Produce Galore!

I made the mistake of drinking coffee last night at 6 pm, before my counseling test. I generally do not do that.
I was up until 3 am. Way past my bed time. Hence, I had trouble waking up with morning and had no time for breakfast. Since then I have been all screwed up.
I had Developmental Psyc from 9:30 to 11, then I stopped by Shaws- because thats the time when there is the best selection of discounted produce. I was so mad I didn't bring my camera- the selection was AMAZING!
I loaded up on produce- probably more than necessary- but I'm sure it won't go to waste.
I got:
Some pretty Strawberries for $ 1.12


3 pounds of apples for under $ 2 and some grapes for $ 1.26

And Eggplant and 2 peppers for $1.57 and another eggplant and 3 little zucchini for 1.30, and some Kale, Broccoli, and a red pepper for $ 0.80

And some romaine lettuce:
And all together (sans grapes- they just did not look pretty in their plastic bag and ruined the picture): All for $9. Not too shabby.



Since the cheap produce is usually on its last leg of life, I just cooked most of it right away. I Seasoned an eggplant and a zucchini with black pepper, Garlic and Onion Spice, Thyme and Olive oil, and popped it in the oven:

The other eggplant, red peppers, and zucchini just went in with a little olive oil and water:

In the process of cleaning and prepping my new produce, I probably consumed about 2 cups of grapes. I didn't take a picture so here's a stand in:

*http://www.buycostumes.com/Purple-Grapes-Adult-Costume/17896/ProductDetail.aspx*
I figured I better site that stolen photo after reading the drama on the BUslowfood blog! http://slowfoodbu.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-happenings.html
I also had a small apple:

For Lunch I had some Kale, Roasted Eggplant, Peppers and Zucchini, a bit of brown rice and lentils, topped with hot sauce.

As per usual, as soon as eating real food, I had a sugar craving. Since I skipped breakfast I thought it was best to consume it in semi healthy form while getting in a whole grain by making a small bowl of oatmeal:
1/4 cup oats
10 craisins
10 butter scotch chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tb peanut butter
1/2 banana
water


Of course that didn't cure it
so I had the other half of the banana, with almond butter and some chocolate chips, and a couple cups of English Toffee Dessert tea with soymilk.




Dinner was some more kale, with eggplant, zucchini, tomato sauce and about 1/2 cup whole wheat rotini and a couple shreds of Veggie Shreds Vegan Cheese.


Finally after dinner dessert, a light and fit yogurt with some Trader Joes high fiber cereal:


Clearly skipping breakfast did not save me any calories! They were just all squished into one half of the day instead, which in fact just slows down your metabolism and is more likely to cause weight gain, which is one reason I generally try to spread my food out throughout the day.

I'm off to study for my next test, which is on Thursday. Happy Produce Shopping!

Its only Monday?!?

Today has been so LONG! this morning definitely felt like Monday- but by now it feels like Thursday....

This morning started off with some oats:
1/2 cup oats
1 small banana
1 tb almond butter
~ 1/2 tb craisins
10 butterscoth chips
a dollop of jam!


AND! Some water!

Lunch did not occur until during my Calamities of Public Health Class:
I snapped this shot of My tofu Sandwich on my camera phone during lecture so its not the best quality. The sandwich contained:
2 slices Trader Joes Whole wheat bread
2 slices sesame ginger marinated tofu
spinach
caramelized onion


I Finally had my Counseling Midterm today- I was suppose to have been on April 9th, but we had a snow day, and then spring break, and then it just kept getting moved! I am so happy to finally have gotten it out of the way. It was the longest test thus far in my college career- 3 hours long: 164 multiple choice, 8 short essays, 3 long essays.
Writers cramp!

I didn't get home until 10- I had packed a salad for lunch, but I didn't get a chance to eat it, I plopped it in a frying pan for a couple of seconds and warmed it up instead.
In the mix:
Baby spinach
caramelized onion
red and green peppers
grapes
some rice and lentils
balsamic vinegar



I think I now have to go spend some quality time with my little fendy who has been sitting lonely in the corner for over a week :(

Water, Water Everywhere....

but not a drop to drink?

Today I TAed my FAVORITE exercise phys lab (is it weird that i got that excited by that?) It was on Thermoregulation. And why do I enjoy it so much? Its about dehydration! And I am always dehydrated.

So here's a run down of what happens: we take one poor soul and make them ride a stationary bike for 60 minutes, at a pretty fast pace, while wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants- and not letting them drink any water.
On top of this- they are having all sorts of things done to them like blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature taken, and, O yea, I had to take their blood by a figure prick 4 times.
All for the sake of science!

So basically When one exercises his or her internal heat increases because of the mechanical energy of the muscles. A high body temperature can be dangerous because all of the chemical and enzymatic reactions that occur in the body to make everything function properly should be occurring around 98˚F, and when the body temperature gets too high the enzymes and proteins denature and become ineffective. In order to cool down the body, the four methods of heat removal can be used (conduction, convection, radiation and evaportation). The main method for cooling the body during exercise is through evaporative cooling, or sweating. When one sweats the fluid in the interstitial fluid moves up to the skin. In order to maintain osmotic pressure, the plasma from the blood then seeps into the cells. Due to this shift, the plasma loses volume which causes dehydration. (Costill, Dill).

During an exercise where the individual is more dehydrated, it becomes more difficult to pump the blood through the circulatory system due to the decreased volume. This problem is exasperated since during exercise, especially in the heat, there is more vasodilatation of the arteries and capillaries, and there is a significant amount of blood out by the skin attempting to release heat. All of these facts can work to increase the heart rate and blood pressure. The stroke volume, on the other hand, decreases due to these factors of there being a decreasing amount of blood to pump through the heart at each beat (Plowman et al., 420-421) .

So basically this is why its important to try water while you exercise! :)

As some of you have had to deal with - i go on kicks of trying to actually drink 8 cups of water a day- which usually leads to me drinking 8 cups before noon, having to pee every 5 minutes, and then swearing off water for a few days....

But - I'm going to go on a water challenge for myself and actually try to drink like a normal person!

And so this posting may have been a combination of my love/anti love of dehydration and my way of helping those in exercise phys with their lab report hahaha

Costill, D., Dill, D. (1974)“Calculation of percentage changes in volumes of blood, plasma, and red cells in dehydration” Journal of Applied Physiology. 37: 247-248.

Plowman, Sharon A., Smith, Denise L. (2008). Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness, and Performance. Second edition, Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.