Before I forget, here is a picture our dinner last night, Sauteed Kale with mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, a red onion and feta cheese. It was delicious!

We had a busy morning today. After a quick “usual” breakfast, I took my latte to go and dropped off my car for its 40,000-mile service and then headed to my MOMs Club board meeting. After the meeting, Keenan got his second haircut! The guy who cut his hair the first time (my husband’s previous hair stylist) moved, so I found a new person that did a fabulous job! In addition, it only cost $7.0o! Keenan’s first haircut was $15.00, so today’s cut was a steal! If you live in the Natomas area and are looking for a great place to get your child’s hair cut, I highly recommend A-Z Cuts!

Showing off his new haircut!

After being in Alaska for two weeks and prior to that, San Diego, it is time for me to re-evaluate my eating habits and get back on track. I ate WAY too many sweets and bread (thanks to my Mother-in-Law for her wonderful baking!), so this week was all about “detoxing,” or rather eating proper portions again and lots of veggies and fruit! Since there are no grocery stores where my in-law’s have a lodge, everything has to be flown in, so you can’t go to the store every other day or every few days to get fresh produce. You either have to grow it or have it shipped and ration out the amount you eat. Needless to say, I missed having a lot of fruits and veggies on hand! Since we ate SO MANY carbs the past two weeks, our dinners this week consisted of protein and veggies. For breakfast and lunch, we have included carbs, i.e. Kashi Cereal and sandwich thins, but other than that, we haven’t eaten many of them. I stepped on the scale today and I put on a couple of pounds, so I definitely need to get back on track. My husband also put on a few pounds, so we are both watching our food consumption. Since we didn’t really workout while we were in Alaska, I think the lack of activity coupled with the additional sweets/carbs did us in. Oh, well, we were on vacation, so it was a good excuse to splurge, right??! Do you allow yourself to splurge when on vacation? What foods do you like to splurge on?

When talking to clients about their eating habits, I love to give them the analogy of a car. In order for our bodies to run properly and efficiently, they need the right fuel, as well as regular maintenance to withstand daily exercise (whether light, moderate or vigorous) on a daily basis and/or what life throws our way. If you have a sports car and it takes premium gasoline, you can’t put regular unleaded and expect it to run as well as it does with premium. Our bodies are the same way. If you are working out 7 days a week and doing very intense exercise, you need to eat enough protein to repair and build muscle, good carbs for re-filling your glycogen stores and staying hydrated to replace the amount of water you lose during your workouts. In addition, without proper maintenance, i.e. recovery, your body will run itself into the ground, being prone to injury and fatigue, thus decreasing performance (just as a car does when it doesn’t receive regular oil changes and maintenance checks). Some people think that we “live to eat,” but really, we “eat to live.” We need to take proper care of our bodies, whether for light to moderate exercise, vigorous workouts or playing with your kids.

Proper fuel requirements made me question if I am eating the right amounts (just right, too little or too much) of protein, carbs, veggies and fruit for the workouts that I am doing. I eat a good amount of protein with every meal and a little bit combined with a few carbs for my pre-workout snacks (which I need to start posting about and taking pictures), but is it enough? I do CrossFit 5 days a week, doing pretty vigorous activity, so I think I need to increase my protein intake. Prior to going to Alaska, I felt tired during my workouts (even though I was well hydrated, sleeping well and felt like I was eating enough), which could have been due to not eating enough protein. The American Dietetic Association recommends an endurance athlete consume between 1.2-1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you are doing heavy strength training, your protein needs are definitely in the high range and can go up to 1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. With that said, I calculated the amount of protein I consume on a regular basis and I am short a few grams. So, my first focus is increasing my lean protein intake for all of my meals, without increasing my overall calorie intake. By doing so, I am going to decrease the amount of carbs I eat (still consuming them, though!) to make-up for the additional calories of protein. I know, it seems a little confusing, but it shouldn’t be too hard to do!

The main thing that I try to practice on a daily basis is being mindful, listening to my body. I eat when I’m hungry and hydrate when I am thirsty (though in Alaska, I definitely ate when I wasn’t hungry with all of the sweets laying around!). I listen to my body after a workout. If I’m feeling really fatigued, I think back to what I consumed during the day to see if I ate enough. The next day, I make sure to eat enough, especially protein and see if that makes a difference in how I feel after I work out. I find that if you listen to your body, you will learn a lot! Practicing mindful eating can help you reach your goals, whether they are losing weight, maintaining your weight or increasing your performance. How do you practice mindfulness?

Ok, enough of the boring nutrition stuff. Tonight is our “at home date night” after Keenan goes to bed, so I can’t wait! My husband is cooking an Asian dish with grilled chicken, zuchinni, carrots, onion over brown rice noodles served with a nice white wine; it should be good! We are planning to watch something on Netflix, but we’ll see if we can agree on something!

Well, it’s time to get ready for CrossFit. Have a great evening!

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