WIAW #12: Brain Food

 

 

Welcome to my first bar prep WIAW! For the next two months, my posts are likely going to feature a mish-mash of eats, because studying for the bar means an off-kilter schedule. I’ve worked out a routine these first few days. The lectures for the bar exam review course are actually available through an iPhone app, so I’ve been listening to the first hour and a half on morning runs or walks and cool-downs/stretching times. Then I come back, shower, eat breakfast or brunch, and finish up the rest of the lecture either at my laptop or while running errands (it’s amazing when you can listen – on the subway, getting a haircut, grocery shopping – as long as you don’t zone out and become a walking zombie!) I’m trying to fill in the lecture handouts and make flash cards for each subject while I do this. I take a late lunch or snack break, get outside, maybe play with Sasha, then do an hour or two of review and practice questions and look over the lecture notes for the next day, cutting off bar-related things by 5:30pm or so. I work best when I break up material into manageable chunks and focus for fewer hours. This may all change when things get more intense, but so far it’s working. It does mean my food is a little boring, because what is easy to grab? Apples and yogurt and snacks you crunch on while working like popcorn. Prepare for a million more photos of Pink Lady apples and peanut butter Greek yogurts, my friends! And also, my laptop and/or study books in the background. 

 

Pre-run breakfast: Just a muffin and some blueberries before my 9am run. I try to keep this small when I’m running 6 miles or less. It’s still strange eating before such short runs – when I first started running, I didn’t ever eat, even before long runs, until I learned my lesson at my first half marathon. But if I am going to start my run later in the morning (after 8am or so) which I’ve been doing to coincide with peak lecture-listening, and also to avoid Ridgefield traffic early in the AM, my stomach actually starts growling en route. 

 

 

Post-run snack: I got home around 10:30am, showered, and decided to grab something to tide me over until I could fix an early lunch because I wanted to sit down and get the rest of the lecture-listening to over with! That meant a yogurt with peanut butter and blackberries, and a cup of Corn Chex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: I was starving by noon, so went for a quick fix. A salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, feta cheese, dolmades (grape leaves), and grilled chicken topped with honey mustard dressing. I had a fresh nectarine on the side, and a plain Greek yogurt to finish. And a tall glass of decaf iced coffee – I’ve been using my Keurig to make my French Vanilla Decaf over ice as the weather gets warmer, and it is so refreshing!

 

 

 

 

Late afternoon snack: Yes, ANOTHER Greek yogurt, this time made into a Cafe au Lait Parfait. It sounds fancy and French but it is super simple. You take a plain Greek yogurt and freeze it for 45-60 minutes, remove and stir, then add in 1/2 cup of coffee ice cream, as well as a few dark chocolate chips or whatever other toppings sound good! It turns out to be a protein-packed frozen treat, both tart and sweet for a yummy summery treat. I had this after taking Sasha for a 2-mile trek on the nature trail behind our house as a study break.

 

 

 

Dinner: Around 5:30pm, I started snacking on a bowl of baby carrots and a piece of sharp Cheddar, and fifteen minutes later I was munching while I scoured the fridge. I ended up having leftovers from the weekend, when my family went to a local Southwestern restaurant for dinner one evening. I prefer simple preparations of fish and poultry (just olive oil, salt, pepper, and maybe some dill or paprika!) but I had a chicken and polenta dish that was pretty good for my natural taste buds. It came with black beans and melted cheese, and was light on the sauce, which was great for me. I added some Foster Farms grilled chicken strips from Costco to the bowl because I’d eaten most of the chicken already.

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert: I got to go out for ice cream multiple times this weekend, but as may be evident by now, I will never tire of it! After taking Sasha for her post-dinner stroll, I whipped up a Peanut Butter Puff-in-a-Mug and added some vanilla bean dark chocolate chip ice cream for a ginormous bowl of dessert. What can I say… It’s too delicious to resist! Of course, I had a Pink Lady apple to finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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