That’s what I feel happened this weekend.
It sounds cliche but I really have two operating modes:
- All out insane crazy busy working 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. barely stopping to mindfully eat lunch and dinner
or
- Doesn’t move from the couch all day; switching positions only to alternate from watching Netflix, to reading, to eating, and to napping.
This weekend was definitely more of the latter.
Saturday morning I was able to do most of one of my favorite workouts – Booty Barre Total New Body. I only had to modify a few moves for my bum knee and felt very upbeat that I was able to finish the hour long routine!
Later that afternoon I made up a dozen burritos. Some to eat this week and most to freeze to have on hand for quick dinners. Using the ingredients you see in the photo I was able to make a dozen. Each burrito is about 200 calories, has 19 grams of protein and cost about $1.67. Economical and nutritious!
I ate mine topped with a bit of organic salsa and steamed some veggies to go on the side. Mucho delicioso!
Sunday morning I tried to run. Failed. I was able to walk over 3 miles at a normal pace with virtually no pain! I tried to run a few times and each time I would get no more than 10 paces in when my knee started to hurt. I would stop immediately and after a few minutes of walking would be pain free so I’d try again. Eventually I wised up and just walked the rest of the way.
Came across this guy on my way home.
In case you can’t tell it’s a raccoon!
We sat there awkwardly staring at each other for about 2 minutes before he nose-dived into the sewer.
The rest of the day was spent on the couch “recovering” (I’m learning how to indulge my sloth-like qualities while my knee receives some TLC). Unfortunately, Salem has also been walking with a terrible limp so I’m staying home more to keep an eye on him. The counters at my new place are higher than he’s used to and I suspect he hurt himself jumping down one day. The limp came on suddenly Saturday morning but he’s already doing better now (Monday) as I’ve been waiting on him hand and foot and not letting him jump at all! It’s so funny – I don’t have insurance so I’ll limp for weeks before I consider going to a doctor but if Salem’s condition hadn’t improved by the end of Saturday we’d be in the animal clinic right now. Got to take care of my baby!
I started reading one of the books I received for Christmas – Buddha’s Brain. The first portion of the book dealt mostly with the neurology of the brain, something I’m pretty familiar with given the Psych courses I teach, so I’m just now getting to the ‘good stuff’. I’ll share my full review once I’m done!
It did inspire me to meditate for a bit and I pulled out another new Christmas toy, my blood pressure monitor, to have some fun with it while I meditated.
The top two numbers are Blood Pressure and the bottom is my heart rate. The first reading was taken prior to meditating and reflects my average BP and HR. The middle reading was after 10 minutes of meditation – note the lowered heart rate and increased BP. Not sure why BP went up but I’d love to see my HR get into the 40′s soon! The last reading was after a few minutes of deep breathing exercises. Perhaps a bit to deep as I started to get light-headed (not surprised seeing that my BP dropped!) It’s so amazing to be able to use this as a type of biofeedback to see what meditation is doing to my body as I do it.
Finally, I watched ‘Hungry for Change’ on Netflix. The documentary focuses on the dangers of dieting, particularly the crap chemicals in most ‘diet’ foods and the devastating consequences they have on your body/mind. I was already familiar with most of the information presented but it was a very well done doc and I would strongly recommend everyone who is interested in their health watch it! I’ve been slacking on eating organic/chemical free lately and I’m headed to our local health food store today to stock up on some essentials.
Any other good Food Docs I need to watch? Preferably one’s that don’t show images of animal cruelty. I’m already a vegetarian and I can’t stand to see those poor pictures!
I have been trying to watch The Weight Of The Nation. (http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/)
It is in segments and my family hates it … lol, so I always lose the vote.
Lol – I’ll watch them all for you and take notes ;) Thanks for sharing, I hadn’t heard of it and it looks incredible! I have a few TED Talks relating to health/wellness I watch in my classes I need to find and share on here as well.
I’m the same way with my animals. If I’m hurt/sick info everything I can to avoid the doctor but if something is off with them, I panic. Glad he’s feeling better!
I had a pretty lazy weekend, too. Much needed! :)
Ty for the well wishes for Salem :) I also suspected if I took him to the vet he’d suddenly start walking fine and the stress of the trip would be worse on him than staying at home. His brother was born with joint defects and I went through months of issues with him toward the end so I feel pretty comfortable in my ability to judge the severity of Salem’s pain and if a trip to the vet is really justifiable!
I watched Hungry for Change this weekend as well! Gotta love Netflix streaming. I’ve heard Forks Over Knives is a great one and I also enjoyed Vegucated. Both are on Netflix streaming.
I’ve seen Forks over Knives (loved it) and Vegucated was recommended to me after I watched Hungry for Change. Will add it to my que!
Food Matters is another great documentary on Netflix. It actually talks about how good whole foods can save your life. Vitamin C to fight cancer? I mean, wow!
I believe Food Matters is done by the same duo who directed Hungry for Change. I want to say I saw it years ago but it’s been so long I need to watch it again!
whoa, your BP is low! must be all the meditation ;)
It’s been low ever since I started tracking it about a year ago. It hasn’t been a problem for me so I’m not worried about it, but I do make an effort to stay hydrated and take my Iron supplements as I can get dizzy if I don’t!
I really need to get more in the habit of preparing my meals before the week. Great idea, fixing up the burritos, I love those Flat outs!
I looked at all the tortillas available at Publix (seriously, I spent at least 10 minutes) and these were the lowest calorie one’s available that weren’t as full of Frankenstein ingredients as others!
Oh, I’m sorry about your bum knee and that it’s taking its sweet time to recover. But you know, if you had been going faster, you may have missed that racoon encounter, or worse (gasp!), you may have been a victim in a racoon attack. :P Jyust kidding. I don’t know why I’m being so silly this Monday. And I’m worried about Salem, too. The both of you need to get to feeling better. I’m looking forward to your Buddha book review, too!
Lol, I love feeling silly on a Monday morning! The thought has crossed my mind while out on walks this week what I’d do if a dog/crazy man started running after me. Best I could come up with is fall down into a fetal position.
Those burritos look delicious, I love that you included the cost too! Super reasonable. Do you keep the premade ones in the fridge or freezer? I love cooking a bunch of stuff at once and eating it throughout the week, makes life easy!
I’m trying to get more into the idea of once-a-month cooking! I’d love to have at least a few soups, burritos (breakfast and dinner) and other items in my freezer I can turn to for quick meals. I kept 4 in the fridge to eat this week, and I read online that you can keep them in the freezer for a few weeks and when you’d like to reheat them just wrap them in a damp paper towel before putting in the microwave. I’ll probably cut mine in half before I reheat as the center never gets warm enough for me!
Hungry for Change is great! I actually just watched it on Netflix too :)
Don’t you totally want to go out and buy a juicer now? I’m looking into ways of ‘juicing’ at home with a blender!
Maybe Salem is feeling sympathy pain for his momma! I will avoid going to the doctor like the plague (even with insurance), but something goes wrong with one of my feline babies, and I’m at the vet racking up expenses like it’s play money. Gotta have priorities!
Hope you and Salem feel better soon.
I actually told a friend that he was just experiencing sympathy pains as well! When his brother passed my ex and I decided to try a blood transfusion on him (long story) and the doc told us he had a 30%ish chance of making it and the procedure was over 1k. We did it. We were broke ass college students but I just can’t help it when it comes to them! We ended up having to put him down that night and I’ll never spending that money for a second.
thank you for the food documentary suggestion (and more suggestions in the comments) – I’ll look forward to alternating these between rewatching episodes of Buffy! I’ve just recently found your blog and already enjoying it. :)
Ahhhh Buffy is one of my absolutely favorite shows ever! I’ve seen the entire series about a dozen times. I’ll alternate between re-watching that, Charmed and 90210. Just started Charmed (again). Comfort TV!
I challenge you to not use canned beans and package spices!
I know, I know! If you look at most of my recipes over the last few months they are all made with whole/real foods. Like I said, I’ve gotten lazy and I’m SO glad I watched the documentary to get back on track!
Ohhh, I’ve gotta watch the documentary! (I love watching documentaries on health/diet/fitness.) As for pets, I’m with you. I’ll take care of them before me. (And the same goes for my kids and husband. I’ll take them to the doc, but avoid it for me if I can. Strange. lol)
Hope you both feel better soon. <3
If you have any fav docs on health/fitness pls let me know! I’ve seen a few on diet but I don’t think any on general health/wellness.
Alright I just added the book and the film to my list of things to read/watch! I just started reading Super Brain by Deepak Chopra and this weekend I watched Veducated (about people becoming vegans) and it was great! Thanks for the tips!! BTW those burritos look so good!
The burritos are sooo filling! I’m not used to eating such ‘heavy’ foods. Great since it’s only 200 calories but weird feeling ‘stuffed’! Let me know what you think of Super Brain!
Wow, I really feel for you not being able to run, I’ve never been in the situation but I can imagine that it really sucks…
On the upside though, you’ve made some darn good looking burritos! Am I right in thinking that they’re similar to a fajita or a Mexican wrap of some sort? As you can likely guess I’m not too acquainted with that food, but I can still tell that it looks delicious!
By the way, thanks for the bottom right hand cat photo, I stared at that for a few moments while I chuckled to myself, epic cat photo for the win!
To be honest – I’m not sure what the real difference is between a fajita and a burrito! I always make burritos with meat, beans and sometimes cheese.
I’m partial but I think most of the photos of Salem are pretty epic :)
A movie that combines the themes of eastern philosophy and food is called “How to cook your life”, I recall enjoying it at the time I watched it, may be hard to find. A theme in it is how making food can be a source of happiness.
I assume this is the one? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0943512/ Looks amazing! Found it used on Amazon for $1.50 – putting it on my wishlist!
You can watch it for free on Youtube at degraded quality but the message is the same!
“Supersize Me”……an oldie but a goodie.
I think a lot of people have those two modes. Well I know I do! Seems like you got a lot done but i dont know if just 12 burritos would work for me. most would have been gone that day. How long can you keep them if you freeze them. Sounds like you won the staring contest with the raccoon.
Lol – I totally owned that racoon! I’m not sure on the burritos this is the first time I’ve made them to freeze. I assume they would be good for about a month, and if I have any past then I’ll update that post and let people know what their expiration date is!
Salem is adorable! I hope he’s feeling better now.
It’s such a great idea to make extra burritos and freeze some for later. I will have to try that.
You should! I actually just came home for lunch totally starving and not wanting to cook and had a delicious homemade burrito in 2 minutes :)