I hope I don’t disappoint you all when I say that I am giving up tweaking this meatless challenge. Before you go off judging me, I want to explain my reasoning! It has officially been a week since I started this challenge of mine and I can honestly say I didn’t feel my best.  

Throughout the week I was constantly bloated, gassy, and had the endless munchies! Now, I know it’s not just because I stopped eating meat, part of it was mental and part of it was adding in more fiber from lentils and grains – but I just found myself never fully satisfied, so I turned to late-night snacking to fulfill my cravings. However, the positive side to this was that I incorporated  more veggies into each meal.  

In regard to going vegetarian, I wanted to bring up my experience – as short-lived as it was – to show that no one diet works for everyone. Some people thrive on only fruits and veggies, some need meat and dairy etc.  You know yourself better than anyone and know what foods work best with you – the key, and I’ve said this before, is to try different approaches and see how they affect you. With that said, since I know myself very well, I know that a well-balanced diet is what I thrive on. Cutting out food groups all together has never really worked for me (I’ve had plenty of trials with that) – and sugar should not be considered a food group btw We’re not talking about fad diets here, were talking about healthy lifestyles – ones that are realistic and sustainable.

I may have failed at going 100% meatless, however I am continuing this sugar-free, processed foods free challenge and vowing to cut down on my meat intake. I also want to note that in general eating less meat is obviously a better choice than eating it three times a day, but instead of cutting foods out, it’s best – and easier –  to crowd them out by adding in more of the good-for- you foods such as; vegetables, fruits, some grains and healthy fats.  Figuring out your body and mind is a continuous journey and something you will always have to work at no matter the circumstance. Don’t give up because one thing doesn’t work for you, instead take that as a lesson and keep trying to figure out what does!

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown

Okay, so last night I tried the “mock’ mashed potato recipe and I’m happy to say that it was a great success!

After boiling the cauliflower for 7 minutes, I threw it in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. I didn’t have fresh garlic so I used garlic powder and I drizzled a little EVOO to get it moving.

Finished product:

Disclaimer: Do NOT eat this before an event, going out or going to the gym. Cauliflower is a cruciferous veggie and they cause gas and bloating. Not pretty. Nonetheless, a very delicious alternative to mashed potatoes!

While the cauliflower was boiling I decided to grab my yellow squash and make “squash chips” before they spoiled.

Sliced up squash drizzled with EVOO, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano and paprika!

Dinner is served!

I am incapable of skipping dessert, so this was immediately following:

After dinner, I forcefully went to the gym thanks to some motivational text messages that reminded me of the two bites of Portillo’s chocolate cake I ate after lunch. (I really need to just throw that out).

I promised I’d show you my snazzy new running sneaks, so here they are:

And here is my new nike thermal hoodie that I bought for $35 from $65 (thank-you-very-much!) I loved that it has a cut-out for your pony tail – perfect for running outside! (Please ignore my dorky pose, just pay attention to the pony tail feature)

You may have noticed that I have gone a little picture happy with my new Photoshop app, but that’s because it’s so much fun!

Anyway, today is Thirsty Thursday so bust out that H20 and get crankin! (I was craving Dunkin Donuts – easy cream, no sugar of course!)

Workout plan today: Run 2 miles plus strength.

A little motivation:

Day one of “October Goals” and I’m proud to say mission was accomplished! After registering for my first 5k yesterday, I guess you could say I got a sudden burst of motivation. At work, I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish once I got home which was: run three miles outside, make dinner and lunch for the following day. That’s it. Those three simple things that sometimes just aren’t as simple as they sound.

To ensure that I did those three things –  these are the steps I took:

I have a very small window of energy when it comes to working out after work and I’m typically hungry once I get home (and if you know me when I’m hungry, you know it’s not pretty.) To solve this crisis, my first decision was to work out before dinner instead of after – this way I don’t have enough time to get lazy.

The next step was figuring out what I would eat for dinner and when to do it all. When I workout right after work -already slightly hungry- I know if I don’t have food ready once I’m done working out I will probably eat anything and everything in sight. So, to prevent this situation I first decided what I would eat based on ingredients I knew I had at home (sweet potatoes, red onion, bell peppers and yellow squash.) Then, I decided to do my own – similar- version of my friend Lea’s “Accidentally Indian” recipe.

When I got home, I immediately grabbed my ingredients and started chopping away. I had the ingredients ready to go in a few bowls – took about 5 minutes tops. Once I finished that, I changed into my workout clothes – grabbed a handful of Kashi heart to heart cereal because I was hungry – and ran out the door. It was an absolutely perfect running day! I went to a path by my house and ran three miles in 32 minutes!! I finished off with a mile walk to total a 45 minute workout.

As soon as I got home – clearly starving now – I got to work in the kitchen. No, I didn’t shower first. When I’m hungry there’s no time to do anything, but eat!

Ingredients:

• 2 small sweet potatoes (High in Vitamin A, lots of fiber too!)
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 red bell pepper 
• 1/2 red onion (helps reduce your risk of ovarian cancer and heart disease – can cause bloat, but who cares it’s delicious!)
• Feta Cheese
• Spices: salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne

Chop or slice all the ingredients. Separate the sweet potatoes, as those take a little longer to cook. I actually nuked my chopped sweet potatoes for a minute first, before putting them on a large skillet with a good amount of EVOO. Then I spiced them and let them cook on med/high heat for about 10 minutes. Flip them around half-way through. Take them off the skillet and put them in a bowl. Put the other cut up veggies in the skillet and cook those for 5-7 minutes on medium heat. Put the sweet potatoes back in for the last few minutes, top with some crumbled feta cheese and serve! It’s DE-LICIOUS and packed with nutrients!

I used enough ingredients so that I can make two servings and bring some for lunch tomorrow (which was my other goal, cook more so that I don’t eat out.) That’s the trick when preparing meals – you need to cook once and eat twice!

Overall, Monday went beautifully. I’m proud of myself and hope to keep the enthusiasm as high as it was yesterday. It wasn’t easy doing the run, but I kept repeating “change isn’t comfortable” and pushed myself to keep going. The end result was “I can totally do this!” and so can you!!

“With self-discipline most anything is possible.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Pumpkin Season

Fall is – by far- my favorite season of all and it’s right around the corner!  I can’t help but think of warm pumpkin spice lattes – thank you, Starbucks. Just about anything pumpkin, really. Everything – from the weather, to the color of the leaves, to the food, to the fashion – and dare not forget, HALLOWEEN!!! Fall – is - just – fabulous!

This fall, I want to set some goals for myself- but before I go into those, I want to talk more about fall and how we can make it the most fabulous one yet! I don’t know about you, but this Summer felt like one big BBQ. I love-love bbq’s, but my scale… not so much! The time is now. The time to kick into high gear because before you know it, it’s Thanksgiving dinner and you’re wearing sweats at your aunt’s house because you have muffin top in every other pair of pants that you own! T-N-O.

One of the dietary theories I learned about in school, was Ayuverda. According to Ayuverda, there are three seasons: Fall-Winter, Spring and Summer. So, the basic principle is to eat what’s in season. Sounds obvious, right? Well, it’s so incredibly easy now-a-days to do just the opposite. When you go into a grocery store, you will find products from all over the world and that’s why you see some fruits and vegetables available all year round. Let’s think about this logically. Why do we eat watermelon in the summer and not in the winter? You’re thinking – easy… because watermelon is cooling and refreshing, so it wouldn’t make sense to eat it in the winter when you want to stay warm. Well, you’re exactly right. (You guys are so brilliant)! That my friends is, essentially, all there is to it. Eat in season. Simple. Mother earth has created a system and every single fruit and vegetable grows in a specific season for a reason! (rhyme was not on purpose- cute though).

One of my goals- and should be yours too- this fall, is to eat more seasonal foods. Unprocessed, of course. Here is a site that lists the top ten autumn comfort foods (thanks for sharing, Renata) along with a brief nutritional description. This list is just the “comfort foods,” but there are other in-season veggies too, like one of my personal fav’s: squash! (I make squash fries all the time – slice, spice, and bake. done). Here is a link to a printable grocery list.

Below are the comfort foods listed out:

1. Apples (Green have the lowest GI)

2. Cranberries

3. Pumpkin (mix it into your oatmeal- quick and easy!)

4. Garlic (pick the right time and place for this one, peeps)

5. Ginger

6. Parsnips (Link takes you to a great parsnip fries recipe – from a blog I love)

7. Kale (Basic Kale chips recipe- amaze)

8. Sweet Potato (Make sweet potato fries- notice the fries theme)

9. Cinnamon (Amazing spice. Helps speed up metabolism too! Use in everything.)

10. Pepper

My next goal this fall, is to register for my first 5k race! That’s the other great thing about fall – there are so many races coming up (or maybe I’m just more aware of them now.) Fortunately for me, my fabulous friends agreed to join me, which makes it that much more fun and exciting! Plus, you’re giving back - always wonderful Now, I’ve been pretty active this summer because I do sit behind a computer for 8 hours, and it’s super easy to pack on the lbs, but in order to get into this whole race thing, I plan to kick up my workout routine to 6 days a week and adding more runs.  I know, I know… working out isn’t that pleasant for most people- including myself, but when you want something you need to work for it. Period. So do what you gotta do… brainwash yourself and go into – what my friend Lea likes to call- ”robo-mode” (it works.) Another great trick is positive reinforcement (thank you, my psychologist friend, Nina.) I put a sticker on my calendar for every day that I workout and it really helps! Try it if you don’t believe me

My ultimate goal is to run 3 miles in 30 minutes, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves now. I’ll be updating you all on my workouts and seasonal foods that I incorporate into my health kick this fall. Doing that also keeps me accountable because I can be quite the cheater – but at least I’m not quite the liar  My final “goal”, is to come up with a fantastic halloween costume!

What are some of your favorite fall foods? What do you plan to do this fall to kick into high gear? And most importantly, what are you going to be for halloween?!  Let me know!

PS: I didn’t forget about fall fashion. Lets be serious- that gets it’s own post!

*Vicky