Holler-Dayz Reunions

Hi there!

Tomorrow I am lucky enough to have a Christmas party to attend.

At this party I will get to reunite with my best friends in the world and say HOLLAAA (in a gangster voice)!

Since university, we have all kind of gone our separate ways - me in New York, my best friend in Dubai, lots of pals in Toronto, and the rest scattered around Ontario. I haven't seen everyone together in months and months and months. That being said, I am over the moon excited to see everyone!

happier than this Santa cat

For the party I bought a pretty new dress. I haven't seen these people in a long time so I'm a bit worried about looking as fabulous as I would like to due to my lack of dedication to the gym and influx of work parties over the past few weeks. Here is the dress in pink, I bought it in a very pretty Christmas green:

You can get one too! Click here
Hopefully I look okay, I still need to figure out my shoe situation. Any recommendations?

Holiday parties with friends are so much more fun than any work related party ever could be. I am SO pumped to see all of my old pals and catch up. Although, I am definitely feeling some anxiety about this event. Le sigh. It should be fine after a glass of champagne!

Which of these drinks is lowest in calories?
A) White wine
B) Vodka and soda
C) Champagne

Answer: Champagne
They’re all fairly low in calories compared to real waistline busters like spiked eggnog or hot chocolate with whipped cream, but champagne wins the prize for the fewest with 95 in a 5-ounce glass. Vodka and soda has slightly more at about 100 and wine has about 120 calories in the same 5-ounce serving.
Here’s a good tip: If you want wine, replace 2 ounces of vino with some zero-calorie club soda to easily save 50 calories you could put toward a slice of pie — or another glass of wine. Source

I hope you all enjoy some champagne ASAP!

Do you have any Christmas party plans?

Staying Healthy During the Holidays

Oh, the holiday season. The time where everyone comes together to enjoy cheer, merriment and lots of delicious yet thigh-growing food. My holiday traditions include a lot of big meals, big glasses of wine, followed by various desserts, followed by incredible guilt. I might as well slap some sugar cookies onto my thighs.

To help avoid gaining weight, then struggling to lose it in a predictable New Years Resolution that will ultimately fail after a few weeks of vigor, I have decided to compile a few health tips to keep myself in line.

Some of my tips:
1) Work out. Today, I went to pilates and then did a bit of weight training. Each day, do at least something while home. I plan to do a few of my mom's old workout VHS tapes while at my parent's place. Perhaps I'll even bear the cold and go for a walk around this cute trail around a river in my home town.
2) Start your day off right with a healthy breakfast. I'm going to opt to try and eat eggs as often as possible as they are filling and are low carb. While staying at my parent's place, I am positive that there will be lots of fresh berries, clementines, Ontario apples and other light vitamin rich options to have on the side. By eating a light breakfast, I will be conscious of my diet for the rest of the day.
3) If you really really want to, have dessert. Try a bite. if it is not AMAZING, then stop eating it. It is not worth is unless you would fight someone for it.
4) Think thin. If I keep thinking about my goals, I am not as easily distracted. Think about how being a lazy Christmas blob will impact your body image. This is what I need to keep in mind. 

Easy right?

Here are some other useful tips / info I came across online:
From Womens Health Mag

• Your body's reaction after stuffing yourself at Christmas dinner -
  
  Within 15 minutes
  Both your stomach and small intestine alert your brain—via hormones such as peptide YY—that they are beyond capacity. But if you hoovered your meal, your brain won't get the memo until after you've helped yourself to seconds.
• On busting holiday excuses - “I don’t have time.”
  This is the most common excuse year ‘round. And during the holidays when time becomes even more crunched, it’s in full force. You won’t find time; you have to make time. Make exercise your first priority in the morning. That way you work out before your day gets away from you. Find an early morning class and commit to being there two to three days a week. The support of a group class will give you an extra motivational boost.

From EverydayHealth.com

• At parties - Don’t socialize near the buffet table so you won’t be tempted to nibble constantly as you chat.
• On beating the holiday blues - Tempting as it might be to sleep in on dark mornings, it’s best to stick with a regular sleep schedule — which means waking up at the same times on weekdays and weekends. Establish a routine wake-up time and a soothing bedtime ritual, and if you aren’t already in this habit, allow three or four weeks to get used to it, advises Gollan. Also, make sure that your sleeping area is comfortable, slightly cool, and free of noisy distractions.

From Fitsugar.com (one of my favorites!)

• Burn calories without a gym - have a dance party, help mom clean the house before guests arrive, walk around the mall longer, just get moving!

From Shape.com

• Party food is traditionally a nutrition minefield but there are almost always a few healthy options in the mix. Fresh cut vegetables are standard party fare, as well as shrimp cocktail (a great source of lean protein). Opt for these vegetables and protein-based foods and steer clear of the piles of crackers, creamy dips in bread bowls, and bite-sized puff pastry hors d'oeuvres stuffed with cheese.
• Sip Low Calorie CocktailsMixed drinks, like vodka tonics (175 calories), are higher in calories than wine (120 calories), light beer (103 calories), and Champagne (91 calories). If you're craving a cocktail, opt for club soda in place of tonic water to save 80 calories. 

How do you stay healthy during the Christmas season?

Weekend Breakfasts

Don't you just love sleeping in then waking up with time to make a delicious breakfast chased by as many cups as coffee as you want? I do.

drinking 3 cups of coffee from a friendship mug makes it taste better

Capers, red onion, brie, smoked salmon

Omlette it up.

Top with capers, I like my omlettes crispy

Happy weekend!

Canada Bound!

Hi There!

I am flying home to Canada tomorrow for the holidays, woohoO! Yes, that means I am taking 2 whole weeks off work. (yessssss!). I am planning to go to BF's parents house for a bit, see some extra-wonderful friends from university in Toronto, and get in some solid fam-jam time. I love Christmas so very, very much.
While I'm home, my posts will be few and far between because I will be pretty busy and away from a computer. I promise to post pictures of snow, horses and Canadian fun when I get back :)

For now, here is a bit of an update on what is going on in my fridge.

A few weeks ago my aunt and uncle came to the city to visit. Randomly, they thought it would be fun to go to Target in Harlem. I love Target and loved that they wanted to go to Harlem, so off we went in a cab all the way up to 117th St.

I forgot how cool Costco is. The huge carts. The colossal isles, brimming with giant packages of anything and everything. This Costco even had Michael Kors and Coach bags. Is that normal?

 I ended up with more cheese, fish, almonds and ziploc bags than I know what to do with. I have a HUGE container of salsa. At least 8 kinds of cheese. Enough salmon and tilapia to last me months. How the heck did I get so lucky?
Check out my fridge.

CHEEEEESE - the #1 reason i am not a born again vegan

my freezer

ridiculous

amazing

best thing evverrr

 Due to the large amount of salmon I have at my disposal, I have been eating it pretty often. Here is what I've been doing with it lately:

I separated a big slab into smaller Caitlin-sized portions.

the salsa jar is almost as big as my coffee maker.

Great use for a giant jar of salsa!

 

wonderful on salad.

Honey mustard glaze with teriyaki veggies. mmmm

 

 

Now I think I need to have a cheese and wine party. Maybe I can bring it to the New Years eve party I’m going to?

What are your plans for the holidays? Do you shop at Costco?

Later! 

Also, you should definitely check this out https://twitter.com/#!/shitgirlssay

Green Monster

A friend of mine from Canada gave me 2 packs of  Raw Greens Meal Saeng-Shik. After sitting in my pantry for over 1 year, I decided it was time to try it. The package recommends mixing with water and drinking a 1-2 times a day. If you’d like to substitute this for a meal, you can mix it with a banana.  

Product description:

Raw Greens were developed from the simple belief that we should consume wholesome foods in their natural states without cooking or artificially modifying them. This way, we can be sure that we are getting the best source of nutrients in a way that our bodies can use them. GMF (God-Made Food) uses a freeze-drying method to conserve the original raw natural state of enzymes, vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll, fibrin and all other nutritious ingredients.

god made food? okay.... lol

 Ingredients:

Rice (Brown rice, White rice), Barley, Freeze-ried soy milk, Xylitol, Fructooligosaccharide, Glutinous brown rice, Kale, White sesame, Potato, Rice bran, Angelicus utilis, Pumpkin, Carrot, Millet, Shiitake mushroom, Sea tangle, Japanese chlorella (cracked cell), Spirulina, Indian millet, Glutinous millet, Job's tears, Black sesame, Brown seaweed, Barley grass, Wild parsley, Radish, Cabbage, Laver, Pine needles, Sedum, Radish leaves, Lotus root, Burdock, Cordyceps, Ganoderma mushroom, Malt, Carrot leaves, Sweet potato, Plum, Garlic, Yam, Mugwort, Lactic ferments, Citron.

 

That’s a lot of stuff in one little package!

lots of ingredients - note seaweed, radish leaves and what the heck is burdock?

Not much to it

 My opinion – it tasted like grassy chalk on ice. It smelled like dirt, almost like a barn but not quite as bad. I'm getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

At first I tried mixing it with water & ice in my magic bullet. Nasty. How could my Magic Bullet betray me like this?

Next I tried fixing it by adding some frozen berries. Ewwwww. Still nasty.

Then I tried adding more water and some plain Greek yogurt. Yup, still nasty. So, so bad. 

 This was still gross, powdery and bland, but I drank it anyways.I was hungry again in about an hour. #failure lol.

I don’t know if I’m cut out for this kind of drink but, hey, at least I finally tried it.

 I have had real green juice and I actually like it a lot. I think I"ll just stick to the fresh stuff!

 

 Do you own a juicer? Can you recommend any very healthy breakfast mixes that will keep me full and do not taste like abso*f-ing*lutely terrible??