Local New Britain

Dug in a little deeper to New Britain CT (my home town) this weekend.

1) Visited the New Britain Museum of American Art  (or NBMAA) - primarily to see the Maurice Sendak exhibit, but also to become a member. I live in this fair city, might as well support some of the local arts organizations. There was also an opening (Hawaiian art) and a Kwanzaa celebration - so plenty of music and food. The Sendak exhibit was lovely - and when I think of him I recall his last Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross and cry a little.

2) Dropped by the New Britain YMCA to hand in my Groupon (6 months membershio for $99) - I was a member a while back and enjoyed the pool 1-2 times a week, hoping to get back on that particular horse starting this week. I love swimming; it seems to be good for my shoulders, and then I can get a nice soak in the jacuzzi. And might even find my way back onto the racquetball court or some of the cardio machines.

3) Packed up two cases of empty bottles to return to Avery's Beverages (still in the car though, they are not open Sunday or Monday) - the bottles have been hanging around since summer, waiting for me to finish up the last strays. I'll probably pick up a case of adult mixer soda's (their Orange Dry is particularly good, as is the Lime soda) in case I feel like a little holiday cocktail. I do not drink a lot of soda, so do not mind spending a bit more for local and unusual flavors.

Other New Britain hotspots and organizations I need to explore a bit more: Trinity-on-Main (a local church transformed into an arts space), Hole-in-the-Wall Theater, and the Greater New Britain Arts Alliance.

New Food Rules

Following my juice cleanse, I've decided to establish some new food rules to encourage myself to eat better. These are almost entirely behavior related and have very little to do with nutrition, calories, etc. I know how to eat well; I just rarely do - choosing expedience, convenience, etc. So from here on:

* I will eat two meals at home each day. Maximum of one meal eaten outside the home.

* I will eat two meals with no animal protein each day. I can choose animal protein (including dairy and eggs) at one meal each day. 

* I will limit myself to one (1) fast food meal per week (McDs, BK, Wendy's, Arby's, as well as local burger joints). Basically, anything that includes French fries and comes in a bag counts as "fast food"
* Maximum of one carbonated beverage (i.e. - soda, sugar or diet) per week. 

* No meals through the drive-thru. If I want fast food, I need to go in and get it.

* No meals eaten in the car.  I will eat in the restaurant or bring it home. 

* No donuts. A particular weakness of mine. If I need a bakery nosh, it will be a bagel.

Let's see how this works. So far so good. 

Seven Day Chakra Karma Cleanse

Today, Sunday, marks the final day of a seven day cleanse for me.

Since Monday, I've been hitting a 6 am (eep!) Kundalini yoga class led by Marcia Vallier. And my only nourishment has been a selection of juices, broths, and elixers supplied by Karma Cleanse in Bloomfield.  It's been an interesting week, with a lot of self (re)discovery / realization. Some initial thoughts.

Juice Cleanse

This was a good program for me - I'm not good at food prep and managing / preparing this sort of thing. So I'd be more than likely to step back from the cleanse for lack of an ingredient, or a tool (like a juicer), or a simply laziness / fatigue. But  Alicia at Karma Cleanse brought us a "six-pack" of bottles each day (supplemented by fresh solid food today) - typically three juices, two "healing broths" and an herbal tea. So there was nothing to prepare - just open the freshly juiced / brewed concoction and consume, clean the bottle, and return the next day. Just my speed.

The juices were aligned to the seven chakra's (each day's practice focused on a particular chakra) - so on Day #1 we had a red beet based juice, Day #2 was a carrot based, Day #3 was a delicious pineapple (with cayenne for kick!), Day #4 was green (apple?), Day #5 was blueberry based. It seemed a little forced to me (choosing a product based on "chakra color" rather than cleansing properties) although I was willing to suspend disbelief for the duration. Regardless of the sequence, the variety was most welcome and all of the juices were pleasant, flavorful, and nourishing.  In addition, each mid-day juice was a mixed greens juice (little less sweet, very nourishing).

The healing broth was delicious and warming, and the last few days has included a small amount of quinoa, a welcome addition. And the teas varied - lemongrass, ginger, etc. and were tasty either cold or warm. I'm not sure I can afford (nor logistically manage) a regular integration of the Karma Cleanse products into my diet, but I'd certainly pick up a few days worth for an occasional short cleanse. A very high quality product, well packaged and marketed, and quite tasty and refreshing.

Kundalini Yoga

I've said it before, and I will say it again - Kundalini Yoga drives me crazy. It would not be my first choice for a cleanse or series. Mostly, I feel as if I move into my body / spine with quick, jerky motions long before I am really warm and even when warm it feels a bit rough / risky. In addition, the various arm positions crank right into shoulder injuries and limitations. So I spent the week working through and around a lot of stuff related to the practice, but really I had no problems with it.

What I *do* like about Kundalini is the internal / spiritual practice (lot of time to pause and go inward), the chanting / singing, the energetic aspects. And I adore Marcia as a teacher and a person - with my recent shoulder limitations and various other ailments / struggle, I've stayed away from her power classes, so it was a treat to work with her for a week straight. And as much as I growled about 6 am yoga (usually via humorously cranky Facebook updates), I am in truth a morning person and driving home at 7:15 am with the day in front of me was a good feeling.

Personal Observations

I was surprisingly not all that miserable throughout the cleanse. Monday was a tough day - low grade headache, fatigue, crankiness. I got through the morning yoga and my 9 am class, and then spent a lot of the day vegging out and watching Netflix (Ken Burns' Civil War, for the second time, for those interested).

The rest of the week I was surprisingly not suffering serious detox symptoms. I was low energy most of the week (I compared it to going into hibernation) and fortunately work was kind of slow - so I picked off the things that came in, took a few meetings, but did not push ahead any big projects. Worked for me. I think that I was not all that "detoxy" because the juice based cleanse was high enough in sugars (fruit based) and while my past habits have been pretty horrible in terms of gluten, dairy, fast / fried food, sugar-free sodas, giving my body a regular dose of higher quality sugars made me happy enough. That suspicion was supported by my hamstrings (which got pretty tight during the cleanse week, although they have eased off a bit). The past few days I've been a little light-headed, not really dizzy, just a little floating.

I totally blew off regular yoga this week - spending some time on the mat prior to teaching but not doing any formal classes - because I felt like I needed the break, and that feels like the right decision. Going to hit a class this afternoon, although not a hot / power class quite yet.

So what does it all mean to me? When it comes to healthy eating / food / nutrition, I've been through everything, often twice: mindful based eating, detox cleanse, a week at Kripalu doing a healthy eating workshop, a juice cleanse (with betamite clay for colon clearing), Weight Watchers. (and in the case of the whole foods heavy WHY Teacher Training, 4 times, once as a trainee, thrice as an assistant) - so it's not about information - it's mostly will and getting past psychological and emotional blocks. Mostly, I'm planning to use this week as a line of demarcation - trying to lose bad habits (pre-cleanse) and develop some good habits (post-cleanse) - the cleanse gives me a little bit of space and perspective that a "starting Monday morning I'm going to change" approach, or a "small incremental changes" approach have so far failed to provide.

One thing that became clear, this week as well as in a previous detox cleanse, was how much I use my meals as the tent pole "structure" and reward of my daily life. Being self employed and tending towards a bit of introversion, I could go entire days with zero human contact other than when I am teaching or visiting the studio to practice. So the simple interaction of a restaurant worker or check-out person becomes a kind of precious daily contact for me. I need desperately to put in place some other mechanisms for human contact that do not involve purchasing (usually unhealthy) food.

My plan going forward: I'm going to ease back into real food - picking up some organic broths and soups and continuing that for at least one daily meal. While I do not feel particularly sensitive to things like dairy, gluten, etc. I'm planning to switch to a rice based mild substitute for the small bits of dairy I use, and to work with healthy grains (brown rice, millet, quinoa) as a meal base. I'm not going vegetarian, but I do plan to cut back on animal protein, and use more beans. And of course, working with more fresh veggies (green and otherwise) and fruits. I'll still eat crap on occasion but the emphasis here is "on occasion" - 1-2 meals a week, either socially or when my schedule keeps me away from home at meal times.

In summary: a really positive experience - totally manageable, realistic, and enriching. While my sundry and myriad aches, pains, injuries and limitations remain active, I do feel lighter, brighter, and more positive. With 2014 teacher training coming up in two short months, I'm motivated to eat healthier, strengthen my asana practice, and get healthier. Let's see where things go from here....

I Can Do Anything Good!

For whatever reason, this has been the winter of my discontent. I've been sluggish, malaise-filled, depressed, down, dour, cranky,  stuck - you name it, that's been me. There's a lot in there - financial stress, aging, feeling the loss of being childless in a community that is spilling over with infants and toddlers, feeling the lack of relationship amongst so many coupled friends, feeling the lack of a queer community.

And suddenly, April 1, for no good reason, I've felt my load lighten. Maybe the trickster spirit of April Fools has come along to give me a boost. Maybe the warmer weather, and promises of more to come, have freed up some space.

I've decided to make April a month of change and commitment - committing to tweeting 30 days of gratitude (and using that in my practice and meditation throughout the day), committing to 30 days of practice at the studio (starting with Barbara's power class this evening at 6:00 pm). I've opted out of directly and specifically changing my food / eating, because, frankly, I've done that, over and over. I think I'm too resistant, and too savvy to buy in to any sort of eating change - I've done weight watchers (multiple times), 21 day detox, fasting, mindfulness based eating awareness (an eight week series), a week retreat at Kripalu, six months of teacher training with a heavy whole food component. Nothing changes. So.....maybe it's time to distract myself, to look elsewhere for change, and hope the food / eating component comes along.

It's hard to say if things will stick, but it's been a good day. I've cleared up a few financial messes (having misplaced or lost a few key credit / debit cards, now replaced. I've got my April 1 billing out promptly. I've cleared out a whole laundry list of little website issues that have plagued my big web client:  a drop down menu that was not touch / ipad friendly, a pile of little encoding issues, some CSS that was wonky across platforms, a couple of page features that clients wanted but I had not figured out until now.

So....looking ahead to a good month. I feel a lot like little Jessica!

Detox Cleanse: The Ongoing Saga

I'm into the second phase of my 21 day detox cleanse. We've reintroduced animal protein (hopefully from clean sources), legumes, seeds & nuts, and nightshades (which in my case has meant tomatoes). All good. I've been a little sloppy with some processed foods, but I'm trying to stay off dairy, gluten, sugar, and caffeine. And I've handed in my coffee card - my morning 4 cup pot of decaf (with milk and artificial sweetener) is no more.

Twice in the past week I've opted to have a bit of a food splurge. Last Friday, it was a roast beef sandwich (Arby's) with fries and a diet soda. Today, a relatively healthy turkey / avocado sandwich (on Rye) with sea salt kettle chips and a diet soda. Both times, I ended up crashing heavily - falling into bed for a post lunch nap that was like the dead. So a bit of gluten (bun / bread), some fried potatoes, some artificial sweetener / food coloring, etc. No dairy in either meal (no cheese, no dressings)

So I'm looking at that. Was I simply overly tired (always a possibility) and putting a big meal in my belly caused sleepiness? Or was my body telling me that something in the meal (crappy as they are) is a specific problem for me?  I'm thinking gluten might be the culprit - perhaps a test of a healthy lunch with a bread or roll might be a useful test.


I'm a little freaked out by it all. I've never noticed much sensitivity in the past, and ate any damn thing I wanted. I sort of joked that I was in such a high state of inflammation and disease that I could (and did) eat anything and never noticed any symptoms which friends would go into a two day hangover if they ate a cupcake. And part of me feels like that's not such a bad thing :) - although I do feel marginally better in my body (joints, fascia, energy) post cleanse, this being held hostage by what for all intents and purposes is a normal american meal makes me crazy. I already feel a bit freakish and isolated, and feeling unable to grab a quick bite or have a drink without paying a high price makes me cranky.

Ah well, the research continues. I feel like the detox has given me the opportunity to investigate foods (and how they effect me) in a way that I was unable to in the past. So that's a good thing. But dammit, I really do not need more excuses to withdraw from social interaction and avoid contact.

Detox Cleanse Day 9

So I am on Detox Day 9, working with Pauline Weismann. Wish I could say I have been flawless on this, but I've had a couple of slips the past few days. But right back on that horse, right?

It has not been all that difficult physically to do this fairly radical and restrictive change in diet. I did not have huge detox symptoms (or a "healing crisis", as it's called) - a mild headache on the morning of Day #2, and a bit of lethargy on Days #2 and #3. I think the fact that it's fruit and smoothie heavy helps me personally - there is a morning and evening shot of sugars (even natural ones) in the form of a berry (mostly, with side trips to apples, pears, bananas, and pineapple) smoothie with some sanctioned protein and green additives (via Moss Nutrition). It neatly replaces both my morning mini-jolt (decaf coffee) as well as any nighttime desire for sweets / dessert.

The rest of my food has been a mixed bag. Quinoa, brown rice, and spaghetti squash serve as the foundation, with a variety of veggies (spinach, kale, summer squash, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflour, etc.). Protein is mostly lentils, with an occasional sweet potato providing some comfort foodishness. Fats come via extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, and cocoanut oil.

Starting Thursday (Day 11) I can fold in clean animal protein, nuts and seeds, legumes, and the deadly nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants) - although I think I will stick to vegetarian choices with the exception of eggs. I'm kind of liking not eating animal protein and I think if I move in that direction it will help me resist the lure of cheap, easy food going forward.

Physically, I feel pretty good. I've been backing off my hot / power yoga practice - because of the detox (feeling a little yin and less grounded) and also due to some injury (my chronic plantar fascitis on the left foot has been joined by a broken pinky toe, and last Friday a mildly sprained right ankle by way of a 6 mile hike). My joints feel less cranky and sticky - far fewer pops and cracks in the fingers, toes, ankles and wrists. My flesh feels more fluid, less congealed if that makes sense. I have an overall sense of lightness or airiness, which is sort of strange; I'm usually pretty solid and grounded. So I feel a little off kilter. No significant weight loss (that I am aware of) but I feel marginally better and brighter.

Mostly, I miss being part of the socio-economic food commerce. My frequent visits to coffee spots for a decaf (iced or hot) were places of human interaction, as were my forays out for lunch or dinner. Being self-employed, I can easily got a full 12 hours without seeing or speaking to another human being, and running out for a meal is a break from that. On the up side, I've been carrying around the same $20 bill in my wallet all week - I use my debit card at the grocery store and I have just not eaten out. So a lot less petty cash wandering off into junk food land.

And I miss "crunch" - granola, pretzels, chips - even the healthier versions of these provide some chewing and crunching satiety that I am not getting a lot of. Totally roasting some chick peas on Day 11 for a little bit of crunchiness!

21 Day Detox Cleanse

I'm in the midst of a 21 day detox cleanse, led by Pauline Weismann, and sponsored by West Hartford Yoga. I've never done a straight food detox cleanse before; did a colon cleanse fast a long time ago (involving apple juice and betamite clay) which was interesting. This is a lot different - no real limit of how much I eat but a very limited palatte from which to draw my meals. No meat or animal protein. No dairy. No gluten. No processed foods of any type. No tofu or tempeh (processed) which are staples of a vegetarian diet; no legumes or nuts (other than lentils), no nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant). So I'm pretty much limited to fruits and veggies, brown rice, lentils, sweet potatoes. Seasonings and dressings are also fairly restricted - nothing processed or pre-made; but extra virgin olive oil, bit of vinegar, spices are OK. I had a little headache, tiredness, and spaciness the first day or so - but four days into it I'm doing much better. It's been very interesting observing my body changing; so far I feel less achey in the joints, my hands and fingers feel thinner / less swollen. I've got some chronic stuff (plantar fasciitis, an old shoulder injury) that will be interesting to watch. More sobering - becoming aware of how meals and food are a central support in my life - how a typical work day is propped up by three meals which are not only sensual highlights of my day but also my opportunities to engage with society and make human contact (even if it's just the counter clerk). Eating clean means a lot less opportunity to engage in human contact, and it's shining a spotlight on my loneliness and isolation.

Back in My Life

My sickness has fallen by the wayside - a solid week of misery has been replaced with a little congestion (possibly allergies) and good energy. I'm back on the mat, back teaching, all that.

I think the combination of a week of downtime, the cleanse / detox of a colonoscopy prep, and the start of daylight savings time abetted my recovery. While I do not feel debilitated by seasonal affected disorder, I certainly do thrive with more daylight and the sunny, warm weather we have been enjoying.

This weekend, back in the studio for teacher training. Being there is a bit of a grind: long days, lot of energy drain, lot of time on my feet. But worth every second!

Sick Sick Sick

Two posts in a row. I am on a roll....

I've spent the last week in a spring detox period of illness. I last hit the mat on Monday the 5th, and Barb's strong deep practice unleashed a healing crisis of sorts - I got sick as a dog. Two days of serious laryngitis is still clearing up, and kept me from teaching all week. Not sure I've ever subbed out a week's worth of classes. I was mostly bed ridden or moping around the house. Elo got his walks, and I'd go out for meals or shopping, but I had almost no human contact all week.

I did find myself starting to clean and purge. Laundry got done and the pile of things on the "to be hung up" pile got hung up, the kitchen was cleaned, the yoga room, bedroom, living room all cleaned thoroughly. I paid bills, filed receipts and bills, put things away. Cleaned up the back deck, ready for planting and grilling. My friend came over and traded a blender for a crock pot and rice cooker. I took a pile of heavy copper wire that I've been carrying around for a decade to the metal recycling place and got $13.

Finally pulling out. A colonoscopy on Monday required a cleanse, that helped even as it was annoying. Gentle yoga last night with Achala. Power this morning with Nykki. I've got my life and my body back....

Plantar Fasciitis

Been struggling a bit with some tenderness in the left heel which I've self diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis. Suspect it's a bit self imposed - between yoga teaching, practicing, and hanging around the house, I rarely wear shoes, and when I do, they are far from supportive. Even in January, if the weather cracked 50 I put my sandals on.

Mostly, it's not debilitating. I've had a few bad mornings (typical, as the plantar tightens up overnight), and I've been a bit limited in terms of my power yoga practice (Warrior I and Crescent lunge, with left leg back is a killer) although I've kept up with a few of the teachers that are a bit slower and deeper. When a class moves quickly I do not have enough time to work around the injury, and I can make things worse.

So far, not so bad. I've continued to swim (which either loosens things up or at least does not make them worse), soak in the YMCA jacuzzi, and warm foot soaks a few times a week. I've picked up some PT type exercises, most of which have turned out to be a regular part of my yoga practice or pre-practice stretches. So I'm doing the right things.

Now, just a matter of waiting and watching.

Shoulders

I've been working with a shoulder injury for over a year now. I think it started with a tear in the brachialis or maybe the deltoid insertion; it only really impacted chaturanga (I could lift from low plank to high plank all day, support myself in Pincha Mayurasana, but lowering down - ouch!) and working around or compensating for that; I messed up the right shoulder. I suspect balloon chasing (specifically, the crown line) as responsible, although lots of chaturangas and carrying extra weight would be exacerbating factors.

I've been living with it for a long while; knowing that having a daily yoga practice was not giving it a lot of time / space to heal up, not wanting to go to the doc (cost and really, I'd be advised to rest it!). So the last year has been a time of humility as I drop my knees for chaturanga and avoid really strong upper arm / shoulder work. I'd toss in a full chaturanga once in a while just to see where I was at, but other than that, I've been good.

But lately I've been feeling pretty good about it all; tossing in more full chaturangas, taking stronger postures. Today, in Marcia's hot class, I did pretty much every chaturanga with knees up, jumped (as opposed to stepped) back and forward about half the time, and to prove a point, took Urdhva Dhanurasana or Wheel - definitely outside my normal "still injured" comfort zone.

I'm not about to go into kick ass shoulder work just yet (or ever!), and ought to drop some pounds before moving forward into advanced arm balance work, but it does feel good to be getting that shoulder / upper arm back, and to reclaim parts of my practice that perhaps might have seemed lost for good.

Time (and a little wisdom and loving kindness) heals....

Spring Fever & New Toy

Took a hike with friends yesterday - the Salmon River lollipop trail. 6.2 miles starting at the Comstock Covered Bridge and ending up at Day Pond State Park, then loop back.

Went with friends and their 9 month old baby, plus two dogs (one of theirs, one my buddy Shambu, borrowed for the day). I would feel all punk about my early spring outdoorsiness except one of my companions carried her 9 month old in a belly sling the whole trip. And nursed him while hiking. Puts it all in perspective.

I tried out my new toy - an iPhone App that tracks hikes (and runs and walks and bikes) via the GPS and dumps the data out to a website. The map is from the site, everytrails.org

Nice to be outdoors this early in the season. Not a lot of spring out there yet (cept for some cultivated daffodils beginning to show here and there) but the trail was relatively dry, just one little ice patch, and the day was sunny and beautiful!

Welcome spring!

Weight Watchers - Week #5

Alas, my WW updates have ended up for the most part on Facebook. Suffice it to say that I am still on program, still losing. As of Week #5 weigh-in on Monday, I lost 2 more pounds for 12.8 total. Not quite Biggest Loser numbers but not too bad. I had dropped exponentially over the first four weeks - roughly 6 / 3 / 1.5 / 0.5 pounds, so a decent two pounds was a welcome rebound. For that, I earned a warning from the eTools system:

Please note: You’re probably excited to be losing weight, but you’re losing faster than is recommended. Although it’s normal to lose over 2 pounds in one week, if you lose more than an average of 2 pounds per week over a four-week period, this could pose health risks, such as heart irregularities, anemia or loss of muscle mass. Please slow your weight loss; your doctor can help you do this if you’re not sure how, or ask your Leader for ideas.

Please slow your weight loss. Really? Honestly, with the good foods that I am eating, much hot / power yoga, and my starting weight, 2 pounds per week is pretty safe for me. Although I was tempted to stop by Five Guys this evening to ensure that I "slowed my weight loss". Mmmmmm...... although I ran the nutritional information into the WW calculator to find the points. Little Hamburger = 14 points, Regular Fries (which is really two servings) is 16 points. Not really. I remain somewhat shocked each time I run the numbers on a (typically fast food) "habit" from my days before I started the program. It's amazing I did not gain much more weight, a tribute to all that yoga....

I'm loving the WW eTools especially the iPhone app. Includes a points calculator, a list of restaurant menu items, and the ability to update your food or activity points on the road.

I did find a nice treat - Van's Low Fat Waffles (2 points for 2 waffles, amazing), frozen unsweetened strawberries (1 point for 1/2 cup), and some Fat Free whipped topping. A 3 or 4 point dessert that is pretty delicious and amazing.

Two Point Waffles

One of the pitfalls of weight-watchers is the tendencey to get into a rut, food-wise. Having to figure out the points of new foods is a minor hassle; so one tends to buy or make the same meals day-in and day-out.

Right now, my breakfasts are pretty standard:

* 5 Grain cereal (3 points), raisins (2 points), and agave nectar (1 point)
* Microwaved egg (2 points), lite english muffin (1 point), lite shredded cheese (2 points)
* Cold cereal (2 or 3 points) and milk (2 points)

Today I found a new product - Van's All Natural 97% fat-free waffles - which come in at two points for two waffles. Add a little fruit, maybe some maple syrup. Yum....

Finding low point carbs / breads is kind of the holy grail of weight watchers. So I'm pretty pumped to try these....

Weight Watchers - Week #1

It was a pretty successful week, all things considered. 6.2 pounds. If this were "Biggest Loser" I'd have had immunity in the WW meeting room.....although I'm larger than the average bear so as a percent of total body weight it's less remarkable.

A few anecdotes or learnings from the week:

* In Week #1, one does not get to factor in exercise, and with my yoga schedule I rack up 15-20 exercise points easily. I don't really need 'em so I'm going to just bank them going forward, but clearly all the exercise I get helps.

* I have a lot of whole / healthy food knowledge from my history. So a lot of what Weight Watchers calls "filling foods" (whole grains, fruits and vegetables) are not new to me; these are things I already have in my larder and my meal repetoire. the biggest thing I am doing is trying to eat more fruit - between salads and steamed veggies I get plenty.

* I did not have a particularly stellar week in terms of food choices. I went off track a bunch of time. One meal at McD's. One meal at Subway (the sandwich was not bad, the cookies however, were). One bowl of Lena's squash soup (exceptionally rich, practically a bisque). One slice of Lena's pizza. BUT I did write it all down, either got the nutritional info from the websites or guestimated, it was all "in the program"

* Subway Macadamia Nut cookies = 5 points. 5 freaking points! No wonder I have had a tough time losing weight (Two of those have been a staple for a while now, making up 33% of my daily points total)

* I eat an occasional can of Progresso Soup (relatively healthy) but in the past I tended to just eat the whole can (2 servings). Simply splitting a can into two portions and putting 1/2 in the fridge is a huge bit of wisdom. 1 serving is perfectly satisfying....

* Want to treat yourself to fast food? Quarter Pounder with Cheese = 12 points. Medium Fried = 8 points. Hamburger = 5 points. Big Mac = 13 points. Mac Snack Wrap = 8 points. 6 piece McNuggets = 7 pts. Filet o'Fish = 9 points. Angus Mushroom and Swiss = 18 points. Incredible. One could easily exhaust one's entire days' worth of points in a few minutes.....

* Sushi is a bargain, point wise. I have no problem with this.....

* The one thing I plan to do is research my usual Fast Food haunts and figure out some better choices so if I do end up hungry and on the go, and find my car wheels making their way into these places, I'll have a better game plan.

But mostly, I think just the fact that I am paying attention to what I eat, that I have the specter of the scale waiting for me each Monday, and that I am actively avoiding fast / quick food is going to make all the diff, at least in the short term.

I've often said that the secret for me losing weight is to simply disable my driver's side window. Hope that continues to be the case!

Somebody Loves Me

Due to a extenuating circumstances (get better soon, AJ Poole!) I've been sucked into the yoga teacher training this weekend. Incredible honor to witness this process, incredible opportunity to work with Barb, Peter, Shankara and Nykki - but ohmigawd is it exhausting. Friday 5 - 10, Saturday 1 - 10, and Sunday 12 - 8. Each day starts out with a strong practice - and although assisting is not as physically challenging as being on the mat it's still physically and emotionally tiring.

And of course, this is the weekend I'm subbing in for a gentle class at 9 am. So not a lot of time for my own practice, not a lot of time for healthy eating. Last night as I drifted off to sleep I was thinking about food - what I was going to get into my system in between my gentle class ending and the training starting. Thinking about all the places I could get something healthy (and also some places to snarf down something quick). And I realized I had everything I needed in the fridge. So this morning as I got up I made a salad - spring mix lettuce, matchstick carrots and radishes, red cabbage, mushrooms, broccoli, garbanzos, celery. (some sprouts would have been nice but I'm out) As I was closing the lid on the to-go container (which I admit to hoarding a little, they are so useful and I have a hard time tossing stuff like this, even into the recycling bin) it looked so beautiful and lovingly prepared and I thought impulsively "somebody loved me enough to make this beautiful salad"

And then it hit me. Of course somebody loves me. It's me!

It was a good feeling to have all this healthy food at my finger tips, to be the kind of person who can whip up a salad from itens on hand. Not sure I would have been that person a year ago.

Finishing up some yummy 5 grain oatmeal (with raisins, walnuts, and agave) and then shower. Hope to hit the mat a little (here or at the studio) before I have to teach. And then let my yoga day begin!