Hello, hello! I hear the internet is back at home!! That makes me glow inside with happiness

I’ve been busy all morning putting together a blog start-up proposal for work and working on designing a poster. If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my internship it’s that I really enjoy design!

I was getting really hungry around 11 and had tea and it magically held me over till 12:45 to eat lunch. Imagine that. I’m just now digging in to my sandwich and it’s heavenly!

Today’s lunch was made with love by Matt last night after I realized I would be home late. I asked if he’d put together something with leftover grilled tofu and avocado and he assembled this killer sandwich.

Grilled tofu, avocado, mustard, spinach on Flax Oat Bran (my favorite Great Harvest bread!)

A juicy organic pear on the side, which I sliced at work and sprinkled with cinnamon that I packed in my lunchbox.

And a Biscoff to end on a good note (I also accidentally packed the whole package of Biscoff’s in my lunchbox instead of putting them back in the cabinet so another one might end up in my mouth!)

Weekend’s almost here!!

I’m at a coffee shop mooching internet. Our AT&T Uverse is still down. Don’t they realize our internet is my JOB!? They’re coming today after lunch, so hopefully it will be fixed when I get home. I don’t think I can handle going out at 9PM to upload!

I was up at 5 this morning for a workout. I hate it when I work out in the evening and then plan to get up in the morning. Although it’s two separate days, I feel like there’s not enough time for a full recovery! My back is sore today from last night’s lifting. So when these back-2-back workouts happen, I try to do a lighter resistance or simple cardio as more of a “flush the muscles” deal than pushing myself hard. Today I did 45 minutes of ellipticaling with a magazine and then foam rolled my muscles out. I need a foam roller at home. And I also hope I’m doing it right! I always feel like a funky mermaid on the foam roller!

After two breakfasts out, I could not WAIT for some oatmeal today!!

The Mix

• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 3 tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Hot Apple Cinnamon Cereal
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup water
• Pinch salt
• Half banana
• Half tbsp chia seeds
• 1/3 cup cottage cheese, stirred in at end
• Crumbled Low-fat Blueberry WW Muffin from Great Harvest
• Naturally Nutty Vanilla PB Sauce!

This is me shaking my fist at AT&T for our broken internet!!!

I watched some of GLEE at breakfast. Some people are turned on by men in uniforms. For me it’s a SINGING male. Today Puck sang his version of “Sweet Caroline” and I just about melted. I hadn’t really cared for him until that moment! When Matt and I fell in love almost 10 years ago he used to play songs for me and sing on his guitar. Now it’s dusty in the guest room closet! Hmmm…

Friday dance is totally happenin’ right now!! However, I have a lot of freelance projects to work on this weekend, so I won’t get to fully relax until Saturday night. But I do have an 11 miler planned for Sunday!! Scary!! (Blister is healing well. A new colleague recommending putting Vaseline on it to keep it slippery in my sock and that seems to work really well!)

Have a good one!

Ended professional day with a talk on Epigenetics and called it a day. I did stop by the Juice Plus booth and tried some gummies made from vegetables and fruits. They tasted great, but not as great as kale and brussels and broccoli do chompin’ in my mouth!

I got weirdly hungry around 3 during the talk but then when I headed home it went away. Typical hunger. But I did get to finally try that Tropical Fruit Larabar!!!

I was very skeptical that I’d like it because I don’t really like fruity flavored things that much, but WOW. It was awesome!! I was expecting it to be tart like lemon, but it was very orangey and the pineapple was great. If the other fruit Larabars are brownies (from dates) this guy was a blondie!

I went home, changed and raced over to Emily’s for a workout!!

We went for a 4 mile run before we buckled down to do some mega weight lifting. We did this set through twice. 15 reps the first time though and “as many as we could do” the second.

I got my stressful “I gotta finish this before dinner” blog work on while Casey and Emily cooked dinner!!!

So nice of them

I brought over a spiralizer I got from Open Sky! Would you guys want that in my store?

It was super cool!

We spiraled sweet potatoes and baked them like curly fries!!

Casey whipped up some Chinese spiced brussels

Homemade sauce!

And Emily cooked quinoa, apples and almonds in her rice cooker. I’d kinda like one of those…

Dinner was SO GOOD!

The potatoes were still sort of soft, but they were so fun to eat!

We added some organic ketchup with the potatoes. It was just OK. Tasted too much like tomato sauce!

I am not a huge fan of quinoa. It’s kind of airy and the flavor has never bowled me over. But this was awesome! Maybe I need to alter my cooking method..

The brussels were spicy and perfectly cooked!!

Even the brown dog enjoyed our dinner!

Like my Nutrition Facts glass!?

Round II

Remember the Quaker “Create Your Day” challenge? Good Bite and Quaker raised $25,000 for Share Our Strength in just 3 weeks. Quaker was so impressed they decided to do a round 2 – 25,000 more creations = 25,000 more dollars! Let’s give it another go!

***

So I got the word that the internet is down at our house. This could be a big blogging problem in the AM! I’ll do an iPhone post if that’s the case, but if I’m missing, that’s what’s going on.

Almost Friday!!!

It’s been a busy morning full of tidbits. Both research and samples!

I love conferences. Concentrating research and information into one super day of learning. We listened on presentations about the latest in bariatric surgery, vitamin D research and childhood obesity. Very cool stuff.

The profssor who presented on vitamin D shared with us that between October through May, north of Atlanta there is virtually ZERO vit D synthesis going on. And even in the summer, almost all of the synthesis takes place between 11a and 2p. Its a misinception that stepping into sunlight quickly replenishes stores. That 4p walk in January isn’t really doing any good at all! I had no idea.

I got a chair massage in between sessions but the YOGA stretch did sooo much more!! Gosh I love how yoga makes my muscles and joints feel. (Cant wait for Saturday’s session!!)

I talked to a few vendors, including The Thoughtful Baker, who makes allergen-free products.

Sampled a few and a Cabot cheese for
Elevensies. I was hungry much earlier without my usual size breakfast!

Lunch was a nice spread of tasty choices:

I choose a really delicious half veggie and hummus wrap! It was awesome and super flavorful. And no onions!

Also had a great sweet carrot salad, an herby potato salad and some homemade terra chips! Plus a tiny apple for dessert (skipped the cookies!)

Might go back for another scoop of those root veggie chips cause I’m still a wee bit hungry!

Hope you’re having a great day!

Hello from the Charlotte Dietetic Association 9th Annual Professional Day!!

I need to pay attention, but here’s breakfast!

Knowing continental breakfasts are often low in filling protein, I grabbed an Oikos on my way out the door and was able to put together a delish parfait along with some trail mix from my purse. Also brought some coffee from home! Good old Christmas blend

See you for lunch!!

Not only did I have Second Breakfast today, but I wore an elven cloak and drank beer out of huge mugs! I’m a hobbit!

Our date was a trip to the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery to taste their new Fruh Bock spring beer!

I navigated traffic and met Matt, who was already sipping a mug of the Copper and nibbling on a new invention: Guinness + Gouda bread from work. I had a few bites of the bread – yummy! Could have been stronger on the beer flavor though.

We witnessed the puncturing of the new keg -

And enjoyed a frothy mug! The Fruh (which I believe means “early”) was quite good – malty  just how I like ‘em. It opened up a lot as it warmed up and got better and better.

A short ride home later and we were pulling pizza out of the oven.

Guys, I have nagged Matt for MONTHS about getting his whole wheat pizza crust recipe back up on KERF somewhere and he won’t take the time to write it out!! Email him at mamonson at gmail.com and join the nagging so he will!

Our pizza was homemade ww crust with leftover Ragu sauce, grated Organic Valley cheese (still swear this is the best cheese I’ve had!) and some sauteed mushrooms with baby spinach pieces. Mmmmmmm!

I couldn’t decide between 2 and 3 pieces so I had 2.5!

This dinner felt a little imbalanced after all those carbs – liquid and bread form – and no salad. In both my brain and my body! But it sure tasted great and it’s all about the weekly balance after all.

Naturally Nutty Groupshoppers

So sorry for all the confusion about the shipping. Naturally Nutty actually ran out of sunflowers the demand was so high. You will get your nut butter. I apologize for the delay! It will be worth the wait.

***

SO excited to be thinking about bed by 8:15 and since Emily and I are playing tomorrow afternoon, I get to sleep in! I have nothing to do before 7:30 but shower. Breakfast will be at the conference! I’ll be blogging via iPhone. Sorry for all the sub-par photos on the go, but it’s what makes the most sense for me at this time.

Have a good one!

Howdy!

I got to meet some of the RDs I’ll be working with during my clinical rotation at the RD breakfast. It will be nice to start having spent some time in the hospital ahead of time and met some of the team : )

The breakfast was a nice mid-morning snack. They had a whole buffet but I just had some vegetable frittata (i had veggies in both breakfasts today!!) and a corner bite of a slice of fruit n nut bread. Plus coffee!!!

Our team is celebrating Natl Nutrition Month with a table in the cafeteria. We sampled a tilapia recipe (which I tasted and it was awesome!) and gave away free apples to everyone who came through. Love the idea of handing out free fresh fruit!

Due to my late breakfast, I packed a smaller lunch and didn’t eat till about 2pm. It hit the spot though!

Leftovers! I chopped up some broccoli last night and steamed it in the microwave (which just means I let it be dripping wet when I put it in) for 1 minute 30 seconds. Topped with salt and pepper. Plus a handful of those DELICIOUS whole wheat sweet potato gnocchi!

Plus an organic gala

And finally that little Larabar packed if I need it for a snack! Not sure if I will since my date at 5pm involves consumption!

Excited to meet Matt for a fun date surprise!

Happy National Registered Dietitian Day!

It’s also National Nutrition Month^® ! The theme of NNM is "Nutrition From The Ground Up." I love this theme because it can be interpreted in so many ways!!

To me, "Nutrition From The Ground Up" most appropriately means that a healthy diet is based on plants – real foods that come out of the ground. Real food as our recent ancestors would have recognized it. Fruits + veggies of all colors. Nuts, legumes and seeds. Breads and grains. If your diet based around plants, fill the rest with whatever you want to complement your nutritional gaps. Ethically raised meats and dairy foods, of course, provide more nutrient density than desserts or alcohol might, so they would be preferred, but the choice is up to you! I try to base my meals around plants and complement with animals products – rather than starting with the animals and pairing with food from the ground It’s not what we don’t eat but what we do eat that matters.

So in honor of RD Day,  I’m going to a late breakfast this morning put on by the hospital to honor the RDs! And tomorrow I’m attending the Charlotte Dietetic Associations Professional Day for RDs. Fun times.

I went to the gym a bit unwillingly this morning. I just didn’t know what kind of exercise I wanted to do! It was one of those days where if I’d had an elliptical in my house I would have been excited to hop on, but it was the drive to the gym I didn’t want to face. I went, though, and did 26 minutes on the Stairmaster followed by 15 on the Squirrelliptical. And then some stretching. I’m sore from my weights yesterday! And Emily and I have a big plans for tomorrow.

I came home and poured myself a cold one!

There’s no way I could have waited until 9 or 10 to eat after my workout, so I’m splitting the difference and having a smoothie now and a breakfast snack when I get there.

Smoothie Contents

• 1/2 banana
• 1/4 an avocado (first time I’ve done this! I couldn’t taste it but I do think the texture might have been thicker?)
• 1 big handful spinach
• 1 cup vanilla soy milk
• Greens packet (below)
• Handful ice

Vita-Mix away!

Topped with some Galaxy Granola – plus another layer when I got halfway down. The smoothie filled my mug to the brim!

I added this packet I got at the Summit last year. It was very similar to Amazing Grass. Not sure I’d buy these grass packets with my own dollar, but they are fun to add when you have them on hand.

Karen brought back this mug from New Zealand!! I bet it thought I was about to pour beer in it. Muaahahha.

I’m wearing my Lands End green loafers and a green sweater! Celebrate the greens!

I’ll try to iPhone post my breakfast snack this morning and will probably have a very late lunch. And then Matt and I have a date after work!

Eat well today!

Hi hi!

Getting to know the hospital today was exciting. It’s one of North Carolina’s biggest and everyone who I tell that I’m going to be working there raises their eyebrows and says “Wow, you are going to learn SO MUCH.” I’m not exactly sure what they mean, but I think I’m going to see a wide variety of patients.

In fact, as I was finishing my lunch today I heard a really loud noise and there was a helicopter taking off just above me from the rooftop. I hope whoever was in it will be OK

But before clinical starts, I’ve got more fun in corporate wellness! We’ll be spending some of our time in the hospital doing some of the wellness challenges and tomorrow we’ll be staffing a booth for national nutrition month during lunchtime. I got to check out the cafeteria today and found a ton of really cool healthy things going on (and a few no-so-healthy choices too ) But there are so many good options that I’m excited to be able to eat there some in the coming weeks.

I ate my yogurt for a snack around 4PM but never got to that Larabar. I’m going to have it tomorrow!!

I came home and found Matt knee-deep in gnocchi!!!

Those would be Cinnamony Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Gnocchi!!

Sassy Sweets (the NC Sweet Potato Blog) is doing their Bloggers Recipe Challenge again this year. Remember last year I entered my Nutty Vanilla Sweet Potato and Kale Soup and was one of the $100 winners? They are doing it again and this is my entry! Not exactly the “quickest” recipe, but certainly delicious and creative! Actually, I gotta give most of the props to Matt – he invented and executed it! I’m just the talent

For all the details of the recipe: Sweet Potato Gnocchi.

My afternoon snack was the sweet, sweet SKIN!

And now for the main event -

The kale was maple scented and lightly steamed.

I have no idea what the nutritional information on these gnocchi are, but I bet they are more calorie-dense than one might think. I’d recommend serving them with a fresh veggie

Siggi’s Winners!

Blindly picked!! I’m not sure how many Twitter entries there were, but I got 290 emails! (Thanks to those of you who wrote personal emails – wish I had time to read them all!)

Winners are @CEgoodner and Natalie!! Guys, please email me to Katheats at Gmail dot com with your mailing address!

[PS. I thought the giveaway method worked great!]

OFF TO WATCH GOSSIP GIRL!!

Hello from the hospital! I’m on site today doing weigh-ins for a weight loss challenge for the hospital staff. It’s my first time at this huge hospital – where I’ll also be doing my clinical rotation starting in April. Exciting!

I’m currently enjoying this yummy lunch on a bench outside. I’m a little chilly but the fresh air and sunshine are worth it. Im eating my salad, bread and orange and saving the rest for snacktime

SO EXCITED about this salad!!

Last night while the grill was hot I added a sliced block of tofu. (No seasonings or anything – just threw it on with some cooking spray.)

Salad is a bed of baby spinach topped with grilled carrot, asparagus and tofu along with about 1/4 an avocado and a drizzle of olive oil. YUM!

A slice of Dakota for energy

A juicy tangelo

I also packed yogurt and a Larabar mini. I’ve been saving some of my lunch for snacktime so I decided to just photograph it all at once. Depending on hunger I might have my yogurt (spiked with PB2!) at lunch or save it for early afternoon. Saving it today.

Can’t wait to try this!!

Lunch + snacks.

Excited for a warm weather walk after work today!!