A New View of Sunday

 

Most of the time I tend to look at Sunday as ‘that sad…last day before Monday Madness’ where I try to shove in everything I didn’t get done on my other day off earlier in the week (yea, I don’t usually have full weekends off). For me, those ‘things’ usually mean…long run…hanging out with friends…laundry…and killing time on youtube (which reminds me…check these out…

So apparently this is a big thing on youtube now? Lol, I kinda love it

Oh how I love Issa Rae!

See how I can so easily be sidetracked, lol. 🙂 By the time the day is done…yea I don’t feel relaxed at all. Today was a little different…I didn’t do any real running around, which was nice…but I was able to get a good workout in. Two actually.

Today was a 3 mile run…with an awesome power nap mid day…followed by a spinning class. I thought I was insane to try and spin after running, but it wasn’t bad and I actually got into it about half way through the class. The instructor was cool and her music selection was kinda awesome…so maybe I’ll be back next week. I want to incorporate more cardio (outside of running) into my workout routine anyway, so I figure I might as well.

Then to top it off, I made this awesome cream of crab soup, which was inspired by a recent trip to Annapolis, MD. Here’s the recipe in case you’d like to try it out…Warning, I like my foot hot, hence all the pepper in the recipe:

• 2 cups low fat half and half
• 2.5 cups skim milk
• 2 cups white corn
• 1.5 tbsp butter
• 1 lb crab meat
• .5 cup flour
• .5 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• Old Bay seasoning
• Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Cajun Seasoning (which I think is essentially a salt, oregano, black pepper, and cayenne pepper)

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onions and garlic
2. Add flour to the pan, making sure to stir the flour around a little so that it won’t burn.
3. Slowly add the milk…add one cup first and stir to make sure there are no clumps in the mixture from the flour. Then, allow the mixture to come to a bit of a boil before adding another cup of milk. Continue to stir the mixture, as it will begin to thicken. Add the final half cup of milk (or omit if you’d like a thicker soup).
4. Toss in the crab meat and corn and allow the mixture to come to a slight simmer. You will want to continue to stir the pot a bit, paying close attention to the bottom since some of the bèchamel (the flour, butter, milk sauce that serves as the soup’s base) will tend to stick to the bottom.
5. Add the 2 cups of half and half, add your seasonings, and bring the soup to a slight simmer (about 5-10 minutes). I’m a big believer of seasoning to taste, so I don’t use measuring cups or anything – just season it until it tastes like something you would enjoy.

If you guys give it a shot, let me know how you like it. I loved how it came out, and of course due to all the pepper seasoning I used, it had a nice little kick at the end of each spoonful.

Till next time! 🙂

Fueling the Engine

Food is something I usually don’t talk about with you all, partly because I’ve never considered myself to be an authority on all things nutrition. And also because, truth be told…I’m a big ole greedy foodie! *smile* I don’t make any excuses about why I eat what I eat, through my attempts at living a better and healthier life I’ve learned that I quite simply enjoy food.

What this has meant for my running and weight loss is that I do have some weeks where the scale doesn’t budge as much, or it may even go up a bit. It’s a hazard of my own approach to food…which is “eat healthy as much as you can, but it’s ok to indulge every once in awhile” Admittedly that “every once in awhile” sometimes becomes several times in a week…especially during this past holiday season.

So, frustrated with the fact that I’m putting all this hard work into my marathon training and yet my scale isn’t moving down enough (or at all in some weigh-ins), I’ve decided to re-evaluate what I’ve been putting into my body.

First up is my water intake…

Yea, I can relate...

This has been spotty, at best. There are days when I do ok, maybe close to 6-8 glasses of water, and days where I have no idea how much or how little I’ve taken in. I used to drink Crystal Light, and that was how I got my water intake, but I’ve decided to give that up and switch to plain water. Why? Well because one day I looked in the bottom of a pitcher of crystal light I made and saw this weird filmy stuff. Then I looked at my water bottle and realized this is probably the same stuff that collects at its bottom. I realized then that if it looked gross at the bottom of the container, it must look even grosser when it’s in my body. I did a little more research into Crystal Light, trying to figure out what the heck is in it…and I found a whole lot of info on aspartame. This stuff seems to be pretty nasty when it comes to the possible effects it has on the body. So with Crystal Light out of the picture, that leave me to regular water. I did do a little research into different ways one can flavor water, and I came across some of these articles: Homemade Flavored Water and 32 Natural Ways to Flavor Water

Next up…food…

They say you are what you eat...

I took a look at what I’d been eating…and I realize that I’d been eating a lot of food that was prepared by other hands. Take out, restaurants, sweets, and all kinds of processed food. Food that I couldn’t properly gauge what the heck I was putting into my system. I think that was the greatest frustration for me…I relied so heavily on prepackaged healthy foods in the beginning of my weight loss journey. Then that got me to thinking…For someone who is really into trying to be healthy, I was not paying nearly enough attention to making sure I was eating the proper things.

So I’ve decided to become more hands on with my food, and I’m cooking more. At least that way I can hold myself accountable for what I’m eating and I’m taking responsibility for what’s going in my body. I’ve been looking at various recipes (using some of these sites: Simply Recipes, A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss, Paleo Plan, and Clean Eating) and trying a few things out this past week. It’s been really fun and quite satisfying emotionally and physically. I feel more empowered when I cook, and I’ve been cooking some pretty awesome meals! I’m impressing myself with my culinary skills, and I’m thinking/hoping that this increased participation on my part will help in my quest to be healthier.

What about you? How are your eating habits helping/hindering your fitness routine?