My Top 5 Tips for a Stress Free Homecoming after a Vacation

We are finally all recovered and back to our normal routine after our September vacation/ marathon adventure. Through out the years I have come up with a list of tricks that help take the stress out of coming home from vacation, this comes from working 60-80 hours a week. I use to push my vacation as much as I could meaning I would work in the morning and leave straight from work to the airport or land and go straight to work. This time I posted a freezer prep picture on my IG account @Alisueonthemove and people went crazy! Bam, a blog post is born!

Here are my top 5 tips for a stress free homecoming after vacation:

1. A day or two before knock out all your laundry, and I mean ALL, towels, sheets, etc. Coming home to fresh crisp clean sheets is always something special.
2. Starting the week before super clean, I know it sound odd and maybe a little overwhelming but taking the extra 20-30 mins a day is worth it! I am a huge believer in having time slots for cleaning (i.e.; 30 mins a day) and have a list of different zones (my version of FlyLady) that I clean throughout the week. I just follow this and add-on some deep cleaning extras. We have been home for five days, I have only done dishes, vacation laundry, and today I vacuumed.
3. MEAL PREP FREEZER MEALS! I can’t stress this enough, there is nothing like coming home and knowing that you already have a couple healthy meals prepped and ready to go. We try to eat good on vacation, but as you know that doesn’t always happen and you feel like you need a detox when you get home.  I prepped a Sausage/ Veggies Soup which lasted us 3 dinners and a lunch, and a Roast with Vegetables & Potatoes which is in the slow cooker right now. All my freezer meals are made for the slow cooker, I just pull them out as soon as I wake up, workout, do my cleaning for the day, and BAM into the slow cooker it goes. 
4. Pack a day or two before. I am a HUGE over packer so I pre pack then the night before I re go through everything and start taking stuff out. This vacation I had to super pack because it was two trips in one, a race weekend and then home to PA to visit my family. I had so much to give/ share with them but I am came home with a lot less stuff. 
5. Empty out your refrigerator the day before and either use what will go bad in a freezer meal, or share with your neighbors. Coming home to a frig filled with bad food is never a fun situation.

What are you tips/ tricks that you do before a vacation that help you stay stress free when you come home?

Health Snacks for Tailgate season and beyond!

It’s that time of year again, the crisp cool breeze is finally in the morning & evening air here in Southern Virginia and that always makes me think of one of my favorite past times.. TAILGATING!!

We are moving towards eating as healthy as we can now that I am pregnant, and my husband has a super sweet tooth and will eat it all! We have always been big fans of nuts, trail mixes, and jerky but they are now at the top of our list with all the traveling we will be doing over the next couple of months for marathons.

Here are some of our favorites!

Taco Dip with Chili Spiced Cashew Cream, I get the cashews from Nuts.com

Frozen Yogurt Trail Mix Bars from Mrs Happy Homemaker

I get most of my ingredients from Nuts.com. The closest place to get healthy bulk choices is almost a 70 mile round trip, and I would rather just have it all delivered to my house. Bonus everything we have ever gotten has been AMAZING!! For anyone who is Gluten Free or Paleo this site is a dream come true!

Organic Assorted Energy Squares, these have been a life saver since I have become pregnant. On days that I travel for work or to my friends houses (everyone lives really far away from me) I packed a couple of these and some trail mix for my travel snacks.

Trail Mix is HUGE in our house all year round. Looking for the Trail Mix basics so you can make your own? Here are the four main ingredients that you need.

Nuts
These pint-sized nutritional dynamos are loaded with healthy unsaturated fats, protein, fiber, antioxidants, vitamin E, and other essential vitamins and minerals.
Whether they’re raw or roasted, go for unsalted, unsweetened nuts to keep sugar and sodium under control.

Seeds
For those with nut allergies (or just looking to mix things up), seeds provide many of the same nutritional benefits as nuts. Hemp seeds, for example, are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, gamma linolenic acid, protein, zinc, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium.

Dried Fruit
This sugary treat can easily become a danger food, so pay attention to the ingredient list and serving sizes. In moderation, dried fruit can be a great source of fiber, antioxidants, calcium, and vitamins A, C, and K.

Sweets
Sometimes we all need a little something sweet to round out the mix. Just remember to add treat-like options sparingly (unless you’re making dessert instead of a snack). Add a sprinkling of M&Ms, chips of various kinds (chocolate, peanut butter, carob, butterscotch), cacao nibs, yogurt-covered raisins, chocolate-covered coffee beans, mini marshmallows, or chocolate-covered nuts. When going the chocolate route, choose dark varieties for extra antioxidants.

Our current favorite for tailgating is a mix of: Raw Almonds, Dried Mango & Apples, Pumpkin Seeds, and Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds.

Looking for more healthy tailgating ideas? Click here!

What are you top healthy tailgating foods?

***Be sure to stop back at the end of September for my Eating for the Season, fall into healthy habits program ******

 

 

Even nice people have their limits.. how far does someone have to push you to get to your limit?

How far does someone have to push you to your limits? Really, the first question is are you a nice person? I would say if you asked people on the streets it would be an 80/20 mix because some people know that they will tell you the truth right to your face & crush your feelings without a blink of an eye. Some people don’t mean to do it, while others get joy out of it. I personally avoid those people like the plague.

Now back to, are you a nice person? I like to think that I that am, just today I got complemented on my manners by a couple of people at a food truck during lunch. I try my best to be kind, caring, positive, and yes I wear my heart on my sleeve a little too much. I KNOW that I am a MAJOR push over though, and I KNOW that people use me because I am so nice and will help them with task, projects, etc even if I really don’t want to. I am a people pleaser, and in a way that seems to make me a nice person.

Now, to the main question: How far does someone have to push you to your limits? What is your reaction when they do push you that far?

Personally, I shut down it’s a complete shut down. I don’t talk with them, interact with them, etc. I basically just drop or cut that person out of my life. Now it’s not the same as when you slowly grow apart from each other in a friendship. I am a big believer that we learn from everyone, but at some point sometimes there is only so much you can learn or you are both just going off in different directions and have nothing in common anymore.

I have come to this point of shut down with a friend of mine, truly they were a great friend and there is SO much that I still wish I could learn from them but I have been pushed to the edge and over. One of my other friends said it best I think, she said:

“They treat you like an unpaid employee who they can just hand off all the stuff they don’t want to do, and feel you will just do it all and blame you for their mistakes, & yet they treat you like gum on the bottom of their shoe. That is not friendship anyway you look at it.”

My husband, who just normally nods his head when I vent because he picks on me all the time for wearing my heart on my sleeve, said:

“You are getting too emotionally upset about all this and need to stop being their friend and focus on you and the baby.”

That was my big wake up call from these two people who I care very much about and they care about me. I have decided that I will finish up the last project that I have to do, which truth be told I DON’T want to do it at all I don’t enjoy it at all but I am one of those people who I have to finish what I started, and then once everything is done we will be done.

So it’s going to hopefully all be over in the next two weeks, and I can focus on my true friends and my family.

Here’s the questions for you all:

How far does someone have to push you to your limits? What is your reaction when they do push you that far? Have you ever had to end a friendship, and did it end on good terms or was it just a lost?

The night it really it me what I had been doing to my life?!?

*This post was from July, but I needed the courage to make it happen*

Last night I got my half marathon pictures from the Mad Valley run in Vermont last weekend, and I was just hit with what I looked like. How big my thighs & butt, really just how wide my whole body has gotten. When I look at myself in the mirror I still don’t see it, but those race pictures don’t lie let me tell you. I cried and cried while looking at them, and that really was the kickoff for change.

Let’s roll back a bit, in the summer 2012 I got in great shape, I was doing Chalene Johnson’s Turbofire every morning, working like a crazy lady 80 hrs a week at my job, and planning my wedding. I was holding steady at 135, with good muscle tone. Flash forward, December of 2012 we do pack out (have everything packed into storage for our move) and have to eat all 3 meals out or some crap that you can microwave only. We didn’t have a frig so meals were very limited, then we moved to Virginia and still having to eat out our 3 meals a day until mid January. During that time I jumped up to 157 and have been holding steady at the weight since, I got it down for a week into the 140 but then it came right back up.

I haven’t minded being 157, but my husband talks about it alot for him to lose 25 lbs he walked on the treadmill for hours a day and played videogames. He feels that I can do the same, but when I ask about if he is going to help do the chores around the house he looks at me as if I have three heads. Now that I am only working one day a week, it’s do able, but I really don’t want to spend my whole day locked in a room.

It also doesn’t help that my stomach has slowly grown over the years and I have been eating as much as my husband at each meal. I have started to make myself smaller portions and it’s helping so that I am not starving by the end of the night. I would also like to state that I would be 100% happy being 157 if it was more muscle than fat.

I WANT TO BE STRONG!

Not flabby….

Now I have seen the light, and while there are more challenges along the way over the next couple of months I have a plan! If you know me, you know that I LOVE a plan!! I actually started this new workout plan this week and so far it’s been going good, it’s only day 3 so we will see but I am enjoying it all and it’s not too tough yet. *this is actual for August 25th*

Have you ever had a moment when something hit you, and you were in shock because you just never knew yet it was looking at you in the mirror the whole time?

The Ayurveda Lifestyle

I got a lot of great feedback about which diet lifestyles you wanted to learn more about. The top of was Ayurveda. I have read a couple of books about Ayurveda and follow John Douillard’s blog/ website LifeSpa. I find this way of eating very interesting, though I follow a couple things I personally found it was not for me. I do continue to do the Oil Pulling which is a big part of the other all lifestyle, it’s amazing what it has done for my body!

Please remember the point of this series is to introduce you to many different ways of eating or a true diet lifestyle that works with your body harmony.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda, meaning “the science of life,” originated in India as a holistic approach to create balance within the mind and body by aligning oneself with nature. The belief is that disease results from an imbalance of the doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha.

Doshas are physiological types that every human exhibits some combination of. The three different types are based on the five elements of nature: ether – or space – fire, air, water, and earth.

Vata corresponds with air, and may indicate a flighty nervous system, inconsistent behavior, and light-heartedness. Pitta represents fire, and usually means a strong personality, leadership qualities, and intense emotions. Kapha primarily represents water, exhibited in a slow, steady demeanor and strong loyalty. Although combinations are common, there is usually one dosha that is dominant.

According to this theory, by eating in accordance with one’s Ayurvedic body type, or dosha, balance and good health can be restored. The Ayurvedic diet focuses on the six basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent. The Ayurvedic approach usually includes a combination of yoga, breathing exercises, meditation, mantras, cleanses, and massaging the skin with dosha-specific oil.

Foods to include:

Vata types: warm, cooked, nourishing, and easily digestible foods

· Fruit (mostly berries)

· Small beans

· Rice

· Nuts

· Dairy

Pitta types: cool, raw, or lightly cooked foods

· Watery and sweet fruits and vegetables (cherry, mango, cucumber, melon, avocado)

· Salads of dark greens (arugula, dandelions, kale)

Kapha types: light, warm, and spicy foods

· Bitter, dark greens

· Tea

· Spices (black pepper, ginger, cumin, chili)

Foods to avoid:

· Vata types: cool, non-digestible foods

· Pitta types: foods overexposed to heat and light, fried foods, and spicy foods

· Kapha types: greasy foods and processed sugar

Pros:

· Promotes bio-individuality

· Focuses on prevention

· Considers primary foods

· In line with the seasons

· Encourages a wide range of unprocessed foods

Cons:

· Scientific evidence showing effectiveness of Ayurvedic healing techniques is limited

· Diet may be limiting for some people

Sources:

Ayurveda www.umm.edu

Ayurvedic Medicine www.nccam.nih.gov

The Premier Center for Natural Health and Ayurveda www.lifespa.com

The Ayurvedic Institute www.ayurveda.com