Hidden Camera

This morning I couldn’t find my camera so sorry its such a late post!!

Yesterday was an interesting day. I volunteered at Habitat for Humanity all morning doing Construction work!! It was SO cold but there were a bunch of athletes from Boston College on a service trip there so they were fun to talk to. I insulated pipes, cleaned out a 4 foot tall attic (my back? ow) and put up some lightbulbs. By the time I got home I was exhausted.

So I started my day off with some oats. In them went:

• 1/2 c oats, over 1 cup water
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• salt, pumpkin pie spice
• brown sugar on top
• flax seed on top
• cinnamon swirl PB

I had packed a salad for lunch, thinking I would stay at Habitat for the full day, but after a half day I was ready to get home! So I ended up taking my lunch back home. But this is what I originally packed:

An enormous salad made with : lettuce, cucumbers, red/yellow pepper, tomato, mushrooms, walnuts, grapes, chickpeas and raisins. For dressing, I took some Light Blue Cheese Dressing and had a serving of Annie’s Graham Bunnies on the side.

After I ate this salad while warming up on the couch, I still didn’t feel totally satisfied. I think my body had really worked hard at both doing the actual construction and staying warm in the 25 degree weather. I was craving a hot sandwich so made a little sandwich with Cinnamon Swirl Peanut Butter, banana slices and a little Pumpkin Butter on 6-grain bread. I felt sort of guilty after eating it because I felt like I had eaten too much. Ideally, I should have had HALF the salad I did and then had the sandwich. I am still learning how to listen to my body!

I took a nap this afternoon which I NEVER do. I tried to listen to my body which was saying it was realllly tired! While cooking dinner, I snacked on this fruit cup:

And I made a recipe out of this book, Glorious Greens. My nutritionist, Cora, gave it to me to try to incorporate more of a variety of greens in my diet. I have read a lot about Kale on the blogs so decided to make a Kale recipe. It is called “Basic No-Fat, No-Fuss, Colorful Kale”

Basic No-Fat, No-Fuss, Colorful Kale

3/4 lb kale (about 6 cups chopped)

2 cups water

3 carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise

3 ears of corn, kernels cut from cob (**I just used about a cup and a half of frozen corn)

salt to taste

1. Wash kale and strip leaves from stalk

2. Bring water to a boil in a large skillet that has a tight-fitting lid

3. Cut the carrots in 1/2 inch pieces. Place carrots and corn in the boiling water, reduce heat, cover skillet, and simmer for 5 minutes

4. Add prepared kale to carrots and corn. Cover and cook for 4 minutes. Water should be bubbling vigorously but not boiling over.

5. Spring on salt to taste, stir to combine, and remove to a service dish with a slotted spoon. Serve hot. Drink the “pot likker!” (They said the leftover liquid is awesome because it has been sweetened by the carrots & corn!)

My mom made an Indian rice and chicken recipe out of Cooking Light so I had about a 1/2 portion of that, with tomato/cucumber/feta salad, a few pieces of roasted butternut squash and my Kale recipe which was great! It was pretty plain but I really love the “meaty” texture of Kale, as Cora described it. And the sweetness of the corn and carrots were a great addition to just plain Kale.

And that’s yesterday’s recap!

Breaking Ice on a Golf Course

Today I went snow-shoeing with my parents. It was a lot of fun and great exercise!

To back up, last night my mom made lobster for everyone but I just wasn’t in the mood and asked her if I could have something different. I was really hungry before dinner so snacked on a few pieces of tofu and part of an Asian Pear.

while my Dad cooked the lobsters! EEEK!

My dinner was a modge podge of some leftovers that we are stillll getting rid of. Spaghetti squash with yogurt butter and parmesan, more baked tofu, sweet potato and green beans. Very well rounded and colorful!

This morning we woke up and took my sister to the train station to go back to D.C. for school. Afterwards, at around 9:30, my mom and I went to her favorite diner for breakfast to get her favorite pancakes. They are whole wheat harvest nut pancakes and are soooo good. I get bored pretty quickly with pancakes so I ordered poached eggs on whole wheat toast with fruit and a single pancake on the side. I only ate about 1/3 of the pancake and took the rest home for leftovers. It was all really delicious and totally hit the spot. I think this was a good example of me really thinking about what my body wanted and ordering accordingly.

I love the yolks

I got in 50 minutes of exercise through snow-shoeing. Not quite the 60 minutes I am going for but I still felt really good about it. After coming home and taking a nice hot shower, I made a big salad for lunch. In it went: lettuce, mushrooms, red and yellow pepper, a mini container of low-fat cottage cheese, a handful of chickpeas, a handful of carrots and about 10 green crunch grapes. On the side I had two crackers with mustard and 2% cheddar cheese.

About half way through, I added some Honey Mustard dressing because I thought the salad needed a little bit more flavor.

I got a lot of things done this afternoon and am now getting ready to cook dinner. I’ll post later tonight!

Getting Healthy!

Yesterday I had my first nutritionist appointment. Cora is great and hopefully she will be checking out my blog

My goals for the week are:

- eat more greens such as Kale, Collards, Bok Choy, etc.

- try to be active for 60 minutes a day. It could be something more relaxing like yoga or something on the intense side like running or a class at the gym

- create a solid schedule

- make a note when I eat when bored

A great meeting and I think I will learn a lot along the way.

Before I met with her, I went to Candle Cafe in the city that I have heard a lot about. It is a vegan health restaurant and man was it packed! I chose the appetizer quesadilla as my meal. It was a whole wheat quesadilla with soy cheese, bean puree and grilled vegetables, served with guacamole and salsa.

It was warm, homemade-tasting and very filling.

I literally got back from NY and left right away with my mom for an event supporting Israel. I grabbed what I could and was pretty impressed with my skills in getting some healthy choices together. I took a Pink Lady apple, Cinnamon Roll Larabar (not pictured, I ended up giving the one you see to my Dad), blueberries/blackberries and a bag with baked tofu, AkMak crackers and a tub of hummus. I gave the berry bag to my Dad and only ate about 3/4 the tub of hummusb but had everything else. And my Cinnamon Roll LaraBar was fantastic!!

Once home, we had a second dinner/snack. I had a little cheddar cheese while heating up our soup.

And then once again, the lentil soup which had chicken/pasta/lentils in it. Just a little, along with some yogi tea, and it was the perfect soothing meal right before bed.

  

Inspired from Biggest Loser Couples

I am watching Biggest Loser Couples right now and they are saying that this is the heaviest Biggest Loser season they have ever had. It makes me so sad to see people younger than I am at 450 pounds. I am happy for them that they are getting help that they need but it is disturbing that these people are just a sample of what America looks like these days. Seeing these things just inspires me more to be as healthy as I can be and be lucky that I am where I am in terms of my health!

But anyway, to recap today’s healthiness..

I knew I was going to crash later in the day due to lack of sleep last night so I maaade myself go to workout before that happened. I walked on the treadmill for about 13 minutes (10 mins 4.0mph, 3 mins 4.2mph) and then did a Anusara yoga class. I did a shoulder stand! Cool! I didn’t walk at the end of the class like I had intended because the class ran late and ended up being a solid hour and 15 mins. And I was starving and ready for LUNCH!

I had leftovers: green salad with homemade thousand island dressing, baked tofu, roasted brussel sprouts, and a mini cup of lentil soup that had chicken and pasta in it. Along with Cooking Light and some H2O.

I still felt a little empty and hungry so I had a Pink Lady:

Then I began feeling tired and achey so I turned to my new tea and new thermos that I wanted to try. It had a little caffeine which, by that point, I needed.

  

I snacked on this guy at around 3:15. I loved it! it had a lot of flavors going on and left a tang in my mouth from the ginger.

More Yogi…

Dinner was spaghetti squash that I cooked for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees with some leftover homemade pasta sauce. This sauce has marinara, vegetables, ground turkey and chicken sausage but I tried to just get the sauce and veggies and I added chick peas instead of having the meat. Along with steamed spinach, and 3 chips with homemade guac and salsa.

My Dad’s hand holds 4 cherries that I ate! Hey Dad.

For Dessert I “baked” (in the microwave) an Asian Pear. I chopped it, put it in a bowl with about a 1/2c water, and microwaved it for about 3 minutes. I added cinnamon and soy whipped cream. It was GREAT and was the perfect healthy dessert to eat while being inspired by Biggest Loser.

After watching Oprah’s Best Life series Day Two today, talking about how thankful we should be for what our bodies do for us, and now watching the Biggest Loser, I know I am thankful for my body and my health. Off to finish watching… night!

Free Yoga

Today a yoga studio near me, Yoga4Everybody, was celebrating its 5th year anniversary and so they had a free day of yoga classes. I went to two 45 minute sampler classes: one was Intro to Vinyasa Flow and the other was Intro to Kripalu Yoga. I liked them both a lot! I had done Vinyasa before (I am fairly new to yoga but have definitely done quite a few classes randomly in my past) but have never done Kripalu. Apparently, Kripalu was originated in Lenox Massachusetts and is slowly spreading elsewhere. The poses were all about “compassion” and there were a lot of neat ways we moved our body that I hadn’t ever seen or done before. So it was definitely time well spent! It wasn’t the hardest workout but I still sweat a little and got a GREAT stretch. 

I woke up around 7 and made breakfast so I could digest before the first class at 9. 

In this oatmeal went: 

• 1/2c Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
• over 1 cup of water
• Half of a banana, thinly sliced
• Pinch salt, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4c Total cereal for crunch
• about 1/2 tbspn Pumpkin butter
• handful of raisins
• spoonful of natural Almond Butter

When I came back from yoga, I was hungry and ready for lunch at around 11:45. I had been wanting to make a veggie/hummus wrap all day yesterday so decided to make it today since I was home. 

 

My mom brought home these little hummus packets that each have two servings, so 100 calories in each tub. So cute! I used the roasted garlic flavor today, and used just over half of the tub. 

And plopped it down on one of these tortillas. 

I used some leftover veggies and made a little side dish with some of Annie’s Natural Honey Mustard Vinaigrette drizzled on top.

And to round out the meal, I had a 0% Fage with a handful of blueberries, a large cut up strawberry and a small handful of some sort of Whole Wheat Cheerios we had leftover from Trader Joes. I drizzled the whole concoction with a little bit of honey too! 

I still felt like I needed something sweet. I don’t know why I always seem to crave a dessert, but I decided to please my sweet tooth and have a little bit of Dark Chocolate. I had about 2 squares. 

And that’s all for now! I am hoping to take a niiiiice hot shower and do some cleaning/laundry and then maybe a movie later! Glad I got my exercise done for the day and I can get a lot done now. Have a great day!! (I love how I know I have no readers but I still like pretending…)

Shopping!

So I had a little change of plans today. My mom and sister wanted to go shopping to get my sis a new suit for some interviews she’s having, so we went to the Westchester Mall for the afternoon. And I got a new coat on SALE at Jcrew! Yay

I had a tall coffee from Starbucks as we walked around, with a bit of skim milk and 1 splenda

At around 2:00 we went for lunch which is late but it ended up being perfect since I had such a late breakfast. We ate at the Nordstroms Cafe. I got the half sandwich/soup/salad option. It had half a turkey sandwich (with lettuce, tomato, mustard) on wheat bread, a cup of tomato soup with a crostini, and a green salad with balsamic dressing on the side. 

 

I only ate about half of the soup and crostini because it was a lot creamier than I thought it would be. 

And I finished off everything else!

They also gave us these little chocolate mint sticks with the bill so I ate one of those.

I thankfully managed to get to the gym when we get home from the mall. I did 25 minutes on the Arc Trainer on level 7, plus 10 minutes on the Stairmaster (the one with the revolving staircase) 5 mins at level 8 and 5 mins at level 9 followed by about 5 minutes of stretching. 

I came home to TACO NIGHT! woohooo. I made a healthy taco and photographed the process… Here is my mom and sister, Jenna, with our taco bar beautifully presented

I started off with about a 1/4 cup of 2% cheddar cheese and a big glob of refried beans on a whole wheat tortilla…

then I added diced red pepper, lettuce and chopped tomatoes…

with a dollop of medium salsa and water on the side! It was HUGE and soo good.  

And I still needed a little something else so decided on an orange. 

And for dessert about a square of Trader Joe’s vegan (I like it vegan for some reason) 72% Dark Chocolate. 

And there you have it… my first full day of blogging. How exciting!!! Tomorrow, there is a yoga studio near me that is celebrating it’s 5th year anniversary by having a full day of free classes! I am going to two 45 minute classes in the morning so am looking forward to that. I hope everyone has a great weekend!