Sprint 2 the Table

Appetites and Adventures

Cinnamon-Flax Baked Chicken + WIAW

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You don’t realize how much you love something until it’s gone.

I only endorse this statement as it relates to food. 😉

This week’s diet change s to seriously cut sugar to help my abs come in. *crossing fingers*  This means I go from 3 servings of fruit a day to 1 serving of berries (they are low in sugar) at Meal 1.

Next week I cut fats, which will suck.  I’m cherishing my nuts (#thatswhatshesaid) and salmon while I can this week!

In other news, I finally bought and hung my pull up bar!

  I did 100 pull ups UNASSISTED yesterday.  Don’t be too impressed – I did 10 sets of 10 and it took a while. 😉

I didn’t do so well at making my eats Halloween-themed for  What I Ate Wednesday.  It’s getting harder to do anything super-creative, but I did my best!   Check out my “special” low sugar, low sodium, high protein, super-clean eats below (it makes me tired just listing all that), and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see how normal people ate in spirit of Halloween this week!

Meal 1:

I’m repetitive.  Yes, I had my morning cocktail (mix of Apple Cider Vinegar, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos). Followed by TVP Protein “Oatmeal.” 

Today’s was a vegan version (no egg whites).  To get a little more protein, I used Greek yogurt to make it Strawberries ‘n Cream.  All I did was mash up strawberries with the yogurt, stevia, ginger, and vanilla.  Simple and delicious! 

Meal 2:

I made Cinnamon-Flax Chicken!  Does this count as #strangebutgood?  If you don’t eat meat, I would bet money that this would be delish with tofu.  Recipe at the bottom of this post.

It was good, but the sides were even better.  Kale chips coated in a sugar-free simple syrup and apple pie spice.  Simple syrup sounds fancier that it was.  I mixed together some sugar-free maple syrup and water so it was thin enough to coat my kale, then added apple pie spice.  I also tossed in some zucchini, which was also tasty!

Meal 3:

Once again… the steak of the sea makes an appearance in my kitchen!  Every Sunday I make a big batch of protein, and Swordfish is my #1 favorite.  It is such a rich fish that it tastes buttered.. but it’s not!  This was grilled with Herbs de Provence, garlic, paprika, and lime juice.

Eaten with pre-roasted calabaza squash with sage and onion, portobello slices, and parsnip “rice” with celery leaves. I would eat this competition diet or not!

Meal 4:

I had to attend a conference, so into a cooler went a salmon salad.  This week’s salmon was baked with lemon juice, mint, and sage.  I chopped it up and tossed it with chopped celery, beet, and zucchini. 

Meal 5:

It was legs day, so I had a date with my trainer to do my hack squats (blech), followed by posing practice.

I took a liquid dinner to go. This shake is a combo of my Sweet Potato Pie and Carrot Cake shakes.  Sweet potato, carrot, tofu, protein powder, spices… and some celery for good measure.  Oh, and I hand mixed in some oats.  The Vitamix will blend anything.  Literally. 

Meal 6:

Is it weird to crave brussels at 9:30pm? That’s what I wanted, so that’s what I had.  Roasted in a sauce of nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, cumin, paprika, garlic, and a little coconut extract.  The coconut was the perfect pair with my (low-fat) coconut-curry marinated grilled chicken.  Fun-flavored protein, ftw. 

Meal 7:

Dessert!  No more fruit at night… I’ve missed my cherries on top, but this didn’t disappoint despite the fact that it looks like a giant poop.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Bread Pudding

  • 1/2 slice no-sodium Ezekial bread, ripped into tiny pieces
  • 1/2 C no-salt cottage cheese, 
  • 1T peanut flour
  • 1T cocoa powder
  • 2T pumpkin puree 
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cocoa extract
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Stevia

I added some water to mix it, then microwaved it for a few seconds.  Warm chocolate-pumpkin bread pudding.  It looks odd… but I assure you it tasted incredible.  New protein dessert staple.

Cinnamon-Flax Baked Chicken

  • 1 chicken breast
  • 2 tsp ground flax
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

 Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees (I used convection).

Rise your chicken, and place on a hard surface to pound with meat tenderizer.

Mix together flax, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Coat chicken with the mixture.  It should be wet enough from rinsing for the coating to stick without using an egg.

Place in oven for 8 mins, then flip to bake for an additional 6-8  mins.  If using convection, simply bake ~10 mins.  The chicken is done when it is white all the way through.

Note for my plant-based friends: This would rock with tofu too!

Serves 1, easily doubled (I made 4).

***

The protein count for the day: 170.9g.  The sodium count: 574.9mg.  And my new one to watch – sugar – was 28.6g.

I also want to thank everyone for your encouraging words on Monday’s post.  It’s a little scary, but all of your support means the world.  I did feel much calmer after your comments and tweets! XOXO

Do you pay attention to the sugars in your diet?

Have you had any delicious Halloween treats yet?  Let me live vicariously through you!

Work It Out – Drop Sets

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Dropping things is a part of daily life for me.

Years of softball save me most of the time – I knock things off counters but often catch them before they shatter on the ground.

This post isn’t bout my klutzy ways.  It’s the 3rd in my Work It Out series focusing on changing up your gym routines.  You don’t need to write new workouts to keep making forward progress – another approach is to change how you perform the exercise.

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Again with the Disclaimer: I am not a certified anything.  I just workout a lot.  Don’t sue me if you hurt yourself or don’t look like Jamie Eason after performing these moves.

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Drop Sets

Drops allow you to continue a set pushing beyond failure.  They help to increase muscle endurance, and build good-quality muscle as a result.  This is what getting lean and toning up is all about!

To use the drop set technique, do 10 reps with a medium-heavy weight (5-10 lbs less than your max).  Once you finish those 10 reps, immediately drop the weight by 10 lbs (or pick up a weight 10 lbs lighter) and do 10 more.  Drop that weight by 10 lbs and perform 10 more reps.

These are easier to do on machines if you are working out alone because you can quickly change the weight yourself.  The amount of rest between drops should be no more than 10 seconds – just enough time to exchange the weight load.  If you use this technique with free weights, be sure to have your 3 sets of weights next to you so you can move through all 3 drops without breaking.

How do you use this technique?

Leg Extensions 

The leg extension specifically targets the quadriceps.  Sit on the machine with your legs under the pad, hands holding the side bars.  Be sure to adjust the pad so that it falls on top of your lower leg (just above your feet), and make sure that your legs form a 90-degree angle between the lower and upper leg.  If the legs form less than a 90-degree angle, your knee is over your toes and this will creates stress at the knee-joint (which you don’t want).

Using your quadriceps, extend your legs as you exhale.  The rest of the body should remain still on the seat.  Pause a second in the contracted position before lower the weight back to the original position in a controlled motion.

Note: Depending on how you angle your feet (inward, straight or outward), you can emphasize different muscle fibers on the area.  Toes “in” emphasizes the outer thigh while toes “out” emphasizes the inner.  You can also perform the movement one leg at a time.

Rear Delt Machine 

If you want something to really burn your deltoids out, do drop sets on this machine.  It is great for developing the back and the shoulders, and is an especially good exercise to strengthen the muscles that become weak due to long periods of sitting (hello, fellow cube monkeys).

Sit at a pec-deck machine with your chest on the back rest.  Place your feet on the floor and grab the handles with an overhand grip.  Draw belly button in, separate your arms back and squeeze your shoulder blades together.  Slowly return back to start and repeat.

Note: Keep your chin and ribcage lifted so that you are not tempted to lean forward in an attempt to push the handles further back.

Caution: It is easy to “over train” with these modifications.  They challenge your muscles to work much harder than usual, so these moves are not recommended as a long-term regimen.  Avoid doing more than 2-3 of these per muscle group on any given workout.

Check out last week’s Fulls and Partials, and then get more fitness ideas, tips, and tricks on my Fitness page!  As always, be sure to get your 20g of protein to help the muscles recover.

***

The hardest exercise for me to do these with are side lat raises with free weights.  Holy failure, Batman.  

Did anyone try last week’s Fulls & Partials?  What did you think?

Have you ever done fulls and partials?  What exercises do you apply them to?

My Last Supper

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I can be so predictable.

 

If only my life could be predictable…

Allie was in town this weekend for a training session with my trainer… excuse me… OUR trainer. 🙂

She came in Friday night and since we are on the same nutrition plan (minus the sodium restriction for her) so I volunteered to make dinner.  Obviously, I made cauliflower crust pizza.

 

 

We had a little pizza-topping party.  Allie’s (in the back) had a veggie burger and asparagus.  Mine (in the front) had tomato sauce, sauteed kale and red pepper, butternut squash, and chicken.

 

And then we went to Whole paycheck Foods where we bought pumpkin hummus.  I also got a kombucha on tap.  Typical bloggers.

 

When we got back home I made PB & Ceggs (Peanut Butter & Carrot Eggs – the vegan tofu version).  I won’t bore you with yet another pic of those.

The next day we woke up and I had what will probably be my last runny egg before my competition before we headed to the gym for a leg session and posing practice.  Obviously, we were armed with a cooler of smoothies, proteins, and veggies.

 

 

This was the most predictable 24 hours 2 bloggers could have.  And it was a BLAST.

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The unpredictable was just as fun.  We trekked up the highway to my hair stylist, Karen at Lava Hair Studio (I drive an hour to see her – that’s dedication).  Allie got a trim too – how cute are those blunt edges?!  Karen decided brown with red undertones were the way to go for the show – I have NO vision; I always ask her to do whatever she think would be cool.  I think she made the perfect color choice!

 

 

Annnnnd… then we had my last supper.  Last cheat supper, that is.  Allie and I met new guest blogger Kat at STG Trattoria,

We started with a bruschetta of butternut squash, ricotta, and arugula.  It was supposed to have cashews but they didn’t make it on our plate.  It was good… but the added crunch and richness of cashews would have made it better.

For our main, Allie and I split a pizza.  Yes, more pizza.  This was an Italian-style crust and was topped with ricotta salatta, sweet onion, mint, and lamb sausage (Allie ordered her half sans lamb).  The lamb sausage was was flavorful without being over-powering or greasy.  I loved the char on the crust; however, the middle was a big soggy.  It was a solid effort.  You better believe there wasn’t a crumb left!

 

 

Of course, I couldn’t pass up one last dessert.  Our chocolate mousse was topped with whipped ricotta, macerated strawberries, sea salt, and olive oil.  This may have been my favorite part of the meal – the mousse was dark, letting the strawberries provide much of the sweetness.  The olive oil and sea salt on top was absolutely perfection.  I love a dessert that is rich without being painfully sweet.

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Workout Recap

I’m starting to freak out a little.  Watching other people prep, I never understood why they were so obsessive and worrying over every little detail… and then I woke up Sunday morning feeling guilty about the last cheat meal and began reading every body building forum I could find.  My abs are not wonderful.  They have always been my most-hated body part.  I blame genetics and a really short torso.

After talking myself off the ledge, I went to the gym and had a great workout.  Apparently 100 daily (assisted) pull-ups develop the muscle under your arms as well as your back.  Excuse the bewildered look.  It was a tough arm day.

 

 

Workout Recap (10/15 – 10/19):

  • Monday – Shoulders/Glutes, 1 mile incline walk 100 pull ups
  • Tuesday – Chest/Bis, 100 pull ups, Calf raises, 1.25 mile incline walk
  • Wednesday – Shoulders/Glutes, 1 mile walk 100 pull ups
  • Thursday – REST, 100 push ups
  • Friday – Back/Tris, (180 pull-ups were part of the workout), Calf raises
  • Saturday – Legs (with trainer)
  • Sunday – Chest/Bis, 100 pull ups, Calf raises

***

OMGOMGOMG… less than 2 weeks!!! I bought my bling this weekend too. 🙂

Are you loyal to a hair stylist?

What would your last cheat meal be?

 

Friday Peeves and Positives

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It’s Friday, Friday Friday!

 

I thought it would never get here.

After a long week my pet peeves tend to peeve me even more.  I want to get a few off of my chest so that I can move on to more positive things going in to the weekend.  Stick with me for a few and then we will end on a lighter note.

 

The Peeves:

Instagram

If I post a pic of something and you would like the ingredients, posting “recipe” is not the way to get it.  There wasn’t even a question mark after it!  Are you making IG demands now?  In the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!” #sorryimnotsorry

 

The Last 15 Minutes

You know tone ones.  The period where you should leave soon but don’t need to leave yet.  It always flies by and I leave late.  Yep… someone was running through the airport again… only to find my flight was delayed 2 hours.

 

That Guy

The one in the gym that’s propped up on a machine, playing on his phone or reading TIME magazine (yes, this did happen).  It’s a gym.  We’re not here to read or tweet.  I need to get through my work out too, so move it or lose it buddy!

 

The Positives:

House Guests

Allie has decided to start working with my trainer after visiting a couple weeks ago and is coming back today to train this weekend.  I’m so glad I’m going to get to see her regularly!

 

Hair ‘Dos

Saturday I’m going to see my stylist to get a pre-competition hair cut and color.  It’s probably on my Top 5 Activities list.  Now I just need to decide whether to go more blonde or brown for the stage… 

 

Recipe Wins

My Maple TVP Protein “Oatmeal” has been a hit!  Check out this vegan coffee version with Coffee Mouse from Danni. 

***

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some of my healthy BYOP (bring your own protein) travel meals.  I cannot WAIT to write a post next week with some of my “how tos” … and some of the more interesting things I did to make it work on this week’s business tip.

What peeves you most?

In the spirit of positive, what’s something good that happened this week, or that you’re looking forward to?

 

Guest Blogging 101

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My cooler is packed, I’m ready to go…

 

 

Yes, this is a Rachel Ray bag.

I wouldn’t have done it… but it was the perfect size and isn’t too loud to bring into a business meeting.  #sorryimalittlesorry

Packing for this trip was a lesson in being prepared.  It didn’t take as long as you would think; doing a massive weekly food prep is the biggest time-saver I know.  It certainly saved me here – this is a pic of the 8 meals I’ll have to eat while on the road.  Normally I wouldn’t quite go to this extreme, but with just over 2 weeks until my first figure competition, I’m not taking any risks!

 

Shirt from Rawxies. 

 

I’ll be sharing some tips and tricks when I get back, but today we have a guest blogger!  My friend Kat will be doing a bi-weekly guest spot from now on.  I told her to write about whatever she wanted… so we’ll all be surprised together!  🙂

Seriously, I trust this girl.  She’s a HUGE inspiration when it comes to determination, athletics, and taking time to enjoy life despite being just a busy (maybe ever busier) than I am.  I’ll quite rambling and let her introduce herself.

Heeeeeeere’s Kat!

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I’ve never written a blog before, but I think I’m going to become a regular @ Laura’s Sprint to the Table. I don’t Twitter or Instagram, and I’m not great on Facebook, but I LOVE blogs.  When presented with an opportunity to do a bi-weekly guest blog for Laura, I couldn’t pass it up!

This is who I am:

 

My name is Kat, and I would say that I’m random and silly, overly outgoing, and I’m pretty extreme!

I live life to the fullest and I’m not sure I was ever taught how to do something in moderation (editor’s note: go big or go home!).  I’m a 3rd year law student (read—so busy I don’t know what to do with myself) with two part-time jobs.  I’m also an ultra runner, and triathlete (I say that, but I’ve only ever done two triathlons, both Half Ironman distance – note, extreme).  I’ve never run a marathon, but I decided to run a 50 mile Ultra in September.  I’m also in the middle of a 30 day yoga challenge—one class a day for 30 days.

That doesn’t sound extreme to you?  Then just try it!

 

 

I’m also a huge foodie! I love to eat out (a lot of times out of necessity), and cook at home (a real treat because of my busy schedule).  I also have a real talent for making the most randomly delicious meals and snacks, without spending more than 5-10 minutes in the kitchen.

Since this is an intro, I thought I would give you a brief overview of why I think I’m a great guest blogger for Laura’s Sprint to the Table! (Yes, I’m also modest…) <– editor’s note: add that to the list of things we have in common.

 

Ways we are alike:
  • Focus on fitness – for me it’s part of my daily life in some form or another
  • Love for all things foodie – we are both completely obsessed with greens and protein
  • Love for life
  • Very, very busy all the time!

 

Ways we are different:
  • I run long distances—extremely long
  • My main diet restriction is that I’m gluten-free (and NOT because it’s a trend—I need to be for my health!) 
  • I do yoga
  • I don’t lift any more (not since wrestling in college, really)

 

 

My goal is to show you how you can seemingly pack more hours in to a day by being hyper-efficient, get everything you want to get done, DONE, have a ton of fun, feel like wonder woman, and still sleep 8 hours almost every single night.  Yes, it’s possible!

I will probably bore you with my own “strange but goods,” my crazy training schedule, my amazing eat-out adventures, and random crap in between as I see necessary!

Oh, and I would love feedback as I get the ball rolling… since I’m such a newbie at this!

***

I need to make one of those popular “That moment” graphics saying “That  moment when you pull out a can of tuna during a meeting.”

Kat’s Questions:

Do you ever feel like you can’t fit it all into one week?!

When did you  last say “I’m too busy,” or “I don’t have time to run/workout/etc.”?

 

Work It Out Beyond Fulls

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Sometimes being beyond full is a good thing.

I’m not talking about that oh-so-good chocolate cake on cheat day.  But it was good.

Thank you all for the great feedback on last’s week’s inaugural Work It Out.

This series is focusing on how to change-up what you’re doing in the gym to make sure you keep progressing.  Rather than always change the exercise, we’re looking at how you can simply change how you perform the exercise.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be doing a series on some ways to vary how you perform reps.   sprint2table-workitout

Again with the Disclaimer: I am not a certified anything.  I just work out a lot.  Don’t sue me if you hurt yourself or don’t look like Gillian Michaels after performing these moves.

Fulls and Partials

These are really great for moving past “sticking” points where the weight feels heaviest.  You can move past the sticky point because that part of the muscle group is exhausted, but that doesn’t mean all areas of that muscle group are exhausted.  Partials allow you to essentially work beyond failure by working in smaller ranges of motion.

Perform 10 full reps of a movement, followed by 10 half reps.  Do 1st and 3rd sets on the bottom half, and the 2nd and 4th on the top half.

How do you use this technique?

Standing Leg Curls

The standing leg curl is a great exercise for strengthening the hamstring muscles at the back of the thigh.  Start with a lighter weight, as this machine can put some strain on the knees.  Adjust the pads so that they are in a comfortable position around the ankle – you don’t want the pads too high up the calf.

Grasp the support handles, then lift the pad upward as far as it will go toward the butt.  Lift and lower the leg in a controlled manner to complete one full rep.

Note: You can perform this exercise on a lying leg curl machine too.

Decline Dumbbell Curls

These are one of my favorites because lying on a decline challenges your brachialis more.  The brachialis lies underneath your biceps and attaches the lower portion of the humerus bone in your upper arm to your ulna, a bone in your forearm.

To start, grab a dumbbell in each hand.  Lie on an incline bench set to about 60 degrees.  Your shoulders should be near the top of the incline, and your legs can be straddled to either side.  Fully extend your arms, allowing them to hang in front of you so that they are perpendicular to the floor.  Face your palms forward with your elbows in by your side. Raise the dumbbells, contracting your biceps until your arms are fully flexed.  Take care that only your forearms move. The upper arms should remain stationary at all times.  To complete a full rep, lower the dumbbells until your arms are fully extended.

Note: You can perform using an e-z bar or a barbell too.

Caution: It is easy to “overtrain” with these modifications.  You are pushing your body extremely hard to bust through a plateau.  These moves are not recommended as a long-term regimen.  Avoid doing more than 2-3 of these per muscle group on any given workout.

Check out last week’s 24s, and then get more fitness ideas, tips, and tricks on my Fitness page!  As always, be sure to get your 20g of protein to help the muscles recover.

***

Know what’s really fun?  Doing fulls and partials on hack squats.  *dripping sarcasm*

Did anyone try last week’s 24s?  What did you think?

Have you ever done fulls and partials?  What exercises do you apply them to?

Curried Apple Tuna Salad

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Did you see Friday’s Strange But Good?

The mystery stranger was a Curried Apple Tuna Salad.  You guys know I’m a fan of the sweet and savory.  This recipe is a perfect storm!

The tuna salad my mom made for lunch after church on Sunday’s always included apple.  I stopped eating seafood for years, but I always enjoyed the crispness of chopped apple in salads.  When I was looking for a new way to jazz-up my tuna salad, it was an obvious addition.

Mom also added a boat-load of mayo to our tuna (Hellman’s not Duke’s).  Mayo is certainly NOT on my diet these days.  No big deal – I haven’t liked the stuff for years.  But I do need something to add moisture to my tuna, and to make the flavor less like… errrr… canned tuna.

 

 

The sauce I came up with is a rich tahini curry.  Tahini’s sweet sesame flavor is perfect with a little nuttiness from nutritional yeast.  Both are natural pairs with the warm, almost ginger-like curry powder.

Turmeric is a big component of yellow curry powder.  I’ve always loved the flavor, but it is also a great source of antioxidants.  Just a teaspoon of curry powder has as many antioxidants as ½ cup of red grapes!

Arugula is one of my favorite greens.  In fact, it may be my absolute favorite.  Its peppery taste is perfect with curry, and the sweet apple balanced those stronger flavors.

This is an awesome tuna salad for those who don’t particularly like tuna salad.

Recipe at bottom.

Workout Recap

This week we moved up to doing 15 reps of each exercise.  You wouldn’t think 3-5 more reps would make a big difference, but I assure you it DOES!  Between that and the 100 pull-ups, I stayed sore all week.  It hurts so good.

Saturday I picked out my suit (if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen the fabric), and this week I need to go find costume jewelry and get some super-dark make up for my soon-to-be orange skin.  The sodium cut and the pull-ups are working.  I’m really starting to see a difference in my body.  It’s pretty cool… though I have a lot to work on in the next 19 days.  Time is flying!  

Workout Recap (10/8 – 10/14):

  • Monday – Chest/Bis, 100 pull-ups, Calf raises, 2 mile incline walk
  • Tuesday – Shoulders/Glutes, 1.5 mile incline walk
  • Wednesday – Back/Tris, 100 pull-ups, Calf raises, 1.75 mile incline walk
  • Thursday – Shoulders/Glutes, 100 pull-ups, 2 mile walk 
  • Friday – Chest/Bis, 100 pull-ups, Calf raises, 1 mile walk
  • Saturday – Legs (with trainer)
  • Sunday – Back/Tris, 100 pull-ups, Calf raises, 2 mile walk

Curried Apple Tuna Salad

  • 2 oz canned Albacore tuna*
  • 1/2 apple, diced
  • 1/2 C arugula
  • 1 T nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp tahini
  • 1/4 tsp curry powder
  • Red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

Combine the tuna, apple, and arugula in a bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients with enough water to form a sauce.  Pour sauce over the tuna mixture and stir to combine.

*Note: Tempeh would work well here to make this vegan.

Makes 1 serving, easily doubled.

***

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

Do you like tuna salad?

Was there a dish your family had on certain days of the week?

Attack of the Killer Sodium + WIAW

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Sodium is in everything.

Except peanut flour, thank god.

With less than 4 weeks to go until my figure competition, my diet has gotten more strict.  The latest adjustment it sodium.  I’m only allowed 500 mg a day.  No more bacon, sorry.

It turns out sodium is everywhere – even in thing that aren’t processed   Egg whites, for instance.  My trainer said I don’t have to cut egg whites until 2 weeks out, but if I eat them my sodium for the day will most certainly be over.  And the super expensive crab in my fridge?  Forget it.

We’ve seen a lot in the media lately about sodium, and how much is added to our foods.  Too much sodium can lead to problems like high blood pressure, heart failure, osteoporosis (this one was news to me), kidney stones, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and hormonal imbalance.  You don’t need to cut to the extent that I am, but The Institute of Medicine recommends limiting sodium intake to less than 2300 mg per day.

When I first started watching my intake, I was shocked to see how much was in items you’d never think to check.  Protein powder is a culprit – I had one egg protein that was about 500 mg!  Other unusual suspects: coffee drinks, bread, cereal, and pretty much every condiment known to man.

You don’t have to have salt (or fats, or sugars…) to add flavor to foods!  Try some making your own blends for use on protein, veggies, and beans…

  • Italian: I make my own sodium-free tomato sauce with garlic, onion, basil, oregano and, parsley
  • Thai: For a spicy peanut sauce, try peanut flour mixed with rice vinegar, lime, sriracha, garlic, and cilantro (similar to what I did here in my: Chili Nutty Tofu)
  • Mexican: This is an easy one – toss in some lime, cumin, cilantro, garlic, and cayenne like I did in this Mexican “Rice” Bowl
  • Mediterranean: This is a staple-combo in my kitchen with its lemon peel, garlic, mint, oregano, dill, and onion
  • Indian: I rubbed a simple mix of lime, garlic, ginger, onion, curry, cumin, coriander, and garam masala on the salmon I used in Meal 2 below

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Another sodium-free item is pumpkin.  Perfect for this month’s Halloween-themed  What I Ate Wednesday.  See if you can guess how much sodium I took in…

Check out my low-sodium, #strangebutgood (that’s scary, right?) eats below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see how everyone else is scaring up their food this month!

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Meal 1:

After my morning cocktail (mix of Apple Cider Vinegar, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos), I enjoyed a protein mush.  Failing miserably with the sodium intake yesterday, I skipped the eggs for breakfast and went for sodium-free pumpkin.

Pumpkin Protein Mush

  • 2 T oats
  • 1/4 C pumpkin puree
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1 T ground flax
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp butterscotch extract
  • 5-6 drops stevia
  • Liquid, to mix
  • Topped with banana

Meal 2:

Forget #strangebutgood.  This was strange but amazing.  There are only 4 ingredients if you pre-cook the salmon!

I loved the savory curry against the sweet salmon and the citrus in the blood orange.  Bonus: blood orange is certainly a Halloween-appropriate food.

Curried Salmon and Blood Orange Salad

  • 3 oz curried salmon (pre-cooked with the Indian spices mention in first part of this post)
  • 1 blood orange, sectioned
  • 1 T fresh basil
  • 1 T roasted squash seeds (tossed in coconut oil, cinnamon, and cardamom before roasting)

Meal 3:

If tuna is the chicken of the sea, then swordfish is the steak of the sea.  This is hands-down my favorite seafood.  And it’s fairly low in sodium.  Score.

Served with a Golden Dumpling squash, diced and roasted with thyme, Dora the Explorer edamame, and raw cauliflower.

Know what only has 1.7 mg of sodium?  Sugar-free York Peppermint Patties.

Meal 4:

I am still addicted to this Tequila-Lime Tilapia recipe.  Today I had it with a side of carrots.  Yes, I recycled the lion plate from lunch. 

Meal 5:

Last week I mentioned that I rarely chicken.  Even more rare that eating it… I COOKED it.  Raw chicken is one of the most disgusting things in the world to me.  In my low sodium quest, I pulled out a cooking binder I made years ago and prepared a modified (low sodium, low-fat) version of a marinade I used to love.  It turned out really well!  I still hate raw chicken.

I DO love pizza.  It seemed like everyone on Instagram last night was making pizza, so I jumped off that bridge too.  I was going to make a socca crust, but realized that Kamut flour has less sodium.  I mixed 1/4 C with just enough water to form a batter and cooked it like a pancake in a pan.

On My Pizza:

  • Chicken
  • Ricotta spread 
  • Red onion
  • Fennel
  • Zucchini
  • Arugula

The ricotta mixture was simply fat-free ricotta with fresh herbs, cayenne, and white balsamic.  I sautéed the veggies before topping the pizza and sticking it under broil for a few mins before inhaling the deliciousness.

Meal 6:

I ate meal 5 too late, so I didn’t get to excited about Meal 6.  And I only had 75 mg left for the day.  And I wanted eggs.  I was whiny.

Then something awesome happened.  I remembered tofu.  Scrambled tofu, specifically.  Oh yes… we have VEGAN version of PB & Jeggs.  A carrot cake-inspired PB & Ceggs.

Just as glorious as the “real” thing.  The carrot cake-like spices make this veggie and protein-packed meal a dessert.

Recipe at bottom.

Meal 7:

If you guess I went over my sodium…. you’d be right.  I have to ask my trainer tomorrow, but I’m guessing protein trumps sodium so I went ahead and exceeded 500 mg to get another 20 of protein.

The most sodium-free way I could think of to do this was no salt cottage cheese and peanut flour.  Since I get a carb too I went for some pumpkin in the mix.  Flavorings included cinnamon (it’s sick how much I love the stuff), nutmeg, cardamom, almond extract, vanilla stevia.  Topped with figs.  Nom.

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Vegan PB & Ceggs (Peanut Butter & Carrot “Eggs”)

  • 4 oz tofu, crumbled
  • 2 T peanut flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 tsp maple extract (can use vanilla)
  • 5-6 drops liquid stevia
  • 3 T water (or other liquid)

Place crumbled tofu in a greased (I used PAM) pan over medium-high heat.  

“Scramble” tofu until warmed through (~2-3 mins).  Meanwhile, mix together peanut flour, spices, extract, stevia, and water to form your peanut butter sauce (note: you could always use 2 T of your favorite nut butter here).

Add peanut butter and shredded carrot to the eggs.  Scramble together and allow to cooking ~1-2 mins more until hot.

Plate and enjoy!

Serves 1.

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The protein count for the day: 169.4g.  The all-important sodium count: 576.5mg.

Quick shameless plug: in case you missed it, check out yesterday’s post for a new technique you can use to bust through plateaus in your workout.  It’s the first in a “Work It Out” series I’m doing!

Have you ever tracked your sodium intake?  Did it surprise you?

What is the best thing you’ve eaten so far this week?

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