I really hope I can keep this up after the challenge ends. I mean, like I've said, I am going home to WI next week (NEXT WEEK OH MY GOSH!) and will be eating some pizza at my twin's baby shower, and maybe some fish fry... But I hope to still make healthy decisions for the majority of the trip. Also, I can have a couple pieces of pizza...not 10. And I can eat one piece of fish and take the rest home....or get baked fish instead of fried. Either way, I'll get back into a healthy habit as soon as I get back to Music City!
I still had a headache when I woke up, so I stayed in bed as long as I could. I rocked a hat and skipped my shower, although the hot water would have probably made me feel a bit better. I stopped at the pharmacy on the way to work and grabbed some headache medicine. I typically don't take that stuff, but my sister suggested a different kind. I picked up an orange juice at the pharmacy and ate a banana and Larabar in the car on the way to work.
On my 15 minute break, I had a granny smith apple with almond butter. Surprise Surprise right? Oh, that and the hot green tea with lemon and ginger juice. I didn't really have anything prepared to bring for lunch, so I bought some at work. It's pretty convenient working at Whole Foods - I always have an option for lunch if I don't pack one. I bought our 4 for $4 Health Starts Here special. It's such a good deal! I got the garlicky kale, cilantro lime quinoa, mint dill cucumber salad, and the deconstructed hummus. I ate a little more than half, so will have some left for lunch tomorrow. I may need to buy something else to eat with it.....maybe a Larabar or some rice.
After work, I headed over to the Engine 2 meeting! Tonight's guest was Yusuf Rahman. He is the Owner/Operator of Eternal Fitness & Nutrition and is taking our body measurements at the end of the Challenge. We were weighed (at Whole Foods) by someone from Eternal Fitness & Nutrition at the beginning of the Challenge, but will go to Eternal Fitness & Nutrition's location for our final weigh in. They'll take our body mass index and some other measurements....which is pretty neat! I hope I'll have lost a little more by then!
Yusuf also talked about the importance of exercise and getting your heart rate to a certain level that is appropriate for you. I do think I need to work out more. Besides the fact that I spend a lot each month for my YMCA membership, it's important to take care of myself on the fitness level...not just nutrition. My ongoing cold kind of kept me from working out during this Challenge, but I did get to the Y a few times and will aim for more this week!
After Yusuf's presentation, Michael Martin, Whole Food's Cooking Coach, gave us a cooking class! He is suuuuuuch a great chef and I love learning from him. He's always willing to give me cooking tips and I've made some awesome stuff just from recipes he' s told me off the top of his head. Actually, he really helped me figure out the enchilada sauce recipe! Tonight, Michael made an Indian Greens & Beans dish. It had garbanzo beans, onions, curry powder, diced tomatoes, parsley, vegetable broth, toasted pumpkin seeds and wilted spinach. It was served over brown rice. Yum!
He also made a delicious garlic tahini salad. It was kind of like the garlicky kale we sell at Whole Foods (and that I make a lot), but it has some different ingredients. He also served the dressing over baby kale, sliced red cabbage and radish slices. I want to add cabbage and radish to my garlicky kale salads!
For dessert, we were treated with the Engine 2 recipe: Adonis Cake! This cake was OUTTA SIGHT! I plan to make it on the last day of the challenge as a treat! It was a chocolate egg-less cake made with whole wheat flour. The frosting was made with silken tofu and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Oh my gosh! So so good! Dori served the cake in little cups with raspberries on top. I had three since there were leftovers!
These Engine 2 meetings are fun! I met another nice lady tonight, Suzanna. She sat with me and we chatted a bit. She's going to look up my blog....hi Suzanna! By the way, I have more international readers! Poland has been added to my list of page views! In fact, here's a map of the countries reading my blog. Countries shaded in green have tracked page views.
So that's:
United States
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Canada
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Germany
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Australia
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United Kingdom
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Ireland
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Costa Rica
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India
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Norway
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Poland
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Isn't that cool!? Tonight, I got home and even though I have a headache again and actually a bit of a stomachache now, I forced myself to make dinner. First, I got back to a project I started a few days ago. I lined a baking pan with parchment paper and spread the cooked garbanzo beans (from a few days ago) evenly out on the baking pan. I sprinkled a few drops of liquid aminos over the beans and rolled them around to try to disperse the liquid aminos evenly. Then I just sprinkled the garbanzos with chilli powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, paprika and nutritional yeast. I rolled the garbanzos around to evenly coat them, then popped them into a 425 degree oven. I baked the garbanzo beans until crunchy, which takes about a half an hour. These are really good! Watch em close at the end though, or they'll burn! A few did...oops!
I also baked another portabella mushroom cap with balssamic vinegar and Hot Chicken Baked Tofu. Yum! I was planning on having more pudding, but apparently ate it all! I soaked some dates, though, to make more pudding tomorrow.
And here's my progress photo! Just a few more left!
Today I felt: Excited about how good the chocolate cake was, Happy to find another healthy snack option (crunchy garbanzo beans) and proud I've been plant-strong for 24 days!
Thanks again for reading! Have a great day!
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