Sweet potato noodles with cashew sauce
Nearly 30 days ago I wrote about starting a vegetarian version of the Whole30 diet. I’m here to report back on how my attempt went and what I thought of the program.
First things first. Did I complete all 30 days of the Whole30?
On New Year’s Day, my husband and I were driving to the ski slopes and he said “I think I’m going to do an experiment with my diet every month.” “What do you mean?” I asked. And he said, “Like, one month do paleo, one month do something else… I’d do Whole30 but it is so cliche.” “I’d do Whole30 with you,” I gamely said. And that was that. We are four days in. How is it going?
Ain’t nobody got time to make dinner, and that’s why I’ve been trying out and writing about meal kit programs such as Green Chef (organic, vegan option; referral link available at end of that blog post) and Blue Apron (vegetarian option). We liked Green Chef a lot and were less impressed by Blue Apron. Most recently, we tried another popular service, Hello Fresh. Here’s the review…
We have all been told that — contrary to conventional wisdom — it is really hard to lose weight while training for a marathon. In fact, a lot of people gain weight when they up their training mileage. Personally, after 21 marathon training cycles, I know these struggles all too well. (There may be people out there who start running and watch the pounds melt off; I am not one of them.) But I also think it is pretty unhelpful to say “It can’t be done,” and as I recently learned while completing a cut on the RP diet and simultaneously training for a BQ-pace marathon, it can be done.
I’ve been traveling a lot for the past few months, commuting between DC and Colorado each week for work. I’ve spent a lot of time in airports, and a lot of time hangry on airplanes. But I’ve figured out a few tricks for how to eat healthfully (and as a vegetarian or vegan) while on the road or in the air and avoiding that gross-I-just-ate-a-ton-of-junk-and-now-sit-the-rest-of-the-day-on-an-airplane feeling as well as the I-am-going-to-eat-my-luggage-because-I-am-so-hungry feeling. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Twenty-eight days ago, I did my first DEXA scan with Composition ID, a body fat composition testing company here in DC. Since then, I’ve made a few tweaks with the aim of reducing my body fat percentage and lowering my total weight, outcomes that I am hopeful will improve my marathon times. Today, I went in for my second scan… Just like the first time, it was super easy and painless, and Tiffany even provided all my results in a nice email attachment. But anyway, the results… drum-roll please…
When I was recently home for a fake, post-holiday Thanksgiving meal, I was shocked at the degree to which my vegetable-loving mom does not know how to cook vegetables. I am assuming this is a common problem, and one that probably prevents a lot of people from eating the magnitude of veggies they’d like to eat (or should be eating). I am working from home today and multi-tasking, and I had about a thousand pounds of vegetables in the fridge from my farm share. So I’m roasting. This is hands-down the #1 way to cook vegetables. And once you know the general principles, it’s pretty foolproof. The only veggies I prefer sauteed instead of roasted are greens like collards and spinach. Everything else is getting thrown in the oven. So here’s how to do it…
athlettuce 