I went back to work on Monday after my horrendous hot yoga experience on Friday night (See Hot Yoga) and was told that I went to the wrong class, with the wrong teacher on the wrong night. I was also told that I might need a bit of an attitude adjustment. Apparently, I am used to being in an advanced class and used to doing one type of yoga over and over again. I have gotten used to know exactly how class is "supposed" to go and what the room is supposed to look like. At my studio there are lots of people of varying shapes and sizes, but they all wear prana tights or shorts and racerback t-shirts. A person in a bikini would be very out of place at my studio.
So, I went to a different class at the Hot Yoga on Monday night. It was a modified Bikram type class. There were some issues. First, I was really overdressed this time and suddenly realized that the nakedness was not an excuse to create a girls gone wild video after class ended. I was wearing my racerback t-shirt and long black tights and I felt like I was going to start melting into the floor by the end of the class. "Ah" I thought, "people wear fewer clothes here for the same reason that people who live in San Diego wear less than people in Seattle". I am smrt, as in Homer Simpson.
Second, this class was completely different than my regular yoga class. The poses were different, the breathing was different, etc.... It was great for my body, my mind etc... to have to learn new ways of moving. However, it was not a great day to learn these new ways of moving. Unfortunately, I had been at the eye doctor a couple of days earlier and am not allowed to wear contacts for a week. So, I was stuck in a hot room without any ability to see the people around me. This was a problem when the teacher kept saying, "look at the person next to you or in front of you if you need to see the pose demonstrated." All of the poses looked exactly the same from my vantage point: body blur.
Still, despite the problems, the atmosphere was great(there were no leerers or groaners, well at least none that I could see). I had to focus a lot to keep up with the class since I was completely dependent on the teacher's instructions to do the correct movements. The sweat was refreshing and I was sore for two days after the class (I always take sore to mean: turning into iron woman.)
I am not sure I am a hot yoga person. I love my studio and tonight I smiled and sighed a happy sigh as I was working through my sun salutations. However, I think I will change it up every once in a while to try something new and adjust my often temperamental attitude.
namaste.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Smoking Pete's BBQ - or why I will probably gain 20 pounds in the next month
The end of all of my healthy eating was innocent. I wanted to take Sean out to dinner and I wanted to walk. So, naturally, I picked the place closest to my house. Unfortunately for my waistline, the closest place to my house (three blocks away) lives a small piece of BBQ heaven that is going to systematically destroy all of my health and dieting goals.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into this little hole in the wall joint was the lack of pretense. The guy behind the counter, who had one of those "I just got back from fishing beards", didn't say hello when I walked in. There was no table service, only a counter and a guy in the back slicing pulled pork and slathering BBQ sauce on it. The floor had that half painted concrete look and the beer case had a bottle opener on top (did you expect that they would open your beer?) Oh man, I could instantly tell this place was going to be trouble.
Next was the beer fridge. It was as if this place was designed for me. The atmosphere wasn't pretentious at all, I could have worn my cowboy boots and a hoodie and I would have been fine. But the beer was microbrew at its best. They had Rogue Ale. A brief aside....Rogue Ales is the best beer on planet earth. It is simultaneously the smoothest, freshest and most micro beer you will ever get. And, recently, I had a reason to attempt to get a nice six pack of Rogue Ales shipped. Although I eventually realized that the cost of shipping would be astronomically high, the guy at the warehouse spent a few hours over a couple of weeks talking to me about my options. So, the mere presence of this amazing beverage made my day. The Rogue Ale alone would have ruined my diet and my pocket book(The Rogue people know how good their beer is, so it isn't cheap).
Next came the music. Oh, the perfect music. While I was there I heard, Muddy Waters, Emmy Lou Harris and Jimmy Buffet. Add in some Paul simon and I might have cried. For those of you who do not share my taste in music, imagine a pre-teen girl going to a restaurant and only hearing Justin Bieber and Katy Perry for an hour. To me, the music was that good. And they have live bands on Thursday nights.
I sat down with my pulled pork sandwich, collard greens and coleslaw and realized that I might end up eating here on a regular basis (I am sorry skinny jeans, but I am in love with the BBQ joint down the street, I am not sure I am going to be able to wear you much longer). The pulled pork was succulent, perfectly fatty and had an ample oozing of spicy BBQ sauce. The bread tasted like it was made that morning and then grilled right before it made its way to my mouth. MMMM.....The collard greens weren't the healthy kind that we all make with our Full Circle Farm boxes. They were the sweet and succulent and superbly unhealthy kind with the bacon. Yeah, my veggies contained bacon. The coleslaw was nothing special, but next time, I will just order the baked beans and get it over with.
I didn't check to see if they had sweet potato pie. I think I will avoid the dessert counter for at least a couple of weeks (I am not ready to give up on my current set of regular fit jeans just yet).
I think I probably should go hit the treadmill, STAT......
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Hot Yoga
I went to my first hot yoga class last night. My colleagues and friends have suggested that I step out of my yoga shell and I felt like I went from my nice cozy yoga shell to an episode of the yoga twilight zone. I walked in the door to sign in and I saw two women in bikinis (okay, bikini tops with very short spandex shorts). Yes, they were incredibly attractive (and made me feel instantly like an octogenarian whale), but my studio never has people strutting around in very little clothing. (PS they both had lower back tattoos, you know the kind). I went to the dressing room and put on my green prana capris and top and felt like I was WAY overdressed for the occasion.
The room was actually the temperature of a sauna and it had full length mirrors, somewhat like a dance studio everywhere. My studio intentionally avoids the mirror thing so you can concentrate on what you are doing and not whether you look awesome doing it. I rolled out my mat and was inclined to just lay on it for the hour long class.
I looked at the other students walking in: it was AWESOME. Several college co-eds, a couple of soccer moms and three morbidly obese dudes who were clearly not there for the health benefits of the class. One of the morbidly obese dudes was so out of shape that he made groaning noises a few times throughout the class. I was concerned for the men, with the intense heat, the half-naked women and the actual exercise portion of the class, I was a little worried about ambulances and fire trucks coming in to interrupt the class.
Eventually, the bikini barbie came in and started leading the class. She led it like an aerobics class, complete with the bright bouncy voice and a "come on, just one more set" attitude. The actual class was kind of fun. I drank a lot of water and the heat made me more flexible so I was able to get into poses I normally avoid. However, I did not enjoy glaring at my, not 4 pound co-ed body in the mirror as I tried to concentrate on my breath. And I really didn't enjoy listening to the men having heart attacks around me.
I am not someone that is under the illusion that modern yoga practice is an ancient Hindu art with tradition that goes back centuries (if you believe this to be true, please read Yoga Body by Mark Singleton). However, I do believe that Yoga is, at its core, a physical and meditative art. And I get a lot out of my classes because of the combination of both aspects.
I don't see my self going back to the barbie, fat man, sauna version any time soon. I may, however, try a different hot yoga studio to see if there are any that are less, well....
The room was actually the temperature of a sauna and it had full length mirrors, somewhat like a dance studio everywhere. My studio intentionally avoids the mirror thing so you can concentrate on what you are doing and not whether you look awesome doing it. I rolled out my mat and was inclined to just lay on it for the hour long class.
I looked at the other students walking in: it was AWESOME. Several college co-eds, a couple of soccer moms and three morbidly obese dudes who were clearly not there for the health benefits of the class. One of the morbidly obese dudes was so out of shape that he made groaning noises a few times throughout the class. I was concerned for the men, with the intense heat, the half-naked women and the actual exercise portion of the class, I was a little worried about ambulances and fire trucks coming in to interrupt the class.
Eventually, the bikini barbie came in and started leading the class. She led it like an aerobics class, complete with the bright bouncy voice and a "come on, just one more set" attitude. The actual class was kind of fun. I drank a lot of water and the heat made me more flexible so I was able to get into poses I normally avoid. However, I did not enjoy glaring at my, not 4 pound co-ed body in the mirror as I tried to concentrate on my breath. And I really didn't enjoy listening to the men having heart attacks around me.
I am not someone that is under the illusion that modern yoga practice is an ancient Hindu art with tradition that goes back centuries (if you believe this to be true, please read Yoga Body by Mark Singleton). However, I do believe that Yoga is, at its core, a physical and meditative art. And I get a lot out of my classes because of the combination of both aspects.
I don't see my self going back to the barbie, fat man, sauna version any time soon. I may, however, try a different hot yoga studio to see if there are any that are less, well....
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Fast Food....and worst diet imaginable.
I tried to watch supersize me today. I made it 24 minutes and 58 seconds before feeling like I was going to throw up. I had to turn it off. (I can't watch someone eat that much food and throw it up).
However, it made me reminisce about my past eating habits. I thought I was eating okay, I didn't understand what was wrong with my eating habits when I was eating like everyone else. After reading all of the books on the obesity epidemic, I am beginning to realize that my problem is precisely eating like everyone else in America. I was gaining weight, just like the other 30 percent of obese americans and I was doing in ways that almost seems mundane.
Back when I was 60 pounds heavier, I used to eat fast food like 5-6 times a week, at least. I would think nothing more than ordering a 460 calorie spicy chicken sandwich and 420 calories worth of beautiful, greasy french fries. I always order a diet coke to go with my bad diet choices. It is a good way to pretend that the lard shaped hamburger like substance I put in my mouth was really not that bad. The sandwiches at fast food restaurants are greasy and covered in sauces and yet, I can pretend that every ounce is just "meat and potatoes", like grandma used to fix.
For breakfast, it was a blueberry muffin and a mocha (this is before I realized I was dairy intolerant). Unbeknownst to me, my two thing breakfast was costing me 800 calories. And the muffins we never good enough at Starbucks to justify the extra calories. I mean, they are tasty, but not like thee warm muffing that came out of the oven on saturday mornings when I was growing up. There was no butter, no wafting smell of blueberries and dough baking gloriously in the oven. Just a sugar coated blueberry muffin with an overpriced coffee drink.
I would generally have a sandwich and chips for lunch. Each slice of bread is 100 calories and, when you add the mayo, the cheese and the turkey a sandwich is generally between 400-500 calories. The chips, if you are good and get the small bag (which I totally wasn't) run you 140 calories. So, if I didn't have a snack, my three meals were about 2200 calories, give or take.
The problem is the sweets.....mmmmmmm.......sweets :). I ate decently cruddy stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but those were not (and still are not the important meals of the day.) There is dessert one (that wonderful, beautiful 200-400 calorie cookie that went with lunch. It was fatty and sugary and heavenly to the taste buds and it would buy me satiation until around 3 pm
At three I needed to be really satisfied (no, not in that way.), so I ate a snickers bar. I pretended they were healthy because of the protein in the peanuts. The snickers bar was another 280 calories. After dinner, it was ice cream, a small cookie, a brownie or a chocolate bar. All in the range of 400 calories and all marvelous. Sometimes, I would add a veer or wine to me dinner for another 125-150 calories.
To put the numbers in perspective. I am 5' 8'' and weigh 4 pounds (like I am ever going to reveal my weight, I am in the healthy range for my height, but like most women, I think I need to lose another 10 pounds). My 2200 breakfast, lunch and dinner diet is the amount an ACTIVE 240 pound woman would need to maintain their weight (See Mayo Clinic Calorie Counter) My weight never got closed to that high, but I had severe back problems (that still haunt me today), high glucose counts and knees that would often buckle when I walked. My actual diet of 3,000 to 3,200 calories was enough to help maintain the weight of a VERY ACTIVE 300 pound person.
My retroactive eating diary made me think of two things: 1) Weight itself should not be the issue, what we put in our mouths and how we move our bodies should be. Whether I had been thin (with one of those annoying super fast metabolisms) or 300 pounds, my diet SUCKED. There were none of those green things or red things with antioxidants and fiber goodness. I ate more sugar and fat in a day than I should realistically should be eating in a week. Instead of concentrating on why we all are bigger than we used to be; thereby screwing up our body images and self-esteem, maybe we should concentrate on the utter Suckitude of the american diet. Potatoes and soybean oil are not vegetables. Beer is not liquid bread and the blueberries in the muffin do not count as a serving of fruit. 2) The first realization, made me realize that I am still eating way more fat and sugar than a normal person should ever consume (but, on the plus side, I have added those fruits and vegetables to my plate.).
However, it made me reminisce about my past eating habits. I thought I was eating okay, I didn't understand what was wrong with my eating habits when I was eating like everyone else. After reading all of the books on the obesity epidemic, I am beginning to realize that my problem is precisely eating like everyone else in America. I was gaining weight, just like the other 30 percent of obese americans and I was doing in ways that almost seems mundane.
Back when I was 60 pounds heavier, I used to eat fast food like 5-6 times a week, at least. I would think nothing more than ordering a 460 calorie spicy chicken sandwich and 420 calories worth of beautiful, greasy french fries. I always order a diet coke to go with my bad diet choices. It is a good way to pretend that the lard shaped hamburger like substance I put in my mouth was really not that bad. The sandwiches at fast food restaurants are greasy and covered in sauces and yet, I can pretend that every ounce is just "meat and potatoes", like grandma used to fix.
For breakfast, it was a blueberry muffin and a mocha (this is before I realized I was dairy intolerant). Unbeknownst to me, my two thing breakfast was costing me 800 calories. And the muffins we never good enough at Starbucks to justify the extra calories. I mean, they are tasty, but not like thee warm muffing that came out of the oven on saturday mornings when I was growing up. There was no butter, no wafting smell of blueberries and dough baking gloriously in the oven. Just a sugar coated blueberry muffin with an overpriced coffee drink.
I would generally have a sandwich and chips for lunch. Each slice of bread is 100 calories and, when you add the mayo, the cheese and the turkey a sandwich is generally between 400-500 calories. The chips, if you are good and get the small bag (which I totally wasn't) run you 140 calories. So, if I didn't have a snack, my three meals were about 2200 calories, give or take.
The problem is the sweets.....mmmmmmm.......sweets :). I ate decently cruddy stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but those were not (and still are not the important meals of the day.) There is dessert one (that wonderful, beautiful 200-400 calorie cookie that went with lunch. It was fatty and sugary and heavenly to the taste buds and it would buy me satiation until around 3 pm
At three I needed to be really satisfied (no, not in that way.), so I ate a snickers bar. I pretended they were healthy because of the protein in the peanuts. The snickers bar was another 280 calories. After dinner, it was ice cream, a small cookie, a brownie or a chocolate bar. All in the range of 400 calories and all marvelous. Sometimes, I would add a veer or wine to me dinner for another 125-150 calories.
To put the numbers in perspective. I am 5' 8'' and weigh 4 pounds (like I am ever going to reveal my weight, I am in the healthy range for my height, but like most women, I think I need to lose another 10 pounds). My 2200 breakfast, lunch and dinner diet is the amount an ACTIVE 240 pound woman would need to maintain their weight (See Mayo Clinic Calorie Counter) My weight never got closed to that high, but I had severe back problems (that still haunt me today), high glucose counts and knees that would often buckle when I walked. My actual diet of 3,000 to 3,200 calories was enough to help maintain the weight of a VERY ACTIVE 300 pound person.
My retroactive eating diary made me think of two things: 1) Weight itself should not be the issue, what we put in our mouths and how we move our bodies should be. Whether I had been thin (with one of those annoying super fast metabolisms) or 300 pounds, my diet SUCKED. There were none of those green things or red things with antioxidants and fiber goodness. I ate more sugar and fat in a day than I should realistically should be eating in a week. Instead of concentrating on why we all are bigger than we used to be; thereby screwing up our body images and self-esteem, maybe we should concentrate on the utter Suckitude of the american diet. Potatoes and soybean oil are not vegetables. Beer is not liquid bread and the blueberries in the muffin do not count as a serving of fruit. 2) The first realization, made me realize that I am still eating way more fat and sugar than a normal person should ever consume (but, on the plus side, I have added those fruits and vegetables to my plate.).
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Food, Inc...Thoughts on how we eat
I finally watched Food, inc. One thing before I get to the review. If you have a weak stomach or eat chicken regularly, do not eat while watching this documentary. It will make you sick to your stomach.
POSITIVES: Brings up major issues with the way we eat. We tend to eat food like products (overly processed food stuff) instead of actual food. Everything we eat has some chemical laden product in it and even the fruits and vegetables we buy are pumped full of things to make them look better for the marketplace. (look at the segment on apples, it was pretty revealing)
We tend to ignore the ethical consequences of industrial meat production. I know that most of us eat meat, and kill the animals to get it, but we don't have to treat the animals like assembly line car parts while they are alive. We don't need to get into a philosophical debate about whether animals feel pain to decide that treating living things with respect is a good idea. Watching the chickens at the poultry processing plant was enough to get me to buy free range chicken.
We also ignore the microbial safety issues of eating industrially produced foods. Food safety is a huge issue. And realistically most food borne illness involves our food having contact with poop of one sort of another. Seriously, poop. Even if the poop did not give me an illness, I expect that the USDA and FDA are going to work on my behalf to keep poop out of our food supply.
The movie provided my take on buying products from so-called "evil firms". Companies sell what people buy and we are not going to overturn the food system in a week buy switching to food produced in gardens in our back yards. Buy organic from Walmart, buy the veggie burger from chili's and get the locally sourced fries from the fast food restaurant.
NEGATIVES: The film was very well, slanted. It was one sided and did not include any view points from people in the food industry. Because of its radical slant, the movie did not provide an opportunity for family farmers who make their living selling food to large multinationals to input their opinion. Many farmers depend on the current food system for their livelihoods and cannot afford to promote organic and local at the drop of a hat.
I know what I am doing when I purchase and eat fake food. I know what I am doing when I go to McDonald's. But that does not mean that I am going to stop going to McDonald's occasionally or that I am going to make it to the farmers market every Sunday. I like buying local, I like buying organic, I love my CSA and I love the farmer's market. But right now, for instance, I have a lot of stress and have decided to pick the convenience of pre-packaged meals over the stress of grocery shopping and the expense of restaurants.
As long as we make healthy food decisions most of the time and are aware of what we are doing when we make unhealthy decisions, I believe that there is a place for the Good, the Bad and the incredibly fake in our diets.
The movie also ignored, in my mind, the fundamental problem with sustainable farming on a large nationwide scale. How do we create economically viable and sustainable farming communities that produce food inexpensive enough for the poor to eat? If we go back to lower production levels of meat, grain and produce, how is it possible that the food would be cheap enough for a family to eat? And if there was enough competition in the marketplace to lower the cost, how would farmers make enough money to survive?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Looking like an idiot and other tips for living a healthy life.....
I have decided that the ability to make a fool of oneself is essential to health and happiness(Of course this maybe partly because I have a high threshold for embarassment). We miss out on so much in life because we are unwilling to look silly in front of others. People who are willing to look and feel silly get to take risks and try things that other people are too embarrassed to attempt. And people who are unable to laugh at themselves often fail to laugh at all, a trait which has to be incredibly stress inducing.
So, here are some ideas from my repertoire of ways to look silly(ps, these are not good things to try in court, at the DMV or anywhere else where looking serious and sane is a must :) ) :
1) The random move - When people get grumpy at the office or I see a lot of stress around me, I randomly do a yoga pose, a push-up or some other dance move. I look horribly silly, but it never fails to break the tension and create smiles. Then we can get back to our work a little happier.
2) The concoction - Ever since I was little, I experimented with food. My diet pokes, my sweet potato with Stubbs and cheese, the ever popular purple mole sauce (don't ask, I think that there are people still mad at me for using kitchen utensils to make this). Sometimes it is AWESOME, and sometimes, there are messes that cannot reasonably be cleaned up at the end. My mom always reminds me of the time I tried to make gum by mixing pasta, sugar and water and putting it the downstairs fridge to ferment. When she unexpectedly opened the fridge one Tuesday afternoon, and Hitchcock-esque group of large black flies came out. Despite the missteps, these food items have made me interested in cooking and I do make one damned good chili concoction and an aften amazing quiche.
3) The unique sense of style - Okay, as an attorney I have had to stop this bit of silliness. It is freeing to not worry about whether my clothing matches or is in style. My favorite outfit in college and graduate school was a pair of green velour overalls, matched with a pair of blue converse sneakers and a white T-shirt. I walked around barefoot for most of my sophomore year of college and I regularly wore corn rows in my hair. After being mistaken for wearing pajamas at work one day, I realized that my sense of style no longer fit my career goals (mostly, remaining employed.) But, I completely recommend shucking style to the wind until you are at an age where you have to eat more than ramen noodles.
4) Silly Dancing - Dancing is important for the soul, and I have never let the fact that I have no rhythm stop me. I remember going to a dance party once and attempting to do moves from the Dance Dance Revolution song I just learned. People were staring, but I didn't care I was having fun and getting exercise. If you refuse to dance because you look like an idiot, you are missing out on one of the most simple pleasures in life. And how could you ever try Zumba without a dose of silliness?
5) The wrong kind of music - People in Cobain, Starbucks, Pearl Jam Seattle do not seem to share my love of old fashioned country music. There are few people here that could tell the difference between Loretta Lynn and Lucinda Williams. But because I am willing to show off my country stripes and I don't care that cowboy boots look silly in Seattle, I get to enjoy the music I love and I don't have to listen to it in a secret closet in the back of my bedroom (but wouldn't it be cool if there was a secret closet in the back of my bedroom?)
So, add some flair, do a random move, sing a silly song out of tune or do something else that makes you laugh today. I know I will ;P
So, here are some ideas from my repertoire of ways to look silly(ps, these are not good things to try in court, at the DMV or anywhere else where looking serious and sane is a must :) ) :
1) The random move - When people get grumpy at the office or I see a lot of stress around me, I randomly do a yoga pose, a push-up or some other dance move. I look horribly silly, but it never fails to break the tension and create smiles. Then we can get back to our work a little happier.
2) The concoction - Ever since I was little, I experimented with food. My diet pokes, my sweet potato with Stubbs and cheese, the ever popular purple mole sauce (don't ask, I think that there are people still mad at me for using kitchen utensils to make this). Sometimes it is AWESOME, and sometimes, there are messes that cannot reasonably be cleaned up at the end. My mom always reminds me of the time I tried to make gum by mixing pasta, sugar and water and putting it the downstairs fridge to ferment. When she unexpectedly opened the fridge one Tuesday afternoon, and Hitchcock-esque group of large black flies came out. Despite the missteps, these food items have made me interested in cooking and I do make one damned good chili concoction and an aften amazing quiche.
3) The unique sense of style - Okay, as an attorney I have had to stop this bit of silliness. It is freeing to not worry about whether my clothing matches or is in style. My favorite outfit in college and graduate school was a pair of green velour overalls, matched with a pair of blue converse sneakers and a white T-shirt. I walked around barefoot for most of my sophomore year of college and I regularly wore corn rows in my hair. After being mistaken for wearing pajamas at work one day, I realized that my sense of style no longer fit my career goals (mostly, remaining employed.) But, I completely recommend shucking style to the wind until you are at an age where you have to eat more than ramen noodles.
4) Silly Dancing - Dancing is important for the soul, and I have never let the fact that I have no rhythm stop me. I remember going to a dance party once and attempting to do moves from the Dance Dance Revolution song I just learned. People were staring, but I didn't care I was having fun and getting exercise. If you refuse to dance because you look like an idiot, you are missing out on one of the most simple pleasures in life. And how could you ever try Zumba without a dose of silliness?
5) The wrong kind of music - People in Cobain, Starbucks, Pearl Jam Seattle do not seem to share my love of old fashioned country music. There are few people here that could tell the difference between Loretta Lynn and Lucinda Williams. But because I am willing to show off my country stripes and I don't care that cowboy boots look silly in Seattle, I get to enjoy the music I love and I don't have to listen to it in a secret closet in the back of my bedroom (but wouldn't it be cool if there was a secret closet in the back of my bedroom?)
So, add some flair, do a random move, sing a silly song out of tune or do something else that makes you laugh today. I know I will ;P
Monday, March 7, 2011
Redlissa's World: How to make a Diet Poke
Redlissa's World: How to make a Diet Poke: "One of my friends at work once used the following analogy to describe diet soda: Diet soda is to real food as the shadow..."
How to make a Diet Poke
One of my friends at work once used the following analogy to describe diet soda:
Diet soda is to real food as the shadows on the wall of the cave are to reality.
If you didn't understand the reference, you need only get two things from it: 1) my addiction to diet soda is so bad that it somehow justifies references to ancient greek philosophers and 2) diet soda cannot be compared in any way, shape or form to real food. If you know the reference, and you think I am badly misusing and misquoting Plato, go drink some hemlock and shut up.
Anyway, back to diet soda. I know it is bad for me, I read an article last week that correlated excess consumption of diet soda to strokes. Aparently, people who drink diet drinks are actually fatter than those who drink regular sodas. I get that, I tend to make up the excess calories I save with my diet coke many times over. And most importantly reading the can is like going to a chemistry class:
Carbonated Water,
Caramel Color, (So, how does one grow caramel color, is there a plant?)
Aspartame, (Anything we lovingly call FAKE SUGAR has to be bad)
Phosphoric Acid, (I think this is the ingredient that makes diet soda eat away the enamel in your teeth. MMM)
Potassium Benzoate (to protect taste),
Natural Flavors, (I bet they use a different meaning of natural than the rest of us)
Citric Acid, (This must be like vitamin C, right?)
Caffeine (I have nothing bad to say about caffeine, I live in Seattle, it is heretical to hate caffeine in Seattle)
But like a girl who always goes after the bad boys, I keep going back to my diet soda. Eventually they will ban it in the work place as a health hazard, those of us who drink the mess of chemicals will have to put on our coats and take coke breaks outside (and NOT that kind of coke break). There will be law suits, and I will sue the fake sugar companies for causing me to lose my teeth and gain weight. But until then, I will continue to enjoy my low-calorie beverage of choice.
And this is where I really annoy the mainstay providers of diet cola drinks. I do not like either of their products. The one that starts with a C is too carbonated and too harsh for my discerning fake sugar taste buds. The one that ends in Epsi is very smooth, but is too smooth. It is like the skeezy guy at a bar with one too many lines.
So, I do the unthinkable: I mix them together in a drink I like to call Diet Poke (yes, that is what she said). It provides me an even larger dose of diet goodness and combines the very worst of both beverages into a wonderful bubbly mess that I consume every day at around two. I have gotten to the point that I am unable to drink either major soda brand without a dose of the other brand.
Occassionally I will have a Diet Cherry Poke or a Lime Poke to mix things up a bit. I vary which brand I get the flavor from. When I was a kid, we made these types of creations at the soda fountain and our parents shrieked in horror. But try it, I am sure you will enjoy the taste and health benefits as much as me. ;)
Diet soda is to real food as the shadows on the wall of the cave are to reality.
If you didn't understand the reference, you need only get two things from it: 1) my addiction to diet soda is so bad that it somehow justifies references to ancient greek philosophers and 2) diet soda cannot be compared in any way, shape or form to real food. If you know the reference, and you think I am badly misusing and misquoting Plato, go drink some hemlock and shut up.
Anyway, back to diet soda. I know it is bad for me, I read an article last week that correlated excess consumption of diet soda to strokes. Aparently, people who drink diet drinks are actually fatter than those who drink regular sodas. I get that, I tend to make up the excess calories I save with my diet coke many times over. And most importantly reading the can is like going to a chemistry class:
Carbonated Water,
Caramel Color, (So, how does one grow caramel color, is there a plant?)
Aspartame, (Anything we lovingly call FAKE SUGAR has to be bad)
Phosphoric Acid, (I think this is the ingredient that makes diet soda eat away the enamel in your teeth. MMM)
Potassium Benzoate (to protect taste),
Natural Flavors, (I bet they use a different meaning of natural than the rest of us)
Citric Acid, (This must be like vitamin C, right?)
Caffeine (I have nothing bad to say about caffeine, I live in Seattle, it is heretical to hate caffeine in Seattle)
But like a girl who always goes after the bad boys, I keep going back to my diet soda. Eventually they will ban it in the work place as a health hazard, those of us who drink the mess of chemicals will have to put on our coats and take coke breaks outside (and NOT that kind of coke break). There will be law suits, and I will sue the fake sugar companies for causing me to lose my teeth and gain weight. But until then, I will continue to enjoy my low-calorie beverage of choice.
And this is where I really annoy the mainstay providers of diet cola drinks. I do not like either of their products. The one that starts with a C is too carbonated and too harsh for my discerning fake sugar taste buds. The one that ends in Epsi is very smooth, but is too smooth. It is like the skeezy guy at a bar with one too many lines.
So, I do the unthinkable: I mix them together in a drink I like to call Diet Poke (yes, that is what she said). It provides me an even larger dose of diet goodness and combines the very worst of both beverages into a wonderful bubbly mess that I consume every day at around two. I have gotten to the point that I am unable to drink either major soda brand without a dose of the other brand.
Occassionally I will have a Diet Cherry Poke or a Lime Poke to mix things up a bit. I vary which brand I get the flavor from. When I was a kid, we made these types of creations at the soda fountain and our parents shrieked in horror. But try it, I am sure you will enjoy the taste and health benefits as much as me. ;)
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Cowboy Yoga
Last week I walked out of my yoga class in my cowboy boots and yoga pants/top. I went to the grocery store in my outfit and as I was getting the kind of looks that people in yoga pants and cowboy boots get, I realized a) how much I love yoga and b) how much it doesn't matter that I am the exact wrong person to be doing it.
Starting with b. After 10 months of diligently practicing yoga, I am still the opposite of a yogi (which is, by the way, a huge improvement.) On the physical side, I tend to fall over a lot and my body never seems to get into the graceful positions that I am asked to do. My frog pose looks more like a toad and my pigeon has a broken leg. I have, on more than one occassion, kicked the person in front of me while falling ungracefully out of a headstand (I was relieved and excited when someone else accidently kicked me tonight). I often have to hike up my pants, pull down my shirt or readjust my headband. My butt often sticks up in the air when I am supposed to be in a nice flat plank pose.
On the mental side, one is supposed to concencrate on their breath and movement while going from pose to pose. (this is not true in every kind of yoga, but definitely in the type of yoga I do). I often have to wait for the teacher to remind me that breathing is a necessary activity before I breathe at all, and, I am able to concentrate on everything but yoga during certain parts of the practice. Tonight, while I was sweating on the floor, I thought about a phone call I wanted to make, the beef stew I had for lunch, the appointment I had in the morning and of course, how I would write up these thought in my blog.
I people watch before class, which is entirely un-yogic. Instead of concentrating on where I am and not judging those around me, I look at all of the weird outfits people are wearing, watch people try cool yoga tricks and listen to people hitting on each other. I completely judge everyone for their outfits (which I TOTALLY have no right to do, I showed up in gray polka dot pajama pants and a blue tank top once) and I get bothered when the room isn't the right temperature or the person next to me has put their mat too close to mine.
And this gets to why I love yoga and why my status as a yoga flunkie does not matter. I love yoga because I walk into class and I am a total judgmental witch. But by the time I get into a few downward dogs, I feel a connection with the people around me. No matter what we are wearing or we are doing, we are all just trying to breath and concentrate. If I start thinking about everything and everyone, I can laugh at myself, note my reactions and move on. There are no contests and no points taken off one's final score for getting distracted. Every time I have fallen and hit someone, they laugh with me, there is no anger or insult, just a recognition that we are all trying and sometimes we fail. By the time class is over, I feel calm, nice and happy (and I smell like a gym locker, yoga is a very sweaty activity.)
And so, for everyone that thinks that only yogis can do yoga, wrong. It is more important for us flunkies; the judgmental, uncoordinated people who wear cowboy boots to practice than some schmoe who is already a non-judgmental acrobat with incredible powers of concentration.
Pictures are courtesy of Terra. Peace :)
Starting with b. After 10 months of diligently practicing yoga, I am still the opposite of a yogi (which is, by the way, a huge improvement.) On the physical side, I tend to fall over a lot and my body never seems to get into the graceful positions that I am asked to do. My frog pose looks more like a toad and my pigeon has a broken leg. I have, on more than one occassion, kicked the person in front of me while falling ungracefully out of a headstand (I was relieved and excited when someone else accidently kicked me tonight). I often have to hike up my pants, pull down my shirt or readjust my headband. My butt often sticks up in the air when I am supposed to be in a nice flat plank pose.
On the mental side, one is supposed to concencrate on their breath and movement while going from pose to pose. (this is not true in every kind of yoga, but definitely in the type of yoga I do). I often have to wait for the teacher to remind me that breathing is a necessary activity before I breathe at all, and, I am able to concentrate on everything but yoga during certain parts of the practice. Tonight, while I was sweating on the floor, I thought about a phone call I wanted to make, the beef stew I had for lunch, the appointment I had in the morning and of course, how I would write up these thought in my blog.
I people watch before class, which is entirely un-yogic. Instead of concentrating on where I am and not judging those around me, I look at all of the weird outfits people are wearing, watch people try cool yoga tricks and listen to people hitting on each other. I completely judge everyone for their outfits (which I TOTALLY have no right to do, I showed up in gray polka dot pajama pants and a blue tank top once) and I get bothered when the room isn't the right temperature or the person next to me has put their mat too close to mine.
And this gets to why I love yoga and why my status as a yoga flunkie does not matter. I love yoga because I walk into class and I am a total judgmental witch. But by the time I get into a few downward dogs, I feel a connection with the people around me. No matter what we are wearing or we are doing, we are all just trying to breath and concentrate. If I start thinking about everything and everyone, I can laugh at myself, note my reactions and move on. There are no contests and no points taken off one's final score for getting distracted. Every time I have fallen and hit someone, they laugh with me, there is no anger or insult, just a recognition that we are all trying and sometimes we fail. By the time class is over, I feel calm, nice and happy (and I smell like a gym locker, yoga is a very sweaty activity.)
And so, for everyone that thinks that only yogis can do yoga, wrong. It is more important for us flunkies; the judgmental, uncoordinated people who wear cowboy boots to practice than some schmoe who is already a non-judgmental acrobat with incredible powers of concentration.
Pictures are courtesy of Terra. Peace :)
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