Weekend Recap & Detox Time

This weekend was freaking awesome. I laughed so hard that I got a stomach cramp – literally. Then I dulled the pain with a few MGD 64’s. Perfect.

This is basically the only picture I got of us not in our swimsuits and if you can’t tell, we are covered in temporary tattoos. That’s right, this group of girls in their late 20s love us some temporary tats! It’s basically a tradition. Haters gunna hate.

My top 2 moments of the weekend were playing Catch Phrase (which may be my favorite game ever) and hearing my friend Sandra completely face plant in the cabin – haven’t seen an adult fall that hard!

If you had to give a ration of healthy food choices to complete shittiness, I would say I kept it at a 50/50, which isn’t too bad. I had a few/several adult beverages, enjoyed some s’mores and ate bread, but made sure I had a solid breakfast and used a Portobello mushroom instead of a bun for our shloppy joes.

Now I am back to reality and excited to get back into my routine. The rest from this weekend did wonders for my foot and it felt solid and pain-free during my 45 minute walk this morning. I am hitting up the yoga-lates class tonight, to round out my rest day, and am excited to hit it hard for tomorrow’s pool sprints!

Also, the birthday girl made us an amazing turkey meatloaf this weekend that I really want to try myself. She added Ritz crackers to the top and covered it in turkey bacon – so good. Here is a modified recipe that I would like to try:

Paleo-ish Turkey Meatloaf

• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced (you can never have enough garlic)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsps tomato paste (no sugar added)
• 1 tbsp Worcester Sauce (only thing that might not be considered Paleo)
• salt n’ peppa
• 4 slices turkey bacon (nitrate free)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and pack into a greased 9×5 tray. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. I adapted from this recipe, which says this is 290 per serving.

Happy Monday!

Portobello Mushroom Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Holy moley this thing is good!

That picture is complete rubbish, thanks to my ghetto fab phone, but I ate it before I could take another one…

‘Bello Pulled Chicken Sandwich:

• 1 Portobello mushroom cap
• 1 wedge reduced fat Laughing Cow cheese
• 2-3 oz pulled chicken

I’m typically not a huge mushroom fan, being that they grow in poop, but today may have changed that for me.

Also, I read that mushrooms contain vitamins C, B6 and B12 which all aid in strengthening the immune system. They are also rich in fiber and can help reduce bad cholesterol.

Dear mushrooms, sorry for being such a hater. Love, Kim.

Swimming in the Dark

My morning swim was quite the adventure this morning, as half way through my 800 meter workout, the lights went out.

I stopped swimming momentarily, then decided to just keep going, as it caused the pool to empty out. It was a bit on the creepy side, but I didn’t have to share my lane with water joggers, so I figured it was a win.

Pre-workout, I enjoyed my new favorite snack: apple sauce with chia seeds and sprinkles and coffee.

Mmmm. Not sure where my random obsession with rainbow sprinkles has come from.

I also wanted to share one of my favorite crock pot recipes for pulled buffalo chicken. I got the original idea from canyoustayfordinner (one of my favorite blogs) and slightly altered it.

The original recipe can be found here, but this is my modified version:

(Picture from canyoustayfordinner)

Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Chicken

• 2 lbs chicken
• 1 giant can tomato sauce (1 lb, I think)
• garlic (3-4 cloves)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1-2 tbsps Frank’s hot buffalo sauce

Place chicken in slow cooker. Mix all spices into the tomato paste and completely cover the chicken. Cook on low for about 7 -8 hours.

It is a bit spicy, but not bad and I like to eat it in lettuce cups or in a bell pepper.

Enjoy!

Birthday Cake Smoothie

This weekend I made one of the best smoothies ever. It’s healthy and filling and has sprinkles in it, so it’s definitely a winner.

Greek Yogurt Bday Cake Smoothie:

• 6 oz. vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 banana
• 2 tbsps unsweetened apple sauce
• 4-5 frozen strawberries
• 1/4 cup almond milk (vanilla or unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp ground chia seed
• Rainbow sprinkles

The whole thing is roughly 300 calories and is mildly life changing.

In other news, I have seen a lot of good progress in my left knee after the last 2 weeks of my hip and leg strengthening routine. I am really excited to see how this affects my running once I start up again and to see if I can completely end my knee pain.

Here is the hip and leg strengthening routine:

• 3 sets of 20 clam shell leg extensions on each side (banded)
• 2 sets of 10 clam shells on each side (banded)
• 2 sets of 25 hip bridges – hold for 5-10 secs each (banded)
• 3 sets of 20 side leg lifts (banded)
• 2 sets of 25 squats (banded)
• 3 sets of 10 seated leg lifts (banded)
• 3 sets of 10 donkey kick
• 3 sets of 25 superman back extensions (opposite arm and leg lifts)
• 3 sets of 1 min wall sits

All of that takes about 20 minutes. Then I usually add a core and arm workout:

• 3 sets of 25 bicycle crunches
• 3 sets of 20 sit ups
• 3 sets of 20 push ups
• 4 sets of 10 reps of each with dumbbells: bicep curls, shoulder press, arm raises, row
• 2 sets of 1 minute side plank of each side (4 mins total)

All you need for equipment is a resistance band, stop watch and two dumbbells. Examples of these exercises can be found here. I like to add some kind of 30 minute cardio session to the above routine and then thoroughly stretch and roll out my quads, hamstrings and hips.

Happy Monday!

Kettlebells & Egg Wraps

Last night marked the first time I made it through the night wearing my compression socks! (I know what you are thinking – damn this girl is exciting!) I could definitely feel the difference this morning in the gym and am very pleased that my $60+ wasn’t a total waste.

My workout today was kinda all over the place, as my attention span was seriously lacking:

• 2 minutes on the elliptical (I can’t stand this machine – wanted a 10 min warm-up, but couldn’t even make it that long)
• 20 minutes on the bike @ a moderate-fast pace
• 10 minutes on the rower, keeping my pull under 2:15 and finished a little over 2k meters
• Kettlebells! 3 sets of 20 reps of swings and sumo dead lift high pulls
• 10 minutes of core strength and push ups
• 10 minutes stretching and foam rolling

Love me some kettlebells! Why have these not been in my life lately?

My breakfast this morning was also awesome.

Whole wheat wrap with 3 egg whites, spinach, laughing cow light cheese wedge an apple and Frank’s buffalo hot sauce. Whole thing is right around 325 calories. So good.

Along with finishing up a client report today, research is on my agenda. The topic: hair loss. I know I should probably change the name of this blog to “TMI about Kim”….Problem is that my nails are super healthy, but my hair seems to be all over my apartment and I lose a lot of it in the shower, brushing it and blow drying it. Sups odd, sups annoying.

And I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures of the week – Will & Kate at the Olympics. Love them.

Chia Seeds & Zucchini Dip

Getting out of bed this morning was extremely difficult. I want to blame part of that to waking up around midnight to take off my compression socks and the other half to a horrible dream about someone breaking into my apartment by cutting a circle out of the front door with a kitchen knife. I swear I am ok to live alone…

Anyway, I forced myself to get up for my morning swim and had a glass of unsweetened almond milk with 1 tbsp of ground chia seeds. Energy from the chia seeds kicked in about 10 minutes into my swim and I didn’t feel like falling asleep in the shower afterwards – great success!

Today’s workout:

45 minutes in the pool at a moderate-fast pace, switching between sets of 4 laps of freestyle with 2 laps arms only (using a paddle board or water weight).

The best part is that I am finally starting to get the hang of it.

When I started swimming – maybe 3 months ago – I mostly stuck with the survival stroke and half the time looked like I was drowning. The whole breathing between strokes thing totally confused me and I inhaled so much water through my nose that I would get a sore throat. The other half I just looked like a creeper, as I watched other swimmers to study their technique.

However, it feels like I am closer to figuring it out and am starting to feel more confident in the water. Big win for today!

In other news, I am totally a fan of zucchini dip right now. Not sure why I like zucchinis so much, as they are pretty bland tasting, but they are cheap and for some reason I always buy them.

Zucchini Dip:

• 2 zucchinis, sliced and diced
• 2-3 tbsps chunky salsa
• sliced jalapenos (from a can)
• squirt of lime juice

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth. I like to serve it over chicken or have it alone with barley and spinach, kind of like a soup.

That’s right, barley. A grain that is unacceptable on the Paleo diet. However, after more than 2 years of trying my best to avoid grains, I may have had a change of heart.

While I still believe that processed foods should be avoided and am not a fan of pastas or breads, I am coming around to grains like barley and quinoa. Both are excellent sources of fiber, produce slow released energy and give you that feeling of satisfaction that veggies alone can’t.

I can’t deny the benefits of eating strict Paleo but have decided that if your body is craving something or you are feeling tired or sick for no explainable reason, you are probably lacking variety and/or some type of nutrient.

Oh ya, and here is some info on chia seeds. I think they are awesome and a really great energy source to add to smoothies, soup, yogurt or almond milk. They help absorb water, have tons of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber. More info here. And here.

My Non-Paleo Weekend

This weekend was awesome. It was the Sea Fair airshow and after spending nearly 6 hours taking my online boating safety certification on Friday, I was ready to boat captain it up!

After an extremely unproductive day at work on Friday, I got a strong urge to bake and to buy peanut butter – both are very strange urges for me. So my friend Tracy and I headed to the store and I ended up getting mostly non-paleo ingredients to make cookies, banana bread and frozen Greek yogurt.

All the recipes turned out tasting pretty good, except for the banana bread being a bit too moist (that is possible).

Blueberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

• 1 1/2 cups = 3 tbsps gluten free flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 large bananas
• 2 eggs
• 6 oz blueberry Greek yogurt
• 1 cup blueberries

Mash the bananas in one bowl, mix dry ingredients in another. Then add all ingredients together, stir and pour in greased bread pan. Bake at 375 for about 30 mins. Mmmmm.

My phone is pretty ghetto, so the picture doesn’t do it justice.

The cookies were way more simple: 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup honey, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 egg and about 1 cup rolled oats. Mix and bake at 375 for about 10-15 mins. I don’t have a picture of these, but they were amazing, and calorie dense.

The frozen Greek yogurt is pretty self explanatory. I added blueberries and some dark chocolate to plain non-fat Greek yogurt and froze it – delicious. I served this over apple rolled oats pancakes Sunday morning and I got some positive feedback.

(Picture borrowed from another site – I only wished mine looked this good)

Apple Rolled Oats Pancakes:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsps brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together and cook over low heat. I cooked them using coconut oil and I think that added a bit more flavor. The whole batch is about 350 calories between two people and went really nicely with the frozen Greek yogurt.

And lastly (and maybe the most exciting part of the weekend) – I bought compression socks!

I am really excited to try these bad boys out! Hoping they will help get my foot back into running shape so I can start working on the 10k in 40 mins plan.

Jump Roping & Sardines

Now that it’s been a little over 5 months since I fractured my foot, I decided that it’s time to stop babying it.

My goal is to add in a CorssFit-esque workout 3x/week, along with cardio and hip and leg strengthening. Oh, and do all this without breaking my foot again, or messing up my knee or any other general injury that I seem to acquire.

So yesterday I did the following jump rope exercise: 30 minutes total, repeat the following sets:

• jump rope for 1 minute
• ab work for 1 minute
• jump rope 1 minute
• push-ups 1 minute
• jump rope 1 minute
• wall sits or jump squats for 1 minute

It was awesome.

Then I added 15 minutes of hip exercises to help stabilize my knee and an hour of yoga. Really loving yoga currently. The teachers are always a little on the crazy side, but it’s really relaxing and has already helped with hip and overall flexibility.

With beets still on the mind, I made a beet and veggie smoothie for dinner, along with a few sardines and some barley.

Smoothie: 1 container plain non-fat Greek yogurt, 2 handfuls of spinach, kale, 5 frozen strawberries, 5 slices of canned beets and beet juice.

I’ve heard beet juice is a good recovery drink and helps prevent sore muscles. I’ve also heard that beer is a good recovery drink. I’d probably side with the beer loving folk.

Also, I am buying compression socks and sleeves tomorrow. I’ve read mixed reviews on whether they are necessary or not, but they come in hot pink and yellow, so I’m getting them anyway.

Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica

Guess who’s back? Back again. Tell your friend…oh Slim Shady, such a golden oldie.

So my last blog post was on May 3rd – nearly 3 months ago – pretty sure that counts as cyber death in the blogging world. Things have been super busy, to say the least, and to all my loyal readers (ie my mom and Sarah), my apologies for the absence.

I have spent the last few months going on various trips, getting back into a workout routine and on boarding a new client at work – which is the main reason I haven’t been able to squeeze in my usual morning post.

What I realized during this time – both work and life related – has been very enlightening and prompted me to start this ole thing up again.

Here are a few:

• Advertising is interesting and makes for a great career path, just not for this girl
• Writing makes me happy and I miss it when it’s not part of my life
• I miss Nike Frees
• I discovered barley and Greek yogurt. Amazing. Modified Paleo may be the way to go
• Scott (the bf) is awesome and long distance relationships really can work (and be awesome, too)
• Balance, patience, flexibility and perspective are all too under represented in my life

Totally random list and at this point, I honestly can’t even remember where I was going with all this…

Basically, it leads me to anther list (I love lists). This one is a goals list and putting it in writing for the whole world myself and my mom to see helps keep me accountable.

Goals/Bucket List:

• Blog regularly and try to make it interesting so people want to read it
• Start taking on a few freelance writing jobs
• Attain group fitness certification (maybe personal training cert, too)
• Complete a course in nutrition
• Run a 10k in 40 minutes
• Health/nutrition book for children
• Work for myself

Partial thanks for this clear thinking is to Susan Carter- a financial advisor that I highly recommend. I hired her to help with investing and to learn more about preparing for retirement (I get way too ahead of myself sometimes), but what she asked was for a snapshot of my life – what I want, where I see myself and if money weren’t an issue, what I’d do with it. Thinking that clearly really brings the important things to the surface. She may be in the wrong field.

Anyway, here is recipe that I want to try – beet chips.

Beets have always scared me, especially after the first time I had them and thought I was dying. (hint, they turn your pee red if you are iron deficient – tmi?)

Here is a link to the recipe.

For the Love of Prunes

Sometimes I worry that I am pre-maturely aging. I prefer to wear my pants above my natural waist, love Golden Girls, enjoy long walks, think Werthers are the best and now I love prunes, too.

I guess I’m not totally concerned, as I also have a sick love affair with 16 And Pregnant and still shop at Forever 21 (which I have no intention of cutting off anytime soon).

However, I think prunes are one of my new favorites.

I prefer to eat them as a workout recovery snack, since they are higher on the GI, but are also packed with fiber (1 gram per prune!) so I feel like you get more bang for your buck. I’ve never cooked with prunes before, but found this chicken stuffed with brie and prunes recipe and think I may just need to give it a try:

In other news, the st. George Ironman is now just 2 days away! I have been giddy all morning about flying down there tonight and can’t wait for the warm weather and to see the bf.