Oh Baby I like It Raw

Yesterday started off fairly healthy with my usual breakfast of cereal (lame, I know, but it’s easy) and then some filling snacks.  I had some fresh orange and yellows peppers with delicious smooth ranch dip (it’s like crack to me, I love it).  I always thought that fresh vegetables were better for you than cooked but I wasn’t sure if that was myth or not so I decided to solve the mystery. Scientific American has an article explaining the pros and cons of cooking raw vegetables.  I always thought cooking destroyed the proteins and vitamins (which is somewhat true) but boiling and steaming veggies can actually increase some of the antioxidants. The downfall is that Vitamin C, being highly unstable, breaks down when heated.  Cooking helps us digest but then the heat also denatures enzymes that aid in digestion as well. So basically, there’s no one straight answer. A combination of cooked and raw fruits and vegetables is your best bet for obtaining a balance of vitamins, antioxidants, and enzymes that help your body.

I know some people think cooked vegetables taste better but I think raw can be just as tasty! (With some dip of course)

I managed to have some of them cooked veggies too! Brown rice with bell peppers and a little teriyaki, soy sauce, garlic and onion powder, honey, and sesame oil. Mmm Mmm!

Here’s where things went bad….

My mom suggested it and how am I suppose to say no to something so tasty?

Wednesday’s meals:

Meal	Food	Calories
Breakfast	Cereal	120
	Almond milk	30
Snack	Peppers and ranch dip	60
	Fiber One Bar (just half)	70
Lunch	Brown rice and stir fry veggies	170
Dinner	Chinese Food	696
Total		1146

Luckily with the first part of the day being so good, it didn’t push my calories over with the Chinese food.

And I went running THREE miles! There’s this route I used to always take in my parent’s neighborhood that has an intense hill. I used to run about a mile to it, then it’s a little less than a half mile down it and when I reached the bottom I would turn around and go right back up it and run back home. I did pretty well making it up most of it but had to walk the last little stretch. Then I had a to walk another block after that and stretch out but from there I was able to run all the way home! Not bad for feeling like I’m out of shape. I have a love/hate relationship with hills. I never feel like I have that good of run if there isn’t some challenge like a hill but at the same times hills just SUCK. The feeling after conquering that hill though feels pretty good.

Any body conquer some hills lately? Or accomplish anything they’re proud of?

Almond Crusted Swai

We’re back at it again, using up our frozen fish!  This recipe calls for Tilapia but I think any white fish would be delicious with this recipe. Daniel found it at allrecipes.com. It makes enough for 8 fish fillets but we reduced the ingredients down for two.

What you need (for 2):

• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp lemon pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 cup ground almond
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 (6 oz) fish fillets
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• lemon juice

Directions (modified from original):

1. Beat egg with lemon pepper and garlic salt until blended. In a separate dish, stir together ground almonds with 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Dust the flour over the fish fillets and shake off excess. Dip fish in egg, then press into the almond mixture.
2. Pour olive oil in large skillet just enough to cover basin of pan completely. Place over medium-high heat. Cook fish in oil until golden brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Reduce heat to medium, and sprinkle fish with remaining parmesan cheese, cover and continue cooking until cheese has melted (5 minutes).
3. Place fish onto serving dish and squirt a little lemon juice on top.

These turned out great and were nice and crispy on the outside! We served them with a side of green beans.

With the original recipe, each fillet is 424 calories. But that’s cooking with butter! We cooked with olive oil so I’m assuming that makes it a little healthier.

Here’s the rest of what I consumed yesterday:

Meal	Food	Calories
Breakfast	Cereal	140
	Almond milk	30
Snack	Fruit smoothie	180
	Wheat thins	120
	Pistacios & cashews (small handful)	60
Lunch	Fresh Spinach salad	150
Dinner	Almond crusted Swai	424
	Green beans	50
Dessert	Dark chocolate Toblerone (1 piece)	40
Total		1194

Woohoo! I actually stayed under my calories! AND I worked out hard core yesterday. I did the second day of the Five Day Workout.

For those of you who don’t know what exercises are associated with those names (I had no idea what they were at first) here’s a description for the less common:

Thrusts – Use a bar bell, medicine ball, or free weights. Rest them on your hips while laying on back, feet flat on the floor, knees bent. Lift hips as far as you can and then return to staring position.

Trumpy twists – Sit on the floor or bench, back straight, knees bent in front of you with feet lift off floor. Hold weight in front of your chest and twist torso to the side. Return to center and twist to opposite position.

1 Arm Row – Use a flat bench and place right leg on top of bench and right hand so the your upper body is parallel to the floor. Hold weight in left hand, palm facing torso. Pull weight straight up to the side of your chest keeping arm close to side. Contract back muscles to pull up the weight. Lower the weight straight down to starting position.

Reverse Fly – Stand in a squatting position, hold weights straight out in front of you with arms slight bend, palms facing each other. Move the weights out away from each other, squeezing shoulder blades together. Arms should be parallel to floor. Return to starting position.

Back Extensions – Lie on stomach with chin resting on floor, hand behind your head. Lift upper body as far off the floor as possible. Return to start.

For an extra challenge increase the weights. Try using a 20lb bar for the thrusts, 15 lbs for bench press, and 20 lbs for 1 arm row.

After doing those exercises I went on a 2.5 miles run in the heat with Daniel. I almost didn’t think I’d make it up the hills. But I did! Now I need to go continue this hard core workout trend!