Tips for Making Smart Choices in Unhealthy Environments

Happy Sunday Funday!

Our job as puppy babysitters has come to an end. Hogan was adorable and fun to play with, but watching him for a few days reminded me of how far we’ve come as dog owners with our Harley girl. It is so nice to be out of that puppy stage and for her to be fully potty trained, no longer teething and way more chilled out. I’m happy with just having one dog and think it’s safe to say that we won’t be getting a new puppy anytime soon!

This weekend was a very sporty one for me. Last night we went to the Chargers/Cowboys preseason game. I’m a huge NY Giants fan, but it was a really fun time finally going to an NFL game in San Diego. It was even better because the Chargers were playing the Cowboys, who I strongly dislike, so last night I was all Go Chargers! and just rooting for the Cowboys to lose as I usually do.

Then, I spent this afternoon downtown at Petco Park for a Padres/Giants game. This also marked the first baseball game I’ve been to in San Diego. As I said, this weekend was sports packed!

Between these two sporting events and the concert I went to last week, I’ve been around a ton of unhealthy food lately. This got me thinking about the ways I try to make it easiest on myself to make good choices in environments that aren’t necessarily promoting healthy eating and drinking. Here are a few tips I have:

• Don’t go hungry. Before the football game last night, we made sure to have dinner. I had a busy morning today, but on the way to the baseball game, I made sure to fill up with a fruit smoothie and protein bar. If you go to the event with a full belly, you’ll be less likely to crave the fat-filled nachos or sugar-filled cotton candy everyone’s eating around you.
• Scope out all your choices. If you do go hungry, check out all your options before standing on the first line you see. At the Chargers game, I saw a farm-to-table food stand full of decent for you eats, such as mozzarella & tomato salads. I obviously got excited about this even though I wasn’t hungry or eating –YAY for healthy options! These types of stands may not be available everywhere, but it’s smart to look around and see. The more we as consumers request higher quality eats, the more choices we’ll be presented with.
• Hydrate. Sometimes your body will mistake thirst for hunger, so make sure you drink water and stay hydrated before and during a sporting event, concert, or whatever your plans may be. Out of all the overpriced things for sale, the $5 bottle of water is most worth your purchase.
• Pick one indulgence. If you’re dying for a beer and could kind of go for popcorn with it, just buy the beverage. An all-or-nothing mentality (which I can certainly be guilty of myself) will only make you feel guilty afterwards, but if you only eat/drink the thing you’re in the mood for the most, you can lessen the damage and enjoy it more. Better yet, split your purchase with a person you’re with, as popcorn and nacho orders are usually multiple portions anyways.
• Skip the soda. Okay, so you can’t get the jumbo pretzel out of your head at the ball game. Instead of depriving yourself of something you’re really in the mood for, I say go ahead and get that pretzel. But, don’t get a regular soda along with it, as it will knock you back hundreds of more calories, not to mention all of the sugar it contains. Instead, opt for water and hydrate yourself!  *Random tidbit: According to the HBO series The Weight of the Nation, soda and sugar sweetened beverages are the #1 calorie source in Americans’ diets. It’s also the ONLY individual food/drink directly linked to obesity.*
• Lastly,  if you overdo it at an event one night (and who hasn’t done this?!), there’s no use in punishing yourself and feeling guilty afterwards. The important thing is to just shake it off and get back to a healthy routine the next day.

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

A Soup & Salad Kinda Night

After living with a cold-stricken man for the past week and trying to resist the bug, I’ve officially caught an annoying upper respiratory thing. Whomp.

While I’m confident that I can overcome cold #237 of my life (okay, perhaps that’s a dramatic overestimate), it never feels good to have a pounding headache, itchy throat, and feel exhausted for no apparent reason. I love to relax for a couple hours, but beyond that, I seem to have a tough time just hanging out. I suppose I just like to be busy and productive. But today, I resisted the urge to push myself to do a lot and kept it pretty low-key.

And keeping it low-key means no-fuss meals like tonight’s dinner, soup and salad. It took all of 5 minutes to put together, and was a healthy under-the-weather meal. Every ingredient happened to be from Trader Joe’s — tomato and roasted red pepper soup, a baby baguette, arugula, a goat cheese medallion and figs:

Eating this dinner started to make me think about how eating healthy doesn’t have to equate to slaving away in the kitchen. With so many healthy options at our fingertips, nutritious meals can be super easy like this one. I think that it’s partly a matter of making smart choices when it comes to the food we eat, and it’s also about having the knowledge in understanding what foods are healthy for us. Here’s to a week full of good choices!

Quote of the day: “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” -Ann Wigmore

Baked Acorn Squash & Apple Chips

Happy Friday!

I’ve skipped a few weekly “what this vegetarian ate today” postings, but I’m bringing it back to answer the all too familiar question, “So exactly what do you eat?”.

My breakfast was cottage cheese + cantaloupe + almonds:

For lunch, I ate whole wheat toast + sliced banana + cinnamon peanut butter + sprinkled cinnamon:

Speaking of peanut butter, I have a very important question (I’m being only partly sarcastic). Does anyone else think that peanut butter tastes very different from brand to brand? This is the kind of thing I say that makes my hubby think I’m crazy (his taste buds are DULL, while mine are the opposite), but while I was at my parents’ house last week, I ate banana with Jiffy peanut butter and wasn’t a fan. I can even tell a difference between my store brand of choice’s regular version and reduced fat. The latter tastes better to me. Peter Pan reduced fat all the way baby!

Moving on, my mid-afternoon snack was a strawberry banana Chobani:

Right before I went to the gym, I felt a bit hungry and decided to have another snack – a peanut pretzel granola bar:

Dinner tonight was packed with produce, just how I like it. I tried out making acorn squash and apple chips:

It’s super easy! Here’s all you need:

Serves 2

• 1 acorn squash
• 2 apples
• 2 TSP brown sugar
• cinnamon

After preheating the oven to 375, I sliced the apples and squash widthwise. I placed the slices on 2 baking sheets coated with cooking spray, and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar evenly over top of them…

…and baked them for about 20 minutes.

I ate my veggie & fruit chips with 1/2 an ear of corn and a Mexican cheese + cherry tomato + whole grain wrap quesadilla:

Lastly, my nighttime snack was some Special K cracker chips:

Off to relax for the rest of the night!

I’m All About the Produce

Growing up a vegetarian, I’ve always eaten a lot of fruits and veggies, but recently, I decided to be even more conscious of what I’m eating on a daily basis. I made it a rule to make sure to eat at least one fruit or veggie every time I ate. The exception to this is snacks, as I’ll have a protein bar, dessert, or other nosh that sometimes won’t involve any produce.

I’m constantly throwing a piece of fruit into or on the side of everything and anything, and I definitely feel like incorporating as much produce as I can to my meals fills me up more and provides me with an ample amount of vitamins and antioxidants. In this week’s installment of “what this vegetarian ate today,” my Monday eats are a typical example of this rule:

Breakfast: A frozen berry bowl

Lunch: Kashi 7 grain waffles + a Justin’s maple almond butter squeeze pack + sliced strawberries

This was the first time I’ve tried the maple almond butter flavor. I also recently tried Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter, and I’m a big fan of both. YUM!

Pre-Workout Snack: TJ’s chocolate yogurt + blueberries + a Special K protein snack bar

Dinner: A mega salad of romaine lettuce + avocado + goat cheese + Lightline roast turkey veggie protein slices + sea salt + balsamic vinegar, with a TJ’s baby baguette on the side

When I was younger, I used to eat soy meat products all the time. In recent years, I’ve shied away from eating processed soy products all that often, but I do still incorporate products like these veggie slices into my diet occasionally. They’re a good source of protein and low in calories and fat – 1 serving has 100 calories, 4 g fat, and 14 g protein:

 Nighttime snack: a few dried peaches

And lookie what I got today…

My five-months-down-in-this-deployment-sneakers! After trying on a bunch of pairs, I went with the same brand as my last pair (Brooks) with a very similar style because they’re just so damn comfy. For anyone living in the San Diego area, I highly recommend going to Road Runner Sports   to get assessed for your next pair of sneakers. Last year when I went there for the first time, I found the assessment to be very interesting. They have you run on a treadmill to determine what kind of runner you are, measure your feet, and mold you a custom sole. I tore my calf muscle a few years ago and found out that I unconsciously compensate and run differently on my injured side, landing a lot more on the ball of my foot. This explains why running makes my calf so sore still and sometimes gives me blisters.

I have a sneaker rotation method that goes like this:

1.) My newest pair that I use for my regular workouts

2.) My second newest pair that I use for hiking or other activities where I need decent traction, but that might get dirty

3.) The last pair that I often wear in situations where I don’t care if they get ruined (i.e. a walk on a super muddy trail after it rained)

My hiking pair is getting old and is starting to not feel so great (I’m blaming them for my constant tripping over rocks lately… not my clumsiness!), so I’m happy to knock them back in the rotation. When I told Adam about my sneaker usage, he thought I was a little nuts, but when I was talking to my mom about it, she knew exactly what I was saying because she does the same thing. Guess I know where I get it from!

The pair getting knocked down to spot #2

Question: Do you typically have multiple pairs of sneakers at any given time for different activities, or do you tend to have 1 pair that you use for everything? 

WOD: A Triceps & Chest Circuit Routine

Happy June and Friday!

According to my calendar, today is Go Barefoot Day. Apparently it’s also National Doughnut Day. I’m celebrating the former by walking around barefoot, though I pretty much always do that…

I’m excited that it’s June 1st for a couple of reasons:

The start of June signifies the real downhill slope of my marine’s deployment, as he supposedly will be coming home in July (the key word here being supposedly…Anyone involved in the military knows that if there’s one thing for certain, it’s that plans are constantly changing, but we’ll pretend that it’s totally happening according to schedule unless we’re told otherwise 😉 ). The thought of him being home makes me ridiculously happy.

The other awesome thing about June beginning is that I’ll be heading back east in a little over a week to see my family and friends in Jersey. I haven’t seen everyone since December and I am so excited to spend time with my loved ones. I have lots of fun plans going on while I’m there, and will be staying at my parents’ for almost 2 weeks. WOOHOO!

Today’s Workout

I find it amusing that I instinctively typed “WOD” (Workout of the Day) in my title. This means that CrossFit lingo is finding its way into my vocabulary even though I don’t even do CrossFit!  That is how mainstream it has become, or perhaps just how much I hang out with CrossFit lovers..

Today at the gym I did one of my beloved circuit sessions. The strength training exercises focused on working my triceps and chest, though I also worked my legs quite a bit. I love combining weight training moves with movement to get my heart rate up and get the most bang for my buck. What you need to know:

• The workout consists of 5 rounds, each with strength training, ab moves and cardio.
• I used 12 pound weights. Adjust your hand weights based on your strength level.
• When exercises are performed that involve doing one arm/leg at a time, 1 rep = doing one on each side of the body.
• In between each round, do 5 minutes of whatever cardio you choose (I biked). Take minimal rests.

If you aren’t familiar with some of the exercises mentioned, here are descriptions I found around the web:

• Tricep Kickbacks
• Overhead Tricep Extensions
• Plie Squats
• Tricep Dips
• Squirms
• Oblique Twists

And don’t forget to eat something healthy post-workout to refuel! Today I ate a blueberry banana bowl:

• 3/4 c frozen bluberries
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (Designer Whey)
• 1/4-1/2 c unsweetened almond milk

I also ate some of these yummies:

I’m off to get ready for a get-together with some girlfriends for dinner. Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Starting Your Day Off Right

Happy Monday!

Rewind to yesterday.

I started my Sunday off hiking with Harley at a nearby park.

 Ahh, there’s something so serene about hiking in a great park.

The rest of my day was full of football, and I’m quite a happy girl because THE GIANTS ARE IN THE SUPER BOWL!!!

Besides being glued to my TV all afternoon, I made a dinner worth sharing. Homemade tomato soup! I am a big tomato soup fan, and I usually buy the organic Trader Joe’s brand. While eating some of it last week, I decided that I should try to make my own. That very day as I was flipping through a magazine, I saw this advertisement:

(My apologizes, blurry photo courtesy of an iPhone shot.)

I decided to give it a go. I tweaked some of the ingredients a bit, and will probably do a bit more perfecting the next time I make it. The recipe is from an agave nectar ad, and ironically, I feel that the agave nectar might be optional. Next time, I plan on first tasting the soup before adding the agave to determine if some added sweetness is needed. It was easy to make, ready in half an hour, and leftovers can easily be thrown into tupperware to bring to work the next day or eat as a quick fix dinner.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup 

Makes 4 servings.

1 celery stalk

1/4 small onion

1 fresh garlic clove

1 TBSP butter (as usual I used light Land O’ Lakes butter with canola oil)

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 8 oz. package of low-fat cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 TBSP agave nectar

Salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, add celery, onion and garlic. Pulse on high until pureed. Pour puree into large saucepan. Don’t rinse the food processor.

Add the butter to the vegetables and saute over medium heat about 10 minutes or until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, broth and half the chopped basil. Stir, then bring to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium/low. Allow to simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cut cream cheese into a couple of cubes and place in food process, along with 1 cup of hot soup. Process on high until cream cheese is dissolved, about a minute.

Add cream cheese mixture, agave nectar and remaining basil to hot soup. Stir until combined, then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Stats per 1 cup: 150 calories, 6 g fat, 6 g protein, 18 g carbs

My breakfast today: cantaloupe and cottage cheese

As I was eating a nutritious breakfast this morning, I got to thinking about how the way you start your morning really sets the pace for the whole day. If you wake up rushed and stressed, that feeling tends to linger on. It’s also true in the opposite sense – if you do a few minutes of meditation or go for a run first thing, your mind and body will be stronger throughout the day. It’s the same principle with what you eat for breakfast. If you shove a doughnut in your face, or any other food that does nothing for you nutritionally, you’re setting yourself up for a day of crappy eating. By eating a healthy breakfast, you’re empowering yourself to make better, more conscious food choices (and hopefully life choices in general!) throughout the day. I challenge you to start your day off right and eat a healthful breakfast all week long!