Food That Loves You Back

Eating healthy is not easy. If anyone has ever told you it is, they lied.

Today I was about to go for a run when realized I was feeling pretty weak and almost shaky. Upon this realization I started to think of the probable causes. It took me all of about a half of a second to discover it was because I hadn't eaten a strong breakfast or lunch.

You see, the problem with eating healthy is that you have to be intentional with your eating and if you become lazy, you will certainly feel the results.

I am a vegetarian and I also do not eat fish or dairy. Some would say this limits my variety but I know better. However, I don't always give myself the variety I need because it takes preparation and time! Hence, what happened today.

So as I sat and thought about my need for intentional eating, I started snacking on some Kashi cereal and saw that on the box it said "Food That Loves You Back". Ah ha! I then decided to go to Publix to stock my refrigerator and cabinets with food that would love me as much I love it!

I know how to eat balanced meals. I know how to prepare them but I don't always do it. We all fall into eating ruts. We all get lazy. I'm the biggest culprit but I am encouraged that with some dedication I will feel as great as possible and eat some amazing food while I'm at it.

Now that I'm home from Publix, I made myself the first Green Monster I have had in ages. Why has it been so long?! The ingredients are a heaping handful of spinach, a handful of strawberries, and a cup of vanilla almond milk. The result: mud water that tastes like heaven. :)

Moral of the story is .. Make sure you are getting the fuel your body needs, eat intentionally, eat with a purpose! It's worth your time. I promise. :)

Do you ever fall into eating ruts?

xoxo Jessenia

Random Mumbo Jumbo

I'm back! I cannot believe it has been almost 7 months since my last blog! That is unacceptable. I'll have to say, I missed it a ton but I was so busy I hardly seemed to notice.

I feel like I have so much to say but I don't want to put it all into the same post so I will give you the quick update on the past 7 months and then talk about today.

In summary:

• I finished my degree in Secondary Biology with student teaching for 3 months and now I am teaching part-time time a technology charter school. 
• My one year anniversary with the husband was in January! woo hooo :) 
• and ... I have been a vegetarian for a whole year!

I've been really busy but having a great time! I love my life and I am so so blessed.

Now for today. Since I work part-time now, I have most of my afternoons free which gives me plenty of time to get stuff done around the house, relax, and workout.

Today I went running around my neighborhood at about 5:30. I felt pretty good but I'm not quite up to speed with where I've been in the past. I feel like there's always something that gets in the way and I stop running for a while and then have to from scratch. Anyone know what I mean?

My most recent excuse was that I was sick. sniffle sniffle.

I did notice while I was running that I could smell dinners cooking from all the different houses. It was amazing! I found myself taking in huge whiffs of air and trying to figure out what food was cooking. Weird, I know ;).

I definitely think I smelled mashed potatoes and green beans at one house. I looove mashed potatoes and green beans.

I've also started listening to Pandora while I run instead of my iTunes. It's a great way to be introduced to new music. I highly highly suggest listening to the Daft Punk Radio while running. I know you'll love it!

Okay, time to figure out what to make for din din. I'm so glad to be back and have a million things on my mind to share so stay tuned!

What have you all been up to?

xoxo Jessenia

I'm in Miami Trick (ft. Joe Jonas)

The husband and I went to Miami yesterday for a day-cation. Unfortunately, Joe Jonas was not involved despite the title of this blog but I'll get to that later! 

We decided to go to Miami because we only live abut 2 hours away and since I'm going to be so busy with teaching soon we wanted to have a day to enjoy each other and have some fun away from it all. 

We started the day with breakfast at a restaurant on Ocean Dr. right across the street from the beach. When you walk down the sidewalk on Ocean you are basically walking through the outside of each restaurant and there's someone standing there to ask you if you want to eat as you are walking by. We decided on the restaurant Bellini because the girl out front offered us 15% off. 

The husband thinks they strategically place the pretty girls with foreign accents in the front to attract customers haha. I think he may be right. 

I had eggs, whole wheat toast, potatoes, fruit, and coffee. 

Needless to say, I'm glad we picked Bellini because the food was delish!!

After breakfast we went to the beach and laid out for a while followed by some swimming in the clear, calm water. It was gorgeous and relaxing. Actually, a little too relaxing for us though. We got bored of the beach quickly and decided to change out of our bathing suits and go check out the shops. 

I had to change in the beach bathroom and I have to say putting on makeup while sweating was a new and not very pleasant experience lol. 

Shopping was fun and the air conditioning was glorious. We tried on a lot of clothes but only ended up buying a few things. Which is good of course since everything there was pretty pricey. 

We did stop in at DASH Miami. For those of you who don't follow the Kardashians, DASH Miami is a boutique that the three sisters own (they weren't there though).  I confess to watching every episode of Khloe and Kourney take Miami so I am very familiar with the store from seeing it on TV. It was really neat to be in the store that I have seen the Kardashian sisters in, but the store itself really wasn't that great. The clothing was over priced for it's quality, it wasn't very clean inside, and they had very little merchandise. Also, the only thing I was actually planning on buying was a souvenir water bottle with their faces on it lol but .... they were all out. Imagine that! I still acted like a star struck dummy and took pictures outside of the store for the memory! 

Next, we ate lunch at a really cool place where you write out your own order. I got a huge salad with tons of toppings. It was incredible!

We then walked around a little more and took some photos before heading home. Overall, it was a really fun day with my favorite guy :)

Now to the Joe Jonas part .. I am officially registered for the Joe Jonas iWin Fun Run for Special Olympics Florida! I will be running in this 5k on Memorial Day with my cousin and one of my best friends. I'm really excited about it and I hope I see Joe (smiles like a 12 yr old).

I started "training" today by running 2 miles. It was nice out except for the gnats. They attacked me brutally. 

That's all for tonight. Hope you all had a wonderful Monday! 

If you could meet any celebrity, who would it be??

xoxo Jessenia

EVOO

For those of you who have never seen Rachel Ray, evoo is what she calls Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I don't know about you but I love evoo on everything! I rarely cook anything without it.

As I am typing this, I am eating a salad doused in evoo with a dash of salt. Perfection.

So, we know evoo tastes good and makes everything a bit more decedent but how far do it's benefits stretch? (drum roll .... )

Very far! Evoo is indeed one of the healthiest oils available. It is high in mono-saturated fat (don't worry that's the good kind!) which promotes many health benefits.

When you think of consuming a high fat diet, what do you associate it with?
Heart disease, obesity, diabetes?

The reason for this is because in the United States, the most consumed fats are the bad ones (animal fat, vegetable oil, hydrogenated fats) but in the Mediterranean (where evoo originated and is consumed the most) having a high fat diet is actually helping them live longer. People who replace these bad fats with olive oil actually have much less of a chance of developing these conditions.

In studies with Mediterranean people who's diets consisted of mostly olive oil, raw vegetables, soups, and poultry, they found the people to have significantly lower mortality rates and after 6 1/2 years of the study, some of them had a 50% reduced overall risk of mortality.

When compared to a traditional Italian diet, consisting of pasta, tomato sauce, red meat, animal fat, and white bread, the mortality rate increased. (sorry to all the Italians out there).

Evoo is also great for the heart, may cut risk for breast cancer, and has anti-inflammatory benefits.

Overall, this amazing oil not only tastes great but is great for your health too! I think I want to eat more like the Greeks and I really want to go there too!

What do you like to cook/ eat with olive oil?

xoxo Jessenia

(Most of the information in this blog came from here: whfoods)

Couches and Cupcakes

Is it really 8:22 already? I feel like the day just started. Today the husband and I went couch shopping and we ended up finding a really nice black sectional we liked at Rooms To Go. We decided we wanted to pick it up ourselves so we would have to come back for it.

We got home and had some time before the truck we were borrowing would be available so we decided to go grocery shopping. On the way we saw a huge garage sale and I couldn't say no. 

Garage sales are the best.

It was scorching hot out but we ended up finding two awesome leather like chairs that match amazingly with the couch we picked out. After getting them loaded in the car we decided to just skip grocery shopping and came home to move out one of our old couches to my sister-in-laws house. 

After that it was finally time to go buy and take home our new couch and we were super excited until...

We got there and she told us we couldn't pick it up today. 

Which she never told us before lol. Slightly disappointing but life goes on! So we bought it and it's being delivered on monday! I can't wait. 

I also made organic chocolate cupcakes today. yum yum. I've made the same mix once before but it was super dry so this time I added mayonnaise and they turned out much more moist. I love cupcakes so much. They're just so little and cute haha.

Sorry if this post was slightly boring .. but i just had to put up pictures of my cupcakes because .. well.. they are cupcakes ;) 

What's you all time favorite flavor cupcake?

xoxo Jessenia

A Little Further

Good evening ladies and gents! Today has been quite an exhausting day for me. I had to go into work earlier than I was expecting but when I got home I took a nap and then went to the gym for my regular thursday class. It's called Sergio Mania!

The guy who teaches it's name is Sergio and he is crazy. Every class I feel like I'm about to die. haa. But it's extremely rewarding and he pushes us to our limit every class. I love that feeling because you never know how far you can push your body until you try. 

Sometimes I find myself complaining about not being in the shape I want to be in but I never stop to think why that is. Once I hold myself accountable I realize that ..

I am the only one who can make changes within myself.

I think it's important not only in the fitness world but in every aspect of our lives to remember that we are responsible for the way we live our lives and whether or not we achieve the dreams and goals we set for ourselves. 

But the best part is .. When we finally start realizing this, it's extremely empowering. 

The hard work is always worth the reward. 

I want to give my all in every aspect of my life but it's not always easy. None of us are perfect but we can try right? Be comfortable in your own skin and strive to be better for yourself because you my friend are stronger than you think. 

Push yourself a little further everyday, you'll be amazed at how far you can go!

xoxo Jessenia

Eating Intentionally

Hello There! I have not blogged in a very very long time! I have been so busy and haven't had a chance or much inspiration but today I do. Lately, I have been so busy I have not worked out much. I also have found that upon arriving home from work around 3:00 pm every afternoon, I get a serious case of the munches. I think this is due to eating a somewhat small lunch at work consisting of a salad and a small snack. Now, don't get me wrong if I am hungry I know that I need to eat. Being a vegetarian can be tricky in that way because if the food you are eating is not particularly filling you find yourself hungry a lot. (Note: I've been a vegetarian for almost 5 months! crazyyy) 

Going on these snacking binges has proven to be anything but successful. I think that being a vegetarian can seem like a healthy thing to do but I believe it's only healthy if you approach it in the right way. Let's say I get home from work after having a salad for lunch and I'm hungry. First thing I go for are some pretzels. I snack on them while watching TV. Once I get sick of them I move on to a bowl of cereal (Kashi w/ almond milk), after that I am still hungry and have not satisfied my hunger so I go for a piece of fruit. Do I stop there?! Sometimes. 

Although all of the items I just listed are considered relatively healthy, they are not however sustaining. Hence, why I feel the need to continue to eat. Living a vegetarian life style is not in any part easy, that is if you want to do it right. I have started taking more vitamins such as B12 and Iron and I am more conscious of getting enough protein. If you don't do these things you can find yourself tired and lethargic. 

For me all of these things have been a learning experience for me. I love being a vegetarian but I think I need to start working at it and eating more intentionally. By this I mean thinking about what I'm putting into my body based on energy and nutrition. I love this article by NoMeatAthelete because in it he outlines all of the non-meat foods from which one can obtain protein. (To read article Click Here) I realized that I am not getting enough and that in order to do so I need to balance out my diet and use my brain instead of my stomach to make decisions. 

Today, I chose a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter because they are both great protein sources. I am going to a cardio class tonight so I know I will need the extra boost. Also, I'm not still hungry! I gave my body the nutrition and energy it was seeking to hold me over until it's time for dinner. It might take more thinking to eat this way but I believe it's worth it! 

I hope you enjoyed my little insight for the day and even if you aren't a vegetarian, eating intentionally is still something that can work for you. It's all about doing what's best for your body. 

~Jessenia