The Sunshine Yogi: January 2015

Recipe: Nicecream and Pancakes

In answer to those who say vegans have too much of a "restricted" diet, Instagram user @Holy_Cacao seeks to prove them all wrong with her sumptuous pancake stacks and overflowing mason jars of banana ice cream (also known as nicecream).

I've been following Sarah (the owner of Holy_Cacao) on Instagram for a few months now, and I've been so inspired on her creative take on vegan eating. All of her recipes are dairy-free, homemade, without any refined sugar!

She also uses amazing ingredients like Loving Earth Cacao, Proper Protein powder, and The Wild Granola (most of which are based in Australia).

While Sarah posts her recipes occasionally on Instagram, they can be hard to find, so I've taken the liberty of adapting a few of her recipes here in this post. But all credit goes to her! :)

Here is my adaptation of her recipe for the famous #nicecream:

Chop 2 bananas into 1/2 inch slices
Put 1/3 of the banana in the fridge, and the remaining in the freezer. Freeze overnight (approx. 10 hours)
In the morning, unstick the slices and put them in the blender with the unfrozen banana
Pour 1/4 cup almond milk and 1 tsp vanilla on top and blend
Every so often, stop blending, and push the banana chunks into the blade so it becomes smoother. This can take up to 5 minutes.
Add extra almond milk 1 tbs at a time, but be careful - too much ruins it!
Add in 1-2 tbs of cacao and blend until combined
Spoon into a bowl and freeze for an extra 10 minutes or so
Spoon into a jar, and enjoy!

Here is my adaptation of her pancake recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup spelt or whole meal flour
1/3 cup almond milk
1 tsp honey
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbs coconut oil or 1 tbs applesauce
1/2 tbs baking powder
Pinch of baking soda

Recipe:

Heat pan to medium heat
Mix dry ingredients, then mix in wet ingredients
Spray pan with coconut oil, and test a small amount of batter
Spoon batter onto pan, flip when it bubbles and cook until golden!

Here is my adaptation of her buckwheat banana pancake recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 mashed banana
3/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp baking powder

Recipe:

Heat pan to medium heat
Mix dry ingredients, then mix in wet ingredients, adding in almond milk until a smooth batter is reached
Spray pan with coconut oil, and test a small amount of batter
Spoon batter onto pan, flip when it bubbles and cook until golden!

All photos in the post are from@Holy_Cacao 's Instagram!

What's In Your Food?

In the past few years or so, I've become increasingly interested in nutrition. While I've always been very interested in science, in the past I had never thought of applying my habits of research to my own health issues. But now I truly believe that healing cannot come without understanding (at least for me). If I understand how the food I eat affects my body, I can better consume foods to heal myself.

A lot of the revelations I've had about nutrition were just simply "Duh!" moments. For example, yesterday when I went grocery shopping, I picked up a bottle of this sparkling "all natural" juice drink that I've always liked. I just took for granted that the drink was natural, since it said so on the label. But when I looked at the list of ingredients, I saw a lot of not-so-natural chemicals there... like Red #40. After wikipedia-ing Red #40, I still can't really say I understand what it is... except for the fact that it's banned in France, Switzerland, Sweden, and other European countries. Hmm.

For example, consider this chart concerning the additives in Flaming Hot Cheetos, taken from a Yale course curriculum. The chart compares the additives found in the snack, as regulated by the US FDA, and its European sister, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

As you can see, Red #40 makes the list of banned food additives, being seen as not fit for human consumption. Now, while the EFSA takes a much more precautionary approach to its evaluation of food additives, the FDA is infamous for being lax or uniformed concerning what's in American food.

But to me, this comes down to simple logic for consumers. If you don't know what an artificial chemical is (even after having researched it!), why would you want to put it in your body?

The truth is, many of the chemicals in our food have only been around for the past few decades. The long-term effect of the continued consumption of these chemicals simply hasn't been researched. But considering the obesity epidemic that is occurring in America, it makes one wonder if the two trends are linked (processed food + obesity). Of course, correlation is not causation, but it's certainly food for thought.

For someone like me (aka someone with recurring gastroenterological issues), there's no way to know how these food additives and chemicals have been affecting my biochemisty. In reality, almost no comprehensive research has been done on the effects of processed foods on digestive conditions. On the other hand, people have been eating whole foods since the dawn of our species. Our bodies were made to ingest food in its natural form - not with dozens of laboratory-crafted, artificial chemicals added.

Now, I'm not going to pretend like I've always thought this way. As a kid, I was a processed food princess. I ate Doritos and potato chips by the bagful - and my favorite junk food was Flamin' Hot Cheetos! But just as I would never take medicine that wasn't thoroughly researched (including for the long term), so should I avoid chemicals that haven't been properly studied. I know better now. And armed with the knowledge that the EFSA thinks that most of the additives in Flamin' Hot Cheetos are not fit for human consumption, it'll make it a lot easier to pass them by in the snack aisle.

So what is the point of this post? I may sound like a broken record (because I say this in nearly every post), but this is the point: Question Everything. Look at the ingredients in the food you buy. What is butylated hydrozyttoluene, or disodium inosinate? Do you know what that is? Do you want that in your food? Research it!

Your best bet - buy whole foods (like whole fruits, vegetables, dairy, and proteins); and for foods that have to be processed (like bread), check the ingredients. Do you know what's in there? Try to buy foods that contain as many whole ingredients as possible. Know what goes in your body!

ॐ Namasté

Snowga

Honestly, I really don't like winter. But I didn't always feel this way... when I was a kid, winter was my favorite season. Playing in the snow was the ultimate thrill, especially when it was on a snow day. I grew up in a farming town, so any sort of snowfall turned our little town into a picturesque country scene.

But now, cold temperatures mean waking up even earlier to warm up my car before work. Snow on the ground means an extra half hour on my morning commute. And winter, now that I live in a city, means brown snow, dirty slush, and icy sidewalks. I wake up to a dark sky (I get into work before sunrise), and come home to a dark sky. I rarely see any sunlight. Honestly, it's been getting me pretty down. I love going outside, but it's not really safe for me to be on my street when it's dark out. And half the fun of being outside (for me) is getting some Vitamin D.

Most weekends this winter, I've been going back home to my parents' house. I don't mind the snow so much when it's on top of trees, as far as the eye can see. Even the cold doesn't seem as bad when it's accompanied by the sunlight!

Being home today, I took the opportunity to really embrace the cold and do some yoga outside. I put my yoga mat on top of the snow on my back deck... and it actually made a nice cushion for my head during headstands!

I've really been making progress on my headstands! It's so rewarding to see hard work being paid off! :)

Winter isn't so bad, as long as you're in the sun! ☼

ॐ Namasté

The Deal With Dieting

For 2015, the most popular New Year's Resolution was to either get in shape or lose weight. But apparently only 8% of people actually achieve the goals they set for themselves in the new year. Why is that?

Perhaps it's because our culture sets people up for failure by skewing the image of the weight loss process. For example, consider this feature on a popular magazine's website:

"Get Your Best Body In Two Weeks". Really? It'll only take two weeks for my body to look the best it's ever been? Somehow I'm skeptical. And when you actually click on the link on the website, it turns out to be an article promoting a weight-loss supplement... giving you a link to purchase the supplement at the bottom on the page.Now, marketing gimmicks notwithstanding, there's no doubt that the dialogue these magazines create about weight loss is totally skewed.

Or maybe, perhaps people fail at dieting because of the massively conflicting (and oftentimes harmful) slew of information available about health and nutrition. For example, consider two of the most popular diets in the past 5 years - the Paleo diet, and the Vegan diet. The Paleo diet, in short, emulates the style of eating by our "Paleolithic" ancestors- namely, no processed food, lots of meat, and nothing (including certain types of vegetables!) that wasn't in existence 10,000 years ago. Veganism, on the other hand, follows an extremely strict no animal by-products diet - that means no meat, no eggs, no dairy, etc. Both Paleo and Vegan diets espouse amazing health benefits, yet dictate almost exact opposite eating philosophies. Even doctors don't agree on which diet is the best for overall health!

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The purpose of this post isn't to bash dieting, or to put down Paleo or Veganism. What I do hope to do for whoever's reading this, is inspire critical thinking - to inspire you question everything. If a magazine says you can "Drop 30lbs in 30 Days", seriously question that claim. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

There is no magical, healthy way to lose weight fast and keep it off. The only sure way weight loss can be achieved is with long-term lifestyle change - more movement, fewer calories and fewer processed food. No supplement or "miraculous" diet plan can change your weight if you don't change the way you live first. So if you're being inundated with sketchy weight loss claims or too-good-to-be-true diets, remember this truth, and take it with a grain of salt.

ॐ Namasté

Morning Yoga Sequence by Krista Marie Starr

A beautiful video of a morning yoga sequence by Krista Marie Starr that I wanted to share :)

MORNINGS - Krista Marie Starr ~ Yoga Teacher from Devon Burns on Vimeo

ॐ Namasté

You Do You

I've taken yoga classes at over a dozen studios / with private teachers, and every time I have been met with acceptance and a genuine love for yoga that transcends concern for "appearances". So when I read "5 Things I Wish People Would Stop Doing In Bikram Yoga" by MindBodyGreen, I was shocked at the arrogance, judgment, and disdain that permeated every word.

"Turning up for a hot Bikram yoga class is one thing. Keeping your cool and observing proper etiquette in one is another. Try not to do any of the following unless you are convinced that being a total nuisance is going to help everyone else improve their focus as they practice in the same hot room with you. In which case ... kudos!

The author, Low Lai Chow, who apparently is not even a registered yoga teacher, goes on to condemn those who take a break to sit down during the class, or those who leave to get some air. She writes,

"Check the schedule again. Did you sign up for a yoga class, or a mat-sitting class? We'd advise you to confirm what you signed up for, just so you can see where exactly you need to be at, and proceed to do what you showed up to do."

Whoa.

Firstly, for all of you reading this, don't listen to the advice in this article. While Bikram Yoga has many benefits, practicing yoga in a heated room can cause dizziness, dehydration, and even heat exhaustion. If you're not used to hot yoga, you may need to sit down or leave the room to gather yourself. And that's totally okay. Yoga (and I can't say this enough times) is about honoring your body. If that means taking a break, then take a break! If you don't listen to your body, there is no point in even practicing yoga at all.

Secondly, never take the advice of someone who constantly looks at what other people are doing during yoga, while condemning the exact same thing in their article.

"In a hot yoga class, you work on steadying your breath. You work on steadying your mind. You work on your body, not your face. Seriously, why would you inadvertently shoot dirty looks at your peers who are working through the same process as you are, or at your teacher, who's really rooting for you to work through all your mat demons?"

A question for you, Low Lai Chow - if you are so busy "steadying your breath" and "steadying your mind" during your Bikram practice, then how would you even know if people are sitting, or leaving the room?

Yeah.

For everyone reading this - please don't take this article seriously. There are bad eggs in every community, including the yoga community. There are those who will always judge you, or think there is an absolute "right" way to do something. But each individual yoga practice is as unique as the practitioner. You have to do you! Honor yourself.

ॐ Namasté

New Year, New You!

It's amazing to see the marketing tactics of so many companies after the New Year - featured on the home page of nearly every major company's website is some sort of health-related promotion.

Advertising ploys notwithstanding, there is something to be said for the surge of health and fitness inspiration that comes with the new year. Every year, people vow (myself included) to be healthier - to eat better, to work out more, to get more sleep. And I know personally, when I have the right gear, I'm more motivated to work out! It may sound silly, but there's nothing wrong with going to a yoga class wanting to try out my new sweat-wicking tank. Whatever gets you out the door, right?

So here's a collection of some of my top gear for the New Year - including stuff I already have (like the Nutribullet), and some things that are on my wishlist (like the Fitbit Flex and Citrus Zinger!)