the hangover

(Note: earlier you may have read that I wasn’t posting because my wireless was down, but I seemed to have fixed it. So disregard that!)

Well hello! I’m back & survived the wedding! While I was gone I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend and I hope you saw Kendra’s guest post she wrote for me! It was a beautiful weekend and it was such an honor to be a bridesmaid and stand next to my best girl friend, Tiffany, as she married her (now) husband Johnny!

Laura, Tiffany, me, & Jennifer -- a beautiful bridal party for a stunning bride!

The happy couple eating some cake

We pulled charms from the cake, an old tradition, and the charm that I got is for true love!

Between the rehearsal luncheon, eating out with college friends in Richmond, and the wedding, I consumed many calories of alcohol and amazing food. I don’t regret one bite or sip — it was an amazing weekend and I loved every second of it!

However, I do feel rather hungover (and not just from the champagne toasts and open bars!). I spent the weekend eating rich foods that sometimes contained lots and lots of cheese, white carbs, and other foods I don’t normally eat. For instance, there was a mashed potato bar where I topped my creation with a bit more cheese and sour cream than broccoli! I certainly wasn’t eating as bad as I used to back in the day, but it was definitely not as clean and wholesome as I’ve been eating lately. It feels like my body is freaking out from the abnormal foods I ate this weekend!

So now I’m recovering, meaning taking vitamins and eating vegetables. I wasn’t hungry when I woke up but was super dehydrated so I’ve been drinking water all day. As I got on the road late this morning I grabbed a smoothie from Starbucks and then ate a sandwich, some cereal, and some fruit over the course of the afternoon. And dinner was comprised of whole grains and vegetables — exactly what my body needed!

Quinoa tossed with Italian dressing, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms, onions, and a carrot.

I love quinoa! A serving is 1/4 cup uncooked — which (as you can see) yields a whole lot of grain! And it is also gluten free! I’ve been researching gluten intolerance/wheat intolerance lately and it seems like cutting it down in my diet might help a lot of my GI issues. I met Christie for coffee on Saturday and we talked about it briefly. I’m definitely going to give it some thought and try out some more gluten free options!

Tomorrow will be an interesting day. If you recall, my mother misplaced my passport and I’m leaving for France in a WEEK! Well, we couldn’t make an appointment for an expedited passport until 14 days before travel and the earliest appointment we could get is tomorrow at 8:30am. We will be waking up well before daylight for the 2.5 hour drive and subsequent metro ride to the office tomorrow morning!

Guest post: Have your wedding cake & eat it too!

Hey everyone! In lieu of boring you with writing zilch this weekend, I have a fun guest post from Kendra, a fellow Hollaback Health blogger, a fellow Wellsphere Top Health Blogger, and an all around amazing lady! Oh, and she just got Twitter so follow her!

Should you be reading this Saturday I am currently at either a wedding rehearsal, a wedding rehearsal luncheon, meeting Christie, hanging out with friends, and sleeping. If you should be reading this Sunday, I will be beautifying, drinking champagne, and standing beside my best girl friend as she makes those timeless vows to one lucky guy! I thought a post on indulging at special events, like a wedding, would be appropriate and Kendra very graciously offered to help me out! Happy Memorial Day Weekend! So, take it away, Kendra!!!

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A few years ago I was a bridesmaid in a wedding for the first time. At first I was totally excited. I got to dress up, get new shoes, wear sparkly things, and even sing at the wedding. Then I saw what I was expected to wear…

Once a proper dress was finally selected (really brides, do you want us to look ugly???), I was set for a weekend away of parties, food, drink, and flirting with that one cousin of so-and-so (I’m not wearing stilettos for nothing!).

Now that I’m working on a healthier lifestyle and weight loss, things are different. With wedding season starting, we need strategies to navigate the oh so delicious minefield of wedding festivities.  Abstinence? Um… no. Go hog wild? Only if you want to come back feeling like, well, a hog. So how do you find the middle ground? Let’s talk about some strategies.

Before You Go: Be Prepared

As with most things in life, preparation is key. Here are a few things you can get in place ahead of time to make the weekend more fun and less stressful. For the few days before the weekend away you should be proactive about getting enough sleep, water, and vitamins.

I’m not normally an advocate of vitamin supplements; I think that it’s better to get your vitamins by eating balanced, but in some cases it’s helpful. If you’re going to be eating and drinking extravagantly (and you know you will be) these things can help. Alcohol depletes your body of certain vitamins and you’ll want to compensate a little bit.

It’s also a good idea to bring some things to snack on. Yep, I’m advocating for being that girl. Now, if you’re thinking 100 calorie packs, please just bitch slap yourself now. Bring real food. In fact, throw all those sorts of things away and you’ll be much better off anyway.

I’m not much of a snacker so I like to have things that are calorie and nutrient dense that I can eat pretty quickly and get on with things. Nuts are great, 15 almonds will stave off hunger for a few hours and almonds are easy to pack. Trail mixes that aren’t sugary are in general a fabulous snack as well.

If you are traveling beware of anything that can ooze. Spillage in you suitcase is never a good thing. Some of the odd things I like to take are radishes, Triscuits, Roma tomatoes, a few salami slices, and cheese sticks. All of these things can survive outside the fridge and won’t make a mess.

The last tidbit of preparation is mental. You need to know that if you are working on weight loss, there will be a little damage done to your progress. It can be minimized, but accept that there will be some and enjoy it. Much of it will be water retention from sugar, salt, and alcohol, but some of it will be from more calories than usual. It’s okay.

During: The Balancing Act

Keep being proactive about getting enough water and vitamins. You probably won’t be getting enough sleep. Doing both of these things will help with your impending hangover and will reduce water retention later. Unless you want to get out the elastic waist pants on Monday, keep drinking water.

Pick your poison. Seriously, eat a piece of wedding cake. Pick and choose the things that you’ll really enjoy and the things that are symbolic of the event, but think about what’s worth it and what isn’t. Are you going to really enjoy the pigs in a blanket? Maybe not… Be picky here. If you think you’ll regret eating it, don’t. If you think you’ll feel cheated in not eating it, do. For me anything with rum in it is worth it but I won’t look twice at the finger foods. The chocolate fountain doesn’t interest me but I will not pass up cake.

Work it. Dance your ass off. Literally. You’re having some extra calories but you also have to opportunity to dance many of those calories off. Don’t be a wallflower. Considering that dancing is pretty much the most fun form of exercise ever this is a pretty good deal.

After: Get Over It

Water, vitamins, and sleep. Am I sounding redundant? Good. Boost your vegetable content for a little while to give your body nutrients it can absorb well and really keep hydrated.

Welcome back to work, laundry, and your daily routine. It’s sad that the party’s over but it is. You have to bounce back into your routine now and leave the party behind. You’ll still have the memories and your BFF will still have that one picture of that one incident… but it’s time to get back into the swing of things.

Respect your body when working out. If you are just to depleted of energy and oomph in general, go easy on the first workout back. Don’t kill yourself just to burn 300 calories. It isn’t worth it. By Wednesday you should be able to hit it hard again but on Monday you can give yourself some lee-way.

It’s also time to look at the damage done without emotion. You probably gained a few pounds. Don’t look at it as the ground you lost, instead think of where you are now as a new start point. Use this experience later as a reminder that you can have a weekend party away and not derail yourself completely.

date night!

Last night was date night…. with myself. Naturally. But I quite enjoyed it!

Since I had picked up Subway to take to my mommy at work, I grabbed myself a veggie sub. I love Subway, but seriously the veggie sub is kind of boring as a vegetarian. I don’t get the cheese, so it is veg on bread. Can’t they get guac and hummus for us? Well I added my own hummus to give it more bulk and flava-flave.

Veggie sub (with added hummus) on wheat with an apple

Then I packed snacks to take to my date night at “Sex and the City 2″.

1 cup Kashi Honey Puffed 7 Grain cereal, TJ's dark chocolate bar

I probably could have eaten more at dinner, but I always, always want to munch during a movie so I packed cereal!

The movie was epic — no other words. So much better than the first! And I’m a die-hard fan. I own the entire series in the pink suede collector’s edition box set. Normal.

After the movie, I met a new friend on our front porch!

Hello, handsome!

This morning I woke up and was starved at 7am. I told this to my mom and she said “Oh, my little girl still hasn’t changed.” When I was a baby, I used to stand up in my crib upon waking and scream “BRAAAFIX” until my mom & dad got me food. My brother, like my mom, can wait hours to eat upon waking. Not me! I need to have food asap!

1 container Stonyfield O'Soy vanilla soy yogurt, 1/3 cup oats, strawberries

Then I headed to the gym to get in some time on the elliptical & do some strength training. I obviously am still taking it easy with my knee, but I’m glad I can still get cardio in! It felt good to move, I feel like I haven’t exercised in forever (since Tuesday?). If the weather holds out, I’m going to hike with my grandparents lately!

Did I mention that my mom’s house is in the Blue Ridge mountains and is about 35 minutes from Polyface Farm? I may complain that it is small town and country, but it is pretty.

the knee diagnosis

The title sounds kind of menacing… like it should be followed by some ominous sound effect. DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM.

But don’t worry, things aren’t as bad as they could be. But I’ll save those tantalizing details and dig into my food first.

Bagel thin with strawberry jelly

Clearly not the most filling breakfast, but I really wanted to try the Bagel Thins! They were pretty good! They might not kill a bagel craving, but they tasted good!

I then went grocery shopping! Don’t you love it when your mom hands you the credit card and says “go grocery shopping”?? Well even though my mom’s house is kind of in the country, there is a decent grocery store (Martin’s) here that has a great natural section! I was able to snag some great products I’ve been wanting to try and the produce looked great, too. While there, I picked up an Amy’s frozen burrito to heat up for lunch!

Amy's Black Bean burrito with a carrot

Grapefruit sections

Complaint: This “individual, convenient” cup of fruit? It has TWO servings! When something is packed like this, it makes one think it is a single serving. They are tricking consumers! Make the package smaller or change the nutrition info to reflect what is in the container.

Then I got some stuff done around the house and before leaving for my doctor’s appointment, I had some toast with the new nut butter I found!

Whole wheat bread with sea salted soynut butter

The sports medicine practice I went to is attached to the hospital that my mom works at, so I picked up a Subway sub to take to her for dinner (and one for myself, naturally).

Then I went to the practice and I had some X-rays done and it has been decided that I have a very (very) minor stress fracture. I’ve already taken a week off running so I’m to take another off while resting, icing, and stretching. Then I can start slowly on a treadmill and stop immediately if it hurts and take another week off. He thinks that after 2-3 weeks of rest I should be okay to slowly start building up mileage and to use a treadmill at first because it is a softer surface. Yay I’m not broken or torn seriously! I can still do the elliptical, cycling, and swimming as long as it doesn’t hurt! And for strength training I just have to avoid squats and using heavy weights on leg extension machines.

Off to relax a bit before eating dinner & going to a movie (by myself!)

cake, babies, and driving

Sorry for my absence, but today was looooong!

I had a pretty average morning, but didn’t make it to the gym because I stayed up packing last night. However packing up my stuff and then packing and unpacking my car did break a sweat and required some heavy lifting, so that counts, right?! I had a pretty boring bowl of cereal with a banana & an apricot for breakfast then headed to the office for my last day of work!

Mona, my boss/my best friends’ mom/my “other mother”, ordered lunch for the office! I had a sandwich on foccacia bread of marinated portobello mushroom, tomato, lettuce, and harvarti cheese. There was supposed to be Caesar dressing on it, but you can never be certain if it is vegetarian or not so I skipped it. She also got me a cake! Of course I forgot to take my camera into the conference room (where we ate) but got a picture of the cake after we ate it! It said “Good luck, Meredith!”!

Mmmmmm layers of vanilla cream and strawberry! Definitely had a slice!

It was a very rich cake so the slices were small but so tasty!

After lunch, I finished up my last task and had tearful goodbyes with everyone! I already had to say goodbye to Jeff in the morning before work, and now my co-workers and Mona who I have lived with for nearly 6 months! But I had places to go, like the hospital.

No, no I’m not sick! My cousin was finally in labor! She is the first cousin to have a baby (she just got married in June!) and I feel like we’re all growing up now. She’s the oldest and was the leader of our ragtag gang of grandkids. Oh, all those summers at the beach! And now she’s a mommy! I spent a few hours with her but left to pack up my car. She delivered a healthy baby boy, Luke Caleb 8 lb, 11 oz (HUGE), while I was driving to my mom’s house!

Baby!!!!!!! (Sent from my uncle's cell phone)

So after I left and packed up my car, I shipped out and said goodbye to Virginia Beach! Actually, saying goodbye to Mona & Jeff’s puppy, who was basically my puppy this whole time, was the hardest. Her sad little eyes made me feel bad about the suitcases!! I’ll be at my mom’s house on and off for a couple weeks before vacationing in France, working in Richmond briefly, and moving to Texas! On the 4 hour drive, I ate some Kashi crackers, an apple, and a Clif MoJo bar. And when I got home and was exhausted from all the moving and starving because it was 9:30pm, I inhaled some low fat Chex Mix, cherries, and a whole wheat wrap with lettuce, hummus, and cheese. Then ate some Jelly Belly jelly beans for dessert

Now I’m super exhausted and going to bed. Not much on the agenda tomorrow except for run some errands, bake/cook, and go to the sports medicine doc for my knee!

biggest loser finale!

Okay the finale of “The Biggest Loser” is on, therefore I have no coherent thoughts to share with you. I have some issues with this show, but when you need motivation (like me, now) it is inspiring. So here is a run down of some interesting eats today…

Oats in a jar: Bob's Red Mill 7 grain, 1/2 a pear, remnants of the almond butter

Let’s all take a moment to mourn the passing of my favorite AB.

Hummus, squash, and red pepper on wheat; TJ's chips & salsa

Got to work from home today I also made it to the gym for a sweat session split between the elliptical, the bike, pushups, and other arm weights.

TJ's strawberry soy yogurt

I think I’m over my cereal obsession because I only had one handful today and it didn’t appeal to me any more once I finished it! I also snacked on some dark chocolate with chili.

Mixed green salad with homemade honey mustard vinaigrette; whole wheat penne with homemade pesto

Mona & I made dinner for Jeremy and 4 of his hungry guy friends. It was so delicious! I also had some chips & guac while cooking but my appetite was put off when one of Jeremy’s friends dropped guac on my Blackberry and I had to spend a few minutes scraping guac out of the speaker. Oh and a beer

Okay before I go to watch, here is a GREAT post I read today.

everybody’s changing

Does anyone else feel like they have a legit soundtrack to their life and just the right song comes on in your head at just the right moment?? Well that happened to me tonight and Keane’s “Everybody’s Changing” started playing in my head. Hence, the title of this post.

Everybody’s changing and I don’t feel the same.

Before I get all deep and blow your minds, let’s recap the afternoon.

I enjoyed a delicious salad topped with my homemade hummus (my favorite salad dressing, fyi) and some blackberries!

English muffin with a Laughing Cow wedge; spinach salad with hummus, raisins, pine nuts, red pepper, and celery

Dessert!

I had plans to go to the gym, but frankly I just didn’t feel like it. I came home and worked on packing a little because I’m moving out of Mona & Jeff’s house on Wednesday and heading to my mom’s house for a couple weeks between travels. But while working up a sweat packing, I had a cereal bar and then some Greek yogurt.

Remnants of TJ's 2% plain Greek yogurt with a Weetabix biscuit and dried fruit bits

I also may or may not have had a few handfuls of cereal. Seriously, what is with me?? I love cereal but this is getting out of hand. I tell you, working with a pregnant woman and having a pregnant cousin (who was due a week ago and still hasn’t popped!) really gives you sympathy cravings. Well, if I’m craving something at least it is cereal and not Hershey’s chocolate syrup, right?

And for dinner, I made a classic from my Mama Concha’s kitchen back in Mexico (I lived in Guadalajara for a summer and my host mom, Mama Concha, made some goooood food!)

Stewed black beans with white rice; broccoli with season salt.

Yes, white rice. Go ahead, judge me.

So about these changes… as you know, I am getting ready to leave VB and go to my mom’s house for a bit before traveling to France, working at an immersion camp for 4 weeks in Richmond, and then packing up and moving across country to Texas in August. I feel a little homeless and like a wandering fool right now. But, “Not all who wander are lost” and I agree.

But it is hard not to feel left out when all my friends are starting their real lives! This weekend I’m a bridesmaid in my best girl friend’s wedding in Richmond. Marriage! My best girl friend is getting married, just bought a house, and is starting her new life with the love of her life, Johnny. And then my friend Kim just got a great job and a great apartment in Richmond! And my friends Jessica & Austin just got their first apartment and moved in together (in Richmond, also). It seems like everyone is settling down and staying in Richmond and where am I going? Globetrotting and Texas. Part of me wishes I was staying here with my friends and settling down.

But part of me is just so excited about what lies ahead! I’m 21, I don’t need to settle for anything right now! I have worked hard to gain a new lease on life, so why waste it? I’m going to eat stinky cheese and drink champagne at 10am with my family in France without judgement. I’m going to live out of a suitcase or in crappy college dorms at the immersion camp all summer. I’m going to move to Austin, TX with nothing more than clothing and some pots and pans. I’m driving 22 hours across country with my mother. I’m going to live my life, and I love it.

photo-less

So sorry today’s post is sans photos, but my camera seems to have eaten them all?? That combined with the fact that I refuse to replace the blown lightbulb in my room makes for bad photos. The ones that did stick around were deleted because, even after adjusting the light, they were ugly.

But my eats were pretty boring. Yesterday afternoon I ate an unhealthy amount of dry Special K. Why? Not entirely sure. I just wanted it! And I may have snacked on leftover pasta too. Whoops! So I kept dinner really light and just sauteed some veg to mix with a little curry sauce and Israeli couscous. And this morning, all I wanted was toast so I had 2 pieces of toast with AB and honey. Perfection.

Since I have nothing of interest to say today, I’ll let you catch up on some good posts from this weekend!

- Did you read my posts about emotional eating and eating local?
-  Check out Caitlin and Jenna’s recap of their 100 mile bike race!
- A recipe I want to eat NOW.
- Some veg burgers I also want to eat NOW.
- And Bess’s really bad pun (and by bad, I mean awesome).

eat local & spin

I feel like that should be a motto… “Eat local & spin”. I want shirts & mugs with that printed on them.

So yesterday I spent some time lounging on the back porch to soak up some (SPF protected) rays and reading more of The Kind Life. I also ate.

Tofu & cheese on wheat with spinach & whole grain mustard; celery

Puppy envy: fuji apple with almond butter

I also had an unpictured bowl of Special K because dinner was going to be a little late. Jeff stopped by the farmer’s market and got amazing local, organic produce for dinner. Mona made a homemade pesto with all the herbs from our garden and Jeff and I worked on grilling up the veggies. Dinner was almost all local and organic! The only store-bought items at dinner: whole wheat pasta, olive oil, pine nuts (in the pesto). Everything but the pine nuts was organic! MMMMMM.

Whole wheat pasta with homemade pesto; grilled corn; grilled zucchini & squash!

The vegetables melted in my mouth! And the corn was so sweet I didn’t even need butter on it! We finished the evening up with dark chocolate.

This morning I woke up and had a whole wheat English muffin with some Smart Balance before heading to spin class at the gym. There is NOTHING like a spin class to get you sweaty and your heart rate pumping. And it doesn’t bother my knee! I left the gym an hour later covered in sweat and feeling great.

When I got home and showered, I made some homemade hummus and loaded up on it for lunch. I have an aunt from Syria so she taught me to make killer hummus. I rarely do because, let’s be honest, the tubs at the grocery store are convenient (Costco’s giant tub is the best, in my opinion). But homemade is so much better!!

Chocolate Pomegranate Green Smoothie; leftover grilled zucchini; homemade hummus; crackers.

I also made another Chocolate Pomegranate Green Smoothie featuring POM Wonderful. Missed my smoothie invention yesterday? You can find it in my recipes tab!

Off to get some laundry and other boring stuff done. Have a great Sunday!

emotional eating

Oi! Como vai? <—- clearly I’ve been listening to too much Brazilian music and reading too much Lusophone literature if I’m speaking to you in Portuguese now. Also, why have I been doing that instead of practicing my abysmal French when I’m going to France in 16 days? The answers? I shall never know…

So I’ll catch you up to speed on my life. After breakfast yesterday my lunch reservation with the girls from work got pushed to 2pm instead of 12pm, so I had a piece of toast with 1/2 a Laughing Cow wedge to keep me going. Then we went to Bella Monte near the Oceanfront to celebrate my co-worker Laura’s birthday! My “chopped salad” was kind of like a Greek chopped salad — super delish!

Chopped salad with tomato, no prociutto, extra garbanzo beans, kalamata olives, peppercinis, and gorgonzola (oil & vinegar on the side)

Since lunch was so late the only snacking I did in the afternoon was a couple of Wheat Thins while I cooked up dinner.

Sautéed spinach, zucchini, and onions with pan seared tofu; polenta strips with paprika; topped with leftover tomato sauce

The polenta has been sitting in the pantry for a while so I finally sliced 2 thin slices off it and threw it in the oven to warm with some paprika — perfection!

So after dinner is where I had my little episode of emotional eating. I was getting a little down about my knee issues (I made a dr’s appt for Thursday, thanks for all the input!!!). Did I mention the ultra sexy knee strap I got? I’ve been wearing it on and off and it feels like it relieves the pain a bit.

Knee straps + sun dresses? This summer's hot look.

Also I was feeling pathetic because it was yet another Friday night I was spending alone with the puppy. I’ve lived with my best friends’ parents since January and I haven’t really made friends with people my age. I love my “me time”, but I’m a social person and I was rather down about the whole thing last night. And now, of course, I’m leaving so I’ll never make friends!

In order to not eat the Thin Mints in the freezer, I went to get some froyo instead.

Low fat vanilla froyo with jelly beans, coconut, and granola

This did the trick for a while and I distracted myself by watching my favorite (English language) movie, “St. Elmo’s Fire“. This only worked so long until I was feeling down again and I went for the Thin Mints, eating entirely too many.

Why do we do this? Why do we emotionally eat? When you think about it, food will not actually solve your problems. I was lonely and upset about my knee. So how could a Thin Mint change that? (Fact: it can’t). There is no medicine in a Thin Mint (contrary to popular belief) and the box wouldn’t bring friends to hang out with me, not even the happy Girl Scouts on the box. We emotionally eat to comfort ourselves with food because we know food will taste good and it will always be there. But, in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t solving anything and it only makes us feel worse about ourselves for having eaten what we ate!

People consider emotional eating “disordered eating” and I know it is my main issue with food. In my relationship with food, this is one of the things I’ve struggled with the most. I do not have an eating disorder; I think calling my behavior that really takes away from those who are actually struggled with an eating disorder. But it is my food issue. Last night, after I had eaten the Thin Mints and really started to think about how it didn’t make me feel better, I had a breakthrough. I think I am really understanding this aspect of myself and while I’m not saying I’m cured, I will definitely think about this new-found rationale next time I start to lean on food as my crutch.

Emotional eating is a very common issue that both men and women struggle with. Have you ever struggled with it?

So this morning I woke up, stretched, gave myself a pat on the back for my breakthrough, and ate a plain whole wheat English muffin before heading to the gym. I swam 2500m in 40 minutes and hopped out, feeling refreshed, starving, and cheery. I then started planning the perfect smoothie and I would now like to unveil to you my new favorite smoothie:

Chocolate Pomegranate Green Smoothie

It may not look pretty (in fact, it looks really gross), but it was amazingly delicious. And I have POM Wonderful to thank for sending me pomegranate inspiration!

Chocolate Pomegranate Green Smoothie:
1 frozen banana
2 tbsp chocolate protein powder (I use TJ’s hemp protein powder, fyi)
1/4 cup skim milk (or rice, soy, almond, etc. milk)
1/4 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice
1 giant handful spinach
Blend in a blender until smooth and drink up! Potassium, vitamins, chocolate, protein, antioxidants? Sounds good to me!

I am off to enjoy a lazy Saturday. If the sun decides to come out, I might go to the beach and read a book — where I will enjoy my “me time”, not feel down about stupid things, and where I will surely not emotionally eat!