sleep walking

When I was pregnant, it used to really bug me when people would say, "get as much sleep as you can now, cause when the baby comes, you won't get any..." To be honest, I was annoyed by a lot of things people said when I was pregnant. Thank the hormones. The sleep thing was especially aggravating. I think because deep down, I knew I could never be totally prepared for what was about to happen to our comfortable little lifestyle. (Can you really stock up on sleep points in advance? I don't think so.) But the people saying these things had already been through it. They had one up on me and I hate that. Yes I do. I like to know everything. I like to be right about everything. Ask my husband. It's probably one of my worst faults.

Now that I'm going through it, I sort of wonder what the big deal is with sleep. More to the point, I am amazed how your body adapts to the situation to get you through. There's this whole other dimension of living life out there that I never knew existed until now. I'm talking about sleep-walking. When you're tired all the time, you don't feel tired. Sometimes you feel mellow. Sometimes you feel racy. It's liberating. Exciting even!

Nap when baby naps? Heck no! When she's down, I thrive on bursts of energy that creep up from nowhere. It's making me more efficient. The house is cleaner now than it ever was pre-baby. I can carry on an entire conversation with my husband without remembering a bit of it. Now that's what I call conserving brain power! And the thing is when you do sit down and "wake up" as it were from your zombie dance, and realize that yes perhaps you've reached the end and you need a good old vacation on a tropical island away from everyone, your baby throws you a bone: maybe she decides to sleep for a whole 6 hours in a row that night so you can refuel (go, Amelia!). Or maybe she just gives you one of those heart-melting smiles that says, "it's okay mamma, we can just sit here for a while and do nothing. I'll stare at the ceiling and you can stare at me. And we'll just do nothing and be happy."

sick day

I stayed home from work today. I had the worst headache ever and was so paranoid that my brain was going to explode that I went to the doctor. She couldn't do anything about the pain (surprise) but did a bunch of tests like make me walk in a straight line and touch my nose with my eyes closed to ensure that my neurological functions were, well, functioning.

Everything was a-okay. She said it was probably viral or stress-related (great). So she said to take a bunch of Advil and GET SOME REST. So I went home, took and 3-er and got in bed.

Only, it wasn't that easy to just fall asleep. Every time I was on the verge, I would remember something that I had to do: PAY BILLS, FILE TAXES, CALL SO-AND-SO, PICK UP DRY CLEANING... So every time this happened, I forced myself to get up and write the thing down so that I could hopefully, eventually stop worrying and fall asleep. It was an exercise in de-cluttering my brain. One by one, filing my thoughts on paper, nice and orderly and in plain view. I didn't realize I kept so much noise up there unsupervised (maybe all this clutter was the real cause of the headache?). I just go and go and go, 100 miles a minute without ever really stopping, without really taking control...

Well, after an hour or so, the exorcism finally worked and I slept for the rest of the day.

I just got up a little while ago and am feeling strangely serene. The afternoon sun is coming in the west windows, casting a warmth on top of the bed spread. Au Lait is curled up at my side; she's been there all day. (I think she secretly loves it when I stay home, though she'd never admit it herself.). I think my headache's almost gone. But I still don't want to get out of bed. So I guess I'll wait here a while. Maybe till Col gets home.

happy and healthy in burlington

Looks like Burlington, Vermont once again made the cut for Self magazine's top 5 healthiest U.S. cities for women. Why? Low violent crime rate, good air quality, and fewer reported STDs than the national average. Hmm... that's funny. I think I'll go for a run.

Yay Burlington!

(P.S. You can see how other cities measured up here.)

not myself today

Instead of being depressed that I was still too sick to go to the mountain with Col today, I decided to revive myself with some retail therapy at TJ Maxx. TJ Maxx in and of itself is depressing enough, so I don't know why I insist on returning again and again to suffocate myself amidst aisles and aisles of excess junk. Still, I went. And I bought. A jogbra. I really needed one. I guess.

Instead of being depressed that I wasted my morning in a strip mall, I decided to go home and be productive. So I shredded papers. Months upon months of old bills and statements. I shredded them and put them in a big bag for recycling.

All that old paper dust, however, seemed to feed the congestive beast in my chest. So now I'm sitting here on the couch feeling even more depressed and sick. I probable would've been better off just going snowboarding.

frozen peas & cozy kitties

Frozen peas. That's what Mummy said to me when there was no Eat Peas entry yesterday. I'm sorry to you all. A sickness kept me feverish and bed-ridden throughout the night and I just couldn't make it to my blog. Nourishing, the experience was not. But if I had made it to the computer in time, I probably would've written something like this:

6 Things That Nourish When You're Sick
(when you're all alone and there's no one to take care of you)

When you're sick and icy-hot, achy and coughy, cough, cough, cough, it can be difficult to pinpoint what will make you feel better. Especially if you're all alone and have to take care of yourself. Last night I was alone and sick (Colin is away for work) and managed to find some nourishing options without too much exertion. Whether they're truly healthful is another story altogether, but they got me through the night and that's really what matters.

• Cheesey Toasts: Toast a piece of bread. When it's nice and crispy, take it out and layer some nice, yummy cheese on top. (Gruyere and Cheddar are my favorites). Put it back in the toaster until nice and melty. Voila! Hot cheesey toasts are the best comfort food when you're sick. Or any time really. Frank's Red Hot goes nicely with this combo.
  
• Homemade Peach Ice Cream: I made this last week using frozen peaches, lemon and a touch of Grand Marnier. So good and soothing on the throat and to calm a raging fever. I was lucky I had some ready to eat in my freezer. In my mind, everyone should always have homemade ice cream or sorbet on hand in their freezer. But I realize that's not very realistic. You could just chew on an ice cube. Or make a quick smoothie in the blender with ice, fruit, honey, and yogurt or milk.
  
• Hot Garlicky Chard: After all that creamy, cheesey goodness, you'll probably be craving some vitamins to fight the bug. Last night, I had a bunch of gorgeous yellow chard in my fridge and wanted to make something really quick and easy that required little time on my feet. Here's the trick: slice up the chard and put it in a hot skillet with a little olive oil. Cook it down a bit on high heat for a couple of minutes. Then add a clove of minced garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Take off the heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. Serve with Frank's Red Hot (I was all about the Frank's last night). This was so delicious, I ate the entire batch and am convinced it's the thing that drove my sickness away.
• Hone-gar (honey + vinegar): This one I learned from my mother. Combine equal parts honey, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, and boiling water (a couple tablespoons of each; maybe a little more of the water). Stir till dissolved. Sip slowly. This is a perfect concoction for chest congestion or sore throat.
  
• Warm Kitties on My Belly: Enough said. When you're feeling crummy, there's nothing better than two little friends to warm you all over. It's better than hot water bottles!
  
• Cadbury Mini Eggs: I just had to throw this one in there, because if you know me at all you know I'm obsessed with them. And you may even have read my Penelope Post last year about the scarcity of my favorite Easter candy. Last night, since I was alone, I had to go to the drugstore myself to stock up on flu medicine, cough drops and what-not. Well, wouldn't you know it, there were shelves and shelves of mini-eggs (right next to the Valentine's hearts) and in my feverish delirium, I bought 3 lbs ($15 worth). Still, today and feeling better, I don't regret the purchase at all.

There, I hope these tips help all of you in your time of sickness. They certainly helped me.

national wear red day

Today is National Wear Red Day. Why? For one, February is heart awareness month—and it's not just for men. National Wear Red Day is meant to raise awareness about heart disease risk for women—and to inspire empowerment. Read more about it at Go Red For Women. And wear red today!

national body challenge

I'm so excited to tell you about this. One of the massive projects I was working on back in October has finally come to fruition. EatingWell has partnered up with Discovery Health to provide over 1,000 healthy recipes for their National Body Challenge. The coolest thing about the project isn't so much the recipes. It's the meal plans that we came up with to help users through the 8-week challenge.

I worked with our nutrition editors to come up with heart healthy, vegetarian, and diabetic-friendly menus at three different calorie levels, according to individuals' needs and weight-loss goals.

The menus were a lot of work. Not just because of the quantity and the calorie and nutrient considerations, but we had to work with our tech producer to figure out how to import and store them in our database; relate the menus to different recipes, days and health considerations; incorporate information from the USDA database; and then deliver the whole shebang in one tidy XML package.

If you register (it's free!) you'll be able to see how cool it all is. Hey, you may even be inspired to eat a little healthier or exercise a little more. (Registrants get a free 8-week pass to Bally fitness clubs!)

If this sounds like a commercial, I guess it kind of is. Cause I'm really proud of what we pulled off. Thanks to Sylvia, Nicci, Paul, Rose and Paula at EatingWell for all your help. And to Joy, Jen and the team over at Discovery--what a fun partner to work with!

stealth veggies

This is a term we kick around a lot at EatingWell. Our readers are often looking for favorite family meals made healthier, so we developed a bunch of tasty, healthy recipes that have extra veggies hidden inside! It's great for lowering fat and sneaking veggies into kids' meals—sometimes you can't even tell the difference!

The idea of "stealth veggies" is a little funny. I mean, the whole idea of learning to eating healthier is learning to appreciate and crave those ingredients that are good for you—and learning to mistrust those ingredients or foods that are detrimental. It's definitely a learning process. If kids think they're just eating mac & cheese, rather than mac & cheese with spinach, then left to their own devices, they'll probably just eat plain old mac & cheese. Cause they just don't know any better.

Still there's something so satisfying about eating a meal that tastes naughty—but really isn't! And though I don't have any kids, I'm often trying to get Colin to eat healthier foods. Recently, I made Southwestern Cheese Paninis (glorified grilled cheeses) for him and some of his chicken-wings-eating friends and none of them could believe they were actually healthful and made up of mostly veggies. They loved them! Healthful or not, it's one of my favorite quick dinner recipes. I always double the amount of carrots and zucchini, because I love them. And the trick is finding a good bread that stands up to the moisture. (I like honey oat.)

So, if you like to play this game of hide the spinach under the cheese, here are some other "stealth veggies" recipes to try:

• Southwestern Cheese Panini
• Hamburger Buddy
• Updated Mac & Cheese
• EatingWell's Pepperoni Pizza