Less Salad, More Bacon

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Now, now. I still love vegetables.

But bacon has made its way into my heart (figuratively, maybe literally too, it’s all okay). It has helped fuel life lately, and life has been a blast! A busy blast and not always an easy one, but c’est la vie.

I used to eat salads every single day. If you’ve followed me for a long time, you might remember that a typical meal might be a huge bowl of spinach with leftover meat/pasta/stew just thrown on top (Rachel thinks that’s so weird, BTW).

For example:

Green, leafy (edible, non-smokable) things are obviously great for you, and I highly recommend them. However, I don’t recommend stressing over eating a salad a day. There are other ways you can reach your veggie intake each day, such as…

…rainbow colored carrots (how fun! from Trader Joe’s!)…

…arugula in an avocado, egg, BACON, sriracha sandwich…

…OR with tomatoes (actually a fruit, but for all intents and purposes a veggie) in a homemade BACON cheeseburger…

…frozen brussels sprouts heated up in a pan with some spices…

with leftover Annie’s mac and cheese, some rice, and turkey meatloaf

…OR you could eat almost-dead arugula as a side salad, just to compliment your avocado, BACON, egg toast.

If you’re wondering, I get the uncured apple smoked bacon from Trader Joe’s!

Bacon has honestly helped me recognize that adding flavorful (often fatty/dense) foods to my meals makes me 10x more satisfied, so I’m less likely to think about food in the hour or two after I’m finished eating. I do love food, but it is so nice to not think about it all the time.

All this to say: Tune into what will truly satisfy your body at the moment. Is it really a salad? Or is it really something more dense like a bacon cheeseburger? It can be either one (I do still crave salads sometimes), but try to be honest with yourself. 🙂

What else has been happening this week!? (spoiler: so much.) Here are the highlights.

A much-needed Friday night hanging out with my BFF, Rachel. Complete with Annie’s mac and cheese for me….

…and banana bread mug cakes a la mode for both of us.

Lots of studying for functional anatomy.

Studying is much better with friends like Elayne and study spaces like these.

Sunday was Colby’s birthday, so she hosted a little picnic at Boston Public Garden! This lady is 21! *glasses clink*

We drank mimosas out of Dunkin Donuts cups and ate fruit, Terra chips and scones…

although I made these scones from a box mix and 75% of the people at the party were gluten-free and dairy-free, soooo….

…handstanded…

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

…and I got to meet Nancy from Approaching Paleo (@approachingpaleo)! I’ve “known” her through social media and Fit University for so long now, but I finally got to hug this wonderful woman in person on Sunday.

The internet can help us meet the most marvelous people, lemme tell ya.

Sunday evening involved the usual (yet always extraordinary) Mass and “ice cream Sunday” tradition! We went to Cold Stone.

“cheesecake fantasy” that was melting so fast I nearly drank it like a milkshake

We finished the night off with The Game of Things (NOT Game of Thrones), which never fails to make me double over in laughter.

I developed a pesky and painful blister under my second left toe that caused me to limp a lot earlier this week, so I bought some moleskin and got to work on taping that baby up.

It’s not a gigantic blister, but the location was awkward and I had to make the taping biomechanically sound.

Lastly, one of the best parts of my week was last night when Ben, Rachel and I went boxing at The Ring.

After LOVING boxing at Everybody Fights via ClassPass last week, I found a Groupon for The Ring last week and recruited friends to join me. We went to our free trial class last night!

It was a doooooozy but so. freaking. fun. I am seriously such a big fan of boxing (haven’t sparred in my life, though, so don’t let me get too far ahead of myself), and the HIIT workout these gyms do to train are right up my alley.

So now we get to box for free for a week and then get 5 extra classes with our Groupon on top of that. I’m SO STOKED. We even got our own wraps and gloves to keep!

Oh! One more thing that is long overdue. I was a guest on Emily’s podcast from Beauty in Christ a few weeks ago. We talked about intuitive exercise. Check out the podcast here if you’re interested! (p.s. Emily is a wonderful friend of mine and a beautiful light in the world, bringing both body positivity and the Love of God to everyone she meets.)

I hope you all have a great pre-Friday! Eat some bacon (or, like, full fat coconut milk if you’re vegan).

So tell me:

What is a food that is flavorful and satisfying that you like to add to your meals?

Have you ever tried boxing?

Two things that you’ve done this past week!

Christmas Chronicles

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Post-Christmas healthy living bloggers be like:

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[source]

And I’m still just like:

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[source]

There’s been an endless supply of food on our vacation in Canada so far, and I can’t say I’m very stressed or upset about it at all. It’s definitely a lot more sugar and salt than I’m used to in such a short period of time, but there’s some nutrition in there. Most importantly, though, there has been a lot of fellowship and joy surrounding the meals, which is the best part!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/weekend. Here’s what’s been going on with me and my family…

Christmas Eve breakfast was a festive affair! Davida’s green pancakes with pomegranate arils to complete the holiday look.

We went to Mass on Christmas Eve since we would be traveling all day on Christmas.

After Mass we ate dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant for suuuuushiiii.

note the ideal fish to rice ratio — crucial aspect

Apple pie a la mode was waiting for us at home (leftovers that we froze from Thanksgiving)!

I WAS SO FULL. But superbly content.

I woke up at the fine time of 4:20 AM (lol) after going to sleep at midnight. I had a little bit of time before we were hitting the road, so I did a super quick workout just to get the blood flowing before being the car for 10 hours. Working out before traveling these days is about moving for the sake of moving, not for the sake of burning calories. It’s nice and a lot less self-imposed pressure.

Mom and I packed some quality road trip food, if I do say so myself. Exhibit A: Mom’s salmon, brown rice, and broccoli packets.

When we finally arrived at my grandparents’ place, we had some good rounds of ping pong (if that doesn’t scream Chinese workout of the day, I don’t know what does).

(Also, my grandma owns me in ping pong.)

Dinner was the first of many Chinese meals on our trip. It was absolutely delicious, MSG and all. The fish was super fresh too. Suuuuper fresh.

I apologize if any of you are squeamish, but that fish was incredible.

We’re staying at my fellow fit relatives’ place currently, so of course we partook in some ninja activities upon arrival.

My bro offered to take a slow motion video of me throwing knives, and I thought that would be a fantastic idea so I could scare all my best friends back at college. ‘Twas a great Christmas overall 🙂

Leftover green pancakes the next morn’!

My cousin and I worked up a sweat for an hour or so playing Just Dance on her Wii. That game is no joke! Like, you need a decent amount of dance skill to be fairly good at it.

And then more food with more cousins for lunch! Followed by Mah Jong (Chinese card game) and Chinese checkers. Did I mention we’re part Chinese?

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solid combo of leftover Christmas food and fresh sushi

At night, we all attended my great uncle and aunt’s golden anniversary celebration. 50 years of marriage, how ’bout that!? Inspirational.

It ain’t no celebration without copious amounts of food in this family. Ergo, more eating.

Peep the full pig on the right. We like heads on our food evidently.

Ermahgersh.

Also, ermahgersh at all the little ones and the ex-little ones who are now taller than me (not saying that much, because I’m so short).

Yesterday morning, I woke up early-ish to get some moves and grooves in. I did a fun yet killer circuit workout that I came up with in the basement. A classic and refreshing Greek yogurt bowl was breakfast afterwards.

My family went to Mass and lunch (more Chinese food!) from the late morning to the early afternoon. Then we drove over to my mom’s side of the family for the rest of the evening. They greeted us with more food hahaha. ha. ha.

another great combo of Thai food and Shepherd’s pie

Surprisingly, I never felt super full or overwhelmed. I ate what I wanted, and that was that. Yes, there were more times than usual this past week when I felt stuffed, but honestly, it’s the holidays. THERE, I SAID IT. I’m using the holidays as an excuse. What are we gonna do about it?

The best part was hanging out with my cousins though. We even unintentionally matched with our cousin telepathy.

girls show teeth, boys do soft smiles

It was a fun evening, and now it’s late… and I’m kinda hungry again… Not even kidding.

I am beyond grateful for my family, nourishment, health, and fellowship. God is good. Joy to the World, the Lord has come!

Hope you all have a great Monday! Three more days of 2015!!!

So tell me:

Three things you did this Christmas/weekend!

Best thing you ate over the holiday. The sushi on Christmas eve OR that super fresh fish.

“Berfday” Weekend

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

“Go shawty, it’s your birthday. We’re gonna party like it’s your birthday.”

Whenever I think of this song, I think the lyrics should spell it “berfday” instead of “birthday.” I don’t know why. But then I found this version, which is my favorite:

have you ever seen such perfect scoops of *sherbet?

I turned 19 yesterday, woo! 19 is an awkward number, because it’s sandwiched between the legal 18 and the double-decade 20. Nevertheless, I have hope for awkward people, awkward situations, and now awkward numbers, so here’s to year number 19!

18 was a beautiful year for me. It was dense. Graduation, prom, Florida with Daliza, freshman year of college, Blend, and most importantly, all the lessons learned. It’s almost weird for me to say that I’m only 19 years old, because I feel like I’ve gained many more years worth of wisdom in the past 12 months! (I know what you’re thinking: “Awww the baby thinks she’s wise, das cute.”)

inspirational hiking photo to sum up my 18th year of life on this blessed planet

I asked my dad if time passes this quickly for the rest of your life, and he said, “It only accelerates from here on out.” OH MY GAWSH.

Many thanks to you, friends, for supporting me on Moves and Grooves. When I pray for you, I consider you friends, not just readers or followers. ♥

I can only take so much sap. We’re done. 😀

Scenes from the Weekend

I made these Asian quinoa meatballs on Thursday night, which we enjoyed throughout the weekend.

Fish Friday lunch of quinoa, sweet potato, and shrimp + Somersaults.

Two part breakfast on Wednesday (not a part of the weekend, but this was too good not to share): the last of a 2% Greek yogurt tub with my General Mills trail mix from Blend, strawberries, and cinnamon + Sweet Blueberry My Oatmeal sample packet with extra berries and sunflower seed butter.

Friday breakfast: Amanda’s oatmeal cookie dough smoothie (with greens added) + full fat Greek yogurt for dippin’. Aw yeah.

Still going strong with Memorial Day leftovers, and loving them just as much.

Pop and I went to a day of recollection retreat on Saturday at the seminary. We heard Damon Owens speak about theology of the body— he was awesome!

don’t know what this pose is

Post-evening walk dessert: Amanda’s banana bread mug cake with a side of blog reading and a Justin’s mini dark chocolate peanut butter cup. As you can tell, I really hate Amanda’s recipes. 😉

Berfday 🙂

My birthday started out with a yogurt mess. I would have made something a little more exciting for breakfast, but I wanted to save myself for lunch at Cooked & Co. with Pop!

For lunch I ordered the market salad (included beets, corn, edamame, dried cranberries, almonds, parmesan, and other yummy things), the edamame burger, and a corn muffin bigger than my face.

Delicious.

Afterwards, I did a whole lot o’ nothing at home before Daliza came over! She made me watch How I Met Your Mother starting from episode 1, since I had never watched the show before. It’s hilarious.

When it came time for dinner, we met up with our pal Michael at Smashburger, which was also a first-time experience for me. I had the grilled chicken, spinach, feta sandwich with a strawberry milkshake.

I can’t even remember the last time I had a milkshake, so this was the perfect time to make it happen. ‘Twas good stuff.

I also can’t remember the last time I went bowling, but luckily, Michael and Daliza hadn’t bowled in a while either. We were on a {low} level playing field, and we each won a game! With bumpers.

So much love and thanks to Michael and Daliza for treating me to such a wonderful night! And thank you to all my friends and family for the heartfelt birthday wishes. Overwhelmed (in a great way) would be the word that describes how I feel. ♥ God is good.

For all those who hoped I ate lots of nut butter yesterday, I had at least three spoonfuls total, thanks 😉

_______________________________________________

Back to work today! Surround yourself with awesome people. Then go spread your awesomeness too.

So tell me:

When is your birthday?

Are you good at bowling?

What did you do this weekend?

WIAW: Day in the Life of a First Semester College Freshman

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

The title says it all! This is how my Tuesday went…

7:15 AM

Alarm goes off. Snooooooze.

7:30 AM

Get my butt outta bed. Shuffle to the bathroom to brush teeth, wash face, put in contacts, etc. Go back to my dorm room to change (into fitness clothes), put up my hair, etc.

7:50 AM

Eat breakfast in the dorm while I finish typing up yesterday’s post.

Whole grain toast with PB&J + banana with PB

Something about that banana with peanut butter made me feel kinda nauseous…

8:20 AM

Leave for statistics discussion.

8:30 AM

Listen and take notes about class frequency, histograms, and sample sizes in stat discussion

9:20 AM

Realize I have chem lab next, but I’m wearing athletic capris. We’re supposed to have completely long pants, so I rush back to my dorm, and change into long pants. Book it to lab.

9:30 AM

Measure out rubbing alcohol and unknown metals in chem lab.

10:30 AM

Walk over to the dining hall with friends to eat brunch. I went a little crazy with the breakfast foods before they started making the lunch food…

Pancakes (I only ate one) and French toast with PB and banana + scrambled eggs and ketchup + glass o’ milk

Salad for veggie power

12:00 PM

Take the bus to writing class on the other side of campus with this cool crew (they want to be my blog marketing team LOL).

12:30 PM

Take notes and share our papers and such in writing class.

2:00 PM

Head to the stadium for an outdoor workout. Details about the workout coming Sunday on Weekly Moves and Grooves. Let’s just say for now that stadium stairs OWN ME.

Burpees + stairs = death. In a good way?

3:00 PM

Head back to the dorm and pick up a super sweet package from Arctic Zero! Their electronic business manager, Lindsey, emailed me about coordinating and letting me try some of their newest flavors, so I basically said, “Um DUH!” (in a much more respectful manner).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alison Yeung, PT, DPT (@alison_grooves)

I let them thaw before having a spoonful of each straight from the pint. 😀 I’ll have a review of them soon!

P.S. I’ll share, all you BU people reading this.

3:30 PM

Have more snacks while doing some internet stuff.

Super juicy pear

Plus some peanut butter + sweet and salty peanuts. Can you tell I hate peanuts?

4:00 PM

Shower.

4:30 PM

Study and eat some more Arctic Zero straight from the pint. Holy moly did that stadium workout make me ravenous.

6:oo PM

Go to the free spaghetti supper at the BU Catholic Center!

I had a piece of garlic bread too 🙂

7:00 PM

Stay for the discussion/presentation about the hookup culture. It was wonderful— I really reflected on all my relationships, not just romantic relationships, during this. I ♥ the Catholic center and all the people there!

9:00 PM

Head back to the dorm and study. Snack on nuts sometime in there.

12:00 AM

Get ready for bed, pray, and hit the hay! Oooo look, rhyming.

I hope you enjoyed looking into a typical day at college for me right now! Every day is different of course, but this is a good representation of how things are currently panning out.

Coming a little late to Jenn’s WIAW party, but better late than never!

Hope you are all having a fabulous day!

So tell me:

How are your days recently? Packed? Early start? Late nights?

Have you ever done a stadium workout?

Have you ever tried Arctic Zero products?

What did you eat for lunch yesterday?

WIAW: Dorm and Dining Hall

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Why hello there!

I’m seriously going to be so excited whenever I manage to get a post up while I’m in school. Keep in mind that I’m writing these while classes have not even started yet…

Anyway, I have FOOD for you all today! Lots of it. I’ve always been interested in seeing what people eat in college (especially the food at UCLA, where Julianna goes), because there’s the infamous “Freshman 15” that creeps up in the back of everyone’s mind. I can see how that could happen quickly because all of a sudden, there are all these food choices around you in the dining hall, and it’s tempting to want ALL OF IT. Not to mention the free pizza that’s at every social event.

I think I’m quite fortunate to be at Boston University, where there are so many healthy options beyond the salad bar. The Sargent College of Health and Rehab Sciences (my college within BU!) has a food program called Sargent Choice, which just ensures the availability of healthy, wholesome meal choices. They’re so delicious too! {Not as good as your food though, mama.}

Alright, onto the noshes. Here are some of my eats from the past week!

Joining Jenn‘s world wide food party!

Breakfasts

In dorm: multigrain bread with sunflower seed butter and banana + apple with peanut butter

In dorm: oatmeal with vanilla protein powder, peanut butter, jam, and half a banana

In dining hall: cottage cheese with natural peanut butter (!!!), jam, and a sliced banana

In dining hall: oatmeal with cinnamon, jam, peanut butter, and half a banana + cottage cheese, strawberry yogurt, Sargent Choice granola (that I accidentally dumped in there…oh well!), and the other half of the banana + a chat with God 🙂

In dining hall: whole wheat French toast (basically, the answer to my prayers) with peanut butter and banana + scrambled eggs with ketchup + glass o’ milk

Lunches

FYSOP lunch every day: huge turkey, muenster, lettuce, tomato sandwich + kettle cooked potato chips + an unpictured chocolate chip cookie 😀

In the fancier dining hall: seafood stew (really tasty!) with naan + salad

Restaurant with family: I shared bites of yen ta fo soup, shrimp pad thai, papaya salad, and basil pork. Mostly shrimp pad thai and papaya salad!

In dining hall: salad with cowboy caviar, feta, and a hard boiled egg + black bean burger on whole wheat with some fancy pico on the side

In an on-campus food court: eel-cucumber-avocado-brown rice sushi

Snacks

Lots of apples (with and without nut butter)

Handy snacks in my dorm room: Wheat Thins, sweet and salty peanuts, mixed nuts

Dinners

In the dining hall: Firecracker tofu + brown rice + veggies x2

In the dining hall: Mexican rice with pastor chicken, salsa, and cilantro

In dining hall: sweet chicken sandwich on whole wheat bun + salad with hummus and feta

Dinner with family on Labor Day: clay hot pots (mine was the eel one on top left)

In dining hall: salad with hummus + grilled salmon with soba noodles (more like chow mein noodles)

Desserts

Ice cream social = free ice cream!! Vegan (soy) tahitian vanilla + strawberry added after this photo was taken

Insomnia cookie! Oatmeal raisin. Not reallyyyyy worth the $1.50.

In dining hall: plain yogurt + a dollop of strawberry yogurt + Sargent choice granola

And that’s a wrap! There were definitely more snacks in there, but I’m not going to take a picture of every banana I eat. For both of our sakes.

I hope to update you all on college life (since classes started yesterday) soon! I have a “Weekly Moves and Grooves” (aka weekly workouts) post in the works for ya too.

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

So tell me:

What have you been snacking on lately?

Has there been a food you’ve tried just for the hype/experience?

Daily Moves and Grooves

pray. eat. move. groove.

Tag Archives: meals

Less Salad, More Bacon

Christmas Chronicles