turn Up the Volume

Posted: March 29, 2011 at 6:50 pm

While I do tend to listen to my music rather loudly, I don’t mean turn up the music volume. I mean turn up the FOOD volume! While I certainly don’t consider myself a foodie in the sense of salivating at the thought of cooking or wetting myself over a new gourmet food or cool kitchen gadget, I’m still a “foodie”. I love to eat!

In order to make my love of eating fit into a healthy lifestyle, and still manage to drop those baby pounds, I do what I can to make my food stretch as far as possible. I turn up the volume! In every way I possibly can. And while I never shy away from eating or focus much on calories, I do have a voracious appetite to keep in check for my progress. 

Take today’s breakfast round two for example. (It’s round two because I always eat a little something before the gym as well). After my morning’s full body weight workout, I opted for my traditional oats. Why? Well, it fills me up like nothing else can. I stretch my oats far. I prepare them in the microwave (you caught me!) and always add extra liquid. I can do this by extending the cooking time using 50% power. This allows the oats to soak up more liquid and “puff up” more. Then, I always add extra almond milk before all my toppings to really get things nice and voluminous.

cocoraisinpboats
That ain’t no hold in the palm of your hand measly bowl there! <—Good grammar, eh?

For lunch, I said “no thank you” to the sandwich thins and made a sandwich with some of my favorite hearty bread. I love sandwich thins for certain things (like burgers), but for a sandwich with lighter innards, I want the full on bread! Pump up that volume even more with extra fruit and veggies. Stack that sandwich high with extra thick slices of tomato and a handful of spinach. Take some time chomping on two large carrots. Eat an entire mound of grapes and strawberries and make that tummy happy.

sandwichlunch

Veggies are my best friend at dinner. Boy, do they know how to bulk up a meal! My pasta bowls should really be called veggie bowls with some pasta thrown in. Tonight’s dinner was no exception. I sat down with a bowl of Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili. Full of fiber, protein, and veggies, I can eat a couple bowls full and feel 100% satisfied without breaking the food intake bank. My kind of meal!

swpotchili

Obviously, I enjoy things that give me the most bang for my calorie buck. So, I had to stop myself in my tracks today when I opened up my pre-run snack.

larabar

It’s been awhile since I have had a Larabar. I now remember why. The taste, nutrition, ingredients all live up to my standards. But…where’s the volume?! My stomach would make loud cries of anger to me if that is all I fed it! I made it work by halving the Larabar ( Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip flavor)and making half an English muffin with peanut butter and banana on the side.

larapbbmuffin

This satisfied my need for a bit more volume and my need to get my taste on with one of the new flavors (finally!). Plus it’s more fun to have a variety of flavors. And you know what? My little need for volume helped me discover a BANGING pre-run snack.

3 29 run

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!! I felt supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with this combo. I decided to do a 5K distance and see how quickly I could comfortably run. The first mile I couldn’t keep my pace down to a 9:00 like I anticipated. Then, I decided to just go with it.  I surprised myself with an average 8:32 pace!

Side note: surprised that “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” is in the spell checker AND that I spelled it correctly on the 1st try…both times. End side note. Because now – ding ding ding! We have another winner!!!

random tennis - Side Pocket Knit Skort - Blackwinner 

SARENA! Your liking of FFF on Facebook won you a knit workout skort from 4all by jofit! Congratulations! I will email you soon with information on how to claim your prize. 🙂 And remember – if you didn’t win, you can still use the coupon code SPRING11 to get 20% off your own knit skort order on the 4all website.

Question of the Day – What foods do you add extra volume to? How?

 
78 Comments to “turn Up the Volume”
  1. great tips! I do very similar things to pump up the volume on my meals. I love my morning oats and my evening veegies!

  2. Yes, I do similar things. Veggies go a long way to bulk up a meal, and they are so good. 🙂

  3. Missy says:

    I always eat my lara bars wioth extra nuts. I take a bite and then stick a nut or two in my mouth at the same time (0:
    This also cuts down the sugar load…so my bloodstream doesn’t get inundated.

    Try it!

  4. LauraJayne says:

    I always add volume to my food – I think it’s why I like brown rice so much – since it fills me up, is delicious, and healthy!

  5. Errign says:

    I love to add extra volume to my eats as well. I do the oats thing and I almost always have tons of raw veggies in my lunches to snack, snack, snack on. 🙂

  6. Stephanie says:

    I’m going to write down everthing you ate that day so I can bang out a 5k that quick. Seriously…for being a couch to 5ker you are wicked fast. I’m the opposite with you on the Larabars though. They always seem to sit in my stomach like a rock for some reason (not that it deters me from demolishing it..hah!)

  7. G says:

    Quick question for you! What do you eat before your morning strength workouts?
    I’ve been experimenting with a banana or half a clif bar or just toast… but nothing seem to keep me fueled long enough. I know my muslces needs something to get going in the morning but I don’t if it should be mostly carbs or protein, etc.
    Thanks! 🙂

    • Tina says:

      I usually eat some fruit and maybe some toast, a couple handfuls of cereal/nuts/granola. We’re usually busy getting ready so something that I can grab and munch as we go. It’s admittedly not the best fuel, but it helps keep me going.

  8. I like to add extra volume to my eggs. You can add most veggies to eat to give it a little more bulk and flavor.

  9. […] of topics and making the most of this little thing we call life. You can find me falling more in love with running every day, working towards my Body After Baby progress goals, sharing crazy stories about my life […]

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