How to Get Shiny, Smooth Locks

     I don't know about you, but my hair could use a lot more TLC than it is getting! My own hair is down almost to my waist and is naturally blonde so it gets damaged pretty easily. I have been obsessed with finding new ways to help it out a little and here are my top ones:

Masks:

*Coconut Oil Treatment:
       Find a jar of coconut oil at your local grocery store (I found mine at Sprouts but it is sold at City Markets and Safeways too!) and take about a quarter cup and warm it in the microwave (it should be a solid oil when you buy it, so just heat it until it melts). Take that and really saturate the ends of your hair with it, you don't want to go too much into your roots because it will make your hair heavier even after you wash it out and is unnecessary since your hair has natural oils on your scalp anyway. :)  Repeat this until your hair is soaking with oil! After this just put it up into a bun or a clip and let it soak for at least an hour, more if possible! When you are done just take it out and shampoo and condition like normal, I usually shampoo twice just because I'm scared I wont get all of the oil out! But do whatever works for you.


* Macadamia Deep Repair Masque:
     Personally I absolutely love this hair mask, I recommend it over all other masks I have ever tried! It is a little pricey though, I found mine for 30$ at my local Ulta. I still think it is worth it to give it a shot! Mine lasts about 3 months, and my hair has never felt smoother or looked shinier!



Avocado Honey Olive Oil Mask:
     This is another homemade mask that I highly recommend as well. Mix a whole avocado, two tablespoons honey, and about three tablespoons olive oil together until you have a creamy,smooth paste. My hair is very long and that's the amount I use, but if you have shorter hair I would cut that in half. Apply all over the length of your hair and again, saturate it. I only let this sit about 45 minutes, but the longer you leave it in, the longer the treatment has time to work! When finished, just shampoo and condition like normal!


Foods:

*Almonds: The natural and healthy fat and oils in raw almonds help make hair shiny and smooth as well as your skin supple.

*Avocado: The healthy natural fat found in avocados help moisturize your hair from the inside out. They work both topically or by eating to help keep hair shiny and healthy.

*Water: Just as your skin can look dehydrated and dull when you don't drink enough water, so can your hair. It reacts in the same way to dehydration because when your scalp dries out and stops moisturizing the hair properly, the hair looks dry and dull, not to mention dandruff!

*Fruits and vegetables: It is very important to eat as much or more than your recommended daily servings of these because the vitamins and minerals dictate how well your body functions: aka how well you hair will look. Your hair is a direct representation of your bodies health because after all it is dead protein from your body. The dead protein getting turned into hair that comes from a person who eats junk and fatty foods which don't have the nutrients it needs will look dull and lifeless, but a person whose filling themselves with the foods it requires will in turn grow hair that is shiny and healthy looking because hair only mirrors the bodies true wellbeing. 



I hope these masks and ideas help your hair as much as they helped mine! I'd love to hear about other ideas that I have been missing out on! Thanks!:)

Foods that Help my Running Performance

     So lately I have been running in the heat of the afternoon because that is the only time I can. Basically I have all day now to either make or break my run with the food that I eat. I have been trying to eat pretty strictly due to this but I always have a treat, usually its just after practice. I have been doing this for a while now and I have some good foods/meals that seem to help me that Id like to share with you all (I also enjoy the taste too!):

     -Lately chia seeds soaked overnight in 3 parts pure maple syrup and 1 part water (about two tablespoons dry seeds) mixed with about a cup and a half of plain Greek yoghurt has been a staple in my diet. Sometimes I eat them separately, but I really like them together. Ill eat that for breakfast or lunch with other foods like peaches or even a sandwich if I am really hungry that day.

     **** On a side note: I think that it is extremely important to make sure you eat enough calories in a day, especially if you are an athlete or exercise period. Now a days, many people are more cautious or afraid to eat to much in fear of gaining to much excess weight. But you need to eat. Sometimes I will eat two sandwiches, a peach, a sliced cucumber, a salad, and chips and salsa only for lunch. That's just what happens when you work out. If you are hungry, eat. You actually do yourself a disservice by ignoring hunger pains. There is scientific proof that skipping meals slows down weight loss. Eat as much as you feel hungry for, just make sure its the good for you stuff! :)

      - Anyways: Large salads and lots of veggies have been a staple lately too! It totally helps hydrate me so that I can perform my best when running (did you know that being hydrated increases your speed between 10-15% more that dehydrated athletes? yupp!)

      - I also drink a lot of soy milk during the seasons I run the most. I am not vegan or lactose intolerant, I just find that if I drink a glass of milk even an hour before a run, I get sick to my stomach and get gross cotton mouth! But with soy (or almond) milk, I can drink it for the protein and I don't feel icky later. It's a big relief!

     - I also am a big advocate of chicken and brown rice or fish with brown rice! I always perform better with that meal eaten about four hours in advance or the night before a race! It is my go to meal!


So that's everything I've got so far, but I will update if I discover anything new!

-Katy

Supernatural

     So. There is this TV show that I have been absolutely obsessed with lately. If you couldn't tell by the title, its called Supernatural. I started watching it with a friend and became hooked! I am already halfway through season two on Netflix and it has only been about a week and a half! OMG. The two main characters names are Sam and Dean and they such are hunks!!! So gorgeous, at least in my opinion ;) Obviously I am excited about this show if you couldn't tell. The premise is that these two brothers go around and solve "supernatural" mysteries and fight evil with side stories in each episode on the drama of their personal lives. It sounds corny, and admittedly, the first half of season one is actually a bit corny because of the slightly less than great special affects due to lack of funds or something. But I swear to you, get through those first few episodes and you will be rewarded with upgraded special effects, the occasional shirtless hot guy, and tons of suspense! Who can resist forty minutes of getting to ogle at two studs taking down evil ghosts and spirits!? That's right, no one. :)

My Yoga Experience

     Personally, I absolutely love yoga! Last December I finally joined a yoga class at my local gym because I hoped I could increase my flexibility to help prevent injuries from running. I fell in love. I must admit, at certain points towards the beginning of my experience, I wanted to laugh at a few of the poses and movements we did. They were just so funny! But once I got used to the silliness, I started to really get into it and I have been faithfully going every week for almost a year now! It has substantially improved my flexibility and even my strength. There are a lot of poses involved in yoga that strengthen the legs and arms. My class also includes a bit of Pilates, so I get a little extra abs in there too! All around I feel stronger and more aware of my body and its limits. Each pose we do shows me how far I can go, and how far I have yet to come. It is very encouraging for me to see growth in myself in the depth I can bend or stretch in a pose now versus how far I could go a month ago. I have learned (and am still learning) how to accept my body for what it is on any given day. Some days I can go deeper into a pose than other days, and it took me a while to realize I don't have to be the best every single day.
      Coming into yoga with my back ground of participating in all different competitive sports and activities like competitive soccer, basketball, track, gymnastics, cross country, music competitions, academic competitions, ect, I had the mindset of "push till it hurts" because that's what I was trained to think in order to become the best. In cross country season, we do miserable work-outs that make me want to pass out, throw up, and then quit. But I have to push past my bodies perceived limitations so that I can become as great as I can be. With yoga its different. The concept of yoga took me a long time to figure out and is still hard to grasp in my competitively hardwired mindset. You don't compete in yoga. Not with others, and not with yourself. When I heard this I was like "What!!!????" "Then what is the point of doing it then!!!??". The point of yoga is to reach your bodies limitations and accept them. Rather that find your limitations and push past them like one would in soccer or basketball, you find them, and then settle in with them. If I am doing some intense pose, if I cant quite get that far into it, I don't push until I hurt myself, I realize instead that my body isn't capable of doing that pose to its full extent right now and then I work with my body gently for the next few days or weeks until it can reach that full pose. Believe me, this is the most confusing part of yoga to any competitive athlete. The fact that you don't have to push and push, but instead just be okay with where you are at is the oddest idea ever.I must admit though that I like it a lot. After having to exceed my limitations in every other activity I do, it is so relaxing to be able to go to my yoga class and not have to worry about reaching some standard because it doesn't matter to anyone. It is amazing to have a break from the stress of meeting an expectation set on me.
     There are countless benefits to yoga. Some people treat yoga as sort of a personal religion. Through meditation and dedication, they find their peace and tranquility through the practice. I though, do not participate in the holistic aspects of yoga and instead treat it as a way to relax, stretch, and pamper myself. I do it mostly from an athletic and healthy point of view; a way to benefit my body. There are countless intensities and levels of practice in yoga. No matter from which standpoint you enjoy it, and regardless of how serious and dedicated you are to it, the rewards from it are endless.

      Here are some of those rewards:
*Happier outlook in life
*Decreased aches and pains
*Better sleep
*Improved confidence
*Toned body
*Improved flexibility
*Improved balance
*Improved lymph flow
*Better posture
*Increased energy
*Better reaction time
*Improved concentration
*Attention span increases
*Lymphocyte count increases
*Thyroxin increases
*Healthier looking skin

These are not all! check out these two websites to learn even more!


http://www.self.com/fitness/2012/03/benefits-of-yoga-slideshow
http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/beginnersguide/yogabenefits.asp

Boys Boys Boys

  

  Relationships are interesting. They can be the most amazing thing in the whole world, or they can go south and drag you down and crush your spirit. Relationships as a young person especially are a whole different bundle of crazy. Adults still have whirlwind relationships as well, but as teenagers, its so new and fresh that every moment and feeling seems a little more amplified than I imagine a well cultured adult feels with their younger days of dating behind them. All of the firsts occur when we are young: first kiss, first date, first heartbreak. Everything is a milestone in our lives at this age. Even if you are past your first whatever's, being young means we are still experimenting and finding out what exactly we want in a relationship. As girls, our first priority at this age is do we want a tall boy, short boy, skinny boy, a buff one, an athlete, a guy who can think, an artist, one who can sing or dance, or do we even know what exactly it is that we want besides just a boy period? But the thing is is that all of these guys we date will show us what we want in our end Prince Charming. Some people get lucky and find their perfect guy/girl right off the bat. Others though aren't so lucky, and we have to go through a heck of a lot of chick flicks and ice-cream before we do, me included (only I definitely used pudding to fix my heart instead of ice-cream:) ).
     My freshman year of high school I did cross country for my fall sport. There was this guy who as a sophomore was running only to get in shape for wrestling (which he was amazing at by the way). He was super shy and we didn't talk too much, nor did I try to talk to him either because I thought that he was way out of my league. We finally started to talk here and there which eventually turned into us dating about three quarters of the way into that year! He was by far the most amazing guy I have ever met, even still today (which is three years later). He had incredible morale, was hilarious to talk to, was extremely athletic (not to mention super buff), was brilliant (in fact he is going to Colorado School of Mines for engineering right now), friends with a ton of people, and nice to everyone. He honestly was wonderful. But the thing that brought us down was that we both had jealousy issues as well as a fair amount of insecurities. We fought quite often and especially towards the end of our relationship. We both trusted each other but at the same time our own insecurities caused us to pick fights about either him talking to another girl or me talking to guys that were friends. It was really bad. We were (and still are) so young and inexperienced in "dating" that I think we became to serious for us to handle. Not that we realized it then. We ended up breaking it off for a different reason at the end of my junior year (end of his senior year, and I did the breaking up by the way). If we had tackled our jealousy issues before it got out of hand, we both could have been much happier. I definitely went through heart break, even though I was the "bad guy" and dumped him. It was hard, I had never experienced a pain so great and I ended up getting depressed, but that's another story! I am okay now and so much happier. It was the worst probably for the first three months. That's a lot of time to be absolutely miserable, I know, but I couldn't move on so fast because I knew what I had let myself loose.
     What I did to feel better about him is I definitely hung out with friends a ton. I don't think my friends have ever really seen me cry, and when I'd just burst into tears, it definitely freaked the boys out! oh well :) They were all so sweet and supportive. I just bawled whenever I was sad, I didn't try to hold it back and fake like I was fine, because in the end I knew I wasn't and you cant get over someone without allowing yourself to feel what you really feel. I definitely didn't get with any guys either and try to replace my him immediately. By doing that I would have just pushed off my sadness and had to deal with it later anyhow, so I decided to just get it over with now. I also watched movies and did all of the typical things you should do when going through a break up! It definitely works, I promise:)
     It has been about five months since we broke up and I feel like I am finally finding myself again. I still think about him every day and do a little prayer that he finds what he is looking for in life and I hope he is happy. And who knows, maybe one day we will meet again. I gave him three years of my high school life and he definitely impacted them and helped me become who I am right now at the ripe old age of 18. He inspired me to work my hardest by seeing his success in school and in wrestling which paid off from his diligence and perseverance, I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to work that hard so that I could get closer to my dreams too. He showed me that I really was beautiful. As a girl, I don't know who doesn't have at least a little bit of confidence issues. He made my "errors" seem so perfect when I was around him. He lifted me up and encouraged me to be the best I could be and he always saw me as better than I was. He set the standard for every other guy I will meet and date. I will not settle for anyone less than he was, because he showed me what a good guy could be like, and to find that unique of a person in a high school relationship is pretty rare. He also got me closer to finding what I want in my end guy by displaying attributes that I hope to find in someone else and also ones I might want differently in the next guy. It was a gift to find him so early on because he changed me for the better.
      Know that it does get better. If you have experienced a breakup and it feels like the pain will never end, it does. And it takes a long time to establish yourself as "you" singular, not "you" plural with whoever it was you were dating. It is still strange for me to not to get any more goodnight texts, or random calls. And its certainly weird to not have a date planned every Friday night anymore. Believe me though, it gets so much easier, it still hurts a little for me sometimes, but it hurts a lot less than it did one month ago. It will for you too.
      Lastly, just because this is our time to experiment and find out what we want, it doesn't mean you should settle for less than you deserve. Don't let a guy (or girl) run all over you and think that it's okay. You deserve one who respects you and lifts you up. Simply because your relationship is "just for fun" or "not too serious" doesn't give a anyone the right to push you down. I know friends that let that happen to them and it isn't right. Everyone, guys and girls, deserve a person who makes them shine. Never settle.

Thigh Gaps: Why the Hype?

   What started as a few Tumblr pictures here and there turned into a huge epidemic around the country! So many young girls have been starving themselves in order to reach this new perception of "perfect" and "skinny". If you don't know what a thigh gap is, it is exactly what it sounds like. It is where even with feet, ankles, and knees touching, the legs themselves never touch. There is a "gap" between them.
     While there are many girls who naturally do have a thigh gap because of their thin physique, many girls who were not designed to have one force themselves to achieve it. Its the "pretty girls", the popular girls, and the girls who have it all who flaunt these thigh gaps, and its only natural to compare oneself with them and wonder if you'd be that much prettier with one too. All of those Tumblr pictures we see cause us to compare ourselves and judge each other. But the thing is is that it is not worth putting yourself through starvation and self harm in order to reach a goal derived from societies new standard of beauty.
     Having a thigh gap is just a "here for now" fad. Did you know that back in the 40's, 50's and 60's it was "in" to have more of a full figure? That's right, it was not hot and sexy to have bony collar bones and starve yourself. One of the most sexy and beautiful woman of that era was Marilyn Monroe! She was not at all rocking the thigh gap or collar bone trend of now. She has a voluptuous figure and curvy hips. But she was gorgeous. What girls our age need to realize right now is that we are just a part of another trend. What curves were to beautiful then are what bones are to beautiful now. The thigh gap isn't the eternal standard of beauty! Its just now's. In ten years there will be another trend that us girls will have to force ourselves to become apart of! No matter how much we try, we will never reach societies definition of perfect because it always changes.We shouldn't have to beat ourselves up because we don't fall into the small sliver of people who have a thigh gap naturally. Its not beautiful or healthy to starve yourself to reach an unrealistic goal!
     And frankly, boys don't even notice thigh gaps. What boys notice are girls who are insecure about their bodies and don't have the confidence to rock who they really are!  And the girls who judge other girls by their thigh gap, or lack there of, have confidence issues of their own. As women, we are always judged and compared against others, but we don't have to be! Don't try to be something you're not because of another persons opinion of you or because of what they tell you you "should" look like. You are amazing and unique and wonderful exactly the way that you are! No one else is like you in the entire world, and you are so special. Girls who feel the need to judge you for your looks don't deserve the privilege of your time and thought. You are a beautiful person made to accomplish wonderful things in your life no matter your body type, but you can't do that when you let criticism from yourself and others fill your mind! Love yourself first and others will follow suit.

Xoxo

     

Hi, Im Katy :)

Hey guys, 
      I am starting this blog to mainly share my love for health and all aspects of it: mental, spiritual, physical, emotional - you name it, I will most likely cover it. I will be writing a lot about the latest health trends and band wagons people are jumping on, along with my personal opinion on each. I will also share what works best for me as far as feeling my best in all that I do from exercise to friendships and everything in between.
      There will also be posts about personal subjects like dating, friends, family, school, faith and basically whatever is on my mind that day :) I would always enjoy getting suggestions and comments on anything I write!
      Thank you so much!
                              Katy