What I Do…

Good morning friends! I wanted to name this post What I Do When I am Broken Down, Exhausted, and Need Some TLC, but I did not because that is one long title and nobody got time for that 😉

But here is what I do when I am all of those things and feel like a pile of poop.

I let myself linger over coffee. Coffee is one of the first things I do in the morning, but most mornings I am taking it down like someone is going to snatch my cup away. When I’m off from work and I have no where to be I take my sweet time…

After the coffee I workout. At the gym or at home I get my heart rate up and enjoy the endorphins. It’s not always jumping around and squats. When I feel super beat I just stretch myself out and enjoy warming up my muscles.

I take the time to make myself some yummy, wholesome, nutritious meals. Not that I don’t have nutrient dense meals at work, but I always feel rushed. When I eat at work it’s for energy and sustenance. When I get to cook and eat at home it’s for those things, but enjoyment as well.

I take the time to clean up my act. I love cleaning up my brows or doing a face mask. Basically, anything that makes me feel like a human again.

This may go into that previous category, but I love doing my nails. There is something soothing about prepping and painting them. I also like that every time I look and see my nails it makes me happy to see the color.

I also enjoy watching YouTube. I binge on a lot of it throughout the day while I am cooking, working out, doing my nails, etc. I like having some background noise and sometimes I learn a thing or two whether it’s about cooking, beauty, health or just find some inspiration.

What do you guys do when you need a pick me up? Let me know in the comments!

 

An Interesting Read

I found this article, read it, and loved it. It also made me chuckle out loud. For those reasons I wanted to share it with you and I hope you will read it, love it, and let out a chuckle or two yourself 🙂

Check out The Last Conversation You’ll Ever Need to Have About Eating Right.

Afterwards, talk to me in the comments and tell me what you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Do you follow a specific diet-paleo, vegan, dessert-first?

Workout Favorites

Happy FRIDAYYY!! Today I wanted to share with you a few workout things I have been loving 🙂

The first is Pilates…I’ve been really loving incorporating Pilates movements into my strength training. Whether I’m at home or at the gym these movements help target muscles I don’t normally use if I’m just strength training or doing cardio.

I actually took a couple of Pilates classes while I was in college and really loved it. It really warms up my muscles and feels like a good warm hug. I’ve been loving it and if you wanna try it out just hit up YouTube and put in “Pilates Workout.” You’ll find a workout you will love!

The next thing is this new resistance band I got from Amazon. It’s from the brand Ethereal Gym. It’s a fabric type resistance band and man has it amped up my home workouts. I still have my elastic bands, but I’ve been feeling the burn with this guy.

Going back to the Pilates-this band helps increase difficulty on some of those movements. I will say it’s a good idea to build up to this band if you are just starting to use resistance in your workouts.

Another “workout” type activity I have been loving is walking on the beach. It’s been hella hot in LA and especially in the Valley so hiking has been out of the question for me, but I do miss it. We’ve been loving going to the beach because it tends to be a little cooler by the water so we’ve been taking some strolls on the sand.

This is great because it is cooler by the water so I don’t feel overheated and cranky, I love walks, and walking in soft sand uses more energy since you’re trying to stabilize yourself.

The last item on this list is this massage roller device that looks like a scary torture contraption. I had received this back in March (I think?) in my Fab Fit Fun box. I used it for a little while then, but recently I’ve been interchanging it with my foam roller.

It’s been a great tool to roll on my legs after leg day. I feel like it goes deeper than my foam roller and does a great job at targeting my tensed up muscles.

 

Let’s talk Arugula

I think it might be the summer heat that’s left me craving fresh salads all the time-including breakfast 😀

I’ve been loving mixing up greens and a particular green I’ve been enjoying throwing in is arugula. It goes great with some eggs for breakfast or into a salad for some extra flavor in your greens.

This peppery leaf can be a little underrated though. I feel like kale and spinach get a lot of the glory, but arugula is still a dark(ish) leafy green. It’s filled with antioxidants and who couldn’t use more of those?

It’s also got some vitamin C to help with boosting your immune system. It’s hard to imagine now with it being so hot, but when cold and flu season come up this might be a good mix-in for soups, omelettes, and other warm dishes.

Arugula contains vitamin A which is great for your eyes since it helps protect the surface of your eyes.

Did you know it also contains some calcium for strong and healthy bones? I don’t do dairy milk so getting in calcium wherever and however is pretty important to me and I know my bones will thank me later on.

There are so many different types of greens out there and they all have so much good nutrition in them so if arugula is not your thing that’s totally okay. I just wanted to highlight it because I think it’s a fun change up!

Do you like arugula? How do you use it?

PSA: Potatoes Do Not Kill

I think the title is pretty self explanatory, but the reason I am bringing up my love for spuds is because I feel like they have such a bad rep.

Listen, potatoes are not all bad. They are a good source of potassium which can help in regulating BP. If you’re eating them as fries maybe not so much, but a few fries here and there never hurt anybody either.

I preach and try to live moderation the best I can and I don’t believe in good or bad foods. I feel like there’s a cycle for all foods-one day it’s healthy and in 10 years from now it’ll be the worst possible thing for you according to some study.

I love potatoes and they help add some bulk to my breakfasts and help with satiety, but they also just make me happy. I don’t eat a huge pan of them, but having some thrown into a taco makes me smile.

Have a baked potato, eat a few fries…I promise they aren’t out to get ya!

ABJ Greek Yogurt

It’s been hot here in beautiful LA, but on one particular hot day a hot breakfast did not sound appetizing.

I dreamed this up while at the gym and made it a reality once I got home. It was seriously one of the best bowls of yogurt I have ever had.

I used plain fat free Greek yogurt because that’s what I had, TJ’s almond butter, and TJ’s blueberry preserves, with some Sprout’s bulk bin granola (chocolate hazelnut flavor) to make this.

It had good protein from the yogurt and AB, the preserves and granola gave me some carbs to pep me up post workout, and the AB and granola had some fat to help satiate and leave me full and satisfied!

I was a little weary about putting nut butter in yogurt. I don’t know why, but it never sounded like a good idea until this day. I guess hunger fuels delicious creations 😉

Is it hot where you live? Have you been changing up your meal routines?! Let me know in the comments!

Let’s Talk Collagen

I recently decided to do a thing. I decided to start taking collagen…

I feel like collagen has been everywhere recently kinda like coconut oil had been and after doing some research I thought it would be a good supplement to include in my diet. Let me tell you why!

1.I can almost guarantee I am not getting enough from food sources. I don’t drink bone broth, eat enough meat, or gelatin to help me in any way.

2.Collagen is great for bone strength. Again I don’t drink milk (dairy) and I have a small frame and my momma has osteopenia-this girl doesn’t have time for that low bone density life.

3.I love skin care, but I don’t want to use 30 products to “stop the aging process.” Collagen can help with fine lines and helps keep your skin youthful.

4.Along with skin benefits it is great for nails and hair. I feel like I’ve been shedding like nobody’s business so maybe this will help!

5.I have cellulite-it’s an annoying part of womanhood, but what can you do? Take some collagen apparently 🙂

Now, this is why I started taking collagen, but we will see if it’s effective. I just started taking it, but I can keep you guys posted on if I notice any changes.

The one that I take is the one pictured above and it says you can mix it with water or OJ. I highly suggest you do NOT mix it with water-I tried and it was gross.

The OJ suggestion is because apparently Vitamin C helps with the absorption of collagen. The way I have been using it is by mixing it in with my morning coffee. It becomes tasteless and all I can taste is my delicious cup of joe.

Have you guys used collagen? What do you think? Have you seen any improvements?

When in Hollywood…

Do the Hollywood Hike?!?!? Or maybe it was when in Hollywood eat some Japanese pancakes? No? Just me?!

We woke up bright and early to do the Hollywood Hike which despite lack of motivation at the beginning ended up being quite rewarding. It’s a steady up hill climb, but nothing crazy.

After having hiked we build up a nice appetite and found a sweet little brunch spot at WKNDR.

We ordered the chicken sandwich, like we do.

Then we ordered the Japanese pancakes and my life was changed.

The chicken sandwich was a good chicken sandwich-crispy chicken, soft bread, etc. But the pancakes were literally like eating cake. It was moist and once drizzled with syrup they were sweet and amazing!

Post brunch dessert ended up being a walk with some fruit cart fruit. It was tangy and salty and sweet-a perfect little ending to a sweet little brunch 🙂

Have you tried Japanese pancakes? What did you think??

Hiking for Bondi Harvest

Okay we didn’t actualllyyy hike for Bondi Harvest, but we did eat at Bondi after a nice long, exhausting hike.

But first, we fueled up at Starbucks with their egg white and spinach wraps-they are so good, but boy do they stay hot like a hot pocket!

 

We decided to hike the Los Liones Canyon Trailhead and it was so gorgeous. You go uphill the whole hike, but the gorgeous views made all that legwork worth it. Besides that you get rewarded with a nice downhill stroll when you are heading back to the car 😉

 

Post-hike we wanted something wholesome and nourishing-Bondi seemed like a good choice. Hubs got the Bondi Breakfast, I got the Whirley’s Bowl, and we shared the Papaya Fruit Bowl.

The Bondi Breakfast-simple, healthy, delicious and that bread was hella’ hardy.

Whirley’s Bowl-Pretty large piece of tilapia with cauliflower rice, avocado, yogurt tartar, slaw and salsa.

The Papaya Fruit Bowl though was my absolute favorite part of the meal. This was a sweet papaya filled with coconut vanilla chia seed pudding, a scoop of acai, berries and mint.

It was so sweet and refreshing and light-such a great way to end our meal! Ever since we had this I have been wanting to go back and eat like 3 of them. So, so good!

Do you guys like hiking? What are some of your favorite spots to hike? Talk to me in the comments below!

 

HIIT at Home

I LOVE talking about food…but this blog iiis about finding balance so for me working out is a part of that balance. I don’t know if I talk about it that much but we do consistently workout, but sometimes we (I) get into ruts!

Donut’s are also included in that balance 😉

That’s when I like to switch it up 🙂 I don’t go to the gym everyday and instead incorporate workouts at home into my regimen. I do tend to stick to more pilates type movements when I am at home, but I decided to add some HIIT to that recently just to make it more interesting.

I have really enjoyed getting my heart rate up and all the jumping around as well to be honest! Jumping jacks, mountain climbers, squat jumps all work up a sweat.

There are a lot of HIIT workout videos, but I’ve kinda been doing my own thing so I can play around with movements that feel the best for me.

I like to throw in a workout blog up every once in a while just to say that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to be the best, fittest you. I hope you guys enjoyed this post!

Let me know what you think about HIIT and what kind of workouts you enjoy doing down in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!