Archive for ‘Food’

May 15th, 2013

Nutrient Breakdown WIAW

by Tiff

As you know, it’s time for another What I Ate Wednesday {WIAW} post.  Woohoo!  Anyone else like checking out everyone’s eats?  If so, be sure to check out the other foodie posts at Peas & Crayons.

For this WIAW, I want to highlight a few of the nutrients upon which I have been focusing.  This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a few fun highlights for ya.  The nutrients aren’t just for preggos; they’re great for everyone to work into their diet.

Pre-Workout: prenatal vitamin with DHA and salt-free rice cake (DHA helps with baby’s brain development)

Post-Workout: TeeChia super seed cereal (one item in the Bestowed box – if you haven’t entered my Bestowed giveaway, you can do so HERE), plain nonfat yogurt, and blackberries (blackberries have 7.6g fiber per cup; yogurt adds calcium, which is important though preggos don’t need much more than other women ages 18-50)

teechia

Snack: Larabar Uber Cherry Cobbler (also from my Bestowed box, it contains nuts with “good” fats to help baby’s brain and eye development)

uber

Lunch: green smoothie filled with baby spinach, blueberries, a banana, unsweetened original almond milk, and vanilla whey protein (spinach is high in folic acid, a B vitamin that helps prevent neural tube defects, preggos need at least 600 mcg daily & the banana is great for both potassium and B6)

smoothie

Snack: a hearty handful of KIND granola (unpictured) along with baby carrots and a hard boiled egg (the egg alone is a nutritional powerhouse including goodies like pantothenic acid, which is essential for hormone and cholesterol production and for baby’s metabolism, and choline, which helps brain cells develop while also helping to prevent neural tube defects)

snack

Dinner: baked jerk chicken breasts with red bell pepper, black beans, brown rice, and a side of sliced mango (chicken provides a boost of iron and zinc, both of which are most easily absorbed through meat/seafood, and a woman’s need for both iron and zinc increases significantly in pregnancy, the vitamin c in the pepper helps the body absorb the iron and it strengthens the body’s membranes, including amniotic membranes)

chicken

Dessert: ice cream! (depression is bad for baby, and ice cream makes me happy, therefore ice cream is good for baby… right???)

ice cream

For more information about pregnancy nutrition and “super foods,” you can see these links.  There’s a ton of info out there, and perhaps I’ll do another nutrient breakdown WIAW in the future.

  1. Super Foods + Smart Advice = The Best Prenatal Diet
  2. Pregnant? Omega-3 Essential for Baby’s Brain
  3. Tell Me What to Eat by FitPregnancy
  4. Legumes in Your Pregnancy Diet
  5. Pregnancy Nutrients You Need to Help Your Baby Grow <– good one
  • Do you focus on certain nutrients from time to time?
May 14th, 2013

Bestowed Giveaway

by Tiff

Hello All!  I think this blog has been teasing me.  Last week, I said there was no bump.  Then all of a sudden, there was small but definite bumpage.  Yesterday morning, I said my energy levels were getting better, but all I wanted to do all afternoon was sleep.

Funny how that works sometimes, eh?

I did manage to muster up a bit of energy toward the end of the day so that I could squeeze in a 3-mile walk and 20 minutes of yoga.  Though I’m normally up for my morning sweat, that just wasn’t happening yesterday.

Luckily, this definitely was happening.  Warm weather is salad weather, and I was really in the mood for a cobb salad dinner.  In the mix: field of greens, cucumber, hard boiled egg, slice of uncured turkey bacon, bell pepper, shredded colby jack cheese, Newman’s Lite Honey Mustard, and some corn.

salad

I hate to call him out like this, but at dinner, Kevin asked for more dinner salads like this over the summer.  Whaaa???  Fine by me!

salad

That’s not the only yum I’ve been having.  I’ve also been digging into the Bestowed box, which I received on Friday.  Bestowed sends its members 5 product samples each month, and I received their May box to try and review.

box

I haven’t tried everything in the box just yet, but Kevin and I both loved the Way Better chips.  They have a tasty little kick to them!  I wasn’t crazy about the coconut water powder (though I do like coconut water) or the salad cookbook.  I’m still undecided about the TeeChia super seed cereal, and I’m really eager to try the Sun Cups sunflower butter cups.

chips

You can find out more about the membership options and some of the featured products on the website.  If you choose to join, be sure to use the 5OFFBSTOWED01 discount code for $5 off a monthly or annual membership.

Now it’s time for the fun part.  You can win a box of your own by entering my giveaway.  I will announce a winner on Friday, May 17.  There are five ways to enter; be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

  • Leave a comment telling me what item(s) you’d most like to find in a foodie box.
  • Follow me on Twitter @ LoveSweatBeers
  • Follow me via Instagram @ LoveSweatBeers
  • Subscribe to my blog via email (on the right sidebar)
  • Tweet about the giveaway saying something like, “I’m entering to win a @bstowed box of goodies from @lovesweatbeers at http://www.lovesweatbeers.com/2013/05/13/bestowed/”

Good luck!

May 8th, 2013

What I Splurged On Wednesday

by Tiff

Hiiiyaaaa!  It’s time for another WIAW, so be sure to hop over to Peas & Crayons to check out other blogger eats n’ treats too.

As you’ll notice, yesterday was a bit indulgent, at least for a Tuesday.  Sigh.  That’s okay.  I’ll just focus on keeping the weekend extra veggie-ful and let it go.  At least my pants still fit.  As you can see from the picture below, I’m pretty excited about that.

pants

Pre-Workout: rice cake and prenatal vitamin

Post-Workout: low-fat plain yogurt, strawberries, 1/2 cup oats, and a little chia (mixed post-workout and eating post-shower to soften)

parfait   berries

Lunch: I had a gift card for a local deli that was about to expire, so insert veggie burger n’ fries here.  It was good but not great.  The veggie burger was the kind with rice in it, which isn’t my favorite.

burger

Snack: About that gift card… I had a little left on the gift card, so I threw on a muffin.  The intent was to freeze it for after my sugar detox challenge, but… umm… it just looked so darn good!

muffin

Dinner: not very hungry from that big snack, so just a bit of cilantro lime marinated tofu cooked with black beans, onion, and zucchini

 tofu   tofu

Dessert: Skipped it!  At least I didn’t go toooooo crazy today, though I was wishing I still had half that muffin!

  • Do you ever splurge mid-week, or do you save it for the weekend?
  • What do you like or not like about veggie burgers?

 

May 2nd, 2013

Feed a Cold

by Tiff

Feed a cold.  That’s how the saying goes, right?  Well you best believe I fed the heck out of it yesterday!  On Friday, the buddy with whom I had dinner informed me that she was sick with a sore throat.  *#&@&  (<– That’s what I said.)  Come Tuesday night, my throat was a wee bit sore.  Figures.  Come yesterday, well… it wasn’t much worse, but it certainly wasn’t better.

I can’t get sick right now!!!  Not happy.  But hungry.

I really didn’t feel too badly, so I hit up the gym in the morning for some elliptical and core work.  While there, I saw this.  Really?  Both?  Hope no one had a heart attack on a treadmill!

caffiene

Despite breakfast and snack, I was totally famished by lunch.  Sore throats deserve soup.  Bread bowls too?  Not so much, but I went for it anyway.  (Side Note: Still peeved that there are no Atlanta Bread Co’s around me.)

bread

I also loaded up on juice.  (I get a little crazy around apple juice.  It’s a good thing I rarely have it in the house!)

juice

Lastly, I relaxed a bit and hit they hay pretty early. The kitties did not complain.

kitties

I’m sure with all this fuel and rest that I’ll be better by tomorrow.  How could I not be better?  It’s like, illegal or something to be ill on a Friday.

May 1st, 2013

Pearfect WIAW

by Tiff

Hello! Here’s my “pearfect” WIAW. Organic pears were on sale at the grocery store this week, so I stocked up on them. Actually, I probably should have bought more!

As always, be sure to hop over to Peas & Crayons to check out other blogger eats & treats! Below are mine for yesterday:

Pre-workout: rice cake and Trader Joe’s pb (always a winner)

Post-workout: low-fat plain yogurt, 1/2 pear, fiber cereal (I mixed it before my shower so that it’d soften up by the time I ate it. Anyone else like slightly softened cereal/granola?)

parfait pear

Snack: chocolate chip pumpkin bread (I finally defrosted the last of it!)

pumpkin

Lunch: 1/2 Trader Joe’s wheat pita, romain and spinach blend, 1/2 pear, cauliflower, chicken, and pear vinaigrette

salad

Snack: a couple almonds and the red lentil chickpea cakes I baked Sunday (made w/ oats instead of breadcrumbs and a couple other modifications)

chickpea

Dinner: roast broccoli and baked sweet potato (I always save the best for last!)

dindin potato

Dessert: the last slice of pumpkin bread and a little cereal (As you can see, I’m still out of ice cream…)

 

  • Had any awesome meals lately?
  • Do you like softened foods that are typically crunchy? (I like flimsy, gooey nachos, moist cereal, soft granola… yeah… maybe I’m odd.)