Sharing the top posts and pages of 2022!

Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a Merry Christmas to those who were celebrating!

Some pics from our holly jolly weekend:

It was the perfect weekend and I’m already sad that today we’ll be packing away decorations. The holiday season always goes by too quickly, but this year was warp speed. Welp, bring on spring and summer swimming and BBQ season 😉

For today’s post, I wanted to share the top posts and pages of 2022. I always love going back and looking at my top-performing posts to give me an idea of the type of content you want to see. I used this info to plan my editorial calendar, along with your amazing annual survey suggestions. It’s always interesting to see which posts blow it out of the water (which usually have nothing to do with food, fitness, or fashion.. but more like potty training and guinea pigs lol). This year I was surprised! WAY more fitness and health cont

Hi friends! I hope that whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hannukah, or a lovely Friday, that you have an amazing weekend. Please know that I’m grateful for you every.single.day and I’m sending you the biggest hug and lots of love. I pray that 2023 is a year filled with happiness, good health, and time surrounded with those you love.

Thank you for being here and being a part of this community. <3

xoxo,

Gina + the Pilot, Liv, P, Maisey, Cookie the hairless guinea pig, and Donut

Photos by Audria Abney

The post Have yourself a Merry little Christmas appeared first on The Fitnessista.

Hi friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful week! I’m so excited for today’s podcast episode because I’m chatting with Chef Whitney Aronoff about healthy cooking strategies, high vibration foods, her favorite healthy meals and more.

Here’s more about Whitney and her background:

Whitney Aronoff is a Health Supportive Personal Chef in Laguna Beach, California who attended The Natural Gourmet Institute and went on to work farm-to-table restaurants in New York City and Newport Beach. She is passionate about wellness, the vibration of food, and supporting others in living their best life.

As a personal chef Whitney prepares custom meals and dinner parties for her clients. She shares her seasonal recipes on Starseed Kitchen and in her eCookbook, High Vibration Cooking. In 2020, Chef Whitney launched a line of organic spice blends, graciously sharing the custom seasonings that brought her family around the table for years.

Knowing that a healthy diet is just one layer of being well, in 2021 she launched the podcast High Vibration Living With Chef Whitney Aronoff. She interviews experts on healthy eating, cooking, wellness, beauty, travel and spirituality to help others find the modalities and tips to help them feel their best and live in harmony with the world around them.

As the expert on high vibration foods, Whitney believes eating is a transfer of energy between our energetic being and the food we eat. She is an advocate for setting intentions that put the power of healing in our own hands through what she identifies as the four pillars – food, spiritual, emotional, and ethereal.

After all, only you know what your body needs!

Believing the healthiest meal you can eat is the one you make at home, Chef Whitney aims to invite people into her kitchen, feeling empowered to make healthy choices for themselves and their loved ones, and to experience high vibration living.

Resources from this episode:

The weather is cooling down, and I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. It feels even BETTER when it’s chilly outside and you can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off! This is one of my favorite ways to relax and sweat it out. I find that it energizes me, helps with aches and pains, I sleep better on the days I use this, and it makes my skin glow. Link to check it out here. You can also use my discount f

From Nana’s Famous Egg Dish to Spiced Sangria and Bourbon Pecan Pie, these are our favorite holiday recipes that we enjoy every Christmas!

‘Tis the season for all of the festive eats and drinks. We’ve been enjoying this cozy week at home cooking our favorite holiday recipes and getting ready for the Christmas weekend

While most of the time I aim to eat nourishing recipes with greens and protein and fresh wholesome ingredients (like these spa cuisine recipes), I like to live by the 80/20 perspective, allowing plenty of space for special treats. I’m also a big believer of enjoying holidays, special food, and time spent together.

We have several traditional-to-us recipes that make an appearance on our table during the holiday season year after year; like it’s tradition to have Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning while opening presents. From brunch casseroles to spiced sangria and Ina’s rib roast, I’m sharing our favorite holiday recipes – enjoy!

Our Favorite Holiday Recipes

Nana’s Famous Egg Dish

This egg casserole is perfect for any brunch or holiday celebrations. It freezes beautifully to make ahead, and tastes amazing with pico de gallo salsa.

Greens Beans with Goat Cheese, Almonds & Cranberries

These green beans are bright and fresh, with creamy goat cheese, orange zest, crunchy slivered almonds and sweet cranberries. The recipe is gluten-free and only takes 15 minutes from start to finish.

The Ultimate Fall & Winter Salad

This salad is a fall dream come true. It has butternut squash, spicy arugula, a tangy vinaigrette, chicken, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese. It’s perfect for any holiday gatherings or parties and makes a veggie-packed side dish. My vegetarian friends can easily omit the chicken and it’s just as delicious without it.

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Sharing my top picks for the best hiking trails in Tucson. 

Hi hi! Happy Christmas week and hope that you all are having a lovely morning. We had a great weekend. It was Elf night with friends, we decorated gingerbread houses, and I taught a barre class. We’re headed on a little staycation later this week, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

For today’s post, I wanted to share some of my favorite hiking trails in Tucson! We are in the middle of hiking season (I think the best weather is from late October until early May), and my top trails have been packed with locals and tourists, enjoying the gorgeous Tucson scenery. I’ve been a fan of hiking for many years, but really fell more in love with it over the past few years, because it was one of the only things we could do. We used the opportunity to explore some of our favorite trails, we visited Sedona a few times as a family, and the kids fell in love with hiking, too.

It’s become one of our favorite family adventures.

I wanted to post some of the best Tucson hiking trails, plus some of my tips for hiking with kids.

Best hiking trails in Tucson

Sabino Canyon

Sabino Canyon is the destination, but within Sabino Canyon, there are tons of trails. If you are a newbie or it’s your first time in Tucson, you can stay on the main tram road, which is about 7.3 miles out and back. It’s paved and heavily-populated. Within the canyon, you can use All Trails to discover so many different trails depending on length and your hiking level. If you want something more rustic but still populated, you can do the Bear Canyon trail.

For longer/sportier hikes, try Phoneline, Blackett’s, and Seven Falls (pack a lunch and lots of water for this one).

If you have kids with you, I highly recommend Bear Canyon to Sabino Dam. It’s short and there a ton of water for the kids (and adults) to wade and play.

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