Does your body want to be fat?

“Your Body Wants to be fat anytime it decides that being fat is safe” Jon Gabriel, The Gabriel Method

A friend turned me on The Gabriel Method a few weeks ago and it really resonated with me and my philosophy on health. So why would being fat be safe? It’s not! But as I have said, your health, physically is an expression of how you feel, think, and view the world around you. Well not exactly you, your body.

“Your body doesn’t understand today’s world.”

We evolved to protect ourselves under stress, and we evolved in a time when the major stressors were “starvation, freezing, being eaten.” It’s pretty simple, in any of these survival modes, the body wants to hold on to as much energy as possible. More fat= live longer and stay warmer. Too much fat= get eaten and the perfect amount of fat= live longer, stay warmer, and don’t get eaten.

Our bodies can’t tell the difference between, “I feel overwhelmed with work, family, and trying to fit in everything else” and “I haven’t found any food in 2 days.” Think about the last time you were under an immense amount of emotional stress…. Did you feel bloated, did you gain weight? I see this in clients all the time under too much stress: the inability to lose weight and often times the accumulation of weight in the belly.

I love this book because it delves into so much of the emotional and spiritual elements that are part of gaining healthy habits. Gabriel talks about mental starvation fear of scarcity, emotional obesity, and dysfunctional beliefs: all issues that one needs to consider when looking at their “Fit attitude” as I like to call it.

So I challenge you this week to discover what your “Fit Attitude” is? Do you need to think more about the points Gabriel brings up in his book? If you do, you need support. Don't wait, find it now. The quickest way to change is to look for it and welcome it. Now think about this last thought:

“Be Open to the Possibility that your body is changing”

Are you?

Say No to the Holiday Sugar Coma... Here's How

I've been finding myself warning my clients of the looming holiday season; warning them to be prepared for battle! Who are we fighting for you ask? YOU! Fighting to keep you healthy, feeling great, and loving life! The holiday season is in my opinion the most trying time for those on a mission to eat clean. There are so many more excuses that you can allow to come up it can be exhausting: I have so many parties to go to, my whole family is in town and we go out to eat everyday, it's cold and I feel like comfort foods.... STOP! I am officially putting a damper on these excuses and telling you to prepare now to be able to combat these excuses.

My friend and fellow crossfit trainer Crystal Nelson and I will be taking these next few weeks to try out some clean and Paleo thanksgiving recipes as well as post some helpful info on how to deal with sticky situations like relatives and parties. Check back soon for more! Would love to hear ideas about what you want to know about these situations. I know Crystals first recipe will be a dessert and seeing as I just finished my 30 paleo challenge TODAY! I am thinking dessert is on order.

Warm Fall Treats: Cinnamon Apple Chips and Roasted Cinnamon Vanilla Pecans

It's already starting to snow here in Colorado and it's making me crave warm baked goods. So when I saw the post on facebook from Paleo Pantry about cinnamon apple chips I HAD to make them!



All the cooking I've been doing lately is making me feel really creative in the kitchen and so I saw my bag of pecans and thought of those sugar roasted pecans you get at a fair..... well I don't choose to have sugar, but I thought I could flavor the pecans anyhow and roast them and turned out really yummy.

To Make Cinnamon Apples

Pre heat oven to 350. Slice your apple in thin slices. Coat them with small amount of grapeseed oil in a bowl and then lay out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon and bake for 45 minutes or until apples are dehydrated and crisp. I like mine a little on the gooey side before they get too crisp.

To make Pecans:

In a small bowl place a cup of pecans, 2 tsp of vanilla, 1 tps grapeseed oil, and 1 tsp of cinnamon and mix well. Place pecans in a pyrex baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes.


Try adding other flavors and spices. A little agave wouldn't be terrible ( if you are not being strict about your sugar) for a cheat treat.

Women's Crossfit Bootcamp CONQUERS 20 min Chelsea

CWB 20 Min Chelsae from Lauren Sheehan on Vimeo.

My tue/thurs 7am women's crossfit bootcampers are awesome! They come in early, get it done, and push hard. This week was a little more taxing than the previous weeks with 20 minute Chelsea and Kelly on the schedule.

My Crossfit bootcamp is a sort of hybrid bootcamp/crossfit concoction. I take the crossfit philosphy into all my training sessions but I wanted to create this class to spread my love for crossfit further into the community. It combines body weight movements with minimal equipment for maximum results. The best part about these workouts is the mental challenge. They are made to be as intense as you make them.


For more information on Women's Crossfit Bootcamp click here

Lemon, Garlic, Cliantro Roasted Chicken

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pre-Cooking"][/caption]

Crockpot Roasted Chicken is so easy and it turns out moist and juicy, better than the gross chemical ridden store bought rotisseries. I made mine with lemon, cilantro and garlic. All flavors I love!! I based my recipe off this one.
[caption id="attachment_443" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After cooking"][/caption]


You need:
1 4-6 lb whole chicken
1 whole garlic head, peeled and cloves whole and ready to use
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lemon, sliced
Salt and pepper

Thaw and Skin the chicken, don't forget to remove it's innards. Then rub it down inside and out with kosher salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the crockpot. Fill the inside with garlic cloves scattering some outside as well. Do the same with the Cilantro. Place the lemon slices around the chicken as pictured. Turn on crockpot to low and cook 6-8 hours. Make sure the temp is 170 with a meat thermometer.



I ate mine with a whole lot of broccoli. Veggies and meat: ChecK... I need to grab some nuts now!

America's Excuse

Americas Excuse

I have to say I’ve been running across a lot of excuses lately. As the weather gets colder more people seem to be getting sick. On top of that the holiday season is getting closer and closer and I keep thinking to myself, how many people are using all of these things as an excuse to be unhealthy, not be 100% in love with yourself and your body, all in the name of “The Holiday Season.”

What I realized is that the “holiday season” is a giant, collective, American excuse to GIVE UP!

I am here to challenge you to NOT GIVE IN! Don’t do it. Don’t give in to this ridiculous excuse to eat like crap and not have time for exercise or being healthy.

There are 8 weeks until thanksgiving and that means that you have 8 weeks to train yourself to be healthy during the busy, crazy, holiday season. It’s never too late to start so start NOW! I think there is a correlation between how out of it people get during the holidays and how they are treating their bodies.

Here are a few pointers to be on top of your game….

1) Find support. Join a workout group; find a friend to keep you accountable. I’ve got some great classes ( see below) to help you with this.

2) Start NOW. Don’t wait till the next time you go to store. Don’t wait until you finish off all the crappy food in your fridge.

3) Find info on clean eating. See my blog for recipes and resources. All your holiday sweets and things don’t have to be totally annihilating. Use alternative sweeteners, find gluten free recipes, use whole foods, do your own cooking!

4) If you have a goal why would you give up for 6 weeks or so? Keep going, keep pushing. Only you can put things in your way.

5) Believe in yourself and don’t let everyone else discourage you when they ask you “why aren’t you eating that…just have a little, it won’t hurt you.”

6) Lead by silent example, while everyone else is eating themselves into a coma over the holidays you will be productive, feel great, and be on track with whatever your goals are.

Paleo Quiche

I love a good quiche and this ones totally paleo. I started with an Almond Flour crust from The Gluten free almond flour cookbook. ( I made the pie crust from this recipe minus the agave and the vanilla...) It really hits the spot. Try it out and lemme know what you think.

Ingredients
5 eggs
1 cup chopped turkey bacon
1/2 cup sauted mushrooms
Pie crust ( see link above)

Pre heat oven to 350. Place the chopped turkey bacon and mushrooms in a large saute pan. Cook the turkey bacon until it is crisp and the mushrooms are soft. When it's ready put the mixture into the pie pan ( with the crust ready in it). Whisk the eggs in a bowl, then pour over the mixture in the pie pan. Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife in the center of the quiche comes out clean.