Spaghetti Squash Mac & Cheese

When I got home tonight, I was pretty tired...and, unfortunately, fatigue usually leads me to make poor decisions in the food department. I opened the refrigerator and immediately honed in on the large bag of shredded cheddar cheese that I bought at the grocery store recently. There was absolutely nothing special about this stuff — just your standard shredded cheese — but I immediately started craving something cheesy for dinner. When my eyes moved just slightly to the spaghetti squash that I knew I needed to use in the next day or two, I had an idea. Why not make macaroni and cheese with spaghetti squash?

I've never made spaghetti squash before tonight. I've watched many a friend make it, but never really paid close enough attention to replicate it myself. So, after some quick Googling, I had my squash in the microwave and was on my way!

Spaghetti Squash Mac & Cheese

Adapted from POPSugar

1 small spaghetti squash

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened almond milk or regular milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/3 cup asiago and parmesan blend

Salt and pepper

Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds inside. Place the squash down with the skin facing outward in a microwave-safe baking dish. Add about 1 inch of water to the dish. Microwave the squash on high for 8-12 minutes. When poked by a fork, the squash should be tender. Cool for 10-20 minutes.

While the squash cools, melt butter in a saucepan. When melted, add flour and mix together. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and whisk in cheeses until melted.  Add salt and pepper as desired for taste. Set aside.

Using a fork, scrape out the insides of the spaghetti squash into a bowl. Once finished, pour the cheese sauce over the squash and mix together.

If desired, sprinkle additional cheese over top. Enjoy!

Visually, it isn't necessarily the most appealing of meals. However, it's a great, lower calorie substitute when those mac and cheese cravings hit. A few things to note: the texture will not be what you would expect from a pasta dish. Spaghetti squash has a bit more of a crunch to it than pasta will. Also, if you opt for almond milk over regular milk (like I did), the sauce won't be quite as creamy. But that's the sacrifice we make for healthy alternatives :)

There's Always Room for Running Shoes

Since I won't be able to share much in the way of workouts over the next two weeks, I figured I'd write something a little different than usual. As I'm sure you've noticed, I tend to travel a lot. It's not always glamorous and frequently is just a quick jump across the country to go home for a weekend. Still, there's something about travel that has a tendency to throw off your usual routine, particularly where workouts are concerned.

So, what do I do when I travel?

I'm going to drop a bit more of my Dad's wisdom on you here. When I was younger, I was notorious for trying to pack everything humanly possible in my suitcase. Once, I remember asking my Dad if it was okay to include some running shoes in my suitcase for a family trip to Florida.

"There's always room for running shoes," he said.

That has stuck with me throughout all my travels. Whether I'm going to Russia for work or just going home for a weekend, I always bring my running shoes. Whether you're going to Vegas for a weekend or off to New York, there's always someplace to run. Ask at the front desk of your hotel and they can usually give you a map or rundown of local running trails and areas to avoid. The ability to run anywhere in the world is actually a big reason why I started running in the first place!

A few other good tips and tricks for staying fit on the road...

• Check out the hotel gym and pool. It may not always be big and fancy, but it's something!
• Some hotels, like the Aria in Vegas, offer fitness programs for guests. Ask at the front desk!
• Take a workout DVD along or sign up for an online workout program like Daily Burn (my sister swears by it!). These are usually designed to be done in smaller spaces, so a hotel room or guest bedroom floor should work just fine.
• Bring multi-purpose clothing. I personally love wearing yoga pants and leggings both for fun and workouts, so they serve double duty when I travel.
• Don't go too crazy when you go out to eat! Even though it's tempting to throw your cares to the wind on vacation, splurge where you really want to but don't go crazy at every meal.

Anyone else have any tips that have worked for them? Tweet your tips to me (@ripode) and I'm happy to add them in!

Juice Cleanse OVER

I lasted a day and a half.

As I said in my post yesterday, I was just so sick of juice! It took me over an hour to get through half of my first bottle of the day. Every sip made me nauseous. Finally, I took a look at the oyster crackers on my desk and decided to go for it.

So, the pros and the cons.

Pros
- I didn't feel hungry at all.
- My stomach felt much more settled than it has in awhile.
- Some of the juices were tasty.

Cons
- Six huge bottles of juice a day is too much juice.
- I had very little energy by the end of day one, falling asleep at 9 p.m.
- I had a headache the full duration of the cleanse.
- Some of the juices were pretty revolting.
- The juices are very expensive.
- I was dizzy and a bit of a crab most of the time.

My verdict? Don't do it. Or just do it for a day. I don't really care to repeat the juice cleanse experience anytime soon!

Of course, randomly browsing the internet tonight, I found this on Buzzfeed. Timely, eh?

Juice Cleanse Day 1

After 24 hours of consuming little more than juice, I've arrived at the following conclusions: whoever said day one was easy was lying and man is not meant to live on juice alone, regardless of how many cold-pressed fruits and vegetables are in them.

One thing I was NOT expecting was the fact that I was physically incapable of drinking all six bottles of juice throughout the day. It was just too much juice. By mid-afternoon, I just wanted something salty. I eventually satisfied that craving by having a chopped up avocado and tomato with salt for dinner (raw fruits and vegetables are recommended if you decide you need something more than juice, as is avocado specifically). But before I had my little avocado and tomato salt salad, I simply could not stomach any more juice. I only drank half of Fiji (mid-afternoon juice) and skipped Green Supreme altogether (dinner drink), then only had about a third of my "dessert" drink.

Man is not meant to live on juice alone.

Despite my issues above, there were definitely some positives that came out of day one. My stomach, which is frequently upset, has been totally fine. Surprisingly, I have not been hungry at all. My salt cravings have made me more or less forget my sugar cravings. I'm not sure that trading one craving for another is a good thing, but we'll see how this pans out.

So, after considering bailing on this juice cleanse after day one (for both the reasons above and the fact that it basically costs $50 a day even with the juices on sale this week at Whole Foods), I'm opting to do a hybrid juice/raw food/smoothie cleanse for the remaining two days. I'm going to keep drinking the Suja juices I still have left (sipping on Glow at the moment!), but after those run out, I'm going to switch to raw food and alternative juices.

Stay tuned.

We'll see if this juice cleanse thing really works...

If you follow Hollywood news at all, you've probably heard plenty about juice cleanses. I've had many friends try them out and preach about them, but I've always been a skeptic. Why? I have a science background and I know that your body is completely capable of detoxing itself without spending a couple of days limiting your diet to cayenne-maple syrup lemonade.

However, I've decided to give it a shot. After doing a bit of research, I have a few reasons:

1. I have a serious sugar addiction. From what I've read online, a three-day juice cleanse is fantastic for kicking sugar cravings.
2. I've been sick a LOT lately. At this point, I'm willing to try just about anything to improve my immune system health.
3. The juice cleanse I've chosen (Suja, primarily because it is readily available at Whole Foods and I don't have to pay crazy amount for shipping) is packed full of fruits and vegetables and who doesn't need more of those in their life?

So, I've decided to blog about this for accountability purposes. I'm told day one is easy but that it gets progressively more difficult from there.

I'm currently drinking my first juice, Glow. It smells like celery but has a nice apple taste to it. The juices are a pretty decent size, so you can enjoy sipping it for awhile (we'll see if that's a good thing when I get to the juice I'm dreading most - Green Supreme). 

Here's today's menu. Wish me luck!

30 Questions: 5 Passions

What are 5 passions you have?

1.) Olympic Sports
I started speedskating because of the Olympic Games. And because of speedskating, I started applying for internships at the U.S. Olympic Committee. And because of the USOC, I found my passion and what I wanted to do with my life. What is that, exactly? Marketing and promotion of Olympic sports. Now, less than three years into my career, I've been to the Olympic Games, made amazing friends, served as official photographer for a World Cup and had so, so many experiences I never would've anticipated if you'd talked to me five years ago. 

However, my passion for Olympic sports goes beyond just the fact that I've turned it into my career. I love sports. I grew up watching the Pacers and Colts. I lived in Tampa when the Devil Rays were created and went to my first Lightning game there. But there's something different about Olympic sports. While they do indeed have their problems, I feel like it's still truly about the sport. It's not about who got a multimillion dollar contract to create their own shoe or cutting the line into New York's most famous club. It's a labor of love with very, very little chance of glory. We're talking about athletes who train forty hours a week for four years and then have one shot at their sport's most coveted award, Olympic gold. And on top of the competition, you've got incredible stories of international cooperation and friendship. At the core, the Olympic Movement is just a really amazing thing.

2.) Travel
There's no better way to understand the world than experiencing it for yourself. I've had the distinct privilege of getting to travel to somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty countries and territories. Every place I visit teaches me something new and makes me appreciate aspects of my own culture that I make never have noticed. Through my experiences with other people in other places, I've come to understand that there's no one place that is "better" than anywhere else, just different. And "different" is not a bad thing :)

3.) Food
Specifically, good food. I love the history and culture of food, as well as how it brings people together. There are few things better than a great dinner with good friends and a few bottles of wine. I'm also very passionate about treating my body to the right kinds of food. Yes, I eat junk food and even indulge in the occasional trip through the drive-thru, but I do consciously make an effort to avoid foods that are not ethically raised (i.e., I only eat cage-free eggs) and I try to eat organic food. Yes, it costs more, but I think avoiding unnecessary exposure to antibiotics, pesticides and other substances is worth it, as is the peace of mind that comes with avoiding unethically raised food products.

Yes, I know it's a cupcake...they can be organic, too!

4.) The Environment
Because without a healthy planet, what's the point? We've got to take care of what we have.

5.) Health
This one goes along with food and the environment. I try to exercise and eat properly (although I'm far from perfect) because we only are given one body and I intend to make the most of mine! 

Other honorable mention passions: photography, politics, music, books and much, much more!

Running

Today, something happened that has never happened before in my life.

I ran...and I enjoyed it.

For the past 25 years of my life, running and I have not been friends.  I had asthma, occasionally broke out in hives mid-run, got dizzy, etc. Basically, running meant feeling like I was dying, and I was never really a fan of that.  So I biked, ellipticalled, speedskated, lifted and did just about any exercise I could think of in order to avoid running and still stay healthy.

Fast forward to last year.  My sister inspired me to sign up for a sprint triathlon.  Despite my dislike of running, I started attempting a little 5k loop in Colorado Springs (the Jack Quinn's loop for those of you Colorado Springs folks out there).  It didn't really stick, though, and when I decided to move to San Diego (thus making me unable to do the triathlon), I got out of the habit.

Now, San Diego has AMAZING weather.  Going to a gym here feels like it should be a crime since there's gorgeous parks and beaches to enjoy.  So, after having little success when it came to finding a decent local gym with a pool, I decided I was going to suck it up and run.  First, it was just a weekly run when I felt guilty about being lazy.  Then my friend Karen and I got the crazy idea to sign up for a half marathon.

The first month of training sucked...same old feeling like dying while running.  But, I had promised Karen I'd train with her, so I stuck with it (as much as I've always been a loner when it comes to working out, having a running buddy has been infinitely helpful if for no other reason than it forces me to get out of bed and run).

A few weeks ago, I got a shin splint in my right leg.  It was painful and forced me to reassess my old running shoes (old trail shoes that I used to use on the Incline!).  After two weeks off, I was ready to put my new shoes to use, so I was kind of looking forward to running again (yes, new workout clothes/shoes/etc. are a guaranteed way to get me to work out).  Not really the feeling of it, but the whole health factor.  I had signed up for a 5k in Crown Point last Saturday, so I figured that was the perfect time to jump back in.  It wasn't a very long run, the course was flat and I could always walk if I needed to.

I ended up running the whole 5k without stopping (an achievement for me, since my generally horrible attitude with running usually results in me stopping and walking just because I don't like running) and got a personal best time.  So, when I went to do my training run today, I figured I'd at least run for the first 3.2 miles since I knew I could.

Then I ended up running 4.05 miles and still felt like I could run more...only I had to get back to work!  I was smiling during my run.  I wasn't mentally tallying how many songs had played so far and trying to calculate how that translated into miles.  I wasn't thinking about how much I had left.  Instead, I was looking at the sailboats in the harbor.  I was humming along to songs absentmindedly.  I was people watching and wondering whether they were tourists or business travelers.

Somehow, all the things that typically distract me melted away.  And I just ran.

That's not to say running is going to magically be awesome every time I do it now.  But...it was awesome today, and now I know that it can be fun.  And after all, if it can be today, I know it can be tomorrow, too!