Running Tunes

Let me begin by saying that I know very well how odd my music collection is, and I recognize that this may not be helpful to anyone. But it may help someone! Alls I know is, when I was trying to put together this playlist I got zero help from the internet because of my music taste and collection. I'm putting this out here in the hopes that even the smallest part of it will help someone who has slightly similar music tastes to my own.

My music collection ranges from old obscure tidbits from my mom, to musicals, to a large collection of classic rock, to punk, to ska, to 90s alternative, to 80s butt rock, to instrumental tracks, to some selections of more modern pop music, to local bands that don't even exist anymore, to church music, and anything in between. To make this playlist, I clicked through every song in my iTunes and tapped out the beat. I'm now sharing the results of that effort (probably 2 hrs of work) with the rest of the world. I hope it helps even one person.

I run comfortably at 11:30/mile, taking kind of small steps, which puts me between 158-170 bpm. 165-180 is closer to 10:30/mile.

                                               My warm up list (158-162 bpm)

 

My steady jog list (160-170 bpm)

 

                                               My speedy jog list (175-185 bpm)

Eat Your Freaking Vegetables!

Alright. I have a lot to say today, so let's all cross our fingers that it comes out coherently.

I've been reading a great book lately called Eat to Live. I recommend it to everyone, no matter where you are in your weight-loss or health journey. I've learned a couple things that I find to be vital, and I thought I'd put them to practice and see what happens. I've been eating according to the precepts found in this book for the last week, and have exercised pretty moderately - 3 runs, and a tiny bit of strength training every day.

Basically...no one NO ONE eats enough vegetables. Here's the thing - we've been told our whole lives that we should be eating a certain amount of calories every day, and if we eat fewer, we'll lose weight. So the biggest thing most people do to try to lose weight is to control their portion sizes. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this, but I can tell you that it's not going to be as effective as you'd hope.

Here's why: Your stomach can only hold a certain amount of food. If it doesn't have enough food, you feel that familiar pang that tells you you're hungry. If you eat 400 calories of low-nutrient food, which is basically anything other than vegetables, it's not going to fill your stomach very much. Not even halfway full. But if you eat 400 calories of vegetables - guys, that's a lot of vegetables - it will fill your stomach entirely. And vegetables take longer to digest, contain more fiber to tell your brain you're full, and are COMPLETELY MADE OF NUTRIENTS.

I don't understand why we all don't eat more vegetables. I feel like I eat a good amount, but after reading this book I realized that even 3 servings a day, which I usually strive for, is not nearly enough. We as a species are not consuming the amount of nutrients that we need to survive. It's why so many deaths are avoidable - caused by poor nutrition. We are a malnourished species.

Maybe this is just me, but I eat vegetables because I know I need to. Not because they're the tastiest things I could choose to eat, but because I KNOW that romaine lettuce is an amazing source of calcium. Because I know that broccoli prevents cancer. Because I know beta carotene is a necessary daily nutrient. So even if my smoothie doesn't taste more like bananas than grass, I still drink it. Because I know I need those vitamins and nutrients, and the best place to get them is from whole foods.

Why would I use up my precious stomach space eating foods that do absolutely nothing for my body? There's not much room in there, and my body only needs a certain amount of calories per day, so I think it's best if I only put good things in there. Don't you?

Here's a cool thing. This chart shows the nutrient density of many popular foods. THIS is what convinced me to start eating a huge salad twice a day - I need more of those 100-scoring greens!

This chart KILLS me. In order for our bodies to get the nutrients we need EVERY DAY, we HAVE to eat greens at least once a day! Look at the jump - we have some high rollers with the greens and the brussels sprouts and the spinach, and then it jumps all the way from 77 to 59! The next highest score is 59! I really think EVERYONE needs to eat something above 50 at least once a day. It just makes sense, doesn't it? Am I crazy?

I know there's lots of other things we could hash out about this chart, and I'm sure everyone has lots to say about protein and all that, but come on. Eat your greens. That's all I'm talking about here. I'm not saying anyone needs to convert to being a vegan or vegetarian or anything like that. I'm certainly not. I can't give up my sausage :) But...just eat more spinach than you do meat. That's what I'm saying.

Traditionally in our generation of Americans, we build our plates around the protein or the starch or both. I wrote a post a few years back about why it's better to build your plate around your veggie, and I'm holding to that. But I'm upping the ante now. Build your plate ENTIRELY of veggies.

But...what about protein? Don't we need protein to fill us up? Sure. But here's the thing - if you're going to eat nothing but veggies for an entire meal, how much do you think you'll have to eat to get full? By the time you've eaten that much, you'll have gotten the protein you need from the vegetables themselves. That tilapia filet isn't always necessary.

I know some of you have already tuned out. Why would you believe me? This is what all the rabbit food munchers have been saying for years, that broccoli has more protein than steak and all that. Well, here's the thing. I'm not going to go into the science or anything like that. I'm just here to tell you what I've been doing for the past week and the AMAZING transformation that has taken place in just that week, and how full I've been from just eating vegetables. It's been insane. And that's why I'm writing this, because I couldn't believe what happened. So I know you're skeptical. I wouldn't expect it to be any different. It makes no sense from our generation's view of eating. But it's true. And it works.

I've been very stagnant in my weight loss for the past...6 months or so. Baby weight came off pretty slowly, and I got to the point where I finally fit into a few pairs of jeans and felt pretty happy with how I was looking, so it slowed down. Plus the ankle injury and the ridiculous winter of sickness that's been going on...anyway my excuses are plentiful, but that's not the point. The entire time I've been trying to lose weight I've been eating very healthy. I did a clean eating challenge in November and again in January and lost some weight both times. I recently started running again, and that's helped a lot too, but not as much as I'd hoped. Basically...I've weighed the same since November. I started running in January, and I've been doing pilates and pushups as well. Not anything super extreme...I used to work out 5 days a week, and now I'm lucky and feel proud of myself if I do even 5 minutes three times a week. What I'm saying is, I eat healthy and I exercise moderately, and I would expect to be losing weight but I haven't been. I imagine many of you feel the same way or are in similar situations.

SO....here is how I ate during the past week. It was actually pretty easy to eat this way, because all I had to do was make a salad and eat it for a few meals until it was gone, then make another salad. If I had thought of doing this when I was in those clean eating challenges, I would have done way better without expending so much energy looking for recipes.

Every day was basically the same. For breakfast, I have two fried eggs. For lunch, I make an ENORMOUS salad and eat it until I'm full. Another cool thing about this new way of eating is that my body adjusted to it VERY quickly. The first day, I ate more than half of the salad. Now I'm eating a little more than a fourth of it, and I'm already getting full. I'm not even halfway through it. Then for dinner I either have more salad, a green smoothie, or I cook some greens with kielbasa or ground sausage. Or a filet of tilapia.

Notice: NO GRAINS! I have found them to be unnecessary. When I was experimenting with my diet a few months ago, I really felt like I needed some carbs in the morning to give me energy. I don't feel that way anymore. I don't even feel hungry right away when I wake up - I usually don't eat breakfast until I've been up for 2 or 3 hours. Then I don't get hungry again for at least 4 hours.

While we're on the subject of hunger, let me just say this. What you consider to be hunger does not mean that you will die if you don't get food right away. If you are trying to detox your body, as many of us are, your stomach has to be empty for a while for that to happen. So when you feel that hunger, try ignoring it for a while. You'll find the discomfort fades quickly, and you'll be giving your body the chance to clear out your digestive track to make room for more good stuff later.

One more thought before the results and my salad recipe: I think the way we need to think about food is on a nutrient level, not on a category level. I was thinking about the My Plate thing, which used to be the Food Pyramid, and how many categories there are. There really only needs to be three: Vegetables, Fruits, and seeds/nuts/legumes. All these foods have very important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that we need to have proper body functionality and health. Anything else you eat is just extra. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with extra! Food is delicious and we should enjoy it! But we NEED those nutrients. What I'm saying is this: If you are trying to lose weight, stick to these three categories, leaning heaviest on the vegetables. If you are NOT trying to lose weight, you STILL need tons of veggies every day. Go ahead and have those cookies and enjoy some steak, but eat that enormous salad for lunch as well. The book I mentioned suggests eating one pound of fresh veggies and one pound of cooked veggies every day. That's what I've been doing this week, and it's been great. I don't feel like I'm starving. I get to eat whenever I want, which really isn't very often anymore. And I'm only spending grocery money on vegetables, so I'm actually spending less. This is actually the easiest diet thing I've ever done. I have had a couple hard days, and I'll admit I snacked on Goldfish and girl scout cookies a couple times, but let's let the numbers do the talking, shall we?

I weighed in this morning at 3 pounds lighter than last Tuesday morning. I weighed myself before breakfast last week, and after breakfast today (it just worked out that way). I actually weighed myself every day just to see what was happening, and I could see the effects of what I was eating. I quickly lost the three pounds, and also quickly gained two of them back with those cookies. I got back on track the last two days with my salads and lost those two pounds again. So just think - if I had disciplined myself better, I could have lost 5 lbs! Next week.

Ok I think I've rambled just about long enough. TL;DR - eat more vegetables because they are far more nutritious than anything else you can eat. Health is not just about your weight, it's about putting the right things in your body.

Here's how I make my salad, with a little bit of why on each ingredient:
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped into ~1 inch squares
1 bag of spinach
1 bunch of bok choy, chopped into ~1 inch squares (the bunches I buy come with 3 heads)
I try to eat spinach every day because it's one of the most nutrient-dense veggies. But look at that list up there - so are romaine and bok choy! So I've started adding them to my salads as well.
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
I've always given cauliflower a bad rap. I don't know, I've just never been a fan. But after a discussion with my cauliflower-loving hubby led to some internet research, I found out that it's pretty high up there on the list as well.
1 crown broccoli, chopped
Broccoli is a cancer-fighting powerhouse. I try to eat some every day.
1 cucumber, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, shredded. Well, sort of. I actually peel them to death with the peeler, so they end up paper-thin and easier to chew. It takes a while, but I think it's worth it :)
Carrots are the orange version of spinach. I also think they're the most convenient vegetable to eat raw. I buy them by the 10 lb bag.
2 cans olives

This salad lasts me at least 4 meals. On each serving I add:
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seed
These seeds do a LOT towards filling you up. I left them off the other day and my salad binge was not nearly as successful
1 tbsp chia seeds
For detox :)
1 tbsp flax seeds
Ok here's my omega 3 rant. We should consume an omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of 6:1. The average American diet is more like 20:1!! You don't need to try for omega 6s - they're in tons of stuff, most notably corn. And most meat you eat was raised on a corn-based diet, so most meat is richer in omega 6s than omega 3s. If you're eating fish, check to see if it was farm-raised. If it was, it was raised on corn. So while you are getting some omega 3s that way, you're getting omega 6s as well, and you're not getting the ratio you should be. Flax and chia seeds are both great sources of omega 3s. My book recommends eating 1 tbsp of flax seeds every day.

On 1/4 of this salad, I add less than 1/4 c salad dressing. I usually do a homemade blueberry vinaigrette, but when that runs out I use whatever ranch is in the fridge. You don't need as much dressing as you think. The book actually recommends only 1 tsp of oil for the entire day!

Mostly Veggie Pasta Salad

I've been reading again...I've actually been doing quite a bit of research lately into my diet and how I can improve it. The most amazing thing I'm learning is that it really doesn't matter how many veggies you eat, you're still not eating enough. I'm not sure I'm advocating a vegetarian lifestyle, because man I love meat. But we all could use more vegetables. The nice thing is you can eat as many as you want without really affecting your daily caloric intake goals. I've always believed vegetables shouldn't count toward that. Last night for dinner I filled a 5 gallon bowl with salad and ate the whole thing.

At any rate, here's my complaint. A lot of recipes will claim to be healthy because they contain some vegetables. I've made and enjoyed pasta salad for years that has about 16 oz of pasta and a bag of frozen peas and carrots, and considered it healthy. But here's the thing: your body needs AT LEAST 3 servings of vegetables daily, and an entire bag of frozen peas and carrots is barely that. So you'd have to eat your entire pasta salad to get your 3 servings of vegetables. Unless you had an enormous salad for lunch and a green smoothie for breakfast.

My goal here was simple. I wanted to make a salad, and add pasta to it. Not the other way around, as it usually goes. My challenge is always the amount of pasta. I feel like I have the perfect amount of veggies, and then I add way too much pasta. Well. This time I had the perfect combination. And so I'm posting it here for all of you to enjoy :)

Let me also give a quick shameless plug for broccoli. Everyone should eat broccoli every day. It's one of the most potent anti-cancer vegetables out there.

Mostly Veggie Pasta Salad
3 crowns broccoli, chopped
1 bag frozen peas and carrots
1 can olives
1/2 kielbasa sausage
~8 oz pasta (I used farfalla)
~1/4 c Italian dressing (I made my own but don't have the recipe on hand)
~1/8 c parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta al dente. Slice the kielbasa thinly and fry on the stove. Then quarter each slice. Stir everything together. Easy peasy.