A Jumble of Healthy & Happy Thoughts/Tips

Good morning!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I mentioned in my last post that I have a few stories/ lessons to share with you from my weekend in Boston, MA.  So let's just cut to the chase shall we... but a couple pics from the trip first...

I made a new friend.  :)

Our view overlooking the bay.  So pretty! Just begging to be run on. 

Me and Sam!  Yes, my shirt says "made with love"... like this blog! 

 Now onto LESSONS FROM THE TRIP!

1.  A great way to explore a new city is to run/ walk through it for your morning exercise!  


Our hotel was right along the Boston shoreline so what better way to check out everything along the pier than to just run all around it.  We ran Saturday morning, and we had a Texas size Boston dinner the night before, but that wasn't stopping me from getting in some morning exercise and sharing it with my Mom & Dad.

We stopped for a photo op before the run... I promise we got sweaty. 

My Mom with a glamorous finish! 

2.  You have to live life.  Allow yourself to experience the culture's cuisine (even if it's not on your diet).

Speaking of our Texas size dinner on Friday night... we went to this teeny tiny authentic Italian restaurant.  I kept it vegan for my main course which was spaghetti with marinara and grilled veggies but I did enjoy some seafood for the appetizer.  Sam indulged and ordered a whole grilled lobster.  I wish I would have taken a pic of that thing, it was huge.  For dessert, I allowed myself to enjoy what is apparently a Boston classic called Mike's Pastry.  Oh my gosh, so worth it.  You have to see some pictures of these pastries... out of control. Keep in mind we had several desserts from which I took a couple sample bites of each... these aren't all mine, haha.

There was a line out the door!

Holy Cannoli!  That bite you see in the pic... that was mine. :-)

Not your ordinary lobster tail.  Pastry filled with fluffy creamy goodness. 

Now that you are probably drooling, back to lesson #2.  During the weekend, I also indulged with a few bites of New England clam chowder and some fried calamari.  But, my favorite thing by far was... the lobster roll that I mentioned in my last post. Apparently, the lobster roll is a New England thing, and it's good thing I don't live there b/c I don't think you could keep me from eating it.

To sum it up, you can still experience the culture without having to feel miserable at the same time.  Just be aware of your portions and what you are eating.  I tried only a bite of a couple different pastries, I split the lobster roll with my mom, I didn't eat the whole bowl of New England clam chowder (only a few slurps), and I had probably a handful of calamari.  During breakfast and lunch, I kept it vegan with a bar from home or a banana and peanut butter, and I always had my stock pile of snacks on hand.

My Traveling Snacks

A sweet trail mix (sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds & dried berries)

A salty trail mix from Costo (rice crackers w/ nuts) mentioned in this post 

Vega Whole Food Energy Bars & Vega Whole Food Vibrancy Bars 

Amazing Grass Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion To-go Packets
Packages of Plain Instant Oats (you can always find hot water somewhere) 

Single Serving Nut Butter Packets

Pop Chips

Gluten Free Pretzels 

Clif Bars

The nut butter packets are my life saver! There are 8 different flavors.  You can get classic peanut or almond butter.  Or you can go crazy, like me, and get honey almond, maple almond, non-dairy chocolate almond, hazelnut, or peanut butter! One of these little packets and a banana and I'm good to go! Thankfully, you can find bananas at most hotel continental breakfast or a Starbucks.  With the packages of oats, you can just let them soak in hot water for a few minutes.  You can find hot water on the plane, in your hotel room if it has a coffee pot, or at the continental breakfasts.  Then you can top your oats with some sweet trail mix and maybe mix in a little peanut butter for some flavor... there you go! 

3.  Bad sugars really are addicting. 

Even though I allowed myself to enjoy the pastries and some wedding cake and maybe a couple other sweets that I wouldn't normally eat at home, I still paid the price.  I'm not talking about gaining weight or anything like that, I'm talking about the relapse of my sugar addiction.  I LOVE sweets.  But after going cutting out refined, processed, unnatural sugars over 7 months ago.... my sugar cravings were practically gone.  I could look at luscious dessert and not even crave a bite and if I did take a bite, then I just needed one or two and then the craving was gone.  But after just these few days of eating processed sugars, my craving was back and I brought it home with me, and now I'm trying to detox my body of all those addicting sugars.  I don't regret trying the sweets at all.  It's just that this weekend proved to me that bad sugars really are addicting.  If you are curious about the effects certain types of sugar have on our body and if you want to know the difference between a "good" and a "bad" sugar, then check out one of my first blog posts... Sugar Isn't So Sweet.

4.  Don't stress about not being able to work out for a day or two.

I have to remind myself of this one a lot when I'm traveling or when things just get really busy.  Working out is one of the best stress relievers.  However, if it stresses you out trying to figure out when and where you can work out while you are traveling, or if you get even more stressed trying to squeeze a workout into a busy day... then you are just defeating the purpose.  You should be relieving stress with your work outs, not causing stress.  So just allow yourself to miss a day of exercise and relax.  Just try to be more conscious of what you eat during that day (watch your carb, sugar, and fat intake) and push yourself extra hard during your next work out. 

So those are just some things I thought about while on my trip that I wanted to share with you.  

In other exciting news, I must share with you one of my new favorite things... CHEESY OATS!  Sam ate these 2 days in a row last week.  They taste like creamy mac n' cheese and only take 15 mins to make!  You can have them plain or put fun toppings on them like salsa, avocado, veggie burger, chips, etc. Check out the recipe and topping ideas at Oh She Glows.   

Not the best pic in the world, but I wanted to show you how cheesy they look! 

And one last health tip for you before I go...

[source]

High-Fructose Corn Syrup might be rebranded as "Corn Sugar." Makers of HFCS are currently working with the FDA to allow the name change.  I'm not sure when or if this will actually be allowed by the FDA, but just in case, watch out for "Corn Sugar" and "High Fructose Corn Syrup" when reading food labels. For a little more information check out this article at MindBodyGreen.

Things are picking up for me as my LAST CPA exam gets closer, only a couple more weeks.  I haven't been able to post as often as I would like, but my goal is at least once a week so hang in there with me!

Have a great day!

With Love, Health, and Happiness,

Cami

Thought of the Day: Try something new for your cardio session this week.  I did basketball court suicides yesterday for my cardio.  I haven't done those since high school!  It definitely got the the heart rate up and a sweat going.  What do you like to do for cardio?