April 2

Dissertation

I am so excited to report that I have a teacher interested in and willing to teach my six week intervention this spring so I can get feedback on the lesson plans AND collect student writing samples to refine my scoring criteria! I spent most of the day working on the Human Subjects IRB approval to collect student data and wrote my first sample book review to use in the study. I've been putting off the sample writing because I wanted to be more confident about what it should include/sound like - now that I have a teacher who will be teaching the lessons I have to get busy with the samples!

Nutrition

I definitely need to eat more protein in the morning. On the days when I have eggs and whole wheat toast I can last much longer before I need to eat again. I don't want to eat eggs everyday so I need to figure out some good alternatives. My immune support cereal is pretty good (oatmeal, oat bran, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, ground flaxseed, wheat germ) but still not as filling. I got a bottle of General Tso's sauce at Trader Joes and used it with my stirfry (zucchini, tofu, almonds, peppers, onions, carrots and brown rice) and it is DELICIOUS. Of course this is probably because of the sugar ... but at least the brown rice is super filling so I don't eat too much. Had what is typically my favorite meal for dinner (out) last night of salad with grilled salmon and side of mac and cheese ... but none of it tasted as good as normal. Not sure if the restaurant changed something or my tastebuds changed.

Movement

Worked out my arms at the gym and cardio then a walk with the neighbors. I am now wearing my shape up shoes (skechers) to the gym and realized it is like having bosu (half a big ball) ball strapped to the bottom of your feet. Everything I do now I use my core more as a result - this is a good thing as I have a large core that is in need of some work!