Category Archives: Breakfasts
Eating Healthy with Family
Hello from the tail end of a family visit!
Please tell me that some of your families are as food-oriented as mine. Maybe it’s because mine is Italian and my grandmother feels happiest when she’s providing food for us, but there was hardly a second this weekend that I wasn’t either eating or being offered food.
Luckily my grandmother is a fabulous cook and my grandfather has excellent taste in restaurants!
The visit started out with a Saturday lunch at Mykonos – a family favorite Greek restaurant. The eggplant medley was completely vegan and came with a rockin’ veggie-packed starter salad:
The main dish was hands down the star of the show. The plate was packed with huge portions of nearly every Greek vegetable imaginable {tomatoes, spinach, peppers, onions, mushrooms, onions and eggplant} and served on a bed of yellow rice and lettuce.
Even though this was the first time I’d ordered the eggplant medley, it’s hands down one of my favorite restaurant dishes of all time!
Other delectable eats provided by the family included:
It’s easy to find myself waddling around the house by the last day of my visit, but this Mother’s Day was distinctly less gut-busting than other vacations with the family. I ate as mindfully as possible– enjoying reasonable servings of my favorite dishes and skipping over the “meh” foods that didn’t exactly appeal to me. Between mindful eating and a long Saturday morning run, I headed home feeling like I hadn’t completely gone off the health wagon on the trip .
Some of my other favorite tricks for staying healthy with the family:
- Don’t be afraid to ask for modifications. Want to skip the cheese or opt for a meatless dish? Family is usually understanding enough to modify.
- Offer to prepare a healthy meal. My grandma was grateful to have Mother’s Day dinner covered, and my grandpa actually loved the sesame tofu stir fry I whipped up for the group.
- Don’t feel obligated to eat all the food offered. If I said yes to every edible my mother tried to give me, I’d have been simultaneously eating Oreos, pretzel sticks, smoothies and buttered toast. Just because it’s available to you doesn’t mean you have to eat it!
- On that same note, let the access to someone else’s pantry make you more adventurous. I enjoyed plenty of honeydew and Nutella over the trip – two foods I realized I love but rarely purchase on my own grocery runs!
How do you stay healthy when visiting family?
From Podium to Pavement
Did anyone else watch the draft last night?
Even though I cherish draft day as the sole bright spot in the depressive void that is the NFL off-season, I’d forgotten that the draft was yesterday until about 10 minutes before it started. Thank God for internet streaming!
While watching the announcers make their predictions, I made myself a quick plate to enjoy during the first round.
{Sautéed asparagus + lemon, steamed spinach + stoneground mustard, smoky macaroni}
The recipe I followed for the white cheddar and gruyere macaroni wasn’t the best, but it was easily salvaged by a few drops of liquid smoke. If you’ve never splashed liquid smoke in your mac and cheese – you’re missing out!
The first round began right as I sat down to my first bite.
I know that a lot of you aren’t as football-crazed as I am, but stick with me for a second. This night was the culmination of everything those kids have worked for throughout their high school and college careers. It was their hopes, their dreams, their dedication and their luck {not of the Andrew persuasion} all paying off. It was everything the players had worked their tail off for, written all over their faces as they heard their new NFL team call their name.
I had chills just thinking about how proud these men {and their families} must be and how athletes can achieve great things when they bust butt.
The motivation was enough to convince myself to take on a short 6 AM run. I may not be a pro-caliber athlete, but I hope to one day stand on the pavement at the end of a marathon finish line, feeling some of the same emotions the now-NFL’ers must have felt last night at the Radio City Music Hall podium.
…Less sappy ramblings, more breakfast.
{Chocolate protein smoothie + toasted coconut + toasted walnuts}
Let the countdown to the weekend {and the second round of draft picks} begin!
Do professional athletes motivate you to push harder or go further in your own sport?
Too MUCH Protein?
The number one question vegetarians get about their diet has to be – without a doubt – “Where do you get your protein?”
It’s a well-intentioned question, and to be honest, I don’t mind it. Getting protein as a vegetarian can be a legitimate struggle!
What I wanted for breakfast:
What I ate in the name of getting some protein in my system:
Why’d I pick the eggs, cheddar and asparagus? I’ve been taught that protein is necessary to satiation, muscle growth and energy. Generally speaking, that’s right; carb-heavy breakfasts leave me hungry within an hour and I see better definition with my muscle mass when I make sure I’m getting an adequate protein to carbs ratio.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, new research has found that consuming too much protein can also increase muscle loss through two ways:
- Changing the way cells perform anabolic muscle growth
- Changing the way the body breaks down proteins
When these happen, the body’s rate of muscle protein synthesis becomes unbalanced. Over time, the negative energy balance can lead to decreased skeletal muscle mass. Not only will that work against most physical goals you’re striving for, but it can also suppress the basal metabolic rate and decrease your physical performance while increasing your risk of injury.
So what’s the magic number at which point adequate protein consumption becomes too much protein consumption?
According to the study, the recommended daily allowance is (0.8 g·kg−1·d−1). In human being speak, that works out to .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. That’s quite a realistic goal – even for a vegetarian diet!
Do you keep tabs on your protein intake? Have you ever had to worry about getting too much protein rather than too little?
For the Love of It
There’s only one thing better than a Friday – and that’s a Friday that also happens to be a {hard-earned} rest day.
Knowing that it’s almost the weekend and that your only obligation is to make it through the final workday is total bliss!
I was so checked out last night that I seriously considered postponing my run until this morning. Between the rain, a stomachache, a headache and zero energy, it felt like the universe was telling me to stay home. After some internal debate, though, I womanned up and stuck to my original plan. It wasn’t easy – I was pulling every excuse out of the book to skip over the workout.
Sometimes the love of the run is the only motivation that can get you up and out the door!
{It’s certainly the only reason I was awake at 6 AM last Saturday!}
Even though I haven’t selected my next race yet, it’s much tougher to justify sitting out a workout once I have it on a training schedule for a longer-term event. I feel like not only is skipping ultimately letting myself down, but I also know that next time I cross a finish line, I’ll forget all about the training runs that I had to drag myself through kicking and screaming.
We just have to make it through one run at a time!
How often do you have workouts where the only thing keeping you going is your sheer love for the experience?
How Lack of Sleep Makes you Hungry
Good morning there!
What a night last night – I made it out to an all-inclusive event at Terrace 390 – and this girl is a touch sleep deprived.
God bless the yogurt bowl for breakfast – fast to assemble, fast to eat while I toss my hair into some semblance of normalcy!
Even though last night was a blast, I’m well aware of the effects that sleep deprivation can have on the body. A recent study just reiterated the correlation between reduced sleep and increased appetite. One night out here and there isn’t going to do any major damage, but continuous restricted sleep can definitely increase a person’s neuronal response to food stimuli.
The study restricted half of the participants’ sleep cycles to only four hours for a six day phase. At the end of the phase, MRI imaging scans revealed that there was greater neuronal activity in the sleep-deprived participants when they were exposed to food stimuli. The brain areas associated with the reward center (the thalamus, insula and prefrontal cortex) were all considerably more active after the deprivation.
Moral of the story: sleep more for better appetite control! The participants in the regular sleep group were allotted nine hours of sleep per night; even though most of us can’t squeeze in that much pillow time per night, the closer you can get, the better!
How much sleep do you try to get per night? Do you feel it impact your appetite or cravings?
California Benedict, Vegetarian Style
If someone had told me in college that I’d be waking up at 5 am for a run or 6 am for a power sculpt hot yoga class, I’d have fainted in disbelief.
Morning workouts are becoming more and more of my jam {partially because I’m slowly becoming a morning person and partially because it’s the only time a Florida workout is feasible in the summers}. I get my sweat on before I even head to work, and the rest of the evenings are free. It’s a win-win!
Well…except for the awkward breakfast situation.
Spending all that time working to better your body makes it difficult to justify a Burger King run en route to the office, but AM workouts also eat up all the time you’d have on a less structured morning to make an elaborate breakfast.
While I’m perfectly happy with today’s pre-packed peanut butter oatmeal {which I intend to reheat once I get to work}, what I really want is a repeat of yesterday’s hearty egg breakfast.
I practically licked the plate clean!
Dippy eggs have skeeved me out for quite some time, but when a random craving for Eggs Benedict struck, I found myself mulling over the idea. With an onion ciabatta in my freezer just begging to soak up the saucy yolk, I went to town on a California-style Eggs Benedict, using fresh vegetables to top the eggs rather than Canadian bacon.
It was everything I was hoping for – tender, flavorful, and packed with protein! Spinach can be a bit of an aversion food for me {cooked greens usually have a texture I’m not fond of}, but the dense bread and perfect eggs were the perfect vehicle for the sauteed spinach!
California Benedict, Vegetarian Style
Serves one – prep time 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 English Muffin (or ciabatta/bakery roll – any thick crevice-filled bread will do!)
- 2 farm-fresh eggs
- 1 handful spinach
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 California Avocado
Directions:
- Split English Muffin in half – toast if desired.
- Poach your eggs according to your favorite poaching directions.
- In a saucepan, warm your olive oil and sauté the spinach with the olive oil and nutritional yeast. Spoon over each half of the muffin or ciabatta.
- Place poached eggs over top of spinach and muffin. Slice fresh, ripe avocado on top and serve immediately.
Fresh, fit and…not perfect for mornings when you’re working with time restraints. Such a shame – these pictures have me craving it all over again!
How do you fit time-consuming meals into a busy schedule? Weekend prep? Purchasing pre-chopped veggies? Share the secrets!
“Occupational Stress” and Overeating: Is Your Job Making you Munch?
Happy Friday! We’ve got a really interesting discussion topic on tap this morning, but first – breakfast!
Nothing revolutionary – just the Old Faithful of oatmeal.
Crazy toppings are fun, but peanut butter, cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup is always wholesome and reliable – not to mention filling!
On to the juicy stuff!
Occupational Stress and Overeating
I recently came across an article published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The article outlined an intervention trial that was designed to see how women in the workforce allowed their jobs to impact their eating habits.
The study assessed 230 female participants’ eating habits (as well as their weight and body fat percentage) at the beginning of the project and after 12 months. Throughout the year, women who were experiencing occupational burnout at the beginning of the study had “significantly higher scores in emotional eating and uncontrolled eating than did those without burnout.” Uncontrolled eating also actually decreased in the women who did not begin the study reporting feelings of burnout.
You can read the abstract of the study here.
So what does this mean for the average, everyday working woman?
Work can be stressful. There’s no way around it. I’m fortunate enough to work for a relatively low-key, laid-back company that plays just as hard as it works, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my share of occupational stress.
Difficult coworkers, demanding clients, intimidating deadlines, ambitious quotas – welcome to the real world!
The results of the study aren’t that surprising. It’s well established that stress can be a catalyst for compensatory eating behaviors. For some of us, it’s restricting. For others, it’s stress eating. It’s also quite likely to be both. If a pie magically appears in the break room, a stressed brain has a much harder time turning it down than a happy, content one.
The key to avoiding those traps seems to be learning how to cope with occupational stressors before you reach the point of burnout. The women who were not classified in the burnt out group at the beginning of the study did not engage in the stress eating (at least not to the same degree) that the burnt out. women did. Develop calming routines to prevent the burnout rather than coping mechanisms to numb it.
On that note…
What are your favorite ways to decompress on the job? Do you notice yourself stress-eating during or after a particularly difficult day at work?
Goals are Dreams with Deadlines
Tough run last night.
I was far under my goal pace. I knew I was under hydrated and my hamstrings felt uncomfortably tight. I literally ran SMACK dab into a bus stop sign when I switched from looking ahead of me to looking at my feet to distract myself from how much further I had to go.
{Or, like I always say: I didn’t run into it. I found it with my face}.
I cried part of my way home. Not because of the stinging in my nose and forehead, but because I felt so dejected. I have only a week and a half to finish preparing for my first race – a race I’ve put off registering for because I have been too afraid to not hit a goal that I’m starting to think is no closer to my grasp than it was a month ago. 3.1 miles in 30 minutes shouldn’t be this hard. It’s not like I woke up one day and decided I wanted a 3 hour marathon.
I’m eating well, sleeping plenty, taking rest days and incorporating speed work…but my progress has barely budged. I’ve got six more runs over the next nine days in which I have to either get it together or fall short of my goal.
No pressure or anything.
I’m terrified of failing myself, and I’m terrified of having to admit that I failed to the friends, family members, coworkers {and of course all of you} who have sat and listened to me incessantly babble about running, training plans, registration and all of those other good things. I feel like now more than ever I need to back up my “runner talk” with “runner action.”
Right now, I can either pout and get angry, or I can shut up and get back on the pavement tonight. Let’s go with the latter.
On to bigger and better things – like breakfast!
Simple, fast and fruity – peanut butter and cinnamon oats with maple syrup and blackberries.
Here’s to hoping tonight is more successful…
Sick Day Guilt
Does anyone else feel really guilty when they call in to work sick? Especially after my weekend vacation, I was not too happy with having to stay at home yesterday.
Foggy head + sore throat + congested head + jet lag = recipe for a disastrous day at work. Even though I felt like I needed to get back into the office, my body said otherwise.
My “hippie medicine” – Old Indian Wild Cherry Bark Syrup – did wonders for my throat and nose issues.
The syrup may taste like death, but it’s a botanical way to support your immune system, clear the sinuses and help with respiratory function. A few tablespoons of it throughout the day seemed to do the trick – all systems feel go this morning!
Comfort food didn’t hurt either.
Here’s to a healthy day – in the literal sense!
I Flew To Flat Top
Just kidding – I had a slightly more important reason for this weekend’s little getaway…
Congrats to my best friend Tiffany and her new husband, Eric!
When the two met in high school, he passed her a note asking her to attend all the school dances with him. She checked his “no” box…but now, after being platonic best friends for nine years, then dating after a “prove you aren’t in love with me” kiss backfired….
She checked yes to being his wife. {Cue awwwwwws from basically everyone at the reception}
I scrapped my original plans to travel to Illinois by bus, finding a last-minute flight on a budget airline that got me to Illinois much faster. Less travel time = more time to catch up with Tiff, Eric and some of our other friends from college!
And of course, more time to eat!
Tiff’s twin and I checked in to a hotel after a loooong night dancing and enjoying the festivities. It was great to sleep in and have breakfast at our fingertips in the lobby!
I kept it light with a cheese omelette, black coffee and tons of fresh fruit!
Britt fell back asleep after breakfast, so I took advantage of the free time and the hotel amenities to squeeze in a quick run.
I’d originally decided not to stress about fitting in a workout during the wedding festivities, but when a golden opportunity for a quick run presented itself, I was happy to sneak in a quick 2.1 miles.
While I was gone, Britt woke up and developed a Chili’s craving, so after checking out, we headed straight over.
I haven’t been to Chili’s in AGES, so I was rather entertained by the new-to-me Ziosk news feed/virtual menu/trivia game that adorned each table. While I clicked through the Illinois headlines, I decided on my veggie-loaded order!
House salad, add avocado, plus a side of broccoli. It’s always been tough to eat healthfully at chain restaurants, but getting creative with side order combinations is usually a decent option. Normally, I’d add a sweet potato, but I knew our next stop was at the twins’ father’s house, and I wanted to leave plenty room for dinner.
I’ve always referred to their father as my Illinois Daddy, and his cooking is the best!
The last time I stayed at their house, I wasn’t a vegetarian, but he did an amazing job of whipping up meat-free deliciousness once I told him about my diet. I started with a bit of everything – salad, a veggie burger, macaroni salad and potato salad. Throughout the course of the evening, though, I must have loaded up on the potato salad at least three more times! So tangy and creamy.
When I woke up the next morning, he was at it again, whipping up a fresh loaf of the zucchini bread that Tiff and I practically lived off of during my junior and senior year. {Note to college kids: sharing your care packages with your roommate definitely leads to lasting friendships 
}
My last meal before jetting home was the one I’d been looking forward to since planning the trip.
Two years ago, Tiff introduced me to Flat Top Grill, an assemble-your-own Mongolian grill with not only an insane variety of vegetable choices, but some incredible meatless proteins as well. Flat Top gave me my first taste of seitan, long before I was even in the vegetarian camp!
Naturally I had to load up on the wheat protein this time as well, as well as an amazing non-GMO tofu pakora. I packed as many veggies as I could on to the top of the bowl and drenched it in a coconut curry sauce, the remainder of which I sopped up with an incredibly buttery, flaky flatbread.
I joked that the Flat Top trip was my main reason for flying in – their stir-frys are just that good!
What are your favorite restaurants to hit when you travel? Do you adjust your workout schedule to your travel, or do you look for opportunites to get one in on the road?
