I had such an incredibly inspiring, motivational, rewarding and fun weekend! I was surrounded by people that lift others up and want to see others succeed. I attended a nutritional and leadership summit in Minneapolis over the weekend and my brain is bursting with such powerful information. I of course geeked out (hard!) when listening to Dr. Paul Biondich talk about nutrition for overall health and performance. Nutrition is the foundation of our health. No ifs ands or buts about it and I was able to learn from one of the best!
The weekend wasn’t all about the “sciencey” stuff, though. I made so many great new friendships and connections and got to fill my belly with lots a good food! I don’t stray from my macros often and when I do, I still choose the healthier of options. If you were following me on snapchat (kissbybrooke) you got to see just about all of it. A friend and I went and got burgers the first night we were there. Just like any smart foodie would do, we both ordered a different burger and split them. They had venison burgers on their menu so I of course had to try that and my peanut butter loving friend ordered the peanut butter and bacon burger. They both were so good! I had sweet potato fries with them and didn’t eat the bun. The next day for lunch we found ourselves at a taco restaurant. I order three different tacos which were grilled chicken, steak and carnitas. The carnitas, hands down, was my fav. They had corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas! That evening I was seriously craving some vegetables. Call me crazy but I seriously was. As we were getting ready for our celebration bash we ordered room service and went with the cobb salad because seriously, they are the best. I topped the weekend off at a mom and pop café where I ordered an everything omelet with gluten free toast. This omelet was huge and damn good and you betcha I cleaned my plate clean! Each day I had my protein shake along with healthy snacks!
After all of that, I was looking forward to getting back to my normal eats and back to my routine. My morning protein shake and gigantic salad for lunch never tasted so good! Once your body is fueled correctly with the right nutrition and released of the toxicity, it is amazing how you start to crave and want healthier nutritious foods because your body recognizes how much better it feels and runs when fueled properly.
When I went strict paleo a few years back (no longer strict paleo) I pretty much overdosed on nuts like a lot of paleo newbies tend to do so I can’t tolerate nuts anymore. As much as I love them, they make me feel awful so I need to get these nuts out of my house ASAP because they are addicting! Any takers?!
- 2 cups raw walnuts
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¾ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp all spice
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place a medium sauce pan over medium heat on the stove and add the maple syrup, coconut sugar and spices. Mix until well combined. Let heat up until mixture starts to bubble. Take off heat and add in walnuts. Stir until walnuts are fully coated.
- Spread the spiced walnuts out on the baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes. Once cooked, break apart and let cool. Store in an air-tight container.