Recently I was given the opportunity to review the amazing second book YogaLean by yoga guru and entrepreneur Beth Shaw. I am a total newbie to yoga and have wanted to make a change towards healthier eating habits so I have really enjoyed this books approach to weight loss and wellness through strong poses and healthy eating!
I was very surprised with the sheer amount of information that is in the YogaLean book! It was a bit intimidating at first but going through it section by section was very interesting. It not only contains physical yoga poses, cardio and weight workouts which complement the yoga, gluten free recipes with information on nutrition, tips on clearing your mind and space, breathing exercises to help strengthen your immune system, and positive affirmations it includes much, much more! For example, there is a body type quiz where you determine whether you are a Vata, Pitta or Kapha and you get tips for healthier being tailored to your body type. I’m a Pitta in case you were wondering and one of my tips is to go for walks by the ocean or other bodies of water and that is something I am trying to do every day! I guess it helps that we have a few nice ponds in my neighborhood in walking distance!
I have wanted to start yoga since I was pregnant with my first child. However, it never worked out for prenatal yoga or even after she was born. Again with my second child yoga was something I wanted to try and again, it never seemed to work out. One of my favorite things about this book is that it has a whole series of yoga poses WITH PICTURES in the book! I don’t have to guess what it is supposed to look like because there it is right in front of me! Some of the poses were in my very beginner opinion great for other beginners like me such as the Triangle, Knees to Chest and the Seated Twist, which you can see my four-year-old daughter doing below. Others such as the Warrior III in my opinion are a little more advanced.
The free weight exercises for the upper body are set up the same way with great pictures detailing exactly what your body should be doing and it also gives modifications for lighter weights for those that need to wait to get core muscles stronger or to strengthen other areas. I love that she purposely gives modifications because it makes goals so much more manageable.
Putting the cherry on the top, the recipes included in this book are already broken down in sections of recipes for energy, recipes for lean, recipes for immunity, recipes for youth, recipes for relaxation and metabolism recipes. So much of the work is already done for you! Just pick a section, check out the list of recipes and choose something fabulous to make! Trying to make the change to eating healthier in general, not just an occasional meal, I found a lot of recipes that I can easily add to my meal and snacks list!
The Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie doesn’t sound all that healthy, but it is using unsweetened almond milk and chocolate protein powder and is a great way to get my energy revved up. The kids love it too!
The Pear, Apple, Nuts and Gorgonzola Salad is one that I have always enjoyed and now will be making a repeated appearance at my dinner table. This recipe calls for adding pine nuts as it helps regulate the blood circulatory system and also has the highest protein levels of all nuts. What’s not to love about that!
The White Chili recipe I found to be a good base but that I needed to add some heat with a favorite hot sauce. Then again, I’m a huge fan of heat and fully believe that I can sweat off the calories from the hot sauce! Both of the kids love it just the way the recipe calls for it which makes it a winner in my book since these days its hard for them to both like the same thing!
I feel that I have already gotten so much out of this book and that this is the kind of book that only keeps giving. I’m looking forward to doing the journal entries on food, personal thoughts and everything else. I am also very inspired to try the Yoga Lean One-Week Jumpstart included in this book!
The Jumpstart includes the meals and snacks for seven days from the recipes in the book, an exercise program for the whole week, seven daily ten-minute affirmation meditations and a daily gratitude practice. I loosely followed it, swapping out meals with ones I had the ingredients for and taking a break for a pizza night in the middle (hey, I’ve got two small children who wanted a pizza/movie night!), and I really enjoyed it. It’s great for beginners like me who need a bit of direction!
YogaLean book retails for $18! There is also a Kindle version available.
The awesome people at YogaLean are giving 2 US based readers a copy! Use the rafflecopter below to enter! Good Luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Our Knight Life is not responsible for lost or stolen prizes. Prizes will be shipped by the sponsor YogaLean.
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getting up and walking more at work!
eating more fruits and veg. making bread
I am making a good effort to stay active.
eating more fruits and veggies
I just subscribed to gaiam channel and have been trying to do yoga and pilates. I have also started weight watchers and eating lots more fruits and vegetables.