New Year's resolution - Get fit

When January rolls around, many people write down their New Year’s resolutions (we did that on our blog). Everybody thinks about how to change certain aspects or habits of her or his life to have a great year. “Lose weight”, “Eat clean”, “Go to the gym” or “Get fit” are just a few goals for some of us. 

We want to help you to reach these goals by introducing you to five tips:

1. Before you get started think about your eating habits! Why don’t you try to keep a food diary for one week? If you don’t want to write all down, take pictures of everything you eat! After this week try to rethink all dishes and snacks you had and split them into “good” (which means they are healthy) and “bad” (unhealthy) dishes. What do you want to change? Do you eat enough vegetables and fruit? Are there any snacks/products/dishes you never want to eat again? Also keep in mind: When do you eat and how often?
    
2. Drink! Drink! Drink! Do never forget to drink enough! You need a healthy hydrated body to get fit! How do you want to get through those workouts with a dehydrated, tired and slow body? Drinking helps you to decrease cravings and lets your body burn fat better. What should you drink? Forget about diet coke or other sweet beverages! Water and unsweetened tea, those are your new best friends! Make sure that you drink at least ½ of your body weight in ounces daily and take a bottle of water everywhere you go!
    
3. Move your body every single day! And now, we are not talking about hard workout routines! Try to avoid the elevator. Ride your bike instead of taking the bus or driving your car. Maybe go for a walk after work or school. There are so many ways to move without sweating! Every single step is a step into the right direction!
    
4. Now it is time to talk about workout and fitness. Yoga, running, tennis, cycling, judo,… which type of sports do you like the most? Are there any facilities near your home, like a fitness centre or do you have sports equipment at home? If you don’t have the money or even the time to go to a fitness centre use the internet! There are so many workouts on YouTube!
    
5. Finally motivate yourself! Take “before and after pictures”. Find role models on the internet, print them and stick them on your fridge (No bony supermodels! You want to get fit not anorexic!) Or ask your friends if they want to join you and become your fitness buddies. Last but not least! We have a saying in Austria which means “All beginnings are difficult.” (“Aller Anfang ist schwer.”) Yes it is! So why don’t you start now? There is no excuse sweetheart!

See you next Sunday! Maybe with sore muscles… ;)

Juno and Alex xx

January Blues And How To Beat It

We can't be the only ones going through this right now. With all the festivities being over, having gotten back to work and maybe failing miserably at keeping up those new year resolutions *raises hand*, it is quite understandable to be a little down. We can easily get stuck in a rut of going to work, coming home and just stretching out on the couch and watch all the TV shows that have come back on. What can possibly be done to get out of that viscious cycle? Well, here are a few ideas:

- Read a book! I, Juno, am currently very much enjoying reading the Harry Potter series. Yes, I do realise, I might be the last person on earth to start but better late than never, right?

- Socialise! While all you want to be doing right now is crawling in that "TV-spot" out of cushions and blankets, that you have built yourself over the last couple of weeks, fight that urge! Chances are your friends might be feeling the same right now and they could really use a bit of kick in the butt. Get lunch or a drink with a friend you've lost touch with or your parents, have a wild party at your house (keep in mind you could really regret that the next day) or get out of town for the weekend. Just do something other than lying on the couch.

I, Alex, just had my Maturaball (prom) on friday and it was amazing. Being in the commitee, the anticipation was sadly a bit blurred from the stress all the organistions brought. On the ball, however, I was so glad that everything went according to plan and i really enjoyed that surreal experience!

- Make plans for your summer holidays! One of the best cures known to man for a downer phase is looking forward to something in the summer, sun and sand (or if you're not into that whole beach holiday shebang, a destination to suit your desire of course). A city you've always wanted to visit? A festival you already wanted to attend last summer but didn't get time off from work? A friend in a foreign country you haven't seen for ages? Now is the time to book tickets and get that anticipation going!

We hope you got some ideas what to do against your couch-potatoiness and we'd appreciate it if you left a comment to let us know.

See you next sunday! - Juno and Alex

Je suis Charlie Hebdo

Today’s topic is dedicated to Cabu, Wolinski, Charb, Tignous and all other victims, their families and friends.

On Wednesday, 7th January, gunmen shot dead 12 people at the Paris office of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Charlie Hebdo is a French satiric newspaper which published lots of controversial cartoons about different topics, like religion, politics and so on.
During the attack, the assassins shouted  "Allahu akbar" ("God is great" in Arabic) and wounded another 11 people, four of them gravely.
"We are threatened because we are a country of liberty," President Hollande said to some reporters of BBC. It’s a tough time, not only for France, but for the whole world. It is our duty to work together and fight against injustice. Seeing as we are bloggers we understand that freedom of the press is a key factor of democry and of utmost importance. Vandalising that human right is a threat to one's freedom. The police has now shot the terrorist attackers.
We are all Charlie!

Show some support by including #jesuischarlie in your posts on social media! 

See you next Sunday - Juno and Alex xx

Lunch Quickie

Welcome to our first post of 2015! Sadly that means that the Holidays are almost over which makes clear that the stress of everyday-life is coming back. To prevent you from having to come up with a healthy and quick lunch to make, we've thought of a vegetarian option that can be adjusted to your linkings. Meat lovers could easily add bacon!

Pasta with Feta and spinach

Ingredients

- pasta of your choice

- Feta cheese

- leaf spinach

- onion

- garlic

- olive oil

- salt and pepper

Preparation

- If your leaf spinach is frozen like ours, put it in your microwave for a few minutes.

- Start heating water with some salt.

- In the meantime, chop your onion and your garlic clove into slices and put it in a pan with some olive oil.

- Cook the pasta 2-3 minutes less than it says on the packet.

- Cut your Feta into little pieces.

- Towards the end of your pasta cooking, start heating up the pan and fry your onion and garlic until golden brown. 

Add the spinach.

- Sieve your cooked pasta and also add into the pan along with the Feta cheese.

- Leave it on the stove for a moment, just so all the ingredients can mesh together well.

Serve in a bowl of your choice and enjoy!

We hope that you liked our little recipe suggestion! Leave a comment if you tried it out!
See you next Sunday!

Juno and Alex xx