The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I know this isn’t a book review blog but this book deserves some attention. I know that soooo many people have read it and raved about it. I was working at a table for an event one day and reading it and almost everyone that passed by said something along the lines of “Isn’t that a great book? Have you gotten to ___ part (fill in with all sorts of different things) yet?”

Now, I have to admit I had a hard time reading this at first. I kept putting it down and just not getting real into it. But the encouragement from my roommates kept me going and sooner or later I just couldn’t put it down.

 There are so many reasons this book makes me think. Besides the obvious, historical relationship between white and black people in the south, I think it has a lot to say about free thinking. Skeeter in the book breaks the norms of a woman in that time in history. Speaking her mind, not just getting married and attending bridge club like what is expected of her. She thinks for herself and acts as an individual instead of just trying to fit in with what everyone else is doing. She, of course, feels lonely at times but knows in her heart that she would have been miserable just marrying Stuart and being part of the league, playing tennis and doing routine things. It got me thinking. We as a society are the same way with clothes, food, activities etc.

We need to stop and think for ourselves sometimes. Ask yourself “why am I doing/wearing/saying the things I am?” Do I want to or does society tell me to. I will admit I am sucked in by these things all the time. For example: wearing certain brands of clothes, thinking I need to wear certain jewelry or make-up or people will think differently of me. So what! If I don’t feel like putting on my usual mascara and taming my hair, so be it. If someone things I’m loco or poor, fine. That’s their problem not mine… right?

I challenge you to think today, about the things you’re just going through the motions and doing without even using your own judgment.  Be the wonderful person you were made to be, not what your mother, grandmother, best friend, teacher, co-worker or idol tells you to be.

 “There could never be a more beautiful you, you were made to serve a purpose that only you can do, there could never be a more beautiful you”

Save Bundles on Produce!

Having trouble finding the balance between eating healthy and being able to afford all of the delicious yet pricy produce? I have a solution for you… GARDEN!

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “I live in an apartment and can’t garden. So I guess this post isn’t for me.” DON’T STOP READING! I PROMISE I HAVE A SOLUTION FOR EVERYONE! I don’t live at home with my parents anymore so I can’t reap the benefits of their HUGE garden so my friend and I decided to rent a plot in the community garden! It was only $20 for the whole season which is really quite a deal considering how much it’ll help you save in the long run! Most communities offer this.

My plot is 20 x 25 feet and tilled up around Easter time and the rest is up to us! Look for a local community garden and see what is still available for the season! It’s only Memorial Day weekend so you’re not even behind on planting!

Today I enjoyed pouring my cereal into the bowl and finding this cute little heart-shaped freeze dried strawberry!

Someone must have known I was missing Keaton a little today J Thanks for cheering me up!

For lunch I had a stir-fry type thing with chicken, carrots, green peppers and zucchini squash. Simple yet delish. I recently invested in a tea infuser and used it the other night to have a warm cup of tea before bed (I bought caffeine free tea). I got to thinking that I might as well make my own iced tea! I brewed a nice big cup of tea and then cooled it down with ice. I love it!

Huff Huff vs Roadmaster

This last week has been a whirl wind of moving roommates out of and me moving to a new apartment across town!
My bike “Huff Huff' has seen better days (I got it as a gift for my first communion which was when I was 10 years old) so I bought my roommates bike “The Roadmaster” from her. When we lived together we always personified our bikes and those are the names they had. But now  I own them both! Lucky me!

After getting help moving from my family and fiancé, the Roadmaster was left at my old house across town... pobrecito! Driving a small car, I was in a pickle. Yesterday I set out to run/jog from my new apartment to my old apartment and then bike back on the Roadmaster. I had no idea how far away it was but I had a few hours in the morning before I had to go to work so I decided to take my time and get a workout in!

It turns out it was just over 4 miles between the apartments so I got quite the exercise in! My legs felt like they were close to falling off when I got back to my apartment!  I had planned to bike to work this summer but I simply could not even fathom the thought of going anywhere on a bike after getting home that morning.

I WILL however, be biking everywhere this summer once I get into the groove of it. The Roadmaster needs some TLC before I commit to taking it everywhere with me! I hope all of you think about walking or using other modes of transportation not only for your health but for the environment. Do it while the weather is nice before we’re taking cover in our houses again for winter!

Oh and post-run I made myself a quick chicken, spinach, pepperjack and salsa wrap, black bean soup and some iced tea! Filled me up and kept me full till dinner time!

I got the Bean Soup mix from the local food co-op. It was quick and easy and suuuper delicious! I can’t wait to eat the rest of the carton!

This afternoon on my break I shopped a bit and found some cinnamon raisin bread and cut that up for a snack tonight. It was great warmed up with some honey on top!

Family Dinner Time!

Last night was one of the last times my roommate and I will eat together L She graduated on Saturday and will be moving to Iowa later this month for a Dietetic Internship. I’m so proud of her and excited for her adventures to come but the selfish side of me wants her to just move in with me forever!

We stuffed chicken breasts for dinner! I have recently began buying frozen or fresh chicken but then cutting it down to more reasonable portion sizes before freezing it because otherwise it takes 100 years to thaw plus 100 years to cook. So tonight we used a few chicken breasts, some colorful peppers and pepper-jack cheese. I had some extra cheese and peppers after stuffing the chicken so I just sprinkled it on top and stuck it in the oven..

Beautifully colored peppers!

Hot, right outta the oven! Smells good!

After dinner it was time to bake a rhubarb cake using the rhubarb I got from the farmers market last Saturday. It turned out amazing!

Rhubarb Upside-down cake before sticking it in the oven

Tonight is another family dinner… we’ll see what we can find to cook up!

45 min Total Body Butt Kick

I was going to meet a friend at the gym to work out this morning but that ended up falling through. Luckily I still felt like I could get a good workout in. I don’t have a lot on my agenda for the day besides taking my roommate that is graduating on a “date.” She has no idea what we’re doing and I’m excited to surprise her and spoil her one last time before she moves away next week. I’ll post details afterwards. I wouldn’t want her finding out before we take off!

My workout was a total  body workout that I’ve done before but I tried to up my weight a little this time and it worked. I used the barbells that they just bought at my gym. I took 35# but you can do as little or much as you want. Remember it’s quite a few reps so don’t think you’re a wuss if you don’t use 50# or whatever.

The workout goes like a pyramid. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Romanian Deadlift

Bent over Row

Upright row

Front squats (with the barbell in front of your head instead of behind your head on your neck)

Military press

Squats (with the barbell behind your head on your neck this time)

Regular Deadlift

Smith machine inclined rows

I did each lift 10 times, then 8, then 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (I skipped a few because I knew what was coming this) But you can do whatever, even add cardio bursts between sets if you want!! It took me about 30 minutes to complete.

Afterward I decided to head out to the track for a speed workout. I’ve honestly never done a real speed workout, nor have I run on a track since “play day” in about 5^th or 6^th grade. So it was kinda fun!

1 warm-up lap jogging (or walking)

100 meters sprinting

100 meters jogging/walking

100 meters sprinting

100 meters jogging/walking

Repeat how many times you want.

1 Cool down lap jogging (or walking)

**Tip: 100 meters is ¼ of the track so each time you repeat the sequence above you’re doing one lap around the track or .25 miles  (you can do it outdoors by using city  blocks or telephone poles.

You can repeat it as many times as you want I did 4 times which made for 1 mile of a speed workout and a ½ mile warm up/cool down. I hope to increase that someday. Maybe not on a day that I lift beforehand! This only took about 15 minutes!

I got home and realized I didn’t do my morning “green smoothie” yet so I threw together:

½ cup strawberries

1 lime’s juice

5 mint leaves

Spring green salad mix

Ice and water

It looked a little funky and brown but it tasted fantastic!

Okay, time to get ready and head out for my hot date! ;)

Power Up!

It’s that time of year again. Time to procrastinate on finals and GO PLAY OUTSIDE!

BUT you can’t play outside without adequate energy to frolic around. I found a recipe for "Power Balls" on Body Rock TV's website that looked interesting but I didn’t follow the recipe completely.

Here’s what I did:

1 cup oats

2 cups of almonds (ground)

3 teaspoons baking powder

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp coconut oil

1 cup carrots mashed

1^st: Start boiling carrots until they turn soft enough to mash

 2^nd: Blend the oats in a food processor, add almonds (or almond meal)

3^rd: Add the baking powder

4^th: Mix it well and add honey and coconut oil

**Note coconut oil is solid at room temperate so make sure to heat it up so I becomes liquid before adding it to your recipe*

5^th: Add mashed carrots into the mixture in the bowl and mis it well together to create a dough for the balls- dough is rough but sticky

Put balls in baking pan and cook in oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees

Consensus after tasting: Tasty but a little bitter because of the baking powder. Next time I’m going to use less baking powder and bake for less time.  

Raw Foods

What makes foods raw? How could you possibly live off of that?! How would it taste?

 

All questions I was asking myself as I walked to the raw foods class I attended tonight. It turns out the menu was simply amazing and I learned a TON too!

 

Billy from the Menomonie Market Food Co-op gave the presentation with his assistant Nick.

 

It was explained to us that raw means that it was not cooked above 113 degrees. The reason for keeping things raw is to preserve the enzymes in the foods that help to break down the foods in the body. When cooking it, some of the enzymes are killed and the body needs to take those enzymes from it’s own stores to break it down resulting in a slower more vigorous digestive process.  Billy followed a raw diet for around 3 months once and said after weeks he started to see some amazing changes. He said that his body weight stabilized, he became more flexible and his mind was more clear and sharp. I think those are all good things so I kept listening!

 

They first made a green smoothie made from:

• Kale
• Rainbow Chard
• Spinach
• Banana
• Wheatgrass
• strawberry
• water

Served with a dehydrated flax chip. Both were surprisingly tasty!

 

 

Then we had some raw tacos. In place of the meat were ground walnuts and soy sauce, cumin and cilantro.

 

This mixture was placed on top of a large rainbow chard leaf and then topped with fresh salsa and diced avocado.

 

 

SOOOO YUMMY!

 

Just as we thought we were finished and were asking all of our questions Billy and Nick made us a  Mango Lassi which was made from pureed mango, lime juice, and fresh hand squeezed almond milk. Again I was pleasantly surprised.  

 

Last but not least, a raw macaroon. The shaved coconut turned me off from it but I was feeling adventurous and it was delicious! What a great way to end the evening!

 

Some books he recommended were

 

 

 

The biggest question after all of this is WHERE’S THE BALANCE? How can I be healthy and eat a good raw diet while still maintaining a lifestyle that is manageable for me and my soon-to-be husband?

 

I think I’ll begin each day with a green smoothie. Starting tomorrow! I’ll hit up the Menomonie Market first thing in the morning for some greens to put in my smoothie! I can’t wait.