Everybody Knows Somebody

I thought I'd take the time to write a short post about something that's been very prevalent in my life lately. I won't get too much into the personal details but I think it's incredibly important to recognize that this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA) week. I follow many blogs of women who talk about the challenges that come with eating disorders and sadly there are tons of men and women who struggle with body image issues and eating disorders.  This year's slogan for NEDA week is, Everybody Knows Somebody. As a college student, I am incredibly aware of the overwhelmingness that comes with being stressed, over worked, over tired and depressed. As if these issues were not enough to deal with on their own, the combination of them can make things really challenging, and often college is the time where many eating disorders are developed. I am in no way an expert, but I know from personal experience and the experience of friends that eating disorders are incredibly common. It really isn't talked about much either and there are many people battling eating disorders on their own without any help or support. 

At our school, the Counseling and Psychological Services department is doing an ongoing program throughout this week to raise awareness about the commonality of eating disorders as well as reach out to those who are struggling. They are tabling on campus, giving out information about how to get help and how to help others who deal with these food issues. They will be doing some film screenings about  society's impact on body image as well as having some discussions about how we can actively raise awareness about eating disorders. 

Again, I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I can say one thing for sure: Eating disorders are not something to be taken lightly and have a huge impact on our emotional and physical health. I didn't even realize I had an eating disorder until I reached out for help. If you are interested in learning more about NEDA and eating disorders in general here is a link to the NEDA page. Also, here and here are some of the blogs that I follow where the women talk about their experiences with body consciousness (as well as many other helpful health and fitness related things). 

It's important to remember that it's not always visible when people are battling an eating disorder and I think NEDA is a great reminder that eating disorders are real. They are real problems that real people must cope with every day and it isn't easy. Just something to think about (I know this post is a little more serious than my usual, but I wanted to take the time to address it!)

Note: This is not a sponsored post, just my own thoughts and feelings on the subject. The photo at the top of the page was taking from the NEDA website. 

Poached Eggs for Presidents Day!

Yesterday was a LONG day(on the go from 4am-12am!) so today I'm just hanging out and relaxing, catching up on some homework and working on these CKI awards. I also have this head cold that won't go away, so I'm definitely taking advantage of this day off!

I decided to try something new today, poached eggs. Not gonna lie, poached eggs seemed like a really weird concept to me but I decided to try it anyway. I did some light reading on how to poach the perfect egg and I definitely got some mixed ideas but I decided to try the egg-in-glass method. Anybody else do it this way? Here's how it went down: I cracked an egg into a water glass and held it over a pot of almost boiling water for about a minute. I guess the benefit of this is that it helps the whites congeal a little before dropping them into the water. Once they were in the water I used a spoon to keep everything together. Surprisingly it went pretty well and I actually really like the texture of the poached eggs. Not too shabby!

I paired the eggs with some toast, fresh blueberries and the easiest TJ's precooked bacon!

What do you all think about poached eggs? Hope everyone's having a Happy President's Day!

Final Decisions on Lent and Some Banana Bread

Sitting in the coffee shop yesterday, my friend and I realized that it was Fat Tuesday and we had approximately 6 hours to figure out what we were giving up for Lent. I haven't been to church since the beginning of January (still haven't found a church I like here at school) so I definitely forgot that Ash Wednesday was coming up so soon... like today. We were both thinking about giving up baked goodies for lent but coffee was also an idea. I haven't had either all day and I've been going back and forth about which would be better and here's what I've decided: I'm giving up coffee and will do my best to avoid the baked goods. I drink coffee ALL the time, but I've been having some tummy troubles lately and I think the coffee is not helping. Adios coffee, I will seriously miss you (disclaimer: It's been years since I've been off the coffee, so I sincerely apologize if I go nuts. It's gonna be an interesting 40 days!) As my brother says, "You have to stick to it because you're doing it for Jesus!" Amen brotha!

My kitchen smells so good right now thanks to this awesome bread. We're super stoked to try it!

Supremely Moist Banana Bread!
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
3 mashed ripe (really ripe) bananas
1/2 cup plain, fat free greek yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1/4 cup cinnamon sugar

Super easy: Throw the ingredients in a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top and and throw it in the oven at 350. Baking time varies significantly. Because I'm a cheap college kid I don't have loaf pans, I used two 9in cake pans and it worked out just fine. It took about 35 minutes to bake but our oven runs hot. Here's the final product:

 Because tomorrow is Valentine's Day <3

So moist and pretty dense. We love it!!

I have a mountain of homework waiting for me so I best be off. Anybody have any plans for Valentine's Day?

Run, run, run (and a Bulu Box review!)

I've never thought of myself as a runner. Ever. I've gone through running phases where I'll start training for a race or I'll convince myself that this time, I really am going to stick with it. Ha ha ha! For some reason, I just can't get myself to keep going but yesterday, I think I finally figured out why.

I've been on a running kick for a few weeks now (since the beginning of January) and I've even signed myself up for a few low key races (one of them is technically a "March" but it's for an amazing cause so we signed up anyway). I was walking around the track yesterday with my best friend, Annie and we were talking about running and why we can never stay motivated to keep doing it on a regular basis. Here's my new theory: I always talk about myself as a runner in the future tense. "Someday I want to be able to run a half marathon like her. Someday I'll be able to run as fast as him. Someday I'll be able to say I completed a marathon blah blah blah..." So then I started thinking. Just because I can't run an 8 minute mile or run a full 10K today, doesn't mean I'm not a runner. Just because I can't run without taking a walk break every so often doesn't mean I'm not a runner. Did I run last night? Yes. Did I challenge myself? Yes. Did I enjoy myself? Yes... for the most part ;)

Interesting, eh? Don' give up!

I think I too often compare myself to others who are not in the same place as me and I need to give myself a little more credit for the things I have accomplished. I'm in way better shape today than I've ever been, I'm almost at my lowest weight since starting this whole journey for health, and I feel so much better about myself than I did a few years back. I've come a long way, and even though I have a long way to go, I'm still going way faster than everyone sitting on the couch!

Onto the next order of business: Bulu Box (note: this is not a sponsored advertisement, just my own thoughts)
Anybody heard of it? It's pretty cool. Basically, you pay a monthly fee of $10 and you receive a box of 4-5 healthy goodies in the mail. There are some pretty cool products and they range in utility (in this month's box I got some immunity boosting gum, a natural sleep aid, some sinus relief tablets and a few other neat things). I like the idea of the Bulu box a lot because I'm really not that into supplements and protein powders and what not, so this is a great way to try a few new things without breaking the bank and having to feel guilty when I don't use it all. Plus, if you do like a product they provide all the ordering information if you'd like to buy it in a bigger quantity.
Anybody else use Bulu Box? What do you think?

January's Bulu Box Goodies

Hope you're all having a fabulous day!

Monday Night Family Dinner

My roommates and I decided we should have "Family Dinners" on Monday nights so we can sit down at the table and spend a little time together. All of our schedules are pretty different and we're all busy so it's nice to have a time where we can relax and just spend some down time together. It's a little cheesy but I look forward to it every week. To make things fair, we decided to take turns with the cooking responsibilities so we rotate who prepares the meal each week. Last Monday, Michelle made some amazing chicken and broccoli for us. Karina has yet to have a turn but she's already warned us that her contribution is going to look and taste a lot like Domino's pizza ;)

Anyway, yesterday was my turn so I decided to make a roasted vegetable dish that my mom makes, as well as some mushroom risotto. It was really simple and really good (although the risotto wasn't as creamy as I had imagined it being). Here's the breakdown:

Roasted Veggies and Sausage
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
6 baby red skin potatoes
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small head of broccoli
1/2 large yellow onion (and when I say large, I mean huge. That onion was monstrous!)
3 Italian style sausages
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper (to taste; the sausage is super flavorful so you really don't need it)

Basically, just chop everything up and throw it on a baking sheet with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Here's what mine looked like before it went into the oven:

Moving on to the risotto:
1 cup Arborio rice (good thing I had plenty because I gracefully spilled the ENTIRE first cup all over my kitchen floor!)
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 chicken broth
1/4 cup yellow onion, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
10 oz sliced cremini mushrooms (I say ounces because I used the presliced ones that came out of a bag. Yes, I was too lazy to chop my own.)

1. Heat the chicken stock in a medium sauce pot over medium heat
2. In a separate pot, add your olive oil and your minced onion and sautee until the onions are translucent (it won't take long)
3. Add in your rice and the 1/4 cup of broth
4. One ladle at a time, add the chicken stock making sure that each ladle full is absorbed before adding another
5. Once the stock is combined with the rice, add the butter and mushrooms to the stock pot and sautee for about 5 minutes.
6. Combine the rice and the mushrooms and serve!

The final combo:

Delish! I'm off to the gym. Hope you're all having a good night! :)

Hello February!

Sorry it's been over a week since my last post! We're in the thick of midterms and I've been insanely busy this week. I'm going to do a quick January recap and then move on to February goals!

January:
1. I started this blog! Pretty big deal, if you ask me ;)
2. New quarter--> New classes: I'm taking Postwar German Film, German language 2, and a class about monsters (yes, it is as cool as it sounds!)
3. Fitness accountability: Our school sponsors a fitness challenge every year, so my roommates and a good friend of mine are on a team. We input our desired challenge level and then the computer tells us how many minutes of activity we need to complete every week in order to reach our goal. If we reach our goal at the end of 10 weeks, we get a free T-shirt! Who doesn't love free shirts?!
4. My roommate Michelle and I started biking! We finally brought our bikes back from home and we've been doing some exploring (see the pictures below)
5. Since January 1st, I lost 6 lbs! Definitely a good start to the year
6. My other roommate Karina and I signed up for our first 5k together (I've run one before but this will be her first ever and my first in a few years!) We also signed up to walk in March for Babies, sponsored by March of Dimes for my birthday which should be really fun!
7. We started running outdoors (used to be SO self conscious about that but I'm working on it)
8. I made a motivation board with tons of inspiring quotes and some "Before" pictures which I definitely won't be sharing until we have some noticeable differences to compare to :)

Looks to me like January was pretty kick ass! Definitely not perfect, but we are on the right track!

Here are some of my goals for February:
1. Come up with an exercise routine and stick to it
2. Work on my endurance when it comes to running. Slow and steady wins the race!
3. Write a blog post at least once a week (but I'm going to aim for twice)
4. Ride a little farther every time Michelle and I bike
5. Try three new recipes
6. Give up chocolate for a week (this will definitely be happening AFTER Valentine's Day!)


Here are a few pictures from our biking adventures. Pretty cool, eh!

 Who knew we lived just a few short miles from these guys?!

 Diggin the tie dye? I got those purple shorts for 47 cents at Old Navy (one of the many reasons it's my favorite store on the face of the planet!)

So artsy ;)

Anybody else have any goals for February?