>Busy busy

>Hi guys, hope you’re having a wonderful day! This is going to be a quick post because I’m heading to work soon, but wanted to share with you a clip of my experiment on yesterday’s season premiere of The Doctors (around the 1:10 mark; although its a great 5 min clip to watch in its entirety).

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I woke this morning eager to get the day started. I began my day with a quick 6-miler in the cool weather. Speaking of running, I signed up for an impromptu half marathon this Sunday! It’s supposed to be a gorgeous race, so I’m pretty excited.

To recover from the run, I whipped up a Banana-Berry Green Smoothie:

1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 frozen banana, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, hand full fresh spinach, 1 tsp almond butter, 1 cup almond milk, ice, stevia, dash sea salt. Perfection.

After errands galore, including laundry mountain and food shopping for what seemed like an army, I came home starving and craving OATS. I love breakfast, but I’m not one for having them mid-day. Perhaps it was the cool weather? Regardless, I made my favorite oats/chia combo:

Combine 1/4 oats, 1 T chia seeds, cinnamon, apple pie spice, dash sea salt, 1 cup H20 and soak for 20 mins. Next, microwave for 2 mins then add raisins, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1/2 diced banana, and stevia (to taste). Drizzle with your favorite nut butter.

Tip: To prepare oats the night before, click here. 

Alright, I’m off to the hospital. Have a great evening! Tomorrow I’m volunteering with kids in DC as part of Wellness Wednesdays. So excited!!!

Lauren

Fitness tip of the day: Ever wanted to run a race but not a “runner”? Train for a beginners 5K here

>First big one

>

Big News! My experiment will be featured on TOMORROW’S (Monday) SEASON PREMIERE of THE DOCTORS!

Tune in at 4pm (EST) on CBS. To read about the experiment click here and here.

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Little rewind…

Unlike Saturday’s amazing weather, DC was dreary today. Usually I’m upset when the weekends are rainy but today it was A-OK with me. 1) I can’t remember the last time it rained 2) I was in the mood to cuddle with the pup

Michael entertaining himself with a carrot (for at least 20 mins)

And 3) I absolutely LOVE running in the rain. It’s so therapeutic. Today I ran my first TEN MILER of the fall running season! More on that in a sec..

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I woke on my lazy day craving something other than the usual protein pancakes, Green Monster smoothie, or omelet. I was craving something cake-y. So I healthified a cupcake and behold the Protein Cupcake:

Combine:

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

2 tbsp Greek yogurt

1/2 mashed banana

2 tbsp peanut flour

1 egg white

pinch baking powder

pinch sea salt

dash stevia (equal to 1 packet)

H20 (to moisten)

Directions:

Spray coffee mug with cooking spray and spoon in mixture

Microwave 60-75 seconds

When done, remove with spoon by carefully making circles around cake until it comes out

Frosting:

3 tbsp Greek yogurt

1 serving stevia

1 tbsp PB Flour

1 tsp PB

This is by far my favorite protein cake recipe. The Greek yogurt makes it really moist. Please try – you will like.

[Insert pup cuddling & reading curled up w/ hot tea and some dark chocolate. Heaven I tell ya]

Lunch was a gigantic chicken, edamame, seaweed, and cilantro salad:

Spring mix greens, organic diced chicken, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, edamame, fresh cilantro, Trader Joe’s roasted seaweed snack, and 1:1 of Goddess dressing and balsamic vinegar

(I was intrigued when I saw this new seaweed snack at TJs. At first it tasted a little fishy to me, but after a few I kinda like em. Pretty good crunched over a salad.)

And plenty more sea salted-edamame

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As I said, I ran my first 10-miler of the season!!!

Route: Casa –> Lincoln Memorial–> Washington Monument –> Capitol –> Casa

I ran a pace of 8:06 min/mile. Not too shabby.

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For dinner I was craving pasta and protein. After a long run I craaave protein.

I threw together a makeshift marinara sauce:

(Your favorite pasta sauce + basil + oregano + garlic powder + black pepper)

And cooked up some lean ground turkey and steamed broccoli

Pasta was Roasted Garlic Carba Nada fettuccine. I’m not a huge ‘no carb’ fan. Actually, I’m quite the carb lover. Our brains run on them right? But this stuff has 12g protein per serving. Baller.

Tip: Add 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese to your pasta sauce for cheesy lasagna-lasting deliciousness.

And voila:

Good night y’all!

DC bloggers, can’t wait to meet all of you! Follow me on Twitter and check for DC updates at #DChealthbloggers

Laur

>Labah day

>Happy Saturday and 3-day Labah-day weekend (sometimes I pretend I still live in Bahston)! Thank you all for your kind words regarding my experiment to be featured on CBS’ The Doctors. Pretty excited over here 🙂

The last few days have been consumed with essay writing and filling out applications (to physician assistant school). The Manfriend headed down to the Jersey Shore to visit a friend’s beach house, and (kicking and screaming) I decided to stay and finish these apps. Go go go! <— Hope your holiday weekend is more exciting than mine! heh

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Some new recipes & dishes I’ve tried out the last couple of days:

Breakfast:

Pineapple-banana Green Monstah: 1 scoop vanilla protein, 1 frozen banana, hand full fresh spinach, 3/4 cup frozen pineapple, 1 tbsp unsweetened red. fat coconut, 1 tbsp healthy-fat-of-your-choice (I used flax seed oil; to promote absorption of fat soluble vitamins), steiva, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, dash sea salt, ice. Garnish with coconut.

PB & Vanilla Chia Overnight oats: Night before, combine: 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein (I use SunWarrior), 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 3/4 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp PB, stevia, dash sea salt.

Lunch:

“Mac N’ Cheese” Savory oats: 1/4 cup cooked oats, 2 scrambled eggs (1 egg + 1 white), diced medium-firmness tofu (~1/6 block), 1/4 cup frozen spinach (optional), 3 tbsp Nutritional yeast (for cheeeesy flavor), 2 tbsp lite shredded cheddar, sea salt & pepper. <– Oats in a non-breakfast dish seemed weird to me at first too. Try it, I swear it’s great.

Chicken salad with dill: 1 diced chicken breast, heaping tbsp Greek yogurt, generous amount of dill (~1/2 -1 tbsp), chopped pickle, 1 tbsp pickle juice, sea salt, pepper. Served over toasted Everything Bagel Thin. <—Greek yogurt as a substitute for mayo is fantastic! Add a tbsp of pickle juice and it’s even better!

Dinner:

Not really new, but worthy of posting: Grilled turkey burger topped with sauteed veggies, sweet potato fries (or chips?), and a simple salad w/ balsamic vinaigrettee

Sweet Potato Fries (so easy!):

Preheat oven to 425F

Dice 1 medium sweet potato per person

Spray tinfoil covered baking pan with cooking spray (I use EVOO)

Place diced sw potatoes on baking sheet

Spray with more cooking spray

Add sea salt & pepper

Bake ~ 15 mins then flip. Bake another 15 until browned.

Snacks & Dessert:

PB Yogurt: 1/2 cup 0% Greek Yogurt, 1 heaping tbsp PB Flour, 1 tbsp PB, stevia, dash sea salt

Chocolate-covered Strawberry Protein “Ice Cream”

Combine:

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 frozen banana

1 tsp xanthan gum (to thicken)

stevia

dash sea salt

~5-6 ice cubes

~1/4 cup almond milk (slowly add more if necessary to allow mixing)

& Blend

Thickkk and delicious:

& Vino:

My siblings and I have an inside joke that whenever we see the word “gnarly” we have to try and pronounce the G and the N. Sounds like “Gah-narly”. Say it fast. Funny? No?

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To kick off the holiday weekend, my sister and I met a friend out for drinks. It was waaay too nice to spend the evening indoors, and a rooftop bar & deck seemed quite appealing.

Fashion moment:

My beautiful sister (and roommate!), Kelsey.

And awkward bathroom photo of yours truly.

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I’ve decided that a fall marathon is looking pretty good right now. No injuries, my pace is pretty fast. I am comfortably running 7 miles, 3X per week including a long run. I’m debating this Washington, DC half marathon…What do you think?? It looks pretty amazing.

Recent workouts have included:

Sun: Rest

Mon: 25 min HIIT (high intensity interval training, aka sprint workout) on treadmill + abs

Tues: BodyPump class + 3 mi run

Wed: 45 min spinning class

Thurs: Total body weights + Boxing class

Fri: 6 mi run

Sat: Bootcamp: 10 min run + 1 circuit + 1 circuit + weights

This marathon season, I’m including much more cross training. More yoga/strength training and less injuries 🙂

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Have a fantastic Labor Day Weekend!!!!

Lauren

>Some blog news!

>Hi bloggies!

I wanted to share some exciting news with you. An experiment I did comparing what blood looks like after a very high fat meal vs. a healthy meal is going to be featured on the Sept 13th season premiere of The Doctors!

To read about the experiment click here and here.

Tune into The Doctors on Sept 13th on CBS!