A few years later... a new start!

Let’s get this (re)started.

I’ve put this off forever. I set a goal to write something in the month of January - a New Year’s resolution, of sorts. And then every day in January I put it off. Every. Single. Day.

I don’t know why I put off writing this, except that maybe this makes me vulnerable and that it’s a new step for me to take that is outside of my “day job.” I write a lot for my day job. Maybe I feel like I’m exhausted after putting myself out there for work.

But this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve learned so much over the years and I’m obsessed with this healthy eating and living topic -- and I even have degrees in nutrition and health coaching among others. So if I love this so much, why not do it?

I’ve been on the road for pretty much my entire working life and have lived the ups and downs of what it means to be a working woman on the road.

It’s not fun. (Well, many times it is fun, but it sure is a grind.)

It’s not pretty. (Well, many times I find myself in a new city and am grateful to visit a new place, but it’s also not glamorous, as many of you road warriors know.)

It’s not healthy. (This is true! It’s almost impossible to be healthy if you don’t plan ahead.)

But it’s given me lessons that I am hoping to impart and maybe just collect for my own edification. If you find them informative, helpful or valuable -- that’s a bonus!

And, if there are things that you have learned along the way, let me know! I’m always interested in learning from others, too.

Valentine's Day Weekend!

A lot of research has been done on the value of experiences over things. Brian and I are always game for new experiences and we decided that instead of buying each other a gift for this Valentine's Day, we would plan a fun day each over the Valentine's Day weekend. He planned Saturday, and I planned Sunday, and it was jolly good fun!

This video captures some of our Valentine's Day moments -- what we didn't realize at the time, but see pretty clearly now is that wow, we like to eat and drink a LOT!

Enjoy our Valentine's Day vLog!

Macronutrient Series: Fats!

Welcome back to the Macronutrient Series! In this third video, I discuss Fats. For years, fat has been the bane of our nutritional existence, but it’s a critical component of our diet and one that we shouldn’t eliminate. Ultra-low-fat diets are not good for you and neither are high-fat diets, so it’s important to find the appropriate balance between the recommended fat consumption and what you’re comfortable with consuming.

In this video, I walk through the fat sources that I like to keep in our kitchen - there are many more fat sources, but the ones I describe are the ones that I’ve researched and found to be the most useful to us. The cleaner, more plant-based your fats can be, the better.

Enjoy!

Macronutrient Series: Protein

Guess who's back with another macronutrient video?

In this second video, I discuss the macronutrient, Protein. Protein is such an important piece of the nutritional puzzle and in this video, I cover my favorite vegan/vegetarian, animal-based and egg protein sources. Protein has been in the news a lot over the last few decades and the verdict is out on how much protein we should be consuming, but current consensus seems to point to consuming about 8-10% of your daily calories via protein. I'm a huge fan of plant-based protein sources, but I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan, so I do review all types of protein sources here and list my favorites for you.

You'll notice I don't cover any protein powders. Protein powders might work for some people, but I don't think they are essential to a balanced diet and because I don't consume them, I don't cover them here. I'd rather get my protein from natural, non-powdered sources!

Let me know what you think!

Macronutrient Series: Carbohydrates

I'm excited to share my macronutrient series of videos with you! As I was trying to find resources to help me get into the gluten free lifestyle, I found nutrition to be confusing and the resources that existed to be somewhat lacking. So, I decided to break down macronutrients -- the building blocks of our what our bodies need to live and thrive -- into easily 'digestible' (pun intended!) video snippets to explain them and to describe the best macros I believe you should be consuming on a regular basis.

The vision for these videos is to compile them into a master playlist that can serve as a resource to anyone needing a quick reference on macronutrients, and also to showcase how to put together a healthy plate, so that no matter where you go and where you eat, you know you're always eating a balanced meal.

Let me know what you think! Enjoy the first video!

Our Trip to Burlington, Vermont

One thing you'll notice on this blog is that I have a passion for health and fitness, and this random interest in travel. Someday, I'll figure out how the three fit together, but until then, I wanted to share all three even though they don't seem to fully make sense together.

Over the New Year's holiday weekend, we traveled to Burlington, Vermont for a few days to celebrate Brian's birthday. I created a video to capture the moments over the weekend; and both of us had just gotten over a very, very nasty stomach flu, so it's most definitely a surprise we were able to eat and enjoy the food as much as we did.

Below, are a few places I would recommend if you're planning to travel to Burlington any time soon:

Hotel Vermont. We normally stay at a bed and breakfast when we travel to Vermont, but since I was planning this trip as a surprise for Brian, I wanted to shake things up a bit because we've never had the opportunity to enjoy Burlington and I thought it would be fun to stay in the town itself. Hotel Vermont is such a gem -- it focuses on providing local experiences, local foods and uses all sorts of recycled/reclaimed resources as features of its hotel. We enjoyed our room, the hospitality, and even the yoga classes offered on-site!

Restaurants:

Worthy Burger. We stopped here on the way to Burlington and had ourselves quite a meal! This little place is literally in the middle of nowhere and had my coworker not given me a heads up on it, I would have never known it existed. If you like burgers, kombucha or craft beer, this is your place!

Hen of the Wood. Vermont has some of the best food... and I truly believe it has something to do with featuring local food! Hen of the Wood was only walking distance from the Hotel Vermont and features a truly delicious, farm-to-table food experience. It was delightful!

Juniper. We wanted to stay warm and local during our trip so we decided to stay in one night and enjoyed the local farm-to-table options our hotel had to offer. I even had rabbit!

Other things to do:

Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour. You can't go to Burlington without making a stop in Waterbury (about 20 min away from Burlington) to visit the ice cream mecca, Ben & Jerry's! The best part about this time of year was that we had the opportunity to try out snow shoes before our ice cream tour. (As you'll see from the video, we had a super time snowshoeing for the first time)!

Skiing in Stowe. Had there been more snow, we might have opted to ski... maybe next time! Stowe is a cute little town, though, and it's definitely worth checking out even if you opt not to ski.

Shelburne Farms. I had heard about the Inn at Shelburne Farms from some friends, but it closes for the winter (it doesn't have any heat!), so we couldn't stay there. However, the property surrounding the Inn (which is situated on the water) is stunning and is open for hiking, sleigh rides, etc. We stopped there and hiked around in the cold and were so happy we did. It was a gorgeous winter trek and I can only imagine how beautiful it must be when the weather is warmer.

It was a great trip and now we have a video vLog to capture the moment. Let me know what you think, if you've ever traveled to Burlington and if you have additional suggestions on where to eat, drink and sleep!