School and Work taking over my life

I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to upkeep this blog and go to school and go to work. I've been super busy with papers and projects, etc. As far as healthiness is concerned, I still have been slacking, but I'm getting better. I'm trying to eat breakfast more often and not sleep so late. I got the P90X and I want to do that really bad because I've heard so many good reviews on it. I've already got my pull-up bar, my dumbbells, and a yoga mat. Now, the only thing I need is a video cord to connect my laptop to the TV because I have the series on the computer. Then I can start, yay! So far my friends who've already been doing it said that it will KILL you and it is VERY intense. But that's okay, I need intensity in my life, especially since I may be joining the military soon. Things aren't quite working out with me with financial aid and school and whatnot, so I've decided that I may join the National Guard (either Air or Army).

Oh, and I STILL need a trim really bad LOL.

New Conditioners, yay!

So I had a free session with a personal trainer on Monday and I got my ass kicked. And it was only 20 minutes LOL. I am so fat on the inside, yall and I am super sore. He had me run a half mile, do a crap-load of combination squat/medicine ball exercises, more running, push-ups, and sit-ups. I would go to him on a weekly basis, but he cost too much damn money. It's like $70 a session for an individual, and then like $40 for a group of four. Even if I were to join a group that's still $240 if I go to him once a week for 6 weeks, or $480 if I go to him twice a week for 6 weeks. I am a broke college student, so neither of those are happening. I wish my mom would hurry up and get our YMCA membership back, then I would just take classes there. The bf was at the barbershop and there is a trainer there who is a regular customer. He said he was charging $140 for 4 sessions and that is SOOOOO much more reasonable. If I decided to call this guy, that would be reasonable for me to see him once a week (while doing other exercises at home) for a month or two until I could get the hang of this whole exercise thing.

Anyway, so about my hair. I went crazy at CVS and they were having a sale on conditioners. I bought these for $2.88 each:

Very excited about these and I love the smell of all of them. I know they have some nappy no-no ingredients, but what the hey. I will just make sure I clarify more often so I won't have any problems with build-up. So far, the only one I've used is the HE None of Your Frizzness and it is THE BOMB! I co-washed right before work, lightly towel-dried and then air dried. My hair felt SO soft ALL day and smelled delicious! So far, this is a keeper, but we shall see about how it does with continuous use. I can't wait to try all of them. I think I'm just going to rotate them. Now, on the Cosmetics Safety Database, these conditioners (I found all except Hydralicious) rate about a 5/10 on the hazard scale, mostly because they all have "fragrance" in them. The rest of the ingredients in the conditioner are rated an average of 3 with the exception of these three long names I can't pronounce. But like I said, I think I will be okay.

Oh yeah, I still need a trim really badly. I think I might call this chick from craig's list and pray that she doesn't jack up my hair.

Off hiatus

Okay, so I've been away for like a month, but that's okay. I just haven't felt like getting on the computer and blogging, as I really didn't have anything to say. But I do now :)

First off, I have been seriously slacking on my healthy habits. I haven't been drinking as much water and I have been skipping meals again, when it's clearly not beneficial for me to gain weight. I stay up way too late (like I am right now) and then don't eat before I go to class. For the past few weeks I've been eating only like once or twice a day. I don't really have an appetite, but that could be due to the fact that I'm not active. I'm trying to find a gym or something and my mom claims that she's going to get our YMCA membership back. I have a free session of personal training on Monday, and boy am I out of shape. Haven't exercised in months, except for like twice in February. I can't do conventional exercise. It's boring and I don't like it. No, I don't have an mp3 player and I refuse to get on that damn treadmill or elliptical machine. Yawn.....I'd rather be taking Zumba or Sculpt (strength and toning) classes at the Y.

Okay, so. About the hair. I got this new conditioner from Say Yes to Carrots and it is AWESOME! Makes my hair soft, me loves it :). I wanna try the shampoo, but I don't wanna give up my Carol's Daughter Rosemary Mint. That stuff is the BOMB. But I hear its good to rotate your products sometimes. I am trying to fight my product-junkyism but sometimes conditioners call my name. I don't know if a lot of black people use it, but Herbal Essences has a new line called Hydralicious. Its hazard rating is a 5 out of 10 (moderate) on the Cosmetic Safety Database, so I'm not overly concerned. I would probably be using it just for co-washing and the scent anyway. I'm like a conditioner addict. I really only need one or two good shampoos but I can have a million conditioners.

Bottom line: I'm going to get back on the ball and continue eating healthy and finding a gym and all that good jazz. I just wish I had some more motivation or like a buddy, ya know? Maybe I will go to meetup.com and see if there's a group for that.

Forgot about my restaurant experience

How could I have possibly forgotten this? So me and my friend went to this vegetarian restaurant that serves Indian food. It's called Woodlands and it's on the east side of the city. The food was SOOOOOOOO good, I can't even explain it, but I can't wait to go back. So this is what we had:

Appetizer: Samosa Chaat (Chopped Samosa topped with Wheat Crispies, Yogurt, Tamarind & Mint Chutneys)

My meal: Malai Kofta (Dumpling of Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Cheese, Rasins in Saffron based Cashew & Almond Sauce) I know I'm not supposed to have cheese, but it probably wasn't that much because I didn't have a lot of gas or anything afterward.

His meal: man, I can't remember, but it was either the Paneer Szechwan Noodles (Noodles w/ Finely Chopped Fresh Vegetables, Homemade Cottage Cheese in a Spicy Szechwan Sauce) or the Paneer Hakka Noodles (Noodles w/ Finely Chopped Fresh Vegetables, Homemade Cottage Cheese).

So yeah, I can't wait to go back there again, probably with the bf this time.

Anyway,
breakfast: about 11:30am, 2 eggs and a bagel w/ apple juice
snack at work: 3pm, honey roasted sesame sticks
lunch/dinner: veggie burger w/ edamame hummus, avocado,swiss cheese and sprouts from Just Fresh
dinner/snack: hearty apple smoothie w/ added weight-gain, and veggie flaxseed tortilla chips w/ salsa

So I weigh 107 now, I'm so excited! I made a chart and everything for my online health class to keep track of my weight and estimated BMI. Tomorrow I'm going to make one to document my fitness. Looks like I'll be doing jumping jacks, crunches and push-ups for a little while. Better than nothing right?

I really wanna try these recipes for Sweet Potato Fries!

More meal planning!

So I asked Cathleen over at vegan-nutritionista.com about gaining weight and being vegan. She basically said to stick with heart-healthy fats such as: olive oil, coconut oil and safflower oils. She also recommended nut spreads like almond butter, cashew butter, and soybean butter and to add flax seeds to my diet. I definitely wanna try that. I already cook with olive oil and Earth Balance, which is soy, palm, and olive oil-based.

On my quest to gain weight I googled some other information and this pretty much sums up what I found:

• more starches: potatoes, pasta, rice, bread
• 3 meals a day plus 3 healthy snacks
• more protein: chicken, tofu, peanut butter, legumes, eggs, hummus
• choose drinks with higher calories
• add good sources of fat, as noted above
• fruit: bananas, pineapple, mango, dried fruits, avocado
• calorie-dense foods: oatmeal, granola, bean and barley soups, peas, carrots
  
• exercise to ensure the added weight does not turn into flab

So......I think I could do some of this. Since I work at Smoothie King, I could also drink a Strawberry Hulk, which is about 1000 calories. The original recipe calls for butter pecan icecream, but since I'm intolerant I substitute with vanilla yogurt and it comes out just fine. That is one of my FAVORITE smoothies. I don't know if it's gonna work, but maybe I can add the weight-gain powder to some of my other favorite smoothies so I won't have to get the same thing all the time. Either way, I'm glad I have something to help supplement my weight gaining goal of 120 lbs. I don't care how long it takes to get there, as long as I do.

So lately for breakfast I have been eating 2 eggs and/or an "everything" bagel with Earth Balance. Usually I will drink either water or rice milk with it. Lately I've been having trouble with lunch LOL which is so ironic because I used to skip breakfast. It's really hard to eat 3 meals a day but I guess I have to make some way around the schedule. Like tomorrow I have class from 12:30 to 1:25 and then work from 3 to 10. So I figure I will have breakfast before I go to class tomorrow at around 11 and then have some type of meal at 2 or 2:30 before I leave for work. For my break I might go to Just Fresh and get either the Avocado Turkey Burger or the Veggie Burger. If I'm not in the mood for something hot, then I'll get the Very Veggie sandwich from the deli. Dinner? I have no idea because I'm not sure if/what my mom is cooking so I don't know if I need to make anything. If so, then I will probably make a sandwich or something.

Oh yes, exercise. I need to push myself very hard in this area because I really don't like to do it. But once I get into it, then I start enjoying it. I don't have weights or anything so I don't know how I'm going to do strength training unless I just do pushups and crunches in my room. Not really my ideal thing, but I suppose it's better than nothing.

By the way, is turkey considered red meat?

Exercise, Food and Etc

Okay, so I know that in order to fully reach my on-going health goals exercise is a MUST. Honestly, I hate exercising. It's not so much that I am too lazy to do it, it's just that I really feel overwhelmed when it comes to that. I've been looking at various places for gym memberships but the sites don't have the most important information on there: THE PRICE. That just totally turns me off because I don't want you to call me and try to con me into joining your gym. All I want is the information right in front of me so I can make my own decision.

Another reason why I'm afraid of exercise is because I don't want to lose weight. I am tired of being 105lbs. I'm 5'3 and I know I'm not that underweight, but I still am and I don't like it. I don't think I consume enough carbs and protein to give me some weight and yet not become fat. So if anyone knows any tips so that I can gain/maintain a healthy weight, I am SO there and yes I KNOW I have to do some type of exercise.

So I was looking online and I found a few kool websites with information regarding lactose intolerance and certain cheeses. Basically what they were saying is that I may be able to consume aged cheeses such as parmesan, romano, and cheddar because the lactose is gradually turned into lactic acid, which they say has no effect on people who are intolerant. Apparently I can eat feta and other goat cheeses too because they have a different form of lactose and protein that doesn't irritate those who are lactose intolerant.

I had spaghetti again for dinner but it was plain this time. I was in a lazy mood. However, I did make some celery-carrot-spinach juice, sweetened with one apple and one pear. It was really good. I think I will stop being afraid to make nasty juice and incorporate more veggies and leave out the fruit sometimes. Not that the fruit is bad, I just want to experiment with more veggie juices.

I added a bunch more books that I want to read. They are mostly vegan/vegetarian (as are the blogs I read), but I haven't quite made the committment to do that yet. At this point I don't think I'm going to be vegan; it's more like I'm deciding between a vegetarian or a flexitarian, but I'm open to all the healthy meal options.

OH YEAH. I remember what I wanted to talk about. So I started training at my new job, Smoothie King. It's not just a smoothie bar, but a nutrition center. They use all natural products, including turbinado instead of processed white sugar, and honey as sweeteners. And if you don't want the sugar at all, you can "Make it Skinny," which also takes off 100 calories. It seems like a lot, but I think most of the smoothies are designed to be meal replacements. Check out the website, they pretty much have a smoothie for everyone and I am so excited to be working there and I can't wait till we open on Sunday. We get one free smoothie per shift, so I will most definitely be doing reviews.