Healthy Eating

All of a sudden I'm very into eating super well, finding new recipes to try. Five minutes on this wesbsite and I already found a handful of meals and treats I want to try. I found the site this morning when I was deciding what I wanted for breakfast. Normally my breakfast is two pieces of 12 grain toast with peanut butter and honey, but I'm slowly making the switch to almond butter (I like it even more than PB!). That routine is getting boring and old now though, so I was looking to incorporate the almond butter into pancakes, and so I found a recipe for almond butter pancakes from detoxinista. I couldn't try it out because I didn't have all the ingredients for it, but I'm thinking if the weather clears up here, I'll head out to the grocery store to pick up the needed items.

One reason for all of a sudden getting into creative recipes is the fact that I am not longer broke! So with money to spend (on food it is more than acceptable, since I should really be putting it all towards my credit card) and more than enough time find and recreate recipes, why not try new combinations of foods while being healthy in the process!

The one thing that I've noticed about these recipes though is that a lot call for some obscure ingredients that I'd never imagine I'd be willing to try. I'm almost wanting to go out and buy some zucchini, coconut oil, etc to try some new recipes. I'm really excited but also have to keep in mind that I don't have an unlimited supply of cash to spend on a bunch of ingredients.. So I'll have to stick to recipes that call for mostly the same things I guess, but nevertheless!

Any recipes that have become a staple for you, or think that are worth giving a go? Or even any favorite websites!

Ps. My favorite find so far that I've already devoured are chickpea almond butter chocolate chip cookies (you can see the trend of getting obsessed with AB), and next time I'm going to try and get dark chocolate to use to make them even healthier (versus all the sugar from milk chocolate chips).

Health Movement

The last few weeks, even during finals, I started getting on a health kick. This came in two parts. Food wise, and exercise wise. Normally I'm pretty active anyways, but with soccer done, and not having gone to the gym in a few months, it was time to get back at it. Especially with exams going on.

It's funny though, because being in physed, clearly I know the benefits of exercise. It's SUPER important/good for you during exams!! Same with eating well! But before this term, I ignored all the facts and just went with comfort/what was easier. Well being healthy ended up making me pretty comfortable so I stuck with it.

One reason for changing my diet was that it finally dawned on me that veggies are so much cheaper than anything else! It was also easier to make lots in order to have super easy meals to come home to after studying all day long. So I did curry and quinoa which lasted me through exams. Then I got even more creative and searched the web for recipes. I can't quite recall them all now, but my favorite by far was a recipe for quesadilla. 1) spinach 2) olives 3) feta cheese 4) need I say more??? The week after discovering it I decided to throw in some black beans too, to make it a bit more filling and it worked well! It even helped in reducing the saltiness of it all; I put too much cheese the first time and it was way too salty. But it's definitely going to be one of my go to dinner items now.

On the activity part, my gym membership at school is done for now, so I have to go at it without any equipment, so I decided to start running, which is also good to start getting in shape for outdoor soccer. I'm a great sprinter, so indoor is my game, but for outdoor you really need good endurance, so that's my goal. I have an app called runkeeper and found a program on there that I decided to give a try. It's called Running 4 Fat Loss. Now I don't really care about losing fat or weight, (if it happens great!) but it's great because it keeps you more accountable and it changes it up every workout day. There's things like run 30/40/50 mins continuously; fast for 3 mins and steady for 3 mins X 5; fast for 10, walk for 5, fast for 10, etc. And so from this I've also planned a goal to run 10km in one run by May 25, but I got injured a few days ago, and I'm going on a trip in a few weeks so it might have to be pushed back to early June. Again, I don't really care about doing it, but it's a good motivator and it's nice to see your progress.

I have also thrown in a bit of upper body and core stuff every morning before I hop in the shower. I do crunches and heel touches for my core, and then modified pushups for upper body. I had to modify it because with regular pushups, my wrists hurt like crazy. So I do it at an incline now, like off to back of my couch or off my bed. Gets less core in there, but still really good for pecks, triceps, delts and I even felt my traps today. I've sometimes thrown in some mountain climbers too, it's supposed to be good for core and cardiovascular work.

I also have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of free time on my hands, so may as well take an hour or so a day to work out, and also take the opportunity to get creative in the kitchen. And it really helps that I'm a 2 minute walk from Safeway!!

Now hopefully my foot heals quick (I'm planning on rest and ice for a few days, and then doc Monday if it's not better) so I can get back to it! I'm already getting super bored without that hour or so back in my day to do nothing..

Healthy Living Survey

As I get further into my physed degree, I'm obviously learning more about healthy living, so it's become a big interest of mine to eat well, and be healthy. I'm not extreme when it comes to it, like clean eating or any of those things, but to me, as long as I'm not eating things chock full of fat and calories and add in some exercise, I'm goo to go. So here's an interesting survey that Sam posted and I thought would be fun to do. Plus I have time to kill before my next class.

1. What did you eat for breakfast?
We were out of milk this morning so today was natural/plain yogurt from biobest along with some granola. But usually the standard is any high fiber, low sugar kashi cereal with 1% milk. I usually tend to get grumpy if I can't have my morning cereal.

2. How much water do you drink a day?

I'm actually not too sure, but I would say maybe about 2-4 cups a day. It depends if I go to the gym or not. I know this is kind of low, but I've never been a water drinker, so this amount is pretty darn good! But if I was to factor in water from tea, it would be a lot more. I'm on a big tea kick and usually have about 2-3 cups of tea a day.

3. What is your current favourite workout?

Lower body and core. I've always had injury issues with my lower body so training them is super critical for me. I enjoy it because it's not a particularly difficult workout.. I work hard and sweat but it's not like after a 30 minutes run. Funny enough I do like working my core. It's really difficult, but I have two exercise that I LOVE. One is a machine called the torso rotation. You hold on to a stationary part of the machine, kneel on a padded part and rotate your lower body. It's a great workout and a good feeling. I also use a medicine ball after cool down and stretching, again doing a rotation routine. 

4. How many calories do you eat a day?

I'd say about 2000-2150. If I've been really active in the week, of course it's going to be the higher number. I have an app that calculates how much I should be consuming for my body type and fitness level, and it should really be more than this, but being lower means I can lose some weight easier, and I've found I just really don't need that amount (or maybe I haven't been as active as I've entered into the app...).

5. What are your favourite healthy snacks?
Hmmm.. well I guess it would be an apple with peanut butter. I usually tend to have this after soccer games so I can get some protein into me for better recovery, but I know peanut butter probably isn't the best way to go about it. For snacks in general, I just look for low fat and low calorie. 

6. What do you usually eat for lunch?
I'm a creature of habit, so when I take a lunch to school it is literally the same thing every day. Except maybe a different kind of granola bar. I take a ham sandwich on sprouted grain bread (I've finally kicked my obsession with white bread!!), with cheddar, ham and lettuce. Also a banana, granola bar (kashi or kellogs 90 cal bars), and these new cracker chips from peppridge farm. As far as crackers go, I think they're probably one of the best ones, again low calorie.

7. What is your favourite body part to strength train?

My legs are easier but my core is more rewarding..

8. What is your least favourite body part to strength train?
Arms. I hate feeling so sore in my arms afterwards. It's one of the worst feelings.

9. What are your "bad" food cravings?
Peanut butter and honey on toast. Not too sure how healthy/unhealthy honey is, but I know there's a decent amount of bad in that combo..

10. Do you take vitamins or supplements?
I try. My mom is a supplier for Herbalife so she's given my multivitamins, cell activators and glucosamine supplements but lately I've had a hard time taking them. I also take iron.

11. How often do you eat out?
Not too often at all. Usually it's just for a special occasion, or if I go home and my parents are treating. Or if I have a gift card. Does Tim Hortons count (I think it's borderline)? I sometimes have lunch there (with my gift card!).

12. Do you eat fast food?
I really try not too, but last semester this failed pretty bad. It's hard when I have 2 roommates that like to go there quite often, so when I'm with them it's all too easy to go along and not be the odd man out. If I'm in a pinch for time or I'm starving I'll tend to more easily give in as well. But once again, does Tim Hortons count? 

13. Who is your biggest supporter?
I suppose my other friends who are health conscious. It drives me to be more aware when I see posts of their achievements. Last year it was my roommate, she's in nutrition so of course she knows all about what you should and should not be eating. She is for the most part vegetarian so her eating styles definitely influenced mine for the better last year. 

14. Do you have a gym membership?
Yes, everyone at the U of A gets access to the campus gym; it's included in fees. 

15. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
It really depends. It can vary from 6-10. As long as I can fall asleep fairly quickly I can get at least 7.5 but that sometimes is asking a lot. Because of work and sometimes soccer, I get to bed late, and I have early classes Tuesdays and Thursdays so it's tough. I'm trying to keep it around AT LEAST 8.5 because it seems 8 isn't enough, even that 8.5 isn't enough but it's sometimes as much as I can get. I'm definitely struggling with sleep, so far this semester though, so I want to find that happy medium.

16. Do you have a "cheat" day?
No. If I want something, I'll eat it. I don't normally want anything too bad anyways, so if there is a day I want something particularly bad like a chocolate bar, I'm gonna go for it.

17. Do you drink alcohol?
Not very often, usually if it's a special occasion like a birthday. 

18. Do you have a workout buddy?
No. At most I've had someone to go with me, but not really in a buddy type capacity. They were there strictly to make sure I got to the gym, because I'd feel bad telling them I wasn't going. But in the gym I have my routine and I want to do it on my own.

19. What is the best thing that has changed about your life since committing to a healthy lifestyle?
I don't think I've noticed a big difference, but maybe lately, after having being off exercise during exams and holidays, it affects my energy levels.. So far after getting back to it, I'm not sure I've seen a big change, but I bet you I would if my schedule weren't so hectic.

20. What was the last healthy thing you did?

Made my lunch today instead of taking the easy way out (since it was an early morning) and going to Timmies.