5 Goals for February
Well hello there!
How is your morning going so far? I hope it’s off to a fantastic start. Mine began early as usual with a run and a tough leg/butt workout that I’m very confident I’ll be feeling tomorrow! Is it just me, or is it just impossible to get good at walking lunges? I swear, I could do them every week and still be sore after! I’ve got a hot date tonight… with my foam roller. 
As I mentioned in Tuesday’s check-in post, I’m getting back into my usual routine of setting 5 goals for each month. If you’re a newer reader, you can see all of the goals I set throughout 2011 by checking out my Top Posts page, and scrolling down to the Monthly Goal Check-Ins section. As always, I also want to know about how YOU are doing on reaching yours, so be sure to tell me in the comments section!
Without further delay, here are my 5 for February:
1. Eat out at restaurants no more than 6 times.
I’ll start this one by saying that I am not the type that eats out a whole lot. I adore cooking for myself and for other people, and often would rather make dinner for/with friends than go out (and risk being disappointed). Well except if the restaurant is Fresh, Thrive, or another one of my faves. But over the past month, I’ve spent waaay too much on restaurants, sushi in particular!!
Since my Australia trip is only a few short months away, my plan is to save up some extra $$$ to spend while I’m there. I already have a few lunch dates scheduled that I absolutely will not be missing, but I’ve decided to put the brakes on excess restaurant spending this month. This also brings me to my next goal….
2. Reduce my monthly grocery bill by 15%.
This isn’t the first time I’ve set this as one of my monthly goals, and to be fair, the grocery outings I’ve done recently haven’t been anywhere near as costly as they were about a year ago. Since food is tied with car payments as my largest monthly expense, I’m targeting it as an area for savings in February. It’ll take a lot of self control at the grocery store, but I am planning to achieve this by making some simple protein swaps. I already buy zero red meat, and have greatly reduced my chicken intake – seafood is my love and that’s where most of my protein usually comes from. There will still be some fresh fish in my house (because fresh looks about a squillion times better in blog photos than frozen), but there will be more of these things:
- Lentils – Just in case you wanted to know, after I took this photo I proceeded to spill that entire bowl of beluga lentils on the kitchen floor. 3 days later, I’m still getting them stuck between my toes. Depending on the type of lentil, 1 cup cooked = 13-15g of protein.
- Quinoa – The only whole grain with all essential amino acids (making it a complete form of protein). 1 cup = 18 grams of protein.
- Beans – My favourites are chickpeas and adzuki beans, but I’ve also fallen in love with weird ones like anasazi and pink beans. I’ve been buying the dry kind and cooking them myself to avoid the sodium in the canned versions, and this is a cheaper option too. 1 cup provides 13-15g of protein, depending on type of bean.
- Eggs – A whopping 6 grams of protein per egg!
- Edamame – I know, technically also a bean. Whenever I’m at Whole Foods I buy a few bags of the organic 365 branded ones. They’re cheaper than the bags available at my usual spot (Sobeys) and are so easy to scatter on top of salads, in stir fried veggies, or snack on by themselves. 1 cup = 14g protein.
- Frozen seafood – Mainly salmon, haddock, and cod, as well as shrimp. 100g of your average fillet = 22g protein.
- Canned fish – Light tuna and salmon. For the record, I would happily eat tuna every single day if it wasn’t for the whole mercury problem. A 40-oz can of tuna = 40g protein.
- … and finally, tofu. Not pictured above, but I have a killer tofu recipe coming up for you next week!! 1/2 cup = 10g protein.
Wish me luck!
3. Listen to 3 focus classes for my Institute for Integrative Nutrition course.
Focus classes are sort of like extra online classes that aren’t required for me to graduate, but are available in case students are interested in learning more about a particular aspect of nutrition. There is a big list of focus classes available and ideally I’d like to get them all, but for now I’m committing myself to 3 this month. These are the topics I’ve got my eye on:
- Superfoods – Here I’ll be learning about a whole bunch of superfoods from around the world. These include those that you’re probably already familiar with, like cacao, goji berries, maca powder, and wheatgrass juice, as well as those that are a little less common like inca berries and phytoplankton. I’ll also be learning about what makes them ‘super’, and things to be cautious of when purchasing. If you’ve been to your local health food store lately, you’ll know that a lot of superfoods aren’t cheap, so this class provides advice about things to watch out for like types of non-raw additives and fillers.
- Yoga of Eating - The description for this one is vague, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be all around the issue of intuitive eating and being in tune with our bodies. I talked a whole bunch about this last year (and read 2 books on the topic – Eating Mindfully and Savor), but it never hurts to learn more.
- What’s Wrong with What We Eat- This session is with Mark Bittman and it’s the one I’m most excited about. In case you’re not familiar, he’s written the books How to Cook Everything and Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating. He’s got a regular column in the New York Times and speaks about the implications of issues like having too much meat in our diets, obesity, and the effect of our diets on the planet. Mark is one of my favourite thought leaders in the nutrition world and I can’t wait to hear about what he has to say!
4. Develop all website content for my health coaching service.
This is something that I just began working on last weekend and the pages are looking good so far. Once published, they’ll talk about my training, what health coaching can do for you, and what you can expect to get from my health coaching sessions. I hope to have this part of the blog up and running in a couple of months, so stay tuned! And if you already thing you might be interested in these services, feel free to email me at eatspinrunrepeat (at) gmail (dot) com.
5. Tackle a baking adventure that scares me.
I won’t reveal exactly what it is just yet, but I will leave you with this hint:
Ok, that was a huuuuuge hint. This could turn out to be brilliant or a complete kitchen fail, but I promise to post about it regardless!
So tell me…
- What’s one of your main focuses for February, and what are you going to do to get there?
- What’s one thing you’re most looking forward to this month?
Add comment February 2, 2012
Recap: Try Something New Tuesday 93
Gooooood morning!! 
How are you today? I hope your week has been lovely so far. I’ve got a busy day ahead helping out with a recruitment event at work and teaching 2 spin classes, but before all of that happens, let’s get to the recap of all new things tried this Tuesday!
1. Recipe of the Week. Even though the weather isn’t getting any warmer, I’ve been finding myself eating more raw fruits and veggies lately. Winter usually has me craving warm, cooked foods, but last week I made a delicious quinoa creation that I’ve made twice since.
You’re looking at Pack-It-In Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, a combo of quinoa, veggies, and edamame in a blood orange vinaigrette. In addition to being delicious, this dish on its own provides over 100% of your recommended vitamin A and C intake. Perfect if you’re suffering from a winter cold!
Although these peppers contain 2 protein sources (edamame and quinoa), I understand that there are many men who won’t eat a meal without meat. If this is the case in your household, I’d recommend adding in cooked shredded chicken before adding the dressing to the mix. But really, they’re just fine without chicken too!
2. A mangosteen. I’ve found another piece of exotic produce! This time, it’s a mangosteen, and I’ll admit I had to look at the sign in Whole Foods to figure out what it was. After googling it, I learned that this fruit is in no way related to a mango in taste, texture, or appearance. It originated in Malaysia, and other warm countries like India, Thailand and Indonesia also grow this fruit. In the western hemisphere, they come mainly from Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
They also have a really cute butt!
I read that in order to eat it, all you need to do is crush the outer shell with your hand and you’ll find a white piece of fruit inside. Its supposed to look like a piece of garlic that separates in segments. Sounded easy enough…..
How the heck is my palm supposed to crack into that??? As you may have guessed, I broke out a knife for this job.
When I finally managed to chip away enough of the rind (which seemed kind of waxy), I found this:
The fruit did come apart in segments, and just like I’d read, there was one significantly larger segment that contained a bitter seed that is normally discarded. Interestingly, the number of points on the flowery-looking bit under the fruit (the butt shot above) is supposed to indicate the number of segments inside. If this is true, I should have found 6, but I only found 5. Maybe it was under-ripe?
As for taste, I read a number of people’s descriptions which ranged from various fruits like (like strawberries and peaches), and even vanilla ice cream. I had my fingers crossed for the latter, but sadly I was disappointed. It had a creaminess to it, but really didn’t taste much like anything spectacular. I’m going to go with the assumption that I might have had a bad one since the inside didn’t look much like the images of mangosteens that I found prior to testing.
(Source)
Can any experts weigh in on this?
3. A super environmentally friendly water bottle. A little while ago I was contacted by a representative from the Bamboo Bottle Company who kindly asked if I’d like to try one of their new water bottles. I checked out their website and learned that these bottles have some pretty cool features, including…
- They’re made from natural materials
- They contain absolutely zero BPA, so you don’t have to worry about chemicals leaching into your bevvies
- The interior is glass, dishwasher safe, and keeps hot and cold drinks insulated
- The exterior is made of bamboo, a sustainable material that decreases CO2 emissions
When the box arrived, I pulled out this:
The bottle comes apart so that its dishwasher safe bits (the glass, lid, bottom, and green ‘nut’ that screws on around the top of the glass bottle) can be separated and cleaned.
The only non-dishwasher safe part is the bamboo sleeve, which slides off once you take the green nut off of the glass.
I’ve only used the bottle for holding water and steeped iced tea at work, but this what I think so far:
Great because:
- The bottle is glass, and therefore doesn’t make my water taste like plastic, metal, or any beverage that was in it before.
- It’s dishwasher safe (although I’ve just rinsed it out a couple of times – no need for the machine yet!)
- The design is different and attractive.
- The materials are environmentally friendly, as is the company that produces it.
Not so great because:
- It’s quite heavy for a water bottle, even when there’s no liquid inside of it.
- It’s a little hard to grip. Don’t get me wrong – I do love the look of the bamboo layer, but by the time you put that on over the glass bit, you’ve got a pretty big circumference! My hands are by no means small but if I were to bring this to the gym, I worry that I might drop it.
- The green nut that screws on the glass top is a little hard to get on.
- The actual bottle capacity is only just over 2 cups.
As the company’s website points out, their production process isn’t perfectly ‘green’ yet, but I do think it’s great that they’re working towards creating products with more sustainable materials. The weight of the bottle was the main downfall for me, but the fact that the interior is glass and that it can be easily cleaned were 2 huge advantages over other water bottles I own.
Alrighty, that’s all I’ve got for you today! I hope you have an awesome Wednesday, and before you go, tell me…
- What’s your preference for water bottles: glass, stainless steel/metal, or plastic?
- Ever tried a mangosteen? If so, do you have any idea what was wrong with mine?
- I’m taking Recipe of the Week suggestions, so if you have any, let me know!
24 comments February 1, 2012
January Goal Check-In: I’m a believer
Good morning friends!
If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know that I always do a monthly check-in on the goals I’ve set out to achieve for the month. (They look a bit like this and this.) January was a little difference, since I only declared my 2012 goals, rather than a set of 5 monthly ones. I’ll be going back to the usual routine for February, but today I want to talk about two of the changes I’ve made since the beginning of the month, and the amazing results I’m seeing already.
1. A massive reduction in artificial sweeteners.
This is the biggest change by far that I’ve made, and it was long overdue. I’ve talked a bit in the past about my major addiction to gum, and even blogged through several attempts to give it up. Although I eat pretty clean the majority of the time, I’ve got my nasty habits just like anyone else. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I used to easily go through 3 of the 60-piece canisters per week. That quantity would probably get a “normal” person through an entire month! I realized that my main trigger situations were when I was bored or anxious at work, and at night when I knew I shouldn’t be snacking any more but wanted something to keep my mouth busy. I’d let myself chew endless amounts of gum, but it definitely took its toll on me. My digestion was terrible, and I was constantly bloated to the point that it seemed like I was never going to “deflate”! Since the beginning of January, I’ve severely cut back my gum chewing habit. Sometimes I’ll pop 2 pieces in after a meal to freshen my breath if I don’t have a toothbrush nearby, but I’ve stopped taking it to work. Out of sight, out of mind!
Gum wasn’t the only culprit of all this discomfort. Last year I was buying fruit-flavoured single-serving yogurts and eating a couple of them per day. Being fat-free and low in calories, you might think they’d be good for helping to maintain a healthy diet, but we all know that there’s more to nutrition than fat and calories. Flip over the container and you’ll discover a couple of scary ingredients that definitely are not whole foods. Have I stopped eating yogurt? Nope, of course not! But I’ve swapped it for this:
Plain Greek yogurt, and cottage cheese. These have been staples in my fridge for a year or two now, but I was also buying the individual artificially-sweetened yogurts because they were easier to take to work. One day I decided that really, it takes all of about 2 minutes to scoop some real yogurt from a big container into a portable one, and hence, I have not purchased the single-serving ones since.
The third big culprit was drink crystals, and as I mentioned in this post, I’ve never been one to loooove drinking plain water, except for in the gym. Since January, I haven’t touched a single packet of drink crystals and instead have been flavouring my water with citrus fruits and fruity teas which I steep in a large pitcher with water, then chill in the fridge. One of my favourites is Pom Power, a white tea with just a little caffeine and a whole lot of flavour. As a result I think my taste buds have become much more accustomed to lower levels of sweetness, and I almost never experience sugar cravings. I’m drinking more water now, and not surprisingly, my skin is looking better than it did when it was being fed liquid chemicals.
By targeting these 3 ‘fake foods’ and almost eliminating them from my diet, my digestion has improved remarkably. Before this month, I thought that maybe I needed to get tested for gluten or dairy sensitivities. (Dairy is still a bit of a tricky area – milk and hard cheeses don’t sit so well but yogurt and eggs seem to be fine.) But what I really needed was to give myself a good swift kick in the butt and stop eating foods that my body wasn’t made to digest in the first place. The result? Not surprisingly, eating real foods make me feel about a bazillion times better, and my stomach doesn’t stick out like a woman who is 6 months pregnant!!
2. Stress relief
We all know that stress is bad for us and that we should try to reduce it as much as possible. I don’t consider my life or my job overly stressful, but it didn’t occur to me until I was away in Italy this past Christmas how much stress reduction can improve the way that I feel. For the 5 short days that I was there with my dad and sister, we walked around, toured buildings, took heaps of photos, laughed a lot, ate very fresh food, slept in, and I really didn’t give much thought to my regular responsibilities. I didn’t even go to the gym, which is a HUGE change from my usual routine!
I don’t know if this has ever occurred to you when you’ve been away on holiday in the past, but when I took a minute to think about it, my body was so much more relaxed. My shoulders were down and my neck was relaxed, not all tensed up like it is after a day in the office. I felt more calm, moved around a little slower, and noticed my surroundings more. And my digestion? Great. I’ve never even noticed much of a connection between stress levels and digestion in myself before, but now that I’m so much more conscious of it.
It’s obviously not practical to be on holiday for our entire lives, so there are a few things that I’ve started doing to keep my stress levels down during my every-day life:
- Deep breathing. Sounds crazy, right? We breathe in and out all day, every day, so what could be so magical about this? Just try it. I usually practice when I’m in my car driving to and from work. I try to fill my lungs with as much air as I possibly can, then push all of it out as if I’m trying to compress my lungs as much as possible. Almost immediately, the tension in the rest of my body is gone, my heart rate slows down, and I feel better.
- Journaling. Again, I talked more about this last week, but I’m a total believer that it works in helping to reduce stress. When I was losing weight, I’d write down all of my food intake for the day. (I stopped doing this years ago, but still think it’s a very effective weight loss tool.) I write about a ton of different things now, including things that frustrate me, things that happened in the day that were great and amazing, and things I want to do in the future. In terms of diet, I also write about things that didn’t make me feel so great (again, cheese is a nasty culprit!) so that I can identify patterns and avoid trigger foods. On the flipside, if I’m feeling absolutely fantastic and awesome, I’ll write about the things I ate, activities I did, the people I talked to, and all of the other things that helped to make me feel so great. Done first thing in the morning, journaling has been a good way for me to set intentions for the day. Done at night, it serves as a way to collect all of my thoughts and clear my mind before bed.
You may be thinking “OK, this is all great and good but it’s only January. Surely her motivation to maintain these changes will drop off over the next couple of months.” I actually don’t think that will be the case. You know when you see and feel changes that are so positive that nothing could ever make you want to turn back to your old ways? I think that’s what has happened here!
Alright, that’s enough about me for today! Today I want to know…
- Is there an area of your life that you know you would like to change but are having trouble doing so? What’s holding you back?
- Have you made any changes over the past month that you’ve already seen amazing results from? Tell me about them!
30 comments January 31, 2012
