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Guest Post: 6 Ways to Stay Fit on Vacation

Posted in Guest Posts, tagged everyday health, fitness on vacation, fitness travel, guest post on August 14, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Taking a summer vacay before autumn hits? Just because you’re out of your usual routine doesn’t mean your diet and exercise have to fall by the wayside. And just because you’re sticking to your diet doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Here are my top 5 tips for staying fit while you’re away.

1. BYOW (Bring Your Own Workout)

Sure, you may not have the space in your suitcase to carry a medicine ball and a free weights set, but you CAN bring a jump rope or a workout DVD. When you have some down time, take them out and get moving. If you’re staying at a hotel, you should also take full advantage of its fitness facilities. Doing some laps in the pool could be a relaxing way to start the day.

2. Go for a Skinny Cocktail

Those margaritas and piña coladas are loaded with calories. Choose a lighter option like club soda and vodka or gin, a wine spritzer, or a bloody Mary. If you’re going to enjoy a high-cal cocktail, treat yourself to one and switch to a less indulgent drink.

3. Make Exercise Part of the Fun

Plan some activities that will keep you and your fellow vacationers moving. Go for a bike ride, a walking tour, a leisure swim, a kayak trip, a snorkeling adventure, or some local dance classes. Make your exercise part of your getaway’s events rather than a chore.

4. Pack Your Snacks

Skip that jumbo size bag of M&Ms from the minibar and bring your own snacks like nuts, granola bars, and dried fruit. It will also save you a few dollars along the way!

5. Stay Hydrated

Drink water, drink water, drink water. I probably can’t say it enough. But Drink Water! Staying hydrated will keep you feeling healthy and energized, and less likely to splurge. Plus, it will help you keep your glow in all of those vacation photos.

6. Keep Accountable

If you need some extra accountability, join an online weight loss community and check in with them whenever you’re feeling like you need a little boost of inspiration or motivation.

Have fun!

Guest Blogger Caitlin Heikkila is the Community Manager atEveryday Health and takes her tips to heart during all of her travels.

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Happy Monday!

Posted in Blog, tagged guest post, happy monday on July 9, 2012 | 7 Comments »

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! My weekend was spent watching the Pittsburgh Pirates win a series against the Giants! So excited that the pirates are doing great! Last time they were good, I was way to young to remember. The only downfall was the extreme heat. Stadium seats are hot and sticky in 100-degrees. It seemed like just climbing the stairs to my seat was an intense workout!

Speaking of heat, I’d like to direct you to a guest post I wrote for Alex’s blog (The Run Within) entitled Keeping Your Cool. This post discusses running and races in extreme heat. Enjoy the post and be sure to check out Alex’s blog posts as well! She is one of my favorite bloggers!

What are you most looking forward to this week?

Me?

Watching the All-Star Game! Hanrahan and McCutchen!
Completing my second Master’s degree! I can officially say my school career is over, I think two masters degrees are enough!
Celebrating the fact that I am done with school, again!
My dad’s birthday!

It’s going to be a busy week! Enjoy your Monday!

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Guest Post: Delightful and Healthy Enchiladas

Posted in Guest Posts, tagged guest post, healthy enchiladas, lifesrunningmom, recipes on May 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Another great guest post from Erica at lifeasarunningmom.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

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Delightful, and Healthy, Enchiladas

Growing up in Texas I developed an intense love for Tex-Mex food and one of my childhood favorites were cheese enchiladas made by my mom. I have made these many times over the years and must confess, I have altered the recipe many times to make them healthier for my family today. And does my mom approve? Yes! She loves the updated, healthier recipe…and so do many teenage boys who wouldn’t ever guess how many vegetables they were consuming!

The ingredients:

12 wheat tortillas

2 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese

1/2 cup pureed vegetable 1 (squash, zucchini, or pumpkin works nice)

1 box soft tofu

Black pepper to taste

Parsley to taste

8 oz can tomato sauce

Diced Fresh tomatoes (3-4 small)

Diced Onion (1 small)

1/2 cup pureed vegetable 2 (broccoli, cauliflower, or zucchini works nice)

Chili powder to taste

Process:

Saute the diced tomatoes and onion until tender. Add to a bowl with tomato sauce, pureed vegetable 2, and chili powder. In a separate bowl, combine the filling: cheese, pureed vegetable 1, tofu, black pepper and parsley. Spread a wee bit of the sauce to the bottom of a greased 9×13 baking dish.

Put about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of the filling into each tortilla and roll. Place into the baking dish. Cover with the sauce. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Eat and Enjoy!

I love making this dish and it is really easy to prepare. You can even make it ahead and keep in the fridge until you are ready to bake. And the leftovers are great lunches!

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Guest Post: Puppy Chow and Fluffy Peanut Butter Cookies

Posted in Guest Posts, tagged allie's life, desserts, fluffy peanut butter cookies, guest post, puppy chow, recipes on May 21, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Hey! It’s Allie from Allie’s Life here. I hope Michelle is having fun traveling!

Today I want to share two of my favorite dessert recipes- puppy chow and fluffy peanut butter cookies.

Puppy Chow

Ingredients:

9 cups Chex rice cereal

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Measure cereal and put into a large bowl. Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir in vanilla.

Pour the chocolate sauce mixture over the cereal and stir until evenly coated.

Put the mix into a large plastic bag with the powdered sugar and shake until fully coated.

Fluffy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1/4 Cup Butter (Softened)

1 Egg

2 Tablespoons Honey

1 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Additional Granulated Sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, peanut butter, and butter with an electric mixer on low speed until well mixed. Beat in the honey and egg until well blended. Beat in the remaining ingredients until dough forms.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place balls about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork dipped in additional granulated sugar. Bake 7-9 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool one minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

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Guest Post: Running and Travel

Posted in Guest Posts, tagged guest blogger, guest post, running and travel, running tips on May 15, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Hi Blogitiness Readers! My name is Kiersten from Twenty-Six for a Twenty-Something and I am super excited to be doing a guest post. Michelle is traveling a lot this month, which sometimes leads a little slacking on the fitness front. This is fine if you only travel occasionally, we all need some rest periods, but if you travel frequently you have to be pretty creative and motivated to stay on track. My job requires me to be on the road 250+ days a year, and I also travel quite a bit on my personal time, but I still manage to successfully train for marathons, half-marathons, triathalons, and bike races. I am currently trying to complete a marathon on all 7 continents!

Running is my go to workout when traveling because you don’t need a lot of gear. The treadmill bores me to tears, so I try to find a way to run outside if at all possible. It’s worth it to spend a little time researching your destination before you go, so that you don’t end up running somewhere unsafe, or get stuck running laps around the hotel parking lot. Here are a few strategies I use.

-Look for a running club at your destination. They might have group runs you can join, have route maps on their website, or if you e-mail them, be willing to provide some advice. I’ve yet to get a negative response when trying to hook up with a running club where I’ll be traveling.Running in the USA has a great list of running clubs around the country.

-Check out a Running Route Website. There are quite a few website where people can post routes they like to run. Try US Track and Field; Map my Run; Walk Jog Run, and Runner’s World

-Use your blogger connections to find a running buddy in your destination. If I have time before my trip I look for running blogs set in my destination. Best case scenario is that I connect with the blogger and we meet up in person. Even when that isn’t possible, they should at least be able to provide some tips on good places to run.

-Use Google Maps to scout out potential routes. I always look around my hotel for residential areas and parks as I like to get away from the traffic.

-Use the hotel parking lot or parking garage as a track substitute. There have been places where I didn’t feel safe running on the roads, so I did a lot of loops around the hotel parking lot. This can get boring pretty quickly so I like to turn it into speed work. For example alternate sprinting up one row of cars, and then recover by jogging up the next row. This is also a good opportunity to mix in some drills like high knee skips, side shuffles, and backward running.

Happy Running Road Warriors!

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Sunday in the Kitchen

Posted in Food, Sports, tagged baked cheesy, baked pasta, chicken and broccoli pasta, guest post, messy kitchen, packers, pasta, peanut butter dough, peanut butter energy bites, peanut butter fingers, steelers on January 16, 2012 | 6 Comments »

Yesterday was a cooking/baking/football kind of day! Even though my team isn’t in it, let me just say I am extremely glad the Packers are out of it (I still hold a grudge from last year’s Superbowl!). If your team didn’t make it yesterday, this may be of possible interest to you, How to Deal When Your Team Loses (another guest post from my sports writing gig).

Yesterday was probably the first time I spent some time in the kitchen since around the holidays…I think I spent too much time in the kitchen then and just needed a break! Anyways, here is what I got cooking/baking:

Baked Cheesy, Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

What you’ll need:

Casserole dish
2 cups of pasta
1.5 cups of steamed broccoli
2 cooked, cut-up chicken breasts
1.5 cups of marinara sauce
2 cups of shredded cheese
1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs

What you’ll do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray your casserole dish with a non-stick cooking spray.
Place 2 cups of pasta (you will need to boil them so they are slightly firm) into your casserole dish.
Add your broccoli and chicken (prior to starting, I cooked my chicken in small pieces in oil and pepper in a frying pan) to the dish and mix.
Then add in marinara sauce, a cup of shredded cheese and a few table spoons of bread crumbs to the mix. Stir thoroughly.
Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
With 10 minute remaining, top your dish with a cup of cheese and the remaining bread crumbs.
Enjoy. (This dish also works great as leftovers, but you may need to add a little extra marinara sauce when you heat it up.)

And now for a snack. I find blogs a great place to find dinner/lunch/snack/dessert recipes. While browsing the snack section of pbfingers.com, I came across this recipe for peanut butter energy bites. They are delicious and easy-to-make. I am quite possibly the world’s slowest person in the kitchen and I managed to have the dough ready before my pasta became slightly firm in the above dish. Thanks Julie!

What you’ll need:

1 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of wheat germ
1 egg

What you’ll do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all of your ingredients together thoroughly in a mixing bowl. The dough is thick, but very tasty.
Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet by the tablespoon.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.