My ever evolving diet and workout routine...

Health update and diet experimenting:

I started this blog to document my commitment to getting my health on track at the start of 2010. I had hormonal issues, IBS, dry, prone to breakout skin, poor circulation and stubborn fat around my butt and legs. I thought a vegan diet and running would be the answer, so I blogged about my commitment to this new way of life. About 8 months into this experiment, my health wasn't much better (I'd lost over 7lb though), and in fact, got worse, and I had to spend a few days in hospital because of pancreatitis. Since then, I've been experimenting. I went to see a dietician, and cut down big time of whole grain foods and pulses, and that helped the IBS for the most part, but I still had dry skin and amenorrhea. In January this year, I added yogurt, eggs and fish back and since then I've been reading a lot about paleo/primal diets and have been gradually aligning my diet along these lines. The thing is, apart from a spell of about a year when I was 19/20, I haven't eaten meat since I was 12. And meat is a big part of the primal/paleo diet...and when you give up rice, bread, wheat etc you need something to fill you up besides lots of veggies...and there's kind of only so much fish and eggs you can eat. So I'm toying with the idea of adding some organic meat in once a week, to mix things up and to up my iron intake, because despite eating brassicas every day, my intake is a little below the RDA and I had low serum ferritin diagnosed a few months back and refused to take the iron tablets. I still have amenorrhea and dry, pale skin so maybe a little iron boost might help. This is all still part of the experimenting to find something that works for me. I will say though that the most amazing transformation in my energy levels has been ditching sugar and grains. I have held on to things like brown rice and the occasional slice of bread but I haven't eaten any grain based foods for 2 weeks now and I now seem to be free of the post prandial bloat and discomfort I would get. I'm still a little constipated but I think that's because I need to ramp up my greens intake some more, but I've been doing this gradually because of my intolerance of some types of fibre. In fact, I eat more vegetables since I started eating eggs and fish than I did when I was vegan! I've also put weight back on on the scales (I'm now 125 lbs) but I'm two inches smaller around the butt than I was when I weiged 117lb!

Here are some of my recent meals:

Still eating yogurt most days: berries and quark for breakfast

Quorn pieces chilli with lots of bell peppers, topped with plain organic yogurt

Experimenting with protein powder: unflavoured whey, cocoa, peanut butter and plain yogurt, I ate some straight up, but the PB made it sickeningly rich, so I baked the rest for 20 mins and it was easier to eat:

Voila- chocolate PB protein cake. I actually find the unflavoured whey quite sweet.

After saturday's run, I breakfasted on a berry, banana and protein shake (just using water) and it was pretty good- not too sweet, thick and really voluminous! Half a banana, half a cup of berries, 30g scoop of powder and a cup of water made 3 cups of shake (that's only 2/3 of the batch in that glass)!

I had the shake because the rest of the week breakfast was usually eggs or fish: lovely but you do need to switch it up a bit.

Saturday lunch: panfried salmon, pesto and 1/2 a cabbage each(!)

So good, the salmon was a beautiful colour

For Mother' Day lunch, I made a provencale prawn stew (red onion, garlic, orange pepper, mushrooms, collards, smoked paprika, herbs de provence, tomato passata, lots of parsley and lemon juice) and fried some organic lamb steaks my Dad got half price. The prawns were a gift from one of my Dad's patients who is a fisherman. I cooked rice for my family too. I had half of one of the steaks, my

first taste of meat in four years(!)

The stew is a bit like paella without the rice.

Last night's dinner: veg omelette (an onion, 1/2 red cabbage, a huuuge courgette, 2 carrots, 6 eggs, smoked paprika and some mature goat's cheese), topped with super hot hot sauce and Quorn sausage.

Monday evening treat: glass of red wine and two squares of dark hazelnutty chocolate (plus some new paleo/primal reading).

Today's breakfast: canteloupe melon, yogurt, half a tin of salmon.

On the workout front:

I'm still a little jaded with running, but I did take MrPeskyRunner out on saturday morning for an easy prebreakfast 5k. He really struggles to have energy without a big dose of carbs so he found this tough but didn't feel too bad after it was over.

On sunday I went for a walk with my sister, and we did 10mins of on/off 30 sec hard running/walking near the end.

Other than that, I have been following Bodyrock, usually a day or two behind the schedule as I usually rest on mondays. I've been doing some weight lifting as well.

I'm off work today to go to the opticians and MrPeskyRunner is having dental work done (nothing serious). We're going to go for a nice long walk in the afternoon and then do a bodyrock workout. I did the Abs for Christmas this morning, ouch, lots of squats, but other than that, probably the 'easiest' bodyrock I've done so far (I don't know if you can really use 'easy' and 'bodyrock' in one sentence, haha). In any case, I'm up for yesterday's workout later this afternoon.

That's all for now, folks!

Helloo Vitality

I can't say for certain what it is, but I feel fantastic the last few days. Some of the possible contributing factors:

Setting up a standing workstation (instead of sitting at work)

Doing dead hangs, deep squats and couch stretches (hip flexor) after work

Bodyrock

Not running

Paleo diet (although I'm doing a pescetarian version with a little dairy still everyday)

My cravings seem to be melting away! The first day I was a bit hungry, especially in the afternoon, but my hunger seems much more normal now. I don't crave sugar/dessert after my dinner, I don't stuff breakfast into me if I wake up ravenous, but take time to drink some warm water, and then dabble in the fridge, and just eat to sate me. I started this month giving up refined sugar, and I got hooked- now I've taken it a step further, and I'm committing to a sugar *and* grain free diet for now- I think perhaps going grain free seems a bit radical but my tummy has been so well behaved this week, not a whisper of bloat, gas, discomfort. It's amazing really, that I can eat so much veg and not be full of gas!

Some recent meals:

Last night's dinner and today's lunch (today with grated raw carrot rather than kale)-quorn and pepper coconut curry

Treated myself to dessert to use up some grown rhubarb (stewed with some honey to take the bitterness off), whipped heavy cream

Breakfast- grapefruit, leftover whipped cream, tinned salmon (I ended up keeping the egg for later as I was already full)

Dinner- grated zucchini, sauteed in olive oil, topped with a beaten egg and chilli powder and left it set up in the oven, with my breakfast egg, some mature goat cheese and hot sauce

A bite of 90% choco to finish the day:)

I've been snacking on almonds, berries and the odd banana. My caloric ratios are about 50fat:27carb:23protein (I'd get the carb a bit lower if I ate a little less fruit but I'm rather attached to my breakfast fruit dose and daily banana).

My two most visited sites at the moment:

Bodyrock tv

Mark's Daily Apple

That's all for now folks! I'll keep you updated with my paleo/primal experiment and increasing my bodyrocking instead of running so much.

Pesky goes 'Primal'

Here is a day's sample of my newly tweaked diet following my little analysis last week:

Breakfast: spinach, two eggs cooked in a tablespoon of olive oil, topped with an ounce of mature goat cheese and some hot sauce, some raspberries (I didn't have time to finish the berries, so stuck them in my lunch bag for later)

Snack: handful of almonds, banana

Lunch wasn't pictured, but it was two grated carrots, 1/4 small red cabbage, 1/2 red pepper, some Quorn slices, another ounce of cheese, a tablespoon of olive oil. I ate half my lunch at normal lunchtime, had to leave the rest, but got peckish again at 3:30pm and finished it off.

I had a few more almonds before making dinner (soo good).

Dinner: prawn, kale, pepper stirfry with passata, garlic and lime juice.

Dessert: plain organic yogurt, leftover breakfast raspberries, two squares 90% Lindt.

Some things I noticed:

Despite all that veg, I had no bloat or gas whatsoever. And it was much more filling and satisfying than rice or pasta (so much so I couldn't finish my lunch in one sitting).

I didn't realise how little fat I was eating, and how little oil I was cooking with until I measured it- today I had almost 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 30g of almonds:)

The stats:

Just under 1600 cals, 53% from fat, 26% from carbs, 21% from protein.

What I have to hand this week to make my meals:

Fridge:

Kale, collards, red cabbage, garlic, ginger, onions, chillis, carrots, black olives, courgettes, lots of eggs, goat's cheese, fromage frais, quark, plain low fat yogurt, tahini, apples, lemons and limes

Cupboards:

Olive oil, coconut oil, passata, coconut milk, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, tinned grapefruit and pears, bananas, lots of tinned salmon, cocoa powder, dessicated coconut

Freezer:

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, spinach, broccoli, quorn pieces, prawns, maca, ground coffee, hemp seeds

It seems everyone is thinking of spring cleans and resolutions! I think the spring is a far better time for it than New Year:)

Diet Analysis

When I was off last week, I took the time to put everything I was eating into NutritionData to see what came out.

The main observations:

Calorie-wise, I am eating pretty much what I thought I was (slightly less even) but:

I eat a lot more carbs than I thought

I eat less protein than I thought

I don't eat enough fat

I'm consistently way under my RDA for Vitamin E, and iron, zinc and calcium are a little lower than I'd like.

Do I think this has anything to do with my current health niggles?

Probably.

My skin is really dry and I've had amenorrhea for over a year (two periods since I stopped taking the pill in December 2009) despite being within the normal weight range for my height. I quite like not having to deal with periods but for a woman of my age I should be at the peak of my fertility and if I'm not capable of getting pregnant at all (also kinda like this bit), then that's not a great indicator of my overall health, I'd say.

So, what's the plan?

I'd really rather not take a supplement, but I haven't ruled this out. Any opinions?

What I am going to do, is try eating 'primal'. I have been reading a lot about this, and when I stuck a sample Eimearified 'primal' eating day into nutrition data, it corrected my nutrient deficiencies. Fat was making up about half of my calories, and a quarter each of protein and carbs. It means three meals made up of generous quantities of leafy greens and colourful veg plus a protein source usually eggs, fish or quorn, cooking with more oil than I have been, snacking on nuts, seeds (especially those high in Vitamin E, i.e. almonds and sunflower seeds) and the odd bit of low sugar fruit (berries, citrus, and a banana post workout). For now I intend to keep eating some fermented/cultured dairy (yogurt, quark, goat cheese) even though it's not terribly 'primal' and the odd bit of legume in the form of socca and unsweetened soya milk. I've already spent this month cutting processed sugar out of my diet and now it's time to try moving grains out for more vegetables and nuts.

Sample meals:

Breakfast

Kale and bell pepper omelette, berries on the side, or

Fruit smoothie with hemp seeds or whey protein, or

Quorn and salad

Snacks

Almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, nut butter, pumpkin seeds, tahini, apple, pear, grapefruit, dried fruit, cocoa powder in yogurt

Post (intense) workout

Dried fruit, banana, piece of socca, glass of unsweetened soya milk, yogurt

Lunch/dinner

Big heap of veggies, salmon/quorn/homemade nut burger

Treats

Really dark chocolate, full fat yogurt, coconut, avocado pudding, glass of red wine

Tonight's dinner:

Collards, red pepper, garlic, two eggs, couple of slices of Quorn 'ham', hot sauce

And two treats...

Yes, my Gymboss timer arrived today!! So excited. Also, some quark, cocoa and berries.

In the spirit of self-analysis, I'm still super stressed. While exercise seems to help, training for this 10k is just feeding my stress, I get so fixated on the target. So when it's over, I'm going to switch to the fun of Bodyrock, weights, and a weekly sprint session and a weekly long SLOW run.

I'm also going to give up my pool membership in a bid to simplify my routine (and save a little bit of money for pampering treats like a nice bathbomb or a manicure).

Another stress reliever I want to bring back in my life is doing yoga for 15 minutes first thing, followed by my walk to work through the park. I'm hoping this will be an approach to exercise that brings me the stress relief I need- rather than increase my stress levels. I enjoy running, but I just can't train for a specific goal without pushing myself way too hard. I also need to get more sleep, so without further ado, I'm away to bed!

Medicine Soup and Sunshine

When I got home from work and then my run on friday, I needed some relief from my cold symptoms, and MrPeskyRunner had also been smitten. I brewed up some gingery, chilli, garlicky broth with shredded collards. Spices+green=medicine.

I then had curry socca and a bean burger topped with homemade mango chutney (chopped up mango simmered for ages with curry powder) and cottage cheese for dinner- was pretty hungry by this stage.

I repeated last weekend's banana pancakes, but used oat flour this time rather than wheat flour (2 bananas, 2 eggs, 1 cup of oats, ground, 1/2 cup unsweetened soya milk, 1/2 tsp baking powder, cooked on the skillet with coconut oil and eaten with yogurt). They were tastier but softer and a little trickier to flip.

I have been doing plenty of Bodyrock- the Hot Mess Workout on thursday and again today and the 300 Rep Workout yesterday. I had already run four times this week so did none over the weekend. Tomorrow's supposed to be a break, unless I feel super energetic (probably not).

Today was so nice, I did my bodyrock workout outside, I really was a hot mess at the end with the lovely spring sun beating down on me.

Hope you all had a nice weekend:)

Pizza fuelled pacing run

Phew, I am tired today. I was back at work after two days off this week, and two last, so lots of catching up and we're short staffed. Not only that, when I got home I was determined to pace myself over 5k. I looped the park around the corner from me twice, exactly 5k and did it in 22:10min, 7:20min/mile pace and it was hard going- I stopped for a bit after the first loop just to let my heart rate drop a wee bit. Into the last kilometer I really struggled to keep the pace up, and I know I started too fast. Next time I pace, I'm going to start much slower! I used a poster tube as a substitute for a foam roller after my run as my calves felt really leaden, and they're fine now. No running tomorrow though, just some light strength training.

I did start my day well though, with a take on Ashley's choc cherry smoothie- mine was a small banana, 1/2 cup frozen cherries, 1 cup unsweetened soya milk, 1T cocoa powder and 1T oat bran.

In MrPeskyRunner's Grand National glass.

I snacked on an apple and a small slice of seeded toast with PB, and lunch was a repeat of yesterday but I hadn't as much rice left. I snacked on a PB stuffed banana in the afternoon, and tonight was a lazy Quorn fillet and a hummus topped baked potato. Oh, and half a jam doughnut...yeh, there was sugar in there. It was a treat from my boyfriend so I didn't want to be rude.

Oh, I forgot to say, we had socca pizza last night- socca baked (lots of oregano in the batter), then flipped onto a baking tray, topped with tomato passta with garlic, Quorn pieces, green pepper and cheddar cheese. Sooo goood. Even nicer with arugula and goat's cheese though.

Well, I am off to my bed!

Pacing

Good afternoon!

We have been enjoying our day off. We've spent the time tidying the house and taking advantage of the time to make lots of nutritious food. We have been doing a little experimenting with our diets and we're tracking our intake (by putting everything into NutritionData at the end of the day) for a couple of days to check for any obvious deficiencies/excesses and then tweak accordingly. I'll post about the results, but so far my Vitamin E seems to come out rather low, and we're both eating more carbs than we though, even though we're trying to eat more protein.

Today's run was to determine MrPeskyRunner's pace for the 10k we're doing in April. We ran exactly 10k in 59:50 so he is hoping to maintain this and keep his time around an hour for the race on April 10. I am still aiming for sub-45; going on last year's results, this will probably mean I'll finish in the top 20 women! I only have two proper week's of training left, the week of the race I'm just going to do a bit of aquajogging. I'll probably run another 3 times this week and 3 times next week, with plenty of pacing work and two long slows.

Today's munches:

Breakfast- banana stuffed with PB, set yogurt with oat bran and cinnamon. + coffee, obvs.

Lunch- leftover brown rice with Quorn, spinach, pepper and a few olives, a spoonful of yogurt. I mixed it all up to eat. Mr PeskyRunner had extra rice, some mango chutney and a slice of bread with sunflower spread.

Afternoon snack: low fat plain yogurt, 1/2 cup raspberries, 1 T cocoa powder. So yummy! I love cocoa powder:D I only really started eating with without sweetener this month. I'm quite happy with sugar free eating and don't think it should be too hard to keep it quite occasional in my diet. I'm going to treat myself to a bucket of ice-cream if I finish in the top 20 women on April 10 though!

I'm away to do the last of the tidying, maybe some Bodyrock (although I don't know if I can be bothered with a second shower) and then fix dinner. I'm thinking socca pizza...