I loved all of your responses to my Back On Track post. This challenge isn’t really about the food at all; it’s about my mindset. I’m not eating what most people would call “crap”… I’m just trying to be a little more balanced and mindful. This challenge is more about exercise and motivation and the mental part of health.

To get back on track this morning, I laced up slipped on my sneakers pink crocs and headed out for a walk. It was early and I needed some extra hop in my step, so I got a big cuppa joe from 7-11. Coffee is not evil. It’s a lovely lovely drink that makes me happy in the morning. And it’s a great walking buddy.

Oh thank heaven!

I ended up walking 4+ miles while chatting away with my dad and then my mom. The last mile or so I just walked and thought about stuff.

When I got home I made some notecards about my back-on-track goals, I read some sweet emails, and I gave myself credit. It’s important to figure out ways to make sure you can achieve your goals. It’s one thing to write them down; it’s another to actually follow through. Here’s the plan…

• Make notecards that say WHY I want these things (done!)
• Read the notecards at least twice a day (done today)
• Make new notecards as I need them
• Carry said notecards with me everywhere
• Enlist help (thanks, Bobby!)

How do you achieve your goals?

A few of my favorite bloggers have recently committed to getting back on track. Caitlin declared the whole month of November as a time to get back on track; Angela is doing it for the first week of November, starting today (the 2nd). I’m feeling it too: I haven’t been doing that much yoga, I haven’t been walking as much as I like to, and, to be perfectly honest, I’ve been eating a lot of crap. I haven’t been practicing mindfulness either, and I find myself munching through the day instead of eating proper meals.

This challenge might be hard for a few reasons – 1) Bobby and I are driving across the country next week; 2) the holidays and lots of decadent foods are coming up; 3) due to the move, I don’t know what my new routine will be (we’re moving to Manhattan btw). But I’m going to try. I’m synthesizing their goals and mine, and this is what I came up with. I’m going to try to do this for as long as I can. These aren’t arbitrary; these goals are what my ideal lifestyle would be so I want to keep up with them.

1. Go to bed early (by 11:30pm) and get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
2. Cut out artificial sweeteners. I’ve been on a diet coke kick recently and it’s time to stop.
3. More veggies, less fruit.
4. More cooked foods, fewer raw.
5. Lots of water and tea.
6. Cook and plan more (or at least eat out at cheap-yet-healthy places).
7. Sit down for every meal.
8. Do something relaxing for 30 minutes every day (yoga, a bath, these exercises).
9. 30+ minutes of cardio each day (walking, running, yoga).
10. Give myself credit. Even if I don’t do all of these things perfectly, I’m going to give myself credit for the attempts and partial successes.

Because we’re moving, I’m trying to use up the groceries we have and I don’t plan on buying more. This week I’ll be eating out a lot but I’m not too worried about that; I love eating out and I can always find something healthy on the menu. The only thing that worries me about eating out is the money issue. I wish I was less frugal

The other issue I might have is that this weekend is the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival. I plan on eating well, but I doubt that I’m going to get much sleep because two of my favorite bloggers are coming to stay with me and we’re all going together. I am so excited to meet them.

Some of the yummy dishes I plan on making and eating during this November challenge are…

a healthy Thanksgiving meal, like last year’s

fresh delicious salads

lots of squash fries…

this fun Indian mushroom recipe

… and lots more. You should check out my recipes page for more inspiration. This bread recipe was one of the first things I ever posted (December 2007).

Anyway, back to the “back on track” plan. Today has been a good day so far. I did a yoga class this morning at my studio and I went to bed early last night (crashed on the couch at 9:30pm). I wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, but Bobby has band practice… so maybe not.

And now this post is getting epic. Happy November! Are you challenging yourself this month?

We decided to go NJ-diner-style for dinner last night. I looked up “breakfast food” on Yelp.com and stumbled across American Diner in Sunnyvale.  This is what I got:

That is 1/2 a Belgian waffle, 2 halves of French toast, and a fruit cup.  I also poured some HFCS-free (!) maple syrup on top.  It was a very large portion and I did actually finish the whole plate (well, I didn’t finish that huge pat of butter – but probably half of it).  I also had some of Bobby’s muffin and a bite of his ham (eh – I’m not really feeling meat so much ever since Food, Inc.). American Diner was actually pretty cute, but… not really a place that we’ll be going back to very often.  It was very – well, diner-ey.

Another food I got the other day was protein powder.  I bought this on Wednesday and I have tried it several ways, but so far my favorite is added to oat bran.

The company is Jarrows Formulas (link to nutritionals and ingredients).  This product is vegan and vegetarian. They use non-GMO soybeans (a must).  One serving has a whopping 25 grams of protein and only 110 calories.  It is not sweetened at all and it has spirulina.  I made a bowl of oat bran with peanut butter, protein powder, and sesame seeds. It was fabulous.

The protein powder gives the oat bran a strange/odd/different consistency.  It’s a little chalky, but it’s not bad.  I had to add some extra water because I think it sops up more water and makes the oat bran fluffier.  And greener!

Today I plan on going to Borders to look at a new book that Cindy recommended. What are your plans this week?

P.S. It’s my wonderful mom’s birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I miss you!

I finally got around to trying this new idea that I’ve been seeing recently. I think Heather started it, and I also saw it on Kath’s blog and Brandi’s blog (which was also on HealthyYum). It’s oat bran in an almost-empty nut butter jar.

When I got near the end of my Trader Joe’s peanut butter (all natural, salted), I used it as my “bowl” for oat bran. I believe this was a batch of PBU oat bran (oat bran cooked with pbu – peanut butter and chocolate milk blend) simply topped with sesame seeds.

Another yum that I had recently (Sunday night) was this bowl of soy frozen yogurt from Fraiche, topped with sunbutter (sunflower seed butter; I brought it with me from home). I also added cinnamon, nutmeg, and cocoa powder. I ate this before I saw Food, Inc. and was very pleased with myself for making a good choice.

And, because I can’t get enough of sesame seeds, I thought I would share some more sesame seed loving.

Even Bobby is addicted.  That’s my bowl of oat bran and his bagel (with mustard), both doused with sesame seeds.

Last night’s Coldplay concert was really good.  They are great live and I loved the music. I was annoyed that the show started at 7pm and Coldplay didn’t even being playing until after 9pm.  They had 2 openers and both were just okay. I honestly don’t like seeing the openers at shows – I paid to see Coldplay, and I wanted to see them! By the time they got onstage I just wanted to go home. During the show they played a cover of Billie Jean, which was a nice tribute. Overall I had a good time, and we scored $10 tickets to see The Fray, Jack’s Mannequin, and Vedera in a few weeks.

Before I forget, Holly tried her first kabocha! She loved it (duh). I’m doing well with my kabocha challenge (eating less of it) – the last two nights I only had 1/4 of a kabocha each night (with nut butter).

Off to do some yoga, worky stuff, and make Bobby lunch. Hope you have a great Tuesday