Sweet Success

Celebrating my 30th Birthday!

Yesterday I celebrated my 30th birthday!

I absolutely love my birthday. I start telling people my birthday is approaching a few weeks before the big day. I always plan my own party and try to make the day feel really special. Also, my birthday usually becomes a birthday week and I carry on the celebration as long as possible.

This year was no different. However, when I told people it was my 30th birthday that was approaching, the response wasn’t that positive. I got a lot of, “It’s all downhill from here” or “Now you’re officially old.”

To be honest, I feel like my life just keeps getting better and better. I can’t imagine life going downhill from here! I’m quite happy leaving my 20’s behind. During most of my 20’s I felt insecure, I hated my body, I wasn’t very self-aware and I was unsure about my future. At 30, I feel confident, strong and fit, I’m excited about where my career could take me and I’m much more aware of my feelings and emotions.

2 weeks ago #sweet success#food#birthday#party#health#healthy living#fitness#CrossFit#Skinnygirl#DVF

I stopped at the grocery store yesterday to stock up on fresh produce and to pick up a few other items I needed.

I bought 2 zucchinis to make zucchini noodles, organic Fuji apples, fresh blueberries, lemons, roma tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, red pepper, green pepper, a red onion, bananas (not shown), an avocado, a pineapple, Spinach and spring mix.

I would have preferred to buy organic spinach and lettuce, but the Apple Market didn’t have any.

I also picked up chopped dates (my fave!), crumbled feta, pesto, walnut halves and Chobani plain Greek yogurt.

I’m planning to make homemade pizza this week, which is why I picked up tomatoes, pesto, peppers, spinach and feta. I’m very excited for that meal!

You may notice that I never have protein in my grocery photos. My freezer is pretty well stocked with chicken, fish and ground turkey. If I forget to thaw my protein, I’ll make a quick run to the store to pick some up. I also eat vegetarian a few days a week, so I don’t need to purchase a lot of meat. I also keep lots of cage-free, antibiotic-free eggs in my fridge.

I also don’t buy cheese that often. I occasionally buy Babybel for snacks or fancy cheese for cheese plates. I mostly use feta, Gorgonzola or shredded Parmesan.

My pantry is pretty well stocked with all my grains (quinoa, brown rice, millet, whole wheat couscous, barley, etc.), so my weekly grocery runs are usually to pick up fresh produce.

This is how I eat clean! How do you eat clean?

3 weeks ago

2 #sweet success#groceries#food#healthy cooking#healthy eating#health#healthy living#clean eating#whole foods

Cupcakes and Cocktails: Don’t let the weekend wreck your diet

Happy Monday!

I have been thinking about the food and fitness choices I make on the weekends compared to weekdays. I usually indulge a bit more on the weekends (see cupcakes below), but I always make sure to fit in exercise on the weekends.

The reason that I’m bringing this up is because we tend to relax our healthy eating habits on the weekends by enjoying cocktails (see margaritas below), eating out and eating treats. I’m totally OK with indulging a bit on the weekend, but I think it’s important to stay committed to your healthy lifestyle all the time.

To put it in perspective - if you eat whatever you want and skip workouts Friday evening through Sunday, that’s basically 10 days of the month (8 Saturdays and Sundays and 4 Friday evenings) that you are indulging and not being active. That’s 1/3 of the month! You will never reach your health and fitness goals if weekends aren’t as healthy as your weekdays.

I’ve decided to share my weekend with you - the good, the bad and the ugly…

Saturday, the BF and I had to do our last training run before the Lincoln Half-Marathon, which is this Sunday! We ran 10 miles together. I admit, it was a rough run. I started to struggle at about the third mile and wanted to quit at five miles. But I pushed through and felt stronger towards the end.

3 weeks ago #sweet success#weekends#food#fitness#exercise#healthy living#healthy eating#healthy cooking#cooking#cocktails

What I Eat in A Day: Wednesday, April 24

This week has been a little crazy.

I got really sick Monday night and was up until 2:30 a.m. I had to teach a cycling class at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and didn’t feel like I could cancel at the last minute. So I got two and a half hours of sleep!! I went in to work a little late and stayed home to get a few hours of sleep, but I was still feeling pretty terrible. I had a lot to do at work, so I sucked it up and went to the office.

The lack of sleep and not eating very much because of my tummy trouble caused me to get a migraine Tuesday afternoon. So, overall, the day was pretty terrible.

Luckily, I was feeling much better by Wednesday!

I skipped my usual CrossFit class Wednesday morning because I felt like I needed the sleep after my terrible night of sleep the night before.

I started the day with some coffee and Goji Berry, Banana, Coconut Oatmeal! Super yummy! 1/2 cup old fashioned oats, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp. chia seeds, 1 tbsp. ground flax seeds, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 tbsp. goji berries, 1 sliced banana, 1 tbsp. unsweetened shredded coconut and 2 tsp. pure maple syrup. (I forgot to take a photo!)

3 weeks ago #sweet success#health#food#cooking#healthy living#healthy cooking#fitness#exercise

Let’s Eat: Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Doughnuts

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been craving doughnuts.

Whenever I pass a bakery, I think about how lovely a fresh doughnut would taste.

The problem is that I always feel terrible after eating a doughnut. My stomach aches from the sugary, fried treat and I end up craving more sugar later.

One of my fave things in my kitchen is my doughnut pan. I picked mine up at Look What’s Cookin’ downtown. I love being able to bake healthier doughnuts!!

3 weeks ago

5 #sweet success#food#cooking#baking#health#healthy living#healthy cooking#doughnuts#donuts#breakfast

Free activities are planned April 27-28 around Kearney

Check out Healthy Kids Weekend!!

Participate in a Storybook Walk at Harmon Park, free activities at the Kearney Family YMCA, minirounds of golf at Elks Country Golf, watch the Kid Fit Fashion Show at Hilltop Mall and ride the hike and bike trails during Bicycle Sunday.

Click the link above for more info.

3 weeks ago #sweet success#fitness#events#exercise#health#healthy living

What I Eat in a Day

People often ask me what I eat. What I eat varies from day to day and week to week. But I always try to eat a variety of fresh produce, consume enough protein to help my muscles repair from my workouts and eat foods that will energize me. And, of course, have a special treat occasionally!

To give you an idea of what I typically eat, I will share a page out of my food and fitness diary once a week.

Check out what I ate on Friday! This is really what my meals and workouts look like on a typical weekday, although I did have a few treats toward the end of the day!

I started my day with CrossFit! Our WOD (Workout of the Day) was 5 rounds of 1 rope climb, 10 toes to bar, 20 lunges with a 45 lb. bar overhead and 30 jump rope double unders.

I had to modify a bit. Rope climbing gives me flashbacks of elementary school (when I was an overweight child) and could barely pull myself off the ground. I always felt so embarrassed. Well, I’m no longer overweight, but I still can’t pull myself up a rope. Luckily, I never feel embarrassed in my CrossFit class and always just do what I can. My CrossFit coach, Bryce, draped towels over the pull up bar and I did little jumps pulling myself up with the towel. It, surprisingly, made my arms burn.

The whole workout was tough and intense. I always struggle with toes to bar and lunges with a bar overhead always get my heart rate going.

When I got home, I made a cup of Traditional Medicinals Ginger Tea. Ginger is really good for digestion and having a cup of hot water or hot tea in the morning helps get your digestive system going.

4 weeks ago #sweet success#fitness#health#healthy eating#food#healthy living#healthy cooking#cooking#exercise#running#CrossFit

This week has been absolute madness. I’m working on a big project at work that has me super stressed. My deadline is coming up and I still have tons of work to do.

I definitely need to figure out how to manage my stress because I haven’t been sleeping well and everything else that is going on in my life seems more daunting because of my high levels of stress!

Working out and cooking or baking are things that help me relax. I especially love baking when I’m stressed because concentrating on following a recipe helps my mind focus on something else.

But baking often means high calorie treats with tons of sugar. I’m really trying to cut down on sugar, so I made these Raw Cashew Cookies. However, these probably don’t count as baking, since they are a no-bake recipe! Oh well.

These cookies are simple, nutty and yummy. Each cookie has under 100 calories and is a perfect sweet treat with an added bonus of protein from the cashews and almond butter.

These are also gluten-free and vegan if you’re into that.

Raw Cashew Cookies

1 1/2 cups raw cashews

2/3 cup dates

3 tbsp. almond butter

pinch of salt

Add cashews to a food processor and grind into a flour. Add the dates, almond butter and salt and process until it sticks together.

Dump contents onto a cutting board or counter lined with parchment paper and shape into a ball with your hands. Roll the dough with a rolling pin until it is about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut out with a cookie cutter. You can also just form little balls and flatten with your hand if you want to avoid the cookie cutter process.

Freeze.

They are best served frozen and will keep for about a month in the freezer.

*Recipe from Fig and Fork

1 month ago

4 #sweet succes#food#health#healthy living#healthy cooking#baking#healthy eating#cooking#dessert#sweets#stress

It’s cold outside and it has been a crazy week at work, therefore, I need comfort food.

I’m not sure why, but I had a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich. I don’t eat bread that often, so this meal was extra special.

I used olive oil instead of butter to give my sandwich some healthy fat. I also added a serving of veggies to my sandwich.

Grilled Spinach and Fresh Mozzarella Sandwich

2 slices Ezekiel Food for Life 7 Sprouted Grains Bread*

extra virgin olive oil

2 thin slices fresh mozzarella

1-2 cups spinach

homemade pesto, 1 frozen cube, thawed or 1 tbsp. storebought

Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Spray with olive oil. Add spinach to pan and cook until bright green and wilted. Remove from pan and set aside.

Spread pesto on one side of each slice of bread. Brush or spray olive oil on the opposite side of each slice of bread.

Place one slice of bread, olive oil side down, on the pan. Top with spinach and fresh mozzarella. Place the other slice of bread, pesto side down, on top of the sandwich.

Cook until each side is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

*Find Ezekiel sprouted bread at Natural Foods at 3704 Second Ave.

1 month ago

4 #sweet success#food#healthy living#healthy cooking#healthy eating#cooking#eating#comfort food

What to Wear: My closet makeover

I gave myself a wardrobe makeover!!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about having a hard time letting go of my clothes that don’t fit anymore. Most of my clothes were too big and I was feeling pretty frumpy everyday.

I think writing down my feelings helped me to realize why I was feeling emotional about getting rid of my clothing.

Over the weekend, I spent a few hours trying on everything in my closet. If it didn’t fit and I didn’t love it, it went in the ‘get rid of it’ pile. Anything that I wore in college, regardless of fit, had to go. I’m turning 30 in a couple of weeks and decided I’m too old to wear anything I wore in college.

This is just some of the stuff that doesn’t fit!!

I have to say, it felt great to purge my closet. I realized that I don’t need to keep clothing to hold on to memories. I have the memories themselves.

After my marathon try on session, I made a list of all the clothing items I needed.

1 month ago #sweet success#shopping#health#weight loss#fitness#healthy living