Author: Lauren @ ihadabiglunch

what I’ve learned since graduating college

While I’m only 9 months out, I think it’s a good time to get a post out like this. While I love writing about food and fitness, sometimes it’s important to write more personal post so you can get a better feel for who I am as a person, not just a food fanatic. Because contrary to popular belief, I’m not always Instagramming photos of sandwiches or Yelping the best donuts in Chicago 😉

You sit. A lot.

Train. Car. Office. Dinner. Movie. It’s all done sitting. Luckily I have to walk about 35 minutes each way to work in the morning but other than that, spending the day sitting is, quite frankly and literally, a pain in the ass. I get up at 5pm and my knees hurt. What’s up with that? Hey young adults, let’s change the culture of sitting.

You never have to read off a piece of paper again if you don’t want to

I sit at a computer all day every day. When I walk, I’m listening to music on my headphones. When I get home, I turn on the news and scroll through my Instagram feed. I text constantly. I have headaches and wonder where they come from. I don’t read anymore. Even the occasional magazine would be nice, albeit a waste of $5. My eyes need rest from the bright lights of a screen and the constant connection to social media. I feel myself getting sucked into the internet-obsessed world, one where asking for eye contact when we have a conversation needs to be explicitly stated. Everything can be done online now, and even though most times it seems like a saving grace, it sometimes feels like it sucks the life out of me at the end of the day.

Writing cursive nowadays is next to impossible

Every time I have to write a check it’s a struggle. The third grader inside of me is shaking her head in shame.

Money still disappears

You think you’re going to spend less money because you’re not buying $1 shots at the seedy college bar followed by $5 Papa John’s pizza, but instead you replace that habit with a more grown up one: happy hour and a lot of Starbucks.

You wonder, now what?

When you’re in high school, you have a very well-rounded identity. You sing in choir, you play on the varsity basketball team, and you know exactly when the Homecoming dance is coming up and how you’re going to ask your date. Everything falls together in a predictable pattern, something so comforting and easy. In college, things get a little fuzzy. However, once you make it past the gen-eds, you become a student of a specific field. You also join a sorority or Frisbee club or some other extra-curricular to make you feel better about all the binge drinking you participate in. But once you get that diploma, all of that disappears. I remember on my graduation day I turned to my dad and said, “It’s weird to think that, starting today, if I didn’t need money, I wouldn’t have to do a single thing from this moment forward.” I had no classes to go to, no appointments to keep, no functions that had been pre-organized for fun….nothing. Since summer was approaching the inevitable identity crisis didn’t hit, but once August came and I didn’t hop back in the car to Champaign, I realized, okay, now it’s time for the real world. So, who am I? I’m not a student, I’m not a Pi Phi, I’m not going to see my college friends very often anymore, and I’m certainly not going to be given a job with the snap of my fingers. It was a scary time which I luckily handled in a healthy way, mainly by working out. Exercise is one constant in my life that isn’t changing, and that won’t change as long as I make sure to make it an integral part of my life.

People will do whatever it takes to convince you that their life is perfect

This is something I wish we could all change – early and mid 20s are a time about change, uncertainty, and lessons. I think it’s safe to say that everyone goes through this (at least I, personally, don’t know anyone who has it all together yet). And yet, for some reason, in social situations we all feel this need to make sure people think we’re happy, that the job we have right this second was our plan all along, and that we’re already living our dream. It’s all one big perpetual fallacy that we keep promoting because no one is brave enough to say “Shit, I don’t know what I’m doing yet but I know this path I’m on is taking me somewhere.” I’m going to work on being more proud when I talk about my current situation. “Oh I’m working a 9-5 internship, unpaid, and working three nights a week as a waitress to pay all my loans off and still have enough money for a rather unfortunate latte addiction.” Because, honestly, I’m happy with the life I’m living right now—and I shouldn’t worry if it’s a good enough answer during something as insignificant as small talk.

And finally,

You have the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, for whatever reason you want. I know a few people who already feel stuck. We are young, we have time to change our minds without being called heinously irresponsible, and yet we oftentimes don’t want to take it. Why are we in such a hurry to get in on the rat race? I’m still exploring and I have a few ideas up my sleeve, ideas that I’m pretty excited about. I’m happy with the person I am and who I’m becoming. While things aren’t always easy, I most definitely still have the attitude that I have this whole, beautiful life ahead of me, and I’m not about to squander it. Even though I sometimes feel like the pieces aren’t fitting, I have enough faith in the world, in God, and in myself to know that it’s all going to fall together. And honestly, keeping that attitude is half the battle.

So for now, I’m going to keep going to brunch on the weekends, watching shitty ABC family sitcoms, and eating an ungodly amount of bagel sandwiches. Because while I might not have it all together on paper, I really like the life I’m living.

picture this: weekend

First things first: listen to this song during your next workout. I played it on repeat for hours during my workouts this weekend and my commute to/from the city. It’s so joyful, catchy, upbeat, and motivating. Obsessed is too casual a word for what I feel for this song.

Well it was a busy weekend full of work, great food, and workouts. So not much different from a typical weekend, but worth a share. Sometimes the best way to share is through nothing but pictures, so without further ado….my weekend. Happy Monday!

I just started including bosu balls into my workouts…. it adds a whole other dimension to workouts

Friday I worked 13 hours aka it was a Venti kind of day

It’s just a wee bit cold in Chicago…

Saw this Samoa cupcake on Instagram, immediately left work to get one from Crumbs

A little improvisation when I couldn’t find any weights…

Catch-up time with these girls 🙂

Greek yogurt fro-yo…actually pretty great!

Okay I lied I have a few words for the end of this post…Happy birthday, Maja! You’re a wonderful mom, the best in the world, and you always look out for me and want what’s best. Thanks for always supporting me and being the passionate, beautiful person you are. I love you so much….have a fabulous day full of cake and dancing!

Boston Recap Day 2: Little Italy and my first lobster roll

Saturday was supposed to start with an awesome workout courtesy of Flywheel. There was a studio right by our hotel and your first class is free so I was super pumped to try it out (especially because the place we were staying didn’t have a fitness center).

Long story short, our alarm went off bright at early at 7am and I immediately hit snooze.

Is it me or is 7am on a vacation just too early?

Regardless, we slept for another hour and started our day around 9. We went to Render again for breakfast because in the three days I was in Boston I developed quite the obsession for latte art, so nothing exciting to share there. My latte, quiche and I were once again very happy.

The majority of Saturday was spent in Boston’s Little Italy neighborhood. I know I haven’t been to New York yet so I’m sure this isn’t a shock to most people but I honestly didn’t realize that these ethnic neighborhoods were so cliché! There were big bulky men on the street talking about their mothers, the smell of pizza flew through the air, and everything seemed to be owned and employed solely by big Italian families.

The best part about this area in Boston is that it isn’t just restaurants and bakeries. In the vicinity was also Paul Revere’s house and Old North Church.

Paul Revere’s house was so cool! It was a very casual self-led tour (something I loved about Boston) where we simply got to walk through the home he shared with his second wife and kids for many years, all furnished as if the family was still living there. It’s hard to explain but it was so different and yet it felt strangely the same as any old millennial family home, just less evolved of course. The biggest difference is that all the kids had to share the third floor, which although we didn’t get to see sounded like one giant room. That kind of cramping would not fly with me. PS did you know they slept sitting up?!

We made our way from the house to Old North Church using the cobblestone side streets that give Boston its charm. The Church was beautiful and it was really cool to think that Paul Revere looked at that exact place where I was standing to see if the British were coming by land or by sea. That was a general theme to the weekend—I felt like I was part of a living history.

One thing that I didn’t know about churches back in the day is that the pews weren’t the way they are set up now. In fact, the church was broken up into, well, cubicles. Each family purchased their own section to sit in and hear the word of God—those who couldn’t afford a section on the floor watched from above.

One of the highlights of the trip was stumbling upon Mike’s Pastry. Zain and I turned a corner and there it was—it’s bright yellow sign towering over the humble little street. I hadn’t planned on stopping there actually (Flour was my bakery must-do) but I remembered reading about it somewhere so we figured it was fate and we should go inside to see what all the fuss is about.

Whoa.

My mom has brought home Italian cookies and pastries before, but to be honest they’re just not my thing. The cookies are weirdly dry and I’ve never liked canolis. This place, however, knocked my socks off. Zain had a strawberry cannoli, which he loved. I tried the cream inside and it was perfect—it was so natural and homemade even though it’s bright pink color screamed “processed”. I, on the other hand, went small and tried a pistachio macaroon just for the heck of it. GUYS. I found my favorite cookie. It was so moist and dense and chewy and pistachio-y and coconut-y and light and fluffy and….I could go on and on. I loved it so much in fact that I made us go back a few hours later for another one.

Our original plan was to get lobster rolls of lunch in a whole other part of town but we were having so much fun in Little Italy that we decided to keep roaming for the afternoon and just snack all day on the cool things we discovered.

Pretty soon the smell of pizza in the air overtook us so a quick Yelp search took us to Galleria Umberto for some Sicilian-style pizza by the slice. It took close to 15 minutes for us to get through the line and to the cafeteria-style counter so we knew we were in the right place.

Pizza is pizza so there’s not much to say here. Zain is a plain jane and only really enjoys cheese pizza so we got three squares to share (I kicked mine up with red pepper flakes). Much like the cookies this pizza tasted incredibly fresh—you could see people in the back kitchen cooking away, like they do every day from sunrise to sunset. It was a cool thing to see, so many family-run places running on nothing but tradition, hard work, and loyal customers.

At this point it was snowing hard outside so we decided to go to Quincy Market again and look around the gift shop there (we got 50% off with our “Go-Boston” card). I got a cup of coffee from Starbucks and we walked around the shops and kiosks that make up the busy hall. The entire trip all I really wanted was a full-length documentary about the Revolutionary War—but as most things go, when you don’t want something and it’s temping you, it’s everywhere, but when you actually want something, you can’t find it. This happens to other people, right? I thought for sure we’d find some type of film—blame it on bad luck, blame it on not being tourist season, but we couldn’t find one anywhere. And while I was tempted to buy anything lobster-themed, I was good to my wallet and decided that my only souvenir would be my pictures and memories. We almost did buy Zain some colonial-inspired gear, though, just cuz he looked so darn cute in it.

Afterwards we made our way to visit the Old South Meeting House downtown.

This place was so involved in our nation’s history! It was built in 1729 and was a general meeting house for the citizens of Boston. In fact, it was the organizing point for the Boston Tea Party! It was so cool to imagine people in there putting on their disguises and then walking down the same street we had just walked down to the Boston Harbor to dump the tea. Like I said, living history!

Zain was itching to go to the MIT Museum of Technology so we made a stop over there in the late afternoon as well. He was enthralled by the technology and hands-on exhibits, all of which were pretty cool (how are people SO smart??) I learned a lot thanks to a few interactive videos they had of MIT students explaining things with basic language for us less-than-genius folks. For one thing, I learned how the internet works! Haha not really but they explained how browsers, routers, and the global transfer of information work. Did you know that information is sent to other computers internationally through some kind of wires on the ocean floor? I was so floored! What’s all this “cloud” business about then?! I definitely butchered that whole explanation haha but it was so mind-boggling!

Thanks to the cold and snow we decided to rest up at the hotel for about an hour before dinner. After some more Yelp-searching I picked a well-known hole-in-the-wall restaurant for dinner: Neptune. Ironically enough it was just outside the Little Italy neighborhood so before we knew it we were back in the area. (It’s worth mentioning that the city’s subway, or “T”, is incredibly fast and efficient—these little journeys took almost no time at all).

We arrived at Neptune knowing that the wait would be insane. And just as expected, we opened the tiny door to the tiny restaurant and were greeted by a host who let us know the wait would be 2 hours and 45 minutes. I have to say I think that wins the record for the longest I’ve waited for food. However, I know from past experience that these obscure places are oftentimes the best, so I assured Zain it would be worth the wait. Like I said, this place was small. The host recommended that we find a bar or café and wait there, and he would call us ten minutes before a table opened up. Cool system, right?

We ended up hanging out at a coffee shop a few streets down, just talking for close to three hours. Time flew by like it always does when you’re with people you love just talking about life.

Around 9:30 my phone finally rang and we headed over to Neptune for dinner.

We ended up sitting at the bar, where we were greeted by yet another friendly bartender. He immediately asked us which types of oysters we wanted. Uhhhh I immediately declined. Oysters aren’t my thing. I’m a fishy girl and I could dive into a pot of mussels, but oysters? Nope. Just like Joey on Friends, they’re big old boogers to me.

Zain ordered the burger and I finally got my lobster roll 🙂

I have to be honest with you—I really thought I was going to love it. Butter, lobster meat, bread…what could go wrong? But I didn’t. It was pretty good. Maybe I wasn’t hungry enough for it? (We grabbed a few snacks while we were waiting at the café). I was surprised because I loved the cold lobster that was on my salad the night before. I guess I’m just a cold lobster roll girl. I never would have guessed.

Between eating our way through Little Italy, snacking as we waited for an open table, and the ginormous lobster roll, I rode the T back to the hotel feeling like I was going to explode. I don’t often let myself get to that feeling anymore, and now I remember why. Being that stuffed is no fun. Overall it was just another food-filled day in Bean Town!

I was planning on doing a Day 3 recap, but to be honest most of it was spent at Logan Airport. We woke up and went to Render (surprise, surprise), but soon after that we headed to the airport so Zain would be able to watch the Patriots/Broncos playoff game. After a slight delay we were headed back home to Chicago. The weekend flew by but it was such a great vacation full of beautiful snow, delicious food, and moving historical sites. I loved it!

Boston recap: Day 1

As someone who loves travel (wanderlust is my favorite word in the dictionary, after all), being fortunate enough to visit a new city was a treat during this otherwise dull month. Boston was a blast! It reminded me a lot of Chicago, with the addition of historical landmarks smack dab in the middle of the city. I thought it was hilarious that two feet from the Boston Massacre site was a Staples, and that Sir Speedy now resides in the spot where Benjamin Franklin was born. Oh, America…

I’ll recap my visit in a few parts, starting with my first day! Zain and I arrived Thursday night around midnight so we passed out immediately. First thing on my mind when I woke up Friday morning was COFFEE. After a quick yelp search, I found out that we were five minutes from beloved Boston coffee shop, Render.

I planned on just getting a quick cup of coffee, but after entering the quaint café I noticed that all the patrons had mugs full of beautiful latte art! Passing up latte art is never an option

Isn’t it beautiful? I was a barista for three years but I never came close to this kind of display.

Alongside my soy latte I had the yummiest goat cheese, carmelized onion and spinach quiche.

After breakfast Zain and I took the metro into the city, using our week-long unlimited tickets that we bought for only $18. For the amount of times we used Boston’s public transportation, this was a steal.

We picked up our “Go-Boston” passes at the downtown Macy’s (purchased via Costco’s website for around $60) and were on our way to explore the city.

First stop was Boston Common, which we walked around before lunch. (I didn’t snap pics of the park, dumb, but here’s what it looks like):

After walking around for a bit we decided it was time for lunch. I did a TON of food research before we left so I was prepared with a list of must-try places. First up? JM Curley’s for burgers and sandwiches.

This was my favorite lunch of the trip. Aside from the incredible food, the bartender was friendly and helped us with suggestions of things to do for the weekend. Zain was even enthusiastic about his burger, and this in and of itself is a miracle because he usually doesn’t get passionate about delicious food the way I do.

For my lunch I picked their pulled pork sandwich. It was hands down the BEST sandwich I’ve ever had.

bbq pork – cheddar, griddled onions, slaw, jamama sauce, bacon, nashoba brook sour dough

I didn’t touch the fries because I didn’t want their unoriginality to tarnish the immaculate flavors of this sandwich—it was THAT good.

After a pleasant conversation with the bartender, we enjoyed some shots on the house. I’m not sure what it was exactly but I’m guessing either an anise-flavored liqueur or Jagermeister, since it tasted like licorice. Whatever it was, it settled our stomachs very pleasantly and we left head over heels in love with JM Curley’s. They had an amazing special list for that night’s dinner, so if I ever return to Boston I’ll definitely be checking those out. I highly, highly recommend stopping by this friendly joint if you’re in the area.

After lunch we took a trolley around the city that was included in our Go-Boston passes. It was a great way to see the city and how all the different neighborhoods connected. We passed the original Cheers bar, Cambridge and Harvard’s campus, MIT, Boylston Street, Little Italy, and Boston Harbor.

With the trolley you have the option to hop off whenever you please, so when we saw Flour out of the corner of our eyes we immediately disembarked for some sweets.

This is where the indulgence began. I’m not proud of the snacks I consumed within these walls (just kidding of course I am).

We split four treats: a dark chocolate brownie, a homemade oreo, a vanilla cupcake and a coconut macaroon.

The brownie stole the spotlight—I don’t remember the last time I had a really good brownie. We left absolutely stuffed and on a sugar high.

On our walk we passed the site of the Boston Tea Party as the sun was starting to set. Pretty right?

Next stop was the sight of the Boston Massacre, right in front of the Old State House. Like I said it’s really cool how this building that’s been around for centuries is just sitting in the middle of the city. It’s been there since the early 1700s and has played many roles for the city.

We took a self-guided tour all throughout the building and learned a lot about Boston, as well as got a history refresher on the American Revolution. American history, especially the American Revolution, was always my favorite subject in school, so it was really amazing to get to re-learn all the events and facts that I once found so enthralling.

Once our tour ended we headed over to the Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall area. This was definitely my favorite area of Boston! It was such a quaint little place full of shops and restaurants. I was tempted to buy a lobster hat but I resisted.

Soon we were hungry and decided to go with a restaurant in the area that came highly recommend by one of my favorite bloggers, Tina, over at Carrots n Cake. Anthem is right next to Quincy Market so with the cold temps and our hungry stomachs, it was the perfect pick.

I started out with a lychee martini, which despite my best efforts wasn’t my favorite. I don’t love the taste of alcohol and even though this was really sweet, I had about half and put it aside so I could have more room for food 🙂

The menu looked incredible, with choices such as lobster mac and cheese, fondue, crab cakes and a fried chicken sandwich. At the server’s suggestion I went with the lobster cob salad and a bowl of clam chowder.

(Sorry about the terrible picture quality–the room was so dark)

This lobster was the best I had all weekend. I thought for sure I’d love hot, buttery lobster more, but this was out of this world. The clam chowder was great too! I loved my food. All in all Anthem was a great experience and we ended up just hanging out there for close to three hours talking. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, our waitress was sweet, and the food kicked butt. I’m so happy I did research about restaurants before the trip because I never would have known about this place!

After a long day we decided to skip any more activities (we were thinking about going to this cool ice bar near Quincy Market) in favor of sleep. Call me old but I was exhausted from the day and excited for the rest of the weekend so I was totally on board.

I’ll be back tomorrow for another Boston recap!

Question:

When you go on vacation, do you research restaurants beforehand?

Tea Tasting at Argo Tea: Fit Tip Tuesday

Today I was lucky enough to participate in a tea tasting at my local Argo Tea. Full disclosure—I’m a coffee girl. Every morning, all morning, you will find a mug of coffee at my side. I never thought that tea was something I could justify replacing my precious latte with, especially since the prices are comparable and tea’s caffeine content is much lower. However, this hour-long tasting session completely opened my eyes to all the possibiliTEAs (pardon the pun…Argo is all about the puns!)

When we first sat down we were met by the bubbly, tea-loving manager, Chris. He was more than prepared to convert even the strongest coffee addicts like myself to team tea.

We sampled a few of their different teas plain: green, nilgri black and white tea. Chris told us the back stories of everything we were trying and really put into perspective just how global their reach is. They get their green tea from China, the black tea from India, and the chocolate croissants from France (it was like I was back in Paris!)

After trying the basic teas, we sampled a few of the signature drinks. These included:

Green Tea Ginger Twist: “Fresh ginger blended with lemon and mild green tea for a mellow and spicy twist of flavor and unique texture”
Chocolate Chai: “Assam black tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, vanilla and cocoa”
White Tea Acai Squeeze (iced): “Brazilian Acai berry, white Tea and lemonade made from real lemon and natural cane sugar”

Each of the creations was pleasant and I could see myself going back for all of them, depending on the occasion. The white tea acai will be perfect when the Chicago summer hits and all I want is something fruity while I tan on the beach. The green tea ginger twist tasted like the perfect concoction for when I feel a cold coming on—it was full of natural ginger and honey flavor and had a profound kick to it. Finally, the chocolate chai. Oh, I could write a sonnet about the chocolate chai. It was like Christmas and Godiva chocolate came together and were like, you know what? Let’s join forces and make a drink that will send people into a state of perfect bliss. It tasted indulgent but the tea made it a lighter, more heartwarming version of a traditional thick hot chocolate.

Along with the drinks we got to taste some of Argo’s food. First was the chocolate croissant, which paired perfectly with the chocolate chai and helped me meet my sugar quota for the day. Secondly was the chickpea salad. I’m not normally a fan of chickpeas but this tasted just like the bean salad that my grandma made for us as kids—simple, healthy, hearty, delicious. It was full of chickpeas, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, and parsley, all drizzled with oil and vinegar. I get excited when I think about how many nutrients are in that salad.

Overall it was a great hour spent learning about a beverage that honestly didn’t ever interest me that much. I’ve always heard that tea is healthy, but I never really realized just how healthy it is!

So WHY should you choose to start including tea in your diet?

According to Dr. Oz, depending on which tea you pick you can boost your metabolism, freshen your breath, fight aging, combat headaches, boost your libido, ward off cancer, get more sleep, etc. etc. etc. Now I know coffee has a lot of health benefits as well, but I’m not sure I’ve heard of anything so natural doing so many wonderful things for your body.

Aside from these benefits, tea has been around for thousands of years, acting as everything from currency to religious offerings to stress relievers and everything in between. It is currently the #1 most consumed beverage in the world besides water and is enjoyed globally. While you can still get your caffeine fix from many types of tea, it always has less than a cup of coffee, allowing for the perfect combination of attentiveness and relaxation.

Fun facts I learned today:

There are 4 major types of tea: green, black, oolong, and white—all come from the same plant (technically there are more but these are the types most often found on the market)
White has the least amount of caffeine and black has the most
Argo uses only natural ingredients to create the signature drinks
All Argo cafes in Chicago are powered by wind power
ChariTEA: every season Argo picks one tea and donates 10% of its sales to a nonprofit organization
With the right additions, tea can taste goooooooooooood

I’m so happy I had the opportunity to sample these teas and learn all about their different health benefits. Even if you’re not a huge tea drinker now, go to Argo’s website and get inspired by some of their ideas. It’s an easy addition to your life that I think is definitely worth a “Fit Tip Tuesday” mention. And while I’ll never give up my dear friend coffee, I’m definitely going to start adding tea to my day. I think my brain and body will thank me.

PS I wasn’t compensated for this post–it just happened that the tasting coincided with Fit Tip Tuesday–it was fate!

Questions:

Are you a tea drinker?
If so, do you add anything to make it more exciting?

WIAW: back on that healthy train

I did a great job getting produce into my day today! It’s the little things, right? Considering I dove headfirst into a bag of m&ms at 10pm yesterday I did a great job starting from scratch this morning.

I hardly ever go out to breakfast but I was running late this morning and had a giftcard so I picked up some Panera oatmeal. It was steel cut oats topped with brown sugar, pecans, and strawberries. It was AMAZING. I’ve never been gung-ho about Panera (except the black bean soup yummm) but this was out of this world delicious.

In other news I read an article that cardigans are for old people. Not sure what that means, or what journalism has come to, but my cardi and I disagree. From a warmth and fashion stance.

Lunch was chicken chili with avocado and cheddar cheese from Protein Bar. Like I said, I was running late so today I made an exception and bought lunch too. Not my favorite thing considering I spent $11 on this meal (absurd) but I have to say that with the temps in the teens this lunch felt great.

Luckily I did manage to grab a few snacks for the afternoon at the office.

Hearty snacks right there. I ate these right before I left the office because I knew I’d be working out and would need something to power me until dinner.

Today was fun because I discovered the rowing machine at my gym! I rowed 3000m and did 35 minute on the elliptical while watching Chopped.

The rowing machine is a great way to switch things up in the gym. I blasted some music, rowed to the beat, and it was 3000m before I knew it.

I ran upstairs to make the new episode of Modern Family so whipped up a quick dinner of barbeque chicken, Parmesan couscous, and broccoli.

Now all I need to do is meet my chocolate quota for the day, wash my face, and lay on the couch for the rest of the night. Perfect. Sidenote, I’m going to Boston tomorrow night after work for the weekend–it’ll be my first time there so if you have any suggestions, please throw them my way!

Questions:

What are your favorite places to eat in Boston?

Fit Tip Tuesday: What Is Clean Eating?

I’m so excited to participate in the new Fit Tip Tuesday link-up! Thanks Lisa for hosting!

My tip for the day is figuring out what clean eating means to you.

I recently read an article in Health magazine simply titled, “What is clean eating?” So many people have declared that they have the secret to clean eating. I’ve heard it all:

Clean eating means eating only raw foods
Clean eating means eating only organic products
Clean eating means eliminating all sugar, dairy, simple carbohydrates, coffee and alcohol from your diet

Here’s the problem with these “rules”: they’re all so different, they all claim to be the change that will make you fit, and they all are nearly impossible to follow.

In the Health article, registered dietitian Cynthia Sass discusses how diet trends have changed over the past few decades. Remember the 80s (neither do I, 90s baby whaddup) when everyone thought the trick was to eat no fat? People literally made themselves sick inhaling bags of fat-free potato chips, holding on to a tiny shred of glee that they had finally “figured it out.” Can you imagine a life without avocados, cashews, or mozzarella? That doesn’t sound like a world I want to live in.

Needless to say, I’ve jumped on Cynthia’s bandwagon and think her tips are worth a read.

First up? Eat whole foods

When you’re scrambling for breakfast, instead of eating a banana nut muffin, eat a banana and some nuts.

There are always going to be times when all I want is a banana nut muffin, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get one in my belly ASAP. But for the most part, our bodies are happy when we feed it things that it can recognize. When you eat foods that only have one ingredient you can sleep easily knowing that you gave your body a food from the earth that hasn’t been stripped of its nutrients or modified to taste more addicting.

Secondly: Let the ingredients guide you

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If you want to be healthy, you have to read the ingredients. If you’re following step one, there isn’t even an ingredient list to read. But if you are cracking open a bag of your favorite snack, flip it over and give the ingredients list a check. No one should say “crackers are bad”. It’s all about what your crackers are made of. For example, you can turn over a Wasa cracker label and see that is has less than 5 ingredients, all pronounceable. So how does it make sense to say “No crackers!” and make a blanket statement that is taking away a product that can be a beautiful vehicle for other healthy foods such as cheese, avocado, peanut butter, hummus, etc.

I’ve found that most blanket statements about food groups can be discredited with a simple look at an ingredient list. So many companies are creating products that are made with fewer ingredients because there is a market for it, so always keep an eye out for them.

Think Big Picture

Don’t just think about the way a food tastes. Think about what it’s really doing to your body. While there is a huge debate about GMOs, high fructose corn syrup and growth hormones, my simple thought is this: even if it’s not going to kill me, why would I want to put something like that into my body? If I can avoid it, shouldn’t I? Don’t get me wrong, I eat foods containing GMOs and HFCS without even knowing it (and sometimes knowing it). But when I’m grocery shopping, these are things I try to avoid.

Do-It-Yourself

There are always going to be things you can’t replace. When I want Cheetos, I want Cheetos. However, most of the time there are little homemade tricks to satisfy your cravings. For example, when I want spinach dip I make my own and replace half the sour cream with Greek yogurt. That way, I’m not only cutting back on fat but also upping the protein so I’m satisfied with a smaller amount. All it takes is a little imagination and time set aside to discover that you can make healthy, whole foods taste comparable to many of the processed foods that you crave from time to time.

Listen to your Body

This is a huge one. There is no rule book for what your body wants to eat. Gluten isn’t bad for everyone, and neither is dairy or nuts. While some people might have sensitivities or allergies to these products, that doesn’t mean that everyone else should rule them out. We’re all different.

With that being said, don’t wait for a diagnosis to change the way you eat. If you eat a whole wheat sandwich for lunch and suddenly feel bloated, you may have to watch how much gluten you consume. That doesn’t mean swear off all bread and pasta, but maybe have half a sandwich instead and see how you feel. When I was in high school I used to bake multiple times a week, often sampling tons of dough and not holding back once they were done. Now, if I try to eat that much sugar, I wake up the next morning with a pit in my stomach that’s hard to shake for the rest of the day. There’s no diagnosis necessary, I’ve just realized that I can’t eat sugar in the same amounts that I used to. I became friends with my body, listened to what it said, and made a small change.

In my opinion, the biggest tip is to listen to your body. If you pay attention to it, you’ll know exactly what to eat, when to eat it, when to stop, and when to splurge. Isn’t that what healthy living is all about?

Question:

What does clean eating mean to you?

Taken from “What Is Clean Eating” by Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD

Oriental Chicken and Rice (recipe)

In an attempt to continue my chicken-eating streak, I’ve been going through my family cookbooks and bookmarking recipes that will keep me coming back for more of my delicious poultry friend.

I stumbled upon one of our most popular family favorites–oriental chicken! It’s a lot like chicken stir fry but with deeper flavors thanks to ginger root, soy sauce and sherry. It’s definitely something I recommend making if you want a new spin on the healthy “protein/carb/veggie” meal. It’s all those healthy elements in one hot, healthy bowl.

Oriental Chicken

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons corn starch (to thicken the sauce)
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon grated ginger rot
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 green peppers, cut into pieces the size of a quarter
4 green onions, sliced
1 cup walnut halves

Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce and cornstarch. Stir in the dry sherry, ginger root, salt and red pepper. Set aside.

Preheat a large skillet over high heat. Add your olive oil. Stir fry the green peppers and onions in hot oil for 2 minutes or until tender, but still crisp. Remove from skillet.

Add walnuts to the skillet and stir fry 1-2 minutes or until golden and fragrant. Remove from skillet.

Add more olive oil if necessary to keep chicken from sticking to the pan.

Add half the chicken to the pan and stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove from skillet and repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Return all chicken to the skillet. Stir in the soy sauce mixture and cook until thickened and bubbly, stirring occasionally.

Stir in vegetables and walnuts. Cover and cook, 1-2 minutes more.

Serve right away over hot brown rice or quinoa.

Enjoy!

Berzerk (new workout)

It doesn’t take much explaining: this workout is intense. Kinda like headbanging to an Eminem song while jumping on bubble wrap and lighting firecrackers in a cornfield.

You’ll burn twice as many calories if you listen to Eminem while completing this workout. It’s science.

Google the moves if they aren’t familiar to you (such as standing oblique twist)

One move that you may not have heard of is a “get up.” It’s really nothing more than laying down on your back and standing up without using your hands. Get it?

Have a good sweat!

WIAW: working girl edition

Nothing like a 9-5 job to get you back on an eating schedule!

Because I had been working from home the last few months my days often got started later, and since I worked during most dinnertimes my meal times were all out of wack. Now I’m back to packing my lunch the night before, meal prepping for dinners and all that fun stuff. The good news? Food pics will be less sporadic and a better depiction of one full day’s worth of meals. Woo!

Tuesday was particularly busy because it was my first day at my new internship. I woke up at 6am, went to the gym and completed 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by a killer tabata workout. I’ll share that tomorrow because I know everyone’s always looking for new things to try.

I was in a bit more of a rush than I expected so breakfast was quick.

Coffee and whole wheat toast with almond butter and sliced banana. I’m not the biggest fan of almond butter but it was all I had on hand (PB 4 Liiife).

I bundled up, braved the cold (-12) and walked to work. My first day was filled with all the things you would imagine: setting up my company email, reading packets about the work I’ll be doing, and learning about all our clients. The only downside is that the office is so quiet! My breakfasts will definitely have to be more substantial if I don’t want my grumbling stomach to scare everyone at 11 am.

Lunch was what I like to call “easy packing”: a pb&j, sweet potato, and greek yogurt. Of course, I was 90% done before I remembered to snap a pic (whoops)

I hit the afternoon slump right at 3pm and ran across the street to Starbucks (they really are on every corner here).

The barista convinced me to try the new Caramel Flan lattee–not my favorite, especially when compared to the Caramel Brulee latte. But it was a nice little free pick-me-up thanks to a birthday gift card from Spencer.

I left work hungry as a wolf and headed home to make dinner with Zain. I conquered one of my resolutions and ate chicken whaddup!

I cut up and roasted some baby potatoes with olive oil, sea salt, and garlic salt. Zain was on meat duty and marinated the chicken breasts in bbq sauce before sauteeing them in olive oil on the stove. We rounded out the meal with some steamed green beans. It was such a comforting meal on a cold night!

Finally, for dessert I picked up some of these bad boys from TJs:

Now, of course it’s not a 1200 calorie piece of carrot cake (the best kind), but for 300 calories and with a delicious cream cheese frosting center, this stuff was AMAZING. I’ll definitely be buying them again in the future, if my budget allows.

As you can see, with a little meal planning and scheduling, weekday meals can be beautiful! Hopefully I don’t get tired of it 🙂