Blast From the Past

My alarm went off at 5:00am for my Saturday morning run. Why do I continue to do this to myself?

The plan was to meet with Ft Smith's running club at 6:00am, so I woke up extra early to have plenty of time to choke down some toast and peanut butter, take out Sully and Ajax, and arrive early for a little warm up jog.

Once everyone arrived at 6:00, we headed out for a loop through Ft. Chaffee, a military base close to town. I averaged a nice 10:21 pace for 5 miles, using the 4:1 run/walk method for the first 3 miles then kept a 9:45 pace for the last 2 miles. I felt strong the entire time and I could definitely have pushed myself a little harder.

Does anyone know how to find the individual stats of each mile on a Forerunner 305? I'd like to know my splits (hoping they were negative) but I can't figure out how to view them. The Garmin Training Center only shows the average pace. 

I felt especially sluggish during the first mile because the night before Josh and I were partying it up 90's style with Jacob and Jessi. The Leonards threw a 90s-themed party in honor of the recent Nickelodeon addition of The 90's Are All That. 

They put together a taco spread for dinner- just what I was craving! I stayed away from the meat and cheese and stuffed my taco with refried beans, black beans, guacamole, salsa, and lettuce.

 

Pic via Jessi

But there was NO WAY I was resisting Jessi's slime-inspired cupcakes. Seriously, they were moist and covered with green slime. I felt 11-years-old all over again! Holy yum!

Pic via Jessi

After chowing down, we sat ourselves in front of the TV and watched DVR recordings of Doug, All That, Melissa Explains It All, and Kenan and Kel. Blast from the past!!! When I wasn't crashing from my sugar high (yep, I passed out on my husband's shoulder at 10:00...I'm so cool), I was laughing my butt off! 

And for a little 90's flash back, here is one of my favorite skits from All That: Cooking with Mandy and Randy.

I may or may not have tried to recreate this scene with a childhood friend, thinking if we sent in the tape we could totally be their understudies. Who cares that we were both females, white, and were horribly not funny. We thought we were legit.

Did you grow up watching these shows in the 90s? 

Do you think shows for kids these days even compare to the shows growing up?

The Unexpected Hangover

This past Wednesday Josh and I drove to Fayetteville to eat with friends at the Mellow Mushroom and test our useless trivia knowledge. 

As far as trivia goes, I felt that we did pretty well as a team. We had a well-rounded group full of movie-lovers, sports enthusiasts, art aficionados, and then me.

I didn't contribute too much, except for some biblical knowledge and random dog knowledge; although I did answer a question correctly that my team decided against: 

What is the drink that the British called Arabian wine??

More questions from that night (answers at the bottom):

What is the capital of Montana? (I'm embarrassed to say no one on our team knew this!)

What creepy crawling insect did the ancient chinese believe was the cause of earthquakes? 

But we weren't there just to play trivia; this fine establishment boasted some amazing looking specialty pizzas on their menu. However, since the previous week and half I had not eaten meat or dairy, I was a little reluctant to give in. But once everyone was taking their turn to order, I quickly choose the Red Skin Potato Pie. Here is the menu's description: 

Olive oil and garlic based pizza loaded with red potato, applewood smoked bacon, caramelized onions. cheddar and mozzarella cheese, sprinkled with chives and drizzled with sour cream and spicy ranch dressing.

Holy yum! After my 'vegan week' ended, I said that I would start eating meat and dairy again if I craved it. Well boy let me tell you, there was no way I was gonna resist this temptation. I dove right into it, but two slices later I was stuffed. 

Since I had only had two slices + a gallon of water, I actually felt pretty good going to bed that night. However, when I woke up the next morning I had a pounding headache and was light headed, weak, and nauseous but starving. I felt horrible and I couldn't understand why. I didn't drink the night before...what had I done differently? 

Then it hit me. Apparently, when you spend 10+ days eating nothing but veggies, fruit, and whole grains your body is super happy. But THEN you dump a big 'ole greasy, cheesy pizza in your stomach and your body will rebel. 

So with the support of the kitchen counter, I slowly assembled my Hangover Smoothie. 

And since I've had quite a few emails and requests for my smoothie recipes, here is a loose description of how I made it:

one handful of spinach

5 frozen strawberries

1/4 cup of frozen blueberries

2 slices of watermelon

1/2 cup of almond milk

1/2 serving of protein powder

By the time I was finished getting ready in the morning, I felt SO much better. This smoothie was packed with the nutrients and hydration that my body was desperate for. Next time, I won't be so drastic in going from one extreme (wonderful healthy eats) to the other (a delicious greasy mess). Obviously, my body knows what it wants!

Answers to the trivia questions:

What is the drink that the British called Arabian wine? Coffee

What is the capital of Montana? Helena

What creepy crawling insect did the ancient chinese believe was the cause of earthquakes? Spiders

Did you get all the questions right? Are you a trivia master?

Vegan For A Week

As a fun experiment (and yes, you can argue my definition of "fun") I decided to go meat- and dairy-free for a week. I didn't do this for ethical reason, however I did recently watch Food, Inc. and since have been much more strict about where I get my meat. And I didn't do it for weight loss or health reason; I feel that I have a pretty balanced diet (with the occasional indulgence, of course) and I'm pretty happy with my weight. I did it merely to see if I could- to see if I had the ability to limit my intake to vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes (which is basically a bean).

And to my surprise? It was quite easy! I don't eat much red meat, so staying away from beef, chicken, and fish wasn't too difficult. However, I'm a girl who loves her dairy and eggs!  But instead of craving milk, I found myself craving grilled asparagus. And instead of wanting chocolate for dessert, I found myself instantly reaching for watermelon.

The best part was that I ate all the time! Keeping up my caloric intake was very important to me because I'm still weight lifting and increasing my mileage; I have to provide my body with enough nutrients and fuel so it can heal itself and perform stronger the next day. Since the things I was eating were dense in nutrients but low in calories, I was able to eat all day long- quite awesome!

My typical day looked like this:
Breakfast: Overnight oats with almond milk; Iced coffee
Snack: Apple with peanut butter
Lunch: Salad with black bean burger; peach for dessert
Snack: Protein fruit smoothie, with extra spinach
Dinner: Bean and salsa wrap with grilled veggies.
Snack: Watermelon

I was literally eating every 2-3 hours and keeping myself constantly hydrated. I found myself having more energy throughout the day, pushing harder during my workouts, and getting a much deeper sleep. I loved that I could stuff my face yet not have the heavy-full feeling. I was full, but it was a clean-full; hard to describe, but I never felt "gross" -a feeling I often get when I eat a meal heavy with meat, diary, or loads of fat.

I don't want to belittle the decision that others have made in becoming vegan/vegetarian by saying it is 'easy' to choose this life-style. I suppose knowing that I was only doing it for 7 days gave me a finish line to cross. Those that choose this lifestyle due to ethical and/or health reasons are truly going against the American culture, something that I got a small glance at. Even though my husband and family were very supportive of my 'experiment', at times I felt others were being accusatory of my decisions and that I was constantly having to defend my choices. Why do people question your choices for eating healthy when no one questions choices for eating unhealthy?

So where does this leave me now? I still have not eaten meat or dairy because I haven't wanted meat or dairy. The next time I crave it, I'll eat it, but until then I'm happy eating only veggies, fruits, and whole grains. So am I a vegan? Definitely not, but I'd like to believe I'm a healthy eater!

Are you interested in looking a little deeper at your eating habits? I received inspiration and motivation by Shelley at Mile High Healthy and Angela at Oh She Glows.  They share yummy recipes, great fitness tips, and show how easy healthy eating can be!

And I also checked out Veganomicon from the library (the title makes me laugh so hard!). This gigantic cookbook is 298 pages of amazing vegan recipes that even Josh liked! And it also shows you how to cook every fruit, vegetable, grain, and legume known to man kind! (Okay, maybe not every type of food known to man kind, but it sure has a lot!)

Have you ever felt the need to defend your food choices? 

Recent Eats

Do you know Jenna from Eat, Live, Run. Well, I don't know her, but I follow her blog religiously... practically the same thing, right? She has amazing recipes, beautiful photography, and wicked writing skills. Lately I've been a little obsessed and I filled this week's menu with her creations:

First I found these Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Blondies.  I made them for some co-workers and then went home and made a second batch for myself...I let Josh have some too. 

Perfect blend of chocolate and PB!

Then I found her amazing Shrimp Tacos with Grilled Pablano and Avacado Salsa.

Holy Yum. 

And speaking of avacado, now that I have this recipe I will never need another one again.

So simple. So perfect.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go appease my grumbling tummy with all the leftovers!