Follow My Food Friday

In an attempt to find more success at eating intuitively than yesterday's attempt, I'm doing another food rodeo. I am happy to report that today's efforts were very much in line with my goal! And not only did I eat pretty well over the course of the day, but I also achieved a running personal record and did not do more than one serious workout! (Does yoga count? I'm writing today's Yoga For Runners 25 minute practice off as a post-run stretch.) Isn't it great when the weekend kicks off with a bang?

This morning I woke up early (although not as early as usual -- hey, it's Friday!) for my quiet time with God. I needed some food to go with my prescription and vitamins, so I nibbled on some cranberry pecans and cantaloupe. Of course I made some coffee with a little soy creamer to wake me up.

The morning was gorgeous, and we even got a tiny sun shower in spite of the high temperatures that promise to descend over the city this weekend. I couldn't resist this glorious scene, so I took Jackson, one of our dogs, down the hill for a run. And what a run it was! I've gotten it into my head that I want to run the Austin half-marathon in February. Really, I'd like to run any half-marathon. But the longest distance I've ever run is just short of eight miles. So this morning I adopted Jeff Galloway's run-walk method to see if I could push my mileage up. After a short warm-up, I repeated intervals of five minutes of running and one minute of walking. Wash and repeat -- fifteen times!

Can you guess how many miles I clocked? It's a new personal record -- 9.6 miles in 90 minutes!! And I averaged a nine minute mile split, which is right where I'd like to run a half at. I think I'm on my way! Jackson was not as thrilled at this development, but seemed to feel pleasantly exhausted.

Back at the homestead, I needed some fuel. I quickly blended a recovery green smoothie. I used half a frozen banana, a half cup of skim milk, two cups of spinach, a handful of ice, and about a third cup of frozen mango. It hit the spot after my run. This smoothie gave me a nice little energy boost that carried me through my yoga session. I learned something interesting while listening to Fit Girl during my run -- did you know that your body may burn more calories digesting spinach than the total calories that spinach yields? I did not know that was possible, but apparently there are a few such foods that contain so-called negative calories. Something to think about, I suppose.

The second half of cantaloupe was calling my name, so I turned it into another bowl. This fruit bowl had cottage cheese, Optimum Slim, Kashi Island Vanilla, and one of Target's Archer Farms cereals (basically wheat, rice, and kamut puffs with yogurt-coated cranberries -- yum!), and some more cranberry pecans on top. This was refreshing and filling without making me feel stuffed.

The Best Husband Ever and I headed out into the heat for a Costco run, where we nibbled a few samples as we did our grocery shopping. After what seemed an interminably long return trip -- so hot! so traffic-y! -- we finally could dive into the cool dim of our house. I made up a mini snack plate, complete with fresh veggies, one of our newly-purchased strawberries (it was so delicious!), a few Kashi crackers, and a dollop of spinach and feta hummus. And check those tomatoes out. I grew them! Myself! In our backyard! I'm still amazed.

The snack held me over until dinner quite nicely. On tonight's menu was burritos. My whole wheat tortilla was stuffed with pumpkin and spices (cumin, chili powder, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, garlic, and red pepper flakes), a quarter cup of microwaved egg whites, and soy jalapeno cheddar. I layered on the guacamole after baking it, and served it with some Kashis, veggies, and more hummus, in addition to a calcium supplement. I also crunched down a salad dressed with hickory barbecue sauce and balsamic vinegar.

We had a minor tragedy occur after dinner. A bee stung our new puppy, Lio, right on his little nose! In our living room, no less! His poor face swelled up quite rapidly, but after some hasty phone calls and text messages we learned that we could administer 1/8 teaspoon of benadryl to ease the inflammation. We also took the afflicted Lio to visit the in-laws, where he met my youngest sister-in-law for the first time. He got over his sting quite quickly and spent the evening licking her delighted face.

When we returned home, I made up a small -- note, small, as opposed to my recent pre-bed snacks to make up missed calories -- dessert/snack. This delicious bowl had one mashed banana, 2 tablespoons of PB2 mixed with 1 tablespoon of water, chocolate and peanut butter chips, and a few sweet and salty cashews. This treat was sweet yet nutritious. A perfect way to end the day, I'd say. And the best part was that I did not feel bloated, overfull, or uncomfortable at all throughout the day. I said it before, and I'll say it again -- I think I'm on my way, in more ways than one.