March 25, 2015

MealEnders Review: Ending Late Night Snacking

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Disclosure: I received four packs of MealEnders in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I have a huge problem with over-snacking, especially as I get home late at night from ballet class. While I usually try to enjoy healthy food after class — that’s not always what ends up happening — and sometimes I ended up snacking on sweets. For instance, Trader Joes just released some pretty awesome cookie butter cookies, which while awesome, are pretty easy to binge eat.

The thing that’s nice about the MealEnders, is they just offer a touch of sweet designed to get you over that sweet-tooth craving (in a sweet outer coating) along with an inner hard candy that offers a tingling sensation to curb cravings. Here’s some more information about how they work from MealEnders:

MealEnders consist of two components: a sweet, outer reward layer and a cooling/tingling inner core. The outer layer provides a measured dose of “dessert,” usually associated with the end of a meal. The inner core engages the trigeminal nerve (the nerve that senses “taste” sensations in the mouth) with long-lasting cooling/tingling sensations to cue the end of eating and clear the palate. By keeping your mouth and mind occupied for up to 20 minutes (the Overeating Zone—when you are full, but often continue to eat because your brain has not yet received the “fullness” signal), MealEnders naturally transition you away from the desire to overindulge, giving your body’s natural satiety process time to catch up and let you know your full.

My favorite flavors were definitely the chocolate mint and the mocha — the chocolately-ness of both were just what I needed to curb that need for an after class sweet. The citrus and cinnamon flavors seemed awkwardly creamy to me in their outer coatings — but if creamy tastes are your thing, you might like them better than I do.

MealEnders has offered to do a giveaway for my readers, so to enter, just fill out this form!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you end up not a winner or don’t want to take your chance,  all “runners up” for the giveaway will be able to purchase MealEnders at 30 percent off.  Just enter coupon code WINNER-TOO at checkout. To place your order and learn more about the product, visit www.mealenders.com.

Disclosure: I received four packs of MealEnders in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

 

Filed Under: Ballet, Reviews Tagged With: , 2 Comments
March 20, 2015

Adult Danseur Profile: Sean

sean nutcrackerWhen did you start doing ballet as an adult?
About 3 years ago.
Did you ever take lessons as a kid?
 
HA – I did – as a child I was incredibly clumsy.  The local ballet studio gave free classes to boys, so I took lessons.  Can’t say it helped me be any less of a klutz, but I did learn to love it.
Why did you decide to take ballet as an adult?
 
I started up again for a couple of reasons:-
-A coworker told me she’d always wanted to take a ballet class – but she was sad now b/c she was too old to try.  Thats a pet peeve of mine – saying ‘I’m too old to do xyz’, if you’re not dead yet, you’re not too old.  You might never be the greatest, but thats ok, you can still have fun.
-The second reason I took classes was because my elder sister had majored in theatre and dance, but as she got older she got a ‘normal’ job and has let those things go out of her life.  I told her that I’d take a ballet class if she would…
Where do you take classes?
I take classes wherever I can – these days I take classes primarily at Gainesville Ballet (http://gainesvilleballetcompany.org) – It is a great school and the teachers are outstanding/encouraging and extremely professional.  My only complaint is that I can’t take more classes there 🙂
What is your favorite part about ballet?
I love the structure, that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things – I love that for all the artistry and expression, there is a set of rules, movements, etc – that must be learned and perfected.  I may never do a perfect tendu, but I know that such a thing exists – at least hypothetically.
What is your least favorite part?
petit allegro and I have a love/hate relationship.  I feel like I’m just incapable of moving as fast or jumping as high (and definitely not capable of quickly jumping high) as I would like to.
Who/What is your ballet inspiration?
Since beginning adult classes I’ve gone to a number of schools – I have to say that one consistent thing is that the teachers are all amazing people – I don’t mean only that I find their dancing beautiful, but their kindness and patience is incredible.  Every teacher I’ve had has done a fantastic job in showing me the right way to do things but also at showing me their love of ballet.
What motivates you to keep dancing?
That I might someday get any better at it 🙂
What are your hobbies outside of ballet?
I used to be a long distance runner but have taken a rather long break from that – I desperately need to get back to running, if only to get rid of my growing gut.
What advice would you like to give to those who want to start ballet or have just started?
Turn out starts at the hip, don’t push stretches too hard – you can hurt yourself that way, if it feels natural you’re probably doing it wrong.
What advice would you give to other guys who want to take ballet?
As a dude, you might worry that people won’t be accepting or that they will be judgmental – generally I’ve not found that to be as true as I would have thought.  Reactions from others range from complete disinterest to full-fledged curiosity.  Reactions from class mates vary, I have found that there is usually a class or two period where I’m not sure that my class mates are cool with the strange, ugly, bearded dude in class. If you work hard though the other students will accept you and it is a nice feeling when you feel like you’ve been accepted into the class – note of warning though, once you are accepted you may hear all kinds of conversations that you were never ready for.
A second note – as a adult student, clothing/uniform restrictions are generally more lax than they are for the younger students, so no, you probably won’t have to wear tights (although you could if you wanted to), and while almost everyone will ask you if you wear a tutu b/c EVERYONE seems to think thats a hysterical joke, as a dude (unless you’re a trockadero) a tutu is definitely out.  A dance belt is a good idea though. . .
How as a whole can we encourage more guys to take an adult ballet class? 
Well – I don’t really have an answer for that – I guess I have two thoughts on this:
On the one hand, I think the issue is that men see ballet as feminine, ‘artsy-fartsy’, and just generally not for men – or that the men who do it are weird.  Ultimately I think men just need to be exposed to more ballet. Thats really the only way they can learn to appreciate the athleticism and precision.  Outside of that, I think inviting a male friend to a class couldn’t hurt – I can’t lie, a man might go to his first class thinking it’ll be easy (or thinking it’s an easy way to meet women) but once class starts, I think that nonsense would drop out. . .
On the other hand, ultimately how to get more men involved is the same problem I feel ballet at large faces – how to get more people involved… I think the way to get more people involved in ballet is to educate the public, but that costs money that the smaller local companies and schools don’t want/can’t afford to spend on outreach, but unless the audience/enrollment grows then the budget won’t grow – in my humble opinion, it’s a problem for ballet – not just for appealing to men, but to American participation/viewership at large.
Filed Under: Adult Ballerinas, Ballet, Interviews Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
March 15, 2015

Profiles Galore!

Just a quick update while we’re working on things for the site — I sent out a bunch of interview questions to those who have signed up to be interviewed for a profile! So check your inbox/spam if you were expecting one!

If you sent me back answers a while ago and your profile was never posted — let me know. I lot of things have gotten lost in my inbox lately and I probably just missed it.

If you haven’t yet signed up to be interviewed for a profile and/or guest blogging you can do so using this form:

 

Filed Under: Ballerina Profiles, Interviews Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment
March 2, 2015

My Journey So Far on Whole30

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I eat way too much pasta, cheese and pizza. In fact, mac and cheese is one of my favorite foods, and it’s rare that HQ and I don’t end up eating some form of it every week. A lot of other attempts where we’ve attempted to change how we’ve eaten have failed within a few days. So earlier this month I decided to try something else: Whole30.

The program seems pretty simple: eat real food for 30 days. Avoid added sugar, alcohol, grains, dairy, legumes, carrageenan, MSG or sulfites — and do not try to recreate sweets or baked goods. I’ve eaten a lot of delicious salads, thai food, taco salad, and more.

It’s been seven days on the program. The toughest part has been added avoiding sugar and dairy. It’s been easier going the past few days, but I felt horrible the second day, probably because of  low blood sugar, because I hadn’t eaten any fruit the day before. Once I ate some strawberries and apples I felt much better.

The next 21 days aren’t going to be easy, but I’m hoping it will help us both eat better in the future!

What are your ways of incorporating more healthy food into your diet?

Filed Under: Info, Outside Class Tagged With: , , , 2 Comments
March 1, 2015

March Goals — Day 1 of #CityFitGirls March Instagram Challenge

February was a brutal month–it’s been freezing cold here in Philadelphia. I pretty much lost my way as far as getting any cardio in at the gym given the weather. However, for the most part I’ve managed to consistently get to two or three ballet classes a week, which I consider to be a pretty huge accomplishment.

Here are my basic goals for March (which is part of City Fit Girls March photo contest on Instagram):

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Expanding on them a bit more:

1. Stretch more: I’ve been trying to stretch for a good 20-30 minutes on the days I don’t already have ballet. So far, so good.

2. Become more flexible: One will help get me there. I’d also like to become more flexible person in terms of my personal and work relationships, too.

3. Strength train: I want to work both on my foot and core/leg strength. I want to incorporate more pilates, too.

4. Eat Healthy I started off 2015 eating like crap. I started Whole30 a week ago (more on that soon!) but even when Whole30 is over, I wanted to be eating better.

5. Take more photos: Given that this is a photo challenge this should be easy! I want more photos of me doing ballet, too.

6. Write more: I want to be writing more both for this blog and for other purposes. Even though it’s my day job, I want to do more of it.

7. Have fun: Have fun while doing all of this, and change my goals if it’s not fun.

What are your goals for the month of March?

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment