Sunday, January 31, 2010

Back on Track!

Hiya Tamales!

So my first "Sunday Start" was a success! After work, I slept for most of the day... but as soon as I got up- I went to the gym for my run.

Granted, that's all I did... my run, but I did do the 2 miles I set out to do in my weekly plan! It was at an easy pace (as outlined in Planet Running's schedule) - 5 miles an hour. Warm up was .25 miles at 3.5 miles an hour. As promised, here's the pic... as proof!

So I felt like a bit of a dweeb taking this pic, but let's be honest- IT'S A GYM- everyone is there to work on THEMSELVES, so that's what they're focused on... not me.

My knee started hurting around the 1.25 mile mark, but I'm not sure it's from Stairgate or just regular old age related dilapidation! I was tempted to stop and look for someones treadmill to photograph... but damn it! I kept on. I know, I know... it seems ridiculous (it's only 2 miles for God's Sake!), but I am, I think, by nature a quitter. Anyway- on the Even More Ridiculous front- I am looking forward to tomorrow's run because it's the short one of the week! I know... pretty sad.

Anyway- dinner will be the same as a few nights earlier (sans Indian feast)... the roasted cauliflower steak with some broccoli florets in balsamic...

Again, not the most interesting dinner in the world, but as I am heading to the gym in the morning, right after work- I think it's best to keep it light. Although, it just occurred to me that both of these cruciferae are PRETTY gaseous... not so ideal for the whole jumping up and down business involved in running... Screw it.

Green Monster today was brought to you by the following ingredients:

I thought you might like to know the caloric value of one of these anytime shakes!
2 cups Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze): 80 cals
2 cups Baby Spinach: 10 cals
2 tbsp (1 serving) Ground Flaxseed: 90 cals
2.5 tbsp (1 serving) Organic Black Chia Seeds: 77 cals
1 tsp (1 serving) Spirulina Powder: 0 cals
1 cup Mixed Fruit (Caribbean Medley): 60 cals
1 tbsp Bee Pollen: 15 cals
Total Value: 323 cals- This is easily 2 servings! You can, of course, switch this up in a million ways!


Lunch- was one cup and a half of vegetable soup (seen a few blogs ago) with some Sriracha, a whole wheat bagel and a pear. I added WAY too much hot sauce to the soup, and ended up tearing up the bagel and soaking it like chewy croutons... now if only there was a pound of Gruyere on top! Lol..

Wanted to tell you guys about Nuval- it's a new nutritional system that ranks food on a system of 1-100 points. I first heard about it on the Carrot's n' Cake blog, Tina (the author) has started a new blog called Trading Up Downtown. According to their website: "Nuval Scores summarize comprehensive nutritional information in one simple number between 1 and 100. Each Nuval Score takes into account more than just the nutrition fact panel. It considers 30-plus nutrients and nutrition factors – the good (protein, calcium, vitamins) and the not-so-good (sugar, sodium, cholesterol). And then it boils it down into a simple, easy-to-use number; a number you can trust to make better decisions about nutrition in just a few seconds."

Food and nutrition trends change so often, wonder nutrients hit the shelves all the time- I wonder if this system will be able to keep up? Or does it make it redundant, and allow us to ignore fads and stick to the basics of food rather than let us get mislead and carried away by added ingredients/promoted features? After all of the reading I've been doing on the politics of food, I wonder if the assorted lobbying powers in the US will even allow this to develop to it's full potential? I mean, if you were buying a food based just on it's Nuval score- would you be inclined to disregard the ***Added Fibre*** or ***Now! With Omega 3s!*** splashes that we see so often on labelling? Would you even pay attention to the Nuval score if you were seeking out an ingredient or property of a food source? Are the consumers who are concerned about nutrition able to let someone else decide FOR THEM the value of a food? Can people (and lets be honest- I mean women, the one's who read lables and do most household shopping) get over calorie counting? Most importantly.... What will the Nuval score be for champies?
I guess time will tell, and maybe only the border hopping Canadians will ever have to consider the option!
It seems like an interesting idea to me... but so far is only available in the states. Price Chopper is one of the chains carrying the system, so maybe that's a good sign for us Canucks!
I'm on the waiting list for Micheal Pollan's new book Food Rules, and am really looking forward to another read by this author! He's a really excellent writer, with a pretty simple outlook on food: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. Seems basic, right? Well, his previous books have detailed his principles on this topic- primarily the first part: Eat food. Pollan argues that many of the foods we consume now are 'food-like substances' (or something like that). That through the processing and manufacturing of food sources and the industrialization of the late 20th century- we have thwarted natures design and morphed perfectly fit foods into polymer laced tummy fillers. One of the authors key points (which was mentioned in In Defense of Food, 2008) was: If your grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, don't eat it. I imagine Food Rules will add to that tenet other simple, easy to live by axioms. Pollan was on Oprah a few days ago (should have had the whole show as far as I'm concerned) promoting the book and he was as eloquent and articulate as ever.
I could go on and on about him, Eric Schlosser and most of the NY Times food writers, but I'll pace myself... this blogging thing could last a while!
Here's an intro article to Food Rules, as seen in Pollan's home publication, the NY Times.
Have you read any of Pollan's books? Do you have any books you'd recommend on food and it's associated issues? For that matter- any great recipe (vegetarian only pls) books that I should check out?
Are food politics something you're interested in generally?
Slainte!
Amanda
(Incidentally- wordpress seems to be screwing with my spacing in the latter half of MOST of my posts. Not sure why this is, and obviously, I have yet to fix this... please don't think I've had a stroke or just given up on the 'enter' key. It's just a weird error I'm trying to correct- I know it makes it tough to read!)

1 comment:

  1. I love that you took a picture of your treadmill...keep doing that! Unfortunately I don't have any food related literature to offer you, unless you include my favourite cookbook on simple and delicious baking. Eventhough it's veggie I really don't think that's what you're looking for. I will keep my eyes peeled though for anything of interest. I do believe I may be a little busy in the coming weeks but I'll do my best.
    I will keep reading your blog regardless of how busy I am though...Loving it!

    ReplyDelete