How come I am so good at growing weeds and so crap at growing pretty flowers?!

The most colorful thing in my garden is this purple smoothie.

In the blender:

1 cup soy milk

2 scoops protein powder

1 frozen banana

Frozen mixed berrries

One Small Healthy Effort Giveaway

My Healthy Tipping Point philosophy is that small decisions add up to something amazing.  When I was still trying to ‘figure out’ what it meant to me to be healthy, I would always make these grand, sweeping gestures – “Gym every day!  No breaks!” or  “No dessert; only vegetables!”  One day, I realized that it’s really about making lots of small and consistent efforts because these things are much more maintainable.

In the spirit of small efforts, I thought it would be fun for us all to share one small action we do every day for better mental or physical health.  I’ll select one habit at random, and I’ll send the winner a copy of one of my upcoming books when released.  You can choose either Healthy Tipping Point: A Powerful Program for a Stronger, Happier You (available for pre-order on Amazon,Barnes and Noble, or Indie Bound) or my kids’ book, Operation Beautiful: For Best Friends (available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indie Bound).

I’ll start:  My daily healthy effort is to drink a big glass of water before I eat breakfast.  It really helps with digestion and sets me off on the right foot so I hydrate throughout the day!

And today, I did it!  I am so proud of myself.  I have never, ever swam a mile before – not even in a race.

I’m even prouder because I reached this goal a day shy of twenty two weeks pregnant.  One day, when BabyHTP grows up to be famous triathlete who wins the Kona Ironman, I will tell him/her that it’s because I swam a mile while pregnant.  Obviously.

By the way, how the heck am I in my 22nd week of pregnancy? I feel like I just announced and spilled all the details yesterday!

Can I also just say that it is so awesome to have a sport that I can not only still participate in while pregnant but actually IMPROVE at?  Everything else – cycling, running – has fallen by the wayside. But swimming is still there for me!  Another reason I love swimming so much.

The pool was set up as the long course (50 meters each way), which made it a lot easier to swim the mile. So much of swimming is mental. I get bored fast when the pool is set up as a short course.

I broke the distance up mentally and physically by allowing myself a 45-second break every 300 meters.  In total, it took me 46 minutes.  Certainly not fast by any means.  But now I have a new goal to work on – swimming a faster mile!

Post-swim lunch:

A very yummy stir-fry that included:

Brown rice

Spinach

Artichokes (canned, drained, and grilled on the wok)

Tempeh (grilled plain on the wok along with the artichokes)

Canned corn

Creamy balsamic dressing

Have you reached any significant fitness goals recently?  Go ahead, brag about yourself.

My blood pressure may be skyrocketing, but my tummy is satisfied!  Small wins make me feel a bit better considering that everything else about this morning was a wash.

This is my recipe for Lazy Girl’s Cinnamon Bread French Toast.  It tastes a lot like gooey cinnamon bread but only takes a few minutes to make. 

I need to step outside and breathe deeply for five minutes now.  I’m sure you understand.

So – a little tip!  If you’re looking for a new cycling route or an ‘undiscovered’ off-road running trail, just Google your city (or county) and “parks and recreation.” 

There’s tons of info available online and most of the amenities are free!  Well, paid for by your taxes.  Practically the same thing, right?

Thanks to my Parks and Rec department, I found out that my aquatic center membership (AKA my pool) gives me access to another amazing gym run partially run by the city!  I can’t even believe that I get access to two great facilities for such a low price.  Three cheers for city government!

Eats, Eats, Eats

Snack was a few handfuls of pumpkin seeds.

And dinner was a giant pancake…. Yes, a giant, thick, fluffy pancake.  With Greek yogurt, almonds, and blueberries.  Breakfast.  It’s what’s for dinner.

Thinking about an orange or a fruit smoothie for dessert. 

Thought of the Day

“You are free to experience life negatively or positively, and the choice you make determines whether you are at cause, or at effect, of the life you are living.” – Marianne Williamson

Trader Joe’s now has a rice noodle version of Ramen noodles – oh man, it’s been so long since I had Ramen noodles!  You just add boiling water to the package and – ta da! – instant soup.

Would you mind if I shamelessly plugged my two upcoming books?  People often ask me how they can support authors, and I always say the best way to do it is to pre-order new books, as pre-sales are very important to publishers.  So I would very, very much appreciate any support you’d be willing to give!

First up: The Healthy Tipping Point book is coming out May 1, 2012.  You can pre-order it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Indie Bound.

Healthy Tipping Point: A Powerful Program for a Stronger, Happier You is divided into three chapters and addressed mental health, healthy eating, and fitness.  The book includes amazing success stories from HTP readers, recipes, and training plans.  I’m really proud of this book because I feel like it truly promotes a balanced, holistic view of health.  If you enjoy this blog, I promise you’ll like the book – it’s PACKED with useful information.

Second:  The newest Operation Beautiful book will be released on July 19, 2012.  You can pre-order it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indie Bound.

Operation Beautiful: For Best Friends is targeted to 8 – 14 year old girls and addresses topics like friendships, bullying, love, life, puberty, parents, finding a passion, and healthy living.  It includes over 100 notes and stories from young girls, as well as adults reflecting on their pre-teen and teen years. I am ridiculously excited for this book to come out because I really believe the stories will help young girls.  This book also includes a forward from the Girls on the Run founder, Molly Barker; if you volunteer for GOTR, the book would make an awesome end-of-season gift.  If you’re an adult or looking for a gift for an older teen, check out the original Operation Beautiful book!

Okay – so you indulged me in some shameless self-promotion.  Now, I owe you one!  I recently stumbled upon an old post I wrote called Plug Your Blog.  In the original post, I invited readers with blogs to, well, plug their blog so everyone can find new blogs to read. 

If you’re a blogger, simply comment with:

• Your name
• Your blog address
• Your blog type (recipes, fitness, healthy living, weight loss, mommy/daddy, life musings, scrapbooking, wedding, photography… whatever)
• One fun fact about you, an interesting thing you’ve tried recently, or why you think people should check out your blog.

Example:

• Caitlin
• HealthyTippingPoint.com
• Healthy Living
• I’ve giving birth to a baby and two books within a three month time span.

Plug yourself below!  (If your comment doesn’t go through, it’s because my SPAM filter is holding it because of the link… I’ll approve it shortly.)  Happy blog reading!

A Monday-morning, I’m-running-late, I-tossed-and-turned-all-night-long kind of breakfast.

But one of my very favorite meals!  Sunflower butter and banana bagel.

Someone stole the last Udi’s bagel, and that someone was me…

Monday story time:  I had Maggie booked in for a doggie dental cleaning today, but I spent all last week worrying and dreaming about her dying while under the anesthesia.  I realize this is super unlikely (trust me, I did the Googling and vet-asking) and the risk of her having problems from not having clean teeth is higher than the odds of her dying during the cleaning.  But I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

Finally, I had to cancel the appointment because I felt like something really bad was going to happen (I’ll reschedule her eventually – clean teethies are important!).  I don’t know if it was the pregnancy hormones or what – I was literally clutching her on the couch and crying hysterically – but I had to listen to my gut.

So, a question for you all:  Have you ever had an dream that something bad (or good?) happened, so you changed your plans?  Did it work out for the better?

We decided to take our workout to nature today.  The thought of being cooped up in the gym or even running our usual route around our neighborhood just wasn’t appealing.  So the Husband, my sister-in-law Sophie, James, and I headed to nearby Latta Plantain Park.

Hiking hint:  Take a picture of the trail map before setting out.  If you’re anything like me and have a terrible natural sense of direction, it will come in handy… at every single fork in the trail.

The trail was beautiful.  There were lots of little hills, too, so it really felt like a good, hard workout.

We did a 2.5 – 3 mile hike and didn’t see a single other hiker the entire time.  Very, very peaceful.

Backing up… The Husband made Sophie and I breakfast, as he usually does when we have house guests.

He used the wok to make what essentially is a skinny frittata.  He just poured beaten eggs into the bottom of the wok and topped with tomatoes, spinach, and goat cheese and let it cook from the bottom up.  No need to put it under the broiler because the slices weren’t thick enough, like a true frittata.  It was good.

With toast and homemade hashbrowns.

We, truthfully, did not plan for our hike very well and ended up running into the grocery store for an emergency lunch.  I grabbed a banana, a Vanilla Chat Tea soy protein shake, and a few of the Husband’s crisps.

I have half that shake leftover and am going to toss it into the blender with some frozen strawberries to make a smoothie.

Thought of the Day:

“Being happy doesn’t always make us grateful, but being grateful will always make us happy.”

Lately, in the comments section, there’s been a lot of discussion about more ‘natural’ beauty products that continue fewer chemicals – specifically, sunscreen.  Sunscreen does work – compared to people who never use sunscreen or slather it on infrequently, sunscreen users have a lower incidence of squamous cell carcinoma.  That’s a great thing. 

But according to the EWG, research on whether sunscreen prevents the deadliest type of skin cancer (melanoma) is mixed. 

I found this paragraph particularly interesting:

Some researchers have detected an increased risk of melanoma among sunscreen users. No one knows the cause, but scientists speculate that sunscreen users stay out in the sun longer and absorb more radiation overall, or that free radicals released as sunscreen chemicals break down in sunlight may play a role. One other hunch: Inferior sunscreens with poor UVA protection that have dominated the market for 30 years may have led to this surprising outcome. All major public health agencies still advise using sunscreens, but they also stress the importance of shade, clothing, and timing. (Source)

Sunscreens Exposed: 9 Surprising Truths is a great read for more info. 

The Food and Drug Administration does not test sunscreens for toxicity or require manufacturers to prove protection claims.  Thankfully, the Environmental Working Group independently tests sunscreens, approving only 20% of more than 1,700 products on the market.  Amazingly, three of five U.S. sunscreens wouldn’t be acceptable in Europe because of the chemicals used or the UVA protection offered (Source).

The EWG recommends avoiding sprayable or powdered sunscreens, as you inhale the chemicals during application. Sunscreens that contain Benzophenone-3 (oxybenzone), Octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), Padimate O, or Vitamin A (retinyl palamitate), which are potential allergens, hormone-disruptors, and/or carcinogens, should also be avoided. When I was shopping for sunscreen this summer, I was hard-pressed to find any sunscreens at the pharmacy that didn’t contain oxybenzone (more on this here). You’ll definitely want to skip the sunscreens containing Vitamin A: one study (by the FDA itself!) indicated that lab rats developed sunlight-related tumors and lesions 21% faster when treated with a 0.5% Vitamin A-laced cream (Source).

Sunscreens that contain minerals like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are safer alternatives, and many major brands now offer formulations with these ingredients.  EWG says that these sunscreens are “the right choice for children, people with sensitive skin and others who want the best UVA protection without potentially hormone-disrupting chemicals like oxybenzone or vitamin A, which may be carcinogenic on sun-exposed skin.”  Furthermore, these sunscreens are not sprayed or powdered, so you don’t have to worry about inhalation issues.   (Source)

The point of this post isn’t to scare you away from using any sunscreen but to look for healthier and potentially more effective alternatives.  Also, remember that being in the shade, covering up with long sleeves, pants, and a hat, and not staying in the sun for too long is important, too.  For more information, you can check out the EWG’s sunscreen page.

All pictures from our epic Dominican Republic beach vacation this past May – I wanna go back!

For example, I always get the veggie burger at this wonderful raw/vegan restaurant in Charlotte called Luna’s Living Kitchen.  I’ve eaten at Luna’s dozens of times and have never ordered anything different.  But today…  I branched out.  And it was good.  Really, really good.

The Gaia’s Treasure doesn’t look like much, but trust me – there were loads of goodies buried in that bowl.  Think… shitake mushrooms, carrots, and broccoli tossed in a mouth-watering ginger sesame marinade and served over veggie rich and zucchini noodles. 

Macaroons and samples from the nearby farmers’ market for dessert!

Let’s see..

I also went for a run!  These days, that’s something new, too (or at least, something very rare).  But I just woke up with the smallest of small urges to run. It took some self-motivating, but eventually I pulled on my running gear and opened the door… only to be confronted by rain.  I almost backed out, but then I said to myself (literally out loud while standing in the doorway), “Caitlin, you used to be a hardcore running badass who ran in rain and sleet and snow and tropical storms [side note: true story]. You can handle a little sun shower.”  So off I went.

Hardcore run, it was not. But I did do 2.0 miles in walk/run fashion. And it was especially comfy in my new New Balance 880s, which I was sent to test out.  Tina over at Carrots N Cake did a great review of the shoes that I 100% agree with – these are great, cushiony sneaks!  I would definitely buy another pair once these wear down.  

Our grand plans for tonight?  Movie and pizza.  Sounds pretty good to me!

Get ready… It’s a good one…

I’m going to name the baby Saturday Morning Boyle.  Because Saturday mornings are my favorite thing in the entire world.

Really?!

Naw.  Just kidding.  But I do really love Saturday mornings.  Best part of the week!

I just love getting a slow start. No mad dash to get morning chores done. No crazy yells of “TIME CHECK, PLEASE!” from the shower.  No frantic searches for the keys. Just puppy snuggles under the covers and special breakfasts.

No one was more surprised than I to stumble upon this Bisquick Gluten Free Pancake mix at the regular grocery store. I normally have to drive to a special shop to get GF mixes, but I guess Bisquick has hopped on the train.  It wasn’t as cheap as normal Bisquick but it wasn’t as pricey as the ‘designer’ stuff I usually buy.

And – amazingly – it was by far the best GF pancake mix that I’ve tried.  Seriously! 

So flavorful, light, and fluffy.

With:

Raspberries

Greek yogurt

Bananas

And as much as I love sunny and warm weather, it’s drizzling outside, which only adds to the coziness of Saturday morning.  I’m off to hunker down on the couch and read a book.  Bliss!

Have a great Saturday.