Of Running and Stress Eating ...

... or not eating, as tends often to be my case.

A lot of people tend to eat when they're stressed. They turn to sugars and fats and all those delicious yet bad-for-you foods that you generally try to avoid when you're not stressed out to the point of cracking.

Brandon says he's like this. I can be, but generally when I'm sick.

I started noticing in college that my eating habits went through phases - I either ate everything in sight or nothing. I almost always managed to eat breakfast (my favorite meal of the day that rarely gets thrown by the wayside), but the rest of the day could be a crapshoot on what I ate or how much I ate.

Basically, I like food, but food and I don't tend to have the best relationship. I know I need to eat. I need to eat to live. But, it gets hard, when NOTHING, even things I ADORE look appetizing (this happens more than i'd like to admit) and the things I do end up trying to eat make me feel nauseous, whether in actuality or because I imagine it (i'm not ruling out the possibility). I haven't given up food completely, though God knows I've thought about it more times than I can count (i mainly don't because if i don't eat, i will pass out. almost happened at work once - ran late, hadn't eaten in 16 hours ... yeeeeahhh ...).

In any case, to get back on track here, during times of immense stress that depresses me (i should add that clarification), I tend to not want to eat. I'll eat breakfast for sure ... but after that? I eat only because my body tells me to eat. "Bitch, you better be getting some food in you before you pass out," is how I imagine my brain/stomach operate.

It doesn't also help when dinner is something I don't particularly care for anyway and there's not another viable, healthy, quick option for me to substitute. A girl can only eat packages of beef ramen noodles for dinner so often, man.

I've been going through this lately due to some external things happening within my family (damned economy is all i'm sayin') and part of this, I'm sure, has killed my motivation to work out. It probably makes for a vicious cycle: stress = not hungry = no motivation to work out = no activity = less need for food = more not being hungry et cetera, et cetera.

So it's a surprise that I managed so much at the gym late(r) last night with how little I ate yesterday, especially considering that except for a Wee Brie (i love you president cheeses) at "dinner," the last protein I had consumed before that was around five hours prior (typically i need egg or animal protein to get me through - cheese/milk/dairy typically doesn't cut it for me).

It was a similar thing today. I ate breakfast at around 10am (mmm, gooey green apple pancakes) - a breakfast that didn't have protein save for the coffee milk I drank. Despite that, I managed a 1.56 mile run on it a little after 2pm ... and didn't eat again until dinner an hour ago at 7:15pm. I ate and wondered why I was hungry. Oh right ... that whole not eating thing in nine hours.

But when I'm stressed and/or busy (stupid column), it happens.

Speaking of that run ... 1.56 miles in 15:42 and a 10:03 mile. Boo. I was going to do a two mile loop, but it was hella windy out so I scratched that idea and went for the 1.35 mile loop that I typically do. However, as I was nearing the turn-off for home, Rodney Atkins' "If You're Going Through Hell (Keep Going)" came on and I was feeling awesome, so I went down to the next turn-off to go up the hill and curl back into home the way I left.

Bad idea. Soon after I turned the corner and started up Timberline (the crappy, stupid hill), Rodney went away and on came Tina Turner singing about "The Best." I wanted to walk SO BADLY, but I didn't. I finished and proceeded to hack up a crapton of mucus.

Needless to say, Tina got booted off the running playlist as soon as I went back upstairs.



For the curious, I discovered the song junior year in college. Our hockey coach would put it on right before a game, close the lights and leave us to listen to the song and think about what we wanted our performances to be ... or something. Needless to say, after a few months (or a few weeks; i can't remember), we all started mocking the song, giggling when it came on and eventually singing it in ridiculously high-pitched falsettos as soon as she left the locker room. As much as I ridiculed that damn song, however, I eventually grew to like it and downloaded it. Yep. Fun for driving or dancing along to around the house, but for running, it sucks.

Yes, I'm Blogging About Orange Juice

First off, I have enjoyed my day off. I ALMOST walked to Target to get my prescription (over 2mi round trip) ... but Brandon said that really wouldn't be a day off then, so I didn't.

Also, I was going to have an apple fritter (= bad, technically) last night when I stopped at Starbucks before hockey writing work and even ordered it ... when it got stolen for someone in the drive thru. *sigh* I guess that fritter and I were just not meant to be.

That, or it's just the universe's way of saying, "You've been AWESOME so far. Don't screw it up, mmmkay?" Either way.

Anyway, yes, the rest of this blog will be about orange juice. As Brandon can attest, I am one picky girl when it comes to my oj. Tropicana Pure Premium, no pulp, with calcium is pretty much all I'll drink. The only time I like pulp in my oj is when it's fresh squeezed (also amazing). But other than that ...

Oh, and whatever the stuff they served in the dorms at BU, but that stuff (on ice) was damn good somehow.

ANYWAY, Tropicana has a similar oj to the stuff I drink but the "light and healthy" version. While I was on the bodybugg, I'll admit I looked into it as it was fewer calories and yadda yadda yadda, but the problem was it was an orange juice BEVERAGE. Not pure oj, but an oj imposter. Therefore, I stuck to my regular old calorific oj.

Until this past week, that is, when Mom accidentally bought the light and healthy stuff. She said it was the only calciumed Tropicana at first ... and then she said she just grabbed one of the cartons.

Not to pick on her, but there's a bit of a difference between the two:

See? 100% pure DELICIOUS orange juice on the left; light orange juice BEVERAGE on the right.

Still, since it was the only orange juice in the house (until this morning), I tried it. So did Brandon. The consensus?

Brandon hated it.
I thought it was weird ... like a non-carbonated Orangina almost. Still, it was better if I treated my morning orange juice like a shot and just downed it. A little too weird for me.

I first thought there was a color difference, but then I compared the two:

Regular oj again, on the left. Crappy oj, on the right.

According to this shot ... you can't really tell the difference. I guess the light stuff is a little lighter, but that's it.

So now that I've yammered on for whoknowshowlong on orange juice, I leave you with this:

If you like Tropicana orange juice and like the calcium-fortified stuff and have been thinking about going to the light and healthy stuff ... do it if you're on the Weight Watchers points system or if you really, reeeealllly care about those extra 60 or so calories.





Besides, wasn't it nice to get a non-workout-related post from me? You know it was ...

Downsides to Living at Home

For the most part, I am very thankful that my parents let me (and now the boy as well) live at home, rent and everything free. I have a laundry service, my internet/cable/utilities/water all paid for as well as the vast majority of my food. It helps keeps costs down a ridiculous amount, especially now when I'm unemployed.

This does, however, come with the large downside of having to eat what the family eats ... which is rarely completely healthy. I should delve into a bit of background here first ...

My mom and dad are both overweight. Dad was actually totally awesome a few years back, losing weight by the standard: cutting and counting calories, smaller meals, swimming and walking. However, a lot of it was health motivated. His doctor basically told him if he didn't lose weight and lose weight soon, he'd be in a whole lotta trouble. However, since then, his weight has creeped back up and his exercise is back to non-existent, save for some occasional yardwork. I also don't think he's been to the doctor since he's packed the pounds back on. I know that for him, eating healthy and working out can be difficult given that he travels an ass-ton for business eating out all the time ... but I've found that it's not so hard to squeeze in a walk here and there, or some body weight squats, or some crunches, or something. He also snacks at night ALL THE TIME which is also a recipe for destruction.

Mom, on the other hand has been overweight for years, has tried a myriad of diets, claiming they all "don't work for me, they're all full of shit." She claims her metabolism is slower than molasses. She has some weird vegetable soup diet thing she tries every now and then (more of a cleanse, now that i think about it), but obviously it's one of those "quick fix" things. She, however, has a lot more things working against her:

1.) She works third shift, hanging tags at a supermarket. That schedule alone fucks your body up. Given that she has to do a lot of crap during the day, her sleep schedule is erratic at best so she's always tired and always cranky. Perhaps, in part, due to this,
2.) she eats like total crap. I've told her that she should just try the mini-meal thing - a few nutritionally dense meals throughout the day/night to kick-start/keep her slower-than-slow metabolism going. However, her snacks at work will be Twizzlers or 100-calorie packs of Lorna Doone shortbreads. She'll have a bowl of ice cream, saying "I felt like it" or "it's okay, because I'm getting my calcium in this way." ... WHAT?
3.) Her health (in general) is good enough that her doctor doesn't feel the need to tell her to lose weight or else. She's got good blood pressure, cholesterol levels and the like - which I'm thankful for inheriting because my blood pressure kicks ass. However, despite that, she has had arthritis in her knees for years and, more recently, has been having back and foot troubles. She claims it's just due to working on her feet all the time, but I can't help but think it's got something to do with all the extra weight she's carrying around.

She enjoys swimming, but wouldn't go with me to 24 when they had their "bring a guest for free" promotion, finding some excuse. When the whole family had a membership to the rec center, I dragged her along for some walking and low-level recumbent biking, but only a few times. She couldn't swim there, but only because the lap schedules were erratic and didn't fit in with her work schedule.

Now, she proudly said she lost five pounds last year eating what she wanted when she wanted (i feel like an asston of jelly on my toast this morning, so i'm gonna have it). The weight loss is good, don't get me wrong, but at her weight, she could be safely losing AT LEAST that a MONTH. But with no imminent health dangers (well, obvious ones at least) on the horizon and her declaring she's always too tired because she stretches herself thin everywhere else, the motivation will be impossible to come by.

My brother is a strange case. He claims he eats well, but when I'm around him at family meals, he eats a shitload of relatively crappy food. If he eats better at home, then more power to him. But as his business is slow lately (he works in remodeling kitchens and bathrooms and stuff), he's been eating more and more meals back at home base (our house) to save money. His job (and now, his puppies) keep him active and he does enjoy the occasional bike ride (though hasn't in a while), but his main vice is beer ... as evidenced by his slightly solid (looking, at least) beer belly.

To get back on track, the reason why I got so frustrated that it sparked me to blog tonight: tonight's dinner.

From pretty much everything I've read amongst the ever-changing diet advice out there (coffee is the bomb! coffee will kill you! and so on), one standard is that when it comes to the food on your plate, it should be colorful and pretty; avoid the monochromatic meal.

Well, let me tell you what the family enjoyed for dinner tonight:
- 2% cottage cheese with canned pears (i actually enjoy this ... in small quantities)
- steak (don't know what cut) covered in Montreal steak seasoning (too seasoned; i prechop my steaks so i only eat about a serving and toss the rest in a ziploc - can't eat much red meat anymore)
- chopped mushrooms sauteed in butter, for the steak (ate a tiny bit; could tell mushrooms were getting old and yucky)
- corn on the cob, buttered (ate a half-cob; i hate this as a vegetable - it's basically a starch)
- russet potatoes, peeled, sliced and fried with onions (bland and just ... blah)
- pillsbury crescent rolls: garlic butter edition, served with brummel and brown (realized they were the garlic butter ones halfway into my second roll - knew it tasted funny and couldn't figure out why ... *gag*)

The color palette? white, light yellow-green, gray, brown, yellow/white, white, tan. Pretty damn monochromatic if you ask me. I had as little of everything as possible and supplemented with some red grapes, but still.

Costs be damned, I wish Brandon and I could move out now, if only to eat better without the family looking down on me (history for another day ...).

Food Porn ... Kind of.

Sooo, haven't worked out in two days. Tuesday I was lazy and yesterday I just did not have good things going on in terms of the inner plumbing so Brandon forced me to take the day off. Blah. However, once it cools down a bit tonight (and he gets home), it's cardio time!

But, since I haven't posted anything, I've had a hankering to go type away. So, since I made dinner early to make our lives easier, I'll share my fantabulous shrimp pasta recipe with y'all.

T's Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:
- 1 serving (2oz) pasta (i use barilla plus! angel hair that's omega 3 fortified. it's basically whole wheat ... i think)
- 1 serving shrimp (i use frozen, pre-cooked shrimp. one serving is somewhere between 5-10 shrimp depending on the size)
- .15 lb (about 1 cup) snow peas
- 1 medium yellow bell pepper
- 1 can mushrooms (pieces and stems)
- about 1/4 cup chopped green onions/chives/whathaveyou
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1/8 tsp paprika

Directions:
- Chop up all vegetables, put water on to boil, start thawing shrimp if need be.
- Put bell pepper (chopped or in slices; i prefer chopped) on a pan/tray (i coated mine in olive oil cooking spray and then sprayed the veggies again) and broil in oven until the tips start getting slightly browned. They should be slightly squishy, yet still firm. You'll smell them - they smell goooood.
- Water should be nice and boiling by this point, so toss in the pasta.
- If so desired, cut the shrimp in half/smaller pieces since, if you used frozen shrimp, they should be thawed by now.
- Take wok and toss shrimp, chives, mushrooms and snow peas in to it with either olive oil or olive oil cooking spray (my choice - no calories!). IF YOU DID NOT USE ALREADY PRE-COOKED SHRIMP, toss those in first and cook them. Also put spices in at this point - amounts are general; you can add more if you want ESPECIALLY if you like more zing to your food than I.
- Bell peppers should DEFINITELY be done by now - take out of oven and toss them into ze wok.
- Take pasta, which should be done by now, drain it and attempt to mix it in with everything in the wok.
- Enjoy!

It's about 460 total calories for one serving, though if you don't have the biggest appetite on the planet, toss in a few more shrimp and you can easily split it with someone else. For Brandon and I, I double the pasta, double the shrimp, add more spices and a bit more snow peas. I also choose a larger bell pepper. I forget the entire nutritional breakdown, but it's HIGH in protein, fairly high in carbs (though keep in mind, i was on a 60/20/20 breakdown when i finally perfected my pasta) and ridiculously low in fat.



And, since I promised and I'm too lazy to edit the original post, a 5K photo:




That girl with the red butt is me. The guy on the grass with black shorts and white shirt with the blue stripey thing? That's Brandon.