HOW THE EF TO STAY SLIM WITH A 9-5.

Um, so you just worked 5 hours, you have a 30 minute break, and another 5 hours of work to look forward to....and your options for break food... ARE. FUCKING. WHAACK. 

UGH. GIRL. I HAVE BEEN THERE. Slash, I'm still there? I don't know if I've ever brought this up before because I semi HATE working so talking about it is just usually out of the question BUT yeah, I work at a 5 star hotel in a cocktail lounge and it's whatever.

It's a job...you know how it goes. But right now, praise jesus, we're on a 6-week break because of renovation which is why I've been knocking out blogs like a motha.

My dream is to not have to go back buuuuut obviously, I'm working on that. 

ANYWAYS.

If there's anyone that knows what you're going thru when you're trying to eat healthy BUT work is where you're at like 98% of the time...it's me.

And honestly...I guess I should be thankful that my work even provides food for us because I would assume that a lot of places don't. At first I thought it was like the coolest thing ever UNTIL I actually was forced to find something to eat 4-5 times a week and I just would rather die. 

My options range from a glorious meat (which I obviously don't eat and which is obviously not glorious), veggies FUCKING SOAKED in butter, tuna soaked in mayo, and a salad bar with wilted lettuce and about 9 gallons of ranch.

SO THAT'S COOL???

Seriously like what is a girl to do??

But it's so EASY to get side tracked with a job right?!

I feel like you just wake up one morning and realize that you don't fit into anything except leggings and big sweaters and it's just not the best day. 

SO

Here's what I've learned when it comes to trying to stay slim with a 9-5...or in my case...a 6:30pm - a 2:30 am. UGH.

1. 

EAT PROTEIN BEFORE YOU GO TO WORK 

This was definitely one of my biggest saviors. I started making one of my protein shakes every day before I left for work. Like I was literally ready to go to work, hair and make up done, not even hungry, but I would make sure that I would make a protein smoothie.

When we eat protein, it sends a signal to our brain to let us know that we are full. It also keeps us fuller for a longer period of time so this would help me work without feeling like I needed to keep running around trying to find ANYTHING to snack on. 

Because you know what happens when you try to find snacks at a bar? You end up eating like 8 trillion jalepeno stuffed olives, 20 pounds of salted mixed nuts, and at least 3 of those bright red cherries that you don't even like. 

2.

BRING FIBER PACKED SNACKS WITH YOU

Okay, second biggest savior. If you guys read my post about pears you would know why I'm completely obsessed with them. I would bring 1-3 chopped up pears with me in a sandwich baggy and hide them on my side of the bar then run down and eat them, HA, that sounds ridiculous but whatever, it's true. 

Pears are seriously JAM PACKED with fiber so is you eat three you are legit, STUFFED.

3. 

DON'T GO BACK FOR SECONDS

Okay so at the first hotel I worked at (Hotel Bel Air) *cough* KILL ME *cough*... I know it's iconic but the behind the scenes was kinda traumatizing. 

I used to get a bowl of food, grub it in like 10 minutes, and then go back for seconds. 

It was just routine for me. So when I started this new job, I told myself that if I was going to eat at work on my break, I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO GO BACK FOR SECONDS. 

So I would grab a small spoonful of pasta, a small spoonful of brown rice, and a big bowl of salad. Sometimes I would even grab a bite or two of a muffin.

THE POINT IS.

I feel like you can eat whatever you want as long as you portion it correctly. Eventually I just fell out of love with all the shit food that was there and started bringing my own food but WHILE I WAS EATING THERE I made sure that my portions were small, and I never went back for seconds. 

It's so easy to do when there's free food so I feel you. Who doesn't get excited about free food? But if you're trying to hold back, then this tip might work for you. 

So start there if you feel like you're just DYING at work, and let me know how it goes. 

xoxo

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THIS LITTLE BLACK PILL?

(Currently Listening To: Lying Together by FKJ)

Alright, so have you guys heard of this charcoal pill? 

I got this about 2 weeks ago when I was starting to have some MAJOR stomach issues, and let me tell you what I THINK happened. So like I said before I LOVE L-Carnitine and I've found it to be working BUT I think something doesn't work for me when I take L-Carnitine and then I have a protein shake a few hours later.

Which SUCKS. I'm trying to mess around with it to see what the problem is but I'm pretty sure it's the combo so I might switch over to L-Carnitine pills rather than the liquid. 

ANYWAYS - So I did some research on these pills and found that they are mainly used to effectively treat a body that has been poisoned. Even though thats how I feel, haha I know that's not what happened. BUT I've read on multiple platforms that these pills are also helpful in cleaning out your digestive tract, reducing bloating and gas and can even help prevent hangovers. 

So here's how it works. The charcoal doesn't necessarily absorb the toxins in your body but it rather has the toxins BOND to them (since charcoal has a negative charge and all these toxins in our body have a positive charge - little science for ya). 

Side note: In come cases I am VERY adamant about reading every last detail and every last instruction and for some reason I think I'm noticing that when it comes to natural supplements, I never really read the directions.

(Funny side story: This whole not paying attention reallllly F'd me over a few years ago when I bought some Niacin from whole foods. I read like a million supplement bottles while I was there so by the time I got home with my Niacin, I thought in my head that I was supposed to take 3 Niacin. Little did I know that I was thinking of a different supplement and i was really only supposed to take ONE Niacin. 

So whatever I'm on the phone with my dad and don't double check the amount and just pop three into my mouth and maybe like 10 minutes later I noticed I was getting SUPER hott, and itchy and rashy. I got off the phone, looked at the bottle and was just kind of like "oh shit - well there's nothing I can do about it, i'll deal with this rash for a few minutes."

NOPE. Full on thought I was going to die in my apartment alone as I called out of work. I was SHIVERING and sitting in a bath tub with ONLY hot water on and it still didn't feel warm enough. Freak right?

That episode ended with me crawling out of my bathtub, laying in my bed in my towel while I drained into a 4 hour nap. I remember going to Habit Burger as soon as I woke up, looking like HELL,  to get some sweet potato fries and a veggie burger and this fool was STILL trying to hit on me while I was barely enjoying my meal outside. 

Moral of the story: Read directions.)

Back to what we were talking about.

So this time, I didn't read FIRST about how you're supposed to drink water all day long when you take these pills. i didn't drink enough water because I already felt nauseous and then these pills made me even more dehydrated and then yesterday my stomach was SUUUPER messed up.

Again though I'm all about trial and error so today I had some more charcoal pills and I've been sipping on water all day and my stomach FINALLY feels back to normal so they helped!!

My friend told me that she had these also when she got back from Coachella and it helped ALOT and my roomie used to take them before drinking and said they were a game changer so definitely something to try!

xoxo

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU'RE ACTUALLY HUNGRY.

Seriously though, how many times have you said, "I can't tell if i'm hungry or not". HA. I definitely have and it's annoying because it seems like it should be a pretty basic human instinct.

But I'm someone that reallllly pays attention to my body and why things are happening and what's causing things and blah blah so after doing some research and paying more attention to my body and the actual way I'm FEELING, I was able to learn that the hungry feeling, isn't always what we think it is. 

Here's some major times that I think a lot of us might think we're hungry when we're really not.

The very first second you wake up.

Duuude, there's been times that I wake up and feel like my stomach has been eating itself for the past 12 years. Like I can feel it in my sternum kind of hunger. So I used to just think nothing of it other than HOLY SHIT I'M STARVING then go have 3 bowls of cereal. 

After some research and a little bit of paying attention I realized when this feeling was happening which was when I would wake up much earlier than usual. Which at first didn't make sense to me and kinda made me feel like a psycho because I'm like okay, I'm feeling this way and I really didn't have dinner THAT long ago. 

Here's the situation: Sometimes when we wake up too early, we start to go about our day while our stomach is still doing some maintenance that it takes care of while we sleep. This includes releases certain acids so if we wake up while that process is still happening then it kinda hurts and feels like hunger but it's not.

My suggestion? Honestly what I do is just have a cup of tea or coffee and wait until my normal time that I eat breakfast. After one cup of coffee I feel much better.

Another reason you might be hungry right when you wake up could be that you ate too much crappy food the day before.

Okay this has happened to you guys too right? You cheat like a crazy person the night before and have a burrito like 20 minutes before you knock out and wake up again feeling like you haven't eaten in forever.

When we eat shitty food (lots of sugar and simple carbs) we spike our insulin levels. In order to balance our insulin levels, glucose is released. When glucose is released, it stimulates the appetite section of our brain THUS making us feel hungry again. Get it? This is why I always say to avoid simple carbs! They make you tired and then you feel hungry again quickly.

If you didn't sleep ENOUGH, you'll feel symptoms of hunger.

Two hormones contribute to this:

Leptin and Ghrelin. 

Throughout the day when we get hungry our body will produce the hormone Ghrelin to let us know that we are hungry and that it is time to eat. 

When we get full, our body produces the hormone LEPTIN to let us know it's time to STOP eating. 

When we don't get enough sleep our body starts making more Ghrelin and LESS LEPTIN causing us to feel hungrier. 

If you feel hungry LATE at night

This is a big one no? This coined the "late night snack cravings" phrase that lets everyone think that it's just like a thing that happens. Technically it is but it's not an excuse. When we stay up late we obviously get tired SO our body tries to keep us awake by signaling to us that it needs SUGAR.

It knows that sugar will give us an extra kick in the ass so out of no where you start to feel like you need some chocolate or ice cream or a soda or whatever.

Instead of caving, I suggest just having a sweetened nut milk like almond or coconut and calling it a night. OR just pound a glass of water. Water will reduce your cravings AND give you energy. It's a win win. 

If you're stressed, you'll feel hungry. 

Stress just triggers hunger hormones but at the end of the day, actually eating in a stressful habit is merely a habit. Next time you get stressed, instead of reaching for something to scarf down, try deep breathing, exercising, or journaling.   

So basically, if you JUST woke up and it's earlier than normal for you or you ate a lot of junk food before going to bed and you feel hungry...chances are that you're not. 

If you're low on sleep and feel hungry, try drinking water and taking a nap first.

If you're stressed try the tips I mentioned above.

Have any comments? Leave them below :)