Gotta love cheeks! My lunch treat for the day

I was extra hungry today since I woke up late and did not have a good lunch to bring.  I has pretty much eaten all of my days worth of food by 9:30 am.  What was I to do.  Well, I walk outside to a truck with a hand written sign that says:

Cachetes, Pollo, Azada, Chuleta, y Tripas.

Well, I got the cachetes.  That is, I got the beef cheek tacos, two of them in fact.  I love beef cheeks and it is not a normal food for most of us but I have always liked them.  They are very similar to a slow cooked pot roast that just falls apart with tenderness.  These tacos were very yummy.  I counted them as 4 points each.  Probably not accurate but I had to make a guess.  Here is the picture of the Cachete Taco

Healthy fast food

I have asked this question of myself ahead of time so that I can be prepared, but I am not always able to go according to my plans 😦  For me, it is a must to have food in the house that I can just grab, throw into an old grocery bag, and call it lunch.

Here are the foods that I call the “healthy fast foods”.  These foods work if you use them.  They will bring the victory where you usually might get beat up by other fast food choices.

See the great food choices by reading on.

Want to feel full? Try this run4change food staple!

Image Credit: http://www.health-fitness.com.au

I have a food in my arsenal that will get me from hungry to satisfied in only 5 minutes.  It is nutritious and tasty.  It is the ugly and under-rated sweet potato.  This one food has produced more satisfaction than almost any other food that I eat (healthy food that is HAHA ).

There are many ways that you can cook it, but most people think of it as a holiday for only.  Oh the wonderful sweet potato.  It is so much more than a holiday dish.  I microwave them for 5 minutes, slice ’em up, spray some stuff on it that is so good that I can’t believe it’s not butter, add some salt and pepper, and I am good to go.  Filling, sweetish, carby, lovely.  It is only 3-4 points on WW too.  I also bake them with a very thin coating of olive oil (my favorite, but more time consuming method).  This renders the potato into a soft and delicate delight.  Another way I do it is the old microwave method but then I slice it long ways and thin.  Then I fry the slices in a pan with spray or olive oil and it turns into a fry of sorts.  Great change on the texture front.  Here are some other recipes to try out on the this run4change staple food:

My 12th marathon report!

 

Race Headquarters

 

Minutes before the start

The marathon went well.  It was a very hard marathon for me mentally.  I had two pretty big ruff patches.  One between miles 16-18 and another between miles 24-26.2.  It was a good experience though and once again I learned that I could push more than I thought.  I also got two blisters.  You would never guess where either I bet.  I got one on each collar bone. HAHAHAHA  I had my Ipod, a bag of my fueling stuff, two gels, a hat, and an ear cover thing in my jacket pockets.  The extra weight of the miles just rubbed my skin off.  It started to bother me around mile 15 but I have had this before so I knew it was not big deal.

What and the heck do you eat?

This is what I will be eating while at work today.

This is what I am eating at work today.  I ate 4 points for breakfast before I got to work and drank 2 points worth of coffee with creamer in it.  Here is the order in which I am going to eat this food.

7:00 am-  Popcorn and yogurt

9:00 am-  Two packets of low sugar oatmeal and banana

11:00 am- Lean Cuisine, one clementine, and one carrot

12:30 pm- Green beans, jello, clementine

2:30 pm- Soup and one carrot.

So that is how I eat on a normal day.  This is kind of my schedule of intake I guess.  Throw a couple of diet cokes into the mix and I am set until about 6:30 when I eat dinner.

See my lunch the last time I posted a picture of it here

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Heal and relieve sore muscles in the comfort of your own home!

If your muscles are sore and you are hobbling around, you can speed up your healing process.  Being sore is a good thing usually, but it is never a pleasant thing.  The picture in this post is of my “Tiger Tail”.  Many runners use this and other massage tools to roll out sore muscles. 

The purpose of these tool is to slowly and easily push out some of the lactic acid that has built up due to hard workouts and long runs.  I have found it to be pretty useful.  I am not 100% sure that it works great, but I am 100% sure that it feels great.  So maybe you should give it a try.  They are not too expensive and if you don’t want to buy one, dig through your kitchen and find a rolling pin.  It will do the same thing, and it is what I used for a long time before I bought this one at the Seattle Marathon.

The one that I use is rigid and it is called The Tiger Tail  I really have enjoyed it. Since it is rigid, it gives more of a focused massage than othe tools.  Because of this, you can use it to massage other sore parts of your body.

The most popular self-massage tool for runners is called The Stick.  It is not rigid like The Tiger Tail and it has small rollers on it.  The Stick will conform to your leg more.  I like a little more pressure so the rigid feel is better for me.  The Stick gives a great whole muscle massage.

Another very popular massage tool for runners is the simple foam roller.  This is commonly used for overuse injuries to the IT band.  That is a common problem with people who never talk walk breaks and push it every time they go out for a run.  This tool is effective at loosening the IT up.

Here are a couple more articles about self massage for runners.  Also keep in mind, that these tools are not for runners only.  Any exercise induced soreness can be relieved a bit with any of these tools.

Runner’s World article on massage

Foam Roller information and use

Healthy eats & Good treats: Chung’s spring rolls

When I first started Weight Watchers, my sister and I found these gems.  Some friend of my sisters’ recommended them.  I loved them so much and they really helped me stay on the program and feel like I was able to eat anything I wanted.  They taste great and they are pretty low in points.  I used to eat the whole box at once.  It was really filling.  There are 5 rolls per box and it takes 2 minutes to cook them in the microwave.  I think the whole box is around 7.5-8 points.

This information also includes eating the sweet sauce that comes with the rolls.  At first I did not like the sauce but it grew on me.  Now I always use the sauce.  You can buy Chung’s veggie spring rolls at these stores.  They also have a websitethat you can look at if you want to.  Hopefully this is helpful for ya.  It sure was fun talking to you.

Clearing up muddy waters: low and high intensity activity

 
I would like to start out by saying I am sorry if I brought about confusion regarding lower intensity exercise and I thought I should be a little more descriptive about it.  I feel very bad that I might have confused people into thinking that low intensity is the only way to lose fat.  It is not, but it is the only way to improve endurance.  High intensity will not improve your endurance if that is what you are after.  Sorry.  Here is a post that explains the the plain truth regarding low and high intensity workouts.
Throughout my journey of weight loss I have had one very very focused goal.  The number one goal was not to just lose weight.  MY GOAL FROM THE START WAS TO FIND SOMETHING THAT WAS SUSTAINABLE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE SO THAT I COULD LIVE A HEALTHY AND FIT LIFESTYLE WEEK AFTER WEEK, DAY AFTER DAY.  Keep this in mind please as you read this post.
Here is what prompted this post:
…… My first trainer told me to stay in the target to burn fat, … and he was having me do 60-90 minutes of target heart rate cardio 4 times a week. But my current trainer says she wants me doing a mile 4 times a week, as fast as I can push it, and we’ll build up the distance later. It irritates me getting this conflicting information, but I do seem to be burning more fat now than I was before….”

Ok.  The higher the intensity, the more calories burned.  This is true and there is no getting around it.   It is also true that the higher intensity limits the amount of time spent doing the activity.  It is self limiting because of what is called, “lactate threshold”.  Once you hit this point, you cannot keep going.  Sprinters use a pace so that they have used up all energy in 100 meters.  Marathons use a pace where they use up all energy in 26.2 miles.  Although the sprinter is burning calories faster and more powerfully, the marathoner has burned exponentially more calories.  Here is a chart from about.com regarding high and low intensity activity and their respective calorie burning potential.

Healthy eats & Good treats: Alternative Bagels

I wanted to start trying to post about some of the tasty foods that help me stay on track.  You know, those foods that are substitutes for the more unhealthy choices we could make.  Here is a good example.  Bagels can be pretty high in points/calories.  I like bagels, my mom always gave them to me in my lunches back in the day.  These bagels produced by Western Bagel are a good substitute for the normal high cal. bagel.

Calories: 110

Fiber: 7 grams

Fat: Fat free

Flavors: Cinnamon spice, country white, roasted onion, sweet wheat, and very blueberry.

I like to get the cinnamon.  It is like eating a tasty little dessert.  Add some fat free or Weight Watchers cream cheese to make it a 2 point snack.  Sometimes healthier choices are small and not as yummy, but these bagels have the same texture, taste, and size of a normal bagel.  That is all a plus for me.  I don’t feel deprived eating these.  If you like bagels, you should give these a try.  It will be worth it.  You can buy them on their website or you can find them at Super Walmart