Fancy Food + Weekly Moves and Grooves

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Thank you to everyone who recommended a bunch of podcasts on yesterday’s post! I’m looking forward to listening to all of them ~~and perpetuating my dependence on technology to keep me from feeling lonely~~.

I love that podcasts can make me laugh out loud. I like laughing. 😀

Since I started my internship at 3pm yesterday, I had a little bit of extra free time in the morning to make some more “fancy” food. Fancy = takes more time.

Breakfast was Frrrreeeench tooooast (said in my pitiful, wannabe-hardy French accent). I dipped Dave’s Killer Bread in a mixture of: 1 egg, a splash of 2% milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then I plopped the battered bread into a skillet sizzling with butter.

Served with a pool of peanut butter and bananas sautéed in a little more butter. Plus the last of a plain yogurt container with more cinnamon, nutmeg, stevia (yeah, I used it) and the sweetest of mangoes.

For lunch, I had another English muffin sandwich with an egg, avocado, and goat cheese + salad + an unknown number of white cheddar Popcorners + a plum!

Around 11AM I whipped out the crockpot and almost 6 lbs of boneless pork ribs, compliments of Costco. After practically sawing off the excess fat (I left plenty on, but I took off the 2 inch strips and chunks o’ fat), I seasoned the ribs with Bobby’s rib rub and then threw them into the crockpot with some garlic and onion.

8 hours later…

Glamour shots.

You can see my first taste of the ribs on Snapchat.

For dinner I served the ribs on microwave-steamed sweet potatoes with kale sautéed in avocado oil, salt, pepper, a little maple syrup, and spicy brown mustard (<— do this!). Plus a dollop of Greek yogurt because the ribs were kinda spicyyy.

What a blesséd meal.

Since I haven’t shared my weekly moves and grooves in a couple weeks, I thought it was a good time to share again! Still keeping things pretty low impact/intensity and feeling great about it.

I’ve been working on gaining some flexibility and mobility back in some (all) of my tight joints with yoga and stretching. Physical therapy interning has me inspired to stay as mobile in my joints as possible!

Friday: Rest
Saturday: lower body barre
Sunday: 8 min abs
Monday: 60 min yoga
Tuesday: gymnastics warmup + handstands + lower body exercises
Wednesday: 3 mile walk
Thursday: 8 min abs + 60 min yoga

Hip hip hooray for Friday!

So tell me:

What did you eat for dinner last night?

Do you consider yourself flexible?

New Hair, New Finds, New Best Friend

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

click on the button to learn more!

1) Remember when my brother and I plunged a few hundred feet head first into a canyon in Colorado? And I promised a Go-Pro video of our faces? Well, I posted said video on Youtube but have since forgotten to share it with you!

You can see me praying and making the sign of the cross before the ride starts at 1:16. (P.S. brace yourself for the scream.)

2) When I was at my PT internship the other day, one of physical therapists said, “Wow, you really cut your hair off.” Then the patient said, “Boys like long hair.” She then confirmed this with the physical therapist, a man.

…Oh.

Well I like my new short hair, dangit!

3) I still love my PT internship though. In fact, one of the PTs gave me all the digital versions of his textbooks, and one of them is about exercise form called Becoming a Supple Leopard. If becoming a supple leopard is not a fitness goal, I don’t know what is.

[source]

4) I came across this travel blog the other day called The Everywhereist. Have you heard of it? If you’ve read this article on PopSugar called “I Went Paleo and Now I Hate Everything,” that’s the blogger, Geraldine. She is absolutely hilarious. There is no blogger that makes me laugh out loud as much as she does.

Like I said, Geraldine runs a travel blog, but in the interest of us healthy living peeps, here’s her latest post called, “If the Exercise Class Descriptions From My Gym Were Honest.” Grab some tissues, you’ll probably cry of laughter.

5) Last week I told you guys that I wanted to cut down on social media when I came home from work. In all honesty, that has not happened. I realized that I can’t just say I’ll do something; I have to actually cut something out (taking Hayley’s advice!). Thus, I’m going to try logging out of my blog reader. I’m not as hardcore as Hayley, since I’m not deleting it, but I just need to spend less time reading the 100+ blogs that I follow. Hopefully this helps and gives me more time to read books! And sleep.

6) I saw more high school friends last night!

The “Core Four” getting ice cream, just like old times. You know you’re great friends when you can still laugh until you almost pee after a year apart from each other. Also, that’s blueberry cheesecake ice cream I ate. YEAH.

7) Guess who I’m seeing tomorrow!? His name rhymes with Garmin and his blog is the opposite of The Little Woman’s World. (Spoiler: this guy!)

Who knows what kind of trouble we’ll get into. It’s been so fun getting to know bloggers more in person, outside of blog/social media comments. I was serious when I said I want to FaceTime with you guys!

8) I have a new best friend. He’s loyal, quiet yet unassuming, he makes my house smell really good, and he cooks me dinner while I’m at work.

His name is CrockPot. Not a sexy name, but names don’t matter.

Before work, I threw in some chicken breasts, spicy Italian sausage, a large visalia onion, marinara sauce, and some water. Then Mr. CrockPot worked his magic low and slow for about 6 hours. After work, my house smelled like an Italian restaurant and the chicken shredded with ease.

If no boy will take me out to dinner because of my short hair, at least I have the CrockPot to make me dinner.

10) I might have to take a flight to LA just to go to this place: Spread PB, A Peanut Butter Bar. It’s a peanut butter BAR. Go drool over their menu (and if you’re allergic to pb, pretend it’s almond butter).

_________________________

Hope you all have a fantastic day! Rock your hair, no matter what anyone says.

So tell me:

Do the guys in your life prefer long hair?

Have you come across any new blogs that you love?

What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

One thing you’re excited for!

I Tried Counting Calories Again and I Didn’t Like It

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I am currently typing this in a lawn chair in front of my house!

The sun finally came out to play this weekend after a rather gloom and doom week. I’m just trying to keep my laptop from overheating and keep myself from spazzing out every time a bug flies past my ear. I’m also (hopefully) getting a nice tan on the front half of my body. #twoshadesofAlison

What’s been shakin’ since I talked to you last?

On Thursday night I took Pop out to dinner for his birthday! He chose a local Italian restaurant, where we ate copious amounts of {delicious} dairy and salt 🙂

bread and olive oil to start // to share: burrata salad + field greens salad with gorgonzola, bacon, and walnuts // my entree: grilled swai with sautéed spinach and rice pilaf

Dessert was my favorite, as is often the case.

warm apple tart a la mode with a side of birthday singing

‘Twas a joyful celebration indeed!

Unfortunately, one thing bothered me while eating this fine dinner. For the first time in a long time, I thought about the number of calories I must have eaten during that meal. I didn’t let the the thoughts affect how much I ate, but they definitely made me quite anxious.

I’ve eaten several big dinners in the past year yet never worried about calories. Why was I anxious all of a sudden? I suspect that it was because of the fact that I’m not exercising nearly as much as I was just a few weeks ago, so I feel guilty eating that much, even though the guilt is completely unwarranted.

I keep reminding myself that I need to eat a lot right now, and that’s what I’ve been doing. For the most part, I very happily do so! Like on Friday when I met up with my beautiful friend Fiona at the mall. I had a tasty late lunch at my internship, shared some of Fiona’s fries, devoured a cup of Cold Stone ice cream, and then ate dinner at home, despite being kinda full from ice cream.

I don’t know what the peanut butter supreme Quest bar tastes like, but it’s not peanut butter

mint Oreo is my go-to amazingness

Some people like to track their calories when they are recovering from an eating disorder or gaining weight for health reasons (like me!). In all honesty though, I’ve had no interest in counting calories in order to make sure I’m eating enough. I’m trying to eat as much as I can and as densely as I can, but I have no idea how many calories I eat every day.

overnight oats smoothie: oats, Greek yogurt, milk, cinnamon, chia seeds, peanut butter, frozen banana, greens, topped with lots of trail mix

The reason I don’t want to count calories is pretty simple: I counted calories throughout my eating disorder, which led to restriction.

night snack: full fat Greek yogurt, berries, cinnamon raisin WB Kitchen cookie, spoonful of pb

Of course, my mindset is in a much healthier place today. This weekend, I figured that I should probably gauge the number of calories I was eating on a given day to make sure I was eating enough. Thus, on Saturday, I counted my calories, keeping in mind that I want anywhere from 2500 to 3000 calories per day.

Saturday breakfast: big toast with sunflower seed butter, peanut butter, banana + full fat Greek yogurt with berries + almond coconut milk

So I went about my day analyzing the portions and calories I ate after each meal and snack. If I tried to count before eating, I knew I might be tempted to hold back. I didn’t feel anxious throughout the day fortunately. By eating completely freely, I actually ate about 2800 calories— right in the range.

afternoon snack smoothie: almond coconut milk, half a banana, big spoonful of pb, and Quest strawberries and cream protein powder // and then another spoonful of pb after

It was helpful to know that I’ve been eating enough, and I feel at peace with how much I’m eating, but I still didn’t like counting calories. First of all, it’s time consuming and tedious. Secondly, it reminded me of when I counted calories during my ED, and I feel that if I did it consistently, I might fall into stupid guilt again, just like I did at my dad’s birthday dinner.

My main points: It’s good to have a general idea of how much I’m eating, but I don’t want to overthink it by counting calories. I don’t think I ever want to count calories again if I don’t have to. It works for some people, but I’m not one of those people.

This was Saturday’s dinner, loaded with delicious and {mostly} nutritious calories.

I used this recipe for slow cooker pulled pork, and it was heavenly. We ate it on top of sweet potatoes with a side salad dressed with homemade honey mustard vinaigrette.

It was also one of the easiest things to make ever! The slow cooker is one of those pieces of technology that deserves all the praise it gets. Also, the satisfaction of the pork falling clean off the bone as soon as I took it out of the slow cooker— everyone must experience that satisfaction.

Alrighty. It’s time to grab a snack and then go for a walk before this sunshine goes away.

Hope you all have a beautiful day! Do what works for you, whatever that is.

P.S. I made a vlog with Daliza this weekend. Coming soon to a post near you.

So tell me:

Calorie counting— like it or leave it?

Do you have a slow cooker? Any favorite recipes you like to make with it?