Today is Not That Day

Pesto pizza with shrimp and kale

Yum... this turned out well enough to share. 

Ingredients

• Gluten-free pizza crust -- I used Udi's. I found it to be a little sweet and chewy, so I may try another brand or make my own next time
• Pesto sauce (store-bought)
• Shrimp
• Kale 
• Triple-cream goat chese from the farmer's market. Delish. 

Preparation

• Brush olive oil on the bottom of the crusts and put under the broiler until you get a nice crispy but not overdone crust... then drop the temp down to 375. 
• Peel the shrimp if needed
• Lightly saute the kale in a little olive oil so it doesn't get crispy in the oven

Assembly

• Spread a couple tbsp of pesto sauce on the crusts
• Top with shrimp, kale and goat cheese
• Bake at 375 for 7 minutes

Ta da! A perfect combo of protein, carbs, veggie and fat. I know, this is not a low-fat dish, but at least it's healthy fat :-) And I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

 

Vitamin D and athletic performance

I got my blood test results back today and learned that I'm quite deficient in vitamin D. So I did a bit of online research to see what the side effects of D defiency are. You, my triathlete readers, should all know about this one!

A bit of back story: I've been struggling with muscle strength lately. Actually I've seen weakness over the past couple years, and it's gotten rather severe in the past few months. I'd compain to my coach that my muscles were always tired, I couldn't hit the numbers I should be able to hit, and I was even having trouble walking up the stairs to my apartment. I remember biking in Texas 8 years ago and gaining a lot of speed and pretty muscular quads that were too big to pack into my jeans. I haven't been able to replicate that while training for triathlon in the last two years, and I'd chalked it up to getting older and to possible overtraining. 

So back to Vitamin D, which is actually a steroid hormone: while it's most commonly known for bone density and strength (stress fractures, anyone?) it's also linked to muscle strength and specifically, fast twitch muscle fiber size. A recent study of 99 post-menarchal adolescent girls in England found a positive relationship between serum Vitamin D level and jump height, jump velocity and power. Russians and Germans experimented with UV light to boost the athletic performance of their Olympic athletes; the radiated runners improved their times by 7%. source

The optimal range for vitamin D is between 50 - 70 nanograms/ml, which is common among those who live in sunny Southern climes. 30 - 50 is considered "at risk" by the CDC. Mine is only 24... I'm sure a significant drop from when I lived in Texas. Now that I'm in SF, I'm not in the sun much. Unfortunately our diets, no matter how good, can't make up for the lack of sunshine.

And seasonality counts. Studies show a drop-off in athletic performance in the off-season. While there are a number of factors for this, a drop in vitamin D is thought to play a large role. Take a look at this chart from a fascinating article, Athletes Who Take Vitamin D Perform Better, that maps the amount of D you'll get from the sun by month:

Now, "compare the curve above with the one in the graph below, which is from a German study done in the fifties, where the researchers got seven test subjects to train their lower arms. The graph shows their progression, which was highest when the concentration of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D in the blood was also at its highest." (Great justification for supplements in the off season!)

Even more important than performance is basic health. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to inflamatory bowel disease and gluten intolerance, along with low immunity and a host of other diseases like MS and bowel and breast cancers. It's not causative to IBD, but my hunch is that I had a predisposition to IBD and gluten intolerance my entire life yet living in the sun in Texas for decades kept the symptoms at bay. 6 years with minimal sun and no vitamin D supplementation in San Francisco, and my levels got low enough to become symptomatic.

My other symptoms of D deficiency include mood swings, fatigue, and depressed immune system. I'm sure these will go away once I get my levels back to normal, and in a couple months my muscle strength will return. The fatigue and weakness has been my biggest challenge for even thinking about training again, and I'm thrilled that it's such an easy fix. I'm sure my IBD won't just vanish, but perhaps it will go into remission and stay there with less struggle and diet restrictions.

About 1/3 of Americans are in the "at risk" category or below. You might be more likely to be at risk if you're in climes like the Pacific Northwest where we don't get as much sun. But even if you're in normal ranges, you may benefit from a vitamin D supplement. I'm not sure if you'll see such obvious symptoms unless you're in the 8% like me who are truly deficient, but who knows, it may be your magic performance boost for training.

Big setback: is gluten the cause?

I know I've been very quiet lately... I've had a mystery intestinal sickness for the past 5 weeks that has taken me totally out of the running for Honu. The first couple weeks were manageable, but I ended up DNS'ing (did not start) Wilflower a couple weeks ago and it's been downhill from there. Pulling out of Wildflower was a tough call... I drove down Friday, camped, cheered on the long-coursers, and just wasn't feeling so hot... stomach rumblings and a bit shaky & weak. Sunday morning I woke up, had breakfast, and made the call to pull the plug. Smartest thing I ever did. 

I tested negative for parasites so was referred to a gastroenterologist... my appointment is tomorrow (finally). In the meantime it's been a fun trial-and-error game of "what can I eat that doesn't make me roll around in pain." Last week I spent mostly working in bed with a sore gut, very low energy, weak muscles, and a very suppressed immune system: 3 cold sores in a row while on anti-virals, plus a urinary tract infection. Good grief. 

So it occurred to me on Friday to cut gluten out of my diet. It's something I hadn't considered because hey, I'm 43 and I've eaten gluten (like, a LOT of gluten) my entire life. But I'm spending so much time on Google researching all possible causes and my symptoms look a lot like celiac disease. And interestingly, today I'm feeling better... like noticeably better. I went for a gentle run/walk and felt a bit weak but totally ok. My energy levels felt back to normal. I even went to a rooftop party to watch the eclipse... 

(is this not the best place to watch an eclipse? or anything for that matter... wish my iphone camera took better pics)

... and unfortunately had to leave due to stomach cramps, which I'm now realizing was from the carbonation in ginger ale and possibly the Vega energy bar I tried... my poor gut is so trashed, raw foods or nuts just tear me up. Initially that freaked me out (oh my god what if it's not gluten? There's not much left to match my symptoms other than some really nasty stuff like IBS or IBD, or colon cancer) but my energy level is still high and I don't have that overall sense of malaise that I've had for the past few weeks. I think I just need to baby my poor gut for a couple weeks and let it heal. 

I'll need to do a blood test and possibly an endoscopy (where they stick a camera down your throat, past your stomach, and take a biopsy of your small intestine. How fun is that?) to confirm. Assuming I continue to feel better on this gluten-free diet, I'll be (a) going on a vacation to Hawaii with my boyfriend in early June and not racing (but I'll watch part of it) and (b) picking a fall 70.3 race and restarting training next month. I'll need to go slow... my muscles are so unbelievably weak. But I should be able to ramp up quickly enough. Cross fingers I can figure this out in the next week or so. Onward! 

If this is celiac or gluten intolerance, you can expect to see gluten-free recipes and info coming soon. 

Springtime in February

We are having crazy nice weather in San Francisco. Today was 70+ and sunny. Normally Jan - March is cold and rainy, but we seem to get the exact opposite weather then the rest of the country. When you are all frying in a nation-wide heat wave like last summer, we're enshrouded in cold, damp fog for months. And when you're getting dumped on with snow, we're getting endless sunshine. I'll take it.

This is in the first 10 minutes of my ride. I never get tired of this view.

Today I rode with a friend on the Paradise Loop route... over the Golden Gate bridge, through Sausalito, loop around to Tiburon and back. There was a bad bike crash on the Bridge when we were coming back... we rolled to a stop along with probably 80 other bikers as someone was carried into an ambulance. A few places on the bridge are quite narrow and dangerous for passing... apparently two bikers crashed head-on. No word if they are ok or not; I do hope it wasn't too serious. We waited about 5 minutes before they opened things up again.

Today was the first time I tried my new Hammer products, and the jury is still out. I mixed Sustained Energy with 3 tbsp raspberry gel, but it wasn't sweet enough so I threw in a scoop of Cytomax. Perfect. Well, sorta. I had a bottle of @ 550 cals and I like drinking my calories vs. messing with gels. But... Sustained Energy does have an interesting taste; mild, but will take a little getting used to. And I had a slightly funky stomach about an hour+ into the ride, and started burping it up. Not sure if it's because this mix needs constant shaking (see how it separates after only 15 min?) which made it foam a bit...

Or maybe mixing it with Cytomax was a problem? Not sure. I'll give it another shot next week and alternate this with plain water. Energy-wise I felt great by the end of the ride.

...which was good, because on a day like today I need to be outside as much as possible! So I quickly showered and ran back out the door to meet a friend up from LA to run the Kaiser half marathon (which I'd originally had on my schedule until my hamstring decided it had other plans.) Then drinks on a patio with a blind date... nice guy but alas, not my type. Conversation stalled, and... hey, the people sitting next to us are talking triathlon! I started chatting with a gal who was looking to do a few races this year, so that was fun.

And finally, home. I needed some down-time tonight; I have a bunch of work to do tomorrow, plus my longest run since September. Whoo hoo! I think I'll head over to Golden Gate Park. Will share pics.

Hammer goodie box

After totally bonking on my ride two weeks ago, I knew I had to get a lot smarter about nutrition for these longer rides this year. I asked around for recommendations, got some great suggestions, and also did some research on my own.

I ended up ordering Hammer's Sustained Energy because of the natural ingredients and (supposedly) it's better for naturally lean/high metabolism body types versus Perpetuem. I also like that I can mix it with other flavors, so I also ordered a bottle of Hammer Gel. Did some research on that too and all the online reviews were giving thumbs up to Raspberry flavor. So, Raspberry it is. I have my fingers crossed that Sustained Energy doesn't turn out to be gross... a few reviews talked about it being a bit chalky.

So I ordered two products from Hammer, and yesterday I got a delivery in a huge box. Opened it up to find... samples!! A lot of them. I love samples.

Plus a free gel flask, the Hammer magazine, some promo stuff, a customer ID magnet and a well-written letter welcoming me to "the family." I must say, as a consultant who has been in the brand-building space for a couple decades, this is all really well done. I have yet to try any of these products, but I WANT to like them :-) And they're obviously confident in their products to give away so many freebies.

So... I have a ride on tap for this weekend, and I'll try out my Sustained Energy/Raspberry combo and report back!

Do you use Hammer or something else? What is your favorite fuel on the bike?

Recipe #4 - roasted veggies

Ok, continuing my challenge of consuming a plethora of fruits and veggies purchased as part of the Great Organic Basket Challenge (also called the Real World Real Food Challenge by Megan; I guess they couldn't agree on the title?) I decided to roast some veggies.

• 2 golden yams, chopped into cubes (I kept the skins on as that's where all the goodness is)
• 1 fennel, chopped (YUM!! I've never had fennel and it's delicious!!)
• Wanted carrot but I ran out, so I substituted zucchini
• Raisins (didn't measure but guessing @ 1/4 or 1/3 cup)

Put all these veggies in a shallow baking pan, then combine 1/2 cup apple juice (I actually juiced 1 apple and one pear) with 1 tsp dijon mustard and poured over the veggies. Mix it all well, then cover and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, remove the cover, stir in 1/2 can of chickpeas or some other bean of your choice to add some protein, and pop back in the oven uncovered to roast for about 15 minutes.

While that was in the oven, I put some quinoa on the stove, then cut the stems out of the collard greens and sliced them into large pieces. If I were to make this dish again (which I will, it's yummy) I don't think I'd do collard greens; the flavor was a bit too strong to mix with the other veggies. I'd replace with a milder green like spinach. 5 minutes before the veggies were ready I sauteed the greens in a bit of olive oil.

And voila! First I laid down the quinoa, then a bed of greens, then piled the roasted veggies on top. It was quite tasty. The golden yams are slightly less sweet than their orange counterparts and are perfect for a dish like this one.

Also today I used the juicer several times: my wake-up drink consisted of 1 orange, 1 apple, 2 carrots, and 1 kiwi. I had a bit left over, so after my run (which kinda sucked, my hamstring still hurts!) I blended the remaining juice with 1 banana, some frozen pineapple chunks, flax seed and chia seed, and protein powder. Delish. And this afternoon was a veggie juice that used 1 apple, 1/2 cucumber, 1 carrot, spinach, 1 stalk celery, and some parsley.

So... slowly but surely I'm working my way through the list. I still have 5 lemons! Must figure out what to do with them.

- Roma Tomatoes – 5 3
- Avocados – 2 1
- Collard Greens – 1 0
- Fennel – 1 LARGE root 1 0
- Golden Sweet Potatoes – 3  0
- Zucchini – 4 2  1

- Cucumber – 1  1/2
- Pomegranate – 2 0
- Anjou Pear – 2  1
- Kiwi – 2  1
- Pinova Arkansas Black Apple – 2  0
- Pink Lady Apple – 2  1  0
- Navel Orange – 4  3  2
- Pea Sprouts Broccoli Sprouts: 1  1/2 box (put some on a tuna sandwich)
- Lemon – 5
- Lime – 2  1.5

I will say that I am feeling lighter and have more energy after eating all this natural goodness. Except for the tuna sandwich today... felt sluggish. I'm thinking I'm going to treat this like a cleanse and eliminate processed carbs (bread, pasta, etc.) and dairy for a few days and see how I feel. Will keep grains like quinoa and brown rice in... I can't go entirely without carbs.

Very interested to hear what other recipes are being created from the same box! Hope everyone shares.

 

 

Recipes 2 and 3 from the GOBC

Yesterday I purchased a small produce department, playing along with Sonja's Great Organic Basket Challenge. Now my personal challenge is to eat all this food! Yesterday was veggie fajitas. I ate all of it -- and wanted to have more today but I ran out of salsa. So I created a new take on the same ingredients for lunch today... basically a 1-pot veggie dish with rice.

Let's call this... um... I have no idea. Maybe 1 Pot Fajita Medley? Let me know if you have any naming suggestions.

• Sauteed some onion and one zucchini, just like yesterday
• Grilled up my remaining portobello mushrooms using the same marinade (olive oil, worcestershire, soy, a splash of white wine vinegar, salt and pepper)
• When portobellos were cooked, I chopped them up and added them to the pan with the onion and zucchini
• Chopped up 1 roma tomato and added to the pot
• Added my leftover black beans (about 1/2 a can) and some leftover brown rice (about 3/4 cup) into the pot
• Dumped in a tablespoon or so of the leftover mushroom marinade for flavor, added a bit of salt and pepper
• Added some chopped parsley and stirred through
• Spooned into a bowl and topped with chopped avocado (left over from yesterday) 

Mmmm! It was better than I'd expected. That was very easy and a do-over. The avocado on top made the dish.

(Dang! It's still uploading my photos sideways. Does anyone know how to fix this?)

Ok, recipe #2... let's see, what to call this juice? How about Pomegranite Surprise. It was DELICIOUS!! I've never had fresh pomegranite juice (or even cut one open; it was quite an ordeal but worth it.) I dumped in the seeds of 2 pomegranites, 1 apple, 1 orange and 2 carrots into my juicer. I could drink this all day. You'd never know there were carrots in this; I have found that 1 apple + 2 carrots makes a great "base" juice and you can add all kinds of fruit and veggies on top of that.

So... here's where I'm at on the fruit & veggie countdown:

- Roma Tomatoes – 5 3
- Avocados – 2 1
- Collard Greens – 1 bunch (will make tonight)
- Fennel – 1 LARGE root (will make tonight)
- Golden Sweet Potatoes – 3 small (will make tonight)
- Zucchini – 4 2

- Cucumber – 1
- Pomegranate – 2 0
- Anjou Pear – 2
- Kiwi – 2
- Pinova Arkansas Black Apple – 2
- Pink Lady Apple – 2  1
- Navel Orange – 4  3
- Pea Sprouts Broccoli Sprouts: 1
- Lemon – 5 (hoping to use a couple tonight!)
- Lime – 2

 

How many fruits and veggies can I eat before they rot?

That's my assignment after taking up GoSonja's Great Organic Basket Challenge. Because, see, I don't have anyone to cook for but moi. And check out all this lovely produce that must be consumed in the next couple days! I had been thinking that I don't consume enough produce, so this was a great excuse.

(bizarre technology alert... for some reason my pics are being imported upside down. For this, I think I get special points. It's certainly unique. After 15 minutes of trying to fix it, I'm giving up. Part of my "letting go of perfection" assignment.) 

Doesn't the pineapple add flair to the photo? It wasn't on the official Basket list, but Whole Foods was having a special on fair trade pineapple. I love to chop it up, store in the freezer, and then use frozen pineapple chunks in post-workout smoothies.

I'm finding it hard to write with a straight face with this upside-down photo distraction. No, I haven't had any wine tonight, although that might make it even more entertaining. ANYHOOO.... moving on.

As soon as I saw the lovely combo of avocado, tomato, lime and zucchini, I immediately thought: veggie fajitas. So I picked up some portobello mushrooms for the "meat" and prepared as follows:

• basted mushrooms with a blend of olive oil, worcestershire, soy sauce, white wine vinegar (just a splash), salt & pepper, then grilled in my nifty George Foreman grill
• sauteed 1/3rd onion thinly sliced and 1 zucchini (sliced and halved). I carmelize the onion first, then add the zucchini so the latter is still a bit snappy
• made some spicy black beans (heated black beans with one chopped roma tomato and chopped jalapeno pepper, mashing them up a bit)
• loaded it all into tortillas, squeezed 1/4 lime over both, then topped with salsa. Delicious! And very healthy; I use minimal oil.

Voila, my creation! (note this photo is sideways, NOT upside down. What is going on??)

  

Ok, now that I've eliminated one tomato, one zucchini, 1/2 avocado and 1/4 lime from this massive produce department that currently resides on my kitchen counter, I need to figure out what's next. I will haul out my juicer in the morning and try something with pomegranite. I've never had pomegranite and I'm hoping it doesn't make me all amorous... isn't it an aphrodisiac?  I need a boyfriend. Man-friend. Whatever you call someone you sleep with when you're over 40... ridiculous to call them boyfriends. ANYHOOO.... I digress yet again.

I should report on my shopping experience at Whole Foods in San Francisco. A couple challenges: no individual organic limes, so I bought conventional. No pinova apples, so I bought heirloom Arkansas black apples. And no pea sprouts, so I bought broccoli sprouts. Grand total: $45.85. Pretty much halfway between Sonja's and Megan's totals.

I'm looking forward to making something with the sweet potatoes and collard greens tomorrow. I suspect the flavors will complement each other (sweet potatoes go great with chard and kale, so why not collard greens?) I'll report back tomorrow with my creations.

Baked acorn squash with chard

Yum, I just invented my first dish that I'd actually be willing to make again and share. I wanted to do a 1-pot dish with squash and chard, but realized it would be a lot easier to bake the squash first so that the skin would come off easier. 

So I cut one acorn squash (on the small side) in half lengthwise, cleaned out the gunk and seeds, brushed some melted butter over the halves, added salt and pepper, then rubbed about a tablespoon of brown sugar over each half. Then baked (cut side up) for about 40 minutes at 450 until it was tender throughout.

After the squash was in the oven I chopped up a clove of garlic and half a leek, then removed the stems from a big bunch of red chard and chopped the leaves into big hunks.

Mmm, I thought pecans would be good in this and would add some protein. So I toasted about 1/2 a cup, although that turned out to be too much. 1/3 c would probably be good.

I was reheating leftover quinoa, but if you're making this dish, now would be a good time to put that on the stove.

5 minutes before the squash was done, I pulled out a large pan and sauted the garlic and leek, added the chard and also about 1/3 cup of raisins (I wanted cranberries but didn't have those on hand.)

Pulled the squash out of the oven and dumped the accumulated yummy sweet juice over the veggies, then peeled off the skin, chopped the squash into cubes and added them to the pot.

Then added salt, pepper and about a teaspoon of cinnamon over the whole thing. Chopped up the toasted pecans and mixed those in.

Spooned it over a pile of hot quinoa, and voila! A healthy vegetarian meal that could also be a good side dish for Thanksgiving. This makes enough for 2 main dishes or 4 sides.