Fever and aches and chills! (Oh, my!)

I cheat and I get food poisoning.  I think that's a sign.

So, I did alright last week food-wise.  I had been trying out adding fish and eggs back into my (mostly) vegan diet.  I had a great run on the indoor track at Shad and great classes.

Oh! Except Tabata.  The only class I teach in which I do not participate and I pulled a muscle.  Luckily, Allison Choat is a master of all things foam roller and racquet ball and I was able to work it out.

Sit on it. No, really.

Friday, I did less well food-wise and then I got food poisoning!  I'll spare you the details, but it's the worst I've ever felt in my life and I'm just going to take that as a sign.  Maybe no fish and eggs and definitely nothing fried.  Probably no beer for a while, but that's just by association.  Chills, fever, and aches... it was just awful.

Fried pickles not pictured because I can't look at them

Sadly, it caused me to miss two BEAUTIFUL running days (and singing with my cast on WERS).  I attempted my long run today.  14 miles was the goal.  Here's what went wrong...

1. Even though I feel about 2000x better than I did on Saturday, I'm probably still dehydrated.  I also missed a whole day of food/fueling for a long run. 

2. I tried out new gear. On a long run.  I'm an idiot. I tried a new... face warmer?  My old balaclava is a little big, but something I hadn't considered is it's got this awesome little screen to breath through.  It stays in place pretty well and warms the air so I'm not breathing in freezing cold air.  The new one is just solid material and the whole thing just gets sucked into my mouth when I breath.  It also is kind of loose and snow falls into when it's not up around your nose.  I also tried a new water bottle holder, a single one.  The balance is off.  I just need to keep with my four smaller bottle belt.

Running isn't always fashionable

3. It snowed.  It wouldn't be a huge deal if I could have seen a little better.  Maybe a hat with a brim?

I finished 5 miles.  Here's my plan...

I hate the treadmill.  So much.  But it's going to snow again this week (and worse it sounds like).  After Tabata on Wednesday, I'm going to complete my 14 miles indoors on various treadmills.  I'm going to trade every couple of miles in hopes that it will help my mind get through it.  I'm not sure it will work, but I NEED to get these miles in.

Pumpkin Chili! (Simply Filling and Vegan Friendly)

So I mentioned that I felt myself slipping a little bit last week. Saturday, I decided to try the Simply Filling Technique that Weight Watchers offers.  I had a lot of success when they had the similar Core program, so I figured, why not! Some of the rules have changed, but it seems like for the better.  I have never attempted Simply Filling (or Core) as a vegan, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. So far so good!

The first day I was actually shooting with Malarkey Films on their submission for the 48 Hour Film Project in Boston.  I wasn't sure how it would work food wise, and I hadn't been prepared grocery-wise at home.  First I had to teach a Zumba class in the morning and then we ran over to the film location. I just grabbed some fruit on the way and figured I'd figure it out.  Luckily, they provided some amazing food including tofu, fruit, and veggies for lunch and vegan chili for dinner.  Oh- and if you are wondering, we made a buddy comedy, post apocalyptic musical.  I can't wait to see it on Thursday!

Anyhow- I thought I'd share the recipe I threw together for dinner tonight. I guess it's a Pumpkin Chili.  I'm so sorry that I don't measure anything...

Olive Oil
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt
Cinnamon
Cumin
Corriander
Sriracha
Onions (I used two medium red and two small yellow)
Green Peppers (one and a half)
1 can of Pinto Beans
1 can of Chick Peas
1 can of Diced Tomatoes
1 can of Pumpkin

I forgot to take a picture of the chili powder...
I think you'll be ok, though

Pumpkin and Tomatoes

These are the beans that were in my cabinet

I started by dicing the onions and sweating them in a large pot with some olive oil and salt. Note- I totally would have started with fresh minced garlic, but I didn't have any, so I added garlic powder later.

Onions

I added the green peppers and let them cook through a while

Diced peppers

I added the canned tomatoes and some chili powder. I have no method to this... 

I threw in both cans of beans (pinto and garbanzo) and the pumpkin. And then random amounts of spices.... I will say I accidentally threw in a bunch of cinnamon, but it ended up being pretty amazing.

Just picture this with some brown rice.

I didn't get a picture of the plated product, but it really doesn't matter. As I said in a previous post, most things I make look the same.  Some sort of grain with a scoop of whatever random thing I've made.

Sort of curried black eyed peas.

So I had a request for some healthy vegan recipes.  A lot of times, I cook from recipes in cook books that I have and I think I probably can't post those. BUT- Here's what I made tonight. I have to warn you, mostly I just throw stuff together without really knowing what I'm doing. It usually turns out fine.

Sort of Curried Black Eyed Peas

1 tbsp of olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, minced
A dash or so of red pepper flakes
1 tsp minced ginger (I get it in the jar thingy because it lasts longer)
1 tsp red curry paste
1 tsp green curry paste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
some smallish shake of cayenne pepper
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can of black eyed peas

Alright- so I sauteed the garlic in the oil for a bit with the ginger and red pepper flakes.  Once the garlic was kind of browned, I threw in the rest of the spices and let them make a little paste sauce kind of thing.  I added the can of tomatoes- not drained- and let the spices kind of settle in for about 5 minutes.  I drained the black eyed peas and added them to the pot.  I turned the heat down and let it simmer for like 10 minutes.

Yummy simmering goodness

Rice cooker!

Served over brown rice

I'm no good at presentation.  Pretty much everything I make looks like this.  Brown rice with stuff on top of it.  Regardless, it was yummy!

Plateaus...?

This is my sixth week back on plan going to Weight Watchers meetings.  I'm very happy with my progress so far, but this is when it starts to slow down a bit for me.  As long as there is a loss, I know I shouldn't complain. And I know that losing at a slow and steady pace is better, but wow I'm impatient.

I want to concentrate on making positive changes and not slipping back into old ways instead of concentrating on the number on the scale.

I've been doing Weight Watchers on and off for a very long time... maybe 10 years or so?  I am going to make sure I measure everything I eat and cook.  I can probably estimate a cup of something by eyeing it, but I am going measure when I can (at restaurants, sometimes you have to give it your best guess) and that means EVERYTHING at home.

Get to the gym. I have the time, I have the membership.  I went six days last week. That exceeded my goal of five days and it was great!  I tried a new class- Total Body conditioning.  I am totally a Les Mills BobyPump fan, but while I'm in a show, I can't make it to the Thursday night class, and my goal right now is to get three days of a full body weight work out in every week.  It was great to switch up the routine!  SO many squats... I also made it to a super popular Saturday morning Spin class.  I signed up 8 minutes after the online reservations started and was put on the waiting list. Yep. Luckily, I got bumped up.  Getting a spot was motivation to get up early on Saturday and head in.  So glad I did.

I've restarted a 5K running program.  I have an iPhone app that I'm pretty sure used to be the C25K, but changed to "Ease into 5K".  It gets the job done.  This time, I'm pledge to do each workout.  In the past, I've skipped weeks or stopped part way through and then just started running as long as I could a slower speed.  I really want to build up to a better speed this time, so I'm pushing myself to run faster than I'm used to on the running intervals.

I'm trying to avoid sleeping in so I can get to the gym in the morning and then eat breakfast.  It's bad to skip and sleeping in feels like such a waste of a day.  I guess I should also try to get to bed earlier...

I want to try a new recipe every week.  Or a new ingredient.  Last year when I went vegan, I did this and discovered some amazing new healthy food.  This week, I think I'm going with a Lentil Soup from The Kind Diet (links to blog).  Also- my local Market Basket (while I still find it to be hell on earth to get through) has some pretty amazing produce.  Last week, I got Shanghai Tips (they're sort of like tiny baby bok choy) and Thai Chili (dear god, they are effing hot). Oh, also lotus roots- still need to do something with those.

Oh- as always- I need to make sure I drink more water.



I'm hoping these things motivate me to keep going and stay positive!  Also- I need to take more pictures for this blog. You know, the one that no one knows about.