Bite Into a Healthy Run

Happy National Nutrition Month®!… a few days late, BUT you’ve got 20 more days to celebrate!  With my bachelor’s degree in nutrition, this may be my favorite celebratory month, so I invite you to join in the celebration.  My goal for NNM is to try or make something new every day.

National Nutrition Month is an annual campaign created for nutrition education and information, so here I am: chock full of little tidbits to help you along your run. I’ve been reading Nancy Clark’s Guide to Sports Nutrition.  I’m only through the first chapter, but the biggest takeaway so far is that you want to eat 35 different foods per week.  This is to ensure a full range of nutrients.  Seems simple, right?  Well, how many of you habitually eat oatmeal or an egg and toast every morning for breakfast?  Sandwich or leftover pizza for lunch?  Unfortunately, that’s only about 5-7 different foods, for your daily breakfast and lunch.  So along with trying something new every day and hydration… because I’m seeing waaay to many creases around my eyes… my last goal for this month is to try to eat 35 different foods each week.  I’m keeping track of this with My Fitness Pal food log for accountability.

Monday:  I made organic turnip greens <- new, with mixed veggies
Tuesday: I had an organic mixed grains (quinoa, amaranth, flax seed, etc.) “oat”meal.
Wednesday: I had chocolate goo cake. (Hey — moderation, and when your coworker makes homemade chocolate goo cake just for you, you certainly don’t say no!)
Thursday: Snow Cream
Friday: Grilled Banana Split Sandwich (Cabin Fever decision…)
Saturday:  Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt (No fat and No artificial sweeteners!)
Sunday:  Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae Ice Cream — because you can’t be a stick in the mud on date night and my Fro-Yo suggestion was veto’d :(

By making a couple extra trips to the grocery store (gouge my eyes out, I know), it has kept me from buying single products in bulk and, after a count, I ate 45 different foods last week with 15 of them being fresh produce!

For this week, I’m going to up the nutritional ante to 20 fresh produce to replace the cake, ice cream, and biscuit ;)

But gosh, you can pack in all sorts of new and various foods with some roasted veggies and smoothies!  I have felt and ran especially great this week.  I wasn’t even sore after a 14 mile run!  So give it a shot! And if you must remain a creature of habit, at least mix up the fruit in your oats ;)

Never made turnips before?  If you’re not new to the south, there’s no reason you shouldn’t try them!  You can even forgo the bacon grease pan frying if you’re not too keen on succumbing to the Southern diet.  (I don’t blame ya.  Butter and Bacon are not the answers to everything!) Though the calcium is not as bioavailable to your body as dairy, turnips are still a good source of it.  They’re also an excellent source of vitamin K, a fat soluble vitamin found mainly in leafy greens.

Turnips with Roasted Vegetables
1 T Olive Oil
2 cups fresh Turnip Greens
1-8 oz container Portobello Mushrooms
2 cups Grape or Cherry Tomatoes
3 cups Brown or Black Rice, cooked
Mrs. Dash or other sodium-free dried herbs
(Optional Other Veggies: zucchini, squash, red onions, red potatoes instead of rice)

Boil turnips, approx. 15 minutes, or until color is bright green and the water has turned very light green.  You don’t want the water to be bright green, an indicator that a lot of the water-soluble nutrients have leeched into the water.  In a separate bowl, combine vegetables, oil, and seasonings until vegetables are coated.  Spread onto a large roasting pan.  Roast on 450* for 30-40 minutes, turning vegetables every 10 minutes.  Cook rice as indicated on container.  Serve turnips and vegetables over rice.  Dig in!