Time for a Change

Remember when I mentioned yesterday that I think it might be time to not post every meal on this blog?

After a few days thinking about this, today I arrived at my answer. (Although my instincts probably could have given me this answer a week ago – I swear, they rarely steer me wrong).

As timing would have it, in the past day Marie Claire posted a controversial article about healthy living bloggers in general but focused especially on six bloggers, all of whom I think very highly of. [The content of article itself is really not the point in my post tonight, but if you want to read more about the "debate" of the presence or absence of disordered eating and exercise behavior in the healthy living blog community, read these posts & comments: Tina, Heather, Caitlin and Meghann.]

I do not agree with the article, I recognize both sides of the debate, and I do not want to go more into it than that.

What I do want to say is that reading all of the responses and comments to this article led me to think a little more about The Runner’s Cookie, and whether it really represents who I am.

As I said before, I started this blog without much expectation and quickly began to enjoy the creative outlet, the peer support, the inspiration, and the sharing of ideas that comes with blogging.

After 3 months of posting almost all of my meals, I think it is time to shift my focus. I enjoy reading blogs (like Tina’s and Kath’s) that post every single meal and snack, but I just don’t think it’s for me. For one thing, my meals are not all that interesting (it’s true!) and putting that much emphasis on every little thing I eat just does not jive with my personality or general philosophy. I’ve decided that I want The Runner’s Cookie to be something other than every single thing that goes in my mouth, as that leaves me with less time than I would like to write about other aspects of my life.

I’ve never been the type of person to calorie count or food journal or really document my food in any way (that is, until I began taking pictures of everything). I recognize that taking pictures of one’s food is hardly the same as counting calories, but I think I would still prefer to not focus on every bite. The truth is, lately blog posts full of food back logs have felt forced and not genuine. I love posting meals and recipes that I get excited about and having something to say about (because, obviously, I love food!), but I don’t see the value in posting all of my bowls of cereal, granola bars, leftovers, sandwiches, basic stir fries, etc.

That being said, documenting my meals for the past 3 months has been informative for me, and I’m glad that I did it. It’s taught me a lot of things, like the value of plating food and why it’s important for me to put a little more thought into what I really want to eat instead of mindlessly eating the first thing I see.

All along I’ve been saying “I don’t know what I want this blog to be”, and I guess by posting my meals I was leaving my options open, in a way. But now I have a better idea of what I want this blog to be:

• A blog about running (workouts, mental and physical aspects and benefits, my experiences and races, why I love it).
• A blog about living a balanced, healthy life (my definitions of balanced and healthy, which are not necessarily what anyone else’s definitions should be).
• A blog about food and recipes and cookies – I still want to post some meals but not all of them, because I don’t think it really serves much of a purpose for readers. Everyone’s body is different and everyone has different food preferences and needs, all of which are very personal choices, and I don’t think anyone should emulate me in that regard. Although to say that my recipe creation skills are a “work in progress” would be generous, I do hope to be able to come up with more recipes because I find it extremely fun!
• A blog about a 20-something Bostonian just trying to figure her life out – applying for grad school, transitioning from school to work (and soon back to school), and other situations I face.

I hope you will continue reading and trust me on this one.

This is not in any way shape or form meant to put down bloggers who do post every meal, I just don’t think it’s “me” and I look at this as an exciting step in my journey toward what I want The Runner’s Cookie to be.

I also plan to get a new camera soon, and therefore take a lot of pictures of anything and everything that inspires me.

***

On that note, I made some excellent cookies yesterday!

After making my Not-Sweet Mini Pumpkin Breads yesterday, I had the urge to make Chocolate Chip Cookies.

A recipe from Evan’s blog looked pretty awesome – Chocolate Chip “I-Really-Need-A-Cookie” Recipe.

I doubled the batch (to make 16 giant cookies) and only made a couple of minor changes: I used a mix of turbinado and brown sugar (instead of just turbinado sugar), and added more chocolate chips. These are fluffy and cake-like – a keeper recipe!

Baking is so therapeutic for me. I would guess that my double-header baking yesterday was subconsciously a way to ease the anxiety that was creeping in – anxiety about the exam that I took this morning. I have been out of school for a year and a half, and this is an exam I needed to take in order to apply for certain graduate programs. Me and standardized tests don’t mix well. It went okay (not great), but it’s over. One thing I did do right this morning was having breakfast already made in the fridge.

Last night I prepped Overnight Oats in the almost-empty Maranatha jar. It was my first experience with Scottish/Steel cut oats, which, much to my surprise, were very different than rolled oats! They were chewy and more dense – I liked it, it was just different. Topped with yesterday’s Pumpkin treat.

Have you tried Scottish Oats? How do you prepare them?

Lunch and dinner were simple but good too, but right now these cookies are really hitting the spot

I am ending this post with an exercise that I have mentioned before and hope to do more often.

3 Things I Appreciate Today

1. After today, I will (hopefully) never need to take another standardized test in my life.
2. I squeezed in a short gym session after work that helped lift my mood today.
3. Our apartment really feels like home and I look forward to going home every single day.

Anything you appreciate today?

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