I've done green smoothie challenges through Simple Green Smoothies before but I can't recall the last one so I decided to up my green smoothie game by drinking one 30 days in a row starting October 1st! I was pretty successful in the challenge at having a "green" smoothie or some type of veggie drink for 30 days straight. I traveled a few weekends which made it a little harder but I made due with a few juice/smoothie combos that had veggies in them. I also found an awesome smoothie shop in Pittsburgh called Salud Juicery and now I'm hooked.
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These are just a few things that I stock up on and like to have on hand whenever I get sick. It's a mixture of things that may not the best to heal me but are nostalgic and then legitimate healthy things! Nonetheless they all make me few better. 1. Saltines: Nothing like these salty crackers, or oyster crackers are also fantastic
2. Epsom Salt Bath: So soothing, enough said. 3. Noodle Soup: Lipton or Mrs. Grass are the best options. (although I wouldn't turn down homemade or some pho) 4. Apple Cider Vinegar: New remedy I've been trying to help feel better quicker. 5. Jello: Yummy and soothing. It's still a little hard for me to believe that I run occasionally for fun. I haven't done a ton of races and I'm not always the most consistent with running on my own but I still enjoy it and have been a runner off and on for almost 3 years. I purchased my first pair of real running shoes April 2012 (which I still use) so I'm thinking it's definitely time to get a new pair asap! Over the past 2+ years I've done a few races which I've mentioned in past posts but I just want to list all the ones so far. It really helps having a bf who is running a race in every state to bump up the number of races I've done so far. I haven't done everyone Kyle has but I do like signing up for the vacation races as a fun way to include some exercise into a trip. Race 1: Cleveland 10k 58:07, 9:21/mile Race 2: Columbus Color Run 5k untimed Race 3: North Carolina Mountain Run 3.6 miles can't find time Race 4: Portage Lakes Duathlon Race 5: Alexandria Turkey Trot 5 miles 51:58, 10:24/mile Race 6: Savannah Bridge Run 5k 31:50, 10:14/mile Race 7: Fingerlakes Glassfest 8k 50:10, 10:05/mile Race 8: Cape Cod Canal 10k 1:11:00, 11:25/mile Up next repeating the Alexandria Turkey Trot 5 miler. It's such a great way to start Thanksgiving and that means I can eat more pie...I mean turkey! We'll see if I can beat last years time, although I'm pretty inconsistent on my mile pace and I was definitely the fastest my first race a few years ago *side note I actually trained consistently for 2 months for that race.
I love to start the week off on a good note by prepping my food, and today I prepped like it was my job so I just wanted to share the few things I did today. I'm definitely not this organized every Sunday but I have a pretty crazy work schedule this week and if I don't have good, healthy food ready I know I will make lots of super unhealthy decisions this week! First off I started with some food I already had at home and built some of my meal prep around that. I had some amazing home grown chickens from my parents neighbor/friend Mary Jo that I've been wanting to cook, plus some fun Trader Joe's spice rub, and veggies that needed to be cooked so that was meal # one. Here are the steps I followed: 1) Coated the chicken in olive oil and the spice rub, let it marinade for a few hours 2) Placed quartered red skin potatoes and carrots in the bottom of a foil lined pan and tossed with olive oil and salt & pepper 3) Placed chicken on top of veggies 4) Baked at 375 degrees for a little over an hour until the chicken was fully cooked and veggies roasted and voila! Perfect meal of meat & veggies which should last me a few lunch or dinner meals. I still had potatoes left and some good quality cheddar sausage from Whole Foods so I made up a few breakfast bowls by chopping the potatoes into small squares and sautéing them and the sausage in ghee and then adding a fried dippy egg on top. Lastly I prepped a few other random ingredients to have ready to eat/transform later and the week and to snack on:
1) Cut up lemons and made a pitcher of lemon water 2) Washed figs that will be used in smoothies and to snack on 3) Chopped up and riced a whole cauliflower for future use - I ended up getting 4 bags of 2 cups of the "rice" that I'm freezing 4) Washed cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market to snack on all week 5) Hard boiled eggs to make egg salad. a few faves: PODCASTS
1. Starr Struck Radio: Official description - A weekly podcast focused on living a creative and inspired life. Mary Catherine Starr and her sidekick (and husband!), Ben, discuss all things related to navigating the world as an adult and finding joy in the everyday. My thoughts - This show just started this year and I am loving it, I found out about this podcast since I used to take Mary Catherine's yoga classes when she taught in DC and she had a yoga/creative/inspired life blog that I read. It's an entertaining dynamic between her and her husband Ben as they tackle a lot of fun topics and are very candid and real. 2. The Jillian Michaels Show: Official description - Jillian Michaels, America's Health and Wellness guru, brings you the Jillian Michaels Show. An entertaining, inspirational, informative show that gives you tools to find health and happiness in all areas of your life. My thoughts - I have been listening to Jillian's show forever, probably one of my first podcast obsessions and I just can't get enough of the episodes (I'm noticing a Jillian Michaels trend on my blog...). She not only covers fitness but everything healthy related along with hot topics and personal stories. 3. Balanced Bites: Official description - Diane is the New York Times bestselling author of "Practical Paleo" and "The 21-Day Sugar Detox" and is a Certified Nutrition Consultant. Liz is the bestselling author of "Eat the Yolks" and "The Purely Primal Skincare Guide" and a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Each week, Diane and Liz dish on current topics in health, nutrition, and the Paleosphere as well as provide insights in response to listener questions - all with their signature wit and a healthy dose of joking around that'll make you feel like you're spending an hour with two of your best girlfriends each week. My thoughts - This podcast and the co-hosts are where I get a lot of my nutrition/health facts from. They follow a mostly paleo lifestyle but are not super strict and go more by "whatever works for you" as long as you feel good and are healthy! Which I LOVE! and while I don't follow paleo that close I do agree with a lot of the concepts in that lifestyle and the show has so much good information plus they are super entertaining. The show has been around for a few years and is new religiously every week so the archives are always fun to listen to if I have nothing new on my playlist. 4. Sleeping With The Boss: Official description - Sleeping With The Boss is a weekly show about relationships, work life balance, and entrepreneurship. Hosted by a couple that live, work, and sleep together - Jason Zook and Caroline Winegeart. My thoughts - This is a pretty new show that started out as a couple's experiment to do a podcast daily for a whole month and then they loved it so much they kept it going as a weekly show. I found this show through Caroline's website MadeVibrant which is who I took the Better Hand Lettering course through! The show is short and entertaining and just about 2 creatives who live/work/sleep together (don't worry it's PG) and it's fun hearing their perspective on a lot of things considering I'm kind of a creative person too. 5. The Chalene Show: Official description - Tips, resources, interviews and practical steps to help you improve energy, balance, organization, health, fitness, relationships, focus, faith and happiness. Each episode is designed to give you strategies and simple steps you can implement today to become a better, more balanced, happier version of yourself. This podcast will feel like you're sitting down to chat with someone who believes in you, adores you and only wants the best for you! The Chalene Show is fit life coaching, personal development, personal growth, priorities, productivity. faith, family, fashion and humor all rolled into one. My thoughts - The past year I tried out the PiYo workout and really liked Chalene and then found out she had a podcast so I downloaded it and have been hooked. She covers a broad range of topics too, not just fitness. You can tell she really has a passion for helping people and just getting information out there, she's just so real and I love that. She also puts out a lot of episodes ranging in length so I can usually pick and choose depending on how much time I have. 6. The Lively Show: Official description - The Lively show is a weekly podcast designed to add a little extra intention to your everyday. Episodes will touch on various aspects of our lives including possessions, personal habits, relationships, and career. Entrepreneurship and online business also appear from time to time. There is a special emphasis on the blogging world and each episode is designed to uplift, inform, and inspire. My thoughts - This is another new to me show I've become hooked on. Blake Lively interviews a different person each week and is very focused on living life with intention which I want to try to instill in my life more. It's invigorating hearing all these people's stories and I look forward to each episode which is weekly and usually around an hour. There are my favorite podcasts, I listen to a few others but these ones I'm waiting each week for the newest episode. I'm always on the lookout for more favorites if anyone has suggestions! a few faves: WORKOUT DVDS!
1. PiYo: My love of yoga resides in the studio, but I did take a break from my membership last year and really missed that type of workout so when PiYo was released around the same time I wanted to give it a shot, plus I had never really tried pilates and this was a combo of the two workouts. The program started off slow but picked up quickly with the tougher dvds. I ended up really liking this program and saw great results in my physique. I do these once in awhile but now I have my yoga membership back, so I will save these for rotation later on. 2. Jillian Michaels Body Revolution: This 3 phased 90 day workout program started my love obsession with at home workout programs. I did this a few years ago and it really kickstarted my healthier lifestyle and getting in shape. I loved the phased approach and could feel myself getting stronger with every video. I also did not get bored since the videos switched up every 2 weeks for strength and 4 weeks for the cardio. I haven't gone back to these as much recently but I definitely want to revisit them just to see how far I've come and go full circle. 3. P90X3: This is probably my favorite program and I blogged a lot about it so read all the details here: block one, block two, and block three. I also still do these workouts especially MMX which is my favorite single workout dvd of all time. 4. Jillian Michaels Body Shred: I just finished this workout program and it's actually the 2nd Jillian Michaels workout dvd set on my list which = I love Jillian's workouts! I've done a few of her other single ones but I like the programs she's created the most. This one was definitely a step up from the body revolution so I loved the extra challenges. It was also a slightly different format so it was a good change of pace. There's a final workout that's not part of the 90 day program which is insane however I have not gotten up the nerve to try it yet, maybe soon with lots of modifications since the moves are insane! I would recommend any of these programs, if you want more details check out some of my past blog posts on them or just ask me! Or we can even do some of the workouts together if anyone is ever in town or wants to stop by for a great workout without the gym!. I have not cooked as much in the kitchen the past few weeks, but trying to get back into the meal prepping habit and do more cooking so I wanted to share some of my recent eats, including one very delicious brunch out with some friends (pictured above an amazing egg, prosciutto, and risotto cake with tomato sauce from Ghibellina in DC). I also ordered another Blue Apron box, which I have mentioned before on the blog! I was hoping to use these meals as a jumping off point of getting back to experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. This box was so delicious, you can't really go wrong with burgers on pretzel buns plus I haven't had a salmon dish from them with unique flavors that I haven't liked. I'm definitely going to keep these boxes on rotation whenever I feel like I'm in a food slump!
Just this past month I heard of another similar company and decided to try out Plated. It works pretty much the same way. A few things I do like better about Plated was the number of choices each week of meals and they have them online a few weeks in advance so that's nice to see for planning ahead. The week I signed up was a "game day food" theme for the Super Bowl so it wasn't as gourmet as my Blue Apron boxes but the meals were still super yummy. Lastly Plated is a little more costly and the meals range in price per plate but you can order as many recipes a week as you want, not just a one size fits all box. I can't wait to buy another box sometime soon!
I've seriously been missing/craving yoga recently. I completed PiYo which was a pilates & yoga fusion workout so that was good but not the same. I also had been taking advantage of LuluLemon's free yoga classes and some groupon deals but neither of those led to consistency like I used to have in doing yoga and paying for every drop in to different studios really adds up fast being anywhere from $15-$20 per class! So I'm excited to be a member at Tranquil Space again!!!! I love that studio and it's where I first became hooked on yoga and I had a membership there for over a year but then with my work schedules changing I wasn't able to be consistent and decided to change up my routine. Now that I'm seriously missing yoga and on a somewhat stable schedule I'm hoping to really dive back into yoga and go at least 3-4 times a week and I'm really excited about that. I joined back up Wednesday and it was great going back to the studio and so awesome to see all the great teachers and loving the fact that they remember me, it's such a great place! I'm going strong and have taken 11 classes in the past 2 weeks and loving it! Can't wait to see where it takes me this time mentally and physically! |
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