Good Bye Blogger

I know it's been a bit short lived on blogger, but I want you to know that I have not gone far.

I've moved to the fabulous wordpress, you can find me at:

http://confessionsofahealthnut.com

or

http://confessionsofahealthnut.wordpress.com

Both of those will take you there. I'm looking forward to blogging a lot more into the future, but for my personal vision, blogger was a bit limited.

Thanks to those of you who've supported me on this site, as I dabbled in creating what I hope to be a successful project!

See you at Confessions of a Health Nut!

Ventures In Wordpress

I'm trying to get my life sorted and move this blog over to wordpress. While I slowly transfer everything over there, I'm going to maintain this site. To be honest, it's a lot more confusing to someone with very few tech skillz, I will get there one day.. until then, it's blogger baby!

This morning I went for a power walk after I ate breakfast as a break between papers that I had to get done for school this week (I don't like doing homework during the week, or on the weekends, but especially during the week).. Then I came home and ate an early lunch, due to my early brekkie.

So for Lunch I had 1/4C Egg Whites with one whole egg, wilted spinach, goat cheddar and one corn thin (ohhh and ketchup, incase you hadn't noticed)

With lunch I also noshed on a apple and some AB after my eggful delight.

Then, I decided to go for another walk over to a bookstore by my house (again, trying to sort out wordpress- I need to talk to the boys in my program, something tells me I don't need to buy a book for this). When I got home I made a quick snack of goat yogurt, blueberries, cheerios and granola... and some PB pretzels (not shown, but damn good).

For dinner, I made a salad with candied walnuts, blue cheese and apple, with a balsamic-agave-mustard dressing; roasted cauliflower and some balsamic onion/shrooms to go on the steak. It was so filling and so delicious, I just kept eating it! It's Sunday- that's what I do.. eat. everything.

Then after dinner, we had cake! Orange Angel Foodish cake. It had an orange glaze and chocolate ice cream to go with. Neither are pictured since I was too busy stuffing my face to take photos.

Hope you all had relaxing Sundays. I'll be seeing you all tomorrow!

Breakfast x2

So I fell off the wagon a bit on posting what I'm been noshing on, here's a shot of yesterday's breakfast-- I don't think you want to know what I ate after that, we'll just call it a "free" day- it ended in peanut m&ms and licorice at the new Meryl Streep movie, It's Complicated (SO SO SO GOOD! Middle age crisis with middle age sex= so so funny!)

Back on track this morning though, I woke up well rested at 7:30, with homework on my mind. Obviously that has led me to blogging more then working on my books, but I'll take it. Brekkie was another pink-grey-green monster. I'm failing at making these, eventually I'll figure it out, until then, I'll take any advice you can give me on what I'm doing wrong (in making it green- I'm sure I'm doing all right things in making a yummy smoothie).

In it was 1.5C spinach, 1/2 banan, 1 scoop of brown rice vanilla protein, 1/2 C frozen blueberry/rasp combo, 1/4C soy milk and water. I blended it on up in my magic bullet, and it was nowhere near green. I tried though, failed, but tried and I will keep trying. As for the smoothness without the banana, it doesn't exist, I haven't found anything that will give it a velvety texture without a banana (and I haven't looked hard either).

I also enjoyed the other half of banana with some PB on a corn thin, pretty good brekkie, I love the spinach addition, I can't believe I never went there before!

Musings from the Yoga Mat

As I lied there yesterday afternoon listening to the instructor say "Feel this feeling, and know that you're ok in this moment, in this place.." I realized something. I need yoga in my life on a continuos basis. Lot's of times with yoga I like to buy the unlimited passes, and go as much and as often as I can to try and get maximum physical benefits from the practice. But, what I realized yesterday was that's not what I need it for. I can get maximum physical benefits of the gym or on my runs when the DJ is blaring in my ears; what I need from yoga, is a little taste of bliss and a bit of inner peace.

I don't know whether it's the January blues that has me in a bit of a rut, or what it is. I don't actually think I'm in a rut in the big picture (with volunteering, school, marathoning, and work), but internally I have been.

So yesterday I came to the conclusion, that I don't need yoga for physical benefits of any sort. I need it almost as my religion. I'm not baptized, I didn't grow up in a religious home, but I've always felt quite spiritual, and never had an outlet for it. I do every now and again head to church when I'm in desperate needs, or I find myself back on my yoga mat, but for the first time, I'm starting to come to terms with what my yoga mat and spiritual connection is, and I like it.

I don't want to go on and on about my spiritual experiences on the yoga mat, but I think one of the reasons for it's popularity is that religion can be so confusing in todays society. People need to believe in a universe or something bigger then the one we're living in, and I think that it's easier if you didn't grow up with the church to find that on a yoga mat then to adjust your adult beliefs. (Although- I can imagine how great it is if you could combine the two).

Anyways, that was something I wanted to share with you as I woke up this morning, and thought someone could appreciate.

Good Morning

Nothing to worry about here.

I got up this am super nervous for my first day at run club. It's like starting a new school program, or moving to a new city. Am I going to meet people? I hope they're not all losers.. I hope that I find someone cool to run with... I really don't want to be the slowest one there.. What if my legs give out and my leggings rip and I'm half naked lying on the side of the road as everyone tramples me (ok- far stretched, but what if?!)

Good news! There were cool people to run with, it was an easy pace and it was all over with in an hour and a half (the first half hour was getting organized then we ran for 63mins). I guess we're all in the same boat with our worries, but it's nice to have that first one done and out of the way, and know that I'm going to be ok. Last night I had started to question whether this was something I really wanted to do or not, then this morning our run coach, Mike, was telling me that we're on a 3day a week running program. How Brilliant is that?! Pretty Brilliant.

Obviously I will do more running then 3 days a week, but it's nice to know what my minimum commitment could be and how far I could go with that. So after I got home from my morning run, I was starving! I'd been up since 6:53 am (to be precise) making coffee and enjoying a half banana as my nerves were going nuts. Then by the time 8:30 rolled around, I was hungry and we were just starting to move. I came home and whipped up a bowl of oats (1/4C) with 1T AB, 1/2 banan, 1t Chia seeds, and 2T bran buds; served it up with green tea and now I'm getting ready to head to yoga (making the goals happen, just a little behind this week!)

Off I go, to take on my day! Happy Saturday!

Friday Treat

A Day of New Ventures

Chia seeds in my oatmeal at breakfast, and spinach in my smoothie for an afternoon snack! Today is turning my life around people! Or at least blogging and having all wonderful ideas floating my way through this wonderful way of communications.

After I ate lunch (salad; with tuna, corn, pepper and crackers crunched on top), I went off an taught a little bootcamp to some high school kids. They were hilarious! So tired by the end of it. I remember when I was in high school thinking I was uber fit and could do just about anything, boy, was I wrong!

Alas, that ended at 1:30 and I whipped downtown to meet with the Sexual Assault Centre about volunteering for their annual Triathlon. Needless to say I am on board and so excited to be volunteering with such a great organization. I'm sure I will have lot's more to talk about as my adventure with them progresses, but right now, I'm just excited to get started. I met with an organizer there for about 40minutes and decided we'd meet next week when she had a better idea of where we were going with it.

I managed to drop the marathon bomb on her as well, because let's be honest, I need to make sure I do this after I've talked about it so much. So right after that, I whipped to the running store, filled out my registration and I'm all set. Watch for bib 2354 running down the road if you're there in May, I'll be wearing it! (oh god!)

Once that was said and done, I got home and whipped myself up a "Green Monster" it turned out to be more of a Pink-Grey Teddy bear. I missed the boat on the Spinach (by not putting enough in) and mixed up a scoop of brown rice protein powder, spinach, frozen blueberries, raspberries, soy milk and half a banana. It tasted wonderful, but I think I need to readjust my fruit to spinach ratio. Quick question for you though- smoothies without bananas? Are they just as smooth? I have a hard time imagining it without, or remembering to days without, but I do wonder.. let me know if you have a good banana replacement, maybe I could give that a go.

Wish me luck! I'm off for the night, out for dinner with the manfriend and then getting up early in the morning for my first clinic.. New friends- ahhh!

Oh, Friday- How I love thee

Mmmmm coffee! I'm sitting here in my plaid pijamas and 9:05am on a Friday. Life is good, though I think I'll be getting out of the jammers and into workout gear soon. I have no excuse other then rain to take a PJ day- rain just isn't going to stop me from getting my to do list ticked off for the day!

As I've made monthly resolutions, one of which was having oatmeal 4x a week for breakfast and doing yoga twice a week, I've found myself with 2 days to eat oatmeal twice (not a problem since I've been enjoying it and how it makes me feel through the day) and yoga, which I think I may get to a Moksha class this evening. Something about sitting in a hot room while it's raining just makes me feel cozy- perhaps I'll lie on my mat the entire time and just nap.. probably not, but perhaps..

As I sit here watching the rain come down, I'm thankful. For so many things, for my health, my friends and family, to be able to live in a place where my biggest fear is whether I do well on a certain paper or not. I'm lucky, and thankful to say the least. I've been thinking a lot about those down in Haiti, as I'm sure the rest of the world has. It's kind of sad how other then writing a cheque or handing over my visa number, I don't feel like I can do anything (action oriented), but I can encourage others to goto Red Cross and make a donation, like I have done, it's not much, but I figure it helps. A lot of little donations are better then none at all.

Something that I've decided to do though, and have a meeting for today is to volunteer and help organize a Triathlon of Compassion in my local city to help raise money for the Women's Sexual Assault Centre. I'm doing a lot of things right now in my life between school, work, playing club field hockey and training for a marathon (apparently- tomorrow's day 1 at my clinic); but I'm not doing much for my community. I'm excited to become part of this and hopefully when the event comes to fruition I'll be participating in it as well as having helped organize it.

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited about all that's been going on right now. I'm sad for those in Haiti (there's a school group from BC down there communicating through facebook to loved ones up here and just want to come home)- I can't imagine what that'd be like right now; while all at the same time I'm strangely content and happy. It's a weird mix of feelings, but that's just what I feel, can't fight it.

Hope everyone has a great friday, thinking good thoughts!

Leftovers- and then some

So this morning I went trotting off to school like I had no cares in the world, but that was all a lie. I had a huge debate this afternoon on whether or not the Olympics should have rotating host cities or if it should stay in one place.

I was on the rotating side, I loove the Olympics and am all about a great party- even if you have to pay it off for a couple (or 30 years afterwards)-- taxes are still going to go up, at least this way we have some fun as they do! (ask me about food and fitness, not finances) The debate went well, my team obviously won, but we didn't win the swing vote which was the whole point- I don't mind though, we had more votes!

So, food stuff! After my hills, I had my oats from breakkie and then at lunch I had the above salad with leftover hummus, 2 corn thins with AB (I ran out of RFJ), and a grapefruit.

I was starving when I got home, so I ate some leftover spaghetti squash with turkey sauce. I didn't even look at my homework and then my dinner has been a bit random. I had some baked Guiltless Gourmet tortilla chips (crunch factor) and I got a new organic peanut butter which I love, so I decided to have it in half a pita with banana (2nd one today!), and to top it all off, I'm having a bowl of steamed veggies with soy sauce and maybe a hint of goat cheese.

So random, but my mind is fried and doesn't know what it wants! But at least, it's all things healthy and yummy, just in random orders, and snack size! hahah

Hope everyone had a great day today, Happy Thursday!

Big News!

I'm training for the Vancouver Marathon!!!!!

I just registered last night and am starting my run clinic on Saturday. I'm so excited! I did my last marathon in 2005 and thought to myself then that it would be cool to be able to do one every 5 years.

It just kind of worked out for me I guess. I needed a goal outside of my school and something to do with my body that will challenge me both physically and mentally. I'm going to switch up my weight training as well to be more yoga based and only do weights during light weeks. I have such a big mix of feelings this morning as I realize that: yes, I did register, and yes, I am telling lot's of people (in hopes that this actually happens).

In the spirit of training, I went out this morning and ran for 48 minutes, all hills baby! I did 4 short ones (about .5k) and two long hills (about 1k). My legs were so tired on the run home, but I guess that's the whole point of hills.

I'm so giddy and excited especially after reading Megan's (meganerdruns.com) final posts as she got ready to run her Disney Marathon. I know Vancouver is not nearly as exciting as Disney, but it's a close second, not to mention a little cheaper to get to..

Brekkie today was a 1/4C of oats, half scoop of protein powder, banana, 1Tb of organic PB (switched from Skippy this am!) and a sprinkling of bran buds.. I don't know what it is about this meal, but I'm starting to love it!

(the picture above is my snack from last night- Almonds, granola, goat yogurt and blueberries-- I also had 2 pieces of Denman Island Chocolate (70% cacao) and on corn thin AB sandwich)

(fake make) Spaghetti

Ok, so in my cooking I'm a serious cheater. All over the shop, I like to mix and match recipes as well as cheat my way to healthier options.

Tonight I made spaghetti squash. I cut the squash lengthwise and placed it in an oven at 350 for 30minutes face down on a sprayed (with olive oil) cookie sheet. You want to be able to stick a sharp knife into it and have it give you little resistance- feels kind of like steamed veggies.

As the squash was cooking away, I then chopped up an onion, 2 cloves of garlic and sauteed them on medium high heat until transparent. From there, I added ground turkey and cooked that amongst the onion and garlic. Once the meat was browned I added a jar of Newman's Own pasta sauce, a dash of balsamic and some extra basil and oregano, I let it simmer until the squash had finished cooking (one this large was closer to 45-50mins then 30).

There you have it, easiest dinner EVER! Well- cereal is probably easier, but not as delicious!

Lunch, as pictured wayyy up above was leftovers from last night, and the last bits of tofu from the night before. After my lunch I went for a little walk and did some homework before having a snack of some corn thins& AB/RFJ... after dinner I ate a navel orange, straight from Florida and a couple cups of tea and snuck in another power walk-- all this homework is driving my brain crazy, so I figured it's time to move.. I can only sit at my computer for so long before I go stir crazy..

Happy Hump Day! Congrats on making it through!

Rainy Run with a side of yoga

Hello again, this morning I got up at 6am for what was a very wet and rainy run. I thought to myself as I was lying there deciding whether to get up or not that yes, today in fact was my day and I needed to get as much from it as I could. So- of I went, trotting along for about 13km again, this time it took me 57minutes. When I got home I had about 20minutes to spare before having to get in the shower and sort out my life for the day, so I did about 20minutes of sun salutations and warriors to get a nice little stretch in before I head to my class room and sit all day.

Once I got home, I was all excited to mix some chia seeds into my oats, so excited, I forgot! But, I did manage to change things up, I made 1/4C of oats with 1/2scoop of brown rice protein powder, 1Tb of peanut butter and a banana; and of course 1.5Tb of bran buds (luuurve the crunch).

I'm feeling pretty good about this combo, another thing I'm looking forward to is dabbling in the green monster world. I've got my spinach and magic bullet ready for later in the avo.

Until then..

Cooking: More Fun than Homework

Ohh baby, snack time! I got home from school today pretty darn hungry, so whipped myself up a little salad with balsamic and olive oil on it, it wasn't hitting the spot so I also chopped a pear into the mix and it was just right.. (especially since I spread a little goat cheese and RFJ on a corn thin after)

Following that venture, I got out the old food processor. In it was 4 roasted red peppers, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 can of chickpeas, a dollop of tahini, juice of one and a half lemons, olive oil (probs 1-2TBS) and salt/pepp... I hit the magic button and BOOM:

This lovely mixture presented itself to me, sweet and savory and nothing but goodness for you. I love it! I've never made a roasted red pepper hummus, I knew how to make hummus and just chucked in the red peppers and hoped for the best-- I got better than what I could have asked for.

Quick tip with it: if you find it's a bit dry and don't want to add too much olive oil, just throw some water into it, it works well and there's enough flavor you won't have to worry.

Here's dinner (obviously I ate more veggies and grapes than shown, but I just hadn't loaded them on my plate by that point):

3/4 of a WW pita with my hummus, 1/2 a chicken breast (marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and pepper), cucumber, and spinach-- Also, after my little avo snack, because we had such a late dinner I snacked on some rice chips and salsa.. any kind of tortilla chip and I are basically lovers, just sayin'...

Hey Clouds- Get Lost!

Another cloudy day here in Victoria. I'm about ready for them to get out of here and move onto the interior, we're supposed to be living in a tropical island (in my dreams) and this is just making reality even harder to bear.

So, I woke up this morning after a glorious 9.5 hour sleep. I think that may be too much, but I went lights out at 10:30 and woke up just before 8 with no alarm, so obviously that's what my body wanted.... and what my body wants, it gets. ha, unless it's cheap chocolate or chips, I try to maintain a standard.

After waking up, I got on my black leggings and chugged a liter of water. I actually made 2 breakfasts this morning. I only ate one, but I couldn't decide what I wanted until one was made and I wanted the other. I figure if I don't fix that craving right away it'll be a day of them.. So I made my second breakfast.

I slapped some almond butter and agave nectar onto some corn thins with a banana and as I was making them, I managed to scoop an extra scoop of almond butter into my mouth (it slipped- I swear).

While I was putting that together, I took my leftover salad from last night and some tofu, popped that into a container with some Little Creek dressing on it and peeled myself a grapefruit for later. I get a little munchy just having this, as it truly isn't that many cals, so I also made 2AB/J corn thin sammys to have in the afternoon before coming home for some bend and flex with Eoinn Finn, my best friend on DVD.

So there you have it, my relaxing, yet productive morning, of two breakfasts a lunch and a snack, all while consuming a pot of coffee, before I grab my tea and head out the door pretending I don't drink coffee the rest of the day!

What's for dinner?

After I got off to a rocking start this morning with a bowl full of oaty goodness and a nice run, things came to a sudden halt at school. School. Enough said.

The way that my course is broken down, we have 4 classes 4 days a week for 4 hours a day. Our terms are only 10 weeks, so it's a lot of work in a little time, but we're done our BA in one straight year.

So school, being school in January was mediocre. I tried to liven my life up with some veggies mid morning, but that didn't exactly tickle my fancy. So what did I do? I skipped the afternoon of course to go and hang out with my boyfriend. We've both been super busy and not been able to catch up with one another, so having an extra hour or two in my day is always nice, especially when I get to spend it with the gent.

After my veggies/skipping school venture, I came home and made myself a quick lunch of green salad with mary's rice crackers and some left over tri tip from Sunday's dinner, I followed that up with a couple pieces of mango and went for a drive to the airport to drop my dad off.

I went on by the health food store on my way home and finally decided to get on the Chia bandwagon. Not sure if I'll like them, but I bought a lot, so I'm hoping they're not half bad.. Let me know if you have any great recipes for them. I'd love to hear!

I came home from the grocery store with some new yogi tea to try, whipped up a pot and got back to my books. I lasted a good two hours and then had to start making dinner.

So- What's for dinner? Sesame tofu (soy sauce, mirin (or rice vinegar), firm tofu, sesame oil, garlic and ginger) with roasted buttercup squash and cauliflower. Not going to lie, I went back for 2nds on the cauliflower (roasted at 425 for 20minutes with olive oil and salt/pepp-- to perfection!), we also had an apple to munch on at the dinner table afterwards, so I polished off half of that.. I was so full all I could really squeeze in for dessert was a piece of my favorite Denman Island dark chocolate, so rich and so smooth, 70% cocao- I feel like it's good for me!

Three cheers for Monday being over, onto Tuesday!

Back to Business Monday

So, after a brownie infested Sunday night, complete with ice cream and raspberries, I'm back to reality, and back to business... It's funny because I tend to think the world will end on Monday, so I eat dessert like it's going out of style... They were whole wheat brownies and it was ice milk, but it didn't matter because I ate so much of it! haha

What does back to business look like? I was up, bright and early for a 12.5km run, it took me about 59minutes to complete. I can do this run faster, but on rainy mornings I head out with my mom and her girlfriend for the plod. I'm just happy to be out, and then will be doing my new favorite style of yoga later- Moksha... If you haven't been, go. It's the funniest, and funnest experience. They play the Beatles as you do sun salutations and tell you, "Just do what your body feels, if you want to dance, dance. If you want to jump around, jump around. Just be here, now."

It's all quite amazing, I'm not a big hippy, but it feels like I could be after going to a class like that-- if I go to enough, you never know, I may end up with armpit hair and dreads.. haha, you should see me, that won't happen.. Just a dream.

Anyways, have fantastic days.

Breakfast? Mango (appie) with Oatmeal combo main dish, and coffee of course, lots and lots!

Sunday Funday= Homework Galore

Although Sunday is a day of leisure for most, it sure isn't for me (well- not complete leisure).

This morning started with a 7am wake up followed by a coffee and heading down to teach what is my favorite class, the Biggest Winner group. They're not really a class, I guess, just a group of women (and one man- our first), who are in their own program separate from what we offer at the studio.

So what is a Biggest Winner? Similar to that of the Biggest Loser, but without the negative title. Yes, it's a losing game, but the people who are losing the weight are by no means losers. At our studio, it's a group of women who often times have to lose more than 100lbs to get to be a healthy weight, that's over a year of strict eating (on your best day). I can't tell you how much it means to be a part of their journey to health; it's something that I wish everyone could experience.

Days like today make me realize that fitness is a gift. Everyday on our hard runs, or when we feel like we can't get out the door and are just hating on it we need to be thankful that we can do it; and keep doing it so we don't lose the ability to.

Clean Cookies!

Spiked Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/4 cup quick-cook old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

2 tsp flaxseed meal

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup agave nectar (or honey if you don’t have agave- I used 50-50 as I was running out of agave)

2 large egg white

2 T. unsalted almond butter

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 C cup (total) dark mini chocolate chips, raisins, coconut, pecans (or whatever floats your boat—dried cherries are delicious too these were just what I had around)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray 2 baking sheets with olive oil.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together agave, egg white, almond butter and vanilla. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients all at once and combine. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter equally into 16 mounds and arrange evenly spaced on prepared baking sheets. Using the back of a slightly dampened spoon, flatten each mound into 2.5 inch circles. Bake 9-10 minutes, until golden. Cool on sheets for an additional 10 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely. Stored in an airtight container, cookies will keep fresh for 2-3 days.

These taste like heaven on my healthy cookie tasting chart. Seriously, most taste like cardboard gone wrong, these on the other hand taste like cookies, just good for you.

The sun is shining, in this rainy city..

It's hard to believe the sun could shine here after the amount of rain we've been getting, but it's shining bight, even with the threatening clouds on the horizon.

This morning I woke up to the sound of my alarm, I'm working this weekend which means early mornings of other people's fitness. I don't mind it though, people get out, the endorphins start pumping and the next thing you know it's over before it began. I like this kind of morning, especially when you're out with a good group of people who are working their butts off for you. So what did we do with them? We started with a nice half hour warm up (running- with some squats, lunges, pushups and mountain climbers- 30seconds each x2) and then we did 10minutes of upper body work with 5 minutes of hills; 10minutes of lower leg work with 5minutes of hills; and finally 10minutes of abs with a nice cool down jog and stretch. Depending on the exercise you can do 30seconds or 1minute and if you're by yourself maybe count the reps. For us, we like to stick to 30seconds when you're doing things like pushups and mountain climbers, but for lunges we looove the 60second mark, sometimes even longer!

You just need to do what your body is telling to and there are tons of variations that make it easy, and you don't have to use any equipment to get a good hard workout in. Just make sure you're mixing cardio in with your strength; it's the best way to do functional training and get a good burn.

So there you have it, a little fitness advice for your Saturday morning.

For my own fitness today, I'm playing a game of Field Hockey this afternoon which is sure to hurt tomorrow (I used to play NCAA in Missouri at MSU, when I was in my prime), so wish me luck out there, I will need it on my sprints!

(Breakfast was the above, lunch was this salad below plus a Think Protein bar, had some beef jerky after my field hockey game with a blood orange and then for dinner I had a mexican turkey taco salad, dessert was a couple of my clean cookies with some grapes.. recipe for those cookies to come!)

Hungry Friday

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face for two reasons: it's Friday, which means I don't have class today week; and it's Friday which means I don't have class until Monday.

So what did I do next? Made a pot of coffee and got out the homework of course! I love the fact that I avoid papers and projects with more paper and projects. Next week alone I have a paper due Monday, Wednesday and a debate on Thursday (not to mention the paper that I handed in today). But fear not, Mondays paper has been completed and submitted, both of them! As was todays paper (that was handed in yesterday) which means, I'm free to relax until Sunday (then homework will have to be put back on the 'to do' list).

Something I've been obsessing over though the last couple of weeks is finding a job placement in China to go teach overseas and check out a new culture (making this blog far more entertaining I'm sure).. I'm looking for suggestions, have any?

Meals, Meals, Meals:

Breakfast was my oatmeal/banana combo that you know of

A mid morning snack was a chunk of a protein bar-- kind of gross tasting when you don't eat them on a regular basis (Think protein bars)

Then for a late lunch I had some pho (vietnamese soup- tofu and veg) and an apple

Pre dinner snack was a bit of goat yogurt with grapes and a Tb of granola

Dinner was going to be a salad with goat cheese and figs, but changed to 3egg whites and a whole egg scrambled with some goat cheese, 2 corn thins and ketchup-- yes, ketchup (it's Friday, so might as well 'go nuts')

And then my post dinner snack, you ask? ICECREAM and peanut butter with chocolate chips on top... I looooove Fridays! And then, because that wasn't enough, popcorn, hot air popped..

**I would normally leave this out, but let's be honest, we ALL do it, and I just did.. eat your hearts out! haha

Goat Yog and Eggs (yummm)

Fitness today, since I know you're probably dying to know was a 5km run (in 20mins) down to the studio and then a 50minute circuit class (where my abs just got murdered). It felt great to get out for another run kind of mid morning, but I do prefer getting out before I eat, it just feels better... unless I really plan it, but today wasn't one of those days.

There you have it, my friday, a hungry one, but a good one all the same, have fantastic evenings and I'll see you tomorrow!

TGIT

I would be saying that tomorrow, but as it turns out with my schedule, Thursdays are my Fridays. We have 3 day weekends in this "fast forward" program that I'm in.. Although the workload seems like a lot during the week, all is forgiven by the time Thursday evening rolls around.

Today, I was up with the run rise. I had called a friend last night in hopes of getting a partner keen for a 7am run, but I didn't hear anything back from her until 6:30am; it wasn't my alarm going, it was Deanne telling me about how she'd love to go for a run with me. What timing she has, I was about to roll over and turn off my alarm, because I'm getting used to my sleepy ways and starting to enjoy an 8am wake-up. The student life= life of luxury (or at least big sleeps).

So, as I went out this morning, I wasn't only greeted by the cold, but also by a friendly face. Conversation flowed and by the time we got down towards the water the sun was just coming over the horizon. We haven't seen the sun here in over a week, so it was as if we'd been given a second life at the site. It was amazing, it was orange and pink against the dark clouds and made every trees' silhouette pop against the bright early morning sky. It was just what I needed to keep me motivated through my day and get me out the door for next week on those early runs.

It's funny how fast you can forget that good feeling get on a 7am run..

For my food today, I had my oatmeal combo for breakfast; followed by a salad of greens with yellow pepper and cucumber (dressed in olive oil and balsamic), a mini can of tuna and 2 kiwis; my afternoon snack consisted of a couple corn thins with AB and jam (always 100% fruit); and then my second afternoon snack was blue corn tortilla nachos with goat cheese and salsa (apparently I needed salt-- and energy for teaching Bootcamp tonight- hills galore); and tonight's dinner will be a tofu broccoli combo- something fast and easy for after class so I can rush back out to meet up with friends.

That is all from me today, we'll chat tomorrow when the rest of you get on weekend time.

It's true

This is what's getting me through January.. well between this, doing yoga last night and getting up this morning for a run along the water as the sun was coming up over the horizon. Thought I'd share it incase you haven't heard it yet.

Wednesday: In a Nut Shell

If this was journalism, I would need a nut grab in my story to grab your attention. Lucky for me, I can leave the nut grab behind and just let what I feel flow out onto the screen.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I should be embarrassed that I find the term "nut grab" funny in my fourth year of university, I'm going to go with not for the sake of this post.

This morning I started my day waking up at 8am with a little more energy then earlier in the week, which was a bit of a relief; I can't wait to wake up in the morning with energy again, this head cold is putting me to bed early and making me sleep in late. All I seem to do right now is sip tea, sit, sleep and wait for my energy to return. I need to be more patient, but I'm not, maybe that will be one of next month's resolutions.

So for brekkie this morning I decided against the usual bowl of oats and mixed things up. I sliced up an apple and dumped some goat yogurt on it (yes- I'm slightly lactarded- I pretend I'm not some days though- you'll see) and topped that with organic granola and a couple frozen raspberries for style. It was pretty good, less filling then the oats, but a good change up from what was starting to be a creepy routine.

I followed up my brekkie with this lunch: leftovers from last night (recipe in previous post). Instead of dumping a bunch of brown rice on it, I just had a little bit and then filled it up with romaine hearts instead. I followed this, with 2 kiwis to feed my sweet tooth.

When I got home from school (my days go 10am-3pm) I was starving, so I snacked on corn thins with almond butter and also ate a piece of a chicken breast (apparently I didn' t want to wait for myself to finish making the corn thin/almond butter combo- patience that I lack).

After having a cup of ginger tea and working on a paper, I popped in my Eoin Finn Pursuit of Happy Hips dvd and got to bending and flexing. I love his yoga dvds because they're based on the concept of flow; uniting your breath with your body movement. I usually find it quite hard to do yoga at home with a dvd, but he offers them in different lengths so that I'm never bored enough to hit the skip button. So, I completed an hour of yoga before dinner, and I was feeling quite blissful by the time dinner rolled around.

For dinner I steamed up some broccoli and tofu (I do about 2 cups of broccoli--I'm obsessed) with some more brown rice on top. It was good, but not good enough, so I tossed back a corn thin sandwich (AB and real fruit jam) and 3 pieces of dark chocolate to tie it all together; needless to say I was goooood.

So now, I'm sitting at home with a cup of tea, listening to Kenny Chesney sing me sweet nothings (I'm Alive) and I think I may just retire for the evening.

Good night!

Tuesday!

Well- last night was a bit of a bust. I was in bed by 9:30 having taken cold meds and still hoping that today I would be able to get up in the morning and head out for a 6am run... Needless to say, it didn't happen.

A blaring alarm woke me up at 6, 6:05, 6:15, then 7 (since I decided I could squeeze one in getting up at 7), then 7:30; and then finally at 8am (or 8:01, but who's counting) I was able roll out of bed and into some clothes for the day.

So much for me and my early bird ways getting the worm. I'm just going to hold off on that promise until the sun starts rising when I do.

After rolling out of bed, I decided to go with the usual oatmeal combo (less thinking) and went for some creativity in my lunch, I made a nice little salad with smoked tofu, raspberries, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber (dressed with reduced balsamic and mustard--why mustard? Cause I'm a loser and wasn't thinking straight-- changed the whole flavor of my nice little salad); then for a snack I had a grapefruit (mid morning); and after lunch before taking off on my run I had some corn thins with almond butter, and my favorite real fruit jam (raspberry-always).

Today I took off on my run at around four and went for 57minutes. I think it was around 11 or 12km. I don't know exactly, but I would say closer to 12 then 11, I felt good for about the first 30 minutes and then I started getting weird stomach cramps and had to take it easy for the last 26.

Music of choice you may be wondering (I don't know if you are, but I often wonder what people are listening to as I run past them with their headphones in) was Robin Thicke's Sex Therapy album for the first 30 and then a little Taylor Swift to carry me on home. I wanted to go for a slower mix because I feel like if I listen to slower music, I may run at a slower pace (less pain), but that's not always the case.. sometimes I'm just in pain listening to slow music. Today wasn't so bad though.

Tonight for dinner I'm cooking up a chicken and olive dish with brown rice. It's a new recipe, so I'll let you know how it goes, and if it's any good, will make sure I post up the recipe tomorrow morning, with perhaps a photo.

Until then..

Tina's (Healthy) Pea Soup

This is the most delicious vegan soup in the world and it's easy! This soup gets even better when you make it with a smoked paprika (hard to find sometimes- so if you do, buy 4- you'll want it instead of the regular for just about everything!).

So here it is friends, from my sister in laws recipe files, to mine and on to your own.. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1.5C Split Peas
2Tbs Olive Oil
1 Large Onion
2 Diced Carrots
2 Large Garlic Cloves
1/4C Chopped Parsley
1tsp Marjoram
1tsp Rosemary
1tsp paprika
2 Bay leaves
2 Quarts of Veggie Stalk
Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cover peas with hot water and set aside
2. Heat oil with onion and carrots; saute for 10 minutes
3. Add garlic, parsley, herbs, paprika and salt/pepper
4. Drain peas (that you set aside previously) and add with aromatics
5. Simmer for one hour

You can puree this, or have it as is. I like it both ways, so it's up to you.

This soup is easy and makes a great weeknight meal, so don't be scared to dive in and make it tonight or tomorrow!

Rainy Monday

Today I woke up with my head in the clouds. I have a head cold. Not good for anything but sitting and wanting to curl up with my down duvet and a book (unrelated to school).

I didn't manage to make it out for my 6am run this morning as planned, but I did get out of bed and off to school for what seemed like the longest day of my life. I'm just thankful it's over.

Today started off with a bowl of oatmeal (1/2 cup for those wondering), bran buds, banana and peanut butter; with lunch came veggies and chicken with 2 kiwis; afternoon snack of 2 corn thin sandwiches with almond butter and real fruit jam; and right now I just polished off a snack that consisted of a pear, almonds and dried blueberries in attempt to get my energy up for the gym.

So after my almondy snack, I took off down and indoor bootcamp class at the studio I work at (bdhq.ca) and did an evening workout which managed to get me starving for dinner. Dinner was a bowl of lovely pea soup (recipe to follow).

Now it's time for me to leave my blog and hit the books, I've got a paper to write, which just doesn't sound like much fun.. Maybe with a ginger tea it will be (doubtful).

Until tomorrow--

This is what I did this afternoon

See what I mean by work? This is me running the tree from my house. Taking down the decorations made me wonder what all the fuss is about in November.

I need a holiday next year, no Christmas decorating for me (I'll let everyone else take care of it)

This is what I did this morning

Followed by a nice bowl of natures path oatmeal (with banana, peanut butter and bran buds to jazz it up), I headed on down to the gym that I work at for 1h15 class known as the drill. It's a continuous circuit that is guaranteed to kick even the fittest person's ass. It was a good time, felt good about it, but afterwards I came to the realization that my holidays are coming to a fast close. School starts tomorrow and with school comes papers, group assignments and deadlines. There's 7months left, 197 days and I can't wait for it to be over.

After the gym today I decided that I would cook up a bowl of broccoli with chicken and have that before tearing down the Christmas decorations. I had no idea, but it can be some serious work going up and down those stairs, all I wanted to eat was a Christmas cookie for energy, but I managed to stay away and stick to what I know: corn thins with almond butter, with a piece of dark chocolate (SUGAR!).

So that's been my day today, no fuss, no muss, the usual kind of happenings.

January's Resolutions

Happy New Year!

This year I've decided to change my resolutions up a bit. I'm going to make new ones each month that I check off weekly. This month, I'm starting with oatmeal.

I hate porridge, all I can think of when I think about porridge is gagging down oversweetened spoons of it that I tried to douse in brown sugar so I wouldn't taste the oats. That may or may not have been 15 years ago, but still, the memory haunts me.

Today I started my day with a lovely bowl of steel cut oats, splash of brown buds and a scoop of skippy peanut butter. Yes, I know skippy is not something I should be bragging about on a clean eating web site, but truth be told, I ate OATMEAL and I didn't mind it one bit.

Also, while we're on the honesty kick, I eat gobs upon gobs of almond butter, if you're buying it in a grocery store stop, and get it at costco, you get about twice as much for half the cost.

There you have it, knocking down my first resolution on day 2 of the month, feeling pretty good about it, even better because it fueled me through a 15k run, but I won't get into the fitness just yet.

What he talks about when he talks about running

Last night lying in bed, sleeping off New Years Eve and my guilt for not doing anything yesterday I polished off the book What I talk about When I talk about Running by Haruki Murakami. I do love bios, but I've yet to read a memoir, and following the Devil in the Kitchen (Marco Pierre White's autobiography for you Gastronomical folks), this was a entirely new pace for me.

If you like running, writing, or following floating thoughts, I would highly recommend this book. If you just like a good read, with some fantastic quotes, I would pick up this book on amazon or from your neighborly book store.

Anyways, there's my two bits on this book.

I start school on Monday, so you won't be counting on me for many books until after March break.

Until next time..

My Story

I am a fitness addict.

I’ve been active all my life, it wasn’t until recently though that I realized the importance of balancing healthy activity with a healthy diet.

When I was 17 I went to play NCAA sports, college life for me was always go, go, go; of course I gained a little bit of weight. Between the cafeteria food and the party lifestyle, things started to add up, and it wasn’t just the pounds. I was unhappy, and I thought it was all because of my weight, so what does one do? They start to lose weight.

Losing weight was by no means a quick fix for happiness. There are the struggles, the ups and the downs. I eventually dropped out of school with what my doctor called at the time “disordered eating” and “depression” (those are in quotes because I thought he was a fool). There was no way, I, a healthy fit coastal girl from Canada could possibly fit into those two categories, so I said F*** you, and F*** this.

I ended up leaving school a very, very angry girl. I tried what felt like everything to find happiness, I ran a marathon, I got a boyfriend, worked a million different jobs, they still didn’t make me happy. I then found myself backpacking around Australia a week after my marathon thinking to myself, “well, now that I’m not running, I can’t very well eat. I’ll get fat.” The number one fear in my life was that I would get fat, thinking back on it, it’s crazy, but I know in my mind, that it was the reality of my life.

I never learned about proper nutrition and energy needs, or if I did, my fear of becoming fat blocked that bit of knowledge out. I came home from Australia standing tall at 5 foot 9 and only weighing 110lbs. I thought I was fine, just needed to balance things out, but the truth was that I was far from fine. I ended up losing another 16lbs and found myself in the hospital for 3months. Gaining that first pound was agony. It took me ten full months to gain enough weight to be at a healthy BMI and another 6months in intensive therapy to be ok being at that BMI.

Today, I’ve been at a healthy weight of 135lbs for a full year. My struggle was not an easy one to overcome. It’s still not an easy one to overcome. I’m a fitness trainer by trade, losing weight is the business I’m in, but it’s no longer my weight.

I’ve found happiness in helping others find health and wellness and have a vast knowledge of food and nutrition that compliments me as a trainer. So Fitness Addict? Although it sounds unhealthy, it’s true to who I am, I love to move. I love to be healthy, and I want other people to know that you can survive an eating disorder, still be healthy and love to exercise. The only difference is that this time around, it’s in balance.

Loves and Hugs,

Adrien*