New Product, CousCous Review & Intervals

I decided to eat my second favourite breakfast this morning – OAT BRAN! I need to remember to slide oat bran into my morning “oat” rotation. Normally, I switch between Quaker oats, Old Wessex 5-Grain cereal and flax seed porridge. I think I forget about the oat bran because the box always manages to get stuffed into the corner of the cupboard!

-1/2 cup oat milk
-1/2 cup water
-1/3 cup oat bran
-1 Tbsp coconut spread

I scraped the bottom of the pot when it was done cooking because there was quite a bit still in there (and I need it ALL out) and I noticed when I licked the spoon that the oat milk is on the sweet side. Nothing wrong with that….just an observation. By the time I tried yesterday’s bowl, I had already mixed everything in so I didn’t catch the sweetness. Still wishing I bought more than one carton!

I tried this new tea out this morning by Petit Tea.

They are actually tea sticks! Pretty cool little things, I must say. The box claims that they’re recyclable, too! Here’s what one looks like…

This is Chai, but they had a few different flavours. No more fishing the tea bag out of the cup with these babies!! Some (evil) person brought a box of chocolates into the office today so I felt it my duty to eat 2 pieces. :) I’m such a sucker!!

Here at last is my dinner from last night…..

Chicken with mango chutney, sautéed kale and Israeli couscous. It’s no coincidence that my lunch just so happens to be the exact same as my dinner! I won’t bore you with a repeat photo! Instead, I’ll let you know what I think of the couscous!

Israeli couscous is a lot more pasta like than regular couscous. It reminds me of the little “bullet” noodles that my Mom used to put in her soup when I was a kid. This is the first time that I’ve ever tried/made it, so I just left it plain. Because of this, I found it very bland. I think it would be fabulous cooked up in any kind of broth with lots of Moroccan type spice…..cumin, coriander & cinnamon. A ¼ cup dry (which yields a good cup cooked) is only 190 calories, with 2.5g of fat and 2g of fibre. Not bad! I’m definitely going to have fun playing with the rest of my container.

I snacked on an apple with almond butter last night, too…

I switched things up a bit on the treadmill today. I read and interesting analogy in a magazine the other day that really put things in perspective for me. It compared cardio to you car. Weird, I know, but follow along! We all know that cruising a the same speed down the highway doesn’t do much damage to our gas tank, but as soon as we are in stop-go traffic, the gas needle falls alarmingly fast. Same goes for our body. Running at the same speed for the same time everyday means that you burn pretty much the same amount of calories each day, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the more your body becomes accustomed to the routine, the less you will burn. Introduce intervals and/or inclines a few times a week, though, and suddenly your body is a calorie burning machine. Now, I always knew this to be true on some level, but comparing my body to a car really brought it home for me. So, that being said, here’s what I did today;

-3 min walking/jogging warm up
-2 minutes of sprinting
-3 minutes walking at a fast pace
-repeat 1 & 2 five times
-3 minutes slow jog
-2 minute cool down walk

Distance:3.35 miles
Time: 35:16
Time in Zone: 34:12
Avg Hr:162
Max Hr:186
Calories Burned: 321

Not bad! I certainly felt the burn much more than what I’ve been doing and I think it stayed with me much longer through the afternoon. I was PUMPED UP!! Hehe!!

I had a snack attack later in the afternoon and was glad that I packed the last of my 0% Fage with some pumpkin butter for a snack so I was able to stay away from the chocolate box!


I’m pretty bummed that I’m out of Fage! I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and get a passport done up so I can cross the border. The things are just so darn expensive!!

I heard on the radio on my way home from work that it's suppose to get REAL cold tonight. Like -30* Celsius with the wind chill. CRAP! I'm all for the environment, but I think I'll be starting the van a good ten minutes before I leave in the morning!

For dinner tonight I roasted a pork tenderloin, potatoes (for the fam) and carrots. I also steamed up some edamame for moi.

Here's the meal hot out of the oven...

I used my oil mister to finely spray the pork, then I rubbed it with coriander, cumin, oregano, S & P. The veggies got the same treatment minus the rub! This cooked for 20 minutes at 500*. I'm told the potatoes could've used a few more minutes, but they must not have been too bad because there's none left! :) Here's my plate with a dollop of honey mustard for dipping.

For my sweet end I ate a slice of WW bread with about a tablespoon of coconut spread on it. I tried to get a good picture, but this camera just wouldn't do it. Didn't matter what I did, it looked like a big white square! Oh, how I miss my camera!!

Tonight is Biggest Loser night! WAHOO! I have to run out at 8 and grab DD from her friends house, but I don't think I'll miss much....just last week's review. I promised myself that if I felt snacky, I would nosh on carrots. Seems wrong to eat anything else while watching that show! Catch ya all tomorrow!!

Bye for now!!