Travels With Melissa …
Posted: July 24, 2012 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: cooking, crossfit, eating, exercise, fitness, food, happiness, life, love, motivation, paleo, pilates, trail running, Travel, traveling, Walk, walking, yoga 13 CommentsTravel Tribulations
It can be really difficult and frustrating, after getting comfortable with your food ways at home, when you have to navigate new surroundings to figure out the healthiest choices. Sometimes it is so overwhelming I find myself on the brink of giving up and looking for the easiest most unhealthy food around. However, I have learned from my experiences and want to share some of the ways I minimize stress and appreciate the journey!
I encourage you to embrace what you are able to do and enjoy the adventure of being somewhere new!
1. Make some travel foods to fill in the blanks. Granola bars are great! They last for a long time, don’t need to be refrigerated and can be individually wrapped. Check out: Ina Garten- Homemade Granola Bars Recipe for an awesome recipe! Another good travel food is hummus if you have a cooler. If kept cool it can last for about a week and you can pre-cut veggies ahead of time. My favorite travel food is quinoa salad! It can be eaten cold or hot and if you have a cooler it will stay good for up to a week. Quinoa salad is full of protein and other awesome vitamins and minerals!
2. Don’t be afraid to stop along your route for local fresh foods. Check it out and see what they are offering in that area. If its local it is obviously fresh with bonus points for supporting local farmers!
3. If you go to a supermarket take your time, look at all your options, read the ingredients, keep it simple and ask questions. Some of the “freshly” made products might not have been made right away and sometimes a marinated meat in the prepared foods section is a bottled marinade with all kinds of crazy ingredients.
4. Don’t stress out. Make the best decision possible and enjoy your vacation! A couple sub par meals will not ruin everything you have worked for!
Being happy will always be a part of being healthy! Trust in yourself to make the best choices and don’t obsess too much over bad options. Enjoy and appreciate everything you do have!
Happy traveling 🙂
The Plan-
The Workout-
A funny thing happened the other day while sorting through countless emails from our dear readers. A trend started to emerge from the rubble. Nearly 80% percent or so emails were asking when Melissa would stop back over to save yourself from reading our tired and exhaustive posts daily. The remainder of the emails primarily focused on one question/topic: “How do I perform a Perfect Pull Up?“
The invidious Uncle Mo opines: “Do more Pull Ups, duh!” Ah, if it was that simple … Ladies? We are throwing you all under the bus so be prepared!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot: What are the steps involved before an infant takes his or her first steps? Lie on tummy, roll over, reaching for an object, crawling, supported stand, falling, falling, falling some more and finally one day? A first step … So what happened from puberty on when you magically surmised that by simply grabbing a pull up bar you should be able to do one? Life is about patterns, pattering and progressions. There was and is a reason why we perform Fractal programs from time to time around these parts. You can not measure the importance of this program today in traditional ways: Form, Flow, Grace …
Happy Hips Warm Up followed by:
30 Second Natural Dead Hang From Pull Up Bar (Neutral Grip- Thumbs around top of bar. Open your pits/axilla and lengthen. Neutral spine and eyes forward, gently look through your grip …) Followed by:
30 Second Handstand Hold (Absolutely no flopping around! Actively press through the floor while pointing your toes to the sky. Neutral spine, take a moment to look through your hands … The exact opposite of your hang! Feel your breath and under control return to standing) Followed by:
5-10 Perfect Push Ups (Thumbs centered on nipples. Pinkies pointing at 3 and 9 o’clock. Elbows tucked in at your sides in the bottom position. Three points of contact at the bottom: Hands, Feet, Chin. Allow your breath to control and initiate movement throughout. Load on the way down slowly- Anakin squeeze! And initiate the upward movement through your stinky pits!)
15 Times Through Today! 1-5: Focus on length. 6-10: Focus on control. 11-15: Let your breathing take over … Form , Flow, Grace!
How about a nice little wager ladies of CultFit? Perform this program twice a week for one month? And we will guarantee that you will be able to do a Perfect Pull Up. Without one of those lame ass bands!?!
To accept our challenge and to decry to the blog-o-sphere that you are giving our challenge a go: Leave a comment and keep all of us updated on your progress!
When you are successful in your new task, and you will be successful! We will send you a nice shirt to wear out in public!!!
Notes-
Sister Hazel did our program last month and needless to say she cursed out her blue pull up band, it was rather unseemly for a woman. But damn was it hot!!! Dudes? Feel free to join us as well! The choice is yours … ENJOY!!!
**If you need some more clarification on the movements? Please feel free to ask for some help, that’s what we are here for.**
CultFit 
My challenge these days is not the fat in my diet (which is very low) but the amount of sugar in my diet. I’m eating from Blue Menu – for sweets day. 90 calories per bar of smoothie popsicle. I love Berry Berry. I like the others too, but berries…oh it’s a party in my mouth and it’s just the way I like it.
Great stuff Melissa. I find traveling now to be even more fun as my wife and I have endeavored to eat healthier. We find ourselves going out of the way more to find good food and we take our time and are more relaxed traveling. Gone are the fast food drive throughs that we can eating while motoring down the road. Instead we pack picnic lunches or look for restaurants that will have good food with fresh ingredients. It has made vacations, even those mini ones called “weekends” so much more relaxing and enjoyable.
I’m in for the challenge if I can figure out how to do a handstand! I don’t think I like being upside down.
They are not that hard to do 😉 A quick Google Machine search of “yoga inversions” would be a great start! Once you get comfy/confident being upside down, the rest is easy. As always: Be safe and have fun!!!
Do you have a quinoa salad recipe?
I just asked Melissa for you! I could tell you mine but they are boring and dull … Her recipe ideas are way better!!! Trust me on this one 😉
These are great tips for travel and being outside of your comfort zone/routine. This past weekend I had to be incredibly adaptable and do strange things like use full fat salad dressing. May that never happen again.
Melissa is so thoughtful and really a good resource for our blog thing here.
It appears as if there is more to your salad dressing story? Do tell …
I believe that our friend learned most of their cooking skills from the “And Two Cups of Salad Dressing” cookbook.
Now that we’re back in the land of fresh produce, I have totally revamped my eating habits. I just wish more people would take advantage of the opportunity to NOT buy chemically induced food.
“Nothing is really lost until your mom can’t find it.”
I LOVE IT!
This happens every day in our house … Sadly its me forgetting where I put stuff all of the time!
Love the travel tips. I plan to visit Melissa’s blog soon.
Please do! Melissa is so cool and such an inspiration, she’ll be more than happy to have you over for a visit 🙂