Sun, snowboarding, hiking..must mean school's out!

Nothing beats a good couple hours in the sun with a great book. Top it off with a knock-out breakfast and its a great morning start..(err...afternoon by now?) I've been feeling pretty lazy the past 4-5 days and its shown in my energy levels and exercise routines. This morning my legs felt like lead. I had initially packed a gym bag, but opted out and went for a 6k run instead and did some core/arm strengthening when I got back. It is a BEAUTIFUL warm, sunny day. The run took longer than usual but I didn't mind too much because it was so hot and the sea was sparkly today.

Although I've been slacking in the workout department.. I DID get some great snowboarding in on wednesday! Annelise, her friend Katie and I went up to grouse for what I think is the last run of the season. The snow was getting slushy and the weather was pretty mild. But, harder snow conditions makes for a harder workout. I think my thighs grew about an inch in diameter after the day was done haha!

Yesterday some friends and I took advantage of yet again another great day and went over to Deep Cove on the north shore to do some hiking. Deep cove is a cute little nook of a town with great outdoorsy things. The hike was only under 2 hours but still really nice - my first hike of the year! Some of the terrain was steep, definitely a good test of fitness..yikes! Next time we're going to bring bikes and do the biking trails around the cove.

Obvs super excited for a great day!

Anywho.. I have a lot of things to get done today before work. Bank run, phone calls, packing up..clean room, eek! I'm looking forward to a couple hours later when I can sit down and spend some time reading the Word. I've been reading Revelation the past couple days - it is such an amazing yet confusing book. I have read it before, but it seems like each time I read it, I am remembering stuff that I had completely forgotten. I'm hoping God teaches me some valuable stuff today.

It's official, I'm a foodie.

It's out! I love food. The healthy, wholesome, creative, fun-to-make and photograph food. (Also includes some recent baby-mush recipes that actually turned out great!) These are just a few foods that I've made in the last few weeks. For the recipes, just ask me in a comment! I take no credit some of these recipes. Some of them are thought up, but most are from other blogs or from ideas that I get from friends, and just tweaked a bit (rach...tweak! ;)) Here are some recent eats from a culinary newbie, I hope you ate before you read this!

Vanilla almond milk, srawberry, spinach, ice smoothie w/ plain oats and cranberries for crunch!

Power smoothie - (see Tuesday Times for full recipe/after pic)

Extra thick strawberry smoothie (frozen strawbs, strawberry whey protein powder, almond milk, pinch of xantham gum)

Carrot & Ginger juice (thanks mom! this was made from your big ol' green Champion Juicer!)

Warning: I love Oats.

Hot Organic Power Grains Wheat Free Cereal (hulled oats, millet, flax seeds + sunflower seeds) with mango chunkies

Overnight-Oat Parfait. Oats and Chia seeds soaked in Vanilla Almond Milk overnight come out fluffy, creamy and absorbed! Layer with strawbs,bluebs, oat bran, kamut cereal, and sliced almonds

Choco-PB oats: Steel cut oats, little cocoa powder (or carob as a substitute), little plain soy milk, banana slices (I used dried b/c fresh hurt my tummy), and tablesp. of maple-cinnamon almond butter made by yours truely ;)

Strawberry-Shortcake Oats: Fresh cooked warm oats, mixed in non-fat plain yogurt, vanilla amond milk for sweet, topping is strawberry granola, strawberries, unsweetened coconut flakes, and tablespoon sunflower butter(sooo yummy!)

Grapefruit bowl of oats: Rolled oats cooked fresh in grapefruit carved bowl, mix the grapefruit pieces in, with drizzled honey on top. Put other half in blender pulp and all for some yummy juice.

Power Muffin (from whole foods): unsweetened choco chunks, sunflower seeds, raisins, flax seeds, spelt flour, honey, walnuts, oats...i forget the rest! soo tasty though

Buckwheat Bakes - Makes 1 big one or 3 small to share:) Basically full of buckwheat flour, buckwheat grouts, cinnamon, 1 mashed banana, 1 flax egg(water and ground flax), vanilla almond milk for sweetner topped with pb & j! You can also use apple sauce instead of a banana. SO delish!

A fav leftover lunch: wasa flat crips with chicken, hummus (or guac), and sprouts.

Mango Salsa that Lise made (ive made it in the past before lots..easy and soo good)

"power bites" from whole foods: honey, carob powder, peanuts, brown rice syrup, sunflower seeds,  peanut butter, brown sesame seeds, cashews.

Apple and cranberry oatmeal granola bars

Spinach-Apple salad w/ cheese, cranberries, and figs

Mixed veggie omelet with salsa and tomato

A creation of mine..whole wheat pasta with asparagus. dressing: balsamic vinegar, olive oil, ginger, and some spices all tossed up. I later added parmesen cheese!

Anti-inflammatory (isn't everything though?) Sweet potato-carrot coconut Puree (with cinnamon, tumeric, ginger, light coconut milk, vanilla and maple syrup)

Dessert=my Oma's homemade apple sauce (thanks Oma!!) with granola and carob powder on top

Just because it looked like a face.

ces't fini!

Dairy or Not?

The other day my sister posted a note on fb about drinking cows milk, and eating all dairy in general. I'm going to post it because I really believe in it and I think there's a lot that people don't know or realize about it! I myself don't drink regular milk anymore, just soy, rice, or almond milk. It works as a perfect substitute for ally my recipes too. A nutritionist told me that we actually don't need to drink milk to have strong and healthy bones. As long as you are getting your calcium from somewhere, you are OK. On that note, the average Canadian drinks way more milk than they need to. How many people do you know that will drink a glass of milk for dinner or breakfast every day? My stomach gets really sick when I drink it and I have stomach pains for a few hours and then indigestion following...ick. As for cheese and yogurt, it is harder to give those up since I LOVE yogurt in the mornings and cheese..well cheese is cheese! Cheese I can eat in small amounts, but yogurt is harder. Off and on, yogurt won't sit well with me. Milk however, is a never fail. Plus, I really don't mind all the calories that I'm not injesting from the fat. :) Here's her take on it..


I have known for a few years now that milk is a poor source of calcium and not at all an essential part of our human diets. Recently I stumbled across an informative bit of information about milk which spurred me on to do more research. I quickly learned why milk is not only a poor source of protein but actually bad for human consumption! I only buy soymilk but I still drink 2% when I'm at other people's houses and have probably never drank more milk than I have been since moving here and being around Peter's family, who all drink tons of milk every day. From today onward I am going to stop eating and drinking dairy products and here are some of the facts that explain why:


Drinking cows milk is not natural. Of all mammals, only humans continue to drink milk beyond babyhood. Once we reach maturity we are supposed to eat fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts...etc. Milk is only supposed to be consumed by babies and from the same species.


Consider for a moment, if it was possible, to drink the milk of a mammal other than a cow, let's say a rat. Or perhaps the milk of a dog would be more to your liking. Possibly some horse milk or cat milk. Do you get the idea? Well, I'm not serious about this, except to suggest that human milk is for human infants, dogs' milk is for pups, cows' milk is for calves, cats' milk is for kittens, and so forth. Clearly, this is the way nature intends it. Just use your own good judgement on this one.


Milk is not just milk. The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal. For example, cows' milk is very much richer in protein than human milk. Three to four times as much. It has five to seven times the mineral content. However, it is markedly deficient in essential fatty acids when compared to human mothers' milk. Mothers' milk has six to ten times as much of the essential fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. (Incidentally, skimmed cow's milk has no linoleic acid). It simply is not designed for humans.


Cows are pumped full of hormones to make them produce way more milk than they normally would. Not only do those hormones go into the milk we drink all commercial milk from cows contains pus and blood. The USDA actually sets allowable limits of pus as a federal standard. (Ewww!!)

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/020374.html#ixzz1KCXfPOD5


Animal protein inhibits our bodies from absorbing calcium. So even if milk is high in calcium, because it is liquid animal protein, we absorb very little of the calcium. In fact, studies show milk robs our bones of calcium.
On a list of 100 best sources of calcium, cows milk is down at #50. At the top of the list is seeds, nuts, leafy greens, seaweed... so gram for gram, milk is way down at 50! Why are so many people deceived? Advertising. Milk/dairy companies advertise like crazy to get people to buy the myth that cows milk is good for them and even an essential part of every persons diet. NOT TRUE!!


Milk and dairy products actually increase our risk of osteoporosis.


Calcium loss from the bones is promoted by high intakes of animal protein. By the age of 80, vegetarians tend to have lost less bone mineral compared to omnivores. Research suggests that the more animal protein you eat, the higher your risk of hip fracture becomes. Cross-cultural studies show strong links between a high animal protein diet, bone degeneration and the occurrence of hip fractures. In a rural community in China where most of the protein in the diet came from plant foods rather than animal foods, the fracture rate was one-fifth of that in the US.

There are so many more facts and reasons to further explain and educate but if you are really interested in your health I'll let you do the research for yourself. After all, you probably won't believe it until you read it with your own eyes. Below I've posted just a few links with further information.

LINKS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTo5TulJLU8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftGdFXEgf5k&annotation_id=annotation_443299&feature=iv
http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html
http://www.milkmyths.org.uk/health/index.php#q15
http://www.pcrm.org/
www.forksoverknives.com

Tuesday times..

Three cheers for me! exams are officially DONEZO and this girl's ready for what's coming next..(exciting lil update tomorra) My last exam went really well and I got my final paper back afterwards and wouldn't ya know it hard work does pay off..thank you 94%! To celebrate? Well..I've got a few things up my sleeve.

But first, (being the "granola bar" that I am) I stopped @ whole foods market and got a handful of power niblits from bulk(recipe to come) and a bag of buckwheat as a treat. I've been eager to make an exciting recipe. Nerdy. Alright..back to the real world, my body is telling me to slow er up.. I wanted to do 10k but my legs wouldn't let me, so I stuck to the 6k today, slooow pace as ever. the BEST part of my day? --coming around the corner and into jericho beach cove while the sun was setting. PERfect view of the city afar, and our little bay was brilliantly smooth, it looked like a lake. (Oma/Opa, if you're reading this, I thought of you guys!) And, being in a celebratory mood, Lise took me out for a cupcake! I got a mini one..oh how i heart miniature things.

Here are 5 6 wonderfully simple things I think are great:

1. B to the REAK-FAST. Gotta be the best meal of the day, especially knowing you have some oaties waiting to be cooked up..

2. Taking a fresh batch of clothes out of the dryer right after they finish, tossing them carelessly on your bed, and diving into them. and not. getting. up.

3. At the end of the day when your out of the house and realize for the first time all day that you left your cell phone at home and didn't miss it one bit.

4. Waking up and its raining. Making tea. Then snuggling but into bed with tea and the best book.

5. The moments AFTER a really good workout and hot shower when you're laying on your bed in a towel and steam is still rising off your skin. (am I the only one that doest this btw?!)  

6. Sitting on the couch after a long day beside R and bantering and blogging and just being sisters.

obviously, i love food, reading, my bed, and exercise. big surprise there!

This was the end result of dinner featured above.

Power smoothie:

1/4 cup plain almond milk

1/4 cup OASIS natural mixed berry juice

1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 scoop WHEY strawberry protein powder (thanks dad!)

1 tsp Chia Seeds

1 Tblsp Organic flax seeds

1 tsp oat bran

1 tsp rolled oats

1 cup fresh spinach

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/4 cup blueberries (frozen or not)

TOPPING:

 (cuz I like a little crunchy crunch to my smoothies)

1 fig cut up

1 tsp granola (any kind works, I used power granola from Whole foods)

Sun Run

Sunday, April 17th I took part in and completed my first race! I'd been wanting to do a race for a few months now, and the Sun Run seemed like the perfect start. It's only 10km which is a small start, but I had to start somewhere:) I even talked my Dad into doing it! It was a "first" for both of us, competing in a race and doing the Sun Run. Fun Fact: The Vancouver Sun Run in 1985 started with approximately 3,700 participants..It has now grown to the single or second biggest 10km run in the world (depending on how many people sign up each year..the msot was 60,000..this year it was about 50,000)

 I did not used to be a runner.. I mostly started running regularly in the last year and a half. Even then, I just did it to stay somewhat-in-shape and not gain any extra pounds..In the last year, and moreso 6 months, my enjoyment of running has just taken off and I can truthfully say I really like it..ha.. The run was such a great experience! Here are some details..

The Prep: I was running about 4-5 times per week for a long time, usually the same few routes, and @ the gym on the treadmills. Usually at the gym, I would just go by time and run anywhere from 20-50 minutes. My "usual" run outside went from a 20 minute jog to a 6km (30min approx) run with hills. I also started and finished a boot camp that ran for about 2.5 months which gave me the motivation to work out reguarly, really helped me build my muscle mass and core strength, and I learned a lot about eating before/after workouts. In the last few weeks I've been making myself workout or run 6 times a week, and it's turned into a great routine that I'm really loving! It's the perfect way to start my morning (I have waaay more energy now, so getting up at 6:30-7:30 isn't too hard anymore) I've run pretty long before, maybe like 8-9k in the past, but I needed to run the full 10km straight to make sure I could do it. Last weeek thats what I did! After that, I knew I could do the Sun Run. My goal was to run it under 55 minutes.

The Day of: The race kicked off at 9am, so I was up at 6:30! Dad and Ivy came over and we made strawberry protein shakes..Mm!!!! I also topped it with a homemade oatmeal energy bar for carbs. An hour before the race my Dad and I were both so jittery. I was thinking.. "wait..WHY did I sign up for this?!" We paid $50 though and we were not backin out! ;)

The Conditions: Were deeeevine. Cool morning start, warmed up a bit as we were running with a really cool breeze. AND it was sunny with hardly any clouds. :)

The Crowds: -- were CRAZY! 50,000 people, plus thousands more showed up to cheer everyone on! It was so cool being surrounded by so many people all doing the same thing with the same passion and positive energy. There were cameras everywhere and helicopters and live entertainment along the way.

The Race: Was such an adrenaline rush! We had these little chips on our shoes so when we went over the start line it clocked us in and set our time at the finish. I took off with a pretty fast start and tried to dodge all the people around me. Some people were so insane and hardcore they dashed off and tripped and make tons of people fall :S About 4km in my thoughts were.."WHY WHY WHY AM I DOING THIS".. but all the people along the way cheering us on was helpful and everyone around you running makes you motivated to keep going (esp. when you're passing them:)) At about 7km I was just telling myself that I was almost done and to keep going! 9km I accidentally clicked my watch so I didn't know what my times was anymore.. I knew I was about 50min and I had to make the rest in under 5 min so I pushed it up and over the cambie bridge! It helped when the runners around me were all encouraging each other and seeing signs that said "Just think of breakfast" with bacon and eggs :) The last stretch when I could see the balloons and end line was the biggest rush - You really don't know how fast your legs can go until your in a race like that and all warmed up! yikers!

The Best part: Finishing (of course). The feeling after was a huge sense of accomplishment and fun! There was so much positive energy flowing around and highfivin...and your body feels so good right after..it really is a "natural high". Seeing my Dad finish his first race too was sweet and doing it as a "father-daughter" thing made it even better.

The Worst part: Having to constantly dodge people (you're pretty much surrounded 360) just to keep up your pace and keep running. I think I could have downed my time by a minute or so especially around the corners where it narrows and you're reeeeally slowed down and have to almost forcefully push through just to make good time.
After the run we showered up and walked over to Mel and Jonny's (since we were already downtown and parked in their underground guest). Mel made a wonderful lunch for us of focaccia bread w/the oil/vinegar dip and a yummy salad --which I could not resist taking photos of (surprise, surprise). Speaking of surprises, she is SHOWING finally! I am so excited that my sister is pregnant. Seriously, this little brewing fetus is blessing the whole famjam!

Dad, Ivy and I then took the opportunity to head down over the boarder to Bellingham, WA. I've been searching for PB flour everywhere but nowhere in Vancouver seems to sell it! Trader Joes apparantly sells it and Dad usually picks up groceries and gas in the states, so away we went! Sadly, after going to three different stores and exploring the cute little city a bit, we didn't have any pb flour. BUT I did get some great healthy buys, cheese for rachel, and gas for Dad! Did I mention how much I love living so close to the US? Seriously, I got tons of good food for a fraction of the price here. Not to mention bottles of Wine are 2.99 (I resisted!!) annd our dollar is worth more than theirs right now.

After all that, the drive home was beautiful. The sunset was so colourful, and we listened to some fitting tunes by Norah Jones. Our legs were starting to hurt, and this girl was pooped! I may have fallen asleep in the backseat to this song :) (p.s..play it while you read the rest!)

This morning, surprisingly I woke up at 7:15 without any pain! (It may have helped that I took a T3 last night for my headache ;p) I did some quick chores and headed off to the gym/school. Of course on the way I picked up the Vancouver Sun to check my official time!!! You have no idea how excited this girl was to pay $1.25 for that newspaper haha. The lady at the checkout could tell I was happy - she said she did the race too and was really excited for me that this was my first time. On the skytrain I could hardly wait to read my results and didn't want to wait till after the gym so I peeked and my time was....53:41! Ya baby! Under 55 :) Mission accompleesshed.
Here are just a few pictures from the special day. Hope you enjoyed reading this little re-cap as much as I did living it!

                                                                   pre-race jitters..

                                                                  Yipee!! Doneezo!

                                                      hyped on the finish..time to fuel up

                                                                     so tired.

Yum!



woop! TJ's rocks.

 

This morning in the library...

                                                                            Yay! :)

Adios!