YogaGlamGirl's Weblog

It occurred to me that I might be PMSing when…

I started to make a banana, soy milk, and chocolate chip smoothie for breakfast. Well, it was actually my breakfast’s dessert. The actual breakfast was heated rice noodles with a teency bit of butter and some vegenaise. The funny thing is, I would eat rice noodles and vegenase normally. It was just the chocolate chips that tipped me off…

To weed or not to weed, that is the question

I felt somewhat conflicted whlie pulling weeds in my garden yesterday. It had been a while since I played in the dirt and and hardy weeds had grown high and everywhere, making it clear that mother nature was tending my garden, not me.

In my survival course just a few weeks ago, we learned about weeds like these and their medicine. We identified several, talked about how they could be used for tea, poultices and food. Weeds are powerful medicine. In fact, not once did I even hear the term "weeds". We were exploring and learning about medicinal herbs and edible plants.
Yet as I crouched in the garden, I was overwhelmed. I did not recognize a single one of them. Could this tall green plant with pink on the leaves be a powerful remedy of sorts? In my ignorance, I did not know. So I pulled them up by the roots, feeling twinges of guilt. Waste. What we call weeds tend to be the hardiest, toughest and richest sources of energy. How could a true child of the earth do such a thing....But then again, on the surface, I was finally making the garden more beautiful, so I could impress my friends who will arrive for a Memorial Day BBQ, right?

In my inbox this morning I found a Daily Om article entitled: Messengers from the Wilderness: Weeds At the end of the article I received some advice on weeds that I'd like to pass along:

The next time you see a weed, you might want to look deeply into its roots, discover its name, its habits, and its possible uses. Instead of seeing an unwanted intruder, you might see a healer offering its leaves for a medicinal tea or its flowers for a colorful salad. At the very least, if you look long enough, you will see a messenger from the wilderness of Mother Earth, reminding you that, even in the most carefully controlled garden, she cannot be completely ruled out.

Good Skin, Good Food and Healthy Benefits of drinking Green Tea

While my honey and I were off in Japan 2 weeks ago we were shocked at how much water we drank. At first we thought we were incredibly parched due to the hot mineral baths (or onsen (sp) that we soaked ourselves in daily. This may have been partly true, however, now I realize that we drank a lot of water because of green tea. The tea made us thirsty…because it is a natural diuretic.

There are a ton of benefits to drinking green tea. The World of Green Tea lists cancer prevention and weightloss among it’s 7 health benefits of green tea and many other posts raving about this natural gem.

While staying at several Ryokans (traditional Japanese Inns) we ate traditional Japanese breakfasts and dinners. Before breakfast in the morning we were served Green tea and ume (a highly alkaline, somewhat tart, preserved apricot—usually called pickled plum). Then during breakfast (which often looked like this: )
we consumed 2-3 glasses of water.
We continued drinking water throughout the day, then we drank green tea again in the afternoon, around 3pm along with some kind of treat (like a wafer).

So now that I’m back, I’ve been told that I look thinner and my skin is glowing. No wonder, with all the good water, green tea and incredible food it’s hard not to glow inside and out.

Pic of tea growing in fields: Nara, Japan.

Yogaglamgirl and Peppermint Tea

My tummy always has trouble when I travel. I have discovered that drinking mint tea in the morning or anytime helps my digestion. It really combines two things: mint (which aids digestion) and warm liquid (which helps ease and soothe a stressed belly).
Next time you're on the road or even at home and needing to give your system a boost, you might want to give it a try. :)

Yogaglamgirl on Earth Energy

A wise woman who knows about energy told me that I am not pulling enough energy from the earth up into my body. This energy has the capacity to nourish and fuel me and help me give energy to others in a healing way.
Without this energy, I can become stagnant and stuck...and this does happen to me from time to time.
This morning I decided to try to work on this energetic flow from the earth up through my feet and up through the base of my spine (near the perineum). It felt like nothing was happening, especially through my feet, so I tapped them for a while with my hands and massaged them gently to wake them up. After this, I tried to tune in again and was able to feel the energy movement upwards…WOW. What a difference it makes to be connected to earth’s energy.
I have not had much experience or learning yet about mulha bandha in yoga. I imagine it to be extremely similar and am excited to play with these new tools.

A fun coincidence…today’s Daily Om talks about the nourishing earth energy in foods: Here’s the Article: Eating Close to the Earth

Yogaglamgirl Preps for a Cleanse

Several weeks ago I mentioned that I was getting some blood tests done in attempt to measure my current health and discover any ailments that might be causing my recurring headaches. All the tests came back fine and the headaches are a little less frequent. I'm assuming that a combination of accupuncture and a glorious vacation in Bali has something to do with the improvements.

That said, it is a new year, and I'm ready to clean out the closets and start fresh. Physically, that means doing a cleanse and ridding my intestinal track of (for lack of a better word) crap. I started reading Cleanse and Purify Thyself and have ordered all the supplements I will need in this little venture. The more I read the more motivated I am getting....but I will miss little warm bowls of chicken noodle soup (like the one I just finished) as I am loading up on raw veggies and juices.

More to come on that later...

Yogaglamgirl Plays with Carrots and Kabocha in the Kitchen

I made some orange things in the kitchen last night.
Carrot soup (look how little 5 cups of shredded carrot makes!)
Made with shredded carrots, little butter, water, soy milk and orange juice.

&
Steamed Kabocha Squash (last one from our garden) served over azuki beans

Update, 12/9/06:
Here’s the full recipe for carrot soup. Recipe is compliments of The Yoga Cookbook: Vegetarian Food for Your Body and Mind(I love this book!)

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
5 1/2 cups grated carrots
2 1/4 cups water
2 1/4 cups orange juice (I added about a cup of soy milk and a little less of both the OJ and the water)
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1) Melt the butter or margarine in a large pan and sauté the carrots until they begin to soften. Add the water, half cover, and simmer over low to medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the carrots are soft.
2) Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Place the carrots and cooking water in a food processor or blender, add the orange juice, and puree the mixture until smooth. Alternatively, press through a large strainer.
3) Return the soup to the pan, season to taste with salt and pepper, and reheat without boiling. Serve garnished with the chopped mint.
* Omit the orange juice and double the quantity of water. Replace the chopped mint with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.

Yogaglamgirl on Another funky Japanese-style breakfast

I’m trying to bring more seaweed into my diet. My iridologist told me I’m low on sodium and iodine? Shoot, can’t quite remember, but I do remember that Nori (which is super healthy regardless) was a good remedy.
So here’s my Sunday morning feast: Homemade Veggie Sushi

Here are the ingredients for today:
Nori (dried seaweed, used for sushi rolls)
Rice (I use short grain Japanese rice)
Sweet Rice Vineagar (sometimes I add sugar to the rice vineagar over low heat before using 1-2 spoonfuls mixed into the rice),
Ume (pickled plum…highly alkaline, very good for digestive system)
Shiso (Japanese basil)
Daikon Sprouts
Green Onion
Inari (fried bean curd)

Yogaglamgirl's Breakfast Smoothies, a Morning Ritual

Here's a small piece of my morning routine in the summertime...
Breakfast Smoothie

1 banana frozen
1 handful of fresh fruit (strawberry, mango, peach, etc)
1 cup soy milk
splash of OJ

Add to blender and Voila!
I usually keep a stash of frozen fruit in the freezer.  Banana, berries, etc, cut in bit size pieces--easier to blend in the blender. 
Other additions/variations I like:
add scoop of soy ice cream
add spoonful of nut butter (cashew butter, almond butter)
add some chocolate syrup :)