Don’t Dread the Tread

February 12th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (12 Comments)

If wearing your Vibrams on the treadmill at the gym doesn’t get you any looks, taking a picture of yourself wearing your Vibrams on the treadmill at gym should totally take care of that.

Star Trac

I actually don’t know if anyone gave me the stink eye on this particular day while donning my favorite pink toe shoes.  I do know that I was fully prepared to say “but look at how stinkin’ cute they are!!” if someone called me a freak or a did that thing where you hold your pointer finger near your temple and swirl it around a bit.

Salad For Breakfast

February 5th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (17 Comments)

I think it was mid-December when I started looking for an alternative to my typical oatmeal/grain-based breakfast.  Not because I stopped digging oats mind you, but because somewhere toward the end of last year I came to understand that sugar is just no good and I wanted to start eating less of it.

Now before you get annoyed with me and that blasphemous statement, I’m not saying that I’ve stopped eating sugar or bread completely or don’t enjoy sweets.  I’m just not eating sugar (or as the case may be, foods that your body eventually converts to sugar – i.e., grains like rice, pasta, bread) on a daily basis like I have for oh, I don’t know – 31 years?

It’s a Phase

July 13th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (6 Comments)

I go through breakfast phases.  Phases where I pretty much eat the same thing day after day after day for weeks on end until one day I wake up in the mood for something different.  This is how it always goes.  I eventually grow tired of the same old, same old, get some new breakfast idea and the cycle starts all over again.

Right now I am in a cold oatmeal phase.  I have been here before and will be here again I’m sure.  This means that my husband and children are also in a cold oatmeal phase.  As the primary meal preparer in this house, they are pretty much at the mercy of whatever breakfast phase I’m in.  Alternate breakfast requests are usually honored provided I have enough notice.

Pushing Up Pansies

June 29th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Morning Craziness - (10 Comments)

Well, it’s that time of year. The time when I start hemming and hawing about what I’m going to train for this summer: the half marathon or the full marathon. Last year I considered running the full marathon again but then bailed mid summer. I instead opted for the half with the excuse that I’d never run a half marathon before, conveniently weaseling my way out of a summer of 20 mile long runs.

Run Like You Stole Something

August 27th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Breakfast - (25 Comments)

Speed work was on the agenda for this morning. I was hungry but didn’t want to eat very much because the likelihood of puking on a run increases exponentially during a speed work session.

Newman's Own Organics Raisins

A small handful of raisins ought to be safe enough. It’s kind of hard see but my little pile of raisins were in my hand underneath the Newman’s Own Organics carton there. It’s almost as if the perfect portion just dropped right out of the bottom like magic. That would be really “handy”, wouldn’t it?

Friday Snack Attack

August 14th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Life - (13 Comments)

Per our usual Friday routine, the girls went with Aunt Ellen today. I ran errands after dropping them off and was positively starving by the time I got home.

My latest trick – A LA Natalia Rose – is to snack on carrots while I prepare lunch/dinner if I’m really hungry. This keeps me from overeating when I finally do sit down to eat and it keeps me chewing my arm off or chewing anyone’s head off because I’m hungry and grumpy. Lucky for everyone, I was home alone and the only one who got his head chewed off was the carrot.