Thursday, November 11, 2010

To Belize or not to Belize...and oatmeal


Honestly, I don't know what to do. About a month ago, I posted about being excited about going to Belize for a month in May and June, but the more I think about it, the more unsure I am. Above is a photo of the orphanage at which I may (possibly) be staying. It's pretty cool and warm and pretty, and especially more appealing now that there's snow on the ground over here. The other option is to head to Poland to visit family and go on a sailing trip, assuming my friends aren't getting married/otherwise occupied like last year. It's way more expensive but I think I'd enjoy it slightly more. I'm also kind of bummed that this much-needed long vacation will interfere with my tri schedule for the summer. So I need to take that into account. May is the perfect time to get out of Boulder, but it's also the prime tri training month. And I'm most definitely not taking my bike to Belize, or on a boat. That's just stupid.

In other news, the 7:03 morning run on Tuesday turned into the 7:45 morning run on Tuesday (that's how long it took me to get out of bed...yup, 45 minutes). But once we got outside it was so beautiful: The birds were chirping, the leaves were falling, and the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds. Absolutely beautiful and peaceful. The run itself was pretty hard even though it was just 2 minutes of running at a time. My legs felt heavy, but I didn't feel the urge to quit and ran everything without even thinking of stopping. So I'm getting back to my original excitement of C210K. Woohoo!

And I'm really glad we went before work, because within a half hour of us getting back, the skies had turned gray and it had begun to rain and sleet. And that continued all day, with the rain eventually turning into hail and then snow. Wow, great timing!

When we got done with the run, I had an intense craving for oatmeal, which never happens, and have been eating it for breakfast ever since (a whole three days). I think it's just the perfect food for this weather...comforting and filling.

I've been trying to find various takes on the classic oatmeal, since it's so bland just by itself. I always microwave it using milk and not water because I have an aversion to making anything on water, including hot chocolate...it becomes so watered down and tasteless. And oatmeal needs all the flavor it can get, so I also usually add a couple teaspoons of brown sugar to sweeten it up. So far I've had the following:

Banana and Brown Sugar
- Mix 1/2 cup oatmeal and 1 cup 2% milk and microwave for 3 minutes
- Add salt and brown sugar, to taste, and a small banana
- Nutrition info:
  Calories: 393
  Fat: 8 g
  Carbs: 74 g!
  Fiber: 6 g
  Protein: 9 g

- I should probably eat less of it and not use 2% milk, but with a goal of eating 1600 calories a day, this fits perfectly into my breakfast allotment of 400. I'm surprised the banana is so calorific and only contributes 2 g of fiber.
- Substitute water for milk and you cut out 122 calories (271 total). But I need my daily dairy otherwise my life is not complete.
- And 74 g of carbs?! Uh, oh. 

Cinnamon Apple (and Brown Sugar)
- Mix 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup 2% milk, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 diced apple (preferably McIntosh) in a bowl
- Cover and microwave for ~5 minutes
- Add salt and brown sugar to taste
- Nutrition info:
  Calories: 399
  Fat: 8 g
  Carbs: 77 g
  Fiber: 12 g!
  Protein: 9 g

- Same calorie concerns as before. Could be 277 calories without the milk, but again, I need dairy. And I don't mind eating a hearty breakfast. It keeps me from snacking until lunch, so I save many calories in the long run.
- 1 tsp of cinnamon has 4 g of fiber!!! I've been working on increasing my fiber intake lately (I don't eat nearly enough) so this is a HUGE selling point for the cinnamon apple oatmeal. And it's so freaking delicious.
- Again, so many carbs! Apparently an apple has 21 g of carbs, which is way too much, and the oats have 27 g.
- I'd been eating 3/4 cup of oats with 1.5 cups of 2% milk, which gave the whole meal 536 calories and 97 carbs, but I figured that's just too much. I was full for about 4 hours after eating so I took that as a sign that my breakfast was just way too big. So I'm going to try this 1/2 cup of oats thing in the morning and see how it goes.

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