Strep Throat Food

Friday morning I'm driving to work and my throat is hurting.  This is now like the third day of this.  Usually after an hour or two of being awake it goes away and I'm fine.  I take that same attitude on Friday morning and I get to work early to go to boot camp. 

Cut to the afternoon and it now feels like there are tiny pins sticking out of my throat.  Gross.  Luckily a good friend of mine on our kindergarten team is a mom (for some reason I think that only moms can look at someone's throat and tell if they should go to the doctors).  She tells me my throat is red with white things sticking out of it.  Yup.  Strep.  Awesome.

A patient first opened near my school recently so I went over right after school.  The rapid test came back negative but the doctor said he was pretty sure it was strep.  Antibiotics and sleep.  I can do that. 

On the way back to school (I had driven to patient first with another co worker who needed an xray on her ankle... its been a rough week in kindergarten!) my friend convinced me to stop at Whole Foods so I could get something to eat for dinner.  I really wish there was a Whole Foods close to my house.  There is one like 15 minutes away but its in the city and parking is annoying and the aisles are really skinny.  Anyway... I digress.  So we're at Whole Foods and I decide I want mac and cheese.  I check out the stuff in the hot bar but it has corn starch in it.  I found an Amy's organic frozen mac and cheese.  I also got tomato soup and a piece of quiche (impulse buy on the quiche... going to have it for lunch today). 

I got home and had the mac and cheese and tomato soup (for the record... Amy's organic is just not as delicious as cheesy, processed, chemical filled shells and cheese.  Seriously... what do they put in that stuff that is so delicious???  Also- this Amy's was low sodium so maybe that effected the taste?). 

 

 

As I'm writing this I'm enjoying a cup of green tea with a box of tissues next to me. 

 

I want to get better enough in the next 2 hours to play in my touch football game but I'm guessing that's not a reality.... so instead I guess I'll keep typing blog posts. 

 

Oh yeah.... and here is the delicious omelet I made for breakfast.  I used leftover spinach and artichoke dip in the omelet.  Yummm.

Staff breakfast

 So my school is awesome.  Every month one of the grade level teams hosts a staff breakfast.  It is always delicious.  ALWAYS.  So before I show you what we had at this staff breakfast let me show you what I had for breakfast on Friday....

 

 

 

Greek yogurt, honey and granola.... delicious, but not compared to this.....

 

 

Bagel, quiche, doughnut, and cheesy potatoes.

 

 

 

 

Oh yea, and don't forge the most delicious scones ever.  Cinnamon chip.  Yummm.  But made with regular flour, sugar and other processed things for sure. :( 

 

 

So obviously it's safe to say that when Unprocessed October is over I will be partaking in staff breakfast once again.  But here it is.... my plan.... going forward I will only eat home made things at staff breakfast... cheesy potatoes, scones and quiche.  I'll stay away from the doughnuts and bagels.  Sounds fair right?

Morning snack

 Yesterday a student comes in with this bar in his hand and says "This is your morning snack."  I was only half paying attention so I say to him "You know your morning snack goes in your cubby.  Please put it there."  Then I turned around to keep taking attendance....

 

 

 

10 seconds later he is tugging on my shirt going "No Mrs. Ceiri... this is your morning snack.  Look."  He turns it over and sure enough he has written my name in marker.  He goes on to say "You never have a morning snack so I brought you one."

 

 

I'm reading the list of ingredients thinking I might actually be able to eat it.... but then you get to the end and see "soy lecithin, mixed tocopherols added for freshness." I slid it into my lunch box and told him I would have it at lunch today.  After lunch he was sure to ask me if I liked it.... I don't generlaly like lying to 5 year olds but I figured telling him it was delicious was better then telling he I refused to eat it because it has gross checmicals in it....

 

How I will survive October...

 

Thank goodness for Trader Joe's chocolate!

 

Also.. I have an AWESOME coworker who made me dinner for tonight since we have to stay late for literacy night.  Here's today's breakdown:

 

Breakfast- apple, yougrt with granola and honey

 

Lunch- Tuna sandwich on cheese and onion bread, cheese stick, clementines

 

Dinner- Salmon with brown rice and green beans and tomatoes

 

4 squares of dark chocolate.  Yummmm.  

 

October Unprocessed Day 1

October unprocessed started today!  If you haven't checked out the blog for this yet please check it out:
http://www.eatingrules.com/category/october-unprocessed/

Eating rules is how Tom and I first got into unprocessed eating.  After a very hectic summer and start to the school year... I am really excited to commit to unprocessed October and get back on track as far as eating is concerned (Papa John's has gotten WAY to much money from me in the past few months).  I'm also hoping to workout like a crazy person this month (because very soon I will be out of pants that can comfortably button.... ).  I'll be attending boot camp at school 3 mornings a week, cardio dvd after school on Wednesdays (it was kickboxing for the past 2 weeks), yoga at lunch on Thursdays, AND running 3 times a week at home.  Sounds exhausting, but since 5 of the 8 workouts will take place while I am at work, it shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway... over the past weekend we were visiting friends in VA so I was TOTALLY unprepared to start unprocessed October.  Luckily, Monday was still September because I had to buy lunch from the cafeteria (for anyone new to this blog... I teach elementary school).
 

Cheese dippers with marinara sauce, carrots and an apple. Not terrible, but definitely not unprocessed.  (Cheese dippers are essentially mozzarella sticks).

After school yesterday I went to the grocery store and picked up organic whole milk (good bye caramel flavored coffee creamer), almonds, greek yogurt, and a new food discovery:

Not all of this brand would pass the kitchen test, but these two do.  Yay.  This will make unexpected schedule changes or quick meals so much easier.

After grocery shopping for healthy food, I of course ordered Chinese food for dinner (it was between that and Papa John's). 

Today was a success.  Here's the run down of what I ate:

Breakfast- apple, yogurt with honey and Bare Naked granola

Lunch- Amy's organic enchilada, rice, black beans, orange

Dinner- Tuna with whole foods mayo on homemade cheese and onion bread, Nature's promise string cheese, apple

Wow, as I was typing that I realized I ate no vegetables today.  Shame on me.  Will have to double up tomorrow. :)

Food discoveries

Some good and bad food discoveries recently.  I'll start with the good.....

Good food discoveries recently:

* Cheese and onion bread.  Yes that's right, I said cheese and onion bread.  It is amazing.  I'm guessing because it has a cup and a half of cheese in it.  It makes the bread really light and fluffy.  We've made three loaves in the last week and a half.  Seriously, but this bread maker and make your own bread:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/Black-Home-Bakery-Supreme-Bread-Machine-by-Zojirushi/1017407503?_requestid=276952

I know I've said it in previous blog posts, and I really, really mean it.  I love this bread maker.  Homemade bread is one of the best things ever. EVER.

 

See all the cheese and butter?  Delicious.

 

* Amy's organic frozen meals.  They aren't all totally unprocessed, but I found 2 that pass the kitchen test as far as I am concerned.  I had the enchilada one for lunch today and it was pretty good.  I bought two of each to keep on hand for quick meals.

 





 

 

Not so good food discovery:



Natural string cheese isn't stringy!  Something that is added to string cheese must be what makes it so much fun to eat.  I tried to peel a nature's promise string cheese into strings without much success :(  Boo.  What fun is eating string cheese if you can't eat it like your 5 years old?

 

Fitness, food, and motivation

Let me start by stating what this blog post will not include:
1. yummy recipes
2. pictures of yummy food


What it will include:
1. lots of lists (I'm in a list mood)
2. Lots of confusing rants
3. links to some other great blog posts

Ok... so those of you who know me know that I went back to work two weeks ago.  Yikes.  Now as a teacher I love back to school time, but back to school also means I am:
1. stressed
2. not working out
3. drinking wine (almost daily)
4. working late everyday
5. working on weekends (even labor day...)

This year back to school time has been no exception to the above list.  In fact I've actually been back to work for 3 weeks because I went back early to move classrooms (thus adding to the stress).  In the last month or so I have gained about 5 lbs.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you're 5 ft tall and only weight 115 most of the time an extra 5-7 lbs (I may have lied the first time when I said 5 lbs...) shows.  In fact, last week I only had two pairs of dress pants I could comfortably button.  Ugh. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I know a lot of you reading this HATE when people my size complain about their weight.  Stop reading now if that's you.  I started to get really freaked out about my weight gain this weekend and just went to a body weight calculator before typing this post:
http://www.nchmd.org/HealthTools/hbwcalc.html#calc

According to the calculator a healthy weight range for my height is 97 lbs-127 lbs.  What this means is that yes, I am in the range.  What it also means is that I could loose 15 lbs and still be in a healthy weight range (I am NOT saying that I want to loose 15 lbs.... that's crazy talk). 

A few months ago I read the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Rules-Lifting-Women/dp/1583333398

I really, really loved this book.  It made me want to start weight lifting.  There are however a few problems with that:
1. joining a gym costs money
2. hiring a trainer to keep me accountable would cost even more money
3. I like running and there is a whole chapter about how you should not be running as much as I was at the time
4. We have a gym that's not put together, we also don't own weights for it

After reading the book I started nagging Tom about getting our home gym put together (its been in the box for years).  My dad came over and they poured cement in our garage to close a gap that was between the floor and the door (I'm freaked out about rodents getting into the garage).  Then they started putting the gym together.  They got about half way.  4 months later the gym is still half put together (Tom- if you're reading this I am not calling you out.... we've been super busy and I totally could have gotten my butt out there to put it together too). 

Ok getting my thoughts back together because I kind of got off track.  So...
1. I am unhappy about my weight gain
2. I have a gym that is not put together and I want to start lifting
3. I haven't been that great with my eating lately

I'm not that concerned about my eating... I'm planning to do unprocessed October this year and that will help get me back on track.  Unprocessed October comes from the blog Eating Rules:
http://www.eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed-2013/
This blog is what first got me into eating unprocessed.  I really like it.

Anyway... that takes care of my eating (for the most part).  The real problem is the working out.  There are a lot of things standing in my way:

1. I wake up at 5 am already so getting up earlier to work out is out
2. I spend at least 2 hours a day in the car
3. My daily schedule sucks:
5 am- wake up
6 am- drive to work
7-4pm- at work
4-5:30- drive home
5:30-7- make dinner, talk to my husband
7-7:30- dinner and jeopardy
7:30-8 TV
8-9 TV in bed
9 ish- bed

As if this wasn't on my mind enough... I get email updates from this group called Girls Gone Strong.  Today I got an email containing this blog post about motivation:
http://mollygalbraith.com/category/blog/motivation/

In the blog post, Molly talks about the choices she has made to pursue her fitness goals.  She talks about all the social events she has skipped in favor of going to bed early and eating healthy.  This really got me thinking about my motivation.

My motivation:
1. My husband has a great stomach (like 10 times better than mine)
2. My pants are tight and I can't afford new ones
3. I want to look better naked
4. We have been trying to have a baby and some of the blogs my friend reads keep saying how much success people have had by cutting out carbs (I will NEVER cut out carbs, but I would consider cutting down on my carbs)

My Anti-Motivation:
1. Oreos are delicious
2. Wine is delicious
3. I like the amount of sleep that I get (they only way I can see to fit working out into my daily schedule is to go to bed later)
4. I will hopefully be pregnant in the next year and then all my hard work to get toned is out the window
5. I enjoy going out with my friends (seriously... I have great friends.  We have fun)

Somehow I thought typing all of these thoughts out would help me figure stuff out but I might be more unsure now.... ugh. Bottom line:
1. I want to start the workout plan in the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women
2. I can make time if I start to prep my meals on the weekends so that I need less time to make dinner
3. My gym still needs to get put together

Here are some things I will try to commit to:
1. Re read The New Rules of Lifting
2. Start Unprocessed October in October (duh) and get my eating back on track
3.  Try to get the gym put together in the next month
4. Start working out in October (seems like a good goal since that's when the eating will start too)
Workout plan:
Sun- long run
Mon- Rest
Tues- Lift
Wed- Rest (or yoga)
Thurs- Lift
Fri- Rest
Sat- Lift
5. In the meantime my workout plan:
Sun- long run
Mon- rest
Tues- 20 min Jillian Michaels workout
Wed- rest
Thurs- 20 min Jillian Michaels workout
Fri- rest
Sat- 50 min Jillian Michaels workout
(I figure this will get me into the routine so that when I start the other workouts, which are more strenuous, I'll be ready)
6. Drink wine a little less
7. Eat crappy food a little less

Thoughts? Suggestions?  Seriously... help me!