(Black Tea: Suja // Homemade Body Scrub: recipe below! // Lip Pencil: NARS in Paimpol // Nail Polish: Butter London in Fruit Machine and Essie in Bikini So Teeny// Rings: similar here // Lip Glosses: NARS in International Velvet and Istria // Coasters: West Elm // Tee: Velvet // Shorts: Siwy)

It’s been majorly warm summer weather in San Diego and I’m clinging to super lightweight basics like gauzy tanks and cutoffs like no other clothes exist. Im also loving pretty pastels for nails and lips, and chunky turquoise jewelry to add some interest to my minimal outfits. And coasters have been a total must on my new travertine table because all I’m sipping is freezing ice cold drinks to cool off.

 I’ve never really been a big bottled tea girl. I feel like most bottled teas tasted like dirty leaves that sat in a forgotten bottle of water in a hot car for a few days and then got remembered and refrigerated. Whenever I’m at the store I just don’t gravitate to the tea set and couldn’t really care less about them compare to fresh juices or cool waters. BUT, in general, I couldn’t be a bigger fan of tea – when I make it myself or buy it fresh from a coffee shop. I love tea so much that I totally dropped coffee last year because I just had no need for it anymore. Tea fulfills the ritual, warmth, and smell of coffee in the morning for me and provides the zingy chilled afternoon pick me up of an iced coffee later in the day. I love all different kinds and am constantly switching it up because there’s many good ones! SO, what’s the point of telling you this? There’s finally a bomb.com line of bottled teas that are just so next levie and not full of crap that I would fill my whole cart with them and take a bath in them (literally – getting to that in a few…). They’re by us (Suja!) and they are everything we believe in – organic, non- GMO, cold pressured, unheated, and even one that’s BIODYNAMIC..whoa! <– this is like organic on roids – brewed together into 4 delicious blends that are insanely refreshing, unique, and crisp. This week, I’m majorly obsessing over the Biodynamic Unsweetened Black Tea. It’s been so hot in San Diego and it’s such an awesome chuggable iced tea with a nice balanced flavor that gets me more jazzed about hydrating than plain water. Black tea is also good for you. Like really good!

BENEFITS OF BLACK TEA:

 - Helps reduce stress levels (shown in this UCL study)

 - Lowers blood pressure (shown in this 6 month American Medical Association study)

 - Reduces risk of diabetes (shown in this British study)

 - Reduces risk of coronary heart disease (shown in this European study)

 - Hydrates as well as water (shown in a British study)

These are all killer health benefits, but black tea takes it a step further and works wonders on your skin. Here’s what up with dat:

- Has tons of antioxidants, polyphenols, tannins and catechins

- Those polyphenols and tannins accelerate skin regeneration

- The antioxidants protect from premature aging and wrinkles and neutralize free radicals from enironmental toxins.

- Soothes irritated and inflamed skin due to acne or sunburns

- Helps fade dark spots

When I got back from Greece, my skin was a bit peely thanks to a sunburn (eek I know!) and I needed to exfoliate badly. I always make my own scrubs and decided to throw the tea in there to help with the sunburn inflammation. Best decision ev! Here’s how I did it:

VANILLA CHAI SUGAR SCRUBBY

¼ cup Suja Unsweetened Cold Brewed Black Tea

1 tbs Cinnamon, ground

½ tsp Nutmeg, ground

½ tsp Cardamom, ground

1 tsp ground Vanilla bean

1 cup coarse Turbinado Sugar

½ cup Coconut Oil

Mix it all together and put it in a jar in the shower. The heat of the steam melts the coconut oil and makes a spreadable, thick, grainy scrub that smells like heaven. You will have bikini ready skin in 5 mins!

What are you currently loving?

X

Hi! I hope everyone has had a killer weekend! Today on the blog, we’re talking pH because it’s an important principle that can really improve health for some people and is just a good thing to know as a general guideline for living, Sooo what is it? pH means power of hydrogen, which is the measure of hydrogen ion concentration in the bod pod. The pH scale goes from 1 to 14 and smack dab in the middle at 7 is neutral. The pH balance is the balance between acid and alkaline in the body. Ideally, the pH should be 7.4 which is slightly alkaline. Now I’m sure you want to know what your pH is, so don’t worry, there are ways you can test it at home by peeing on a strip. Yep.

We need to consume both acid and alkaline foods to maintain an equilibrium in the body, but the common American diet is much more acidic than alkaline which means many of us are experiencing an acidic condition. Why does it matter that we are slightly alkaline? Because too much acidity causes problems. When there is a lack of alkaline minerals coming in through fresh clean foods, the acidic conditions in the body will cause major inflammation of the organs. Most digestive issues like heartburn, bloating, indigestion, and nausea are due to excess acid in the GI area. An acid environment is also the perfect breeding ground for yeast, cancer cells, parasites, and viruses to flourish. When we continue to eat acidic foods, we deplete our bodies’ alkaline minerals like sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium, which causes a mineral deficiency. Over time, this can lead to osteoporosis because those minerals are leached from the bones to offset the acidity. To correct this condition and move the blood back to an alkaline pH, we need to maximize and consume the alkaline foods in a greater quantity than acidic foods. So what are our best friend foods to do this?

 ALKALINE Besties:

LAND VEGGIES – greens, sprouts, herbs, cucumbers, cruciferous veggies, asparagus, onions, green beans, beets, celery, sweet potatoes, garlic

OCEAN VEGGIES– Agar, arame, dulse hijiki, kelp, kombu, nori, sea palm, wakame

GLUTEN FREE GRAIN-LIKE SEEDS - Millet, quinoa, amaranth

SEA SALT

HERBS + THEIR TEAS

MINERAL WATER

FRUITS – All fresh fruits are alkaline with the exception of plum. Including nature’s buttah, the avocado J

RAW ACV (apple cider vinegar)

CULTURED VEGGIES

KEFIR

SOAKED + SPROUTED ALMONDS

OILS – olive, flax, coconut, avocado, grapeseed, butter

SOY – fresh soybeans

These foods are all alkaline and powerful tools in getting your pH to a more neutral spot. This is a HUGE reason I love juice and have been making it for years and years. It’s such an easy way to get a concentrated mega dose of highly alkaline greens into your body. Note that you don’t have to eat ONLY these foods and create entirely alkaline meals. These foods should just be the predominate portion of your plate when you’re trying to drop the acid. For example, instead of having a big piece of fish with rice, do a smaller piece of fish with a larger portion of sautéed veggies or a big raw green salad with avocado. If you usually have oatmeal for breakfast, try a quinoa bowl with berries and almonds. These foods are totally yummy when you get creative!

Now, here’s the ACID gang:

ANIMAL PROTEINS – beef, poultry, eggs, fish, shellfish, lunch meats

DAIRY – milk, yogurt, cheese

GRAINS (except millet, quinoa, and amaranth)

OILS – sunflower, corn, cottonseed, soybean, canola, peanut, anything hydrogenated

SUGAR

BEANS

NUTS (except almonds)

SEEDS

ALCOHOL

COFFEE

CHOCOLATE

PROCESSED FOODS

PRESERVATIVES

SOY – soy protein, soy flour, soymilk

Remember – these foods aren’t “bad” and you don’t have to avoid these entirely. Some of these foods are really nutritious too, like nuts, seeds, and beans. You just need to shift your portions when you’re trying to alkalize so 75-80% of your plate is alkaline and the other 20-25% can be acidic.

BUT! It’s not just food that causes acidity. Here are some lifestyle + other factors that can contribute to an acid condition in the bod pod:

-       STRESS

-       OVEREATING

-       COMPLICATED FOOD COMBINATIONS

-       DRUG USE

-       NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

-       LACK OF SLEEP

-       CONSTIPATION

You can combat all of these by making simple lifestyle tweaks. Try meditating if you’re stressed out. Shut your stuff down and go to bed earlier if you’re sleep deprived. Try exercising or taking yoga to squash negative emotions. Cook at home more to control what food combinations you’re having at mealtimes and practice better portion control. When you alkalize your body you’ll see really good stuff happen and it’s worth taking the time and effort to make these changes.

I hope you learned a thing or two about the pH balance and how to improve yours if you’re experiencing acidity. If you have any questions/comments, leave them below!!

Have a great week!

X

A lot of you have asked about my workout routine, and if it were several years ago I would have been able to tell you exactly what it was. In the past, my workouts have been intense, regimented, sometimes painful, and hardcore.  I used to believe if I didn’t leave the gym drenched, shaking, and in some kind of discomfort, I hadn’t really exercised. I would literally think a yoga class was a throw away stretch fest and not consider it exercise at all in comparison to my “normal” workouts. Fast forward to now and I don’t even have a gym membership. If something feels uncomfortable or too hard, I stop. And I never workout unless I’m feeling it. And how do I feel? Amazing! I have zero mental stress around my workouts, never have to fire myself up to do them because I love them, they make me feel good, and I don’t plan my life/day around working out because it just fits in naturally and nicely when I want it to. So, why the shift and how do I reconcile drastically less calories burned?

When I used to work out long and hard, I was hungrier. I was like a teenage boy and I would eat a lot more because I needed a lot more. Sometimes it became a chore because I knew if I had worked out that day I had to hit a certain amount of food to make up for the 500-700 calories burned. I would get anxiety about being ravenous and caught without a snack somewhere. But I don’t get that at all now. I eat a good sized breakfast, lunch, and dinner and don’t really need snacks in between. I can skip a meal or wait until the next one because my hunger isn’t urgent the way it used to be when I worked out overly intensely. So that’s how I reconcile less calories burned – I’m not trying to lose weight or create a deficit, just maintain. Therefore, I don’t need to burn more than I eat and I don’t need to eat as much because I’m not burning as much. It all balances out naturally when you listen to your body and eat in proportion to your activity and hunger levels.

If you would have told me back when I was agro elliptical chick that I wouldn’t have a gym membership in the future I would have flipped out and been horrified because I was such a gym rat and it was such a vital part of my routine. 60 minutes on the elliptical at a steep incline maintaining a certain speed with a fatty stack of magazines to distract me from the torture or 70 minutes on the treadmill at a 7:45-50 mile pace were my go to workouts and anything less didn’t count. So what do my workouts look like now? Yoga, walking, and occasional running. Most often, I wake up and do yoga every day first thing for an hour. I do power classes, flow classes, and hatha classes depending on my mood. I barely consider this a workout because I love it so much and it sets me up for a relaxed, calm, centered mind the rest of the day. I don’t do it to sculpt my arms, make my booty pop, or chisel my core – I do it because it makes me feel incredible. That’s the major difference in my mindset around exercise now. I do it to feel good, not to look good or check it off my list because I “should” be working out. But it just so happens to do those things to my body and that’s pretty cool too. On the days I wake up feeling like getting outside, I opt for long walks. I never go inside on a treadmill because it makes me feel like a hamster. I like to be outside and get inspired by nature, the sunrise, the ocean, the trees, or whatever it is that my surroundings provide that day. I like to think about things that are bugging me and how to break through them, things I am grateful for, things I want to make happen that day/week/month/year, what I want to write about for you guys next, and so much more. By the time I’m done, I’ve had a total mood and mind transformation and it feels really awesome. I like to walk for an hour or two and I almost always go to the beach or a hiking trail. Then there are the random days that happen as often as once or twice a week or as little as once a month when I wake up craving some miles. When this happens, I go out WITHOUT my Garmin, which used to be attached to my wrist permanently tracking my speed and distance and which I would obsessively check throughout a run to make sure I was on pace and hitting my targets. Now, I don’t have any distance goals or rules in mind whatsoever. I just run as long as it feels good and stop when it starts becoming a chore to keep going. This can be as little as 3 miles or as many as 8 miles. On these run days I tend to wake up more ansty, restless, and carrying nervous energy. Running really helps me release that and leave it behind so I can enter the day fresh and clean slated. That reason makes me way more stoked to be out there than burning calories or proving I’m a “legit runner”.

The moral of the story is this: exercise is meant to feel good. It’s meant to be enjoyed, savored, and looked forward to. When you set rules of exactly what you must do, calories you must burn, miles you must run, and weights you must lift, you suck the joy out of moving your body which should be the most natural and pure expression of life. You can’t de stress and release tension when your workout is stressing you out more. I know it’s not easy to break out of a routine because it’s a comfortable and sure thing, but I urge you to try. You won’t gain ten pounds if you try a week of working out however you feel at a lower intensity – I promise. Try trading your cardio for yoga, pilates, a leisurely bike ride, or walk. See how your mind feels, how your body feels, and how your soul feels. Do what makes you happy!! And tell me how it feels for you!

X

Ciao from Rome! I am currently basking in the Italian sun, soaking up all that is Roma! This place is truly amazing – the romance, the shopping, the history, the hospitality, the beauty, the food…I could go on forever! Truly one of the most special places on earth!! I’ve walked all over the city, met wonderful people, eaten delicious meals, done some mischievous shopping, and so much more. Here’s a peek at what I’ve been up to…

 THE EATS

Champagne at the Jardin de Russie

Crudo on a  pink himalyan salt block

 Whole sea bass with lemon, olive oil, and salt on a pink himalayan salt block

Breakfast eggs, lox, avocado, greens, and fruit

Insanely delicious tuna and salmon tartars with pomegranate seeds and kiwi

To die for scallop carpaccio with rosemary infused olive oil and crunchy sea salt

Salmon, amberjack, and tuna carpaccio

Local fresh sea bass with lemon, olive oil, sea salt and steamed spinach

An italian sparkling wine and a super delish grapefruit margarita with lavender

 Poached eggs and avocado

Smoked salmon

THE SIGHTS

 Spanish steps while roaming the streets late night after a delicious dinner + wine al fresco

 St. Peter’s Basilica  Now this I have to tell you about. I took the above photo from INSIDE the glass room in St. Peter’s Basilica housing the Pieta by Michelangelo!! This is not open to the public. In the last 5 years, the only visitors to enter the glass have been President Obama and Queen Elizabeth. My wonderful Italian friend Lara lives in Rome and knows someone at the Vatican and was able to get the door unlocked for us. As you can see, many people come to see this infamous work from outside the glass and I was so so excited to be inside so close to such an important piece! It was SO special! Although I don’t think the people outside the glass watching me run around in it and stand right in front of the work taking photos and blocking their view were my biggest fans…  Taken from inside standing in front of the Pieta

  Lara got us on the roof of the Basilica overlooking Vatican City!

 The Colosseum The Pantheon

 Stumbled into the Celine store, the holiest of all sites I visited. Come to mama…

 Found the newest shoe baby to add to my family at Gucci.

Have you been to Rome? What is your favorite place/restaurant/thing about it?

Off to Santorini next! Tell me your faves there!!