Just after I posted I came across a list of the top 10 most disturbing junk foods. Its no wonder I'm all about the CAFOs free meat and whole foods. Just about every food I find gross is on this list. My food hates include but are not limited to: anything jiggly (jello), fake cheese (velveeta), marshmallows (peeps - I kind of think this comes from girl scouts and one too many s'mores).
Enjoy the gross!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
I'm a big ol' liar. I said I would blog the hell out of Thanksgiving, and while I actually wanted to, I also totally wasn't interested once the time came. Did you know a lack of internet access and television can be totally awesome? Perhaps my newest health plan will be: step 1. become hermit, step 2. the end.
Okay, maybe not. So here are things I learned/revelations I had from the holidays:
1. Vegetable side dishes are so worth it and awesome. Fiance and I made apple squash puree and roasted parsnips. They were fantastic and helped me fill my plate with things that wouldn't make me feel gross later like say the gravy that sister-in-law and I made which pretty much coagulated right after we took it off the stove. Although, thats better than the gravy we made last year which seperated when we took it off the stove. There were other things made by other people, fear not.
2. There can be good leftover recipes. Fiance made a post Thanksgiving salad. (I did not partake because I went to a great restaurant with local ingredients with a friend and her husband. It was most tasty. Warning: when they say spiced nuts, they are not kidding.)
3. Airports, like ball games, will make you hungry. Well, they make me hungry. I was sure to eat a good breakfast, even at 6 am, before departing on Wednesday morning. Two hours later in the terminal, with two hours of waiting to go, I was starving. The muffin and banana were not worth it. The burrito for lunch later that day was so worth it.
4. Running in the cold with high winds will make you feel like death. Don't bother trying even if its the only exercise you'll get the entire time you're traveling for the holidays. Three times around the track (two of them walking) are not worth the ear pain that results. It felt distinctly like the ear infections I had as a kid. Since I am quite sure I never want to experience that again, I stopped. Thank God, cause ouch.
5. Going to the gym when you return home is so worth it even if you're tired and even if it means leaving a very adorable man napping on your couch. Its particularly wonderful if he has made a tasty dinner when you return. Note: we added diced cheddar to this and it was awesome. For lunch today I put it on a bed of arugula which was also awesome. And another awesome: toasted walnuts, nomnom nom.
6. When it comes to following one's own advice I am the chief of the suck in this department. Anything is exercise? Uh huh. You can do it anywhere? Whatever. Bring a jump rope? Yea, right. In my defense, there wasn't much time. I had to do things like shop and drink beer. No, I have not weighed myself since returning, thankyouvermuch.
7. Going straight to the farmer's market on your way home from the airport is totally worth it. Having food you enjoy in your home when you get back, instead of having to go out one more time or order something full of sodium made our return home, is so much more enjoyable. It also made it easier for us to do things like finish the laundry and go to the gym.
In other news, a new camera was purchased in our house. I love early Christmas presents. The pictures around here about to get pretty awesome. Fiance requested that I post his beef stir fry from last week and title it 'Ready to Wok?'.
Okay, maybe not. So here are things I learned/revelations I had from the holidays:
1. Vegetable side dishes are so worth it and awesome. Fiance and I made apple squash puree and roasted parsnips. They were fantastic and helped me fill my plate with things that wouldn't make me feel gross later like say the gravy that sister-in-law and I made which pretty much coagulated right after we took it off the stove. Although, thats better than the gravy we made last year which seperated when we took it off the stove. There were other things made by other people, fear not.
2. There can be good leftover recipes. Fiance made a post Thanksgiving salad. (I did not partake because I went to a great restaurant with local ingredients with a friend and her husband. It was most tasty. Warning: when they say spiced nuts, they are not kidding.)
3. Airports, like ball games, will make you hungry. Well, they make me hungry. I was sure to eat a good breakfast, even at 6 am, before departing on Wednesday morning. Two hours later in the terminal, with two hours of waiting to go, I was starving. The muffin and banana were not worth it. The burrito for lunch later that day was so worth it.
4. Running in the cold with high winds will make you feel like death. Don't bother trying even if its the only exercise you'll get the entire time you're traveling for the holidays. Three times around the track (two of them walking) are not worth the ear pain that results. It felt distinctly like the ear infections I had as a kid. Since I am quite sure I never want to experience that again, I stopped. Thank God, cause ouch.
5. Going to the gym when you return home is so worth it even if you're tired and even if it means leaving a very adorable man napping on your couch. Its particularly wonderful if he has made a tasty dinner when you return. Note: we added diced cheddar to this and it was awesome. For lunch today I put it on a bed of arugula which was also awesome. And another awesome: toasted walnuts, nomnom nom.
6. When it comes to following one's own advice I am the chief of the suck in this department. Anything is exercise? Uh huh. You can do it anywhere? Whatever. Bring a jump rope? Yea, right. In my defense, there wasn't much time. I had to do things like shop and drink beer. No, I have not weighed myself since returning, thankyouvermuch.
7. Going straight to the farmer's market on your way home from the airport is totally worth it. Having food you enjoy in your home when you get back, instead of having to go out one more time or order something full of sodium made our return home, is so much more enjoyable. It also made it easier for us to do things like finish the laundry and go to the gym.
In other news, a new camera was purchased in our house. I love early Christmas presents. The pictures around here about to get pretty awesome. Fiance requested that I post his beef stir fry from last week and title it 'Ready to Wok?'.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Step, Ouch, Step, Ouch, Step, Ouch
This was the soundtrack of my weekend. I started lifting heavy again and did a pyramid of sprints on Saturday. My lats, obliques and hamstrings would like to remove themselves from their torturer (read: me [and also a little bit fiance]). Fiance 'designed' my lifting program. He did some reading and came up with a fancy plan that has something to do with science. Basically one day a week I deadlift and bench press and another I'll squat and overhead press.
I lifted on Friday and then again on Sunday. On Saturday we went to a nearby high school track and ran a sprint pyramid that went like this:
30 second sprint
30 second recovery walk or jog
1 minute sprint
1 minute recovery walk or jog
1:30 minute sprint
1:30 minute recovery walk or jog
and back down to 30 seconds
Then we did 'starts'. Starts are where you lie on the ground and explode into a run. You can start one of four ways: on your back facing away from your direction, on your front facing away from your direction, on your back facing towards your direction and on your front facing towards your direction. We realized after we were done that we should have used starts as a warm up.
On the one hand, after all this activity, I felt pretty awesome. I wont speak for him but fiance said he did too. On the other hand, I felt like I wanted to remove my muscles. I like being sore to a point. Sometimes it goes beyond that point and lying still hurts. I'm hoping its just because I started lifting again.
In food news, we also vowed to eat at home until we leave for Thanksgiving on Wednesday morning. I'm pretty sure that eating quality calories had a lot to do with the awesome. I even accidentally missed hitting my minimum calorie mark yesterday. Usually Sundays are what my father calls a caloric disaster. This particular Sunday was pretty great. I even made meatballs. What I have to say about meatballs is this: nom nomnom.
I adapted my meatball recipe from a Cooking Light recipe for meatloaf that I can't seem to find online. Suffice it to say the key is what would seem like a ridiculous amount of parmesan and parsley for only 2 pounds of beef - like a quarter cup of each. Yes, nom nomnom.
Speaking of food I'm going to try to blog the hell out of Thanksgiving. So keep it here folks because I plan to help you commiserate about holiday food and working as hard as possible to button your favorite jeans.
I lifted on Friday and then again on Sunday. On Saturday we went to a nearby high school track and ran a sprint pyramid that went like this:
30 second sprint
30 second recovery walk or jog
1 minute sprint
1 minute recovery walk or jog
1:30 minute sprint
1:30 minute recovery walk or jog
and back down to 30 seconds
Then we did 'starts'. Starts are where you lie on the ground and explode into a run. You can start one of four ways: on your back facing away from your direction, on your front facing away from your direction, on your back facing towards your direction and on your front facing towards your direction. We realized after we were done that we should have used starts as a warm up.
On the one hand, after all this activity, I felt pretty awesome. I wont speak for him but fiance said he did too. On the other hand, I felt like I wanted to remove my muscles. I like being sore to a point. Sometimes it goes beyond that point and lying still hurts. I'm hoping its just because I started lifting again.
In food news, we also vowed to eat at home until we leave for Thanksgiving on Wednesday morning. I'm pretty sure that eating quality calories had a lot to do with the awesome. I even accidentally missed hitting my minimum calorie mark yesterday. Usually Sundays are what my father calls a caloric disaster. This particular Sunday was pretty great. I even made meatballs. What I have to say about meatballs is this: nom nomnom.
I adapted my meatball recipe from a Cooking Light recipe for meatloaf that I can't seem to find online. Suffice it to say the key is what would seem like a ridiculous amount of parmesan and parsley for only 2 pounds of beef - like a quarter cup of each. Yes, nom nomnom.
Speaking of food I'm going to try to blog the hell out of Thanksgiving. So keep it here folks because I plan to help you commiserate about holiday food and working as hard as possible to button your favorite jeans.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
I Told You My Answers Were Stupid
My co-worker made it onto the Good Morning America Show! This was the interview I mentioned a few days ago on our way to get an after noon snack. Shes the pretty one who says, "That's disgusting."
Also, the lady in the piece is right, the 36 strips of bacon look pretty good.
Also, the lady in the piece is right, the 36 strips of bacon look pretty good.
My Confessionals Are Sadly Unlike The Real World on MTV
I have a confession. This is one that you probably knew already and when I put it out on the interwebs you'll think it's the dumbest one ever.
I like cooking.
I know, so lame. The reason this is a confession is because of the way I feel about cooking. My issue with liking cooking is that I'm a working woman. Not the kind on the street corner but the kind that has an actual career and a direction with an advanced degree to back it up. You may not know it from all the grammar and spelling mistakes I've made here but I is smahrt.
So my issue with liking cooking can be enumerated in the following ways:
1. I hate standing in the kitchen. It makes my knees hurt and makes me tired. I also really despise the kitchen I have right now and so it really feels more like a hot jail when I try to cook in there.
2. I hate being all alone in there. The kitchen we have is so closed off from the rest of the apartment. If I ever make enough off this here career I will be Madame Open Floor Plan, thankyouverymuch.
3. I hate that being in the hot jail all by myself implies something about my gender. This is where my feelings make heads spin and pea soup come out. I just think that it's still a sociologically expected that because I was born a chick I'm supposed to know how to cook stuff and feed people. (For me this is probably more to do with my ethnicity since Greek people get hives from hungry guests.)
I realize that this is all mostly to do with myself and far less to do with cooking (or health and fitness which I claim to write about here) but I suppose I'm just having a hard time with being a post modernist today. I realize that the theory is that I can be in the kitchen because I choose to be and not because I'm stuck there but consargn it ladies some choices are hot and lonely!
I like cooking.
I know, so lame. The reason this is a confession is because of the way I feel about cooking. My issue with liking cooking is that I'm a working woman. Not the kind on the street corner but the kind that has an actual career and a direction with an advanced degree to back it up. You may not know it from all the grammar and spelling mistakes I've made here but I is smahrt.
So my issue with liking cooking can be enumerated in the following ways:
1. I hate standing in the kitchen. It makes my knees hurt and makes me tired. I also really despise the kitchen I have right now and so it really feels more like a hot jail when I try to cook in there.
2. I hate being all alone in there. The kitchen we have is so closed off from the rest of the apartment. If I ever make enough off this here career I will be Madame Open Floor Plan, thankyouverymuch.
3. I hate that being in the hot jail all by myself implies something about my gender. This is where my feelings make heads spin and pea soup come out. I just think that it's still a sociologically expected that because I was born a chick I'm supposed to know how to cook stuff and feed people. (For me this is probably more to do with my ethnicity since Greek people get hives from hungry guests.)
I realize that this is all mostly to do with myself and far less to do with cooking (or health and fitness which I claim to write about here) but I suppose I'm just having a hard time with being a post modernist today. I realize that the theory is that I can be in the kitchen because I choose to be and not because I'm stuck there but consargn it ladies some choices are hot and lonely!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Mmmmm, Fatty Death.
A coworker and I were innocently walking out of our office building yesterday in search of our afternoon snack when a woman with a camera man and a boom operator approached us. She asked if we'd be willing to answer a few questions and we hesitantly said yes (I hadn't brushed my hair or put on lipstick in hours, this is TV people). She then asked both of us, one at a time how many grams of fat we thought were in movie theater popcorn. My coworker's answer was so perfect, "Since its delicious I bet its a lot." My answer was something stupid about how I hate popcorn and blech yuck, I'm way intelligent, ya'll.
Delicious = fatty death is a really good point, however. My post yesterday is a good example of this. Nachos and lasagna for lunch were awesome. The feeling after was awful. Loads of young-ish people tell me (either with words or funny looks) that they don't really concern themselves with their eating habits. To each his own. I have to say I personally love the feeling that goes with eating well and working out. I'm not saying I'm an asceticist or anything and I certainly go out to eat, cook well and enjoy full fat cheese but I prefer to reduce the feeling of death on toast. There are also plenty of other benefits (no thanks, cancer, you stay over there).
The larger, more important point is that you can eat deliciousness without the fatty death part. The obvious answer is portion control. Yea it might be fun to eat the entire cake but I actually like being able to have one slice per day and enjoy it over time. It takes a load of patience and the habit is not for everyone, I'll admit. The other answer is cooking more healthfully. I'm not saying you should invest in that idiotic cooking spray crap, the price of which is so jacked up its like Tickle Me Elmo at Christmas. I also don't purchase low fat cheese, cause, um, yuck. Have you ever seen that crap melt? It looks like you put Tupperware on your burger. I'm not advocating that you buy lower forms of what you like to eat. I'm just saying - steaming and roasting rather than frying.
Now the final issue here is fitness. Fitness is great. A million things are fitness. Walk for goodness sake, I dunno, pick a habit. The thing is, fitness is a very small part of all this. Apparently you can't just eat all you want and work it off. The culprit for the love handles that you're hating on? Diet. The reason your pants are tight after a weekend of fun? Diet. Why your couch squeals when you sit down? Diet.
Bring it on gratins, cheeseburgers and cookies! I will eat you and not frighten my couch.
Delicious = fatty death is a really good point, however. My post yesterday is a good example of this. Nachos and lasagna for lunch were awesome. The feeling after was awful. Loads of young-ish people tell me (either with words or funny looks) that they don't really concern themselves with their eating habits. To each his own. I have to say I personally love the feeling that goes with eating well and working out. I'm not saying I'm an asceticist or anything and I certainly go out to eat, cook well and enjoy full fat cheese but I prefer to reduce the feeling of death on toast. There are also plenty of other benefits (no thanks, cancer, you stay over there).
The larger, more important point is that you can eat deliciousness without the fatty death part. The obvious answer is portion control. Yea it might be fun to eat the entire cake but I actually like being able to have one slice per day and enjoy it over time. It takes a load of patience and the habit is not for everyone, I'll admit. The other answer is cooking more healthfully. I'm not saying you should invest in that idiotic cooking spray crap, the price of which is so jacked up its like Tickle Me Elmo at Christmas. I also don't purchase low fat cheese, cause, um, yuck. Have you ever seen that crap melt? It looks like you put Tupperware on your burger. I'm not advocating that you buy lower forms of what you like to eat. I'm just saying - steaming and roasting rather than frying.
Now the final issue here is fitness. Fitness is great. A million things are fitness. Walk for goodness sake, I dunno, pick a habit. The thing is, fitness is a very small part of all this. Apparently you can't just eat all you want and work it off. The culprit for the love handles that you're hating on? Diet. The reason your pants are tight after a weekend of fun? Diet. Why your couch squeals when you sit down? Diet.
Bring it on gratins, cheeseburgers and cookies! I will eat you and not frighten my couch.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
I Blame Healthy Habits for This One
I have a confession to make: I didn't eat dinner last night.
I have another confession to make: I ate my weight in carbs and cheese for lunch yesterday.
These confessions go together nicely. The results of these choices have been less than appreciated. Lets go to the video:
Monday's breakfast: Came in two parts, one before fiance got up and I was starving and one after when I made eggs for both of us.
Monday's lunch: Came in a GIANT PILE OF CHIPS AND CHEESE AND PASTA AND JUNK yummy nomonomnom. Also, came at about 2 pm, hence a strategically larger-than-normal breakfast.
Monday afternoon: CRASH! NAP! ZZZZ!
Monday evening: Teach a cycle class while half awake and still very full.
Monday dinner: Apple, yogurt, ohgodnomoreblehhhh.
Tuesday breakfast: Normal - toast, bacon, a usual 300ish calories.
Tuesday lunch: Occurred at 11 am because, I think, I was so starving after the ohgodnomoreblehhhh thing.
Tuesday dinner: Just occurred at 4 pm in the form of curry from a tasty Asian restaurant near my office.
Now, I would have waited to have dinner at home if I weren't planning to go straight to the gym from work in about an hour. Clearly, the gym is at fault here.
Stay tuned to find out if I ever get back on a normal eating schedule. For the love of God, someone help.
I have another confession to make: I ate my weight in carbs and cheese for lunch yesterday.
These confessions go together nicely. The results of these choices have been less than appreciated. Lets go to the video:
Monday's breakfast: Came in two parts, one before fiance got up and I was starving and one after when I made eggs for both of us.
Monday's lunch: Came in a GIANT PILE OF CHIPS AND CHEESE AND PASTA AND JUNK yummy nomonomnom. Also, came at about 2 pm, hence a strategically larger-than-normal breakfast.
Monday afternoon: CRASH! NAP! ZZZZ!
Monday evening: Teach a cycle class while half awake and still very full.
Monday dinner: Apple, yogurt, ohgodnomoreblehhhh.
Tuesday breakfast: Normal - toast, bacon, a usual 300ish calories.
Tuesday lunch: Occurred at 11 am because, I think, I was so starving after the ohgodnomoreblehhhh thing.
Tuesday dinner: Just occurred at 4 pm in the form of curry from a tasty Asian restaurant near my office.
Now, I would have waited to have dinner at home if I weren't planning to go straight to the gym from work in about an hour. Clearly, the gym is at fault here.
Stay tuned to find out if I ever get back on a normal eating schedule. For the love of God, someone help.
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