Benefits of drinking Barley tea むぎちや

I have been drinking Barley tea for months now ( well technically years but I just started drinking it again.) and I have noticed a lot. Its actually called Mugichya　むぎちゃ in Japan. That's where I get mine; my neighbor is Japanese and she gets me a huge bag whenever she goes to japan. One day I googled on what the benefits were and I could not believe it. I drink about a whole pitcher in 2-3 days. It takes a while to get use to it. But once you get use to it you can't stop.

Here are some benefits of drinking Mugichya:

• It helps regulate and enhance blood regularity. Also helps maintain healthy blood circulation.
• It is very rich in antioxidants. High in vitamin C and A
• Helps prevent tooth decay. Leaves nice healthy teeth.
• Can help prevent cancer. The high levels of antioxidants can assist in averting cell damage.
• Works as a blood cleanser. Blood sugar can be reduced and regulated when drinking barley tea. Also can lower cholesterol level.
• Barley tea helps in alleviating the symptoms of cold. Barley tea is said to be an effective treatment for fever too. It contributes in cleansing the system. It breaks up the phlegm and congestion's and assists in treating asthma and bronchitis. Drinking 2 cups of barley tea can give respite from a sore throat too.
• Can help treat nausea and and can act as a natural antacid.
• Beneficial to male fertility and can help keep a healthy prostate and can help prevent prostate cancer.
• Loaded with fiber, barley tea can help with easy and regular bowel movements.
• Barley tea contains melatonin and amino acid, which facilitate healthy and good sleep patterns by working in combination. Barley tea is caffeine-free and does not interfere with the sleep routine.
• Helps detox and cleanse the body from harmful toxins.
• May help cope with stress and physical problems, such as gaining weight and over eating during stressful periods. 
• Gives you a sense of fullness. Helps maintain and lose weight. 

To sum it all up, Barley tea is a great source of phytonutrients and antioxidants that protect the body from the damage caused by free radicals. This tea is also a delicious and nutritious alternative to green, black and herbal teas with and between meals.

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Review: 3 week yoga retreat

This program is for anyone. For beginners and there is no need for experience in yoga. Help build strength and flexibility and feel relaxed. In just 21 days; 30 minutes or less you learn the basics of yoga.
There are 3 different levels

• Foundation
• Expansion
• Progression
• Take 10

The calander below is the schedule. Im not gonna explain all of them because that would take a very long time. Its pretty simple.

Mondays core days- this will activate, engage, and helps build awareness in your muscles.
Tuesdays Stretch- stretch, extend and lengthen all your muscles.
Wednesdays balance- challenges your body to learn to balance and engage your core.
Thursday flow- everything put together that you learned from the past 3 days. Practice breathing and learn to "Flow" through each move.
Fridays flow on the go- shorter more advanced version of flow.
Saturday relax- unwind and relax from the long week
Sunday take 10- short 10 min classes. AM to help wake up. PM help wind down from a long day. Abs wake up those abs and get them active. Do all in one day or just a few or one.

Each one can be longer or shorter than the other, or have different trainers and moves. Anyway you do it your still gonna feel great and so relaxed.

It took me a while to finish this program. The only time I would do it was on my rest days. I did a hybrid with BBL master series and now Insanity max:30. I absolutely loved doing this on my rest days. Especially when my muscles were so stiff and sore from my workout. It stretched and helped me relax from a long, hard week.
I can say that I have been one with my self and you know what... its nice. I have a toddler and I'm a

working mom so life gets pretty crazy and this yoga program helped me a lot.
I have noticed a huge difference in my balance, flexibility and being able to relax. Now I have done yoga before; from P90X and P90X3. Those yoga workouts were nothing like this. This isn't your average yoga routine.
Iv'e noticed that I am able to do a lot of moves I wasn't able to do. I have bad knees and wrists and this has helped me so much with the pain. All of the following above is true. This is a big reason why I love practicing yoga.
I am prone to seizures so when I would have a bad day I would continue with this program on my rest days. Believe it or not it has helped me with that too. I have seizures from stress and other things so this program has helped me so much with that subject.

After every workout I would feel so refreshed and amazing. I admit some of the workouts did give me some sore muscles, but that's because I haven't used those muscles in a long time. You should see my toddler do some of this program with me. He is getting very good at it. He loves to do yoga with mommy. I love that hes so active with me during this workout.
Now for the workouts.
 Personally I have really enjoyed progression (week 3). I really liked the moves and the stretches that were on it. I felt more relaxed and got a better stretch with this one. Don't get me wrong the other ones are amazing too, but for me I loved progression.
Expansion (week 2) was a little on the hard side... to me. I activated a lot of muscles that haven't been used in a very long time so when I was finished I had sore muscles. You know what though... it felt amazing. Because I know I'm using and working those muscles and getting them stretched and worked.
Foundation (week 1) was on the easy side. I liked it because it helps you get ready for the other weeks and what's to come. It prepared your muscles, body and mind for the next 2 weeks.

I think I really enjoyed balance and stretch. I really like working on my balance and stretching all my muscles. Especially after a hard days work and a long busy week.
This program is a perfect match to do with Insanity max 30. You get all your cardio, push ups and burpees in than on your 2 rest days you do this. It feels amazing!!

Now that I have finished this program Iv'e noticed some changes. My balance, breathing, learning to relax, flexibility and meditation. All of these have enhanced. It has also helped with my hips. After having my son I have had hip and even back problems. I would get really bad shoots of pain up my back and down my hips. They would hurt so bad that I couldn't breath or move. Guess what this program has helped with this. My hips feel more open and comfortable, my back is more stretched and flexible. I feel less stiff and I loved using every single muscle in my body.

I was doing this program during Christmas. My toddler was in bed and I was gonna get my yoga on. On Nextflix they have this fireplace movie. You can choose from 3 of them. They have one with music and without music and one with that does a close up and other things. I chose the one without music and played it while I did yoga. Wow did it enhance my relaxation. I spoiled myself that night. Right after I had my warm cup of tea and it was bedtime. I slept so good that night.

For finishing this program you get a really cool bracelet.


I don't really have a before and after because it took me so long to finish. So here are some poses that I practiced while doing the program. These are poses that I wasn't able to do at the beginning of the program. ( the bottom picture)

Little problems, Big worries

Ever since Nash turned 1 I have had a lot of people ask me when I'm gonna have another kid.
Ok seriously there's a reason why we don't have another kid right now and Nash is 3.
Once Nash turned 18 months I really wanted a another baby. Than my husband said that we weren't having anymore kids. This upset me pretty bad. The whole time I'm thinking why doesn't he want another baby.
Does he not love me enough?
Am I a horrible mom?
Will I go through the horrible labor I went through with Nash?
These questions would be in my head for weeks. I would hide in the shower and cry.
I had a hard time having that sink in for months. We would argue about it and he wouldn't tell me why. I would see all these other families getting pregnant with their 2nd or 3rd kid and I would be so jealous. I would tell my husband that Nash will never have a best friend, be an uncle or a big brother at all. He would just shrug it off and walk away.

When Nash turned 2 I started to slowly understand how my husband was feeling. Between 2 and 3 I now noticed that Nash really needs our attention and help. He is behind on some things; this includes his speech and communication skills. He has a hard time understanding certain things and sounding out words. He is being evaluated at school and they said that he needs our attention more than ever. We aren't gonna let him be a spoiled brat, we are going to teach him the things he needs to get his speech skills up. If I had another baby I wouldn't be able to give Nash the help he needs.
Nash will still learn his manners, sharing and responsibility, we will not treat him like a baby. He has learned a lot of that from daycare and school, especially patience.

Every kid is different and every kid learns differently. Every family is different and they raise their kids different. I raise and teach my kid possibly different from other people and what I'm doing is working so I'm gonna stick with that. I know my son more than anyone so I know what works for him.

You know what I couldn't be more proud of my son. Hes smart, funny and loves to help people. There are some things that he likes that make him seem like we are babying him. Like not sitting in the big boy swing, he chooses to use the one where he puts his legs in because that's where he feels safe and comfortable. As long as it makes him happy and enjoying life I don't care. Its the small things that matter.

It also got me thinking about my health. People don't realize that it is very hard to be a mom and have seizures. The last one I had lasted for about 30 minutes and I was awake the whole time listening to Nash yelling help. My husband was at work and I just put Nash in his high chair to eat and he was done and wanted to get down. It killed me that I was so helpless... I couldn't help my toddler at all. I tried to get up and I ended up falling off the couch. I had to hear him cry for help till my husband got home from work. Luckily before it got bad I was able to call him. If I had 2 kids I don't know what to think. I want to get my health under control so I won't have to hear a newborn cry for its mommy and a toddler be in pain while I'm loosing control of my body.

I know if we have another kid it will be in a couple of years. I want Nash to be able to help with the newborn and to teach him responsibility and sharing. I don't really care how old Nash will be. I don't care that having a newborn is gonna take some getting use to with another kid. Right now I'm going to concentrate on my health and helping Nash. I know a couple of people that have kids that are about 17 months apart... thats amazing. I never hear them complain about the kids being so close together. They always seem to enjoy it and they also work together to help each other not loose their mind. I seriously can't imagine having a kid right now, especially with Nash and his 3 year old tantrums and attitude.

I'm at the point where I have this gut feeling that I need to wait. I'm gonna listen to my gut and see what happens. Something is telling me to help Nash and get stronger before I have another baby.

As of now Nash's vocabulary is growing everyday. Ever since he's been going to school he has been just amazing. His speech, communication and social skills have sky rocketed. He's only been going to school for a month and a half now and he is so ahead and learning things so fast that it's changing him into a whole different kid. He still needs help with things, but I know he will get it down. Nash is so smart and catches things right as soon as he sees it. He is now repeating everything I say and learning everyday. When he was 2 I did teach him some ABCs and taught him to count to 6. Now he can count to 10 all by himself and sing the ABCs clear to the letter K than he asks for help and once I start singing with him he'll sing the rest of it. He puts his dishes away throws trash away when hes done, and is very good at doing his chores. He now uses the word "help" and "please" and puts them in sentences.

Now your gonna read this and think wow what a complainer, oh she has no idea what to expect, why in the hell did she write this post. Guess what.... I don't care. I want people to know why my toddler is 3 and we don't have another one yet. Also to let people know that if your child is behind in development it's not your fault. I know it took me a while to stop blaming myself for his delay.
This isn't a rant its just an info post.
I hope one day that I will have another baby for me and Nash to cuddle and help each other. Hopefully that I won't have a hard time bringing another child in this world.

Review: Brazil Butt Lift Master Series

This is a basic workout. It has the triAngle training so it works your butt muscles from challenging angles. I was very impressed with this program. You use a stability ball and ankle weights the whole

time. There isn't a whole lot of cardio, its all mainly toning. There are no different levels or programs,its all just one. You can do it 1 or 2 months, I did only one month and still got amazing results.

"Everybody's getting engaged, married or having babies.. I'm just over here trying to get some abs and a booty"

• Bikini Body- Sculpting all muscles by using weights and stability ball. -25 min
• Higher and Tighter- Lifts your butt and works those muscles you never knew you had. -30 min
• Ipanema booty- by using heavier ankle weights and stability ball you sculpt your booty and legs. -35 min
• Cardio carnivale- Burn fat and work every muscle in your body. Dance your way to fitness with Brazilian dance moves. -30 min

 Out of all the BBL programs this one is by far my favorite. I absolutely loved my results and I noticed better results with this one.
I did not use ankle weights the whole program. I still got results without them.

The only workout I wasn't to impressed with was the Cardio carnivale. I would rather do Cardio axe from the original BBL than this one. The steps were a little hard and I didn't really get that
sweaty good feeling after. 

Every workout you literally worked your butt and legs. Well Bikini body had dumbbells in it, but you work your butt, arms, chest, legs, and back at the same time.

"Screw the scale don't even bother stepping on it. This journey is about your health. All the scale has to offer you is a number. That number does not define you"

I really enjoyed higher and tighter. You are on the stability ball the whole time working on your butt. The whole time I could feel every single muscle in my butt working. After I would finish this one I could feel my butt getting lifted and toned.

Bikini body was way fun. You work from head to toe and use weights and stability ball. For the first 7 minutes there is some cardio. After that you do some push ups than its the weights for the last part. I love how you use the stability ball the whole time.

Ipanema booty stability ball is not required. He does some cardio at the beginning than he does a little more cardio but with weights. Lots of squats in this one with the weights. Than  you do some booty work and squats with ankle weights and weights. First you don't use ankle weights than at half way you use both. Those squats start to kill you once you are half way. 

While on this program we got a huge snow storm here for about 3 days. When it finally stopped I went out and shoveled snow that was to my knees. I did that for about 20 minutes. My cardio was done but than I didn't have enough energy for my workout. Guess what I still did it. Finding that motivation was so hard. 

This program was my new years program. I was doing it right during the new year so I finished 2016 strong and started 2017 kicking butt.

"Exercise is a blessing not a chore, I workout because I am grateful I physically can." 


Almost at the beginning of this program I started 3 week yoga retreat. ( will post review soon). This helped me stretch my muscles that worked the hardest. This was my first hybrid calendar.... and it wasn't that bad. Well I did a simple hybrid, but I still did one. I mainly did it on my rest days and if I needed more stretching after BBL.

The picture to the left are my results from all of the BBL programs ( and some other programs). About 2 years of hard work paid off. Leandro has truly changed my booty forever. I've never loved my booty.... till now, I've always been so insecure of my behind. For years I was, now I can wear shorts and pants without worrying about cellulite and jiggly butt.



Here are my results. Didn't really lose weight but didn't gain any either. I did this program mainly to sculpt and shape my butt.  And it did just that!!