I remember the first time I traveled outside the US like it was yesterday. I had just graduated with a fashion design degree and wanted to attend a summer program at a fashion school in Florence, Italy. The weekends would be spent traveling up and down the country in exploration. In Rome, my camera was stolen out of my backpack in a hostel and I lost all the photos I had taken (back then there was film cameras!). Even though I had no physical proof that I had visited the Colosseum and the Pantheon, the memories were etched in my brain.

I remember traveling down the Amalfi Coast with my mouth agape at the beauty. These weekend getaways led me to say goodbye to fashion school and continue traveling. I was bit by the bug! I continued up to Switzerland, where my purse was snatched and caused so much frustration and pain trying to replace my passport.

In every country I’ve visited since I can tell you similar stories of trials and tribulations. It took me 10 years of traveling to 15 countries to learn how to be a better traveler, the ins and outs of transportation, how to travel safely between countries, and the most important, how to survive as a vegan. Going on a retreat saves you so much stress because someone like me who has been through everything plans it all out for you. So if you don’t want to miss out on seeing the world, but aren’t sure you are ready for all the planning, or are afraid of traveling solo then a yoga retreat is right for you!

Here are my top 4 reasons why you should go on a yoga retreat.

1. Less planning, less stress
It takes hours and hours of research to find the perfect hotel, make sure you’ll have vegan food nearby, decide what part of town you should stay in, figure out transportation and customs of that country, and plan a budget for the trip. When you go on a yoga retreat everything is planned for you. You just show up and enjoy a vacation of a lifetime. That right there is priceless.

2. Connect with like-minded individuals
Retreats are perfect for solo travelers or those who don’t want to spend their whole vacation alone. It’s not often possible to travel with friends or family, but that shouldn’t stop you from going to a magical place. If you go on a retreat you instantly have 10+ friends and you aren’t left all alone with no one to share your experiences with. A selfie stick can only get you so far in capturing a beautiful landscape. Even the most introverted will feel more secure on a yoga retreat because all the activities are optional and you get plenty of free time to do you own thing. And who knows, these people may become life-long friends.

3. Come home better than when you left
Going on an organized retreat that includes things like yoga, mind/body connection, and vegan food lets you come back home better off than when you left. Remember that last vacation where you drank too much, ate crappy food and came home drained and felt like you needed a vacation from your vacation? Going on a healthy yoga retreat will leave you feeling refreshed, recharged, and ready to take on the world.

4. Say yes to you
Many put travel to the side because they are slammed with work, kids, projects, family, community, etc. Women inparticular spend less time on themselves than they do on the people around them. I truly believe that happiness (and health!) develops from self-care and giving yourself time away from your busy life. When you step back you can devote some time to your needs. And in the long run this makes you more helpful to others in your life.

You deserve a yoga retreat! We are offering a wonderful discount for Chic Vegan readers until February 5th. All you have to do is pay your deposit and you’ll save $300 off the already low price of our Bali retreat in April. We hope you can join us! More details here: bit.ly/1MfGOmh

The post 4 reasons why a yoga retreat is right for you appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Chic Vegan:  Tell us your motivation for starting Definition Fitness Magazine.

CM: Christy Morgan: When I got into fitness and lifting weights in 2013, I joined the Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness group on Facebook. It gave me a lot of great information but I didn’t feel comfortable posting personal questions or asking advice about girly stuff. So I started my own group just for women. It was hugely successful and gave women a place to connect. I don’t think women – especially those who want to lift and be badass – are supported in general, though that is starting to change with CrossFit. A member of my group suggested we start a magazine. I put out a call to see who wanted to be involved and the rest is history!

The original team of 6 women produced 4 issues in 2014, with over 90 pages of (mostly) ad-free content in each one. We include workouts, recipes, inspirational stories, interviews with amazing vegan athletes, and articles that dispel myths that pertain to fitness and veganism. All those issues are available to read and download for free, so check it out if you haven’t already! In order to continue running the website, and with the hope of going to print next year, we started a paid subscription for this year. It’s inexpensive (less than a soy latte per issue!) with the amount of content you get. And it’s content you can actually use. We work hard on producing really useful and relevant material, and we appreciate everyone’s support of the magazine!

CV: Walk us through a day in your life.

CM: I run my own business and do speaking engagements all over the world, so the magazine is what I do in my “free” time. But it takes up a lot of time; way more than I bargained for when I started it. Oops! It’s almost a full-time job in itself because, as the editor-in-chief, I manage everything:  administrative duties, social media, coming up with content, editing all submissions, writing stories, running the website, setting up photo shoots, researching vegan athletes, approving graphics, etc. Often, I’m doing this at night after working on fitness programs, having client conference calls and finding time to work out. But I do it happily because I want to help and inspire others. I do have an amazing team of writers and contributors, editors, designers and photographers. There wouldn’t be a magazine without them and we are all super passionate about it!

CV: What are some of the challenges and rewards with this project?

CM: Even though we live in a digital world, people prefer to have a paper magazine in their hands rather than read one online. The magazine is beautiful and well designed, has great content and I think it blows the standard fitness magazines out of the water. We’re working on getting more people to read it and get excited about it. It’s super important we get subscriptions if we want to go to print. Everyone on the team, including myself, is working on a volunteer basis, so any money we make from subscriptions goes into running the website, general expenses, and saving for our first print issue and distribution.

The rewards are endless! I’m able to produce a magazine that I would read. We have received an amazing response from the readers. Most fitness magazines feature women with hard-to-achieve/unrealistic bodies, so one of my main goals was to feature women of all shapes and sizes. People appreciate that. I’ve had people e-mail me who have transitioned to veganism because our magazine helped show them how, and dispelled the myths that you can’t perform and be successful in your health and fitness goals on a vegan diet. Or people share how they were inspired to start a new sport like CrossFit or Powerlifting after seeing vegan athletes in our magazine. We feature all types of athletes and everyday people doing extraordinary things. You don’t have to be thin, or ripped, or perfectly airbrushed, to be strong, fit, able, and healthy. I don’t think we have ever airbrushed anyone in the magazine.

CV:  How can we subscribe to the magazine?

CM: To download single issue ($4.99): https://gum.co/CfUy/issuefive (first 50 people to use this link save $1)

For subscription (which puts each issue at $3.75): https://gum.co/zPOk

To read a sample of the issue or all back issues: http://issuu.com/definitionforladies

CV:  Who’s on the team?

CM: We have an amazing team of writers, editors, photographers, fitness experts, and chefs. You can find everyone here on our website.

CV:  Where would you like to see the magazine go?

CM: We definitively want to go to print and be on the newsstands one day so that we can position ourselves as a major player in the magazine world. There has never been a vegan magazine that can stand up next to the popular magazines for women like Self, FitnessRX, Oxygen, etc. So we’d like to be the first. And our magazine isn’t just for vegans or even women alone. I’ve had many women who aren’t vegan e-mail to tell me how much they get out of Definition. Men, too!

People are always asking when my next book is coming out. Definition is my answer. It allows me to put anything and everything I would put into a book into the magazine. But it stays relevant. When you produce a book it’s a snapshot in time. Like with Blissful Bites. I’m a VERY different person than I was when I wrote it. I still love the recipes and the content will always be valid.  But I wasn’t an athlete when I wrote that book. It was a very spiritual, soul-searching time of my life, and that is reflected in the writing. My diet is actually a bit different now.

CV: What advice would you give to someone who is just getting started with fss?

CM: Find things you enjoy and love to do. Fitness should never feel like a chore. Every good program will have both a cardio and a resistant-training element. If you join a gym, it will give you more choices of activities to discover and access to more equipment on the weight-training floor. But you can get a good workout at home too.

If you have no idea where to start, hiring a personal trainer at the gym, even for a few sessions, can be helpful. If you work out at home, hiring an online fitness coach like me is a great idea because they can take your goals and design a personalized program to follow with equipment you have available. Time should never be an excuse because your health is important to you. You’ll fit it in when you can, even if it means cutting down on Netflix time, or squeezing in 20 minutes here and there throughout the day when the baby is napping.

If you want to go it on your own, there are great workout programs on bodybuilding.com and videos on YouTube. My faves are Fitness Blender and Melissa Bender, though many of those are bodyweight only. So definitely choose some workouts that incorporate weights. I post a new workout each week on my website and Definition Fitness Magazine has workouts in each issue, so check those out too!

Are you interested in working with Christy?  We can offer one month free to the first Chic Vegan reader who purchases her 16 week personalized fitness program with food plan. Enter the code CHICVEGAN at checkout. Only one person can redeem this code, and it’s first come, first serve. Offer expires 3/31 Visit http://theblissfulchef.com/fitness-coaching/ for program details.

The post Interview Series: Christy Morgan Talks Fitness appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Meet Christy Morgan…

CHIC VEGAN – WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO BECOME VEGAN AND WAS IT AN OVERNIGHT SWITCH OR MORE GRADUAL SHIFT?

CHRISTY MORGAN – It was an overnight switch actually. About 10 years ago a good friend showed me the Meet Your Meat video on PETA. I was shocked by all the abuse and torture and didn’t want to contribute to it. So we made the commitment to go vegan together. She had been vegetarian for most her life before so she showed me what I could eat. I had to teach myself how to cook in this new way. I fell in love with cooking vegan food and sharing it with others and that is when I decided to switch careers and go to culinary school.

CV – YOU STARTED OUT IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY, RATHER THAN THE FOOD WORLD. WAS IT DIFFICULT TO TRANSITION CAREERS?

CM – I was having difficulty breaking into the business of fashion in Los Angeles and was working for free on movie sets in the wardrobe department. So it was a pretty easy decision to change careers. At the time I had no idea what my food career would become but I took a leap of faith. It was my mission and dream to help others find true health and wellness and to make a difference for the animals. I’ve done a good job at that and feel blessed to be given the opportunity to help so many people on their journey to blissful health.

CV – I LOVE YOUR COOKBOOK BLISSFUL BITES: VEGAN MEALS THAT NOURISH THE MIND, BODY AND PLANET! WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO CREATE NEW RECIPES?

CM – Why thank you! People really seem to be loving it because it’s different than most the vegan cookbooks out there with it’s emphasis on whole foods and eating seasonally. Since I’m a huge fan of eating local, seasonal foods I’m inspired by a trip to the farmer’s market; the fragrance of fresh herbs, the vibrant colors of the produce, the plump fresh bread, supporting the local economy. All these things inspire new recipes. I’m hugely inspired by ethnic cuisines like Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, and Indian. You’ll find many of my recipes combine different, but complimentary, ethnic flavors together in new ways. Often I’m trying to recreate foods I loved as a child in a healthy way or that I’ve tried at a fancy vegan restaurant. Sometimes I get ideas right before I go to bed or in the shower, so paper or phone is nearby to jot down those ideas.

CV – WILL THERE BE ANOTHER COOKBOOK ANYTIME SOON?

CM – I’m sure there will! I’ve got many ideas for future books and I’m in the process of talking with publishers. Right now my main focus is developing a new wellness program for both businesses and individuals. It’s called The Wellness Reboot, which will give me an opportunity to help more people on their paths to good health.

CV – TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE WELLNESS REBOOT AND WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO CREATE IT.

CM – It’s a 30 day program for businesses and individuals in a group setting. It will give employees skills that will not only improve their ability to do their jobs better and more efficiently but they can take what they learn to their family and friends. Studies show that everyone benefits from corporate wellness programs and they are essential for the health of companies.

Individuals have the option to join a small group of people each month to learn all the skills they need to make healthful meals at home and to improve any health issues they may be suffering from like obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc. The program will include a 30 day meal-plan, tips for shopping and saving money, how to cook meals from scratch faster, online cooking classes and continual support.

I’ve had thousands of people across the world want to work with me and take my cooking classes so it’s about time I offer a program like this. The plan is to launch it for the new year and limited spaces will be available each month. If you are interested in learning more and to sign up for our email list please visit wellnessreboot.com.

CV – AS A CHEF AND COOKING INSTRUCTOR, WHAT IS YOUR BEST TIP FOR SOMEONE WHO’S NEW TO COOKING?

CM – Cook as much as possible, take cooking classes, equipped yourself with good tools (like a good chef knife), and never get discouraged. Learn the basics first then get into fancier cooking methods. And also remember to keep it simple. Every meal does not need to be a gourmet cook-a-thon. I guess that’s more than one tip, but they are all important to your success.

CV – YOU LIVE IN TEXAS, WHICH IS USUALLY KNOWN AS MEAT AND POTATOES COUNTRY. IS IT DIFFICULT TO LIVE A VEGAN LIFESTYLE THERE?

CM – Thankfully in Austin, the city is very vegetarian and vegan-friendly. Waitstaff doesn’t look at you weird when you ask what the vegan options are on the menu. And many regular restaurants have special vegetarian sections on their menus. We also have the largest Whole Foods and a wonderful Coop called Wheatsville. That being said, you can be vegan anywhere in the world as long as you have access to a grocery store. All the vegan food you need can be found there like grains, beans, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have a natural food store or fancy vegan junk food near you.

CV – WHAT DO YOU TYPICALLY EAT IN THE SPAN OF A DAY AND ARE YOU A SNACKER?

CM – Everyone morning I have a big green smoothie with PlantFusion protein powder (but now that it’s getting cold I will probably alternate those with grains/beans/greens plate). I try to stick with whole foods and gluten-free meals. Lunch at home is pretty simple like veggie and tofu tacos with steamed broccoli, a big salad, or a hummus and veggie wrap. If I eat out for a meal it’s usually Thai or Vietnamese or one of the vegan food trucks in town. When I cook at home I keep it pretty simple and quick unless I’m feeling fancier or in recipe creating mode. I sometimes snack on sliced veggies, nuts or protein shakes.

CV – WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE VEGAN INDULGENCE?

CM – Anything with chocolate. Whether it be a cookie, cake, scone, pudding, tart, or other pastry if it has chocolate in it I’m game. I have a sweet tooth and will always choose a sweet indulgence over a savory one.

CV – IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS WHAT WILL YOUR LIFE LOOK LIKE IN 5 YEARS?

CM – I’d like to have a few more books under my belt and be traveling the world teaching others how to make delicious, blissful food. My mission is to empower others to find health through food that not only nourishes the mind, body, and soul but the planet. So I hope to continue doing that until I’m not able.

The post INTERVIEW SERIES – CHRISTY MORGAN appeared first on Chic Vegan.