Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Turn Your Year Around

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Do you write out New Year’s Resolutions?  If you look back on your list for 2009, did you accomplish what you set out to?

Don’t feel bad if you didn’t.  I didn’t.  I’m guessing 95% of people didn’t and the 5% who did are part alien.

But, there’s still time!  If you set lofty goals to accomplish then it might be harder to reach them with a month left in the year, but…

you can still do something to get close, right? 

I wanted to run a half-marathon in 2009.  I didn’t.  The beginning of the year started out great and then BOOM, my tummy adventure began and feeling sick all the time doesn’t help a girl trying to run.  I’m feeling somewhat better now, but my goals have shifted and I don’t have the same drive to run that distance.

Still, I’m determined not to let 2009 end as a race-less year.  And that is why, my friends, I am running a 5 K Santa Shuffle Fun Run this weekend.

I hope “shuffle” is an indication of the speed at which people run this.  I am petrified, but darn it, I’m going to run a race!  It’s about time I try.

I Eat

To the food front.

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A classic bowl of delish.  Just an easy 1/2 c. oat bran + 1 c. water + 1/2 c. almond milk + 1/2 nan + cinnamon + cranberry sauce + t-mix + bluebs + peanut butter.

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This morning called for an unconventional Tuesday brekkie.  I still wanted some oatage, so I mushed them into pancake form.

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I mixed 1/2 c. oats + 1/2 mush ripe nan + 1 whole egg + maybe 1/4 tsp. baking powder + cinnamon.  Once the pan heated up, I plopped the mush into circle shapes, let them bubble on top, flipped them, threw them on the plate, and then topped them with plain yogurt + cranberry sauce + almonds + pumpkin seeds and decided it was going to be an excellent day.

My boss asked me what time I have to get up to make breakfasts like this before work when I leave my house at 7:30am.  It’s all down to a minute-by-minute routine… but I get up at 6am.  It’s worth it to me to be able to eat a yummy warm breakfast and not feel rushed.  Any other morning savourers out there?

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Work lunches have been all about the sandwiches so far this week.  I made GF bread on the weekend, and although the mix I used wasn’t great (okay, it was also expired), it still makes an edible sandwich.

And now, suppers.  My least favourite meal of the day – unless it’s made of breakfast foods or sushi.

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This was a left over combo.  I took frighteningly old basmati rice + broccs + tofu + mushrooms and added roasted butternut squash and decided that was good enough for me.  Then I conquered the kitchen for snacks all night, so I guess that dinner wasn’t good enough after all.  Dinners that aren’t very tasty lead me to serious snacking later.

Tonight I munched on chilli left overs from the freezer + bread.  The chilli pictures actually look like… well, just really unedible.  I don’t want anyone reading to lose their appetite.  But it sure tasted good!   

I Move

Monday – a big, fat day off.  As soon as I got home from work, the track pants and hoodie were on and that was that.

Tuesday – hot yoga tonight.  I have a new habit of falling asleep in class before it starts.  This is not good.  At this rate, next week I’ll wake up in a pile of drool.   Aside from the spontaneous slumber, the class was fantastic.  I am loving yoga.

I love my bed too, which is where I’m headed ASAP.

Goodnight!

Adi

Oatonomy’s Getting Zesty-ed

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Before Friday, the coolest thing I had ever won was a keychain flashlight.  The coolest thing I’ve ever won also happens to be the saddest draw prize of all time.  Really, what am I going to do with that?

But it was free, and I won it after all, and I never win anything.  Ever.  If ninety-nine pieces of paper with my name on it were thrown into a bowl, and one piece of paper that said “Adi never wins anything” was also thrown in, guess which one would be picked?  Statistics would say there was a 99% chance my name would be drawn.

Statistics aren’t reality though, and I guarantee the “Adi never wins anything” would be drawn instead.

So imagine my sheer delight, my endless excitement, the annoying squealing that came about when I saw that I won Zesty’s blog make over contest!  I think I almost know what dying of happiness would feel like, because that’s what nearly happened.

A billion big thanks to Zesty – and after he works his bloggy magic, I hope you’ll come back and see what he’s done to Oatonomy.  I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job.

I Eat

Lately, eating seems to be all I’ve been doing.  It’s time for me to pull in the reigns.  I’ll show you some oatmeal pictures anyways…

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Too bad all the full bowl shots are blurry.  Argh.

The other thing I’ve been doing, besides eating, is stopping nose bleeds.  Nose bleeds are never in fashion, friends, especially when you’re at work.  That’s no way to impress the boss – but it’s a sure fire way to creep him out.  I’m trying to keep the bleeding from the nose to a minimum at the office.  Today is the first day post-pig flu I haven’t had one – and here’s to hoping it stays that way.  Ick.

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Ah yes, oats in the almond butter jar.  Is there anything more divine?  If the stars collide, pigs fly and money starts growing on a tree in the backyard – all in the same day – and I end up getting married, I think an oatmeal buffet served in old nut butter jars is a must at a reception.  A wedding for the books!  (Okay, maybe people wouldn’t be saying positive things about it, but they’d remember it…)

One of the best things about a weekend is weekend lunches.  Lunches that aren’t eaten out of Tupperware containers, not at a desk, and not partially heated through from a rotten office microwave, are a good thing.

This was a seriously good turkey + lettuce + tom + red onion + Miracle Whip sandwich and an apple, to keep the doctor away.  I don’t really want to go see her again.

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I’ve been eating lots of these GF banana-blueberry muffins lately.  By “lots” I mean about fifteen pounds worth of them.

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I’m on my way to becoming Veronica Salt from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  I’ll turn into a blueberry and just roll around the rest of my life.  I think she was pretty happy when she met her demise though, so it wouldn’t be all that bad.  Right?

Today’s lunch was good too…

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Some eggers on some bread.  Didn’t say it was exciting!  I ate muchos watermelon after this.  It’s a balmy 16 degrees here today and I wanted to pretend it’s summer.

Ooo, almost forgot this morning’s breakfast.  I ate this pink sludge at the tech booth at church.  It was overnight oats made with 1/2 c. oats + 1/2 c. plain yogurt + 1/2 c. pomegranate applesauce + cinnamon + honey + pecans.

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It hung out in the fridge last night and made for a tasty breakfast while I pretended like I knew what I was doing with an audio mixing board.  Unfortunately, I fooled no one.

In a couple of weeks, the teaching pastor is going to be speaking about – gasp! – blogs.  Well, blogging and Facebook and twitter and all those fun things.  It’s part of a series called “Get Over Yourself” – ha!  Maybe if he loved oatmeal he would understand the need to blog about it…

Suppers have been excellent – because I didn’t make them!  A friend dropped by some yummy soups that I’ve been loving.  The first was a chicken ginger soup that I ate with some raw veggies + hummus + awful “biscuit”.

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The other soup was a ham + leek + broccs soup that I had with toast.

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Definitely loved them both!  Know what I also love?  Sushi.  I ate some serious raw fish + rice with my roommates tonight.  It’s been too long, my sushi, too long.  Did I eat too much?  Yes.  Did we end up hiding sushi in our purses to avoid paying their eyes-are-bigger-than-your-tummy fee?  Absolutely.  Does my bag smell like wasabi?  No comment.

I Move

Not exercising makes me feel yucky.  I’ve been itching to get back into a workout routine since I’ve been sick.

Friday – back to the gym for some ellipticalling + bit of lower body weights.  Oh, Jim, I missed you so.

Saturday – laced up the runners and did a breezy 5k in the neighbourhood.  I ran through a park that has been overtaken by Canada geese.  No, I didn’t see any geese, but they left evidence behind.  I had to dodge their poop all over the running path.  I felt like I was doing tire conditioning, not running.  Other than that, a pretty uneventful run.

Sunday – time to enjoy the spring-ish weather!  I did a 9.5k run along the canal.  One thing I love about Ottawa is how active the city is.  There were lots of people out running and biking, all ages, some alone and some with families or friends.  I saw one guy doing the cross country “skiing” on skate shoes, too.  It’s easy to get out there and get going in this city and I don’t take that for granted.

And because I wanted to feel like I was 8 years old and my bike allows that to happen every time I ride it, I biked to the grocery store.  It takes me three minutes, so it’s not exactly taxing, but it was fun.  J’adore ma bicyclette!

Is it really Monday tomorrow?  Feels like I have lots to tackle at work, so maybe the day will go by quickly…

Hope all is well at your corner of the globe!

Adi

Au Revoir, Oinky

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Ahh, I think it’s safe to say I’m rid of the swine flu.  Hooray!  Except now I have a cold.  I’m getting a season’s worth of illness in the course of two weeks. 

… yes, I was a big baby for the last week.  H1N1 is a nasty flu to have.  I sweat more from the multiple, never-ending fevers than I ever do in hot yoga – and my body was way more sore than it ever is after running or lifting weights.

Good thing for roommates, friends and my mom!  I’ve never been checked up on so often, or had so much food dropped off to me.  Thank you to all of you!  And thanks for all the well wishes on the blog – it cheered me up. :)

I hadn’t eaten oats for days.  Canned peaches though?  I’m going to turn into one.  In the book I was reading, the one character said she thought of canned peaches as low brow food.  Piper obviously had never tasted them – she’d change her mind as soon as she bit into a cold, slightly metallic tasting peach from a can.  Bliss.

I Eat

Normalcy tastes delicious.  This was some apple pie oat bran.

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Currently occupying space in my stomach is 1/2 c. oat bran + 1 1/2 c. water + 1 small Macintosh apple + vanilla + cinnamon + almonds + raisins + dried out almond butter.

I nuked the apple slices for about a minute before I mixed them with the oat bran.  The rest of the apple I threw on top.  It smelled like pie for breakfast. 

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Raisins like to stick together.

I’ve been working from home this week, which means I’m always less than 20 seconds from the kitchen, which promotes constant eating.  I have no idea how some of you work-at-home girls do it – I’ve worn a path straight from the couch to the cupboard.

Back to the office tomorrow, though – yes!  And no, there’s not a hint of sarcasm there.  I’m looking forward to being there.

I worked and ate and apparently, forgot to take a picture of my pho noodle soup.  It was awesome!  Then I snacked all afternoon.  Must.  Reign.  In.  Snacking.

Did some more work in the afternoon, ventured out and spread my germs to people at the public library, and had a bowl of apple-cinnamon-curry chili when I got home with some homemade bread.  Both came out of the freezer – love those nights.  I’ll post the chili recipe soon.

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I make ugly chili but it tastes good, for real.

And yep, that would be a Wheel of Fortune Word Seek on the table.  That’s the kind of fun thing I do when I’m sick, instead of blogging.  I figure it’s better for my brain than a colouring book. 

I Move

I am craving exercise.  I’m trying to be patient and let my body get over being sick, but I’m so antsy to get back to the gym.  So, to slowly ease myself back into not being the couch’s tumour, I’m going to do some yoga tonight from yogadownload.com.  Reading lots of bloggers’ posts about great runs, workouts and new exercises isn’t helping!  Patience, patience, patience…

Good to be back though! :)

Adi

I’ve Been Swined

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

I used so much hand sanitizer, my hands were drying out, cracking and bleeding.

I Cloroxed my desk and everything on it so many times, I think my co-workers were feeling light headed.

I’ve been taking vitamins religiously for about two months in hopes of staying healthy this fall.

All that… and I’m still the unhappy owner of the H1N1 virus.

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Because of that, I’m not going to be posting regularly until I feel better.  The eating I’m doing consists of toast + soup + eggs and the occasional piece of fruit.  The moving?  Walking from my bed to other places in the house.  In other words, there’s nothing remotely interesting for me to blog about.

So stay healthy my friends, and take good care of yourselves.  This is not a fun flu to have.

Be back soon,

Adi

Perv Patrol

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

When duty calls, I answer it!  Remember the Pantless Wonder I blogged about a couple of months ago?  You know, the guy who jumped out of the trees with no pants on and scared me to death while I was biking?

Well friends, there was another spotting.  This time, it wasn’t so innocent.  No way was he going to continue to get away with his ick-ness, so I called the Po to catch him!  I’ve never called 911 before, and I admit, it was exciting.  I was at the bus stop making the call, when Merv the Perv saw me on my cell phone, and then ran back into the trees.  Maybe he’ll be on the run now – I’m hoping so, because if I see him again, I’m going to start throwing rocks at the guy. 

Finally, Test Results

On another note, it was 5 weeks ago that I had the endoscopy test done to see if the doctor could find out what’s wrong with my tummy.  After a ton of paperwork mishaps, miscommunication, lost faxes and lab result reports, I found out today… nothing. 

The biopsy results showed nothing.

I’m not going to get down about this – I wasn’t confident there would be any news.  It just means it’s time to try some other alternatives.  I’ve tried the conventional medicine route, I’ve also seen two naturopaths.  My next attempt at getting to the root of my tummy troubles might be the most unconventional yet – but I’ll be blogging about that in the future.

To all of you who wrote me with kind words and supportive emails, thank you so much.  It means a lot to know there are awesome girls out there I’ve never even met who share their stories, pieces of their lives, with a “stranger”, to lift her spirits.  You guys are great.

I Eat

Let’s move on to happier, more delicious things!  How about some breakfast pictures…

Hard to say which is prettier, the flowers or the oats.

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Just some regular nan-based oats + almond milk + trail mix + peanut butter.

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I added a bit of pumpkin into this bowl, and topped it with soy nuts + pumpkin seeds.  The usual almond milk + cinnamon + pumpkin spice made the cut, as did a big slop of almond butter.

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Work lunches haven’t been exciting, at all.  Salads and canned soup, mostly.  A couple biscuits, fruit, veggies, nuts.  Same old, same old.

… I’m a tofu convert!  I’ve eaten it three nights in a row and can confidently say, I dig it.

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Last night, I added tofu to some stir fry leftovers, but heated the veggies and tofu in a pan with sesame oil + soy sauce.  It gave the soy blocks some flavour.  Good stuff!  There was brown rice buried under there.

Tonight was more leftovers, the roasted veggies + tofu from the weekend, with some maple syrup + olive oil + sea salt that seasoned it all. 

This was a good snack last night – some orange + chewy granola squares.  They’re hiding.

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I’ve also eaten too many dates.  Same old story! ;)

I Move

Monday – After work, and after my perv reporting duties with Mr. Police Officer ended, I went for a 6k run.  It was windy which I don’t like, especially when I’m running, but it felt good to get outside and sweat.  Working in an office has increased my appreciation for exercising 1000%.

Tuesday – I did hot yoga tonight and it was an intense class.  There were some challenging moments, and at one point I had to collect myself in child’s pose, but mostly, I worked through the challenge and felt relaxed but energized afterwards.  The room was hotter than last week, and that was a good thing.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, a rotten day of the week.  How am I going to make it a good day?  Oats for breakfast, a very busy day tomorrow at work, lunch out with colleagues, and a rest day from exercise.

How will you make your Wednesday great?  I hope it’s a breezy one!

Adi