Coffee: What's the Verdict?

This morning I was up early and headed out for an easy run. The Map My Run program on my phone wasn't feeling like working, so I had to time my run and figure out the distances on google maps, which was rather frustrating... I ended up running 2.5 miles in 23 min, which comes out to about 9:15 min/mile. Not awesome, but I was a bit distracted by trying to fix my phone.

When I got back, I had a banana with some bread and PB2 powder made into peanut butter (2 tbl PB2 and 1 tbl water with a bit of honey!).

After I ate, I got a few things done around my apartment and then headed off to Power sculpt at Core Power Yoga. My Groupon for one month of yoga classes at Core Power Sculpt starts today, so I'm going to be taking advantage of this for the next month! I hope I don't get tired of yoga! Power sculpt is one of my favorite classes there because it's more of a workout than a normal yoga class. They use weights during the yoga moves and have pumped-up music. The purpose is to both add in strength training and get your heart rate up!

After yoga I walked home (in the rain...), jumped in the shower, and then made myself a smoothie before heading to school!

On my first day back at law school I immediately headed to the Starbucks across the street on my way to the building and felt my old law-school self coming back. I spewed out my complicated order in Starbucks terminology and felt like someone else was talking. I hadn’t been to Starbucks in months!

That afternoon, I came across an article from Health.com discussing the never-ending coffee debate. I’ve heard that it’s bad for you and that people should cut back on coffee. On the other hand, I’ve also seen articles saying that coffee can actually be good for you! The article in Health.com featured two doctors with different opinions.

Rob van Dam’s, PhD and adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at Harvard, found that for most of the population, coffee is not harmful and may have certain benefits. The only reasons to stop drinking it, he claims, is if you have hypertension or if you believe that caffeine is interfering with your sleep.

Dr. van Dam also found that drinking coffee may lower your risk of becoming diabetic. A review of research in Archives of Internal Medicine found that after three or four cups a day you see a 25% lower risk, while another study found that it might not be the caffeine that reduces diabetes risk, but another ingredient in coffee. Caffeine also has benefits, such as possibly reducing the risk of Parkinson’s and even Alzheimer’s.

On the other hand, James D. Lane, PhD and director of the Duke University Medical Center Psychophysiology Lab, believes that coffee is not a good choice. He found that the research showing that coffee is helpful is weak since the studies compare non coffee drinkers with coffee drinkers and believes that just because there is a correlation between coffee and benefits doesn’t mean there is causation.

Dr. Lane also points out that the caffeine in coffee can make health conditions worse, especially for people with high blood pressure or diabetes, finding that quitting coffee brings down high blood pressure. He also has seen many studies that show caffeine can aggravate stress as well as give you sleep problems.

So coffee or no coffee? As long as you don’t have diabetes or high blood pressure, drinking coffee probably won’t hurt. I’m sure not ready to give up my morning cup or my afternoon pick-me-up! It really depends on how coffee affects you. Personally, I always make sure to have my last cup by 6pm, that way the caffeine won’t keep me up at night. As long as it doesn’t seem to be affecting your health, stress or sleep, there’s no need to cut back! Coffee lovers, rejoice! 

2L Year, What? Bring It.

Today is my first day back at law school! Bring it on 2L year! 

First Day Outfit! Off to school! 

When I got up this morning I decided to do my workout right away, get it done before I got consumed by nerves! I have the Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred DVD, which I love to use when I'm short on time. I can just pop it in my computer rather than having to walk all the way to the gym and back. The DVD has three 20-minute workouts: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. The workouts start with a warm up end with a cool down and have three 6 minute circuits. Each circuit is 3 min strength, 2 min cardio, and 1 min abs. It's meant to burn as many calories as possible in a 20 min workout. I did the Level 3 video and then the Level 1 video, because I feel like 20 min is just not enough! 

After I'd showered and done some blog work, I was STARVING! So I made some banana and PB2 oats and a side of scrambled egg whites.

Oats:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 sliced banana
2 tbl. PB2 powder
sprinkle of flax

Perfect and filling breakfast! Exactly what I needed after my workout and to get me ready to head back to school! I also packed up my lunch and snacks. For lunch I packed a salad of chopped Romaine with cucumbers, mushrooms, carrots and 1/2 cup of white kidney beans. I used some lemon juice, apple cider viengar and pepper for a dressing. I love mixing this dressing because I think it's nice and light for the summer!

For my snacks, I brought a mini Luna bar for before lunch, a sliced apple, and then a normal Luna bar for later in the afternoon. Let's just say I was glad my last class was cancelled, because I would have been very hungry by 7:25 when it ended! Note: pack more filling lunch for next Monday! (that's my longest day).

Once school was over I headed to my bus. I love going to school downtown because there's always so much energy and I love the buildings and the river! It's so pretty! Ok well today it was pretty, let's see if I'm singing the same tune in January...

When I got home I decided to try a Chicken Pot Pie that I'd had in my freezer forever. I wasn't super hungry so I knew I wouldn't mind waiting 45 min to bake it in the oven.

 It's made with organic vegetables and crust. I got it at whole foods months ago and never pulled it out to try! Tonight feels like a chicken pot pie night! (aka I don't feel like a smoothie for dinner and I'm tired of veggies from lunch...).

When it came out it was alright. The crust was good, but not super flaky, and it was really soupy. I wish there were more veggies in there and less gravy stuff. Oh well, gotta give things a try!

Now it's time to go pick up Neville from my brother's apartment! He's been there because I needed someone to feed him while I was in Kansas City. Now I miss the little guy! Plus his bowl is probably quite dirty...

All in all, my first day back was pretty good! I feel good about my classes and it was nice to have the last one cancelled so my day wasn't quite as long. I feel like it just flew by! It was also great to see people I hadn't seen since May! I kind of flew under the radar this summer.

Today was the first day for a lot of schools, anyone else have a big day? 

French Dining with the Family and... JAZZERCISE!!!

Last night I went out to dinner with my grandparents, my mom and dad, and my little brother! We went to a French restaurant called Aixois in Brookside, which is in Kansas City, MO.

Aixois! And my dad.

The chef, Emmanuel Langlade, trained in Marseille before opening his restaurant in Kansas City in 2001. He uses local, organic foods and imports his cheeses, oils and seasonings from France.

To start, I had the house salad, which was bibb lettuce with hearts of palm, some red onions, tomatoes and a few glazed pecans (I think pecans.. could have been walnuts). Either way, it was delicious! Very light and I love hearts of palm so I devoured this!

I wasn't as pleased, however, with my dinner entree. I ordered the salmon, which came with rice and green beans. I have to say the green beans were delicious... but that was all. The salmon was overcooked for my liking and the rice tasted like rice my mom makes from a bag at home.

However, everyone else seemed to love their meals! My dad had skirt steak, my mom had the veal (which she said was wonderful), my grandparents both had the trout (which looked great, should have ordered that!), and my little brother had shrimp pasta. For dessert, we ordered the mini sampler. My favorite was the gelato!

All in all, it was a great night with my family in a beautiful atmosphere! It really was a charming restaurant. I saw they have a great looking coffee bar, maybe I'll get a chance to stop by before I leave to check it out!

Fuzzy picture... Trying to take the picture without getting left behind!

I woke up starving, so breakfast this morning consisted of a bowl of blueberries and strawberries with some almond milk and Truvia sprinkled over them, a cup of non-fat greek yogurt with PB2 Powder mixed in, and then the crumbly bits at the end of the bag of my Dad's Raisin Bran cereal, with a few freeze dried banana chips from Trader Joes!

And, of course, a cup of coffee!

After breakfast, and a little blog work, my mom and I headed off to Jazzercise! You're probably thinking, "Jazzercise? Isn't that some kind of dancing exercise with leotards from the 80s??". Well, you're right. Sort of.

I started taking Jazzercise classes at the beginning of my senior year of college. My sorority "twin", Amy Lee, wanted to try out the classes because her mom is an instructor in North Carolina and so Amy Lee had done Jazzercise growing up.

From their website:'

WHAT IS JAZZERCISE

Burn up to 600 calories in one fun and powerfully effective 60-minute total body workout. Every Jazzercise group fitness class combines dance-based cardio with strength training and stretching to sculpt, tone and lengthen muscles for maximum fat burn. Choreographed to today's hottest music, Jazzercise is a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, and kickboxing. Start dancing yourself fit and change the shape of your body today!

I loved going in college because it was a fun way to get in some cardio and strength training, but also have fun! I loved the community atmosphere and getting to know all the women there! The Jazzercise instructors are so helpful and such kind and fun women! They keep you laughing and smiling the whole class! (and sweating!). I definitely miss my Jazzercisers at East Cooper Jazzercise (in SC) but loved getting to see everyone at Jazzercise today!

I got my mom to start going over a year ago, and she loves it too! It's for women of all ages and all fitness levels (I've even seen some men!). I HIGHLY recommend looking for a Jazzercise class near you!

What's your favorite exercise class?

Yogurtini!

Good Morning!

So today I "slept in" until about 7:45 and finally got up because my stomach was grumbling! I knew I wanted to workout soon, so I tried to make a lighter breakfast with some protein! I used non-fat plain greek yogurt and mixed in some PB2 powder and stevia (I was feeling something sweet). I topped it with some fresh blueberries and sliced strawberries and a small handful of my Dad's Raisin Bran cereal.

Fresh and delicious! Exactly what I needed.

And some Folgers coffee! Classic in my house. What's with all these Dean and Deluca mugs we have? I don't think I've ever even been to Dean and Deluca!

So my mom just came down in her golfing clothes... I had hoped to go with her to her Jazzercise class this morning, but apparently she isn't going! I guess that means I'm sticking to my running schedule and running 3 miles today! I hope my knees hold up!

Last night I met two of my friends, Bailey and Benny, for some Yogurtini! It's a self-serve frozen yogurt place here in Kansas City that they are constantly raving about and I was dying to try! And let me tell you, they were right!

Not only did they have a ton of great flavors, they had more toppings to offer than I have ever seen before! I also loved their yogurt; it was nice and creamy. Some yogurt places I go to the yogurt is more icy, kind of like a sorbet rather than ice cream. This stuff was just perfect!

I got some of their classic Yogurtini Blueberry and then some Strawberry Banana. I topped it with a little bit of everything (I ended up with too much topping and not enough yogurt!). I definitely got made fun of for getting just one gummy bear, but I just wanted one!

Any one else turn finding the best frozen yogurt place into an art? I think I've tried about 15 different places between KC, Chicago, Charleston and Denver!

What is "Healthy?"

I woke up today to a very rainy morning...

Very, very rainy.

Which is too bad, because I was hoping to go on a morning bike ride! Oh well, maybe I'll be able to find a break in the rain later this afternoon. I'm a huge fan of rain, but for some reason it's putting me in a funk this morning. Currently turning on some tunes to try and brighten things up around here. I woke up very hungry (despite the amazing amount of Captain Crunch I munched on yesterday...). So I made myself some oats with banana and PB2 powder, which I found at Hy Vee in their health food section!

I had my oats with some delicious coffee and an Oikos Honey and Fig Greek yogurt.

I had read about this new flavor on KathEats and wanted to try it. I don't normally eat Oikos Greek yogurt, so maybe I'm just not used to it, but I thought it was much more liquid-y than normal Greek yogurt. The flavor was good, but I couldn't taste the fig too much! All in all it was alright, but probably not something I'd keep buying.

A week or so ago I came across an article on livestrong.com called The Big Health Controversy. I thought it would be perfect to discuss on my blog, since I talk about my own ways of being healthy. However, I want to clarify that there are so many ways to be healthy and my way might not be right for you!

If you read often about health issues, then you'll start to notice a pattern: one movement starts and then another arises in opposition. For example, sugar-free became a big deal, but then a while later I kept reading articles about how sugar really isn't bad for you!

Although I try and eat healthy, natural and organic foods, it doesn't mean that I only eat "healthy" food! I think most foods are fine, as long as they're eaten in moderation. It's hard to cut foods out of your diet, especially with our culture and all the delicious treats we grew up with. I definitely don't think Captain Crunch would be on a list of natural and organic superfoods, but I love to have it when I'm home!

Another issue I often come across is what diet choice is healthiest? Should you be an omnivore, a vegetarian, a pescetarian, a vegan? What about the new "paleo" movement? Some people swear by being vegan and say that it changed their energy levels and overall health. Others think that it's very important to eat meat, for certain amino acids (used to make proteins in our bodies), high iron and other various benefits.

I believe that everyone needs to find what works best for them and stick with it, no matter what other people say. If you want to make sure that you are getting the right nutrients for you, be sure to visit a Registered Dietitian (which I'm hoping to do!) or talk to your doctor. Just because your friend (or favorite blogger!) is a vegetarian doesn't mean that you need to be that way too! Take what and others do with a grain of salt and incorporate features that work for you into your diet.

Health, exercise and diet are very personal things and should fit your own body and lifestyle!

Has anyone else gotten critical comments about their "healthy" eating habits?

Apple Pie Oatmeal and Q&A

So this morning has been rather thrilling and I can't wait to share it with you all! NOT. Haha, I woke up this morning and I knew I wanted to workout in the afternoon, so I thought, what should I do? Then I looked around my apartment... This is a cleaning morning! So in the midst of my scrubbing, organizing and laundry I decided to make myself a delicious bowl of oatmeal!

I had just bought some organic Pink Lady apples at Trader Joe's yesterday so I was dying to use them in my oatmeal! I love Pink Lady apples because they have a unique sweet taste!

To make my oatmeal I chopped up half an apple into cubes and added that to a half cup of oatmeal and sprinkled some cinnamon on top!

Then I added a half cup of almond milk and a quarter cup of water and microwaved the mix for 3 minutes. Then I added 2 spoonfuls of PB2 powder, which made it a bit thicker than I anticipated...

So I added a bit of almond milk and stuck it in the microwave for 30 seconds since the milk cooled it down a bit. Moved it to a bowl, and TADA! It was like having apple pie for breakfast! This will definitely be a go-to during the fall, I'll have to have a use for all those delicious farmers market apples!

soooo good!

Question Responses:

Dad - you're not exactly my target audience so you won't find this geared towards you...

I'm curious about this protein powder. I've only ever really seen body builders use it, and you're obviously not a huge muscly scary girl. Why do you use it?

My personal trainer suggested that I start using protein powder this past January. It's a great addition to my diet because I don't tend to get enough protein, especially with the amount of strength training that I do. I find it hard to cook meat for just one person, it's also expensive! So having a protein smoothie after a workout has been very helpful for me. Several other bloggers that I follow also use protein powder in their smoothies; I think it's become more and more common for women who do strength training or who are vegetarians and are looking to add more protein into their diets!

If anyone is thinking about using protein powder, I'd recommend going to a health food store and asking a sales associate about it and what kind you should buy. I talked with my trainer beforehand to make sure I got one that was very low in sugar and fat compared to the amount of calories. A lot of times are aimed towards men, who metabolize a lot faster, so you want to stay away from those!

Have you learned to run with both legs evenly?

Very funny. Thank you big brother for that question. To everyone else, I had been having a lot of knee problems while running and then in late April I pulled my IT band. I tried just resting for a while to see if I could get over the injury myself, but after a couple months of failed attempts I finally went to see a physical therapist to get a running evaluation. She took a video of me running from the front, right side and back and then also did a few strength and flexibility tests.

When I came back the next week she had a dvd of my running broken down for me and several exercises to get me back on the road! A week ago (last Tuesday) I was finally allowed to try running again! The physical therapist told me I have a slight curve in my spine, which was causing me to run with my right leg at an inward angle whenever I stepped down. I also had several other problems, such as swinging my arms back and forth across my body and landing my stride in front of me rather than underneath my body.

So to report, so far so good! I still have to ice my knees after running, but it's a sore kind of pain, not a sharp pain that I had been feeling before! I'm very excited to be running again and cannot wait for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in September!

Does anyone else have races coming up that they are excited for?