My Final Healthy Living Summit Recap (I think!)

Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD based out of Chicago and the Quaker sponsored speaker at the Healthy Living Summit.  She is also the author of The Flexitarian Diet.  I haven’t read her book (yet) but I was given a free copy while at HLS and especially after starting it last night, I’m so excited to finish it.  Just in the introduction alone, I could already hear her speaking and the passion she has for this subject.

Her first talk was about using Action Mantras to keep you motivated and pushing through the tough stuff.  It was really interesting and I love the idea of something so simple to bring about positive change in the way people live their lives.

Then her second talk was all about The Flexitarian Diet and how easy it is to make minor changes in the way we eat, but to live healthy.  The basic idea is that you’re living a mostly vegetarian diet but still allowing yourself to have meat when you want it.  This doesn’t mean that if you want it everyday, you have it everyday, but that you’re slowly beginning to replace meat in your meals with other forms of protein and umami, while living a mostly vegetarian diet (so you can get the benefits of the vegetarian lifestyle). 

It was another great talk and she showed just how simple it can be to make this change.  It’s about learning how to make simple swaps with your favorite recipes to make them vegetarian without losing the taste or adding a bunch of cheese.

And let me tell you, I am a firm believer that vegetarian does not mean a bunch of veggies topped with cheese!  While I know cheese is delicious and semi-nutritious, it’s still fairly high in fat and I’m still lactose-intolerant.

Coming into it, I didn’t know what to expect from the keynote and I know a few people who considered skipping it but once all was said and done, we were SO happy!  Dawn was inspiring, friendly and gave a really interesting presentation!

------------------------

One thing that surprised be about this trip was having moments where I felt almost “star struck” seeing bloggers who I read about everyday suddenly in front of me.  It was more than the social anxiety of all these strangers around me, but taking on the same mind-set, I knew if I didn’t step outside my comfort zone, introduce myself and have a short convo, I’d regret it.  So I did it.  I met Kath from Kath Eats Real Food.

I also met Julie from PB Fingers.  I haven’t been reading Julie’s blog for nearly as long, so this was easier for me.

Both of them were the nicest, though I was definitely surprised how they were relatively quiet.

------------------------

I told you I still owed you the recap from Sunday!  

We started the morning by meeting the “Together Counts” team in the the lobby of the hotel and then we set out on a big group 5k walk/run.  I had planned to try and run at least a bit but I wasn’t going to push myself too hard since I didn’t know how my lungs would welcome the sticky air.

Good luck finding me...

It was to my welcoming surprise, we pretty much just walked the whole thing.  We made our way to the famous rocky steps, ran up, took some pictures and headed back.  This is when some people decided to run back but I was afraid I may not keep up with them and end up getting lost so I kept walking.  Plus I had just made a new friend and wanted to keep chatting. 

When we got back to the hotel, the Quaker Oatmeal bar breakfast was waiting for us and we dug in!

Overall an amazing weekend that I wish was longer and the crazy person inside of me would LOVE to help plan next year’s event!

Did I mention I left with more luggage than I came with?

Healthy Living Summit Recap #1

Could I have taken any longer to recap my weekend at the Healthy Living Summit?  I’m saying probably not and while I should probably be spending my evening do other things, I don’t want to do them, I want to share my experiences at HLS!

I arrived to Philly around 10:30/11 AM and went straight to the hotel hoping I’d be able to check-in early.  To my delight, I was able to and spent the afternoon in the hotel room napping and relaxing after traveling for the last 10+ hours.

My first roommate to arrive was Amy (Setting Goals, Taking Chances).  We walked around the hotel a bit chatting and getting to know each other until it was time for early check-in.  We got our HLS t-shirts and swag bags and then headed back to the room.  When we got back, we dug through our bags in amazement of all the fun things hiding inside.  There.was.so.much.stuff!

After a quick freshen up, we headed over to the Reading Terminal Market for the welcome cocktail party. 

The cocktail party was fun but super overwhelming!  At times I felt my social anxiety taking over and it was very difficult for me to just go up to people and start talking, so I was very happy when others came and introduced themselves.  Thankfully I had Amy there and since she was kind of feeling the same way, we were never able to feel alone.

We had some delicious food and drinks and took crazy photos in the photo booth!

Friday night was fun but we all really came for Saturday!  And thankfully, my other roommate for the weekend, Danielle (Dani Eats Veggies) made it!  She was sad she missed the cocktail party due to transportation problems but happy she made it, and so were we!

I totally stole this picture from Amy's blog. :)

After an ice breaker activity, we broke up for the day’s sessions.  There were a few hours we could choose between two different panels but then we would come together to see our keynote speaker, Dawn Jackson Blatner.  (More about her in a future post).

The panels I attended were fun and really interesting.  Here’s what my day looked like:

-Budgeting for  Healthy Lifestyle with Lauren

-Utilizing Social Media to Network and Make Friends in Your Area with Theodora, Ashley and Cynthia

-The Numbers Game with Tina, Beth, Janetha and Lisa

The ladies are being introduced by Katy

-Monetizing Your Blog (Without Selling Out) with Katy

Super fun and informative sessions.  I need to review all of my notes (Yes I took notes! Lots of them!) and hope to tell you more about what I learned soon!

And this whole event was planned by Meghann from Meals and Miles and she did an INCREDIBLE job! 

More to come about the Sunday morning Fun Run and Dawn Jackson Blatner’s presentation at HLS.  I’m too tired to keep writing tonight and her talks were so good, I want to be awake when I write about them! :)


Did you miss The Food of the Healthy Living Summit? 

How to Travel Healthy

Having gone on two trips this month may make it hard to believe but I don’t travel very often, aside from going home and the occasional trip for a big show or event.  But I have to say, I do consider myself someone who knows how to travel.

I’m the girl you want to be behind in the security line because I’m ready and through about as quick as I possibly can.  With my trip to the east coast, I was making friends with the TSA agents because I was ready and waiting on others.

I know how to save money on expensive food and beverages at the airport while staying within TSA guidelines.

I know how to eat healthy and be prepared when hunger strikes so that I’m stuck in a moment of starvation with only candy bars and fried food options in front of me.

I’m not perfect and still like to enjoy local foods and save some room in my suitcase and backpack.  But after traveling so much this month, I wanted to take a moment to share some of my tips on how to travel healthy:

-Pack a lunch/dinner (that can go through security)

I brought a Tempeh spinach sandwich + a cut up peach and then I bought a soy latte once I made it through security

-Pack plenty of healthy snacks like power bars, trail mix and fruit

Pretty sure I packed this x5!

-Starbucks Via Ready Brew + powder creamer (all you have to do is ask for a cup of hot water)

Saving money AND it comes in handy to avoid nasty hotel room coffee!

-Bring an empty reusable water bottle (fill it up at the drinking fountain once you get through security)

Source

-Bring along packets of oatmeal + peanut butter (the easiest way to make breakfast on-the-go)

I bought a whole grain bagel + banana and with my packet of peanut butter, I got a little protein and didn't have to eat a bagel with no topping (remember: no butter or cream cheese for me!)

Foodie for a Day / The Food of the Healthy Living Summit

You’d imagine healthy food at a Healthy Living Summit, yet I was still pleasantly surprised by the delicious healthy food available!

Friday night was a cocktail party and I failed miserably at taking pictures of my plate of snacks + drinks.  Sorry...

Saturday began with a delicious array of fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, juice and coffee.  Our breakfast was courtesy of Attune Foods!  I settled down with a cup of Oikos blueberry Greek yogurt with chopped strawberries and Uncle Sam’s Honey Almond Cereal which I used like a granola.  Along side, of course, was a cup of Starbucks coffee with soy milk (x2)!

A quick snack break between sessions was brought to us by Quaker and consisted of their new Quaker Chewy Smashbar.  A delicious granola bar with pretzels, chocolate chunks and graham pieces.  I’d say it was a hit!

Source

Lunch was by far the highlight of food in my opinion!  By reading Kath’s blog, I was introduced to Great Harvest bread and I have been waiting for the day that I could actually try it myself.  Well thanks to the Healthy Living Summit and Great Harvest Wayne, I had the opportunity to try it and it did not let me down!

I had two sandwich halves - the Smoked Tofu and Roasted Veggie, with a side salad + some delicious quinoa salad!  I will be finding the Great Harvest in the LA area and splurging for some delicious, chewy bread in the very near future!

Rounding out the afternoon with another snack, once again provided by Quaker, we had Lightly Salted Rice Cakes with Naturally Nutty nut butters!  We were all so excited and the nut butters went fast!  Clearly I was so excited I forgot to take a picture, but I was snacking happily!

Gathering a group of 200+ healthy living bloggers in one place is a difficult feat and any large group really would have been difficult so we were on our own.  My roomies, Dani & Amy, decided to head out for some place that looked good.  By the time we stumbled upon and decided on The Corner, we were starving and I’m pretty sure anything would have tasted good.

I went for the Summer Vegetable Stew with eggplant, okra, zucchini, squash and tomato over steamed rice with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

There are about 10 photos of this glass of wine as I was trying to play with the different settings on my camera.

We were all happy with our meals, though unsure if we liked it so much because it was food and almost anything would have tasted yummy at that point.  But with a seat on the roof-top deck enjoying the warm evening, we were happy.

The ladies ended the evening with a walk for some fro-yo but I was suddenly not feeling well and decided to walk by skip the yogurt.  Their delicious looking cups of fro-yo were tempting though!

The event ended Sunday with an oatmeal breakfast bar courtesy of Quaker Oats.  More fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, coffee and of course oatmeal + toppings!

I went for the oatmeal with cinnamon, a bit of almond butter, chopped nuts and fresh fruit.  I ended up chopping up my strawberries and adding them to the oatmeal to make it even more delicious!  Plus coffee x2 (of course)!!

And I grabbed a delicious white nectarine for the road train!  It was a delicious snack!

I’ll be back with the recap of the Healthy Living Summit-beyond the food soon!

(And I would like to take this moment to apologize for the horrendous pictures!  Spending my weekend around so many bloggers made me realize that my camera/photography skills are not where I would like them to be.  I’m now on the market and taking suggestions for new cameras - that hopefully won’t break my bank account, especially while I’m not ready to upgrade my phone.)

The Weekend We've All Been Waiting For!!

Okay, so maybe that's the overstatement of the week because it's really the weekend *I've* been waiting for (for the last few weeks)!

I'm off to the Healthy Living Summit in Philadelphia (& a trip to New York of course)!

Despite a semi hectic afternoon and early evening, I made it to the airport and through security fairly easy. I made friends with the guys at security, grabbed a coffee and sat down to eat my pre-packed dinner. Being vegetarian, lactose intolerant and someone with a fairly easily bothered tum, finding food I can eat at the airport can be a real nightmare. Thankfully I had some tempeh and spinach that needed to be finished off and a peach at the peak of ripeness. Boda-bing, boda-boom, I had dinner!

(a picture of my super awesome dinner may appear here once I can get Internet access that isn't on my phone so I can really blog.) ;)

I finished off dinner with a little stretching and a couple down dogs. I highly considered a good 20 min vinyasa but traveling alone makes me super paranoid of my stuff and I didn't want to shut my eyes for a moment and wake up to my stuff being gone. But a little stretching was actually perfect. I may do a bit more before boarding. I have a layover but both flights I am the unlucky middle seat so a good stretch will be good for me.

I'll do my best to blog throughout the weekend but if I don't, just know it's because I'm having an awesome time making new friends in Philly and seeing old friends in NYC.

Namaste!

Healthy Living Summit

I am so excited!  I’m sure some of you have been watching my Twitter feed these last few days and saw a posting about a trip to Philly with no further information.  If you’re anything like my ‘rents, you’re probably wondering what is making me fly to Philly.

WELL, let me tell you!

A few days ago the blog-o-sphere had this little thing called ‘The Great Fundraising Act.’  Basically, Janetha at Meals & Moves, hosted an online blogger auction to help raise funds for Susan at The Great Balancing Act who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma.  It was a huge success where they raised over $26,000 to help Susan cover the costs of treatment.

Anyway, without expecting to win anything, I decided to place a bid on a few items that I liked - some yoga clothes, fun baskets and a ticket to the Healthy Living Summit in Philly in August.

Source

I never expected to actually win!

But I also could not be more excited!  When tickets originally went on sale for HLS, I really wanted to go but I feared the financial burden, time off work and the whole “not knowing anyone” thing that comes with these sorts of conferences.

Well the TGFA brought on a little twist of fate and after winning the auction, you can bet I’m not going to turn down this opportunity!  I’m so excited! My ticket has been paid for, my flight has been booked and now I’m just working out the hotel/roommate details.

So if anyone attending HLS happens to stop by here, make sure you say hi!

And to everyone else, don’t worry, I will most definitely be blogging about my trip and this awesome opportunity!