Working Girl Cooks!

I woke up feeling sluggish and worn down yesterday. At the cabin in Twain Harte over the weekend TDH and several of our friends started coming down with something and I woke up yesterday feeling like maybe I am catching the same thing. I was still  feeling very motivated and ready to tackle my challenge of losing 10 lbs head on so I started off my day strong (or so I thought!) with an english muffin covered in a thin slathering of peanut butter. Protein and carbs right? I thought it was a great breakfast because it was not too many calories and just enough protein and fat to get me through my morning. Well I was wrong!  It was not enough to eat for breakfast. I should be shooting for 300-400 calories in my breakfast and that measly english muffin with barely any peanut butter probably had about 150 calories at the most. By 11am I was famished and really not feeling so well so I ate an apple and went to lie down for a bit.

For lunch, I tried to eat something a little more hearty but still healthy and low in calories. It has been awhile since I have done some serious grocery shopping so the options in my fridge were slim. I have plenty of lettuce, but really nothing else to make a hearty salad. I can make a sandwich but I had bread for breakfast so I didn’t really want that. I checked my cupboard and there was a single lonely can of Progresso wild rice and chicken soup. I love to cook so I rarely eat anything canned, if ever! But today, this was the perfect solution. I really did not want to go out and eat by myself, I was not in the mood to cook, and I did not have anything to cook at home anyway. I checked out the nutritional information on the can and there were 100 calories per serving, 2 servings, not very much fat, no sugar, a fair amount of carbs and protein, and way too much salt. I figured this can was better than nothing but even if I ate the whole can 200 calories was not enough for lunch. So I made up a salad with romaine lettuce, salsa, and ranch dressing. Not very exciting but it was all I had in my fridge. I also made a mental note to stop by the grocery store and pick up some stuff to have on hand to make healthy and low calorie/low fat breakfasts and lunches at home.

My lunch held me over for a little bit, but I was hungry again about 2 and a half hours later. I was distracted though and not really near any food so it was not that bad. When I got home I had some carrots and hummus for a snack and set off to the gym to do my daily workout. This was the hardest part of the day. I was feeling a little sluggish and run down still and the last thing I wanted to do was exert any energy. I decided to do some weights at the gym we have in our apartment building. To get ideas I brought down the latest issue of Health magazine and a book called Core Performance by Mark Verstegen, an athlete performance trainer who has a ton of great moves and tips. I did about 40 minutes of weights using the exercises from my Health magazine and mixing in some exercises from the Core Performance book and to my surprise I felt so much better when I was done! My energy was renewed and I no longer felt sluggish!

For dinner, I looked through my Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson (Gosh I lover her!) and picked out her recipe for Otsu, or soba noodle salad. I revised it a bit, leaving out the tofu and cucumber and replacing it with broccoli and chicken. The sauce really makes this dish great and I really enjoyed it. My version of the recipe is below. Overall, what I learned today is that I need to eat more for breakfast and lunch, otherwise I thought is was a very good day!