Oh HI there. I have more recaps of last weekend — but hey, thanks for sticking with me if this doesn’t interest you. I know that a good portion of my audience is into the crafty stuff. There will be more of that next week after I get back from Renegade.

Also, this [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

Oh HI there. I have more recaps of last weekend — but hey, thanks for sticking with me if this doesn’t interest you. I know that a good portion of my audience is into the crafty stuff. There will be more of that next week after I get back from Renegade.

Also, this is going to be a long post. I just looked and the gallery for this post has 46 photos. FORTY FREAKING SIX. I hope you like pictures. Long day = long post.

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Upon returning to Iowa after last Saturday’s bootcamp and hike, and Sunday’s bootcamp — all in high-altitude, I feel a little like this:

[ source ]

For realz. I did 4 rounds of my circuit for LiveFit on Wednesday after the retreat along with a bike ride. And ran up a hill at Ledges State Park on my way back to Ames from Colorado on Monday.

Why?

Because the gals who put together Blend had 3 ass-whoopin’ activities on the agenda for Saturday, along with one for Sunday (with an impromptu yoga class by Fitmixer that I wish I hadn’t forgotten about). And we were on top of a mountain for some of it. OXYGEN. Please.

The day started off bright and early at 6:45 AM with some Fitmixer Amino — which apparently is like crack for fit people. It keeps your muscles from eating themselves while working out and they give you MORE ENERGY to fuel your workout. Stay tuned. I’m giving some away next week.

You might notice that my Hello Kitty sweatshirt definitely had some threads on it from crafting a few weekends back.

Yesterday I mentioned that I wasn’t feeling the altitude. I think I texted Mark 900 times about how I might die. I woke up a few times during the night. I even had a dream that I called Mark and had him pick me up (you know, from 10 hours away) and that I got mad at him because he didn’t bring me back in time to hang out on Saturday night.

Fortunately (for Mark), none of that happened. I got up and my roommates were all ready to head to bootcamp. And apparently we discussed our wardrobe choices because damn we are matchy matchy in this photo. Left to right: Patricia (Vanessa’s friend — she brought a bunch of friends from her gym — so cool!), me, Vanessa and Gina (if you like food, go to Gina’s blog. Her photos are food porn.)

[ photo from Vanessa of Fit, Savvy and Haute ]

Bootcamp was lead by Lindsay and Tina and started off with two laps around the field we were going to use for our workout. Which proved to be a pretty damn long 2 laps because of the altitude. I was huffing and puffing. But I was still at the front of the pack. You know, because I’m competitive. Even when it comes to warm ups.

[ photo from Janetha ]

After a quick warmup, time for dynamic stretching. Note: I look ultra-dumpy in the front row next to Janetha and the Fitmixer gals (the one on the other side of Janetha is who’s doing my nutrition plan for Fitmixer bootcamp, come to find out!) The shorts I wore proved to be wedgie-inducing and not appropriate for being in the front row of a workout consisting of 60+ girls with cameras and blogs.

Tina started the party with some resistance band training. One of the moves caused the bands to slip out from underfoot if you weren’t careful. Which was kind of entertaining. Also, I may have purchased the pants Janetha is wearing in this photo. In purple. Contrary to popular opinion on instagram.

[ photo from Lauren ]

After Tina and Lindsay had their way with us (Lindsay did some great kickboxing moves!), we got to play a game. This was my favorite part — it brought out my competitive side. let the real me shine. We split into teams, and got in a big circle. Tennis balls with various exercises (including BURPEES, which thankfully we didn’t get) were placed in the middle. Each round, one person from each team had to sprint to the middle and grab a ball with an exercise for the team to complete. The faster you got a ball and got back to the team, the more reps of the exercise your team could complete. The team with the most reps at the end of the game won.

Our team didn’t win, but I discovered I could do 72 pushups in a minute. And I was kicking ass on all the rest of the moves. Except one. I can’t remember what it was but it was probably the last one.

TEAM FIVE. We were winners for sure. (Left to right: Nikol (sp?) — one of Vanessa’s friends, Katie, Sarah, um, I feel terrible because I didn’t catch her name, Kim and Jessica)

After bootcamp, we were served a fantastic spread for breakfast (sponsored by Xagave). But of course everybody had to get photos of the balls before leaving for breakfast.

So many girls. So many cameras.

[ photo from Janetha ... sorry about the drop shadow. it's not really my thing #designsnob ]

I had 2% plain chobani and a whole bunch of fruit and nuts with some xagave on top.

After breakfast, we quick snapped a few photos (really? yeah. we like photos) and ran back to our cabins to get ready for the Royal Arch hike.

[ Heather, Jessica and me ]

I don’t think I knew what I was in for. Lindsay said the hike was challenging. But she had also hiked it with a child in tow earlier that week. So, how bad could it be? I mean, it started off pretty tame.

I spent a good amount of time talking to Lauren at the beginning of the hike — LOVE her — but I fell behind quickly (she is kind of a hiking pro). And it didn’t help me much to have a fear of heights. I am proud to report that things that used to seem high are much LESS scary now that I’ve conquered Royal Arch.

I’m so glad I made the climb. Look at these gorgeous shots I got!

I made it! And so did my camera and phone (thank goodness … one of the girls almost lost hers)

[ Roomie pic: Gina and me ]

And so did the 70ish girls that were in our group. Yeah. We were those people.

[ photo from Lauren, who's on the left, then Lindsay, Heather and me ]

At the top, the crazy dog people (including myself) in the group got a special treat. Little dog. At the top. She climbed all the way! Seriously. She’s about half the size of my dog.

[ photo from Tiffany ]

After the hike, Gina and I decided to join a group of girls (and one husband) at Mountain Sun for lunch. I already recapped the glorious sandwich that I ate. So I won’t do it again. Here’s a group photo from Lauren.

[ From left: Kelly, Lindsay, Gina, Me, Heather ]

And the whole table, courtesy of Lynne, who is on the far right in this photo.

This place had some pretty awesome decor. And bumper stickers.

[ photo from Tiffany ]

After lunch, we dinked around on Pearl Street for a while and headed to Avery Brewing company, where we got a special tour.

[ Laura and Ashley ]

I tasted a couple of Laura’s beers and decided to order a couple of my own. Including the Beast. I want this. Again. Now.

A few hours went by and we all decided to head out for dinner. So back to Pearl Street. Gina, Heather and I spent a little while trying to find the restaurant at which a big group was convening for Cinco de Mayo (or Cinco de Drinko as it was coined later by Janetha). We caught sight of this Hippie Taxi.

We made it. And everybody was doing free shots of tequila. But I wanted food. So I went to the tables where people were eating.

[ photo from Ashley — top — Ashley, Gina. Bottom — Ashley, me, Katie ]

Ashley (in the bottom photo with me) and I split some fantabulous mahi mahi tacos (<=== I am a little concerned with my spell check because “fantabulous” didn’t get flagged, but mahi mahi just did).

Seriously. Yum. And it was on Fiestaware, which I unfortunately couldn’t fit in my purse seriously want at my house.

I’m getting tired just writing this post. It was a long day. Hence the long post. We were all ready to crash, though a bunch of the girls were Cinco-ing it up.

[ what I looked like at 10 PM when everybody else was probably doing body shots or getting frozen yogurt ]

So you can pretty much guess that my plans for this weekend include: Sleep. Sleep. More sleep.

Have any big plans for the weekend? Ever gone hiking? 

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Remember that I promised you that Humpday Blog Lovin’ would resume this week?

Yeah. I’m a liar.

However, I do have posts for all of my favorite Blends scheduled all the way through September. I just have to write them …

Today you’re getting a crazy-long recap of what I ate [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

Remember that I promised you that Humpday Blog Lovin’ would resume this week?

Yeah. I’m a liar.

However, I do have posts for all of my favorite Blends scheduled all the way through September. I just have to write them …

Today you’re getting a crazy-long recap of what I ate during my trip to Blend last week. Enjoy! So much good food was had.

If you’re looking for gorgeous photos and fab collages, check out my friend Heather’s recap instead.

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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Quick stop at Wheatsfield in Ames before I hit the road for Omaha. Major score: Lärabars were only $.50 per bar. I picked up a few of them to eat on the road. As well as a Gingerade Kombucha.

Thank goodness I had all those Lärabars because I had an 8+ hour drive on Friday. I got up at 8 AM and hit the road.

When I got to Chautauqua, I was greeted by three lovely ladies (Janetha, Katie and Lindsay) and a MASSIVE bag of swag. In foodie / fitness blogger world swag = healthy snacks and food.

I separated out the stuff I couldn’t eat (which was VERY minimal actually — such a great attention was paid to food allergies and diets by the fab women who organized the retreat) and noshed on this most of the weekend.

Friday evening we met up at the dining hall for cocktails and a fancy schmancy dinner.

Don’t be fooled by my terrible camera skills. Dinner was pretty fantastic. Chicken and broccoli with quinoa and what look to be pearl onions. YUM.

Oh, and the best part? The cupcake spread. Actually. I’m lying. The quinoa was my favorite part. But the cupcakes were great too.

That tower in the middle? All gluten-free and vegan options of the flavors of cupcakes that we chose (our group voted on flavors a couple weeks ago).

I had a s’more (top), lavender raspberry (middle) and a junkyard (bottom — supposed to taste like carrot cake. all I tasted was banana. yuck!).

And actually … I had 3-4 of the lavender raspberry. Shh.

Saturday morning we had bootcamp at 7 AM that was lead by Lindsay, who was one of the gals who put the shindig together, and Tina Reale.

We had a huge breakfast bar afterwards that included yogurt, breads, bagels, oatmeal and a lot of fruit. Oh, and Xagave. Because they were the sponsor. They’d even made jam with their product so we could try it on our bread.

Since I couldn’t eat most of what was on the bar, I had some 2% chob with a buttload of fruit and nuts.

Breakfast proved to not be enough fuel for the 4 mile up-the-mountain hike we went on afterwards. So I was pretty anxious to get some lunch in me.

A bunch of us went to Mountain Sun. I was pleasantly surprised that a) they had a (GOOD) GF beer to offer and b) EVERY option on their menu was able to be made GF.

The waitress almost got a hug.

I ordered the GF beer (New Planet), and it’s my new favorite. I’m talking to our local liquor store to see if they can get some.

I was originally going to order a ginormous salad but when I heard I could do anything on the menu GF, I jumped at the opportunity and got a steak sandwich. The steak sandwich came with spicy giardina and gooey fresh mozz. Oh, and fries. Because subbing a salad was $3 more. And after that hike, I wasn’t really concerned about how much or what I ate. Just get food in my belly. Preferably food that won’t make me sick.

YUM!

After lunch, a good portion of our group went to Avery Brewing Company. We got a tour. And I was hesitant about drinking any beer because none are GF. However, I gave in. I had a sip or two of a couple of the other gals’ beers and had to get some for myself. Plus, they came in super-small taster sizes for $1. I could not pass that up.

I looked at the menu (which made me gag a little … papyrus? really? ugh) and ordered the BEAST. Since I’m sure you can’t read it, it was made with 6 sugars, 6 hops and 6 malts (666 — the number of the beast, get it? If you’re new here … I’m kind of a metal-head.). It was also 16% alcohol. Which was the real reason I ordered it — minimizing the amount of gluten that goes into my system by upping the booze content (so I don’t drink AS MANY beers).

And I also got a coffee-like beer called Out of Sight.

Not double fisting.

After the brewery, a bunch of us met up at Rio Grande for drinks and food. I did not partake in the boozing since I had a good amount in my system from the brewery. And tequila — anybody else remember this bit by Jim Breuer about partying in his stomach? Yeesh. If I do one shot, it goes downhill. I didn’t want to ruin my day on Sunday, so I stayed away.

Instead, I got some grilled mahi mahi tacos and split them with Ashley from Freckles and Spice (PS — ladies who are working on weight loss — read her before and after She is awesome!).

Ashley and I spent the next hour wanting fro-yo, but to no avail. Dang.

Sunday morning breakfast was a similar spread to Saturday, but was sponsored by Chobani (who also led our bootcamp that morning). I met the gal who organized my giveaway and another girl who apparently had heard of my fro yo recipes. I’m kind of a big deal I guess.

AND — there were a bunch of tiny sample packs of Love Grown granola.

Which I promptly hoarded … we don’t have any in Iowa. And it’s GF. Don’t judge!

After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and I hit the road. Everybody else hit the air (do you say that? I don’t know. I don’t fly!).

I stopped at the mall in Boulder and spent way too much money on cute workout clothes (I’m seriously considering wearing the leggings as actual leggings to work to recoup the cost). Then I actually LEFT town. And about an hour into it, I needed to get gas.

And the gas station was by a DQ. Um. I didn’t get fro yo. And I was seriously jonesin’. So this had to do.

A few hours down the road I finally ate my Simply Bar that was supposed to be fuel for Saturday’s hike.

Since I was smart enough to split my trip into two chunks, I stayed at The Rocking Chair Inn in Broken Bow, NE. They had a couple of restaurants, but most were closed. I managed to sneak into The Bonfire Grill and Pub. I was going to get a salad, but opted for the $20 piece of GRILLED walleye. (warning, I’m about to drop some f-bombs)

GRILLED.

I didn’t bother to mention that I couldn’t eat anything with gluten in it because I figured I would pick the croutons off the salad and ignore the roll.

BUT I GOT A FUCKING PIECE OF BREADED FISH.

That I paid $20 for.

Seriously?

I took my food to-go and the place was closed by the time that I got back to my room. I didn’t want to waste the fish, so I scraped off as much breading as possible.

But please note: Small town restaurants DO NOT always stick to their menus. Sometimes it has to do with availability of ingredients. Other times it has to do with the time of day (apparently grilling takes longer than flash-frying a piece of already-breaded fish and I ordered at about closing time). I should have remembered this from working at a small-town restaurant for several years. If you have a food allergy or follow special diet, you need to be VERY clear up front. Should be a general rule anyway, but I try not to come off as being picky because I once got a vegetarian omelet with ONE piece of ham smack dab in the center. My mom ordered the same, and got the same weird piece of ham. Hrm. 

I left them a couple of bad reviews. I was am pissed off. I would have been just as upset to receive a fried piece of fish regardless of if I couldn’t eat breading or not. I ordered a GRILLED piece of fish.

And yes, I realize that previously in this post I talked about drinking beer that is not GF. I am not celiac, so I can have gluten, but it usually makes me sick. However, if I’m going to be sick, I want the thing that makes me sick to be something incredible. Not a freaking piece of fried-shoulda-been-grilled fish.

</ end rant>

Since I likely ingested a bunch of gluteny not-so-goodness, I had a cup of tea with a little bit of my travel buddy in it.

FYI — this is not the same as ex-lax. It evens things out in your belly. It seems to quell the stomachaches I get from gluten. I only use this in severe situations, or if I eat something that is not GF. It’s best in peppermint tea.

So far, I haven’t gotten sick. But gluten is a sneaky bastard. It could be sometime this week. Or next. I don’t know, but it will likely happen. And when it does? It’s because of the fish. Not the beer. Edit: I just found out that we do not have running water in our bathrooms today. I will get sick today. I guarantee it. 

Since I stayed at a B&B, I was served breakfast in the AM. The lady who owned the place (who is possibly the NICEST lady in the world. And the future-self of my friend Molly, I believe) actually took the time to chat with me about what I can and can’t eat and then went over ingredients in the recipe she was thinking about making me for breakfast.

And? She had the cutest dishes.

She ended up making me a crustless quiche with ham, cream cheese, dill and some onions. YUM!

I packed my bags and hit the road for the last leg of my trip. Fortunately I didn’t have to stop for anything (except construction … ugh) because I had this massive bag of swag!

Popchips are good. BTW. I should know. I ate 4 bags of them in the car that day. Wasn’t hugely fond of the sweet potato ones … but I could live off the BBQ flavor.

Did you eat anything exceptionally good this week? Do you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies?

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I’m going to be in Austin, TX from May 17-22 — and I need some guest bloggers. You can post about anything — well, mostly anything — the title of my blog IS LIFE+running. Most everything falls under life. Have a topic that you have been itching to write about but it doesn’t fit in [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

I’m going to be in Austin, TX from May 17-22 — and I need some guest bloggers. You can post about anything — well, mostly anything — the title of my blog IS LIFE+running. Most everything falls under life. Have a topic that you have been itching to write about but it doesn’t fit in your blog theme? You can even re-blog something that you’ve already used that you really liked or that you think could use more exposure.

Let me know by commenting or e-mailing me at lifeplusrunning @ gmail . com.

PS I’m still running a giveaway of awesome Chobani yogurt! It ends on Wednesday. So hurry up and comment if you want to win!

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Today is the day!

For the foodie pen pal reveal.

In case I didn’t mention it, or if I did and you (and I) forgot that I mentioned it, I participated in The Lean Green Bean’s Foodie Pen Pals in April.

My pen pal was in NYC. I went to Wheatsfield to find her some goodies. I love our local co-op!

They always have great samples out.

What a coincidence. I had JUST tried Indian food for the first time that day (and you all know how I feel about Indian food now … I hope).

I have two favorite things that I get there (besides kombucha): Pineapple rings …

… and Agave fruit stars. I sent her some fruit stars.

Enough about my co-op love and shopping for my pen pal.

I got an AWESOME package from Joanna at Midwestern Bite.

She even put a pink card and pink paper in the box. Too cute!

She’s totally right.

First up — GF pancake mix! Yes. I hadn’t mentioned that I was jonesin’ for pancakes, but she apparently read my mind.

Macaroons? Yes. Please. I never go for these, but I’m glad she included them because they were delicious. I split them with Mark and the roommate. They were gone that evening.

Brown rice — to make Indian food with. Of course. She had apparently read my blog.

And Jalfrezi sauce! Which I already used. It was great.

But the most interesting thing? Spicy apple ginger chews. These were REALLY spicy. And had a completely different flavor than I ever expected.

Look at the weird little ginger guy. These were delish!

Interested in Foodie Pen Pals? Check out the Lean Green Bean and sign up for May! 

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If you’ve been following my blog for a while, or know me IRL, it’s no secret that I have a thing for two men who are not Mark: Marky Mark (who I guess IS a Mark) and Marlon Brando.

I will argue that Marlon Brando, in the late ’40s and early ’50s, [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, or know me IRL, it’s no secret that I have a thing for two men who are not Mark: Marky Mark (who I guess IS a Mark) and Marlon Brando.

I will argue that Marlon Brando, in the late ’40s and early ’50s, was more attractive than any actor today.

Most of you probably know him best as Vito Corleone from The Godfather.

[ source ]

I prefer to remember him as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Um. Yes. Please.

And he eventually grew into a pretty obese, odd, little old man.

[ source — yes I pulled this one on purpose because there is a 3rd man that I have a thing for that I didn't mention above because it's a different KIND of thing than I have for Brando and Marky Mark — and Brando apparently made his last on-screen appearance in his good friend MJ's video for You Rock My World in 2001 ]

So what prompted me to write this post was actually The Shining. We were watching it on Friday night (Friday the 13th) and I, of course, had to IMDB everybody in the movie to see what they were currently doing, and I ended up reading the trivia on Jack Nicholson, because he’s one of my favorite actors ever, and saw that he had a bunch of kids. And Mark and our roommate were like, “Whoa,” and I said, “Wait wait wait. Lemme look up Marlon Brando. He had like 25 kids,” (it was 13, which is still a lot, but if Streetcar-era Brando wanted to knock boots, the last thing on my mind probably would have been safe sex … ).

Okay — ’40s Brando fantasies aside, I read all his trivia. Most of which aloud to the guys because a lot of the trivia was ridiculous (there’s something in there about him wanting to be portrayed as a glowing green bagel in Superman).

I kept reading, and laughing, because Brando was far beyond eccentric. And I read about his supposed eating habits (which was one paragraph on IMDB, but I broke into easy-to-digest-chunks for you here — you don’t have to read them all, 2 or 3 will illustrate my point. I’m also not sure how true this info is, since I pulled it from IMDB.):

• … his eating habits were legendary. The Men (1950) co-star Richard Erdman claimed Brando’s diet circa 1950 consisted “mainly of junk food, usually take-out Chinese or peanut butter, which he consumed by the jarful.”
• By the mid-’50s he was renowned for eating boxes of Mallomars and cinnamon buns, washing them down with a quart of milk. Close friend Carlo Fiore wrote that in the ’50s and early ’60s Brando went on crash diets before his films commenced shooting, but when he lost his willpower he would eat huge breakfasts consisting of corn flakes, sausages, eggs, bananas and cream, and a huge stack of pancakes drenched in syrup. Fiore was detailed by producers to drag him out of coffee shops. 
• Karl Malden claimed that, during the shooting of One-Eyed Jacks (1961), Brando would have “two steaks, potatoes, two apple pies a la mode and a quart of milk” for dinner, necessitating constant altering of his costumes. During a birthday party for Brando — the film’s director as well as star — the crew gave him a belt with a card reading, “Hope it fits.” A sign was placed below the birthday cake saying, “Don’t feed the director.” He reportedly ate at least four pieces of cake that day.
• His second wife Movita, who had a lock put on their refrigerator to stop pilfering by what she thought was the household staff, awoke one morning to find the lock broken and teeth marks on a round of cheese. The maid told her that Brando nightly raided the fridge. Movita also related how he often drove down to hot dog stands late at night (one of his favorite spots was the legendary Pink’s Hot Dogs in Hollywood; it was open 24 hours a day, and Brando would go there at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and polish off a half-dozen hot dogs at a time). 
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) costumer James Taylor claimed that Brando split the seat on 52 pairs of pants during the shooting of the film, necessitating that stretch fabric be sewn into his replacement duds. He split those, too. Ice cream was the culprit: Brando would purloin a five-gallon tub of the fattening dessert, row himself out into the lagoon and indulge.
• On the set of The Appaloosa (1966), Brando’s double often had to be used for shooting after lunch, and filming could only proceed in long shots, as Brando could no longer fit into his costumes.
• Dick Loving, who was married to Brando’s sister Frannie, said that Brando used to eat “two chickens at a sitting, and [go] through bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies.”
• It was reported during the filming of The Missouri Breaks (1976) that the environmentally sensitive Brando fished a frog out of a pond, took a huge bite out of the hapless amphibian, and threw it back into the drink.
• Living on his island of Tetioroa, Brando created what he called “real-life Mounds Bars” by cracking open a coconut, melting some chocolate in the sun, then stirring it into the coconut for a tasty treat.
• By the 1980s there were reports that one of his girlfriends had left him because he failed to keep his promise of losing weight. He seemed to be dieting, but to her astonishment, he never lost weight. She found out that his buddies had been throwing bags of Burger King Whoppers over the gates of his Mulholland Dr. estate late at night to relieve the hunger pangs of their famished friend.
• In the late ’80s Brando was spotted regularly buying ice cream from a Beverly Hills ice cream shop — five gallons at a time. He supposedly confessed that he was eating it all himself. Finally, a reported Brando snack was a pound of cooked bacon shoved into an entire loaf of bread. When Brando became ill, he seriously cut back and lost 70 pounds on a bland diet, but never lost his love of food — especially ice cream.

[Excerpt from IMDB.com]

Wow. Though we laughed hard while we read that, I couldn’t stop thinking about the relationship that this Hollywood legend had with food. It’s pretty similar to the relationship that a lot of us have with food. I was especially mindful of the similarities between the relationships, having read this on Friday, after having somewhat of a long week of bingeing on Easter candy which culminated in eating potato chips with lunch on Friday and a bowl of buttered popcorn (as I read that excerpt).

Honestly after reading about the piles of food that Brando supposedly ate, I felt a little better about myself for eating an extra handful of chips or a few pieces of chocolate here and there this last week — lord knows that there are some days that I’d like to row out into the middle of the lake with a giant tub of ice cream and a spoon.

Some people are famously addicted to drugs. He was famously addicted to food. A lot of us have this same struggle — just maybe not to this extent.

My point is that you don’t have to be a slave to bingeing or food. Marlon Brando got me thinking more about this. I started thinking harder about this recently when I began seeing a nutrition counselor and started work with the competent eating model — which I need to compile into a post soon because I think that way of thinking about food will help a lot of people.  And fellow blend-er Tina Reale has a really great series on binge eating that I recently read.

Here are a few things I learned from the sessions with my counselor:

• A lot of us have a binge, then continue to binge all day or all week because “the damage is already done”. That negative thinking won’t help stop the behavior that we’re thinking so negatively about.  Then before we know it, we’re knee deep in empty peanut butter jars and bad feelings. Eventually our pants don’t fit. And things just get even worse and continue to spiral out of control.
• Instead of feeling guilty or negative about a binge, just tell yourself to STOP. Use that little voice in your head. Put down the spoon. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” If the answer isn’t, “Because I’m hungry,” then take all the willpower it takes and put whatever it is you were eating away, and go brush your teeth and find something constructive to do. Sometimes a pause and a thought is all it takes to stop. Pick yourself up and try again tomorrow because it’s a new day.
• And if you are having negative feelings about something you ate, ask yourself, “why?” If it was because you overate past when you were satisfied, then try to start recognizing the signals for being satisfied vs. being full.
• Just because you have a bag of Easter candy in the house doesn’t mean you have to eat it all now. It’s going to be just as good in a month if you have one piece a day.  And it will likely be empowering to those of us who have had issues with binge eating to see a half-full bag of Easter candy in the cupboard in May. Because we know we aren’t slaves to it.
• Stopping the “calories in / calories out” way of thinking is extremely important for those of us who have over-exercised or exercised soley because we ate something we “shouldn’t have”. This can lead to injuries, bad feelings about being active, and will likely not stave off the weight gain we are so afraid of since you can’t out-exercise a poor diet.

Ask Mr. Marlon Brando how that went for him.

[ source ]

[ source ... good lord he was gorgeous. ]

Being mindful of what we’re doing while we’re eating and why we’re eating is a major step towards stopping (mentally and physically) unhealthy eating habits. But having a healthy relationship with food is the bottom line, and I’m trying to get there one step at a time.

Have you had any Marlon Brando-esque moments of epic bingeing? Were you able to pick yourself up again? 

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First, some blog lovin’ then some What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) action — because it’s what all the cool kids do.

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve done a Humpday Blog Love post. A very long time.

Since in t-minus-a-month-and-a-few-days I’ll be heading off to Colorado [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

First, some blog lovin’ then some What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) action — because it’s what all the cool kids do.

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve done a Humpday Blog Love post. A very long time.

Since in t-minus-a-month-and-a-few-days I’ll be heading off to Colorado for the BLEND Retreat, I thought I’d give some blog-lovin’ to some of the lovely Blends (blogger + friends) that I’ll be meeting very soon.

I’m starting with one of the ladies who put this great BLEND retreat together: Janetha [ Janeeeeeeetha ] from meals & moves.

[ image from meals & moves ]

I’ve been following Janetha’s blog since 2010ish. And she’s informative, entertaining, and inspirational. She has two hilarious doggies kids — one of which, Randy, steals and buries food items that Janetha is given to to test, like Larabars, and saves them for later. Oh and she loves cereal … a lot. And I’m pretty sure she likes cookies just as much as I do.

Her blog is mostly filled with her take on fitness and nutrition — so there’s … you guessed it — meals and moves. Recipes + workouts. But there’s also a bunch of other things. Guest posts. Gear reviews. And she talks about her GI issues, which makes me especially appreciate her blog given I have GI issues and I feel her pain. She’s even more of an open book than I am [ guys, it's possible! ] and hits on tough / personal issues like suicide, drugs & partying, and her mother’s stroke.

Janetha’s the reason I started doing LiveFit. Specifically her abs in this post [ amirite? ]. Her review of LiveFit after she was done with it made me get my ass back in gear and honestly give Phase 2 another go … I was punking out on lifting heavy with my already large thighs and butt.

Most of the topics she covers on her blog should sound pretty familiar because I’ve gone off and tried most of the stuff she’s blogged about. And I typically leave a page-long comment when I comment on her blog. Or two. Or three. She probably thinks that I’m a weird-crazy-stalker-person. But actually, I just like good writers with a real message and well-thought-out content. And writers who take the time to react and respond to their blog comments — either by a follow-up post or by personal responses. She does a great job!

Anyway … if you’ve not visited meals & moves yet, you should probably go do it. Even if you’re not big into health and fitness, she’s great to read. She discusses a lot of other issues and has great stories about crazy happenings at work and about her dogs.

If you do, leave her a comment and tell her I sent you! If nothing else, scroll to the bottom of her page and read her most popular categories / posts.

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Now for WIAW, I bring you what I ate LAST Wednesday. I wasn’t aiming to go green, but boy did everything turn out GREEN. Even the fair trade chocolate I snagged on super-duper-ultra-sale. Check it!

And I apologize because half of these pix were taken with my iPod because I was SO excited that I remembered to do WIAW but had left my actual camera at home.

Breakfast was extremely green. I made another green monster and added some kale that was leftover from dinner on Monday. Note: Kale is not the best addition to a green smoothie if you don’t like tasting your greens. I was okay with it, but it was a bit much for breakfast.

For a snack I had some grapes. Purple. Not green. Mark likes the green ones, but I like the purple ones.

Lunch was leftovers from dinner on Monday — kale pasta toss from Eat Live Run — sans pasta and the feta. Pasta because I don’t eat it and feta because I forgot it.

And I assure you that this is MUCH better than it looks (look at her photos in her recipe in the link above). The chicken sausage in my pic looks kind of gross.

Afternoon snack was the rest of a green pepper that Mark had cut up for pizza night the previous Friday.

Wednesday nights I’m on my own for dinner, so I did a mental inventory of what was in the fridge on the way home and decided that I could do breakfast for dinner (BFD). I only had 2 hours between work and an embroidery class that I was taking, so it had to be something fast. But, I needed to pick up an item to make my BFD complete.

I’ve been working with a nutritionist-in-training (dietetics student) on campus and I’m actually getting more from her than I have from therapy regarding binge eating. She suggested that this week I pick up some binge items and have them in the house. And NOT HIDE THEM.

That’s kind of scary. So I thought I’d start with something that’s a little healthier than a bag of cheetohs. So, I picked up some Love Crunch granola. I’ve been known to eat an entire bag in one sitting (I’m sure I’m not the only one), but usually at night when I’m not even hungry.

And guys … I still have this bag. I can’t even tell you how exciting this is! When I have anything snacky or sugary, it’s gone in a day or two. It’s been a WEEK. It’s so empowering.

I had some for dessert after my amazing BFD: egg whites with asparagus and goat cheese. Holy cow goat was this yummy.

And no, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. Somewhere along the way I started eating all my dessert items with my baby spoon, so I snagged it from my parent’s house a while back. I have no idea why I do this, but I do. And it’s a ritual. Maybe it’s so I take tiny bites and the dessert lasts longer? I don’t know.

Oh, and one of the non-essential items I picked up at our local co-op? A Theo chocolate bar. They didn’t have my favorite kind, but they did have a mint one. So I picked that up. And giggled a little after I checked out and realized the granola and chocolate was all I got — because I knew I was going to do WIAW and both items are packaged in pretty similar green packaging.

And no, I didn’t eat the whole chocolate bar either. I broke off a square to taste-test it and stuck it in the freezer. Whoop whoop.

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In case you’re curious about these Star Wars pancake molds … don’t waste your time or money.

Maybe it’s just my pancake flipping skills, but …