This is my attempt to keep a daily food and fitness diary. This isn't Pulitzer-winning writing; these are spontaneous, often hastily written rambles of what I eat, do and learn in my ongoing effort to feel awesome all the time. It may not always be pretty, but at least it's honest. You can find more stories and recipes at SmarterFitter.com.
I looove peanut butter and alfalfa sprouts on toast. As I've been sprouting mung beans lately, I thought I'd try the "recipe" with mung bean sprouts instead. It's not as good, yet not as bad as you might think. Still, the rest of my toast got the almond butter and marmalade treatment. And it was good.
It's also worth noting that it's stupid early for breakfast. But then again, I woke up stupid early. This may have consequences on various aspects of my day.
It's cleaning lady day. She comes at 9am. So I decided to spend the morning at the gym and doing my grocery shopping. Hence: the packed breakfast. This pic looks kind of sad, but it wasn't so bad. My gym has a good-for-a-gym cafe with lots of couches and tea served in real glass mugs and free wifi. So, I packed along some wholemeal toast with almond butter and a banana. This was about enough food to really get my fires stoked - I was starvin' marvin' the rest of the morning. Good food, but insufficient.
The fruit: banana and pear. White tea to drink.
Toast with almond butter on one half, PB on the other. Served with alfalfa sprouts, banana and a mimosa. Weird but satisfying combo.
I love peanut butter & alfalfa sprouts on toast, always with a little pinch of salt. Here, I tried half peanut butter, half almond butter. Both were good but the peanut butter wins. Bread is homemade sourdough made with a bit of rye flour, the perfect flavour for these toppings.
My sister is here for a week and I took her out for lunch today on one of my restaurant review gigs at a pub that shall remain nameless. While this may have been a perfect introduction to country pub life and British food, the meal was a bit of the disaster. Very few options for vegetarians. And everything seemed to come cried or laden in cream - even the "green salad" had a pile of mega creamy cole slaw on top. What the heck?
We were not feeling our best selves after the meal, and so I very light dinner of the freshest food we could think of was in order: tomato soup (a Bittman recipe), lots of raw veggies and hummus, a bit of bread, it was the perfect thing. And a glass of red to celebrate her arrival.
Not a lot of time for exercise today, due to early airport pickup. But I think I could do with a rest anyway. Not going to panic!
Breakfast: Strawberry and banana smoothie; sourdough toast with almond butter; coffee
Lunch: Leftover grilled tofu, onions and peppers with tatziki, tomato and salad (tatziki, an impulse that turned out to be brilliant with grilled veg)
Snack: Apple and a cup of decaf tea with milk
Dinner: A very messy omelet with onion, garlic, mushroom, broccoli, tomato, spinach, parmesan cheese, red chilli flakes, salt, pepper; sourdough wholemeal toast; avocado; orange for dessert
Bedtime Snack: A few strawberries and Greek yogurt. So wrong, but so right.
Had a terrible sleep last night. Do not drink hot tea under a warm duvet with a hot laptop on your lap on one of the hottest days of the year. I was roasting all night long, a disgusting sweat heap. I kept waking up. Too many clothes. Underwear stuck to butt. Needing water.
I woke up at 5:15am - intentionally. My alarm was set. This was the day I get back to my crazy early morning schedule. I like this schedule. I am most productive in the early hours. I also like getting my workouts done first thing, and this gives me time for coffee and writing before getting to the gym at 6:30am.
It's amazing how well I do on little sleep when I'm laying off the booze and caffeine. For all my tossing and turning, I felt pretty good at the gym. Walked 25 minutes on an incline, progressing from 8% to 13%, then did my physio, interspersed with pushups and situps. And then the climax: a 1000 meter swim (with the help of my friend the pull buoy). After several weeks without swimming, I could really feel it in my back and shoulders. It felt great to be back in the pool (that is, once I overcame the whole hurdle of "getting started").
It's not all bells and whistles. I spent most of the day marking papers and by 4pm I felt shattered. Kept dropping things. Couldn't focus. Looking forward to curling up in bed with a COLD glass of ice water and my latest novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I'm probably one of the last people on Earth who hasn't read it... that and the DaVinci Code). Stay cool.
Breakfast: Banana and strawberry smoothie, sourdough toast with almond butter, decaf coffee.
Lunch: Epic salad nicoise with "Fish 4 Ever" tuna and anchovies, leftover pink fir potatoes from yesterday, tomato, red onion, sundried tomato, olives, raw broccoli, leaves and french beans from the garden, balsamic vinaigrette.
Snack: Apple, yogurt, a few walnuts.
Dinner: Grilled tofu, pepper and onion kebabs with salsa cruda and more leftover pink firs, plus some salad leaves and avocado.
So August is here. Part of me thinks that these notions of kicking off a lifestyle change at the start of a new year, month, or season is completely arbitrary and pointless. But at the same time, I can't help but feel a sense of renewed motivation this month. It began well. I didn't drink on Sunday evening and had a terrific sleep. I went to the gym. I got a walk in. I ate well. I felt good. The only hitch was caffeine. I really made no intentions to quit caffeine (though I think about it occasionally). However, for lack of caffeinated coffee in the house, I stuck to decaf. I was fine all day but had a killer headache in the evening - so I went to bed with my book and a few ibuprofen.
The gym was good and the knee is coming along in leaps and bounds (okay, more like longish strides and faint hops). I did 20 minutes of walking on a very steep incline and didn't feel at all awkward or strained. I followed this with some bench presses, rows, deadlifts, crunches, and TRX bicep curls and chest presses. There are days when I go to the gym and I feel absolutely exhausted before I even get there. Today was not one of those days. It felt great.
I also got my daily walk in during the afternoon at lunch. It was sunny and hot today in England - glorious weather - and I decided on my stroll to have a bbq that evening. Something clean, whole and vegan. Tofu kebabs. I'm loving the salsa cruda we had at Sunday's cookery course, and I majorly scored by being given the leftovers. Tomatoillos, tomatoes, chilli, spring onion, coriander, lemon juice, a dash of sweetener. Delicious. It makes me want to do more with fresh salsas and sauces.
