Fooooood & Stuffs.

Jerky. The snackage has been real lately as I’m constantly on-the-go between swim meets, grad school, and working in the nutrition clinic, so jerky has been saving my BUTT with a whack of protein. Current favorites: DNX Bars and Bricks Bars. Both responsibly sourced, grass-fed, organic, and tons of awesome flavors too!

Smoothies. TONS OF THEM. I know it’s barely even spring but I’ve been slurping down smoothies daily like it’s my job. Recipes are cooooming.

Trader Joe’s Mixed Nut Butter & Unsweetened Sunflower Seed Butter. I love new finds at TJ’s! The Mixed Nut Butter has a craaazy flavor profile, and you can really taste the mix of walnuts, almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, and pistachios. So cool! If you’ve ever had it before, the regular TJ’s Sunflower Seed Butter is like CRACK. It has a little cane sugar in it, which is exactly why you can’t. stop. eating. it. This unsweetened version is just as good, and is Whole30 friendly too!

PureWOD Grass-Fed Beef Protein. I’ve been trying out lots of different workout supplements (mostly clean proteins and preworkout stuff) to review for you guys, and this one is BY FAR my freaking favorite of all time. Wanna try some? Use the code “realfood” for 10% off. 

Vanilla Bean Collagen. I didn’t think I could love Vital Proteins stuff any more until I tried their Vanilla Bean Collagen. UMMM I can’t stop…well, I’ll have to now because it’s gone (sad face emoji) but I’d been putting this in my (decaf) coffee/dandy blend + coconut milk every single morning. SO GOOD.

Vital Proteins Grass-Fed Beef Liver Pills. Yep, you read that right. LIVER PILLS Y’ALL. It’s like taking a whole food multivitamin from pasture-raised, grass-fed beef. Liver is one of the most bioavailable (aka easiest for you body to break down and use) sources of Vitamin A, B12, Folate, Riboflavin, Zinc, Copper, and Choline…yet I just can’t bring myself to eat it. So I take these pills instead, ha! Results? Energy has been through the roof (and I don’t drink coffee or caffeinated tea), my hair and nails are growing strong and fast, and I feel like I’ve been adequately supporting myself in a super stressful time for me. For the win! Oh, and another thing – if you like to drink (I mean, who doesn’t enjoy wine or a margarita from time to time DUH), alcohol depletes your B vitamins and taxes your liver – so this is a natural way to support it!

LODGE Cast Iron Ceramic Baking Dish. Newest kitchen obsession: ceramic blue cast iron dishes. Ain’t she SO purty?? I got another one from Lodge too, a ceramic grill pan that you can heat up on the stovetop AND put in the oven for when you’re finishing dishes at a lower temperature than a sear!! Grilling season here we coooome. (here’s a similar one to what I have!)

(Books) I’m Devouring

Real Food, Real Simple by Taylor Riggs. Taylor is an amazing human and we pretty much have the exact same philosophy when it comes to food. She’s a Registered Dietitian and runs a kicka** blog that I’ve been following for years, her photography is amazing, and her recipes are ON FREAKING POINT. If you want a super easy cookbook with super delicious recipes, this one is it!

Sleep Smarter, by Sean Stevenson. Everybody knows we need to eat well and stay active to be healthy – but how about sleep? For some people, this is they KEY piece of the puzzle that’s missing, and Sean gives you tons of tips and tricks on how to biohack your sleep, keeping his signature sense of humor along the way…so the book won’t put you to sleep. Ha!

the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: a counterintuitive approach to living a good life, by Mark Manson. This is probably my favorite book I’ve read in a long, long time (Harry Potter aside, obviously.) Without giving away the premise of the whole book, the author basically says: You only have a limited number of f*cks to give, so you have to choose them wisely. There is always going to be struggle in life, but you have to decide what struggle is really WORTH it. Like starting your own business, vs. worrying about anything and every single little thing in life. So, so many mic drops and knowledge bombs in this one – I read it once, then read it again to highlight it. HIGHLY recommended!

Life, Fitness & Health

Beautycounter Brightening Face Mask + Vitamin C #1. You guys know how much I love my charcoal mask. But I’ve had to stop using it recently because my face has been SO FREAKING DRY this winter. Solution: this new Brightening + Vitamin C face mask. Freaking loooove.

The Crossfit Open. You guuuuuyyyys this is one of my favorite times of year because I get to compete in the Crossfit Open for 5 weeks! If you don’t know anything about it, you’ve probably heard of the Crossfit games (you know, the ones on TV with those amazingly freakish athletes). To get to the games, you have to make it through Regionals, and to get to Regionals, you have to finish at the top of the leaderboard after 5 weeks of workouts in the Crossfit Open, which about 400,000+ people around the world compete in and submit their scores. It’s the absolute BEST kind of community, with everyone in your guy coming together for a Friday Night Lights type deal to cheer each other on, hit some amazing PR’s, and get killed by some nasty workouts that Dave Castro comes up with.

GO STRONG Training Podcast. Wanna check me out in podcast form? (heck yas you do, obviously). This month I was a guest on Go Strong Training, where we talked all about my nutrition philosophy, how to make major mindset shifts, my business, nutrition and food influences, my favorite daily non-negotiables (a morning and nightly routine), and my top recommendations for people who want to start cooking!

the Whole Planet Foundation’s Prosperity Campaign. This March, Whole Planet Foundation has a goal to raise $3.2 million to fund microcredit loans that enable women entrepreneurs in 69 countries, including the U.S., to create or expand a home-based business, lifting themselves and their families out of poverty. Over the past 11 years, Whole Planet Foundation has provided opportunities through microcredit loans to over 10.5 million people. HECK TO THE FREAKING YES, am I right?? I’m working with them this month to help spread awareness about the campaign. If you want to get in, help donate at your local Whole Foods!

Sarah Marcella Photography. I LOVE this woman. I reached out to Sarah to do some new headshots for the blog, and she was amazing to work with. If you’re in the DMV area and need a photographer, she is the BEST. (oh by the way, totally obsessed with this necklace too…)