Bouncing Back Post-North Bay Fires

Hey y’all and a Happy New Year to ya!

The last quarter of 2017 has been insanity to say the least. My boyfriend and I were affected by the North Bay fires in Sonoma County and are now living in a 5th wheel on our 8 acre farm. We evacuated the night the fires broke out, and within an hour the entire place burned down. We are grateful to be alive as well as all of our animals.

I am now settling back into a new routine and am excited to share it with you!

My boyfriend and I were participating in our Crossfit gym’s LurongLiving Challenge when the fires hit, and did pretty well the first few days sticking with it. After a while though, being evacuated and just having so many other things to worry about, we kind of threw it out the window.

I am very OCD about my eating so I still kept things very healthy, until my boyfriend wanted to have some “cheats.” Because I’ve been maintaining my Intermittent Fasting since July, I never experienced weight gain, but actually continued to lose (I am now down to 132 from 150 since July!). However, I was reminded for the millionth time why I eat healthy, and it’s not related to weight gain. When I eat dairy and sugar and processed grains, I suffer from:

• breakouts on my face and body
• anxiety attacks
• poor sleep quality
• constant stress
• achy joints
• gas and bloating

SO! Although weight loss isn’t a necessity right now, (because I’m at my goal weight and all of  my clothes are too big or fit just right), when I eat clean my muscle definition is even better so I’m excited to see what kind of abs I can get (I am not prone to abs, by the way).

Here is what I’m doing for the month of January

• Orangetheory Fitness 3-4 times per week
• Crossfit 1-2 times per week
• Essentrics stretch and/or strengthen daily
  • this is helping to heal my back in addition to acupuncture….but that’s a story for another day 🙂
• Clean eating: LurongLiving Challenge inspired
  • my boyfriend and I are competing and logging a point for every 6 hours we don’t cheat: 12am-6am; 6am-12pm, 12pm-6pm, 6pm-12am
    • no added sugar
    • gluten-free and/or grain free
      • I limit my grains to rice, corn & quinoa, but not every day. I know my body well enough now to know its limits.
    • dairy free

I will be documenting how my body feels, reacts and changes and will keep y’all in the loop! What are you focusing on this year? Let me know if you’d like to join me on this challenge and if I can help you jumpstart your health this year. Cheers!! – Audrey

At Diablo Crossfit while we were evacuated in October. We had to fit in our LurongLiving workout for the week!

 

 

Lighten Your Load Mentally

Well….2017 sure started with a bang huh?? Wow. If January is any indication of what this year will be like, we are going to get a lot of $H!+ done!! But when we take on too much and life gets to be too much, our bodies go into major stress mode and we don’t perform our best, we don’t take care of ourselves, we make mistakes and create accidents (big and small). I have been struggling with anxiety attacks, lack of appetite and depression over the past couple of months and I am not going to let this continue. I have known for a while something has to change. And while I am not in the position to make any rash decisions or changes in my life, there is one thing I can change right now and that is my thought. In the past I have used food to gain control over my life but that leads to unhealthy weight loss and obsession, adding more stress to my body which leads to depression, hair loss and many other not ideal outcomes.

SO! Here is how I am handling things now. Before bed, I take out my planner and look at the next day (ONLY the next day) and I list my appointments/commitments and I list positive expressions associated with those commitments. For example, tomorrow I teach bootcamp at 8am. When I teach, I express support, inspiration and selflessness for my clients and my clients provide me with a sense of community, inspiration and bliss! That hour I spend teaching, I will be in the moment soaking up each and every one of those traits.

At some point during my day I will also…

• spend ten minutes to take some Headspace (ten minutes of guided meditation)
• workout because I do that for me, and I will acknowledge that hour I am giving to myself and be proud of it
• fit in a 10-15 minute run when stress or anxiety pops up because I know it helps keep it at bay (you may have a different 10-15minute activity that helps you recover – try and discover what works for you!).
• write down five things I am grateful for
  • i.e. – family, home, community, friends, health
• focus on a beautiful trait to express daily
  • I have been working on achieving “harmony” and “balance.” I also stumbled upon the word “bliss” the other day, and I thought about how amazing it feels to be blissful. Can you recall a time you felt blissful?
• eat clean and nutritious meals to keep my mind clear and my body happy
  • we are hooked on broccoli sprouts, a variety of leafy greens and healthy fats

Today I felt like I had an abundance of time on my hands (clearly since I have time to write a blog post again finally!) even though my day was packed full of appointments, meetings and assignments. My mood this week has been very balanced and I am not stressing about the things I don’t have in my life but instead being grateful for all that I do have! I really hope this resonates with some of you and I would love to hear if and how it helps.

Sending you all lots of love, harmony, balance and bliss this month! xoxo – Audrey

AAAHHHHCHOOOOO Allergies!

Since San Diego got a lot of rain, everything is in bloom. This is great and all, but I woke up with some major allergies. My face and eyes are red and swollen. My nose won’t stop running…it’s pretty miserable. This past year I completely forgot about preparing for allergy season. For my usual preparation I use a secret weapon–local, raw honey. Honey contains local pollen so when I ingest it, I become less sensitive to it. This will hopefully lower my seasonal allergy symptoms for Spring. Wish me luck!!

Vitamix Recipe: California Salsa

OK I can’t take credit for this recipe, I originally got it from a Vitamin cookbook back when I was 8 years old. Yes, I have been making this amazing salsa for 18 years. I think it will always be my favorite homemade salsa. There’s a little bit of heat and the onion and tomatoes create the perfect balance.

California Salsa

Ingredients:

4-6 roma tomatoes, quartered

1/2 white onion

1/4 c cilantro

1 serrano pepper

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp vinegar

salt to taste

Directions-

add the ingredients to your Vitamix in the following order: cilantro, onion, serrano pepper, tomatoes, lemon juice, salt, then vinegar. Pulse on variable speed 3. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. ENJOY!! Serve with fresh chopped veggies.

 

New Year, New You.

This year is all about changes for me. Growing into my late 20’s, adulting hardcore, and learning how to make it out ok through all life’s challenges.

First, before I go all deep talk on you, here’s a life hack I learned from my mom back in the day when she was selling our house. Line a baking sheet with foil and sprinkle cinnamon all over it. Bake the cinnamon for about 5-10 minutes at 250-300 degrees. Don’t burn the cinnamon or you’re done for. This is a great way to get that bacon stench out of your house and make people think you have been Betty Crockering out all day baking cookies. Another way to get your house smelling oh-so-yummy is to fill a sauce pan 3/4 of the way with water and bring it to a boil, add 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 cinnamon sticks, and let the mixture boil for 1 min. Then lower heat to a simmer. Voila all that stinky egg, bacon grease and whatever other weird paleo smells you’ve created will go bye bye. You’re welcome.

Now back to serious talk. I have challenged myself to meditate, journal, as well as other things for 30 days. I’m on day 3 and it’s not as hard as I thought and the results are great. I deal with anxiety and stress a lot better. Here’s what I challenge you. Go to Staples or any office supply store, get a journal and pen that you really like, and write whatever comes to mind for 10 minutes a day for the next 14 days. Do it around the same time, in the same place every day, and take note of the changes you see in your life. Next, download the app Headspace. This app teaches you how to breathe and meditate and it only takes 10 minutes a day. Audrey and I were laughing because I told her I got brain chills the first time I did it. Seriously, it feels like a brain massage. My fiancé got me into the whole meditating thing. I was very skeptical at first. Then he said this to me, “Our brains are like computers. Sometimes we have way too many programs going on at once and then it can’t process information as quickly or efficiently. We then need to restart the computer, and it is only then when our computers can function properly again.” Our brains get overloaded by advertisements, flooded with information and process more data than ever before. It is critical that we do a restart on our brains every day to maintain its proper function. Finally, if nothing else…I challenge you to a 2 minute cold shower every day for the next 14 days. Just 2 minutes of being uncomfortable per day can really help with getting some clarity.

So there you go. Some challenges for you in the new year!! While I was journaling today I wrote down a couple thoughts to guide me on my journey for the next 27 days, and maybe they will help you too.

1—“I am doing things because I think I should, not because someone else thinks I should.” So many times I get challenged to do something and I do it for someone else. This time around I am doing these challenges for me, and I hope you do as well.

2—“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do to be successful.” Yeah, I don’t want to put down the pizza either, but that is exactly what I have to do in order to not be bloated and feel like crap.

I love you all! We are in this together. Feel free to comment or message any thoughts or comments.

-Chelsea

 

Super Easy Chicken Apple Salad

We paleo folk have it so easy. Our meals are super simple-yet, satiating. Take a salad perhaps. You buy a big bulk container of cleaned, cut and washed mixed lettuces, pull out some leftover chicken and throw an avocado on top and there you have it. A delicious and easy dish for lunch or dinner.

In the salad pictured above I used those same ingredients but added sliced apple for a bit of sweetness. I recommend apple cider vinegar, lemon and olive oil as a dressing. I mentioned Tessemae’s paleo dressing in a previous post that I love just as much.

Eat those greens and stay satiated!

Self-Improving Book List

Being the best version of you isn’t always easy, and sometimes we need a little extra help getting there. I LOVE me some self-help books…my fiancé thinks they are ridiculous, but never mind him. I’m all for getting inspired and motivated to become a better person. Sometimes our friends have some awful advice for us, so it’s good to get an expert’s opinion periodically. Here are some books I am loving:

1. You are a Badass–Jen Sincero
2. You Can Heal Your Life–Louise Hay
3. Kiss That Frog–Brian Tracy
4. Wild at Heart—John Eldredge
5. The 4 Hour Body—Tim Ferriss
6. Primal Endurance–Mark Sisson
7. I Declare–Joel Osteen
8. The Paleo Solution–Robb Wolf

This list covers relationship, diet, exercise and life hacks. Enjoy!

A few of our FAVE Paleo shelf items.

So while traveling for the past 3 weeks, I had to get pretty creative with my paleo eating options. The challenge was actually pretty fun and I found some cool paleo products along the way.

Here are my top 5 favorite non-refrigerated paleo snacks/meals:

1. PaleoBar—Bacon, Eggs & Coffee

This breakfast bar is awesome and contains everything for a complete meal. These are great for deployments or long trips where you don’t have a refrigerator handy. The taste wasn’t as sweet as I thought it would be (why was I expecting maple syrup?!), but I think staying away from sweet tastes while traveling is a safe and smart idea so that you don’t run the risk of becoming sugar addicted, which is very easy to do when you are away from the comforts of home.

2. Paleonola—Grain free granola…SO ADDICTING!

Now if you do want some sweetness and addiction in your life, then I suggest Paleonola. Be warned, I finished a bag in only a couple days….I think there were something like 10 servings in it. Oops. Separate your servings into baggies before your trip to avoid overindulgence.

3. Terra Taro Chips—Seriously the best in the world. Better than potato chips.

Unlike potato chips, these actually  really fill me up, and don’t leave me hungry for more. I eat them with a Kombucha or some beef jerky and/or carrots and I am ready to go.

4. Tuna Pouches—Great for when you are in a protein pinch

I know, I know, stinky but SOOOOOO worth it. When you are traveling it’s easy to say fahgettah bout it to protein, but in order to be satiated you must include protein in every meal. These are super easy to rip open and eat as is, or bring along some lemon, or even one of those bottles of lemon juice, and hot sauce and you’re golden.

5. Last, but not least, beef protein powder—11 grams of protein per serving, and unflavored! Put it in your coffee!

Yeah….I put this in everything. It’s another great way to get in some protein and this time in a sneaky way. You can put it into anything. I wouldn’t let it sit too long because gelatin tends to coagulate.

Pimp Juice–All about juicing

 

So, the holidays did a number on your normal Paleo routine? It happens to the best of us. My best advice to you is to flood your body with as many nutrient dense foods as possible. To kick start your journey back to the road of health, I suggest you invest in a juicer. Drinking fresh-pressed juice quickly and efficiently absorbs immune boosting nutrients. It also aids in accessing important digestive enzymes that are usually trapped in the fiber of fruits and vegetables.

Although juicing is a great source of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, it is still recommended to consume produce in its original state in addition to juicing because the fiber they contain are just as important for your digestion.

Here’s a great juice recipe I came up with this morning. I hope you love it xoxoxo

Paleo Pimp Juice

(Serves 2)

1 beet

3 cups spinach

1 inch cube peeled ginger

2 kale stalks

3 carrots

1 apple

1 blood orange

Juice in the juicer and enjoy

 

Easy Low Sugar Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving dinner got me all about dat cranberry sauce. I swear it goes with every kind of meat. I have been putting that ish on nearly everything. My version is super simple, a bit tart and a bit sweet. I hope you lurv it 🙂

 

Cranberry Sauce:

ingredients:

1 12 oz bag of frozen cranberries

Juice of 1 lime

1-2 tbs agave or honey

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat until berries begin to pop and the consistency thickens

let the mixture cool

put into a container

refrigerate