My name is Ashley Boaté and I was crowned Miss Connecticut United States 2014 on December 15th, 2013.
I plan to spend my year promoting people to get active and how important it is for your health. Breast cancer has affected both sides of my family. I personally had breast surgery for a "suspicious" abnormality at a young age and recently had another scare last year. It was proven that women who get regular exercise may have a lower risk of getting breast cancer than women who are inactive.
Did you ever notice that sugar is snuck into so many foods?
A few months ago, I purchased an almond butter from Walmart. It said all natural and it needed to be stirred. I neglected to read the food label until I got home. There was sugar in it. Target and other stores had the same problem with their almond butters. I finally found an almond butter without sugar at Whole Foods Market. Why do manufacturers think you need sugar in natural almond butter?
I was in two Wellness Challenges that my local YMCA held, beginning in the Spring of 2012. It's what kick started my weight loss. In addition, my friend and co-founder of this website, Scott, also had success by losing over 25 pounds in the eight week challenge he was in. I will be participating in their next challenge. But this upcoming challenge is vastly different from the ones we were part of.
The Northwest CT YMCA is offering the completely revamped fitness challenge, beginning April 7 and it will run for 8 weeks.
COCONUT OIL! I'm sure you've heard about the "coconut oil" craze either on TV or on the radio these days. If, for some reason, you haven't, allow me to share with you why this is my new FAVORITE "must have" item in my household!
There are HUNDREDS (that's right...HUNDREDS) of uses for this amazing stuff! Aside from the benefits it delivers from being a healthy fat that can boost your energy levels, raise good cholesterol & balance out blood sugar without the weight gain, cholesterol & other health risks that come from other saturated or trans fats, it can be used for a huge list of things that you would have never thought of! It, actually, is an antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, & anti-viral! This amazing stuff also aids in the absorption of vitamins & minerals. These reasons, alone, sold me on purchasing it.
I met with my personal trainer today and although my body fat percentage didn't go down much in two weeks, my weight did come down a few pounds. It's going to take some time to build muscle and lose the excess skin, but it's slowly getting there.
One thing he suggested last week is to continue doing the vegan challenge for a week each month. As you might recall, I did my first vegan challenge a few weeks ago. He felt that since I did so well with it that I should keep it going. This way, I can keep away from animal and dairy products for a week and can resume the Greek Yogurt and turkey during the other weeks. I'll try it for a while to see how I like it. The next time I plan to go vegan will be sometime in April. You really need to plan your meals as a vegan. The reason is you need to make sure you're getting enough protein and nutrients in your diet.