THE DRUGSTORE ITEM THAT YOU SHOULD BE USING 3X'S A WEEK

Seriously? Who knew that the Ralph's 10 steps away from my house was holding on to this little treasure??

Because I sure as hell didn't. Today we're talking Epsom salts.

But first, can I set the mood for you right now because it is pretttty vibey. 

It's raining (STILL WTF) but I kinda love it because I don't need to leave the house today. My candles are lit, NFL Playoffs are on, and I just made some Macha Coffee with Almond milk.

SO right after I write this I think I'm going to make my way over to Ralphs to get some Epsom salt because after reading about all the benefits, I just want my life to revolve around this ish. 

Maybe I'll Postmates it because I'm kinda over getting slapped in the face with wind and rain for the time being. 

Alright so, do any of you guys take Epsom salt baths? When I go apartment hunting next month I think my top two MUST HAVES are going to be, a nice white kitchen...and a big bath tub because I feel a Epsom salt habit coming on. 

It first came up the other day when i was at work and the other cocktail server that I work with was saying that she couldn't wait to get home, have a glass of wine, and soak her feet in an Epsom salt bath. 

We had NOTHING going on in the bar so I decided to get in to it. I was asking her why use Epsom, if she really thinks it helps, how it helps blah blah blah. 

She said that especially after working a shift where we of course standing and walking around for 8+ hours, it's like an orgasm for your feet. 

She said that it seriously helps relieve soreness and a shit ton of other things. 

She also said they have scented ones and that she buys the lavender one which made me even more excited...(I know I'm getting older when I start to actually appreciate the smell of lavender.)

I ended up looking into it this morning and these are just SOME of the other benefits that Epsom salt apparently has:

• RELAXES THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
• CURES SKIN IRRITATIONS
• SOOTHES BACK PAIN AND ACHING LIMBS (yes please!!)
• EASES MUSCLE STRAINS
• HEALS CUTS
• TREATS COLDS AND CONGESTION
• REMOVES TOXINS FROM THE BODY 
• EASES STRESS

Like what?? I feel like this is the best possible spa day, all in one. 

So what exactly Is Epsom Salt?

Well first of all, it's actually not a salt. It's a natural occurring pure mineral compound made up on magnesium and sulfate. Magnesium is a supplement that some people take as a natural way to relax as it calms down the nervous system AND it is easily absorbed by the skin soooo just imagine that relaxation for a second. 

Sulfate is ALSO very easily absorbed by the skin and it's benefits are that it helps flush toxins, relieve migraine headaches and actually IMPROVE the absorption of nutrients. 

Amazing right? I swear, I find one vital piece of taking a spa like bath and it makes me want to go buy more candles and bath bombs and wine just to take it to that level. 

(I'm 100% doing all of that by the way, HA!)

Okay, let's look at some more of the benefits and how they actually work:

1. EASES STRESS AND RELAXES THE BODY 

When we stress out whether it's over running late to work or missing a dead line, or realizing that it's Tuesday and we didn't record The Bachelor last night....

our adrenaline obviously rises but what we might not know is that our magnesium decreases. By taking a bath with Epsom salt, our skin is absorbing all of that yummy magnesium which helps produce serotonin which is like a mood elevating hormone. 

Magnesium ALSO helps increase our ATP levels which is like the energy in our cells so these baths also are shown to helps increase energy and stamina. 

2. CRAMP AND MUSCLE PAIN REDUCER

Um, yes? I feel like 80% of my life is me either cramping or trying to get my boyfriend to rub my feet. Pour 2 cups of a lavender salt into warm water and just SOAK. Don't forget your wine. 

3. HELPS PREVENT HARDENING OF ARTERIES AND BLOOD CLOTS

I'm only in my mid twenties but I feel like I pay pretty close attention to the reality of heart attacks and what we can all do to avoid them. Obviously working out helps avoid heart attacks because it keeps the blood circulating and keeps the heart strong. 

Then of course eating plant based foods and avoiding un healthy fatty, fried foods plays a critical role but if I can just lay in a tub and let something else do the work, I'M IN. 

4. RELIVES CONSTIPATION

Interesting? But if you've ever been bloated and in the world tiniest cocktail dress... then I'm sure you're willing to try anything. Taken internally, epsom salts create more water in the intestines and relieve constipation ALTHOUGH you should consult a doctor before consuming any!

5. ELIMINATES TOXINS FROM THE BODY

The sulfates in epsom salt help remove toxins and heavy metals from the cells which helps ease muscle pain AND allows the body to let go of harmful substances. If you want to detoxify, try soaking 3 times a week for 10 minutes at a time in warm water with two cups of Epsom salt. 

Also feel free to add a cup of olive oil or baby oil for smooth skin!

Leave any other tips you have below! 

XX - Chelsey 

4 TIPS ON HOW TO ACTUALLY KEEP THE MOTIVATION TO EAT HEALTHY

The only thing I struggle with is staying motivated with eating healthy. Whenever I feel deprived I go to treat myself but that turns into a huge binge. I don't understand why it is so hard to control myself? There are some days I am perfect and other days I just want to eat everything. I realized I am an emotional eater and I constantly want to snack when I am bored.
Do you have any tips on getting rid of this stupid habit?!?! It's screwing with my results.

Ummm, can I get an AMEN?!

This is a question that a reader e-mailed me the other day and I told her that since I immediately connected with her, I figured that a lot of you guys could relate too.

Let me start by saying that none of us are perfect, and developing a healthy lifestyle isn't the easiest thing on the planet. As we know, if it were...everyone would be doing. So be proud of yourself FIRST for knowing that you are TRYING. 

We all get off track, it's totally normal. The more you get down on yourself about it, the worse your going to feel and view yourself. 

I have to step back sometimes too and realize that sometimes things aren't always in my control and life happens. But it's the days that I get up when I feel kinda crappy and down on myself and still make it to the gym that pushes me forward. Those are the days that I leave the gym feeling happier than ever because I proved to myself that I can. And I realize that whatever seemed like such a big deal a few hours ago, really wasn't.

If we sit and sulk on a mistake we think we made or stare at ourselves in the mirror and wish we wouldn't have gone out for drinks last night or wish we would have spent an extra 30 minutes on the treadmill, we're not really helping ourselves are we?

So here's some of my tips when it comes to staying motivated, avoiding binges, and keeping yourself happy. I think a combo of these things makes a huge difference and if you can do all of these or just one, you'll start to feel better. 

1.

Work out first thing in the morning, OR at least sweat at some point 5-6 times a week. 

Okay so I feel like the first thing I need to do in order to avoid eating the world (haha real talk), is work out. PERIOD. I feel the same way every single time. Here's an example. Yesterday morning was the day after christmas so I was with family. They wanted to get breakfast like an hour after we woke up and go to the movies so I had some toast, eggs, a little bit of hash browns and 1/2 a bloody mary then went to the movies. Whatever I was spending time with family so I'm not mad, but I definitely didn't feel like working out after that and honestly I ended up snacking the rest of the day. 

I would have stopped at In n Out on my drive back from SD to LA but I kept missing the exits. I just wanted to eat crap the rest of the day. 

Then to top it off I had a mocha and then I had rice and mashed potatoes for dinner at work. 

LIKE WHAT?? I legit haven't had mashed potatoes in like a year. So why did I have them last night? 

Because my mind set was junk food from the moment I woke up. 

Fast forward to this morning...I woke up and wanted French Toast. This is where I notice the feelings of wanting to just chill and eat junk food creeps in. I could have taken myself out to breakfast this morning but I knew I wouldn't be happy after that.

So instead, I rolled out of bed, immediately put some leggings on, went downstairs and ate half of a perfect bar, then had my BCAA's, Pre Workout and L-Carnitine. 

I grabbed my weights and my mat, turned some Childish Gambino Pandora on, and kicked my own ass for 30 minutes. 

After that I was left with 0 cravings, more energy, and the motivation to go to Trader Joe's today before I go to work to get healthy snacks that I can take to work BECAUSE I don't want to waste what I just did on some bull shit food later tonight. 

See how that works? It works EVERYYYYY TIME.

2. 

DRINK MORE WATER THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND EAT MORE PROTEIN

Another trick I've tested and found to be a miracle worker. WATER AND PROTEIN. Who woulda thought. 

I do this thing kind of a lot where I think I'm hungry but I always kind of quiz my body first by drinking 16 ounces of water and then see how I feel. 9 time out of 10, I was just dehydrated. Drinking more water will reduce your cravings and have you consuming less calories so next time you feel hungry but kind of feel like you shouldn't be (maybe you just ate) then try drinking 1 water ball and see how you feel. 

Also PROTEIN. When we consume protein, it sends a signal to our brain that we are full. This is why you can eat like 8 pieces of pizza but if you tried to drink even 2 protein shakes, you feel STUFFED. 

I have a protein shake almost every morning to set the tone for my day and keep me full throughout the early afternoon. 

I also eat almonds on my way to work and keep a bag in my locker at work, OR eat something with garbanzo beans. Every time I go to eat, my thought process is "is this going to fill me up without making me feel tired or bloated for the next few hours."

3.

THINK OF OTHER WAY TO REWARD YOURSELF.  

The other week I filmed 5 days worth of workouts in 7 hours for a fitness video shoot collaboration I'm working on. IT. WAS. INSANE. I obviously had to eat during the shoot but I was eating banana's and salad because I needed fuel but I couldn't really start the shoot with abs and end it with a food baby.

So I told everyone that I was going to go out that night and order WHATEVER THE EF I WANTED at dinner. It was going to be the reward of a lifetime, and it was kind ooooof the best thing ever. 

I ordered a truffle macaroni and cheese shareable appetizer for myself + 3 whisky sours + some chips and dip and ate a few of my boyfriends chicken fingers. I WENT INNNN, and it was glorious. Not one ounce of remorse. 

So I feel you that you like to reward yourself with eating well for so long with some junk food. 

But you have to ask yourself if it is worth it TO YOU. 

Sometimes I'll CRAVVVE hot cheetos, or a big box of asian food with 900 million grams of sodium but if I think about going and getting it, and eating it...do I see myself feeling SUPER happy afterwards? If the answer is yes, then I get it. If the answer is no then I think of something else because we're not really rewarding ourselves if we're making ourselves feel like crap right?

So instead, I might make myself a big bowl of homemade popcorn with organic butter and sea salt with a side of sliced green apples. 

It's not the cleanest lunch or snack ever but so it still feels like I'm indulging without totally regretting it. 

OR what I'll do is go reward myself in a totally different way. I'll go get my nails or hair done or go get a massage.

4.

IF YOU DO SPEND A DAY INDULGING, DON'T LET IT ROLL OVER INTO THE NEXT DAY. 

Like Sunday's for example. On Sunday's, I love to give myself a break, go out to brunch, maybe have some mimosas, go to sushi, whatever I feel like really. But as soon as Monday rolls around, even though I want to walk to the restaurant by my house and go get some pancakes, WE HAVE TO LET OURSELVES GET BACK ON TRACK. 

If we don't then we allow the binge to happen. We start telling ourselves that since we ate badly yesterday that it won't hurt if we just dabble into this or that today and then by the end of the day, we realize that we've consumed more calories and sugar in two days than we did all week. 

Then you start to feel like you screwed up everything and blah blah blah. I've been there so trust me, just FORCE YOURSELF to get back on track after a cheat day and you'll be surprised how much it helps. 

HOW THE EF TO STAY SLIM WITH A 9-5.

Um, so you just worked 5 hours, you have a 30 minute break, and another 5 hours of work to look forward to....and your options for break food... ARE. FUCKING. WHAACK. 

UGH. GIRL. I HAVE BEEN THERE. Slash, I'm still there? I don't know if I've ever brought this up before because I semi HATE working so talking about it is just usually out of the question BUT yeah, I work at a 5 star hotel in a cocktail lounge and it's whatever.

It's a job...you know how it goes. But right now, praise jesus, we're on a 6-week break because of renovation which is why I've been knocking out blogs like a motha.

My dream is to not have to go back buuuuut obviously, I'm working on that. 

ANYWAYS.

If there's anyone that knows what you're going thru when you're trying to eat healthy BUT work is where you're at like 98% of the time...it's me.

And honestly...I guess I should be thankful that my work even provides food for us because I would assume that a lot of places don't. At first I thought it was like the coolest thing ever UNTIL I actually was forced to find something to eat 4-5 times a week and I just would rather die. 

My options range from a glorious meat (which I obviously don't eat and which is obviously not glorious), veggies FUCKING SOAKED in butter, tuna soaked in mayo, and a salad bar with wilted lettuce and about 9 gallons of ranch.

SO THAT'S COOL???

Seriously like what is a girl to do??

But it's so EASY to get side tracked with a job right?!

I feel like you just wake up one morning and realize that you don't fit into anything except leggings and big sweaters and it's just not the best day. 

SO

Here's what I've learned when it comes to trying to stay slim with a 9-5...or in my case...a 6:30pm - a 2:30 am. UGH.

1. 

EAT PROTEIN BEFORE YOU GO TO WORK 

This was definitely one of my biggest saviors. I started making one of my protein shakes every day before I left for work. Like I was literally ready to go to work, hair and make up done, not even hungry, but I would make sure that I would make a protein smoothie.

When we eat protein, it sends a signal to our brain to let us know that we are full. It also keeps us fuller for a longer period of time so this would help me work without feeling like I needed to keep running around trying to find ANYTHING to snack on. 

Because you know what happens when you try to find snacks at a bar? You end up eating like 8 trillion jalepeno stuffed olives, 20 pounds of salted mixed nuts, and at least 3 of those bright red cherries that you don't even like. 

2.

BRING FIBER PACKED SNACKS WITH YOU

Okay, second biggest savior. If you guys read my post about pears you would know why I'm completely obsessed with them. I would bring 1-3 chopped up pears with me in a sandwich baggy and hide them on my side of the bar then run down and eat them, HA, that sounds ridiculous but whatever, it's true. 

Pears are seriously JAM PACKED with fiber so is you eat three you are legit, STUFFED.

3. 

DON'T GO BACK FOR SECONDS

Okay so at the first hotel I worked at (Hotel Bel Air) *cough* KILL ME *cough*... I know it's iconic but the behind the scenes was kinda traumatizing. 

I used to get a bowl of food, grub it in like 10 minutes, and then go back for seconds. 

It was just routine for me. So when I started this new job, I told myself that if I was going to eat at work on my break, I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO GO BACK FOR SECONDS. 

So I would grab a small spoonful of pasta, a small spoonful of brown rice, and a big bowl of salad. Sometimes I would even grab a bite or two of a muffin.

THE POINT IS.

I feel like you can eat whatever you want as long as you portion it correctly. Eventually I just fell out of love with all the shit food that was there and started bringing my own food but WHILE I WAS EATING THERE I made sure that my portions were small, and I never went back for seconds. 

It's so easy to do when there's free food so I feel you. Who doesn't get excited about free food? But if you're trying to hold back, then this tip might work for you. 

So start there if you feel like you're just DYING at work, and let me know how it goes. 

xoxo

WOULD YOU RATHER EAT CLEANER, OR WORKOUT MORE?

Alright so this is sort of a little baby experiment that I wanted to do, and to be honest... I was PRETTTY surprised!

I asked you guys a question the other day on my instagram that said,

Would you rather kill yourself in the gym, or eat clean?

Honestly I thought that most people would find it easier to just eat clean but the majority of you said that you would rather kill it in the gym.

This is totally how I used to be. I would eat whatever because I knew that I would run it off in soccer practice. BUT when I had to quit soccer and I kept eating whatever I wanted, the pounds STACKED ON. 

Like 25 of them. No, I'm not exaggerating. 

I was still waking up eating two Eggo waffles every morning with peanut butter and syrup (so bad but so gooood, lol.) when one morning my dad said, "You can't eat crap like that anymore unless you're doing some kind of sport or working out." Uh, excuse me??

I feel like this was one of those times where I stopped chewing with my eggo sandwhich in my hands, with syrup and shit all over me and just had CONFUSION stamped all over my face.

I can't remember if I finished that breakfast or not but I do remember that moment. (Let's be real, I probably finished it. It probably felt like the last supper in my 16 year old drama days). 

I got so lazy that I DID NOT, definitely not, in a million years want to pick up another sport. I played soccer for years thru my Sophomore year of high school and I did Taekwondo until I reached black belt (little unknown secret). Needless to say, I WAS OVER IT.

So what did I do? 

I started eating healthier. To me it seemed easy. I think because I knew how hard I had to work out in practice in order to have my body, just knowing that I could eat healthier and also lose weight just seemed a little better all around. 

Long story, short, this is where my fitness journey really began.

After I started buying all my own groceries at my parents house and started taking my lunches to school, I quickly started seeing weight loss happen!

(Although, I'm surprised I didn't get Mercury poisoning because I think I ate a can of tuna EVERYDAY). 

This motivated me to get back into the gym and soon enough I was IN LOVE with working out again.

This was when I really started seeing some SERIOUS changes. My back was becoming defined, my jaw line was shaping out (losing water weight from sweating), my ass was getting compliments, I WAS JUST ALL AROUND TIGHTER. Tighter ass, tighter arms, and love handles were out of my life. FINALLY. 

Oh and my cellulite? Also left with my love handles. I hope they're happy together. 

Besides the physical benefits though, the combo of me eating clean and working out had my energy thru the roof.

My friends always seemed to be tired and just wanted to lay down and watch TV while I was itching to go do something. Ride a bike, take a walk, go to the beach and go play in the ocean, ANYTHING. 

Like they say, I was a body in motion, and I wanted to say in motion.

Sure enough, that's how I still am today. Unless I'm working on my computer or catching up with an old friend, I can really only sit for like 7 minutes before I say "Okay, I gotta get up and do something."

The point of all of this? I'm trying to prove to you that you REALLY won't have your best energy, your best skin, your best health, your fullest potential, and be the most energetic version of yourself until you start COMBINING a healthy diet with an active lifestyle. 

I'm currently reading Cameron Diaz's latest book "The Longevity Book" (I read her first one 4 times, sort of obsessed), and she says,

"Good food without fitness or sleep won't make you healthy. Working out every day but starving your body of nutrition and rest won't make you strong. Sleeping eight hours a night but not eating well or moving enough isn't going to keep you bright eyed and alert. But if you do all these things consistently on a daily basis, you will be amazed at how your entire being responds."

God, I love her. 

We have to take both seriously. Or all three actually if you want to get into the importance of sleep as well that Cameron covers. 

If you don't like working out right now, start with one small new habit. I PROMISE YOU, your body CRAVES movement. It's slowly dying just begging you to move around, you just can't hear it right now. 

Start waking up a tinnny bit earlier and walking outside for 15 minutes. Once this becomes comfortable, walk longer, or maybe get a gym membership and start doing the incline walks for 30 minutes on the treadmill (ASS LIFTER). I do this every week. 

If eating clean isn't your thing right now then do the same thing by starting one small habit that is a step in the right direction. The first thing I did when i started eating clean was I worked myself up to drinking 1 gallon of water DAILY. 

I would just carry it around with me everywhere I went and the results were AMAZING. 

My love handles SHRANK, my cravings - GONE, my appetite was in control, I had more energy. 

I swear by it you guys.

--- I have a lot of blog topics I want to write up. BUT if you have any ideas, always let me know in a comment on instagramand i'll do my best to answer :)

That's all for today!