Here Comes Hanna

Yesterday, I decided that I was going to find out the results of eating a fun cereal for breakfast rather than one loaded with fiber and protein. An intuitive eating experiment, if you will. I knew that the cereal would be mentally satisfying but what about physically. So, I had some clifford crunch mixed along with my favorite dessert cereal, hazelnut biscotti. I had it along with a few almonds and almond milk.

I found the results to be interesting, I got hungry around the same time as I normally do. Luckily, it was around the same time the new chef brought up salads. I am not exactly sure what the salad was but it was delicious. I wanted to ask the chef about it but he was busy in a meeting most of the afternoon. It had grilled romaine, grilled green onion, grilled green something I could not identify, slices of beef tenderloin, tomatoes and a lovely robust dressing. It was topped with fresh made potato chips for crunch. And to top it all off, it was beautiful. It is like he secretly knows I have a food blog 🙂

I got hungry again just before it was time to go so I had a cashew cookie larabar. OK, I have to say, this one is so so good. I kept thinking in my brain, do I like this one better than pecan pie? I am so glad I was introduced to the world of larabars! Not only do they taste awesome, they are really satisfying!

By the time I left, the rain was starting to come down; Hurricane Hanna was making her way to us. I safely made it home and made a quick dinner that also involved using up what we had. I made whole wheat pita pizza with tomato sauce, turkey pepperoni and soy mozzarella. On the side, we had salad with cukes, tomatoes and oil and vinegar. I love this method of making pizza, so easy and the pita is the perfect amount for me.

After dinner, I must admit to doing absolutely nothing. I think I was on my way to dreamland by 7:30! It had been a long short week and I was wiped out!

In the meantime, thanks for all of the great advice yesterday! I thought alot about what I am going through at work and decided that I have to make a change. I need to start leaving on time no matter how busy I am, T tells me all the time that it is just golf. I’m going to take her word for it and do my best to leave when I am supposed to. The only person that can change my life is me and there is a great need for it right now. So, thanks for getting my thinking wheels spinning yesterday!

QOTD: Do you find it is just as important for your food to be mentally satisfying as  it is physically satisfying?

Another Day in Paradise

This morning, I once again started my day with cereal. I have been thinking alot about this over the past couple of days and realized that I have a breakfast cycle. I get hooked on oats for a while and then I get hooked on cereal. I think it may be my bodies way of balancing my dosha. Anyway, today, I had some cinnamon start with almonds, a banana and vanilla almond milk. I think I like the cinnamon cereal best with the almond milk as it is much milder than the hemp milk and the cinnamon of the cereal really shines.

At work, things were out of control crazy. By the end of the day, I was asking people if it was a full moon. Was it? For lunch, the new chef made me a delightful lunch. It was poached shrimp with green beans, tomatoes and garlic chips with a poppy seed dressing. It was wonderful and by far the prettiest meal I may have ever eaten. This new chef is really kicking it up a notch (*wink to VeggieGirl).

A couple hours after lunch, The Pro showed up with starbuck’s, he got me a soy latte. Today, it seemed extra delicious, it tasted like toasted marshmallows. And with things so wacko, it was right on time despite the fact that it was in a paper cup.

The afternoon flew by and I, once again, stayed late. I am often times amazed at how an industry based on leisure can be so hectic. When I was leaving, I decided that I was in the mood for going out to dinner instead of making it at home. I hadn’t planned anything and my mental creativity was zapped. After a quick conversation with the dear husband, we decided on a new Greek place just a couple miles from home.

We ordered the Meze which is what I would consider a family style meal. Everything is brought to the table in dishes meant to be shared. The first course was cold appetizers with pita. It featured hummus, cucumber sauce, potato salad and roe dip. Forgive me for not using all of the greek names but honestly, I can’t pronounce them much less spell them. I really enjoyed the roe and the potato salad, I will be googling recipes for the roe dip in no time.

The second course was hot appetizers, meatballs, stuffed grape leaves, wings and spinach pie. I really enjoyed the spinach pie but nothing really left me wanting more.

The third course was grilled chicken, pork and beef along with greek salad. I enjoyed the beef the most, I put it on pita and smeared it with the roe dip!

And finally was dessert, the best part. We had baklava and rice pudding which worked out perfectly. The dear husband really liked the pudding and I really liked the baklava. Overall, it was a lovely meal and I think we will visit there often.

After dinner, we chatted for a bit before heading home. Once home, I spent some time catching up on all the blogs I need to read and then read for a VERY little while.

QOTD: Lately, I have been working alot of overtime and am finding time for very little else. I did the math and I have been giving 12 to 13 hours a day to work including getting ready, getting there and then actually working. And there really is no end in sight! What is your go to meal when you are really wiped out?  And what about exercise? I have been trying to force myself to get up really early and it does not seem to be working AT ALL.

A Rainy Thursday

I started yesterday in a rush again, so it was cold cereal for breakfast. I mixed some clifford crunch with the last of the dorset cereal. I topped it with some almonds, a banana and vanilla hemp milk. It was a nice combo but most importantly, it was fast!

breakfast

Things were busy already when I got to work, it was every ones first day back from the aerification so everyone was geared up. The bad news was that we were having torrential down pours so the superintendent closed the course. I thought it was ironic that it had been closed for 10 days and the day we were supposed to re-open the skies opened up instead. It rained and poured most of the day, I guess hurricane Fay finally made her way to VA which is good because we really need the rain.

Around 11:30 I was hungry and the staff lunch wasn’t to my liking so I rummaged my little “pantry” and the mini fridge and came up with a nice little lunch. I had some white chocolate dreams PB and a little honey on a whole wheat wrap along side some edamame and a juicy peach. I only finished about half of the edamame you see because I was getting filled up and I really wanted to eat the peach!

lunch

I stayed very busy during the afternoon and it flew by. Before I knew it, I was rushing out of the door to make it to my hair appointment on time. While I was in the car, I realized my stomach was growling so I ate a cherry pie larabar that was in my purse. I saved the wrapper and took the pic once I was parked at the hair salon 😉

snack

After my hair cut, I headed home and made a quick dinner. I had already taken out some turkey pasta sauce from the freezer so all there was to do was cook the whole wheat pasta and heat up the sauce. And as usual, the dear husband made a small salad with lettuce, tomato and cukes topped with oil and vinegar. Once we started dinner, I realized that I wasn’t actually that hungry so I ate very little but the dear husband polished it off for me with no problem.

dinner

For my 15 clean-up, I worked on cleaning out the freezer. After all of that, I was really tired and ready to rest. I settled in with my book and called it a night.

QOTD: How do you unwind after a long busy day?

Back to Work

Getting out of bed to go back to work really sucks 🙂 I ended up sleeping late and was running behind, as per usual for a work day. For breakfast, I had a bowl of clifford crunch cereal mixed with cinnamon start cereal topped a banana, some almonds and vanilla hemp milk. I am really starting to like the hemp milk, I still like the hazelnut milk better but since the hemp is more readily available, I think it will be my new go to milk.

fast breakfast

I arrived at work to find an overflowing inbox, both email and desktop, and a blinking voicemail light. And to my dismay, within a half hour of driving through the gate into the land of grass, my head was blaring. I called my doc and told him everything I had done both holistically and medically and he wants me to take zyrtec d which I will start tomorrow. I had hoped that I could cure myself without medication but at this point it seems like it is meds or my job. What is a girl to do?

Around 11, I decided to have a snack because I had no idea when lunch would be. I ate a hand full of baked tofu triangles and a small bowl of watermelon. I must thank the lovely Gliding Calm because I always see here eating baked tofu as a snack which I had never thought of. After today, I am sure this will be a go to snack from here on out. I just baked it with a little sea salt but plan to experiment with different glazes and marinades.

snack

Around 12:30, The Pro arrived with lunch. Since the club was still closed, he went to Red Robin and picked up salads. I got a cobb salad with honey poppyseed dressing; it was pretty tasty and very filling. And on a side note, I did eat the blue cheese because at this point, I think I have decided that cutting dairy isn’t the solution I was hoping for.

cobb salad

The afternoon buzzed by with lots to do and I was able to leave on time. Once I made it home, I made one of our old favorites for dinner, BBQ Tofu Pizza which is an idea I got from Monica many many moons ago. For the crust I used whole wheat pita and then topped it with BBQ sauce, onions sauteed in earth balance and balsamic vinegar, baked tofu triangles and vegan “cheese”. I was a little nervous about the “cheese” but it turned out great. On the side, the dear husband made salads with lettuce, tomato, cukes, oil and vinegar. It was a nice dinner and I am looking forward to making it again soon.

bbq tofu pizza

After dinner, I did my 15 minute clean up and then relaxed with my book. Though I prefer to be on vacation, it was nice to be back to normal again.

QOTD: What are you favorite pizza toppings? My all time favorite is pepperoni and cheese but I also like goat cheese with tomatoes and basil and the pizza we made last night.

Hot Yoga Friday

What a day, yesterday. I got up super early yesterday so that I could get to work early. I was going to my first hot yoga (bikram) class and I needed to adjust ny schedule a little. More on that later. I woke up pretty hungry, my stomach was growling even as I was getting ready. I finally calmed it down with a bowl of hot grain cereal (that i finally got our of the freezer), it has wheatberries, oats and bulgur. I mixed in some ground flax seed and topped it with a banana and some almond butter.

TGIBreakfast time

At work, the day started with a bang. One of the projects I have been working on is our new website and yesterday we went live. I was running around all morning long changing everyone’s email settings to they would get their email. I even went to the maintenance department twice which would make a total of 3 times the entire year I have worked there. I wonder if the maintenance department of other world class golf course require rubber gloves to touch anything? But I digress.

By the time I made it back to my desk it was almost noon and I was ravenous. I barely had time to even have some water which was worrying be because of the hot yoga class. I decided that I would have all natural peanut butter on a whole wheat wrap when The Chef and T talked me into the the member lunch special. T even gave me a little bite of hers to help me decide. The member special was a sirloin tip salad with balsamic reduction topped with feta cheese. I wasn’t really in the mood for beef but I was still pretty tasty. I hope the picture is OK but there was someone in my office when it came and I felt kind odd about taking a picture so I did it really fast and only took one. I guess that as my time with this blog goes, I will get over that.

beef...it is whats for lunch

After lunch, I had a few sips of my cinnamon latte I made at home but it wasn’t really doing anything for me so I put it away. The rest of the afternoon was hectic. I have major deadlines on Fridays and because my morning was busy being the resident IT guru, I hadn’t had time to do any of my “real” work. It seemed like the clock was moving faster than I could work. My phone wouldn’t stop ringing and the fellow staff had a number of questions about the new email/website. It was an intense day and when it was over, I was literally running out the door 10 minutes later than I wanted. I was worried about not making it in time for the hot yoga class.

The Prius didn’t let me down. I put the pedal to the metal and made it there in time. My friend Jessy had told me that if I could get there in time to lay on my mat before the class started that it would help me acclimate to the hot tempature of the room. I got there about 20 minutes before class started and was able to fill out the paperwork and get changed. When I walked in the teacher said “This must be your first time” and I meekly said yes, she told me that I looked scared. I was sure I did because I was. I quickly changed and quietly put my mat down in the back of the room as instructed. It was hot in there! And for some reason, when I walked it in it shocked me as if I hadn’t been expecting it. First I laid down, sat up, laid, sat up. I couldn’t figure out what to do. Some people were in child’s pose, one girl was hanging out in downward facing and other were just sitting quietly.

At promptly 4:30, the teacher walked in, clapped her hands and said “Everyone up” and like little soldiers we all stood. The class began with some breathing exercise and sweat was already dripping down my face into my eyes. I knew I was sweating, obviously but it really dawned on me how much when we put our arms towards the ceiling the first time and I could see sweat pouring in little streams down my arms. Then in our first forward fold I saw sweat popping out of the pores of my legs. I had never seen sweat like that.

The class continuted and I was doing pretty good. A few times my brain was asking me what the hell I was doing there but I resisted the urge to flee. I didn’t feel and dizziness or nausea until AFTER the water break which I found to be really odd. A couple times I had to just stand while the others were in the poses and even a couple times I had to sit all the way down. Some of the poses felt easy and some of them felt really hard. I noticed towards the end of the class that bending forward was really getting the dizziness and nausea going so I was really gentle with myself. I wasn’t able to go as far as in a normal class on some things but was able to go farther in others. It was really an odd yoga experience.

Right on the dot at 6pm the class ended, she told us the lay as long as we needed to. I tried to stay still and just lay but I was really ready to go. I probably only stayed a minute or so. On the way home, I had some odd sensations in my head. My jaw felt really tight and I felt I was kind of unable to focus. I wonder if I should haved stayed a little longer. I also wonder if I was clinching my jaw during class.

I arrived home to find that dear husband had made us lovely salads for dinner. It was spring mix, cukes, almonds, dried cranberries and crumbled goat cheese. Which was awesome,  I had really been craving goat cheese lately from reading Jenna’s blog the past few days. I heated up some Sister Shubert’s whole wheat yeast rolls to go on the side, topped the salads with some oil and vinegar and dinner was ready. It was delicious! The odd thing was that I wasn’t really hungry even though it had been about 7.5 hours since I had last eaten. I blame that on the hot yoga because lunch was pretty light and I had avoided eating before class because that can increase nausea.

another salad

After dinner, I delved into my book again. I am reading How to Survive your diet by Linda Moran. It is a pretty interseting book about not dieting, which of course is what I am doing. I keep falling asleep while reading it so though it is a very short book, I haven’t even read half of it. So, in true form, I fell asleep while reading. I was had wondered if the hot yoga was going to keep me up but I was actually really relaxed and I had a great night’s sleep. I’ll be doing that again.