WIAW-Summertime Loving

Date: August 20, 2013

Author: astottler

Happy Wednesday! That means-you guessed it-another edition of What I Ate Wednesday, hosted by the lovely Jenn.

By the way, did you guys see her chocolate chip banana bread recipe? It looks AMAZING! I was going to make it but was short a ripe banana, and my dad may have killed me if I made it ~~and ate it all~~ while he was out of town.

But now onto what I actually DID eat!

Saturday lunch-leftovers. Sloppy joe meat (with turkey) in a lettuce leaf, plus leftover sweet potato wedges.

ANOTHER fruit bowl. I’m kind of obsessed with these. The best ones include bananas and peaches. WIth or without peaches though, there needs to be a tangier component than just banana-like berries or even apple in a pinch. Topped with crunchy sunflower seed butter for some healthy fats.

I also tried a new chobani flip-vanilla with corn flakes, honey oats, and praline pecans.

I paired it with a slice of veggie pizza and broccoli. My overall opinion? A little boring. And corn flakes+yogurt are not a great combination, just because they got super soggy.

Since over the weekend I was still on my no sugar challenge, when my parents broke out the peanut butter cups, I decided to make my own no sugar version. I heated up unsweetened chocolate and coconut butter (unsweetened chocolate is really hard), and then filled mini muffin cups first with the chocolate, then sunflower seed butter, and then topped with chocolate again. I also added a touch of sea salt to the top-to make them gourmet of course! I wouldn’t recommend using no sweetener if you aren’t use to the taste of unsweetened chocolate, but this would work just as well with dark chocolate.

One thing I love about summer is going to Farmer’s markets. I love tasting all the fruit-especially peaches. White peaches or nectarines are by far my favorite! However, fruit is not the only amazing foodie find at Farmer’s markets. Have any of you ever gotten kettle corn there? It’s the best kettle corn ever. When you get it, it’s so hot and crisp. What better to munch on while browsing the produce?

I do love my fresh produce though too. Some highlights-white raspberries and butternut squash hummus! I love topping salads with hummus, and I prefer less sharp hummus for this. Butternut squash worked just perfectly!

Also from the Farmer’s market-artichokes and corn. I also had a grilled portabello mushroom, but sadly we could not find any at the Farmer’s market.

Also-a side note: I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but I haven’t posted many pictures of my breakfasts lately. That just means they’ve been super boring and/or really quick and early in the morning. For example-this morning I grabbed a Thinkthin bar before Crossfit. And as much as I’m sure everyone wants to see the same picture every other morning….

So far this week my workouts have been good ones. Monday was my first run of half marathon training 2.0. It took me about 3 hours to get going…but hey, I still did it. I realized I haven’t A) done that run in my newer shoes and B) done that run since the beginning of my first half marathon training. I did a 3 mile run in my neighborhood. It’s pretty hilly, so it was great practice for the hills of SF. It’s a run I’ve done a million times throughout high school. I did it once, at the very beginning of my training, and was DYING. I was in pretty awful shape at the beginning of my training-after recovering from Mono a month or so prior, I never really got back into running shape. Well, the run was sooo much easier. It’s good to know the 10 weeks of training I put into for my first half helped me be in better shape.

Confession: the whole time I was climbing the big hill I was think “I’m scaling this hill, just like Spiderman.” #facepalm

I refueled afterwards with an iced chai tea latte. A weak iced chai tea latte-because who has time for something to ACTUALLY brew fully?

When I make my chai tea lattes, I brew the tea directly into the almond milk, which I heat up. Since I’m adding ice, I find it gets too watery if I brew it in water and then add milk.

Aaaaand one last piece of deliciousness to leave you with. Remember how I said I wanted to bake Jenn’s chocolate chip banana bread but was a banana short? Well, I wasn’t just going to let a good banana go to waste. Or a good craving for chocolate chip banana bread to go to waste. Instead, I whipped up a concoction that turned out to be a pretty awesome banana chocolate chip custard. So let’s go with that.

I don’t have the exact recipe. But there’s only one solution to that-I’ll have to make it again and measure it out! I kind of just poured and mashed, but I used 1 banana, liquid egg whites, a dash of salt and baking powder, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Have a great day everybody! I’m sorry this post was a bit disjointed-I was a bit behind on food posts so I kind of just threw it all out there. I’ll leave you with some kitty love.

I really wanted to take a selfie with him-because I’m cool and take selfies with my cat…but I didn’t get quite that angelic facial expression…

Do you love microwave cooking as much as I do? What’s the best way to train for a hilly race? Favorite summer produce? Anyone else take selfies with their cats? Please?

Training Part Two

Date: August 18, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guess what everyone?

Tomorrow is Monday. Which means….training starts! I am sooo excited. I can’t believe it’s only been 2 weeks since my first half marathon…and it’s 9 weeks from my second! Since I consider myself a seasoned half marathoner (hah) I’m going to go about my training a bit differently. Since I know I can put the mileage in which was my only goal for the last half, this time I’m doing speed work…and hills. Lots of hills. Hills on hills on hills. My run tomorrow is 3 miles around the neighborhood. Which means about 300 feet of elevation climb. It actually made me feel a lot better realizing the hills I’ve run around home for years are comparable to the hills of the race….

Anyways, I thought it would be fun to reflect on my training from my last half.

Lots of running….

Lots of shoes necessary to get through my training.

Compression socks to hold my legs together after long runs (I swear that’s what it feels like they’re doing!)

Fun places to run.

Post-run fuel. (I may have eaten this whole thing-more or less-after my 12 miler.)

Pre-run fuel.

Moral support.

Roller of death.

Tan lines to prove it.

Pre-race day jitters. (And let’s be honest-whole time of training jitters.)

Finish line ~~pain~~ bliss.

And enough craziness to do it all again!

Happy running friends! Here’s to another fun 9 weeks!

Crossfit Crazy

Date: August 17, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey everyone! Long time no post, right? Thank you so much for your comments on the last post. I loved hearing your thoughts!

Let’s go back a few days, shall we? Wednesday was my last day of Health Psych, and I had a final. I had to do some last minute studying after spin, which meant no nap. So therefore, a cappuccino was a necessity. One bonus to making your own-you can add as much milk foam as you want 🙂

Every time I drive in to school, I’m amazed by how beautiful my campus is. Always perfectly sunny.

My final went well, and I finished early enough to come home and relax before Crossfit. Given the title of the post, I thought I’d share this week’s WODs with you.

Wednesday’s strength portion was back squats. At my box, we have quarters of the year-every quarter we work on different strength lifts. I think last quarter it was cleans and deadlifts-too bad because I would have loved that! This quarter it is snatches, back squats, and presses. Presses are hard for me-I’m bad at anything overhead, and I’m so used to push presses! I do love back squatting though. Anyways, here’s the WOD:

4 rounds:

5 Deadlifts

10 Toes to Bar

100 double unders

This workout doesn’t look bad, right? The deadlifts were on the heavy side but definitely doable (155 for me). The killer? Apparently if you can’t do double unders, the sub is 3-to-1 single unders. Which meant I did 1200 single unders….Ouch. The good news? My calf held up great! So hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

Dinner was a good one. We made sloppy joes with turkey meat, and chopped in celery for some extra veggies. Served with a sweet potato with cheddar and coleslaw.

The highlight really though was “dessert.” My neighbor brought us a ton of fruit from his fruit trees the other day!

That’s a ton of apples! But I had an idea for them-never fear!

I saw a recipe for apple custard on Sugar Free Mom a while back and have been wanting to make it ever since. The recipe is super simple-and no sweetener- just apples!

I made a quick whipped cream-just heavy whipping cream whipped up, no sugar. Sadly, I had a slight mishap that ended with cream shooting all over the kitchen, so I never really got to the point of stiff peaks. But still good enough for me!

(Sidenote- don’t try whipping cream in too small a bowl so that little flecks spray out, and then try covering the bowl with saran wrap while you whip….)

I REALLY liked this. The touch of nutmeg reminded me of the holidays. I think this would be better if it was blended a little more, and maybe even with different apples. I’m thinking I can easily make a lazy college student version with apple sauce in the microwave! And the best part? It was a great snack the next day too! I highly recommend this recipe!

Thursday morning was a little crazy-kitten nursery and then straight to a meeting with my professor. The good news is my little black kitten is doing infinitely better! He’s gained weight and is incredibly playful. Naturally I kind of hoarded him….and took tons of pictures. Black cats who are super energetic do not photograph well though.

The only issue with my shift-we have a really small shift to start with, and somehow I ended up having to syringe feed an entire litter of kittens by myself. Kittens are surprisingly not receptive to having food shoved in their mouths…It was bad because I had to leave by a certain time, but all worked out in the end.

I’m starting to rethink my career choice. The current plan is to do nutritional research. Which still sounds really appealing. But at the same time, I love animals, and I love working with these kittens. So maybe a vet? I’m doing animal behavior research this summer which does connect. I would never want to do surgery though! I couldn’t handle that.

Thursday I was planning to do a mile run and then Crossfit. I don’t want to shock my calf when I start training again next week. However, the calf soreness starting coming in in force (yayy 1200 jump ropes…). My whole body just was not feeling anything at all, so I took a rest day. I don’t plan rest days into my schedule, and this is why. It’s easier for me to just judge when my body needs a break, and give it a day then.

Dinner was turkey burgers, with an idea stolen from Audrey. Stuffing a burger with laughing cow! We had turkey burgers filled with a triangle of garlic and herb laughing cow. This was good, but would have been better if our grill hadn’t died. We have to make the burgers in the oven, and that combined with unseasoned meat led to really bland burgers. On the side was green beans and sweet potato wedges.

On Friday, I had lunch plans with my best friends from high school. I decided to at least try to look somewhat cute, so I wore a dress. And since I was proud of myself for making an effort, I look a selfie with horrible lighting.

I need a haircut really badly! I didn’t even realize how long my hair has gotten!

We went to lunch at a formerly Malaysian-turned-Chinese restaurant. We’ve been there a few times before before it was a Chinese place, and they still have many of the same menu items. We ordered Pad Thai, Curry Chicken, and Mango Chicken.

Everything was delicious, although I hope my face doesn’t rebel from the peanuts in the Pad Thai!

It was really great to talk with these friends. I haven’t seen them in so long! We still keep in constant contact though, so it was as if nothing had changed.

Later that evening, I was back at Crossfit for a brutal WOD. It was:

3 rounds:

20 burpees

20 front squats

20 box jumps

The worst part? They made us go really heavy on the front squats. I had to break mine up into 5s, and it was still a strain. This workout was weird for me-it’s not like my legs were burning, I just couldn’t physically lift more than 5 in a row. I guess that’s the point…Plus I think I was suffering from my lack of naps in the last week- I depend on those!

Dinner was really ugly-not a whole lot of color. I made a kale and chocolate smoothie. Since I have a Vitamix now, kale can be blended much smoother, so I’m fine adding it to a smoothie now. Since I was worried about the bitterness of the kale, I added some frozen mango as well. Although, thanks to Jessie for her recommendation on how much xantham gum to use-it turned out great!

After complaining about how small our glasses are, I decided I should probably just use a bowl. On the side were carrots and laughing cow, plus some lentil crisps. It was a very dirt toned meal.

The lentil snaps are the same brand as snap pea crisps. When I bought them, I didn’t even realize they were lentils-I thought they were just a different flavor of snap peas! I loved the flavor though-it was definitely something different.

Aaaand that brings us all the way back to today’s WOD. AKA the reason why I’m having trouble typing. And why raising my arms is a joke right now.

For the strength, I worked on cleans. I didn’t miss any of the strength days, and Saturday is usually a make-up day. I really haven’t’ worked on them from the ground in a long time, just from the hang. My stupid gym at school doesn’t have bumpers, so it’s not really an option. I was a little off balance today, but still felt good.

The WOD:

5 rounds:

10 thrusters

10 push ups

This was arm suicide. My legs? They felt fine. My arms were DYING. At least this was a quick workout. My wrists are destroyed though, between all the front squats yesterday, and then the thrusters today. And since we “finished too quickly,” we had to do 100 sit ups afterwards.

Sorry for the crazy long post- I’m finally catching up on Fringe with my family and it’s super addictive! And now I’m off to lunch!

What are your plans for the weekend? How do you plan rest days?

The Dark Side of Social Media

Date: August 14, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! This post is on a topic I’ve been thinking about a bit lately; I was unsure if I should post on it, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. Also, please note-I am not trying to criticize anyone or anything! I’m just throwing some thoughts out there-and I’d love to hear your feedback.

I’m sure you guys have all come across fitspo twitter accounts. Many of them are anonymous, and the profile picture is a person’s abs or legs. People talk about their workouts and super clean food. I’m honestly not sure what I think of these. I’m curious to hear your thoughts-while it sounds similar to a healthy living blog, it just doesn’t give me the same impression. I’m not criticizing these-just observing. I guess maybe the difference is that healthy living blogs include living. Maybe they seem more balanced? Once again, I’m not sure what I think about them.

I feel like these types of accounts really open people up to comparison. I mean, sure, they’re anonymous, but the person with the account still has the opportunity to compare herself to all the other accounts. And maybe other people’s abs just are not gong to happen on every body. I guess this is my criticism with fitspo-it’s not necessarily realistic for everyone. But ok, I get it. It is motivation, and it does help people get off the couch. What concerns me a bit is thinspo. There is a whole twitter community more or less dedicated to this; many are anonymous accounts of people with eating disorders. I think it’s great that people struggling through the same thing have somewhere for support, but what else is there? If you have an eating disorder, is it the best to constantly compared? Many of the accounts post their weights, and goal weights. I guess what bothers me more is that many of these girls are young. My first response is just to want to give them a hug. But twitter is public-what about the vulnerable high school girl trying to be healthier who comes across an extreme diet plan (only hundreds of calories a day) thinking it is a healthy way to lose weight? As healthy living bloggers, we can tend to take our knowledge of health for granted. How is someone supposed to know that that isn’t healthy?

I am in no place to judge. I’m not trying to judge. I’m just wondering if constantly being up for comparison is the best thing for health.

In some anonymous twitter accounts, I feel like maybe constantly publicizing themselves is not the best in the long term.

Once again, I’m trying to be a neutral party-but I am curious about your thoughts on these types of accounts.

And while we’re at it-what would you consider healthy?

WIAW-Dessertless

Date: August 13, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! That means, it’s time for another edition of What I Ate Wednesday. Thanks so much to Jenn (who is welcoming a new little human to the world pretty soon!)

I’ll make this post pretty short-I need to study for tomorrow’s Psych final! But all you really care about is food anyways, right??

One quick aside-I went to yoga today. Owwww. I haven’t been in over a month and I’ve gotten soooo tight! Lack of yoga could definitely contributed to my calf problem-it felt much looser after class. I need to make weekly yoga a priority as I train for my next run! And just to clarify-I’m only doing the half of the Nike Women’s marathon. To be honest, my feet couldn’t handle more than that. Exhibit A: It’s a week and a half since my last half and I’m still waiting to regain some of the feeling in my toe. So until I get that figured out….

Ok, onto the food. As you may know, I’m doing a no sugar challenge this week. I’m not doing 0 sugar, just no desserts. So a lot of my eats will feature healthier, no sugar “desserts.” Enjoy!

Breakfast burrito pre-roll. Tip: make the eggs for this in the microwave. It saves dishes and time-the texture is only a tiny bit off and you can’t even tell in burrito form.

Breakfast burrito post-roll.

Lunch sides require their own plate.

Tortilla pizza fail-I sort of overestimated the amount of toppings necessary. This was all cheese and sauce. Whoops…First “dessert.” I’ve been loving my fruit bowls lately-especially anything with peaches and banana, topped with sunflower seed butter. Indian food out of a pouch-hey, good enough for me!

Imitation coconut Chobani. I can’t find anything but the coconut flips, so I took matters into my own hands. After attempt #1, this was spot on. I used Oikos vanilla greek yogurt, which was a better choice because it’s slightly sweeter than my normal vanilla yogurts. I added unsweetened coconut and, this was the key I was missing, coconut extract. I then let it sit overnight so the coconut would soften up. DELICIOUS.

I’ve been loving my lunch plates lately. Where’s the other half of the English muffin you ask? I had the biggest fail splitting it, so it came off in chunks unfit for the toaster.

I took it as a great sign that I was craving grapes for dessert after this meal. I’ve also been loving my dried mango lately (the unsweetened kind). But that could just be major mango withdrawals-I haven’t found much fresh mango lately.

Cheesy polenta with mushrooms, a side of asparagus.

Another delicious fruit bowl as a post-softball snack. (I finally hit a homerun!)

Imitation PB&J crackers. Sunflower seed butter and a raspberry on top of a whole grain and seed cracker.

And I’ll leave you with this 🙂 How can I possibly study with that face to distract me?

Sorry for the short-winded post, I have lots of studying in my near future!

What’s the best thing that happened to you this week? What does your cat look like? Have you ever gone dessertless? Results?