Teaching + Fit Test +Lunch Bowl

Hey guys, happy Friday!
    Last night I went to the studio a couple hours earlier than usual because I was covering a “Gentle” yoga class. I’m not going to lie, teaching a gentle class is way out of my comfort zone, but it’s good practice. I did my best, and with a little guidance from a couple fellow teachers who regularly teach the class, I didn’t kill any one or see any tears! It’s pretty widely known throughout the studio that I’m the “tough” teacher.. but they were good sports and even laughed a couple times! Needless to say I was glad to teach my regular class afterwards!


    Back in May I did a little challenge.. I love Burpees.. LOVE them! I wanted to know how many of them I could do in 10 minutes. 94… Sure it wasn’t a bad number, but I was really bummed that I couldn't get to 100.
   Since then, I’ve done countless burpees of all kinds. I don’t discriminate- I do them and force my clients to do them too.. I figure someone, someday will love them too.. This week I took one of my clients through her first fit test. She did great, and I think she even surprised herself (which is even better!) I’m really looking forward to our next one in a couple of months…
   So today it got me thinking.. When was the last time I tested myself? Cue 10 minute BURPEE challenge.. Its a perfect challenge and measure of my fitness improvements. It is one of the best full body strength and cardio tester. So I laced up my kicks, put the “metal” pandora station on and got to work. (I only listen to this station when I’m looking to kick ass, BTW :)
DRUM ROLL…..
117 Burpees in 10 minutes!!!
  23 More than last time.. I am PUMPED!! Hard work really does pay off.. and now I really get why fit tests are important and I will do them more consistently from now on..
    The best part about it, it’s a 10 minute workout.. Which worked perfectly since I had to help a friend out- she needed a ride to and from school after dropping her car off to be serviced.

After I dropped her off at school, I ran over to Trader Joe’s. I don’t know if you heard about the Peanut butter/almond butter Recall, but if you have any of these items lingering in your pantry check the dates and return them back to TJs for a full refund.. 
 

  My breakfast was sad without its usual scoop.. but I was able to get a different almond butter to replace it.. Phew.. now all is right in the breakfast world..
    Lunch made up for almond butter-less morning

  Collard greens with garlic and olive oil + Lentils covered with two over easy eggs.. The yolks were popped as soon as this picture was taken so that all of the yummy “sauce” coated the lentils and greens..
I have a feeling this is going to keep me full for a long time..

So whats going on for the weekend? Our plans are pretty vague for the night… But I’m hoping to go apple picking in the morning (If the rain holds out.. or we will just go in the rain anyway- we’ve done it before!) I work at the restaurant tomorrow night and possibly Sunday, though I’m hoping to get a run in. I’ve decided that I’m going to attempt to train for a half marathon..  This should be interesting.

Have a great night!

Banana Bread Gluten Free Single Serve Pancake

    It would seem that I’m on a pancake kick.. or more accurately.. a pancake mission. A gluten free mission. For a while I’ve seen all sorts of different recipes popping up here and there, that look really interesting.. One with two ingredients, one with oats, sweet potato, protein powders.. etc. I’ve made my fair share.. I always like  the oat based, but after making these yesterday

   I knew I had it in me to make my own recipe.. taking a little from here and there.. 

I am REALLY happy to report that it came out amazing.. Like my gluten free favorite ever.. (ha, say that 5 times fast “gluten-free-favorite-ever”) 

  I liked that it don’t have that super eggy taste and texture; it actually tastes like a pancake and the fact that it tasted like banana bread was totally an accident.. A very happy one at that. Next time I will definitely put some chopped walnuts  in there.. OOOOO! and some chocolate chips.. 

I’d love to hear what you think, give it a try and get back to me :)

FoodForLife+ Bottomless pit+ Gluten Free stuff

    Before I start… I just got word that foodforlife (The company that makes Ezekiel sprouted grain breads, cereals and pastas) is running a sweepstakes “Fall Freebie Fridays” every Friday from now until November 16.. You can win coupons for their products AND a t-shirt or apron! All you have to do is "Like" Food For Life on Facebook and enter.. Not a bad deal!  If you win… I’ll be you BFF :)


    Ever have one of those days where you just can’t seem to satisfy your hunger?
Today is that day.. I have eaten 4 times since I woke up this morning and I’m still hungry.  I started out with my usual yogurt, berries and almond butter. I went back a couple hours later for these pancakes- It was my first time making them and they were pretty good!

I did pull a super blonde move and use baking powder and then realized that I was supposed to use baking SODA and tossed some of that in there too.. I don’t think it effected the taste, at least not that I could detect..

   The good thing about gluten/grain free foods is that they don’t sit in your stomach.. well I shouldn’t say that..

 We made pizza with this mix last night.. While it wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t good either.. Not trying to knock ya Bob.. maybe it’s just the "gluten free” thing. I had two pieces anyway but it was like a brick in my stomach.. Not cool man- although its a gluten free product and I’m kind of avoiding wheat and such.. this stuff seems super processed which in my opinion is worse than just eating a piece of real pizza.. But it was kicking around in the cabinet (from a while back when I saw it and my interest was piqued) and I didn’t want to just toss it away and waste it.. Well You know what they say about curiosity and the cat right? 

   Anyway, I have a personal training client tonight and I’m also teaching a brand new yoga class back to back. So while I wanted to workout this morning, I thought it best to keep it simple and short. A couple of days a go, Tina over at Carrotsncake.com posted the pug WOD.. and it seemed like the perfect little workout to get the blood flowing without over doing it.. I finished in just over 12 minutes.. Mostly because I did all “real” push ups, and toward the end of the 100 I had to stop every couple to shake my arms out- they were burning! 

   

    Lets talk hair real quick.. I was channeling the 90s this morning with these bangs

   I know, your jealous of that.. 

  But seriously.. I wanna know, do you guys wash your hair every single time you shower? I definitely don’t- I mean I obviously do if I have a super sweaty workout session; But I have really long hair.. and I’m lazy.. Sure braiding it up is fun or doing a little twisty business with the bangs is cute (cue 90s crazy left over twisty thing bangs up there) It’s work- so I just re-twist and go.. 

     Men are kind of lucky in that way.. they can just slap a hat on and call it a day

  Hah.. this makes me laugh so much.. James is going to hate me for posting that.. and thats a little basket I use to hold napkins..  (he certainly can brighten up a day!) 

    Well back to more food.. because its really all I can think about today

 

 Salad with lettuce, tomato, chick peas and sweet potato..  was lunch..  with a banana and almond butter for my afternoon snack age.. 

    

Oh and one little last thing.. I just got this book from the library

 Who can’t use more happiness in their lives? 

Have you read this book?

Have you done your own form of the happiness project?

Filling up time + bowls+ Hydro+ Art

  I’ve been getting caught up in my own world which has included a whole lot of “office” work.. If you can count consolidating all of the little scraps of paper with workouts, recipes and ideas into files on the computer, while sitting on my couch. 

    I came home late from teaching the other night and James surprised me with a big kiss and an amazing bunch of flowers.

      Stress levels have been extremely high.. I’m trying to figure out how to get all of my random little jobs to equal a living, and meanwhile Hydro had another little episode.. We woke up the other morning to him not using his back leg, for no reason. We landed back at the vets office

    A boatload of money and time leading up to her saying Hydro needed to be put under anesthesia for X-rays and a better exam of his knee (she said he wasn’t letting her check it out well enough since he was in pain- and assumes he tore a ligament in his knee-  which would more than likely lead to surgery.. a $2000 surgery! I’m going to go with a big fat Hell No! Here’s why..
  Hydro had surgery 3 months ago… and since then he has not been the same dog. I mean… it’s like going through the surgery killed his spirit.. The once OVERLY hyper and happy boy now spends most of his time looking sad, and lying around.. It sucks.. We thought maybe his Lyme disease was acting up from the trauma of the surgery- but we gave him meds for 3 weeks with very little improvement.. if any.. So I called the vet again to tell them that he wasn’t improving. They wanted to do more testing, etc. to the sum of $300.. So since that wasn’t really in the budget and I knew he wasn’t showing any signs of infection (which would be what they were looking for in these tests). So I took it upon myself to figure out what we could do to help our little guy out.. cue in Veg fast… and then a switch back to the BARF diet (Bones and Raw food) which is said to be the biologically appropriate means of feeding. We saw an improvement in his energy and alertness- but still his spirit doesn’t show itself a whole lot. And this is when  the who leg thing came into play and we were forced to take him since he was in so much pain and actually growled at me because I was trying to move him (Before I actually knew that he wasn’t using his leg) Since surgery wasn’t an option, they gave him some pain meds with hopes that it would heal… And you know what? One day later, he was walking on it.. So who really knows?
    Fingers are crossed that he will get better with time (as far as the return of his spirit I mean).. and a trip to a holistic vet is probably going to happen, who I hope with have some other options.

    So in the mean time I’ve been trying to get better at different braiding styles

   And doing a bit of art projects to fill our walls

Eats have been pretty basic these days.. I’ve realized that frozen raspberries with a couple spoonfuls of coconut cream and a drizzle of maple syrup is pretty much one of the best midnight snacks

       During the day I tend to go for eggs and veggies

 Or sometimes just hard boiled eggs with a  smudge of butter or coconut oil and salt.. all mixed and mushed together..  I’ve had this every day for over a week.. Its the perfect morning snack

    Other time I just toss whatever veggies and beans together slap some avocado and hot sauce on it and call it a meal..

I admit that none of these bowls of food actually look good, but they taste good!

         

Housecleaning

      James and I did something crazy… 

We gave up coffee for FIVE days..

    See, I told you it was crazy… There was no caffeine, no alcohol, no sugar or artificial sweeteners, no gluten or grains.. and no dairy (except for 1 serving of plain yogurt- which I decided was essential for proteins sake seeing as I don’t eat meat) basically no garbage.. nothing processed.  I brought the idea to James and he excitedly jumped on board. Both of us had been feeling run down, bloated and generally blah, so we kind of figured it wouldn’t hurt to give our bodies a break..
    The Sunday before I took the time to write out a vague meal plan and shopping list and we hit the grocery. It was a lot of the usually veggies, fruits and nut butters with a couple extras mixed in. Coconut flour, cashew butter (OMG this stuff is AMAZING.. I’m in love) and seltzer water

James and I stumbled across this flavor and are officially addicted.
 
     Monday morning was ROUGH. No coffee really hit hard, especially when you get up at 5am and then have to teach a very fast paced class at 6pm. Usually I’ll have at least 2 or 3 coffees and some chocolate… I had a bad headache from 3pm on and was very excited to come home after teaching, eat and crash.
   Tuesday was more of the same sluggishness and headaches
      I tried to have passion iced tea

 It was no substitute for coffee.. Not even a little, but it was still delicious.
    As the days went on I fell into more of a rhythm with my eats, crashes started to disappear, and I ultimately started to feel awesome.
    I tried to make a “Paleo” pancake with coconut flour.. and while it was alright, I probably wouldn’t make this exact recipe again.

   I did figure out my favorite sweet snack.. Frozen raspberries with cashew or almond butter on top- and sometimes both

       

We broke the cleanse with some pizza and a glass (or two) of wine.

 I’ve come to some conclusions:

-I definitely relied WAY too much on coffee throughout the day- partially because I love the stuff.

-I was grabbing a a couple bits of chocolate along with the coffee- and crashing hard.

-Grains, flours, and sugars= lots and lots of bloating… and I don’t care for it!

-----> Since the end of our cleanse, I have had very limited grains… I am never going to say that I give them up completely because I really do believe in balance and cutting things out will only make me completely nuts.. and I want to live in the real world- having a slice of pizza every once in a while won’t kill me :)

   Any who.. My workouts have been a little bit limited, because I’ve been having a lot of back pain- or actually lower back spasms.. I have since started going to the chiropractor to try and “straighten” things out.. As it turns out the problem is partially due to a structural issue- my spine is not straight down the middle.. nope, it goes to the left a bit- compressing, and HURTING.. There have been many tears and complaining and pampering from the husband- because he is awesome :)

     However I taught a killer class the other night- one student told me it was her favorite of all time.. Hurray!

It made me feel awesome to hear that.. a little like a star- kind of like my new plugs ;)

   Oh hey, and speaking of my handsome husband

 

While I’ve been gone

    I’ve broken my toe teaching Star jumps 

   Our friends Scott and Laura got married

   They had a photo booth which was SO.MUCH.FUN

  I’ve been practicing my braiding styles

  There have been MANY motorcycle rides

  Hydro still isn’t feeling the best- we put him on a veggie soup fast (Yes I realize that sounds a bit nuts, but the vets aren’t really giving us much to go on.. so with a suggestion from a friend and a holistic vet book we jumped in.) He’s pretty thrilled about it..

 I’ve been channeling Kerri Walsh during my workout sessions

  Being one of those people that has more pictures on their dogs than people in their phone

 Sometimes a bit serious

   Some pizza

Some paddles

 Some time with the husband at the zoo

 Me being TERRIFIED feeding the deer

   Motorcycle rides with friends

  To the beach

  And home renovations (The soon to be man cave/garage)

     And some pink +sparkles- because every girl needs a little pink in their lives :)