Archives

My Life: Puppies, Vet, Food

IMG_2780

What has been going on lately leaving me such little time to post? This one is part of it! She’s quite the handful. Fortunately, I think we’re starting to get through the worst of the biting phase, but it’s still a work in progress. She started puppy school a couple of weeks ago, and already knows come, sit, down, and shake. She’s a bit headstrong though, and still somewhat easily distracted. She listens to every word we say, and cocks her head to the side when she doesn’t know what we’re saying or if she hears a new noise. She puts her tongue and mouth on everything, and anything is fair game to be chewed on. The weird thing is she really likes licking feet and ankles. She’s also started jumping up to put her front paws on all the furniture. It’s only a matter of time before she’s stealing food from counters!

Work at the vet has been going really well, and I really like my job. That said, it’s basically my entire life right now, to the point that I have dreams about it every night.

And finally, food. Because I’m home, food is a lot more interesting! Last Sunday, I went to another Giant’s game with my mom and got cauliflower flatbread.

IMG_2766

And a hot fudge sundae. YUM.

IMG_2770

Oh, and a sunburn. Look at what a beautiful day it was in SF though!

IMG_2768

Other notable and colorful meals?

IMG_2771

A teriyaki bowl with asparagus. Quick and easy.

IMG_2772

An egg white scramble with spinach, nutritional yeast, and lemon thyme salt, plus oatmeal and an amazing nectarine. My friend who lives on an orchard visited me again last weekend!

IMG_2773

My current go-to work lunch. Recipe coming soon!

IMG_2777

Eggs with brown rice/quinoa blend, plus a nectarine for breakfast.

IMG_2779

Cooking Light Asian Lettuce Cups with mint snow peas, plus brown rice/quinoa.

IMG_2784

A post-workout protein smoothie into which I accidentally dumped a third of the container of dark chocolate cocoa powder, hence the intense color. The smoothie was half cocoa powder, and the other half was a frozen banana, soy milk, a pinch of protein powder, and a handful of spinach.

IMG_2785

Froyo at lunch at work. Want to hear something terribly sad? I realized I’m allergic to one of my favorite froyo toppings! Apparently the last ingredient in Heath bars is almonds. On the one hand, this makes me really sad that I won’t be able to enjoy Heath in my froyo any longer, but on the other hand, I’m glad I have an explanation to why I was having a significant mystery allergic reaction. Boo.

IMG_2786

Brown rice+my copycat SweetGreen salad-watermelon and feta!

IMG_2790

A very pale but delicious dinner. Cooking Light’s lemon marinated grilled chicken, rice with feta and spices, and frozen then baked cauliflower with Greek seasoning blend.

IMG_2791

A simple breakfast of eggs, and blueberries/a tiny banana with sun butter.

And finally:

IMG_2792

The Primavera salad from Le Boulanger with no nuts and added chicken!

What’s the best thing you ate last week?

1 Day!

Hey guys! I am currently in the midst of finals. Yay for the quarter system! My first final is tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday…cool) so I’m taking a quick study break to blog!

Guess what my parents will be doing while I’m in my final?

Bringing this girl home!

IMG_2348

To say I’m excited would be the understatement of the year! We still need a name though! Right after my final I’m hightailing it home to meet her!

One of the reasons I wanted to post today was because I’m now doing some different and specific things with my eating and nutrition. It’s kind of complicated and for a variety of reasons which I may eventually post on, but I wanted to document a day.

This morning I did a super quick track workout-just 6x400m. Beforehand, I ate half a banana. Then….this is actually super exciting…I had a cappuccino! It was decaf-believe me-but I haven’t had one since February since the whole destroying my stomach lining thing, and my body didn’t hate it and it was delicious!

IMG_2360

I needed one before the year ended!

Breakfast was at the dining hall-I had to bring my own sun butter, but I made a yogurt bowl with plain greek yogurt and honeydew (the only fruit option…which actually was really good in yogurt-who knew?), and some roasted potatoes.

IMG_2361

Then I hit the library for a few hours before lunch.

I really loaded up on the veggies-a side salad, a couple of carrots, and lettuce cups with sautéed veggies. Plus chicken with ketchup and brown rice.

IMG_2363

I also had a couple of bites of chocolate soft serve. I’m trying to learn to enjoy sweets in small portions without totally denying my sweet tooth!

My afternoon snack was some chicken and a mango.

IMG_2364

And then right before Crossfit I had half a banana, some seed crackers, and sunbutter.

At Crossfit we did back squats with a slow descend. The WOD was 3 rounds of 15 pull ups, 30 double unders, and 15 kb swings. The trick was that the kb swings were with a kb that was a size heavier than we would normally use-and it definitely made a big difference in the difficulty level!

I stopped at Whole Foods for dinner.

IMG_2365

I got cauliflower bisque and added spinach and chicken breast for some more staying power, plus a little potato salad and some mushrooms (which I ended up not being a fan of). And kombucha!

I also got some fancy raw chocolate bar.

IMG_2366

It was filled with some sort of date paste. Good, but I think I may not be ready for the caffeine content of dark chocolate because I’m definitely feeling this a bit!

So that was my day. I know I haven’t been blogging much lately. I feel like I’m at sort of a Crossroads. I’m trying to make some lifestyle changes this summer, and I will also have a ton of blog content this summer (hello-PUPPY) so we will see.

IMG_2352

Do you have any puppy name ideas??

Elimination Diet Eats

It’s been over a week now that I’ve avoided dairy/gluten/all nuts including coconut. So what have I been eating? I’m sort of obsessed with rice cakes, which is really a good thing given I have about 4 things of them right now (oops). Also-mangoes are officially in season! As are blueberries-YAY! So here’s a few snapshots of the past week.

IMG_1685

BBQ chicken salad-BBQ chicken from Trader Joe’s, avocado, corn, tomato, tortilla chips, red pepper, and a simple lime/olive oil dressing

IMG_1693

Chicken with ketchup, roasted broccoli. Super basic.

IMG_1696

Chicken, roasted broccoli, and a sweet potato with non-dairy butter (Earth Balance).

IMG_1698

Papaya+ Sunbutter&J rice cake.

IMG_1699

Salad, chicken, microwave brown rice and quinoa.

IMG_1703

Guacamole salad with chicken.

IMG_1704

My pre-long run meal, which has kind of evolved and morphed in the best few years. In theory, it is banana+egg pancakes. But it has to be microwave friendly. And I always used to add cocoa powder but chocolate hasn’t been treating my stomach well (I’m a hot mess clearly). And then I started throwing in oats for more carbs!

IMG_1711

First meal back at the dining hall-turkey burger, salad, steamed veggies. This was pretty much the only stuff friendly to my super restrictive diet…

IMG_1725

 

IMG_1727

Hummus salad with chicken, plus a fruit bar. I like finishing on something sweet!

IMG_1731

Breakfast-an egg+veggies, a pear with sun butter.

IMG_1735

I really liked this fruit bar from Trader Joe’s! It was chia and flax seeds for a little texture and staying power!

IMG_1743

Hummus salad with egg.

IMG_1745

Dining hall meal-roasted cauliflower, quinoa and yams, lentils, and chicken curry over rice.

IMG_1771

Easter egg+mango. Classic.

IMG_1774

 

Typical dining hall meal.

IMG_1778

 

More eggs, shockingly. This time in the form of egg salad! FYI-egg salad over plain lettuce is super boring. To create this, I got to be the super cool person who brought back a big bowl of mayo and mustard from the dining hall. Yum?

Any favorite gluten/dairy/nut free foods I should try?

Frustration-Nothing has Changed, Everything has Changed

It seems every so often I do a nice little heart to heart here on Fitness is Sweet. These are the posts that I hate publishing and find semi-embarassing to look back on but post rashly and later realize they are part of life and evolution and all that.

I actually have a post that seems related now-a directionless post but it’s not very upbeat so it is still sitting in my drafts for another day-can’t have too much of that!

Right now I’m frustrated. Frustrated with myself. Sometimes I miss little freshman me.

IMG_1149

(File this picture under things I’ll regret posting.)

It’s interesting to read my old posts. If I was struggling at that time, I can tell. I’m glad I’ve become more secure and confident since then, and ultimately more sane.

On the other hand, I feel like I had better time management then (ok-this was forced by the many hours of rowing…), and I had better study habits. Well, I guess I would say I had fewer other distractions from school and spent less time on the Internet….it really is a black hole. I feel like in some ways I was more put together in aspects of my life-that’s not to say I haven’t matured and changed a lot, things are just…different.

The thing that is currently frustrating me is looking at old pictures and wishing I still looked like that. I’ve gone 2 years without losing the college weight, and then I start to wonder if I never will. It’s frustrating. And I’m tired of overeating or eating junk and feeling crappy.

IMG_2223

But then I never seem to get any better about it. I’ll eat healthy and make progress for a while, but like a cycle I revert to the same old habits.

I made some real progress on my Project last year (cutting out processed foods) but that made me so crazy! And it’s interesting to see posts from freshman year where I was definitely eating healthier.

And a big part of me worries that I’m wasting my college years by carrying the extra weight, which honestly is what scares me the most-I want to make the most of my time here!

IMG_6433

(I am happy to report that my room is way cleaner than last year at least…)

I guess what I’m saying is I’m frustrated and I don’t know what to do right now. I’m officially in half training mode, so I had plenty of time to think on my 8 mile run. I especially worry that any extra weight just aggravates my foot problems, and my foot wasn’t especially cooperative today.

And eating badly makes me feel bad, physically and mentally. Between stomach issues and eating junk, I’m sick of feeling gross. And I’m sick of the mental fogginess, distraction, and anxiety I get after eating too much junk.

IMG_1398

So I guess this post is more of a rant than anything else. I feel like I have about one of these each quarter-over 3 years, some things don’t change, yet I’m somehow a different person.

Food as of Late

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day! I apologize for the radio silence lately. I haven’t been feeling very good lately, so I haven’t been feeling the blog!

I don’t know why I’ve been feeling bad-I think something I’m eating is making me sick, but I don’t know what, and if I don’t eat the exact right thing at the right time in the right amount, I feel sick. And I don’t know what the right thing, time, or amount is. I’ve mostly felt better the last couple of days but it feels kind of rocky. It’s just really frustrating!

On that lovely note, I have some pictures of food! Yay!

For Valentine’s Day….I was working. I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I recently started working at a vet. It’s a lot of fun!

IMG_1160

 

Afterwards, I ended up stopping by home for dinner and kitty time.

IMG_1224

 

Dinner was BBQ chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans.

IMG_1258

Plus bread pudding for dessert! The bread pudding is insanely good-it has rum sauce! It’s a family recipe-would anybody be interested in it? If so I can post it!

IMG_1259

In terms of food as of late, it’s been a little bit different. Sort of carb heavy-not why I would necessarily normally eat but you gotta do what you gotta do.

IMG_1226

A veggie panini with pesto aioli and a baby salad.

IMG_1227

Tea with a blueberry scone. I met up with my sister for tea on her birthday instead of lunch because I wasn’t feeling well earlier, but by the time we went out, I was starving!

IMG_1228

Happy Birthday Natalie!

IMG_1229

Baked potato, glazed salmon, and salad.

IMG_1230

Simple breakfast of eggs+carbs.

IMG_1235

I can buy this with meal plan dollars which means it’s basically free. I’m not complaining.

IMG_1236

Salmon burger.

IMG_1237

This is Thursday morning’s breakfast. I do track workouts on Thursday mornings, and since the track is on the opposite side of campus, I went to a different dining hall for breakfast! They have far superior pancakes. That scrambled egg looking mixture is actually scrambled tofu!

IMG_1238

Flatbread, brown rice, and teriyaki bass.

IMG_1245

Turkey with salsa and guacamole with a salad, plus mashed root veggies.

IMG_1246

Keeping it very simple the morning of my rat dissection…which I survived!

IMG_1256

Another dining hall breakfast (brunch technically!)

How was your Valentine’s Day?