JCore Recap: Days 26-30

Okay.  So.  I've finally decided that I'm so far behind on my posts that I'll never recover.  I can't blog every day!  I just can't!  So instead of trying to catch up, I'll just give you a look at the important stuff:


1) I got into a PhD program!

In January I was informed that I had been conditionally accepted into the University of Missouri's Integrative Anatomy program.  The condition was that I needed to have a source of funding, since they don't accepted students without funding.  The Integrative Anatomy department nominated me for the university's Life Sciences Fellowship program, and I found out last Friday that I have been awarded one of these fellowships.  So, now I have funding and can be officially accepted into the program!  I haven't heard back from all of the PhD programs I applied to yet, but Mizzou was my top choice so I'm totally going there.  I'm so excited :D.


2) I'm totally a Warrior!

Last Saturday I did a second Warrior Dash, and it was completely awesome.  FYI, my shirt used to be teal. My pants used to be black.  I was always brown, but perhaps not quite that shade of brown :p.


3) JCore Fit Test #4.

Not too shabby!


4) I stress ate, but it was totally healthy so it's probably fine!

So, on Sunday afternoon, my car died again.  It's all fixed and fine now, but at the time I had to have it towed, and the repair shop was closed for the day, and I had to take vacation time from work to get it taken care of, and I was not a happy camper.  It's probably a good thing I'm trying not to eat sugar or high-fat dairy, because if I had thought I was allowed to eat ice cream I totally would have.  Instead I had a microwave oatmeal muffin thingo.  Still technically stress eating, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, all things considered.   I have recently received a request for more recipes on this blog, so here's one now:

Oatmeal Microwave Muffin
Adapted from Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth
Serves 1

Ingredients:
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup egg whites
1/2 banana, mashed
2 T dried cranberries
1 T peanut butter (or nut butter of your choice)
1/4 t baking powder
Cinnamon and vanilla to taste (probably like 1/2 t of each, I don't really measure these things)

Directions:
In a small bowl, mash the banana then stir in the remaining ingredients.  Spray a microwave-safe mug with cooking spray, and pour in the batter.  Microwave for 90 seconds.  As it cooks, the muffin will rise over the top of the mug; this is fine, it won't fall over, and it will sink back down when the microwave stops.  When the time is up, check the top of the muffin.  If it still seems a little wet, stick it back in the microwave for another 20 seconds.  Then, turn out onto a plate, let cool for like a second or however long you can wait, and enjoy!


This was crazy easy to make, and tasted pretty terrific.  Thanks to the banana and cranberries you won't mind that there's no sugar added.  I haven't tried it yet, but I bet this would be good with chopped nuts mixed into the batter as well.  I thought it would make a good post-workout snack, so I made another to bring to Boot Camp with me:

It worked out really well, I think, so this might become a regular thing.


Okay, well, I think that's it for now!  Maybe I'll try to blog the last 10 days of JCore....or maybe I won't.  We'll see.

JCore Day 25

Can we just talk about my shoes for a second?

I got them at Old Navy last Monday.  They were on clearance for about $5 - it doesn’t really get better than that.  I’ve been pretty much constantly admiring them, as well as demanding that Kevin admire them too (“Kevin, aren’t these great?!  Don’t you think these are the best shoes?!”).  I’ve never owned pointy-toed shoes before, I didn’t think I liked them, but these guys make me feel extra snazzy :).

The Workout

Today was Fire Fit again, so I continued trying to focus on keeping my balance during the single-leg exercises.  Today I tried to pay more attention to the muscles I need to activate to keep myself stabilized.  I’ve also been feeling for a while that my left oblique muscles are weaker than my right side, which probably contributes to my balance issues.  I’ll try to figure out a way to help my left side catch up to my right.  So far, I haven’t been feeling a whole lot of affects from Boot Camp yesterday.  While doing JCore I got a cramp in my right bicep, and my back feels a little sore when I stretch, but other than that it seems to be fine.  Simone had said that we can expect the soreness to be delayed, however, so I guess I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

 

Breakfast: Almond butter banana protein shake and wheat Chex with a latte.

I grabbed a latte with my breakfast this morning since I had to get up a little earlier than normal today.  I’ve been feeling a little sleepy at work recently even when I get up at the normal time, so I figured I could use the extra jolt of caffeine today.

Lunch:  Leftover African chicken with veggies and lentils.

Based on Simone’s advice from yesterday, I ate this a little earlier than normal.  Since I ate breakfast at around 7am, I started on this at about 10:30.  It felt weird to be eating lunch so early, especially since chicken and lentils and vegetables is not what I would normally consider “morning food,” but it's easier to eat all of the portions and calories I need to when I'm less rigid with my food choices. 

Snack 1: Cucumber slices with Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb cheese.

This snack idea ended up being a little better in theory than in reality.  It tasted good, but since the cucumbers had so much moisture it was hard to spread the cheese on.  Also I ended up only having enough cucumber slices for half of the cheese.  So I just ate the second wedge by itself and that was fine.

Snack 2: Granny Smith apple.

Dinner: Apricot-glazed pork chop with broccoli, mixed vegetables, and wild rice.

These pork chops were really good, and pretty easy to make.  I used this recipe, but basically what you do is thin out some apricot preserves with water (I used peach preserves), salt the pork chops and brown on both sides, pour on the apricot mixture and let the pork chops simmer for a bit with the lid on the pan.  In the last few minutes, uncover the pan so the apricot sauce can reduce down into a glaze.  Then, eat!

Looking back over my food log for the day, I noticed that I kind of front-loaded my calories.  I feel like I’ve heard it’s better to have more calories earlier on, since people tend to be less active in the evenings; however, Simone mentioned to us yesterday that it's not really good to pack too many calories into one meal.  The way I understand it, eating too much at one meal and too little at the next causes spikes and drops in your blood sugar, which messes with your metabolism.  Simone recommends eating fairly evenly-sized meals more frequently to keep your blood sugar levels steady, so I'll try to be more aware of my meal sizes in the future.  

JCore Day 24

This one is from Wednesday Feb. 20.

The Workout

I finally went to Boot Camp!  I was so happy to finally get started.  Today’s class was set up like a circuit, and we did a lot of great exercises, like pushups with resistance bands across our backs (so hard!) and sandbag slams.  Probably the most notable exercise was the tire flip.  There was this giant tire that we needed to move back and forth down a patch of grass.  I could manage it if I had a partner helping me, but not so much by myself.  Working alone I didn’t get it more than a few inches off the ground.  I’m thinking that my goal for this class will be to get to become strong enough to flip the tire by myself.  It was a really good workout, although right now I don’t feel like I’ll be as sore as she said we’d be.  We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

After the workout was over, we sat down with Simone to talk a little about how our eating is going.  I mentioned to her that because I’m eating more protein than I have in the past, I haven’t been as hungry and sometimes don’t eat as many calories as I should.  Simone said that this isn’t really a good practice, and that eating more frequent, smaller meals throughout the day might help me make sure I get all of my calories in.  I’ve been eating pretty consistently about every 4 hours or so, but maybe I’ll try to bump it up to every 3 hours to give me time to eat everything I need to.

The Food

Breakfast: Oatmeal with pumpkin and smoked chicken and apple sausage.

This should have been awesome.  It was, in fact, almost awesome.  It was right on the threshold of awesome.  The only problem was I didn’t add enough salt, so it was kind of bland interspersed with sausage deliciousness.  I actually forget to salt my food that I pack for work with kind of a tragic frequency, so I really should just get a saltshaker to keep at my desk.

Lunch:  Salad with chicken, mixed veggies, and hummus-salsa dressing.

I made this using canned chicken and lettuce from our CSA box.  It was extra good since there was no one around to tell me what they thought it looked like :p.

Snack 1: Pear and string cheese.

Well, I managed to photograph 1/3 of my snack this time, at least. 

Snack 2: Dry roasted chickpeas.

I wasn’t really hungry after Boot Camp (I’m rarely hungry immediately after workouts), but Simone had said that we should try to have a small snack after class.  So, I brought these with me and ate them in the car on the way home.

Dinner: African chicken with broccoli, Asparagus Stir-Fry vegetables, and black beluga lentils.

Kevin had mentioned that we’d eaten Indian, Moroccan, and Asian-flavored dinners recently and suggested we have something from a different continent.  I randomly chose Africa and Googled until I found a recipe that used ingredients we had in the house already.  The only experience I have with African food is eating at Ethiopian restaurants, so I don’t know if this Peri Peri African chicken is authentically African-tasting or not.  It was pretty good, though; a little spicy and a little tangy.  We had originally planned to eat it last night and then changed our minds, so the chicken ended up marinating overnight instead of the suggested 3 hours.  The stir-fry vegetables were a mix of asparagus, green beans, cauliflower, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and yellow squash.  I think the lentils were my favorite part, though.  I haven’t had them in a while, so I was really excited to find them with the pre-cooked grains at Target (where I got the farro and whole grain medley). 

Dessert: Ghirardelli chocolate.

My sweet parents sent me a package with a card and a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day – although, because of the snowstorm they got earlier they couldn’t get out to mail it when they wanted to so it didn’t arrive until today.  I ate this one hazelnut truffle (which was super delicious), and then donated the rest of the box to Kevin.

In other news, we finished The Night Circus last night!  So, so good.  I was sad when it was over (not because it was a sad ending, just because I wanted there to be more to read), and there are definitely parts I want to go back and re-read.  Also I want to go to the circus!  Specifically I would like to go to The Night Circus, but I can’t because it’s fictional.  Someone should start a Night Circus so I can go to it.

JCore Day 23

And this one would be from Tuesday, Feb. 19.

The Workout

Today I did Rev Up.  I continued with yesterday’s goal of focusing on the balance and single-leg exercises.  I should have had TRX this afternoon, but instead I had to go to a (dare I say lame-o?) meeting. 

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb cheese and dried apricots.

This was pretty delish.  I tend to like the sweet/savory combo, and I thought the apricots went really well with the cheese.

Lunch:  Chicken mixed with Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb cheese and cucumber slices.

Clearly I am getting my cheese on like it’s my job.

Snack: Greek yogurt with applesauce and wheat Chex.

Hooray for yogurt with applesauce, which is way better than yogurt with no applesauce!

Dinner: Tomato soup with smoked chicken and apple sausage.

Okay, so here's what happened: Kevin and I had gone to Whole Foods for a screening of a documentary about a new movement of young farmers (it's called The Greenhorns, it was really interesting).  On our way out, we happened to meander past the smoked meat counter, and we were immediately surrounded by the most delicious of smells.  How we've managed to miss this particular counter in the past, I have no idea.  Clearly we had to buy something.  Equally clearly, sausage is probably not the best choice of protein for someone who is watching what they eat, but I figured chicken sausage wouldn't be too bad.  And it wasn't bad.  In fact, it was awesome.  I chopped 2 links up and added them to my soup, where their smokey flavor spread perfectly.  It was great :).

JCore Day 22

I'm terrible, which means this post was supposed to go up on Monday, Feb 18.

This morning I had a blood donation appointment, but my iron levels were too low again.  I am a bit worried about it, because this is the second time in a row I’ve been deferred for low iron.  It might be more understandable if I hadn’t been eating as much protein as I currently am.  I’m thinking about adding an iron supplement into my daily vitamin regiment, but first I think I’m just going to pay more attention to the actual amounts of iron in the things I’m eating.  If, after tracking for a while, I see that I’m not actually getting 100% of my Daily Value of iron from my food I can then decide whether to adjust my diet or start taking iron pills.

The Workout

This morning before going to give blood I did Fire Fit.  I’m still having trouble with most of the balance exercises, so this time I tried to really focus on doing the balance moves without modification.  For the most part, this meant that I was moving really slowly through most of the moves, but I’m hoping it will allow me to make improvements in these types of exercises.

Breakfast: Protein shake and wheat Chex.

I didn’t have a lot of time, so I ate this in the car on the way to the blood donation site.  The shake is my standard milk, protein powder, frozen banana, almond butter, ice concoction.  I used almond butter instead of peanut butter because it’s what I had, but I actually feel like I prefer peanut butter in this recipe.  The almond butter is good, just not the same.

Snack: Pear and string cheese.

Lunch:  Butternut squash soup with chicken.

No pictures of either of these, I’m afraid.  The snack was eaten while shopping at/driving home from Walmart, and I had the soup right after waking up for a nap (I was still a little groggy, so I didn’t think to snap a picture until it was too late).

Dinner: Leftover Asian beef with farro and baby carrots because why not.

This is the last of last night’s slow-cooker Asian beef, on top of some leftover faro from yesterday’s breakfast.  There was a lot of broth so it kind of turned into soup, which was perfectly lovely.  I thought about having some hummus with the carrots, but I couldn’t be bothered.  

Also, I realize that 'petite' carrots are just regular carrots that have been pared down, but I still extra like them.  Is this weird?

JCore Day 21

Hooray!  Today Phase 3 of the nutrition plan starts, which means there are some changes in the proportions of what I can eat.  First, and perhaps most importantly, I can have cheese again!  Hooray!  The JCore guidebook suggests that I should wait until about Day 26 to re-introduce bread, but since I didn't initially realize that things like crackers counted as bread, I think I'll extend this to about Day 31.  I'm also excited about getting an extra serving of fruit (so back up to 2 servings a day) and carbs (up to 5 a day).  This is balanced by having 1 fewer servings of protein, 1.5 fewer servings of vegetables, and going down to only 2 servings of fat per day.  The decrease in fat is the only thing that might be difficult; in Phase 2 I had relied on a fair amount of Justin's nut butter packs as snacks, but each pack is 3 servings of fat.  I guess I'll just have to find something to replace it - maybe cheese!

I did not go running today.  Instead I watched Food, Inc. and Fresh and Twin Peaks and the Twilight Zone. And I to prove I'm not completely lazy, I did some laundry as well.


Pre-breakfast: Starbucks Via latte.

I was hungry, but, as previously discussed, also lazy.  This held me over until I felt like cooking something.



Breakfast: Farro with mango, milk, an cinnamon. 

I used a pouch of pre-cooked farro that I got from Target and added in some sliced mango and a little milk.  I had thought that the grains would soak up the milk, but not so much as it turns out.  It still worked out, though, it was a little bit like just eating cereal.


Lunch: Kale salad with chicken, broccoli, and pomegranate arils.

This was another recipe that let me use up a bunch of things from the CSA box; this time the kale, some of the fresh thyme, and the other half of the lemon.  I found this website that describes how rubbing some olive oil into the kale leaves and letting them sit for a while allows the kale to soften up enough that it's okay to eat raw.  I also found this video online that teaches the best way to open up a pomegranate.  The salad was good, but I'm thinking that I might not really like raw kale.  I thought the flavor was a little strong, and even though the leaves had been softened by the oil they were still tougher than lettuce.  I don't know, maybe I just need to get used to it.


Snack 1: String cheese!

Hooray for cheese!


Dinner: Slow-cooker Asian beef with sweet peppers, sprouts, and whole grain medley.

Okay, everyone - this was SO GOOD.  Like, I was actually, genuinely impressed with myself, especially since it was something that didn't have a ton of forethought.  At around 4:30pm Kevin and I started musing about what we would have for dinner.  We had some uncooked beef stew meat that needed to be used up, but we didn't necessarily want any more stew.  After doing some Googling I came across this recipe for Asian beef and decided to go with it simply because we had most of the ingredients.  The recipe says to cook the beef on low for 6 hours but we did not have 6 hours, so instead we cooked it on high for 4 hours.   After it was done cooking, I came to the realization that I hadn't planned anything to go along with it, so I grabbed a bag of pre-cooked whole grain medley from Target (it's got stuff like brown rice and rye and barley and whatnot) and microwaved it.  Then, I made a really quick stir-fry using some sliced peppers and the sprouts we got in our CSA box, and put it all on a plate!  And it was great!  Like for real!  I made so many comments to Kevin about how good I thought it was.  Hooray for me :p!

JCore Day 20

The craziest thing happened this morning!  Kevin was preparing to make an omelette for breakfast.  He cracked an egg into a bowl, and we were surprised to see two pretty yellow yolks in the bowl instead of the expected one.  I think I've seen an egg with a double yolk before, but they're pretty rare so it was kind of cool to see.  After a bit of discussion, however, we decided that a double-yolk egg did not count as two eggs.  So, he cracked a second egg into the bowl and we seriously could not believe what we saw:

Whoa, what?

Two double-yolk eggs!  In a row!  Of course I had to take a picture, this is pretty incredible.  I can't remember why, but we decided that even two double-yolk eggs wasn't enough eggs (it might have made more sense if I hadn't already eaten, but Kevin was just cooking for himself).  So, Kevin cracked open a third.

Whaaat?!

I think we can all agree that this might be the craziest of crazy times that have occurred in conjunction with making an omelette on an otherwise uneventful Saturday morning.  At least, the craziest times I've ever heard of.

Okay, in other news: we are at the halfway mark, folks!  In 20 more days I will have completed all of JCore!  No workout today, it's a rest day.  Tomorrow is as well, but I might try to get in a run anyway.  I'll see how my knees feel.

The Food

Breakfast: Scrambled egg whites with rainbow chard and Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles.

I didn't have any magic double eggs, just egg whites for me :p.  I first sliced up the rainbow chard and added sauteed it in a pan.  I had read online somewhere that the stem pieces need to cook longer so I added them first and threw the leaves in a couple of minutes later.  Shortly after the chard leaves I added the sausage crumbles.  They're pre-cooked this step wasn't necessary, I just wanted them to brown a little.  Finally I added my egg whites and scrambled it all up and it was good!  The taste and texture of the chard reminded me a bit of spinach (maybe a bit chewier).


Snack 1: Popcorn and Justin's maple almond butter.

Lunch: Tilapia with chickpeas and sauteed mushrooms.

The one problem is that pretty much everything on the plate is the same color.

I got a bag of individually wrapped, frozen tilapia fillets from Target, and they're so convenient to have around.  It's super easy to just grab one and thaw it in the microwave whenever I want one, and they cook up really quickly.  I cooked this one in a skillet with salt, citrus pepper (it's got bits of citrus peel in the mill along with the peppercorns), and smoked paprika.  When the fish was done I sauteed the mushrooms in the same pan with some salt and pepper, then just heat up the chickpeas in the microwave with some salt, pepper, and chipotle chile powder.


Dinner: Braised bok choy and leftover beef stew.

To make the bok choy I used this recipe for Sir-Fried Bok Choy with Lemon-Basil Sauce.  I was happy to find this particular recipe because it allowed me to use 3 different items from my CSA box: bok choy, lemon, and basil.  Preparing and cooking it took a little bit of time (it would have been better if I had started cooking before I got hungry), but I thought it came out really well.  The sauce was kind of tangy from the lemon (I love tangy things), and the bok choy cooked to a really nice texture (the leaves were a bit chewy, but the stems were great).  I also had some of our leftover Moroccan beef stew, which was still delicious.  I had been thinking about having the stew on top of the bok choy, but then I wasn't sure the two flavor profiles would go together.


Snack 2: Meli Kalima pineapple.

We finally cut into our specialty pineapple last night.  It was really good, very sweet and with low acidity.  I have had issues with some pineapples being too acidic and burning my mouth before, so I really appreciated this aspect.


Snack 3: Wheat chex.

So, I know I said I was going to try to break my habit of eating all my carbs as cereal right before bed, but I was hungry!  Also, Kevin and I stayed up for a bit to watch some Twilight Zone on Netflix (I'm currently re-discovering how great that show is), so it was probably fine.

In closing, tomorrow marks the beginning of Phase 3 of the JCore nutrition plan, and I plan on eating THE MOST cheese.  So, you know, get ready for that.

JCore Day 19

You guys, I am so excited for this three day weekend, you don’t even know.  I’m coming to the conclusion that 6 hours of sleep at night is really not enough for me, so I’m looking forward to sleeping in a little and getting rid of some of the sleep debt I’ve built up over the past few night.  The next step will of course be adjusting my actual sleep schedule so that I can get at least 7 hours each night.

The Workout

Today I did Hardcore, which is the abs workout.  I really do feel like my abs are getting stronger.  While I did have to modify many of the exercises, especially the plank-based ones, I was able to at least start each exercise in the original position.

The Food

Breakfast: Protein shake and wheat Chex.

My shake had banana this time – and was much better for it :).  To go along with the shake I just had some dry cereal on the side.  It would have been better if had been Corn Bran Crunch instead of Wheat Chex, but such is life, I suppose.

  

Lunch: Pork chop with broccoli.

This was kind of a boring lunch (especially considering someone in my office was eating a pizza Hot Pocket and it smelled so great and I wanted it), but it got the job done, I guess.

Snack 1: Pistachios.

Snack 2: Roasted red pepper and tomato soup.

This terrible picture has been used before, but I forgot to take another one before I ate.

For some reason I greatly prefer having soup out of mugs than out of bowls.

Dinner: Moroccan beef stew.

Kevin made this in the slow cooker and it was really good.  I guess what makes it 'Moroccan' is the addition of chopped dried apricots and figs (the recipe called for raisins but I didn't have any) as well as curry powder and garam masala.  It certainly smelled amazing, and tasted really great, too.  In fact, this is currently Kevin's favorite slow-cooker meal.


We finished up the evening by reading a little more from The Night Circus.  We're getting close to the end, and I really want to know what's going to happen.  But, I think it would be pretty rude to read ahead so I'll just have to waaaiiiit.

Our first CSA box!

So many goodies inside!

Oooh, I was SO excited when this came!  I've been wanting to do a CSA for a really long time but was just never really in a position to order one before.  I looked online and found a company called Just Add Water, which was very reasonably priced and offered free home delivery to people living in Kailua.  I chose the 'Gourmet' box option (a mix of fruits and veggies plus a few specialty items) which is about $30 a week.  We also chose to have the boxes delivered every other week, since we're not sure yet how quickly we'll be able to get through everything.  Here's what was inside:

Rainbow chard and kale.

Assorted herbs: basil, rosemary, thyme, and oregano.

I didn't realized until just now how blurry this picture is.  Also, this is lettuce.

One of the side-effects of getting farm-fresh food - this little guy hitched a ride to our place.

Some sort of sprouts.  We're not really big sprout-eaters over here, so we'll have to figure out what to do with them.

Mushrooms!  Kevin doesn't like mushrooms, but I do!

Coffee!  So far I've only ever used pre-ground coffee, but I've heard grinding your own is better.

Avocados!  These might be two different varieties, I'm not sure.

I think the first two are sweet potatoes, but I'm not sure about the third.  Maybe taro?

Bok choy.

Bananas, lemon, and what I think are tangerines.

Overall I'd say we got a pretty decent haul.  I'm excited because there are lot of items that I probably should be eating but would never have bought for myself.  I'm hoping having this CSA share will help us eat more vegetables without relying solely on the frozen kind, as well as be a little more creative with how we're cooking.