Road Food: City of Angels

My job allows me to travel a lot.  Some of it is to very cool places with great restaurants and fun things to see.  Some of it isn't.  But I still think that road food is interesting!  To that end, you can count on some posts from the road when it applies.  This weekend I hopped a jet plane and traveled to the other side of the country to promote Peanut Butter for Breakfast with the National Peanut Board.  (Disclaimer: I work for the National Peanut Board, but this is my personal blog.  Nothing here is meant to represent the National Peanut Board in any official capacity.  I do genuinely love peanuts and think they are exceptionally nutritious! =)

Anyway, when it comes to road food, I'm in a hurry a lot.  And there's also some waiting.  It's often the wrong time of the day (for instance, I'm writing this and my body things it's 8:30 and I haven't had dinner yet...it's only 5:30 in LA and dinner's still an hour and a half away).  My schedule isn't my own.  So what's a girl to do?  Here are my top priorities when I travel:

• Take every opportunity to get something nutritious in me, including packing snacks.  
• Drink lots of fresh water.
• Workout.  Run if the city is a good one for that (BTW - LA is not).
• Stay in my timezone (as much as possible).
• Sleep.

Before boarding the plane, I hit the Starbucks to fuel up and to get a liter of water.   Airplane air is SO dry.  Two bev service meant I had peanuts and coffee twice, plus Bloody Mary mix (no vodka, of course...I'm working!) which is high in vitamin C, and Biscoff.  I also packed snacks - a peanut butter Clif bar.  Before I knew it we were on the ground.  And it was only 9am in LA.  TBC...

Love Yourself, Valentine

Valentine's Day is one of those made-up holidays, you know.  Not that I'm totally cynical and I'm not giving them back if my sweetheart gives me flowers or a gift...come on.  But, it's really a good time to think about loving yourself.  Yes, you should think about others and you should totally give love away, but you should also take a moment and give some love to yourself.  February is American Heart Month, so do something good for you! 



Here are five ideas:

1. Nourish your body: Eat a really healthy meal, something with lots of color and flavor and nutrients.  This will give you energy for the rest of your V-Day.  ;)
2. Be mindful about food: Visit a farmer's market or spend some quality time in the produce department of your local grocery - pick out something special for yourself, like a perfectly ripe avocado, sweet juicy pear or a beautiful ruby-red pomegranate.  Or, treat yourself to a whole plate of deliciousness like the one here.  Eat it slowly.
3. Spend time with a friend: Make a call, drop on in or schedule a date with a friend.  It doesn't have to be romantic, but it does have to be with someone you love.  <3
4. Practice self-awareness: Write yourself a love letter.  Imagine what you would write to you, if you weren't you.  Sounds crazy, but it's a great activity.  We are often much more loving to others than we are to ourselves, so practice a little grace with yourself.
5. Move your body: Take a walk, go for a run, swim or jump rope.  Whatever you like to do to move your muscles and feel alive...do it! Your heart will be happier when it's pumping and your feet will be happy to be useful. 
   

Bonus - Connect with God: Give yourself permission to be still.  Relax.  Meditate on love, pray and give thanks for the love in your life, connect with the source of all love through Jesus Christ.  Jeremiah 31:3

The Bar Scene

So, in general I'm super skeptical of salad bars - oh and if you thought I meant the drinking-alcohol-kinda bars, I'm generally skeptical of them too.  Buffets tend to scare me.  Too much food safety knowledge in my brain about microbial contamination and the like.  Plus, have you ever seen how some people behave?  It's like their at their own house, fingering the food and popping samples into their mouths, getting so close they could almost lick the food.  Yuck!


(Notice the bars in these pictures are not yucky...they are very clean.  And colorful.  And delicious.)

Plus a lot of the places that sell from salad bars or buffets are "all you can eat", which is always trouble.  There's something about buffets that makes people think they have to get their money's worth and eat until they have to unbutton their pants.  Oh, just me? Well, research supports that the more choices we have when eating, the more we eat (Thanksgiving, anyone?).  The average buffet has dozens and dozens of choices - opportunities to really overdo it. 

But it doesn't have to be.  My favorite lunch happens to be from the Whole Foods salad and hot bar near my office.  The options are also endless here and there are definite pitfalls - macaroni and cheese, gravy covered meats, desserts, just to name a few.  But there are also dozens of really nutrient packed options.  I love the kale salads, whole grain salads and beets!  There are choices of salad greens to use as a base, roasted and marinated veggies, tofu and fresh fruit.  They also have a fresh juice bar where they'll make me my favorite beet-apple-celery-kale-ginger-lemon beverage.  Plus, you have to pay by the pound - on the plate, not on your hips.  So,  you have to be careful or that salad could cost you $20!

Here's my plate.  Lots of color, combination of raw and cooked foods, a little sweet and a little savory...even a hint of sour.  Kale salad, roasted lemon carrots, roasted asparagus, marinated mushrooms, fresh mixed berries...and jalapeno macaroni and cheese.  There's always room for  a little indulgence.  Cost ~$8.  This is my kind of bar scene.

Do you eat at salad bars or buffets?  What's your secret for making it a nice, not naughty, meal?