Friday, March 9, 2012

Headed to Cali!

When I say I travel a lot, I sure mean it. Currently, I am San Francisco bound, which was lucky in and of itself because I flew standby. Didn’t make the first flight, but made the second by the skin of my teeth. Ended up with the middle seat, however, I would’ve gladly ridden with the luggage just to get on the plane! It’s 6:45pm Houston time and I’ve now been awake almost 15 hours… yuck. For one of my jobs, I provide health coaching to employees of companies that hire my company (got that?), and can require me to be on site at hellacious hours of the morning. Sometimes it feels weird eating breakfast so early in the morning, yet in order to really jumpstart metabolism, it’s important to eat within the first hour of rise. This morning I had a perfectly ripe pear with some Greek yogurt. The health fair itself had an assortment of the usual culprits- cinnamon rolls, Danishes, scones, bagels, etc. They were tough to avoid, so I’ll admit I split a blueberry scone with another dietitian. I practiced another lesson I preach- allow yourself a slice, not the whole pie. This prevents feeling deprived and later slipping back off the wagon.

After work, it was home to grab my stuff, kill the other half of my acorn squash (leftover from the night before), pack some snacks to take with me for the plane (more greek yogurt and some almonds), and make my way to Bush Intercontinental Airport. In case y’all haven’t been fortunate enough to sample the wonder that is acorn squash, 1. You should and 2. Seriously, get to the grocery store NOW. Acorn squash packs a punch of Vitamins A, B6, C, E, potassium, and magnesium. One 4” acorn squash contains approximately 176 calories, 0.4g fat, 0g saturated fat, 45g carbohydrates, 6.5g fiber, 0g sugar 3.4g protein, and 13mg sodium. Personally, I consume about half when I prepare it. It’ll surprise you how easily this one fills ya up! This is a great veggie too if you’re short on time- I typically poke the squash with a fork all around and nuke it for about 7 minutes (Caution: it will be HOT), slice it in half, de-seed each half, add some cinnamon or nutmeg (whichever I can find first), grab a fork and go to town! Acorn squash is a great substitute for mashed potatoes in this sense, yet way more flavorful, in my opinion.

Another hour till I land in my favorite US city for some quality time with my family J Movie time.  

References: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list

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