First day back to school! We had an all-day orientation on-campus, and the rest of the semester will be spent in various hospitals and long-term care facilities in a clinical setting. Tomorrow, I’ll be at ECMC from 8-4:30 and will continue there until the end of February. This is my ‘senior practicum’ rotation, and I designed it so I would get experience in both general nutrition assessment, as well as ICU/critical care and out-patient counseling, which is probably what I’m most looking forward to.

All my food was prepped and ready the night before. Definitely going to try to keep doing the advance prep–it’s so nice to just toss items in a cooler bag, rather than have to think and make meals the night before, EVERY night.

Breakfast: Two egg ‘muffins’ with chicken sausage. I forgot that I put a little meat in each muffin, and while eating it I felt like the sausage was too much. But, I need big breakfasts while I’m at the hospital to keep me until lunch–it’s not always easy to snack. I added sauerkraut and a clementine.

Mid-morning snack: Eaten around 10:30. I made it so long, but just couldn’t make it to 12. A tiny homemade trail mix: one piece of chili-dusted mango, some dark chocolate pieces and some coconut cashews.

Lunch: Eaten solo in the cafe, while reading my fad diet book club book. Wish I had more time to finish that up! Chicken stir-fry and 1/3 green apple and about 1 T almond butter. I kept wanting to eat the half-Paleo brownie I brought (pictured), but I was full without it.

Afternoon snack: Around 2:30, a couple of us broke away for a coffee run. I ended up eating both the brownie and homemade Larabar pieces together as a pre-workout snack around 3. Both of those are mostly dried fruit and nuts, so great options.

Post-workout: The friend I’d had over last night for dinner sent me home with some goodies her mom made, as well as some homemade pickled peppers and frozen perch. Random, for sure. One of these was calling my name…. A total Paleo cheat, but it was an ideal time to indulge (directly after exercise), and it’s not like it was going to get any fresher. Just ate the top…

Dinner: I whipped up some Paleo Chicken Pumpkin Curry sliders (we’ve had it before; recipe from PaleoOMG) and more of the broccoli slaw. I served mine with dollops of the spicy guac.

Not pictured: the movie-theater popcorn I ate while watching American Sniper with Andrew and his dad. Excellent movie. I did, however, bring my own beverage–chocolate coconut water–instead of getting soda.

Thankfully, I was able to sleep in this morning until almost 9 a.m., but felt like a train wreck. Can’t really make up for lost sleep.

Breakfast: I totally forgot to take a picture! Andrew and I had apple strudel egg muffins (think more egg than crumb-texture), Canadian bacon and cranberry kefir. We don’t love the muffins, and coconut oil spray DOES NOT work as well as Pam. Cleaning that muffin tin was a job and a half!

Morning/lunchtime snack: After spending two hours prepping food for the week, I finally got out to take Hadrian to the dog park around 12. My tummy was rumbling, so I grabbed a container of homemade trail mix, half of which was eaten before we arrived, and the other half as we left.

Bonus photos: Epic food prep! Breakfasts, lunches and snacks for Monday-Friday for me, plus Andrew has some leftovers and pre-cooked sausages as well. Chicken stir-fry and salad with salmon are my entrees this week.

Lunch: Eaten around 2 p.m. after the dog park, a trip to Tops and filling the gas tank. Same as yesterday: egg salad with bacon, chives and tomato with veggies and guac dip. Verdict on the egg salad? I prefer a 2:1 ratio of whites to yolks. This 1:1 business is just too much. Extra crispy bacon? Yes please!

I met a friend at the gym around 4 for an intense lifting session, as in, I won’t be able to use my arms tomorrow. But, as they say, ‘no pain, no gain.’ Afterward, she joined us for dinner. Lamb meatballs with balsamic and fig reduction, cauli-rice and salad.

She brought dessert: Paleo brownies! Such a good treat! I may have eaten slightly more than what is pictured here…

Two weeks down, one to go. I’m not feeling as fantastic as I did after the first week, but I blame that more on some cheats and still trying to figure out portion sizes with such rich food without counting my calories. Don’t get me wrong; I do feel good. I have plenty of energy and like that I’m not snacking on crackers or pretzels. Now, we just need to get this recent Yotality obsession under control!

Insomnia struck, big time, last night and I was up around 4 a.m. So not fun. I find when I eat out and/or drink, I don’t sleep well. It’s probably just an excess salt or sugar in my system. Anyway, I got up a busied myself with my to-do list: check email, finish an article, make more Paleo muffins (two kinds), cook bacon, etc, etc, etc.

Early morning (around 5 a.m.): Earl Gray tea, banana and almond butter.

Breakfast: Eaten hurriedly in the car on the way to snowshoe. Two pumpkin muffins and some bacon.

We made it FOUR miles in two hours–speed demons today! Mr. Perini, our snowshoe guide, brought us hot chocolate in a thermos for after.

We had lunch a couple hours later. I had a Paleo egg and bacon salad with veggies and Trader Joe’s spicy guacamole dip.

Andrew and I had more hot chocolate this afternoon after we met friends for curling at Canalside. I. WAS. SO. COLD. Like, I couldn’t feel my toes.

After we got home, Andrew napped (we were both beat, but I’m just not a napper) and I putzed around, doing more things to get ready for school. I rearranged the pantry (not exactly essential for school, but I wanted to get it back in order after moving the non-Paleo items from easy reach; I ended up re-doing it so less-healthy grain snacks–like pretzels–are no longer at eye level, and better options like dried fruit and nuts are more prominent) and made some containers of trail mixes and homemade Larabars. Of course, in doing so, I snacked on various fruit and nut varieties as I was portioning them out.

Dinner: Bison burgers on sweet potato ‘pancake’ buns with broccoli slaw. So good! The pancakes were a bit sweet and perfectly paired with a bit of that spicy guac dip. They would also be great for breakfast with a little syrup. Andrew even liked them!

We spent the evening doing a variety of tasks, like relocating the Christmas decorations in the basement, folding clothes, painting a baseboard in the kitchen, and of course, cleaning up from dinner. That grill pan makes such a mess of the stove! I also wiped down the appliances and vacuumed the kitchen, all in the name of getting ready to go back to school. When I was finally finished, all I wanted was something cold and sweet: black cherry froyo with some dark chocolate syrup.