A Few of My Favorite Recipes

After posting some pics of delicious and nutritious foods on facebook last night, I got several requests to share those recipes, so here they are!  Experiment and enjoy to your own tastes:

1.  Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Now these cookies don't have the same texture as your everyday fatty, sugary, buttery cookie.  They come out very chewy, ooey-gooey, and delicious.  However, if you want a more "traditional" texture, add in some almond flour (listed as an optional ingredient).
      
     Ingredients:  3 ripe bananas (the riper, the better!)
                          1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
                          1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
                          2 cups old fashioned oats
                          1 tsp. vanilla
                          1 tsp. cinnamon
                          1/2 cup almond flour (optional)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Spray cooking spray on your cookie sheets and scoop tablespoons of your cookie mixture on to the sheets.  The cookies don't spread out very much, so you can put each scoop pretty close together (about 1/2 an inch apart).  Bake for 15-20 minutes until cookies are golden brown and firm to the touch.  Enjoy! 

2.  Hummus.  This recipe is one from one of my bestest friends.  This is great with crackers, pita bread, veggies...well pretty much anything I've tried!  Put it on your sandwich or wrap instead of mayonnaise for a super healthy and tasty spread!

       Ingredients:  1 can (15 oz.) garbanzo beans
                            1/2 lemon, juice only
                            3 tbsp. tahini sauce (found at your local Greek/Mediterranean markets)
                            3-4 cloves fresh garlic (we love garlic, so I actually used 6 cloves hee hee)
                            olive oil
                            salt to taste 

Pour garbanzo beans and liquid in blender (use all the liquid for a smoother hummus, less if you like it more on the chunky side).  Add the lemon juice, tahini sauce, garlic, and salt.  Blend until all ingredients are mixed well.  Place in a serving dish and drizzle with olive oil.  So good! 

I have a few more recipes I want to share, but unfortunately I'm running short on time!  I'll post more healthy and yummy recipes by the end of the week!  Enjoy! 

The Skinny On Your Favorite Adult Beverages

Greetings readers!  First off, I'm so sorry I haven't written anything in months!!  Planning a wedding ended up being a big ol' pain, BUT I'm back and ready for more action!!

Since it's still summer BBQ weather in most places and football season is on the horizon, I've had several people ask me for healthier versions of their favorite drinks.  I've done some pondering and taste testing and here are some basic guidelines on enjoying your favorite adult beverages in moderation and with less sugary, calorie-filled junk:

1.  Beer.  I love beer.  If you wanna drink beer and you're ok with drinking light beer, go with a Michelob Ultra.  I add a little salt and lime juice and it's pretty comparable to a Corona or Tecate with a lot less calories and carbohydrates.  However, if you like dark, hoppy, rich delicious beer, here's my advice to you - just drink it, but drink in moderation.  Since those beers tend to have a higher alcohol content than light beers, you'll feel the effects much faster.  Also, since they have more calories and carbs (and just feel heavier), chances are you'll fill up on them faster.  Enjoy your favorite brew in moderation and compromise with yourself.  For example, if you know you're going to wanna drink a beer with your buddies while watching the big game, steer clear of the super fatty foods like buffalo wings, nachos, and pizza.  Offer to bring a healthier version of your favorite game-day treat and enjoy your beer with your less-fatty dish.

2.  Mixed drinks.  First off, stay away from the super sugary mixers like daiquiri, pina colada, and margarita mix.  Instead, make your own using organic juices and soda.  Also, don't use the diet drinks like low-cal juice and diet coke with aspartame as your mixers.  Blue Sky sodas makes a great line of calorie-free sodas using stevia instead of the other weird chemical sweeteners used in most diet sodas.  In terms of juice, it's better to go organic and have some of nature's sugars than more chemical sweeteners.  Not only are those chemicals total poison to your body, they also give lots of people (including me) head aches, which is no fun.  One of my favorite ways to make mixed drinks is to take your alcohol (I like rum and vodka), put it in a pitcher, add your juice, soda for bubbles, and a TON of fresh fruit.  The fruit makes it look like a plethora of adult-beverage deliciousness, and gives you something to munch on when you get to the bottom of the pitcher.  To find good drink recipes, I've looked online, then substituted the unhealthy mixers with healthier ones and added fruit.  I shall post some of said recipes in my next blog entry!

3.  Wine is tricky for me because I like the sweeter white wine, like reislings, moscatos, and so on.  White wine in general has more sugar and calories, and the sweeter, more desert-type white wines have the most sugar and calories.  If you can stand the dry red stuff, that's your best option.  If not, combine your white wine with other alcohol, like rum, and mix with good-for-you juice and fruit.  That way you still get the sweeter taste of wine without all the not-so-good-stuff you'd find in just drinking a bottle of sweet white wine all by itself.  One of my favorite concoctions this summer was a bottle of moscato, a cup of watermelon vodka, 1 can or organic frozen lemonade,  1 can Blue Sky calorie-free lemon lime soda, and a ton of lemons, strawberries, and any other fruit you wanna add.  This makes a big pitcher that can be split up amongst a group of people so that you don't just drink a whole bottle of wine...all by yourself. 

The moral of the story is, use healthy mixers and get creative!  It's so fun to add different fruit, juice, and sodas to different types of liquor and wine and come up with your own concoction.  Remember to always drink plenty of water when consuming alcohol to avoid dehydration and the ever-feared hangover. 

Drink recipes and other healthier-versions of some of my favorite summer recipes coming soon!  Stay tuned :)

Mind Over Matter: The Mentality of Success

Greetings readers! I apologize for not posting in a while, but I promise I'll make it up to you with my next few posts! As some of you may know, I recently completed my 2nd half marathon (WOOT!!!) and training and running the actual race really got me thinking about the mentality of fitness and weight loss and how powerful the mind truly is.

The morning of the half marathon, I was exhausted. I had slept for maybe 4-5 hours, I had a head ache, back ache, runny nose, and my foot was still feeling funky from being sprained.  I wanted nothing more than to sleep for another 6 hours and stay in bed most of the day. I'm sure we've all experienced a challenge similar to this on our journeys. I'd bet money that most of us have been in a situation when we're in an aerobics class or doing some kind of work out DVD at home and there's some bubbly little twig obnoxiously cheering us on while we sweat our asses off, screaming swear words at her and using every ounce of will power to not throw something. That whole, "You can do it!" thing REALLY starts to get on my nerves when I'm in that state, but I gotta say, one of my boot camp instructors recently said, "You're stronger than you think you are." And I'll be damned, she was right. I ran that dang race that day and did much better than I originally anticipated.

So how can we apply this to our everyday challenges and obstacles.  Here are three tips on how to use mind over matter in a realistic way on your journey to health and fitness:

1.  When strength training or doing cardio, challenge yourself to do more reps, more weight, or more time.  For example, if you did 15 push ups the last time you worked out, shoot for 18. If you've been using 3 lb. dumbbells for a while, up it to 5 lbs. Do 5 extra minutes on the eliptical or jog for 5 more minutes when you go for your run. If you can't hang for a whole 60 minute aerobics class, challenge yourself to make it 5 minutes more each week. Make small advances and you'll be surprised at how much stronger you really are.

2.  Eat less and control your portions. If you eat a 12 oz. steak for dinner one night, try cutting it to 8-10 oz. the next time you eat steak. If you splurge a little and have a donut one morning at work, try to split it in half with a co-worker the next time, then substitute a piece of fruit or yogurt after. If you eat a big piece of birthday cake at a party, next time eat half as much. I've discovered that by making small, attainable goals for myself, I'm able to follow my own guidelines and feel successful at what I'm doing....especially when it comes to food.

3. Think positively and really, truly believe that you are capable of change. This is still hard for me to this day, but I find that when I think positively about my health, food, and fitness, that's when I start to see changes. It won't happen overnight, but the more you keep reaffirming to yourself that you can make improvements and look/feel better, the more successful you'll be. Even if you have to literally say it to yourself out loud everyday, remind yourself that you are capable of so much....often times much more than we give ourselves credit for.

Please read, share and discuss!

<2 Ida

Going Green: 3 Tips On How To Incorporate More Veggies Into Your Diet

Good morning readers!  Within the last couple months, I've seen several posts or slogans stating in one way or another, "EAT MORE PLANTS."  I've heard more than one fitness instructor talk about the importance of eating lots of veggies regularly, and although I know they're super good for you, it's not always easy to get your daily serving. 

As you may already know, vegetables were not something I grew up eating or enjoying, so incorporating more veggies in my diet has been challenging to say the least.  Sure I enjoy a salad, but I know for a fact that I won't eat a salad every day at every meal for the rest of my life in order to get my veggies in.  I also know I'm not a huge fan of steamed veggies (taste and texture freak me out), so being consistent with that probably won't happen either.  So here are three tips on how to incorporate more veggies in your diet:

1.  Green Smoothies.  I talked about these little miracle drinks in my first post, but I'm going to reiterate how amazing they are and why this is such a simple way to get a couple servings of greens first thing in the morning.  First and foremost, if you're not a huge fan of flavor when it comes to super healthy greens, this is the way to go.  For example, I absolutely detest broccoli, so much so that I actually refer to them as "fart trees" (super mature of me, right?).  Yes I know it's a super food, but I can't stand the way it smells, I can't stand the way it tastes, and I can't stand the texture of the seedy weird tops.  I've even tried it in less-healthy ways like covered in processed cheese sauce or slathered in ranch dressing and I just can't do it.  However, the other day while I was whipping up green smoothies for my wife and I, I decided to get brave and throw a cup of broccoli in the blender, along with 2 cups of spinach, 2 bananas, a cup of strawberries, 1 tbsp. all natural peanut butter, and about a cup of almond milk (this recipe is for 2 smoothies).  To my surprise and joy, I couldn't taste the broccoli at all!!  It was delicious and gave us both tons of energy through the whole morning.  So do yourselves a favor and try a green smoothie ASAP.  Use 75% fruit and 25% veggies to get yourself started if you're a little leery of the flavor.  If the color bothers you, use a cup or tumbler that is a solid color so that you can't see that lovely baby-puke hue while having breakfast.

2.  Grill it!  Summer is right around the corner, which means so is BBQ season!!  I love the social aspect of having friends and family over in the backyard with the grill fired up and this is also a great way to sneak in more veggies.  I like to use asparagus, various types of squash, red/green/yellow/orange peppers, onion, tomatoes, and jalapeno on the grill.  I usually place the veggies in foil, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt (and fresh garlic cloves because I LOVE garlic) and pepper, wrap them up, and put them on the grill.  Once they're mostly cooked, I put them directly on the grill to get them crispy (in fact I like mine slightly burnt so I usually leave my share of the veggies on a bit longer than the rest) and serve with the rest of your meal.  Super flavorful, super healthy, and a great way to add a healthy side dish to your next cook out!

3.  Veggie purees.  This is a new one for me and I'm anxious to try more of it, particularly with my bonus son (I like that term much better than step-son).  The idea is that you puree your veggies into a liquid that you can hide in other food such as pancakes, waffles, breads, etc.  I've heard of a mom using beet puree in her pancake batter and simply calling them "pink pancakes."  Her kids have no idea that there are beets in the batter and eat them up!  I have an idea on how to make "Spongebob pancakes" for my family using blueberries and leafy greens, so I'll keep you posted on that one.  You can also puree lots of veggies and put it in your usual marinara or pasta sauces for spaghetti, lasagna, and even pizza.  Chances are, even your pickiest kid won't know they're there! 

Please read, comment, discuss, and share any ideas on how to get you and your family eating more plants!  As always, thanks for reading! 

<3 Ida

Balancing the Scales

This post might seem like a no-brainer-common-sense-kind of topic, but in my experience people I know, fit and not-so-fit, have major issues with this.  So let’s talk about…..

The bathroom scale.  That evil, vicious contraption that sits on my bathroom floor and taunts me every single morning.  I swear sometimes I can hear it saying, “Do you dare challenge me today?  I know you had salty pizza and beer last night.  Feeling bloated are we?”  I used to weigh myself 2-3 times a day just to see if skipping a meal or purging made any difference in the numbers staring back at me.  And during shark week (use your imagination on what time of the month that could be)….forget it.  Talk about depressing when I’m already an emotional disaster.

Here’s the flip side though – it’s such a fantastic feeling when you see those nasty numbers actually DECREASE.  Suddenly you’re a skinny super hero ready to kick ass at whatever comes your way.  You now have superpowers that include the will to decline those French fries at lunch and sucker-punch doughnuts to the curb. Bring it on pizza places!!! 

So how do we balance the scales on…well…. the scale?  Here’s my theory on how to use the scale in a productive, non-self-deprecating way to boost your confidence and take measurements to accurately keep track of your weight loss and fitness achievements.

First off, do not, I repeat, DO NOT weigh yourself every single day.  Your weight is going to fluctuate daily and there are all kinds of contributing factors that can play in or against your favor.  I would suggest weighing yourself once a week, on the same day, at the same time of day.  I also suggest measuring yourself at that time as well so go get yo’self a tape measure!  You’re going to lose inches as you start eating healthier and incorporating exercise into your lifestyle, but the numbers on the scale may not show that accomplishment as consistently, or as quickly, as some of us might like.   If you’re working out, you’re going to gain muscle, which of course (as we’ve all probably read a dozen times in fitness magazines) weighs more than fat.  I used to think, yeah, whatever, blah blah, I’m still going to weigh myself every day no matter what those stupid, skinny fitness experts say (no offense to any of my fit and fabulous friends out there!).  However, I didn’t realize what a significant amount of inches I was losing until I joined a weight-loss challenge at work as part of my motivation to start getting healthy and fit.  I was doing P90X and lots of Zumba at the time, so I was definitely building muscle.  The scale slooooowwwwly went down throughout that challenge, but I consistently lost a good amount of inches each week.  I ended up winning 2^nd place in the challenge and bought myself some new, smaller clothes with my prize money.  Talk about feeling like a super-hero!! 

That’s also how I knew I had to be losing fat and getting fit – my clothes literally started falling off of me.  If you put on your pants one day and they nearly fall off without the serious help of a belt, you’re doing something right!  So what if you’ve hit a plateau on the scale?  Those numbers aren’t a testament to the muscle you’re building and the overall tone your body is getting.  The moral of the story – don’t over-emphasize the numbers on the scale when it comes to weight loss and fitness! 

Now if you’re one of those people that can’t help yourself and you STILL get on that damn scale every morning, ask one of your family members or a friend to hide it from you for a while.  Seriously.  As I mentioned before, that thing just taunts me when I physically SEE it lying on the bathroom floor every morning.  Out of sight, out of mind right?  So tell your hubby, wifey, sister, bestie, or whomever to put it some place where you can’t see it (or maybe even reach it), and stick to measurements for a while.  Pay attention to how your clothes are fitting, and more importantly, notice how much better you FEEL once you start living a healthier lifestyle.  

<3 Ida 

Confections and Cliches

Happy Friday Eve readers!  In light of my students' final concert tonight, which involves lots of sugary treats during the dessert portion, I've decided to talk about sweet treats and some of what I've experienced as the most common (and at times super annoying) cliches when it comes to weight loss and fitness. 

First and foremost, I love sweets.  I have a major sweet tooth and I would be perfectly happy if every meal I ate from here on out involved ample amounts of dark chocolate.  With my choir program's dessert concert scheduled for this evening, there are currently 3 cheesecakes, 2 boxes of cream puffs, 2 trays of brownies, 2 cherry pies, and 2 giant trays of cookies in my kitchen....not to mention the 5 cakes and 4 bags of cookies currently hanging out in my office.  Torturous, right?  Actually, and rather surprisingly, so far I haven't been tempted by any of those tasty treats, and here's my theory on why.....

Weight loss cliche numero uno: Ask yourself if you really want to eat it, like really, REALLY have to eat it before you actually partake in whatever indulgence you find yourself faced with.  I've thought about this a lot this week and I've tried to put it into practice.  After unloading all that sugary goodness from my car yesterday I seriously asked myself, do I really want a cookie right now?  Am I going to have a nervous breakdown if I don't have a cookie?  And honestly the answer was no, I didn't really want a cookie...or brownie, or cream puff, etc. Often times I think we indulge simply because something is right in front of us and not because we're actually craving it, or even hungry for that matter.  For example, I've often found myself faced with this dilemma at birthday parties, complete with the usual birthday cake and ice cream.  After the candles have been blown out, people just start passing plates around and most of the time I just mindlessly accept one and start shoveling cake in my mouth.  Here's the thing though - I'm usually not hungry, sometimes I'm not really in the mood for cake, so why am I eating it?  Because it's there.  Because that's what you do at a birthday party.  So here's my challenge to myself and to anyone reading this - next time you're at a birthday party, or any social function, really ask yourself if you want to indulge in whatever food or drink is around BEFORE you start eating it.  Take a minute to do a check-in with yourself and ask, "Am I full?  Do I really want to eat/drink this right now?"  Once you have the answer, go from there. 

Which brings me to my next, and least favorite cliche - everything in moderation.  I've personally struggled with this one a lot in my life because I really didn't understand the meaning of moderation.  For example, if I really want to eat the whole package of Oreos, if I only eat half the package that's moderation right?  Um, no.  So how do you come to a compromise?  I know that if I say I'm NEVER going to eat another Oreo EVER again, I'll be fumbling around in the pantry at 10:30 at night trying to find the dang Oreos.  Here's how I started learning to use moderation, in the right way for me.

First, I look at the serving size.  If a serving size on a package of cookies is 2 cookies, I eat that serving.  Then I know I just consumed 150 calories, had a tasty treat, and I don't feel guilt ridden and fat from eating a dozen cookies.  I also enjoy my food, eat it slowly, and savor the taste of whatever I'm indulging in.  That way I truly enjoy it, and again, I don't feel guilty about it.  That's actually the final section to that equation for me - guilt.  I know darn well that I will feel terrible, physically, emotionally, and mentally if I binge out all crazy on something.  Making those correlations will help you avoid binging and feeling awful about it later.  So next time you're craving a treat, look at the serving size and decide your moderation from there. 

With those two tips in mind, I hope this helps you, and me, eat a little smarter from now on.  I'll be back soon with more ideas (and a few more of the most comically irritating weight loss tips I've ever encountered), and a few recipes for your Memorial Day barbeques.  As always, please feel free to share, discuss, and comment!  Happy, healthy, eating!

<3 Ida

In The Beginning....

Greetings happy bloggers!  My name is Ida and as part of my weight-loss, healthier life, lifestyle change, wellness, more energy, journey to happiness, etc., etc., I've decided to start documenting my experiences and share my past experiences in the hopes of not only keeping myself accountable for my actions (like when I wanna eat a whole pizza at 10:30 on a Tuesday night after having a crap-tastic day at work), but also helping others with their own journeys, and maybe making you laugh along the way. 

So why read this blog?  Well for starters, I'm not some fitness model who's never weighed more than 120 lbs. offering you some unrealistic weight loss or exercise advice.  I'm a real person who loves pizza and chocolate, with a full time job (that stresses me the hell out a lot of the time), a family, pets, and a little bit of a life.  I've struggled with weight my whole life...literally.  I was raised in a home where "vegetable" was an uncommon and at times a bad word, where bologna was a staple, and where plopping down in front of the TV everyday after school with a sugary, fatty snack was the norm.  Exercise was the enemy because I was so embarrassed of how I looked while trying to ride a bike, go for a jog, and God forbid I put on a bathing suit and do some laps at the pool.  So let me give you some background on this roller coaster of a journey I've been on....

My weight was always in the back of my mind, even as a child and throughout my teenage years, even into college, which is when I first tried to make a change for the better.  During my sophomore year of my undergraduate degree, ephedrine was the latest and greatest diet fad and I saw it working miraculously well for my classmates on a daily basis.  So after class one day I went to my nearest supplement store and bought some. 

Well it definitely worked for a while.  At that point in my life I was 19 years old and weighed about 225 lbs. at 5'9".  Within about 6 weeks, I'd lost nearly 40 lbs. and had more energy than I'd ever had....because I was basically taking a form of legal speed every day, three times a day.  I drastically cut my caloric intake from around 2,000-3,000 calories a day to less than 1,000.  I actually started working out (probably the one healthy thing I did for myself at that time) and did about 30 minutes of cardio a day.  People started noticing right away and I was on cloud nine.  I'd never felt so confident or looked so thin in my whole life. 

After getting down to about 183 lbs. I was on top of the world.  One night I got a call from my sister while at an opera rehearsal (I'm a singer and most of my undergraduate evenings were spent in rehearsals).  My sis and I have always been close, especially after our dad died (more on that later and how I dealt with that loss...which includes lots of food!).  Ephedrine had been in the news a lot because of the nasty and at times life-threatening side effects, which is exactly why my sister called me.  When I answered the phone she was in tears, begging me to stop taking it because she'd seen on the local news that someone had died because of taking too much ephedrine (something heart related).  Knowing she was serious and very upset, I promised her I'd stop taking ephedrine and flushed the rest of my diet pills down the toilet.  Unfortunately my use of other, ephedrine-free diet pills was far from over.

Over the course of the next few years I tried every diet fad on the market, including more diet pills (ephedrine free because I keep my promises).  I was able to keep the weight off for a few years after trying diets like South Beach, Atkins, lemonade cleanses, etc.  But even though I kept the weight off at around 183 lbs., I could not, for the life of me, get past that plateau.  So I got desperate, and stupid, and resorted to drastic measures.

The first time I made myself throw up was during finals week at a Starbucks.  I was studying with one of my best friends and we were stressed out to the max.  The oatmeal raisin cookies looked extra delectable that evening, so I broke down and scarfed one, along with a sugary, calorie filled coffee beverage.  The thought of ALL those calories kept nagging me all through our study session and finally I excused myself to the bathroom so I could get rid of them.  I threw up most of it and felt relieved at getting all those extra calories out of my body.  So I reasoned with myself that if I binged and purged once in awhile I could indulge every now and then and actually eat a cookie or some pizza or whatever I wanted and just get rid of it shortly after. 

However, this cycle soon became my norm.  I'd eat something "bad" almost every day and throw it up after.  Soon the acid from throwing up started significantly irritating my throat, which made singing a challenge.  I decided in order to preserve my voice I'd purge a different way and started taking laxatives after my fatty indulgence for the day.  It didn't take long until I was up to 12 laxatives a day (seriously, it was insane) and I knew I was in trouble.  After months of this behavior, I finally told my friends and roommates what was going on and asked for their help and support in dealing with it.  I anxiously watched them flush all my diet pills and laxatives down the toilet.  I finally came clean with my voice teacher, who had been baffled at why my voice was so raw and ragged sounding.  I sought medical and psychological help and started on the road to recovery. 

Once my digestive system got back to normal, which took a couple years,  and I had managed to maintain my weight at around 190 lbs., I came to one of the toughest challenges of my life - coming out of the closet.  And how did I deal with all the emotional turmoil of this event?  Food.  And alcohol.  And lots of both.  Within two years I had gained back all the weight and then some, tipping the scale at 240+ lbs.  I stopped working out, I was severely depressed, and I was back at that place where every day was a mental, physical, and emotional struggle with my weight.  After going shopping at some after Christmas sales one day with my sister, and buying a size 18-20, I knew I had to make a change, but I was determined to do it the right way this time. 

Going back to the gym was awful at first.  I was ashamed of my body, I was embarrassed of how I looked working out in front of people, and I felt totally winded after just a few minutes on the eliptical or stationary bike.  But I stuck with it, only because after my workouts I felt good.  Really good.  I felt proud of myself for making it happen and for the first time in years I felt happy again.  Having a gym buddy, my sis, was also really helpful.  I started eating healthy and incorporating a lot more fruits and veggies in my diet and drinking herbalife shakes (which did work for me for a while, but not something I can do for the rest of my life).  I gave up alcohol for a while and started drinking tons of water every day.  I joined 2 weight loss challenges, one of which I won 2nd place in and actually won some cash.  Within a year a became a licensed Zumba instructor, a year after that I ran my first half marathon.  I'd lost weight, but more importantly I felt AMAZING.  And that, I've realized, is what really matters.

After losing close to 70 lbs., I'm at another crossroads in my journey.  I've been at another plateau for the past year or so, and instead of turning to an eating disorder or diet pills again, I've decided to start this blog.  A place where I'm accountable, where I can share recipes and ideas for healthy eating, discuss new work outs to shake up my and hopefully your routine,and get new ideas and tips from anyone reading this. 

Ok, that was lengthy, but I promise it will all tie into what I'll be discussing in the future.  Each week I'm going to discuss at least one challenge most, if not all of us, experience.  My challenge this week:  STRESS. 

The school year is almost over (I'm a teacher now) and the last couple weeks tend to be grueling.  So my challenge to myself, and anyone out there reading this, is to come up with new and HEALTHY strategies to deal with this stress....instead of binging out on a large nacho plate with a pitcher of beer.

First strategy:  working out.  Cliche, I know, but it really does help.  Believe me.  Even if it's just 15-20 minutes a day, I'm determined to do something to release some endorphins and feel mentally, physically, and emotionally better.  Yesterday I was exhausted, but I made myself go to my boot camp class, which I was very grateful for after.  I was sore, tired, and sweaty when I left, but mentally I was in a much better place than I had been after leaving work.  So my question to you is, what are some good, quick work outs we can do when time is limited and stress is running high?  

Second strategy:  a healthy breakfast.  I told my wife that all week this week I'm going to make us green smoothies for breakfast.  It's only Tuesday, but so far we've met this goal and we both feel pretty dang good all day.  Here's the recipe I've used the past couple days, per smoothie:

1 banana
1/2 cup strawberries
2 cups spinach
1 tbsp. peanut butter
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbps. flaxseed
1 scoop protein powder (optional)
 Add more water and/or ice depending on how thick you like your smoothies.  I put all the ingredients in the blender the night before, stick the blender in the fridge, then blend it in the morning before work.  Looks like baby vomit, but tastes really yummy!  So far, so good!  

So that about wraps up this first post.  I'll be checking back in and discussing if I've met my goals for the week and continued to use the strategies I posted.  If there are any other strategies or challenges out there, please post and discuss!  I'm looking forward to reading, discussing, and achieving! 

<3 Ida