Anyone who knows me knows that I’m running a LOT these days. I’m determined not to get injured again – last year, I had some crazy sh*t going down with my piriformis, which caused my whole pelvis to get out of alignment. It was so bad, I was pronating on one foot, and supinating on the other!
I’ve been feeling some serious tightness around my hip again, so I’m stretching like crazy – pigeon pose, anyone? – and eating an anti-inflammation diet. Mostly.
The basics of the anti-inflammation diet are this:
Eat mostly foods that fight inflammation in your body (dark leafy greens, strawberries, blueberries, fish)
Eat only limited amounts of neutral foods (rice)
Avoid foods that cause inflammation (meat, dairy, corn, wheat, potatoes, alcohol, caffeine)
Not so hard, right? It really isn’t, actually. I have to be honest that I haven’t even attempted to give up alcohol and caffeine. But I’ve made some simple tweaks to rest of my usual diet, and lost 2 pounds in one week! Here’s a typical day:
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, black beans and guacamole {super filling and tasty!}
Snack: Instead of Laughing Cow Light on a rice cake, I use almond butter. The almond butter is ground fresh at Winco – the kind that comes in a jar usually has extra ingredients, like palm oil and sugar. Not necessary! But check this out! The Laughing Cow container is perfect for carting around a rice cake without it crumbling into pieces!
I feel so smart for my clever transport!
Lunch: same as usual: salad & veggies, and since I’ve been eating more fish at dinner, I put some on my salad.
Snack: veggies with guacamole or hummus.
Dinner: fish, rice, salad and/or veggies.
BUT! I had a horrible realization. I’m avoiding dairy (except a little bit of cream in my morning coffee!), yet my protein powder is whey. It’s important to me to have a little protein shake before my 5:30 am runs. When I don’t get that burst of fuel before a run, I really slog through it. I don’t know why I didn’t realize that whey is dairy, but DUH.
I’ll keep eating the anti-inflammation foods the rest of the day, but as soon as I use up all that whey protein powder, I’m looking for an alternative that isn’t on my “avoid” list. Someone suggested hemp protein, but all the reviews on Amazon say it tastes like dirt.
Does anyone have a favorite non-dairy protein powder I should try?
Mostly Mommyhood 
What about soy protein powder. It’s inexpensive at TJ’s and I think it works…
Great idea on the transportation device. I love rice cakes with almond butter, but it’s really hard to eat, especially if you lack water near by!
So true – that stuff gets really dry, doesn’t it??