Finding Your Rhythm

"Daily chaos will never cease. Rather than struggling against it, find your own rhythm." Whole Living, August

This past week was a tough one for me for many reasons. I am so glad I have found this outlet and have made some major life changes, or I probably would have gained at least 5 pounds this week - no joke. 

Instead of finding comfort in food, I had the urge to run! When I would have those urges to run, unfortunately I wasn't able to drop everything and do it right then, but it still helped me think that I didn't want to use food for comfort. Sometimes I would just drink a big glass of ice water and take a couple of deep breaths. 

I am so excited to be in this positive place to want to deal with stress in a healthy way - naturally. If you aren't there yet, just try to start a regular program and stick to it. I like the running because it is very goal oriented. If you can't run for whatever reason, set goals with biking, walking etc. Feeling like you accomplished something you set out to do at the end of every workout is very rewarding. Especially for me - as someone who used to get that feedback & reward in the workplace - it's not as obvious as a stay-at-home-mom. 

Last week I had mentioned the 14-day meal plan in Clean Eating magazine.  I bought a lot of the ingredients but I didn't follow it for every meal (and I also had a glass of red wine here or there!) but I made most of the breakfasts and lunches (last week's great salad recipe for example). 

Doing this really helped me for a few reasons. It opened my eyes to meal ideas to add more variety into my diet. Also it reminded me about specific portion sizes as I measured everything out for these specific 1-serving recipes. I highly recommend this publication - it has GREAT ideas!

I hope everyone has a very happy & healthy holiday weekend!

SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "Lose Yourself" Eminem - not my usual choice for listening to, but the lyrics are very inspiring to run to!

RANDOM TIP OF THE WEEK: Getting through an intense run or workout can be difficult (it is for me almost every time). There are things that I have to I think about to keep me going. One of them is my "cool down" song. I've chosen one song that I love as a consistent song to play the second I finish a run. I look forward to hearing this song and will only play and enjoy it if I finish the run that I set out to do (either for time or distance). When a run gets tough and I want to stop, I think of the feeling I have when I have finished previous runs and am listening to this song (which is an awesome feeling) - and so far it's worked every time. 

THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: Summer "No Cook" Caprese Pasta. 

If summer had a taste - for me it would be this dish. Use local super ripe tomatoes.. so good. It is also so nice in these last few days of summer not to have to heat up the kitchen - all you have to is boil the noodles! There is also something very gratifying about tearing the tomatoes with your bare hands. ENJOY!!!

This dish tastes like summer!

• Summer "No Cook" Caprese Pasta
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (since it's not being cooked - use a high quality EVOO, it makes a big difference!)
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 pound cooked and drained whole wheat short pasta (penne, rigatoni etc.)
• 4 medium ripe in-season tomatoes
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese
• 1 bunch of fresh basil leaves
• Combine olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Toss in cooked and drained pasta. Tear tomatoes (with your bare hands!); scatter over pasta with the cheese. Garnish with basil leaves, and sprinkle with pepper. Serves 4.