Vacation Recap.

Hi everyone!  I just returned after being away for almost 2 weeks!  I had a fabulous time, ate delicious food and even worked out!

My family and I travel quite a bit, however, this was my first time trying to be health conscious while still enjoying myself.  I noticed a lot of things while I was in France and Italy.  First, their food is fresh and simple.  Most sauces were a simple olive oil based sauce with fresh lemon and herbs.  Even the pizza manages to seem light and figure friendly, thanks to their wood ovens.   In my opinion, this is the key to success.  Keep it simple and let the ingredients shine through.  I am moving to Paris on September 15th!  so...hopefully this simple eating will agree with me :)

Overall, I think I did very well watching my portions and sampling everything.  Here are a few of my tricks:

1.  I choose to skip the bread (for the most part) in Italy because I don't care for their bread, while in France, I enjoyed it.  

2. Share, share share.  We ordered mutiple entrees and appetizers and desserts..and shared.  This way you aren't stuck eating an entire plate of creamy risotto by yourself (not that that would be s0 bad... lol)

3. Sad but true fact.  On normal family vacations, I have been known to eat gelato MULTIPLE times a day.  More than one scoop at each sitting. This time, I tried to limit it to once per day.  There were a few days where I did not have any at all.

4. Water, water water..and red wine...and a few limoncellos...but nothing crazy.

5. I ran at least a 5k 6 out of the 11 days I was gone.  Book a hotel with a gym..I felt TOO guilty to walk by it and not stop in...

Some food highlights:

1. Entire Seabass, de-boned in front of us by our lovely assistant waiter, Mei.

2. A HUGEMONGO bowl of chocolate mousse..for 2.

3.  Veggie Pizza in Venice :)

4.  Vanilla Pan Seared Scallops in France

5. HUGE white asparagus in France. Out of this world good.

6. Delicious, authentic vegetarian falafel 

Needless to say, this girl is back watching what she eats :).  To be truthful, I've taken a month off of really being food conscious.  It was an unintentional break..that I actually didn't like.  I realized I enjoy eating healthy, whole foods, watching my portions and indulging every now-and-then.  So I'm back..and it feelsss soooo niceeeee....

I am making turkey burgers tonight with baked sweet potato fries and asparagus! 

Here are a few cute tips I saw in my SELF mag while I was lounging at the pool:

1. Cake's just not that into you. HEHEHE. Agreed.  But totally worth it once in a while

2. Make sure you can ID the animal..scary..but true.

3. Don't buy food where you buy tires.  Honey Buns are not food items people.

4. Your hips are not a fridge. AKA you don't have to eat everything. 

5. Cut yourself a break!  Don't forget to ENJOY!

I leave you with some pics of my adventures!

mousse au chocolat!

Don't worry. I shared this bad boy. Falafelllll in Le Marais, Paris, France.

Mei and the sea bass.

Sisters!  

Gondolas!

 

Pre-Vacation Jitters!

Hi lovies.

Today is my last day of work..and I am SO SAD.  I love my kiddies and I am going to miss them.  We have a banquet planned for this afternoon complete with Carrabbas and COOKIE CAKE.  You best believe I am hitting that up.  

Interesting Eats:

I went to Macaroni Grill.  To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  I ordered Whole Wheat Penne with Tomato Basil Sauce, Broccoli, Spinach, Buffallo Mozz and 2 Meatballs.  First off, it was drowning in sauce, the noodles were limp, yes, limp, 2 pieces of mozz (which was prolly for the best)..the meatballs were good?

On a brighter note...I tried the Yoplait Thick and Creamy 110cal Cherry Cobbler Yogurt.  I was so impressed!  Aside from the artificial sweetner, I liked every aspect.  It lived up to it's name, and was both thick and creamy AND tasted like real cherry cobbler!  I'd buy this again...but I'd eat if for dessert, not a snack or lunch item.

I also tried the Banana Cream Pie..not the thick and creamy but just the light.  Don't waste your money.  I can't overlook the artificial-ness thanks to its off taste.  Stick with Thick and Creamy.

Signauture Drink.  So...I want my own "Skinny Girl Margarita".  I always get light beer when I go out, however, sometimes I want a girly girl drink so I've been getting

• vodka...about 100cals
• Soda Water...about ZERO CALS
• Fresh Lime Juice..healthy?...ZERO CALS
• not too shabby :)

So on Saturday I am off to....PARIS AND VENICE!!  YAY! I cannot wait.  My sister is over in Paris now studying abroad so we are going to meet up with her, check out my school for next year and such and then hop over to Venice.  I will be gone May 16th-May 28th.  I will take TONS of food pics..I promise.  I am soo excited for all the clean, healthy food. YIPEE.

I'm BACKKK

Hi everyone!  I'm back!!!  I took a brief hiatus from blogging and am happy to be back :)

I decided to take a few days (which turned into weeks) off. I was feeling a little overwhelmed with everything that was going on in the blog world...I felt like I couldn't keep up!  I admire all the bloggers who do challenge after challenge and I felt like my blog wasn't really offering anything.  I wasn't doing give aways, I wasn't capturing every meal on camera, I wasn't doing raw this or vegan that.  I think those other blogs are AMAZING and  I WISH I had the dedication those women do.  However, I also realized that this is my blog and I can do WHATEVER I want with it.  

So, I'm back.  I won't be photographing every single thing I put into my mouth, but rather, the really good things :) or interesting ones, it just works better for me.

So!  What have I been up to?  Well, my roommate moved out before going to Phoenix for real life :(, I took my after school program to the water park (and didn't go crazy) and my eating has been...less than stellar to say the least.  

I've seen major changes due to my diet changes.  My skin isn't lookin' ::oh so radiant:: to put it nicely, my jeans are ::tight:: and my running has been ::affected::.  Not a happy camper over here, but it's my own doing so time to fix it.

So, this week, I decided to follow the Clean Eating Magazine 14 day (make that 7 for me) meal plan.  Today is day 3!

I did cheat some yesterday and had sushi for dinner.   I actually had an AMAZING roll...without rice, which I never thought i'd like...but it was incredible.  It had wakame salad, greens, tilapia, tuna, crab, carrots and seaweed.  I also had some tart yogurt from this new place that opened in gville...right next to the Bento on Archer.  They serve a zillion flavors of tart, natural yogurt.  I got original and Taro flavored...it sorta had a sugar cookie taste..fine by me...

Things I like about this meal plan:

1. variety.  They offer up a ton of different meals, such as a pork fajita casserole, strawberry smoothies, veggie burgers, tofu scrambles....
2. it's a reasonable amount of cals...about 1,500-1,600 per day.  On long run days, I can always add a few hundred more
3. they give you a shopping list you can cut out...how perfect.
4. it's all clean eating

Not the biggest fan of...

1. 5 meals a day is a bit much for me.  I don't get up at 7am..so trying to squeeze bfast, snack and lunch into a 5 hour time frame is a bit stressful.  I prefer four meals, bfast, lunch, snack, dinner..and then dessert :) 
2. no dessert factored in.  um excuse me. a girl needs her chocolate. and cookies. and cake. oh wait...that's why I'm doing this..to not eat those things everyday..whoops...
3. it's a little hard to eat out when you have it all planned like this.  I'm still going to eat out...and do the meal plan for the other meals of that day

Exercise wise, I am TRYING to get refocused on running.  I am still running 4-5 days a week...I've just cut back on my distance ever since my IT band issue.  So, generally I've been running about 12-13 miles per week.  But...I want to get back to doing a legit long run on sundays.  

So here are some pics of what I've been up to all of May :)

My roommate graduated with her BA in May!  Here we are at lunch :)

My friend Moira turned 23!  Can you tell what her favorite color is?

XOXO, Healthy Girl.