SAD

Do you ever feel down?

The winter time is strongly correlated with the holidays and drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies and pie. It also means that people are together with their family, eating, talking, playing, and hopefully enjoying a few presents to share. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes we don't have a lot of family around us, or our family bonds aren't as strong as we would like them to be. Its sad, but its life. Life isn't so perfect, but that's a topic for another day. The fact that the weather isn't so optimal to keep your spirits up created a problem in our everyday lives.

People periodically experience SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) AKA the winter blues. This period is mostly caused by the lack of light one experiences. Mostly, SAD is cured when one exposes themselves to light, even if its for a short period of time. Most scientist (http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/seasonal-affective-disorder) believe that this is caused by the bodies' internal clock, which is regulated by the sun. It is innate to know when to wake up and go to sleep because our bodies are directed by natural sunlight. However, if we wake up and its always gloomy outside, our internal clock doesn't know how to process the information, the use of artificial light does not help provide the warmth and vitamin D that the sun's natural exposure would of.

So what are natural remedies to prevent feeling SAD?

1. If you have the time and money you can always go to a light box ()

2. Vacation to a light sunny place.

3. Exercise

4. Eat right

5. Fill your house with holiday spirit or with tropical items such as a tiki or hulas

6. Eat tryptophan rich foods such as fruits (apricots) and basmati rice

7. Limit alcohol and caffeine

8. Surround yourself with lighthearted people who often laugh or are very "happy go lucky" (just don't feel jealous that they are so gleeful, it might rub off on you)

So there is my list. Also remember to eat plenty of good carbs. If your glycogen storage tends to dip, you may feel a negative ship in your mood because you cognition isn't working properly. Besides that try to enjoy the weather and take it as an opportunity to go out and relax and use it to wind down and drink some yummy tea. Live in the moment and encourage your body to wind down.

WIAW

Does anyone get up early to run and think that God decided to paint a beautiful picture for them and only them? No? Okay. Despite the freezing cold temperatures, I always get super excited when I am running and get to see the sun rise. Its like a gift that was meant for only me and I love it dearly. 

Recently, it was my birthday and I got one of these bad-boys as a present. I tested it out today. 

Hmm, I am not completely sure how I feel about it. 

So breakfast was a repeat  of an oldie but goodie. Frozen (leftover pancakes) crumbled up over applesauce and diced pears. 

Snack was pb, celery and pineapple (yes, I know this is an orange)

The infamous daily smoothie. 

with leftovers: Spaghetti squash with beans, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. 

Veggie burgers and cornbread. 

Then the snack-age began.....

Homemade papaya roll 

edamame  

Cereal and yogurt 

persimmon and cutie 

Dinner was soup and a corn muffin .. okay, two corn muffins

dessert was a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin with shaved almond milk

Then I decided to have apples with Pb and another muffin....oops. 

I think the hungry beast within me is tame....for now at least. 

WIAW

Do you guys ever fall into food ruts where you eat the same thing over and over again? I tend to eat the same thing every day for breakfast: Oatmeal Lunch: leftover soup  snacks: apples and PB
So, I am trying to change it up a bit and add other foods to my diet. 

I started running in the park. Its really nice to run with other people, it also helps me with my speed. They help me stay motivated and keep up my pace so I don't have time to stagger around. 

For breakfast, I opted for pumpkin pancakes and soy yogurt with fruit on top. It was a nice change, but it didn't seem soo filling as normal oatmeal. 

I can't let go of celery without PB for my morning snack because celery alone is too salty. But I did trade in the apple for an orange. 

I made this spicy quinoa and chickpea dish. It was perfect to pair with my sweet potato for lunch. 

Some things never change! 

Ice cream with bananas and sprinkles to end the night. It was awesome and a nice change. 

Post Thanksgiving Thoughts

So now thanksgiving day is over. Finally, time to rest and reset. I have been reading a lot of other blogs lately such as TheRealLifeRD and RunEatRepeat. They are doing some type of challenge. I feel that they are all inspiring individuals and we should all steal some of their ingenuity and complete a challenge.

 

I love the fact that Robyn decided to focus on resting and bringing peace to one's life. She also stresses that we live in a low calorie world where everyone decided to diet themselves thin instead of trying to create a healthy environment.

 

Monica from RunEatRepeat decided to perfect or try a new exercise or routine each day. She focuses everyday as a start to new healthy living. I love her idea because sometimes we tend to think of exercise as only running, only weights, only using the elliptical. But there if more to it. Circuit training is a fantastic workout that you can do in half the time because it forces you to challenge your body and do something different. Also, circuit training increases your heart rate and increases the after burn affect that you will experience. Thus, its a nice way to spice things up every now and then. However, including just one or two moves will challenge your body to do something different.

 

While I am not following any specific guide or plan I am stealing snippets of both of these fabulous ladies ideas. I am going to work on limiting processed foods and sticking to whole foods this month (limiting sugar *read*icecream*read) to two or three times a week. I am also going to try to eat REAL food at meal times. I can't just rely on a simple pb&j. Even though its wholesome and good I am an adult and need to start eating adult food. I need to get creative and start trying out new things. My little kid pallet is so used to fighting the urge to branch out but now is the time. Plus that means I can try new recipe's such as Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies right?

 

Also, I love running. Running may or may not love me in return. Also, the weather may not be so fond of runners because it rains on our parade (haha...okay not soo funny). But now I am going to try to include strength training, circuit training, and some other shenanigans to move my tooshie. (The fact that I also have just ordered a new dumbbell set from amazon helps to). I want to get stronger, leaner, and fitter (yeah, they all mean the same thing but I just want to exaggerate the point). I want to challenge my body so I can have the agility that I always wanted. I am no longer that chubby kid who would sit with a family bag size Doritos and a 2 liter bottle of coke and watch cartoons everyday. I am now a fitness and health enthusiastic who should start to emphasize it in my own life.

 

Cheer my friends!