Living optimally on a Mazatlan vacation!

Hola from Mazatlan, Mexico! Due to the seriously slow internet speeds here & prohibitive cost of using the internet, this may be the only post this week but I will continue writing so as soon as I can get on the internet again I can post to you what we’ve been up to in enjoying a healthful (w/exception to the abdundance of margaritas) & fun vacation!

The above pic was taken on sunrise of our 1st day in Mazatlan, this is Deer Island, where all the fun excursions go out to – all of which- include not only active things to do like snorkeling & beach sports, but make sure that you balance out those cals burned with high-quality booze cruise cals coming back in. There’s really no escaping alcohol around here, but for working so hard during the rest of the year, we will enjoy the booze cruising that is included in the activities & sports we want to partake in. 

But booze aside for a moment, let me tell you about what we’ve been up to so far in the world of healthy eating!! *I have some great video to upload as soon as we get home so look out for that! It includes how to turn last night’s dinner into 3 meals the next day!! And not just be reheating the leftovers but actually turning it into a whole new meal…Gluten Free of course!

Drew, my man, making us eggs on morning 1. Check out the 1950′s stove…two burners…only 3 heat levels…no spatula, plate, utensil or cooking oil anywhere in our condo. We purchased eggs, olive oil (in this pic behind Drew’s hand), avocado, forks, & styrofoam plates & using leftovers from the night before, made Mexican Eggs!…seasoned eggs, sautéed green onion & cactus, & melted mexican cheese (we couldn’t figure out what kind it was). Check out the finished product! Nutritious, full of protein, a few vitamins from veggies, and lean on fat! A real winner! Go Drew!

The other big adventure in food was our trip to El Supermercado today! A random rain storm came on shore this morning & stuck around until early this afternoon. It rained so hard that the streets flooded out completely & while we were in the market the power went on & off throughout our shopping experience. No one else seemed to notice or care, so maybe intermittent power is a normal thing in a rainstorm around here? Anyways, we videoed that & I’ll have those uploaded for you when I get home but in the interim, check out what we bought & what I cooked for lunch today…chicken & steak fajitas w/ yellow & red peppers sautéed in seasoning brought from the US & mashed avocado.

*It’s of note to mention that we are aware of the dangers of eating local food that has pesticides & may have Revenge of Montezuma germs on them. We will not be eating any raw veg while here and fruits eaten will only consist of those which have a hard rind to keep out any germs or potential sickness. We are also washing everything in purified water & taking probiotics (as usual) to ensure we stay on top of any potential vacation ruining germs.* Ok, now take a look at what I made! If we can make this happen in MX, you can certainly swing by the local Super Target back home & whip up something like this that is fresh & awesome for your body!

Sautéed chicken breast & red meat, peppers & cilantro, seasoned w/ chili powder brought from home. I know it’s not beautiful- I mean, it’s a plastic fork & styrofoam plate for goodness sake – but when you care more about how healthy your body stays, looks don’t matter, just as long as it’s healthy, full of goodness & easy on the wallet. Here we have high protein, and again, you’re getting good vitamins from the peppers & this meal only cost us $4.00 for two of us to eat! So eating healthy CAN actually be cheaper! I feel great about the margarita I drank while writing this post after eating this meal!! Right now, Drew is also eating a bag of tuna that we brought from the US mixed w/ salsa & cilantro & some GF crackers.

Let me tell you: We ate out lunch, dinner on Day 1, lunch, dinner on Day 2 & both days I felt really weighed down afterwards. As if the meal stayed with me all day. So far today, eating every meal from home, I feel light on my feet, energized, like I actually ate something good for me! It’s really worth it to plan your vacations to be aligned w/ your health expectations…doing anything less only sets you up to feel like garbage on the inside, to feel guilty about undoing all your hard work prior to the trip, and to make you regret spending your money on such expensive food.

We also paid $10.00 to workout in the facility here yesterday simply because we hadn’t yet found somewhere to hook up the TRX bands. We’ll be doing the TRX workout Wed & sending you pics from that! I’m telling you gang, if I can figure out how to do it down here, I know for sure that you can figure it out wherever you are. You just need to care enough to make it happen. And I know that you care deeply about your fitness & health goals!! Don’t let me down and miss out on the chance to live your most optimal life this week! I’ll be thinking of you all as I eat my healthy food & go for my workouts this week. I hope you’ll think of me, navigating the less-than-optimal-fitness world of a vacation as you make the choice for healthy behaviors instead of garbage behaviors this week!

Last thing for today…it’s time to get cleaned up for Monday Night Football…we’ll be holding a Mon Night Football Fajita party in our room complete w/ fajitas, margaritas, & w/ a little help from the swim-up bar downstairs, some chips & guac. We’re on vacay, but c’mon, it’s going to be a good game tonight! At this time two years ago, Drew & I were sitting in a tropical bar rooting on the Bears in either a Sun or Mon night game & it’s going to be fun to re-live the experience!- even if it’s not the Bears we’re rooting for this year.

Here’s one more upload from our trip – Drew buried my legs in the sand & then made me try & get out. Umbrella drinks or not, it’s hard to get out of 3 feet of sand! I also jumped off the top of the pool at our resort…life is about doing things you’ve never done before, the small fear that comes with doing something new can be what drives you or what holds you back. Neither Drew nor I would ever intentionally put ourselves into danger, but we appreciate the life God has given us & the situations we have worked with Him to get to i.e. vacation! & we’re not going to step away from a chance to expand on what we can do with this body & mind of ours, whether on vacation or in the working world, we have opportunities to do what we’ve never done before, and we’re going to do those things that we’ve never done to go where we’ve never gone. until we talk again… eat healthy! workout! think positively! Your health & fitness goals are SO worth it!