Category Archives: diet

Meatless Monday: #elf4health

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Yesterday I was super duper hungover, and I… oh, wait… that’s a HORRIBLE way to start a post that has the word “health” in the title!  Geesh!  Oh well…

Anyhoo, as I was saying, I was basically laying down all day yesterday and reading lots of blogs and catching up on Twitter and saw a bunch of people writing and hashtagging #elf4health. I clicked around and found bloggers Elle at Nutritionella and Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean and their Elf For Health holiday challenge so I signed right on up!

I am partnered with a buddy and every day we are presented a new health challenge- we will exchange emails and tweets about our progress and help motivate each other as well share recipes and workout tips. Today is the first day of the challenge and we are tasked to go meatless.  And after the indulgences of the holiday, I am oh so ready for that! Continue reading →

Meatfull Monday (with apologies to my vegetarian friends)

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Home Sweet Home

… and we’re back, sports fans!  After six long weeks in the mountains with nothing but dial-up Internet to keep me entertained, I am more than ecstatic to be back home!

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great vacation, a little too great as stepping on the scale the other day forced me to recognize the results of my hedonistic ways.  10 pounds of extra fun, to be exact.  ARGH.

So today, I want to share a handful of the recipes that got me to that place of ample happiness- add happy hour cocktails every day for 40 days plus a metric ton of red wine every evening, and you can earn 10 extra pounds of happiness too! Continue reading →

Meatless Monday: Service for 1

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It’s Day 9 of our family vacation and Hubby will join me and the kids later this week, so in the meantime, I cook for one. Already feeling the effects of too many hamburgers and not enough running, I’m trying really hard to keep up with my goal of vegetarian eating at least on Mondays as the rest of the week demands a turkey sandwich for lunch and some form of grilled slab-o-meat for dinner.

Inspired by my friend Erica’s post on breakfast grains (check out Erica & Abbie’s blog- great recipes, great reading!), I attempted my own version with quinoa and it turned out super delicious and very filling.  Quinoa is nutritional perfection: a gluten-free, whole grain, complex carb, and a great source of fiber to boot- perfect for giving you the energy you need pre-run, and with the addition of the fresh fruit, also provides much needed vitamins and valuable antioxidants.

One bowl will do ya right!

Laura’s Breakfast Quinoa
Follow package directions, be sure to rinse, and prepare quinoa.  Take 2/3 cup cooked
quinoa (hot or cold, whatever you prefer!) and sprinkle with 2 hefty pinches of light brown
sugar and your desired level of cinnamon.  Top with about a 1/2 cup fresh, organic blueberries (or strawberries or raspberries), about a tablespoon of chopped roasted almonds (or walnuts or pecans), and enjoy!  Continue reading →

Thou Shalt Not Ruin Thy Taper

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… I’ve got my eye on you…

Somehow my phone died in the middle of the night, so my alarm did not go off this morning and I missed my 6 mile easy run.  <sigh>  I’ve got 10 days to go until the San Diego Rock n’ Roll Marathon and even though I am tapering (and sleeping in this morning was probably a GOOD thing), I was still pretty disappointed that I missed my run.

Missing one easy run at this point is really not a big deal; however, I realize that what I do and don’t do in these next 10 days will have a tremendous effect on the outcome of my race.  There are several other ways in which one (that is ME) could completely and totally ruin a hard-earned taper.

Continue reading →

Meatless Monday: Lazy Style

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Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend celebrating Cinco de Mayo!  I sure did… a little too much fun that I sorely paid for at the Divas Half Marathon yesterday. (recap coming tomorrow) but, that’s okay- it’s Monday and I’m starting fresh and meat-free.

The weather is GORGEOUS in the Bay Area right now, beautiful but pretty warm by 9am leaving my motivation to cook very low.  So, after my grocery shopping this morning, I stopped by my local Noah’s Bagels to pick up a quick breakfast- they have a new line of Bagel Thin Eggwhite Sandwiches (under 350 calories and 15g of fat).  I opted for a asparagus, mushroom and swiss sandwich on a honey whole wheat bagel and paired it with a side a fruit- a perfect way to start the day!

Just as easy to re-create at home but today I’m lazy and not too proud to admit it!

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Meatless Monday All Week Long

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With just a little less than 6 weeks to go until my second marathon, I am determined to get my body running like a fine tuned machine and am eating vegetarian this entire week while paying close attention that my intake of protein, iron and zinc remains adequate.  (Well, I’m really shooting for just Monday through Friday as Saturday is a 16 mile run so I’m certain I’ll require a big fat bacon cheeseburger after that!)

For breakfast most mornings, I plan to keep it very simple- getting myself fed post-run while wrangling the kids out the door and to school on time is a challenge so the simpler, the better!  I also find that I yearn for protein after an early morning run and found the best delivery of that to be in a delicious and filling smoothie.  Easy enough to throw all ingredients in the blender (with a little help from my cute little sous chefs), hit Liquefy, pour into a glass and go!

Laura’s Easy Flax Berry Smoothies

1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 cup low fat milk
1 cup frozen berries of your choice (if using fresh berries, add 1 cup ice as well)
1 over-ripe banana
1 tablespoon flax oil

Put first 4 ingredients in blender.  Blend.  Stir in flax oil.  Put smoothie in cup and GO!  Doesn’t get simpler than that!
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Meatless Monday (Stomach Flu Style)

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On Saturday night hubby made a feast of baby back ribs, baked beans, and coleslaw and I gobbled it on up, followed by I don’t know how many home made chocolate chips cookies from my BFF Andrea.  Sunday morning, I woke up and my tummy was definitely off. Figured I just over indulged and it would go away but by the afternoon, I had fever and chills, major abdominal cramping, a lot of fatigue, and felt like this:

just put me out of my misery, please

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Meatless Monday

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Happy Monday!  I had such a great weekend!  The kids were with the grandparents so Hubby and I went out for a date on Saturday night to a local wine bar and then had a date day on Sunday at our local Farmer’s Market followed by a feast at the House of Chicken and Waffles- we ate and drank a ton, relaxed a lot.  I did not run once and didn’t even feel guilty about it! Ahhhhhh….

cheers!

right back atcha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meatless Monday

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I didn’t do a Meatless Monday post last Monday as I “accidentally” ate chicken at lunch and felt like a fraud.  That’s okay though, I tend to think eating meat is an instinct, not a choice so I was just doing what comes naturally, of course!

My mind has been so focused on my upcoming marathon that I pretty much forgot that hubby and I leave for Las Vegas (WOO HOO!) on Friday.  Today it finally hit me and so did all the inevitable pre-party errands, so breakfast found me shoving a banana down my throat while hurrying out the door, dropping the kids to school, and then settling into my favorite window seat at Noah’s Bagels for a honey wheat bagel thin with sun-dried tomato and basil shmear and cup of Chelsea coffee.

not too exciting but filling and meat free!

Continue reading →