Day 5! And Friday, nonetheless! For our little intro topic today, I want to talk a little bit about why I personally find weight lifting to be so important for my career.

Veterinary medicine is a super physical job. Think about your vet; is he/she fit? Every vet I’ve known has been reasonably fit. You have to be. It’s an active job, and it requires strength! While I have had minor injuries here and there, I’m thankful for my general health now and am starting to think about longevity in the future in terms of my career. As a veterinarian/vet assistant, there are certain movements that you do thousands and thousands of times, and over decades, that can do some chronic damage. That’s why it’s so, so important to do things in the physiological best way. This applies to a ton of jobs, not just veterinary medicine! I lift weights so I can lift dogs.

(She loves me. Promise.)

I’m totally serious. I need the strength in my legs and knowledge of the proper lifting technique (lift with your legs, not your back!) because I have to lift 50 or 100 pounds dogs onto tables, or carry them across the room. I literally have to deadlift dogs onto tables. I was thinking about it the other day, because I had done a ton of deadlifts at Crossfit in the morning, and then found myself doing the same exact movement, but with a dog instead of a barbell. These fundamental movements are applicable to so many things in life; the positions and the muscles activated are the same, the object lifted is just different! Having good technique in life is so important for acute or chronic injury prevention.

And that, my friends, is why I lift.

But now, food. Yes?

Breakfast: Friday was not a work day, so I took the opportunity to actually sleep in. I woke up at 5:45 but forced myself to stay in bed because I knew I needed the sleep, and magically managed to sleep in to 8! Breakfast was a flapjacked muffin with a giant apricot from a farm stand. <3 California

After breakfast, I took Chloe for a walk by the lagoons. I mentioned before that my formerly broken foot has been bothering me quite a bit lately, which seems to be an indicator that I need new shoes. I was running out the door to spin yesterday and didn’t have time to get my new shoes set up, so I wore my old ones, and I seriously could not walk in them because they made my foot so painful. Well, today, I put my new ones on and it seriously felt like I had new feet. Even just driving in them, I felt the biggest difference and felt elation on the way to our walk. Note to self: don’t let shoes get so worn out! Their age totally snuck up on me, and I felt especially stupid I let it go on for so long given I had already ordered my new ones months ago, and they were just sitting in the garage.

Despite a weird rain yesterday, I can tell the weather is finally starting to warm up, despite the constant wind!

My mom and I took advantage of my day off to get our nails done (I only got a pedicure; I can’t stand to have polish on my fingers), but the only time we could get was 12, and it took a while! When we finally got out, I was starving! We stopped at Subway on our way home for salad; I got my usual: carved turkey, provolone, tomato, olives, spinach, lettuce, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.

On the side, I had a few crackers.

Despite a super late lunch, I knew I would need more fuel before evening Crossfit, so a couple of hours before class, I had one of these bars. They’re super good; they’re coated in chocolate, and basically feel like a candy bar.

I went to evening Crossfit. I guess I was pretty well rested, because I felt really great during the workout! Post-workout, I picked up burgers from The Counter for my family on the way home (they were immersed in the Warriors game). My mom and I split my signature custom burger: chicken on a GF bun with gruyere, tomato, greens, garlic aioli, and avocado. We also split a kale salad with feta and dried cranberries, and I stole a few of my parents’ fries.

The lemon vinaigrette on the salad somehow tasted just like passionfruit to me. Yum!

And since I’m ketchup-obsessed, I wanted to share one of my current faves:

This one is made with more natural ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup, and it just tastes so much better. Better than the organic Heinz, in my opinion.

For dessert, I made myself an ice cream bowl with chocolate halo top, peppermint bark bread, and some Ghiradelli chocolate syrup.

And of course I had my usual late night snack: a rice cake with whipped cream cheese. I was indecisive (what’s new), so I did half with berry and half with chive.

And now I’m off to bed! I work 7:45 Saturday morning!

 

Happy Thursday! I hope your week is going well, and that you are enjoying my full week of eating! It is definitely forcing me to blog when I otherwise wouldn’t.

Before we dive in today, I want to talk a little bit about what I would like to call the “Online Coaching Epidemic.” I’ve talked about this a little bit before, but I want to revisit the topic and share my thoughts.

Now, it seems like everyone who has any following on social media has started fitness coaching, whether it be workout programs or meal plans. What I see is especially problematic though is that almost none of these “coaches” have the appropriate qualifications. It is great to learn things about fitness and nutrition through personal experience or personal resource, but that’s not a substitute for a degree or a certification. I think one big problem is the fact that while many of these plans are “customized” to the client, the “coach” is still basing the plans more often than not on personal experience, and what works for one person may not work or may not be healthy for another person. And going even further, a lot of these people pitching “health” have a skewed version of health. I truly believe that those with some sort of real training (degree/certification) are far more qualified because through their education, they should get a more balanced and varied perspective. Another issue I foresee is that these “coaches” are getting in over their heads in terms of what their knowledge can do. These fitness plans may be fine for the average healthy person, but I don’t think these “coaches” have the training to know what to do with someone say with an injury, a mental illness, and medical condition. Just my two cents. If you are struggling with something health/nutrition related, these people are great for information or inspiration, but not necessarily for a plan. Please see a dietician (RD) or certified trainer!

Ok. Rant over. Food time?

Breakfast: I had a slice of maple blueberry bread and some strawberries that my parents picked up at a fruit stand driving through farm country. The obsession is still strong with this bread; it’s seriously so good, and my mom keeps inquiring about when I’m going to make the next batch! The answer is soon; this is the end of my freezer stash!

I went to a midmorning spin class, and had the other half of my protein bar from the previous night post-workout.

Lunch: I’m obsessed with this sandwich. It’s a slice of GF whole grain bread, garlic and herb laughing cow, lettuce, deli turkey, and perfect avocado, topped with garlic powder and salt. On the side, I had a few leftover yam slices and lots of cherries also picked up from the stand. Gilroy, about 1.5 hours away, is known for its cherries and garlic, so naturally my parents had to buy cherries and garlic!

I spent lunch+a fair amount of time after lunch watching the Giants game. It was a doozy, but we ended up winning in 10, thankfully, after a blown save. In the middle of the game, my mom and I headed to the gluten free bakery for afternoon coffee/tea and pastries. I had jasmine tea and a berry muffin.

And since Thursday is one of the few days they make donuts, and there were only 2 left, we split a chocolate donut.

I had night plans with a friend to go to after hours at the California Academy of Sciences (21+), a science museum in San Francisco, and wasn’t sure what our dinner plans were, so I had a heartier snack before my friend came.

I had a Luna bar, a bite of grilled BBQ chicken, a handful of cherries, and a couple of caesar snap peas crisps.

When she arrived to pick me up, we decided to whip up a quick meal at home. We had nachos with salsa, guacamole, and carrots.

Carrots with guacamole is one of my favorite snacks.

The museum was a lot of fun, especially because my friend knows a ton about marine biology and there were extensive aquariums. Here are a couple of pictures from the rainforest area, with butterflies!

Afterwards, for my bedtime snack, I had a big bowl of lemon Halo top.

And now it’s past my bedtime!

Day 3 of my full week of eating; let’s go!

Pre-Crossfit was the same-old, same-old: Strawberry Cheerios.

I was actually really hungry at 5:30am this morning, so I grabbed a bite of this banana cocoa bar on the way out the door.

Crossfit was pretty good, but shoulder heavy. We did presses which I sort of hate but know I need to work on , followed by a WOD that included clean and jerks, rowing, and pistols. My coach actually started having us do a cool scale for the pistols. We put a band between lowered squat racks and do a pistol onto that.

I actually started work at 7:45am today, so I changed into my scrubs at Crossfit (I don’t feel bad about not showering post-Crossfit because I am going to get infinitely grosser at work than I possibly could get at Crossfit). I packed a breakfast of half a piece of GF bread with sunbutter and a dark chocolate protein shake.

This protein shake gets an A+ for me. A lot of protein shakes tastes artificial and/or are overloaded with sugar. This one had a very simple ingredient list and tasted fantastic.

Lunch: I packed a salad with leftover grilled chicken, apple, shredded aged cheddar, and champagne vinaigrette. GF crackers and a ginger chew on the side.

Afternoon snack: Luna bar.

While we’re discussing work, I want to talk a little bit about why I’m getting really excited to get into veterinary medicine. Now that I’ve gotten my bearings back at the vet, and most days are crazy-crazy, I’m falling back in love with being in a clinic. The other day we had an emergency come in. The symptoms were sort of general, but serious. My untrained eye had no idea what was going on, but the veterinarian was able to figure it out and treat the pet based on some test results. This was such a great example of the beautiful process of medicine; the problem solving, finding a solution based on data. It’s awesome. Now that I’m back in the trenches, I’m back to being amazed by how lucky I am to have found my passion and direction, and so excited by the medicine and the animals. The other moment, I was staring at a cat, and had a moment where I thought….wow, it’s really freaking cool that we have these amazing animals living in our houses and interacting with us. The human-animal relationship is an incredible and beautiful thing.

But back to the food.

I got off work earlier than normal since I worked the early shift, and had a really long debate over whether or not I should hit up a fun yoga class that I normally have to work during. I literally did multiple u-turns, but ultimately decided to go. The only problem? By the time I arrived at the gym, I was STARVING. Thankfully, my gym sells a variety of protein bars and I knew they had a brand that I wasn’t allergic to. This cookie dough bar was literally a godsend, and really good (I’ve had this brand but not this flavor…this is the best flavor).

I ate half the bar while changing out of my scrubs.

The yoga class is fun and really different than my typical vinyasa. We get deep into different stretches and positions, and I realized how tight my body was from the past week! Definitely much needed.

For dinner, my dad grilled chicken with BBQ sauce. On the side, we had roasted yams and roasted asparagus.

For dessert, I had a couple of strawberries straight from the farm (my parents went on a road trip).

Plus a little Halo Top bowl: vanilla ice cream with half a slice of (formerly) frozen chocolate chip pumpkin bread and some fudge sauce.

After dinner, I walked to the hallway and saw a loose towel. When I examined further, I found a very guilty looking kitty and several towels that he dug out to make a little nest for himself in the laundry basket.

These animals.

My bedtime snack was the usual: brown rice cake with whipped berry cream cheese.

Hello, hello! Here we are on the second day of my full week of eating, still going strong!

One of my goals this week is to eat more protein, and that seemed to be the focus today. Here’s a little tip: when packing a lunch or planning out your meals, think about what your workout will be. When I saw what this morning’s Crossfit workout was, I knew it was going to be really taxing, and I was probably going to 1. be hungrier and 2. need more protein for recovery.

Let’s dive in, WIAW (<-OG WIAW) style, shall we?

Pre-workout: Strawberry Cheerios. The usual.

Workout: we did some work on Olympic lifts, before the WOD. It was:

4 rounds

25 double unders

20 wall balls

25 deadlifts (95#)

The deadlifts weren’t heavy, but there were a lot of them! This was a fun one. My double unders cooperated for the first set, and then went downhill a bit as my arms got tired. I finished in around 13 minutes, and my shoulder blades were feeling it right away from the deadlift/wallball combo.

One interesting thing I want to say is that my formerly broken foot has been bothering me these last few days which I mentioned earlier. It’s been a year since I got the boot off, and while having a little pain here or there for many months afterwards, this was kind of surprising. I’m pretty sure this means I need new shoes, and I think my walking around Nikes are the culprits. In the fall when I had similar pain, I got new shoes and it went away. If the sole near the ball of my foot gets too floppy, I guess it puts too much flection in my foot and makes it hurt after a while. I felt like the shoes were pretty new still, but I realized they are over 6 months old at this point! The last couple months have completely flown by, especially without the school year to mark time. The shoes easily have 200 miles in them already!

Breakfast:

Flapjacked muffin+blueberries (the whole container). For some reason, blueberries are my favorite fruit to eat with these muffins.

Lunch: I had a normal person lunch schedule at work today! I was STARVING by my lunch break. I honestly don’t often feel hungry during work, so it must have been the workout.

I had a salad with rotisserie chicken, peach, goat cheese, and champagne vinaigrette. On the side I had gluten free crackers and a ginger chew.

Snack: I packed a granola bar, but we had a meeting scheduled. I didn’t have a chance to eat my bar, but my boss got everyone Starbucks. I got a decaf iced latte, but only got through about half of the venti.

Dinner: After stripping down and throwing my shoes in the wash (a dog urinated all down my leg and onto my shoe today. I switched scrub pants at work but there wasn’t anything I could do about my soaking foot all day….), I made a quick dinner. What did I have? Essentially ketchup.

I had more rotisserie chicken dipped in ketchup, and a sweet potato (microwaved) with cheese, dipped in ketchup. Plus a side salad with a light spray of olive oil, super aged (25 years?) white balsamic, salt and pepper.

For dessert, I had a few bites of ice cream while I whipped up some flapjacked cookies. I realized after the fact that they were super similar to my breakfast.

I use the flapjacked mix and use liquid eggs whites and applesauce in place of eggs and butter. Egg whites instead of eggs only because it’s a lot easier to whip up a single serving with egg whites, rather than get 1/3 of an egg. I made the double chocolate.

And finally, I rounded out my day with a brown rice cake topped with alouette garlic and herb cheese, plus a few GF crackers while packing my meals for Wednesday!

So this week, I’m making it my goal to post every day and post a full day of eating. I want to do this for several reason; it’s really great having a ton of meal ideas to look back on when I’m stuck, and because while I’m happy with how I eat, I want to push myself to focus more on healthier foods (like more fruits, veggies, and protein.) My blog is an interesting record for me, and I spent a little time the other night analyzing different phases of eating over the past few years. I want to try some things out, so why not document what’s happening around here? So let’s do it!

Pre-Crossfit, I had some strawberry Cheerios. I was going to finish the box of apple cinnamon Cheerios (my favorite) but they were horribly stale.

At Crossfit, we maxed out reps for 85% max +5# squats, and I got 7 at 170. I think I probably could have gotten 1 or 2 more, but we didn’t have a ton of time.

Post-workout breakfast was a smoothie I’ve been wanting to try for a while! Sort of a healthy shamrock shake (which I’ve never actually had): a mint smoothie!

I blended up leftover fresh mint leaves with 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 packet vanilla Quest protein, a touch of vanilla extract, and a frozen banana. On the side, I had half a piece of GF bread with sunbutter.

A little while after breakfast, I took Chloe for a walk by the bay.

This time though, we went on a portion of the bay trail that was in the middle of our two normal walking places, and we both enjoyed the change of scenery.

After our walk, I was thirsty so I drank my last Zevia cream soda while waiting for lunch.

Around noon, I made a quite delicious lunch. I made an open faced turkey sandwich on gluten free toast with 1 wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow, butter lettuce, and avocado from our CSA box topped with salt and garlic powder. On the side, I had watermelon and Pirate’s Booty.

For mini-dessert, I had half of a gluten free cookie with ginger chunks. These are legit.

For my afternoon snack, I had a Luna bar.

And then a few crackers before leaving to teach spin.

This is my LAST class teaching at Stanford, which is crazy! I’m not teaching summer quarter because I’ll be gone long before it ends. I thought last spring was my last quarter…and then I came back to teach another yearish. Even crazier is I don’t have any idea when I’ll be teaching again. I do want to teach in vet school, but I definitely don’t want to commit to anything during the first semester. So I guess we’ll see! I wanted my last playlist to include lots of favorites. Here’s a link to my Spotify if you’re interested!

Right before going into spin, I was starving and fished out a small bag of fruit snacks from my purse and had a few of them for a much needed burst.

Spin went well; I think it was a hard class! My favorite part about teaching is watching the students respond, push themselves, and find their edge and then push past it.

While I taught, my parents walked Chloe. She was so excited to see me afterwards that I had to use a towel as a barrier for the jumping, and she hung out as Monk Chloe on the whole drive to dinner.

For dinner, we went to Lemonade, which I’ve been wanting to try. They specialize in lemonade (shockingly) and prepared salads. I went with a plate of 4 salads to try: sesame snap peas and edamame, kale with mushrooms and kumquats, butternut squash with spicy ranch and corn, and shaved brussels sprouts with dates.

Plus of course lemonade! I had watermelon rosemary.

These salads were super good, but it was a pretty massive amount of food. I focused on my two favorites, the brussels and the butternut squash. Yum!

After dinner, we picked up pastries for dessert. There wasn’t much I could eat, so I had a couple of bites off the top of the mango mousse.

For my evening snack, I focused on getting my sweet fix in, as well as extra protein. I had a Nugo bar, and a few GF crackers as I packed Tuesday’s lunch.

And now it is almost bedtime, so I will see you all tomorrow!