2 Cups of Veggies?!?!

Why yes, I do want my clients eating 2-3 cups of veggies at their three main meals and 1-2 at their two snacks. Vegetables offer more than meets the eye. They are filling and help the person who is having issues with overeating to feel full when trying to burn fat. Very simple fact there and commonly accepted. They also offer more phytonutrients than we are aware.

For my eating lifestyle I don't feel the need to know the details of why. I know I feel better physically. I know I have a greater happiness rating. I have a higher performance when running. Besides all those benefits the meals taste better! Variety of flavors and colors make the dining experience exciting.

Here is an example of that two cups of veggies and protein meal. I used fresh veggies for this. I cut the corn from the cob. The green beans are tender French beans cut in half. The red pepper is about 1/2 a fresh red pepper. I lightly sauteed this in olive oil. Then I added chicken breast that I had cooked last night. I like to cook ahead of time so I can reduce my prep time. As soon as the chicken was heated through the veggies were cooked through too. This lunch took me about 15 minutes to make!

Cardio-knitting progress? I have a 12 week goal for my sock drawer and for my body. The sock drawer will have an influx of 8 pair. (I may have added a couple to the ultimate 4 month sock goal. I could be crazy this way.) My goal is to knit on my spin bike as often as I can. Some of my patterns have intricate cables. Those are hard to do while biking. Today's sock is a pattern from Cookie A's book Sock. Knit. Love. The pattern is Mona. It is a fun lace knit that is easy to memorize. Patterns that are easy to memorize are good candidates for cardio-knitting.

I have been using the Awake Energy Shots at the beginning of my workouts. I love it! I get to the 45 minute mark on my cardio and I'm still enjoying myself. Believe me when you are spending an hour on a spin bike you are happy when you don't notice time ticking by. You are even happier when you are still enjoying yourself! Bonus? No jitters just mellow energy. It is the most calm Awake feeling I've ever experienced.

Internet and Storms

As everyone knows, the East Coast of the United States suffered a terrible storm this week. Western North Carolina was not spared the high winds, and we also experienced a mix of snow, sleet, and rain instead of the heavy rains that the coastline experienced. While I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and the tremendous damage to property, I am also grateful that the storm spared my town the heavy snow and ice that was predicted. Based on past experiences, I was prepared to loose power and not be able to drive for days due to icy roads.

What did happen? Not much except my internet at home is glitching off and on. It works for a minute and then it stops. Ironically, there were AT&T technicians on my street Monday and Tuesday. Both days when they were there the internet service was fine. I thought they had fixed some issue in the lines on the street. No such luck. I have thought though it might be fun to call and ask AT&T if they would please send out a repair truck and just leave it parked in front of my house. That would be a much better solution than me spending 45 minutes on the phone with a repair-techy person.

So how did I keep myself busy for 2 days while I was offline and not writing? I finished that $5 in Paris sweater. I ripped back the collar. That silly task took me over an hour. Who knew it would be so hard to unknit a sweater collar? I'm pleased with the results! The body of the sweater is a beautiful collage of color and the ribbed bands hold it all together.

I did an hour of cardio indoors at the gym and saw clients afterward. I attempted an hour on the treadmill. Oh did I ever try! I made it 35 minutes before I finally caved in to the soreness in my joints and the boredom! Then I switched to our Elliptical Edge by StarTrac (he he). I did that for another 25 minutes of burning quads. I think I might be spoiled with outdoor running. I'm not sure how to handle that. We are rapidly approaching winter and after the OBX half marathon race in 10 days I'll be training for my first marathon, the premier Asheville Marathon on the Builtmore Estate here in Asheville, North Carolina. This winter, I might be forced to run 2 or 3 hours on the treadmill. Looks like I'll need to search out some inspirational running music for those long treadmill runs.

Finally, I went grocery shopping. I learned that if the weather is already bad and you go to the grocery store it is empty of people! I went to the busiest health food store in town just before 5 pm and there were plenty of parking spaces and very few other last minute dinner shoppers in the store. I wish I'd bought more food when I was there. Somehow I only bought for one day. Silly. I bought enough fresh chicken to enjoy a tasty high protein entree Spicy Baked Chicken Thighs. (Thighs have a higher concentration of the amino-acid L-cartintine in particular ~ essential for metabolizing fat and other fun things! They are a little more fatty, so enjoy them about once a week.)

Spicy Baked Chicken Thighs

1 pound boneless chicken thighs
1/2 onion, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, sliced
2 tsp garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Put all in a 9x9 baking pan and toss together, coating the chicken. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Serve on a large green salad for a healthy lunch or with two hot veggie sides for dinner.