Weekend Recap

Whew, I’m kind of behind on posting. I didn’t post at first because nothing interesting in my life was happening, and then I got busy! So let’s just go through some pictures from the weekend and I’ll talk about my weekend there. ImageHeehee, yogurt bowl. Nothing new here. ImageImageImageI really want spin shoes!ImageThis is the point in my week where I ran out of yogurt, so my snack was egg beaters and pesto. Hey, you could do worse. ImageFriday evening picnic because 3 of my friends had birthdays that week. Lots of good food and veggies! Including guac…can’t complain.ImageSuch a nice evening on the “lake.” 30 years ago there was an actual lake here, but they stopped filling it so it is only full in the winter. There’s still some water though!ImageSaturday morning breakfast finished off my egg beaters, which was more or less the last food I had left in my dorm. Saturday morning also featured a hike with an upperclassman in my sorority. She is a Biology major as well, so we had a great time chatting away. I run this trail all the time (in theory…) but never think to take pics, so here it is! ImageImageImageImageAfter the hike, I was more than ready for Mexican food Saturday brunch, featuring guacamole!ImageImageA VERY typical snack for me 🙂ImageThe point in my weekend where I stopped caring that I ran out of yogurt and started stealing my roommate’s. It’s ok, I repaid her in chocolate hazelnut butter. ImageYogurt in a jar definitely rivals oats in a jar. And I’m taking credit for it. ImageWhat is this? A meal on a non-paper plate? That’s right! I went home yesterday to work out at my gym there and enjoy delicious food. Mashed sage yams, brussels sprouts that are actually cooked, corn on the cob, and barbecue chicken. ImagePlus real fruit!ImageAnd this guy 🙂

And of course, baking. ImageI’m still unsure about posting the recipe because it was highly experimental. I liked it, but not sure that others would. ImageI majorly modified my favorite pumpkin bread recipe and ended up with what I will call Gluten Free Coconut Pumpkin Pudding Bread. 

Last night I lifted weights (my gym at home is SO much nicer), and this morning I went to abs class and did a spin class on my own that I wrote up for myself. SO I guess you could say I did a spin workout, but since I want to be a spin teacher, I designed it in a class format. 

Breakfast was a smoothie with milk, spinach, mango, cherries, and strawberries, plus some of my baking experiment from the night before. ImageAnd lunch and dinner at school consisted of leftovers from home! YUM.ImageImageNow, I realize this post was really long, so yay if you made it this far! And I promise to be a better blogger and actually post as it happens so it won’t be so bad!

What is your favorite home cooked meal?

Admit Weekend

Today marks the start of Admit weekend! That means over 1000 high school seniors are visiting campus to decide if it is a good match. We have 2 staying in our room. I have yet to meet mine (I met my roommate’s), yet her stuff is in my room….

Let’s do a quick recap of yesterday. I began my morning with an almost 4 mile run. I wore my Garmin, which definitely made me push my pace more, although I am still out of shape.  I was like 7 minutes faster than the last time I ran it when I was first recovering.  I did a quick ab circuit, then ate some eggs and yogurt. ImageFor lunch I got a salad at the salad place. That place is crazy expensive! My salad was $12, which I would never pay for a salad, except for the fact that for me it isn’t “real” money. I can se my meal plan dollars that come with my meal plan, which I always have a ton of extra at the end of the quarter. I saved the other half for dinner (they’re HUGE).Image

Southwest salad with salmon and avocado.

I went to yoga last night as well. Yesterday, I discovered something interesting while doing my reading homework. I do a lot better with my reading (more focused) if I do it while doing yoga/stretching. So yes, today I am sore from doing my homework. I am already getting more flexible though, so I’ll take it!

This morning began with an abs circuit which I found here, and Spin. I also wrote up a Spin class for myself, complete with music, to do later this week. GAH I want to teach Spin so badly! I need to get Spin shoes at some point though…

Breakfast was a classic: yogurt with half a muffin and sunflower seed butter. Plus a mango.ImageI was SO tired this morning. I took a long, very disorienting nap after my 9am class. Lately, I’ve been confused over what day it is. Well, in my dream, I was confused about what day it was. And in my dream it was Admit weekend, and a few other events happened that are happening now. SO confusing. Except in my dream the Admits threw a huge party and got arrested. That hasn’t happened yet. There are a few things I am still trying to decide if I dreamt or read in a half-awake state…nonetheless I woke up quite confused. Lunch was out of my microwave: a scramble with egg beaters, the rest of my spinach, and the rest of my garlic and herb laughing cow. I think a grocery trip this weekend is in order. I think I’m going to go home on Sunday. Not gonna lie, I want to use my home gym and go to my abs class on Monday at home. Image

After my afternoon class, I decided to do some yoga in my room, since I couldn’t go to a class today (I had to pick up my Admits). I whipped up a 20 minute playlist and got to work on the floor in my dorm room. It’s weird, all this stretching has made me crave yoga. I was sitting in my morning class and couldn’t think of anything that I wanted to do more than half moon (I was sore). 

In Psych, we talked about how whatever environment/state you are in when learning something, you will remember the material more if you are in the same environment/state. Since it is a Psych class, it should be acceptable to start doing yoga during a test to help me remember, right?

Dinner was with Admits at our boring dining hall. ImageIt was SUPER crowded. And not that good. Salad, beets, and veggie pot pie filling over brown rice (hey, it’s healthier than with a biscuit, right??). 

Plus lots of snacks today. Probably too many. It’s nearly impossible for me to practice intuitive eating if I’ve eaten anything sweet. I simply cannot detect the signal, which as a future nutrition scientist, is super interesting to me. 

Warning: I am about to nerd-out. 

My hypothesis is that this is related to the fact that fructose (a component of sugar) does not inhibit the hunger hormones when you eat it, meaning it doesn’t make you less hungry. Additionally, leptin is not stimulated, which is the hormone that tells you you are full. This is super interesting to me because this was an effect I’ve read about numerous times, but never really thought about how it felt in myself. I’m totally going out on a limb here, but the feeling I get to simply stop eating (before I even get the feeling of fullness), which is super subtle, by the way, is actually my leptin signal. Cool, right??

Ok, sorry for that tangent! I’ll keep you guys updated on my efforts to convince the Admits to come here!

 

Intuition

Hey guys! I have a busy day (well, I have a lot of work) so I’m going to go through this post quickly. My morning started with spin…it’s been seriously kicking my butt lately!

For breakfast, I had some Greek yogurt with some sunflower seed butter and half of a Morning Glory muffin, which my fabulous mother made and delivered to me yesterday. They are Paleo, and only have 1 tablespoon of honey in the whole batch! ImageI was so tired this morning. I seriously need to get more sleep. I took 3 mini naps, which were glorious. After mini-nap #1 was lunch. Nothing special; microwave egg scramble with spinach, leftover onion (from our guacamole party), salsa, and nutritional yeast. 

ImageToday I decided to make some changes in my routine and life. Ok, not that dramatic. But I am seriously trying to improve my intuitive and mindful eating. This means deciding if I’m REALLY hungry, not eating past being full, and deciding if treats are REALLY worth it. Part of this was to stop eating as a habit. My worst habit? Eating the second I walk into my dorm room. I’m trying to redirect my habits, so here’s what I did today. 

Started off with a big cup of water; I feel like I always need to be drinking!Image

Then, I saw my knitting project on the shelf that I started in January and haven’t touched since. I turned on some tunes and was ready to form new habits!ImageIt actually turned out to be a great way to relax and unwind from the day. I really enjoyed myself. 

After nap #3, I started doing some of my reading and headed to dinner. ImageThe food wasn’t terrible today; I’ll take it!

And since I never show you my fruit…ImageAnother highlight of my day included a tour of my professor’s lab, and a discussion about his research on genetics. 

Have a great week!

What do you think about intuitive eating? Do you do it?

California Sunshine

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here lately! Well, actually kind of hot. Yesterday my room never cooled off and I was sweating just sitting in there doing my homework. Today was better though! Yesterday basically consisted of yogurt for me. As in I ate a ton of yogurt. ImageImageImageAnd that covers maybe half of the yogurt I consumed. I’m really not a fan of the yoplait Greek yogurt I got…you can really taste the Sucralose. I ended up mixing it with the plain Greek yogurt I brought back from the dining hall, which was much more manageable. 

My weekend was definitely lacking in workouts (I blame the heat) so I kicked my week off the right way with a weight lifting workout. ImageFun fact: I screenshot my workout and then set it as my iPhone backdrop. And then usually forget to change it back for at least a week….

This is one of my current favorite workouts to do at the gym at school. I did it a ton the first quarter. I’ve done it once since being sick, but I scaled back a lot of the reps and weight. Well, today I did it all. A) I’m going to be sooo sore tomorrow. B) I was expecting my rowing to be a lot slower than it was…I’ve recovered a lot from the beginning of this quarter!

I had to cut the burpees short because someone was waiting on my bar so I rushed straight through the overhead squats. 

After my workout, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my dining hall had Greek yogurt (normally a different one only has it). I topped it with frozen berries and pineapple, which I ended up having to thaw so I wouldn’t freeze my teeth off. ImageOn the side is a veggie filled scramble. 

Lunch was another salad, similar to a lot that I had last week, chicken southwest. ImageI’m trying not to waste any meal plan dollars this quarter, and I really can’t complain about this salad! On another note, my no sweet challenge is going really well! I think just putting it out there is really going to help me get back on track. I resisted frozen yogurt (despite the perfect weather), as well as several other things. It just makes you think twice about putting something in your mouth. My eating overall had felt really good today. Consequently, as I avoid sweets, I’m also avoiding gluten products. Because honestly, I can live without plain bread. 

After class, I went on a bike ride. I’ve been dreading running lately, so I just haven’t done anything. I decided I needed I new hobby and something active outside, and I seriously think I have found it. It was a beautiful day (although a little warm), and I just had the best ride. I didn’t even notice my breathing hard or my burning legs. I think I may have found my thing. The ride out was mostly slightly uphill the whole time, which allowed me to really fly on the way back. I ended up riding for a little over an hour. The ride was so awesome minus one small mishap. And by mishap, I mean me wiping out. Yeahh. I haven’t actually done this before, despite my shaky beginnings on a bike. It was really dumb. I was back on campus, and going at like 2 miles an hour, but the bike lane was really narrow and then the the pavement dropped off. I skimmed the edge and then just went down. But since I was going slow, and knew pretty quickly I had no chance, the fall ended up being really minor. I’m not even scratched up, just a bruise on my knee and cramped up fingers. My fingers were cramped from riding so long, and then having the handle bars ripped out….But it was a fun ride! I ended up in a sort of rural area with horses. The view was beautiful, but I didn’t take pictures because quite frankly, I didn’t want to die. Stopping at the side of the road for a photo shoot…not a good way to go! My butt was starting to hurt by the end, although I’m not sure if it was from the effort or from the seat. So combined with squats…ohhh tomorrow. 

Embarrassing sidenote: SInce I want to practice talking while exercising (for teaching Spin one day), I decided it was appropriate to singe while biking on the way back. Outside noise was loud enough and I was moving fast enough that I figured no one would notice. 

Dinner was delicious: burrito bowl with guac!ImageThis was at a dining hall I almost never go to, although I don’t know why given it’s fairly close and there’s guacamole every night…They also had Greek yogurt! And frozen blueberries to top it with! Jealous. Well it was good. I’m hoping to have a productive night. It’s midterm season, yayyy. Plus I seriously need to get some sleep. I never seem to get any anymore…

Have you ever wiped out on a bike?

How’s the weather where you are?

Search Fun

As some of you may have seen, some bloggers are talking about their search terms (the phrases people search and then get directed to our blogs). I especially liked this post

I thought it could be fun to do something similar. As it turns out, about 50% of the searches, maybe more, were people looking for mug brownies. I think I’m going to have to master a healthy recipe once my Spring Cleaning no sweets challenge ends. Which is appropriate given the other 50% of searches had something or other to do with no sugar challenges. I guess I better live up to my reputation! If you haven’t yet, join me on this challenge! Just leave a comment below. All you have to do is not eat sweets for the erst of the month (which is only like 9 days). Anyway, what were some other fun search items?

“my salsa says that there is no sugar added but it has 1g of sugar”

Ok, not that fun, but I could talk about sugar content in foods all day. Very representative of my blog. 

“rowing hoodies, i row so i can eat cake”

Bahahaha so true. Sooo true. 

“example of my secret dream”

Yeah, no clue on that one. 

“healthy living blogs make me always think about food”

Glad to know I’m not the only one! Don’t tell me you guys can’t relate to this!

“sick mono paleo”

Story of my life for the last 2 months…

“you eat all l my proteins cat”

Yes. Just yes. I suppose I do talk about cats a tad bit…

“for me i think it was about…yesterday or maybe about today when i figured this all out.”

Jealous! Please share?

“i didn’t finish my avocado, how do i save it?”

This is practical more than anything. Put it in a ziplock bag and pop it into the fridge! Lime juice prevents browning, or you could just scrape off the surface. 

“i love the feeling of glucose filling”

I’m not sure what this means but I don’t think it sounds very pleasant.

“diet makes me obsessed with peanut butter”

I love this. Because who isn’t obsessed with peanut butter?

“why aurora is used in sweets and what its function”

Hmm last I checked I wasn’t used in sweets…but that is a good question, what is my function?

“my cat loves bananas and peanut butter”

Once again, LOVE. My cat likes bread, and I like bananas and peanut butter, does that count?Image

“i’m dying i haven’t had sugar in 2 days”

Haha, sugar cravings at their finest. 

“can i drink recovery drink if im sore”

This one I just want to answer. YES! When you’re sore is when your muscles need the most protein to rebuild!

“overdose cocoa powder”

Yes. Yes, this is possible. See here.

“which will you eat amongst oats(jungle), peanutbutter(black cat) and maize meal(super b) if you want to lose weight”

Ok, someone please explain this to me?

“can I eat a mug brownie every day”

Well, you can certainly try!

“describe the feeling of falling wiping out skiing”

Hey, I only had ONE post about this! 

Well, this was certainly fun! It’s always interesting to see what people search for!

Have you started the Spring Cleaning to sweets challenge? Join me!