WIAW-And What I Miss Wednesday

Date: October 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Heyyyy happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week…although my school work is very end heavy this week so that’ll be interesting…But it also means…time for What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks so much to Jenn for hosting.

Today’s post is going to be a little different…My eats haven’t been crazy exciting lately (thanks #dormlife), so I’ll give you guys an idea of what those are looking like, as well as what’s new with me. Then, I’ll move on to some of my favorite foods from home that I seriously miss eating.

I went on a late night boba run with my sister for some sisterly bonding. This was a jasmine milk tea, and it was phenomenal! I know a lot of people are obsessed with boba around here, but I actually haven’t had it that much. I’ve always liked it when I’ve gotten it though!

This morning I went to a spin class and then ran 3 miles. I had to show you guys a picture though because I <3 this shirt!

And without further ado-here are some of my random dorm eats.

Raspberries and sunflower seed butter, with a side of chocolate milk post workout.

Soo funny story about that egg. I almost made a huge mistake with that egg…in that I grabbed an egg from the fridge, and it felt funny. I kept shaking it, and something felt wrong. But I kept convincing myself nothing was wrong…I finally went back to the fridge to check where I got the egg from…yeah, it was clearly a raw egg. That I was about to throw loose into my backpack. Whew.

Eats from the last couple of weeks. Half of the above came from my freezer-can you guess which?

And pumpkin-y snack-y goodness:

Cottage cheese with pumpkin butter=BEST THING EVER. Seriously-go try it. To kick it up a notch, add sunflower seed butter, cinnamon, or apple chips (pictured below).

Also…there’s an open can of pumpkin pie filling in my fridge right now…a soon to be empty can of pumpkin pie filling. Ok, maybe it’s not the healthiest option, but it has to be healthier than eating an actual pie, right? It’s crustless! (And oh so delicious.)

But here’s the thing. I came back from class STARVING today, so I stuffed my face with pumpkin goodies…less than an hour before Crossfit. This is not a good combination my friends. My stomach was definitely off when I left, and I debated skipping dinner but in the end decided it would probably be best to just eat. Does anyone else have the problem of when their stomach feels off, they overeat because they have trouble telling how full they are? I kinda had that issue. I think I’m really thirsty too…huh.

Also-somehow my dining hall managed to mess up corn on the cob. I mean, come on! How is that possible??

And on that note-here are the things I miss most that I just don’t have access to anymore. Cue the violins.

Fig and goat cheese salad with grilled chicken.

Green protein smoothies.

Turkey burgers and zucchini fries.

Hummus salads with runny yolked eggs.

Spaghetti squash and turkey meatballs.

Confession: after looking through my food pictures from the summer, I’ve concluded that a lot of the things I miss so much I could easily eat…if I planned ahead a little and wasn’t so darn lazy! I miss my smoothies so much…so I should just deal with the pain of cleaning my blender, and actually make ice cubes. There are a lot of salads that were so delicious I enjoyed this summer-and with a little planning, I can easily have all the ingredient necessary. Wow, this post ended up being pretty educational to me! That’s all I have for you today-have a great Wednesday!

What summer foods do you miss? I miss mangoes. A lot.

WIAW #dormlife

Date: September 24, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! As we all know, that means it’s time for the fabulous party hosted by Jenn.

This is my first WIAW from college. First, let me just state that I hate the furniture in my room this year. It’s dark and small and immovable. So basically it’s impossible to stay organized. So I’m blogging from my headboard-less bed next to a giant pile of books that travels from my desk chair to my bed regularly because my desk and shelves are full. Such is life.

But let’s get on to the day of eats. Today was an example of both how college life doesn’t have to be unhealthy, and how it can be unhealthy.

I started my morning with a few dates pre-run. I had a 4 mile run scheduled today, and decided to do speedwork. I ran a mile of warm up and cool down(half a mile to the track, half a mile on the track). I then did 400 repeats for 2 miles. I haven’t really done these before, but they seemed perfect given all my recent foot issues. Having rest time was crucial for my foot and it actually felt really good. I liked these, but I think I prefer the 200 distance way more.

Post run, it was breakfast time. I think this here is an example of how hard I tried to make dorm food look pretty/interesting. Plus, you all can admire my new dorm pet (aka my plant).

I am well stocked on fruit right now since I only just got here, and it’s a lifesaver. Unripe melon gets old fast.

I had one class this morning before eating some food I packed. The original plan was a salad with a hardboiled egg, but there wasn’t much left in the dining hall last night, and I was at a loss for dressing.

Plus the lettuce looked kind of old, so I tossed it in favor of some of the veggies from my fridge.

After my Physics lab, I headed to one of my favorite places to eat on campus for some mystery bread. This stuff is so good-oh how I missed it!

So why, you ask, is this one of my favorite places on campus? They have the most amazing selection of quick breads and baked goods. I pretty much always stick to the same thing since I love it, but I’m sure something pumpkin will have to happen soon.

(This is only a fraction of what they have.)

Today was a pretty snacky day. Besides what’s shown, I also had a Thinkthin bar, dried mango, multiple types of cake….more on that in a minute.

I went back to Crossfit tonight. I did like it better-that could be because the WOD had rowing, and any WOD with rowing has my heart. It was rowing+thrusters+pull ups. Hopefully in time this new box will feel like home, but it’s just not the same as my old one.

Dinner tonight was a little different-I passed on the gross looking salad this time and went for other random veggies instead.

Grilled chicken, a taste of mashed potatoes, some type of Greekish salad, and citrus beets. Not going to lie, my expectations were way too high for those beets. But hey, dining hall food isn’t really supposed to have flavor, right?

I was all set to type up this post when I got a call from my sister. She and her boyfriend are training for a marathon, and they had just finished their 18 mile run….miles away from their apartment. Being the nice person that I am, I picked them up in my tiny car. (I usually say my car seats 2, or 2+3 others with no legs.)

Despite the little detour in my night, I did score some groceries.

While tonight I haven’t accomplished as much as I might have liked, I finish class at 12 tomorrow and have allll day to spend in the library.

I feel like it is definitely possible to eat well in college, but it does take some discipline. Today I started to fall back into old habits a little bit. I guess one thing to consider is that it is okay to indulge occasionally, but you need to pick and choose, and other delicious things may come up later in the night (like pumpkin cake-not passing that one up). One big thing for me this year is I’ve avoided the dining hall for breakfasts, and I’ve packed lunches. As for breakfast-it’s just too hard for me to pass up pancakes and muffins everyday, and I know they make me feel awful. I’d rather keep food in my room and start the day off on the right food. As for lunches-last year I got in the habit of buying, but the serving size was almost always too large, and I felt bad throwing stuff away. Plus, it’s easier to pack something cleaner.

So that’s that-my first few days back! I promise to try and keep my pictures interesting, even if that means buying a lot more plants. Or a puppy.

Have a great Wednesday, and eat something good for me!

How did you/do you stay healthy in college? How do I keep my room organized when there is zero space?

Operation: Get Healthy

Date: April 3, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, I’ve officially had all of my classes! I am loving my schedule. It feels like I’m not spending as much time in class as last quarter, but that’s not true. And now that I am not rowing, I have sooo much time! It’s great. I feel so free. Last night I was able to get ahead on homework and hang out with friends. When a friend asked me if I wanted to go to an event with free gelato starting at 9, I could say YES! because I had time and didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. The event was actually pretty fun, even with a long gelato line. I “played” Twister with my friends. And by that, me and another friends were the “spinners.” And by that I mean “the manipulators of the twisted people.” Pshh who ACTUALLY spins the spinner when you can just shout out for people to do more ridiculous things? They don’t have to know. 😉

Afterwards, I worked on some reading, and went to bed when I wanted to, not because I had to (around 11).

Workout bright and early this morning though!

Since spin doesn’t start until next week, I decided to work on some weight lifting. And what I mean by that is work on getting my lifts to where they were before I got sick. I really want to do some Crossfit type workouts on my own, but my lifts simply aren’t there yet. I did a squat series where I do 2 squats every 30 seconds, at a heavy weight. Normally I do 8 minutes, but today I did 6 since I haven’t squatted for over a month and I would like to be able to walk tomorrow. I also worked on cleans and snatches, as well as some upper body strength work. I finished with a 5 minute sequence on the stepper. I have never tried one before, so I chose a premade workout. I was surprised that it was actually a good workout! I worked up a nice little sweat in 5 minutes. I’ve decided that 7 am is the best time to go to the gym here. And by best, I mean least busy. I had a 9 am class today, which is the earliest class you can have here. Few people have them, and they are dreaded (not really for me though), so nobody was awake yet. There were empty bars the whole time I was there, so I didn’t feel bad spending a long time on my workout.

Post workout I broke out the yogurt!Topped with leftover banana and sunflower butter. Yummm. On an unrelated topic, I think our fridge here is less cold than my fridge at home…so I’m guessing things won’t stay fresh quite as long. Class ended at 10:15, and campus was still mostly asleep. Since I’m going to be super on top of things this quarter, I headed to the library to get going on some work, since I didn’t have class until 1.

The best part about studying in the library is what is right outside the library. Coupa Cafe! It is probably my favorite place to eat on campus, which is lucky since there are like 5 of them here. For some reason, I’ve only been like twice this year. I guess I’ll have to go to the library more!

I was drawn in by the description of the hot chocolate. Although it was a beautiful day out and I was wearing shorts, it was a little windy so a bit cold (relatively speaking, sorry East Coasters). Here’s the description:

“abuela

a delicious silky rich hot chocolate drink made from

grandma’s strict recipe blending aromatic and deep

flavors of venezuelanbittersweet chocolate”

How could I pass that up?It was good! And not too sweet either. I decided to balance out the splurge by ordering a big ol’ green salad, with mustard vinaigrette. The salad was simple, but delicious.Coupa also has really awesome buckwheat crepes, but those are for another day.

After lunch I stayed outside with my reading. What a nice day!Gahh I love my new schedule.

When I got back to my dorm after class, I settled down for a quick snack. A mango plus a ThinkThin bar.Like this but German Chocolate.

Eating today didn’t exactly go as planned. It’s a little awkward because I have yoga at 5:55, smack in the middle of dinnertime. I ended up eating another snack after I awoke from a nap (another bad habit of mine…needing to eat whenever I wake up from a nap).

I sampled a few new granola bars. As in a broke off a small piece and shoved the rest in a ziplock bag (now I have a bunch of open granola bars…yippee). I always want to try new things RIGHT AWAY. I also enjoyed an apple with sunflower butter and yogurt (current count: 2).The apple overly dominated the sunflower seed butter, so I searched for an alternative.How cool is this? Trader Joe’s sells whole bags of these little guys, and I brought one with me and tried it on the apple. Delish!

I have yoga in about an hour. I had plans to run today but yet again, I’ve having trouble getting my butt running for some reason. My lack of motivation is specific to running though, interesting.

As I said before, today’s meals didn’t exactly go as planned. I was majorly lacking greens today, but I don’t have any. I really need to grab some spinach from the dining hall to have on hand. I had originally wanted to do some kind of scramble in the microwave for an early dinner, but no spinach kind of killed that idea. I actually am running tomorrow though, as my morning workout. I think in general I am more likely to complete a morning workout.

Wondering about the title of this post? Miranda is hosting a link up called “Operation: Prom Dress,” where she uses her upcoming prom as motivation to get back into healthy habits. Although I don’t have any specific events coming up, I thought I’d join in on the fun. Over the holidays (yes I mean Christmas holidays), I lost sight of my healthy habits. Add to the last quarter, which was a very difficult one, and I need a revamp.

I know I don’t usually talk about weight on this blog, and it’s not a topic I’m in love with and want to spend a lot of attention on here, I’m not where I need to be to be healthy for me.

My weight has been kind of crazy this past month. When I was sick, I could hardly eat anything for 2 weeks, and I could see myself losing muscle and flab, but I was still really heavy due to all the swelling of my organs (yayy mono). After taking an anti-inflammatory, I lost 10 lbs overnight in fluids. Then when I could finally eat again, I went kind of crazy eating all the foods I missed out on while I was sick, and foods I could only eat at home. Add to that Easter…and I’m not where I should be, especially given all the muscle loss. Plus this cycle did not exactly include healthy eating habits…

So given my recent illness which I am still sort of recovering from and my stray away from healthy habits, I am starting “Operation: Get Healthy.”

Goals:

1. Get into healthy habits again. This week is especially important because my new quarter schedule is the perfect opportunity to totally change around my routine and habits.

2. Clear up my skin. Yes, I love my peanut butter. But after being unable to eat it while I was sick, I am even more sensitive to it. A few peanut butter eggs set me off (and how much peanut butter is ACTUALLY in those??).

3. Get back in shape. My endurance flat out stinks. I swear, I only took 3 weeks off! Sheesh! I want to play soccer this quarter, and let’s be honest, that’s a lot of running. I’m definitely not there yet. I also want to do some Crossfit type workouts, so I need to get my lifting to where it needs to be. I want to be able to run 3 miles in 24 minutes again.

4. Get to a healthy place with my body. No numbers, but when I get there I have plans to get a new pair of shoes. 🙂

5. FInd my zen. I talked about this some last week, but I really want to be calmer and view the world differently. I want to experience everything! I also surround food with a lot of stress, and I really want to get rid of that. I think that is key to a healthier me. I know I’ll have less stress this quarter with more time, and I want to take advantage of everything. I want to really enjoy my classes (I basically have 4 science classes. SCORE).

Nutrition Plan:

1. Avoid sugar and grains. Everyone has their own nutrition philosophy. I personally don’t believe in eliminating grains. HOWEVER: whenever I eat grains I seriously crash my blood sugar, causing me to basically fall asleep. And sugar. Well we’ve talked about this before. It kills. I am a sugar addict. And I have terrible reactions to it.

2. Avoid snacking/late night snacking. I know having lots of small meals works for some people, but I always feel better when I stick to square meals, plus maybe some fruit. I certainly don’t recommend this to everyone, but it’s what works for me.

3. Avoid nuts. For my face’s sake.

4. Try not to be influenced by what everyone else is eating. This is a huge problem for me. When I see someone else eating something, I want it!

5. Listen to my body about what it wants. This is pretty self explanatory.

Exercise Plan:

1. As many yoga classes as humanly possible. Gotta find my zen!

2. Lift about 3 times a week. Hopefully soon I can start doing Crossfit type workouts.

3. Spin as much as is fun for me. Spin is so fun for me, so I’ll go when my schedule allows it. I want to be a spin teacher!

4. Run 3x a week, including long runs, speed work, and agility (for soccer).

5. Try new fitness classes. The yoga pass I bought includes random other classes like Pilates and Zumba.

6. Incorporate high cardio circuit type training.

Well, there’s the plan! Hold me to it! I’ll let you know how it all is going!