Fridge Traffic JAM

by Emily

It’s officially the first work-week of May! Where has this year gone?!? For that matter, where has today gone, it’s all felt a little rushed.

Adam and I both had another lackluster sleep last night 😦 Isn’t it just the worst feeling to toss and turn when you’d like to be resting up? The morning felt like it came way too quickly and the snooze buttons were pressed several times. I had to drive the husband to school so I could use the car to run errands, so I rushed out the door with him. How happy am I that it’s finally throw on a sundress season?

I was a little irritated to have to go to the post office when I hadn’t even eaten breakfast but it ended up being a good thing because my parents send me an amazing package! It was Carnival in St. Thomas last week and they sent me all sorts of goodies –

I packed the soursop jam away into cabinet before I could even look at it. I have a problem –

Seriously, Emily? 6 open jars of fruit spreads!

However, I tore into the stewed tamarind immediately.

A few spoonfuls in I managed to stop myself and actually assemble breakfast.

Stonyfield plain fat-free yogurt with stewed tamarind and 1/2cup raspberries.

I couldn’t get over how pretty it was and the taste combination was amazing!

Eat More Fruit Tip # 1 – Instead of buying “fruit on the bottom” yogurts, make your own! Plain fat free yogurt with berries and fruit spread stirred in has less sugar than the ones you buy at the store, and is a whole lot tastier too!

Lunch was pretty gorgeous as well.

Eat More Fruit Tip # 2 – Smoothies are a very tasty way to eat your fruits, just be sure not to add too many high-calorie/sugar additives.

I had a whole slew of annoying phone calls to make and the morning slipped away while I was on the phone. By the time I was headed out the door I was already late so I made myself a to-go smoothie for lunch. 1 small frozen banana, 1/2cup frozen blackberries, 1cup calcium + vitamin d oj, and 1/2t xanthan gum.

The smoothie was supposed to be swim fuel but sadly that didn’t pan out. When I got to the pool all of the lanes were full and I was too late picking up Adam to wait.

The swim no-go is especially annoying because I don’t want to swim, I want to run, and I can do that any where. My hopeful date to start running again is May 10th and I’m getting a little nervous because my leg still hurts. The doctor said it would hurt up until it was healed (and then I could get moving again) but I’m so afraid that the 10th with come and go and I’ll still be stuck. I’m so eager to run again that it physically hurts when I see other people out on a job. I made get-well wishes on several of these today.

What would you wish on a dandelion for?

Fruit eaten so far today: 3cups

25Apr2010

A Day That Wasn’t

by Emily

I accomplished less than nothing today. Seriously. And I seriously don’t want to talk about it. 😦 Boo, let’s just get to the food.

This morning I used the amazingness that is Thai young coconut,

to make this amazingness.

The world’s simplest, simply amazing smoothie contained the flesh and juice of one coconut, a big shake of cinnamon-sugar, and 1/2t xanthan gum (which still was a bit too much gum). So simple and too tasty.

Dinner was courtesy of Wegman’s salad bar. My one and only accomplishment today was getting the grocery shopping done.

Wok cooked veggies and blanched broccoli,

and amazingly delicious eggplant.

This is quickly becoming my favorite veggie! I normally would stick to a smaller serving of something that looked fried, but Wegmans is becoming very nyc-ish and they had the nutritional info posted next to the dish – 140calories for 1cup.

Sorry to be in such an anti-stellar mood. Hopefully a good night of sleep will set me right.

Do you ever have any days that aren’t?

P.S. I used the word “amazing” 4 times in that short post. Who was an English major?!?

20Apr2010

Earthlings

by Emily

This is a cursory post but I wanted to stop in. I didn’t eat a single veggie today, but I also just didn’t eat much in general.

While studying on campus I drank a frozen coffee with coconut.

After my test I went with Adam to Jamba Juice for a Pink Star smoothie.

Before class I grabbed an everything bagel with cream cheese.

And on the way home I ate a bag of chips. [I realize my food choices today won’t be winning any awards]

And that was it.

Dinner didn’t happen. In spite of the warnings from fellow bloggers about it’s graphic nature I decided to watch the trailer for Earthlings WARNING Clip plays immediately. I think the movie is a great idea and I’m glad that a lot of cities have been having showings recently. But for me it was not a good idea.

I know how animals are treated in factory farms. I wouldn’t eat mammals regardless, but I recognize that if I can’t see the process for fish and fowl then I shouldn’t be eating them. I do, however, disagree with conventional meat (fish/fowl) production which is why Adam and I are going to make more of an effort to purchase ethically.

But I do not believe in the fur industry. I have never believed in the fur industry, I’ve always been staunchly against it. I’ve said for months that Kanye West is a monster. I do not need to learn more about the fur industry, there is nothing that could convince me to be more against it than I already am. So seeing clips of animals within the fur industry was not a learning experience for me.

I cried for 20minutes. I’ve described the exact process I watched, in detail, but actually seeing it was heart-wrenching for me. Of course I was bothered by the clips of the farm animals and seals, but when the video reached the part with the fox I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. Watching that clip was genuinely the worst I’ve ever felt. Adam sat on the couch and rubbed my back and he told me later that he’s never seen me react to something like that before (and we’ve been through some pretty hard experiences).

Sometimes the fact that human beings are so awful just makes me feel hopeless. Like there’s nothing I can do that will be good enough to counteract all the bad out there. On some level I really do believe in a balance of positive and negative energy, so modern humans scare me. How can we put so much hate into the world?

Have you seen, or are you going to see Earthlings? Have you seen the trailer?

14Apr2010

Taming the Beast

by Emily

Sorry for the late post, I had 8am lab and my day ended up galloping off from there! I was hoping my extreme hunger was a yesterday thing, but it ended up following me into today as well; I felt like I was trying to tame the beast!

We had a hard quiz this morning (the first of the semester I don’t think I got a 100% on, boo) so I started my day with some brain food in the form of a green monster.

1 cup frozen spinach + 1 cup calcium/vitamin d oj + 1 frozen banana = tasty, healthy perfection! I’m glad I experimented for the husband’s sake, but you just cannot improve on this recipe.

Normally GMs leave me satisfied until lunch, but today the beast was howling by the time I finished with lab around 11:30. I knew I wasn’t going to make it at the gym without food so I fueled up at the mini cafe next to my class.

A cup of fruit salad and some Silk Soy Chocolate Milk.

Ready to go; I’ve got to give the snack a little credit for the fact that I had another great swim work out. As promised – because I love you guys! – here’s a picture of me in all my dorky glory in my swim cap:

Actually, a lady walked by right as I took this picture so I had to explain to her why I was taking photographs in the ladies’ locker room. She ended up giving me some great swimming tips and encouragement. Although I’m still a little jealous of Meghann’s locker room social scene.

In the pool I did 32 laps (75ft each) in 28minutes. The husband walked into the pool area in time for my last loop so I tried to haul ass; I could feel my heart pounding by the time I was done!

We had to run some errands on the way home and Adam decided we were going to lunch. He didn’t consult me and I had pool water dripping down my back but I’m still not complaining! You’ll never guess the location he chose 😀

Yes, we went back to Cozumel again; yes, I did major damage to the chips.

I told you the menu is expansive, I tried yet another new item! Veggie Chimis –

Nachos aside, I never order stuff like this and I quickly remembered why. Unless we are talking french fries I don’t like things that are fried, give me roasted or raw any day! Thankfully it wasn’t all that greasy and the cheese was fairly under control. Plus it was stuffed with mushrooms, zucchini, and summer squash.

I didn’t even taste my rice, who would want more carbs as a side with this?

My hunger was only temporarily quelled though, and a few hours later I was ready for more. The husband I continued our fancy-free attitude and took a walk to Sweet Tooth.

I went with a small ice-cream which beyond hit the spot.

Cookies and cream with raspberry white chocolate swirl. Holy yum!

I’m sure you’re shocked that I was still hungry for dinner a few hours later 😉 On the menu was this recipe for Pineapple-Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa. Two thumbs up! If nothing else, I highly recommend making the salsa.

Here’s my plate:

I had a small piece of chicken,

with a side of roasted veggies drizzled in leftover glaze.

The glaze was awesome but I still could only choke down half of my veggies; I just did not like these! The husband thought they tasted off too, we ended up throwing the rest of them out.

I was a little too fancy-free with the husband today and I’ve got a TON of work to do by the end of the week so I’ve got to run.

Do you like fried food? How often do you eat it? Other than nachos and french fries, yum, I genuinely don’t enjoy fried foods. Although I do like typically fried foods if they’ve been baked (i.e. chicken nuggets).

7Apr2010

Hump Day Slump

by Emily

I’m just gonna be upfront about it: this post is going to be lame. And I realize a lot of my posts have been lame recently, but this one really takes the underachievement cake. It’s sort of not my fault, because my camera was randomly being finicky and low-battery. But it also sort of is, since I only ate three (count them, 3) items today. Tomorrow?

For breakfast I made Adam and I Green Monsters.

(For 2) 2cups frozen spinach, 2cups frozen strawberries, 2cups oj w. calcium + vitamin d. I made this mix to appeal to the husband, but it did NOT appeal to me. I drank the whole thing in spite of preferring the flavor of my original gm and ended up with serious acid reflux.

My stomach was super painful all morning and by the time I was finally hungry again I could only think about one thing – a turkey sandwich. So I went out and got one.

A Turkey Grill, no bacon no butter on the bread, from Coulter Bay. And yes, I ate the fries.

When the husband came home around 6 it didn’t take much arm-twisting to get me to agree to head back to Sweet Tooth.

If I’m really being honest, it was mostly that I’d been home all day except for lab and I wanted to show off my cute top!

Adam got a gigantic sundae (he tore into it so fast I couldn’t even photograph) but I opted for a bear cookie.

I didn’t even realize it was a Black and White Cookie, my very favorite, until I started eating. My nickname for the husband is ‘Bear,’ so it’s possible I took out some of my marital tension on the cookie –

Whoops! 😉

I guess it’s a good thing I got fruit and veggies in at breakfast?! Hope everyone else had a happy Hump Day.

Does your significant other have a pet name? He’s Bear and I’m Mouse. Gag, I know!

26Mar2010

Under the Influence

by Emily

Hello from PA! It was a loooong day in the car but we made it. I’m more than ready for bed, and I have an actual topic to discuss, so I’ll keep the food recaps quick.

Breakfast this morning was a new kind of Green Monster.

For two (Adam and I) I blended 2cups frozen spinach, 1cup frozen strawberries, and 2cups skim milk. They were ok, not even close to my regular GM love.

The reason I made the crappy new Green Monsters was because the husband tends to not like oj in smoothies, but was willing to give spinach smoothies a try. Adam almost never eats breakfast, and doesn’t eat anywhere near enough servings of veggies, so if I could get him on the Green Monster band wagon it would be positive all around. I know it seems like I eat a lot of crap (especially in comparison to the other healthy living bloggers) but in general I’ve been a good influence on the husband’s diet since we met.

He eats far less red meat now, maybe once a month or so. He grew up in a more than once a day meat family.
He’s even gotten on board with the occasional vegetarian dinner. And surprise – he loves tofu!
90% of what I cook is healthy.
I always keep the house stocked with healthy snacks.
And even though he eats his own junk from time to time, he’s basically stopped eating any trans fat because of what I’ve told him about it.

Obviously as a medical student the husband has more health knowledge than the average American, but it feels really great to help someone I love make good choices.

For brunch (eaten at 9:30am?) I polished off the rest of the gumbo.

So fricking good, I can’t wait to share this recipe with y’all!

And when we got on the road we split a bag of Fizzy Skittles.

I am in love with the new nutritional panels I’ve been seeing on some products. Obviously that blurb doesn’t tell the whole story (and there is complete info on the back) but I love being able to know calories at a glance.

By 7 we were starving for dinner. When we pulled off Adam got giddy at the sight of this –

Eat n’ Park. Meh. I’m not big on diner food but he was very excited. This is where the husband influences my choices (and not for the better!) I ended up ordering an Oreo Milkshake with my meal.

I always request skim milk when I order a milkshake. I get no more enjoyment from a whole milk milkshake (in fact I much prefer skim) so it never hurts to ask. Never be embarrassed to make healthy substitutions, even to a not-so-healthy order!

For dinner I ordered the pirogues.

I was starving but these were just not good. I ate about 1/3 and then I stopped. I know I’m not exactly the picture of good choices, but I do have one hard and fast rule – If it’s not good for me and I don’t like it I don’t eat it. There are so many foods that I love and so many foods that are good for me, why eat something ho-hum just because it’s there?

You’ll never guess where we ended up stopping to get me the rest of my dinner –

Wegman’s salad bar! I got lots of veggies and I loved them. I’m not gonna lie, I picked all of the broccoli out of the container!

I also love these quad-containers, perfect portion control. Thai style tofu and veggies,

General’s chicken,

and Paneer Mutter.

Yums! I gave Adam a big bite of all three dishes and he loved them as well.

I was left perfectly satisfied by dinner, and probably should have just said no to pizza at the in-laws, but it just looked too tasty.

A weekend trip isn’t exactly a ‘vacation,’ tomorrow I’m going to try to eat a little less crap. It’s bedtime in these parts, sweet dreams!

How have you influenced your significant other’s eating habits? What healthy changes have you inspired (or been inspired by)?

25Mar2010

Bags and Burst Bubbles

by Emily

Hi all! This needs to be quick or I’ll be late to class. I mostly wanted to warn you guys that I’ll probably get my tests back today so don’t expect a chipper dinner post 😦

I ended up eating an entire bag of green beans of lunch.

Roasted with a bit of salt they are just so addictive!

I ate while watching another addiction; “Mercy,” so bad and yet so good!

And managed to get in a fabulous 20minute strength/stretch session. Yays! Even though I’m not at a gym, my mats still get grimy, so I pulled out this bag of wipes my mom got me.

Good smell + natural + clean up = triple duty.

I also just made my first fresh (as in not frozen) spinach Green Monster.

It was good, but I prefer the thicker consistency of my frozen spinach ones. Sorry to all my readers who like me and want to think I’m cool – not to burst your bubble, but yes I totally matched my outfit to my smoothie!

24Mar2010

Equations of Sorts

by Emily

It’s 9:20 and I would kill to already be in bed so I’ll keep this short and sweet. My day went lab –> people watching on campus –> doctor’s appointment/waiting for the husband’s doctor’s appointment –> eating junk whilst watching tv –> this super lame post.

Breakfast = green.