Clean Eating 101

There are so many different diets and theories out there about what you should eat and when you should eat it. Even how you should eat it. 

That's why I love clean eating. 

It's pretty straight forward.

Clean means not processed

This graphic really helps 

Pretty much I do my best to follow one rule 

If I don't recognize the ingredients my body won't either. 

The three things I hear the most from people when they say they can't eat clean is 

I don't know where to start

I have a family and I can't change all of them 

It's too expensive 

Believe me I hear you. I deal with all of the above and then some. I make my best effort 

Simple substitutions are the best way to transition. Start logging your food and see where your weak spots are. I know mine is breakfast and right after lunch.

It's so easy to run to Dunkins and grab a coffee and a donut but in the long run it's not worth it 

I do smoothies for breakfast and I recently tried overnight oats. Amazing 

After lunch all I want is a candy bar so I handle my craving with a lunabar or dried fruit. 

Small changes make a huge difference. You have to find what works for YOU. 

Sometimes it's hard to transition your food when you are in charge of a family! 

Believe me I understand. My husband is super supportive but he loves his food the way it is. Some nights I don't want to cook a million different meals. 

I solve this in two ways. 

I have an arsenal of family friendly recipes that are clean and approved by everyone 

I also make a clean main dish and have two sides. One that's clean like veggies or salad and one that's family approved like cheesy rice or fries. 

Then there's the price. I don't know if you have read my blog before but I'm broke ass. I also hate spending the money I do have! So I eat clean the way I can. 

I buy frozen veggies in bulk unless fresh is on sale. I also but chicken and stock up when those are on sale also. I buy store brand most of the time but I always make sure to read the ingredients! Sometimes store brands are even better than name brands! 

I personally meal plan and prep which saves a ton of money. I plan all of my meals for the week including snacks! This way I have a list when I get to the store and I limit impulse buys. Like birthday cake Oreos... Seriously wtf. 

Last but most importantly do what works for YOU! 

Is there something I missed that you would like to know about? 

Color Me Rad

Somewhere in the craziness that was this past weekend I ran my first 5k race with Mabel in tow. 

I choose to do a color run with her because I wanted something that was fun and would hold her attention...

It worked...kinda. 

I ran a color run last year with my friend Becky which you can read all about here. 

This year we choose a closer location and my Sister in Laws joined in on the fun. 

I didn't really look into the event prior to going assuming it would be similar to the last one. 

We all know what happens when you assume.... 

The course was straight up a road and back down the same road. The color stations were groups together, so there were no surprises. 

Also apparently they won't throw color on strollers. 

Mabel was super bummed every time we ran through a color station and they all just looked at her. 

I finally stopped in the middle of one and told them to get her not me. 

There was one water station which was handing out entire bottles of water. 

Granted this would be great for all the walkers, but there was also no trash cans. 

And the bottles had no lids.... soooo I literally had no idea what to do with it, and it ended up spilling all over Mabels pants. 

She wasn't too thrilled. 

The weather was a bummer but that's uncontrollable. 

We got to the finish line and I told Mabel we could go look for some snacks... except there were no vendors. 

Like none. 

They has sample Larabars which Mabel didn't like and Ben & Jerry's Ice cream for sale for $3 a scoop. 

Woof. 

I think I compared it too much to the last one. Also running with a stroller and a cranky toddler is tough.

My Sister In Laws had an awesome time. They didn't have kids so they were able to get right in the crowd and I'm sure that made a huge difference. 

They saved a bunch of color bombs for Mabel so at the very end she got covered and loved it. 

Either way I would recommend doing a color run. I know this post made it sound horrible but they aren't. They are great for first races and kids that are a little older than mine and able to walk most of the way would love it. I would suggest checking out the course first to see if it's something you would like!

If anything it made for some AWESOME pictures. 

Come back tomorrow to check out my Clean Eating 101 post!

Getting back on Track!!

******** Updated -Group is full!!! Thank you for all the interest!!**********************


Friday was a horrible day my friends. Just plain horrible.
I am still emotionally recovering from it, but it was just one of those days where everything is like "Nope Candra, not Today".
I won't go into details but it pretty much ended with me not doing my run and crying in my bedroom while my husband took the kids outside to play.
Ugh.
Do you ever have those days where you swear you must either be pregnant or have something medically wrong with your hormones?
I cried in Wal-mart
I cried LISTEING to Frozen songs.
I cried doing laundry.
I also ate. Everything.

We had a joint birthday party for my kids Saturday and I ate all day including about 10 cupcakes.

Then Sunday Mabel and I ran the Color Me Rad race (more about that tomorrow), went to a birthday party and got home late so we ordered pizza.

Needless to say I am way off track.

I have done so many 30 day challenges, some of which I loved and some of which I hated. I recently forced Alicia from Brew Mama to do a 30 day challenge with me and we both loved it. After we were done with threw around the idea of starting our own 30 day challenges.
We love helping people.
We know that above eating right and working out what works for us is
Support.
I need someone to text and be like "Why shouldn't I eat this donut and wash it down with Dr.Pepper".
I also need accountablitiy. I need to know I'm going to have to report back. Otherwise I totally have the whole  "no one will know" mentalitiy.

Long story short, Alicia and I have been working pretty hard for the last month to put together a 30 day challenge. We would love to start running these every month, but first we are going to do a trail run.

We are looking for 6 people who are willing to give it a go with us for the month of May. We are by no means healthy professionals, we only know what works for us and how to be supportive.

We plan on having daily interaction, recipies, workout advice, and one on one hand holding. We want to make sure you that you are getting what YOU SPECIFICALLY need out of this.

Since this is a trail run we are also looking for people who are willing to give us lots of feedback. Tell us what you loved tell us what you hated, what you wanted more of and what you could have done without.

This trial run is 100% free. We don't use products so we won't be pushing them!
The group is on Facebook so the first 6 people to join are in like flynn.
Here is the link!
Ready for May Mamas

I Like Lists

I really like lists.

I make them all day er day. 

Sometimes I make a list of the lists I need to make... okay I don't go that far, but I'm thinking it may be a good idea..

Anyway

I have a lot of new readers (Hi I love you!) as well as some old readers who still love me (Hey mom!)

So I decided to celebrate my list loving nature with a list of some old posts that contain lists. 

 Try and use the word list more times in one sentence, I dare you!

Five Things I learned from the Circus

Five Things I learned this Week

You're Not as Crazy as You Think

You know You're a Mom When

An Alternate World You Can Only Reach at 2am

Apparently I also like the number 5.  

Which one was your favorite?

In the meantime go check out Holly's blog today for a chance to win  one of TWO Target giftcards!

If you follow me on Facebook or Bloglovin you already earned two entries!!

Want to Start a Blog?

Have you been toying with the idea of starting your own blog?

First off let me say DO IT. 

It may be scary to think about putting yourself out there, and you may feel like you have nothing interesting to say, both of which are totally fine and normal. I felt the same way. 

Then again I ALWAYS have something to say so I'm good. 

It is scary sometimes to put yourself out there, but honestly the community I have found within blogging is amazing. I have met so many amazing people that I wouldn't change any of it. 

So where should you start?

Here are my five tips to get starting in this crazy blogging world. 

Keep in mind I consider myself a new and small blogger so these tips are my own personal opinions. 

Warning none of the GIFS make sense in this post at all.. I just like them.

1. Come up with a catchy title. 

Think of all the different aspects of your life. Honestly I believe that even if you want your blog to be geared toward fitness it's okay if your blog name isn't Getting into Fitness. I'm more likely to read a blog because of it's name than it's overall. I just helped a family member name her blog Kassiology because she majored in Biology in college. Is her blog going to be all about the human body or plant life.... no. But it sure is catchy! 

2. Read blogs and comment! 

I read a ton of blogs before I actually started writing my own. I took mental notes of the types of posts I liked and the posts that I only skimmed. Once I started writing I made sure to comment on any posts I read and I also love doing linkups. It helps with writers block and gets new readers. Alicia from Brew Mama and I met through our blogs because we responded to each others comments. It's important. Even if you get behind... we all do...just do your best. 

3. Write like you talk. 

Aubrey over at ALG agrees with me on this one. This isn't a research paper, or a newspaper article. If you want to call everyone your homegirls then you are fully allowed to. Every time I write a post I try to write it as if I was writing an email to a friend and not my boss. For example if I wanted to tell you all about my upcoming run tomorrow I would say 

Tomorrow is a 10 miler... WTF was I thinking when I signed up for this half. 

If I was writing that to my boss I would say, 

Tomorrow morning I will embark on my 10 mile run around the town in which I live. I am not sure what thoughts were careening through my head at the very moment I agreed to start this journey but I will meet all of the obstacles head on. Now please give me a raise. 

Get my drift... homegirls. 

4. Switch up your content. 

If all I wrote about was how much I cry during my hills or every time I wipe my sons bum I probably wouldn't have a lot of readers...(can I even say I have a lot of readers??). While you may be documenting your fitness journey it's totally okay to write a post about how hot your mailman is. It keeps people (like me) coming back. Val from Fab Chick Gets Fit is a perfect example of this. Her journey is amazing and always inspires me but it's her posts about random shit in her life that make me laugh the hardest. 

5. Invest in your blog. 

I don't shy away from reading blog without a professional blog design but I have to say. It looks nice. I am forever in debt to Hubby Jack for my amazing blog design. I will probably never change it. It makes me proud to blog and to show it off. There are a million tutorials out there to help you, but if you are anything like me, you ain't got time for dat. I also shyed away from sponsering other blogs at first, but I have been sponsering my blogcrush Holly for some time now and it's worth it. Sign yourself up for one month, tell her I sent you. Do it. 

Ready to start your own blog now?? Well I have some good news for you. My new friend Erin from Homemade Happenings is celebrating her brand new blog outline by hosting a giveaway for your VERY OWN BLOG DESIGN. 

Go enter here, and in the mean time... tell me one thing you love about my blog and one thing you would change. Don't worry I won't hate you! I'm always looking to improve!!

My Buddy List

The other day we were sitting around the kitchen table at my Mother In Laws house... and if you know me in real life you know that's where all the ish goes down.

Anyway we were talking about AIM. 

If you don't know what AIM is you should probably stop reading here. 

AIM or Aol Instant Messanger was probably the greatest invention ever. You could be melodramatic, sneaky, fake, and brave all at the same time. 

My first screen name was Landonmic... I am seriously not even going to explain this one because I will probably lose every single reader. 

My only other screen name was Candragita. Some of my friends still to this day call me Candragita or gita. 

I don't even know what it is but it sounded cool. 

After AIM was around a little while they came out with new and improved versions. These had things like profiles and away messages. 

My favorite thing to do was send my crush a message and QUICK put up an away message. 

Later on in AIM you could even set alarms to notify you when certain people came online as well as when they came back from being idle. 

It was really the first steps into online stalking. 

Profiles were full of song lyrics and initials and old school smilies like this ; ) 

Mine was usually full of Dave Matthews Band quotes and shout outs to my homies. 

You could also group your friends into categories like "People who I secretly hate but always have good gossip".

Now there's Facebook chat, Skype, Texting, and Landtalk...which is the program my boss uses to send me messages about what I'm doing wrong. 

I miss the good old days. 

And as a special treat for your viewing pleasure... here are some photos of the lovely me throughout the high school years. 

Linking up with my gal pal Steph so go read all the other ladies talk about their back in the day stories. 

My Heroes

Pump your breaks everyone I'm not pregnant.

What do you guys think I am a baby making machine?! 

Just kidding it was a valid guess but nope. No bun in the oven...yet.

Having a (semi) sick kid is tough. I don't even like to refer to him as "sick" because one, I was in denial, two, it could be so much worse. He has had an amazing team of doctors who have been on top of his case since the day he was born. They have sat in rooms with me and answered the same questions again and again. 

For that, and for them I am so thankful. 

The entire hospital is amazing (and huge) and I've always wanted to feel like I was giving back. 

So I've decided to run the half marathon they hold ever year called the CHaD Heros.

I know I'm crazy. I haven't even run my first half and here I am registering for another. 

This one is different though. 

It's personal. 

Sick kids are truly heroes in every sense of the word. Their resilience is outstanding, and their strength is inspirational. Yesterday during my son's MRI he stopped crying. He screamed the whole time getting in their and as soon as it started he stopped. That's when I started crying. It kills me that he's so used to these tests that he just sits through them. He keeps me strong. He inspires me to keep going. 

This is also a fundraising event. So all the money raised will go towards CHaD and the families like ours. 

You can read more about it on their site. 

I will be doing lots of fun fundraising things throughout the summer to reach my goal of $1,500 dolla dolla bills. 

I have shirts in the works, some giveaways, some 50/50 raffles. The works. I want this process to be fun and exciting for me and everyone else! 

Hopefully I will have my fundraising page up and running soon!

Speaking of giveaways today is the last day to enter the Get Fit for Summer Giveaway. So go get you some enteries, and if you are in the mood for a good cry I included a nice video from the kids at CHaD. 

You're Welcome. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Day in the Life of a Not So Sick Kid

Today started at 6 am when I woke up and got dressed with one eye closed and then woke up the Chipster. 

After a quick stop at Dunkins because well 

I run on Dunkins 

We started our two hour drive to CHAD which is the children hospital where all I his specialists are.

If you are a new reader Chip was born with a cyst on his brain stem and as he grew his brain stem as well as his optical nerves grew around it making it near impossible to operate on. 

That big white spot...yeah not supposed to be there. 

For the past two years we have gone to numerous doctors appointments and even did a stint in the PICU lasy September. 

So one we went to a long day of doctors appointments and his MRI.

He got all suited up 

Then we waited and played 

And played 

And played 

And finally we saw the doctor. It was a lot of the normal asking about his balance irregular eye movements issues with throwing up and his immune system. Then the doctor showed me his results from his MRI 

That's right...it's just...gone.

He said sometimes this happens and that's why they go undiscovered in so many people.  

It still has some reminents and some excess fluid but nothing of concern. 

His optimologist said there was signs of being far sighted which may have been caused by the nerves being stretched but could also resolve itself over time. 

I honestly don't even know how to react. I think I have worked so hard to emotionally remove myself that I can't even been properly excited or relieved. 

Either way this news as well as a morning at CHAD has been pretty overwhelming and has made me make a pretty big decision. 

Hint it's in October.  

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!! 

GIVEAWAY of the Massive Kind

So my boo Alicia decided she wanted to have a little giveaway.

A little giveaway turned into a HUGE giveaway with the best prize list ever. 

Seriously. 

If you are into fitness at all, even if you like to walk out to your mailbox and call it a day you will LOVE this giveaway. 

I personally am throwing in a yoga mat, a yoga strap and a yoga block, because.. well I love yoga. 

There are 18 of us all together in this giveaway so I guarantee you that there is something you will love. While you are patiently waiting to find out the winner which will be announced a week from today make sure you check out all the other bloggers. I adore them all. 

Alicia from Brew Mama 

Nicki from Beautifully Awkward

Candra from Camo and Lipstick

Darci from Strongly Feminine

Trista from Life According to Trista

Aubrey Leigh from ALG Uninterrupted

Tia from Hands on. Pants off.

Adie from Four Fit Sisters

Desiree from Macke Monologues

Crystal from Crystal Michelle's Mess

Jasmine from Fleurty and Fit

Nikki from Heavy Cupcake

Ang from Mean Ang

Sami from Simply Sami

Val from Fab Chick Gets Fit

Stacie from Stacie Rogers Training

Erin from Homemade Happenings

Analisa from Sunset 79

Gah... I can't get over how many amazing prizes there are... I want to win it myself.

If you won this giveaway what prize would you be the most excited about?? (I'm thinking of doing a giveaway next month to celebrate my half so I'm looking for ideas!) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What me? Irrational?

Sometimes I like to freak out over things are really stupid.

Some people may call it having anxiety or being crazy

I like to think of it as keeping my life fun. 

Sometimes it makes the day go by quicker wondering if my car is going to get washed into the river, when I'm forced to use this parking spot at work. 

I also really enjoy staying up all night because my son switched to his big boy bed and I have visions of him getting decapitated from the side rails.

 

One of my biggest irrational fears is that a balloon is going to blow up and burn my face off. 

I'm not sure where this even came from but I'm assuming at some point in my childhood I was playing with a balloon and someone told me to be careful because it might pop or explode. 

I hate balloons. I hate blowing them up. I hate popping them. I hate buying them and having to put them in my car. I hate when one slowly falls down to the ground, because there will probably be a shard piece of dust on the floor and KABOOM there goes my face. 

If you follow me on Instagram you saw that for Mabel's birthday I covered her floor in balloons. 

I also hid coupons for things like Mabel and Mommy day, or Stay up Late. 

So excited about getting Mom of the Year I wasn't thinking two steps ahead as to HOW she would get the coupons out of said balloons. 

She woke up and was so excited. Then when I explained about the coupons she ran to wake her brother up to show him. Then she grabbed a balloon and... tried.to.bite.it. 

I'm pretty sure I scared her for life with my over the top reaction of a mix of screaming and crying and hitting the balloon away from her. 

Not wanting to ruin the whole thing for her. I pulled my shit together and handed her a knitting needle, told her to be EXTREMELY CAREFUL and hid in the living room in fetal position until the war zone was over. 

She loved it and is so excited to use her coupons. 

Call me crazy but I'm even thinking of starting this a new birthday tradition. 

I'll just need some Valium. 

Mabel Mabel Set the Table.

Today is Mabel's 4th birthday and I am in semi melt down mode. 

My little baby girl is growing up and I can't even stop it. 

I had the best pregnancy with her. I was sick but it wasn't unbearable. I was active and I barely gained. I had  heartburn but nothing a few tums couldn't fix. 

Then there was that whole anemia thing. 

The doctor told me I could take iron pills or have iron shots. I hate shots sooo I said I would take the pills. 

Which I took once and felt like I was dying so I continued to pretend I was taking them. 

Then when the time finally came, after two false alarms (me thinking my water broke and it actually just being me peeing myself) and two weeks after my due date, I almost bleed to death on the delivery table. 

I'm pretty sure I saw that look in the doctors eyes through his glasses, while he took 45 min to stop the bleeding and take care of things down there. 

That look of.... 

Told ya so. 

Most parents talk about looking into their baby's eyes when they are placed on their chest and falling in love instantly. 

They put Mabel on my chest and I couldn't raise my arms to hold her. 

I looked at the nurse and asked her to take her, then closed my eyes and woke up the next day. 

I seriously don't remember the first 24 hours. 

I lost a LOT of blood. 

I was so weak I wasn't even allowed to lift Mabel out of the crib by myself. 

I had to ring the bell every time she cried so more often than not she was just in bed with me all the time. 

Finally after two blood transfusions I started to feel normal again and regain my strength. 

The whole time while I was lying in bed slowly dying, in crazy pain Mabel just sat and waited for me. She didn't even lose weight while we were in there. She rarely cried and was seriously the best baby ever. 

The first thing I said to her wasn't I love you, or Happy Birthday it was

"It's you and me against the world baby girl"

Now thankfully we have two more people in our corner. 

So today Mabel turns 4. Happy Birthday to my sassy little princess, whose favorite color is purple, favorite animal is a Zebra and favorite food is bacon. The little lady who loves to sing herself to sleep and can't wait to learn how to ride a bike. Who thinks the word eyeball is the funniest word in the world, and knows all the words to Wreaking ball. 

She told me this morning she's big enough now and I agree. 

Does anyone know how to slow this thing down??

Vlogging with a Friend.

I'm almost sad my long run is only 3 miles today.
ALMOST.
I have actually been enjoying my long runs and how accomplished I feel after them. I am running today its just a quick 3 mile run.
So instead of my run-recap today I did a question and answer vlog with my sister-in-law Lena.
It's a little long because I like to go on tangents, but there a lot of good info in it!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Honey Dew and Twizzlers.

Mothers day is coming up.

By coming up I mean over a month away but my husband is freaking out thinking he won't find me the perfect gift. 

As much as I tell him I don't need any gifts he doesn't believe me (good boy). 

I've also told him that I think it would be cute to start the tradition of the kids giving me what I craved during labor for Mother's Day. It's cheap, easy, requires no thought, and I still love them both. 

When I was in labor with Mabel I couldn't get enough honey dew melon. 

I believe I ate three.... whole melons. 

If you have any children you are probably thinking to yourself

"She must have done that whole thing naturally because you can't eat when you have an epidural!!"

First, there is no way I would push a bowling bowl out of my lady parts without some meds. 

Second I'm a rule breaker.

In other words, I don't head warnings, and typically end up cursing my own name. 

So the nurses were all no food, and I was all GIVE ME THE FUCKING MELON. 

Then I threw up after every push, and almost died. 

The whole almost dying thing was caused by me thinking I was way more bad ass than I am. 

During my pregnancy the doctors told me I was extremely anemic and I needed to take Iron pills. 

Iron pills suck and I didn't want to take them, so being the young and bratty version of myself I thought

"What's the worst that can happen I need like a blood transfusion or something."

Two actually. I needed two blood transfusions, and a week in the hospital where I was literally dying and not recovering from the amount of blood I lost during birth. 

Totally normal. 

Then I had Chip. 

Chip's birth was insane all in it's own but we just so happened to give birth at like the largest hospital ever (We live in the woods, and my idea of a large hospital is based entirely off of their cafeteria size). 

I wasn't in labor very long but I sent my husband downstairs to re up my supply of Twizzlers about 5 times. 

Thankfully I half listened this time and didn't eat any (or very many) after the epidural, so there was no throwing up. 

What mother wouldn't want to be reminded of that time their Va-jay was ripped open with Honey Dew and Twizzlers! So seriously babe if you are reading this you can put your mind at ease, that's all I want (along with new compression pants and running socks)

Today is the LAST DAY to sign up for our Swag Swap so hop on over here to find out how to sign up!

Did you crave anything during labor or pregnancy? Do you have any Mother's Day traditions??