Once upon a time, there was a woman named Eve, who, unable to resist the luring temptation of a fragrant orchard, took a bite of forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. Perhaps Eve was bored. Perhaps she was ovulating and had a desperate craving for something sweet. Perhaps life in the little garden was becoming stressful or claustrophobic. Perhaps she felt out of control or lacked passion in her life and in order to numb her emotions or soothe herself from Adam's lack of attention or his ambivalence in starting a family, she chose to indulge. Perhaps Eve was an emotional eater. But as Eve soon discovered, neither the bite, nor the whole fruit fulfilled her as she had hoped. Not only did she realize she was naked but that she had contempt for the way she looked. Perhaps Eve suffered with body dismorphia. Eve tried to stop eating the forbidden fruit and eventually avoided eating altogether but that didn't work and she ended up eating until she could no longer breathe. The point of this is that Eve lost her intuitive ability to nourish herself. She no longer had balance in her life and was willing to do any and everything to get that back.

Maybe Eve didn't exist. Maybe the stories that were told are not as important as the stories we tell ourselves.

This blog is dedicated to creating new stories based on the philosophies of whole body nutrition, self-love, intuition, fitness and yoga.

In my journey I have sought to uncover the knowledge and balance which have brought me to a greater awareness of health and this is what I wish to share with you.

About Me

I am a holistic nutritionist, certified yoga instructor, athlete, healthy living chef, and published writer. I have spent the last four years of my life rebuilding all aspects of myself after recovering from an eating disorder. Follow me as I continue to eat clean, train hard, and discover balance mind, body and spirit. zainsaraswatijamal.com

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Equipment-Free Workout

Sometimes, getting to the gym can be a struggle, especially if you are planning to go on holiday or if your schedule is extremely busy for a period of time but that is no reason why you can’t get an awesome workout in.

My fiancee and I often travel to very small towns in Cuba to visit family and our large coconut and fruit plantation. In this tiny town, there is no gym and not really any place to run as the streets are narrow and uneven.

During the days that I am there, I normally use this workout to keep my body in top shape and when I hit the gym, I usually feel stronger as I have been using different muscles so my overall strength improves noticeably.

*Note - I would run through this workout 4 times with a 30sec-1min break in between each full set. You can tailor the number of times you repeat according to your fitness level.

Warm Up:

5-7 Minutes Skipping (with rope or motion like invisible rope)

Workout:

Set 1

50 Alternating Lunges

25 Box Jumps

15 Squat With Shoulder Press (using a band, two bricks or water jugs filled, I use 5 gallon jugs)

30 sec Side Plank (each side)

Set 2

15 Burpees

25 Push-Ups

1 minute jogging on the spot