Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you all are having a wonderful summer. For my blog post today, I wanted to provide a list of 20 statements about what I think exercise is and isn’t in an effort to provide perspective, motivation and encouragement for all of you. I hope you enjoy this list and feel free to add to it, change it or make your own list. The most important thing is that you have the right mindset so you can make or continue to make exercise  a lifelong priority. Okay, here goes…enjoy! 1. Exercise isn’t just a choice, it’s a necessity like sleeping, eating, showering or brushing your teeth. 2. Exercise isn’t about how you look, it’s about how you feel…and if you look good too…added bonus. 🙂

Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you all are doing well and are enjoying the summer so far. It’s been a few weeks since my last blog post, so I wanted to get another one out to you guys. Today, I wanted to discuss the topic of mindfulness and break it down for you into four concepts. It’s become a popular buzzword in the world of health and wellness these days, but I still think it’s an important topic to understand so you can incorporate it into your life if you’re interested and could help in becoming more centered, relaxed, peaceful, happy and in touch with your internal and spiritual self. I’ve been interested in mindfulness since I was in college and would often tell my best friends that one

Spring is here and summer is upon us, which means its time to get excited and ready by focusing on your nutrition and workouts so you can look and feel your best during this glorious time of year! Nutrition: Let’s start with nutrition. Eating natural foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, is an important part of healthy nutrition as these foods are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants and are low in calories. Luckily, there are many great choices of fruits and vegetables that are in season during the spring and summer months. Some vegetable examples include tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, mushrooms, spinach, green beans and eggplant. Some fruit examples include strawberries, raspberries, peaches, mangos, plums, watermelons and grapes. For a full list of fruits and vegetables available by

Many people take vacations this time of year, therefore, vacation season is in full swing with Spring Break, Memorial Day, Summer Break and Fourth of July all taking their spots on the calendar in the coming months. When people are on vacation, two things that often go out the window are exercise and healthy eating. However, it’s possible to enjoy your vacation and all the treats that come with it and still maintain a healthy balance so you can feel good when you are on vacation and when you get back. I just took a wonderful vacation to Hawaii with my family and wanted to share some tips based on what I did to maintain my exercise regimen and healthy eating habits during our trip. What to Pack: – A few

Just over a year ago, I took an important step in my life. This step was a precursor to all the things I’m doing now professionally and it’s amazing to look back on how it all began. On March 14, 2014, I published my very first blog post entitled: Passion Fit is Finally Born! I was happily working for Google in digital advertising sales at the time, but really wanted to start blogging and writing about health, wellness and fitness since I’ve always been passionate about those topics. I’ve also loved writing for as long as I can remember and especially enjoyed my writing classes in college and graduate school. As you’ll read in that first post, there was a lot of history and fear involved in getting started and

Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you all are doing well. Today I wanted to talk to you guys about chocolate. Even though I’m a health, wellness and fitness professional, I have to admit that I absolutely LOVE chocolate!!! So when more and more studies started coming out over the years about the potential health benefits of eating it, I was beyond excited. However, it’s important to note that while these studies may exist and I’ll reference some of the studies in this post, there is still more research needed on this topic to draw any definitive conclusions. Therefore, moderation is still very important when it comes to consuming chocolate and also checking with your doctor if you have any health concerns. So what types of chocolate are considered “healthy?”

Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you all are doing well. Today I wanted to talk about a concept called being disciplined about relaxation. What does that mean, you ask? Well, while I know this concept sounds counterintuitive, in this crazy busy, tech-driven world we live in, many of us are living life at a pretty fast pace, over-scheduled, working long hours and constantly connected to our devices. Therefore, for many people, it does take discipline to actually stop and relax. I know I’m just as guilty as the next person for having way too much on my plate as an entrepreneur of my own company, managing my kids’ school and sports activities, volunteering, managing a household and having a busy social schedule. I’m also a Type A personality, very

Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you guys are doing well and are off to a great start in 2015. I also hope you all are getting out there and staying fit and active. Today, I wanted to talk about training with resistance bands and with the Rubberbanditz resistance band in particular. Rubberbanditz recently reached out to me and sent me a complimentary resistance band to test out. Therefore, I wanted to write up a product review to share my findings with all of you and discuss what types training you can do with this cool product. I was intrigued with Rubberbanditz because many major athletes and professional sports teams such as NBA stars, Lebron James and John Wall and several MLB players from the Kansas City Royals and NFL players from the Kansas City Chiefs are training

Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you all have been enjoying the holidays and have had some time off to relax, reflect and rejuvenate. 🙂 Right now, I’m back in the Midwest with my immediate and extended family and have been really enjoying time with all of them. I also thought it would be fun, while home, to interview my sweet Dad, who’s a retired executive from Corporate America and currently an entrepreneur. He’s one of the wisest and most intelligent people I know and has been an amazing mentor to me as I’ve become an entrepreneur myself and launched Passion Fit. Therefore, I wanted to share his insights on entrepreneurship and life with all of you, live from his home office! Passion Fit: Tell us about your academic and

Hi Passion Fit Crew! I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season with your family and friends. Today’s blog post is about making exercise a lifelong priority. Hopefully many of you are already doing this and even if you’re not or if you’ve had extended periods of your life when exercise hasn’t been a priority (which is completely understandable and can happen to all of us during different phases of our lives), it’s never too late to make a change. I’ve been teaching fitness and dance classes for many years and in many different settings…large gyms, corporate fitness centers, boutique studios and on preschool, elementary school, high school and college campuses. In doing this, I’ve had the privilege of teaching to children as young as two years old, to