The good along with the not great…where good reigns :)

I know I said it yesterday, but this week seemed especially long.  I think for me it was due to a couple of reasons:  I inadvertently over-trained this week, resulting in aches that I don’t normally have to endure, the kids went back to school after being off for February break, (sleep deprivation) and my relatively new heart rate monitor (about 6 months old or so!) isn’t working properly.  (uh, it got stuck on 175 today in BodyStep, LOL).  It gets “stuck” all of the time!  Giving it back to get it fixed (hopefully).  In case you are wondering, I changed the battery. It didn’t help.

There were also some good points to the week: The kids went back to school,   My heart rate monitor is getting fixed, and I scored some samples of POM Pomegranate Juice  from the POM Wonderful people! (Thanks, Ryan!)  I can’t wait to try it, reviews to come in the next couple of days! Also, I went to the eye doctor and I don’t need glasses to see! Whoo-hoo!

I decided I wanted to try a different protein powder with my oatmeal this morning, and I bought this at the health food store the other day:

Pina Colada!

I added it to my Bob Marley Oats…so pineapple, coconut, and some cashews.  It just didn’t taste good to me, it tasted sweet but was lacking in flavor. I was so disappointed, because I’d heard good things about this brand in the blog world.  Maybe because it was an unusual flavor?  I have one more flavor to try, so it gets a second chance.

The following is a not-great picture of my Bob Marley Oats, it looks very white:

It normally looks like this:

Well, maybe there’s not much of a difference, after all!

After I got out of class this morning (I believe I burned about 500 calories…for what DID register on my HRM), I ate a LemonZest Luna Bar:

and then came home and ate lunch.  I was starving again about an hour later!  Helloooo cottage cheese, homemade Southwest Chipotle Hummus, and veggies.

There was a cheese stick and some more dark chocolate:

Dinner was some leftover, some new.  I want to discuss the carrots that I cooked first, though:

They were a bit charred. Completely not edible, and I was really looking forward to eating them!  (No, I can’t cook, and I’m ok with that! )  The sweet potato turned out fantastic, though!

Sweeeet!

I put the peanut sauce that I made yesterday on my sweet potato and it went from mediocre to fantastic in an instant!

Peanut Sauce

Along with the wondrous, peanutty sweet potato was, of course, turkey (which I have coming out of my ears!!) and some mixed veggies:

It was really good, I must admit

About 3 hours later I was hungry again, so I made a snack:

I know you’re wondering why there’s frosting on my homemade bread and blueberry jam toast. It’s not frosting, it’s Artisana Coconut Butter! I looooove coconut butter.  It is frosting like, smooth, coco-nutty, creamy goodness.  It cost $12 and was worth every penny.  You don’t need a lot, either!  That was probably less then a teaspoon on the toast!

Well, it’s been fun, but I’m exhausted and in need of some sleep.  See you tomorrow, and I hope you have a warm and cozy night

Jessica xoxo

The 6 miler and a *Short* Bar Review

Good Evening friendlies

I am excited because I got my long run in this week (on the last day of the week, LOL).  I drove over to the recreation center about a mile from my parents house, paid more there than if I went to a national gym chain ($11.25!!) and ran on a treadmill for 6 miles.  I am all caught up and right where I need to be in the training for the 1/2 marathon. I also did some back exercises and biceps.  The following are the exercises I did:

Hammer Curls 12.5lbs. 3 sets of 8

21′s –12lbs 30 reps

Open ups 12.5lbs 30 reps

Machine pull down 55lbs 3 sets of 12

Machine Rear Deltoid Row 35 lbs. 3 sets of 12

I knew I wanted to run today so I made pancakes for me and my Dad at breakfast:

That is a picture of my pancake.  It has Oikos yogurt on top (mixed with stevia), real maple syrup and granola.  It was so good!!
When I came back from my workout (I was gone maybe 1.5 hours and a mile down the road) I was starving.  Absolutely ravenous. Running takes a lot out of you, physically.  I’m actually kind of tired of salad (imagine that, LOL!) so I had to get creative:

That is the “COCO POP” that I bought last week. On it was tuna fish, orange pepper, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar.  I ate 2!  And just so we’re clear, that means I ate a whole can of tuna fish, at 140 calories total.  Add 32 calories for the coco pops, 80 for the feta and 10 for the balsamic, the grand total is approximately 262 calories.  Then some veggies, maybe 50 or so? The whole meal, just over 300 calories.  Fantastic and nutritious and flavorful!!

I ate another Lemon Zest Luna Bar (love LUNA ):

Yes, another picture of a bar on the leg. Sorry!

I needed to make another trip to the grocery store  (not an unusual thing, even at home, although I try to limit the trips there) and picked up my *special items* to ship home…items the grocery stores don’t sell in GA.  For example, Chiavetta’s BBQ Marinade, Wegman’s Santa Fe Marinade, some things for the kids, some things for Jeremy, etc. etc.)

I also picked up some new bars.  I will find a bar that I like that doesn’t have a ton of sugar, is greasy, or is lacking in flavor.  Kind of like this bar:

Think Thin. I THINK NOT!!

I love the concept of protein and no sugar.  Unfortunately, when I looked closer at the ingredients, I found that it has maltitol in it (a sweetener, not natural), chocolate liquor, (what the heck??),  and tricalcium phosphate, (which I believe is used in production of phosphoric acid an fertilizers [source]. YUCK. Not clean. You have endured the last review of the Think Thin bar.

Dinner was leftovers:

Ravioli and Broccoli

Could I get some more sauce, please??   Hahaha!

Saucy!

There are only 4 cheese ravioli hanging out under all of that sauce.  All natural and clean.

After dinner, I had to do some mundane chores (laundry) and baking.  I wanted to bake some cookies to take to the nurses at the Pluta Cancer Center tomorrow.  They are all the sweetest ladies!  Since I’m not home and I wasn’t really in a complete baking mood I bought these, which I have bought many times in the past:

Preservative free cookies.  They are not sugar free (now let’s not get crazy!)  but they are clean of yucky stuff:

LOVE these cookies.  They are really good for break and bake!   I made 24 to take in with me tomorrow, and 12 for the family if we want something sweet.

Have a wonderful night and great Monday morning!  See you tomorrow evening!

Jessica xoxo

And then it snowed…

Good evening! Rochester is getting hit with a HUGE snow storm.  The schools here are all canceled tomorrow, so you know that it’s bad.  Of course I was out in it when it began, I had to go to the grocery store (the one that gives me anxiety attacks because it is so busy, LOL) and get a few things for the family.  Tomorrow I have more running around, and I may invest in some trail shoes for running outside in the snow. I don’t think my sneakers are going to cut it.  We shall see!

Today Mom was at the doctor for the majority of the day so it was more of a snacky-snacky kind of day.  Breakfast is my new favorite thanks to my Dad:

Mushroom omelet with herbs de Provence. They really add such fantastic flavor!  That is one whole egg, and one egg white, plus half of a blueberry bagel. (Not the pre-packaged kind, so clean).

And of course, my staple morning beverage:

Cooffeeeee! In an Atlanta coffee mug, where it’s been 63 degrees today, not 16. I’m just sayin’.

I was at the doctor with Mom, and we compeltely missed the lunch that they serve.  I came prepared, just in case, though!  It’s all about being prepared.  I had another Luna Lemon Zest bar:

I really like these bars. I really don’t like the amount of sugar (13 grams).  I have some others I am going to try that I can’t get at home, so if I love them, I’m shipping them home!

I also ate some of the clean beef jerky that Jeremy made me with Braggs Aminos:

That’s all that was left!

This is what it was to begin with..I ate one slice.  Braggs is lower in sodium then traditional soy sauce, so I don’t feel bad about eating it.

I guess that was “lunch”.  I needed to go to the store, and then all of the sudden, it hit me and I was starving so I grabbed some organic chocolate covered almonds, (and almost ate the whole thing!)

I kind of “tore into it”, LOL!

I finally got home in the snowstorm and had dinner with the parents…Italian style goulash with carrots and mushrooms as my veggie, because I didn’t have time to make anything else:

The right side is the veggies, the left is the goulash.  No I did not mix them together! Hit. The. Spot.

I was hungry again soon after, probably because my caloric intake was so low.  I took out some of these:

COCO POPS!!

Oh my goodness, these are fantastic.  They make them right in front of you, no preservatives, and 16 calories.  Lighter than a rice cake.  However, you need to put something on it…(tastes a little like pop corn).

Coco Pops nutrition

I started with SunButter:

I ate an entire one covered in SunButter, which I am normally not a fan of, but paired perfectly with the Coco Pop.

I was still hungry, so I grabbed my cinnamon vanilla pecan nut “butter” (remember it didn’t blend out smooth?) and covered another Coco Pop:

That concludes my eats today in snow covered Rochester, NY.  Hope all of your eats are happy, too!

Jessica, xoxo

Eating in the “Real World”

Good Evening, my friends   I have been super busy helping Mom and Dad, so sorry that the blog is up so late in the day.  I called today “Eating in the Real World” because, well, that’s what’s going on here.  I don’t have the comfort and security of my own home and the foods I carefully purchase at my Publix or Whole Foods.  I am in Rochester, NY and there is a fantastic grocery store called Wegmans…you can get anything your heart desires there including health foods. (But it’s still not the same as being home).

I have a lot of foods to show you from the last two days.  Please remember that I am not home and that there are going to be important choices made, and yes, I choose to eat dessert sometimes

Let’s start with breakfast this morning:

MMMmmm-MMMmmmm!!!

What you are looking at is 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg and rye bread that is free of preservatives. I’ve actually had that breakfast 2 days in a row now!

I also made my Dad some breakfast, also clean:

3 whole eggs with fresh mushrooms and herbs de Provence, rye bread.  He said he liked it a lot

I went to the Pluta Cancer Center with Mom for her treatments today and it was an all day event.  I brought a Luna Bar to snack on after breakfast and before lunch:

These bars have evaporated cane juice, so not completely clean.  However, the lemon zest bar has 9 grams of protein.  It also had a nice, lemony taste, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I am looking to add protein into my diet, so I’ll take it where I can get it while I am at my parents house!

Lunch was served at the Center, and I believe that it is catered and brought in.  It was actually fantastic, not bland at all and had tons of flavor! Again, pleasantly surprised!  I started with a Southwest Chicken Soup:

Fantastic!

It was so good.  Lot’s of chicken, some beans, corn, tomatoes, and flavor! Next I had a small salad with just a sprinkling of Italian dressing, as I didn’t want to eat it plain (uh, yuck!)

This salad was freshly made, you could tell. Crisp! Very good.  I want to mention, all of the food is clean, maybe with the exception of the Italian dressing.  The other option was ranch.

Next I ate a turkey on wheat bread sandwich.  I want to mention, also, that the turkey is real turkey breast, not deli meat.

That’s not a great picture…maybe I’ll get a better one later in the week, because Mom needs to go 3 times a week for Leukemia treatments.

Dinner was from Wegmans.  They have these wonderful, fresh, six-dollar meals.  I chose a chicken breast, butternut squash with spinach and dried cranberries, and roasted brussel sprouts.  All done up in olive oil, and completely healthy, cheap and easy:

I loved the squash and want to make that at home. Yummy!  Yesterday’s dinner was clean but I cooked (I didn’t want everyone to think I was only eating out:

Spareribs, sweet potato with cinnamon, and corn. Not a thing bad about that

Yesterday my Dad wanted me to share a small piece of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (I’ve never been!!) with him and he slathered real whipped cream all over it:

oh, yeah!!!

It was chocolate and vanilla (I think).  A very small treat for me.  They make all of their cheesecakes, so there’s not any preservatives.  Even though it’s not clean, I enjoyed having the treat with my Dad.

That is all I have for you, but I’ve been super busy, both here in Rochester with my parents and dealing with some things at home also.

Thank you all for visiting my blog!  I will probably be doing the blogging at night mostly, so expect there to be updates in the morning!  My care package that I sent myself came from home today so expect some great oatmeal recipes to come Also, I haven’t had time to work out, but am planning on a 5 miler tomorrow!

Have a great night and please keep my parents in your thoughts as they go through this rough time.

Jessica xoxo