Today was sort of a weird food day for me. I am trying to figure out why. First I will re-cap the day:

Breakfast was EARLY at 6:15 AM (this might be one reason I was hungry all day?) No photo taken, running around the house getting ready, and starving. I had an organic blueberry waffle with a smear of Teddie peanut butter on it. My cool coffee maker was on the blink this morning (Grrr!) but eventually it worked for me, and that made me very happy. I enjoyed an individually brewed cup of french roast, and it really hit the spot.

At nine o’clock I was hungry again… so I had 1/2 a cup of Chobani vanilla greek yogurt. At 10 o’clock I had a green rice crispy treat, thanks to Mark 🙂

Finally noon time rolled around (it was such a long morning!) and I went on a two mile (plus) speedy power walk – it was about 67 degrees this afternoon. Spring time is definitely here, at least for this week. I am so curious to see how much more winter we will actually have. I cannot remember having a stretch of spring weather so “early” in March. (Climate change anyone!?)

So – I was totally spoiled with lunch today. Mark cooked chicken last night and packed left overs for me for lunch. I made a great chicken wrap with melted Babybel, lettuce, diced tomato on a whole wheat wrap:

My photos have been really grainy lately because for the last two days I have been snapping my daytime eats via iPhone… I keep forgetting to pack my travel camera!! Yikes. Anyhow. This wrap was super good. I also put a smear of garlic hummus and a bit of dijon mustard on it 🙂

I had an apple with lunch, too.

At around three o’clock I ran to our staff break room to grab my lunch bag. To my delight, my favorite food of all time was waiting for me… Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels. There is no better food in the world. (Ok, Anna’s Burritos are a close second)

I realized that even though I write almost every night that I have eaten at least a couple of these as a snack, I do not think I have ever posted a photo of them. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about – here they are:

Pretzel and Peanut Butter heaven:

I just do not even know what to say. If you have not tried them yet, get yourself to the nearest Trader Joe’s and pick some up 😀 In case you are wondering, nine peanut butter pretzels have about 117 calories, 6.2 grams of fat (1.5 saturated) 10.5 g of carb and 3.9 grams of protein. I love them because they taste wonderfully good and they are a satisfying snack – when I have a few, I am no longer hungry – which says a lot since I am hungry a lot.

Last night I made my mom promise to go for a walk with me after work. I am glad that I made this plan, because if I hadn’t I would have gone for yet another run. I am not sure if my left knee would have survived a third day of running in a row. I am glad that I was able to give my body a break from my miles, and still enjoy more time outside. I had a great walk with my mom, it was beautiful outside and we really enjoyed ourselves. We walked for about 25 minutes.

For dinner I decided to get burritos at a new place in our neighborhood. I love burritos so – much. I would eat one every day, probably. I feel like burritos get a bad rap from a lot of folks out there. Yes, they are big and high in calories. But they are also filled with FRESH ingredients (depending on where you get them from) and they are good for more than one meal! I had about 1/3 of my burrito tonight 🙂 It is not pretty – but here it is:

My burrito consists of:

• whole wheat tortilla wrap
• brown rice
• red pepper
• lettuce
• cilantro
• freshly squeezed lime
• tomato
• salsa
• corn
• black beans
• grilled chicken
• a small amount of guac
• red onions
• a sprinkle of cheese

I hope I am not forgetting anything… It was a really great burrito – soo fresh!

After dinner I had a glass of 1% milk – I was reminded by my Runner’s World magazine that dairy is soo important to people who run when I got an e-mail about this article. I highly recommend clicking on the hyper link – the article has a lot of great information in it. Here is an excerpt regarding the importance of DAIRY:

Rule #4: Drink milk and eat milk products that come from animals

Whether from a cow, a goat, or even a reindeer, mammal milk (as opposed to soy milk) and other dairy products, like cheese, yogurt, and kefir, should be a part of every runner’s diet. Sure, milk supplies calcium, and calcium builds strong bones, which is great for your running. But animal milk offers much more.

Dairy supplies a runner’s hardworking muscles with an ample amount of protein to help speed recovery. But whey protein, the specific type of protein found in dairy foods, may also help strengthen the immune system. Milk products also contain stearic acid, which is thought to improve blood-cholesterol levels. Ample research also suggests that regular dairy consumption can lower your blood pressure and your risk for heart disease. And for anyone watching his or her weight, studies have shown that dieters who include dairy in their low-calorie plans lose more fat than those who simply cut calories.

Fermented dairy products, such as yogurt, cultured milk, and kefir, contain live bacteria, which also bolster immune health. These bacteria, as well as a special fat in dairy called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), can also help alleviate constipation, improve symptoms of certain intestinal ailments, such as inflammatory bowel disease, and reduce the occurrence of yeast infections in women. And people who are lactose intolerant may see an improvement in their symptoms when they regularly consume cultured dairy products.

Ok, I’m back. So, I ate a lot today. Some of my snacks were not documented. I had a small-ish M & M cookie, and a second small rice crispy treat. I think part of my problem (of being starving all day!) was related to my lame dinner last night. After running over three miles (for about 5 1/2 miles total for the day) I had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch because I was too tired and achey to make dinner. Boo!

Well, I am heading to bed now! I hope you are all having a great week – TGIF tomorrow, see you then! I am going to relax with my big cup of peppermint tea and Nanny Returns (did anyone else love Nanny Diaries?!) I am pretty sure the sequel won’t live up to the first – but I hope it is entertaining!

In closing, Mom and I saw the most beautiful crocuses on our walk this evening… forgive the grainy photo (thanks iPhone!) but I just had to share with you all – I love Spring!!