Things I’m Enjoying

July 23, 2014 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

I thought that I would once again share a few things that I am really enjoying at the moment. I like to see what other bloggers are doing and enjoying with their daily lives, so if you’re like me enjoy this post!

Hazelnuts

To be more specific, roasted hazelnuts. I know that this isn’t anything revolutionary or groundbreaking, I mean just look at the hullabaloo around Nutella. But I have really been liking the taste of dry roasted hazelnuts lately. I buy them raw in bulk at Whole Foods and then roast them when I get home. It’s really simple too. Just set your oven to 400, then line a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silpat. Place the hazelnuts on the baking sheet in a single layer and put in the oven for about 10 minutes, watching to make sure they don’t burn. Then remove from the oven and let cool, once they are cool place them in a dish towel and rub to remove the skins. Store the nuts in an airtight container in the fridge so they don’t turn rancid. I’ve been putting them on my breakfast bowls, salads, and just eating a few as a snack. Not only are they tasty, they are loaded with good for you vitamins and minerals like magnesium and vitamin E. Eat up!

Coconut Milk and Coffee

This is amazing! I had a little bit of coconut milk leftover from dinner the night before and so I decided to add it to my coffee the next morning. Holy creamy goodness Batman! I usually only drink coffee on the weekends and I drink it black. The coconut milk just added a nice rich flavor to my coffee and I will definitely be doing it again! I use full fat coconut milk because you don’t need to fear fat! Plus the light coconut milk is just glorified water anyway. So if you want to treat yourself to a delicious, creamy, and healthy drink, try adding a little coconut milk to your coffee!

Walks Along the Lake

I am super lucky to be able to live so close to the lake. As my sister pointed out this weekend, it’s pretty much my backyard. I have been running along Lake Shore Drive each morning and end my run right on the lake. I also have been walking around my neighborhood everyday and some of my favorite walks are those that go right along the lakefront. It’s just so beautiful and peaceful along the water and it makes me happy. Plus how can you beat views like this?

Farmer’s Markets

This has been the summer of farmer’s markets for me. Chicago has a ton of markets all over the place and I have been thoroughly enjoying visiting as many of them as possible. I have to say though that my favorite market so far is the Green City Market. It is right across from the Lincoln Park Zoo and it is always big and full of people and delicious things. Not only does it have the normal fruits and vegetables but you can also find tamales, crepes, cheese, homemade pickles and jams, smoothies, pizza, paninis, and so much more. There is live music and a doughnut van. Kids running around with their dogs, and a balloon guy making balloons for anyone and everyone. The other neat thing that this market does is on each stand they tell you how many miles each vendor traveled to come to the market. This way you can choose where you would like to buy your products, whether you prefer more local or don’t mind those who come from afar. This market has great vendors, great crowds and it is a great time! Go explore your own city’s markets and see what they have to offer.

These are the things that have been holding my attention for the past few weeks. This summer has been one of discovery and learning. Living in a new city and seeing everything that it has to offer has been really fun. I am loving my neighborhood more and more and I can’t wait to see what else it has in store for us! I hope you have a great Wednesday and I’ll see you on Friday!

Needs Vs. Wants

July 14, 2014 / ktbuchs87

It seems like a simple concept. A need is something you have to have to keep going. A want is something you would like to have, but isn’t necessary to continue going. You need air. You want a brand new car. On the surface it can look like a very simple thing to figure out. Unfortunately, rarely are things that cut and dry. Needs and wants can get muddled and you may find yourself believing that what you need is actually what you want. You might know all too well that when it comes to being healthier this is very true.

Do you need that extra helping or do you want it? Do you need three rest days in a row or do you want them? When you are so used to doing something, it can be hard to decipher whether your motives are driven by needs or wants. If you have always gone back for seconds, you might truly think that you need that much food to feel full. If you have had a certain exercise schedule for years, you might think that this is exactly what your body needs. Needs and wants can go the opposite way too. Maybe you think that you need to be super strict with the way you eat 100% of the time or you will fail. You believe that you need to run 10 miles a day or you’ll be out of shape.

Wants are not a bad thing. It is ok to want things. Desire is what can push us to reach our goals, they motivate us to do better. Don’t let your life get clouded by wants though. Wants can overshadow things that you actually need. But on the flip side, make sure that your needs are real needs. Take a moment and evaluate your health needs. Do you need to have a six pack? Is that need running the rest of the show? If that is true then your needs might have to shift. With an overall goal of better health, make sure that your needs are helping you reach that goal. If you find yourself hindered by your needs, start making changes.

Being healthier is a journey with A LOT of bumps along the way. It’s ok to reevaluate, adjust, and change your tactics or goals. It’s ok to reroute and head towards your goals in a different way. The best advice I can give is to start small and see what works the best for you. It can be difficult to differentiate between a want or a need so keep it simple. When you first start out your needs can be to move a little extra each day and eat one more serving of vegetables. Then as you progress, evolve your needs and wants to fit your life. Be kind to yourself and realize that you won’t be perfect and that is alright. Be able to acknowledge when something you did doesn’t work and move on and learn from that mistake. As time goes on things will get easier and you will be able to make healthier choices with ease. You need to be healthier and I want to be there to help you reach that goal.

This Is Hard

July 7, 2014 / ktbuchs87

One of the messages that I hope to convey on this blog is that health doesn’t have to be hard. You don’t have to be a world class chef, capable of complicated cooking techniques. You don’t need to live at the gym or buy into crazy gimmicks or expensive equipment. There are so many simple things that you can do to be healthier and enhance your life. But make no mistake, healthy can be hard.

Yes, there are ways to make the decision to be healthier much easier than might think. I try to do my best to share those tips and advice with you. What I mean is that there are days that you are going to struggle. There are times that you are going to wonder why you’re even doing this and if it’s really worth it. There will be moments that you want to quite and you may very well give into those feelings. Believe it or not, this happens to everyone. Even the healthiest person you can think of will have moments of doubt and question their choices. Maybe their moments of doubt last only a minute, but they are still there.

I have gone through periods of time where I really wonder why I am doing this. It’s hard, it takes a lot of self motivation and willpower, and to be honest I get tired. I get tired of constantly choosing to take the healthier route. Some days it would be SO much easier to just get take out food for dinner. It would be heaven to just sleep in and skip my morning workout. Sometimes I long to just spend my whole Saturday on the couch watching TV and downing huge bowls of cereal like I did when I was in high school. I don’t want to prep my meals for the week, I want to sit on my butt and look at pictures of cats on the internet. I don’t want to drink another glass of water, I want to have a huge glass of store bought, sugar-laden juice. This is hard, it drains me, why do I keep on doing this?

I have had every one of these thoughts and many others that are less than stellar. It might seem like I am totally unmotivated to be healthy anymore. It might seem like I just want to give up and that I should stop complaining. You’re right. The thing is, these gripes and struggles are what makes me human. They are also what makes me stronger and even more motivated to continue as well as try to help others. Overcoming obstacles and challenges are part of what makes you unique. They add to your character and make you stronger. If you never had to face any adversity and were able to breeze through life, you wouldn’t be the person you are today. Health is like any other part of your life. It takes strength, some days more than others, to constantly commit to being better than yesterday. It’s ok to feel all the feelings that you do about being healthier.

What do you do though when you feel like there are more bad days than good ones on your journey? For me, I try to think of all the things I can do now that I couldn’t do before. It helps me to see the progress I have made over the years. It also helps to think about how I felt about myself before I started to make changes in my life. I wasn’t very happy, I was very insecure, and I didn’t feel healthy or strong like I do now. I know I don’t want to feel like that again, so that helps motivate me to stay the course when I’m having a rough day. Sometimes you’ll even find help when you least expect it. Maybe a family member will comment on all the hard work you’ve done and how it looks like it’s really paying off. Maybe a friend will start to make healthier choices because you are. Maybe, like me, you’ll realize your story and experiences can help others feel the way you do now and you want to do what you can to help them get there.

It’s ok to feel doubt and want to give up. You aren’t superhero (or maybe you are, don’t worry I won’t reveal your true identity) and even superheroes have their down days. Use those doubts and fears to make you stronger and shape your personality. Don’t let them tear you down to the point where you don’t want to try. Learn from them and adjust your journey from what you learn. I know that you can do this and it’s time for you to believe that you can too.

How To Drive A Runner Crazy

June 9, 2014 / ktbuchs87

The number one way that you can drive a runner crazy is to tell them they can’t run. Then just sit back and watch the madness ensue. For the past month or so, I have not been able to run because of a knee injury. I thought that I should share this experience with you because I know that some of you may have dealt with this yourself. Or, although I really hope not, you might have to deal with it in the future. This has been a tough month, but I do think some good has come from me having to deal with this injury.

Towards the end of April, Adam and I were doing a workout together that included some running along with squats and pushups. During the running parts, I noticed a little twinge on the outside of my knee, but didn’t pay much attention to it because it wasn’t bothering or hindering me in any way. That changed near the end of the workout when I could barely run/walk because of the pain in my knee. I thought that I had just over worked myself that week and just needed a little rest/ice and my knee would be good to go. I have been extremely lucky in my time as a runner that I have had practically no serious injuries. So I rested all the next day and iced my knee and by Monday morning it felt better, so out I went for my run. About 3 minutes in, the pain was back full force and I had to hobble my way back home.

Thus began my time of not running. This was the first time in my whole running “career” that I had to stop running for longer than a few days. I immediately went into panic mode and jumped to the worst possible conclusions and thought, “What if I can never run again?” Yes, I can tend to be a little overdramatic. The first few days of not running, I was pretty miserable. To make matters worse, running was the ONLY thing that irritated my knee. I would do yoga, my crossfit like workouts, walk, ride my bike, and anything else you can think of and my knee would be fine. But start to put one foot in front of the other in a running motion, and I was down for the count. This was also right around the time that all the stress of our future move started to really pile up. All I wanted to do was go for a run but I couldn’t. I knew that I needed an outlet for all that pent up frustration, so I started to bike in the mornings.

I do not like biking. I still do not like biking. In fact I probably dislike it more now than I did before my injury. Biking just is not my thing. I like the idea of biking and I respect and appreciate all the people out there who love to bike. My husband is a biker, and I love to encourage him to bike more and do what he loves. But put me on two wheels and tell me to go, and I will make a face like a kid being told to eat a worm. You’re probably wondering two things at this point, 1. Why did she replace running with biking if she hates it and 2. Has she ever eaten a worm and is that why she used that analogy? To answer the second question, no I have never eaten a worm, don’t worry. To answer the second, it’s a little complicated.

The simple, quick answer is because I thought I had to ride my bike if I wasn’t running. The more complicated, and more honest answer, is I was afraid. Running has become my therapy. It was one of the catalysts for finally taking charge of my health and changing and I have fallen in love with it. Running had always been there and it had always helped me, even if I didn’t think I needed help. Now it was gone and I was afraid of what would happen to me. I was afraid that I would lose ground in my overall health and fitness. I was afraid that if I stopped running I would never run again. I was afraid that I would somehow turn into the old me before I decided to change my life and become healthier. I didn’t want to wake up one morning and look in the mirror and see the unhealthy girl that was never totally confident about herself staring back at me. I thought that without running I would immediately lose all I had gained as well as gain all that I had lost.

As this month has gone by, I can tell you that none of my fears have come true. Once I stopped pouting about not being able to run and came to terms with that fact that if I wanted to get totally better I had to stop running, I realized that I could do this. Being a runner isn’t the only thing that makes me me. Running isn’t the only thing that has made me healthier these past few years. It’s funny, but once I took away running, I was able to see all of the other areas of my life that I am really good at and that promote my overall health. I am pretty decent at yoga, and poses that I always thought were out of my reach actually come quite naturally when I focus and concentrate on my form. I am strong. I can do squats for days, and I am almost to being able to crank out a good number of full pushups, something I have struggled with for a long time. I am fairly good at coming up with creative ways to use the foods I eat on a regular basis. I am getting better at using the ingredients I have on hand to make delicious and healthy meals. While to a certain extent I have always been confident in the kitchen, I have become even more so and I am also more confident in doing my own thing and not always following a recipe to the T.

Without running, I would never have discovered or paid much attention to these other areas of my life and I would have missed out on the other great things that make me, me. But it’s time to bring running back. I miss it a lot. I miss the feel of the ground beneath my feet as I finally hit my stride. I miss the smell of the trees and grass as summer is making it’s way to the midwest. I miss the feeling of accomplishment and invincibility that follows a ten mile run. I even miss the it hurts so good sessions of foam rolling my IT band. This week I am going to start to slowly add running back to my life. I am still a little nervous that the pain will come back in the first few minutes of my run. I still have the irrational fear of never being able to run again. But I also have the newfound knowledge that just because I define myself as a runner, that isn’t the only thing that defines me.

Friday Fill-In

June 6, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Hello everyone!

I don’t have a recipe for you today, but I am working on creating some delicious summer recipe ideas for you. I have a chipotle sauce that is AMAZING, that I will be sharing with you soon… But more on that later!

Meet Olaf!

The big news in the Dawson household this week is the addition of a kitten to our family! One of the things that Adam promised me, was that once he got a job and we had a place that could have more than one animal, he would get me a kitten. So on Monday, he made good on his promise and we got a 2 month old orange tabby. He is energetic and playful and of course super adorable. After making a huge list of names, we finally narrowed it down to Olaf. Yes, it is partly after Olaf the snowman in the movie Frozen. It’s also a character in one of the video games that Adam plays. The name fits him perfectly, and as I pointed out he really does like warm hugs!

Hi! I’m Olaf! I like warm hugs and climbing up peoples legs!

Our other cat, Dot, is still a little hesitant about the furry ball of mischief that we have brought into her domain, but they are slowly getting to tolerate each other. Now if Olaf would just stop attacking her tail while she is eating, things would be amazing!

Olaf about to make a bad decision…

That’s all I have for today, but I will be back on Monday and I’ll talk about how I haven’t been able to run for the past month. Spoiler alert: I hate it. The whole experience has taught me some good lessons though, and hopefully you will be able to learn something from it. Have a great weekend and make sure to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather!