Give Me Bananas

 

Welcome to Creux du Van

 

But more about that in a second..

First of all I want to let you know that Silvio and I got a baby!!!

 

No, not that kind of baby.

That kind of baby:

(Excuse the quality.. It was late last night.

We admired the little one until almost 1am which resulted in me looking like this today:

Yeah I know, I like my sexy panda eyes too. After all.. bruised eyes are hot, aren’t they?

 

But I’m getting ahead of myself again! So let’s start with today, ok?

Hiking needs good fuel and so I made a HUGE porridge for breakfast today. Into the mix went 1 c water, 1/2 c oats, 1/2 c rice milk and 1 scoop protein powder.

Toppings: Hemp seeds, flax seeds and 1 tbsp almond butter

I almost couldn’t finish it all. Almost.

 

We met up with two of my best friends, Livia and Daniela at 9am-ish at the train station.

 

Awww I love them! Livia is on the left and I’ve know her since before kindergarten! Daniela lived in the neighbour village and went to our school from 5th grade on. They’ve been two of my closest friends for years. You won’t be able to find people more kind and wonderful than them.

 

We headed to a place called Noiraigue (French pronunciation! ) where the route started.

 

 

I wish I would look that fresh-faced in the morning!!!

 

Hmmm which way?

 

Hiking is my favourite activity next to running and yoga. It’s so liberating and calming! I have no idea why “people of my age” aren’t that into it.

 

A quick explanation about our outfit: It dropped from 30+ C° (86F°) to 20C° (68F°) within TWO days over here. I really enjoyed the constant summer heat so the temperature change was a bit of a shock. It was also pretty windy up there.

Hikeface:

The force was with me today.

 

Hiking company!

 

Yes we also hiked, we didn’t only pose for photos..

 

 

The trail was absolutely beautiful..

 

Even though it was so gloomy we couldn’t help but admire the view. I feel very touristy in Switzerland sometimes .

 

After 1,5h we reached the top! It was absolutely scary up there (I’m terrified of height) but the view was still breathtaking.

 

That dude was brave..

 

He too:

 

This is my very first food photo with our new camera. I know, it’s not utterly fascinating but that wrap was great nevertheless . I also had some banana, cucumber, pepper, 2 grapes (hehe) and cookies. Starving Karin!

 

 

(I think I like him)

 

I bet she’ll hate me for posting this but I love how “authentic” it looks

 

 

We posed some more because the sun decided to show up. For 15 seconds or so.

 

And then we walked back down…

I hate walking downhill! It always kills my legs.

 

We also made a necessary stop for hot chocolate. Great for the soul!

 

 

And then we were back down again.

I can’t believe that my first hike this summer was this late. But it was a day worth remembering.

Now I can barely keep my eyes open.

Good night!!

 

Q: Tell me about your favourite hiking adventures! (Ok that wasn’t really a question but hey.. I’m tired! )

 

You know, I really don’t like how the word “diet” has changed over the years. In reference to food it simply means your way of eating. Though these days most people assume that the word diet means a crazy weight loss program. Bollocks!

I don’t like diets (and I am talking about the weight loss programs now). They’re restrictive and when you’re lucky you get one day off where you can eat anything you want. Spending a day eating hamburgers and ice cream is not healthy!
I’m not a nutritionist but I honestly wonder why people mention “weight loss” in the same sentence as “health”. They’re both absolutely different! Sure, there are a lot of people who need to lose weight to get healthy but there’s so much misinformation!

First of all, how come that:

• Carbs are bad? (Seriously?? A grain that is given by the lovely earth is bad?)
• Fruits are bad? (Because fructose makes you fat. Uh huh.)
• Meal replacements are better than real food?

Oh I could go on and on.

You see why I really don’t like diets. They’re silly. They make people stress about food.

With that being said I was extremely surprised when I stumbled upon Tone It Up the other day. Girls who love carbs and most importantly BANANAS (!)?

Well the two founders of Tone It Up look like they just jumped out of Shape magazine (ironically they posed for that magazine, I think) but hey, I will trust anyone who looks fit and healthy and eats cupcakes.

So I decided to join their Tone It Up Fat Burning System.

Oh yes indeed.

Besides the fact that the title is absolutely hilarious, it’s a program that is extremely do-able (as long as you like working out).

You train and you eat. I like that.

What I also like is that it’s about toning up, meaning building muscle (I’m not talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger muscles here!) and becoming fitter. Weight is not an indicator for health. You can weigh 60kg and be an unhealthy couch potato. You can also weigh 60kg and be a healthy, active athlete. (Which would lead me to an other topic.. BMI. Sigh. But that’s for an other post).

I can run 10 miles but I’m not incredibly toned. I have a butt (which I like and also want to keep, haha!) but I over all need to tone up a bit more. Sure, it looks nicer to be toned but I want to do that because I like being stronger (again, don’t think of bodybuilder muscles here!). It makes me more confident. And working out gives me a feeling of complete calmness. I almost never stress out and I really believe that it’s because of my active lifestyle. It gives me a really nice balance.

Anyway, if my (real life ) friends read this they’ll probably think that it’s yet another crazy idea of mine. Or all the blog readers in general will think that I’m nutso.
I don’t care.

It’s not because I’m rebellious but because I know what’s good for me. And I know what’s making me happy. Being active and eating healthily might be living hell for some people. You know, that’s ok. I think it’s great if everyone would appreciate real food but it’s absolutely pointless to force people to think the way I do. We’re all different and that’s good.

So… (breathe, Karin! Breathe!) it’s ok when people think this is silly.

Lesson of the day for you all: It’s ok when people think that you’re a moron!

Just laugh about it and live your life the way you want it too.

Goodness, this post turned out to be a bit philosophical, didn’t it (and it also became a huge RANT)? And I only wanted to write about Tone It Up. I guess I was in a writing mood (so basically the complete opposite from the other day..).

 

Let’s get back to bananas.

I don’t want to be right when banana and chocolate for breakfast is wrong.

Rice milk + ice + flax + hemp (the seeds, silly! Not the weed) + chocolate rice protein powder + banana = Perfect smoothie for this crazy summer weather!

I should take a photo before drinking it. Guess I was (thirsty?) hungry.

Pretty mud water.

Love & Peace

K.

 

Even though we have an amazing farmer’s market in Bern I have to admit that I rarely go there.
Come on! Who am I? Isn’t it the “it-thing” of the health food bloggers? Shame on me!

Well after a long absence I steered to the organic veggies on Saturday. I now only have one zucchini, some radishes, half a head of cauliflower and some celery stalks left. And it’s only Tuesday. I guess I’ll have to go there again tomorrow!

 

My two day long absence can be explained quite easily. I spent the entire Sunday checking my boyfriend’s thesis for grammar mistakes. I now know everything about electrical engineering. Yep.

We worked until 11pm and was really lacking sleep. That’s why I decided to take yesterday evening off. I had dinner, read my book and went to bed at 10pm. Heaven!

 

Random fact of the day #1:

I’m slowly eating my way through the bars I got in London.

 

Random fact of the day #2:

Eating hot oats on a hot day really isn’t cool (ha!). I somehow don’t seem to have any conventional breakfast food on hand.

Tomorrow I’ll make a COLD smoothie.

 

Brace yourself, tonight’s dinner was beyond (!!!) creative.

Tam tam taaaaam…..

I’d say that this is a meal to remember!

JK. Do I really need to mention that I felt like a lazy bum tonight?

 

Have I ever told you that I HATE gyms in the evening? They’re so crowded! I still went to my gym after work though

I usually go to the gym in the morning which I like so much better (even though it means that I have to get up earlier). There aren’t many people around and the free weights section isn’t “filled with testosterone” (if you know what I mean ).

Today I did a very basic HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) on the treadmill:

• 5 min warm-up run
• 1 min sprint
• 2 min run/jog
• repeat sprint and jog 6x
• 10 min cool down jog

(Try doing 5-8 sets)

I hate interval training and feel like dying the entire time but I somehow start to like HIITs because they make time fly by. Also, they’re fantastic if you have little time and want to make the most of your workout.

 

Time to do some yoga now!

 

Q: Do you know/like/hate/?? HIITs?

 

My friend Kirsty told me yesterday about a cleanse she’ll do, starting today. It’s quite simple: Lots of veggies, grains, protein in form of fish, chicken, eggs and tofu. Well I don’t eat chicken or fish (and neither does she) but decided to join her. Mainly because I like “experiments” like these –> Challenges that aren’t too challenging .

I don’t expect it to make me feel completely different because it’s only for three days and I usually eat the same food anyway (I just have to give up on wheat, chocolate and dairy – which is easy since I can live a few days without bread, pasta and chocolate and I rarely eat dairy anyway).

But yeah, I’m doing a “cleanse”.

Tam Tam Tam

When people hear that word they first think of ridiculous juice fasts or other silly things (master cleanse anyone?). I don’t believe in starving, even if you’ll feel “great” afterwards. Fasts/Cleanses that are based on juices might be do-able for some people but not for me. I like chewing.

So in spirit of the cleanse I decided to turn this blog into a food journal for three days. Are you ok with this?

Yes?

Good.

Breakfast was a massive bowl of cold oatmeal (1/3 c oatmeal cooked with 1 c water and ½ banana the night before) with soy yogurt, the other half of the banana, hemp seeds and blueberries (as well as two lone raspberries). You know, I REALLY don’t like berries in hot oatmeal. Something about that bitterness makes me gag. In fact, the only fruit I like in hot oatmeal is banana.

 

Mid-morning snack was a wonderful nectarine that was incredibly sexy to eat.

(It kind of pretends to be an apple in this picture.)

 

Ok, I know that white rice is like blasphemy in the healthy food blogger world but my boss and co. had a lunchtime meeting and my colleague and I decided to order sushi as well. That was last week when I didn’t know anything about that cleanse back then. Oh well. It was a huge but great lunch . (And actually also completely fine with the cleanse rules)

 

I had another “impossible-to-eat-in-front-of-other-people” afternoon snack. Watermelon. Hot.

 

No surprise that the watermelon left me starving when I got back home so I nibbled on some gluten free & vegan crackers that I recently found at the organic food store.

Oh god. I’m addicted. I had approximately 3x of what’s shown above.

 

Dinner was with my sister Selina before Pilates class. We went to the good old tibits and I got all sorts of yummy things and a green juice!

 

Workout for the day:

-1 h pilates class
-lots of walking (actually more than usual..)

 

Other “rules” of the cleanse are as follows (in case you were wondering):

 

How to eat
*Meals should be regular – three a day, and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.
*Eat moderate helpings of good lean protein with main meals: fish, eggs, chicken, tofu
*Dandelion coffee, ginger (in tea or added to juice of food) and nettle tea all good for cleansing/supporting the liver.

NO to
alcohol
processed food (except tofu)
no sugar
no red meat
no caffeinated drinks
no wheat or dairy
very little salt

Yes to:
drink at least 2 litres of water/herbal tea a day
eat plenty of vegetables except white potatoes
good veg for detox = artichokes, beetroot, bean and seed sprouts, carrots, pumpkin, red cabbage, spinach, sweet potato, tomato, watercress
Cruciferous veg = broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts – important in supporting the key conjugation pathway to the liver
Eat fruit. Esp good for detoxing – apples, fresh apricots, berries, cantaloupe, melon, citrus, kiwi, papaya, peaches, mango and dark grapes.
Grains – a half tennis ball sized helping of brown rice, corn, millet, oats or quinoa
Pulses
Nut & seeds (great for snacks with some fruits)
Oils – use extra virgin olive oil or flaxseed oil.
LEMON WATER

Each morning, start the day with half a lemon squeezed into a glass of hot water.

Here’s how Day 1 is supposed to look like: (The other days are really similar)

Day 1
First thing: Lemon water
before you shower or bathe: – skin brushing
During the day : a brisk walk to help circulation
Treatment Body scrub
Bed: Try to be in bed by 10pm- read or listen to restful music if you can’t sleep

Dang. No skin brushing was done. And it’s already 10:41pm. Oops! Time to go to bed!

Q: What do you think of cleanses? Ok I’ll admit it; it’s quite silly to call this (in my case) a cleanse since I mainly eat that way anyway. However, I’ll just take it as a chance to be more aware of what I eat – in a good way. Sometimes I nibble on things mindlessly – who doesn’t? – but it’s nice to focus on good food for a few days.
As for cleanses: I’m not a huge fan (since I’m lacking major will power). Other reasons for my dislike are stated above

I couldn’t publish this post yesterday for some reason… Let’s hope it works now.

 

There are few grains that I’ve ever cooked with. One of them is MILLET! I’ve had that lone package of millet for ages and finally gave it a try yesterday.

I had millet before but I’ve never cooked it myself which is also the reason why it took me 298583 years (and a few months) to try it.

 

 

I present you the Not So Average Millet and Chickpeas Dish!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry millet
• 4 cups water
• salt
• approximately 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 onion (halved and sliced)
• 2 carrots (sliced)
• olive oil
• ground cumin
• 1/4 c raisins

Directions:

Cook millet according to the package (mine said to cook it with water and a pinch of salt for 13-15 minutes). In the mean time sauté the onion slices in a bit of olive oil. Halfway through cooking the millet, add the carrots and cumin. Once the millet is done add the chickpeas, onion slices and raisins.

It couldn’t be more simple!

Sorry, this pic is pretty ugly but I was HANGRY and needed my food fast! I’m sure you guys understand . On the side I also had a tofu kebab which went well with the millet dish.

Mmm I LOVED it! I had leftovers for lunch today and my co-worker said that it smelled so good. Mmm yes it was. Thankyouverymuch.

 

My day was pretty non-eventful. I was busy at work since we have a big event tomorrow night (which I am not looking forward to. I like my job but working til 9pm is not my idea of a “fun night out”).

Tonight’s pilates class was ok. We have a fairly new trainer and she keeps things very basic so it’s been boring me a lot. Actually.. Few people know that I once started to train to become a pilates teacher! I gave up after the second course because I’ve been too busy and couldn’t deal with everything at the same time.

Ha. That was some sort of random fact about myself.

Tell me one random fact about you!

I LOVE finding out random facts about other people . In fact (no pun intended) I always remember the weirdest facts about people – mainly celebrities. Yes, that’s what you need to know in life.

 

Darn. Is it 10:32pm already? I actually wanted to go to bed early so I could leave for the gym am 5:30am (crazy? Yes indeed, I don’t deny it). We’ll see how that goes.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to blog again because of tomorrow’s big event (and me getting home really late) and my trip to LONDON this weekend! I worked my butt off in March and can use my overtime for a few more days off so we’ll fly to London on Thursday night. I CAN’T WAIT! I will blog over there though (as often as possible) because the boyfriend is taking his laptop with him. Hooray!

 

But for now.. GOODNITE!

ps: the legs workout that I mentioned in my last post is a killer and I did it again today. My butt is in pain!! (Ok, I’m pretty sure you all wanted to know that.. –>insert heavy sarcasm)

ok I’ll go now.

See ya.

Sweet dreams.

Hasta luego.

 

Oh KARIN! Shut up already will ya???

..ok…

 

Why do days off always seem to fly by? I bet there’s someone who secretly steals a few hours.

Anyway, my Monday was super busy and active. I got back home from my boyfriend’s place at 9:45am-ish and started cleaning the apartment. It’s something that really relaxes me for some reason. "

Afterwards I did the 20 min strength workout of the “fit in 5” DVD, followed by this 20 min workout video that Tracy Anderson made for Gwyneth Paltrow. Now, I don’t really know what to think about Tracy since you hear all those weird stories (baby food, anyone??) but I adore Gwyneth and so I thought that giving this workout a try wouldn’t hurt me. Well, it kicked my ass. I wonder if leg workouts 2 days after a 10 miles race are smart (guess we’ll find out tomorrow) .

Lunch was a salad, black beans and a boiled egg.

 

After that I continued my cleaning-party. It was much needed, trust me.

Snackeroo came in the form of an apple and almond butter. You can’t go wrong with that combo. You just can’t.

Yes, that table’s supposed to look kind of messed up. It’s art. Seriously!

 

…Theeeen I walked to the train station (because the shops there are open today everywhere else) and got some essentials at the organic food store (aka lettuce, tofu, ginger lemon tea and onions).

In the spirit of the 20 minute workouts I decided to do the dance and yoga workouts of the fit in 5 DVD after I got back home. The dancing was a bit awkward. Even though I used to do ballet for 10 years I’m not really used to Latin moves. I’ll probably never warm up to “yeah! that’s fun! give me a smile!!” (–>super enthusiastic instructors) either. It’s probably motivating for some people but I just feel silly.
The yoga segment was a bit weird to be honest. It wasn’t real yoga for some reasons.

 

Dinner will be some sort of millet/chickpea dish. I’ll just throw everything together and call it a meal .

 

Q: Do you know the Tracy Anderson Method? If yes, what do you think about it? I’m not very familiar with the method itself but that leg workout is a keeper.

Back to reality tomorrow…

 

So according to you wise people the following places should be visited:

• Vienna (agree! Such an underrated city!)
• Paris (me likes it too. Especially the Marais)
• Salzburg
• Krakau
• Porto
• Barcelona
• Key West
• “Tons of odd little towns in Northern California” (said Christine )
• Mijas (never heard of this place. Need to google it)
• Leipzig

Well that should give you some travelling inspiration . (+I should probably start saving more money)

 

It’s weird that today’s Friday. Not that I’m complaining (not at all!!!) but short weeks are always a bit weird to me.

Tonight I really wanted to go to yoga class but for some reason no one was around!! Weird weird. Well I then went back home and made dinner. Will get in some rocking yoga session after I hit publish

 

Before talking about food I want to show you all a t-shirt that my amazing friend Karin (yes, the name-sister) gave me yesterday…

Seriously, no one would uenderstand “PB&J” over here but you guys get it right? I think it’s so cute!! I can’t believe what amazing friends I have (in general – not because they give me funky t-shirts ).

 

Break faster. Erm. Breakfast.

I’m actually not too thrilled about OIAJ, I’d rather have some creamy almond butter on my oats but it’s a nice way to finish a jar of nut butter anyway.

Especially with millions of toppings.

 

I finally got some groceries shopping done on lunchtime! Again it felt like my bag would rip off my arm because I always tend to buy extremely heavy stuff (what?? Some rice milk, quinoa and produce isn’t heavy, right??)

Pre-shopping I had a small wrap with sunflower sesame paste and cucumbers…

 

…as well as some cooked quinoa (prepared last night), black beans and a raw carrot.

 

When I was almost done with my lunch I remembered my fancy tupperware I packed. It contained nutritional yeast, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Well I added it to the measly rest and got kind of a dusty meal..

 

Still good though.

 

After I cried in front of my yoga school’s door (kidding ) I rushed home and got to work on dinner.

I soaked some dry chickpeas overnight (last night) and cooked them this morning while I was eating breakfast and getting ready. So easy peasy! For dinner I roasted them with a bit of olive oil and garam masala. Fabulous! (They shrank a lot though. Hmmm..)

I also had some daikon with shoyu on the side.

 

As well as a salad (ice berg lettuce, radish, 2 grape tomatoes, 1/2 avocado and balsamic vinegar + walnut oil)

 

Five seconds later I needed carbs. Pasta. Ha! As if I didn’t enough pasta last weekend..

That small bowl of whole wheat pasta with pesto hit the spot though.

 

I have to tell you a secret: I LOVE silly workout DVD with even sillier titles. Sigh, I can’t help it. Unfortunately I don’t have too many (yet! hehe…) However, DVDs with super silly names are often totally kick-ass (“No More Trouble Zones” anyone??) which is the reason why I started to like them – not because I’m a name-fanatic. So today I ordered some since the last time I got a workout DVD was.. many moons ago. I also ordered a couple of yoga DVDs (one with the title: “Yoga for Indie Rockers” haha).

Practicing for myself is great though I sometimes also just want to “switch off” and do whatever the teacher tells me to do. It also makes me try harder. There are also some great yoga podcasts on iTunes that I like too.

 

Q: Do you workout with DVDs? Any favourites? I don’t own many workout DVDs but I like No More Trouble Zones (despite the title) and was actually a bit surprised because I couldn’t really stand Gillian anymore after the 30 Day Shred.. Yoga DVDs.. Hmm.. Shiva Rea’s Yoga Shakti is great. Also the Jivamukti Yoga one by David Life and Sharon Gannon. For yoga I generally prefer podcasts/audio guides though.

 

Have a fantastic weekend!!

 

Hello and welcome to April!

Sorry for yesterday’s no-show. Let’s just say that I can’t wait to go to Florence tomorrow .

I haven’t run at all this week but I’ll make sure to race around in Florence. It just seemed like there was always something going wrong (like a stuffed nose, completely sore legs because of that damn “No More Trouble Zones” DVD..). You know, I won’t sweat about it. I try to follow my training plan as closely as possible but I also listen to my body. I must say that the blog world can also put pressure on people and they feel like they might have to prove that they’re not lazy. Well, I can happily say that it doesn’t bother me at all that I didn’t run this week. I know my limits and don’t want to get injured.

 

Anyway, cheers to Karla and Sophia for explaining that my plantain wasn’t ripe enough. Well I thought that too at first but was too impatient to not try dehydrating them . I’ll be wiser next time.

Another thanks to BBC for telling me how GORGEOUS the weather in Florence is going to be. Or not. Whatever, I’ll pack my umbrella. Nothing will damper my spirits.

 

I’ve been prepping snacks like a madwoman the past few days and yesterday I got to work on some cookies. I had the recipe for the thumbprint cookies of The Kind Life for ages and finally got to make them.

 

I followed the recipe to the T nd they turned out great. However, 1/2 cup is too much oil and I’d recommend using 1/3 cup and maybe a bit more if it gets too sticky.

My cookies kind of melted away…

..but were still scrumptious! I’ll definitely make them again as it didn’t take that long to make them.

While they were baking away I packed some clothes and did the dishes. Domestic party!

For some reasons I was busy until 12pm and so I decided to skip the gym this morning because I really didn’t feel like getting up after 5 hours of sleep. So I gave in and crashed for an other hour & did the “No More Trouble Zones” DVD again. I’ve had the DVD for a long time but haven’t done the workout and I was really surprised at how tough it was! I read on some blog that it was a good workout for a “day off”. What the eff?? I was a mess afterwards. I like this DVD much more than the 30 Day Shred (but Jillian, you are cruel!)

 

Other eats of the past days:

Leek + split pea soup. So good and simple.

This was a new to me pudding. I simply mixed some silken tofu, cocoa powder and agave until it felt just right.

 

 

There were also many many salads and other unpictured snacks. Nothing too exciting.

 

After my plantains disaster I dehydrated some real bananas and some apples. Sweet, ripe bananas should take over the world!

I’m definitely on a dehydration kick.

 

 

So.. that’s it! I haven’t done many exciting things (besides packing of course ) but I’m so looking forward to the long weekend. Also, I’ll go and see Mika tonight! Aaaah, I see an other short night in the future !

 

Q: Do you “celebrate” April’s Fool’s Day? I actually don’t really like the 1st of April because I always expect someone to trick me or something.. It has never happened before though .

Btw, check out that page: The Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time.

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.

A spaghetti tree would be fun! And handy!

I thought this one was hilarious:

#3: Instant Color TV

1962: In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station’s technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

 

Hello my dear foodie friends! I am at work (got to stay until 9pm – oh the excitement!) and am currently taking a break to eat dinner. Nom nom.

 

You know, it’s actually incredibly amusing to train for a 10 miles race with the boyfriend. You get to send funny texts to each other like: “Oh god! There are going to be longer speedwork sessions! I think I’ve got to vomit”. Oh the shared passion between two lovebirds…

After 5,5 hours of sleep it was surprisingly easy to get up this morning. What’s up with that? I always feel groggy when I get 7 hours of sleep. Sleep is such a mystery to me (but still one of my very favourite hobbies ).

I went to the gym bright and early, did my full body workout (doesn’t that sound fierce?) and ran 2 miles.

 

Pre / post workout fuel

I usually eat two dates before an early morning workout (I can tell the difference if I don’t). I used to have them with almond butter all the time but my nut butter consumption is slowly getting out of control so I’m trying to reduce it a bit. Plain dates do the trick though. Post-workout I make sure to get in some good protein and carbs and lately tend to rely on my protein bars because they don’t require any prepping time. I have smoothies when I’m less stressed and I sometimes have an egg too.

What is your favourite pre/post workout fuel? Do you even pay attention to pre/post workout food?

 

My “real” breakfast was muesli with soy yogurt, 1/2 banana and frozen blueberries.

Frozen blueberries look so adorable when they sort of melt into the muesli..

 

Those 4-grain cakes with buckwheat are addictive! I can’t stop eating them. I had two of them for lunch (one with some sunflower seed paté that doesn’t look very pretty) and for dessert the other 1/2 of the banana and some peanut butter.

 

God I must be boring you with my salads but I can’t help myself.. I LOVE them!

 

This bowl had:

• about 3 cups of spinach
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 tomato
• 1 carrot
• some almond & sesame tofu
• sunflower seed paté
• balsamic vinegar
• pepper

 

So good!

There are some great recipes in this month’s German Yoga Journal that I can’t wait to try. For those of you who are wondering: Yes I still practice yoga as regularly as possible (I try to hit the mat at least 5 times a week) but it’s taken a backseat now with all that running.. There’s just too little time. However, I still make sure to get some yoga time in. I would go nuts without it!

 

To be honest, I’ve been feeling sort of.. weird.. lately. I have WAY too many things on my plate but don’t know how I could possibly change that. The thing is, I’m not stressed out (it really takes a lot to stress me). It’s just a very weird feeling that is hard to describe. And I guess you could say that I’m a bit confused. I’m constantly running around (literally too! )  and it feels like my whole self can’t keep up with that pace. I’m so glad for yoga and for some rare me-time that keeps me grounded and calm. Sure, there are a lot of things that I do that I don’t have to do (like training for a race for example) but things like these keep me sane. Maybe all these things that keep me sane are together a bit overwhelming?!? I’m sorry.. I’m rambling!

Have you ever felt like this too?

ps: As you see, I’m back to the normal 12 pt font. Which size do you like better? I’m still not sure.. (Again: Sorry! I seem to be kind of confusing tonight. Must be all that work! Oh and thinking about it.. Got to get back to it! )

1-day weekends are generally kind of lame. However, mine was really good.

I decided to skip the concert on Saturday because I felt like sleeping. Plus I had some laundry to do. Yawn.

In the end I made a banana dessert snack, watched some O.C. and went to bed at 10pm.

Yesterday we got up super early and went SNOWSHOEING again!! Friends, if you haven’t tried it yet: find some snow and give it a go! We don’t have any snow down here but it’s easy to get on a hill/mountain in little time.

The tour took us about 3 hours and was so lovely. The weather was really nice but got a bit cloudy in the afternoon. It didn’t damper our spirits though.

Sporting Ray Ban Wayfarers. Got to stomp around in style!

For lunch I packed some leftover omelette, lettuce and pesto rolls (from Saturday’s event) and some celery.

And also a sandwich (with spinach, tomato, hummus, sunflower seed pâté and pickles)

 

Unpictured snacks were dried fruit, nuts & chocolate. 

We had to wait for the bus a bit (when we were done snowshoeing of course) and we headed to the restaurant where Silvio had some ice cream and I some hot chocolate and a carrot cake. It was Sunday after all!

The boyfriend craved Thai food for dinner so we bought a Thai veggies mix and other groceries and cooked a red Thai curry at my place. My sister joined the party too and it was such a fun dinner (it involved some wine and more ice cream too).

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We served it with some brown basmati rice.

It was an indulging day but that’s ok. Eats will be back to normal in no time .

You might have noticed that my March challenge is a complete FAIL! I’m really sorry about that but the week before last week I wanted to make something nice on the weekend but then I ended up being too busy worrying about everything and last week I simply had no time (or patience *cough*) to make a good Japanese dish.

Therefore I will postpone that challenge and try it again in April. Sorry guys, I promise I will stick with it next month.

To something different altogether: I’ll start training for a 10 miles race today! I wrote about it before and I am excited to start training even though I know that it’s going to be hard. My training schedule has changed a little bit (took yoga away because I do that anyway and added some cross training and an other strength session.

Please let me know if you want to read more about daily runs/workouts in my posts. If not, I’ll only write about them occasionally .

My sister’s plane takes off in a few minutes. She’ll spend one week in Amsterdam with a friend (lucky her!). I’ll miss her

How was your weekend?