#mango's weekly goals

[thesamoanqueen]

Nothing left

Raiting: 18+

Warnings: smut, jealousy, errors.

A/N: As we said here, leave your hands at home.

She loved their room. Maybe she would take a picture to put on her phone, frame and look at in moments of despair, because she didn't want to get out of there.

With a deep breath, she took off her heels abandoning them under a chair, while already she slipped off her earrings and the whole package. Behind her, it took Roman longer just to close the door, but Y/N had already taken over the bathroom to fix her hair and change. It had been one of the busiest mornings of her life and it was absurd considering that for years she had followed the pace of two rosters during the PLEs and the weekly routine. She hadn't had to run around endless hallways that day, the headphones hadn't stuck to her ears, there hadn't been any change of plans, no one to call in hurry, staff and technicians had been helpful, even offering Y/N her favorite frozen mango lemonade smoothie. They were so nice, but she liked the hotel room better. She needed a break.

- Have you changed your mind? Is it not a good opportunity? - she heard Roman ask from the room, finishing unbuttoning her dress to replace it with something more cozy.

They were not talking about a four am program, he watched it too when at home.

- It's a great opportunity Ro, for the company and above all for you - she obviously noticed, receiving a strange look, when she came out of the bathroom - it will give you visibility, it will increase your stats, it will help establish you on a wider audience and that’s the long-term goal for the future, even if you will boycott it with your list.

Standing next to the table, Roman cracked a smile taking the blow as she lay back on the bed, laptop already open on her legs, in what in a few minutes had become her personal sprint to shut the rest of the world out for at least a couple of hours.

- Is that why you are not happy to go to the studio? For my list?

Oh no, she was happy about that. Everyone out there seemed unable to get him to talk about anything other than his titles. At least they had found a compromise to please the company while still supporting him as more than the face of WWE.

- You can make all the lists and smiles you want, to whoever you want, don't worry. Do your things - she reassured him, opening the report to be sent to the executives for the following day's appointment.

Biting the corner of her lip, fingers racing across the keyboard, she finished in record time with a couple of randomly thrown standard phrases too, but she couldn't concentrate quite as well on emails, Roman staring thoughtfully at her without moving from one inch.

- What's up? - she asked, however, avoiding taking her eyes off the screen.

- You're not jealous – he threw out of blue and Y/N took a break to look at him this time.

Of course she wasn't. She wasn't that kind of woman. She didn't make a scene, she didn't get angry, she had learned to distinguish who deserved her attention and her precious time, she had survived a year of nothing with her head high and had been repaid with a perfect relationship, she knew what value she had for him and what value she had herself. She didn't low down to those levels, they even joked, she had compiled a list of the most obscene and hilarious comments about him found on the web.

- What should I be jealous of? - she asked.

Because she was really curious to know what made him suspect that her desire to go back to the hotel, get the boring work done quickly to have some time to relax and maybe be ready for a night out in a city that offered a million opportunities to celebrate those small successes, without having to worry about shots, uncomfortable or trivial questions, suits and skintight dresses, people who treated her as if they had been homies and greeted him with hugs that not even their coworkers dared, was for jealousy.

His phone, lying on the table next to the welcome note, rang when Roman had just shook his head and Y/N knew that it would be the end if her eyes hadn't locked there for a second too long. And she also knew that he had noticed it, but they would have not talk about that nonsense. Because it was stupid, meaningless and she wasn't jealous.

She went back to work on her laptop, ignoring him as he reached out to pick it up and Y/N opened the email, ending up ignoring even the latest updated communications from the program for the following day and scrolling through it. Roman glanced at her again, quickly, but Y/N forced herself to stay focused until he left the phone to go to the bathroom too. She took a deep breath as soon as she was sure he was out of range and she mentally forced herself to regain control.

It had only been a moment, perhaps because of this new set-up, all those changes, she really had nothing to stop and think about. Even if that hug had been a bit too much and… no, she had to stop thinking about it!

When Roman came out with his inseparable tracksuit to lie down next to her, Y/N was still with her laptop, gaze focused on some shots sent as pre-show tests.

- I would never do it, you know – he reminded her after a few seconds of silence, making her stomach do a flip.

Yes, she knew it… she trusted Roman more than anyone and she never doubted him for a second. She hadn't even doubted that morning actually, she was just… annoyed, but not for him. The truth was that Y/N had only wanted to go back to the hotel because it was simpler and because she didn't feel right fighting with a woman like her, although perhaps she could have since it were her hands that had been on him longer than necessary. But practically nothing had happened and Roman had went back to Paul's side as soon as possible.

- I know, I'm not the jealous one here – she reminded to both him and herself, while he was playing with his watch.

She had also had a moment, yes, but him… oh, he was a league on his own! Y/N had stopped counting before they even decided to put a name to their relationship, the times it happened. It was pathological.

- I value what belongs to me. I don't take you for granted - he returted seriously, no doubt in his voice and Y/N found herself staring at the screen, her stomach freezing this time.

Roman was a man, not a boy. He knew how to take care, respect and support her, he treated her as the only thing that really mattered and what would have been a flaw on anyone else, on him looked terribly sexy. And she always fell for it, without exception. Especially after spending the morning, trying to fight off the mood at having seen too many hands on her man.

- You're unbearable when you do that – she snorted, closing the laptop to leave it on the bedside table and climb on Roman without hesitation.

With a smug grin, Roman helped her into position, eyes searching for her, as she reserved the same fate as her laptop for his watch, fighting then with the zipper of his hoodie.

- Don't you want to know what time is our reservation? – he chuckled hoarsely, hinting at the message received minutes before and helping her anyway when she quickly stripped him of his shirt as well, her hands sliding down his chest to stop on his shoulders.

- I already know, I chose it - she murmured against his mouth, biting his grin.

Jealousy was for those who lacked confidence, not for them. She wasn't jealous. In that relationship, born out of nowhere and raised between dates at unthinkable times, meetings in lockerooms and buses, calls and messages from everywhere, mental and physical breakdowns, nights spent sleeping and mornings of sex followed by doubts, she shared more than the path with Roman. She had discovered that she was as possessive as he was, because she valued, them. What they were building together was everything to her and she wasn't willing to lose it or let someone ruin it.

She felt Roman hold her, hands sliding up her hips, keeping her pressed against him, as they deepened their sloppy kiss and Y/N ran her fingers over his chest. The rapid beat of his heart slammed under her fingertips, warmth surrounding and encouraging her to move, grinding against his pants which she had merely undone. He was solid beneath her, ready to let her control even though his tongue had already won their fight. Knowing that he belonged to her, to have power over him, to be the only one to have his attention and to be able to have him like no one else out there thought was an injection of confidence that excited and pushed her to reclaim what belonged to her and her only.

His big hands had worked their way through her soft clothes, stroking her hips, touching her skin, ass, eyes glued to hers as she slowly traced every inch of his torso after pulling away from the kiss. With the taste of him still in her mouth, she reached down to kiss one pec and then the other, working her way up to his neck, his beard pinching her cheeks as she licked the jugular then bit his ear, feeling him pull her up to place her on his boner now awake. She rocked on top of him, feeling him hard against her center, his hands moving up under her shirt lifting her breasts and hers going down instead, moving his pants down. Slowly biting the skin of his neck, Y/N took it in her hand, squeezing his meat just enough to feel Roman stiffen, his breath catching in his throat, her tongue stopping under his ear, merely tasting his skin, sensing the blood pressure without marking him.

- I don't need to do it… - she whispered, nail scratching his already wet tip -...not this time either... -she added, rubbing up and down until she drew a hot breath from him - ... right? - she asked, placing an innocent kiss on his full lips before leaning down and taking something else into her mouth.

A low, rough growl filled the room as she ran her tongue over his vein, feeling the flesh throb, the taste of it overpowering as she slid it against her palate until it touched her throat, in that one smooth motion she'd been busy to learn. She liked the feel of it pulsing against her tongue, his hand gripping her hair and indulging in the slow movement of her head, before curling into a needy caress as he struggled to fight the instinctive thrusts. Y/N loved seeing him close his eyes, his breathing getting heavy every time her lips licked the tip, sucking out all the air in his lungs to make him pulse.

-Ain't going anywhere babygirl – Roman panted, licking his lips, biting the lower one when she slid her fingers over the sensitive skin to scratch and free him – do what you want-

She let it slam against his bare stomach, a trail of spit and precum dripping onto his skin, those dark curls driving her crazy. Getting up on her knees, Y/N locked her eyes on him and threw away the extra clothes, remaining only with the shirt that soon ended up covering him too, when she slipped it into her soft hot folds. Her body greeted him with an almost sigh of relief which he returned low and dangerous, their bodies warming and melting like every time they did it.

She had fucked every kind of man in her life. But with Roman it wasn't even sex, with him it had always been more than that. Everything in him seemed made to slip inside her and mix, it was a loss of consciousness, something shared back, something unique that made her feel at peace, in her place. Her place was with him and his with her.

Nails digging into his torso, she slowly, unhurriedly rocked her hips, his now-rigid erection spreading her deeply, never letting go as her butt lifted.

- Mmh… keep it slow, like that… yes, thats it – he approved hoarsely and Y/N reversed the movement, guiding him inside her in that weak gasp which was setting both of them on fire.

Her caramel skin itched, thighs taut and soon her shirt became a torture, one Roman took care to make worse by sliding his hands down her side, catching a dark nipple between his fingers to turn it over and make her moan with a cry. Y/N ducked a little, her center filled with his flesh, as she flattened against him resting where someone else's hands had been that morning. Her mind clouded by the arousal brought back the memory, clear and her hips instinctively moved, without increasing the pace, only deepening the thrusts until Roman slammed against her sweet spongy spot.

They could make jokes, imagine, try even, but no one would have what she had. No one would feel him tightening his grip on her hips, throb from the grips of her body, know what it was like to burn, as the sweat trickled down her back, between her shoulder blades and up to the curve of her round ass from his thrusts or the kisses he left on her skin. No one would see the bleary, hungry gaze he gave her as her eyes lowered to seek him, the heat building more and more at the bottom of her belly.

- You're so good for me… so good inside me… ahn!

- Take it… le-mme hear those pretty sounds yes

His hand slid under her shirt again, this time without searching for her breast, his thumb digging into her wet folds, where their bodies joined to rotate slowly around the button of nerves she had rubbed against him until that moment. The contact sent a sharp shiver on her body, and Y/N dropped her head back, moans becoming almost cries as her back arched, giving Roman more room. Everything in her was burning, relentlessly, slowly, consuming her down to her toes, making her melt on him in a mess of moods and sweat. With an effort from his abs, Roman sat up, a big strong arm sliding behind her, pulling her close to him, his finger moving slowly and forcefully between her folds. The desire to kiss him made her almost cling to his neck, getting up again a little on her knees, helping him in that last run that had filled the whole room with their smell and the sound of their bodies clashing. One thrust, another, like a carousel she never wanted to get off, until the heat became too much and Y/N felt it explode suddenly, making her squeeze around Roman's stiff shaft, letting his name rush desperately from her lips to be swallowed up by the kisses he never spared.

There was nothing left in her mind, except that feeling of peace and satisfaction that only being with him could give her, that drained and recharged her as soon as his arms tightened around her, when her body welcomed his limitless lunges and his seed, which filled her like a mark that no one else had granted and that no one else but her deserved.

She rested her cheek in his hair, his face buried in the crook of her neck in an embrace that was everything to her. New York and its frantic pace couldn't take that away from her. Nobody could do it.

Tag squad: @sunnyfleur23 @racerchix21 @alyyaanna @angelreigns444 @romanreignsdefencesquad @romanstheory @claymorexpunisher @keybladeofsteel @msbigredmachine @nayys-world @gobbersworld @utika151209 @cumxxslutt @civildawn @romanmydaddy @triscillal @papireigns-05 @helensanders92 @ichdrachenfrau @darqchilddaydreamz @meggylynnloves @unfriendly--blvck--hottie @nicolewoo @wrestlezaynia @reignmyworld @reigns-central-blog @kianaleani @daguenoire @extra-11 @thedonsfactory @snowpanda18 @brattyfics @mzv11 @romanreignseater @namjoonspinkytoenail @tribalchiefdaily @2baddies2furious @vebner37 @raeluvshammett @depressedneedingrevenge @cyberdejos2 @thewarlordsworld @jeonmahi1864 @jxtina-86 @harmshake @harlem11680 @joanoai @southerngirl41 @blkbutterfly816

#roman reigns smut #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns one shot #roman reigns x reader #roman reigns x y/n #roman reigns x oc #roman reigns x black reader #roman reigns fanfic #roman reigns fic #wwe fanfiction #wwe smut #roman reigns oneshot

[eataku]

Kebab aur Sharab, NYC

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but I do try and set a few goals for myself at the top of each year, like regularly updating this blog in 2023. Another is something I’m calling “CBTPB”, or “C.B’s Trains, Planes and Boats”, which is to make a weekly excursion to a restaurant I’ve never been to before that I’ll get to by one of the listed forms of transportation. And I’m kicking things off this week with my visit to the new Kebab aur Sharab on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, which I got to on the subway, more specifically, the 1 train.

Kebab aur Sharab is the newest restaurant from Chef Salil Mehta of Laut/Singapura/Wau fame who’s partnered with Chef Dipesh Shinde, cooking for the first time in New York City after years of running the kitchens in some New Delhi’s finest restaurants. I was kindly invited to the friends & family tasting last week and was truly impressed with every dish that hit our table. While I did have a few favorites, the first three dishes you’ll see below, their entire menu is worth exploring! Here’s a look...

Andhra Chilli Chicken

“Famous” Butter Chicken

Muradabadi Dal Lentil Soup

Grilled River Prawns with Mango Chutney

Purple Yam Chaat

Kashmiri Tandoor Chicken with Kachumber

Baby Goat Dori Kebab

Nawabi Paneer Cheese Kebab

Palak Paneer Spinach with Mirch Rogan

Kerala King Fish Curry

Chicken Biryani

All this served with assorted naan, roti and paratha, no less!

There’s a noted venison dish that was unavailable the night we were there that we’ll be going back for soon.

Renowned bartender Colin Stevens, of Singlish and Jelas, is building the cocktail menu and I recommend starting with his Paan Shop, made with gin, fennel and betel nut. The spice pack is an edible bite...

There’s also a curated wine list for pairing with Indian food and punches are coming soon.

A quick look at the cozy interior, as well as the outside atrium, that will be wonderful come spring and the warm weather when they can open the windows up...

Kebab aur Sharab is open on West 72nd St. and for now, be sure to look for the logo in my first pic up top there as the name of restaurant is not up yet. Enjoy!

(And thanks to Aik Wye Ng and Mutsumi Masuda for assistance with some pics I missed.)

KEBAB AUR SHARAB

247 West 72nd St.

NY, NY 10023

212-540-5247

Reservations available through resy.com

#CBTPB #new york #new york city #nyc #big apple #restaurant #indian food #indian #new delhi #kebab grills #curry #tandoori #chicken #biryani #food #foodie #chutney #cocktails #bar #chilli #spicy #spicy food #fish #prawns

[cherrydior111]

Re: Pink Pilates Princess

Hi! I'm more or less in a similar situation, what I do is use some pilates workouts on YouTube (my fav is Bailey Brown) & Daisy Keech's abs workout and alternate that with some dance/Zumba workouts so it's not that boring. Also Lazy Dancer Tips' Ballet Cardio workout is a good start!

When it comes to food, since I don't get to choose that much about lunch/dinner I always try to have a healthy breakfast (basic smoothies such as banana+spinach+apple/mango, or fruit+yogurt+cereals/toast kind of combo w green tea) and have fruit as snacks (small fruits/fruits cut into little bites are the best, especially if frozen!)

From time to time I'll buy myself some face mask and whenever possible some skincare product that I can safely implement into my skincare routine. My basics are toner+moisturizer, lip balm & obviously sunscreen (better if it has vitamin c!).

This concept also implies taking care of your mind; find interesting journal prompts in Pinterest and write them on a Google doc. Write 5 things you're thankful for every morning in general terms & every night for what happened that day, focus on the little things.

Learn new things, borrow books from the library, join free courses on Coursera/edX, watch a TedTalk, find new musicians to love, nurture/make healthy friendships.

Also what helps a lot is making a daily schedule to work towards whatever goals you have that you find easy to follow & tracking your goals weekly+monthly.

Hope it helps! ✨

omg thank you sm <3

this just gave me a ton of motivation!

#pink pilates princess #green juice girl #workout #fitness motivation #self improvement #self care #self help

[preppernewstoday]

Every Prepper should set goals and create short-term and long-term plans to be ready for any eventuality. The SurvivalBlog editors will be sharing their weekly prep activities and plans for the next week. These include gear purchases and healthcare, as well as gardening, bug out bags fine-tuning and food storage. This is similar to the Retreat Owner Profiles but written in increments and in details throughout the year. We welcome your success stories and wisdom to be shared in e-mails. Many of these - or excerpts thereof - are posted in this column, the Odds ‘n Sods column, and the Snippets section. Let's get busy and be prepared! Jim Reports: I have been concentrating my indoor work because of the snow on the ground and the temperatures in the 20s. I have been focusing on the interior of the workshop now that the wall insulation has been completed. It's a low-budget alternative to plywood that has a random pattern that looks almost like it was created by Salvador Dali. Although it is stronger than particleboard, it is less expensive than plywood. It will work well for me, as most of the area will be covered with Masonite pegboard. It is a utilitarian building and not a contest. My Inner Scotsman has advised me to save a lot of scrap lumber, ranging from 2'' to 6-foot widths, to make the OSB's "nailer" backing boards. My Inner Scotsman has also recommended that I work in the shop without running a heater. It is usually around 30 degrees. Just a thick coat, insulated boots, and a cap are all I need to keep me warm. I have a lot of fun in three to five hour sessions. If the temperature inside the shop drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, I may consider turning on a small space heater. Outdoors, I adjusted a stock tank heater as well as a heat tape. I did some snowplowing. After the next storm, plowing will not begin in earnest. I have confirmed that the Western brand plow works properly. Now, let's move on to Lily Avalanche Lilily Reports: Dear Readers This week's weather was cloudy and snowy at the beginning of this week. Between Sunday night and Monday night, we received four inches of fresh snow. The temperatures plummeted to the single digits, like a rock. Brrr. It's unbelievable how November begins so early. To protect them from the severe cold this week, I brought seven trays of greens from my greenhouse into my house. I brought in Winter lettuce and spinach, Swiss Chard, Beans, and two trays with seeds that are barely sprouting: Water Cresss and Thyme. In the greenhouse, I also covered many trays with clear plastic totes. Then I placed plastic hoops over the plastic. There are three layers of plastic surrounding them. According to Eliot Coleman's book "Four Season Harvest", each layer warms you up by one degree. They may not die, but they will continue to grow throughout the winter. In late February, their growth will resume and give us early greens. After the cold weather had passed, I went outside to inspect everything in the greenhouse. Even under all those layers, the cold-weather hardy greens were all frozen and slightly droopy. They are still viable, just in a dormant form. The few potatoes and peppers that I left were dead, however, are still alive. They will soon be taken out of the greenhouse. In preparation for spring planting, I plan to fill up many planter seedling containers. Although I may be optimistic, and maybe even silly, I did plant three Mango seeds, ginger roots, and turmeric in small pots. I put them on our kitchen windowsill. If they do not grow in our warm Great Room this winter, I will plant them in the greenhouse the following summer. Then they will return to the house the next winter. They will be kept at a manageable size. I also began to water-root a few Avocado seeds. I cleaned the Hen House. I frozen the last tomatoes that had ripened in my house. I also kept seeds from different varieties of tomatoes. I placed seeds I had been drying in envelopes:

butternut squash, spaghetti squash, Hubbard pumpkin, Delicata squash, Butternut squash red and yellow onions, more Hungarian bell pepper, red sweet pepper and Paste/Cherokee. Miss Violet was presented with her medical supplies for career this week. They have been shared with us and we have discussed their use and potential applications. This week I cooked one meal on the wood stove, and another Borsht soup. I also made a white loaf of bread for my family, and baked it in a cast-iron pan in the wood stove's oven. All reports said it was delicious and baked beautifully. Although I don't eat bread anymore, I did taste it to ensure that I was getting an honest review. It was delicious. Cross Country skiing was not possible after the snowstorm. The snow was too thick and wet on my skis. Grrr! It was the middle of the week when a cold front moved in. The snow was so soft and cold that it made Cross Country skiing possible. I did some loops around the ranch. Nice! In the last three weeks Miss Violet and myself have been very disciplined about lifting weights, sitting ups, and stretching. I discovered the benefits of stretch bands and bought two sets. They are very useful and I have already noticed an improvement in my muscle strength. Because the weather has turned colder, my life has slowed down. I'm resuming scripture study and working my way through the book Isaiah in Hebrew. We wish you all a blessed and safe week. - Avalanche Lily, Rawles o o o Please share your successes and wisdom with us by sending e-mails. We will publish them in the "Snippets” column next week. We would love to hear from your.

[thedietfantasy]

5 Ways a Weight Loss Meal Plan Delivery Can Make Your Life Better

Weight loss delivery meals services are perfectly what they sound like, companies that deliver prepared meals and snacks straight to your door and not to be puzzled with meal delivery kits that send ingredients with a recipe and need you to cook your own meals. Meal delivery facilities remove the preparation work by sending prepared entrees and snacks that are ready-to-eat. A few might need a fast reheat but they consequently make life easier. The five ways a meal delivery service can make your life better:

Read More :  Why choose diet food delivery?

Read More :   4 Benefits of getting on a diet meal plan

Helps in saving time:

It’s a better way to assure you are eating healthy; preparing meals from scratch can be time-consuming. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) accounts that Americans spend an average of 37 minutes a day preparing and cleaning up meals. That solely is over four hours per week. A normal person also goes to the grocery store 1.6 times every week. This doesn’t even constitute the time it takes to plan your weekly menu, prepare a shopping list and bring to and from the supermarket. In case you don’t have those extra hours or you just prefer to spend them doing something else, a weight loss meal plans delivery could be your solution. Many meals provided are pretty much ready to eat and you just pop them in the oven or microwave for a few minutes and you have a complete meal. Wonder if you had more than four hours back in your week.

read also -  Can meal delivery help in losing weight?

Helps in saving money:

You commonly head to the grocery store with the best of goals, piling the produce and other healthy foods into our shopping cart to eat better and make more home based meals. Then life gets in the way and before you know it, days have gone by, leaving your leafy greens wilted and the fresh fruit over ripened. As per the research at the USDA, Americans waste about a pound of food per person every day. Researchers recommend that those with diets rich in fruits and veggies are the most excessively wasteful. Whether you buy too much or you don’t get around to actually cooking them, the truth remains that a lot of food and money is wasted every day.

You can lose weight:

Some meal delivery services can assist you in losing a few extra pounds. For instance, Thedietfantasy provides all the benefits of conventional weight loss delivery meals with the added bonus of assisting customers in reaching their weight loss objectives. Dietitians painstakingly crafted the menu, and every meal and snack is correctly portioned for weight loss. You can lose weight while enjoying the convenience of having tasty, ready-to-eat meals delivered right to your house.

You get what you want:

Sometimes you may be in the mood for Mexican? Hankering for some pasta? Many of the meal delivery services provide extensive menus, enabling you to put together a meal plan full of entrees and snacks you love. Thedietfantasy provides all the staples, such as Margherita Pizza, Chicken Alfredo and our Classic Hamburger. You can also have something for those feeling a little more adventurous, comprising the Mango Verde Veggie and Grain Blend, Mediterranean Flatbread and Spinach and Cheese Pretzel Melt. You have many delicious desserts for the sweet lovers and abundance of salty snacks for those who prefer savory treats.

Quick Link : 

 New York diet meal plan

prepared food delivery nyc

Should I go for meal prep services in 2022?

Quantity of food can be chosen:

Numerous meal delivery companies offer tiered packages that differentiate how many meals are delivered. A few might cover every meal for an entire week, whereas others might just deliver one meal per day. Thedietfantasy offers various different options including the popular four-week programs. They also offer success plans that let you enjoy the convenience of Thedietfantasy food when you need it most, at the time exercising your culinary muscles when it works for you. For those who follow even less strict schedules, you have the full menu available to be ordered a la carte. This will enable you to order meals and snacks from our menu as you need them. For more details on weight loss delivery meals, explore https://thedietfantasy.com/

#diet meal delivery #meal delivery for weight loss nyc #weight loss meal delivery #nyc prepared food delivery #meal plan delivery nyc #new york diet meal plan

[etto-etto]

A cup to pair with my notebook✨ Hopefully it will remind and inspire me to write more often in Japanese.

I meant to post yesterday, but a lot of random and crazy things happened that I don’t mind sharing but are also just so [eye roll], and at the end of the day I fell asleep at my desk again. Tuesday, be nice!

So I “finished” Lesson 21 in Genki on Sunday, only not really. The week wasn’t kind and ended with a five-day old headache explosion that could not be quieted, so Thursday evening through all of Friday I was home but rendered useless. I was able to complete the remaining workbook exercises on Saturday, save for about half of the listening comprehension, and a fair amount of vocab! I’m in a review week now, so I’m hoping to cover the remaining practice material and go hard with vocab (because I’ve been seriously slacking on it, and you know how scary a neglected Anki deck can become). 

There’s a lot of stuff I need/want to sort through over the next two weeks, although I’m a day behind now. Even as I wrote out my daily goals for this review period, I knew it’d be a struggle, but I’ll see what I can get done. From the top of my list:

Review kanji from 読み書き編

Finish Lesson 21 Anki vocab deck and start reviewing/finishing other lessons, working backward 

30 Days of Grammar (days 7 - 11)

Start making grammar point flashcards, starting with lessons 13 - 21, and finishing the week with lessons 1 - 3 or 5 (if applicable; most of that is very basic grammar) 

読み書き編+教科書練習 (finish)

Finish 21.8 in the workbook (聞く練習)

Finish ちょっと食べられちゃったパイ君

These are my Japanese goals for the week! I think it’s a lot to work through, especially considering my schedule, but I’ll do what I can.  

(And sorry for the picture quality. ;-; It’s something I have to work with now since the front camera developed worse vision than me after my phone flung across the passenger seat and hit the car door. Which, oddly, is the one incident that did the most damage as opposed to the multiple times where I have watched it drop from 4+ feet onto a hard surface floor uncased. I can only hope a repair can fix it.)

#mango's weekly goals #study update #japanese studyblr

[vollzeit-kaffee]

Hallo Leute! Wie geht es euch?

I’ve been quiet for a while, right? I took a break from language study in December and wasn’t active on any of my blogs! And when the new year came, I went all in on Japanese but struggled to form concrete German goals, which makes me sad.

Still, I am not sure what I should aim for in German aside from continuing to move forward in my studies. To start, I am highly considering dropping the Living Language textbook. The reason being: it’s simple. I enjoyed reading through it as part of a review, but I don’t like it as much when it comes to learning new grammar. I have several different textbooks in PDF format that I want to sort through... or I may return to Treffpunkt, which is the text we used in my German class. (I’m also open to any recommendations!)

So I guess that’s my first solid German goal of the year: choose a textbook by Friday.

I’m also looking for ways to keep myself more accountable when it comes to keeping my German studies consistent. As some may know, I run a Genki study group on Discord, and this has worked out really well for me! So I’ve thought about creating one for German, too---either we could work through the same beginner-level textbook together or just keep each other updated on our studies, share resources, and support~ ୧༼✿ ͡◕ д ◕͡ ༽୨ I’m aware of servers that are designed for multiple languages, but this would be German-only.

But that’s where I’m at right now...

Choose a textbook (by Friday!)

Begin review (: (because I’ve been 2 months off...!)

Study group? Yes/No?

#german studyblr #german langblr #study update #study... goals? #hmm #mango's weekly goals #*corrections edit~!

[hwaitingmango]

・13.3.20 ～ study update & intro ・

I wasn’t going to introduce myself at all, as I didn’t do it with my other langblrs, but why not?

hi! I go by “mango” online, but my real name is raya; feel free to call me either. in addition to korean, which I am a fresh beginner at, I also self-study Japanese with the help of my Genki Study Group on Discord as well as German all by my lonesome---the latter being a long-time affair that I am forever struggling with. I have a langblr for each, and you can find them linked on my page. 

apart from studying languages, I enjoy copious amounts of coffee, exercising, hoarding recipes, and pretty much anything sci-fi and fantasy! books, movies, shows. I am especially fond of ATLA and Grishaverse, as well as watching Korean and Japanese dramas. presently I am on a school hiatus but hope to return and enter the nursing program. my favorite topics in A&P were bones and vessels, and if I could take classes on those alone I totally would.

I picked up Korean primarily on whim, because I have a twitter friend who recently began studying it. we both ordered the same textbook and plan to start around the same time together once mine comes in. I’m glad to have a study buddy for this, and if it weren’t for that I’d probably still be fighting off the temptation to learn.

it would've been nice if I could have started this post off in a Korean greeting, but what little I know about the Korean language comes from K-dramas, so I only know how some words should sound and not how they’re spelled. but that’s why I’m working my way through the alphabet!

if I am honest, I find it a little difficult. I took a couple to a few weeks to learn kana in Japanese, and I am feeling like hangul is actually more difficult... but also I think I may have forgotten what it feels like to be a complete newbie at something. I’m confident that I’ll get the hang of this as long as I keep making consistent efforts, because that’s how progress is made.

so the ~stuff~ I’m doing and need to do:

start vowels with Korean Unnie’s Day #17-19 (or 20) tonight. finish the remainder over the weekend.

practice with Drops (five minutes)

quiz self on recog and sound with Quizlet set

write characters out while practicing how they sound

normally I wouldn’t be this fixated on perfecting an alphabet so early on into a language, but I may as well pour over it as much as I can since I’m still waiting on my textbook. I ordered Talk To Me In Korean Level 1 (textbook + workbook) early last week, so another week or two to go... 

ヽ(；▽；)ノ

#korean studyblr #korean langblr #koreanblr #langblr #mango's weekly goals #study update

[punfit]

26/6/21

Breakfast - serving of instant migoreng with 1 egg, 2.5 servings plant based tuna, gherkin dip and fried chilli; sweetened black coffee.

Snack - 1 chocolate muffin, sweetened black tea.

Dinner - serving of steamed carrot and broccoli, mashed potatoes, roasted beef steak, 1 spicy chicken tender, 0.5 serving fried beef, chilli garlic sauce, 1 serving damper with butter.

Dessert - hot chocolate (Aktavite powder and full cream milk).

Snack - 2.5 servings chicken salted biscuits.

Water - 1.6L, alright.

Exercise - none.

Didn't get much sleep, so I was super tired by the end of the day.

27/6/21

Breakfast - serving of granola with 1 Rubi apple, serving of sultanas, honey, full cream milk; sweetened black coffee.

Snack - 1 chocolate muffin, sweetened green tea.

Lunch - 5 pieces mini spring rolls, 0.3 serving of spicy beef jerky.

Dinner - serving of white rice with devilled chicken, devilled sausage, pumpkin curry, and salad with French dressing; serving of creaming soda Pepsi.

Dessert - serving of lattice biscuits with nutella, sweetened green tea.

Water - 1.8L, good.

Exercise - none.

Had a full day of gaming. :D

28/6/21

Breakfast - 1 chocolate muffin, 1 mandarin, sweetened black coffee.

Dinner - serving of white rice with devilled sausage, mackerel curry, pumpkin curry, leek theldala, salad with French dressing.

Dessert - 1.5 servings honey toffee yoghurt with granola, sweetened black tea.

Water - 1.8L, good.

Exercise - none.

Overall good intake.

29/6/21

Breakfast - 1 chocolate muffin, 1 mandarin, 1 string cheese, serving of salted cashews, sweetened black coffee.

Snack - sweetened cappuccino, 3 peri peri Pringles.

Dinner - serving of mixed steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, roast chicken, cheese sauce, chilli garlic sauce.

Dessert - serving of milk chocolate, sweetened black tea.

Water - 1.8L, good.

Exercise - grocery shopping (2 hrs), bathroom cleaning (1 hr).

I counted the grocery shopping as exercise because it involved a lot of walking around and even a brief jog. :P The cleaning also involved a lot of walking through the house for supplies and lifting mop buckets, etc.

30/6/21

Breakfast - 1 LCM bar, 1 mandarin, 1 string cheese, serving of salted cashews, sweetened black coffee.

Lunch - 2 servings of crackers with gherkin dip, 2 servings peri peri Pringles, 1 cake bar, sweetened black tea.

Dinner - serving of white rice with dhal, pumpkin curry, devilled sausage, mackerel curry, leek theldala, brinjal pahi.

Dessert - 8 pieces Starburst chews, sweetened black tea.

Water - 1.8L, good.

Exercise - none.

Once again my weight was suspiciously low this morning, but I doubt it'll show on my Friday weigh-in because tomorrow I'm visiting grandparents for a birthday lunch.

1/7/21

Breakfast - serving of smoothie (avocado, tinned passionfruit, tinned pineapple, carrot, cashews, mango yoghurt), sweetened black coffee.

Snack - 1 spicy tuna and cheese English muffin.

Lunch - serving of beef steak with garlic sauce, salad, and 2 servings chips.

Snack - assorted cheeses and cakes, sweetened black tea.

Dinner - spicy tuna and cheese English muffin.

Dessert - serving of chocolate fudge brownie, sweetened green tea.

Water - 1.8L, good.

Exercise - none.

Visited grandparents. :)

2/7/21 Weight

SW: 80KG

CW: 62.6KG

GW: 60KG

0.7KG down from last week. :)

Breakfast - serving of smoothie (avocado, tinned passionfruit, tinned pineapple, carrot, cashews, mango yoghurt), sweetened black coffee.

Dinner - serving of white rice with potato curry, devilled chicken, brinjal pahi, leek theldala, fried chilli, 1 fried egg.

Snack - sweetened green tea, 1 mandarin.

Water - 2L, excellent.

Exercise - 35 mins on the treadmill at 5km/h and incline of 6%.

I wasn't sure if I'd exercise today because I was feeling generally tired, but then I had a look at my old weekly routine and had a burst of motivation. I thought, if putting together that schedule through gradual progression of difficulty got me as far as I am today, surely returning to it can help me shake these last few kilos.

I had intended on walking 25 mins, then completing 15 mins of YouTube vids, but settled on a 35 min walk. It'll be a while before I can get back to the level of strength and endurance I had two months ago, but even so I'll probably get fitter along the way. That's the goal :)

#food log #fitblr #26/6/21 #27/6/21 #28/6/21 #29/6/21 #30/6/21 #1/7/21 #2/7/21 #weigh in

[wellashell]

4/28/2021: How I did today

1886 cal in // 2735 cal out (849 deficit)

Step count: 12,585

Exercise: 36 minute walk around town. My body was exhausted this afternoon so I listened and skipped my cardio/Pilates plan. The video will be there tomorrow if I feel up to it.

Breakfast: homemade cereal bar with multigrain o’s, peanut butter, chia seeds, cacao chips, freeze dried strawberries, and coconut flakes. Black coffee.

Morning snack: smoothie with banana, strawberries, chia seeds, and almond milk

Lunch: multigrain seeded bread with wine country chicken salad and arugula

Afternoon snack: espresso with cream, many things mix

Dinner: pressure cooker chicken thighs in white wine sauce and brown rice and a cup of v8 fusion peach mango

I made a lot of good choices today. I really wanted a cookie after lunch but I refrained. I came home from work completely drained so I took a nap. But I went for a walk when I got up to push me forward the rest of the day. I made an awesome meal in my instant pot. I drank a ton of water.

I’m not sure if yesterday’s poor choices carried over or if the workout I did really drained me that much, but my body’s felt like lead all afternoon. And I felt dizzy and nauseated when I was making dinner. My blood sugar may have dropped from too much time between meals but I’m not sure.

Either way, I’m proud of the good choices I made today and this week! For the first time maybe ever I’ve felt like I wasn’t restricted or scolding myself for my unhealthy habits, but more telling myself “is this going to help you reach your goal?” And if my goal for that day was to get drunk and eat some ice cream, then great! But the rest of the time I kept to my overall goals and kept my step count up all week since I started tracking!

My caloric deficit goal was 3500 for the week. My actual weekly caloric deficit was 3,314. Not bad for my first week! Already I know some tricks to keep my calories burned up and my calorie intake down in a way that doesn’t make me feel guilty or bad about my body.

I’m feeling really good. But also exhausted so I’m going to bed. Goodnight all.

#food #fitness #healthy #fitspo #health #progress report

[catsarticles]

The £15 delivery that can save the planet, and your dinner?

‘Veg box’ schemes (but in fact these boxes can also contain fruit, eggs, dairy produce, meat and cupboard staples) are a way of getting (mainly) local, seasonal, and sometimes organic, farm produce delivered to your home.

Courgette and vegan ricotta pasta, with homemade lettuce pesto, and roasted tomatoes on sourdough

Why choose a veg box?

Veg box schemes have developed to meet some of the environmental challenges that exist within the food chain, from farm, through our supermarkets, to our plates, and then too often into our bins.

The value of edible food wasted in the UK is around £19 billion (Waste and Resources Action Programme (“WRAP”) (2020) report). Reducing food waste is an effective solution to fighting climate change, as recognised by the inclusion in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals of Goal 12 – halving per capita global food waste. This proposed 50% reduction would lead to a reduction of the carbon footprint by 1.4 GtCO2 equivalent per year (UN FAO (2015) report). For context, that is over four times the annual CO2 footprint of the UK (source: Global Carbon Project).  

All food products generate their own carbon footprint through emissions related to transportation from farm to plate. The worst offender is air-freighted food, which tends to be used for highly perishable foods including fruit and vegetables. Around 0.16% of food miles are estimated to be by air-freight (Poore & Nemecek (2018) report). For most food products transport contributes to up to 10% of that product’s carbon footprint (Poore & Nemecek (2018) report). Defra statistics (March 2020) show 53% of food consumed in the UK originates in the UK, and Farmdrop’s website estimates that just 23% of fresh fruit and veg sold throughout the UK is grown here.

Supermarkets overuse single use plastic and packaging, often on fruit and veg that comes already packaged nicely in its natural skin. Customers are incentivised to buy these items - the team behind the 2019 BBC series ‘War on Plastic’ found that there was a price difference of 42% between the same items packaged and without packaging in Tesco, with the loose goods costing significantly more. The team found that residents in one single street in Bristol collectively had 7,145 pieces of plastic in their kitchen. Helped by programmes such as the BBC’s Blue Planet II, we are recognising the many different types of tragedy caused by industrial pollution and the discarding of plastic waste, as well as recognising the resource intensive production and disposal of plastic.

In addition to quantifiable environmental impacts, it’s a truism that fresh, seasonal food is tastier. And veg boxes have faced an unexpected challenge and opportunity in being able to provide food to millions of households who are forced to seek produce in different ways to usual due to the coronavirus pandemic. A YouGov study undertaken between 7-9 April 2020 found that 3 million people have tried a veg box scheme or are buying direct-from-farm for the very first time, as a result of the pandemic.

Garlicky, lemony spring greens stir fry

The larger players

There are a number of websites offering differing versions of the veg box concept. I considered in brief some of the larger players: Oddbox, Eversfield Organic, Riverford, Boxxfresh, Farmdrop and Abel & Cole. The companies distinguish themselves in different ways. Oddbox claims to be the only company that rescues fruit and vegetables, and their business model is to deliver misshapen and surplus produce. This is to directly counter the problem that supply chain food waste makes up 30% of the total UK food waste (WRAP (2020) report)  The majority of other companies offered meat, dairy products, eggs, bread, and cupboard staples alongside a veg box, or had the option to purchase items separately (i.e. not as a veg box bundle). These companies buy from mainly local suppliers and farm partners, with Farmdrop working with more than 450 producers. Companies like Riverford plan box contents and order in advance from their suppliers, aiming to grow only the amount they expect to need. Eversfield Organic and Riverford offered almost exclusively organic certified products (for brevity, and because it was not a feature of all of the veg boxes, I haven’t written about the benefits of organic produce to biodiversity, nutrition, and emissions).

None of the companies offered exclusively British grown produce. Oddbox state that you could receive bananas, avocados and mangos in your box, however this is produce that has already been, or would be, rejected as ‘imperfect’ as part of an imported crop. Riverford state that 80% of their veg is UK grown across the year, and they never air-freight (Farmdrop and Abel & Cole also make this commitment). To maintain quantity and variety of produce, Abel and Cole do not claim to rely solely on British or local suppliers, but aim for transparency, and do offer an All British veg box.

All the schemes pledge to reduce, and continue working on reducing, packaging, and make any packaging recyclable or degradable. Riverford currently estimates that its veg boxes contain 82% less plastic than the equivalent packaged products from major UK supermarkets.

Apple crumble

My review of Oddbox

My small fruit and veg box came with a brochure telling me the origins and reason for inclusion in the box of my produce this week. I received: a box of red grapes (from South Africa, imperfect colours), 4x apricots (Spain, surplus), 4x apples (UK, surplus), a box of cherry tomatoes (Spain, surplus), 2x courgettes (Spain, too small), 5x potatoes (UK, surplus), 9x white onions (UK, too small), a head of spring greens (UK, surplus), a head of green ‘living lettuce’ (UK, surplus), and a bag of salad leaves (UK, surplus). Overall I was slightly surprised that not all of the produce originated from the UK, however Oddbox explains that these products would have otherwise gone to waste and have not been imported for the purposes of the box. Some of the items deemed imperfect for sale were a little more ‘wonky’ than equivalent products that I could have picked up in supermarkets, but none of the items would be unsaleable, in my view.

This week’s small fruit and veg Oddbox

The brochure explained that the inclusion of two leafy salad items was due to the British leafy salad season just beginning, and the sudden crash of food service items they were destined for. This made a lot of sense to me, although quite how I was going to eat all of that lettuce made less so.

The quality was without exception fantastic. Apart from the courgettes and tomatoes, I would have been unlikely to choose any of these items in the supermarket, however I decided to get creative and avowed to not waste a thing. I hoovered up the grapes as a snack, and then supplemented the box with a couple of vegetables that I already had in, herbs from my windowsill, and a well-stock store cupboard, and came up with the meals included in the photos in this article. I also made a huge potato curry with onion bhajis, which, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t make presentable.

In order to avoid generating any food waste, I froze most of my spring greens. You can freeze most vegetables, and I recommend lightly cooking them first. Pestos are also fantastic ways of using vegetables, and I made a pesto from the abundance of lettuce we received, which we then used on bread, pasta, and as a salad dressing. I didn’t this week, but another great way to use leftover or awkward vegetables would be to cook them into a frittata, or savoury crepe (chickpea/gram flour can be use to make both as an alternative to using eggs and milk).

The tomatoes, grapes, salad leaves and lettuce were packaged in plastic. In my opinion only the salad leaves needed any kind of additional packaging, so the packaging was a little wasteful. The produce is not organic, which is a shame, but overall I liked the fact that this produce might have gone to waste otherwise, and was impressed with the selection and the quality for the price paid.

Simply dressed salad with homemade courgette fritters, and sweet chilli sauce

Critical thinking

Although food wastage from farm to plate should of course be discouraged, household food waste makes up 70% of the UK’s total food waste (WRAP (2020) report). Oddbox estimate that households waste 25% of their weekly shop, on average, which amounts to over 10 million tonnes per year (Friends of the Earth, 2020). Veg boxes on the most hand are not like markets where you can choose what you’re getting, you just get a selection of local food that is in season. For fussy eaters, or consumers strapped of time or kitchen skills, it could be a challenge to fully use all the produce that comes in a veg box, particularly when the vegetable may be more unfamiliar or difficult to incorporate into a modern diet. Although some companies have tried to mitigate the wastage of their products (Oddbox allow three exclusions per delivery, and Abel & Cole and Boxxfresh are fully customisable), tailoring boxes is in some ways anathema to the purpose of the boxes, which is to provide consumers with fresh, local, seasonal and available food. I found myself eating very differently than I would usually, and creating dishes to use up the ingredients that I wouldn’t have usually made (lettuce pesto and courgette fritters, for example). This was an interesting challenge for me, but in the current times I have more time to plan my weekly menu upon seeing the boxes content, and spend more time in the kitchen than usual. Given that a huge amount of the problems associated with food waste are in the journey from fridge to bin, veg boxes aren’t a complete solution to food wastage, and instead we must collectively improve our food skills, including meal planning, storage, and creative use of leftovers.

The cost of the boxes may also be a deterrent. The medium sized Oddbox (7-8 varieties of veg and 4 types of fruit) costs £14.99, and Farmdrop’s equivalent costs £12.75. The organic box from Able & Cole contains 7 portions of veg and 2 portions of fruit costs £19.95, and the medium offering from Eversfields Organic and Riverford (8 varieties of organic vegetables) costs £15.25 and £15.35 respectively. Compared with supermarket shopping, the items will generally be more expensive per item, however if you did a direct comparison with fully organic produce in a greengrocers the price would be equivalent, or less. Anecdotally, however, users of these boxes think they have saved money, as the boxes mean that more meals will be plant-based and encourage cooking from scratch (both of which are cheaper ways of eating). Additionally, there is a premium to be paid for a vastly superior taste, as one colleague said: “potatoes and tomatoes which actually have flavour!” Of course everyone will make individual choices based on their budgets, and whether such choices ultimately represent value.

Salad with roasted butter beans, tomatoes, and a coriander and jalapeño ‘mole’ dressing

In terms of corporate responsibility, I saw some criticism of companies like Abel & Cole, who inevitably have overheads and shareholders to pay. Abel & Cole however are a certified B-Corp and as a part of this have made a large amount of their company information public. In general, the ethos I saw from these companies is what you expect of companies operating in the market for environmentally conscious consumers: they recognised that every element of their business always had room for improvement (be that choosing and paying local producers, packaging, deliveries, farming standards), and that a truly sustainable business had to be positive in each of these areas. All the companies seems to be trying to improve on  the 9p received by producers for every £1 spent in a supermarket (People Need Nature (2019) report), and veg boxes are a way for smallholder farmers to supply more directly to the public.

I wondered about delivery emissions of veg boxes from supplier to doorstep. It appears unequivocal that delivery services are no worse for the planet than independent shopping trips, assuming that the majority of households do their shopping in a car. Exeter University found that because home delivery consolidates many people’s shopping journeys into one, it is generally more efficient than going shopping in your own car (Coley, 2009). Abel & Cole adapt their daily delivery routes to minimise fuel consumption, and Oddbox deliver overnight to take advantage of quieter roads. In addition, the commitments to avoid air-freight address the largest source of delivery emissions. However, the position is more nuanced in terms of growing tasty, out-of-season produce that customers demand at home in the UK. A 2009 paper compared the environmental impacts of importing Spanish field-grown lettuce into the UK during winter with lettuce produced in the UK in heated greenhouses, and found that importation from Spain produced fewer GHG emissions (Hospido et al, 2009). A similar picture holds true for crops like tomatoes grown in warmer European climes, compared with greenhouse grown in the UK. Anyone who eats seasonally will understand the challenge of maintaining a variety of produce acceptable to the usual consumer in the UK at certain times of year, and given that a large draw of these veg boxes are the quality of the produce, some element of food importation seems inevitable.

It’s less about where our food comes from (although there are of course a number of reasons apart from purely environmental ones that may influence why you choose UK suppliers), than what we are eating. Data from the US shows that substituting less than one day per week’s worth of calories from beef and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs or a plant-based diet reduces GHG emissions more than buying all of your food from local sources (Weber & Mattews, 2008). There are massive differences in the GHG emissions of producing a kilogram of different foods, with plants consistently being the lowest (lamb and cheese – 20kg CO2 eq, beef - 60kg CO2 eq, peas – 1kg CO2 eq, source: Our World in Data). Producing livestock for human consumption contributes 14.5% of annual GHG emissions (Friends of the Earth, 2020), and is resource heavy - more food is obtained from a given area of land if we consume plants directly rather than pass them through an animal first. 40% of arable crops are fed to animals (source: Food Climate Research Network, 2020). The IPCC estimate that by 2050 a global switch to a plant-based diet would reduce global CO2 emissions by up to 8 billion tonnes per year, relative to business as usual (IPCC, 2019). The meat and dairy options in the boxes offered by most of the companies considered may at least have the effect of encouraging consumers to think more about where their animal products are coming from, and to re-think the narrative that these are essential products, especially eaten in the quantities eaten in the UK today.  

Vegan apricot cake and cream

Ultimately we have power as consumers, and every pound spent is a conscious choice. I encourage you to examine your own shopping habits, and whether you could shop more seasonally, locally, organically, and plastic-free. Although it is certainly not the only option, it may be that the easiest way to do this is to take up a subscription to a veg box, and find one that works for you, your tastes, and your time available. Reconnecting with the food on our plate and its journey to get there makes us all more conscious consumers, and can bring great enjoyment, both in times of pandemic and beyond.

Catherine Lucas

[laxymx]

Weekly food log:

Fri 3.4 - Thurs 9.4

SW: 61.5kg

Friday WI: 60.1kg

Difference: -1.4kg

So I’ve decided to do a weekly food blog as well as a daily deficit post.

I think having to post the food items is really motivating to choose better foods.

Also: it has a slightly different format to my daily deficit posts. They are worked out from resting cals & active cals. For me this helps me remember that I am actually doing a lot. But the weekly posts are going to be worked out just on active energy.

My gut response is I want the week totals to be minus, doesn’t have to be minus much but minus something

My head is saying we should challenge ourselves to eat more than our active burn because there’s an average of 1400 resting cals we burn that will put us in a deficit.

We’ll see which side wins out.

Friday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 305

75g lettuce: 11

25g cheese: 88

21g salad cream: 62

50g sweetcorn: 40

105g slice pizza: 105

Dinner: 436

1 Apple: 65

207g baked beans: 155

Homemade egg & mushroom on toast: 216

Kveldsmat: 0

Total: 793

Active energy: 506

+ 287

Saturday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 0

Dinner: 543

5 cherry tomatoes: 9

28g cheese: 98

70g frozen peas: 41

67g sweetcorn: 54

Homemade Buddha bowl: 342

Kveldsmat: 345

Soya yogurt pot (mango): 80

Apple: 65

Musli bar: 95

30g cheese: 105

Total: 889

Active energy: 784

+105

Sunday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 668

Banana: 93

66g cheese: 232

1 egg: 80

1 egg white: 17

67g bread: 147

Alpro yogurt pot (strawberry): 99

Dinner: 519

32g avocado: 61

60g blackbeans: 79

5 cherry tomatoes: 9

Spice mix: 2

140g rice: 190

Kveldsmat: 0

Total: 1142

Active energy: 782

+360

Monday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 188

Banana: 93

27g cheese: 95

Dinner: 525

5g Rye biscuits: 17

30g cheese: 105

24g bread: 53

125g tuna in brine: 129

80g cod: 84

70g carrot: 29

Apple: 65

15g salad cream: 44

Kveldsmat: 0

Total: 713

Active energy: 962

-249

Tuesday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 289

Banana: 93

25g rye biscuits: 83

20g cheese: 70

20g oatly spread: 43

Dinner: 625

50g avocado: 80

115g blackbeans: 152

100g extra light sour cream: 93

50g rye biscuits: 165

Apple: 65

20g cheese: 70

Kveldsmat: 0

Total: 914

Active energy: 1002

-88

Wednesday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 237

Alpro yogurt pot (mango): 80

Banana: 93

10g sunflower seeds: 64

Dinner: 435

30g avocado: 48

Apple: 65

3 lomper: 108

150g tuna in brine: 150

80g sweetcorn: 64

Kveldsmat: 0

Total: 672

Active energy: 530

+142

Thursday:

Breakfast: 0

Lunch: 0

Dinner: 671

4 lomper: 144

6 cherry tomatoes: 11

50g extra light sour cream: 47

30g cheese: 105

2 pineapple slices: 119

100g tinned tomatoes: 26

40g sweetcorn: 32

10g salad cream: 29

150g tuna in brine: 159

Kveldsmat: 0

Total: 671

Active energy: 759

-87

Weekly total: + 470

I’m not really sure what my goal is going to be for the next week. My actual calorie deficit is -8634.

Based on the idea that you need a deficit of 3500 to loose a pound, if I want to loose 1kg a week which would be ideal I’d need a daily deficit of 7700 a week. That’s a deficit of 1100 a day which based on my average BMR leaves me 300 cals a day + exercise. So I need my daily totals to be less than +300 and weekly total to be less that + 2100.

Okay. Well I’m glad that’s sorted.

#eating disoder things #anarexx #mental health #ana problems #anamia #ed tingz #gender non compliant #ed culture #food log #food diary #weightloss #calorie counting #tw #tw ed #tw weight

[trustyourgutblog]

The One With the Sunday Scaries

Today, I’m going to talk about something that is close to my heart and has been part of my life since…well, since I joined the adult, working world.

Yup, you guessed it.

The phenomenon that has become known as, the Sunday Scaries.

You know that nagging feeling of dread that creeps in around 3 pm on a Sunday? After basking in the haven of freedom that the weekend offers, you suddenly remember that you’ve sold your soul to the devil (aka your day job) for the next 5 days.

Even the most mindful and present people watch the last grains of sand filter to the bottom of the hourglass as Monday looms over your last semblance of weekend joy.

Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love my job. But if I said that I’d prefer to spend the majority of my weeks fielding crises, angry phone calls from parents, and keeping a kid from throwing chairs during a meltdown, more than staying in the comfort of my own home, my pants would surely be on fire.

Unfortunately, I’m not writing this to share that I’ve found a cure for the Scaries. But, I will say that I’ve found them to be much more manageable using the following 3 tips.

Tip #1: Meal prepping

Meal prepping seems to be one of the biggest buzzwords of 2019. And for good reason! Preparing my lunches for the work week (and if I’m really on top of things, dinners too), makes me feel more prepared, organized, and ready for what Monday is about to throw at me. Chairs hurled across my office included.

Ever since I have become more dedicated to getting my grocery shopping done on the weekends and planning out my lunches, I’ve become more consistent with eating healthy and really staying aligned with my 80/20 goal – eating whole foods 80% of the time and processed foods 20% of the time.

Meal prepping is also a great way to save your hard-earned dough. Trust me, you’ll feel WAY less tempted to grab Qdoba on your lunch break when you have a yummy crockpot meal waiting for you in the fridge. Especially if it means you don’t have to venture out in the cold to get it.

Tip #2: Journaling

I try my best to do some journaling every Sunday. I have a Panda Planner that’s divided into weekly, daily, and monthly sections.

Journaling at the beginning of each month and week helps me to feel more organized and focused on what goals I want to achieve. Maybe someday I’ll level up to making daily journaling a priority.

*Sigh* a girl can dream.

Sunday nights are when I struggle the most with racing thoughts and falling asleep. Journaling before bed helps me externalize all of my plans for the week and put them on paper so that I’m not keeping myself awake making mental reminders of things that need to get done the next day.

I also like laying out my month with all of my personal plans ahead of time, so that I can ensure that I’m getting enough downtime in between social events. If my month looks super packed, I try to plan for more self-care or “say no” to events that are less of a priority. This proves to be especially challenging when you’re at the age where every weekend of the summer is spent traveling for a wedding, bachelorette party, or baby shower.

If any of my friends are reading this – you know that I love you guys, but I spend all week talking with and listening to people. Sometimes I need to Shrek out and hang out in my swamp by myself.

Tip #3: Put down the bottle

Okay, I know this is going to be the most unpopular tip of all… but, I couldn’t exclude it. Don’t get me wrong – I love a Mango White Claw just as much as any other white girl from the US. But, limiting alcohol use has made a HUGE impact on managing my anxiety.

Over the last two summers, my social calendar was packed which meant lots of weekends spent having fun with friends and enjoying one too many beverages.

Monday would roll around and I’d be fighting brain fog, exhaustion, and leftover dehydration. I would sloth through the day just to make it home to flop into my bed. By the time I felt well-rested it was Friday and I’d do it all over again.

Bitch, who are you trying to fool?! You are not 21 anymore. You do not have to drink that bottle of tequila Lizzo’s been saving for you. You also have a CHRONIC DISEASE to manage.

I started to feel guilty for showing up to my job and half-assing it. I mean, this is my career - my passion, my calling. I worked hard to go to school and earn this degree so that I could help people. And I’m going to show up so fatigued that I have to chug coffee all day just to stay awake during my sessions?

Excuse me, what? Enough was enough.

Since I’ve been diagnosed with Crohn’s and IBD, my energy level has become sacred to me. Chronic fatigue is no joke. If I am going to show up as my best self for my consumers and families during the work week, that means I have to make an effort to take great care of myself.

Does that mean that I’m never going to over-indulge on the weekends? Of course not. Right now, I’ve been enjoying a drink or two about every other weekend. And that’s been working well for me.

Back in September, I took over a month off from drinking entirely after a long summer of drinking at social events.

My alcohol consumption is always going to ebb and flow. But, as long as I’m staying aligned with the life that I want to live, you’re damn right I’m going to enjoy a hot chocolate Rumchata cocktail during the holidays.

I wanted to make sure to get this post up before the weekend so you all could give my tips a try this Sunday. I hope they make you all wake up Monday morning feeling good as hell!

Two Lizzo references in one post?! *hair flip*

#anxiety #sunday #selfcare #crohn's disease #crohn's problems #ibd #health #crohns #ibs #inflammatory bowel disease #symptoms #journaling #journal #selfawareness #alcohol #mealprep #mealprepping #preparation #health & fitness #wellness

[losingitinjersey]

Thank you all so so much for all the birthday love!  My entire life I couldn’t wait to grow older and I’m so very happy to be comfortably snug in the middle of my 30s.  I really do feel like I’m in the prime of my life.  I’m happy with my relationship and station in life, I am pleased with my style/fashion choices as of late, I finally grew out my nails for only the second or third time in my entire life, I’m busier than ever but succeeding relatively well at things, I have a fancy new car that I’m thoroughly enjoying, all in all things are going very well for me *knock on wood.*

Growing up I used to play my parents’ records all the time and I even told them that when they die I get their collection but I decided this year to seize the opportunity for people to buy me gifts and asked for what I wanted.  Kevin got me this really cool all-in-one player (vinyl, cassette, CD, radio, bluetooth speaker) for my birthday and his mom gifted me some records I picked out.  I’ve had a blast listening to music in a new way the past few days and am enjoying integrating music into my life more than it already is.  

My birthday dinner included going out to Mexican food with Kevin and the neighbor friends.  It was so fun!  While I see them all the time due to my walks and volleyball, the four of us haven’t all hung out too often so it was nice to hang out.  Obviously diets don’t exist on my birthday so we ordered a plate of guac, salsa and chips for the table while I enjoyed a mango margarita and the Holy Moly Burrito.  I am extremely satisfied with my choices!!  Instead of dessert at the restaurant we strolled down the street and each got a cup of frozen yogurt.  I mainly just ate the toppings off my bowl because, let’s be honest, that’s the best part.  

I’m pleased to see my weight hasn’t gone berserk despite my shift off keto Tuesday night and that I’m holding strong to the 210/209 range.  Kevin and I are going out for drinks and dinner with his classmates tomorrow after work so hopefully I’m able to rein it in after that.  As much as I’d love to get closer to 199 I’m overall really satisfied with my body and am enjoying being social while not completely sacrificing my weight loss goals.  

@morningcalmketo and @zerocarb tagged me in the lock screen, home screen, last song listened to challenge.  At the time of the tag, the last song I listened to was “Meet Me In the City” by the Black Keys as I have that Pandora station on pretty much nonstop.  I’m behind the ball on responding to this and I’ve sucked at keeping up on my dash so I have no idea who’s already participated so I’ll tag...  @orange-slice-paradise, @c00kandtell and @bettykthe21stcenturypinup!

I had volleyball last night (we lost all six games - wooooo) but our games played at 9:20 p.m. and 10:20 p.m. which means I didn’t get to bed until 1 a.m.  I am so beyond tired today!  BUT, off I go to put my shoes on to go on my weekly neighbor walk.  Can’t wait to come home and crash hard!  

Happy Friday eve!! 

#fitblr #keto #ketoblr #fitness #birthday #birthday recap #birthday love #this is 35 #ootd #new shirt #low carb #cheat day #vinyl #records #tulips #volleyball #tired #mexican food #lock screen #lock screen challenge #the black keys #pandora #weight loss #progress #daily weight #daily weigh in

[paleorecipecookbook]

Meal Prep: Your Best Tool for Healthy Eating

One of the main reasons why people are unable to stick with Paleo is that they feel overwhelmed; the grocery shopping and cooking involved can certainly be a major adjustment if you’re not used to preparing your own meals. Fortunately, there is a simple way around this potential roadblock and to make your diet changes stick—start meal prepping!

In this article, I’ll cover the art and science of meal prepping, as well as provide you with valuable tips and tricks for making the Paleo lifestyle affordable and time-saving, even if you’re on a strict budget and tight schedule.

Want to skip ahead? Use these links to jump to a new section:

Why meal prepping makes sense

Five steps to successful meal prepping

The best foods to use

Other ideas to help you meal prep

Why It Makes Sense to Meal Prep

Why should you start meal prepping? Simply put, meal prepping saves you time and money and, by ensuring that you have good-quality meals to eat on a daily basis, helps you stick to your diet!

If you want to start meal prepping but you’re not sure where to begin, this article is for you. Get time- and money-saving tips and learn how to plan and prep your Paleo meals successfully. #nutrition #wellness #chriskresser

You Save Time

The thought of having to cook 21 separate meals every week (breakfast, lunch, and dinner times seven) can seem daunting to Paleo newcomers. Because it’s simple to batch cook foods ahead of time, rather than making complete meals from scratch every day, meal prepping saves you valuable time in the kitchen.

You Save Money

The costs associated with regularly buying takeout or eating at restaurants really add up (and such food, unless you pay a premium, is typically lower in quality). Meal prepping, on the other hand, saves money because it involves cooking at home with ingredients that you can easily buy affordably in bulk. (Keep reading to learn more strategies for eating Paleo on a budget.)

You Prevent “Decision Fatigue”

For many of us, our action-packed days are a series of decision-making sessions that leave us exhausted and deplete our willpower—leading to “decision fatigue.” Decision fatigue can make us more likely to lounge on the couch and order takeout after work than hit the gym and cook a wholesome meal. By deciding on all your meals in advance, meal prepping reduces decision fatigue and frees up some of your willpower, helping you stay on track with your diet and your other health-related goals.

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Five Steps to Successful Meal Prepping

While meal prepping pays off, it does require some planning on your part. In this section, I've provided you with handy guides, tips, and tricks to make each of these steps as painless and straightforward as possible.

Step 1: Clean Out Your Kitchen

The first step towards successful meal prep is to get rid of foods in your fridge, freezer, and pantry that aren’t serving your health. Toss or give away items like processed foods, industrial seed oils, and refined sugar. Get rid of items that have already been opened and donate unopened items to a food pantry. And before you panic that your shelves will be bare, remember that you’ll be replacing these foods with healthy staples!

Prepping for the Thirty-Day Reset Diet

If you’re brand new to the Paleo lifestyle and are unsure about the types of foods you can tolerate, I recommend trying a Thirty-Day Reset, as outlined in my book The Paleo Cure.

To start, you eliminate unhealthy foods and potentially problematic foods for 30 days. Then you systematically reintroduce those possibly problematic foods to determine which ones you can tolerate. This diet is specifically designed to reduce inflammation, identify food sensitivities, and reduce allergic reactions—in addition to improving your overall health.

If you’re beginning a Thirty-Day Reset, eliminate these foods (at least temporarily):

Alcohol

Coffee

Dairy products like butter, cheese, yogurt, milk, and cream

Grains, including rice, wheat, oats, quinoa, barley, and couscous

Beans, legumes, and related products like peanut butter and soy sauce

Chocolate

Processed “health foods” like whey protein and energy bars

All sweeteners, whether they’re real or artificial

What to Do If You’re on a Paleo Template

Not everyone needs to follow a Thirty-Day Reset. If you already have a good idea of which foods you can and can’t handle, a Paleo template might be a better fit for you.

Under a Paleo template, your main focus should be on getting rid of packaged, processed food. Eliminate foods made with industrial seeds oils and goods that include hidden sweeteners or food additives. While there are some healthy packaged foods out there (and you should check the ingredient label if you’re unsure), a good general rule is if it comes in a bag or a box, throw it out.

Here are some common items to toss:

Sugary beverages like juice, soda, energy drinks, and sweet teas

Seed oils, like vegetable, peanut, or canola

Margarine and Crisco

Packaged meals like pizza, french fries, and frozen dinners

Imitation meat or seafood

Boxed pastries and other packaged baked goods

Canned soups, unless they’re free from preservatives, processed ingredients, and other additives

Breakfast cereals and snack bars

Dips, dressings, seasoning mixes, marinades, and gravies

Chips and crackers

Candy, cookies, cakes, pudding, and other desserts

Syrups, including processed pancake syrups, sorghum syrups, etc. (Note: real maple syrup is okay)

Processed honey (Note: raw, local, and organic honey is fine)

Step 2: Restock with Healthy Staples

Once you’ve eliminated those foods from your kitchen, it’s time to restock with healthy staples.

Non-Starchy Vegetables

Non-starchy vegetables are a nutritious and affordable staple in the Paleo lifestyle. Stock your fridge and freezer with fresh or frozen broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, green onions, bell peppers, and leafy greens.

Whole Fruits

Whole fruits such as berries, apples, pears, bananas, mango, pineapple, and citrus fruits are excellent sources of vitamin C and phytonutrients. They make a great snack on their own or can be added to smoothies. However, avoid fruit juice because its lack of fiber allows fruit sugars to be absorbed more rapidly, resulting in spikes in blood glucose levels. In fact, diets heavy in fruit juice are linked to an increased risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, whereas whole fruit consumption does the very opposite, reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. (1)

Starches

Starchy plants such as sweet potatoes, white potatoes, plantains, winter squash, taro, cassava, beets, turnips, and rutabaga are affordable, nutrient-dense, satiating foods to include in your diet. Stock up on these vegetables when they’re available seasonally; many of the tubers and root veggies will keep for quite a while when properly stored in the refrigerator. If you have trouble finding some of the more exotic tubers at your grocery store, consider checking out Asian markets, which frequently stock taro and cassava.

Protein

High-quality protein is a staple of the Paleo diet and can be prepped ahead of time. Purchase grass-fed and organic beef, bison, chicken, turkey, and eggs from your grocery store or farmers market or directly from local farms. Check out EatWild to find farms near you offering grass-fed and organic meats. I also recommend eating wild seafood several times a week as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, selenium, and many other micronutrients. Thrive Market and Vital Choice both offer excellent selections of wild, sustainable seafood.

Healthy Fats

As you may know by now, Paleo encourages the consumption of plenty of healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, red palm oil, avocado oil, pastured tallow and lard, and duck fat. Select a few of these fats and keep them on hand for sautéing, roasting, baking, and dressing salads.

Nuts

Nuts and nut butter make for a great Paleo snack. If possible, buy soaked and sprouted nuts because these processes remove much of the anti-nutrients from nuts, making their nutrients more bioavailable. You can also soak and sprout raw nuts yourself at home. Avoid buying roasted nuts covered in vegetable oils, as the roasting process causes the fats to go rancid.

Spices

Spices can quickly add interest to any Paleo dish. Invest in a spice rack and stock it with staples such as oregano, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, and turmeric.

Baking Ingredients

If you’re planning to do any Paleo baking, then you’ll want to stock your pantry with a few Paleo flours and sweeteners. Try cassava, almond, coconut, and tigernut flours for baking Paleo cookies, brownies, or cake. Coconut flakes are a nice addition to homemade Paleo granola. Keep cans of full-fat coconut milk (preferably a BPA-free version such as Native Forest Simple Organic Unsweetened Coconut Milk) on hand along with Paleo-friendly sweeteners such as raw honey, maple syrup, stevia, coconut sugar, molasses, and monk fruit sweetener.

Other Paleo Template-Friendly Foods

Depending on your personal Paleo Template, you can also stock up on things like white rice, buckwheat, full-fat dairy products, legumes, and chocolate. Just look for organic products that aren’t processed or refined.

Step 3: Plan Your Meals

Now that you’ve eliminated unhealthy foods and restocked your kitchen with healthy staples, it’s time to start planning your meals! This part of the meal-prepping process is fun, will save you time in the kitchen, and will even tempt you to try new tastes and flavors.

Start by planning your meals on a weekly schedule. You can do this in one of two ways.

Old-School Style

Take a pen and paper and figure out how many breakfasts, lunches, and dinners you will need for the upcoming week. Factor in things like date nights, meals with clients, and travel. Once you know how many meals you’ll need for the week, decide what to eat for those meals. See the sections “What makes a good meal?” and “Which foods work best for meal prepping?” below for ideas. Make a grocery list based on your notes.

Use a Meal-Prepping App

There are many useful apps that will help you with meal prep—and some are even tailored specifically for Paleo. These apps provide you with recipes, chart out your meal schedule for the coming week, and automatically generate a grocery shopping list based on your meal plan. (Check out Step 4 below for an overview of my favorites.)

Once you’ve laid out your meal plan for the week, display it in a place where everyone in your household can see it. This way, you can get input from them and ultimately create weekly meal plans that will make everyone well fed and happy.

After the first few weeks of planning meals regularly, I realize it can be easy to fall into a rut, using the same few recipes repeatedly. But dietary diversity is crucial for meeting our nutrient needs and for feeding our gut microbes, so I recommend introducing new foods and recipes regularly. Start by adding one new vegetable per week and work your way up from there.

What Makes a Good Meal?

What exactly should the meals on your meal plan look like? First and foremost, choose nutrient-dense, whole foods. To learn more about how to select nutrient-dense foods, read my article “What Is Nutrient Density and Why Is It Important?”

Secondly, try to create meals that contain a balance of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Eating well-balanced meals promotes satiety, modulates your body’s blood sugar response, and even enhances nutrient uptake from food. For example, eating protein with carbohydrates moderates the spike in insulin caused by dietary glucose, and consuming fat with vegetables enhances the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients such as carotenoids. (2, 3)

While I typically don’t advise people to count calories or obsess over macronutrient ratios, some people need to do so for health reasons. If you are one of those people, I highly recommend using a meal planning app to make the process easier.

Step 4. Use an App

The amount of planning involved with meal planning is significant, but fortunately, there is a way to make it infinitely easier—meal planning software and apps. I’ve taken the guesswork out of selecting the best ones for Paleo meal planning by creating this list.

AnyList App

AnyList collects and organizes recipes and adds them to a meal plan calendar. It then generates a grocery shopping list that you can easily edit and share with friends and family.

Cook Smarts

In addition to creating weekly meal plans, Cook Smarts also offers helpful cooking guides, infographics, and online cooking sessions.

eMeals

eMeals lets you choose from a variety of different meal plans (including a Paleo plan, of course). Each meal plan includes recipes with main and side dishes, a shopping list, and step-by-step instructions.

Mealime

Mealime produces weekly meal plans with over 200 personalization options.

Keto Diet Tracker

The Keto Diet Tracker app is helpful for tracking net carbs and storing recipes for those following a keto diet.

Nom Nom Paleo App

The Nom Nom Paleo app has nearly 150 recipes, 2,000 step-by-step photos, and a Whole30-friendly monthlong meal plan and generates customizable shopping lists, all for a low cost.

Paleo Leap Meal Planner

This app includes only Paleo-friendly recipes—every single one is free of gluten, grains, legumes, sugar, soy, and corn. The app offers over 1,500 recipes, generates grocery lists, and lets you set your own food preferences and restrictions; for example, you can indicate if you’d like low-FODMAP, egg-free, or autoimmune protocol-friendly recipes.

Paleo.io

The Paleo.io app answers a simple question: Is it Paleo? It helps users determine whether a given food is Paleo or not using a database of over 3,000 foods. It also includes hundreds of Paleo-approved recipes. This app is particularly helpful for those who are new to Paleo.

Paprika

The Paprika app helps you organize recipes, make meal plans, and create grocery lists. Paprika’s built-in browser allows you to save recipes from anywhere on the internet so you can create your ideal meal plan.

Plan to Eat

Plan to Eat allows you to add your own recipes from anywhere on the internet into a recipe book. You can then drag and drop recipes into a calendar to plan out your meals for the week. The app also generates a grocery list for you based on your planned recipes.

RealPlans

RealPlans creates and organizes recipes, develops a weekly menu, and generates grocery lists so that you can get healthy, delicious food on the table. If you need to track your macros, Real Plans has you covered. A subscription will give you access to all the app’s meal plans (Classic, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Paleo, Keto, autoimmune protocol, and more) and over 1,500 recipes. You can add on recipes from well-known food bloggers for an additional fee.

Yummly Recipes and Recipe Box

Yummly takes a cue from Instagram, allowing you to browse through a photo gallery of recipes and save them to your own digital cookbook. Yummly also uses a proprietary program called Food Genome and a patent-pending technology called Food Intelligence to recommend recipes to users based on their allergies, tastes, and more.

Step 5: Cook Your Meals

You’ve cleaned out your kitchen, restocked it with healthy foods, and created a meal plan—now it’s time to start cooking! Here are a few simple strategies that will make it easier for you to follow through on your commitment to stick with Paleo.

Set Aside Time for Grocery Shopping and Meal Prepping

For many people, Sundays work best. You may also want to consider doing your shopping and main meal prep session on a Sunday and a second, smaller meal prep session mid-week to keep your fridge stocked with fresh options. Use a list when grocery shopping and check off items as you add them to your cart.

Organize Your Recipes

Organizing the recipes you intend to use in meal prepping will save you time in the kitchen. The meal prep apps I mentioned above make organizing your recipes easy, but you may also want to keep a few cookbooks in your house and print out recipes from blogs and websites and collect them in a binder. Find 15 to 20 recipes that you really enjoy and rotate them throughout the weeks (and check out some of my favorite Paleo-friendly recipes).

Keep Things Simple

You don’t need to cook an elaborate meal to satisfy your nutritional needs and appetite! Uncomplicated meals should be a staple in your weekly meal plans. For example, a high-quality protein source; steamed or roasted veggies with salt, pepper, and some healthy fat; and a sweet potato can make for a wholly satisfying and effortless meal.

Incorporate Leftovers into Your Weekly Meal Plan

Don’t be afraid of leftovers! Eating leftovers is an easy way to cut down on meal prep and prevents food waste. Label and date leftovers so you keep track of what’s in your fridge and freezer. And speaking of the freezer, use it! When you batch cook (see next item), you’ll have extras that you can stash away for later.

Batch Cook

Batch cooking, including doubling and tripling your favorite recipes, is a critical component of food prepping and can be applied toward many types of foods. For instance, bake several batches of egg muffins at a time to have around for breakfasts or roast a bunch of sweet potatoes to use as sides throughout the week.

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Which Foods Work Best for Meal Prepping?

Some foods are more suitable for meal prepping than others; for example, roasted sweet potatoes hold up well to reheating, whereas pre-dressed salads quickly wilt in the refrigerator. In this section, I’ve outlined some of the best foods to include in your meal prepping process.

Meat

Cook chicken, turkey, beef, bison, or game meat in a slow-cooker. Shred the meat and set aside to use in stir-fries, in Paleo tacos, on top of salads, or in soup.

Sauté ground turkey, chicken, or beef in a pan with garlic, onion, and sea salt. Use the ground meat in Paleo “taco” salads, on top of spiralized vegetables, or in hearty stews.

Bake chicken breasts, wild salmon fillets, burgers, or meatballs in batches. Use them throughout the week with roasted or sautéed veggies, salad, and starchy vegetables as sides.

Eggs

Hard-boil a dozen eggs. Hard-boiled eggs are ideal for a quick and easy breakfast and are also an excellent portable snack.

Vegetables

Roast sweet potatoes, white potatoes, winter squash, and root vegetables in batches. These vegetables hold up well to reheating and are nutrient-dense sources of carbohydrates.

If you tolerate white rice, make large quantities in a rice cooker or Instant Pot.

Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, also hold up well to reheating throughout the week.

Sauces

Make several sauces to use throughout the week. Salsa, guacamole, gremolata, and chimichurri are just a few examples of Paleo-friendly sauces that can be made ahead of time and quickly spice up any meal.

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Four Meal Prepping Tips and Tricks

Now that you know the basics of meal prepping, you’re well on your way towards saving time in the kitchen and eating well.

To build on your new skills and help you stay on track with Paleo eating, here are more ideas you can use, including strategies for how to shop Paleo on a budget, where to buy healthy staples and fresh ingredients, how to shop seasonally, and—when home-cooking isn’t on the menu—recommendations for Paleo meal delivery services.

1. Stick to a Budget

Shopping Paleo can be expensive if you don’t know how to grocery shop to your advantage. With the tips I’ve outlined here, you can successfully shop Paleo on a budget while still filling your cart with high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.

Buy conventional instead of organic (for some produce). Organic produce is ideal because it reduces our exposure to harmful pesticides and herbicides. However, costs can really add up when buying nothing but organic foods. If this is a problem for you, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen lists to determine which conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are lowest in pesticides and thus safe to buy conventional rather than organic.

Whether you buy organic or conventional produce, thoroughly wash your produce before eating. Almost no food is completely free of pesticides. The most effective way to remove pesticides from produce is by washing produce in a baking soda bath. (4) To wash vegetables, fill a large bowl with water and add a teaspoon of baking soda. Add the veggies and soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Scrub with a scrub brush and then rinse under clean water. For leafy greens, soak in a baking soda bath for a minute, thoroughly rinse, and then spin dry in a salad spinner. Wash smooth-skinned fruits (like apples and nectarines) in a baking soda bath like you would for veggies.

Here are some more money-saving tips:

Buy frozen produce. Buying frozen produce saves money while still providing you with nutrient-dense food; most fruits and vegetables are flash-frozen immediately after picking, thus preserving the nutrients they contain.

Buy in-season produce. Out-of-season produce is typically shipped from distant locations, including other continents, increasing costs. It’s also generally picked before it’s allowed to ripen (so that it can be transported without bruising or other damage), and that can impact its nutrient content if it’s improperly stored or subjected to temperature extremes.

Start a garden. Growing your own produce takes some work, but it ultimately is a really low-cost way to obtain organic fruits and vegetables.

Buy lower-quality cuts of meat. You don’t need to buy expensive cuts of meat to eat Paleo. For example, ground beef and brisket are cheaper than filet mignon but have the same nutritional value. In fact, some of the so-called “less desirable” cuts of meat may actually have higher nutritional value than pure muscle meat; for instance, nutritious gelatin-rich cuts of meat such as chuck roast and beef shank are often cheaper than cuts such as sirloin.

Choose more affordable species of wild fish, such as wild sardines instead of wild salmon.

Make eggs a staple in your diet. Eggs are a very economical protein source, including high-quality, farm-fresh eggs from a local source.

Buy in bulk. Many bulk grocery stores now offer many healthy options, including organic produce, wild seafood, and pastured meats, at lower prices than regular grocery stores. Consider buying a quarter, half, or or whole animal for meat directly from a rancher or farmer instead of single cuts from the grocery store; while you’ll need to invest in a chest freezer, this strategy can significantly reduce the cost of meat.

2. Shop Around for Healthy Food

Contrary to popular belief, Whole Foods is not the only place you can buy healthy food! All the stores listed here have excellent selections of healthy, Paleo-friendly foods. Even your local grocery store is likely to have some options.

Trader Joe’s

Natural Grocers

Sprouts Farmers Market

Super Target

Wegmans

Harris Teeter

Hannaford

Albertsons

Food Lion

Publix

Pathmark

Kroger

Aldi

Lidl

Costco

Sam’s Club

Farmers Markets

Don’t forget about your local farmers market! Farmers markets offer fresh produce, meat, and (depending on where you live) seafood at lower prices than most grocery stores. You might also want to investigate a CSA—community supported agriculture—in your area from which you can purchase a subscription to locally raised foods including produce and meat, delivered weekly or monthly.

Online

Healthy grocery shopping can now be done online as well as in person. The following online grocery stores offer organic, healthy options and deliver right to your door:

Thrive Market

Vitacost

AmazonFresh

Shop Seasonally

Shopping seasonally is a great way to tune in with your local food system and save money. Check out the Seasonal Food Guide to find out what produce is in season near you.

3. Use Real Food Delivery Services

If you are really tight on time but still committed to eating healthy meals, you may want to consider a Paleo “real food” meal delivery service. There are countless options out there, but I’ve curated the very best in this list.

Beetnik Foods

Beetnik Foods meals are certified Paleo friendly, delivered nationwide, and also available in select health food and grocery stores.

ButcherBox

ButcherBox delivers 100 percent grass-fed and grass-finished beef, heritage breed pork, and free-range, organic chicken. That can help if you’re short on time or if you’re struggling to find a local provider of grass-fed meat.

Caveman Chefs

Caveman Chefs offers both meal delivery services and catering. It is based in Colorado but ships nationwide. Choose from meals that are Whole30 approved, autoimmune protocol, low FODMAP, and ketogenic.

Factor 75

Factor 75 meals are premade, 100 percent organic, and free of hormones, GMOs, and antibiotics. Choose from bundles of four, six, eight, 12, or 18 meals.

Green Chef

Green Chef provides you with prepped ingredients to cook three two-person Paleo dinners (or two four-person dinners on the family plan) each week. All recipes are organic and gluten-free, feature protein and fresh veggies, and contain zero grains or dairy.

Kettlebell Kitchen

Kettlebell Kitchen meals are free of artificial ingredients, preservatives, gluten, dairy, soy, corn, industrial vegetable oils, and refined sugar. Some of the meals contain non-Paleo ingredients that are tolerated by many people, including white rice, lentils, and gluten-free oats.

Paleo On The Go

Paleo On The Go operates out of a completely gluten-free kitchen and specializes in Paleo and autoimmune protocol-friendly frozen premade meals that can be delivered nationwide. You can purchase meals individually or in bundles.

Paleo Power Meals

Paleo Power Meals offers premade meals with generous portions that pack a large amount of protein.

Pete’s Paleo

Pete’s Paleo offers seasonally inspired, farm-fresh prepared Paleo meals. Order bundles of five, 10, 14, or 20 meals in vacuum-sealed packages from anywhere in the United States.

Sunbasket

Sunbasket allows you to select three two- or four-person meal kits per week without gluten, grains, soy, corn, added sugar, or dairy. The ingredients and recipes are delivered fresh so you can cook great meals without any planning or shopping.

The Good Kitchen

The Good Kitchen sources organic produce almost exclusively from local farms in North Carolina (where its operation is based) and delivers its refrigerated and frozen meals nationwide.

Trifecta Nutrition

Trifecta Nutrition provides ready-to-eat dinners and lunches that are non-GMO, 100 percent organic, and free of sugar, grains, gluten, dairy, and soy. You can also upgrade to add breakfasts and additional entrées or choose build-your-own meals.

TrueFare

TrueFare uses the highest-quality ingredients in their meals, including organic produce, grass-fed beef, heritage pork, and organic or free-range poultry. They offer Paleo-, keto-, autoimmune protocol-, and Whole30-friendly meal plans.

4. Stock Your Kitchen with the Essentials

To successfully meal prep, you’ll need to stock your kitchen with some essential tools. This includes basic tools that everyone should have in their kitchen, Paleo-specific items, cookware and bakeware, and maybe some “nice to have” extras for when you decide to get creative with cooking.

Kitchen Basics

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Potholders

Kitchen towels

Vegetable peeler

Spice rack

Cutting boards

Chef’s knife

Slotted spoons

Spatula

Ladle

Utensil holder

Mixing bowls

Glass storage container

Wooden spoons

Paleo Kitchen Essentials

Meat cleaver

Paring knife

Whisk

Grater

Probe meat thermometer

Hand-held lemon squeezer or citrus reamer

Mason jars

Salad spinner

Cheesecloth or cotton/linen fine mesh towel

Potato masher

Tongs

Food processor

Blender

Immersion blender

Cookware and Bakeware

Sauté pan

Saucepan

Skillets

Baking dishes

Stockpot

Soup pot

Dutch oven

“Nice to Have” Items

Kitchen shears

Pepper mill

Mandoline

Muffin tin and muffin liners

Ramekins

Spoon rest

Meat grinder

Hand mixer

Mortar and pestle

Slow cooker

Sous vide

Dehydrator

Spiralizer

Fermentation pot

Juicer

Spice grinder machine

Garlic press

Tool for making your own meat jerky (such as LEM Products 468 Jerky Cannon)

Food processor

Instant Pot

Countertop toaster oven or convection oven

Water Filter

For drinking and cooking water, I recommend investing in a high-quality water filter. Berkey water filtration systems sit conveniently on your countertop and remove viruses, pathogenic bacteria, cysts, and parasites to undetectable levels. They also reduce heavy metals without eliminating beneficial minerals. Additional white filters can be added to remove fluoride. If you want to filter your home’s entire water supply, you may want to consider a reverse osmosis filter instead.

Food Storage

Once you’ve prepped your meals, you’ll need containers for storing everything. Since plastic containers contain chemicals that are known endocrine disruptors, I prefer people use glass storage dishes with BPA-free lids.

For wrapping up foods, use unbleached parchment paper or beeswax-coated reusable food wrap (such as Bee’s Wrap) instead of conventional plastic wrap, which may leach endocrine disrupting chemicals into your food. (5) Finally, try reusable silicone storage bags (such as Stasher bags) instead of plastic freezer/storage bags, which may also contain endocrine-disrupting plasticizers.

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Now I’d like to hear from you. Do you practice food prepping? If not, do you think you’ll try the food-prepping strategies I’ve outlined in this article? Let me know in the comments below.

The post Meal Prep: Your Best Tool for Healthy Eating appeared first on Chris Kresser.

Source: http://chriskresser.com February 12, 2019 at 06:10PM

#paleo #recipe #food #delicious #healthy #yum #diet

[etto-etto]

afternoon, strangers.

I haven’t been active in months (??), because it’s difficult to find time to blog about your studies or get stuck perusing tags when you’re slammed as it is. so even though I haven’t updated here that doesn’t mean I stopped my studies---I’m actually nearly finished with Genki 2 now!

as of today I wrapped up lesson 19 and will be moving on to lesson 20. the last chapter is still a good eight to ten weeks away, but it feels so close. last june I was kicking off Genki 1, and a little over a year later I’ll be finishing the series and moving on to an intermediate text. I don’t know which textbook that will be yet, but it’s been a ride and I’m excited.

anyhow, I’m not dead; just busy. covid-19 has changed a lot of plans or otherwise made things very uncertain; that being said, I’m not sure where the leaves me and my nursing application (as it will be due next year by early spring, if they stick to the schedule...). I don’t know what will happen, but I’m currently working through Math for Nurses Pocket Guide---a pretty old edition, but math is math, right? I just hope the injection procedures and routes haven’t changed. I’d say the one thing I’m nervous about is flunking a math exam and butchering the make-up exam---one mistake on both gets you kicked out of the program. I’m going to be stressed and I’m going to be tired, and math falls right out of my head unless I put it to constant practice. best to start working at it sooner rather than later, yeah? any prospective nursing students/actual nursing students/RNs out there with good books, lmk!

for japanese, I’m not doing anything different. I make a study guide for each lesson, map it out through my planner, and workworkwork. it doesn’t always fit into my schedule nicely, but I make it work before every sunday somehow! I did injure my wrist a month or two ago, so I’ve had to lay off and go easy on the notes (which I hate! notes are the best for quick reference when doing practice material). as long as I don’t overkill on workouts I can manage handwriting again, though, so I can’t wait for a longer review period where I can cover the chapters I could only read through. <(¬＿¬<)

* cookie is a no-bake cookie recipe from i heart naptime minus chia seeds. yummy but small! * I finally got new glasses so I can see again! apparently I am still highly typo-prone, however. * I am back to splits stretching after falling off the wagon ): #dontgiveup * I am trying to read more! I finished Between the World & Me + all of the ATLA comics (੭ु´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭ु⁾⁾ Currently reading Taboo and poorly trying to squeeze in reading practice for japanese but failing

I’d like to be more active again, so I’ll try, but it might turn out as well as reading in japanese is going.

goals for the new week:

日本語

単語を勉強する

extra-modest expressions

humble expressions

～ないで

ワークブックの20.1 - 20.5

読み書き編: 323～3124ページの漢字をする (Kanji 1 - 12)

type up L7 study guide (today)

BBG week 8 / #100dayfitnesschallenge days 36 - 42 

daily splits stretching

finish taboo

#japanese studyblr #japanese langblr #study update #mango's weekly goals #mango stuff