY TROPICAL SMOOTHIE

SPINACH BANANA SMOOTHIE

Please share the foods you add to your smoothies!

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HEALTHY FATS that reduce BODY FAT

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This is a list that

Women’s Health

put out on foods that contain healthy fats that can

“quell your appetite, cutting the number of calories you eat in a day, while improving your heart health and stoking your metabolism.”

Grass-Fed Beef naturally leaner, fewer calories, and higher omega 3’s compared to conventional meat

Olive Oil breaks down fats in the body

Coconut battles bacteria and improves cholesterol scores

Dark Chocolate “contains pure cocoa butter, a source of digestion-slowing stearic acid. Milk chocolate’s cocoa butter content, on the other hand, is tempered with added butter fat and, as a result, passes more quickly through your GI tract. Because dark chocolate takes more time to process, it staves off hunger and helps you lose weight.”

Almond Butter contain a compound that limits the amount of fat absorbed by the body

I would also like to add:
Avocados and Flaxseeds

EAT UP.
IT’S GOOD FOR YOU.

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Fitness Vacation Recap 5: Sand Bag Workout & Seashells

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I’m finally finishing the Fitness Vacation recap. I took last week off to rest and enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. We had a great week- hope you did too!

theWORKOUT

As I planned for this trip, I tried to incorporate as much variety for our workouts as possible. I absolutely love the resistance training up on the roof top with my gym equipment…

but what about out on the beach?

Well I wasn’t about to take my precious dumbbells out to the sand and sea,

so I had to be creative!

theSAND BAG

It only took a few minutes to put them together.

Here are some of the exercises we did:

SAND BAG SWINGS

Like the kettlebell, the SAND BAG provides uneven weight distribution:

The muscles have to work together as one unit.
The stabilizers muscles must do their job in order to control the bag.
The CORE must be engaged in every move.

All good stuff!

We could feel it after the workout!

Now for a JOG ON THE BEACH.

So what’s next…

No question about it: LUNGES!!!

Oh, and why not?

Now we are just having fun.

Thank you, Kay, for taking this picture at the very second I look like I have it all under control! LOL

theSHELLS

I love shells and always have – I still have my shell box full of beach memories from my childhood! I’m fascinated with the fact that each shell has a history. Every single one has its own unique story! What a miracle! I also feel a need to know what each one is. I realize that’s a big undertaking for me, but I found some help from iloveshelling.com

Being this was my first time to this area, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was really happy with our treasures! I think we may have found some extra special beach bling on the count of HURRICANE SANDY.

We found a whole sand dollar EVERY DAY we were there!

We also found the most beautiful Pin Shells! I couldn’t stop collecting them.

Ok, I think these are shark teeth or something????

If you know, PLEEEEASE tell me!

And what in the world is this???????

A local on the beach told me this was a dolphin vertebra. I saw an image online of a shark vertebra that looked like this.

What do you think?

The rest of my collection…

If you know about any of these shells, PLEASE share!

What did I find?

They are all so unique and beautiful.

theEND

This was the end of this awesome week,

but THE BEGINNING of a

NEW outlook. imagination. skill

& motivation

towards a healthy life.

Thank you

– KAY –

for documenting and sharing the wonderful memories made on this trip 🙂

If you have a group interested in coming on a

Health & Fitness Vacation,

contact me and WE WILL TALK!

ashley@ashleybensonfitness.com

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Fitness Vacation Recap 4: THURSDAY

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the BEACH

Thursday morning we headed out to the beach… thinking it was warmer than it really was!

But that didn’t stop us from the workout! HEHEHE… Seriously, my peeps were awesome!

OK, I was really cold! I forgot my jacket!

the FISHERMAN

So this fisherman put out his line, and within minutes he was reeling something in…

It was very exciting to us! I’m embarrassed to say that I clapped for him once he had the fish in his hand. He looked over at us and said “Hi” with a head nod.

We then felt that we should go over to him to see the fish he caught.

The Fisherman was really nice: He showed us the fish and told us about it. We learned that he works for a fishing magazine and gets paid to go up and down the Florida Coast fishing… “The Best Job!” He was in this particular location because of the migrating fish. We thought that was so cool!

Well, it became cooler a few hours later when we saw – from our balcony -what we think to be schools of fish migrating! It was really hard to believe what we were seeing. There were no clouds making shadows and the dark forms changed constantly!

If anyone has any info on what we were seeing, PLEASE share! I would love to know more about this!

Oh and by the way, this is what that exact spot normally looks like- plus some surfers!

Here is one more picture of this spot, plus me holding a really cool surfboard pretending to know what I am doing with it! LOL

The dark shadows kept moving south for the next few hours, and then we never saw them again.

the SNACK

This is me eating delicious Roasted Sweet Corn from MELISSA’S. They are good as a salad topping, in trail mix and salsas, but we just ate them alone! They make for a great SWEET TREAT, and we all agreed!

Kay and Carolyn were eating a HEALTHY SNACK of chicken salad, veggies and hummus.

the MEAL

We had a LOT of wonderful zucchini from MELISSA’S to eat, and this is how we used them:

1) ZUCCHINI CHIPS

slice

toss in COCONUT OIL

add seasoning

sprinkle with parmesan cheese

350 degrees – cook 30 minutes

2) ZUCCHINI LASAGNA

Layer

spaghetti sauce – diced zucchini – ricatta cheese

Top with Parmesan Cheese

Here I did 3 layers.

Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

3) ZUCCHINI PIZZA

We didn’t make this on our trip, but it is a great healthy way to eat zucchini.

Find the recipe HERE.

Tomorrow I will let you in on our final day, FRIDAY.

SAND BAG WORKOUT

and

BEACH BLING

If you are interested in your own

HEALTH & FITNESS VACATION

e-mail me at

ashley@ashleybensonfitness.com

and we will talk!

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Fitness Vacation Recap 3: WEDNESDAY

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We were expecting Wednesday to be rainy and cold, so I had planned that we would take advantage of the indoor space for our workout. Well my weather app was WAY off. Wednesday ended up being one of the most beautiful, warm days!

the WORKOUT

This is the day I pulled out the skateboards.

Up on the roof was the perfect place to use them!

So up we went….

This is the perfect location for CIRCUIT TRAINING!

Here I am doing a

ROLLING FLY PUSH-UP

Chris doing a ROLLING FLY PUSH-UP

This is the ROLLING REVERSE LUNGE.

A W E S O M E hamstring exercise!

80/20 SQUAT

Check out the ROLLING PIKE PUSH-UP video here.

We filmed a mini SKATEBOARD WORKOUT while we were there if you are interested in any of these exercises. I’ll let you know when it’s available.

CAUTION…

I do not recommend doing exercises on the skateboard if you have knee or shoulder problems.
Stretch and warm up properly first.
If you do try any of these exercises, be sure you are close to something to grab on to if the skateboard decides to buck you off!
Everyone of these exercises required a strong CORE! Keep it ENGAGED!!! Read this to find out more about ENGAGING YOUR CORE.

the AFTERNOON

Being that this was the perfect weather day we decided to hit the beach!

Some of us enjoyed the waves…

Chris Skim-Boarding

Chris teaching Iver to Skim-Board

Some enjoyed the sand

And others enjoyed her beach chair 🙂

a SMOOTHIE

I introduced the group to a GREEN SMOOTHIE. As I was making it, I has some serious apprehension from my group, but after I made everyone taste it, I had some new believers!

“Wow! I could actually drink this!” said Chris.

This is what went in this GREEN SMOOTHIE…

Frozen Tropical Fruit

Greek Yogurt

KALE

Banana

Flax Seeds

and

Coconut Oil

Buy the best coconut oil here: TROPICAL TRADTIONS

This is Kay enjoying her GREEN SMOOTHIE!

Tomorrow’s Post:

the FISHERMAN

Migrating Fish

and

ZUCCHINI

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Fitness Vacation Recap 2: MONDAY/TUESDAY

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MONDAY & TUESDAY: Each group I bring to this retreat will be different, and I learned very quickly that this particular group was not a

“morning person”! LOL

For those of you who never saw the sunrise, here it is!

theWORKOUT

Kay was up early with me,

so we took advantage of that beautiful time of day.

I did Kay’s a.m. session downstairs in the basement. Most mornings we were out on the patio working out, but this particular morning it was a bit chilly so we stayed inside, opened up the doors, and enjoyed the view and ambiance of the ocean.

After the session we headed up-stairs for breakfast.

Kay was eating a post-workout meal,

while the others

– just getting out of bed –

ate a pre-workout meal.

After breakfast I took the rest of the group out to the

beach for a morning pilates session.

This is me LOVING teaching pilates!

THE BEST GYM EVER!!!

forLUNCH

We had the option of mixing a

Protein Meal-Replacement Smoothie

Chicken Salad Lettuce Wrap with Hummus & Avocado

(I think everyone chose this!)

theVACATION

For those of you wondering… YES! This is a vacation!

FIRST:: It’s SO awesome to be able to PAUSE all of life’s responsibilities and focus on nothing but

HEALTHY EATING & EXERCISE!

Here it becomes enjoyable… Its the perfect environment to focus and learn! If we can find a way to enjoy these important responsibilities, we will be able to make them a lifestyle!

SECOND:: From lunch until about 4:00 is all about YOU time. It was a time to enjoy the beach,

hang out by the pool, or explore

HISTORIC ST. AUGUSTINE!

There is so much to do and see in this unique place.

Check this out for more info on St. Augustine.

the SUNSET ROOF-TOP SESSION

Ok, so besides the beach, THIS is my favorite place to workout!

Just imagine all the FUN we had! LOL

forDINNER

Grilled Chicken and Fish

Roasted Potatoes

Lemon Quinoa Cilantro Chickpea Salad

-from TheDivaDish-

We roasted potatoes, onion, and garlic together

all from Melissa’s Produce

and added fresh rosemary from my friend’s garden.

the EVENING

enjoy the stars on the ROOF TOP DECK
play Xbox 360 or pingpong
watch TV or put on a movie
play cards or board games
go to the beach for night-time shell hunting 🙂

We were serious SHELL HUNTERS.

We went out about 11:30 pm because it was

LOW LOW TIDE!

We were treasure hunting 🙂

Chis is standing in a place that was completely under water during high-tide.

This guy had a bad night.

Soon after we saw him, I found a few shark teeth!

OOOOOOOOOOOO

I’ll post pictures of them in a later post when I show off

ALL of my BEACH BLING I found.

The next post I will let you in on our

SKATEBOARD workouts

and

SKIM-SURFING!

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Fitness Vacation Recap 1: PREP-WEEKEND

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Last week I hosted my first Health and Fitness Vacation!

I took a group to St Augustine, FL for the week. Can I just say that it was awesome??? Well, it was!

This week I will recap our experience,

so be sure to check back in each day to get a look at some of

the EXERCISE

the FOOD

& the FUN

that happened on this

Fitness Vacation.

the WEEKEND PREP

Saturday – 5:00 AM! – I pulled out of my driveway and headed towards the beach! My car was LOADED with exercise mats, stability balls, bands, rings, a kettle bell, skateboards, and plenty of dumbbells.

It was early, but I love driving at that time of day.

From where I live, the drive took 8ish hours.

Since I homeschool, I was able to bring my son, Iver, along.

It was “bring your son to work” week. LOL.

And I have to say he LOVES my work!!!

I’m so thankful he is such a good kid. I loved having him there.

Thanks to Siri, my iPhone got us to the house with no problem. This house was so much more amazing than the pictures showed online. We first took some time to explore the house. Actually, that took a while because it is HUGE!

the HOUSE

The second floor is the living space WITH A VIEW!

Off of the living space is the most beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean. We kept those doors open most of the time.

On the other side is the KITCHEN.

Out the kitchen doors is the pool.

the BASEMENT

There is one bedroom and a bathroom down there. It also has an Xbox 360- which my son was excited about- and a ping pong table. There are double doors that led out to a water front patio.

the 3RD FLOOR

There are 5 bedrooms on this floor.

the MASTER SUITE

These stairs lead up to the ROOF TOP balcony.

This was by far one of my favorite spaces!

Oh Yes!

This is where the workouts can happen!

SUNDAY: I woke up early to the sound of crashing waves! Great way to start the week!

I enjoyed breakfast with my little man on the balcony.

*SMOOTHIE*

We watched the SURFERS enjoy the bigger than usual waves, thanks to hurricane Sandy.

I spent some time getting focused on the workouts and meals for the week…

while enjoying my ADVOCARE SPARK :)))

Oh, and we ended up down at the beach for a while!

I prepared quiche for the week. I made 8 pies for an optional breakfast for my crew.
I sautéed the garlic, onion and vegetables I got from
MELISSA’S PRODUCE
in coconut oil from
TROPICAL TRADITIONS
and have to say they turned out great!