Good morning friends, and Happy Halloween!
It’s great to hear that everyone makes their best efforts to remain positive in those less than ideal situations and try to stop taking the easy way out of life’s challenges.
It’s crazy that Halloween is already here. I’m still undecided if I will be going out tonight. Since it is crazy with rain, and I still can’t decide on a costume. I suppose I could always pull out my costume from last year….okay, you probably don’t care if I go out or not tonight; so onto the food!
It’s the last What I Ate Wednesday of October! Neat-o.
Pre-Breakfast – Green Juice with spinach, cucumber, water, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar and and juice from an orange. Once you get used to the green-ness of this juice, it is quite delicious!
Breakfast – pumpkin oat bran
Since it’s halloween I had to celebrate by having pumpkin oats! It’s the only way to go.
This bowl contained 1/2 cup oat bran, 1/4 cup egg whites, 1/3 cup pumpkin, about 1/2 tablespoon each of chia and hemp seeds, a dash of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and stevia.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve struggled with a strain in my neck.
At first, it wasn’t so bad to deal with and I continued exercising throughout it (dumb). I knew I probably should’ve backed off with the working out, but I was being stubborn. Well, yesterday it really took a turn, and my neck is in quite a bit of pain.
Honestly, I kind of deserve this injury for not honoring my bodies warning signs for me to slow it down. It’s okay. For now, I’ll be sticking to walking until I see the Doctor and know how serious this is.
I’m back on the egg train! I don’t know what happened those last few weeks, but eggs just weren’t appealing at all.
Lunch – I made a little egg omelette (1 egg, 1 egg white) cooked in coconut oil, with a side of ezekiel, topped with goat cheese and homemade blueberry jam and a spinach salad on the side.
Tuesday’s are my grocery shopping day, so I went to the market which was awful in the pouring rain and picked up a few things I needed for the rest of the week.
I also stopped by the pumpkin patch to get a last look at all the pumpkin festivities!
It’s the Great Pumpkin! Charlie Brown reference?
No…okay, moving on.
Snack – I came home and snacked on some leftover roasted kabocha squash with coconut butter.
Lovely, per usual.
For dinner, I decided to cook up my first chili of the season!
Since it was so dreary out, today was the perfect day to break out the cozy comfort food that is chili.
I didn’t want to wait hours for my chili to cook up, so I just made my own quick sweet potato chili (I’ll post the recipe later).
Dinner – sweet potato and turkey chili with mashed avocado on the side.
While writing this post, I’m drinking a warm cup of pumpkin chai tea! Mmmm.
And I have a snack prepped for later.
Which will be a green protein muffin (kind of spooky?), with coconut flour frosting and peanut flour paste.
This seems to be the typical night snack for right now.
Have you ever strained your neck before? Any advice?
Are you doing anything exciting tonight for Halloween?
Be safe, and have a spooky night! I’m off to catch up on Dexter!
About Lisa
I’m sorry about your neck pain and hope it’ll get better soon! You’re definitely right about taking a break from working out to keep it from worsening through agitations.
Your chili looks so good and comforting and I’ve been jealous of all of those pretty bowls you’re using all of the time
for a while now.
While I’m not attending a Halloween party today is a special day due to my sister visiting me. We haven’t seen each other for quite some time. She’s in the city for work today so we’ll attend a concert she’s involved in organizing tonight.
Thanks! Ha ha. I love those bowls, they are so fun! Aw, I hope you had fun with your sister!!
I am totally into the pumpkin porridge oats, no one over here in the UK really has them that I know so I am trying to convince them to try it and discover the wonders lol!
I am going on a date tonight…not very halloweenish I know but I am scared non the less as this is my first one in about three years eek!
Happy Halloween Lisa
x
Hope you had an excellent date night! How exciting!!
Your pumpkin oat bran looks delicious!!
kabocha + coconut butta = heaven hahaha Awesome eats!
BUT it just means I’ll have to celebrate even harder over the weekend haha!!
Sadly I have night class and a bunch of studying to do, so no fun holiday festivities for me
Hope your neck pain gets better girl!
Thanks friend!! Ick, those night classes are so lame;) Squash and coconut butter is just the best!!
mmm that chilli looks amazing – i had a pumpkin one a few nights ago, so warming! love this time of year just for the sheer quantity of pumpkin i can eat!
Same here!
I’m so sorry to hear about your neck girl. I hope it starts feeling better & the doctor can give you some answers. Bless your heart
Thanks Jessie!
Love all the fall based meals! So perfect for halloween! Hope the neck pain goes away! I know injuries are no fun! Feel better and Happy Halloween!
Thanks Danielle! Still no improvements yet, hopefully the Doctor will know what’s going on!
I’m so sorry, Lisa! I strained my neck when I was rear-ended in my car once last spring. I had a numb headache and a sore neck for a few days, and then it went away. Swimming was a great exercise for me, because it’s easy on all of the joints and a great way to relax while also getting a fantastic workout. Ever tried swimming? It might be a nice change from spinning!
Thanks for sharing all your yummy eats! I’m off to get a cup of chai tea right now!!
Mmm chai tea is amazing! Thanks for the suggestion. I actually used to be a swimmer, so I definitely could take the fitness to the pool. I just have to convince myself to re enter ha ha.
I hope your neck gets better too! I think we’ve all exercised through an injury before, even when we know we shouldn’t…never our smartest decision. Hopefully the doctor can figure out what happened.
Thanks Sam! I’m hoping taking some time off will get it better. Yah, I definitely think we can all relate on overdoing it a bit;)
I’m sorry about your neck pain, Lisa. I have strained my neck before, and honestly, it was the worst ever. I was miserable. I went to my physical therapist and he magically fixed me! He had me lay down on a flat treatment table and then had some machine grip my head (I think… can’t remember exactly) and gently stretch my head away from my body. I was surprised but it was quick and easy and I didn’t have any more pain!
I hope you can find something–whether it’s this or another method–to eliminate your pain. Take care…
Yah, it’s definitely not fun! I think I need to make an appointment with a physical therapist! Wow, that’s great he fixed your right away too! Thanks Stephanie!
Ooh, that can be so frustrating! Hope it feels better.
Love the chili and sweet potato combo – so delicious.
Can’t wait to hear about that quick chili! Sounds delicious.
Hope you figure out what is wrong with your neck. I may have to visit the doctor myself soon, well, eye doctor that is. Every time I put my contacts my eyes get super swollen, red and watery. They literally burn and I can’t keep them open. But, I ignored the signs too and continued to put my contacts in. Stupid. Stupid. Now I have to wear my glasses 24/7.
Whenever my neck hurts, I always get out a rice roll, which is basically this neck roll that you heat up in the microwave. It really helps get out tension and soothe any pain that I have.
Oh no, eye pain is definitely not fun at all! Hope you get that problem figured out too! Oh, I actually have a rice roll! I totally forgot about it…off to heat it up now.
OH no!! I hope it gets better soon. I always have to go to the chiropractor when that happens to me. Your food looks so good. I have been on an egg kick too!
That chili looks amazing. I can’t wait to see the recipe so that I can attempt a vegetarian version!
Oh no! I’ve been having lower back pain, so think I should probably make my first chiropractor appointment!
Hope you’re feeling better soon! Happy Halloween!
Thanks Gillian! It takes forever to get into a good chiropractor, so hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in an appointment this week.
I lack patience as well when it comes to the stew kind of dishes. I usually nuke things then roast them to make it go faster. Man I need to learn patience.
Ack! I’m sorry to hear about the strain in your neck! I definitely think it’s a good idea to take it easy on the exercise front until your neck starts to feel better, though… you don’t want to overdo it and end up hurting it even more because then it’ll just take longer to heal. I used to have some neck problems, but most of them were related to stress. I’d get sooooo tense that the muscles in my back and neck would become rock hard and create all sorts of problems. A few trips to the chiropractor, lots of massages, and regular stretching really helped though.
Exactly! I’m going to be backing off until I feel 100% better. No messing around with a neck injury. I used to get back pain from stress as well. Those stress pains are a lot worse than they sound!
I hope you feel better soon! I know exactly what you’re going through with being stubborn about caring for the body while it isn’t 100%. Whenever I’m feeling nauseous I struggle with not doing an intense workout or not eating my greens. But they don’t make my body feel good and on days it DOES feel good, I naturally crave the greens and get them in. I hope you get answers soon and enjoy your beautiful fall walks!
That lunch you made looks way divine. Happy Halloween and enjoy all the decorations today!
I know you can feel my pain…which is sad haha. It definitely is a struggle on choosing what is best for our bodies vs. what our ED want us to choose. But, our health is the most important and the choice should be obvious. I’ve actually been enjoying walking more! Which is quite surprising to me!
Ugh. Neck pain is the worst! Make sure you have a good pillow too, so it doesn’t kink it unnecessarily.
Also, yay for being back on the egg train! Mmm!
We’re taking the boys trick-or-treating for the first time ever!!!! So exciting!
Yay for kabocha squash and being back on eggs! 
Ah, that is too exciting! Their costumes were adorable!!
Smart that you are going to the doc & dialling back the intense workouts. I’ve never strained my neck, but I have injured myself for the same reason,( stubbornness, &continuing exercising through little niggles that turn in to BIG niggles), waaay too many times. I am nursing a fractured bone in my foot right now actually
, and I always regret ignoring those 1st signs of injury. Hopefully we’ll both be on the mend SOON.
Great day of eats as always Lisa:). I made your parsnip & sweet potato soup today, & it was perfect- cleaned the blender right up with my finger, i couldn’t stop eating it!Those 2 veggies are so lovely and sweet, and make for such a flavourful bowl.
Happy Halloween!
Xxx
Oh man, I’ve had a couple serious injuries that I’ve worked through before too. Now I know now to mess around with them! Oh no!! I’m sorry about the fractured foot. That is no bueno! Yay! So glad you loved the soup
Haha you cracked me up: “okay, you probably don’t care if I go out or not tonight; so onto the food!” HEY I care! I was gonna go out tonight too but I’m not going to.. well I’m going to a bar for some drinks after class tonight but I’m not going out-going out like I planned to.. my friend cancelled on me last minute. So bleh. and I’m not dressing up this time anyway, although I wanted to be a creepy doll. I guess I’ll save that one for next year.
Ha ha. Oh man, I hate when I get cancelled on last minute. At least you have something for next year!
I wish we lived near each other so we could eat all each others food
I just roasted some kabocha today! It reminded me of you and I love it! I hope you get the neck strain all taken care of. Just rest and feel better! Happy Halloween<3
I know, right! We could eat kabocha, eggs, oats, ezekiel, and nut butters all day together;) and then end with some wine. That would be awesome!
I’m sorry about your neck. I’m praying that it is nothing serious. I’m glad to hear that you’re taking it easy until you know what’s wrong.
Your food looks so delicious! Seriously, all of it! And you always take such beautiful pictures! The combination of goat cheese and blueberry jam sounds really good. It’s such perfect time of year for chili and yours sounds great!
Thank you Austin! It’s really good combo together! Agreed, perfect chili weather:)
Oooh noo, I’m so so sorry to hear you’re in pain! I can completely understand the stubborness though; it took a pelvic fracture to sideline me from running a few years ago. Even though resting was *hard*, those few months off were some of the best ever because I was forced to dig deep and re-evaluate my priorities. Listening to our bodies is always much easier said than done, isn’t it? I’m sending heal-better-soon vibes your way! Until it feels better, try to enjoy the rest time, k? <3 <3 <3
Your eats look DELICIOUS, as always!! I'm drooling over that kabocha/coconut butter combination–yum! I've been drizzling coconut butter on everything lately. Latest obsession? Banana + peanut butter AND coconut butter. So good.
There's nothing wrong with re-wearing Halloween costumes! That's what I did this year.
I celebrated by dressing up last weekend though. Today? I ate Reece's peanut butter cups. 
Love you to pieces! xoxo <3
Oh yikes. A pelvic fracture sounds painful! It’s definitely tough to put all my thoughts aside and do what is best for my body, which sounds so silly out loud ha ha. I’m trying hard to enjoy the rest time I’m being granted with now! Yep, I’m with you on drizzling coconut butter on everything! Ohhh banana plus PB and coconut butter sounds amazing! Guess what I’ll be having for a snack!! Love you!! Hope you had an amazing birthday!!
Kabocha squash has to be one of the best foods ever! I just roast it with some sesame oil and salt and its good to go. Awesome flavor!
It is definitely one of the best foods out there!!
Kabocha squash with coconut butter!!! Sounds delicious and looks delicious