Cooking Is NOT My Favorite

I’m going to guess that if you didn’t like to cook 👩‍🍳 at home before, not a whole has changed

I realize I’m in the smaller category of people who like to cook. I really do enjoy being in my kitchen and figuring out how different flavors will come together, I enjoy learning how o cook new things. But I know not everyone is that way, nor does everyone enjoy meal prepping.

But I’m also guessing that as a result, you’re on the constant journey of finding healthy things to feed your family so you feel like you’re giving them your best in keeping them healthy. 

I also know you don’t need that extra stress in figuring out what to feed your family when shit just got exponentially more stressful.

Here’s my newest creation for all the adults who hate to cook but are currently forced into it. Grab it and take the thinking out of what you’re going to make for dinner.

Slow Cooker Recipes for the Mama Who Hates to Cook

$2.99

Healthy Living is Bigger than Changing Your Diet

I don’t subscribe to the healthy living programs that have you vacillating from one side of the pendulum to the other. There is nothing more frustrating 😤 than giving up every enjoyable aspect of life, getting this HUGE transformation and then totally losing it because the changes were too drastic.

That my friend, is the yo-yo of healthy living and I feel some aspects of that are worse than the lifestyle you currently have. Not only can it potentially mess with your body in irreversible ways, it also messes with your head. There is nothing a whole lot more defeating than working so hard to get this amazing transformation and not being able to hold on to it because the way you got it isn’t realistic for your daily life. 

I want a tailored program for you that teaches you the easy healthy habits you can have in your daily life, so you can still enjoy the life you work so hard for without feeling like you’re deprived of the things you love 💗.

It’s the harder change to make because it takes longer and I know you want the results NOW. It’s also the harder change to make because it’s going to challenge you to unpack why you make certain decisions so you can truly understand why you’ve gotten to where you are. But I know this change is more effective because I know once you make it, you won’t have to make any more changes. Ever again.

You’ll know why you make decisions about food and working out, and you’ll also know how to navigate around those reasonings so you can have the healthy life you want with the balance you also want.

Grab Your Dumbbells!

$0.00

What Do You Do When Your Workouts SUCK?

Girl I have some workouts that S U C K. Still.

Just because I’m in the fitness industry and train people daily doesn’t mean I don’t have times in my own workouts where I want to LITERALLY throw my towel across the room. Maybe I slept shitty, maybe I didn’t eat properly before, shoot maybe I’m near my cycle, or maybe a certain small human keeps interrupting me. 

I know I could let those days totally get me down, I could even stop the workout early if I wasn’t feeling it. Or just half ass my effort…

Those solutions don’t work for me though. 

Prior to my injury, I worked out on a regular basis. It was out of necessity. My role in the military dictated that I maintain a certain physical standard so working out and nutrition were priorities of mine. It created habits in me that have stayed with me even until today.

Working out after I recovered from my injury as well as after I had Grace SUCKED. I knew I had to do it to have the kind of quality of life I was seeking, and I had the habits as well as skill set in place to work out efficiently, but it was horrible. I didn’t feel strong, it took a lot of frustrating time to understand the capabilities of my body post all the surgeries, and it HURT. My body was in pain, it was inflamed, and while I listened to my limitations and did workouts that were appropriate for me, it still hurt.

I started doing two things when I worked out and I wasn’t feeling it to get myself through:

1. I used visualization. It helped clear my mind, it gave me something to focus on besides what I was doing, and it distracted me enough to get through the workout. What I visualize differs depending on my mood, and I usually go to whatever my mind naturally wanders towards. It’s either my end goal, like my ultimate goal for myself in my own fitness journey OR it’s the visualization of how far I’ve come. I see myself in a bed at my parents’ house unable to walk and I visualize the journey I’ve already gone through that’s gotten me to today.

2. I think of something positive and I put that shit on repeat. We tend to get so negative and critical when we’re working out. It’s the “we’re not enough” syndrome kicking in. Fuck that. I think about how I’ve made it through 100% of my bad days, so I got this or I think “you can do this” and I put that on replay in my mind until my workout is done.

It works for me, it doesn’t make the workout magically become easier but it gives me a clearer focus so I can get through what I’m doing. 

Then, and this is key, at the end of the workout, even if it’s the worst workout of all time and I’m so happy it’s over I’m not even enjoying the endorphin rush, I celebrate the workout. I celebrate the fact that I woke up, that my body can move and give me this gift, and that I GET to give this time to myself.

Need a pep talk? Click the link below to schedule your free 15 minute call!

Makes Me Nostalgic

One of my favorite memories growing up was learning how to cook with my grandparents. I was really fortunate to have two sets of grandparents who lived relatively close to my family and were super involved with us growing up. 

I was also super fortunate that they were all amazing cooks. Like amazing. No wonder I love to cook because between the grandparents and my parents, I definitely saw the power of fresh food and creativity in the kitchen. 

Now if your family is anything like mine, you know that the special foods are all busted out near the holidays. For us, that means some serious Italian food for Christmas. Which means this cookie that my family calls Wanda (but we pronounced Wan-see) but you might know it as Frappe or Chiacchiere. Pretty much it’s fried dough with powdered sugar on top that I can eat by the bucket load. It’s that good. Simple and light but super delicious especially with coffee. 

That was always our dessert on Christmas and I LOVED it. I was obsessed with it. So I asked my grandparents how to make it. 

My grandpa had this HUGE circular cutting board and a specific pastry cutter AND rolling pin for this adventure. I’m not even kidding. Now they’re mine. 

Let’s talk about how excited he and my grandma were for this opportunity to teach a grandkid how to make really a part of our heritage. I must’ve been like 8 years old but I still can feel how excited they were to share this part of our family with me. 

Side note: my grandpa, God love him was umm let’s say particular about certain things. Especially when cooking. Like he had his way and not to say your way was wrong BUT his way was better. Oh and if all of your cookies weren’t the same size (this went for meatballs too), the whole batch got tossed and you had to start from scratch. I’m not kidding. But I loved that kind of attention to detail he had. 

Anyways, fast forward to the special trip my grandparents made just to see me and teach me how to make this cookie. 

I’m standing there in my parents kitchen, circular cutting board and all, sandwiched between them, listening to them bicker OVER my head about who made it better. It didn’t stop there. Then it was them telling me why each of them had a better method and why I shouldn’t listen to the other one. 

I loved it. I couldn’t stop laughing, they were just so serious about the whole thing and I kept thinking “it’s just a cookie”.

But it’s so much more than that and now every time I cook anything of Italian fare, I’m flooded with all those memories of times I won’t get back but I’m happy to have with me. 

This recipe is my way to do Italian without losing the simple things that make it delicious, while keeping it healthy. 

Give it a shot. Let me know what you think. 

Who Doesn't Love Waffles?

I love waffles. That’s like my favorite breakfast food. I attribute it to staying at my grandparents house and my grandma making these amazing Belgian waffles that you would smell when you woke up in the morning. All crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, covered in syrup or strawberries and whipped cream. Well shit now I’m hungry. 

Seriously my obsession with waffles is crazy. To the point where my next dog will probably be named Waffles (I mean a corgi named Waffles? Like COME ON).

Alas I’m outnumbered in my house on the waffle front for breakfast. Lame. My people are more the savory sort who love anything that involves bacon. I know what you’re thinking. Why not just have a side of bacon WITH your waffles? I KNOW. Me too. But they’re not here for it. 

So I’ve had to get creative on my breakfast front so I can feed the masses and be excited about what I’m eating as well. 

My compromise is linked below!

Cold Weather is My Jam...and So is Coffee

Back to cold af mornings and you won’t hear one complaint from me. I absolutely hate when you wake up for the day and it’s already hot and you’re already sweating. It seriously drives me nuts. So bring on all the cold weather. Well San Diego cold at least. 

You know what makes cold mornings even better for me? Well a bathrobe for sure but also caffeine. There’s nothing better to me than waking up on a chilly morning, getting cozy again and then getting fully caffeinated for my day. 

That’s why the recipe linked in this blog is my total jam. But it took a second to figure out and wrap my head around. Not only because I was like “butter in coffee? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” but also because you have to get the right amount of all the healthy fats in bulletproof coffee to make it taste delicious. 

Holy shit though once you nail it, that frothy goodness is all you need. Especially on fasting days. I’m all about it. I could talk about how healthy fats for women promote healthy brain function, heart function and curb late afternoon sugar cravings but really who cares? We’re all adulting. Caffeine is a must. 

The other rad thing: research coming out shows that women who upload (which is the fancy pants way of saying HAVE MORE) healthy fats in the morning are totally setting themselves up for success. Why you ask? Well…the increase of healthy fats helps you to curb the energy crash that can lead to a sugar increase in the mid-afternoon AND healthy fats in the super long term help to prevent things like Alzheimer’s and dementia. I know you might not think about things like that, but I definitely think about my long term health…constantly.

My word to the wise though: if you’re new to incorporating large amounts of healthy fats into your healthy lifestyle, don’t go all crazy with it. Start with small amounts and gradually increase it over time. Otherwise you might have an adverse reaction that could act as the kind of cleanse that’ll have you spending your chilly morning in your bathroom. Just sayin. And if you need to know what to do because you’re not sure, I’m always here to help. 

I Double Dog Dare You

I double dog dare you to go one day without making a single excuse as to why you can’t create and maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Then all of a sudden, the baby weight you wanted to lose becomes just extra weight because your baby is now 10 and not a baby anymore and you have NO idea how to even shift your mindset so you can see yourself naked and think damn I’m fine.

I hear ALL the excuses every single day with what I do. I almost want to dare you to give me an excuse you think I haven’t heard before because rest assured, I’ve heard them all. With over 10 years in the fitness industry, working with numerous populations, every person has that go to excuse that holds them back from the goals they’ve set for themself.

You want to know the one difference between the successful people who get the transformation they want and the ones who don’t?

They WANT IT MORE. They want change so badly they can taste it and nothing is going to stand in their way, including those thoughts that used to be all of their excuses.

I was that way after my injury and after my delivery with Grace. The thought of resigning myself to this shitty new normal gave me hives. I couldn’t handle it. I wanted change so badly, I couldn’t focus on anything else. It consumed the majority of my thoughts, and the majority of my actions. Did I always know how I was going to make the change happen? Nope. Definitely not. But I knew I wasn’t going to give up on myself.

The desire to change has to outshine any bullshit you’ve created for yourself in your mind. You just have to be willing to figure it out. 

So how badly do you want that change you’ve been dreaming about?

Does This Mean I Have to Cook Again?

Ugh the holidays are over so I guess this means I have to cook again. 

And I love to cook. I love being in my kitchen making dinner, listening to music and hearing about my family’s day. It’s my happy place.

But it’s been nice during the holidays to have a little bit of a change, dinner with friends and ugly sweater parties. Really all that equates to for me, is not cooking dinner on a regular basis.

Now that the holidays are over and I’m having to get back into the routine of life, I have to make sure I have my healthy dinners back on point. The easiest way for me to transition back into this routine is by falling back on recipes that I know are solid, tried and true recipes.

I know you’re in the same position as me. So I wrote down some of my favorites to share with you so you won’t be totally screwed transitioning back into “real life” too!

Have You Fallen off the New Year's Bandwagon?

Have you already fallen off the New Years’ resolution bandwagon?

Cool. It means you’re human. 

Oh you thought I was going to jump all over you? Healthy living means being able to adapt to the chaos that is everyday living. It means knowing and implementing the steps necessary for you to be able to have the healthiest life possible that supports you reaching the goals you’ve set for yourself. Pretty much it means knowing how to be healthy even when all your plans go to shit.

So don’t beat yourself up if your resolutions already seem lost or if it feels like you’ve taken a step backwards. You haven’t and the fact that you give a shit shows that. 

Change is made from incremental adjustments in your life. 

Your transformation will happen. As long as you don’t quit. 

Really it’s that simple. Don’t quit. You fell off the bandwagon, but you know it and you know that’s not something you want for yourself and you know that this year, accepting that you fell off the bandwagon doesn’t work for you.

Healthy living isn’t just about weight loss and ditching your baggy mom sweater to hide your mom fluff. 

The reality of adulting and being a parent is that there’s going to be obstacles in life. Your best intentions sometimes might have to be put on the back burner so you can take care of other things. It’s about putting those habits into place so when life throws something your way and you get distracted, you know how to get back on track and can do it quickly. 

Jump back in, start again, do it now and don’t beat yourself up for it. 

The Snack that Keeps the Hangries Away

By Wednesday, I’m so exhausted and overwhelmed, that buying snack in the Starbucks drive through line seems way easier on my brain than actually making stuff.

When did life get so chaotic? I feel like every day is so jam packed with activists, that it’s super easy to forget about things like making sure you have healthy snack options. Well not forget per se, but definitely neglect prepping things for yourself. 

Don’t even get me started on how irritated it makes me when we’re out, we have nothing with us and we’re starving and then I’m spending a shit load of money on super inflated snack prices when I could’ve just grabbed things from home HAD I been prepared. 

But I know that I can have the tendency to let this part of meal prepping go, so I know I need to have healthy options ready to go.

This recipe came from me wanting something that was everything I would need for a well rounded snack in a single Tupperware container. 

It also came from me learning about how awesome Chia seeds are and wanting to figure out a way to incorporate them into my diet more. 

Chia seeds are an awesome source of Omega-3 fatty acids (amongst other things) which means they help improve sleep! I’m always down for a good night’s sleep after all!

They also help improve the amount of healthy cholesterol your body has, which I know might not be a primary concern but it’s definitely a longevity concern.  

The other thing I dig about this recipe is the versatility of it. Because I can mix in PB, flax seed, different flavors of yogurt or even top it with fresh fruit and it’s always delicious. 

Fair warning though, the chia seeds expand in liquid and over time so those little tough seeds are going to get a little plump as the week goes on!