Goodies & Answers

I got some woooonderful feedback on my last post about maintaining healthy lifestyles and dealing with food cravings. I loved reading through the responses on my my new handy-dandy phone while on my break at work today :)

So I know today is Waffle Wednesday and all. But in the spirit of cravings – I just had to give in to mine today!

Molasses custard oats.

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 egg (stirred in while cooking)
• cinnamon, pumpkin spice, ground ginger
• 2 tsp molasses (one in the oats, one drizzled on top)
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 2 tbsp coconut chia granola

I swear there was oatmeal under there!!!

This was a crazy delicious bowl. One of my best in a while!! I owe it all to Bekah, who sent me a Christmas care package full of food blogger friendly goodies :)

Thank you SO much Bekah!! Included is the coconut chia granola, maple cumin almonds and two pumpkin cookies. I’ve nibbled on the almonds and omgtheyaregood. Cumin is one of my favourite spices ever.

While on the topic of fun gifts, I also received a boatload of bar samples from the fine folks at Vega!

All the flavours of the new Vibrancy Bar. I’m really excited to try these. I’ve been eyeing the Vega bars at the grocery store for a while now. Thank you so much Kelly and Sequel Naturals! I have to say, Vega is one company I really like. Even though I’m not a vegan, I love their healthy approach to nutrition for athletes and active people. I’ll be reviewing the bars as I devour them ;)

I’d actually brought a Clif bar as a morning snack to work today. But while in the stock room, my lovely coworkers baked an extra blueberry muffin for me as a morning treat. It was a nice gesture, and to be honest, the muffin sounded fabulous!! Knowing they’re giant and mega calorie dense, I cut it in half and partook in our muffin feast. It was fun and delicious. Nothing beats muffins fresh out of the oven. Being around all those treats at work can sometimes be hard. But I’m learning to turn down the ones I don’t really want, and having little pieces of the ones I know I’ll enjoy. So far, I feel okay about it :)

Cake disguised as muffins isn’t really filling though, I was starving come lunchtime!

Turkey n’ hummus pita. Probably my favourite pita combo of all time. Chased down with an uber ripe pear.

I had to run a bunch of errands after work, which resulted in me walking in the door ready to eat my arm off again. Dinner needed to be quick. Enter lunch, revised. 

 
Smoked tofurkey slices, jarlsberg, mustard, pickles, mushrooms, onions, tomato and spinach on lavish bread. With sweet potato cheetahs.

Followed by a candy cane from Santa for dessert.
 

My Starbucks kiosk is directly beside the Santa’s workshop set-up in the mall where the kiddies go to sit on his lap. Today’s Santa was particularly jolly and came over to give us candy canes :)

 

Answers Round 3

Today’s question comes from Lauren, who asked:

The question is what’s been the hardest part of your journey to health so far? What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about yourself?

I’d say the hardest part has been learning not to alienate myself or those around me in my quest to be healthy. Socially, it can be hard to always take the “healthy” route when everyone else around you isn’t. This happens a lot when I’m out at bars, at work, or even at home with my family. Today’s muffin feast is an example of that. I didn’t want to blow off my coworkers by making them think I was too good for them and their treats. But at the same time, I wanted to make a wise food choice. So I compromised, and in the end was happy with my decision.

Additionally, trying to be healthy is a time commitment. Going to the gym, preparing healthy meals, and even yoga, all take time away from what I could be spending with friends and family. I often don’t get to hang out with Chris much in the evenings because I’ve committed to waking up early to workout the next day. Or I want to prepare a whack of healthy food to bring with me to work. I haven’t always succeeded at this, but I’m thankful to have people in my life that are so understanding about it.

In that vein, I have definitely learned that it’s important to be up front and honest about my health goals. I can confidently say that everyone in my life now knows there’s a “New Susan” in town, and life is infinitely more easy with them knowing that. When I go home, my mom makes sure there’s oatmeal and gym access for me. And people don’t push beer on me nearly as much as they used to ;)

Most importantly though, I think I’ve learned that I’ll always be a work in progress. There is no “end date” to this journey, because the quest to being healthy never ends. I am learning more about myself and what I can achieve every single day. I no longer have a “goal” in mind as to what I want to be or look like some day. The best I can do is just that – do my best every day. So far I’ve been really happy with the results from that :)

 

Tomorrow wraps up Q&A week! You can still get any last minute questions in. Just leave a comment or pop me an e-mail at thegreatbalancingact@gmail.com :)

 

Question of the Day: What’s one thing you’ve recently learned about yourself? I’ve learned that I can’t survive without coffee in the morning. I had to go 90 minutes today between waking up and making an Americano when I got to work. It was brutal!!!