Life and sugar

I’m such a bad blogger. I tricked y’all with my last post and made it seem like I was ready to blog daily. I am one more semester away from graduating Physical Therapy Assistant school and it has been kicking my butt. I have clinical rotation 3 days out of the week and 2 school days. I don’t have a lot of time for anything these days, just school, gym, and grocery shopping. Yep! That’s pretty much what my week consists of. I currently have zero social life. Don’t feel sorry for me though, in about 7 mo. I’ll be graduating and then  hopefully pass my board exam so I can start doing what I love to do and making some good mula. This is my last week at my second clinical site and this morning the rehab staff surprised my classmate and I with breakfast.

Mexican breakfast, my weakness: barbacoa, chorizo and eggs, tortilla, refried beans, and salsa on the side. Yep! My arteries were definitely not liking me this morning.  

Everyone at the rehab hospital are awesome and my clinical instructor  gave me such a fun and positive learning environment. I’m going to miss her a lot.

with my clinical instructor, Delia. I hate wearing those scrubs, it makes me look like a man.

with Delia, Matt (my classmate), and Pilar (the other clinical instructor)

I usually go straight to the gym after I’m done with clinicals but today I’ve decided to eat an early dinner and probably go to the gym later in the evening. Since Halloween is around the corner, I’ve been eating sweets like crazy! I usually don’t eat a lot of sweets but about two weeks ago, the chocolate, candies, and desserts have showed up everywhere ago. Sweets and I do not go well together. Has anyone else been experiencing this problem? I work out pretty much every day and I’ve felt so sluggish in my workouts for the past week and a half. So this sweet-craze I’m going through really needs to stop… now. I feel like I’m addicted to these process sugary foods and I think about it all the time. I’m going to fight these cravings and I’ve already bought some fruits so every time I crave something sweet, I’ll eat a fruit. A hundred times better than those mini chocolate bars.

How do you deal with sweet cravings? I would really love to hear your input in this. I’m looking for ideas

Btw, I’ve got a recipe to share with y’all. I don’t know how these tastes yet but I’ve got some sweet potatoes that needs to be cooked very soon. I thought this recipe from Runner’s World would be perfect.

Sweet Potato Muffins. "These are the lightest, fluffiest, easiest whole-grain muffins—ever," promises Bittman. Using sweet potato adds moisture and nutrients, such as beta-carotene."

Sweet Potato Muffins
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (preferably pastry flour)
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pureed or mashed cooked sweet potato
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 375° F. Grease 12 muffin cups or add paper liners.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and salt.

In a bowl, whisk butter, oil, sweet potato, egg, and buttermilk. Fold wet mixture into the dry; stir until just combined.

Fill muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Banana Nut Variation Reduce sugar to 1/2 cup. Replace sweet potato with 1 cup mashed, very ripe banana; add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the batter.

Pumpkin Coconut Variation Replace sweet potato with 1 cup canned pumpkin; add 1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut to the batter.

CALORIES PER MUFFIN: 248
CARBS: 37 G
FIBER: 3 G
PROTEIN: 4 G
FAT: 9 G

I’m back and ready to blog blog blog

Hey bloggers! I’m baaaaack and yes, with another new blog name. A new friend of mine told me that my previous blog name sounded a little X-rated. I kept thinking and thinking about what he said and Girl on the Couch did sound like a XXX site. HA! I thought FitNerd is a cute and perfect name for my little home here on wordpress. The definition of that word is on my about page, so check it out whenever you get a chance.

I’ve really missed blogging, especially lately that I’m going through some major things in life. I’ve deactivated my Facebook account for personal reasons and I think blogging will really help me get through some things right now. When I was blogging regularly, I have found a good support system on here. I’ve made some awesome blog friends who have encouraged me through Facebook and even via phone text. Life is too precious and too short to be depressed and focus on the negative things. I am learning that right now. There will be a lot of venting on my next few posts, I promise not to make it too emo. I’ve always been the type to express my feelings through writing and I really hope blogging will help me deal with things in my life.

with my friend and classmate, Ricky. He ran the 5k with me, while my other friends walked it.

On a good note, I’m currently training for a half marathon again. I signed up and ran a 5k last weekend with friends and I did pretty well. I have another 5k on October 1st and hoping to do better than my last race. I’m in the process of making a new running schedule through Runners World which I will be sharing soon on here. I also have a delicious banana muffin recipe to share sometime. They aren’t your typical banana muffins so I’m really excited about making them.

well, hello there sexy

These muffins are called banana fluffernutter streusel muffins and I’ve been drooling over this pic on my computer. I found it through my foodgawker app, my second favorite app on my iPhone . Review and recipe will be up sometime this week. Be excited, ’cause I’m extremely excited for this one!

See you soon, guys! It’s good to be back.