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November 25, 2010 · 3:48 pm

Good Choices

This year I am giving thanks for the power of choice.

Last Spring I got really hooked on the mantra “make good choices”. I would repeat this phrase to myself whenever I was making small daily decisions, like whether to exercise or not, eat something or take seconds, or say something snarky (and usually unnecessary) to my amazing husband. It really helped me pause and take time to consider what was best for me in that moment (the “good” in the choice).

Lately I have been overeating. Often. Over the last week I have wound up too full nearly daily. I used to do this a lot but over the last year, through “making good choices”, I have been able to stop when I am 75% “full” more often than not. And feel I feel a lot better when I do that (surprise, surprise). Besides the obvious (excessive calories) it just feels gross to be truly full.

So, on this day of feasting I am going to celebrate my choice to eat or not eat, drink or not drink, every bite and every sip. I love food and have always had a hearty and healthy appetite. I have every intention of eating a nice full plate of food, or maybe two, but I will make every bite a conscious choice, taking my cues from inside rather than outside.

I woke up to the sound of my sister rubbing the turkey with butter. Coffee, an apple, and a small banana later and it was yogatime.

What you can’t see in these pictures is my sister’s mother-in-law watching us from the couch and my sister’s nephew sleeping on the other couch! He only roused briefly as we performed a very intense “breathe of fire” exercise. If you’re not familiar with “breathe of fire”, he managed to mumble, “you sound like panting dogs”. He’s 17.

We flowed along with Shiva Rea for just over an hour.

Breakfast number two.

Pumpkin and plain yogurt topped with cardamon, garam masala, and a kiwi. This will hold me until 2pm “dinner” time. It was delicious and satisfying and I enjoyed every bite.

There were 10 of us at my sister’s house last night and we expect the remaining 4 guests around noon (my parents, stepmom, and step sister).

The decorations are made

After yesterday’s run I was not planning on repeating that adventure today but the dark clouds have parted ways and I would love to get out in the sunshine for a while. Hmmmm, make a good choice, what would be best for me right now? Braving the dogs, hunters, and cars or pumping some (5 pound) iron with Jillian?

I’ll decide over another cup of coffee, now that is definitely a good choice. 😉

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy good food, good company, and good choices!

Insatiable

So my a.m workout didn’t exactly happen. The alarm was set for 6:45 but when I checked the clock at 6 after a restless night of (no) sleep I reset it for 7:35. Sometimes sleep is more important than exercise. C’est la vie.

The theme of the day seemed to be HUNGER. My delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and salsa in a spouted wheat tortilla held me until exactly 10:20, at which point I instantly became ravenous! Maybe it was all of the work jacks ;). I did 5 minutes of jumping jacks broken into sets of 35.

Whatever the cause of my insatiability, I was so ready for lunch when the noon hour finally rolled around.

Last nights leftover pumpkin soup with mung beans and yogurt. The mung beans added a really nice texture.

To make this soup I seeded and sliced up a pie pumpkin, 3 stalks of celery, and 3 carrots, then put it all into a big stockpot with 2 T coconut butter and 2 cups of water. The veg boiled away until it was nice and mushy then into the food processor it all went. I had to process in two batches because this makes a lot of soup.

Into the food processor I added

1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
curry powder
cayenne powder
ginger powder
mineral salt
fresh ground nutmeg

All seasonings were added to taste (I do a lot of “tasting” as I cook :)). Friday night we served the soup drizzled with maple syrup and plain yogurt and topped with pumpkin seeds. I didn’t miss the maple syrup or the seeds today but it is definitely better with some sort of garnish that adds texture (like mung beans, they were so good). Sunflower seeds would be delicious. Or toasted walnuts. Or croutons. Or black beans. Or corn. Hmmm, I think I need to make this soup again!

My wonderful husband said the magic words when I walked in the door this evening from work, tired, dirty, and yes, HUNGRY! “Why don’t you go do yoga while I make dinner.” Ahhh, like a love poem.

Just as I was finishing up 30 minutes of power vinyasa the house started to smell ridiculously good. Dinner was perfect, steamed broccoli, baked butternut squash, roasted potatoes, and baked tofu. Happy and finally not hungry I was ready for bed (remember, I barely slept last night) but Tate convinced me to go for a walk.

He may or may not have mildly bribed me.

Oh yes. Chocolate, mango, and tart frozen yogurt. The tart was awesome, tasted like frozen plain yogurt. I do wish they had smaller cups though, Tate remarked “it’s easy to get more than you want” and he’s right, it adds up fast. I somehow managed to finish it all.

Now I am ready to call it a night. I am trying to ignore the fact that it’s Saturday night because it makes me feel a little lame. There are probably cool things happening all over town. Oh well. G’night!

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Filed under cooking, food, goals, recipes, yoga

Tagged as cooking, exercise, goals, pumpkin, squash, yoga, yoga mat, yogurt