Oh my gosh guys. I am currently on the ferry traveling from NYC to my parent’s house in the Jersey Shore, and I am totally annoyed. Generally, I always sit outside on the deck of the ferry to read and enjoy the view… but today its 95*F, I am in a long sleeved shirt (I was at work earlier), and I just did not feel like being in the sun. I have to do a track workout later tonight, and I’m just not in the mood to be hot right now.
So I sat inside. Makes sense… right? UM NO. Because the damn air conditioner is not working!! I am still so warm and uncomfortable right now. Its going to be tough to drag my butt to the track tonight. Here’s hoping that my little sister will come with me and keep me company.
How do you guys feel about the track?? When I was in high school, I loathed the track. I used to dread it ALL DAY and when we were on the track I dreaded the next speed interval during the recovery. I hated the pressure of hitting a time target. I hated the monotony of running in a circle. It just was NOT my jam.
Funny enough, I now totally love the track. I’m not sure what happened, but somewhere in my old age I realized I love monotony during a run. It helps me totally zone out. I also love freaking SPEED. I have such a dang need for speed, its weird.
Oh my goodness, someone just opened the door and the breeze is INCREDIBLE. I should sit outside.
Anyways, now that I’m running again, I’m back to focusing on foods that are rich in recovery power. Homegirl wants to rock her workouts, rock her long runs, and keep working on her peaches and PRs goal. That’s right peeps. We focused on PRs. We focused on peaches. Now I’m putting the two together … but ya know that means I need protein, carbs and antioxidants for RECOVERY.
Do you like how I’m capitalizing the word RECOVERY? Sometimes when I am speaking to patients in the hospital, I’ll have a patient who is partially deaf and I have to yell to get the info I need. I’ll then see my next, not-hard-of-hearing-whatsoever patient, and I’ll continue to yell at them, “HOW IS YOUR APPETITE?” And they’re like, “Please don’t yell at me?” And I’m so confused because my yelling voice and my speaking voice are only a few decibels apart, and I totally forget I’m yelling. I secretly think its really funny.
Anyway, I can’t yell these words enough, FOOD INFLUENCES RECOVERY. We need micronutrients to help antioxidant systems in our body function. We need protein to recover muscle and boost metabolism. We need carb to fuel our workouts. Food matters.
And I’m not about that fake it til you make it life either. Like smoothie bowls. A lot of the time, smoothie bowls are just bowls of pure sugar. We need carbs for recovery, but we don’t need to eat a whole day’s worth of carbs in one meal.
Dragonfruit, also known as pitaya, is loaded with vitamin C to help aid recovery. Plus, the little seeds in the beautiful pink fruit are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids! The same healthy fats found in chia or flax seeds... and decrease inflammation in the body! The pink color comes from betalain which protects against heart disease, stroke and vascular disease by preventing plaques from forming in your artery.
Plus, the Lisa Frank fangirl in me lovesss eating bright pink foods! I added Greek yogurt and flax seeds to this bowl to bump up the protein, as well as fibrous banana, to slow how quickly this hits your bloodstream.
Dragonfruit Smoothie Bowl
Serves 2
1 dragon fruit, peeled
6 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 banana
8 ounces unsweetened coconut or almond milk
1/2 teaspon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 cup hemp seeds
Berries for garnish
1. Combine in a food processor: yogurt, dragonfruit, milk, and banana. Blend til smooth.
2. Stir in chia seeds and mix well. Refrigerate overnight.
3. When ready to serve, divide into two bowls. Garnish each bowl with 1/4 cup hemp seeds for extra protein. Top with berries or nuts or banana slices!
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