Good morning!
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments in my 10k race recap! :)
Surprisingly, my body isn’t too sore this morning. I attribute this to the ice bath (brrr!) I had shortly after getting home, oodles of chocolate (hell yea!), stretching, and of course some healthy eats.
I ended up having a great day yesterday! I think I was running on endorphins all day long (and copious amounts of green tea!). I finally got around to designing my OSG business card. My new cards will have Glo bakery on one side and OSG on the other side. I ordered them from Print 100. I have been using Print 100 for the past year and I am super happy with their service, free shipping, turnaround (2 weeks), and quality.
For dinner, I whipped up an avocado and tomato salad with mixed greens…
and my Better than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette.
And for the main I tried my hand at making roasted apple and acorn squash soup. It sounded delicious and I had a CSA acorn squash to use up!
Mmmm!
Roasted Apple and Acorn Squash Soup
Adapted from B.C. Tree Fruits
Ingredients:
- 2 small apples, cored, cut into pieces
- 1 acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- salt & pepper, to taste
- Parsley, to garnish
- Few sprigs rosemary, chopped finely
Directions: See this post for directions.
It’s squash season!! :)
Mmm squash flesh. ;)
After pureeing the rest of the ingredients, I added the chopped squash and mixed:
This soup was good, but it wasn’t my absolute favourite. If I were to make this again, I would use less apple and more garlic. The apple taste was a bit too pronounced for my liking.
I really enjoyed the chunks of squash in it though. Instead of blending the entire soup, I blended everything except the squash and then I just chopped the squash and mixed it in. It had a great, chunky texture!!
I also added a bit of rosemary and that was a nice flavour in there too.
After dinner I polished off this entire box of Vosges Naga Mango (Dried Mango + sweet curry + dark chocolate). Oh my gosh was this ever delicious! Whoever thought to pair sweet curry, mango, and chocolate together is a genius!
What Have You Learned?
Seeing as today is the first day back to school in our neck of the woods, I thought it would be a great time to reflect on what we have learned during our journey to health!
Here are some things I have learned along my journey:
- I should strive to be a Size Healthy and not a specific number
- If I honour my hunger signals and cravings, I won’t feel an urge to binge
- There is no point to compare myself with others. It is much more fun if I strive to improve based on my previous accomplishments.
- If I am not happy in my career, I will always have a big piece of my happiness missing and my heart will feel a void.
- My body is not the worthless piece of junk I thought it was, in fact, it is capable of so much more than I thought!
- Use quotes to inspire when you need motivation.
- Eating a vegan diet makes me feel at peace
- Take a chance on YOU. What have you got to lose?
- The goal weight I had set for myself previously was NOT my happy weight
- A ‘Happy Weight’ is probably not going to be the size of a magazine model for most people. Finding your happy weight may mean that you have to accept the size your body was meant to be at.
- Some days will truly suck. There is no way of avoiding this and it is totally normal. There will be days you overeat and feel crappy, fall off the exercise wagon & lose motivation, or have personal health problems to deal with. When I accepted that these experiences were part of the normal ebb and flow of life, I was able to move on quicker and not beat myself up for it.
- Sometimes chocolate is always the answer (like last night!)
- You only get one body and one life, make sure you treat it well and make it a happy one
- Recovering from years of disordered eating took much longer than I thought and is always an on-going process
- Surround yourself with POSITIVITY, good friends, and family. Read uplifting things.
- There are many potholes along the road to recovery. If you trip up, dust yourself off, put on a band-aid, and keep going FORWARD!
What have you learned along your journey to health?
It amazes me how you’re able to make such incredible recipes on a whim. Simple astounding!
I’ve learned many of the same things you have..along with the fact that as happy as I thought I would be skinny, I was miserable. I’m much happier now that I have healthy pounds and *curves*!! Thank goodness for curves :)
Great post! I feel like I learn so much more during the summers when I have time to reflect on myself than when I’m actually in school. haha.
i have learned… that i absolutely love food. and i love, love cooking. it gives me so much joy to be able to learn how to nurture my body the way it really wants to be, instead of the way i used to think it wanted to be.
and i have learned that i don’t need candy bars or ice cream to fill my sweet-tooth cravings anymore! yes!
Surrounding yourself with positivity works! If you ever need some inspiration or perspective, I recommend reading “Positivity” by Barbara Fredrickson.
On my journey to health, I learned to appreciate the moments, not the numbers. Life is too short to obsess over calories and pounds, instead I need to live for the smiles, adventures, and love!
Great post idea on the first day back to school!
I agree with so many of your points – especially about being more at piece since switching to a vegan diet.
I would say my biggest learning this year so far is understanding that we have to be our own health advocates. You have to research & educate yourself before you make a decision on what you put in/on your body because there are a lot of people & organizations out there looking to make a quick buck off of our assumed ignorance. But it’s exciting that we live in a time where we can be as resourceful as we are!
I LOVE all your learnings, especially the one about surrounding yourself with positivity. Last month when I turned 22, I wrote a post about some of the things I’ve learned. If you get a chance, check it out! http://eatspinrunrepeat.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/now-that-im-22/
I’ve learned that I’m the only one that is responsible for my own life, no one else.
I’ve learned to be patient with myself.
I’ve learned that screwing up isn’t only inevitable, it’s OKAY.
I’ve learned that I’m MUCH happier now than when I was treating myself badly.
I’m slowly learning to love my body the way it is and for the incredible things it does rather than trying to lose as much weight as possible. It’s taken me a long time to accept that I can never look like a model, my genes just won’t allow it, but I can still be healthy, beautiful and proud of the way I do look. Every body is different and beautiful in it’s own way. Comparing your body to others just isn’t rational. I’m still learning, but it’s slowly starting to sink in!
i could copy your list verbatim, but the biggest thing that I’ve learned is that I am WORTH IT :)
I love your list of what you have learned on your journey to health…
I’ve learned that it isn’t about losing weight and it isn’t about a short period of time… It is about being healthy for the long haul. Don’t worry so much if you make a mistake or miss a workout… There is always tomorrow. It isn’t do or die. :)
I’ve learned that I really can have my cake and eat it too (literally).
I’ve learned that the best cure for stress is not eating, but re-evaluating priorities.
I’ve learned to appreciate the small things.
I’ve learned that if you can’t change the circumstances, change how you feel about them.
Hi There! I just wanted tot say I really like your statements. I totally agree~I also have my cake and eat it too, I appreciate the small things, re-evaluting is a huge cure, and the last one, is right on! Great comment Maria!
I’ve learned that the best way to set myself up for success is to not set anything at all! As soon as I set diet restrictions or exercise quotas, I fall apart completely. I’m disinterested, unmotivated, and usually do the exact opposite of what I planned. If instead, I listen to my body, then finding the balance is SIMPLE!
You sure nailed it! Yes chocolate is the best fix to cure mostly everything. :)
~Loving yourself should be priorioty #1 and
~remembering to honor your body as we only get one! It is funny because especially in US- most many people care more about their cars and houses,etc. I put my health at number one and am proud of it! Great post. :) Good job on the run, yay!
oooh that soup sounds yummy!
I have learned that weight loss is not a battle against my body but for my body, my body wants to be healthy just as much as I do so if something is not working and I am not losing weight it’s not because my body is fighting against me its because my body it trying to tell me something and if I can stop and listen to it then I can get back on track. Learning to really listen to my body is far from easy though especially when life is stressful. I have also learned that eating mostly fruits and veggies and less carbs and dairy makes me feel good inside and out. Throughout my journey I have gone from eating almost no fruits and veggies to eating more of them than anything else and loving it! I have also learned that I am still learning how to lose weight the right way for me… sometimes it feels like I know it all but I don’t and I have to allow myself to admit that I need help sometimes and that I don’t always know whats right.
I’m just beginning my health journey, but I was given some excellent advice recently that I’ve found very helpful: You can’t always control your circumstances, but you can always control your response.
I often use lack of control as an excuse to ignore my health goals for the day, but I have to remind myself that regardless of the food I’m presented with or the meetings that cut into my workout schedule, I can still decide to make good choices.
What I’ve learned is that rest days are important! After getting injured this summer, I realized I wasn’t giving my body enough rest. It hasn’t been automatic, but learning to take a day off has gotten easier. Making sure I get at least one rest day a week has been working out so far.
I’ve learned that the answer to whatever health question I have is never “out there” it’s always “in here.”
Love this!
I’ve learned that guilt is the most worthless thing ever and never to waste my time on it.
Great list. I like the one about how being a magazine model’s size is far from a “happy weight”. You’re right about that!