Day 6: A Week in the Life of a Plant-Based Diet

DAY 6

Did you ever miss outdoor recess as a kid when you weren’t feeling well? I did. I remember telling the teacher I had an upset stomach and she kept me inside during that coveted play time. I could hear all the kids running outside and having fun and then suddenly felt this horrible twinge of regret. Why did I say anything!? I wanted to be outside; I wanted to be playing and having fun too! What was I missing?? Something fun no doubt. Well, that is how I’m feeling about this marathon on Saturday. I don’t want to have that familiar feeling of regret. I want to at least TRY. Trying and failing is better than never trying at all, because that is just failing, period.

Unless you’ve trained for a marathon, it’s hard to understand the presumed insanity of it all.

I refuse to give up on the possibility that I can complete marathon #3. #1 went great, #2 was a freaking train wreck – BUT I DID IT and #3 was SO, SO  close until mile 23 when I decided to drop out due to injury. Race result? DNF (did not finish). I registered for yet another one and got sick 2 weeks beforehand – really sick. Didn’t even attempt that one. This Saturday is IT. I will cross that finish line, even if I’m walking. I need to prove to MYSELF that I can commit and not quit. I need to let go of time/pace and simply live in the present moment and put one foot in front of the other until I’ve traveled 26.2 miles. That’s it.

Having said that, I’ve been kicking this cold’s @$$ today. My energy is coming back, my head doesn’t feel like a medicine ball anymore and my attitude is much improved! I am confident that in the next 60 hours my body will be able to do what I’ve trained it to do.

Pre-Breakfast (religiously, every single morning)

Not breaking tradition this morning, I had my Green Machine by Naked Juice, to wash down all my vitamins/supplements and of course I took my Barlean’s Omega Vegan Swirl  3-6-9 supplement – same as Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5 ~ 200 calories, 38 carbs, 5 g fat, 2 g protein

Breakfast

Since I slept better and woke up feeling so much better I wanted to give this cold a kick in the pants while it was down. I concocted a smoothie jam packed with cold fighting, immunity boosting ingredients. Fresh blueberries, fresh spinach, fresh garlic, medjool dates, half a banana, crystallized ginger (soaked to help soften), whole apple with skin (cored and sliced) and maca powder. I used ice cold water as my liquid and watched it all get pulverized in my Vitamix blender. Sound gross? Believe me, I was preparing myself for the worst. I had visions of plugging my nose and slamming it if I had to. I did end up slamming it, but only because it tasted AMAZING. I need to put ginger in my smoothies more often. And the garlic? NOT BAD. Sure, I have horrible garlic breath but my four legged buddy Rocco doesn’t care. Take THAT cold! ~ 448 calories, 116 carbs, 0 fat, 11 g protein

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Lunch

A fresh pick-up yesterday evening from our Maya’s Farm CSA, meant I could have salads again – yay! Today’s contained organic mixed greens, organic baby carrots, tomato, sunflower seeds, popped amaranth, pepitas, lemon juice and balsamic glaze. I added the remaining half banana from breakfast to the plate too. It added a nice dimension to the salad, I liked it! ~ 249 calories, 36 carbs, 8 g fat, 9 g protein 

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner is based on a recipe a fellow vegan and runner friend gave me. I’ve made the original recipe about half a dozen times, but didn’t have all the ingredients tonight, so I improvised! It still turned out great! It also makes enough that we can have leftovers. ~ 198 calories, 48 carbs, 1 g fat, 10 g protein

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Oh yes, and while getting ready to make dinner, I realized how HUNGRY I was all of a sudden and knew it wouldn’t be healthy to wait until the soup was ready so I ate a gluten-free snack bar. 🙂 ~ 110 calories, 19 carbs, 3 g fat, 2 g protein

Grand total for today:

Calories = 1,205

Carbs = 257 g

Fat = 17 g (way, way below my RDA…)

Protein = 34 g

Scratch that. I realized that was too little fat and not quite enough protein. (This is the whole reason I started using My Fitness Pal!) I promptly went to the kitchen (still feeling a little hungry anyway) and went for (perhaps a little too many) NUTS! This is more than my whole dinner! :O ~ 367 calories, 13 carbs, 34 g fat, 8 g protein

NEW TOTALS!

Grand total for today:

Calories = 1,572

Carbs = 270 g

Fat = 51 g (now I’m over, but whateves)

Protein = 42 g

Social tagging: A Week in the Life of a Plant-Based Diet > calories > carbs > cold-busting > dairy-free > diet > fat > food diary > gluten-free > plant-based > protein > vegan