3 ways to not "cheat"!

Hey Guys,

Lately I have been thinking about my "cheating days". Because I have been having so many :( But hey at least I am aware of it .. right? Temptation is always knocking on the door in anything that we want to change for the better. I have learned that in order to completely change my whole entire way of eating I have to take baby steps. That is extremely hard for me because I like to pull extreme makeovers in my life! But the reality of going from not so healthy to having a healthy lifestyle will be the real challenge.

So my top 3 ways to not have Cheating days! (Just have one for the week?)

1) LEAVE YOUR ATM CARD OR CREDIT CARD AT HOME.

I know this is probably the hardest one for me because I bring my debit card with me for emergency reasons but its worth a try!

2) BRING SNACKS WITH YOU SO YOU WON'T BE TEMPTED.

If you are always on the go, taking trains and buses and find yourself being surrounded by all the fast food resturants etc, bring your own healthy snack! Bagged up fruit, any type of nuts, homemade treats that you know will knock your hunger while you are out and bout.

3)  PREVENT FEELING.

I am not sure if everyone feels a certain way after eating out (McDonalds, Popeyes, etc) But I do, its more or so the type of feeling like "uh I am so full and feel so fat and bloated like I can't breathe, but while I was eating the fries it was tasting so right but now.. I wish I didn't even purchase it" So if you know the end result before hand, remember you don't want that feeling so prevent it.

Bonus: Have one TREAT DAY and enjoy your favorite thing! I am addicted to chocolate : kit cats, m&m's anything that is milk chocolate I adore. But I have slowly been dipping my way into dark chocolate since it is better for you.  It is a bit bitter but still kills my craving for "milk chocolate". 

Have more way of not "cheating" Comment and share!

Remember trying is key!

peace&love,

Alba

Helping others? Get started!

Everyday I'm on the subway and usually a homeless or starving person give out a little insight about their struggle. Asking if anyone can donate change or a few dollars. I've observed this so many times, I mean every single time I'm on the train everyone that's sitting down or standing up in their own worlds, trying to get wherever they are trying to get to, simply turn away/ look down/ pretend / continue what they were doing. Which is.. minding their own business as if  no one was talking to them. 

I'm not saying to give all your money to every homeless person that asks for it, but what I'm saying is if we really want to help in any kid of way; We should first start with where we live. In our communities. In our own country. 

I didn't realize how bad homelessness was until I left my hometown and first visited San Fransico in California with my gap year program.   There was a nice 4 star hotel on one block and you would walk around the block and see so many homeless people walking around, laying down with such a sad face. There were soup kitchens and places for them to stay but never enough for ALL of them, leaving hundreds without a bed or a blanket. 

I couldn't believe how many people that worked in the city everyday could just walk by without wanting to do something about it.

There are so many more issues than just homelessness. 

But my advice? Start with volunteering in your own community. Research is the answer.  the holidays are around the corner and we should get in the spirit of helping! 

Peace&love,

Alba

Want to Learn how to drink more water?

Hey dolls,

The struggle of actually drinking water is really a freaking struggle !! 

Not just any about of water but I mean the actual amount of water every human being is "suppose" to drink.

Water is of major importance to all living things; in some organisms, up to 90% of their body weight comes from water. Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%. 

- http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html

Insane in the membrane right? Well I am sure you kind of already had an idea of that.

Ever since I was a toddler I really disliked water, I don't know why. I just couldn't chug water like my sister did while i stayed in awe lol! 

Men are suppose to drink 3 Liters of water daily and Women are suppose to drink 2.5 Liters of water daily.  How much do You really drink?

Drinking water is so important. I remember on my Outward bound trip in North Carolina we were hiking one of the Appalacian mountains, and I froze. I couldn't walk, I was out of breathe and I was freaking out. My whole troop had to stop and we all sat down for 20 minutes until I felt better. I didnt know what was wrong with me until my troop leader told me I was dehydrated. (And I do recall him telling me multiple times to take sips constantly. I'm just a hard headed girl and had to learn te hard way!!) 

One quick tip to drink water is to get flavored drops like Crystal light! Or a much cooler way is to leave your water  in the fridge with cut up fruits. Example: strawberry and kiwi flavored water!

My point is lady and gentlemen. Want a healthy lifestyle? Start with the easiest thing: DRINK H2O! 

Hey I am still working on it, but I am aware of it. Are you?

Peace&love,

Alba

Want Success? Go and get it..NOW

Hey dolls!

You know the feeing of WANTING to do something, but you just feel so lazy? My favorite Example: you want to watch tv but the remote control is alllll the way on the other side of the room, but you are to comfortable laying there on your sofa. BAM! If only we had a magical wand to do as we command? Yes we all dreamt of it.  Sorry this is not Hogwarts :(  

"We want everything now and we want it without earning it" - Rory Vaden

We all want results, but forget it really takes time, consistency, and dedication. One You Tubber I follow: Spoken Reasons, made the perfect slogan that everyone can apply to their life every day!!

FCHW : faith, consistency, and hard work.  IT MAKES SENSE RIGHT?! Yes indeed it is true. 

You all know Michael Jordan, the best basketball player of all time. But have you tried to figure out HOW IN THE HELL DID HE GET THERE? Did he just wait for someone to scout him or just loved basketball and played well? Ummm sorry to say it did not come to him, he went to it.  Here is a quick 10 must-read Success Lessons from Michael Jordan I found online from his Auto biography.

http://www.mrselfdevelopment.com/2013/02/10-must-read-success-lessons-from-michael-jordan/

But doing things we don't feel like doing is not as hard as we perceive it.  In fact its easier than we think, we just got to do it and start thinking differently.  

"Successful people have all had to do things they didn't feel like doing in order to get where they are" - Rory Vaden

Peace&love, 

Alba 

A little twist is all you need

Hey dolls!

Holy cow can I just say I feel like a kid getting reading glasses for the first time, relieved! 

So I signed up for a free acting workshop about three weeks ago. Apparently the workshop was today and I was rushing to get to the workshop, (hey it was free!) I wa super excited even invited my homegirl but she already had plans :( . So I am looking for the workshop in the building full of tons of other studios and asking everyone in the elevator if they where there for the workshop too; but everyone gave me a face. Not a mean face but a " i don't know what you are talking about, I am in a rush to my class, hope you find wherever your going" face. You know what I mean? 

I get to the 4th floor because security said it was there, and it's a dead space. On my left I see people giving hugs to eachother and I am like ; hey I don't know you guys and it feels like I am lost :'(. 

I ask a girl on her laptop if she know where the workshop was and she's like "ummm.." And on my right there is  a teacher trying to open her studio room fidgeting with her keys. She turns around and asks me, " what are you looking for?" And I tell her the whole story and she tells me it's on the 5th floor and to have fun! 

So here I am on the elevator trying to hurry up and get to the workshop. I get to the fifth floor and everything is empty, well the hallways are. But I hear classes going on. I see one studio door opened and I am thinking, how very welcoming (thinking this is the studio for the free workshop). I walk into the room to find a guy with his legs up on a chair, chomping  on ice, typing on his laptop. I ask him if this was for the workshop and he's like that studio is not in this building. I am freaking out thinking it was a scam (beware!) 

But it turns out he was a teacher and the owner of the acting school we were standing in. He was explaining to me how the school came about. And I really was agreeing with many facts and scenarios he was bringing up. He even showed me a small clip of how the school came about. He explained to me that acting is not to act or learn how to act. He said it is about really living your life in any situation. That usually actors are told to do an action or to feel from a similar situation and most of them get stuck and hit a wall; beause they are not really feeling what they REALLY feel at that very moment. (Sounds like meisner, but totaly different). He kept going into detail about what I should be looking for within training: I should be looking for professional training and trying to master being free. He wasn't trying to sell his school so much but he was really feeding me this interesting knowledge that I have thought about but was very unclear.

THIS WAS CRAZY, because it felt like it was what I needed, he laid the clarity that I really needed to hear! (Since it was very fuzzy in my cute brain) ha!

Let me tell you, I came out of tht studio feeling a little brand new, (strange must I say!) as if my perspective was changed, as if a big weight was taken off my shoulder. I felt amazing! (Of course I took his card!) but what does this even mean? 

I guess I gotta figure this out for the next part that connects to this puzzle piece!

Who would of thought a city so busy could give you clarity?

Peace&love,

Alba

How to Begin Meal Prepping

Hey dolls!

So yesterday was my sister and I's first time of officially meal prepping for the week!  I have been wanting to do this for months since I have been following @mealprepmondays on instagram, and their examples of meal prepping are BEAUTIFUL.  When I catch myself on their page scrolling down,  looking at all the deliciously foods prepared for the week I'd literally be drooling! Ha! :D

So what is Meal prepping?

It's simply prepping your healthy meals for the week all in one day! Killing time within the week, keeping your diet on track (fyi : no temptations to buy food outside !) and moving forward with creating and experimenting dishes in the kitchen! (You will feel so good after cooking and packing everything).

Just make sure to get tupperware for lunch and dinner! I started with plastic ones, but will work my way up to glass Tupperware because they preserve food longer!

If you are new to this like me, I would advise to keep it simple.  I listed each lunch and dinner including  4 different categories:

Protein
Carbs
Veggies
Snack

There are so many good examples online of different types of foods you can use to switch it up (I get bored easily eating the same food two days in a row). Check out the meal prep website: http://my2.tupperware.com/tup-html/M/mealprepmondays-welcome.html  its a great tool to get started and it will become your own meal-prep familia :)

Below is my picture of my first week, including :

AM Snacks: Plum, Banana and Apples

Lunches (left) &Dinner (right) :

1) Chicken, quinoa, spinach & geen beans
2) Lean Ground turkey patty, arugala & cucumber salad, sweet potatoes & brown curry rice
3) Tuna, red/ green peppers & mushrooms, Butternut squash
4) Turkey meatballs, gluten-free pasta, kale and green beans

A 1/4 slice of avocado with each meal.

And almonds for treat!

For dinner ones I switched some things up but all contains the same types of foods above.

Try your own and post pictures up!

Peace&love,


Alba

P.s follow me on instagram:   travelthe_world

Success is earned

Hey dolls!

Its been too long! Hope y'all are doing great!

Lately I have been doing so much thinking, that if my brain was a volcano I am pretty sure it would of exploded already. You know, the kind of thinking you do when you start questioning where are you in life and are you doing the right things? The thoughts just flutter around like a group of birds flying in the sky.  .. Since I am always trying to stay positive, even when I think negative sometimes (hey we are all human!)  I seek for books to be my personal mentor.  <3 #NERD lol

The one book I can read over and over (and I tell you it will never get boring) is Take the Stairs by Rory Vaden.

This book is a constant reminder that success does not come to people that do not work towards it. I mean yeah there are those LUCKY people that win American Idol and win the lottery, BUT think about it.  Millions of people audition or play the numbers and all hope to be the "next star" or be the next millionaire and have no worries! (hakuna matata)  <--- we all want that

Americans have been brain washed to take short cuts in life. Really, think about it: No offense to the people that have gotten these surgeries done; but if women now a days are constantly searching for skinny pills, strict diets, and are getting lipo- sections done instead of setting a goal to eat healthier and work harder in the gym.. does that not prove that there is a real issue on our influences around us?

And from my experience in Brazil, apparently America is are also influencing them to use credit cards.  Since it is recommended to get one to start your freaking credit (WHYYY). I remember talking to many Brazilians, asking them why they even had one because I don't and one answer I got was " If all the Americans have it and use it to buy anything they want with out really having the physical money why can't I have one?" RESULTS.. most likely big fat pool of debt.

To be brainwashed or not to be, that is the real question?

We all are very capable of learning the real facts. Most of us have smart phones or a library with internet access and can start changing the way we think and perceive life. If you really want to make a difference, we first have to start with ourselves so we can create the domino affect within our family and friends.  Abetter place starts with a better you. Just take action!

I highly suggest you get this book!! It is the best book that has landed in my hands, you won't regret it!

"Success is never owned, it is only rented, and the rent is due everyday." - Rory Vaden

Peace & love,

Alba