Sporting Life 10K approaches again!

On May 1st, I will be one of thousands of people running down Yonge Street. This is my second time running in this event, because I loved it so much last time that I couldn't resist going back for more!

From my blog entries around this time last year, you may recall that I was having some trouble with training because I came down with the worst cold on the face of the earth and could barely breathe and live, let alone go outside and run. Despite this, I managed to finish the 10K in less time than my original goal!

This year, I haven't gotten sick *knock wood*, but I'm still having trouble with training. This time, it's the weather that seems to have the worst cold on earth! What is UP with this weather!?!?

For those reading who live in or near Toronto, you may recall that only a week ago it was actually looking like spring. I was able to go out in my light jacket and run around and happily soak in the sunshine that was actually visible.
And then it snowed.
And then it hailed.
And then it rained.
Today reached a high of five. Five! It's April the freaking nineteenth, and it is 5 degrees. REALLY?!?!?!

I hadn't been out to run very regularly for the last couple of weeks, as I was holding out in hopes that the weather would improve. Sooooo not a smart move. The weather is showing little sign of improvement. Today's long term forecast is predicting a high of about 12 on May 1st - but since the run is in the early morning, chances are good that it will be more like 6ish during the actual run. Awesome.

I decided to go to the Running Room for some chilly weather running advice. I had gone in thinking that maybe I'd just get a jacket or something. I have already a warm running jacket that's a bit fleecy inside, so when it is more than 8 degrees or so I cook inside of it. I also have an old-school RR windbreaker that folds up into a pouch (apparently they don't make these anymore!).

The RR guy was ridiculously helpful. I wandered in and started manhandling all of the jackets and longsleeve shirts, and he came up to offer his amazing advice. He suggested that instead of getting yet another jacket, to learn to layer my running clothing instead (something I have not been doing so much). I already own about a billion technical tees, so didn't need any of those, but I did need a long sleeved technical shirt that I could wear in between a tee and a jacket. He suggested wearing the windbreaker if it's a reasonable temperature but breezy (as is likely to happen, since it's Yonge St), and possibly wear both the fleecy jacket PLUS the windbreaker if it's anything like it was on Sunday (rain, then snow, then sleet, then fierce snow-hurricane-force winds).

I left $138 lighter (boo) with an amazing Adidas long sleeved tee that I love to pieces, warm socks, and a pair of pants (as I only have one pair of capris and one pair of long pants. Looks like I'll need to have extra pants to run outside for the next few weeks!).

This morning, at 5 degrees, I went out to try it out. Bundled up in my awesome new shirt and fleecy jacket, and armed with a headband to cover my ears, I went out to brave the CRAZY WIND that was still blowing around. Success! I only ran a short distance (2.5k) in the interest of time (as I'm also on exams and need to study today), but I felt like I could have run a lot farther. I was comfortable and warm, but not overheated, and feeling much better about my prospects in the 10K in only two weeks.

Please, Mother Nature, be nice to us!

Restaurant Review: O Noir

Thursday was my 3 year anniversary with boyfriend :) Hooray! In celebration of this feat, we went out for dinner at O Noir's Toronto location.

The premise: O Noir is a restaurant entirely in the dark. Serious dark, not like, candlelight or something. You can't see your table, your food, your waiter, or even your hand right in front of your face.

I've never experienced darkness so all-consuming before! You order your food and drinks in the lobby, which is lit, before being led conga-line style by a blind waiter into the pitch-black dining room. Somehow, without crashing into other diners, tables or obstacles, we were led to a table and given a verbal layout of our place setting: a fork on one side, knife (!) on the other, plate and napkin in front of you.

The food: Given that we are working on being vegetarian, unfortunately there weren't too many options. Luckily, we do still eat fish, so there were still options available :) The grilled herb-and-garlic shrimp on tomato risotto that I had was awesome, though I randomly had a mountain of green beans that I couldn't seem to get around (since I couldn't see what I was stabbing blindly at with my fork, I somehow kept coming up with beans!).

The only downside that I really noticed with the restaurant is that it is REALLY loud. For some reason, people tend to talk much louder when they can't see the people around them, as though they think that they are invisible or alone in the room. Really the people you are talking to are only a foot or two away from your face, but you have no idea. We found that our ability to visualize and perceive our surroundings was heightened enormously by taking away the sense of sight. By feeling around the table, I could visualize the approximate location of each of my utensils, my wine glass, and my plate. I somehow managed not to spill food all over the place as I had anticipated I would (especially since I'm normally pretty clumsy with food, even when I can see it).

We made the point of realizing that we really had no idea what was in front of us. What if it wasn't actually a mountain of green beans, but a pile of some other vegetable? What if the beans were actually yellow, or purple, or covered in a sauce? Using no visual cues forces you to really evaluate what you're tasting, using different cues like flavour and texture to try to understand the food in your mouth.

I highly recommend checking out O Noir at least once in your life to see what it's like to be blind for a couple of hours. It is a very unique experience, and a lesson in patience as you stab blindly at your plate, hoping to pick up even one grain of rice!

Food Fail = Win

Today's story: How two food fails turned into a massive win.

Food Fail Story 1: Veggie Stock and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I decided to make roasted butternut squash soup this morning, and planned to have it for lunch. Mmm, delicious soup :) I got my squash all chopped up and roasted, onions sauteed, and went to go pour in the stock. Hmm.... stock.... Not in the cupboards... not in the fridge... NO STOCK?! It's true, there was not a drop to be found in the house! Dangit!! What's a girl to do?
I just happened to have a huge baggie full of veggie scraps that I'd been storing in the freezer for just such an occasion. I made my own veggie stock!

What you need: a big pot, a load of veggie scraps, and some water. I also put in about 1/3 of a fresh onion, and a sprig of rosemary for fun. My veggie scraps included the green part of leeks, carrot peels, celery chunks and broccoli stems.
Bring all of the above to a simmer (NOT A BOIL - boiling will cause the stock to taste bitter). Let it sit there for a while, I left it simmering for just over an hour for 4 cups of stock. I added the rosemary only in the last 15-20 minutes or so, and tasted a pretty good rosemary flavour in there with only that much cooking.

Now what?

RECIPE TIME!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small chunks
- about 1/2-3/4tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe some brown sugar for fun
- drizzle of olive oil, plus another 1T for sauteeing later
- 1 onion
- 3 cups veggie or chicken stock (low sodium preferred)

Toss your butternut squash chunks with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and drizzle of olive oil. Place in a roasting pan and let 'em cook at 425 for about 30 minutes (I flipped mine around after about 15 minutes of cooking).
In a pot, sautee the onion in about 1T of olive oil till they are soft and golden. Add the stock and roasted butternut squash and bring to a boil. Once boiled, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes until the squash is really soft.
Put the soup into a blender or food processor, and pulverize till smooth. Ta-da! Tasty soup!

Food Fail Story #2:

Since the stock was going to take a while and I was hungry right then and there, I decided instead to have an egg salad sandwich for lunch. I hard-boiled up my 3 eggs, left them to cool and cracked 'em open.

Oh no! They didn't fully cook through!? I ended up somehow with soft-boiled eggs!

I have no idea what happened, I left them in the simmering water for like, 10 minutes!! Crap! What to do? I didn't want to have runny egg yolk in my egg salad, because really, that sounded like a really gross idea. Instead, I went for an egg-white-salad sandwich! And since I was missing the fat from the egg yolk in my sandwich, I decided to slice up some avocado into it.
Um, can we all say "DELICIOUS!!!"? Also pretty ridiculously low point for an egg salad sandwich for those of us following PointsPlus. Using my bread and mayo, I calculated that my whole sandwich was only 7 points, versus the estimated general calculation on the website for an egg salad sandwich at a whopping 12 :)! Hooray! Food win!

Have you ever had a food fail that turned out to be a total win?

Career Aspirations

Lately, I've had some opportunities to consider what I want to do with my nutrition degree once I graduate, and how my previous work and educational experience fits in with everything. There are several options available for nutrition professionals, such as....

• Dietitian - requires a one year internship and registration with regulatory bodies. Dietitians can work in hospitals, long-term care places, government (e.g. Health Canada), community care settings, public health agencies, and/or open their own practices.
• Nutrition research - including biochemical research and other science-based stuff. Also includes research into improving practices, e.g. improving cost efficiency in clinical settings to enhance patient care.
• Nutrition communication and education- includes those dietitians/nutrition people that you see on TV, newspapers and books giving info about nutrition research. They're responsible for relaying the information that the smart food science people find in a way that is accessible for the public to understand and use in their daily lives. Education includes people like your home economics teacher, and my profs, who teach people like me how to be smart nutrition folks :)
• Food service and product development - includes the people who figure out how to make non-fat versions of things that should have lots of fat, how to get omega 3 into eggs, and other nutraceutical products. May also be involved in marketing and promotion, communications, packaging, etc. Food service management positions are also included, such as overseeing foodservice production, managing operations and sanitation practices.
• Many more!

With so many choices and pathways to look into, it's hard to know where to start! Thanks to the courses I've taken so far at school, I've narrowed it down to a few options having figured out what I know I don't want to do for the rest of my life. For example, having worked in business and marketing for a while already, I'm pretty confident that working in an office cubicle is really not for me. I would, however, be interested in running my own practice. Thus, still using my business background but getting use of my nutrition education too! I'm also not so hot on the hardcore sciences, so I'm pretty sure that going into chemical research is not going to work out so well. Research into other areas that don't involve laboratories, though, is an area that really interests me (e.g. how nutrients affect disease management). I've also recently figured out that having a work background and interest in the social aspects of food, both domestic and international (including income and food security, socioeconomics, housing and other social determinants of health) is a really great addition to my future C.V., as the social sciences are a field of immense discovery and great opportunity for a nutrition professional!

The other day in Food Science labs, we made mayonnaise and learned how processed cheese is developed. As fun as mayo-making was, I definitely don't want to be in food production as a career option. Also, I may never eat processed cheese ever again now that I know how gross it looks while being made. Seriously, barf.

I do know that being a registered dietitian is what I want more than anything else in the world right now. Despite the extra and intense work involved in getting that designation, it's so worth it in my eyes, and it was the prospect of getting the letters "R.D." behind my name that drew me to this field in the first place. It will open infinite doors for me in the future. All my efforts are focused on this, because the internship application is equally intense and requires a ridiculously amazing academic, work and volunteer background to be deemed worthy to enter this highly competitive year of free work.

What's a girl to do with so many choices to make, and all in such a short period of time? It seems that my first year of school literally FLEW by, and it's only going to get faster!

Life Lessons

On February 17th, 2011, my classmate Michelle was tragically killed in a car accident. There was an ice storm the night before, and as she drove down the road, hers and two other cars collided. The other two drivers were able to walk away with minor injuries; Michelle was pronounced dead at the scene. She was 19 years old.

Our program at school is pretty small (under 100 people in our year), and despite this there are very few people who I have spent enough time with to actually know by both first and last name and some details of their lives. She was one of those people that I feel lucky enough to have known at least that much. We used to joke that there was always another Michelle in any class we took because it's such a popular name... and now I'm the only one for the first time ever. I wasn't a close friend of Michelle's, really I knew her only from school, and at that we'd only known each other for just over one semester. I don't have many memories of her. But those that I do have were of a bright, talented, beautiful young woman. She had such a passion for everything she did. In the few times that we did talk about our lives outside of school, she told us about her love of horses (which she rode competitively). Only after her death did I find out about her other incredible talents: she was a pentathlete, competitive show horse jumper, runway fashion model, and judging by the crowd who came to the funeral this morning - a passionate friend to many.

Though I didn't know Michelle very well outside of school, I was incredibly affected by the news of her death. I received the news at work via email from our school administration, and it really took me a good day or two to really understand what I was reading. It really took until this morning as I saw her casket being carried out to the waiting hearst outside that I understood entirely too well that she was gone. At only 19, her life was over, and cut far too short.

Even more stunning than our loss, the students who attended her funeral this morning found solace in some of our professors who were able to come as well. A prof who I always thought didn't like me very much hugged each of us tightly and offered any help that she could give. She offered to pay for taxis for those who wanted to go to the internment, offered an incredible amount of support both there and back at school for us, and was generally a way more awesome person than I ever would have expected. She later told us that when she was in her undergrad, one of her classmates passed away in 4th year. So, she totally understood what we were going through and wanted to be there to help us as much as she could.

If anything, Michelle's tragic passing has taught me that life is incredibly fragile and precious. Hers is the first funeral that I have attended for someone close to my age (actually younger than me), which I think has a lot to do with why I have been so deeply saddened by this loss. Michelle lost her life in a senseless and incredibly fast way, which many of my classmates are struggling to deal with. I realized on the way home that it is going to be incredibly difficult to go back to school next week (after reading week) and be missing one of our classmates, knowing that she will never be coming back.

I've decided that I can't allow this beautiful young woman's death go unhonoured, and I will use it as a learning opportunity. I will use her loss to remind me that we need to live each moment completely, love fully, and laugh wholeheartedly. I will tell those that I love how much they mean to me, and will not let a day pass where they don't know.

In the meantime, I ask that you all please drive carefully, and join me in keeping Michelle and her family in your hearts.

Product Review and a Rant: Sigg BPA-free liner bottles

In 2008, Sigg issued a voluntary recall of it's water bottles because it had been found that the liner had trace amounts of bisphenol-A (BPA). To participate in the recall, all you needed to do was ship your water bottle off to Switzerland, and a month or so later, you get a new BPA-free water bottle. Hooray! I decided to participate in the recall. I knew already that for a healthy adult, trace amounts of BPA weren't shown to be harmful, but I figured hey - it's a new water bottle - and the one I had was already a few years old (and in perfectly excellent condition). Some people at work were sending a box of water bottles, so I stuck mine in with them. My favourite red water bottle, branded with my yoga studio's logo, was sent away never to be seen again.

A month or so later, I received my new Sigg bottle. I was happy! Started using it right away (after cleaning, of course). But only a few months into using it, I noticed some major flaws in my shiny happy new water bottle. I don't remember dropping it ever, but it suddenly had huge dents in it and the paint on the dents was peeling away. I figured that well - it happens. Water bottles fall down I guess. And, being an aluminum bottle, not stainless steel, it was bound to dent. I thought it a little odd that in the three years that I'd had the previous bottle though, it had not a single dent or ding.

But shortly after, my water bottle produced another unfortunate surprise. While happily sipping my water, I tasted something sharp. Sharp? Water?? I peered inside and to my surprise, found that the liner INSIDE THE BOTTLE around the lip (where the cap screws in) was peeling away! I hadn't been scrubbing it or using a bottle brush or anything, just drinking! I peeled out the loose pieces. It didn't look like too much had come off, but I gave it a good cleaning just in case and carried on using my bottle. Silly me.

I emailed Sigg to voice my concern and disappointment. I explained that I had received this bottle after voluntarily giving up my perfectly good one, because they had convinced me that this one would be of the same or better quality. Somehow, ingesting the BPA-free liner sounds significantly less healthy to me than drinking plain ol' water from the old bottle! They never replied. I sent a second email to their customer support people. That was two months ago, and I have yet to receive anything.

This week produced two events that have become the last straw. The other day, bottle in my bag, I discovered to my horror that the lid no longer screws in all the way without a great deal of force. How did I figure this out? The pool of water at the bottom of my bag. Leaking all over the subway. Drenching my textbooks and yes - LIBRARY BOOKS - along with hat, gloves, and other items that I would prefer not to be soaked. Awesome. Today I cleaned my bottle again, after having suffered through a cold all week. When I pulled my bottle brush out, surprise! What remained of the liner around the screw-cap pulled clean off when I removed the brush. My mouth is now fully exposed to the aluminum within.

Enough is enough! The bottle has now been demoted to an expensive, dented plant watering can. I am now on the hunt for a new water bottle, and it will not be a Sigg. Even though I hear that they now produce stainless steel bottles, I refuse to purchase this product anymore.

I searched online to see if anyone else is having this problem of peeling liners, and yes, many others have! Numerous people stated that they emailed Sigg with the exact same problems (peeling liner around the lid, people who may have ingested pieces of it, bottles that dent and peel a lot easier than the previous ones), and not one of them has received a response. Why is Sigg ignoring this?? Clearly, this new liner is inferior to the old one. Despite being BPA-free, I would really prefer that my liner stay IN the bottle, not be consumed with my water! Especially since their bottles are made of aluminum, not stainless steel, this should be a MAJOR priority!!! While the previous between aluminum and Alzheimer's have been questioned and some studies disproven, it is known that aluminum leaches into water (which stainless stess does not). I'd really rather not be consuming excess aluminum in my water, whether or not it is linked to Alzheimer's.

What's your water bottle/container?

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011!

The start of a new year is a great time for reflection, both of the previous year and of what we hope the new year will bring. Many of us set a new year's resolution, a goal that is supposed to guide us through the next 12 months. The problem, though, is that few of us actually follow through on these resolutions. You've no doubt noticed that the population of gyms, yoga classes, Weight Watchers meetings, etc. grow exponentially at this time of year, only to return to their original size by February. What gives?

Here's how I see it. A resolution is a goal that we set for the long term. For many of us, we set this goal without really thinking it through and making any kind of action plan - such as resolving to lose 50 pounds, eat healthier, become more active. On January 1st, we go out and join a gym, see results in the first week or two, and we are happy with our success. Suddenly it becomes more challenging. To see the same results, we have to work harder. It becomes less desirable to go to the gym now that you have to go more often and do more activity. Because we haven't made a sustainable plan to deal with these challenges, it becomes overwhelming. Soon after, we quit, resolution long forgotten.

Rather than making a resolution, I encourage you to consider making an intention. As I see it, an intention gives guidance for the present moment, rather than setting out large, often unrealistic goals for the long term all at once. Who says that we need the start of a new year to set a goal? Why not make an intention to guide each day! Setting a simple intention each day helps to relieve that heavy burden of a giant goal, basing your goal on your needs in this moment. Intentions are not the same thing as goals - a goal focuses on the future, often how we envision our lives to be at some point in the future. Goals often either beget more goals, or collapse entirely. Intentions are not focused on the future, they focus on the present moment instead. Your attention is set to what is happening right now, because our flow in life is always changing!

Goals are still very important and useful, as they help to direct our lives toward a specific trajectory. For example, becoming a dietitian is my long-term goal, so I have the goals of doing well in my classes to get to that final goal. In the meantime, my intentions will help me to not become attached to the outcome, and to help me make goals that are reasonable, attainable, and serve me well. While the goals are exciting and provide the ups and downs of life, coming back to an intention will help to keep you grounded, provide peace of mind, and help you to see your goals in a larger context of your life.

So ring in the new year with new goals and hopes for better living in the future - but consider making an intention to help you get there!