Howdy, friends! It’s time for another featured post in October’s Healthy Living Tuesdays series,“A Day in the Life.”
One of the things I love most about our HLT series is the open-invitation to participate. Here’s how you can play along: Write a post on your own blog under this theme this month, and when the last Tuesday of October rolls around , we’ll host a link up. Participating is a great challenge: How will you make your post stand out in a community of bloggers writing under the same theme? Plus, the link up at the end of the month is an awesome way to promote your greatest content!
Between now & then, we’ll be showing off some of our members own posts on the subject manner – so, be sure to come back and visit each week to get a taste of how others are tackling the topic themselves. It’s a great way to find new bloggers to read and get to know your fellow HLB Members. [If you’re interested in writing for future Healthy Living Tuesday featured posts, drop us an email athealthylivingblogs@gmail.com.]
The grass is frosty, my hands are numb under my gloves, and I can see my breath as I go. My Garmin dings. A solitary note in the stillness. 5km done, half way there. But at this point, I’m beginning to enjoy it. Monday is a full day, and I’m ready.
Australia may have a reputation of sunny beaches and desert, but believe me, at 7am on a chilly Canberra morning, you know that it’s not all sun, sand and deadly spiders.
I sneak back into the house in time to grab a quick breakfast before I head over to uni.
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This morning, that happens to be oats, yogurt and berries. Yeah, I eat out of my Peter Rabbit bowl. I’m woman enough to ‘fess up.
And because I eat like a Hobbit, breakfast number 2 adds some fruit to the yogurt.
I cycle to class on a Monday. Uni is about 5km from home. The perfect distance to go fast and terrify small children on their way to school as I ring my bell behind them.
Between class, I try to schedule in lunch with friends. I drive them nuts. I’m only in Canberra one day a week, and they find it impossible to pin me down. Conveniently, being in Canberra a day a week means not buying much in the way of food – the perfect opportunity for a lunch date or two!
I meet Andrew at a Café for lunch. For on-campus food, this little place is fantastic. Fresh salads, quiche, wraps and sandwiches. Today, I’m going for the quiche, but I do have some order envy – Andrew’s opted for a large sandwich, and it has walnuts in it! I make a mental note to give that a try at home.
Over lunch, I catch up on all the news and we brainstorm for our next international law meeting. Naturally, all of this requires a lot of green tea (in his case, a latte).
I head back to class, and then it’s time to cycle home, grab a snack, and head to work.
Snacks on the go are something I struggle with. As a runner, I’ve noticed that I really need to make sure I’m eating enough. My favourite grab and go right now is the humble banana. Though, as my readers know, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with this scarily yellow, strangely textured fruit.
Dinner is simple. With my partner in Sydney, and no-one else to worry about, I go back to basics. For me, that means a huge bowl of vegetables.
Before you yell ‘that’s been done before’ or ‘how boring’ (my long-suffering, bacon-loving other half is groaning right now, and he doesn’t know why) – let me give you my take on veggies.
I love almost anything that’s full of flavour, and veggies are no exception. I also like to do ten things at once.
For my veg-a-riffic dinner, I cut up whatever I have on hand Always something a little squishy (pumpkin is a must!) with some combination of eggplant, carrots, tomato, zucchini, pepper – even cauliflower, celery or broccoli depending on my taste that night. Usually, I add some tofu for a protein hit, but chicken works too!
I throw them all into a frypan with a ½ inch of water (no need for oil) add some stock, a liberal dose of coriander and cumin, some paprika and garlic.
I let it boil, and then, while I go off and save the world, I let it simmer for however long it takes me to get fed up and go and eat it (usually about 20 minutes). Depending on my mood, I’ll also add some fetta cheese, or thicken the mixture up with some polenta. It’s a wonderfully versatile dish!
And that’s it – about 5 minutes in preparation and some time to let it cook.
That’s a little too much healthy though. Thankfully, my thoughtful housemate has left me some rhubarb crumble. I don’t know about you, but I need a little sugar in my day!
At this point, I’m just about ready to sleep. Tuesday morning is my three hour drive to Sydney, and after some dinner and a bit of study, I’m done.
Busy lady! What a balancing act your Mondays are
Great job on training for a marathon, going to university, and commuting between cities!
Thanks Amy!