Why I'm Eating After 7PM

This post is brought to you by our sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. The opinions expressed below are my own.

So, if you read my last “After 7PM” post, you know that I’ve started a new diet journey, though I don’t like to think of it as a diet, because I can eat goods I like and not want to kill myself in the process. Always Eat After 7 PM: The Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet That Lets You Enjoy Huge Dinners, Desserts, and Indulgent Snacks—While Burning Fat Overnight by Joel Marion shows how you don’t have to starve to get fit or healthy. “Fact is, most diets are extremely narrow with regard to food choices and  variety, and many even limit entire macronutrients altogether over the course of the entire pro-gram (think low-carb and low-fat diets).”

Nobody wants to eat “diet” food. It sucks. I like to travel, I like to eat good food, and I even like to make good food choices, but not if the results make me unhappy and like I’m missing out on everything out there that I could be eating.

I love this excerpt from the book, because it definitely speaks to me: “You will eat large, delicious meals. You will enjoy foods you love. You will not feel deprived. You will enjoy meals and snacks at night. And you will lose weight quickly and safely in the process.”

I still want to look good in a bathing suit and I want to have the stamina to keep up with the things I want to do in life and on vacation. On my last big trip I walked over 60 miles in the course of two weeks, much of which was uphill, and I walked a marathon over a four-day visit to Disneyland and Universal Studios. I didn’t complain, but I was tired. I’m not in the best shape, so I could definitely stand to be healthier and shed a few pounds, which is what I’m aiming to get from Eat After 7PM.

Joel created this diet for me and others like me. Let’s see why this diet works and why it works for everyone. Here’s what Joel Marion had to say about his background and motivation to help others get healthier and lose weight:

Q: What inspired you to write the book?

A: After authoring 6 best-selling books it was glaringly obvious there were 2 huge misconceptions about dieting that needed to be exposed. The first is that you can't eat late at night or before bed, which science now shows is NOT true. And second, you can't eat large portions that satisfy your natural instinct. This book solves both these problems by providing an evidence-based, enjoyable approach to dieting that can be used by any person to quickly achieve their weight loss goals.

Q: What was the most surprising discovery when you were researching scientific data for the diet?

A: That almost everything my college education and certifications taught me was NOT grounded in published scientific research.

Q: How difficult is the Always Eat After 7 PM plan to follow?

A: It's not. And that's exactly why I wrote the book. While any diet is never truly easy, it can be more enjoyable and much easier to adhere to when you understand how Always Eat After 7pm works because it caters to our body’s natural instincts.

Because this diet works for everyone, I’m excited to see where it takes me and how it can change my eating habits, and, by extension, my daily life and energy levels.

Always Eat After 7 PM: The Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet That Lets You Enjoy Huge Dinners, Desserts, and Indulgent Snacks—While Burning Fat Overnight by Joel Marion is now available to purchase. Learn more about the book and how to purchase here.

This post is brought to you by our sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. The opinions expressed above are my own.

My Alternative to Portland Rose Festival

This year has been weird, but we're finding cool things where we can, and that means we'll be doing a lot of local tourism that's also responsible. The Portland Rose Festival would be happening right about now and The Grand Floral Parade is one of the biggest draws to Downtown Portland. We've been spending some weekends driving around to the Parading In Place homes, but the other part of this festival is the floats made of flowers. 

These floats are amazing and covered in flowers, and even though I'm not usually into flowers, I'm always awed by the amount of work these participants put in. I used to have a job that shared a parking lot with the warehouses where these floats were created, so every once in a while we were allowed to come check it out or we saw floats coming and going. I have noticed some great gardens in my own neighborhood, so I took a walk the other day to capture some of my favorite blooms. 

 

Because I suffer from allergies, it's hard for me to get too excited by most flowers, but I can't deny how beautiful Spring is and how talented my neighbors are. Since I also won't be able to enjoy the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival or the Dahlia Festival, I found this to be the next best thing. Here are just a few of the awesome gardens near me:

I want to thank those in my neighborhood that help beautify it. I also want to show you that just because so much stuff is cancelled or postponed, doesn't mean we only get to sit in our homes and binge Netflix and eat chips. Our cities in Oregon are "opening" in June, but we'll still be trying to be careful about our activities. Much of our summer will be enjoying outdoor spaces, including patio dining, food trucks, Portland parks, and street art.  You can do the same wherever you live. While I'll be writing about some of it, make sure to follow me on Instagram to see more pics. 

You can also see more of my favorite gardens from my travels:

• Longwood Gardens
• Bellagio Conservatory
• Ethel M Cactus Garden
• San Diego Botanic Garden
• Kew Gardens
• United States Botanic Garden

What will you be doing in your city this summer?

4 More Ways to Stretch Your Hotel Budget

This week we're looking ahead to when we can travel again. Right now, you can still plan a trip for later. If you missed the first four tips, go check that out first. Accommodations don't have to break the bank. If you know what to look for or how to book and on what days, you can save big bucks. Imagine what else you can do on your trip with the money you save.

You can always get a better deal on your accommodations if you know what you want from one or even ask for things you wish were included. In fact, now is a great time to haggle with a hotel for amenities, because the industry is struggling and some things that they normally charge for they may be perfectly happy to include in your booking for free.

Stay in Brand New Hotels

Hotels that have been newly built or totally remodeled often have an introductory period right when they open that offers rock-bottom rates. HotelChatter is a website that not only shows reviews of hotels, but they also list the opening dates of new hotels and update them if they change. The list shows hotels worldwide, so you can search before you book your room.

Go All-Inclusive

I know you’re paying to stay at these places to be entertained and well-fed; most of them also offer free activities in the form of non-motorized watersports and even have nightly entertainment. That’s a freebie in my opinion, though you may feel differently. I suggest pricing out what you would expect to spend on your trip if you didn’t go all-inclusive and see if the savings are significant enough to go one way or the other.

Stay in a Vacation Rental

If you have a large family, this may be your perfect solution. Rentals are booked per night, not by guest counts, so whether you have three people or eight people in your travel party you pay the same price. The other pluses to a rental are: having more space to stretch out, having a kitchen to cook your own meals in (or at least store some snacks and leftovers), there aren’t 20 potential neighbors waking you up at all hours and many rentals have a washing machine. I wrote a whole post on my love of vacation rentals.

Look for Freebies

Free is always a great price, but if you don’t know how to get it, then it’s not really all that helpful. I love travel freebies and try to maximize them on every trip I take, because that’s less money I have to pay out of my own pocket. The more money I save, the better trip I can take or the more I can put towards a future vacation. There’s also the fact that if you save more, you spend less and suddenly a trip that was a little out of your reach is now within your budget!

• Free Breakfast – Free continental or buffet breakfast is a fantastic saver! On the low end, say you usually only have coffee and a bagel in the morning, you can save $5 per person, but on the higher end, if you like to eat out and have someone wait on you in the morning, you could be looking at $12+ per person.
• Kids Eat Free – If your hotel has a restaurant and they offer free dining for kids, this is another big savings. Usually, you can get free meals for up to two kids this way if you purchase an adult entrée. Assuming a kid’s meal is an average of $6, that’s up to $18 per day, per child.
• Free Wi-Fi – I always like to stay in touch while I’m on vacation, so I tend to bring my iPad and netbook everywhere I travel. This way my husband and I can both check up on what’s been happening while we’ve been gone and also communicate with friends and family. Hotels and resorts sometimes charge for internet service, or you can wait in the lobby and use one of their computers free of charge for a few minutes. Your best bet on this is to find one of the many places that give you free Wi-Fi, because it can save you weekly or daily rates, or those per-minute rates charged by Internet cafés. You also can’t do much business if you’re on a time limit.
• Laundry On-Site – While usually not free, it’s still a minimal charge to use the machines there compared to the local Laundromat or worse, the laundry services they offer where you leave your bag of clothing and then come back to fresh clothes and a bill. Generally, the machines off-site can range anywhere from $1.75 - $3.00 per load for both the washer and the dryer. If you do laundry out of the country, it can cost almost $8 just to wash your clothes. Anytime I’ve used the on-site facilities, they range from $.50-1.00 for each machine and most times they were free. It’s easy to throw clothes in while you’re resting from your day out walking.
• Free Coffee and Snacks – Many hotels offer free coffee/tea and snacks (like fruit and cookies) in the lobby. There’s no reason to not take advantage of such things that are included in your room rate. Think about all the times you want to snack during the day while you’re sightseeing. If you had a banana or some other snacky thing that you snagged on your way out, you wouldn’t have to shell out any money again until lunch or dinner. The free coffee and/or tea provided, while not fancy, can save you a trip to Starbucks in the morning.
• Free Alcoholic Beverages – If drinking is one of your favorite vacation pastimes, there are a few ways to get free drinks on your travels. The most obvious way is to stay at an all-inclusive resort where this is included. I consider it free, because you’re paying for your accommodations, entertainment and food all in one lump sum. Anything beyond that is a plus in my book. Another thing you can do is find a hotel that offers a free cocktail hour. They are kinda few and far between, but if you’re lucky you can find them.

I hope this helps you plan a fantastic trip and find the best hotel room for your needs. 

What are your favorite hotels to stay at and what makes it so awesome?