Day 2 in the books

Today was tough but successful! We hosted a dinner party and I avoided alcohol (I only drink sweet girly drinks so they had to go) and turned down dessert!

Breakfast:

Apple 

Green and Glowing smoothie from Whole Foods

Snack:

Vegan Perfect Bar

Lunch:

Veggie wrap from Sprouts 

Dinner:

Brussel sprouts, salad (dressing may have had sugar), mac n cheese with broccoli, and green beans

Happy New Year!

Earlier this week I read this article talking about the evils of sugar. I wish I could say I was shocked and horrified but sadly I was pretty familiar with the claims. Just a year and a half ago I cut out sugar for these very same reasons. I even blogged about it! But somehow, over time, I loosened the reins significantly and found myself eating sugary treats with reckless abandon over the holiday break.

Now don't get me wrong, I've actually continued to scrutinize ingredients and do my best to choose the option with the least amount of sugar possible. However I know I could be doing better and the article reminded me why I should cut out all processed/added sugar.

The article also mentioned Fed Up, a documentary about sugar's role in the obesity epidemic. I had been meaning to watch it since it came out so I finally did this week. It was eye opening and heart wrenching. I think everyone should watch it, no matter your size or diet. It's on Netflix, watch it now!!

After watching that, I am even more motivated to kick sugar to the curb. All week I've been making some tough decisions like eating fruit for breakfast instead of banana bread, snacking on carrots instead of chocolate covered almonds, and eating a half a donut instead of a whole one... what? I'm still human. It was a really tough week to start since we had family staying with us and the house was loaded with sugary delights. That's why when I read the label for my peanut butter pretzels and saw there was added sugar, albeit a small amount, (seriously Trader Joe's??) I still ate them because it was a better choice than Lacey's Cookies.

Even after family left, we were faced with New Year's Eve so we went out for dinner and I had a sugary drink. So basically I'm considering today my first official sugar free day. And what better day than the first day of the year? I'm not sure I'll post every day... in fact I'm sure I won't. But when I remember, I'll post what I ate, especially if it includes any particularly good recipes.

Breakfast:
Green Smoothie (kale, pineapple, banana, frozen mango, protein powder, and water)

Lunch:
Quinoa and Brown Rice Bowl with Vegetables and Tahini
Snack:
Apple with almond butter

Dinner:
Salad and Brussel Sprouts from R10 Social House

Exercise:
Hot Yoga

Where do you get your protein?

Okay wipe that shocked look off your face, yes, I know I've been slacking big time!! After traveling here and there this summer it took me a while to get back in the groove. And I'm not saying I'm back, but I found myself with a few spare moments and thought I'd share some info. If you can believe it I've actually had a handful of people ask me where my blog went, that was so sweet! I didn't think anyone would notice if I stopped posting.

Now I gotta be honest for a minute, I haven't exactly been sticking to the sugar free lifestyle lately. It's not my fault! I was on vacation and everyone knows you get to eat whatever you want on vacation, right? Well, I did and when I came back I may or may not have brought a few treats with me which of course I had to eat, I couldn't let them go bad. So here we are, summer is almost over and I'm finally starting to settle back into a more healthy livet.

This post was actually inspired by a friend who was in town this weekend. We practiced yoga together and I was especially sore the next day. She asked about my protein intake and of course my first reaction was, "hey, just because I don't eat meat doesn't mean I don't get enough protein." But when I let my guard down a bit and actually thought about it, I have never really sat down and figured out how much protein I need. I've read plenty of articles touting that as long as you ingest enough calories, your protein is covered (vegan or otherwise). And really, how many of us (vegan or otherwise) know how much protein we need? Well I'll be honest, I didn't.

So I consulted Dr. Google and found enough sources to feel comfortable with a ballpark estimate. The CDC says women aged 19-70+ need 46 grams of protein. However webMD says athletes need about 50% more than a sedentary person. I found this nifty chart by fitsugar that suggests I need about 70 grams so I'm making that my goal.

Then I sat down and kinda guesstimated how much protein I'm getting on an average day. I found another nifty chart, this one by YumUniverse, that shows how much protein is in all kinds of plant based foods. Did you know there's 24 grams of protein in 1 cup of quinoa? That's only about 10 grams less than 1 cup of chicken! Well, based on my really terrible calculations, it appears on some days I am not getting enough protein (mainly because I just don't eat enough food some days).

Not terribly shocking, but definitely concerning. I've decided to commit to daily protein shakes (20 grams of protein each) which I need to do anyways to get my B12. I'll also be paying closer attention to what I eat and striving to attain 70 grams of protein each day. And of course, I'll be reeling in my sugar consumption too!

Oh and just for fun, here's a fast and delicious recipe I made last night: Curried Eggplant with Tomatoes and Basil. And a not so fast, but still delicious, recipe for homemade kind bars.

Why not just use agave?

I heard this question a lot when I was blogging regularly about avoiding sugar. I would often note that I had left out agave in a recipe and people would ask me why. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I just felt like sweetening it with something else kinda defeated the purpose of weaning myself off sugar. However it wasn't until recently that I found an even better explanation.

If you believe the hype, then you probably agree that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) should be avoided. Personally this is what I believe. Now let's take a look at a pro HFCS website:  "High fructose corn syrup is basically the same as sugar—both in terms of composition and in the number of calories they contain." So at it's best, HFCS is just like sugar.

Okay now why are we talking about HFCS again? Oh that's right, because we all agree it's the bad guy. Well, I found a pro agave website (a company that sells the stuff) which states: "...Wholesome's Blue Agave is 75% fructose..." which is typical for agave. The same site also states: "...commercial fructose corn syrups contain either 42% or 55% fructose by weight." Now it also says a bunch of other stuff so feel free to read it for yourself, but I wanted to find biased sites that would put their product in the best light to confirm what I read on this site:

"Because of this concern about the elevated levels of fructose in HFCS, some health food stores will not carry any product that has HFCS in it. Yet on the other hand, they carry a full line of agave syrup products on their shelf and carry many products sweetened with agave syrup. But realize agave syrup has a fructose content of about 70-90% which is way higher (worse) than HFCS.

On the one hand, consumers, especially the health conscious, are avoiding HFCS like the plague because the level of fructose in it is higher (55%) than in regular table sugar/sucrose (50%). They consider the higher level of fructose a problem. The fact that is has a lower GI than table sugar is ignored."

Get where I'm going? If I'm avoiding sugar, and of course I'm avoiding HFCS, then I should definitely avoid agave too! The site linked above has tons of of other info, I found just poking around Facebook one day. I don't need that much convincing but check it out if you do, it's pretty good and seems legit.

So now what? Honey? Stevia? What it boils down to, for me at least, is moderation. I've loosened up the reigns on my sugar ban but only to the point that I'm not being ridiculous and going to extreme lengths to avoid it (and its sweet sisters like agave and honey). And of course I still indulge once in a while when the opportunity presents itself. 

I'm Back!

Okay, actually I've been back for two weeks. I've just been way too busy living life and trying to get to bed early to do any blogging. I think from now on I'll try to blog about once per week to highlight awesome new recipes, restaurants, and products that I come across. Speaking of which, I finally got a chance to make the Sugar-free Snickers Ice Cream recipe I found! Well, technically I started making it and then my amazingly wonderful boyfriend finished it. It was only after starting the recipe that we realized an ice cream maker was needed. Never fear, there's a way around that. But alas, I could not find my hand mixer so my super fantastic boyfriend whisked the ice cream by hand!! Isn't he the best?

Thankfully the ice cream was totally worth his pain and suffering and I've eaten two bowls today (tiny bowls because I'm too impatient to wait for it to defrost enough to scoop). I must admit that while it is free of added sugar, and free of refined sugar, it still does have sweetener via the chocolate chips. Some might not see that as a problem and obviously it didn't stop me from indulging, but I just wanted to put it out there. Ideally I like to avoid sweeteners altogether since they don't exactly keep me from craving the real deal since my body doesn't care if they're sweetened with evaporated cane juice or refined sugar.

But back to the ice cream, seriously, make it, eat it, thank me later!

Blog Break

Okay, this is Saturday's blog but I'm writing it Sunday. This weekend has been jammed packed! Saturday I went to Shape Magazine's Summer Shape Up with Jillian Michaels and got a serious butt kicking (well Jillian would use another word, that girl has a serious potty mouth!). Then I met up with some new friends for acro yoga play time. It was so much fun, I love finding people to practice with since you need at least one partner so I can't do it on my own. And on top of it these girls are super cool and fun to hang out with!

Sunday (today) I asked Mike to teach me to surf. Again. We tried this at least 5 years ago and had very little success but I wasn't working out hardly at all back then and things are slightly different now so I thought I'd give it another shot. I wasn't terribly successful at actually standing up on a wave but I still felt good that I wasn't nearly as frustrated or tired as the first time I tried. I can't wait to try again!

I'm going to take this week off because I'll be traveling and because I just need a break! Even though I don't leave for a few days I am taking the whole week off so I'm not even going to post a blog for today (Sunday). See ya next week!

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, banana

Snack:

Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Lunch:

Speedy Veggie Bowl

Snack:

Banana

Dinner:

Basmati Stuffed Grilled Peppers

Exercise:

Jillian Michaels Body Shred

Acro yoga

I can't

For some reason this week has been filled with inspiring articles and videos about kids and fitness. Everything from an article about how telling kids they can't do something can actually change their ability to be able to do it, to a video of kids talking about how much they like yoga! And then the week culminated with a really amazing video by Always about what it means to do something "like a girl."

These were all very touching for various reasons but I think the biggest one is realizing how much we are held back and how much it affects us as an adult. I know I find myself saying "I'm not strong enough" or "I can't" very often. I am constantly falling back on my lack of background as an athlete to explain why I can't or might never be able to do something and somehow taking comfort in that. Until the next time I am reminded that I really want to do it!

It's actually kind of crazy if you actually make a conscious effort to stop saying "I can't..." You don't realize how much you say it until you try to stop. Like working on 3-position cleans and doing a full squat each time. I kept wanting to say "I can't squat bellow parallel with a flat back due to my tight hip flexors." While it's true that I have issues with my hips and glutes, my coach remarked that sometimes I did it correctly and sometimes I didn't. He was only correcting me when I didn't do it right so I thought I was doing it wrong every time. But when he mentioned that I did it right sometimes it kinda blew my "I can't" out of the water! I think the truth is "It's uncomfortable and takes too long to do it correctly so I'm sacrificing my form." Put like that I realize that it's not that I can't but that I don't want to put in the effort.

That small shift is kind of amazing though. Suddenly you realize you can do anything if you are willing to put in the effort. And sometimes the effort is quite immense, time consuming, and even painful. But knowing that if you are willing to endure it, you CAN do it, well that changes everything!

Breakfast:
oatmeal, strawberries, banana

Snack:
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Lunch:
Speedy Veggie Noodle Bowl

Snack:
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar
Apple

Dinner:
All Hale Kale Bowl from Yellow Fever

Exercise:
CrossFit
yoga

Portions

I don't post my portions because I don't keep track of them. I try to follow the Blue Zones Project Power 9 mantra "Hara hachi bu"which basically means to stop eating when you are 80% full. Well, that's pretty arbitrary actually because how do you know what 80% feels like until you reach 100%? But I get the idea, basically stop eating before you actually feel full. It makes sense to me because I can think of plenty of occasions where I have eaten until I felt full and then 20 minutes or so later I felt like I was going to explode!

But that also doesn't mean that I eat tiny portions. In fact, it takes a large portion of vegetables to get the same number of calories that are in meat. I usually can't eat that much in one sitting so I snack throughout the day and sometimes break my dinner up into two meals an hour or more apart. And speaking of portions, watch this girl eat 51 bananas in ONE DAY! Watch her stomach grow and then shrink back, it's crazy!!

Breakfast:
oatmeal, strawberries, banana

Snack:
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Lunch:
Veggie Wrap with Hummus from Trader Joe's
Antioxidant Warm Quinoa Bowl

Snack:
Nectarine
Baby Carrots
Almonds
Apple
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Dinner:
Raw Lasagna

Exercise:
much needed rest day

Stress eating

I had a stressful day and I'm very prone to stress eating. Thankfully I had plenty of snacks and because of routine, I wasn't tempted by the office snack table. Late in the day my manager very sweetly tried to cheer me up with chocolate so I had one piece. She tried to get me to take more but I declined.

I didn't feel like working out at all after the day I had but I had told some people from church that I would be there so I made myself go. No one showed up but since I was there I ran a mile and did some yoga on the astroturf field. This is my new favorite workout! The run warms me up nicely for yoga. When I ran out of flows I started practicing inversions and arm balances and gave myself some sweet tricep bruises. By the time I was done I had completely forgotten about my day so I'm really glad I stuck it out.

Day 45

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, strawberries, banana

Snack:

Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Lunch:

Grill Pressed Eggplant Wrap with Spicy Tahini Sauce from Trader Joe's

Snack:

Baby carrots

Chocolate covered macadamia nut

Nectarine

Almonds

Dinner:

Speedy Veggie Noodle Bowl
(subbed Bragg Liquid Aminos for coconut aminos and left the sugar out)

Exercise:

1 mile run

Yoga

My yoga journey

So yesterday I realized that I first started practicing yoga about 10 years ago! I used a Denise Austin yoga DVD a couple times a week to try to get in shape after gaining weight at my first desk job. I remember how much I despised Denise and her super peppy personality asking me to do crazy hard things and acting like it was no big deal. I actually still have the DVD! Unfortunately I got bored with it after a while since it was the same thing every time. Over the years since then I took an occasional class here and there probably averaging once a month at best. And I wondered why I never got any better!

Then this past October I found myself with some extra time on my hands and a painful foot injury that wouldn't allow me to run or jump. I decided to try upping my yoga sessions to three times a week. Within a few sessions my foot got better (even though it hadn't improved after five weeks of rest) and I was hooked. I can't always take classes three times a week now but I've gotten to the point where I can pretty much make up my own class, which usually devolves into head/handstand practice.

Speaking of which, I think that was the other thing that really got me pumped on yoga. Once I discovered inversions and arm balances, yoga became fun! I had tried crow pose over the years and failed miserably every time, but that was the only arm balance I had ever been exposed to. Certainly no headstands or handstands!

I know you might be thinking "I'm not flexible enough for yoga." But I have news for you, you are the exact person who should do yoga! Yoga isn't for flexible people (well, they can do it too if they want to), it's for people who want to become flexible. Regular yoga practice will increase flexibility which is great for people who sit all day and/or do workouts that make them tight. In fact, it's my cheater way to get my stretching in after a run or CrossFit since I really don't like stretching. Somehow when you call it yoga it becomes more interesting and I tend to spend more time doing it.

Day 44
Breakfast:
oatmeal, strawberries, banana

Snack:
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Lunch:
Spicy Lentil Wrap with Tahini Sauce from Trader Joe's

Snack:
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar
baby carrots
almonds

Dinner:
Antioxidant Warm Quinoa Bowl
Raw Lasagna

Exercise:
1 mile run
yoga

The magic number

So many people seem to judge progress by the number on the scale. I don't know how I escaped that desire to know how much I weigh. I was exposed to all the usual things. We had a scale in the house and I would always weigh myself when I went to someone else's house and they had a scale. I also distinctly remember my Barbie scale which showed her weight as 110 lbs when she stood on it. I remember learning various metrics for determining what the ideal weight was. Yet somehow I stopped caring about my weight pretty early on. Well, not my weight, but the actual number. I still struggled with body image like everyone else when I was growing up.

I'm not sure if I was just too cheap to buy my own scale when I moved out on my own but I got used to not knowing exactly how much I weighed. I learned to judge my weight based on how my clothes fit. Now I can't imagine worrying about the number. It seems so arbitrary. Haven't you had that experience where you find out what someone weighs and it's a shock? I know I have. So many factors go into how much your body weighs like bone density and muscle mass.

If you are really looking for results to motivate you I think taking measurements is a much better way to track progress. That's basically what using clothes does, just in a less precise way. I have a pair of jeans that I've owned for at least 10 years. At one point they were so tight on me I could barely button them. That was right around the time I started my first desk job and was sitting for 8 hours a day. I'm glad I still have them so I can continue to monitor my weight!

Day 43
Breakfast:
Oatmeal, banana

Lunch:
Raw Lasagna

Dinner:
Antioxidant Warm Quinoa Bowl

Exercise:
Yoga

Bloopers

So apparently I've been making my yoga practice look a little too good in pictures and a little birdie told me that I should post some bloopers. He witnessed me fall out of headstand one too many times and the jig was up. I never realized I was portraying a perfect practice (is there such a thing? it's called a "practice" for a reason!), I just figured no one wanted to see my 100 failed attempts for every 1 good one. But he's right, showing the bloopers is a good idea because I know it helps me when people I look up to show that they make mistakes too. I follow several amazing yogis on Instagram and I think all of them have posted bloopers at one time or another. It's also fun to see what they are working on but haven't mastered yet (my list is a mile long so I won't share that today). Unfortunately I usually delete my bloopers pretty quickly otherwise my phone would fill up every time! So here's just a few of my bloopers, hope it helps!

Day 42
Breakfast:
banana (running late for church, no time for oatmeal)

Lunch:
Vegan Vegetable Sandwich from Chayo Eatery

First Dinner:
Vegetable Wrap from Trader Joe's
Apple

Second Dinner:
Raw Lasagna
Cantaloupe

Exercise:
Acro Yoga Workshop

First Day of Summer

We are so blessed to have amazing weather pretty much year round but today was a particularly nice day which allowed us to enjoy lots of outdoor activities. First we started the day with yoga on the Santa Monica Pier followed by acroyoga playtime. Then we did a 4 mile hike to check out an abandoned nazi camp. Finally we did the beer mile challenge which I failed miserably. I don't like beer and haven't drank it in about 10 years or longer. But it sounded like a fun challenge and I figured I'd have more fun participating than watching so I gave it a shot. I chose a beer that might taste less beer-y but who am I kidding? They all taste the same to me.

The first beer probably took me close to 10 minutes to drink, it was awful. My first lap felt fine though. Then came the second beer. It seemed to take forever to go down. People finished their 4th lap while I was still drinking! I finally finished it and ran my second lap but I knew there was no way I could manage to fit any more beer in my belly so I called it quits.

It's fun having super active friends because there's always someone to participate in your hairbrained ideas. My hairbrained idea was to cram yoga and a hike in before the beer mile and Freddy's idea was the beer mile! Luckily we both have awesome active friends that played along.

Day 41
Breakfast:
oatmeal, banana

Snack:
Acai Banana Berry Bowl from Nekter Juice Bar
Vanilla Chia Pod
Banana
Maui Brewing Co. Bikini Blonde Lager

Linner:
The Farmers Delight pizza from Grey Block Pizza

Exercise:
Yoga
Hike
Beer Mile (only completed half)

Raw Lasagna

Okay, this week hasn't been the healthiest. When I'm working in the field it's hard to find healthy lunch options and on top of that I had a potluck and a wedding reception in the evening this week! So today I thought I'd start the day off right with my trusty oatmeal. Except I left the water boiling too long and next thing I knew it smelled like burning and I realized I never put oatmeal in the pot! Thankfully I had a couple bars left so I ate those for breakfast and the rest of the day was fairly uneventful.

I try to find recipes that are easy to make during the week but for some reason this Raw Lasagna intrigued me so I bit the bullet when I saw "soak for 4-6 hours." Luckily I worked from home part of the day today so I was able to get the pine nuts and squash going early enough. The rest really wasn't too labor intensive and it's all made in the blender which is great for those of you who don't have a food processor... yet!

I've never been too interested in the raw food movement but something about this caught my attention and I'm glad I tried it. It was really good and very filling! I'd definitely recommend giving a shot, just make sure you pre-plan. Oh and you'll need to provide your email address to access the website but I just unsubscribed from the emails the next day. Enjoy!

Day 40
Breakfast:
Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Snack:
Apple

Lunch:
Superfood Salad

Snack:
Apple (ran outta snacks early this week)
Almonds

Dinner:
Raw Lasagna

Exercise:
Yoga
Playing in the ocean

Crazy day

Well today was tough food wise. I had to eat out for lunch and I had a pot luck! I had Native Foods which sounds healthy but I suspect it's really not. I think a salad would have been my best option but I wasn't able to snack much today so I went with the hearty option. It kept me full a long time!

Tonight was our last bible study for this series at church so we had a potluck. I brought my Feel Good Hearty Granola Bars which were a hit! It also gave me something to eat since most everything had meat. I at a King's Hawaiian roll before I realized there was a veggie pasta and fruit salad I could eat. So overall not a super healthy day and I have no idea if the food I ate had added sugar. I didn't expect to have a cheat day mid-week but I don't think it was too bad.

Day 38

Breakfast:

oatmeal, banana, sliced almonds

Snack:

baby carrots

Lunch:

Twister Wrap from Native Foods

Snack:

Almonds

Potluck:

veggie pasta

fruit salad

King's Hawaiian roll

Feel Good Hearty Granola Bar

Dinner:

Pasta with Edamame Pesto

Exercise:

rest day

The best box

I just want to take a minute to say the CrossFit gym (also called a "box") I work out at is the absolute best! CrossFit is everywhere these days and it really doesn't take a whole lot to open up your own affiliate. But I have been so blessed to find one that isn't afraid to try new things and really truly cares about their members. They are so responsive to feedback and keep implementing changes that will make us better. They do such a wonderful job of taking the intimidation factor out of CrossFit and making sure that no matter what level someone is at, they can participate in the whole workout and feel challenged. I could go on and on and maybe I will sometime, but it's late so let me just say that if you are in the South Bay you should definitely check out Torrance CrossFit! They are in the business of changing lives.

Day 37

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, banana, sliced almonds

Snack:

Nakd Caffe Mocha bar

Lunch:

Locals Bowl from Seabirds Kitchen

Snack:

Key Lime Coconut Energy Bites

Apple

Almonds

Dinner:

Pasta with Edamame Pesto

Exercise:

CrossFit

Amazon Fresh

One thing that has helped tremendously with cooking at home so much is Amazon Fresh. You order at night and they typically deliver before sunrise the next morning! You can order other times of day and get deliveries other times of day, but the way it usually works for me is, "Aw man, it's 10pm on Sunday night and I haven't even made a grocery list yet!"

What's amazing is that then instead of staying up for 20 more minutes, creating a grocery list, then wondering when I'll have time to go to the grocery store during the week AND make dinner in the same night... all I do is create my grocery list in Amazon Fresh and my groceries are delivered when I wake up in the morning! This means I can avoid the groceries and making dinner in the same night conundrum.

Now it's not all awesomeness all the time, there is the pesky money issue. It's $300/year which sounds crazy but broken down between two people it works out to $12.50/month which is totally worth it to me. Some of the groceries are more expensive that a traditional grocery store and sometimes things are out of stock, but it's still way faster and easier to swing by the store for 2-3 items than a whole load of groceries. We've been using it for about 2.5 months and I think we've actually saved money by eating out less. What would happen before is I'd have that "Aw man, it's 10pm on Sunday night and I haven't even made a grocery list yet!"moment and end up eating out the entire week. Now I never have to forfeit a whole week!

The produce has been surprisingly good too. Even better than the regular grocery store. You can choose if you want your bananas or avocados to be ripe or unripe and sure enough, they are delivered exactly how you request. No hunting for the perfectly ripe fruit.

So if Amazon Fresh delivers to your area I would definitely recommend the 30-day trial.

Day 36
Breakfast:
oatmeal, almond butter, banana

Snack:
Key Lime Coconut Energy Bites
Baby Carrots

Lunch:
Superfood Salad

Snack:
Homemade Chia Pod
Apple
Almonds

Dinner:
Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Exercise:
CrossFit

Acceptance

Not everyone is super into the way I eat so sometimes it can be hard to find things to eat when I go to family parties. Today I was so happy to see that my uncle set aside spaghetti sauce without meat just for me! It was so delicious I even brought some home to eat for dinner too. I try my best to be flexible and not put people out while still sticking to my livet. But it's just so nice when people make accommodations for me that allow me to enjoy the food everyone else is eating.

Shout out to my dad: Happy Father's Day! And even though he doesn't read my blog, good luck to my brother Dustin on his mission trip to Russia (good luck to you too Annalise)!

Day 35

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, almond butter, banana

Snack:

Homemade Chia Pod
Veggies and hummus

Lunch:
Spaghetti
Super Food Salad
Homemade Happy Cow Salad (idea from Blue Dog Beer Tavern)

Dinner:
Spaghetti

Exercise:
playing with my niece and cousin :-)

Homemade Chia Pod

Last night I tried to make my own Chia Pod. I added 2.5 cups of coconut milk to 0.5 cup of chia seeds a half cup at a time letting each half cup absorb so I could monitor the consistency. I used Thai Kitchen coconut milk because the only ingredients are coconut milk, water, and guar gum. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of cinnamon. I'd probably increase the vanilla and cinnamon next time. Finally I chopped up one mango and mixed it in. I let it sit in the fridge overnight and in the morning it was pretty hard. I took it with me thinking I'd eat it later in the day but ended up not eating for several hours so it had warmed up to room temperature by that time. It loosened up quite a bit, more so than actual Chia Pods. It tasted okay but not amazing. Mike liked it though. I think I would like it more if it was cold. Also a bit more vanilla and cinnamon. I'll keep monkeying with the recipe but at least it's way cheaper than the original!

Day 34
Breakfast:
oatmeal, banana, almond

Snack:
Key Lime Coconut Energy Bites

Lunch:
Jack Asada Taco & Beer Battered Avo Taco from Seabirds Kitchen

Snack:
Homemade Chia Pod!
Key Lime Coconut Energy Bites

Dinner:
Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Exercise:
Handstand Workshop

The secret to strength is joy

"The secret to strength is joy." -Rick Warren

I read this in my devotional today and it really struck me. When I think about how I'm able to stick to a seemingly very restrictive diet I know it's not that I have more motivation than other people. I enjoy the way I eat. I mean that's boiling it down a lot but basically that's it. I don't feel deprived or like I'm doing something I have to do.

The same goes for working out. Years ago I would force myself to spend an hour at 24 Hour Fitness three times a week. I didn't talk to anyone and I didn't challenge myself (or even know how to).

It has been such a blessing to find workouts that I enjoy! Running, yoga, hiking, and CrossFit are things I do with friends or if I'm alone I'm taking in beautiful views. It's easy for me to log five or more workouts in a week because I'm doing things I love. I only take rest days because I'm busy, not because I don't want to work out.

I have definitely done those crazy diets (fruits and veggies for a week!) and I've done miserable workouts but I never stuck with any of it. What gives me strength to eat right and exercise (the "magic secret" to getting/staying in shape) is finding joy in the way I do it!

Day 33
Breakfast:
oatmeal, sliced almonds, blueberries

Snack:
Mango Chia Pod
baby carrots
nectarine

Lunch:
Zucchini Chickpea Tomato Curry (very substantial on its own, no quinoa or other base needed)

Snack:
Blueberry Chia Pod
Key Lime Coconut Energy Bites

Dinner:
Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Exercise:
Rest Day