Love talk & New Challenge!

Thanks to your supportive comments on yesterday's post. I'm especially touched by Gina's comment: "Well just smile because if you think about it, you are so lucky to have someone in your life you miss so much! Whenever I miss Nick, I always remind myself how lucky I am that I have someone who I can truly miss so much, it must mean he makes me incredibly happy and I'm a lucky lucky girl. Every time you miss Star remind yourself how good you have it. I mean, not all women get such wonderful spur of the moment gifts! That was so thoughtful." She's so right! I should be grateful of having Star in my life instead of being sad of not be able to be with him all the time!
One thought that I had after I left the airport was that no tears, no special words, no apparent emotions doesn't mean No Emotions, No sadness inside us! When I see people who just say goodbye in airport without any emotion, not hugs, I used to judge them as insensible people! But yesterday I realized that I was wrong... maybe they didn't express themselves more because they were afraid of making the other person feel bad and sad too. I don't know if I'm saying it right.... do you know what I mean? I could feel that Star smiled to me and didn't show his emotions not because he wasn't sad of being apart of me, but because he didn't want to make me feel worse! And I felt the same way!!! That's a new kind of feeling about love, which I think it's wonderful! Have you ever experienced something similar?

Okay. End of love talk and let me move to June's Challenge:
Because I'll be working from 9-17.30 for the next two months, I won't have the flexible schedule that I had for the last 3 years. So, guideline for workout

• Monday/Friday workout at the gym: cardio for 45 min
• Tuesday/Thursday yoga at home: 45 min
• Wednesday: Resting day
• Saturday: yoga and/or swimming
• Sunday: vinyasa yoga at yoga studio

Eating guideline:

• Cleaning eating as the one I did a while ago. Basically no process food and eat everything in its natural form as much as possible.
  
• One green oats per day, which is also part of Maggie's Whole Life Challenge
• Use at least 3 items from the pantry, inspired by Maggie too
• Continue with the Challenge that I was already on: cut back on veggies, more healthy fats and proteins, early dinner and smaller desserts.

Would you interested on joining me on any of these? Let me know!

Finally, recap of today. As day 1 of the challenge and because I didn't workout yesterday, I set the alarm to 5.45am and went to the gym to run 4 miles on the treadmill. Once showed I felt wonderful!!! Morning workouts are the best!!! But I didn't have time to have breakfast at home. Quickly I packed food to go. Two pots of green oats: one with spinach, and the other one with brocoflower. For each of them I used 1/2 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup almond milk, 2 tbsp flax meal and either spinach/brocoflower (topped with chinese dates). For breakfast I packed 1 low fat plain yogurt, blueberries, puffed kamut flakes with mixgranola. For snack I packed an apple and some cherries. All packed in my new lunch bag! ^_^I enjoyed them along the day and didn't feel hungry.
Dinner was more elaborated. Stir-fry tofu with black fungus, baby corns, broccoli with sesame seeds, soy sauce and sesame oil.Stir fry soy bean sprouts with mushrooms and pickles.And porridge made with white fungus, black rice and aduki beans.Dessert: dairy free chocolate pudding!Overall, day 1 of the June's Challenge was well accomplished.
I need to catch up with your blogs people! see u tomorrow!~

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?

Too much of good things? New Challenge!

Conventional views always tell us to limit ourselves from bad things.... not to smoke too much, not to play too long, not to spend too much, not eat too much, not and not!!! I'm totally agree with that because those bad things could be joyful but too much isn't beneficial for our body. But what about too much of good things? Just before I wrote this post, I googled "too much of good... " and I couldn't find many articles related to what I'm going to talk about. So, no one have never thought about it or no one cares about it? There are many good things that we should be doing, like eat healthy, sleep well, exercise regularly etc. But have you thought about the consequence of doing too much of them? I can think many of them. Too much sleep makes you feel asleep and tired; too much exercise makes you feel sore and exhausted (and perhaps hormonal imbalances); too much kabocha (good for vitamine A) makes you turn orange (not you Maggie); too much dairy (good for calcium) makes you bloat; and finally yesterday I experimented too much veggies made my belly explode!!! Certainly, when we over-do, even though they are usually good for us, can hurt us too. Therefore, I think the key for a healthy life is not just to eat and exercise in a good way, but also, do it in MODERATION!!!
I've noticed (and you might too) I've been eating more and more, my portions have expanded so much that when I read other blogs I feel I'm a monster eating twice or three times more than others. Not that I'm worried about gaining weight (I haven't yet), but I've been feeling full and bloated all the time. So, I think it's a moment to re-assess my diet and make adjustment. So, guideline for the new Challenge:
First of all, I need to cut back on vegetables. I eat too much of it and too much fiber makes me bloat (as Gina pointed out yesterda).
Second, I need to incorporate more healthy fats so I don't get dry skin (I've noticed that when I eat more fats, my dry skin improved, so I'll continue on that).
Third, eat smaller portions, meaning less veggies and more protein and fat to keep the same cal content. Hopefully this will give me more energy and feel less asleep all day long (especially I'll begin to work next week)
Fourth, less snacks and desserts. No more big afternoon snacks and 3 courses desserts!!!
Any thoughts about my new challenge?

okay. You might wonder, where all this came from? Here's how the event developed yesterday
Breakfast was normal:

• 4 tbsp wheat cream
• 1/3 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. pumpkin puree
• 2 tbsp egg white
• Topping: Maple-raisin AB and chopped walnuts

Although wheat cream is creamy, it's not as creamy as oat bran and to be honest, it lacks flavor! Unsatisfied meal means more food to come. I had another bowl of cottage cheese with pumpkin and coffee 10 min later.I did some baking after breakfast. As I didn't like wheat cream as breakfast grain, I thought I might do something different with it. Also I wanted to use the failed AB so I can make a new batch soon. So, I created this: Maple almond butter "cornbread". Cornbread in quotes because I used cream of wheat instead of polenta, but the texture is just like the cornbread. It was sooooo good. Here's the recipe (100% creation of Coco ^_^)

• 1/2 cup WW flour
• 1 cup cream of wheat
• 1/3 cup maple raisin Almond butter
• 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
  

I had a piece right away. ^_^ yummy~ Then I went to campus for some errands and to the manicure. Back home around 1pm, I didn't crave anything, so I went for veggies. A quick sauteed spinach with leftover balsamic glazed carrots.A gigantic bowl of seaweed soup with tomatoes and egg.And a small bowl of black/brown rice. Check out how big was the bowl for the soupI got really really sleepy after the meal, so I took a nap. After the nap, I got snacky, really snacky!
2 pieces of cottage cheesecakeHalf of grapefruit and chocolates while I watched TV
Ikea crackers and Maple AB cornbread + the last two pieces of the cheesecake
Microwaved kabocha (Maggie, this method is even faster and easier)
The my belly was about to EXPLODE!!! But somehow I managed to move my ass from the coach and went to the swim pool. I knew all my snacks were healthy and all, but TOO much was the problem. I spent an hour in the swim pool which was amazing!!!
Back home, I wasn't hungry for dinner, but I had more veggie (big mistake!). A warm salad with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, cucumber and green peppers with cold tomatoes. And two crackers. Dessert: 2 cornbreads and white fungus drink.My belly was over-expanded again!! I don't think it was because of too much food, but because of too much fiber in it.
I got so sleepy by 9.30pm (so early compared to my usual time to bed lately, around 11-12pm), I went to bed and was out in <5.

Question: What's your thoughts about too much of good things?

Day 14: last day of the ChallageS and round up!

I can't believe that 2 weeks just flew by and I'm done with all those challengeS. I'll say it wasn't hard for me so maybe I shouldn't call them as challenges, because actually I enjoyed a lot. It made my meals easier to make (lunch usually was ready in <15min), class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">dairy free chocolate pudding and cheese-less pesto. It was really fun! Now, let's break down one by one:

Leng's salad challenge: needless to say I really enjoyed this one and learned how to make satisfying salads. The key is to add enough protein, fat and carbs, otherwise you'll feel hungry right after eating the salad. Another plus of this challenge is the visual pleasure... adding different colors of veggies makes every meal prettier, so I enjoy it even more.

Clean eating challenge: this one is tougher than the others because it requires you to prepare all the meals and be careful about ingredients. Another inconvenience is when you have to pack something for snack when you're not home. We are used to grab a bar and go. I work at home most of the time so it wasn't too hard for me. When I had go out, I just grab an apple and a packet BB. But if I have to do it more in the future, I'm thinking of making bread/muffin/bars for snack. The good thing about this challenge is that I could savor the food in its pure/natural form, since no artificial sauce/flavor was used. When our taste get used to natural flavors, we eat lighter and enjoy more the food.

Dairy free challenge: this one ended up easier than I thought. I was a HUGE fan of greek yogurt, I ate one cup everyday religiously and sometimes two. So, the first couple of days were hard to find desserts that I like to replace it. But... when I discover the magic of silken tofu to create really creamy, light, smooth puddings.... giving up yogurt was a piece of cake. Besides of yogurt, cheese was something that I don't eat much but crave it sometimes. There were few days that I really crave it. Luckily I found nutritional yeast to be a good substitute of cheese to make sauce. So, cheeseless pesto was born! ^_^ I'll make more cheeseless recipes with it in the future, it's really fun to create new recipes this way!

Only Organic challenge: this one was the easiest one because all I had to do is buy Organic. You might think it's a lot more expensive... but not too much. Just look at different organic store to buy their best deal.

Changes on me:
1. Feel lighter even after a big meal.
2. My belly felt better, felt less often bloated.
3. Less breakout after the first week. Maybe clearer? not sure. I might need more time to see effects on my skin.
4. I didn't feel less energy because I tracked my food intake to make sure I get enough cal and nutrients.

That was my round up of the challengeS. I'll continue to do most of them but let me indulge little treats whenever I crave it. I will continue with the dairy free challenge for 2 weeks more to see if my belly keeps feeling better and to see if my skin improves more.

Quick recap of yesterday. The massage was great!!! It was in the most chic place in MD, look where it is located, just in the same building as Louis Vuitton and Jimmy Choo!And look insides, where I lied down for 60 min and fell into half sleep! ^_^

In term of eats, let pics tell the story.

Today's plan:
- work
- yoga
- meeting with Carmen
- ..... TBD

Day 13: weekend=fun? not for me!

First I want to report that Melatonin worked for me last night, I took the pill around 9.30pm, went to bed to read for half hour and turned the light off at 10pm. I woke up at 5.30am this morning, still early, but I got a nice 7 hours and half of sleep. I'm not feeling 100% my best, but much better! More sleep will be needed to catch up~

This weekend is going to be really nice in term of weather, we're going to hit 80F, just like summer time! I wish I could go out and enjoy it, but I need to work. I'll meet Carmen tomorrow and have a presentation next Monday. I'm so boring and miserable!!! Well, actually not completely because I've booked a massage at HELA spa, one of the most fancy place in DC area. I really need to relax my body and there is no better place than that. People there are beautiful, the place is peaceful, it smells good and the massage is incredible. I'm really looking forward to 3pm.

Yesterday wasn't exciting at all, I had to drink double shot of coffee in order to be able to work. :( not fun! Anyway, lets move to eats which was good again.
Breakfast combo:

• 1/3 c. flax seed porridge (Krista, I am seriously in love with this)
• 1/3 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. wheat berries
• 2 tbsp pumpkin
• 2 tbsp egg white
• vanilla/cinnamon
• topping: blackberries/blueberries/Cinnamon Swirl PB

It was soooo delicious, love the chewy texture of the flax seed and wheat berries.
AM snack: apple.Lunch Salad: another warm-cold one. I used leftover turkey sauce that I made the other day, add some mushrooms in a bed of greens and tomatoes.With 1 Vermont muffin (the other one was toasting)PM snack: kiwi + wheat berries + flax meal + cinnamon. It wasn't good because the kiwi wasn't sweet at all.So I had an oatmeal bagel after this. (almost forgot to take pic! )Worked until 7pm and did 60 min yoga. There is no other better way to end my long day of work with a sweaty yoga class. :)
Dinner: I made again the cheese-free pesto. Adding more veggies: 2 cups of broccoli puree, 1/3 red pepper and celery. Seasoned with more nutritional yeast, S+P, over a package of "angel hair". A sunny egg and oatmeal bagel.It was a delicious plate with good fat source (pine nuts), tons of veggies, protein (egg) and carbs (bagel). PERFECT, right?
Dessert: I had no more silken tofu to make my beloved chocolate pudding, but I couldn't end my day without dessert, so I made Sarah's pumpkin pie flax pudding. It was so easy to make and really yummy~~~ ^_^
Today's plan:
- work
- spa
- yoga and/or groceries
- work

Question: what was the last recipe you tried that was from blogs?