Semi-normality.

I went to bed at 8pm on Monday night – I was exhausted – and woke up at 6am on Tuesday. That was awesome. I didn’t have any coffee all day either (and it was National Coffee Day – so bad). I wasn’t tired at all in the afternoon or at night. I had beaten jet lag! I went to bed on Tuesday night just before 10pm. This time I woke up around 5:45am. I wasn’t tired anymore, so I decided not to try to fight it and I got up and went down to the gym in my building. I ran 1.5 miles and then walked another .3 miles (+ 80 sit-ups). I was exhausted and called it quits.

With all of my extra time, I planned out my food for the day (1 cup greek yogurt with 2 tbsp of granola and 1/2c frozen cherries for breakfast, kale salad with chicken, cabbage, 1/3 of an avocado, and peppers for lunch, and two snacks: banana with two tbsp peanut butter and a cup of grapes) and then did some other food prep. I was a tad more tired than I’d been the previous day, but, duh, I’d run and gotten up earlier.

I broke down and had coffee today, but it’s decaf so it’s not as super caffeinated. I’m still trying to get back to my normal routine after traveling for almost two weeks. Slowly but surely.

(The above photo is apropos of nothing. It’s from my first night in Oslo. Norway has the best sunsets ever.)

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Food Cleanse, Post-Holiday

While abroad, I subsisted mostly from carbs (mini croissants, muffins, cinnamon rolls), meat, and the occasional carrot and potato. And coffee. So much coffee. They eat a lot of meat over there. They have the occasional vegetarian option (no, I’m not a vegetarian) but mostly all meals include meat. They have a ton of Mexican and Italian restaurants over there too (what) but I did not go to Scandinavia to eat Chiptole. 

So, I ate all of the meat. I ate deer, elk, and reindeer. I handed over the contents of my bank account on my first night in Helsinki for some seriously delicious reindeer. I kid, it wasn’t my whole bank account but it was probably the most expensive meal I’d had over there and it was worth every cent. 

They offered salads at certain places, but it’s rather cold in those countries so I’m pretty sure anything they were serving was being shipped from thousands of miles away so I ate regionally, as much as my body may have hated it. Aside from the occasional yogurt and granola at breakfast, I ate almost entirely differently from how I eat on the regular. I went 12 days without eating peanut butter (seriously, a guy from Hawaii who was working in a shop in the Stockholm Arlanda airport said that peanut butter is very American). 

Anyways, yesterday I started a week-long, self-imposed cleanse. Not a liquid cleanse because those are bullshit, but one with whole foods. I had a beet-carrot-apple juice for breakfast yesterday (okay, with coffee) and a kale salad with a little bit of grilled chicken for lunch (I was so excited for this). I broke down during the afternoon when I was very, very tired and ate the almond croissant that my dude had brought to the airport the night before incase I was hungry after 10 hours of traveling. Then I just had a piece of Ezekiel bread with almond butter on it for dinner. I wasn’t all that hungry anyway.

Hopefully I will have re-adjusted to my normal routine by the end of the week. 

Food Journal

I’ve kept track of what I eat on MyFitnessPal for a few years now, on and off. But after reading Skin Cleanse by Adina Grigore (SO GOOD. READ IT.) last week, I took her advice and kept a five-day food journal of every last thing I put into my mouth and how I felt after eating it. What I found was that I eat pretty healthy during the week (though weekends be damned, I’m eating that burger) and almond butter might be making me feel sick, as well as kale.

Monday:

30 minutes on the elliptical.
1 cup mango green tea

8am: Breakfast: almond butter, coconut milk, banana, pineapple, protein powder smoothie. Felt full after.

9:15am: Coffee with almond extract in it. Felt bloated after.

11am: Snack: 1.5tbsp creamy pb. A little less hungry after.

12:30pm: Lunch: quinoa and black bean salad and a beef skewer. With two cups of water. Felt really gross and bloated after.

3pm: Snack: one slice whole wheat toast with a tbsp of Nutella. 11 snap pea crisps. Two cups of water. Felt OK after eating it.

7pm: Sample of ommergang beer. Two cups of water.

7:45pm: Dinner: beef brisket sandwich with hot sauce, pickles, and pickled onions on a potato bun. Felt fine after it.

10:30pm: Two more cups of water.

Tuesday:
20 minutes on the elliptical
7am: 1 cup mango green tea, 1 cup water. Feel hungry and tired.

9am: whole wheat english muffin with one egg on it and sriacha. Two chunks of pineapple. I started to drink coffee with milk, coconut sugar, and cinnamon but felt sick after one sip. One cup of water. One cup green tea.

10am: Snack: 1tbsp of creamy organic peanut butter.

1pm: 1 baby carrot, ¾ cup of grilled cauliflower (felt a little bloated after), 2oz grilled chicken, 2 cups kale salad with a lemony dressing, ¼ cup cashews, 1 cup water. Felt a little bloated but probably because I ate too much.

2pm: 1 cup green tea
2:45: 10 sweet cherries
3:30: 12 almonds (salted)
4pm: german chocolate cupcake, One cup of water

6pm: 70 minute yoga class
1 cup of water

8:30: had a big cramp that went away quickly.

8:45pm: 4.5oz of greek gods yogurt with 1 tbsp honey, 8 black berries, and 1/3 cup Trader Joes mango granola.

Snack: 1 cup lemon green tea. One quarter of a small dark chocolate with almonds bar. Felt fine after.

Wednesday:
30 mins on elliptical.
Drank a cup of lemon seltzer during it.

7am: 1 cup lemon green tea
8:15am: smoothie with one frozen banana, ½ cup frozen mango, ½ cup frozen cherries, 1/3 cup fresh blueberries, 2oz greek yogurt, 2/3 cup vanilla coconut milk.

10:15am: 6oz of coffee with a tbsp of milk. 1 cup of water. Was cramping up all morning.

12:30pm: six baby carrots, ½ cup of zucchini, 2 oz of chicken w sriacha, 1.5 tbsp of hummus, one piece of whole wheat toast, 1.5tbsp creamy organic pb with 1/3 of slice banana, and 1tbsp honey.

3pm: medium pink lady apple, 1 cup of water

4pm: 1 container vanilla greek yogurt, 1 cup of water

7:30pm: 3 chipotle crispy chicken tacos with lettuce, pico, hot sauce, a little cheese and a little sour cream. 1 cup of water.

8:20pm: ¼ of a small bar of dark chocolate with almonds. 2 cup of water

9pm: 1 summer ale Brooklyn lager, 1 cup of water

Thursday:

8:15am: 1 cup of coffee with 1/2oz whipped cream, 1tsp almond extract, 1/2tsp cinnamon. Felt good!

9:30am: 2 egg whites with hot sauce on whole wheat toast. Small coffee with almond milk, almond extract, and cinnamon. 2 cups of water.

12:30pm: 1 berry pomegranate cliff bar

2:45pm: 12oz coconut nectar tumeric, 3oz grilled chicken w sriacha, ½ slide zucchini with 2tbsp hummus

4:30: 1 container of vanilla greek yogurt with 10 cherries. ½ salted chocolate chip cookie from dean and deluca. Felt full for a while after.

9:15pm: 1 slice of Ezekiel bread with 1.5tbsp of crunchy almond on it and 1/3 cup blueberries and 1/2tbsp honey.

1 cup lemon green/sleepy time tea

Friday:
80 sit ups
30 mins on elliptical
½ cup lemon green tea

8am: banana bread Luna bar. 1 cup coffee with 1tbsp whipped cream and 1/4tsp cinnamon.

9:45am: ½ cinnamon raisin bagel, toasted, with 2tbsp creamy pb and 1/3 sliced banana. 1 cup water.

11:50am: Ate half of salted chocolate chip cookie from dean and deluca.

12:15pm: restorative yoga class.

1:45pm: dean and deluca samples: one strip of French cheese, one greek yogurt covered berry, one strip of bread.

2pm: 1 cup kale salad, 2 bites of Caesar salad, 2oz of grilled chicken, one half slice of mozzarella, two cucumbers slices, two pieces of broccoli.

2:45: ½ cinnamon raisin bagel with 2 tbsp of creamy pb. 1 cup of water. ¼ coconut nectar elixir tumeric.

4:15pm: ½ tumeric elixir, 1 shot of tequila
5:15pm: one chunk of red cheese and half of a cracker from TJ’s.
6:20pm: 1 speculoos cookie.
8:20pm: 2 speculoos cookies, one summer honey wheat ale.
9:15pm: 3oz grilled chicken, sliced yellow squash sautéed, 7 baby carrots. 1 cup seltzer.
10pm: one chocolate chip cookie, 1 cup lemon green tea.

And that’s that. So, kale/quinoa/coffee too early make me sick. If you notice anything that I didn’t, let me know! And if you notice you’re feeling a little odd, I suggest you do this for 3-5 days too. It can be really eye-opening. 

Say Cheese.

My colleagues and I like to go to the Calexico cart in SoHo for lunch every now and then (meaning a few times a week, but I go about once a week). I always get a burrito with a side of crack sauce because: CRACK SAUCE. It’s so good. Calexico is fantastic Mexican food and it’s decently priced – about the same as Chipotle. But this past Monday I decided to switch things up and have a quesadilla instead.

Oh boy, did I ever regret that decision. Don’t get me wrong: It was delicious. In the moment. Then… then I wanted to die. I felt sick and bloated for a good two days after. It wasn’t tainted food (Calexico, you’re delicious, it’s not you, it’s me, I swear) it was that my stomach wasn’t used to all the cheese that I was eating.

Since I was diagnosed with a sinus infection in February, I’ve steered clear of dairy (well, mainly cheese). I still eat greek yogurt on the regular and mac’n’cheese sometimes, but never foods that are HEAVILY packed with cheese like this was. 

So, what’d I do? Stopped drinking the iced coffee that I was having in the morning (the iced part of it makes you bloat and slows down digestion) and exchanged it for green tea. Then I ate meals that consisted mostly of whole-ish foods: carrot sticks, zucchini, hummus, chicken, and pita (this is not really a whole food, I know, but it’s delicious). And some nuts. And guess what – the veggies kept me full and I felt great!

I also realized on MyFitnessPal that my fat intake was way too high compared to my protein intake. I have it set right now to 50% carbs, 20% protein, and 30% fat. I don’t know if this is the best settings for weight loss, so if you know, let me know. I only want to loose 5-10lbs that I gained over the horrendous winter, so if you have any suggestions over what the correct ration is, I’d love to hear it.

But I’ve learned my lesson: no more quesadillas or anything really loaded down with cheese. My insides cannot take it.