My current world - all the things!

After a lot of trial and error in seeing what works for me, this is my current world when it comes to health, wellness and personal development.

Workouts:

1. Alexia Clark (@alexia-clark): She’s a badass, beautiful personal trainer who has created an online fitness program of circuits with weights, different workout every day, which keeps it interesting. You have the option of choosing a 20 min (3 circuits) or 50 min (5 circuits) workout, at home or at the gym. Because I use my apartment gym and equipment is limited, I select the home workout for 20 min. On a good week, I’ll get 3-4 of these workouts in. On a bad week, 0.

2. Yoga at YogaWorks in Back Bay. I like to go at least once a week, but in reality I avg 3 a month probably. I mix up my classes and teachers. When I go regularly, I feel more grounded and less tense. My neck and back muscles are less tight as well. If I’m hesitating about booking a class because I don’t know if I want to work out, I’ll book it to hold myself accountable. I’d never pay for a class and not show up!

Eating:

Thanks to ‘Food, What the Heck Should I Eat‘, I now buy all organic and grass-fed when possible. I generally stay away from gluten, grains, sugar, and dairy, unless it’s cheese (I love cheese so much). I also read ingredients labels pretty obsessively and stay away from canola oil and other ingredients I don’t understand because they’re not real food. I also try to drink at least 60 oz of water a day. I don’t have any known intolerances but when I eat clean like this I’m leaner, I feel better physically, I have less anxiety, and my skin is clearer.

1. Breakfast: 20 oz smoothie with frozen spinach, frozen blueberries, almond milk (I like this brand because it has the fewest ingredients I’ve found on the market), hemp seeds, ground flax seed, and brain octane oil. Sometimes I add maca powder, matcha powder, coconut butter, and/or avocado.

If I’m traveling for work and can’t make this smoothie, I’ll try to get Bulletproof coffee from WholeFoods or whatever fancy cafe has it. I pull up Yelp and search Bulletproof coffee.

2. Lunch: arugula and/or spinach salad with some mix of sweet potato, tofu or chicken, lentils, tomatoes, avocado, and olive oil/lemon dressing. I don’t get fancy with it, I just throw everything into a bowl or tupperware to go. Takes less than 10 minutes.

If I’m traveling for work my favorite is dig inn. I order the mixed greens with sweet potato, charred chicken, and broccoli.

3. Dinner: A similar salad to lunch.

If my husband is cooking , it’ll likely be some meat concoction (e.g. ground beef and onions; chicken, celery and onions; sweet Italian sausage and onions) with Banza pasta and tomato sauce (I like Thrive Market’s brand because it’s organic and is clean with real ingredients). I’ll either top arugula or spinach with the meat concoction, or I’ll splurge and eat the pasta topped with some arugula or spinach. I literally just throw in handfuls of vegetable into the pasta and mix it together.

4. Snacks: I don’t snack as much anymore but if I do it’s:

• nuts: almonds, walnuts, cashews. I’ll pack ziplock bags of them when I travel.
• chia pudding (2 T chia seeds, 1/2 cup almond milk) topped with berries (raspberries or blackberries), a nut butter (almond or pecan), and nuts (walnuts or almonds). I’ll put in a mason jar (or reuse other jars) and bring when I travel. I actually have one right now in my backpack for this train ride to NYC.
• coconut yogurt (cocoyo or So Delicious). I haven’t been able to find cocoyo in Boston, so if I’m feeling fancy I’ll buy it in NYC and bring it back.
• berries (usually raspberries or blackberries)
• celery with almond butter
• Artisana almond butter packets if traveling
• boiled eggs. I’ll pack a couple when I fly sometimes.

Important note: I’ve been working on this new lifestyle for 6 months now and it’s still new to me. I eat like this when I’m the best version of myself. There are times, more often than I’d like, when I’m the worst version of myself. I binge eat family size bags of chips (Nacho Cheese Doritos, Sour Cream and Cheddar, and Sour Cream and Onion are my fav), cake, donuts, pizza, pasta, candy, and whatever processed carbs I can get my hands on. When I do this, I don’t feel great, my anxiety goes up, and I tend to lie on the couch for hours, watch shows or movies, and feel bad about myself. Needless to say when I find myself off the clean eating wagon, I try to get back on as quickly as possible to prevent a downward spiral.

Podcasts: 

Here are the ones I listen to consistently. There are others I dabble in, like mindbodygreen, Rise, the Doctor’s Farmacy, the Brendon Show, and the School of Greatness, but these are my go-tos and ones I feel I learn the most from.

1. Rise Together (by Rachel and Dave Hollis): this is my new favorite. It’s a couples podcast focused on tangible advice. They’re both super honest and relatable. It’s like you’ve been friends with them for a long time and they’re chatting with you about their relationship and what’s worked to help them both be the best versions of themselves.
2. Bulletproof Radio (by Dave Asprey): I’ve listened to more episodes of this than any podcast this year and have learned SO much. He always has world-class guests (e.g. MDs, biochemists, nutritionists, meditation experts) on to discuss super interesting topics on ways to live your life better and how to upgrade your mind and body. Episodes are usually pretty scientific, but in an easy to understand way. Example topics: your brain and what you should be doing and eating to keep it healthy, Alzheimer’s and the quest to end it, generational toxicity, depression, what self-awareness and gratitude do for you, autophagy, and gut health.
3. The Cabral Concept (by Dr. Stephen Cabral): Dr. Cabral is a naturopathic doctor and ayurvedic & functional medicine practitioner who focuses on natural ways to improve your wellness, weight loss and anti-aging through actionable steps. He releases an episode every day, and every day has a different theme (motivational and mindset Mondays, total wellness Tuesdays, weight loss Wednesdays, training Thursdays, Friday reviews, Saturday and Sunday house calls). My favorites are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He’s a one-man show, so if you prefer podcasts with guests and interviews, you may not like this one.

Instagram:

Key people I follow right now:

• Rachel Hollis (@msrachelhollis): duh. I’m obsessed with her and her husband @mrdavehollis. She’s real, relatable, funny, a hustler, and a coach. She doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, she tells you how to be better. I watch her and her husband’s live stream every week day at 9am ET (or the replay on Facebook) for some morning inspiration and to start my day off right. She also posts the cutest pics of her baby girl Noah.
• Laura Gluck (@fitasgluck): Laura is a critical care nurse who cares a lot about preventative health. I watch her stories every day to hear what she’s learning about, and podcasts and products she recommends. I learn a lot about health from her and she shares a lot of helpful resources. She’s also super real and gets sassy with people on Instagram for correcting her typos or telling her she’s not responding fast enough, which I love.
• Bri Reesing (@beachlifeorganic): Bri is an ER nurse who is friends with @fitasgluck (they started a podcast together that I love @criticalconversations!) and also cares a lot about preventative health. She has a gluten allergy and an amazing story about how she finally figured out what it was causing her to break out in rash every day for years. I watch her stories to learn about health and as a reminder to eat whole foods and make good choices throughout my day.  She also has recipes on her blog and is famous for her matcha latte.
• Whitney Gardner (@whitlayne): I discovered Whit when I was doing BBG. She’s a mom to 3 boys, is married to her high school sweetheart, works out every day, kills it with her Senegence business (@beautylayne), and is just a real person learning how to live life best. I watch her stories to just hear about her day, learn new tips about things that she’s learned, see what life changes are working for her family, and learn how to do makeup. She also introduced me to Rachel Hollis, so I can thank her eternally for that!