Let's talk Politics

Don't worry we won't get too in depth... I don't want any hate mail or anything! I've never talked politics before basically because that's not what the blog is about ,but, fun fact about me is I am very interested in them and grew up in a somewhat political family.

We would watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report every night during dinner! I also spent my Halloween weekend on a whirlwind trip to DC to go the the Rally to Restore Sanity!

I've mentioned before that I go to school in Wisconsin and if you are familiar with what is going on at the WI capital you can imagine that it has spread to a tiny, liberal arts, hippie campus like mine. Given my new found dislike of Scott Walker and my love of activism you can imagine how dumb excited I was to be standing right outside of my dorm, on my campus of merely 1250 students, roughly three feet from this person..

Reverend Jesse Jackson.... I DIED.

I sadly didn't get to meet or talk to him but I probably would have fainted anyway, I was nervous taking pictures! He was here with the Autonomous Solidarity Organization and WI senator Tim Cullen to promote voting to stop the bill that is currently being passed in WI.

ASO Speaker

For lunch I packed a salad with 1/2 a bag of spinach, a red pepper, 1/2 an avocado, salsa, the rest of my chili-lime white bean dip and nooch. Plus two pieces of Ezekiel sesame bread.

I was SUPER snacky this afternoon

I had this bowl x3 plus some more not plated *by the way I'm having NO issue making it through my twelve bags of pretzels... I'm already down to 10, if the addiction is wrong I don't want to be right!*

Plus a peanut butter chocolate protein bar

plus a zillion handfuls of butter cashews and dark chocolate almonds (flavored nuts are too dangerous)

I took a break and shockingly actually got somewhat hungry for dinner though not starving so I made some scrambled egg whites with cheese, fruit and a sprouted grain english muffin with smart balance and fruit spread.

Followed by a few handfuls of trail mix

(what is WITH me and the snack food!?)

I'm off to attempt at some homework but more likely fall asleep =)

Peace!

Caitlin

Are there any celebrities or political figures you have met or would love to meet?

What's your latest snacking addiction? PRETZELS AND NUT BUTTER... though that's not new =)

I am Going to Turn Into

A gigantic nut. Without a doubt. Let's just sum this up. As seen in my morning post, this weekend I bought salted cashews, dark chocolate almonds and butter toffee peanuts.

In the mail today from the amazing PerMa I got the same dark chocolate almonds, dill pickle cashews, butter cashews, cashew butter and almond, peanut cashew butter (seen above).

Plus a workout shirt, earrings and protein bars

How well she knows me =D.

From myself in the form of amazon I got cashew butter (good thing I like cashews), macadamia nut butter and PB2. I need to cancel my amazon account... although PerDa did just front me some extra cash <3... nut butter enabler =)

So that's four new jars of nut butter and five new jars of nuts... my good cholesterol will be through the roof!

Clearly the nut of the moment

Can we just talk about how all of this sparked my nut butter tooth to an insane level? I started with this snack.

I continued to sample most of my new products through the afternoon. I wasn't starving for a "real meal" for dinner so I made a bowl... with more nuts.

Yogurt, sweet potato, pretzels, cheerios, all kinds of nuts, dried fruit and nut butter and honey. Totally random but still healthy so I'm ok with it! It actually started here...

But by the time I sat down to eat a handful of homemade snack mix (cashews, almonds, cheerios, dried cherries and raisins) appeared on it along with a little drizzle of sunflower butter.

I also had some dark chocolate and more butter cashews. What is with me and breakfast for dinner lately? I have so much dinner type food to use up before school is over I hope my want for it comes back soon!

For lunch I mixed a cup of lima beans with feta and cranberries and dijon plus two corn tortillas and an apple. So there was a little green and freshness today =).

My nut butter escapade was delicious but I am jonsing for greenage! I have my big salad packed up for lunch tomorrow! For some reason I love when I crave vegetables, it makes me feel like a health dork =).

Now what someone has to convince me to do is NOT order more barney butter... I'm very much almost out!

Peace!

Caitlin

Are you an online shopping addict? I browse a lot but the only place I order from on the regs is amazon... probably because they have my card number saved =(.

Favorite type of nut/nut butter? I refuse to pick, clearly I love them all! I do go in kicks (on a cashew one now) and I will say that I always prefer crunchy over smooth though I'm not opposed to smooth! I hope I get on a walnut kick soon... I have a TON!

Reaching Out

Past Tips

Separation is Key

Recovery Tip 2: Reach out to others

You may have noticed that I have recently been mentioning friends more, posting later and actually going out on the weekend. For the first time in many months I have somewhat of a social life.

A major part of eating disorders is self isolation. Your ED convinces you this is for many reasons. You're better than everyone else, you only need your ED, you really want to be alone..blah blah blah.

The main reasons I have been reaching out to people is because I was sick of being alone. That fact in itself shows progress towards recovery. In addition the people I have been reaching to are those who I feel I can tell about what I am going through because you cannot fully recover without support. It is a great distraction from your ED voice and can make you remember what is really important.

I used to love to go out on the weekend. I loved being with people most of the time. My ED had convinced me that I no longer liked people but of course... it was a lie. I have been having a great time reconnecting with people and making new friends.

For lunch put together some fun fajita type things (scientific term). I got corn tortillas at the store today so i topped each with laughing cow, a bunch of chili-lime white bean dip, veggies and salsa. I had grapes on the side which were so appealing for whatever reason.

DELICIOUS

Per usual for me my appetite has not been on point all day. I got a little hungry for a snack so I mixed up PB2 and jelly sauce with some pretzels

Hi, I'm Caitlin and I'm boring addicted to omelets. Veggie om-nom with mango, toast with smart balance, fruit spread and PB... come on you know me.

I feel my appetite slightly returning, I'll probably get in a dense snack soon... I'm going out again tonight =)

Peace!

Caitlin

Tell me about your best friend!

Chili-Lime White Bean Dip

Very sadly I ran out of hummus the other day =(. Instead of waiting to go to the store this weekend I utilized skills other than shopping to make an alternative dip!

Chili-Lime White Bean Dip

Ingredients

1 15 ounce can of white bean drained and rinsed

2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tbsp chili powder

Juice of 1/2 a medium lime

2 tsp olive oil

How To

Put everything in a food processor and combine until smooth. Taste and adjust spices to desired taste. I even ended up adding some garlic salt because I want to loose all of my friends =).

Keeps nicely in the newly empty hummus container! Enjoy!

Peace

Caitlin

Early to bed...

Sorry I didn't visit you last night! I got back to my dorm late and had to unpack and things and then I totally crashed, traveling makes me sleepy!

Although that is part of the reason I am up at 6 AM on a Sunday... being in a different time zone+daylight savings+ early bedtime= very early to rise!

Our travel lunch choices were somewhat limited so we settled on Baja Fresh... not impressed

It's hard to tell from the picture but the portion was actually tiny! Not even 1/2 cup of beans! I guess I should actually be happy about this normally portions sizes are out of control and if you have too little you can always find something else!

My first frozen yogurt! Did you think I would leave spring break without one last cool treat? Small chocolate/vanilla swirled frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries, sprinkles and cookie dough.

On the plane I munched on pretzels and some twizzlers. When I got off I was craving some good veggies!

There was a great custom salad place right outside my gate! This is eggs, corn, mushrooms, black olives, tomatoes and spring greens in strawberry balsamic. I had some snap peas that I brought along so I threw some in their as well. I also had a bean dip wrap packed so I had 1/2 with it

And grabbed this which was good!

On my 3 hour bus ride back to school I ended up eating the other 1/2 of the wrap, more pretzels and twizzlers, a granola bar, a raspberry dark chocolate square and some baby carrots.

When I have to wait when I travel, I spend money, it's bad. I waited at the bus stop for a cab for 30 minutes and ended up with

I munched on most of the cookies as I unpacked plus a chocolate turtle, newmans own PB cup and a few handfuls of goldfish and granola.

This very early morning I'm having a bowl of greek yogurt, wheat chex, raw oats, a few oat squares, raisins, craisins, a little dark chocolate dreams and sunflower seed butter.

**I know my eating seems very odd in this post. Some of it is explained here. Further explanation will come tonight in a post I'm very excited for!**

I'm going to WalMart today for some very exciting new room buys, see you this afternoon!

Peace!

Caitlin

How do you deal with travel boredom? I walk around the airport and spend too much money =(

Banana's Fosters and Cherry Cocoa

Is TJMaxx not one of the most wonderful stores on the planet? They have everything! I made away with some awesome new finds!

Running shorts, running visor and a smoothie bottle!

Spring things, capris, shorts

I am IN LOVE with this dress

They even have foodie finds! Can't wait to try this coffee!

I have a surprisingly hard time finding good granola around school so this will be coming back with me!

When we got back I was starving for lunch so I made a huge salad

Spinach, snap peas, eggplant, carrots, veggie burger,kidney bean dip ,and salsa

Plus you know I had to try my knew granola! Mini parfait on the side with mango, yogurt and cherry/cocoa granola... a handful made it into my mouth as well and it's very very good =).

The weather is still yackadoo so who knows what's in store for the afternoon??

Peace!

Caitlin

Pool Afternoon

PerMa and I spent a beautiful afternoon down at the pool.

Reading of Jane Austen and Malcolm Gladwell occurred

PerMa loves her kindle!

My stomach has been touch and go all day which is standard for me after a long run so when I actually got hungry I took advantage of a big snack.

For dinner we had a make your own mexican salad bar

Black beans, tomatoes, green peppers and onions, avocado, salsa, greek and taco seasoning for garnish

And wheatberries! Can't wait to have the leftovers for breakfast!

My bowl (the berries and beans are hiding)

We ate a little early so we could take a nice walk

to...

Ice cream! I figure every other day on vaca is reasonable... especially on long run days!

Vanilla brownie M&M and Birthday Cake... yes this is the smallest size they have =P

PerMa made away with chocolate topped with whipped cream and a bag of jelly beans that she is very excited about.

I settled down to watch TV for the night and became ravenous. Like a ridiculous insatiable snacking machine. Snacks consumed were

A bunch of PerMa's candy

Pretzels times a zillion and almond butter

an AB&J

A kashi bar

I know it's crazy but I waited in between each and was legit hungry for all of it! It was a little scary but due to struggles with restriction I've had even if it seems out of whack I really try to listen and for some reason tonight it was eat eat eat!

Peace!

Caitlin