Friday, June 12, 2009

A Yoga-Oaty morning

Good morning! Today I will embark on the exciting world of food photography! Yes, it will probably look a bit strange to take photos of my food--especially in restaurants!-- but I think food can be so beautiful! I laughed out loud (but definitely agreed) with Jenna (EatLiveRun blogger) when she dubbed pictures of her vegan chocolate cake drizzled with warm almond butter "food porn." It's a recipe I want to try one of these days! Yum-0!

Well, my morning is off to a good start. One of my goals for this summer is to improve my ability to cope with stress in healthy ways so that my upcoming senior year will be less stresssful than my 24/7 high-stress junior year. Part of this I hope to achieve through a balanced, healthy approach to food and nourishment, but I am also very interested in strengthening the mind-body connection. Soo... in pursuit of this, I am beginning to give yoga a chance. As a cardio junkie (running, elliptical, kickboxing, spinning, and killer workout DVDs being my preferred method of exercise), I have never had much patience for yoga. Anything where lying down and breathing is part of the plan seemed very wimpy to me.

HA! When I was in Bath, I decided to take a yoga class. MAJOR humbling experience. Because of years of running, I am about as tightly wound as can be. I can barely reach my toes. And while running will always be therapeutic for me, I have realized recently that my body needs some exercise that's a little less harsh than the constant pounding my joints endure when I run.

Currently, I am taking a few weeks off from running to let my IT band rest. I had been having problems with excruciating knee pain on my runs, and so I've cut the running for a bit to let it heal. I am running a half marathon in September, so I need my legs to be good and strong!

This morning, I started off with 15 minutes of yoga from my mum's Gaiam DVD. I am thinking of starting every day with just 15 (or 30 minutes) of yoga. It left me feeling energized, but I can tell I have a LONG way to go until yoga can be a good, solid workout for me! I'm just not flexible enough yet. Well, practice, practice, practice!

For breakfast, I had a delicious bowl of Overnight Oats (YAY Kath from KathEatsRealFood) for coming up with this fabulous concept. The night before, simply mix 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, 1/3 cup vanilla soy milk and 1/3 cup whole oats together and pop it in the fridge. Overnight, it becomes kind of mousse-like and then in the morning, you can top it with whatever yummy ingredients you want. Obviously, the yogurt and milk types are flexible: you can use soy milk, hemp milk, almond milk: whatever floats your milk boat!




This morning I topped mine with strawberries, banana, peach, and Kashi GoLean Crunch for some good, crunchy bits.


I've gotten both my parents hooked on overnight oats. My mum likes them so much that she brought little mini bowls to her book club for all the ladies to try! Well, I have a busy day planned, and then this afternoon my parents, brother, and I are going to the beach and our favorite restaurant in Half Moon Bay: Mezza Luna! http://www.mezzalunabythesea.com/

More later!

1 comment:

  1. just wanted to say HIIII!

    i look forward to following!

    ReplyDelete