Category Archives: Eat Well

“Fall” in love with food

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, recipes and tagged with , ,

Taken by Wayne Nadeau

Autumn is almost upon us, and it is my ABSOLUTE favorite season, hands DOWN! I grew up in a little town in northern Maine, and our claim to fame was that in the 60′s we were the number one exporter of potatoes in the country (world? I’m not sure on that one…)…yes, even ahead of Idaho. In high school, we would start school in august, but then have, pretty much, the entire month of October off for “harvest.” Back in the day it was absolutely imperative to close down the high school to get as many students as possible to help pick potatoes and work the harvester. Now a days, the harvesters do all the work, but we still reap the benefits of the three weeks off in October (look at me acting like that actually still benefits me, pff!). I remember this time of year in Maine still as clear as day. It was the first time of year, after the hot sun of summer (yes, it gets hot in northern Maine in the summer), that you get to slip on your favorite sweater, turn on the heat (anyone else love the sound of the furnace turning on in the wee hours of the morning?? AHHH, I miss that!), light a fire, and drink a hot cup of cozy. I remember getting out of my car after school, in the early evening, and smelling the INTOXICATING (to me, yes, intoxicating) smell of EARTH. Fall. Harvest. Autumn…whatever you want to call it…it rocks my damn socks off. It is the one and only reason I am sad to live in Santa Barbara; there really is no such things as seasons here (according to people who know what seasons look like…people who live here long enough disagree with me). This fall, however, I am going to live like I am in New England…I am going to ROCK this fall :)

This morning I got up and wanted a hot, autumny cereal-like meal, and perfectly enough, I bought a new cookbook the other day that had the just ticket!

I got the recipe out of Practical Paleo…hot damn I love this book! My friend Jess left it in our office the other day, and immediately I purchased my own!

Now, before I write out this recipe, I am going to say that I changed it a bit due to the availability of items in my house. I am ALSO going to preface this recipe with the fact that my rendition may NOT be 100% paleo, as a matter of fact, I’m sure of it. I will in closing say this…if the worst thing you eat all day is chia seeds and peanut butter…you go girl.

The original recipe:

“Grain-free Porridge”

Coco-nutty

2 tablespoons almond butter

1/2 cup shredded coconut

6 tablespoons warm water or coconut milk (full fat, people!)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon raw honey or maple syrup (this is optional)

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Transfer to a sauce pan, and heat over a low flame until it reaches your desired temperature.

*Yields one large portion

 

Sounds delicious right? Okay…here’s what I did…

 

Jen’s “in a grocery crisis pinch” Version :)

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1/2 cup chia seeds

6 tablespoons of full fat coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon raw honey

Mix it up, heat it up…DIZ-ONE! I then sliced some banana’s on top, and seriously rolled my eyes into the back of my head with every bite. Yes…it was that good.

*Yields one large portion, FOR WHO!?    I doubled mine to accommodate both Nick and I. The portions were very, very small, but it IS pretty calorically dense…so…I think you’re good!

 

That’s it folks :) Try that one out, and eat it with your pumpkin coffee that someone who loves you from the east coast sends you in the mail :) PS: I am on tea now…however, with the bag of pumpkin coffee in transit to the west coast right now, I could NOT POSSIBLY be so RUDE as to NOT drink it…obviously :-p :)

 

Love you guys :)

Jen

Amanda Cannon on “Paleo”

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, guest posts and tagged with , , , ,

Oh boy, do I ever have a treat for YOU today!!! Today, there will be a guest post by my soul-sistah, Amanda Cannon. Amanda and I met back in Massachusetts through Nick…and to say that it was love at first sight is a MAJOR understatement :) Both Amanda and I consider ourselves “wellness warriors”, and through her journey she has had some MAJORLY AMAZING changes due to Chiropractic, Crossfit and Paleo which she shares on her AWESOME blog Sozo Life, which you should definitely check out!

Without further ado…Miss Amanda Cannon :) …

Yep…this is us…on the reg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paleo. Ah the word brings up so many emotions inside me. Passionate about Paleo….my friends would probably sum me up by that. Well maybe  just passionate in general but being Paleo happens to be one of my favorite things.

So let’s rewind to 2008. I was in rough shape. I had chronic back pain, allergies, sinus infections, fatigue, hormonal imbalance and overall no direction for my life. Along came Franson Family Chiropractic…..(I am sure you may have heard Jen mention this place once or twice.)

My dear friend Alexis introduced me to this place and I can honestly say it changed the direction of my life. I had no idea about well living, Paleo, or Crossfit. From starting to go to Franson my interest was sparked. I started doing screening’s for them and met Mr. Nick Araza. (whom through  I met Miss Jen who became one of my soul sisters very quickly.)

Nick and I had a conversation one day about food. He asked me what was holding me back from taking control of my health. I didn’t understand what he meant. He asked me what my favorite things to eat were. I told him bread and cheese (ha! oh me…..). He then asked me now what if I knew that those morsels of bread and cheese were laced with arsenic. Just a little bit. Would I still eat them? That stopped me right in my tracks. Well no! He then proceeded to explain to me the effect that certain foods can have on the body and how when you change your thinking about food to fuel and what it does inside your body it can override the craving for toxic food in general. This was a big deal for me. I struggled with food for most of my teen years. I had constant battles with it and would go on frequent emotional eating binges. I disliked my body and my secret battle with food.

I began to do all sorts of research on this so called Paleo diet. What in the world was this all about? I read multiple books to learn all about it. I had always loved to cook and was excited for the challenge to come up with tasty and creative Paleo dishes. I began to see all sorts of results in my life. My chronic back pain went away. This was a big deal for me from being in multiple car accidents. My joints were pain-free! My allergies and sinus infections went away, my skin began to get clear, and most of all I finally banished my emotional roller coaster with food. I found myself in control of it instead of letting it control me. I felt FREEEEEEEEE! I began to cherish my little bod and see the results big time! I joined Crossfit in October 2010 and began to put it all together. I used to hate working out and now I found something that I absolutely loved!

This sent me on an epic search for more knowledge about Health and Wellness. I came across another book that impacted me big time. It was Crazy Sex Diet by Chris Karr. It was basically all about her journey through cancer and how changing her diet saved her life. I got really excited if someone could beat cancer through their diet this means that diet alone could certainly help others with other health problems. I started to pass this information on to my mother who had been battling MS.

I began to realize how passionate I was about this subject. I decided I loved helping people too much to just sit back and not do something about it. I began to pursue a career in Health and Wellness. I finally found my calling. I feel alive when teaching people how to be healthy.  I think my favorite thing is to work with young girls and women to help them understand the importance of a healthy body image. I spent so many years being insecure and battling with food and my body. I want to teach young girls what true beauty in general is from the inside out. Not just making healthy choices but in their character as well. It’s taken me years to convince my mom to switch to Paleo. She finally did a few months ago and has seen major results and is out of her wheel chair and walking around again! That truly was amazing to me. I cried tears of joy!

Paleo is not just a diet, it is a way of life. It is a lifestyle and a life changer. I have become part of an amazing community of people who eat together, do life together and live an amazing life. I want a partner who thinks this way. I want to raise my kids this way. It is more than just food it is a mindset of living simply, the way we were meant to live.

This is the thing, once you understand what is going on in your body, and the effect certain foods have and you begin to feel the difference you just can’t go back. You can’t go back to your previous way of living. You know too much, and have seen the results. It is hard to explain to someone without them experiencing it for themselves. Really the motivation for health has to be the issue. If it’s just you and your will against the cheese cake, the cheese cake will win. But if you really begin to understand what the cheesecake does inside your body it stops you and makes you think. So many of the clients who come to see me at the Y aren’t really ready to make the change unless they have been in some big health crisis. I say don’t wait! Do it now! Invest in your health.  It’s just like a car…if you continue to put bad fuel in the car, eventually it will break down. You put the right fuel in your car, why wouldn’t you put the right fuel in your precious bod?
Health is a journey, I myself have faced some battles of late and had to fight HARD to make it through.  It is worth it though and in the end you don’t know what you have till it is gone. Don’t let your health slip away from you.  You are either moving towards health or away from it in every choice you make. So grab some people who want to be on this journey with you and move towards health together.

Much love,

Jen & Amanda

Just DO it!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well and tagged with , , , ,

After 3 whole years of living the Paleo/Crossfit lifestyle, I have FINALLY started reading “The Paleo Solution”….SHAME! SHAME!! I know…I know…at least I’m reading it NOW!

While I was scanning the book and flipping to the implementation chapter (I’m just not one for much “science”, haha)…I started wondering where in the book I could find information for:

-helping family members get started

-convincing them I’m not crazy….and to just try it for themselves for ONE month (I know you don’t think I’m crazy, but there has to be a littttttle bit of “that chick is whack” in your mind, or else I wouldn’t be writing this post :) )

-helping people understand that this is a lifestyle, and it may take some time (it’s not a shake that comes in all kinds of flavors and promises to make you lose 40 pounds in a month)

-Convincing family who live in places like, ohhh…Caribou, Maine…that regardless of produce selection, there ARE ways to go about this lifestyle.

Now mom, dad and Justin…this is NOT a pick-on-you sort of thing…at all! I GET that there is not as much of a selection up in the ‘Bou…I know this because when Nick and I go to visit, we stop in Portland, ME at the nearest Whole Foods for groceries…

…folks, Portland is 6 hours away…

I just want to be able to answer these kind of questions for ANYONE who may be feeling these things…especially for my family, because I want you to live a LONGGGGGG, happy life. Mom, maybe this will speak more to YOUR values…I want you to play for a LONGGG time with your future grand kids who are not in existence right now, but I KNOWWWW you’re really excited for… soon!!…from Justin :) )

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and contact the source!! I emailed Robb Wolf, and since Robb is a super busy guy, I got an email from his assistant, Chris. Here are some of the resources he provided me:

~ This is an AWESOME site called www.localharvest.org, in which you can plug in your town and there will be a list of local produce/meat/dairy farmers and providers in your neck of the woods for you to contact! Just for shits and giggles, I plugged in “Caribou, ME”: here is what I found (MOM!) :) :

http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?map=1&lat=46.84778&lon=-68.010475&scale=9&nm=&zip=04736

Go ahead and try it with your OWN town! (Mom, just click on that link :) )

~Can’t find anything near you on the site? You’re in luck! They have a “store” where you can buy things that may not be local for you:

http://www.localharvest.org/store/

Now, is this going to be more expensive than shopping at the local grocery store? OF COURSE IT WILL! I need you to look yourself in the mirror right now and ask yourself this question, however:

“Am I willing to pay for my health now? or pay for my sickness later?”

Don’t be a procrastinator.

~Another option for healthy meat would be http://www.grasslandbeef.com. Pick out the meat, and they will mail it directly to your door!

~Of course there is always the option of the grocery store, and picking out the best that you can. Look for grass-fed, organic meats, and pasture-raised (or free-range) poultry. As far as eggs go, look for pasture-raised (or again, free-free, or cage-free) and organic eggs…always best, however, from a farmer so you can grill them on how they raise their chickens. Maybe I will do a follow up on what specific things to ask a farmer when looking for healthy meats and eggs…hmmm.

Finally, Chris mentioned that Robb’s Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide is super helpful, so if you want to buy that, you can do that right here: http://robbwolf.com/shop/products/paleo-diet-budget-grocery-shopping/.

Finally, I often hear, “I just can’t eat that way…I just don’t know what to eat!”

Here’s a question for you, have you ever had bacon and eggs for breakfast? yes? How about a salad for lunch…? yeahhh? Okay, how about a steak and some veggies for dinner? YEAH?! Well, congratulations, you are bonified Paleo eater! Now…we just need to work on stringing them together!

Here are some other awesome resources to get you started:

www.simplypaleo.com (my sister from another mother’s blog…she’s a DAMN good chef!)

www.everydaypaleo.com

www.nomnompaleo.com

www.paleomg.com

Now guys, if you feel that this blog is talking right to you…it’s probably because it is…Take it this way, it means I super love you and want all of you to be as healthy as possible (this does not JUST include my family ps:). Since I’ve started this lifestyle I have gained an amount of health I didn’t even know was possible…so OF COURSE I want that for you as well!

If you live in the Santa Barbara area, and you just don’t have a flippin’ clue what I’m talking about with this Paleo Diet thing…you either,

a) have never read my blog before, or…

b) just still don’t know how to implement it.

If your answer was B, Nick and I are having a Paleo Diet workshop here at the office on August 8th at 6:30pm. We will talk about the what, the how and all the science and tips in between. Check us out August 8th at 6:30 at Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic (360 S. Hope Ave C100 in SB).

Feel free to shoot me an email (jen@thebeautifullystrong.com) if you have any questions that you don’t want everyone else to read!

With love and health,

Jen

Toxic Relationships…

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well and tagged with , , , ,

Naturally, I’m talking about coffee :)

You know how most blogs sort of talk about one theme, but have these “tangent” topics? Example: There is this blog that I absolutely love that talks about being a mom, and a wife, and all the fun, crazy things that happen while raising a family…but then she has (whether it’s on purpose or not, I have no clue) a tangent topic about the show, “the Bachelor”. Are you with me? I believe, that MY tangent topic, as of probably today…is coffee.

I have found in my email inbox, but yet again, an article on coffee…why to love it, why to hate it, why it’s healthy, why it’s killing you, why to drink it, why to ditch it…I’ve seen them all.

Chances are if you are reading this either you or someone you care about is sick, inflamed, hormonally imbalanced, nutritionally compromised, overworked, stressed out, fatigued, depressed, and toxic. Coffee is not part of the medicine required for your healing.

Chances are, they’re right! Here they are…the 10 reasons why you should QUIT coffee…

Here are 10 reasons why:

1. The caffeine in coffee increases catecholamines, your stress hormones. The stress response elicits cortisol and increases insulin. Insulin increases inflammation, and this makes you feel lousy.

Yeah…I really don’t need any additional stress…who does?! I was told recently, that coffee is supposed to react in our body to make us believe we are being chased by a tiger…um…no thanks?

2. Habituation to caffeine decreases insulin sensitivity, making it difficult for your cells to respond appropriately to blood sugar. High blood sugar levels lead to arterial deterioration and increased risk of mortality related to cardiovascular disease.

Oh, hello diabetes…

3. Unfiltered coffee has the highest amount of beneficial antioxidants yet also leaks the most diterpenes into your system. These diterpenes have been linked to higher levels of triglycerides, LDL and VLDL levels.

Okay, I don’t have a clue what this means…but it sounds bad…

4. The helpful chlorogenic acids that may delay glucose absorption in the intestine have also been shown to increase homocysteine levels — an indicator for increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which tends to be elevated in diabesity.

….even worse?…

5. The acidity of coffee is associated with digestive discomfort, indigestion, heart burn, GERD and dysbiosis (imbalances in your gut flora).

Ah yes, this I CAN attest to. I don’t think I ever feel GOOD after coffee…but my heart feels warmer :)

6. Addiction is often an issue with coffee drinkers and makes it really difficult to rely on the body’s natural source of energy. Ask any coffee drinker about how it feels to withdraw from coffee, and you will mistake their story for that of a drug addict’s…

…I asked Nick once if there was an AA for coffee :( This is shameful …

7. Associative addictions trend with coffee — who doesn’t immediately think of warm, frothy sweet cream and sugar when they picture coffee? Surely the business of coffee has inspired a culture addicted to the sugary, fatty tastes of what has become more of a meal than a drink! That morning latte is the epitome of food lacking nutrition density yet packing energy!

…Those coffee marketing bastards…

8. 5-HIA, an organic acid and component of the neurotransmitter serotonin (the happy chemical) seen in the urine tends to be elevated in coffee drinkers, which means they may be at risk for lower levels of serotonin synthesis in the brain. Serotonin is necessary for normal sleep, bowel function, mood, and energy levels. It is a vicious cycle, as caffeine can disrupt sleep and promote anxiety and depression. We all know someone who tends to be tired, wired and over-caffeinated!

…How often do you hear people say they use coffee TO go to the bathroom…this is definitely a vicious cycle. You start drinking coffee, you have lower bowel function, you start drinking MORE coffee to try to rev up your bowel function…this seems to work for a while…then it decreases again, you up your coffee…you get the point? (apparently, my other tangent topic is bowel function…:-\)

9. Elevated urinary excretion of important minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium have been noted in coffee drinkers. An imbalance in your electrolyte status can lead to serious systemic complications.

Osteoporosis?

10. Constituents in coffee can interfere with normal drug metabolism and detoxification in the liver, making it difficult to regulate the normal detoxification process in the liver. Another issue to be aware of with coffee intake is how certain medications such as levothyroxine (thyroid) as well as tricyclic antidepressants are poorly absorbed, making symptoms curiously worse for patients.

So there you have it…a list of reasons that sound terrifying…another thing to think about when you step up to the Starbucks counter. Should I? Shouldn’t I?

*You can read the rest of the article HERE*

 

Much love,

Jen

Taking personal responsibility…and potty talk

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, Move Well and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I have been asked on numerous accounts why I am doing the candida diet. The number one (and probably ONLY reason) I started the candida diet is because (I’m going to get REALLY honest with you right now…) I have had digestive issues since college…

My senior year of college, shit hit the fan in my life (family, school, relationship,friendships, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, etc, etc…you know, the normal stuff!) and my poor body could only handle the stress I was going through by deciding to seize all function of my digestive system. I was in and out of specialists for a year (my lowest low was having an “examination” (digestive system…take a gander at where that exam was taken…) by a 70 year old man…lowwww low). I was drugged up, knocked out, and had the pleasure (*puke*) of experiencing my first ever colonoscopy at the ripe age of 22. The final diagnosis was IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). What’s a girl to do with that information??!   I was terrified to eat ANYTHING; I was constantly full of fear. It got to a bad point where I was only eating about 500 calories a day (not on purpose…just because everything was making me sick!). That 500 calories usually came in the form of a Smart One (the broccoli and cheddar potatoes :-p).

I was CONSTANTLY on the lookout for some MAGIC PILL that would get rid of my digestive issues.

*In walks Nicholas Araza*

Through Nick I learned all about the Paleo diet, and it completely changed my world. I started exercising…uh duh, I think we know how that affected my world. I started getting adjusted. All three of these things have COMPLETELY changed my world for the better…including my digestive issues. I no longer FEAR eating (I am actually quite OBSESSED with it, thank you!) and I haven’t had an “episode” in a couple years. Phew! :)

So why the candida diet… well…while my guts are much happier, they are not 100% better. I have messed up my guts for the majority of my life…and while changing my diet, exercising and getting adjusted has stopped it from getting worse I’m sure…I have lost a LOT of integrity of my gut lining. In laymen’s terms: my guts are screwed. Presently :-p I was hoping that the candida diet would clean up the last of those bad bugs because since adding exercise to my life, my bad guts have posed a WHOLE other kind of problem…

If I, or anyone, is unable to keep their abs tight while doing Crossfit…you are essentially efffffffffffffed. There is WEIGHT you’re lifting, weird positions you’re getting into, high repetition of exercises, BURPEES, full extension of exercises…etc, etc. If you are unable to protect your spine during these exercises, you are GOING to get hurt…period. WELL…unfortunately, when you have inflamed guts due to something you ate, or bad bugs that are taking over your guts…you cannot properly protect your spine, and you get yourself in the predicament I have been putting myself in for the last year and a half…which is constantly hurting myself, over and over again. 

back pain

Here’s where some venting comes in: people constantly ASSUME that since I am married to a chiropractor I don’t EVER have back pain, that I have a BEAUTIFUL spine, and la da da…well, not exactly. I met Nick in 2009, and I was diagnosed with a Phase 1 subluxation…borderline phase 2. My spine was as straight as a rod…and I have a congenital scoliosis in my mid-back. Not the “ideal chiropractor’s wife spine”…sorry to disappoint. We have made AMAZING changes so far (I literally started crying when I saw my most recent progress x-rays, I was so happy)…but as magical as my husband (or ANY chiropractor for that matter) is…he’s not a magician…and in order for him to do his job the best he can, I NEED to stop hurting myself!!!! Which in short means (because after many, many discussions, we both believe is mainly related to my irritated guts)…I need to stop messing up my guts, and I need to KEEP working on PERFECTING my form in the gym (and in life for that matter!).

I started the candida diet on June 25th, and then decided to have some homemade coconut ice cream this past Saturday (that would be TOTALLY okay if I were not doing the candida) that was topped with homemade whipped cream (this would NOT be okay even if I WASN’T doing the candida) and let me tell you…that whipped cream EFFED me. I have been feeling it since Saturday. Yesterday was a workout with burpees and pull-ups (my two biggest offenders)…so last night I was laying in bed, complaining and whimpering because my back was in so much pain. I’m frustrated. I feel like I should be stronger, I feel like I should be able to go faster, I feel like I should be able to do MORE reps; it’s hard to do that when you start progressing, then jack yourself, you know?

Let me tell you THIS much…I am SO grateful that I AM married to a chiropractor…I can’t imagine doing this, and learning this journey without my sweet, sweet husband to clean up after me. Tip, however: do not use your chiropractor as a custodian for your injuries and then wonder why you’re not getting the results you want. Clean up your own messes, prevent messes, and do what your chiropractor says! :)

Anyway, the point of this post was a vent, mostly. I needed to be honest and “out” myself…I DON’T, yet, have a perfect spine…I don’t, yet, do the movements perfectly…and I still hurt myself…kind of often :-\ I, too, am working on my health everyday. I, too, am on this journey with you.

With love,

Jen

Candida diet update

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well and tagged with , ,

Today has been crazy busy at the office because it is our one year anniversary of Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic being open!! I know, I know…it doesn’t even make sense how quickly this last year has gone…it’s blowing my mind! However, I haven’t had a ton of time to sit down and write out an elaborate post, but I do want to update you on the Candida diet so far.

Here’s a hint: feeling a little like this lately…

-I have more energy than I have had in QUITE some time!!

- My skin feels and some say is GLOWING :) I have definitely noticed that my skin is softer! :)

-I have lost 5 pounds in the last week. This is a little weird…but I’m assuming it’s not going to continue at this rate since I am not starving myself (I’m sure I’m still eating 2000 or more calories a day…so don’t worry :-p). The freaky thing about this is thinking HOW MUCH fruit, chocolate, potatoes and alcohol I must have been consuming for that much weight to fall off in that short amount of time. I would have considered myself still at least 80% paleo (things went a little haywire around the wedding).

-I had a 23-year-old guy follow me from CVS to a grocery store at 8:30 this morning for the sole purpose of asking me on a date ;) I would say this diet is working! :)    (Nick found this amusing :-p)

That’s it folks!!! :) MWAH! I hope you had an amazing fourth (yes, I got through the fourth without eating any fruit, sugar, alcohol or anything of the like!) and I will chat with you soon :)

 

Love,

Jen

 

Plan Your Weekly Meals!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, recipes and tagged with , , , ,

sys·tem/ˈsistəm/

Noun:     1) A set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole, in particular.

2) A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.

 

If I never have to hear the word system again, in the entirety of my life, I would be MORE than grateful.

Since starting a business in July of 2011 (our 1 year anniversary is July 5th!!), I have heard the word ‘system’ more times than any one person ever cares to hear it. “We need a system for this”, “we need a system for that”. It has all grown a wee out of control, to the point where it is now seeping into our sacred HOME time…eek. Let me say, however, that I understand the need of…that s word…in order to make a business run smoothly, efficiently and effectively. I get it, I GET it! But when *ahem s word* means spending more and more hours at work, planning and developing…and you already feel like you live at your office…well, that word does not fill me with feelings of cozy, warm fuzzies.

Now, much like I have learned to turn off my EEK factor with the word “moist”, and yes, I can even say it now…I am learning how to handle the word…ss…syss…sysTEMS! :) Which leads me to my point today :) …

This weekend Nick and I went out to breakfast with some of our buddies, post-workout. Of the many topics that were covered (dumpster diving, the fall of the economy and some other super intelligent thing I’m sure :-p), one of the things I took away from it was Jess had to go home to “plan her week”. When Nick and I got in the car, we mentioned that that is a great idea, why haven’t we ever done that, yada yada. Lately I have been struggling BIG time with wanting to go home and cook, and if it were up to me I would eat out every single meal of the day! When you go to work at 7am, and don’t get home till 8pm…AND as a paleo person, you can’t just pop something into a microwave…who the hell wants to COOK?! But…then I mentioned that Danielle had made a printable worksheet on her blog that would organize our week by meal, and maybe that could help us.

So we sat in the parking lot of Whole Foods, dreaming about what we would eat for the week…and something that I thought would be annoying and tedious, turned out to be FUN, empowering and saved us MONEY!

We organized it like this:

 

Sunday: Fajitas (lettuce wrapped :-p). We made DOUBLE of this, because Mondays are our LONGGGGGGGGGG days, and having to cook at the end of it just makes me grumpy! Also on Sunday, I chopped a bunch of lettuce that I had in my CSA box, and a bunch of kale and put that in a bag; then chopped a bunch of vegetables, hardboiled some eggs, and Nick cooked up some sausage…all so that we could just grab and go for salads at lunchtime throughout the week.

Monday: LEFT OVERS!!! Let me tell you, after a long day yesterday, and not the EASIEST day…coming home to dinner already being done was heavenly. The best part of our day was last night!! :)

Tuesday: Chicken marsala with swiss chard :) Date NIGHT!!! :)

Wednesday: Pot roast with Dey Dey’s Best Beef and carrots, celery, potatoes and onions. The beauty of this is that we have Wednesday morning off, we pop everything into the slow cooker, and come home Wednesday night to dinner!

Thursday: LEFT OVERS!!! Thursday is our other 12 hour day, so left over are ESSENTIAL!

Friday: My favorite Mark Sisson dish: Kielbasa and raisins over cabbage. Sounds not the best, but trust me…it’s delicious and takes 5 minutes to prep. You can make a double batch and it’ll last you a few days…if Nick does not live with you :-p Okay, who am I kidding, I eat as much as he does… :-p

Saturday: LEFT OVERS!!!!

 

Nick and I were psyched on this, and since we had a plan for what we needed, we saved some money in the grocery store because we weren’t needlessly wandering around picking up everything we THOUGHT we may need…which usually ends up in us wasting it.

 

If you want to try your own sheet, here it is! (don’t be fooled by the simplicity…the very action of WRITING IT DOWN is the key ;) )

Danielle’s Printable Meal Planner

So far this SYSTEM is working for us by saving us money, and getting us EXCITED about what we’re going to eat at home, so I am much less likely to want to go out to eat…

I hope it works for you too! :)

Much love,

Jen

 

Yay, I was nominated!!… →

…for VERSATILE BLOGGER by the one, the only, the LOVELY…SheShredss!

Thank you lovely :)

To continue this fun little game and properly follow the rules, I need to, and will GLADLY answer 7 random facts about myself:

1) I can make three loops in my tongue!

2) I have my motorcycle license, and used to own a Kawasaki Ninja 250 with a hot pink helmet ;) Anything with a small engine pretty much, I can tear it up on. I prefer four wheelers and snowmobiles though. I’m from Northern Maine…I’m a country girl :-p

3) I love brushing my teeth in the shower…there is nothing better than an icy cool mouth in a hot steamy shower :)

4) I love reading marriage books…specifically Christian marriage books…couldn’t tell ya…

5) I, at one point, had FIRE ENGINE RED hair and BRIGHT GREEN contacts…it was in college, during my “punk phase”.

6) I have never been to Europe…in today’s world, this is an odd fact.

7) Je parle en peu francaise :-p

So now I get to nominate 15 versatile bloggers of my own!!

The lucky bloggers are…in no particular order…

KelsalynnFitLog

Sozo Life

Tales of me and the husband

Two red birthstones

Create something out of nothing

150 years young

Jessica Stephen

nomnom paleo

paleomg

everyday paleo

Bonfire Health

The Blog of Santa Barbara Family Chiropractic

Mark’s Daily Apple

The Clothes Make the Girl

Sweet Cheeks

Thank you to all these blogs for constantly providing knowledge, tips to make my (and everyone else’s) life easier, joy and entertainment, beauty, words of wisdom, recipes, and words of comfort and understanding. You all inspire every day :)

Have a wonderful day!! xoxo

Jen

Natural Remedy for Seasonal Allergies

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, recipes and tagged with , , , , , ,

I didn’t get to workout yesterday, even though I should have, because I needed to make a trip to the eye doctor… For the last year, on and off, I’ll have these flare ups in my left eye in which if a contact even THINKS of touching it, it will cease up and close up shop for a few days. Fun. Last Friday, during a meeting with the team, my eye was so pissed off by the sun that it just REFUSED to open, and I had an awesome little battle sesh with it that lasted far too long, and all too distracting; so, yesterday I was able to get in, and that is what I did. I thought I had it all figured out: a good 7 years back, I woke up on my 22nd birthday to a cat standing over me and then *swat*, a nail to the pupil. Not kidding, that was how I started my 22nd birthday. I will not bore you of the details of that day, but a little highlight will be that I spent my 22nd birthday with an eye patch and those big honking granny sunglasses that are often accompanied by track suits and ball caps. To top off this day, I found out that I had “cat scratch fever”…that actually exists? So I thought that it was a reoccurring flare up from that incident all this time. I was wrong. The Doctor went LOOKING for the scratch and did not find it, and all too comfortably handed me a prescription for Claritin D, and a couple other things I don’t know what they are. “Allergies, it’s definitely just allergies!” Allergies? I have not EVER had allergies in all my life, and NOW…NOWWW I get allergies? I would be lying if I didn’t say that since moving to California I have:

- Had a consistently drippy nose

-Lots and lots of headaches, and I prided myself on not getting headaches before this.

-An OBSESSION, seriously obsession, with the little bags that have puffed up underneath my eyes, which showed up almost INSTANTLY after we moved here.

-Multiple eye flare ups…

I had a lot of confused thoughts on my way to the car. I’m doing everything I can…why the allergies? Nick was very comforting in that he explained to me that I just moved across the entire continent, not just the country, the CONTINENT. The vegetation that I have grown up with my entire life is nothing like that of the vegetation here, and there are flowering plants year ROUND here. He also explained things in the terms of a race car (hehe, my baby and his analogies…)…if you took our Honda Element and put it in the racing world, would you agree that it wouldn’t function as well as the cars that are MADE to race? I would, yes. Would you agree, however, that you could do as much to that car as possible to ensure that it does the best in that environment? You could soup it up, make sure it gets regular tune ups and repairs, etc etc, but it still wouldn’t function as well as the RACE cars… (I hope I did that justice Nick :-p). The point is, we are not living in a congruent world. We can eat a diet that is as healthy as possible, we can exercise, we can think pure positive thoughts, and get adjusted on the regular, but sometimes, your car’s engine is still going to run in the red a little bit. :-p.

I am not well versed in analogies :-p

So, when you are eating a clean diet, exercising on the regular, getting adjusted, and thinking positive thoughts, what do you do when ALLERGIES still rear their ugly head?

According to Nick and fitsugar (and many other resources while we’re splitting hairs…), supposedly we should eat HONEY!… say WHAT?

Honey bees (the female worker bees) travel from flower to flower, drinking nectar, and storing it in sacs in their little bee bodies. Then they buzz back to their hive and use their “honey stomachs” to regurgitate and ingest the nectar a number of times until it is partially digested. They then store the nectar in the honeycombs, fanning it with their wings to evaporate the water, and turning it into the thick sweet honey we know and love.

The reason it may help with seasonal allergies, is because honey contains a bit of pollen from the plants. So if you eat the sweet treat that is made by bees in your area, the honey will often act as an immune booster, reducing your allergy symptoms to the local flowering plants. It’s a good idea to take 2-3 spoonfuls each day for several months prior to pollen season.

Fit’s Tips: Eating local honey works for some people, and may not for others. It’s a folk remedy, with no scientific research to back it up, but if you suffer from seasonal allergies, it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t help with your sniffles and sneezing, well at least you’re getting vitamins B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and minerals like calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. Honey also contains antioxidants and vitamin C. All that and it tastes good too!

Oh boo, poor me, needs to eat some tasty honey… :-p Looks like I’ll be giving this a shot! :)

What are some additional things you have done to ease up the seasonal allergies?

Boobs to Bar

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts, Eat Well, Move Well and tagged with , , , ,

Yesterday’s Crossfit Main WOD:

7 rounds

7 front squats (165# for men RX’d, modified to 65# for intensity)

7 chest to bar pull-ups

Check out Crossfitter’s doing the workout HERE

 

Chest-to-bar pull ups

As you can see here, Jason K and other fitter-than-most were doing this workout in 3+ minutes…it took me 9:50. I DID, however, get my first, second, third and fourth (maybe more) CHEST TO BAR pull-up yesterday!!!! I was able to do a few un-assisted for the workout, but then had to switch to the orange band to finish them up with proper form. I guess all that time I thought I couldn’t do pull-ups I was actually STRONG enough, just didn’t have the coordination!! So here I am, a week after stringing my first set of pull-ups together, able to do a chest to bar…effing NUTS! :)

On another health related note, lack of coffee equals (honestly) goodness for Jen’s body; I have not been bloated this week, I feel more energy in my workouts and I dont’ feel SICK when I drink a hot, comforting cup of goodness! I had a decaf Americano this morning at my girl’s Wednesday breakfast, and all was good in this hood :) While I don’t think I would even have DECAF on the regular, it “felt” good to do it today :) So, here I am, at Starbucks drinking chamomile, and being fine with it :) Plus, I dont’ have that yucky, post-coffee, taste in my mouth. Why can’t I ALWAYS remember this feeling!? :)

I hope you all have an incredible day!! T-minus 3 days until the Crossfit Level 1 Cert!! :)

Love,

Jen