First day of classes at CU!

Isn’t our campus so beautiful?!

You can’t beat the views, the sun and the giant fields to lay out in. (Ya know, for those afternoon naps between classes)

My schedule + professors + classes seem great so far! Tons of interesting material… Biochem, Biopsychology, Cognitive Psychology and Behavioral Statistics + Research Methods. I am already busy with plenty of homework and reading.

Eats for the day were pretty simple. Smoothie for breakfast, salad + leftover pad thai for lunch,  a post weight lifting workout smoothie and a HUGE salad with split pea soup for din din.

The green smoothie blends in well with the green bowl! Today’s mix —> Frozen Strawberries + Banana + 1/2 C Rice Milk + Drizzle of Almond Butter + Honey + Barbara’s Organic Brown Rice Puffs. Oh and I crumbled a little bit of a PB+J Larabar on top. Super calorie dense smoothie because of the toppings and it didn’t keep me full for long. Maybe I should put protein powder in my morning smoothies?

Not sure why, but I was cravvinngggg carbs at lunch. This whole no wheat – buckwheat – oats – rye – barley diet is making me crave carbs more often. Ugh! I made a salad with mixed romaine + quinoa salad + 4 fingerling potatoes + 4 dates and a little Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. The Bragg’s seemed crazy salty + not so good.

Dinner was freakin’ awesome. I didn’t eat until late because Ryan and I shared a protein smoothie after we lifted at the gym around 6.  It kept me full until 9:30! So then I made a stop at Whole Foods and grabbed a ton of fresh veggies from their salad bar + cup of Split Pea Soup. I definitely filled up fast and am keeping it for leftovers tomorrow!

I bought a small journal to keep with me at the gym to write down my weight lifting routine. I plan on sharing it in the future, but I want to know what some of your favorite weight lifting plans are.  I am researching and looking to switch my routine up! Let me know and have an awesome night!

Hey guys! I am in Denver this fine Saturday soaking up the beautiful Colorado weather. Ryan is finally flying back to Boulder today so I am picking him up very shortly. I spent the evening with the wonderful Cecile, cooking up a great dinner and making a quinoa salad for the week. More details on that later.

I had some great conversation yesterday with my family over lunch. They asked me some great questions and it really got me thinking. I would like to share with you some of the main points that really stimulated my brain:

Start simple. When beginning to incorporate healthier foods, habits and exercise into your life it can feel overwhelming. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect or an expert in a day. I notice many people feel it’s too much work to eat healthier or exercise more, but in actuality we make ourselves think this. Mental health is just as important as physical health.

Write Goals. Make a list of why you want to start eating healthier, exercising more or whatever steps you are taking to live a better life. Why? Because there are going to be days where it’s hard and you lack motivation. Whip out that list and look at it. Write down absolutely everything – even things you would never tell a soul – and read it. Reminding yourself of what you want can help overcome these mental struggles.

My challenge to you for starting simple is this:

ELIMINATE EVERYTHING WHITE IN YOUR DIET.

Be for real with this. Get rid of that white bread, white rice, white flour and white pasta. Try this for 14 days and see how it goes. Read labels. Look for processed sugars and flours. These are completely void of all nutrients! Your body processes it fast and stores it to your butt, thighs, stomach and all those other places we don’t want extra pounds.

After trying this, jump head first into it. Seriously. One of the best ways to ease yourself off  processed sugars and flours is to do it cold turkey. Avoid those packaged muffins, cookies and crackers. Make your own at home or find a brand with better ingredients. Read labels and be smart!

Obviously keep eating cauliflower, onions, eggs and healthy fresh fruits and vegetables that are white…. but my main point is to get rid of processed whites!

Toss out suggestions and other helpful tips that may have helped you along your healthful transition. Or post a few of your goals in the comments section. I love to hear feedback.

Oh yeah! Cecile and I totally rocked Quandary Peak this last weekend. We drove to the trailhead, not far from Breckenridge, did one last double checking of all our gear and off we went. We hiked approximately an hour or so up the trail Saturday evening. We were borrowing a tent from a friend… so setting up this baby was quite interesting! 

Like I said, setting it up was interesting.. we aren’t sure why the poles were sticking up so high! But whatev, it stayed up the whole night. The wilderness is intense at night – we both had moments of panic. At one point I thought my toes were going to fall off because they were so cold (luckily we had a space blanket for added warmth) and we both held our breathes when we thought we heard creatures lurking outside the tent! But the night was worth this view:

For pictures with actual people in them – we will have to wait until Cecile dumps them out of her camera. I was a bad photographer. On to food….

We fueled ourselves with the new PB&J + Tropical Fruit Larabars…along with my all time favorite Cashew Cookie. The new bars are soo delicious! The PB & J is one of my new favs! We also packed bananas + Clif Bars + this freakin’ awesome trail mix I found at Whole Foods called Trail Power. 

This is a new favorite trail mix of mine! When it came down to gear, I was limited because most of my stuff is still in storage until I move into my new home (soon!). So I mostly borrowed all gear from Ryan and thankfully his Emergency Adventure Kit had a space blanket in it – without that I think I would have froze. 

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As previously mentioned, I found out I have food allergies to Wheat, Buckwheat, Oats, Barley & Rye. What a horrible combination – it won’t be as simple as buying items labelled “gluten-free” because buckwheat is used a lot as a gluten substitute. This has been challenging and in fact, I have been eating like crap lately. The combination of not having a permanent home, less than willing attitude to cook in this kitchen, and craving grains all day…… has given me even more excuse to eat like crap. 

I find it important to take a step back and realize what I am eating and why I am eating this way. I will be using the blog as a food diary for the next few days. Unlike other food bloggers, I won’t have a series of three posts throughout the day, but will post all three meals at the end of the day. 

I have plans to begin a serious diet overhaul soon and will be sharing these plans with you soon. 

Have a great Tuesday!

Today is a special day! I spent the morning with some dear friends at the Boulder Farmers Market. I picked up a few goodies…

Raw Goat Cheese, Raw Crackers and some Gluten free chocolate zuchinni bread… I’ll photograph and post these items tomorrow.

Basically this post is going to be short because I leave here in a few to go camping and hike a 14,000 ft. mountain with Cecile from the Spice of Strength! (for ya non- Coloradoans – we call these mountains 14ers-makes sense right? ) I didn’t know what the beep a 14er was when I first moved here…..

This will be my first 14er and I couldn’t be more excited. My recap post will included what gear we used, what fueled us  and of course how we felt along the way. This mountain is known as Quandary – which was recommended by many to do. So woo hoo for hiking! I will catch you all Sunday evening with a recap post.

Here is that nasty fly caught in the spider web. Had to post it… ya I know it’s gross!!!!!!

Thankfully Mr. Camera Cord was found. He was hiding under Ryan’s bed. Silly.

Okay this has been a tragic day I have searched every corner, bag and possible place for my camera cord and it is still missing!!!!

What is a food blogger to do without a camera?! Uh what difficulties!

Haha well I do have my iPhone camera, which may have to take the place of all blog world photos. So quality control is going to suck for awhile. Sorry guys!!

I wanted to share with you some delicious no bake brownie bites I made with the Vita-Mix…. but I guess you will just have to wait.  And oh yeah, I took a gnarly picture of a fly caught in a spider web… that was in this bachelor pad kitchen!!!!

EEEEEKKK!!! Now do you understand why I don’t want to cook here…. (sorry boys – not trying to complain but the kitchen isn’t my style)

Here’s news to the blog, I was planning on spending the whole week keeping an online picture food diary, but we will see if that happens since the camera cord ran away.

Lastly,  some other interesting news…

If you haven’t been reading the blog long, I suffered from a ’bout of parasites (eww!) for years (without knowing.. even more ewww!) and finally had all that resolved about 6months ago. Well my stomach aches & headaches were still never completely gone – so the next step was food allergy testing. Results came back — I am allergic to: wheat, oats, barley, rye & buckwheat.

So now the mission is on.  For the next 30 days I am going to work as hard as possible to make sure I cut all these out of my diet – I am anxious to see how I feel and if this will have profound effect upon my digestive health.

Suggestions and recipes are highly welcomed!