.Commitment

Hey blog? Did ya miss me?

It's been awhile since I've blogged and really my only excuse is that life happened. My little dude turned 14 months old today. Every day I take a moment to sit and just stare at him and thank God for all of my blessings. I am truly blessed and so lucky!

After a bit of a lull in workouts due to some after hours work commitments (and me just having a hard time waking up in the morning), I've gotten back on track. I've continued to lead a group every week to do stairs for an hour at lunch time once a week, and I'm starting to notice results! My goal is to make it all the way up the 202 stairs without walking and after the last time I made it up 3/4 of the way almost every time! Even doing this once a week has made a difference and it's definitely inspired me to continue to lead this project every week!

I also joined our company running club last week, and wow was I in for a run for my money! I already knew that some of the people running were faster than me (as they mentioned the last time they ran they ran about 10.5K in an hour), but it ended being a great learning experience. I ended up running 7.26K at a 6:12/K pace - which is quite a bit faster than my average running speed. I actually ran 5K in 30:29 - which makes that my fastest 5K...EVER! It made me get to thinking that maybe I'm not pushing myself quite hard enough when I go for runs on my own. If that pace is do-able for 7.26K, maybe it could be do-able for 10! My goal eventually is to get my 10K time under an hour and as luck would have it, I actually have a 10K run booked for this weekend! I plan to do a couple more runs before the big race so we'll see if I can push myself a little harder during training and really kill it this weekend.

On top of running and stairs, I also joined the Blitz Conditioning's outdoor bootcamp! I absolutely love bootcamp, and working out outdoors (despite the fact that all the fluff in the air is making my allergies crazy) is one of my favourite things to do! Unfortunately our first class happened to fall on I'm pretty sure the hottest day of the year which made it a little bit tough, but we powered through and I drank a lot of water! Props to my cousin Adriana for signing up with me so I always have a work out buddy!

Now that our house is on the market, we've been doing some extra budgeting and I started meal planning again! Confession: I hadn't meal planned since my blog post back in March!! Here is myplan for the week:

Monday: Dill Pickle Soup - this actually turned out delicious and was even a big hit for my son!

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken - substituting pineapple sauce because I could not find any teriyaki sauce that didn't have soy in it.

Wednesday: Cheeseburger Gnocchi - we had this last week and it was so delicious I'm making it again!

Thursday: Cabbage Roll Soup - this sounds amazing!

Friday: Leftovers or take out

I find that when I meal plan I spend less on groceries as I only buy what I need for the week! I also find it's a lot easier to follow my plan if I prep the night before. Last night I cut up the potatoes, carrots and pickles and through them in a giant freezer bag with the chicken stock and spices. Then when I got home from work today I took it out of the fridge and threw it straight in the pot - which was very helpful and made things easy while I was dealing with a baby toddling around and wanting attention. What are your favourite recipes? If you are looking for some new ones, check out my Pinterest page - I have a section specifically for recipes I've tried and loved!

That's all for now! I've been going to bed late for almost two weeks now so I don't know what's wrong with my body clock. I need more sleep!

xo

-Dianne

PS: I've been thinking more and more about following a pace bunny for the Edmonton 1/2 Marathon and the more I think about it, the more I'm going to do it. I think my problem is I usually start out faster in races because I'm feeling really good, but as I keep going I start to taper off. Maybe this will teach me some planning and have me run a more consistent pace throughout. I officially registered for the race (along with the Canada Day Road Race which is one of my favourites to run every year), so I'm getting really pumped for this summer!

PPS: I started selling Epicure! Don't worry, Stella & Dot is still my main squeeze, but I decided to take the plunge as I absolutely LOVE their products! Feel free to check out the product here - I have an online party open right now until May 21! Happy shopping!

.Stupid Soy

I grew up with a few allergies as a kid. I was allergic to peanuts, nuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, dogs, cats and snow mold. I remember being rushed to the hospital when I was about four years old, when the daycare I was at gave me a cracker with peanut butter instead of cheese whiz. It kind of scares me to one day have kids with allergies, because when they are young and in school or somewhere that you aren't, you just never know what they might accidentally eat! Thankfully, I grew out of a few of my allergies as I got older. I beat the eggs allergy when I was about 10, and to this day I'm not a huge fan of them unless they are cooked a certain way, added to a meal where I can't really taste them, or if they are my mom's special scrambled eggs with cheese. I actually have switched over to egg whites in the last few years for the majority of my egg eating in order to eat a little cleaner!

I took an allergy test about eight years ago just to see if I had grown out of any other allergies. I told the allergist that I knew I was still allergic to peanuts so please don't test me again for it...but he did anyways and the dot swelled up like a balloon. I'm still very allergic to peanuts, cashews, walnuts and fish, but found out that I can eat shellfish (yup, I'm the opposite of most) and almonds which was pretty cool. Since then I've found a new love for shrimp, lobster, crab and scallops, and I even tried sea urchin in San Francisco when we were there in July of 2013 (and it was DELICIOUS!). I also seemed to have grown out of my allergy for some dogs and cats, as I have one of each now and don't feel sniffly all the time! I still have seasonal allergies, but that's something I think I'm stuck with. I used to get so sick when I'd roll down the hills with my cousins near my grandparent's place as a child, but it was so much fun!

About a year or so ago, I started to feel like I was having trouble digesting foods. I was bloated all the time, and food would just sit in my stomach. I felt miserable, and it interfered with my social and physical activities. I went to the doctor and they sent me for a bunch of tests. Besides my iron levels fluctuating from high to low, everything they tested for (including celiac disease) came out negative, so he sent me to a naturopath. The naturopath figured it was probably some sort of intolerance to food, so she put me on a restricted diet for about eight weeks before Christmas. I had to cut out gluten, dairy, corn, eggs and soy from my diet for a full month. Those I guess are the most common allergens, and the point of the diet was to see if one of them was the culprit in making me feel so gross. This diet was HARD when trying to eat out - most foods in restaurants have one of these things! Working on game nights, I was very lucky to have a very friendly kitchen staff who made meals for the media - and they worked with me for that time span to let me know which foods had what - and if I couldn't eat anything on the menu they would prepare something just for me. Eating at home was no problem, as I have been a "label-checker" and eating mostly organic for a few years now, so most of the food in our fridge was OK.

After a week and a half, I really felt no different and was convinced it wasn't one of those foods. I emailed the naturopath and she encouraged me to keep going, saying that some of these foods can stay in the body for long periods of time if they are consumed regularly. So I did...and a few days letter, I finally started to feel better! I even lost 10 pounds (and of course gained it all back when I started eating normally again)! After one month was over, the key was to slowly add things back in once a day, and see if I had a reaction. I thought long and hard about which item I should add back in first, and finally decided on soy because I was 99% sure that wasn't the problem. Boy was I wrong. I had tofu noodles for dinner that night and within about 30 minutes of eating, I started to feel that gross feeling again that I hadn't felt in weeks! Tried three different types of soy in a three day span and got the same reaction, so took it back out of the diet and added everything else back in, to feel fine.

So, it turns out I have a soy intolerance! It's not severe enough to be an allergy, but it's annoying enough that I want to eliminate it from my diet so I don't get that gross feeling all the time. It's strange to ask at restaurants if they use soy, as most of the time the servers have absolutely no idea. Sometimes the cooks don't even know if they bring in packaged items! However, I've found that certain restaurants in Edmonton such as Joey, Local, and the Keg have knowledgeable, friendly staff and/or allergen menus so I can find out what I can eat beforehand and don't have to be fussy at the table. I really dislike being "that" person who has to be picky about their meals, but feeling good is important so if I can do my research in advance it makes things easier for everyone!

You'd be shocked how many foods have soy in them. Mostly processed foods have soy, so in a way this is a good thing for me to avoid them. But I will miss edimame beans, tofu, Lipton chicken noodle soup and Clif bars! I just found out last night that the VITAMINS I was taking had soybean oil in them. Really!?!

Living with an allergy/intolerance is not the end of the world but it's certainly an eye opener! I've started keeping a list of restaurants that are soy-friendly and know which items that I can have, so if you have a family member or relative that is intolerant to soy (as apparently it's fairly common now-a-days) or just want to avoid it (which may be a good idea considering after doing some research I don't think it's the best thing for you to eat anyways), let me know and I'd be happy to share!

That's all for now! First slo-pitch game of the season tonight! Hoping my injury is starting to heal enough that I can jog to first base! :)

xo
-Dianne