Tofu vs Fried Chicken

If you knew me, you knew my love for chicken wings wasn’t a secret. It was one of the last thing I gave up before becoming vegan. It was my go-to when I was stressed, happy, and in between. Chicken & Waffles from Street Bird (I haven’t been disappointed by anything on their menu yet) chicken wings from any Chinese Restaurant, or a ChikFil A sandwich = Happy Rosey (or so I thought). 

I grew up like most of you eating meat and dairy products. Dairy didn’t agree with my body so I had to cut that out of my diet immediately (Freshman year of college). I was raised in a Catholic household where we gave up something during Lent for 40 days, and didn’t eat meat on Fridays- one year I gave up meat and knew I could do this longer. I had more energy, I could think clearer, and my skin cleared up a lot! 

I decided 05/2017 to finally let go of the chicken wings, and let go of the eggs in July. My household is plant based and I love every second of it; I’m able to be creative with recipes, it creates my disciple, and I’m able to share my diet with my guests. I’m still human and sometimes have cravings for chicken wings (usually I see someone post wings on social media & the craving is in my head, or most commonly when I’m PMSing). My sense of achievement takes over my body when I’m ready to order wings from a Chinese restaurant but I order crispy tofu. I feel no guilt and it satisfied the craving (something fried). 

When I traveled this year after May I found it to be difficult to still be vegan so I switched back to vegetarian for that meal and maybe ate eggs.

Maybe I’ll try one bite of the meat from someone else’s plate (and still feel the same about meat). If I had those moments of wanting to eat meat, I’d only have a few bites & go back to the vegetables (because my feelings for eating meat haven’t changed). 

You should find what works best for you, some people’s diet is based around meat, some people can have dairy, etc. I don’t ell my story to persuade people to live a plant based diet, you can see the results of it on my life everyday- has it been easy? Not at all but I don’t look for it to be easy, I look to make the right decisions that will help me get to where I want to be.

What goals have you set for yourself? How do you create your disciple?

I came home after ordering the crispy tofu and paired it with steamed broccoli and brussels sprouts… so good!

We’ve all had moments in our lives where we knew we could improve our lives: emotionally, financially, physically. What do we do after those moments?

When I know I need to improve an area of my life, I can’t avoid that uncomfortable feeling. I’ve come to learn that the level of being uncomfortable was the exact push I needed to get to the next level of my life since growth has been a big goal in my life.

SET GOALS

Whether you choose to be public of private about your goals, the key ingredient is to have the goal. 

May 2013 I was going out with my friends at the time and posed for a picture, the picture that changed my life. I’d reached my heaviest weight 240 lb and biggest pants size 22; until that moment I really didn’t know how big I’d gotten but I knew I needed to do something about it. I grew up playing sports, so being athletic wasn’t a problem for me- creating the disciple to stick to something was the bigger task. 

The biggest part of any fitness journey is what you eat. 80 percentof your weight loss is due to your diet- what you eat. Around this point of my life I was mostly eating fruits,vegetables, yogurts, oatmeal (overall healthier foods) in comparison to my previous (opposite) high fat & carb, lots of dairy, you name it. (How else do you think I gained the Freshman 20?}

My goal was to lose 50 lbs in one year. During that year I did a lot of cardio: kickboxing, walking, elliptical, and drank A LOT of water. I knew that I’d have to lose the “water weight” since I was doing cardio, so I drank half of my weight in oz of water ( 240 lb / 2= 120 oz= about 1 gallon of water). I also exercised with sweat belts that helped my stomach and thighs/ butt sweat. 

FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

I found that living a plant based diet, yoga, weight training and HIIT work best for me. It took time to figure out what truly makes me happy and keeps me on track to my goals, I suggest you do the same! 

I love finding new workouts and beating personal timing goals while running.

Nike Training Club Hands down one of my favorite apps on my phone. This is exactly how I cut my excuses out. It’s like having a personal trainer in your pocket; Theres 160+ workouts that give you audio and visual guidance, you can customize a plan that works best for you… AND IT’S FREE!!!

I love the Nike Run Club App because I have goals of running a marathon one day and this helps me get there. It helped me train for my first race, and overall helps me keep track of the running I do- my time, distance, and consistency. This app is also free! 

You’re not in this alone

I’d love to train and run with you! Let’s connect: Add me by searching Rosa Castano and we can work towards our goals together. 

Never Give Up: Poetry to Help You Stay on the Right Path was written for the underdogs who can see the finish line, the hustlers who shed a few tears along the way, and the artists who need that reminder of confidence in their craft. Never Give Up is the promise Rosey MC made to herself when she was battling depression in 2012. Along the years Rosey has been writing to free her mind; this book was written to help others feel accompanied through this journey of life- through the good and the bad there is a message in the mess. 

This book was written to help you focus on the light at the end of the tunnel; love the life you live, live your life to the fullest potential.

Speak life into you dreams. Have you realized the power of your words? You can either make or break your life; if you want to be rich, remind yourself  everyday that you are rich. Acknowledge where you are now and grind to get to where you’re going. Never Give Up.

Never Give Up are 3 words I used to get me through my depression, it helped me keep going. I want to help you keep going through your battles of life by focusing on the positive in your life. Through affirmations and positive thinking, we’re going to make it together.

Human Trafficking is a modern form of slavery.- it’s a multi billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 20.9 million people around the world. As we’re currently reading  the information about Libya, you’re probably wondering what you can do now to end human trafficking. You can start by reaching out to your Congress, and State Attorney, and by spreading the message to the people you know. You can be the change you want to see in this world. End Human Trafficking.