FitFeat

Archive for October, 2009

Hide & Seek Veggies

Oct 21

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 3 Comments

It’s snowing here this morning!  Hello Winter. 

I’m very excited to tell you about yesterday’s feats!  They had to do with getting MSP to consume some veggies!  I hereby dedicate this post to those of you who have written saying that you are having a hard time getting someone in your household to eat their veggies.  :)   

To begin, I made MSP what I’ll call a “First Step Green Smoothie“.  Normally for every breakfast during the week he makes a chocolate protein shake.  I asked if I could make him a special shake this time to see if I could camouflage some veggies in it, starting small in hopes that he’ll like it, get used to the flavor and then progress in to further greens.  (I did tell him I’d be putting veggies in and he agreed to give it a shot.)

First Step Green Smoothie Ingredients:  

  • Ice cubes
  • 10 oz water
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • stalk of celery
  • 1/3 cucumber
  • small fist o’ spinach
  • 1 banana
  • 1 clementine
  • 12 green grapes

Wow, I thought this shake turned out GREAT!  If I still ate whey protein, I’d have guzzled this one myself!  It had such a delicate light green color and sweet flavor.  He did drink it (with only a few funny expressions so progress is being made), but he apparently HATES celery and that was the flavor he zeroed in on.  Note to self:  no celery in future MSP smoothies. 

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For his dinner I’d planned on making him one of his favorites:  Turkey Tacos.  While getting ready to start cooking, I had a thought: I had a can of organic sweet potato puree in the pantry.  Surely sweet potato could be hidden amongst taco seasoning!  I consulted Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious (which I had conveniently checked out of the library on Sunday) to see if maybe she had a taco recipe in there and sure enough she hides purees in tacos in the book (meant for KIDS, I might add!)  I didn’t follow her recipe, but it confirmed that it could be done — without my ruining a pound of pricey ground turkey to find out!

Sneaky Taco Meat Ingredients:

  • 1 lb extra lean ground turkey 
  • 1/4 cup dry taco seasoning 
  • 1/2 cup tomato puree
  • 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
  • water if needed

Brown the turkey, then add the purees and the seasonings to the pan, mix really well.  If it seems too dry add a little water at a time to desired consistency (I only added about 3 TBSP water) and simmer for 15 minutes or until the family is ready to sit down to dinner.  I served MSP’s on small corn tortillas and he only tops his with cheese. 

Voila!img 370

In keeping with the southwest dinner theme, I made a myself a small veggie quesadilla (smeared avo, zucchini ribbons, tomato slices and a very light sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.)  The avocado and warmed zucchini ribbons definitely gave it the texture of a creamy, melty quesadilla without much cheese to speak of.  ¡Bueno!

Topped with some Tabasco sauce:

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And served with a side of Amy’s Organic Black Bean Soup (with nutritional yeast):

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***

Veggie day was a SUCCESS!  MSP ate cucumbers, spinach, celery, a clementine, a banana, tomatoes and sweet potatoes ALL IN ONE DAY!  I can almost see the nutrients making him glow already!  ;)  

My Tuesday exercise was 45 minutes of incline intervals on the treadmill, while suffering through yet another episode of the new Melrose Place. (I keep thinking, “Next week it will get better…”  It doesn’t.)

As for my own ‘hidden veggies’  I hid some sweet potato in my oatmeal (oh and I hid a few raisins in there too…):

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I also hid some veggies inside of two toasted Ezekial slices:

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Now go hide some veggies in the food at YOUR house (I double dog dare you)… but not until you enter the FitFeat Free Giveaway Contest if you haven’t done so yet.  You can enter until Thursday night at 8:00 PM MST! 

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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The First FitFeat Giveaway Contest!

Oct 20

Posted by Shari B. in Giveaway Contest | 18 Comments

Hello again FitFeaters!!

As promised, to thank you all for finding me after the blog move and also to thank you for getting the word out about the blog, I’m going to get the first FitFeat GIVEAWAY started! 

The contents of this FitFeat care package include items you’ve seen me use on the blog.

Like this:

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And this: 
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And a little of this:

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With a bit of that:

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Oh, and some of this:

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And a few other things that aren’t pictured.  You get the idea! 

 

You can enter a number of ways:   

1. submit a comment to this post (counts as one entry)

2. got Facebook?  Put out a status update with a link to FitFeat, leave a comment here about it.  (That gives you another entry.)

3. look for FitFeat on Twitter, then Tweet the contest link.  (Another entry)

4. if you are a blogger, you can mention the contest in a post (with the link) and the pingback will give you another entry.

5. for any friends that you send over to enter the contest  … have them post a comment of who sent them and not only will they get their entry but YOU will get 3 MORE entries

Each comment becomes a number, first comment posted by time will be assigned #1 and so-on.  The only posts from ME will be my adding entry placeholders for people who tweeted and those who get extra entries for friend-referrals.

The contest will remain open until Thursday evening (10/22) 8:00 PM MST.   

At that time, I will head over to Random.org and use their generator to pull a number out of the hat, so to speak!  I’ll put out a post to announce the winner and from there we’ll make the arrangements offline for me to get the care-package to the lucky winner!

G O O D   L U C K !

Get busy entering!!

– Shari B. =)

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The Lunge: Love to Hate It

Oct 20

Posted by Shari B. in Exercise Instruction, FitFeature | 6 Comments

Hello there friends! 

Oh my goodness, where to start today.  I always seem to have more words than time!  :)

Let’s start with the FEATS recap:

Weight Training  (Legs/Abs):

  • TM Warmup 5 min
  • High Step Ups 3 sets of 15 reps per leg
  • Plie Squat with Pulses 3 sets of 40 reps
  • Side Step Ups 3 sets of 15 reps per leg
  • V-Ups for Abs 3 sets of 20 reps
  • VS Snow Angels 3 sets of 20 reps

Afterward, I left the conehead at home with MSP (to save her the ridicule from all the other doggies out on wogs), grabbed Rascal and we went for a quick 2.11 mile run.  Just enough to get him a little activity for the day.  Why are my dogs so good when they are taken out by themselves and such little freak-monsters when they go together?  Are kids like that?  It was a great little run – felt so good after working the legs.

A scoop of Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer mixed with almond milk and a banana served as my post-workout meal, with a little fall view in the background.

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Mid-morning brought about the urge for apple pie, a la Larabar.  For some reason I felt the need to include more fall foilage in the shot since apple pie feels so very “autumn” to me…

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I was so hungry at lunch I completely forgot to take a photo.  I had the leftover shrimp & scallops takeout with a single “Simply…Cookie” for dessert.

I had a doc appointment after lunchtime way out east of where I live.  My ‘health food store radar’ went off like crazy over there  – they have a very new & much bigger Vitamin Cottage that I had to visit.  This is where I did some of the shopping for the giveaway.

And lookie what I found….
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A tropical fruit tart Larabar!!!  I’ve been trying to track one of these new flavors down for a couple of MONTHS!!!  (Apparently I wasn’t trying hard enough, guess it was in Parker CO all this time!)  I was so excited to try it! 

Friends, this is like a Hawaiian mini-vacation in a wrapper.  OH. SO. YUMMY.  Wow.  I need to order a box online PRONTO!  And there will be one in the giveaway schwag.  (shwag? swag?  I’m schticking with schwag…)  :)

By dinnertime I was feeling a bit lacking in the green department, so I made an extra-green (read: not really any fruit to speak of) smoothie.  Extra cucumber, sprouts, frozen spinach, extra celery, 1/2 avocado, and only 1/3 apple.  It was THICK.  And kind of ‘savory’ rather than sweet.  But as a side dish to my open-faced Gardenburger, it worked!

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One thing I meant to mention in yesterday’s post –and somehow didn’t– was a SPECIAL THANKS to Alison of Mama’s Weeds.   I found my new hosting company through her site, and she very kindly and graciously answered all the questions I’d emailed her before I made up my mind on which company to use.  Alison, thanks so much for all of your help and encouragement!  You’re awesome! 

***

It’s about time for a FitFeature, don’t you think?  So today I’d like to talk about one of my favorite exercise moves:  the LUNGE.

If you don’t have a lot of time to get in a full workout (or maybe don’t really have access to exercise equipment) the lunge is an excellent move to employ. 

1. It utilizes pretty much the entire lower half of the body and your core, so you get a lot of ‘bang for your buck’ as far as hitting a lot of muscles in a short period of time.

2. It gets your heart rate up so you can also get an effective cardio workout.

3. There are more variations than you can imagine to constantly change it up.  Here are just a few:

4. You can easily turn it into a full body exercise by adding upper body movements WHILE lunging (bicep curls, side shoulder raises, overhead shoulder presses).

In any lunge you perform, draw an imaginary line straight upward from your big toe on the forward foot and be sure your forward knee does not cross that line.  You are exercising to strengthen and protect your knees… letting your knee travel past that line is asking for pain and trouble in the long run.

If you are just starting out, try a couple sets of however many you can comfortably perform with GOOD FORM.  As you get better, go for the burn.  Out on a walk or run, pick an object in the distance and do some walking lunges (alternating legs) as far as you can go.  Get those legs burning like crazy, watch that knee/toe line, keep your front heel DOWN and GO FOR IT!  This is a fabulous leg/butt shaper. 

Or do some uphill lunges.  Ouchie.  :)  

Squats and Deadlifts are two other EXCELLENT exercises that essentially utilize the whole body, especially when done with heavier weights (as long as the form is impeccable).  But they will have to wait their turn for the spotlight on the FitFeat blog.  ;)

Today’s question:  do you incorporate lunges into your leg routine?  Do you love them?  Hate them?  Have a love/hate relationship with them?  Drop a comment!

***

Quick note about an update to the blog:  there is a new tab in the navigation bar at the top called “Favorite Things” — check it out!

OK, now I’m off to write the next post, which is the one with the giveaway!!!  So check back again yet today!

Have a GREAT Tuesday!

– Shari B. =)

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Un-sprouts 1, Shari 0

Oct 19

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Well hello FitFeat Friends!  Happy Monday! 

Despite all the craziness that ensued this weekend between Riley (aka Conehead) gouging her cornea and also getting the blog moved over, it was still a GORGEOUS weekend.  The weather was absolutely perfect! 

We did get the dogs out for their much-needed wogging at a local ‘backcountry’ trail on Saturday so it was 90 minutes of uphill and downhill - my favorite form of exercise!!  Great workout for the backside!  ;)   MSP and I (and the dogs) were sufficiently tuckered out afterward. 

To fill you in on the haps, Riley either scratched her eye on a bush while hiking or something made her eye itch and she scratched it herself… we flushed her eye really well because we could see SOMETHING on the cornea that looked stuck or lodged.  Our home-vet emergency handbook said if after flushing it doesn’t come out, take a dampened Q-tip and lightly try to dislodge it.  (After having the ER vet determine it was in fact a tear and not a piece of backcountry bush, I felt terrible that we were trying to ‘remove it’… here Riley, let us pour liquid on your torn eyeball and then proceed to poke, prod and scratch it further with a Q-Tip!!  Poor dog…!!)  She’s now wearing the crazy lampshade cone, which means all of the work I’ve done this summer on painting door trim, baseboard and walls is quite effectively being UNDONE by her running into walls and doorways every 45 seconds.  :)    Although, watching her try to get through the dog door is full-on comedy.  (I’m really a terrible person, aren’t I??)   I did finally just open the sliding door though… hopefully that redeems me a little. 

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With all of the hub-bub, I didn’t get a chance to relay to you that my millet-sprouting experiment went totally BUST.  :(   Once I saw those teeny tails on about 5 of the millet seeds that I’d put out a picture of last week, they promptly stopped doing anything.  Here are my lessons learned:

  1.  Try something OTHER than millet next time
  2.  Use the jar method as opposed to the tray method
  3.  If ever attempting tray method again, use thicker cotton cloth than the cheesecloth I used this time
  4.  Drive car to local King Soopers and purchase a package of beautiful sprouts just waiting to be eaten, and admit I just am not meant to GROW things. 

Mind you, I’m not just saying I don’t have a green thumb based on this one attempt. 

This little story should sum it all up:  In May I had read about some really good plants to keep in a bedroom, one being aloe vera.  (The other one escapes me at the moment.)  I happened upon some teeny tiny versions of these plants while out on errands with MSP one day.  I asked if he would mind me adding a couple of them to his cart.  His response was, “How ’bout you start with ONE and we’ll see how it goes first?  If you can keep it alive, we’ll come back and get another one later.”  (Oh…snap!!) I think that should give you an idea of my horticultural skills.  (Someone who IS an expert in that area is reader Joan… you should check out her blog “I’m In The Garden Today” – especially take a look the amazing backyard transformation she’s made!  I think I would feel like I was in paradise every time I stepped out back if that was my garden.)

So far I haven’t killed my aloe vera (maybe it’s just ‘black-thumb-proof’.)   But I will confess that MSP is in charge of all other plantlife in the house.  ;)

On the topic of plants and sprouts… check out my LAVA SMOOTHIE:

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This one turned out SO thick that when I turned off the blender and took off the lid, it had bubbles making their way to the top and ‘gurgling’ like hot lava does!  Definitely an ultra-GREEN smoothie:  2 stalks celery, 1/3 cucumber, 1/2 avocado, sprouts (store-bought, ha!) 1/2 pear, 1/2 apple, fist o’spinach, 8 oz water.  I almost needed a spoon instead of a straw.

Most of the weekend eats were random and uneventful.  MSP scrambled some eggs for Sunday breakfast which I made into a ’breakfast taco’.  I’ve made breakfast burritos before (with flour tortillas), but I am definitely now a fan of the breakfast taco (with a small corn tortilla, guacamole, sliver of raw goat cheddar and tomato sticks.)

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We did have a few Sunday treats, as we often like to do.  I had a spicy scallop and shrimp takeout dish for a late lunch/early dinner (and a too-greasy eggroll):

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And then when it would have been dinner time, I had a couple of these:

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I am happy to see some of the larger food companies wising up about what they put in their products.  (Shown above are the Pillsbury “Simply…Cookies”.)  While a homemade batch with subbed-out ingredients like whole-wheat flour would have been an even better choice, we were having a lazy evening watching the Bears/Falcons game so it was nice to just open the package and pop them in the oven… and NOT ingest HFCS or trans-fatty acids.

Well today I will be doing some shopping for the …

FIRST EVER FITFEAT GIVEAWAY CONTEST! 

To thank you for being loyal readers of my blog and making the move over with me to my self-hosted site, I’ll be putting together a “FitFeat Care Package” containing things you see featured on the blog (and maybe a few other things — we’ll see what the shopping outing brings!)

There will be multiple ways to enter, so get your Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blog, blogrolls and email accounts ready!  ;)   Details coming this week!

Have a MARVELOUS MONDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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Riley in ‘The Cone of Shame’

Oct 18

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Good Sunday mornin’ to ya!

Just putting a quick post out to say hello and let you know that we are still waiting for SOME servers to make the switch.  It’s ALMOST there…  ;)   Hope that you are all making your way to the site ok!  Still having issues with email routing and the comments area.

This is a result of some of Saturday’s craziness:

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(blurry shot… ! )  Let’s just say that taking the dogs out for a long wog turned into Riley needing to hit up the ER Vet last night.

One of the things I learned yesterday after much testing is that the “theme” that I used for FitFeat when it was at WordPress.com is not fully compatible with the version of WordPress running on the self-hosted side.  So after all the back and forth I spent on Friday, it looks like I’m going to be putting out a “new look” after all.  Just wanted to give you a heads up so that when you come back to FitFeat in the near future and it looks TOTALLY different, I don’t want you to think you’re at the wrong place!

Hopefully things will be running NORMALLY again very soon!  I’ll try to get back out later today with a Saturday recap… depends on how much time I have to spend on getting server things ‘fixed’.

I hope that you are all having a WONDERFUL weekend so far!

–Shari B.  =)

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You Found Me!

Oct 17

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 4 Comments

Happy Saturday blog buds! :)

If you are reading this post then some of the propagation changes have occurred or your subscription is working.  (woohooo! and thanks for finding me!) At our house, the blog change hasn’t hit our ISP provider server yet so I’m having to use a workaround to put out this post.

Who’d have thought moving a simple little blog/website from one WordPress platform to another would be such an involved process?  I won’t go into details because then a full-on venting session may ensue…  I guess I take a while to ‘embrace’ change.

I spent a good part of yesterday working on setting up a new theme so that FitFeat would have a neat new look for you when you got here today.  Being that I’m not someone versed in CSS or PHP coding, it was a slow process.  I did learn a lot and had the whole thing pretty much set up but there was one thing that I just could NOT customize and it drove me nuts.  So I ultimately decided to revert to the ‘theme’ that you are used to seeing.  Maybe in the near future when banging my head against a wall for a few hours won’t hurt so bad, I’ll give it another shot.  I’m going to set up a test environment first and play with it.

So all that said, this is of those days where yesterday morning feels like FOREVER ago!  Lots to catch you up on.

My Friday started out with my beloved energy elixir (aka java).  I think the selection of my “drama queen” mug may have set the karma for the day.  I certainly became one by the time 7:30 PM rolled around when I was hungry and ready to STOP being in front of the computer.  I may or may not have thrown a temper tantrum in poor MSP’s direction.   ;)

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After my jolt of coffee, it was time to head downstairs to the gym for some upper body weight training.  Immediately following I had this pretty little pluot to put a smile on my face.  VIBRANT is all I can say about this little cutie:

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Changed and ready to start the ‘workday’, it was time for my real breakfast, an EXTRA-green smoothie. Holy-tastes-like-grass-clippings Batman!  It was cucumber, avocado, sprouts, spinach, celery and only 1/4 of an apple (because I seriously sliced the rest and FORGOT to add it to the blender… didn’t notice till I went to put everything away and then took a sip of my smoothie!)  It tasted green, that’s for sure!  I did love the texture the avocado gave it, though.

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I realized when I posted about having all those avos, I didn’t explain that normally I buy one or two at a time.  I happened to be at Costco last weekend and they had bags of 5 for a bargain.  So I bought a bag, and they all ripened together.  I didn’t want to waste any of them so I was frantically trying to find a way to use them all and not get sick of the flavor!

Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions about things to do with avocados!  Did any of you happen to read about the dryer lint smoothie in Cindy’s comment?  I’m linking you to her site so that you can see it… it DOES look like dryer lint!  Too fun!

One of the things I decided to make since I happened to have all the ingredients was a Mango-Avocado Salsa from allrecipes.com.  I made a few adjustments:  used agave in lieu of white sugar, and rice vinegar in lieu of white (because I didn’t have any white!). I don’t think it made any difference which vinegar was used in it.  Got all my prep stuff lined up:

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All made and ready to rest in the fridge so the flavors can “mingle”:

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I also still had some leftover kale that I wanted to use.  I was going to try the great recipe Alexandra wrote about in the comments section recently… only I realized too late that I didn’t have any cashews!  So I improvised and mixed up about 1/4 cup of roasted red pepper hummus, some olive oil, little squeeze of lemon juice and nutritional yeast, put it all in a gallon ziploc bag, then added the kale and shook it all around.  Then baked.  Here’s the end result:

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Wow, it was GOOD!  I ate the entire batch for lunch. SO good!  Thank you Alexandra for being the inspiration.  When I get some cashews, I’ll be trying yours next! I also want to try the sauteed kale that Joan mentioned in her comment too.

From there it was all PC work the rest of the day.  A Gingersnap Larabar mid afternoon…

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That was it until I was done with the blog move.  At that point, it was out of my hands.  I’d done everything on my end.  As I’d mentioned, I was SO ready for a glass of wine.  I chose a little organic table red called “Our Daily Red” which MSP so kindly picked up for me on the way home.  (When he offered to help me earlier in the day, my response was BUY ME SOME ALCOHOL ON YOUR WAY HOME FROM WORK! That’s the kind of help I need right now!)  No I do not turn to alcohol to relieve my stress.  :)   Just this time, I swear!

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I munched on a couple of pieces of raw goat cheddar with my glass of vino.  Then this:

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I just felt the need for some ‘naughty’ food.  And believe it when I say I did read the ingredients and selected this because it did NOT have any partially hydrogenated gunk in it.  It had other gunk, but at least it was semi-real gunk.  ;)    It was time to park it in front of the TV for a bit in order to let my brain stop clicking… so I turned on the episode of “The Office” that I’d missed most of Thursday night and what happens?  I FELL ASLEEP AGAIN!!  Twice I’d missed this episode!  Guess if I ever have a bout of insomnia again, the trick is to watch a little Michael Scott and Dwight!  :)

Well my friends, it is a BEAUTIFUL Saturday here.  Not a cloud in the blue sky, and WARM!  You know what that means!  Shari needs her vitamin D fix!!  Have a SUPERB Saturday and thanks so much for sticking it out with me during the blog move!

Stay tuned this week for the first FitFeat Contest Giveaway!!

–Shari B.  =)

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The Great Debate: Pre-Workout Fuel

Oct 16

Posted by in Keeping Fit | 10 Comments

TGIF! TGIF!

Good morning FitFeat friends!  Are you so excited that the weekend is upon us once more?  I am ESPECIALLY excited because this weekend they are forecasting some 70+ degree weather and sunshine!  More chances for me to get some Vitamin D action!  ;)

What a week it has been.  Have you noticed what’s been missing this week?  WOGGING!  My poor dogs.  They haven’t been out on a walk since Monday evening.  I’m a bad puppy-mommy this week!  I’ve had daily “social-cizing” plans and the rest of the time I’ve been glued to my PC in preparation for the upcoming blog move. 

Maybe yet today I’ll be able to get them out.   

Check out my new breakfast creation:

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Now I know what you’re thinking:  “OMG what IS that?  It looks disgusting!”  But let me tell you this was one delicious little pre-workout fuel!  It is toasted Ezekial smeared with coconut oil (in lieu of vegan butter) and then smeared again with a MEDJOOL DATE!  Mmmm coconutty-datey sweetness!  Brendan Brazier (professional Ironman triathlete) says that coconut oil and dates are great exercise fuel:  the coconut oil has MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) that are more easily converted to energy by the body, not to mention easily-digested simple carbs in the form of the date. 

I often will eat half of a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar for pre-running fuel thanks to Brendan’s info.  That particular Larabar contains dates, coconut and coconut oil. 

I met up with my friend (and fellow personal trainer) at The Bluffs yesterday morning for a hilly run.  Wendy is a serious running pro, let me tell you.  She’s a multi-time marathoner (including the BOSTON which one must qualify to enter).  The only reason I’m able to run with her currently is because she is nursing a foot injury.  Notice I’m not saying “keep up with her currently” — because she still could have TOTALLY left me in the dust yesterday, I know it.  :)  

We got in 3.62 miles of hills and dales.  It was a BEAUTY of a morning!  And I felt fantastic afterward.  Wendy, thanks for a great time – I’m looking forward to going again soon!

After that I hit up Starbucks to catch up with another friend and her adorable son, where I had a grande SOY STEAMER.  (Essentially that means I have Starbucks heat me up a nice cup of soy milk, with no coffee or flavoring, and then pay them probably 3 times what a whole container of soy milk would cost!)  Ahhh gotta love th SBUX.  (Thank you Magen for treating — that was very sweet of you!)

Riley never gets any photo love since Rascal is the ham of the family, so I had to get her in the shot.  See what she’s saying with her eyes?  It’s “why haven’t you walked me today, ya big jerk!”  :)

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Lunchtime meant it was time for me to get my major veggie fix.  I still don’t think photos do this salad bowl justice.  It is HUGE.  I measured yesterday and it is 11″ in diameter.  :)   This one was chock full of spinach, heirloom tomatoes, yellow pepper, dulse, avocado, zucchini ribbons, kalamata olives, nutritional yeast, and pepper.  Dressed with extra virgin olive oil.  I ate every last bite and had a few baked potato chips on the side. 

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A little Pecan Pie snack in the afternoon: 

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And leftover “Lazy Girl Dinner“ from the other night whenI had Amy’s Organic Southwestern Vegetable soup.  I had it in a mug with a  little raw goat cheddar and Mary’s Gone Crackers on the side.  Right back to the PC I went…  MSP had his last softball game of the season, so I was right back to the PC to get some more blog work done.

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I did need an evening snack since my soup didn’t keep me full very long, so I made a bag of homemade microwave popcorn (1/4 cup of plain popcorn kernels in a brown lunch bag, fold up the top, microwave for up to two-and-a-half minutes or until the popping sounds are far apart).  No fake butter flavor, no crazy chemicals, no fumes that allegedly cause lung cancer.  Sprinkle with some sea salt and/or nutritional yeast, and munch away!  

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I fell asleep while watching “The Office”.  Lame.  All the social activity of the day combined with a whole lot of sitting at the computer made Shari very sleepy…

***

So for today’s discussion, I’d love to hear how you fuel your workouts. 
Are you an “empty stomach exerciser” or a “fully fueled exerciser“? 

I definitely vary, depending on the situation.  For running, ideally I get it done first thing in the morning after just a cup of coffee (and maybe a bite or two of Larabar at the most).  I feel lighter on my feet and don’t experience ‘side stitches’ when I don’t have food in the system. 

But sometimes when I meet up with running buddies, it’s usually a little later in the day and I don’t like to go that long without food.  So I’ll try to eat something about 90 minutes prior to the outing (usually anything sooner and I get severe side cramps during the run).  Yesterday’s toast with the coconut oil and date worked perfectly.  I had some simple carbs, some complex carbs and the coconut oil.  The date gave me some quick energy and the sprouted grain toast gave me some sustained energy.  It was plenty for my run and held me over for about 3 hours until it was time for SBUX. 

Other forms of exercise (like my weight training and hiking) don’t cause me to have to overthink the food situation as much.  Weight training is usually first thing on an empty stomach.  For hiking I eat about 90 minutes for hitting the trail, then bring a Larabar in case I need it on the trail.

There are a lot of schools of thought as to whether you should work out on an empty stomach vs. being ‘properly’ fueled.  Some say that if you exercise on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, you’ll burn more fat (still burning the same number of calories, but because your glycogen stores will be lower first thing in the a.m. you potentially dig into fat stores sooner.)  On the other hand, there are those that say if you exercise without properly fueling for it, you will be causing a bit of catabolism of the precious muscle tissue we all work so hard to keep.

My opinion is this is highly individualized from one person to the next.   Feeling crampy or nauseous during a workout from a belly full of food isn’t something that will keep you coming back for more.  But feeling lightheaded or dizzy from not eating enough and hence lacking energy isn’t good either.   Base it off of how long or how intense the workout will be.  Common sense applies here.  Listen to your body and take note of how you feel so that next time you can make the right ‘tweaks’ to feel FANTASTIC during your workouts. 

Isn’t that really what it’s all about anyway?  :)   I’d rather feel great during my workouts (which means I’ll be more inclined to do it again tomorrow, and the day after that, etc.) than be too focused on what percentage of the calories burned are from fat.  (Been there, done that…!)   Overall if you are moving your body regularly and eating nutritious foods, you’ll get where you want to go.

Let us know which side of the fence you’re on — drop a comment!

Alrighty friends, I’ve got a LOT on the plate today so I’m gonna get cracking!  Have a FAB FRIDAY! 

If all goes as planned today I may be back later on with the last notice before the blog moves.  If not, you’ll know I hit an speed bump… ;)   

See ya next time! 

– Shari B. =)

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Too Many Avocados, Too Little Time

Oct 15

Posted by in Keeping Fit | 6 Comments

Hello again blog buds! 

As promised I’m back with the continuation of Wednesday’s recap since I had to jet out so fast earlier this morning to make it to my running appointment!

After hiking yesterday with my good friend (thanks Keri!!) I snacked on a Chocolate Coconut Chew Larabar in the car.  Mmm it’s so like a coconut brownie, love this one!

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By the time I got back to my house it was close to 1:00 – I had a late lunch that ended up being lunch and afternoon snack.  The beauties were staring at me from the counter:

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So I figured now that they’re ripe I better get busy eating them!  I decided on lettuce wraps filled with avocado slices, yellow pepper, tomato and slivers of raw goat cheddar.  Sprinkle on some coarse-ground pepper and lunch was ready!  (Quite tasty AND filling…)

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I spent a little time catching up on some of my favorite blogs and it seemed chickpeas were a strong theme around the blogosphere!  I thought for sure I’d make some thing relating to hummus or falafal after seeing all the gorgeous photos of various chickpea dishes.  But when dinnertime actually rolled around, all I wanted was some miso soup and sushi.  I chose the Bungee roll which is a cucumber/avocado roll with baked spicy salmon on top.   I miss having sushi on a regular basis!  I was a little worried about eating all the rice with the salmon (from an upset stomach standpoint) but all was well! 

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After dinner we got decided to be spontaneous and use up some movie passes so we ran out to the theater.  Often I will bring my own snack in my purse with me, and maybe a bottle of water.  On this particular night, I was feeling the movie candy, so I decided to get some Welch’s Fruit Snacks.  Hey, if anything, I got a HINT of juice in my candy, since I didn’t have a green smoothie during the day!  ;)  

So now that I still have 4 avocados to use up, I’d love to hear of your favorite avocado recipes!  I’m considering using one to make a “Choco-mole” from Gena at Choosing Raw.  But still have  A LOT of avocado to use up.  Outside of GUACAMOLE, what is your favorite way to eat an avocado? 

Alright my friends, off to continue working on my huge To-Do List!  (Which means I haven’t made it far enough into my Tony Robbins “The Time of Your Life” audio series yet, because apparently I will soon be taught how NOT to live and die by the dastardly To-Do list.)

I hope you are all enjoying your Thursday!  Looking forward to hearing your avocado uses!

See you tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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Jekyll and Hyde Weather

Oct 15

Posted by in Hiking | 5 Comments

It’s Friday-eve!  This week has absolutely FLOWN by!  I recall last week writing how excited I was that it was Friday and that really feels like it was, oh, 18 hours ago!

Wednesday started out with a pretty ho-hum leg workout.  I knew I’d be hiking (social-cizing) a few hours after the leg workout so I just wasn’t feeling like blasting my legs and then suffering through the hike. 

Weight Training (Legs, Light Shoulders):

  • TM Warmup 5 minutes
  • Ball Wall Squats 15 close feet, 15 middle feet, 15 wide feet
  • ValSlide Rear Lunge 3 sets of 15 reps each leg
  • Side Raise (shoulders) 4 sets of 15, 15, 10, 9
  • Explosive Lunges 2 sets of 20 reps
  • Overhead Shoulder Press 2 sets of 10 reps
  • Quick Bench Pushups 2 sets of 10 reps

Rather than lazy I’ll call it “efficient”.  :)

Then it was time to fuel up for my hike.  I was in need of a 2nd cup of coffee for this one (have you guys tried the new Starbuck VIA instant coffee?  It’s fabulous!  While I’m a big fan of Starbucks lattes, I’m not a fan of their brewed java in-store.  But this VIA is really good!  It’ll be perfect for travelling and camping!)

With said VIA, I had two pieces of toasted Ezekial with raw almond butter and raw honey, with a side of 1/2 medjool date.  Dates are becoming my new favorite snack I think… oh so sweet! 

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On the way to hiking I was bumming because I didn’t think I’d be able to see any pretty scenery, thanks to all this fog!

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But the minute we crossed over the first ridge of the mountains, look at the blue sky that welcomed us!  Mister Hyde Weather please meet Jekyll!  Wahooo, sunshine and warmth!

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There were a FEW aspen leaves left on the trees… most had already fallen.

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I’m a happy girl when I’m hiking!

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We planned on 6+ miles, but found that the online info of the trails was not as accurate as our GPS … according to our GPS we did 4.25 miles.  Regardless of the mileage, we had a BEAUTIFUL time!  I’m trying to savor any of these last few days that have any bit of warmth associated with them.  This weekend we are supposed to see 70 degrees again so I’m seriously doing the happy dance!

Speaking of mileage, I have to scoot out the door to meet up with a running buddy, so I’ll be back later to wrap up the recap of yesterday’s eats!

In the meantime, here’s a quick shot of my sprouting experiment.  I think I see a couple of baby sprouts!!! 

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Have a great Thursday morning and I’ll see you all a bit later!

– Shari B. =)

To Sprout or Not To Sprout?

Oct 14

Posted by in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Good morning blogosphere! 

Thank you so much to those who shared their own sprouting experiences – I appreciate hearing from all of you! 

Upon reading some of the comments as well as websites discussing the toxins and bacteria potentially in sprouts, I will confess I’m torn. On one hand I hear experts touting sprouts as being the king of nutrients and digestability.  Then at the other end of the spectrum you have experts telling you to pretty much avoid them (especially alfalfa).  And I’ve been eating alfalfa sprouts EVERY day for months now, in smoothies, sandwiches, wraps. 

I feel at this point I’ll continue to eat sprouts in moderation.  I think, at least for me personally, the benefits outweigh the risks.  That may change as I continue to read up on the topic.

Therefore, my sprouting (ad)venture has commenced… but I think this first attempt isn’t going to go all that well.  We’ll see.  Not that I’m trying to send negative vibes out into the universe or anything ;)  I am starting with millet because that is what I happened to have on hand.  Reading into the instructions of sprouting millet, I learned that tray-style works better for this particular grain using 100% cotton cloth above and below it, as I’ve done here.

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The issue I think I will run into is the rinsing and draining.  Once you get little shoots they say to be very careful because they can break easily.  Not sure how I’m going to manage rinsing and draining from this pie plate without moving the little buggers around!  I also read that some of the millet might ferment rather than sprout.  Plus I’m not even sure if what I have is hulled or unhulled millet.  And I’m quickly realizing in this dry climate that my cloth dries out CRAZY-FAST so I think I need something thicker like a washcloth. (Overthink things much, Shari??)  :)

Time will tell!

What I DO know is that the sprouts I PURCHASE cost me about $1.99… so if I spend too much time on this experiment, I’ll be sticking with store-bought!  :)

On the subject of millet, I did cook up a big batch of it to keep in the fridge.  So for breakfast yesterday I had a bowl of warm millet with almond milk, some raw honey and raisins.  It was a nice change from oatmeal.

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It made for a perfect post-run meal after a chilly and VERY dark outdoor run.  MSP and I went out for three miles at about 6:20 and it was still pitch black out when we left.  I can be wide awake when I leave the house and then get out into that darkness and it’s like my body floods my system with melatonin because I get really sleepy again until the sun comes up.  Thank goodness for electricity or I’d be sleeping 16 hours a day during winters!

Midmorning I had half of a Cashew Cookie Larabar.  

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I’ve had a small box of Sunshine Falafel ‘burgers’ in my freezer waiting for me to try.  Since I bought a huge tub of roasted red pepper hummus, I decided I’d break out the falafel burger for lunch before the hummus is gone!  (It doesn’t last long in this house!)  I used half of a sandwich thin as the base, with a schmear of hummus topped by a slice of heirloom tomato.   The Sunshine burger acted as the bun lid.  For some reason this picture makes it look like an Egg McMuffin, doesn’t it? 

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It was definitely tasty.  A little drier than I imagined but that worked perfectly for a TOPLESS sandwich!  :)

And of course, my large salad to go with my meal!

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I spent most of Tuesday glued to the computer, working on and reading about taking my blog self-hosted this weekend.  I needed a snack that would allow me to still type, so just a quick handful of Mary’s Gone Crackers and the rest of the morning’s Larabar.

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I made a hamburger potato casserole for MSP’s dinner which did require a little kitchen time, so when it came time to decide what to make for moi, I wasn’t feeling in the mood to cook anything.  Lazy Girl Dinner would have to suffice.  A can of Amy’s Organic soup.  Folks, let me tell you that these soups are pretty much the reason I have yet to actively seek out recipes for soup.  Amy make’s a kick-a$$ soup!!  Look at how chunky this soup is!  This one was Southwest Vegetable.  Even the little pieces of corn had grill markings on them.  :) I will definitely be stocking up on cans of this particular ‘flavor’.  I almost ate both servings, but decided to save some for another meal.  On the side was a piece of toasted Ezekial, with Earth Balance vegan butter and a sprinkle of garlic salt.

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Sometimes cooking is just overrated when you can heat up an insanely quick dinner like this.  :)

And last, my evening dessert:  in concept I thought this would be such a cute photo.  It SO did not turn out that way.  In my mind I was thinking “banana sushi rolls” with almond butter as my ‘wasabi’.  It didn’t plate up that well though and I got quite a laugh out of it.  For any South Park fans out there, I’ll just say that this picture brought to mind Mr. Hanky and leave it at that!

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It did TASTE great though, with cinnamon, raw honey drizzle and the almond butter.  ;)

If you are in the mood for a giveaway, hop on over to The Fitnessista’s blog where you can enter to win free VEGA Sport items.  She will announce the winner on Thursday morning so you have all day today to get your entries in.  You know I love my Vega products, so I’ve used up all of my three ways to enter that contest! 

OK, blog buds I have plenty more to say today but feel like I’ve borrowed enough of your time as it is so I’ll save it for another post!  I’m heading out to get my HIKE ON. 

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Just another reminder for those who may not get to read daily:  FitFeat will be going self-hosted over this coming weekend (provided all goes well when it comes time to ‘flip the switch’!)  If everything goes as planned you should be able to find me at the same address I can be found at now which is www.fitfeat.com.  Currently that redirects you to this wordpress dot com blog location.  Over the weekend it should redirect you to the new location.  If you have any trouble finding the blog or notice something that doesn’t seem right, please email me at shari@fitfeat.com.

– Shari B. =)

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