social media purge

Social media is exhausting. I understand that social media isn’t a necessity of life, but without it, how on Earth would I keep-up with what Shelly does with her free time (she complains about everything), how many shots Ethan can down on a Wednesday (too many, it seems), or just how much sex Penny is or isn’t having (it depends on the day…)?!

Over the years, I have acquired a pretty hefty friends list on Facebook, full of family, close friends, people I grew up with, people I went to college with, et cetera. While perusing my timeline, I realized that I, honestly, didn’t give a shit about what the majority of my “friends” were doing. Not in the least bit. In addition to not giving a shit, I was downright shocked that I knew people who were so rude, conniving, and downright horrible people. That’s when I decided I needed to purge my friends list.

Purging my friends list seemed easy enough; I would breeze through my friends list and delete those that I no longer talked to, were annoyed with, or didn’t know personally. In short, anyone that brought any additional stress or annoyance into my life. Easier said than done, I found out. Going through my friends list and just deleting people seemed too cold, even for me.

Goal: find another way to purge my friends list. I decided that each time a birthday notification appeared, I would pick one of two options: say happy birthday to them or delete them. If I didn’t like or know someone well enough to comfortably say happy birthday, I probably shouldn’t be friends with them.

My friends list has drastically diminished, but I don’t really care. The people I am friends with on Facebook are people I know personally and care about to varying degrees. I encourage everyone to take a hard look at you friends list and decide whether having your cousin’s best friend’s brother on your friends list is worth risking your sanity. It’s usually not.

 

let’s talk about frozen dinners

Frozen dinners freak. me. out. This is partially due to my dislike for using a microwave, but I also get a weird feeling when I think about eating previously-cooked food that has sat on a freezer shelf for who knows how long. This is the same feeling I get about canned cheese and ranch dressing – how can a dairy-based product just SIT ON THE SHELF?! Ick.

I recently saw a commercial for a frozen dinner brand and the woman featured said something like, “I just like being able to pop a healthy meal in the microwave!” That didn’t sound right to me. How can you package meat, dairy, and other items in a way that, when reheated, tastes good and is even remotely healthy?

I get it, though,we’re all busy and our budgets are stretched thin. We all want to prepare a meal quickly and for a reasonable price. The biggest problem I have is: when did convenience become more important than our health? Personally, I would rather take a few extra minutes to chop up and cook vegetables I purchased myself and feel secure in knowing they weren’t previously frozen or laden with extra salt than pop a meal in the microwave and call it good. I can’t do that to myself and my body. I’m worth more than that. We all are.

I decided to do some research. I took the most healthy looking meals from some top brands and analyzed their ingredients. Here is what I found!

Brand: Lean Cuisine

Meal: Apple Cranberry Chicken

Description: Grilled white meat chicken in an apple reduction with cranberries, french cut green beans & carrots and whole wheat orzo pasta.

Ingredients: blanched whole wheat orzo pasta (water, whole durum wheat flour), cooked white meat chicken (white meat chicken, water, modified tapioca starch, chicken flavor (dried chicken broth, chicken powder, natural flavor), carrageenan, whey protein concentrate, soybean oil, corn syrup solids, sodium phosphate, salt), water, carrots, green beans, wheat berries, apple juice concentrate, dried cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), apples (apples, citric acid, salt, water), 2% or less of butter (cream, salt), modified cornstarch, chicken broth, orange juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, sugar, soybean oil, sea salt, ginger puree (ginger, water, citric acid), yeast extract, spices, lemon juice concentrate, citric acid.

Initial Reaction: That seems like an excessive number of ingredients for a meal described so simply.

Ingredients that scare me: carrageenan, sodium phosphate, added sugar

Why those ingredients scare me: I avoid carrageenan like the plague. It’s all over the place in vegan products (nut milks, cheese, et cetera) and I go out of my way to find those products that don’t include it. According to Google, “Carrageenans are a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds. They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties.” Sounds pretty harmless, right? Nawwwww. Carrageenan is not digestible and has no nutritional value, triggers an immune response similar to that your body has when invaded by pathogens like Salmonella, and is linked to high amounts of inflammation (linked to ulcerative colitis, intestinal lesions, and colon cancer since the 1960s). Even worse, chronic inflammation is the root cause of many diseases such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cancer. No, thanks. Coupled with sodium phosphate, an additive that doctors have linked to higher rates of chronic kidney disease and weak bones, you’ve got a nutritional disaster on your hands. The added salt and sugar is unnecessary, too. Do you add sugar to your chicken and veggies as home? Didn’t think so.

Bottom line: Ditch this. It would be so  easy to prep this meal using natural ingredients. The night before you work week starts, cook up chicken, orzo, green beans, and carrots. You can get fancy and whip-up an apple/cranberry sauce, too, but it isn’t completely necessary. Portion out your dinners and store in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave during the week when you’re at work, school, et cetera. So much healthier for you on so many levels.

Brand: Smart Ones

Meal: Chicken Santa Fe

Description: Tender white meat chicken, zucchini, bell peppers, onions and black beans.

Ingredients: Sauce (Diced Tomatoes In Juice [Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Citric Acid, Calcium Chloride], Water, Onions, Dijon Mustard [Water, Vinegar, Mustard Seed, Salt, White Wine, Fruit Pectin, Citric Acid, Tartaric Acid, Sugar, Spice], Tomato Ketchup [Tomato Concentrate, Distilled Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Onion Powder, Spices, Natural Flavoring], Chicken Broth Powder [Chicken Broth, Salt, Flavorings], Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic, Fire-Roasted Green Chiles [Green Chile Peppers, Citric Acid], Modified Cornstarch, Corn Oil, Chili Pepper Powder [Chili Peppers, Spices, Salt, Garlic Powder], Cilantro), Cooked Roasted White Chicken Meat (White Chicken Meat, Water, Modified Tapioca Starch, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Modified Potato Starch), Zucchini, Green Bell Peppers, Black Beans, Red Bell Peppers.

Initial Reaction: Again, that seems like an excessive number of ingredients for a meal described so simply.

Ingredients that scare me: added sugar, added salt, and sodium phosphate

Why those ingredients scare me: See above for my reasons to avoid sodium phosphate. I see sugar listed three times in the ingredients list. Really, WeightWatchers? Added sugar in a chicken and veggie meal? Not necessary! I also see salt listed five times in the ingredients list. Again, not necessary for that much added salt (there is 800mg in just this meal – we should be aiming for less than 1500 mg per day).

Bottom line: Again, ditch this. It’s too easy to make this at home with far less ingredients.

 

Brand: evol.

Meal: Quinoa & Roasted Veggies

Description: Red quinoa with brown rice, kale, roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli and portabella mushrooms–All combined with an insanely tasty roasted tomato sauce.

Ingredients: Cooked Red Quinoa, Cooked Brown Rice, Kale, Tomatoes in juice (tomatoes, tomato juice, citric acid, calcium chloride), water, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, portabella mushrooms, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, corn startch, lemon juice, sea salt

Initial Reaction: Ahhhhh, yes! Ingredients that I can identify and buy at the store myself! Calcium chloride doesn’t sound good, though.

Ingredients that scare me: calcium chloride

Why those ingredients scare me: As you may know, calcium chloride is used as a de-icing agent on roads and what not, as well as a firming agent in prepared foods. The FDA says it’s OK, but I would take that with a grain of salt. Ingested in large amounts (what that means, I have no idea), calcium chloride can lead to would cause intestinal problems and abdominal pain.

Bottom line: This seems OK to me. I cannot find any evidence to suggest that calcium chloride is dangerous to consume in the amounts found in food.

Surprisingly, these frozen meals were not as unhealthy as I thought they were going to be. I have seen the ingredient list for other brands such as Banquet, Hungry Man, Kid Cuisine that are exhausting and full of additives and sodium. In comparison, these aren’t too terrible.

As you know, the best way to eat healthy is to prepare your own food using natural and whole ingredients. There is no need to add anything but some spices and maybe a trace amount of oil to your meals!

pumped up playlist

There is a lot that can make or break your workout including mood, stress level, weather, and, most importantly, music! A good playlist keeps you motivated and focused on something other than the fact that you want to be doing anything other than working out. It’s a win-win situation!

If I am working out alone (or without a video), I need a solid playlist to get me through the workout. True story: I have left the gym numerous times because my phone or iPod was left at home or dead. Those of you that can exercise in silence, I envy you!

I put together a Spotify playlist of the songs that always make their way onto my workout playlist. Now, go out and kick some butt!

Enjoy!

cut down on e-mail clutter!

My journey to whole-body health includes getting everything in my life in tip-top shape. Everything includes my mind, body, relationships, career, apartment, et cetera. I desire less stress, more organization, a cleaner lifestyle, and complete happiness – it is possible, I know it is!

In order for me to really focus on what is important, I need to live amongst as little clutter as possible. This includes clutter in my apartment, in my office, in my mind, and in my digital world. I am in the process of curating numerous posts about how I am going about decluttering specific aspects of my life, starting with my e-mail inbox!

If you are anything like me, you have opted-in to receive exclusive e-mails from approximately 1.3 million of your favorite brands. How this happens, I will never understand. I guess the years of shopping online, signing-up for one-time discounts, and entering online contests has really paid off! Now I have far too many grey tank tops, Michael’s coupons (wait…there is no such thing), and e-mails that sit in my inbox and never achieve their full potential.

I recently developed a useful method that helps me cut-down on my e-mail clutter and only keep the best of the best on my “approved” list! 🙂

Here we go…

Step 1: Each day, I go through my new e-mails and ask myself the following questions for each e-mail I receive:

• Do I remember signing up to receive this?
• Have I ever purchased from this company?
• Do I plan to purchase from this company in the near future? Near future in this case means within the next 3 months.

Step 2: If I answer “no” to any of the questions above, I unsubscribe from said e-mail list and delete the e-mail from my inbox. Ta-dah!

Example:

The e-mail above is currently in my inbox. Following the steps, I ask myself the following questions:

• Do I remember signing up to receive this? No, I do not remember. I am nowhere near purchasing a house. 
• Have I ever purchased from this company? Nope.
• Do I plan to purchase from this company in the near future? Near future in this case means within the next 3 months. God, no. Purchasing a home is way too out of reach right now.
  

Since I answered no to all three questions, I will unsubscribe from the e-mail list. Usually, you can find the unsubscribe link toward the bottom of the e-mail. I have found that you sometimes have to search for them. They definitely do not make it easy to escape their clutches!

I then delete the e-mail from my inbox, so I can move onto the next one! One down, 153 more to go!

I find that doing this everyday is a very manageable way to go about decluttering my inbox, instead of letting my inbox gather e-mails for a week and having to spend hours sifting through it all. Do whatever works for your schedule!

Eventually, you will be unsubscribed from all e-mail lists you are no longer interested in – yay for organization! Now, quit signing up for unnecessary e-mails! 🙂

Good luck!

 

 

desk job stretches

Between 2006 and 2013, I worked mainly retail jobs. I was constantly walking (sometimes running), on my feet, bending, lifting, et cetera. Come November 2013, I got my first full-time desk job. I (damn near) immediately began gaining weight, losing any sort of proper posture I had, and noticing that I was becoming sore from sitting. It was the worst.

I assume that I am not that only one that works a desk job that wants to try and get in some sort of movement during the day, so I wanted to share what I do to get up, stretch, and relax!

Each hour, I:

1. Walk around the meeting room at work for about 10 minutes (I try to get in 1,000 steps). I understand that this might not be feasible for some people. If it is not, just try and get in some walking!
2. Roll my shoulders back 10 times and forward 10 times. This is super helpful if your posture is not ideal.
3. Leg extensions. This is super easy, because you can be in your chair! Start with your legs in a 90-degree position. Extend your left leg up, stopping when your leg is parallel to the floor. Point your toe. Return to start. Repeat 9x times, for a total of 10x. Repeat with your right leg.
4. Stretch my wrists and fingers. Extend your left arm in front of you, parallel to the ground, palm faced away from you. Use your right hand to bend your fingers toward you comfortably. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat with your right arm. Repeat all steps, but this time, your palm faces toward you (fingers pointed down).
5. Stretch my back and arms. Extend your arms above you head, clasping your hands. Reach back, comfortably (but still stretching), and hold for ten seconds. Repeat while leaning to the left and then the right.
6. Stretch my neck. Looking forward, touch your chin to your chest. Return to start. Now look up toward the ceiling. Return to start. Touch your left ear to your left shoulder. Return to start. Touch your right ear to your right shoulder. Return to start. Repeat all steps for a total of 10x reps.
7. Shake it out. For 10 seconds, I shake out my arms, hands, and fingers. For 10 seconds, I shake out my legs.

Ta-dah! You should feel less bound-up and more at ease after these moves 🙂

 

 

national watermelon day

Ah, yes, a summer staple has its own day! Watermelon is not only delicious, but it is ridiculously good for you, packed with Vitamins A and C, lycopene (good for our cardiovascular health), and citrulline (converted into arginine during digestion, which helps improve blood flow)!

To honor the beloved fruit, I have concocted a watermelon-based smoothie recipe. This has a subtle a kick to it, making it the perfect drink to sip on while you imagine you’re kicked-back on a beach somewhere far away 🙂 It would be pretty yummy with some alcohol, too!

To yield two servings (or a larger smoothie), you will need:

• 2x cups diced, ripe watermelon
• 1x cup spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen peaches
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1T lime juice
• 1T chia seeds
• 1/4t cumin
• 1/4t coriander
• 1/4t chili powder
• 1/4t cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients into a blender. I use a NutriBullet, so I load in the following order: spinach, peaches, strawberries, watermelon, and then liquids and spices. Feel free to play with the spice amount to please your palate!

It is not the prettiest hue, but it is delicious! 

august goals

I always enjoy starting a new month because I feel ready to take on anything, really focus, and start anew! I wanted to share my August goals on a public platform so they feel more real and to also give you an avenue to share your August goals! Leave a comment below and let me know about your big plans! ❤

Exercise

• Walk 10,000 steps per day
• Complete the Destination: Health August Challenge

Food

• Stay strong with my clean eating
  • No meat
  • No dairy or animal by-products
  • No gluten
  • No oil
  • Minimal added sugar
  • Minimal vegan/gluten-free junk food (e.g. pizza, cookies, et cetera)
• Focus on continuing to get at least one serving of greens in at every meal
• Actually eat while working my second job so my energy stays up and I don’t get cranky
• Work on moving from drinking 3.5 liters to 4 liters of water per day

Life

• Live by “If it takes less than five minutes, just do it” as it pertains to household chores, work tasks, et cetera
• Complete three audiobooks
• Work on purging our kitchen, bathroom, and closets – don’t worry, there will be posts about how I go about this
• Flesh out the remainder of 2016’s posts
• Spend less time on social media (mainly for my sanity)
• Spend more quality time with my boyfriend

activity calendar: august

I cannot believe it is almost August! I am pretty excited, though, because that means summer is almost over and I can start wearing scarves again! Woohoo!

To kick-off the month, I have created an August Activity Calendar that you can follow to get in some cardio and calisthenics each day! I have created some Exercise Guidelines that you will refer to to complete the five moves contained in each series of moves 🙂

Look out for these calendars each month – I will be revamping it each month to keep it interesting and challenging!

If you are taking on this challenge in August, tag @destinationhealthxo on Instagram and use the hashtag #DHAugustChallenge to hold yourself accountable for completing the entire month and to show everyone your progress! I am so excited to see you work those muscles and feel stronger each day! We can do this!

my weight story

*Disclaimer: this is pretty lengthy, very rambling, and pretty personal. Don’t worry, every post is not going to be this long or this focused on weight.

I do not think there is an *appropriate* time to learn that people use the shape and look of your body to determine if you are worthy of their time, but if there is, 5th grade definitely is not that time.

The first time I was confronted with this situation was at 10 years old. I had a massive crush on a 4th grade boy, let’s call him Ben*; he was tall for his age, athletic, and cute as heck. To this day, I still do not understand why my friends thought it was a good idea to go and ask Ben if he wanted to “date” me because: (1) I was 10 years old, (2) Dating in elementary school means absolutely nothing, and (3) I was already in love with Lance Bass, how could I possibly love another boy?!

Against my wishes, my well-meaning friends confronted Ben at recess. The aftermath went a little something like this:

Friend: “Cassie, I talked to him!”
Me: “Who?”
Friend: “The boy you like, Ben”
Me: “What happened?”
Friend: “He said he would date you, but only if you lost weight”

Yup. A 4th grade boy said he would date me only if I lost weight. I mean, I get it, I was definitely overweight, but to not even take into consideration my sick macrame skills, recurring appearances in the annual talent show, or *super adorable* curled bangs? Come on, that is just rude. I did not let that dumb boy’s comment get to me too much at the time. At least I did not think I did.

Throughout middle school, I was a little boy-crazy. No, really. I honestly think I ended up having a crush on about 80% of the boys in my class at one point or another** – it was out of control. I was casual friends with a lot of boys, meaning we would talk in class and sit together at lunch, but I was never asked out, given a looks-based compliment, et cetera. It seemed a little weird but I knew (and still know) that I am cute as shit so it did not bother me too much until 8th grade.

8th grade was a bitch. Girls were horrifically mean (that is another story), I entered ~womanhood~ (who decided that becoming a woman has to involve bleeding profusely every month?), and I realized that boys liked girls that were skinny and wore those barely-there Abercrombie & Fitch denim skirts. I was the complete opposite of that. I am pretty sure I finally stopped wearing overalls in 7th grade, definitely wore more PacSun hooded sweatshirts than Abercrombie-branded sweatshirts, and I weighed about 220 pounds (60 pounds overweight, according to the internet).

The summer after 8th grade, a group of students took a trip to New York City and Washington DC. I knew that one boy I really liked was going to be going on the trip, so I was pretty excited. I had planned to talk to him a lot on the trip and really woo him. I do not know what I was thinking, I do not think I have ever wooed anyone, let alone anyone when I was an awkward 14-year-old. There was a problem, though. I was overweight. I knew, thanks to that asshole in elementary school, that boys did not like overweight girls. So, I was determined to lose weight before the trip. 14 years old and trying to lose weight. TO IMPRESS A BOY. My god.

I obviously had no understanding of how weight loss worked because mere months before the trip, I set my sights on the number 165. I could lose 55 pounds in 3 months, right? Eating healthy and running sounds easy enough, I will be hot in no time! Not so much. I think I lost around 5 pounds in three months. I tried to eat well, but when you have family meals, birthday parties, school events,and sleepovers, it is hard. I was keeping up pretty well with a Couch to 5K running program, but all the exercise in the world cannot negate a shitty diet. I was disappointed in myself, not because I was unhealthy, but because no boy would ever like me because I was still fat. Fuck you, 4th grade Ben.

Those couple months essentially kicked-off my unhealthy relationship with my body and food in that I began to: (1) Determine my health based on what other people thought of me, (2) Obsess over the number of calories I was consuming and completely dismiss the fact that I was filling my body with junk, and (3) Binge.

Once I entered high school, it was pretty easy to keep my weight steady. I was on the track team freshman year and the tennis team sophomore year. Junior year is when I gave up sports and when I, again, headed down the path of shitty eating and poor exercise. I do not remember gaining too much weight in high school, but I had to have gained around 20 pounds or so over the course of my junior and senior years. If you are keeping track, this would put be at about 235 pounds.

My freshman year of college was the first time I lost a significant amount of weight (about 15 pounds). I stopped eating dairy for about 5 months and, coupled with walking around campus and the city of Seattle, the weight melted off without much work at all. It also did not hurt that I was away from home and had to rely on my meal plan and the little cash I had to sustain myself. This meant that I was not having two or three helpings of my mom’s spaghetti, running to Taco Bell for a few items, or eating much of anything outside of Seattle University’s relatively healthy dining hall. Weight: around 220.

I decided to transfer to Portland State University after my freshman year. I was not happy at Seattle University. I missed my family and was really not interested in going to a Jesuit-Catholic school any longer than one year. Why I even decided to attend in the first place is beyond me. Sorry, mom and dad, I will pay you back when I win the lottery.

After returning home, I started eating dairy off and on and instead of walking across campus to class, I was taking the bus from my town to the city. I gained weight, but not an alarming amount because I was working in retail and moving around a lot. But, as you can probably guess, my eating habits were still unhealthy. I mainly ate vegetables, fruits, and almonds for lunch/snacks at school or work, but I would go freakin’ CRAZY on some Subway, Taco Bell, Doritos, et cetera if I ever got a craving. I vividly remember eating a killer salad for lunch one day working at Hallmark and leaving through the back to go get Taco Bell because I could. I somehow got it in my mind that if nobody saw me eating the shitty food, it never happened. Yeah, that is not how it works. Weight: 235.

I was able to keep my weight pretty steady throughout college, even losing weight while I was working at Disneyland. Working at Disneyland was a weird time for me, weight-wise, because while I was making decent money, it was not enough to go and binge on junk food on a regular basis. I had to pay for groceries, rent, gas, and everything else that comes along with not living with your parents (or in a dorm paid for by your parents) for the first time in your life. I think I lost 10 pounds in my 8 months living in Southern California. Weight: 225.

After returning from Disneyland in August 2012, I went back to school, work, and my unhealthy eating habits. I was walking plenty, but I was just taking every opportunity I had to eat unhealthy. Again, I would keep up the facade at work and school and not down an entire Subway sandwich in class, but once I got home and away from people…it was on. It is alarming how much food I was (and am) able to eat. I do not even want to talk about it. Yuck. Weight around January 2013: 245

My last day working in a retail (see: non-sitting) position was in February of 2013. The yogurt shop I was working at closed suddenly and I picked-up a data entry position that started at 5am and ended at 10am. After work, I went to class and then home. I was eating amazingly well at work and school. A lot of easy-to-pack veggies and fruit. I was obsessed with spinach and carrots salads with a little balsamic dressing and cucumbers and hummus. The problem with working so early and getting home from class around 2pm was that I had a lot of free time. I did not have any friends as this time (no, really). I had severed ties with my friends from high school and since I was a working commuter student, I did not spend enough time on campus to meet anyone. On the bright side, I was regularly going to the local gym for long workouts on the bike, elliptical, and weights – I think I averaged about 90-120 each night. But, guess what? I would go to Taco Bell or Subway after my workout. Then I would swing by Safeway for ice cream. Oh, yes. How about THAT for a healthy post-gym recovery meal? Suck it, protein shakes. Weight around June 2013: 255

After I graduated from Portland State, it was pretty much all downhill. I took an office-based internship that lasted until November 2013 and then immediately was hired at the local radio station group, where I sat on my ass all day. This was right around the time that I met my current boyfriend. Our dates usually consisted of going out to dinner, going to the movies, and hanging out at his apartment (aka lots of food and little to no movement). Everyday, I was sitting on my ass for 8 hours and then spending the whole night, you guessed it, sitting on my ass (and eating!) Weight around November 2013: 255

Since November 2013, I have worked in a desk-bound job. Sure, I get up and walk to the printer, bathroom, kitchen, or my car every now and then, but it is nothing compared to the mass amount of walking that comes with a retail job. As my boyfriend and I became more serious, I became more comfortable and less worried about my weight (because, let’s face it, I already got a man, who did I need to impress?) Sorry, babe. Being comfortable in my relationship + date nights + desk-bound job = huge weight gain.

In the nearly three years we have been together, my boyfriend and I have gone in and out of eating healthy. This is usually how it goes: we are super committed for two weeks, agree we will have a cheat day, said cheat day turns into a cheat month or two. Rinse and repeat. We also get on weird gym kicks where I will bike 15 miles a day and walk until I cannot feel my legs, but that usually only lasts two weeks max. I swear off ice cream, but sneak it into the house the next week. After gorging ourselves with pizza, we promise to never do it again, but revert back to old habits after a long day at work. I do not know how many times we have said, “This is the last time!” It never seems to be the last time.

I did not think I would ever get that fat. As fat as I am now. When I weighed 220 pounds, I swore to myself that I would never let myself get to 250 pounds. When I weighed 250 pounds, I swore to myself that I would never let myself get to 275 pounds. When I weighed 275 pounds, I swore to myself that I would never let myself get to 300 pounds. Well, look who let themselves down. Again. 

It all stops here, though. I can no longer be careless about what I put into my body. I can no longer start committing to the gym and then abandoning it when things get busy. My health is becoming my priority. I am comfortable in my job(s), my living situation, and my relationship, so I am going to invest all the free time I have into getting healthy in all aspects of my life, starting with my physical health. This is not to impress boys or fit into a specific size. This is for me.

If any of you see me and I am eating something shitty, please rip me a new one 🙂

*Name changed because I am 100% sure someone reading this knows this person.
**This is true – years ago I went through my yearbook and highlighted every boy I had a crush on. So. much. yellow. 

072616// breakfast

When I was younger, I was obsessed with smoothies from Jamba Juice. I mean, they were mainly just fruit, how can you go wrong with that? Well, turns out, you can go really wrong. There is a whopping 90g of sugar in a medium Aloha Pineapple smoothie at Jamba Juice. Ouch. Jamba uses sorbet and yogurt in their smoothies, so all that sugar is definitely not coming strictly from fruit.

Here is a healthier alternative that can be whipped up in no time at all:

• 1 cup of frozen mixed berries (I use a mix of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries; they come from Costco)
• 3/4 cup of frozen strawberries
• 3/4 cup of coconut water (I like this brand)
• 1 cup of spinach
• 1 T of chia seeds

Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender or food processor, adding tap water if it is too thick. Pour into bottle* and enjoy!

*I use a Quattro Stagioni liter bottle, purchased at Target (not available online)