Trick or Treat!

This morning I was thinking about how when I was little everyone would wear their costumes to school on Halloween and I always had a fear while approaching the bus stop that I would be the only person in the whole school to come dressed up and would look like a complete idiot. 

Anybody else have this anxiety? ha.

Halloweens of the past:

Now back to the subject of Electrolytes…

The major electrolytes for your body are:

·         sodium (Na+)

·         potassium (K+)

·         chloride (Cl-)

·         calcium (Ca2+)

·         magnesium (Mg2+)

·         bicarbonate (HCO3-)

·         phosphate (PO42-)

·         sulfate (SO42-)

You lose electrolytes when you sweat after an intense workout- particularly sodium and potassium. Those electrolytes must be replaced to keep the electrolyte concentrations of your body fluids constant. (source) 

So then I Googled coconut water apparently coconut water replenishes electrolytes and has been deemed “nature’s Gatorade.”  Funny thing – every single article I came across said the same things using the exact same verbiage- which makes me believe that one company (that produces coconut water I would assume) did a study and created a press release that was published in multiple publications. As opposed to many studies being conducted showing that coconut water is beneficial. I’m going to continue to do more research on this.

Today’s eats-

• Bfast- gluten free waffles with coffee (and whipped cream- I couldn’t resist)
• Snack- Larabar
• Lunch- oats, almond milk, 1 apple, 1 spoon brown sugar, walnuts
• Dinner- organic chilli beans, cheese, couple of crackers, glass of red

Fruit/Veggie- 1 sad lonely fruit. I need my green monsters again!

Prayers Needed

Today I found out that my oldest childhood friends suffered a stroke yesterday. Hannah is only 26 years old and has two children- 8 and 5 years old. She recently pass the bar exam and was hired a week later. Unfortunately she didn’t work in time to receive health insurance. Right now she is in ICU. I don't have much more information. I would just like to ask for anyone reading this to please say a prayer for her and her family.

Sugar Sugar how'd you get so fly?

Okay- so I contemplated going back and writing the “dailys” and acting like I was a good little blogger who kept track of everything and updated it all in a timely manner. But it takes a lot more time to BS than to just do one really long blog entry summarizing the past 3? 4? Days.

*** step into my time portal ***

I totally enjoyed having Saturday all to myself. I did pretty well with the daily eats- until the Florida game came on. I had to chug-a-lug some bubbly (by myself- stop judging) to calm my nerves (it was a nailbiter). And I paired it with my all time favorite snack food- WHEATHINS!

Sunday my old buddy Michelle came to visit.  We went had brunch at the Cheesecake factory- I did OK- with a lunch size veggie pizza and an iced coffee- okay- and ONE bite of cheesecake which took all the strength in the world not to eat the whole damn thing!  Then we hit up the pumpkin patch like kids

And carved out these babies

Present day- Tuesday was a day of sugar and more sugar. Starting with my waffles and honey- I wanted to make a green monster but ran out of spinach. I considered doing just a strawberry and banana smoothie but decided it was too much sugar at one time (this is a funny thought considering how the rest of my day went).  At work things went downhill when I convenienced myself that I needed a Starbucks to keep going. I got a nonfat grande vanilla latte. Then came another weakness… BAGELS.

I once read in a SHAPE magazine that eating a bagel was like eating a bowl of sugar. In college I ate bagels for breakfast every morning until I read that tiny tid bit of information. For some reason it really stuck with me and I rarely ate bagels from that point on. That was until today… when I gobbled down not ONE… but wait for it…. TWO WHOLE EVERYTHING BAGELS and it gets worse… WITH CREAM CHEESE!   I’m not going to lie- I loved every freaking bite.

The coffee did work though. After drinking it, I was so happy and a happy Ashley is a productive Ashley. I kicked some major booty at work and continued to kick butt in the gym afterwards.  It was my first time back in the gym in over a month. Not going to the gym is so not like me. It was really great to be back. I switched to a new gym since I moved and they had a TV on every single cardio machine. Best. Thing. Ever. Two episodes of The Office makes a workout go by in a snap!

After the gym I came home and made this loaded salad

And drank some coconut water- which I’ve read out there in blogger world that it is a great way to replace electrolytes.

If we are being honest though, I have no idea what that means for me and my body. So like the good little GoogleMonster I am I will look up the answer and post it on Wednesday.

Today’s eats- see above and add a Larabar

Fruit/Veggie count: 2.5 FAIL!

It's hard being a Cheer- Leader

Captain Crabby here. Now, I am always the one preaching to people "Thoughts become Things" Be positive! Stay Happy! Rah! Rah! shish boom ba! But you know what? Sometimes I don't want to be happy! Sometimes I want to bitch and moan and complain and sulk! And today was definitely one of those days!


Nothing big- just a bunch of little things that have added up creating a giant stress ball in my head. Sometimes I just want a pat on the back - an acknowledgement of my hard work- is that so bad?


No worries though- I did find things to bring me out of my funk. Like:


Bob Marley Pandora Play List at work:

Sexy Shoes

Yummy Lunch:

Today's Eats

• Bfast- 2 gluten free waffles with little syrup
• Green Monster: 1 banana, 3 frozen strawberries, spinach, flax seed, almond milk
• Snack #1-
• Lunch- BBQ Kettle chips, wheat turkey sandwich with tom/lettuce/mayo (I had a bad day and was weak!!!)
• Snack #2-
• Dinner- Quesadillas- WW wraps, spinach, pinch of cheese, garlic shrimp, 1 tomato, small amount of fat free sour cream, 1/3 avocado
• 2 glasses champagne (celebrating Jess's last night)
• Dessert-1 small slice of pumpkin pie with cool whip topping (that counts as a veggie right?darn.)

Fruit/Veggie Count:3.5

Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey!

Check out this new alarm clock that Abbie bought us. I am not what you would call a morning person. Not at all in fact I once had someone ask me if I take vitamins at noon because that is about the time I start feeling alive. I found an article that it is natural to wake up when the sun rises. I however, wake up at 6:30 -ish when it is still dark outside.

So this bad ass alarm clock slowly lights up the room starting 30 minutes before your alarm is supposed to go off. **THEN** at 15 minutes you can choose between ocean sounds, zen, birds,... you get the point- that will sound off until your alarm finally beeps. **AND** all the while I can choose different aromas to fill the room while I transition from Sleepytown to Work City.  AMAZING! This clock is really the best idea ever.  So instead of hearing a jarring RIIIINNNNGGGG! at 6:30- I wake up felling mellow yellow. 

I am putting this invention right up there with RainX and transition lenses.

Source

Today's Eats

• Bfast- 2 gluten free waffles with a little bit of syrup

• Large Green Monster: spinach, 3 strawberries, 1 banana, 1 cup of Almond Milk
  
  
• Snack #1- Larabar
• Lunch- Wrap with turkey, with tomatoes, sprouts, lettuce and avocado (no mayo or cheese)
• Snack #2- Natural Granola with dark chocolate
• Dinner- some crackers with hummus (appetizer) 

• Stir Fry- Shrimp, fresh green, red and yellow peppers, onion, stir fry sauce,9 cashews and brown rice
• handful of Baked Snap Peas
• small glass of organic red wine

Fruit/Veggie Count: 5

Endfattalk.org

Today is the kick off of Tri Delta's (my sorority) End Fat Talk week. Check out this video for more info:
Nothing like starting the day with a big glass of spinach- right???

Unfortunately my Green Monster wasn't enough to help keep me awake today and I quickly made a run to Starbucks for a Grande Non Fat Vanilla Latte.
Today's eats:

• B-fast- Green Monster: 1 banana, spinach, frozen strawberries and almond milk
• waffles with a little bit of syrup
• Snack#1- Starbucks with a biscotti (I couldn't help myself)
• Lunch- WW pasta, 1/2 cuke, 1 tom, EVOO
• Dinner- Binner- turkey sausage, WW wrap, eggs (cage free), tomatoes, avocados 
• 2 glasses of champagne (still celebrating)
• Snack #2- popcorn (from home shared with 2 others)

Fruit/Veggie count: 5

Holy Hangover Batman!

From now on I am only having two drinks max! I know everyone says this after a night of binge drinking. But today I felt so absolutely awful! To make things worse my days eats are as follows:

• bfast- not one, but 2 grilled cheese sandwiches
• lunch- big bowl of left over chili with a row (yes- a whole stinkin' row) of crackers
• dinner- mix of healthy yummies from Whole Foods

I spent the whole day in bed- what a waste.

**** moving on.....

I am so happy to have Abbie aboard my healthy eating quest. He decided to check out Whole Foods thinking we would do our shopping there. Unfortunately it was simply too much $$$ for us and we ended up abandoning our cart and high tailed it back to Publix. 

Every week I write out a grocery list (or else I will forget everything). I like to plan out all of my meals ahead of time and purchase accordantly. Here is this week's list:

Bfast- Green monsters and waffles (gluten free low fat)

Snack #1- Larabars

Lunch- WW pasta with cukes and tomatoes with EVOO

Snack #2- Apples

Dinners: Shrimp Stir fry, Pad Thai, brinner (breakfast and dinner) wraps, quesadillas, black beans and rice

• Foil
• Larabars
• eggs
• spinach
• bananas
• cashews
• red, yellow and orange peppers (6)
• cheese
• turkey sausage
• onion
• tomatoes
• avocados
• black beans (whole)
• waffles
• cornbread
• brown rice
• bread (for Abbie's lunches)
• frozen strawberries
• wraps
• salsa
• shampoo/conditioner
•  = $150 ish

Oh- watched the movie Away We Go- LOVED it!