TGiF – my week

Happy Friday!  Since I’ve officially decided that working out during the week is more or less not happening for me right now, last night I found myself in a state of complete boredom.  I decided to redeem a Groupon I had bought a few months back for a deep-tissue massage.  I have had massages in the past, but they must have been more for relaxation purposes or body scrubs because this friggin’ hurt.  It hurt in the way where you kind of like the pain and half-way through you really like the pain and almost want her to start digging further into those knots in your back muscles.  Hopefully you know what I’m talking about.  Anyway, afterwards I felt like she had really opened my back up and I already made an appointment to go back.  Cat at Bodywaves Massage, nice job.

When I got home it was time for dinner. I’ve been feeling a cold coming on which I am desperately trying to fight off so I picked up a cup of “Mom’s Chicken Soup” from Whole Foods.  This stuff rocks because it is full of delicious not weird looking chicken, there are no noodles or grains, and the broth is heavenly.  I chowed down a giant bowl then attempted to go to bed early but my roommate came home and I’m pretty sure was having a one-man band practice using the pots and pans in the kitchen. Womp, womp.  I’ve been pounding Vitamin C and sucking on lots of sugary cough drops (not ideal), how do I fight off a cold without taking meds?

Since I am “training” (one day a week) for my half-marathon, I really can’t afford to be sick right now…

Yesterday I ran across this photo on instagram:

I’m not exactly sure what it means to me, but I kind of believe it.  I think for everyone this message is different.  In terms of being sick, I often think the best thing that has come out of this is that I have been forced to focus on my health.  Maybe until I am giving my body what it needs, and treating it right, then my symptoms will continue to exist until I make further changes?  Ooorr, my body just hates me and I’m being punished for loving martinis so much.  But it’s Friday, so I’m feelin’ optimistic.

Tomorrow is another 6AM wake-up for Team Challenge training and we’re up to 6 miles.

Hoping I am feeling well enough to kill it!!!

Hope everyone has a bad-ass Friday and great weekend!  If it snows one more time in Boston, my next post will be about how I am packing up my shit, and moving somewhere warm.

Snowy Day Thoughts

This morning I woke up to a snow-covered Boston, yet again.  Wednesday marks spring but apparently we haven’t had enough of the white stuff.  So with a day off of work I decided to jump on the blog and update you all.

ready for spring

I have spent the last few months completely focusing on my health and literally watching everything I put in my mouth as well as changing my lifestyle to see how much exercise I can tolerate.  For someone that used to run 6 miles a day, I have seriously changed my routine.  Since the new year if I can hit a yoga class once a week that is big.

When I last posted I was modifying my diet and switching from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to a more Paleo approach and now I am still more or less following Paleo but I also eat gluten-free grains like rice and millet.  I wouldn’t say I am simply “gluten-free” because I will not touch any processed foods labeled “gluten-free” because most of them are still filled with junk that my body doesn’t like.  So to sum up- whole foods, some grains, lots of fruits and veggies, and grass-fed (most of the time) meats.

I’m pretty sure none of that falls in to the category of any main-stream diets but that’s where I’m at right now so I’m sorry.

Symptoms are on and off and I’ve given up the booze for a bit to see if that helps.  Even though my Sundays are more productive (and not spent nursing a hangover), my social life is suffering.  Who would have thought that my entire social life as I knew it involved drinking and eating out?  I either need to new friends or help my current friends smuggle booze into coffee shops and movie theaters.  I’m cool with either.

currently the only friend I have that doesn’t drink

I have also recently been trying to reach out to others with IBD.  For awhile I was in denial (I guess?) about my disease and didn’t want to tell anyone or deal with it.  I have been working on accepting and being more open about what is going on in my life.  As stupid as it sounds, it hasn’t been easy.  I didn’t want people to judge me or think that I had some freaky disease that they could catch.  So in these attempts, I have gone to some support meetings and also signed up for something that I am super excited about: Team Challenge.   I will be running (jog-walking) 13.1 miles in Sonoma, CA in July to support the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.  We have just started training but I am super siked because I have immediately met about 30 others my age that have IBD!  Yay team poop.  I haven’t quite figured out how I am going to “run” a half-marathon, but I’ll figure it out.  We had our first training last week and I was able to jog very slowly for about 4 miles.

So, that is where I am right now and I’m pretty freakin’ excited about it.  I’m also excited to be back on here because I have been incessantly reading all of your blogs and excited to start posting more of what I’m eating and up to.

 

Post-Holiday Reflection

It has been a whirlwind of a holiday and I am happy to announce that I survived with minimal tummy troubles.  If history has trends, it is safe to admit that any time I get away from my routine of “work, eat, sleep, repeat” I tend to act like every meal is the last supper and completely forget the goals I have set for myself and my health.  This holiday was no different, aside from restricting myself from the current offenders- gluten, red meat, dairy (they change weekly).  I still ate a crap-ton of everything else.  My mother actually found a feather on me during Thanksgiving dinner and suggested that I may be “turning into a turkey” because I’ve eaten so much of it.  VERY FUNNY, MOM.  I wear a down jacket, damnit.

As much as I stuffed myself, I got through safely.  The worst side effects were tight jeans and turkey-hangovers.  I am finding that if I keep a base of safe eats, and stick to them, I might just be okay (crossing fingers).  This month has been a monumental improvement from months before.  Perhaps my body is just finally ready to heal.

I did however enjoy some treats throughout the few days off and let loose a bit.  I had a glass of red wine on TWO different occasions!

birthday night!

The funniest part is that after not drinking since June, a glass of wine feels like a night out with Lindsey Lohan and Courtney Love.  I was so happy to see that my wine agreed with me.  I’m thinking my body knows that it will need booze to sanely survive the holiday season and has accepted it as part of a complete diet.

Sweet alcohol buzz how I have missed thee.

the last time I enjoyed a cocktail – June

I share a birthday with my dad which means double family fun time.  We decided to go see the Grinch performance at the Wang Theater and then go to Abe & Louie’s for dinner.

my brother, dad, and I at the Wang pre-Grinch

At dinner, I ordered the oven roasted chicken.  Amazing.  We also shared sides of a monster sweet potato (plain), steamed broccoli, and steamed spinach.

My dad got butterscotch bread pudding for dessert with a cute little candle in it.

Because Abe’s didn’t have any gluten-free dessert for me.  I trucked my ass to Georgetown Cupcake, ordered a “gluten-free chocolate lava” cupcake (should have gotten a dozen), stuck a candle in it and made my family sing the happy birthday song.  Even at 26, I believe everyone should blow out a candle and make a wish on their birthday.

I am excited for year 26, and am hopeful for better health this year.  I am working on setting some goals/truths for myself, here is my list so far:

1.  Stop going to bed before 9:30 on Friday and Saturday nights.  You turned 26, not 96.  (Tonight will be the first trial)

2.  Although visually stimulating, espresso martinis will never be part of my “safe foods” group.

3.  Stop trying to convince everyone that the sweatpants I put on immediately after work every day are actually part of a fashion-savvy trend called “lounge wear.”

That’s all I have so far, but I’m thinking those are pretty solid.

Anyhow, it’s good to be back in action, feeling good, and potentially joining the rest of the world after my year-long sabbatical.

my broski and I at birthday dinner

Getting back to food, here is a twist on kale recipe that I’ve been really into lately.  It gives in a nice flavor and reminds me of when I used to love to eat brussel sprouts dipped in vinegar.

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch of Organic kale (it cooks down to nothing)
• 1/4 c water
• 2 Tbsp organic apple cider vinegar

Directions:  Wash kale thoroughly in a strainer.  It is very voluminous when fresh, so use a large pot and stuff it full.  Add water and vinegar.  Turn on your stove to medium-low heat.  Continue to mix/stir the kale so that all pieces are equally heated.  Let it sit and cook for about 15 minutes.  You may need to add more water and cook longer if you want it to be very soft.

I love how this gives the taste a nice kick and adds some variety to my palate.  Pairs really nicely with meat as a healthy side dish.  Kale is a nutrient power-house and also contains a lot of iron if you are deficient like me!

hot and steamy!

Healthified Sweets and Beets Chips

For the last two weeks, I’ve been indulging in a bad treat: Sweets & Beets Terra chips.

Okay, they’re not that bad… but definitely not the best choice for my attempted better health.  The main contents of these chips aren’t the demon here, but the fact that they’re saturated in canola oil definitely brings down their health value.  Typically, an occasional splurge wouldn’t haunt my conscience, but I’ve been indulging in handfuls bowlfuls of these up to three or four times a day.  On Tuesday, I almost devoured an entire bag at work.  I can’t stop!!  I decided that I needed to either re-evaluate my willpower situation, or figure out how to make a healthier version of these so I can munch in peace.  Naturally, I chose the option where I can continue to stuff my face with chips.

I immediately made my way to Whole Foods to pick up some fresh sweet potatoes and beets.  I always thought that chips had to involve deep frying and hot oil (something I’m not qualified to tamper with in the kitchen) but it turns out, these are ridiculously simple to make.

Ingredients:

• Sweet Potato
• Beets
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Sea Salt

*To make these SCD legal, use carrot slices in place of sweet potatoes.

Directions: 

Preheat over to 350° F.  Wash and peel your sweet potatoes and beets.  Slice both the beets and vegetables into very thin slices.  You can do this either by using a mandolin peeler or by hand with a sharp knife.

sweets

beets

Pour extra virgin olive oil into a small dish and use a brush to coat the bottom of a large baking sheet.  Lay sweet potato and beet slice on pan.  Brush olive oil over the top of each slice.  Be generous with the oil, it will help them become more crisp.  Sprinkle chips with sea salt as desired.

Bake for 15 minutes and flip over the slices.  Continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes or until ends  start to turn up off the pan.  Make sure that the chips are crisp all the way through before removing from the oven (you may have to taste test a few!)  These shrink up when baked so feel free to make more than one batch.

taste-tested and approved

If you are like me, and crave a salty treat once in a while (or all of the time), these are a delicious alternative to greasy potato chips.

crispy, tasty chips!

Weekend update and kickass cookie recipe

Happy Weekend!  I am so psyched to have 3 days off.  One of the perks of being a teacher is that we pretty much get every holiday off.  I actually believe everyone should be able to observe Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, and President’s Day as they wish, but let’s face it- most jobs just don’t accommodate this.  If kids were less annoying, and the pay was 10x better… teaching might be the best job ever.  Until then, I guess I’ll take the long weekends.

Yesterday I took the day “off” to attend a professional development training on how to incorporate vocabulary into classroom instruction.  Turns out, kids these days don’t (can’t) read.  Therefore, 12th graders have the vocabulary of 3rd graders, and 3rd graders have the vocabulary of infants.  The statistics are actually pretty depressing.  If you have kids- read to them.  If you don’t feel like reading to them, pay them to read books.  If they don’t like books, they can read magazines, or comics, or the back of shampoo bottles.  I don’t care, just make them read.

Aside from the enlightening statistics, the best part about this conference is that it was held at an 80′s night club.  Nothing screams education like crystal chandeliers and parquet ballroom dance floors.

If I wasn’t wearing a cardigan, I would have stayed after hours to see this place get down.

Now let’s talk food.  Since I’ve been feeling better, I have had a bottomless appetite.  I am pretty much hungry from the moment I wake up until 8:30pm when I go to bed.  I don’t know why, but I can’t. stop. eating.

how I feel at work every day

I also spend all of my time looking up recipes that are SCD, gluten-free, or paleo.  I finally decided that I was going to make a combination of a few recipes I stumbled on and make some “banana chocolate chip cookies.”  In my last post, I talked about how I am slightly straying from SCD and have added sweet potatoes, rice, and chocolate into my diet. (Yes, I realize this is a completely random group of foods)

I definitely believe the theory that if you “remove” something (sugar, gluten, etc) for long enough, you don’t crave it anymore.  That used to be the case for me and chocolate, but now I screwed myself by adding it back in.  The more I have, the more I want.

So here it is: Paleo Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies rule, and to make them SCD all you have to do is omit the chocolate chips and add something like apple chunks, blueberries, peaches, or just leave as is!

Recipe:

• 2 small very ripe bananas
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups blanched almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used Life is Good brand)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Place bananas, almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking soda into a bowl.  Mix all ingredients.

not all that pretty, but very tasty

Slowly add in the almond flour and continue to mix until well blended.

Stir in chocolate chips with a spoon.

Scoop spoon-sized balls onto a baking sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Stuff your face with chocolate chips while you are waiting for your cookies to bake (optional).

 

Once your cookies are done, let them cool (I couldn’t wait for this step) and enjoy!  This recipe only makes about 12 cookies, so it’s just the right amount if it’s Friday night and you accidentally eat the whole batch want more than one.

 

 

A whole lot of nothing

Happy hump day!  I wanted to post today but realized I have nothing to talk about.   I figured I’d tell everyone what I’ve been up to so you can all see how lame I am.  Sunday, I went to IKEA.  If you’ve ever been to IKEA, you know that it is a maze of all the furniture you can imagine, and if you’ve ever been to IKEA on the weekend, you know that it is an panic attack waiting to happen.  IKEA is insane, everyone who goes there on the weekend is some sort of masochist, and the only thing I left with that day were cold sweats and some Swedish meatballs.

Other than this, I have been going to bed extra early this week.  I have not quite adjusted to the time change from daylight savings.  Monday and Tuesday I was in bed by 9.  Last night, I tried to stay up to watch the election polls come in but was out cold by 9:02.  I blame my dog, Boca, for forcing me to snuggle with her.

don’t wake the baby

With my recent downward spiral of stomach issues, I decided that I am going to (slowly) get away from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.  Don’t stop reading my recipes!  I believe it’s a really good diet, and am still following it for the most part, but it wasn’t quite working for me.  I was still feeling sick and the weight loss was causing me to resemble a 12 year old boy.  My mother kindly told me that I looked like “one of those Ethiopian kids from the commercials.”  Thanks, ma.  Luckily, I haven’t been out in months, so I can’t confirm or deny if men these days are attracted to that sort of look.  TBD.

My diet is starting to shift more towards Paleo/Gluten-free.  Basically, I have successfully added sweet potatoes, dark chocolate, and some rice cereal.  The adding of dark chocolate is amazing, rice cereal is for babies but it has a lot of iron which I definitely need.  Who knows what I’ll add next!!!

The last thing is that November is my birthday month.  I am technically going to be 26, but I think I should actually be turning 24.  My logic behind this is that I spent the last year sick, eating soft baby food, and staying at my parents house on and off… so I actually regressed a year (if not more).

Last year on my birthday, I went out to dinner with my family and some friends at Stephanie’s on Newbury.

mom and dad, and a big, fat martini

My goal this year is to be back in *better* health by my birthday, on the 25th.

Magical Healing Juice aka “Bone Marrow Broth”

TGIF!! I freaking love Fridays.  I pretty much insist on doing as little as possible at work, leave when the bell rings, and ride home with a big smile on my face knowing that I’ve got nothing to do mañana but sleep in.

Because I’ve been feeling MUCH better this week, due to magical healing juice that I will get to later, I decided to go to the gym after work.

hello old friend

Before getting sick (and even for awhile while I was feeling crappy) I was really into working out.  I would typically run 5 miles a day outside and then go to the gym and lift for another 45 minutes.  Sometimes I would do yoga, but either was I felt like I had to do some sort of workout every day.  Then I started to lose my energy as my iron levels plummeted.  It became too hard to run, then too hard to do yoga, then too hard to do anything but go to work and come home and lay on the couch with Boca.

at least she was feeling good

But as of this week, I finally have some energy back.  Maybe it’s all the chicken legs I’ve been eating.  So here I am at the gym!!

attempting to take pics of myself without others noticing

You can tell how strenuous my workout was based on the fact that I didn’t even need to pull my hair up.  Oh well… anything is better than nothing, right?

I’m pretty excited that I survived my trip to the gym after about a 2 month sabbatical.  I’m hoping to keep it up to get out of my current ultimate weenie status.

On to the healing juice…  As I mentioned a few posts back, last weekend was spent in hellish pain and agony.  While suffering, I was skimming through my new copy of Practical Paleo and came across a recipe for “bone marrow soup.”  I have been making chicken broth soup for months now, which although kind on my stomach, hasn’t seemed to be helping my situation.  I figured why not give this bone soup a try.  Since I was staying at my parents, I sent my dad to Whole Foods with the instructions of “go to the deli and ask for bones.”  He came back with the bones from “grass fed beef shank.”

Looks good to me.

I threw them into the slow cooker with water, whole chunks of garlic, salt, and apple cider vinegar.  Then I let it cook for about 18 hours.

Here are the exact instructions I followed from Practical Paleo:

Ingredients:

• 4 quarts of filtered water
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs of bones (beef knuckle, marrow, meaty bones, chicken or turkey neck, carcass bones, etc.)  *I only used beef shank bones.
• 2 tbsp organic apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp salt (optional)
• Cloves from 1 whole head of garlic, peeled

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and set to high.  Bring the stock to a boil.  Then, reduce the heat setting to low.  Allow the stock to cook for a minimum of 8 hours and up to 24.  The longer it cooks the better.  Once done, strain everything out and pour the broth into a large bowl.  Allow to cool in the refrigerator.  Before drinking, scoop of any fat at the top that has solidified.

yummy

So for some reason, the fact that this soup is made from the marrow of bones gives me the heebie-jeebies.  I actually can barely get it down without making a gagging noise.  If I could get past this mental block, I don’t actually think it tastes that bad.  My family thinks it tastes good!  I also randomly think it smells like donuts… don’t ask.

I don’t want to jinx myself, but I think this stuff might actually be the secret to my feeling 100x better in a matter of a week!  According to various sources, bone marrow broth is incredibly good for your digestive tract and critical for people with IBD.  I just might be a believer!

2 cups a day!

If nothing else, it’s worth trying.  Definitely not the craziest thing I’ve added to my diet over the last few months!