Food Anxiety and WIAW

No, this isn’t the kind of food anxiety you’re thinking of. It’s anxiety about not having enough healthy food in the pantry at all times.

It started last night as I went to prep my overnight oats in the usual fashion. Then I realized:

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I was out of organic rolled oats.

*!@!@%#^&^%#$.

Stop the press! Emergency!

Ok, so I didn’t have my overnight oats on a Monday morning for once. At least I have power. I’ll live.

But allllll morning on Monday I was grumpy because I didn’t have my normal breakfast.

The food issues continued as the day went on.

I usually bring my lunch to work, but since I didn’t have a chance to go grocery shopping over the weekend, I was forced to buy my lunch. I went over to the Cafe across the street from work, but they didn’t have power. (Of course my work had power though.)

I didn’t end up eating until 2pm after finally ordering a sandwich from Potbelly. At least I knew I would make it to Whole Foods that evening, and that all would be well on the food front soon enough.

It’s really weird – when I got home from the grocery store that night, and unloaded my goodies, I breathed huge sigh of relief.

Huh? That’s funny I was SO relieved to have healthy food in the house.

I realized that not having a full stock of healthy food in my cabinet makes me anxious.

So then I asked myself: why?

Really, what am I worried about?

I’m lucky enough to be able to buy food when I’m hungry. I don’t need to worry like many people if/when I will be able to acquire my next meal. I know I’m not going to starve.

Am I worried about falling off the clean eating wagon if I don’t have food in the house? Maybe. I can definitely see myself ordering pizza if I don’t feel like going to the grocery store when I’m out of food.

If I order pizza and don’t keep up with my healthy eating habits, I guess I am scared I’ll gain back the weight back that I lost.

So….maybe it is the kind of food anxiety you’re thinking of, if the underlying cause of it is about weight.

And that’s not necessarily what clean eating should be about. It shouldn’t be about obsessing over what you’re eating so much that it causes anxiety.

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I need to remember that I control what goes into my body and that if I don’t have groceries, I am not going to magically gain weight. I mean, c’mon, the Giant near me is 24 hours.

Time to take a chill pill and calm the eff down.

*****

So…..I’m not going to post everything I eat for What I Ate Wednesday. It doesn’t matter EXACTLY what I put in my body, as long as the majority of it is healthy and nourishes my body AND my mind.

As a reminder to me about what What I Ate Wednesday is about I’m going to try giving you a sneak peak into the general things I’m eating this week and my awesome din din creation last night rather than a play by play of exactly what I consumed.

My weekend breakfast lately has been a yogurt/fruit/granola combo, since I’m too lazy to make a breakfast involving any type of cooking on Saturday morning.

I’ve taken to buying a new pack of granola, a new yogurt tub, and a new carton of blueberries when I’m halfway done with the first pack/tub/carton. Anxiety alert. Maybe I should start buying new food when I truly run out of old food, like a normal person.

My nuun shipment came in on Friday! Very exciting.

So far I’ve tried the cucumber mint and the goji berry green tea. I’m a little hesitant to try the tangerine ginger flavor because I’m not usually a fan of orange flavors. But I’ll try it, I promise! I drank the goji berry green tea flavor on my treadmill and it wasn’t too flavorful to have on a run.

Tonight’s dinner was an oldie but goodie:

BREAKFAST BURRITOS

Whole wheat wrap
2 eggs
Cheddar cheese
Guacamole
Salsa
Chopped red onion
Chopped and sautéed potatoes

And to keep up with this month’s WIAW theme, check out my daily mile page to see my fitness log.

Have a fab fourth!

Are you weird about HAVING to have food in your house, too?

What are your Fourth of July plans?

27Jun2012

Good Sesame/Bad Sesame

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Run, Running Gear, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

We’re halfway through the week! Thank goodness.

As soon as I woke up with a migraine this morning I knew it was going to be a rough day.

Why the headache? Who knows.

Though I don’t think it was from dehydration after my 5 miler last night, I used it as an excuse to order some nuun! (I’ve been wanting to for awhile. :)) Yes, I am beginning to have a running-gear ordering problem. #dontjudge

I ordered the Mixed U Sampler – the natural hydration options.

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I’ll let you know what I think!

Anyway, I think I over-did it with my activities/running around yesterday: work, babysitting, the gym, the grocery store, and hanging at Tuna’s. I left my apartment at 9:20am and didn’t get home until 11:00pm. My all day headache showed me I need to slooooowww dooowwwwn today.

*****

As usual, thanks to Jenn for hosting the What I Ate Wednesday link party!

This week, my overnight oats were summery and fresh with a yummy fruit substitute.

Mmm hmm.

Peaches subbed for bananers. It is so yummy with the peaches and blueberries mixed!

I had to run errands for work this afternoon and missed my usual lunch time. By the time I got around to eating at 2:15pm I needed to eat both my lunch and my afternoon snack!

I tried the herb blend of boxed salad this week – yuck! I definitely won’t be buying that again. It’s too flavorful for my ~~plain ass~~ taste. As my friend Mal would say, it tasted like leaves.

However, those sesame sticks are freakin’ amazing. I bought a tub of them yesterday in an attempt to spice up my boring lunch salads and they are a keeper. I can’t wait to eat ’em again tomorrow.

The hummus on the side was my much needed protein. Protein = brain food.

And my favorite flavor:

Lara bars are on sale this week at Whole Foods – go get them while they’re cheap(er)!

My din din tonight was inspired by our WIAW hostess herself. You can find the recipe I used for Quinoa Fried Rice here:

http://www.peasandcrayons.com/2012/01/keen-wahhhh-adventures-in-cooking.html

I don’t think my version was as tasty as Jenn’s, but it was still pretty good.

I reached for the soy sauce and instead accidentally poured sesame oil in the skillet. Uh oh. Though I like my sesame sticks, I don’t like sesame oil. This is why I’m Chicken Nugget Girl. I can’t explain why I like one food versus another made of the same thing!

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After that mishap, I added a little too much actual soy sauce.

Next time I’ll have to use more vegetables. I only used peas and onions (are onions vegetables? I’ll have to look it up.) Plus, my egg scrambles were too chunky. Lessons learned.

I have been craving my evening snack forever:

Glorious.

Original Puffins and milk!

Have you tried nuun? What’s your favorite flavor?

What did you eat this week?

20Jun2012

My Favorite Weekly Holiday

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

This week, my overnight oats got a makeover. They got blueberrified.

Basically, I was tired of taking thirty seconds to slice strawberries, so I switched up my O.O. fruit this week. And boy am I loving it. I didn’t realize how much of a blueberry lover I am. I even used to avoid blueberry muffins. Oh how times have changed.

*****

I’ve decided I’m completely sick of my hard boiled egg salad every day. Please don’t make me eat any more hard boiled egg salads.

This week, I opted for a different form of protein on my luncheon lettuce.

Quinoaaaaaa.

I added some shredded cheese and olive oil dressing, and it wasn’t too bad.

*****

Since we are snacking sensibly this month, I gobbled down some hummus and veggies in the mid-afternoon. This was my first time trying scallion and parsley hummus. It’s kind of a funny color, but I like it!

Let’s be honest, the veggies and hummus only kept me satiated for approximately one hour.

Emergency raisins to the rescue!

*****

I bought the ingredients for a yummy looking crab, tomato, and avocado salad for a sweet recipe my mom sent me. (Thanks, Mom!)

In my haste to make my fancy salad, there was a terrible casualty:

Nooooooooooooo.

But. But. My O.O. fruit!!!

Now I understand why Whole Foods always puts the rubber bands on produce and eggs. Maybe I should start doing that at home too and not just for transit.

Will you still be friends with me if I violently and aggressively re-wash the blueberries and eat them? Yeah. I think that’s fine…

Back to my version of the Crabby Summer Salad.

The best part – it involves almost no cooking. (I say almost because I put the salad a-top leftover wheat noodles.)

CNG’s Crabby Summer Salad

Ingredients

1/2 Avocado
1 Tomato
3/4 cup corn
1/4 cup chopped red onion
Olive Oil
1 Lime
Crab Flavored Seafood Sticks a.k.a. “Fake”Crab
Cilantro
Salt
Pepper

Note that this is an individual portion of the Crabby Summer Salad. I’m thinking I’ll at least double this recipe and make it for Tuna and I this weekend.

Directions

Chop up the onion and put it in a medium sized bowl with 1 tsp olive oil and the juice of 1/3 of a lime.

(I actually used white onion in my dish because the store was out of red onions when I went. It was waaay too oniony with white onion. I’ll definitely have to use red next time.)

Heat up the 3/4 cup of corn (I used frozen) in the microwave and dump in the bowl.

Add some cilantro, salt, and pepper.

I used some jalapeno too – that’s what the green things are. I wasn’t really a fan though, so I’m not using it in the official recipe. However, feel free to add your own ingredients! Cooking is all about making a recipe your own.

Step 1

The rest is simple – cut up one small tomato and one half of an avocado.

Deliciousness

Cut up one stick of “fake” crab, pull apart, and mix in.

You can eat the salad by itself, on greens, pasta, or meat.

Enjoy!

I certainly did.

What did you make to eat this week?

What is your favorite summer dish? I love picking crabs at the beach!

The Weirdest Thing and What I Ate Wednesday #2

Running at 1% incline on the treadmill did feel a little different, but the only way I could really tell was that my legs just felt like they were doing more work than usual.

My 5 miler wasn’t too bad except my damn iPod shuffle headphones decided to give up on me again at mile 3.5. And they weren’t even the same ones that went haywire last week. They’re a different extra pair I have. This time all of a sudden the songs started repeating, cutting out, and the iPod shuffle voice that says “All songs. Playlist 1. All songs” decided to chat me up. I’m assuming the headphones are upset about the are upset amount I’m sweating, but I’m not sure. Are your iPod shuffle headphones ridiculously sensitive? I am going to try both sets of headphones again tomorrow, so hopefully I have some functional headphones for Saturday!

The weirdest thing happened after my run. I felt fine initially, stopped at Whole Foods, and headed over to Tuna’s. I wasn’t hungry AT ALL but I forced myself to eat half of a sandwich since I didn’t eat too heavily during the day. For the next hour an a half, I felt super nauseous. Like, almost lost my ~~lunch~~ dinner nauseous.

Jeez, I’ve never been that nauseous after a run before. Maybe I still hadn’t fully hydrated after cocktails Saturday night?

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I drank a lot of water during the day, like I usually do – but I still had to go fill up my camelbak for extra water during my run, so I guess I was still dehydrated!

As usual, I googled my symptoms and got some answers.

“Fluid Imbalance

Dehydration can contribute to a feeling of nausea, but overhydration can also cause similar symptoms. To find the right balance of water, weigh yourself before and after you run. The weight you lose will be mostly water weight, so weighing yourself will give you an idea how much water you need to drink. Start hydrating the night before a vigorous run. Before you run, drink 1 to 3 cups of water so you are not too full. Take small sips of water during your run, waiting until after you finish running to fully hydrate. If you are sweating a lot while you run, replacing water with a sports drink enhanced with electrolytes can help you hydrate more effectively; however, you should avoid drinking beverages that are high in sugar and salt, as they can be hard to digest and often lead to nausea or other gastrointestinal issues”(http://www.livestrong.com/article/522155-what-causes-a-nauseous-feeling-after-running/).

I need to get me some Gatorade. Or I could really pretend I know ~~anything~~ something about running and buy some shot bloks and/or nuun. I’ve haven’t tried either of them!

The nausea finally went away around midnight, and I had the rest of my sandwich for a midnight snack.

Good thing I’m taking it easy for the rest of the week.

*****

Ok, that’s enough ~~bitching~~ complaining for now.

It’s link party time!

Per usual, this is what I ate on Tuesday.

Breakfast:

My typ overnight oats recipe and a cup of hazelnut coffee.

I was still feeling a bit funny from Monday night, so I could only finish half of the oats. That was a first!

I finished the leftover overnight oats later for my afternoon snack.

Even though I brought my lunch, we ended up getting lunch from Lebanese Taverna at work. I had my new favorite – a chicken kabob, potatoes (notice a trend lately?), and a Lebanese salad. I tried to resist the pita bread because I don’t think it’s wheat, but when they brought us extra garlic butter, I couldn’t refuse.

When I take pics of my food on my phone when I’m around people, I pretend to be texting. Ha.

I’m in love with the tomato sauce flavoring on the chicken kabobs.

Lunch was absolutely delicious, but since it was the first big meal I ate since my after-run nausea, I felt bit too stuffed.

Dinner had to be quick since it was before a capella rehearsal. I chowed down on a turkey sandwich on toasted wheat bread with cucumbers, pickles, shredded cheese, and tomato basil hummus. Mmmmm.

I wanted to have a second diet coke for the day but tricked myself into having water by putting it in a pretty jar with a straw. As we know, I need to hydrate!

My evening snack was my newest obsession.

Not only is the packaging stinkin’ cute, but you also get dark chocolate balls with berry stuff inside. They’ve got antioxidants or something like that in them, so it’s good I’ll get some of those as I consume half of the pouch.

What have you been eating lately?

Have you made any fun new recipes this week?

6Jun2012

My First WIAW

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

I’m super excited to be a part of What I Ate Wednesday, created by this lovely lady!

This is going to be a very egg filled What I Ate Wednesday….you’ll have to excuse my boring-ness. Get ready for a picture show.

This is actually what I ate on Tuesday.

My weekday mornings ALWAYS start out with overnight oats in a jar and a cup of hazelnut coffee. When I first started clean eating, I took a smoothie every morning with me to work. Don’t get me wrong, I love smoothies – but I was usually hungry again two hours later.

Then I started seeing this thing that all the cool bloggers were obsessed with: overnight oats. My mom actually used to make these a few summers ago when I was living at home, and I thought she was cray.

Turns out both my mom and the cool bloggers were the ones who were right and I’m the cray one.

Overnight oats are not only delicious – they are like…super healthy. And they keep you perfectly full allllll morning, so you’re not ~~being a bitch~~ starving by the time lunch rolls around.

Some people hate overnight oats, some people grow to like them. I instantly loved overnights oat. Convert, right here.

I got my overnight oats recipe from Kath and Julie.

If I don’t have the ingredients to make my perfect overnight oats concoction I freak out. Truth.

You don’t have to make them in a jar. I just like to because then I can take breakfast to go (i.e. every morning, when I oversleep.)

I slice the banana, add 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/3 cup skim milk, and 1/3 cup low fat vanilla yogurt. Sometimes I do equal parts 1/2 cup of each when I’m feeling generous.

Last week I accidentally bought plain yogurt instead of vanilla yogurt and I did not enjoy my oats as much! I didn’t want to waste it, so I tried putting vanilla extract in the plain yogurt. The experiment failed. Thank gaaaawd I bought the right kind of yogurt this week.

I then add in about 2 teaspoons of chia seeds. Chia seeds are expensive (I think they’re like $13.99 at Whole Foods or something like that) but once you buy a pack they last forever.

The chia seeds really help the oats soak up the dairy. Actually, I don’t know exactly what they do, but you need ’em in overnight oats.

Pre-mixed.

: Post-mixed

Once you have all of your ingredients in the jar, mix ’em up real nice. I add a berry or two on top for good measure. Seal the top, stick it in the fridge, and you’re good to go.

I add “peak protein” Bear Naked granola to the jar in the morning. If we want to talk about healthy living problems, my granola addiction would be the first on the list. I go through two or three of these bags a week. That’s $15- $20 bucks a week. On granola. Oy.

Looks gross, taste so good.

Let’s move on to lunch.

Eggs are so easy to throw on salad for protein, so I take hard boiled eggs to have at lunch every day.

Spinach salad with egg whites and an Italian dressing with an olive oil base.

I refuse to give up my diet coke. It’s like my crack. I used to have two a day, but I try to only have one a day – at lunch.

Obvi the best part of lunch: guac from Whole Foods and wheat pita chips.

And the best afternoon snack ever. It’s almost gone! (Yes, I did successfully eat an entire tub of Whole Foods guac in less than 24 hours. Not ashamed.)

*****

Dinner was another current fav – a breakfast burrito.

2 eggs, 2 egg whites.

Scrambled.

Added some shredded cheese….

And the rest of the guac…..

Some microwaved corn….

And the finished product!

So. good. May have to have this for dinner tomorrow, which would make it the third day in a row.

*****

Finally, my evening snack:

This stuff is all the rage right now, man.

Can’t wait to hear what all of you ate!

What is your favorite summer snack at the moment?

1Jun2012

The First Step

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Race, Run, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

I’m so excited because…….

I just signed up for my very first race!!!!

Damn, I must be getting serious about this running thing.

I signed up for the Purple Stride D.C. 5K! Now I really gotta get running. I have no idea what to expect, but now I’ll actually be able to do a race recap. Ha.

The race is on June 16th, and I just found out I have to move six giant filing cabinets (and all of the files) at work the day before the race. Do you think that will eff with my muscles too much? I hope not.

I am super pumped to get to pick out a race outfit, and PR…..since I have yet to even establish a R. Sweet!

I’m not worried about the length of the race, since I know I can run 3.1 miles no problem – but I’m worried about my time! Since I’m a new runner (that’s my excuse, OK?) I’m slow ~~as shit~~. I run like 10 or 11 minute miles. Everyone talks about race adrenaline though, so I’m going to try try try to make it in 30 minutes or less on race day.

*****

I started the day off with my typical overnight oats in a jar and a cup of Hazelnut coffee. I seriously look forward to both of them every morning.

I have the same overnight oat mixture every morning. (Hey, I’m still Chicken Nugget Girl, alright?)

I’ll fill you in on my exact overnight oats recipe next week on What I Ate Wednesday. The suspense is killing you, I know.

For lunch, I felt pretty blah. I could not bring myself to eat my usual spinach salad for lunch. I just was not feeling it. I ate my afternoon snack for lunch instead! So rebellious.

chocolate covered cherries > spinach

It was the first time trying this flavor, and it was delish. It actually tasted like chocolate covered cherries. Mmmmm.

I also had a lovely ripe Georgia peach from Whole foods.

Speaking of Whole Foods, I have a confession to make.

I have a problem.

I have a Whole Foods addiction.

When I started eating clean, I started shopping at Whole Foods more often. Yes, it’s expensive, but the produce is so much better and there are so many more healthy options to choose from. I would go once a week and load up on all of my healthy goodies for the week.

Lately, I’ve been going two or three times a week – buying a few things here and there, probably equaling the amount of groceries that I would get when I used to go once a week. Maybe a few more items, meaning a bit more $$$.

Guess how many times I’ve been to Whole Foods this week? Guess.

Four.

Four times. And it’s only Friday. That means I went to Whole Foods every day this week except Memorial Day.

I am currently scared to look at my bank account. Don’t make me do it.

Next week, I am only allowing myself to go ONCE. Yikes.

But oh well, this afternoon’s Whole Foods trip brought someone special into my life. I met a new BFF who even rode home with me.

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Huh? A passenger?

Until I eat him.

I really need to take a chill pill on the whole Whole Foods thing. But at least the first step is admitting I have a problem, right?

*****

As soon as I got home I started munching on my new favorite snack. Pretzels and chocolate peanut butter. Yes, you heard me. CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER. It has just the right amount of sugar and protein. Lolz.

Heaven.

God’s gift to the world.

Today is a rest day – which I’m surprisingly glad for. I did my Sarah Ivanhoe yoga DVD last night along with an On Demand five-minute ab blast, and my abs are actually kind of sore today. After five minutes. Sad.

But I’m going to be healthy-ish this weekend (as I always say on Friday afternoon….). I’m going to try to get a short workout in tomorrow and my long run (7 miles, eeeeeek!) on Sunday.

Happy Friday!