Day with Mom

Happy Saturday all!
Hope your weekends are going well.
I slept in this morning, and had a nice breakfast before my usual cardio at the gym. 1 0% chobani topped with a banana, berries and a 1/4 cup of slivered almonds.

The gym was PACKED so I just did my 45 minutes and got out of there! 30 minutes on the treadmill, 5 walking, 10 sprinting, 10 running, 5 walking. Then 15 minutes on the stat bike.
Back home I showered and snacked on a light cheese stick to hold me until lunch.

Before going to my parents' house to meet up with my mom I stopped at Markos where I got us both heathy baked falafel wraps. Baked falafel, hummus, lettuce, tomato and pickles in a huge pita. Yum! I finished my whole thing, it was fantastic!

My mom and I had a wonderful day of shopping! I got some new workout clothes at Dick's, some new workout pants, bars (the new kashi bars!!) and a cute little plate at Target, and we headed to the best stop of all... TRADER JOES!!! I LOVED TRADER JOES!! I got a whole bunch of stuff, which will be appearing this week of course! My favorite purchase was these:

The mini peanut butter cups I have been lusting over in the blog world lately!!

My mom and I packed 15 each (just over 1/2 a serving) for a treat to sneak into the movie we're going to later!! At TJ's I snacked on some chips and guacamole... they were both so good I grabbed some to bring to the superbowl party I'm going to tomorrow!!


Since neither of us had a substantial snack, my mom and I were starving when we got home! We took the easy way out and tried a delicious frozen dinner from Trader Joe's. Gorgonzola chicken (with tomatoes and mushrooms!! yum!!)

and onion & leek foccacia. I had a big slice of foccacia and 1/2 the chicken (it served 2) along with some baby carrots for extra veggies.

Off to get ready for the movie- we're seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button!!

Edited to add: OR NOT! Unfortunately we're going to have to reschedule the movie (didn't realize it was almost 3 hours long!!) but we'll have a nice night anyways!

Instead, we decided to rent a movie and make little froyo sundaes with our mini pb cups!! I put mine (15) on top of 1/2 cup nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt. Mmm!!

A flavorful birthday

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today was quite the day!
I woke up early and had breakfast before I went to the gym- headed there a bit late so I only ended up doing 30 minutes on the elliptical and 25 minutes doing arm strengthening exercises.
For fuel I had my fave oat bran combo- 1/2 cup oatbran cooked in 1 cup skim milk, 1 tsp ghee, a sliced banana and some brown sugar/cinnamon to top. Yum!

After the gym I headed to school where I snacked on some almonds before class. Class was a good one as usual (Sports Nutrition always is!) and then I had lunch afterwards. I packed some leftover chili and grapes to eat while doing some reading.

As soon as I was done reading/writing I headed to run a couple errands before dashing home to bake my Mom's birthday cake!! I baked the cake, then ran out again to grab some groceries, headed back home and frosted/decorated the cake! My mom's favorites are my coconut cake (well, actually it's Dreena from ED&BV's cake, but I've made it so much my family calls it 'mine') and strawberry shortcake so I made a strawberry-coconut fusion cake with my own strawberry compote filling! Yum! A how-to will be posted soon on how I pulled this off! I also snacked on an apple in the afternoon.


After the cake was made I got ready and Nick and I headed to Estia, an awesome authentic greek restaurant in town (went here before) where my friend Danielle happens to work! She served us; we started off with some garlic bread

then we shared the pan seared greek cheese with lemon... A-MAZING!!

We had greek salads as starters (I just dipped in the creamy dressing; ate just a tiny bit of dressing and 1/2 the salad)

and for my entree I chose the BEST lamb I have ever eaten, over a bed of fresh greek pasta. I ate all the lamb but two pieces and only made a small dent in the pasta but it was fabulous! I also had a few bites of my mom's sauteed veggies.

After dinner we headed over to my Grandparents' house where we had cake and frozen yogurt.

Some chocolates were also passed around so I had one of those as well.


This was definitely a night of pure indulgence, but boy was it worth it! Everything was great!! I hope my mom had a fab birthday as well. Since I only got to see her at night, I'm actually spending the day with her tomorrow, so that should be fun! I'm SO excited about my plans tomorrow- I'll let you all know in the morning!!

As you can tell, I had a busy day and I am one tired girl! I'm ready to settle in for the night and watch a movie with the boy before I get some rest.

Happy Friday!

Little by little

Little by little my stomach is feeling better...
but my day wasn't exactly the greatest! It was just one of those days where nothing really went well, so I'm not the happiest camper. At least I got to study with the best friend in the library for a bit today and the boy made me feel a bit better. =/

As for food, I had the usual Tu/Th am fare- 1/2 a clif bar before the gym, where I did a nice getting better cardio workout- I walked/ran on the treadmill for 40 minutes; doing a 5 minute walk to warmup, 5 mintes at 6mph, then 10 minutes of sprints 6.0-8.0 mph, then gradually went from 6.0-6.8 in the next 10 minutes before doing a 1 minute spring and 9 minutes of inclined walking to finish up. Afterwards I headed to the strength area where I did some lunges, standing splits and leg press. After showering I walked (carefully! it was icy and I almost fell multiple times!!) to my class where I hung out in the lounge and ate my banana, granola and 0% chobani.

Lunch after my classes was a turkey sammie with 3 slices all natural turkey, a light laughing cow, about a tablespoon of hummus and spinach on a sandwich thin. I had a big chopped carrot on the side.

Filled me up through a few hours of studying, and then I snacked on a cherry pie larabar while running some errands.

Back home I made a new chili recipe for tonight... Nick and I both liked it but agreed my turkey chili is much better! For this one I used lean beef, kidney and black beans, onion, tomato, garlic, peppers and spices. I'll post the recipe soon but it could use some tweaking. Nick brought over some oven bake fries, so I had my first bit of chili chili cheese fry style on top of 1/2 a serving of fries (not the healthiest, but a nice treat for sure!!) with some reduced fat mexican blend cheese. Can you say YUM??

I had a bit more chili as well to fill me up.

I'm having some photo issues... somehow I lost my adapter and need to buy a new one before I can upload pics, so they'll be up soon, sorry! I told you... one of those days...

Ah, well I hope I can at least get a nice night's rest tonight.

Oh- and I forgot to add last night that while watching a movie Nick and I shared one last piece of the fantastic Devil's Food Cake I made for his birthday. He ate most of the frosting, but the rest was about half and half. ;)


Night!

Not much better

Happy humpday!

My stomach wasn't too much better today; I did 40 minutes of Flow Yoga this morning, and then made my lunch for the day. I packed myself a tuna wrap using 1 light wheat wrap, 3 oz tuna, celery, carrot, 1 tbsp nayonaise, a squirt of spicy brown mustard, capers, salt and pepper. This was a huge wrap, even though I didn't even use all of the carrot!

I packed this with a cheese stick which I ate mid-morning, some grapes and the rest of my carrot which I had with my wrap at noon and an apple I ate mid afternoon.

I also ended up eating some Snyder's pretzels- the little square kind, I needed something to settle my stomach when it was aching and these did the trick . I had 15 out of a 24 pretzel serving.

My first class was pretty good, I got some good work done and then my last class got canceled because of the weather, so I called my dad and he gave me a ride home early. A quick trip to the Alternative Food Co op for some birthday supplies for my Mom's cake on Friday (I got a big cup of ginger tea with stevia while I was there) and I came back home to make an earlier dinner for Nick and I.

I made dijon parmesan baked chicken using a dijon/butter spread and 1/8 cup parmesan breadcrumbs on two chicken breast pieces, baked at 375 for about 25 minutes. I also made some whole wheat rosemary couscous using 1 clove of garlic, a sprig of rosemary and some black pepper simmered in chicken broth. I steamed up some green beans for some color and dinner was served!


It was all really good!

I'm sipping some ginger ale right now- my stomach is still not back to normal and while I've come to figure out small amounts of easy-digested food, large amounts of ginger and my acidils provide temporary relief, I'm making an appointment with a specialist ASAP!

Have a nice night!

Cooling in the cold

Aside from a few much-needed calming cups of stomach ease yogi tea, my latest eats have been cooling which has actually been a good thing for my wild stomach!

Last night Nick picked me up some pomegranate swirl frozen yogurt on his way home, because I was craving something smooth and creamy! I didn't even have to beg (too much) and he picked out the awesome flavor! Best boyfriend ever, right?

So we each had a couple of small scoops (this was about 1/2-3/4 a cup I would say)


Before bed, my stomach was hurting like crazy and I decided to try something- I had a very small snack just before bed; a small piece of a plain italian pretzel (one of my big anise seed ones), just something simple so my stomach had something to do and wasn't trying to digest itself (sorry for the graphics, but that's what it feels like!)
Worked pretty well; I slept better than I have in the last few days!!

This morning I woke up still hurting, so I had another yogurt bowl because it seemed to soothe me yesterday for a bit. Mine had 1 0% chobani, a big banana, 1/4 cup slivered almonds and a dollop of Bonne Maman preserves. Sweet, tangy and filling!
Of course I also had a hot cup of Stomach Ease Tea along side.

When I looked outside this morning the street was covered in a thick layer of snow... since URI is 20 minutes away and I am a big baby in the harsh elements, I'm giving my body a break from heavy exercise and doing some yoga instead this morning, and then hitching a ride to school in my Dad's big truck! I have no idea what I would do if I lived in a snowy place without my parents nearby. They're such a big help!!

I'm off to pack a lunch and do some calming asanas!

Searching for a cure

Evening all!
I wish I had some good news to report on my stomach, but some of you may notice the time I'm blogging tonight... it's only 6:15 and usually I work until 9 on Tuesdays.

Reason being, I actually called out of work this afternoon. Honest to goodness, this is the first time in 3 years of working at the store that I've called out. I left early on Sunday to get rest as well, so I won't be getting very much of a paycheck next week, but I just could not go.

I slept better last night, but getting to sleep was the worst. I think it was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my stomach like this, ugh. Luckily when I woke up this morning it had toned down a bit. I was still achy but decided to have 1/2 a clif bar and trek to the gym for an easy workout. I ended up doing an easy 30 minutes on the pre-cor machine at the URI gym, and then about 20 minutes of legs- just 2 sets of each exercise taking it easy. I showered, headed to the new Kin building and sat and ate my breakfast.

It must have been the cultures in the yogurt, but my stomach felt fine all throughout Exercise Assessment. Then I got to physiology and it was all downhill from there. I whipped out my Syngergy drink... gingerberry flavor, which was ok but I much prefer the guava. This was kind of stinky!!

Did the trick for class, then I ate some of the food I packed:

I had my turkey sandwich made with 3 slices all natural turkey, a light laughing cow, a spoonful of hummus and some spinach on 2 slices of wheat bread along with a big sliced carrot. I couldn't stomach any more (I know- me? NOT HUNGRY?)
My stomach pain just got worse and worse as the hour went on, and I couldn't stand it any longer. I stopped attempting to read my book, called my boss and apologized and headed home to relax in bed.

My mom was a lifesaver this afternoon. I stopped by the Alternative Food Co-op for a natural remedy on my way home, where I found some Acidil, a homeopathic medicine directed towards stomach ailments. Unfortunately I didn't have enough money on me at the time, but I was talking to my mom on the phone and she offered to buy me some. Thanks Mom!!! It seems to be working, temporarily that is. She also picked me up some other goodies- Stomach Ease Yogi Tea, and some Stevia drops to sweeten it up.


I spent the afternoon in a funny, but comfortable position on my bed, resting some and doing some work as well. Nick stopped by for a while- he's been so great to me lately, dealing with my constant complaining and giving me back rubs to calm me down, I'll have to make him a really nice dinner to make up for it when I feel better! =)
During the afternoon I snacked on the grapes I had packed and then grabbed a light string cheese on a whim that I didn't photograph.

When I got hungry again I heated up my work dinner- a delicious can of Amy's Lentil Vegetable Soup.

I had never tried this before and WOW was it good! I'll definitely be buying this one again. On the side I had 1/2 an ezekiel bun from the freezer with a dollop of smart balance. I was craving bread, probably to soothe all the annoying acid that has apparently attacked my stomach!!


I'm going to lay low tonight, get to bed early and hope these Acidils keep on working. If they don't, I may have to go see a "real" doctor soon. I'm looking into an Ayurvedic Physician but so far the only ones I've found are about two hours away so I have to save up for that kind of visit!

Have a nice Tuesday everyone!

Blogging from bed

Hey all,
Still not feeling my best so bear with me for a couple days my blogging might be a bit funky!

I had a horrible night's 'sleep' last night. I say 'sleep' because there wasn't much of that involved! It was mostly tossing and turning and trying to ignore my burning stomach =(
I maybe slept for 3 hours or so, even though I went to bed at 10 and got up at 7.

When I woke up I had a nice bowl of oat bran, I thought something stick-to-your-ribs and dosha-friendly might be good to start the day. It worked-for a while at least. 1/2 cup oat bran, 1 cup skim milk, 1 tsp of ghee, a banana and some cinnamon/brown sugar. My new favorite combination!


The gym this morning was not a fun time. I was soo purely exhausted I even had trouble making 30 minutes on the elliptical. I had it set at 8 instead of 9, and still I stopped at 30, not even wanting to go another few seconds. 175 calories burned. Then, I spent about 35 minutes doing arm strength. I didn't push myself today because I had virtually no energy. I stuck with 12 lb weights and did 3 sets of 12 reps, focusing on perfect form- which turned out to be good. It was just challenging enough and I made it through.

I snacked on a few almonds, but wasn't feeling hungry enough for a full snack- my stomach was hurting so bad I was actually feeling nauseous at this point!
I made it through Sports Nutrition, which was a good class despite my pains. After I headed to the library, where I heated this up for lunch:

It was really good! Indian was just what I needed. I also had grapes I had packed, and a few hours later I snacked on my 0% chobani.


I spent the afternoon reading for school, and reading an entire book on ayurveda I found in the library. I think I've determined I'm experiencing a pitta imbalance so I'm going to try and deal with it that way!!
I texted Nick before writing and let him know I was still feeling yucky and that I didn't want to make dinner. So, we got sushi takeout instead! It was just what I needed. I ordered a bowl of miso soup

it had tons of tofu!!
I also ordered a salmon maki roll, which I had 5/6 pieces of, as well as 4 shumai (steamed shrimp dumplings) and two of Nick's california rolls.

(just a sampling)

It was just enough for dinner, and now I'm sipping on some ginger ale for temporary stomach-relief. I hope it gets better soon, I hate feeling like this!

Hope you all had a better Monday than I! I'll be posting late tomorrow night- I have a long day ahead of me!!

Not too hot

It's not just the temperature thats a little less than hot today... I was not feeling well, all day!
I think I've mentioned it before, but every so often I get some stomach pains that I have yet to discover the source of. Today they hit me hard, so hard that after eating a healthy breakfast (muscle milk light, frozen berries, banana)...

and heading to work, I left 2 hours into my shift and came home to curl up in a ball and hope the pain went away! I took some acid meds which didn't help too much... but I did try this baby...

which ended up being a miracle worker!! I have no idea what it was, but when my meds wore off and I had some of this, I felt SO much better! I've been seeing it around the blog world and was curious to try it. I loved it! Fizzy, just a bit sweet and 100% natural, defintely a new favorite! Too bad it's so expensive =(

As for real food, I had some leftovers for lunch...

and then a few hours later I snacked on some cottage cheese and the grapes I had packed for my snack at work.

Nick came over to keep me company, and I made us a simple, delicious dinner- bbq marinated bison steaks, with baked potatoes (I had sweet with a bit of smart balance, he had white with sb and cheese) and some steamed broccoli. I used 365 Chipotle Citrus BBQ sauce and it was fantastic! Just the type of healthy, well rounded meal I needed to make me feel better.

We did some grocery shopping for Nick's lunches for the week (he starts his new job tomorrow) and when we got back we shared this piece of leftover cake from last night! (I'll do a recap of last night tomorrow, sorry I'm not up for it tonight!)


Now I'm going to get some rest and hope to feel better for school tomorrow!

Hope you all have a nice start to your week!

Mexican Birthday

Nick's Dinner was a success!
I made spicy rice (brown rice, sauteed onion and green pepper, diced tomatoes with chiles, sriracha, cumin, crushed dried red pepper)

and enchiladas!


Here's my portion:

(like my new plates? I love cherry blossoms!)

Off to get ready for the party in my fancy new shirt!!



**More on the cake tomorrow!!