Black Beans for Breakfast

Ready for a spring health challenge update? I am having a pretty awesome week, and I have to chalk at least part of that up to the fact that I started making a bunch of little changes as soon as we returned from California last week.

More on those changes in a bit. One big change that I have been trying to make for quite some time is eating breakfast. I don’t love eating in the morning, but almost daily I find myself at 11:00 and literally shaking from not eating because I just wasn’t hungry earlier. No bueno.

As the above photo might indicate, we ate quite a bit of Mexican food in California, some healthy, some topped with cheese and sour cream, and some in-between. California Mexican food is SO GOOD, and we actually found ourselves eating it in lieu of big meals and expensive dinners. It was just what we wanted.

One morning, I woke up craving black beans, so we made our way to a little Mexican restaurant near our hotel. I was so hungry that I didn’t even take photos. The hubs had a traditional breakfast burrito, and I ordered a plate of black beans with a side of guacamole. With several types of salsa from the salsa bar, I discovered the perfect breakfast. I love the texture and the spice and the satisfying protein, fiber, and fat in this breakfast, and I have eaten it twice since we returned.

The other days I have been eating coconut mango oats . It’s amazing how much better I feel when I eat in the morning and how much more energy I have. Who would have imagined?!  

In other health news, I have been drinking more water, thanks to a new co2 container for our Sodastream and have resumed my twice-daily green tea habit.

I have successfully added more protein to my diet through a few different channels, including Trader Joe’s vanilla whey protein powder. I am having a scoop of this in a glass of milk for part of my afternoon snack, and I am finding it fills me up.

Most of all, I have completely changed up my workouts. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I did Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown on Sunday. In addition to that I have done a two mile speed workout and two 25 minute weights sessions, doing a lot of planks and squats and getting all sorts of sore!

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I start to notice a difference almost immediately when I start strength training, as opposed to focusing more on cardio. The clothes that were not quite fitting fit again, and I feel so much more energetic and strong. That said, I am pondering the idea of entering a few 5k’s just to see if this girl can run fast.

Thanks for all of the awesome comments and support in my last health update. You all had some great small steps you wanted to take to get healthier for spring.

Have you been successful at many any healthy changes this week? Are you a breakfast person, or, like me, do you have something against eating in the morning?