May 25, 2009

Post-shopping & challenge updates

The day after the marathonic day of shopping was like the day after you got over-drunk in alcohol, I didn't sleep enough and was exhausted all day long. Somehow I managed to go to my regular Sunday yoga class anyway, but felt especially challenged and dizzy during the class. Oh..man, I'm old!!! I spent the rest of the day at home watching TV and reading... nothing very excited and was feeling low because two days before I had Star by my side and now I'm alone again! Why the excitement and happy moments are so short and the post-excitement and happiness so long??? That's unfair!!!

Moving on! The only productive thing that I did was to make two extremely simple snack/desserts using kabocha, Maggie was hosting BSI for this week and she picked up our favorite food Kabocha. I made kabocha parfait and kabocha-ricotta holes. You can find them here.

Remember my challenge? Let me give you some updates
  • Cut back on veggies: I've been eating smaller portions of vegges, not over stuffed myself. Interestingly, it made me savor them more and let me find more tasty recipes with them. Quality replaced quantity.
  • More healthy fats: I've been adding 1-2 tbsp of flax meal or bigger spoon of Almond Butter in my breakfasts. I ate more chocolates too, does it count? I guess not, since most of fat from chocolates are saturated fat. Okay. I need to work more on this one.
  • Eat smaller portions and more proteins: smaller portions checked. More proteins checked, I've been having one meal per day based on proteins.
  • Snack less and smaller desserts: this one is my proudest part. I kept my dinner desserts to only one portion (usually I'd have 2-3 courses). It wasn't that hard if I keep that in mind when I have dinner, because I noticed that sometimes I eat less dinner in order to have more desserts/snacks afterwards, so having bigger dinner made desserts be just desserts, not another dinner.
  • Early dinner: this one wasn't in the original guideline but I think it's something that I had to do for a while. I used to have late dinner, around 9pm and go to bed just two hours after, which caused me some discomforts. Now, I've been having dinner around 7pm or no later than 8pm.
Overall, I think I'm doing good. I'd incorporate some of Maggie's Whole Life Challenge into this
  • yoga everyday (at least 10 min)
  • walking everyday (at least 10 min)
  • new meals every week (either new food or new recipe)
Finally, recap of yesterday's eats. Breakfast:
  • 1/3 c. flax porridge
  • 1/4 c. wheat berries
  • 1/3 c. coconut milk
  • 1/3 c. mashed broco-flower
  • 2 tbsp flax meal
  • big spoon of PMAB
Lunch was a feast. Korean picklesSmocked SalmonSauteed soy sprounts with mini peppers and mushroomsSauteed chinese broccoli with garlicAll with black rice porridge.Obviously I didn't finish them all (that will violate #1 of the challenge).
Dessert: kabocha parfait and teaPM snack: gigantic grapefruit, 3 kabocha ricotta holes and a WW with Almond butter.Dinner was leftoversDessert: dairy-free chocolate puddingToday is memorial day, I need to buy a sofa-bed in IKEA that's on sale but haven't found anyone to help me to carry it yet, so I'm a little bit worried.
I'll spend the day mainly on relaxing because tomorrow I'll begin my internship in the Congressional Budget Office Macroeconomics Division. I'm excited to meet new people and new place!
Question: How are you at meeting new people and making friends?

19 comments:

Emily said...

Sounds like you are doing well on your challenges!

Hope you can find someone to help move that sofa bed..Ikea is so amazing; I love that place!

Maggie said...

You're doing well with the challenges! And good luck tomorrow :)

I loved your kabocha ideas. And I'm trying to incorporate your challenges in with mine - it can be really hard though. One day I won't stuff with veggies, but the next day it happens. I'm going to keep trying.

Alison Can Read said...

Kabocha ricotta holes...way cool!

My skills at meeting people depends upon my mood. Generally, I'm good at schmoozing and introducing myself one-on-one. I tend to get very quiet in crowds though. Friends are harder to make. Acquaintances are pretty easy.

Gina; The Candid RD said...

Great job on your challenges! IT sounds like you are making some real progress. Thanks for telling me about my link, I fixed it if you want to check it out now :)
As far as meeting new people, I'm pretty good at it I guess. I have a problem with judging people before I get to know them though, this is not good. I am not shy though, so I am easy to get to know and to talk to ( I think!)

Krista said...

Great food today and I love how committed you are to the challenges! I'm gonna have to look out for this kombucha! I've never seen it before....

Mara @ What's For Dinner? said...

Sounds like you're doing great with those challenges!!

I gotta say though, no matter how many times i try Korean pickles, I just don't like them!

Melissa @ For the Love of Health said...

I hope you are feeling better today! Shopping all day is hard on the body! haha

That's so great you are doing so well on your challenge!! :-)

Great looking eats!

Sharon said...

Great job with the challenge. I really need to get some chinese broccoli. Your dish is making me drool. I love it!

annie said...

oh that parfait looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

good job on your challenge!!
the dairy free pudding sounds awesome.

Anonymous said...

You're doing really well with your challenges.
I'm ok meeting new people in my job (in customer service) as I know what I'm talking about and I'm their to help. It's different when I'm trying to make new friends, I've always been a little reserved.

Anonymous said...

I definitely do the smaller dinner so I can have bigger desserts/snacks afterward thing all the time. I figure it's inevitable that I will want to eat lots of little snacks and sweet things so I might as well keep the dinner smaller. This is probably a bad way of looking at it though, I should just enjoy a GOOD SIZED dinner and then I'd probably be less apt to WANT to eat a bunch of snacks afterwards anyway. Sigh. You seem to be doing a really good job with your challenge though!

I'm not all that great at meeting people. I'm pretty shy and not comfortable just going up to people and introducing myself, making small talk etc. I WISH I was and it's something I want to work on, but right now I'm not the best at it. And making people into actually FRIENDS is really hard for me too because I'm pretty closed off and don't let people in all that easily. ugh. It's SUCH a pain!

Rachel said...

Good job on all your challenges. Sounds like you are blowing them out of the water! I like how you made a choice to go easy on vegetables. I am definitely guilty of piling on way too much, more than I know I need. You're right that eating less of them helps us savor their taste even more.

Everything looks delicious, especially that parfait!

Much love,
Rachel

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit shy when meeting new ppl...but once we have something in common to talk about, we click!
I LOVE your kabocha creations! I hope you participate in this week's BSI, too!
sorry you're feeling a bit down...but true happiness is not about excitement in your life, but enjoying each moment of your daily life, however boring and lonesome!
hope you feel better soon Hon!
and ooh...kimchi! love it...and black rice porridge looks smackin!

Anonymous said...

You're doing great with your goals :) I'm sorry you're feeling a little boo hoo about Star leaving. That definitely makes sense. He seems lik such a dreamy dollface.

janetha said...

hey coco! i just caught up on your blog, i've been out of town. so glad you had a great great time with star, the shopping trip sounded long but fun--i spend way more time in kitchen stores than clothing stores! and all your eats look fabulous of course, can't wait to see little baked goods galore :) good job on your challenge, sounds like you are really keeping in line with the guidelines you laid out. that's awesome! well i hope you had a good weekend :D xoxo

Anonymous said...

hi dear!! I just gave you a braaaa because you're such a great friend!!
Great job for sticking to your challenges and for being my role model. :)

Your kabocha creations are AWESOME!!!!!! Where do you get such great great great ideas???

Anonymous said...

everything looks so yummmmy as always. i've missed you and sorry i've been so mia :D i think i'll be making a trip to DC this year, maybe summer, so we 'll have to meet up and eats okie?? :D

xoxo

Kristin @ The Southern Summer said...

Wow your food is quite elaborate! Great pics :)

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