Cranky Stomach, More Squash & Pronation

At least the week is halfway over, but I am dragging through it. Apparently I’m fighting off whatever nasty cold-thing is flying around, my sinuses and stomach have not been happy the last couple of days and I’m tired. Thankfully it does not seem to be as bad as what other co-workers are dealing with yet, but it’s making this week seem much longer. My stomach was so unhappy yesterday I had a smoothie for breakfast and lunch.

Typically smoothies aren’t satisfying lunches for me, but I couldn’t handle anything bulky and possibly irritating my stomach more. My typical smoothie contains either Sun Warrior or Hemp Protein powders, spinach or kale, a carrot, chia seed gel and a piece of fruit lately. Sometimes flax seeds and/or maca powder. It’s my go to breakfast and maybe lunch and dinner if I’m not feeling good.

When I get tired and run down feeling, winter squashes are a comfort food I’m pretty sure I’ll never get tired of. Earlier this week I created a spaghetti squash curry lentil dish by simmering a cup of dried red lentils in a simple sauce created in the Vita-Mix of:

• 1 tbsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• pinch red curry powder
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 cups water

Then pouring the mixture over steamed spaghetti squash, broccoli and zucchini.

The end result was a tasty and filling meal packed with veggies, but possibly a bit too strong of a curry flavor for some.

And I’m getting all these funny little butternut squashes from our garden lately, about the size for a single serving and hardly any seeds to scoop out. Being simple to prepare and fast to steam in the microwave, that’s alright with me. Last night I sliced one in half and served with a little bit of agave nectar and pumpkin pie seasonings. Paired with a fast stir fry of pressed tofu cubes, shredded carrots, red cabbage, minced ginger and nama shoyu for another filling meal.

I’m still pretty new to running only being into it for about 1 1/2 years and really getting into it in the past 6 months. The half marathon is the longest distance I’ve run so far and after I noticed a pain in my left hip and a longer recovery time for my ankles. Since I’m in need of new running shoes, I decided to research my next purchase more extensively hoping they can help these issues. In the process, I learned a new running term – pronation. And some runners tend to over or under pronate. This Runner’s World article explains it pretty well. I inspected the wear on my current running shoes and found significantly more wear on the outer soles.

This hints that I’m an under-pronator. At the same time, I’m slightly knock kneed where over-pronation is common along with a low foot arch. But, I have a pretty high arch, so it’s probably something I try to over-correct or I’m just a special case. This isn’t making shoe buying any easier! I’m thinking the ASICS Gel-Cumulus 12 might be my next shoe because:

Built for runners with under-pronation to moderate over-pronation to provide cushioning and stability.

But they’re not cheap and this seems like something I need to research more. Do you know what type of pronator you you?