A Guest Up In My House!

Hey guys! Keith and I are away in Dallas this weekend visiting my in-laws so I thought this was the perfect opportunity for some guest posting! Today AND tomorrow you will have some awesome reads by 2 people whom I greatly admire! First up is Katie! Guys she is FABULOUS and her blog is awesome! She is a great friend and I really think you will enjoy her! So without further ado…KATIE!!

I was so flattered that Kelly asked me to write a guest post for her that I said yes without really thinking.  After thanking her profusely, I got nervous.  What will her readers think of my writing style?  What if they think I’m lame?  But most importantly, what can I possibly add to Kelly’s already fabulous blog?!?!

You see, Kelly is a runner (yes, Kelly, you are!).  Me?  I run.  Sometimes.  But, we have connected over our mutual love of fitness and general health nuttiness (oh yeah, I make up words). Since some (most?) of you probably don’t know me or my blog, and because it is a topic I am intimately familiar with, I thought I’d talk about myself.   Some things you should know about me before I begin: 1.  I am sarcastic.  As in, most of what comes out of my mouth, or in this case, fingers, is laced with sarcasm.  2.  I am working towards a PhD in Biology.  I tell you this only to illustrate my 2 main personality traits: I am crazy (you have to be to still be in school at the ripe old age of 30…almost 31…Yikes!) and I am a big nerd.  3. I LOVE eating and I LOVE fitness. With that in mind, I present to you Katie’s list of favorite healthy food and habits (that I actually eat and do): 

Eats:

• Veggies.  Steamed, roasted, grilled, raw, salad, stir-fry, you name it, I eat it.  One caveat is that it must be covered in some kind of sauce.
• Hummus.  I eat TONS of this stuff.  It’s a great source of protein, and it’s cheap because I make my own. 
• Cookies.  Again, I make my own, so I control what goes into them.  Please don’t make me pick my favorite.
• Chocolate.  Need I say more? (Dark chocolate, in moderation, is healthy, people!  I start every day with chocolate and coffee.  It makes me happy.)

 Habits:

• Yoga/stretching.  I was REALLY bad about this for a long time.  Now, it’s become my favorite part of working out.
• Taking vitamins.  My inner scientist tells me that there is no definitive research to back up the claim that taking vitamins makes you healthy (just that healthier people take vitamins…a subtle difference, yes, but we scientists are all about subtlety), but my outer health nut tells me that there is no evidence to the contrary either.  Like mamma says, better safe than sorry!
• Eating minimally processed (simple and easy to prepare) food.  I love me some Michael Pollan, and like he says, eat what your grandma would recognize.  (Incidentally, my grandma was a junk food junkie who loved sugar, chips, and fast food.  But still, I get the message, Mike.)

 Lest you think I am a totally virtuous freak-show, I will leave you with the number one healthy habit that I continually struggling with: listening to and being kind to my body and myself.  This means something different depending on the day, but includes giving my body the rest it needs (and *note to self* deserves), not letting stress get so out of hand that it affects me physically, and allowing myself to take “Katie-time” when my Type A, perfectionist, multi-tasking personality threatens my sanity. 

 I’m a work in progress.  But really, who isn’t?  And would you really want it any other way?