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Good morning. My normal Friday morning routine is to train a client, workout, train another client and then teach hot yoga but…I hit the wall yesterday so I’m sitting at home drinking coffee instead. I was really exhausted coming off of last weekend’s teacher training/workshop/teaching trifecta and I even told Tanner on Monday that if I didn’t slow down I knew I would get sick…and I did. There is so much crap going around in Charlotte right now (and everywhere it seems…both of my parents are getting over terrible sinus/respiratory infections).

Peanut Butter Runner Jen

The first sign that things were going down the sick road was when I went for a run on Wednesday and struggled something serious. It was gorgeous outside, 70 with no humidity, I had not run since Saturday and had only done yoga and rest days leading up to the run. My body felt so lethargic that I literally had to stop running and just stand on the side of the road like five times. I was standing there thinking, “what gives!?” When I woke up the next morning with a sore throat, I knew.

Black Elderberry Syrup

I started taking Black Elderberry Syrup yesterday (which effectively took me off the Whole30 on day 25 because the first ingredient is glucose syrup but I say oh well to that). This is my first time using Black Elderberry Syrup but after hearing so many of my friends talk up its immunity boosting abilities, I decided to give it a go. I’m also drinking a ton of hot tea (with honey to coat my throat) and gargling salt water, which has helped with throat pain more than anything else.

I woke up this morning feeling considerably better but still decided to forego training and teaching in hopes that I can stop this from turning into something full-force terrible. I think I’m going to go make a big cold-pressed green juice with lots of kale, citrus and ginger after I finish this post.

Oh, and thank you for all of your comments and support RE: my car issues last week. I wish I could say that I had an update for you but I haven’t heard from the dealership since Monday. They told me the car was “running fine” and that they wanted to keep holding onto it until they could replicate the issue. So frustrating because I didn’t got a single day without having it not start or shut off for a week. At least they’re committed to figuring it out and they gave me a car to drive in the meantime.

Let’s talk about something a little more fun than sore throats and car troubles.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili

Food! You’ll notice this week’s eats were heavy on slow cooker and one-dish/bowl kind of meals. I made a batch of slow cooker sweet potato chili that we ate off of for several meals.

Namastay Kitchen Salad

I ate this delicious salad earlier in the week before I started feeling bad. Our kitchen staff at Namastay is so accommodating of all of my special requests and substitutions and this pretty salad they sent out to me made me smile. I’ve been doing a simple olive oil and balsamic on the side for dressing when I’m out.

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Slow cooker Indian Butter Chicken over cauli rice. This dinner was amazing and I’m posting the recipe for you tomorrow so you can prep it for next week!

Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowls Whole30

You knew I had to squeeze this in, right? 😉 Sweet potato breakfast bowls with scrambled eggs. We’ve been mixing full fat coconut milk into our sweet potatoes and it’s so so yum.

Salad with arugula, lemon pepper seasoned chicken tenders, apples, avocado, dried unsweetened cherries and toasted pecans

Salad with arugula, lemon pepper seasoned chicken tenders, apples, avocado, dried unsweetened cherries and toasted pecans.

Sauteed butternut squash, chicken tenders, baby kale and avocado.

A very random but very tasty dinner bowl whipped up at 9:30 one night. Sauteed butternut squash, chicken tenders, baby kale and avocado.

Seared sesame tuna with wasabi aioli

The highlight of my culinary week was making homemade mayo successfully for the first time. It’s AMAZING! I used it to make a wasabi aioli for seared sesame tuna. I served it over mixed sauteed veggies from Trader Joe’s. I had a few requests for this recipe over on Instagram so I’ll add it to the running list!

Sesame seared tuna over sauteed spinach with avocado and wasabi aioli.

Leftover tuna over sauteed spinach with avocado and wasabi aioli.

Off to make a gigantic green juice.

Any favorite natural remedies to fight off sickness?

Have you ever made homemade mayo?

Most random thing you ate this week?

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