Monthly Archives: January 2012

Jan31

Flow, My Child, Flow.

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I had a special request for a 30 minute yoga flow at Mornings with MJ! This was my second attempt at recording it as my first go at it over the weekend got cut off!  I must have fallen asleep in pigeon because when I looked up at the recorder, it had gone to sleep as well! Shame.  So, not wanting to leave you with an incomplete video and not having the video editing skills to pick up where it left off and smoosh the two videos together, I made ya a new one!

This is a basic flow series designed to generate a little heat in the body, open up the hips, and tone and strengthen the body.  I did my best to get my entire body in the camera but sometimes my hands disappear out of range (it was my head the first few times).

Please, please, please, if you have any special requests for yoga, strengthening, etc. videos don’t be shy!

Enjoy!

Jan31

Raw Alfredo Sauce–yikes it’s good.

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I can’t believe our 30 days of raw is almost up!  Okay, I can.  I’m ready for some hot roasted veggies, soup, and other warm things to get me through the rest of the winter.  I plan to do a month in a review post later this week but I wanted to share another delicious raw recipe.  I found in on The Rawtarian–which is a wonderful place for simple and delicious raw recipes.

I served this deliciousness with zucchini pasta (my new fave) and a small (okay, small for us may not be so small for most) salad.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cashews
  • 1/2 cup pinenuts
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Directions:

  • Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until its nice and creamy!
  • Serve with zucchini pasta, kelp noodles, broccoli slaw, whatever floats our boat. I’ll probably get wild and put it on real pasta one of these days.
  • Enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Jan30

Awareness

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This morning, the idea of attention or awareness has been on my mind.  I can’t take any credit for it as it was inspired by my friend Julie’s blog as well as a post on crazysexylife.com.  It just seemed to be a reoccurring theme and I thought I should probably grasp on to it as the last few days I’ve been feeling a bit like, “OH SH&$, what am I doing next.”  So, I’m pulling myself back to the moment and remembering that the only place to be is right here, right now.

Something that helps bring me back to the present is to remind myself that all is well in this moment.  I can sit here and write, drink my tea, listen to passing cars, breathe deeply, smile about my lunch date with my cousin, notice how different parts of my body feel, give thanks as I look at the photos and memoirs of our adventures that surround me.  I can be aware of the sensations in my body and the objects around me. Its all good in this moment.  Later, I’ll go and play math games with kids.  It will be frustrating when they “don’t get it” or when they act out inappropriately.  I can choose to allow the frustration to cramp my chest and stomach up or I can breathe and keep myself rooted firmly in the moment and in the presence of the child–who ultimately, just wants to be loved.

Maybe this is what we all want. If I respond to frustration with others and frustrations with myself as a reminder to love and be completely present with that person/myself then all will be well.  Easier said than done? Yes.

Jan28

How to use a Neti Pot.

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Raise your hand if you hate having a cold?  Sinus infection?  No thank you.  Last year, I got my toosh handed to me by some nasty infections–several bouts of bronchitis and these strange and painful bumps on my butt.   I got to know the GP by my work pretty well.  Every time I’d get sick, I go see him and he’d give me antibiotics along with several other horse pills to take three times a day.  I’d start to feel better but soon as I finished the course I’d be sick again and back in his office.  It was torture.

I didn’t really put my illness and the painful bumps together until I realized that each time I went on a course of antibiotics they would go away and then return as soon as I went off and my illness came back.  I called my friend Emily, who lived up stairs from us and is a nurse, and described them to her.  After she took a look at them (yep, I showed her my ass), she said I should get it checked out.  I didn’t have time to go to the GP so I went to the Oriental Medicine Clinic in the same building as my work.  I’ll make a long story short and tell you that the doctor (I liked to call him my medicine man) never even looked at my butt (I thought maybe he wasn’t understanding my problem as his English wasn’t that great). He felt my wrists, and ordered 4 rounds of acupuncture and these concoction of herbs to drink three times a day (it tasted like poo).  Within days, I was feeling much better and the bumps were going away.  It was like magic and his office became my new hang out on breaks ($4 acupuncture, yes please!)
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Jan26

Cashew Banana Ice Cream

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I’ve been really into banana “ice cream” lately.  I love playing around with the recipe and tossing different ingredients in to the food processor.  It satisfies my sweet tooth and love for all things smooth and creamy.  The texture gets even better when I toss some nuts into the mix–a little crunch with the smooth. This is a recipe I recently whipped up:
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Jan26

After the storm

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New Years Day Run at Point Defiance--5 Mile Drive

This morning I was supposed to do 10 miles.  I decided I would drive to Point Defiance Park and run 2 loops of the beautiful 5-mile-drive.  Its thick forest with sweeping views of the Puget Sound.  There’s an occasional car on the week days (they close it to cars on the weekend A.Ms) but they are usually going slow and are considerate. Its hilly and calm.  Really and ideal place to run.
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Jan25

A crime to be thin?

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Last year, in Seoul, I lost about 10 pounds.  Part of it may have been due to illness (I fought bronchitis for the first few months), part to stress (I worked a lot for the first couple of months), and part to walking or cycling every time I left the house.  It was a 20 minute walk or a 10 minute ride to the nearest subway station–which in and of itself required going up and down lots of stairs.  Costco?  Load up the big pack, a jug of vinegar in one hand and a bag of produce in the other–a walk back to the subway, stairs, subway ride, stairs out, 2o minute walk home…  Elevator?  Didn’t take it unless I had my bike–that’s four stories of stairs every time I left our apartment.  Taxi’s were for desperate situations and midnight walks along the river were common place. Needless to say, I was on the move a lot.
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Jan24

Pushup Mini-Session

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Doing pushups on a regular basis will make you strong.  They are one of my favorite exercises because I can do them anywhere, I don’t need any equipment, and they engage nearly my entire body.  Some serious bang-for-my-buck as I like to say.

Some people shy away from pushups because they are “hard”. But that’s what makes them so wonderful!  I’ve made a short video demonstrating several variations of pushups for different levels of strength.  Wherever you are at, if you spend just a few minutes a couple times a week doing it, you’ll start to notice yourself getting stronger.
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Jan23

Winter Running

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Last week our area was hit with some pretty exciting winter weather.  Snow, ice, cold, heavy rain, power outages, wind storms, falling trees… Schools were closed as were many businesses.  The snow, although it slowed me down, did not keep me from running outdoors.  It was when the icy cold rain hit and everything turned to an ice skating rink that I knew I needed to come up with a plan to get my miles in on a tread mill.  I had planned for it to be a high mileage week and as tempting as it was to curl up with a bowl of oatmeal and forget about the miles, I decided to stick to my guns and keep with the raw challenge and miles!  I knew I’d be gloomy if I didn’t.  We made the trek to my aunt and uncles and camped out there until I completed my miles for the week on their treadmill (I did 20 miles on the treadmill on Saturday–a new treadmill record for me).

The ice is melting and I was able to do an easy run outside today, but I was super cautious as there are lots of icy patches still.  Running through the winter can be hard.  Here are some ways I keep it real out there in the cold:
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Jan19

Zucchini Hummus

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One of my favorite snacks/spreads is hummus.  I could put hummus on pretty much anything and it would bring a smile to my face.  Unfortunately, it isn’t raw and so if off limits for another week and half (til the end of our 30 day raw challenge).  I was feeling a little bored with straight up veggies in the afternoon and wanted to add some pizzaz to my snacks.  So, I found this recipe for Zucchini Hummus in…wait for it, you’ll never guess…Thrive Foods.

Zucchini is loaded with good stuff.   Of course there’s the fiber to keep you feeling full and keep your colon clean.  But it’s also high in vitamins A and C and folate which are powerful anti-oxidants!  Let’s not forget the high amounts of manganese and potassium!  It’s also much lighter than traditional hummus. Not to mention the  I added in a few spoonfuls of nutritional yeast for some extra flavor and vitamin B-12.  I even made my own tahini for the first time!  I just feel so legit when I make my own nut spreads and such.

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