Hey guys and happy WIAW.
Before we get to the food, I wanted to see what you guys thought of this article on Runner’s World about running too much. I’m in the camp that everyone is different and runners (or athletes in general) need to learn what works best for their body but I wanted to see what opinions you guys had.
And now on to the food. I’m going to show you my eats from Tuesday (yesterday) which was an incredibly long day. Enjoy!
As always, thanks to Jenn for hosting!
{5:00 a.m.} Pre-workout smoothie
My alarm went off waay too early and I got out of bed and threw on running clothes. Before heading out the door, I drank half of this pea & brown rice protein smoothie (just protein powder & water).
Four miles later, I changed into my bathing suit and headed to the pool where I completed a 1,650 meter interval workout. By the time I was showered and home I was hungry!
{7:45 a.m.} Breakfast
I put 1/2 cup cooked millet, 1/2 a sliced banana, blueberries, sliced strawberries, 1 tsp chopped walnuts, 1 tsp pumpkin seeds, and 1/2 cup rice milk in a bowl and microwaved it for 2 minutes. Topped with 1 tsp almond butter and a drizzle of honey, it made an awesome breakfast, although next time I’ll use less milk!
After breakfast I finished up my blog post, packed my bag, and biked to work.
{11:45 a.m.} Lunch
Work was incredibly busy so I never broke for a morning snack and by the time 11:30 rolled around I was hungry!
Lunch was a hippie bowl a la Emily at Daily Garnish. I layered quinoa, shredded carrot, raisins, and hummus and then drizzled everything with tahini. It was really tasty.
I rounded out lunch with a peach.
{3:00 p.m.} Snack #1
I was starting to get fidgety at work and I still had a long ways to go before I could leave so I sipped on some tea and snacked on a few fresh lychees.
Lychees are an awesome and resfreshing snack. If you’ve never tried them you should. We bought these at Whole Foods but generally purchase them at Asian markets. They’re currently in season so they’re really good and not super expensive!
{5:30 p.m.} Snack #2
I was incredibly hungry and still at work (I had to work until 6:30) so I mixed together a protein shake to hold me over until I got home.
{7:15 p.m.} Dinner
Finally at home, I threw together the fastest dinner possible. I steamed some kale and warmed 1/2 cup of white beans. I mixed the two together plus a can of tuna. I topped it with a sauce inspired by the hippie bowls and mixed 1.5 T almond meal, 1/4 cup almond milk, and a pinch of salt. I then microwaved it for a little over a minute.
{8:00 p.m.} Dessert
Dessert had the carbs my dinner was missing, some puffed millet + brown rice cereal with strawberries, banana slices, and blend of almond and rice milk.
After dessert I did a little reading, watched a Mad Men with Ian, and then crawled into bed.
Now its your turn, share something delicious you’ve eaten recently!
The lychees look awesome – how do you eat them? Do you need to peel them or just pop them in your mouth?
You peel them. The fruit is white with a pit in the middle. They’re really good!
I’ve never tried lychees, but I’ve been curious. That hippie bowl looks delish! I had a chocolate covered key lime pie in Key West last week – definitely the most delicious thing I’ve had recently!
That sounds so good. I love key lime pie + I love chocolate. It can only get better if you put them together!
I thought this article was really interesting but something to take with a grain of salt. I always get annoyed with research studies about health and fitness because one day they tell you to do this and the next day you find out its bad for you. I think you just have to find out what works for you. Some people can run 6-7 days a week and feel fine, some people can only run 2 days a week that’s hard enough on their body. You never know!
I am in a lunch rut (I am so sick of salads I’ve just been eating chobani with granola every day for lunch) and I’m seriously feeling that hippie bowl. So doing that for lunch next week!
I agree with you. Working out like diet is very individual. What works for one person may not work for someone else. There is no universal perfect workout plan for optimum health.
Definitely try the hippie bowl. It’s really good and has no resemblance to a salad or chobani & granola.
I read the article yesterday and didn’t feel like I came away with anything new. To me, the best line of the article was from Dr. Shaheen who said “we are an experiment of one”. After Dean Karnazes ran his 50-50-50, his medical check up revealed no damage to his heart or other vital organs. Others may show slight damage after one marathon. Just goes to show that it still comes down to the individual.
My wife and I have been using a service called “Good Measure Meals” where you tell them the number of calories you need each day and they give you 3 meals and 2 snacks of healthy food. Yesterday morning I had “date pancakes” and were they incredible! They didn’t require any topping as they were naturally sweet and moist. Can’t wait for them to show up in the breakfast rotation again!
I’m with you. Running like an sport is very individual. Its hard to make claims across the general population.
Date pancakes sound awesome! Were the dates chopped into the pancakes or were they the base? I’ve added dates to oatmeal before and it was really tasty.
Lychees are pretty cool on their own…but I like em even better in a lychee martini!
Very true!
Your lunch looks awesome and so healthy! Totally sounds like something I would order!
Its incredibly easy to make and totally worth it!
your lunch bowl looks so good!! Hummus makes just about everything amazing haha
I agree. Trader Joe’s has a new “fresh” hummus with a short ingredient list. It’s awesome!
All your food looks so good!
Thank you!
I think the second-to-last paragraph of that Runner’s World article has the most important takeaway message of the whole thing. Of course it’s possible to run too much (and honestly, I don’t think that’s necessarily new news to the running world: anyone with an overuse injury could tell you that, even if that’s not exactly what the article is dealing with), just like it’s possible to eat too much. But it’s also possible to exercise too little and eat too little. It was mentioned multiple times in the article, but we’re all individuals with individual needs and limits. Ultimately, I think what matters the most is what your body can handle. Obviously, it can be difficult to know exactly what your heart can handle, and no one wants to find that out the hard way, but I imagine the majority of the population isn’t going to do their heart any favors by backing way off on exercise, either. It’s a tricky line to toe.
I absolutely agree with you. I think the best advice to give people is to regularly see a physician and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Hopefully certain conditions will be prevented this way and if not a doctor may be able to catch it. Oh yeah and listen to your body!
Russian people looove millet (and roasted buckwheat kasha) and I can’t believe that I have yet to try it for breakfast. I also have a bag of puffed millet in my pantry from 1.5 yrs. ago that I haven’t opened yet…although it’s probably expired by now. Hmm I need to embrace millet more! And Lychees = LOVE!
Millet is amazing. It’s probably my favorite whole grain (that I’ve tried). Definitely try some in the morning too, its great comfort food.