"Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead"

Since it's my Friday and I'm a bum and like to be lazy and slowllllyyyy reintroduce myself back into schoolwork, I took the night to do some Netflix browsing. I remember hearing about "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead," probably from another blogger.

This was my first time watching a food documentary. After my mom watched "Food, Inc.," she begged me to watch it numerous times and I always turned her down. After putting some thought into why I was so adamant about NOT watching it, I think it's because ignorance is bliss. In the back of my mind, I knew I was going to receive a lot of information that would require me to either make some serious changes, or have tons of knowledge that many of the things that I was putting into my body weren't beneficial. Anyway, after watching "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead," I think I have no choice but to watch Food, Inc. because I absolutely loved this documentary.

Short synopsis: a 40-something, overweight Australian man decides to do a 60 day juice fast in order to see if this will help his body heal itself from a autoimmune skin disease that he had been suffering from. He comes to America for the duration of the fast. Toward the end of his fast (which is wildly successful; at the end of it he is off all his medications and down a considerable amount of weight), he meets another man in Arizona who has the same autoimmune disease that he does, and he is also morbidly obese at over 400 pounds. At the time they meet, the narrator (Joe), only interviews (Phil). However, once Joe had returned to Australia, he got a call from Phil saying that he was ready to change his life and try the juice fast. Phil also completes a 60 day juice fast, quits his job as a truck driver, starts working at the YMCA, and inspires his family and entire community to consider juicing.

First of all, this documentary was extremely motivating, and just all around amazing. Seeing these guys transform their lives, for HEALTH reasons, and not VANITY reasons, makes it all the more inspiring. As a 24 year old female in constant fear of bikini season, this documentary provided a nice reality check. Being healthy and making healthy decisions has long term effects. Being unhealthy also has long term effects.

This documentary forced me to evaluate my own diet. Prior to seeing this, I would probably say that I ate pretty healthfully. However, I don't eat veggies at every meal (although I try) and I am nowhere near a "plant-based diet." I think I might experiment with a small or low-end juicer and just try having one small juice a day. At this point, I don't have the energy to go through with a 10 day juice fast (which is usually okay for "healthy" people), because I can't afford to be exhausted and sluggish while I'm in school. However, over a break or in the summer I may consider it. For now, I think juicing is the perfect solution for getting in a huge amount of nutrients fairly easily. This one small change that I can make to my diet NOW, will have countless nutritional benefits, and I think it's a great habit to begin for anyone trying to improve their health. Everything in the film is really common sense--the vast majority of Americans don't get nearly enough fruits and vegetables. Juicing is a simple way to fix that.

Final thoughts: Watch the documentary! It's on instant play on Netflix and is really captivating. You won't regret it!

Now, does anyone wanna buy me a juicer?

Confusion and a Cool Find

Hi!!! I just got back to D.C. after spending the Holiday Break back home in Ann Arbor and Vail, Colorado. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Getting back to school means getting back into a routine. Part of that routine including going back to the gym today. I always tell myself before long breaks that I will at least try to stick to working out. Well...I only entered a gym twice in a month, but I'm counting snowboarding as working out! Shockingly, when I got on the scale, I saw that I had lost 4 pounds. The shift in weight goes against everything I've learned on my "healthy living" journey. I ate whatever I want (including alcohol) and didn't work out. Maybe I lost muscle. I just don't know. But I sort of feel like maybe I need to be more relaxed about my gym regime and perhaps take more rest days? It's highly possible that I have previously been overtraining and/or not fueling properly for workouts. Anyway, I just thought that was weird!

Another part of my routine is going grocery shopping, which is where I spent parts of yesterday and today. I love going to the grocery store, it's a problem. While I was at Whole Foods, I was SO excited to find pomegranate seeds!

I love these, and I especially love that I don't have to go through the pain of extracting them from the actual fruit. I enjoyed these babies atop some Fage 0% yogurt, with some Love Grown sweet cranberry pecan granola for an afternoon snack. It was perfection!

I'm Back!!!

Sorry I've been absent from the blog world. Things have been pretty cray cray. My dog passed away and in the midst of that I had to take the MPRE (required ethics exam before being allowed to practice law) and work on a paper for school. So, I've been spending most of my time just trying to keep my head above water. Anyway, I'm glad to be back posting on the good old blog, so I'll just jump right in!

Saturday, my roomie and I went to Founding Farmer's to celebrate being done with our ethics exam! Founding Farmer's is an amazing restaurant that showcases American classics with a focus on being ec0-friendly. I've been there before for brunch with my manfriend, but by the time my roommate and I arrived it was lunchtime. We both went with the Chicken and Waffles, and I ordered mac n cheese and sweet potatoes as my sides.

I also had a beer. It was great. And absolutely necessary.
That was the only noteworthy meal of the weekend. Today I jumped back into my healthy habits, and made a yummy dinner. I made Bertolli spinach and ricotta pasta with spicy chicken sausage on a bed of spinach.

I hope to try and be able to keep up with a more normal blogging schedule, but with the end of the semester rapidly approaching (and FINALS), I can't really predict what my schedule is going to be like. Thanks for reading and have a great evening!

Thankful Things Thursday

I'm taking a cue from Ali and doing a Thankful Things Thursday post! Today's been a rough one, but there are still so many things to be thankful for.

1. My doggy, Pander, aka PBear, pander bear. He's 14 years old (98 in human years!) and on his last legs. He also happens to look a lot like Bardot, except he's a full Boston. They also share a common disdain for...everything... and super hilarious personalities. He lives back home (Ann Arbor, MI) with my mom while I'm in school, so it's hard not being there to see him and cuddle him. But, I'm thankful to have spent almost my whole life with a wonderful dog who is a part of so many cherished memories.


2. That as of today at 7p.m., I'm done with classes for the week. I need this. Like really need this. I have a 25 page paper to write by Tuesday (um, what?) and a stupid lawyer ethics test next Saturday. These two things appear to be insurmountable, but whatevs.

3. Grey's Anatomy. Yeah I know I just told you about the academic stuff I need to do, but Grey's is pretty high up on my priority list and I'm not gonna miss it just because I have some silly paper to write.

4. In approximately one month, I will be done with my externship. It's been great at all, but dealing with child abuse cases day in and day out is emotionally exhausting.

5. Chipotle! I know you're not supposed to reward yourself with food blah blah blah, but f that, this week was hellish and I deserve Chipotle. A chicken burrito bowl to be exact.


I really should be able to come up with more than 5 things that I'm thankful for, but like I said, it hasn't been the best of days/weeks. Better luck next time.

What I Ate Wednesday

Hello everyone! How was your Wednesday? Mine was good because I actually got back to my apartment at a reasonable hour!

Let's back track. My Wednesday mornings usually start with a workout since I don't have class until 11. I started my workout with 30 easy minutes on the elliptical, reading the November issue of Self magazine.


Afterwards, I did a random mix of strength training moves that included:

-ball exchanges (abs)
-kettleball swings (20lbs)
-bicep curls
-lunges
-clean & press

Let's get to What I Ate Wednesday! Prior to going the gym, I made a quick breakfast of pumpkin oats. In the mix went:

-1/3 oats
-2 heaping spoonfuls of canned pumpkin
-1/3 vanilla soy milk
-cinnamon
-nutmeg
-touch of maple syrup
-ground flaxseed
-teaspoon of Dark Chocolate Dreams
-teaspoon of Mighty Maple

For lunch, I had leftover frittata.

Mid-afternoon snackage occurred around 3 while I was at my internship. I had string cheese and my absolute favorite Kind bar, Almond & Coconut Flavor.
I was looking forward to dinner all day! Since I felt like I was on a roll making my favorite indulgences healthier, I thought I'd try my hand at pita pizza!

It turned out sooo good. For the sauce, I combined canned crushed tomatoes with garlic powder, oregano, and red pepper flakes. I then peeled a stick of mozzarella string cheese and layered it on top of the sauce. Other toppings: onion, green pepper, diced tomato, and TURKEY pepperoni. The stats on the turkey pepperoni were great compared to regular pepperoni. 17 slices was only 70 calories, and 8 grams of fat. I put the pita directly on the oven rack, at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes. It was really tasty, you should give it a try!

Potatoes = Devil

Greetings! Today was another busy day for me; my last class let out at 8. Like I said yesterday, on long days I always want dinner in a flash. I was craving potatoes all day. Potatoes are probably my favorite food, with pizza being a close second. I love french fries, hash browns, and ESPECIALLY potato skins with all the fixings. Tonight, I used an idea that I found because of the Her Campus/Self Magazine Lose the Freshman 15 diet and exercise program; the Chicken Baked Potato.

I diced chicken seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper and grilled it on the George Foreman. I didn't feel like waiting around to bake the potato in the oven, so I popped it in the microwave for about 4 minutes. I topped the potato with the grilled chicken, shredded cheese, Chobani plain Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream), salsa, and chives. I served it with a side of steamed broccoli. Easy, delicious, and satisfied my potato craving without all of the the bad stuff that I usually top them with. Success!

Manic Monday and Ham & Veggie Frittata

Good evening! Today was a typical Monday -- go, go, go for me from start to finish. I had class and work until 6, and then went to an intense 45 minute Spinning class.

Mondays are hard because I usually don't get home until close to 8 o'clock. Which means, sometimes I'm eating dinner at 9. I hate eating that late, but some days I don't have a choice. I do, however, have a choice on what to cook! On long days, I need a fast meal. Enter: the frittata!

Into this frittata went:

-1 deli slice of honey ham
-Broccoli
-Tomato
-Onion (green and white)
-Green bell pepper
-6 Eggs (I seasoned the eggs with salt, pepper, a pinch of garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and a couple dashes of Frank's hot sauce).

I sauteed the veggies and ham on low for a few minutes and then turned the heat off. I let the pan cool and then poured the eggs over the mixture. I then baked it in the oven of 375 degrees for about half an hour. (Tip: to make sure the eggs aren't still runny in the oven, stick a knife into the middle of the pan and make sure it comes out clean).

This meal was quick, easy and delicious! I paired it with a side salad of mixed greens, strawberries, almonds, and this dressing:
Annie's Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette.

I'm off to watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills! (Can you tell yet that I have a Bravo addiction?) Have a great night :)