Here is a quick recap and then I’m going to snuggle and hit the hay.

Work. Oatmeal. Work work work. Chipotle. Work work work work work. (I like the work. Like, a lot.)

Hang out with Kate! Eat Kate’s yummy cooking. She made me tuna. Kate and I used to make tuna all the time when we were younger. We would go frolicking out in the woods and come in starved – then we would create a tuna concoction and eat it plain. Some of our favorite ingredients were…

• tuna (duh)
• mayonnaise
• mustard, especially the kind with seeds
• honey
• egg whites
• random spices

Even at age 10 we loved to eat.

She also made asparagus (with olive oil and soy sauce) and spinach (with olive oil and garlic). And there were crudites (carrots, peppers, cucumber) with a mustardy dip. After eating we talked about blogging and chatted and had a really good time together.

I walked home, which was a little over 2 miles. I actually walked to Kate’s after work while chatting with my mom, which was another 3 miles. Walking home was actually really nice. I haven’t been doing yoga much recently (because my mind is going too fast) but sometimes I need that time to let my mind go blank.

I’m having dessert now, which is a bowl of ripe kabocha!

What did you have for dessert today?

Quick and dirty post. I have a picture in my camera but it’s not here, and it’s actually not that pretty. It is GREEN though; I should have posted this for St. Patty’s day yesterday.

Maggie’s Green Mung Bean Seaweed Coconut Delight

Ingredients (makes 2-3 servings)

• 1 cup dry mung beans (mine were split)
• 3 cups of water
• 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil
• a few handfuls of dried seaweed (wakame is good)

Directions
Dump everything in a pan. Bring the water to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer. Cook, covered, until beans are done. Depending on the beans this could be 40 minutes or it could be an hour and a half. Just keep testing them.

It is AWESOME. I promise. Chockfull of (good) protein, vitamins, and minerals. It even has some healthy fats (coconut oil).

The trick about the oil is that it keeps the water from boiling over. You must use the (healthy) oil.

Yesterday - I walked to work (2 miles), then walked home as well (4 miles total). Sweet. I’m trying to get back into my walking habit; it seems like I am able to maintain my weight more easily when I’m walking regularly. Instead of sitting on my butt (which has grown, and is now a good cushion).

Breakfast was my bean concoction (above), lunch was chipotle (veggie with guac), dinner was from Gourmet Park, and dessert was kabocha. I think I had an apple in there too, and some diet sodas (can’t seem to kick this habit; oh well). Was definitely enough food, and it wasn’t too much eating at night. Oddly enough I wasn’t that hungry this morning. I like being hungry in the morning so I am going to try to shift it even more – less at night, more during the day. This is an ongoing experiment and this blog WILL keep me accountable. I am so tired of being tired of not fitting into my pants.

Tonight I’m going to see Kate and we’re going to strategize. She is going to cook for me. Great cook.

I’m back to work. What’s your favorite weekday breakfast? I think mine is oatmeal (which I had this morning).

Another eventful day at work. Can’t say I’m not busy!

I’ve been keeping a list of articles or links that I want to post about, but I keep forgetting. Here they are now:

To Drink Or Not To Drink?

Source.

This article talks about how it’s important to drink a lot of water… except just before and after eating. So many people (including myself) forget to do the simple things that make digestion easier. I may complain about my stomach, but I have to be honest with you – most of my belly troubles are my own damn fault. The lesson? Don’t drink 20 minutes before or after a meal. It’s that simple.

My next link – I have had cold hands and feet since I was in high school (way before I was ever eating disordered). I googled some remedies, and found this page:

Warmer Hands Naturally! Ten Easy Free Tips Help Cold Hands

Source.

Obviously an article written solely for the purpose of SEO, but actually useful and informative (unlike some of the articles I write for the same purpose).

The gist? It gave some physical things you can do that don’t really solve the problem (keeping covered, exercise, don’t smoke), but it also gave some other interesting insights:

• The wrong kind of calcium supplement can be bad for circulation
• Margarine is bad as well (duh)
• And some supplements can help (ginger, fennel, cayenne, potassium, niacin, iron, B C E vitamins, lecithin, Ginkgo Biloba, ACV, etc…)
• They note that eating meat could help as well.
• Then there are “warming teas” like sarsparilla root and fenugreek (neither of which I have tried, and I am a tea fiend, so I must!).

Another thing the article said that I thought was very important was that you *must* must must wait 30 days for a dietary change to have an effect on your health. You can’t just go around changing your eating habits willy-nilly and expect something to result in a week. It just won’t happen, especially if you are tackling an issue that has been around for a while.

More tips:

• Be aware of anxiety and other fear issues (ha) and deal with them (double ha).
• Try to breathe better (more deeply).
• And try to stop stressing.

The descriptions of reasons why a person would have cold hands and feet seem to describe… well, me. So maybe I’ll try the tips.

Onto foods and rambles and journalness. More links later!

This morning I walked to work. For the last week I was kind of in non-exercise mode (no reason really, aside from the fact that New York was rainy and gross and I didn’t feel like doing anything) but today’s glorious sunshine got me energized and happy. So I did 2 miles in the morning light while chatting with my dad.

The day was busy and eventful, and my lunch was a lovely break – a macrobiotic meal of random steamed veggies and roots with my favorite: miso-tahini dressing. This meal does not get boring to me because I am constantly changing the veggies. I have a nice rotation going on – spinach, broccoli, burdock, sweet potato (purple), kabocha, carrots, daikon, and probably some others I am forgetting.

I also made a delicious bean concoction earlier this week and I’ve been having it often – it makes an appearance at breakfast and either lunch or dinner most days. Recipe in the morning!

Since I’m still at work I don’t know what dinner will be, and I don’t know what else I will do tonight. Perhaps a leisurely stroll home (probably not – I don’t like lugging the computer more than I have to). Perhaps a snuggle on the couch with Bobby. Perhaps eating kabocha comfort food while watching Biggest Loser.

If you didn’t check it out already, Kate and I started up a cool concept for a blog. It’s about women and food and eating the damn cake.

I’m off to chug some water and wait at least 20 minutes before I eat. What do you do on the weekday nights?

Tonight’s dinner was simple and quick. I cooked up some sardines (I really do love the fish guys in Chinatown) in butter and served them alongside some veggies, roots, and miso-tahini dressing. Macrobiotic? For me it is! It’s really all about balance.

Maggie’s Simple Sardines

Ingredients (1 serving)

• 3 whole sardines
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Prep the sardines – cut off the heads and gut them. I promise, this is really easy! Run a slit down the belly and just pull out the gross stuff. Rinse them in water and try to wipe off the loose scales. (Wow, I sound disgusting.)
2. Heat the butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Saute the sardines on each side for 2-3 minutes. You can put a cover over them and cook for another couple of minutes if you’re not sure they’re cooked through.
3. Eat! You don’t have to worry too much about the little bones – those ones are digestible. Just don’t eat the backbone and the bigger rib-like bones.

My veggies included kabocha, purple sweet potato, spinach, burdock, and daikon. The miso-tahini dressing on top is my new addiction.

Onto my day. So work – work is quite awesome. Some things happened last week that were odd at first, but I am really really enjoying my job. Wish I could say more!

My boss ordered lunch for us today from New York Burger Company and I got the “Tropical Grilled Chicken” salad. It was a garden salad topped with grilled chicken, perfectly ripe avocado, fresh mangoes, dried cranberries, and a few stray chickpeas. I used the yogurt-dill dressing and it was absolutely divine. I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect salad… not to mention the sweet potato fries that rocked my socks.

Something else that rocks my socks…

Is my new project with my friend (and bridesmaid) Kate! Kate and I grew up together. We were both homeschooled (that’s how we met); I abandoned her for public school in the middle of sixth grade, but we remained close. We drifted apart in college and rekindled our friendship when I moved back to the city and discovered she was here. It gets even better – our fiances are good friends now too.

Eat the Damn Cake.

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Happy almost Tuesday!