The Runner's Kitchen

Good morning! Check out my latest contribution to the Running Shorts column on True/Slant – Alternative Sports Medicine. If you’re struggling with aches and pains, make sure you know all of your options.

Yesterday was an early one, but getting up with the sun was worth it – I love my Tuesday morning spin class! I started off with 1/2 decaf coffee and a few pieces of dried fruit.

After a fun 45 minute cycling session, I did some strength training (not my fav, but necessary):

• 3 x 10 bicep curls
• 3 x 10 tricep dips
• 3 x 10 tricep extensions
• 3 x 10 lunges

And then 20 minutes on the elliptical to read Marie Claire magazine cooldown.

Breakfast was vanilla greek yogurt with PB2 mixed in, a lazy girl’s baked apple, and a vita muffin.

My “lazy girl’s baked apple” was just a sliced Macoun apple, drizzled with maple syrup and cinnamon, and microwaved for 2 minutes. So easy to make, but it feels so much more special than a regular ol’ apple.

Mid-morning snack: Heritage grain flakes and 2% milk.

Lunch was a cup of Campbell’s Select french onion soup and a hummus, arugula, and mozzarella sandwich on a whole wheat flat bread. I was pleasantly surprised by this soup – very rich and flavorful and no “canned soup” taste.

And then some leftover Halloween candy to power me through the rest of the afternoon…

After I left the office I headed to my local polling place to vote. Yay, civic duty! And then returned to my apartment for dinner and a few hours of writing, emailing, and blog work. I think I stared at a computer screen for 14+ hours yesterday – yikes!

Dinner was a repeat of Monday – 1/2 baked sweet potato, lentils, lots of mozzarella cheese, and hot sauce. Oh, and some leftover apple cider!

I resisted the new Mad Men DVD sitting on my desk (must.respond.to.emails), but I could not resist the call of Katie’s homemade pb & j bars sitting in my fridge. I warmed one up in the microwave and added a big dollop of greek yogurt (tastes like whipped cream!)

I may have eaten another pb & j bar around 1am. It was a long night…

10 Free Ways to Get Healthy in November!

Hungry for a sandwich? How about generous scoops of quinoa and hummus rolled in a blistered naan along with pickled vegetables, sauerkraut and tangy yogurt? Yes, please! Read more about these drool-worthy sandwiches on the NY Times.

Get the 411 on dried fruit – FYI yogurt covered raisins are NOT your best option.

Is there a connection between processed foods and depression? The BBC reports on a study that says yes.

A new study suggests that yoga is very beneficial for women being treated for eating disorders. Yay, yoga!

Question: What’s your “power snack” to get you through a late night of homework/work?

Before I get down to business and chat about my running and foodie adventures, I have some exciting news! Matt (NoMeatAthlete) and I are the newest contributors for the online news network True/Slant. The focus of our column will be on all things running: gear, races, nutrition, athletes in the news, etc. We’re still figuring out the direction for Running Shorts, but we’re open to suggestions. Check out our inaugural post and let us know what you’d like to read about!

I totally had a case of the Mondays yesterday, boo. But I did begin the day with a 3-mile run with Alma. That helped get the week off to a good start!

Breakfast was a cappuccino and overnight oats. The overnight oats won’t be winning any beauty contests, but they were filling and yum!

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 cup Fage 0% greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup 1% milk
• sliced banana
• handful of cranberries
• LOTS of cinnamon

The options for a bag-lunch were slim pickings (need to go to the grocery store…), so I hit up the salad bar at lunch time. I enjoyed this beauty outside in the sun (probably one of the last days I can eat lunch outside this Autumn!).

• romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, red onion, mushrooms
• stalk of baby bok choy
• spoonful of white bean & artichoke salad
• feta cheese, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, croutons
• sample of a tostone and a spoonful of rice & beans
• Tbs balsamic vinaigrette

And then some pop chips! They were handing out samples of these little 50-calorie bags near Columbus Circle last week. Score!

Dessert was a (surprise!) magic bar from a co-worker. Coconut, graham cracker, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, mmm. It’s a good thing the portion was small – these little babies could be dangerous!

And then around 5pm, I poured myself a bowl of Heritage heirloom whole grain flakes with skim milk.

I was feeling kind of bored/blah after I left the office, so I headed back to my gym for some easy elliptical. I pedaled away for about an hour while I read my newest book: The Nineteenth Wife

After some stretching, foam rolling, and showering (still having hot water problems at my apartment, ugh), I headed uptown.

My mission for dinner: Assemble something healthy and tasty with whatever ingredients I had on hand.

I heated up a black bean veggie burger and rolled it up in a whole wheat lavash wrap along with hummus, mozzarella cheese, hot sauce, and shredded carrot. It was surprisingly good!

Dessert came from the fridge & freezer: a warm vita brownie topped with almond butter. Protein? Check. Fiber? Check. Vitamins? Check. Delicious? Absolutely!

As I finished up Mad Men, Season 1, Disc 3,  my tum started to grumble. Solution? Wallaby vanilla bean yogurt! With a satisfied stomach and sleepy eyes, I set my alarm for an early wake-up call.

Ok, the sun needs to get its act together and start rising before I do. When the alarm beeped at 6:20am, it was still veryyy dark (and rainy!) outside. I dragged myself to the kitchen for coffee (half-decaf) and dried fruit and then set off for the gym.

I went to my favorite 45 minute spinning class (yay, 80’s music!) and then finished up with a increasing speed 4 mile run.

• Mile 1 – 9:20
• Mile 2 - 9:15
• Mile 3 – 8:00
• Mile 4 – 7:45
• Total - 34:20

Breakfast at my desk was a decaf cappuccino (perfect after my rainy, chilly commute), a banana, strawberry chobani, and 1.5 cups of Kashi Honey Sunshine.

The morning was a whirlwind and before I knew it, my stomach was MORE than ready for lunch. I just finished the very last of the leftover octoberfest veggie chili (wahoo!) and a cornbread vitatop. After this morning’s long gym session, I’m sure I’ll be needing a snack soon. 

Can’t wait until tonight - I have a yummy dinner recipe in the works. Stay tuned!

Who knew pumpkin seeds were so healthy? 85 seeds contain 126 calories, 5 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, Omega-3’s, and zinc. Now if we could only make them taste like candy corn…

Monday morning started off with some decaf coffee. Eh, don’t think I’m ready to go sans caffeine just yet. I was dragging on my commute to work!

Breakfast was a strawberry chobani greek yogurt, chopped bosc pear, and an apple berry vita top smeared with a little peanut butter. I cropped my head out of this photo. Decaf Megan was not looking cute.

After a few hours of work, I was ready for a fun snack: Clif z-bar Spooky S’mores flavor. I’ve had this flavor in the past and wasn’t super impressed, but I LOVED it this time. Tasted just like s’mores.

It was sunny, so around noon I went for a little walk. Nothin’ exciting to report, just stretched my legs a bit. And then it was time for LUNCH. I really need to go grocery shopping, so I bought my lunch instead of packing it. My salad contained lots of little tastes – I think I tried nearly everything on the salad bar! I especially loved the roasted purple potatoes

I thought about buying some sunchips, but decided to have a few handfuls of Kashi Honey Sunshine instead. I keep this box in my desk drawer for snack attacks. It’s a healthier (and cheaper) alternative to chips.

[source]

Later on in the afternoon, I was craving something s-w-e-e-t. I whipped up a cup of hot chocolate (using half skim milk, half water) and had a few dark chocolate bites along with it.

I hit up the gym after work (hooray for finally getting good use out of my health club membership!). I started off with 50 minutes on the elliptical. To keep from getting too bored, I alternated speeds every few minutes. For example: I would pedal easily for 5 minutes, sprint for 2 minutes, and then slow back down again. I still had a lot of energy after my elliptical sesh, so I headed over to the treadmill and ran 4 miles in about 35 minutes. By the time I made it home and sat down to dinner, it was after 9pm. Where did the day go?!

I had already begun to devour my plate by the time I took this photo – I was HUNGRY!

Black bean veggie burger with laughing cow cheese, arugula salad with a dollop of hummus, and some quinoa with hot sauce. A little rando, but I think I hit most of the food groups!

Dessert was the last slice of caramel apple walnut pie. So good.

And then a little while later I popped up some stove-top popcorn and sprinkled it with chili powder. I had plans to get up wayyy early on Tuesday (spin class!), so I wanted to be well fueled.

And Tuesday morning was, indeed, an early one. I’m really loving the 7:15am cycling classes at my gym – I always feel so accomplished for the rest of the day!

I started off with some coffee (half decaf, half regular) and a few prunes. Yes, it’s a bold move, but I have a stomach of steele!

Spin class was fun, today we did a lot of out-of-the-saddle hill climbs. I like those! However, my cycling shorts are nearing HAZ-MAT status. I need to wash them ASAP. Laundry tonight!

I finished up my a.m. workout with 3 miles on the treadmill. Today’s run was very, very promising. For the last 10 months or so, I haven’t really been able to run on the treadmill because it seemed to excacerbate my hamstring injury. Yesterday’s 4-miler and today’s 3-miler felt (almost) perfect! I’m sure some of you are wondering why I’m doing all this doubling: spin class + running, elliptical + running, etc. Answer: I’ve found that by mixing cross-training and running, I’m able to get in high-volume training without aggravating my hamstring and IT band. Now that I’m feeling a little better, I’m trying to be very careful not to re-injure myself. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to near 100% running mileage, but until then, show me the spin bike!

Next up on my racing agenda: The 8-mile Run for the Diamonds on Thanksgiving Day

Breakfast was a lot more prunes, blueberry chobani greek yogurt (those 14 grams of protein were appreciated!) and a banana walnut vita top. I’d never had this particular flavor before and I really liked the little walnut pieces. Vita tops have pretty stellar nutritional stats, but sometimes the chocolate varieties taste a little…well, dry. I think the regular muffin flavors are better.

 And a decaf cappuccino because my office is freezing.

Around 12:30pm I put my jacket on to go for a walk (it’s 63 degrees and sunny!) and then I realized instead I needed to eat something right.this.second. Ok, stomach. You win. I heated up some leftover pumpkin macaroni and cheese (I swear you cannot taste the vegetable in this).

With a honey crisp apple and some straight-outta-the-box Kashi honey sunshine to fill me up.

Ok, lunch time is over, back to work. Or in search of a diet coke. One of the two.

But tonight, I might make chili. Yay! Does anyone have advice for adding beer to chili? Do I just dump it in while it’s cooking? I have some Sam Adam’s Oktoberfest that I would like to use…

In the News:

My fav pay-what-you-can yoga studio gets some love. Last week someone gave homemade lentil soup as their donation!

Pumpkin 101: The Best Picks for Carving and Cooking!

Digitally distorted models, should they come with warning labels? BTW, Ralph Lauren. I think your ads are creepy.

First things, first – I wrote a guest post today for Angharad’s  Eating for England blog. You know you want to see more photos of those half-pound cookies I like. Mmm. And if that isn’t enough to sway you, the recipes that our English lady friend whips up are always amazing – check out her posh mac ‘n cheese dish. Swoon.

True to my word, I decided to tie on my baking apron last night. I had a big bag of Farmer’s Market apples that were just calling my name.

Megan’s Maple-Cinnamon Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

• 6 large apples, sliced thinly
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• another 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

• Toss the apples with maple syrup and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and place in a lightly greased 8×8″ baking dish
• Mix together the ww flour, oats, brown sugar, and second 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Using the tines of two forks (or just use your fingers) cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly
• Top the apples with the crumbly mixture and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 F
• Note: My oven is super hot, so you might need to bake your apple crisp for a little longer.
• Enjoy!

This recipe is so healthy (whole wheat flour, oats, apples!) that you could eat it for breakfast. Actually, today I did just that.

But first, I started off with some coffee to-go, a few dried plums, and a still-dark commute to the gym. I do not like waking up before the sun.

I hit up a 7:15am spinning class (the music was only half as good as Tuesday) and then finished with a speedy 3 mile run (finished the last 400m or so around 7:00/mile pace). Pheww.

Busy morning at work, breakfast was eaten in parts.

Breakfast #1: Chobani peach greek yogurt

Actually, yesterday I received a whole CASE of these little babies. Including the elusive pineapple flavor. Hooray! It’s (almost) better than Christmas. Do you want some of your own FREE greek yogurt? There might be a give-a-way waiting for you at the end of this post….

Breakfast #2:

Apple crisp with (another) dollop of greek yogurt

Lunch was the LAST of the coconut cauliflower curry. This was delicious, but cooking for one person means eating leftovers for days on end. Yeesh.

I’m sure I’ll need a lot of mini peanut butter cups a healthy snack between now and the fun pizza dinner that I have planned….stay tuned!

I just found this great new recipe site called FunnySpoon. Bonus: the site offers coupons on featured ingredients. Two of my fav recipes: Halloweenies and 1-2-3 cookie bars.

Live in NYC? Check out the upcoming Boho Bodega where you can purchase “green” products at wallet-friendly discounts. All proceeds from the store will benefit the non-profit New York Council on the Environment.

Pumpkin, Fennel, and Grapes – Check out this Autumn shopping list for more seasonal favorites!

And now…..a fun give-a-way!! I eat greek yogurt almost every day (love all the extra protein) and Chobani has graciously offered to send a reader some samples of their very own.

Here’s what you have to do:

1) Go to the Chobani website and take a look around.

2) Leave a comment telling me what new flavor of Chobani yogurt you’d like to see.

3) Get an extra chance at winning by linking to my give-a-way on your own blog and leaving a second comment telling me that you did so.

You have until noon on Friday, October 16th to enter. I’ll choose the most creative/yummy flavor then! Note: Must be a U.S. resident to win.

Ok. Ready? Set? Go!!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Wednesday started off with my first run in nearly 2 weeks! After some coffee, I hit the pavement for 20 minutes. I had some tightness, but no pain. Throughout the day I tried to fit in extra stretching and walking to stay loose.

Breakfast was a vanilla Chobani greek yogurt, cherries, and about 1/4 cup of my homemade olive oil granola. Yum!

I had an eye doctor’s appointment at 1pm and found out that my prescription needs to be stronger – perhaps a cause of all those headaches I’ve been getting? After my appointment, I stumbled across this Glamour article on eye health. Even if you don’t wear glasses/contacts, it’s important to get your eyes checked!

I was good today and packed my lunch again! I started off with a cantaloupe + banana fruit salad.

Then I moved on to the main event – almond butter and banana on French Meadow Bakery hemp bread. I never get tired of this combo!

I had packed a larabar to have as an afternoon snack, but my office building was hosting an ice cream social in the afternoon. How could I turn down ice cream on one of the hottest days of the year?? I followed the advice I dished out in my Glamour Magazine guest post and enjoyed a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s half-baked frozen yogurt instead of my planned snack.

After work, it was time for another doctor’s appointment. After reviewing my progress and thoughts about today’s run, the doc said that I didn’t have to come back to see him. I do, however, need to be extra vigilent about not over-doing it with the running, stretch, strengthen, and perhaps get some sports massage. It’s been a very long road to recovery and I don’t want to backslide back into injury. The doc that I’ve been seeing is so wonderful! I never feel rushed and he always takes the time to explain why things are happening. For example, I’ve been having a lot of knee pain. I thought it was mostly IT band related, but the doc pointed out how tight my quads are. He thinks that the tight quads are pulling on the knee cap and causing inflammation. He prescribed stretches and foam rolling for my quads and patellar taping for the short term. He also told me that I had a mild case of Osgood-Schlatter syndrome. I always wondered what that bump was on my right knee cap!

From the Mayo Clinic website:

During activities that involve a lot of running, jumping and bending — such as soccer, basketball, volleyball and ballet — your child’s thigh muscles (quadriceps) pull on the tendon that connects the kneecap to the shinbone.

This repeated stress can cause the tendon to pull away from the shinbone a bit, resulting in the pain and swelling associated with Osgood-Schlatter disease. In some cases, your child’s body may try to close that gap with new bone growth, which can result in a bony lump at that spot.

Look what I came home to:

A freshly made batch of olive oil granola!

And a clean sink!

Despite confusing Tablespoons and teaspoons (this batch ended up containing 6x the amount of cinnamon, cardamom, and salt called for in the original recipe…) Nate did a great job with the granola. I tasted some when I got home and I give it an A+!

I was starvingggg when I walked through the door. I guess frozen yogurt does not make a very filling afternoon snack. I put together a little appetizer plate to nibble on.

I sandwiched fresh mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil between two thick slices of Whole Foods seed bread and then pressed it on the George Foreman. What a winning combination!

I was still hungry after my panini, so I dipped two more slices of seed bread in EVOO.

I finished the day with a small cone of Breyer’s natural ice cream. Froyo AND ice cream twice in the same day?? Why yes, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my first run in weeks

Check out this article: What is the Ideal Body Type?

Question: Ideal body types vary among different countries and cultures. What do you think is the best type of body to have?

Tuesday morning was slow going after Monday’s night at the bar, but a cup of coffee and a good breakfast woke me up I started the day with a strawberry chobani, blueberries, Kashi honey sunshine bar, and a calcium supplement.

I brought some leftover iceburg lettuce to work and mixed it with a cafeteria salad. You can’t really tell from the photo, but this container was overflowing with veggies, beans, feta cheese, and a bit of tuna. Afterwards, I was so FULL. Actually I was too full. Must have been all the water and fiber! 

Around 5:30pm, I finally felt a little hungry for a snack, so I had a Kashi crunchy almond granola bar. When I went to the gym an hour later, my tummy was not happy. I don’t know what was going on, but I felt overly full again! Fortunately I felt OK enough for a a little run on the treadmill. I ran 1 mile without pain and then switched to the elliptical for 25 minutes. I went back to the treadmill for another s-l-o-w mile of running. Felt ok! When I finished I did a little stretching and some of Alma’s single leg squats.

After a much-needed shower, I decided to make some din-din. I started off with an orange (very juicy!)

And my old standby of peanut butter, honey, and banana on hemp bread. This is so good, but I think I’ve been making it wayyy to often.

My un-air conditioned apartment was feeling pretty toasty, so I broke out the Skinny Cow chocolate truffle bars. Yum! I’m not crazy about the name (don’t really like it when foods are labeled “skinny” or “slim”), but these are delicious! Creamy chocolate ice cream covered in chocolate drizzle for only 100 calories.

Need healthy and nutritious snacks on the go? Check out this article from Real Simple. 

Curious about the no-calorie sugar substitute called Stevia? Read up on the origins of this plant-derived sweetener here.

I’m a HUGE fan of greek yogurt. It has a thick, creamy texture and double the protein of regular yogurt. It’s also about twice as expensive as regular yogurt! I was really happy when Chobani sent me a crate full of greek yogurt to sample!

Chobani is all-natural, low-sugar, and made with hormone-free milk. It comes in 6 creamy & delicious flavors: plain (low fat and non fat), low fat strawberry, low fat blueberry, low fat peach, low fat honey, and low fat vanilla.  6 oz of fruit flavored Chobani provides a whopping 14 grams of protein (the plain flavor has 18 grams!) – perfect for refueling muscles and keeping your tummy full and happy. One of my favorite ways to enjoy greek yogurt is to mix dried cranberries, dark chocolate chips, and coconut flakes in to the non-fat plain flavor. Delicious and healthy!

Thanks Chobani

I didn’t take photos of everything yesterday, but here’s a recap:

Breakfast: Pure Bar, strawberries (on sale at Whole Foods, I couldn’t resist), and chobani greek yogurt:

Lunch: My usual salad and banana walnut breakfast cookie (6 grams of fiber! 6 grams of protein!)

Before I went to the gym, I had the snack of champions – a handful of Peanut M&M’s!

My run did not go so well. My foot has been bothering me for the last couple of days and my shins were veryyyy tight for the first 2 miles. After 4 miles of running, I decided to finish up on the elliptical. The plan is to take tomorrow and Saturday completely off from running and rest up for Sunday’s 13 miler. Yeesh, I’m ready for this marathon to be over!

Since I was in quite the BAD mood post-gym, I decided to treat myself to a ridiculously overpriced salad from Whole Foods for dinner. Always makes me feel better, hehe.

Salad Ingredients:

• Arugula (President Obama likes this!)
• Shredded carrots
• Grapes
• Tomato-cabbage slaw (lower right)
• Tuna salad (upper right)
• 5 different types of baked tofu (on the left)
• Lima bean salad (hiding underneath)
• sprinkle of feta and balsamic vinaigrette (hiding underneath)

And then, I followed up with my favorite tea (more on this later!) and some TJ’s Joe-Joe’s.

Have you guys tried these? They’re delicious! I’ve only had the chocolate covered peppermint and vanilla flavors, but I am a fan. In fact, I love everything from Trader Joe’s. Except for some vegetable tapenade that I got back in 2005. But I think that was an anomaly….