5 Benefits I've Seen from Drinking More Water 1.19.2018

As stupid as it sounds, drinking water is something I'm super passionate about! It's been estimated that as many as 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, even though we're fortunate enough to have access to clean drinking water. Drinking water not only keeps your organs functioning and cleans out your body, but it also increases your metabolism and gives you more energy. In the last 6 months I've made a specific effort to drink way more water, so I thought I would share the benefits I've personally seen, as well as some of my tips for drinking more water! We've all heard the "drink half of your body weight in ounces" advice, but I personally don't feel like that's nearly enough for me, and over the past 6 months I've aimed to drink at least 100oz a day. 

5 Benefits I've Seen from Drinking More Water

1 | significantly fewer headaches

Growing up and through high school and college, I got headaches all the time, including a decent amount of migraines. I figured it was just a fact of life for me. But since I've really upped my water intake, I've had very few headaches! Amazing right?? That's not to say I don't still get one from time to time, but it's like a once a month kind of thing rather than multiple times a week!

2 | plumper, more glowing skin

I'm sure you've heard the advice that drinking a ton of water is the best thing you can do for your skin, and I 100% believe it. I've definitely noticed a difference in my skin the past 6 months. It has much more of a glow, as well as more fullness!

3 | more energy

While I'm not a huge caffeine addict (I stopped drinking my daily soda back in college and rarely drink coffee), I was drinking green tea nearly every day (which, to be fair, is really good for you). However, I've noticed since upping my water intake that I rarely need a caffeine boost and have so much more energy.

4 | far less bloating

As females, and hell as humans, bloating is a part of life. But since I've upped my water intake I noticed far less of it, even during my period! Flatter tummy? Yes please!

5 | a calmer mind, and less anxiety

This was a completely unexpected benefit for me, but I started noticing the change a few months ago. I've always been a stresser and prone to anxiety. For as long as I can remember, my mind has been all over the place, I've felt anxious about nearly everything, and my heart has felt so fluttery all the time - such an icky feeling. But in the past 6 months I've noticed how much calmer I am. My mind feels calmer and clearer, and my heart doesn't race and flutter as often. I still stress quite a bit, but the anxiousness is not nearly as prevalent. I think reducing caffeine has definitely played a roll, but overall I just feel better now that I'm more hydrated - like my body and mind are working how they're supposed to. I can't tell you what a great feeling that is!

So, have I talked you into drinking more water yet?? If so, here are some of my favorite tips for drinking more water...   

My Tips for Drinking More Water

1 | use a water tracking app

Once I made the decision to drink more water, I started using a tracking app, and it's helped me so much! It's easy to let hours go by without drinking anything, but the app helps keep me on track! I also like having the competition with myself to reach my goal. I use the My Water app (although there are tons of great free ones), and it allows you to set a daily goal, to enter in all different kinds of beverages, and it will send you push notification reminders to drink more water.

2 | take a tumbler with you everywhere

My sister has always taken a huge water bottle with her everywhere, and I've started doing this too. I like using a reusable tumbler because it keeps my water super ice cold (essential for me) and then I'm not wasting tons of plastic. Trey and I are obsessed with our Corcicle tumblers and canteens! I think we have 4 or 5 between us now, and I've even given some out as gifts. My 24oz white tumbler seriously comes with me everywhere! I also love that these don't make my water taste like metal. They really are the best!

3 | use a reusable straw

I've found that I drink at least twice as much liquid when I have a straw! For this reason, I use these rubber straws with my Corkcicle tumbler. They oversized, rubbery (i.e. you can chew on them haha), and best of all, reusable! I also just ordered these stainless steel straws to completely replace my use of plastic straws (more on that later though).    

4 | drink it first thing in the morning

Because our bodies are working away while we sleep, and because we don't drink water throughout the night, we can actually wake up dehydrated. Crazy, right? I like to start off my mornings by immediately filling up my tumbler with ice water, and then drinking a ton of water while I go through my morning routine! This not only jumpstarts your metabolism, and gets you off to a great start toward your water goal, but will also make you feel so much better - I promise!

I hope this post has inspired you to drink more water (and less soda, coffee, etc.)! Like I said, it's something that's really important to me, and it's always one of my biggest pieces of advice to others. If you have any other benefits or tips you would like to share, I'd love to chat in the comment section below!

I also thought I would share the super comfy loungewear I'm wearing in the photos. My top is this little thermal, and it's the softest shirt ever. I love that it's oversized, and that you can wear it different ways. I need more colors! I'm also wearing sweatpants from my favorite loungewear brand, Z Supply. Their stuff is so unbelievably soft, and their sweatpants and joggers are definitely worth the money in my opinion! I have to remember not to wear these every night when I get home from work haha.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I'm so excited to share more lifestyle and health content with you this year, and have been really excited to put this post together!   

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Clean & Delicious Fiesta Salad 8.04.2017

Happy Friday friends! I haven't gotten much sleep this week, so I'm sooooo ready for the weekend to be here! My plans include catching up on zzzzz's, going to yoga, doing some cleaning, and then heading to Kansas City on Sunday for some good food and a Sporting KC game. 

Today I'm sharing one of my very favorite recipes that my mom and I have both made for years! We call it a fiesta salad, and have experimented with our recipe until we've "perfected" it 😌 We first started making this salad back when I was very strictly gluten free for awhile, and now that I know more about nutrition and health, I love that this is truly a guilt-free salad. All of the ingredients are clean, including the homemade dressing! It's also a really tasty way to eat some veggies! If you like tangy flavors, this salad's for you because it's packed with flavor. This is my go-to recipe to bring to a summer BBQ or family dinner because people always love it, and I know I'll have a healthy option there.

There are so many ways to use this little salad!

- as a salad/side (I sometimes eat a big bowl of it for lunch!)
- as a topping for tacos

- served on top of taco salad (like I did on my IG story last weekend!)

- served on top of grilled chicken or white fish

- as a dip with tortilla chips

Salad Ingredients

2 cans of black beans (drained & rinsed)

1 can of corn (drained & rinsed)

1 green bell pepper - chopped

2 large tomatoes - chopped

1/3 cup red onion - diced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro - chopped

Dressing Ingredients 
(whisk before pouring over salad)

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice from two limes

2-3 cloves garlic - minced

2 teaspoons sea salt

Optional Add-Ins

Diced avocado (add at last minute before serving so it doesn't get mushy or brown)

Garbanzo beans

Chopped kale

All you have to do is combine all of your ingredients in a medium to large bowl, and then whisk your dressing ingredients before pouring over the salad! I then gently "fold" the salad to mix everything up, and I like it best when it's been in the fridge for just a bit. It's also really good as leftovers for a day or two, and often tastes even better the next day!

I got a lot of messages from you guys as you made this yummy salad, so if you try my family's "fiesta salad" I would love to hear from you!!

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Favorite Summer Snack/Side: Cucumber, Tomato & Feta Salad 7.06.2017

I'm so excited to have another healthy recipe for you guys today! This is one of my favorite salads ever because it's quick, simple, healthy and delicious!  What's really nice is that you only need a few ingredients, and that you can throw this together in 5ish minutes. You can completely eyeball everything and make as much or as little as you want. If I have half of a cucumber left I can whip this up for part of my lunch, or I can chop up 2 cucumbers if I want to make a full-sized salad for a family dinner. It also keeps nicely in the fridge for a couple of days, so I'll usually make a batch and have it as part of my lunch/dinner or as a snack for a couple of days. 

I eat a lot of cucumber on a weekly basis because they contain multiple B vitamins, and are rich in water and fiber! Weirdly enough, Trey is pretty allergic to them, so I get to keep this salad to myself in our house 😉

Cucumber, Tomato + Feta Summer Salad

can be easily doubled or halved - you can't mess it up!

1 cucumber - quartered

3/4 to 1 carton of cherry tomatoes (just eyeball ratio to cucumber) - halved longways

crumbled feta cheese to preference (my weakness!)

garlic vinaigrette

I typically use a clean garlic vinaigrette that I buy at Aldi, but it's easy to whip up your own if you want something even simpler or are out of dressing! I whisk the following to taste when making my own vinaigrette for this salad (sorry for not having measurements!):

extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar (key!)
fresh minced garlic (I love using a garlic press!)
sea salt (I use pink himalayan salt)
cracked black pepper

Extras you can add:
avocado
chopped kale
fresh basil or other herbs  

Please let me know what you think if you try out this recipe! Do you enjoy seeing recipes and health content on here? It's something I'm hoping to post more of as healthy cooking and nutrition are now huge interests of mine, but I always love to hear your thoughts/feedback!

Thanks so much for reading! xx

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3 Things I Drink for Prettier, Healthier Skin 5.26.2017

Since getting full on smacked in the face with hormonal acne starting at age 13, I've had a deep interest in skincare and skin health for many years (half my life actually!). It's a topic I could truly research all day, and I always have a list of questions for my amazing esthetician. Anything that can potentially improve my skin or give me a better glow, I want to know more about and try!

A few months ago, I listened to an episode of the LadyGang podcast (one of my favs!) where they had renowned celebrity aesthetician Kate Sommerville on as their guest. I truly learned so much about skincare and wrote down everything she said. I highly highly recommend listening to the interview, which is episode 59 from January 17, 2017! Coming from a family that has always valued natural medicine, I loved that she talked about how gut health effects your skin. Ever heard the saying "you are what you eat?" It's so true. She talked about how eating clean ingredients and supplementing with a good probiotic are two of the best things you can do for your skin, and that the health of your gut (for better or for worse) will reflect in your skin. She didn't touch on all of the drinks I'm sharing today, but I just wanted to share this episode with you guys as an additional resource because I truly learned so much!

Obviously drinking boat loads of water is essential to your skin's health and your overall health, but I thought I would share three other things I drink that all show positive effects on my skin! Knowing that I want to add these into my routine also help me to drink more water - a win, win!

 I also want to disclose that I do not have perfect, gorgeous skin, and if you don't either, that's okay. It's a journey. I may never have "perfect skin," but I'm continually working to have my best skin and to always be improving it. Those of us that have had hormonal, cystic acne will have scarring, and may continue to get breakouts until the end of time (or at least it feels like we will). Maybe you're naturally oily and if you don't wear makeup you look like a little grease ball after a few hours (me!). Also, if you're super fair skinned like I am you know that every little flaw both at the surface and below the surface shows up big time.

So, don't get down on yourself if your skin isn't where you want it to be, just focus on improving your skin and your health as much as you can control and afford! Remember that there's always someone out there who would love to have your skin, even if you don't feel like it's that great.  

3 Things I Drink for Prettier, Healthier Skin...

1 | Liquid Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is vital to the photosynthesis process in plants, and is one of the nutrients found in green, leafy vegetables. It has a bunch of amazing benefits for the body, and promotes cleansing/detoxing, healing and cell renewal, and also helps with iron levels, redness, swelling, and more. Kate Sommerville and Reece Witherspoon both swear by adding this to their water daily for skin and hormone health! Fortunately, liquid chlorophyll doesn't taste bad at all, and I've actually grown to like it. I try to drink a glass every day, or at least every other day! You don't need much (I add about a teaspoon to a glass of water) and a bottle will last you quite awhile. It also comes in a dropper form, and in a mint flavor.

2 | Apple Cider Vinegar.

Yes, it's disgusting. This is not a drink I look forward to, but when I'm consistent with it, I do notice that my skin tends to stay clearer. Apple cider vinegar has been touted for decades to have a multitude of health benefits, and although not all are backed up scientifically yet, it is proven to lower blood sugar levels, improve gut health (= better skin!!), and may even help boost your metabolism and burn fat.

ACV "shots" are trendy right now, but can actually be quite harmful to your teeth and digestive tract. Because of its high acidity, ACV can erode your teeth enamel and damage your esophagus. SO, the best/healthiest way to drink it is to mix it in with a glass of water, and to use a straw! The straw will prevent it from washing all over your teeth, and the water makes it easier to digest. I also add in just a bit of Stevia or honey to make it less tart. To get these health benefits, make sure you buy raw, unfiltered ACV that has "the mother" in it! You can read more about ACV here, here and here.

3 | Green Tea

Green tea is full of antioxidants and protects your skin against free radicals, which damage your skin cells and tissue. I drink a cup of hot green tea every single morning, which kicks off my daily hydration, plumps the skin, and gives me a more subtle dose of caffeine (versus coffee). In the summertime I also like to make batches of cold-brew green tea to keep in the fridge and to add variety to my daily water quota. When I'm consistent with drinking green tea my skin glows sooo much more and feels nice and plump (versus dry and/or wrinkly)!

Bonus Tips...

Take a good probiotic daily! As in a high-quality, refrigerated probiotic, not the $8 ones from the Walmart aisle. This will improve your gut health and hormone health, which both reflect in your skin.

Add in collagen powder! Collagen has a lot of benefits, but I use it primarily for its skin benefits. As we age, our body produces less and less collagen, which means wrinkles, looser skin, and less elasticity. Ugh! So, if you increase the collagen in your body, you can increase moisture, firmness and smoothness, and encourage your body to renew cells! As skin loses elasticity and gets thinner, cellulite shows up more, so collagen may actually help reduce the appearance of cellulite as well. I buy a powder that I add into smoothies, oatmeal, tea, and my liquid chlorophyll water!


I hope you enjoyed this post! I love learning about health, nutrition and skin care, so this post was so enjoyable for me to research and write! Do you swear by any of these tips or have some of your own? Also, would you want to see a Q&A with my esthetician about all things skin? Let me know! xx
  

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Let's Brunch 5.19.2017

First things first, HAPPY FRIDAY!

 A couple of weekends ago, Brianna and I decided to combine our loves of breakfast foods and healthy cooking to put together this photogenic and delicious little brunch at my place! It was basically the cutest little friend date everrrrr 😋 Over the past few years I've gone from barely being able to make basic tacos to enjoying cooking and experimenting with my own healthy recipes, so I'm planning to start mixing in some recipes into my blog post lineup! Read on to see what we made...

We made 3 different recipes that were the perfect mix of savory and sweet. The first was my signature cinnamon french toast!

Healthier French Toast
 (makes 4 servings)
4 slices sprouted or whole wheat bread (I use a sprouted bread from Aldi)
1 egg
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (although I usually add more!)

Beat the egg in a shallow bowl, then add almond milk, vanilla and cinnamon and mix well. Dip each slice of bread in the mixture and evenly coat both sides. Cook on a skillet over medium heat and make sure to use a non-stick spray (I like to use coconut oil spray for this recipe).

Then simply top with all the fruit your heart desires as well as real maple syrup! It's delicious, clean, fairly low calorie...and such a pretty little dish!     

I also made my go-to berry + protein smoothie bowl that is my favorite thing to eat after my Saturday morning barre class! It's refreshing, filling, and super nutritious.

Berry + Protein Smoothie Bowl

Handful of spinach
3/4-1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (start small & add as-needed)
Handful of frozen berries (I use a mix)
1 frozen banana (I freeze a batch of sliced of bananas every few weeks) 
1/2 scoop vegan chocolate protein powder
  1 tbsp PB2 (can sub peanut or almond butter)
1 tbsp collagen powder (so good for your skin + has protein)


Briefly blend almond milk and spinach first to ensure you don't end up with any chunks of spinach in the end ;) Then add the rest of your ingredients and blend away! You may have to pause your blender a couple of times to push everything down and add more almond milk until you reach your desired consistency. Remember that with a smoothie bowl you'll want a thicker consistency than with a smoothie you'd drink!

There are so many yummy things you can top your smoothie bowl with! Here are some ideas:
sliced bananas
fresh berries
raw cacao 
chia seeds
flax seeds
shredded coconut
chopped almonds
granola
drizzle of honey or agave

Be sure to head over to Brianna's brunch post to get the recipe for her avocado + egg toast! It was so so delicious and I've already made it a few times since!

Oh...and I can't leave out the other essentials - coffee and mimosas! We made our mimosas with mango orange juice and Chandon rosé (shout to Chandon for some of the best blogger mail ever!), and sweetened our coffees with vanilla almond milk, honey and cinnamon - yum!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe post as much as we enjoyed putting it together (and eating it)! Hopefully you're excited to see recipes and more lifestyle content on here! I already have some healthy summery recipes planned and can't wait to share them with you all!

Also, here are some links to my servingware:
Plates  |  Bowl  |  Mugs  |  Woven Placemats  |  Wooden Board

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