Archive for the ‘ Healthy Living ’ Category

Reflections

  Sunday is my birthday – woohoo! I’m super excited about it. I’m definitely not one of those people who shies away from birthdays or any mention of getting older. Ever since I was eight and my parents forgot it was my birthday I vowed to make sure everyone had advanced warning so they could properly prepare. These days though I don’t care about the gifts as much as I do about spending the days with my family and friends. :)

Birthdays, more than the advent of a new year, make me reflect on the past year and think about what’s coming up in the next. What have I accomplished? What did I do that really made me proud? What do I want to accomplish this next year? When my birthday rolls around next year, will I be proud of what I’ve done?

I try to live every day with no regrets, making it all add up to a year with no regrets. So it’s really a lot of moments of reflection leading up to a broad, sweeping reflection. And if I can honestly look back and say that I lived a life that was filled with love and kindness and passion and appreciation for all the good things I’ve been blessed with, then it’s been a great year.

Happy Birthday to me. :D

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

2011
07/08
CATEGORY
Healthy Living
TAGS

11 comments

Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the air…okay, well the air is still a little chilly, but the grass is turning green and spring flowers are popping up all around. Yay! :)

I’m training for a couple of great races this spring that I’m really excited about. One is Miles for Maheny which supports children and adults with severe disabilities. The other is the Superhero Half Marathon and Relay where the proceeds go to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

I’m also participating in the Five Boro Bike Tour. My girlfriend and I are renting hybrid bikes at the start of the race to save the hassle of figuring out how to get our bikes into and around NYC. It’s a 42 mile ride through the five boroughs of NYC. Sure hope the weather is nice! :)

Add those special events to my usual running, biking, disc golfing, dog walking summer-time routine and I have a whole lot of fun activities to be excited about.

What about you? What do you like doing once the weather gets warm?

 

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

 

2011
03/30
CATEGORY
Beyond Running
Disc Golf
Fitness
Healthy Living
Outdoors
Races
TAGS




6 comments

Best Falafel Recipe Ever

Mmmmm….falafel. I love trying different kinds of foods and try to sample different ethnic restaurants whenever I can. So when a new Greek/Mediterranean restaurant opened up close to my home I had to stop by. My favorite item on the menu is by far their falafel sandwich. It’s not only a great example of how falafel should taste, but it is topped with a delicious cilantro yogurt sauce, lettuce and tomato to make it a mighty fine treat.

Before you prepare, be warned that this food is up there on the no-nos of first date foods as it has many ingredients that, although delicious, will render your breath more suitable for keeping vampires away than kissing. ;)

Here is my favorite Falafel with Cilantro Yogurt recipe:

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 cup chopped onion

5 large garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 15-oz cans garbanzo (aka chickpeas) beans, drained

3 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 large egg

olive oil

4 warm pita breads with top third cut off

sliced tomatoes & green lettuce (if desired)

Cilantro Yogurt Preparation

Whisk yogurt, 1/2 cup cilantro, 1/4 cup onion, 1 garlic clove, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne in medium bowl to blend. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Falafel

Blend garbanzo beans, 3 tablespoons flour, cumin, remaining 1/2 cup cilantro, 4 cloves garlic and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne in food processor until almost smooth. Add egg and remaining 3/4 cup onion and blend until onion is finely chopped. Transfer mixture to bowl and shape into four 1/2-inch-thick patties. Turn patties in remaining 1/2 cup flour to coat on both sides.

Pour enough oil into large skillet to coat bottom of pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add patties and cook until crisp and golden, approx. 8 min. each side. Open pita breads; add one falafel patty, sliced tomato and lettuce. Spoon cilantro yogurt mixture inside pita. Enjoy!

Tip: There’s a new restaurant that’s popping up a lot of places called Maoz. It’s vegetarian and specializes in falafel sandwiches. I’ve eaten here a number of times and have enjoyed it very much. It’s kind of a healthy alternative to fast food – Yum! :)

2011
02/08
CATEGORY
Food
Healthy Living
Vegetarian
TAGS



Leave a comment

Homemade Saltines

One of my goals this year is to cut back on processed foods. This means some of my favs like saltines, graham crackers, pretzels and granola bars need to be removed from my grocery list. Problem is – I love snacking on these foods! Solution? Learn how to make them from scratch myself. :)

I’ve been doing some research online to try and find recipes that are not only unprocessed but healthy, easier said than done! Many of the recipes that I’ve found include gobs of butter or shortening or something akin. While I understand that eating foods like butter rather than margarine are better because while they are higher in fat they are not made purely of chemicals and thus are healthier food choices, I still didn’t want to make my favorite snacks with super high fat content either. Dilemma!

But after searching high and low, I have found a recipe that seems to meet my criteria for a healthier snack food. I will continue posting recipes as I find/try them. If you have any favorites, I’d love to hear about them! Enjoy! :)

This recipe comes from Just Eat It, a blog dedicated to yummy recipes.

Homemade Saltines

  • Olive oil for brushing pan and dough
  • 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into bits
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cup very cold water
  • 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Brush 2 large baking sheets generously with oil.

Toast 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper in a dry small skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat, shaking skillet occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Cool pepper.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon table salt in a bowl (or pulse in a food processor). Add shortening and blend into flour mixture with a pastry blender or your fingertips (or pulse in processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Drizzle evenly with 1/2 cup ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again.

Divide dough into 2 portions and flatten each into a 3-inch square.

Roll out each square on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 20- by 8-inch rectangle. Trim edges and sprinkle each sheet with teaspoon toasted pepper. Run rolling pin lightly over dough to embed pepper in pastry. Brush each sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.

Cut sheets crosswise with a small sharp knife into 1-inch-wide strips (straight or wavy). Arrange strips evenly spaced in 1 layer on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 16 to 20 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool.

2011
02/01
CATEGORY
Fitness
Food
Healthy Living
Nutrition
Recipes
TAGS



1 comment

Personal Training

One of my goals for 2011 is to run a marathon. A race that is 26.2 miles long. This was also my goal of 2010 but due to poor training I suffered from an IT band injury early on that waylaid these plans. (The IT band is a tendon-like band that stretches from your glute muscle/hip area and attaches to your tibia. When it gets inflamed it causes pain around the knee.) Of course it took me way too long to actually stop and rest and rehab my IT band which meant I just made it worse before I actually got any better.

This year I’m almost back to a hundred percent and have done a couple short runs without pain. I’m hoping that by going slower than I normally would and not pushing as hard as the rest of my body would like to, I can rebuild and come back stronger than before. I realized that if I wanted to accomplish this I needed a little extra help. That was why I enlisted the help of Angie, my new personal trainer/running coach.

As a reader, I read a lot about injuries and running and how to best approach both. I also talked to a lot of different people about my injury and asked for recommendations. Every single person I talked to, all training professionals in running, had different advice. Every so often an article would coincide with another article or a another book, but for the most part I tried a million different things because “I know someone who had an IT band problem and he said that – FILL IN THE BLANK – worked and he was running again in a month!”

Yeah. Right.

Let me save you some time and grief if you ever get an IT band injury – the only surefire solution is REST. If you don’t rest it will get worse. Other than that every body is different so what “most definitely” works for Joe doesn’t mean it will work for Josephine. You have to take the advice that’s given and do what you can to stay in shape while letting your body rest and heal. Other than rest, two factors made a huge difference for me: 1. Finding the right pair of shoes for my feet (every foot/running style is different) and 2. Using a foam roller. A high school track coach told me that one of his athletes had IT band issues and what typically happens is that scar tissue begins to form causing persistent problems. Once I began rolling my leg out on the foam roller every day (I thought I would pass out it hurt so much – it feels kind of like a ongoing charlie horse), I started feeling a major difference. My pain and tightness both subsided! Yay!

This may be way too much info, but just in case you too suffer from running injuries I wanted to be thorough. :)

Bottom line – to continue working my way to running a marathon, I knew I needed help. I heard about Angie and her running program NuFit through the magazine Runner’s World. She is a certified running instruction, yoga instructor, and nutrition consultant. She is based out of Seattle but has a great website that I thoroughly perused. She offered remote personal training packages that would include an 8-week training schedule, weekly check-ins, and nutrition tips. While she would be my guide, I needed to be self-motivated as well as hold myself accountable to sticking to the schedule. Sounded like the perfect fit for my personality! I figured this was the kick I needed and after several emails back and forth decided to go ahead with the personal training.

I’m in week one and am loving it! I feel better already (although exercise will do that regardless) and feel like I’m on the right path for this new year. I’ll continue to give you updates on my progress as well as any setbacks (like I missed a day already because I was sick) so stay tuned.

But I want to know – have you ever used a personal trainer?

2011
01/14
CATEGORY
Cross Training (XT)
Fitness
Healthy Living
Healthy Running
TAGS






4 comments

Cranberry Chutney

Your holiday parties might be over, but I couldn’t resist sharing this easy, yummy recipe with you!

Cranberry Chutney

1 (12oz) bag fresh or frozen cranberries

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1 large cooking apple, chopped

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

 

1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. (Cranberries will eventually lose moisture and deflate.) Reduce heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until apple is tender and mixture thickens. Cool completely.

2. Store in refrigerator. Serve over cream cheese with crackers or as a garnish for a main dish.

Enjoy! :D

2011
01/11
CATEGORY
Food
Healthy Living
Recipes
TAGS


Leave a comment

New Year’s Resolutions: Part 2

What motivates you? Finding the answer to that question will help you in the second part of setting goals for the new year.

Incentives are huge when working toward your goals. If there’s no reward at the end of all the time and effort you are investing into something, then there is no purpose. If you don’t have purpose then you won’t find the passion you need to dedicate yourself to reaching your goals.

In the first part of my New Year’s Resolution blog, I asked you to think of some goals you would like to reach and how you can make the time to reach them. Now that you have done this, you can ask yourself – what is the purpose behind the goals I’m setting?

Maybe you’d like to lose some weight. Or perhaps you liked to run your first marathon. Or finish your first novel. Whatever your goals are in this new year may be, you have to ask yourself why you want to accomplish these goals. Is it so you feel better about yourself? Is it so you can quit a job you don’t like? Is it to meet new people and make new friends? Goals can be small or large and thus rewards and incentives will be small or large. Maybe you want to make an effort to be more romantic with your partner or spend more time with your children. Some pay outs will be long term and the effects will hopefully grow and last a long time. If you want to get off the couch and run your first race, then you have a very specific, time-sensitive incentive of a race date.

I’m not saying all goals are the same, nor do I profess to be an expert in all goals people want to set for themselves, but I do know that if you want to meet your goals the effort has to start with YOU. Don’t look to others to help you fulfill your goals. Sure there will hopefully be friends, family and loved ones who stand by your side as you invest your time and energy to meeting your goals, but these are YOUR goals and thus you are the only one who can truly meet them. Intrinsic motivation outweighs extrinsic prizes.

What motivates you to meet your goals? What incentives or rewards are there while you work toward your goal and once you reach it?

Coming up: New Year’s Resolution: Part 3

2011
01/02
CATEGORY
Fitness
Healthy Living
4 comments

New Year’s Resolutions: Part 1

While I’m a goal setter, I don’t really like the concept of New Year’s Resolutions. It conjures ideas of waiting until tomorrow to start something when really tomorrow never comes thus nullifying these types of resolutions. If you have a goal, start planning on accomplishing it today. Even the smallest of steps to meet your goal is still a step in the direction you would like to be heading. However, since it is the new year I thought it was a perfect idea to talk about setting new goals. :)

I think that too often people are waiting for something to reach their goals. I’ll start following my dreams when I: have more money, when my kids are out of the house, after the holidays, after the new year. While chasing dreams and forsaking responsibility isn’t admirable, taking an hour or two to reach your goals is. Maybe it’s early in the morning before work or late at night after the kids are in bed or during your lunch break at work, but set aside a little time just for you and your goals. Don’t be afraid to ask others for help to keep you accountable and to give you time to work toward your goals!

Where there’s a will there’s a way.

One thing my dad said to me when I was younger was that if you really want to do something, you’ll find the time to do it. Just think about how often you find time to read or run or blog. More likely than not, these activities help you to recharge your mind and your body. I’m fortunate enough to have time during the day when no one else is around to work toward my goals. I can run, strength train, walk my dog, write, and read before or after work most days. This wasn’t always the case however. I used to work from 7am-4pm as a teacher. When I wasn’t at school, I was taking care of my dog, going to the gym, working on my Master’s, going to meetings, and serving on an Arts committee for the city I lived in.  Being so busy helped me to understand the importance of time and how to budget my hours to help energize me and meet my goals.

Think about what your goals are. What time can you create to focus on reaching your goals? What is the best environment for you to work on meeting those goals? Set aside the time, put it on your calendar and let others know your need to be uninterrupted during that time!

Stayed tuned for New Year’s Resolutions: Part 2!

2011
01/01
CATEGORY
Healthy Living
TAGS



Leave a comment

Scrumptious Pumpkin Chili

It’s that time of year; the days are getting colder and shorter and the air has the smell of snow and fireplaces. It’s a perfect time for another yummy recipe!

This recipe is vegan and oh-so delicious! I first read this recipe while I was on the wonderful blog – Gerbera Daisy Diaries. I was amazed at how easy it was to make. It blends the perfect combination of flavors into a great chili that goes perfectly with a big slice of cornbread. :)

Scrumptious Pumpkin Chili

1 cup bulgur wheat

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup each onion and red pepper chopped (I used green pepper as it tastes just as good and is less expensive)

1 pkg chili seasoning

2 1/2 cup water

1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes (diced tomatoes works just as well)

1 can (15oz) pumpkin (surprisingly, I couldn’t taste the pumpkin in the finished product, so I’ll probably add more next time)

1 medium zucchini, shredded (I opted out of the zucchini as it’s not my fav veggie)

1 can (15.5oz) black beans (I buy these dried and make as needed – cheaper and healthier, although it takes more time)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 cup frozen corn

1. Prepare bulgur according to directions on package.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a nonstick skillet. Add onion and pepper and saute for five minutes. Add chili seasoning, saute until fragrant.

3. Add water, tomatoes, pumpkin and zucchini and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer ten minutes, stirring occasionally, under veggies are tender.

4. Stir in bulgur, beans and corn, heat through. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Serve and enjoy! :)

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

 

2010
11/30
CATEGORY
Food
Healthy Living
meals
Recipes
TAGS





9 comments

World Cafe

I love coffee. I equate drinking coffee with feelings of comfort and warmth and love to relax with my hot morning brew and read before work. There’s good coffee and bad coffee however and while I can appreciate a bad cup of diner coffee for everything it embraces, I prefer my coffee strong, dark and smooth. I think my stint as a Starbucks barista definitely made me a bit pretentious, but it also made me discerning as to what coffee I like and why I like it. And I learned how a person’s beverage of choice at an establish such as Starbucks tells a lot about a person – Skinny quad Venti, 165 degree, extra pump of vanilla, no foam latte, you know who you are!

But I digress…

As many of my readers know, I also love to be socially and environmentally conscious. I try to buy fair trade, shade grown, organic coffees whenever I can. Yeah, I might pay a little more, but I see it as the cost of guilt-free java indulgence. (Sidenote: Starbucks, for as much as people knock them, are actually very supportive of their coffee farmers and pay for the value of the coffee despite what market prices may be at the time. And they give back a lot both socially and environmentally. Very cool.) So, when a sister or a friend told me about a little company called Dean’s Beans my little ears perked up. Then, after I tried a cup (okay, five) I was sold.

Dean’s Beans is a coffee company devoted to the buying and selling of 100% organic and fair trade coffee. They have a huge online selection filled with flavorful coffees that easily fit any palate. They not only buy shade grown, fair trade, organic coffee but they put their money where their coffee is and help support farms and farmers dedicated to producing healthy lifestyles for their villages and environments. They also have specials on coffee where proceeds from each purchase help support a specific cause. They have many more products – books, candies, cocoa, etc – and information on their website, so I encourage you to check them out. And if you don’t drink coffee I’m sure your family member/neighbor/spouse/friend does and it would make a great gift!

It brings me joy to know that I’m not only drinking an amazing cup of coffee (seriously) but helping to support a great cause. :)

2010
10/21
CATEGORY
Bettering the World
Food
Healthy Living
TAGS





Leave a comment

Novel Progress 2012

Want to Green your Blog? Click the logo!

carbon neutral coupon with kaufDA.de
MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 657 other followers