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Posts Tagged veggie wrap

Can’t Every Day Be Sunday?

Jan 18

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Hello blog buds!  Happy Monday to you!

I hope that you all had a marvelous weekend.  Ours was absolutely LOVELY.

Saturday MSP and I met up with a friend for a run at our favorite hilly trail where we did a two-loop route for a total of 5.48 miles, which included almost 1000′ of elevation gain.  It rocked. My pre-run fuel of two pieces of Ezekial toast with a light smear of organic raw almond butter and a sprinkle of coconut completely did the trick.  I felt perfectly energized for the run.

After we got back and did some deep stretching, I made a delicious post-run green smoothie.  Something about putting my smoothie in this container makes it look like some sort of chemistry class experiment!

At lunchtime I was in the mood for some of the baby bellas I’d purchased so I lightly sauteed them and added some spinach.

Then I wrapped them up in a whole wheat tortilla with some tomato, hummus, pepitas and very light sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.  And an umeboshi plum on the side with some extra spinach.  I came back for more mushrooms after I finished the wrap and polished off almost the entire batch!

On Sunday we wanted to get outside again and include the dogs, so we mapped out a route to a Starbucks and set out first thing in the morning.  We we able to access it almost directly using the bike trail, but we thought it would be a much longer route than it was.  We ended up only getting in 3.8 miles roundtrip.  But the dogs LOVED it and the trail has hills (because there is no place near us that DOESN’T have hills it seems) so we felt our calves and glutes as the day went on.

Some of the highlights from Sunday’s eats included some brown rice veggie rolls from Whole Foods:

A new vegan burrito (from the frozen section) that wasn’t too shabby for a good “lazy girl meal”…

To which I added my own salsa and avocado after heating:

And for some snackage during the football game, some homemade microwave popcorn with soy-free Earth Balance vegan spread, sea salt and nutritional yeast:

Our weekend felt like a perfect balance of exercise with healthy food, plus some relaxation and snacks.

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How about you?  Did you have a FIT-filled weekend?

Those of you who are back at your desks today who may have missed the Saturday post, check out this reminder to Stop, Drop and Roll (Your Shoulders) while you are at your desks.

Thank you for all of your comments over the weekend – I’ll be replying to each of them as soon as I click the publish button on this post so don’t think I forgot about ya!  And coming up this week on FitFeat, I’ve got a few FitFeatures relating to prescription meds as well as tracking your exercise.

Have a magnificent Monday!

– Shari B. =)

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My How You’ve Grown!

Jan 14

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Good mornin’ FitFeat friends!  Happy Thursday!  Check out how well my little AeroGarden is growing!

I wonder how tall they’ll get!  I love having something grow, even if all I had to do was add water and a tablet.  Still makes me feel like my thumb at least has a ‘hint’ of green to it.  Probably lime green, but that’s OK by me!

I really enjoyed the comments on my earlier post about Reducing & Reusing.  Everyone had great comments and ideas.  Joan from I’m In The Garden Today talked about reusing paper from finicky printers.  Cindy from A Sparkle A Day mentioned purchasing things in bulk and then transferring to jars at home.  Which prompted me to do that with mine too!  While my leftover almond butter jars were sitting neatly next to my drinking glasses in the cabinet, my adzuki beans and quinoa where in the plastic bulk bags I’d brought them home in, complete with twist-ties!  My good are movin’ on up like George and Weezy to their new dee-luxe digs:

This is one of the things I absolutely love about having started this blog.  I LOVE that we all trade ideas and share experiences.  Thank you all for the participation in this FitFeat community.  To this day, I still get so excited when I receive an email alert that I’ve got a comment on a blog post.  LOVE getting comments, so please keep ‘em coming!  And if you’re a lurker, that’s ok too.  I still love that you are here reading!

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Here are a few highlights from yesterday’s healthy eats.  Another jumbo green smoothie to start my day. This one contained the following:

  • 9 oz water
  • 1/2 banana
  • 2 clementines
  • medium handful of clover sprouts
  • 1/2 of a very large cucumber
  • 2 tbsp pepitas (raw pumpkin kernels)
  • 1/2 tbsp white chia seeds
  • 1 stalk celery
  • large handful of baby spinach
  • 1.5 tbsp hemp protein powder

I know a few of you are green smoothie drinkers.  If you’re not, what’s holding you back? Is it how they look?  I know they are scary LOOKING, but they do taste fantastic.  Especially if you start with more fruit than greens, and then work your way to less fruit as you go along.

Lunch was a veggie wrap at my desk (and this time I actually took my camera to work so no BLURRY iPHONE pic here!)

  • Whole wheat tortilla
  • Smear of Tofutti (the UNcheese cream cheese)
  • Shiitake mushrooms
  • Tomato slices
  • Baby spinach
  • Clover sprouts
  • Sprinkle of sea salt

It’s been a while since I’ve made a wrap – that was one of my “go to” lunches over the summer.  I think I’d forgotten how lip-smacking awesome they were, so now I’ll probably be stuck in another wrap rut again.

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Well friends, I’m off to get my lunch packed and scoot on out the door.  Have a TOTALLY TERRIFIC THURSDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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Snowblowing is My Football Practice

Oct 30

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Oh boy it’s Friday!  Happy Day! 

The snow FINALLY stopped late last night and the SUN is actually shining today.  (Oh yeah!!) I just got in from another round of snowblowing and shoveling.  This is the fourth time, I think.  They are all starting to run together.  All told we seem to have received somewhere between 20″ and 28″.  It’s hard to say as I do not own a yardstick.  It’d be easy to think we got like 5 feet since every time I snowblow, I seem to be going through an 18″ wall of snow.

Do you miss my normal weight training logs that I typically list on here?  I’ve been so out of my normal routine.  I’m still getting plenty of exercise.  Just in different ways.  My chest/shoulder muscles are toast from pushing the crazy snowblower.  Imagine those sleds you see linemen pushing in football practice, where the coach stands on it and the linebacker runs at it and tries to push it.  This has been my exercise for the past 48 hours.  Some parts of our sidewalk have snow so high (thanks a bunch city snowplows) that the snowblower didn’t want to go through.  So I’d back up and try to get a running start.  Hit a wall.  Push it down to climb OVER it and shave a bit off the top.  Then take another run at it.  I never thought snowblowing would be hard work.  (Thank you MSP for having done it all these years… maybe if you’d complain a little I’d know how much it sucks!!  You made it look so fun and easy.) ;)   MSP is too level-headed to rant about stuff the way I do…  

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Today I actually gave up on about a 20-foot section along the side of our house —  nothing I did would make the snowblower go through it.  And I started yelling cuss words out loud instead of in my head.  That’s when I knew it was time to come inside. 

I tried to be optimistic and think up ”silver linings” to fight my black cloud thinking…

Black Cloud:  why on earth did we buy a house with a 3-car garage?  Which translates into a 3-car DRIVEWAY to shovel?
Silver Lining:  Just think of all the extra exercise you get with that.

Black Cloud:  why on earth did we buy a house sitting on an outer curve so that our front sidewalk is extra long and takes forever to snowblow & shovel?
Silver Lining: Just think of all the extra calories you burn with that.

Black Cloud:  what were we thinking buying a house on a corner lot which means we have to clear the sidewalk all along the SIDE of the lot too? 
Silver Lining: Just think of all the extra cardio you get with that.

Black Cloud:  why didn’t we realize that as soon as we’d get done clearing that sidewalk along the side of the lot, the snow plows would come through and cover it all right back up again?  (boo hoooo)
Silver Lining:  Just think of all that extra muscle building you get with that.

Yep that’s all I could come up with.  Extra exercise, calories, cardio, muscle work.  I am definitely ready to start looking for jobs in Arizona.  If I’m thinking about how much I hate winter in October, then it’s going to be a L-O-N-G winter. 

After all that work outside in the cold, I was a total “hollow leg” yesterday when it came to food.  :)

I had half a Larabar before going out for the morning session:

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Then an apple with almond butter afterward:

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Lunch at home between vet visits (mmm veggie wrap):

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Once home for good it was time to ACT like it was a snow day – grab a cup of tea, a couple of cookies and a book.  Notice that I am trying to attract warmer weather by using my Hawaii mug and reading a book where people are walking on a BEACH!

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And then even more “acting like it’s a snow day”  with a glass of wine, raw goat cheese with Mary’s Gone Crackers and some TV action:

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At dinner I figured I should have at least a few more veggies for the day, since I neglected to make a green smoothie:

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A little spaghetti squash, zucchini ribbons, raw marinara sauce, and spinach.  Lightly warmed in the microwave to take off the cold edge.

After a few game of Wii “Big Brain Academy” I even had to have some Count Chocula cereal, in honor of Halloween!

Outside of the snowblowing and the $200 vet visit followed by a $45 pet pharmacy visit (which should have just been a quick eye stain and a ‘looks good, she’s all set’) we did have a very fine snow day.  I was so glad MSP got to work from home!  There’s just something about getting to stay  home because of snow that brings back that wild excitement we had as kids when school was canceled.  LOVE IT!  When he got the email Wednesday night, we literally danced around with our arms in the air.  You immediately think “wahoo I can stay up late and sleep in!”   (And of course I didn’t make it past 8:45 pm… lame!)

So now tomorrow we have Halloween!  I feel bad for the kids in Colorado who will have to trudge around in all this melting snow.  I’m curious to know what you all do for Halloween?  If you have kids do you take them around the neighborhood?  Or to a local ‘safe’ place like the zoo, mall, etc.?  If you don’t have kids, do you stay home and pass out candy?  Go see a scary movie?  Hide in your basement like we do?  ;)    Drop a comment!

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY and I’ll see you all next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Talking Trapezius

Oct 23

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Helllloooooooo FitFeat Friends!  Welcome to the second-best day of the week!  (with the first being Saturday – just my opinion!  You may disagree…!) :)

As usual I am excited for the weekend.  But especially this weekend because I have some family coming to visit!  Growing up as an only child (until I was 11, at least) two of my cousins were like a brother and a sister to me.  I would spend a few weeks with them each summer, we spent holidays together.  Now we are all grown up and scattered across the country.  One lives in Ohio, one in California and then I’m smack in the middle here in Colorado.   They are both flying in tomorrow!  It’s going to be a great time – I’m so looking forward to it!

So yesterday I had a total food hangover from my “Lazy Bones and TWIX-fest Day” Thursday.  As I suspected, I had an unhappy belly most of the day.  :(   The older I get, the more sensitive my system gets (not to mention the healthier I eat, the more it freaks out when I eat fake or processed stuff.) 

Do any of you ever experience Food Hangovers? 

I remember my very first one vividly, back in ’99 when I had just started Body for Life.  I didn’t take the “Free Day” for the first month I was on BFL, and when I did finally decide to have some sugary food it was on a camping trip and we had s’mores.  Oh boy.  Upset-system City!  And while camping in the mountains … with MSP… while we were NEWLY dating!  (Can you say EMBARRASSING???)  I think that’s the evil goal of Bill Phillips when it comes to the free day … you eat yourself silly one day a week and learn how terrible you can feel afterward.   :)  

Despite the sad tummy yesterday, I did follow through with my commitment on the yoga!  In fact, the minute I posted the blog I was like, “I better just go get it done RIGHT NOW or I’ll be eating my words tomorrow!”  I chose Iron Yoga which I’ve had forever and have watched once but never actually ‘performed’.   They have you hold little dumbbells for most of the moves.  For example, while balancing on one leg in eagle pose, you are doing S-L-O-W upper body movements like tricep extensions, shoulder raises, etc.  Oh. My.  Burn.   I did it for 45 minutes… and there was still more to do.  I’m saving it for next time.  ;)

Today, my traps and delts are so SORE!  That is the thing I always love about yoga when I finally get around to doing it each time … you find out what muscles are really weak.  I know my traps are weak – I have the posture to prove it!  And they are reminding me today for sure!

I will DEFINITELY do this DVD again very soon!

As for the rest of the day…

My meal consumed at 5:45 AM prior to my personal training client at 6:15 … a Chocolate Coconut Chew brownie Larabar:

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After yoga, I was craving some greens to make up for the previous day’s LACK thereof.  This green smoothie was darn near the size of my head:

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Lunch was at Rubio’s as I was meeting a dear friend on her break from work.  We try to get together once a month no matter what life throws our way.  We each had their Langostino Lobster taco on a small corn tortilla with a side salad.  This image is from their website and I assure it looked NOTHING like this.  I’m actually pretty sure that we got about two tiny bites of lobster in our tacos.  But it tasted really good anyway!

Lobster taco(Photo Source)

A couple of clementines for my afternoon snack plus half of the best Larabar flavor known to humankind:  Tropical Fruit Tart.  mmmm…

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It must be time to get back into my “wrap wrut” again :)   because I made a special trip to the store for some whole wheat tortillas!  This was SUCH a yummy dinner.  MSP had a leftover peppered eye of round with wild rice and green beans … mine was better-looking:

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I smeared half of the tortilla with some of the Navy Bean Dip I’d made Thursday, popped it in the microwave to heat ever so slightly, then smeared the other half with Tofutti.  Toppings included pepitas, sprouts, tomato, spinach, and coarse ground pepper with a side of corn, fresh from the cob!  So yummy.

A Nana’s NO’s mini-cookie served as a sufficient dessert.

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Many thanks again to all of you who participated in the giveaway and congrats to Cindy for winning!   I’m off to get the guest room ready, do some house-cleaning, then some grocery shopping for my guests!  And maybe some more trap-killing yoga! 

Drop a comment about your food hangover experiences!! 

Have a FAB Friday!  I’ll see ya next time!

–Shari B. =_

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