WIAW: My Eats and What I am NOT eating anymore.

August 28, 2013August 27, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 11 Comments

Lately I’ve been making a lot more meat meals; fish, chicken and even some pork since my husband is away so much. Not many vegan meals going on these days….it’s kinda nice for a change!

Breakfast for me: Simply Orange Juice, Banana and Egg/Cheese on English muffin.

(bad cheese I know but oh so good every once in a while).

A little trip to good old Costco got us $50 worth of cheese!!! The 5 year cheddar is mine, the middle parmesan is for my neighbour and the 2 year cheddar on the right is for my Aunt/Uncle we are visiting soon.

Did you really think me, my 3-year-old and my vegan husband was going to eat all of this! 😉

Who eats (needs) this much CHEESE???????

Lunch: The most random lunch I have every made!

Cherries, strawberries and blueberries from our local farmer’s markets.

Left over (cold) BBQ’d porkchops.

Pizza bread.

Avocado….missing in this photo is a hard boiled egg I ate with the avocado.

WHAT was I thinking?

Well, I shared the avocado with baby H, I couldn’t get enough berries into me and I wanted to empty the fridge of leftovers.

Supper: Russian Chicken over rice……..YUM!

That was a lot of random foods in the last week!

The decision to stop eating certain foods: Pop & Milk

About a month ago I decided to stop drinking pop (mainly Coca-cola) after reading an article online. I’ve read all that information before about Coke and how terrible it is for you but I would just limit myself to “only when I eat out with work” and “don’t bring it in the house”. And then it turned into “I’ll just buy these mini-cans because I can’t drink a full can anymore”. I even stored them in a place that I don’t look that often and only had 1-2 in the fridge if I remembered. Who drinks warm pop? Yuck! It would force me to plan ahead if I wanted one, and I was okay with that.

It had been a few weeks since I had a Coke and I thought it would be good to just have one more before saying Goodbye! I went grocery shopping and decided I would buy that one “last” bottle of Coke to drink at dinner that night. As I walked by numerous stands filled with pop I kept saying I’ll get it at the end. I got home and realised I forgot to by the Coke. I was really looking forward to one last hurrah but it didn’t happen. It’s been over a month since I’ve had a pop. Even though I’ve had two occasions that I really, REALLY wanted a pop…I didn’t cave in and go buy it. Yeah, me!

I’ve also decided to stop drinking milk! When I was 17, I was getting really really sick from foods I was eating but couldn’t figure it out. I ended up in the hospital twice because I was so sick – yuck. I had allergy tests done and then a lactose intolerant test done too! Sure enough, dairy was the problem. I gave up all dairy except yogurt for about 7 years and then starting drinking lactose free milk and taking lactose pills if I had ice cream or cream cheese. Recently I’ve been having some stomach problems and decided that cutting milk out of my diet couldn’t hurt me. I rarely have ice cream so I’m cool with taking a pill for that. It’s the 5 year block of cheddar cheese that I’m going to have a HARD time giving up. We’ll see if that happens. So, for now I’m drinking coconut milk that my husband drinks.

What have you been eating lately?

Have you EVER spent $50 on cheese? JUST cheese?

Do you drink milk or something else?

Blogging on bloggin’

August 27, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 6 Comments

I’m excited to share a post I wrote for “Thinking Outside The Sandbox – Family” blog today.

If you’ve been following Piper’s Run for a while, you may know that I am passionate about being physical active and wanting to instill that in my girls. This past year I joined TOTS – Family and am writing an article once a month with a focus around physical activity and sometimes vegan eating; you can see my other articles here under guest posts.

My post when up today called “A Little Dirt on Your Dress Can’t Hurt – Girls Who Play in Dirty Grow Up Healthier”.

It’s funny, I write this blog (Piper’s Run), yet I’m shy when it comes to sharing it on my personal Facebook page. Weird, I know. I shared my TOTS – Family post today on my personal Facebook and Piper’s Run Facebook because I’m starting to get a little more comfortable with writing and sharing my thoughts.

It’s hard not to share when you have cuties like this:

Lilly, Mommy and Hilary

Do you share your blog posts on your personal Facebook?

Do you share OTHER blog posts on your personal Facebook page?

Update: “Operation Get Fit” Results

August 25, 2013August 24, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 10 Comments

It’s been almost two months since I finished my “Operation Get Fit” workouts….how do I know this? Well, because I had promised to write a “final” post with my results, photo’s and such………and I haven’t. Lately, I haven’t been able to write and publish the posts I want to on time. It’s just the way life is going these days but I haven’t forgotten about it. So, here it goes.

Last year I agreed to be a bridesmaid (for the first time) for my friend Kelly; her wedding was June 24th 2013. I had baby Hilary in December 2012 and at 8 weeks postpartum, I went dress shopping for my bridesmaid dress. The sales lady and I agreed I’d lose that little weight I needed by June. Ha!

April arrives and so does my dress. I tried it on and couldn’t zip it up! Seriously, I only zipped it half way up my back and I was 8 weeks away from Kelly’s wedding. My mother and husband who saw the dress 1/2 zipped said that I needed to get more active (with a 4 month old and almost 3-year-old). It was a little harsh but just what I needed to hear.

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If you missed the others posts, here you go:

Why Operation Get Fit ; Week 1 ; Week 2 ; Week 3 ; Week 4 ; Week 5 ; Week 6 ; Week 7 and Week 8.

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“Sometimes you need to hear the honest true from someone you love to get to were you need to be”

I created a plan to workout 4-5 nights a week once both girls were in bed and after we managed to get baby Hilary on a bedtime routine. Usually around 8 pm I would either run outside if my husband was home or workout in our basement to a few different DVD’s.

Jillian Michael’s Ripped in 30 (All 4 levels completed).
Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred (just to change it up here and there).
Brad Gouthro DVD.
Running occasionally outside on my own or with baby H in the stroller.
A variety of other random workouts (arms, abs etc).

Results:

After searching for any before picture this is the only before picture I could find. I guess I am always the one behind the camera these days.

Running with Hilary

I lost 8 and a 1/2 pounds and 10 inches all over but mainly from my waste/hips and bum – a.k.a. baby weight.

What is hard?

Heck yeah! I committed to being a bridesmaid which meant wearing this dress. The only person that was going to get me there was me. I had to be the one to decide each and every night to put my workout clothing on after I had been up since 6 am taking care of Hilary and sometimes Lilly when not at day care. I was the one who decided not to sit in front of the TV (okay, that did happen at least 2 nights that I remember when I just didn’t have it in me) but 97% of the time I was committed to losing the weight.

Also, my husband was home most evenings and would help out so I could do my workouts. He even watched the hockey playoffs on our computer ……. awwwwwww, that’s love.

What did I learn? A LOT!

Mainly, that I can get the results if not better if I just put in the time.

I also learned that setting a specific goal (long term) and weekly goals (short term) are something I need to keep me going. I would look at each week on Sunday and plan out what days I could workout and what days I just really needed to rest. Yes, some of those workout days turned into rest days but then my scheduled rest days became a workout day.

Did the dress fit?

It sure did! I had no problem zipping it up in the back. I had the dress on from around 1 pm until 11:30 pm expect for the few times I had to nurse Hilary. Off I would go to the cabin we rented. I would strip down and put on a robe so I could nurse her then back in the dress like that! I had pretty little silver shoes with a little heal to go with the dress (great colour choice by the bride).

After the big day I decided to sit back a little and concentrate on things at home. Less working out and more just having fun with the girls. And no, I did not increase my TV time. We actually cancelled our TV cable since we stopped watching it so much. In July I took part in the 6k Mud Hero Run which was a lot of fun and August I recently ran the Run for Women 5k.

Where am I now?

I’ve managed to keep the weight off and am starting to plan for the next round of “losing the baby weight”. I have another 7 pounds to go am coming up with a workout plan to start soon. I’ve been running twice a week when my hubby is home and managed to go to Zumba one night!

I’m happy with my results but not done yet!

Did you ever work 6-8 weeks on a fitness program?

What were your results?

Did you continue, lighten-up a bit or end the workouts all together?

I’d love to hear your comments below!

Calling all Toddlers: Sprout Food Review

August 19, 2013 / Anna @ Piper's Run / 2 Comments

I’m very behind it putting this post together but it’s better late than never, right?

Back in July…okay, maybe more like June (28th) I received a box in the mail from Sprout Foods! When I opened it up, all I could think about was how I was going to hide them from Lilly and keep them for myself…..kidding. Well, kind of.

I knew that I could find some great taste testers who wouldn’t turn away from these treats. We got together with Lilly’s best friends since birth! Yeah, they are three years old and have been hanging out since they were born – we are so lucky. With approval from their mom’s (my friends) I dished out the samples we had.

Fruity Yogurt Bites:

Orange Carrot Yogurt
Raspberry Yogurt

Fruit & Veggies Crispy Chews:

Tropical Fruit & Pumpkin
Red Raspberry and Beet
Orange Fruit & Carrot

Don’t those sound delicious? It was hard to only taste a few 🙂

Little taste testers – Sprout Foods

There first noises were: yum and then mmmmmmmmmmmm! These are yummy! The gobbled them up and were looking for more before I could even open the next package. One mentioned they were a little hard to chew but agreed that she wanted more and liked them.

In the end, I ate a few of each to taste them and see what all the fuss was about. The flavour was very powerful in all of them and quite a refreshing taste as a new treat.

Would I buy these? Yes. It would be awesome if I could get them in a local store. You know, in Nova Scotia, Canada…hint hint Sprout Foods 🙂 I was amazed at how much product was in a little pouch. We kept a package for home and Lilly only wanted half. They are great for sharing with a friend or sibling!

I’d love to try the baby food…well, let me rephrase that. I would like Hilary to try the baby food as the combinations look really tasty: sweet potato and white beans, cherry quinoa cobbler with corn and ginger chicken! Oh my taste buds are hurting. Oh right, I mean, Hilary’s taste buds would be if she was reading this.

Sprout Foods has some great products including organic baby food, squeeze pouches (amazing for traveling), and toddler meals, purees and snacks. You can find more information on their products at their website and their social media sites too.

Where to buy: looks like for us Canadians the best place is to go to Sprout Foods’ website and purchase them online via one of the stores that carries their product line: Walgreens, ToysRUs, or Amazon.

Thanks Sprout Foods for providing Piper’s Run with samples to test out. Please note: I was not paid to do this review. These opinions are simple mine shared on this blog.