Navigating Those Cookouts!

Wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend!!

Me and Peanut last year at fireworks for the 4th! I love looking back to last year and seeing our progress ;)




Thank you for all of the well wishes Peanut made it through her surgery just fine and is recovering well.

We have low key plans with her this weekend, there will be lots of play ground visits, cooking out on the grill, and maybe a zoo trip!

Living healthy does not have to be a headache during the holiday weekend! I know many will be having barbecues and there will be the temptation to go all out and celebrate. But I try to remind myself that celebrations do not always have to be centered around food. This is our goal as a family to make celebrations fun but not focus on the food. This is hard for an Italian girl who grew up with food= fun+love

So I have a few tips to stay on track this weekend:

-Get out and exercise! If you start out burning some calories you will be off to a great start. I also feel if you have exercised you feel better and are less likely to over eat.

-Bring a dish! Yes offer to bring something I am pretty sure no one hosting a party ever minds extra treats. My go to offer is always to bring a fruit salad. I love getting all my favorite fruits together and bringing a big bowl chopped up small. It is always a hit.

-Do not go hungry! I see people all the time saying they will skip breakfast or not eat a lot all day because they are going somewhere. In my experience this is the worst thing you can do. When you allow yourself to get too hungry then you are even more likely to over eat because you are so hungry you will not feel full as quick. My advice is to eat you normal breakfast and have something light like steamed veggies ahead of time so you are not overly hungry.

-Water drink it up! Yes I go everywhere with a 32 ounce bottle of water. I am constantly drinking it, not only does it keep me hydrated but it also keeps me feeling fuller, again making it less likely to over eat.

-Pick the healthier choices: opt for the chicken breast instead of a hot dog, have a burger without the bun, skip the potato salad and heap on a fresh salad. For me it is all about picking and choosing. if I want to have a burger, I will not have the potato salad, or vice versa.

-Have fun! If you focus on the fun activities and less on the yummy food it will be easier to eat less. Just have fun and try a little bit of each thing but do not over do it. I always think about this: My long term goal is to stay on track no matter what so if I can do it during a party then I can do it anytime!

Remember there will always be holidays, cookouts, parties, birthdays, and just celebrations. They are fun and I know it is a great chance to treat yourself, but if you over do it at every single one of them all the time then you won't make real progress. You will be healthy for 2 weeks and work off the over doing it from the party and then by the time you start burning off new weight, another party comes around and derails you all over again. It is all about the balance and will power to say NO I do not NEED to over do it, I can be healthy every day no matter what the occasion but still enjoy myself. FOOD does not equate happiness and love. I keep reminding myself of this ;)

What keeps you on track during party and cook out season?

Dealing with stress

We all have it.

We all go through it on a daily basis.

It does not matter what you are going through, the degree, whatever.

For me it is all on how you execute those feelings of angst, craziness, and sometimes overwhelmed.
They have to go somewhere they need an outlet. This is what I have learned the hard way.

The old me kept it bottled up tight with a nice lid and then proceeded to keep it locked and warm in layers if fat. I lived carrying so much stress and anger that I let it weigh me down quite literally to an extent.

I am learning to let things go. I am learning that you really cannot sweat the small stuff but you can make yourself sweat and it helps those feelings subside. For the bigger issues I look forward to my long runs. Those are the times I can let it all out and it helps me not turn to food.

This is why I exercise everyday and run. Some think its not wise to workout 7 days a week and I undersand but I took a pill everyday to help me deal with anxiety attacks and depression and I must tell you the exercise is much less harmful to my body :)

So these next few days will be some of my most stressful as a mom to a toddler having surgery and student during finals weekend but I wanted to get this post out for a reference just incase old me tries any funny business ;)

How do you cope with stress?

My Taco Salad Paleo Style

It is week 3 of going Paleo in this house and I must admit I am feeling so much better. Knee aches and pains are slowly going away and joints are feeling better and better by the day. Now I can actually beat my body up during a workout and push harder. I really am thinking that this will be the life style for me. After being sick and on over 50 different medications throughout my young years I really wish I had done this 10 even 15 years ago. Or that the parents had looked into alternative life styles and diet changes for people with auto immune diseases. But I can be grateful for today and the knowledge I have now and use it to my advantage to make sure I am the healthiest version of myself I can be.

Anyways! On to the salad! :)

I pretty much eat a salad everyday for lunch, I know boring right? WRONG!! I love my salads, in fact when I do not take one for lunch and have something different I find myself craving one for dinner that night. Just shows me my body likes it. So how do you keep salads from being mundane and boring? Switch up the style. This week I thought about going for a taco style salad that would be paleo and yummy all at once! I found it in an avacado tomato based dressing and the right blend of seasoned meat.

First for the dressing only 3 ingredients!
1 ripe avacado
1/2 cup (or more/less depending on your texture preference) of canned salt free tomato puree
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (to your liking again)

Blend all 3 in your blender and viola! I got this into 5 servings at only 2 Points Plus per serving!

This was creamy and tangy all at the same time and I used half for my salad and saved half for my carrot sticks later than afternoon for my snack. It was more than enough for both.

The salad is simple you can toss in whatever you fancy ;)
I stuck with lettuce, tomato and red pepper I am a simple gal

And the meat! I bought the 99% fat free extra lean ground turkey, I just prefer this one over the others you have to be careful when buying ground meat a lot of them can have the skin and everything ground right in so check out the labels. I sauted my turkey in 1 tablespoon of flax oil, garlic, onions, green pepper and more red peppers. Then I seasoned it with some chili powder, black pepper, and mrs. Dash.

It really came out nice. I weighed out 5 Points Plus servings on my scale and baggied them up for my week. I got 4 servings so you could break it up into 4 equal servings for 5 points plus per serving for the meat.

Salad is free! So this salad is a 7 points plus serving for lunch or dinner. I take mine to work and I always assemble right before I eat! I hate soggy salads, this technique has worked for me. I bring the salad in a container and toss the meat in, then the dressing goes on top and I shake it in the container. Then it is ready to eat. Before I would make the salad at home and it would sit all day in dressing and with whatever protein I was using and it just did not taste as good as the one I assembled right before eating it.

I must admit I was surprised at how good this combination of flavors came together!


What is your favorite salad combination?

Week 2 Marathon Training

It is week 2 already :) As I prepare for my first ever full marathon in Philadelphia on November 20 the excitement and anticipation is building!!

Monday: this was a tougher day. I barely slept Sunday night I was in a lot of pain. My RA is flared up and my hands were in a lot of pain with my hips. I actually could not get out of bed when my alarm went off at 4:45, this is the first time in over a month I over slept! I headed into work and wrapped my knee for most of the day! It was much better by the end of the day. When I got home from work I took peanut out in the jogging stroller for 30 minutes and got in 2.8 miles.

Tuesday: My cross training day. I headed to the YMCA after work and did 4 quick miles on the elliptical in 26 minutes. I did it varying between speedy intervals and keeping my heart rate between level 2 and 3. It felt good. I came home and did some weight lifting for my arms and shoulders and then of course 50 push ups!

Wednesday: My birthday :) I got up early in the morning and went for a nice 5 mile run. It was nothing less than AMAZING. You know why? I ended up doing 5.75 miles in 51 minutes! It was still cool outside and misty so I just enjoyed it.

Thursday: I woke up in pain. It took all of my might to force myself out of the bed at 5:30 to go for my run. This is the kind of run you push through and pray to end quickly! I did 3.2 miles in 30 minutes and headed home for some stretching. My joints have been inflamed off and on and it was just at a peak today. No one ever said training for a marathon would be easy right? ;)

Friday: This was an easy day, well for me anyways! I woke up at 5AM and headed to boot camp for 5:30 and the YMCA. The TRX boot camp over there is awesome and it gives me a nice break from running. We did a lot of core work and I was sore all weekend! I loved it :)

Saturday: This is a rest day so for me I make it a 5K my way day. It was raining when I woke up so I just headed out around 6:30 AM for an easy 5K. I started out slow but by that second mile I was feeling so good I got some speed in. I cannot wait till I get my next new toy and can track mileage, pace, etc ;) I finished in 27 minutes.

Sunday: Long run day! My training plan has you cut back the next week and alternate long runs, so it just called for 6 miles today. I enjoyed it though I got up before my alarm at 6 I was so excited to go running for some reason LOL. I got my 6 miles done in 57 minutes!

here is my Polar Proof from that run ;)

That is why I love running! The calorie burn hehe

At Weigh in this week I was down .8 pounds too! So total to go till goal is now only 2.6lbs! Finally the scale is moving because this plateau needs to end. I really am feeling better since going paleo 2 full weeks now and I know it will be something I stick to for the long haul. My stomach feels much better and the joints are feeling less inflamed than they did a few weeks ago!

Stop by tomorrow and see what I cooked up this week :)

How did your training go this week?