Non-Vegan Day 09

Hello sunshines!

I know many food bloggers are taking part in vegan day/week, but due to the intense grocery shortage and the need to finish my delicious dairy products, I’m not one of them.  Maybe I’ll make up for it one day next week!

Once again, I woke up early to finish my portfolio that is due later today for a class.  I made my normal coffee, using my last PureVia packet.  Between my coffee and oatmeal, I’m officially out of milk.  What great timing Thanksgiving break has!

1/3 cup oats, 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 banana cooked in & 1/2 added on top.

Plus cinnamon added after the photo shoot!

My packed lunch:

1/2 Fuji, 3/4 c blackberries, 3/4 cup raspberries + Choco Chip Z-Bar.

I just used up what was left in my berry containers that I got last night.  I ate this during my last class – soo yummy and so many flavors!

The rest of my day is really unstructured.  I’m done with class, but my sorority’s exec board (which I’m on) is taking our advisor out for dinner – but not til 7:30!  I usually get hungry around 5, so I’m thinking of eating something here and just getting a small salad at dinner?  Or maybe eating a larger snack in an hour or so, around 4, and getting a small-ish dinner at the restaurant.  I’m not sure yet, I guess I’ll wait and see how hungry I am in a little.

I also need to fit in a nap at some point because I’m going to see New Moon at midnight!!  I’m definitely going to pop some kettle corn to take to the movie and probably make some coffee around 9.  I hate when my eating schedule changes – my appetite goes crazy!

Good luck to everyone going vegan today!

 

After work yesterday, I headed straight to career services to get my resumé looked over.  Apparently I have a gift for writing them, because I only needed to change 3 minor things!  So if anyone needs a resumé looked at, send it my way – I guess I’m a pro!  The girl looking at it was impressed by how involved I am with my sorority – which is awesome and made me feel great that an objective person recognizes my dedication!  Especially since I’m applying for my dream job within the next couple weeks, which involves working for my sorority full time after I graduate.  I’ve gathered my references, now all I have to do is write my essays and hit submit!  I’ll be so relieved and excited to get the application in.  I am being realistic though, and applying for other jobs as well.

Dinner before chapter was boring – but at least it wasn’t a salad!  A Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger on whole wheat bread with ketchup and romaine, plus steamed baby carrots and an apple.  It was ok, but somehow the dining hall sucks all the flavor out of the burger, and I’m pretty sure it was cooked in an unhealthy kind and amount of oil.  But I did the best I could with what I was offered.  At least my baby carrots were good!  I loveee cooked carrots!

I spent the rest of the night writing a paper at the library.  Snacks were packed, but uneaten.  When I came home I had a big bowl of grapes before bed:

Pretty good picture for night time flourescent lighting!

This morning called for another amazing bowl of banana oats:
1/3 cup of oats, 1/4 cup each of water and skim, half a banana cooked in, half sliced on top + cinnamon and the normal coffee

Obvs amazing and filling!  While the fudge brownie coffee is clearly super delish, I’m kind of getting sick of the chocolately flavor so early in the morning.  I’m pining for the Green Mountain Southern Pecan I had earlier in the year .. or maybe a Christmas blend is in the future?

Speaking of Christmas, I’ll definitely be passing this list along to my family.  Thanks Caitlin!

 

Let the Countdown Begin

Until freedom!  Friday at noon I will officially be on Thanksgiving break!  I hate going 12 straight weeks without any days off, but getting the whole week of Thanksgiving off makes up for it.

Throughout my time at the library yesterday, I had that full-no-appetite feeling I’ve had on and off this week.  My body still can’t decide if it wants to be sick or not!  It’s really frustrating.  Not wanting to feel super stuffed but knowing I needed to eat, I had the last of my giant Mcintoshes around 3 yesterday afternoon.

Dinner, eaten after making 0 progress on my paper and some meetings, was a d-hall salad.  I’ll spare you the boring ingredients – I think I’m actually getting sick of the standard.  That’s not good considering it’s the only edible thing in the dining hall …

I was ready for bed by 7pm – that’s what 6 hours of sleep does to me.  I held off for a couple hours, watching TV and relaxing in bed.  I also rolled out my yoga mat before bed to indulge in some hip openers, downward dog, cobra, and boat poses.  While on the mat, I thought I’d whittle my middle!  I did a slow and torturous normal plank and some much easier side planks. I also had this wonderful snack:

Peach Chobani with almonds

A wonderful 8 hours of sleep later (but still feeling like I needed more), I wondered why I was up so early.  My alarm went off at 6:30 and I don’t have class until 10!  My hips feel a lot better today, but I knew that running wouldn’t be the greatest idea, since I’m still having some pain. Since they’re not hurting as bad, and from talking to my mom, I don’t think I’ve injured them in anyway – just worked them way harder the last week than I’m used to.  Yoga is definitely harder on the body than most people think!

I eventually made some delicious banana oats:

1/3 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup skim, 1/4 cup water, 1 banana – 1/2 mixed in while cooking, 1/2 sliced on top, lots of cinnamon + the usual coffee

Tasted extra amazing today!

I was stressing out about when I should go to the gym today – right after work (but I have to take my resumé to career services today) or after chapter, if I’m not too tired (but I need to write my papers).  Well I realized I had A LOT of extra time left before class, so I decided to just get it over with then.

I spent 45 minutes on a new (to me) kind of elliptical while reading for my American Lit class.  It got kind of boring after a little, but the intervals kept me going, along with the really interesting poetry I was reading.  I’ve never read Gwndolyn Brooks before, but she’s amazing!  I think I might incorporate one of the poems into my final paper.  I finished up at the gym with some quick planks and stretching.  I felt so good when I was done – very loose and flexble!

When I got to class, I ate this mini Luna LemonZest bar:

I love this flavor!

I was hungry, but not starving by the time I got my salad before work – the oatmeal held me over really well!  I had the salad I usually get, the Tuscan White Bean.  No pic .. I’m getting a little sick of this salad, though :(.  But it was still delicious!

Work drained me .. a mid-afternoon hazelnut coffee was needed!

Check out Meghann’s [me] & goji giveaway here and Oikos giveaway here!

 

Hydrating

Good evening bloggies!  Let’s go back to breakfast …

1/3 cup oats, 1/4 cup skim, 1/4 cup water, other half of my pre-run Macintosh, cinnamon

Lunch was eaten at work and looked like this:

Repeat pic – Blueberry Chobani and Kashi Honey Sunshine

I also had a huge Macintosh and Candy Cane Lane!!  It was pepperminty and sweet – not exactly like a candy cane, but pretty close!  Leaving work at around 3:45, I had an Emerald Nuts 100 calorie pack of almonds and walnuts.  I’m not so good at portioning nuts (who is?) so I love these, especially the cocoa roasted almonds – sooo chocolatey and yummy!

Dinner was a huge d-hall salad from a different dining hall than I usually eat at.  On my plate, I piled

• Romaine
• Baby spinach
• Cucumber slices
• Jalapeño pieces
• Broccoli florets
• Red pepper strips
• Red onion
• Kidney beans
• Chickpeas
• Sunflower seeds
• Balsamic vinegar

They didn’t have salsa OR hummus!  Ahh! I was hungry two hours later.  Really, it’s because I had no hummus.  I actually can’t remember the last time I didn’t have hummus with dinner … With some time to kill in between dinner and chapter, my little and I stopped at Starbucks.  I wanted something sweet and warm, so I got a tall caffé misto with skim and two pumps of sugar-free cinnamon dulce syrup.  It could have been a little sweeter, but it was still just what I wanted.

I use the dining hall to supplement my fruit stash.  Tonight I swipe two small bananas, a Granny Smith, and two teeny apples.  Look how cute and small!

As soon as I got home, I knew I wanted a snack with yogurt and apples and grapes.  When I opened my fridge, I realized hummus was completely missing from today.  A snack plate fixed all these problems:

Vanilla Chobani, grapes, teeny apple (+ cinnamon added after), carrot and hummus

Ate it all.  Loved it all.  Especially dipping the apples and grapes in the Chobz.  Mmmm : p

I really tried to limit my sodium intake after last night’s dinner of salt broth and I think I did a pretty good job!  I also have drank (drunk?  I feel like I should know this as an English major) more water than I normally do, but not as much as I wanted to.  I did eat A LOT of watery foods though – romaine, apples (3 in one day – it’s an addiction), grapes, etc.  Hopefully my salt-induced puffiness will be gone tomorrow!

I’ve realized lately that I don’t eat 3 large meals a day, but 4 smaller one with 1 or 2 snacks – generally before working out in the morning and something in the afternoon.  This is what works for me, especially since I get extremely snacky at night, whether I’m truly hungry or not.  By spacing out my calories like I do, I’m able to eat more at night and be satisfied, other than just randomly snacking later on because of boredom, tiredness, or whatever the reason is I always feel like eating at night. I think a lot of times, people think that they should be eating what and when others do – forgetting that everyone’s body is different.  I think that is why the majority of diets fail – they are not custom-made for anyone, but marketed for mass “production.”

What works best for you?  3 big meals?  Multiple snacks?  No snacks?

 

End to the Weekend

I always get so behind on weekends!  This one was particularly busy, though .. let’s go back to Saturday morning …

After my run I made some apple oats:
1/2 cup oats, 1/4 cup skim, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 a Braeburn, and cinnamon

This bowl of oatmeal was very creamy!  I don’t know if it was because I put the apple in with the oats in the microwave or what, but I loved it!  I don’t think I’ll put the apple in with the oatmeal to cook again though, I like mine better cool and crunchy.  It’s just such a good texture/taste contrast with the oatmeal.  Heated up, I really couldn’t even taste the apple.

After breakfast Saturday I went food shopping.  Here’s the one picture of all my goodies before my camera died:

Horrible picture but here’s what I got:

• Organic, cage-free eggs (cheaper than Big Y brand?!?!)
• 2 blueberry Chobanis
• 2 vanilla Chobanis
• Grapes
• Some Macintosh apples
• Pepper turkey
• Sandwich thins
• Carrots
• Plain hummus
• Roasted garlic salsa
• Coke Zero
• SUGAR COOKIE SLEIGH RIDE AND CANDY CANE LANE TEAS!!

Yesss!  I was SO excited to finallyyyy find the Celestial Seasonings holiday teas – and 2 for $5!!  I haven’t had Candy Cane Lane yet, but Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride smells and tastes exactly like a sugar cookie – I’m addicted!

I made lunch as soon as I got back:
Arnold’s MultiGrain Sandwich Thin with pepper turkey, romaine, and an LC light swiss wedge, half a Braeburn with cinnamon, and carrots with salsa and hummus + Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea!!

It was a great lunch, especially healthy in preparation for our semi-formal later Saturday night.  It didn’t start til 8 and we were supposed to get served dinner right when we got there, but of course we didn’t eat til 9:30.  In anticipation of an extremely late dinner, I snacked on some grapes before I left for my friend’s apartment to get ready.  Before we went to take pictures with everyone, I had a Clif Mojo Trailmix bar – my favorite!  At our other friend’s apartment, I snacked on a bunch of honey wheat pretzel sticks – they were SO good and SO addicting!

Like I said, we were supposed to get served dinner at 8, but they didn’t put the buffet out until 9:30!!  I had two small breadstick-like items when they brought them out, and a salad with some romaine and one slice of tomato with some sort of honey dressing?  I ended up taking two pictures during the night.  One of the was of my dinner.  Typical.

REALLY GOOD roasted red potatoes, steamed veggies, and some chicken – I think it was chicken marsala?

It was all actually pretty good, especially the potatoes!  For dessert, we had pieces of rolled-up ice cream cake – you know what I’m talking about.  I just had two bites of a friend’s – I was pretty full from all of my pre-semi snacking and dinner.  It was a really fun night!  I stayed at my friend’s apartment to keep her company and we went to bed as soon as we got back.  We’re old, what can I say?

I treated her to a surprisingly good dining hall breakfast the next morning.  They had so much great fruit!  Maybe I should start eating there more for breakfast…but of course it’s not usually so great.  I had some watermelon (!!), cantaloupe, two hard boiled eggs, and a piece of whole wheat toast with Smart Promise and coffee.  I spent the afternoon writing a paper at the library.  I packed a boring turkey sandwich with grapes and carrots for lunch and had an iced coffee while I was there.

Dinner was eaten anxiously at the dining hall – we were waiting for our sorority’s new slate of positions to come out!  I’m a nerd, but I love that kind of stuff.  Especially as a graduating senior, I wanted to know who we were leaving in charge.  Overall, I’m really really happy and proud of all of our new officers, I know they’re going to do an amazing job!  However, the slate isn’t passed yet (it has to sit for a week) so they’re not “official” yet.  Anyway, food.  I had some turkey rice soup that was really good but SO SO SO salty.  It was messing with my stomach all night and today I’m definitely puffy from all that sodium and still feel gross.  I’m basically going to just guzzle water all day and try to flush it out of my system.

Yesterday I was too tired and busy doing homework to go to the gym or on a run – but it was so gorgeous out!  Sunny and about 60 degrees!  So weird for Connecticut in November but I’ll take it.  The next few days are supposed to be the same way!  This morning I got up at 6, made coffee and ate half of this apple before I did 4.06 miles in 37 minutes exactly!

I do already feel better after running, but I’m just going to down water all day – which goes perfectly with operation hydration … which hasn’t been going so well, along with operation strength.  Ooops!

What are some good foods/drinks to de-saltify (it’s not a word, but whatever) your body?  I feel like I’ve heard peppermint can help … What a great excuse to try out Candy Cane Lane!  I’m just going to go check on my crops before breakfast …

 

After my coffee, I got a sudden craving for Gnu Cinnamon Raisin bar!  So random, but I had I good number of them over the summer and have run out without replenishing my stock :(.  My craving made me realize exactly what I wanted for breakfast – cinnamon raisin oats!  I also knew that I wanted bananas in my oatmeal and to use up my perishables.  Hence:

Cinnamon Raisin Egg White Banana Oatmeal (CREWB)

I used:
1/4 cup oats (didn’t think this would be enough, but it was)
1/4 cup skim
half a banana
1 egg white
raisins
cinnamon

I remember seeing someone use an egg white in oatmeal for protein.  I need to use my eggs up and I need protein = perfect.  Obvs I was craving my cinnamon raisin-ness, but my oatmeal is incomplete without a banana.  With so many add-ins, and remembering that RhodeyGirl doesn’t use that many oats in her bowls, I tested out the quarter-cup amount and it was perfect.

These oats were SO GOOD.  Seriously.  I don’t think you understand.  I am in love.  I really didn’t think the pictures of the whole bowl did them justice, so here’s the end of my deliciousness:

Nom nom nom nom nom

I missed it immediately.  About the egg – I was too lazy to really mix it in and when the bowl was foaming out of the microwave, I thought: “FAIL – I hope this is edible.”  And it was.  With chunks of egg white.  But you know what?  It worked.  I’d do it again and this time on purpose.  The egg white gave it a nice balance since the banana, raisins, and cinnamon made my oats super sweet.  My friends, I think savory oats are in my future.  My very near future. 

Then I packed my lunch:

Fruit, yogurt, and granola bowl + Dasani!

It was:
1/2 Red Anjou pear
1/2 monster Cortland apple
3 strawberries
1 kiwi (with skin!)
1/2 cup plain 0% Chobani
1 Kashi TLC Honey Toasted 7 Grain crunchy granola bar plank

LOVE.  And my delish oats had held me over ALL MORNING – nearly unheard of.  My tummy wasn’t even grumbling when I sat down for lunch.  But really, who could resist this?  Not I. 

So last night, I was kind of anxious about going out to dinner (especially since I didn’t know what the shrimp was sautéd in) PLUS not exercising yesterday.  Yesterday, my scale told me I was also up a pound, which I suspected was because of that high sodium french onion soup from Monday night.  Today the scale was back where it should be, so I think I was right about the salt intake and also gave me confidence about the choices I make when I go out to eat. 

It’s gross and rainy out again today so no run 😦  But I’m heading to the gym after work with Michael Pollan for our date with the stair stepper and a brief and boring treadmill run.  I’m also hoping my amazing meals of today continue into dinner!