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Posts Tagged FitFeature

Do You Socialcize?

Sep 13

Posted by in FitFeature, Hiking, Vegetarian | 4 Comments

Happy Sunday FitFeaters! 

Hope you are enjoying a relaxing morning so far!  I am posting a little later than usual because I was definitely enjoying a lazy morning myself!  Enjoyed my cup of coffee with the book I’m currently reading, and then spent some time on the phone with a few family members. 

Yesterday was so full of things to do that it flew by way too fast!  I can’t even believe it’s Sunday already. 

Saturday’s exercise consisted of a SOCIALCIZING!!  (That means exercise while you socialize!  I know – I make up a lot of weird words!  Socialcizing, yardio, wogging…  :)   Hey, whatever it takes to get you all moving and staying active, right?  But you have to admit that when you say you are going to do some yardio, you grin a little!  And we should always be happy that we are fortunate enough to have able-bodies, right?) 

So my Saturday SOCIALCIZING was a 5.61 mile hike/walk with a really good friend of mine and her awesome daughter.  We walked to the Bluffs, did a full loop, and then back.  Socialcizing is hands-down the best way to exercise:  with good friends and some chat time!  That’s today’s ready-made FitFeature:  make social time more about getting out in the fresh air than being based around lunch, dinner or drinks when you can.  I would guestimate that 85% of my “catching up with the girls” outings are built around some form of physical activity (hiking, running, walking, rollerblading.)  Not only is it a time-saver because you are combining two things you might normally do separately, but you are also saving MONEY and CALORIES! 

I started Saturday off with my “reading glasses” mug filled with my happy juice!  :)   I was catching up on blog-reading, so I figured it called for this particular mug!

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Before the walk with the girls, I powered up with an extra fruity blended GREEN GOODNESS!!  (I finally found where the text color button was hidden in WordPress!)  This one had 1/2 of a Colorado peach, about 1/4 of a leftover apple, a clementine, lots of romaine, a fist o’ spinach, sprouts and 1/2 an English cucumber.  Look at this blender full of vitamins and minerals:

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Such a pretty green after:

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Rascal goes crazy for my green drinks.  He hears the potato peeler as I peel my cucumbers and comes running to the kitchen for his cucmber treats.  He got a little taste of the final product this time (and while it looks like he’s going to drink out of my cup, I assure you I let him take a smell, then dipped my finger in to let him lick my finger!)  I think it’s funny that he loves veggies.  We don’t give our dogs ‘table scraps’ – but we do give them bites of veggies here and there and occasional fruit.  (FYI:  no grapes or raisins for your dogs!)

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After the long exercise outing, I was ready to eat again (when am I NOT ready to eat, right?)  Early lunch was some leftover Veggie Lasagna from Friday’s dinner.  It was even BETTER reheated!  Ohhhh, so good!  Can’t wait to have some more today! (I’m giving you a side shot this time so you don’t get bored looking at my same foods!  ;)   )

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Later in the afternoon I also had another get-together, this time with some wonderful ladies that I used to work with starting way back in 1995!  I love these women and am so glad to still be in touch with them after all these years!  We’ve vowed to get together at least every 6 months, so this was our second “Semi-Annual” event!  Lots of chatting was done by all and we probably could have gone another three hours without running out of topics.  It was a great time!  My eats are unpictured but I had a big glass of white wine, some ”Mary’s Gone Crackers” (wheat- and gluten-free) smeared with some herbed goat cheese, as well as some great whole wheat nacho chips with a spoon of DEEE-LISH-USH warm spicy queso.  Can’t wait till the next get-together, thanks ladies for a fab time!

I was feeling really tired when it was time for a late dinner.  It had been dark and rainy most of the day here, which really zaps my energy (I think I must run on solar power, because when the sun is taking a break I just don’t have the same zip!)  So I made a ‘lazy girl burger-n-fries dinner’ by popping a Gardenburger in the microwave, topped it with yellow tomato slices, some mustard and pepper and wrapped it in a “romaine bun”.  My ‘fries’ were red pepper strips. 

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It didn’t QUITE fill me up, so I poured a snack-size bowl of Mom’s Best All-Natural cereal as a little dessert. 

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Alrighty folks, time for me to get busy on this sunny Sunday! 

Drop me a comment:  do you socialcize?  Tell me about it! 

Have a fantastic day!  See you next time!

–Shari B. =)

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Why I Pulled the Plug on Soda

Sep 10

Posted by in FitFeature | 8 Comments

Mornin’ blog buds!

The countdown is on!  A week from today I’ll be on a plane heading back home to see my family.  Woot woot!! :) I can’t wait! 

The FitFeature for today is about ol’ soda pop!  During my earlier dieting days, I would use a daily diet soda (or two or three) as a way to thwart cravings for sweets (or so I thought) while I was trying to keep my calories down.  As I began down the path toward more holistic and healing nutrition along with acid/alkaline balance in the body, I started to pay closer attention to the ill effects of pop (both diet and regular).  I’d read the bad things before, but sometimes we make changes when we’re ready to make them and not a second sooner.

I had drastically reduced my soda intake after the initial meeting with my acupuncturist.  But I later read “The Ultimate pH Solution” by Michelle Schoffro Cook and one statement in her book stopped my soda habit in its tracks:

“…you need to drink 32 cups of water (and expend tremendous amounts of energy that would be better used elsewhere in your body) just to neutralize the acidity of one glass of soda.”

32 cups of water?  Yikes! 

So that did it for me.  I may drink the very rare occasional mixed cocktail that will contain some soda in it.  But I certainly don’t want all this care and effort I’m putting into alkalinizing my body to be ruined by ONE CAN of pop!

You’d think that hearing how the phosphoric acid can lead to weakened bones would have convinced me first.  Or how the aspartame allegedly converts to formaldehyde in the body.  There is enough weight on the cons of soda to really consider switching it out for something better for us. 

Will you accept the challenge today to replace at least one soda with water or herbal tea.?  Give it a try.  Then maybe tomorrow, you might want to do it again!  :)

One day maybe I’ll also give up my single daily cup of coffee as well, but I’m desperately holding on to the hope that there are still a few good reasons to drink it (like the antioxidants, reduced effect of lactic acid buildup during exercise.)  ;)

Now on to yesterday’s feats & eats!

Weight Training (Legs / Shoulders)

  • TM warmup for 5 minutes followed by 3 sets of 20 rep ball squats for a muscle specific warmup. 
  • Straight-Leg Deadlifts 4 sets of 15, 15, 12, 12
  • Deep DB Squats 4 sets of 15 reps
  • Explosive Lunges 4 sets of 20
  • Overhead Shoulder Press  4 sets of 15, 11, 11, 8
  • DB Rear Delt Flyes 3 sets of 15, 11, 12
  • Ball Crunches with KB 3 sets of 15 reps

Today my hamstrings and traps are telling me they apparently had a good workout!

My morning started with my antioxidant-rich cuppa JOE  ;)   hahaha

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Post-workout BLENDED GREEN GOODNESS (banana, 2 clementines, spinach, sprouts, 2 celery stalks, 1/2 cucumber, scoop of rice protein powder, 8 oz water):

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I had a friend over for lunch so we had soup and salad under the umbrella on the back patio.  It was gorgeous out!  We had a very relaxing time catching up.  The salad had spinach, arugula, romaine, zucchini ribbons, sundried tomatoes, red pepper and cucumber.  I topped mine off with Greek vinaigrette. 

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My afternoon snack had a lemon theme going on!  Larabar “Lemon Bar” flavor (OMG a new fave Larabar, it was AWESOME!!!!  I thought I was eating lemon loaf!) and a Ginger Lemongrass herbal tea to go:

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I had a handful of raisins around 5:00 to hold me over till dinner because we took the dogs for their quick 2 mile WOG in the evening.  We had some errands to run for our living room project so we picked up some falafel on our way to Home Depot.  Mmm, hummus!  Tabbouleh!  Falafel!  Something pickled (not sure what it is but it tastes really good!)

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I don’t think they gave me enough falafel!  (6!)  I ate 2.5 of them.  MSP took one, and the rest came home.  Not sure how they’ll reheat, guess I’ll find out today!  

OK friends, off to get this Thursday started!  Have a fantastic day and I’ll see you next time!

–Shari B.  =)

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Don't Finish What You Start (dessert, that is!)

Sep 7

Posted by in FitFeature | 2 Comments

Hi fit peeps!  Hopefully you have the day off for the Labor Day holiday!  Mondays are great when you don’t have to head in to the office, right?  ;)

So my Sunday was delightful.  It was a planned rest day from exercise so I was pretty much a ‘lump on a log’ most of the day.  I did a little painting project and then finished a book I’d been reading on the Kindle.  (Hey speaking of Kindle, if you happen to own one:  Amazon seems to regularly offer a few books for free to drum up some buzz for authors.  The one I just finished was called “Raising Jake” which I originally got for free and is now out there for $9.60.   They also have a lot of classics for free download as well, like “Pride & Prejudice”.  Thought I’d share, since we all love to save some money!)

Sunday started much like every other day, with my favorite liquid, this time presented for your viewing pleasure in my DENVER mug (from Starbucks, of course!):

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And then (drum roll please……) my chocolate chip MUFFIN!

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(with a cup of almond milk in my “thumb mug”)  Oh wow has it been a long time since I’ve had one of these.  It was DEEE-LISH!  I ate about 2/3 and then realized I’d had my fill.  At that point, I noticed that I was eating it just because it tasted so good and no longer because I was hungry, so I stopped and the rest went to MSP, who gladly finished it off for me!

Throughout the morning I had a few leftover chickpeanuts, but the muffin was so filling I didn’t need anything substantial again until lunch.   When I finally did get hungry I had some of my leftover tofu chili with a side of veggies and hummus (there’s one of those wonky carrots again!):

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Shortly after I felt mostly full but could use a bite of something ‘desserty’ to change the taste some, so I broke off a piece of a Chocolate Coconut Larabar (about a third of the bar):

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Later we had a few errands to run and MSP treated me to one of my favorite ‘fast food’ places ever, Tokyo Joe’s! I use fast food lightly because it’s really a great place to get a quick healthy meal.  I chose the Hookipa Salad which has grilled salmon, ginger, greens, edamame, dried cranberries, pecans and a side of soy ginger dressing.   It comes stuffed to the brim in a huge bowl:

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So I cut the salmon in half and dished out half the salad onto a plate so that I have some for another time:

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Oh this salad is SOOOO good.  I just love it.  Tokyo Joe’s rocks.  If you have one nearby, you should go there today :)

MSP was craving rice krispy treats while we’d been out and about so we picked him up the goods to get it made in the evening.  He also wanted them to have chocolate topping, so he also bought a bag of chocolate chips to melt down and smear on top of his creation.  After they cooled he enjoyed his evening snack, while I munched on a few of the leftover chocolate chips.  Here’s something I was was surprised to learn:   Can you believe that Rice Krispies have high fructose corn syrup in them??? I mean really – it’s puffed rice for crying out loud!  What’s the point of ruining it with HFCS?  I don’t know why it surprised me so, but it did in this particular cereal.

Right at bedtime at 9:30 (yes, 9:30 on a weekend night – and that’s LATE for me!  I tell ya, my sleep is important to me!) I got really hungry, so I stirred a quick scoop of Amazing Grass “Amazing Meal” since I hadn’t had my green smoothie for the day.  This would have to suffice. :)   This is one of the few powdered green drinks I actually like.  It’s meant to be a meal replacement shake, as it’s balanced with protein, carbs and fat.  I like it because it’s easily portable – it doesn’t require a blender and it mixes really well with water.

AM_Original_Large140x257 Image from amazinggrass.com

So the FitFeature that I’d like to touch on today, especially as many of you may be heading to Labor Day BBQs and parties:  as I mentioned above, while I was enjoying my ‘planned cheat treat’ chocolate chip muffin, once I’d had my fill it was time to stop eating it.  If you are trying to lose weight or be fitter/healthier, this is a healthy habit to learn!  One of my personal training clients who then became one of my closest friends was great at this and I always admired her resolve.  When we’d meet for drinks or dinner, she would always order dessert.  She would have a few bites and then she was DONE.  She tasted it and had enough to enjoy it,  which kept her from feeling deprived of great foods and kept her from feeling like she was dieting.  So many foods taste GREAT in the first few bites, but then the ‘magic’ disappears.  Bethenny Frankel calls it “The Point of Diminishing Return”.

Don’t just continue to eat something because it tastes good – when  you are full, STOP EATING IT. :)   With high calorie decadent food, don’t finish what you start!

Alrighty friends, I’m off to start my day!  Have a sunny and safe Labor Day!  See ya next time!

– Shari B. =)

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What a Tool!

Sep 5

Posted by in FitFeature, Handy Kitchen Tools | 2 Comments

Happy Saturday morning Blog Buds!  Hopefully you all get to enjoy the extra day off Monday for Labor Day!

First off I want to say thanks for all the great comments and emails about the blog!  Keep ‘em coming!  I love hearing from everyone!  As I mentioned in the email announcement I sent, I’ll offer this site’s first giveaway once there are two consecutive posts with comments from 30 or more different people.  Hmm, I wonder what the first prize will be? A unique mug for your morning coffee?  A cookbook?  An assortment of Larabars?

(speaking of prizes, be sure to read through to the end of the post – you’re in for a fun dessert treat!)

Today’s FitFeature is about a particular kitchen tool, the hand chopper (you may have seen a knock-off version on late night infomercials called the “Slap Chop”.)

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About 6+ years ago it seemed that everyone I knew was having Pampered Chef parties (including me).  As direct marketing parties go, Pampered Chef was a good one!  (Someone cooks food for you then you eat yummy treats!  Gotta love that, right?)  Over the years I have amassed quite a collection of various Pampered Chef tools.  And I must admit that they really do make the prep work easier.  This particular one is a favorite of mine if only for making chopping onions easier and less tearful!  Plus it is really easy to take apart and rinse off.   Kitchen tools that cut down on your prep time are definitely worth the upfront investment if they will propel you to make more healthy home cooked meals with fresh ingredients.  I have a small list of great tools that I use regularly and will feature from time to time.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

  • Mandolin slicer
  • George Foreman Grill
  • ThunderStick (it’s NOT what it sounds like it is!)
  • FridgeSmart containers by Tupperware (keep my veggies fresh much longer)

What is your favorite kitchen tool? Drop me a comment!

On to Friday’s round-up of Feats and Eats!

Weight Training (Back & Tris)

  • Barbell Bent Rows 4 working sets of 12 reps
  • Parallel Grip Lat Pulldowns 4 working sets of 12, 9, 7, 12 reps
  • Tricep Pushdowns 3 working sets of 12, 10, 10
  • TRX Low Row 3 sets of 10, 10, 10
  • Overhead KB Tricep Press 3 burnout sets of 20, 20, 20

Poor pups didn’t get their “wogging” session but we’ll make up for it over the weekend!

Friday started with a cup of coffee pre-workout.  Yet another Starbucks mug, I know!  Those damn mugs call to me when I’m in the store…

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After the workout I was really hungry, so not only did I go for two pieces of toast this time, but I also make a rice protein & almond milk shake.  My usual Ezekial 4:9 sprouted grain bread was nowhere to be found at the grocery store, so I had to go with another version by the same company called Genesis.  This one has a lot of sprouted seeds and has a distinctly sesame taste. – can’t decide if I’m ok with that or not.  After toasting I added raw almond butter to both, then topped one with raw honey and one with raw agave nectar.  While the nectar tasted great, it is thinner than honey and had pretty much rolled off the toast before I got to eat it!  I’m using my favorite toast plate (which is really a sushi plate – my friend Beth made it for me at a ceramic studio as a gift and I use it all the time!)

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We had plans for an early (10:00 AM, cheap seats) showing of a new movie called “Extract” so I packed up some pepitas to take in my purse into the movie with a bottle of water:

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Lunch was my usual BIG salad, this time with a side of wild rice.  I added some orange pepper to my salad today – the only rainbow color I’m missing here is blue!  Spinach, romaine, arugula, dulse, pepper, nutritional yeast, fresh tomato, sundried tomato, olive oil and balsamic vinegar:

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Mid-afternoon snack was just a cup of decaf coffee with non-dairy creamer and a side of two-bite extra dark chocolate (while reading my Kindle – the PERFECT afternoon!)  Had to use my “reading glasses” mug:

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Finally dinner time! I’d been smelling this all day in the crock pot!  My mom’s chili recipe!  (It’s so good!)  But it does have ground beef in it so before I add the beef, I divide some out for me and put MSP’s batch into the crockpot.  First I sauteed some onion and green pepper (that I had used my hand chopper to chop up):

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Then I cut up half a block of remaining tofu I had in the fridge to add to the pan:

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Then I took the plant-based items out of the pan and partially browned the ground beef, just long enough to get it really crumbled (it will cook the rest of the way in the crock pot.)  I added the tomato juice, chili beans, kidney beans and spices to the crock pot and mixed it all up.  I put my tofu, green peppers and onion into a small pan and spooned out some of the chili mixture for my vegetarian version, then added the beef to the crock pot for MSP’s beefy version.

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His is on the left with cheese mixed in, mine is on the right topped with some nutritional yeast (for cheese flavor + some B12) and a few crushed Baked Tostitos:

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It was a GREAT meal!  Very filling!  And SO easy (which is how I like every meal to be – if it’s not easy, it probably won’t get made in my kitchen!)

After dinner we toasted the holiday weekend:

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And later on into the evening, it was time for a dessert.  MSP had standard ice cream and I had the HEALTHIEST ICE CREAM EVER!!  This recipe is credited to  Gena, a fantastic raw food blogger in NYC Choosing Raw, and the post where she shows how to make this banana soft serve is titled “This Post Will Change Your Life” (Click on the title of her post to check it out and see the recipe.)  She’s not kidding, either – it will change your life!  :)   You would never imagine that you could make ice cream out of JUST frozen bananas, but it really does come out that consistency.  It’s GREAT!  I love having an awesome “go-to” dessert that I can feel really good about.   Gena, I thank you for this heavenly creation!  Here’s how it looks (topped with a squeeze of agave nectar):

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Well that’s my Friday friends!  Hope yours was a fine start to a great holiday weekend!  Enjoy!

See you soon!
– Shari B. =)

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Full of Beans

Sep 1

Posted by in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Happy Tuesday morning everyone!  Tuesday is outdoor run day!  Colorado has the best weather for morning runs, pretty much year round.  It’s 5:00 AM and 59 degrees, perfect! 

Here is the rundown of Monday’s feats & eats:

Weight Training (Chest, Medial Delts, Biceps, Light Abs)

(I list working sets because I will often do a warm-up set specific to each muscle group as well)

  • DB Chest Press pyramid 4 working sets of 12, 10, 9, 8 reps
  • Chest Flyes with heavy tubing 3 working sets of 15 reps
  • Uneven Modified Pushups (1 hand on floor, 1 hand on medicine ball) 3 working sets of 15, 14, 12
  • DB Bicep Curl 4 working sets of 12, 9, 9, 9 reps
  • Kettlebell Side Lateral Raises 3 working sets of 12 reps each arm (one arm at a time)
  • Bicycles for abs 3 sets of 30

I did spend a few minutes stretching after the workout.

Today’s cardio was wogging the dogs for 2.4 miles.  (It’s so hard to jog with my spazoids, so I always end up “wogging” – jogging some and walking some :) ) It was a brief outing as I had a huge list of things to get done on Monday. (And I crossed off every item on the list – woot woot!)

I got some additional activity by finishing up the painting in the guest bath today (painting can really be a workout!)  Once I got started trying to cut in the ceiling lines by hand I realized that was a silly idea after having just done weights that morning.  Squiggly arms = squiggly paint lines!

Monday Fuel:

Breakfast (post-workout) was a beautiful glass of liquid nutrition!  Check out this beauty before and after (do you see what’s missing?):

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 I completely forgot my spinach today!  Der!  I even had it sitting on the countertop.  Guess I’ll be a little short on calcium for the day!  :)

Mid-Morning Snack was half of a Larabar (coconut cream pie flavor, not pictured).  I was doing housecleaning followed by the painting, so I knew I’d need some quick energy! 

Lunch was my last two slices of that awesome zpizza from Sunday (w/ wheat crust & soy cheese, 3 meals out of that $10.00 item, not too shabby!)  I was extra hungry (notice bite already missing from the pizza!) so I also made a large salad (my salad had a pizza theme:  I made it in a “PIE” plate, and it has tomatoes and mushrooms just like my pizza!)  Other ingredients are spinach, arugula, nutritional yeast sprinkles, dulse [seaweed], olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

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Afternoon snack was a simple cup of Kashi GoLean with a cup of unsweetened Almond Milk.  Sometimes you just need some cereal for comfort!

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Dinner was inspired by the hummus bowl I get at a fun place called Garbanzo’s.  They smear the inside of  bowl with hummus before topping it with your rice and goodies.  I still had some leftover veggie bowl from Sunday’s Chipotle takeout, so I opened a can of Rosarita  Green Chile & Lime refried beans, smeared about 2/3 c onto my bowl, added the Chipotle (rice, black beans, two salsas) and then topped it with a stack of sauteed green peppers and onion.

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It was beanlicious!  And here is the dinner I made for MSP since he wouldn’t touch what I made with a 10 foot pole! 

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Thing brings me to a FitFeature I’d like to share: Above I included a picture of the dinner I made for my husband (spicy adobo chipotle chicken salad rolls).  We are pretty much opposites in the food department. It wasn’t always that way, especially back in my Body for Life days.  He still follows a protein + carb formula whereas I currently have the majority of my emphasis on nutrient-rich veggies, fruits, grains, legumes, etc.  Pretty much most of which he does NOT like.  He will eat an occasional salad, green bean, carrot or kernel of corn.  That’s about it on the veggie side.  I don’t mention this to give him a hard time (OK, maybe a little because I want him to eat more veggies ;) ) — what I really want you to take away from this is that it’s not so difficult to make a separate meal if you are following a nutrition plan different from the rest of your family.  A big obstacle for many personal training clients when they are trying to eat healthier and/or lose some weight is that sometimes the rest of the family just isn’t on board with the new eating habits.  While it’s GREAT to continue to encourage the family to eat healthier, be sure it doesn’t become the reason not to follow through with your own nutrition or physique goals. 

Alrighty peeps, I better go get on my running gear and hit the pavement!  Have a FABOULOUS day!

– Shari B. =)

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Sunday, Lazy Sunday

Aug 31

Posted by in FitFeature | 1 Comment

It’s Monday friends!  I hope you had a marvelous weekend.  They always fly by so fast though don’t you think?  Do you have plans to make it a great week?   

I thought I’d start today’s post with a FitFeature about green smoothies (blended salads).

I started making these drinks on an almost daily basis about 5 months ago.  I was working with an acupuncturist on some issues I had with my breathing, insomnia and some pretty disturbing digestion.  He gave me a printed page to take home that had some foods I should look to avoid and those that I should add in addition to the acupuncture sessions.  Being the total nut that I am about nutrition this sent me into a frenzy of further research into Traditional Chinese Medicine and its approach to food and healing.  Which also led me to the acid/alkaline balance topic.  WOW, was this eye opening.  It completely rocked my entire nutrition foundation off its blocks!  Almost everything I ate in my standard “fitness diet” was highly acidic (which I’ll touch on further in future posts).  Of course when I began reading about all the ill-effects of keeping the body in an acidic state, I started making a lot of changes.  One of the first was adding more fruits and veggies daily. 

Now fruits I had no trouble with. I loved eating fruit as a snack. But veggies are something I have had a hard time incorporating when I’m eating at home.  I’d buy them with the intention of using them, but often I’d be tossing bad veggies into the trash after they sat in the fridge too long.  Then I remembered reading about “blended salads” in a book by Ann Louise Gittleman and thought “hmmm, maybe if I try to DRINK my veggies, I can get them ‘out of the way’ in one fell swoop”.  The version I make now differs a bit from hers, but it was definitely my inspiration.  I figured people would think I was crazy, but lo and behold I came to find that there are books and websites dedicated to these concoctions! 

In one green smoothie I get so many nutrients – it would take me forever to CHEW all of the foods I usually put in one drink.  Usually I put in 8 oz water, half of a large cucumber, a couple handfuls of spinach, romaine leaves, alfalfa sprouts, carrots, and celery.  Then I add in a bit of fruit to sweeten the flavor, and sometimes some flaxseed oil if I’m not getting my EFAs for the day elsewhere.

If you are finding it hard to get your veggies in, or if you’d like to boost your nutrient intake even further, I encourage you to give it a try.  Replace one meal or snack of the day – I like to have mine in the morning right after I exercise when my body is thirsty for all those vitamins and minerals. Happy Blending!

Here’s my Sunday recap of Feats and Eats:

Exercise was minimal because we were feeling SUPER-LAZY on this overcast Sunday:  a 45 minute walk with the dogs.  It was also laundry day, so at least I also get a lot of ‘stair-climbing’ running from the basement to the second floor and back ;)

Breakfast:  decaf coffee and 1 slice of Ezekial toast with raw organic almond butter and raw honey.  I only made one piece today since yesterday I couldn’t eat the second slice.  Today’s mug is from a Starbucks in Madrid that my friend Beth brought back for me from Spain (thanks Beth!)

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Midmorning Snack: a piece of leftover organic pizza from yesterday’s trip to zpizza and a small side salad (spinach, arugula, pepitas, sundried tomatoes, dulse, nutritional yeast, olive oil and balsamic vinegar):

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Lunch was a “tuna salad wrap” (half pouch of tuna, bit of light mayo, chopped celery, chopped sweet pickle, seated on a romaine leat to use as the wrap) plus a hefty side salad (spinach, arugula, hard-boiled egg, nutritional yeast, cilantro, Annie’s Gingerly Vinaigrette).  Note to self – do NOT put fresh cilantro on my salads again.  That was a mistake!!  I love cilantro but apparently not as a leafy green!

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It’s just not a complete day without a little bit of chocolate:

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Mid-Afternoon Snack:  Larabar (Banana Bread flavor) with decaf green tea (with a BRONCOS mug in honor of the game for Sunday night):

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And then dinner during the Broncos/Bears pre-season game had to be Chipotle (this is MSP’s favorite place to eat).  I had half of a veggie bowl (rice, black beans, two salsas, plop of guac and some Baked Tostitos Scoops on the side):

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Well friends, I am heading downstairs to the gym to get my weight workout done and then on to my list of Monday goals to accomplish!  See you tomorrow! 

–Shari B.  =)

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