Back in the Saddle Again...

As I am writing this post I can't get that Johnny Cash song out of my head. 

Just returned from a crazy couples weekend in New Orleans that had been 11 years in the making. It was full of friends, fun, food, and frenzy (which is an understatement to say the least). None of us got much sleep and our bodies showed us that we weren't in our 20s anymore.  

I got back on Sunday and finally ran again for the first time this morning. I felt very sluggish and didn't want to run, but I forced myself out there with the single jogger and ran about 3 miles. I am 100% back in the saddle again. Running, drinking water, green tea and now eating very wholesome (even though I would love a beignet and a hurricane!). 

I've really been wanting to do yoga for cross training, but have been putting it off. That stops now. Tomorrow no matter what it takes I am getting a yoga video in! 

What are you doing to shake things up in your routine? Leave feedback at the bottom of this page or on the facebook page :)

SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "On My Way" Rusted Root. This song reminds me of high school and was a REFRESHING change from today's pop music that makes up 90% of my playlist :).

RANDOM TIP OF THE WEEK: According to a new study - exercising outdoors is more mentally enjoyable vs. the treadmill and often leads to a steadier pace. So ditch the treadmill when possible and head outdoors - or take a jump rope in your backyard and alternate jumping rope and doing jumping jacks! :). Before it gets too cold and/or icy!

THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: Creamy Spinach, Tomato & Gorgonzola Penne. You don't want to miss this one. I am not sure if I was super hungry when I ate it, but when I did - I thought it was restaurant quality. 

Creamy Spinach, Tomato and Gorgonzola Penne

• Serves 4
• Ingredients:
• 8 ounces uncooked penne (I like without the ridges for this recipe)

• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 tbs of flour
• 6 tbs Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• 2 cup fresh spinach

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add cherry tomatoes, salt, crushed red pepper, and minced garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in milk and wisk in flour, then add Gorgonzola cheese; cook 2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in spinach and pasta; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts, tossing occasionally. Add some freshly ground pepper.

Nutrition: 307 Calories, 7g Fat, 4g Fiber, 49g Carbs, 13g Protein, 8pp+

NOTE: you could make this more nutritionally sound if you switch to whole wheat pasta. But sometimes it is nice to have the regular and this recipe tasted great as is. 
WARNING: It will be hard to eat just one portion of this!

Stress Eating?

I feel badly that I haven't posted in soooo long! I have to apologize in advance for the long post. 


Originally I was only taking a few weeks off because I went on an unexpected overseas trip (that was wonderful!). But things became crazier and crazier when I got back, and I have been under a great deal of stress. The stress wasn't about bad things - it was just stress (much was just made up in my mind).


A lot of the stress I was putting on myself was unneeded stress. Stress about things that were/are out of my control. That's just how I am wired. Unfortunately I worry about things that are far down the line; things that are completely out of my control. I am a natural born worrier, and it takes a toll on me sometimes. 


I said when I started this blog that I was going to stay true in my journey and tell you what I am thinking and doing as it relates to overall health and weight loss. I haven't changed that and this is probably the most open post I have written to date. 


The recent stress made me realize I truly do have a problem with food in some capacity. I found myself (during what were moments of what I thought to be real stress) turning to food (mainly carbs) for comfort and eating so much faster than normal. I felt better the moment I was eating and when I was "full" - but felt much worse the next day. 


I haven't been like this in so long - at least not since I've started this journey last year.  I do truly know that there are certain things that have been against me gene wise - as I was put on my first diet at 12 (even being an extremely active athlete at the time). However now I realize there is so much more to it. The mental factor is definitely there too which has made it a double whammy of sorts. 


I am so glad that I am now in a healthy, normal eating stage that makes me realize that what I was doing during those stressful times was abnormal, and I was able to get them under control.


My goal at the last post was just to maintain for June and then pick up the weight loss again for the rest of the summer. 


Over the past month I've been losing and gaining the same 2 pounds. I finally weighed myself this morning and I am up one pound since I last checked in with you. I hope to keep losing and losing now. I would really love to lose 50 additional pounds total but I'll just keep losing (even if losing slowly....) and see what feels right :).


One other update... the person that I was working with to update the blog fell through and I have a lot going on this summer. I am going to update the blog to make it much more user friendly. Including a navigation bar with an organized recipe tab, downloadable song recos etc. It's just going to take longer than I had originally hoped. Please be patient on this front :). It will eventually be great. I promise! My friend did design an amazing logo for me - that I was going to wait to show you until the blog was redesigned, but I will update the facebook page with it this week.


Hope you are all doing well! Welcome to all the new followers :). 
SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "Party Rock Anthem" LMAFO. It's a good running song as it is upbeat and I have it on my playlist now before I get super sick of it from how much they are probably going to play it on the radio this summer! :)

RANDOM TIP OF THE WEEK: If you find yourself turning to food during stressful times - try to catch yourself before or doing and do something else. I would have loved to take a walk or un during those times but often it wasn't a possibility. My new favorite alternative is "tension tamer" tea. I don't know if it is mental, but it seems to have worked wonders on me :). 

THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: Chicken Paillard - the perfect summer dinner. You have to make this if you like arugula :). My friend Evie made this at her house one night for dinner, and I had to have the recipe to make again for my family and to share with you!

Chicken Paillard

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 small shallot, chopped
• 1/3 cup pure olive oil (reserve 2 tbs for dressing below)
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground fresh black pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pounded thinly
• Salt
• 1/2 pound arugula
• 2 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, diced
• 1 small red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for garnish (taken from 1/3 cup above)
• Lemon slices (slice them thinly into circles) for garnish

Directions

Yes, I grill.

Whisk together lemon juice, shallot, olive oil and black pepper in your favorite marinating pan, big bowl. Add the chicken, turn to coat and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. The longer the better!

Preheat grill to high. Remove chicken from marinade, season with salt on both sides and grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and just cooked through.

Combine arugula, tomatoes and onions in a large bowl, toss with the vinegar and oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Place each paillard on a large plate, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and top with some of the arugula-tomato salad. Garnish with lemon halves.

NOTE - The key to this recipe is pounding the chicken SUPER thin prior to marinating it. If you don't like to deal with raw chicken and the clean up. Buy it from a butcher and have them do the pounding for you :).

Nutrition Information: 280 calories, 19 grams total fat (please note - this is based on the recipe above but the actual dish most likely has less as you don't use all the marinade to cook the chicken!) 3 being saturated, 9g carbs, 2g fiber, 17g protein. 7pp+

Best Friend

Last night I read an interview with a big-time trainer who was asked how he can convince people who have struggled with losing weight to believe in themselves. He said "We have the choice to be our worst enemy or our best friend."

I have self-sabatoged myself for years, like a worst enemy would. I am starting to act like more like a good friend and am working towards a being a best friend to myself - mind and body. I guess my own BFF.

Tonight (honestly) when thinking "should I take the easy route out for dinner and get a pizza?... it's been a hard day, I'm tired, it's so easy and I want that cheesy-carb comfort"....I thought that's not how a best friend would treat themselves and went a different route. 

The trainer's point of view clearly hit home to me, and I am going to think about being my best friend a lot. Not only in food choices but in activity choices. Sometimes if I can get the kids to take a nap at the same time (a super super rare feat in this house), I am going to treat myself like a best friend and do something like catch up on reading or doing something personally productive.

On a separate note, it's been a long time since I've had a real post - and I am glad to be back - these holidays took a toll on me. They were great in terms of great times and fun with friends and family but really bad in terms of the food choices I made (which included things like large quantities of gourmet cheeses, sugar cookies, peppermint bark, and red wine.) Hello - I'm human and was bad :(. 

I gave myself license to go crazy in some regards, although I did exercise religiously and have now been running every other day. I was scared to get on the scale, as I could tell I had gained at least a few lbs. back. So starting in early January I did a short detox of sorts to try to press my "reset" button, and get my body used to eating mainly healthy whole foods again. I'm back and hopefully better than ever - I will have a weigh in update next week (if it's pretty or not) as well as a great healthy make-ahead superbowl party recipe!.

SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "Because I'm Awesome" The Dollyrots (I think the lyrics are funny, the song is really upbeat, plus if you are having a bad day you can remind yourself that you are awesome. lol)

RANDOM TIP OF THE WEEK: A "smoothie" made with water (vs. dairy or soy milk) is a great, low-calorie way to get some fruit and veggies in. I sometimes have been having one when the kids eat dinner, so I can hold off until a later dinner without eating their scraps or snacking on bad stuff.

THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: Provencal Soup (modified from a Mark Bittman recipe). Added bonus green smoothie recipe too!

I can not highly enough recommend Mark Bittman's cookbook - The Food Matters, 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living. Natural food, minimal ingredients cooked well. It and he are great. The soup is a great recipe if you want to get more veggies into your diet, and it is also great for a cold day.

Provencal Soup

1/4 cup of olive oil (I used a little less than this)

1 large onion, chopped

6 garlic cloves, smashed or chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

1 medium eggplant, cut into cubes

1 large or 3 small zucchini, chopped

2 red bell peppers, chopped

3 cups of chopped tomatoes (canned are fine, include their juice)*

*I used canned because tomatoes are out of season so canned are actually "fresher"

3 cups of chicken, vegetable stock, or water. (i used chicken)

1/4 cup of black olives pitted and chopped

1/2 cup of fresh basil, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese for garnish (optional) 

1. Put the oil in a large pot over medium heat. When it's hot add the onion and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook stirring until the onion begins to turn golden, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Add the eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, and stock. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to med-low. Cook, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes have broken up and the eggplant and zucchini are super tender, about 45 minutes. (Awesome MB tip: the soup can be made up up to this point and refrigerated for several days or frozen for months; gently reheat before proceeding). Stir in the olives and basil in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Sever garnished with more basil and parm.

Green Drink

This amount serves 2

(and it's much better if you drink it through a straw and also a festive wine glass helps!)

1 cup kale or collard greens - firmly packed, ribs removed if kale!
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 granny smith apple - cored and chopped
1 large ripe banana
2 1/4 cups of water (I like to add a few ice cubes)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth - if it's too thick add a little water

113 calories per serving