I’m A (Clean) Runner!

As a lot of you know, I am currently training to run my first half marathon in September.  My training involves running four days a week - one long, one short, and two moderate runs.  I have been anxious about this week since I started the training, since the long run this week was seven miles.  The longest I’d run before this was 6.4 miles (when I ran a 10K last month that went a tad over). 

Being the wife of a cyclist, I knew that as the length of my runs became longer, that I’d be burning more calories and would need some kind of “fuel” to keep going.  My husband takes gel shots and electrolyte replacement drinks with him on his rides, and although he gets these from our local health food shop, they still have undesirable ingredients in them.  So while I was looking forward to completing my longest run to date this week, I was dreading it, knowing that this would be the week I’d need “fuel.” 

I had posted in one of the running Facebook groups I belong to asking for suggestions for “clean,” unprocessed recommendations, and while a couple of people had good, clean suggestions, most suggested wht I already knew – peanut M&Ms, jelly beans, gummy bears, gel shots, Coke, etc.  Most runners I’ve talked to swear by eating half of a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter an hour or so before running as well.  So, based on all of the suggestions, tips from my husband, and what I know myself, I concocted my own “fuel” drink and had a lovely pre-run breakfast.  I am thrilled to say that I completed a 7.2-mile run this morning, nine minutes faster than my goal, with no upset stomach, cramping, etc.  Yay!

For my fuel drink, I juiced an orange and strained it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the little bit of pulp that made it through the juicer.  I mixed a little bit of water with a dash of salt a generous squeeze of honey and heated for a bit so that the honey and salt would mix in well.  I poured in the orange juice and added more water for a mixture of approximately half juice and half water.  I don’t love the taste of honey, but this tasted okay – good enough to drink an ounce or so at a time, followed by a swig of water to wash it down.  I just started using my Fuel Belt that my husband and the kids gave me for my birthday; it holds four 8-ounce bottles - I filled one bottle with my fuel juice and the other three with water.  For my 7-mile run, I went through about 6 ounces of fuel juice, so it was perfect!  Two bottles should take me through my half marathon nicely!

About an hour before my run, I had half of a homemade whole wheat hamburger bun with homemade peanut butter and half of a banana.  I kept the other half of the bun and banana in the car (in a thermal container with a cold pack) for when I finished running.  It was perfect!

So for those of you that think you can’t keep it “real” when it comes to fueling your body for runs, bike rides, etc. – you totally can!  I feel great and I’m not tired or sore. 

I’d love to hear what some of you use in place of store-bought energy supplements.

Recipe - Whole Wheat Sandwich Buns

1 c milk
1/2 c water
1 T honey
1/4 c coconut oil
1 egg, room temp
4 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 pkg instant yeast
1.5 t salt

Mix milk, water, honey, and coconut oil in small pot over low heat; heat, stirring occasionally, until coconut oil is melted.  Remove the milk mixture from heat and let cool to 120 degrees.  Beat in egg.

In separate bowl, mix together 2 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt.  Mix this into the milk, then stir in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating it well.

Remove from bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead for five minutes.

Divide into at least 12 equal portions (I make 16 smaller buns), roll into balls, flatten, and cover with plastic for 30-40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake on a pan lined with parchment paper for 10-12 minutes.


***  Note: I use my stand mixer with the paddle attachment for beating and the dough hook for kneading.

My Transformation

I have been wanting to post before and after pictures for a while now, but just couldn’t find any good before pictures.  Makes sense, since I’m not really fond of having my picture taken, and really loathed it until recently.  That makes me really sad, when I think of all the missed opportunities to have pictures taken with my kids. 

So, last week, we had family pictures taken on Mother’s Day.  Even though it’s been more than a year since I began my journey, I decided to compare to last year’s Mother’s Day photos.  Wow!  The photo on the left, below, was about four months after we started transitioning to eating clean and about two months after I started working out regularly.  I was down about eight pounds total, and thought I was pretty happy and feeling decent.  But man, oh man, when I look at the picture on the right, I’m just shocked at the differences I see.

My first thoughts when I look at these pictures side by side are:

-        My goodness, those children are gorgeous! 

-        I really need to go shoe shopping.

-        That girl on the left looks sooooo tired.

-        That girl on the right looks sooooo happy.

You may not see as big of a transformation as me – I know what was under that dress.  I loved that dress, and was so happy when I bought it that I was comfortable enough to wear a “shorter” dress in public.  But I would not have been caught dead in shorts!  The only time I wore shorts last summer was when we went to the pool; they were the shorts I wore in the pool.  (I will not be swimming in full shorts this summer.) 

If you had told the girl on the left that one year later she’d weigh twenty pounds less and be getting ready to run her first 10K (it’s next weekend, I am so excited and nervous), she never would have believed you.  If you’d told her she’d be making 90% of her family’s food from scratch (with whole, clean, organic, real ingredients), that her kids would be eating ice cream made with spinach, and that her husband would (voluntarily) be eating salad on a daily basis, she’d have laughed in your face.  But there she is, on the right, genuinely happy (that is not a forced smile) and feeling better than she’s felt in a very long time, maybe ever. 

Yes, I’m still tired sometimes – I have two small children, a job, a husband, etc, who wouldn’t be tired?  But I have energy, motivation, determination – all things I just didn’t have that much of a year ago.  A year ago, I was going to the gym, eating better, etc, for other people – my trainer, my husband, my kids.  And while I’m still doing all of this for my family, I’m also doing it for me.  I see what I’ve been able to accomplish in the past year, what my body has been capable of physically, and I can’t wait to see what else I can do.  I cannot wait to see next year’s Mother’s Day picture!

I just had to share this picture of my mom, my daughter, and me.  I love this picture!  My mom is a month or so into Insanity, and doing awesome, I’m so proud of her!  I can’t wait to see how she does with the rest of it!

Breakfast

I get a lot of questions about what I eat for breakfast on busy weekday mornings.  While I believe that breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day, I usually don't eat it the way I know I should.  I’m simply not willing to get up any earlier than I already do (4:45 am most weekdays) in order to sit down and savor every bite of a freshly prepared breakfast.  So I eat on the run most mornings.  But, I still eat a clean and healthy breakfast on those busy weekday mornings.  I just feel like the right breakfast sets me up for a better day.

I found an oatmeal recipe on He and She Eat Clean that is made in the crock pot, making enough for a whole week for two people.  I’ve adapted it somewhat to suit mine and my husband’s tastes.

2 ½ cups Bob’s Red Mill Organic Steel Cut Oats

½ cup puffed millet

1 cup no-sugar-added organic applesauce

1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup

1 tsp Kosher salt

2 tblsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 ½ tsp vanilla

3 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

10 cups water

Add all ingredients to crock pot, stir to mix, and cook on low for eight hours. Once cooking has finished, I let it cool for a while, then transfer to a large container with a lid and store in the fridge.

  

This feeds my husband and me for a full seven days.  Most mornings we stir in a handful of blueberries.  Some mornings, I opt for about 1/3 of a banana diced really small and a spoonful of (homemade) almond butter.

I usually eat my breakfast while packing mine and my daughter’s lunches, but some mornings I’m just way too rushed, so I take a small bowl to work with me to heat and eat at my desk.  And some mornings, I just don’t want oatmeal, so I’ll throw together a quick egg sandwich – melt a little coconut oil in a pan, crack and egg into it, stir around to break the yolk, toss in a little cheese and a handful of spinach leaves, cook until egg is done, and slide into half of a (homemade) whole wheat pita.  If there’s no time to eat, I just wrap it in aluminum foil to keep it warm and eat it when I get to work.

Now, on the weekends, we slow down for breakfast and enjoy whole wheat pancakes or waffles, or something new I may find on Pinterest.  There are so many clean, healthy, yummy options out there -  I’d love to hear some of your favorites!

(No)Sugar Cookies

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching and all these beautiful sweet treats in the stores, I wanted to see if I could whip up something similar quickly and easily so my kids won’t feel deprived, but won’t be loaded up on sugar and artificial colorings.  So I cleaned up a standard sugar cookie recipe so we can enjoy a sweet treat with no guilt.  The end result was tasty, sweet, and kid-approved – my five-year-old inhaled a couple and asked for more, and my 16-month-old gave me a sitting ovation (no standing ovations from this lazy little man).

The measurements for the ingredients may seem a little odd.  That’s because the standard recipe makes four dozen cookies; this recipe is intended for a quick fix to a craving, so I scaled it to make just one dozen. 

You’ll need:

¾ tsp flax meal

2 ¼ tsp water

²/₃ c + 1 tsp spelt flour

¼ tsp baking soda

¹/₈ tsp baking powder

¼ cup butter (organic, unsalted), softened

3 tblsp maple syrup (100% pure grade A)

¼ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a tiny bowl, add flax meal and whisk in water.  Place this in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the dough.  (This needs to be in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, up to an hour.)

Mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl; set aside.

Cream together the butter and maple syrup.  I used my electric hand mixer for this, then a small spatula to really cream it together well.

Beat the flax mixture and vanilla into the butter, then gradually add the flour mixture, beating until mixed well.  Again, I did all of this with the electric hand mixer, then the spatula to really get everything mixed together well.

Roll into 12 equal balls (bigger than teaspoon size, smaller than tablespoon) and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool on pan for 1-2 minutes, then finish cooling on wire rack

After the cookies were cooled, I made a quick chocolate glaze to top them with, just for fun.  I added 1 ½ tsp coconut oil and 3 tsp maple syrup to a glass dish, microwaved for about 45 seconds – it was bubbling – then stirred in 2 tblsp cocoa and drizzled over the top of the cookies.  Once it cooled, the glaze set up nicely, and the mild coconut chocolate flavor complemented the cookies really well.

I used the flax egg in this recipe since I was only making a dozen.  A flax egg consists of 1 tblsp flax meal to 3 tblsp water; one flax egg can replace one egg in recipes.  The flax egg is much easier to divide into smaller portions than an egg.  If you want to use egg in this recipe, simply remove the flax meal and water from the ingredient list, quadruple the other ingredients, and use one egg.  I also have a few friends with kids that are allergic to eggs, so wanted to see if I could successfully make a yummy cookie for them – voila!

I considered replacing the butter with coconut oil, as I’ve done in many recipes, but I feel like when I’m making something that really relies on butter as a key ingredient for flavor, I should stick with it.  If you do use butter, just make sure it’s organic, real butter, none of that fake butter-substitute junk.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do.  I’ll be working on variations of this recipe – maybe some with a strawberry puree to make them pink – but this is a good basic, plain, (no)sugar cookie.

I Just Don't Have Time!

Lack of time is probably the most-used excuse for not eating healthy.  I know, I used it – A LOT.  But now I know that it really is no excuse.  You DO have time!  Everyone has time to be healthy.  If someone told you that living a healthy lifestyle would actually add hours to your day, would you try it then?  Because it WILL add hours to your day.  Spend a couple extra hours a week preparing clean, healthy meals; or spend days on end sick, not able to get out of bed, feeling run down, tired.  Which of these options sounds more appealing to you?  I don’t want to sound harsh, but it’s the truth – “I don’t have time” is simply not true.

Yesterday, I:

got out of bed (that was actually a pretty amazing feat after the tiny bit of sleep I’ve had the past few nights);

got myself and both kids ready for work / school - this included packing my daughter’s healthy, clean lunch;

took kids to school;

worked a half day at my paying job;

exercised at home and took the dog for a 2-ish mile walk (I usually have a one-hour personal training session on Wednesday mornings, but my trainer had other obligations);

published a new blog post and created a FB page;

made Teriyaki chicken, Asian quinoa, and roasted asparagus for dinner (everything from scratch, no pre-made sauces here);

picked my daughter up from school and took her with me to Target (to let her pick out Valentine’s shirts for her and her brother – NOT a quick trip) and the grocery;

picked my son up from daycare, brought kids home, and heated up and plated dinner;

ate with the kids;

sorted ALL of the laundry (my 16-month-old son helped, so it took about eight times longer than it should have);

got kids ready for and into bed (my husband did take care of my daughter’s bath while I was putting the boy to bed);

prepped everything for tomorrow night’s dinner;

loaded and ran dishwasher;

addressed birthday party invitations;

and did three loads of laundry.

And Wednesdays are my easy days!  I don’t go into the office for work on Wednesdays, so that is the day I usually set aside for a dinner that will take some time to prep.  So yesterday, I made marinade in the morning and added the chicken.  I cooked the chicken and quinoa during my work lunch break, chopping veggies, etc, for the quinoa while it was cooking.  Then I popped the asparagus into the oven as soon as I got home with the kids, while I was reheating and plating the other food.  And after the kids went to bed, I sliced the leftover chicken and chopped veggies for tonight’s dinner (Teriyaki chicken wraps).  (Thursdays are a little busier, as I go into the office for work and my daughter has karate after school, so Thursday night dinners need to be ready to simply toss in a pan and re-heat.)

Yes it would have been easier to pop some frozen preservative-laden pre-made dinner into the microwave, but then we all would have felt like poo afterward, the kids would have been grumpy and sluggish, and, well, so would I.  Instead, the kids ate well, went downstairs to play with Daddy while I packed away leftovers, then I was able to join them for a bit before bedtime routines started.  Would I have rather spent that time sitting on the couch watching tv?  A year ago, I would have said “yes.”  But now, my answer to that question is “absolutely not!” 

My point of all this is that, even with my busy schedule, I do have time to prepare healthy food for my family.  I make time.  It’s important enough to me.  I stay up a little later some nights than I may like, but I have so much more energy than I did when we frequented takeout places and frozen dinners.  So for me, now, there really are more hours in my day, as I am much more productive during my waking hours.  And you can be too…

Disclaimer: There are weeks that something unplanned happens – sick kids, fires to put out at work, etc.  I plan my weeks with no expectation of help from my husband.  Although he now, finally, supports my wanting to prep everything from scratch, he still likes his personal down time every day.  He is gone every Tuesday night and Sundays from lunch time until dinner time.  (That is his Winter cycling schedule; in the Fall, Spring, and Summer, he’s also gone on Thursday nights and half of Saturday.)  The nights he is home, he disappears to the play room to play video games alone.  So the nights he does help with baths or dishes, I use that time to have my own personal down time – catch up on tv shows, read, or just go to bed early.  But those weeks that are just too overwhelming and I really just have too many things going on, I add a night of takeout.  There are a few places I rely on for healthy takeout that is mostly clean.  I’m working with a couple of those places now to gather ingredient listings, etc, to share with you so that you, too, will know the most healthy pre-made options.

Fear

I'm back!  I really hate that I let this blog go so soon after starting it.  I had thought long and hard about even starting this blog.  I didn't want to start it without being able to keep it going.  I was so compelled to share information with people that I finally bit the bullet and went for it.  Then lo and behold, life simply got the best of me.  Between work, the holidays, kids' illnesses, well, you know...

I have wanted to start the blog back up so badly, but was worried - no, afraid - that I wouldn't be able to keep up again.  But I just have too much I want to share with you!

So I sent my friend Jonie a note, and she agreed to help me out with posts when I'm just too busy.  Be sure to check Jonie out at Buff By My Birthday.  She is full of fitness inspiration and encouragement - her Water Bombs are, well, the bomb!

I think the reason a lot of people are hesitant to start a new fitness routine or jump on the "clean eating" bandwagon is fear.  Just like I was afraid to re-start this blog, so many are afraid of their own personal failure more than anything.  Looking back, I realize that all of the excuses I made for the way my family was eating and my lack of exercise were really ways to cover the fact that I was terrifed to commit to completely changing our daily way of life.  But I can now say with 100% certainty that I can do it!  I DID do it!  And if I can exercise regularly, eat (and live) clean, and prepare from-scratch, healthy, clean meals for my family week in and week out, anyone can.

So let me help you get started.  Tell me your biggest obstacle or fear when you think about changing your habits.  If you have started exercising regularly or eating better recently, what finally did it for you?  You may just flip that switch for someone else.

I'll go first.  One of my biggest fears when it came to changing the way we eat was that I would feel deprived and miss my little "treats."  But it's really quite the opposite.  My family enjoys amazing meals, and I still enjoy little (dark) chocolate treats.  I also used the excuse of not having time.  Let me tell you this - that is NOT a valid excuse!  Saying you don't have time for your health and that of your family is a cop-out - it really just means you're not willing to make the time.  I won't go into my busy daily schedule here, but I will say that if I can find time to do this, you can too.  And what finally clicked for me?  I am not getting any younger.  I waited late to have kids.  I want to be around to annoy the you-know-what out of my precious babies for as long as I can, and I want them to grow up knowing what healthy food is and knowing that it is always readily available for them.

Okay, your turn!