We’re Back!!!!!

Hi Everyone! 

We came back from our vacation with lots of info and ready to get back into the groove of things. 

We shared a condo with another couple who share a lot in our healthy belief system. We split the groceries in between both families and cooked at home every night. Of course this was the kind of vacation that called for staying in to eat because we would be at the beach all day and had a fully stocked kitchen in the apartment. Once the kids went to sleep we cooked and ate and drank some wine – well, they did; I, true to form, am pregnant once again during vacation! 

As for the meals, we made more exceptions than we at home but that was to be expected. But we are proud to announce that our lifestyle DID IN FACT survive our vacation!!!!!! 

How we cheated:

1. Orlando made chocolate chip pancakes in the morning for the kids. I can’t help myself…I love them!!!!! So on those mornings, I treated myself to the pancakes! 

2. The gang drank alcohol. Orlando normally saves his glasses of wine or scotch for the weekend but since we were at the beach the whole week and it was a like an extra long weekend… they drank every day. 

3. We ate more deli meat. Sandwiches seem to fit well into a day at the beach and although I am not a fan of deli ham because it is processed and usually has corn syrup or high sodium, on this trip, we did have ham and cheese sandwiches on certain days. We tried to buy good quality deli from Publix but nonetheless, we ate it. 

WHERE WE MADE BETTER CHOICES:

1. We ate more WHOLE foods than anything else. 

We bought things like

  • eggs
  • berries
  • bananas
  • cherries
  • avocados
  • tomatoes
  • zucchini
  • squash
  • salad
  • mangoes
  • nuts
  • organic chicken
  • extra dark chocolate
  • ezekiel bread
  • sweet potatoes
  • quinoa
  • leeks, onions, fresh garlic

2. For dinners we made

  • Cabbage Soup one night
  • Spinach pasta with ground turkey one night – absolutely delicious – recipe to follow
  • Tacos one night – we cheated on the flour tortilla but the contents of the tacos were healthy
  • Salad one night
  • Steak with sweet potato and vegetables one night 
  • Fricase de pollo with Quinoa one night – recipe to follow – made by Yaimy and delicious!

3. For the beach we got creative

  • after taking ham and cheese sandwiches one day and feeling that wasn’t too good for us, Yaimy made us some grilled chicken the next morning. We put the chicken in a container and while at the beach we made chicken sandwiches on ezekiel bread. We used ketchup and mayo and mustard, but made sure to buy all ingredients without high fructose corn syrup.
  • we hard boiled eggs and cut up avocados and took them to the beach. With a little olive oil and salt it was a fresh delicious treat.
  • we cut up a ton of fruit – mangoes, berries, cherries, melon, pineapple…etc. Instead of munching on chips, we munched on fruit. It was nice and cold. 

4. Other things we did:

  • chop up zucchini and squash, toss in olive oil and salt and toss in pan until cooked for snack
  • Dessert –  a nice piece of dark chocolate
  • we took frozen vegetables like peas and carrots and when in a pinch with the kids, we’d steam them for the boys. 
  • we also had oatmeal and almond milk for the boys when they were really tired and wanted something quick and easy. 

OVERALL, the vacation was a success. There was a nice balance between having some treats…the last night Yaimy escaped from us and bought a small container of Strawberry ice cream between the kids and us we all had a little cup 🙂 

but not forgetting to eat our vegetables and fruits. We avoided most of the junk that people eat during vacations – chips, sweets, sodas, processed foods…etc. 

We did buy 2 bags of Pita chips to snack on but they didn’t have a major role in the vacation. I actually ended up throwing almost a full bag away at the end. 

Surprisingly, we didn’t make any smoothies throughout the vacation. We ate heavier breakfasts since we were going to be at the beach all day and then there just wasn’t an opportunity to make them later on. We’ll explore that next time!!!!! 

 

 

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