Dr. Sheehan and I are just returning from our 10 year anniversary vacation celebration and here are a few of the things I have learned:

1. Even if you are eating well, if you eat too much, it’s likely you’ll gain weight. I avoided sugar and ate lots of organic whole foods while we were away but I feel 5 pounds heavier. Not that I would do anything differently if given the chance to do it all over!
2. Yes, it is possible to exercise too much. 4 days in a row of aggressive hiking at a higher altitude combined with running and a body-weight workout can really sap one’s energy. It took a couple of days of taking it easy plus several nutrition checks and supplement tweaks to feel like myself again.
3. Salads are great for breakfast. Introducing the Sheehan salad!
4. Organic greens of some kind. We used mainly the various selections from OrganicGirl.
5. An avocado. I sliced one up and put half on each of our salads.
6. Olives. I put 8 black olives on each salad. Seemed like just the right amount!
7. Artichokes. I used the ones preserved in glass jars. One whole or one half should do it.
8. Some sort of protein. I used: roast turkey, chicken breast, natural lunch meat, salmon, tuna salad, roast beef, you have your choice here.
9. Nuts. A few nuts for crunch go a long way. Almonds, pistachios, cashews, any nut you like.
10. Dulse. Dulse is a super-healthy seaweed from the Maine coast. Just a little bit of dried dulse shredded up on the salad lends a big delicious flavor.
11. A little bit of dried blueberry or cut up apple.

This salad was delicious, held us over long into the day, and did not even need dressing!

4. We also discovered the Acai bowl. This seems to be a west-coast phenomenon. If you are not sensitive to fruit, they make a delicious and quite filling meal replacement! I am still perfecting my recipe so when I have it down I will share it.
5. There’s no place like home! It always feels good to set foot in your own house, although it also felt great to answer my heart’s tugging to travel and explore a bit. A few days of vacation away provided that balance and rest. Now I’m ready to get back to the business of attending to my own life, and working on making my life and the lives of others better!

Here is my food diary for the last couple of days:

Tuesday, January 5, 2015

11:00 AM – coffee with coconut oil, acai bowl (we were out of everything, or else I would have had eggs)

7:00 PM – garlic and cabbage soup with beef stock from the freezer, hom (a drink I make from coconut milk, cardamom, honey and black pepper – warm before bedtime)

This was a light eating day. Maybe to recover from the heavy eating of the trip. I seemed to do fine, not like I usually do when I skip meals.

Wednesday, January 6, 2015

6:15 AM – coffee with coconut oil

8:30 AM – Sheehan Salad with canned salmon

10:00 AM – almonds

1:00 PM – Acai bowl with extra whey protein (so happy this seems to agree with me, it is truly yummy)

3:00 PM – chocolate mint dairy free paleo bar – not bad

7:30 PM – We ate out at Texas Roadhouse, and I couldn’t resist the skinny lime margarita, beef tips with gravy, mashed potatoes, onions, mushrooms and green beans

9:00 PM – 1/3 of a stevia-sweetened chocolate bar and a few cashews

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