vegan, yoga, crunchy stuff

I’m 26 years old.  I’ve had 3 pregnancies and two babies in the last 3 years.  My body has been in constant change, BUT I am 10 pounds lighter today than I was before my pregnancies.

People ask “what’s your secret?”, well my goal here is to show you exactly what my “secret” is.  I promise you’ve heard about it before.  It’s called:

• DIET and EXERCISE

By “diet” I really mean “lifestyle”.  My husband and I have chosen a vegan full of fruit, vegetables, vegetables, vegetables, and soy protein.  We try to limit, not eliminate, sugar, and keep our carb intake fairly low, even though that is the hardest part.

So many people think that it’s just too hard to make good decisions nutritionally, and I will be the first to say that it really is hard to make the decision to be healthy unless you set goals and stay conscience every single day of your goal and your progress.  If It takes you writing it down, then write it down. Cut a Victorias Secret swimsuit model out of the catalog and keep it in your wallet or on your fridge.  OR  you can just print this picture out:

Remember that fitness begins at the grocery store: Really remember that you are in control of the food that is in front of your face every day.

I’m just going to say that again.  YOU BUY YOUR FOOD.  So, resist the urge for those short 30 minutes that you are at the store and fill up your cart with the best of the best.  Buy a lot of produce and hold yourself responsible to make sure you have eaten, or drank those fruits and veggies before they go bad.  repeat. repeat. repeat.

-stop treating your mouth like its a garbage can-

FOOD:

To start things off right, my husband is nice enough to tell you the recipe of the delicious vegan meal we ate tonight.  

WOAH thats a very large picture.

Ok, this is Justin talking now. For this recipe and probably every single one I ever post you should know going into it that its meant as a GUIDE. I shoot from the hip when I cook. I have a broad strokes picture in mind at the outset and add the details as i go along. We LOVE veggies, especially green, leafy veggies. So again, please add, delete and modify this recipe and all forthcoming recipes based on what you and your family are into. That is what cooking is all about and why I love it.

Kale & White Bean Fagioli (sans carby pasta)

Ingredients

Olive Oil

24 ozVeggie Broth (I like the “no-chikcen broth” from Imagine. it has more flavor)

24 oz Tomato based pasta sauce (whatever you like, homemade or store bought will work, I use bertoli-garlic & olive oil)

1 Onion, diced

1 red or green bell pepper, diced

1 bunch Kale, loosely torn or chopped (no veins or stems)

Any other veggies you want, I included a bag of fresh spinach in this batch because we hadn’t eaten a lot today and needed to catch up on our nutrient intake. But you could add anything; carrot, celery, parsnip, (im not a white potato advocate but you could throw those in as well)

1-2 cans of white beans depending on preference (I used garbonzo beans for this batch)

2-4 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

dried herbs (oregano, rosemary, lavender, basil, sage)

Zucchini and/or squash for the “pasta”

Optional

Other vegan protein (I diced up some tofurkey sausages for this batch)

Directions

1. In a large pot saute onion and bell pepper in olive oil. Add salt to render out the water. When the onion is almost translucent add garlic and cook for another 90 seconds or so. DONT BURN THE GARLIC. Burnt garlic is the gross.

2. Add tomato Sauce, white beans, and half of the broth. Bring to slow boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer.

3. While simmering, add optional protein. Also add in any dried herbs and greens. Add reserve veggie broth as needed, you don’t want this to be too thick. When you have a nice soup mixture, cover and let simmer while you work on other stuff.

4. While soupy mixture is simmering, put on another pot of boiling water and slice up zucchini/squash in pasta form. You can use a mandolin, or peeler or knife or whatever you got to make it mildly resemble spaghetti or lasagna noodles or somewhere in between. Once those are ready, salt the boiling water and add noodles. Boil noodles for about 3-4 minutes then strain and press out excess water with a bunch of paper towels (or regular towel if you are environmentally conscious (we aren’t that hip))

5. This whole time gradually add veggie broth if you need to, keep an eye on that soupy stuff. Don’t let it turn into a thick ragout that could burn.

6. By now everything in the Soup pot should be cooked down and smelling right. I like to remove the lid for a few more minutes of cooking and take of heat. Just to thicken it up a bit more.

7. Add salt, pepper and olive oil to your noodles now that they are dry.

8. Add noodles to bowl, spoon over a bunch of that thick, soupy fagioli, and add some daiya (cheese) or some some nutritional yeast. Then stuff your face.

This all may sound like a lot but its SUPER easy. The real work is just chopping veggies. You could even throw all of this in a slow cooker before you leave for work and it would be great when you get home. As long as you set it on LOW.

Disclaimer-This is my first time writing out my cooking methods, please forgive me. If you have questions just ask. I would love to help, hear suggestions and learn. Cooking good food is my passion (after my wife and kids) and i love to talk about it.

(Thanks for that, Justin. i lurv ewe.)

EXERCISE: is the chisel to the ice sculpture that is you.

Yoga is the chisel for your “ice sculpture”, and your mind, and everything inside of your body, like literally almost everything.

Ive recently mastered my second stage headstand. It look me months of core work to be able to do this sturdily.

Headstands on a daily basis are known to eliminate stress, depression, aging, changing of gray hair, digestive problems, swelling in the feet or legs, and apparently help move blood to your lady parts for under-the-sheets-play.  #woop Here is some more info on the benefits of headstands

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5501/10-Reasons-to-Do-a-Headstand-Every-Day.html

And here is my ever improving headstand.   Remember to keep your glutes and core engaged.

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