In my last post, y'all saw that I finally bought an elliptical machine. It's been great! Roy and I use it all the time and it's been amazing to have it in the comfort of our living room. I know that I'd have to pay for a gym membership for at least two years before I break even on the elliptical, but I have come up with a mini list of reasons for why it's a totally reasonable purchase:
1. I never have to wait on someone else who might be using the machine (well, except for Roy if he happens to want to work out at the exact same time as me, but so far, that's not been an issue)
2. I never have to worry about someone's sweaty drippage remnants on the machine
3. I can plop my heiny in the shower as soon as my workout is over, thereby decreasing the chances of getting some sort of fungal plague or tapeworm of any kind
4. I can watch whatever TV show I want, when I want, however loudly I want, and not be subjected to watching Fox news, or the Jodi Arias trial or whatever the hell other show or network program which happens to be playing at the gym.
5. I can never again make another excuse about "not having time" to work out. Even if I have a spare five or ten minutes, I hop on the elliptical. It's five or ten minutes more than I would have done otherwise.
6. I could have purchased a Coach purse or new car, some sexy makeup at Sephora, or the iPad 4 (because it's got the new plug which is reversible and tiny and so freaking cool!!!) but I purchased gym equipment which is good for my health and well-being instead.
'Nuff said.
The thing is though, at best, exercising is about 30% of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and healthy weight. The other 70% is your food consumption. If you're eating hot dogs and cheese fries everyday, and hitting the gym everyday, you're not doing yourself any favors. So the food I eat is super important to maintaining all the hard work I've put into getting this glorious body I've pined for.
Soooo.... Roy and I are now buying a dehydrator. We already eat tons of veggies in our shakes, but currently, that's the only way Roy eats vegetables. He hates veggies. And I get tired of just eating salads and shakes all the time. The dehydrator brings a whole new level of healthy eating to the plate. (Haha, get it?)
We both love veggie chips though, and when Roy went vegan a few years ago (yes, shocking, I know), he ate lots of dehydrated fruits and veggies. I haven't though. So Roy took me to Whole Foods the other day and we grabbed three bags of different flavored dehydrated kale chips which I found were super delicious and super healthy. And with ingredients like chia seeds, organic apple cider vinegar and lemon juice in them, I don't have to feel guilty about gobbling down an entire bag. But I do feel guilty about the price. At $5.99 a bag, this was the most expensive snack I have ever purchased. So, after much thought, we've decided to splurge (again) and buy a dehydrator.
***Side note: Did I mention we also bought a new freezer? I did manage to snag 10% off at Home Depot on a 5 cubic foot deep chest freezer so I can finally buy fruits and vegetables in bulk when they're in season and/or on sale and freeze them for our kale shakes. $189 with $18 off. Not too shabby...
Moving back to the dehydrator, I've read tons of reviews online, did some research on various brands and different types of dehydrators, checked Consumer Reports (which was useless, because they don't have any dehydrators at all on there), asked friends, and read numerous health blogs. We're not going to even bother to save money on this one, so we're going straight for the leading brand: the Excalibur. It's the 9 Tray Excalibur #3926TB with a timer, currently only sale for $299 (unless I can snag a better offer.)
After making the mistake of trying to save money with the Magic Bullet, Ninja, and then the Health Master blenders, we could have purchased two Vitamix blenders. Instead, we wasted a ton of money on products that broke down, wore out, or just simply didn't deliver on our expectations before we finally got the Vitamix (which, by the way, is the most amazing, glorious, blissfully beautiful blender in the universe.) We've learned our lesson. I may be cheap and frugal, but I consider all this money spent on healthy items an investment on our future medical bills (or lack thereof).
I will however call Excalibur tomorrow to see if there are any rad deals we might be eligible for. Hey, ya never know until you ask. Amirite? With the elliptical, freezer and dehydrator, I'm thinking we're going to be having date-night-ins for the next few months...
Does anyone else have an Excalibur dehydrator? Please feel free to share your recipes, or your complaints/satisfactions.
Til next time!
-Kale Queen
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