Foodie Friday

Happy last Friday in November friends! I feel cliche saying this but I can’t believe its almost December. The older I get, the faster time goes – I just can’t handle it. Another thing that happens when you get older…it gets harder to maintain your weight. What’s even harder, is to loose weight once you’ve slipped. In 4 months I put on about 20lbs…granted I was on a medication that fully disclosed weight gain as a symptom but I don’t know if ALLLLL that can be contributed to the meds. ANYWAY, my body is detoxing and I am continuing to be healthy – eating right and trying new forms of exercise. I starting kickboxing (more on that later), and subscribed to Kayla Itsines’s SWEAT app. for   workout inspiration. I don’t follow her diet nor do I follow the program as its designed but its fun & helping to keep me motivated.

Another piece is changing locations and schedules – it throws a kink into the diet & cooking regime. Between commuting into the city (yes, I am still doing that), taking care of my little family, I have less time to grocery shop prep food. I have to do my best with one big trip weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, to the farmers market & grocery store. With this new way of foraging I’ve needed to come up with more inspired dishes; hence, whole wheat couscous with herbs, pine nuts, cucumber & citrus. I threw this together the other night with the things in my fridge and cabinet…proof that you can make healthy, flavorful meals, if you keep a well stocked pantry & fridge.  The beautiful roasted squash is curtesy of Alison Roman‘s Dining In book that is full of delicious, easy, & unique recipes.

 

Citrus Couscous with Herbs, Pine Nuts, & Cucumber 

Ingredients:

• whole wheat couscous
• lemon (zest and juice)
• 2 tbsp pine nuts (dry roasted & cooled)
• 1 tbsp harissa oil (or regular EVOO)
• herbs (parsley, dill, and cilantro – or whatever you like)
• 1/2 cucumber (peeled, seeded, and diced)
• salt & pepper to taste

Recipe:

Prepare couscous according to the package (basically boil water or stock, add couscous, turn off heat & cover for about 10 minutes  – its like the easiest thing ever) and allow to cool. While couscous is going, throw the pine nuts in a pan on medium heat, toss every few minutes until lightly browned (keep your eyes on those suckers – they burn quickly). Add remaining ingredients and BOOM, ALL DONE!

 

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

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Myofascial Monday

Hello Friends!

I hope everyone had a marvelous weekend! I don’t know if it was riding bikes with Phil, teaching multiple classes, stress from the wedding, or a combination of everything, but I am all sorts of tight in my glutes after this weekend. To help, I have a myofascial release session planned during the Eagles game tonight…GO BIRDS!!!!

I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with myofascial release but just in case, MFR is a soft tissue therapy used to relieve pain and immobility in the muscles. The goal is to release tension in the musculature and allow better circulation by loading the tissue with direct force until the muscular contraction releases. There are a ton of different options for the ‘application of direct force’ but I use a tennis ball or something similar. The idea is to find a specific part of the body that is sore, locate the trigger point (or super sore spot) and settle in to see if you can relieve some tension. Today’s focus is on glut med which presents as pain in the outer hip, top of your butt, or as centralized back pain. Above is an image of some of the common pain stops and trigger points associated tension in these muscles.

SO, what do to….

Rest your foot on the floor and arm where it’s comfortable on your side…I’m moving into position here 😉 

Take a few minutes in each position, allow the tennis ball to sink into the muscles, and try to soften/relax (it helps to breath deeply). Once you feel a release there, roll the ball a little up and down or side to side, find another trigger point, and repeat!

I should warn anyone who hasn’t tried this before, it can be uncomfortable! However, you should not experience any shooting pain, numbness, tingling, etc… if you do, back off and find a new spot, haha, you’re likely on a nerve – no need to be alarmed, you’ll be fine, the body is very resilient!

My goal is to share more myofascial release tips each Monday leading up to the wedding, so any questions, requests, etc.., please leave them in the comments section!

’til next time, keep smiling! 🙂

Warm Welcome

Unfortunately the temperatures took a dip below freezing today but I wont let that bring down today’s warm welcome! This is a little late mind you, since she has been blogging for a few weeks now, but I wanted to give a warm WordPress welcome to my friend, coworker and fellow health/fitness enthusiast Kissing Chubby Goodbye!

While she may have started her blog a mere few weeks ago, she has been chronicling her journey on facebook for several months! As a coworker, I am happy to see her dedication to healthy eating in the office environment, as a friend I am so proud of her progress and positivity and as a fellow health/fitness enthusiast I am damn impressed by what she’s accomplished thus far on her journey!

I know my influence within the blogging community isn’t as powerful as some of those I follow but I would be remiss if I didn’t give Kissing Chubby Goodbye a shout because its something everyone should read! Her story is awesome, her transformation is inspiring and she’s all and all a pretty incredible lady!!!

On my way…

The weekend is almost here and I am in a particularly good mood because I got a great workout in this morning! Even though I incorporated my alarm into my dream resulting in a few more hits to the snooze button then I wanted, I still made it to the gym a few minutes before 6am.

The beginning was a little rough: ‘Why am I doing this? My body hurts!’  were the thoughts swirling in my head for several minutes but with a quick flip of the Pandora station, I got into a groove. After about an hour I wanted to do more but that thing called a job, and the shower required to show up, was calling my name!

I am going to start taking pictures once a week…not to be posted until I see actual results…as an additional motivation and encouragement. I am already feeling better after a few days which helps me know I am on my way!

We’ll see how yoga goes tonight!