WIAW - Raw food cafe

Thanks Jenn for hosting this again :)

So anyway the last week or so where I live has been extremely hot. The last two days were 38'C and 40'C and this is the forecast for the next week:

Like.... WTF?! Seriously?! To put it in perspective for you Americans out there... 38'C is 100'F and 42'C is 107'F. The minimum temperature is hardly a minimum either!!!

My house doesn't have air conditioning... so I'm spending my days sticking to the leather couch and not moving a great deal. I have managed to drag myself to the gym for a run yesterday (where I splashed the crap out of the treadmill with sweat... isn't that a beautiful image??!) and a swim on Monday. Tonight might be another swim, I don't think I can face the weights room...

To anyone who says they are jealous, you have obviously never suffered a week of this heat... and to be fair, neither have I. Usually it is two to three days and then the relief of a cooler day - and that's bad enough!

Anyway enough talking about the weather, since this is in fact a WIAW... today mum & I went off to a Raw Food cafe. I've been wanting to go ever since I found out it opened up. It was FREAKING AMAZING....

Here's what we ate...

First out was our smoothies... mine was the green one (spinach & banana and I forget what else) and mum had the mango... it was like a lassi but with almond milk and walnuts and stuff. I tasted both, and both were delicious.

My main meal (nachos) This was soooo delicious. The crackers were I think flaxseed and buckwheat dehydrated, then a tomato salsa, guacamole and cashew "cream cheese". I ate every single crumb.

Mum's soup. She couldn't remember what was in it. Flax crackers on the side. It was yum though!

My dessert... a florentine. I can never say no to these, and why not a raw version too... (You can see how hot it is by the fact half the chocolate has already melted before I've touched it...)

Raw chocolate cheesecake. I tasted this too... it was SO GOOD! The base tasted like a walnutty mix, and I don't really know what was in the middle but it tasted pretty unhealthy even though it wasn't ;)

I would definitely go back there! The meal was about $65 for both drinks, both mains and desserts so pretty average pricing. And I felt full but not disgustingly bloaty gross full like you usually feel when you eat out. So it was great! 

This weekend I'm supposed to be running in my first club race which is a XC, but I'm pretty sure it will be cancelled. They said they will cancel it if the fire danger is in "extreme", and at the moment in the seven day forecast that's what it's saying... :( Hope it changes!!!

On other news... the foot that I dropped the generator on is not really healing and I swear there's a bone sticking up where it shouldn't be sticking up. I can't walk without pain, but I can run without pain. Work that one out.... :S It's also still swollen. But since I can still run without pain, I plan on it!!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Wednesdays :D

WIAW #9 - getting back to healthier eating.

As I've mentioned in my previous post, I spent the last two weeks in the bush eating very processed food and doing no exercise, so today's and yesterday's food has been an attempt to return to my usual diet. I think after eating crappy food for two weeks it's been a little more difficult than I anticipated - I've actually craved two minute noodles!

Anyway here's some new things I found at the store today - MAN did I miss grocery shopping - plus it was like CHRISTMAS with all these exciting new products.

Rice crackers, a healthy cookie (fruit & nut) and caramel rice cakes in SINGLE SERVES! Awesome...

Chai Latte sachets in berry flavour. I plan to probably mix these up with some oats rather than drink them ;)

Um, this doesn't fit the "healthier eating" bill, but I have never seen this in Australian supermarkets so it had to be bought, and had to be sampled as soon as I came home - with a spoon.

OK, so here's what I ate today:

BREAKFAST:

Banana protein sachet + 5 or 6 frozen raspberries + sprinkle of oats + greek yoghurt.

SNACK 1

RAW food bar - spirulina & cashew + 

My favourite iced tea guzzled in the car on the way to the shops.

LUNCH:

Salad made with leftovers: Couscous salad, some mince, a boiled egg, a sprinkling of feta cheese, baby spinach, peas, cherry tomatoes, carrot, asparagus.

The cherry tomatoes in my backyard have gone mental:

This is a much bigger bowl than it looks like... and there's still a bowl's worth on the bush that I couldn't be bothered picking!! They taste AMAZING, like candy almost...

SNACK 2:

Banana with PB + an unpictured apple.

My unhealthy vice. No matter how many times I want to quit, it never happens...

What I worked: Nothing yet... I'm still trying to get my mojo back after two weeks of inactivity :( Hopefully I'll have the energy / motivation to go for a run later on. If not I won't beat myself up about it.

In the meantime... anyone have any good recipes for mountains of tomatoes?

WIGTOW? (What I'm going to eat Wednesday)

Woo, time for some more What I Ate Wednesday shenanigans thanks to Peas & Crayons.So I didn't have much that was of interest today, apart from a bit too much of this (recycled pictures...)

Three coffees.... and one tea.

Peanut butter and apricot jam open sandwiches

And I had OIAJ again...

So... today's entry will be What I'm going to eat next Wednesday :) Next Wednesday I will be doing a hike of about 40 km (this will be the longest day of a five day hike), so I've planned quite a few yummy things to eat, although I suspect I may be too exhausted to eat at the end of it :P

Here's some of the things I've thought of so far:

A few nut bars

A big pack of dried fruit - includes prunes, apricots, apples, pears and peaches. I think I might pick up some cranberries and goji berries too, and some seeds and nuts and mix it all in together. Maybe some dark choc chips too??

A couple of RAW energy bars - I have a few of these stashed away, the top one I think has spirulina and stuff in it, so that's one way to get your greens without a fridge!!

A pack of couscous, mum bought this for me... I was planning on going all raw and natural foods so that I feel good (+ added bonus of not having to carry a stove or matches) but this might be nice one night when we're at a proper camp...

Rice cakes!! Planning on covering them with PB...

This awesome looking raw muesli I found in the health food store the other day. It has sprouted grains and stuff and is made locally. Yum.

The all important ingredient... one with a plastic container. And of course I've already started eating some to "lighten" the container for next week ;)

I may or may not take these... they tend to be on the heavier side, so if I do take some I will eat on the first few days. 

I'm also thinking the first morning when I'm at home I'll have for breakfast: avocado on toast with vegemite, and a berry/spinach smoothie... to try and get some good nutrients in me before we begin :D

So if you're reading this... do you have any other suggestions for deliciously healthy food that can be taken on the trail, and doesn't weigh much?

On another note... I'm struggling a lot with my motivation lately. I was going to join a local running group today, but then I psyched myself out by the fact that "everyone will be way better / faster than me and look at me like, 'what is she doing here?' and didn't go. I then didn't have any motivation for anything else either. 

I think I'm just really overworked from uni that I just want to sit and do absolutely nothing once I'm done. I spend so many hours studying that when I actually get a chance to do something else, it's like, I don't want to. The lack of parking at the gym lately is making it difficult too. As Nike says though, I should JUST DO IT. I guess today I might just give up on it and have a rest day, relax, watch some TV and then begin again tomorrow.

WIAW #3

I've been pretty busy catching up with uni work, I think I'm almost there - but understanding chemistry seems to take me a long time!!
So anyways... today was Wednesday :D


Thanks for hosting the party Peas & Crayons :D Enjoy it every wednesday!This is kinda gonna be some random eats from the last couple of days since I forgot to photograph breakfast this morning (was a yoghurt, oats and berries mix) and most of my snacks...

Yummy chicken in a can (I know, sounds bad but tastes great!)

It went on top of a small can of four bean mix, steamfresh veg (carrot, broccoli & cauliflower), some mushrooms, red capsicum and a small amount of cheddar cheese. Trying to make myself have more dairy... testing the lactose intolerance out!! This lunch was delish. 

This was a RAW bar... apple cinnamon flavour I believe... I actually ate this yesterday ;)

I eat these like way too often...

Here's a pic from the City 2 Surf website which had me on it! Ha, barely, but I'm the one behind the insanely tall bloke in the white shirt with red bits, wearing blue shorts and a blue hat... (It's like Where's Wally... but one of my mates actually spotted me!)

Anyway, on to my workouts lately... well since Sunday's 12k took it out of me a bit, I did yoga on Monday and went for a light swim yesterday. Today I was DYING to go for a run so I let myself... probably a dumb idea since my shins are STILL playing up... but I took it really slow and only did 3km. It was great though :D Debating whether to do a weights class tonight, and then most likely I shall do spinning tomorrow morning... I'm thinking I need to take a break from running for a bit to let my shins heal properly but it's so hard not to run. Maybe when I go for the hike in two week's time it will give them a break?? Although that's still using my legs... hmm...

Now I plan on eating this delicious oat bar I made the other day... unpictured, but just imagine a yummy oaty bar with coconut on top, and bananas and raisins throughout... undercooked so very gooey!

OMG 99% Dark Chocolate...

The last couple of days I've felt pretty crappy. I think I overdid it on Wednesday's workout, so Thursday I slept in and wasn't able to go for my usual Thursday walk... I did walk around a lot on campus though, and same with today. But my legs feel like lead still! I might go for a swim later tonight but honestly I feel pretty awful, and I don't have much of an appetite either :(
I'm hoping I feel better by Sunday because it's the City 2 Surf run! So if I'm not feeling up to the swim later I'm not going to go.

For some reason blogger adds the pictures in backwards... but anyway, after uni today I stopped off in the city, and I found some 99% dark chocolate! So excited, as I've always wanted to try it. I liked it, but could only eat it in tiny bites at a time! One square took me ages to eat, it's so so rich, but delicious... I'm thinking it might be nice melted in some oats, or shaved into some kind of dessert... hmmm, we'll see :D

See? Mmmm high quality goodness.

Ooh, I found these at the same shop and got excited, they were at the counter though so I didn't grab too many... just two. There were like four or five flavours there. I think the other flavours were Ginger and I forgot what else... oh well, I'll be back :D

Here's my lunch from yesterday... it's a lunch I get really often at uni so I thought it needed picturing :) There's loads in there - beetroot, olives, bean salad, potato salad, cous cous salad, spinach, onions, olives, sundried tomato, carrot, tuna, falafel balls... probably more! It's like a buffet thing and I just grab everything and put it in. So yum.

Well, I'm off to maybe have a nap, then time for uni work I think... best way to spend a Friday night... :/