We're getting closer to the Nike Women's marathon on Oct. 20. I am so excited to run my first official half! In the meantime, here are a few things I ate this past week. Tried some new foods and got creative with other food.
First up, I tried a hot dog made with buffalo meat. I love buffalo meat because it's healthier compared to beef with lower saturated fat and lower calories. Buffalo is also high in iron and B12 with good protein. I've eyed these hot dogs in the meat counter at Whole Foods for awhile now and decided to finally get one and try it out. There is nothing artificial in the WF buffalo hot dog so to me it's more like a fancy sausage.
Of course, I could not eat my buffalo hot dog the normal way with a bun. I got all Top Chef and deconstructed my hot dog experience. I boiled the hot dog for 10 minutes and then sliced it in smaller pieces and mixed it with Sonoma Brinery Traditional Raw Sauerkraut, chopped onions, and mustard with a sprinkle of red chili peppers on a bed of mustard greens I got at a local farmers market for a mustard bump.
Oh yes, I liked the buffalo dog. This is a fun way to eat hot dogs packed with healthiness! Here are some of the health benefits of eating raw sauerkraut one of which is probiotics for a healthy gut which was something new I learned.
McDonald's has been doing a big push for their new chicken McWraps and the idea of it sounds really GOOD. Sticking with the theme of deconstruction, I thought it would be fun to re-create the Mickey D's Sweet Chili Chicken McWrap into a vegan version made with real ingredients.
I LOVE the Whole Foods 365 brand vegan Breaded Chickenless Patties. I bake them in the oven until the outside is crispy and I swear it is better than any real chicken breaded patty I've had. There is 11g of protein in one patty and zero GMOs or artificial ingredients which is awesome! They use pea and textured wheat protein for the protein source.
For my wrap, I used one WF breaded vegan patty and cut it into little strips. For the wrap, I found these all natural artisan Sonoma carb-cutting tortillas made by La Tortilla Factory which now looks like they are made under their Smart & Delicious brand. One tortilla is only 60 calories has 5g of protein and only 11g of carbs which is pretty remarkable. Better yet, these tortillas taste good.
I used curly kale, heirloom tomato, avocado and for the sweet chili sauce I used Grama's Sweet Chili Sauce. I LOVE this sauce because it has no GMOs, MSG and they use tapioca starch versus guar or xanthan gum for thickening. Tapioca starch does not cause inflammation in the body like guar or xanthan gum can.
My reconstructed vegan chicken wrap turned out pretty remarkable if I do say so myself. But again, it's not really my cooking skills that made this wrap great, it's using awesome real ingredients in the first place!
The idea of saying gluten-free protein-packed Cherry Vanilla Pie Smoothie got me really excited. I mean who wouldn't want to drink that up? Plus, even more awesome is that this smoothie is vegan, GMO-free and all the sugars are natural. Oh yes! For protein, I used plant-based protein powder plus walnuts, almond butter and protein+ Flax milk.
Even though summer is over, you can still find cherries in the frozen food section. Here is what was in my smoothie. Just blend everything up!
- Whole Foods 365 frozen dark sweet cherries
- 1/2 organic banana
- Handful of walnuts
- 2 tbsps Justin's Vanilla almond butter
- 1 scoop Sun Warrior Vanilla Raw Vegan Protein Powder
- Unsweetened protein+ Original flavor Flax Milk by Good Karma
Have you tried Flax milk before? I like it as an alternative to soy and almond milk because flax is high in Omega 3's and good for people with soy and nut allergies.
For good measure, I topped my Cherry Vanilla Pie Smoothie with hemp seed and cinnamon. My tummy was so happy!
The buffalo hot dog, vegan chicken wrap and Cherry Vanilla Pie smoothie were the highlights of the week. Some other cool foods I ate this week included:
Living Intentions Cacao Crunch Superfood cereal. Can I say chocolate flavor carbs in a sprouted, vegan, nut-free, gluten-free and raw breakfast! Ate that with some of the Good Karma flax milk.
Two Moms in the Raw Blueberry Bar. Holy nuts! I inhaled this bar. It's vegan, 100% organic, raw, and gluten-free. There are only 6 ingredients in this bar which is pretty amazing. Proves that simple can be awesome. With all the nuts in this bar, you get some good Omegas and protein.
I know plenty of runners who snack on Fig Newton's for carbs. For my 8-mile+ runs, I snack on Newman's Own Organics Wheat-free and Dairy-free Fig Newmans. These Fig Newmans are not gluten-free but they are wheat-free, vegan and nothing but all natural ingredients here!
Another favorite post-run gluten-free mini-meal food I eat are these Honey turkey, cheddar, arugula, avocado roll-ups. I use Daiya vegan Cheddar since I'm allergic to dairy.
So, there you go! These are some of the fun functional foods I eat when training for a half marathon. What are some of the foods you eat when training for long endurance races?
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market Northern California as part of my sponsorship running the Nike Women's Half Marathon 2013.
