Still Working on it...

(My makeshift kitchen)

I just got back from the gym and I'm actually sweating on my keyboard as I type. I had a pretty good workout tonight. I kept it simple; 5 minute treadmill warm up, 10 minute run (running at about a 9 minute mile pace now) and a 5 minute brisk-walk cool down. I followed that up by some lower ab work and a couple sets of push-ups. It's amazing to me how much push-ups alone can do for your body. Not only do push-up movements work your biceps, but they are also great for the triceps, chest, abs, and back (to an extent). If all someone did was push-ups, deadlifts, and squats in an intense circuit rotation, they'd probably be in pretty good shape, with no gym equipment needed...maybe I should be that someone! Unfortunately, I won't have the luxury of a free school gym (like I have now) when I go back home for the summer so a circuit much like the one I just described might become a reality for me. I purchased a jump rope off of amazon.com a couple of weeks ago and I can't wait to use it during my workouts. I've been playing around with my room arrangement to see if I can create enough space so I can jump rope inside but that hasn't been working out so well. The weather has been beautiful anyway so I should take advantage of it and workout outside.

I labeled this post 'Still Working on it' because, as you can guess, I'm still working on gaining more control over my diet. I would give myself a B- for my dietary behavior over the past three weeks because although I have come a long way from where I was this winter, some of my habits are still pretty pathetic. I also have to be even more careful now because, ironically enough, when I workout, I get more cravings to eat unhealthy foods. Perhaps this happens because I think that I can simply burn off whatever fatty calories I ate during my workouts. This philosophy really sucks because that would be a huge waste of burned calories. I would much rather burn the fat stores that I currently have rather than new carbs and fats that I just consumed. AGHH!! Sometimes my own thinking can get me really worked up.

Does anyone else agree with me about cravings coming hand in hand with increased exercise? My sister told me that her habits are quite the contrary; whenever she gets serious about working out, she is more apt to follow up her exercise routine with healthy eating. I guess that gene was lost somewhere in between her birth and mine...

I'm no where near where I need to be in order to complete my first 5K of the season but I'm getting there slowly but surely. I think that once I knock the first one out of the way, the rest will be a lot easier. There's a 5K serious that takes place about 5 miles from my house and they hold their races every Wednesday night from April through August. Attending a few of these should make reaching my running goal more attainable. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to scope out their course when I head back home in a couple of weeks.

By the way, Tim VanOrden had a speaking appearance out on Long Island a couple weeks ago not too far from where I live. Did anyone attend? I'm just interested to hear what people thought; he's one of my favorites!

Take care everyone and don't be shy with the comments.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

One Step at a Time

(I finally made my own food!)

It's no secret that my diet has been super out of whack recently. I've been teetering back and forth between periods of time where my diet is immaculate and even longer periods when I shovel everything in sight into my mouth. I could somewhat get away with this behavior during the winter because D.C. winters allow you to clothe heavily, but the summer is a bit less forgiving. People are already beginning to shed the jackets and jeans and it's a bit intimidating...

My original plan for the winter was to hit the gym on a regular basis and put on as much lean muscle as possible. I was going to keep an eye on my diet, but not nearly as much as I do during the summer. Like I said, the winter allows for some wiggle room in terms of clothing so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Following the bulk of the winter, around March, I wanted to calorie/fat cut a bit and lean out so that by the time I finished school (May 11th) I'd be beach ready (vain, I know). Well, that plan did not flourish and here I am weighing 10lbs more than I did when I arrived here in the fall.

It's okay though; I have a snapshot of where I am (figuratively and literally) and I'm ready to go forward. I went grocery shopping Friday and today and I was able to load up on some good produce. I got about a weeks worth of groceries...90% of them being raw.

As I learned in past experiences, jumping into a 100% raw diet can be incredibly tough, but for the sake of my trip to L.A. on May 15th, I'm going to go as raw as possible for as long as possible. My one vice will be cooked rice and beans (complete protein) but other than that, I'm staying away from cooked foods.

Also, I commence my new fitness program tomorrow so it should be interesting to see the results of a sound diet and working out during 5 weeks time. Over the summer, when my raw foodism was at its height, I lost a substantial amount of weight with diet alone, so you can imagine what a combination of a raw diet and exercise could potentially do for me...or anyone for that matter.

Pictured up top was my lunch which was, if I may say so myself, absolutely delicious. It was a mix of lettuce, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, corn, and mushrooms which I cooked lightly. The flavor from the sun dried tomatoes could be tasted in the whole salad so I actually didn't need any dressing. It's been awhile since I've eaten something so clean and tasty.

What else did I eat today? I was somewhat of a pig, digging in to my newly purchased groceries, but here's my Sunday consumption list:

(not in the order they were eaten)
1 Grapefruit
2 Oranges
1 Banana
A Bowl of Lightly Roasted Potatoes
1 Avocado
Handful of Carrots
1 Cup of Cranberry Tea

...and it's only 7pm!?!?!

I've got to do something about this unorganized eating thing.

Take care everyone and feel free to drop a comment.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

No More University Cash?!?!

(Lunch)

At the beginning of the school year, I wrote a post that went into detail about the dining situation at my college. I think that I was sort of content with it back then but now, I just can't stand it. Maybe I'm only saying that because I ran out of money yesterday with more than a month left in the semester...or maybe it really just sucks.

Just to put it out there, I'm actually quite an effective budgeter. I think that the fundamental difference between my spending habits and those of my peers is the fact that I eat healthier, and as we all know, sometimes healthy options can cost significantly more than unhealthy options.

For example: I don't drink cow's milk, which costs $3.49 per gallon at Safeway (the grocery store where most students shop). I do, however, drink soy, rice, and almond milk, which costs, on average, $9 per gallon at Safeway. Now, I maybe drink somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 gallons per week so we're talking anywhere from $4.50 - $6.75 spent on a weeks worth of milk. I'm not mad about this, but I guess I'm just a little perplexed by the fact that my resources are drying up quicker because I choose to be healthier.

So, with the drying up of my funds comes the good and the bad. The bad is obvious; I no longer have 'free' money to spend on food. The good is a little less obvious; now I have the freedom to shop wherever I please since I'm now using my own money. True, I could have shopped anywhere I wanted before but in the interest of saving money, I used the university cash. Now that that is moot, I now have to spend my own money out of obligation and I can finally venture outside of the 9 square city blocks of campus.

First stop? Whole Foods.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

New York Raw Lovin'

(Raw Enchillada from Raw Soul)

I took a well needed break from DC this past weekend and headed home to New York for a couple of days. My sister had her baby shower on Saturday so other than that event, I pretty much had the weekend to myself. I took an early bus on Saturday morning that dropped off at 34th street and then I proceeded to head uptown to see my mom. She recently started working at a restaurant called Raw Soul which is located on 145th Street between St. Nicholas and Edgecombe (for those of you who are familiar with the city, it is right off of the A/C train stop at 145th street). Since working there, she has really honed in on her raw food 'un-cooking' craft. If you look at some of my posts from last summer, I have a few photos up of some salads and other things she made for me when my leg was broken. Those were good, but nothing compared to what she's able to whip up now.


(Raw BBQ Burger from Raw Soul)

When I finally arrived uptown and saw my mother, she had a couple of raw dishes readily available for me to try. One was the Raw Enchillada which I had never seen or heard of before. It looked really good and it tasted even better. I believe that it is a new addition to the Raw Soul menu so for any of you in the NY area, I would encourage you to go ahead and give it a try. The second dish she had readily available was the BBQ Burger. I've tried this burger before and actually passed on tasting it this time because the last one I ordered from Raw Soul had this Horse Fly in it. I should be over that incident by now but that was all I could think of when I saw that burger.

Unfortunately, this was the only run-in I had with raw food during my stay in the city but I come home for the summer in about 6 weeks and I'm excited to do a tour of many more restaurants and see what new dishes I've been missing out on this year.

By the way, I heard that Jill's Cafe in Brooklyn is no longer?!?! That was my favorite raw food restaurant in the city. Anyone know anything about this?

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

5k Anyone?

(Ryan Hall - Olympic Athlete: Marathon)

5K Anyone? -
And no, I don't mean $5,000, I'm talkin' bout RUNNING. I developed a love for running in 10th grade when I was doing my best to cope with some emotional issues that struck me kind of abruptly. If there was any one thing that helped me get through that tough time, it was definitely my commitment to excellence in running. And by excellence, I don't mean winning the NYC or Boston marathon, I mean doing the best I can and being the best runner I can possibly be. I set out to complete a 12 week running program which, at the time, was the longest commitment I had ever made to anything non-scholastic in my life.

Let me tell you though, my friends thought I was crazy...and perhaps I was a little bit.

I say this because I recently found one of the daily schedules I created for myself during 10th grade and the first activity on it looked something like this: 5 a.m. - Wake up and run 4 miles.

And the thing is, I would actually do it! I'm a bit jealous of my persistence back then. I went on to complete the 12 week program and scheduled a race for the day after the program ended. It was a small race by my house and there were only maybe 15 runners - two of us being females. That race is an experience that I will always remember because it was the product of weeks of hard work. I didn't just up and decide to run the race the day before; I planned for it and took the necessary steps to run a successful race. I ended up with a time of 26:42 and was beaten by the other female racer by 19 seconds --- and this other female racer just so happened to be my sister.

So as I prepare to embark on my next 5k journey, I'm forced to be a bit more careful due to my ankle. I ran a mile the other day for the first time in a long time and I felt surprisingly good afterward. I did experience some pain the following day but overall, I think I felt just as any normal runner would feel the day after extending themselves (yes, at the current time I sadly consider 1 mile extending myself).

I don't exactly have a 8 or 12 week plan mapped out this time around because I don't want to dissapoint myself if I have to skip some days because of pain. I've decided to go on the way I feel more than anything. If I'm feeling like superwoman and want to run 3 miles, I'll do it. If I need to scale back and just do some powerwalking, then so be it...as long as I'm staying active.

I'll do my best with progress updates...Here I go!

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

Wait...Before I Go

Ok, so I know I said that you wouldn´t be hearing from me again until I was back in the U.S. but lucky for you all, I had a little something on my mind that I wanted to dish before I go. I wanted to talk about a couple of cultural differences that I noticed during my short time here. As you know, the United States and western Europe are a decent distance away from one another but they are very similar in multiple ways. But...I´m not here to talk about the similarities, I´m here to talk about the differences, and three differences in particular:

1) Being Nice

As simple of a concept as it seems, I don´t often run into very nice New Yorkers, and I´m guessing that there are some other New Yorkers out there who feel the same way. This trend of un-niceness may not be a demonstration of the true colors of many New Yorkers, but perhaps when you get so caught up in your work and you´re constantly rushing from place to place, you can come across as being a bit aggressive. Maybe this is why so many people in the city walk around with their headphones on? To tune out all of the mean people they feel they are surrounded by? I bring up niceness as an example because when I was in the grocery store the other day, a nice associate came up to me when I was walking down one of the aisles and handed me a hand cart. May not seem like such a big deal but...it is. This has NEVER happened to me in the U.S. and if it did, I would probably shop at that grocery store every day. Yes, perhaps this was a tactic to get me to buy more but hey, it worked because I definitely bought more things than I would have been able to hold in my hands.

2) Caring for your fellow man or woman

The picture at the top of this post is of something that I typically see around here; older spanish women holding hands and taking a walk together in the early evening. Let me tell you, I love seeing this. I barely ever see older people here who are accompanied by care takers because most of them are caring for each other...isn´t that a beautiful thing? Wouldn´t it be great if we all, at any age, could partner up with the people we love and make a fitness pact? As a matter of fact, it doesn´t even have to be about fitness, you can merely have an agreement to take an hour long walk twice a week to reflect on the events that have been occuring in your life. Wow, what a difference that would make.

3) Please...stop the music...and the phones

Huge thing that I´ve noticed - people don´t walk around listening to their ipods and talking on their cell phones. The few times that I see someone with an ipod is typically when they´re running in the street but other than that, I seldom see people wearing headphones. This is probably because most often, people are walking in pairs or triplets - typically with their significant other, a friend, or children. Aren´t conversations always better than words in a song anyway? ( although, I´m a huge advocate for audiobooks). Also, cell phone usage while walking in the street is virtually non-existant. I can´t tell you how sick I am of hearing about who gave who the STD in what should be a private conversation between two people. When will the madness stop?? What ever happened to landlines??

Anyway though, I think I have done enough ranting for the last week and it´s now time to settle down a bit and get back in the school mindset. I´ve got an economics exam waiting for me on Monday...how so very exciting...

Take care everyone and expect another post in the next few days.

Raw. Love.

-Natalie

Almost Time to Go

Once again, I´m plagued with limited time and a keyboard that seems to have honey stuck in between the keys so I have limited time to do a post....we have to learn to work with what we´re given though right?

I got back from the movie theater a little while ago and my friend and I ended up watching the movie Underworld 3...it was mad weird. We couldn´t see the Almodóvar movie because it had already started and we didn´t feel like sitting around and waiting for the next showing to start. I had some popcorn and water while we watched the movie.

For lunch today, my host mom made this really tasty mix of rice and garbanzo beans but I could have done without the copious amounts of olive oil she put in it. Whatever though, I still enjoyed it. My host dad seems to have lost a lot of weight since I last saw him two years ago so I guess they´re doing something different with their cooking nowadays.

The picture above is of me and my host parents daughter Candela. They´re going to name their second daughter Raquel - I like that name.

I had to do a double take when I saw that picture through the LCD screen because I can see my winter weight gain clearly...especially in my face. My trip to California is quickly approaching (2 months away) so it´s time for a bit of a turnaround. Gym anyone?

I have a list of about 20 or so goals that I carry with me everywhere and one of my fitness goals is to run 15 5k´s between now and February. I better get cracking though because as of right now, I can´t even run a straight 10 minute mile without huffing and puffing. I ran my last 5k (3 years ago) in 26 or so minutes and that didn´t even scratch the surface of my potential, so I´ve really got to work hard, especially with my broken ankle.

I´ll try to put up the video in my next post...which will be from the U.S. Until then, take care everyone.

Raw. Love.

-Natalie