Endometriosis and nutrition

It's been a busy two weeks which is why I haven't blogged in a while. My endometriosis pain  has been making an appearance more and more lately so I have decided it's time to get back on track with avoiding the foods that trigger more pain. Those foods are meat (chicken, turkey, pork, and beef), dairy and gluten. Last weekend I made a salad for my lunch. I found the recipe on Joyous Health

It's a roasted Cauliflower salad, but I added in some cooked lentils and quinoa to have protein in there. I did two 1/4 cup of lentils and 1/4 cup of quinoa cooked in water. The only other change I did was that I put some walnuts instead of Pecans. I thought I had some on hand but I didn't. This salad was very tasty!

For my breakfast I decided to try her coconut flour banana pancakes found here on her site. These were also delicious!

The texture is a bit grainy I think cause of the coconut flour, but they were still really good.

Since I have been training for my half marathon I also decided that I was way overdo for some new running shoes, which my hubby agreed to buy me as an early birthday gift. I bought these at the running room

For some reason I tend to reach for Nike when I buy runners, and these were very pretty as well. Unfortunately they didn't work out. Thankfully they offer to return the runners if they don't work, as long as I don't wear them outside, which I did not. I tried two 5k on the treadmill and my feet would cramp up cause it seemed like there was extra padding at the heel therefore my heel wouldn't fit snugly in there so my heel would lift up a bit while I ran causing cramping so I brought them back and tried a few of them and came out with these

These are Asics, and they provide a lot of support and they work well. I have tried a 5 km with them on my treadmill and no issues. I then ran 8 km on my treadmill then switched over to the old ones cause the new ones were causing blister type feeling cause I need to break them in a bit more before I do a longer run with them. Here's me at the end of the 15 km run I did last Friday

It was again tough cause it was on the treadmill but my hubby found a video online with a run through London, and then it would automatically start another run through a trail so worked out well. I also did 10's and 1's to help me get through the long run. For those non-runners, that means I ran for 10 minutes then walked for 1 minute the entire way. Towards the end I was having a bit more of a hard time but I accomplished my 15 km run. It took me 1 hour, 47 minutes and 23 seconds. Not my best time but I'm working on it. I still have about 2 months left to train.

I was also not so lucky this weekend, Saturday morning I was hit with very intense endometriosis pain. It started off minimal and it gradually got worse. I was in so much pain that it did bring tears to my eyes. I took out my trusty heating pad and it helped. After a few hours I was able to function again but my stomach was very weak and sensitive. Meaning I couldn't push hard on my stomach cause it hurt and I also had to be careful the way I moved. I haven't experienced this much pain in many years. About 11 years ago I got the major surgery, a hysterectomy, and it was the best decision ever cause I was covered in endometriosis. This helped take away all the pain for so long. My doctor made a good decision and left one of my ovaries in order to avoid me from having to take hormone pills which can be tricky to figure out the right dosage. He said since I'm young, he didn't want me to go through that, so he took away as much endo as he could for that ovary, but just living a tiny spec of endo causes it to keep growing and getting bigger. He said hopefully I'll be ok until I hit menopause but unfortunately pain is back. Still don't regret the decision and I am quite knowledgeable in endo so I'm sure I'll be ok.

So my goal is to stick to a meat free, gluten free and dairy free diet to help lessen the pain. There's something in these foods that cause inflammation, therefore making pain worse. I will be working on eating anti-inflammatory foods to help me, like ginger, turmeric, fish, and more. It means a healthy eating plan for me, which is a good thing. It will help me feel healthier and stronger. The huge amount of pain I got was different from before so I plan on seeing my gynecologist, to see if he knows what that was about, to avoid that from happening again. I'll be sure to mention the pain is back to see what he recommends. I know he said I could go for a laparoscopy surgery if needed, but not sure I want to do one yet. I want to try eating healthy to see how things work out. Maybe I can make it till I hit menopause so I don't have to do surgery again.

So I of course got into my kitchen again and prepared another healthy lunch. I got the idea from a friend at work.

I again cooked up some lentil, 1/4 cup, with 1/4 cup quinoa, but this time I also added 1/4 cup of barley. Barley does have gluten but I added some anti-inflammatory foods in the salad, hoping it won't effect me to much. When I did a cleanse and tested foods, I didn't react very much to gluten so I will have a bit from time to time. I cooked those in water and let it cool. I chopped up a fennel bulb, and used some of the green top of the fennel as well. It almost looks like dill. I then added an apple, and some Brussels sprouts. For my dressing I did about 2 tbps of apple cider vinegar, about 4 tbsp of olive oil, a bit of honey, some Dijon mustard (about a tbsp), I grated in some ginger, added a tsp of turmeric, a bit of salt and pepper and some dill. I tosses everything and tried a bit of it and it was delicious!

I also wanted to have a sweet treat and took out my Joyous Health Cookbook and tried her double chocolate gluten free cookies

It's with coconut flour and some cacao powder. All very healthy ingredients and they taste good. Hubby and I each tried one after our lunch and we both really liked it. It made 23 cookies, so we will have lots to snack on this week. I wanted to make another batch of the carrot cake cookies but I want to take some time to relax as well since my stomach isn't feeling that great. Still feeling weak from all that pain yesterday. While I was in the kitchen I was getting pain from time to time and not feeling great so I didn't want to over do it. I also took care of my new batch of kombucha. Time to take it easy and I can always try to make the other cookies another time. Soon time for supper, which I plan to cook up some shrimp.

Breakfast

One of my new favorite things to eat for breakfast is avo toast. This one is the one I love the most

So I use a sprouted bread, I found one that I absolutely love, and I spread some avocado on each toast, which I ended up using half an avocado. I fried up two eggs, and put that on top and cut up a small cucumber. I added a little bit of salt and some pepper, so yummy! It's my favorite combination.

For a while avo toast have been pretty popular, and there's a variety of them online. I have tried a few others, but not many, I tend to always stick with this one.

I was planning to try this pancake recipe from the Joyous Health website, it's with coconut flour but my weekend ended up being really busy so I didn't get the chance. I do have some coconut yogurt on hand so thinking to just have that for breakfast with some of the granola I made and I have a 4 day weekend coming up so I will try out those pancakes then. I also wanted to make a banana loaf and try out this cauliflower salad but again didn't have time so will make it another time.

I did get the chance to see my niece today. She came with me and hubby to shop for a new pair of running shoes. Mine were causing me some blisters so it was time for a new pair. I did find one so time for me to start breaking them in so they are great for the race. I also got a new pair of pants since weather is still on the cold side. Hubby bought them for me as an early birthday gift.

My niece has never been to Panera so that's where we went for supper, she really liked it. Here's what we had

It was a chipotle, avocado and chicken panini with the broccoli and cheddar soup. It was delicious! I had the green smoothie, which was really tasty and she had the banana strawberry smoothie which was also really good. I picked up a sandwich to bring home to hubby which I got him the turkey avocado BLT sandwich. I love the great healthy options they have and the food is always so good!

Another weekend come and gone, and we unfortunately lost an hour this weekend. I hate the time change that we do twice a year. I'm always so tired for about a week trying to adjust to it. Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Outside running...finally!

Today I went outside for my run. It was nice enough out there, although I still had to dodge puddles and be careful of the ice/snow. Still felt great to be out there though

So this was my 10 km mark and still had a ways to go to get back home. I ran 12 km in an hour and 28 minutes. Not bad since I had to go around puddles and stuff. My feet still got wet so my runners are now drying on a rack over our heating vent. Felt great to be outside and not on a treadmill for my long run. I do love my treadmill but it's tough to get through a long run. My legs are sore but I feel great to have accomplished a further distance. Still more to go to be ready for the half but I still have some time.

Yesterday we had friends over for supper and I cooked up a nice pot of tomato sauce. I had it in my cast iron pot, and it cooked low and slow all day and it turned out delicious! I cooked up some spaghetti and we had ceasar salad and garlic bread with that. A little later in the evening we had this for dessert

I haven't made it in a long time. It's a raw dessert and from the picture on the left you can see it's with pineapples, which is also delicious but I have made it with blueberries before and it's just as good. The crust is made with cashews, but I did it with half cashews and half almonds, some maple syrup and some vanilla in the food processor. Half for the bottom and the other half for the top. The bottom crust gets patted down. The filling is cashews in my Vitamix, with some maple syrup, coconut oil and water and blend until nice and smooth. Add it to a bowl with some blueberries and mix. Very simple but so delicious! We all really enjoyed dessert, and we played a game that they brought and it was a lot of fun. We played another game after that I got for Christmas and it was also fun.

Didn't get much done today in the kitchen, just cleaned up from the night before, and with my long run I'm feeling quite tired. I'm thinking to take out my other mason jar of the root vegetable soup from my freezer so I have that for my lunch this week, and I do have salad, veggies and dip, and I do have more of the chia pudding and still some of my granola left so I have options for the week. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Chia pudding and granola

Yesterday I had more fun in the kitchen. I decided to get a few items ready for breakfast. I started with sauteing some veggies for some muffin "quiches". I added onion, mushroom, zucchini, garlic, and a bunch of watercress greens. For spice I did a touch of salt, some pepper and some turmeric. Once cooled, I added 6 eggs and mixed it all together. I greased my muffin tin with coconut oil and added scoops to each one, which I ended up with 9. I baked it in the over at 350 for about 20 min

Can't wait to try them! The mason jar on the left is chia pudding. I took one can of coconut milk, mixed it with half a cup of sprouted chia seeds, with about 1/4 cup of vegan chocolate protein powder and I added about 3 tbsp of maple syrup and mixed it all together and it's all about letting it sit for a while till the chia seeds do their magic. I tried a bit of it and it was delicious! In the background, it's just my Epicure books.

Today I went back to the kitchen to prepare a few more things. I started with preparing my pork roast. I seared it in a pan with some Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. In my slow cooker, I cut up a small onion and a carrot and added that to the bottom. I pored in a can of beer, and then added some fresh parsley and rosemary. I added the roast in and it's been cooking on low since about 10:30 this morning. I then got busy with preparing my pasta salad with an Asian sauce. The dressing I got from the Pioneer Woman on her site right here. Note that instead of the brown sugar I used honey.

I started off by boiling some water and added in some brown rice pasta shells and cooking that up. My veggies were these: 4 green onion, a zucchini, 3 small peppers (red, orange, yellow), some pea sprouts, and I got a bag of shredded carrot, cabbage and broccoli, so I added a bunch of that in there to.

 Mixed everything in a large bowl and then added it to a bowl to store in the fridge. I then had some quinoa soaking for a few hours in water, so I drained that, added about a half cup or so of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, walnuts and just a little bit of slivered almonds, I didn't have much left of it. I added the quinoa (1 cup), and then added 6 tbsp of coconut oil with 6 tbsp of maple syrup. I mixed it all in a bowl, then on a cookie sheet I added parchment paper and spread everything out and baked it in the oven at 325 for 20 minutes. Half way through I tossed it.

It's now in a mason jar in my fridge. The plan is to have some granola with my chia pudding. So I'm quite set for the week and I'm looking forward to eating it all.

I also did my long run for the week, and did another 10 km run. My time was a little better then last week and I am getting stronger cause it's becoming easier

So I was again watching a run on my tablet, and from what you see on the treadmill my time is an hour, 7 minutes and 18 seconds. The time and distance flash back and forth so decided to show the time this week where last week I showed the 10 km. Soon time to get the rest of supper ready, I will make some mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus with the pork. I am still trying to eat vegetarian, fish and shrimp only as much as possible but I will have a bit of the pork roast today, and get back on track tomorrow. Weekends I tend to be a bit more flexible.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Endometriosis and running

Although my endometriosis is a lot better then it use to be, it's still not completely gone and I do still suffer from some pain from time to time. I experienced a bit of pain this week so I decided to eat like I should to help prevent endometriosis pain. I feel like my body needs it, plus it's a great way to eat very healthy which will help my training for the half marathon in May. So I planned ahead, did groceries, and got into the kitchen today to prep some things for my lunch this week. I first started last weekend with preparing more kombucha

 

My brother gave me a scobby and some of the fermented drink in order for me to make my own. He gave this to me a while back, and I have been making more cause it's delicious! You have to let it ferment for at least 7 days, and this is it all ready, which it's been 9 days since it's been fermenting. I kept the scobby and some of the drink for another batch that I'll start in a few days, and the remaining I put into bottles with a slice of ginger in each. Now they need to sit for 3 days before it can go in the fridge to drink it up. I can't wait cause I ran out today.

I took out a cookbook that I haven't looked at in a while called Quinoa revolution and saw a recipe for a breakfast that I wanted to try out. I tasted it and it's really good! I can't wait to have that tomorrow morning. It only made two batches so the rest of the week for breakfast, I'll probably have some eggs with healthy bread or maybe just a protein shake with some oatmeal. Here's the recipe and my two bowls

Next step was getting one more thing ready, I sauteed some tempeh with a bit of gluten free tamari and some turmeric powder. I haven't had tempeh in a while so I tried one and it's just as good as I remember it. So simple and a great source of protein. I didn't have to prepare that many things today, cause during the week I made a brown rice risotto. I used some vegetable broth and added in some mushrooms and at the end I put in a bit of goat cheese to add some creaminess to it. I have a bit left over so that will make a good lunch along side my tempeh or I also bought some Falafel, another vegetarian option for protein. They have nothing but healthy ingredients and I have had them before and they are so yummy!. I saw they had a black bean burrito salad that looked and sounded good so I grabbed that as well at the health food store to try it out

I also have some salad and veggies and dip to have with these during the week. Suppers will be salmon, shrimp or vegetarian dishes. I did also do some running today. There's still way to much snow out there, you can actually see how our BBQ is almost all buried from the snow in the above picture, plus it's cold and icy so I play it safe and run on the treadmill. Although it's really tough to do cause I don't find running on the treadmill as fun as running outside. We are getting closer to March though so hoping the weather starts getting warmer soon so I can get out there. In the meantime, today I managed to do 10 km

Yes I do have my tablet with me with a video of someone running through the woods. It makes the run a bit more interesting cause as you can see our basement is not finished and there's junk down there so there's not much to look at, so my tablet helps. This run took me an hour and 8 min, not the best time but pretty good considering it's on a treadmill. I'm feeling it now, my legs are sore and I'm feeling quite tired but I'm doing pretty good so I can be ready for the half in May.

I did another recipe from the quinoa revolution cookbook for supper tonight that sounded really good. It did have chicken in it and my plan was to cook it aside but it was just easier to cook it all in one pan, and I thought I could use the protein since I did run 10 km. So I enjoyed one meal with chicken for supper and tomorrow I will start fresh with avoiding meat, meaning vegetarian, fish or shrimp only.

It was delicious! It had a nice kick of spice to it but nothing crazy. We both really enjoyed it. It's called Kung Pao chicken quinoa. There's two lunch size containers of left overs so my hubby will get to enjoy it for his lunch this week. Tomorrow's supper will be salmon and I can't wait!

So this coming week will be 2 more runs of 5 km each and a longer run over the following weekend, and I will also do some weights cause that's also important in my training. I am looking forward to enjoying the food I have prepared, and I want to take a look at more recipes for more ideas on what I can make for the following week.

Back in the kitchen

From my last post I talked about a root veggie tumeric soup that I was going to try out from Joyous Health, and I did make it. It turned out really good!

I had a few lunches and the rest I put in the freezer to enjoy another time. I have 3 mason jars, which I'm thinking to take one out soon. If you want the recipe I linked it on my last post.

I also talked about carrot cake cookies, these were a hit, even hubby loved them!

I will for sure make these again and again! They tasted delicious and the bonus is they are very healthy! So healthy that you can eat them for breakfast. Again thank you to Joyous Health for this amazing recipe!

I had to take a bit of a break from cooking, I went on a trip with my dad and cousin to Punta Cana. It was so great to spend that time with them, and it was also nice to escape the cold weather and snow for a week.

We got to spend some time with our new friend Romeo (dolphin), got to spend time with Pirates and went snorkeling, which we also got to see nurse sharks and sting rays. Anne and I got to enjoy a ride on a boat while getting pampered! We did a lot of swimming, walking and met some great people.

I have been back a while but it's been busy. I'm getting back on track so I'm ready for my half marathon with Samantha. She texted me on her progress and she did amazing time for a 10 km run so that was a push for me to train harder so yesterday I ran 7 km. It was tough towards the end but felt great to get further in my running. First time that I'm doing this long of a distance on a treadmill. I have always found it easier to run outside then on a treadmill, but since I got bronchitis, I can't seem to handle that much cold air, so I am training indoors on a treadmill since it's been quite a cold winter, it's icy and we have so much snow out there!

I figured out a way to make it a bit more interesting. At first I tried watching a show on netflix through my tablet but I still struggled to get far in my run, so I went back to music and I found I did a bit better. I do have a treadmill but it's in my basement which isn't done, so it's not really interesting to look at while running. Yesterday I did a bit of a search for running in the woods and I found this great video of a trail through the woods, so you get to see different trees, even people going by, and different views of fields and stuff so I gave it a try and I did way better with my run. I love looking at nature, it's so peaceful, relaxing and beautiful so I'm going to watching this video or others like it to help me get through my run on the treadmill. When I run at work, they do have tvs and there's others working out so it's a bit more interesting to help keep me running.

Still a long way to go to get to 21.5 km but luckily we have till towards the end of May to be ready.  I'm sure it will come quickly so I'll keep pushing forward to make sure I'm ready. I am really looking forward to warmer weather though so I can run outside again.Today I did weight exercises cause that's also important.

I will get back into the kitchen again to try out new recipes. Today's supper was some salmon, rice and salad. Nothing fancy but it was delicious! Well for my supper I only had the salmon and salad. I'm trying to eat as healthy as I can since that will help with my training to. Don't worry I am still eating healthy carbs but eating them for breakfast and lunch and keeping things lighter for supper.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! As I get older, it seems that the years go by faster and faster. 2018 was a great year, now time to work on making 2019 a great year as well.

I've had the last week and a half off work, and was hoping to get a lot accomplished but instead I caught another bad cold, so I didn't get much done, but that's ok, I got other things done instead. I had the time to rest up, but also go through quite a few emails that I fell behind on, which I have been concentrating more on catching up on the Joyous Health emails which has links to her blog.

One soup I decided to try out is the Root Veggie Turmeric Soup, which I plan to make that today. It will make a big batch so I'll save a few bowls and freeze the rest so I have it on hand when needed. I also want to try out this drink that she made, Matcha Collagen Latte. I did some shopping the other day so I have all the ingredients that I need.

A lot of us do make resolutions when we start off a new year but don't always stick to them, but my goal this year is to get back on track with healthy eating, and I for sure need to get back into exercising. With 2 colds and the holidays, I fell behind on my running, but I did run 2 km yesterday and did some weights. I'm working on getting back into shape so I'm ready for my half marathon in May.

I kind of fell into this rut/laziness, of making the same meals and not really making my own snacks as much or taking the time to plan ahead and I want to change that. Time to stop being so lazy and get more things accomplished. I ended up reading a post about organizing meals once a week, and I would like to get into that. That way lunches are prepared, so I'm not stuck trying to put something together in the morning before going to work. I want to try out new recipes again and make more healthy snacks. I saw this other recipe that Joyous Health made, and they are carrot cake cookies. I have this hand soap that smells like carrot cake and each time we use it, it gets us hungry for some. At one point I did buy a small carrot cake from Farm boy but it didn't taste very good, so we threw it out. So I'm thinking to try out these cookies, and a bonus is they are very healthy.

I won't be doing any diet, I don't believe in diets, and they are to hard to stick to. I like lifestyle changes cause they are easier to stick to. So my goal is to be in the kitchen a lot more to make my own recipes, or following someone's recipe. So I control what I put in to keep things healthy. To be healthy means eating real food and that's what I want to do. I may fall off track but I'll make my way back. I think it's all about balance to, it's fine to have a treat here and there, so you don't feel so deprived.

Since I got a new phone a while back I did put some music back on but not all the songs I wanted to. Plus I also got a few new CDs that I didn't get a chance to convert to MP3 so I can get them on my phone as well so I took some time to do that. I want to create a playlist, maybe 2 or 3 of them to switch things up, for when I'm exercising. I haven't created my playlist yet, well I have one created but there's not many songs saved on there. I do still have today and tomorrow to get things done so that's my goal is to get as much done as I can.

I have had plenty of rest so now it's time to get busy before going back to work on Monday.

I will be sure to take some pictures of what I make, and start sharing more recipes.