I'm MELTing

So, I am back from the farm and while yesterday was a slightly bloaty day I am kind of back on track.  Do I dare tell you what I ate?  Oh man.  Let's just say there were a few chicken nuggets on the drive, a lot of coffee, a copious amount of gummies, chippies, and cinnamon buns with bacon on the inside (made by me.)  They were quite delicious, but oh so heart attacky.

For my motivation I have booked myself 2 photosessions (1 boudoir!) as well we have ordered our costumes for the ballet recital so I feel that I need to get my shit together.  I just feel less strong since I haven't gone to the gym this month, but good news, March is just around the corner and I will be ready to jump back into it.  As well, I have been attending my pilates classes with Annabel and I started a workshop class which goes for 2 classes a week for 4 weeks and it is about health and eating well, so I am excited to learn more from that.

I had the pleasure of learning that MELT method, which at first glance, seemed a little silly with the balls and rollers and what not....but then I had my first class. (See how I doubt things quite easily....but at least I give it a shot!)  Annabel and I worked on my hands and feet with these little balls and they focus on specific points (similar to, but not the same, as reflexology).  The difference between MELT and reflexology (and one of its biggest pros) is that you are the one that does the work as opposed to having the work done to you.  You have to talk to your body, listen to the pain or the lack of pain, etc.  I think this is one of the biggest things that pilates teaches us.  We truly need to listen to and accept the feelings that we get when working on our bodies.  More often then not, when we experience pain we prefer to dull it and "make it go away" but what we forget is that pain is our bodies way of communicating with us that something is not quite right.  The other thing that MELT does for us is heals our connective tissue, which over time can become brittle and taught as a result of us not working it.  When this happens, our body creates scar tissue to fill in the rips of the connective tissue and this is partly what causes the pain in our bodies.  Best part is, once you learn the basics, you can do it at home if you are not a fan of going to a studio.

Aside form that, I have had the chance to preview my new cookbooks and today is grocery shopping day.  The Nom Nom Paleo book is quite awesome and I have also stumbled across their Facebook page which is motivating to see if come up in my news feed.  I kind of used one of the recipes last night, but instead of duck I used chicken.  It was quite delicious and easy to make!

Tonight I will be making elk chili!  That's right, Elk Chili!  Kind of funny since I contemplated going vegetarian, but I feel that if I make the conscious decision to buy local meat then I can be sure it is not mass produced and therefore the animal is less likely to have sustained a horrifying life or death.  Note, I say less likely.  This is a very hot topic and this is just my opinion.  I am not trying to convince people one way or the other.  I just want to limit the amount of environmental impact and poor conditions for animals.  It may be more expensive and not as convenient.
Anyhow, I am off for the day, but here are some lovely images of the cows on the farm in Bowsman.

The Sweetest Cake Ever

This past weekend was the celebration of my best friend, Stephanie turning 30!  Now, I am not alone.  Phew.  So yesterday, her and her fiancee, Phil popped over for supper and I had wanted to make her a delicious cake, but Stephanie is gluten free.  I remembered seeing a cooking show on TV talking about baking with vegetables, so I looked for those alternative types of cakes online.

I came across this delightful recipe for Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake.  To be fair, Betty Bake is one of the best food blogs that I have come across.  Lots of beautiful pictures and easy, healthy recipes!  I was just saying yesterday that I will not buy a recipe book unless there are pictures for every meal.  (Speaking of, I purchased 2 new recipe books which I will talk about later!)  Anyhow, back to the cake! The recipe is quite vague on a few things, #1 being "gluten free flour" as there are a number of different types of gluten free flour, and I chose to go with tapioca flour for this cake as it looked the most like traditional flour.  Also, it takes a lot longer to bake a sweet potato than one would think and because I started this little project at 1am, I decided to boil the potato instead and it softened a lot quicker.  Overall though, the cake was not horrendous.  I also kept it in the fridge before serving it, which in hindsight, I think I would now take out about 20 minutes prior.

So for supper last night, we enjoyed some delicious organic bison burgers, sweet potato fries, and delicious gluten free chocolate cake.  Oh!  I forgot to mention, I chose to go with a delicious banana coconut cream cheese icing with sprinkles.  I am not sure where I got the recipe from though.

Now, for the recipe books which I purchased came from Costco and are quite fun I think.

I am not going paleo, but there were delicious healthy recipes ALL with pictures.  For someone who writes, I hate seeing a lot text....it's just the way my brain works, I think.  Once I start making recipes from these I will post them for you guys to try as well!

On that note, I have to go do some work before pilates! But I am off to the farm this weekend for my little Aubree's 2nd birthday party! So I may not write too much whilst I am gone!  Please pray for good driving conditions for me haha!

Just Trying to Get Organized

I am writing this blog post to keep my mind centered more than anything.  I have this amazing ability to jump from one thing to another and lately the chaos has been increasing.  Why? I don't know, but I do know that it is impeding my ability to focus on healthy eating and activity. 

I have been staying up late working on the computer, sleeping in and therefore eating at odd times.  I start my day with coffee instead of water, not for the caffeine fix, but because of the habit. I have been eating Ryvita toast with light cream cheese and tomatoes, until today, when I forgoed the tomatoes and used unsweetend coconut and a few dark chocolate chips.  More delicious than one would think, fyi. 

 

Ryan and I went out for sushi on Saturday night where I downed 2 lychee martinis (hello, sugar!) and shared a few rolls of sushi with Ryan, following up with a cake like dessert.  While we were celebrating Valentine's Day, that does not mean I should go absolutely crazy.  But alas, I did.

I have also been in the studio continuously for the last few days and therefore have been eating sporadically.  I need to prepare things and get it together.  Last night, Steph, Phil and I went out for supper after their engagement session and I had fries with my chicken parmigiana. FRIES!  I don't even like fries on a good day....what the heck??  

I think I have also been plagued by stress of the financial variety.  Winters are a difficult time for photographers and while I have been trying to do as much as possible, it appears I am working harder instead of smarter, so I need to get that in check.  Stress is the enemy of most people, but for myself, it is quite worse because my body immediately stops burning fat because of the cortisol.  Damn. 

In order to organize my life and start making things priorities, I make lists.  Making lists is equivalent to my breaking point.  But it feels so satisfying when I check things off the list!

 

Then my tablet starting screwing up on me and I will have to restart the computer to get it fixed before working on more images, but in order to  restart the computer I will have to wait 2-3 hours for all the updates to take effect.  So, I will finish up my blog posts, create my mood board then reset the computer and clean whilst the computer is doing it's "thing."  

See, just by me writing this blog post, I have already organized my day a bit better.  Sometimes its good just to write stuff down. 

With that, I am off for the day!

Pie-Lattes?

While my afternoon spent with Annabel at Pilates Manitoba included more mind-body awareness than scarfing down a sweet slice of apple pie followed by the delicious caffeinated milky beverage that is a latte, it was amazing nonetheless.  And I am craving it!

So, yesterday was my first day actually trying pilates and I have to say if you have not tried (proper) pilates, give it a go.  Seriously.  First off, nothing like yoga aside from the breathing component.  Secondly, it is the most aware that I have EVER been.  I feel that I am pretty intuitive to my body and when I strength train I have the ability to focus on particular muscles quite easily, but lying on the mat with my eyes closed and really listening to my body is quite incredible.  When I was younger, I had read a book about an Olympic figure skater and she would do these exercises where she would lie on the floor and imagine a ball of energy traveling from the top of her head, through her neck, through her arms to her fingertips, and so forth to the other parts of her body.  I remember thinking about this and actually trying it when I was younger and it is absolutely a cool feeling.  Give it a go.  Lie on the floor, close your eyes and just focus on your breathing.  Then, imagine a ball of silver energy starting in your brain and picture it moving through your body, coursing through your veins and making its way to all of your body.  For me, I feel the difference, but again, I find that I am more in tune to my body and what not, so it may take practice for some. 

The pictures below will show you some of the machines that we use and while at a first glance they may look like types of machines found in certain fetish dungeons, I can assure you that they are used strictly for pilates (during the day anyhow...I cannot guarantee what happens at night ;) ):

(That's me in the mirror.  I look skinny haha....they also have great mirrors!)

 Visualization is amazing.  Anyhow, this is similar to what doing pilates was like for me.  Annabel would talk me through what was happening, what to focus on, and keeping my body still while moving parts separately from one another.  It was slow, intense, and focused....something I think that people need in their day to day lives.  I was so excited and revitalized after that class that last night before bed, I tried all the things on the floor and then in bed again.  I also found out that I have been standing and walking incorrectly for most of my life.  I am finding that what pilates focuses on is engaging your whole body to ensure you don't lose the support of one part to gain balance in another if that makes any sense.  For example, stand up.  Now, lift one leg off the floor slightly.  You will notice that the pressure shifts to the opposite side.  Your hip drops, your shoulder droops as a result, and your other foot will experience immense pressure.  Put your foot back down.  Try it again, this time being conscious of your core being tight and engaged and focus on NOT letting your hip dip to the opposite side.  It's hard, but this is how repetitive injuries happen!  Crazy!  I spent 30 years walking one way, to find out that it probably wasn't the best.

 

For those of you that have the Wii Fit, whenever you go to a new activity a little white screen will come up with your little Mii's body in the corner and a green circle that hovers around the screen depending on where your pressure is put.  Try stepping on it and keeping the green circle in the direct center.  that means the pressure is equal.

Anywho, that was first shot at pilates and I am quite excited to see where this goes!  My next class is tomorrow, so I have somethings to work on before then.  In addition to that, my eating habits have been utter crap.  Not going to lie.  I have not been cooking, I have not been prepared, and I have literally, not cared and that sucks.  Therefore, I am back to "journalling" my food here.  Sorry!

Breakfast: 2 eggs with 2 tbsp of organic white cheddar cheese/coffee X2/some sort of fruit bar

Snack: Hummus & chips (probably around 12 or so)

Lunch: apple/beet/carrot juice & quinoa

Snack: hard boiled egg & peanut butter/banana on rice cakes

Supper: Salmon & garden salad

Snack: