Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Off my Rocker

There's no other way to describe the day but feeling a little out of sorts and "off my rocker." It must also be Southern-ism week here at the Gluten Free Grazer because my use of the word "y'all," cravings for bbq and other Southern delights, and use of idioms is out of control. This is one week that my brother can't call me a Yankee though ;-)

The day started off routine enough with blueberry maple hot cereal, topped with mostly almond butter because I'm out of peanut butter. You know what's coming soon...


Worked through the morning and nothing was unusual or uneventful. I got hungry for lunch and had a large, simple salad of romaine, carrots, banana peppers, and 2 pickles. I was expecting to get to eat leftover lentil sloppy joe mix as well but only had about 1/3 of the serving I brought before getting full.


That's when the quirkiness of the day began. I couldn't sit still for the life of me! For the rest of the day, I must have been up and down every 20 minutes, in addition to walking to a few meetings in other buildings on campus. I guess a month of not running, walking, and ellipticalling is finally getting the best of me. My legs were utterly restless!

I also figured that I would be hungry before snack time especially since my lunch was pretty light. That feeling of hunger didn't hit until right before the end of the day. I munched on a delicious Fuji apple as I headed to the store to make a return.


Since I was around the corner from my gym (at the Jewish community center) I stopped in to pick up a pool schedule (in anticipation of getting to do something besides abs and arms soon!). I chatted with the trainer for a while and realized how much I miss it there! Not just the workouts but the people as well. I've built a whole group of friends through classes, etc. The trainer encouraged me (if the dr. says it's ok, of course) to come to class for the arms and abs part and to skip the cardio. Just being in the gym reminded me of how good I feel when I work out. Yes, I do enjoy spending a lot of time being active, whether that's walking around the city, taking class, or running / cross-training. It is a great outlet for my energy, I feel confident and strong after a  tough workout, and I find that my mental clarity is better, I sleep better, and all around feel good. It's not my drug but my happy pill!  This might make me a bit off my rocker for enjoying some of the torture of some of my workouts, but it's just like pampering yourself with a pedicure or shopping - it's treating myself to something I deserve and love!

Coming to this realization over the past month has been a process and at this point, I simply cannot wait to resume (read: slowly ease back into) my normal activity. Being forced to slow down and spend my time otherwise has been good, yet I've also realized that exercise and being active contributes to my happiness and quality of life!

I came home from the gym and was actually hungry (!) so I started on dinner. I wanted to use up some lima beans I had in my freezer so I threw together a succotash stew.

  • 1.5 c lima beans
  • 3/4c corn
  • 1.5c chopped orka
  • 1/3c chopped onion
  • 3 large carrots, diced
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1/4c water
  • salt and pepper
  • garlic powder
  • paprika, chili powder, oregano
Saute the onion and carrot in a pot sprayed with non-stick spray until soft. Add the rest of the  vegetables, water, and spices and stir. Allow to simmer for 20 - 25 minutes until the carrots are tender. Makes 4 1-cup servings.



I topped a bowl of this with a light sprinkle of cheese and hot sauce, and also had one of these new multi-seed English muffins I discovered at Whole Foods. I don't think I've ever had an English muffin before and this was really good! They come frozen which means you don't have to worry about them going bad. I ate one half with my stew and am saving the second half for "dessert" alongside my pear.


I'm watching the Biggest Loser and taking care of a few things. It's funny, the show used to motivate me to stay active (and it still does) but I've been loving the non-exercise parts of the show since my injury! Kinda crazy but I swear I'm not too far off my rocker!

G'night!

No comments:

Post a Comment