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 :)

Social Running

Happy Sunday Runday! Although I typically don't run back-to-back days (I like to mix it up with yoga or whatever other active thing catches my eye), Crystal asked if I wanted to run this morning, so I figured I'd go for it.

I used to never enjoy running with other people. I'm not a fast runner, and it always seems like running comes very easily to other people. They always wanted to talk while I was sitting there huffing and puffing trying desperately to keep up with them. It really wasn't until I started running with Crystal that I genuinely enjoyed it. It's a different kind of running. It's social running.

What I get out of a run with a friend is totally different than a solo run. My solo runs are exercises in mental strength, mainly. It's all about how hard I can push myself and conquer all those negative thoughts in my mind. With a friend, it sometimes is about getting out there despite not wanting to run, and sometimes, it's a way to up the pace or change up the route. Running with friends makes me more comfortable with trying new things, whereas running solo is about challenging myself on the turf I'm already familiar with.

Shirt: GapFit [exact]

Shorts: Lululemon [exact]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

There's just something about a cloudy day that makes me want to wear bright colors! I love these T-shirts from GapFit...the material is just wonderful. It's nice both for daytime wear and workout wear. They are a big clingy, though, so you may want to size up if you're not comfortable with that! My new running shoes are starting to get broken in, too, so I'm pretty happy about that. I always feel weird running in brand new, spotless shoes!

Adding Some Color to a Cloudy Day

It's a pretty gloomy weekend so far here in SF. It's hot (relatively speaking), humid (again, relatively speaking) and there's no sunshine to speak of...the fog is lingering even during the day. It's kind of nice, though, because I never feel as bad spending a weekend being lazy when it's not particularly nice outside. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning of Netflix and coffee!

By mid-afternoon, though, it was run time. I was a little sore after Thursday's run with Crystal (it's amazing that you can lose so much in just two weeks away!), so I decided to do my 5k loop again. This time, I managed to push myself a bit harder. My speed was back up to normal times, but I was definitely a lot more tired than normal when I hit that 3.5-mile mark. Oh well...just incentive to keep at it!

Shirt: C9 [similar]

Pants: GapFit [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

With it being so glum outside, I figured I'd brighten up my run with some fun colors. These pants are some of my favorite pants I own...they fit perfectly! I wish Gap still made their crop pants like this but, alas, they've switched from diamond gusset to triangle gusset and the triangle just doesn't work for me. 

I've been pretty good food-wise today. I had a nice strawberry yogurt parfait for breakfast, which was a nice change from my usual weekend splurges. I made a buffalo chicken sandwich for lunch that I went a little overboard on, but I'm not planning on having a large dinner to counterbalance that. How's everyone else's weekend going so far?

Shake it Off

After a few days off courtesy of a rolled ankle, I'm back at it!

I typically do my weekend runs on Saturday mornings, but yesterday I was busy helping Crystal with stuff for her wedding most of the day (we made some pretty awesome centerpieces!). So, this morning, after being lazy and thoroughly enjoying my morning coffee and an episode of Covert Affairs on the living room sofa, I decided to run the Golden Gate Bridge again.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which isn't all that common here in San Francisco! While I can't say the running part was as great as my last bridge run (I had to stop for walking breaks pretty frequently and wasn't winning any awards on speed), I did end up getting to 10 miles total! Taylor Swift's super catchy new single popped up on shuffle right at mile six when I was thinking about taking a shortcut home...but it reenergized me and I got four more miles in.

Tank: Forever 21 [similar]

Sports bra: C9 [similar]

Shorts: Lululemon [exact]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

San Francisco runners are spoiled because it's pretty much always cloudy and cool, which makes the weather absolutely perfect for running. Today, though, it was HOT!! I took my tank top off for most of my run and just wore my sports bra (which I'm sure thrilled all of the tourists on the bridge who bumped into sweaty me when they weren't paying attention). I was pleasantly surprised by how little sweat was visible on these shorts!

I've been pretty good food-wise this weekend. I did reward myself with ice cream post-run, though! They say chocolate milk is a great recovery food, so that means chocolate ice cream is, too, right?!

Taking Out the Head Trash

My dad is an awesome runner. He's in his 50s but runs half marathons at least every other month (including at least one in every state I've lived in!). Anytime I have an excellent run, I call him during my cooldown walk to tell him about it.

His dad was also a really great runner. One of the things I remember my dad always telling me that his dad said is that a run is when you take out your head trash. I didn't really understand what that meant when I was trying to run when I was younger. But with each foray I make into running, I understand it more and more.

It's been a busy week at work. One of my clients had a corporate launch, which meant 10+ hour days and early mornings. I hadn't been eating properly because I tend to reach for the potato chips when I'm not consciously thinking about nutrition. Even though I wanted to exercise, it was the last thing on my mind when I was getting home at 9pm and hadn't eaten dinner yet. So, over a couple of days, my "head trash" had started to pile up.

This afternoon, I was just mentally exhausted. For the first time in a long time, I just had this feeling that I had to run. I knew in the back of my mind that running was what it was going to take to get rid of any leftover stress. So, I threw on my running shoes as soon as I got home from work and I ran.

My goodness, did it feel great!

I ended up running 3.5 miles and was smiling by the end. I love it when that happens!

Top: Nike [similar]

Shorts: Lululemon [exact]

Socks: C9 [exact]

I can't say my outfit today was nearly as impressive as my run! I love these shorts (the colors are some of my favorites and the fabric is very light while still opaque) and shirt (it's from my Olympic days!), but together, they just don't look amazing! But, hey - they got the job done today!

An Exercise in Hills and Dodging Tourists

The weather in San Francisco is amazing today!! In honor of that, I decided to run the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. I started my run in the Presidio, which meant lots of hills before actually getting to the bridge itself. I'm NOT a fan of hills at all! I very, very rarely actually run them! But, I managed to force myself to do it today, repeated over and over again in my head that I'd get to run down them later.

Once I was actually on the bridge, the challenge became dodging tourists! Despite the fact that the bridge has very clear signs directing pedestrians to one side of the bridge and cyclists to another, lots of cyclists seem to ignore that. People also tend to walk 5-6 people wide, meaning that they're taking up the entire path. As I got towards the middle of the bridge, though, it all thinned out.

On the way back, I had a few really great songs come on and give me the energy to power through to the end. I ended up running 4.5 miles without stopping and did a mile walking for both a warmup and a cooldown...so a grand total of 6.5 miles!

Tank: Old Navy [exact]

Pants: Yogasmoga [exact]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

These pictures quite clearly illustrate just how much I need to work on running form!

Now, onto clothes...words cannot express how wonderful these Yogasmoga pants are! I hadn't ever worn them for a longer run, but they seriously did not budge. There was no readjusting whatsoever. They fit perfectly. I supposed my only maybe complaint would be that they're a bit on the warmer side (which is generally a plus in this climate), so if you're in a super hot climate, they may be a bit too much. It's taking a lot of self control to not run out and buy like 10 pairs of these things! 

I may or may not have splurged on some Ben & Jerry's post run...soooo maybe not nailing it on nutrition today like I did on exercising!

Wine and Cheese and Running

I swear...anytime I don't feel like running at all, I end up having my best runs! When I got home tonight, my legs hurt and I was hungry. So, I gave myself a half hour to down some cereal and water and then forced myself outside. I ended up running for 35 minutes without stopping, which is way more than I was supposed to on this particular day of Couch to 5k. The weather was perfect tonight, so I'm guessing that helped!

Shirt: Columbia Sportswear [similar]

Pants: Lululemon [similar]

Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

These pants are actually five years old! They were given to me by a friend ages ago and still look and feel just as good as the day I first received them. I wish Lululemon still made things as high quality as these! Don't get me wrong...I clearly like Lululemon (almost every one of my #WOOTDs seems to include it), but it just isn't what I used to be. 

MyFitnessPal was great today! I ended up eating well enough throughout the day that I had a few calories leftover to enjoy a glass of wine and a little bit of cheese before bed. It's definitely been my best nutrition day in awhile. I also got inspired while grocery shopping tonight and made four days worth of yogurt parfaits to take to work so I can avoid my morning stop at Starbucks for breakfast. 

Good days are the best!

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!