I bet this lunch was really tasty. Gnocchi with sundried tomatoes, leeks, romanesco, broccoli, roasted garlic, and pine nuts. I just bet that it was super, duper delicious. My boyfriend said it was tasty. He wouldn’t lie about something important like lunch. But I can’t confirm. Because my taste buds are still in sinus infection limbo. 

Aside from my deep and lingering sadness over not being able to taste the delicious food in my life, I am happy to report that things are looking up. I have left my apartment and am working IN MY OFFICE today. I didn’t even mind that it was raining, I was so happy to leave the apartment. 

And a wonderful angel of a friend gave me some rosemary oil yesterday and said that if I steam my sinuses with it (boiling hot water in a bowl with a few drops of rosemary oil, me sitting over the bowl with a towel over my head breathing in that homeopathic goodness for 10 minutes a day) that  my sinus infection would be obliterated in a matter of days. And I tried it last night (along with some neti pot magic and an apple cider vinegar beverage for good measure) and I woke up feeling MUCH better than expected.

Take THAT, sinus infection. I’m out to get you. 

I also managed to fit in a nice, 45-minute yoga session last night, which was soooo wonderful after a lot of stillness and sickness. (My previous sessions since I’ve been sick have been around 15-20 minutes.) Movement is suck good medicine! The end. 

I seriously love breakfast. It’s my favorite thing ever. And these eggs — perfect scrambled eggs, courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen (subscription required) — are backflip-worthy. Think about all of the scrambled eggs you’ve ever made … most of them were probably pretty “meh,” right? Well these are better than “meh.” They’re fluffy and perfect. Promise. 

The problem with breakfast this morning? In spite of the delicious egg situation (with arugula and pecorino romano) and whole wheat toast and fresh carrot, kale, orange, apple juice … I couldn’t taste a single bit of it. Argh! I’m feeling about 80% better than I was last week, but I still have some lingering congestion — stuffy nose, cough — and … of all things … I can’t taste anything. The best I can get is the occasional zing of sourness. No salty. No sweet. No nada. 

I miss tasting my food. This is like horrible, evil punishment. No fair. Protesting. I want a breakfast redo. 

THANK YOU! As you can read in the NOVEL I wrote about being sick (I might be lonely and ready to leave my apartment), I’m on the road to recovery!! Cheers to you, and thanks for the kind wishes!

My week did not going according to plan.

This week was supposed to be all about high-fiving my victory over insanity, shopping for the things I would buy with my incentive / prize money (I was actually going to spend a certain percentage of my annual bonus on fun stuff instead being 100% boring and responsible with it), and basically feeling like a champion.

But I got sick. Yucky, achy, throbby, nasty, snotty sick.

I don’t usually do a very good job of being a sick person. I try to master it, try to overcome it, or try to ignore it. This time I decided to try listening to my body and trying to use it as a chance to get in tune and see what was up. Here’s what happened:

Day 1: Sick. I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and I knew IMMEDIATELY that I was getting sick. You know those little symptom-like flickers that make you wonder every now and then if you’re coming down with something? This was bigger. I had no doubt. I was going to be sick. I got up early and went into the office to get my laptop (because I had decided to leave it at work the night before because I bag was already so heavy with gym clothes … blah blah blah). I tried to get in and out before anyone else was around so I wouldn’t spread the germs around and then messaged my boss to tell him I was sick, but going to be “reachable.”

I worked a bit. And napped. And hydrated. And I was RAVENOUS. So I ate. My body was HUNGRY and I wasn’t about to tell it that it needed to hush up and try using some of the “stored energy” in my tush to fight the sickies. I gave it what it asked for. We called a truce on this one.

Day 2: It’s kind of a blur. This was the worst day. I think I left the couch for about an hour in total — including my steamy shower and some soup runs.

Also, Law and Order SVU is on ALL THE TIME, guys. I think I watched about a million episodes — fading in and out of consciousness. I’m also pretty sure that everyone is trying to rape everyone else as a result of this delirious marathon, but that’s a story for another day.

Day 3: I was tired of being sick. My boyfriend was tired of me being sick. The dog … was still totally into me being sick because we basically cuddled for 18 hours a day, and he’s super into that.

This was the day that my body stopped being RAVENOUS and started seriously craving vegetables. I ate squash and brown rice and tatoi and spicy cabbage soup (that I even had the energy to MAKE from scratch) and spinach salads and eggs. My calorie intake was waaaay down (not that I was counting calories while I was sick), but it was what my body said it wanted. We were still in truce mode.

Day 4: Still a vegetable fiend, but still sluggish most of the day.

But around 4pm I got a sudden burst of energy. I did some work that I had been putting off for when my brain was sharper, did some reading for the Coursera class I’m taking, and was suddenly feeling better and brighter and … nearly human!

Day 5: That’s today! Today I left the house! Very exciting stuff. We took the dog to the beach, where they have a small dog walk every Saturday morning. I was still sneezing and congested and a little heavy-headed, but I’m feeling a milliondy times better.

And still craving vegetables. (I hear you, body!) The only bummer is that I apparently have zero sense of taste at the moment (oh … germs … you’re so weird) so even though I made myself this awesome spinach salad and painstakingly pealed a pomelo … I can’t say whether or not they’re tasty (probably?), but they are what my body needs right now.

Also … as you might have guessed … I’m ready for some human contact. So let’s hurry up and get these symptoms evicted so I can go plaaaaay!

Cheers — to wellness! I’ll be grateful to have mine back again on the other side of this.

Medicine! It’s not quite a cure, but it always helps. Cabbage soup with tomato, carrots, and tofu and a sweet and sour kick. Extra hot pepper for the gunk I’m apparently storing in my head.

This was my last week of Insanity, and spending it laid up on the couch was not part of the plan.

That said, I’d been hearing little “you need a break” murmurs from my body and chose to ignore them. So … My body stepped in. I would say “lesson learned,” but given all the times I’ve “learned” this lesson, I’m only medium hopeful that it sank in this time.

Tuna steak and a spinach salad = Monday

Spicy soup and ginger tea = Tuesday sick day … Wahhhhh

1. I am currently on the outs with coffee. I love the coffee experience, but I have been finding the acid a little … much … 
2. … Today I ordered a cappuccino because I thought the added milk would reignite my coffee passion. I was drinking it and I was like, “Oh my god, this is the best cappuccino I’ve ever tasted. How is this so delicious?!” And then I realized that I had forgotten to specify nonfat milk. The fat is why it is so delicious. Of course. 
3. I’ve been playing with Lynda Barry’s 4-Minute Journal idea … and I’m not sure what I think yet. I’m usually game for process tinkering. But … I dunno. 
4. I’m on my last week of Insanity. And I’m amazing!
5. I can’t watch these friggin videos any more … so I’m writing down the workouts and using a tabata app to time them out. I think I actually end up working harder because I don’t have the Shaun T showing me how to do a push-up jack for the 15th time breaks. 
6. I’m participating in the Memoir Project and I’m a little bit terrified.
7. I drank a lot of wine this weekend, but it was all in the interest of having fun with good friends. So … it was basically a community service kind of consumption.
8. I forgot I was allergic to cats and as a result spent most of the day yesterday barely able to breathe. Somethings you just ought to remember.
9. I am taking an online Coursera course on The Modern and the Postmodern and I’m freaking loving it! My brain feels 80% juicier already. 
10. There is no ten. Long live #10!

(via Toothpastefordinner)

Just a PSA reminder. In case anyone out there still thinks that losing weight will solve all of your problems. 

That (cheekily) said, getting fit has made nearly every area of my life better. But not because I’m **thinner** and therefore have a greater capacity for happiness. (Oy)

Exercising increases how much energy I have (an un-intuitive equation, but still true). Increased energy means I can do more in the other areas of my life. It has also increased my creativity … and I would even argue that my brain has sharpened right up along with my body. (Why? How? These are questions for scientists. I only know what I’m experiencing.)

Exercising has also made me feel stronger — which has increased my self-confidence. And my increased self-confidence has increased how awesome I feel on a daily basis … which has also positively impacted all of my relationships, including my romantic relationship. I just have more juicy delightfulness to give out, which brings me back even more delightfulness. So lovely!

So … recap: Being thinner won’t solve all of your problems. But exercising and movement can bring some really good things into your life. 

The end!

I don’t know what it is about insanity that makes me want to pose post-sweat-fest. I’ve never been someone who was like “Oooh … I’m all sweaty … GET YER CAMERA!” But here I am again … Insanity sweat dripping, and all I can think is: I need to capture this moment.

I think it’s a testament to how awesome I feel after my workouts (note: NOT during … AFTER) — more so than how awesome I think my sweaty little self photographs. :)

9 more days to go!

These are my secret weapons. Take-along salads with baby spinach, raisins, sunflower seeds and cheese (usually feta, sometimes goat). I make two of them for my work days.

Salad #1 is for breakfast: Yes … breakfast salad … you heard me … it’s my very best friend these days because they set me up for feeling good all day and torpedo crappy cravings that tend to crop up when I have grainy or sugary breakfasts. 

Salad #2 is for snacking: My usual rule is, salad first. If I feel like late afternoon slump coming on, I hoof it to the fridge and have my salad snack. Once I’ve had one of these, if I still want whatever crappy snack I’m craving, I’m allowed to have some. But the trick is that once I have a salad snack, I’m usually more alert, refreshed and feeling so amazing that the last thing I want to do is jeopardize that feeling by putting crap in my body. 

Secret weapon behind my secret weapon? Homemade balsamic vinaigrette. It’s olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, salt and roasted garlic that I whip up once or twice a week. Because it’s **real** dressing, it’s full of flavor and a little goes a long way. One tablespoon on each salad and I’m good to go.

Oh this dinner! Oh this amazing, amazing dinner! Homemade ranchero sauce with black beans and roasted butternut squash. A little goat cheese and a few sprigs of cilantro. Perfect combination of nutty sweetness and spicy tomato deliciousness. Yes, I’m patting myself on the back. Pat-pat-pat. I earned it.

Today’s lunch. Brown rice with bok choy and steamed sweet potato. Simple, tasty, healthy, and bright. Every lunch should be this beautiful. Every lunch should make me this happy. 

Old habits die hard. It’s really hard for me to not equate weight / scale babble with success / failure. Even though I know that there is so much more to health than this one metric. 

I am strong. Last night, I did 15 burpees in a minute (as well as 27 power jumps, 25 push up jacks, 43 power jacks … etc. etc. etc.). My body is stronger than it has ever been. And it feels good. 

And I have a vegetable-stuffed diet. I eat so many vegetables, you might actually freak out about it. I just had vegetable soup for breakfast. For real. 

I am not smitten with the number I seen on the scale. I feel like I’ve been working so hard — too hard! — for it to still be so unsatisfying. But the problem isn’t the number. The problem is that I’m letting myself care too much about the number. And THAT’s what I’m going to work on. 

All of the important things are in this photo, including:

- The better half of a post-insanity rawr face.
- Panoramic bicep shot.
- Bathroom “One Blue Pussy” Warhol print.
- Photo of a photo of a photo into infinity paradox. I basically broke space-time with this one. Whoops!
- Tear-stained t-shirt (courtesy of the 30 Rock finale feelings I felt).

My work here is done.

boyswanna-be-her:

A great breakdown of eating clean from one of my favorite skeptical medicine sites. I have bolded parts that were particularly helpful to me. Find the complete article here.

Should you be “Eating Clean”?

Like many of you I’m interested in the science of good nutrition. In general, I’ve…

A look at dietary myths / fads with crazy things like “proof” and “scientific evidence” sprinkled on top. Totally worth reading (and worth reblogging as a reminder to your future forgetful self who isn’t going to get fad-tricked into  ridiculous food situations that don’t make any sense at all). 

Moderation, moderation, moderation … and a dash of common sense, y’all!