jiu-jitsu school

new friends

Berripop

and all the adventures Houston have to offer. Oh Houston, you have been so good to me!

I am looking forward to being close to the ocean again. Wherever you live in Corpus Christi, the beach is only 10-15 min away. It’s so nice! I’ll be moving there the last weekend of August and I’m going to stay with my baby brother for a few weeks ’til Scott finds a job and a decent apartment for us to live in. We’re really hoping he gets a good job!

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I needed to escape the blog world for a little while. I have to be honest with y’all, blogging and keeping up with other bloggers takes me hours to do every single day. I try not to let blogging be a priority in my life because it’s a hobby and something I like to do during my spare time, plus it makes me happy to meet other bloggers on here who shares the same interests. I have plenty of activities during the week that’s why I don’t blog every single day.

I have to renew my wordpress account in a couple of months and i’m debating wether or not I want to keep my food/health blog, since i’ll be starting with the physical therapy program in a few weeks. I don’t know how my schedule will be like and if I’ll have time to blog. I want to keep blogging because I know some of my real life friends like to see how I’m doing. If I do renew it, I will probably create a new blog. A blog that doesn‘t focus ONLY on food and fitness but life and living it. We shall see… I haven’t made up my mind yet but I will def. keep y’all updated .

Weekend recap and cake balls recipe and steps will be in tomorrow’s post Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

It’s been weeks since I’ve done pilates. I would really like to try to do the class 2x a week because it really challenges my core. I’ve been trying to work on core strength and flexibility for the past 2 months along with cardiovascular. It helps with my running and the other activities I’m currently doing like jiu-jitsu and kickboxing. I’ve often wonder though what the differences are between yoga and pilates. From my experience I feel the two are not too different but I’m probably  wrong. I find I use my core more when I’m doing pilates than when I’m doing yoga. Both help with flexibility and strengthening. I decided to look up the differences and this is what I found:

• Yoga is a physical fitness regime originated in Northern part of India, in ancient period. The history of yoga dates back to almost five thousand years ago. Pilates is not an ancient practice as yoga. It is just eighty years old and invented by a German athlete, Joseph Pilates.

• Pilates method, although inspired by certain yoga poses, is a complicated system. It works towards conditioning the entire body. Yoga, however is explained as a lifestyle, instead of just an exercise. It works towards offering a path to physical and mental well-being. It also includes all the exercise routines in conjunction with a healthy diet, relaxation, meditation, and breathing skills.

• Pilates focus on developing the core strength inside the body and elongating the spine. This form of exercise would enhance strength and spread awareness on proper posture. Yoga basically emphasizes on the union of body with mind and spirit and works on the whole body. Yoga helps in relieving stress.

• Both Pilates and yoga focus on breathing and concentration. The basic difference is that yoga focuses on employing breathing process on a deeper level. Pilates includes inhaling via nose and exhaling through the mouth and yoga concentrates on utilizing the nose for both inhaling and exhaling.

• Yoga includes many styles and all these styles are usually performed in a group on a yoga mat; with the help of instructions offered by a yoga teacher. Although Pilates work on Pilates mat, but it also emphasizes on certain Pilates machines in order to build machines.

• Pilates does not require any sort of extra props such as blocks, straps and blankets whereas yoga does.

I truly enjoy both practice and I would like to do it often during the week. I think it’s important and beneficial to practice all aspect of fitness not just cardio. What I like the most about these two things is that I’m learning to be still and quiet my mind. It’s so hard to be still when life is always busy. It’s also helping me enjoy and appreciate my body more and take care of it by feeding it nutritious food and staying active in every way. I also notice I feel happier after I do yoga or pilates and it’s not because of the spiritual aspect of it because I don’t practice that part of yoga at all. I do believe in finding a balance in your life because I think that’s important. I also believe in having a positive attitude because nobody wants to be around a grumpy person with a negative attitude all the time. That’s not very attractive at all!

Anyway, if you haven’t tried yoga or pilates I encourage you to try it! A lot of people don’t like it because they think it’s meant for a certain type of people or it’s boring and it’s not like an intense cardio session. I say these things because I use to see yoga/pilates that way until I tried it. It was challenging, physically and I’m the type of person that likes a good physical challenge so I kept at it. I then started to enjoy it and reaped many benefits from it.

How do you feel about yoga/pilates? Would you be willing to try it if you haven‘t?

I’ve always seen Nia Vardalos as a beautiful, full figured woman with a beautiful smile and radiant personality. I knew she had lost some weight, I read an article about her and her health on People’s magazine last year, she looks awesome and healthy! Still beautiful, curvy, and still has a radiant personality.

While Vardalos ignored her physician’s suggestion of a trainer or nutritionist, she did create her own diet program, consisting of three low-glycemic meals a day, four snacks (“I always try to eat a protein with a carbohydrate”) and long daily walks.

“I’m not one of those people that can suddenly start running and hire a Pilates trainer, it’s just not my thing,” says Vardalos. “The walks helped clear my head. I was weighing myself once a week, just trying not to be obsessive about it. I just wanted to feel better; I wanted to feel healthy.”

Reducing her caloric intake by half, Vardalos also routinely tried on her clothes to keep herself motivated. “I would just stand naked in my closet and try things on,” she says. “I didn’t want it to be about losing weight, or what I looked like, but how I felt. The reward was how much energy I was gaining every single day. I could feel myself coming out of my period of grief. I felt refreshed.” (source)

Great article on Nia!

The husband and I had a wonderful date yesterday! We ate some delicious thai food, saw Inception (WOW!), and had some delicious froyo at Berripop (my new favorite froyo place!). Instead of bombarding y’all with pictures from yesterday, I made a collage of our date at picnik.com.

Delicious food we ate at Thai Spice. Pad thai, mini spring rolls, coconut chicken soup, and tiger claw. They were all soooo good!

Berripop was an experience! I tried something new, their shaved ice with froyo! They placed shaved ice on the bottom of the container, a little bit of condensed milk, any 3 toppings you want, and then the froyo. I chose the blueberry pomegranate froyo, it was delicious!!! All of these were a great combination and it gave my froyo a special touch. Y’all need to try it!

Very last part of our date. We took silly pictures with our camera. We used to do this a lot when we were courting, it brought so much memory! We loved it!

I’m really enjoying my Monday y’all. It’s raining and thundering outside and I’m chillaxin’ with a movie and eating some dehydrated vegetables. Not a big fan of green beans though but I love all the other veggies. Have you ever had ‘em?

I’m house sitting for my mother in law, she went to Las Vegas last week and is coming back tonight. She’s bringing me home some cupcakes from The Cupcakery! She sent me a picture text on her way to the airport Yummm!

Hope your weekend was great!!

Today we will be having lunch at Thai Spice Asian Bistro. I’ve been craving some of this all week long!

mmm…pad thai. i heart you.

We got the movies on the agenda too and we’re planning on watching Inception. I’ve heard great things about it and Yahoo users gave it an A! We might see it on IMAX but it just depends on what time we finish lunch. Have you seen it already? If so, what’d you think of it? One of my friends mentioned it’s better than the Matrix. I was surprise to hear that! We’ll see, I have really high expectations now for this movie.

A date is not a date without some froyo! Oh, I think I’m officially a froyo-holic you guys! I’m just glad I don’t live close to a froyo place, I’d be hittin’ up that place more than twice a week, for sure! I googled map the closest froyo place to the movie theater we will be at and the closest one is a Berripop! YES!

I’m definitely getting the raspberry pomegranate yogurt..mmm…

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I absolutely loooove old advertisement posters like this one. I saw one at an antique show awhile back and really wanted to buy it but I decided to wait to save my money for one that I really love! The image above isn’t a random thing, I was intentionally looking for a picture of an old poster with a woman cooking in the kitchen for this post.

Another thing I love is cooking home cooked meals at home. I don’t like to eat out during the week so I cook pretty much everyday, mainly dinner though. Breakfast and lunch are simple eats like green salads, sandwiches or leftovers from the day before. Last night, the hubby requested for something light and vegetarian. I decided to make a dish a good friend of mine, Giana, taught me to make awhile back. I boiled 1.5 cups of whole wheat rotini and add raw veggies in it. I bought a bottle of spray on balsamic vinaigrette and used that to flavor the dish.

Chopped: green zucchinis, yellow zucchini squash, red bell pepper, red onions, peas, and cherry tomatoes (not pictured)

This is awesome and it tastes really good! I looove that it’s a spray bottle

I added cheddar and monterrey jack cheese cubes when the pasta cooled. I seasoned the dish with dried basil, salt, pepper, and a few sprays of the balsamic vinegar I bought. It’s meant to be eaten cold but you can eat it warm too. I ate mine with some greens on the side.

I made something new for breakfast this morning, Allie‘s 3 ingredient oat flour crepes. I’ve always wanted to try making crepes and I finally did. It’s so easy too! Allie’s recipe calls for 1/2 cup oats, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of almond milk (you can use any kind). I never knew you could make flour out of oats, it’s crazy! I used my magic bullet to grind the oats until it turned to oat flour.

Looks kinda like pancake batter huh? This is actually very thin.

Naturally More Peanut butter w/flax seeds and sliced bananas. Yum-o! So light and delicious! Check out the way Allie prepared her crepes.

I’m so glad there are so many bloggers out there that can cook. Not a lot of women cook anymore nowadays. I’m grateful that my mom showed me how to cook in such a young age because as I grow up, I’ve learned to value it and I see it as a gift. My mom gave me such an awesome gift,  I love her for that.

How about you? Do you cook often at home?

By the way, do you like the new layout? I got bored with the last theme and wanted colors and design on my blog. I think this theme was newly added to wordpress. I like it a lot

I’m totally lovin’ my Sunday! I forced myself to stay in today to relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend. I slept in and woke up at around 11am, talk about bein’ lazy! LOL. I really needed the sleep. I woke up, fixed a late breakfast: cold muesli with fresh sliced bananas and strawberries. I didn’t take a picture of it but I used Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli and it looked something like this:

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Muesli consists of uncooked rolled oats, fruits, and nuts. It’s really delicious and I like it much better than regular cereal. Have you ever tried muesli before?

I’ve been spending my day watching movies, I’ve already seen a docudrama on Temple Grandin, Taken, and I love you, Beth Cooper. The movie Coraline is about to start, haven’t seen it before. That’s a lot of movies in one day, huh? LOL. I’m not wasting my day away though, I’ve also been doing laundry and I’ve done a couple of exercises on the physio ball while watching a movie. I looooove exercising with the physio ball, do you?

Reverse leg lifts… workin’ on the buns… ohhhh yeaaaa… lol.

I also made some shrimp pico de gallo to eat as my afternoon snack and I had it with some blue sesame corn chips. Yummy! I wanted to make some shrimp cocktail and we didn’t have any cocktail sauce so I just made it with pico de gallo.

You need to make this now!

I used and diced up:

• 2 roma tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of red onions
• handful of cilantro
• half avocado
• 1 small de-seeded jalapeno
• 1/3 frozen cooked shrimp
• 1 lime
• salt & pepper

Just mixed all together, taste, and then leave it in the fridge for about 15-30 min. It’s sooo good and healthy for you! Freshly made pico de gallo with chips is probably one of my favorite snacks to make . Another favorite snack of mine is froyo with lots of different toppings on top! It’s also a real big treat for me because I don’t get to have it often, maybe every other week. The husband took me out to a froyo place yesterday after a jiu-jitsu tournament we went to. The place was called The Orange Cup and it was inside the mall. I got the AcaiBerry yogurt and oh my gosh! I’m not kidding you, it’s the best froyo I’ve ever had in my entire life!!! It was soooo goood! I put strawberries, mini vanilla pieces, and granola on it and it was perfect! They even put a sticker at the end and it has the nutrition value of everything that’s in your cup. It’s really cool!

Happy Sheila

Did anything interesting this weekend? Anything fun? Btw, we saw the new movie Predators and it was really good! Very entertaining and great acting. We enjoyed it a lot! I’d like to see Despicable Me soon!

Scott and I after our run by the bay sometime last week. It was a really good run!

Anyway, did I mention I’m exhausted?! I’ve been running, yoga’ing, swimming, doing kickboxing, and training for jiu-jitsu. I’m trying to figure out how I can do all these activities while I train for the marathon without exhausting myself. I kind of have an idea and I’m trying it out this week. Here’s the plan:

Mondays: Training day (marathon) and 25 min of yoga during the day and BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-jitsu) in the evening

Tuesdays: Swimming and strength training

Wednesdays: Training day and 25 min. yoga

Thursdays: Strength training and BJJ

Fridays: Training day, 25 min. yoga, and BJJ

Saturdays: OFF

Sundays: Short run

I will evaluate this plan by the end of the week and will change it if it’s not working out too well.

I’ve also noticed my not taking in enough calories and carbs. No wonder I’m feeling like this! I’m exhausted and I have no energy to do all the activities I want to do. I’ve been mindful of this and I really need to somehow plan my meals, just so I can know I’m taking in enough calories.

Here’s what I’ve been eating these past two weeks:

Beef, barley, and veggie soup

Overnight oatmeal “cookie” and hot oolong tea for breakfast

ate at La Madeleine’s for date night this past weekend. Meditteranean pasta.

Greek salad with black bean burger pcs.

Veggie frittata

Plenty of fresh protein fruit smoothies

I’m needing some new running music. I’m getting really tired of the music I have in my ipod. Anyone have any suggestion(s)? I’d like to know what you’re currently running to .

I found an article online about a girl name Lizzie Velasquez who was born with an unknown rare syndrome that does not allow her to gain any weight. Only 3 people in the world, including herself has this syndrome. I’ve never in my life heard of her story and it was so shocking to me to find out about this.  She has a blog and a book that is coming out soon. Her story is inspiring. I thought it’d be good to share her story and blog with y’all so you’d be aware of the unknown syndrome she has. I hope her story touches you the way it touched me.

Here are a few pictures from the wedding and reception. The first five pictures are from my camera and the rest my dear friend, Marty took ‘em with his.

We spent the rest of our weekend with my family and friends. I’ve missed them so much! My step-dad bbq’d on Friday and I made some pico de gallo and 8 batches of homemade white chocolate macadamia cranberry apricot oatmeal cookies for dessert.

These cookies were sooo good and moist! Everyone loved them, they couldn’t stop eating ‘em!

Ingredients: (makes 5 batches)

• 1  cup  butter or margarine, softened (I used Smart Balance 50/50 butter blend)
• 1  cup  firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1  cup  granulated sugar (I’m anti splenda. I used natural sugar.)
• 2  large eggs
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 3  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2  cups  uncooked regular oats
• 2  cups  (12 ounces) white chocolate morsels
• 1  cup  coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 cup of dried cranberries
• 1 cup of dried apricots

Preparation:

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in oats, morsels, macadamia, and dried fruits. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 3 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

We flew back home Sunday evening, I was a little bit e motional when I left but I’m alright now. My friends and I are planning a big trip to San Antonio at the end of July. We’re planning on visiting Fiesta Texas and Splash Town! I’m really looking forward to that trip. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Soy, dangerous food to eat?

I want to end this post with this video that I found on why Soy IS NOT a health food. I was a bit shocked when I watched these two videos and learned that the best type of soy to eat is in fermented form. I’ve always thought of Soy products as health foods. I don’t know, I’ve read on health magazines how soy can be beneficial to us. What do you think?