I Have a New Home

I moved to wordpress.

http://tehroach.wordpress.com

National Barbecue Month

Is it just me or is there a national month for everything? This month is national barbecue month and I'm thinking I need to do two things:

One: Find some good vegetarian barbecue recipes and then request my parents to barbecue all month. Vegetarian or not, I love the smoky smell of barbecue.

Two: I must read this thesis on Barbecue written by Anoop Desai, former American Idol contestant. It's a 60-page paper on the history of barbecue and yeah, it's downloadable. You can read a paper about barbecue while listening to its autor sing Donna Summer's Dim All The Lights. This is why I love the internet.

Hopsital Food Around the World

Just found an interesting photo blog - hospitalfood.tumblr.com via www.seriouseats.com, one of my favorite general food sites.

Photos of hospital food around the world. What a good idea for a blog.

Lazy

I haven't written in a while, because I'm being lazy. I didn't work out all week and it was almost a relief... until I realized how amazingly tired and low on energy I've felt all week.

Guess I better get my butt in gear.

Comments!

Not that I think a ton of people want to comment, but my friend just pointed out to me that she couldn't comment because of my settings.

Settings are changed. Comment away! 

Running with Asthma

Asthma sucks. 

If you've never had an asthma attack, let me share with you the feeling. The most common attack is a mild to moderate attack and just because it's mild doesn't mean it's easy to handle. It is a kick in the lungs. 

Basically, it feels like someone has you in a bear hug or is pressing down on your lungs. When I have an asthma attack my lungs burn, my back hurts, I cough, I lean forward as if it might help, but it doesn't really. An asthma attack is scary because you can't breath, which I hear is pretty essential for living.

When I was a kid, I would panic when I had asthma attacks. I would cry, intensifying the attack threefold. I still panic slightly when I start wheezing and feel a tightening in my chest, which is what happened today. 

I walked about a half a mile, ran until I hit the 2 mile marker on the pavement and then started wheezing like a big ol' asthmatic. I had to walk to my car and use my inhaler and try to calm down before it got worse. I think it's the whole running in nature thing that triggers my asthma.  I run at the Genesys nature trail around the hospital, which looks gorgeous, but preys on my allergies.

After I used my inhaler, I went back to my run and was able to run two miles straight and walk another one. I was so proud of myself at the end of my run - for not giving up when I could have and for not letting my asthma get in the way. 

Sometimes I have to keep in mind that just because I have asthma, doesn't mean I can't. 

Mmmm Donuts

Ever wanted to make vegan donuts? 

Susan over at blog.fatfreevegan.com presents a fatfree vegan donut recipe! These look pretty tasty.

Photo is from Susan's Blog!

The FatFreeVegan blog is one that I visit on a pretty regular basis. 

I really love the way she has her blog set up. It's simple, she gives good ideas, has creative recipes and I love the way her recipes are cataloged. It's probably my favorite vegan/vegetarian food blog because it's so simple, yet full of creative dishes. Totally in tune with the way my mind works when it comes to food!

Weight Loss Challenge Recap

So I lost 2 more pounds! Yay!

Because last week I gained again. Sadface.

So I've gained 2, loss 3, loss 3, gained 2, loss 2. 

Grand total of 4 pounds. 

That's not all that amazing. 

Back

Meh. I'm over the new blog that I got. 

So, guess I'll stick to blogger.

Testing New Waters

I'm testing out a blog community over at www.onsugar.com. So far it's kind of cool. Here's my new home - yoginiontherun.onsugar.com

VegFest

Ferndale High School is housing VegFest, an expo all about being vegetarian organized on by VegMichigan.

It looks like it could be fun. They're hyping this John Salley guy, a former NBA player, as their main speaker. And there is going to be a lot of vegan food ("Vegan cuisine" so says the flyer.) I'm not a vegan or a sports fan, but there's sure to be some topics that interest me. I might volunteer just for the hell of it.

Top Ten

Woo hoo! I made it into the top ten for the weight loss challenge at work!

Although, I feel slightly guilty for celebrating everyone's bad week. The group only lost about 17 pounds and there are about 29 of us participating, I believe. A lot of people had to pay a buck. I'm guessing Black Monday (the day the layoffs and pay cuts began being announced) caused a lot of people to cheat on their diets. Emotional eating (or drinking) can be a killer.

Stay strong my newspaper brothers and sisters!

I Wanted Ice Cream, But I Got This Instead

Just wanted to share a healthy alternative to ice cream - DelMonte FruitChillers.

There made for kids, but they're a good option if you have a sweet tooth. They're low in fat and calories and made with real fruit.

They even have a tool you can use to compare to your favorite vices.

These were originally bought for my two-year-old nephew. He wasn't impressed, but I was.

Rougher Week Than Expected, eh?

Damn. I didn't make my two-three pound goal. I dropped one pound, which is still to be commended after such a crappy week.

So yay for me and my one pound loss!

Tough Week? Tough Luck.

The week was really rough for everyone at work, so I really wanted some carbohydrates, some comfort food. While I enjoyed my manicotti, mixed drinks, cookies, fried cheese cubes, cheesy enchiladas and half a chocolate bar - wow that looks really bad now - I think I might still my goal of losing three pounds or at least two pounds.

I made sure to work out everyday this week and even once outside. See Erin? I can play outside too! So yay me!

I hope to weigh in at 173 Monday. That's two pounds down. Cross your fingers!

Stress Eating

All the bad news in the newspaper industry is doing nothing to help my eating habits.

This week I've eaten a bunch of comfort food, fried food and drank alcohol. Definitely not helpful for the whole lose weight plan. And today, I didn't even eat dinner. NOT a good idea to run on an empty stomach. I was exhausted twenty minutes into the run.

On a positive note, I've lost 6 pounds in the last two week as of Monday. I'm scared to weigh in this upcoming Monday, but I have been working out - yoga Monday, skating Tuesday and running today - so maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

Soon my workouts will change. I won't have my $48 month-to-month gym membership, so no yoga every Monday. I'll have to come up with a home yoga sequence and I'll be running outside instead of on the track in the gym or on the machines at the gym, but that's no big deal.

I'll miss the fitness classes, but maybe I can learn to love running in downtown Flint.

Hurrah for cross-training!

I have discovered the joys of cross -training!

Good old yoga journal got me hooked to a yoga/running cross-training program. And Runners World even has an article of their own about yoga for runners.

To gear up for running I've been using an elliptical machine for half an hour, run/walk for ten to twenty minutes and finish up with yoga poses to stretch out my muscles. I'm trying to transition from using the elliptical machine to running on my own. The machine is really helpful because it absorbs a lot of the impact, so I'm not used to running without the support. I think I'm doing a pretty good job transitioning from machine support to self support. And yoga is really helpful because it teaches me how to control my breathe, stretches muscles I work when I run and strengthens them too.

So fire up for cross-training!

Weight Loss Challenge

I haven't updated in what seems like forever.

Well, here's a quick update. I joined a Weight Loss Challenge at work, pay in $10 at the beginning and a dollar every time you gain weight, the winner gets cash. I think there's going to be a top three.

Anyway. The first week I gained a pound, this week I lost three. So I'm pretty excited about that.

In other news? My yoga teacher might add some classes to her schedule and she's already signed up to teach in the spring and summer. So that makes me happy and I'm going to try out a yoga class where she goes for yoga. It's sort of out of the way for me, but I want to try it out anyway.

And today after work, I'm working out at the gym. Woo.

Tomorrow it's Salad Wednesday at work and the out-of-the-way yoga class. Fire up for a good week!

That's all for my well overdue update.

Yoga Love Affair

I love yoga, but sometimes I skip class. That was my plan tonight, but it didn't work out that way and I'm glad.

I have two friends that attend yoga with me and one of them planned to skip yoga today because she was stressed out about some personal life stuff, said she needed time to go home and deal with some things. My initial reaction was "Oh, Ok. That's too bad. What's going on?" because honestly, I had been planning to skip class, too. I was relieved I wouldn't disappoint her by not showing.

But then I thought about it and I decided skipping class was a bad idea because she was stressed. People need energy to deal with things that are stressful. "Wait, wait, wait," I said. "You're stressed out, right? Ok, forget this skipping class business. You need yoga." We both see yoga as a stress reliever - a spiritually cleansing and energizing activity. I wasn't being presumptuous. My friend agreed yoga was a good idea, but only if I went. That's how I ended up in class instead of being lazy at home.

It turned out to be a really good class and was packed full of people, including another friend of mine who goes to the class. I arrived late due to a visit in the membership office that I forgot I was going to have to do, so when I got to class it was already going. The energy was already high, it was warm in the room and the air smelled like... well the air smelled of sweat. At first, I felt bad being late, but the energy in the room helped me get into the motions very quickly and I enjoyed the class very much.

For myself and my friends, yoga is a tool to calm a hectic life. It's an outlet for negative energy. I'm hardly amazing at the poses. I lose my balance, I fall, I can't reach my hands or stretch far enough, but I laugh and smile and try anyway. Yoga settles me, it grounds me and it's exercise I enjoy, regardless of how "good" I am at the positions because it's not about the positions or whether you can do the things the person next to you can manage.

It's about the journey you take while in the class, it's about the effort you make while trying to reach those positions, it's about dragging your friend to class when they're in a bad mood because you know it's good for them. It's about falling, laughing, standing and trying again. It's about the energy in the room, the moment you're in and it's about leaving all the negativity of the world, of your world and your life at the door.

I heart yoga.

Soups @ Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

Quick note:

Fatfree Vegan Kitchen has some great recipe ideas for soups.