Sassy Run + Climate Change + Eat More Freggies

I don't know about you, but it was REALLY hard to get up and go to work this morning!  I could tell my students weren't feeling it, either.  Surprisingly, I had a good day and think I actually taught my kids something.  Always a plus!

Today's Training
I ran 2 miles today to and from the gym.

Bottom number=pace at the moment I hit "stop" on the timer

I'm pretty sure that's my best time on this Monday run.  Good for me!  I'm going to attribute it to the album I was listening to during my run.

Source

Anyone remember this album?  One of my favorites when I was in middle/high school.  I was feelin' sassy during my run, especially during "Bootylicious" and "Survivor."  I was that girl that was singing and dancing while running.

I also attended BodyPUMP tonight.  My least-favorite instructor was leading today, so I just kind of went by the rhythm that I know we were supposed to be doing.  She was better than usual, but still messed up a few times.  Oh well, no judgement!

HBBC Update:  2 mile run + 1-hour low impact BodyPUMP class (4 points) = 6 points.  I also easily surpassed 7 fruits/veggies (henceforth FREGGIES as some of the HBBCers are calling it), so I got another point!  7 total points for health and fitness...not too bad!

Faith Find
Yesterday on my 6.5 mile run, I started the next sermon series from North Point Community Church.  This sermon series is called Climate Change and is from Jeff Henderson, the lead pastor at Buckhead Church which is another church that shares sermons with North Point Community Church.

The first sermon was very interesting and talked about the fact that we all bring a climate to each and every relationship in our lives.  The climate of each relationship predicts the forecast.  Jeff talked about how we often focus on the climate of the other person, but he challenged everyone to think about what climate they give off.

His challenge for the week was to ask 3 people in different areas of your life, "What's it like to be on the other side of me?"  He said if people wanted to go further, to ask God what it's like to be on the other side of me.  The rest of the series was going to deal with the responses people got to the answer of that question.

What an interesting challenge!  I'm going to do it (even though I already listened to the second sermon in the series), but I'm still debating who to ask.  I'm also kind of nervous about the results, so I'm going to pray about it tonight/tomorrow to prepare myself for the information I receive.  I generally don't take criticism well, but I think this exercise is a great way for some self-reflection and seeing if I'm putting off the climate that I think I am!

Diet Tip of the Day

One thing I've been working on is making sure I eat at least 7 servings of fruits and vegetables each day as part of the HBB Challenge.  At first, I thought this was going to be very easy.  I was surprised when this took a lot of effort in order to do so.

Here are some suggestions to help you increase your fruit and vegetable intake:

• Planning-It takes meal and snack planning to make 7+ servings of freggies.  This helps you make sure you get what you need at the store, as well as have an idea about how you're going to reach this goal.  There's no way you're going to increase your freggie intake without setting that goal and planning to reach it.
• Food Prep-You're going to have to slice some fruits and cut up some veggies on the weekend if you want to be able to make eating fruits and veggies easier for yourself throughout the week.  That way, you can just grab a pre-made bag of apple slices or throw some diced tomatoes on a salad in the morning before you head out to work/school/wherever you go during the day.
• Smoothies-Make yourself a smoothie, and you're getting 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables AT LEAST (depending on what kind of smoothie you make).  While I tend to make a lot of fruit smoothies, green smoothies are a great way to combine fruits and vegetables.  Sadly, my blender broke last week, so no smoothies for me for a while.
• Eat a salad for lunch or dinner-A salad is a very easy way to get 3-4 servings of vegetables (and sometimes fruits) in one meal.  A cup of leafy greens, a handful of a few diced vegetables, and a source of protein create a healthy, tasty meal that can also be surprisingly filling!

Those are some ways I try to increase my fruit and vegetable intake.  Hopefully those are helpful to some of you!


Question of the Day: What do you do to increase the number of fruits and vegetables you eat each day?

Share some tips for everyone in the comments!