September, 2012 | Lisa Lately

Pumpkin Tea + Cream Cheese Muffins

September 28, 2012 by Lisa

Morning! Its Friday already!

I’m hoping this weekend will allow me to catch up on my sleep. As this week hasn’t been the best sleep wise. Aren’t I always saying that though.

I was basically glued to the TV last night because there were so many good shows on. Hello New Girl, Modern Family, and Real Housewives. Glad these are back into rotation.

My workout this morning was a fun spin class. I probably should’ve slept in, but I got ready and figured I might as well go since I was dressed and up! Plus, I always feel good after.

I’m counting down for the weekend starting now…

5. I can’t stop eating microwaved muffins for snacks.

This one was a pumpkin cream cheese muffin

1 tablespoon almond butter
1 tablespoon brown rice flour
2 teaspoons coconut flour
3 tablespoons pumpkin
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1/4 cup egg whites
1/4 teaspoon baking powder + stevia

Microwaved for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

They are especially delicious with coconut “frosting”…yum!

I just used 2 tablespoons coconut flour, 1 tablespoon cream cheese (goats), vanilla stevia drops, and 1/4 cup almond milk

4. I got one of my last gold member sweet 15 cards Starbucks will offer.

Since they’re now changing everything up on me.

Not sure how I feel about it yet. We’ll have to wait and see!

3. I’ve still been able to rock out tank tops and skirts so far this Fall.

I’m pretty pumped because usually Victoria ia filled with rain, rain, wind, and more rain by this time of year.

2. I can’t stop drinking this pumpkin chai tea from David’s Tea.

How cute is it that there are little pumpkin shaped sprinkles in there?!

It contains a mix of black tea, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel, squash, carrot, caramel, pumpkin candies, natural and artificial flavouring.

I admit, I freaked out a bit at first thinking “I will never ever drink this because the sprinkles contain refined sugar”, but honestly its such a minut amount I’ve gotten over that. I’m so lame.

1. J.K. Rowling’s new book is out and I want to read it NOW!

[Source]

And the plus is its made for a more adult audience. Can’t wait to start it.

And just one more, its my birthday on Monday!!!!!!

Sorry, I’ve said it 1498 times, but you only have to hear for a few more days now;) Off to celebrate the birthday weekend!

What’s your favourite muffin flavour?

Any TV shows your watching this season?

Happy Friday!

{45 Comments }

Mental Margarita

September 27, 2012 by Lisa

Hope you are all having a lovely day today!

I’m going to make more of an effort to simplify my days. I should actually be in bed right now, but instead I’m writing this post…lucky for you;)

Most days, I try and fill every minute of my day with something. Keep myself occupied, say yes to helping others, putting my happiness on the back burner to make others happy. Often times, this leaves me feeling stressed out, burnt out, and out of control. This next week I’m going to make it a goal to take it easy, and be a little selfish.

Here are some random glimpses into my simplified eats lately.

* I’ve been relying on snacks to get my veggies in lately. Most often in the form of “popcorn” cauliflower and kale chips. *

Life sneaks up on us and its okay if I take a break to fulfill my happiness. I need to spend more time with myself and do things that I enjoy. The first task on the agenda was taking a walk.

I got a beautiful view of Summer turning to Autumn. The leaves have begin to turn and I can now feel the cool breeze of Fall in the morning.

This also means its time to break our the heated blanket. Yep, I totally have one of these. No shame.

Just taking in the beauty of nature left me feeling less stressed. Taking myself away from technology (including my cell phone), even if just for 20 minutes is freeing in a way.

Technology keeps us in a busy state of mind, we use technology to keep ourselves busy and it can distract us from our passions, goals, and motivations in life.

* I also consumed another frosty, but this one was made with a banana instead of the pumpkin. Shocking. *

Earlier when I went to a spin class, I went in with the intention that I’d enjoy the ride, but not push my body too hard. I focused on the enjoyment of the class and the energy that everyone was giving off.

Yes, you can go into a spin class and come out with a peaceful mind. It was like a mental margarita.

I’ve talked about meditation before and I believe its something everyone can benefit from. I’m not religious, so meditation is not just for religious purposes. I thought this was true beforehand.

Practicing meditation has allowed me invest more time into my inner self and find that confidence and positive energy I have within me, and incorporate that energy into each day.

Allowing myself to be content in this moment.

* And I’ve been experimenting with different microwaved muffin recipes as well…this one to come at you soon. *

Having compassion and gratitude for people and ourselves is very important. It allows us to realize that we are good enough, with who we are as a person, and its important for our mental health too.

We can appreciate the present without reflecting on our past selves. Like I said, it feels a bit like a margarita for the mind;)

I went out and enjoyed a cup of coffee after, which made me smile. J’adore la vie moment of the day.

I added in my own pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, since I don’t have my own pumpkin spice coffee to make at home. I love how coffee comes in basically every flavour nowadays. I’m not usually a flavoured coffee lover, but pumpkin spice makes me swoon.

What’s your favourite flavoured coffee?

Have you tried meditation before?

Wishing you a fantastic day!

Some Link Love today:

{35 Comments }

Dinner Inspiration

September 26, 2012 by Lisa

Hello, friends!

Can you believe it’s almost the end of September already? And that means only 5 more days until my BIRTHDAY! Crazy times. And this will be the last WIAW of September as well.

The day started out with the usual spin class, where I really noticed how cold the mornings have gotten. All my workout jackets are pretty old at this point, so I’ve been neglecting to wear them to the gym. Bad idea. It was freezing this morning, and I had a few errands to run after spin class.

I was glad to get home and park myself in front of the fireplace for a few minutes, while enjoying the first meal of the day. I had a batch of buckwheat in the fridge overnight, but since it was quite chilly I just warmed it up in the microwave for about 40 seconds. I still prefer them cold, but it was still tasty.

This batch contained: 1/3 cup buckwheat cereal (ground in coffee grinder), 1 cup almond milk, 2 teaspoons chia seeds, 1/2 banana, 1/3 cup pumpkin, cinnamon, stevia, and topped with peanut flour paste and blueberries.

Breakfast – 8:

I got showered and ready and ran more errands. I had to fill up my gas in my car, and it freaking cost me 80 dollars. Eighty. For gas. Ridiculous. I guess it’s not as expensive as it was at the beginning of Summer, but still too much.

I also made my way to the grocery store and realized I forgot my list. I tried to remember what I had written down, but when I got home I realized that was a huge fail and missed at least half the things. Oops.

Some food was next on the agenda.

Lunch – 11:30:

* 2 egg omelette, cooked in a little coconut oil *

I’ve been stuck on eating eggs for lunch for days. I haven’t eaten a “typical” lunch in a long time now. I’m not much of a savory lover when it comes to breakfast, so if this is the only way I’ll get my eggs in for the day, I will happily eat them for Lunch or Dinner.

* with a side of vegetables, roasted in some nutritional yeast and red pepper flakes *

After lunch, I went on a little stroll to see the last remains of Summer.

In between Lunch and Dinner, I became quite hungry yet again. My appetite never fails to let me know when its hungry, which seems to be every 2-3 hours these days. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just weird to feel that hunger again when I’ve been denying its existence for so long.

Snack – 3:

* pumpkin cookie dough with an apple a little later on *

After, I got geared up in my sweats and some really fancy boots and went down to the crawl space to pull out some Halloween decorations. I got totally in the mood to decorate the house. I only managed to bring a few thing up since crawl spaces freak me out for some reason. I guess its the small space.

Now I really want to go to the mall and pick up more Halloween themed fun stuff to decorate with, I’m just that cool.

Dinner is always a lame attempt at me to become creative. I try every now and again to think of something, but by this point I really just could do well with leftovers and call it a day. I decided to ditch that idea, since I was home to make a dinner and attempted to make a lasagna of sorts.

It was a mix of a fail/success. It tasted awesome, but it did not stay together the way I hoped. Oh well, just means I get to try out again:)

Dinner – 5:

* a little deconstructed lasagna casserole that contained leftover zucchini, red pepper, marinara, and a brown rice tortilla *

Of course, I’ll be having a snack before bed tonight. I just usually don’t blog about it since its not that late yet.

What are you favorite dinners?

Do you tend to eat the same ones over or do you try new recipes? Clearly I need some inspiration

Enjoy your Wednesday!!

{53 Comments }

A Perfect Diet?

September 25, 2012 by Lisa

Morning and happy Tuesday!

It was harder to get myself out of bed this morning, I’m usually pretty good at waking up as soon as my alarm sounds, but the past few days I’ve been dragging. I got up anyways, and felt much better after I peeled myself out of bed. I just need to get myself to sleep earlier!

* Carrot cake oatbran; oat bran, chia seeds, egg whites, 1/2 a serving of Laura’s carrot cake protein batter (coconut flour in place of protein powder), and topped with peanut flour paste. So good! I always forget about using carrots in oats. *

I started the day with an old favourite, and read was browsing a few blogs this morning when I came across a few articles attempting to put a label on the “perfect diet”. It got me thinking to my past and how I was on a true quest to find that “perfect diet” that would automatically make me into a happy person (false, a diet will not help you become happy).

There is a certain trap many of us fall into when eating healthy. No, I’m not talking about the dreaded comparison trap. I’m talking about a different trap, the diet trap. It’s when we start to label our food as “good or bad”.

There are so many different “rules” for the healthiest way to eat that we see everywhere. We hear them from all different resources as well, and when there is “scientific evidence” to back it up, it’s easy to fall into that trap.

* 2 slices of toasted ezekiel, almond butter, a dab of coconut oil, and an egg. *

I’m pretty sure we could all name many of the different “diet traps” out there. low carb diets, don’t eat after 7 PM, high protein diets, no carbs after noon, low fat diets, food combining diets. I could go on and on about the different diet types, and the pros and cons of each one.

There are numerous varieties of food I have neglected because of beliefs I adopted into my lifestyle. While recovering from my eating disorder, I developed these beliefs about certain food items and would insist there is not way in hell I will ever eat x food. There are certain diets that eliminate an entire food group because they “make you gain weight or are unhealthy”.

It scares me how many young woman and men fall across these diet types and become consumed by them, follow their rules and never deviate from them. In return they feel guilt, frustration, depression, and negative thoughts. Restriction becomes the norm and it is so easy to develop an unhealthy relationship with your food. This is certainly true for me and what I have experienced. Even now I still struggle with the “diet trap”.

* Toast is always had with a serving of vegetables, this time was roasted zucchini and broccoli slaw, cooked in 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, and 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast. *

When we get involved in such restrictive behaviour with our eating habits, it may start out with us thinking we have control over what we are eating; it turns out that eating now controls us. It controls the way we behave, our thoughts, and even our self talk.

When we restrict our diet and eliminate an entire food group, it is obvious our bodies will lose weight simply because we have removed a food group from our diet. If we begin to eat this again, our bodies will gain the weight back and that can cause a lot of stress within people.

Eating should be the most natural thing to us, but instead it becomes quite complicated.we make it quite complicated. There is so much conflict over what is “right and wrong” in what we “should” consume. However, we are all different. We all vary in our lifestyles. We differ in genetics, size, fitness, food likes and dislikes and that’s the way it is meant to be. Doesn’t it then make sense that we all require a different diet?

* Strawberries on top of a smoothie. I love having a little crunch with a smoothie. *

Restricting calories seems like an easy way to lose weight, but its not that healthiest. When we under nourish our bodies too much our bodies will fight back and leave us feeling stress, anxiety, fatigue, muscle weakness, and other negative consequences.

So, what can we do to undo this unhealthy “diet trap” mindset? Start developing new beliefs. Change your mindset. Give into the control and start to unlock negative beliefs by digging into them, understanding where they came from.

Some people thrive off lots of carbs, while others feel that protein works what is best for them. Its astonishing how many people are searching for that “perfect” diet and can’t accept the fact that no one can answer this question for them. No trainer, nutritionist, or therapist. Its your body that will tell you what is right. You may need to go through many trial and error periods, but if you rely on your body you will find the answer.

Start respecting your body. Enjoy the food you consume, it is nourishing your every cell, providing you energy for the day. Feel beautiful and fit. No matter what size you are. No matter what your fitness goals are, or how far you have to go in your journey. Be present, and realize you are a great person as you are now without “needing” to lose or gain weight”.

* Pumpkin Chai Tea with a side of blogging *

Let go and live a balanced lifestyle. Listen to your body and not what other people tell you to eat or not eat. Does your body need more rest, carbs, protein, etc? Once we start listening to our bodies and turn around the negative beliefs we have about certain foods, our minset will change with it and getting past the diet trap will follow. You won’t need to compare your food choices with others because you will know what works for you.

Now that I’ve been listening more to my body, instead of feeding it with minimal calories, intense exercise every day, and never giving it rest days, I’m finally starting to realize what worls for me! I’m clearly not there yet, but it is becoming more apparent each day. Whatever your lifestyle choices are, just make sure you are doing what is right for your body and not what is right for someone else’s. There is a correct way for you to eat…it’s just a matter of you finding it.

Have you been able to find what lifestyle choices best suit your body?

Do you believe that there is one diet for everyone or that we are all different?

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!!

{52 Comments }

Pumpkin Pie Frosty

September 24, 2012 by Lisa

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a swell weekend!

I don’t want everyone to get too excited over this news, but its my birthday in 7 days!!! So excited. I don’t know when its socially acceptable to start celebrating for your birthday, so might as well start now;)

For breakfast yesterday, I enjoyed a bowl of greek yogurt, granola, chia seeds, banana, and almond butter. Followed by the usual Saturday trip to Starbucks, for coffee.

It ended up being a relaxing day. Spending time with my Mom, a little fitness, and some food fun. I also got pretty excited to get started on the Fall decorating and picking out pumpkins. I am such a child.

We’ve been blessed with beautiful weather these past days, it hasn’t rained in weeks.Which if you know Victoria, is a miracle. I decided to spend these last few days of nice weather out for a walk.

And I finally got the chance to test out my new Fitfluential shirt. Loving the pink colour, it makes me happy.

After my mom and I went and got a pedicure, which was fabulous on a Saturday afternoon. When you get a pedicure, it’s also a must that you read trashy magazines.

*******

Now that the Fall season is finally upon us. I had to start the first day of Fall with a pumpkin recipe to enjoy.

When I saw these new cans at the grocery store I stocked up. I’m pretty excited that these organic pumpkin cans are now BPA free. Foodie nerd over here. It also says Fancy Grade on it, not too sure what that means. If its fancy it must be good stuff.

I am going to be orange in no time. Between all the pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, and kabocha I’ve been enjoying.

Okay, back to the recipe. You have got to try out this frosty. It was honestly SO tasty. I wanted to eat it again and again. Its my new favourite thing. Even if I’ll be eating it next to my heating fan during the Fall season.

Pumpkin Pie Frosty

1 cup lite coconut milk (canned, this is a must)
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon stevia
vanilla stevia drops
pinch salt

Blend the following ingredients together until combined, place into an ice cube tray and freeze for at least 2-3 hours. Place ice cubes back in the blender and blend until it reaches a creamy consistency. You may have to add 2-4 tablespoons more milk to get it to blend properly. Now eat!

Oh man, I want to have this again right now.

I ate the following with a side of strawberries. I can’t believe they are still good right now. I guess because we had such a late start on the Summer weather and we’ve been lucky that it has continued on.

One more marvelous thing was enjoying this clip from Chelsea Lately.

I love Chelsea Handler, she’s a classy lady. And since PSY is the new artist phenomenon at the moment, its just the perfect combination of awesome.

Check out Katie’s Marvelous Monday post, for more wonderful things happening!

What was marvelous about your Monday?

Did you do anything exciting for the first day of Fall?

Have a splendid day!

{48 Comments }

Sunflower Protein Muffin

September 22, 2012 by Lisa

Happy Saturday!

Have you all heard of Swanson Health Products?

If you haven’t or even if you have and haven’t yet checked out their site you should definitely get on that. They have a ton of health related products for sale. Everything from beauty products, household products, vitamins, and some of my favorite food products. And the best part is that they are super affordable! Most of the things I came across on this site are MUCH more affordable than at the stores over here. Plus there are more options to choose from.

* recipe at the bottom! *

Whenever I am looking for food products to try online, I always look for good quality nut butters. Now, we do have lots of them where I live, but they are very pricey. Especially the organic or raw kinds. I love being able to buy nut butter with no added salt and sugars, because I personally prefer nut butters with no added funky ingredients.

I was offered the opportunity a $25 value coupon to spend on their site. I was pretty excited, and had a really hard time deciding which items to pick out. I ultimately went for the nut butters and flours.

When I went to their site, the first things I looked at were the nut butters, there were so many to chose from I had a hard time deciding. I ultimately went with this roasted almond butter. And I said before that it was the best almond butter I’ve ever tasted!

I’ve been using it in everything from Pumpkin spice bars to simply topping my toast with it, alongside eggs.

Another product I’ve been dying to try is sunflower seed butter. I finally had my chance to score some. And of course I also had to restock my supply of coconut flour as well!

And I managed to create a recipe using those following two ingredients

Sunflower Protein Muffin

2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 tablespoon sunflower seed butter
1/4 teaspoon stevia
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 small banana
1/4 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1/2 cup egg whites

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Microwave for 3-3:30 minutes. Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Overall, Swanson is a great company with awesome prices and I definitely appreciate that. Winner for me!

And check out Kasey’s power meal a week link up!

Do you ever order products online?

Have a super Saturday!

{24 Comments }

Pumpkin Spice Bars

September 21, 2012 by Lisa

Morning! Happy Friday!

I woke up this morning starving. Like outrageously hungry. Its bizarre. Whenever I increase my intake, it seems that after the first week or two I start getting extremely hungry.

A beautiful sunrise to begin the day with peace and gratitude.

Oh well, that just meant I had to break my “routine” and eat earlier than I usually plan. Which really shouldn’t be a big deal at all. It felt like it was, and I kept debating whether or not to actually eat.

Until I finally snapped to it and thought well, my goodness you are hungry just eat your freaking breakfast like a normal person. Done; and what a surprise, I didn’t grow a third leg after all that;)

Let’s get to breakfast. I tried to change it up by using a whole egg as well as a few whites in my buckwheat bowl.

This bowl contained buckwheat, 1 egg, 1/4 cup egg whites, chia seeds, hemp seeds, banana, strawberries and cashew butter.

I just can’t get on board with the whole egg in sweet things.

This afternoon ended up being a busy one, I chatted with my lovely friend Heather over skype which was just wonderful. Love that lady! And then went to Starbucks for some much needed coffee.

Later, I had some lunch and attended my nutritionist appointment.

It went well, and she was pleased with the progress I’ve made so far. Even though I told her about the many panic attacks I had happen this week. We’re going to give it another week, before I add more changes. And yes, I realize I will need to make bigger changes in the upcoming weeks, but this is what we’ve decided for now.

*******

It seems that once September hits that everyone is in the grocery stores searching for pumpkin. It makes me super excited for Fall to actually get here. During the Summer, I still crave pumpkin, but it just seems much more appropriate to open a can during September.

Its only right that I have a pumpkin recipe already, even if there are still another 2 days before the Fall season begins.

For some reason, I always go straight to the pumpkin isle and stock up on like 8 cans at a time. Last year we never got that shortage of pumpkin that the States had, I guess Canadian’s just always have their pumpkin stocked up;) Nonetheless, I at all times have at least 4 cans at home. Yikes.

I made these Pumpkin Spice Bars on Saturday and have already finished the batch. So clearly they were just that delicious.

Back to the recipe, I managed to cross a recipe off my Fall Bucket List, I think I should’ve changed it to making more like 5 pumpkin recipes, instead of just two.

Pumpkin Spice Bars (serves 6)

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup oat flour (ground oats-I just used a food processor)
1/4 cup almond butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1-2 teaspoons stevia (or other sweetener)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Add wet to dry. Spray an 8 x 8 pan with a little oil (I used coconut oil) and bake for 20-25 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean) at 350 F.

You could make these completely grain free and replace the oat flour with another 1/2 cup almond butter or almond flour as well, if you wanted.

These bars are tasty. They came out moist (sorry) in the middle and didn’t crumble at all, which I usually worry about it when baking with coconut flour.

I like to enjoy these on top of greek yogurt. Perfect snack.

Do you go crazy for pumpkin during the fall?

What’s your favourite Fall flavour?

Have a fabulous Friday, folks!

{42 Comments }

Life Behind The Screen

September 20, 2012 by Lisa

How’s your week been going so far?

It’s almost Friday, so that’s exciting news. I had quite a day yesterday, that I’ll go into more detail in another post. I honestly can’t believe Fall is right around the corner and that I’ll be 22 in less than two weeks now. Crazy how time flies.

I wanted to discuss a topic I’ve been entertaining over the past few days. It just took me a while to write, its a long one so hopefully you’re in the mood to read:)

Entering the blog world was a truly great feeling for me. I had so many things I wanted to write about, and so many more topics I want to cover. It felt like such a good thing for me, to connect with people who had the same interests in health and fitness, and to be able to share my journey with finding my true self and working at overcoming my eating disorder.

Last night I enjoyed a delicious dinner, I finally started incorporating more quinoa in my diet. After neglecting carbs for so long and not really enjoying quinoa before. I figured it deserved a second chance.

I made a bowl containing 1/4 cup quinoa (uncooked), marinara sauce, goat cheese, tempeh, roasted zucchini and spinach in 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil. Topped with more nutritional yeast and a side of avocado.

There are many positive things about blogging, but there are also those dreaded negatives that can come along with writing about your daily life, and your eating or exercise habits. Reading blogs can lead to negative feeling as well as positive ones. We need to be cautious when reading blogs.

The blog world can be seen as an extreme slice of reality, where the love of exercise and healthy eating can be taken too far. As a blogger, most people don’t see the real version of who we are as a total person outside of a blog. We can cover up hard times we are going through and make everything appear as “rainbows and butterflies”.

I’ve still been enjoying roasted kabocha squash as snacks, with coconut butter as always! Seriously the combo is the best. Do it.

That’s not the norm though. Most people struggle with cravings, feeling lazy, getting cranky, and feeling sad. We do have the power to channel these negative energies into positive ones, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, we just need to sit with these emotions and allow ourselves to feel sadness or to eat that chocolate bar! Most people don’t want to read, or even write about negative things going on in life, so they are often skipped over or left out.

Real life is different from blog life, and we need to be careful to not get too emerged in living through a blogging lens. In reality, most people don’t take photos of their meals or talk about workouts and food. They can skip workouts without feeling bad, splurge when they’d like, eat out with friends and don’t create concoctions with “super foods” that we all love Not that there is anything wrong with healthy living.

I’ve been enjoying this David’s Tea Pumpkin Chai flavour. Its not surprising since I’m a huge pumpkin fan. I’ve been making special lattes with it as well. I’ll share that one later!

Of course it is a great thing to be health conscious and want to live a healthy lifestyle. But, there is more to life then eating healthy foods and running however many miles each day. If you can’t realize there is life outside of living a healthy lifestyle then this is a red flag and honestly, something I struggle with daily.

“How come this person can maintain x weight without suffering like I am?”
“How come I can’t run x miles a day?”

Often times, we may find ourselves comparing our lifestyles to others. If we find we are becoming insecure, losing self-worth because of others habits, or feeling guilt because we feel we should live up to a certain lifestyle. In reality, we all get tired, we have bad body image days, we don’t have all the motivation that appears on the screen.

[Source]

Maybe we need to stop reading blogs that trigger these negative thoughts. Blogging and reading blogs can be positive and supportive, as long as they don’t consume so much that you are missing living your “real” life.

Everyone struggles with certain things in life, even if it doesn’t look that way on a blog. Just remember that others do suffer from these things, they just don’t talk about them. Don’t get so involved in blogs that it takes over your life and remember that every person has a story behind their computer.

What are your thoughts on being real on blogs?

Do you avoid blogs that talk about “real life”problems because you like to read more positive things?

Have a fantastic day beautiful people!

{54 Comments }

Breakfast All Day

September 18, 2012 by Lisa

Hello and good morning!

Hopefully everyone is having a positive day. Everything is looking beautiful in my neck of the woods. Its still feeling like summer, which is weird considering where I live. Fall usually comes early, but not this year!

It’s that time of week again, time to get the party started.

Today started out the same way it usually does.

Spin class was fantastic, I love the energy that the class creates, even if it is at 5:30 in the morning. Followed by a trip to Starbucks for an Americano, and a cup of green juice when I got home.

Breakfast was eaten after my juice was consumed.

Breakfast: 7:30 – A bowl of 2% greek yogurt, with 1/2 a sliced banana, blueberries, cinnamon, stevia, homemade granola (recipe soon!), topped with creamy almond butter.

Two percent is where its at. No more non fat, please.

I decided to make a big to do list today, since I have tons of things to get done, but without having an actual list I for some reason can never get myself to do these things. Weird. I guess I’m just a list lover.

Doing chores make time go by so. slowly. I got started on a few things, got super bored, decided to read instead. And then it was lunch time.

I haven’t been feeling too good recently, migraines are still happening, fatigue, and sore throat. Pretty much my daily life for the past 2 months. I’m hoping its just from stress, anxiety, and lack of sleep combination.

Today my appetite also decided to pull a disappearing act on me, and I was just craving comfort foods.

Lunch: 11:30 – Eggy Oat bran with the other 1/2 banana, 2 tablespoons pumpkin, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1/2 cup egg whites, cinnamon, stevia, and peanut flour paste.

With that being said, breakfast for lunch it was. I love breakfast for lunch. Or dinner. Its a winner.

Well, that was a lame rhyme.

On the side I made sure to get some greens in, with a large (un-pictured) salad, filled with spinach, romaine, cucumbers, red peppers, strawberries and a little lemon vinaigrette.

Snack: 3 – Pumpkin Spice Bar and Coconut Butter

My afternoon snack included a little pumpkin bar recipe that turned out into a success, so I will be sharing that with you all either tomorrow or Friday. Can’t decide yet;) Get excited, because these babies are good!

I also made sure to get my coconut butter loving on, and had a side of it to dip the bar into. I seem to really like coconut butter in shot glasses, no idea why.

Now if the Fall weather would come on by, this snack would have felt perfect for the season!

Side note: I honestly don’t understand how people can go all day without snacking and just eat 3 meals, I swear if I don’t eat every few hours I feel like I am dying. Must just be my low blood sugar levels.

Snacking is my jam.

I was at a loss on what to make for dinner. I wanted something fast and easy. Doing chores exhausts me, more than working on my feet for 7 hours does. I don’t know what it is about cleaning/laundry that leaves me wiped out. Anyone else get this too?

Dinner: 5 -

Dinner tonight was a good one…

I just defrosted a brown rice tortilla, topped it with tomato paste, nutritional yeast, spinach, and goat cheese. With an egg omelette on the side. It was slightly ruined, because I am horrible at flipping those darned omelettes, so that went unpictured. You should thank me for that.

Today was actually a bit of a struggle food wise, for instance, I ate carbs for all my meals which I rarely will do. I did it, but I was mentally exhausted by the end of the day after fighting back and forth with my mind. My body won in the end.

And I did want to stick with the theme of having breakfast for all my meals, just because I thought that would be a challenge for me. A silly one, yes. But, still a challenge nonetheless. Since, my ED says “I can’t” have breakfast for each meal, and “must” eat vegetables or fruit at each meal/snack. I wanted to disobey that voice. Next time will actually be breakfast all day:)

You better bet the night will end with another snack, yes I always end the day with a night snack. Most likely a protein muffin tonight.

With toppings of course. I can’t eat things plain.

It just doesn’t seem right to leave something lonely without any delicious toppings.

Do you like eating breakfast type meals for lunch or dinner?

What’s your favourite salad combination?

Have a fantastic Wednesday!

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Two-fer Tuesday

September 18, 2012 by Lisa

Happy Tuesday!

This week has been a doozy for me, just struggling with thoughts and doing my best to meditate each morning with them and become more positive with everything happening.

Lately, my mornings have been starting out with my new favourite green juice. It’s the perfect energizer for the morning, until I sit down for my actual breakfast.

This one had spinach, cucumber, leftover romaine, 1/2 an apple, lemon juice, stevia, and apple cider vinegar.

Paige has been doing these Two-fer Tuesday posts the past few weeks, and I thought I’d tag along:)

2 things I ‘m eating…

-Lots of breakfasts for dinner. Ezekiel bread with a little coconut oil, almond butter, and an egg. Truly delicious combination.

-This Once Again creamy almond butter. Seriously, best I’ve ever tried. And this almond butter may just be involved with a delicious recipe I’ll have for you later on;)

2 realizations this week…

-Artisana cacao butter is magical. And is also meant to be melted in almond milk.

-Increasing your calories is a lot harder than it should be, my mind has been amuck with emotions and thoughts, and it has been a rough few days.

2 random things about myself…

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-I prefer reading the good ol’ fashion books, compared to those on my kindle. After reading Gone Girl, I wanted to check out more of Gillian Flynn’s work. I haven’t started this yet, but am hoping it lives up to Gone Girl!

-Sometimes without notice, I randomly talk in a British accent and then people will ask me where my accent is from…talk about awkward.

2 recipe I want to make NOW…