Food log from 7/26/2011

Here is another day of food logging.  This was on Tuesday, which is a day that I am at home and not working.  You will see how it differs from last week's log when I was in the office. 

Breakfast

Tropical smoothie

1 small peach

1/2 frozen sliced banana

3/4 cup almond milk

1 T rolled oats

1/2 T coconut oil

Half caff coffee with almond milk

After a little play time, we headed out for a run to the park (5.36 miles total).  I was famished after my run (not usual), so I grabbed a snack to tied me over until lunch.

Snack
Nutri-grain bar

Lunch
Open faced sandwich
Toasted pumpernickel bread
pesto sauce
a little extra sharp cheddar
red onions
kale

Oh She Glows -  Apple Sandwich
Apple
PB
Dried cranberries

2nd water for the day (first was during my run)

Snack
My big salad via No Meat Athlete's advice for an afternoon snack
Spinach
Romain
Tomato
Red bell pepper
Cucumber
Spanish olives
Homemade lemon vinaigrette

Dinner

Spaghetti and "meatballs" with nutritional yeast sprinkled on top

I am not a huge fan of fake meat, but it has been really difficult getting meals on the table these past few weeks.  The little guy is not sleeping well (advice?) and I am exhausted as well as not getting enough protein in my diet, so I had about 3 oz. of veg Italian sausage, the hubs had pork sausage meatballs.  This particular brand is very lean and tasty.  I had had in the freezer forever, so I needed to use it anyway.

Snack
Turkey Hill Choco Mint Chip Ice cream (I had a coupon, not bad ice cream, but not great either)
Dark Chocolate Chips

I ran so I get ice cream.  Yeah!!!  It is one of my 2 vices.  Unfortunately, I was hungry all day long but we were so busy that I didn't get a chance to eat enough.  Since coming back to my pre-pregnancy weight, I don't need to be cutting calories anymore, and I am running more, so I actually need more calories.  When I plugged this into Sparkpeople, I was only to 1700+ calories.  That is not enough if I am running and nursing. 

And I was still hungry to after the kids were in bed, I ate a small bowl of dry cereal (Kix) and a handful of Kashi crackers dipped in cottage cheese (not pictured).  That got me very close to 2,000 calories so I called it a day.  I didn't want to eat too much since it was so late.  If I am too full at bedtime, I don't sleep well. 

Daily Totals

Calories:  1,994

Carbs:  306 (61%)

Fat:  65 (29%)

Protein:  73 (10%)

I know I need to get my protein up.  Any advice?  I think I will have to start incorporting more cottage cheese into my diet to help me. 

Easy breezy vegan dinner (inexpensive too)

Here is a quick and easy, but delicious dinner that everyone in my house loves - Hoisin-glazed tempeh with snap beans.  I serve mine over brown rice, and this meal can be ready in minutes.

adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients
5 t hoisin sauce (plum sauce works well here too)
2 t rice vinegar
1 1/2 T soy sauce or tamari
1 t corn starch
1/2 cup water
1 T canola oil
1 T minced ginger (I keep some in the freezer so I have it on hand all the time)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-8oz package tempeh, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups fresh snap beans, ends cut off (can use frozen too)
1/4 cup toasted cashews (I buy raw and toast them at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes).
Splash of sesame oil
2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions
1.  Whisk hoisin sauce, 2 t vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch, and 1/2 cup water in a small bowl.  Set aside.
2.  Heat skillet over medium heat.  Add canola oil, then garlic and ginger.  Saute for 1-2 minutes until golden, but not burning.
3.  Add tempeh and sauce for 3-4 minutes.
4.  Add hoisin sauce mixture.  Stir to coat tempeh, cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 2 minutes until sauce begins to thicken. 
5.  Add green beans and stir sauce, cover and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
6.  Add in cashews and stir to coat again.
7.  Place brown rice on each plate, and splash a little sesame oil over rice then serve tempeh over rice.

I buy my beans fresh, and then bring them home and clean them up and place them in the fridge, so they are ready to go when it comes to dinner time.  If I have the time, I make the real brown rice, but if I don't have, I grab either the Minute rice (brown), kashi 7 grain rice pilaf, or frozen brown rice that can be ready in minutes.

This meal is a hit for everyone in the fam.  Hubs likes that tempeh tastes hearty and meaty like meat, and my toddler likes it, but she likes it to be separate.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

The great smoothie/salad experiment

My husband has always been an active guy, and because of that, he has not had to worry too much about what he eats and can stay at a healthy weight.  Well when I was pregnant with the little lady, I was put on modified bedrest and told to up my calories.  Because one of my 2 vices is ice cream, he made me sundaes and milkshakes nightly.  We both gained weight this way but I had a baby and lost mine, but he didn't have the luxury having a baby.  Right after that, he graduated with a PhD and got a new job.  He now works very long hours and doesn't have much time for exercise anymore (he doesn't like the idea of getting up early to workout either).  He also doesn't really like healthy foods.  He will eat a salad but would always prefer chips or fries. 

So he is a little frustrated to have these few extra pounds on him, and not being able to get them off is even more frustrating.  I was doing a little blog reading this weekend when I came across No Meat Athlete's post on "My 7 links."  The post he chose for "Most Helpful was one on smoothies. 

He starts off by describing that if you eat 2 healthy meals a day, you won't get fat.  Basically, he is saying that if you eat a healthy smoothie in the morning, then you will be more likely to have a healthy lunch, and if you have a healthy salad in the afternoons, you will set yourself up for a healthy dinner, because of how good you feel.  I agree with what he says, because I feel that when I have a healthy breakfast I will make healthier decisions later on. But I also like the idea of getting all your fruit and veggie requirements out of the way with 2 simple meals. Then the rest of my meals can be more of what I am feeling and not how can I include a fruit or veggie into your sandwich. And then any fruits or veggies I have during another meal is just a bonus.

So the Smoothie Formula . . .
Basically it's 1/2 frozen banana,
small handful of other fruit,
3/4 cup liquids,
1 T binder (pb, ground flaxseed, rolled oats, etc.), and
3/4 T oil (flaxseed, coconut oil, etc.).
Then you can add in other healthy super foods like spinach or cocoa nibs.

Then the idea is to have a nice big salad in the afternoon with tons of veggies, nuts, and some healthy oil.

So we are going to experiment with this over the next couple of weeks. But I need your help. I tend to get into a rut when it comes to food.

What are your favorite smoothie recipes?

What do you put in your salads right now?

How can we keep this experiment going?

So we are goi

Workouts and Cooking

My workouts last week went pretty well.  I was hoping to get some yoga in on Monday, but only ended up getting 20 minutes into it when I just wasn't feeling it.  I did better this week.  :)  I also reached 21 miles total of running last week.  My first week over 20 miles, so I was proud to see that I am slowing adding more miles while still continuing to play tennis at least once a week.  A little extra cross training should help out as well.  Here is how last week's workouts went

Monday:  Yoga (20 minutes)
Tuesday:  Running outside with the double JS (5.08 miles), abs (mostly planks)
Wednesday:  30 minute HIIT with an extra 5 minute cool-down (3.51 miles total)
Thursday:  Abs, push-ups
Friday:  5 mile tempo"ish" run, one mile warm-up, then 0.5 mile at 7.2-7.5mph followed by 0.25 mile at 6.5, this continued for the next 4 miles and then a 0.3 mile cool-down, incline at 1%, legs workout (squats, lunges, step-ups)
Saturday:  Easy run outside alone (oh, how I enjoy the peace and quiet), 7.22 miles averaging 9:32mph pace
Sunday: Rest

Total running miles:  21.11

Cooking
We have also done some good ole cooking at the house.  Earlier in the month, we picked blueberries and then the little lady woke up super early one morning so we made blueberry muffins.

 I didn't have any sour cream, so I had to tweak my previous posted recipe.

Rain also interrupted our afternoon plans last week, so I decided to make Runblondie's Cauliflower Chocolate Chip muffins.  We changed up the recipe a little, but not much (subbed in sugar for splenda and halfed the chocolate chips and added in some cocoa nibs).

Another yum!  If you haven't tried these, you are missing out.

Then, Monday morning started the craziness.  The little man was in a mood and because of all his rolling over (both tummy to back and back to tummy), we are having to wean him off the baby straight-jacket (aka The Miracle Blanket).  This has been a miracle for us for both kids as far as sleeping those first few months. 

But between him rolling over and breaking free from it on a nightly basis, we knew it was time to wean.

So after Monday daytime was rough, we had a terrible night with several waking by the little man.  I felt awful (but still ran, go me) on Tuesday so I didn't do my typical menu planning before heading to the farmer's market.  Once there, I grabbed some fingerling potatoes and snap beans (thinking of 2 different dinners for these), but neither was going to work for Tuesday night.  I wanted something comforting.  That brings me to the cheese section of the farmer's market.  Now since having the little man, I have limited my dairy intake considerably for 2 reasons, 1) I have seen where people have seen increased energy by eliminating dairy from their diet and having 2 small kids, I need all the energy I can get, 2) calorie restriction to lose the baby weight, i.e. not having cheese on my sandwiches reduces my calorie intake without having to think about it (I switched to almond milk a while back during pregnancy).  Well it hit me like a ton of bricks, I wanted to make homemade mac and cheese.  So I grabbed almost one pound of extra sharp white cheddar (from WI) and a little over a half a pound of gruyere cheese.  That was over $11 of cheese just for one dinner.  I didn't have a specific recipe in mind so I googled gruyere mac and cheese and found one from Barefoot Contessa. I pretty much followed this recipe to a T, except I had 4 cups of cheddar and 2 cups of gruyere.  It was awesome!!!

It was so good, but I had to be careful not to eat too much because it was very rich and my little tummy is not used to such things anymore.  It made me feel better even though Tuesday night was just as bad as Monday as far as sleep.  Luckily, Wednesday night was better.

Do you have any go to recipes or foods you turn to? 

How is the summer workouts treating you?

Summer Panzanella Salad

I had some fresh veggies I needed to use up, and couldn't figure out what to do with them.  Between having 2 small kiddos and the summer heat, my dinners have been lacking.  Acouple of searches later, I decided to do a panzanella salad.

Ingredients

1/2 loaf pumpernickel bread, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 red onion, cut up

1 pint grape tomatoes (I cut them in half, but next time I would leave them whole)

2 zucchinis, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 T EVOO

3 T light balsamic vinegarette

1/4 cup parsley

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drizzle 1 T EVOO on bread and toast for 10 minutes.

Transfer bread to bowl.

Place tomatoes, onion, and zucchini on baking sheet and drizzle 1 T EVOO on baking sheet.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on veggies and roast for 30-40 minutes. 

Remove baking sheet from oven, pour vinegarette over veggies and scrape the bottom of the baking sheet to get all the bits up.

Transfer veggies to bowl with toasted bowl.

Add parsley and chickpeas.

Stir to combine and serve.

Toasted bread

Veggies ready to roast

Roasted veggies with chickpeas and parsley

The finished product ready to serve

Makes a great summer meal and the chickpeas added make it filling.

As a main course, serves 2

As a side dish, serves 4.

Eating at work (Food log)

So it's been a while since I have shown you what it is that I am eating during the day.  This is a typical day when I have to go into the office (right now that is only one day a week). 

Breakfast

Here is my Green monster smoothie (coconut milk, frozen banana, almond butter, ground flaxseed, and kale) and my morning coffee (half-caf) with coconut milk in it.

Morning snack

A nectarine I took to a meeting.  I love summer fruits!!!

Lunch

The start of my water drinking for the day.  I aim to drink 3 of these bottles everyday.  For lunch, I had leftovers - bbq tempeh with green peppers and onions and quinoa.

And some watermelon for dessert.  Told you I like summer fruits.

Afternoon snack
(Not pictured, ate it before I got a pic)

Heaping 1/4 cup mixed nuts (roasted salted almonds and walnuts) with a couple of tablespoons of dried cranberries (raspberry flavored)

Dinner

Dinner on Wednesdays tends to be more leftover stuff in the fridge because I don't have much time to cook when I get home with 2 small children and a hubby that works until 8:30pm most nights.  So I had bought a zucchini, sun-dried tomato and feta quiche at the farmer's market on Tuesday (it was 1/2 off, so it was a steal of deal) that they make fresh there and use cage free eggs and organic dairy.  I had some of that along with some broccoli that I dipped in hummus.  And then we had leftover hashbrown casserole from a brunch so I had a few bites of that while I was getting hubby's dinner.

I didn't get my run in that day so my rule is no run, no dessert (that rarely works for me but that day it did).  :)  My totals for the day:

Calories:  1,712
Percent breakdown:  44% fat, 42% carbs, 14% protein

I am a little surprised that my fat was as high as it was.  I have been trying to eat more protein, but I have found it difficult, especially when I limit dairy and eat a veg diet.  I aim for 15% but I don't track my calories much anymore so I don't know how far off I am on a typical day. 

Any advice on other protein sources?  I don't tempeh or tofu more than once a week usually, so I need some other choices. 

Runing while it H-O-T! and some stats

Well, we have had heat advisories for the past couple of days.  Like it's not hard enough to get out and run, now it's just down right HOT.  I went out yesterday with the kids at 9:00am and got my 5 miles in.  But I can tell you I was drenched in sweat when we returned home (and I am not a big sweater either). 

I would love to go out early in the morning, but it's just not realistic with little A not sleeping through the night.  Hopefully, in the next couple of months his sleep will be a little more predictable and I will be able to get out there and log some miles while everyone is still asleep.  Right now, he is waking up at 2:00, 5:00-5:30, and then at 7:00-7:30am.  At 5:00am, he usually won't fall back asleep unless he is in bed with us, so that I what we have been doing with him (and by us, I mean me).  I feed him in bed and then he falls back asleep.  I guess I could get up then maybe, I am afraid he is going to immediately wake up as soon as I leave, and then I will get it from the hubs when I return that little A woke up and was hungry.  I don't know, maybe I will try it one day and see how it goes.  Any advice from the peanut gallery on this (yes, I am still BFing exclusively).

Some stats for ya
Little A turned 4 months old on Sunday and he rolled over for the first time on Sunday too.  He went to the ped yesterday and he thriving.  He is up to 14lb. 4oz (25%tile).

My stats
Last week I hit my goal range for pre-preg weight.  According to Dr. Oz's book (it was on clearance for $3.99 on bn.com), you should have a range, not just one specific number.  I have always had a range along with a number.  My range is the number plus or minus 2 lbs., so last week I hit my number + 1.6lb., so I have considered that to be pre-preg.   So I made it back to my pre-preg weight in just under 4 months.  With Hope it was 4 1/2 months (gained a little more weight).  But both times, I did it slowly and other than my mental breakdown at the beginning, I didn't stress about it, just ate well and exercised.  The last 4 lbs. though, I really relaxed about though.  I lost 3lbs. in 5 weeks.  I know some people see that they are so close and try to crash diet or starve themselves to get there, but I read somewhere a long time ago, that when you only have those last few pounds, take it slow (0.5 -1.0 lb/week) and they will stay off.  I have since adopted that mentality and it has worked for me.

Running
In June, I logged 69.68 miles.  If I had known I was so close, I would have tried for 70.  Oh well, I am still getting back into running/training mode, so I will let it slide.  And at the end of June, I had logged 315.19 miles for the year.  Not too bad considering on Jan. 1 I was 7 months pg and then had a baby and had to recover.  My goal is 750 miles this year and I know I can log a lot more miles during the second half of the year compared to the first, so I am feeling good about that. 

I am trying to figure out my races for the fall.  Any races you like that I should do?  Especially ones in the ATL?

PRR Recap

Well, my day started out early.

1:40am - little man woke up crying - fed him
3:00am - little girl woke up crying - I went in and rubbed her back until she started to fall asleep
4:30am- little girl up again - told hubby to deal with it, he slept with her
4:44am - little man woke up again crying - fed him
5:30am - alarm went off

Awesome night sleep!

Race started at 7:30am.  My corral (B), started at 7:35am.  I was off and feeling good.  I put my Garmin VP at 8:13 minute miles, and really tried to stay close to that the first couple miles (I tend to go out too fast).  Mile 1 - 8:07 minutes, not bad.  After the first mile, I was already sweating, which is never a good sign considering I am not a big sweater (although I had been chugging water all week to make sure I was properly hydrated).  I knew the conditions were not ideal at this point.  I don't feel like the heat has ever been a huge factor for me, so I don't know if my body has changed since having babies (it can), or if it's because I am getting older, or if it was just too hot and I finally noticed it.  Either way, I knew I was in trouble.  For the past 2 years, it was 66 degrees at the start of the race.  This year - 7 degrees warmer (73 for those of you who are bad at math). 

The first 3 miles are very flat.  I didn't have much of a problem holding my pace.  At the end of mile 3 is where the first big hill starts. 

Mile 4 includes cardiac hill.  I felt very prepared for Cardiac Hill since I had been running in the heat on a hilly course with the jogging stroller, but I wasn't happy with them. 

Mile 5 my back started hurting.  2 possible explanations.

1. Poor posture due to the fact that I am constantly bending over to pick up the little guy.
2. Lack of ab muscles causing me to have bad posture. (I have started trying to do more abs since).

I also wasn't feeling the push towards the end of races like I used to.  I don't know if it's because I haven't raced much since being pregnant or what, but my drive was not totally in it. 

Once I hit 19th street, I was feeling ok.  I knew the hills were out of the way, and I was near the finish (course map).  I turned onto 10th street and tried to give it my all.  It wasn't my legs that couldn't do it though, it was my lungs (did I mention a smog alert and very heavy humidity).  As I was approaching the finish, no one around me was really pushing it.  I had to bob and weave around people at the end.  I was so surprised more people weren't sprinting to the finish. 

I clocked in at 52:23 and my Garmin said it was 6.31 miles so my pace was 8:18, not quite as fast as I was hoping, but I was pretty happy with it. 

Everyone else with me started later, so I went around and collected tons of freebies.  When you finish that early, people are just throwing things at you.  I had my water and then tried a 16oz. sample of Muscle Milk Light.  Pretty good, but I am trying to limit my dairy, so I probably won't be buying any of those in the near future (and it's pretty expensive too). 

Finally got to my friends and hubby and we went back home and I hosted the race brunch afterwards. 

All in all, not a bad way to spend the 4th.

Did you race?  Any tips for me?

Peachtree results

Well it was hot and humid. But it was a blast! My time was 52:26, but in my defense, I clocked it 6.31 miles so my average was 8:18, just 5 seconds slower than I had hoped. Complete race recap to follow.

Peachtree a coming

I am just a few days away from my second race post baby (1st 10K). I got my email confirmation and I am in Corral B. I was a little disappointed that I won't be starting the race when the gun goes off, but I am only 5 minutes later. This will be the first time i didn't start when the gun goes off since the first time I ran this race 5 years ago. The first year We ran, we did not submit a time and were in the 9th group I think. It was 9:00am when we finished and over 80 degrees already. After that, I ran the Buckhead Sizzler and got a competitive time and have been in the front ever since. I am hoping to have a pretty good time, but we will see. I will put it out there and say I want to break 51 minutes. That is my goal. I have trying to add in some tempo runs and some sprints in during the week to try to gain some speed.

What are you doing for the 4th? Who else is racing?

Peachtree a coming

I am just a few days away from my second race post baby (1st 10K). I got my email confirmation and I am in Corral B. I was a little disappointed that I won't be starting the race when the gun goes off, but I am only 5 minutes later. This will be the first time i didn't start when the gun goes off since the first time I ran this race 5 years ago. The first year We ran, we did not submit a time and were in the 9th group I think. It was 9:00am when we finished and over 80 degrees already. After that, I ran the Buckhead Sizzler and got a competitive time and have been in the front ever since. I am hoping to have a pretty good time, but we will see. I will put it out there and say I want to break 51 minutes. That is my goal. I have trying to add in some tempo runs and some sprints in during the week to try to gain some speed.

What are you doing for the 4th? Who else is racing?