Boo! 10/31/11

Happy Halloween!

I’ll be honest, I’m usually SO excited about Halloween.. but this year, I’ve felt rather indifferent. I think I just have so much stuff going on everywhere else that I don’t really have the time to enjoy it… plus our costumes have turned out less than stellar this year. But, oh well.. Christmas is coming soon enough! J

This weekend was pretty busy, as usual… brief recap:

Friday: Went shopping for costume supplies, honestly can’t remember what I made for dinner?

Saturday: Veggie juice w/ spirulina for breakfast, took Nora to Disney on Ice then went to Whole Foods for the first time! I’ll be honest, I liked Whole Foods better lol. I wish I could shop there ALWAYS! Too bad it’s like 20 minutes away and… let’s be honest… it’s damn expensive. I’m trying to look beyond the price of food as long as it’s nutritional benefits outweigh the financial sacrifice… Anyway, after Whole Foods I worked on my costume a bit then Branden and I went to Louisville to go to a party with my sister. That was fun!  A lot of dancing (and not as much drinking on my part as usual! I was pretty proud of myself!)

Sunday: After 2 whole hours of sleep, we drove home and Nora and I went shopping and then to my friend’s 3year old daughter’s bday party. We stayed there for a bit (I had a couple of pieces of cucumber and a couple stick pretzels) then we went to my grammy’s for dinner with the family. I had roasted veggies w/ brown rice… and maybe a corn flake dudd or 2. My grammy has made corn flake duds my whole life and they are amazing. (1c sugar, 1c corn syrup, 1c peanut butter and cornflakes) They’re terrible for you but I gave in and had some.

Monday came back around and here I am, dressed like a cat at work. I’ll be honest, I’m ready to go home lol.

I went to the gym this morning and did the 1^st workout of Week 4 of my crossfit training!  I’ve really enjoyed this training and I’m looking forward to repeating to see my progress!

Here’s what I did today:

Monday
3 Rounds for time:
Mountain Climbers	2 minutes
Bike	2 milies
Side to Side Bends	20 @ 20#
TIME:		28:04:00

Those damn mountain climbers again…. They were still really difficult and I still had to rest quite a few times but I still think I did a pretty decent job.

Food Today:

Breakfast:

Fresh juice (green apple, spinach, strawberries, grapes & cranberries) w/ spirulina

Snack:

Spicy blue corn tortilla chips (not the greatest choice but I forgot to pack anything)

Lunch:

Guacamole & blue corn tortilla chips. (we had a food day at work today and silly me did NOT come prepared. I made the guac and that was the only vegan-friendly dish available)

Dinner:

Time shall tell… we have trick-or-treating tonight so something quick and easy!

Well I weighed myself on Saturday and apparently I gained 2lbs last week. Again, I’m not losing my mind over it because I know that I’ve been doing a lot of weight lifting and I expect my weight to fluctuate more while my body builds muscle.

I think I’m really getting used to this vegan life! I’ve attended quite  a few social gatherings over the past week and I really haven’t been too tempted by any of the non-vegan foods! I’ve found that it is definitely necessary to be prepared if you want to eat at these gatherings but it is also teaching me to focus more on the events themselves and not so much the food being served as I used to do… interesting… I’m enjoying it. J

Well, that’s all I have for today… now to go and get ready to take my little bitty trick-or-treating!! BTW I’m totally being ‘THAT’ house this year and giving away tangerines and trailmix to the trick-or-treaters… I’m a little concerned about having my house egged tonight but morally, I just couldn’t bring myself to hand out candy…

Have a safe, happy and healthy Halloween!!

Friday 10/28/11

Friday! Friday! I’m so damn excited to see Friday!

Last night I went to the ‘Haunted Hafla’ at Bobby Mackey’s with my mom. If you’re not familiar, a ‘Hafla’ is basically just a belly dance party. We dressed in costume and did some dancing! Not as much dancing as I would have liked BUT I will say that I am very proud of myself for not drinking any alcohol! We all know that I have a weakness for the juice and I knew that I had a big workout ahead of me this morning so I just sipped ice water all night! I was pretty impressed with my discipline lol.

Speaking of my workout, turns out it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be!

Here’s what I did:

Friday
10 Rounds (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1)
Jump squats	60# bb
Pushups
TIME:		11:00

Something I didn’t think about when I was worrying about this workout beforehand… I just lost 60lbs. So to do jump squats with a 60lb barbell is really just like being at my old weight and jumping in the air. Lol… Now, I’m not saying that I wasn’t out of breath and sweating and my legs aren’t sore… but it just wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be lol. I will admit, after I got back in my car from the gym I realized that I could have pushed myself harder. I had myself so psyched out in thinking that it was going to be terrible and I HAD to allow myself to rest, but I probably rested a bit more than was absolutely necessary. Oh well, we’ll re-visit this workout again in 4 weeks! J

SO EXCITED – my mom gave me a juicer! She had one in her basement that she hadn’t used in years and Branden cleaned it really well last night and I used it this morning and it’s great! It works beautifully and the juice was so delicious and nutritious! I’m considering doing a 10 day juice fast to cleanse and re-boot. The juice-based documentary (‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead’) opened my eyes to juicing and made me realize how important it is in a plant-based diet. When you cook vegetables, they lose a large portion of their nutrients from the heat, which is why a raw foods diet is so beneficial to your health. Now… I like hot food, so I’m most likely not going to move into raw foodism BUT juicing is a great way to get those vital micronutrients! Also, Branden bought some Spirulina last night. Spirulina is an algae that is comprised of about 60% protein and is a complete protein, meaning that it contains all of the essential amino acids. It’s a superfood and it is SUPER GREEN. I don’t mean green like the environment but green like the color… Just a little bit will immediately turn your entire glass green like a pond lol. It doesn’t taste the greatest but luckily the serving size is small and you can mask the flavor with yummy freshly juiced fruits and veggies (like I did this morning!)

Okay, Food Today:

Breakfast:

Fresh juiced apple/grape/carrot mixed with a bit of organic goji berry juice and a teaspoon of spirulina

All-natural granola w/ a bit of organic soymilk

Snack:

Oatmeal

Lunch:

I have to go get something – either sushi or a black bean & tofu salad

Snack:

Roasted veggies and rice (left over from yesterday)

Dinner:

Mexican pizza! I’m excited J

Dinner last night was yummy!

Bok Choy and Soba Noodles

Soba noodles (I cooked 2/3 of package) cooked to pkg specifications

1 bunch bok choy, trim off end and slice thin cross-ways, separate leaves and stems

4-5 small/medium baby bella mushrooms, stems removed, sliced thin

3-4 green onion, chopped small

1tbs fresh minced ginger

3tbs minced garlic

Pinch red pepper flake

3tbs soy sauce

1tsp EVOO

-          Heat EVOO in a large pan on medium high heat and add bok choy stems and onions about 5 minutes.

-          Add mushrooms, garlic, ginger and red pepper flake

-          Once bok choy stems are soft, add leaves and soy sauce

-          Mix together, sauté for about 3-5 minutes

-          Add noodles, mix together and saute for another 3-5 minutes

Voila! Simple and yummy J

Well this evening shall be filled with Halloween costume preparations for both myself and miss Nora. Tomorrow we’re taking her to see Disney on Ice at the Aronoff! I’m excited, I think she’s going to love it! After that, I’m thinking that we need to take a trip to Whole Foods in Rookwood so we can get some delicious fruits and veggies for our juicing endeavors! In the afternoon, Branden and I are heading down to Louisville to go to a big party with my sister! I’m super excited!! My plan is to limit myself to a few glasses of wine and not go overboard with the alcohol. My sister and her friends can be quite persuasive but I’m going to try really hard to stick to that lol… time will tell just how strong I am. J

I suppose that’s all I have for today… keep it classy!

I’m sure everyone will be celebrating Halloween this weekend.. have a happy/healthy/SAFE time!!!

Until Monday…

Friday 10/28/11

Friday! Friday! I’m so damn excited to see Friday!

Last night I went to the ‘Haunted Hafla’ at Bobby Mackey’s with my mom. If you’re not familiar, a ‘Hafla’ is basically just a belly dance party. We dressed in costume and did some dancing! Not as much dancing as I would have liked BUT I will say that I am very proud of myself for not drinking any alcohol! We all know that I have a weakness for the juice and I knew that I had a big workout ahead of me this morning so I just sipped ice water all night! I was pretty impressed with my discipline lol.

Speaking of my workout, turns out it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be!

Here’s what I did:

Friday
10 Rounds (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1)
Jump squats	60# bb
Pushups
TIME:		11:00

Something I didn’t think about when I was worrying about this workout beforehand… I just lost 60lbs. So to do jump squats with a 60lb barbell is really just like being at my old weight and jumping in the air. Lol… Now, I’m not saying that I wasn’t out of breath and sweating and my legs aren’t sore… but it just wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be lol. I will admit, after I got back in my car from the gym I realized that I could have pushed myself harder. I had myself so psyched out in thinking that it was going to be terrible and I HAD to allow myself to rest, but I probably rested a bit more than was absolutely necessary. Oh well, we’ll re-visit this workout again in 4 weeks! J

SO EXCITED – my mom gave me a juicer! She had one in her basement that she hadn’t used in years and Branden cleaned it really well last night and I used it this morning and it’s great! It works beautifully and the juice was so delicious and nutritious! I’m considering doing a 10 day juice fast to cleanse and re-boot. The juice-based documentary (‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead’) opened my eyes to juicing and made me realize how important it is in a plant-based diet. When you cook vegetables, they lose a large portion of their nutrients from the heat, which is why a raw foods diet is so beneficial to your health. Now… I like hot food, so I’m most likely not going to move into raw foodism BUT juicing is a great way to get those vital micronutrients! Also, Branden bought some Spirulina last night. Spirulina is an algae that is comprised of about 60% protein and is a complete protein, meaning that it contains all of the essential amino acids. It’s a superfood and it is SUPER GREEN. I don’t mean green like the environment but green like the color… Just a little bit will immediately turn your entire glass green like a pond lol. It doesn’t taste the greatest but luckily the serving size is small and you can mask the flavor with yummy freshly juiced fruits and veggies (like I did this morning!)

Okay, Food Today:

Breakfast:

Fresh juiced apple/grape/carrot mixed with a bit of organic goji berry juice and a teaspoon of spirulina

All-natural granola w/ a bit of organic soymilk

Snack:

Oatmeal

Lunch:

I have to go get something – either sushi or a black bean & tofu salad

Snack:

Roasted veggies and rice (left over from yesterday)

Dinner:

Mexican pizza! I’m excited J

Dinner last night was yummy!

Bok Choy and Soba Noodles

Soba noodles (I cooked 2/3 of package) cooked to pkg specifications

1 bunch bok choy, trim off end and slice thin cross-ways, separate leaves and stems

4-5 small/medium baby bella mushrooms, stems removed, sliced thin

3-4 green onion, chopped small

1tbs fresh minced ginger

3tbs minced garlic

Pinch red pepper flake

3tbs soy sauce

1tsp EVOO

-          Heat EVOO in a large pan on medium high heat and add bok choy stems and onions about 5 minutes.

-          Add mushrooms, garlic, ginger and red pepper flake

-          Once bok choy stems are soft, add leaves and soy sauce

-          Mix together, sauté for about 3-5 minutes

-          Add noodles, mix together and saute for another 3-5 minutes

Voila! Simple and yummy J

Well this evening shall be filled with Halloween costume preparations for both myself and miss Nora. Tomorrow we’re taking her to see Disney on Ice at the Aronoff! I’m excited, I think she’s going to love it! After that, I’m thinking that we need to take a trip to Whole Foods in Rookwood so we can get some delicious fruits and veggies for our juicing endeavors! In the afternoon, Branden and I are heading down to Louisville to go to a big party with my sister! I’m super excited!! My plan is to limit myself to a few glasses of wine and not go overboard with the alcohol. My sister and her friends can be quite persuasive but I’m going to try really hard to stick to that lol… time will tell just how strong I am. J

I suppose that’s all I have for today… keep it classy!

I’m sure everyone will be celebrating Halloween this weekend.. have a happy/healthy/SAFE time!!!

Until Monday…

Feeling GREAT!! 10/27/11

Hello! Oh man, I’m pumped up today! I think I’ve finally found my ‘calling’ in life and I’m really excited about it I can’t even move my fingers fast enough to type lol! Okay I’ve been watching a lot of food documentaries lately and I am 100% convinced that a plant-based diet (meat/dairy free) is the way to go. There are far too many studies and too much evidence showing that, basically, the western diet will kill you. Regardless of how delicious a big greasy pizza or a piece of bacon may taste, you have to ask yourself – is it worth 5 years of your life? I was watching a documentary this morning called ‘Forks Over Knives’ (watch it!) and a man eating at a BBQ restaurant was asked if he was sure it would add an extra 6 years to his life, if he would switch to a plant-based diet. He said no. WHAT?! Then he asked, ‘Say you get those extra years on your life… what are ya gonna do with them?’ Um, excuse me? Live. Sorry I know I’m going off on a bit of a tangent here but I have become REALLY passionate about living a healthy lifestyle! I have pretty much decided that I want to go back to school for nutrition and exercise science so I can effectively help others change their lives for the better. That being said, right now it’s not really an option because I have to have a full-time job to help support our family but soon enough, things will be different and I can pursue my new ‘dream’. J

OKAY – back to my path!

Dinner last night was fantastic! I made Chipotle Black Bean Burgers and I will DEFINITELY be making them again! I’ll have to post the recipe tomorrow because I forgot it at home (sorry!) but it is definitely worth the wait. J I ate mine with sliced tomato and fresh guac on sprouted grain bread and roasted tomatoes, bell peppers and onion tossed in EVOO, garlic and cumin as a side. YUM!

Workout went great this morning! Today was treadmill day:

Thursday
Situps     50
Run 1 mile
Situps     50
TIME:	13:07

That’s right! 33 seconds faster than my last 2 attempts at this workout! I felt really great running and will try to go even faster next Tuesday! I’m a little worried about my workout tomorrow… the dreaded jump squats! I’m determined to just push through it though!

Food Today:

Breakfast:

Granola w/ soy milk

Snack:

Oatmeal

Lunch:

Squash Soup w/ brown rice and edamame

Snack:

Leftover veggies from last night

Dinner:

Bok choy w/ soba noodles

Last night when Branden and I were finishing up the documentary ‘Food Matters’, he told me that he didn’t want to eat meat anymore! He said that he wants me to be the nutritionist for our family. I was so happy I almost cried lol… it has been a bit of a battle with him at times, trying to convince him that you don’t NEED meat and dairy to receive the proper nutrition… but I’m glad something changed his mind! Now – that was last night… we’ll see if he still feels the same today lol.

It’s rainy and crappy outside and my shoulder is hurting because of it. L I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I’ve had surgery on my shoulder and it hurts when the weather is like this sometimes. Oh well! It’s kind of weird but in addition to my jump squats, I have pushups tomorrow.. and I’m really excited to do pushups! Lol

Oh man, it’s just a good day!

I hope you all have a great day, too! Keep it happy and healthy!

No Beuno. 10/25/11

HI. Today is not my day… It’s funny how much the quality of my morning workouts effect my mood for the day. Yesterday was painful, but I was proud to get through it… today, I just couldn’t do it. My body was NOT having it and I ended up having to walk at 2 different points in my mile run. It was really discouraging and I’m very disappointed in myself for not pushing through the pain and just finishing. Oh well, I can’t change the past so I guess I just need to look forward to pushing extra hard through tomorrow’s workout.

Here’s what I did:

Tuesday
Situps     50
Run 1 mile
Situps     50
TIME:	14:05

Same thing I’ve been doing for the previous Tuesdays and Thursdays…

For dinner last night I made an Asian Stir Fry… it was pretty good, though not the greatest. Really simple:

2c Cooked Brown Rice

2tsp Minced Fresh Ginger

3tsp Minced Garlic

¼ c Minced Red onion

½ c Chopped Green Onion

1/3 c Chopped Carrot

1/3 c Chopped Snap Peas

1 ½ tbs Sesame Oil

¼ c Light Soy Sauce

-          Saute garlic, ginger and red onion in oil for about 3-4 minutes, add peas and carrots and sauté for another 5 minutes or so, stirring frequently. Stir-in rice and soy sauce, continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so. Fold-in green onion and serve.

You can totally play with the veggies here!

Food Today:

Breakfast:

All-natural Oatmeal w/ organic blueberries and a smidge of organic/unsweetened soy milk

Snack:

Oatmeal w/ raisins and cinnamon

Lunch:

Thai butternut squash soup w/ brown rice, edamame and slivered almonds

Snack:

Leftover stir-fry from last night

Dinner:

brussel sprouts w/ brown rice (another recipe from vegan cookbook!) I think I’ll throw in some tofu as well.

As a small attempt to start a healthy-eating movement at work, I replaced the candy basket with a basket of fresh tangerines today… hopefully it will catch-on. J

Oh! I finally ordered protein yesterday! I’ve been on the hunt for vegan protein and the reviews for this particular brand were really great! I’m not going to give a specific mention until I actually receive it (so I’m not advocating something that ends up tasting like dirt!) but I have my fingers crossed!!

Well, that’s all I have for today! Until tomorrow…

6.5 down and it feels so good! 10/24/11

Happy Monday!

So, as you Facebook followers already know, I lost a whopping 6.5 lbs last week! I’m not sure what it was, probably a combination of the workouts, extra muscle burning fat and drinking lots of water… but regardless, I’ll take it! J

This weekend was nice, a Halloween party Friday night (I had a little wine and some veggies/hummus/brown rice) AND it was kind of a big deal for me because I dressed as a cat… nothing too creative (I was in a time crunch) but I wore clothes that were pretty much skin tight and I was comfortable! I thought it looked pretty good, too. J Normally I would have NEVER stepped out of the house with only leggings on the bottom lol… but I kind of liked it.

Saturday, Branden’s company hosted a fall festival so we took Nora so she could play (and boy did she play!) and had ‘lunch’ there. Obviously, a place that has fried turkey legs catered didn’t have too much vegan-friendly fare. I had a sandwich of tomato, onion, pickle and mustard on a bun with some tortilla chips lol. Oh boy. After the fest, Nora and I went to Louisville w/ my mom and Grandma to visit my sister… we went out to dinner and I had curried veggies and ½ of a vegan black bean & tofu burrito w/ chips and guac and fried Portobello mushrooms for an appetizer! I realize the fried mushrooms weren’t a great idea but I was craving something fried and at least the mushrooms are a good source of protein!

Sunday, we went to breakfast and I had granola w/ a tiny bit of soy milk then we went to Huber’s Orchard & Winery and bought some Spiced Apple Wine (YUM!), Peach Wine, Fresh Apple Cider and freshly-picked apples! I love farmer’s market-kind of places!

Yesterday, after I got home I ran to the grocery store then came home and feverishly cleaned my house! Not much other than that…

And here we are, Monday!

My workout today was… in a word… ROUGH. Have YOU ever done mountain climbers? If I never do them again (which, obviously I will in a month), it will be too soon. Ugh. That being said, I realize they’re good for reshaping my body and I need to shut up about them… but I just don’t like those guys. I’m definitely noticing a trend that the workouts are getting harder… it’s great to push myself (I think Branden’s trying to get me to throw up… ), I just may do a little complaining along the way… you’ve been fore-warned.

Here’s what I did today:

Week 3
Monday
5 Rounds for time:
Mountain Climbers	2 minutes
Clean & Squat	10 @ 65#
DB Push Press	15 @ 15#
Bench Dips	8
TIME:		28:42:00

I’ll admit it, I took quite a few breaks during this workout. BUT, I did complete it. Hopefully next time around, my time will be better. My shoulders are probably the most sore part of my body at this point.. we’ll see how tomorrow feels! Tomorrow is treadmill day again! It’s funny, I never thought I’d consider running a mile and doing 100 crunches the ‘easy day’. Ha!

Food Today:

Breakfast:

Didn’t really exist… I need to figure something out! I just drank a bunch of water

Snack:

Oatmeal w/ raisins and cinnamon

Lunch:

Thai butternut squash soup w/ brown rice, edamame and slivered almonds

Snack:

Grapes

Mashed Curry Sweet Potatoes w/ WW pita chips

Dinner:

Asian Stir Fry

Did I mention that I bought a Low-Fat Vegan cookbook? I’m totally taking this vegan thing as serious as I can at this point… I’ve almost entirely eliminated dairy out of my diet and I must say, I like it! My body feels great (other than the gas – seriously I eat almost nothing but fiber! Oy..) and I really don’t miss it. The hardest part is trying to eat out… because I don’t have control over the ingredients… which is just another reason to cook more food at home! I miss the sweets a little bit but I’ve been filling that gap with wine lately lol.. not to excess, of course – just a glass here and there. There was a bakery in Louisville w/ vegan cupcakes and I was really stoked to get one but they were sold out L… I’ll find a good recipe though, I’m sure J. Anyway, back to my cookbook… it has some really great recipes and most of my dinners are coming out of there this week! I’ll be sure to follow-up with reviews and recipes.

Well, I suppose that’s all I have for today… I’m in full-on Halloween mode this week and I have to make my costume and Nora’s costume and we have some pumpkins that need carving! There’s a ‘Haunted Hafla’ (a Hafla is our bellydance party) on Thursday night and I’m hoping to go, but that all depends on how far I get with the costumes…

Until tomorrow!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Weight : 240 lbs