Breathe Magazine

Monica Olivas is a writer, runner and healthy living enthusiast from Maryland. In the last three months she has gotten married, moved across the country (from CA) and landed a new job! Now she’s trying to re-balance her new life and with a healthy lifestyle.

I absolutely love Michael Pollan’s new book “Food Rules”. It is full of snippets of easy, often catchy phrases that remind you of the best ways to approach food.
Some of my faves from the book are:
“If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.”
and “Avoid products that have [...]

In January I ran the Disney World Marathon. I wasn’t completely ready for the race, but I rocked it out and finished. After the race I felt exhausted and sore – just like you’d expect after running 26.2 miles! But, I didn’t feel like anything in particular hurt.
Well, a few days later on a recovery [...]

I’ve heard that living with a guy makes you more likely to gain weight and now that I’m shacking up with Ben (my husband) I can completely see why. It seems I have picked up more of his unhealthy habits than he has picked up my healthy ones!
Since I’m making dinner for a man now, [...]

Within the last eight months I have flown about 10 times! Between our honeymoon, family visits and holidays I feel like I am at the airport as much as the flight attendants. Travel can wreak havoc on eating healthy and exercise, but with a little planning you can stay on track while you’re on a [...]

As a girl who loves the outdoors and taking long walks after a day behind my desk, it can be very frustrating that the sun is down before I get the chance to take an afternoon walk. I always love having that time to unwind after a stressful day of work.
And recently my passion for [...]

I’ve had the same best friend since first grade, Cindy. She still remembers the day she met me and how she went home to tell her mom there was a girl at school with orange hair (apparently she’d never seen a red head before!). We still laugh about it.
Cindy and I just clicked and for [...]

It has always been hard for me to make friends for some reason. I don’t know if it’s something I do or say or how I act, but  one of the things I have learned about myself over the last few years is I really need to work to make friends.
This problem has been highlighted [...]

I know we’re two weeks into the New Year, but I wanted to share with you a New Year’s Resolution Ben and I made together.
Since we are still only months into our marriage we thought we’d start 2010 with a “Couple’s Resolution”. We decided to choose one resolution we could work on together that would [...]

This California girl is having a very hard time staying warm in frigid Maryland right now. I actually came home in tears after a very cold and windy run outside on Saturday. And while I would love to just complain and cry about it, we all know that’s not going to solve anything.
The harsh weather [...]

During my morning run last Thursday my foot hit a bump in the path and I fell. Hard. And by the look of the road rash on my hip, I’m pretty sure it looked like I was trying to slide into home. Ouch.
It hurt, but as soon as I fell I sprung back up and [...]

One of the biggest obstacles I am working on to overcome mindless eating is to focus on my food. I need to eat, and only eat. I don’t need to surf the internet, talk on the phone, read a magazine or watch T.V. while I’m eating.
When Ben and I are together we make it a [...]

I recently was in the market for new running shoes. I actually go through athletic shoes pretty fast since I am so hard on them! I usually have three pairs lying around the house – one or two that I actually use, and another pair that I can’t bring myself to throw away even though [...]

This morning I looked out my window and saw a horrible sight – RAIN (“Boo!” “Hiss!”)! I had a 4 mile run planned, but the weather was not motivating me to get outside at all!
I am training for the Disney World Marathon, which is only about six weeks away. So, I realized skipping out on [...]

Sorry to tell you this, but you’re not Jillian. (Unless you actually are Jillian Michaels reading this, in which case please leave a comment!).  Jillian Michaels is known for being “TV’s toughest trainer”. She even admits to it on her 30 Day Shred DVD, which I own and love. She’s tough, she yells, she gets [...]

I am still trying figure out how to make dinner for Ben and myself while staying on track with my healthy lifestyle  goals. Sometimes I do cook two different meals – last night it was a Portabella Burger for me and a Turkey Burger for him.
But, sometimes I would rather just make one meal and [...]