The bad blogger resurfaces…

Ahhh…I’ve been lousy at blogging and I decided to just let it go until September – but rest assured, I’ve been thinking of post ideas and taking lots of pictures, thinking up recipies. I have so much I want to share. Sit tight…I’ll be back. (Uh, did I have to say that…well I guess I did, I mean he is the governator).

my path to happy and healthy II

 Good morning!

I want to continue with my mind bender weekend and my path to happy and healthy but first I want to talk about the great day I had yesterday.

After a funky weekend I woke up with a new-found resolve. I was listening to my body all day long for hunger cues and fullness.  It really works. It can be tough but it really works.  What surprised me was the energy I had all day long.  I did have a cup of coffee in the morning but most days that is not enough, yesterday it was MORE than enough!

I had a great dinner with farmer’s market kale!

sesame kale, corn on the cob, and a random veggie burger from the freezer

The corn was great, the kale was amazing and the veggie burger – well – it was a veggie burger.  Kinda freezer burned, but it was in the house so I ate it. 

Do you ever notice that when you eat real food processed food doesn’t taste as good as it used to?

I steamed my kale and mixed it with some left over sesame noodle sauce that I made for a work potluck from Choosing Raw. Then I crushed up 3 of Mary’s Gone Crackers over the top. SO YUMMY! I can already tell I’m forming an obsession with these crackers.

I also had an amazing after work yoga class. It was one of those classes where you are floored that it is over after 75 minutes because it was so amazing.  I really listened to my breath, took child’s pose when I needed it – it was a great practice.

We tried to take a short run when we got home (Ryan works out with me, he is the best), but my shins immediately started to hurt. I decided to just walk, and I was ok with that.  I didn’t want to injure anything!

After dinner I was whooped. I ended up going to bed early to watch my newest guilty pleasure Pretty Little Liars, but I ended up passing out by 11:30. (I go to bed around 12 usually – late I know!).

my path to happy and healthy I

So back to my crazy weekend. Not crazy busy but crazy because of the games we play with ourselves (or at least the games I play with myself). 

I had on a bathing suit and I felt really good in it! I asked Ry to take a photo so I could compare it to my before pictures from February.  BAD IDEA!  I really didn’t see any change and it crushed me for 3 days. 

I knew full well that I’d been making all the right moves. Working out, eating well, the scale was down! Why did I let this stupid picture get to me, when 5 seconds earlier I was feeling so great?  That picture played with my head all weekend. I tried to fight it as best I could, I did pretty well until Monday when I just couldn’t handle it anymore. 

I went to the kitchen more times than I should have that day. I dont’ think I was hungry once that day, but I ate.  I didn’t do the damage I used to do when I would over eat because of stress or upset feelings, but I was not following my typically healthy eating patterns.

So part of this path I’m on is learning to deal with these crazy ups and downs in life.  Eating well and excercise are only part of it.  There is a mind body balance you have to find.  My dad told me I should have meditated when I was feeling upset on Saturday to try to look at the feelings I was having and examine them without judgement.

Why do we judge ourselves so harshly? 

I told myself I could have the weekend to be pouty but by Tuesday I had to get over it.  I think it is working.  I also think sharing this is really helpful.

There are lots of other parts to my own path to happy and healthy and I’d be happy to share – but I chose this first because, well it was very recent, and because I hope  that by sharing this experience maybe somebody else will benefit from it (and know better than to take a photo in a bathing suit in the poor lighting of my bedroom with a flash!).  And if they do take the photo maybe they will remember that ultimately it is not about one picture, it is how you treat yourself on a daily basis. 

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together” – Vincent Van Gogh

This quote came in my email box today via The Daily Love.  I highly recommend signing up for it.  You get some great self loving quotes every day!

my path to happy and healthy

I had better intentions of blogging this weekend, but things got strange for me.  I’ve always been on the heavy side. I’ve gone up and down my whole life, but things got crazy after I got married almost 6 years ago. Ry and I both put on a fair amount of “happy weight” – I call it the yummy phase.  We’ve been working to get it off I’m about 10 lbs away from wedding weight – which was not as low as I’d like it to be, but I was feeling pretty good.  Ryan is at his wedding weight now too so obviously we’ve been working really hard.

Our biggest weight loss down fall has been that we are always going to start tomorrow.  Let’s have pizza tonight and we’ll start eating healthy tomorrow.  Let me tell you – this doesn’t work.  Finally, over the last year or so we’ve actually been making a bunch of lifestyle changes and I think that is how we’ve been managing to get the weight off and keep it off.

There are still a lot of head games I play with myself over my physical appearance. I know that from the inside I’m extremely healthy – low blood pressure, low cholesterol, my iron and B12 are great.  I still struggle. 

This weekend I was feeling particularly good about myself. I’d had a very productive week in terms of eating healthy and working out. I was feeling like I was getting past my tendency to binge eat when I was bored or upset. I got up and had a healthy breakfast and decided it was so nice out I’d put on a bathing suit and soak up a little sun in the back yard.  I put my suit on and looked in the mirror and I felt GREAT!  I really felt like I could see the fruits of my labor.

I should have left it at that…

Stay tuned for more on my mind-body bender weekend.

Dessert for Breakfast

Good morning!

Yesterday’s run was so great, I went a little further and a little faster than last time.  That is a win for me.  I’m really hoping to be able to get some yoga in before running again tonight.  Hopefully the studio is fixed!

I have a new obsession. Vegan Overnight Oats from Oh She Glows!  These oats are like eating dessert for breakfast. A very filling breakfast that you may have to eat in two parts because they are so filling!

I’ve had these three days in a row. Day 1, traditional layered with overnight strawberry jam. Day 2 with banana soft serve – which I failed to take a photo of because I was so hungry!  (I personally like Happy Herbivore’s banana soft serve with coconut extract instead of vanilla.  I usually 1/2 the recipe.  You can find banana soft serve on Choosing Raw and Oh She Glows – probably on other vegan health blogs as well. It is soo good!). Today is Day 3 and I have chocolate strawberry banana. 

I take them to work at eat them at my desk, so please excuse the ugly Tupperware!

Regular recipe layered with strawberry jam and topped with homemade almond butter and a little dried unsweetened coconut!

Strawberry Banana (it is in there) chocolate oats with coconut, maple syrup, and a couple chocolate chips. These. Are. So. Good.

Took these with my phone, hopefully the food porn gets better soon!

Check out these oats and make them tonight for your breakfast tomorrow.  It takes less than 5 minutes and I don’t have to rush to get breakfast in the morning since I’m always running around like crazy in the AM!

Recipe review and my rad co-workers!

See, I’m really making an effort at this blogging thing!

Actually, today I found myself with some extra time.  My yoga studio is being worked on so the room is about cut in half which means less space.  Being the good yogi I am, I’m leaving room for others (because it is kind of the studio policy for assistants to give up their space when needed) and taking advantage of the extra time to do a little blogging.

I’ve been sampling some tasty recipes lately from my favorite blogs and I thought I’d share one of my favorites from a work potluck.

First up – I made the Sesame Noodles from Choosing Raw. Let me tell you these are fantastic!  I wanted to make something cool and filling for a work potluck because I signed up for a main dish.  I originally thought I’d make an enchilada casserole (I swear one day I’ll post the recipe, it is insanely good). They are a little high in fat for something I would usually make, but I wanted something really good to share with my work peeps.

I threw in red bell pepper, orange carrot, green zucchini, and purple cabbage for a nice pop of color.  I also made with whole grain spaghetti noodles because that was what was on hand. I think the soba would be awesome though.  I added some baked tofu for a protein punch too. There was a tiny bit of bitterness to the sauce, which I actually really liked, but I was not sure if everybody would so I added just a bit of agave to it.

 Whenever I bring food into work I like to watch people to see if A) they take the vegan girl’s hippy food, and B to see if they make a face when they eat it.  My idea of good food doesn’t always match others. Today was a huge hit though!  People chowed down on the noodles and when I went to package up the left overs to take home one of my co-workers said she had stolen the rest of them for her dinner that night! LOVE IT!

So check out the recipe and make these for your next work potluck. Super easy, super carnivore friendly and pretty healthy!

My co-workers are really cool. I was so floored at the amount of great food available to me today.  A quinoa and veggie salad, a wild rice salad that was AWESOME, vegan 3 bean chili, and a beautiful green salad that had basil in it.  I. WAS. STUFFED.  As far as I’m concerned they can keep cooking great food like that for the potlucks.  The birthday dessert celebrations are usually things I won’t eat since they are not vegan, and they can keep it that way too – much less temptation!

Still working out my blogging techniques, I’m getting better, but I totally forgot to take a picture of the sesame noodles.  So instead of yummy sesame noodles to drool over you can see my post run snack today. Ezekiel bread, a quarter avocado and some salsa.  The Sacramento heat has broken and I’m looking forward to a run tonight with Ry. We are just starting out running, but I’m hoping to extend my mile just a bit.  We’ve been doing 1 mile, walking a bit, and then doing about another .75.  Slowly but surely!

Ezekiel bread, smashed avocado, and some salsa! DELISH!

And since I’ve been so lame with the photos (no sesame noodles & no potluck, oi!) I will leave you with Ry and I at the Giant’s game a couple of weeks ago.  It was freezing and I was so tired, but we had a great time and they WON!

Ryan and I love the San Francisco Giants! Can you tell from all the orange and back?!?

Oh yeah, I’m still not loving this blog theme…I’ll keep looking….

Blog Changes!

I’m finding my voice and vision still so please don’t be too annoyed at the constant changes! On the upside I’ve added a few of the blogs I frequent to the blog roll. What blogs do you love?

Summer Nites

I found an iPhone app for wordpress. Hoping this will make me a better blogger! Sitting here in the dugout of B’s softball game, I figured why not give it a go!

We started the evening off with a super sweaty yoga practice. I changed after and I could actually wring the sweat out of my top! It feels so good to sweat though!

Today was an over 100 degree day, but right now it is 9:30pm and it is a lovely summer night. The hot days can be brutal but the nights make it so worth it.

Can you see Ry in the grey at first base?