wow...

So.. I havent posted all day because I really didnt eat anything all day.. and that is NOT BY CHOICE!

Last night, Jeff took me to dinner at one of our favorite italian places. I ate my salad and several appetizers ( free on wed!)... some scoops of arichoke spinach dip and one fried cheese stick!

By the time our entrees got there ( Mama D's Steak Sandwhichs) I couldnt bare to eat any I was stuffed! So we boxed up, ran to the redbox for some movies and came home- I watched the Vegas movie with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher- I must say I laughed alot!

I wish I could've been so amused by waking up at 3:00 am with a MIGRAINE! the worst of the three I have ever had... I am talking I thought my brain was going to explode! I couldnt move, I couldnt think, I was so nauseated and worst, I couldnt sleep!!

this continued for what was a miserable pathetic 5 hours of me crawling around in bed, hugging jeff, praying to god that if he would take the pain away I would do anything he wanted.

To no avail, Jeff went to work with a hope you feel better sweetheart... and I managed to walk outside at 8 am to take the trash to the curb for pick-up -today. Immediate pounding and I headed straight back into bed ( well i washed my hands and took a motrin ib)...

Alas, NO HELP! I crawled miserably around in bed for another few hours and mostly out of pure exhaustion .. I fell asleep for about an hour, pain still there, then fell back asleep until 12:30! I woke up as if I was praying for the pain to be gone, it was substantially better but still there.

I crawled to my refridgerator and pulled out my leftover oats from yesterday. I was lifting up my first bite and as I smelled it, I almost threw up.
I opened a banana and did get a few bites of that down. I didnt know what else to do, I was in "whatever will make this better right now is what i am going to do, even if its illegal or crack, i want this migraine GONE"

I was pissed off too because I wanted to get up early and pack, and go for a good run since tomorrow we fly to jeff's cousin's wedding.... and ... get a manicure and pedicure..

With 3 hours left before class, I knew I couldnt get all of that done. I decided the gym would be first because I could at least leave if I didnt feel better and then get to the other stuff.

I called my wonderful Aunt Lindsey who I knew has migraines and begged for help. She told me about otc meds, and triggers... like the barometric pressure changing with all these hurricanes and eye strain ( my paper writing all morning yesterday, plus all my blogging, etc... )
so - I grabbed the otc meds she said ( excedrin migraine) and went to the gym..
At the gym, I did the arc trainer ( the squirrel looking elliptical ) for 25 minutes and then had enough energy to run on the treadmill..
SOOO glad I did- I ran at 8.0 mph and 8.5 mph and mostly at 7.6 mph for 3 miles . Its great to be back at my pace again of 7 min- 7:30 min miles!!

Driving home I thought I would be so happy and starving, but no, I got home and was not hungry, rather nauseated super bad! I shoved down the rest of the banana from earlier and showered and ran to class.

After class I felt better but still stomach sick, I went to Borders and bought Jeff the latest book he wanted so he could read it tomorrow on the plane! ( aren't I nice?)

Then went to return several things, and look at shoes (again) for the wedding. I bought two pairs of comfy flats that arent for the wedding but were on super clearance and super AWESOME!!

I am starving right now but I tried to eat.. i've tried to eat several times today and if you look at my archives, I eat alot everyday- especially on days I run I always have a big dose of protein with each meal with whole grains and veggies (a/or fruit)... but I just couldnt manage to keep anything down- I mean I had a bite or two of this but then felt waves of vomit just coming at me
- and I do not know how to surf!

Anyhow, it is so late but I wanted to write about my misery in hopes that anyone that may read my blog can sympathize with me ...

Off to put all my things in my carry-on and get a good nights rest!

Steel Cut!

Paper is done! phew.. in total it took me 2 hours but I really had a harder time with this one African American Health.. I am totally past the 3 page requirement so I put it in 11 font vs 12 and 1.5spaced vs Double spaced... I just cant "simmer down" my writing - I like to finish thoughts and make it flow to the next paragraph... so oh well.

I decided NOT to eat my super fast easy lovely smoothie breakfast FIRST, but rather wait to cook and eat steel cut oats.

I exhausted myself with oats in college... I literally had no money and no car so I would just live off of oats .. oats with pb, oats w. tuna , oats w cream cheese and jelly...

I think its funny all of the bloggers that post about oat combos everyday because I feel like there are endless combinations that are so fun to experiement with. But after all my close-enough variations in college.... everyday....multiple meals/day i am serious... i am slightly weary of oats all the time now...

Nonetheless, they are delicious and super nutritious and I still appreciate all the possibilities of them. Since I had to finish my paper ( I wanted to get it out of the way and done so I could do whatever with my day).... I figured I would type while they simmered.

So I made smoothies for Jeff before he left- frozen banana, blackberries, peaches ( i think his favorites?) with protein and milk. I made proportions so that I could have a good half of my reg. size and stashed it in the freezer while the oats simmered.

Here is my breakfast:

The purple stuff is the smoothie obviousl and then i sprinkled cinnamon and added a spoonful of pb on the side... Smear style..

EASY Mexican Pie

So you can easily modify this - esp. for Vegans out there- Soy Crumbles- Boca Crumbles vs. my Ground Turkey or you Meat Lovers out there - Ground Beef vs Ground Turkey. I used a new Kashi product
that cooks in the microwave in 90 seconds! Fiesta Pilaf ( it has roasted corn, black beans, borwn rice, wheatberries, ...) but you could use white/brown rice if you prefer. I also used a chobani plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream...


Ingredients for Two ( or Four):
Kashi Fiesta Pilaf
1 lb ground turkey seasoned with: cumin, mrs. dash spicy
shredded cheese 1/4 cup, times 2
roasted chipotle salsa
whole wheat tortillas (2)


Recipe: Brown ground meat with seasonings to taste on low until pink is gone. While it is browning you can cook rice pilaf as directed, put in bottom of casserole dish. I then layered on a container of chobani greek plain, then spread on a thin sprinkle of the cheese. Then add cooked meat ( or soy crumbles) in casserole. Sprinkle on remainder of 1/4 cup cheese, spread on salsa. Sprinkle on additional 1/4 cup of cheese to get all brown and crusty... ( at this point I threw it in the fridge and headed to class but you could bake immediately) Bake in 325 oven for 25 minutes ( or until cheese is melted, brown {how I prefer} ) Plate with tortilla or use tortilla as base layer ( if you prefer your tortillas softer and mushier put on bottom... i liek my crispy so i waited till then end and toasted em for a few minutes as the oven cooled Save Energy! )

Nutrition: The entire casserole:
1400 calories
98 g Protein
20 g Fat (* I used 93% lean turkey because it was $2.99 vs 99% lean $5.99 and only 30 calories difference, all in 3 g extra fat, and a serving of this is only 5 g fat total )
172 g Carb. 36 g Fiber

1/4 serving below ( i had extra cheese but not all the burnt tortilla so the counts here are for the recipe as is)
350 kcals
25 g Protein
5 g Fat
9 g Fiber
43g Carbos

G L O R I O U S!

my run was fantastic! 3 .5 loops around campus ( which i tracked down to 1.25+ miles each loop.. ) in 33 minutes! It was just before a spout of rain so I got great breezes and running with no pain now for a week has been well GLORIOUS!

Lunch: no pic b/c it was leftovers from last night.. whole wheat pasta, grilled chicken in tomato sauce with extra added veggies.. and a few ( 4-5 ) dark chocolate chips.

Still havent finished paper but have made progress and I made dinner too.... Laural's Mexican Pie

Gastronomy Class was also GLORIOUS!
We blind taste tested DARK CHOCOLATE!! and colas ( ick! ) ...

I loved the dark bitter chocolates but couldnt stand any of the sodas..

This was my smoothie on top of a 1/2 cup mix of these cereals total. It was like eating crunchy melty ice cream for breakfast.

Smoothie for Two:
1 scoop new protein powder.. i dont know the brand
1 cup 1 % milk

1 frozen banana

1/4 cup each of frozen cherries, frozen wild blueberries, peaches

1 T ground flax

teaspoon-ish of chobani ( there was only a little left!)

On to my response paper for African American Health and a run (maybe on campus ? )

Monday Monday Monday!

So after I got home from the store I put away all the goodies and had lunch!

Lunch:
Whole Wheat Fettucinni
Half Chobani Greek Plain and a drizzle of Annies Goddess Dressing
Fresh cut Veggies
Buffalo Grilled Chicken (2 oz)
leftover "fried" zuchinni, tomato ( I used a batter of egg white and chobani, then dipped in a 1:1 ratio mix of cornmeal & ww flour, then dropped in a pan with a thin coat of Smart Balance Oil...)

Yum!


After lunch I cooked dinner! ( see pic below! )I found it a great way to not nibble as I go because I was full from lunch.. I cooked grilled chicken breasts, hunts tomato sauce with added frozen (thawed) bell pepper mix and spinach... and i had cooked the linguini on sunday to last for a few days this week.. ( tonight I had class 4-7, then therapy with Jacob 7-8:30 so long night!)

Soul:

I attempted to use a new drain opener enzyme b/c our old sink keeps cloggin up! ick! Only problem is you can't run the sink for 6 hours post use... so I poured it down and went to finish up more laundry ( for Jeff- he usually does his own but I figured I would help him out b/c he is slammed at work this week)...Therapy with Jacob is totally therapeutic for me too- Its such an amazing time to see him progress and communicate!

Also, I Meditated earlier today after....

Body:
Yoga! 30 minutes felt AMAZING
yoga came after my strength training:
BBQ A ( lots of Abs today! 6 pack here i come!)

Mind: Read four more chapters of Gastronomical Me ( due Sept. 23 not tomorrow as I had thought thank goodness!!!).. AND at class tonight we worked on research for a lit review and next week we are supposed to have our "matrix" done. Well, I stayed after my group left and did the matrix for my articles, then emailed it to the group so they could copy and paste in their articles... that way we will stay ahead of schedule and I was motivated to do it!


Dinner: ( 9:00 pm .. i know its late! but I had a plan! ) thats a glass of lemonade NOT dirty water! I had grabbed an unpictured snack of nuts/cranberries/annies honey bunnies on the way to class at 4:00 to hold me over!

I am totally up for some dessert now ( blueberry cream pie ice cream or moose tracks.. hmmm???) and relaxing!

***** I totally had BOTH! I had a scoop ( literally the ice cream scoop worth) of each, plus a few bits of chocolate fudge in the moose tracks. Jeff and I both agreed we wanted more, but thankfully we both decided we were happy with the amount we had! ****

Grocery Store!

Here is what I got from the store this morning!! Yah I love having my house "stocked", especially since we are away this weekend... coming home sunday will be like "ahh" instead of " okay gotta figure out what to make with nothing!!" Food: Lots of frozen fruit and veggies to have on stock for quick meals/ smoothies, Powerade Zero ( now that I am running again I will have to rehydrate... when I get to longer (40-60 minute) runs I will go for regular powerade but for now the 2-3 -4 miles don't require too much electrolyte replenishing!
Protein powder ( never had it before so keep your fingers crossed its good!) ... True North Nut mix ( pecans, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, almost-perfect mix- i wish it had cashews)

And some non food stuff... A swiffer!!!!! I also bought ( if you can see on the right) a travel size

hairspray, travel size toothpaste, travel size "Wrinkle Releaser" I hope it works on my dress for the wedding- I want to bring a carry on only so I expect wrinkles!, and Zyrtec ( finally they came out with an OTC for indoor allergies, and to boot- a cheaper generic! i hope this helps with my asthma which is super expensive every month!)

Happy Monday!

Breakfast took place at a very hungry 5:30 am! Jeff had to wake up early to get to work- so somehow my brain thought I had to wake up at 4:50! 10 minutes before Jeff's alarm! ughh.. I laid there while he hit the snooze three times, enjoyed cuddling but at the same time I began to get annoyed that I couldnt fall back asleep and VERY hungry! So I finally got up and made smoothies for us!

Ingredients for two:

The last of my pure protein! (1.75 scoops)
The last of my frozen fruit! ( about 2 strawberries, 1 peach slice)
1 banana
1 T peanut butter
1 T ground flax
1.5 cups milk...

I drank most of it then went back up to read in bed Gastronomical Me... I fell back asleep (thank goodness) for two hours! I have a long day and had no need to wake up earlier than 8 ( or noon for that matter)... so I felt fine getting in another 2 chapters and another 2 hrs rest!

Reading then some Grocery Shopping (not too much because we leave for Buffalo NY early Friday morning!)

I had such great training sessions last week that I "forgot" to rest... I may rest today but I may do an intense yoga session which can be just as restorative.


....My view on REST: i try not to hate it.
It is hard for me to resist the urge to exercise. When Jeff first met me he was worried that I was an "obsessive exerciser", I like to think his mind has changed since he has gotten to know me so well.

I do NOT exercise for the sake of calorie burn, I do NOT exercise purely to lose weight as obsessive exercises may. I exercise because I just have THAT much energy built up every day- I have been a ball of energy since I was 3 ( i would dance around our living room ALL day... no lie .. my brothers couldnt stand me!).

Exercise helps me feel better about myself, better about my life, better about the world, and feel like a productive person! If I take a day of rest, i usually feel "not like myself". However, when I started training for the marathon and got up to 6, 7 mile runs every other day- I found rest days very beneficial.

I try now to get in one rest day a week and try really hard to enjoy the relaxation... some weeks I am succesful and rejuvinate. Last week I felt like I didn't need a rest day ( friday was almost rest, a little cardio, etc) . As I continue to re-build my running, I will begin to rest more like two days a week or even 3.

HAPPY MONDAY!

Strength Training Splits

CSTH... and BBQ (A) Let me preface by saying I try to strength train four times a week. I find that my splits ( the muscle groups worked on that session) are most successful for me as CSTH, the next time BBQA, repeat. It hits most of my biggest muscles groups and is easy to remember so I can walk into the gym confident ! For each exercise, I focus on my energy that day and pushing my muscles to failure... not really the "set" or "reps"- but do use those as a guideline. I try to do one exercise for each muscle group that session, and about 4 sets of 20... sometimes I can only get to 3 of 15 or so.

CSTH
Chest: I usually do machines vs. free weights but my favorites are: incline press, push ups, cable pulls.

Shoulders: Bent over fly. You sit and lean your chest onto your lap. Then lift your arms up on either side of you, with elbows slightly bent and the peak of your lift. You try not to lift your chest, you want to focus on your deltoids ( shoulders) doing the work. I use very light weigh because its such an isolated exercise.
* I also do overhead press, and just found a new exercise in this months Muscle and Fitness Hers... The Arnold ( you extend your arms above your head, then turn your wrists in and pull down...http://www.muscleandfitnesshers.com/training/102
Triceps: Push Downs, Overhead Extensions

Hamstrings: Curls, Romaine Deadlifts


BBQ A -I most often do this split at home with my 7.5 lb purple weights!
Back : Bent Over Row.. so you bring your arms up at your sides elbows/triceps parallel with your back. Lat Pull Down...

Biceps: Curls with Lunges ( 2 in 1), Hammer curls
Quads: Lunges, Leg Extension, Squats!
and Some exercises I found in SHAPE... You lunge back but then lift your leg that you went back with up in a 90 degree angle, knee up

Abs: Roman Chair Lifts, Side to Side bends, bicycles, and I try to use my "core" muscles with most exercises

Body: I ran 4 miles with NO pain!!! WOOOOOOHHOOOOOO!!! The whole time I just felt like " oh this is what I am meant to do it feels so great". I had lifted CSTH prior to my run, after I cooled down for 10 minutes on the elliptical. I also lifted and thought I should post what kind of exercises I do for the split "CSTH" vs. "BBQ A"

Mind: Read, Read, Read.... started Gastronomical Me ( first half of the book is due Tuesday )... and also got halfway through my research articles ( 9 on African American Health Disparities) due Wednesday. Jeff also read to me (how sweet!!!) while I cooked lunch!

Soul: hmm...we hung up two of our bamboo blinds my mom gave us last weekend ( they were a goal for the week) ... and I organized all the papers/articles/ notes etc..
Laundry, went over to dinner at Jeff's parents


Weekend Fooooood: Jeff and I both wanted smoothies for breakfast saturday and sunday ( he admited he is slightly addicted to them now, and I love them too!) ... we are out of frozen blueberries and cherries, so I used two frozen bananas, and some mixed frozen fruit today..

Lunch: Sandwiches & Veggies ( Onion squares from Fresh Market, toasted with buffalo grilled chicken, zuchinni and tomatos on the side, and I had a small red plum too)
Here is my "fried veggies" ..
Dip the veggies in a mixture of ( 1 egg white, 1/2 chobani plain greek yogurt) ... then into 1:1 ratio mix of cornmeal and flour, then in the pan THINLY coated with Smart Balance Oil ( I use as little as possible... but totally dont mind the healthy fat!! )

Dinner: Jeff's mom made "boiled peanuts" ... and turkey, stuffing with celery, mushrooms and onions, steamed veggies, and corn zuchinni cakes ( low carb version of potato pancakes)... I kept my portions small so that I could enjoy the apple cake for dessert.
Yum... and I didnt have to cook or mess up my kitchen!

from my research articles for minority health...

It has been argued that the reason for the relationship between one's identity and food choice behavior may be based on the use of food choices as a means of enacting one's identity and communicating it to others. As an example, a person who chooses to become vegetarian for ethical or health reasons would have a difficult time returning to meat eating without redefining his or her identity as an eater. (Devine 2005)