Why I Eat What I Eat…WIAW

My friends,

So I haven’t done a WIAW in such a long time. To be honest, I didn’t want to be judged for my food choices. I often felt that people would believe that I was restricting because I tend to eat the same things every day and say that I don’t ever get cravings for ‘bad foods’

The notion of ‘bad’ foods was simply for a lack of a better term. Think of foods as more or less nutrient dense. There are no BAD foods. Well okay maybe some could be argued to fall into that category, but when looking at foods that are not made specifically to give you a heart attack, this is how food should be looked at. 

These are meant to show others what a healthy lifestyle means to a person and to perhaps give some ideas or find a new combo to try. It’s never about judgement.

I like my food, my food makes my body feel the best it can be (well when my stomach is content for the day) and it has been working for me and my current goals.

Disclaimer: Never think you need to eat the same way as anyone other than yourself. You have your own needs. My food is for my training and to help my current GI issues.

So onto the post. I’m going to preface this with an “I’m Sorry” for some failed meal snaps…my bad friends. I hope you enjoy the commentary as a make up.

Thanks to Laura, Arman and Jen for this fun lil linkup. Check out all of the other fun eats at Laura’s today.

So for today’s commentary I wanted to give an overview as to WHY I eat some of the things that I do. Mostly, its for healing my gut and allowing for the easiest digestion, but I will share with you my reasonings below.

Please note that I’m on a low fiber and easy to digest diet post parasite treatment for a lil but because I have literally no bacteria in my gut following two rounds of antibiotics 

Pre-Breaky Supps

~shot of ACV diluted with water

Benefits: umpteen, but I take it mostly for the digestion aid and prebiotic factors

Breakfast. Loaded cream of rice

Why I eat it? Cuz I love it. Duh

Okay benefits of this for tummy.

~COR less fiber than my beloved oats so it digests nicer. And, carbs. Nuff said.

~Egg whites: need my protein yeah?

~Pineapple: Contains bromelain which is a natural digestive enzyme. Plus I like it.

~Pink Salt: I need added salt in my diet because I don’t get sodium from processed food and athletes need to ensure adequate electrolytes. Plus salt and peanut butter? Nommzzz

Sorry 6am cream of rice ain’t too aesthetic so heres everything in my breakfast (forgot pink salt+cinnamon). 35g brown COR made with unsweetened cashew milk. 90g egg whites cooked in half way through. Add-ins are 30-35g banana/15-20gpineapple, 16g organic crunchy peanut butter + some peanuts, sprinkle of peanut flour, cinnamon and pink salt

Also with breakfast, I take a digestive enzyme pre-eating and than after is a small amount of spirulina mixed with vitamin C powder in a shot glass with some water. I also take Vitamins E, A, D and a probiotic. It seems like a lot but we are trying to heal right? Lots of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.

Pre-Workout

I used to have sweet potatoes with this meal, but experienced A LOT of bloating and gas (sorry TMI) so despite my resistance (I love sweet taters!), white jasmine rice took it’s place. Quick and fast to digest and gives me the carbs I need without the GI symptoms. Avocado is there for a bit of added fat (I can’t tolerate a huge amount of avocado, that has been discovered…its high FODMAP and rings in a decent amount of fiber) for some staying power through my 2 hour lifting sessions.

135g white jasmine rice + 3.5 ounces roasted chicken breast + 1 ounce avocado. Seasoned with fresh cilantro and a **it ton of cumin + chili powder and liquid smoke

*Another digestive enzyme…cough these things cost me an arm. 

Intra-Workout

In my bottle for during my lift, I put in a scoop each of my BCAAs and glutamine. The BCAAs I began using to prevent my body from using my protein stores for energy as my workouts are very long and I was underweight. I still use them for this reason + it helps me to take in enough water. The glutamine is for both muscle recovery and also is gut fuel. Glutamine has been found to feed the GI tract and help with it’s recovery.

Intraworkout BCAAs and Glutamine

Post-Workout

This is honestly something I look forward to every day. I don’t really have a sweet tooth but something about this is just so satisfying to me. All whole foods but makes me feel like I’m getting a treat. Its a ‘great job for killing your workout’ indulgence.

Reasonings:

~Rice again..in rice cake form. These are not your cardboard Quaker rice cakes. NO. These babies have double the carbs and therefore taste so much better. They actually taste like puffed rice. These are a carb staple in my diet.

~Coconut oil: Simply added to the ‘icing’ for added calories that I can’t see as added bulk.

~Whey: I have tried eating whole proteins and they just take too long to digest when my body is literally shaking. Whey is much faster and prevents me from getting sleepy. I only buy New Zealand whey as it’s lactose free, no antibiotics and the cows are grass-fed. The ingredients are just whey, enzymes and natural flavouring. Their flavours are amazing!  

3.5 organic brown rice cakes (Lundberg–> much better tasting! higher carbs= no styrofoam taste) + Protein ‘icing’ of 1 tsp coconut oil, 25g whey (I used maple), 1 tsp crunchy peanut butter, 15g melted banana and enough water to form a paste. Topped with 35g nanner.

And you guess it…2 more enzymes. I take two because I think the whey makes me a bit bloaty if I don’t have the extra one. Before anyone asks, no I cannot eat vegan protein. I can’t digest quinoa or any sprouted grains other than rice. Plus it tastes like assssss..sorry but it’s true. 

Unpictured ‘bite’

My post workout is around 2-2:30pm, and I take my fish oil in between than and dinner but like to have something in my tummy with it as without anything it can lead to gas (hello fish burps) so I down a bit of chicken in the fridge.

1 tbsp of lemon juice before to help with fat digestion. 

Dinner.

Lobster is a special occasion when my Dad comes down. He so nicely brought some for me and of course I opened that baby the next day..

I have my vegetables for the day here…so sad. I have a small salad (unpictured) to start with all easy to digest/ low FODMAP veggies (cucumber, carrots, iceberg lettuce and some dark greens, not kale or anything). I love veggies but cannot have too much.

I have roasted mini potatoes and kabocha pictured here. To be honest, I hate potatoes, so bland to me compared to sweet taters even with seasoning, but I can’t have my sweets right now and I need carbs. Kabocha is a staple (cuz what person doesn’t adore it?), but should be limited due to being a high FODMAP and to be honest I think I have been over doing it a bit recently (anyone else find it bloats you?) because of aforementioned hatred for potatoes.

And no, I eat rice all damn day so I don’t want rice for my nice sit down meal of the day.. lol. Oh and yes, enzyme number 100000 for the day and a shot of ACV. 

Lobster (thanks Dad) + roasted kabocha and baby potatoes. Unpictured salad to start with dressing of ACV+ lemon juice+ herbs+ mustard

Night Meal

Unpictured ~5 ounces of haddock attacked with turmeric because no one needs to see that…

Eaten in bed. It may seem weird to you to eat fish before bed and than pair it with rice cakes and nut butter. I like to think of it as the meal and dessert.

The fish is simply more protein (read below before you yell at me for eating too much protein…), the turmeric is for anti-inflammatory properties and the rice cakes are simply for more carbs.

The reason I have mostly peanut butter with a shmear of almond butter is because my coach really wanted me to try to rotate almond butter with peanut butter because peanuts have a risk of moulds and such I believe..

…but I just can’t (TEAM PB!). So there, I have some almond butter.

😀

Also yes there the nut butter is strategically placed. I like a big glob for the last bite okay. Common there has to be another person out there who saves the best for last no?

2 Organic, unsalted brown rice cakes (Lundberg) + 20g organic crunchy peanut butter and 5g organic crunchy almond butter

Shot of lemon juice (cuz that’s a large amount of fat according to my body) + …enzyme. 

So yeah, can you tell that rice is a staple for an annoying stomach? It’s my major carb source in various forms because it sits well and gives me the carbs I need for my training. We are still being very, VERY modest with fat increases because my system doesn’t handle  those very well. I try to help this by taking a shot of lemon juice before a higher fat meal as acid helps to hydrolyze the fats a bit (i.e. help break them down). Also, yes my protein intake is high. It is what it is (for the moment..). It gives me calories and my system is okay at the amount it has right now. Can’t take any away if it cannot be replaced

Know what I’m saying?

So there is my day of eats. Very typical, as it’s pretty much the same every day with a few switch ups (fish type at dinner, choice of whey, etc) but I do that because 1. I like my food and I’m a creature of habit and 2. because it doesn’t turn my stomach into a raging….umm.monster.

Hope you enjoyed!

Anyone else out there okay with eating the same things every day?

Similar food restrictions?

-Chelsea

What [Rita] Ate Wednesday

Hey Friends!

Happy Humpday!

Besides the fact that it’s midweek and half-way to the weekend, what do you enjoy about Wednesdays?

For me, today I’m having a lil dinner shindig with my two housemates and our friend, Cass so that’s going to be a good time! I will be makin’ up a noodle-LESS zucchini lasagna after Emily requesting…

I want ricotta

Cheese and more cheese you will receive.

Throw in some veggies and some happy cow meat (ie. grass-fed beef) as Emily calls it and we have a pretty quick, healthy and fun meal to bring to the table.

Although, remember to take the time to appreciate where you are and what you have in your life as today is also..

Remembrance Day. Have them in your hearts today and everyday.

Anywho, what else does Wednesday mean in the blogworld? What I Ate Wednesday with all the foodies of the blogosphere of course!

Oh there Jen and thanks to Laura for hosting the partay this week.

I had a request to highlight the eats from a normal person person other then myself and if you ask, you shall receive my friends.

Today we are highlighting the Tuesday eats of someone who, like me, loves all things food but she has one very big, and amazing, leg up on me…

She never denies herself or her body anything. She never bats an eye to just eat.

She is a true representation of eating intuitively in my mind.

If she’s hungry she eats.

If she wants ice cream at 5pm on a weekday, she nabs a bowl of ice cream.

If she goes for a nap before dinner and sleeps all the way to 10pm, well then dinner is at 10:30pm

If she’s feeling snacky despite not really being hungry, she fulfills that craving.

No second thoughts if every meal of a given day is eaten out.

You see, in a way I admire her. Fear isn’t in her vocabulary. She cannot understand why I would hold back from eating something or why many foods give me severe anxiety because if she wants something, she allows herself to have it. No guilt. No shame. No compensation.

She lives as everyone should. Free.

So with that, I give you a day in the life of my housemate, Rita.

Tuesday started a bit on a rough note as I heard her rush around the kitchen after sleeping an hour past her alarm.

Bed: 1, Rita: 0

She nabbed her lunch (I have slowly gotten her into food prepping! Housemate win!) and the lil snack baggy I made her real quick before she woke. She also had her usual hot water with a gob spoonful of raw honey.

I have asked her before the significance of this honey water and I believe she told me that her Mom said that it was good for the body so that is why she does it. Plus she loves loves sugar…erg honey. 

Time of class….8:30am

Time left the house… 8:28am.

Bike those legs Rita!

Bam in class. She is in landscape architecture and man has she been busy with school stuff this year. I always feel bad for her on those weeks (which seem like it’s been the whole year) that this poor girl is in the studio ALL DAY.

In the thermos is her morning tea I believe…

Have a I mentioned that tea is what this house is known for? Rita has about 2 teas a day, I’m the same and Em, umm.. too many to count. This is why our house had no glasses for like the first 2 months because we be muggin.

Anyways, 9:50am arrived and so did the food.

Apparently our school provides McD lookin food. Seriously, does that not look like an egg McMuffin and hash brown?

I’m going to assume class continued to happen until she went to the school gym for some swimming at 11am. She has been slowly learning how to swim (self teaching) and has really been enjoying it.

As a matter of fact, it makes me smile so much when she comes home all smiles saying that she’s getting stronger. She was telling me how she used to bike to school on level 1 and now she’s doing level 4. Good job to my housie. 😀

After that, around 12:50pm, lunch happened.

Foodprep for the win! She had stir-fried some book choy (her favourite veggie) with some chili flakes and lots of garlic to have with some white jasmine rice, the dark meat from the whole chicken I nabbed and the two last pieces of buttercup squash I roasted up for her on the weekend.

Fun fact. Stir frying raw chili, whether fresh or dried, creates fumes that will leave you choking for the rest of the night. It’s delicious but you have been warned.

I had roasted up an entire buttercup squash for her and Em the other week because it was one that was too soft and sweet for me (ie. perfectly ripe and the way most people like them the best. I’m weird and love them dry to the bone so they get super crispy when roasted) and Rita absolutely loved it. So this week when an in-class course took over her weekend and made her miss our farmers market trip she asked me to make her another batch and she went through that in 3 meals. 😀

Snackage happened throughout the afternoon starting around 1:45pm apparently…

That lil baggy I mentioned earlier in the post. I grabbed some of her dried figs and a few handfuls of her deluxe nut medley (both organic from the market), some candied ginger cubes and pumpkin flax granola from Nature’s Path to make a lil homemade trail mix.

Looks like an arrowroot cookie. Could be a cracker…I dunno.

From 2:30 to 3:30 she went on a plant walk with her class. See those drops on her baggy? Yeah it was pouring all day. Guess the profs don’t care about that…

These happen a few times a week where they go to a part of the campus and collect leaf samples to ID later. She says they are fun because she is in love with plants and enjoys seeing new species. Guess she found the major for her!

Post-plant pickin lolly at 3:35.

As I write this it’s killing me that I don’t know what flavour it is. I’m nosey can’t you tell?

Oh update I nabbed her on her way out…Chocolate something she’s says and a mini one that you hand out to the kiddos at Halloween lol

Dinner happened around 5:30pm and she texted me being like

Chelsea I forgot to take a picture of my dinner!!

….but I took a picture of the menu..

She’s so cute.

She had that soup, which she said was really yummy (as the sign says!) and a Philly cheesesteak sammich.

Workin Workin Workin

She arrived home around 9ish I think to dig into her pint of Baskin Robbins Mango Tango ice cream at 9:47pm (hahah so specific)..

And some more of that pumpkin flax granola…at 9:55pm. <- She takes this tracking seriously. LOL

Then she crashed probably around 11:30pm. Another long day in the books for her.

So there was a look into the eats of my housemate. A girl who loves food and gives her body what it wants, when it wants it and just enjoys herself.

Something everyone should be able to do!

Oh and I wanted to show you how funny she is…

Yes she actually wrote everything down for me! She was totally excited to do this lil day in the life of eating post and took her job very seriously.

Thanks Rita!

Anyways, I’m looking forward to tonights lil dinner party we are having and hopefully I can make a zucchini lasagna that is not too watery this time. They tend to do that because of the high water content in zucchini so I have a few tricks I’m pulling out of the bag (roasting the zucchini + very thick sauce) for this attempt and hopefully my guests enjoy the end result

I will not be having it as 1. it contains cheese which I can’t eat and 2. my coach would hit me over the head because it doesn’t have carbs. But I have mentioned before that I love throwing dinner parties because it lets me be creative in the kitchen.

Happy Wednesday Friends, I’m off to train chest after eating my second pre-workout massive plate of food…

❤

Favourite Ice Cream Flavour?

Do you like Trail Mix?

-Chelsea

All In The Family…W[We]AW

Hey Friends!

I thought this week that I would not only share my own eats but also my parents just because I’m that kind of daughter who asks her parents to stop before they dig into their food to take a picture of it first…

Or instagram…

Or blog…

The wise words of my father

BUT

He thoughtfully followed my request and even went one step further and tried to make them look pretty and put together…except the breakfast and well…the blurriness, but please excuse his photography skills as he works shift work and no one should be up at 4am in the morning. You understand.

Also, much to my amazement, my Mom even remembered to take a picture of all but one of her food items of the day. The one she missed I was prepared for because I happened to make it for her and so I snapped it. 😉

#WhenYourDaughterKnowsYouThatWell.

So lets get to it. This was done last Thursday as I not only wanted to give you a rest day for myself, but also a day where all three of us were working! I hope you enjoy.

I was going to say thanks to Jen for hosting but again this week I’m not really sure where the link-up is :-O.

Oh wait, found it…

Thanks Laura!

Phew that was a close call! I actually snapped this week!

Again sorry for the blur. Dad crawls out of bed at just before 4am and noms on some plain toast, egg whites, fruit (probably with greek yogurt) and his orange pekoe tea with some 2% milk

I have a lot people asking if my parents eat like I do and the answer is no. My Dad says that no one eats like me because I’m an extremist LOL! Overexaggeration much.

Mom’s breaky eaten around 9:30am. Loads of Raisins (Loblaws brand of Raisin Bran. My Mom insists it has more raisins then the brand name) + All Bran + tbsp of flax meal + frozen strawberries and 2% milk

But for serious, no. I’m very particular when it comes to my food and I like to eat pretty much everything (very few exceptions) completely from scratch. It’s just what I like (yes I do actually love and crave whole foods, crazy eh?). They opt to eat out more and keep things mostly simple (where I would find that boring) when they are cooking for themselves. For this summer though, I have been home so I have literally cooked 90% of their dinners for them and some of their lunches when I’m around during the day. Therefore, veggies have appeared on their plates much more then their bellies are used to.

My breaky of zoats eaten around 7:45am. Because it was a rest day, my fats go up and my carbs go down a bit. It’s just how I do things. So some of the typical add-ins such as peanut flour, zucchini, chia seeds and egg whites are still there, but my fruit (banana normally gets swapped for berries but I was really feeling nanner so I beat ED down and had a small piece of that) and fat choices (coconut oil rather then nut butter) change and I add a protein icing (Diesel whey in salted caramel + US cashew milk) like I do with my post-workout zoat bowls. Finally, my new addiction is cracking pink Himalayan sea salt all over the top. OMG so good and I’m normally not a salt person at all!

Sometimes I feel like their parents when a conversation like this happens…

Chelsea has to work…

Me: What are you planning on having for dinner?

Pizza…

Me: Sigh. What veggies are you having -> remember it was my goal to have them have a veggie on their plate for every dinner this summer!

We are having a veggie pizza…

Me: A mushroom and tomato doesn’t count as a serving of vegetables!

You’re not supposed to have vegetables with your pizza. Pizza is meant to be eaten so that you don’t have to cook!

Me: I prepped you a salad. Eat the damn salad.

Dad obeys bitterly, Mom doesn’t so she gets the long green finger (Grinch anyone?) and the evil eye from her orange green thumb child.

Story of my life.

Dad’s ‘lunch’ happens on his first break around 9:30am. He normally has a packed lunch that is often leftovers or something I put together but I happened to be in whole foods the day before and made him a special box of goodies. Potato wedges, Moroccan chicken (which I snuck a bite or 5 of and was delish) and some veggies. + Red delicious apple. Do you notice how he made the photo all pretty even at work? No shame. Dawww.

Other readers ask how I eat the way I do at home. They often tell me that their parents cook things that they don’t really want to eat and don’t really know what to do about it.

In my mind it’s quite simple. Cook your own food.

My lunch eaten around 12:30 before I had to head into work. Salad + ‘pizza’ omelet that contained all the grilled veggies, grilled squash, lobster (spoiled yes ;-)), sprouts, spinach, avocado and dat runny yolk! Seasoned with Mrs. Dash chipotle seasoning and chili flakes.

I then get one of two replies back.

1. My parents get mad if I cook something else.

2. My parents get offended if I don’t eat their food.

For one, you are an adult and I feel as if your parents should be perfectly content with you making your own food. The only reason why they should get angry is if you refuse their food and want them to go out of their way to cook you something else.

If you offer to cook your own meals, there shouldn’t be a problem in my opinion.

My Mom’s lunch that I made for her as I ran out the door for work. Eaten around 1:30pm. I made her a toasted lil wrap with chicken, lettuce, spinach, yum yum pickles, sprouts and mustard. Side of a donut peach that she had never tried before.

The second one is a bit trickier, however, should still be completely manageable. You need to sit down with them and have a discussion as to why you want to have your own food rather then what the family is eating. Explain to them that it’s not that you don’t like their cooking, but instead, frame it in a way that you have goals you want to obtain so you have different needs OR you could frame it in a way that you want to learn to cook for yourself, as once again, you’re an adult and being able to cook is a life skill that needs to be learned.

Don’t over think it. Who knows, they might not even bat an eye if you choose to start cooking. Even better, offer to cook the family dinner one time instead and share your new skills and foods with them.

Dad’s second break snackie which I believe is early afternoon (he works 10 hour shifts). Another piece of fruit (apple in this case, but nectarines/peaches are common) and a cranberry muffin he bought. Normally he has melba toast with cheese but we didn’t have any of his toasties. Damnit who did groceries this week?…oh wait that’s me…
Also take note how he is showing you how much water he drinks!

I never get why some feel the need to eat food they don’t want just because that is what everyone else is eating. Maybe I’m just annoying that way, but I have no qualms about making and/or bringing my own food because I need to ensure I meet my nutritional needs.

Your parents, housemates, boyfriends, whoever wants pizza…

Dad and his blurry pictures again. You guessed it, pizza night with their ‘veggie’ pizza. Mom had 3 pieces with no veggies (shame on you Mom!) and Dad had his salad that I forced him to eat with shaker cheese along with his zzzaaa.

…doesn’t automatically mean that you have to then eat pizza if you don’t want to. Take that opportunity to make whatever your are craving.

My dinner at work. Grilled acorn squash and arctic char with my homemade pesto. Side of salad in an insert made at work (because who preps a salad when they work in a kitchen?) and a lil throw together dressing.

So yeah. My parents and I don’t eat alike at all. In fact, these pictures may look like we are polar opposites, but despite our differences, there are no fights and such over food and what people are having because we eat what we all like and that should be all that really matters right?

To conclude, here’s the photos that didn’t make the commentary. Ie snackage.

Not snackage. I have gotten my Mom into the ACV shot habit firs thing in the morning (despite her still gaggin on it). She says that it has really helped her sinuses clear up more which then leads to less pressure on her migraine-prone head! Win for vinegar 😀

The daily Tim’s run. Yes I still have to have it even on work days.

My nightly pudding + Questie. You have seen enough of those eh? If you must know, Questbar flavour of the evening was peanut butter supreme…toasted. Mental image of hot, nutty goodness with a slight toasty exterior is implanted into your minds…

The before dinner drinks. My Dad’s beer and my Mom has her cooler drink things.

With their drinks, when I’m at home I usually start my dinner (aka eat my salad) during their drink time. No, I don’t drink, but I can still enjoy their company. See you can be around alcohol and not feel the need to have it (once again, this is if you don’t want it but feel bad about being the one not drinking). No feelings are hurt in the process and no judgements are made.

My Mom’s before dinner drink of choice

My unpictured fish oils and random chicken I chomped on at work between rushes

Mom showing you that she drinks her water too!

So that’s that. Eat what you want and don’t be so concerned about how others will feel about you eating differently. Most often they are simply curious as to what’s in your bowl/container/plate.

So that was a full day of eating for the whole workin famjam. I hope you enjoyed this style of post and commentary and have a great humpday my friends!

Do you eat similar things to those who live with you?

-Chelsea

A Day In The Life At Home Bummin…WIAW

Hey Friends!

It’s been a while since I linked up with a proper WIAW for Jen’s partay so here she goes, A Day In the Life style.

This week we are moving our tushies to a chair over at Sprint To the Table so thanks to Laura for hostin!

I say that I was bummin because I’m still without a job…sigh…still searchin but despite being at home with the parentals for a bit, this week has been an overall tiring one with the big move into the new apartment with Rita (and Emily who will join us in the Fall). I have literally been driving back and forth to Guelph every day for the past 5 days straight and quite frankly, I’m exhausted of driving despite it not being that far really.

Today I DID NOT drive to Guelph but that doesn’t mean that this lil body stops movin because I just don’t stop.

Can’t stop. Won’t Stop.

Oh and guess what guyyzzzz…

I gained a pound apparently as of Sunday.

Big news. Really big news.

Now, I will finish that lil update by saying that I am only using the scale as a guide right now because I need to go up for my health. For general purposes however, I say give that piece of sh** metal the boot and never own one because your weight means nothing in my opinion. Weight is so misleading and leads to obsession. Go with how you feel and look in your clothes and in your own skin.

❤

So lets begin on this lovely sunny (lovin this warmer and sunny weather btw! Holler Mother Nature!) Wednesday.

7:25am. Alarm goes off. My tushie is upstairs makin breaky for my pre-workout. Warning: UGLY bowl of zoats comin at ya.

Zoats cooked in unsweetened cashew milk (LOVE) with chia seeds, peanut flour and 80ish grams of liquid egg whites. 50g of nanner is melted in and it’s all topped with pink sea salt, more peanut flour, toasted peanuts, cinnamon and a 1/2 tbsp blob of crunchy peanut buttah that is hiding on ya in the top corner.

Sorry I’m not sorry. Their taste cannot be beat.

8AM. Nommin zoats and enjoying life. Watching Teen Mom OG.

Yes you cannot see that peanut buttah because that bite is eaten dead last. Yup I’m a “save the best to the end” typa person.

8:30AM. Sippin on the rest of my organic herbal chocolate orange tea (reheated) from last night while I let that digest before gymmin.

Aww Yeah that mornin look. Strategically covering half zee face. 😉

9:30ishAM. Drivin my lil butt to my back and oblique gym sesh

10AM….

10:45AMish. It’s fig time.

Sorry no picture but these are the figs I eat after I finish my big opening set. This is my 5×5 with multiple warmups and drop sets to finish. In the end, I end up reppin out about 6-8 sets total.

The point of these it just to take the opportunity to get more carbs in me in a very small volume while also providing me with a lil boost to get me through the rest of my workout.

I sip on a bottle of water with BCAAs and glutamine in it during my workout.

12:10PM. Leaving zee gym. Good sesh. Need to drive home so I can demolish yet another bowl of zoats. Mwahaha. I love my zoats.

I rotate between having a stirfry and zoats post workout so that I don’t overdo the veggie department. The perk? I love eating oatmeal, so those zoat days are tolerated quite well… 😉

12:30PM. Home + Shower

12:50PM. Dunzo. Yes I shower fast. When the hair doesn’t need to be washed…

1:30PM. Behold another UGLY bowl of zoats but slightly different. More protein and carbbies, lil less fat so that it digests a wee bit quicker for post workout refuel.

Zoats made with gluten free quick oats, unsweetened cashew milk, peanut flour, shredded zuchini. Cooked up with 2 egg whites, or 64ish grams liquid egg whites and 60g of chopped fresh pineapple. Sprinkled more peanut flour on top, tsp coconut oil and a few cranks the pink sea salt. Topped finally with my protein icing which is cashew milk + 1/2 a scoop or so of Diesel chocolate peanut butter whey.

I know what you’re thinkin…

What the hell is that?

It’s soo good guyzzz.

It’s basically the same idea as my pre-workout BUT with less egg whites so I can have my protein icing (Diesel Whey with cashew milk), which is peanut butter chocolate in this case, on top and no nuts or nut butter. Also, pineapple is my fruit of obsession choice for post workout at the moment. Melted pineapple = amazing. Melted pineapple oats dripping with peanut butter chocolate icing…I die. Am I’m being too dramatic?

My nutritionist and I have recently added in some coconut oil which I surprisingly like the consistency of and touch of flavour it adds despite hatin on coconut. The oil is a good way to add calories without me noticing much because there’s really not volume increase.

Oh, and let me just show you my set up while we are at it so you can have a good laugh at me like everyone else does..

Okay you may think I’m nuts but you see I have a reason for my madness. I stand up right? SO I need the oats to be closer to my face so I stack up containers for my “table.” Secondly, due to the fact that I always have to pee before I eat (postworkout “I drank an entire bottle of water” problems) and that I need my oats to be burn my face off hot, I put that lid thing on top.

The water bottle is then on top of all of that because my hot oatmeal has warped the shape and it now isn’t flat…

Yes, I have issues but hey, I’m the master of making stable towers that have a good purpose, no?

2PM. Zoats done. Teen Mom OG still not finished, but I must now take zee lil babbeh out for her pees too.

2PM. Slightly struggle to get on all her equipment to go on her walky. Those lil booties are tougher then they look cuz her lil piggly wigglies like to sneak out the top.

I wish I could have filmed it though because she’s a lil smartie pants. She is so used to her dressing routine that she lifts each individual foot at a time for you to put her lil booty on it. My baby is a genius.

2:10PM. Ready to go Sissy.

2:20PM. Stop at every single possible thing to sniff…

2:45PM. We make it back home. Would you believe that was only around the block. Yes she is quite the dilly-dallier. Needed one more..

She’s beautiful.

2:50PM. I’m off again to pick up a few things from the grocery store and make my daily stop at none other then…

Timmies. Such a nice day to take a walk.

3PM. Reach my destination. Sobeys is the grocery store near my parents place.

3:30PM. Paid for zee goodies and headed back home before my nutritionist called me at 3:45. I picked up some extra lobster to supplement the claws I had thawing for dinner (just wait until you see those babies!), a cucumber for the salad, buns for my parents burgers and unsalted pistachios for moi cuz I was feeling some of those lil guys in my zoats tomorrow.

3:50PM. Had my phone call appointment with Gabrielle (my nutritionist).

4PM. Supps and some chicky.

2 tsp fish oils + Vitamin D drops (D Drops)

I’m weird mmmmkay.

4:30PM. Made my snacky for tonight (pudding, you have seen it floatin around the blog) while finishing up Teen Mom OG and some YouTube.

5PM. Started typing up this post.

5:45PM. Start cracking on my parents and my dinners. It’s time to fire up the grill as I have been doing EVERYDAY since I have been home. It really is true that everything tastes better on the grill.

I was grillin up sage and green onion chicken burgers (store made from McMaster’s Meats downtown Georgetown for any locals) for my parents along with some fixins. Grilled baby potatoes with Mrs. Dash traditional blend and pepper for my Dad and onions and mushrooms for toppins and sides (mushrooms on the side for my Mom who is weird and doesn’t like them on her burger…Love you Mom). Grilled kabocha on deck for me and a later and unpictured lobster tail.

Speaking of lobster, do you see the lobster on steroids I got to devour all thanks to the Guelph farmers market.

HUGE! So good. Fresh Nova Scotia lobster. Omnomnomnom. All mine. Okay I ripped off a small piece for my Mom. I shared…kinda. 😉

6:40PM. Dinner is served. Salad first for me while I join my parents for their before dinner drinks.

This was the big salad I made for the three of us. I topped mine with avocado and my own dressing. Lately I have been mixing equal parts lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, dried dill and oregano, black pepper, Mrs. Dash garlic and herb and mustard to thickin it up and blend it together.

7:10PM. Round two and the best part…

How many times to I have to say that grilled kabocha is literally the best thing to hit my tastebuds as of recently? Those massive lobster chunks just tops it all off. Full and happy tummy.

7:45PM. My parents sit down for their dinner…

Dad’s plate. I made up his burger with a toasted thin bun (which he first complained about because it was a “thin thing” but said he liked them afterwards), with those grilled onions and mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and his typical condiments of mustard and relish.

8:30PM. My Mom and I went for a walk and ended up at the grocery yet again for her white cranberry juice.

9PM. Back from walk, prepped my zoats for tomorrow morning (soaking oats with chia seeds and shreddin the zucchini), and finished up this post.

10PM. Sippin more tea, ready to link up my post and going to relax a bit before joining my parents downstairs with my typical puddin and 1/2 Questie. I’m thinkin mint chocolate for tonight. We shall see.

Well my lovelies, I hope you enjoyed this post and your Wednesday.

What are you craving recently?

What’s a good burger to you? My burgers are bunless (more tasting the toppins yo, plus I don’t do gf bread. Gross) with sauteed mushies and onions, lettuce, sundried tomatoes, mustard, basil pesto if I have it and hot sauce. Also, I tend to gravitate towards game burgers. Bison, elk, etc.

-Chelsea

#DemHashTags…WIAW

Hey guys!

Tis the day to share all zee foods and today I have 2 weeks worth of photoes to dump on ya so I hope you can drool over at least one of my whole food noms. I will say that I have a few “out of the standards” type dinners going on in this reel so I hope you can appreciate that I’m reaching an arm out of my box of fish + squash + salad that I live in daily. 😉

Also I’m being a big fat copy cat of Giselle’s #HashTagStyle post because I thought it was a fun idea to make me…

1. Refrain my excessive talking
2. Makes me get creative with descriptors
3. Refrains my chatterface…yeah that’s the big one because you all know I can get out of hand.

So I’m going to shut my mouth now and give ya the goods with them good ol’ #HashTags. I hope you enjoy!

#ThanksJen #HostessOfTheMostess #OhWait #ArmansTurn #HostOfTheMost

Uh oh, Looks like I brokey the rules. Serves me for writing this post before double checking. To be a proper partier you MUST do a full day of eats, so my string of “What I Ate Recently” doesn’t cut it. I will link up, but if I get cut I completely understand and will not be upset.

I will be better next week and be an A++ student PROMISE! I just really wanted to share my nomz with you all.

#5:30AMProteinPancakes #PreWorkout #Strawberries #PeanutButter #CrunchyDuh #NeedToStillWorkOnSauce #ChallengeToNotUseAnyWaldenFarms

#BakedPestoHalibut #OhYouFancyHuh #DressedUp #GreenFattyGoodness

#TuperwareLife #ThursdayNightClass #SpaghettiSquashCravingSquashed #HomemadeChunkySauce #HomemadeChickenMeatballs #AllTheNooch #TooManyVeggies #Bloated #ILoveFennel

#CheatMeal #GirlsTookMeOutForThai #SeafoodGains #SodiumMakesMeVeiny #Cashews #SoManyVeggies #IAteEmilysVeggiesToo #VeggieHore

#NeededBeef #BisonIsBetterThenBeef #Sirloin #BakedSweetPotatoFries #PepperyVeggies #Inhaled #LegDayProblems

#NightClassAgain #NotAUsualRestDay #MoreCarbs #DemPurpleSweetTatersDoe #HomemadeChickenBurgers #Squash #RoastedVeggies

#PostWorkout #EatenAt10:30 #GotStaredAtInLecture #DontCareBreakfastWasAt 5:30 #NeedFuel #FoodsOnRepeat #FinalPurpleSweetTater #SoSad #BurgersAreSoConvienent

#WholeFoods! #SoGood #CajunNight #DemCajunShrimp #DateWithHouseMates #TheyWereWholeFoodVirgins #IConvertedThem #MayAllTheirWalletsHateMe #TakeMeBack #Please.

#Fish #In #A #Foil

#OMG #GuysYouNeedToHaveThisInYourLife

#PostFoil #SoMoist #HateThatWord #Veggies #FattyDeliciousTrout #Pesto #SpicyGarlicRosemaryMashedAcornSquash #EatThatSkin! #SoGood #IActuallyMadeThisPlatePretty #BeProud #WatchedMasterChef #FeltLikeAMasterChef #InMyDreams

#Done

Before I leave you, quicky question…

 Do You like these WIAW posts?

Is there anything I should change about them? Other then actually following the rules…

-Chelsea

Body Vs. Patience

Guys I’m getting impatient.

I want to eat my favourite foods again.

Does my body care about this?

No.

You body will work on its own clock.

It doesn’t care that you want to get back to eating your old foods once again the day after illness.

It doesn’t care that you want to get back to the gym after one day of recuperation.

It believes it’s still in healing mode.

I need to live with the fact that I had food poisoning less then one week ago, had my whole system cleared out, was unable to eat for more then 24 hours and was knocked off my game.

I need to accept that my body went through a trauma.

I also need to accept that healing doesn’t happen in 24 hours even if I think it should.

But guys…

I’m needy.

I’m impatient.

I want my food back!

….

I also want my strength back dammit!

Sigh.

Linking up with the gang over at Peas And Crayons for this weeks What I Ate [during illness recovery] Wednesday. Thanks Jen for hosting!

Scratch that. No link up this week peeps due to some unfortunate links that just go with our WIAW flow, but a continued thanks to the hard working Jen for tweaking the moderating and being able to keep the party alive. To the bloggers who use this linkup for advertising or just for attention and views, shame on you.

When coming off the stomach flu or food poisoning, one is supposed to stick to the BRAT diet…

B: Bananas

R: Rice

A: Apple Sauce

T: Toast

…That lasted a whole one meal (the very first meal I ate in 24+ hours)

I’m a rule breaker mmmkay?

That also stands for I’m a **it starter with the very thing that wounded me in the first place. Smart? Probably not.

You need to eat bread they say…

I’m gluten free.

You need to eat plain white rice they say…

That’s boring, what about brown? (answer= no)

They say no fiber. No fat. No vegetables.

Well geesh what am I supposed to eat!?!?

So, for this post, let’s go through all of my mistakes and why they were not good so that you can hopefully avoid them if you go through the same thing.

Fail #1: Too Much Liquids.

So for my second meal the day after sicky day, I had a soup I made that was full of vegetables (easy to digest ones!), healing herbs and plain chicken. See plain chicken I was a good girl. Or so I thought.

Stomach didn’t like it. Bad girl.

I know in my heart that I don’t do well with liquids. I can’t drink shakes because I get nauseous when I drink too much too fast, so I have never taken to them. After basically only having a can of club soda the day I was sick, I was feeling a lil dehydrated the next day to say the least, so soup sounded like a splendid idea.

Unfortunately, this ONE BOWL OF SOUP led to my tummy being a lil pissed off with me and I then was uncomfortable and stuffed for the next 5-6 hours leading to me breaking another rule of the ‘healing after sickness’..

Fail #2: Eat small meals every 2-3 hours they say..

Because your stomach is sensitive during these first few days and you can only manage small meals, it’s important to eat more frequently to ensure that your body is getting at least a decent amount of calories. You are trying to heal after all and that requires fuel.

That night though, once my tummy calmed down, I did have a smaller dinner that consisted of beautiful massive scallops (I just couldn’t let those go bad!) and some roasted squash. My tummy tolerate this despite the squash having skin on it! Yeah, see I’m a rebel, you are supposed to take off any skin. Screw that, the skins the best part. 😉

After a few hours, I had 1/2 a Questbar as I normally do (no pudding though…crying) and despite being nervous about it (all that fiber and whey is a big no no), it actually made me a bit peckish, so I ate another scallop…at midnight…what?

Small win for me.

Day one of eats (or lack there of…) complete and I slept with my tummy settled.

Fail #4: Too Much Fat Too Fast.

One thing they say to do is to keep your meals low fat for a few days (take another peekie at the BRAT diet and notice that it’s all about them carbs) because fat is harder on the digestive system. Well, I decided Sunday Morning (Day 2 post sick day) that I wanted my zoats again, so I made them as I normally would, which includes 1/2 a tbsp of peanut butter, some crushed nuts, chia seeds and peanut flour. Stupid me.

Once again, my tummy rebelled against me and I couldn’t eat for like 6 hours. 😦 Was it the fats? Was is the zucchini? The chia? I dunno, but they do say zucchini is easy to digest and that fats are a problem too early on.

As far as the rest of my meals went, I was a good girl in terms of the fat content and stuck to zero fat fish or chicken for my protein sources (gawd I miss my fatty fish!) and only introduced avocado after a full day back at eating. Avocado was first because it’s supposed to be the easiest fat to take in (I googled it so it’s legit ;-)).

Zucchini, mushrooms and onion with garlic powder only (nothing spicy allowed..sadface), too small of a piece of squash and chicken breast with avocado.

One that I’m still struggling with…

Fail #4: Too Many Veggies Too Fast.

Baked haddock with avocado (with one random shrimpie), roasted squash and kale done in curry with garlic, onion and mushrooms.

On day 2, yeah see I’m impatient, I knew that I wanted to push a lil bit for more food because I was going back to the gym the next morning and wanted to feel like I gotten better with the whole calories thing. Well that backfired on me as the kale, despite being cooked, did not sit well at all..or maybe it was too much squash…and I blew up like a hot air balloon. Sorry if that is too much information, I’m just being real with you.

I just love my veggies, I’m sorry tummy. Stop hating on me!

So, I failed quite a few times and paid for it with some pain, bloating, gas (sorry TMI) pains and feeling overstuffed, but I did have some positives to this whole process…

Roasted acorn squash and purple sweet potato. Baked Basa with avocado + 2 Shrimp. More Zucchini, onion and mushrooms sauteed in Mrs. Dash Steak Seasoning <- makes it taste like The Keg’s veggies no joke.Tried purple sweet taters again because I needed a higher density carb source that is less volume. Thank you Whole Foods for bringing back my favourite kind of sweet tater. It looks so small on that big plate. This is why I love squash…you get so much of it for the same carbohydrates as that teensie piece of tater. Plus, squash is just soo goood.

Got to make use of my amazing find…

Yes. Dairy free, sugar free, cashew and almond yogurt! Tastes just like plain yogurt, just a lil gritter because its made from nuts. I still missed my pudding, but my attempt at pro-froyo helped to tide me over for my nightly snack aside my 1/2 a Questbar.

I found this at the lil grocery store inside The RichTree in the Eaton Centre for anyone near Toronto.

So after all of that, how am I doing now?

I’m still slowly incorporating foods back in. Tonight, I had salad for the first time for dinner and a medium fat fish (mahi mahi) PLUS I get to have my pudding tonight WEEOOOO so I hope it all sits well.

I adjusted my zoats to have a lil less zucchini and only working with half of the chia seeds that I normally have.

Tomorrow will be the first time I’m having veggies at both lunch and dinner (being back in the gym, I have been having zoats postworkout too), so hopefully that is okay.

Still haven’t brought my fish oils back in yet and I haven’t been able to hit my normal calories again yet, but they are getting higher and hopefully that helps me in the gym as I definitely have a case of the “I’m WEAK!” going on.

Still feeling some gas issues by the end of every day and into the morning, but hopefully that goes away soon. Bring on the fatty fish soon enough!

Sorry had to throw that in there as I’m complaining about not being able to eat..

HOW?!? Me no compute.

Sorry I just obsess over like food.

So yeah, I have learned that I can’t push my body to move too fast or it just pushes back…with vengeance. No bueno.

Happy Hump Day Peeps

Do you follow the BRAT diet when you’re sick?

Do you push your body when you should let it rest and heal?

-Chelsea

Day In The Life & What I Ate [Tuesday]

Hey Friends!

I had a request from a reader to do one of these style of posts and figured I would bring my A-game and take all zee pictures so that I could do just that for you. Lets take a peek into my typical Tuesday. This happens to also be my super early day because I need to get my lil tushie to the gym at 7:30Am Weeoo. Here we go.

Thanks Jen for the link up 🙂

5:30 AM: And it begins.

Jump out of bed and throw my pre-made, naked zoats into the microwave for 6 minutes while I run back upstairs.

Appetizing eh?

5:38AM: Add chopped nanner, nuke again for 2 minutes

5:40AM: Add pink salt, vitamin C powder and flavaaa

Who got my bottle all messy? 😀

Nuke again…Yeah Yeah I’m gunna die.

5:42ish AM: Add all zee toppings. Sprinkle of peanut flour, 3g of chopped up walnuts, 1/2 a tablespoon of this lovely nut butta…

…and a watered down tsp of Walden Farms Chemical Sauce. Yes, I went there. I can only have a touch (ie a tsp that has been watered down so it’s like I get more syyyrrrup) though or else my tummy gets mad that I’m eating crap. And yes, Walden Farms is crap. But the syrup is tasty crap I will admit.

Lil Miss Fitness Freak Confessions. See I’m not perfect. Sometimes I want maple syrup but I ain’t about that sugar soooo I sink to using chemicals.

6AM: Finally ready to eat my pre-workout zoats with a side of Chopped Canada

6:20AM: Done foodz, pop my probiotic and reheat the other half of my tea from last night. If anyone hasn’t tried this tea yet you really should. It’s my fav!

7:10-7:15AM: all bundled and ready to walk in the Arctic…

Damn you Mother Nature!

Hey at least I’m not in New York…

Sorry for your luck down there!

7:30AM: Enter the gym. Game time I have a class a 10AM.

This is what I tell myself every Tuesday.

Today’s workout was Chesticles. Lets take a looky at what I did…

SS= Super set (meaning no rest in between those 2-3 exercises). Drop set means you do your set as normal then immediately (no rest) drop to a lower weight and do another set. CC= Captains Chair

Forgot to put on there that sets 2 and 3 were all 4 total sets and set 4 was 3 sets (my burnout for the workout).

Oh hey PR! 85lb bench yo! I always find that because I’m feeling rushed on Tuesday’s that I’m super focused so despite it being my super early day, I always end up having an amazing workout.

Moment of Distraction: News shows that ferret eats half a little girls face….Well ain’t that nice.

9:25AM: Still going strong…must finish last burnout set

9:38AM: Must finish last set. Damn it someone took my rack for HLR.

9:40AM. Flail my arms around Stretch for a minute so I could say that I did it. Run to the change room to get my sh** together so I can bolt it back to campus.

The post workout selfie I didn’t really have time to take…

Hashtag #CrazyFace

9:50AM: Leave gym…Yeah I have 10 mins to get to my class (about a mile)

10:01AM: Ass in chair. Challenge won.

😀

10:05AM: Can’t get that post workout muffin down my throat fast enough.

10:15AM: Realizing how much my butt hurts from yesterdays leg day (1st of the week, glute/ham focus) as I attempt to cross my legs…

10:30AM: Sitting-in-a-chair fatigue starts to kick in. So I decide to multitask. Listen, take notes and begin to type this post up to keep my eyes open.

10:45AM: What no mid-class break? Apparently they don’t realize that I drank an entire bottle of water during my workout and I need to pee every 20 minutes.

11:20AM: Still have to pee..but more..

11:22AM: The bathroom here has two stalls and it’s lined up out the door…Ugh.

Question of the morning: Can I make it home?

Nope.

11:25AM: Stop into another building to pee then continue walking home.

11:30AM: Get home and prep my lunch because I’m hungry already…

Red Onion + Asparagus + Portabello Mushrooms + Orange Bell Pepper

Veggies are all prepped to be roasted in the toaster oven. Rice is on and Emily comes in so I chatter with her for a few while I get these things going.

12PM: …shake my head that my veggies have been done for like 10 mins now, I’m ravishing and I’m sill not eating…Oh distractions. Wash face, shower, and get changed. <-aka put on PJ’s because who puts on clothes when they are in their house for a few hours? Not this girl, but you knew that already from my vlogs I’m sure. 😉

12:30PM: I’m finally eating. Ugh I have issues.

Roasted Veggies + 3 ounces Roasted Chicken + Pre-soaked and cooked Uncle Ben quick brown rice

Staple meal when I don’t have a meal directly right after my workout (ie proats). Yes, I eat out of that container because it keeps my food as hot as possible for the longest. 😀

Have any of you seen Eye Candy on MTV? Yes it sounds stupid but it’s actually pretty good. Don’t let the name scare you away. A lot of dying though lol.

1:30ishPM: Make pudding (for nightly snack) while catching up on some fitness/health YouTube vids.

I want to say that I was productive before my 4pm class but I was so freakin tired guys so I took a power nap before said class…

2:40-3:20PM: Zzzzzzzzz

3:25PM: Take my vitamin D drops and fish oils, eat about an ounce of leftover roasted chicken because I’m randomly starving again. Yeah, I didn’t eat that much but I figured I would test whether I was dehydrated so I had a lil bite then I was gunna get a Tim’s.

3:35PM: Left for class earlier to pick up my tea from Timmies and took the green bin and recycle with me to get that out of our house.

3:40PM: Tims in hand (which my gloves clearly do not want to hold. Hotpaws don’t hold things apparently). It’s actually not too bad out right now despite being cold…

Maybe it’s the sunshine?

4:55PM: In lecture and read this article [link] that a friend of mine posted on facebook (she was actually the sports nutritionist I saw).

4-5:20PM: Managing Resources lecture + working on this post + working on an assignment for this class. For said assignment I did the Big Five personality test online. If you’re interested, here were my results.

A worrier…Who would have guessed that…

5:15PM: Walking back home.

5:25PM: Walk into the house to find Emily sleeping on the couch. Daaaaawwww.

5:30PM: Finish making my workout summary on PicMonkey

Moment of Worry: So I found that cool background randomly online and I’m hoping I don’t get attacked for using it on my site…cuz I couldn’t find a reference for it…

5:40PM: Hunger starting to ping in again (what is with this non-stop hanger today?! Delayed needs from leg day yesterday?) so I consider slowly making my way back downstairs to start making dinner. Swordfish on the menu tonight. 😀

….Gets distracted by another assignment…

6PM: Downstairs to start cooking. Emily has woken up so I’m chattering with her as I cook.

6:45PM: Just as I sit down with my appie salad (I eat this while my other half is baking/roasting) my computer randomly turned off on it’s own. Awesome.

6:50PM: Macbook is now back on (I’m still using my old one, which does random things sometimes #OldieProblems, as I’m waiting on software for my new one), Pretty Little Liars is on and I’m nommin away. The growling had stopped by now, which is probably not a good thing.

7:10ishPM: Round 2. Baked swordfish and all it’s oily beauty + all the roasty squash. We have delicata, acorn and buttercup there roasted with some olive oil and dried rosemary. Yeah, I don’t do sweet roasted squash. Savory FTW!

7:30PM: Done dinnah, prepping my morning preworkout (soaking my oats and chia seeds) while watching the last leg of PLL and making my Dad a little something something for making his way up real quick tomorrow to drop off my casein. Such a nice Dad I have. 🙂

8:10PM: In go my Dad’s muffin/cupcake thingys..

And I head upstairs to read the chapter for my food pre-lab quiz as my lab is tomorrow afternoon.

8:30PM: Out comes the muffins…Dammit I think I over did them a wee bit…Sorry Dad, hope they are good!

The surprise centre is peekin out the top trying to escape.

8:45PM: Finish that chapter and start quiz

9:05PM: Done quiz and I got pwwweeerrfect. 😀 Preservation master apparently.

9:15PM: Add more to this post.

9:30PM: Read some journals for my Couples and Relationships course assignment.

9:40ishPM: Go put pudding in the freezer + heat up tea that I steeped while cooking muffins earlier and head back upstairs to get back to worky.

Emily catches me as I head back upstairs and makes me smile as she beams about how good her first boxing lesson made her feel. Strong and powerful.

 10:15PM: Starting to wind down before getting my snack and to beddies.

10:40PM: Snack time with blog reading time and I will attempt to make it into bed before midnight.

No s’mores questbar tonight. That’s a shocker. A friend and I were talking about baking the cookie dough one and that got me craving it.

Overall, I didn’t get as much work done as I had wanted to as I kept getting distracted with other things and plus I took that nap but I told myself that was okay and I would just power through it over the next few days. Midterms are slowly creeping up and assignment deadlines are starting to show themselves on the horizon so the beginning of the semester grace period is coming to a close rapidly.

Hope you had a great humpday friends!

What time to you wake up?

What time do you prefer to workout?

Are you easily distracted?

-Chelsea

What [The FamJam] Ate Wednesday

Hey Friends!

So I totally flopped and forgot to show you the rest of my parents (and some of my) eats from the end of our Christmas holidays so what better place to give da noms then Jen’s wonderful linkup?

Before I begin, I want to give so much love back to you guys for all of your wonderful comments and feedback on my video and question yesterday. I really hope to get something like that started within this year but I do want to say that I do know my limits. Some of you guys were concerned that my blog would take a hit but rest assured that I would not take more than I can handle and I would never stop blogging. So don’t you all worry. 😉 One of the main reasons I was hesitant about the whole thing (aside from the lack of a RD status thing) was that I DID NOT want you to see me as “using” you guys for money or turning this blog into a marketing scam. NO. I hate blogs that do that and are constantly throwing products in your face because, well, what fun is that to read? No. Instead, this would be a completely separate thing (If I get it going) that would be for those who really want me to dive in and help them get some healthy habits into their lives plus provide them with answers (to the best of my abilities) to their specific questions when they need it. I would not stop blogging and I would not hold certain things aside for paying clientele only because, as I mentioned, this would be separated and it would be much more on a personalized level. So yeah, still trying to work it out if it’s possible but I will keep you updated. 🙂

Now onto the fun stuff.

Due to it’s being a wee bit late, I’m not sure what days these are from but I hope you can forgive me for that.

One thing I always say is don’t be afraid to ask for what you want no matter how weird you think you’re being. My parents and I did shopping round deux at Yorkdale Mall on December 30th I believe and I got this beauty from a sandwich place. Yes. Does that look anything like a sammy? Nope. I got all hot and bothered by their lobster offering and that sparked me an idea and hey, if you never ask, you will never receive.

So what did I get?

I asked if I could “make a sandwich” but instead of having it on bread, I would have it on salad (which would be rung up as the side salad.) So for my “sammy” I got lobster x2 and grilled veggies x2 (guys, these portions were tiny!) all over their house mixed vegetable salad with balsamic vinaigrette on the side. Despite getting multiple offerings of both my toppings, the salad was a tad bit small for my liking, but the lobster made me quite happy.

Another night, my Mom and I made her maple stew together.

This one is made with potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, can of crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, 1/2 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cup of water. There was chicken in there too.  My Mom likes to cut up some chicken breast, toss it in a bag with a bit of flour, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and pepper and then brown it up in a pan before adding it to the stew. The whole thing cooks together in a dutch oven (or large oven safe dish) or crockpot until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender.

Now, there are some swaps you can do here as there are some ingredients that I would not personally want to eat due to my own preferences and dietary restrictions.

• If you are like me and try to watch your sugar intake, you can reduce or nix the maple syrup and use maple extract. I don’t know how successful that would be, but you can try it out.
• You can use sweet taters or squash for the potatoes if they aren’t your thing.
• For the chicken, you can use oat flour or even coconut flour for a paleo or gluten free version. You can omit the floury coating all together but it helps the seasoning stick to the chicken and probably does add a lil bit to the thickness of the stew.

Mom’s plate

They had their stew with some seedy bread and buttah.

#Saladbeasts also made an appearance again, and this time, my Mom was home to have one. She is picky about what she deems appropriate for a salad though cuz she all kinds of crazy.

The base salad my Mom put together and was just a bag of chopped romaine with radicchio pieces, some mixed dark greens, some kale (I threw that in their ;-)), and some chopped raw veggies (carrots, peppers, cucumber and celery).

For her salad, I added roasted asparagus and portabello mushrooms, some sundried tomatoes, pickles (because they are her fav) and sauteed shrimpies in Mrs. Dash herb and garlic seasoning.

My Dad is a lil bit more fun flexible.

Roasted asparagus, onions, portabello mushrooms and potatoes in garlic and rosemary, sundried tomatoes and some jarred roasted red peppers. He also got a serving of my homemade bison meatballs which were simply ground bison, finely diced onion, garlic, pepper, and a good shake of Worcestershire sauce baked at 375 for about 30 minutes, flipping over once.

Now that is a salad that makes me drool.

On my final night at home (Jan 3rd), I made a super simple recipe that came from Lee over at FitFoodieFinds. My parents loved it and my Mom asked me for the recipe so that she can make it again.

Sorry for the horrible lighting but I wanted to show you the dish before it was baked. Basically it’s a layered dish with uncooked quinoa on the bottom (which you pour stock over top), then a layer of chopped kale, then sundried tomatoes (+ mushrooms that I added because my parents love those shrooms), then a layer of cooked turkey sausage rounds and a sprinkling of part skim mozzarella cheese.

The cheese is optional and I forgot to add the red onion, but they really liked it nonetheless. Thanks Lee!

On my last morning, I made my Dad breakfast as I was home when woke up due to it being a restday from the gym. #SundayFunday.

Normally he has frozen bagged hashbrowns and eggs on the weekend so I essentially made him a whole food, updated version of that. Basically I quickly steamed a potato (microwave steamer pot) that I chunked up and tossed that into a pan with some coconut oil, onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms and kale and sauteed that up until they all started to brown a bit. I then added some of our leftover sundried tomatoes, Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning and pepper and gave that a good toss around and popped a lid on it. After a few minutes (the oil from the sundried tomatoes will brown those taters!), I cracked two eggs right on top, popped the lid on it again and waited for the eggs to be done.

They were supposed to be all runny and such but I left them go a tad bit long so they were more runny-hard, but my Dad was a happy camper.

Before we left with all my stuff, I enjoyed this lil numba..

Stuffed 5 egg (1 whole, 4 white) omelette with sauteed mushrooms, asparagus, zucchini and onions, alfalfa sprouts and kale. I seasoned it with Mrs Dash tomato basil (why don’t they have this one in Canada!? So good!), garlic powder, chili flakes and peppah. On the side was some garlicky green beans and a lil salad.

On our way back I had to snap a pic of the sleepy passenger. I’m glad that she always comes to take me back despite being sad that my time with her is over.

That face. I had to share, I’m sure you all don’t mind a non-food picture right? 😀

But just so I end on food, I give you my postworkout lunch today

I’m the master at making the most of 1/2 a cup of oats. Yes, that entire, almost overflowing soup bowl started as a 1/2 a cup of oats. I’m magic 😉

Okay maybe some shredded zucchini and 2 whole egg whites helps with the plump-age, but I can say I’m just magical cuz I’m the writer here :-D. These zoats had 40 grams of nanner (because this was the first thing I ate after my workout…need those quick digesting carbies), pink salt, cinnamon, vitamin C powder (Pranin), english toffee extract (yummers I  have missed my extracts) and a chocolate peanut butter protein icing thanks to Diesel Perfect Whey.

I’m still trying to adjust to having some mid morning (mid morning to me) classes so because I had a 9:30 class, I had to go to the gym afterwards (because if I wanted to go before, I would have to be there by like 6 to get my whole workout in). As a result, my postworkout and lunch had to morph into one thing and, well, I wasn’t mad at the outcome.

Could anyone else eat oatmeal all day everyday and still love their life? I could.

Well that’s it folkaroonies and now you should go make yourself some oats. 😛

Happy Hump Day!

How do you spice up your oats? Plain oats make me sad, add some life in there!

How are you adjusting to being back at school or work? Did you have to shift anything around?

-Chelsea

Ho Ho Ho-liday Nomz…WIAW

Happy Hump Day Friends!

Before I begin, big New Years Eve birthday shoutout to one fabulous Mother. My Dad is treating us all to the Keg tonight, which I’m super excited for. These is a piece of sea bass with my name on it! NOMZ. I hope we can bring her lots of smiles and love today (of course, this is hopefully every day!) to make your day special because she deserves the best. XO

Tis the day where all the eats shall be revealed and I’m jumpin on the Christmas nomz train over at Peas and Crayons just like the other foodie folks in the blogosphere. If you’re like the rest of us and enjoy drooling over some good holiday food, do yourself a solid and head on over the Jen’s blog and check out the indulgences that went down last Thursday.

I did a recap of the Cross family Christmas a few days ago, but I held off on the food until this special day as Wednesdays are all about the food, so obviously its presentation is most appropriate here, no?

Other than the dinner, I was a bad blogger and only remembered to snap my own lunch that day before the big meal.

Omelette (4 egg whites + 1 whole egg) stuffed with some leftover roasted chicken breast meat, asparagus, mushrooms, onion and kale. Seasoned with Mrs. Dash tomato basil seasoning, garlic powder, chili flakes and pepper. Side salad with apple cider vinegar.

After opening presents, my parents had their traditional bacon and eggs breakfast. For my Mom, this means she gets her bacon sammich dipped in a whole lotta ketchup. My Dad does the whole thing up with his bacon, toast and eggs.

Sorry, like I mentioned, no pictures. I was too busy fiddling with my new MacBook Pro. 😉

Well at least I got the main event right?

Here’s the spread the three of us threw together for us all to sit down to.

Mr turkey was hiding over on the counter. We roast the turkey the day before, as you know…we need oven space on the actual day…and then have the white and dark meat separated in two crockpots to keep them warm.

We tend to do buffet style dinners, regardless of whether it’s a holiday or not because we like to ensure people get the food they will enjoy. Lets take a closer peek at some of these dishes shall we?

A newb to our dinner but it was the star by far. My Mom and I have always wanted to make our own stuffing and this year we finally cracked down and did it and almost everyone went back for seconds and thirds of it. We used a recipe my Mom found that included the use of Italian sausage (did I mention that some of these dishes are not going to be the most healthy? Tis the season..) as the major flavour base. For most normal people (I’m excluded from this group as I don’t eat sausage), that would make a dish instantly delicious.

It was actually super simple to make and had very minimal ingredients so it will definitely be something to keep around for next year.

My Mom’s special ham. She makes this pineapple, mustard glazed ham that everyone loves as a secondary protein for our meal. Most of our family snagged a slice of this and I know my parents really love this dish. Once again, not for me as I don’t eat pork in general but I will say that baked pineapple smells amazing!

I wanted to up the veggies this year so I made a few dishes including this roasted mushroom, green bean and onion mix. Very fall typical side dish. Sorry for the ugly picture, it was already dug into by the time I snapped the pic. Nothing special here, just the veggies, some olive oil, garlic powder, pepper and some oven lovin at 400 until roasty.

Those colours though! Another simple roasted veggie dish of asparagus, butternut squash cubes (I bought these already chopped which is the only reason why the skin is off. I would have preferred skin on as usual. Eat yo skin guys!) and beets.

aaannndd for my Mom (she needs her sweet fixin’s too), maple glazed, roasted carrots. All I did for this was plop the carrots in the dish and topped with maple syrup that had been reduced a bit and a few pieces of butter. Again, stuffed in the oven at 400 until fork tender. I had to put foil over top to let them steam a lil bit to speed up the process but they would be just fine without the foil.

Also making their appearance on the table were:

• Scalloped potatoes
• Plain mashed potatoes for those who just like potatoes for gravy boats
• Steamed peas
• Cranberry sauce
• Artisan loaves
• Some gherken pickles for my Nana
• Gravy

So after all of that, this is what I devoured…

All my roasted veggie dishes (minus the carrots) and a few slabs of dat white turkey meat. Mmmmmm. #TurkeyGainz

 Now, for all of you that twitch in your seat just waiting to dive into the dessert table, here is what we served.

An assortment of my Mom and my baking. These are all the normal suspects and everyone in the family has their favourites. Missing from this plate were my Nana’s favourite Chinese chews and my Auntie Wendy’s chocolate drops. Those brown blobs there are a major favourite of everyone. So much so that they disappear directly from the freezer without thawing first. Double chocolate peppermint truffles. Yes, they don’t stick around for very long at all. I actually used to make them for my friends at school when I had the time to do so.

Also missing from this shot was my attempt at these lil guys…

Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Truffles from the Minimalist Baker. I’m using their shot as I forget to take a pictorial AND because mine where half as pretty as theirs. Do you know how hard it is to make those lil balls smooth and non fingerprint-y when dipping them in melted chocolate? Anywho, I followed their basic idea and used the homemade caramel sauce they gave, tweaked a bit, then after balls of that frozen for a bit, I melted some hazelnut peanut butter and coconut oil and dipped them in that while sprinkling them with some leftover toffee bits. After freezing for a second time, they swam in some melted sweetened chocolate with some coconut oil (the coconut oil is what helps for the hard shell as coconut oil hardens in colder temperatures) and let them do their final freeze.

For the sauce, all I did was soak some pitted dates in some water overnight, drained them in the morning and blended them up with about a tsp or two of coconut oil, caramel extract and a lil water to get the consistency that I wanted. Real ingredients and I got the thumbs up on this sauce. Lots of love to the Minimalist Baker for this one!

This caramel sauce was also used to make our experiment of the day…

sorry for the bad lighting, twas night time after all.

She was a beauty and so easy and fun to make with my Mom. This recipe was one that my Mom found once again and is kind of like an ice cream cake, but with an Italian twist as the cake part was a panettone .

Sorry for the quality of the picture, it was in the basement. I just wanted you all to see the layers.

We were so proud of this creation, despite it not being our own recipe. If you wanna try this, here are the ingredients you need.

• 1 panattone cake. We used a neutral flavour but it would be interesting to try a flavoured one.
• Tube of ice cream. Again we just used vanilla like the recipe said, but it might be cool with another flavour, just match it with you cake and sauces.
• Caramel sauce. We used a slightly watered down version of the one for the truffles
• Chocolate sauce. We bought this.
• Toffee or Skor bits

Here were the steps to make this vision.

1. Take a large bowl (that can be frozen and is maybe just a touch bigger than the cake) and wrap in saran wrap.
2. Cut the bottom of the cake off, about an inch thick. Then cut the cake in half and hollow each half out leaving a nice inch or two border.
3. Pour some of the caramel sauce into the bowl, yes on the saran wrap. The recipe called for soaking the cake in it but ours was too thick for that.
4. Take your cake halves and stick it to the bowl and use some of the filling of the cake to fill in any gaps. This will be the outside of your cake, so make it look as nice as possible.
5. Pour some more caramel into the cake and get it all over the inside of the cake pieces.
6. Sprinkle some of the toffee bits around the whole thing.
7. Filled the cake bowl about a 1/3 of the way up with your ice cream, add a good drizzle of chocolate sauce and sprinkle with toffee bits.
8. Do this two more times so you have 3 layers of ice cream and then place the bottom of your cake that you reserved on the top and fill in any gaps with the final pieces of the cake.
9. Saran wrap the top and throw that baby in the freezer. When you are ready to dig in, let it sit out for a few minutes and slice away.

How easy is that? Is it healthy? Absolutely not, but it was a hell of a good time to make and everyone who had some loved it. My parents are still working away at it and I will be taking some to my housemates if there is any left.

 Well, that is the end of our holiday feastin. I hope you all enjoyed it and that your Christmas was amazing!

Much love.

What has to be on the table for your Christmas meal to be complete?

Are you a contributing cook or a pure feaster?

-Chelsea

S’mores And Pesto…WIA(Monday)

First I wanted to say thank you for your comments on my pushup challenge yesterday and sharing your pushup numbers with me! You all did an amazing job 😀

So, how long has it been since I have been able to jump into one of these with my legit eats??

Yeah. So I’m gunna jump in this week and show you a full days worth of eats. Everything. Supps and all. So you ready? Let us begin.

Go say hi to Jen over at Peas and Crayons while you’re at it if you want a whole lotta #Foodporn

So since it has been a while, things have changed a bit over here…

First thing is that my preworkout proats aren’t very pretty anymore…

Oh and the have turned green.

Long Live Zee Zoats!

OMG guys I have fallin in love with the fluff factor that combining egg white oats and zoats has made. Do you see how much is in that bowl for a 1/2 a cup of oats? Genius I tell you. Plus you get a green veggie into you first thing in the morning. I call that a win.

That beauty of an ‘icing’ on the top is another new thing and it’s delicious but doesn’t photograph too well (and I didn’t even put it all on…). Basically I have switched from putting my Cellucor protein powder in my oats (I used peanut flour now) and instead, have been mixing about a 1/3 of a scoop with some US almond milk to make an icing to put on top. Not only is icing amazing in every way, but the flavour is so much more pronounced and with Cellucor’s amazing flavours, I can savor a different ‘iced’ concoction every morning. This one was Chocolate Raspberry Truffle.

What has stayed the same?

The quest bar bites and nut butter of course. Can’t have oats without some party guests.

Despite the UGLY looking picture, here’s how I make’em if you’re interested

The night before…

This is optional, but I do it for the absorption benefits. Soak 1/2 cup of gluten free oats (I used quick ones) + 1 tsp chia seeds + cinnamon in just enough water to cover.

In the morning…

1. Grate 1/2 a zucchini (about 100grams) into your oats.
2. Add 10g, or about a tbsp or two, of peanut flour (PB2 or chocolate PB2 would work too if you don’t mind the added sugar and salt)
3. Mix together with enough almond milk to make it into a thick soupy consistency and nuke for 2-3 minutes. The zucchini leaches out lots of liquid, but the chia seeds and peanut flour are very absorbent so it evens out. If you’re too dry, just add more liquid. It’s a learning thang.
4. Quickly stir in 1 egg white (about 3 tbsp or 32g). Add more water if it’s too thick (ie not moving)
5. Nuke for another 2 minutes (ensuring it doesn’t overflow if you’re microwave is powerful)
6. Remove and add fruit of choice. I generally do banana and sometimes strawberries if I’m feelin a change of pace.
7. Nuke for a final minute. This is optional if you want your fruit melty like me.
8. Remove and crank in some pink sea salt (a new thing I am trying to incorporate into my diet slowly…will discuss later) and any other superfood add-ins or extracts you like. I’m currently stirring in either lucuma or my Pranin acerola C (vitamin C powder). Stir that all up.
9. Then add your questie bites (I bake mine), cacao nibs, nut butter of choice and a sprinkle of peanut flour on top.
10. Finally, add your icing. Just mix up some whey with water or milk and toss that on top.

Voila, your masterpiece of voluminous, hot goodness. 😀

You can do this on stove top too, but I just like the microwave technique better. Less pots and I don’t loose oatmeal to the pot. 😛 Plus, if I die of anything, it would probably be due to microwaves because I require my food hot so I may microwave something again halfway through eating…yes I have a problem.

Anywho, this sat for about an hour then helped me find my way to the gym and get me through my 2 hour glute/ham workout Weeeooo….

Glute Hamstring Raises (GHR’s). I just found a place to hook my feet into rather than having to find someone to hold my feet down.

Tried these for the first time in a long time (superset with weighted split squats) and I always forget how nice of a burn they give.

I had to literally run out of the gym because I had a dentist appointment to fix my permanent retainer (the lil wire they put behind your teeth after braces so they don’t move) that I snapped a few months ago at 11:10am. I finished my workout at 11ish…

My bad.

I’m stubborn so I tend to just go like a maniac to make sure I don’t cut corners in my workout. Instead, cutting corners that day meant very lil stretching, but hey at least I got my workout done… 😀

I kinda stretched while scarfing down my post workout muffin…my form of a shake which you have seen before.

Yes it looks UGLY (wow that’s a trend it seems) but it actually tastes good. The ugliness comes from the green colour that is my chlorophyll for alkalizing after workout stress (ie. acidifying the body). The only difference now is that there is pink sea salt in it.

Oh I also sip on these on my water throughout my workout…

BCAA’s by Rivalus in green apple. These are the cleanest BCAA’s I have found, meaning they have no artificial crap or sweeteners in them that make my tummy unruly. PLUS they have tons of natural anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric in them for support after your workout.

So after my 5 minute dentist appointment to get an impression done for my wire, I headed to Loblaws to pick up the items I needed for my parents dinnah that night and then headed back home.

Soon after, the stomach yelled at me that it was hangry so this was inhaled…

Under the pile of Mrs. Dash-ified roasted veggies is Uncle Bens brown rice and roasted chicken breast.

Do you ever get to the point where you are so hungry that you don’t feel hungry anymore? I keep telling myself to stop doing that but my hunger comes on in like an instant and it’s always when I’m doing something…then you have to cook and then well…

I swear it eats itself.

Soowwrrry tummy.

So my Dad and I headed into Georgetown and did some Christmas shopping for my Mom while we were waiting to pick up Maggie from the beauty salon…

Shorter hair but not as bad as the last time. They even put lil bows in her hair. Shes so cute.

After we came home I finished the big project that is pesto making that I had started while waiting on my Dad.

It takes forever to make (all that cleaning!) so you make a massive batch! This is my basil-cilantro one with a heavy hit of garlic, lemon juice and chili flakes. Nomz. I put that *it on errythang.

During the afternoon I took my next round of supps (I forgot to mention the probiotic I take every morning after my breakfast, which is Natural Factors Women formula with the cranberry strain).

Two teaspoons of my Botanica Double Potency fish oils in Key lime and 1 drop of my Ddrops.

After preppin my parents dinnah, I then made my own and ate with them while they had their before dinner drink and chatter.

Baked swordfish with pepper and lemon juice. Roasted acorn and kabocha squash. Kale and chard blend with mushrooms, onion, garlic, curry and chili powder.

Man do I love swordfish. Mmmmm and squash of course. This plate is nothing you haven’t seen before but I have had to scale back dem greens because unlike a cow, I only have one stomach and it doesn’t agree with eating an entire bunch of greens in one sitting. Hard lesson I have learned too many times.

After accompanying my parents for their midnight meal dinner and cleaning up, I blogged a bit and answered an email (which should have been done way before now…stupid exams) to an amazing follower who contacted me a lil while back. I capped off my night with my typical frozen puddin and questie.

And just so you know…

The s’mores Questbar is amazing BUT I will say I like it raw better then baked because I feel like it keeps more of its flavours that way. Anyone else agree? Yum.

So that was my full day of eats. Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks again to Jen for the linkup.

NOTE: I have been playing around with pink sea salt because 1. salt is actually needed by the body as an electrolyte and for some reason it only occurred to me recently that I may actually be deficient in salt due to the only salt in my diet being from 1/2 a questie a day and any residual salt in my fish and such. Athletes especially need more as they sweat it out during training. 2. I have heard that there are digestive benefits of including it in your diet AND 3. I have also red that if you are chronically tired it may be a sign that your salt is low and I have to say that postworkout I have noticed a difference. Before I used to be drained completely after my workout and almost falling asleep, but the lil bit of salt has appeared to keep me awake and perky up until I have my next meal about 1.5 hours later. Thoughts?

Happy hump day all!

Do you like pesto? Favourite way to use it? It makes an amazing topping for fish (especially fattier ones like trout and salmon) and salad dressings!

Favourite fish? It’s so hard for me to just pick one, so a couple of my favs include trout (red fish), swordfish, sea bass and halibut for my white fish and scallops and lobster for my shellfish. Yeah…see can’t just pick one. I’m a seafood lover.

-Chelsea