Whew, such a long day! I taught my yoga class this morning at 9am, and then assisted in the Immersion Program all afternoon and early evening. So, there wasn't much time to even think about food. Luckily, I was armed and ready.
You'll never guess what I had for breakfast.... oatmeal! This time I used ginger and cinnamon with my walnuts. Tasty. As soon as I got to the yoga studio, I made a big travel mug of chai with almond milk. Turns out that chai was going to carry me through this busy day.
I brought lentil soup (stoup!) leftovers with me, but didn't want to put it in the fridge, cause cold stoup just isn't so appealing to me. I had the brilliant idea to leave the lentils in the car, hoping that the Florida heat would at least bring them up to a warm temperature, but it was overcast and so when I went out to get them after class, they were room temp at best. Scarfed them down anyway, along with a couple of rice cakes.
Then people started coming for the Immersion program, so guess what I did? Yep, you guessed it- more chai. I added my yummy unsweetened chocolate soymilk this time, and actually ended up making a few more mugfuls to sip throughout the afternoon. During the break, I also had some hummus and gluten-free pretzels. On the drive home, it was more radishes and Mary's Gone Crackers. So, not the best day nutrition-wise in terms of variety, but I wasn't starving- in fact I never really felt very hungry.
Something interesting came up during our break, we were sitting around talking and eating, and the subject of Ayurveda came up. For those unfamiliar with that term, Ayurveda is an Eastern system of health that is said to be the "sister science" to yoga. It describes certain "constitutions" that different people are made up of, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. (roughly Air, Fire, and Water, but that's really a whole different blog.) Anyway, someone was eating fruit and saying that the Sweet taste (of fruit, honey, etc.) is actually good and recommended for someone with a Vata constitution, because the Sweet taste is grounding, which balances the light quality of air. I am also predominantly Vata in my constitution, but I'm avoiding sugar: isn't that going to throw me out of balance? (I don't think anyone in the conversation knew I was doing this sugar detox, because they didn't direct this question at me, but I was considering it previously, anyhow.) I piped in that you don't have to have fruit or sugar to get a Sweet taste. Sweet (as described in Ayurveda, anyway) is also present in grains, some beans, and certain vegetables and spices. For example, cinnamon has the essence of Sweet, (that's why I've been using it in my oatmeal.) I also find that chick peas and red lentils have that Sweet quality- that's why I had hummus and lentils today. White rice also has that quality of Sweet- hence the rice cakes. So really, pretty much everything I ate today served to balance my absence of sugar, and kept my cravings relatively under control. Or maybe it was just the choco-chai.
You'll never guess what I had for breakfast.... oatmeal! This time I used ginger and cinnamon with my walnuts. Tasty. As soon as I got to the yoga studio, I made a big travel mug of chai with almond milk. Turns out that chai was going to carry me through this busy day.
I brought lentil soup (stoup!) leftovers with me, but didn't want to put it in the fridge, cause cold stoup just isn't so appealing to me. I had the brilliant idea to leave the lentils in the car, hoping that the Florida heat would at least bring them up to a warm temperature, but it was overcast and so when I went out to get them after class, they were room temp at best. Scarfed them down anyway, along with a couple of rice cakes.
Then people started coming for the Immersion program, so guess what I did? Yep, you guessed it- more chai. I added my yummy unsweetened chocolate soymilk this time, and actually ended up making a few more mugfuls to sip throughout the afternoon. During the break, I also had some hummus and gluten-free pretzels. On the drive home, it was more radishes and Mary's Gone Crackers. So, not the best day nutrition-wise in terms of variety, but I wasn't starving- in fact I never really felt very hungry.
Something interesting came up during our break, we were sitting around talking and eating, and the subject of Ayurveda came up. For those unfamiliar with that term, Ayurveda is an Eastern system of health that is said to be the "sister science" to yoga. It describes certain "constitutions" that different people are made up of, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. (roughly Air, Fire, and Water, but that's really a whole different blog.) Anyway, someone was eating fruit and saying that the Sweet taste (of fruit, honey, etc.) is actually good and recommended for someone with a Vata constitution, because the Sweet taste is grounding, which balances the light quality of air. I am also predominantly Vata in my constitution, but I'm avoiding sugar: isn't that going to throw me out of balance? (I don't think anyone in the conversation knew I was doing this sugar detox, because they didn't direct this question at me, but I was considering it previously, anyhow.) I piped in that you don't have to have fruit or sugar to get a Sweet taste. Sweet (as described in Ayurveda, anyway) is also present in grains, some beans, and certain vegetables and spices. For example, cinnamon has the essence of Sweet, (that's why I've been using it in my oatmeal.) I also find that chick peas and red lentils have that Sweet quality- that's why I had hummus and lentils today. White rice also has that quality of Sweet- hence the rice cakes. So really, pretty much everything I ate today served to balance my absence of sugar, and kept my cravings relatively under control. Or maybe it was just the choco-chai.
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