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dani california cooks

homegrown and homemade in CA

Tech that Keeps Me Healthy

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Happy Friday, everyone! I am off to Washington, DC for a bachelorette party for one of my DC roommates. It’s going to be a hot, hot, hot weekend and I’m pumped to see a bunch of these gals and celebrate!

And secondly, your responses both on Wednesday’s post, through e-mail or text or comments or on Facebook, really were amazing. And I have to hand it to Cassie for giving me a huge boost last night too. Y’all are just wonderful and boy do I appreciate the support.

Maybe its that I live in San Francisco or that I’m a millennial, but I rely so much discovered a bunch of apps/technology/websites to support my healthy habits and lifestyle. Here are some of my favorites! Note - no calorie counters on this list!

  1. Instacart - Instacart lets you buy groceries and set a time that you want delivered to your house. This is so, so useful for when you’ve had a weekend away and want groceries for the week delivered to you on Sunday night or Monday morning! Having healthy ingredients and staples around at the beginning of the week sets me up for success (Use my referral code: DNEMZER1 for $10 off your first order).
  2. Fitbit - Boy do I love my FitBit! I went for a run on Monday and forgot to put it on and was absurdly disappointed that I didn’t have those steps tracked for the week. I truly believe that moving throughout the day is better for you than sitting on a Spin bike for 45 minutes of intense cycling and then on your butt for the rest of the day in front of your computer <- guilty of that a lot. My FitBit just is a reminder to keep moving, and I love the new feature that reminds you to move at least every hour.
  3. Strava app - This is my favorite app for tracking bike rides, runs, hikes, you name it. I love using it when I’m in a new city and going for a jog - it turns into a nice memory book!
  4. Spotify - I have so many great 45 minute Spotify playlists that I use for my Spinning class, but I also use them for my other workouts too. Nothing like heart pumping music to get in the sweat zone. Note for fellow fitness instructors - you can include your Spotify subscription as a business expense when taxes come around!
  5. Sleep Machine - I bought this sleep machine for Nate’s birthday, but little did I know it would be a gift to myself too. We live in the heart of the city in Hayes Valley and I’m convinced that there’s a garbage truck who just breaks glass in front of our apartment at 4am everyday. This sleep machine has so many noises - we like the “Everglades” one with crickets and water - and the minute we turn it on I feel like Pavlov’s dogs and my body knows its sleep mode too
  6. Thanx app - This app is like all of those punchcards you keep in your wallet tied into one app, and your credit card is linked to it. So everytime you buy something at a place that has a partnership with Thanx using that credit card, you get automatic points towards stuff and the rewards are actually really good. Discounts on salads from Mixt Greens, free juices from Project Juice, you name it

Summer of CARBS!

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Since I was about 21, I’ve had a fear of grain, flour, and starch carbohydrates. Not just white bread carbs, but also things like beans and sweet potatoes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever outwardly stated that on my blog before, but there ya have it.

That’s not to say that I didn’t eat them, it just always was kind of a “treat” in my mind. I know I’ve written time and time again about how I’m working to repair my relationship with food, but you can probably tell from most of the recipes I’ve shared are not carb-heavy at all. Or my “What I Ate Wednesday” posts – here is one and another where I ate very little of those forbidden carbs all day, and I would say that that was a very normal weekday for me. It wasn’t until this winter when I tried to integrate more carbs into my day to day that I found myself gaining weight, and that freaked me out more – was I destined to a life without carbs? Every time I would try and healthfully incorporate more sweet potatoes or brown rice it was like my body would harbor all of those carbs as pounds. So I removed starches and grains from my “routine” diet again this past spring.

But…it just didn’t feel right. I had met with a nutritionist last year who I loved, and she incorporated a lot of really healthy habits into my day-to-day that I’m really appreciative of. Honestly though, I never felt like I was moving towards a more healthful relationship with food overall, and I also was gaining weight while eating what I considered really healthfully – low carb during the week, enjoying carbs on the weekend. The thing was, is that I didn’t feel “unsatisfied” or undernourished, and I ate a ton of vegetables and healthy proteins and healthy fats. To me, this seemed like I should be at my optimal weight and energy levels, and instead I was gaining.

I reached out to Robyn, a dietitian and nurse who shares a lot on her blog about helping women eat more to balance their hormones and return to a happy state with food. Her posts really resonate with me, and I remember reading for years thinking “man, if only I could eat like Robyn!” So I reached out, and set up some time with her partner Cody at Nutshell Nutrition to discuss my story and a path forward.

I totally bonded with Cody from our first chat, and to summarize what we discussed – likely the years of restricting carbs and internal stress behind that and all of my other food control issues has caused all sorts of hormonal imbalances within my system that hey – big surprise – has kind of caused me to go into metabolic hibernation of sorts. Since I wasn’t giving my body enough carbohydrates and nutrition some days, the other days when I did it went into storage mode. Great news – it’s reparable!

So now, I’m working on a plan that has me eating a significant more amount of carbohydrates and healthy fats than I’m used to. And just eating straight up more than I’m used to. I’m both excited – because I love sweet potatoes and nut butter and food – but I’m also nervous because there is probably inevitable weight gain at the beginning of this while everything heals. The opposite of everything I’ve tried to work against these past 5 years, right? Well, I trust Cody and Robyn, and I’m going to give it a try.

Hello to the summer of carbs, 2016!

My 2015 Cooking Resolutions - how did I do?

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At the beginning of 2015, I shared a list of 12 things I wanted to accomplish in the kitchen this year in no particular order. I had a ton of fun experimenting in the kitchen, and some of these “resolutions” have become part of my daily menus. But, as most resolutions go - some were successes, some were fails - and some will roll over for 2016.

So…how did I do?

  1. “I will bake an awesome, fully whole grain, sourdough bread”
    • This didn’t happen. This was probably the hardest thing on my list, and since I was gluten free for most of the year and traveling for a lot of it, I didn’t have a lot of time to tend to a sourdough starter “pet”! (See what happened to the sauerkraut in item #2 below). But I really really really want to be a bread baker. So maybe this one will be included in 2016’s list…
  2. “I will learn how to make my own sauerkraut”
    • This was attempted twice….and failed (very pungently) twice. I even took a class on Intro to Fermentation! I blame the fact that I traveled pretty much every week for work, and I couldn’t press the cabbage down in the mason jar to stay fermenting in its juices and it dried out. I definitely got a few texts from Nate that were like “there is this FOUL THING growing in our kitchen and I’m THROWING IT OUT”. Sigh. Added to the list for next year.
  3. “I will make my own portable larabars or protein bars”
  4. “I will bake a beautiful challah”
    • This did not happen…but I WILL DO THIS ONE DAY!
  5. “I will learn how to whip up some really good whisky cocktails for Nate”
    • Sigh…this also didn’t happen. Maybe when Nate and I move into our new apartment at the end of January I’ll do this in celebration. Nate - pinky promse!
  6. “I will learn how to make fresh summer rolls with shrimp and thai basil and a really good dipping sauce”
    • Yes!! I made these for a party last year and boy were they YUM. Check out the recipe and the killer homemade dipping sauce here. Still, these are a lot of time and effort. I’d only make them again if I was really trying to impress…
    • Fresh Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce | danicaliforniacooks.com
  7. “I will play around with drying fruit in the oven”
  8. “I will finally bake a spaghetti squash”
    • Why did it take me so long to bake a spaghetti squash in the oven?! Since I finally bit the bullet on these squashes, I’ve made them so many times for me and Nate. I love that you can just pile on whatever sauce and eat in volume. This has been one of the most useful of the accomplishments - one that I’ve been able to integrate into my day to day.
  9. “I will learn to make homemade lattes”
    • I went as far as purchasing a frother, only to realize that it took some European batteries so I never used it. Plus, I drink my coffee black in the morning. Welp…
  10. “I will learn to recreate stuffed Turkish eggplants that I ate every day in Istanbul”
    • My brother and I cooked up a big batch of these for my parents for their birthday this year, and they were DELICIOUS! So hearty, flavorful and filling. Read all about our trip to Turkey and get the recipe here.
    • photo
  11. “I will perfect my hummus and baked falafel”
    • This was half accomplished. I did the falafel portion, but not the hummus! My Falafel Collard Wraps with Tahini Coleslaw is one of my favorite recipes from this year. Adding hummus to next year’s - I stole Nate’s cousin’s recipe for hummus that I ate in bulk over Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to recreate.
  12. “I will create a couple of ridiculously good homemade salad dressings”

Overall, this was a really fun part of my year, and I love looking back on how I attempted/failed/succeeded with this list. Stay tuned for 2016’s resolutions. Anything I should add to the list? (I know Nate is crossing his fingers for fewer experiments in fermentation..)

Blogger Secret Santa

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I am a part of the awesome “Bloggers Gonna Blog” community - you should follow us on Instagram or check out our hashtag #BGBcommunity if you don’t already! We are a group of healthy living bloggers and we all have SO much in common. When we decided to do a secret santa gift exchange between all of the members, I jumped at the chance! I knew that I would be able to pick really good stuff for someone who likes similar stuff to me, and I figured I would also recieve some pretty good goodies too. On Sunday after returning home from Sonoma, I drunkenly discovered this package at our front door and I was super excited to run upstairs and open it! I saw that the package was sent from Boston…who could my secret santa possibly be?

It was the lovely Meg from Eat Simple, Love Yoga! I wasn’t familiar with her blog until the gift exchange, and I am so glad that this blogging community and secret santa introduced me to her. She blogs about wholesome foods and her healthy lifestyle, all while getting her MS in Nutrition and Masters in Public Health. We have a lot in common and I’m looking forward to being a new blog follower of hers.

Meg’s secret santa gifts to me catered to my love of food and girlie things. She totally went to town at Anthropologie and grabbed the following for me: adorable mason storage jars for spices and sugars, and SUPER cute whisk that is definitely too cute to actually use, and a “D” ornament that I will probably keep up year round as decoration.

And the gift wouldn’t be complete without CHOCOLATE. A new spread from Trader Joe’s (like Nutella, but made with almonds) and super dark, dark chocolate.

Thanks to Megan for the lovey gifts, and also thanks to Georgie and Christina who run to BGB Community for organizing. If you’re interested in what everybody else in the group received, head on over to their blogs linked above for everyone who participated!

WIAW - Getting Ready for the Holidays

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Hello from Spokane! After a lovely week working from home, I’m back on the road. Next week at this time, I’ll be sipping margaritas in Mexico! Oh yes…I just cannot wait! I’m trying to tie up everything at work so I can disable my pop-up e-mails on my phone <— the best thing ever. Linking up to share Tuesday’s eats - check out what everyone else is eating too!

BREAKFAST

While the valet was pulling around my car (I decided to stay at the swanky Davenport Grand again this week - those beds are like clouds. I kinda feel like I’m cheating on the Doubletree I pretty much lived in for the past year) I noshed on a few nibbles from Trader Joe’s Omega-3 Trek Mix before driving to Pure Barre. After the workout I was ready for a real breakfast.

The closest breakfast spot to Pure Barre happens to be my favorite…IHOP!! (Am I the only one in the world whose favorite chain restaurant is IHOP?) I grabbed an egg white vegetable omelet with some cheese and sat here and worked for a while. The fruit looked sad and went uneaten. There are always a surprising number of people at this IHOP at random times on the weekday!

Before heading into work, I grabbed a bit more caffeine. Also..I thought my red lips/green cup/festive nails would make for a festive selfie…but it really didn’t. Atticus is the best coffee in Spokane, hands down! 20151215_121017_resized LUNCH

I had picked up this curried chicken salad from the Main Market Co-op, and I paired it with a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach in a Wrawp. Wrawps are these raw and paleo wraps made of things like zucchini and flax and they somehow dehydrate them into a bendy wrap! I like them because you get that chewy and roll-up aspect about wheat wraps that I like but they are…just vegetables and seeds. My team and I shared some carrots and hummus too. SNACK

You gotta love being on a team that does daily coffee runs around 3pm - I love when it’s not my “turn” and I just have a beverage delivered to me at our client site! I had a bit of an iced almond milk latte with sugar free vanilla syrup, but dumped it about halfway through since it was too sweet! Instead, I grabbed a pear and a Siggis yogurt. I haven’t eaten yogurt in FOREVER, and lately whenever I knew I’d be eating something that was heavy on the lactose I took a Lactaid. But I felt like I was ready to try yogurt, sans Lactaid. I had one bite of the Siggis before looking at the expiration date <- two days ago. Tossed that guy in the trash. So I grabbed this other yogurt that I had picked up at the grocery store that looked good - made with grass-fed whole milk. The yogurt was tasty, but I have to say, I kinda missed my apple/PB snack. I used to be obsessed with yogurt, so maybe I’ve just grown out of it. My belly reacted as expected, but I really want to try and integrate dairy again, so it wasn’t the worst to be uncomfy at my desk for an afternoon. Welp, I gave it a good ol’ college try! DINNER

Late shift at the client site meant lots of flourescent-lit dinners this week, tonight was no exception. I grabbed some salmon and veg from Toro Sushi, and paired it with some leftover garlicky greens I had picked up the day before. Unpictured teriyaki sauce was poured on here. I finished all of the veg and most of the salmon while sipping on some ginger tea.

I drove home in lightly dusting snow to snuggle up back in my cloud bed at the hotel. Skype session with my little brother and watching The Voice finale rounded out my Tuesday!

 

Do Unto Yourself as You Would Do Unto Others

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All women have some relationship with their body - sometimes it is healthy, sometimes it is judgmental, sometimes it is critical, sometimes it is grateful, sometimes it is unhealthy, sometimes it is “daaamn you look good”. There have been times in my life when I would look at my body in the mirror - specifically, what I consider “love handles” - and be so disappointed. Usually these periods coincided with some other kind of emotional event in my life, like being homesick when I studied abroad in college or the first year traveling for my job.

Last winter, when Nate and I were doing long distance while he traveled the world, was one of those times that I was particularly critical on my body. I opened up on the blog about it at times, but I don’t think it fully captured how all-consuming my thoughts were regarding those godforsaken love handles! I was teetered on being extremely restrictive with my eating and then binging - even if it was binging on healthy foods - and feeling very frustrated with myself all around.

Then I went to a yoga class which had a bunch of mirrors. And there I was judging the way my love handles looked in every down dog, the way my arms looked during every cat/cow pose. I certainly admired other parts of my body - my slender legs, narrow hips, face - whatever. I just spent so much of the class judging myself, looking at myself, for better or worse.

I proceeded to take a look around the class. There were women who were bigger than me, and women who were smaller than me. Women who had tinier waists, and women who had bigger hips. Women who were a lot heavier than me, and women who were skinnier than me. Women who were taller (hold that thought - actually everyone is taller than me). Women who were older, and women who were younger. And there was not one body that I didn’t think was beautiful.

I looked around the room, and I asked myself “do you think she is beautiful?” And the answer to each was a resounding “yes!!” Sure, many of these women had what would be considered traditional flaws in our eyes - but it didn’t matter. I still thought each of them was perfect. I remember actively asking myself, “if you can be so gracious to other women’s bodies, why can’t you be the same to your own?” I remember almost bringing myself to tears as I thought about how unforgiving I am to my own body, but so accepting and loving towards every other woman’s. I realized that I should do unto myself as I do unto others.

It truly felt like an epiphany moment for me. And now when I have days where I look in the mirror and I judge, I go back to that place and realize that everyone already accepts and likes the way I look, and that there is so much more to my beauty than the fact that I store some fat around my waist. And when I interact with my friends and family and Nate and colleagues and strangers, they are not interacting with my muffin top. They are looking at me as a whole person, and if they aren’t focusing on that flaw, why should I waste any more time on it either? In fact, they are probably noticing all of the “good” things about me and not even noticing those “flaws”!

So that is my story for you. Thanks for reading - I hope it resonates with you as well!

Adding this to Julie’s link up!

WIAW - On the road in Olympia

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Coming ‘atcha from Olympia, WA this week! I hadn’t been in Oly since September, so I was looking forward to hitting up some of my old stomping grounds around here. Linking up with the rest of the WIAW crew to show you yesterday’s eats!

Just as a PSA if you find yourself in the Seattle area anytime soon - it is SO COLD up here. Just FYI.

BREAKFAST

When I woke up, I ate a prune (Nate and I both LOVE prunes. We’re going to make great old folks). and a couple of almonds before heading to the hotel gym for a workout. The gym at the hotel we stay in is obscenely small, and everyone on our team consistently makes the joke “what is this? a gym for ANTS?”. Maybe you have to be there to get it… Then I walked across the street to Budd Bay for breakfast. They make fantastic (read: huge) omelets. I had mine with a ton of veggies plus some of this side of fruit! Then it was off to the office, but not before stopping at Batdorf and Bronson’s for the world’s best coffee. Nice thing about traveling to Olympia is that I pretty much don’t use my car at all here - the downtown is totally walkable. Too bad I was wearing flats and pretty much went numb after a couple of blocks. Brrrrr. At least I was wearing my favorite phone-friendly leather gloves and enjoying all of the fall colors! LUNCH

I hit up Peace, Love, and Raw for one of their kale salads. This one had carrots, celery, apples, raisins, walnuts, and a cashewnaise dressing. I also grabbed a container of their cumin sauerkraut. We had intensive meetings all day so I shoveled this in between talking. SNACK

Meetings all afternoon so around 330pm I scarfed down an unpictured chocolate brownie Quest bar. I’ve been kind of on a Quest bar kick recently, but the chocolate ones leave a bizarre taste in my mouth. I ate two vitamin gummies and had some tea afterwards to try and get the taste out!

DINNER

Finally done with work and all I wanted was something super warm to eat! Aaaand then I went back to Budd Bay for dinner. I got a big bowl of cioppino. I picked out all of the veg and the shrimp and salmon, plus ate a lot of the tomato broth. I’m not a huge fan of the bay scallops or the clams or cod they use in the soup. This was so comforting. The whole restaurant felt cozy with lots of pre-holiday cheer.

Accompanying my dinner was All the Light We Cannot See, which I’m trying to read up by book club this weekend!

DESSERT

Back in my hotel room to watch The Voice, blog, and eat some of this chocolate I picked up in the airport. It’s a local Berkeley brand, and I was excited about the cacao content but it’s honestly not that good. Plus I had some chamomile tea. It took me a long time to warm up!
And that’s it! Happy Wednesday, all!

Intro to Fermentation

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A few weeks ago, I took “Intro to Fermentation” at a local San Francisco cooking school, and - not to be dramatic - it blew my mind.

I’ve been a huge fan of probiotic rich foods for a long time, since I discovered their benefits of a healthy gut against my rheumatoid arthritis. It’s been one of my cooking resolutions to try making my own sauerkraut, and after one absolutely foul failed attempt I was thrilled that I was able to make time to attend this class to learn more. There’s such a community of “fermentos” (people who ferment foods) here in the Bay Area, that I knew it was going to be a fun class.

The class started with a lecture on the history and the science behind of fermented foods. I was like a little girl in her favorite class in school, just scribbling and scribbling away in my notebook in the front row. I think the rest of the “students” thought that there would be more eating and less learning, but I was THRILLED to be lectured.

I wanted to share with you some of the fun facts I learned about fermenting foods:

  1. The oldest evidence of fermented foods goes back to 10,000 BCE in China which was kombucha!
  2. Pretty much every cuisine has some kind of core fermented food or condiment (except the American diet - womp)
  3. There’s two kinds of fermentation:
    1. Wild fermentation - employs organisms already in the environment and/or food to start the fermentation (sauerkraut, traditionally made pickles, apple cider vinegar)
    2. Inoculation - adding organisms to initiate fermentation (yogurt, cheese, kefir)
  4. The bacteria living in your stomach love to eat FIBER. So eat lots of fiber to support them!
  5. Studies have shown that removing fermented foods from your diet decreased your immune response, but adding fermented foods back in increased and supported immune response
  6. Studies have also shown that eating a diverse amount of fermented foods and their bacteria is best for your immune response. So it’s great if you have yogurt in the AM, but even better if you have some sauerkraut with lunch and a kombucha with dinner too. It’s kind of like eating the rainbow when it comes to regular foods as well
  7. People who have less social anxiety have been documented to have a healthier gut flora, leading to new theories on healthy gut bacteria and overall mood

At this point, the lecturer started going down a route about how the bacteria in our gut want to be introduced to more bacteria (makes sense) so therefore, our bacteria in our system are influencing us to go meet other people so we can make out with them and procreate and gain new bacteria (aaaand she loses me).

Regardless, I totally enjoyed most of the lecture. But then it was time to eat! We sampled lots of different fermented foods, including a herb sauce, a chili harissa sauce, a grape ketchup, sauerkraut - you name it. Fermented foods have such an interesting, umami flavor. There is nothing bland about them, and even the smallest amount can add a lot to a dish. You can find the recipes that we sampled on the teacher’s blog.

Then it was time to ferment! We made a jar of preserved lemons and a big jar of sauerkraut to take home with us.

Since then, I’ve preserved lemons, had another attempt at making sauerkraut (round #2 fail), and fermented carrots. It’s definitely an art that I’m still getting a hang of. I have to say, the preserved lemons have been the most USEFUL thing in my kitchen and the easiest thing to ferment. Any fresh sauce that you whip up that includes lemons - think salsa, chimichurri, ANY dressing - use chopped or food processed preserved lemons instead for a probiotic benefit AND delicious flavor.

 

WIAW - Post-Celebration Eats

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Hi everyone! Back in the blogosphere after a bit of a break away this weekend. I thought I would have some downtime to blog but we really didn’t!

I really wish I had done a WIAW for Monday, because it was such a bizarro day of eats. There are some days when you have a huge brunch, Chipotle at 3pm, snack on granola bars and chocolate until you land in SF, and then get late night tacos. That would be Monday. And there are some days when you have two salads. That would be Tuesday. Linking up to show Tuesday’s (healthier) eats!

But first, just one picture of me and my man from the wedding..

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We’re all dressed up with somewhere to go! #tohahnandtohold @natewapner

A photo posted by Dani Nemzer (@danicaliforniacooks) on

BREAKFAST

I woke up with an empty fridge, but I did have some pantry essentials still around. It felt like I had been away for a lot longer than just a four-day weekend! I made some egg white oatmeal cooked in water (womp) and topped with the last bit of PB I had on hand. It was simple and hearty. French press coffee on the side!

I then went to Core40 - I can officially say I am IN LOVE with this workout. I definitely felt last night’s tacos as I crunched my core on that megareformer machine.

LUNCH

I made a quick trip to Trader Joe’s to start to stock up the fridge. Lunch was some leftover tuna salad from last week on a bunch of curly kale, plus about a 1/4 of an avocado that wasn’t that great.

I massaged this kale into a dressing that my family has fondly referred to as “crack” dressing. A woman in my parent’s neighborhood makes and sells it, and it’s incredible addictive. Nate - ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION - has asked me for more salad when I use this dressing. My parents were nice enough to re-stock my supply when they came up here back in August.

Also had some ACV lemonade (water + ice + tsp of ACV + juice of one lemon). It’s a tangy combination that I’ve grown to love. Make sure to buy ACV with the mother to get the probiotic plus the vinegar health benefits.

SNACK

I consider myself a PB person, although I’ve recently started to enjoy sunflower seed butter. Almond butter just didn’t do it for me…until today. I had a jar in my fridge and since I was out of PB (and didn’t buy any at TJs…*smacks forehead) I sighed and went for the AB. I decided to sprinkle a little salt over it, and it just made all of the difference! I am totally on team AB now!

Plus a gala apple that was a tad mealy. There was a beautiful sunset!

DINNER

For dinner, I kept it simple. Salmon, more kale salad with a sesame ginger dressing from Whole Foods, and roasted eggplant. Unpictured was the last bit of the preserved lemon chimichurri on top of the salmon! I need to remake and share on the blog.

DESSERT

I had a few squares of Dandelion dark chocolate, which is just out of this world amazing. Have you heard about Dandelion? It’s San Francisco’s most famed, popular, and special chocolate store. Each bar costs $10 - it’s crazy. But you can watch people in the store hand pick EACH cocoa bean that goes into each bar. It’s kind of insane. Gotta love this city.

 

 

Why I Went to See a Nutritionist - Part 2

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I had so much fun sharing part one of my story with you all last week, so here’s part 2! That first post talked about my reasonings for seeing a nutritionist and what I was looking to get out of it. This second post will discuss the tweaks that I’ve made to my diet and lifestyle and what impact that has had on my well-being.

While the changes are certainly not a major overhaul to my diet and daily life, they have made a world of difference for me. You can see the minor changes just from looking at previous WIAW posts from earlier this year and this week’s! Makes me happy just to see how much better I’m taking care of myself.

After my first session with my nutritionist and fitness consultant, there were just a few things that became super clear:

  1. I was often waiting wayyy too long to eat anything after waking up
  2. I often would go for too long in between lunch and dinner without any snack, which would affect my energy levels as well as going from super hungry to super full really quickly
  3. Some days I ate too much and other days I didn’t eat enough. Probably screwed with my metabolism a bunch
  4. I wasn’t honoring “rest days” and I was likely over-exercising my joints
  5. I struggled with guilt whenever I enjoyed a “cheat” meal or an indulgence
  6. I am wayyy too hard on myself when it comes to indulging. And I am also quite carb-phobic

So what did we decide to do?

  • If there is a gap between when I work out and when I have breakfast (i.e. I workout in the AM, or I have to commute to the airport) I should eat something small. Like a small handful of trail mix or nuts and a banana
  • They encouraged me to have smaller plant-based lunches, since those proteins are excellent for inflammation in joints. That’s why you’ve seen so many recipes like this and this on the blog
  • In accordance with the above, I could save space for a larger snack around 3 or 4pm which always had to have protein and fiber. Yay for apples and PB EVERY DAY!
  • Aim for veggies with every meal!
  • Eat 2 cups of fruit every day. (This has been the most enjoyable to incorporate into my diet! I didn’t realize how carb-phobic I was even of fruit before)
  • A plate should always be half veggies, quarter protein, and a quarter starch. But if I don’t want the starch, I don’t have to have it!
  • I got a thumbs up for staying dairy free and gluten free due to the joints
  • Enjoy 2 indulgent meals a week
  • Allow for planned exceptions (i.e. when you KNOW you want to go out and eat pizza with your friends) and unplanned exceptions (when you chow down on some chips and guac at a happy hour). Be OK with both and know that they are both a part of life
  • Go from exercising six days a week to taking THREE rest days a week. They can be active rest days with lots of walking, but do not have scheduled exercise on those days

What have I noticed?

  • My digestion has improved
  • My energy in the afternoon is better
  • Inflammation in my joints has been pretty much gone, with the exception of my right wrist
  • Taking rest days is super hard. I got a FitBit so I could make sure to hit 10K steps on those days!
  • I LOVE having plant-based lighter lunches and a heftier fiber/protein snack in the afternoon. So much yum to look forward to throughout the day when normally I really was never into lunch and just waited it out until dinner
  • If I’m not going to have breakfast right away, having that small snack right away in the AM helps with my focus and energy right away and just permeates throughout the day
  • Not feeling guilt/shame about indulging is something that we’re still working on
  • I am very much a person that likes to have an eating “routine” and when that routine gets shaken up I often indulge and then don’t feel so great about it all
  • I don’t hit dinner with a ravenous hunger. There’s also no need to “save my appetite” for dinner - if my stomach is grumbling around 5pm, have a small snack
  • Having the “healthy plate” in mind of half veggies, quarter protein, quarter starch is a super easy and applicable way to eat out, eat at friend’s houses, eat at celebrations. I feel so much more confident going into situations where I’m not in charge of the food - I have the strategies that I apply to my daily routine to these meals
  • Drinking (even small amounts of wine) is directly correlated with indulging. Well that should have been no surprise!

I am still seeing the nutritionist and fitness consultant, because while I feel like there’s still so much to learn about my body and get ideas/recommendations from them. I’m really enjoying the whole process and journey. If you really care about your health and nutrition (who doesn’t) it’s amazing to review your diet and lifestyle with some professionals.

Note: If you live in the Bay Area, I highly recommend seeing the professionals at ThriveRD. We’ve actually done all of our sessions virtually, so I’m sure even if you aren’t local to Northern California, you can work with them too. And I had several questions on how I found my nutritionist….which was through Yelp!