What's on your plate?

Two posts in one week? Who am I? So, this was actually a request I received via a friend on Instagram. It's been a while since I've done a "day in the life" of what I eat. However, this week, I decided to part ways with Instagram and deactivate my account.

It was actually a huge sigh of relief. I've been considering this move for a while now but never got the guts to do it. I thought about who I'd miss seeing or the ambassadorships I'd miss out on but in reality, neither of those things matter. My running, cycling, or whatever I do is really my own thing at the end of the day. While I know I've inspired many people in the past and I always do appreciate the messages I receive, I also need to step back from broadcasting my life on the internet. Having this blog is enough for me. I also will still keep my Twitter. I was going to wait until July but what's the point of waiting. It was time to step away from that particular platform and focus on other things more important to me. Will I come back? Maybe. For now, I'm happy not having to deal with it though I'm curious to see who will still contact me. Many of my friends on there have my phone number. I suppose this is when you find out who actually cares about everything behind the scenes rather than on the screen. I know Anne will read this and I'm glad she has her blog so I can still keep up with her writing! You should definitely check out her page. It's full of awesome stuff and she happens to also be vegan.

So, what does a day in the life of eating look for me? I suppose I'll start with a semi-explanation of how I cultivate my nutrition. I don't count calories or macros. I used to count macros as if it were my specialty. It actually helped me lose a lot of the weight I did but I'm not into that anymore. I pretty much focus on real food, or as much of it as I can, that delivers good nutrition and keeps me satisfied. I don't deprive myself of any sweets, either! If you open my pantry, you will find plenty of Justin's almond butter cups and Enjoy Life cookies.

Let's dig into it. I won't lie, these first two photos are from the day after but that's because I was too tired to remember to take pictures the first day. So, the first thing I do when I wake up is I drink 16oz of warm, freshly squeezed lemon juice and almost all of that blue bottle, which is just water. This is at roughly 5am.

This was a run day. Before my runs, I eat 2-4 pitted dates, depending on the length, and about 4oz of beet juice. I just recently started incorporating beet juice into my pre-run routine and I have to say, the hype is real. Maybe it's psychological but my Fartlek's are not as terrible. These dates came directly from a local farm! I'll set out to run about 5:30-5:45am.

If my run is longer than an hour, I bring more dates with me. Pitted dates are something I started eating as fuel about two years ago. Just two of these guys gives you about 35g of carbs. On my long runs, I'll eat 2 every 30 minutes. 

Post-run is always a big 'ol bowl of oatmeal. I literally eat this stuff every day, run or not. This particular bowl is oats, water from the kettle because I'm too lazy to cook it on the stove, flax meal, Orgain vanilla protein powder, walnuts, almond butter, and banana. I drink about half that bottle of Coconut water to replenish my electrolytes. Coconut water has been my jam lately, especially with these hot temperatures. Let's say this was around 8am. 

Lunch this day was a vegan "bacon" sandwich with some grapes. The bacon is actually tempeh. I cut it up into strips and fry it in a cast iron pan. I whisk up some soy sauce, liquid smoke, some maple syrup, pepper, and powdered ginger, and throw that in the pan at the end to give it that extra flavor. This sandwich is on Dave's Killer Bread with some vegan cheddar cheese, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, red onion, and vegan mayo. Of course, I can't forget the pickle. Lunch is typically at 11am.

Okay, let's get real with the size here. I like my sandwiches big.

Around 2pm, it's like clockwork, and my stomach is like FEED ME. I deem 2pm snack time. My snack probably looks like a meal to some people but hey, like I said, I don't deprive myself. When you're hungry, eat! Today, I mixed in some muesli into cashew milk yogurt and topped it with blueberries. 

Dinner time is almost always at 5pm. We eat really early but we also go to bed early. I wish I had a better picture of this but what can you do. These are jackfruit tacos with a Cuban twist. So, back when we were meat-eaters, we used to get these tacos at our favorite Mexican place. It was ham, this Asian slaw, mustard, and pickles. Sounds really weird but oh man, the flavors were insane. I knew I could slightly mimic it in a vegan way. Jackfruit to the rescue! I cook that up with some BBQ sauce, toss the slaw in an Asian dressing I make that's literally soy sauce, rice vinegar, some sesame oil, and ginger, and top it off with mustard and pickles. Of course, we have to have tortilla chips. They are literally one of my favorite things to eat. I could annihilate a whole bag in one sitting. 

That's pretty much it! Some may ask, "Well, what do you drink during the day!?" and the answer is simple: water and coffee. I drink about a gallon of water per day. I drink two cups of coffee. When you live in the desert, water never gets boring. Sometimes I'll get crazy and have some herbal tea. I'm a simple person, really. I don't drink much alcohol anymore. To be honest, I haven't had a drink in over 30 days. It's just something I don't crave anymore. Everyone has their fancy!

There you have it, folks. A day of eating with me. See, being vegan isn't so boring. I don't eat heads of raw broccoli or salads all day. What's on your plate today?

Hey, It's June

One of these days when I say "I'll keep up on this blog thing" I'll actually mean it, I swear. I mean, what else do I have to do? I'm not working. I've deemed myself a professional live-in chef to my husband. I'd like to think I'm the next Charity Morgan but minus the football team.  If you have no idea who I'm talking about, check out The Game Changers.

I think it's safe to say we are all riding the worst rollercoaster ever. I won't get political on here but let's be honest, we're fricked. We're in the midst of a pandemic, which I feel like many people have already forgotten about. Over 100,000 people are dead and cases are still on the rise. I can't even type that without getting upset and sad. I won't even go into the problem of police brutality. Everything is just as bad in every way. I can't be out there with everyone but Lord knows I stand here with them.

One subject matter that has come up quite often these past few months is mental health and how there has been a rise in those seeking help. I've never publically talked about this and just recently came out about it to my running coach but anxiety is something I've been dealing with for a while now. Due to recent events, it's pretty much been much more prominent in my life than not. Usually, I'm pretty good at making it subside or preventing it from coming on at all. I don't take medications or anything as I like to take a holistic approach to everything. It was suggested I take a gander at the application Headspace and it's been awesome. They are even offering a free year subscription to those who are unemployed, otherwise, you can try out a 14-day trial by clicking here. It might feel weird at first. Sitting still for 5-10 minutes is actually a lot harder than it may seem but after a few days, I've looked forward to it so much. Whenever I want just to sit and have a guided meditation has been wonderful and a big aid at emptying my thoughts. Mental health in the form of telemedicine is something that is slowly becoming more widely available but I still think the accessibility can be improved and the cost. Either way, it's okay to ask for help, even if you think whatever you may have going on isn't "as bad" as someone else. Just talking with someone can be such a huge weight off your shoulders. I've been journaling every morning for the past 21 days. I even set a "Digital Wellbeing" block on all of my social media apps from 5am-12pm though I'm considering making it longer. I absolutely love my Instagram family but sometimes, it's too much. It's too much to take in on everything being posted. It's too much to consistently try to seek validation so people can be like HEY LOOK WHAT I DID I'M THE BEST. I'm guilty of this and I know some of you that read this are too. We all are at some point. There is tons of positivity radiating on there but sometimes it's equally met with negativity. I've connected with a lot of people I wish lived closer to me and I've also become annoyed with those I wish would take a break and find out who they really are. Either way, remember everything else around you. Sometimes when you put the screens down and take a moment to look around, you do realize there is more to life than just scrolling your feed for 15 hours a day. It's been a wonderful choice I've made.

Phew, okay. That was a lot to get out. Should we talk about running? We haven't since I finished my ultra. The good news is that I'm still doing it. I took a week off after my race and just did yoga every day. My body felt fully recovered probably 2 days after but it's good to have that reset period. My coach had me start back up with some light work and cycling. I told her I wanted to incorporate more cycling into my training since I've really enjoyed it and it's really been a great help to my cardiac fitness and endurance. The NordiTrack is still amazing. One day I'll have a road bike but until then, I'm enjoying rides all over the world. Last week I rode in Tokyo. Tomorrow I'll hit up Colorado. My first attack was the McKirdy Mile. I wasn't setting big expectations on my time since I had only run twice and was only two weeks post-race.

Yeah, needless to say, I was quite surprised when I looked down after I hit the 1-mile mark. I told my coach that I'd be happy with an 8:30, even an 8:15. It was a great accomplishment. It also lit a fire under me wanting to work more towards becoming more efficient. Becoming faster is one thing but doing it in the most efficient way is important. I started looking at races coming up for the fall and winter. To be honest, I am not comfortable being around people and I highly doubt that will subside for the rest of the year. Sure, maybe I'm being too cautious but it only takes one person. I'm okay with riding the virtual race train for a bit. I registered for the SeaWheeze virtual half marathon and will attempt that in August. I guess you could say I'm currently in week 2 of training for that and my coach just started implementing speedwork in today. Have I mentioned how thankful I am for her? Because I am. 

Let's see if I keep up with an actual consistent schedule with this thing again. I'm trying to play around with the layout again since I got bored with the purple. I want it to look cleaner. I'm kind of OCD when it comes to graphic design. What can ya do? I hope you all stay safe. Stand up for yourself. Be grateful for what you have and pray.

Bench Warmer

So, remember last week, when I said things were going well? They were until they weren't.

I set out for three easy runs last week. Monday felt fine, Wednesday felt alright with some slight pain, and Thursday, well let's just say that afternoon, it felt like someone hit my knee with a sledgehammer. Like many, I try to defer going to the doctor unless I believe there's a real problem or the problem persists. Don't be like me. Go at the first sign of pain. I even worked in the medical field so you'd think I'm a picture-perfect patient. Thursday, I threw the towel in and called to make an appointment for that following morning. Now, the pain in my knee wasn't really worse really but it definitely wasn't better. You could notice swelling compared to my left and the pain area was definitely easier to identify because it seemed to have built a home on the interior part. After some exercises, adjusting certain ways, and the other fancy crap, she determined that my meniscus is fine (oh good, there's a positive) but I indeed have some really bad tendonitis. So bad, the swelling pushed my patella slightly out of place. I left with a physical therapy script and a warning of "no impact activities for at least the next month" and to wait until I was evaluated by therapy. Now, this isn't my first dance around the room with PT. I'm actually a huge advocate for it. But, with traveling the next three-ish weeks, I can't start until October. After chatting with my coach and deciding to be the bigger person, I've decided to withdraw from my fall half marathon. That was really hard to swallow. Lots of tears were shed. Lots of WHY ME. Lots of why do I even still run. This is my third injury in a year in a half. But, alas, we will come through. I still have plans for a winter race that I will eventually be discussing later on in November. For now, I'll be mastering my yogi-self, building strength, and trying to learn how to swim better.

After sulking basically all weekend, it's a new week. New, fun things are ahead. I've accepted the fact that I won't be running for quite some time. Can't lie and say I get sad scrolling through Instagram seeing all of my amazing running friends accomplishing great goals but 'comparison is the thief of joy'. Don't worry, I'm still super happy for all of you.




OKAY. Now that the world's worst update is done. I do have new food to share. Ta-da:

So, think of your typical summer noodle salad but put an Asian twist on it. The only thing that requires cooking is the noodles unless you decide to add tofu like I did. Nothing wrong with extra protein! It's refreshing, hits the tongue with some spice, and is super easy to make with leftovers for the next day. Sam, you did me right again. You can click here to get the recipe!




That's it for this week, folks. I will probably take a break from updating as I will be out of town for most of September but you can always follow me on the 'gram (is that how they say it?) to keep in touch with my whereabouts: @britanyg :)

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