THIS is what made my weekend trip...The one and only.....Tony Bennett...was pretty cool to see such a remarkable man perform live....He's still got it for sure!
At our connection at DFW I wasn't sure what I'd be able to come up with for vegetarian options, but thank goodness for Au Bon Pain!
Fields & Feta Wrap- YUM! Very impressed with this!
Snack on plane- Homemade trail mix (3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal w/2 tbsp. slivered almonds & 6 whole unsalted almonds)...lots of water all day 
Upon arrival to friend's place raided the fridge and found this- La Tortilla Factory tortilla + spinach & tomatoes + 2 slices Jarlsberg Lite swiss cheese + drizzle low fat Ranch dressing
(INSERT 8 mile run at 5.5 mph pace here)
Fri. dinner- chips w/salsa & guacamole, fresh fruit salad, spinach salad w/goat cheese & Newman's Own light vinagrette + 3 chocolate covered strawberries + red wine
Plane snack- homemade trail mix again (glad I brought these....really come in handy!)
Hadn't read Women's Health in forever..pretty good issue this month!
Friday I left with a few goodies packed for random meals. I wasn't planning on being super strict with eating this weekend, but I also didn't want to eat junk for every meal. I don't know what it is about being on a plane, but it makes me want to eat. I think it's just a behavioral habit...kind of like going to the movies. I feel the need to start eating just for the simple fact that I'm in the air or something. Anyways, I had that covered with my homemade Kashi & almond baggies. I at least know to prepare for those situations, and I never come empty handed. When we arrived at our friends' place where we were staying I was so excited to open the fridge and see pretty much an exact replica of my own fridge...La Tortilla tortillas, mass amounts of fresh spinach, low fat cheeses, tons of fruits and veggies...yay! Made myself a wrap and headed out to scope out a pass to a local gym. I needed to do cardio since I subbed weights for cardio on Thursday (as I knew I'd be traveling), and I was just made aware that according to our 1/2 marathon training schedule, I was supposed to be doing an 8 mile run....yes 8 miles! I have never run that far in my entire life...at least not without stopping! What the heck...hubby went into work in the CA office and I really had nothing better to do, so I figured I'd try it. Low and behold I ran the full 8 miles. It tooke me 85 minutes, and I thought about stopping a couple times, but just kept going. I just wanted to see what would happen to my body the next day, so I was determined to finish. I survived! Headed back and about swallowed my apple whole I was so hungry, and chased it down with a Myoplex banana cream. Yum! I was feeling pretty good about the fact that I'd managed to get in the 8 miles after traveling all day, still stayed perfectly on track with eating, and definitely had more than 1 gallon of water down. Our friends had a BBQ that night with turkey burgers (which I didn't have), but I was very content with my huge salad, plate of fruit, chips w/salsa & guacamole & wine.
Saturday was definitely a free day for eating for me. Hubby and I slept in fairly late and headed to the gym for a quick workout. I was stoked to go back because they have a stepmill, which I don't have in Austin. There is absolutely nothing like HIIT on the stepmill! It about killed me. Did intervals ranging from a level 8-14. We did some shopping afterwards while waiting for Fresh Choice to open at 11 am and someone had the smart idea to buy a bag of Halloween candy to snack on as we walked around...don't know WHO that could have been! (still running on empty here...yikes!). We were craving Fresh Choice so we wanted to hold out till it opened. The CA locations are even better than the ones in Texas. They have even more options and locally grown fresh foods too. Wish I had my camera for that one, because it was fabulous! They had a feta cheese & pesto pizza that was amazing and the freshest veggies and tomatoes. I was so starving by the time we got there, I definitely went a bit overboard. But hey, at least it was good quality food and not fast food.
Went to see Tony Bennett play live at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga that night. We had all purchased the dinner buffet served before the show. I had a feeling they might have some pretty yummy seafood there, and of course they did. As soon as I walked towards the buffet I quickly realized that the non-vegetarian options were not going to be good choices...mashed potatoes, potato salad, macaroni salad, egg noodles, tons of baked goods, and tons of cheese. Really the only healthy non-vegetarian option they had was salad. So I made an executive decision to declare myself a PESCO-VEGETARIAN FOR A NIGHT!!! I was not about to pay $40 to subsist on mashed potatoes when they had steamed mussels, citrus glazed salmon, and jumbo cocktail prawns! I hadn't eaten any meat in a whole two weeks, and I felt I deserved it. I obstained from any of the chicken or beef of course. It did open my eyes to the fact that all of the true vegetarian options were basically all unhealthy. I am finding that is the case many times unfortunately....that outside of vegetables, many non-meat options are either refined products or just have a ton of fat in them. So, I enjoyed my night as a pesco-vegetarian to it's fullest and savored every single bite....along with every sip of wine while listening to Tony Bennett! I think I either ingested a ton of sodium or was just standing in heels for too long, because I had cankles like a 9 month pregnant woman by the time we got home. It didn't stop me from having some more Halloween candy as we all wound down back at home though, and I went to bed rather fat and happy I must say.
Sunday was a rest day from working out, and a day of travel and trying to get settled back in at home.
Fields & Feta Wrap- YUM! Very impressed with this!
Snack on plane- Homemade trail mix (3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal w/2 tbsp. slivered almonds & 6 whole unsalted almonds)...lots of water all day Upon arrival to friend's place raided the fridge and found this- La Tortilla Factory tortilla + spinach & tomatoes + 2 slices Jarlsberg Lite swiss cheese + drizzle low fat Ranch dressing
(INSERT 8 mile run at 5.5 mph pace here)Post-workout- Had an apple and Myoplex that I had packed with me.
Fri. dinner- chips w/salsa & guacamole, fresh fruit salad, spinach salad w/goat cheese & Newman's Own light vinagrette + 3 chocolate covered strawberries + red wine
Sat. dinner (Pesco-vegetarian style)- steamed mussels, citrus glazed salmon, cocktail shrimp w/cocktail sauce, spring mix salad w/parmesan cheese & balsamic vinagrette + sourdough roll w/butter + wheat crackers & assorted cheeses + 2 lemon squares & 1 brownie + chardonnay (over-the-top dinner for an over-the-top night!)
Sun. (...back to the airport)
Breakfast- veggie omelette made with egg beaters and light cheese + breakfast potatoes (not the best choice for a carb I realized)
Plane snack- homemade trail mix again (glad I brought these....really come in handy!)Hadn't read Women's Health in forever..pretty good issue this month!
What a great weekend I had! Even though it was a super short weekend trip, it was SO great to be back in CA and spend time with good friends! I didn't take pics of everything...I was on vacation after all :-D.
Friday I left with a few goodies packed for random meals. I wasn't planning on being super strict with eating this weekend, but I also didn't want to eat junk for every meal. I don't know what it is about being on a plane, but it makes me want to eat. I think it's just a behavioral habit...kind of like going to the movies. I feel the need to start eating just for the simple fact that I'm in the air or something. Anyways, I had that covered with my homemade Kashi & almond baggies. I at least know to prepare for those situations, and I never come empty handed. When we arrived at our friends' place where we were staying I was so excited to open the fridge and see pretty much an exact replica of my own fridge...La Tortilla tortillas, mass amounts of fresh spinach, low fat cheeses, tons of fruits and veggies...yay! Made myself a wrap and headed out to scope out a pass to a local gym. I needed to do cardio since I subbed weights for cardio on Thursday (as I knew I'd be traveling), and I was just made aware that according to our 1/2 marathon training schedule, I was supposed to be doing an 8 mile run....yes 8 miles! I have never run that far in my entire life...at least not without stopping! What the heck...hubby went into work in the CA office and I really had nothing better to do, so I figured I'd try it. Low and behold I ran the full 8 miles. It tooke me 85 minutes, and I thought about stopping a couple times, but just kept going. I just wanted to see what would happen to my body the next day, so I was determined to finish. I survived! Headed back and about swallowed my apple whole I was so hungry, and chased it down with a Myoplex banana cream. Yum! I was feeling pretty good about the fact that I'd managed to get in the 8 miles after traveling all day, still stayed perfectly on track with eating, and definitely had more than 1 gallon of water down. Our friends had a BBQ that night with turkey burgers (which I didn't have), but I was very content with my huge salad, plate of fruit, chips w/salsa & guacamole & wine.
Saturday was definitely a free day for eating for me. Hubby and I slept in fairly late and headed to the gym for a quick workout. I was stoked to go back because they have a stepmill, which I don't have in Austin. There is absolutely nothing like HIIT on the stepmill! It about killed me. Did intervals ranging from a level 8-14. We did some shopping afterwards while waiting for Fresh Choice to open at 11 am and someone had the smart idea to buy a bag of Halloween candy to snack on as we walked around...don't know WHO that could have been! (still running on empty here...yikes!). We were craving Fresh Choice so we wanted to hold out till it opened. The CA locations are even better than the ones in Texas. They have even more options and locally grown fresh foods too. Wish I had my camera for that one, because it was fabulous! They had a feta cheese & pesto pizza that was amazing and the freshest veggies and tomatoes. I was so starving by the time we got there, I definitely went a bit overboard. But hey, at least it was good quality food and not fast food.
Went to see Tony Bennett play live at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga that night. We had all purchased the dinner buffet served before the show. I had a feeling they might have some pretty yummy seafood there, and of course they did. As soon as I walked towards the buffet I quickly realized that the non-vegetarian options were not going to be good choices...mashed potatoes, potato salad, macaroni salad, egg noodles, tons of baked goods, and tons of cheese. Really the only healthy non-vegetarian option they had was salad. So I made an executive decision to declare myself a PESCO-VEGETARIAN FOR A NIGHT!!! I was not about to pay $40 to subsist on mashed potatoes when they had steamed mussels, citrus glazed salmon, and jumbo cocktail prawns! I hadn't eaten any meat in a whole two weeks, and I felt I deserved it. I obstained from any of the chicken or beef of course. It did open my eyes to the fact that all of the true vegetarian options were basically all unhealthy. I am finding that is the case many times unfortunately....that outside of vegetables, many non-meat options are either refined products or just have a ton of fat in them. So, I enjoyed my night as a pesco-vegetarian to it's fullest and savored every single bite....along with every sip of wine while listening to Tony Bennett! I think I either ingested a ton of sodium or was just standing in heels for too long, because I had cankles like a 9 month pregnant woman by the time we got home. It didn't stop me from having some more Halloween candy as we all wound down back at home though, and I went to bed rather fat and happy I must say.
Sunday was a rest day from working out, and a day of travel and trying to get settled back in at home.
All in all, it was a fabulous weekend! I didn't get to try any cool vegetarian Indian dishes as I'd hoped, but there just wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted to do. No missed workouts, got all my water in, and eating was somewhere in the middle....not the best...but not the worst. I had the most "free" free day I've had in quite a while, but it was a good reminder of why I eat clean and according to Body for LIFE most days of the week....and most days of my life!
This trip opened my eyes up to the ways vegetarians have to assimilate into situations like BBQ's and dinner buffets. It's not easy! It was interesting to have to make choices I'm not used to having to make. I surprised myself in that I really had no desire for the chicken at the concert whatsoever. It kind of grossed me out again. I think I am actually growing rather distant from my beloved chicken....so strange! 2 more weeks of eating vegetarian, and I'll re-assess if it's something I want to do for longer term. As of now, I think I still love seafood way too much to live without it forever, but this whole lack of desire for chicken recently has thrown be for a bit of loop.
This trip opened my eyes up to the ways vegetarians have to assimilate into situations like BBQ's and dinner buffets. It's not easy! It was interesting to have to make choices I'm not used to having to make. I surprised myself in that I really had no desire for the chicken at the concert whatsoever. It kind of grossed me out again. I think I am actually growing rather distant from my beloved chicken....so strange! 2 more weeks of eating vegetarian, and I'll re-assess if it's something I want to do for longer term. As of now, I think I still love seafood way too much to live without it forever, but this whole lack of desire for chicken recently has thrown be for a bit of loop.
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Great recap of your trip! I love CA and look forward to going back there next month. :) I wish they had a Fresh Point here in NC. I've heard you talk about it so much that I'd love to try it - perhaps I will soon while I'm away! I'll make my best friend take me there..heheh. You made a good point about a lot of vegetarian options because very carb and/or fat heavy. My boss (who is now a solid, muscular twig) said when she first went vegetarian she gained a lot of weight. She's still a vegetarian but I don't think she eats the processed stuff like she used to.
ReplyDeleteP.S. - GOOD JOB on the 8 miles!!!
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