Good morning! 
It’s my last day of work before Thanksgiving vaca!!! Wahoo! 
I am totally psyched for this mini vacation. I love everything about Thanksgiving– family, friends, food– what more could you ask for?! Plus, I feel like I’ve been on overdrive lately, so I’m really ready for some R & R!
Workout
I practically bounded out of bed this morning for a workout at the gym. I’m not sure what the heck got into me this morning? Usually, it’s somewhat of a struggle for me to get out of bed.
At the gym, I ran + walked for 4.5 miles. After a quick warm-up, I alternated 10 minutes of running with 5 minutes of walking. During the running portion, I switched up the speeds to do some intervals. I varied my running speeds between 6.3 – 7.2 and then walked at a steady 4.0 pace. I finished my workout with a good 15 minutes of stretching and foam rolling. Everything was so tight! I definitely needed it! I was a sweaty mess when I left the gym, but I felt great.
For those of you who asked about my new hip strengthening workout, I plan to do it tomorrow morning, so I will post it with breakfast.
Breakfast
Today’s bowl of oats was very nutritious and very delicious!
In the mix:
- 1/3 cup dry oats
- 1/3 cup wheat berries
- 1/3 cup pomegranate arils
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
- 1 banana, sliced
- 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 scoops of peanut butter
It was a humongous bowl of oats, but I managed to eat the whole thing! 
With breakfast, I also enjoyed an iced coffee with soy milk and agave nectar.
Speaking of agave nectar…
What’s Up with Agave Nectar?
I received the above question from a reader the other day, so I decided to write a little something about one of the most used foods in my life.
As you probably know from reading my blog, I am a huge fan of agave nectar–- mostly because I have a major sweet tooth! To be honest, finding out about agave nectar was sort of a life-changing experience for me!
Agave nectar is a natural sweetener that comes from the Mexican agave plant. (It’s actually the same plant from which tequila is made!) Agave is comparable to honey or maple syrup, but less sticky, pours easily, and dissolves quickly in both hot and cold foods and drinks. It’s delicious mixed into your morning bowl of oatmeal or yogurt, added to coffee or tea, drizzled on pancakes or waffles, and is especially wonderful in baked goods.
The glycemic index of agave nectar is significantly lower than that of sugar, so it doesn’t spike your blood sugar as much. Agave nectar contains close to the same amount of calories as sugar, but because it is so much sweeter, you use less. In baking, for instance, you can use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of agave for every cup of sugar, which naturally reduces the calories in your recipes. (Agave nectar burns more easily than sugar, so be sure to decrease your oven temperature by about 25 degrees.)
One of my favorite agave nectar recipes is for Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Agave contains small amounts of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium, so when combined with an All-Star cast of ingredients, these cookies end up being equally nutritious as they are delicious!
Feel Great Weight
In honor of Turkey Day, here’s this week’s FGW post: 4 Thanksgiving Diet Fouls—and How to Avoid Them
Tail Chasing & Elephant Butt
This video is funny for 3 reasons:
- Murphy chases his tail for a good 60 seconds before I grab my camera to film him.
- When he realizes that I am filming him, he stops dead in his tracks.
- Then he does “elephant butt” (tucking his butt and dropping his tail like an elephant) which is absolutely hilarious. He always does it when he’s excited.
Eggland’s Best Recipe Contest
There’s less than a week to enter the Eggland’s Best Holiday Recipe Contest! The last day to enter is Monday, November 30th. I’ve already received so many delicious-sounding recipes! Holy yum!
Question of the Day
What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?
I love all of them, but my favorites are sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and my mom’s pumpkin pie.
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Check back later this morning for some exciting news!!!
{ 98 comments… read them below or add one }
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Murphy is so freakin’ funny!!!! My favorite dish is stuffing and gravy. Yummmm.
Murphy is hilarious!!
I love stuffing and green bean casserole!! I will have to wait until my hubby and I get back from our cruise to have it though! We are postponing our Thanksgiving dinner by 2 weeks. I know it’s weird, but my husband has to have his Thanksgiving dinner!
I like that bowl of oats topped with pomgranate!
Murphy is the funniest little pup! I want to smush his face! Thanks for all the info on agave. I have been using it and I know it has a lower GI but I didn’t know all the specifics. My obsession is sweet potato in any mush form on Thanksgiving!
I just read your Health FGW post, and it’s one of my favorites that you’ve written. You give great tips that are specific, like the actual size of your portions and using a plate for the snacking. I’ve read so many things lately about surviving the holidays, and the rules are frequently so generic. I’m gonna think about it when I’m serving up a golf ball sized servings of dressing and cranberry sauce. Thanks!!
today is my last day of classes before thanksgiving and i’m so excited! The thanksgiving stuffing is my favorite. me and my brother make it together and it tastes sooooooooo good! can’t wait to hear the exciting news later!
Hands down, my favorite Thanksgiving dish is mashed potatoes! We don’t make these very often at our house, opting instead for the healthier roasted or baked potatoes, so the mashed variety are a Thanksgiving treat.
Please stop posting photos/videos of your Murphy! You are making me want a dog!!! BTW I bought some agave nectar the other day because everyone in the blog world raves about it. My grocery store was promoting it and I got $2 off!!! Everyone should check their local market!
Love that video of Murphy! So cute. My favorite Thanksgiving dish is mashed potatoes or stuffing. Mmm…. I’m not a huge dessert person so I would prefer going back for seconds and thirds rather than having pie. Wierd, I know.
I love agave nectar! It’s become priceless to me!
I love mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. If they were on the table every day, I’d be happy.
That Murphy video is hilarious…I love dogs
Thanks for sharing some Thanksgiving FGW tips!
My favorite Thanksgiving dish? PIE.
Love the video of Murphy! He’s hilarious!! My favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is the gravy and mashed potatoes!
Honestly my absolute favorite dish at Thanksgiving is the turkey. I never have a chance to enjoy dark meat, so it is ON for Thanksgiving =)
I love agave nectar too, its so yummy!
My Thanksgiving favorites are definitely the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean casserole. I can’t wait!
HA! Murphy made me snort coffee
Thanks for the agave info… I’ve got to pick some up.
The best part of our thanksgiving dinner is when me, my mom, my sister, and my “aunt” stand in the kitchen and eat the crispy turkey skin before the guys can get to it. Kinda gross, but fun!
murphy is much too cute.
Im all about the mashed potatoes and turnip
I tried agave nectar, but couldn’t taste it so then I made a coffee for my bf with agave nectar and he couldn’t taste it either and I squirted a ton in his. Is there a secret or did I get a trick bottle perhaps?
Murphy is adorable!
I can’t wait for the green bean casserole.
My favorite thanksgiving dish would be my mom’s stuffing. I also love pumpkin pie…but lately I have been making pumpkin pudding (healthy version of course!!) and the family loves it!!
murphy is amazing. hahaha.
i am a huge fan of agave too, thanks for giving a bit more info on it.
hmm thanks giving favorites. i love green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and dessert
my favorite thanksgiving meal is STUFFING!
aww, murphy is so cute
i wanted to ask you if you knew who i might be able to contact with my blog issues.. it disappeared this morning and won’t let me sign in
thanks for the agave info! my favorite thanksgiving dishes are stuffing and pie!
I’d kill for those OATS!
http://katiechangesforkatie.blogspot.com/
Green Bean Casserole is my favorite – no doubt! I’ve been known to just fill up a plate full of it and forgoing all the other foods
I got my workout done early this morning too:) I like agave too, I usually drizzle a little bit on my Greek yogurt. I don’t eat meat and I am not a huge fan of the traditional Thanksgiving foods. I do LOVE these roasted veggies:
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-side-roasted-sweet.html
Great workout! Nice variety of speeds to make it interesting.
I’m going to have to try Agave nectar now thanks for the tip! I’ve always loved adding peanut butter to my oatmeal, I think everyone should do it.
Lately I have read some negative press about agave nectar. Have you seen any of it? I will have to dig up the links but read it on a few “raw foodists” blogs.
Delicious looking oats, as usual! My favorite thanksgiving dish would have to be mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Everyone loves them!
Thanks for the info on agave! I’ve cooked with it but never put it into drinks, etc. I’ll have to give it a try.
Stuffing is my all time favorite Thanksgiving food! I just love it.
Here are the links they blogs featured. I was suprised to learn there was a “controversy” about agave since you always see it touted for being a better sugar option. Like everything, there are probalby two sides to the story but since you rarely hear the negative about it I thought it was good to share. I don’t use it very often so not concerened one way or the other but for people who use it a lot they might want to further explore.
http://preventdisease.com/news/09/062309_agave.shtml
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2008/11/17/agave_nectar_the_high_fructose_health_food_fraud.htm
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/04/sally-fallon-on-agave-nectar.html
Seriously – he’s too cute!
My favorite Thanksgiving food is my mom’s fudge pie. We ONLY get it at the holidays, and it’s my favorite.
I agree w/Lara – I actually stopped using it after reading A LOT about the potentially negative side effects. Here’s just one example: http://www.naturalnews.com/024892_fructose_food_health.html
Murphy is too cute! It makes me miss my doggy!
I agree about the mini work hiatus! I am so excited for some time off. Plus I can’t wait to dig into that stuffing. I am such a bread girl!
so looking forward to my Mom’s sweet bread, STUFFING and sweet potatoes
BTW what time do you wake up in the morning? I wish I had the motivation to scoot out of bed in the morning but I’d have to wake up around 6 am to get a good workout in….and that would just be too rough, haha! I end up going after work everyday.
LOL Murphy is too cute! He was so excited to be on camera. A future star and a real ham!
Good job on the run/walk!
Um I don’t know maybe mashed potatoes? I’m not a huge Thanksgiving food girl (blasphemy I know)… I’m trying mashed sweet potatoes this year so I think that maybe a new favorite.
Hey Tina – thanks for the agave nectar info . . . I just recently switched
Favorite Thanksgiving dish = homemade chunky cranberry sauce.
Hahaha that video is hilarious! Your dog is too cute
and my favorite Thanksgiving day dish has got to be the sweet potatoes!!! That and pumpkin pie… can’t go wrong!
Loved this post for the following reasons:
1) Your incredibly self-motivated work out has inspired me to get into gym gear and get moving as soon as I hit “submit” on my comment.
2) Your beautiful pomegranate oats.
3) Your very positive insight into Agave Nectar. I was turned on to it thanks to the wonders of food blogs, and it really is awesome. I’ve not yet tried baking with it (but thanks to your specific tips, I may just give those cookies a whirl), but have used it in tea, coffee, oatmeal, pancakes, etc. It’s great. I was wondering if it’s an ok sugar substitute for diabetics? My Dad has the disease, and while he absolutely depends on quick sugar fixes sometimes (when blood sugar is low), he may be interested in using it.
4) Murphy. I love Pugs, and yours happens to be exceptionally adorable!
My favorite Thanksgiving side dish are my sister’s candied yams. LOVE them.
Murphy is precious. My 90 lb lab does that same tail tucking thing when he gets excited. It’s so funny to see him try to tuck his tail and scurry around. Thanks for sharing that video, it definitely brought a smile to my face!
thanks for the tips on agave!! I knew it was more like honey, but I’m definitely going to try it in place of syrup next time I have a big, yummy breakfast!!
love it.
Murphy is such a cute little guy! I love the cute things that dogs do when they’re happy and excited
As awful as it sounds, my favorite dishes would have to be canned cranberry sauce and stuffing, both from Whole Foods
@MelissaNibbles: Yea, I think you might have got a bum bottle. Agave nectar is SO SWEET! Make sure you get the dark 100% agave– maybe that will make a difference.
@gina (fitnessista): Just emailed you!
@Lara: No, what has it been saying?
I accidently used the same amount of agave as you normally would with sugar and REALLY regretted it. It was AWFUL! Cutting back from 1 cup sugar to 1/4 cup agave is a great tip.
Murphy is the cutest thing!
@Ashley: Check out my FAQs: http://carrotsncake.com/faqs
I LOVED your FGW post! I am going to use all 4 tips for BOTH of my Thanksgiving celebrations! I actually put them into my phone calendar so reminders will pop up right before dinner time (portion control), after dinner time (go for walk) and the next day (hit the gym). Thanks, Tina!
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