Author: The Galavanting Gastronome

Love writing about food and travel (www.thegalavantinggastronome.com) and my conversations with God (https://gitanjali.yoga). Born and raised in India. Sailor's daughter. Travel is in my DNA. Married to a scientist, who is a chemist professionally and in every other culinary way. Food, coffee, cocktails, BBQ, smoked meats, rubs, sauces...he experiments with it all - with way more wins than misses. We love the outdoors. Hiking, kayaking and camping make us happy. We are equal opportunity foodies. We love hole-in-the-wall little mom and pop places, and multi-coursed Michelin star meals as well. And, we love talking about what we love about the food, drink, coffee and anything else we get to try.

Day 4: 30 days to fit

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in Health, Nutrition

They claim red meat is bad for you. But I never saw a sick-looking tiger. ~Chi Chi Rodriguez

7:30am – Arbonne vegan vanilla protein shake with almond milk, almonds, celery, carrots, strawberries, ginger and blueberries

8:00am – décaf coffee with 1/2tsp turbinado sugar and a splash of soy creamer

12:30pm – Asian chicken salad

3:45pm- 1 small peach

7:30pm – homemade chicken curry

9:00pm – 2 dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt and turbinado

Only 20oz of water today- a super busy day training a new recruit! Yes I know– not enough especially with this weather being as hot as it is!

I REALLY wanted an icy cold Belgian ale this evening but only the fact that I had to report to you made me resist!

Thank you for reaching out to me with your comments both via email and here – it helps me stay on track and I love sharing my journey with you!

Day 3: 30 days to fit

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in Health, In Their Words, Nutrition

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. ~Doug Larson

7:30am- Arbonne vanilla protein smoothie with celery, kale, carrots, almond butter, almond milk, ginger, strawberries, blueberries, and a shot of décaf espresso.

9:30am- small snack size pink lady apple

11:30am- 1 kiwi

1:00pm- poached chicken Asian salad with sesame ginger dressing

3:30pm- trail mix of almonds, cashew and just 4-7 dried cranberries

6:30pm- yesterday’s 1/2 pork chop with maple peppercorn sauce and kale sautéed with garlic and red wine vinegar

8:00pm- Arbonne’s detox tea with one blended strawberry for sweetness.

My trick is to brush teeth right away so that I can’t eat anything more thereafter before bed! Another key is to be in bed no later than 10:30pm so that you don’t get super hungry!

I was more hungry than usual today! It’s typical though– day 3 is hump day! By Friday it should become easy! Also I’m missing my Arbonne vegan chocolate protein powder (no whey, soy, dairy or gluten) which is my absolute favorite!! It’s on back order at the moment and I feel like in having withdrawals from it! I’ve had that as my breakfast for over two years and it is DIVINE!!! I’m going to incorporate the Arbonne chocolate nutrition bars because they really work well as a 3pm snack– and tide me over well for dinner.

And oh– at least 40-50oz of water as well!! Need to keep hydrated especially as temps are rising into the 80s-100s!!

Day 2: 30 days to fit

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in Health, Nutrition

7:30am – vanilla protein smoothie with celery, kale, carrots, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, ginger, lime, raw hemp seeds

Decaf coffee with 1/2 tsp turbinado sugar and a splash of soy creamer

10:30am- 3 Arbonne mango pineapple chews

12:30pm- ahi tuna salad with wasabi vinaigrette dressing

3:45pm- 1 Arbonne mango pineapple chew

6:45pm- 1/2 pork chop (bought from whole foods for assured quality) served with maple black pepper sauce and a side of sautéed kale with garlic and a splash of red wine vinegar

8:30pm– Arbonne detox tea brewed hot but poured over ice to cool then blended with 1 strawberry, chunk of ginger root and ice cubes for a yummy detox tea slushy!

Day 1: 30 day to fit program

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in Health, Nutrition

I’ve decided to very publicly commit to doing the Arbonne 30 days to feeling fit program by posting my daily meals here! I need the public accountability! I tried to do it in June but didn’t stick to it! So here goes:
Eliminating: gluten, dairy, soy, peanut butter, alcohol, caffeine, sugar
Starting weight – 132lb

Day 1
7:30am- chocolate protein smoothie (celery, carrot, kale, ginger, blueberries, strawberries, almond milk, almond butter)
10:00am- 3 Arbonne mango chews YUM !
12:30pm- Wagyu beef burger no bun with a side of baby spinach sautéed with evoo and garlic
3:00pm- 2 Arbonne lemon chews (yes they do suppress my appetite)
6:30pm- home made Coq au Vin (chicken in red wine sauce, with mushrooms, pearl onions and bacon)
9:00pm – 8 raw almonds and 2 dark chocolate almonds with sea salt and turbinado sugar.

Drank about 40oz of water today!

No hunger pangs except around 9pm– a tall glass of water with the almonds handled that.

Until tomorrow!

You’re not getting out of this life alive

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in Inspiration

20130707-082556.jpg

I heard this quote today on an MJ Durkin training CD in my mobile university (a.k.a. my car) and it really stuck with me. It’s true – we only have one life, as we know it, to live, and we owe it to ourselves to live it in the best way we can.
-Do you have a bucket list?
-Are you knocking things off it?
-Or are you stuck in the perpetual hamster wheel that many of us call life? -How are you going to show up better for the rest of this year?
-What are some slight changes you can make to move toward living your dreams?

I turned 40 this year and with that I underwent serious life transformative thought processes coupled with advice from a brilliant business/life coach who made me take a serious look at myself and who I wanted to be. If you’ve never been coached- I highly advocate it! Even if you’re not sure what you’ll get out of it- as long as you have a driving desire to change your life- a good coach can be a great partner to initiate this process! As a result four months in– I have such incredible opportunities being presented to me– all while giving me ultimate control over whether I will or not accept these opportunities. That’s an amazing place to be let me just tell you!

And this is all because I refused to accept status quo! Because I believed I was supposed to do more than walk the treadmill of life one foot in front of the other. I’m supposed to jump, dance, skip, hop off and even dive off this treadmill because that’s where life truly begins! Yes it’s true–

life really does begin at the end of your comfort zone!

I invite you to step a pinkie toe into this water– you’ll find it that while it feels cold and even chilling at first- you do get used to it– and the slight discomfort is replaced by boundless joy from life-changing opportunities – all because you made the choice to venture off your beaten path!

Go ahead and do what you really love to do! Do nothing else! You have so little time. How can you think of wasting a moment doing something for a living you don’t like to do? What kind of a living is that? That is not a living, that is a dying! – Neale Donald Walsch

Change is Good! Embrace It.

Healing Rhythms with Drs. Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Dean Ornish

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in Meditation

Meditation has long been proven to be one of the most effective ways to alleviate stress and take control of our own health. Even just 10 minutes a day can make a difference and set us on the path to calm and teach us to quiet our mind! Yet that is difficult for many. This is a wonderful step by step process for those of you who have thought you might want to, but don’t know how! I’d love your feedback through comments as to your progress!

Namaste.

20130610-060146.jpg
click here to sign up for the 15 step Healing Rhythms Program- it’s free

Arbonne FC5 hand lotion is the answer to a 10 year skin condition

by The Galavanting Gastronome, posted in In Their Words, Testimonials

FC5 Ultra-Hydrating Hand Crème from ArbonneI wanted to share my dad’s story with you.  He just turned 69 and has had very serious problems with the skin on his hands for nearly 10 years. He has seen countless doctors, from General Practitioners to Allergist to Dermatologist. No one has ever been able to give him a definitive answer as to what his skin problem is. They have thought it could be allergies, so he had a myriad of allergy testing done and took allergy medication. They thought it could be eczema and prescribed creams to treat that condition. They even thought it could be psoriasis.  None of the treatments worked.  Needless to say, he’s felt miserable a lot of the time because the skin on his hands hurts so much.  This past Christmas I bought him some of the Arbonne FC-5 Hand Lotion. I have used it for several years and think it’s the best hand lotion I have ever used. I just got off the phone with my dad and he was calling to see if I could “get him some of that lotion I gave him for Christmas.” He said he LOVES it and his hands feel so good now and he doesn’t want to run out. I’m so happy he finally has relief from his discomfort that was at one time constant.  Thank you!
– Michele J. – Thousand Oaks, CA

FC5 Ultra-Hydrating Hand Crème
4 fl. oz. Price: $20.00 + tax/ship
http://www.nikirichardson.myarbonne.com or
nikirichardson@myarbonne.com for purchases