Posts Tagged by Dates
What I Ate Wednesday
| April 13, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
Howdy friends!! Happy Hump Day! 
I’m doing it people.
I’ve been reading about this What I Ate Wednesday for the past few weeks on the amazing Lindsay’s blog, and this week, I’m gonna join the fun! Yesterday I asked your opinion on posting my eats for a whole day, after a number of requests, and y’all said DO IT! So I am! 
Breakfast:
Choc-PB Banana Bread in a Bowl. 1 cup Ultra-Bran cereal, 1 cup vanilla soy milk, 1 frozen banana, 2 tbsp PB, 1 tbsp cocoa powder and xanthan gum (to thicken), topped with more PB and cacoa nibs.
Morning snack:
A 9 Bar. Such love for these
Lunch:
Sweet tater, aduki beans in a tomato ‘cheeze’ sauce (just tomato sauce+nooch) and 2 mushrooms stuffed with spinach and more nooch. Followed by:
Soy yogurt topped with morello cherry spread.
I then made the first batch of raw vegan cookie dough truffles for Carrie, the (VERY generous!!) highest bidder for them in Katie’s vegan bakesale for Japan. I, of course, had to taste-test two of them. You know, to check they weren’t poisonous or anything… 
The chocolate chips also suffered heavy losses.
Afternoon snackage:
A green monster, and Marmite on crackers x 10000.
Freya was right- those CRACKers are like crack! 
Pre-workout:
Another microwave banana oat cake topped with PB (I have these pretty much daily!), and PB+apple on toast:
Oh, and you may have seen on my Dailymile but I did a 5 MINUTE RUN on grass with NO SHIN PAIN!! I went a bit faster than was advised because I got so excited (avg 6.24 min/mile) but it felt fine! Although it was on grass, and I know that on pavement it will be different, but still! Baby steps! My full workout today was an hour of Power Yoga + weights.
Post workout: The usual recovery stuff (chocolate milk+broccoli)
And I bonded a lot with my dried fruit and trail mix throughout the day…
It’s okay- washing my hair more regularly was last month’s goal…!
Dinner:
A BIG plate of WW pasta with tofu-cheeze-spinach sauce (a whole block of silken tofu blended, then combined with 4 tbsp nooch+spinach+spices in a saucepan over a low heat). So filling, and SO full of protein! The sauce alone has about 40g! BAM!
Dessert:
A PB+J stuffed Medjool date…AND my new fave…
Oh yes! Dark chocolate stuffed Medjool date!! Just melt some dark chocolate, put it in your date, and stick it in the fridge for a bit, and ENJOY!! Bliss
So I think I solved a number of ‘mysteries’ for you:
- How I managed to get through a whole bucket of PB in 2 weeks.
- Why I am constantly on a sugar high.
- Why my blog tagline is ‘Fuelled by chocolate’.
Hope y’all enjoyed seeing my eats today! Please note that I do NOT think my diet is perfect in any way (ahem…sugar intake! ), and I’m not suggesting you should eat the same way! What I DO think is that it is SO important for us to eat ENOUGH to fuel our bodies!! I have seen HUGE changes in myself performance-wise, physically and mentally since I started eating the right amount for me, and I really FEEL the difference! Personally, I have stopped reading food blogs that I know have a negative effect on me, as I don’t want to be influenced adversely, y’know? I am totally comfortable with how I eat now, and although sometimes I feel a bit weird for eating so much more than my friends, both volume and calorie wise, I just remind myself that I NEED it, and just roll with it! Phew, that topic is tough and so taboo!!
And I am SO SO excited about tomorrow!! It’s a surprise, which you can (hopefully!) read about in tomorrow’s post!
Share one thing you ate today! Make me jealous!!
What are your thoughts on this calorie intake/food blogger thing? I think that although it is obvious that some bloggers AREN’T eating enough, most food bloggers don’t post EVERYTHING, so I guess you don’t really see the whole picture. And everyone is different, so what is enough for one person will be too much/little for another…
What are you excited about for this week? I’m excited about my ‘surprise’ thing tomorrow and about this weekend…it’s gonna be a good’un!
Don’t forget, if you have any questions or anything, you can always leave it in the comment section, email me or ask me anonymously on Formspring.
Have a great week friends!
P.S. I REALLY recommend you read Jenny’s amazing post on self-love. LOVE YOURSELF friends! I love you too!!
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s masterpiece”
What to do before leaving…
| April 6, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
HEY awesome friends!! Having a good week?
As you may know, I am leaving for a quick music tour in Germany for four days (from Thursday-Sunday), so I’ll be back on Sunday evening!! So I made sure to spend my last day well, as everyone should before leaving their homes…
You should have a great breakfast. Because who knows what you’ll get in a different country…
Sweet Tater oatmeal! 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup oat milk, 3/4 cup water, 1 small microwaved sweet potato (peeled+mashed), 1 tsp vanilla extract all cooked on the stovetop, plus maple syrup and tons of cinnamon. DEEELISH!! Got the idea from seeing it on the amazing Katie’s blog, and I knew I HAD to make it!! And it was soooo good!! 
You should make the most of the foods you know you won’t be having.
I’m guessing I won’t be having PB+J stuffed medjool dates there…? Well, I can still live in hope! 
You should finish what you started.
I did it.
One bucket. Two weeks. One girl. Oh, and an almond butter jar too…
I’m expecting a trophy for this nut butter consumption. Or a medal at the very least.
You should make packing a last minute thing, and read blogs instead because you’re not going to get your daily fix for a few days, and need to make up the time.
‘No unread items’ is not a phrase I see a lot on my reader!
You should make preparations for your trip. I can’t run, and I don’t think there’s a hotel gym. So I’m using hotel workouts! Like this one:
Because heaven forbid I don’t get my endorphin fix for FOUR WHOLE DAYS. Enter room workouts!!
You should pack food, and plenty of it:
Yeah, I may have gone slightly overboard with this one…
Oat biscuits, snack bars x 7, chocolate, wholewheat crackers, non-dairy milk, a bag of cashews, trail mix, a big bag of chocolate biscuits and vegan sweets, as well as unpictured dates (obviously), a pack of WW pitta bread and a small jar of PB. Oh, and 10 packets of oats.
In my defence, a) most of it’s for sharing with roomies and friends and b) the last time I went to Germany (as a vegetarian), they really struggled with that. And then finally came up with a hunk of cheese and a hard-boiled egg. So being a vegan there could be interesting!
You should take time to appreciate the place you live. Especially when that place hits hot temps and SUN for the first time this year!! Thanks London!! Enter first bare arms of the year!!
The crazy face is what the sun does to me- my system isn’t used to all that Vit D.
So I took my dog out for a walk. Well, he walked, I napped.
Buddy had to wait until I’d finished my nap before he got to play.
I love my home. And I love YOU guys!! I’m gonna miss all your comments that brighten my day, and reading so many awesome blog posts! BUT I’ll be back on Sunday night to catch up on everything! And trust me, if I can find anywhere with free WiFi, you know what I’ll be doing! 
In the meantime, I have a couple of guest posts lined up on here, so please stay tuned and leave the wonderful people who offered to do it lots of love, k?
Where was the last place you went on holiday/vacation? Hungary, on tour last summer! It was so HOT!!
What are your packing essentials or tips? Packing essential=food. My suitcase is 95% food, with the odd item of clothing. That’s how I roll. And my tip is sitting on the suitcase when it won’t shut. Not original, but it works!!
Are you going anywhere this year? I’m also going to Finland in summer on a longer tour, and to Hawaii with the fam in August. Can’t wait!
LOVE YOU ALL and hope you have a great rest of the week! Missing y’all already!!
Exciting times #4
| March 29, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Special Breakfast Mondays |
HEY friends!!
So glad you guys enjoyed “meeting” Tara yesterday!! Isn’t she amazing?! Can’t wait for the other Featured Athlete posts in the coming Monday’s too! 
There have been many, many ‘exciting’ posts as long-term readers will know! See here or here for proof that I get excited A LOT. So here are some exciting things from today and yesterday…
1. Exciting Special Breakfast Monday.
I love Special Breakfast Monday!! Especially when it involves my fave ‘normal’ nut butter…
…and Katie’s chocolatified banana bread in a bowl that I made a few Special Mondays ago…
…BUT this time, in my empty jar!!
SO darn good!!
2. Being awarded this by two of my fave gals, Carrie and Little Bookworm!
You guys are the BEST!! I’ll be posting my 7 Facts About Me tomorrow!
3. Oat obsession.
I had oats today for breakfast (raspberry carob oatmeal)…
…for my pre-workout afternoon snack (banana-cinnamon-PB oatmeal)…
…and in peanut-butter-topped microwave banana oat cake form as a post-workout munchie…
I tell myself that it is perfectly normal to have a bowl of oatmeal as a snack. It was weird making it in the microwave though for once- I can’t believe I used to do that every day!! Stovetop is SO much better!!
4. Date obsession.
It isn’t enough for me to just go through a whole pack in a few days. My addiction is too great.
So when I found it in liquid form, I almost died. I now have date SYRUP.
Somebody save me!!!! Does date rehab exist…?
5. Choccie-Chip Date Raw Cookie Dough Balls
Choccie-Chip Date Raw Cookie Dough Balls (adapted from Averie’s recipe)
Makes about 8 large balls, depending on how much dough you eat during the process…!
2/3 c whole raw cashews
1/3 c dry oats
2.5 tbsp date syrup (or other sweetener if you don’t have any, like agave)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c chopped dates
1/8 c non-dairy chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips)
- Put cashews and oats into a food processor and grind until a fine powder is formed.
- Add the date syrup and vanilla extract and blend again. Add more syrup if dough is too dry.
- Chop dates and add to the processor with the chocolate chips. QUICKLY blend, or stir in by hand.
- Remove the dough and form into balls. Put into fridge to firm up if necessary, and ENJOY!!
These are ADDICTIVE, I’m warning you!! Although that’s probably more me and my non-existent self-control! 
6. Shin news!!
After talking to an expert dude about my shin, he suggested I:
a) Get my gait analysed again. I’ll be doing that this weekend!
b) Not run until I have no shin pain in ‘normal’ life. Then ease back into it, so no more ‘training’ for the time being.
c) Cross-train my butt off in the mean time! I’ve been warned off the elliptical though, so I glued myself to the bike today with my reading material for a 45 min session…
And he said I SHOULD be okay to run my big race which is in 2 weeks time! BUT he said I probably won’t be able to do as well as I had hoped what with the training cut-back and the affected performance…but I can heal-up properly, do my best, and anyway there’s always next year
7. Exciting workout!
Today’s workout: 45 mins bike, 75 min yoga class.
I haven’t done a yoga class in MONTHS!! It felt SO good!!
My back and glutes are definitely feeling it now! AND bonus- the yoga lady gave me a superfoods bar!!
Not sure why people always give me free food, but I’m not complaining! 
8. Early morning spin tomorrow!!
Bring on the early morning sweat-sesh!! I am EXCITED!!
And to help myself get up at the ridiculous 5-something-am, I will be sleeping in those clothes. And not brushing my hair or washing beforehand. Sorry fellow spinees.
What exciting things have happened to you so far this week? I also washed my hair on Monday. BREAKTHROUGH or what?!
What foods do you never go a day without? Oats is one example. Even if I don’t have it for breakfast, I ALWAYS have it in one form or another every day. And obviously, chocolate and dates.
What tips do you have for an early start? I’m relatively new to this whole early-morning thing, so I need the advice por favor!!
Enjoy the rest of your week lovelies!!
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Sun Warrior giveaway if you haven’t yet!! Ends on Thursday!!
P.P.S.The wonderful Katie is doing a blog bakesale to raise money for Japan!! PLEASE support her!! You can read all about it here!!
10 happy things
| March 22, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
HOWDY friends!! 
I am just SO happy right now, and on a bit of a HIGH!! This is probably mostly due to the amount of sugar I have just consumed (date addiction…), but also because there has been SO MUCH to be happy about!! So here are 10 things that have made me happy in the last two days…
1. Special Breakfast Monday. I didn’t post it yesterday because of the Featured Athlete post, but it deserves to be drooled over. Cookie dough baked oatmeal:
Well, it’s actually a cross between that and Katie’s baked banana oatmeal that she posted today! Great minds think alike 
2. Snack bar lovin’.
Pre-workout snackage. Convenient + tasty = WIN.
3. Double excitement: I am officially a gym member again (of the cheapo gym not the posh one- cheap gym is MUCH closer to home…and cheap) AND on my way to the gym I bought a BUCKET of peanut butter.
I am hiding behind the bucket a) to show that it is nearly the size of my head, and that really says a lot about how big the bucket is, and b) because my face is the same colour as my hoodie (cheapo gym=rubbish air con).
A little size comparison…
Love it!! Still won’t last long though around me!
4. Having a killer running-day-off workout. Monday was a running day off, so I spent some time resting my shins by staying away from the treadmill, elliptical, summit trainer, etc. and instead spent some quality time bonding with the bike whilst geeking up…
…on Sports Nutrition!!
Monday workout: 35 mins speed intervals on bike + BodyPump. My Monday instructor (who I LOVE) has changed pretty much the whole routine to ‘challenge’ us more. My muscles today are telling me her challenging routine worked. Ouchie.
5. Discovering my new fave snack/dessert/general munchie…
Medjool dates stuffed with nut butter (one PB, one almond) and chocolate chips. SO yummy. If only Medjool dates weren’t so darn expensive, I would probably eat this all day, every day! 
6. Tempo Run Tuesday.
Took it a bit easier than normal so I didn’t overdo it on my shins, but still it still rocked!
Tempo run:
1 mile warm-up
1 mile @ ‘comfortably hard’ pace- 6.44 min/mile
1 mile @ ‘easy run’ pace- 7.35 min/mile
1 mile @ cool down/chill pace- 8.20 min/mile
Wasn’t as hard as a normal tempo run, and my shins felt fine mostly. They twinged a bit during the fast mile…
…but were mostly okay. And I iced them up afterwards 
7. Yummy post-workout food. YIAJ (soy Yoghurt In A Jar) topped with natural strawberry jam:
I have been saving that almond butter jar for SO long, and it finally got put to good use! My first YIAJ- AMAZING stuff!!
8. Chocolate Chip Date Cookie Dough Balls…
I ate so much ‘cookie dough’ straight from the food processor and it was GOOOD! Adapted from Averie’s recipe. I subbed mango for chopped dates and white chocolate for dark chocolate chips, because if you don’t know by now how addicted I am to these things, then you never will! Anyway, these balls are the most DELISH thing ever, and taste almost EXACTLY like cookie dough!! WIN!! Averie is a genius!
9. Early morning spin tomorrow. And I mean early. I don’t think I have EVER gotten up at 5.45am before to workout. So this’ll be a first! I’m slightly freaked out by the time, but since I looked like this last time after spin…
…I can’t wait to get my early-morning sweat on! BRING ON THE SPINNER’S HIGH!!
10. My upcoming giveaway, which I will be announcing TOMORROW. Or Thursday…but anyway, SOON!! This is an AWESOME one, so stay tuned!!
Aaah I love life
Tell me one thing (or more than one!) that has made YOU happy!
Are you a spin fan? I love it! It’s SUCH a killer workout, and turns me into a sweaty beast!!
Are you an early workout person? What time do you work out? I do the majority of my workouts in the afternoon/evening, but on a Sunday I have an early one. Even that though is only a 7.30am start, so not that bad!
Enjoy the rest of your week friends!!
I. Love. Track.
| March 19, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
It is official. I love track.
Great photo of me looking like a complete DORK. Not that you don’t see photos like that on this blog on a daily basis anyway! 
Be prepared to see many more in this post…
So I got up, and it was SUNNY!! 
And there were BLUE SKIES!! This is London we’re talking about, so it’s kinda rare! I was a bit disorientated…did I move to Cali in my sleep? But no…the world just loved me today. Actually, that’s a lie. I woke up to this sad sight…
That is my fruit basket. No bananas. WHAT AM I TO DO?!?! My pre-run PB toasts with banana was not to be…but I had something even BETTER instead…. 
PB on toast with dates, and almond butter on toast with sultanas. DELISH. And lets just pretend I haven’t gone through a whole 500g pack of dates in 3 days, k?
So then I put on my fave shoes- my racing flats that I hadn’t worn since the mud incident. I missed you Fire Shoes…
And then after getting a little lost en-route and ending up taking a nice 45 min accidental stroll through a park, I hit the track!!
Track run:
1 mile warm-up
6 x 400 metres at fast pace (avg pace 6.01 min/mile, best pace 5.36 min/mile) with a recovery jog lap inbetween
1 mile cool down
So. Much. Fun. I want to do this EVERY DAY. I’ll never get tired of it. Just as I’ll never get tired of chocolate milk…
…or huge steaming bowls of broccoli…
…or dark chocolate covered brazil nuts, or which I may or may not have eaten almost a whole pack of today…
Track runs are definitely a new fave! 
Okay, so tomorrow I’ll probably do a recovery run instead of my usual Sunday hill run…but other than that it’ll be my usual Sunday thang: hill run, pancakes and church. If that isn’t a winning combo, I don’t know what is!! 
Oh, and I have BIG plans for tomorrow’s pancakes, involving one of my main food groups…! You’ll have to wait and see!
If you’re a runner, what is your favourite type of run? I read a poll in Runner’s World that said that most people prefer long, relaxed runs, but I think track runs are just so much FUN!! So maybe that beats it for me…
What is one thing you’ll never get bored of? I’ve already said running, so chocolate. I am WAY too predictable!!
What was your highlight of your day, or what are you looking forward to tomorrow? Obviously my run was the highlight, and I’m looking forward to everything tomorrow!! I love my Sundays! 
Have a great Sunday friends!!
