Timesaving Yoga Sessions

A friend asked me yesterday if I knew of any dvds that had quick yoga sessions (20 minutes at the most, preferably 10 minutes if possible). I thought I'd write about it in case more of you are wondering the same thing. I told her about my very favorite, but I'll list a few other options, in case you want to explore or have variety. I mentioned these briefly in a previous yoga post over a year ago, but here's a bit more:

My top pick is Quick Fix Total Mix Pilates/Yoga with Tracy York and Suzanne Donegan. The front cover shows Tracy York, but not Suzanne -- they show a model instead (I don't know why Quick Fix often does this on their workouts), but you can learn Suzanne's names in the credits if you're curious like I was. I already knew who Tracy York was. She does many other workouts with Michelle Dozios (formerly Nevidomsky) like the Breakthru Step workouts. But Tracy isn't my favorite. She's okay, but her voice is a bit high and I got tired of hearing her instruction for something peaceful like Pilates -- I like her better for cardio. Plus she spends a lot of time building up each move and I just wanted to get to work.

Suzanne, on the other hand, is a wonderful yoga instructor. She cues enough to let you know what proper form is (like teaching that your feet should be placed with all 4 corners evenly balanced) and her demeanor is peaceful and pleasant. The music is nice and the moves are just right. There are 4 yoga segments at 10 minutes each: Yoga Energy, Yoga Strength, Yoga Flex, and Yoga Challenge. You can do one alone or click on them in succession in the order you like for a combination. It's not super challenging, more soothing and restorative. I don't know how to gush over a yoga instructor, but I either like doing yoga with someone or I don't. And there are a few with whom I just love doing yoga. Suzanne is one of those very few.

I've used this dvd most either for a 10-20 minute add-on to a workout or with all of them in a row for a longer yoga session. I used to own it on VHS before we had a dvd player. It was called Quick Fix Core Yoga then. I like it better on dvd though because I can customize my own workout or skip around. This dvd is no longer available retail, but you can still find it used on Amazon, half.com, ebay, etc.

Another great add-on or brief yoga session is a bonus feature on Crunch Candlelight Yoga. The main yoga session is about 45 minutes long (and is just wonderful -- it's about the least challenging yoga dvd I've done, but it still feels great and definitely worthwhile to do). This is one of Sara Ivanhoe's early yoga productions (she did Crunch Joy of Yoga and Fat Burning Yoga earlier and has since done her 20 Minute Makeover series and her recently produced her own dvd Yoga on the Edge.

The bonus is called Yoga Energizer and it's only 15 minutes long. Its title suggests it's an energy boost for the morning (and it can be), but it's also a nice add-on to any workout or as a stand-alone at night.

Yoga Zone dvds are also fun short yoga gems. They have a slew of Yoga Zone dvds in the 2 -20 minute session format. The first Yoga Zone videos were an hour long (and are led by Alan Finger, my favorite being Conditioning & Stress Release) and are filmed indoors, much different than the following series. The shorter ones I really like are filmed in Jamaica outdoors in a beautiful bright setting with upbeat, yet soothing music. The dvds are made up of 2 segments from a Yoga Zone tv show (which I never saw). You can buy a boxed collection (or this one), but I would get them individually, because I have some favorites and some that just left me thinking I wouldn't care if I never did it again.

My favorite Yoga Zone dvds are: Yoga Sculpting, Evening Stress Release, and Sunrise & Sunset. I didn't really care for: Total Body Conditioning (too many prayer poses), Gentle Yoga for beginners (way too gentle), and Introduction to Power Yoga (I wanted to like it -- I love power yoga, but the poses just didn't feel right to me). I think I've tried Yoga for Abs and Yoga for Weight Loss and have liked them, but it's been awhile and I can't remember. I've loaned out many of these and haven't gotten them back and it's hard to keep track.

The only other short yoga session that I love, but I didn't think to mention before because it's the only yoga on this dvd (and is just 10 minutes long) is the yoga on the original 10 Minute Solution with Michelle Nevidomsky-Dozios. There are a ton of 10 Minute Solution dvds now, but the original one that stood alone for many years was a combination of 5 different exercise methods (going off of memory, Bootcamp, Kickboxing, Ballet, Pilates, and Yoga). I had this back in VHS-only days and had to FF and rewind all the time because I mostly liked the latter two. This was my introduction to Pilates and it's still one of the most challenging 10 minutes of Pilates I've done. Doing it back to back with the yoga is just perfect because after working the core and legs with the Pilates, the yoga is a calm and relaxing (as well as helpful for your flexibility). I still use this yoga to add onto other workouts and it never gets old. Pretty good for a video that is 10 years old!

Now you have some quick yoga options. No more excuses if you don't think you have enough time!

Conflicting thoughts

The other night something stressful happened. I'm not sure what it was. It could have just been the daily chaos that comes from my children running around, all needing me at once, etc. This feeling swelled within me that I really needed to eat some ________ (fill in the blank) - - chocolate, homemade bread, SoDelicious "ice cream," homemade cookies, whatever. This seemed like it would help solve the situation, make things balanced and peaceful again.

At the same time, I had a conflicting thought. If I were just ____ pounds lighter, life would be better and I wouldn't even care if this stress arose.

I realized the contradictions in my thinking, not to mention the lack of logic. I also recognized how often these kinds of thoughts enter my mind throughout the day. Part of me is thinking that so much in life would be better if I could lose a little more weight and the other part of me is thinking that I would feel so much better if I ate more, more food. If I did the latter, the former wouldn't be possible. If I wanted to do one, I'd have to give up the other. One has to win out. I have to give up the other. Which will it be? If I hold onto both desires, I'll forever be disappointed. I'll never be content. I've battled this out in my mind since. (Yes I do lead a normal life amidst this and even accomplish some things, but my mind is a busy place :)).

I'm thinking the eating response needs to change. It's probably not healthy (or sane) to have either thought all the time, but I need my eating to come from a desire to nourish my body, not cure my emotional needs.

I'll do an update post at the end of July and will let you know how I do with changing my conflicting thoughts. TTFN!

Peaches

I must have eaten 6 or 7 peaches today. They were so ripe and sooooo good. These were from the store, but we used to live where peaches grew right behind our house. Some nights, I'd go pick a bowl full of peaches and we'd just eat them all for dinner. The sugar content was so high right off the tree. But today's peaches from the store were pretty wonderful too.

I just realized as I wrote this that I planted a peach tree today too. I bought a bare root peach tree from Costco a few months ago (maybe even as far back as February). I'm not that great at keeping up on gardening, but saw that they were selling peach trees and thought maybe I could get it to grow here (even though I only know of one person in the whole county who has peach trees that produce -- and she says it's only once every 4 or 5 years). I guess I was hopeful though, so I bought it. Then I let it sit on the side of the house in it's little root ball bag and wondered if it would survive. It rains enough here that it seemed to do well. We had a spell of sunshine and my gardening friend told me I should move it to the side of the house. I did and it's lived there since.

This morning, however, I saw that the leaves looked dry (see, I'm not completely oblivious to the needs of my dear plants, but pretty close, actually). I had a big bag of top soil and decided the time had come to plant it in a big pot. I would have just put it in the ground, but our house is for sale and I'd like to take it with me. It's not like I don't think I can buy another one when we move (and the thought that this might not survive a move did cross my mind), but I seriously doubt it ever will produce fruit here, so it's probably better off going with us to Southern California.

So I ate a bunch of peaches and I planted a peach tree. How peachy is that? Here are some nutritional peach facts (for just 1 peach) in case you're curious:

One medium peach (with skin) contains 1 gram dietary fiber.

Potassium - 193 mg Phosphorus - 12 mg Magnesium - 6.9 mg Calcium - 5 mg Selenium - .4 mg Also contains trace amounts of iron, zinc, manganese and copper.

Vitamin A - 524 IU Vitamin C - 19 mg Folate (important during pregnancy) - 5.5 mcg Niacin - .97 mg

This chart doesn't include all the phytonutrients recently discovered (and rarely listed on labels), nor those yet to be discovered.

I also love dehydrated peaches. They are so yummy warm out of the dehydrator -- they're better than peach cobbler! They're excellent days, weeks, & even months later. I just have never had them last for more than a week. We eat them faster than we can make them. Just slice them and dehydrate at 108 degrees over night. Make sure there aren't any moist spots left or they will mold (learned that the hard way my first time). I throw sliced peaches into my sprouted wheat cracker recipe too. (I can't seem to find that recipe on my previous blog posts, so I'll post it tomorrow.)

Peaches are also great in green smoothies. I often throw one in place of a banana in my smoothie recipes. Gives that sweet, creamy taste and texture. They're also good just blended by themselves. When I was 12 (I only remember this because it was the bicentennial year 1976), my aunt got married and I helped cut up fresh fruit for her reception. They had us peel peaches and blended up the peelings for us helpers to drink. It was amazingly good and something I've never forgotten. TTFN!

Writing a book!

Well, it's official -- I'm writing a book! I just wanted to let you know so you could say you knew me when :). My husband is an artist and I love to write. We have 6 children and feel like we're pretty good experts on what kids love.......and I've always wanted to write books. So I'm going to merge that desire, his drawing talents, and my undying passion to help others eat healthy foods by writing some children's books that somehow teach children to eat real food, but in a fun way.

I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but have been afraid of failure. Pure and simple. That time is over. I may still fail (at first anyway, and maybe over and over), but I'm going to get my pen rolling and will keep going until I find a way to make it work. Fun stuff!

Vacations and Weight Gain

Vacations and weight gain -- do they have to go together? They seem to want to. I'm not sure what it is, but most of the time when I go on vacation, I gain weight. I've tried all sorts of things to remedy this -- bringing produce in the car for snacking, bringing my step, weights, yoga mat, videos (even TV/VCR combo to one reunion back in the days before portable dvd players or laptops). I usually do pretty well the first few days, but somehow that "I'm on vacation" mode tried to extend to vacationing from my healthier ways of eating and I get off track.

Fortunately, I don't travel that often. My mom is a school teacher and travels most of the summer and on each holiday break. She ruins her weight loss progress every time. I only do it maybe one or two weeks out of the year. Still, it's enough to frustrate the process and interfere with my journey in health.

I just drove through 3 states to get my daughter back to college for summer term. I didn't plan all that well. It was my "rest week" in my exercise rotation -- so that worked well. I was supposed to do less intense workouts all week, so I brought my yoga mat and went for walks as much as possible (went swimming one day). Driving 15 hours each way (divided into 2 days each time) certainly doesn't help though. I was sedentary and was eating much more than usual to keep myself awake and from going stir crazy. Visiting friends and relatives can present challenges too, but I think I'm getting better at handling that. I still didn't do as well as I'd hoped though and came back to my scale 5 pounds heavier.

I have one more vacation planned later this summer and am going to do the following to prevent the weight gain and to ensure I stick with my eating ways:

• Bring a cooler with plenty of fresh fruits and veggies
• Continue to replenish cooler as trip progresses with fresh foods
• Make green smoothies beforehand and freeze several to take in cooler
  
• Drink plenty of water (I found myself dehydrated 1/2 way through this last trip)
• Use that yoga mat every night before bed or each morning before shower
• Question self if the fake foods are worth it. Stick with whole foods, fresh if possible.
• If I eat out, split a dish or just get the side order.
• Stay away from bread -- it causes weight gain abroad just as much as it does at home.
• If the *vacation* mindset starts to creep in, chase it away with a dose of reality.

I'll let you know how I do at the end of the summer. I've practiced many of these tips before and have done well. For now, I'll endeavor to get these extra weight off well before that next trip. TTFN!

Fat pants -- to keep or not to keep

Definition of "fat pants" -- the pants you used to wear before you lost weight or had to buy because you gained weight. There isn't a particular size that determines pants to be "fat pants" -- they are just the bigger pants in your closet that you have to wear when you gain weight or have on hand in case you gain again.

Now the question often comes to me, "Should I keep my fat pants or get rid of them?" Some people (we could call them experts, but what exactly is an expert in the fat pants field?) say that as soon as you lose weight, you should get rid of your fat pants. Otherwise you are just keeping the option open to gain weight -- making it easier because you know you have the wardrobe for it. Some say if you wear your fat pants when they are a little roomy, it may make it so you don't notice when you do gain weight. I doubt that though. I always can sense how my clothes fit and when that's changing whether the pants start out baggy or not.

Others say that you should wear comfortable clothes when you gain weight. I know when I gain weight, it's twice as discouraging to walk around in tight pants (not to mention uncomfortable). After I had my last baby and was 20 pounds heavier than usual, I heard Dr. Phil say that when you're trying to lose weight, you should wear clothes that you feel good in so you are in a positive mode. You'll succeed when you feel good about yourself. I actually went out and bought a few new pairs of "fat pants" that I could feel good in after hearing this and it did make a difference in how I felt until I was able to get back into my other clothes.

Now I have a bit of both. Mostly I have my weight loss clothes -- the ones I wear when I'm at the lower end of my weight range. (I tend to fluctuate up and down 5 pounds all the time -- sometimes up to 10 if I'm not careful around the holidays). Then I have a size up of pants that I have to wear when the weight has crept on and the others are too tight. I don't enjoy being that size, but it sure is more comfortable to wear them.


And yet I wonder . . . would it be better when I am at the lower end of my weight to just give the bigger sized pants to the thrift store and vow to never need to wear those clothes again? It would be nice. But I just fear I would gain the weight for whatever reason anyway then have only snug clothes to wear. Hmmm. Perhaps I should go a whole year without going up a size first just to see if I can do it. It's not like my clothes are so trendy that someone will miss out on the fashion of the season if I wait that long.

It would be nice to have weight maintenance mean always sticking with that particular weight, but for me (at least for the last 5 years), weight maintenance has been more like a pilot flying on course. He's not really on course the whole time, he's veering off, then getting back on, winds blow the plane off a bit, then he gets it back on the path again. I'm not really yo-yoing, just steadying myself to stay about where I feel most comfortable and healthy. Maybe that steadying range will get smaller and smaller, so I don't have to hold onto quite so many clothes.

The good, the bad, and I hope nothing ugly

Well, I thought about just deleting yesterday's post -- that would be an easy way of getting out of writing what I ate today. I could also wait a day or two (or three) until I got it right before I posted and hoped that no one minded. But that wouldn't be what I said I'd do. So I'm writing to share the good and the of what I ate today.

The Good:
Morning -- Apricots and some apple, fresh raspberries,
Odwalla Superfood
Noon -- See "the bad"
A few hours later -- Veggie sandwich on this new whole grain round bread that's very fibery (see pic -- this bread, but my own veggies and no cheese or bacon -- I should have just taken my own picture, huh?) with avocado, spinach, romaine lettuce, green bell peppers, red onion, carrots, tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and pepper.
Night time -- Odwalla Superfood
Later -- a few peanuts

The Bad:
Noon -- Chocolate Mint Builder Bar -- not super bad at the outset, but after eating it (which I only ate because I'd been at a school concert practice at the school, came home, had just an hour to clean the house before a house showing, so I ate something I didn't have to prepare), I just wanted more and ate another one -- so 2 in a row. Not the best thing.
Afternoon -- Remember those new little Oroweat sandwich rounds? I ate two more of them after eating my sandwich. What was I thinking? I was full! (but they were good, so that's probably what I was thinking)
Later -- Nuts over Chocolate Luna Bar -- more chocolate -- I ran errands while being a bit hungry and ended up eating one from the car on the way home unplanned. It tasted so plastic-y sweet to me that I determined I wouldn't want one next time. We shall see if I remember that. I had one oatmeal cookie (the healthier version that we make here at home -- whole wheat, Earth balance butter, unrefined sugar -- but still -- it all adds up)
Tonight - - I don't think I ate much before the Spring Concert, but came home and decided to have some SoDelicious Soy Ice Cream because . . . well, no good reason. I wasn't tempted by any of the desserts at the concert, but came home and thought "now would be a good time to eat that SoDelicious" since I didn't have any of the dessert at the concert. Not very logical.

So the over all pattern I'm trying to break here is not eating all these Clif bar products and soy ice cream -- too many grains too. Dealing with the first problem first, if I'd stop buying the stuff, that would make it easier. But if I do have it handy, I need to go for the fresh whole foods first and leave those for rare moment or at most, once a day.

I'm going to post again when I have an ideal eating day. My morning really was good. It just unravelled later on.