Soupasana

Today is the first day of the summer semester. With an 8.30am lecture ahead of me, regular lounging around lazy breakfast wasn’t really happening. In fact, I had to make something that would last, and make it fast. Haha – that rhymed.

Strawberry Swamp Smoothie

• 1/2 package (150g) of soft tofu
• 1 cup hemp milk
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1 tsp chia seeds

Mmmmmm… swampy slush to go. Ok, so this was not my most attractive looking smoothie. Taste wise, I am still not a fan of hemp milk… it was soo… grassy? I think the smoothie would also benefit from a bit of sweetener. Honey or maple syrup, maybe? But with hemp milk and tofu, it was packed with protein! And it did a good job, as I lasted until almost noon!

Quick and easy lunch was packed in two minutes. Quinoa + lentils + spinach + salsa + sunflower seeds. Maybe it’s just been a really successful batch or something, but I’m LOVING quinoa… I’m seeing a nice breakfast bowl in my future. Mmmmmm…

Since I missed my beloved caffeinated kick in the butt this morning, I was definitely looking forward to a cuppa at lunch. So much that I actually packed a little bottle of soy milk. The flavour of coffee in the cafeteria was Caramel Biscotti today – yummilicious. Yes, that’s a word. Look it up…

More eats to be grazed on… Naked green smoothie (half and half with water), almonds, apple sauce, hummus and a whole wheat pita!

Pear for dessert! Packing tip – taking a sliced apple in a ziploc bag with you is ok, taking a pear is not, unless you wanted a sweet mush on your hands. Use a container!

Now that the first lecture of the semester is over with, I’m actually taking a course myself. It’s a month long course oriented towards college teachers on how to teach in a college.

Believe it or not, but no one ever taught me to teach! That’s the difference between teaching in a school and at a postsecondary level – with the latter, teachers rarely have formal instruction on how to teach. Weird!!!!

DOMS is under control today – just where I want it after a fantastic workout (yesterday). Hot yoga in in the works tonight – it feels like it’s been weeks since I’ve taken a hot yoga class. Looking forward to working through all the tense muscles in a hot room.

Very productive day today, as I spent most of it setting up the online course I am teaching this semester. However, I also managed to see a physiotherapist, clean and get an amazing workout.

I think I was totally in the flow, working in the morning, because when I looked up, I only had five minutes for lunch before running out to my physio appointment. Hence, an uninspired lunch… whole wheat pasta + pasta sauce + spinach + sesame seeds.

Vlad cooked this batch of pasta, and unfortunately, our perceptions of pasta readiness are at least 3 minutes apart. This tasted way overcooked for me. I’m making the next batch!

So I learned a new term at physio today. It was one of those situations when you finally learn the correct term or name for something you are definitely familiar with, but up until this day you somehow went without knowing the actual term, and probably referred to it as “thingie”. In this case, the term was DOMS – delayed onset muscle soreness. Like I said – very familiar with this one, but had no idea it had another name, besides “my butt, and arms, and legs, and abs hurt” syndrome. It peaks 24-72 hours after the actual activity takes place.

As I was complaining to Paul (my physiotherapist) about the worst yoga practice of my life that I had this Saturday (one day after my first SOF workout in a while), he called in another doctor to ask for his advice on minimizing DOMS. I also researched it online for a bit… Here’s what incredibly interesting: the actual causal mechanism for DOMS is unknown. Yeah, there are some theories about lactic acid build-up, but we don’t actually know for sure what causes it.

Even more interestingly: tonnes of research has been conducted on minimizing DOMS after intense physical activity, and apparently nothing works! Essentially, no particular activity/behaviour before, during or after exercise has been reliably shown to decrease DOMS. Stretching before, after, warming up with a jog, resting, taking ice baths, drinking more water, standing on your head… If you work out hard, you will get DOMS. Some people will get it worse than others. That’s about it.

Sooo… in the end it comes down to playing with trying different things and seeing if they make a difference. Hey, if drinking lemon juice and hopping on one foot right after a workout decreases your muscle soreness, I say go for it. There is no Although I’d say that if you are never experiencing DOMS, you are probably not training hard enough.

Pre-workout snackage: the last of my cinnamon Kashi + light vanilla soy milk + crumbled pecans on top. I actually had almost two bowls. I’m thinking that I gotta up the protein in my lunch… For the last couple of days, I was hungry by 3pm, after eating a full lunch at 12-1pm.

Today’s workout was fantastic. Nothing like running in the rain! Although old running shoes + cheap athletic socks + wet feet = blisters. Ouch. However, I broke quadruple digits in terms of calories burned. Hurray? Let’s eat to celebrate.

Dinner was much better than lunch! Expect lots of quinoa in the next couple of days, because I made a huge batch!

Veggies stir-fried on the side – you don’t need oil at all. I just threw in some soy sauce and water. 1/2 zucchini + few mushrooms + pepitas (pumpkin seeds) + sesame seeds. Mmmmm….

Veggies over quinoa. Love. This dinner was very filling, but at the same time light. Quinoa does not sit in my stomach the same way rice or pasta do. Much lighter…

The sophisticated beverage of the day was brewed lemon blueberry passion tea with a squirt of POM juice and ice cubes.

Dessert: whole grain toast with almond butter, and honey + hazelnuts + chai tea with soy milk. I also snuck in a “middle of the night” pear and a bit of raisins.

I came across the terms “food lover” and “foodie” being used in the same sentence, as meaning different things. I always thought they were synonyms. How the heck do they differ? Anyone?