Mysterious Disappearance

Date: July 5, 2013

Author: astottler

I hope everyone had an awesome holiday! Do you all have Friday off too? Today’s not really an off-day for me, since I have to go into the lab, but I don’t really mind it. I suppose I should go over my day yesterday, right?

I had the early shift at the kitten nursery. Every week I am astonished at how fast they’re growing up! The tiny kittens who we had to hand-feed a few weeks ago have now moved to the main nursery and are rambunctious and mischievous.

After my shift, I drove to the trail by the bay, where my parents met me with my bike. I got in a nice 10 mile bike ride while they walked the dog. Yesterday was (more or less) a rest day for me, and a much needed one at that. My legs were pretty much done.

After my ride, my best friend came over to bake brownies for a barbecue with all of our friends from high school. We wanted to do something a little more interesting, so we made S’mores brownies, but we did it the lazy way. If you do it “right”, it looks like this (I made these last year):

For these, you make a graham cracker crust and bake it, then bake the brownies on top of it, and then top that with marshmallows and brown them in the oven for like a minute. We took the lazy way out and just crushed graham crackers at the bottom and mixed marshmallows into the brownie batter.

Do you see any marshmallows here? Yeah, me neither. They kind of evaporated (ok, dissolved). I didn’t really think that one through…They were still delicious though, and had some extra chewy parts. Plus, they were a hit at the BBQ.

The BBQ was fun. It was so nice to catch up with people I basically haven’t seen in a year.

After that, I came home and shortly after began prepping for my family’s holiday dinner. While my dad grilled, I whipped up the blueberry crisp to go in the oven. I used this recipe-so simple, yet so delicious. I used whole wheat pastry flour for the white flour.

Pre-oven.

While this was baking up, I had a delicious salad with grilled peaches, chicken, and goat cheese. I promise I’ll post the recipe tomorrow, I’m not sure what the dressing recipe was at this point in time.

Let me just say that this combo is ridiculously good.

We also roasted up yams (most of which were from the farmer’s market). I think in theory they were supposed to be made into fries, but we didn’t exactly plan it that well, so I was kind of lost when they came out of the oven. I cut them into disks, added salt and pepper, and could not stop eating the whiter ones! I was surprised by how SWEET they were, given they weren’t even orange. SO GOOD.

My sister and her boyfriend popped in to pick something up just as the crisp was coming out of the oven, so they ate leftovers from our dinner, and joined us for the crisp.

The ‘ice cream’ is actually nonfat frozen yogurt. I believe it is Dreyer’s, which is by far the best fro-yo (in a carton). I forgot how much better it is when it’s not ridiculously crystallized and freezer burned!

After dinner, we went out to our annual spot on a hill to watch the fireworks. From where we were, we could see fireworks from all over the Bay Area. We probably saw 10-15 different displays, although only 2 were front and center. Do you guys remember San Diego’s fireworks from last year? I remember hearing about it and watching the Youtube video. Check it out! Here. I believe they ended up realizing that in their calculations for the timing of the show, they accidentally used 15 seconds instead of 15 minutes. Too funny!

Aaaand today is back to the grind. Ok, not really, but here’s my breakfast:

A mango and blueberry smoothie topped with sunflower seed butter, plus scrambled eggs. I also had a grain-free waffle on the side. On tap for me today? Lab, 4 mile run (I’m going to just do it at school), possibly an afternoon movie, and Crossfit tonight.

I hope you all continue to have a great holiday weekend!

Admit Weekend

Date: April 26, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

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. For 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).

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.I 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.

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. It 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!

California Sunshine

Date: April 23, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

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. And 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. Fun 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. On the side is a veggie filled scramble.

Lunch was another salad, similar to a lot that I had last week, chicken southwest. I’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!This 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?

SO. EXCITED.

Date: April 20, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

YAYYY IT’S FRIDAY! And guess what?? I’m throwing a guacamole party tonight! I’m so pumped, I LOOOOVE Spanish music. And I’m bringing this bad boy out. Yes, I own a sombrero. 🙂

I didn’t end up running this morning because I was up a bit late studying for a Psych midterm today. Breakfast was yogurt from the dining hall (non Greek, booo) with banana and sunflower seed butter, plus some pancakes. My midterm went well, I had an extra half an hour! After the morning’s pancakes, I settled on a south western chicken salad for lunch. And I may or may not have gotten some chocolate mousse with my dining hall dollars.

I’m seriously trying to break my habit of snacking, and in Psych we talked about Classical Conditioning. This is Pavlov’s dog; he rang a bell before feeding them so they started drooling as soon as he rang the bell. Me walking into my room after class is like ringing a bell. Step 1 was clean my room and create a different environment. It seriously needed it! Taking out the recycling….#Obsessed.

Step 2 was get a new habit/sport/after school activity. And today it occurred to me! Biking! I love Spin, so it seemed to be the next natural step, right? I twisted my ankle today walking out to my bike (yes, just walking) so I was glad my afternoon activity was biking and not running! It was an absolutely beautiful day, so this was perfect. And actual biking uses slightly different muscles than spinning, so my butt was burning! Also: at one point I had to stop to extricate a small animal from my eye…yayy flies. Here’s a picture I took then.I need to find actual bike trails. I followed a sign to a bike bridge and was super excited, but it really wasn’t that exciting.And then I found myself biking on a bike path through a park…which turned out to be SUPER small…Overall though, I loved it! I was able to experience the world around me better than I can while running. I can definitely see this as becoming a hobby. And it is another step towards my dream of becoming a spin teacher!

When I returned, I began the process of cleaning my room while watching the news. I’ve been following the whole thing all day/night. It’s insane, and I am so glad the caught the bombers. Again, my heart goes out to anyone affected, and I give thanks to all the brave people who put these criminals to justice.

This evening, I went grocery shopping with my friends and sister in preparation for my guacamole party tonight. I also restocked yogurt, although they were out of all the non-expired of my favorite yogurts. Darn. It was almost 7 by the time we got back, and my roommate and I decided all we wanted for dinner was yogurt, so I skipped my sorority event and ate in. The last of my frozen pumpkin bread with vanilla greek yogurt and sunflower butter, and spinach/mixed veggies with a wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow. Hit the spot!

After dinner, I finished cleaning (and vacuumed, yay! The dorm vacuum had been MIA for a while…), and made my playlist for tonight. Have I mentioned I love Spanish music?

I’ll let you all know how it goes tomorrow!

Do you have any fun hobbies? Are you “conditioned” to do anything?

Turning a Corner

Date: February 23, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guess what? Still sick :/ But I think I’m finally getting better (knock on wood). What have I been doing the last 2 days? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Thursday night was interesting. My fever climbed above 103 so I went in to Urgent Care, who sent me to the ER because they were closing. After waiting for 3 hours, they told me it was probably the flu because I had no other symptoms. I felt dumb sitting in the waiting room. After taking Advil and Tylenol, my fever was gone and I felt perfectly normal. I felt like I was the healthiest person there! I felt rally bad for some of the parents in the waiting room dealing with their really sick little kids. That would be so difficult! After the lack-luster diagnosis, I told my mom that I wanted something delicious. We could only find one place open, and it just happens to be the one place with the best cinnamon rolls in the world, Peninsula Creamery in Palo Alto. Unfortunately, a picture didn’t occur to me. But trust me when I say it was amazing! They have the most amazing looking desserts, especially the pies! I Kind of wish I had gotten something chocolatey but I’m not complaining! I live fairly close to school, so I just spent the night at home. I’m actually going to spend all weekend home. I figure if I’m lying around doing nothing, I might as well be lying around doing nothing with furry animals. Friday was back to a more strict Paleo routine. After my late-night cinnamon roll, I wasn’t that hungry so I made a green smoothie for breakfast. Cherries and spinach again! Plus some blueberries. After breakfast I went to my 2 Friday classes because I really couldn’t afford to get behind. Plus, when I’m on Advil/Tylenol I feel perfectly fine and normal.

It was parents’ weekend at school, so campus was swarming with parents. My parents went to a few events before being introduced to the wonders of dining hall food (yes, it looks all new and exciting the first time, but every meal??).

Italian salad, tilapia, and butternut squash (ok, they do step it up a little for parents’ weekend).

After lunch I was back to resting. Dinner was simple: breakfast!

A smoothie with frozen banana, mango, strawberries, cherries, and almond milk. A little potato, and a Greek salad my mom whipped up for me with leftover ingredients. Bonus: I had extra smoothie leftover!Plus chicken apple sausage!

So last night, a couple of spots near by eyes swelled up a little, but it went away with Tylenol. It was weird, one spot next to my eye, and one spot on my lower eyelid. It freaked me out a little at first! I also realized that my lymph nodes were swollen. I thought that my chin looked bigger, and I figure I had just gained a lot of weight since I haven’t been exercising, but then I figured out what it really was!

I’ve definitely been enjoying dark chocolate lately. It has so little sugar that I figure it is ok. Plus, it really is hard to eat a lot of it (especially considering I’m eating, 85, 90, 99% chocolate) and I never really want something THAT sweet. Which brings me perfectly to the next topic. What would Hunter Pence do?

As you may know, I’m a huge baseball fan. A huge Giants fan specifically. My mom recently sent me this video about one of the Giant’s players, Hunter Pence. He fairly recently adopted the Paleo diet, and feels great! One concern I always have is whether the eating style is ok for an athlete, but if he can do it, then I can! And he includes some dark chocolate. So when I’m trying to decide if something is ok, I’m going to ask myself, what would Hunter Pence do?

Also, I have a quick question for all of you. Thursday night when I was picking up Tylenol at the grocery, I bought some coconut butter. I didn’t think anything of it until my mom asked what the difference was between coconut butter and coconut oil. I was confused at first, because I guess I always just assumed they were the same, though I suppose this makes a little bit more sense in terms of some of the blog posts I’ve read…So what is the difference? Help me out here!

This morning’s breakfast was leftover smoothie, plus an egg scramble. It is based on Tina‘s Sweet Breakfast Scramble, but I added pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin instead of squash (leftover from the pumpkin bread I made last week). It was so, so good! And I didn’t even need nut butter (yes, my skin is seriously hating me right now).I also tried a new type of coconut water that a lady recommended to my mom at the store. It was actual chunks of coconut in it! It was really good! Way fresher and more coconutty!

Ok, one more meal to catch up on! Lunch was a simple salad (my patented salad). Lettuce, apple, craisins, candied pecans, rotisserie chicken, avocado, and Italian dressing. SO GOOD.

Plus some baked barbecue chips and dark chocolate!

Ok, one more topic before I go do work (yayy). My hitting coach for softball always told me: “You’re a perfectionist. Never drink alcohol or you will be an alcoholic.” I never exactly got the connection…but he was totally right (NOT that I’m saying I’m an alcoholic!). I’m definitely a sugar addict. Plain and simple. My dad finally recognized this for the first time. And see, the tough thing about this is that there is sugar around me everywhere. There are sweet/dessert options available and displayed EVERY MEAL. My dad compared me to an alcoholic who constantly is in bars. Thanks dad, that gives me tons of hope for recovery! I’ll end with that today!

Any tips for sugar addicts? What is teh difference between coconut butter and oil?