Sep 30, 2010

Recovery and Examination

Wednesday

I did not react well to the various medications and concoctions that I was forced to take in preparation for my procedure today. Nausea and abdominal pain ensued, which put me in a terrible mood and worsened with the apartment situation. Breakfast and lunch was a continuance of the Clear Liquid diet mentioned the other day. Due to the lack of calories and just general feeling of grossness, I bypassed the gym this morning and took today as a Rest Day.

The procedure seemed to go fine, except that the nurse messed up my IV and I now have a lot of pain in my right (dominant) hand and a terrible bruise forming which will probably come to its peak tomorrow morning. Also, I still can’t seem to eat anything (not even liquids) because almost as soon as I got home, the old stomach pain started and now I’m trying to troop my way through that right now (my newer pain pills aren’t doing a thing). Here’s praying that tomorrow is better. I really want to go to the gym, but I just can’t do that after not eating for two days.

Thursday

Hooray! I’m back on pills again! My multivitamin and iron pills, that is. I truly have noticed a remarkable difference in my body in the week that I have been off of my supplements. My hair and skin is drier by a large degree and I’ve had poorer circulation in my hands and arms (noticeable from the blue nails and lack of sensation). So, I think it goes without saying that I am very glad to be able to supply my body with needed vitamins and minerals once again. I try my best to get these from my diet, but I know that I come up short many days. I at least always take my supplements while eating my breakfast, in the hopes that this will aide in the uptake of those vitamins or else, as Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory would say, I’m just achieving “very expensive urine”.

I gave my body something easy before I set out for the gym: 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce with a dash of cinnamon. Once in the gym, I still wanted to do something low-impact since I have been pretty calorically-deprived for the past two days, so I strayed towards where the stationary bikes are housed and settled down for an easy 30:00 hills ride which amounted to 6.57 miles.

After core work and a shower, I was ready to eat real food again! However, I have been advised to slowly incorporate foods back into my body, so I didn’t want to just jump right in with the oatmeal (sadly). Instead, I took some eggs, added in some spinach, soy cheddar cheese, and a dash of spices, and put it all on a plate with ketchup (I love the ketchup and eggs combo), and a sandwich thin smeared with strawberry preserves.

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After breakfast, I rushed to get things together to pack lunch (banana, Blue Diamond Cinnamon Brown Sugar almonds with Cascadian Farm Honey Nut O’s, and a PB&J Larabar). I had my first real exam of the school year this morning and it was in Human Nutrition. I definitely over-studied and finished the test quickly and confidently. My body seemed to handle the food just fine, but I had a pain attack right before my Biology lab and had to go home early. My professor was very understanding and basically knew what I would say before I even had to open my mouth to ask to go home. Apparently I was looking pretty pale. So most of the rest of the afternoon was spent in the fetal position crying (partly from the pain, partly from frustration).

I’m sick of being sick. I’m sick of being in pain. I’m sick of not having any answers. I’m sick of no pain pills helping. I’m sick of so many things and I have the tendency to start crying about other things once I’m already crying from something else. The stomach pain just unleashed tears from so many sources and made me really glad that I have a strong support system and that my father was there for a shoulder to cry on and for bringing me back home.

I have another exam tomorrow, as well as some appointments and dinner plans; all of which I will hopefully be able to keep as scheduled. Because of my decline in health and need to study for an exam I may not even be able to take on time, I will not be reporting on the rest of my day, but I hope that you all will continue visiting, reading, and commenting on my blog. Somehow, it helps a little knowing that someone outside of my own community is reading my story and cares.

Sep 28, 2010

The Day After and Clear Liquids

Monday

Day after my race and I was not about to run on the treadmill after running for all that I was worth the morning before. Instead, I hit up the elliptical for a 45-minutes hills workout, followed by core work and a nice, hot shower. Sub-50deg is much too cold for this little lady. Breakfast was a bowl full of Fall:

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Tastes of Fall Oatmeal
1/3 c old-fashioned oats
2/3 c water
cinnamon
nutmeg
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1 T flaxseed meal
2 T pureed pumpkin
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
2 T Grape Nuts
2 T maple syrup

So unbelievably creamy from the applesauce and it added so much to the volume of the oats. And in an orange bowl no less! The Grape Nuts soaked up the maple syrup like crazy (I think I added too much); it was delightful. My mid-morning snack was another Hugh Jass Honeycrisp apple larger than the palm of my hand. Monday means lunch with Lyle before classes. I packed a banana, a spinach salad with artichoke hommus and Italian dressing, and a Smores Triple Threat Powerbar (yummy!) for later to tide me over until I got back to the apartment and could make something proper.

In honor of the frigid temperatures we’ve been experiencing lately, I threw together a bunch of ingredients on the spot and made soup! Tomato soup for the base, with mixed vegetables (potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, green beans, celery, lima beans) and brown rice. I got two pretty large servings out of it, so now I have soup for another very cold day that is sure to come up again soon. Though, I’m pretty sure that I burned every one of the taste buds on my tongue when testing it out.

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I spent the rest of the evening catching up on my Hulu queue (Bones, Family Guy, The Simpsons) and making a chart of microorganisms to study from for an upcoming quiz in Food Safety. All I can really think about right now is how much I am not looking forward to the next two days.

Tuesday

Weights training this morning. I’m actually going to try and put a real effort into including workouts with a considerable amount of upper body work at least twice a week now. I popped Jillian into my DVD drive and raced through Level 1 of her 30-Day Shred. Since I had to start my “Clear Liquid Diet” at 2:30 this afternoon to be continued until after my procedure tomorrow, I made sure to have oatmeal for breakfast. But not the pumpkin kind. Old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with chia seeds, cocoa powder, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, and strawberry preserves.

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After my classes were over, I had to rush home so that I could begin my preparations for my procedure tomorrow. I won’t disgust you with the details, but they are very unpleasant and part of it is following a “Clear Liquid Diet”. The only things I could eat were: coffee, tea, apple/white grape/white cranberry juice, Jell-O (no red colors), clear soup/broth, popsicles (no red colors), sports drinks (no red colors), sorbet (without milk or chunks of fruit), NO dairy, NO alcohol, NO red/orange juices. Yeah, I definitely want today to be over.

In preparation for all this, I have a huge bottle of fortified apple juice, lime and orange Jell-Os, and peach sorbet in my fridge as well as several bottles of berry-flavored sports drinks. I doubt all of these things will sustain me until dinnertime tomorrow, and I won’t bore you with pictures of lunch and dinner from today, nor breakfast and lunch for tomorrow since there will be very little to show with all of these restrictions. It’s times like these that I really appreciate food. You always take things for granted until they are taken away from you. Please pray that my procedure goes well and that I recover quickly, because I have exams starting this week. Eek!

Sep 26, 2010

Capital City River Run and The Great Pumpkin

Sunday

Up at 6:30am and out the door by 7:00am with three layers of clothing on. The Capital City River Run started early this morning (8:30am) and I had to get there early to pick up my race packet and warm up and all that. If only I could have actually warmed up. It was not even 50deg out! my lungs were completed trashed (I think I actually tore something, my spit tasted like iron), but it really was all worth it. With my time of 25:01, I finished second in my age group (females age 14-19, 19 in my group) and 111th overall (out of the 843 who finished)! It felt so incredible when I read my name near the top of that list! And look at that time! That is a whole 27 seconds faster than my last 5K five years ago and almost a minute faster than my goal time! I hit Mile One around 8:20 and Mile Two around 16:10.

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Did I want to stop running and just walk? Of course! But I had my iPod blasting away and the cold air kept me moving for want of a good sweat to warm me up. I even full-out sprinted the last leg of the race. My prize for finishing top 3 in my age groups was this nifty athletic bag. It all made up for the fact that I forgot to eat before I ran, whoopsy! It was fun though. There was a drum line, live band, free food, and a local news anchor even participated in the Half Marathon portion!

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I ate half a banana and a Pure Protein Smores bar (delicious!) after the race, then was off to the grocery store to stock up on fruits, bars, and foods for my procedure on Wednesday. By the time I finally got back home, it was time for lunch! But, since I did not get to have my customary bowl of oatmeal for breakfast this morning, it made it’s appearance in my lunch, with an extra special guest: pumpkin! Yes! It has finally shown up on the grocery store shelves in my town and I could not be more pleased. Old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and pumpkin, and topped with Grape Nuts and a mixture of dried berries.

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Holy Fall, Batman! That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. I don’t have a peanut butter that would taste good with this right now, but hopefully I will soon! If only I still had some PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. Oh well. Anyway, here are some reasons why the pumpkin is so great and amazing: low in fat and calories, rich in alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, fiber, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, and pantothenic acid. Such a wonderful little superfood. I also had an EnviroKidz Peanut Butter Crispy Rice bar since I wasn’t quite satiated with just the oatmeal.

I spent most of the rest of my lazy Sunday afternoon watching Gilmore Girls (Season 3) and reading out of my Biology textbook since I finally finished typing out my study guide for Nutrition. I think that it ended up being nine or ten pages long with really small font, narrow margins, and no space between the lines. I snacked on a bowl of Cascadian Farm Honey Nut O’s (I love stale cereal!) with USVAB and a Hugh Jass Honeycrisp apple between meals. I included my phone in the frame for a size reference.

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Dinner was the last little bit of the macaroni and cheese from last night, as well as MorningStar Farms Lasagna. It was okay, but there did not really seem to be much in the way of the “sausage-style crumbles” that seemed so prevalent on the packaging. Darn you, false advertising!

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Sadly, the apartment situation is not getting any better, but actually seems to be getting worse. I don’t know what to do. How can you talk to someone when communication is impossible? What do you do when you’re the odd man out? Do you stick it out for another 11 months, or do you start looking for an alternative living situation?

Sep 25, 2010

Frowny Franny and Pre-game

Friday

I’ve been pretty down in the dumps for the past few days. I’m not really very happy with my living situation and I don’t see anyway that it could get better and where me speaking up would not make me even more disliked. I have eleven more months on my lease, and will of course do what I can to stick it out, but right now I’m living in an environment which is not good or healthy for me right now and it greatly disheartens me that there is nothing to be done about it all.

Workout this morning was elliptical intervals. I didn’t really want to leave my room at first, but once I was in the gym and moving I felt a lot more motivated. I’m not really sure how far I went, since the readout had turned off before I had the change to record it, but I know it was somewhere between 3 and 4 miles.

Time Level
0-5 2
5-6 5
6-7 10
7-9 5
9-11 10
11-12 5
12-13 11
13-15 5
15-17 10
17-18 5
18-19 11
19-21 5
21-23 10
23-25 5
25-26 11
26-27 5
27-29 10
29-31 4
31-35 5
35-40 2
40-45 Cool-Down

Breakfast was old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, strawberry preserves, and almonds (finally almost out!). There also may or may not have been a square of Lindt’s Sea Salt Dark Chocolate aka my newest obsession. Seriously, if you have never had sea salt chocolate, you are missing out. I’m pretty sure that no chocolate I have ever eaten has tasted as good as this one does. Yum!

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After breakfast, I continued where I left off making a study guide for my Human Nutrition midterm last night. Lunch was a spinach salad with artichoke hommus/Italian dressing, an applesauce cup, and a Chocolate Chip Clif Z-Bar (love!). Then it was off to Food Safety for a beginning lecture on E. coli. Real fun stuff, as always. After the commute, it was right back to making my study guide and waiting for people to get back to me about making plans for the evening.

Dinner was leftover Bombay Potatoes, brown rice, and cauliflower (still quite spicy!). Have I mentioned that there was once a phase in my life where I basically would only eat things that were either white or brown? Not exactly the healthiest way to life your life, but I was young and didn’t know any better. But I’m much better now, I swear! It just doesn’t always look like it, but green does make an appearance a lot more in my day-to-day life than it did even a year or two ago.

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Saturday

Since I have my race tomorrow, today was a rest day. And rest I did. I slept in an extra two hours and was incredibly grateful that I did not have to hit the gym, because I wasn’t feeling the greatest. What I was was HUNGRY. Game day oatmeal consisted of the following: old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. DCD, strawberry preserves, and the last of my almonds.

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I also snacked on a container of vanilla Greek yogurt mid-morning before the football game started. We played Northern Colorado, but Coach was not allowed to work the game because of the recent heart attack. I’m sure he’s just bursting at the seams to get back on to the field and coaching, but I’m sure we all prefer that he rest and recover so that we can have him around a lot longer as our beloved football Coach. But, no worries, we won by a landslide and Coach will most likely be back on the field, or at least in the stadium, for the next game.

Dinner was Annie’s Bunny Pasta with Yummy Cheese (bought on sale for just $1, can you believe this steal?!) with broccoli and cauliflower (lots of carbs for my race tomorrow morning!) while watching Stick It (I’m an ex-gymnast, or at least I tried being a gymnast). But, that ended pretty early in the evening, so random episodes of Family Guy then ensued. So inappropriate; so funny.

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Wish me lunch on my race tomorrow! I’ve set a goal of 26:00, but I truly think that I’ll be happy just finishing my first race in five years.

Sep 23, 2010

First Day of Fall and the Never-ending Day

Wednesday

I have a procedure in a week and, in preparation for it, I’m not allowed to take my multivitamin or iron supplements. This has me very worried considering the fact that I have a race this Sunday. If it takes a multivitamin and high-potency iron supplement in addition to my relatively healthy diet just for me to get my blood iron to a normal level, I’m worried that, come Sunday, my blood iron will be very low and impede my running and how well I’ll be able to oxygenate my blood. Sort of important when you’re running, right?

I actually got up when my alarm went off this morning and was determined to do an outdoors run as my workout this morning due to the race on Sunday and that fact that it was actually warm enough to warrant bypassing the gym and doing it au natural. I did not want my body to be in complete shock when all of a sudden it had to deal with pavement rather than a conveyor belt. I put in 2.64 miles in 22:30 (8:30 pace!). Breakfast was the usual: old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with cinnamon, chia seeds, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, cherry preserves, and almonds.

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Lunch with Lyle was a spinach salad with soy cheddar cheese and artichoke hommus mixed with Italian dressing, strawberry Stonyfield Probiotic yogurt, and a banana. This was quickly followed by a short lecture on Shigella, which is mostly in ready-to-eat salads and sandwiches. Basically: wash your hands and wash your produce. Such a great note to start off the first official day of fall on, don’t you think?

Once I got home, I hit up Hulu to watch The Biggest Loser, which I missed watching last night. I also applied for a job (which I probably won’t even get an interview for, but you have no chance of being accepted if you don’t apply) and worked on finishing reading about bacteria and archaea for Biology. In honor of Indian Food Wednesday, I made up some brown rice and topped it off with TastyBite Bombay Potatoes and asparagus. Spicy!


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Now it’s time for lots of Cuddling and Friends-watching!

Thursday

This was a pilates morning. Boy has my upper-body strength disappeared. After that body-busting workout and a shower it was time for oatmeal; OIAPJ (Oats In A Preserves Jar)! Old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. DCD, and almonds in a cherry preserves jar. There was not much preserves left in the jar, so I added on some strawberry preserves as well.

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Very long day again. Nutrition, Honors Biology lecture, Honors Biology lab, and then extra lab time for Honors Biology. This was one of those “away from home from 9am-7pm” kind of days. Lunch was a spinach salad, with soy cheddar cheese and artichoke hommus/Italian dressing on top, strawberry Stonyfield Probiotic yogurt, and an applesauce cup. Due to the long, long, longness of my day, I also brought along a Carrot Cake Clif bar to munch on between labs as well as a mixture of almonds and Cascadian Farm Honey Nut O’s with cinnamon. This Clif bar flavor was a-mah-zing. Seriously, I loved it. And it was a little warm too, from being in my backpack and sitting in the sun, which just added to its awesomeness and great flavorosity. If these are still on sale when I go grocery shopping after my race Sunday I am for sure stocking up!

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I will probably eat something else some time before bed, but for now I’m just trying to collect myself and calm down after this very hectic day. I actually nearly passed out in the middle of a bog (either from dehydration or lack of calories). But I am now devoted to studying for my Human Nutrition midterm, with breaks only for workouts, showers, class, watching football (somewhat), and my BIG RACE ON SUNDAY. Stay tuned!


Can anyone tell me what 5 days of no supplements will do to my level of health? I know that there are natural sources of iron (like spinach), but I feel like that won’t be enough to counteract this vitamin overhaul.

Sep 21, 2010

Weird Combinations and Nothing Goes Right

Monday

The pain was not present when I rose at 6:30 this morning. Thank goodness! I hit the treadmill for an easy 3.48 miles in 35:00 (2:30 warm-up and 5:00 cool-down). I started to have a tiny cramp in between the second and third mile, but it wasn’t too bad and I was able to push through. Breakfast was back to the usual with only slight alterations: old-fashioned oats made in Bigelow Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. DCD, cherry preserves, and almonds in an orange mug. Mmmm,fall. The consistency of the Dark Chocolate Dreams was much better today. I usually refrigerated my peanut butters after I open them, but apparently with this baby you are better off storing them in the cabinet. It made all the difference.

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The Vanilla Caramel tea made the oats a nice, darker color and really added to the “fallness” of the bowl. The caramel flavor really shown through as I was devouring the bowl. New favorite for sure. I’m glad I took a chance on this brand and on this flavor. Caramel tea should no longer be a secret to the world! It made it worth the extra time I had to spend cleaning out the microwave because I wasn’t watching the oats cook. I had a bit of over-spillage because I cooked the oats a little longer than usual.

I spent most of the rest of the morning watching episodes from Gilmore Girls (Season 1) and every once and a while glancing at my Biology textbook. Then it was off to lunch with Lyle before class. A spinach salad, topped with great northern beans, soy cheddar cheese, artichoke hommus, and Italian dressing and half of a pita. I also brought along a banana, PowerBar Pure & Simple Energy bar, and strawberry Stonyfield Probiotic yogurt.The PowerBar was really good actually. I bought another while I was waiting between classes so that I would have one in my stash. The yogurt was a little lacking in flavor, however.

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First up was Food Safety. We finally started in on talking about specific microorganisms and we’re starting with Salmonella. Nothing truly fascinating though. Mostly growth requirements and environments. Biology Lab lecture was up next. I’m not really sure what the purpose of it was today. It seemed really disorganized and it ran longer than it was supposed to have gone. All I know is, I have to devote at least 6 hours of my time to this class this week, and it’s not all just in-class time. Much of that is required out-of-lab time that I need to put in. Bummer.

Dinner was a real culinary creation for me. I winged it and it actually turned out pretty well! Asparagus and scrambled eggs stuffed into a pita and mixed with ketchup and a banana on the side. It may sounds a little weird or gross, but it really hit the spot. I’m so glad that I grabbed that asparagus and let my fear of cooking on the stove get pushed aside for the evening. After these awesome eats, I did some work on the various binders I keep for my classes and tried my darnedest to read my boring Biology textbook.

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Tuesday

In honor of The Biggest Loser returning for its newest season tonight, I popped in Jillian for her Level 2 workout (upper body intensive). I had intended to do both Level 2 and Level 3 this morning, but apparently I fell back asleep for 40 minutes after my alarm went off at 6:30am. So, Level 3 got nixed (I wanted to do it once I got back home, but I had no energy). Breakfast was filled with phone calls and oatmeal infused with my new favorite tea. Old-fashioned oats made in Vanilla Caramel tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. DCD (room-temperature!), cherry preserves, and almonds.

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I had phone calls to take before I left for the day and did not have much time left for actually making anything for lunch. I grabbed a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar, a banana, strawberry StonyField Probiotic yogurt, and a Honeycrisp apple to shove into my lunchbox for the day and hoped it would be enough to get me through all I had to do before I could return home. Just my luck, I remembered that StonyField has a rewards program and it just so happens that I ate the yogurt that had the code on it yesterday. Boo.

My day continued to be a big disaster. I never got the call that I was expecting, and found out later that my case worker had not even opened or looked at my case yet and it would be another 3-4 days before I would actually hear from him. On top of that I felt lightheaded all day, once again underestimating how long I was going to be gone for and how much food my body would need to fuel my day. Then, I had to spend 3.5 hours in the library for a simple assignment and could easily have been done from the comfort of my own bedroom.

Being in my food-deprived state, and always in need of groceries when I actually crave something, dinner was quite uninspired: a repeat of last night. Asparagus and scrambled eggs in a pita smeared with ketchup. No picture since there was one above (and I forgot). The one good thing I can think of that makes today even worth mentioning is the premiere of Glee’s newest season tonight! As a former choir and musical theatre kid, I am a major fan of this show.

I love this show so much! It seriously gives me something to look forward to during the week and something to do throughout the week. Yes, I do watch the last week’s episode over and over and over again ad nauseum until I can basically recite every line and burst out into any of the songs at the drop of a pin. I can’t wait until next week! Britney Spears theme!

What is your favorite weird food combination?

Sep 19, 2010

Overtime and Tuscany

Saturday

The morning didn’t start out on a great note. I awoke with a huge cramp in my calf. But, since there was not too much residual pain, and the fact that it was raining, I headed to the gym at about my usual time, but decided on a less intense workout to hopefully make my calves happy. Instead of running, I hit up the elliptical for this 55-minute endurance session:

Time Level
0:00-5:00 5
5:00-10:00 7
10:00-18:00 8
18:00-28:00 7
28:00-36:00 8
36:00-41:00 7
41:00-46:00 8
46:00-50:00 7
50:00-55:00 5
5-minutes Cool Down

No calf pain! I was sweating and working hard; don’t let the low levels fool you. The entire workout plus the cool down came out to 4.90 miles, so you can tell that I wasn’t tired from the speed aspect of it (I kept around 5.0mph). Then again, I don’t usually do speed work; I work on endurance. After core work and a shower, I had the usual for a slightly later than usual breakfast. Old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, cherry preserves, PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, and almonds.

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I had intended to read for Biology before Lyle and I headed out for his hometown, but, let’s face it; it did not happen (at least very much). Though I did get to use something I learned this morning! A girl friend was having a pretty rough morning after a night out on the town and she asked me what she should eat for breakfast considering that she had been sick all morning. I remembered reading that bananas, fruit juices, and eggs are good for replenishing your body after a night out and so I gave her a banana to try. So far so good!

Since breakfast was so much later than usual, I didn’t eat lunch before we left and instead just brought along an apple and a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar in case I got hungry on the ride out or before we were able to go out to dinner with Lyle’s mom and dad. I didn’t end up needing to eat them. We went out to a bar-type place and I had a grilled cheese (craved!) and fries.

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There was a really big football game for the university this evening against Notre Dame. I was not able to tailgate with my roommates due to visiting Lyle’s family with him, but we were able to make it back in time before the game began and so at least we were able to watch the game and root for the home team. It was a very close, exciting match and we ended up winning in overtime! Unfortunately, the head coach, Coach Mark Dantonio, had a heart attack early Sunday morning. He will not be present at the next game. We are all praying for him to experience a quick recovery.

Sunday

Rest day, which meant sleeping in and it was very well deserved. My legs had hurt for the good part of yesterday,and luckily I did not wake up in pain again today. I did not wake up hungry, and wasn’t even hungry an hour after getting up and about and starting in on laundry and studying, but I knew that I needed to eat something since it was almost noon, so I poured myself a bowl of Cascadian Farm Raisin Bran with cinnamon and USVAB and peeled a banana.

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Studying for Biology is becoming harder and harder to do. It is very difficult to read about something that you are not very interested in. Not to say that Biology is not interesting, just my textbook isn’t. I ate a Honeycrisp apple (favorite!) and a square of Lindt 85% dark chocolate a little while later. With 85% cacao, one square is truly all that you need to satisfy your chocolate craving.

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Since breakfast was basically lunch, and I had that very satisfying snack, I essentially skipped lunch and went straight to an early dinner instead. Tuscan Veggie Bake (vegan) from Kashi. The smell? Amazing. The taste? Fair and slightly spicy. I wasn’t a huge fan of the texture of the noodles, but the filling and sauce was decent and it definitely made me think about fall and that’s one less item sitting around in our already stuffed freezer.

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I started having pain a few minutes before I started eating, unfortunately, and that continued well into the evening. I can literally hear my body being upset with me and and feel the organs working at times, sometimes associated with the pain and sometimes not. As long as the pain goes away in the next 1-1.5 hours I may eat a bowl of cereal or yogurt or cottage cheese or something, but that all depends on how I feel later. Good thing I decided on the early dinner! I may have had to go through the day with hardly any food again, which would be disastrous for my run tomorrow morning.

What do you do for calf cramps and the resulting soreness?

Sep 17, 2010

Tall, Dark, and Handsome

Thursday

Yoga for Runners this morning due to insane rain and thunderstorms that lasted all last night and into this morning. Another early start, late ending sort of a day today. Breakfast on this cruddy morning was old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with cinnamon, chia seeds, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, cherry preserves, and almonds. The DCD is not my favorite, or at least I don’t like it as much as I did the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl variety, but I try to not let things go to waste and so will be including this in my oatmeal until the jar is gone. Which, since this is a fairly new jar, may be about a month from now. Chocolate and peanut butter is just not the combination it once was.

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First up for the day was Human Nutrition.  Still working on pretty basic stuff right now and nothing too exciting or anything I did not already know. Between that and my Biology lecture, I ate a banana and some carrots dipped in artichoke hommus. The focus of today’s lecture was on, well, I never really know. The lectures and the book seem so disconnected and it leaves me wildly confused. In the middle of lecture, there came crashing and banging. The ran had picked up once more and it brought it’s friends thunder and lightning with it. I flipped up my hood and power-walked to my Biology lab.

We were scheduled to visit a river in lab today, and 60deg weather and sprinkling rain was apparently not going to defer us. I went and stood wearing waders in a flowing river for TWO HOURS. I could not feel anything below the waist or wrists after that. I was frozen and still had to go get groceries as soon as the class returned to campus. Now it’s 8:00pm, I’m home and done for the day, wrapped up in my microfleece blanket and sweats and chowing down on Amy’s No Chicken Noodle Soup that was on sale today and I was craving a nice, hot bowl of soup after my day of being a wet dog. Yes, canned soups do have a hefty amount of sodium, which is important if you need to be watching your sodium intake, but I, luckily, am not one of those people and have actually been told by my doctor that increasing my sodium intake would be beneficial to raise my low blood pressure.

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The soup was very good. The smell was great and the texture reminded me of the beloved Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup of yore. Little chunks of tofu “chicken”. This soup is vegan and 95% organic and a definite candidate for consideration of I have future soup hankerings. I’ve been trying harder to get organic when it really matters and when it is available to me. I do not always have the organic option on all my fruits, veggies, and other products, but I do what I can when I can.

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Now it’s time to bond with my Biology textbook once more. I sort have been reading rather slowly through this book since it seems to not be very focused or really teaching me much of anything. The only thing on my mind right now is how mentally ready I am to run tomorrow morning!

Friday

Such a lovely, beautiful word. Never will I take that word for granted ever again. I tried out this new Endangered Species dark chocolate, and was a little disappointed. It tasted dry, if that makes sense. I’m not becoming much of an Endangered Species chocolate fan. Run this morning was a hills workout. 3.59 miles in 36:00 (includes 0.15 mile warm-up and 5:00 cool-down). I kept a 6.6mph pace for the majority of it and then sprinted near the end to 7.5mph. It was quite the workout. Inclines over 4% are no joke. I’m pretty sure that the only thing that got me through it was watching my progress on the screen. Core work followed and was accompanied by a nice, hot shower. Ahhh…

Breakfast was old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. DCD, cherry preserves, and almonds. The PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter seems to have a very different consistency than I expected. Can anyone tell if this is normal based on the picture?

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Later in the morning, in the midst of reviewing my Food Safety notes since we have unannounced quizzes, I ate an Envirokidz Peanut Butter Crispy Rice bar and a little bit more dark chocolate. To gear up for class, I packed a banana and a Mango Coconut SOYJOY bar (too dry) and was off to catch the bus for my Food Safety lecture. We had a pop quiz, which I had a feeling was going to happen so I studied a bit this morning. I got a 21/24. Not bad! Right after class, I walked back to Lyle’s and we hit the town for a bit before I had to come back to the apartment to study and eat dinner.

Dinner was a spinach salad mixed with great northern beans, soy cheddar cheese (I got more because I liked it so much!), artichoke hommus, and Italian dressing. If you’ve never tried hommus in a salad before then you definitely should! It made the dressing super creamy and delicious. On the side was half of a pita with cherry preserves. So simple, and so good.

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One of the roommates and I are gearing up to watch The Princess Diaries tonight. I love this movie. The makeover scene is one of my favorite scenes of the movie. Maybe that’s just the girl in me? I hope that everyone is as excited about it being the weekend as I am!

Anyone have any big weekend plans? Are you going to try mixing some hommus into your next salad?

Sep 15, 2010

FNA and Everyone’s Favorite

Tuesday

I prayed to the running gods that I would feel good enough to run outside this morning and it worked! I laced up the new Brooks, and set out into the frigid wilderness. Okay, it’s a paved running trail, but it was quite chilly out there! It find pretty labored. The cold air hitting my warm lungs did not make for a happy body. However, I apparently ran pretty fast in my new kicks! 3.09 miles in 26:40 (8:34 pace!). I’m really glad to see that although I’ve transitioned to a lot more treadmill runs in the past month, that I’m still progressing in the right direction and hope that this will reflect well in my two 5Ks in the coming weeks. Breakfast was the classic: PB&J oatmeal using PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter, cherry preserves and almonds.

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I was in such a rush this morning to shower, eat breakfast, put myself together, and pack lunch that it turned into quite a hodge-podge of a meal. I have a few things that I really want to use up in the fridge, but there is just no room in my lunch box or backpack! I ended up not being very hungry, even though I was gone for a good 6 hours. I ate some carrots dipped in artichoke hummus, a banana, and a mix of Kashi GoLean and Cascadian Farm Honey-Nut O’s sprinkled with cinnamon with a cheese stick as a snack on my way home.

Dinner was a salad with Italian dressing and my last, fresh, chopped tomato. I love lettuce and salads, but I struggle finishing the bag before it starts to go bad, so expect to see another salad (or two) tomorrow! The salad was accompanied by more artichoke hummus dipped with carrots, an apple, and a little while later I had a small bowl of Cascadian Farm Raisin Bran sprinkled with cinnamon and doused in USVAB.

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Lately, I’ve been snacking on these dark chocolate pieces. Meijer usually has a very poor dark chocolate bar collection, so I grabbed a bag of these as a substitute. They’re good, no doubt about that, but I miss the quality that my bars provided and I see myself choosing these as a snack rather than something like carrots, Greek yogurt, or a plum, which is not the greatest thing in the world for me right now. So, after this bag is gone I’m going back to the bars. They won’t be fancy, but they will serve their purpose and help me to make better snacking choices throughout the day.

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Wednesday

Doctor’s appointment at 8:00am meant that I really had to use my time efficiently this morning in order to get in everything that I usually do. I fueled with dark chocolate and was out the door, headed for the gym before the clock even struck 7:00am. Yesterday’s morning run really had me wanting to be able to feel my fingers. I logged 3.52 miles in 35:00 which included a 0.15mi warm-up at 4mph and a 5-minute cool-down at the end with my usual ab routine followed by some light stretching. I grabbed a stick of string cheese and a water bottle and was out the door for my appointment: sweaty workout gear and all.

After my appointment (just a check-in, nothing new to share), I rushed home to jump in the shower and rid myself of the sweat that had crystallized in every orifice of my body it seemed. But, I knew that it was well worth the wait because I had everyone’s favorite breakfast waiting for me in the wings (and by wings I mean the fridge): OIAJ!

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Old-fashioned oats made with Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, topped with Grape Nuts, cherry preserves, and almonds, and scooped into an almost-empty jar of PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. I grabbed a banana, vanilla Greek yogurt, and an Envirokidz Panda Peanut Butter Crisp bar to eat as snacks to tide me over until classes were done and I was back home around 3:30pm.

Dinner was a Huge Jass salad, since I wanted to use up the rest of my soy cheddar cheese and veggie mix (well, almost all of the veggie mix). In addition, I included some great northern beans and Italian dressing. I love beans in salads! And this was especially filling, delicious, and simple! I was quite satisfied into the evening.

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After dinner was the first Food and Nutrition Association (FNA) meeting of the year on campus. A lot of the Dietetics majors on campus who wish to be successful when applying to internships after graduation are a member of, and participate in, this group, so I thought that it would be a good idea to get involved right away. Today was mostly meeting the Executive Board, voting on t-shirts, and getting to meet new people. I can’t wait to go back again and become an established member!

Now I’m going to hunker down with my Biology textbook and a bowl of Cascadian Farm Honey-Nut O’s and USVAB.

I really enjoyed trying out this “two-day” post idea and I think that I’ll keep with it, unless I have a recipe, feature article, or some other big event to comment on. I hope that everyone has gotten over their Wednesday “hump” and is looking forward to their weekend as much as I am! I’m super duper busy from now until about Sunday, but it’s all important and I’m trying to make it positive in someway to get me through with a smile on my face!

Questions: Anybody know of some good gloves that you can wear while running? My digits would greatly appreciated it!

I was also wondering how many KWH people use in a typical month. The apartment just got it’s first bill and I want to see if we are using more than we should and if a serious change needs to be made in our living habits or not.

Sep 13, 2010

I Sense A Change

Burn & Firm Pilates this morning. As much as I just want to run, I know that increasing my upper body strength is quite important for me to do as well. This is one of the best workouts I know, which is why I keep coming back to it even though it seems to drag on a lot longer than all of my other workouts. Post-workout was the classic mug of oats (surprised?): old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon, allowed to cool a bit, and then topped off with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, cherry preserves, and almonds.

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I’ve been thinking about my blog posting habits a lot lately and have been considering making a switch to only posting every other day due to the repetitiveness of my posts and the level of busyness in my life. Any input? Essentially, the only real difference will be that I post two workouts, two breakfasts, and maybe one of the dinners I have over the course of those two days with maybe an inclusion on a health update of my condition or something interesting I’ve learned in one of my classes that I’m excited about sharing. Comments?

Back to my day… It’s Monday once more, which means that I had lunch with Lyle before classes. I stuffed half of a pita with a mixture of leftovers: sweet corn, salsa, soy cheddar cheese, and veggie mix, and paired this with a banana (it has been far too long since I’ve eaten one!). Snacks for the day were an EnviroKidz Organic Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Bar and some carrots with artichoke hummus. All of this could just barely fit into my lunch box for the day, so bringing anything else in addition was pretty much out of the question. I don’t think it has to be said that as a result I was quite hungry by the time I got back from classes at around 6:00pm.

I quelled my belly by taking the other half of the pita from lunch, slathered on artichoke hummus, and stuffed it with fresh tomato chunks. I was tired all day and completely unmotivated to make up much of anything for dinner, so I mostly just snacked into the evening as I worked on typing up a summary for my Biology lab course and reading for the Biology lecture tomorrow afternoon.

So I guess you’ll hear from me in two days! See you Wednesday!

Sep 12, 2010

Test Drive

I tried out the new shoes this morning. 3.60 miles in 35:00 which includes a 0.15 mile warm-up and a 5:00 cool-down. The shoes were lovely; quite different than the Reebok EasyTones I’ve been toting around for the past year; in a good way, of course. I felt good and I felt fast. Not much faster than normal, but it felt good to push myself, not give in to discomfort (Note: discomfort, not pain), and finish with a feeling of accomplishment that I tried my best and had a good run.

After I started a load of laundry and did some core work, it was time for breakfast! Old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. CRS, cherry preserves, and almonds (this bag is never-ending).

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I read for Biology and Economics until my roommate came home from work so that we could go to the clubhouse. Shortly thereafter it was time for a well-deserved shower. Mmm… Showers are so underappreciated sometimes. I had leftovers from the other night for lunch. Just as good the next day. I actually like to let my food “age” a little before I eat it. Mostly, this is because food is much too hot to “serve immediately” for me to really enjoy or taste it much. Even in the mornings, I like to wait until my oatmeal is cooled most of the way before adding my toppings because I want the Grape Nuts to stay fairly crunchy throughout the entire meal. Maybe this is weird; I don’t know.

In the afternoon, I munched on a bowl of Kashi GoLean sprinkled with cinnamon and doused in USVAB. My body never really woke up today, for some reason, so I dragged through much of today. I even broke down and drank a mug of coffee in the afternoon. I usually stay far away from anything caffeinated, which should tell you how desperate I was to get some motivation to do work today.

I never really got around to dinner. The cereal kept be pretty satisfied into the evening and I just munched on a Pink Lady apple and a few pieces of dark chocolate. Ever since the weekend from hell when I had to go to the emergency room, my body has been kind of wonky and resisting getting back into a schedule. This is especially difficult because I don’t have the same routine every day anymore because classes are at different times from day to day. Come on body, adjust!

Sep 11, 2010

Remembrance and New Kicks

I’m going to take a quick moment to mention the event that happened nine years ago today that changed the course of many American and international lives. Remember where you were that day and what life was like in that instant. Remember the front page of the newspaper in the following weeks. Remember those who gave their lives and those who continue to give their lives as a result. Remember our heroes…
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Rest day and College Football Saturday. Breakfast was the usual, just later in the day than usual since I slept in an extra hour. Old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. CRS, cherry preserves, and almonds in a cheery, yellow mug.

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I spent the rest of the morning finishing my Nutrition chapter on carbohydrate and wrote a Lay Summary of a scientific paper I had to do for my Biology lab. Then it was time to make up for last weekend being a huge bust. But I walked away successful! Introducing my new, fancy running shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10’s. So pretty! I also got to go grocery shopping, which was a little bit less fun because I have to start paying for my own groceries starting now and I haven’t received word yet on my request for a Bridge Card (fairly common among Michigan college students who live off campus; used for Food Assistance to pay for groceries).

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With groceries came a new recipe from one of my mother’s old vegetarian cookbooks!

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Corn and Tomato Frittata
Yields 6 servings

1 1/4 c fresh cut corn
1/4 c chopped green onions
1 1/2 c egg substitute (I used Eggbeaters)
1/3 c skim milk (I used Horizon Organic)
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh basil (I used dried)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 small tomatoes, cut into 12 wedges
1 c (4 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese (I used soy cheddar cheese)

Coat a medium nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add corn and green onions; sauté until tender. Combine egg substitute and next 4 ingredients; stir well. Pour egg mixture over vegetables in skillet. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 15 minutes or until mixture is almost set. Arrange tomato wedges near center of egg mixture, and sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Cover and cook an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut frittata into 6 wedges and serve immediately.


Not too bad! I shook on some extra salt and pepper after I had served myself, but I guess that’s more of a preference kind of a thing.

Now I’m off to watch the episode(s) of Friends where Chandler and Monica get engaged and maybe start in on Season 7 depending on how tired I am. All the while reading from my Biology textbook. It has been raining literally all day today so I hope there’s plenty of sun tomorrow to boost the weekend mood and set the stage for a hopefully great week ahead. Goodnight, everyone!

Sep 10, 2010

Who Lives In A Pineapple?

3.45 miles in 35:00 today, which included 2:30 for a warm-up and 5:00 for a cool-down. Spongebob Squarepants definitely got me through this one as I’ve been fiddling with my iPod a lot lately because I ran out of room for all of my songs and so the settings were a bit screwy this morning and I had the wrong playlist going. Rather than stopping in the middle of my run, I just watched the TV that was on in the gym and let Spongebob motivate me through my workout. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it! Whatever works, works.

Breakfast was a brazil nut with a side of my classic oatmeal mix. Old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon, and topped off with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. CRS, cherry preserves, and almonds.

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Yay for today being a short day after yesterday’s longest-day-on-Earth. After breakfast, I read some about carbohydrates for my Nutrition course. After a quick bowl of Kashi GoLean with USVAB and a sprinkle of cinnamon, I was out the door for Food Safety. We’re still covering very general things right now and so it’s pretty boring until we actually get to focus in on one particular pathogen. The bus back was packed like a tin of sardines and it was hot as all get-out. Sweat pit stains and all. What a relief to get out and open the door to my nice air-conditioned apartment and relax back into my Nutrition textbook.

Not sure what my evening has in store for me yet, other than more reading. I really want to hang out with some of my friends, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen because no one has gotten in touch with me yet today. Tomorrow will be exciting though! I’m getting some real running shoes, going grocery shopping, and actually cooking; with a recipe and everything! Stay tuned!

Sep 9, 2010

Achy

I’ve woken up with very sore calves the past two days, so I decided that my body was in for some yoga this morning. I did about 20 minutes of Yoga for Strength #1 from YogaDownload, but I don’t think that included enough downward dogs for my legs to feel much better. Oats this morning was back to normal: old-fashioned oats made in Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, cherry preserves, and almonds.

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Today was a very long day. I was out the door by 9:10am to catch my bus. Nutrition. Hour break. Honors Biology. Hour break. Honors Biology Lab. Hour Break. Library for Honors Biology Lab. This all amounted to me not coming back home until around 8:30pm. So, pardon me for not posting any of my meals other than breakfast today, because everything I ate had to be very compact and easy to pack and carry due to the limited packing space and the lack of any substantial amount of time to come home and make a proper meal. This basically amounts to a lot of bar-type snacks/meals and a realization that I am in serious need of a trip to the grocery store which will not be until some time Saturday.

Sorry about the lack of much of a post today, ya’ll. TGIAF (Thank Goodness It’s Almost Friday)!

Sep 8, 2010

Chocolate for Breakfast

Middle of the week already? Yay, for holidays speeding up the school week! Yes, I am already complaining about classes, but only because I will always have my head in a book this year. Since the mornings are too dark here for me to feel safe running outside, I hit the gym and endeavored on a mission to complete a “Hills” program on the treadmill. I stuck to level 5 (out of 20) for most of it, meaning the largest incline was about 4%. I worked my butt off; sweating and pushing myself further than my mind thinks that it can go. It’s amazing how much stronger my body is than my mind. In total (including warm-up and cool-down) I ran 3.42 miles in 35:00. Not too shabby!

Breakfast was something a little different this morning. Yes, it is still oatmeal, but different oatmeal! I wanted chocolate for breakfast and, by gum, nobody was going to stop me! Holy Yum! This was my first experience with PB&Co.’s Dark Chocolate Dreams and it certainly did not disappoint. This was such a treat and really hit the spot since I was in an oatmeal rut.

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Cherry Cordial Oatmeal
1/3 c old-fashioned oats
1/2 c water
Raspberry Zinger Celestial Tea
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1 T flaxseed meal
1 tsp cocoa powder
2 T Grape Nuts
1 T PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams
1 T cherry preserves
1 T almonds

I went on to campus early today since this is basically the only day during the week that I can see my boyfriend. We lunched together between his classes and before my one. No pictures, but I had a plum, a mandarin orange cup, and a high-fiber tortilla stuffed with a veggie mix, a crumbled Grilled Vegetable Boca Burger, and salsa. Class was fairly boring again. We went over some web resources for tracking foodbourne diseases and started talking about Microbiology. I think I won’t really like the class munch until we get more in-depth with the microorganisms. Basically, so far I’ve learned that there are 76 million cases, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 fatalities every year due to foodbourne illnesses.

Once I got home, I ate a salad and another plum. Except to see salad or veggies in the near future because I have to use up this bag in the next day or it’s outta here. I read about writing biological science papers and started into the Hardy-Weinberg principle.

In honor of The Fitnessista’s Indian Food Wednesday, I had Palak Paneer from Ethnic Gourmet.Yum, YUM, YUM! So good! I’ve really come to enjoy Indian food in the past few months and this was absolutely perfect. It might not look very pretty, but it sure made up for it in the taste department. I hope to find this on sale again soon, otherwise it’s too expensive for my puny college food budget. This meal was originally over $5, so you can see how something like this would definitely be a once-in-awhile treat.

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I’m off to banish my nose in my Biology textbook and supplemental materials. I hope that everyone has gotten over their Wednesday hump and is looking forward to the coming weekend!

Sep 7, 2010

New Favorite?

The morning started out innocently enough. 1.56 miles on the treadmill followed by 1.76 miles on the elliptical. I sweated up a storm. No shirt on earth was going to wick away all of that moisture. After a quick shower, I made up a bowl of old-fashioned oats with Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, cherry preserves, and almonds. I wasn’t really in the mood for this combo this morning, but made it anyway because I had already set out all of the components. Maybe tomorrow?

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Shortly after that I was out the door to catch the bus and on to Human Nutrition. Today’s lecture was mostly about why we eat how we eat, the scientific method, and we briefly touched on MyPyramid which we will be expected to use in this big Diet Analysis project we have due in a few months. A short while later I was sitting in Honors Biology talking about “what is life?” and the RNA World. Not too thrilling of a day. Sunshine and wind.

I had another doctor’s appointment this afternoon and they’re ordering more tests since this last batch didn’t turn up anything out of the ordinary (not that we were expecting to find anything). My parents are considering getting a second opinion from some doctors down in Ann Arbor, where there’s a better hospital and so, assuming, better doctors.

Dinner was the other half of my spaghetti squash from yesterday, only this time I just added a little S&P and some soy cheddar cheese. So good! I think that this will become a regular in my kitchen when I’m in the mood for pasta, since I don’t actually really like pasta that much.

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I’ve almost finished the chapter I needed to read for this week for Nutrition, then I’m going to get started on my next section for Economics. I hope everyone had a pleasant day filled with awesome eats. Experiment with new foods! You could end up finding a new favorite just like I did.

Sep 6, 2010

Rainy Labor Day

I slept in again this morning for my health. Once I finally got up and around, I was not in the mood for oatmeal. Instead, I poured a bowl of Kashi GoLean with USVAB and sprinkled some cinnamon on top; all with a side of pineapple and honeydew melon.

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I spent the rest of the morning reading for my Biology lab and watching The Simpsons. I decided that if I felt well enough at 1pm that I would attempt a workout that included lots of upper-body moves. Since I had not needed to take any pain meds so far since the pain was not bad enough to merit it, I went for it: Jillian’s 30-Day Shred Level 2. Today was a perfect day for DVD workouts since it was raining up a storm outside. No Labor Day picnics to be had over here!

After the workout, it was back to watching The Simpsons, but Nutrition was subbed in for Biology. I was super excited for dinner, because I finally decided to make up the spaghetti squash I had stashed in the bottom of the fridge! I had never eaten spaghetti squash before, but had seen it and thought it was so cool that a vegetable naturally occurs like that!

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Thank goodness for there being preparation instructions on the produce sticker. I cut the squash in half lengthwise, scooped out the seeds, and placed cut side down in a baking dish with 1/2 c water. I only made up half of the squash since I was only cooking for me this evening and left the other half for tomorrow evening. The squash was then covered and  microwaved for 10 minutes; afterwards a fork was used to remove the spaghetti-like strands. I seasoned the “noodles” with salt, pepper, and garlic powder with parsley and I topped the whole thing with the remaining broccoli from last night and about 1/3 c of chunky marinara sauce. It was good; perhaps too much garlic powder, but good all the same. The squash was fairly tasteless, so whatever seasonings or sauces you add will really be the feature of the dish, and they come out a little “al dente”, which is good. No one likes a soggy bowl of noodles.

That meal left me quite satisfied, but I’ll probably grab a little something later on for dessert before bed. Until then, I’m back to the endless reading that accompanies being a college student. Happy Labor Day! I hope that you enjoyed your day off from work and classes!

Sep 5, 2010

Lazy Sunday

The morning started out well enough. I felt good enough to run this morning. 3.50 miles keeping a 6.5-6.8 mph pace through most of it and sprinting up to 7.1 mph for the last few minutes. It’s strange, but as soon as I stop running I start feeling the pain again, even though I felt perfectly fine throughout the entire run. Breakfast was eaten despite the pain because I knew that I needed to: old-fashioned oats made with Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with chia seeds, cinnamon, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. CRS, almonds, and cherry preserves. Cherry preserves have a very different consistency than the raspberry preserves, but it’s a nice change of pace even though it will take me another two months to finish this jar.

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One of my meese (mooses? moosi?) wanted to eat my bowl of oats. Omnomnom… I took a nap soon after breakfast was over. I had laid down and was curled into a ball and I guess I passed out for a little while, and missed an entire disk or two of Friends (season 6). Since I was still in pain after the nap, I broke down and decided to take some of the pain killers the hospital gave me the other day. It took about 1-1.5 hours for it to kick in enough that I felt like I could get out of my ball, but I’m still not pain-free.

The pain and exhaustion prevented me from eating until dinnertime. I’d really been looking forward to it since I was cooking for Lyle and myself and was glad that I was able to stand up long enough to prepare everything. Asiago Cheese Tortelloni and broccoli cuts. The tortelloni wasn’t my favorite, but it was free as part of a deal at the grocery store so I can’t complain too much.

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The evening’s festivities were completed with re-watching the episodes of Friends that I was originally asleep for and hitting the hay early as usual. Not like I didn’t sleep all day or anything, right?

Labor Day tomorrow means no school! Hoping to complete at least a fraction of the schoolwork that I had intended to do this weekend that never got done because it’s hard to read and take notes while completely horizontal and curled up in a ball. I hope that at least some of you are using your day off to visit family or do something fun, because I won’t be!