Eating Healthy During the Holidays: Erin O'Leary Stewarts' Best Tips!

Today I have the wonderful Erin O'Leary Stewart from DEFINE Body & Mind and DEFINE Foods to share with us her expert tips on how to stay on track with healthier eating during the holidays.  

The Holidays are upon us, and so is the late night drinking, party noshing and over-indulging. While this may not be the time of year for detox, dieting and watching the scale every day, you can definitely enjoy yourself, have your piece of that traditional Holiday dessert and still feel great. It's about being mindful. There is a difference between savoring that well-deserved treat and spiraling down the slippery slope to stomach aches and hangovers. As we are all in recovery mode post Thanksgiving weekend, here's your chance to get back on track with your health and fitness goals. Follow these 8 steps to keep the rest of your Holiday season healthy.

1. Keep the Holi 'days' to a Minimum

There are only a few days that the Holidays are actually intended for. Don't make an excuse to overeat the entire two remaining months of the year. Treat non-Holiday days in December as days you would any other week. Don't throw in the towel and wait for New Year's resolutions quite yet!

2. Visit the People, Not the Food

Remember that you're celebrating and visiting with family and friends during this time of year. Find the talkers at the party and hang with them, not the ones moseying around the food table.

3.Tune In

Ask yourself how hungry you really are before indulging. Then ask yourself the same question half-way through clearing your plate. Do the same with your second glass of wine. And then again if you get to your third. 

4. Slow Down

Enjoy conversation and put your fork down occasionally. Take your time when eating and nurse your drinks!  

5. Eat This, Not That

Keep your plate mostly veggies and savor your favorite indulgent items with just a few bites. Better yet, take matters into your own hands by offering to bring your favorite healthy dish! Consider roasted butternut squash instead of mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie over cookies and cakes. 

6. Skip the Sugary Drinks

Avoid the eggnog and the peppermint-flavored cocktail. Enjoy a glass or two of wine, not a whole bottle. When you binge drink, your body may not be able to metabolize fat for up to 72 hours while your liver is dealing with the alcohol. So that great morning-after workout won't even be that effective in this area! 

7. Get Movin'

Be as active as possible. Whether it's a yoga class, a bike ride or a family football game, just get up a go. Food cravings are often anxiety-related. When the cravings come on, go for a walk. The calming practice of mindful movement can be very beneficial. Take a DEFINE body, revolution or mind class if you're in the Houston area!

8. Hit Restart

If (or when) you do over eat or drink one night, remember tomorrow is a new day. Don't beat yourself up. Get back on track! Start with a big glass of water with lots of lemon and a green juice before consuming your first meal of the day. This will help your body focus on detoxing, rather than on breaking down complex foods. 

Here are some of my favorite recipes to get you through your Holidays Season. Hope you can join me in the kitchen for our premier DEFINE foods workshop at DEFINE west university! Saturday, December 15th. 12:00pm. Learn new moves and recipes to keep you Healthy Through the Holidays! Sign up HERE!

1. Butternut Squash & Apple Soup http://juiceboks.com/2012/11/15/butternut-squash-apple-soup/
2. Miso-Maple Brussels Sprouts & Tofu http://juiceboks.com/2012/11/03/define-foods-miso-maple-brussels-sprouts-tofu/
3. Spinach & Quinoa Salad w Pears, Chickpeas and Cranberries http://juiceboks.com/2010/12/25/spinach-quinoa-salad-with-pears-chickpeas-and-pecans/
4. Farro Salad with Roasted Grapes & Pomegranate http://www.definebody.com/nutrition/define-foods-farro-salad/
5. Olive Oil Cake with Sauternes Roasted Pears http://juiceboks.com/2012/01/02/olive-oil-cake-with-sauternes-roasted-pears-homemade-whip/
6. Double Chocolate Crumb Cake http://juiceboks.com/2011/12/24/double-chocolate-crumble-cake/

Major thanks to Erin for this great contribution! The holidays are definitely a time to indulge a little---but it's important to keep everything in moderation :)  If you have a question for Erin, please leave it in the comments below!

What I've Been Eating & Other Randoms

I had an incredibly busy work week this week so as the weekend starts tomorrow, I'm planning to take naps and just relax and run errands.  Sometimes it's nice to just kick back and do next to nothing.

Here are some of my favorite meals I ate this week:

Berries with Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread and Justin's chocolate hazelnut butter

Garden salad with grilled chicken and balsamic dressing

Chobani Greek yogurt with berries

Salmon with store-bought mango pico de gailo

A Shipley's strawberry-filled donut (YUM!)

an outfit I didn't post this week (um, look at our messy bed!)

Pretty flowers from the hubs

Flower arrangements my co-worker and I made for a party at work!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fitness & Food Updates & How to Wear Your Hair at the Gym

Keeping up with my fitness and eating posts is important because it motivates me to be accountable.

I mentioned on Facebook that a new fitness studio opened less than a mile away from my house, which is awesome because the one thing that always frustrated me was having to drive to go to the gym (I don't mind driving, I just hated driving really far---I was spoiled because at our old house, our gym was also walking distance).

My fitness for the last month or so has been two sessions with my trainer per week and one Bar Method class. Some weeks I only got to do one training session because of scheduling.

I really need to step it up and start doing cardio and just working out more consistently in general.  I have noticed I am not getting as toned as I'd like and I know it's because I am not doing enough cardio and not helping my endurance.  My trainer gave my friends and I some treadmill workouts to do that are 25 minutes but super high intensity so I'm going to try to incorporate those and see how it goes. Now that I'll have a gym nearby, there will be no excuses, even on weekends.

On the eating front, I've been doing well. Eating less sugar (smaller portions) and eating lots of fruits and veggies. H and I have also been focusing on eating salads or veggies as side dishes for dinner instead of carbs (sometimes we have potatoes).  

Here are some of my lunches and dinners lately:

Tortilla soup and a turkey half sandwich for lunch

Garden salad with balsamic dressing and grilled chicken for lunch

Salmon with basil pesto and potatoes for dinner

Chicken breast and green beans for dinner

Omaha Steaks chicken stuffed with broccoli and a side salad 

(the famous peach basil oil salad)

Salad with chicken, red onions, cherry tomatoes, grapes, chick peas 

and tangerines with a raspberry vinaigrette 

From my work cafeteria- chicken with lemon sauce, green beans and corn

Tuna in water with dill, celery and onions

Grilled chicken and steamed veggies

Salad with chicken, onions, chickpeas, grapes, cherry tomatoes, mandarins

Obviously I am just showing my healthiest meals here for ideas---I also still eat Chinese food, pizza and other not so healthy foods---but I try to limit that to weekends.

I also recently purchased Tone it Up's Perfect Fit Protein. I needed more protein in my diet and you can also use this to bake and make pancakes.

My favorite snacks in the last while have been:

• Chobani Greek Yogurt (love the 0% raspberry, strawberry banana and vanilla flavors) 

•  Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread

•  Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and Justin's Vanilla Almond Butter

•  Cherries, strawberries, peaches, apples

•  Luna Bars- Iced Oatmeal Raisin 

•  Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp bars- 110 calories for dessert 

•  Weight Watchers chocolate raspberry popsicles (80 calories and delish!)

I get a lot of questions about how I keep my hair fresh when I work out.  I have been sweating more during workouts because of the weather (and because our trainer works us hard!) so I have been sporting a super-high topknot to keep my hair off of my face. I used to wear ponytails most of the time but then the ends would get sweaty from rubbing on my back. Ew. Typing that out feels kind of gross. Anyway, I just put my hair up and wrap the elastic around the topknot three times. Like so:

Some workout outfits:

(outfits are all Lululemon except for green and pink Target tops)

Easy peasy.  When I get home from my workout, I immediately shower and then I take the elastic out and brush my hair and go about my evening wearing it down.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Motivation Mondays: Maja Launches Her Health & Fitness Blog, HautePNK

I think this is my most exciting Motivation Monday...ever!  My gorgeous friend Maja was the first to ever be featured in Motivation Mondays and for more than a year, I begged her incessantly to start a blog.

Maja is a huge inspiration to me because in addition to living an extremely healthy lifestyle (she and her husband even grow their own vegetables), she is also incredibly kind, intelligent and beautiful inside and out.

I annoyed Maja enough and I am thrilled to tell you that she finally launched her very own blog, HautePNK!

Maja's blog focuses on health and fitness, with a little style and beauty mixed in.  The best part is that she shares her workouts (her body is amazing---and she works hard for it!) and also shows photos of how to do each move.  If you ever don't know what to do at the gym, you can use your phone to pull up HautePNK and try one of Maja's workouts.

In celebration of the launch of her very own blog, I asked Maja to share with us some of her fitness updates, favorite foods and overall fitness advice and motivation. 

Over a year ago, you were my first Motivation Monday feature---I think you pretty much inspired the entire series---so what made you finally decide to start your own blog (after me badgering you for well over a year?)
I am a big blog reader, but had never envisioned being one myself until that first Motivation Monday post. Veronika�s Blushing is what really sparked the fire! The one thing I admire most from you and other blogs I follow is that they really earn my trust. You see a real person with real life experiences and over time you trust their feedback. In parallel, I had a growing number of friends seeking advice on workouts, recipes, products I use, etc. It kind of all clicked together and realized I wanted to take the love I had for blogs and action it with something I am passionate about. I love the community, support, and the feedback from like-minded people. I think most of all, I wanted to take the opportunity to share all that I�ve learned (and am learning) through real life experiences to reach anyone who is looking for it.

What is the overall goal of your blog?
As clich� as it sounds, if my blog reaches even one person and positively impacts them or helps them reach their goals in any way shape or form, I feel I�ll have fulfilled the intent. The thought of someone changing their lifestyle to get in shape and eat better while using some of my feedback as a guide, blows me away. I want to create a positive community where we can support one another and share feedback. 

As your blog grows, what kinds of posts can we expect to see from you?
HautePNK is still in its infancy stages. I tried to start with a vast taste of what�s to come when I launched. In short, it will have a strong focus on workouts, diet and nutrition, tons of tips and tricks that work for me - it�s what I LOVE most! I�ll also plan to post reviews of products I love (and ones I don't). Also, some outfits of the days/nights and maybe the odd shopping haul. It�ll almost be a mash of all the things I find most interesting in the blogs I follow. I am hugely open to feedback and requests too.

Will you also blog about style and beauty? You have amazing makeup/hair/everything!
I most definitely intend to! Some of the most common questions I get are about hair and makeup, so I figure I�ll consolidate my response and just make a blog post about it. I�m not one of those quirky people who can pull off various different unique/adventurous styles, but I think there is still something nice and classic about the girly girl conservative look. Maybe this blog and the people I meet through it will eventually take me out of my comfort zone and I�ll try some new things.

I love how you show photos of how to do all of the moves---it's so easy to look up the workouts on your iPhone when you get to the gym---what inspired you to make your blog so user-friendly?
When I really started thinking of a blog, one of the things I wanted to put lots of attention on was planning out was the site map, usability and most importantly reader experience. I have spent the better part of my career in technology, so it was natural for me. It doesn�t follow the standard blog format where the whole post is on the landing page, but I had this vision all along, so I went with the tiles. I wanted to make a nice browsing experience (I feel it�s easy to browse through older posts), and I put lots of attention in the details (i.e the animations when you scroll over the post name, the custom twitter bird, swipe feature from a smart phone/iPad etc).

What is the best fitness advice you've ever gotten?
This is an easy question because there are a couple of definitive things that I was told and think of every single day � I mulled over this and couldn�t pick just one, so here they are:

1.     It isn�t the number of reps you do to feel a burn, it�s the number of reps you  push out after you start feeling the burn

o    This one statement stands out in my mind every time I work out and just give it that extra push. As soon as I think I am done because I can start feeling it, that�s when I know I have to step up and keep going. That is where the results are hiding.

2.     PATIENCE

o    Patience truly is a virtue. A lot of people are really good at starting a program and being dedicated, but what I find mostly (true for me some days as well) is that you think that you�re going to start seeing amazing results within the first week. Reality check: you need to be patient and trust the system. Keep going and do not get distracted � remain focused and be patient.

What are some of your current favorite snacks?
I snack a lot! When I post food journals to give a glimpse into some of my daily meals, you will find that I snack in between every meal. Some of my favourites are baby carrots, bananas, apples, berries, salads and of coure; homemadeoat bars.

How about dinners?
FISH! I love cod, haddock, tilapia, and salmon the most. I will post some great healthy recipes for baking fish and their benefits. Other than that, I find some tiny pleasures in having breakfast-y items in the evening, so I might make some omelettes or scrambled eggs. Alongside, I will always have a salad, zucchini or some kind of veggie. For carbs, it usually a small sweet potato, rice or something like that.

Tell us about your vegetable garden? What made you decide to grow one? What vegetables do you grow?
I grew up with my dad planting a huge garden every summer. I distinctly remember the difference in taste between everything we grew at home and what we were forced to buy in the winters from a grocery store (same with my husband when he grew up). So when we got married and bought our first home we immediately converted over half of our back yard into a vegetable garden. We don�t use any pesticides and all the soil and seeds we use are certified organic. We grow TONS of lettuce, kale, swiss chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, hot peppers, green onions, beets, radishes and spinach. Again, I plan on doing a whole tutorial on the garden and how little of space you actually need to grow a large amount of vegetables.

Your husband is so supportive of you---what is his involvement with the blog?
He�s amazing � I am truly blessed. From the first minute I mentioned that I wanted to start a blog he�s always offered his advice and infinite support. He owns a full service design and advertising company and he took me on in his spare time, then had his developers build �the dream�. The team did an amazing job through design, build and testing. I am so thankful to all of them!

Where do you see your blog a year from now? 
If someone told me I�d even have a blog one year ago, I probably wouldn�t have believed them. So thinking a year ahead, I am hoping that I will have developed a community that can learn and share with me. I have no intention of slowing down and will continue to always share my honest opinion, feedback and tips.

What other interests do you have other than fitness that your readers might want to know about?
I have a deep appreciation for art and music. I love high fashion. I love movies, but not TV (we don't even have cable or the basic channels at home). I aspire to be an advanced seamstress one day and admire anyone who is really good at sewing. I adore baking! I never bake for myself, but jump on the opportunity to bring a treat when we are invited to a party or dinner. I'm also very crafty and put a lot of effort into something as little as decorating a cake or wrapping a gift. 

Thank you Maja, for motivating us this Monday! I am personally so thrilled that we will all have your blog as such an amazing resource to learn more about fitness and health so thank you for all of the time and effort you put into it!

Sunday Snaps: The Workout That Never Happened

I had the laziest Sunday of all time. I got out of bed and then proceeded to lounge around until about 1PM when I realized I had late lunch plans with some of my blogging friends (hi Magen, Mishelle & Bethany!).  I got ready and even threw on my workout clothes so I could head to the gym after our late lunch for a good Sunday workout.

Unfortunately, my body had other plans and towards the end of our lunch I had started to feel like I was getting a migraine and it just got worse and worse and then the nausea kicked in.  I had to go grocery shopping because we had no fresh produce and needed snacks so I went to Kroger and snuck into the medication area and totally opened a bottle of migraine pills and washed the pill down with water from the water fountain there (filtered by my bobble, of course).

Then, I felt guilty and awkwardly explained the entire ordeal to the cashier who was checking me out. The entire time I was sneaking the meds I was picturing some loss prevention dude jumping out from behind me and I had this whole "I SHOP HERE EVERY WEEK I SWEAR" speech prepared. I even tried to look around for the cashier who always checks us out to see if he was there because he would remember me and vouch for me.  Yes people, this is how weird I am. 

I was pretty pleased with today's workout outfit (uh, even if said workout never happened).  If you're in Houston--the tank is from High Fashion Home---there is a boutique in the store and they have these amazing stretchy tanks for $12 a piece in every color of the rainbow. I am totally going back there for more because they are awesome (and long).

The tights are Lululemon wunder unders (with the embossed chevron print) and the jacket is also Lululemon- it's the define jacket in Paris Pink (no longer available, but they have a similar color called "pow pink")

One of my favorite things to do in August is to read the September issues of all of the magazines. In addition to my subscriptions, I also purchase the ones I don't get:

I used to subscribe to In Style and then I didn't re-subscribe but I think I will because it is one of my favorites. People Style Watch is also amazing because they have include a lot of items that come from popular retailers so it's a magazine that's "easy to shop."

It was fun to share what's in my fridge last week, so here are some things I bought this week, both in my fridge and my pantry. Excuse the lack of organization.

Among the newly purchased items: bread, strawberries, peaches, cherries, arugula, fresh basil, roasted tomatoes, mozzarella cheese ball, Chobani greek yogurt.

In my pantry- I got the low glycemic Dreamfileds pasta and pasta sauce and the rest if stuff we already had---beans, canned soups, teriyaki sauce, etc.

For snacks, I got Luna bars, Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp bars in peanut butter---I buy a ton when they are on sale because they are pricey, walnuts (for salads), Teddy Ghrams, pistachios, etc.

Oh and before I go, someone wants to say HELLO:

HI.

Hope you had a great weekend!

What's in My Fridge This Week?

I get a lot of requests to talk about what I eat, so I thought it would be fun to do a "what's in my fridge" post. I say "this week" because obviously it varies, usually I switch up my fruits based on what's in season.

Please note that this does not include all of the meats and veggies---I freeze most of our meats and we let them thaw out overnight to make the next night for dinner. My freezer is also packed full of frozen veggies (we buy fresh too, but I hate being wasteful and sometimes we don't always use what we buy so frozen is the way to go in those cases). Our freezer currently has chicken tenderloins, salmon and ground turkey.

Level one has:  Chiobani yogurts, canned tuna (in water), cherries, strawberries, pasta sauce, pelegrino water (we don't drink this but I got it at an event and keep it around for guests), a bottle of wine, mozzarella cheese sphere and roasted sun-dried tomatoes.

Second shelf has organic basil leaves (to make salad dressing), baby arugula (my fave for salads), cut up bell peppers (in yellow, red and orange), cut-up strawberries, cut-up peaches, ZICO water for smoothies and 1% milk.

This drawer has turkey bacon, low sodium turkey cold cuts, white American cheese from the deli, cheese sticks and shredded Mexican-style cheese.

The second drawer has a bag of potatoes and a red onion.

 

The fridge door has some mayonnaise (never use it), some Reeces pieces (I later threw them out because they were expired), red bull (don't drink it), some other soda (don't drink it), coffee, basil pesto, balsamic vinaigrette,  salad dressing, ketchup, egg beaters, pre-made tuna packs, freeze dried garlic, spray butter and half & half (I use this at work for my morning coffee). The bottom that's cut off has some beer (my H's).

So that's what's in our fridge this week! I post dinner photos as often as I remember to on my Facebook page, so check it out if you want to see what we eat!

Here is what we made for dinner Tuesday night:

 

Oven-baked chicken tenderloins (made with butter and Mrs. Dash spices) and fire-roasted sundried tomatoes on top.

The side salad is Arugula with strawberries, bell peppers, walnuts and a balsamic dressing. On Monday night we had oven-baked salmon with pesto with potatoes on the side (the small ones that come in 3 colors).

YUM!  What items do you always keep stocked in YOUR fridge?