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Dilly Dally Day

Date: February 21, 2013

Author: astottler

Well guys, I’m still sick. I actually had a pretty high fever last night and decided that even if I didn’t have a fever this morning, the workout was not happening. But I still set my alarm and called my coach in the morning. I had a slight fever when I woke up but unfortunately it went back up. Also, when I woke up at 5:45 to call my coach, I was freezing because I was absolutely drenched in sweat. I had to change my PJs, and my bed was soaking. Ew. That’s probably TMI. I don’t even recall being THAT sweaty…though I felt like I was sweating all morning! I had a class cancelled today, so I decided to skip my other section and just stay in all day in an effort to be better tomorrow. So basically I’ve watched Glee and read blogs all morning. Awesome. The thing is, I don’t feel THAT bad. I just have a high temperature. Though to be fair, right now I’m just coming off of advil. My temp is up, but I feel ok. The temperature seems to rise before my body reacts. But hey, I get to update you on my eats! Breakfast this morning:

(sorry for the shadow) Chocolate protein smoothie with frozen banana (yes, I took the time to peel it this time), soymilk, cocoa powder, and chocolate protein powder. Breakfast has been getting more creative lately though. There was cuban beans and steak today! I went with some beans and a scoop of pre-made egg scramble. Plus some frozen berries. I was then craving a waffle. Again. (Still am). But I didn’t have one. I decided to try a little experiment. I had a slice of Gluten-free toast with peanut butter. I felt fine after. So I guess it really is the Gluten, not just grains in general. After breakfast I watched Glee and sweated. I also drank some Coconut water. Hydration can’t hurt, and since it’s pineapple coconut water, it has tons of Vitamin C!

For lunch, I really wanted frozen yogurt but didn’t want to trek over to the froyo place alone. Maybe dinner! Instead, I went to the dining hall. Chicken, jasmine rice, veggies, and totally delicious cinnamon-maple something butternut squash. SO GOOD. I also had some froyo at the dining hall (which wasn’t exactly fully frozen) with a couple of ill-planned cookie. Stupid gluten. But I’m sick! I can’t be bothered with will power! <- bad thought process.

After lunch I read food blogs. And seeing as it’s only 3:30….I’ve been reading more and more about Paleo and I’m becoming so convinced that it is the solution for me. If only I could stick to it! It was definitely easier getting started at home! I also checked out Whole30, and it’s totally something I’d consider this doing this summer, but there’s no way I’d be able to do it at school with limited food choices and in the middle of season.

I recently made myself a snack, as I was craving more sweets (this is what I get for falling off the Paleo wagon). I vaguely remembered finding a recipe somewhere that made cookies with just peanut butter, honey, and eggs, so I decided to try my hand at a microwave variety. It was delicious! When I figure out the recipe I will post it. I mixed peanut butter and honey and melted them together. Then, I whisked in some almond meal, vanilla, and egg white. 30 seconds in the microwave and I had a delicious treat!

Ok, so it’s not the prettiest thing. And I made it in a paper cup, so who knows how this would have come out on a plate. I ate it with a fork. SO GOOD. But then, it occurred to me…how would a chocolate version be? Naturally I had to test it out. Same method as above, but with almond butter instead of pb, and added cocoa powder. Not bad, but I didn’t like it as much as the pb one.

This is actually a terrible picture. Sorry! It’s probably not good that I now have the ability to make delicious things right at my fingertips. There’s a reason I don’t keep sweets in my room! And all the nuts I’ve been eating lately….let’s just say my face isn’t too happy!

But don’t worry, I got some veggies in! Guac and carrots!

I couldn’t snag any salsa last weekend, but I went home and my mom got me guacamole mix! Perfect! I’m now pretty full though…A light dinner is definitely in order!

I really do hope I’m better tomorrow. I haven’t been this sick in a long time. I haven’t had a fever in 3 years, and I’m sure it wasn’t this high! What is going on with my body? WHY AM I NOT BETTER YET?

Any Netflix suggestions?

Under the Weather

Date: February 21, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, it’s been embarrassingly long since I’ve posted. I kept meaning to post, I really did! But things kept coming up! I swear! So how am I doing? Right now, I’m sick. Fever, chills/hot flashes/aches. Yay. I think I was sick yesterday and didn’t realize it because I was pretty achy and weak. And then I had a very wet and very cold practice on the water yesterday afternoon. When I got back, I couldn’t feel my feet. At all. After dinner, I decided an early shower was in order, and it took a good 20 minutes under direct heat to regain feeling. Then when I was freezing/burning up it finally occurred to me to take my temperature, and sure enough, I had a fever. This morning, I woke up with a higher fever. I went in for my workout, as we had a short erg test (a watts test) which is basically all out for a minute. I did a 4k warm-up and really struggled, which is when I decided I was definitely not up for a 2 hour workout. On the plus side, I’ve gotten a lot more sleep than normal lately! I still have a temperature, but tomorrow is our hard workout, and I’m really hoping to be well enough, because making up 2 ergs this weekend plus practice would be impossible.

Enough complaining, let’s play catch-up! This weekend I decided what I was eating really wasn’t working for me, and I just wasn’t feeling well most of the time. Well, I’m 85% sure I have some type of gluten intolerance or sensitivity. Besides my usual foggy-headedness, when I thought about it, tons of memories from the last 4 years rushed back to me where I got a stomachache after eating grains. I always assumed I was just eating too much, at the wrong time, or too much sugar or something. After some research and discussion wiht my family, I decided I needed to try Paleo. However, I’m not super strict Paleo. I’m including beans and legumes, occasional peanut butter, and small quantities of dairy if they’re in other foods. This is simply because I need lots of carb energy for my activity level, and because otherwise there would be NOTHING I could eat in the dining halls. But first! At home, I spent some quality time with these guys!

How adorable are they?? That’s what I love about going home! As it turned out, being home was the perfect way to kickstart my new way of eating. It is a much more controlled environment. Here are some of the awesome Paleo meals I’ve enjoyed:What better way to start than a green smoothie? (well, greenish…) I think this is my favorite way to eat green smoothies. Spinach. Frozen cherries. Water. Delish!

Lunch with my fabulous high school friends! Don’t worry, I skipped the bagel. The place we went had the most amazing pancakes, but no more for me.

Love them! I ended up spending 2 nights at home, enjoying my kitties, so I got to have a delicious veggie filled dinner.

Thai butternut squash soup=amazing! I still have a little in the freezer. Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light.

I also made a little treat. Paleo Pumpkin Muffins! But I made them in bread form because everything is more delicious in bread form. It was delicious! I was too dumb to take a picture at the time, so here is a slice I had for snack.

They have a nice light and almondy flavor. I froze the rest of the loaf, so when I have a major bread craving, I will be set! So how have I been feeling? Absolutely awesome! After discovering that grains really do make me feel bad and crash, it’s been easier to avoid them (for the most part). I also noticed that I don’t feel the need to overeat. I’m leaving food on my plate a lot more. And in class, I’ll be tired, and keep expecting the crash, but I remain alert. It’s amazing!

These are 2 Ingredient Pancakes from Carrots n Cake. I was amazed how normal the texture was! So good!

I actually had an omelet made at the dining hall! It was a long wait, but really good! This was yesterday morning. Another thing I figured out: I’m chronically dehydrated, especially yesterday. So I spent the time waiting forcing fluids down my throat. I also got some Coconut water, because I feel like I do drink a lot of water, so maybe I’m missing some type of electrolyte balance? My recommendation? Get the pineapple flavor and drink cold!

Here’s the thing though. About not being super strict. Boundaries blur…and slowly I fall off the wagon. For example, yesterday, I had some very dairy-filled frozen yogurt. And then today was worse. To my credit, I’m sick. And I decided that means I have no willpower to resist a waffle. So guess who felt foggy today and had a stomachache? One thing leads to another. I had some other grains today too. So I don’t feel great. Which is why some degree of rigidity is necessary. Because it’s easy to fall off. Part of the problem came from the fact that I was feeling bad/weak yesterday. At first I worried that with my new way of eating I somehow wasn’t getting the proper nutrients, so I kind of let myself go a little. Silly me, it never occurred to me that I might actually be sick…So the plan is to go back on Paleo tomorrow and be a bit more strict. As in, ABSOLUTELY NO GRAINS (this is the priority), and no dairy. And I could seriously cut down my nut consumption as well (my poor skin). It’s kind of tough having all these new things I need to follow at once, but I feel like in a way I am sick (I mean besides my current illness…) and I need to eat this way to get healthy again and heal myself. So I’ll keep you updated on my progress. Not going to lie, I’ve been looking up recipes for Paleo cake….

Do you have any good Paleo/gluten free recipes?

Big Changes

Date: February 16, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Let’s be honest. Most of yesterday’s post was me complaining about my poor eating habits. So last night, I decided to stop whining and do something. I wanted to do a complete overhaul of my diet. I wanted to start eating clean. When I visualized the places I wanted to make changes, and the ways I wanted to eat, I realized that what I was basically coming up with was a Paleo diet. For those of you that don’t know, the Paleo style of eating is based on the philosophy that our caveman ancestors were really healthy, and therefore we should eat like them. It is based on (more or less) lots of meat and veggies. The basic rules are no dairy, grains, sugar, or peanuts. I tried this once, a couple of years ago. I lasted 3 days. What got me was a Costco pack of fresh granola bars. Especially since I had a slight granola bar obsession at that time…

That is the Paleo diet as I am choosing to interpret it. Some are stricter, some less strict. When I tried it before, I did it hardcore, which also meant no salt, i.e. no flavor. So yeah. Not doing that. Before I get into this, let me just say I hate the word “diet.” I am not dieting. I am seeking a healthy lifestyle. And for the record, I don’t exactly buy the argument that we should eat this way because this is how cavemen eat. I think we have definitely made some improvements. However, I view this as a really healthy, whole food, nutrient dense way of living. My original plan was to try this for a week. So how was day 1?

I ate a banana before weights. Afterwards, I made a smoothie, and had a side of eggs and potatoes.

I went for half egg whites, and half whole eggs. My smoothie included banana, strawberry, watermelon (I don’t know what it is about these 3 fruits together that reminds me of cotton candy…), soymilk, blackberries, and some of my weird veggie mix chocolate protein powder.

(This is an old picture ignore the cocoa powder and peanut butter.)

This meal was….great. This is the first time in who know when that I didn’t finish my smoothie when I got full. I always seem to get super full and power through it, but today I just stopped and was done. No struggle.

Another note on the Paleo way of eating: in the book I read (2 years ago), it was The Paleo Diet for Athletes, and didn’t allow potatoes except for right after exercise. And since breakfast usually has potatoes, and I always have morning workouts, I’m good!

So here’s the big question. How did I feel? To be honest, after my first class this morning, I had completely changed my view on life and everything I’ve ever put into my mouth. I have never been so awake and alert in a 10am class in my life. For as long as I can remember, I always struggle to stay awake around this time. This year, I always attributed this to sleep deprivation. But here’s the thing. I didn’t get any more sleep last night. I got just over 6 hours. But I felt AMAZING. I could tell I was still tired, but I was clear-headed, as opposed to my usual foggy-head, struggling to keep my eyes open. I’ve always suspected that something was going on with my crash, because even on days (like Wednesday) where I got plenty of sleep, I still felt this way.

This means one of two things (or a number of others that I’m totally unaware of.)

1. I’ve been majorly spiking and then crashing my blood sugar.

2. Possible gluten intolerance? My roommate is gluten intolerant and talks about when she ate gluten she would be foggy-headed. Check.

Honestly, I have no idea why this worked. But I definitely want to stick with it. This seriously changed my life. I don’t want this to be a week long thing to clean up my diet. I want this to be a lifestyle. Also, think about how many more nutrients come from these Paleo-friendly foods? Let’s be honest; bread doesn’t do a ton for you, and it digests fairly quickly, especially in comparison to beans. I’ll be honest. These changes are not easy, and I’m definitely not perfect (more on that in a bit…) This is going to be one of the hardest things mentally that I will ever do, maybe in my life. Yes, harder mentally than a 6k test. But I truly believe that this will make a huge difference in my life and my body. To be honest, I have some pressure to clean myself up. I have another 6k in a month, and I need to get myself together and PR. And fun fact, I find it easier to push myself on the erg when I’m used to eating well and resisting junk.

By the way, I’m not sure I’m exactly buying theory 1, because by the time i got out of class at lunchtime, I was hungry enough to eat a buffalo, but I didn’t feel tired or groggy. So here’s Paleo meal #2!

Before lunch, I found myself craving real food. Vegetables, beans, meat. And I had an odd craving for watermelon. Who knew?

After lunch was when things started to get difficult. Of course I wanted a sweet treat, so I grabbed a banana with peanut and almond butter, which did the trick. Yes, I know that peanuts aren’t actually Paleo-friendly, but it’s a transition period! And yes, I definitely shouldn’t be eating them….

After browsing some Paleo blogs (gotta love the Internet), I realized there was a softball game going on, and one of the visiting teams had a girl who I played with on it, so I rushed to the field to catch the end of the game. I honestly was not prepared for the realization of how much I missed it. It was a little hard to watch, and I couldn’t help but wish I was out there. Softball is so much more my sport than rowing will ever be (sorry crew).

Unfortunately, I came back to my dorm craving sweet carbs (this seems to be a thing with me…) Enter banana number 4. To be fair, they were very small bananas! Well, actually I made some guacamole and ate that with celery first, then moved to the banana, which I heated up with cocoa powder, and ate with almond butter (Paleo friendly!). I guess it wasn’t exactly sweets I was craving as much as the texture of bread, This was a major issue for me the first time I tried Paleo as well. I then mixed up some cocoa powder, coconut oil, a little honey, and coconut for a delicious treat. My skin is going to hate me. It’s actually bad, I’ve made several banana mixtures that I’ve eaten with nut butter and coconut, and thought “How many things that Aurora is allergic to can I fit into this tiny cup?” I later had a giant Fugi apple with peanut butter (gosh this stuff is so good) and whipped up a little more coconut mix. Unfortunately, this was right before Spin, but it didn’t haunt me too much. One thing I did notice though. I hate snacks, because they usually give me a stomach ache (but I eat them anyways). No stomach ache this time, just fullness. Awesome!

After Spin, I headed out to dinner, even though I wasn’t terribly. hungry. I figured some veggies could do me good!

Baked tilapia, whipped sweet potatoes (SO GOOD), and roasted veggies.

I’m not going to lie, I had a major Paleo hiccup post dinner. But I’m not going to go into that, so I can move on and focus on tomorrow!

Overall, I’m viewing today as a transition day. I ended up eating quite a bit overall, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get used to something new. I need my crutches! My goal for tomorrow is to offer my skin some mercy and avoid coconut and other nuts. I think it’s doable; I’ve got some awesome meals to look forward to, which always helps! And guess what else I get to do?

I get to visit this guy! That’s right, I’m going home over the long weekend! I have a feeling that more appetizing foods/more fruits than just bananas will make my whole Paleo transition a little easier. Have a great weekend everyone! Happy eating!

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! Is anybody doing anything special? I have a dinner with “39 of my sisters” as my coach likes to say. Instead of our usual on the water afternoon practice, we’re heading out to the beach for a run and then a team dinner. It’s always nice to get a break from the routine!

Long time no post though, right? I have tons of food to catch you guys up on, so I’ll just go over some highlights here in a minute. But first. Why haven’t I been posting? SO much work this week! Why does it feel like every week is such a hard week? Oh, that’s right, ROWING. Also, I haven’t exactly felt like posting because, well, I haven’t really been eating too well. And then this wouldn’t be a “healthy living blog,” it would just be a food blog, or, a junk food blog. To be perfectly honest, I’ve had a lot of difficulty eating well since the holidays. It’s been really hard for me to get back on track! And lack of sleep definitely isn’t helping matters…Does anyone have any tips for getting back on track? I’ve currently ditched all sweet items in my dorm room, as well as (most) nuts.

So how are my allergies? My skin was clearing way up…but here’s the weird thing. I replaced the nuts in my diet for a ton of coconut (yeah, I know, not the best strategy…) and my skin went downhill again. So what am I allergic to? This is really odd. I broke down yesterday and had a granola bar as well, so that probably doesn’t help matters….

Being the awesome person that I am, I wanted to do a little test for my allergies that I was pretty sure wouldn’t work (it didn’t). I put a little coconut butter on one side of my face, and a little peanut butter on the other side. I wanted to see if it would cause a breakout. It didn’t. But it was only on for like an hour (yes, I walked around with pb on my face for an hour…I’m pretty cool) and I didn’t really expect to see many results.

Ok, I will go through all the food in a bit (I don’t have my connector cable with me now, I’m between classes), but first let’s talk about this morning. I had a 6k test! For those of you who do not know, this is the most painful thing in rowing. It is basically 6000 meters on the rowing machine at an all out effort. This was only my 3rd 6k test, and I was really expecting to see a lot of improvement in my time and PR. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, which I was pretty disappointed about, Given the fact that I’m fairly new to rowing, I really should be PRing more. My fastest 6k was my first one! At least this was faster than my last one, but still, it’s frustrating. This does make me wonder though; if I had better nutrition, would I have been able to PR? To be perfectly honest, I put on some weight since my first 6k test, and I’m thinking this could be seriously slowing me down. So now I have a new motivation to eat well! And I have a new plan. I have the tendency to reward myself with sweets: for doing something well, for a hard workout, for a good grade. So my new idea is to reward myself with peanut butter. That way, I will get to enjoy a reasonable amount of peanut butter and still feel like I’ve gotten that little reward. So instead of waffles, I can have a scoop of peanut butter on my oatmeal! This morning after my 6k? I made my favorite ever smoothie! Peanut butter and banana! Sidenote: I know that you’re supposed to remove the banana peel before freezing bananas. I just never thought about why. I was planning on this smoothie post workout so I popped a banana in the freezer last night so it would be really awesome. But I was in a hurry and just tossed the whole thing in. Yeahh that was not the best idea. In case anyone is curious, the reason it is bad is because it is impossible to peel (you probably figured this out). However, I was very determined. I wanted my smoothie, dang it! So I persevered. Here’s the recipe, it’s super simple!

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

1 frozen banana

1/2 c skim milk (or more if your blender is not powerful enough to blend)

1-2 T peanut butter to taste

Add to a blender (break up the banana as much as possible for easier blending).
Blend. Enjoy

So simple! The longer you blend it, the fluffier it gets! I don’t think I’d ever had one of these smoothies with a freshly frozen banana before, so it was extra frosty!

Well, this is a great transition into the food portion! Before my erg test, I had a slice of Banana Bread and a little milk.

After, to go along with my smoothie, I had half a whole wheat english muffin with cream cheese and egg scramble/egg whites. Plus like 1/3 of a pancake with syrup. I didn’t take a picture of this because my plate didn’t look very good. After my banana massacre…

But I did get some pictures of lunch! I ate an early lunch (around 11) because I was getting a little hungry, and my legs were starting to burn from this morning. Plus, who can sit in a cafe and work with food that close?

I decided on a chicken pesto sandwich, plus a bran muffin. I figured the bran muffin was a little treat, but definitely a step up nutritionally from last week’s giant apple fritter. Plus, it would not make me feel gross, especially on a 60 minute run!

No picture from dinner though! The beach run with my team was fun (well, as fun as running on sand can be…), but I ended up getting my feet and therefore running shoes soaked and sandy! So much for a Friday run! Our coaches brought us chocolate and apple cider for a toast post-workout at the beach before we headed out to dinner.

Dinner was a fun experience but the restaurant was frustrating. It was a seafood place, and they were out of every fish except for maybe one kind, as well as steak, and garlic bread. Plus, they ended up messing up our order, such that my table got our food at least half an hour after the other table. Luckily, I had nothing to rush back to do! I enjoyed a chicken casaer salad.

Back at my dorm, I went to Late-Night Dining with my friend to get a warm, gooey giant cookie. We have meal plan dollars that come with our weekly meal plan, which let you buy things from other places, like late night. I almost never go to late night, which is where most people use them up (yeahhh morning practice!). The quarter is already more than half over, and only a small portion of the meal plan dollars carry over. I realized I could buy 97 more giant cookies this quarter! That’s over 3 a night! Yesss. Haha, don’t worry, I won’t do that! But finally, let’s play catch-up on food!

Ok, I need to comment on this one. This was one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. Like ever. I brought back some fresh tomato salsa from Saturday’s Mexican brunch in a tubberware, and I had the genius idea to mix it with some salt, pepper, and avocado! This is seriously the best guacamole I’ve ever had. I ate it with celery sticks. I’ve made this multiple times and just cannot get over it. At home, whenever we would get fresh salsa, we would never finish it. Ohh how naive I was. This mixture is awesome, and super easy! This is my banana mix with regular cocoa powder, instead of dark cocoa powder. It is completely different! Maybe fruittier? Topped with unsweetened coconut.

These are the coconut truffles I made the other day. Yes, I was too lazy to actually make them balls. All they have in them is coconut (unsweetened), baker’s chocolate, coconut oil, and then they are rolled in cocoa powder. I actually started eating these in the morning before my workouts in hopes the caffeine in the chocolate would wake me up a little bit!The biggest reason for this photo dump is that I seriously was planning on blogging, so I took the pictures, and I don’t want them to go to waste!

Another attempt at a healthy mug cake. This one actually worked out, but for some reason it exploded from the bottom…getting mug cake ALLLL over the microwave. This had banana, liquid egg whites, vanilla protein powder, cocoa powder, whole wheat pastry flower, a bit of dextrose, and some of my crumbled up truffles as chocolate chips. Not bad! I actually made this one other time, and it was pretty good as well! It would be 1000x better with real chocolate chips.

This is me realizing I could make awesome French Toast in the microwave. European style bread soaked in egg white, vanilla, and cinnamon.

My first post-peanut butter attempt at Banana Oatmeal. I topped it with blueberries and coconut. Not too shabby!I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get this veggie sandwich for its massive amounts of avocado. This thing might have had 2 avocados on it. It was crazy, I don;t even think I was able to eat all the avocado!Mug cake number 2! Way better/less messy attempt! Although it was close to popping…there was a giant air bubble on the bottom!

And now I leave you with one more picture. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Real Food

Date: February 11, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

As promised, today’s post has an actual subject. That’s right, real food. But first, I’ll go through my day pretty quickly.

I drove 20 minutes to one of my home gyms for a Spin class. Before Spin, I had a piece of banana bread. I had to get to Spin early to sign up, so before class I did some ab work. I really love my Spin classes at home. They are so much better than the ones at school, which I can basically never make because I have practice during the times they are offered.

After Spin, I completed the At home chipper from Tina‘s blog. It took me about half an hour. What really held me up were the burpees. I absolutely hate them! I had to break them up quite a bit, in contrast to the squats, where I just blasted through all 100 at once.

After Spin, I ended up stopping by home briefly to visit kitties and pick up a birthday present for my sister. While home, I ate a beautiful lunch.

Corn chowder with avocado, brussels sprouts (my favorite) and buttered European style toast. Plus some random things I found raiding my parents’ cabinets.

I also had some super, super dark chocolate. My favorite! I don’t have a picture, but I made a coconut type candy (with no sugar-beware). I mixed baker’s chocolate with unsweetened coconut and coconut oil, and rolled the mixture in cocoa powder. So I have a zero sugar dessert! I wish I could say that today was a low-sugar success, but I cannot. Tonight I had a team dinner, which was pita chips and hummus, salad, and homemade pizza. Plus funfetti cupcakes and peanut butter frosted brownies. A) I’m totally stuffed. B) I think I’ve reached my trans fat quota for the rest of my life with those cupcakes. C) Halfway through the brownie I realized, I can’t eat this frosting, I’m allergic to nuts!

Which leads me to the next topic of interest: my nut allergy. I basically cut out nuts for 2 days (today is my 3rd), minus a walnut chocolate ship cookie last night. I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and was shocked. This is the best my skin has been in like 8 months! I definitely have a nut allergy. How crazy is that?

Ok, back to the topic of the post. In Dr. Robert Lustig’s book, Fat Chance, he really talks about the importance of eating real food in terms of our health, especially in relation to the obesity epidemic. He defines real food similar to Michael Pollan, in that it is “food your grandmother would recognize.” He believes that one of the biggest reasons for our nation’s health problems is the removal of fiber and the addition of sugar in all our foods. He describes fiber as nature’s “antidote” to sugar. This book really made me think about my own eating habits. Let’s be honest. My eating definitely hasn’t been as healthy since coming to college. Maybe it is because there aren’t great options, or maybe it’s because I just get so bored with everything. Navigating healthy eating can be super difficult. I know I really shouldn’t complain about our dining halls because they’re way better than most, but I just don’t like the food here. Which makes it really hard for any meal to be satisfying. To eat a healthy meal in my local dining hall, I have basically one option. Grilled chicken. Greens. Oil/vinegar. Brown rice or beans/lentil. Every. Single. Meal. I feel like I’m definitely not getting enough variety in my vegetables and fruits (melon and bananas…yayyy) especially in terms of nutrients. And I do love my smoothies, but they don’t keep me satisfied for as long as something solid, and the insoluble fiber in the fruit is broken up in the blender.

That was not intended to be a rant. What I’m trying to get at is the importance of real, whole foods in maintaining health. Waffles are not a whole food. And I’ve been loving my waffles lately….

This isn’t simply intended to be me complaining about my eating habits. I want to encourage everyone to think about this as well! Not only in terms of themselves, but in terms of others who may be suffering as a result of the typical American diet. I know a lot of you other healthy living bloggers out there know about the importance of real food, but we have to take some responsibility for those who don’t and are the victim of the Supermarket diet. As a blogger, I feel it is part of my duty to try and help anyone I can! All this is just something I feel so passionately about!

Have a great week everyone! I can’t wait to roll myself into weights tomorrow for weigh-ins. Whoops.

What do you feel is a blogger’s duty?