Tag Archives: food

More Goodness (or I Got Chipped!)

Yesterday started off of a down note. It was getting ready to rain here in LA, and my hips were killing me! No painkiller seemed to be working. So I spent the morning in bed doing stretches (and catching up on my reading).

I finally started to feel better around noon and as I was walking into my living room, my doorbell rang. I opened the door to find the FedEx guy with a box for me.

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I seriously love that it was addressed to “Finding My Inner Bombshell”! I opened up the box to find this inside.

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A gift from Food Should Taste Good! They are promoting their Food Should Do Good program. This month they will be donating $100,000 to Play for P.I.N.K. to support breast cancer research.

Obviously, breast cancer research now means a lot more to me now than it used to. But I’ve also seen reports about companies exploiting the idea of pink things. You have to be careful about buying pink items to support breast cancer. But I’m proud to say that I did some research on Play for P.I.N.K. and they seem awesome! They use various sport events to raise money for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This seems pretty fitting to support my mom since she is still kicking butt on the tennis field even while going through chemo!

I haven’t opened the bags of chips yet. I have a friend coming over tonight for a happy hour hangout and I’m trying a new dip recipe to have with them.

It’s nice to have something bring a smile on my face when I was in such a foul mood when I woke up. I tried to continue the good mood by getting a lot of work stuff done. I also made it out to run some errands that I had been putting off (I’m so grateful for underground parking so I didn’t have to go out in the rain).

It’s not raining anymore here but I’m still in more pain that usual. Hopefully it will go away quickly because I’ve got a bunch of 5Ks coming up soon that I want to get some training done for!

Staying Under (or Does It Really Matter What I Eat?)

I’ve been having some battles with food lately. Nothing as bad as it’s been in the past, but it’s not as good as it’s been lately either.

I’m making crap choices with my food. I’m still logging them in to My Fitness Pal so I’m able to keep track of my calories, and that’s helping me a lot. When I’ve made bad choices, I’m still trying to stay under my calorie goal for the day. I’m not sure if this is a good plan or not, but it’s what’s happening and I figure I might as well share it.

I remember when I was in group therapy at the UCLA RFO program and we would discuss calorie goals. I remember the group leader saying that it doesn’t matter if you eat 1,200 calories of fruits and vegetables or 1,200 calories of Dove bars. It’s still 1,200 calories and if you are below your calorie goal for the day, you will lose weight.

And I’m totally aware that eating 1,200 (or whatever your calorie goal number is) calories of good food is better for you. You will be able to eat more, feel fuller, and have a more nutritious day.

But sometimes, all that practical reasoning doesn’t matter.

So on Monday, for example, I ate a relatively healthy breakfast (at 11am since I worked a late shift that day), but in my craziness of getting ready I forgot to pack my lunch. There aren’t a ton of healthy choices that I can get in my 30 minute lunch break (7-11 for fruit and yogurt is one of my best options), but I didn’t feel like doing that. So, I went through a drive-through. I got food that normal people eat on occasion and nothing too crazy. I didn’t get fries or a soda. And I planned it out so that I was still under my calorie goal for the day.

This meant that I couldn’t eat dinner when I got home from work, so my last meal of the day was at 3:30pm.

Was I hungry when I got home? Yes. Did I eat a small dinner? No.

I didn’t want to go over the calorie goal for the day. And in a twisted way, I wanted to punish myself for eating the crap food at lunch.

My plan did work a bit. I gained a portion of a pound, but I’m pretty sure that’s from the excess sodium in my lunch. It helped me feel more in control that I knew I was under my calorie goal.

Yes, I realize how crazy I must sound, but in the years that I got therapy for my eating disorder, I learned that I’m probably going to battle this my entire life. I’m going to have moments where I’m weak and eat things I shouldn’t. But part of winning the battle is how I react after. I didn’t give up for the day on Monday and eat more crap for dinner. I said that I was done with my meals and went to bed a little hungry. And the next morning, I was back on track with better eating.

That’s how I know I’m getting better.

Working On Figuring It Out (or I Wish This Was Easier)

I was starting to get into a good flow with my food. I’ve been making much more stuff at home and remembering to take it with me to work for lunch. And this was great for a while.

Until I got to my two half days of work where there isn’t a lunch scheduled. Somehow, that got me all mixed up. I forgot to eat lunch those days and was so starving my dinnertime that I didn’t make the best choices for myself.

It’s tough on those days because I’m trying to get so much stuff done. On Fridays, I work from 9-1, so I have a good portion of my day free and like to try to get some errands done. This past Friday I left work in Santa Monica, drove to West LA to go to OSH, drove to the far side of Culver City to return some things I ordered online, then went home. By the time I got home, it was almost 4pm and I didn’t want to eat a super late lunch or a super early dinner.

And yes, I’m aware that the smart thing for me to do would be to go and get some lunch before running errands or bringing something with me that I can eat on the run. But I don’t think of doing that when I’m rushing out to work for my early shift that day (also, I don’t get home until after 9pm the night before so I’m rushing around from the time I get home the night before until I leave the next morning). I also don’t want to spend a lot of time eating lunch because I really want to maximize those hours I have (and I’m working on figuring out how to fit in a spin class too).

I had a similar problem on Sunday, which is my one day off. I got up at my usual 7am (it really is better if you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day) and was cleaning my house and running errands as soon as I woke up. And at 2pm, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything yet and had to time out when to have lunch and dinner.

It’s tough to schedule out my meals when everything else isn’t crazy scheduled. I never know when I’m going to be doing my errands, and sometimes if I’m not hungry, I don’t want to force myself to eat.

I’m hoping that I start to figure out how to plan on my unscheduled days soon. Even though I’m eating great 4 days a week, those other 3 can really go wrong and screw up all my hard work!

Trying To Cook (or Eating Something Different From Day To Day)

I’ve really been trying to be better with my food. I feel so much better when my food is something nutritious (and not just something that stays under my calorie goal for the day).

On the mornings that I go to spin class, I have a specific breakfast plan. I have a chai tea protein shake that I get from the grocery store that I’ll drink before class. I usually drink half of the shake before class and the other half when I get home. This way, I’m not working out on an empty stomach or feeling too full in my workout (both make me feel very nauseous). I usually have a second breakfast closer to when I go to work at noon (since my lunch break isn’t until 4:30pm). It’s been working well for me.

On the non-spin class mornings, I have been in a bit of a breakfast rut. I like to eat eggs because they keep me full and are good for me, but most days I do scrambled eggs (2 egg whites and 2 whole eggs). But I’ve been working on being creative. The other day, I made this awesome breakfast.

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Toast with mashed avocado on it topped with a sunny side up egg (with a drippy yolk). It was so simple, yet so delicious! And it was very very filling!

I’m also getting better with bringing my lunch to work with me. I’ve discovered these really amazing containers that I love to use for my lunches.

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It’s a 3 compartment container, and it fits perfectly in my lunch bag. For this particular lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, sliced strawberries, and a piece of flattened banana. I’ve also brought salads in this container with fruit or protein in the smaller compartments.

It’s funny how the simplest thing can help me on my goal to bringing my lunch with me to work!

And speaking of simple things that help make big changes, I’ve been working on drinking more water at work as well. For some reason, I do fine at home, but not at work. And then it hit me. The straw in my cup at work is significantly bigger than the straw in my cup at home (I always try to drink water with a straw). Once I switched out my cup, my water intake at work got much better. It’s such a stupid little change, but whatever works! Right?

Food Should Taste Good (or Time For Another Giveaway!)

About a week ago, I got an email from Food Should Taste Good. They wanted to send me some chips to try. I hadn’t really heard of this company before, but one of my co-workers is in love with their sweet potato chips, so I figured I should check them out!

On Friday, I got home from the 5K to see this box waiting for me on my doorstep.

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And opened it up to see that I got my samples!

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I wasn’t going to eat these right after the race, so I saved them for later in the weekend.

I finally got a chance to try them out on Sunday (yes, the chips were my breakfast). I got 4 different types in my sample box.

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All of the Food Should Taste Good chips are gluten-free, low sodium, and don’t have artificial ingredients. Yes, they are still a treat, but these are a much better option than most of the other chips out there.

I made myself a little sample plate and tried all the chips without any dips so I could enjoy them plain first.

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I tried the multi-grain tortilla chip first. I really enjoyed these! I love chips that have flax seeds in them, and these have them! They are nice and nutty and would be perfect to serve with guacamole or feta dip (I need to make that soon so I can post the recipe on here!).

Next I tried the olive chips. These have green, black, and kalamata olives in them. They reminded me of olive tapenade. These are so delicious plain, but since I’m a total olive lover, I’d probably add some tapenade on them just to make them more olivey.

Next in the tasting were the sweet potato tortilla chips. These are the ones that my co-worker is obsessed with, and I can totally see why! They are a really nice mix of sweet and salty. They do taste like sweet potatoes and that is a major plus for me. I’m not sure if I’d try to use them with a dip because the flavor is so yummy, but I might test some out later.

And finally, I had the sweet potato kettle chips. I love kettle chips! I was a little worried about trying these because of the sweetness of the tortilla chips, but was pleasantly surprised that these had much more of a salty flavor, as I believe kettle chips should have.

The other thing I loved about these chips was they aren’t too horrible calorie-wise. I entered my sample plate into my phone, and was happy to see that I didn’t bust my calories for the day.

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Now for the fun part for all you readers! Food Should Taste Good has given me another sample box that I can giveaway to one of you! All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment with which flavor of chips you want to try (all the flavors can be found on the website).

You have until the end of the day on June 11th to enter. I will be picking a winner using random.org. One entry per email address please.

Good luck! I hope whoever wins the sample box loves the chips as much as I did!

UPDATE: Congrats to my winner, Kate! Expect a box from Food Should Taste Good soon!

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FTC Disclosure: I was given a sample box from Food Should Taste Good to review for this post. Food Should Taste Good is also providing me with a box to give to a reader. All opinions in this post are my own and were not influenced by Food Should Taste Good.

Readjusting (or I Guess I Forgot What It Felt Like To Work My Work Schedule)

I’ve been back at work for a few days now. At first, it was really nice. I got to see my co-workers, I was making money, and I like feeling like I have a purpose.

But the honeymoon stage of working again wore off pretty quickly. And it’s the little things that bother me. I miss knowing that I can go to spin class whenever I want. I’m trying out going to a class this morning, but I’m worried I won’t have enough time to get ready to go to work after. I hate eating dinner at 9 or 9:30 at night, but if I don’t have some sort of dinner, I’m too hungry after work (and it’s hard to eat while I’m working on the phone). And I don’t like being limited in when I can go run errands. Just last night, I was supposed to have dinner and hang out with a friend, but it had to be cut very short because I needed to go to the grocery store and get gas for my car.

I know that I’m whining, but this is honestly how I feel. And I’m not going to look for a different job since this one pays well and my boss is cool with me going to auditions (which is incredibly hard to find). I’m also just surprised that the schedule shocked me so much since this was exactly what I was doing 6 weeks ago before my unemployment started.

So to fix my feelings, I’m trying to get better (again) at planning. Like I said, today I’m testing if I have time to go to a morning spin class before work (I have a late start time today since I have to work until 10pm so there is room in case I take longer getting ready than I hope to). I’m working on re-doing my food plan again so I could get away with only having a light snack at night instead of a meal. But that’s tough because I get up at 7am, have a little something in the morning, eat my breakfast at 11am, and have my lunch break at 4pm. If I stop eating for the day at 4pm, I get very hungry when I’m trying to fall asleep.

Again, these are all things I need to work on getting adjusted to again. It wasn’t easy when I started this job a year ago. I was just leaving a job where I worked 8-4:30 3 days a week (but the job made me very unhappy so I didn’t want to stay there). Getting used to being at work 6 days a week is not easy. And it’s not any easier this time because I’m also trying to have a life this time around.

I remember reading somewhere that it takes 21 days to create a habit. So I’m hoping that on my 21st day of work this season, things will start to get easier. And if they don’t, I might just have to plaster a smile on my face and pretend that everything is great until I do something like win the lottery or book a tv series.

Blogger Brunch (or My Adventure at Bottega Louie)

This past Sunday, I had a brunch with a bunch of fellow bloggers. This was the same group of ladies who did the Blognic and the cookie exchange.

This time, we met at Bottega Louie in downtown LA. I had never been there before, but from the reviews I read online and got from my friends, I was excited.

My original plan was to take the lightrail there. The last lightrail stop is a few blocks from my house and it ends a few blocks from the restaurant. But I was still feeling a bit sore from the 5K and didn’t want to risk getting lost and having to walk around a lot.

I managed to find free parking a block away (yay for not having to pay for meters on Sundays!), and went inside to meet the girls.

As I was checking out the menu, I was trying to find something that wouldn’t be too unhealthy to eat, so I went with the mushroom and pancetta scramble.

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While we waited for our food, I was checking out the restaurant. It’s really nice and open, and even though it was crowded, it didn’t feel packed.

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One of the girls ordered beignets for the table. I tried a half of one, and it was really good!

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Finally my food came, and it was good, but nothing special.

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About half of our table ordered Eggs Benedict and loved them, so maybe I’ll try that next time.

I loved that I got to enjoy some good food and good company. And two of the other bloggers were also at the Color Run so we exchanged stories and advice on how to get clean.

Besides having a fun brunch, the point of this gathering was to plan out some fun workshops and classes that we could do as a group over the next year. We all want to advance our blogs to be the best that they can be (I have a way to go to catch up to their blogs), and we came up with some really fun ideas for 2013. If you blog in LA and want to join us, let me know.

Bar Chloe (or How Being A Blogger Got Me A Free Drink)

Since Monday was my one real day off this week, after I recovered from spinning class, I went out for happy hour.

A friend of mine had suggested Bar Chloe. She had been there before and liked it, although she had mentioned that it wasn’t the cheapest happy hour in town. We decided to carpool since the parking structures in Santa Monica are only free for 90 minutes now.

As I got to my friend’s house to pick her up at 5:30, I looked at the website for the bar and realized that it didn’t open until 6pm. We took our time getting to the bar (and the fact that many lights were out at intersections helped kill some time), and ended up getting to the bar just a few minutes after 6pm.

When we got there, the place was totally empty. But it allowed us to chat with the bartender a lot (I never got his name). The bartender mentioned that he had dreamed up a drink the night before. He wanted to make a Hot Toddy with cherries and brandy and asked us if we’d like to try one. We both agreed.

While we were waiting for the drinks to be mixed up, I took a look around and got a couple of pictures of the place (sorry I only had my iPhone with me).

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The bartender was looking at me strangely as I took the pictures, so I explained that I was a blogger and wanted to write a post about my happy hour adventure there. He asked me about the blog a bit, and then my friend and I decided to check out the food options with happy hour prices.

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$5 bites! Not too bad. I had a grilled cheese (I earned it from burning so many calories at Soul Cycle), and my friend had calamari. And just before we ordered, the bartender brought over our specialty drinks.

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It was pretty yummy and reminded me of a cherry Lifesaver. I had never had brandy before, and it turns out I don’t totally love it, so I only had about 1/5 of that glass (but it was sure nice to have something to warm me up!).

When the bartender handed us our drinks, he looked at me and said that mine was on the house since I was going to blog about them (I feel like I need to disclose that fact).

That was totally unexpected but appreciated.

Overall, I have to say that Bar Chloe was a pretty fun night out. I think the next time I go I’ll order a drink that I know I’ll like (like a Dirty Shirley), and maybe try some food off of the regular menu.

But I will totally be back, but not before 6pm for happy hour!

Merry Christmas! (or Happy Movies and Chinese Food Day!)

Just a quick post to say that I hope you are spending today with those you love and doing whatever happens to be your tradition.

I’m not spending time with my family today, but that’s the norm for me. My brother is with his fiancé, my parents are driving home from Tahoe, and I’ll be hanging out with friends.

I’m planning on having a day filled with going to movies (including a free screening of “Lincoln”) and ordering Chinese food from my favorite place. That’s exactly how I want to spend my day!

Pinning Freak (or I’m Going To Turn Myself Into Someone Crafty)

I’m totally addicted to Pinterest. I know a lot of people who are as well.

I’m always pinning awesome recipes, beauty ideas, organizational tips, book suggestions, and even ideas for the future like wedding or baby things. I’m hooked.

I love seeing all the cute baby things that my friends with babies are pinning. And my future sister-in-law is now on Pinterest pinning ideas for their wedding.

A lot of the time, I’ll email my dad some of the things that I’m looking at since he is very crafty. And we have done some projects that we found on Pinterest. One of the big ones is cutting the bottom off of wine bottles so you can put candles underneath. Cutting off the bottom of the wine bottle is pretty tough. I believe my dad has been able to successfully do it 2 or 3 times. I don’t have a great photo of what the wine bottle candle holder looks like, but you can see it behind my birthday bouquet in this photo.

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I wish I was crafty enough to do most of the things I see. Just today, I saw a pin on how to make your own glitter tights (perfect for New Years Eve!). If I made them, the tights would probably get glued together and somehow I’d get glitter glued to various surfaces in my house (even if I did the project outside).

So I’m going to start small with my crafty projects from Pinterest. There are a bunch of recipes that I’m going to try soon (and I just got a CrockPot so that’s pretty awesome!). And I found directions on how to make your own dry shampoo for dark hair. I could probably do that without too much craziness.

I know that I’ll probably never been as crafty as the ideas I see, but I’m going to take some baby steps and maybe one day I’ll get close to that. In the meantime, I’m excited to pin silly things like travel ideas, quotes that I like, blogs that I like, and ideas for a dream home in the future.

Oh, and if you want to follow me on Pinterest, you can do so here.