Hungry Hungry Hippos

Remember these guys?

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This is what Leigh and I are like lately.  Marathon training is making us ravenous...Seriously, I have never been so hungry in all my life.  It also seems like I go from being satiated and content, to HANGRY, very quickly.  We would both like to avoid gaining weight during our marathon training cycle.  It would be sort of distressing to be running 40-50 mile weeks, and cross training, and to gain weight because we can't stop stuffing our faces.  So we do work pretty hard to make sure we eat a variety of healthy foods on a daily basis.  I buy a TON of fresh fruits and veggies to snack on and for side dishes, I choose turkey or chicken bacon over regular, and leaner cuts of meat, all our bread and pasta is whole grain, I always use brown rice (our no frills carries brown basmati rice which is SO good), we only use natural peanut butter, and we always have hummus and greek yogurt dips in the fridge for a quick lunch or snack.  We typically eat out very rarely and I make an effort to limit our consumption of processed foods.  We have our homemade yogurt, and I regularly make homemade Lara Bars, and homemade (reduced sugar and fat) muffins.  Even on our splurge days we have homemade ice cream, and pizza with homemade crust.  I love to cook and bake, so I enjoy trying new DIY things.  I recently made this homemade ricotta cheese, so easy and SO SO good!

So here is a little sample of what we are eating around here these days.

This is our typical breakfast.

I throw one banana, about 2/3 of a smoothie tumbler of water, and a heaping scoop of vanilla whey protein powder in the blender.  I get it blending and then add a variety of frozen (no sugar added) fruit until it is nice and thick.  This one was banana, mango, and pineapple.  That makes a tasty and satisfying breakfast for Leigh and I, with no added sugar or fat.  Costco is the best place for smoothie fruit buying around these parts, and we found out after we spent $12 on this Starbucks reusable tumbler that Dollarama has them for $2 (I think it was $2, it was way cheaper anyway).  I still like to put my smoothie in this one though.  Makes me feel fancy.

My favourite lunch is a simple one.  Hummus, baby carrots, peas, and a whole wheat pita.  Leigh is usually a leftovers from last night's dinner sort of guy.  Sometimes tuna, or eggs, or pb&j.

And here is our next week (+) of dinners.

My sister made this snazzy little dinner calendar for me for Christmas.  SO clever, and it matches our new kitchen and everything!  I generally try to plan for a mix of vegetarian and non vegetarian meals, use a variety of different types of lean meats, and keep things mostly healthy.  We are not eating Niagara Falls on Thursday (although that might have been a possibility after some of our Florida runs last summer).  But we are taking the kids to Niagara Falls so we will be eating out.   I am working evenings on Friday, so Leigh is in charge of dinner.  That means pancakes.  As you can see Shrimp and Grits (which contain a delicious amount of cheddar cheese and cream) is for long run Saturday.  And just for good measure, I have peanut butter brownie ice cream on deck for dessert.  We can afford the calories that day.  I have to have something delicious waiting for me at the end of my 14 miler!

-Lex

Comment with your favourite recipe.  I love new ideas to mix things up!