Oh you guys, my last post was March 4...ugh. You know when you have a never-ending to do list and feel like you can't climb out of it? And then just when you can't take much more, another heap gets piled on? Well that's me right now. My school work to-do list is just ridiculous. My Passion Planner (which I love and you can check out here!) has had the same weekly goal of "catch up" since like early February. I was still trying to catch up over my spring break....break, ha!! And then just last week we were given a notice that we'll be moving for my husband's job. While we are very excited (and a little sad), we have to be in our new town/house/area by mid August. So now we have to get our little house ready to sell. *insert anxiety attack here* Anyway, so I'm sorry for neglecting my blog and I'm going to try harder to update it more often. Here's a big one!

I always have people asking me, so since you're a nutritionist do you eat perfectly all the time?! The answer? Absolutely not. Nobody is perfect. I do give it my best shot and mainly just strive for balance in my life. I try to stick to an 80/20 ratio of healthy eating in our lives. 80% of the time we eat good whole foods, typically at home. The other 20% of the time is for those meals when you go out with friends or are stuck on the road and don't have better options available. I don't expect myself to stick to whole foods 100% of the time because that just sets me up for failure. When I have a craving for something not so great, I do give in, but I don't let myself go crazy. My cheat meal doesn't turn into a cheat day. Also, I barely count calories. I know a lot of people get really stressed out and overwhelmed when they start keeping track of calories. When I do track them, I use the My Fitness Pal app. It's so easy to use and has a great scan option to scan bar codes of foods and products. It's the easiest calorie tracking app I've ever used. My goal when setting up my meals is to strive for variety, color and foods that are in their most natural state. Simple as that. So here's what I ate last week:

Monday 

Breakfast: I eat a variation of the same thing everyday for breakfast. There is always an egg, some avocado, a grain of some kind and some fruit. Today I had 1 large egg, 1 whole grain English muffin, 1/4 of a large avocado and about 1/2 cup cut up strawberries. And of course, coffee! I put Stevia and unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my coffee. I started eating this breakfast over the summer when I did my training, and I love it. It represents all food groups and the protein, fat and grains keep me full. When I don't have an English muffin, I'll have oatmeal or smush the avocado on a piece of toast and put the egg on top of that. Delish!

Lunch: I leave for campus around noon on Monday's so I threw together a quick easy salad. I put together some mixed greens, baby spinach and kale with cut up broccoli (from my prep day!!), a few halved cherry tomatoes, a small sprinkling of cheddar cheese, about 1/4 cup diced ham and a little light ranch dressing.

Snacks: My second class of the day is an almost 3 hour lecture on micronutrients. I need a little pick me up halfway through, it's a long freaking time to sit. I took a couple baggies with baby carrots and a cut up apple, and of course, my water bottle that is with me at all times. I almost always take an apple, but normally I'd take some cashews or almonds with it, but we were out that day. Oh and when I got home I was starving for some reason, so I had a whole wheat pita with some hummus.

Dinner: I've recently re-discovered the awesomeness that is Trader Joe's. Their prices are amazing! I can buy a package of frozen wild-caught salmon that has 2 really big pieces of salmon for about 6 bucks. What!?! Dinner on this day was baked lemon garlic herb salmon, a little orzo rice pilaf (thanks Trader Joe's!) and a mixed greens/spinach/kale salad with cherry tomatoes and organic Italian dressing.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Today I had an egg with an English muffin, 1/4 of a large avocado and about 1/3 cup cut up strawberries and a kiwi. And coffee!

Lunch: I hate wasting food so I eat a lot of leftovers for my lunches when I'm home. This day I had the other half of my salmon from Monday night's dinner and about 1/2 cup of Mexican rice we had eaten over the weekend.

Snack: When I'm stressed I bake. This was the day I got the news about our moving and the panic of selling our house set in. So naturally I baked banana bread. Snack this day was a piece of warm banana bread with a smidge of butter and a hot green tea with a little honey. It was all about comfort!

Dinner: Grilled pork tenderloin with garlic citrus sauce and a large salad made with mixed greens/baby spinach/kale, diced carrots and broccoli, cherry tomatoes, a little cheddar cheese and some ranch. We eat off of our smaller plates, just in case you were worried about my portions. Also I ate another 2 small slices of the tenderloin because it was just so stinkin' good!

Wednesday

Breakfast: Wednesday for breakfast I had 1 egg, 1/4 of a large avocado with some hot sauce sprinkled on top to wake up my metabolism and digestion, 1 kiwi, 1/2 cup quick oats with PB2 and about 1/3 cup blueberries. And of course, coffee!

Lunch: One my favorite quick lunches is a fast tuna salad. For this I mix 1 can of tuna in water, 1/4 avocado, a couple squirts of mustard and a tablespoon-ish of sweet relish. If I have a hard-boiled egg, I'll throw that in too. I eat this in a whole wheat pita and then have some baby carrots with hummus.

Snack: No snack on this day, which is odd for me. I only eat when I'm hungry though, so lunch filled me up.

Dinner: We ate out this night because we were both exhausted after a long day and somewhat emotionally spent. We headed to a local grill and I couldn't control myself so I had a burger and sweet potato fries. I didn't really feel guilty about this, even though it's not the best option, but I did try to eat somewhat slowly and pay attention to how I felt so that I didn't overeat. I definitely know when I shouldn't eat this stuff because I don't feel so hot later. Major indigestion that evening.

Thursday

Breakfast: The usual! 1 egg with an English muffin and 1/4 large avocado, 1/2 banana and about 1/4 cup blueberries, and coffee.

Lunch: My husband had extra servings of his lunch, so I ate one to avoid wasting food. So skillet ground turkey, sweet potatoes and bell peppers. Yum!

Snack: Study break snack this day was a cut up apple and a couple slices of pepperjack cheese. If I had some Greek yogurt I would have had that instead of the cheese.

Dinner: I don't have a picture of this because I was in the car. We took an impromptu road trip to look at houses in the area we'll be moving to, and our planned dinner didn't happen. So we stopped at....Taco Bell. Don't hate me! I wasn't thrilled but really I didn't have much of a choice and I was starving. I kept myself to 2 tacos and water. Ideal? No. Realistic? Yep. This just happens sometimes. Definitely felt like crap after this one. Listen to your body, it definitely tells you what to do!

Friday

Breakfast: 1 egg with a whole wheat English muffin, 1/4 large avocado, about 1/4 cup blueberries and a kiwi. Kiwi's are my new thing! In my immunity and inflammation class I learned that kiwi are good for lung health, which is definitely very important to me! And coffee!

Lunch: Grilled buffalo chicken salad. We ate lunch really quick before our realtor came to look at our house and give us her opinions on what to do before we sell. So we grilled some chicken tenderloins that had been brushed with Frank's buffalo sauce (my favorite!) and put it on top of mixed greens and kale and then topped with a bit more buffalo sauce and a little ranch. This is one of my favorite salads ever!

Dinner: After our realtor appointment, we headed to our hometown to go to a friend's fish fry get together. We had fried fish (yes it was fried, not so great, but the batter wasn't really thick and I was careful to pick pieces that had a lot of meat) and then a bunch of sides. It was typical potluck food, so generally not the healthiest, but I did my best and just tried not to overeat. I didn't go back for seconds though, big win for me!

So that was my week! As you can see, I'm not perfect. I do think about everything I eat though and try to fuel my body with the best options. I don't have pictures of my drinks, because other than coffee, I generally just drink a ton of water. I try to drink at least 60 oz of water everyday and can absolutely tell when I don't. My skin will look ruddy and feel bad and get really dry, my lips get really dry, and I'll just feel sluggish. I also take a daily multivitamin, fish oil and linoleic acid supplement. I try to eat all of my essential nutrients, but I still take a vitamin just to be sure my body is getting what it needs. I hope that all helps you guys! Takeaway message: Do your best to make good choices, don't beat yourself up over not so great choices, and don't let cheat meals turn into cheat days! Mindful eating is all it takes!