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So Fraiche and So Clean

This afternoon I met up with one of my best guy friends, Tommy, from high school. He’s currently a grad student at Stanford. We recently realized that we live about 5 miles apart and decided that we had to hang out. I picked him up and we wandered around downtown Palo Alto for about 2.5 hours. We ended up going to Fraiche, a new frozen yogurt shop.

From Fraiche’s website: “Fraiche is a homemade, organic fresh yogurt and frozen yogurt café located in downtown Palo Alto. All of our European-style yogurts are made from scratch, in-house using local Clover organic milk and a special probiotic-focused culture. Our fresh yogurts are the basis for our frozen yogurt. So, whether you feel like fresh or frozen yogurt, you’ll still enjoy the same health benefits.” (emphasis mine)

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This was my “Junior Natural” – plain and simple.  I skipped out on the toppings because I’m saving money (the Junior was $2.95, and toppings are $0.95 each).  I did add some generous sprinkles of cinnamon from the coffee bar.

By the time I got home it was late, and I made a simple dinner for us.  I had a 1 egg, 3 egg-white omelette (I was hungry from all the walking!) stuffed with Chinese greens, and lots of cilantro added to the omelette mixture.  I topped it with organic ketchup.  I made a simple salad on the side – cheddar, a pear, tomato, celery, and spring mix topped with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and s&p.  I had a bunch more salad than is pictured.

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For dessert… I haven’t decided yet!  Probably my usual fruit-y snacking (we have a bunch or oranges), maybe a yogurt, and maybe a Healthy Choice Fudge Bar – these are so delicious.  Bobby and I are currently sharing some Rooibos tea, which we both love.  What is your favorite kind of tea?

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More Fun Free Yoga

I tried a new FREE yoga podcast this morning: “90 Minutes of Yoga with Wade“.  You can find this podcast at his site, or just search for it in iTunes.  He has nice descriptions of most of the classes on his website.

I decided to do the Tuesday, Sept. 16th class.  This was an Ashtanga class that incorporated poses from all 5 of the Ashtanga series – but nothing too terribly difficult!  Wade Zinter is funny and easygoing, and the class was a great workout.

There were a few times when I didn’t know what pose he was telling us to do (he would just describe it and not say the name), but that tends to happen sometimes if there isn’t a pose guide.  During those times (I think just once or twice) I did my own thing – wheel, or some extra vinyasas.  He was quite enjoyable and I will definitely be doing more of his FREE podcasts.

After my yoga I had to make breakfast, and I chose oats again.  I am so impressed by how filling a 3/4 cup heart-healthy serving is.  I’m sure I will be incorporating my other breakfasts back into my diet soon, but for now I’m very pleased with my good old-fashioned stove-top oats.

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Because I’m new to this awesome oatmeal thing, I’m going to start experimenting.  In this bowl:

  • 3/4 cup oats – heart-healthy portion
  • cinnamon, salt, vanilla
  • 6 oz. lowfat apple yogurt
  • some sprinkles of shredded coconut

It was great!  I’ve added yogurt to instant and microwave oats before, but it was even better today!  I did miss the chew of plain oatmeal, but this bowl was delicious.  Happy Saturday!  Any interesting plans for your weekend? Bobby is recording today so I’m totally free. I’m probably going to catch up on Private Practice or maybe take a walk (it’s gorgeous here today).  Tomorrow I’ll probably hit up the farmers’ market.

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Yoga + Oats = Bliss

This morning I woke up and did a 75-minute Dave Farmar yoga podcast.  It was the podcast from 9/19/08, and it was fabulous.  There was one sequence where he made us go from crow to chaturanga 3 times in a row, and my arms were begging for a rest.  There were some awesome flows, and at the end he held pidgeon for ages (several minutes probably?).

Before I went into savasana I added a bridge (5 breaths), a handstand, and a headstand.  I still do handstand and headstand next to a wall for security.  How long did it take you to do these poses away from a wall? Most of my practice is on my own, so I didn’t try a headstand until about a month ago when I took a class and the teacher taught me the right technique.  Since then I’ve been working on getting my balance.  I also learned handstand about a month ago, but to be honest I don’t practice that one as often.

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After my shower I made another batch of stovetop oats for breakfast.  I got daring today and added wheat germ.  In this bowl:

  • 3/4 cup oats
  • cinnamon, vanilla, dash of salt
  • 1/4 cup chocolate almond milk at the end
  • 1-2 tablespoons melted honey
  • 1-2 tablespoons wheat germ

My heart-healthy portion of oats from yesterday kept my hunger at bay for over 4.5 hours, which is truly incredible for me.  I usually end up snacking on fruit less than 2 hours after I have breakfast, but I didn’t even think about lunch until 3p (I had the oats at 10:30a), and I could have held off longer except that eating lunch after 3p would have been a little ridiculous.  This breakfast is a keeper.

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Dad’s Stovetop Oats

Confession: Before today I had never made stovetop oats.  I’d used old-fashioned oats, but always in the microwave.  The last time I ate stovetop oats I was probably about 7 years old, and my dad made them for me.  For my first foray into the world of stovetop oats, I decided to stick with his method.

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I decided to use the heart-healthy portion (3/4 cup oats) because when I usually have oatmeal it’s not as filling as I like.  Into the pot went:

  • 1.5 cups water
  • dash of salt
  • 3/4 cup old fashioned oats

And for topping I stuck with what my dad would do:

  • ~1/4 cup milk (chocolate almond milk – actually something my dad probably thinks is weird)
  • ~1-2 tablespoons honey – I hollowed out a little pit and poured in heated honey

I let them cool for a few minutes and dug in.  Holy amazing! Stovetop oats are incredible!  I’ve been missing out!  Or should I say I’ve been missing OAT, hehe.  I’m hoping this breakfast will hold me over for a while.

As for yesterday’s smoothie, it did the job for about 1.5 hours, then I had to have a piece of fruit.  I think it helped that I put peanut butter in it, otherwise I would have been hungry after about 20 minutes.  Oh, well.  I don’t think I’ll be making green smoothies regularly, but it was a fun experiment and definitely made me feel refreshed.

Speaking of my dad, he sent me a link to the (don’t click if you’re an easily offended vegetarian/vegan!) Bacon Explosion this morning.  How ridiculous is that?  No wonder we have a health problem in this country…

Happy Thursday everyone!  What is the craziest recipe you’ve ever heard of?

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Free Pilates Anyone?

Kelly from Every Gym’s Nightmare posted about free pilates a few weeks ago, but I kind of forgot about it.  Then I remembered, and decided to check out the site: Ultimate Pilates Workouts.

Pilates was designed for injured dancers.  My old ballet teacher used to treat us occasionally to a pilates class instead of our normal stretching, and I always loved it.  Pilates gives you lean muscles (like yoga) and is a gentle way to strength train.  It’s not as intense as Power Yoga, but it’s a better workout than Gentle Yoga.  You’ll also get killer abs and it’s great for flexibility.

At the site there are several membership options, but with a Basic membership you have access to free streaming pilates videos of varying levels and lengths.

So far I’ve tried “Strength and Challenge 30 Minutes” (the highest level offered for the Basic membership) and “Power and Precision 45 Minutes” (level 2 I think).  The instructors explain every move in a way that you can understand, and, to echo Kelly, they cue really well.  I’m always annoyed at pilates videos for the terrible cueing, but that wasn’t the case here at all!

So if you have a chance, check out www.UltimatePilatesWorkouts.com – it’s free, fun, and a great way to pass the time while getting in a nice workout!