Any Tour de France watchers out there? If you’re interested in seeing some amazing photos of the Tour so far, check out these links:
Team Radio Shack’s Typical Breakfast
Pretty amazing, huh? If you are a casual watcher of the Tour, check out these dates:
Stage 17 – 7/20 – 5 climbs
Stage 18 – 7/21 – 3 ridiculous climbs
Stage 19 – 7/22 – Alpe-D’Huez, the mother of all climbs! (We’ll know who’s likely to win the TdF today)
Stage 20 – 7/23 – Individual Time Trial (champion will be finalized here)
Stage 21 – 7/24 – Paris, Champs-Elysees (A circuit raced through Paris)
Michael and I watched a lot of TV this weekend. It was kind of nice to just relax and do nothing mentally or physically stimulating. We did go to a BBQ on Saturday and I had a lovely Watermelon Martini. YUM.
Sunday I slept in, went swimming at the pool and Michael and I caught up on Californication and a bunch of episodes from last season’s Damages. I love that show! Sunday afternoon we headed over to my friend Star’s house for a rainy BBQ.
Michael was the grill master. Star marinated the steaks and grilled up some corn on the cob.
The corn was delish! I used some butter and some special salt on the corn and that was it.
I loved the special red salt that Star had! She said it is very healthy and has a lot of benefits that normal table salt does not have. It’s amazing.
Star also made deviled eggs with fresh dill from her garden. They were decadent and I might have eaten a few too many. She uses real mayonnaise — which made me shudder at the calories to be honest. She’s been seeing a Naturopath for about a year now and they’ve really helped her with some medical issues she’s had. They reduced her blood sugar from 400+ to 150. They’ve reduced her blood pressure by 30 points. She’s looking great. One of the things the Naturopath said was to stop eating low calorie, low fat, diet food. She said there is so much sugar added to these “diet” foods that it really spikes her diabetes. So she’s eating full calorie everything–and losing weight. It was a struggle for me to get on board because I am so used to choosing lower calorie options.
The fresh dill makes a huge difference. I wish I’d planted dill in my garden. I made a salad from our garden and added tomatoes and red onion.
The steak was good, but I think Star will be blown away when she comes over to eat our steak with caramelized onions and gorgonzola!
For dessert I brought freshly sliced watermelon. And Star made a dessert with fresh organic blueberries, Greek Yogurt and cinammon.
I like having fresh fruit for dessert.
After a few hours we headed back into the rain to go home. We had enough time to watch some more Damages and then headed to bed. I was disappointed with the weather and the fact that I didn’t get to ride at all this week/weekend. That does not bode well for doing 75 miles in a month.
QUESTION: Do you notice that low calorie/diet/low fat food has a lot of sugar in it? What do you choose to eat?
Kristina @ spabettie
YES!! having run an alternative medicine clinic and watching what my naturopath doc friends eat, they eat REAL food. 🙂 some are vegan, some are meat eaters, but they all eat full fat, real foods. I’ve never really been a fan of diet foods, MOST just don’t taste good to me (there are exceptions!) 🙂
have you been to The Meadow, the place where that salt comes from?? it’s on Mississippi Avenue, and all they sell is salt, chocolate, bitters, flowers… it is the coolest shop (I LOVE the rare chocolates!) and Jason and I have tried many salts from there… great stuff!
Lisa Eirene
I think that might be the store Star bought the salt at. She said it was in North Portland somewhere. The salt is amazing! She sent a bottle home with me. I can see myself adding it to a lot of stuff.
As I get more and more into gardening and trying to eat real food, I eat less and less of the weird processed and “diet” food. I used to live on the stuff because the portions were controlled and I knew how many calories I was eating. But I never felt good eating it.
Lori
Getting rid of the diet low-cal, low-fat foods was really helpful for me because those other foods fill me up better. However, I still can pack away the food if I let myself!
I am loving the tour this year. We watch on Versus and they posted my question about the tour on TV on Saturday night! I was such a dork to be all excited. I have a screen shot of it, too. LOL!
Lisa Eirene
They posted your question!! That is so cool. What was the question and answer? Who do you think will win the tour this year? Michael thinks Frank Schleck. I want Andy to win. I think Thor has a decent chance too because he’s won a few stages now but I am in no way qualified to predict. 🙂
And yes, the less diet food I eat the happier my body seems to be.
Lori
I asked a question about how the crowds affect the riders in the mountains. He said it was a mixture of adrenaline because people were cheering and then sometimes they get in the way.
I think Cadel Evans has a good shot to win. He seems very relaxed and strong. Andy is good, but he doesn’t quite seem to have as good a form as he had last year. Plus, he is not a great time trialer, whereas Cadel is. You can’t discount Ivan Basso or Sammy Sanchez either because Sammy looked awesome in those mountain stages.
Lisa Eirene
That’s a good question. I would say adrenaline has a lot to do with it!
Cadel seems to be doing well. He’s always in the main group. I haven’t noticed Sammy much except in the recent stage that he won.
Ali
Yes – when I was trying to reduce sugar consumption I noticed it was in everything – especially low fat / low carb stuff. They have to replace what they take out with something else to make it edible right?
I’ve been trying to avoid sugar or just eat the regular food version and have less. Usually (not always – I’m not perfect!!) just a bite or two is enough to satisfy me. I’ve also started splitting desserts when I do eat them. I know even actively trying to avoid sugar I am probably still eating way more than I should!
Lisa Eirene
Isn’t it amazing how high the sugar content can be?! It’s awful. It makes it so hard when trying to reduce sugar intake.