FitFeat

Archive for December, 2009

Super Seaweed

Dec 19

Posted by Shari B. in FitFeature | 7 Comments

Happy Saturday FitFeat friends!  I hope your weekend is off to a FANTASTIC start!  I am hoping to get OUTSIDE for a run sometime this morning – but it’s currently 19 degrees (and I’m a cold weather sissy!)  Can’t decide if I want to bundle up or treadmill it!

Yesterday was a great Friday.  It started with a Tabata workout, just something quick to give a little ‘jumpstart’ to my day.  I upped my weights from the last time for all exercises in this session.

Friday Morning Tabata JumpStart:

  • 5 min TM warmup then arm swings and circles
  • Smith Squats 4 minutes
  • Seated Row 4 minutes
  • ValSlide Rear Lunge with KB 4 minutes (alterating legs)
  • DB Chest Press 4 minutes
  • Rear Delt Static Holds 4 minutes
  • Overhead 1-arm KB Shoulder Press 15R, 15L

Personally, I don’t feel I’ve had a good workout if I don’t FEEL it the next day.  I can say that today I DO feel it!  :)  Love that! 

After my workout I had a jumbo green smoothie.

  • 10 oz water
  • Rice protein
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/2 large peeled cucumber
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 pear
  • lots o’ spinach
  • a few turnip greens
  • sprouts
  • 2 stalks celery

Then I made another one to take to work.   This one was minus the chia seeds and the rice protein.  I figured the chia seeds would swell way up and I did not want to eat my smoothie with a spoon like some sort of green pudding.  :)

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My mid-morning snack was a Cashew Cookie Lärabar at my desk: 

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Lunch was the travel smoothie shown above.  My afternoon snack and dinner kind of ran together:  movie popcorn.  :) MSP and I had a date to go see a movie.  We chose “Avatar” in 3D and all we have to say about it is that it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.  A great movie with so much to look at.  I highly recommend splurging on 3D if you decide to see this movie, especially with all of the computer-generated scenery and effects.  Just BEAUTIFUL.  Two thumbs up and maybe even a couple of TOES up as well!

***

OK, let’s segue from movie reviews to food ‘reviews’, shall we?  Yesterday I mentioned that I’d be back today to talk a little bit about DULSE.   

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What is Dulse?

Dulse is a dried sea vegetable.  I’d read about the benefits of seaweed years ago but the best I did to incorporate them into my diet at that time was a sprinkle of kelp powder on my salads here and there.  And probably not nearly enough for my body to even notice it!  I was reacquainted with sea vegetables (seaweed) again when I started receiving acupuncture therapy and began to do a lot of reading on Traditional Chinese Medicine and healing, alkaline foods.  According to Paul Pitchford in Healing with Whole Foods, “Sea plants contain ten to twenty times the minerals of land plants… In addition to a wealth of minerals, vitamins and amino acids, seaweeds are especially excellent sources of iodine, calcium and iron.”  They assist in detoxifying and alkalizing the blood.  

Another great read,  The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier, further sold me on this group of superfoods, especially when I read that they contain “10 times the calcium of cow’s milk and several times more iron than red meat” not to mention that they are the “richest source of naturally occuring electrolytes.”

Why Do I Eat Dulse?

Having struggled off and on with iron-deficient anemia since high-school, the information about the iron and mineral content of seaweed was important to me, especially because I’d stopped eating meat.  And moreso because I am a runner.  Runners have a higher tendency toward anemia due to the destruction of red blood cells each time their feet make impact while running, often known as footstrike anemia.  Typically when I end up at the doctor’s office feeling really fatigued and low, it’s due to the anemia and it’s almost always around spring when the weather turns nice and I’m out a lot more often for runs on concrete and pavement.  Now that I’ve been through this ‘cycle’ a few times, I know to really boost my intake of foods with naturally occuring iron in them whenever my running mileage increases.

I also liked the idea that sea vegetables are rich in calcium, since cow’s milk dairy is something I don’t typically consume anymore either.  Additionally it has a great potassium:sodium ratio.  Take a look at the nutrition facts from the package:

Dulse Nutrition Facts (sorry for the blur!)

Dulse Nutrition Facts (sorry for the blur!)

 

Dulse happened to be one that I found at the local health food store and thought I’d start with it first .  I like this one so much that I haven’t tried others yet.  But I should because there are so MANY from which to choose!

How Do I Eat Dulse?

Currently, the main way I eat my dulse is as an add-in for my salads.  I’ll pull a palmful from the bag and tear the strips into bite-size pieces.  When you see photos of my big “Shari Salads” that dark purple stuff you see is the dulse.

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The package says you can bake it into chips, but I didn’t care for it that way and ended up using what I’d baked as a crumbled topping on my salads.  Dulse gives a great ‘salty’ flavor to your salads without the need for adding any extra salt.  You can add it to stir-fries, to soups or broths, or sandwich fillings.  Pretty much anywhere you’d use another leafy green.  The book I referenced earlier, Healing with Whole Foods, even has a recipe for Sauerkraut with Dulse. :) Not sure how soon I’ll try this one, but if/when I do, I’ll let you know!

I hope this dulse info interests you enough that you’ll try some in your next salad!  It’s inexpensive, about $5.00 for the size bag I buy – but it lasts me quite a while.  I’d say that’s a bargain for the amount of nutritional punch packed into such a tiny food.

Today’s questions:  Have you tried dulse or some other version of sea veggie?  What made you try it initially?  If you don’t currently eat seaweed, do you think you might now? 

***

All this talk of seaweed, green smoothies and Lärabars has made me hungry!  I’m off for some pre-run fuel and then hopefully out the door!  Have a SUPERB Saturday!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

 

 

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The Sugar Express to Moodyville

Dec 18

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Don’t you just hate it when you are just starting to type a draft post and you INTEND to click on “Save Draft” but your mouse flies over to the  ”Publish” button like some out-of-control Ouija board pointer???  Then in a nanosecond you’ve published a ridiculous blog post, but it seemed like it happened in slow motion. You saw the publish button and it half-registered in your brain as “yeah, I know that button” and then, POOF!  You’ve sent said post out into the world for all to see!  

If you got your RSS or Google Reader feed titled “Dulse” with only one sentence in it, that would be why.  :) I was just making a draft note to myself for a future post and clicked on the wrong button.  Aaaaccck!  I did not see it hit either of my feeds so hopefully I deleted it in time!

Note to self:  do not start working on the blog when you are within 45 minutes of bedtime.  Or after a day filled with refined sugar for that matter.  It apparently makes the mouse hand FLINCHY!

Yes, I had a day filled with sugar.  O Fitness Lord, forgive me for I have sinned!  :)

I have been dragging hiney all week.  I am pretty sure I know why, but rather than combat it with super healthy foods as I know I should, I’ve  perpetuated it with the completely WRONG choices – today especially.  I’m putting this out here for a few reasons.  One, because health food bloggers tend to get lambasted for setting standards that supposedly others “can’t meet” or that set incorrect food expectations (I guess meaning they think we only show the good stuff?)  Two, because I want my readers to see that I am not a perfect eater and that I have days where my hormones or emotions get the best of me just like every other woman I know and I put stuff in my face that is going to store itself squarely on my hips.  :)  

It started with a venti half-caff soy no-foam latte.  In and of itself not TOO terrible.  Except that Starbucks uses the sweetened vanilla soy milk (23 g sugar) so when you combine that with how caffeine can also elevate your blood sugar I gave myself a double whammy that set me up for the rest of the day. 

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I also took the lazy route on my greens and bought a Naked Juice green drink in lieu of my homemade smoothie.  Which adds another 66 grams of sugar (or thereabouts.  That’a a LOT of sugar!) You will find that I don’t often drink juices, because while I agree they are full of nutrients, personally I feel that the lack of fiber causes spike in your blood sugar if you drink it alone.  I know this and I still bought the juice anyway.  Granted it has some great stuff in it, like chlorophyll and barley grass and other green goodness.  It just wasn’t what I needed on top of how I’d already started my day.  I’d just added insult to injury.

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Then I proceeded to munch on homemade peppermint bark and caramels that a coworker’s wife sent in with him to our office.  They were so darn tasty – but even MORE sugar (couldn’t tell you the grams but I’d bet I ingested three times what that Naked Juice had in it!)

When I finally did eat a very late lunch it was 2/3 can of Amy’s Soup in Curried Lentil flavor – my first fiber of the day. But the damage was done.

1 soup 

I was a blood sugar rollercoaster and my mood was along for the ride. 

I know this about myself.  When I eat too much sugar, my mood takes a nosedive simultaneously with the sugar crash.  And once it gets started, it’s a tough to normalize.  I tried to have some ‘protein’ (raw goat cheddar) and ‘fiber’ (air popped plain popcorn) when I got home. 

But by the time poor MSP got home, let’s just say I was a MEAN MOODY mess with a few tears thrown in and leave it at that.  If I were him I would have locked Miss CrankyPants in a closet with a protein shake until she got a grip.  He puts up with SO much more than he should.  I know Cindy can relate, per her post from last night!

I did end up having some egg salad on an Ezekial pita for dinner.  Easy peasy:  two HB eggs with some light mayo and some spinach.  Quick.  Simple.  DEVOURED!

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This morning, I FEEL the sugar.  Ladies when you wake up in the morning and your knuckles feel tight, your face is puffy (especially under the eyes) and you can feel the bloat under your skin all over, that’s from overdosing on refined sugar and/or carbs the previous day.  Just in case you didn’t know what was causing those symptoms.  :)

Am I going to mentally beat myself up for the day of food sins?  Nah.  I don’t do it that often.  This week has been a weird one with scheduling, not much exercise, holiday stuff and some PMS thrown in.  I chalk this up to life in the female body and move on.  Because I know it’s not my regular habit. 

Will I restrict my calories today to make up for the ‘bad food choices’?  Nope, because that will just lead to more poor choices.  I’ll get right back to my ‘regular’ eating.  What I WILL do is maybe add in MORE of my nutrient-rich powerhouses to make up for the nutritional stress I put my system through.  One of those nutritional powerhouses is DULSE, which reader Joan asked me to elaborate on.  So stay tuned – my next post will include delightful dulse info!  (Thanks Joan for the question!)

I’ll also be sure that I drink adequate water today and get back to being ‘nice Shari’ so that MSP feels like seeing my face this weekend!  :)   

Today’s discussion topic is all about going off the hormonal deep end with food – does it happen to you?  Do you go for sweet or salty, or both?  Do you notice any affect on your mood or body? 

The good news?  It’s FRIDAY!  Can I get a WOOT WOOT?  And it’s Friday before a SHORT WEEK next week!  YAY! 

Have a FABULOUS Friday friends!  See you next time to talk about DULSE!!

– Shari B. =)

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Exclamatory Addiction

Dec 17

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

So I happened to be re-reading yesterday’s post right before I composed this one and realized that the first TEN sentences were punctuated with an exclamation point.    I must have had some seriously HAPPY coffee while writing that one.  (I actually punctuated that last sentence with an exclamation point and backspaced to add a period instead.  Not using exclamation points while writing [or smiley faces for that matter] is like holding down a person’s hands who needs to gesture while speaking.)  Apparently I am super-enthusiastic while writing my blog.  I’ll try (…try…) to tone it down somewhat!  (Aw crumb, I already used one!  This is hard!)  :)

But I digress. 

Yesterday’s ‘organized exercise’ was 30 minutes of speed intervals on the treadmill.  I woke up on the PMS cranky side of the bed and stood around in my gym trying to decide what I wanted to do for exercise while MSP was getting down to business with back & biceps.  I needed to do legs, but the smith machine and the ball were in use.  And I wasn’t in the mood for step-ups or lunges.  So cardio is what I went with.  Maybe by FRIDAY I’ll get some official ‘weight training’ in.   By ‘official’ I mean work actually done in my gym with dumbbells and other fun toys made of iron.  And not heavy boxes of marketing materials.  Since my cardio session was pretty short in the morning, I figured I’d come home after work and maybe squeeze in a Tabata session for weights.  But I moved around enough of those heavy boxes again while at the office and got so much movement that I was truly exhausted by the time I left.  

No complaints here though – I’d prefer some physical activity to go along with the desk job.   You’ve heard of the “secretary spread” (if you haven’t, hit up Google today) and it’s definitely something I’ve experienced in the past with desk jockey jobs! 

NOTE:  I just googled it and there are TWO definitions (who knew? and Oh MY!!).  For the record, I meant this one relating to hips getting wider and NOT the other one which I won’t even link to from my blog.  This is a PG show, folks.  :)

Tuesday’s FitFeat EATS went down like this…

Totally yummy breakfast of a toasted Ezekial flourless sprouted grain english muffin with raw almond butter, raw honey drizzle and cinnamon sprinkles.

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I made my “Green Smoothie To Go“  for later.  It was meant to be a mid-morning snack, but actually ended up as lunch.  Check out the little green smoothie junkie EYEING my drink.  He’s  hoping I’ll drop it while taking a one-handed photo.  That’s quite an intent stare!

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This particular green goodness had 10 oz water, BIG fist o’spinach, 1/2 banana, a mango, 1/2 peeled cucumber, small fist o’sprouts and 2 stalks of celery.  I feel so CLEAN after drinking these!  :)   The green smoothie was then sipped on from about 1:00 to 3:00.  I’d packed a Curry Lentil soup, but didn’t get a chance to eat it.  :(

I did have an unpictured Chocolate Coconut Lärabar as my mid-morning snack. 

After-work snack was two Wasa Light Rye crackers, smeared with Tofutti non-dairy ‘cream cheese’ and sprinkled with cumin and Mrs. Dash Tomato Garlic Basil.  That was followed by airpopped popcorn kernels (1/4 measured before popping).

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I’ve been craving pita pizzas all week so we had them for dinner.  I even turned down an offer by MSP to pick up something for take-out!  (GASP!!)  That’s how AWESOME these things are!  Can you guess which are mine?  :)

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You’d be correct if you picked this one!  img 1012

An Ezekial sprouted grain pita topped with olive oil, minced garlic, nutritional yeast, zucchini ribbons, roma tomatoes, kalamata olives, chopped artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.  Whew - that’s a lot to fit on a tiny little pita! 

And an obligatory side salad of spinach and turnip greens.  (I’ll have you know that MSP actually ate some of the turnip greens in his salad!)

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Is it Friday yet?  I feel in dire need of a weekend to catch up on things! :)   I’m really looking forward to the long holiday weekend next week!  Wahoo…..

And there I go with the exclamation points again…. :)

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday, friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Flipping Dogs and Snowy Oats

Dec 16

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Hola WEDNESDAY!  My crazy overscheduled Monday and Tuesday are over!  Ahhh, I can take a deep breath!  Good thing I got that yoga in on Monday to give me some extra zen to get through!  :)   Thank you to everyone who commented with their favorite yoga poses yesterday!  And if you haven’t yet, please feel free to still comment on that one!  Fallon taught me what “Flipping the dog” was – and apparently it’s nothing like “Flipping the bird“!  (Good thing!)

Tasty, healthful EATS help too when schedules are crazy!  Keep the nutritional stress to a minimum, especially when the mental/physical stress is elevated!

Yesterday just before my early morning client training session, I had half of a Coconut Cream Pie Lärabar.  Have I told you today how much I love thee, Coconut Cream Pie?  You sure go great with coffee, with oatmeal, with exercise!

Then post-session I had a bowl of old fashioned oats (1/3 cup measured dry), topped with a tablespoon of rice protein powder, cinnamon, almond milk, a few raisins, and a dusting of unsweetened coconut.   It looks like it snowed on my breakfast! 

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One of my clients has been making her green smoothies the night before and then taking them to work the next day.  I never let mine sit.  They always get slurped through a straw immediately.  But I’m trying to get a better routine down for my hectic schedule at the moment so I thought I’d take a cue from her and make my smoothie “to-go”.  This one had 8 oz water, one banana, big fist o’ spinach, sprouts, 1/2 peeled cucumber, and 2 celery stalks.  I packed it in a Rubbermaid jug to be shaken up in later.  I “ate” it around 10:45, about 3 hours after blending and it was still quite tasty!  :)   (It was refrigerated in my lunchbox that whole time in case you were wondering!) ;)  

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Also packed up my lunch to be assembled later in the day.  A large spinach salad with HB egg, sundried tomatoes, dulse, and nutritional yeast.  1/4 of the avocado and half the roma tomato were added at 1:00 when I ate it, along with two spoonfuls of the marinated mushrooms. 

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And for dessert, an EXTREMELY dark chocolate, which almost tastes like you are eating right out of the unsweetened cocoa powder tin.  Yowza!

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We had our holiday party at the office from 3:30 on, so my afternoon snack and dinner consisted of pita chips with hummus and two glasses of pinot grigio.  When I got home, I had three crackers with some raw goat cheddar.  That was it on the eats for the day.  I can tell you that I am already hungry for breakfast!!  I didn’t eat enough yesterday!

Yesterdays exercise FEAT was not organized exercise per se, but was heavy duty nonetheless.  We received two PALLETS of marketing materials that we will be stuffing at work today.  In my nice dress and heels, I was moving HEAVY boxes around, getting them sorted and ready to go for today.  It was quite a workout!  I definitely feel it this morning.  And I’m still feeling Monday’s YOGA as well!  (And I made sure to NOT wear heels today!)

Well friends, it’s time for breakfast and then out the door!  Hope your week is going well so far! 

Make it a GREAT day!  Did you fit your FIT in yet??  ;)

– Shari B. =)

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Feet Like Spider-Man

Dec 15

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 3 Comments

Check out my cool new fitness toy!  No-slip yoga socks!  I was in the health food store the other night and they had these right when I walked in the front door. 

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I’m often too lazy to unroll my yoga mat (and when I do, it often doesn’t get rolled back up.)  So these are PERFECT!  I was worried that my teeny-tiny-toes wouldn’t fit into the separate openings but they did.  These socks ROCKED.  And even better than keeping you from slipping on the floor (or your mat) they also helped in tree pose because I had like Super Spidey Grip on my inner thigh.

For my non-yogi readers,  here’s a pic of tree pose.  With bare feet, my lifted foot has a tendency to slide down my leg!  1 tree pose

(photo source)

I think these would make a great gift idea for any of your yoga enthusiast friends – especially for this time of year when feet get cold anyway!  I’ve added them to my “Favorite Things Amazon Store” if you want further details. 

Monday morning, after the too-short night of sleep, I still managed to get in an hour of Iron Yoga.  I knew that if I didn’t, I’d be bumming later.  Once my day got going I knew I wouldn’t have another chance to workout again until Wednesday morning and I didn’t want to go THREE days in a row without exercise.  That just perpetuates the vicious sleepless circle.

This one still works me well – especially my legs and shoulders. 

To thank my body for doing well in yoga, I then treated myself to a hot shower and one of these:

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It was 32 ounces of green nutrient rich goodness… try to top that, Super Big Gulp!  Spinach, sprouts, cucumber, 1/3 frozen banana, 1 clementine, 1 apple, 2 stalks celery. 

Who wouldn’t feel like a million bucks after YOGA and GREEN SMOOTHIES?  It’s like having a spa day before you even head out the door to work!

Today’s question:  What is your FAVORITE YOGA POSE if you’re a yogi (yogini??).  Right now mine is Eagle Pose. 

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(photo source)

Have a ZEN Tuesday everyone!  :)

– Shari B. =)

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Lemon Dill Turnip Greens and Buffalo Broccoli

Dec 14

Posted by Shari B. in FitFeature, Recipes | 3 Comments

Hello again FitFeat friends! 

Ahhh, part one of the workday is done.  Part two starts shortly! 

So I have some rewinding to do for the EATS!  I already gave you my Saturday FEATS when I last left off (the 4.75 mile SNOWY hike). 

Saturday was all about the xmas shopping again.  I have one thing left and then I am TOTALLY DONE!  Even with MSP’s stuff. 

My lunch break at home consisted of some leftover Amy’s Organic Vegetable Barley soup, with some added spinach, chopped tomato and extra salsa to give it an extra VEGGIE boost.  Just a note to any of you who eat Amy’s soups or would like to:  this particular flavor will give you hellacious onion breath.  Arm thyself with breath mints!

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We had another invitation for dinner at our dear friends’ house (Jeff and Tricia) where Tricia made a FANTASTIC mexican burrito buffet.  She was so sweet to make some halibut for me since I don’t eat chicken.  Her guacamole was TO-DIE-FOR and I think I may have eaten at LEAST 1.5 avo’s worth of guac on chips.  For my dinner portion, I put my halibut on a bed of spinach with a little dollop of refried beans, some salsa, and sauteed peppers.  It was FANTASTIC!  Thanks T & J – we had a GREAT time!

Sunday  morning MSP and I left the house early to hit up the Whole Foods brunch buffet.  But unfortunately they don’t start the buffet until an hour after the store opens (and we were there at the door before they opened like some crazed Black Friday shoppers, anxiously awaiting the unlocked door so we could RUN in and get our healthy breakfast options!)

I did grab a Kombucha Tea at their coffee bar to tide me over:
  

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Then we had to go elsewhere for Plan B.  So I had a Veggie Benedict, hold the hollandaise, hold the fried potatoes and give me extra veggies please.  They did exactly as I requested and it was DREAMY.  It had artichokes, tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms.  I’m getting better at putting more veggies in during the breakfast hour, eh?  ;)

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For some reason when I look at that picture of my breakfast benedict, I keep thinking of this Geico commercial and humming “I always feel like… someone is watching me-e-e”:

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Later in the day I thought I’d get a little creative and try to do something different with my baked greens.  I’m STILL trying to use up that HUGE bag of turnip greens I bought.  Here’s what I came up with:  

Lemon Dill Baked Turnip Greens: 

I drizzled about 1/2 tbsp olive oil into a big bowl, gave a good squeeze of lemon juice twice around the bowl (in Rachael Ray style) and tossed in 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast.  Fill up with turnip greens, add the lid, and start shaking the bowl.

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Lay out onto a large baking tray.  Sprinkle with sea salt and dill.

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I baked these at 250 degrees for 20 minutes.  That was NOT enough to get the water dehydrated from the stalk portion, so I’ll go back to 350 degrees the next time and just cut down the time.  Ideally you want to catch these just before they cross the line from CrispyTown into BurntVille.  The dill flavor baked out so I’ll REALLY sprinkle ‘em good next time.  

Then I made some Buffalo Broccoli:

In the same big bowl I now added another 1/2 tbsp olive oil and about three long rotations around the edge of the bowl of Frank’s Red Hot (so that when I shake the bowl, there is also flavoring on the sides).  After well coated I got them loaded onto the tray, and sprinkled sesame seeds on top.  I would suggest doing these at 350 degrees as well, and bake to your desired level of doneness.  In the 250 I wasn’t even on the same MAP as CrispyTown.  But they tasted GREAT!  Had good zip!

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A small combo bowl of each was consumed during the Broncos Game.

FitFEATure:  When you are in a “snacky” mood, having something like baked greens to ‘mindlessly’ munch on in front of the TV is a much better option than traditional snack food.  It’s super high in fiber and nutrients and MUCH lower in calories. 

Now if only I’d known I would run out of time Sunday and NOT get in the yoga I’d hoped to, I would have done my “Football Watching“ workout!   

Have a WONDERFUL Monday evening FitFeat Friends… and if you ARE planning to watch Monday Night Football,  I challenge you to do that workout! 

See you tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

O Sleepless Night

Dec 14

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

“…Why aren’t my eyelids closing?”  (to the tune of O Holy Night)

:)

Once in awhile I have an insomniac kind of night.  It happens so few & far between now, maybe once a month at the most.  I’ll take it over the full fledged chronic sleeping issues I had in the not-too-distant past.  Sometimes my brain just gets a little busy and won’t let me flip the switch.  I did sleep some, but woke up at 2:15 and then it’s all ” eyese wide open” from there on out!

Now this one on the other hand… she has NO trouble with sleep … ever.  “Play dead, Riley!”  “OK mom, if you say so!”
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Ahhh, the life of a spoiled dog!

So this morning hasn’t been my usual speed.  I did get a workout in though since I know I won’t tomorrow.  I am going to be insanely busy between now and 6:00 PM tomorrow.  Then I’ll probably come home and nosedive straight into bed! 

I’ll be back later this afternoon with a regular-sized post, where I’ll talk about Lemon Dill Baked Turnip Greens and some Buffalo Broccoli!  :)

Have a wonderful morning and I’ll see ya later today!

– Shari B. =)

Sunshine + Saturday = One Happy Shari

Dec 12

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit, Product Review | 3 Comments

Hello and happy Saturday!  I’ve another busy day on tap to get the remainder of my Christmas shopping done.  Getting there, but very slowly.  I really can’t believe that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!

Friday’s weight training workout was good!  I did 40 minutes of the Cathe Friedrich “Legs and Glutes” DVD which is always a killer workout.  Once my legs felt like jello sufficiently worked, I switched off the DVD and spent the final 20 minutes working my back muscles with some lat pulldowns, one-arm DB rows and angled high-pulls.  I made the mistake of putting on that great Lady GaGa station again and almost got caught up in some cardio boogie-ing… but was able to restrain myself lest be late for work!

What I did NOT do yesterday was take pics of my food! (say what???)  I was rushing around and completely spaced!  But I know what I had so here’s the list for those of you who like to see my crazy eats:

  • Post Workout / Breakfast:  a green smoothie with added rice protein and an acai frozen pack, plus turnip greens, spinach, cucumber, sprouts and a clementine
  • Mid-Morning Snack: ginger snap Larabar (thank you to my new boss who picked up some Larabars for me to snack on at the office – that was super cool!)
  • Lunch:  had brought soup but was busy so instead had two sliced of toasted Ezekial bread with raw almond butter alongside a cup of green tea
  • Afternoon Snack:  few slices of raw goat cheddar with 2 thick wheat crackers
  • Dinner with our wonderful friends Brett & Allison:  Allison made a FANTASTIC spinach salad with avocado, red pepper and pine nuts.  I had two helpings of that tasty salad alongside a slice & a half of thin crust “deLITE” Herbed Mediterranean pizza (minus the chicken).  It was a wonderful time chatting and catching up, and delicious meal.  Thanks so much for having us over!
  • Bedtime Snack:  When we got home, it was late and we were “snacky” so MSP and I each had two of our leftover ginger cookies that I’d made on Sunday. I certainly don’t like to make it a habit to have high carbs or sweets right before bed.  But sometimes you just have to do what feels fun!

This morning we went out for a 4.75 mile snowy hike.  I was bundled up with hat, scarf, mittens, down jacket.  But my beloved SUN was shining and I HAD to get out there.  It was truly gorgeous.  The clouds have moved on and the sky was so clear that it made for spectacular mountain views.

When we returned our tummies were growling somethin’ fierce so we make breakfast sandwiches.  Mine used a flourless sprouted grain Ezekial muffin, with one egg, a slice of tomato, and a bit of raw goat cheddar.  It was warm and perfect after being outside. 

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But I still felt that I needed some greens to go with breakfast so I also had this stack of baby spinach on the side with some Annie’s Goddess dressing.

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I think this may be the first time ever I’ve had a SALAD for breakfast!  Unless you count green smoothies or the “innerds” of a veggie omelet!  ;)

Today’s question has to do with winter sports:  we’ve discussed in past posts what our favorite winter activities are.  Since the entire nation (with the exception of lucky Florida) seems to have been in a deep freeze lately, have any of you gotten in any winter sports yet, like skiing, snow shoeing, snow hiking, etc?  Today would probably be the closest thing to my first “winter activity” (unless you count snow blowing and shoveling!!)  I do wish that I had put my Yak Trax on my shoes though because I had NO traction on my hiking shoes in the hard packed snow trail.  I bought them a long time ago for a snowy 8 mile trail race and they were an awesome purchase, worth their weight in gold I think!  (For any of you that are outdoor runners or hikers in snow pack, these can slip right over your running shoes, in the same way you add snow chains to your tires.)

Well friends, I’m off to battle the crowds of crazed shoppers!  Enjoy your weekend!  Go get your FIT on!  :)

– Shari B. =)

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Ice Ice Baby, Dance Dance Lady

Dec 11

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 9 Comments

Well hello there FitFeat friends!  Happy Friday to you!  Second-to-last shopping weekend before Christmas – are you on schedule? 

I’d say it’s beginning to look a little TOO much like Christmas inside our house.  I present exhibit A.

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No, that is not a freezer in dire need of defrosting.  Look very closely – zoom in!  That would be the INSIDE of our guest bedroom window.  This next photo might make a pretty postcard if only the ICE were on the OUTSIDE!! 

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This is apparently what a few days of below-zero nights and days in the single digits does to our windows.  We’ve lived in this house for 4 years and have never seen this happen – it was 1/4″ thick at the bottom, at least!  Need new windows much?  (Know any blogs giving away windows instead of VitaMix blenders?)  You’d think we lived in a house that was 100  years old.  It’s only 12 years old!  

I am showing you these pictures so you have proof of why I haven’t been outside running.  Or dog-wogging. 

(And as a side note for the record, yes it is true – Heather is giving away a VitaMix - you have until Sunday so get on over there and enter!)

Speaking of blending, someone is anxiously awaiting their green smoothie … and it’s NOT me!

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Rascal now knows that when he hears the sound of the blender, he gets a little green smoothie poured into his bowl.  (And judging from that roll of pudge behind his neck,  you can see that he could use a few green smoothies in place of his “lean” dog food… I think I want our money back.  It’s making them FATTER!)

26 ounces for me… 3 oz for each of the pups! 

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Lunch at work today was a vegan Sunshine burger patty topped with 1/4 avocado, a slice of tomato and a drizzle of peppercorn ranch.  It was perfect.  If I can’t SEE sunshine, at least I can eat some.

1 burger

A tall soy steamer on my way home.

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A quick-n-easy veggie wrap for dinner (Nasoya FF mayo, 1/4 avocado, tomato, spinach, sea salt & pepper on a whole wheat tortilla. 

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I also had a GINGER cookie that has been taunting me since Sunday.  Just had to do it.  :)

Thursday’s exercise was a TOTAL BLAST.  As usual I bored of the treadmill after 32 minutes and had to move on to a little BOOGIE session!  And the songs that were coming from Pandora.com were so good I couldn’t stop!  So I got another 40 minutes of DANCE  DANCE CARDIO in my basement.  Too .. much .. fun .. to actually be counted as exercise!  But my heart rate stayed in the 150′s so heck yeah it counts!

During my training client’s session Thursday morning, we saw an ad for the new Wii game called “Just Dance”.  Have you seen this???  I am SO going to rent it.  It looks silly yet insanely fun!  Now I won’t have to hide in the basement to get my dance on … I’ll be able to do it right in front of the TV!

If this is the only way I can get MSP to dance with me, I’ll take it!  :)

Have a FANTASTIC Friday, friends!  Make it a FEATful day!

– Shari B =)

 

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My Electric Forcefield Breaks Things

Dec 10

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Ahhhhh… hello blog buds!  It’s good to wake up and see that my blog is still up and running.  I can’t tell you how disheartening it is to be essentially locked out of your own website.  Scary!   MSP said I was emitting some sort of negative electrical aura Wednesday morning, because things I was touching were all freaking out.  When I woke up, I was very much looking forward to an hour of Iron Yoga.  He was down in the gym, so I was going to do my yoga upstairs.  I carried my dumbbells and yoga stuff up to the bedroom, got all set up, and then the DVR wouldn’t play my yoga!  It kept freezing and wouldn’t go past the menu screen.   This was before I’d noticed that my blog was down.  Good thing or I would have scrapped my workout to start trying to figure out what was wrong!  So back downstairs to the gym I went, and while I was down there the radio would turn to static when I was near it!!  I really must have been giving off some sort of negative vibe yesterday!

Plan B Weight Training:

  • TM Warmup 5 minutes
  • High Step-Ups 15R, 15L,15R, 15L, 15R, 15L
  • Slow Bench Pushups 12, 12, 10
  • Chest stretches after first superset completed
  • ValSlide Mountain Climbers  40, 40
  • ValSlide Reverse Lunges 15R, 15l, 15R, 15L
  • Neck/trap stretches after next superset completed
  • 1-Arm KB Overhead Shoulder Press 18R, 18L, 18R, 18L
  • Static Plié Squats 50 seconds, 50 seconds
  • Donkey Kicks 40R, 40L, 40R, 40L
  • Back Extensions on the Ball one set of 15

Monday’s workout was 40 minutes of treadmill intervals.  No workout on Tuesday.

Some of my food highlights from the last few days while the blog was down and while I was posting about rotator cuffs:

Packing for work:  carrots, chia pudding and an organic apple

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I threw together 2 TBSP chia seeds with about 1/2 cup almond milk, some stevia and 1/2 TBSP carob powder and let it sit in the fridge all day at the office.  This one turned out better than my first attempt, but I’m still getting used to the odd texture.  And normally I don’t have any ‘texture’ issues.  I think chia pudding is definitely an acquired taste!

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I finally tried a Peanut Butter & Jelly Larabar.  Only AFTER eating it did I realize it was made with peanuts, and not out of cashews, almonds or walnuts.  This one is at the bottom of my list of Larabars.  While the flavor was really good, I eat Larabars for their healthy tree nuts and this one didn’t have that benefit. I don’t eat peanuts or peanut butter because I’d rather eat almonds and almond butter. 

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Another crazy thing I tried was baking TURNIP GREENS in lieu of kale.  Not too bad, actually!  It turned out very similar to baked kale and was a fun change of pace.  I ate it along side some roasted veggies and butter beans.

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The requisite green smoothies for the daily commute:

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Then for dinner last night, I made a grilled veggie sandwich in much the same way you’d make a grilled cheese.  Served with a side of cooked baby carrots, the sandwich had some sprouts, sliced tomato, 1/4 avocado, zucchini ribbons and a small amount of Manchego (sheep cheese).

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And truly as I sit here, my internet is acting up.  Oh boy it’s gonna be one of THOSE days again.  I better go get a 2nd cup of coffee!

I know this isn’t fitness-related, but does technology ever drive you crazy?  Drop me a comment and let me know about a time when you thought you might have a meltdown due to broken technology.  Like your cell phone not working, car not starting, TV decided to die, etc.!

Have a terrific Thursday friends! 

– Shari B. =)

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