I'm baaaack

One mini 1.5 day hiatus later, I am here to blog once again. I know I skipped dinner last night, but it wasn't the best dinner anyway. I had this Ramen-esque Miso soup and veggie deal and it tasted alright but looked pretty bizarre before it was cooked. The tofu, seaweed, and veggies came dehydrated in a tiny packet. They grew in the microwave though, kind of like those little foamy creatures you place in water and watch grow overnight. I have a few more varieties of this stuff, so I'm sure I'll have one again and actually provide a picture. Maybe my first one. The soup warmed my tummy and soul and provided me with 48% of my daily sodium need at the same time! That percentage would probably make anyone in their right mind run to another aisle at the grocery store, but I felt compelled to try it out because my sodium need is sky-high. Long story short, I have a knack for fainting (in a myriad of situations: being stressed, getting blood drawn, talking about graphic injuries, etc.) and after many efforts to find out the cause, I just recently learned it's because I have abnormally low blood pressure. This means that in situations where BP falls normally, mine does not have the room to fall and I go down. 

The only problem with it this sodium bit that consuming an excessive amount each day makes me so darn thirsty! Last night was no exception, and I was kind of bored with straight up water but didn't have anything else, so I tried to quench my thirst with random snacks: dried fruit, Vitamuffin, PB, etc. Not the best idea, I know. Actually, it wasn't even a remotely good idea because duh, Jessie... thirst can't be quenched with food. Oh well. Live and learn. I felt kinda guilty about it (sometimes I can be an emotional eater and I think last night's snackiness was also due to anxiety related to my course load this semester) but, to steal a line from Hairspray, "yesterday is history and it's never comin' back." Right on, Queen Latifa. Right on.

That being said, let's talk about today!! For breakfast, I enjoyed one of my all-time favorite cafeteria breakfasts: whole wheat toast dipped in cottage cheese. Sounds weird, but the textures and flavors together rock my world. Every. Time. I also had a side of grapes. Looking back later in the morning, I realized that breakfast was kinda small, so I made up for it with my pre-workout snack: 1 McIntosh apple and a packet of Quaker maple and brown sug. oatmeal. Good thing, too... my workout today was a bear! I did 60 minutes on the treadmill and gradually increased my speed every 8-10ish minutes until I reached 7 mph... which is a lot for me, especially to sustain. I've had asthma since grade school and at one time, I couldn't run 1 mile without wheezing. Exercise really is the best cure. 

For lunch I had a little less than 1 cup of leftover tomato soup and a biiiiig salad with all sorts of goodies: spinach, hardboiled egg, chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, feta, and some fat free honey mustard. It was a very beautiful salad. I do wish I photographed it but I keep forgetting!!! I should write it on my forehead or something.

This is an obnoxiously long post. Wow. Dessert from lunch: 1 melt-in-your-mouth frosted sugar cookie. Dinner: Slim' pickins: a pita filled with hummus, turkey, tomato, and swiss. 1 cup veggie soup... I'm diggin the soups lately. Plus 1 cup skim milk.

The end.

Getting the hang of it?

Hello!

Less than one week later and here is another post... that counts as an improvement, no?

I am happy to report that week one of classes is officially OVER! It was exhausting as an all-nighter (though I didn't have one) and not even a full week long with MLK Day. Perhaps the three 8 AMs had something do do with it. Anyhow, here's the lineup:

Research Design and Analysis I

Bio 195 lecture and lab

Psychology of Personality

Public Policy Analysis

Sports Nutrition

Symphonic Band

The verdict? Hard work so far, but the kind that leaves you feeling fulfilled and accomplished. The highlights of this semester will include designing my own survey project, learning whether or not I can deal with the sciences enough to pursue a career in dietetics, getting an internship, comparing my current food intake with what it should be for my personal needs by logging every morsel of food I eat and movement I make for a few days, and figuring myself out by doing a semester-long identity journal that will be shared with my psych teacher, a resident therapist at the local hospital. 

Because I should be doing my homework right now, I'm going to get right to it and log my food today. No pictures yet, mainly because I forgot, but also because it's nerve-racking to take pictures of your food in front of people. How do you get over that? Make like Nike and just do it, I suppose. That might have been the cheesiest thing I've ever said. Wow.

Moving on, for breakfast I had about a cup of Fiber one and finished off the Silk vanilla soymilk (maybe 3/4 of a cup? it was milky cereal). I also had a cup of my fav. Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost smoothie. Lunch was a scrumtrilescent salad made of spring mix, walnuts, avocado, some dried fruit, and balsamic viniagrette (was it really necessary to put in that second "i"?) with some vegetarian chili and, of course, a cup of Mate Vana herbal tea. I hope I finish the canister so I can try a new kind soon. So good.

Dinner and snack(s) forthcoming!