Are HLBs Becoming Obsolete?

Date: August 28, 2015

Author: astottler

Today’s topic is going to be a bit on the touchy side. Plus, we’ll do some food catch up because I like to actually call this a food and fitness blog, right? I’ll intersperse the food to keep us all entertained!

It’s no secret that I haven’t been blogging as much lately. Partly it’s time. My work schedule has been pretty crazy this summer, and when I get home I have no energy to crack open my computer. (Sidenote-these past couple of days of blogging, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy putting words on the screen and creating something, when I have the time and energy to put in).

(Blueberry banana bread remains one of my favorite healthy pre-workout snacks.)

But at the same time, I feel like I’m running out of things to contribute to the world. Maybe my own healthy habits are waning (definitely true), maybe I’ve moved on to other topics of interest, but lately I’ve felt that I’ve already put everything out there that I have in me to contribute. I’ve been blogging for two and a half years now. My life is so different now than it was then, and I’ve had all kinds of life experiences in between. My blog viewership has also changed quite a bit, not specifically in terms of numbers, but I feel like I have a different set of readers now than I had 2 years ago.

I also used to be better about commenting on other blogs. I still read other bloggers’ posts, but I never seem to take the effort to leave a comment anymore. Maybe the quantity of blogs I read now is higher, that my quality as a reader decreases.

(Panini on a gluten free ciabatta with basil, mozzarella, tomatoes, mushroom tapenade, and a sprinkle of truffle salt. Side salad: balsamic vinaigrette, crumbled feta, dried cherries).

At the same time though, I feel like there are so many blogs out there that have grown stale. Not to be putting anyone down at all, but I’m just not enjoying reading the posts of some of the big bloggers who started it all anymore. I guess after reading hundreds of posts over several years, things kind of blur together to be and the posts seem repetitive. There are so many blogs these days, that how much information is left to gain or be given out?

(I made my pumpkin banana bread and sprinkled cinnamon cream cheese on half. It’s never too soon for pumpkin.)

Maybe I’ve just become so set in my workout routine that there’s no time to try new things or workouts I find online. Maybe I don’t cook as much as I used to, and don’t get the same inspiration. Maybe I don’t have that “healthy living” spark anymore. Maybe my passion is faltering, and maybe I haven’t put enough effort into my health lately to have the energy for these things to excite me.

The healthy living blog world exploded as a result of some key bloggers, but does anyone else feel like it’s dying a bit? Other social media platforms are starting to take over, partly as our population’s attention span decreases. Instagram, vlogs, twitter. Is this the future of the healthy living world? Quick inspiration? Or has everything that there is to say on the topic already been said?

(Still obsessed with this lunch. Side of Vans Gluten Free everything crackers.)

What can I say or write about to inspire myself and others? What can I contribute to an internet that is already so crowded with the thoughts and ideas of others?

(Chicken noodle soup and a cheese pupusa. Pupusas are my latest obsession-cornmeal exterior, stuffed with anything from cheese and spinach to kale and pinto beans.)

I hope to post more soon. I think my blog posts tend to be better when they are a more regular thing. I also want to talk about some vet stuff and let you guys know what is going on in my life now and in the future.

Tell me-are HLBs obsolete?

Kinda Over It

Date: November 10, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m popping in again today to talk about running!

Despite definitely not going to bed early enough Saturday night, I was surprisingly up bright and early and ready to run. Since I’m not technically training for anything right now, my running schedule has been pretty low key and variable. The night before, I mapped out a route and made a playlist, which took me about 7.5 miles. It was a loop that went around the outer edge and beyond of campus.

Before the run, I had some dates and sunflower seed butter. I picked up some dates at the Farmer’s Market the other day, and I love having them for before a morning run for some quick energy.

The run went well. I went Garmin-less since I knew the route and distance. My foot was a little bit grumpy for the whole thing. It wasn’t the type of pain that made me stop or limp, but it was enough to be annoying.

My route took me past a whole bunch of changing trees with beautiful fall colors. This is actually the farthest distance I’ve done in a long time-since before taking time off to heal my foot! I’ve been running 6 miles pretty regularly, but nothing above that. Yeah…around the 6 mile point I was kind of over it, and my toes were hurting. I think 6 miles is my sweet spot right now! The race in my most near future is a 10k Turkey Trot, so ideally I’d be a little bit above 6!

Overall, great start to the day. Plus, brunch was open by the time I got back. I didn’t have nearly enough carbs the night before, so I was ready to dive in.

Salad, roasted kabocha, eggs with cream cheese, and a couple of raspberry white chocolate pancakes.

In the afternoon, I got a delivery from my parents-still warm homemade pumpkin bread! It’s a pretty healthy recipe (whole wheat flour) plus we tried some things with the sweetener so it wasn’t that sweet, which was great! The sweetener is a story for another day. It’s going to be nice to have before AM Crossfit. Luckily, some of it made it to the freezer but MAN is it good!

Dinner was a little weird/sad. It was Mexican food, but they tragically ran out of guacamole. Plus it was weird because they only had beef and fake meat, and the fake meat was really strange. I fixed my food into a taco salad, with a mini quesadilla on the side.

For dessert, I had a little bit of chocolate ice cream, and another slice of pumpkin bread as I was slicing and freezing some of it.

In terms of my eating, I probably should have had less pumpkin bread. In terms of the big picture, after tracking calories and activity for almost a week, I’m getting a sense of where I should be. That being said, a calorie is not a calorie, and certain foods result in different things. So I can’t just expect calories to do their magic!

What is your favorite pumpkin product?

I have to say I love the classic pumpkin bread!

Healthy Pumpkin Bread

Date: September 6, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I’m relaxing before tomorrow’s race. So I thought I’d share a recipe that I whipped up the other day. First, I have a few pictures from yesterday.

Yesterday I went to the Giant’s ballpark to pick up my race packet.

I also got to take a picture with the World Series trophies!

The Expo was nice and efficient. It routed us throughout the whole ballpark, and I never had to wait in line-it wasn’t crowded at all! I also wanted to sign up for ALL THE RACES. Does anyone else do that at expos?

Then, I came home and made dinner-corn chowder and goat cheese stuffed figs on the side.

The figs were especially delicious. I simply sliced them in half, put a dab of goat cheese in the center, and popped them in the oven for 10 minutes at 350. They were fantastic with a little drizzle of balsamic. I tried to reduce balsamic and ended up with a burnt balsamic toffee mess, so I just drizzled plain old balsamic.

Now, I’m getting excited for the race! I just finished making my race playlist, and now I’m pumped up!

But now, the recipe.

This pumpkin bread is low in sugar, in part because of the addition of bananas. It is also moist-insanely moist-and dense. And the flavors are spot on.

I topped this is cinnamon laughing cow before baking, but I’m not sure that was my favorite so next time I’d probably just whip up a cinnamon cream cheese or leave it plain.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas

1 cup pumpkin

1/4 c maple syrup

1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or half white flour, half whole wheat flour)

1 egg

2 tablespoons oil (I used canola)

1/3 c milk

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

3 t cinnamon

1 t pumpkin pie spice

1 t vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mash bananas up in a medium bowl, and then mix together other ingredients.

3. Once mixed, pour into a loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This bread will be moist, but it should still be cooked.

Let me know if you give it a try!

What do you think-is it too soon for fall foods?

Sweater Weather

Date: October 9, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! It’s currently 9pm, and I’m camped out in the lounge blogging because my roommate is sleeping. I’m not sure if she’s asleep for the night or just napping, but I thought I’d give her some peace and quiet. I’m currently trying to burn off a sugar high-and if you know me at all, this likely means I won’t be sleeping for the next 3 days. Me+sugar=bad combo.

But let’s start from the top, shall we?

I woke up bright (well, dark) and early for a morning gym workout. The workout was 10 minutes working on snatches, followed by a WOD of 21-15-9-9-15 deadlifts and squat jumps. The workout originally called for burpees, but that would have taken me much more time than I had. The bar was SO ROUGH. My poor hands were getting torn up so badly! I looked around-and there’s only one bar out of like 8 like that at the gym, but they were all full. I then did 5 rounds of 250m row/7 rdls, and finished with some abs. This workout was nothing too crazy-just something to get my blood flowing!

When I walked out of the gym, I was greeted by this:

The weather is starting cool down a little too-it’s sunny but with fall skies and a little bit of bite in the air. I had a long day ahead of me, and it was chilly, so on the way back to the gym, I stopped for a cappuccino.

BEST. THING. EVER. So worth the extra trip-and I went before getting ready instead of on my way to class, so there was no line.

I seriously love this weather-Sweater Weather! Do you guys know the song Sweater Weather? I think that’s going to be stuck in my head any time I wear a sweater. What I wore today was basically the epitome of fall-boots, a sweater, and a scarf.

I’ve been feeling so put together lately in terms of my outfits (ok, technically I’m still wearing leggings…), and I really do think it makes a difference on my outlook of the world. Here’s a sunny selfie of yesterday’s scarf.

Yes, I live in California. Yes, 70 degrees is considered cold.

Today was just such a productive day, and I feel so much better about my classes. I love Mondays and Wednesdays because I have all afternoon to hole up in a library or cafe and just accomplish things. I actually am not minding problem sets-minus Physics. I don’t mind spending hours working things out-as long as I eventually get it. I’ve said it before, but this is really something I was missing last year.

After class, I tried this new to me yogurt.

I saw it on Beth‘s blog a while ago, and have not been able to find it anywhere! Needless to say, I was super excited.

It was delicious! I ended up throwing a couple of dates I had packed for snack on top, and those really complemented the flavors perfectly. Next time, I would throw chopped dates on top.

Here’s a shot of the cafe. Kind of a basement, but cozy and quiet. Several study snacks happened as well.

Like my placemat? I really need to stop eating ON my school things.

Pumpkin bread. Because we know I’m obsessed.

After finished most of my work, I headed back to my room for a run. Since it was in danger of getting dark, I threw on the only long sleeve neon shirt I had. Is it too soon? I don’t think so.

So I set out for 4 miles-I was really in the mood to run. The weather was perfect, I was feeling great…until like .2 miles in when my calf reminded me that I did 600 jump ropes yesterday…and doing that many after not jumping rope in a month will make me sore. I immediately turned back-with my history of calf issues, I was NOT going to push anything this close to the race. So not worth it. I switched gears and went to dinner instead-not a bad alternative!

A really delicious turkey burger, salad, polenta, and fruit. I love turkey burgers. I should seriously just get 2 turkey burgers and veggies and call it a day-and not mess around with the other suspect items.

Paella-it tasted really fishy, so not really my cup of tea. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Then, tonight I had a sorority recruitment event-cookie decorating. Hence the sugar high. It’s the worst kind too-store bought cookies and store bought icing=my body hates me. Eh, live and learn. Here’s my first creation. Not my best work.

And now let’s talk running. Let’s talk races. Let’s talk about the future. I (obviously) have my next half in ELEVEN DAYS. I am SO incredibly excited-and I feel strangely prepared. It helps I’m not injured (knock on wood) right before the race…But being the overeager person that I am, I’m starting to think about what comes next. Life after half marathon training? Huh? First off-I know if I’m not training for a race I’ll never run. It just won’t occur to me. I’m doing a 10k Turkey Trot in November (obviously), and then I’m doing a Santa Run in mid December. This one is a 5k, and I’m racing it to PR. To be fair, I’ve only done one 5k (last year’s Santa Run). And I hadn’t run in a long time-I was in really good shape from rowing, but there wasn’t a ton of running happening. After my half, I’ll be focusing a ton on running fast. I obviously want to PR, but I THINK if I work hard between now and then, I can break 24:00. We shall see.

So…then what? I want to do the Giant’s race….in August. Maybe the Nike women’s again if I like it. But before then? There’s an abyss! BUT. BUT. I think I found a race-and I’m this close to signing up. Rock n Roll San Francisco on April 6. It should be a fun one-it goes across the Golden Gate bridge! I think it would be a good warm up for the Giant’s race, which is a much flatter course and therefore a better one to run hard for a PR. The timing is pretty good too. So…thoughts? GAHH I’m so excited about everything right now!

It’s almost race day!

What’s the best race you’ve done? Suggestions? Favorite part of fall?

Social Networking

Date: May 24, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

TOMORROW IS FRIDAYYY. I swear, this week dragged by. And, it is a 3-day weekend 🙂

Right now I am listening to my 25 most played songs on iTunes. A good portion of them are Spanish…heehee. Here’s one of my favorites! SUPER CATCHY.

Check it out.

Before I get into today’s post, I want to share with you guys some of my search terms. “what would peacocks and pigs look like if there were combined”

Awesome.

“cocoa powder gets everywhere”

Yes, yes it sure does!

“ate jar of sunflower butter”

At once?? Yes, I can relate. Kidding. Kind of.

And I’m glad that my blog is the very first thing that comes up if you google “puffed out stomach mono.” The VERY first. Really??

As usual, my day began with a Spin class. I REALLY REALLY want Spin shoes. Like now. Unfortunately, I have no means of getting Spin shoes. However, I do have a $120 credit at REI, which is where I plan to get them, so I guess it is worth the wait.

Breakfast after spin was plain Greek yogurt, sliced melon/pineapple, and a mix of granola and unsweetened muesli. They didn’t have the better kind of granola, but the mixture actually really worked well! Plus a buckwheat pancake. Don’t worry, it was not very sweet. Believe me.

Class, blah blah blah, then LUNCH. I had an amazing salad from Coupa. Those toasted walnuts were just…there are no words. They were salty, sweet, and had a perfect crunch.

I was still a little hungry afterwards, and I decided kettle corn was just about right. It was kind of embarrassing to go to the same cashier and buy more food….

I had a lot of meetings/psych study/section this afternoon. I also had a snack of some type of cinnamon-y bread from a different cafe.

It had apple and oats…that’s all I know! I love this little cafe- they have the best quickbreads! And they’re not very sweet, either, which as we know, is right up my alley. These snacks got me thinking, how do I define the “no sweets” thing I am doing? It’s funny, it is hard for me to articulate my philosophy and reasoning on what is ok for me to eat or not, but in my mind it is very well defined. No cookies, cake, ice cream. Cinnamon bread is ok. Pancakes without syrup are ok (in moderation). Muffins…borderline. I guess the best way to describe my definition is no desserts. When I get home and have more freedom in the kitchen, I will probably slash sugar a bit more.

And back to the normally scheduled programming…more food!

I had half a frozen microwave english muffin from 4 months or so ago, so I topped that with Garlic and Herb Laughing cow, and half of my last avocado from my Big. I swear, those avocados are magic! It was super soft so I was worried that it had gone bad, but when I broke it open, it was nice and green! I also had a mango and some more pumpkin bread. I have a class on evolution this quarter. Thing 1: My professor had a cold, and he was drinking Evolution brand grapefruit juice. Too great. Thing 2: I have to do…gasp, an art project! I am not a very artistic person, and I have to do something expressive about the evolution of carnivorous plants. I went to the bookstore today to buy paper and oil pastels. I accidentally bought pastels instead of oil pastels. The difference? Oil. Pastels are really dry and dusty. However, I had already opened them when I discovered this. Oh well. I decided to test them out, and naturally, what did I do?I was considering doing a blue ombre background but I kind of liked it as is (minus the smudges). Thoughts?

Messy hands!Dinner was super boring…I hate eating meat off of the bones! Only a few more weeks! Overall though, today included some pretty good eats! My face is going to hate me though…I had nuts 3x today, including some peanut butter I had with cereal after dinner….oh well. YOLO.

Now, I want to talk about Social Networking with you guys. Do you guys tell people outside of the blog world about your blogs? I generally don’t because I feel like if one is unfamiliar with the food and fitness blog genre, they’d think I was crazy for taking pictures of all my food and posting about it. Do you post about your blog on your personal facebook? I’m deciding whether or not I should try that, but I’m leaning towards not. This summer I want to spend some serious time on the blog, and I’m trying to decide if that is a way I want to spread the word or not. I’d love to hear what you guys do!

Do you tell friends/family/acquaintances about your blog?