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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!

And a piece of leftover whole wheat harvest nut pancake from this morning!

Mmmm I love my ice cream. I wasn’t even really craving it tonight but my mom offered to get it and I couldn’t turn it down. I haven’t really had too much dessert in the past couple of weeks so I decided to go for it. She got a medium sized nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt with colored sprinkles. I ate about half of this and saved the rest for another cold wintry night.

Overall, a great day. Some exercise, lots of productivity, the Golden Globes, ice creaaaam, lots of good stuff going on! And a nice long time with one of my best friends, Bettina. Hi girl!

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!

Here is a recap of my trip to NYC.

Before I left yesterday, my mom and I got lunch at a local health restaurant that just opened. It is in New Canaan called Le Pain Quotidien. Their speciality is these “Tartines” which are basically open faced sandwiches served on organic wheat bread. I got the Chicken Curry Salad one and my mom ordered the Egg Salad one. We split both and cleared our plates! They were DELICIOUS. I was really hungry after my Power Conditioning class at the gym yesterday morning, which kicked my bootay by the way. Today my butt is so sore!!

I started with their black tea:

This is the Curried Chicken Salad tartine served with a cranberry chutney:

And this is my mom’s Egg Salad one:

Here is a close-up of mine. Sorry they are out of order!

I got on a 5:20 train and snacked on this Asian Pear on the way. I wasn’t too hungry because my lunch was very filling, but I figured I needed a little something. We also eat late when I get there so I knew I should fill up a little bit.

At around 9:30 we finally got to eating dinner. We started with an appetizer of cubed tofu from Whole Foods. I had about 5-6 pieces.

And we decided on random salads for dinner made by throwing a bunch of random ingredients in their fridge together. One ingredient was some chicken that they had leftover. Laura went to season the chicken but accidentally used a dispenser that had Vermouth in it and got it all over the chicken!! haha its ok Laura I still love you

Laughing, embarrassed and desperately trying to get the liquor off….haha

So this is our salad comprised of: lettuce, chicken (she did a good job at removing the Vermouth!), peas, carrots, goat cheese, and about 1/2 cup of brown rice for each of us. I had a little honey mustard dressing on the side. YUM!

Annnddd then we were off! We went to two bars: Fiddlesticks and Brass Monkey. I had two Vodka Soda’s with lime, which is my standard drink and definitely my favorite. It hydrates you, is refreshing, and low in calories!

Me with my second drink which was made ridiculously strong! There was a crack in my cup so about an inch of liquid fell out before we replaced the cup and so I asked the bartender to top it off and he just poured straight vodka in the top. Almost undrinkable. I only had 1/2 and it was painful to get down, but worth it

This morning, Amanda and I got up at about 9:30 and laid in bed till other people woke up. Amanda wanted to head to her office and I was trying to catch a train home before the snow got too heavy, so we said our goodbyes and went to this awesome coffee shop on the way out. They have about 15 varities of coffee beans to chose from and you order the one you want and some beans shoot up a tube and grind right before your eyes! So its totally fresh ground and brewed coffee! I ordered some coffee from Guatemala.

I went to Amanda’s office to see where she works everyday. I am so happy for her- she has a beautiful office and has made her own cubicle a very Amanda-ish home! We snacked on some Cocoa Roasted Almonds from someone’s desk. I had 2 or 3.

Then right before getting on the train I grabbed a Pita with grilled veggies, hummus, and salad in it. LOADS of hummus but I skarfed that beauty down. Sorry the pictures are pretty bad.

Once home, for snack I had a handful of grapes and a little plate with some tofu and half an apple with almond butter. And some yogi tea!

• 1/2 c oats, over 1 c water, salt
• 1/2 a banana
• scoop of pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice
• handful of raisins
• spoons of both pumpkin butter and Cinnamon Swirl peanut butter

And now I am headed to a Power Conditioning + Abs class at the gym.

Have a great day!

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.

• 1/2 c Puffins
• 1/2 c Shredded Spoonfuls
• 1/4 c Kashi Heart to Heart
• 1/4 c Total
• Lotsa berries: blueberries, strawberries and a few blackberries
• Light silk plain soy milk

And now I am off to NYC to meet with my nutritionist for the first time! Her name is Cora. I decided that if I really want to get into shape, although I think I know how to eat right, I still want to meet with Cora to figure out how to balance nutrition/fitness/life in a way that will work for me. I am really excited about this and will update later!

After breakfast, I did decide to have a little bit of coffee because I felt like I was dragging a little bit. I put 1.5 splenda in (which I really don’t like using but I have occasionally) and soy milk creamer. My sis goes to GW by the way!

Because of my later breakfast and the fact that I was getting so much done, I didn’t eat until about 2pm. I had leftover butternut squash with homemade pasta sauce (I tried to just get the sauce and veggies) with parmesan cheese, baked tofu on the side, and some sauteed mushrooms. I just put these guys in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Yum.

I wanted some crunch AND something sweet so decided to make myself a little snack/dessert plate. I cut up another Asian Pear, drizzled it with some honey, and in the center put 1 square of Trader Joes Dark Chocolate and about 8 of Annie’s Graham Bunnies.

By dinner at 7, I was starving but also had a little bit of a stomach ache for some reason I decided soup would be a good idea so had more lentil soup which has pasta and a little chicken in it. Along with brown rice with chick peas on top, MORE tofu, and a few chips with guac/salsa. Can you tell we have way too much food in our house and are trying to get rid of leftovers?

And my stomach still hurt after eating so I just went for some fruit as dessert. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and cantaloupe.

My stomach ache is finallllly gone! After today, I feel very accomplished. I got so much done and ate a well rounded healthy set of meals!

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!