Kayla and I sometimes run together again; she's training for the Lincoln Half-Marathon this Saturday and I'm sort of on-again, off-again training for the Illinois Full at the end of April. This run turned out to be interesting.. it all started when we hit the trail on a somewhat nice afternoon from near our house. We take a few side streets and get on what is mostly a bike path; well, we cruised a few miles down that and Kayla wanted to head back. I knew I wanted to go further, so I stayed on and said I was going to end up around 10 miles; which is no longer a huge deal.
I had my trusty Garmin 405 to track the distance and time. Well, all I had before the Garmin was mapmyrun.com and an idea of where I was on the run; in addition to that, the route somewhat changed because of an epic mall sized Scheel's being built. This run, I figured was 10.. maybe 11 miles. Well, I just got past Scheel's... and... my GPS fading battery and all alerted me that I was over 5 miles already. I could:
1. turn around and go back, running 10 miles or
2. continue like a machine to the landmark I picked
Keep these few things in mind: I had beer battered tofu (amazing), coconut bacon (amazing) and a potato for lunch. I didn't eat when I got home. I had no water with me and typically don't drink enough during the day. It was cold out, and I didn't have a hat or gloves.
So, if you guessed #2.. you were right. I continued to run. Amazing, I made it to the halfway point and looked down and the GPS 7.26 miles. Do the math, the return trip is just as far: 14.52 miles. So, I put my head down and ran along the lonely trail only being passed by a random biker as the cold cut into my ears and my hands. The sweat on top of my head turned into a nice frost and my hands full of sweat and locked into a running position remained that way until the bitter end. Around mile 11 I really started to feel my lips dry and a sense of "You're an Idiot" took center stage as my running mantra. I ran to the beat of it; it didn't really help. I could have stopped for water at the local Sonic with about 2 miles left, but at that point.. I just wanted to get home. My IT bands were about to split down the middle, my knee hurt a tad, my lips were chapped and my hands were slowly turning to frost like grass in the morning.
Oh, and sometime in there my GPS decided that 26% battery life when I left wasn't enough to make it through the entire run. Really? I may have to email Garmin about this, 26% battery zapped in less than 1.5 hours? That doesn't seem right since, according to their site, it says a fully charged one should last 8 hours of use time. Do the math: that's 2 hours per 25% of battery. Hmmmm..
Against these insurmountable odds, I managed to make it home. I walked up to the back door where I saw Kayla sitting, warmly on the floor eating supper and Schatzi in the window watching me. I walked in and Kayla laughed then asked if I was okay. All I could say was.. "14.5 miles. Can you take my watch off for me; I can't move my fingers."
Next time, maybe, I'll be a bit more prepared (or let common sense take over)
March 30, 2011
March 25, 2011
All Good Things Must Come to an End...
Only one team will end the D1 college season with a W, and every year I want that to be the Badgers. Sadly, every year since 1942ish it hasn't been the Badgers annnnddddd this year is no different. The Badgers season came to a crashing halt Thursday night against Butler thanks to an awful shooting night from the field.. 17-56 overall, 7-29 from 3, and a paltry 13-19 from the line which dropped their FT % below the national record. Butler's defense had something to do with it as did a few missed open looks that went in every game this year (well, except Penn State).
As ugly as the game was offensively for Wisconsin they did some great things down the stretch. They showed heart being down 20 and charging back to 4 with 1:30 left in the game. Tim Jarmusz played his best basketball of the season the last few games aggressively looking for his shot, which was what Badger fans have clamored for all year long. Trusting your system and your style got them back into the game, when they rushed, things fell apart and they missed shots because they took them out of their personal flow (not the flow of the offense, out of their personal mental flow).
Jon Leuer clearly didn't go out the way he wanted and played maybe his worst overall game of the season in arguably the year's biggest game. 1-12 from the field, 1-6 from 3, 3 points, 6 boards, 2 dimes and 2 turnovers as he fouled out. Yikes. In addition to that, Andrew Smith (who) beat him up on the block a few times.. including once with a horribly gimpy ankle. Keaton was Keaton.. few nice j's then long stretches where he wasn't part of the offense.. and a few in and out 3-balls that could have changed the complexion of the game. However, when all was said and done, Butler walked off the floor victorious, playing enough defense, winning enough 50-50 balls with their hustle, and hitting enough shots to advance. Congrats to them and Brad Stevens, what a fun team to watch.
Naturally, Jordan Taylor's emergence this year (despite his last two games on the offensive end), The Ginja Ninja's blow up during March, Jared Berggren being a legit low post threat and hopefully development of Josh Gasser's outside shot make me optimistic about next year.
Keys to a successful 2011-2012 season:
1. Give Jordan Taylor help (not just offensively, but in minutes played per game, he was clearly worn out to finish the year)
2. Find a legit low-post scorer. The swing typically relies on at least somebody being a legit low block scorer, Leuer was a finesse block player that had to turn and face or go over his left shoulder every time. I think Berggren can fill this role.
3. Josh Gasser: shoot 82973204802834029384 jump shots per day this summer.
4. Ben Brust/Duje Dukan becoming a 3-point shooter off the bench.
5. Huge, consistent minutes from Ryan Evans.
6. X-Factor (Again): Rob Wilson
Early next season's projections:
Starting 5: Taylor, Gasser, Rob Wilson, Ginja Ninja, Jared Berggren
Best Badgers off bench: Brust, Dukan, Evans
Must Have: Uthoff, Anderson or Kaminsky play meaningful minutes
Leading Scorer: Taylor
Leading Rebounder: Ginja Ninja
Best outside shooter: Brust
Best scorer in the paint: Berggren
Freshman that gets minutes: Traevon Jackson (backing up Taylor)
Media projections: 4th-6th in the Big 10
Real Finish: 3rd
Record: 26-8
Amount of times fans whine about losing recruits like JP Tokoto: 898723984729387402384092384
Amount of times media says Wisconsin is slow and plodding: 99923084724872398742937429872
Amount of times I get annoyed by above comments: Every single time I hear it.
Amount of times Bo Ryan gets investigated for cheating: 0
As ugly as the game was offensively for Wisconsin they did some great things down the stretch. They showed heart being down 20 and charging back to 4 with 1:30 left in the game. Tim Jarmusz played his best basketball of the season the last few games aggressively looking for his shot, which was what Badger fans have clamored for all year long. Trusting your system and your style got them back into the game, when they rushed, things fell apart and they missed shots because they took them out of their personal flow (not the flow of the offense, out of their personal mental flow).
Jon Leuer clearly didn't go out the way he wanted and played maybe his worst overall game of the season in arguably the year's biggest game. 1-12 from the field, 1-6 from 3, 3 points, 6 boards, 2 dimes and 2 turnovers as he fouled out. Yikes. In addition to that, Andrew Smith (who) beat him up on the block a few times.. including once with a horribly gimpy ankle. Keaton was Keaton.. few nice j's then long stretches where he wasn't part of the offense.. and a few in and out 3-balls that could have changed the complexion of the game. However, when all was said and done, Butler walked off the floor victorious, playing enough defense, winning enough 50-50 balls with their hustle, and hitting enough shots to advance. Congrats to them and Brad Stevens, what a fun team to watch.
Naturally, Jordan Taylor's emergence this year (despite his last two games on the offensive end), The Ginja Ninja's blow up during March, Jared Berggren being a legit low post threat and hopefully development of Josh Gasser's outside shot make me optimistic about next year.
Keys to a successful 2011-2012 season:
1. Give Jordan Taylor help (not just offensively, but in minutes played per game, he was clearly worn out to finish the year)
2. Find a legit low-post scorer. The swing typically relies on at least somebody being a legit low block scorer, Leuer was a finesse block player that had to turn and face or go over his left shoulder every time. I think Berggren can fill this role.
3. Josh Gasser: shoot 82973204802834029384 jump shots per day this summer.
4. Ben Brust/Duje Dukan becoming a 3-point shooter off the bench.
5. Huge, consistent minutes from Ryan Evans.
6. X-Factor (Again): Rob Wilson
Early next season's projections:
Starting 5: Taylor, Gasser, Rob Wilson, Ginja Ninja, Jared Berggren
Best Badgers off bench: Brust, Dukan, Evans
Must Have: Uthoff, Anderson or Kaminsky play meaningful minutes
Leading Scorer: Taylor
Leading Rebounder: Ginja Ninja
Best outside shooter: Brust
Best scorer in the paint: Berggren
Freshman that gets minutes: Traevon Jackson (backing up Taylor)
Media projections: 4th-6th in the Big 10
Real Finish: 3rd
Record: 26-8
Amount of times fans whine about losing recruits like JP Tokoto: 898723984729387402384092384
Amount of times media says Wisconsin is slow and plodding: 99923084724872398742937429872
Amount of times I get annoyed by above comments: Every single time I hear it.
Amount of times Bo Ryan gets investigated for cheating: 0
March 16, 2011
On the Court For Old Time's Sake.. Basketball DNA
The new school that I work at had a fundraiser last night held by the student council; the undercard was a student vs. student basketball game and the main event was the winning student team vs. the staff squad.
I haven't played "competitive" basketball in over a year and even then it's been awhile. After high school, it was an alumni tournament and some pick-up games at the SHELL in Madison. Now? Even less... every once in awhile I'll hop in our 11-man fast break or Cardinal Pride drills with the middle schoolers but that certainly doesn't count. Even less, I'll play open gym with some of the high school players. And, it was at least a year since I did that last, so I wasn't sure what to expect last night.
The best part being, of course, just because I haven't played much in the last.. oh... 9 years doesn't mean that my mouth has slowed down or is rusty. I'd compare myself to a Larry Bird when it comes down to it. I hit the students with all sorts of trash before the game started. Just basic stuff, "Really? You're going to guard me?" "There's a reason they call me Jimmer J back home." Of course, the weather was overcast yesterday with a chance of rain, which played right into my game. To one kid I said, "Hey, do you know why it's so cloudy? Because tonight.. I'm going to make it rain." Then, ironically, the fire alarm went off to end the school day and I saw the same kid leaving and said, "You know why the alarm went off? I was in the gym heating up for the game tonight." Couldn't have worked out any better.. except that his team lost and he didn't even get to play our team.
Then, of course, the game started and here comes an important question, "Can you change a player's DNA?" All week I had talked about scoring and shooting. I told myself before the game, to set the tone, I was going to come down and get into the lane and score on one of the first possessions. When I get in the gym now I work on my shot, pull-up, and finishing in the lane trying to work on finishing and putting up points.
They got the opening tip, scored and we came back down. I had the ball, got into the lane and... saw a flashing teammate. What did I do? Force up the shot or dish it off to the open teammate? What do you think I did.. if you guessed forced up the shot. You guessed wrong. If you guessed dished it off for a better, open shot.. you were clearly right. I turned ran back down after the assist and smiled. Shooting isn't my game, scoring isn't why I play. I'd rather get into the lane and throw a bounce pass to a backdoor cutter than to go behind the back through 2 guys and put up a bad shot that goes in.
Don't get me wrong, I did shoot.. but barely as I put up about 6 shots in the 24ish minutes I played. Thankfully, I played with a guy that had the DNA to score.. and score he did. But, what makes a player a scorer? What makes a player a distributor? Is it knowing your limitations and excelling at other aspects of your game? In my case, I know it's something that I've always played with.. in middle school our team had a lot of size. I played PG then and my job was to get the ball to our freak athlete or our post player; I didn't have to score. This continued into high school where I played with guys that were built to score.. I played with 2 of our school's all time leading 3-pt shooters and our school's 2nd all time leading scorer, so my job was easy: bring the ball down the floor, pass the ball to scorer, watch the shot go in and win.
Points are only as important as scoring enough total for the team to win. Individual points? Eh.. you need to have somebody that has the basketball DNA to score or to take the big shot. That was never really my game, whether it was a lack of confidence or deferring to others that were more equipped. You can't have 5 guys that have that DNA on the floor at the same time, you have to have guys that know and accept roles. I think that's why I was able to defer so much last night and focus on crashing the boards and finding the open man. I'd done it so long and so many times it was 2nd nature last night. Could I have put up more shots and scored? Yeah, I could have.. would that have been better for the team? Doubtful. My team had a player that had better scoring basketball DNA and was on last night. Why interfere with that?
That is something that players need to realize. Their basketball DNA can change over time, in the right environment and with the confidence and needed skills, but if you play on a team with somebody that has a better ability to score and more of that mentality; it should be easy to focus on other things. Who cares who gets the points? Ball movement, passing, cutting and spacing are as important during the game as who gets the points (and therefore, the accolades). I always say to my team, "Offense will take care of itself. I don't care if you score 0 or 20, you'll contribute your time on the floor in other ways." Thankfully, at middle school, players buy into that more easily than they do in high school. I haven't had any battles of people putting up too many shots or hogging the ball too much; if I did, what would I do? I'd have to make them find that role, make them understand their basketball skills and value what's more important.. the team or the points. Easier said than done.
In case you were wondering, I only hit 2 of those 6 shots.. one beautiful Rafer "Skip to My Lou" Alston floater and a reverse lay-up. A double-double of the Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson variety according to my crowd statisticians with double digit boards and assists. I was like Dennis Rodman on the glass. And don't worry, the teachers won 50-32. Beatdown city.
I haven't played "competitive" basketball in over a year and even then it's been awhile. After high school, it was an alumni tournament and some pick-up games at the SHELL in Madison. Now? Even less... every once in awhile I'll hop in our 11-man fast break or Cardinal Pride drills with the middle schoolers but that certainly doesn't count. Even less, I'll play open gym with some of the high school players. And, it was at least a year since I did that last, so I wasn't sure what to expect last night.
The best part being, of course, just because I haven't played much in the last.. oh... 9 years doesn't mean that my mouth has slowed down or is rusty. I'd compare myself to a Larry Bird when it comes down to it. I hit the students with all sorts of trash before the game started. Just basic stuff, "Really? You're going to guard me?" "There's a reason they call me Jimmer J back home." Of course, the weather was overcast yesterday with a chance of rain, which played right into my game. To one kid I said, "Hey, do you know why it's so cloudy? Because tonight.. I'm going to make it rain." Then, ironically, the fire alarm went off to end the school day and I saw the same kid leaving and said, "You know why the alarm went off? I was in the gym heating up for the game tonight." Couldn't have worked out any better.. except that his team lost and he didn't even get to play our team.
Then, of course, the game started and here comes an important question, "Can you change a player's DNA?" All week I had talked about scoring and shooting. I told myself before the game, to set the tone, I was going to come down and get into the lane and score on one of the first possessions. When I get in the gym now I work on my shot, pull-up, and finishing in the lane trying to work on finishing and putting up points.
They got the opening tip, scored and we came back down. I had the ball, got into the lane and... saw a flashing teammate. What did I do? Force up the shot or dish it off to the open teammate? What do you think I did.. if you guessed forced up the shot. You guessed wrong. If you guessed dished it off for a better, open shot.. you were clearly right. I turned ran back down after the assist and smiled. Shooting isn't my game, scoring isn't why I play. I'd rather get into the lane and throw a bounce pass to a backdoor cutter than to go behind the back through 2 guys and put up a bad shot that goes in.
Don't get me wrong, I did shoot.. but barely as I put up about 6 shots in the 24ish minutes I played. Thankfully, I played with a guy that had the DNA to score.. and score he did. But, what makes a player a scorer? What makes a player a distributor? Is it knowing your limitations and excelling at other aspects of your game? In my case, I know it's something that I've always played with.. in middle school our team had a lot of size. I played PG then and my job was to get the ball to our freak athlete or our post player; I didn't have to score. This continued into high school where I played with guys that were built to score.. I played with 2 of our school's all time leading 3-pt shooters and our school's 2nd all time leading scorer, so my job was easy: bring the ball down the floor, pass the ball to scorer, watch the shot go in and win.
Points are only as important as scoring enough total for the team to win. Individual points? Eh.. you need to have somebody that has the basketball DNA to score or to take the big shot. That was never really my game, whether it was a lack of confidence or deferring to others that were more equipped. You can't have 5 guys that have that DNA on the floor at the same time, you have to have guys that know and accept roles. I think that's why I was able to defer so much last night and focus on crashing the boards and finding the open man. I'd done it so long and so many times it was 2nd nature last night. Could I have put up more shots and scored? Yeah, I could have.. would that have been better for the team? Doubtful. My team had a player that had better scoring basketball DNA and was on last night. Why interfere with that?
That is something that players need to realize. Their basketball DNA can change over time, in the right environment and with the confidence and needed skills, but if you play on a team with somebody that has a better ability to score and more of that mentality; it should be easy to focus on other things. Who cares who gets the points? Ball movement, passing, cutting and spacing are as important during the game as who gets the points (and therefore, the accolades). I always say to my team, "Offense will take care of itself. I don't care if you score 0 or 20, you'll contribute your time on the floor in other ways." Thankfully, at middle school, players buy into that more easily than they do in high school. I haven't had any battles of people putting up too many shots or hogging the ball too much; if I did, what would I do? I'd have to make them find that role, make them understand their basketball skills and value what's more important.. the team or the points. Easier said than done.
In case you were wondering, I only hit 2 of those 6 shots.. one beautiful Rafer "Skip to My Lou" Alston floater and a reverse lay-up. A double-double of the Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson variety according to my crowd statisticians with double digit boards and assists. I was like Dennis Rodman on the glass. And don't worry, the teachers won 50-32. Beatdown city.
March 13, 2011
Friend That's Worried About My Nutrients
I was on the phone the other day discussing the Wisconsin Union Busting by President Reagan or the Koch Brother.. I mean the Fitzgerald's. Okay, I've been informed it was ACTUALLY Scott Walker and not his cast of cronies nor his idol that came up with all this. Regardless, during the conversation I was referred to (sarcastically.. I think) as a liberal hippie. He then mentioned my lifestyle change and was worried that I don't get enough nutrients in my diet. I giggled to myself remembering that he really doesn't eat vegetables.. at all. Maybe an onion, lettuce, and tomato on a burger or celery with his wings.
So, I decided to look up the meal I made for supper last night which was couscous, simmer sauce, kalamata olives, carrots, tomatoes, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds alllll topped on top of spinach. BOOM. I'm not sure where to start with the nutrients because I don't know what I may be missing.
Guess I'll start with my base layer, the spinach. As we should all know, spinach is a superfood, meaning.. it's amazing and 100% good for you. According to a reputable site, "The good: This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Niacin and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese." They also have it ranked 5 of 5 on optimal health and weight loss. Outstanding.
Next, in the tasty supper is the couscous, cooked, of course. Before I say much more about it, you should know that couscous is the easiest thing in the world to cook. You put a cup of water in a pot, boil it. Then, get a cup of couscous and put it in the boiling water, cover it and remove it from the heat; let it sit for 5 minutes and YAHTZEE. There's your couscous and with that easiness you get this, "This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a very good source of Selenium." None of the DV% jump out at you, but it's a solid food to eat because it's full of carbs, fills you up and is relatively healthy. It also has 12% protein which isn't that bad; although, it's certainly not quinoa!
I mentioned blending in some other things, so I'll get rid of the most useless of them right away which I added in for the flavor. Kalamata olives. What do I get from them? Well.. I can get some sodium (which I'm addicted to) and fat. Since I don't eat a lot of processed foods, I guess I could use some salt and since Kayla and I don't have any avocados and since I didn't make anything with olive oil I guess I didn't eat a lot of fat yesterday.
Except.... I added sunflower seeds to the meal knowing I really needed some fat. They, of course, were delicious! They also pack some punch health-wise, "This food is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper, Manganese and Selenium, and a very good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol)." More fat, more calories as well as over 10% DV in 12 categories like proteins, vitamins and minerals. YAHTZEE
What do carrots add to the mix? Oh, only this.. "This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Potassium." 14% fiber, 428% vitamin A, (that's not a typo.. FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT), and some more healthy stuff. I wouldn't have added carrots if Bugs Bunny wasn't always munching on one.. I guess that makes it the same for Spinach and Popeye.
Tomatoes also can't get much further over/up on the healthy meter either. My fiber, folate, vitamin A, and more are on point and tomatoes certainly don't hurt that! "This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Potassium and Manganese." By the way, 5 out of 5 optimal health and weight loss on the scale, no big deal. 5 more categories of 10% more vitamins and vitamins. Just another day at the office.
And finally, my favorite ingredient of all, NUTRITIONAL YEAST! This stuff is on point, I blogged earlier about how amazing it is on toast. We add it into all sorts of stuff, I add it into salads and on top of random things.. from time to time I'll even have a mini spoonful of it just like peanut butter. You're going to be shocked at how amazing this tiny flake substance can be for your health and I'm not even lying.. it's on point. Before I was excited to count %DV's over 10%. This.. try over 100%. It's like a vitamin, but way sweeter and better tasting. 5, FIVE, items over 100% DV (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12). Vitamin B12 is one thing that vegans actually have a hard time consuming without taking vitamins, but not in this case! It's packed with it, maybe that's why I'm always adding it to my meals. In addition, there are 7 other vitamins/minerals that add over 10% of your DVDV's over 10%. This.. try over 100%. It's like a vitamin, but way sweeter and better tasting. 5, FIVE, items over 100% DV (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12). Vitamin B12 is one thing that vegans actually have a hard time consuming without taking vitamins, but not in this case! It's packed with it, maybe that's why I'm always adding it to my meals. In addition, there are 7 other vitamins/minerals that add over 10% of your DV. This, of course, includes protein which is a sad misconception that vegans don't get. Maybe, more importantly, it includes fiber which keeps your entire body clear and keeps toxins from building into your intestines, stomach, and kidneys.
All in all, it appears I hit a lot of mineral and vitamin groups that many/most meat and potato eaters abandon. I even got some fat and a good amount of calories into my meal. I loaded up on B12, fiber, and plenty of other healthy body necessities. What am I missing? Beats me, because this meal is just one meal in one day. Add in the nutrients from all my other meals and I'm sitting in a pretty healthy place, one that I can be proud of nutrition wise and conscience wise. I limit major corporations and their processed foods, eliminate the dishonest and disgusting and ugly and pathetic and potentially (so I don't get sued) unhealthy factory farm produce. In turn, this also saves corn, grain, fuel, and clean water for citizens of the country.
So, I decided to look up the meal I made for supper last night which was couscous, simmer sauce, kalamata olives, carrots, tomatoes, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds alllll topped on top of spinach. BOOM. I'm not sure where to start with the nutrients because I don't know what I may be missing.
Guess I'll start with my base layer, the spinach. As we should all know, spinach is a superfood, meaning.. it's amazing and 100% good for you. According to a reputable site, "The good: This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Niacin and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese." They also have it ranked 5 of 5 on optimal health and weight loss. Outstanding.
Next, in the tasty supper is the couscous, cooked, of course. Before I say much more about it, you should know that couscous is the easiest thing in the world to cook. You put a cup of water in a pot, boil it. Then, get a cup of couscous and put it in the boiling water, cover it and remove it from the heat; let it sit for 5 minutes and YAHTZEE. There's your couscous and with that easiness you get this, "This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a very good source of Selenium." None of the DV% jump out at you, but it's a solid food to eat because it's full of carbs, fills you up and is relatively healthy. It also has 12% protein which isn't that bad; although, it's certainly not quinoa!
I mentioned blending in some other things, so I'll get rid of the most useless of them right away which I added in for the flavor. Kalamata olives. What do I get from them? Well.. I can get some sodium (which I'm addicted to) and fat. Since I don't eat a lot of processed foods, I guess I could use some salt and since Kayla and I don't have any avocados and since I didn't make anything with olive oil I guess I didn't eat a lot of fat yesterday.
Except.... I added sunflower seeds to the meal knowing I really needed some fat. They, of course, were delicious! They also pack some punch health-wise, "This food is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper, Manganese and Selenium, and a very good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol)." More fat, more calories as well as over 10% DV in 12 categories like proteins, vitamins and minerals. YAHTZEE
What do carrots add to the mix? Oh, only this.. "This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Potassium." 14% fiber, 428% vitamin A, (that's not a typo.. FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT), and some more healthy stuff. I wouldn't have added carrots if Bugs Bunny wasn't always munching on one.. I guess that makes it the same for Spinach and Popeye.
Tomatoes also can't get much further over/up on the healthy meter either. My fiber, folate, vitamin A, and more are on point and tomatoes certainly don't hurt that! "This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Potassium and Manganese." By the way, 5 out of 5 optimal health and weight loss on the scale, no big deal. 5 more categories of 10% more vitamins and vitamins. Just another day at the office.
And finally, my favorite ingredient of all, NUTRITIONAL YEAST! This stuff is on point, I blogged earlier about how amazing it is on toast. We add it into all sorts of stuff, I add it into salads and on top of random things.. from time to time I'll even have a mini spoonful of it just like peanut butter. You're going to be shocked at how amazing this tiny flake substance can be for your health and I'm not even lying.. it's on point. Before I was excited to count %DV's over 10%. This.. try over 100%. It's like a vitamin, but way sweeter and better tasting. 5, FIVE, items over 100% DV (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12). Vitamin B12 is one thing that vegans actually have a hard time consuming without taking vitamins, but not in this case! It's packed with it, maybe that's why I'm always adding it to my meals. In addition, there are 7 other vitamins/minerals that add over 10% of your DVDV's over 10%. This.. try over 100%. It's like a vitamin, but way sweeter and better tasting. 5, FIVE, items over 100% DV (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12). Vitamin B12 is one thing that vegans actually have a hard time consuming without taking vitamins, but not in this case! It's packed with it, maybe that's why I'm always adding it to my meals. In addition, there are 7 other vitamins/minerals that add over 10% of your DV. This, of course, includes protein which is a sad misconception that vegans don't get. Maybe, more importantly, it includes fiber which keeps your entire body clear and keeps toxins from building into your intestines, stomach, and kidneys.
All in all, it appears I hit a lot of mineral and vitamin groups that many/most meat and potato eaters abandon. I even got some fat and a good amount of calories into my meal. I loaded up on B12, fiber, and plenty of other healthy body necessities. What am I missing? Beats me, because this meal is just one meal in one day. Add in the nutrients from all my other meals and I'm sitting in a pretty healthy place, one that I can be proud of nutrition wise and conscience wise. I limit major corporations and their processed foods, eliminate the dishonest and disgusting and ugly and pathetic and potentially (so I don't get sued) unhealthy factory farm produce. In turn, this also saves corn, grain, fuel, and clean water for citizens of the country.
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