Good morning :)
Hopefully you can see this post!!!!
Last night, Eric and I were up until 1am working on the blog transfer. He finally fixed the error message we were getting on the home page, so hopefully everything is good to go now! The website seems to load a lot faster now, what about you guys?
I don’t know why, but I have been having the worst sleeps lately. I can’t fall asleep for hours and then I am up numerous times throughout the night. Very strange.
Maybe it is because I was excited about this…
I decided to make the Banana Soft Serve Vegan Overnight Oats again after loving it so much this weekend.
Banana Soft Serve Vegan Overnight Oats
Ingredients
VOO:
- 1/3 cup regular oats
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 scoop (2 tbsp) Amazing Grass Amazing Meal Chocolate Powder
Directions: In a small bowl, mix together above ingredients with a whisk and throw in fridge overnight.
In the morning, make the Banana Soft Serve:
Give your VOO a quick stir:
And start layering!
Look at these awesome nutritional stats!
14 grams protein
11 grams fibre
11 grams healthy fats
Total Omega-3 fatty acids: 3047mg
Total Omega-6 fatty acids: 1011mg
22% of daily iron intake
15% Vitamin C
10% of daily calcium intake
Amazing!
Gosh, I am in love with this. It is like a delicious ice cream parfait for breakfast (only super healthy!)
A Monday Sundae might become a regular thing around this place!
Are You An Athlete?
Yesterday, I was writing a Foodthinkers juice article and I was doing some research on athletes and sodium intake.
As I was writing, I got thinking, do I consider myself an athlete?
I was going to call myself an athlete in the article and then I felt like a fraud!
Why did I feel this way?
Was I really an athlete?
What would ‘real’ athletes think if they read that I called myself an athlete?
I looked up the definition of an athlete:
ath·lete:
a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.
I determined that, yes, I am an athlete!
Obviously there are all kinds of athletes in this world and just because I am not a pro athlete doesn’t mean that I can’t consider myself an athlete. I train hard and compete, is that not enough to call oneself an athlete?
I think it is.
I posed the question on Twitter yesterday:
Here are some of the responses that I received:
@veganbooty: I totally think of myself as athlete! I don’t know exactly what an athlete is, but I still think I’m one. :-)
@lianewil: I actually don’t think of myself as an athlete, even if I have a steady stream of physical activity
@superrsana: I was a tennis player for 15 years so kinda?
@runningbuddy: I have decided that I am an athlete! I bet others would think otherwise but I believe I am, therefore, I am!
@caitlinHTP: I am most definitely an athlete, regardless of whether or not my husband laughs at me when I describe myself that way!
@bonniegartley: I consider myself a runner. Don’t know if that makes me an athlete
@sarahwalnuts: I consider myself an athlete because my sports I participate in take up more than 75% of my spare time
@imahappycat: No. B/c I don’t have a sport I do/like. I make myself not be a couch potato. :)
What about you- Do you consider yourself an athlete? Why or why not? Do you have to compete in an ‘event’ to be considered an athlete or can you simply compete against yourself?
I wish I had the motivation to make breakfasts like that! But usually I’m so hungry in the mornings that all I want to do is get food in me as quickly as possible! :P
Hmm, I’ve never really thought of myself as an athlete, even though I run a few times a week. Maybe if I competed in races I would consider myself one.
I NEED a food processor so I can make banana soft serve! It’s on my wedding registry, but I might just cave and buy myself one as an early birthday gift.
I consider myself an athlete, but not really athletic. I run races, and I rode horses for my varsity team in college. But I have to work hard to do well. I don’t have a whole lot of natural speed or agility. It’s all in the training!
Funny – I have been thinking about this lately. I don’t like to say I’m an athlete, as to me that term traditionally evokes an image of an Olympian, or a Triathlete, or pro football/basketball/hockey/baseball/cricket/insert sport here. However I think that the definition of ‘trained might change my mind. I guess I’m embarrassed to say it b/c compared to the above I don’t think I am anywhere near that category, but maybe that’s the problem? If we believe it then we can be it? Too cheesy? :)
I do try to exercise daily, whether at the gym or doing pilates or yoga at home. But an athlete? I have to say, I think if I said “I’m an athlete” I’d feel like a fraud!
This is a really interesting question! yes, I do consider myself an athlete. I guess I would base that on my dedication to my activities (running and Pilates) and the fact that I continue to practice them and try to improve my fitness and performance. I don’t think you need to be competitive to be an athlete. Although I will say that the competitive aspect of running my first (and so far only) 5k really added a dimension to my experience! But competition is just the cherry on top of being an athlete, it’s not the definition :)
I used to believe that I was only an athlete when I belonged to sports team. After motivating myself to workout and get in shape over the past few years I have realized that it is my determination that makes me a true athlete:)
ps I have a question for you, Amazing Meal vs Amazing Grass…what do you feel would be a better purchase? I notice you using Amazing Meal in your GM’s and VOO and I am looking to try it out:)
thanks,
Emily
I love both, however the amazing meal tastes better and has 10 gram protein per scoop. There aren’t as many servings in it though, which is why I use 1/2 scoop to make it last longer. :)
I can’t believe how decadent and delicious that breakfast banana smoothie parfait concoction looks! I must get some chia seeds one of these days…
I sometimes say I’m an athlete, but then I feel embarrassed saying it, because I never played organized sports or anything. I was NOT an athlete in school, so even though as an adult I’ve run two halfs, I still think of myself as not athletic!
Hi Angela! I don’t really consider my athlete, but I am very active and enjoy exercising.
Oh, wow. I’d never consider myself an athlete… I’m incredibly unfit and no, I’m not actually taking many steps to change that… :(
I loooove your breakfast! I’m so jealous haha.
The blog is loading wonderfully now! Yaay! :D
Wei-Wei
Yes, I would consider myself an athlete! I’ve played sports and competed all my life (softball, volleyball). Even though I don’t consider myself super competitive, I like to do it for fun, and feel as though I’ve been trained well in these areas.
Hooray for both athletes & non-athletes alike! We’re all winners! :-D
I do consider myself an athlete. I train, I prepare, I race… maybe I’m not pro, but I am an athlete! A runner, at that :)
xo
K
I consider myself an athlete because my legs can run over 8 miles at a time. It makes me feel powerful, just like an athlete should feel!
I’m definitely an athlete. I take my exercise very seriously! I may not be the strongest or fittest in the group exercise classes, but I assure you, I have the most heart!
Not sure I consider myself an athlete…even though I just ran a half marathon. I was competing .. but against myself. However, I will be playing volleyballs oon and competing against other teams, so then I guess I’ll consider myself an athlete? haha it’s all relative I suppose…
For me, anytime I exercise at night, it takes HOURS to fall asleep. Maybe the same for you with your evening bike rides/swims?
Damn right I am an athlete :)
The banana / overnight oat parfait looks amazing!! I don’t consider myself an athelete as I don’t think of myself as ‘good enough’ at sports as I would like. I hope that one day I will though!
Whatever an “athlete” may be, I think that it seems like something you never really think you are until one day you wake up and realize that your goals in sport align in importance with every other goal in your life. I loved being an athlete until I decided that making it to nationals was just not as important to me as my family, but I totally respect those for whom it is! i just don’t want my body to be the most impressive thing about me anymore. It built me into the person I am, but the sacrifices I made over 15 years (including relationships) in pursuit of athletic excellence now deserve all of the attention that originally went to sports!
I am working on un-defnining myself these days :)
Great question and even better answers!
i do consider myself to be an athlete! absolutely! i don’t think it’s just a term for those in team sports, i run, i spin, I do yoga, I weight train in a way that rivals most of the guys in the gym! So yes!! I am an athlete!
Definition of an athlete:
ath·lete:
A person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.
I used to not think of myself as an athlete, even though I played softball, volleyball and soccer as a teenager in HS into my early 20’s. I stopped all sorts of competition after I married and we moved quite a bit because of the military. But I discovered the inner athlete, when I lost 90 lbs about 10 years ago, became an avid runner, triathlete and all around fitness queen. Or at least that is what I’m told by others. When I ran my first 5k without stopping I didn’t quite yet consider myself an athlete. When I ran my first marathon and only did it to finish, still no athlete feeling yet. It’s when I ran several half marathons and beat my PR every single time, that I knew there was something different about me. I was competing but only against myself. When I did my first triathlon and got hooked and that is when the term athlete really became a reality to “me”!!! I think if I feel and know it in my mind, I AM.
I must try those VOO w/ softserve. YUM!