A case of the Mondays...

Last week of internship!

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal Pancakes with unsweetened applesauce and cranberries!
  

Yummy! :)

Mid-morning:

• Cup of left over deer chili

Tastes way better after sitting for a few days. Isnt that weird?

Lunch:

• Spinach Salad with red peppers, hearts of palm, and cucumbers
  
• 1/2 sweet potato
• Chicken on wheat crackers

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 scoop cinnamon roll protein shake with milk
  
• 1 bag 100 calorie popcorn
  

Jason was having pop corn when I got home and I decided to pop a bag myself!

Dinner:

• 2 sweet potato pancakes
  
• steamed zucchini
  
• Cod poached in a tomato basil sauce

One of my favorite clean meals to make! :)

Exercise:

• 15 minutes pilates this morning

Not a lot of exercise today. I kicked my butt yesterday so today was recovery. Even took a short nap. :)

4 interning days left! 21 days til the cruise!!!!!!!

Day 31: An entire month of eating clean

I didn't update yesterday, but it was because my food was pretty much the exact same as the day before. :) Today I realized my clothes don't really fit anymore. Considering that, and the fact that I'm nearing drum corps age-out skinny (some of you know what I mean), I decided to call off the diet-ing. I'm switching to maintaining, and gonna bump up my training. I feel great and don't feel the need to withhold anything from my diet anymore. :)

Breakfast:

• Oats with flax seed, bee pollen, and wheat germ
  
• Scrambled egg whites with 1 whole egg

Mid-morning:

• Venison
  
• Green beans

Lunch:

• Spinach Salad with red pepper and hearts of palm
  
• 4 boiled egg whites
  

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 chocolate peanut butter whey protein shake
• 1 pear

Dinner:

• garlic hummus with sweet potato tortilla chips
  
• Venison chili
  

Those sweet potato chips are AWESOME! Sooooo tasty and all natural. I decided to make some chili with the ground venison I have. Now, usually I am great about just throwing whatever into a pot and matching flavors really well. This might be the worst soup I've ever made. Now, that being said, it isn't inedible, but definitely needed a lot more salt to taste right. I tried using curry powder, and didn't really like it. Oops! Oh well! You win some, you lose some. (In the chili I used: onion, garlic, green pepper, tomatoes, red beans, pinto beans, curry powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and venison).

Day 29: Who says eating healthy has to be boring!

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup oats with flax, wheat germ, and bee pollen. Also some cinnamon
• 2 Egg whites with 1 whole egg
  

Mid-morning:

• 1/2 cucumber
  
• 2 oz tuna (Tomato Pesto Albacore by Starkist)
  

Lunch:

• 1/2 cucumber
  
• Spinach
  
• 2 oz tuna (Tomato Pesto Albacore by Starkist)
• 1/2 sweet potato

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 pear
  
• 1 scoop BSN Cinnamon roll protein powder
  

This protein powder is yummy!

Dinner:

• 1/2 (mashed) sweet potato
  
• steamed green beans
  
• Venison tenderloin
  

My mom gave me a whole lot of venison when I went home. I thought I would try grilling it. It wasn't bad. First time I've really had venison, and it was pretty interesting. (see the picture above!)

Exercise:

• 2 mile run!
  
• Weights in the gym
• Ab Ripper X

My ankle is feeling great! It felt so good to run 2 miles today! Can't wait to get stronger and stronger!!!!!

Oops! Its been a while!

I haven't posted in quite a few days! Uh oh! Went to visit my lovely friend Laura, and did my best to eat clean, but had a few slip ups. No worries though! It is a new day of clean eating! I'm back on Cooler 1 for the week (taking some pictures on Sunday and want to look my best)! Here is what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup oats with flax, wheat germ, and bee pollen. Also some cinnamon (which btw helps keep cravings away according to Oxygen magazine).
• Egg whites

Mid-morning:

• celery
• 2 oz tuna

Lunch:

• Carrots
• Spinach with tuna
• 1/2 sweet potato

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 scoop of chocolate peanut butter whey protein
• 1 red pear

Dinner:

• Grilled salmon salad with feta, strawberries, and dried cranberries.

We took David Maslanka to dinner last night at the Cypress Inn. This was the cleanest thing on the menu I could find. It was very good. I drank water with lemon and avoided the disastrous (and by disastrous, I mean delicious) looking bread bowl.

Day 24

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats with bee pollen, wheat germ, flax seed, blueberries, and a little less than 1/2 scoop of protein powder.
  
• egg whites with one whole egg
  

Mid-morning:

• celery
• peanut butter
  

Lunch:

• Carrots
• Spinach
  
• Mediterranean chicken salad

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 apple
  
• 1 scoop whey protein powder

I got my new protein in today! Chocolate Peanut butter! Yum!

Dinner:

• Tarragon Cranberry Chicken Salad on toasted Ezekiel bread
• steamed broccoli

Day 23

Ankle felt good today! I went to bed early last night (like before 9), so I felt much better today.

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats with bee pollen, wheat germ, flax seed, blueberries, and a little less than 1/2 scoop of protein powder.
  
• egg whites

Oh man, the oatmeal was good today! I know that seems like a lot of stuff, but it was absolutely delicious!

Mid-morning:

• 1/2 cup yogurt with blueberries and honey
• 1/4 cup cashews
  

Lunch:

• Carrots
• Spinach
  
• Mediterranean chicken salad

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 apple
  
• 1 scoop whey protein powder
  

Dinner:

• Tarragon Cranberry Chicken Salad on toasted Ezekiel bread
• steamed broccoli

Exercise:

• 10 minutes yoga
• Ab Ripper X
• 1.5 miles
  

It feels so good to be running again! You have no idea!

Day 22

I forgot to blog yesterday! Oops! Today was a good day, I'm just sleepy!

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats with bee pollen, wheat germ, and flax seed
• egg whites
  

Mid-morning:

• celery with 2 tablespoons peanut butter

Lunch:

• Carrots
• Spinach
  
• Mediterranean chicken salad

This was the other awesome chicken salad I made! I used chicken breast, sprouts, roasted red peppers, hearts of palm, shallots, kalamata olives, and garlic. This one is really good too!

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 apple
  
• 1/4 cup cashews
  

Dinner:

• Tarragon Cranberry Chicken Salad on toasted Ezekiel bread
• steamed broccoli
  

Exercise:

• 10 minutes pilates
• 1 mile run
  
• 20 minutes weight lifting
  

I got to run today!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I was about it (even if it was just one mile)! Physical therapy has been going really well so I was told I could start easing back into running. Let's just see how I feel tomorrow! :)

Day 20

Breakfast:

• Quinoa
• boiled egg whites

Lunch:

• salad bar at Jason's Deli
  

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 scoop whey protein with milk
  

Dinner:

• Tarragon Cranberry Chicken Salad on toasted Ezekiel bread
  
• carrots with hummus

I made this awesome chicken salad! I used the chicken from the rotisserie I got at Sams the other day. Ingredients: Chicken, 1 cup yogurt, cranberries, tarragon, cinnamon, 1/4 cup apple sauce, pinch of salt, celery. So good!

Day 19

I forgot to update last night so I am doing it this morning! :)

Breakfast:

• cashews
  
• oatmeal pancakes topped with cinnamon applesauce and dried cranberries
  
• coffee

Mid-morning:

• cucumbers with hummus
  

Lunch:

• 1/2 grilled sweet potato
  
• 1 slice of Ezekiel bread with 2 tablespoons peanut butter

Mid-afternoon:

• almonds
  

Dinner:

• Spinach salad with roasted red peppers
  
• rotisserie chicken

Went to Sam's and bought one of those $5 rotisserie chickens. I'm going to make chicken salad with it later!

Exercise:

• 8 mile hike at Lake Lurleen
  

Today was awesome. Went out to the lake with one of my friends and just hiked and enjoyed nature. :) I can't wait to go back and hike some more!

Day 18

FRIDAY! FRIDAY! FRIDAY! I couldn't be more excited that its the weekend! :)

Breakfast:

• egg whites
• oatmeal pancakes topped with cinnamon applesauce and dried cranberries
  
• coffee

Mid-morning:

• Suzie's Spelt Puffed Cakes (think rice cakes) with 2 tablespoons of fresh ground peanut butter.

This is probably one of my new favorite things.

Lunch:

• spinach
  
• herb and garlic tuna
• carrots
• chunks of pineapple in juice
  

Mid-afternoon:

• cucumber
  
• garlic hummus

Okay, so the garlic hummus is WAY better than the red pepper hummus. :)

Dinner:

• 4 oz Bison tenderloin
  
• 1/2 sweet potato (grilled)
  
• grilled zucchini
  

I'm gonna have to find some more bison to eat next week! Yum!

Exercise:

• Ab Ripper X
• 25 minutes cycling
  
• 20 minutes weight lifting
  

Somehow, I made it through the entire Ab Ripper X without any breaks! Made me feel really good about myself!

Day 17

Okay, this might sound really odd. Since I've taken simple sugars out of my diet, I can taste natural sugars more than I ever have been able to before, and I'm absolutely lovin it! I don't know how to describe it, but it is awesome! I crave apples and sweet potatoes.

Breakfast:

• egg whites
• oatmeal pancakes topped with cinnamon applesauce and dried cranberries
  
• coffee

Mid-morning:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt with blueberries and honey
  

This same snack did not taste as good to me about 6 weeks ago. Isn't that weird?!

Lunch:

• 4 oz turkey
• 1 slice Ezekiel bread
  
• Cucumbers
  
• 2 tablespoons red pepper hummus

This was a great lunch. I love hummus. :)

Mid-afternoon:

• 1 apple with fresh ground peanut butter
  

One of the favorite childhood snacks is reborn!

Dinner:

• Steamed green beans
  
• Grilled sweet potatoes (1/2 potato)
  
• 3 oz chicken breast topped with applesauce
  

When you eat sweet potatoes almost every day, you have to come up with new ways to eat them! Today I baked the potatoes for about 20 minutes to soften them, then chopped them up, seasoned them (with tarragon, allspice, and salt), and threw them on the grill! They were really good that way. Almost like a smokey flavor. What can I say, I'm diggin applesauce these days. :) Yummy!

Exercise:

• 15 minutes of pilates
  

I was bad again today. Crap!

Day 16

So I was pretty tired yesterday and I couldn't figure it out. When I looked back over my food for the day I realized I had eaten too many complex carbs from whole grains and starches! Little change to my menu today and felt MUCH better! :) Physical therapy went REALLY well today. Starting to get to feeling back to normal! So close to being able to run again! :)

Breakfast:

• egg whites
• oatmeal pancakes topped with cinnamon applesauce and dried cranberries
  
• coffee
  

I'm gonna be eating on those pancakes for the next few days. The recipe made a lot, but I don't mind cause they taste really good.

Mid-morning:

• celery with 2 tablespoons of fresh ground peanut butter

Lunch:

• Spinach
  
• Turkey salad (same as yesterday)
  
• Banana
  

Mid-afternoon:

• Apple
  
• 1 scoop whey protein powder
  

Dinner:

• 1/2 Sweet potato
  
• Grilled zucchini
  
• 4 oz Bison tenderloin
  

I decided to go ahead and cook the rest of the bison tonight. I'll save the frozen chicken for another night. I'm tellin ya, if you haven't tried bison before you really should!

Exercise:

• 15 minutes pilates
  

So I didn't make it to the gym today. Oops!

Day 15

Today was a pretty nice day. The weather is beautiful! It makes me wish the summer started right now! So my food journal starts getting really interesting now! I'm excited about all the food I get to eat from here on out. :) :) :)

Breakfast:

• Hard boiled egg whites
• Oatmeal pancakes topped with organic cinnamon applesauce.
• Coffee

I made these awesome pancakes for breakfast! They were sooooooo good. I used rolled oats, egg whites, etc. Here is a link for the recipe: oatmeal pancakes.

Mid-morning:

• Suzie's Spelt Puffed Cakes (think rice cakes) with 2 tablespoons of fresh ground peanut butter.
  
• 1/2 banana
  

The spelt cakes were awesome. I've never been so excited to eat peanut butter!

Lunch:

• 1 slice of Ezekial bread.
• Turkey salad made with turkey breast, plain yogurt, and mango salsa
  
• Spinach
• 1/2 sweet potato

I would have never ever thought to have used yogurt to make turkey (or chicken) salad, but it was really good! The turkey salad was really simple and really good. (Plus yogurt is way better for you than mayonnaise!)

Mid-afternoon:

• 2 tablespoons red pepper hummus
• cucumber

I love hummus! :)

Dinner:

• 1/2 banana
  
• 4 oz Bison tenderloin
  
• Steamed broccoli

Exercise:

• 10 minutes yoga
• 20 minutes cycling
  
• 20 minutes weight lifting
  
• Ab ripper X
  

oops! It has been a few days, but here's Day 14!

Well I made it to the end of my two weeks of cooler 1! So I cheated here and there, oh well. But I feel like its gone really well! I feel much healthier, my skin looks better than ever, and I have tons of energy. Anyone looking for a health overhaul should definitely look into Eating Clean. I start Cooler 2 tomorrow and I have never been so exited to eat peanut butter, hummus, and yogurt! :) My food journal will probably start looking a lot more interesting starting tomorrow.

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup Quinoa with bee pollen, flax seed, and wheat germ
  
• Egg whites
  
• Coffee

Same old, same old!

Mid-morning:

• turkey
  
• celery
  

Lunch:

• turkey on spinach
  
• celery
• carrots

Mid-Afternoon:

• Apple
• 1 scoop whey protein
  

Dinner:

• 4 oz Bison tenderloin
  
• broccoli
  
• sweet potato
  

Bison tenderloin = my new favorite meat! So good! I couldn't believe how good it was! If you've never had bison, you need to try it!

Exercise:

• 20 minutes of pilates
  
• 25 minutes on the elliptical
  

Physical therapy went really well today. I'm on the path to recovery!