A Lesson In Puppy Persistence

This morning I was greeted with quite a view when I came downstairs.

Bailey was trying her best to crawl as far under the stove as she could, sniffing furiously. This is a new one for her, although she’s already got licking the cabinets and pushing her bowl around the kitchen after you under her belt.

After failing at fitting under the stove she camped out in front of it, whining every few minutes, and pawing at the bottom of the stove. I started to get nervous at this point, dogs have a great sense of smell, what if she was smelling a rat or some small insect that got under the stove? I contemplated leaving whatever it was under there alone before curiosity got the better of me. (And I started getting hungry and needed Bailey to stop blocking my cooking area!) I took a small broom handle and swept it under the stove. Out came some dust balls and a puppy treat. I have no idea how old it was or how she managed to sniff it out but before I could even brush the dust off of it she had it in her mouth. Bailey’s love of food knows no bounds. ;p

After breathing a sigh of relief that there was not a rodent camped out under my stove I sat down to read morning posts from some of my favorite blogs. I have five blogs that I read every day because I really enjoy the content and connect with the authors. They all update at different times every day so I try to check in on their site around posting time. PBFingers, one of my favorites, updates before I’m usually awake for the day. Its great because I always have a blog entry to read at breakfast. Today she had a post that mentioned the cholesterol level in eggs. While just a mention on her morning post it sparked a big debate in her comments. One egg has 213mg of cholesterol, while the Mayo Clinic recommends eating at most 300mg of cholesterol a day. This immediately worried me as I eat two eggs almost every day for breakfast. As I no longer eat meat they are a huge part of my daily protein. My immediate thought was to just eat the whites, so I wouldn’t have to worry about the cholesterol, but the yolks are what contain the protein (and most of the nutrients).

I read around the links left in the comments and found that the amount of cholesterol eaten only has a modest impact on the amount of cholesterol circulating in the blood and that eggs yolks carry so many nutrients its almost like taking a daily vitamin. There is not conclusive evidence on the effects of eating two eggs a day and heart health (Harvard studied women eating one a day over a period of time to find there were no higher risks of heart disase.) so continuing to eat two every day could be a potential risk. After a lot of reading I decided to maintain my current egg consumption. I am young, healthy, and do not have diabetes or any other known health concerns. In the interest of caution I am going to be occasionally subbing out my morning breakfast burrito for oats with peanut butter, especially if I know I could be having an egg with lunch or dinner. I think its a choice everyone has to make based on their own circumstances, and as I have no other contact with animal products (besides fat free milk and cheese) I need to keep eggs in my diet.

All that research worked up an appetite! To cement my decision and reaffirm my love of eggs I made my tried and true breakfast favorite.

It was good. 😀

After breakfast it was time to head to class. During breakfast it was drizzling rain, but by the time I left for finance it was full-on pouring out. Central PA has dealt with so much flooding these past few weeks, I was hoping the rain would come and go quickly. I got completely soaked walking across campus to class despite using an umbrella. Sitting through an hour and a half lecture with wet feet is not something I recommend.

By the time finance was over the rain had let up a bit and walking to aerobics was much easier. There we did ten minutes at 75 percent of our maximum heart rate on ellipticals, a minute of stair stepping, and a minute of jump roping as fast as we could. We then repeated the whole thing. I’ve heard a lot about high intensity training but have never tried it for myself. Doing just a two minute combo of jump roping and stair stepping had my heart rate up to 210, 10 over my maximum heart rate. It was intense, and after a 24 minute workout I was drenched in sweat and feeling like I was going to throw up. We’re doing the same circuit on Thursday and I am already bracing myself. I was so proud of myself for giving it my all and pushing as hard as I could but the feeling afterward was brutal. I hope adding high intensity training into my workouts more often will help build my endurance and that eventually I will be able to finish those workouts without feeling like death.

After class I decided to take advantage of the lack of rain to pick up some food at Wegmans. My stepmom does an amazing job of stocking our house with incredibly healthy and nutritious foods. I consider myself very lucky to have access to all the fruits and vegetables and whole grains that I do. I am the only vegetarian in my house though, so there are some staples in my diet that are not on the weekly shopping list.

My shopping haul included:

1. Sabra spinach and artichoke hummus. I love this stuff. Diane (my stepmom) does too, which is why hers is labeled “Diane’s hummus” in the refrigerator. ;p

2. Almond Butter. I prefer it over peanut butter for its flavor and absence of salt. I just read an article saying nut butters can be increasing in price by as much as 30% in the near future, so I decided to stock up.

3. Tofu. I have my eye on a Peas and Thank You recipe for tomorrow’s dinner.

4. Wegman’s Pesto. I love this stuff, which I almost wish I didn’t because it is so expensive! This tub cost me $7! I need to find a good recipe to make my own.

5. Two organic whole wheat Wegman’s burritos stuffed with tofu and veggies. They were healthy and only $1.99 each so I’m really hoping I love them!

6. Morning Star Black Bean Veggie Burgers. Josh introduced them to me and I fell in love with how good they taste and how filling they are!

After shopping I was feeling snack-y so I decided to break into the pesto and hummus.

Hummus and pesto were made to be put on Coco Pop. Its a Wegmans specialty but lots of stores have their own brand of popped rice cakes. They’re virtually air but are the perfect base for yummy dips.

For 16 calories they are huge! Nutella and apple butter also taste great on them.

After snacking I finished up some work I had to do. It wasn’t long before I was hungry for dinner. I was craving a veggie burger, so I broke into my new Morning Star stash to make a black bean burger topped with onion and sharp cheese, with a side of steamed asparagus. It was delicious, and paired with a few squares of Hershey’s dark chocolate, the perfect dinner. 😀

Time for me to get back to studying for my Leadership test tomorrow! Its all essays and I am so nervous!

Question of the Day: What are some foods you have to have in your house at all times? 

I’m always looking for new foods to try!