Hi everyone!
Welcome to the next addition of Instagram Live! This one is about our weekly grocery budget, not eating eggs, and an unconventional opinion I hold. Last week went pretty well – like I said, I was a little rusty getting back into it. But, I received some nice comments and good feedback – as well as some great questions from you guys! I actually got a ton, so I’ve saved some for next week. If you’ve asked a question that wasn’t answered today, stay tuned because it might be answered next week! FYI: This is an older Instagram Live that I decided to republish with text. I hope you enjoy it!
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Why am I not eating eggs?
I receive this question quite a bit! I love eggs; I mean, I’ve pretty much lived off of egg sandwiches for the past ten years! Sadly, however, I started to notice that when I was eating eggs a lot, my skin would break out. I’m talking really big, cystic breakouts. I’ve actually talked about this before – in my celery juice post and in this post about eggs and acne that I wrote even before I took the dive into celery juice, so I was always suspicious that my acne flare ups were caused by eggs since they’re a common allergen. It was definitely hard to accept, especially because I was doing the whole Paleo thing for awhile and eggs are a big part of that lifestyle. Plus, I just love them! There’s really nothing better than an egg sandwich, and for a while I’d stop eating them then start again only to notice the breakouts come back once I resumed. So I’ve thrown in the towel and just avoid them (unless they’re in a baked good or mixed into something; I’m not super strict about that). It’s more likely to happen if I’m eating eggs everyday, and while I’d love to be able to do so, it’s not just not worth the skin freak-out that I know is coming. Does this mean I’ll NEVER eat eggs again? Definitely not! I’m sure there will be a morning where Mal makes an egg sandwich, and I just HAVE to eat it! 🙂
What does a normal schedule look like for me?
My schedule can be pretty variable and it really depends on the day, but I do prioritize getting a workout in (4 days a week is my sweet spot), particularly in the morning before the day gets crazy. On Mondays, I’m up bright and early at 5 am to get to the gym. After a workout, I come home and do the whole morning routine with Quinn (getting him ready for school, eating breakfast, etc.). After I drop Quinn at school, I’ll start my workday around 8 am and work until about 4:30-5 pm. I typically don’t wake up as early as the rest of the week to get to the gym, but I’ll go to an 8:15 am class or head to the Y for a quick workout. I always try to pick up Quinn by 5 pm so the day doesn’t get too long for him. I know he’s in great hands and he loves school, but I just miss him so much during the day that I can’t wait to get him!
Fridays are our Quinn and Mumma days, and I try to take the whole day off so I can spend time with him at swim lessons, etc. I really try to squeeze everything work-related into four days and sometimes to make that happen I will wake up even earlier. Long-time followers probably remember that I used to wake up at 4 am and work, and I’ll still do that every once in a while when I have a lot on my mind and can’t sleep because I just want to get it done! I’m truly a morning person; I think more clearly and can get a lot more done, so I’m big on those early morning hours.
I work sometimes on weekends, depending on what I have left to accomplish from the week, but I really do try to unplug and be with family. I will often be on IG Stories and other social media to share our weekend adventures, but beyond that I try and take a break. I worked weekends for a long time, and it kind of felt like work never ends and you’re just on all the time so I make an effort not to do that as much as possible now!
So there you have it, my schedule in a nutshell. Like I said, everyday is different, but it usually always involves me running around like a lunatic trying to get everything done! 😉
What is our weekly food budget?
I received a few variations of this question, so I’ll do my best to describe our grocery situation as best as I can. It’s a little tough to give a true week-to-week picture because about every 2-3 months we will order online from Thrive Market, Brandless, ButcherBox and even Amazon depending on what the product is. We really love Thrive Market because a lot of the specialty products we purchase are way cheaper than at Whole Foods – it literally kills me every time I go in there to buy something like a bag of Siete Chips that would be so much cheaper on Thrive Market! Here’s my recent Brandless review. We’re a big fan of the brand!
We also order from Amazon from time-to-time and have a few things on Amazon subscribe-and-save, like Atlas Bars, protein powders, collagen, and other supplements. By subscribing, you receive a discount, and it’s just easier to have them delivered regularly rather than have to think about it all the time.
As far as week to week, what ends up happening is that we usually alternate between having a week where we just grab the necessities and a week with a larger shopping trip. The smaller weeks we usually will just grab things that perish easily, like produce, meat, and dairy products. The next week we will take a big shopping trip because it tends to feel like we’re out of everything. Those smaller weeks are anywhere from $65-$100 (and that covers everything from breakfast to dinner). On the bigger weeks when it feels like we’re out of everything, we spend about $100-$150. Very rarely do we go over $150, and when we do it’s usually because we’re having people over to the house and making food and buying alcohol.
For our weekly groceries, we shop at Trader Joe’s for the most part and will go to Whole Foods every other week for really specific items that are hard to find. Sometimes we will pop into Stop and Shop and even Target if needed. We dine out about once a week, maybe more, depending on the season. In the winter we tend to be at home more, cooking, while during the summer we’re out and about on the beach.
While we don’t have a specific budget we stick to, but we do have some pretty predictable patterns. At the beginning of the week, it feels like our fridge is packed with so much food, but then by Friday it looks like we have nothing left to eat in the fridge. I’m kind of psychotic about not wasting food, so we really do eat everything that we buy!
- Thrive Market
- Brandless
- ButcherBox
What’s an unconventional opinion that I have?
Oh boy, this one is fun! You guys probably know what’s coming, and it’s this: I really, truly believe that weight loss, healing, and general good health comes from your mindset. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about Western Medicine and 100% support research and science. What I do believe, however, is that the mind can support your health efforts. Even as a nutrition coach that focuses on macros and fitness for weight loss, I still stress how important sleep, stress management, and overall happiness are for long-term results.
I definitely believe it all goes together, and if you’re stressed out all the time it’s going to make an impact no matter what else you do. Thinking back to my journey with UC, I was sick for a really long time, and during that period I was obsessed with every single thing I put in my body and what effect it might have. I was in such a bad place, and I really feel that my negative mentality and “why me” thinking just contributed to my symptoms. It felt like I never really got “better”; I’d just go through periods of my disease being really bad and periods of it being not great, but at least I wasn’t in the bathroom 30 times a day. An exhausting cycle, to say the least.
I’ve been in remission for 2.5 years now, and while I do credit starting Entivyio, I also believe that my outlook has gotten better. I’m a lot more optimistic and a lot happier. I really do think that your mind can bring you down and it’s hard to turn it around it around when your stuck in a perpetual cycle of negativity. I’ve had a lot of conversations about this with Mal. He’s very Western Medicine, by the book, listen to your doctor,etc. While I’m a little bit more hippie dippie than that, for lack of a better term. I 100% feel that if you believe you are going to heal, if you believe that you are going to get better, then you will, and your mindset is more powerful than you think. There’s an awesome documentary on Netflix called “Heal” that kind of backs this up – definitely recommend checking it out! Here are some of my favorite mind-body and self healing books
That’s the end of this addition of IG Live! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and of course, keep sending those questions!
