Long week in nut shells & cookbooks:)

This week has been CRAZY busy. And not only that, but when I have had time to update, I'm flat out too tired. I'll give you the rough overview of my eating/working out/internship. I worked 5 days this last week (and then Monday which was my first day on the line to be working in pantry--basically that is where I make the salads, croutons, crostinis, chips, anything fried basically including tempura crab/shrimp, wraps, a few sandwiches etc) and 3 were the usual day shifts and 2 were night. Definitely a bigger fan of the day shift, even though it was nice to have a "day" before work but that just left me tired at the end of the work day which was around 10PM. I ate A LOT of trail mix which included A LOT of nuts this week so I felt a little fuller (not just in my belly but also all over!) because of that. So now, I'm limiting myself to one serving of fats a day--salmon/fish not included in that. That's just nuts and nut butters and avocados and such. When I get hooked on something, sometimes I take it to the extreme so a meal would be a few handfulls of trailmix and an apple dipped in cashew butter. That usually happened at least twice a day whether at breakfast, lunch or dinner. So now, a few days after I've implemented my 1-fat-a-day rule, I already feel better and much more lean. The scale agrees too:)

A couple other things new this week was that I tried to teach myself to swim. Not that I don't know how to get through water without doggie paddeling. But, I'm not very good at freestyle swimming. The breathing freaks me out a little bit. So I went and got a really great lap suit bikini from TYR, goggles, nose pincher, and swimming cap so I looked like a pretty serious swimmer when I got to the pool the other day around noon (mistake on my part--I didn't realize HOW MANY people would be out there watching me attempt to look like I know what I'm doing. I thought maybe the attire would fool them, but the stares said otherwise). I hopped in the pool after a workout and got to it. However, I'm still not very good at putting my face in the water without freaking out and my lungs not wanting to work. I got through 3/4 of a lap before I was too tired to keep going from not breathing correctly so I had to stop and noticed all the people staring at me. Looking back now I probably resembled someone who may or may not have been on the verge of drowning? So after a couple laps, I decided I'd made enough of a fool of myself for the day and decided to come back after I'd gotten a lesson.:)

I have also been talking to my friend Chris Chretien about supplements and the company he works for called USANA Health Sciences which creates them. If you take supplements, or are looking into it, I definitely recommend looking at their website. http://www.witcc.info/. He has also added a link to my blog on the site:)

I was taking Centrum Performance when I started talking to Chris about all of this and he sent me this picture:

This grosses me out a little bit. He couldn't tell me what it is exactly that made these Centrum apples turn blue but all I could think about was "Is this what it's doing to my insides??!!". So that was enough for me to stop taking the Centrum Performance. I plan on ordering some of the USANA supplements in the near future so I'll keep you posted!:)

Other things I currently take are NOW Green Tea (metabolic support--I also drink a lot of green tea but wasn't at the time I started taking it), Glucosamine + Chondroitin (for knees and joints--I had pretty bad joint pain in my knees for a long time which made it a literal pain to run, then I was told about this from a fellow runner friend and a couple weeks after I started to take it the pain went away and now I take this every morning and night religiously), calcium citrate (the citrate helps the calcium absorb better. Because I can't have lactose, I have to get my calcium somewhere--this was also before I started to drink coconut milk which also contains a lot of calcium. If you take calcium, take it every other day so you reduce the risk of kidney stones--OUCH! And make sure it's citrate and not phosphate), and occasionally fish oil (for the heart). When I was having my stomach issues, I also started to take an acidophillus (I take the Pearls). I got out of the habit once they put me on Asacol but recently read that taking an acidophillus still has it's benefits even though my stomach may not be bothering me nearly as much and I may not necessarily be able to feel the benefits, and that it can also help in athletic performance. (I found that out through Runner's World).

Mom and I also went to the Farmer's market on Sunday in Legacy over here by us. We got some cinnamon basil (I'm really excited about using this for cooking!!), some dill zucchini (instead of pickles--they're good, a little different but still tasty), handmade soy candles, some fresh veggies, farm fresh eggs that were "made" the day before we bought them, and some homemade granola which you can get from cowgirlgranola.com. I tried the original which was good and bought the cranberry orange which is also really good. It doesn't have NEARLY as much sugar as store bought granola's do which is why I bought it since I like to sprinkle some on top of my moring fruit sometimes. The eggs are REALLY GOOD. Mom couldn't tell a difference, but to me they were fluffier and a little tastier than the Eggland's Best I normally buy. However, they were also $4.50 a dozen so I think that's a luxury that will be happening pretty rarely. The soy candles are also really yummy smelling!! You don't even have to light them and they smell your room up! You can find them at oohlalacandles.com. I bought the honeysuckle jasmine and moonlit night. They're really affordable especially compared to other soy candle retailers, and they also smell stronger (but not overpowering) than any other I've smelled before. They also had natural, homemade soaps there as well from Soapees and Glowees but we didn't buy any of those (you can order them from soapglow@gmail.com -- they don't have a website but you can inquire about them through the e-mail) and they also had custom stone carving with some absolutely beautiful stuff! They had some wine holders that would hold any where from 2-8 bottles (2 being around $35 and 8 being around $100) and you can find out more about those if you're interestes though klink.jr@gmail.com.

This week I hope to make it out to a different farmers market on Sunday since it's my only off day but we'll see!

I also picked up a new cereal this week. Along with my Peanut Butter Puffins that I love so much (made from corn instead of wheat, 110 calories per 3/4 cup and so d'lish!), I got Cascadian Farms Kids (So? It's good!) Organic Cinnamon Squares cereal. It tastes like cinnamon toast crunch only with whole grains, less sugar and 110 calories per WHOLE CUP. I love cereal, it's definitely one of those things I can take to an extreme but it's also the perfect comfort food. Highly recommend both of those:)

At the gym, I've also gotten a little tired of my routine -- even when I do change it up a little bit. So I incorporated a new Core class that I really liked followed by an Athletic Conditioning class. The first is obvious--lots of abs. The second is a lot of sprints and drills. This class was fairly easy for me though so I kicked it up a notch by going to boot camp yesterday which kicked my butt. I LOVED IT. The other people in the class that go regularly said it was a particularly hard day compared to the norm but still, it was great to have something challenging and new. I tried to workout some more after the class had finished, and while I got in about 20 sit ups, I knew I needed to stop and that my body needed to rest. Last night, I let my body have 10 glorious hours of sleep last night:) It. Was. Amazing. :)

Yesterday I went to lunch at Kona Grill with Myles and Kayla followed by a little shopping. At Kona, they have a "Skinny" menu which you can order one of 3 things that has 200 calories or less. I didn't try them, but they all looked d'lish! I was just starving since it was after boot camp so I got the seared Ahi salad, then myles and I split the Special Salmon Roll which we declared as the best sushi roll we've ever had. I'm not just trying to talk Kona up since I'm working there, it was seriously delicious and I've eaten a lot of sushi. On our little shopping trip we went into Anthropologie and of course, I always love their kitchen stuff especially the cookbooks. One I found (didn't buy--I'm going through Amazon because it's nearly half the price through them) is called Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. I cannot wait to get this in the mail!! It is perfect for how I eat and it even had dairy free chocolate mousse in it--I'm super excited about it!! I've also gotten really amped up about gardening when I get back to Lubbock so another book I'm ordering via Amazon is Grow Great Grub - Organic Food from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail. I recommend looking at both of these!

Other great places to get recipes are--

Tastespotting.com (these you have to be a little choosy because they aren't all healthy but they do have some great ideas for creating your own -- however, there are so many and so many are scrumptious that I'm sure you won't have a problem finding one you deem acceptable)

Runnersworld.com

eatingwell.com

cookinglight.com (love these!)

and even foodnetwork.com in the healthy area:)

Another blog worth following is katheats.com. She got me started on wanting to blog about food. However, her breakfasts are usually too heavy for me but she has some great recipes and products!

It's pretty easy to eat well right now though with being able to grill most everything. Grilled pineapple, or peaches is delectable with coconut ice cream -- just a side thought:)

I like this not just for running, but about life in general:

"Run when you can, walk when you have to, craw if you must; but never give up."

-Dean Kamazes