Food Journaling 101

Bear with me the next few weeks or so as I use my blog to journal my daily food intake. Accountability always helps one grow and this is how I choose to be accountable.

The morning started off with a quick trip to Costco. We had to be there as the doors opened -- but of course. So, a quick simple banana was enough of a breakfast for me.

Later in the day I chose this pinto bean salad for lunch and added half an avocado

Dinner came around early today, 3:30 pm to be exact. But some days I just get hungry and might as well eat then: a whole what pasta with a very light tomato sauce and sauteed veggies  -- topped with a sprinkle of mozzarella. 

While I know dinner was a healthy choice, I left the table unsatisfied. The concept of intuitive eating not only advocates eating  when you're hungry, but eating what your body is craving. Case in point: I did not feel like pasta at all today, so though I should have been full after the meal, I was dissatisfied.

This led to poor choices later in the day. Ie: I may have had a few salt and black pepper chips when my sister and father began indulging in said snack and I had a sliver of a Costco pumpkin muffin with my Armenian Coffee. Yes, they were poor choices but I am here admitting them and realizing that perhaps tomorrow I  can evade such choices if I practice intuitive eating. 

No pain, no gain?

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I've finally adopted the habit of nearly daily workouts.  Its great, I love the feeling of sweating like crazy ( does that sound weird?)

Well, yesterday I decided to mix it up a little bit. I started off with 15 min on the elliptical machine to warm up then took a class at 24-fitness called  "24Cycle Shift n' Lift ". Basically its 30 minutes of intense spinning, followed by 30 minutes of guided weightlifting with barbells, and free weights. To top it off, she finished with a set of ab exercises and plank/pushups.  I then followed this with 30 more minutes on the elliptical. It felt great.


 Well, this morning .... actually at about 4 am this morning, the soreness set in  -- back, triceps, biceps, gluteus, quads... you get the picture.


  

I don't know whether to be happy or sad that there is soreness. Does it mean it was a really good workout? Do I tough it out and workout again through the pain? Does it mean (gasp) I'm getting old???

I had another one of these for breakfast this morning : Fat free milk, frozen bananas, flax seed, honey, vanilla, and a tiny piece of frozen mango.

I'm contemplating yoga today -- what is the payoff exactly though? I know it helps with flexibility and stress, but how does it fare when it comes to weight loss?

Right now I have the luxury of working out mid morning or mid afternoon, for one hour or three hours... but starting next week my third year of law school officially begins. Its a little hard to believe. What does this mean for my new workout regime? Its going to have to move to the morning... VERY EARLY in the morning. Fun times. It'll be ok as long as I dont fall asleep in class.


Dinner last night was on a whim. I picked up a few items from Whole Foods and combined them with other items I had in my pantry and came up with this group of ingredients:

Bella Terra Organic  8 whole grain pasta with milled flax seed, button mushrooms, fresh asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto. I later chose to add the following ingredients: 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 3 cloves garlic,  1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp grated Gruyere cheese.

While the fusili was boiling away in one pot, I sliced, the veggies and cooked them up in another, using the broth as a heating medium instead of oil. I added the pesto and Gruyere last. It tasted fine, though I would have loved to add fresh diced tomatoes and fresh Parmesan as well, but I was making due with what I had.

The picture is off, I know. I wasn't patient enough to wait for the pasta to cool down before taking a picture. So, the steam got in the way - I'm sorry.  I'm still adjusting to using my droid for pictures... at least until i find that darn camera cable.

.... to be continued.

Caprese Pasta and Stanford

So... to start with, sorry for being MIA.  I decided to go visit my best friend from my UCLA years. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Standford (impressive, no? -- I think so). Anyhow, it was a much needed, relaxing experience.  The trees on campus are beautiful and the air is noticeably cleaner then down in smoggy LA.

However, the one catch about Stanford was that if I wanted internet I had to pay $30/week for it -- which I wasnt prepared to do. So, instead, I took a hiatus from the internet world for a while and it was refreshing.

Now i'm back, summer vacation is nearly over. So much happening this month.  My birthday is Tuesday, I have my Tax Law final on the 27th,  I'm moving to a new place the weekend of the 31st and I have the MPRE exam the first week of August.  Then of course, fall classes start within a couple of weeks of that. Rollercoaster, here I come. I'm guessing it wont be over until after the BAR exam.

Anyhow, quick, simple and fresh pasta recipe for the hot summer days.

( Serves 1-2 people) Chop two roma tomatoes, 1/4 cup of resh basil, 2-3 garlic cloves, and 1/3 cup of fresh mozzarella. Set aside in a bowl while you boil your favorite pasta) 2-5 oz). Once the pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and place it back in the pot on low heat. Pour in the vegetables and cheese  -- toss over medium heat for about 3 minutes and serve.

Pasta to the Rescue

When you are in a rush, but need a quick home-made meal.... its pasta to the rescue.

Today, I created this beauty in between International Business Transactions and Evidence.  I didn't have enough whole wheat pasta for two people, but I didn't let that stop me, I just tossed in some cappelini and ended up with a two-toned creation.

For the sauce/topping I caramelized about 1 cup of onion with 4 cloves of garlic and about 2 oz of Italian Seasoned ground turkey. I then deglazed it with 1/8 cup of white wine. Next came the three diced Roma tomatoes, some frozen artichoke hearts, and 1/2 box of sliced crimini mushrooms. I finished it off with some freshly cracked pepper, sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon of dried basil. Let it simmer until all the flavors marry, but before the tomatoes completely disintigrate.