January 10 & 11, 2012: It's no picnic being a sick-nic

It's no picnic being a sick-nic...or at least that's what my mom always said when I was running a fever. So yes, I'm sick. I fell behind in my posts! But no worries, I won't leave anything out just because of a little bump in the road. 


January 10, 2012
Breakfast:

• 1 cup of Emergen-C

• On this day I woke up and was filling so sick. I think I had a fever, I was achey all over, and I had a bad sore throat. It wasn't too much fun. I was trying to convince myself that nothing was wrong and that I wasn't sick so I wouldn't fall behind in my work. "It's all in your mind!" I told myself, but my body screamed "Warning! Warning! That's not true!". That was probably silly of me in the long run. Moral of the story? No, you're not exaggerating. Yes, you really do need to take a day and get better. Listen to your body. So, I stupidly went to my meeting with Jason anyways in order to stay up-to-date. Before I ran out the door to catch the bus I downed a cup of Emergen-C hoping it would magically make me feel better. Sorry, good try.
• Emergen-C never fails to make me shiver when I drink it. Those first couple sips are a magical potion that sets my taste-buds on a crazy dancing rampage. The last few are more calm, but I still don't like the fizz of it. I stopped drinking soda when I was seven years old because I didn't like the carbonation. I still feel like every time I drink something fizzy it's like my tongue is burning off. 
• Hummus and Pretzels
• I realized after the meeting that I was actually kind of hungry on top of not feeling well, so I went to the school store and picked up one of these guys:
• 

Lunch:

• 1 cup of green tea
• By this time of the day I was feeling a bit better, so I decided I could still work at the Lumberyard restaurant. On my way there I grabbed a cup of green tea at The Black Sheep.
• The steam felt good in my face and the hot tea felt good on my throat. The tea was slightly sweet from honey I had mixed in. My step mom told me that drinking one cup of green tea a day will extend your life by years. Is it true? Possibly! 
• 1 serving meat lasagna
• At the restaurant they serve the chefs lunch before they open for dinner. Today the main course was a delicious, succulent meat lasagna. The noodles weren't overcooked. The stack broke easily with a fork on the plate and the flavor was rich. The meat was finely ground and the tomato sauce stayed a little chunky.
• 1 serving tossed arugula salad with lemon-caper dressing
• The lasagna was paired nicely with this arugula salad. I loved the choice of greens because the bitterness evened out the savory-sweet flavors of the pasta. However, I wasn't too big of a fan of the lemon-caper dressing. The lemon had a nice zest, but the strong fishiness of the capers were distracting from the deep and warm flavors of the meat. 

Dinner: 

• Organic berry yogurt smoothie
• By the time I got home at the end of the day I realized that I had worked myself too hard. I was pooped! I had no appetite and I felt utterly exhausted and achey all over. I only drank this berry yogurt smoothie because my friend Jenn (who is currently studying alternative homeopathic remedies) said that the probiotics would be good for me. 

Dessert:

• 1 cup Emergen-C
• Yum? After drinking this in 3 gulps I pretty much collapsed in my bed. Supposedly it works better if you take it right before bed. Goodnight!

January 11, 2012

Lunch:

• Amy's "Macaroni & Soy Cheeze"
• Cholesterol Free
• Lactose Free
• No GMO's
• Organic pasta
• When I feel like eating macaroni and cheese when I'm sick but I don't want to eat dairy I eat this macaroni because it's made with soy cheese and doesn't add to my congestion as much
• I've been eating this microwave macaroni for my entire life, but I had never actually read what the package said until this time. How many things do we miss in our every day life just because we're not taking the time to look? After reading what was written on the side of the package,  I realized that someone sat down at one point in time and spent the time to write it out. Did they know that it might take someone 19 years to actually read it? Here's what was written: 

After the birth of our daughter Amy in 1987 we found there was little time to prepare the wholesome nutritious food we normally ate. Realizing there were others like ourselves, we set up Amy's kitchen to produce delicious, nourishing, frozen meals for health conscious people too busy to cook. We only use the finest natural and organic ingredients and prepare them with the same careful attention in our kitchen as you would in your own home. No meat, fish, poultry, or eggs are ever used in any Amy's products.

• 1 cup Emergen-C

Snack:

• 1 1/2 handfuls of sliced carrots from the carrot experiment
• I cooked both carrots and broccoli in pretty much every way one  could imagine possible to see the different results and learn about the way that cooking vegetables affects the color, smell, texture, and taste of a final product. I will have another whole post about this experiment.
• Organic berry yogurt smoothie 
• Protein, calcium, probiotics
• 1% milk, vitamin D added
• Smooth, sweet, nourishing. Disappeared faster than I thought once I started drinking it.

Dinner:

• 4 organic brown rice cakes
• Light and crispy, falls apart in little puffed rice pieces
• Faint wheaty smell, rough to the touch
• Crunchy when you bite into it, melts away in your mouth
• 1 avocado
• Good fats!
• Fresh and smooth
• Vibrant green like the kind you see everywhere at the beginning of Spring

Dessert:

• 1 cup Emergen-C
• Umcka
• This is a small, powder, homeopathic immunity booster similar to Emergen-C but more effective. It is berry flavored and says to take up to 5 packets per day for fastest results. Believe it or not, it's actually pretty tasty despite how good it is for you. It tastes like a pixi stick.