Monument Avenue 10K

I wanted to report back about how the 10K went. But first - the pre-race day carb loading!!! Just kidding - you don't really need to carb load before a 10K, but I did happen to eat soba noodles the night before. I did my favorite soba+wakame+tahini+nutritional yeast dish:

 

One concern I had going into the race is that I am not a morning exercising type of person. Since I've been training for the 10K, I've only done evening runs and I always feel more up to exercising later in the day. The race started at 8:30AM. By the time my wave left it was about 9:30 or 10AM. I definitely did not feel as strong and energetic as I do on my evening runs, but I feel like it was a success! I ran the whole race, and my time was 1 hour 4 minutes. I was happy that I participated in this event before leaving Richmond.

Raw Week!

I can't believe I have waited so long to make this post, because I am doing a 100% raw week!!

I attended a Perinatal Obesity Conference for work last week, and it was indeed a wake up call. While health and nutrition are always on my radar, sometimes I encounter books, inspirational folks, or... conferences which help me to raise my standards of good health. The many wonderful speakers at the conference and the sunny spring weather we've been having in Richmond, have made me feel like a bodily spring cleaning! What better way than a week of enzyme-rich living food?

Now, just to update you, I am already on DAY 4! Began spring cleaning on St. Patrick's Day, which is appropriate because I have been eating so many green things - spinach, Romaine, wakame, avocado, pepitas, cucumber, spirulina and on! I made this the other day: massaged beet greens and wakame sesame salad:


I really wanted to put tahini in this salad, but I have roasted tahini right now, and I'm really trying to do a 100% raw commitment for this one week. I added sea salt, nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, pepitas, and olive and sesame oils. It turned out pretty dang good; however, if I were to make it again I would do less wakame. I loved the perfect crispness of the beet greens after some massaging!


With extra pepitas!

I will continue posting about raw week and what I've been eating! For any full-time raw readers, I need some tips for breakfasts! I've been doing green smoothies for breakfast, but need some variety. I think I might sprout some buckwheaties, but that will take a few days. Help!

Bring a Lunch!

I bring my lunch to work nearly every day - I'd say about 95% of the time. (And when I don't there is a lovely older woman who sells homemade Indian food from her food cart right down the street from where I work for only $5!) I usually will bring leftovers of stew, pasta, tofu stir fries... or whatever I've made that week at home; I bring salads and fresh fruit like apples or oranges or sliced grapefruit. And I usually always cook a little extra oatmeal in the morning to have a second breakfast at work.

Needless to say, I bring a lot of food to work with me; this way I stay satisfied and am not tempted by the Indian food cart or any one of the many delicious, but sometimes not nutritious, food options available in exchange for cash near my workplace.

I wanted to share one of the dishes I bring to work regularly. This is adapted from a recipe my college roommate, who was Japanese, taught me to make: tahini soba noodles! This dish is quick and very nutritious!

I mix tahini, water, ground ginger, Bragg's aminos, lots of nutritional yeast and a pinch of sugar into my cooked soba noodles, and I add re-hydrated wakame and shiitake mushrooms - quick greens and fungi. You can also add cooked sliced carrots, as my roomie did.

Served here with hibiscus tea. Yum!