Put Your Best Smoothie Forward

I have issues with smoothies. I find recipes on Pinterest or magazines or health websites and try them and they are horrible. They always sound good. But they don’t work out.

I tried a green smoothie the other day. I so badly want to make a green smoothie that is good! I have so many recipes and they never work! What am I doing wrong?

The ones I tried had apple, pear, grapes, lime and spinach. Plus ice and water. I like all of those ingredients. But when I followed the recipe and blended it, it was very chunky. And I cannot chew a smoothie without gagging. It just isn’t possible. I forced down about 1/3 of it before I had to throw it away and find something else for breakfast. I later learned I should have added more water. Might have been a better smoothie. It tasted great! Just the chunks...ugh, the chunks!

A few days later, I tried again. I tried an oatmeal smoothie. I love oatmeal, so I was excited for this one. It had dry quick cook (not instant) oats, banana, strawberries, ice and skim milk. It was okay. Not great, but edible. And also boring. Wasn’t tasty enough for my liking. It was bland. I was able to drink it, but I wasn’t impressed. It might warrant a do-over, but I’d add some Splenda and cinnamon for more flavor. It might help.

Today, I tried another smoothie experiment. And it was a success. I loved it. It made 2 servings and I’m so very tempted to go get the 2nd smoothie and make it my lunch. It was that good.

    

I call it my Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie

1 cup strawberries

1 cup frozen blackberries

1 frozen banana

1 cup spinach

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 cup ice

2 cups skim milk

I started out with 1 cup of milk, but it was too chunky and there was no way it was going to blend together and be drinkable. So I added another cup and blended for at least 2 minutes. I wasn’t taking any chances.

Try it and let me know how you like it!

I’m still on the search for a green smoothie. If you have a good recipe - one that you’ve tried and loved, please pass it along! I’m looking for something that’s gonna give me energy in the mornings in lieu of a cup of coffee. I know greens do that! Just need to get it in.

My First Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day

April's Foodie Pen Pal

I’ve been a little MIA lately. No race reports, no updates on training (am I even training?) no lists of upcoming races, etc. I’ve just been focused on other areas of my life and this blog has been neglected because of it. I plan on eventually writing the missing race reports and getting them up here sometime soon. Don’t fret.

The reason for this post, however, is to talk about food swapping. No, seriously. My friend, Alyson, got a box full snacky-goodness a few months ago and sent out a similar box to someone else. She told me about the Foodie Pen Pal program orchestrated by Lindsey over at The Lean Green Bean. Then she let me try one of the oatmeal packets that she had gotten. It was amazing!! I wanted in!

I forgot to check it out online the next month, but when Alyson told me about the second box she got, I decided to go for it.

I was assigned to Jamie at Farm Fabulosity. Head over to her blog to check out what I sent her!

I received my package from Erika who has a blog about her daughter Arianna and their adventures!

Erika took to heart that I am trying to balance working out with healthier eating and fun snacks and included some fun things for me to try!

1.) Organic Sweet Moose Hot Chocolate mix. She said she uses it in her coffee and I definitely plan to try that one of these mornings that I just need a little bit extra to get me going

2.) Almond Crunch. I love almonds. I use them on my salads in place of croutons because sometimes I just need that little crunch! They are also great as a pre-workout snack!

3.) Bare-Fruit Mangoes. Usually I do not like dried fruit. But I decided to be open to trying something new, so I made myself open this before I opened anything else in the box. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed them!

4. + 5.) Whole Berry Blast + Fruition Peach. I definitely use bars for pre work out snacks, or even sometimes for afterwards if I don’t have any other options for a refueling, but I was a little shocked at how high in calorie these bars were! I think I’ll save them for a longer race if I need some fuel. I can’t see myself scarfing down 400+ calories before a workout. It’s a little high for my liking. If I want 400 calories, I’d eat a bag of Doritos. I love Doritos. Ok, moving on.

6.) Chocolate Cashew Bar. I live chocolate. I love cashews. No problem right? Wrong. I’m scared of this one. It’s a raw organic live food bar. First, of all, what? And second, I’m envisioning my cashews walking around on the chocolate bar. Eventually I will try this bar for 2 reasons: I love chocolate. I love cashews. But I need to work up the nerve to test it out!

A big thanks to Erika for helping me step out of my comfort zone and try new foods that I wouldn’t otherwise!

I have already signed up for the Foodie Pen Pal project for May and I can’t wait to go shopping again for my new foodie pal!

Three Things Thursday

1. I started my half marathon training this week. I started on Monday with Yoga Mondays. It’s a new thing. I already love it. It’s really going to help me with stretching and feeling relaxed after trying to run all week! I’ve already done two runs and I didn’t do as bad as I thought I would after 23 days off from running. The first run was inside on the treadmill because it was raining after work. I almost skipped it and changed it to a Wed, Fri, Sun run schedule instead of Tues, Thurs, Sat, but I had plans on Wed night and I knew I’d be getting home late and I wouldn’t want to attempt a run then. So I did it. And I’m glad I did because it was the FIRST day of the plan. How much of a loser would I have been to slack of on the first day of my training plan? Geez?

2. I’m addicted to popcorn. After a fitblog chat on twitter a few weeks ago @Boston2Berkeley mentioned eating popcorn with chopsticks. I haven’t eaten popcorn without them since then. It’s fun. Seriously, try it! She also mentioned putting truffle salt on her popcorn. Me, when I think of truffles, I think chocolate. I jumped on that. Turns out, she meant mushrooms. Gross x100. Instead I seasoned mine with garlic and chili powder, with a dash of parm cheese. Holy popcorn magic. Again I stress: Seriously, try it!

I really love chopsticks though, so it was an easy sell.

3. My run was cold tonight. It was only about 55 degrees. Not freezing, but chilly. It actually hurt to breathe while running. Temps are dropping drastically tonight and I can only imagine how much colder it will be during training runs. I’ve never run in cold weather before. While I was training for my triathlon, I did everything on the treadmill until it got to spring and summer. But I can’t do that this time. I need the training on the outside, at least once a week because the half marathon isn’t going to be on a treadmill. I wonder how hard it will be to race 13.1 miles in warm weather in Florida in February after training in winter temps in Massachusetts. Any ideas on how to deal with this?

I am a triathlete. And now what?

I never really knew what to expect after I finished training for my triathlon and completed the race. When I started this blog, I didn’t really think about it. A few months into it I began to think about what the purpose of this blog would be, since the goal was to do a triathlon. I did it! (Man, did I do it!!) And now what?

I did it. And now what?

Something in me decided that I wasn’t going to just stop. I enjoy the social factor of doing 5Ks with the group of friends I made while training for the triathlon. So I knew I’d be doing some 5Ks after the triathlon and into the fall or winter. What I didn’t know was that I was going to get sucked into the idea of doing a half marathon. In April, shortly after I started my blog, two of my friends in Florida began talking to me on twitter about the thought of doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I told them I’d think about it and promptly thought “Yeah right, you are crazy if you think I’m running for that long on purpose. 5K is one thing, 13.1 miles is stupid”. And then I told them “Yes”.

I seriously don’t know why. Maybe it was a subconscious fear that if I didn’t make another BIG goal after my triathlon, then I’d become a couch potato and stop training, working out, being active, etc. I remember looking through a Runner’s World magazine and I saw an ad for a Disney half marathon in November. It reminded me of the convo my friends and I had and I thought, “Oh that looks cool, I want to do that”. I must add here that I sincerely enjoy reading about running and researching running, running shoes, running blogs, running pace calculators, running accessories, helpful stretches for runners, ways to be a better runner, the right food to eat as a runner and much more. However, I hate the actual ACT OF RUNNING. I don’t like it. When I’m out there running, I hate myself for even getting myself into this running stuff. When I’m at a 5K, I love the social atmosphere before and after the race, the excitement before the race, the glow after the race, and of course the t-shirt (more so the medal!!), but I HATE the run part. I so desperately want to be a runner and I love the idea of being a runner, but I don’t like doing it. It’s okay, I know I’m mental.

The amount of books that I’ve bought on running is ridiculous. The amount of magazines I get is borderline crazy. The number of websites I have bookmarked would probably put most runners to shame. And I’m not even good at it. But I want to be. I try so hard to enjoy myself while running, but I just don’t. For some reason the want that I have to BE a runner is what gets me out there and keeps me going. I guess that’s all that matters right?

I know people have said to me before, “You are a runner” I still don’t consider myself one. It’s a mental thing and until I can conquer it, no one can convince me otherwise. I’m stubborn.

Back to “now what”. I have been looking at half marathon training plans (and I won’t lie, it terrifies me) and trying to choose one that looks like I can handle it and at least complete the half marathon. By the way, it’s in February. That’s in four months. FOUR MONTHS. I gave myself 9 months of training time for the triathlon. I found a plan by Jeff Galloway on the runDisney website and I think I might try that one. It starts the training in on October 4th and is a 3-day a week plan. I can fill those other days with spin classes or strength training or kickboxing or yoga or rest. Rest sounds like the most fun.

I also have the book Run Your Butt Off! that I plan to read and try to follow. It’s basically a program that helps people eat right and train right so that they can lose weight and start running. Regular people, like me. Not athletes who run a bunch of marathons per year, but people who are overweight and can’t run at all. They must have read my blog.

Get yours here!

The book specifically says, on page 24, “YOU NEED TO RUN SLOWLY. Very slowly. How slow is slow? Try this: Make your run no faster than your walk”.

Seriously, did they read my blog? It’s like they are speaking directly to me. My run is probably the same pace as my walk, maybe even slower. Good to know I’m supposed to start slow. Here’s my problem though. I’m not starting out. I’ve been doing this for 9 months. And I’m still at the beginning. No matter how hard I tri try, I don’t see progress with my running. It’s frustrating and I don’t know why I still want to do this.

Regardless, I have a half marathon to train for and six 5Ks coming up in the next 3 months. We shall see if this book and Jeff Galloway’s training plan can help me get somewhere fast. Kinda fast. Or just get there period. Here goes nothin'!!

Three Things Thursday

...in the nick of time too!


And now I’ve apparently made this a regular thing. Whatevs.

1. Is it wrong to have a smoothie for breakfast and a smoothie for lunch? I don’t mean a protein smoothie either. I mean frozen fruit and milk and a spoonful of peanut butter. And by spoonful I mean large quantity of peanut butter, because that's how I roll. There’s protein in that right? Right. Yesterday, I was not hungry for anything except for smoothies. I knew I should up the ante and add some protein, but I didn’t have any and I don’t know what kind to get and honestly, I feel like protein shakes and/or smoothies are things that only body builders drink. Am I wrong? Apparently I am. After my day of “smoothie” meals, I attempted a run. I was shaky and could barely finish it. I apparently hadn’t fueled well. I mean besides the smoothies, I had a small wrap with romaine lettuce and a small amount of chicken in it. I barely ate anything all day and expected to be able to perform the same as I have before. I kind of answered my own question there. Don't worry, today was National Junk Food Day. I totally made up for my lack of food intake yesterday! 

2. Last night I also had dinner at a co-workers house. Her daughter worked in my classroom last year, but she’s moved on to be a Wellness Counselor with Herbalife. She and her team did an assessment for me and showed me things that I was interested in (such as protein powders) and suggested some things that might help me out with my training. They have meal replacement smoothies, protein powder, energy drinks, protein bars, meal bars, etc. Whatever meets your needs as an athlete, they probably have. But the difference between Herbalife and other products out there is that Herbalife is all-natural and doesn’t have the added sugars that other products on the market have. Or so they say. I ordered Formula 1, which is a meal replacement shake and Personalized Protein which is just more protein to add to smoothies or the Formula 1.  The idea is to have 2 meal replacement shakes and a “colorful meal”. Not kidding, that’s what they called it. Given my experience yesterday with 2 smoothies before running, providing me with NO fuel, I’m hesitant. Plus, I’m not looking to replace meals. I’m looking to add protein to my morning smoothies or maybe after a hard workout. I might only replace one meal. Or I might replace breakfast and dinner and have my “colorful” meal for lunch to fuel up. I don’t know yet. I’ll see how it goes once I get my order. If you are interested or have any questions regarding the product, contact Brittany on her Facebook page.

3. Today I did my first training swim at Hopkinton State Park where my triathlon in September is being held. It was well over 90 degrees today and I just couldn’t fathom going to the gym to swim in an overcrowded pool. When I got to the park, I found the area where the swim starts. It starts with next to the boat docks, behind the boathouse. There was a huge sign that said “No Swimming”. Awesome. I asked someone at the boathouse if I could swim the triathlon route or if it was only allowed on race days. The girl I spoke to was about as helpful as a box of rocks. She said, “Oh, I’m not sure, I’m not with the park, I’m with the boat house”. I asked “You do realize where this boat house is located right?” I got a blank stare. I think she lost a few more brain cells just trying to figure it out. After asking around a little bit I was told that swimming was allowed in the swimming areas.  Well that’s good. Since I couldn’t seem to get a straight answer, I just went for it. It was really windy and the water was really choppy. I was tempted to not swim, but it was so warm out and I was already there, and I wanted to get in and just swim! I swam over to the beach in just about 10 minutes. I had to switch my breathing side because the waves were coming at me from the right and I kept breathing in water. On the way back from the beach, the wind picked up and I felt like I was fighting bears and going nowhere in the water. The waves were crazy! It took me 16 minutes to get back. Let’s hope there’s no wind on race day!  When I got home and out of my bathing suit, I saw that it was brown on the inside. It was white when I bought it. It was white after my pool swims. It was white after my lake swims. It was white when I put it on today. A 26-minute swim at Hopkinton State Park and it’s brown.  I think I’ll be saving my open water swims for the lake in NH.

Three Things Thursday

So I know I said previously that I don’t usually do these things, but here it is, my second one. Maybe it will become a semi regular thing. Honestly I just have random things to say and it happens to be Thursday. Lucky me.

1. Yesterday I completed week 4 day 1 of the Couch 2 5K program. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it is:

3 minutes of running

1.5 minutes of walking

5 minutes of running

2.5 minutes of walking

3 minutes of running

1.5 minutes of walking

5 minutes of running.

I did it on my first try. 

I had a hard time with Week 3 in the program. I couldn’t seem to get over the 3 minutes running hurdle. It was completely mental for me. I had decided that I couldn’t do it. So I couldn’t.  Finally, last weekend, I decided that I wasn’t going to get off the treadmill until I ran 3 full minutes. I had plans later that night so there was my motivation. I did it on the first try. Later that week as I did it again, I thought to myself. If I can do 3 minutes, I’ll be able to do 5 minutes. That set the stage for me. I was tired towards the end of the second 5 minutes, but I kept going. I’m proud of myself. I haven’t been able to get past week 3 in any of the times I’ve tried to do C25K previously, so this is a big deal for me. I’m still having problems with running outside, so I’m continuing on the treadmill until I can build up my endurance, then I’ll slowly start to switch to outside running, and hope that it works! Having the confidence in knowing that I can do this on the treadmill is what is keeping me going. I have a 5K this weekend in New Hampshire. I’m going to see how long I can run at a time. I need to get over this outside running hurdle and hopefully I’ll feel better about this running business. 

2. One of my co-workers had an amazing looking salad the other day and she filled me in on a little secret. Her salad dressing wasn’t dressing at all; It was lemon juice. I’m not kidding. It’s true. Lemon juice. One of my favorite salads is a family recipe for Caesar Salad and one of the ingredients for the dressing is lemon juice. But I had never thought of JUST using lemon juice. I made a salad tonight and I put lemon juice on it. I didn’t realize how much I would love this.

Yum. 

3. I went for a bike ride today through Northborough. About 2 miles in, I wanted to turn around and go home. My butt was hurting. Not bike seat wise, but my outer hip/glute area. It felt fatigued, and the muscles were burning. I don’t know if it’s still tired from the monster hill bike ride I did last weekend, or if my body was just tired from yesterday’s 5 minute intervals of running. Either way. I started thinking that I should have taken a rest day, or I shouldn’t be pushing my body this much, and I have a 5K this weekend, I don’t need to be making myself more tired, etc. Many random quitting thoughts kept flowing through my mind. Even though I remembered that the beginning part of the route was pretty much uphill, and after I hit the 3 mile mark it would switch to flat and downhill for the rest of the way of the loop, I still wanted to turn around and go home. I finally convinced myself that it was okay for me to cut my bike ride short, just as soon as I hit the top of the hill I was on. Then I’d turn around and go back. For some reason I kept going. I had even slowed and pulled slightly over onto a side street. But I just let myself keep rolling. It was downhill at that point and happened to be the area of the loop where it descended to the end. By the time I got to the bottom of that one hill, I told myself that if I wanted to turn around now, I’d have to go right back up that hill I came down.  I kept going. The rest of the ride was fine and my legs seemed to finally warm up a bit. I was still tired and I didn’t push myself at all, but I was thinking about the last time I did the loop and I tried to remember my time. I figured after a few more months of training, I’d have improved a bit. I was excited to see what the results were. I was a full minute slower than I was when I did this loop back in May. I should be getting better, not worse! Even though I finished it, I don’t feel good about it. I guess we all have our off days.

Allergic reactions?

I had an amazing experience with vanilla Oikos greek yogurt and peanut butter a while back, and I continue to enjoy it on a fairly regular basis.  Recently I discovered that my throat itches slightly after eating said combination. I thought it was the yogurt, until last night.

I was starving, and obviously was close to wasting away to nothing. A sandwich was made and I got my hands on half of it. It was peanut butter and fluff. I wasn't really in the mood for it. I would have actually preferred a nice healthy dose of cottage cheese, but I had eaten the last of it for lunch. But the sandwich was made and it was looking at me. Plus, did I mention there was fluff?

I could eat fluff by the spoonful. I don't, but I could. Well, except for that one time, but that was an emergency. What? Only 40 calories and no fat!! If it were socially acceptable, I'd bring a jar of it for lunch.

Moving on.

After eating the peanut butter and fluff, I noticed that my throat felt slightly the way it does after I've eaten my yogurt with peanut butter in it. My first thought was that I might be having an allergic reaction to peanut butter since my itchy throat has occurred in two instances when I've eaten peanut butter. But when I eat peanut butter by itself (my spoon seems to like to jump in the jar for a swim a lot), I don't have any adverse reactions at all. Veddy veddy curious.

It can't be the fluff. Marshmallow is just sugar and air. Since I consume both of those on a fairly regular basis, there is no way I'm allergic to either of those. 

Today I decided to be proactive and I did an experiment. I ate a spoonful of peanut butter. No reaction. I ate my yogurt plain. No reaction. Peanut butter & fluff sandwich. Reaction.

Somewhere along the lines of combining peanut butter with both vanilla Oikos greek yogurt or Fluff makes me react like this. What is the ingredient in these two things that brings out this reaction? It's so strange!

Maybe Web MD has the answers.

Gels and energy bars and sports drinks, OH MY!

What’s the difference between Enhanced water and sports drinks. Enhanced water has vitamins; sports drinks have electrolytes. What does that even mean? I found this web page that talks about what is in sports drinks and why people need them but it started talking about ingredients and using words I can’t pronounce, let alone try to remember as I’m reading a label, so how am I supposed to know what’s good for me and what’s just extra unneeded calories. I mean at this point most calories in my life are unnecessary. Sports drinks will only add to that right?

I’ve seen a lot of talk about sodium and salt tablets too. I realize that sweat will release a lot of salt and just drinking water can be dangerous if salt levels get too low, but as an overweight person, I find it odd that adding more salt to my body will keep me on track for training. Right now in the training process, I’m not trying to lose weight. I know it will most likely happen, since I’m actually moving my body and not lazing around. But up until now I really haven’t seen a change in my weight.

Well, that’s a lie. Technically since January, I’ve lost about 30 pounds. It doesn’t seem significant to me though, because I haven’t seen huge leaps and bounds. I’ve been within the same 5 pounds for 2 or 3 months. I guess it’s slowly slipping down the scale without me really noticing though, because I was seeing the same 5 pounds back and forth 30 pounds ago. It’s a lose 5 then gain 4 type of game. Seeing the same numbers over and over, you don’t think you’re losing anything. It’s just back and forth.

Back to training: I’m trying to get to the point where I can race in my upcoming triathlon and not die not come in last finish. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I’m always thinking about how professional athletes and people who run and are already stick figures would definitely need to replace sodium and carbohydrates and the other stuff you lose while swimming/biking/running. I don’t need that right? I have enough of that stuff and I could stand to lose a bit of it, right? I don’t get this stuff. Should I use it? How will it help me? And don’t even get me started on Gels. WHAT ARE THEY!! Is it like a meal in gel form? Do the astronauts eat it? What does it taste like? Will I gag? I don’t like gagging. Especially while trying to race. I have enough trouble staying upright and going in a forward motion. I don’t need to be gagging on something that’s not a liquid, yet not a solid. That freaks me out a little bit. Can’t I just eat a Kit Kat? I like Kit Kats. They've got sugar, salt and crispy stuff. It probably has enough extra things to keep me going in a race, should I lose anything (salt, electrolytes, carbs) in the process, and I won’t gag. It’s chocolate. No way can you gag on chocolate!

Oh god, and then there are the bars. Balance, CLIF, Power, Lara etc, etc, etc. What do THEY do? Meal replacement? Give energy? Do I eat a bar or gag on a gel, or is it the time for a sports drink, or should I just go with water?

See there are way too many things to keep track of and do I really need any of it? Can I just drink water and stop thinking about all these things? I need to hunt someone down who has done a lot of crazy races and knows what they are talking about with this stuff and take them out to dinner or something to I can pick their brain. (Don’t worry, the meal will be real food, not gels and bars). All this talk right here proves that even though I’ve been training for a triathlon for 6 months already and have done four 5Ks with another one coming up in a few weeks, I’m still a complete newbie at this stuff. Is there a hotline for people like me?

I'm going on a fairly long bike ride tomorrow. I'm filling my hydration pack with water. I'm going to buy Gatorade to put in my water bottle (or is Gatorade too 1980? what's the new sports drink these days?) and I'm bringing a CLIF bar. It has chocolate in it, so we're good there. Even if I have no idea what I'm doing, I can fake it until I make it. Booyah.

And now that I’ve said it out loud and actually realized it, somebody give me a bleeping high five for losing 30 pounds in 6 months. It may not be a  “lot”, but it’s a pretty damn good number for someone who’s not really trying. 

There's magic in the air. Or maybe it's the yogurt.

Eat me with peanut butter. Do it.

This morning I was running out the door (not to be confused with actual running) to meet up with some people. I didn’t have much time for a breakfast, but I wanted to make sure it would sustain me for a while and still be with me for an afternoon bike ride. I grabbed a vanilla Oikos Greek yogurt (which I discovered at the Stonyfield 5K) and then planned to have a half a bagel with some peanut butter on it. After I had the bagel already in the toaster, I remembered that I find plain bagels boring and buy only onion bagels. I didn’t think peanut butter on an onion bagel sounded too appetizing, so I put the peanut butter in my yogurt instead. Since I have weird OCD tendencies, I wanted to make sure it would mix well and not be lumpy, so I used a fork to get the peanut butter out of the jar instead of using a spoon and dirtying two utensils, even though in the near future I’d be using a spoon to actually eat the yogurt (there is a reason I’m mentioning this). (Also, I over-think things just a little bit.) I didn’t get a lot of peanut butter; it was maybe a ½ tablespoon. Okay, it was probably a whole tablespoon. Or, really, in this case, a tablefork. Heh, I just made myself laugh. Anyway. I put the peanut butter into my yogurt and stirred it around a bit. Then I tasted it. It was magic in my mouth. I ate the rest of it with my fork because I didn’t want to waste any time pausing to open the drawer, get a spoon, put the fork in the dishwasher and THEN get back to my yogurt. No, I wanted it all in my mouth. And I wanted it fast. (Get your mind out of the gutter. You know who you are.)

Seriously. Try it some time. It was magic. And I’m doing it again tomorrow. But this time I’ll be prepared with a spoon. Or maybe I won’t. I like to keep you people on your toes.

In other news, I started Couch to 5K again last week. I did one day of it, then had the Margaritas 5K. I timed it well, I think. Scoff. I did days 2 and 3 of week 1 this week and I was surprised. Day two was a good workout. I didn’t even want to do it, because, well, it’s running. We know how I feel about that. I did it anyway and I felt strong throughout. Surprisingly, the intervals seemed shorter than they actually were. I actually thought, "It's done already?" after one of the running intervals. I was definitely happy with the progress. I guess I had me one of them “good runs”. Who am I?

Today, it was raining in the afternoon, so I switched my planned bike ride to another C25K run, even though I didn’t want to get on the treadmill, again. Shockingly, it was another good running workout. Two in a row. Again, I ask you, who am I? (Don’t worry, I still didn’t like it.)

Now that I think about it, it might have been the yogurt. It really was magical.