Gym Accessories

Fitness ball, Medicine ball, Bosu ball

Pictured here are three of my favorite accessories to utilize in my workouts at the gym. The fitness ball (also called a Swiss ball, a Pilates ball, etc.) has many great uses, and can be useful for working out most of your major muscle groups. There is a pretty comprehensive list here, and I try to work some of these exercises into every workout I do.
Fitness balls come in a variety of sizes, ranging from 14-34 inches, and they are most effective if you find one that is the right size for you. There is a range of recommendations based on height, but since most gyms only have 3 sizes, I typically think smallest=short, medium=medium, and largest=tall. Fitness balls will work best when they are well inflated. You might feel like a total nerd using one of these, but once you try it, you will see just what a great workout they can provide.

The ball in the middle is a Medicine ball. It feels quite a bit like a basketball on the outside, but it is weighted on the inside, generally with sand or steel shot.  Medicine balls are great for incorporating into strength training routines. and most gyms have them in a variety of weights and sizes. The one pictured here is a 5lb ball, and I use it for ab, leg, and arm strengthening.

The last ball (well, half-ball) is a Bosu ball. It is used for standing on and does a great job of helping develop core strength. I have seen people stand on the inflated side, but the way I use it is to balance on the flat side with the inflated side on the floor (as pictured here). I often do free weight arm exercises while standing on the ball for some extra core work, but my favorite way to use the Bosu ball is to stand on it and throw the medicine ball up and catch it repeatedly. If you put on an energetic song and do this rapidly (almost like dancing!) you get in an awesome arm, shoulder, and ab workout very quickly. Standing on the Bosu ball can take a little practice, and most people wobble a lot when they are first trying it. Don't get discouraged! Once you get used to the way it feels, it is actually quite easy to do and looks super impressive too!

Keep it Clean

Yesterday before my yoga class, I was in the restroom that adjoins the studio. A woman used the bathroom, came out of the stall and blew her nose, and then proceeded to go into the yoga class without washing her hands. What went through my mind were all the things she touched (and potentially covered with germs) just in the time I saw her in class- the door handle, the yoga mat (many of the mats belong to the studio and are reused by other students), a couple of yoga blocks, a blanket. It's no wonder that so many people in Olympia, and indeed in the US have been hit with the flu already this year. Many people do not seem to think of their own bodies as potential vectors for disease, and are not as careful as they could be about exposing others to their bodily fluids. I wish I could post a copy of this friendly raccoon poster in every bathroom I'm in, with the hope that it would encourage more people to take the time to wash their hands. You can do a lot to try to stay healthy (including always washing your hands before eating), but when there are people around you who aren't observing basic disease prevention methods, it gets a lot harder to stay well. The Minnesota Department of Health did some observational studies and found that many people do not wash their hands after using the restroom, even at huge public events like the State Fair. Yuck! So if other people aren't going to take the time to wash their hands, make sure you do. It's a simple and effective way of keeping yourself healthy.

Easy Kale Salad

Today after yoga I REALLY wanted to go have a ridiculously unhealthy lunch. In fact I was fantasizing not only about eating something unhealthy for lunch, but also about having dessert afterwards!  Instead, because I am trying to stick to a plan of healthy eating and also trying to  save money by eating out less, I walked home and made myself a plate of healthy food- kale salad with fresh strawberries and pumpkin seeds, brown rice, and a salmon burger. This lunch didn't take long at all (thanks in part to Zach getting the rice started for me), and was relatively inexpensive and easy to make.
The salad pictured here is a staple for me- a basic kale salad that can be adapted to incorporate what you have on hand. The original recipe includes cheese, but I rarely use it because this salad tastes so good even without it. 100% of the people who rated this recipe said that they'd make it again- a pretty rare thing to see among the collection of recipes on epicurious. This dish is a winner, and my adapted version is below. Note that it makes a really huge salad- great to have on hand for lunches and also a nice dish for large dinner parties. It will keep for a few days in the refrigerator, but you can always 1/2 it if you don't want a lot of leftovers. As a note, I have always used regular balsamic vinegar (not white as recommended in the original recipe) with excellent results.

Basic Kale Salad
2 Tbs dried fruit or about 1/2 cup of diced fresh fruit
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs honey or agave syrup
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 bunches Italian kale, leaves torn from stems and torn or cut into bite-sized pieces
2 Tbs nuts or seeds, lightly toasted and chopped if pieces are large
shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
salt&pepper

Whisk balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, honey or agave, olive oil, and salt in a large bowl. Add kale, fruit, and nuts; toss to coat. Let marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature for best flavor, tossing occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle shredded parmesan on top (if desired) and give it a final stir before serving.

Good Fortune

Last night my nephew got this fortune, and when I read it to him he gave me a hug! It's so well put and sweet that I wanted to share it. If you don't like to give (or get) actual hugs, that's ok. You can still give support or comfort to someone who needs it when you have it to spare.

Stopping Unnecessary Snacking and Tooth Decay Simultaneously

What you see here is my nighttime dental care routine- floss, brush, and inter-dental pick. What I've noticed in the past month is that if I take care of my dental hygiene pretty immediately after dinner, I am a lot less likely to have a snack. Most of the time, I'm not really hungry before bedtime, but as I've said before, it's easy to get into routines and create habits, and snacking at night when I'm not hungry is one of my bad ones. Goal #10 is to brush my teeth after I eat dinner to prevent unnecessary snacking. Typically, I do not want to have to re-clean my teeth, and a snack rarely feels worth the effort of doing the whole dental routine twice. I expect this goal to be pretty easy to work into my life, and I hope that it will make enjoying snacks a more deliberate and intentional occurrence rather than a bad habit.

A Little Time Away

This past weekend, Zach and I took a  mini vacation and went up to Port Townsend for a long weekend. As you can see, we had a lot of fun. This is us goofing around in the Rose Theater before we saw 56Up, the latest in a pretty cool documentary series that follows the lives of a group of people from the age of seven. Even though the documentary was really good, if I'm being honest, I had even more fun in the lobby taking pictures with Zach! I'm really lucky to have a partner who knows how to have fun and keeps me laughing and smiling.  If you are ever feeling sad or stressed out, I highly recommend taking some silly-face pictures with someone you love.
Being away from home, I was out of my normal routine and ended up eating a lot of things I wouldn't normally eat so much of: Hello Mt. Townsend Creamery cheese! Hello Southern restaurant mac & cheese! Hello a few too many adorable 5oz glasses of craft beer at The Pourhouse (we did manage to eat a few healthy meals from the delicious deli at the  Port Townsend Food Co-op).  I also didn't get in nearly as much exercise as I normally would (although we did do a lot of walking), and I didn't get myself all set up for this week with salads and a clean house. But you know what? I had a wonderful weekend clowning around with my sweetheart, eating delicious food, and relaxing. The happiness and well-being that brings me is well worth making some unhealthy food choices and missing a few days of exercise!

Valentine's Day Dinner

I'll confess that I'm a romantic. It's nice to have a special occasion to cook a meal for someone you love, and last night I took advantage of the holiday to make an extra special (and healthy) dinner for my sweetie. I made an adaptation of this recipe from epicurious, substituting kale for snap peas, since we didn't have any snap peas in stock at the Co-op. The pistachio pistou was delicious on the salmon, and I think it would be great as a topping on any steamed vegetables.  You can make a simple pistou out of a number of different herbs/oil/nuts by mixing together the following:

Basic Pistou
1/3 cup finely chopped herbs
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions, onions, shallots, or garlic
1/2 cup toasted nuts, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
 Pistous provide an easy way to add a lot of concentrated flavor and a small amount of healthy fat to dishes that need a little sparkle, and it can be really fun to experiment with different flavor combinations.

Overall, this Valentine's Day dinner turned out very nicely, and it felt great to make a meal that kept my goals for healthier eating in mind. I will add a P.S. that we did enjoy some tasty Chianti and mini cupcakes that Zach brought home after dinner, and they were delicious as well. Sometimes splurging is nice too!

Happy Accidents

A few years ago, I was making a pot of lentil soup and realized that I didn't have any potatoes. I did have a large sweet potato, however, and I decided to chop it up, throw it in and hope for the best. I was surprised to find that the sweet potato was such a delicious complement to the lentil soup. Sweet potatoes (which are also called "yams" in the United States) are rich in beta-carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium, Vitamin B6, manganese, and fiber. They are also loaded with antioxidants, which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. I still love and eat regular potatoes, but sometimes I try to substitute part or all of the potatoes in a recipe with sweet potatoes or yams for an added nutritional boost. Keep in mind that as sweet potatoes cook, they have a tendency to sweeten whatever they are being cooked with, so if you add them to soup, you may need to adjust your usual seasonings a little (for example, when I add them to lentil soup, I add extra lemon juice to balance the overall flavor of the dish).

Fruits of our Labors

Last night Zach whipped up this awesome Greek salad using veggies he prepped earlier in the week. Once you have the basic stuff, you can just toss it on a plate with some feta, olives, and maybe a few chickpeas or fish for protein. A delicious and super healthy dinner in 10 minutes.  See how quick and easy it is when you take the time to get yourself set up earlier in the week? Yum!

Blueberries

For goal #9, I've decided to add more blueberries to my diet. Blueberries are a really good source of Vitamin K, Vitamin C, manganese, and fiber. Additionally (and perhaps most importantly) they contain a wide array of antioxidants. There is an explanation here of how antioxidants are beneficial to our bodies. Blueberries are often called a "superfood" because they contribute to better health in so many ways. Some health benefits commonly associated with consumption of blueberries are a reduction in the risk of heart-disease and cancer, as well as a reduction in inflammation in all areas of the body.

My two favorite ways to eat blueberries are with plain goat yogurt and walnuts (I call this a "scone substitute" since it kind of scratches my itch for a blueberry scone, with more nutrition and far less saturated fat and empty calories from sugar) or just by themselves as a snack. In the winter, fresh blueberries are expensive and usually come from far away (sometimes as far away as Chile), so right now, I am buying and eating lots of frozen blueberries.  My goal is to eat a cup of blueberries at least 3 times a week.

Urban Wildlife

Tonight Zach and I took a lovely walk around Capitol Lake. It was a quintessential Olympia evening- silvery, misty and cool. As we rounded a corner, I noticed a small brown animal munching on the grass. It let us get close enough to take some pictures and it didn't seem scared at all. After looking at some pictures online, I think the animal we saw was probably a nutria. For a time when I was young, my family lived near a creek and one of the ways my parents kept me from going to the creek alone was to warn me of the dangerous nutria that lived in the water. I pictured a sea monster sized animal, with claws and fangs, and it wasn't until I was in my late teens that I discovered that a nutria is about the size of a housecat and totally adorable. At any rate, it was a treat to see this little critter out enjoying a snack. We also saw a blue heron and a bunch of ducks that were bathing and looking for dinner. I feel lucky to live in a place where there are so many beautiful places to explore and enjoy. For those of you looking for a place to get in an easy and relaxing walk, Capitol Lake is just the place. A short, 1.5 mile loop, and especially nice on a weekday evening or a lunch break.

The Habit That Started It All

I took a picture of my breakfast kale this morning. Kale for breakfast is what got me thinking about this whole 52 Ways thing in the first place. I've been eating kale every morning for breakfast for at least the past two years, and at this point it has just become a part of my routine. When I was trying to imagine what it would look like to add a bunch of healthy habits that would improve my health and life, I kept thinking about having kale for breakfast. It's something I enjoy and look forward to. It's something that I make a priority because it makes me feel great and I know it's good for my body. But really, it is something that is easy because it's become a habit. I could just as easily have developed a habit of eating doughnuts for breakfast, and in a way, it makes me realize that the bad habits I do have (nutritionally or otherwise) are really just patterns that I set in place by doing them enough times that they start to feel normal. I want the 52 ways that I change this year to be habits that I will sustain and enjoy for the rest of my life.

Working Out

Seeing this sign almost always makes me happy. I associate going to the gym with feeling physically good, being proud of myself for making the time to take care of my body, and with having fun. I didn't always feel that way though. There was a time when going to the gym caused me anxiety- I didn't know how to use much of the equipment and I didn't believe that I belonged there. Several years back, a friend and co-worker who is interested in fitness took the time to go to the gym with me and helped me develop familiarity with the equipment and a good work out plan. Now going to the gym feels really comfortable; the Y feels like "my place", and instead of bringing me anxiety, it is just the thing to relieve it. Although I am pretty dedicated to working out, there are times when I slip up and make excuses in my own mind about how I am "too busy" or "too tired" to go (sometimes this is legitimate, but often I could re-work my schedule to fit it in if it is truly a priority to me).  Goal #8: to work out at the gym at least twice a week during the rainy season. (I'm only including the rainy season in this goal because I think I may end up spending a lot of the summer on the water working on my paddleboard!). This goal should be easy since I am already meeting it most of the time, but I think having it on the list will help me to make working out a priority at those times when making excuses is easier.

The Set Up

This morning I woke up super early and decided to take advantage of this by getting my salad veggies ready for the week.  I think this is one of the simplest things I do that greatly improves my diet. Having all of the fixings for salads ready to go makes it so much easier to make a healthy choice for lunch or dinner. I often will top my salad veggies with some beans or fish, a little cooked grain (brown rice or quinoa) if I have it, maybe throw on a little cheese or a few nuts and call it a meal.

I actually really enjoy the time I spend setting up my salads for the week. I often put on some nice music and think of it as my time to relax and  make my health a priority. A few kitchen things things that are key: a salad spinner for quick and easy lettuce cleaning, a sharp chef's knife, a large cutting board, and a few containers for storing veggies. Total time to get my salad stuff ready for the week was 45 minutes- an amount that I could easily spend online or watching television. Those things are not always a bad way to spend time, but once a week, it definitely pays off to spend my time doing something that makes the rest of my week healthier and easier.

50 Shades of Green

My last few posts have alluded to my work life being a little stressful lately. On Friday, when I was at work, I was trying to maintain a positive attitude and was thinking about the part of my job I love the most- bringing fresh, organic produce to the community I live in. A shopper who regularly comes in when I am working told me that she hopes I will keep working in produce until she dies (she's in her 70s). It was a funny conversation; she was kind of joking, but also kind of serious. She expressed gratitude that I put so much care and work into making sure that the produce the Co-op sells looks great and is fresh. It was really a bright spot in my week- realizing that the work I do has a positive impact on her and that she places such a high value on it.

In talking to her, I realized that the part of my work that involves making the produce rack look good is really important to me. I want Co-op shoppers to feel so intoxicated with the beauty of produce that they feel compelled to eat more of it. Call it better nutrition through visual seduction. To me, setting up a produce rack is a lot like working on a painting or making crafts- you want the colors and textures to complement one another and make the eye flow from one part of the "painting" to another. When you are working with produce instead of paint or felt, however, you have to get really good at working with the color green.  So this is me, proudly kicking it with my 50 shades of green (and a few other colors too)!

A lovely space to start the weekend right

See that beautiful living room? Notice how clean and inviting it looks? Makes you want to hang out in there, doesn't it? Me too! When my house is clean and tidy, it reduces my stress a lot. I am more inclined to spend time in my house reading, cooking, making art, and hanging out with my honey, all of which are great stress-reducing activities. So I've decided that goal #7 will be to clean my house after work on the last day of my work-week. That way, I can start my weekend with a clean house and focus on relaxing and having fun on my days off. My house is small so it doesn't take long, and I've found that if I come straight home after work and get my housecleaning done, it helps me shake off work, get settled into my home life, and hits the reset button.