Marathon Training and Tortilla Pizzas

Well folks, it's official. I am training for a marathon. My first ever! I am simultaneously really excited and super terrified, but I trust my plan and I know I'll be ready when the time comes. For those of you training for your first marathon or thinking about it, the concept of actually getting through the entire 26.2 miles on foot may be a little daunting. I'm right there with ya. The distance itself isn't what worries me, it's how my body is going to feel during and after the race. Since this marathon, taking place in May, will be my first, I'm not really going for a time goal of any sort. I just want to finish. Ideally I'd be able to that without walking, but I don't want to be unrealistic.

The training plan I'm following came from a special issue of Runner's World magazine. My mom used this plan when she ran her marathons. It's nice because it allows you to start small and gradually increase distance as you build up your endurance, so even total beginners can work up to a marathon. I am still in the first week of real training, but I've already completed two weeks of what is called the "pre-train", the part of the plan that gets you back into the habit of running every day. I plan on doing a post about what I did and did not like about this plan, the marathon I will be running and the things that I did and what I could've done differently after all is said and done. This marathon training is a learning period for me and I will use it as such. Can't wait for the actual event!!

Well, enough about my marathon blabbing, for now, at least. Today I want to share with you guys a healthy-ish take on pizza. Over break, I experimented a bit with the food my family had in the house and I wound up making a lot of tortilla pizzas. They were great! I have two "flatbread" (a.k.a. tortilla) pizza recipes to share with you guys.

The first pizza is pretty festive....in a Christmas-y sort of way, but spinach and tomatoes are good on pizza all year long!

Spinach, Goat-cheese, and Tomato Tortilla Pizza:

Ingredients:

1. Handful of fresh baby spinach leaves
2. Two or three fresh basil leaves
3. 1/2 fresh green bell pepper
4. 1/4 fresh tomato (or 4 cherry tomatoes)
5. 2 tbsp. Montchevre goat cheese (or soft cheese of preference)
6. Sprinkle of Oregano and Rosemary
7. 1 whole wheat tortilla

Directions:

1. Wash all vegetables
2. Dice tomato and green pepper 
3. Spread goat cheese onto entire tortilla
4. Lay down spinach then add rest of vegetables
5. Tear basil leaves and spread around pizza
6. Sprinkle Oregano and Rosemary over top of pizza
7. Broil on top rack in oven for 3-5 minutes

Yummy!

Sunshine Tortilla Pizza:

Ingredients:

1. 1/3 yellow bell pepper
2. 1/3 orange bell pepper
3. 1/3 red bell pepper
4. 4 cherry tomatoes (or 1/4 regular tomato)
5. 2 tbsp. Montchevre goat cheese (or soft cheese of choice)
6. 1 whole wheat tortilla

Directions:

**Same as above**

....aaaaand....VOILA!

In just a few short minutes, you get a delicious tasting, crispy little pizza. Don't let the ultra-thin crust fool you, these little tortilla pizzas are actually quite filling! Next time the cafeteria is closed at school, or if you're home, give one of these a try. It's a quick, easy, tasty, and healthy lunch option. It might even be great for a dinner for nights when you're short on time.

Do any of you guys know how to knit? I'd been trying to teach myself on and off for years but I could never get the hang of it, until recently when one of my friends taught me. Now all I can think about is knitting. Isn't that sad? I think I'm slowly becoming your stereotypical grandma. Don't believe me? Here's some picture evidence:

   

See, knitting cat lady. Oops. Oh well. No shame. Anyways, wish me luck in these next few months of torture  training for my marathon. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted! 

Emotional Eating

Today's post is a little bit more serious than usual. Recently, I lost my cat of 12 years to cancer. Since I'm away at college, I wasn't home to see him before he died but I knew that he was sick. When my dad called me to tell me the news, I cried for the longest time. For people that don't have or have never had pets, it might be kind of hard to understand just how heartbreaking it is to lose something that feels so much like a part of the family. It may seem silly to get so upset over an animal, but this cat was my friend, my cuddle buddy, my comic relief, and the one I fed fish to under the dinner table (I really hate the taste of fish). So when he died, I was torn apart emotionally. Don't worry, I'm doing much better now! I think I just needed a solid day to cry about it.

Now, there are many different things that people use as emotional outlets, some of which are healthier than others. Lots of people turn to food in times of stress, depression, anger, etc., but I have discovered that I am an emotional non-eater. When I get stressed or  sad or even super mad, I tend to lose my appetite. Nothing ever looks good enough for me to consume and I never actually feel hungry. I will eat, just not a lot. Emotional eating and non-eating, while different, are very similar and neither are healthy ways to go about handling your emotions.

Ironically enough, the day before I found out about Hunter (my cat), my friends and I had talked about emotional versus bored eating. That was when I made the realization that I'm an emotional non-eater but a bored eater. So when I got the news, I made a conscious effort to make sure I wasn't neglecting my health during my time of sadness and self-pity. It's extremely important to make sure you're at least maintaining your physical health even when you feel like you're mind could explode from emotions or stress. Trust me, I know it's not easy, but it's so worth it. When you take care of your body, even when your feelings are out of control, you can begin to feel better emotionally so much quicker.

I know that I'm not a doctor or anything, but here are some things that I found useful when trying to avoid bad habits I give in to when I'm emotional*:

1. Set a food goal: Aim to eat a certain amount of food during each meal of the day. If you tend to overeat during rough times, try aiming for a smaller, more normal portion size. If you tend to under eat, make it a goal to eat every meal. For example, even though I didn't necessarily feel hungry the morning after my cat died, I forced myself to eat my usual breakfast of fruit and cereal. My lunch and dinner portions were smaller than usual, but something is always better than nothing. 
2. Don't wallow: For an entire day, I was SUPER mopey. I don't think I smiled all day. It was awful. But even allowing yourself to think one happy thought or flash one 50 watt smile can make your day 10 times better. It's difficult to try and force a ray of sun to shine through a thick layer of clouds, but even one ray of sunshine lights up the earth a bit (yeah, yeah, I know that was cliché).
3. Naps are good: Sometimes, all you need is a little nap. As long as your emotions aren't interfering with your ability to face the day and to function, then a short little cat nap can be beneficial and who knows, maybe you'll even wake up feeling better!

Well, hopefully these suggestions can help you out the next time you're having a rough day or even a hard week. I'll be back on to peppier posts soon! 

*Note: These recommendations are just for when you have those occasional bad days that just seem impossible to conquer. Everyone gets them every once in a while, but if you experience feelings of sadness on a regular basis or if you often have difficulty facing the day, you should probably seek professional help. Depression is a serious health problem and if you think you may have it, then you should speak to your doctor.

Tips for Food/Exercise Tracking

If you read pretty much any health magazine article, they will tell you that counting your calories is one of the most important ways to lose weight and keep your health in check. This may be true, but I don't exactly like writing down each calorie that I consume; I find it too tedious. Of course, there are websites that do all the work for you, all you have to do is enter the foods you ate during the day.

For me, it can be pretty hard to be consistent with my food and exercise log, and often times I don't know how accurate the calorie count is for the foods I'm entering, especially because most of my diet comes from the school cafeteria. If you're like me and find food logging boring and/or you just forget to keep up with it, here are some tips to help you keep your calories tracking in check.

1. Find a good calorie tracking website (I like Map My Run, but you can also use My Fitness Pal or another calorie tracking site)

2. Be honest: The most important part of tracking your calories is to be 100% honest about what you eat and the exercise you do during the day. Record everything you ate and how much. The same goes for exercise.

3. Set a reminder: Put a reminder or an alarm on your phone to go off at a certain time everyday to tell you when to record your daily intake. When your reminder goes off, drop whatever you're doing and hop onto your calorie tracking site of choice.

4. Write it down: To help you remember what you ate during the day, carry around a small notebook and write down everything you eat after each meal, then at the end of the day, take everything you wrote down, and put it into a tracking site.

Hopefully you'll find these tips helpful, now I just have to take my own advice! ;) Happy food tracking!

Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie!

Do you like peanut butter? Do you like chocolate? What's better than those two things separately? Putting them together!! The smoothie I'm about to tell you about is the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate blended together into one glass of nutritious deliciousness (even if it is pretty calorie dense)!

Ok, so first things first, I LOVE bananas, so I will pretty much find any excuse to use a banana. That being said, this recipe does involve bananas, but if you aren't as great a banana fan as me, then you really don't need to include them in this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
1/2 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
2 tbsp. all natural peanut butter
1/2 c. ice cubes
1/4 c. skim milk

Directions:

1. Put in ice cubes, milk, and bananas.
2. Add in peanut butter and protein powder.
3. Blend together until smooth.
4. Pour in cup and enjoy! :)

*Makes about two tall smoothies

Of course, if you don't like chocolate or peanut butter, or whey, etc. then this smoothie probably isn't for you, however it's one of my absolute favorites! I make it whenever I get the chance. I love to make it as either a post workout recovery drink or have one in the morning for a nice, protein packed start to my day! Try it and let me know how you like it!

I'd love to hear about your favorite smoothie!

Eating Healthy in the Cafeteria

Four weeks into the semester and I'm already sick of cafeteria food. Everyday is the same old same old; there's always pizza that's WAY too greasy, pasta with fattening sauce, and, of course, the entrée made of mystery meat and pickles. On occasion, the main food bar in my school's cafeteria serves something worthwhile and delicious (well, delicious by Sodexo standards), but for the most part, the food they serve on campus isn't quite up to par, especially when it comes to eating healthy.

Being on a college meal plan doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for pickiness. I try my darnedest to eat healthfully on a regular basis, but I'll admit that I cave to cafeteria pizza and the occasional cone of Froyo. Well, I'm tired of feeling guilty every time I eat in the cafeteria, so today's post is all about to eat healthy on campus.

For starters, when eating in the cafeteria, make sure to look around at ALL the options. I usually go straight to the vegetarian section, but if the vegetarian/vegan entrée doesn't look appetizing, I'll look around at all the other food bars. If all else fails, I'll just have soup (I stay away from the thick, creamy soups) and some hummus with pita bread. That's a pretty safe way to do things. We also have a make-your-own salad and sandwich bar in my school's cafeteria. There's almost always spinach at the salad bar and an abundance of vegetables, dressings (go for a non-fat vinaigrette), and other salad/sandwich toppings, so of course making your own salad or sandwich has the potential to be the healthiest option in the cafeteria.

Most colleges and universities have plenty of dining options outside of the traditional cafeteria. For example, beneath the cafeteria at my school, there's a small restaurant area that has Subway, Starbucks and Chipotle style dining along with an international cuisine line and a separate soup and salad line. So far, I've tried everything except the soup and salad bar. When getting something from a food line that doesn't allow you to serve yourself, it's best to choose an option with a lower fat content and load it up with fruits and/or vegetables and, of course, guacamole and hummus are never bad toppings. :) Of course, you can always choose to stay in and make your own food. When I eat in my dorm, I like to make oatmeal topped with fruit and cinnamon or I'll have some hummus with carrots and wheat thins.

I'll admit that eating on campus or in the dorms, especially when everything is self-serve, makes it harder to control portion sizes. To keep myself in check, I record everything that I eat on Map My Run.  That way I'm less likely to eat to crappy foods or even overeat the healthy stuff, because I hate having to own up to three servings of chips or a large bowl of ice cream. I also track my workouts on so I can compare my calorie intake to the amount of calories I burn.

These are just a few tips to eating healthy on campus, most of which I'm sure you already knew. I'll probably have another post on more healthy campus options in the near (or not so near) future.

What healthy options do you have on campus?

What Time is it? School Time!

It's getting to be that time of year again. You know what mean.  The time when kids spend as much time as humanly possible out of the house and when you can find frantic moms desperately digging in the one cent notebook and folders bins at Staples. Yup, it's back to school time, and for some of us that means it's time to pack up all of our favorite belongings and move into a small, cramped dorm room. Come next Saturday, I'll be packing my stuff into my minivan and starting my sophomore year of college. Woohoo!

Whether it's your first year at college or you're a returning student, packing up and moving out of your home and into a dorm (or apartment) can be a pretty stressful time.  As I'm sure many of us can agree, when our schedules are packed it can get kind of difficult to fit in a workout and grabbing a McDonald's hamburger always seems so much more convenient than making a meal. However, it's still important to make sure that we're fueling our bodies with the proper nutrition and getting in at least 10-15 minutes of exercise a day.

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely a list maker. On a busy day, I like to write down all the things I need to do so that I know what has to get done. That way, I can see exactly what I need to do for the day and check off the things I've already accomplished. And I ALWAYS make sure to include a workout on that list. Even if I don't have to time to go for a run or make a trip to the gym, I know that I can still do my own workouts at home. There are plenty of quick, no equipment workouts that you can do in your home and are available online. I like to find some on Pinterest, but I also like to make up my own. When I only have ten minutes to spare, I give the following workout a quick go and carry on with the rest of my day:

2:00 High Knees
1:30 Plié Squat Jumps
1:00 Alternating Forward Lunges
0:30 Wall Sit

2:00 Jumping Jacks
1:30 Burpees (w/ tricep pushup and jump)
1:00 Plank
0:30 Boat/ V-sit

Even when I'm crunched for time, I still like to make sure that I'm eating properly, so I always keep my cupboards stocked with quick and healthy food options. When you have a full day ahead of you, plan your meals out beforehand. Try a simple menu, something like this:

Breakfast:

1 serving Oatmeal w/ cinnamon and fresh fruit
Glass of water

Lunch:

1 Morning Star Black Bean Burger on whole wheat bun
1 serving hummus w/ carrots and cucumber
Glass of Water

Dinner:

Strawberry Mango Salad
Glass of water

Hopefully your back to school shopping and moving experience won't be too hectic. I sure hope mine won't be! But with a positive attitude (and a nice, stress relieving workout) ;) I think it'll be just fine. Good luck to everyone in the 2013/14 school year!

Fresh Mango-Strawberry Salad

Today was a very busy day. My grandparents came over this morning to spend the day with my family and support my sister, who graduated from the 8th grade this afternoon. I'm so proud of her and I'm really excited to see how she enjoys high school but at the same time, it's so weird to think that my cute little sis' is going to be a high-school kid next year. She can't possibly be growing up that quickly, right? Anyways, after her graduation, everyone came back to our house for lunch and socialization before heading to my mom's and my soccer game. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy day.

As I have said plenty of times already, this summer is my "get-your-butt-in-gear" summer. So far I'm doing a pretty good job eating healthy and getting in at least a little bit of exercise everyday. I hope to post a new workout soon. Today for lunch I decided I was sick of my usual cup of non-fat greek yogurt and wasn't feeling much like eating greasy cook-out food, so I experimented a little bit and came up with this amazingly light and tasty salad that left me full until dinner.

Ingredients:

Handful fresh spinach (no stems)
Handful green leaf lettuce
1/2 mango cubed
4-6 strawberries sliced
1/4 tomato chopped
1 tbsp. Craisins
2 tbsp. Walden's Non-fat Raspberry Vinaigrette
*Optional: sliced raw almond or other nut

Directions:

I think it's pretty self explanatory but basically you just chop up all the fruit, add all the ingredients into a bowl and toss until you have tasty, summery salad!

This salad tasted like summer and instantly made me feel happier and more energetic. I still have a lot of fruit and greens left over so I'll be having plenty of salads for quite a while! Yum!