Been a While…

Hiii there! Sorry I’ve been MIA all week. Life happens and then I don’t take pictures and then I have nothing to blog about. Then getting started again always seems like a daunting task!

To break out of it, I thought I would just have an “Everything I Ate” blog day.

First up, breakfast. I’ve been obsessed with my yogurt messes lately.

In the mix:

• Yeo Valley plain nonfat yogurt
• 1/2 banana
• Frozen cherries
• Frozen blueberries
• Walnuts
• 2 tsp. agave
• Sprinkle of All-Bran sticks

Why the All-Bran? Well, I have suddenly become paranoid that I am not getting enough folate. So, I’m loading up on the spinach smoothies and fortified cereal (and I needed a boring cereal that I won’t sneak bowls of in between meals). I think it’s this nutrition course—I just finished the chapter on birth defects and nutrition during pregnancy. It’s enough to freak anyone out (even someone like me who has no immediate plans to get pregnant).

Check it out (bold stuff is my emphasis):

“If the mother’s nutrient stores are inadequate early in pregnancy when the placenta is developing, the fetus will develop poorly, no matter how well the mother eats later. After getting such a poor start on life, a female child may grow up poorly equipped to support a normal pregnancy, and she, too, may bear a poorly developed infant. Thus, a woman who has poor nutrition habits during her early pregnancy can even impair the health of her grandchild.”

Whoa, whoa. See what I mean? Personally, I feel this is a bit dramatic. And I am a dramatic person so that is saying a lot. But I have always worried about those first few weeks when a woman might not know she’s pregnant. What if I’m having a bad week and choose Doritos over carrots? Could I seriously be affecting the health of my grandchild?

And did you know that, although the increase in calories is minimal during pregnancy, the nutrient needs dramatically increase—including protein needs?! Um, no one told me that. Yes, I knew about folate (pregnancy requires 50% more, by the way), but I didn’t realize how crucial it is in the first 6 weeks of pregnancy. What if it takes me that long to figure it out?!

I know I’m overreacting a little. I know this is why responsible people plan to have a baby before they actually get pregnant. But sometimes, and, pardon the pun, life happens, and then what do you do?

Moral to the story: I will be consuming a lot of folate from now on. You just never know

Moving on.

I chose not to workout today and instead devote the last of the weekend to wrapping up some “to do’s” before the craziness starts tomorrow. It is going to be a busy week.

Next, lunch:

Part 1: Apple, almonds, string cheese and turkey

I had a seriously carb-heavy Friday and Saturday, so I tried to at least lay off for a couple meals today. Some of you may have seen my tweet on Friday night that I had about 2400 calories. YIKES! What scares me is that I wouldn’t even classify my eating that day as bingeing—it was just overly indulgent (wine, dessert, etc). Needless to say, those days are fewer lately and I am overall doing so much better at maintaining some balance, even if it’s not perfect.

Part 2, to go: Smoothie with spinach, soymilk, frozen banana, frozen raspberries, and 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

We ran a bunch of errands today and did what I call “Sunday stuff,”—laundry, cleaning, and sorting around the house. Hubs was a trooper and vacuumed the whole house while I read blogs Then we went for a lovely walk around the harbour.

Some wholewheat baguette with EVOO/balsamic while making dinner…

Playing with the camera while waiting for dinner to cook (trying not to use the automatic setting!)…

Dinner was a little random but it was tasty. We had a little leftover rotisserie chicken from last night, which Matthew ate the bulk of but I took a little bit of breast meat. Then I made a tofu and vegetable stir-fry, mainly so I could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

For the stir-fry I used carrots, green beans, garlic, spinach, and tofu.

Mmmm, had a craving for rotisserie chicken last night. The leftovers were just as good.

Plus quinoa and steamed broccoli on the side:

All together, with a little Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce, of course.

Dessert was half of this delicious candy bar:

For those of you who haven’t heard about it, Foodbuzz is hosting its First Annual Food Blog Awards. I think this is so cool Kind of like the Academy Awards for us foodies

<Insert Oscar voice> And the categories are:

Best Overall Blog
Best New Blog
Best Wine Blog
Best Cocktail/Spirits Blog
Best Baking Blog
Best Food Photography Blog
Best Visual Blog (graphic design)
Best Writing Voice
Best Healthy Living Blog
Best Green/Sustainable blog
Best Family Blog
Best Recipe Blog
Best Blogger Humanitarian Effort
Best Community Blog Effort
Most Humorous Food Blog

As well as…

Blogger you’d most want to:
-Take to dinner
-Cook a meal for you
-Be your personal Sommelier
-Create you a cocktail
-Watch on Food Network
-Watch on Iron Chef
-See open up their own restaurant
-See their blog made into a movie

I have already voted for some of my favorites Have you? You do not need to be a blogger to vote.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! I am contemplating more “Everything I Ate” posts this week. It has been so long since I have done them!

In the spirit of Miss Janetha, here are some closing questions for ya:

1) How do you get your folate? I think my main sources would be spinach, broccoli, and fortified cereal. Other sources: lentils, soy nuts, black-eyed peas, romaine lettuce, OJ, asparagus, and cantaloupe.

2) What is your favorite candy bar? Snickers, baby.

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