2011 February » Stop, Drop and Blog

Eat Live Be: I Need a Go-To Snack

Feb 212011

Eat Live Be We’re supposed to be talking about our healthy go-to snack. But… I don’t have one.

With my kidney disorder, I’m supposed to limit salt. Anything I want/crave is salty; even a lot of so-called healthy stuff has too much sodium for me. I have to avoid a lot of processed stuff. To boot, I don’t like sweets. No, really. I don’t. So even the protein bars/etc that are supposedly good for you and may contain less salt that other things simply don’t appeal to me. I love fruit and veggies, but they all taste horrible right now. Minus oranges and grapefruit. So maybe I’ll just stick with those right now.

Snacks make me nervous and stressed out. So I just don’t snack. Which makes me eat too much at meals. Sigh.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you a few things as I purposefully missed last week’s Eat Live Be. (Apologies to other participants.) I needed a week off from talking about all things healthy. Why? I just needed to be doing all things healthy. I really stepped up my workouts last week and logged a total of 25 miles (see me at Daily Mile). I am now into week 3 of my second year of Couch 2 5K. I had to restart this year as I had an injury late last year that ruined all of my training. I’m doing well; my ankle hates the treadmill but I’m working on it.

And tonight I start a new session of classes at the YMCA. I’m not just doing one yoga class per week now. Tonight is Zumba (what? oh no!) followed by Power Yoga. That’s right, two hours in a row. Wednesday will be Hip Hop Cardio (no video, kthx) followed by Yoga. That’s right, two hours in a row. I think I might be slightly insane, but it’s okay. I’ll be keeping up my running and elliptical as well. Thursday will remain my definite day off from the gym with options to go on Sunday if I feel so inclined. Or not if I don’t.

I feel great as of late. Physically. I have more energy. I’m sleeping better. My pants fit! I’m not seeing a huge difference on the scale, but my face lost its post-holidays puff. I know you know what I mean. I am super proud of myself — not for the weight loss aspect but for a photo I shared last week. I pulled the wagon with both boys — both of whom have gained weight — and I was not winded. I was not sore the next day. In fact, I felt amazing afterward. I am getting back to the healthiest version of me.

And it feels great.

Now if only I could figure out my snack issues. Hmm. What do you snack on that is low-or-no sodium?

Don’t forget to visit the Eat Live Be Facebook page and check out the other participants. I’ll be scouring their posts for healthy, sodium-free or sodium-lite snack ideas today!

Weekly Favorites: February 20, 2011

blogging, Links, Photography 5 Responses »

Feb 202011

February 20th?! Apparently 2011 is going to be another one of those years that simply flies by. I’m behind on reading again. This was a heavy deadline week. But really? February 20? Wow!

Recipes That Made My Mouth Water:

Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew by Elise at Simply Recipes. My family loves sausage. My family loves cabbage. Really seems like a win for our dinner table!

Fire/EMS Blog Posts That I Particularly Enjoyed or Think You Should Read:

I Got a Job by Hydrantgirl. Go give her some congratulations for landing a full time paramedic position. Also, give her high fives for saying “holy snotsticks.” HIGH FIVE!

The Visit We Hope We Never Receive by Trina at Too Hot to Handle. A post about the LODD of Firefighter Glenn L. Allen and how news of such things sends a chill down the spine of fire wives all over the world.

I Am Recruiting by Just Me at Just My Blog. In short, the youngest child of The Happy Medic is in the ICU. If you’d like to get send something to the family, see the post referenced for ideas and how to’s. See also This post at Pink Warm and Dry for a definition of family if you don’t quite understand why we’re rallying around this family.

Photo Blog Posts That Inspired Me:

46/365 by Cynthia at Freezing memories, one day at a time. Not only are the photos of her son so darn cute, but the story… well, it made me all weepy. Read it.

List #15: 7 Things To Do When You Need to Add Good To Your Day by Karen Walrond at Chookooloonks. I think, with snow in the forecast again this week despite the fact that I have lily sprouts through the ground, I’m going to take Karen’s advice. Great post.

My Absolute Favorites of the Week:

Bird Count and Self Promotion (Plus Pretty Pictures!) by Kim at Arizona Writer. As a photographer who devotes a large amount of time to stalking birds, I have always admired Kim’s work. This post? I love. Lots. The Yellow-Headed Blackbirds photo? I want. Badly.

Photographic Darkness by Casey at Moosh in Indy. Just read it. There are also very few pictures of me during any time that I struggled with depression, postpartum, pregnancy or otherwise. Really, this post is a must read.

Making It Work: Traveling While Lactating by Jory Des Jardins at From Here to Autonomy. Any mother who has traveled and pumped (or pumped ever) will appreciate the humorous honesty in this post. Keep it up, Jory.

Ann Landers by Loralee Choate at Loarelee’s Looneytunes. I don’t know why we continue to submit ourself to the stupid that is Ann Landers’ column, but I love Loralee’s rant. In addition to that, the truth remains that I really wouldn’t be in the place where I am today if it wasn’t for my blog(s). I have been challenged, been helped and been encouraged by others willing to comment, share, push and love me through my darkest of times. Good rant. Lesson: Ignore Ann Landers.

Behaving Badly by Christina at A Mommy Story. Her post is a beautiful finger-pointing at some things that have been driving me crazy as of late as well. I like this paragraph:

Our society is teetering towards a loss of all civility. It’s like people are rebelling from the politically correct atmosphere of the last decade and swinging to the polar opposite. Maybe all of the power of anonymity on the internet is spilling over into our day-to-day behavior? (Note to offenders: when you act like an internet troll to the people in your community, we actually know who you are. And then don’t like you.)

A Few of My Favorite Photos This Week:

I took a lot of photos this week and it was a hard decision for me.

We took the boys bowling. Loved it!

Yes, those are lily sprouts. In February. Not a crazy great picture, but a crazy awesome thing.

I love the texture nature gave to this photo. I can almost feel it.

I am so excited for what this week holds. I’m dealing with some stuff as well, but I just have this level of Kool-Aid Man “OH YEAH!” for this week. I hope you can find some of that in your upcoming week as well.