Monthly Archives: June 2010
25/06/10 derek
the title of this post has nothing to do with anything. well, it has a lot to do with a lot of things just nothing to do with this post. but this post is about to be rambling, so prepare yourselves.
derek is the title of an animal collective song. i’m obsessed with it. it makes me happy and sad. it makes me laugh and smile and dance. did i mention i’m obsessed with it?
anyway, why mention it?
well, i just finished a killer work out. i did gina’s run it off HILT-type treadmill work out. i am home for the weekend (friend’s in town! throwing my aunt a retirement party!) and decided to put the treadmill to good use. this work out was EXACTLY what i needed. oh maaan. it was challenging and refreshing. i feel awesome at the moment. so where does derek fit in? well, although gina’s version of the work out calls for 7 minutes of running at 6.0 mph at a 2.5 incline, i decided to run about nine minutes at 7.0 mph at a 1.0 incline. the last minute i sprinted at 8.5 mph. TO DEREK!!! positive way to end a workout. seriously if you do not know who animal collective is, please please PLEASE look them up. they’re music is beautiful and amazing. it might not sound like it at first but REALLY listen deeply and you’ll see how sounds you never thought would go together DO and do so gorgeously. they make my heart happy. no matter the occasion. (i also recommend the purple bottle. i ran to this today as well. heart swelled with happiness immediately).
following the 35 sweaty minutes on the treadmill i did ten minutes of core work with one of my favorite work out videos ever. i bought it at the beginning sophomore year of college and it helped tone me up some. however, i never committed to it enough to see real results. as you know, i was all out of whack sophomore year.
but today i rediscovered the brilliance that is: KATHY SMITH. don’t know kathy? well, she’s awesome. a little nutty, but awesome. she’s been around the fitness scene for a looong time, too. and she still looks killer! i love her work outs because she combines strength training and with so many yoga moves. it’s obvious she does yoga. she’s super positive, super motivating, and i’m totally going to incorporate this back into my weekly workouts. she’s banging — AND she’s had like, three kids? whatever, lady’s an inpiration! the video i have is called build muscle shrink fat. shitty name but hey, advertising is around for a reason, right folks? i only did the core section today but i think i will do all of tomorrow ๐
today while running i realized something ABOUT running. i am absolutely in love with it. i love the challenge, i love the movement. and i understood why i fell out of love with it a few months ago: i was treating running as a means to burn calories. i pushed myself just to push myself. i ran just about every day. talk about burn out. i now only run about 4 times a week instead of 6-7. i’m happier. and my runs have improved tenfold because of it. exercise should never be torturous. ever.
and this morning was amazing too! i took a tip from this hottie and bulked up my oatmeal. i usually only eat 1/3 a cup but this morning i made 1/2 cup. i’m not sure who determined we should all eat only 1/3 cup of oatmeal (that’s basically all i ever see on food blogs. i’m sure it’s because all the toppings make up for the lost calories?) but i cannot survive off of oatmeal toppings alone. sheesh. i love oatmeal. i need to make 1/2 a cup more often because holy cow — i’m still barely hungry over here! thank you ilana for making me see my body’s needs are so not any other body’s needs :)!
it’s going to be a good day: i’m looking out my window at our apricot tree and the million apricots on it. sigh. i love summer.
have a good one, kidlettes!
namaste!
zoe!
22/06/10 on the defensive
good evening!
so i for sure did not lounge around like i planned to! my friend called me shortly after and convinced me to hang out. it did not take much convincing ๐ fun.
following hanging out came dinner. and what a dinner it was! guess what i had?
PASTA!!!! a serving and a half of it (i think)! for the first time in a good four or five months. it was super tasty. i originally wanted to buy vegan mozzorella and bake it in a ramekin buuuut i did not want to drag myself to the store. so i just used a bunch of nutritional yeast. no complaining ๐ i made a super quick, super simple pasta sauce. canned diced tomatoes. seasonings and spices were added. simmered for tenish minutes. done. plated and served with a size of roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts.
i managed to honor my cravings and my hunger today! i might have a little banana soft serve soon, too…
after all, i did run ten miles today ๐ my legs, by the way, are tired. early night tonight? most likely.
anyway, the REAL point of this post regards my very recent decision to become vegan and the subsequent reactions i have received from family and close friends. now, my parents half expected it and just shrugged when i told them. let let me live my life in the way i want to live it (as long as i’m healthy and happy that is!). they just don’t see why, but they don’t care. my brother was like…um, okay? and i’m playing video games? my friend from birth kind of freaked out. she was like…oh, you have to be really careful. because you could get really sick. you’re not going to get a lot of things. you could get, really, really sick. to which i replied, well, i’m not going into this blindly. i’ve read a lot. i’ve studied up. i kind of know what i am doing. to which she said: remember when fiona (another friend) went vegan? yeah, she got anemic. and her mom cooked for her. she got really sick. i reassured her, again, that i knew what i was doing, that i am not fiona, and yes, it’s possible for certain bodies to not function properly on certain diets.
ugh.
i find myself frustrated (another friend gave me a good ten minute interrogation as to why i am now vegan) but at the same time, i understand where all these questions and concerns are coming from. i used to be the person asking those question and spouting those concerns. i did NOT understand veganism. i thought vegans ate a weird diet and an untasty one at that. oh boy, did i ever prove myself wrong! i love vegan food. i love how creative it is. i love how it tastes. i love how healthy (for the most part) it is. sure, it is definitely not for everyone, but it is for me.
but why do i suddenly find myself backed into a corner, gloves up, defending my position? do i question why my friends eat meat? no. i lived their perspective for nineteen years of my life. so i know why. and now i see my food in a different perspective. my tastes are evolving but are doing so solo — no one else i know is making this transition.
so, i get it. i get the weird stares and the raised eyebrows and the “what? why” ‘s. we live in a society where the majority of meals center on animal products. beef. chicken. fish. dairy. most of the population cannot process a meal sans meat. salads, sure, but every meal? it sounds like scary territory. and you know what? it was to me, too! but i cast off my assumptions and discovered how very, very wrong i was. vegans did eat! and a LOT!
so do i find it disrespectful when friends tease me? sometimes. i find it more annoying than anything. a few friends are curious and ask legitimate questions but i am so sick of the “YOU’RE GOING TO DIE” reactions and the other forms of discouraging speeches i hear.
i guess when you go vegan, you learn how to develop a thick skin.
so while i understand people’s concerns and people’s preconceived notions, i do not understand the judgement. how can my choice possibly affect your life? if it makes me happy and if it makes me feel healthy then please, refrain from the negative onslaught of questions.
bleh. fellow vegans, how do you deal? do you take the rude route or do you just smile, nod, and walk away? do you feel like we should defend our way of life? do you feel like we should have to defend our habits period?
namaste
zoe
21/06/10 i love surprises
gooooooood evening kidlettes! how’s your summer solstice treating you today?
mine has been spectacular! good weather, good people, good eats, good vibes. i’m happy today…great step forward on my path to happiness, wholeness, and positivity. today i focused on feeling light and laughing and smiling. which i did plenty of. i barley thought of my body and even went swimming without thinking twice about what i might look like in my bathing suit. pretty sure i looked like a hottie anyway ๐
and, to top it all off, one of my closest friends surprised me today! he’s been gone for a good three weeks now and i haven’t heard from him or seen him or anything. i had no idea he was back in town and he just walked into my apartment while i was preparing dinner. what a great surprise! i basically tackled him :)!
currently just finished dinner, about to flip through my copy vegan planet (which came in the mail today!!!!!) and then i will be showering and getting ready to go out tonight. a friend of mine is having a first day of summer party. plus, it’s the solstice. i’ve gotta go out ๐
OH! AND i got a job interview! for starbucks! i know it’s not amazing and i don’t even drink coffee or anything from starbucks but a job’s a job and i need one right now! plus, it will be infinitely better than my last one. that and a friend of mine works at the one i have an interview at :)! double bonus!
i took the day off of formal exercise because i just did not feel like running. i might do some yoga later tonight because stretching sounds goooood. or i might run! because a run sounds good now too. haha, go figure! i did get in about 2.5ish miles of walking and another 2.5ish miles of biking today. (we walked to the pool and back and i biked to my friend’s house and back).
siiiigh. i love me some summer. AND SURPRISES!
what are you doing/what did you do on your solstice!
namaste!
zoe!
(i keep forgetting to talk about the things i want to talk about! tomorrow i will post a topic i’ve been meaning to discuss! sorry guys, today has just be too good not to share. the power of positive thoughts…man, it’s awesome!)
16/06/10 to go vegan?
good, good morning kidlettes!
last night i found an interesting article. for the past three years i have religiously been reading the blog jezebel, a blog run by women. these women are smart. and funny. very poignant, too. last night, as i scrolled through their stories for the day, i stumbled across this one, titled “turns out, you have no idea what you really look like.” to which i was like, huh? excusame? yes i do!
the author, sadie, writes:
It’s not an Onion headline: not only do we have distorted views of said appendages, but beyond them, “women’s brains โmassively distort’ their own body image, creating a shorter figure which can be two-thirds wider than in real life.”
and adds:
And what’s more, we – women, that is – also think the rest of our bodies are shorter and wider than they are, what the researchers call a “dramatic distortion” of our “position sense,” or the ability to gauge our bodies’ spatial relationships. As the piece points out, these findings could be useful to understanding – and therefore treating – eating disorders. And, hopefully, to contributing to realizing that these things shouldn’t be gauges of anything anyway, and so what?
Alas, this is not what readers seem to have come away with. The comments to the article are a veritable carnival of the sort of fruitless height-and-weight disclosures that serve to do nothing but drive home people’s obsession with measurements. Woman after woman takes the opportunity to share her weight and height, bemoan, compare, perpetuate the cycle. It’s disspiriting. And, comments one woman, seems to be, as the researchers suggest, a particularly feminine condition: “I think that some men have the opposite problem, the short, fat baldy ones often seem to think that they are Gerard Butler!” Gratuitous swipes at less Butler-like gents aside, it’s probably wise to remember that few of us can gauge correctly-in any sense.
to requote that woman, it is disspiriting. i know about body dysmorphia (and honestly think i suffer from it) but to think it might actually be a condition inherent in women? surely then, this massive war against our bodies and against self-love cannot possible be a random occurance. nearly every woman doubts her appearance and self worth at one time in her life. this leads me to wonder at what this speaks to of our society.
if it is indeed inherent in women, this is inherently bad. it upsets me yet at the same time, it makes complete sense. when you look at a friend who bemoans her appearance and you knit your eyebrows together in confusion at what she could possibly hate, it suddenly makes sense. how many times has someone complimented something about your appearance and you just smiled and shrugged it off, believing that person to be a complete liar? hell, how many times has someone complimented you period and you didn’t believe them? something’s up here folks, and i ain’t diggin’ the bad vibes.
we need to start viewing ourselves wholly. too frequently we zero in on our “flaws” and forget about how awesome and kickass we really are. we need to start seeing ourselves the way the rest of the world sees us. we need to start stepping in front of the mirror and see someone who is gorgeous. we need to start seeing someone who is smart. we need to start seeing someone worth loving, “flaws” and all.
what do you think? do you see this as an issue women in particular seem to face? do you face it? have you ever? what happened if you no longer do!?
whew. what a mouthful. sorry guys, i just really connected with that article. i struggle to accept the image in the mirror every day and always balk whenever someone compliments my appearance. (or otherwise!)
moving on!
so i have a little announcement: i’m going vegan! 100%!
i’m quite stoked. quite :)! i thought about it last night and kept thinking about it. it just makes sense to me. i rarely eat dairy as is and gave up all other animal products so. why not? i LOVE vegan already. i don’t think the transition will be a killer one ๐
plus, i’m extra amped because i ordered two vegan cookbooks last night from amazon! while visiting my friend in oregon over spring break, i raided his massive book collection and found two vegan cookbooks. the first one he said he had yet to make something out of.
vegan planet, by robin robertson. sooo i definitely spent a good night with my face stuffed into this book. oooh man her recipes look BOMB.
next up, what my (vegan) friend calls his “bible”:
vegan with a vengeance by isa chandra moskowitz. yeah i looked through this one too. um. there is DEFINITELY a reason why he calls this his bible. it might become mine, too.
lastly i ordered this one fo’ supa cheap just to see what all the fuss was about. plus, i looked through it a it and it made me laugh so i thought, why not!?
skinny bitch, by rory freedman and kim barnouin.
i’m really really REALLY excited! i just have a random carton of eggs to finish and a thing of greek yoghurt to go through and i’m officially a vegaaaan. pumped :)!
my body really likes eating this way. i feel healthiest when i avoid animal products. this might not be the case for everyone. i want to stress this because i am not doing this for diet reasons. in fact, i plan on eating a TON ๐
anywho, i just got back from hot yoga. surprisingly today was really difficult. i had a tough time holding positions and i struggled emotionally. i think i was too aware of myself. does that ever happen to you?
luckily i made vegan banana soft serve overnight oats. that makes me a little happier. and i need to hurry up and eat and shower because i’ve got a fun day planned…GIANT’S GAME!!!!! my first of the summer!!!
GO GIANTS!! who do you root for :)?
namaste!
zoe!