Happy Friday! For some reason this week felt like it flew by. We are leaving for a quick vacation to Louisiana tonight, so I am surprised the week went so fast. Sometimes a week will drag on due to anticipation!
Well today’s Anything & Everything Friday I am discussing our trip, but also StitchFix and foods to avoid before a workout!
New Orleans:
We leave tonight for New Orleans! This will be my 4th trip to the city and each time has been different. Some people hate New Orleans, but I love it! It is a great city and an amazing FOOD city!
We are actually going for the Broncos game on Sunday. My parents have made it a tradition of going to an away Broncos game each year (or close to each year). Last year, we invited ourselves on their trip and went to Cleveland! Cleveland ended up being a pretty cool town and the game was a ton of fun. I cannot wait to watch the game in the dome…. awesome.
We don’t have a ton of plans besides the game. On Monday we do have reservations for lunch at Commander’s Palace, the restaurant where Emeril Lagasse got his start! Originally we’d booked dinner, but then we found out they have 25 cent martinis over lunch. Donny may or may not be trying to get my mother drunk! He also loves martinis. Other than that, we plan to eat good food, drink some good beer and/or cocktails and cheer on the Denver Broncos!
Microwave Recipes:
Some people think the microwave is an unhealthy way to cook things. In excess, I’m sure it is. However, sometimes you need the convenience of a microwave. So what can you do with a microwave besides heat up pre-cooked food?
Well, Bodybuilding.com has this article of 7 Easy, Healthy Microwave Recipes. My favorite part? It is written by Kevin Curry, one of my favorite healthy food bloggers out there! He makes amazing looking food and his photos are FULL of color on his blog Fit Men Cook. The other thing I like is that he focuses on high protein recipes, which is something I try to do in my every day eating.
He has included recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner in this article and they all look delicious! He even covers dessert with a walnut brownie. Umm, yes. I would definitely like that. Check out the other quick and convenient recipes in the link above.
Stitch Fix:
So I recently joined Stitch Fix! I’m not 100% sure what to expect, but I decided to give it a go. I’d looked into it a little bit about a year ago after talking to one of my friends about it, but not fully committed. My sister came to me the other day and asked me if I had heard about it. A couple hours later and I’d caved and opened an account!
If you are not familiar with Stitch Fix, then it is an online “personal stylist”, if you will. You sign up and set a profile of your height, sizes in different clothes, style preferences, etc. Once you’ve created your style profile they send you a box with five items, ranging from pants, jeans, tops, sweater, jewelry, bags, etc for you to try on in the comfort of your home. You return what you don’t want or like, then pay for what you do. I have a feeling this is going to be VERY dangerous! What I found intriguing about the whole thing was that they send you items that you may or may not have picked at a store. Some of the styles might be awful, but I have a feeling I’m going to surprise myself in what I find to like!
Who knows, I set my first box to be delivered at the beginning on December. Hopefully I’ll get some cute stuff to take to New York City! Do you use Stitch Fix to buy clothing? What do you think about it?!
Almond-Quinoa Energy Bars:
TastingTable.com is a pretty neat website for restaurants and travel information, but also cooking techniques and recipes. Most of the recipes on the site require more than my culinary knowledge, but sometimes they have simple ideas! For example, these Almond-Quinoa Energy Bars seem like something I could handle. Plus, these bars are clean eating friendly!
Most recipes on TastingTable.com are NOT healthy, let alone clean eating approved. These take roughly 30 minutes to make and will be great to make for a grab-and-go breakfast or snack. Add a protein shake and boom, you have a great portable meal or snack.
Foods to Avoid Before a Workout:
I schedule my workouts early in the morning. Early morning workouts have pros and cons, with one con being that you don’t get a ton of time to have a pre-workout meal. I have time to EAT one, but I don’t have enough time to actually digest it enough. Rather than waking up at 3:30am each day I choose to have a light snack before my workout, rather than a full meal. I cannot lift quite as much as I can on days that I eat a meal or two prior to my workout, but it doesn’t hold me back enough to make me adjust my workout timing.
When I workout on Saturday’s I like to choose a BIG workout, because I have a ton of extra energy due to the extra meals I get to eat. It is amazing what carbs do for you prior to a workout! So what should you eat before a workout and what foods should you avoid before a workout?
My Fitness Pal has an article with 9 Foods to Avoid Before a Workout to help you choose what foods to eat before a workout. A lot of the foods included in this list have some type of side effect on digestion. Beans, dairy and vegetables like Brussels sprouts and broccoli are a few to mention. The thing about lists like this is that you really need to play around with different foods to see what works for you. Dairy might not bother you before a workout, but it might cause gas and bloating in your friend.
Check out the list of other foods to avoid and make sure to scroll to the bottom to see what foods you should eat before a workout!
Well that wraps things up for Anything & Everything Friday! Have a great weekend. Eat some awesome food (some healthy, but some not) and try to move a little.
