‘Semi-Homemade’ Soup & Hula Hoop Cardio!

I don’t know if you have watched or heard about Sandra Lee’s Food Network Show, Semi-Homemade Cooking, but I thought it was an apt title for today’s meal. While Sandra typically combines fresh food with store-bought stuff, I unfortunately didn’t do exactly what she did, but close enough

In an effort to clean out the pantry and the refrigerator, I decided to mix my two favorite things together for a healthy and very filling meal: Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo and Amy’s Black Bean soup.

(source)

PLUS

Amy’s Black Bean Soup

EQUALS

Yum!

Now I have to be honest… cooking soy chorizo is kinda gross. You have to cut off the casing and, especially if you’re a klutz like me, the actual soy chorizo stuff falls apart in your hands, leaving your hands/the counter/the floor/the cats covered in red coloring. Definitely unappetizing…

Cooking soy chorizo

I eventually got it into a pan along with a tablespoon of coconut oil, fried it up, and added half of this batch to half a can of Amy’s Black Bean Soup. You can use more soup or more soy chorizo if you like, but I find soy chorizo to be really spicy… plus I wanted leftovers for the next day

On further thought, you really could make this legitimately ‘Sandra Lee’ approved and add some fresh spinach or herbs to this dish. Make it your own! I promise, it is super delicious, very filling, and incredibly easy to make. The only ‘mess’ was the pan and the cutting board I used to cut off the soy chorizo casing. Super facil! (Super easy!)

On to awesome topic number two… today I went to Hula Hoop Cardio! A local fitness studio offers $5 drop in classes. The classes they offer include Zumba, Hip Hop Cardio, ‘Butts and Guts’ (haven’t been to that yet!), Zumba Toning, and now, Hula Hoop Cardio!

(source)

I had heard of hula hooping as a form of cardio, and several years back, I bought a couple of hula hoops. The roommates and I used them pretty frequently at first, but eventually the two other roommates got bored and stopped. I continued to hula hoop around the house intermittently, but when I moved away for grad school, the hula hoops got packed away. Needless to say, I didn’t think I’d really get back into hooping…

Enter: this class. When I saw in an email from the studio that they would be offering it this month, I got so excited. Let’s be honest, I also read this article in Shape magazine a while back about Marisa Tomei hula hooping, and I thought, ‘damn, I wish I were Marisa Tomei! She’s so cool! I should get a hula hoop.’ (No joke, this is in part why I bought a hula hoop all those years ago…) But back to fitness…

Why is hula hooping a good exercise?

• Other than being fun (thus upping the likelihood that you’ll stick to it, obviously a huge factor in exercise and weight loss), hula hooping doesn’t require any fancy coordination, nor does it require pricy equipment. If you can move your hips, you can hula hoop. (source)
• Hula hooping burns as many calories as step aerobics, boot camps, or brisk walking. (source)
• If you use a weighted hoop, not only will hula hooping be easier, but you will also burn more calories than using a store-bought hula hoop (that said, I used a regular plastic hula hoop and still got a killer work out). (source)

After today’s class, I am more determined to (one day) purchase a weighted hula hoop– they only had one, and a lady grabbed it before I did. She also was the best hooper in the whole class, and now that I know that weighted hoops are easier… well then…

I had a ton of fun and right now, my quads are sore– we did squats and lunges (yes, while hooping!) in addition to some dancing and walking around. I wasn’t the best hooper, but I was pretty darn good! The most important thing is that I am excited to go to class again next week (and I burned 400 calories.) Win win!

Have you ever tried hula hooping, either for fun or in a class setting? Would you be interested in hula hooping, or do you think it’s just a fad? (Definitely a possibility!)

Couch to 5k and Mile a Day!

Short post today because I’m meeting my City of Phoenix “mentor” (he’s not really a mentor but he’s not a friend… yet… so I don’t know what to call him!) in an hour… hey, I said I’d be posting every day, but I didn’t commit to a length!

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all that I have re-started my commitment to running… my ‘commitment’ has been very hit or miss, depending on my mood. When I was in boot camp, I was super committed, mostly because we had to run a mile every day to warm up. However, I did notice a big change not only in my cardiovascular range, but also in my shape. I know they say the best way to lose weight and tone up is to lift weights, but honestly, I saw just as big a change when I was running as I did when I was lifting weights.

Then again, it had to be running. After bootcamp, I went back to doing the elliptical and all my hard work (especially my cardio!) went away. When I moved back to Phoenix, when I first went hiking with my boyfriend, I noticed immediately that I was much more out of shape and out of breath than ever before.

I’m now doing weight lifting (light, not anything crazy… just for toning, and because I’m too lazy to do anything harder) and Zumba classes (those are so much fun! And cardio! Woo!), but I’ve also decided to add in running again.

Enter: Couch to 5k. If you’re interested in reading more about the program, and reading it from the perspective of someone who is really dedicated and much further along on it than I, check out This is My Everest‘s blog posts!

(source)

I was so psyched and pumped reading This is My Everest’s blog updates about C25K, and I was like, ‘hey, I have that app! I’m going to get back to doing it!’

Okay, so turns out I don’t exactly have the Couch to 5k app… I actually have the ‘Run 5k’ app:

(source)

Oh well, it’s kind of the same thing, I guess. Don’t worry, I bought it from the App store a long while ago when it was cheaper (I think .99?) so I didn’t actually spend 4 bucks on it. I like it too because it has a little ‘music’ button on the bottom that lets you listen and access ANY music source on your iPhone– be it iTunes, the radio, or Pandora. I can skip around on my music and not interrupt it!

Also, it’s really easy to use and it tracks the dates you use it, so you never get confused as to where you are. In fact, it told me the last time I used it was in February, 2011. I am soooooooo motivated… not!

So in conjunction with my Run 5k app, I’m also taking part of the Twitter challenge from Carlyn from Just Keep Sweating to complete a mile a day, #mileaday on Twitter. So far I’m two days in, and I think I’m doing pretty well.. then again, it’s only been two days… :-/

Between these two motivators (well, and this blog!), I hope to get in at least a mile every single day, be that from walking around, hiking, or running on the treadmill. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted!

Boot camp – 2nd to last day

Yesterday was my second to last day of boot camp… for this session! Oh yes, my friends, I signed myself up for another boot camp, which starts in 3 weeks. I can’t wait!

I'm never this excited to go to the gym, but it IS this dark outside!

Obviously this is not what I wear to work out, but that jacket is (because it’s freezing outside), and it is definitely that dark outside!

We did a ton of awesome stuff. We started with:

• 4 laps around the basketball gym
• 3 sets of 8 ‘Around the World’ lunges

Video of the lunges:

Yeah, they were killer! We then

• Sprinted from one end of the gym to the other
• Once at the end, we did jump hops (which is just jumping up and landing in a squat position, then doing it again). We did those for 3 sets, 12 reps
• Then we jogged back to the other end and did bench dips… 3 sets of 12 reps:

• Then we did my favorite exercise machine ever: the lat pull up and the narrow pull up! 3 sets of 10 reps each. I kept mine at about half my weight (which means I was on 69.5 pounds, which equals out to be a little more than half my weight, but the next weight down was 50 lbs. and that would have been too easy)

• We finished our time in the gym with hinge curls (worked my forearms!) of 3 sets, 10 reps each. I used a 20 lb. barbell.
• We then ended our boot camp doing ankle cross crunches (3 sets of 20) and planks (3 sets of 30 seconds each)

All in all, a super good work out! I’m definitely hurting today (at least my arms are) so I’m babying myself with a green drank… approx. 1 1/2 hours after I ate breakfast, but whatever. It’s a snack I’ll share my recipe for this week’s green drank in my next post!

I was going to get coffee today (ohhh Starbucks!) but it’s snowing! So I’m sticking inside right now until the snow dies down, finishing job apps and whatnot.

Questions for you all: Have you ever used the lat pull up/narrow pull up weight machine? How much weight do you usually do?

Happy Friday!

Review: Vega Pre-Workout Energizer

Okay, so tonight I’m deviating from the VegNews ’31 Changes in 31 Days’… only because this has to be a quick post because tomorrow I have BOOT CAMP!!! We’re not running stairs tomorrow, so I’m very excited. We’re probably running, but oh well.

So I ended up buying the Vega Pre-Workout Energizer and the Performance Protein at Whole Foods the other day!

So far I’ve only tried the Pre-Workout Energizer stuff, hence my review.

I tried the lemon-lime flavor first on Tuesday, right before boot camp (well, 30 minutes before, because Vega recommends you chug it at least 20 minutes before you work out.) I thought it was going to be so gross, just because these things usually are, plus I wasn’t mixing the powder in cold water (even though it’s freezing outside, our tap water doesn’t get that cold.)

I was pleasantly surprised! The lemon-lime flavor didn’t taste amazing, but it tasted way better than I could have ever predicted. I was able to chug the drink in about 5 minutes, which was great because I was running late. I didn’t have any problems drinking it like I thought I would have, and I daresay I actually enjoyed it.

Overall, I would say Vega’s Pre-Workout Energizer is great – a 5/5 for sure. When I got to boot camp, my mind and body were both energized and I didn’t have that early morning lethargy like I normally do. If you’re interested in the ingredients, please check the Vega link above. From what I’ve read, the ingredients are natural and “good for you”– definitely nothing at all like chugging a Rockstar or Redbull before going to the gym. I felt clean and good and full of energy!

My review for the Performance Protein will come later– haven’t tried it yet but I will within the next couple of days!

Question for you all: Have you ever tried anything by Vega? Would you ever try a pre-workout energy mix?

Days 14 & 15: Eat plants & be scared!

Yesterday and today’s challenge from VegNews‘ ‘31 Changes in 31 Days‘ focus on health: Eat plants (Day 14) and get scared (Day 15.) Strangely enough, I didn’t have a salad yesterday, although I ate the heck out of some steamed edamame… yum!

Yesterday was a super busy day for me – I skipped the gym (that was a much needed rest day!), had a meeting with my student group at an “Asian fusion” restaurant, then had a group meeting and finally class. In between, I was slammed with the homework I didn’t do over the weekend (oh, the perils of having a social life!) but I’m sure you’ll be happy to know I did not break any of my “rules” (basically, don’t eat anything not vegan). Yesterday I also I didn’t eat a ton of plants, which was unfortunate… :-/ It was just a “eat quick meals” day – oatmeal for breakfast (with blueberries!), a rice bowl w/ grilled tofu and steamed broccoli for lunch, and a peanut butter and banana sandwich for dinner. Yeah.. it was one of those days!

Today was equally busy (homework, lunch date with a friend, class, more homework), but I kinda-sorta enjoyed some greens!

(source)

Mad Greens, that is! Apparently, Mad Greens is only here in Colorado, which is unfortunate, but it’s pretty much just like the “Choice Greens” shops we have in Arizona. So good! I got the Mediterranean salad, which is a pasta salad, vs. a traditional salad, plus a side of tomato soup. I checked to make sure the tomato soup was vegan (it was more like minestrone, without the pasta) BUT I forgot to check to see if my salad dressing was vegan… it wasn’t I only noticed after the lady had put the dressing on… fail! Raspberry vinaigrette, how dare you do me like that!

However, the lunch date with my friend was amazing, and we got caught up on each other’s lives. Sometimes you just need to take that break, get out of the house (or work) and catch up with a friend. I really felt great

Oh, speaking of not feeling great… it took all of my willpower (and all of bf Blake’s text-motivation) to get me out of bed and to boot camp this morning. You see, Tuesday is when we run the STAIRS.

I'm going to have nightmares about these stairs, for real

(source)

These stairs look a lot nicer than the stairs we run… we run the hockey arena stairs which, to my calculation, are something like 14 flights of 20-25 stairs per flight… and that might be conservative. I stop counting/black out around flight #10… haha, I don’t really black out, but sometimes I want to!

Today I was proud of myself though… I did all the flights except one (last week, I skipped 5 flights) and I only went over my time by 2 seconds. Huge improvement!

After the stairs, we completed the following exercises:

• Sway push ups (3 sets of 12)
• Reverse lunge flies with light weights (I used 4 lbs.) (3 sets of 16)
• V-up curls (3 sets of 15)
• Bent over row with tricep kickbacks (3 sets of 15) (I used 7.5 lb weights)
• Hinge with lateral raises (3 sets of 12)
• Plant tap outs (2 sets of 20)
• Back extension twists (3 sets of 18)
• Bicycle crunches (3 sets of one minute each)… 3 min. of bicycle crunches… ow!!

Although I hate the stairs, I felt super pumped afterwards, so (although I’m loathe to admit it), I’m glad I went!

All right, so today is Get Scared, and I feel as if I haven’t scared you enough. However, this is a long post and I have to get back to homework, so here’s a recap from VegNews:

• If trends in the US continue, “half the population will be obese by 2030, which could result in an additional 8.5 million cases of diabetes” (I blame you, Paula Deen) and “7.3 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 669,000 cases of cancer.” VegNews then tells you to imagine the ones you love, stricken with these diseases. Get scared!

And here’s an excellent recap by the Vegan Consultant, who shares videos from world renowned doctors and leaders on the health benefits of a vegan diet.

I promise a more in depth look at the health benefits of a vegan diet (because I do enjoy scaring you all very much), but I really must finish this paper, so I leave you with my favorite comic by Vegansaurus!

Day 13: Be persistent & Black Bean Brownies

After yesterday’s day of mistakes, I’m definitely ready for today’s VegNews challenge: Be persistent. I woke up this morning really not wanting to go to the gym (it’s Sunday after all! Can’t I get a break?!) But then I heard my roommate get up and I remembered what I had ate the day before, so I got my butt up and out of there.

Like VegNews notes in the challenge, balancing “work, family” and they say “activism” but I’ll say “school/social life” is a big challenge. It’s especially difficult when you’re trying to weigh having a good time out with your friends vs. your diet, and it’s difficult when you have to choose between the gym or getting in some extra homework time. There have definitely been days when I just want to throw in the towel and eat something unhealthy, or not get up and go to the gym, but then I always regret it the next day. I either feel gross (from drinking too much or eating too heavy/greasy food) or I just feel lethargic (from not exercising). That’s not to say I won’t “make mistakes” or prioritize friends/school over gym time, but it’s a balance. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s not. Knock on wood, this month has been good to me so far!

As usual, I didn’t regret going to the gym. I warmed up by running on the stairs (6 times, 3 flights each,  12 steps per flight… took me about 10 minutes… it hurt!!) and riding the bike (15 minutes). I then did a leg workout that consisted of:

• 2 sets of 10 leg curls (50 lbs.)
• 3 sets of lunges (body-weight)
• 5 sets of squats
• 3 sets of 50 lbs each on the adductor and abductor machines (vag machines)
• crunches (side planks, planks, regular crunches)
• And a butt workout, of which I’ll share later…

I feel like I did more, but that’s all I remember right now so.. there you go!

Today we’re celebrating our friends’ birthdays that we missed (they are December babies, and we weren’t in town for their birthdays), and I decided to make Black Bean Brownies from Happy Herbivore…

Scene of the crime!

I liked the fact that I could throw all the ingredients into the blender. That was awesome! However… I think I used the wrong type of oats. It called for instant oats, and I used regular oats… :-/

Minus the oats, I have to say the black bean brownies did not come out the way I expected them to. I had heard that black bean brownies can be really good, but these are just weird…

As you can see, I took a chunk out to test them before presenting them to my friends… I’m still going to give them to my friends, because oh well, but I don’t think I’d make this recipe again ever. It’s too sweet, has a weird consistency (not cake-like, probably because there’s no flour in this), and just… not what I expected.

I guess I’m still looking for the perfect (vegan) brownie recipe then!

Okay, off to get ready for our fiesta – then I have work!

Question for you all: Have you ever made vegan black bean brownies? What recipe did you use, and how did they turn out?

Day 12: Make a mistake

VegNews’ Day 12: Make a mistake might just be my favorite ‘challenge’ ever… or at least, so far! I’m so glad ‘making a mistake’ day fell on Saturday, because although I didn’t make a huge mistake (like eat meat, which I wouldn’t do anyway), I definitely pigged out today…

But first, I went to the gym! Yay! I did:

• Stair running for 10-12 minutes (I took a TON of breaks– this Tuesday’s stair running for boot camp is scaring me!)
• Arms workout:
• Chest press with dumbbells (3 sets, 12 reps w/ 8 lb. weights)
• “Tree hug” w/ 8 lb. weights (3 sets, 12 reps)
• Push ups (2 sets of 10)
• Tripcep kick backs (3 sets of 12)
• Bicep curls with 10 lb. weights (3 sets of 12)
• Side bends (2 sets of 12 with 15 lb. weights)
• Back extensions (1 set of 15)

Yup, my roommate and I got up at 7:15 so we could work out for an hour, because today we had plans! First, we saw the movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with our friends:

(source)

I would have taken a picture of all of us, but we were running late. Barely got into the movie theater before the movie started! The best part of this theater is that your ticket (only $9!!!) gets you unlimited free soda and popcorn. Mistake #1! I only had one bowl of popcorn and one soda, but it had been a looooong time since I last had soda… pretty sure I have a sugar rush headache now!

After that, we went to a sports bar because my roommate is a huge 49ers fan, plus the Broncos play today, so today is a big deal football day for everyone. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay because I have work in 45 minutes… Oh well!

At lunch today, I was surprisingly able to find something vegan… hummus pita wrap with lettuce, tomato, and onions. Yum! I also had a side of tater tots… mistake number 2 but they were so worth it! Reminded me of the school cafeteria… haha yummm!

(source)

Dinner today will be something really light– either yogurt and fruit, or a salad. I feel greasy!

I’ve got to dash off for work now, but I’ll probably post something exciting later. Happy Saturday!

Question for you all: Are you watching the play off games today? Who are you rooting for?

Boot camp butt kicking

Oh boy, going to today’s boot camp was so awful! When I woke up at 5:45 this morning, it was 3 degrees outside. THREE DEGREES!! Kill me now! Plus it was icy as heck, so I decided not to risk my life… and I drove. Smartish? Ehh.. well anyway, my car did fine, but the minute I stepped out of the car, I did not. Slipping EVERYWHERE! Thank goodness, I made it. And just about died, again. Whyyyy boot camp WHY?! Here’s what we did today:

• 45 lunges (3 sets of 15)
• 30 squats (3 sets of 10)
• 40 inchworms (2 sets of 20)
• 30 pushups (3 sets of 10)
• 40 crunches (2 sets of 10 crunches, 2 different kinds: regular crunches and side crunches)
• 30 10-lb. weight presses over our head (Does that make sense? We held ten lb. weights at a 90 degree angle and pushed them up over our head… not sure what that’s called!)
• 6 laps around the gym

I worked out! Thank goodness we didn’t run the stairs again though… she’s saving that for Tuesday :-/

Since I’ve been working out so much (both over the break and now), I decided I really want to look into protein powders to help build muscle. Yes, I know protein powders make you “gain weight” (in the form of muscles.) Yes, I know you need to be doing weight training in order to justify it. I promise, I feel like I need it and I am super motivated to amp up my weight training (when I’m done being dead from boot camp.)

Furthermore, our boot camp instructor noticed me flagging the other day running stairs, and she suggested I eat something for energy before coming to work out. Soooo I sent out a Twitter message to Vega, maker of vegan health optimizers/protein powders/stuff for runners. And lo and behold, I came across some really interesting info!

(source)

1. It’s vegan, and whole food! None of that whey business in here, and all sorts of good-for-you ingredients.
2. Vega was started by Brendan Brazier, a vegan super athlete.
3. It’s gotten a ton of good reviews online.

Yeah, you can see I did lots of research All joking aside, I actually have been looking into Vega for a long time, and reading about their ingredients, and now reading reviews. After all that, I decided I’m going to try the Vega Sport line, in particular the: ‘Prepare’ Pre-Workout Energizer (lots of people said it gave them energy and made their work outs easier, yay!) and the ‘Recover’ Performance Protein. They’re both kind of expensive, but I’m looking forward to trying something healthy, good for me, and good for the environment. If it helps me build muscle and feel better before, during, and after the gym, all the better!

(source)

The one thing I’m dreading is the expense, though. After what I saw online… I’m trying to decide which would be better to buy. I’d like to try the Pre-Workout Energizer, but I think overall the Performance Protein would be better. Hmm… cross your fingers when I go to the store tomorrow, they’re not too prohibitvely expensive!

Last but not least, here’s my meal plan for the day:

Breakfast: one slice toast with Earth Balance butter, large green drank w/ flaxseeds

Lunch: small salad (lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions), half a mock tuna sandwich from Happy Herbivore, last dark chocolate cherry nut cookie!

Dinner: Couscous and Vegetarian Plus’ Vegan Black Pepper Steaks, sauteed broccoli and (if it’s still good :-/) green pepper, garlic

Dessert: Silk vanilla soy yogurt with sliced strawberries and blueberries (I’m in a sweet mood!)

Snacks: Pretzels with hummus, glass of wine! Yum!

Day 4: Work Out & customized work out plans

I have to say, out of all the 31 changes in VegNews‘ ’31 Changes in 31 Days’, Day 4: Work out has to be the easiest for me. Luckily, I was already planning on working out, and I got my work out done with earlier this morning.

In today’s explanation, vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke says “consistency and application” are the ways to succeed at exercising, and boy is that true. Over the holiday break, for the few days I didn’t go to the gym (because of travel, or the holidays, or family obligations), I felt lethargic and definitely not in the mood to work out the next day. If anything, I kinda wanted to never work out again.

Lucky for me, I’m surrounded by people who value health and exercise. While I was with my parents, my Mom motivated me to work out and go to the gym with her for our health. I would say my family background is moderately healthy– we don’t have anything too crazy that runs in our family, just the normal things. But for some family members, we’ve seen them deteriorate quite rapidly because they didn’t take care of themselves at all- overweight, smoked, drank, you name it, they did it. And they died fairly young because of it.

Since Mom and I have way too many things we want to do in the future (traveling!), we motivated each other and encouraged each other to go to the gym. It’s always fun having a work out buddy, and it’s even better when that work out buddy is your Mom

Today’s work out was devoted to arms, and consisted of:

• 15 min. warm up on the elliptical (1 mile)
• 5 min. bike “warm up”
• 3 sets of 12 bicep curls (8 lb. weights)
• 3 sets of 10 tricep kickbacks (8 lbs.)
• 3 sets of 12 dumbbell shoulder presses (8 lbs.)
• 3 sets of 10 push ups
• 3 sets of 12 “tree hugs” (8 lbs.)
• 5 min. on the rowing machine

Again, crossing my fingers I feel it tomorrow! There weren’t as many people at the gym today, probably because I went earlier (8 am vs. 10 am). There were, however, a lot of people there with individual personal trainers. Looks like a lot of people are taking their New Year’s Resolutions seriously…

I actually found something really cool from Shape – a customized work out plan! Basically, you choose 8 work outs from their selection of videos (lots to choose from!) and then create your own “play list”. It seems really cool! I can’t wait to play around with this and learn some new routines.

Tonight I can’t exactly share with you everything I’m eating/drinking… I’m going to a friend’s potluck in a few hours, and I have no idea what will be there. I can, however, show you what I’m bringing to this potluck…

Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Dip! Yum! It was such a big hit the last time I brought it to a party, I figured I absolutely had to do it again. It’s quickly becoming one of my go-to party foods! You might notice it looks a little strange in the middle… yeah well, when I took it out of the oven, I couldn’t resist trying a little bit… you know, to make sure it tasted okay

So run down of my meals thus far:

Breakfast: Green drank and half a peanut butter sandwich

Lunch: Happy Herbivore’s Mock Tuna Sandwich and a glass of milk

Dinner: (guessing): Mexican dip and my corn tortilla chips… maybe some soup, if someone brings it (I heard they were)… and wine… and we’ll see!

Snacks: I finished up the rest of the green drank because I needed the blender, and then I’m going to have an apple and some almonds before hitting the fiesta tonight.

Tomorrow’s ‘challenge’ is: Get enough vitamin B12. Looks like I’ll be reading up on exactly what B12 is tomorrow…

Until then! A question for you all: What is your favorite dish (vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore) to bring to potluck parties? Or do you usually stop at the grocery store and buy something pre-made? (We’ve all done it!

Day 2: Eat Something Nourishing

Like the title of this blog post, today in Day 2 of VegNews magazine’s ’31 Changes in 31 Days’, is Eat Something Nourishing.

For today, VegNews recommends that I “fill up with something that treats [my] body right.” I first thought of soup, as it is pretty chilly tonight, but then something even better, even more nourishing (and warm!) came to mind: quinoa! Quinoa is a complete protein, which basically means you don’t have to pair it with anything to get the full goodness (or nourishment!) out of it. For more on quinoa, Whole Foods has a great blog entry on this super food.

Here was my quinoa, cooked, packed up, and ready to go:

To make it even healthier and more fulfilling, I add a chopped up green bell pepper that I cooked with the quinoa, as well as chopped fresh spinach and a whole tomato. I packed it up because today was pretty busy: I had work at 2 PM until 5, then class from 6-9 PM. Instead of going home and eating the quinoa (which probably would make me late for class), I decided to eat in the coffee lounge outside my work today.

By the time I got to it, it was cold (bummer!) but still really good… and it definitely filled me up and nourished me! I wasn’t starving through class like I normally am, and I feel I ate very healthy and, dare I say, environmentally friendly today.

The rest (and beginning) of my day was as follows:

Breakfast: One slice toast with Earth Balance “butter”, glass of milk (small breakfast today because I hate exercising on a full stomach)

Lunch: big green drank (same ingredients), peanut butter sandwich

Dinner: My quinoa medley! Around 2 cups.

Snacks: Pretzels, an apple, and a small latte (with soymilk!) because I was dying after work today and wasn’t sure if I would make it through class… Hopefully this doesn’t become an every Wednesday occurrence, but if it does, I won’t be too sad… I love my coffee!

As mentioned above, I did go exercise today! Hooray! Unfortunately, I’m spoiled by our gym in Phoenix… today, the school’s gym was packed! I probably shouldn’t have gone at 10 AM (too late), but I did and I will never wake up late again. While I was trying to work out my legs, I kept bumping in to people… too many people! Anyway, here’s what I managed to do:

• Warm up on the elliptical (20 min.)
• Stairstepper (10 min.)
• Side bends with 12.5 lbs weights (I didn’t make this common fitness mistake, no worries)
• 3 sets crunches (bicycle crunches, regular crunches, side planks and regular planks)
• 3 sets lunges (1 with weights (12.5 lbs), 2 without)
• 1 set side lunges with the ball (only 1 set because I kept bumping into people!)
• 2 sets squats with calf raises
• 3 sets of adductor and abductor machines (or what I like to call the ‘vag machines’)
• 2 sets leg press (90 lbs. and 110 lbs.)

As you can see, I definitely didn’t push myself as hard as I did while in Phoenix… I blame the crowd but I also didn’t want to go all out since I knew I’d be hustling around work today… and boy did I hustle! Work was soooo busy… hooray for the beginning of the quarter! /sarcasm

Tomorrow, the challenge is “Love yourself.” I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do about this tomorrow, considering I actually have pretty high self-esteem (not to brag, but it’s true), but I’ll think of something… any suggestions as to what you think this could mean? (Appropriate suggestions only… I can see how this could turn dirty haha)