June 14, 2009

Cha Ching!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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Who knew being healthy could be so cost efficient? How often do you hear people whine that health food costs too much, that they can’t afford to be healthy? Welp, IMO that’s just a bunch of crap.

When we last spoke (I know, it’s been a while, don’t hate me) I was just starting to cut meat out of my diet. I would not call myself a vegetarian because I have eaten small amounts of meat in the last few months, about once a month or so always at a family function, however my household has become almost completely meat free (Bret still eats it occasionally). In fact I went one step further and cut out 75% of the dairy from my diet. I no longer drink cows milk or eat yogurt, but occasionally I will have small amounts of cheese.

So how am I liking this new diet? Well for one thing, my wallet sure loves it! Replacing the meat and dairy in my grocery cart with more fresh produce and beans has cut our grocery bill significantly! Previously Bret and I were spending about $110 per week on grocery’s. The last few weeks we’ve managed to cut that back to around $75 per week, FOR BOTH OF US! That includes buying pricier almond milk and more organic produce!

You know what else likes my diet? My skin! Seriously! I have heard that dairy can have a negative effect on some women’s skin, but never took it seriously until about 3 weeks into my semi-vegan lifestyle I noticed my breakouts had done down significantly; so much so in fact that I stopped taking an antibiotic I have been taking for 2 years for my skin, and STILL no breakouts! it’s a friggin’ Christmas miracle I tell you! I feel good knowing I’m not pumping antibiotics into my body just for vanity’s sake anymore. If you have skin issues (isn’t that all of us?) I really recommend trying cutting down on dairy. I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but I think it’s worth a try, give it a month and if it doesn’t look better than incorporate dairy again, no harm no foul.

So my wallet and skin are happy, what about my tummy? Thumbs up there too! I think I have finally broken my mild salt addiction and have really began to appreciate the taste of vegetables, not just the taste of lemon and salt, or salad dressing I encase it in. I don’t use salad dressing anymore, I usually put a dollop of humus and occasionally a touch of balsamic vinegar if I’m feeling feisty, other than that it’s just me, a plate full of fresh veggies, and a fork, paradise.

And last but not least, my new diet has resulted in a completely unintentional 3 lb weight loss! I haven’t increased my workout at all, in fact I’ve decreased my mileage significantly since the half marathon training is over, so this weight loss is strictly diet related. I wasn’t trying to lose weight, nor did I think I needed to lose the 3 lb, but still.

Retraction

Let’s talk about this organic thing shall we? Some of you may remember my rant on unnecessary organic foods a few months ago. While I hold my position that buying organic sugar filled cookies aren’t as healthy as people like to tell themselves, I would like to retract my statements about organic produce. I have done some personal research in the last few months (more on this in another post) and have decided I feel better about buying pesticide free organic produce as much as I possibly can. Plus, I think certain foods, such as spinach and carrots, actually have a stronger flavor when grown organically.

HUMGWEE!

So without further ado I present to you an example of some of the delicious, fresh, mostly organic, meat free meals I have come to love:

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Flat out wrap filled with romaine, humus, sprouts, red onion, and hot sauce, served along side my favorite fashion magazine and the new Dave Matthews CD,  perfecto.

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Side of one of my new obsessions, organic berries. These are worth the splurge, and another food I think tastes better organically grown.

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And I was still hungry so I snacked on some organic baby carrots from my favorite brand Earthbound Farm.

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Ok blog friendlies, it’s Sunday night and every college student knows what that means: last minute homework time! I’m LOVING my summer class, it’s only 5 weeks so it doesn’t ruin my whole summer and it’s really fascination. The class is science of food preparation and the lab is basically a cooking class with some mild chemistry and physics thrown in, not too shabby! I have to write a paper on whole grain pancake mix…easiest paper ever :D

May 7, 2009

A juicy debut!

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this in yesterdays post, but my plans to move to NYC are gaining momentum! I’m no longer in a contract with Elite since I have been gone so long, but I have spoken to a friend at Ford agency and I plan to meet with them this summer. Ford and Elite are 2 of the largest agencies in the world so I know I will be in good hands with either one! Bret did a photo shoot of his own, he wrote a biography and made a CD of his favorite drum parts and is in the process of sending press kits to various managing companies. I also am going to try to hook him up with a modeling agency a friend of mine works at for some extra cash while he looks for jobs. We can’t move until my apartment lease is up in February but we are going there to meet with people and look for neighborhoods in July! I haven’t been to NY since I moved back 4 years ago and I absolutely CANNOT WAIT!!!

Juicy Juice!

Eats so far today included lots-o-liquids

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Started off the day with some fresh juice! Here’s what went in it:IMG_0263

2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, half a cucumber, and an apple. Gave me just enough blood sugar to get me through my workout!

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Brunch around 10:00 am included my usual spinach smoothie and some Ezekiel toast with smart balance and jam. I had an assignment for a class to track my eating for a week and discovered I was unintentionally eating an extremely low carb diet! This is no good for a girl in training for races, so I have been trying to incorporate more carbs in my diet now.

Training

As I said in my last post, I’m working on increasing my speed for an upcoming 10k run that I would like to finish in 1 hour. I’ve devised my own training program for this:

Monday: X train/ weights

Tuesday: .5 mile speed intervals

Wednesday: X train/ weights

Thursday: .5 mile incline intervals

Friday: X train weights

Saturday: “long” run 5-6 miles

Sunday: Rest

On Tuesdays I plan to do .5 mile intervals at gradually increasing speeds. I want to average a 10 min mile for the 10K. On Thursdays I want to do .5 mile intervals of gradually increasing inclines at a lower speed. I seriously underestimated the effect of the inclines during the half marathon. There were several 1-2 mile stretches that we at a gradual incline, and they kicked my ass! In order to keep up a good pace, I need to get better at hills!

My official training starts next week but I did go for an easy run today (my first since the half!) I did 4 half mile intervals at 6 mph, 0 incline. Here are the stats:

Duration: 38:01

Max HR: 212??? I think this is wrong

AVG HR: 156

Distance: 3 miles

Cals: 347

The speed intervals felt AMAZING! Much more interesting than the steady 3 miles I was doing before!

I’m off to enjoy the day! Have a good one!

May 6, 2009

Oh mon dieu!

Hello my patient friends! Sorry about the MIA spell, it turns out that working full time, preparing for finals, and training for a half marathon is the absolute max one person can handle (or the max I can handle anyway) and blogging took a back seat. But not it is SUMMER VACATION!!!! At least until June 8th when I start my summer class :) And now let’s play a little game of ketchup…err catchup!

9 in 09′ challange

Ya’ll remember this right? I’m attempting to have 9 totally new experiences in 09, so far I am at 3!

1. Trip to Los Vegas

2. Snowboarding in Colorado

3. Running a half marathon!

That’s right my friends, I finished the half! I unfortunately don’t have a picture of myself running, but I do have proof that I finished:

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That’s my first medal from my first race my friends! And my first race number! Truth be told this run was a BITCH! We trained up through 10 miles, thinking that if we can get 10 down, 13 won’t seem like that much more. So freaking wrong. I hit a MAJOR wall around mile 10 and slowed WAY down. My goal time was 2:30:00 but I ended up at a disappointing 2:53:15. I’m trying not to be too hard on myself because this was my first race and I have only been running for a year, so finishing in itself was kind of amazing. I really want to work on my speed though for my next race in June, it’s only 6 miles so my pace should be much better!

I also got this mamma while I was on blog break:

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It’s a Jack Lalane juicer! And fruits for juicin’! Ok, I like infomercial’s…sue me! I looked up some reviews on line and people seemed to really like it, and since it’s much cheaper than the ever popular Breville, I went with it. And it works like a charm!!!

I also got a shipment of the ever popular Barney Butter, SO psyched about this:

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Sweet Moses look at those chunks!

Oh and the good people at Stony Fields sent me some product coupons, but I can’t find the product anywhere around here! I’m keeping an eye out though!IMG_0229

RANDOM EATS:

Here’s a compilations of random things I made/ate during the last monthIMG_0224

TONS of green smoothies! Consisting of spinach, Almond Breeze, pb, flax, and banana

Stuffed peppers (rice, ground soy meat, egg, bread crumbs, seasoning), roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes, and spinach salad

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Homeade miso soup, to die for!

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Oaty oats:

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Salmon salad

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Spaggheti squash w/ veggie sauce

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Oh, and the ants are gone, wee!

Be back tomorrow!

April 21, 2009

I am

SSOOO sorry guys, I WILL be back, I promise!!!

April 9, 2009

House guests

I have several new house guests all camped out on my bathroom floor.

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These are perhaps the dumbest ants in the world. They are entirely isolated to my bathroom despite the fact that there is no food whatsoever in there. I think they are confused by my delicious smelling mandarin reed diffuser from The Body Shop. My apartment maintenance people told me they only spray once a month on request so they soonest they can come in is May 4th…super. It could be worse, at least they aren’t in the kitchen and ants are the least creepy of the all the creepy crawlies out there. It could be worse, I mean, it could be a spider infestation yes? I did find one on my makeup brush earlier though so I might have to take matters into my own hands and have an ant massacre.

Moving on…

Along with my efforts to cut animal proteins out of my diet (12 days and going strong!) I am also making a huge attempt to increase the raw vegetables and fruits in my diet. I have been drinking OhSheGlows-OhSoGood smoothies consisting of 2 cups of spinach, soy milk, peanut butter, banana, and ground flax. Dinner is hard to fudge since Bret is usually eating with me and would scoff if I handed him a giant plate of raw veggies, so I have been trying to make my lunches mostly raw with TONS of veggies. Here is my average lunch:

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Baby carrots, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, and a pear with a bit of humus and balsamic vinegar.

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And a quarter cup pom mixed with water. Pom water is my drink of choice these days, so good!

I also made a very exciting purchase that goes along with my efforts in clean eating, but i can’t tell you about it quite yet because I ordered my dad one for his birthday/anniversary and someti he reads the blog so I don’t want to ruin the suprise for him. You will know soon enough!

I’m off to work on a case study and a paper on protein needs in the elderly (these are my last 2 papers of the semester!!!!) Have a good day!

April 7, 2009

Meat your maker

In an effort to supplement my new meatless menu, I checked out some meat substitute options at the health food store this weekend, here is what I came away with:

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This is a lot I know, it’s not meant to be a weeks worth, this will last me quite a while. I got 2 types of Quorn cutlets, one is filled with cheese the other is plain. I also got some morningstar burgers which I have had in the past and am a big fan of, and some Smart Deli turkey for quick lunches for work.

As I said I really like Morningstar burgers, however I do not think they taste like real meat, so when I tried the Quorn cutlet yesterday I expected to like it, but I was absolutely amazed by how much it tasted like chicken!!! I really don’t think I could tell the difference between the two if I had them side by side, so delish! I haven’t tried the deli meat yet but I’ll let you know how it goes!

In other news, if you have been dying to see what all the fuss is about with Barney Butter, head to their website because they are giving away free samples! I got mine in the mail yesterday

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My usual breakfast of banana spinach smoothies got put on hold this morning so I could try this stuff out. I decided I would do it up Kath style and add a packet to a bowl of banana vanilla oatmeal.

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Served on the Sorry box :) Bret and I got into a pretty intense game last night, he won one, I won one, we are having the tie breaker tonight…

Back to the BB…I took one bite of this and then immediately put it down, hopped on the website and ordered 2 jars :) It truly is everything it’s cracked up to be, absolutely amazing! It’s different from other AB i’ve tried because of the roasted flavor, to die for!

And just for fun, here’s a few pics from Bret’s bday celebration from  last weekend:

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Me, the cuz on the right, and Jessica, the vegas crew :D

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This must have been a good story he was telling ;)

And here’s one of me all swollen when I got my wisdom teeth out hahaIMG_0204

I took this 5 days after my teeth came out so this was after the swelling had reduced considerably, it was so weird to see myself like this!

I’m waiting for this bowl to digest before I head to the gym for a quick 3 miler, then back home to study for a killer biopsych test I have on Thursday! Have a good day!

April 6, 2009

Anybody out there?

Hey everyone, happy April! Are you mad at me for abandoning you? As expected March ended up being INSANE but mostly amazing, the two trips took up a lot of time and preparing for them took up even more, then my wisdom teeth knocked me on my butt for several days…

I realized something during my absence. I have been trying so hard to get up a post every single day, that sometimes I find myself talking about nothing in particular just to get a post up. So from now on I probably won’t be posting every single day, maybe every other or just when I have something important to say :)

Catchup time! 

It’s time I catch you all up on some of the happenings of March!

1. First off, I have added 2 things to my 9 in ‘09 challenge! The Vegas trip was AMAZING!!! Here are some pics, I’ll post more later!

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And the CO trip was just as amazing! Snowboarding is SSOO much fun!

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2. Bret’s band had a falling out and is no longer. Although this was upsetting to Bret…it made Bret really think about life here in Lincoln….and we decided to move to NYC when my lease is up next winter!!!!! We are going to visit this summer so he can check out some managers and I can look around at colleges there….exciting!!!!!!

3. Jessie=vegetarian? That’s right folks, I may be going to the veggie side! I realized that the only time I eat meat is when Bret is around and I cook it because he wants it. I never have it when he’s not here, so I decided to try and cut it out and see if I missed it…and I don’t! I’ve been meat free for 8 days, I decided if I’m craving it, I’ll eat it, if not then perhaps I’ll never eat meat again!

And that’s the big news in my life, what’s been up with you?

February 28, 2009

BREATH!

Hey guys, I’m so sorry I’ve been slacking lately. Today is the last day of February THANK THE GOOD LORD! I can truly say that February has been the worst month I think I’ve ever had. I like to think that all 2009’s bad luck hit me all at once and hopefully I’m good to go now for the rest of the year :) Besides all the drama you guys already know about, we had some extra crappy luck this week when Bret got screwed over by his “friends”. I’m not going to go into detail because it’s not my drama to tell, but it was quite fitting with the rest of this crappy month.

BUT FEBUARY IS OVER!!! And I got word yesterday that….

I’M NOT GETTING LAID OFF!

I’m so freaking relieved! There were a lot of layoffs, and I’m sad to say a few of my friends are now unemployed :( But this has been such a major source of stress for me over the past month, I’m so glad it’s over and I can relax a bit now! 

I have kind of a crazy month coming up, here’s a peak:

March 2-4 – 4 tests to study for and take!

March 5-8 – celebrating my cousins 25th birthday in VEGAS!

March 13-16 – spring break in Colorado!

March 17th – Getting my WISDOM TEETH out, eeks!

I think March is going to FLY by which is fine with me, bring on spring! After I recover from my teeth surgery I need to get into serious training mode for the half marathon since I probably won’t be training too much in March.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I’m still here! Hope your having a good weekend :D

February 24, 2009

Spooky sprint!

My heart is still racing!!!!

Good evening mates! Since today is a running day I decided to take advantage of “luxury apartment living” and go for my short 2 mile jog on the “scenic lake view hiking path” that was advertised with my new place. I’ve been meaning to check this out but it has been too cold out. Today’s 60 degree weather (thank you global warming!!) put me in the mood for some out door exercise so I gave it a try.

I started out at around 6:30. Why didn’t it occur to me that it would get dark? It was already dusk when I started but I didn’t even think about it, and sure enough about 1/2 mile in it was getting creepily dark, but I’m in a safe neighborhood now so I decide to tough it out and keep going. Well I come to the last stretch of the 1 mile loop around the complex and I was upset to see that this quarter mile runs behind the garages in a sort of alley way. I think alley’s are creepy anyway so running this one at night seemed especially eerie. So on one side of the alley is the back of the garages in one long stretch (aka: no way to escape!) and on the other side is a short chain link fence and what I THOUGHT was a field.

BUT IT WASN’T A FIELD MY FRIENDS!!!

It took me about a tenth of a mile to realize there were HEADSTONES in that field!!!! I was running in an alley between garages and a freakin creepy ass cemetery with old crumbly overgrown headstones complete with spider webbed fake flowers. In the dark!!!!! GOOD GOD!

Then the sprinting began! I seriously booked it the rest of the way to my apartment, I was so freakin creeped out, I kept looking behind me because I was convinced I heard a noise and because of it I almost tripped twice! I didn’t finish my 2 miles, I figured my heart rate was so high the last part of it that my workout was done.

Just had to share, be back latta :D

February 23, 2009

Recovery

Hey guys, still out there?

After Friday nights rant, I decided I really needed to take a weekend and regroup. I took Saturday off of work and told myself I was going to have a weekend free of homework, work, crap food, and stress! It was exactly what I needed! Although the weekend off did put me a bit behind on homework it will be good in the long run because I feel much more refreshed now. I banned any junk food or eating out and decided that I would still go to the gym, but only if I felt like it and I decided to nix Sunday’s long run as it tends to stress me out. I slept a TON this weekend, I took 2 glorious naps yesterday! And it worked like a charm, I woke up bright and early this morning (I was at the gym by 7:30!) much less stressed and ready to tackle the week!

Did I mention to you guys that I found out who hit my car? Well I finally did (the coward!) and spent the morning dealing with my/his insurance, hopefully the car can be fixed later this week! YAY!

I did take some pics this weekend so without further typing (need to get some h/w done!) I present to you my weekend in pictures:

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Plus

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Plus

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Equals

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Avacado, tomato, and guac on a toasted bun, my favorite “sandwich” ever!!!!

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Breakfast for dinner!

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Whole wheat pancakes of course!

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Last but not least, party pics!

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We had our good friends Sasha and Matt over to check out the new place!IMG_0142

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A few cosmos later …..

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Hahaha, twas a blast!