Thursday 17 July 2014

MY GLUTEN FREE JOURNEY

Giving up Lebanese bread was the hardest part of going gluten free. Everything else I found an alternative for.

WHY GO GLUTEN FREE???????????
                                                   
About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with Intercostal Chondritis, Long word right? Its inflammation between the rib joints and can causes severe pain. After visiting many doctors and holistic doctors I decided to take the matter into my own hands and not go down the road of anti- inflammatories for the rest of my life. I am a strong believer in you are what you eat. So I googled what foods cause inflammation and Wheat and Gluten were the 2 that I over consumed. This is how my journey began.

I told my hubby that I would try it for 1 month only to see if the pain would go away and sure enough after 3 weeks the pain was very little. Thinking that this was a joke, I went back to eating wheat and my daily portions of Lebanese bread and pasta, not long after doing this the pain came back. So this is how I started.

Going through the pantry and removing everything that has wheat and gluten was a headache and stressful, because I found out that almost everything had wheat and gluten in it......... I was about to have a melt down, thinking how in the world can I eat and introduce this to my family without it being a burden.

The internet was my life saver. I did my research and went straight to the organic store and stocked up on so many things.


The day I found gluten free bread that actually tasted like normal bread was a relief. After going 3 months with no bread, I knew something had to give. Thank you to Spinneys in Dubai.
                                 



 Organic Gluten Free pasta


My little personal shopper 


                               
The Organic food and cafe in Dubai has so many gluten free items that makes going gluten free so easy.
             

                           

Ill be posting many more gluten free items that have been tried and tested. The ones that I love and the ones that are a no go.











    




BEGINNERS CIRCUIT

In this post, I've attached a circuit for beginners. Its an easy circuit program that you can do any where and at any time. So there are no excuses.

When starting a program make sure you have no injuries and if you do try to work around them.

Please remember that just because you are working out it doesn't necessarily mean you will lose weight. The key is to balance your diet with your activity levels.

ENERGY INPUT = ENERGY OUTPUT

I work out at home, It easy and simple and I can do it at any time of the day

QUICK CIRCUIT/ BEGINNERS
  1. ·    10 SPRINTS (on the spot)
  2. ·   10 SQUATS (stick ur bum out, tummy tucked in and no knees over toes. Make sure your feet are shoulder width. Go down till you are at 90degrees to the ground and then come back up)
  3. ·  10 PUSH UPS (keep ur tummy in, hands outside shoulder width)
  4. ·   10 MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS
  5. ·   10 LEG LIFTS (ON A STEP)
  6. ·  10 SQUAT KICKS (wide legs apart, and squat down and then give a straight high kick when you come up. Repeat.)
  7. ·  10 TRICEP DIPS (do this on the chair, keep your butt close to the chair and elbows back)
  8. ·  10 CRUNCHES (Hands behind your head, keep your elbows back and your chin up. Breathe in on the way down and out on the way up)
  9. ·   10 JUMPING JACKS ( get your arms above your chest level)
  10. ·   10 JOG ON THE SPOT
                                  
                                            REPEAT 5 TIMES

  Enjoy and remember of you are a beginner try to workout 4 times a week and eat a balanced diet....



STARTING OUT ON A NEW HEALTH AND FITNESS JOURNEY

The most hardest thing to do when embarking on a new fitness or health journey is starting. Ask yourself how many times you have said "today I will start or tomorrow or next week". I know how that feels.

 The easiest thing to do is have your workout gear out and ready in front of you.


Taking an hour out of your day to make a change to  your life is not a hard thing to do.
  1. Getting yourself a program is the first and most important step. It will guide you and give you direction into where you are heading and what you will be doing on a daily basis. 
  2. The next step is to incorporate this new adventure into your life. Health and Fitness come hand in hand with your lifestyle. It should be part of your lifestyle, not just a quick fix.
  3. The last step is be organised. Make sure you have your meals prepped, and make sure you make time for yourself. 


Balance is the key to success.
Making sure that your lifestyle is balanced, whether it be your diet or your fitness regime.



Monday 14 July 2014

FASHION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love fashion and getting dressed up!!!!!!!


I love designer wear and love love love jewellery!!!!!!!!!


Oh did I mention I live in Dubai, so you can only imagine the fashion that goes on here.




But there is one thing that I refuse to do. Thats buy a dress or a top and pants that are worth thousands of dollars. On the other hand I will buy shoes, bags and jewellery but not clothes. Now I know that doesn't make sense but in my mind I can make a $5 top look like a million dollars with the right accessories. Crazy? Yes. but I'm one of those mums that loves to mix and match cheap with expensive. Lets face it we are not all made of money.

Mix and Match ladies, its the way to go.




Thursday 10 July 2014

ARE YOU ORGANISED?

What's the first thing you hear a mum say in the morning?

OMG I have so much to do and don't have time to workout!!!!

The answer is GET YOURSELF ORGANISED!!!!!!

Think about how easy your morning  would be if you had everything organised the night before. I am a strong believer of being organised. I feel that everything runs smoothly and less stressful. Priorities your self and have a to do list on the fridge that will help you remember to tackle the things that need to get done. I follow a few blogs and love reading about how other mums tackle the normal day to day things. Two of my favourites are honeywerehome.blogspot.ae and iheartorganising.blogspot.ae. They both have great ideas on keeping your house organised and include some cute printables to help.

Here are a few pointers to help get on top of things:

  • always try and wake up before everyone on a weekday and have that extra 30mins of quiet time for your self to get yourself together. 
  • prepare the kids school bags the night before, that way your not a mess in the morning
  • always have a spare bag of clothes, wipes, nappies, diaper bags etc in the car for those times where you forget to pack a bag.
  • always have healthy snacks ready in the fridge for you to just pick up and go
  • if your kids are old enough, allocate tasks for them and give them some responsibility. Please don't give me the excuse that they never listen, remember you are the parent not them
  • try and organise your purse once a week, making sure that all your necessities are in there
  • don't do house chores everyday, allocate days for your house work and the other days are for you to enjoy
  • always make time for yourself, if it means waking up early or when the little one is having a nap

I'm sure there are a million other ideas that I have missed, and I would love to hear them. For now thats all I got, and I hope they help.

SMOOTHIES

Its no secret that I love smoothies, no matter whats in them. they are so simple and can be made with any ingredient that your like. i tend to have one smoothie a day, usually between my meals. I also make smoothies for my kids and tend to put spinach leaves, kale, or any vegetables in it. If you blend it with fruit and a little organic guava  syrup they will never know they are drinking their vegetables.


Below are a few smoothies that I have made for myself and my family.



with this smoothie, I blended 
1 green apple, 
1 cucumber, 
a teaspoon of ginger,
 1 celery stick, 
1 teaspoon of chia seeds, 
plus 2 cups of water








 I bought this book a while ago and always go back to it for interesting smoothies. 


 If i ever prepare too much I always store the extra in freezer bags and label them

I LOVE TO WORK OUT!

Have you noticed all the new trends and fads that are evolving in the fitness industry????? Its crazy and blowing up so fast. I remember when I decided to be an aerobics instructor, it was a huge deal at the time for my family, and when I enrolled at university to study a Bachelor of Health Science, I was the only Arab female studying  this course. At the time I was very intimidated and felt out of place, however now it would be a complete different story.

Every where I turn there is a new gym opening, or a new style of exercise, or some new crazy tea or supplements. At the end of the day people only want one thing. To be healthy!!!!!! Among them there are the ones that are just craving for that quick fix or that magic cure to lose all their unwanted weight. 


What happened to the good old fashioned way of losing weight, Eat healthy and exercise regularly..... Its as easy as that....... The key is to have a balance in your life, with every thing that you do, from your diet, to your career to your family.



The most common excuse I hear from my clients is that I don't have time or I'm bored...........In my mind I'm thinking shut the hell up, because when a person is so desperate to lose their weight or get back to a healthy balanced lifestyle, they will do anything to achieve it. I am the best example for this, I put on 38kgs with my first baby and lost it all, but thats another time and another post. 

I guess this post is about how awesome and easy it is to get into shape these days and how happy I am that the industry that I love so much has just blown up and is so out there for anyone to enjoy and use. 

I love working out, its my breathe of fresh air in the morning, without it I feel like I'm chocking the entire day.




Tuesday 8 July 2014

OUR POSTS

Part of being an expat wife is getting  to travel around the world and see different cultures and unique people. Our first post was the hardest for me and my family, and by family I mean my sisters, brother and mother. I grew up in a very tight Lebanese Australian community and it was very rare to just pick up and leave for a new life away form those that I love. But being the good wife, I did just that, My husband and I felt that there was so much more out there to see and do. So with our 2 little girls, who at the time were 3 and 7 months picked up and moved to CHINA. We promised our family that it would only be for 18months, well its been 8 years and counting!!!!!!!!

This pic was taken a few months before we left Sydney

We moved to an area in China called Shenzhen, where not many people spoke English and their culture was so different to what I was use to. So for the first month I spent everyday locked in my bathroom crying and regretting ever leaving my family and leaving Sydney. I had a nanny that wore heels and couldn't say a word of english and a driver that couldn't say hello. What the hell was I thinking????????????

Being non asian in Shenzhen was like being a celeberity, my children were always mobbed by a large crowd of people who wanted to touch them or take pictures with them or touch their hair. 

It took me 5 weeks to realise that this was my life now and I was going to try my best to support my husband, so I hired a private tutor who taught me how to speak mandarin. It was the best thing I did. I started to really enjoy my time there and made some beautiful friends that will always be in my heart.



The perks of living in Shenzhen is that it was a 45min boat ride to Hong Kong. So every month we would go and take the kids to disney land Hong Kong. The girls loved it but we soon realised that we had over did it, when Cinderella and Snow White would recognise my daughters and call out to them and greet them by their names.


After a year we moved to Shanghai. What an awesome city, full of pollution, dust, dirt but beautiful people and amazing shopping. There are so many weird things that I saw in my time in China, and one of those was toilet training babies as newborn!! Who knew!!! I loved living in China and will go back with my eyes closed.

The Great Wall of China.....AMAZING and BREATH TAKING

We left China and came to Abu Dhabi, where it was the complete opposite in culture, religion and everything else. This is the city that I fell pregnant with my little princess Jasmine, so it will always be a special place for me. One word to describe the UAE WOW....... My journey is still going, so I will always have something to say about this amazing place.

Being pregnant in 50degrees heat and 100% humidity is no fun


ALINEPLUS3



THINGS THAT I LOVE

Besides God, my family and friends there are a few things that I am obsessed with:

  • FITNESS
Ive been in the fitness industry since I was 17 years old and have loved sports for as long as I can remember. I started off cleaning toilets and gym equipment at 5am to get through university and then ended up teaching different types of aerobic classes at various gyms in Sydney Australia. When I finished my first degree I started my own personal training and loved it until I got married and then it become a little distraction. Being a newly wed and having to wake up at 4am and come home at 10pm just didn't work for me so I decided to teach PDH/PE at my old high school until I fell pregnant. ( now my pregnancies are another post)..........


After finding out that I have a bulging hernianted disc in my T7 an T8 and Illiotibial syndrome in my left leg, I was told no more weight training, no more running, no jumping or any twist movements. (this is another post) 

  • FASHION
I don't know any girl that doesn't love fashion, and being here in Dubai makes you love it even more. I love to mix designer fashion with everyday cheap finds. I love designer clothes but sometimes can not justify the price tag that comes along with it.......


I love to mix and match fashion pieces whether it be cheap, old, new, designer, what ever, as long as it looks good. My motto is where it with confidence. If you have confidence you can make a $5 top look like $100. 



  • ORGANISATION
I'm not one of those over obsessive mums that is crystal clear with everything she does but I do try to be. I believe that an organised mum can accomplish anything she sets out to do. In saying that the most important thing to organise would be your kids before you plan a trip out. Again thats another post.


WHY BLOG??????

While having a shower tonight I was thinking about why am I starting this blog?? A million answers came to my mind, but here are a few:

  • Why not?
  • I love to help people
  • I've always got something to say, so why not put it down on paper(blog)
  • I've got plenty of free time
  • I read so many blogs which are awesome but feel that there are a few issues that I would love to give my two cents worth

So this blog might do well or might not, but I been wanting to start a blog now for over 2 years and have always been afraid to. So here it goes and I hope you enjoy it.

Oh by the way, I'm a science, health and fitness freak not a literacy person, so if my grammar or spelling is off please just brush it off.





Just a little thought

 
Hi and welcome to Alineplus3. Plus 3 as you can see in this pic are my beautiful little princesses that are my everything. I love being a mum, wife and motivator. Besides being a full time mum and wife to an amazing man, I am also a Fitness and Lifestyle Coach. My qualifications include, a bachelor degree in health science and a diploma in physical eduction, I have a certificate in health, fitness and sports training and a few other personal training and aerobics instructing certificates. I have been in the health and fitness industry for 20 years and find that with all the new things coming out, people forget to use and apply the simple tools to look and feel good.

I love helping real women find themselves after having children. I tend to see so many women who are screaming from the inside for help, and when I see them I just want to give them a hug and tell them that they are not alone and that things do get better.

I find it so hard to believe that a women can not go back to being the way she was after kids. And by being herself I mean mentally and to some extent physically. I know what  your thinking, to some extent? Well, don't expect your boobs and any sagging skin to magically go back to the way they were without the help of surgery. Yes unfortunately that's reality and I am living proof (that's another topic).

Through my blog I will be talking a lot on FITNESS and LIFESTYLE. I strongly believe that the 2 come hand in hand. Its so easy to achieve your goals if you are mentally in the zone. I believe that if you put your mind to something that you really want then you can accomplish anything.

So this blog is about me trying to live a healthy life and trying to help and encourage others to do the same. Hope you enjoy it.