Tag: grains

Rating the day

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It was a good morning!!!

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I am SO happy today because I had an excellent workout this morning for the first time in 11 days 😀 I never thought I would miss exercise so much! As I was going to bed last night at 9:30, I took two naproxen in the hopes that they would hold me through this morning since I didn’t want to have to take one on an empty stomach. I also set my alarm for 4:50am so that I could get the heating pad going on my “right gluteal muscle” for a few minutes before I had to move. I was out the door by 5:13 and did a 4.5 minute jog to the gym very lightly. It hurt a bit, but now that I’m not as worried about tearing something, the pain didn’t really bother me and seemed stable rather than worsening.

At the gym, I spent about 1/2 hour doing month 1 of the 2009 Self Challenge strength workout. I tore it out of the magazine at the gym a month or so ago (shhh) and decided now would be a good time to start because a few of the exercises involve lunges and squats like the sports doctor recommended yesterday. I did all of the exercises as written, though I had to do the “make it easier” option for the “arm accentuator” and the “total transformer” because they did seem to aggravate my groin and glutes in a way that made me nervous.

I followed the strength with 20 glorious minutes on the Stepmill at Level 10, 7 minutes of leg stretching, and the 4.5 minute jog home. Again, mild discomfort, but nothing seemed to be worsening! Of course, that’s what I thought when I was running those 10 miles two weekends ago and the pain all of a sudden got much stronger. But anyway, I’m not planning to go quite back up to 10 miles yet — I might give 3 a shot tomorrow — and I’m also running very slowly and paying loads of attention to my posture and form. Hopefully, I am on the mend for good. And I so appreciate all of your support. Reading your stories, opinions, and advice has been super helpful, so please keep it coming!

Breakfast today was more overnight millet:

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I’m really loving the texture. Some of you commented yesterday that you were surprised this worked with millet without any cooking. Again, the texture is still a bit crunchy, but if you try to bite a grain of raw millet, you’ll see it’s pretty easy to do even without the benefit of an overnight soak. Just to reiterate the process, I mixed 1/4 cup dry millet with 1/4 cup yogurt/ricotta/dried apricot blend and 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk and left it in the fridge overnight. This morning, I gave it a stir and topped it with pineapple, strawberries, and unsweetened coconut. See the little millets?

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If you try it, let me know what you think!

On the side, I had two teeny pieces of toasted pumpernickel baguette and a little raisin-walnut toastie topped with 1 tbsp cashew-almond butter (not chocolate) and more coconut:

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Plus, my new Yogi Mexican Sweet Chili tea with a splash of soymilk.

I feel so satisfied now — I’m full of good nutrition, and I finally got my morning sweat going again 😀

On a scale of 1-10, how was your morning?

If you missed it earlier, check out my pistachi-YES giveaway!

And another contest I am DEFINITELY entering with all of this leg drama is the one for McDavid Compression Wear going on now at Run to the Finish. Go check it out!

Persistent funk

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Hello, hello, hello!

Breakfast involved more overnighting.

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We’re out of oats, so I combined 1/4 cup millet with 1/3 cup of the yogurt mixture I’ve been having for lunch this week (oikos, ricotta, banana, strawberries, dried apricot) and 1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk. I’m out of fresh produce, too, the horror!, so I topped it with another 2 chopped apricots, dried berries, and coconut.

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The millet overnighted well. It was still pretty crunchy, and I like that in a grain.

On the side, I had two slices of pumpernickel baguette from the freezer with 1 tbsp cashew-almond butter mashed with the last tsp (tear) lemon curd and sprinkled with more coconut.

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I know it looks like chocolate, but I promise it is cashew-almond butter. The nuts just got a teeeeeeeny bit burned.

And green tea and lots of water (to make up for the water missing from my fruit!):

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So, I did NOT end up going to the gym this morning since I was in all that pain last night. Instead, I got up at 6 and sat on the heating pad for 10 minutes before I started moving. It’s a little better today, but I just want to be normal! I did some crunches and push-ups (cough, like 10) to try to pull myself out of the cizerfunk, but it’s not the same. And I still feel the guilt! And then I feel guilt for feeling guilt because of things like this that pop up in google when I’m just trying to double check the spelling for “persistent.” I keep thinking I should be taking advantage of this time to develop pecs of steel or something, but I’m not. I’ll probably have to start soon, though, if this keeps up! Pull-ups on the shower rod, here I come …

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever used as an exercise prop at home? I need some ideas!

Friday and Monday collide

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First things first: don’t forget to go visit Meghann’s Bake Sale and place a bid on my biscotti bites (or one of the other amazing treats up for auction) to support leukemia research!

Next, what is wrong with my body?? The pain in my leg has migrated to the back top of my right thigh and become super sharp every time I take a step! And I went so easy on it this morning at the gym. I’m back on the ice pack and ibuprofen now — hopefully it is better in the morning. Ugh.

Anyway, today’s food!

My morning yogurt snack today included a one-cup mixture of plain Oikos (yes, even I need to take a break from making my own sometimes), ricotta, mashed banana, chopped dried apricot, strawberries, nutmeg, cardamom, and a sprinkling of Total Cranberry Crunch (it’s good, but it’s no golean crunch):

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I opened a new pack of mints:

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And proceeded to eat all 12 (though, to be fair, it took me from 10am to 7pm to accomplish this mind-boggling feat).

I was so excited to eat today’s lunch because it included delicious leftovers from Friday’s shower! My main course incorporated Maria’s Mediterranean-ish pasta. Just like I did for dinner last night, I combined Maria’s pasta with some of my roommate Tara’s similarly seasoned whole wheat pasta for an extra punch of whole grain satisfaction. I further bulked the pasta with cooked chicken that I found in my freezer left over from still another work event 🙂 Today’s cup:

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On the side, I had 1/2 cup of asparagus and portabello with curry butter from Saturday:

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And some lettuce and tomatoes from Deborah’s salad:

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Mildred brought in leftovers from her husband’s birthday part this weekend, so obviously that involved me having tastes of her yucca and chivo:

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And lemony birthday cake, with a thick layer of custard (ahhh, yum!) in the middle:

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Mid-afternoon, Nydia presented me with some pastelon de calabaza that she made over the weekend:

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It’s lightly sweetened cinnamony pumpkin layered with seasoned ground meat and perfectly salty-sweet, mmmm.

I’m pretty sure I was saying, mmmmmm, all day long.

I was still hungry (seriously, when will my appetite realize I am not working out the way I was before??), so I had my packed serving of Newman’s spelt pretzels with 2 tbsp of Inginia’s guacamole from Friday.

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And right before I left, I had a Teddy Graham courtesy of Katty:

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And a Newman’s chocolate alphabet cookie courtesy of me:

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Dinner at class involved more of Friday’s bounty: Maria’s salad plus some slices of spicy tamale and manchego cheese samples from the gourmet deli:

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Ahhh these tamales were delicious but WAY spicier than the rest!! My mouth was on fire for 10 minutes. In fact, it was post-salad that I ended up inhaling the rest of my pack of wintergreens. I needed ice!

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On the side, I had about 1/4 cup of Emily’s chicken vegetable soup from Hale & Hearty:

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For dessert, I ate this PistachiOh! Dr. Weil bar that Melissa brought to the blogger brunch a few weeks back:

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I loved the spices in there. I’m pretty sure cardamom was involved.

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And these sample crumbs of Tate’s Bakeshop cookies, also from the gourmet deli:

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(I know they look huge, but they were really more like the size of my thumbnail!)

And near the end of class, I was completely dragging and in pain and falling asleep and even feeling slightly delirious with fatigue, so I ate the rest (12 or so) of those Newman’s chocolate alphabet cookies to snap me out of it. Their oreo-ness did the trick.

And check out this AHHHHHHmazing Fage giveaway going on at The Hungry Yogini. Free yogurt for a month?? I might just die of happiness if I win that one!

And you can also win some Annie’s treats at Danica’s Daily!

I am going to sleep with my fingers crossed that (1) my leg starts doing what it’s told, (2) I win those giveaways, and (3) someone bids on my biscotti bites!

What are you crossing your fingers for today?

But where’s the sweat?

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While breakfast was still fast asleep overnighting in the fridge this morning, I was on my way back to the gym!

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The gym is two short blocks plus two long blocks away from my apartment. It takes me 7.5 minutes to walk there or just under 4 minutes to jog. My plan was to walk the first two short blocks to warm up and then try jogging the last two long blocks. But two steps into the jog, my leg said NO. I listened and made myself walk the whole way.

I found strolling through Brooklyn at 5:15 on a deserted, pitch-black Monday morning to be a little bit creepy. There’s something unsettling about knowing that I canNOT run if I need to. The route I walk does, however, provide a lovely view of the Statue of Liberty, so I focused my attention on the scenery instead of on the shady gypsy cabs.

At the gym, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at a low resistance and easy pace (which means there was really no sweat happening) and then spent a good long time with a thorough stretch and some abs. It felt good to be back to my routine, but it was a bummer to not be able to push like I normally do. I’m feeling a lot of unreasonable guilt, too. For so long when I was younger, exercise = good and no exercise = bad. And I like to be good! I didn’t think I had that mindset anymore, but being forced to stay off my feet has made me realize I kind of still do. I was so jealous watching everyone else huffing and puffing! I’m thinking of reacquainting myself with the rower tomorrow since that’s mostly upper-body-powered, right? Maybe I can get a better workout that way.

So, breakfast:

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Last night, I combined 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, 2 tbsp golean crunch, 1/4 cup chopped dried fruit (Newman’s prunes, berries, apricots, and raisins), 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, and 1/4 cup plain Oikos. Here’s what it looked like straight out of the fridge this morning:

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After a stir:

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And topped with strawberries, unsweetened coconut, and a spoonful of cashew almond butter.

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I’m sipping green tea on the side and getting excited for my favorite day of the week (JOKE). Be back laaaaaaaate tonight after class!

What makes you feel guilty?

Repurposing leftovers, part 671

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I was in no rush for breakfast this morning after yesterday’s expansion-fest, so a leisurely breakfast experiment was in order. I worked on a pot of Berry [much needed] Detox tea throughout the process.

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“Worked on” was an appropriate phrase to use, as it turned out, because it was hard work to choke this thing down. I’m usually a fan of sweet and spicy combos, but anything berry-flavored should not be setting my throat on fire! I think the culprit was some rooibos in the blend — I really can’t stand that flavor. On the flip side, however, the teabag managed to break open in the pot, and I kind of enjoyed chomping on the little bits of orange peel that accompanied every sip.

Anyway, the experiment:

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First, I mixed 1/2 cup of protein porridge with about 1 tbsp of Newman’s dried berry blend. Next, I smeared a bit of canola on the bottom of a pie plate and pressed the porridge blend onto the plate in a thin, flat strip. I baked for 20 minutes at 375, used a spatula to flip, and baked for another 20. Here’s what I came out with:

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Doesn’t look like much, does it? BUT I mashed 1/2 an overripe banana (thanks to roommate Tara for donating her aging bananas and strawberries to me!) with 1 tbsp of PB2 and spread that onto my protein porridge berry flatbread. With a sprinkle of cardamom:

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Yum! I enjoyed this experiment. It will have to happen again.

On the side, I chopped the rest of the banana into the 1/2 cup fruit salad from work yesterday. The lucky fruit salad got a topping of 1/4 cup healthy cream cheese icing and a drizzle of lemon curd.

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I probably also had 4-5 smarties from yesterday’s shower favors:

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I started to think about lunch around 2, even though I wasn’t nearly hungry yet. I’ve seen this tasty-looking asparagus recipe popping up over the past week courtesy of Michelle and Heather. Since I just happened to have a stash of fresh asparagus (and two giant portabello mushrooms caps) in the crisper, I decided that now was the time to jump on the curry butter train! I followed the recipe exactly, except that I added in those portabello caps.

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When I got hungry (closer to 4), I ate 1/2 cup of the finished product on top of a pile of the salad that I brought home from work yesterday. Also involved in the salad were a ring of tamale slices with a little bit of guac pizzazz (and freshly grated parm and ground pepp):

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A better view of the pizzazz:

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Reminder: the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway ends tomorrow at noon. Get your entries in!

Also, go check the giveaway at N Her Shoes! You don’t have to enter, though, because I really need some new workout gear for ME 😛