I have written posts about traveling as a health-a-holic before, and those posts mainly centered around the extreme anxiety I felt when going to a place that didn’t have Whole Foods, Juice Press and Integral Yoga Market within walking distance. (Refresher: me traveling to Cabo with a bag of food the size of my body… My tiny body might I add, since this was in the days when I was seriously panicked to eat anything but fruit, veggies, or nuts. I’ve come a long way, guys!)

Now I am evolving from a total health-a-holic into a “I do things in moderation because I’m healthy but also want to enjoy my life to the fullest and not make my friend’s/family’s lives super hard when they’re with me” kind of gal. Baby steps, but I am getting there. This weekend I tried my very best to roll with the punches (umm, did you see yesterday’s post on alcohol?!) and although I did bring a cooler of food the size of Montana, it was just because I have learned what it takes to come prepared.

I should add that (other than Clare! My trusty vegan BFF / fellow Blonde Vegan) everyone in the house was living off of burgers, hotdogs and beer for the weekend. Not super conducive to the way I do things. So here are a few things I picked up to snack on over the weekend:

Kind bars (honey Nazis, come at me if you must… read this if you want to see what I have to say about eating honey!), Suja juices (obsession and a half. These saved my hung over booty three mornings in a row this weekend), Kombucha (this is becoming a daily thing for me), Larabars (the ultimate between-meal sustenance!), berries and apples (nothing beats totally fresh fruit) and dried apple rings (YUM).

I also brought a bag of gluten-free steel cut oats, which served as the BEST breakfast each morning. It was perfect because it filled me up, gave me lots of energy (to party and swim and play tennis and hang at the beach all day, duh), tasted delish and it was super easy to make. And, truth be told, almost every single person in the house said they were jealous of my oats throughout the weekend! I tried to share… and then my bowl face planted in the ground (true story) which was probs a sign that I needed to keep it all to myself.

On top of the food I crammed into my lovely Trader Joe’s portable cooler bag, I also hopped in the car with the boys to head to the store the moment we arrived. I stocked up on lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, beets, green beans, limes, lemons, tofu, sweet potatoes and black beans. Perfect ingredients for yummy salads and simple dinners. Here was one dinner, from our Mexican food night:

And here were the salads I made for Clare and I just about every day. They consisted of mixed greens, tofu, cherry tomatoes, carrots, avocado, green beans, beets and fresh lime juice:

By Monday, I think everyone was wishing they were lunching on big green salads instead of leftover burgers, hotdogs and burritos. And I swear that maintaining a healthy diet made my hangovers more manageable than some of my non-veggie eating counterparts.

Plus, the adorable coffee shop in town had green smoothies, which was the hugest and best surprise of all time! I actually didn’t order one, since I already had my Suja in tow, but I was thrilled for my hung over friends to be able to drink yummy greens and was of course beyond happy to see green smoothies at a small town coffee shop. (Modeling the lovely LIMES below… to be paired with tequila shots…)

All in all, the weekend food-wise was a major success, and I definitely attribute that to A) being freakishly prepared and B) knowing that simple is best when it comes to meal prep on the go.

It’s amazing to see how much more sense the food I bring with me on vacation makes now than it did a year and a half ago. Steel cut oats, juices, fruit, bars and salad supplies make WAY more sense than trying to smuggle fresh veggies and Trader Joes veggie burgers across the border… ayi yi yi.

And, I have to admit, it was reeeal nice coming back to my original green smoothie yesterday morning. Hit. The. Spot.

Not that drinking equals enjoying life. It doesn’t. If you prefer to be 100% sober all the time, then that is also a fantastic prerogative. I have done that for months at a time and have been entirely happy with the results both mentally and physically. I stopped drinking for a few months when I graduated college because suddenly it felt so freeing that my social life no longer revolved around taking shots, going to bars and parties that were identical to the ones I had been going to for four years, celebrating events that revolved around alcohol, and day drinking because “when are we ever going to be able to have this lifestyle again?”

Umm, now I know that’s a silly reason. I live in Manhattan where day drinking is the thing to do, and brunching over mimosas and some seriously aggressive cocktails is the norm. And I still hear people say – “Why not? When are we ever going to be able to do this again?!” (There I am in the green!)

I also have a lot of friends in the health blogging community who prefer not to drink at all, since there are obvious downsides (what alcohol does to your liver, for one) and the fact that people who maintain a super healthy lifestyle have a hard time being cool with being hung over and rundown the next day.

I currently find myself somewhere in the middle. I have been on the opposite end of both extremes – college Jordan (wild) and post-college Jordan (terrified to have a sip of alcohol) and now I am trying to coast in the middle. While I was happy not drinking at all for a while after college, abstaining from alcohol did manage to get in the way of my social life when I first moved to New York. I find that I am happier and, in many senses, healthier (in the mind!!) when I allow myself to relax and have a few drinks.

And, because I know the question is coming… how often do I drink? Usually about once a week I will have a cocktail or two with friends. This weekend? Enough cocktails and vodka shots to last me for a WHILE. It was fun, and even though I do kind of feel like I have been hit by a bus repeatedly and my voice is gone and my body isn’t sure if it has slept at all in the last 72 hours… I had a blast of a weekend and I don’t regret my choices.

As someone who is ridiculously controlling in the food department, allowing myself to let loose and enjoy life without stressing over my health and exercise and food choices for a few days is realllly good in a psychological sense. I do believe that is important first and foremost. I mean… look at how happy I am in these pics!

And I got to rock my “Is Vodka Vegan?” shirt all weekend, so that was a plus and a half. You can buy the shirt here, if you’re interested! 

Also, when you maintain a plant-based lifestyle, you don’t need to drink nearly as much to start feeling a buzz as you do when you are eating carb-heavy foods and red meat. Definitely something to keep in mind. I used to have to drink about double what I do now in order to feel the same effects!

Tomorrow I will share my Hamptons eats with you – I went food prep CRAZY as always, and it certainly did not disappoint. I also had Clare there with me, who is newly vegan, so it was beyond fun for me to have a vegan buddy and someone to share my veggie-filled meals with while everyone else was subsisting on burgers and hotdogs. 

Also… the Hamptons are gorgeous! I had always had a picture of them in my mind (especially from Revenge, thanks ABC) and for once the image in my head was very similar to reality. Sprawling green lawns, tons of beautiful trees, long, winding driveways, lovely beaches and the cutest beachfront stores, restaurants and bars.

In other news, I am growing increasingly sad to be moving away from NYC in a little over a month. I am so happy and comfortable here now, it’s going to be a very bittersweet move (but I know LA will not leave me hanging). I will especially miss my sissy… it’s been so, so fun living together in NYC. So fun, in fact, that I seem to have lost my eyes in this photo with her…

What are your thoughts on alcohol? Have you evolved from a partyer to a mellower person and back again like me – or do you like to abstain from alcohol / drink in moderation / what?! I am so curious.