This morning I got in a quick treadmill run. The good news? My feet are still cooperating. I guess this ‘no processed food’ business really is doing something? The true test will come when I start half training soon!

Breakfast was leftover banana egg white oats with yogurt stirred in.

I apologize that everything I eat is in a cup. I then topped it with some berry compote.

Plus a little crockpot oatmeal-but more on that in a minute! 

Lunch was eaten outside in the beautiful weather-although I think we’re getting rain soon!

Brussels sprouts tossed in balsamic dressing plus a turkey burger.

And this:

I definitely thought this was a blood orange, so I packed it in my lunch. Upon further inspection, it was clear something was up. It was a Meyer lemon! Meyer lemons are a cross between oranges and lemons, and I was convinced to try it anyways.

Yeah, it’s still just like eating a lemon. 

So, yesterday, we made applesauce in my roommate’s crockpot. Since it was out, last night she put in the mixings for baked oatmeal, which I HAD to try this morning, as it smelled amazing. When I returned from class, she was fiddling with it a little more. She added all kinds of things-banana, raisins, cinnamon, dates, egg, pumpkin.

After cooking all day, the texture was more like a sticky pudding-very soft.

Then, we tried to make a quick bread type of deal out of it by adding more egg and coconut flour, and cooking further.

It baked a little on top, but it was just too wet for bread. The texture because a thick, stick to your rips custard type of deal. Definitely good, but not really resembling oatmeal or quick bread! But still a great snack on a cold (ish) afternoon!

Dinner was at the dining hall. After talking about fats on here yesterday, and talking this morning about how fish oil is the ideal type of fat, I was pretty excited to see fish at the dining hall that didn’t appear to go off my project!

Plus, I was ready to load up on veggies!

Tilapia, a simple spinach salad, cabbage salad, mushrooms, and some type of potato dish.

And a baby plate of cilantro rice, more potatoes, and green beans.

Plus a little bit of applesauce.

It was a good day of food! But not going to lie, there are only so many ways you can do oatmeal, bananas, and yogurt. I’m getting so tired of them! I think I’m going to try to go to the dining hall for eggs tomorrow, but still not the most exciting option!

Any good ideas for breakfast that have no sugar and are easy? (As in dorm friendly…)

For whatever it’s worth though, I am slowly catching up on sleep. Last night I went to bed fairly early and I took a nap today!

Let’s rewind on the food front a bit to last night first!

Nothing new here-I am still not tired of this!

Let’s pretend that this is an artsy shot and not just me being impatient. These pink ladies are from out CSA box, and they’re phenomenal! 

After dinner I took a quick nap before yoga-and then had some unsweetened chocolate to wake me up. 

Then-yoga time! I made up a sequence-with no clue how long it would take (it ended up being about half an hour but I cut it a little short).

Ignore my spelling and/or totally made up descriptions for things I couldn’t remember the name of.

It was SO MUCH FUN. I channeled my inner yoga teacher-I have one teacher who I’ve gone to for years, and can basically quote word for word. It was awesome-I felt strong and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I didn’t do anything that would reflect my lack of flexibility too much!

Kinda awkward picture but I’m the one facing everybody. This made me realize I need to do my own yoga practice! I’m totally capable of making a “class” for myself, and it felt so great! I just wish it were a little warmer so I could be outside!

Guys. I feel like I’ve made so many new friends already this quarter! It’s wonderful and it warms my heart. 

This morning, I went to the gym for a treadmill workout. I did the one where I do a mile at my goal pace, and then 10 intervals of 2 minutes at a faster pace (with walking in between). To up the challenge, I did the first mile and 2 intervals at a 1.0 incline. It’s interesting-I’ve done this workout a lot and it varies a lot based on how I’m feeling. The first time I did it was over break, when I would do it AFTER spin. My legs felt kind of heavy when I woke up this morning, and man was it hard today. I’m thinking that’s most likely due to sleep deprivation. But at the same time, I think my running has definitely gone downhill in the last couple of months-all my distance training is gone, so I’ve lost a decent part of my endurance base. The frustrating part is that I really can’t do any long distance runs with my tendonitis at this point. 

I had a few of my pre workout balls before the run, and then coffee after, plus this bowl of deliciousness:

Plain yogurt, pink lady apple, and sunflower seed butter. Plus a kiwi. I’ve eaten so many kiwis today! We’ve been getting them in our CSA box, but I never really ate them much! They’re super ripe, and definitely the best kiwis I’ve had. 

I also took some ‘abs’ pictures today to have some visual record of this project. I think I’d really need a 6 pack by the end of 4 weeks though to have my abs circulating the Internet…yeah I should probably do some abwork…But still, I probably won’t post these pictures-it’s just to notice differences. 

After class, I had every intention of working, but I ended up getting hungry early-weird because I ate a late breakfast. Since I was done for the day, I actually got to have a hot lunch!

Same old, same old with balsamic dressing on the asparagus. 

After my nap, I did a little banana experimenting. I have an idea for next week’s pre workout balls, and I used a little mashed banana to test that. I know they’ll taste fabulous, but not sure how they’ll feel pre workout!

I had the rest of the banana with cocoa powder and yogurt.

Something about this snack just unleashed the hunger in me! Before Crossfit, I had a nice little meatsicle, some sweet potatoes, and some dried mango.

file:///Users/stottler/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Previews/2014/01/23/20140123-163711/zSfuddS1QoO2JZS77Q690g/IMG_6331.jpg

Plus, I’ve been having handfuls of this:

I think I’ve been having a little too much coconut and sunflower seed butter these last couple of days though-I’m feeling a little bit off from all the fat/fiber in the coconut!

Today in Crossfit, the WOD was wall balls and toes to bar (which I can’t do fully). For some reason, lately my usual 14 lb wall ball has been feeling insanely light. Which is funny because my arms have felt a little week lately-I can’t even remember the last time I did pull ups! 

After Crossfit, I made a valiant effort to get the rest of the things I need for the blood sugar test, but I couldn’t find parking so I gave up!

I attempted my first dinner at the dining hall. I did reasonably well-the chicken rice soup said it contained wheat, which meant it was probably just a little to thicken so I let it go. Then I realized it was white rice, which is technically processed, but oh well. The real star was the black bean and corn salads-which I mixed together.

So-what does the future hold? Next week I want to try to go to the dining hall more-but it doesn’t always fit in my schedule and I still have an entire container of soup in the freezer-and I love soup for dinner! For breakfasts, yogurt or overnight oats with berry compote, or maybe dining hall food (eggs/fruit). For lunches, I still have a frozen meal, but I want to make quinoa fried rice-quinoa, tons of veggies, egg, leftover chicken, garlic, etc. Plus a new variety of energy balls. 

Also-look out for a post about fat. That’s this week’s topic in nutrition, and I think it helps clarify a lot about the different types of fat!

And I’m sorry-I’m a little behind on responding to comments because I normally do that on my phone, but I got the updated app and it’s a little funky! I will get right on it though  

Any suggestions on how I can get magically fast in the next week?

My race is next weekend! (5k)

 Microwave Banana Chocolate Chip Custard

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana

• 1 T milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond)

• 1/4 cup liquid egg whites of 1 egg

• pinch of salt

• 1/8 t baking powder

• 2 T bittersweet chocolate chips (or any chocolate chips)

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, microwave peeled banana for 30 seconds.

2. Mash banana.

3. Add milk and stir.

4. Add all other ingredients except chocolate chips and mix well.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Microwave on high for 1:15 or until cooked through.

Note: Different bowls and microwaves may take different time, so check every 30 seconds or so just in case.

Enjoy! This is delicious, simple, and low sugar. Plus-it’s dorm room friendly! My dining halls at school always have bananas which are easy to grab for later, so this is perfect! To new college students-I also highly recommend keeping a carton of liquid egg whites (such as egg beaters) around- they make an easy protein rich meal any time,plus there’s no shell to sit in your trash can for weeks (at least if you’re me and don’t take out your trash NEARLY enough). 

If you want a silkier texture, add an extra tablespoon of milk-it might take a little longer to cook, so monitor that.

Try this! It will make your Monday a little more marvelous- I promise

Thank you Jenn for hosting! You’re awesome!

I had a whole meal plan for today, but it kind of broke down later in the day. Luckily, I still have some photo-worthy shots!

I began the morning with a 45 minute Spin class, which was fantastic, as always. Then, breakfast!An obviously super photogenic biscuit from the dining hall. A Harry and David pear and a hard boiled egg. Yes, I did try very hard to make this picture somewhat appealing. My gummy vitamins and calcium supplements. Yes, I am in college, and I still take gummy vitamins. Every since I had mono a few months ago and was popping 30 pills a day, I have wanted to avoid swallowing pills at all costs. 

As usual, I began my day by going to morning Spin. Then, I made breakfast. Ok, specifically, I made breakfast look nice and I made myself late for class. But it is a 9am so no one is on time anyways. So I had this genius idea that I should work on making my food more photographable as a way to slow down and be really mindful of what I am eating. My mom even brought me some fabric swaps to uses as background! So since a picture of a banana with a bite out of it and a jar of Sunflower butter isn’t very pretty, I did this:Not the neatest, but spreading sunflower seed butter on a banana is not the most graceful thing ever. Idea for when I have more time: put the sunflower butter in a plastic bag and squeeze it through a hole in the corner like frosting. Genius, right? We’ll see if that ever actually happens…

After my 9am, I studied for a bit before grabbing coffee with one of my friends from crew who I haven’t seen or talked to in so long! It was great to catch up and hear about the team. I ordered a yogurt parfait and a cappuccino. Because apparently I was super tired. And guess what? I actually have a favorite coffee drink. Which is saying something since I hate coffee in general. I love the milk foam in cappuccinos! Also, I really hate sugar in coffee, for some reason. That’s supposed to make it better for people who don’t like coffee, but that doesn’t do it for me. 

I had all my workout clothes in my backpack which I carted around all day. However, I realized I forgot my iPod, which I really wanted, so I ran back to my dorm. Despite the coffee, I took a brief nap. Interesting…

After class, I headed to the gym for another rowing workout. It was nothing too intense. I ended up doing less than I was planning; my knee had been a little sore today and I didn’t want to push it. I was doing an ab circuit and thinking about how I really need to work speed and agility workouts into my life since I really miss them, when I decided, hey, why not do something now? I left mid-abs and biked to the field near my dorm and did some of the agility drills I used to do as part of softball conditioning. I think my joints (knees and ankles) have gotten a little weaker because I never do anything that involves changing direction, so I want of work more of that stuff in. 

For dinner, my roommate and I went to the nearby dining hall that we have not gone to all quarter. SO MANY VEGETABLES. It was awesome. Brown rice, tilapia, and tons of veggies. Plus some fruit and later a small slice of gourmet looking pizza. While there, we ran into one of my friends from my dorm who I haven’t talked to in a while. We had a great time; I can’t remember the last time I laughed that much! And hey, nothing wrong with dinner taking an hour and a half right??

That’s about all that happened today. And now, the title of the post: next race??

I’m running the Giant’s Half Marathon in the beginning of August (it’s in SF and finishes at the ballpark on the field). I hadn’t thought much of anything beyond that. BUT THEN. I got an email from a girl in my sorority about the Nike Women’s marathon in SF in October. I had thought about signing up for the half, but since it’s a draw even after you sign up, I figured, ehh. But I was informed in said email that as a college student, I could get a special code when I registered that would not only give me a discount, but guarantee me entry in the race. How awesome is that? And the race is basically in my backyard, which is incredible given people travel to do this race.

So, what do you guys think??

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!

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

1. Add to a blender (break up the banana as much as possible for easier blending).
2. 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!

After my erg pieces, I got in a good 30 minute run. I explored a part of campus I didn’t even know existed, which is always fun! The only thing: I began my first erg piece at 6:45, and finished my run at 8:45, so I was hungry!

I’m trying to up my veggie intake, so I went to the dining hall that I know has spinach out at breakfast. Here, we have a piece of whole wheat toast, half with cream cheese, half with turkey, plus spinach, a slice of tomato, and scrambled egg whites. I was planning on just making this with hardboiled eggs, but the concept of peeling eggs seemed so…difficult. And there were the egg whites just asking to be taken. So it worked out. Plus melon. And half a blueberry muffin.

It was decent. My favorite muffins the dining hall has are the chocolate chunk and the orange cranberry. Way too dangerous. This muffin had me thinking about my absolute favorite way to eat blueberry muffins. So here it is: yes, made from a mix, with fresh blueberries, topped with course sugar, hot from the oven, and preferably in bread form (less bottom crust!). Are you drooling yet? I am. Now THAT my friends, is dangerous. Speaking of quickbreads, I am in serious need of some baking. I have all of 2.5 pieces of bread left in my freezer. I’ve been eating it more for snacks lately, and it kind of disappeared. The only problem is, it is impossible to make anything at school that I plan to freeze, unless I make a ton of it because everyone can smell it and wants some. Plus I don’t have a TON of ingredients…One thing that worked for me to make here is pumpkin bread, which makes 2 loaves, so I have a loaf to distract everyone while I run my loaf up to my room. I really want to make this, but I only have 1 can of pumpkin, and the recipe calls for a little bit more than that. Hmmm but I do have a couple of sweet potatoes…maybe that could work? In theory I have ingredients for banana bread, if I didn’t eat all my bananas so darn fast! I’ll have to grab a bunch if I plan to do that. I guess I could wake up early (hah, earlier) one day and bake before anyone is awake! Not sure if it is worth it though. 

Back to my day. I enjoyed a fabulous and much needed 2 hour nap. And like clockwork, I woke up wanting food, so I ate a granola bar, and quickly made the executive decision to hold off on cutting back nuts until tomorrow. Why? I was planning on a granola bar for an afternoon snack as well, plus I needed to pack some food for after practice and before my midterm, and I could not think of a single nonperishable thing I could pack that did not involve nuts or nut butter. So starting tomorrow, life is going to get difficult. 

So these granola bars? A delivery from my mom! I didn’t take any pictures before, so right as I started this post, I ran to snap a picture. These guys are frozen, I finished the ones I kept out.

If you are interested, here is a bad picture of the recipe.

I like that brown rice syrup is the main sweetener in these. I guess these could be a decent replacement for my quickbread as preworkout fuel, but I don’t like eating fat (nuts) before a morning workout. 

Ok, on to lunch!

Sweet potato bisque, Greek salad, tofu, and fruit. I later got some salmon which I ate in place of the tofu, because the tofu wasn’t my favorite, and I didn’t see the salmon earlier! I also had a slice of cinnamon toast and a small piece of chocolate cake. 

For snack before practice, I finished the last of my Sweet Potato bread.

Plus another granola bar and half a banana with peanut butter (left over from making my dinner). Yeahhh lots of nuts.

At practice today, I wasn’t in a boat and had to cross train on land, which today meant spinning. I really don’t mind this. I love Spin, and the water was pretty rough today anyway.  I did a few ab exercises after spinning, and I was juuust a little bit sweaty….I think this is cool (ok and maybe gross), but check out my mat that I was lying down on the to abs:

I was wearing an old softball t-shirt with a number on the back, and it made a sweat pattern! Can you guess what number I was? Well, at least I thought it was awesome.

I ate a peanut butter and banana sandwich with celery on the drive back, but we ended up getting back pretty early today, so I stopped by my local dining hall really quickly because there was a Lunar New Year celebration with special food. Unfortunately, all of the really good and unique food had RIDICULOUS lines, and I was pretty short on time, so I just had some noodles and salad.

On the way out the lines were shorter so I grabbed a chicken bun. In the corner there is some green tea ice cream. It is kind of a big deal when the dining hall has real ice cream because no one here ever gets it. Except, one dining hall is required to always have 3 flavors of ice cream. It has something to do with a condition the donors put when they donated money for it. It’s sooo far away though, so I’ve only been to that dining hall like twice ever. I also had some small candies. Then it was off to my math final! I think it went pretty well. I’m really hoping to do well in this class because I took a similar class in high school. It was so cold biking back though! I don’t think I’ve ever biked that fast back before! 

Ok, I am off to do work!

Do you guys have any suggestions for fun posts? Or requests? Let me know!

Before weights, I ate a piece of oatmeal bread. Apparently, we’re not doing endurance weights anymore, which means each exercise has a more normal amount of reps. No more 4x50s! The only problem is that I don’t feel like I got a great workout in. I definitely need to go heavier in some of the exercises. I’ve done a lot of squatting, and I think this is one area where I’m actually better than most of my team. I stuck with their weights, and my reps were super easy. I was a little scared to go up too much weight on the first day of these exercises, and I don’t want to mess up with the conversion from kilograms to pounds again…And I really don’t want to drop a bar. As much as I hate failing a lift, it was never as bad when I was with my trainer the last few years. Whenever I’m lifting on my own, I never go as heavy because I don’t want to drop the bar. It’s so embarrassing! It’s super loud and of course EVERYONE looks. Next week I’ll definitely go heavier though! Although we don’t technically have to do a run afterwards anymore, I might add that in again next week. I didn’t today because this week I’m just in survival mode. After weights, I took a glorious half hour nap. 

And guess what? On the way back I saw a black and white cat! It always makes my day when I see him. 

For breakfast, I deviated from my plan a little bit. I had planned on drinking my Chocolate Post Workout Recovery Drink, but I wasn’t feeling it. What I really wanted was a smoothie! I think I’m still having fruit and vegetable withdraws from last weekend! 

Into the blender went frozen strawberries, 3/4 of a huge banana, a piece of watermelon, plain yogurt, and soymilk. This was a good one! The taste reminded my of cotton candy, but in a good way! It was delicious! Putting watermelon in smoothies is awesome. You should all try it!

Class was uneventful. Lunch was good!

A pre-made salad with oil and vinegar dressing, plus a cold mixture of brussels sprouts and tomatoes, and a black bean burger with a little ketchup. The black bean burger was really good! I ended up ditching the ketchup and eating the burger as a topper for my salad. The black bean burgers are always available at the grill, and I don’t know why I never tried one before! It’s a great option if none of the other protein sources seem good/healthy. I also had some fruit. 

During my writing class today, I was struck with inspiration for what my research paper should be on: artificial versus natural sugar. I’m so pumped! I absolutely love learning about sugar. It’s a strange passion of mine…I’ll keep you updated on anything cool I discover! This brings me in to my next topic: I’m back on the no sugar challenge! ANy even better? Tomorrow is my absolutely zero added sugar day! I’ll post what I eat, and what I might normally eat that doesn’t qualify. The idea is to raise awareness for all the sugar added to the foods we eat, especially the foods you wouldn’t think about! I can’t wait for tomorrow’s post! 

Practice on the water today was rough. It was super windy, so the water was pretty wild. I hate days like this! I ended up being in a stable boat though, so it wasn’t terrible. All our practices on the water have had the same format lately: 4×15 minutes. Ok, one for crew tidbit for the day:

Some of you may or may not be familiar with the concept of lightweight rowing versus openweight rowing. Lightweight rowers are smaller, and they have their own team and race against other small rowers. There is a maximum weight limit for lightweight rowers. Openweight rowers are bigger, and can be any size. Many openweight rowers are tall; it is common to have rowers over 6 feet. Right now, I am openweight, but I’m a very small openweight. I’m the shortest person on my team (and I’m almost 5’7″ on a good day). The issue with this is that realistically speaking, I won’t exactly be able to pull as well as some of my bigger and taller teammates. I’m that awkward size: I would be on the taller side for lightweight, and small for openweight. After the fall, when the other walk-ons and I split in to weight classes, I considered dropping to lightweight, but my coach ultimately decided she didn’t want me to have to worry about that yet, because I’m still fairly new to rowing. I was talking to another teammate today about this. We’re similar sizes, although she’s about an inch taller. For this year, I will stay openweight, but next year, I won’t be able to race in a freshman boat, so my chances of getting boated aren’t great. It would make a ton of sense for my to try and drop next year, but I have a year to figure it out! Just thought I’d fill you guys in on the inside scoop of rowing and what may be going on with me in the next year!

Dinner today was…frustrating. The actual meal was fine, but I had to stand in a pretty long line for chicken. This wouldn’t be that bad; I can stand to wait for my food. The thing is, I’m waiting for other people to get burgers grilled up for them. The chicken breast is already cooked, just sitting in a bin…so close yet so far! Nonetheless, I enjoyed a nutritious meal. 

I has some greens topped with a hot chickpea mixture, plus chicken breast (ok, and some ketchup), and some sauteed swiss chard. It’s so nice to get my veggies in again! 

Back in my room, it was time for something sweet.

I just opened this peanut butter. I know, I know, I had said I would wait to open peanut butter so I could give other nut butters some love, but, well…At least it’s a different kind! I haven’t had crunchy peanut butter in a while, and this is currently my favorite crunchy variety. And, as it turns out, it’s amazing on a banana!

Sorry this post was kind of all over! I need to start brainstorming some ways to keep my posts interesting, even on boring days! Tomorrow is zero sugar day! Anyone want to join me??

Have you ever had an embarrassing gym experience?

After my workout, I made myself a smoothie.

I’ve been wanting to do my blackberry-watermelon smoothie for a while, but there weren’t any watermelons today. Or bananas. And to make a good smoothie, I knew I needed some kind of sweeter fruit. The solution? An apple! My smoothie included blackberries, a little yogurt, a little frozen peaches and mango, a small apple, and milk. Topped with peanut butter of course! On the side were some eggs. Not really sure what was in them though….And on my way out I grabbed a piece of French toast.

Not worth it. It is never as good as I am expecting…

Around the beginning of my first class, I started developing a sinus headache. Everything from the lungs up was aching…after class I took Advil and just lay down for a bit. Lunch was a random mix of things in my room.

These guys are pretty good though not quite as flavorful as I was hoping…

Thai chicken soup (I picked this up from Whole Foods over the weekend), celery, and a cracker. I wasn’t really feeling the cracker, so I opted for half a slice of European style rye bread.

I topped all this off with a bit of trail mix and my banana mixture (banana, dark cocoa powder, peanut butter). I’m not a big fan of meals like this that have a ton of random things thrown together. That was kind of what all my meals were like today. I think I prefer lunch in the dining hall, where I can have a big salad.

Before practice, I had an orange, 2 granola balls, and on the way out the door, one of the delicious ThinkThin bars (German Chocolate).

Practice held a new experience for me. Today I rowed in a double for the first time. Not only is this the first time I’ve rowed in a 2 person boat, but it’s the first time I’ve sculled, which means rowing with an oar in each hand. It was interesting. Kind of like learning to row for the first time again, except I picked it up much more quickly. I was grateful I was in a boat with a total of 4 oars, because that is much more stable than a 2 person boat where each person has one oar. After practice was dinner out of my fridge:

A salad with greens and tomatoes that I stole from the dining hall yesterday, plus avocado, olive oil and White Balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. A sweet potato. Leftover cheese souffle. Not a bad meal. I had more of my banana mixture for dessert, but this time I added a little bit of liquid egg whites. Not my best choice because I think the egg took away from the sweetness of the banana.

What an attractive picture, right? I borrowed the banana from my roommate. I think she has at least 15 very ripe bananas. She’s way better at stealing them from the dining hall than I am! She loves to bake, so I think she’s gonna make something with them. Right now I think she’s working on some type of pear muffin/cake. I’m not sure if this counts as a sweet….either way I’m pretty full so I should pass. My eating was kind of all over th place today. I think I ate too many carbs. Do you ever get that feeling? I don’t know how to describe it. Also, I don’t think my meals were as enjoyable as they could have been because I was kind of panting through them. As it turns out, we tend to breathe through our noses when we eat…

Well, that’s all I have for today. I really hope my allergies clear up for my workout tomorrow. And especially by Thursday. We have a 2x6k at max effort which I’m really dreading…have a good night everyone!

What new experiences have you had lately?