Happy Friday! This week, I did something I had been wanting to do for a while….I signed up for Girls on the Run!! I’m super excited. It doesn’t start until September-ish, so I have some time, but it’s such a great program. More info when I get it

Yesterday, I went to a work luncheon. It was hosted at a building on the grounds of the Oakland Zoo! Great spot and it had a beautiful view of the city.

The food was pretty good too- pea soup (actually not very good) and a steak salad (very good)

And the best part? I won the table raffle and got to take the centerpiece home! It’s now sitting in my living room, brightening up the place. Love fresh flowers.

The hosts made it really nice too– much nicer than I was expecting. Fun way to spend the afternoon (as opposed to in front of my desk eating “the usual” for lunch. My lunches are super boring lately!

I’m seriously obsessed with greek yogurt these days though. Check out my fridge. There’s 7 or 8 in ther I totally stocked up….and I don’t even think this will last me a week!

It’s interesting though because for 3 years, I gave up dairy completely (except for ice cream). I gradually started adding it back, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I would eat yogurt (I only ate soy yogurt before). I’m not lactose intolerant, but I was caught in the Skinny Bitch and China Study mantra about how bad dairy is for adults. I still don’t drink dairy milk, but I do eat yogurt, the occasional butter, and ice cream— and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Cheese isn’t my thing (unless it’s on pizza), so no prob there. I’ll have to do more research…..I felt really great when I was semi-vegan…..but I can’t help loving yogurt lately. Controversy in my head everytime I eat it!! What are your thoughts on dairy?

And lastl thing to tell you– my green smoothie exploded in my blender this morning! I still have absolutely no clue why, but it was a disasterous mess! I still managed to save enough for breakfast, but there was green everywhere! eek!

Happy Friday!

– Do you eat dairy? Why or why not? Besides those who are lactose, what do you think of it health-wise?
– What are you doing this weekend?
– For your job, do you stay mostly in the office or are you “out and about” often? Mine’s 50-50, though lately, I’ve been in the office a ton.

Ahhh, end of the week….almost.

My day started with early morning baking while sipping coffee.
Ghiradelli Brownies…..from a box, not scratch. Hope this doesn’t make me a bad blogger

The usual breakfast

FINALLY unpacking my suitcase

What a mess

Commute to work- blah

Work Work Work

Lunch and snacks.

This is my typical lunch and snacks this week- sweet potato, 2 hard boiled eggs for lunch, almonds and an apple for my snack....packed into a random shopping bag

More work.

Afternoon walk break to get some fresh air.

Hour+ commute home. I’ll spare you a photo of this “worst” part of every day.

Quick gym workout

Quick dinner. Shrimp+veggies.

And then BOOK CLUB. With wine. This is where I brought the brownies. Sadly, no pics…totally forgot.

So that’s how I spent my day.

You? What’s the best part of your day today?

Hey! Another Wednesday. This month, Jenn is asking for everyone to add an extra cup of veggies to their day. Sounds good to me! Except one thing…that did not happen on Monday, which was when I took pics for this post. It was moving day at my office at 8am….and I just flew in from Florida at 1am the night before. So, needless to say, I was a little scatter brained and ended up eating up a bit. Oh well.

But here ya go:

Breakfast: 6:30am. After a weekend vacation in Florida without many veggies, I was craving something green….I was also craving plenty of caffeine. Breakfast was a frozen peach, banana, and spinach Green Smoothie. And 3 cups of coffee.

Hits the spot every time

I spent the morning “helping” the movers pack up. Best part about office moving day is wearing yoga pants and sneakers to work, by the way.

Lunch: 12:30pm: Stopped at the local market on my way to the new office and got the Quinoa “Wellness” Salad. I thought extra “wellness” to this busy day could only be a good thing.

Tasted really good. Was a mix of red quinoa, lemon juice, currants, and red pepper. Plus a scoop of the chickpea quinoa (the yellow one). Sprinkled a few almonds on top. Very filling lunch.

Break: 3pm. We walked over to the new Starbucks to take a sunshine break. I got an unsweetened iced green tea. Sprinkled cinnamon on top. Was just what I needed (and the extra caffeine helped a ton).

Sipped in the midst of unpacking

Dinner: 6:30pm. I’m sad to say that I totally broke the “Don’t Eat Out” challenge today and we ate dinner out too.

Here’s my cute dinner date looking very serious while he sent a work email before our food came.

Went to a crepe/salad/sandwich place (that truthfully is probably better for brunch or lunch than dinner). I got the bbq chicken salad– a huge pile of cabbage, corn, peppers, avocado and bbq chicken. I LOVE bbq sauce, so this was really good and I ate a ton of it and was so full afterwards.

After doing a few other errands, went grocery shopping and then pretty much face planted into bed. Moving is exhausting….even WITH movers and even when it’s just at your office (not your home). Glad that day is ov-ah!

Question:
– What’s your latest favorite Starbucks/Other-Coffee-Place drink order?
– Good lunch out places near your office? There are some yummy looking ones near the new office.
– Any good eats today? Do you love BBQ sauce as much as me?

G’morning!!

Breakfast: Another rainy morning breakfast. A big cup of coffee and whole wheat sunflower seed bread with homemade walnut butter and strawberry jam. I found the walnut butter hiding in the back of the fridge- I had totally forgotten about it. Hit the spot!

While sipping my coffee, I read yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article on “Colleagues Who Can Make You Fat.” It’s all about the food temptaions and peer pressure at the office.

Let me preface this by saying that this doesn’t happen at my office. I work with all women and everyone is very exercise/health conscious…..and no one really brings in any foods to share, so it’s not an issue.

BUT, I’ve def worked in offices where it has been, so can still relate a lot.

The article says there are many kinds of co-workers who “can make you fat” or just interfere with your healthy lifestyle. They include:

• The lady who guilts you into eating something she baked or brought in. “You MUST eat it, I baked it with my special recipe!” she says and then stands at your desk until you take a bite. Really you want to say, “Umm, sorry, but I’m not hungry!”
• The baked goods birthday/celebration treats where you feel like you “have to” partake or it’s rude. When I worked in a large office, this happened at least once a week. Sometimes it was fun to have a treat but other days, I just wasn’t hungry and would rather have had something healthier. A slice of cake at 2pm just makes me sleepy anyways.
• Office meetings that are surrounded around a meal aka, the lunch meeting “catered” by the greasy pizza place or the early breakfast meeting with nothing but danishes (and whoever is running the mtg always acts like they are so nice to have ordered greasy food for you as a “treat”). This wasn’t in the article, but just my thoughts.
• The person who comments on what you’re eating, “You’re eating salad again? How boring!” Or “Eww you like tofu? That’s disgusting.”

According to thethe article, “some 29% of people on diets say colleagues pressure them to eat more, make fun of their diets or order them restaurant food they know isn’t on their diets.” Geez, that’s annoying!

All my friends who work at Google, where’s there’s AMAZING free food all day long (pretty much everything you can think of to eat, it’s there) call it the “Google 15” and say that everyone gains 15 pounds within the first few months of work.  I’ve been to lunch there and I’m so not surprised people gain weight…..with free trail mix, candy, cereals, hot cocoa, pizza, etc, I would totally get used to several “work break” visits to the cafeteria everyday.

I’ve def had co-workers in the past who comment on my food and roll their eyes if I pull out a salad. It’s really obnoxious and frankly, none of their business. Work environments are such an interesting balance– you’re with these people 40+ hours per week…..yet, some of them you may not have ever chosen to have in your life.

I’m lucky now that I work in a small and friendly office where this isn’t really an issue. Otherwise, I really feel like it’s high school peer-pressure all grown up. I’m sure most of us can just roll our eyes at this silly comments, not take it personally, and get used to not eating every baked good that sits in the staff room unless we’re actually hungry, but this article still brings up something interesting. We’ve all indulged at the office, not necessarily because we’ve wanted to, but because we felt like we had to (or just because it was “there.”) At least noticing it can help before it makes you “fat.”

Afternoon snack: Plums! Ate this at my desk. No one commented, haha. Are plums back in season? Hope soo….

What’s it like in your office? Are there baked goods or treats all the time? Do you like it or do you feel like it makes eating healthy harder? Are your co-workers exercise/health conscious?

Somehow, I was way ahead of myself when I called last week’s WIAW post #9….when it was actually #7, so fixing that this week, Whoops. Thanks again for hosting, Jenn!

This was a day of good eats. I’m still trying for mostly green, mostly whole, mostly easy-to-make-on-a-busy-workday foods.

Also, for both March and April, I’m in a pact to not eat out at all (except when I’m out of town) to save some $$$. We’re not taking cabs either– it’s crazy how you can blow $20 in an 8 minute cab ride sometimes. Anyways, we’ll see how it goes….

So, back to my day…..

7am: Quick 30 minutes on the elliptical and some stretching. I was a little tight from skiing this past weekend, so it was good to stretch out.

7:45am: Quick breakfast smiley face. Just what I felt like. Bananas are just so delicious sometimes.

Smile

10:30am: Homemade trailmix made up of my favorite almond, raisin, choc chip combo, plus a date mix.

12noon- Lunch. Kale salad, my fave. With tofu and leftover roasted eggplant.

i heart kale

3pm- Big, red apple. Eaten while getting some fresh air.

Check out how windy it was!

Can you tell how hard it's blowing? maybe not. Anyways, I managed to walk by this Starbucks without stopping....go me!

Dinner at 6:30pm: Millet (yum! long time no see), a big salad with beets and red pepper, and some leftover ground turkey. All of this was sprinkled with nutritional yeast and a little himalyan sea salt, of course.

Filling, coloroful, and tasty

Evening walk with a friend in the fog and wind. We almost made it to the bridge, but turned around because we thought we were going to get run over– It was so dark out, we kept having to dodge runners and bikers, lol.

Glass of wine to end the evening. Ahhhhh, nice!

I think my eat-in challenge this month is all about this:

sorry for no photo credit, can't remember where i got this

Note to self– Grocery shop and buy good food!

How often do you eat out? How often do you take cabs?
What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?

To end the month of February, this week’s What I Ate Wednesday post is all about VEGGIES! I’ve been making an extra effort to include even more fresh veggies as the majority of what I’m eating lately. Surprisingly, I went 5 days last week without much meat or dairy.  No, I’m not going vegan, but yes, all the veggies made me feel great!

So here you go, a day in the life of my veggie-filled plates:

Breakfast: Green smoothie, COFFEE with almond milk, and a blueberry oatmeal muffin. The muffins were a great addition to my usual breakfast and kept me full for longer.

Lunch: Broccoli, leftover brussel sprouts, and lentils. This worked well to bring to work and I just heated it up a bit before I ate it. It was super filling.

Snack: Carrot juice and an apple. Wondering about the carrot juice? I thought it was blah….frankly, it tasted like carrots and they are better to chew than sip.

Dinner: Back to my beloved Whole Foods. I was in a rush again tonight and had to grab dinner before an event. It’s become an expensive habit lately, but oh well. This wasn’t my usual Whole Foods so the salad bar had different choices. I chose a zucchini slaw thing and some tofu with a yummy peanut sauce (which became sorta a salad dressing). Yum!

Nighttime Snack: I ate a bowl of raw oats with almond milk and a spoonful of peanut butter. No picture. whoops!

So, how about you: Do you feel noticeable better when you eat more veggies?

Happy Wednesday!  Weeks after a long weekends are always so great- love that it’s already the middle of the week.

And can you believe it’s the end of Feb already?  Still trying to get my veggies in for Jenn’s Feb challenge.

These are my eats from yesterday (Tuesday).  It was kinda a crazy day and I ate out a bit, which was nice (on my tummy, not my wallet).

7:45AM- Breakfast.  After a light 30 minute workout, I came home to a Green Smoothie.  I eat way too many of these lately (or is that possible?).  Can’t help it, still obsessed.  It was the usual spinach, banana, blueberries, water, almond milk, and a tiny bit of pb (new addition).  It made a massive amount, a cup and a half.  Yum!

10am- Mid-morning snack.  An orange. Plus a cup of tea.  (Notice the no-coffee in the morning? was trying for less caffeine, but as you’ll see in the afternoon that didn’t work so well…..)

Sweet and delish

12- Lunch.  Whole foods salad bar, lucky me.  Tofu and Kale & Seaweed salad.  Have you had that salad yet, it’s amazing.

Scenes from the salad bar.....and my shoe peeking out in the background

2pm- Snack.  Almonds, 2 dates, and a Guava Kombucha (that I picked up at Whole Foods too).  Around 3, I had an (unpictured) cup of coffee too.  I tried to go without it today, but no such luck.

And good zen advice from the kombucha

7:30 pm- Dinner!  I was Hungry with a capital H by then.  Jared and I went across the Bay to meet a friend of his for dinner, which meant a long commute night.

We went to a little Peruvian place that had JUST opened that night at 5pm.  So fun to be with them on their first night!

We split a bunch of dishes– Roasted chicken, Hanger Steak over Rice, Sweet Potato Fries, and a really yummy veggie salad with beets, carrots, avocado and who knows what else.

I also tried a sip of a purple corn drink– it tasted like cinnamon applesauce.  But it’s a special Peruvian fermented soft drink.  Yum.

NOW– Things I want to know from YOU:

How many times/month do you eat at the Whole Foods Salad Bar?  I’m prob twice per month.
Have you been to Peru?
I’ve spent a lot of time in the Peruvian airport on my way other places, but never been outside of it.  Machu Piccu would be amazing to see.
Tried any other cuisines lately? I haven’t, but I’ve been wanting to try Ethiopian food for a while now, need to schedule that

What I Ate Wednesday, Valentine’s Day eats!

Thanks for hosting, Jenn!

These are my eats from yesterday– Valentine’s Day!  Since the day is known for its chocolate intake, getting veggies in took a little more thought than usual.  Cocoa beans grow on a tree, right?  How come chocolate isn’t considered a veggie?!

Breakfast:  Since I had such a chocolate-filled night last night, I thought I should prob get some veggies in early today.  I made a big ol’ green smoothie with the usual- spinach, banana, and blueberries.

Never fails, these always fill me up!

I drank this after I had a few cups of coffee, because in typical me-style, I woke up early to bake a Valentine’s Day cake!  I am a total habitual 6am baker (yes, I bake in my pajamas).  I sipped on coffee while mixing.  It actually worked out well because I could shower while the cake was in the oven.

Chocolate & Coffee....yuummmmm

And to continue the good morning, I woke up to these.  Beautiful, huh?

I'm a lucky girl! Best bf ever

My commute was a breeze this morning.  I think everyone played hookey for the holiday?

LUNCH:  I didn’t have time to make lunch before work, so I went over to Trader Joe’s around noon and picked up one of their pre-made salads.  This one had chicken and beets.   Their salads aren’t very good and never have much lettuce, so I bought an extra bag of organic romaine to add to it.   The salad wasn’t anything great, but it did the trick.

Also bought carrots and eggplant hummus to munch on.  (Have you tried their eggplant hummus?  Really tasty and less calories/fat than reg hummus)

There were a ton of sweets in my office today– Godiva chocolate and cupcakes– but I managed to hold off.  I wanted to save room for the cake.  So, yogurt for a snack instead.

EVENING:  For Valentine’s Day, Jared and I decided to stay in and cook together.  We made spaghetti and meatballs (his family recipe). We snuck some spinach into the sauce to up the veggie count and ate garlic bread on the side.  We had fun cooking together, ate by candle light, and the finished product was delish!

And of course, dessert!  Heart shaped chocolate cake.

It was already evening when I took these, so couldn't get the lighting right or any good pics sadly

Turned out cute though, huh?

Ended the day very full and happy.  I think my veggie count is only up to 4, but that’s not too bad for a chocolate-eating-holiday!

Were you able to get many veggies in on Valentine’s Day?
Do people bring in lots of chocolate and sweets to your work?
Do you ever bake in the early mornings?  Late at night?

Good morning!

It’s ”What I ate Wednesday” and today, I felt like I had some things to confess, so here ya go:

WIAW, Confessions Edition

BREAKFAST: 7am.  A big, delicious bowl filled with bright red strawberries, blueberries, and banana slices.  And one two cups of coffee.

Confession #1:  I’ve been putting half & half in my coffee instead of almond milk this week.  And guess what– I don’t like it!  They were out of almond milk (seriously, how could they?) and I thought I’d change it up and see what all the half & half fuss was about.  Not a fan.  Good to know, I guess?

Next, time for LUNCH.  Rainbow Chard with sliced steak (leftover from dinner last night), carrots, red bell pepper, and avocado.   Flipped through old magazines while eating.

Confession # 2:  I ate this at 11am.  I was too hungry to wait until Noon!  When I taught kindergarten, I loved how our lunchtime was at 11:15.  I still get hungry early!
Confession # 3:  I subscribe to 6 magazines……I get sucked in when they have their “$5.99 for a year!” type deals…..but because I get so many, I am ALWAYS months behind!  The ones I read today were from Dec and Jan!

SNACK at 1:30.  I got hungry again a few hours later, but wasn’t sure what I wanted so I took a work break and strolled through the grocery store for a few minutes until I figured it out.  Museli/Granola thing from the bulk bin (oats, raisins, a couple almonds, and who knows what else) and a Bragg’s Ginger Spice Apple Cider Vinegar Drink.

Confession #4: The museli was really messy to eat.   I used my fingers instead of a spoon.  It spilled all over.
Confession #5:  I was pretty unsure about the Bragg’s drink before I got it.  I knew I would either love it or really hate it.  Verdict?  Loved it!  If it wasn’t $2.29 a bottle, I would get it more often.  Zero calories and just made from water, apple cider viengar, ginger, and stevia.

Stopped at Trader Joes on the way home to get a free cup of coffee pick up a few things.  I also had some of their free coffee.
Confession # 6:  Their free coffee is one of the big reasons I shop there!  Not sure I would shop there as often if they didn’t have it.

DINNER:  6:45pm.   Chicken grilled with red peppers and onion, spaghetti squash sprinkled with sea salt, and steamed kale.  I wanted to make a 7:30 gym class, so this was super quick.  But it was delish!

Confesson #7:  I cooked and ate this in 25 minutes.  Rush!
Confession #8:  I ate twice as much spagetthi squash!  The other half was while I was cooking, way too hungry last night!

Home from the gym!  Pear for DESSERT.

Eaten still in my sneakers and gym clothes

And then I pretty much layed on the couch for an hour or so and then passed out asleep.

Questions:

What’s your normal lunchtime?   Anyone sometimes eat so early like me? 
If you have a 7pm gym class, do you eat dinner before or after?
How many magazines do you subscribe to?

Hey all you 9-5ers!  (Ok, no one really works only 9-5….let’s say 8-6…or later…)  It’s Monday again.  Boo.

What’s the lunch situation like near your office?  Do you buy every day or bring your lunch?

Bringing lunch to work can sometimes be a pain or get really boring.  Salads can lose their crunch and sandwiches can get smushed.  Yuck.  And who has time to put together something gourmet that early in the morning?

Who’s with me?

In the last couple years, I had to start bringing my lunch daily– part of it was because it was my only option (now that I’m working outside the City, literally the ONLY place for me to buy lunch without driving ten minutes is a small cafe that serves the exact same things every single day….i got sick of it pretty quick) and I also started being more conscious about saving money (lunch out=$10/day…..that was $50/week, $200/month that I would MUCH rather spend on something more “fun”– you too, I’m guessing).

So, I started getting creative and have a bunch of great weekday brown bag lunch recipes that wouldn’t leave me feeling like I was still in elementary school (hello, pb&j) or with a smushed, smelly, gross lunch that would leave my stomach growling.

I thought I’d share some of them with you.

Here’s my favorite workday lunch as of late.

Chicken Collard Wrap
Take less than 2 minutes to make in the morning, only uses 3 ingredients, stays together and crunchy until lunchtime, and is very filling. 

It’s so simple that I’m not sure you even need a step-by-step, but here ya go anyways.

First Step:  Take a Collard Leaf.

Collards are in the brussel sprouts and cabbage family and have huge amounts of Vitamin C.

Step two: Cut a chicken breast and avocado into slices and place it into the middle of the leaf.  Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper on top.

If you’re like me and have a big appetite in the afternoons, make two.

Wrap ‘em up like burritos.

Get your other lunchy stuff together.  I brought an apple and some brown rice crackers.

And you’re good to go! 

The Collards are amazing that they stay well-wrapped and don’t come apart very easily, so it will actually look the same hours later.  Sometimes my traditional wheat or corn wraps come “unwrapped” in the bag, but this hasn’t happened to me with collards yet.

Eat happily at lunchtime!

This is a great, nutritious lunch.  It’s technically paleo-friendly and gluten-free, for those who are following those diets.  It’s also really, really simple, so simple that I’m not sure it can count as an actual recipe.  I’m highly recommending it!

Do you work in an office?  Eat out or bring your lunch usually?