Upcoming fitness updates

Aynaria 2 Comments

Precor EFX 5.31 Premium Series Elliptical Fitness Crosstrainer.jpgYou would think as much as I work out, I would include some of my fitness routines here, sadly I haven’t been doing that. Yep, I’ve totally dropped the ball in this area, however that’s about to change.

In the future, I’ll post some of my fitness routines. My workouts are fairly intense, which is how I like them. I have a lot of energy, so it’s nice to burn through some of that doing my conventional (and unconventional workout.)

I’m a member of Bally’s Total Fitness; the cross trainer pictured above is one of the types used in their gym. It’s a Precor EFX 5.31 Premium Series Elliptical Fitness Crosstrainer. If you want to purchase it, you most likely will be spending over $3,000 for a new model. Early this morning you could find me in the gym sweating it out on a cross trainer. It was an intense workout, but I felt great as I pounded my feet, moved my hands, and rocked out with my Ipod on the Cross trainer. When it comes to cardio equipment, I believe this has to be one of my favorites? I set it at the highest incline possible, which in my case is ten, and ran the entire time. I normally run between 10 – 45 minutes. It’s a great all body workout. Running forwards or backwards, it doesn’t matter; I still run at the same speed. My hands move along with me as I run, sometimes I use light weights while I’m on the trainer.

I had limited gym time today, and so I didn’t run as long as I normally do. I like to end my workouts by sitting in the sauna, and so I worked my way to the sauna after swapping out of my workout shoes. slipped on some flip flops and headed to the dry sauna. I normally stay in the sauna for about an hour, but that didn’t happen today since I was on limited time. I think I stayed in there for about thirty minutes? I keep myself hydrated, and I also do sauna rounds. I’ll write more on sauna rounds, the benefits of utilizing the sauna in a later post.

Gym talk: Chatting about health & nutrition

Occasionally I’ll receive comments while in the gym about my workout routine, I’m more than happy to take a few moments and chat with people about what I do, and in some cases assist them with various exercises. Sometimes people are afraid to ask for help, which I think is sad. It’s important to remember at some point we’ve all started at the beginning. I tend to wear a lot of vegan name shirts while I’m at the gym. Yes, it’s a conversation starter. Naturally one of the questions I get, is where do I get my protein? I have a muscular build (think of the fitness/figure competitors) so I’m obviously getting my protein from somewhere, and it surely isn’t from animal products or supplements.

One comment I do hear often, “You’re in great shape, You can eat anything you want!” I smile and say thanks and say, “Sure, I could… but knowing the impact that certain food choices have on our bodies, I choose not too!” That usually leads to discussions about food and I chat briefly about the impact it can have upon your health. It’s all (food/health) connected, respect your body by filling it with delicious and nourishing foods. I’m not one to preach veganism, at times I do think you can have a huge impact simply leading by example.

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Fitness, New Tag, Bally’s Total Fitness

Strawberry, blueberry, and Banana soy milk smoothie

Aynaria 2 Comments

soy-milk-smootie.07.06.10.jpgFresh fruit is always welcome in our household (as I type this I’m munching on a red delicious apple) however at times we don’t always want to eat our food.

Sometimes it’s more delightful to sip a sinfully delicious (and healthy drink.) Especially when I’m curled up with a great book, working on projects for my clients, quick boost after an intense workout, checking emails, etc. Well you get the idea… In those situations, I reach for my Vita-mix blender and create a delicious smoothie.

Occasionally family and friends will ask me for soy based smoothies. With my cooking website, I used to get emails too. To be honest, soy milk isn’t something I regularly use in our household. In fact, I haven’t used it in years. Yeah, yeah I know that blows some peoples stereotype that vegetarians and vegans are all tofu eating, soy milk drinkers… but I’m not one of them. That being said, in my early veggie days I did try soy milk, just to get an idea what it was like. Later on I did make a few soy milk smoothies for my daughter and she really liked them too.

Why don’t I use soy milk? I much prefer eating whole foods, and soy milk is a processed food. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad food but as I’ve already stated, I prefer whole foods. For those who don’t know, whole foods are foods that haven’t been processed or unrefined foods. Think of it as sticking to as close to the natural food source as possible. I know some people might view the way I eat as extreme. That always makes me chuckle and shake my head a bit, since the way many people eat, pre-packaged meals, condiments, artificially made sweets and savory snacks are far removed from what our bodies are designed to eat. In some cases, these nutrition-less foods are pumped with vitamins to replace what wasn’t there to begin with. Are you going to tell me that way of eating, isn’t extreme? Come one now, let’s get real! What’s extreme? Constantly feeding our bodies with ‘fake foods’ lacking any nutritional value. What we eat plays a major role on our health. Quit burying your head in the sand folks, make a change.

It’s sad to see that so many, are so far removed from the way we were designed to eat. I’ve met numerous people that thought they were doing great health-wise, until they made changes to their eating habits. When you clean up your eating style, you’ll most likely see a positive change. More about that in a later post…

All right back on topic, I don’t add additional sweetness to my smoothies or juices since I feel that we’re getting enough natural sweetness from the fruits that I do add to our smoothies. At times, I think people go overboard when they add ‘extra sweetness’ to their blends.

Anyway, I decided to include a simple soy milk smoothie below. I prefer freezing some, or in some cases, all of my fruit for a thicker consistency. As with other homemade drinks you can add to or take away the fruits you don’t like.

Vegan: Strawberry, blueberry, and banana soy milk smoothie

  • 2 cups of plain soy milk
  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • 2 frozen bananas; peeled, cut, and frozen
  • 1/2 cup blueberries

Directions

  1. In a blender add all ingredients.
  2. Cover and blend until smooth.
  3. Serve and enjoy!

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Moondancer, Smoothies, Vegan, Vegetarian, Soy Milk Smoothie

Vacation Recap; Chatting about nutrition and Lou Gehrigs disease

Aynaria 2 Comments

As I mentiond in my prior post my July 4th vacation didn’t go as I planned, since I didn’t create any beaded jewelry. *sighs*

I did get to spend time with family, we visted a lot of folks. One of the last stops we made was to visit one of my mother’s first cousins. She was recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Some of you might know the other name Lou Gehrnigs disease. My cousin was always thin but now, she’s skin and bones. She’s about 5’7″, and only weighs 85 pounds! When she left the hospital she weighed less, so it’s nice to see she’s improving. However, since I haven’t seen her since Thanksgiving 2009, it still was a shock.

You want to know something? We talked about nutrition. Although it’s something I read about several times weekly, It’s not something I always talk about. I try to get a feel for the environment, before I chat about it. Let’s face it, at times some people can get very defensive about their eating lifestyles and although I don’t have a problem making people think about their eating choices, I’m not the type to be constantly shoving nutrition religion down anyones throat. I led by example.

Ok back to the cousin and nutrition… My father drew me into their nutrition conversation, since he knows I’m a health/nutrition fanatic. I’m proud to admit over the past few years he became really interested in his health, sought me out, pestered me with questions, he got fired up and did additional research, but that’s another story. Now this cousin and I’ve always chatted briefly before but never at this level. She wanted to know where she could get protein (besides meat and dairy.) I told her a few ways; greens, lentils, soybeans, quinoa, peas, almonds, broccoli, spinach, sunflower seeds, Those are only a few non meat sources. We already know that too much protein isn’t good either. I’ll name two; thing, too much protein can lead to kidney problems, and it can be a cancer risk. When I chat with people I try not to preach. I did mention briefly the politics behind food, and the importance of educating yourself about what you put into your body too.

Regarding the fresh vegetables, she has a garden (yep has soybeans too) so it would be easy for her to get protein from vegetables. Granted she’s not actively working her garden anymore, but she has her husband at the house, and a few daughters that live at home. They’re being supportive which is fabulous! Since she’s trying to gain weight I suggested some calorie rich smoothies also. I tend to make those for myself when I’m hitting the gym hard. I’ll be sure to post some of those recipes since I’ve been doing that over the past few months.

Regarding my cousin, I’ll be working up a meal plan (complete with recipes) for her over the next week, and sending it on to her. Although I’m not expecting her to follow it 100%, she did ask my advice on it so I thought it would be ‘ok’ to follow up with her, not to mentione she asked me too. Besides, the drop in weight, her speech has slowed down considerably.

Although I had seen the movie about Lou Gehrig and had an general unerstanding of the disease it wasn’t until I did a few hours research after arriving home today that I got a better understanding of it. Quoting from one Dherbs.com

In layman’s terms, Lou Gehrig’s disease is basically a situation or condition (disease) whereby the nerves become degenerative due to lack of nutrition and the muscles of the extremities atrophy or waste away. The disease was named after famed New York Yankees slugger, Lou Gehrig, who died of the insidious disease in 1941. Most who develop lou gehrig’s disease are between the ages of 40 and 70 years old.

The article goes on to say that highly acidic diets are formed by consuming foods high in animal products, meat and dairy. Yep definitely describes my parent’s family, especially my mothers. From the neck to the feet (chicken) they ate it. They did what they could to get by. This was back in the 1950’s. My moms parents, doing the best they could. They ate how their parents ate. A cycle, that can be broken. As we get older, we can make a change if we choose, right? As they became adults, the majority of their diets consisted of animal foods. Think of ‘Black soul food’, that’s what my mothers’ family eats. I’m definitely the odd sheep. I stand out.

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whole food

And we're back; vacation ends

Aynaria 2 Comments

True to my word, I stayed away from the computer while I was on vacation. I had a great time visiting family. On my mothers side, many of us meet in South Carolina. I had a few relatives asking me was I still doing the Vegan thing. You think, they would stop after all these years right? I’ve been veggie since 1992. 😉

I didn’t get around to making any beaded jewelry as I had hoped. I was on the run the majority of the time while visiting family in South Carolina, and now I think I need to take at least a day to recover from our vacation.

My daughter and I had a fabulous time, hanging out with my parents, my brother, and my sweet little three-year old nephew. I took plenty of pictures, made plenty of vegan dishes that were gobbled up by my daughter and some of my non veggie family too.

Now, I’m back home, catching up on emails from clients, and thinking about squeezing in a nap at some point. 😉

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Holiday, Independence Day

Away for Independence Day

Aynaria 2 Comments

Isn’t it Interesting how our best made plans, sometimes doesn’t work out as we’d like? When my daughter was born, I realized quickly that at times, plans will change.

My daughter and I will be away for the holidays, and while I’d planned on having advance posts for every day I’m away. It’s not working out that way. Outside of checking mail, phone calls, and sending a quick email to the lovely Kaozz, I haven’t been on the computer.

Bags are packed, guinea pigs are prepped, errands have been run, and I got a chance to check with a few of my friendly neighbors too. No, no time to do advance posting here. It’s always nice to take a break from the normal routine and do something different. I plan to relax, spend time with family, and soak up the sun rays by the water. We have a condo that overlooks the waterfront.

For those within the United States, I’m hoping you have safe and enjoyable holiday.

Blessings,

Moondancer

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Peach & Banana fruit pudding; Simple, delicious, & nutritious

Aynaria 5 Comments

peachesnbananas.06.30.10.jpgDesserts don’t have to be elaborate to taste good. I like the simple things in life so it’s no surprise that it applies to my food too.

Take my vegan food photos, I usually don’t go out of my way to arrange the food before I snap the shot. It’s more of a here this is what I made kind of thing, no bells or whistles, lol. However I do know that some really do enjoy seeing those type of things, so you might see me do a little bit now and again.

Anyway back to simplistic desserts (that are anything but that in the way they taste.) My daughter was asking for something to eat last night, and so I let her choose her dessert. She eagerly reached for two peaches and a banana and said, “Mommy, can you make me some of that yummy fruit pudding?” So here’s it is…

Peach and Banana Fruit pudding

  • 2 peaches
  • 1 Banana

Directions

  • Place ingredients in food processor
  • Blend until smooth

That’s it, serve and enjoy!

I only made enough for my daughter; I did spoon the remaining batter out of the food processor before I washed it. Yum, it was delicious. It’s a perfect, not to mention a healthy treat, anytime, and it’s good for you too. How’s that for simple, nutritous, but delicious?

Homemade fruit bars/popsicles

Here’s an idea, if you want something different you can make homemade fruit bars too. Why make them when you can purchase them from the store? I’ve been making homemade popsicles and fruit bars for years. Let me tell you something, they taste a lot better than the store bought variety.

Benefits of making homemade fruit bars

  1. Cheaper than store bought fruit bars
  2. They’re preservative free
  3. Only thing in them is raw fruit
  4. Freshly made, so you’re getting the maximum nutrition
  5. You know exactly what’s going into the fruit bars

Where can I purchase popsicle molds?

You can purchase them at many discount stores. I’ve even seen them at grocery stores. You can always find popsicle molds online too. The ones I have are similar to these popsicle molds. If you cannot find them, or don’t want to purchase the molds. You could use paper cups. You could scoop out the frozen dessert with a spoon or add Popsicle sticks (available at most craft stores.)

The beauty of making your homemade popsicles/fruit pops, is that you have a large variety of fruits to choose from. Yes you can sneak vegetables in the homemade fruit pops also! You can come up with the ones you like the best.

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Raw food, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food, Moondancer, New Tag, Raw food, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food, Fruit pudding

Raw Vegan: Savory Green Smoothie

Aynaria 4 Comments

green-smoothie.06.29.10.jpgI really love vegetables! At times, making that simple statement gets me odd looks. Since I know there are people who don’t share my veggie love. I can think of friends and family members that would turn up their noses at seeing an abundance of vegetables on their plate.

More on ways you can incorporate vegetables into the vegetable haters meal, after I post the savory green smoothie recipe.

About an hour ago, I made a delcious savory vegetable green smoothie. I’m a savory girl, always have been and so the savory green smoothie was delicious. You do realize that green smoothies don’t have to be sweet, to taste good right?

Raw Vegan: Savory Green Smoothie

  • 3 large tomatoes
  • 3 stalks celery
  • 2 cups baby carrots
  • 3 large collard leaves
  • 5 Romaine lettuce leaves
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 2 cups of water (add more if desired.)
  • *Pinch of Sea salt (optional)

That’s it, serve and enjoy!

Soon after making this, I poured myself a large stainless steel cup of the savory green smoothie. I enjoyed drinking this savory, delicious, and nutritious treat.

Introducing vegetables into a ‘vegetable haters’ diet can be challenging. I’ve met people that wanted to include more vegetables in their diet but were unsure of how to do so. Developing a taste for something you normally don’t eat can take some time to get used to. For example, in my early twenties I didn’t like eating raw collards or kale. Now, I happily munch on them daily. In time, I developed a taste for them. For those of you who are a little skeptical about grazing on a big bowl of raw dark greens I’ve included a few ways you can add more vegetables into your daily routine.

Creative ways to add vegetables into a daily routine

  1. Naturally sweet (raw) smoothies/juices can be a delicious way to sneak vegetables a meal
  2. Add vegetable juices into your sauces/gravies
  3. Make frozen fruit pops with your fruit/vegetable smoothies
  4. Mix vegetable pasta in with the regular pasta
  5. Incorporate finely chopped vegetables into stuffed dishes; peppers, lasagna, potato boats

The key is to introduce things slowly, although some people can do a complete change overnight, others take time to transition to a healthier way of eating. Of course, you don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to eat healthy, but you do have to make healthy decisions about the types of foods you, or your family does eat. I’ve met some vegans and vegetarians that weren’t healthy because of the bad choices they made. Their selections were highly processed vegan foods, and very little whole foods.

The bottom line is taking care of your body. We cannot turn it in because we’ve abused it. It’s the only body we’re given. Knowing that, it’s important to think about our food choices. That’s where it gets tricky, we usually don’t see the direct effects of bad food choices until weeks, months, or even years after eating a certain way. It’s important to be mindful of the food choices we make. Don’t blindly accept what anyone tells you, do the research, and take note of the effects when you add healthier options into your daily lifestyle.

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Moondancer, Raw food, Recipes, Smoothies, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food