Being Healthier

I just love mixing two cereals together! I used to do this all the time when I was little, and no not because the cereals were running low, because I couldn’t decide to have just one so I had a mix of several. What can I say, I was strange. Did any of you ever do that, do you still? Friday was more for functional reasons: I didn’t have a full serving of puffins left so I supplemented with the last of the Envirokids Panda Puffs, and a banana, and some almond butter!

I usual try to balance the carbohydrates a little more- Bananas are pretty high in carbohydrates. That’s not to say they are unhealthy, just a higher carb food. Pair it with carb-full cereals- and its not exactly balanced! I think the almond butter adds a little balance with healthy fats, but I needed some protein. So I did my usual magic mixer of protein mix into the almond milk to create balance.

For lunch on friday, I was on campus and totally knew better. I knew better than to go to the campus cafe and snag a to-go salad because every time I have done that ( twice) I have been really disappoint for the $5-6 I spend. I knew it, and did not follow my gut.

So I got this new salad they have, their old salads with grilled chicken breast, thinking the chicken looked tasty and I knew I needed protein. The nutrition information (on the bottom of the container) said it had 90 kcal and 15 g of protein. I opened the salad to find most of the veggies were translucent (the cucumber) or gummy or wilted (there were black mushy pieces of lettuce underneath), shredded cheese and croutons mixed in, and big slices of chicken.

The positive: The chicken was really good! There is no way that whole salad was 90 kcal though! Just too much cheese and chicken to add up.

I had gotten a side of fries too, my “splurge”, again, not following my gut telling me they probably weren’t worth the money. They weren’t- They were cold and had a funky after taste. Here is what I threw out from the salad:

It looks better than it did in person- that lime green piece at the bottom center is supposed to be a dark green pepper strip. I threw out a good half of the fries too but didn’t photo b/c of the grease. Blech! I wish I could have given it to a homeless person or something but I am also sad that I kind of wasted $10 total. I almost knew this, because I can go behind campus to Whole Foods and get a great salad at the hot bar/cold bar for $5-$8. It would have been so much better!

For dinner, I decided to grill some Mahi fillets that I grabbed at Trader Joes. The foreman grill worked great and I paired it with exactly what I wanted: a big salad and veggies with goddess dressing.

I have been craving fish for some reason… The Mahi Mahi fit the bill, finally felt satisfied after that dissapointing lunch!

After dinner I munched away on one of my new favorite treats-

This kettle corn from Trader Joes is so tasty! It is the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

One of the perks of popcorn, the bag gives you a huge portion for 110 kcal too!

Body:
5 mile Run…. I finally snagged new shoes. My knee started bothering me a few weeks ago, and my mind tells me that I just got new shoes 2 months ago so it must be over-exertion. Then… My gut says: Buy new shoes!  It’s funny because I didn’t pick up on it at first, but its been happening like clockwork every 2 months.  My gut knows that my shoes are no longer supporting my knee enough. So I did follow my gut finally and bought a new pair. Voila, I can run again pain free!

Mind:

My mind feels like its sizzled! I had my coat stolen in lab thursday afternoon!!!  Grr. It was one of 4 girls because the class only has 10 total. When I realized they stole the coat there were still 5 other girls in lab and it was not in any of their bags. My keys to the car and apartment were in the pocket- so I started freaking out. Well I went down the hall and thought to open the bathroom door in case the person ran in there, and found my keys sitting on the bathroom counter! There was a girl in their that had left lab and I think she had stuffed it inside her bookbag. I was in shock and saw the keys, and in an instant my gut said to grab that girl and take her bookbag down as she walked out the door. I didn’t follow my gut.

I called the campus police and not sure what will happen. It happened during a class, it was one of the students, and it was under the watch of the professor. I’m hoping for the best, if I don’t get my coat back, I hope the school will take responsibility for one of their students stealing a coat during their class and help me buy myself a new one. So much for “Honor Code”.

Soul:
So if that wasn’t enough, I went into work and I felt like my mind was everywhere, my soul was everywhere, and I couldn’t focus on what I needed to do. My performance suffered and I feel a well of emotions right now.

I just finished listing out the mistakes I made at work , what I should have done, what I could do for tonight’s shift. I forgot to put in an appetizer, which we easily fixed by getting it on the fly and all were happy. Apparently, the person that entered in the order for to enter in their desserts ( I got the blame for that but I knew it wasn’t me).  I felt like the second host in line was not communicating with me so I felt like I couldn’t do my job the way I should either, I didn’t know what was going on because she wasn’t communicating with me. I usually communicate what is going on for her, I would expect the same. She has worked the same shift as I have recently, and she forgot a salad for a to-go order. Not to point out her mistakes, but it somehow feels like my forgetting the appetizer is somehow more drastic than her forgetting the salad. Or for that matter, these same mistakes have happened with the others all the time but yet, mine are more noticed or something.

I can only work on improving my mistakes. I can’t change the other girls opinions of me or my performance, I can just do the best that I can and leave it at that. I need to follow my gut. I think that is part of why I feel so frazzled, I’m not following what my gut is telling me to do. Note to self blogosphere: Follow Your Gut.

I mixed oats ( steel cut, gluten free) with almond milk and cottage cheese and microwaved the oats for a few minutes. I am going to be perfectly honest, I thought of making overnight oats as I was laying in bed and the thought of having to get out of my comfy resting place didn’t seem entertaining. So I stayed in bed, and fell asleep rather quickly! I threw the oats together in the morning, added extra cottage cheese after I nuked it to make it creamier, and voila. Topped with raspberries and cherries . These are frozen and the last of my frozen fruit which means a trip to the store is in store for me!

My opinion is that if you intentionally make more at dinner to have through-out the week, than it wouldn’t really be considered “left over” because it has a whole other purpose than its original meal… like my lunch!   I packed up lunch and took it to campus wee early in the am so that I could spend all morning studying for my exam.

Our professor brought in several Post-Exam treats for us:

I had a chocolate covered almond and I think 2 non-pareils …:-)

She made turkey meatloaf using salsa, mashed potatoes with nonfat sour cream and smart balance, and fresh green beans mixed with balsamic vinegar & spices. We were so busy catching up while we put together our plates of potates and green beans that I forgot to photo the meatloaf ! Haha. 

We all experience pain, stress, anguish. Its often easier for us to leave, to avoid what’s really going on, and use anything else to get us away. The irony is that the painful part has already happened, its not the present moment we need to get away from. Instead of running, distracting yourself or starting a total different conflict, why not just stay ?

Stay with yourself, cry, scream and yell, feel as if your heart is being pounded on like a drum. Sit with the guilt, or the sorrow, get help from friends… I feel like I have always been the runner, in every sense.  In the past few months, I have certainly stopped running away. However hard it was at first and no matter what I did, it became  annoyingly real that at the end of the day: I was still alive. When I finally stopped avoiding, or running, or using things to distract myself , I now feel more alive than ever. 

I recognized those thoughts, but stopping running from those thoughts as fast as I could in the opposite  any direction.  I found someone that was not my past or my future, or my habits or my compulsions. I am getting to know this new person, and I feel like anything is possible, even living through incredible pain.

Well hello there. I knew this past weekend was going to be just as busy as the one before, 40 hours of work for jobs, plus studying for two exams, and doing a case study on Kidney Failure. It was a doozy!

I managed to eat really well though! Here are some breakfasts

Cottage Cheese Oatmeal ( Oats mixed with cottage cheese and left overnight to plump! It was Jasmine’s Idea and it was a good one!) Peanut butter and Apple slices to round it all out!

Another breakfast:
Green Machine Juice and Puffins with Almond Milk

Lunches
Black Bean Dip with Melted Cheese- spread onto Corn Cakes plus a salad with buttnernut squash… and fruit!

A balance bar (while out and about shopping) + a banana & pb

and then after I got home, I had this guy

Dinners

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Rice, Portabella Slices, and Broccoli

and because I can’t do dinners like that all the time, I revert to…a Lean Cuisine ( Oh the laundry list of ingredients.. It does contain mostly pronouncable, whole foods though)

This fiesta grilled chicken wasn’t too shabby. Not my preference though fast, cheap, and easy!

Coworker gave me a valentines’ gift

YUMMMMY!

Body:
Friday: Yoga! 75 minute Podcast, I decided I am taking a break from Dave Faramar after this! I could predict what he was going to say (not with the poses, just with the extra chat), and that just bothered me!
Saturday: 4 mile Run on the Treadmill
Sunday: Strength : Back, Biceps, Quads, Elliptical for Cardio

Mind:

I finished a case study on JB, a college girl who has kidney disease. We had to calculate her energy needs while she is on Hemodialysis three days a week, and lives on campus at a small college. After calculating her total energy, I then split up that energy into carbohydrates, protein, fat and vits& minerals. Because our kidneys filter and maintain fluid balance using Phosphorous, Potassium and Sodium- JB cannot filter these the same or maintain fluid balance.

The hardest part? It was not describing the functions or amounts of medications JB needs or why. It was writing a meal plan for three days based on a college dining hall meal plan! Because students live on campus, they must participate in meal plans. If they make an exception for JB, they can for everyone. If they do not, they cannot provide JB with the food ( lawsuit!) she needs.

The menu for my campus was “Chicago Style Hot Dogs”, “Fried Catfish in Creole Sauce”, “Pepperoni Pizza”, and all other foods packed with phoshoporous, potassium and sodium! There is no nutrition information posted, so we had to figure out what to give JB, and the communication between the dialysis Dietitian and the campus Dietitian.

It was good prep for my exam on Wednesday in that class!
Yesterday I had my exam in Lifecycle Nutrition about nutrition during pregnancy, lactation and all the way up to toddlers. I think it went okay but I never know!

Soul:
Watched the movie “Couples Retreat” with friends. It was pretty funny though Im glad I didn’t go to a theatre to watch it! Man, I would LOVE to go to a tropical paradise right now! Spring Break is in two weeks, I fear I need to do work during it. :-/

I wish I had more inspirational thoughts as I have had the past week in posts but it is crunch time for me with exams, papers, midterms, etc. plus I am finishing up work at my job#1 so I am just trying to balance everything as best I can.

Balance.

Okay, still stuck on cottage cheese as my morning protein because its so easy, on sale, cheap, and delicious! However, I mixed it up today with another PB&J Sweet potato … only it was a locally grown PURPLE potato!

Did anyone say EW?!? Okay I realize it might not be my best photography.

Man, it was delicious though! I microwaved the potato, topped it with peanut butter, some apricot preserves, banana slices, and cottage cheese as a dipper too.

Lunchtime was a mess! I worked all morning for job #1 ( yes its from home) and then also had to finish assignments for Lab AND prepare for assisting with the Metabolism class. I finally took a break for this guy:

A plum for a snack.  A little fructose for my workout!  Time flies when you are having fun, right? I headed back to my apartment about 40 minutes before I had to leave for lab. I showered as fast I could and put together lunch as fast I could.

As I scrambled 2 egg whites, and 1 yolk in the skillet, I put together organic greens, mushrooms, parsnip sticks and Wildwood Probiotic Hummus. Do you see the Parsnip sticks? They look yellow next to the corn cake. I just love the sweetness of parsnips, worlds better than carrots! I hate carrots. That just goes to show you, (future) Dietitians do not necessarily eat carrots AND just because you do not like one vegetable, does NOT mean you will dislike others!

Check out the Mind Section below for more on probiotics!

I doused on some hot sauce and had another new snag: Corn Cakes with Flax and Soy

These taste just like rice cakes but they were on sale and tasty! You will see these again on here!

Dustin at Wilwood Foods had sent me a sample package of their Pasta Slim noodles and their Probiotic Hummus… I am waiting to try the other hummus before I post a formal review but the low-fat flavor I tried today at lunch was really tasty, making it a good competitor with an additional benefit of probiotics.

I decided to utilize my products again for dinner! I tried the regular “spaghetti” noodles with some of the tomatoes from last nights’ pasta and paired them with a salad.

These had a little funny smell again. If you can get past the smell, which is not that bad but definitely something worth noting to those who haven’t tried these before, these are a pretty good trick for your pasta-brains.

Again, these noodles (shirataki) are made from Tofu, Water, Konjac Flour and some calcium additives. They are Gluten Free, only 20 kcal per serving and super quick to make. I disobeyed the package directions and heated them in the microwave. Meh… I’m a rebellious food blogger. They were still just as tasty if not better than last nights’ when I used hot water per the package.

They had the texture more similar to spaghetti squash, if you have ever tried that.  I love how many “alternatives to pasta” exist!  You can somewhat trick your brain into thinking this is a plate o noodles made from flour and they are filling for the little energy they provide. That is great for weight loss. However, if you truly want a plate of pasta- I say go for it! Enjoy what you eat thoroughly because its your journey in life.

Here’s My Journey

Body:

Just a quick and fun workout to get me going for my day. I know I have more time friday, saturday and sunday to get a longer workout in should I want to so today was Strength and Elliptical. Chest, Shoulders, Triceps and Hamstrings today with 30 minutes on the ellipticizer.

Mind:

I mentioned yesterday that I turned in a draft of a 10 pg Research Paper for Medical Nutrition Therapy on Necrotizing Enterocolitis. Did anyone watch Private Practice last night? !?! It had a mom who gave birth to a premature infant with… Necrotizing Enterocolitis!  Before I get into that, I talked with my microbiology professor and I might change my thesis to researching breast milk and the probiotic effects for infants that get this!

Apoptosis is cell death, Necrosis is tissue death. Entero- is the pre-fix for the small intestine. Colon- um- it is the colon, which is the large intestine. Itis- When you have sinusitis… or appendicitis… itis implies inflammation. So… Necrotizing Enterocolitis is a condition of an inflammed small intestine due to tissue death in the gastrointestinal tract/digestive system. The tissue dies mostly from a lack of oxygen and is specific to premature infants due to their lack of development pre-birth ( that is the most accepted theory of cause right now).

What you do not see in the Episode of Private Practice is the Registered Dietitians in the NICU, this has been one of the careers I am most interested in pursuing, RD for NICU.  On the show, Dr. Montgomery ( celebrity Kate Walsh) knows it all apparently- and discusses the problem and suggests a bowel resection without showing the RD’s role in this. Ah well.

Resections are common for the most severe cases,  just as in Chron’s or Ulcerative Colitis, removed part of the colon which has the dead tissue could possibly restore better functioning than before the resection. When premies are born so early they are usually tube fed. Tube feedings can come with a whole other set of complications, especially in premies that have tiny tiny systems that are not fully developed.  They need an intact intestine to digest the food that is put in them… One of the ways we increase function of our intestine is with… probiotics!

My research paper is all about how current investigations (seriously current, like Jan 2010) on probiotics and prebiotics administered to these infants can reduce the inflammation in the GI of these babies and hopefully extend life/prevent death/ increase the chance of survival.

Soul:

I thought I’d share one my favorite new phrases is “Just because you Can, does not mean you SHOULD” . I feel like I should also say “Just because you CAN or SHOULD, does not mean you are READY”.

We are all on our own journey. While the setbacks might seem daunting at times or the triumphs infrequent and small, the journey- YOUR journey, is ongoing. You have another day to try something different, go back to something you missed,  or continue on the path how you see fit.

You CAN do many things, you SHOULD do many things, so when you are ready, you will.

I tweaked the same breakfast I have had for what seems the past two weeks to get in some diversity among my blog photos! I know you guys are probably “over & done” with my cottage cheese and fruit pictures- so I mixed it up just a tad.

No, not so much? I put almond milk with protein powder in the Bella Mixer ( magic bullet thing) because Almond Milk is a great milk substitute but lacks the protein we find in regular milk. Fruit today was cherries and raspberries, cereal was Puffins, and then I used the milk concoction to eat it all.

The milk turned red from the raspberries, it looked like those strawberry milk jugs.

My Mom could never get me to drink milk or eat yogurt when I was little. The only way she would get me to drink milk was to buy me Strawberry Milk (nope, not this great Organic Horizon Brand that is around now, I’m pretty sure it was Hershey’s and is not made anymore). I’m not gonna lie, I only liked it because it was PINK! It also tasted awesome, it was filled with sugar but it got me the calcium I desperately needed. Isn’t it funny how kids hate foods that are white, or love foods because they are pink? Ah, the joy of childhood.

I actually think that (as most people truly are mildly intolerant to lactose because humans had to genetically create the enzyme to digest cow products) I probably just didn’t produce enough lactase to digest the sugars in milk when I was younger.  Consumption of yogurt can actually help produce this enzyme through the fermentation of the healthy bacteria found naturally in yogurt.

Lunch from Whole Foods- I had a break between classes and didn’t have time to grab something in the morning before I left so I headed behind campus for some whole foods

Diversity is my post title, and well, what is not diverse about this lunch ?

Let’s see there is:

Kale!
Cabbage
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Mushrooms
Chicken Curry
Quinoa
A few different Tofu types

I love getting lunch from whole foods, but it seems so outrageous in cost when I know what I can do myself. The power of knowledge and determination can really save you money!

Dustin at Wilwood Foods sent me a sample package of their Pasta Slim noodles and their Probiotic Hummus.

I decided to snag some extra veggies at Whole Foods today and try the Spinach Fettucini noodles for dinner this evening.

They had a little funny smell, kind of like spinach and kind of like tofu.

You can see they are made from Tofu, Water, Spinach Powder and some calcium additives. They are Gluten Free, only 25 kcal per serving and super quick to make. I could definitely use this fast and easy preparation… You just drain the noodles, place them in hot water, and then drain them about 2 minutes later like so

They come pre-cooked and tasted pretty much like regular pasta noodles, a little au dente and consumption-wise you can twirl them on your fork, etc. I am interested in how long I will stay full for this evening, so far so good (2 hours post dinner). I can’t wait to try the other flavor, and try the spinach again to formulate a proper review. Thanks Wildwood Foods!

Body:

4 mile run Tuesday – The apartment gym is so convienent!

Yoga Wednesday! Dave Farmar’s latest podcast is up but I could only fit in 30 minutes this morning. I am eager to finish up the 75 minute practice this evening.

Mind:

My mind almost feels as if it is a million places! I replied to a comment about where I work. It suddenly hit me just how slammed my schedule is, update nutrition curriculum for Job#1, four nights a week I am working 6 hour shifts as a service associate for Bonefish (job#2), I blog nearly everyday, and I have a full-time graduate student course load…oh yes, and I am a volunteer teaching assistant for Advanced Nutrient Metabolism. I could not pass that opportunity up!

Oh so appropriate.
Luckily, I have always had to be exceptional at time management. During high school , I was on four sports teams in one year plus student government and Im sure more that I cannot think of right now. Heck, as long as I could remember I have always managed my time best when I had the most on my plate to manage.

This week:
Draft of Lit Review section 1 for my Thesis: Done!

Draft of 10 pg Research Paper for Medical Nutrition Therapy- Done! ( Necrotizing Enterocolitis). On Monday we went to a Dialysis Center, which I was just amazed by the Dietitian there! She has over 170 patients, she assesss, diagnoses, and presribes the intervention plan for people with renal failure.
The most common causes of renal failure are obesity, unmanaged hypertension, and unmanaged diabetes (type 2). With rates of these diseases increasing every year, the rates of renal failure increase. This means we will also be seeing increases in Dialysis Centers and guess what, our tax payer dollars pay for that!  Some affected by kidney disease, genetically or otherwise, can benefit tremendously from life-saving dialysis.  Some people however, just leave their conditions unmanaged until they are forced into dialysis to save their kidneys.

Lifecycle Nutrition Class: We are on infant nutrition and breastfeeding. It was so awesome when a Lactation Consultant came in to discuss this and to add her presentation with our text material. I never knew lacatation consultants existed! Exam is next week!

I had to pick up a shift at Bonefish on monday, worked on tuesday, and will be working everyday this weekend again. I am super excited for a “night off” tonight and tomorrow but I have so much to study and catch up on!

Soul:

When you are single and living in your own apartment….I can eat right out of the take out containers!

Dinner was take-out from work, which was fabulous! My manager offered to buy me dinner, a perk of working in a restaurant and working hard! She suggested the special, “Kate’s North Atlantic Haddock with Feta and Artichokes”…

It blew me away ! I was really not that eager to try it, as you will see in a minute, I am very much a creature of habit. She described it though and sold me ( well, she was buying it so she sold herself!?). It is a Haddock fillet, lightly coated in parmesan.They grill that so it isn’t too oily or greasy but add a lemon basil butter with Feta and Artichokes…

YUM!! Definitely try this if you are going to Bonefish Grill soon! It comes with our garnish, which is a corn, edamame, and pepper succotash cooked with bacon. I had french fries and a house salad as my sides- but the fries were too soggy by the time I got home to eat them.

As you can see, eating out has all this “added” calories that are hidden in the descriptions! That butter, plus the bacon, plus the fries… It makes the food delicious, but it also makes the food high in calories due to the added fats. I had plenty of food, which is also a perk of being on my own- I can have extra for lunch instead of giving my extra to someone else!

Other meals this weekend had to be super quick and nutritious because I have worked 42 hour since friday and had thesis research, class for 12 hours, and just no time to fuss around!

Easy quick Protein:

The 4% does taste different than nonfat. I eat lots of plant based fruits and vegetables so I figure the 4% is worth it for the taste when considering my overall dietary intake.

Sometimes I just eat it out of the container because I can… I did try to make it look more appealing this weekend though…

and balance the protein out with fruit

or higher fiber cereal to fill me up completely

As I mentioned a few posts back, I really like this meal…It is has been my go-to breakfast all weekend.

I am realizing now just how many times I had this concoction. I do eat other foods though, such as this: I made a quick lunch of brussel sprouts (steamed), black beans with salsa and cheese, and some Smoked Salmon

Did you know that one of the best sources of Vitamin D is fatty fish, such as Salmon?

I also like to eat out of tupperware…

That was two servings of black beans, low fat cheese, and lots of salsa. That about wraps up my intake for the weekend! I hope you enjoyed the photos and the food, and since this is a longer weekend recap, I did the separate Body Mind Soul recap on this post: Single on Valentine’s Day. Thank you for all of your wonderful comments this weekend- I loved reading them and seeing how wonderful your love-filled-weekends went!

My food pics will be up on a separate post! This is a recap and a wish for Happy Valentine’s Day!

(source)

Body:
Yoga! I did another podcast mostly because I again worked all morning and had job#2 all night so I had little time in between to go anywhere other than my Yoga Mat in the living room!

It was very similar to the podcast friday and I did get a great sweat going for the 30 short minutes I had! 30 minutes is way better than 0 minutes, right?! I have usually been an “all or nothing” type with exercise, but I have slowly been realizing that you get it in whenever you can.  Based on statistics and studies, exercise broken up into short sessions throughout the day or over the course of a week is just as effective as long workouts. Be Active!

Mind:

In two days, I revised an entire Grade for my job#1 (updating nutrition curriculum for the state)… phew! I now have to focus on research for Sunday before heading into job #2 (Guest Service Associate at Bonefish Grill).

Have you ever worked at a restaurant? I was happily surprised to see just how busy we were both Friday night, Saturday night and today Sunday- Valentine’s Day! We had every reservation slot booked from 4 pm until 10 pm , and went on a 3 hour wait! It was interesting because I just kept going through it all- It didn’t feel busy because there are only a certain amount of tables so when we go on any kind of wait, it is just a matter of how quickly we can reset a table and re-seat it. Usually this process ends about 8:30 -9 pm but last night, it was still go, go, go until 10:00! I got home at 11:00, when the restaurant closes. It hit me and I fell asleep so fast!

Soul:
Oh Valentine, Oh Valentine. I know that several new readers have joined me here and most of you do not know that I spent most of 2009 engaged.

Past tense, meaning I am no longer engaged or married.

I lost everything, the love of my life, my best friend, the only person that I feel ever “got me”. I lost my house that I came home to, the place I wanted to make our home and my dog- who kept me company and joined me on countless walks. Gone were my friends, all the people I thought I called friends anyhow and if this wasn’t enough I lost family too.

I lost two wonderful parents, two sisters to get nails done with, brothers, countless uncles, aunts and grandparents. No, no one has died (fortunately). I am positive that I could “keep in touch” with them. Keeping in touch, however,  is a completely different level than Sunday dinners, birthday parties, and Halloween trick-or-treating with nieces and nephews though. This sounds almost morbid as I type but it comes down to losing “ours” because truly it was “his”. I gave back the ring and found an apartment by myself, so he also got money and a roommate as well.

Until recently, I was just in shock of what can only be compared to divorce. I didn’t want to look at it that way but honestly, how can you not!? It was a loss on a tremendous scale that I could never have imagined happening to us. The life that was supposed to be “ours” disintegrated into “his”.  The life that I thought we were sharing was ripped out from underneath me and I’ve had to start over, building up piece by piece on my own.

Notice I have not mentioned “fault” because this damage could only be caused by two, relationships take two. In most break-ups, its just a matter of “not the one, move on to mr. right now”. There may be a sense of loss but the reality of huge life-changing loss is not there. Everything that I knew and everyone that I had was ultimately  ”his” not “ours” as I had thought.

“Relationships are hard” and “marriages take work”, yes this is true. The hard part of relationships, the work, for me was maintaining “mine”. Maybe it was immaturity on my part, because I had to learn along the rocky path how to do that. I had shared most of “his” so I usually felt filled up to my capacity and no longer knew what “mine” meant. I most certainly felt that he didn’t share “mine”, another recent discovery.  How do you get someone to want to share in “yours” if you have lost what “yours” meant?

People offer sympathy or advice with such positive intentions. (thank you to those that have, you know who you are). My favorite is “Everything happens for a reason”. Very true and out of all this tremendous loss, I know that I have capacity to gain. I have been rebuilding my dreams, my plans, my friends, my life. I’ve started gaining more in the past three months than I have in the past three decades ( okay maybe not decades but you get the jist).

For anyone that is single on valentine’ day, I want to share with you what a truly wonderful friend of mine shared with me. “You’ve got to keep looking forward and be open to change, challenges, and new additions to your life. Think of your capability to manage your time, be  responsible, and still set high standards and accomplish them.  When you look at what you’ve gained you’ve got to be somewhat appreciative for what you have and what is yet to come….Great things!”

“drop it like its hot”… These Puffins are a hot item on sale at Harris Teeter ( I go to the grocery store several times a week… I like to see what’s on sale, what I could make etc.) so I just had to grab them ( not drop them… that part comes later)!

Puffins (a wheat free cereal that is high in fiber also comes in a Peanut Butter flavor that is better than Panda Puffs!)  reminds me of Honey Grahams… but not as sweet so that works for me!

I paired the cereal with some pineapple, mango, and strawberries ( frozen and heated) with cottage cheese.

This is my favorite fast breakast I think. I love the cereal because it isn’t made from wheat, like 99% of all other cereals in this country are, yet it is still high in fiber!
Lunch, well, I spent all morning working and literally forgot to eat lunch! At 2 I was chatting my friend, and realized I was starving! I quickly heated up soup ( chicken tuscany, Progresso brand) with extra veggies and had one of the greek yogurts on the side…

This is the Dannon version, Strawberry.

I hate to admit it, I liked it! I like this Dannon more than others I’ve tried because of its texture and definitely more than the Yoplait from yesterday

I also had a date stuffed with peanut butter…

I was still hungry after the soup and yogurt, so I drank a glass of water and decided I was still actually hungry. I was satisfied after this one!

Dinner is a “cop -out”…

I made eggs again, with veggies and cheese, with salad and salsa on the side… so I really didn’t feel like uploading another photo of the same dinner!

Body:

Dave Farmar Yoga Podcast, I did the 06-01-09 podcast and I thought it was fantastic! This is my second time ever using a podcast and i loved this one more than the Dec 17. 2009 I did earlier in the week. It is kind of odd when he says names of people in his class, or when he refers to things that I can’t possibly see since I’m not there.

I follow along quite well, this one was a great flow, lots of movements on our own and for some reason I was really in tune with my breath and postures. AWESOME!

Mind:

I couldn’t sleep last night for a variety of reasons, and ended up reading the first chapter of a book I just bought. It is on the history of eating disorders and we are reviewing it for Lifecycles Nutrition. I got through the first chapter in no time! I woke up this morning more tired than usual though! Ah well.

I worked on revising lessons all day for my job #2… after 7 hours of that… I headed into my job#3, we were busy but I managed to seat all of the reservations on time and all the people on our wait list as well! It felt like a great night…

Soul ( or should I call this section “How I feel after yoga with Dave” ?  Nah, soul because its my reflection. )

Drop it! Whatever it is that you have been holding on to, your childhood, the bullies on the playground, the boss that doesn’t appreciate you, just drop it. Once you drop it, I think you can finally see that you have a chance today to try it differently. The beauty of life is that you can just go back to how you were doing things before if you wanted tomorrow, but today is an opportunity to do something different, try a new approach, or drop something weighing you down.

This was my breakfast today

Panda Puffs with Peaches and Cherries. I figured if it worked yesterday, why not give it another chance!? I added protein powder to almond milk and mixed it together in the magic bullet. High protein breakfasts keep me full for so long!

This salad…

with cannelini beans, roasted cinnamon butternut squash cubes, mushrooms, and a banana with peanut butter was my lunch.

Dinner was a smoked salmon filet with steamed broccoli, snap peas, carrots and water chestnuts..

and we all knew this was coming..

Yes, EVERYONE has FINALLY jumped on the GREEK YOGURT BANDWAGON! I just had to try the Dannon Greek, the Yoplait Greek, Brown Cow has been on the bandwagon but not quite as long as the founders: Stoneyfield Oikos, Fage, and Chobani… even Chobani is stepping up its game and adding “champion” yogurts with 9 g of protein and geared towards kiddos!  If you haven’t tried one of the plentiful Greek yogurts out on the common market now, I do encourage them because Greek yogurts are much higher in protein compared to regular yogurts. While they are more expensive, they are thicker and a little more sustaining. One thing I was interested in, all of the plain flavors from ALL the brands were GONE from the shelves. Meh..

I had the Yoplait after dinner, and I was surpised that there was no fruit at the bottom, rather flavored blueberry. Hmm.. not sure if it was worth the dollar twenty.

And finally, this was

the glass of wine I had while looking into more podcasts!

Body:

5 mile run… I thought I would rest from running this week but after mile 1, mile 2 just felt better and at mile 4 I decided to just keep going because it still felt great! Tomorrow is yoga and strength!

Mind:
Metabolism class went well, we discussed Vitamin K, A and B6! Most of the girls said they thought the test was much worse than how they really ended up doing so they are less anxious about the next one!

Spent all morning trying to mesh through research for my thesis. I am planning to write a descriptive thesis on the Vitamin D status of college, female athletes, however, that isn’t exactly a narrowed down topic! I wanted to look at the relationship between vitamin D and c-reactive protein, because of the anti-inflammatory role vitamin D plays in rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease. However, the only way to measure that would be to take blood samples, and we aren’t really equipped to do that. sigh. road block #1 of many to come.

Soul:
I could look at this as a road block, but I just see opportunity. Another way to figure something else out. Like the many things in my life that have taken turns, unexpectedly, or giant leaps in the right direction. This is a chance. Sometimes that is all we can ask for.

Breakfast for me is my favorite meal of the day, but sometimes I get caught up in making it such a great thing that will hold me over. I felt like today I just wanted something simple, try easier, so it was just a bowl of Panda Puffs, which is a gluten free peanut butter flavored cereal that reminds me of Kix …

Lunch was in two parts and totally on the go because I had an awesome workout mid-morning, I had to rush to get to campus.. I snagged this before I left my apartment

A balance bar (Cookie Dough)- I first started eating these about 8 years ago ( that makes me feel old) in college and I agree with Lara of Thinspired,  they taste just like cookie dough!

The protein keeps me full for hours but it is lacking in fruits and vegetables ( although Balance bars are packed with vitamins and minerals, I like to get my nutrients from their most original sources instead of supplements).

So I also brought a Larabar (Cherry Pie) with me since they are unprocessed and made from all fruits and nuts.

and yes, I will drink diet soda! When I’m on campus and craving a little caffeine, the occasional soda is perfectly enjoyable. Where the message gets mixed, I think, is when we as a nation start drinking soda in the morning as a pick me up, again with lunch, again with our snack or dinner… it adds up! It isn’t just the calories from sugar or the chemicals either!

If we are drinking soda, we are NOT consuming beverages that are healthier such as Milk.  Soda also contains phosphorous, when we have multiple sodas throughout the day, phosphorous can build up as well. The downside to building this phosphorous up is that it signals hormones to release calcium from our bones, to balance the phosphorous chemically. So not only are we not consuming Milk ( a calcium and vitamin D rich beverage) but we are consuming something that leaches calcium- A double whammy on our bone health!

Dinner was egg/egg white scrambled with celery, carrots, green pepper, onions and a little broccoli. I added some cheese ( a great source of CALCIUM!) and salsa…

But I thought it was missing something…. so I added GREENS!

Body:
Dave Farmer Podcast Yoga!
I did a 75 minute podcast, inspired to look into this podcasting thing  by Heather at HangryPants. I found it so uplifting and quite difficult. The one downside is not seeing the class progress but I enjoyed that because it made it more personal. Sometimes we can get caught up on following to the ”right” pose but if I didn’t know a pose, I would do one of my favorites instead.  ( I forgot what Frog pose looked like! )

Mind:
Printed articles for thesis, finished a lab assignmnent for Microbiology, and found a new fun tool with Google- “Buzz” . I guess its google’s version of Twitter. I might like Buzz better but it will take a bit for everyone to catch on I think!

Soul:

We say push harder, try harder. If you want something you should fight for it. The way to succeed and reach your goals is to do more work. I think in some cases, this is true, especially for career related goals.  Sometimes, the harder we try the worse it gets.

It servers its purpose, pushing and working harder and trying more. Ultimately though,  there must be deeper reasons for us to keep going.

I enjoy Yoga so much because it teaches me or allows me,  to find ways to make it easier so that I am able to do more. Dave was discussing this in his podcast, “find an edge where you are comfortable being and fill yourself up to that capacity and become stronger because of that. Try easier.”

I think for me trying easier is breathing, relying on my breath, allowing it to carry me and balance and maintain me through the difficulty in yoga or in life.