Category Archives: Yoga

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 18: Vacation Procrastination

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I leave for Miami the day after tomorrow. I plan on throwing whatever is clean into my luggage 15 minutes before departure and cursing myself the entire time I am away that I didn’t plan more efficiently. Acknowledged. Progress.

I’ve been enjoying the same chocolate cherry milkshake smoothie for breakfast for the greater part of this cleanse. If it aint broke… It’s simply frozen banana, frozen cherries, a heaping spoonful of cocoa powder, chia seeds, almond butter and almond milk with a few big handfuls of spinach or kale (or both!) I sometimes add a handful of raw oatmeal if I’m hungrier.

I bummed around for the morning, watching a few episodes of Dexter — I plough through TV series’ like no body’s business. In the last little while I finished LOST, Mad Men, Arrested Development, Community and Girls. It’s a wonder I get anything else accomplished.

Eat – TV – Eat again

Traditional chicken salad has never really appealed to me, but the thought of veganizing the popular, gloppy mess of a sandwich staple sounded fun.

Chick-Un Salad

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/4 block extra firm tofu, pressed and diced

1/2 apple

1/2 c. grapes

2 tbsp. walnuts, chopped

1 celery stalk, diced

2 tbsp. red onion, diced

1 tbsp. hummus

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tbsp. lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix and serve with crackers, in a sandwich, wrap or over a bed of greens.

Come to think of it, this would have made a great stuffing for lettuce wraps.

After lunch I declared the day to be TO beautiful to sit at home and watch a handsome serial killer murder other serial killers (seriously, how do they come up with this stuff?) I put on some people clothes and took a stroll to the natural foods market to do some window shopping and pick up a couple of food things to take with me to Miami — protein powder sample packs and a few different kinds of bars, “just in case” things. We’ll probably do a quick grocery trip once we get to Miami because I’m so high maintenance according to my loving family :)

My walk accidentally ended up being about a 4 mile loop! Carrying groceries on the way back! Afterwards I took my favorite hot and sweaty class at Yoga Passage so basically my laziness earlier in the day was effectively cancelled out. It’s science.

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 13: New Protein and Dining Out

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Doop-doop dingle ding ding-ding-ding.

I slept through the sound of my alarm (above) for eight whole minutes this morning! This never happens. I wasn’t tired once my eyes actually opened so I pulled on some stretchy pants and headed to Body Pump.

6 am classes are fun because for the first half I have no idea what is even happening. How did that bar bell get there? Why am I doing push ups right now? What is this!? By the time I fully wake up the workout it half done and my endorphins have taken over.

Green monstrosity.

Not long before I started this cleanse, I began incorporating organic whey protein into my smoothies. I really enjoyed the texture, flavour, and staying power that it offered. The ingredient list was short and recognizable and the stats impressive. Since the cleanse is dairy free, I have eliminated my protein from smoothies (subbing in a few tablespoons of chia seeds, coconut flour or a hefty scoop of nut butter) but I decided to sample a vegan source of protein. Yesterday I picked up a sampler pack of Vega Sport Performance Protein: a plant-based protein supplement with a blend of pea, sacha inchi, sprouted brown rice, hemp and alfalfa proteins.

It offers 26 g. of protein and 8% of your daily fiber requirements per serving. It is also delicious! I have heard that plant-based protein powders are notoriously bitter, grassy and gritty, but this was lightly sweetened with stevia and vanilla and blended well with the ingredients in my smoothie (frozen banana, cherries, almond milk, cocoa powder, and spinach)

I met my friend Natradee for a lunch hour yoga class. It felt amazing to stretch out my muscles from this morning’s Body Pumping. Afterwards we headed to lunch, I realized that it was my first restaurant meal on the cleanse!

Playing it safe, we went to Gratitude Cafe, since many of the entrees there are already cleanse friendly, however my friend Christa recently wrote a post about how to take control and enjoy a healthy, vegan and gluten-free meal at any restaurant.

We each started with smoothies. Nat had the banana ginger with e3live and I enjoyed the mango basil with e3live.

Both were delicious and unique flavour combinations and absolutely perfect after yoga.

For lunch I had the I am grateful: Raw Mexican enchilada lettuce cups. I subbed hummus for the guacamole since I can’t do avocados.

This dish was so satisfying and flavourful. Light but packed with so many different tastes and textures. I cleaned my plate.

I also had a bite of Natradee’s Eggplant Canape with cashew risotto which was rich and buttery, but maintained a wholesome, healthy appeal. I can imagine how delicious this dish would be on a cold winter’s day.

Once playtime was over, I headed to work for the evening where I also had dinner: a quick salad from home and a cup of celery-cauliflower soup that I took to go from Gratitude. There was also a few pieces of raw, dark chocolate with hazelnuts enjoyed.

I just ate a million mini red grapes and am ready for bed. Tomorrow was supposed to be a juice fast day but I think I’ll push it to Saturday as I am still pretty low on produce. Costco trip in the a.m. !

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 11: Kittens, Oatmeal, Veggies, Yoga

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My friend Jessie is a new yoga teacher and wanted some head shots but the only time that worked was early in the a.m. For convenience sake, I slept over after yoga last night and we were up bright and early to get some pictures of her pretty face.

I packed a green juice. Nerd.

We took a quick snap, snap, met some nice people with a bag of kittens.

Literally a bag full of kittens. 

Once I arrived home I ate some delicious overnight oats in an almost empty peanut butter jar with tonnes of fruit and a little sprinkle of granola.

 

I had a pretty lazy morning which included laundry and a Girls marathon. I had a late lunch of curried lentil soup and a giant salad. I also had some Mary’s Crackers on the side.

Eventually I peeled myself off of the couch and headed to yoga.

My mom once told me that when living in New York she often enjoyed the Hallmark slice of street car pizza for lunch. One day, her boss came to work with TWO slices for herself. The thought had never occurred to my mom that one could eat TWO slices of pizza. I think of that every time I do a yoga double. 4:10 ishta + 6:10 Hot (half an hour in-between classes). Crazy Sweaty Bliss.

Once I got home I threw together some sautéed veggies, brown rice noodles and a generous serving of spicy almond butter sauce.

Goodnight!

 

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 10: Reading Material

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Another great spin class yesterday morning. The new RPM release just came out. New songs and new sequences. For the 100 pushup challenge afterwards, we did 4 sets of 10 regular push ups, 2 sets of 10 hand release push ups and finished with 2 sets of 20 regular push ups. Getting stronger!

For breakfast I had a toasted peice of buckwheat millet quick bread with peanut butter, banana and raspberries with a green energy smoothie on the side.

Once lunch rolled around, I had hoped to make sushi with some left over millet and roasted veggies

Nope.

Plan B was a stirfry with broccoli and snap peas. I simply slid the sushi mess into the skillet, added some Braggs aminos and sesame oil and called it lunch.

I had work all afternoon and had the usual tupperware salad beast and met a friend afterwards for yoga, a movie and a sleep over.

I’d like to think that I know some things about following a healthy, balanced, and delicious vegan diet. But I can certainly find myself stuck caught in a rut and eating the same thing meal after meal for the sake of ease. Here is a list of some of the blogs that have offered a  good dose of recipe inspiration for the cleanse (and the future!)

Happy reading!

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 8: Hot Hot Heat

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A green smoothie sounded so delicious this morning but there were no frozen bananas to be seen! I popped a few into the freezer and had a bowl of quinoa granola and fruit with almond milk instead.

I had work at Yoga Passage this morning and broke for lunch around noon

a beastly salad out of an old peanut butter container – no tupper ware to be found!? Afterwards I took the (extra) hot restorative class. The weather in Calgary is absurd. Hot and delicious. My body craves the restorative class by the time Saturday rolls around. Today’s class paired with yesterday’s juice fast has left me feeling squeaky clean, like a reset button has been pushed on my entire existence!

I came home dead set on an icy cold smoothie. Walking through down town I walked by no less than four ice cream trucks! I needed something refreshing and cleanse friendly and then I remembered a smoothie combination that my friend Christa from Edible Balance recommended:

1 c. frozen mango, 1/2 c. almond milk, 1 c. coconut water and a hunk of ginger. Amazing.

Dinner was another salad beast this had Spinach, lightly steamed broccoli, sweet potato,saur kraut, eggplant bacon, olives, snap peas, edemame millet burger and lemony-tahini dressing. Essentially everything within arms reach went in.

I have no further plans today than to laze around and watch Community. Toodle-oo

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 6: Happy Cramper

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Today was a 9 to 7 work day capped off with a glorious yoga practise. Not a lot of food pictures, but y’all know what salad in Tupperware looks like, right?

First thing in the a.m. I chugged a juice.

I made two blends, Green (broccoli, romaine, kale, cucumber, celery, asparagus, lemon, apple and strawberries) and Purple (beets, romaine, cucumber, snap peas, pineapple, parsley and ginger) Both are delicious, I swear. But something magical happens when they are combined. I had a bright red ‘juice mustache’ for the morning.

Once I got hungry I made a chocolate cherry smoothie (banana, cherries, cocoa, chia seeds, almond butter, almond milk) and was off for a day of work at both my jobs.

At Yoga Passage I was able to sit in on one of the teacher training sessions with Ray Hawkins  who talked about Yoga Therapy, Koshas and Herbal Medicine. He had a great personality and an endless supply of information and experience. I could have listened to him talk for days!

After a few hours of work at EHS, I was back to the Passage for Gord’s Hot class. Everything feels great. I got a cramp in my side today and was absolutely thrilled because for the first time in I don’t know how long I had a cramp in my abdomen that wasn’t a digestive related cramp. Just a crappy hydration muscle cramp, which I quickly remedied with water and coconut water.

Tomorrow is my first juice fast day! My goals are to keep calm, be dedicated but not obsessive, listen to my body, and refrain from taking out any potential crazy bitchiness crankiness on others as no one is forcing me to fast, but it is something that I’d like to experience.

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day 2: Always room for chocolate

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Day two was a much better experience! Yesterday kind of got me off on the wrong foot but everything was deliciously nutritious and my energy levels were manic.

Woke up to my lemon/ cayenne cocktail and then made a smoothie to take to work

Banana, cherries, cashew butter, cinnamon, kale, spinach and almond milk.

So much better than yesterday’s blended salad.

After breakfast I took a power yoga class. Like I mentioned yesterday, I’ll make sure to eat enough based on my hunger cues. I’m understandably much hungrier on days that I’m active. Yesterday I didn’t have much of an appetite (that horrible smoothie really put me off) but I don’t think that would have been the case had I exercised. To give you a comparison of yesterdays and todays yoga classes, yesterday’s restorative practise is essentially an hour and forty five minutes of laying on a bolster in different positions. Today was almost two hours of constant flow, a million vinyasas, arm balancing, warrior sequences and back bends and as a result I was hungrier throughout the day and made sure to eat accordingly.

Lunch was a salad beast with romaine, arugula, spinach, quinoa, cherry tomatoes and roasted butternut squash/ onions/ asparagus with a scoop of hummus.

One of my sweet coworkers brought me a baggie of chocolate cookies which contain at least three things that are not a part of the Crazy Sexy Adventure cleanse

So I took them home for my brother -who ate a bunch as an appetizer-and snacked on chocolate chia pudding with coconut and mango you can still get your chocolate fix while cleansing

Tropical Chocolate Chia Pudding

Serves 1

  • 2 tbsp. chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp shredded, unsweetened coconut
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 ripe mango, diced
  • splash of almond milk

Mix all ingredients, let sit for at least an hour and serve.

Last night I made a big batch of green juice for easy, early morning fuel.

This had broccoli stems, kale, romaine, cucumber, celery, apple, strawberries and lemon. Kris recommends running your juice pulp through the juice again and it really does squeeze out about 1/2 a cup more juice. I drank about a cup as an afternoon pick-me-up.

There were sliced melons at home upon my arrival from work which I devoured in seconds

and dinner was lentil soup made by my mom and a big salad with lemony-tahini dressing

I feel awesome today. Again, no bloating/ cramping/ pain. It’s more work than throwing together a yogurt bowl or making a sandwich but it’s so worth it to feel normal. I’m a little bit hungry and though one of the guidelines is to no eat three hours before bed (so that your body can focus on repairing, not digesting), I have plans for spin in the morning and I’m not crazy about going to bed with a growly stomach so I think that a dip into the almond butter jar is in order. Goodnight!

Crazy Sexy Adventure Day One: So many green things.

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Today kicked off my first day of the crazy sexy adventure cleanse. It wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies, but I see some serious potential and lessons to be learned in the near future.

I woke up and had a glass of hot lemon water with a pinch of cayenne. I’ve been doing this for a while actually and it makes a world of difference for my digestion (gross)

Breakfast, about an hour later, was a smoothie with cucumber, romaine, one banana, three strawberries, 2 tbsp. chia seeds and half a cup each of coconut water and almond milk.

I won’t lie. This tasted like death and sadness. I was in a hurry to get to work and drank it anyways but I think I’ll stick to my regular recipes for vegan smoothies: Banana based with kale or spinach with almond milk and nut butter. I’d rather munch on extra cucumber and romaine at lunch time than choke it down in a smoothie. Live and learn, I suppose.

Lunch was a giant massaged kale salad. I don’t know if I’m massaging my kale properly. I gave about two cups of torn up kale a good rub down with lemon tahini dressing and let it sit over night to break down even further. I added red peppers, cucumber, snap peas, chickpeas, walnuts and green olives this morning.

Great tasting but the texture was kind of off. Maybe I just prefer my kale in chip form or lightly steamed.

After work I took a hot restorative class. I fell asleep through every single hold.

The amount of food I ate today was fine with the lack of activity in my day but on days that I exercise I will be eating much more food. What I find interesting about eating vegan (I did a 7 day vegan challenge a while back) is that I am so focused on getting enough nutrition that I barely consider calories or sugar or grams of this and that. I’m much more in tune with my body and hunger cues.

Throughout the day I snacked on an apple, jicama with lemon juice and cayenne and mary’s crackers with hummus and finally, dinner was zucchini noodles with broccoli, peppers, snap peas and carrots in a spicy almond butter sauce

Over all, my stomach feels better than usual. I was definitely a little tired today. A little hungry at times and I probably could have used more water, especially because of the restorative class that I took. So far so good I’m looking forward to the next twenty days!

Dehydration Nation

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The weather in Calgary is getting hotter by the minute. I love the heat but unfortunately the combination of my cutting back on caffeine (in preparation for the Crazy Sexy Diet I’ll be starting on Saturday) and it being seemingly impossible to drink enough water has left me with a lingering headache that just won’t quit.

This morning I took an extra hour of sleep and made a simple bowl of cereal with berries, banana, flax, peanut butter and soymilk. Cereal never keeps me full unless I bulk it up with all the fixin’s

Today was one of the three days this month that I didn’t have to go in to work so I spent the morning cleaning up the mess that has accumulated in my room.

Lunch was roasted butternut squash, chickpeas, goats cheese and trail mix with a hummus dressing that is simply carmelized onion hummus mixed with Dijon mustard and thinned out with vegetable broth.

After lunch I was off for a hair cut and then yoga. It has been a while since I indulged in a long yoga binge so I stuck around for the Ishta class and then the hot. My yoga practise has felt a little bit forced and I have had more ‘bad’ classes than good ones but today I felt like I could go on forever. It’s so important not to take the bad classes so seriously because they really do make you appreciate the good ones that much more.

On my way home I guzzled this coconut water in 30 seconds flat.

I do find that having some coconut water does help with the headaches and dehydration. If only it wasn’t so pricey!

I had planned on making a big, cold smoothie for dinner but my mom made turkey lasagna and I didn’t take any convincing for me to change my dinner plans.  Especially as I’ll be drinking smoothies like it’s my job starting next week.

Served with garlic bread and romaine dressed simply with lemon juice, honey and salt.

Off to drink a million cups of water. I’ll be up all night emptying my bladder. Just so you know.

Hello Sunshine

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School is out. I officially handed in my final Spring semester assignment last Thursday, then dove face first into work, organization, and a loooong day of volunteering at this year’s Canada Day celebrations here in Calgary.

I have finally settles into my Summer break. There will be lots of working, playing with friends, yoga, running (I guess I like running again) eating, drinking and being merry. I’m off to Miami in exactly a month, so I’m ok with the fact that I am basically working every single day of July in some way shape or form.

This morning I worked at Yoga Passage but first, a hot breakfast. I have been on a smoothie kick due to the intense, muggy heat in Calgary, but this morning was a bit on the chilly side

-Rolled oats, cinnamon, almond milk, banana, blueberries, granola, peanut butter, chia seeds-

I had plans to run some stairs with my friend Natradee before hitting my favorite 6:10 hot class back at Yoga Passage, but time didn’t permit and I’m kind of glad because this class was nuts. My legs were shaking and I couldn’t imagine what would have happened had I run up and down several flights of stairs before hand.

After class we took our sweet time before heading home, enjoyed a coconut water with random emergency snacks from the bottoms of our bags

Weirdos.

I was feeling un inspired for dinner and was contemplating just digging into an entire watermelon, but my mom had made a turkey Shepard’s pie and apparently that was exactly what I was craving.

With half a cup of sriracha on top.

It’s good to be back!