Blog Archives
Brussel Sprouts and 9 More New Things I Tried This Summer
Since today is that last real day of my summer vacation, I’m going to re-cap some of the things I did this summer for the first time:
1. Brussel Sprouts: In all my 19 years I have never before eaten a brussel sprout before last night. My parents were as leery about the mini-cabbage vegetable as I was. Last night, we made Roasted Brussel Sprouts with lemon juice, garlic, onions and tomatoes. Guess what? They were not disgusting at all; we enjoyed them! They look just like a baby head of cabbage, and taste just like a broccoli stalk. I would definitely make these little guys again. They are 8 calories each and packed full of vitamins like C, K, and manganese. They also are an anti-oxidant. Nutritious and Delicious and now I feel silly for avoiding them for so long.
2. Almond Milk: I won’t say too much about this now, saving it for a future post. But my week on almond milk was full of recipe experiments…
3. Visiting the East Coast: In July my family flew to New York City for the first time. Granted, it was more for medical reasons than vacation but we took advantage of being in the city and explored every part of Manhattan we could. What an amazing city!
4. Eating at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour: where I witnessed my dad eat more ice cream than ever before!
5. Riding a New York Subway: Watching all those Law & Order episodes had me feeling a little sketchy about the subway. We survived!
6. Seeing a movie in 3D: Yes, I am behind the times. Before Katy Perry 3D, I had never seen a 3D movie. Now I got some sweet new glasses ;)
7. Spending the night in a hospital/eating hospital food: Not quite the glamorous setting it’s made out to be in movies, but the hospital coffee wasn’t half-bad.
8. Going to the doctor’s office alone: a moment where I realized I was an adult. Needles and no one’s hand to squeeze!
9. Going One Week with out coffee……just kidding, I didn’t try this. :) Are you crazy?!?!
10. Blogging! This has been so much fun, posting and talking about what I love. Thank you for reading! Keep coming back for recipes, workouts, healthy habits, college life and extra surprises :)
On my fear of needles & habit of snacking
Today was a big day for me. I had a doctor’s appointment to aspirate (you can google that) the fluid that had accumulated underneath the incision in my belly. And for the first time ever, I was going all by myself! Admittedly, I’m a big baby when it comes to blood and needles and bodily fluids. You would think that with all the experience I’ve had with these things I would be used to it by now, or at least less squeamish. Nope. I am every bit as nervous and frenzied as when I was five years old getting my kindergarten shots when my screams could be heard from the waiting room. Okay, I don’t scream anymore. But I DO still squeeze my mom’s hand, which was why it was so intimidating going to this appointment alone today. Whose hand would squeeze – my own?!
The procedure went by really quickly, and was less painful than I built it up in my head to be. But I was still proud of myself for it and my first thought upon exiting the office was “What can I treat myself to on my way home?” I admit, I often do indulge in Starbuck’s, ice cream, or something similar after an unpleasant situation. Having something satisfying to look forward to makes the situation more bearable! But in this instance, I am currently a couch potato who has not had any real exercise (that kind that makes you SWEAT) in almost 1 whole month. So any “treat” I felt I earned had better be in the non-edible form. While I could have easily convinced myself to pull into any one of the THREE Starbuck’s I passed on my way home, I decided that the moment of pain did not warrant a 400-calorie splurge.
Along with cutting out extra “treats” I really need to curb the afternoon snack attack that seems to creep up around 2pm every day. It’s not that I’m hungry; boredom just brings me wandering to the cupboards, looking at the same things and hoping something exciting has appeared. I’m a “grazer” as my dad calls me: a little of this, a scoop of that, a bite of these, a handful of this. That is dangerous though when it all adds up! So I made myself these little reminders to be mindful of snacking:
The hope is that the next time I mindlessly head to the kitchen, I’ll be reminded to rethink my snacking habits.
I even gave myself some alternatives!
We all have our weaknesses, but habits can be changed. Now I just need some duct tape for the jar of peanut butter….
