For those of you who can’t live without coffee…

January 22, 2015justanothertaylor 3 Comments

(Me before coffee- the living dead)

(Me after coffee–Let’s get some work done Y’ALL)

Coffee is a game changer. You wake up in the morning feeling weak and helpless thinking about the day ahead of you. While rolling out of bed in your oversized, stained clothing, you’re probably thinking “I can’t go on.” But then, you drink a cup of coffee with a splash of your favorite creamer and BAM. You’re alive and ready to kick this Thursday’s ass.

The problem in this equation is the creamer– I hate my coffee black, but creamer is AWFUL for you. 1. It’s dairy– not good. 2. It’s either full of sugar or artificial sweetener. 3. It has a ton of trans fat, gross. Thankfully, I found my saving grace.

So Delicious Dairy-Free French Vanilla Coconut Milk creamer. (YUM!)

Ingredients: ORGANIC COCONUT MILK (WATER, ORGANIC COCONUT CREAM), DRIED CANE SYRUP, NATURAL FLAVORS, COLORED WITH TITANIUM DIOXIDE, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, CARRAGEENAN, GUAR GUM.

Nothing artificial, and there are only 20 calories in a serving. Coconut milk is so much better for you than the other who-knows-what-is-in-this stuff. If you can’t drink your coffee black, kick your favorite creamer to the curb and give this one a try! My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore after having a glass and I don’t feel guilty for putting a little extra in!

And if you decide to give it a try- let me know what you think!!

Bronde: Hair color for girls who want to be a brunette and a blonde.

January 22, 2015justanothertaylor 2 Comments

“Blondes have more fun.”

“Brunettes have beauty and brains.”

Now how exactly am I supposed to decide on a hair color with two COMPLETELY contradicting statements like that.

If you are SO indecisive like me- I have your answer. Bronde. It is in the middle of brown and blonde (SUCH a creative name -_-). Isn’t it gorgeous? I will definitely be trying this out once summer rolls around.

(might I add that Jesse James Decker is an absolute babe.)

DIY: Embroidered Jeans

January 21, 2015justanothertaylor Leave a comment

DIY Rock Revival jeans. Top were $158. I made the bottom for $20. Get white skinny jeans (bought mine at JC Penny) and stitch with black embroidery thread & a needle! Cheap, cute, and it wasn’t too hard.

Energy Balls (That Taste Like Candy)

January 21, 2015justanothertaylor Leave a comment

I’m just going to come right out and say it–

I have the BIGGEST sweet tooth ever.

Whew, that wasn’t so bad… But seriously, I need to get a grip. I recently came across a recipe for “Peanut Butter Energy Balls” and lets just say my life will never be the same. Basically they are a healthier version of a candy/granola bar mix. In ball form. Does it get any better? YES- it does. You don’t have to bake them! All you do is mix everything together in a big bowl and roll them into balls.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup honey or agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all that together for what seems like an eternity until it’s smooth. Then seriously all you do is set them in the fridge for 30 minutes, roll them into balls and they are ready to eat. I ate one before the gym yesterday and I don’t know if they really gave me energy or if I was just pumped I actually got to eat something that tasted amazing- but I killed the workout.. So afterwords I ate another.

100 calories per ball (I try to limit myself to one a day) Also let’s be honest, this is really how I stored them:

Although they do look fancy in that glass bowl.

How Changing the Foods You Eat; Changes Your Life

January 21, 2015justanothertaylor 3 Comments

My sister, who might I add is a rockin’ 10, lost 60 pounds naturally–through diet only–in 4 months without exercising at all. You’re probably like “get real” but– for once– I am dead serious. Mallory did everything she could possibly think of when she was overweight: exercised, ate “healthy”, and even tried calorie counting. Yet none of it worked. It wasn’t until she was attending Chiropractic school, that she realized what was wrong all along. She was allergic to the “healthy” foods she was eating.

Obviously eliminating all processed foods was her first step. Processed foods are AWFUL for our bodies and if you want to see how they are killing us just watch the documentary “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.” and/or “Food Inc.” (my personal favorites) She then went to get food sensitivity testing done- giving her results that shocked her. Mallory is allergic to some strange things: Black pepper, wheat, dairy, bananas, almonds, rye (the list goes on)… Weird right? These seemingly “healthy foods” were making her keep all her weight on, no matter what she did. They were also inflaming everything in her body causing stomach aches. Her and her husband, Mike, eliminated basically everything from their diets besides water, fish, chicken, and vegetables. (A really strict Paleo diet) They did this for four months as a “cleansing process” and afterwords started to gradually add more things (that neither of them were allergic to) back into their diets. Also, Mallory’s mood improved tremendously. Not only because she looked better and had more confidence- but because she didn’t feel sick anymore. I put together a video for a project while I was still in college over her story (it’s not the best quality, but it’s interesting to hear it from her)

Watch here —–> http://youtu.be/qdRASzAZHUg

There are so many fast ways to lose weight but stop and ask yourself.. is this chemical formulated shake, “meal plan”, etc. good for me? Hell no. Stop! If you are like me and want to truly feel, look and live healthily then you need to put wholesome, natural food in your body! This hasn’t been an easy process for me. I thoroughly enjoy french fries & ketchup, but making changes even if they are small are still making a difference. As Mallory said in the video “Every meal is a new choice.”

I am so excited to share the healthy Paleo recipes I love as well as some of the workouts I like to do during the week!

Living With Change

January 21, 2015justanothertaylor Leave a comment

Change… one small word that has so many different meanings to people. Think of what “change” is to you? Exciting, necessary, downright scary? See what I mean. There’s no real clear way to define the powerful word. There is one thing about change I know effects life in the most drastic way. Your attitude towards it.

I grew up in a small town in Kansas where the population was around 10,000. Besides the occasional “small town drama” everything was comfortable, predictable, and frankly, pretty easy. When it came time to choose a college, I chose to stay in my hometown and go to the local community college for a couple of years. It seemed like the right thing to do: cheaper, more scholarships, etc. Looking back now, I didn’t move away for college because I was scared of change. Even when I graduated from LCC and moved on to a University I chose one that was only 30 minutes away and where my boyfriend (at the time) was also attending.

2014 brought many changes for me: breaking up with my boyfriend of three years, actually having a “college experience”, meeting a new amazing guy, finding a job, graduating college, and moving away. Fast forward to 2015. I started my job in Kansas City, two hours away from my hometown January 5th and also moved into a three bedroom house with two random roommates. (I like to think of myself as Jess Day.) I always thought I was the fun, spontaneous type that would LOVE change and just roll with whatever punches got thrown my way, but this wasn’t the case at all. I didn’t want to say goodbye to my best friends who I had shared millions of memories with over the past years. I didn’t want to end the new relationship I had just started a month earlier. I didn’t want to live with two people whom I knew nothing about. All of these perspectives started to give me a negative outlook on the truly awesome opportunity that was before me. That’s the thing about change. If you have a pessimistic attitude towards it, I can guarantee you are going to hate it. I did. But when I decided to look at the positives: that I was lucky enough to have a job opportunity, have someone who wanted to be with me even through the distance, and live somewhere new and exciting to explore my entire mindset about change, changed.

If you are going through any changes, good or bad, in your life: a hard break-up, new job, moving to a new city… I know that it can be hard to recognize the positives, but if you wake up every single morning and count your blessings it will help you get through the change at hand.

As for dealing with my change, I still have a long way to go. I also realize that there are going to be so many more changes in my life– and there will be in yours too– so get ready for it!