Today I'm Relaxing

I'm just having one of those down days. It is warm and beautifully sunny out, but I'm wishing it were the deepest winter so I didn't feel quite so guilty about curling up inside. If I were a school child still, today would be a time were I'd be tempted to pretend I'm ill; not because I didn't want to go to school but because staying in bed seemed way too appealing.

This morning I woke up with a terrible headache. I get headaches quite a bit, but still there is something about them that makes me feel so off. Despite my 8 hours of sleep I am so tired today. Not only am I physically exhausted (tough workouts lately), I'm mentally exhausted as well. I've had quite a lot on my mind lately and my brain needs a break. I can feel some big changes coming for me and I'm hoping I can face them strongly and happily.

Today will be spent lounging around in a wrinkly dress, finishing up a few projects (that I'm eager to share with you guys!), drinking tea and smoothies and eating yummy food, devouring the last bit of my book, and enjoying some soothing yoga.

What do you do to relax?

Healthy Eating Tips by Mary from Mary Makes Dinner

^Left picture courtesy of Brooklyn Food Experiment. All other pictures in this post courtesy of Mary Helen Leonard.^

You may remember a few weeks ago that I was kindly interviewed on Mary's blog, Mary Makes Dinner. Mary runs a lovely and delicious food blog from Austin, Texas (but I have learned she travels quite a bit!) featuring comfort food, healthy cooking, and ethnic cuisines.

Mary is a cook, writer, and culinary instructor with a rich background in food and adventure. Many worlds seem to collide in her kitchen, and her recipes seem to be inspired by such. Mary also teaches people how to make soap, scrubs, and natural skin care goodies, which you can see more of on The Natural Beauty Workshop. She is also an excellent photographer and I love glimpsing little pieces of her everyday life, in addition to recipes, over on her blog.

Isn't she just swell? I've asked Mary to share with us today some of her healthy eating tips. These tips are designed to make healthy eating a little more effortless. See the tips she's created just for us below:

Five Tips for Healthy Eating:

1. Submit to your cravings. One thing that makes eating healthy particularly challenging is mastering your desires. It's natural for your body and mind to crave. Rather than denying these instincts, try to find a healthy way to indulge them. If you can't get potato chips out of your head, go for something crunchy and salty, like roasted kale and sea salt. If it's fat you crave, treat yourself to a fresh avocado. A sweet tooth can be satisfied with fresh fruit or sweet root vegetables, like yams or beets. They key is to focus on satisfying a craving for a particular flavor or texture instead of a specific kind of food.

2. Keep things simple. While it's wonderful to dish up a really challenging dish every now and then, keeping your everyday meals easy and un-fussy will help keep you on track. I live off of rice bowls, burritos, sandwiches, and salads. Experiment with different seasoning techniques to mix things up. A few combinations I really love are: soy sauce, garlic, and ginger | chili pepper and lime juice | thyme, sage, and lemon.

3. Plan ahead. Make things easy for yourself by prepping veggies, grains, and proteins ahead of time. Chop veggies, rinse beans, marinate tofu, and cook rice or quinoa when you have some downtime. Then, when meal time comes, you can quickly satisfy your hunger with a simple, hearty meal by assembling the healthy components in your fridge.

4. Embrace routine. Breakfast and lunch are great opportunities for repetition. When you find something that you love, stick to it. Morning rituals, like sprouted raisin bread, organic yogurt, or green juice can help establish a healthy rhythm for your body. Lunch foods can be made in a large batch and eaten all week. (Think soups, chili, and salads.) Having your lunch ready to go makes it easier to avoid the lunchtime takeout trap.

5. Don't over-think it. We can sometimes feel pressured to keep up with the latest trends and fads. It's important to remember that there is no perfect diet. What works wonders for another person might just not work for you, and that's OK. If you don't like a certain veggie, don't force it. Instead, spend your energy finding healthy things that you actually like. Once you find it, eat it. It's as simple as that.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes for simple, everyday eating:

1. Marinated Tofu
2. Chipotle Sweet Potato and Spinach Tacos
3. Black Bean Soup
4. Yaki Onigiri
5. Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup
6. Bell Pepper Quinoa Salad

Thank you for stopping by today, Mary. I love your tips; they are ones I am trying to instill daily in my kitchen. Be sure to check out Mary's favorite simple recipes (those tasty pictures up above I am drooling over) and the rest of her site too. Those incredible recipes have no end.

I am Super Intelligent: Revolt Check-In Week 6

I am a few days late with my Revolt check-in this week, but I promise I have a good excuse. But first, let me clarify that the title of the post I am Super Intelligent, is completely drenched in so much sarcasm. I have discovered that I have been doing something so terribly wrong, and it may have affected the results I post here about Revolt. Let me explain; I include every week in my updates body fat percentages. To get this number I take millimeter measurements of my fat at four locations on my body (tricep, bicep, scapula, iliac crest) and using those numbers I then use an online calculator to determine my body fat percentage. It isn't completely accurate, but it is consistent and gives me a really good idea of the progress I am making.

^ the calipers I use^

Well, guys, I have been using my calipers all wrong. I am so embarrassed. I finally realized I had been making a mistake when I went to take Will's measurements for him on Saturday (yes he is doing Revolt with me! Yippee!). As I'm taking Will's measurements I realize I had a problem; for some reason my calipers would not allow you to take any measurements lower than 6 mm. Will is very thin and this will not do. So I say, maybe I can remove the zero marker, that should let me take a smaller measurement. The zero marker just adds bulk. And so, I try to remove it and well, you see the little marker there on the caliper in the image above? The marker at zero? It moves. It frakkin moves. This whole time I thought it was simply a marker for zero and non-moving, I had been taking my measurements as such:

Luckily, I have been consistently measuring wrong. So even though my measurements are incorrect, they are all incorrect by a certain amount. This means I can go back and fix my mistakes, taking my degree of error in to account, and calculate all of the correct measurements. I will go back as far as my very first post to update the measurements. This will take a bit of time (the math is easy, but I have to update all of the graphics for all of my posts) so I am just including pictures as a testament to my progress (in this week's post). I'll update with my correct measurements soon!

Regardless of the fact that I have be using some poor calculations, you can definitely see the progress I am making. A new uprising of Revolt started this week, and our workouts got an update; we are doing Tabatas! Tabatas, in case you don't know are a form of high intensity interval training founded in Japan by Izumi Tabata. For instance, you would preform an exercise all out at the highest intensity you can manage for 20 seconds and follow with a 10 second rest. You then repeat this high intensity/rest for 8 rounds. I love them, I mean I hate them and want to die while doing them, but I love them. I found my chest muscles this week when we had to do push-up tabatas. I don't think my pecs have ever really been sore. That is the thing I am most excited about, building up my upper body strength. I can squat for hours, but push-ups make me want to lay face down on my yoga mat. The upper body sadly gets a bit neglected by women but I am happy to say I am no longer afraid of working it hard! I'm so excited to continue Tabatas and Revolt and see all that my body can do!

Well, you know that I mentioned that Will is now doing Revolt with me. I should also mention that he is tiny. Will has seen how much I enjoy and am benefiting from the program that he wanted to join in. For him, it is more about learning a healthier lifestyle, and embracing a fit lifestyle that is so structured. Will has always enjoyed active things such as hiking, soccer, rock climbing, and long boarding, but he doesn't always have time to get and enjoy those activities. The thing he likes most about the program is how simple it is. He loves having meals already planned out and quick exercises to do after work. If anything, Will is hoping to get back into shape and gain some muscle mass and weight from participating in Revolt. Since upping his protein intake he has already gained 5 pounds! Woot!

Here are some pictures I took this weekend, after his first week of Revolt, so you can get an idea of where he is starting from.

See, he's just a tiny thing. In the future, Will will be posting his thoughts on the program here in my weekly progress posts in addition to my own.

Time to go workout! :)

Disclaimer: I was chosen as a Revolt Fitness Program blogger and received free membership to try the fitness program. All results are real and my own. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Summer Hair Inspiration

natural curls / beachy waves / cute short / casual up-do / forehead braid / messy

Summer to me screams natural hair. It is a time when everyone seems to embrace their own texture, color, and style. And I love this. One, because it is easy and realistic (given the summer heat) and two, because it is beautiful. This is the longest my hair has ever been and I'm struggling a bit as to what to do with it all. I still want to grow it out, but this time of year is when I always reach for the scissors and chop it off all over again. All this dark, thick hair is keeping me toasty; my sun hat has quickly become my saving grace. The fact that messy hair, or that beachy look, is desired this time of year is perfect because most days I don't have the patience to do anything with it. I'd sure love to experiment with new braids and up-dos, to get it all off my neck, but it is great to be carefree about my hair as well. Just air dry and go.

Summer is a perfect time to wash your hair less. Way less. You may remember me mentioning that I don't use shampoo on my hair. Well I wash it even less in the summer. Put it up, braid it, tie a scarf around, or put a hat on if you have to! Give your hair a bit of a break from all the damage it has been collecting the rest of the year from styling and give it regular deep conditioning treatments to protect it from the sun. I would recommend investing in some coconut oil.

Embrace those natural locks, lovelies.