It was sooo foggy yesterday.... cold today.....
Friday, January 31
Food Personality :)
Your Food Personality is:
Fast and Fresh!
You value healthy, good tasting foods and prefer streamlined recipes to save time while using fresh ingredients as much as possible. You enjoy the process of making recipes from scratch, but time is often short so you need to be efficient by selecting recipes that you can make quickly. Because you enjoy cooking you tend to cook more complex meals on weekends when you have more time. During the week, simpler recipes with fewer ingredients and fewer steps are the keys to your meal preparation process.
Recommendations
Plan simpler meals, such as casserole, broiled or roasted meats, steamed vegetables, salads, and fresh fruit desserts for busy nights. Save recipes with longer preparation times and multi-step meals for weekends.
Healthy foods are nutrient rich—or have a large amount of vitamins and minerals for their calories. The more nutrient-rich foods you can include in your diet the more balanced and healthy your overall diet will be. Nutrient-rich foods are:
- Low-fat and fat-free dairy
- Whole grains
- Fruits and vegetables
- Eggs, beans and nuts
Take advantage of the time you spend cooking on the weekends by cooking larger quantities and freezing some for later. In addition to our double duty meals try these tips:
- Cook extra rice, put into a container, and refrigerate or freeze. On a busy night, microwave it, stirring occasionally, until heated through, then use as you would fresh.
- Chop a whole onion, even if you only need part of it right now. Store the rest for another meal.
- Grate extra cheese and store it in a zippered plastic bag in the freezer.
Other suggestions for the Fast and Fresh Personality:
Planning meals in advance can help you save time. Our Meal Planner helps you balance your diet over the course of each week. Be sure to check out the Fast + Fresh Shopping List to ensure you have healthy, convenient foods in your pantry, fridge and freezer.
Planning meals in advance can help you save time. Our Meal Planner helps you balance your diet over the course of each week. Be sure to check out the Fast + Fresh Shopping List to ensure you have healthy, convenient foods in your pantry, fridge and freezer.
For more meal planning ideas, read these articles:
The following recipes are ideal for the Fast and Fresh personality because they contain fresh ingredients without complicated steps and will occasionally include a jar of sauce or other packaged food as a timesaving step.
Vegetarian
Search more "Quick to Prepare" recipes.
Wednesday, January 22
Music Affects Body (read on blogs)
1. Music directly affects chemicals called neurotransmitters which relay information in our head.
2. Music reduces stress by reducing cortisol levels, a chemical in your brain that causes you to feel stress in the first place.
4. Listening to music engages many areas of the brain in both hemispheres, which is why it can create brain activity other methods, like conversation, can't. Another area it engages is the hippocampus, which would be a hilarious name for a school for aquatic mammals but in reality is the less impressive region of the brain which handles long-term memory storage.
5. When you're locked in your room, listening to your old N'Sync CDs, have you ever noticed your foot tapping on its own? That's not just because you have terrible taste in music. It's because the portions of the brain which deal with rhythm and movement are so automated that it requires no conscious attention to move to a beat.
6. Through its judicious use in our schools, workplaces, and daily lives, we can stimulate our intelligence and unlock our creative potentials. In its broadest sense, the Mozart Effect reveals a path to a higher, more comprehensive IQ than any of us had previously envisioned.
7. Listening to your favorite song can boost your feelings of well-being. A research team from Germany found that listening to “pleasant music” boosted levels of serotonin in test subjects. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter responsible for giving you good feelings and, strangely enough, regulating your bowel movements. The study also found that listening to “unpleasant music” had the opposite effect of decreasing serotonin levels. At any rate, this explains why you feel so good after an awesome jam session, why your favorite song can help you move on after something traumatic, and why people become fans of a particular band; they develop a mild emotional and physical dependency – almost like a drug.
“There’s something about music and engaging in musical activities that appears to be very stimulating for the brain and body,” says neuroscientist Dr. Petr Janata of the University of California, Davis. Singing favorite songs with family and friends, playing in a band or dancing to music can also help you bond with others. “It’s a way of synchronizing groups of people and engaging in a common activity that everyone can do at the same time,” Janata adds.
Scientists continue to explore the relationship between music and health. While they search, try turning on the radio or grabbing your guitar. Enjoy whatever music brings your way.
2. Music reduces stress by reducing cortisol levels, a chemical in your brain that causes you to feel stress in the first place.
3. Music helps boost your immune system. It raises immune markers in your system, creating more antibodies to fight disease. Over time, the body can learn to recognize certain types of music (particularly choir or classical music) as immune boosting, continuing the improvement of the immune system.
4. Listening to music engages many areas of the brain in both hemispheres, which is why it can create brain activity other methods, like conversation, can't. Another area it engages is the hippocampus, which would be a hilarious name for a school for aquatic mammals but in reality is the less impressive region of the brain which handles long-term memory storage.
5. When you're locked in your room, listening to your old N'Sync CDs, have you ever noticed your foot tapping on its own? That's not just because you have terrible taste in music. It's because the portions of the brain which deal with rhythm and movement are so automated that it requires no conscious attention to move to a beat.
6. Through its judicious use in our schools, workplaces, and daily lives, we can stimulate our intelligence and unlock our creative potentials. In its broadest sense, the Mozart Effect reveals a path to a higher, more comprehensive IQ than any of us had previously envisioned.
7. Listening to your favorite song can boost your feelings of well-being. A research team from Germany found that listening to “pleasant music” boosted levels of serotonin in test subjects. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter responsible for giving you good feelings and, strangely enough, regulating your bowel movements. The study also found that listening to “unpleasant music” had the opposite effect of decreasing serotonin levels. At any rate, this explains why you feel so good after an awesome jam session, why your favorite song can help you move on after something traumatic, and why people become fans of a particular band; they develop a mild emotional and physical dependency – almost like a drug.
“There’s something about music and engaging in musical activities that appears to be very stimulating for the brain and body,” says neuroscientist Dr. Petr Janata of the University of California, Davis. Singing favorite songs with family and friends, playing in a band or dancing to music can also help you bond with others. “It’s a way of synchronizing groups of people and engaging in a common activity that everyone can do at the same time,” Janata adds.
Scientists continue to explore the relationship between music and health. While they search, try turning on the radio or grabbing your guitar. Enjoy whatever music brings your way.
read in a blog (liveboldandbloom)
How to meditate properly
I would suggest you begin your practice of meditation with just 5 minutes a day. As with any new habit, attach your meditation practice to a “trigger” — a previously established habit like brushing your teeth or having your morning coffee. This trigger is a mental cue to insert your new meditation habit into your daily schedule.
I would suggest you begin your practice of meditation with just 5 minutes a day. As with any new habit, attach your meditation practice to a “trigger” — a previously established habit like brushing your teeth or having your morning coffee. This trigger is a mental cue to insert your new meditation habit into your daily schedule.
read in a blog (daveywaveyfitness)
While good nutrition and exercise are important, equally important are coping with stress to curb emotional eating, staying mentally focused on what you want to achieve, becoming spiritually grounded to trust yourself, and last but definitely not least, using the power of your mind to follow through.
1. Choose your words wisely.
Eliminate the following from your vocabulary: Try, should, can’t. These disempowering words add struggle to the journey towards your goal and weaken your confidence. For example:
Change: “I’ll try to take a walk today” to “I will (or, I won’t) take a walk today.”
Change: “I should eat a salad” to “It’s good for me to eat a salad.”
Change: “I can’t exercise this week” to “I choose not to exercise this week.”
In the long run, being positive and honest with yourself keeps you strong.
2. Make it easy.
Start to take your accomplishments in stride. For example, after eating healthfully for a few days or exercising after work, respond as if this were a common occurrence. Say to yourself, “that felt so good” or “that was easy.” In this way you’re creating an inner vision of new habits being something you do naturally and easily rather some extra-special feat. Over time this outlook helps you weave new behaviors into your life as the normal course of events.
1. Choose your words wisely.
Eliminate the following from your vocabulary: Try, should, can’t. These disempowering words add struggle to the journey towards your goal and weaken your confidence. For example:
Change: “I’ll try to take a walk today” to “I will (or, I won’t) take a walk today.”
Change: “I should eat a salad” to “It’s good for me to eat a salad.”
Change: “I can’t exercise this week” to “I choose not to exercise this week.”
In the long run, being positive and honest with yourself keeps you strong.
Start to take your accomplishments in stride. For example, after eating healthfully for a few days or exercising after work, respond as if this were a common occurrence. Say to yourself, “that felt so good” or “that was easy.” In this way you’re creating an inner vision of new habits being something you do naturally and easily rather some extra-special feat. Over time this outlook helps you weave new behaviors into your life as the normal course of events.
3. Start a success journal.
Keep a notebook by your bed. Before going to sleep, write your answers to this question:
4. Ask your body what it needs.
Take some time today—every day—to get quiet, go within and ask your body what it needs from you. For example, close your eyes and draw your attention inward. Take a few breaths to settle yourself. Then, ask your body:
“What do you need today so you will feel loved and well-cared for?”
Listen and follow through with what you hear. Take that relaxing bath. Get up and go for that walk. Guidance that emerges from your body wisdom is more important than any information you’ll find elsewhere.
Ask yourself: “How do I want to feel one hour (or one day) from now?”
This powerful question helps you anticipate the results of your choices, guiding you to choose wisely.
Keep a notebook by your bed. Before going to sleep, write your answers to this question:
"What steps did I take today to care for my mind, body and spirit?"
For example:
“I parked away from the store entrance to walk farther.”
“I didn’t beat myself up for overeating at lunch.”
“I took ‘Me’ time to read an inspirational book.”
Writing in your success journal trains your mind and brain to scan your experiences and find the healthy choices you’re making. Your attention shifts away from looking only at what’s “not working” to notice what’s going well. Your memory becomes imprinted with images of taking good care of yourself, inspiring you to keep moving forward.
For example:
“I parked away from the store entrance to walk farther.”
“I didn’t beat myself up for overeating at lunch.”
“I took ‘Me’ time to read an inspirational book.”
Writing in your success journal trains your mind and brain to scan your experiences and find the healthy choices you’re making. Your attention shifts away from looking only at what’s “not working” to notice what’s going well. Your memory becomes imprinted with images of taking good care of yourself, inspiring you to keep moving forward.
Take some time today—every day—to get quiet, go within and ask your body what it needs from you. For example, close your eyes and draw your attention inward. Take a few breaths to settle yourself. Then, ask your body:
“What do you need today so you will feel loved and well-cared for?”
Listen and follow through with what you hear. Take that relaxing bath. Get up and go for that walk. Guidance that emerges from your body wisdom is more important than any information you’ll find elsewhere.
5. Think into the future.
Ask yourself: “How do I want to feel one hour (or one day) from now?”
This powerful question helps you anticipate the results of your choices, guiding you to choose wisely.
For example, before entering a food-challenging situation, imagine how you want to feel as you drive home. Taking a moment to close your eyes and visualize your desired result, and the feeling attached to that result, energetically aligns your mind and body to help you make choices that move you in that direction.
_______________________________________________________
What is important is this present moment and the choices you make today. As Abraham Lincoln said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Here’s to creating a healthier you in 2014!read in a blog (mindbodygreen)
Sometimes the only thing standing between you and your best health is your priorities. Resolve to take care of your emotional and spiritual self. Happy people tend to have no battles in their diet. They listen to what their bodies tell them about what and how much they need. Maybe you'll drop some pounds, or maybe you'll realize that you’re beautiful just the way you are. Start from within.
-- Andy Jacobs
What Losing 100 Pounds Taught Me, read in MindBodyGreen
But deep inside, I still am and always will be a fat girl, with a fat girl’s awareness that the world is not nearly as nice as it sometimes seems right now.
Tuesday, January 21
'How to Maintain Healthy Habits and Stop Sabotaging Yourself', read in tinybuddha
1. Identify your behaviors and habits.
Take a moment. Listen to the ways you speak to yourself, the way you feed yourself, your hygiene and sleep habits. Which of your habits and behaviors would you not allow your (inner) child to do?
2. Identify the repercussions of the behavior.
Get clear on how the actions you’re taking and the thoughts you’re thinking are in direct conflict with your happiness.
3. Understand why you developed these habits.
I reached for the chocolate for a jolt of pleasure, a way to escape the reality.
Identifying where you get pleasure in engaging in self-sabotage can be immensely helpful in overcoming it.
This was an unconscious way of parenting yourself, and now that you recognize it, you can begin to consciously parent yourself in a way that supports the person you want to be now.
4. Create “house rules.”
If you have a particularly hard habit to break that you know is detrimental to your well-being, consider making it a “house rule.” When something is non-negotiable it removes the inner dialogue where we bargain with ourselves and makes it a lot easier to stick with it.
5. Hone your self-parenting skills.
In addition to making them non-negotiable and adding a “because,” be sure to reward yourself when you’ve resisted temptation and followed your own rules.
Be infinitely patient with yourself, as you would be with a child. If you slip up once, instead of throwing everything out the window, have a conversation with yourself.
Take a moment. Listen to the ways you speak to yourself, the way you feed yourself, your hygiene and sleep habits. Which of your habits and behaviors would you not allow your (inner) child to do?
Identifying where you get pleasure in engaging in self-sabotage can be immensely helpful in overcoming it.
This was an unconscious way of parenting yourself, and now that you recognize it, you can begin to consciously parent yourself in a way that supports the person you want to be now.
4. Create “house rules.”
If you have a particularly hard habit to break that you know is detrimental to your well-being, consider making it a “house rule.” When something is non-negotiable it removes the inner dialogue where we bargain with ourselves and makes it a lot easier to stick with it.
So look back at what you identified as the repercussions of your behavior to inform why the rule is in place and the desires you want to move toward.
For example, one of my “house rules” became not eating candy before lunch. Whenever a chocolate craving hit, I told myself “You don’t eat chocolate before lunch because it will make you feel icky and makes you feel bad about your body. Have chamomile tea instead.”In addition to making them non-negotiable and adding a “because,” be sure to reward yourself when you’ve resisted temptation and followed your own rules.
Be infinitely patient with yourself, as you would be with a child. If you slip up once, instead of throwing everything out the window, have a conversation with yourself.
'Why We Don’t Do What We Want to Do and How to Start', read in tinybuddha
“The truth is,” she said, “if you can’t put fifteen minutes a day into your art, then you’re making an excuse.”
“If I do this thing that I really want,” we might think, “I might prove once and for all that I’ll never be any good at it.”
Or, “If I try, I might fail.”
Or, “If I step into this bigger identity for myself, I’ll have to let go of my comfy, old identity. People might expect more of me, or they may be threatened or disappointed.”
And, ultimately, “If I do this, everything might change, and change is hard!”
No wonder we resist! It feels so much safer not to try at all.
How to break the cycle? By looking resistance square in the face and taking responsibility for finding a way instead of finding another excuse. By acknowledging what is really important, and committing to making it a priority.
It won’t happen overnight, but my fifteen minutes a day commitment to my art showed me that baby steps, over time, will take you further than you ever imagined.
Once I accepted that my mindset was the only thing really getting in the way of my “impossible dream” of a consistent, prolific art practice, I committed to trying this fifteen minutes a day idea, as an experiment, for one month.
I admit I was skeptical that fifteen minutes would be enough to accomplish much, and I couldn’t imagine that such a short amount of time would even begin to satisfy my hungry inner artist. But waiting until I had big chunks of time to work in my studio had gotten me nowhere.
For over a decade I’d lamented that I never had enough time to do my art. Surely, even fifteen minutes would be better than nothing.
Sometimes we make excuses to avoid unpleasant things, it’s true. But human psychology is complex. Perhaps just as often we make excuses because we want something so much it hurts.
“If I do this thing that I really want,” we might think, “I might prove once and for all that I’ll never be any good at it.”
Or, “If I try, I might fail.”
Or, “If I step into this bigger identity for myself, I’ll have to let go of my comfy, old identity. People might expect more of me, or they may be threatened or disappointed.”
And, ultimately, “If I do this, everything might change, and change is hard!”
No wonder we resist! It feels so much safer not to try at all.
How to break the cycle? By looking resistance square in the face and taking responsibility for finding a way instead of finding another excuse. By acknowledging what is really important, and committing to making it a priority.
It won’t happen overnight, but my fifteen minutes a day commitment to my art showed me that baby steps, over time, will take you further than you ever imagined.
Saturday, January 18
Winters - Jan
It is raining today, 17th Jan.
Winter is at its peak.
Very cold.
It has been increasingly cold since 31st Dec.
Winter is at its peak.
Very cold.
It has been increasingly cold since 31st Dec.
Friday, January 10
Next top 5 (super awesome) verses from Tao Te Ching
11. Living Without Striving
12. Living an Unhurried Life
13. Living from Greatness
14. Living Beyond Judgement
15. Living Beyond Superficialities
-become aware of your conditioned responses that lead you to label people, places, and circumstances as less than perfect.
-recognize yourself first and foremost as a creation of God, which is your perfection. it has nothing to do with how you look or any so-called mistakes or failures you may have attracted to yourself, even though these superficialities will continue throughout your entire lifetime in this body.
12. Living an Unhurried Life
13. Living from Greatness
14. Living Beyond Judgement
15. Living Beyond Superficialities
-become aware of your conditioned responses that lead you to label people, places, and circumstances as less than perfect.
-recognize yourself first and foremost as a creation of God, which is your perfection. it has nothing to do with how you look or any so-called mistakes or failures you may have attracted to yourself, even though these superficialities will continue throughout your entire lifetime in this body.
Next top 5 (super awesome) verses from Tao Te Ching
6. Living Untroubled by Good or Bad Fortune
-- see wholeness in place of good or bad fortune.
-- know that all is subject to change.
7. Living by the Three Treasures
(kindness)
-- the first and most important treasure is what true courage stems from. when you radiate love and respect for all, including yourself, you'll be aligned with the Tao, which will protect you as if you were a baby in the arms of a loving mother. you're not in competition with anyone, so don't feel as if you must defeat another person or compare yourself on any level.
(moderation)
-- being satisfied with less rather than more results in great generosity. so be willing to take only what you need, and don't accumulate or hoard.
(humility)
-- we're all instruments for Tao or God. humility is akin to surrendering to a force greater than your ego, giving credit to that Source, and being grateful for any wisdom and influence that's given to you by that power.
-- as you notice examples of simplicity and humility in those who are in positions to lead, make every effort to emulate the same qualities in your daily interactions.
8. Living with Awe and Acceptance
-- God created all things in such a way that they are not outside himself, as ignorant people falsely imagine. Rather, all creatures flow outward, but nonetheless remain within God.
-- avoid self-limits.
-- accept your body as a perfect creation.
-- allow your life to unfold in accordance with its own nature.
9. Living Self-Mastery
10. Living by Being Here Now
-- see wholeness in place of good or bad fortune.
-- know that all is subject to change.
7. Living by the Three Treasures
(kindness)
-- the first and most important treasure is what true courage stems from. when you radiate love and respect for all, including yourself, you'll be aligned with the Tao, which will protect you as if you were a baby in the arms of a loving mother. you're not in competition with anyone, so don't feel as if you must defeat another person or compare yourself on any level.
(moderation)
-- being satisfied with less rather than more results in great generosity. so be willing to take only what you need, and don't accumulate or hoard.
(humility)
-- we're all instruments for Tao or God. humility is akin to surrendering to a force greater than your ego, giving credit to that Source, and being grateful for any wisdom and influence that's given to you by that power.
-- as you notice examples of simplicity and humility in those who are in positions to lead, make every effort to emulate the same qualities in your daily interactions.
8. Living with Awe and Acceptance
-- God created all things in such a way that they are not outside himself, as ignorant people falsely imagine. Rather, all creatures flow outward, but nonetheless remain within God.
-- avoid self-limits.
-- accept your body as a perfect creation.
-- allow your life to unfold in accordance with its own nature.
9. Living Self-Mastery
10. Living by Being Here Now
Saturday, January 4
Thursday, January 2
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