vanillacocoberry

Merry Xmas 2012!

2012-12-23T18:41:00.004+01:00

Why hello there my friends :-D

Long time no see!! I am very well aware of the fact that is was not a nice way to completely disappear from the blogosphere without any announcement. I hope you can forgive me anyways. A lot of things have happened around here since my last post. Especially one thing:

LIFE!

I got so busy living life lately aka these past couple of months that I didn't even get the slightest chance to devote a little extra time to my blog. Being a last year medical student certainly doesn't help much either. I sincerely admire anyone who can keep up bashing out new blog posts every. single. day. Seriously.

Other than that life has been treating me well with great ups and the occasional downs thrown in there between of course :D
And just in time for the start of this year's Christmas holiday, I wanted to drop in again and wish you all a very merry Xmas amongst your loved ones. May your days be merry and briiiiight :D

All the best and also look out for a new blog post these next couple of days.

Merry Christmas 2012

Yours truly.

Refuel after Exercise!

2012-09-16T14:37:00.000+02:00

One thing I've really vowed to myself since getting back to the gym on a regular basis is that I ALWAYS take a snack to eat the minute I walk out the door after a workout. And no matter what my workout looked like, be it high intensity interval training, spinning, "pumping iron" or just some relaxing walky-walky on the treadmill, I ALWAYS refuel right after.

I felt like this little trick has helped me tremendously with avoiding being ravenous by the time I get home and wanting to eat everything in sight. I mean, I still kinda do, but it has definitely helped anyways. Then, once I am home I usually make myself some food again, or even better: I meet up with friends right after I am done with the gym to go eat somewhere!! Why does food taste that much better after completing a physical activity???

The key to maximizing your results really is proper fuel after a workout. Check out my post about post-workout nutrition.

Have a lovely Sunday, folks!

xx

What I Ate Wednesday #22

2012-09-12T08:34:00.001+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!!

Hey guys, long time no ~~see~~ read!!! Seems like my posts have become a rarity these days :( I am sorry, but I hope you understand that I am no full-time blogger and sometimes (aka more often than not) life comes in between. Still my thanks go out to the lovely Jen, for hosting our weekly foodie p-p-p-p-party.

Let me tell you one thing: 5:30 AM wake-up calls are no fun. They really aren't. The only thing that keeps me smiling these mornings, is the thought of my impending breakfast, which at that time of the year consists of PUMPKIN PIE OATMEAL of course!

I actually just made a big ol' bowl full of it and I am so stuffed right now... it's really satisfying.

I sprinkled raw almonds, tons of chia seeds an shredded organic coconut on top!!

Yummyyy

A snack is usually eaten at the hospital and consists of bread, a couple of ham slices and a babybell cheese. Perfectly holds me over just until lunch time.

Lunch is then usually eaten somewhere with a friend or so .. and I have been loving hummus and falafel more than ever lately. (recycled picture from here)

I always make sure to drink enough throughout the day, but the days at the hospital make it really hard to stay hydrated, especially when I am in the OR. Thankfully I get thirsty really easily because I am just used to drinking a lot of water and tea :)

Dinnerrrrrr is then usually a big salad with fish or some other kind of protein. I just had a girlfriend visiting from Germany for the past week, so we really ate out a lot. So now I gotta make sure to watch those Euro cents a little more, or otherwise I'll be broke in no time. Here are just some things I've been having lately:

2) (note: the big chunk of feta cheese on the side somehow escaped the picture)

and I made some small little cupcakes in the colors of the USA: white, blue & red

I gotta get ready now for another dentist appointment....waaaaah! root canal is still not done yet! :(

Hope you're having a great day so far... I need to restock on some homemade almond butter sometime soon, let me tell you. I have been making it with my vitamix and it's been turning out amazing. I currently prefer coconut-almond butter. Soooo soooo good!

and of course I couldn't pass out on my weakness these past weeks: frozen yoghurt!!

♥

What I Ate Wednesday #21

2012-08-29T07:16:00.001+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!!

(last one in August..bohooo)

August is almost over and September is right around the corner. The leaves are falling and turning into the brightest colors. The somewhat picturesque scenery makes morning runs much more bearable, don't ya think? ♥

Breakfast was a quick assembly of scrambled eggs, veggies and blueberries.

I also had another "whole wheat" croissant on the side (recycled pic alert). When I am at my parents' house I like taking advantage of the fact that we get freshly baked rolls and pastries from the bakery in the morning. That's one thing I really missed when I was living in the US, the lack of reeeeaaally fresh bread. If a "bread" is kept in the fridge and doesn't go bad for over two weeks, it can't be good for you.

after my run I was ready for a super early lunch. Think 11:15 AMish (hahah Amish^^..get it?).

Luckily my mom stayed at home that day so she could whip me up some of her specialties.

Caramelized fennel (my favorite), steamed carrots and broccoli and a huge piece of fried salmon with garlic. This is my favorite meal and I could eat it any day.

I also had a plain salad on the side with pumpkin seed oil, and some more salad leaves after I was done with this one. My mom makes the best salad dressing that makes even the simplest of salads taste incredible.

For dinner I had delicious marinated chicken with glazed carrots and some kind of letscho with yellow zucchini, spices and God knows what else was in there. My Mom is the best cook (as I am sure everyone else says that about their Mom too) and this meal totally hit the spot!

Believe it or not, I was really happy that I got two sources of complete lean protein in that day. I would never cook that much fish/chicken for myself, mostly because I am lacking the time for it and secondly because it does get expensive. Especially the salmon! And even if I bought it, I could never prepare it the way my Mom does :-D It is cooked with love I guess hehe.

after an early dinner I took the train back to Vienna, met up with the boy for cocktails and to watch the sunset before we went to see this movie. Unfortunately my aperol spritz was way off, I hated it. The Aperol was too much, the prosecco too little and the soda definitely non existant. Bleeech! The watermelon caipirinha on the other hand was outstanding.

Before the movie, I got myself a cup of plain froyo and squeezed the remaining packet of Justin's Peanut Butter over it. It comes in quite handy that the frozen yoghurt place is right next to the movie theater =) I have to say though, that it didn't taste that great because J ♥ didn't get anything and we all know it never tastes as good when you are eating it alone.

That concludes another WIAW, featuring What I Ate Monday, 27th of August. I would definitely consider this a perfectly balanced day of eats, although I might have forgotten to snap a picture of another coffee I had in the afternoon ;) .. I'd also like to emphasize that this is not what I eat on a regular basis, when I am in Vienna at school and really pressed for time, I usually just grab whatever I can get my hands on, that is - more often than not - not soo healthy. But it all comes down to balance once again, and when you notice your eating patterns going a little bit out of hand, like when I had felt five thousand ice cream bowls, (..no really, I was going crazyy) then you just have to make sure to be better about it next time. Just try to balance and be happy ♥ and don't ever feel guilty. Life is too short for regrets!

Hope you're having a great day, I am off to work!

Doris

Start in the week with a smile & check out this movie trailer!

2012-08-27T07:10:00.003+02:00

Hi there!!

How are YOU starting into the new week on this Monday morning? With all the best intentions and a positive mindset I hope :) One of the things I've really come to love lately is the rejuvenating & relaxing power of walks. Doesn't matter how long, just get outside and walk around the block to get some fresh midsummer air in your lungs. I promise you'll be much more content once you sit back down inside. And make sure to bring a friend or your boyfriend. Walk to a frozen yoghurt place or something. Everyone needs motivation :)

Oh and I did a guest post in German for the lovely Julia, in case you wanna check it out here. It is all about finding the right balance in life and when your thriving for a "healthy" active lifestyle becomes too much of a good thing and can actually hinder you from living life to the fullest. This is a hot topic on healthy living blogs from all over the world right now and I am glad to see this trend towards a much more relaxed approach. Who wants to beat themselves up in the gym with excruciating workouts every day anyways? ;)

There's one movie out right now that I can't wait to see... any guesses??

♥

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ARE EXPECTING

(*and no, this is not a hidden hint!)

I love the cast and "Alcide" from True Blood is in it too (he is the shirtless guy with the rockhard abs in the last scene... Jacob from Twilight vs. Alcide from True Blood - both "werewolves" but what a difference..) Stephen Moyer hit it spot on and perfectly summarized my own opinion with this sentence: "I think Edward Cullen is a pussy" haha
Or what Alexander Skarsgard said here.

And how cool is the scene when the "Daddy Gang" rolls in. I just have to say: they are sooo cool!! Especially the guy with the asthma spray.

"When your wife says you're looking at houses... you are buying a house.. check your credit card bills.."

What do you think?

Is it gonna be worth watching??

Break the fast with BREAKFAST!!

2012-08-25T06:50:00.001+02:00

♥

Good morning!! Yaaawn..
You guys know my take on how I think breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right?? While I am enjoying a hearty breakfast on this lovely Saturday morning and sipping on my c-c-c-c-coffee to get my neurones going, I wanted to share the graphic below that shows in what way breakfast impacts our health and how often we are actually skipping it. My thanks go to Peter who approached me to share this with you. I think it is really visual and interesting, so that's what I did :)

Now my question to you: What is YOUR favorite breakfast?

I am ALWAYS on the lookout for new ideas, so I really want to know this!!
I know most bloggers prefer some kind of oats almost on a daily basis, at least it seems like it to me according to the thousands of overnight oats pictures I come across .. they are so variable after all so it is totally understandable.

In Austria, we definitely are true kings when it comes to our breakfast. The typical "Vienna breakfast" consists of lots freshly baked rolls and pastries, croissants with butter, jam, nutella or ham/turkey and cheese. And you can't miss the "Vienna melange" - a specific way of coffee preparation. This for example is a typical fast breakfast you can get at the "Anker" bakery in Vienna. Probably not so waist friendly since it is mostly lacking in veggies && fruit though. But then you'll just have to focus a little bit more on these two food groups when lunch time rolls around.
I also like a true mediterranean (spelling?) breakfast a lot with lots of healthy fats from hummus, olives etc. And of course there must be pita bread!

One of my all-time favorite breakfast places in Vienna is here .. you get the most giant avocados and cottage cheese and an egg scramble and even homemade granola all in one of the breakfast options!!

courtesy of

This or That

2012-08-24T10:36:00.002+02:00

This or That?

I got this from the wonderful and admirable Ashley and thought this might be something you'd want to read from me as well :) I really don't want to proof-read everything as I am already really pressed for time, so if you find any mistakes, feel free to keep them.

1. Run/workout in the heat and humidity or freezing temps and snow?
Living in Austria were we do get pretty cold winters (brrr!) I'd definitely had my fair share of runs in the freezing cold outside. I hate the cold in general but if I had to choose between cold and tropical heat, I would choose a run in the cold any day. Running in the heat is the worst and it can be so harmful to your health. I honestly shake my head everytime when I see people running on the pavement at noon with 30°C and the sun scorching their faces. Cuckoo! Plus, there is nothing more satisfying and liberating than running in winter with snowflakes falling all around you. And then when I get back inside my warm home and sit by my imaginery fireplace all cuddled up with a cup of hot chocolate I feel so content and happy.... that's perfection!

2. Have washboard abs or flat abs?
I certainly don't have anything against washboard abs on guys, but I definitely prefer the toned stomach look on women. I don't like it when a woman has a real defined 6 pack, it looks too manly in my opinion. And from an evolutionary point of view I am not quite sure if it would be considered healthy and advantageous.

3. Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy? (I randomly changed this question because I don't know Dr. Oz or The Doctors)
I am the biggest Scrubs fan, always have always will be!! This last season however I became quite infatuated with Grey's anatomy. Dr. Avery and April Keppner ftw! Also I love Mark Sloan but I hate Mc Dreamy, Meredith with her puppy eyes and annoying voice and Christina Yang with her expressionless face and disgusting personality. I love Arizona and Callie together and I can't believe that Lexie died in the final episode of last season.

4. Cardio or strength?
I used to be a cardio girl, that was back when I didn't know how important strength training is to form your body. By relying on cardio alone to stay in shape you basically burn through all your muscle and this will eventually backfire as we all know muscles are what keeps our metabolism running high. Right now I cut way back on cardio for some issues I am dealing with and I will focus more on bodyweight training with the occassional run or spin class thrown in between.

5. Cravings: Protein or carbs?
Carbs!! I definitely have a sweet tooth: ice cream, pastries, cupcakes ... I love any flavor, but most of all anything vanilla of course. Poppy seed is a winner too. I hate chocolate and I am still traumatized from getting all these migraines after chocolate consumption. For me, chocolate doesn't do anything, I would pick vanilla over chocolate any day (shocking, I know! I really wonder if there is any other blogger out there that thinks like me though)

6. Frozen Yogurt or Ice Cream?
I love some plain frozen yoghurt because it's reallly refreshing but then again I just couldn't imagine my life without eating the real deal .. ice cream (especially the full fat kind) is so incredibly creamy that nothing could ever compare.

7. To train: Upper body or lower body?
Both!! I love doing full body workouts that target all big muscle groups at the same time. Burpees anyone?

8. Protein powder or food with protein?
I love my sunwarrior vanilla protein powder!! I mix it in my shakes and my bowl of oatmeal or yoghurt. But I also really love fish, even though I hardly ever make it for myself! Prawns come in really handy at times, especially the pre-marinated kind, when I am pressed for time, I just throw them in the cooking pan for a couple of minutes and violà.

9. Lunges or squats?
Lunges are a killer, especially when incorporated in a run. Squats I feel like I can never do them right, I always try going really low but it's never low enough haha. I love sandbag swings which is basically a squat too with incorporated extra weight.

10. Sweet or Salty?
Sweet AND salty! Come on, it's the best combo! Honey roasted peanuts ♥ .. However I don't like really salty chips or anything really salty all that much. I get too thirsty!

12. Workout attire: cute or comfy?
Definitely comfy when I am working out by myself or running outside, but when I'll start going to the gym next month I'll definitely try to not look like a complete bum.

13. Yoga or Pilates?
Oh man, I used to attend a weekly pilates class and I loved it.. but it's just too expensive and I kinda miss it, but you can't have everything. I also did some bikram yoga classes way back, but these kind of get boring after a while since it's always the same and I like to keep myself challenged, otherwise I'll get bored out of my mind. I get bored really easy anyways.

14. Nike or Adidas?
Nike. Almost all my sports bras and shorts are from Nike!

15. Running on the treadmill or outdoors?
Outdoors!! I can't run on the treadmill, I don't know why but I just can't. I get so exhausted. (and yes I know that you can change the speed haha)

16. Whole Foods or Trader Joes's?
Uumm, Whole Foods! I have never been to Trader Joes's but I've heard that they have some yummy stuff, e.g. honey and sesame coated cashews (aaaah!) and that they are not as pricey as WF. That's what the boy ♥ brought me back when he was in the US. He's a keeper haha

17. Summer or Winter Olympics?
I don't care all that much for either of those, but I really like watching gymnastics, that's why I really got into this teenage show make it or break it (hahahaha!) last year. Plus the guys in gymnastics do have the best bodies. Love me some of that!!

18. Exercise classes or exercise videos??
Classes!!! Sweating together is always great for bonding, even if it's just random people at the gym or the yoga studio, but I definitely like the team spirit!!

19. Steamed veggies or roasted?
I love roasted veggies! I usually never steam my veggies, but cook them (so hot and probably soo long that they lose all of their nutrients). Roasting is just really easy and you don't have to do anything but cut them up beforehand and season them and then wait. I like that approach!

Now it's your turn! Pick a few and share your answers!

Have a great start into the weekend

♥

What I Ate Wednesday #20

2012-08-22T06:54:00.004+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Happy happy WIAW guys!

It's early, I'm tired and have a million other things to do, so I'll keep this week's post really short. Even though it's practically summer vacation for a student like me - work never really stops, be it school work, household chores or other appointments :)

Still trying my best to juggle everything .. so here is my lousy attempt on WIAW #20 !

Sacher Torte - a specialty from Austria :)

"Hugo" - the trending summer drink with elderberry, mint and limes :D

homemade letscho

white almond butter ... that jar was gone embarrassingly fast.

nothing goes over a perfectly soft boiled egg in the morning.

apple strudel ♥

dumplings with sauerkraut.. my favorite meal as a child!

blablabla that's it for now, I really hope even though I couldn't tell you anything interesting, you liked the pictures at least!! Gotta run my dears - literally!

I'll try to squeeze in a short run before the heat strikes in. I always always have the best intentions and then life comes in my way. But I don' stress about it anymore as I used to. If I can make it: great - if not, whatever!!

Love you guyssss

talk to u soon

What I Ate Wednesday #19

2012-08-15T07:15:00.002+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Happy WIAW you guys, I hope you're having a good one!!! Thanks Jenn for hosting yet another foodie party. Because of her, Wednesdays are pretty much my favorite day of the week ;)

Can you believe that summer is almost over? I can't! Well okayy.. not almost over quite yet (I tend to be a worrywart/pessimist), but we're getting there. The crisp air every morning is what gives it away, definitely. Brrrr, makes me shiver already. I hate the cold and really hope that someday I can live in Florida where I have beautiful weather all year round.

What I am gonna miss about summer the most (wow, this is a great idea for my next blog post by the way)?? Green smoothies for sure. Don't get me wrong I totally love them throughout the year, but in the cold season I can't have them in the morning, otherwise I'd be freezing from the inside out for the rest of the day. Plus now I still have my awesome Vitamix to test from Keimling and I am definitely not looking forward to the day when I have to say goodbye to what has become my number 1 kitchen staple :(

Anywho, let's get this party started...

drinks please!

breakfast was a bowl of overnight oats with chia seeds and dollop of peanut butter. I might have also had an unpictured spoon aka the last bit out of my almond butter jar. Should have made oats in a jar, dammit!

after a rather short but intense 10 min ZWOW # 24 workout.. I was ready for breakfast #2

I was craving something savory, so I made myself an egg scramble with broccoli consisting of 3 whole eggs. I sprinkled grounded flax seeds on top.

When I sat down and had the first bite, I felt like something was missing, so I sprinkled a generous amount of nutritional yeast on top. Totally hit the spot! Cheesy and nutritious, just the way I like it!

an a small and ugly-cut kiwi on the side

Then I met up with the Mister to finally head on over to Vapiano again to get my dose of antibiotics...uuum I mean prawns! We haven't been in so long (really!). It's definitely the fastest, easiest and also cheapiest way to eat at a decent restaurant in Vienna. Each of us hardly ever pays over 10 €, because it's basically self-serve and you don't have to give a tip. puh!

Mhhhh.. two happy tummies resulted!

And because it was our date-day, I had the genius idea to drive to my favorite cupcake bakery in Vienna and get us some lovely cupcakes for a summery picnic later that day. First though we headed back home because I was in desperate need for another coffee (unpictured, but not that exciting anyway).

Then we got our stuff together, cupcakes, white wine, a big beach towel and all & enjoyed the afternoon sun outside.

This is what our favorite cupcakes usually look like:

and that's what they really looked like after getting smushed in the paper box.

okay, that raspberry one got already taste tasted before the photo was snapped, hence the missing bite.

We concluded that day with more booze aka self-mixed refreshing cocktails:

pineapple and cranberry juice mixed with malibu coconut rum.

If that wasn't a successful day, I really don't know what is. Now if only I could spend every day or at least every day once a week like that :)

A girl can dream right? Of cupcakes and prawns hahaha.

Have a great day, I have to get going now. I am seriously contemplating whether I not I should make it outside for a quick run or not. My legs are feeling okay, so it might not be such a bad idea to get moving a little bit, considering I'll be sitting on my tush for pretty much the rest of the day. Hmmm.. we'll see, I'll make sure to let you know :)

Oooh and by the way, after my tough mudder experience I definitely already laid my eyes on the next thing i really wanna do. This time it's gonna be something beautiful and happy instead of muddy and miserable. THE COLOR RUN!!!

Anyone ever done one before?? I think the video is so great, it makes me tear up, apparently I can't seem to take so much happiness hahaa.

Love you guys, thanks for the support ♥

Doris

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Tough Mudder Scotland 2012 Final Video & workout..

2012-08-14T07:21:00.003+02:00

Here it is, the longed for Tough Mudder Scotland Video. Can you spy me??? *Please note that not all of the obstacles are shown in this video.

Altogether there were about 5 000 crazy people participating with various starting times spread throughout the day, so that's why you don't see that many people at the starting line... just in case you were wondering ;)

here's the link back to my other Tough Mudder Finisher posts in case you're interested.

Over the past couple of weeks I have learned so much about fitness and what it really means to be fit and healthy. I have mentioned this before, but now that I am seeing everything much clearer, I can't seem to stress it enough. While on the one hand it's really important to keep moving because we all know if you don't use it - you'll lose it .. that certainly doesn't mean you have to drag yourself to the gym every day and do an excruciating workout. Sometimes all you need is rest or light exercise, be it in the form of a leisurely citybike ride in the inner city of Vienna or an afternoon stroll with a loved one.

I am definitely trying to change up my exercise routine as much as humanly possible and to find balance inbetween it all. Try not to plan your day around exercise and don't get freaked out and feel guilty when you don't get the chance to workout on a given day. While exercise is a priority in my life, I don't obsess over it and give my body the down time when it's needed.

The one thing I am really grateful for is that my best friend aka the boy ♥ is as much into fitness as I am and we can always go get moving together. Lately we've certainly been taking advantage of that and now that we got a gym membership (starting in September wohooo) we are more motivated than ever. Besides he clearly is the voice of reason in my ear and knows the importance of muscle recovery just as much as I do now.

Today I got a good night's sleep, so I'm ready to tackle ZWOW #23 - Burpee Torture (hopefully).

Burpees are just the one exercise I really love to hate. Or hate to love. I am not quite sure.

Lunch - Coffee - Dinner on a Saturday

2012-08-11T21:35:00.001+02:00

Boy did I have a great Saturday afternoon ... first I met up with an old girlfriend of mine from highschool .. we wanted to take a long walk first and head to lunch after, but the crappy weather thwarted our plans. So we simply went for lunch at Naschmarkt ... good change of plans because it started pouring right after we sat down. I was craving falafel and hummus ... so we went there.

...and check! Craving 100 % satisfied. Although I was first contemplating ordering soup, because it was just effin' freezing, more like fall than a midsummer's day. The hummus and the cucumber and tomato salad under the falafels was drenched in oil .. but I am not afraid of healthy fats :)

S ♥ had the caramelized eggplant with couscous and goat's cheese ..

I just love the market in Vienna ♥

we polished off our meal, went for coffee to warm up and continued babbling about God and the world...

After we said goodbye I strolled around for a bit and ran some errands, before I met up with another friend for tea .. the one and only Dr. W - a doctor who ladies trust ;) hahaha

and then he made me the most amazing dinner because I was so hungry.. a wonderful fresh salad with arugula, feta cubes, tomatoes, olives and balsamic vinaigrette. No need to say that I loved it. Thanks again :)

All in all a successful Saturday full of relaxation and good conversation :) Sadly this is a rarity in my life... bohooo

Anyways, have a good rest of the weekend you guys ♥

Spirulina Powder

2012-08-09T09:04:00.000+02:00

Well hello there ♥
Today we're talking SUPERFOODS!
One thing I've been adding to my green smoothies for the past couple of weeks is Spirulina Powder and while I'm sure most of my US readers have heard of this mysterious algae a million times before, it's not that well known yet here in Europe. Unrightfully so as I believe. Unless you're a health foodist that has a weakness for high quality dietary supplements you've probably never tried it and if I would ask my friends about it, most likely none of them would even know what I was talking about.

Spirulina is

*a superfood

*a protein source (protein content of 64%)

*contains 8 essential amino acids

*provides your body with vitamins && minerals
*enhances energy and vitality

*a superstar amongst algae
*contains specifically a high amount of vitamin B12

*vegan

*vegetarian

*organic

*gluten-free

*yeast-free

The package I got from ayurveda101 weighs in at 200 g and this is what the label reads:

"A source of vitamins, minerals, protein and chlorophyll, spirulina is a microscopic plant that is harvested from open-air, freshwater ponds. The fine, blue-green powder has been enjoyed by several global cultures for centuries, and it makes for an effortless addition to any diet.

Mix into drinks and dressings, or sprinkle over salads for a dish with a difference."

Spirulina is believed to have been a food source for the South American Aztecs until the 16th-century and is today cultivated in Chinese ponds. The algae are dried and grinded in the traditional way so that the customer can incorporate a teaspoon or two of this precious powder into his/her daily diet, be it juice, a fruit-filled smoothie (YUM!) or just added to water. Like I said, I usually add it to my smoothies, because the powder does have a really distinctive smell. Have you ever smelled fish food? Well that's exactly what it smells like. I know some people love that smell, but others are rather appalled by it (hello Alexia^^). For those people there are tons of spirulina capsules on the market, that can be swallowed in an instant :) I personally prefer mixing in powder over gulping down pills any day.

With incorporating spirulina in my diet I really feel like I make a difference in my overall well being. I just got my lab results back from my annual physical and my vitamin B12 levels are exorbitantly high, even higher than the average range. My doctor was really surprised by this and asked me if I take any multivitamin pills. Noo I really don't, just my spirulina :) I need to nourish my body in the best possible way and in my honest opinion I think spirulina helps me to accomplish just that. I am a superfood lover :) Next on my list will definitely be barley grass and wheatgrass powder. I heard that wheatgrass shots are the best!!

*Disclaimer: I was provided with this product free of charge, for review purposes. If I ever receive a free product to review, I will give my honest opinion. I also am not compensated for reviewing any product beyond receiving free samples.

What I Ate Wednesday #18

2012-08-08T07:47:00.002+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Holy muddertrucker, I am so tired it's ridiculous.

But with temperatures being at an all-time high lately, it's a now or never situation for me every single morning when my alarm goes off and interrupts - ever so unpleasantly - my precious dreams. I know that when I hit that tempting snooze button, I've already lost the battle. Because then I reaaaaaallly sleep in and before I know it it's noon and I basically missed the entire day (note: but it's not that I just turn off the alarm altogether, I just keep hitting snooze again and again and again. Oh well, just plain ol' stories of my masochistic self....).
But sometimes getting more Zzzzzzs is totally necessary and then I just give in without being haunted by pangs of remorse for the rest of the day. Not today though. I mean, come on I have a What I Ate Wednesday Post to write!! Wednesday might just be my favorite day of the week ♥

What I need on a morning like this?

Basically what I need on all 365 (366 this year!) mornings.

C O F F E E

- the one dear friend that never lets me down and makes getting up A LOT easier. Funny thing is, I was never much of a coffee drinker before I started medical school. Coffee has definitely become a staple in this gal's life, however I always try not to overdo it and sometimes only have a cup a day.

Plus I really like my coffee white. With lots and lots of almond or vanilla soy milk.

The best coffee for me is the one that doesn't taste like coffee (but please dear God spare me all those crappy disgustingly sweet frappucinos that weigh in at a Lilliputian's worth of daily calories. They are just a heart attack waiting to happen!)

Let's procede with breakfast..before I loose myself in endless tirades of my life. I think if you've been checking in here for a while you might have realized that coffee has become a constant (one of the few) in my every day life. On how many things in life can you REALLY count on? Seriously... ^^

breakfast: raspberries from the market and some full-fat (yes, you can believe me it's better than the 0% kind!) organic greek yoghurt with two peaches and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

lunch was a quick assembly of a raw soup with full-fat coconut milk, carrots and ginger. I just threw all of the ingredients in my vitamix and was good to go. Chia seeds and coconut shreds sprinkled on top were the cherry on top. I also had a bowl of fitnessss cereal with it to get my carbs in.

What was really the coolest thing ever:

For dinner I met up with other food bloggers at WRENKH - Vienna's Cooking Salon.

Alexia invited me to join a lovely group of 10 bloggers and we dined like kings...

well not really, but it still was pretty good :)

We all had the same sequence of courses, which was determined in advance.

All we knew was that we'd want to try as many things as possibly from the menu (hellooo we are food bloggers, what do you expect?)

We started off with a gazpacho which I really liked. It was really hot outside, so it was perfect to cool me down. I can't remember the last time I had gazpacho and I am not the biggest fan of it either, but this one hit the spot.

next we were served a salad dressed in core oil (is that the right word, for it?.. "Kernöl" in German) with quinoa and smoked tofu on top. Everyone loved that the most, but I am not the biggest fan of smoked tofu. Instead I would have prefered almond-nut tofu for example. That small change would have added just about the right crunchiness.

The main course was - honestly - pretty unspectacular.

Samlet filet with curried quinoa and chanterelles aka Eierschwammerl and an odd cherry tomato thrown on top.

I think the cook must have forgotten to add the 'taste' to the fish... next time with taste please, Mr. Cook!

Haha Just kidding!!!!! (..kind of)

the quinoa was really good but it could have been better with an added extra crunch (maybe in the form of cashews?) .. I am a nut lover so of course I want to put 'em in EVERYTHING. I have a hard time judging objectively sometimes.

The dessert variations definitely were the key to our hearts...

everyone loved the chocolate cake that was served warm and filled with ooey goey melted chocolate ♥

The two bowls had super sweet vanilla-honey something-something apple compote and some rather sour redcurrant concoction. I polished them off to the last spoonful.

All in all it was a cool evening with even cooler people.. I am so happy that I had the chance to meet all of them and will be sure to stop by their blogs on a regular basis. Thanks Alexia for organizing this, I had a blast!

Now I'm ready to hit the pavement for a short run. Haven't run for quite a while, let's see how it goes. I am definitely wanting to participate in the Cancer Research Run of my University Hospital in October, so I have to train (not really because this run is just a run and not a race and you only have to run as many rounds as you wish...but it's for a good cause and every round counts!!)

Until next time, happy WIAW to all of you jerks :-p
xx
Doris

Please show me some love!! :)

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edit: among those other food bloggers I suddenly felt so normal taking pictures of my food! it was hilarious to be honest when at the same time all of us took out their cameras or phones to snap pictures of each and every course :D

Detox Day 3

2012-08-03T10:34:00.001+02:00

DETOX DAY 3

day 1
day 2

Yesssss!! It is o-v-e-r! Three days of adding freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices to my daily diet, which besides said juices consisted of -against popular belief (this was not a juice-only cleanse, my friends)- a decent amount of raw, steamed or roasted veggies and a certain amount of protein each day.

I am done with it. Juicing does get tiring ... and cleaning is annoying!!

The next time I will do a juice cleanse, I will get those juices premade at pressed juicery in Los Angeles.. I've heard so many positive things about it, I just have to give it a try. I will do this right before my stay at a beauty farm in Palm Springs or a rejuvenating yoga retreat in the mountains. Until then I am saving up so I can actually afford it ... one day of juices weighs in at about 70 dollars I believe. But they sure do look pretty appetizing. I'm sure you've heard it before that this popular trend is quite "the thang" to do, not only among celebrities. The rich and the beautiful do it, so I of course have to do it as well. Makes sense in my book, don't ya agree?

Oookay.. so quick recap: how did day three go for me?

Quite well, but the super colon detox juice tasted definitely the worst of them all. With carrots and beets in it, I thought it must surely taste better than the green juice, but turns out that Day 2's refreshing green juice was by far my favorite ♥

Today I was happy to get up at 5 AM, start into the day sipping my beloved coffee with vanilla soy milk .. this one is by far the best I've ever tasted! Organic all the way baby.

After browsing the web and reading all of your lovely motivating blogs, I decided is was time to make myself a giant green protein smoothie. The first one in 3 days can u believe it!! It was definitely a party in my mouth :)

I also had a grapefruit on the side. I always peel the flesh out of the inner skin though, if you do it like that a grapefruit doesn't taste bitter at all!

And after breakfast I did something that all of you should be doing once a year:

I got a preventive medical check-up! I went to a new female doctor and I have to say I am absolutely infatuated with this woman. She seems to really "get" me, we talked for quite a long time, I told here that I am also a medical student in my last year and from there it just went on and on .. she also shares my belief that the birth control pill is the worst thing you could possibly ever do to yourself. And just when I wanted to link back to this previous post of mine, I discovered that it has all of the sudden vanished from my blog. Which is just really weird and smells a little fishy to me. Some of you that have been reading my blog for a longer time might still remember this post. It was basically about how artificial hormones influence our bodies in such a negative way and that the pharma industry just wants to make money off a product that in reality destroys us. Just getting a clearer complexion or regular cycles does not justify the price you'll eventually have to pay. I wrote that young women should simply use their common sense and when something doesn't feel right it's probably just not right and that pretending a pregnancy (as this is what birth control pills do) is just not natural or healthy.

Trust me, I am really not trying to make myself more important here or make a drama about anything, but it just seems really weird that exactly THIS POST out of all others has suddenly disappeared. I don't lie and I am certainly not lying this time. I am not an idiot. I mean, I certainly didn't delete it and nobody else has access to my blogger account. I think society and Mr. Internet might have a greater influence than we would ever know. I am kind of scared now to be honest with you. Of course I didn't save the article in a word document, so it's gone forever and can not be retrieved, which makes me really sad because it was exactly this article that had tons of comments from women suffering from the negative side effects of hormonal birth control and looking for alternatives... but whateverrr.. :(

So yeah, I got my medical check up and just need to get some labwork done on pretty much everything (even common vitamin deficiencies..b12 and folic acid)

I am also pleasantly surprised that all of you seem to like my little detox program, as viewer hits and search keywords certainly don't lie :)

some more pictures, I am too depressed now to elaborate any further..

this is were I walked in the morning.... Belvedere Castle ♥

some ingredients of the super yucky juice of day 3 ^^^

vomit vomit (hahaha)
I honestly couldnt even finish all of the 8 cups. I stopped between 5 and 6 I think and just had a larger dinner instead.

Thanks for reading!!

♥

Detox Day 2

2012-08-02T12:22:00.006+02:00

DETOX DAY 2

So here I am, the second day of my detox has already come to an end and I am still going strong on day 3, resisting temptations that pop up here and there and are trying ever-so-desperately to get me off the right path :)

I once read that detoxes (plural?) tend to always go the exact same way:

1st day: "this is easy, I will do this"

2nd day: "I am hungry"

3rd day: "kill me now"

Although probably exaggerated, that might not be quite so untrue...

After the liver and kidney detox juice on day 1, I had the green drink on yesterday's menu. And boy oh boy did that one ever taste amazing or whattt! I was rather surprised, not to say genuinely delighted. Turns out I was afraid of so many greens all in vain :)

Again I mixed in some spirulina in a couple of my glasses for all the essential amino acids and as an additional general protein source. The one thing that could have probably gone better was that this bad vanillacocoberry had two coffees that day (with a itty bitty of regular milk and almond and soy milk. The reason I had to use soy was that I ran all out of almond milk and as I've mentioned previously, I am cutting back on the almond milk because it is so darn expensive!!). One in the morning and another one in the afternoon when I sat down at my work desk. Guilty as charged.

I also went on a short 30 minute run at a moderate pace to get my blood pumpin' and ended the day with an online yoga sequence, which was relaxing (it just feels soo good to stretch, why don't I do this on a regular basis??) and challenging at the same time. Before I hopped into bed I wrote a couple of thoughts that were going through my head into my booklet and read for a couple of minutes, before I decided to call it a day and switched off my nightstand lamp.
Only thing worth mentioning: I awoke at 4 AM last night and felt kind of hungry, it was hard to fall back asleep.. my dreams were really weird too.. Thank God I finally managed to snooze off again though.. sleep is so important for me!

The third and last day of incorporating fresh juice in my daily routine will include the super colon detox juice and from what I've heard, it should taste the worst of all three. This is going to be interesting.... I stocked up on all the required ingredients , even fresh parsley, and I am ready to juice!!! I am really glad I still got the amazing Green Star Elite from Keimling.de helping me with this. I couldn't do this juice detox without it..literally! Oh man, this (lame) joke will pop up more times than you'd ever thought possible ^^^

Cheers my lovely readers!

and I ♥ this:
(Stole it somewhere, but can't remember where...ooopsies! )

♥

What I Ate Wednesday #17

2012-08-01T07:12:00.004+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! my thanks -as always- go out to Jenn, our lovely host of the web's biggest weekly health blogger party.. we couldn't do it without you..literally ^^ (haha.. I read that joke on another blog last week and though it was pretty darn hilarious)
Today is the first day of August!! Time to change life up a little bit health-wise. As you might know I am currently on a little detox, trying to give my body a little bit of rest, allowing it to heal itself from the inside out and resetting my taste buds. Today I am on day 2, so far I am going strong, as I am not feeling like I am starving or torturing myself in any kind of way. I think cleanses can be kind of dangerous if done outside of a professional setting, you can get steatohepatitis (fattening of the liver-itis) and a whole bunch of other scary sounding diseases from it. I personally could never do a no food cleanse and I seriously admire anyone that can get through even the first day of e.g. the master cleanse, where you only consume lemon water with cayenne pepper and maple syrup for God knows how long. That's just craaaaaaaazy and I think it can be more harmful than you know. I specifically don't see any health benefits coming from it either.
Instead, I am opting for freshhhhh produce and getting in all the nutrients my cells cry out for.
Needless to say, this WIAW consists of a random day throughout the past week, which still involved indulgences here and there :) sugar is really addictive and sometimes I feel like a crackwhore looking for a quick fix ^^ (ohmygosh she did not just write that)
breakfast consisted of coffee, fruit and delicious goey overnight oats with chia seeds, coconut shreds and tons of sunflower seeds...

very filling and satisfying! Why don't I start every day like that? I didn't have a midmorning snack so by the time lunch time rolled around I was ravenous. Luckily, I got a little salmon baking in the oven (mommy prepared it and I just had to throw it in to bake for 25 minutes.. she always uses rama culinesse on the bottom of the pan, which works perfectly and gives the fish amazing taste)

couple of veggies on the side for good measure. I also had caramelized fennel straight out of the pan, which went unpictured.

Oh no she didn't!
Oh yes I did...
vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirl. Reminds me of the one I always got at two cents plain in Margate, New Jersey when I was at the shore with my American host family :)

another great find was definitely this Stevia sweetened Latte Macchiato ice cream!! Works really well in iced coffee, but tastes equally delicious eaten straight out of the container (not denying I'm guilty of that)

If I had to pick a favorite, I would still go with the vanilla kind though.

dinner was just thrown a little egg scramble with veggies, topped off with ketchup and sunflower seeds. Lately I am putting those seeds on every and anything!!!

and a giant soft apricot

Later that night (it started after 10 PM) I watched Law Abiding Citizen with Gerard Butler on TV and made some popcorn to munch on. We only had the full grease buttery kind at home, which didn't impress me all that much, except that I found it was really super greasy. Not my favorite! But ...

in default of a soul the devil puts up with a fly

or as we say in Austria "in da Not frisst da Teifi Fliagn"

(or something like that)

That concludes another WIAW and rings in August - month of detox, health & fitness ^^ :)
I think it gets a lot easier when you know just because you want to eat something, doesn't mean you have to. Easier said than done, it's only the first day after all, but as always... I'll see how it goes!
Until next time, happy #WIAW!
xx
Doris

Please show me some love!! :)

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Detox Day 1

2012-07-31T19:32:00.003+02:00

DETOX DAY 1

Oookay... so the first day of my detox challenge is already coming to an end.
So far so good I'd say. Today was not particular difficult or anything, it just gets really annoying having to drink a cup of my freshly brewed detox juice every hour (I am using the Green Star Elite and make the entire required amount in the morning to get me through the day)... time just flies by and if I didn't set the alarm on my phone I would totally forget about it!!
In addition to making sure I get my daily veggies in, as well as a 6 ounces of complete lean protein, I did a little yoga session to get those muscles working. I chose an easy one, not to say probably the easiest yoga routine ever. I was bored and will definitely choose a harder one for tomorrow!!

All in all I am feeling good, I have enough energy and really feel like I am getting all my fluids in! My tummy feels a little weird but maybe that just means it's stomaching all the nutrients from the veggies. Today's juice was the liver and kidney detox , and tomorrow will be the green drink, containing -you guessed it!- loads of greens. In some of the cups of juice I consumed throughout the day I mixed in a dash of spirulina powder -which I am currently reviewing- and I immediately felt like I was experiencing positive effects but more on that in a different post :)
In the morning I started out with 2 (oops!) cups of coffee, and I am already looking forward to the one tomorrow morning haha.

Tonight I will be drinking a glass of water with soaked psyllium husks, to help with the detoxification process if u know what I mean :) and maybe I can squeeze in another stretching/yoga routine, we'll see about that! I am planning on hitting the sack early tonight, as I just got a minor headache right when I thought I was so lucky not to get one... must be karma ^^

and here's a picture of my dinner:
a veggie omelette with 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg

Until tomorrow bitches ^^^

xx

DETOX

2012-07-30T21:30:00.002+02:00

THE DETOX CHALLENGE

Note to self: Whatever you do, please never ever type the word "cleanse" into google pictures again. Wildly disturbing.

I've decided to start my own little detox for various reasons.. first of all: Now that I'm out of school I have the time for it, I want to aid my body to flush out built-up toxins, to heal itself and to start functioning at its best again (you must know that I am battling an almost chronic sinus infection at that point) and I want to eat yummy superfoods, drink fresh juices && green smoothies and get my body m-m-m-oving! And because you can only start something like that with the beginning of a new month (haha^^) .. I'm kickstarting it right now... well tomorrow ;)

For the first three days I will be focusing on drinking 64 ounces of fresh juice every single day (8 oz every hour for a total of eight hours) with servings of complete lean protein and fresh veggies in between. Also during that time frame I will be drinking 1 cup of water/tea in between each hour. Let's see how that goes. Each day requires a specific juice concoction, which I am going to prepare every morning for the entire day... tomorrow will be the Liver and Kidney Detox Drink.. judging from the ingredient list it will probably taste better than it sounds.

So far all of this appears very doable as it includes fresh reviving juices as well as a fair share of solid meals. I am not a huge fan of a "liquids only diet", I could actually puke at the mere sound of that term. I once tried a 3 day cleansing program which required to drink only liquid juices and cleansing supplements, such as dandelion extract and some other nasty stuff. Needless to say I didn't even make through the second day. I almost threw up when I had to drink that disgusting cleanse shot in the morning, and I honestly thought "why am I doing this to myself?" It felt like I was poisoning myself as opposed to getting rid of toxins.

That was a couple of years back and counts as my first and only cleansing experience so far.

Now I am all for yummy delicious cleanses, when you feel like you suddenly have the energy of a 6 year old girl and nourish your body with fresh multicolored drinks and food.

I might have to ease into it tomorrow though and I am not going to put pressure on myself in any way. If for some reason or another it just doesn't work out, so be it. As I've mentioned above I am dealing with a sinus infection - if it gets worse, I might have to stop immediately. But I figured that maybe cutting out all dairy consumption for three days might not be such a bad idea, as dairy is linked with general mucus built-up. Also I won't be able to cut out caffeine entirely, because let's face it: I am a terrible addict (and if I don't get my daily dose I really do get the world's worst headache). So cutting out caffeine all at once would most likely hinder me at even completing the first day. I am going to do whatever feels right for my body and if it is a cup of coffee in the morning (I am going to use neither dairy nor soy milk, which only leaves rice and almond), I am okay with that! There is no reason to purposely make yourself suffer.

I can already hear some of you say "blablaba what is she thinking, the first thing one needs to eliminate on a cleanse is caffeine blablabla" ... YES, you are right, caffeine is bad for you and it makes your body acidic and there are at least a million other reasons to stop drinking coffee altogether.. but it's also not safe for me at this point to cut it out entirely from one day to another due to above mentioned withdrawal symptoms. When I was in the US last summer, I thought I had a brain tumor because I got the worst headaches every single day and they wouldn't respond to medication. Then one day I had a venti latte at starbucks and all of the sudden I was cured. This is not a lame story I just made up but the honest (and maybe a little bit sad) truth.

I will also try to incorporate low impact exercise in the first three days, even if it is just going to be in the form of walking around a lil' bit.

8 hours of sleep are a must too.

On my face I will continue using the oil cleansing method (which I have been using for the past 2 weeks or so and I am absolutely loving!! Review on that will be coming soon!)

So until tomorrow
wish me luck or feel free to join me <3

P.s.: I can't stop watching videos of Alexander Skarsgard aka Eric Northman in True Blood. There is just something about that Swedish kid that gets me everytime. I know the storyline might seem weird to some of you, but you do get quite into it after the first couple of episodes... and what's even funnier are all the comments on youtube underneath the videos... hhaaa
Any other TRUE BLOOD fans out there?

The Green Star Elite Juice Extractor

2012-07-26T15:13:00.003+02:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been so lucky as to test the infamous Green Star Elite Saftpresse, a high-quality juice extractor, distributed by the European company Keimling. Keimling stands for premium quality natural and raw foods and they have a wide variety of really awesome products on their website, so you may wanna head on over there and check those out.

Besides offering all kinds of green foods, nutrition supplements, dried fruit, nuts and other fancy schmancy healthy living must-haves, they distribute multiple kitchen tools. Whether you want to dehydrate, juice, mix, humidify or even make your own soy- or nutmilk.. you name it - they got it!

So as you might very well imagine, I was super stoked when they were so kind as to send me two of their products that genuinely belong to the crème de la crème of their kind: the Green Star Elite Juice Extractor and the one and only Vitamix.

In this post I will be reviewing my experiences with the Green Star Elite.

Does it really deliver what it promises??

Read all about it here.

Much to my surprise, the handling of the Green Star Elite was way easier than I first anticipated when I took the quite heavy machine and all the extra tools that come with it out of the giant box. Once I stocked up on fresh produce at the grocery store and assembled the individual devices, I was ready to finally give this baby a try. Leafing through the pages of the manual, I set it all up and put the right juicing knob in (for firm fruits and hard roots, such as carrots or beets, you need a different one than for leafy greens or softer fruits). The juicing knob simply adjusts how much the pulp is squeezed before it is pushed through the outlet. I rinsed my veggies and fruit and cut them all up into thin pieces to fit through the feeding chute.

To firmly push e.g the carrots all the way down into the rotating gears, I used the wooden plunger instead of the plastic plunger as it is also recommended in the manual. Again - very easy to do so. I was delighted.

So I basically only had to use two different juicing knobs (hard and soft) and tightened them alternately between halfway and fully depending on the kind of produce I wanted to juice. If at some point I felt like the processed fruit or veggies started to back up through the feeding chute, I gently loosened the juicing knob and everything was all good again.

I am not gonna lie, due to Kristin's review, I knew straight from the beginning that disassembling the machine, cleaning and maintenance would be somewhat strenuous and longsome. That's why I decided to juice throughout the day in multiple sessions to stock up on different juices, leaving the final thorough cleaning process at the very end of the day. For this, I simply had to remove the juicing knob entirely and pour about 500ml of luke warm water through the feeding chute while the machine was running, before and after each juicing session.

Here are pictures of what the Green Star Elite looks like taken apart...

and all built together again...

amazingly fresh green juice mhhhhhhhh

My verdict:

What' we're dealing here with is an awesome juicer, that besides plain ol' juicing is apparently also qualified to make other delicious food such as nut butters, pâtés, frozen fruit sorbets, baby food and even breadsticks. The Green Star Elite definitely helps you embark on your journey to a healthier lifestyle and overall better health. Of course you can always counter with the statement that one might as well simply eat the fruit and veggies in their natural form, but the sad truth is, my friends, that you just don't.

So that's primary the reason why juicing is such a great addition to your daily diet: you get in all benefits from the nutrients in their purest form in a single glass. Juicing is said to be the key to radiant health, it allows you to add a wider variety of vegetables to your diet and absorb all the vitamins, enzymes, minerals and phytonutrients that nourish and beautify the body and are crucial to your overall well being. The extra water you consume through the juice hydrates all your tissues, facilitates the detoxification process and makes for a youthful glow from the inside out. However the downside to juicing is that whole fruit and veggies also contains precious fiber that aids your digestion, which is pretty much entirely lost during the juicing process. And then again the benefit of that would be the fact that juice is easily digestable and your digestive tract gets a well deserved rest from all the other stuff we constantly put into it.

The only downside I can currently see is the longsome cleaning process. It does take some time but is absolutely do-able and once you got the hang of it, it gets a lot easier too. Would I buy the Green Star Elite for myself?? Probably yes, once I have enough $$$, my own household and a kitchen with a lot of storage space but definitely not right now as a I am still a poor student living on the breadline. Of course such an exquisite juice extractor also has its price, which might play an important role for some, but is most likely only secondary to all the avid juice lovers out there.

All in all I can say that I really had some awesome crazy fun creating all those fresh juices (and subsequently drinking them of course). The only thing about juices is that they do not photograph very well and anyone that has ever made freshly squeezed juice themselves will be able to attest to that.

For a thicker consistency as shown in the last two photographs, you can also try mixing freshly squeezed juice in a green smoothie. Sooo refreshing in this midsummer heat!

Thanks Keimling for giving me this great opportunity ♥

Hope this review was helpful!

Yours,

Doris

*Disclaimer: I was provided with this product for an arranged time period free of charge, for review purposes. If I ever receive a free product to review, I will give my honest opinion. I also am not compensated for reviewing any product beyond receiving free samples.

What I Ate Wednesday #16

2012-07-25T08:47:00.003+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

thanks to Jenn we have this weekly foodie party here, so make sure you head on over there and show her some love && support and check out other blogger's WIAW! ♥

Oh my! Is it Wednesday already??? As I am typing this up I am sipping my morning coffee with almond milk (this will be the last container of almond milk to use up, as it just really gets too expensive in the long run.. I need to cut back stat!) and browsing through the photos on my laptop and on my phone. Sad truth is, I totally don't have an entire day's worth of eats to show you guys this Wednesday. Somehow during this past crazy busy week I must have forgotten to take all those pictures that you love oh so much. Bear with me!!

Okay, so that's for that, we got the most important thing for most of us aka coffee covered.

Now onto the next.

B R E A K F A S T

..has definitely been more on the oaty and fruity side (I have a fresh batch of voluminous overnight oats in the fridge as we speak)..

I have also been eating a lot of these:

Or having iced coffee with vanilla-coffee flavored ice cream

Last night, I cooled off with my favorite cocktail...

it contains cucumbers, almond sirup, vodka, citrus and who knows what else.

It's very light and refreshing and I could probably down it in one big gulp :)

And for good measure I'm throwing in some veggies:

Again, I'm really sorry I can't show you a full day of proper eats, I will definitely remind myself to be better about this in the upcoming week, okay?

Workout-wise, I have decided to step it up a notch (eeeheeerrrm...) since I have been really bad about it lately. Well except for my tough mudder that is, because that was really some serious shhhh...tuff and should make up for A LOT. Come to think of it, I am also planning on doing another post on it that provides helpful tips and tricks how to successfully complete a tough mudder from a girl's perspective, so look out for that as well :)

Oh - where was I? Oh yess, after weighing the pros and cons and seriously thinking about it for the past two weeks or so, I have decided to join a gym in my last year of university. Might as well do it when I still have the time, right?? (the sad thing is, I don't even have the time now, but I HAVE TO make the time for it, this is a mental health issue after all!!!!!) ... I will activate my membership in September, when it starts getting colder again, for now I am happy with just being active outdoors. I am also trying to convince (not persuade..there is a huge difference) my Mister that he should get a membership as well, so we can workout together!! The ones that sweat together stay together, isn't that something they say?!

Today we are heading for a spin class together (to get an idea of how it's going to be once we both have our membership lol), and starting today I am planning on doing another 30 day challenge for myself. Basically it's just about being healthy, get moving and eating right!! It's so easy yet so hard. But sharing my constant ups and downs with you guys only shows me (and hopefully you guys as well) how much of a real person I am. After all I am only human, I am struggling to keep on the right track in this busy world we live in, but I am trying my best. And as long as you do that, you are doing something right ;)

Make sure to comment and show me some loveeee ♥

motivating words of wisdom are strongly encouraged!!

Love,

Doris ♥

you can always follow me on twitter

Tough Mudder Scotland Recap Part III

2012-07-21T13:49:00.001+02:00

So here comes the third part of my Tough Mudder Scotland obstacle recap:

part 1

part 2

or check out why I decided to do a Tough Mudder in the first place.

My last post ended with a little teaser and I'm sure now you're all super curious about the one obstacle I just could not bring myself to do. Which one was it???

drumroll....

dadadadaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

ELECTRIC EEL, obstacle #20

"Mudders frequently forget about this obstacle since they're so focused on Electroshock Therapy - but they shouldn't. Slide on your belly through frigid water or, even worse, a layer of ice and beware of the shocks overhead. Should you try to crawl on your knees, you'll be smacked with live wires and your body will compulsively contort. Be sure to protect your head, otherwise you might experience what Big Mudder calls a brain reboot."

source: official Tough Mudder website

While I was browsing through the facebook pictures of the event, I came across some quite scary reviews by other mudders who actually had the guts to do this (kudos to you guys!). Just to give you a quick impression of what we're dealing with here:

"Nasty nasty shocks off of this bad boy. I'm still traumatised."

"I got knocked out with this bad boy,got zapped in the head and hit the ground didn't know where I was.lol"

"The shock I got to the neck at the end of this thing nearly twisted my head right off!"

"i got shocked on the head and thought i was at home in my kitchen!!!!!! I must have stopped and someone shouted at me to keep moving which kind of woke me up and i started moving again - then got zapped another 5 times on the body - totally mental, a little bit painfull but totally awsome too!!! back for more next year!! thanks tough mudder x"

Especially after reading those, I am not disappointed anymore that I didn't do this. I'll gladly jump into a puddle of mud anyday before I get myself electrocuted. After all you'll never know before how your body will react to getting shocked. I've heard that some people don't feel a thing (really?) or maybe a little pinch while others involuntarily get their extremities thrown in each and every direction with their head almost being twisted off. Doesn't sound that appealing to me.

I personally have such a great respect of electric current as you can really never know what effects it has on your body. Yes some of the wires do carry 10 000 volts, but from what I heard the current running through these wires is sufficiently low to ensure that nobody will be severly injured. However people with a pre-existing heart condition are not gonna have such a close shave and are also not recommended to do this (even a signed death waiver). Now my question to you is: How do you know that you have a pre-exisiting heart condition?? Nobody knows that you have it until something happens and you know you have it!! Duuuuh!

So with all of that being said, here's what really went down the day of the event:

I came up to this obstacle and saw countless of my fellow mudders getting zapped.

TM staff was spraying water on the plastic cover laying on the ground, to help with the sliding process. Some participants did a belly flop right onto this plane and slid almost all the way across before getting shocked right in the neck. I was really really contemplating whether I should do this or not, I got really nervous and scared and even asked another female mudder if she was seriously gonna do this, but before she could answer properly she had already gone through.

At that point all of us were already uncontrollably shaking and freezing, so the boys just wanted to get it over with quickly. According to the motto "rip the bandaid off fast".

2 of my teammates had already gone through while I was still standing on the wrong side of the obstacle. When S got ready to dive right into the wires, I panicked and yelled

"Noooo don't go, you can't leave me here!!!"

I was really struggling with myself, but in the end I just couldn't do it. I walked over to the sides and asked J ♥ how bad it really was, since I saw him cursing and crying out in pain before. When he told me that it seriously does hurt, I knew that he was being brutally honest. And so I surrendered and walked the walk of shame around. Right after which I burst into tears. I really went to my absolute limit on this one.

Some might consider me crazy to do the Tough Mudder in the first place, but I am not a masochist. Why would I deliberately get myself shocked?? I remember once in neurophysiology class we were testing nerve conduction velocity and two idiots turned the machine higher than it should have been when it was my turn to act as a guinea pig and I got a pretty bad shock. I was so startled that I started to cry :( .. I am such a girl ^^

I just hate electric shocks and like I said have such a great respect.

I remember after the electric eel we had to finally run downhill and I almost couldn't move my legs. I told J ♥ that I was simply unable to finish this running in a proper manner, instead I had to walk and limp over to the next obstacle.

#21 Funky Monkey

Oh those goddamn monkey bars!! How I (thought I) loved them. Of course they were also placed strategically at the end of the event, when everyone was already struggling with almost no remaining energy whatsoever. My hands were feeling weak, soggy and cramped up. In fact I'm pretty sure they were half frozen, therefore I couldn't even properly move my fingers and had very reduced sensation.
The monkey bars led across a tiny pond - again filled with really cold icy water. Also the bars were very wide in diameter, which impeded us from getting a good grip on them and to make things even more difficult, they were built in an A-frame, meaning they go up in angle and then come back down.

Looking back I now have to genuinely laugh at myself for considering that I could even roughly make it half way across!!! What the hell was I thinking?? Before I reached for the first set of bars I tried to warm up my lifeless fingers by rubbing my hands against each other. Didn't help.

I think I leaned in to reach for the second bar right at the beginning so that the route across would be shorter. All I remember when I was hanging on that bar was that I really couldn't get a good grip because like I said the bars were very wide and loosely secured and the next bar was just really far away ... and placed wayyy higher up.

And then I fell.

Again into ice cold surprisingly deep water, my head dove right under and because it was so deep (really much deeper than I would have thought!) it took me quiet some time to make my way back to the surface. Instinctively I reached for the sides and wanted to get out, but you couldn't get out on that slippery cover, it was way too steep. With lifeguards on the sides, at least I felt pretty safe when I pulled myself together and somehow managed to swim across (not much remaining energy at this point...shivering and panting.... hurt and incredibly cold)

Fail! But onto the next obstacle.. the finish line was already in sight!

note: the water beneath was way deeper on our TM course than shown in this picture

here's a video I found from our event actually, in the beginning and the end you can see the water being really realllyyy deep:

#22 Everest

When we got to the infamous Everest quarterpipe obstacle, we saw the huge line from afar and as we got closer we realized that there had been an accident and they all were waiting for the ambulance to arrive, so it was shut down in the meantime. There was a guy lying on the ground with a stiff neck and paramedics bending over him which I also saw as a bad omen. Neither of us wanted to wait in the rainy cold, as nobody knew how much longer it would take exactly until they opened it up again. Also as I mentioned before the line was just really reallyyy long, there were tons of crazy mudders waiting, and it would have probably taken forever until each and everyone of them successfully conquered the Everest. We decided conclusively to skip this obstacle, walk around and finally make our way to the last, mostly dreaded one.

#23 Electroshock Therapy

Good news is: I didn't get shocked, not even once.
How I did it?? Well, when I approached, I was pretty unsure again whether I should run through or bail out on it (again). I took a closer look at the wires and then somehow saw a narrow pathway that I could possibly wind myself through without touching any of the wires. I knew I had to be very cautious because there were hay bales scattered in between these wires to make running through even more difficult. Without further hesitation I decided to tackle it right then, because there were no people going through at that time, only a crowd of warriors ..uumm I mean mudders behind me, fastly approaching.
I slowly made my way through those first wires, making myself as small as humanly possible. When I was already halfway through (what an unpleasant name by the way), there was certainly a moment were I had to hold my breath: suddenly multiple lunatics were running wildly right through the wires to both of my sides, screaming out in pain. I got so scared that one of the swinging wires would touch me, I cursed under my breath and quickly ran out, avoiding the sea of wires and the odd hay bale blocking my way.
When I finally got out and realized that I just did this whole effin' thing a) a giant burden dropped off my shoulders and b) I just felt incredibly awesome!! I turned around and greeted J ♥ who had just run through it right behind me and we hugged and kissed before crossing that longed for finish line.

"That's tough mudder love baby" I remember the host saying through his microphone right before I was handed a power bar and a beer.

Well deserved might I add.

We are Tough Mudders!!!!!

Thank God none of us got severly injured. Only aching muscles, scrapes, giant bruises and cuts all over our bodies and a terrible headcold remind us of that day. That day we will keep in our hearts forever. That day we will remember for an awful long time and probably still tell our grandchildren horror stories about. I am very delighted and equally proud to say that this was the day we conquered Tough Mudder.
OOooh Rah!

and now it's time for the official Tough Mudder Scotland - A Runner's View Video!
Enjoy ♥

You absolutely need to at least watch till Arctic Enema!

*Disclaimer: Please note that I took the above shown pictures from either the original Tough Mudder Website or from the Tough Mudder Scotland facebook page. I do not own the rights to these pictures nor do I know any of these mudders personally.

Tough Mudder Scotland Recap Part II

2012-07-20T15:13:00.002+02:00

Ready for the second part of my official tough mudder recap??

and just in case you missed part one or my Sign of Survival Post make sure to check those out too :)

so where was I.. oh yessss: obstacle #11 Spider's Web

the task:
"Crawl like a spider up and over a cargo net suspended between two trees - keep a good grip or you will fall (...) The net is fastened with tension at the top only, leaving the bottom of the net loose and unsteady"

Tired from the previous underwater tunnels, my hands were simultaneously starting to cramp up and freeze off which was just absolutely lovely. There was a wait for the Spider's Web obstacle during which I came up with an attack strategy that helped me A LOT and didn't make this obstacle all that hard: Contrary to all those other fools, I decided to stick to the tree trunk as much as possible when it was my turn to climb over. On the sides the cargo net was pretty steady and well secured and that was a true life saver. Also I made sure to tell the teammates behind me to wait until I made my way to the bottom on the other side, which was just equally important. I saw so many other mudders that had such a hard time overcoming this obstacle because they tried to climb up one side while avoiding other mudders that were still climbing down the other side. All of them wanted to crawl up at the exact same time and that was not their best idea, since the net was scary high and quite slippery from all the mud. Plus you can't forget that all of us were feeling pretty tired and weak at that point.

#12 Kiss Of Mud
I really don't remember this, but apparently there was a third one. Third time's the charm!

#13 Mud Mile
"Balance and coordination are required if you want to make it through this obstacle (...) but what's the fun in that? Real Mudders eat mud for breakfast"

Another one that I don't remember to be honest. I don't know how mud mile could possibly have been any different from the rest of the course. Yes there was waist deep sludge and yes there were also some crazy people face planting right into it. Even though I don't remember this specific obstacle, I know that whenever there was a lot of really deep mud involved, we sticked pretty much to the sides and were absolutely fine. Of course we wiggled and wobbled, stumbled and fell, but at least we did not get engulfed by that smelly mud and never saw daylight again. I'm pretty sure some others did...

#14 Fire Walker
Running through a trench with kerosene soaked straw to both of your sides. Expect flames at least four feet tall. Definitely the warmest I felt during the entire course of the event. I just made sure to hold my breath before the fumes of thick smoke could get me, plus I covered my nose with my shirt.

#15 Quagmire

again I need to quote fellow mudder Jamie Curle on this one:

"So after a long mile haul through sticky, deep mud that caused me to reconsider what cramps really were what could be worse. How about 200m of waist deep clay based quagmire in which you're alternating between clambering up silty, wet piles of clay & mud and trawling through chest height sludge."

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves:

#16 Trench Warfare
This obstacle was in the middle of the woods, with music playing out of loudspeakers and everything. When we first ran up to it, there was "war music" playing, with gunshots in the background and people yelling commands ... I didn't like that at all! I think it is never fun to play war and I get really freaked out. That's exactly the reason why I could never go play paintball. And as if Big Mudder read my mind, they then changed the music to a typical Scottish one.. bagpipes and all!!!
So this military-style obstacle required us to crawl through dark and narrow muddy trenches. Smoke bombs were being set off by the TM staff, which scared me because they made breathing extremely difficult and reduced our vision.

#17 Log Bog Jog
Crawl over/under logs of wood all of which are placed in various heights. May not sound that difficult, but try it with weakened muscles and frozen limbs.

#18 Hold Your Wood
Pick up a heavy log of wood, throw it over your shoulder and be prepared to carry it around for a bit before dropping it off again for the next group of mudders. Pretty sure it was pouring rain at this point. At first I wanted to pick the lightest piece of wood I could possibly find, but unfortunately there was none. You could only choose between heavy or super-heavy. We had to walk around a small lake with the lakeside being extremely wet and slippery, hence I saw a lot of people slipping and going to ground. I remember at the end of this obstacle there was one of the water/snack stations and each of us had like 2 bananas! I ate so many bananas the day of the event anyways, I am surprised that I can still look at them without having the immediate urge to vomit.

sidenote: Is it just me or does this Tough Mudder Event look a lot drier than the one in Scotland??

#19 Berlin Walls
Some more walls to climb over, only this time they were 12 feet (3,7 m) high instead of 9 like the ones before. According to the tough mudder website, these are strategically placed for when we are the weakest during the event. Good to know, bloody bastards (haha, excuse my language)!! But this obstacle relies on teamwork and fortunately we had the perfect strategy for it: Two of my teammates went up first, the rest of us gave them a lift and tried boosting them to the top. Then they lifted me up: One pulling from the top and the other one helping from the ground. Once I reached the top, I swung my leg across and sat on the wall, until I slowly lowered myself and jumped into the arms of J ♥ who always caught me safely. The great thing was, that S, our teammate that was still on the other side of the wall at this point, got a helping hand from other mudders, that he had never met or talked to before. That's the great thing about this event, that really everyone helps everyone, without even having to ask for help.

Oh and may I also add that I really must have teared my adductors on those freakin' Berlin walls, because from that point on, running was just not an option anymore. Well it was, but there was this incredibly sharp pain shooting through my muscles at every step I took and I could barely even lift my right foot off of the ground, so I was mostly limping my way towards the end of the course.

At this point there were four more obstacles to tackle before we could finally cross that long-expected finish line (of course we did not know that during the course though). When I approached the next obstacle I felt like my biggest nightmare came true. I shamelessly admit that this obstacle was the only one I could absolutely not bring myself to do. I really pushed myself to my limit, I thought about it as careful as I could at that point, weighed the pros and cons, but in the end I just couldn't do it. Also I might have shed a tear of shame/frustration/fear while walking around this obstacle.
Can you guess which one it was??

...to be revealed in tomorrow's blog post...

*Disclaimer: Please note that I took the above shown pictures from either the original Tough Mudder Website or from the Tough Mudder Scotland facebook page. I do not own the rights to these pictures nor do I know any of these mudders personally.

Tough Mudder Scotland Recap Part I

2012-07-19T14:44:00.005+02:00

It's hard to believe that 5 days have passed since our Team "Mudder Fuckers Team Austria" completed the Tough Mudder held in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle and Country Estate in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. I would be lying if I said I am not currently dealing with the repercussions of it. A head cold and a sore throat is what I got from wandering through the muddy swamps and woods of Scotland and from falling into ice cold water more times than I would like to admit (damn you monkey bars!). But tough mudders do not whine. Kids whine.

So here's my official tough mudder recap in which I briefly analyze obstacle by obstacle, not sparing you from the gruesome details.

On the day of the event my alarm clock went off at 5:15 AM. After we squeezed ourselves into our black "Tough Mudder Gear", looking absolutely ready to rob the next gas station, we grabbed our backpacks and extra pair of training shoes and hopped into our rental car for the 1 hour 40 minutes drive across the impressive Scottish countryside.

Good thing I brought my snack box and so I began fueling up right away, as I knew it would leave my stomach enough time to digest the food. I simply can not run on a full stomach and I most certainly can not run on an empty stomach, so it is always very hard for me to find a good balance to feel and being able to perform my best.

Funny thing is, on our way to Drumlanrig Castle, we already saw tons of other cars going in the exact same direction and we all knew this would be our fellow mudders. Once we got closer, there was a lot of traffic and a long wait until we were directed to our parking spot.

Before we headed to the registration, we all made sure to devour some more snacks and another energy bar.

Registration was quick, easy and pretty much self explanatory.

We pinned our starting number to our shirt and got it written on the forehead and arm by TM staff. Orange war paint on the cheeks was essential. Needless to say we were all feeling pretty pumped at that point... So after we got our picture taken we headed to the starting area.

#1 The first obstacle (which was not really an obstacle but a single 8 foot (approx. 2,5 m) Berlin wall to climb over) almost impeded me from getting to the starting area in the first place. As. I. Simply. Couldn't. Get. Over. It.

Sad but true. Luckily I had one of my teammates help me up. Clearly it could only get better from there.

#2 The Braveheart Charge

Charging into our Tough Mudder with a start wave of completely stoked fellow mudders felt awesome. The course led us up a steep hill and at some point during our first couple of meters we got cheered on from the side by multiple "Braveheart" warriors, yelling and wildly screaming at us, some of which also tried to come after us with their swords... Aaaah!

#3 Kiss of Mud

nothing special, just a casual crawl under barbed wire strung right above your head through water soaked soil with the occassional worm sprinkled in between.

#4 Arctic Enema

As I've mentioned before, much to my dismay the event coordinators changed the arctic enema to be one of the first obstacles instead of being towards the end. Oh well, no biggie.

Just jumping in a dumpster filled with 70 000- 80 000 lbs of ice. Let me tell you one thing: It is COLD. It is very likely that you have never experienced that kind of cold prior to the day of the event. Depending on your height, the water goes up to either your hip or stomach when you first jump in, which wouldn't be that bad if there wasn't this wooden barrier set up right in the middle blocking your way out. With barbed wire on top, there is solely one way to overcome this obstacle: You have to completely submerge yourself into the ice water and dive under the wood panel to the opposite side. It's just a really short dive really, but the cold water makes it really hard. I was more than happy that I had a helping hand pulling me back up, through the sea of ice cubes. After I got my head back out of the water, I really couldn't catch my breath for a moment and felt quite disoriented. It is just really really cold, think Jack and Rose floating on the wooden door in Titanic. Like they say in the video below, the ice water is such a big shock to your system, the second you jump in all your muscles decide to cramp up and work against you.

I didn't really hesitate on this one, because the moment you hesitate you already lost the battle. Needless to say, from this point on we were soaking wet and freezing for the rest of the course.

Only 11 more miles to go at that point..

#5 Boa Constrictor
Deathly for the claustrophobic among us and challenging for everyone else who is not the greatest friend of small confined spaces. There was one pipe going down in a little bit of angle into a water puddle and then another one going back up. The second one was definitely way harder as most mudders had to pull themselves up only using the strength of their upper body muscles. Thank Goodness I was small enough I could basically crawl my way back out on all fours.
What was also a big plus: the fact that our team tackled this obstacle when we were practically alone, I imagine it would have been way harder when the pipes are crowded and you have a person's feet in front of you and another one panting in your neck right behind you... I would have freaked! (note: tough mudders do not freak)

#6 Walk the Plank
Between each and every obstacle more running followed. Running or brisk walking if you will. You can't really run through the mud when your feet get stuck with every step you take and when you're repeatedly facing those ridiculously steep hills. The funny thing was we always knew exactly when the next obstacle was ahead of us when we were making our way through the woods. We heard screams of terror and laughter long before we could see the actual obstacle.
Same with Walk the Plank ... the concept was easy: climb up on a steep ramp to a 15 feet platform, jump into a lake and swim your way back to the bank. The way up was already rather difficult for me as it required once again a lot of upper body strength. I failed on my first attempt, but then I took a couple steps back, grit my teeth and pulled myself up on the foothold and rails (with the obligatory helping hand from my fellow mudders). When I reached the top of the platform, there was a drill sergeant telling me to jump and pointing to one spot in the dreary lake underneath me. I hesitated for a moment, I was not prepared to do this!!!! But there was no time to think, and so I just jumped. My fall felt like an eternity, I got this weird feeling in my stomach right before I hit the surface of -again- really reaaallly cold water. I swam my way back and crawled back out of the water, shivering and still unable to believe that I just did this. After all, the water obstacles really freaked me out the most as I generally don't consider myself the strongest swimmer. To be entirely honest though, I didn't think this water was that cold, I am just passing on everyone else's impression, as my body might have been numb at that point. One thing I do recall however was the disgusting smell/taste of the dirty water in my nose and going down my throat. Maybe the tough mudder cow went for a swim in this lake right before the event.

More running followed.

#7 Kiss of Mud II
same as above... just making sure everyone stays muddy throughout the entire event

#8 Cliff Hanger
Fellow Mudder and blogger Jamie Curle described this one quite perfectly:

"Imagine a series of steep, muddy never ending slopes interspersed with river walking through slippery moss covered rocks. This was cliff hanger, it was brutal and involved being on all fours like a bear. If you weren't covered in mud before, then after this you were."

the river got pretty deep at some point..

#9 Berlin Walls
Multiple approximately nine feet high wooden walls to climb over. I had to rely on my strong teammates for this one.

#10 Underwater tunnels
Running through the woods again (surprise surprise), we came to another lake with several rows of floating barrels. Another water obstacle that I was really scared of and please note that to this very day I can't believe I did this insane crap! We slowly made our way into the cold water, trying to get our bodies and heart rate acclimated to the temperature. Diving under barrel after barrel trying to make my way to the other side, I remember being in the middle of the lake and feeling so incredibly cold, I thought my lady parts were seriously gonna freeze shut (tmi? haha). Yes the water was definitely refreshing. Once we got out, we immediately started running again to warm up, despite our aching muscles and dwindling energy sources.

So that's it for the first part of my tough mudder recap. I decided to split the recap, otherwise this post will get too long and who wants to read that much all at once anyways? Be sure to check back for the second part tomorrow :-D

Doris
xx

*Disclaimer: Please note that I took the above shown pictures from either the original Tough Mudder Website or from the Tough Mudder Scotland facebook page. I do not own the rights to these pictures nor do I know any of these mudders personally.

What I Ate Wednesday #15

2012-07-18T11:06:00.001+02:00

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Back from Edinburgh, Scotland I am feeling a wee bit under the weather (big surprise there, eh?) - scratchy throat and all. I guess wading through the woods and muddy rivers surrounding Drumlanrig Castle for about 4 hours 20 minutes really does take its toll on you.

Today I am presenting you a very Scottish breakfast:

vegetarian breakfast with scrambled eggs, sautéed mushrooms and a tomato, hashbrowns, a veggie sausage that tasted exactly like a real one (was soo weird!) and vegetarian haggies (whoooot whooot?) .. for those of you who are unfamiliar with haggies, this is the link to the wikipedia article about it, .. I just really don't want to even spell it out on my site, as I find it quite nausea inducing.

to get my daily caffeine in, I went with a venti latte :)

you can never go wrong with that, can you?

lunch was pure deliciousness .. we decided to stop at a Turkish/Mediterranean Restaurant

this was my plate:

falafel ♥ , warm pita bread, hummus, some kind of tomato sauce and a couple more veggies on the side

in the meantime some ginger candy to keep my sore throat at bay:

and then dinner looked like this:

a vegetable nutmeg terrine with way too many onions, which also might have ranked under the Top 10 most disgusting things I ever ate in my life. I somehow have my way of always going for the wrong things on the menu when in a large group. And then I get super cranky and jealous because everyone's food looks and tastes yummier than mine.

Same with this salad:

I ordered it because BBQ chicken salad sounded great, but it turned out to be completely dosed in this thick BBQ sauce, it was literally overflowing with the dressing ... wayyy too much! The dressing really ruined the entire salad on this one! (obviously I also had an unpictured extra guacamole on the side)

I was so hungry though that I cleared my plate anyways.

For the fitness part of this week's WIAW foodie party, I'm just referring to this:

Tough Mudder Scotland (click!)

Fat's it, my friendsss.. Happy WIAW to you, I hope you enjoyed!

Now I'm off offf offff busy bee style!

My to-do list is getting longer by the minute, I really need to start getting things done.

Does it make anyone else embarrassingly happy to tick off things on your to-do list?

you can always follow me on twitter

I survived Tough Mudder Scotland 2012

2012-07-17T12:48:00.003+02:00

I AM BACK!!!!!!

And I am having quite a hard time finding the right words to describe what I experienced the past couple of days, more specifically Saturday - the day of the Tough Mudder Event!

I think it is safe to say that words simply can not express.
I remember in this Tough Mudder infomercial video, there is a guy in the beginning that says "tough mudder is painful, very painful" and he couldn't have been more spot on.

Looking back, what I did this past weekend now seems more like a big blur in the distance than anything else. The total course was approximately between 11 and 12 miles long (17,7+ kilometers) and I definitely pushed way beyond my limits, submerged myself into an ice cold water tank filled with -you guessed it- ice cubes, jumped off a 15 feet (4,6 m) ramp without even thinking (there were drill sergeants on top of the ramp cheering you on!), dragged my aching body through waist deep sludge, helped and was helped along the way by my fellow mudders (some of which I did not even know).
I have never experienced such a deep sense of camaraderie and team spirit before and that's exactly what really makes tough mudder such an amazing experience for me. It's not about finishing first but about finishing together as a team, it's about overcoming your greatest fears and feeling proud of yourself and your overall accomplishment.

"It proves that if you can do this, you can do anything you put your heart and your mind to"

in the next days I will be writing a recap and analyzing each and every obstacle, so make sure you check back! Until then there is just one thing I wanna point out:
According to the official Tough Mudder Scotland 2012 Course Map the "Arctic Enema" Obstacle (click for the video) shouldn't have been till the very end, right before getting electrocuted by hanging 10,000 volt live electric wires. You guys all know how terrified I was in my last blog post about the arctic enema!! I guess it was just my luck that it turned out to be the second obstacle along the way. And there were so many spectators cheering us on, I just couldn't escape from that one.

My advice number 1 would be exactly the same that I once read from another blogger providing tips and tricks on how to succeed your first tough mudder:
Just be prepared to do your entire tough mudder soaking wet and freezing. You are gonna be wet and you are going to be unbelievably cold. Don't let the day of the event be the first time you get in contact with mind numbing, spirit crushing cold liquid. I was so glad that I wore my underarmour cold gear longsleeve but there were a lot of lunatics that were apparently going for the official TM best costume award, hence dressed in a full body costume and there was even one guy wearing an entire suit with tie and everything...