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?
I have learned to be kind to myself. Change does not come from a place of hatred. You have to love yourself & be kind enough to yourself to facilitate change.
I love how you said “Use quotes to inspire when you need motivation” — quotes make me so happy & are so inspiring! They sometimes have the power to change my whole way of thinking!
Love this post! I’ve learned..
Running and exercise is a PRIVILEGE, not something to be taken for granted
When you treat your body well, it’s going to reward you
When you don’t listen to your body, there WILL be consequences somewhere down the road.
I have and am learning to not be so hard on myself (I am recovering from disordered eating ) To never stop trying new things.Never give up and don’t forget to look up! Listen and understand people more and judge less. To be grateful no matter the circumstances you may face. To cherish your family and friends and to not take one minute for granted. Learn to laugh at yourself is a big one:)
I’ve learned that it is better to be ME than trying to be someone else!
I love this post!!! The biggest think I have learned is that you do not have to be perfect all the time!!! Getting rid of the guilt is so important!
I am SO excited for squash season! So excited! :)
I’ve learned SO much on my journey to health. I think for me, physical health was the easy part, finding a way to keep my mental health was hard. I learned that I need to forgive myself when I make a mistake. I’ve always been so hard on myself, lightening up was rough. But once I did, all of a sudden everything else started getting better too.
Hi Angela,
Great post, and congrats on your 10k!
I wanted to ask how you do an ice bath- do you just run a tub of cold water, or do you dump in ice cubes too? How cold should it be?
I’m coming back from a running injury and trying to focus on recovery. I’d love to add ice baths to my routine.
Runner’s World says between 50-59 F…check out this article!
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285–12810-0,00.html
I fille the tub with cold water so it covers the tops of my legs. THEN I pour in a small bag of ice and make sure to take the temperature shortly after. I also wear a sweater if you can believe it!
Thanks so much! I’ll have to try this after my next long run!
I feel like I could write a 10 page paper on everything I’ve learned! I’ve learned that thin does not necessarily mean healthy, that fats are not the devil, that there’s more to life than obsessing over food, and most importantly that our bodies need fuel to run properly!!
I love your list! One thing I have learned is that sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith to get your dreams rolling. Things may work out or they may not but you’ll never know until you try!
I’ve learned that taking a whole foods approach to eating and focusing on a plant based diet gives one so much energy!
I loved reading about what you have learned and I hope to remember all of those things!
I JUST did a post on this myself! I have learned that it is essential to listen to my body above all else. It will always know best, even if my brain wants to argue!
I could probably write a novel about everything I’ve learned on my journey to health but I’ll try to keep it simple: embrace positivity even in the things that seem negative at first glance, life is not a race, what’s right for other people isn’t necessarily what’s right for me, and how I look does not define me.
I’ve learned…
that it’s OKAY to have a bad day
that food is just food, it’s something I need to nourish my body and I should never be “afraid” to eat a particular food
that I should love and accept my body for what it does, not because of what it looks like
I think that may be the most blatantly obvious, but also the best thing for anyone to learn in their life:
Some days will truly suck. There is no way of avoiding this and it is totally normal.
Definitely twittering/facebooking that!
I am learning:
That I am not perfect and I don’t have to be.
That there are no “bad” foods — there is no reason to fear any foods.
That for me, exercising is the easy part but I need to focus on my diet in order to feel “well”
That moderation, not deprivation is the best choice for me.
That food is not a reward or a way to punish myself.
That exercise is for gaining strength and health, and not a way of punishing myself.
That the number on the scale does not define me as a human being.
That a jeans size does not have the power to make me feel bad.
My journey to health has been a zig zagged one, and I feel that every day I learn something new. I did a similar post on my blog about my journey on learning about balance.
I have learned that the relationship that I have with myself has significantly changed over the years. When I was younger I saw myself and treated my body like an enemy, now I treat like I would a best friend. loyal to nurturing my body, caring for my well-being, protecting myself from harm, and listening to what my body needs.
I have learned that those that love you tell you are amazing for a reason, and I should listen!
I have learned that it’s not about being skinny, it’s about being healthy. I should do this for me and not for anyone else.
I have learned that there are days when I will struggle, but that’s ok. I will not feel guilty for being human.
I have learned that going a couple or even a few days without exercising is not the end of the world. I embrace resting, taking a break, and doing what my body needs to maintain balance and sanity ;)
Congrats on your 10K yesterday. I also wanted to say thanks for posting this from yesterday, “I know a lot of you reading this are currently struggling with disordered eating and I want to tell you that the fight for recovery is worth every second.” Thank you for being a daily inspiration, motiviation. You rock! As I always tell you…keep it up! And yummy recipes. I think you need to put out a cookbook? :) Have a good day….
Aww thanks Im so glad you liked it! :)
I would love to write a cookbook!! Hopefully some day :)
Hi Angela,
I just want to say thank you for being such an inspiration for me. Along my journey to health, I have learned that there are amazing people out there writing blogs! These people have been role models and inspirations without wich I am not sure I could have done what I have done, and you are probably one of the top ones on the list. In the past year, I have started working out, stopped eating meat and I ran my very first half marathon on Sunday!
Thanks for everything and congrats on your speedy 10k!
Amélie
Thank you for your comment :) Congrats on your half marathon! How ya feeling today? ;)
Good! I wasn’t brave enough to have an ice bath as the weather was freeeeezing cold in Montreal on Sunday, but I put some ice on my hips and I’m feeling ready to rock the next challenge now!!!! :)
This year, I’ve learned a ton about being healthy and happy.
-Change is part of life. Nothing stays the same, and don’t try to make it stay the same.
– No food is off-limits, though I can choose whether to eat it or not.
-Health should be a natural, happy state, not drudgery, hardship and misery