Tag Archives: oatmeal

Old and new

Posted on by

6

Howdy!

Reasons why I’m smiling:

  • sunshine
  • plans for a bike ride this afternoon
  • seeing a friend last night at spin class
  • it makes people think I’m up to something…

Still no internet at my apartment = an excuse for spending the morning at Starbucks. I was going to go to the gym and try a core class but to be honest, I would rather save my energy for the ride this afternoon and since my hip feels tight (not painful, just weird and unnerving because I’m a worrier), I’m just erring on the side of extra recovery.

And I had stuff to do…like finishing the Human Kinetics Advanced Exercise Nutrition course I registered for ages ago to get myself rectified as a fitness instructor/personal trainer. I wrote the exam this morning (online) and besides getting 2 questions/50 wrong, I have no complaints. I emailed the results and my up to date first aid card just now and I cannot wait to cross this off my to do list (it’s been on there for wayyy too long!). Yay for productivity.

Also yay for last night’s dinner–a pasta mix with kale that needed eating, turkey sausage, onions, and garlic. A little bit of butter and some parmesan cheese instead of sauce made for perfection on a plate!

This sat surprisingly well during my spin class! I also loved the playlist (which I kind of threw together just using songs I wanted to hear) and seeing an old friend (it’s been too long!).  Like I whined, I am apprehensive about my hip. During some of the standing climbs, things felt extra weird (my lower back is tight too, which makes sense). At the expense of being one of those people who complains too much, I’ll stop now. I foam rolled last night and I took the time to do my physio exercises for 10 minutes first thing today. 10 minutes. So pathetic that I’ve been too lazy to do them lately…PRIORITIES! Why was I saving them for bedtime when I would inevitably want to skip them and fall asleep? Silly.

When I got home last night, I was seriously uninterested in my usual yogurt snack. I was really interested in my leftover turkey, but I went with a snack of tuna instead because I really want leftovers today…

I mixed in half greek yogurt and half mayonnaise and threw some red pepper in to spice it up. I used to eat tuna as a snack every damn day and I was so sick of it for way too long…but when your mouth starts watering at the thought of something + you are legitimately hungry, I say go with it, even if it’s something weird or for me, something I thought of as an ED-approved behaviour (i.e. since ED said it was okay, I kind of during recovery said that I shouldn’t have it. silly! back to yesterday’s thoughts).

When I went to bed, I took some medicine because my throat’s been sore since I got home this weekend. I slept for about 9 hours (bliss) and then got up and started my day off with another bowl of oats. Breaking out of the cereal rut, one bowl at at time. This time I added an apple, raisins, walnuts, and brown sugar plus soy milk. Yum. I read Katie’s oatmeal ideas shortly after and wished I’d been MORE creative. The good news is I get to eat breakfast every day for a really long time, so there are plenty of opportunities to get creative and delicious!

After my morning spent working on that course and doing all kinds blog reading (I’m going through withdrawal, a little, because it’s not the same on my phone!) and drinking a ton of coffee, I ate a quick lunch (an almond butter, sprout, and carrot sandwich with extra carrots on the go) and now it’s time for me to head to an appointment! I’m hoping to meet up with a friend this afternoon before my bike ride. Tonight is a staff meeting at the gym so I’ll be busy busy and tomorrow I should have internet again. All will be right in the world.

And just an FYI, we’re 230 days from Christmas. Had to throw that in there…

What are your favourite oatmeal toppers?
What are you counting down to? 

Saturdays are for…

Posted on by

8

Swimming, shopping, and  smiling?

Sure, we’ll go with that.

This morning I left my cereal boxes in the cupboard and made a bowl of warm oatmeal with walnuts, banana, brown sugar, and soy milk. Note to self: eat more oatmeal!

Just before swim my stomach was growling so I downed a quick bowl of yogurt to fuel my workout, which was awesome! I had company and we did some fun stuff out of the box for us! Yay for working new muscles and giving up your ego (we even did fly, not our strongest but definitely worth doing!)

When I got home I was smiling but I was ravenous. I tided myself over with my second adora disk of the day (love) while I made use of the heftiest bunch of kale I’ve ever bought. Kale chips, anyone?

20120421-183459.jpg

They went perfectly with my ham and cheese sandwich with alfalfa sprouts. So much good on one plate!

20120421-183504.jpg

My afternoon was about coffee, shopping, and snacks.

20120421-183509.jpg20120421-183514.jpg

I even got to hear some vintage BSB when I was out and about!

And I returned some stuff to Aerie and came out with this awesome necklace…perfect much?

I also may or may not have been shopping for the finishings of a certain someone’s birthday present. I have a road trip on the agenda for this week so ya know, it might have happened!

How are you spending your Saturday? 

Make it yourself

Posted on by

17

Hey guys — I am a big advocate for making food yourself, whenever possible. If time was unlimited, I think I’d bake my own bread, make my own cheese, and probably spend more time in the kitchen…

For now, I’ll settle for making things from scratch every now and again to realize something: it doesn’t really take that much time so I don’t really like settling for the “I don’t have enough time” excuse.

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

I am aware they were talking about bigger things than making your own granola bars, but that’s kind of where I think people need to realize something: you are going to eat every day for the rest of your life. If you want to feel good, take the time to eat well. If you want to be ignorant and eat whatever you want, don’t complain about it. Don’t use lack of time or energy or money really as an excuse to be an idiot. Yes, that’s harsh, but I really think you can control the things you choose to eat and that you should.

Example, I’ve wanted to make this rant for a while…I am still going to carry my leather purse despite the fact that I think eating beef is a pretty big strain on the environment/doesn’t agree with me right now because of where that meat would come from … not carrying my purse every day vs. not eating that steak or burger on a regular basis — which one is going to have a bigger impact? People might attack vegetarians for not being 100% veg or something stupid like that–but eating is a personal choice and attacking someone personally is wrong, in my mind. Educate them instead, if you have something worth saying. Eating should never be all or nothing.

Enough of my opinion, onto the recipe you’ve been waiting for…which was inspired by Kath’s Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars.

Homemade/I Don’t Wanna Look At Another Clif Bar Oat Bars 

Ingredients:
Dry:
1 1/2 c oats
2 tbsp cocoa powder
sprinkle of salt
1/3 c shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/4 c flaxseeds
1/4 c almonds

Wet:
1 egg
1 c milk or milk substitute*
1/2 c water
1 tsp vanilla

Toppings:
mini chocolate chips
2 tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine wet ingredients in large bowl.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add dry to wet, stirring ’til moist.
Place mixture into a 9×9 baking pan lined with parchment paper (or sprayed), pressing down and into corners.
Sprinkle toppings on top.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes or til set and browned.
Remove, cool, and slice into 9 squares (a pizza cutter works well, as Kath suggested).
Store in fridge or freezer, or ENJOY!

*I used vanilla soy milk

I literally made these while most of my classmates were probably hitting snooze. I mixed them up after breakfast in about 5 minutes, threw them in the oven, and by the time I was done getting dressed/ready for the day, they were coming out of the oven!

So simple.

So tasty!

Have you ever made something from scratch just to prove you could?
Do you feel like you have time (make time) to cook?
What’s your fav clif bar flavour? 

Spring is in the air and some injury insight

Posted on by

9

It’s a BEAUTIFUL day. Regardless of the fact that Wednesdays are kind of a blah day — long, the middle of the week, things are starting to build up usually — I’m making today a happy one!

It helps when I get a glimpse of these every time I look down…

And when I started off my day by making homemade Clif bars of the chocolate coconut variety — inspired by Kath’s recipe for Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars but as always, with improvisation (stay tuned for my recipe, if they taste good!)…

I probably could have slept a bit longer, but whatever. I am tired but the sunshine’s giving me some energy.

I had this thought on the way to school today: “Today is kinda perfect…IF only I could run.”

Oh, then I told myself to SHUT UP. Today is perfect anyways. Running is ONE thing that I could do.

Nearly nine weeks into this hip injury, I am finally feeling like it’s resolving itself. There’s been lots of physio (but I should do more to commit to doing the work at home/on my own, admittedly) and plenty of tears and over-reacting about it. But there’s also been a lot of lessons:

  • I can be happy without running.
  • I am a better swimmer than I thought.
  • I’m still an athlete even when I’m not training as I’d like to be.
  • I have no core (see my post about this from yesterday).
  • I am not out of shape/lazy/fat for not running.
  • Not being able to train as much opens up free time to figure out where else I can find my happy, gave me time to spend with people I’ve been neglecting, and has kind of reignited my passion for living. Yeah that’s a big one!

And the latest addition to the insight list…I am CRAVING training. There is a big difference between CRAVING and feeling COMPULSIVE about this. I know in the past my compulsivity might have driven me to “test” my hip today–it’s nice out, it doesn’t feel “too bad”, and I wanna run–but now I realize something–that comes from an unhealthy place. Any time I feel like I have to run or train, it’s probably NOT the best thing. Exercise should be something we get to do, look forward to, and that no questions asked makes us feel better–not risks we will be hurt again. So yes, it’s tempting and I have a craving to train. But I can keep that desire in mind and save it for when I am recovered from this injury. Think about how awesome this summer is going to be — I have never WANTED to train so badly. This is HUGE. So sitting in the car I’d say I shifted that feeling of “if only…” to a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Success! :)

That’s all…for now, except a quote:

“Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor E Frankl

What have you learned from an injury?
Have you ever tried making your own granola or energy bars? How’d they come out?
Are you enjoying some nice weather today?

Enjoy the sunshine–whether you’re running, walking, laying, sitting, whatever-ing–it feels good on your face!

Back to it

Posted on by

10

I thought I’d bombard you guys with ANOTHER post this morning, in anticipation of a busy week.

I just realized that suggests that I would give up blogging for school, work, or something like that. Ha. When I get busy, I feel as though my blog just takes on more importance–it’s like a break from the real world!

This morning I enjoyed a quick breakfast pulled together with the stuff I got last night and the cupboard stuff I keep at my mom’s place, just in case! Oats, soy milk, and an apple and a half ;) with a few nuts and some maple syrup made for a yummy and quick breakfast this morning (and a nice change from the same old same old this week!).

20120226-081929.jpg

Now I’m just wondering what I could do on my to do list while I wait for the clinic to open! I really hope my hip mystery gets solved today or at least the investigation can begin! I know when my foot hurt last year, they did an x ray right at the place and could look at it same day. That would be good…because even if it shows nothing, maybe I can get a referral for more tests. I just want to know. Maybe I’m delusional and it is just muscle or tendon or whatever, but I don’t think NOT KNOWING is helping me out right now! I’ll stop complaining about this right now.

Here’s a few things to keep you occupied–stuff I added to my bookmarks this week:

  • Availability Guide (Ontario) - Might as well TRY to start with the produce that’s available from around here, right?
  • Cows Don’t Make Milk - It’s true. This is less of a slap in the face than Skinny Bitch (read an excerpt to get a taste for what that’s all about) but still raises a pretty good point.
  • Food Politics: Eating Liberally: unhealthy food obsessions? – It’s okay to wanna eat healthy. Seriously. While I’m not swearing off “junk food” any time soon, I’m also done eating it just to prove I can. It’s okay to wanna eat better, even if you’ve had an eating disorder. Taking an interest in food is NOT wrong.
  • Racing Weight: It’s Easier To Say Yes - Whether you wanna lose weight or just eat healthier, it’s better to focus on all the things you should eat MORE of than to think about the things you’re “giving up” or cutting down on!

Enjoy!

Whatdya think about dairy?
Have you read Skinny Bitch?
What’s your go to breakfast when you’re low on groceries?