HOW TO GO ON A DAILY DETOX + GLOW DETOX SMOOTHIE

There are tons and tons of detox recipes out there. There are even 3, 5, or 7 day detox plans. The act of detoxing is great because you'll be getting rid of nasty little (and big) toxins in the body.

The concept of detoxing is daunting to some though because they think they'll feel deprived. Truth is that you will feel deprived if you approach it the wrong way. Quite frankly I think the word detox is thrown around so loosely that its lost its meaning, kind of like the word love.

I truly believe that a detox should be an everyday thing. Everything we ingest should aid in detoxification, that means eating foods high in alkaline & low in acid.

Our body functions on a pH scale, keep in mind these numbers 0-7-14. The lower the number the higher in acidic, the higher the number the higher in alkaline, and 7 is our natural balance of alkaline & acid. We want to keep our pH balanced and eat foods predominantly in the 6-8 range.

Don't get confused with acidic tasting fruits such as lemons, limes, or oranges. They taste acidic but are digested  as an alkaline.

Foods high in alkaline

• Fruits
• Sprouts
• Vegetables of all kinds (excluding starchy ones)

Foods high in acid

• Alcohol
• Animal Protein
• Artificial Sweeteners
• Caffeine
• Dairy Products
• Drugs (antibiotics, steroids)
• Nicotine
• Processed Foods
• Refined Sugar
• Soda

The benefits of one, three, or five, detoxes can be wonderful but the best kind of detox is the one where we constantly eat nutrient dense foods that will detoxify our body on a daily basis.

To help get you started on a daily detox I wanted to share with you my ultimate go to green smoothie.  This is my go to smoothie and like I tell Simon, I never go a morning without it.

I call it my GLOW SMOOTHIE.

Booty Call Workout!

Happy Monday!!

How are you?? I hope you're doing awesome! I've been so inspired by all of the requests pooring in on Facebook and Instagram! Now you can follow me on Twitter and subscribe to SUTWU's YouTube channel!

Use #shapeuptowakeup on both twitter & instagram so that I can see all of your pics! :)

So many amazing things are happening this year and I can't wait to share my journey with you!

You can become a Shape Up To Wake Up Girl and receive all the latest posts, news, recipes & so much more! Did I mention giveaways?!

All you have to do is email angel.redefiningbeauty@gmail.com with the subject line "SUTWU GIRL". It's free, fun & fiercely fabulous!

I'm so excited today because today is the day I release my very first workout video! All the ladies spoke and mostly wanted a booty workout!

Click the video above & begin your Booty Call Workout!

Click "Read More" to get the Booty call Workout printable & a delicious post workout recipe!! :)

Fruit Infused Coconut Water

There are 2 brands of natural & fresh coconut juice that I really like.

"O.N.E." & "Zico"

I've tried VitaCoCo twice. The first time I didn't like it, it seemed to have a mild salty taste to it. I thought maybe I just got a bad batch of coconut juice. Since all fresh coconut juices are not created equal I decided to give it one more chance when I saw that brand again at the store.

Nope. It still had a mild salty taste to it. It made me wonder if they were mass producing these because it tasted the same and I have never tasted fresh coconut juice that salty before??

Anyways

I grew up drinking fresh coconut water and I loved everything about it. Everything about coconut.

Coconut cake

Coconut fruit

Coconut scent

Coconut water

Coconut, coconut, coconut

Did I mention coconut? I think you get the point here.

I also love fruit.

So when I thought of these infused coconut water, I had to share it with yall!

Infusing water/coconut water/ anything liquid is super easy.

Fruit Infused Coconut Water

(recipe given by counter clockwise)

Lime Coconut Water

• 1/2 - 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 8oz fresh coconut water (my two favorite so far are O.N.E. & Zico)
• a few slices of Lime (depends upon your personal taste)

Mandarin Orange Blueberry Coconut Water

• 1/2 - 1 cup ice cubes
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 8oz fresh coconut water (my two favorite so far are O.N.E. & Zico)
• a few slices of Mandarin Oranges (depends upon your personal taste)

Raspberry Lemonade Coconut Water

• 1/2 - 1 cup ice cubes
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1 8oz fresh coconut water (my two favorite so far are O.N.E. & Zico)
• a few slices of Lemon (depends upon your personal taste)

Strawberry Coconut Water

• 1/2 - 1 cup ice cubes
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup strawberries
• 1 8oz fresh coconut water (my two favorite so far are O.N.E. & Zico)

Directions

Mix everything together in a drinking glass

Health Benefits of Coconut Water

• Packed with potassium (as much as a banana)
• Supports rapid hydration (great to drink after your workout)
• Has a lower acidity than all the other sports drinks
• Has 5 electrolytes (magnesium, sodium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus)
• All natural!!

Enjoy, my little hungry hearts!

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Christmas is over & the new year has begun but I'm still trying to savor the season.

When I was growing up I always drank hot chocolate during the winter season. Every now and then I would mix the packet with cold milk and try to dissolve it...I never successfully accomplished that.

Another favorite of mine is to watch Christmas themed movies during the winter season. One of my favorite movies is Serendipity which just so happens to be tied to a Christmas theme.

Some argue that this isn't really a Christmas themed movie but...I beg to differ.

Ever since seeing the movie, I've wanted to fly to NY and devour all the delicious desserts in Serendipity 3. 

They're really famous for...

Their frozen hot chocolate

AND their $25,000 frozen haute chocolate with real gold edible flakes

I realized a couple years ago that it wouldn't be any time soon before I got to travel to NY and try out Serendipity.

Lets face it, I think I'm stuck in Texas forever.

So I decided to make my own frozen hot chocolate. The best part is that it's a skinny frozen hot chocolate, whereas Serendipity (though I love em and would love to try their stuff) it's full of calories that would take a week to torch with workouts.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups fat free milk
• 1 cup ice
• 4 tbsp Ovaltine Rich Chocolate (or Chocolate Malt flavor. If anyone tries chocolate protein powder I'd love to know the results!)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp fat free whipped topping (optional)
• drop of peppermint extract (optional)

Directions

Pour the milk and ice into your blender. 

Add in the ovaltine, cocoa powder, and whipped topping (optional – you could also leave this for the top instead).

Blend 3-4 minutes until the ice is completely chopped and the mixture is thick and icy.

Pour into two glasses, and serve immediately.

Enjoy, my hungry little hearts!

Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie (all natural!)

Strawberries & Bananas!!

The two fruits that always come to mind when I think of a smoothie.

There are SO many health benefits from strawberries and bananas as well as all the other fruits. The best part about these two fruits are that they can be found year round at the grocery store so you can have this protein smoothie anytime.

This smoothie contains no artificial protein powders and is all natural, which is probably my favorite part! You're getting a great pre or post workout smoothie from natural sources found in food! Or even just a midday smoothie!

Do yall like my breast cancer water bottle?! I love it, besides the positive movement and research behind Susan G. Komen...it's pink! My favorite color ;)

I know a ton of people who will be participating in the walk this year. I unfortunately am not :( You can get some more info for walks in your city or just get a little information on Breast cancer here: Support Breast Cancer!! :)

Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie

• 1 Ripe Banana
• 4 Strawberries, hulled
• 1 Tbsp. Raw Honey
• 1 small handful of Raw Almonds
• 1 Cup Milk/soy milk/almond milk etc
• Ice Cubes

Directions

1. Pour 1 cup of milk over ice into a blender
2. Put the remaining ingredients in the blender and blend together

So easy and healthy!

Enjoy, my little hungry hearts!

Love, Angel xo

Tropical Papaya Smoothie

As the summer months slowly come to an end, this is what I imagine in my head. However, since I'm from Texas, beaches such as this photo don't exist...so I'm trying really hard to pretend that that sunset is right outside my window. Hey, a girl can dream right?

I can only assume you're here right now because you either have the August workout calendar and are checking out the smoothie recipe or you really are interested in the things I write...I'll take either answer!

If you've been following the calendar (first 4 days!), congratulations! I hope you have a fun time while going through each day.

Let me know how you're doing and feeling about it. Also let me know if there's anything specific you might want to see so that I can put it onto the September Calendar!!

Tropical Papaya Smoothie

• 8 oz. Coconut Water 
• 1/2 cup Frozen Pineapple, cubed
• 1/2 cup Frozen Mango, cubed
• 1/2 cup Fresh Papaya, cubed
• 1 Fresh Banana
• 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional, but so healthy!)

Directions:

1. Add in the Coconut Water
2. Add in all of your fruits, if using ground flaxseed, add this in at the same time
3. Blend and drink!

Enjoy, my little hungry hearts!

Love, Angel xo

20 Worst Drinks in America

Are you really reading??

In college, my biology professor taught lessons on multiple things but what she spent the longest lesson on was our body & the nutritional facts from carbs/foods. She was a thin woman so I'm sure she had a passion for it all and it wouldn't surprise me if she was an avid runner.

But in class, I never listened. Why the heck would this interest me and when would I ever need this lesson in my life?

Turns out, now I do. Im sure it would've paid off if I listened back then. Having her speak so much about this topic though, has benefitted me because there are some things I remember. Some I don't but I'm learning everyday. 

So what's my point?

I have never worked so hard to do my homework and find out information about the muscle, food, nutrition, overall health, etc. I stay up late into the wee hours of the morning making sure I get the information I already know and provide it for every single one of you. I believe that if you come onto this blog and scroll all the way down to the recipe or workout and ignore my writing, that becomes your loss because knowledge is wise. 

I try to provide all of you with the things you're not going to go out and find out yourselves. I want it to be ready when you click onto my website. Everything I write is important information. 

This is my 20 year old brain talking to the old 18 year old girl who never wanted to gain knowledge. It is so important to know. So if you're serious about getting into shape, I only hope that you read every thing I write on here. From nutrition labels to valuable information. You'll thank me later. I hope.

So today, I'll provide you with info on the worst drinks in America because I'm sure when it comes to drinks, we don't even think about the calories & sugars that are in them. I basically drink water, pure coconut juice, & un-sweet tea on a daily basis. I'll have the occasional smoothie or frappe, sweet tea or shake. I'm not going to deprive myself of delicious drinks, that's not how I do things. 

Knock Knock NOGGIN on Santa's door

Was that cheesy?

I have a confession, I don't eat eggs. BUT I consume them when I eat baked goods and when christmas time rolls around with the fabulous staple, egg nog. That's just really weird to some people but I like to pretend there really isn't any egg in those two.

I swear I'm sane.

I go to Walmart & Target all the time, it's kind of ridiculous and during Christmas season, all I see are eggnog cartons all over the store like their going out of style and you need to get them right away. But did you know that there's a whopping 340 calories per cup? Or even more!?

UHHH NO THANKS.

My waist will thank me later.

So what the heck am I supposed to do without my eggnog? I suppose I could put my big girl panties on and deal with it.

OR