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When I got into the office this morning, I started to check my favorite websites… err, work emails.
I stumbled across an interesting article about different styles of yoga for different types of personality on FitSugar.
From the article:
Yoga & Personality.
Ashtanga: Type A, competitive, can’t sit still, high energy, strict, rigid, orderly. Needs movement to de-stress.
Anusara: Scientific, interested in body alignment and how the body moves internally, introspective, creative, likes to use props, in touch with emotions.
Bikram: Type A, extreme, over the top, needs discipline, loves heat and loves to sweat, craves order, strict.
Iyengar: Strict, rigid, interested in body alignment, likes to use props and be told the right and wrong way to do things.
Kripalu: Easy-going, slow-moving, meditative, spiritual, introspective.
Kundalini: Meditative, slow-moving, spiritual, likes physical and mental challenges, likes to focus on the breath and chant, interested in the chakras and awakening the energy that resides in the base of the spine.
Jivamukti: Spiritual, meditative, creative, likes to move, needs to de-stress, likes physical and mental challenges, likes to chant.
Vinyasa: Creative, spontaneous, up for a challenge, likes to move quickly and likes to sweat.
I have been to several vinyasa yoga classes and a few ashtanga classes. I tend to be a type A personality in some aspects of life but with my yoga I crave the meditative aspect and I adore the dance like grace of vinyasa yoga. According to this article, I should probably look into trying out a jivamukti class too. I have thought about trying a bikram class as well but I think that it would be too slow, strict and rigid for me.
Which type of yoga is your personality?
I just did not want to go to the gym today. I was sitting at my desk getting ready to pack my stuff up and leave the office and the thought of going to the gym made me cringe. I enjoy going to the gym a few times a week but for sanity purposes, I think it’s best (for me anyway) to do a combination of different activities such as Body Pump (or any type of strength training for that matter), Cycling, Yoga, Running, Swimming, Zumba, well… you get the point. I like to switch it up or I feel unsatisfied with my movement.
I knew that I didn’t just want to go home and be inactive so I improvised and did about 25 laps of the breast stroke in the pool. It was the perfect movement on a hot summer day. It seems that I got outside at the perfect time too because about an hour later a summer storm moved through.
I love the sound of thunder. Is that just an Okie thing? Could be.
Moving on to the other simple pleasure in my life, food!
I made what could possibly be one of the simplest meals for dinner tonight. That does not mean that this meal lacked in flavor, nope. In fact, it could have been the best dinner that I have eaten this week! A sure rival to the chicken with peaches that I cooked up on Sunday.
A pure and simple sunny side up egg on toast.
What made this dinner so special? Fresh ingredients! I used fresh basil and home baked bread from Great Harvest with a smear of goat cheese. It was seriously delicious.
The other half of my dinner.
 Roasted Okra from my co-worker’s garden. It’s my dream to have my own little garden one day. Le sigh, if only I didn’t live in an apartment complex.
More random eats from today.
A slice of Great Harvest bread with raspberry jam, Greek yogurt and a banana.
A berry salad that I picked up from Target with grilled chicken and goat cheese.
 More Greek Yogurt. I swear I could have yogurt for every meal and never tire of it.
Tonight’s dessert.
Fruit and a few squares of hazelnut chocolate.
What is your favorite simple meal?
I have been getting in the bad habit of not cooking dinner. I am not sure why. It could be the fact that it’s about a bazillion degrees outside or just pure laziness. Not that I have been eating out every night because I haven’t been. I have been heavily relying on Trader Joe’s and their awesome “pre-made” foods. I think Trader Joe’s is pretty much amazing but I also think that it is extremely important to cook a few nights a week. It gives me time to lose my thoughts while chopping away. Cooking is a type of therapy for me. And really, there is nothing better than throwing together random ingredients that are on hand and have it turn out to be pretty fabulous!
I would say that I am definitely on my way to kicking this bad habit with this one!
Chicken with summer peaches, roasted rosemary potatoes and fresh okra from my co-worker’s garden.
For the chicken:
(Makes 4 servings)
4 chicken breasts
2-3 summer peaches, chopped into 8 pieces each
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup water
1/2 juiced lemon
1 tsp honey
salt, pepper and garlic powder, to taste
Turn the heat on the grill for the chicken breasts. In a small sauce pan, add the water, lemon and honey. Heat on the stove top over medium high heat. Saute the sliced peaches in a little butter until soft. After the sauce has thickened, add the peaches. Grill the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side and pour the sauce over the chicken. This was absolutely delicious and reminded me so much of the lazy days of summer.
As for the roasted potatoes, just toss with a little olive oil, rosemary, minced garlic, salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 1 hour at 400 degrees.
Other random eats include:
More fresh summer peaches!
Great Harvest bread with Nutella.
Salmon Salad.
Baguette with light mayo and shrimpies. It’s a Swedish thing! Hans loves this meal in the summer time.
Chocolate and cherries for dessert. These two pair so well together! But anything tastes good with chocolate.
Time for HBO (Hung!) I love my dirty tv  xoxo
Today was a good day. Better than good!
Nothing out of the ordinary happened… I was just happy.
I saw the bold and the beautiful aspects of life instead of the stressful and the unpleasant.
Could it be the change of thought toward movement? Instead of forcing myself to exercise this weekend, I did what felt natural to me. On Saturday, I went for a swim in the pool. Refreshing and wonderful. On Sunday, I went for a run, while hot, it was still fun!
Could it be the perfect afternoon coffee at Amelie’s?
Petit Fours enjoyed over coffee with my sweet boy.
 We shared the petit fours. What a lovely afternoon. The chocolate mousse torte was all for my man! A guy that knows his way to my heart AND loves chocolate almost as much as I do!
I will try not to question this perfect weekend anymore… I am going to look ahead and live instead.
Joie de vivre! xoxo
It was so hard to go into work yesterday after 4 days off! My mind kept wandering to my days on the beach and the fact that I won’t see my family again until Christmas. Yesterday was hard. I felt like I could break down and cry at any moment. I absolutely love living in Charlotte but it is difficult to live so far away from any family members, my own or my husband’s.
Anyway, I dusted off my road bike yesterday afternoon for a nice 8 mile bike ride. It felt amazing to get my legs moving. It seemed to lift my spirits a little bit.
A fabulous dinner helped out too.
 Pleasurable food, indeed. A glass of white wine with leftover chilled asparagus soup and a baguette.
 I have been trying to focus on eating for pleasure and enjoying foods that I truly love instead of choking down food that is supposedly “good for me” and feeling dissatisfied afterward.
Last night’s dessert.
 Cherries and 4 small squares of chocolate.
Other random eats from yesterday.
 Since I got into Charlotte on Thursday afternoon, I did not pack my breakfast and lunch for work like I usually do. I was just feeling lazy so I grabbed this bar for a quick breakfast. I actually really like these bars. They are mildly sweet and pack in some serious peanut butter flavor.
 For lunch, I went to Quizno’s for a small salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, grilled chicken, black olives, cheddar cheese and honey mustard dressing.
The only food that I packed for work.
I gotta have my yogurt!
I am off to enjoy the weekend! I hope you do too xoxo
Good evening!
I am back from Myrtle Beach. We arrived in Charlotte around 1 o’clock today. I was happy to be back home but sad to say goodbye to my family  We had such a fun time in Myrtle Beach and I feel like I haven’t been able to spend much time with them since Thanksgiving so it was definitely hard to say goodbye. Instead of wallowing away in my own self pity, I decided to be productive.
My productive afternoon included:
- Taking the car to the mechanics for an oil change
- Cleaning up around the apartment
- A much needed trip to the grocery store
- Reading up on my French
I am enrolled in French for the fall semester but I haven’t cracked open a French book since 2007 so I am desperately trying to read over my old French textbooks before school starts. Well, naturally my mind started to wander… to when Hans and I took a trip to Paris.
I like to play pretend so this evening, I prepared a delicious Parisian inspired meal.
Chilled Asparagus Soup + Ham & Cheese Baguette
For the soup:
(4-6 servings)
- 1 lb fresh asparagus
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- Juice & Zest from 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- Basil
- Curry Powder
Saute the fresh asparagus and garlic cloves in a large pan with 1 tbsp of butter. Add the vegetable broth then bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add in the ricotta cheese and then transfer the contents of the soup to a blender and process until smooth. Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon to the soup and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Before serving, garnish with basil and a pinch of curry powder.
 I took my soup and baguette to my balcony and enjoyed dinner outside. I really should do this more often.
Photos of my beach trip to come soon! xoxo
My mommy is here! My mommy is here! 
I am SO happy to show my mom, brother, grandma and great aunt around Charlotte!!! My grandma has been here once before when we first moved here but it is the FIRST time that my mom and brother have been to the east coast (not counting Florida, is that really the east coast??)
They came in around 1:00 o’clock and we booked it straight to Panera for some lonchi (as the ever so adorable Fitnessista would say.) I ordered the strawberry poppyseed salad without chicken and a wholegrain baguette. I forgot to take a photo so here is a recycled photo of the same Panera salad from a week ago.
(Minus the added TJ’s breaded chicken and plus the whole grain baguette.)
I took my fam for a little tour of Uptown Charlotte after lunch.
 Mama and Me.
 Being Goofy.
 Beautiful Uptown Charlotte.
The strawberry poppyseed salad didn’t do such a good job of holding me over so I snacked on a larabar in the afternoon.
 That did the trick until we made our way to NoDa for some dinner around 7:30.
 Cabo Fish Taco!!! One of my all time favorite restaurants in Charlotte.
Mojito!! (And a cute date!)
Messy Fish Tacos!
 I ordered the bbq mahi tacos with fruit salad. I ate 1 fish taco and most of the fruit salad since we were saving room for Amelie’s!!
 Salted caramel brownie, chocolate torte, twice baked chocolate croissant, and chocolate flourless salted caramel cake. Everything was delicious! The photos is a little misleading because these treats are tiny (except the croissant) I had a few bites of everything and saved the croissant for later. Amelie’s has some of the best pastries and desserts that I have ever tasted.
I think it’s safe to say that I had a pretty awesome day yesterday!
We are leaving for Myrtle Beach in 30 minutes!! yay! xoox
Good morning!
I am seriously overwhelmed by all of your sweet comments on my last post. It seems that most of us have struggled with food and our body image at some point in our lives. It makes me feel so much better that other beautiful, strong women have had the same negative feelings and thoughts that I have had. I am going to do my best to push those feelings and thoughts aside and just plain ignore them. I tried really hard this weekend to not think about food. At all. I wanted to see how I would respond to just not planning all of my meals and snacks for the day beforehand because really that’s unreasonable and unnecessary in the long run. I felt SO happy and comfortable with my choices this past weekend. I ate when I was hungry… I skipped a few snacks and had larger meals than usual and… something crazy happened! Nothing. Yep, absolutely nothing!! Planet Earth didn’t fall off the World just because Haleigh didn’t have a snack or had “x” amount of calories instead of the preferred “x” amount.
I know that I said I would be photographing all of my meals but that is just so time consuming. I do enjoy taking food photos but just not of everything that makes it into my mouth. Also, it can tend to be obsessive and that is the last thing that I need right now. I want to stop eating for the BLOG and instead start eating for ME. Lately I have tried to be a perfect eater but there is no such thing as perfect!! So why am I striving for perfection? If I constantly live my life trying to be “perfect” then I will miss all of the pleasurable things in the world. I want to eat what I love!! Whether it be a slice of chocolate cake, or a huge salad full of vegetables. I am striving to get back to that.
I had my first test this weekend. I had a huge hankering for some candy. Usually I deny my craving for days and then finally end up going to the store in a frazzled state of mind after arguing with myself for hours and telling myself 1,000 times that I shouldn’t eat candy. When this happens, I always end up with 2 candy bars and some gummy bears or something of the like. But not this time. When the craving came, I stopped by the store on my way out and bought what I wanted. A Take 5 candy bar.
I savoured every bite and moved on. That’s it.
This weekend was jammed packed with fun activities! I ran 3 miles 27:46(that is super fast for me!!), I went to Ikea to pick up some Swedish essentials, I took a few leisure walks outside along with the usual weekend errands.
We went to Stone Crest on Saturday evening for dinner, a nice summer breeze and some music.
We decided on Miro Spanish Grill for dinner after looking over the options. I adore tapas so I had it in my mind that a Spanish restaurant had to be a tapas restaurants…. well, not so much. The food was mediocre at best. The company and the atmosphere, however, were brilliant. We started off with the signature tapas plate.
 From what I can remember, the tapas plate had shrimp, calamari, some type of potato/egg quiche and plaintain.
My tapas plate.
 I ignored the prosciutto and went back for seconds of the plaintain! I also had a glass of California chardonnay.
For my main entree, I ordered the ensalada catalana and gazpacho.
 Romaine lettuce with assorted greens, roasted pepper, artichokes, goat cheese and hearts of palm with the house vinaigrette.
I have never tried gazpacho before so I figured this was a good time for a cool soup in the warm weather.
 Ehh, it was pretty gross. I mean that I couldn’t stomach more than one bite. I hate raw onions and it tasted like raw onions in every bite. No tomato flavor at all. Miro Spanish Grill was not one of my favorites.
Other random photos from this weekend.
 Banana/PB2 Protein Ice Cream.
 Capture the moment.
 Swiss Musli.
 Cute couple.
 Breakfast for dinner last night… 2 egg whites, 2 pieces of turkey bacon wrapped up in a mini la tortilla wrap.
Have I mentioned that my family gets here today!!!??? I have Mon-Thurs off work so that I can show them around Charlotte and we are going to Myrtle Beach!!! So exciting. They are driving in from Tennessee around lunch time.
This morning I had a fabulous 60 minute session of sweaty hot yoga. When I got home, I was more than ready to enjoy one of my favorite breakfasts outside on the balcony.
 Dakota bread with nutella, greek yogurt and a banana.
Lots to do for my family arrives!!! xoxo
Hi!
So, I have never really talked about my food struggles on my blog before. I know that people thrive on honesty so here goes. When I think back, I can’t even remember a time when I didn’t have these struggles. I am a competitive person, by nature, so I always used to compare myself to other people which is never good for any one’s self esteem. I remember when me and some of my friends went on our first “diet”, I was 12. We skipped lunch. People noticed and praised me, it all goes from there. I think that my hardest struggle happened before I moved to Sweden. I was scared to move to another country. I had no control over what it would be like to live in another country, so I controlled every other aspect of my life. When I flew over seas, I barely had the energy to carry my suit case. Not a nice way to live. I knew I was too thin and that I should gain a little weight but I didn’t want to lose that control. I am still not 100% carefree when it comes to food. I still think about it. But, the thoughts diminish little by little over time. Now, I know better than to starve my body of nutrients. However, I still find myself in that cycle of under eating for days at a time. My body is on empty so then I overeat and feel stuffed on crap like candy and chips. I wouldn’t call it a binge at all because I feel like that I have complete control over what is going into my mouth. I think it is more that my body needs food!! After under eating for awhile, I have intense cravings for junk. I am not extremely under eating but I am under eating for what my body needs. Anyway, it is hard for me to push myself to eat more during the days. Not because my body doesn’t want that, It completely does. Mostly because in the back of my mind, I want to make sure that I “save” the calories for when my candy craving hits. So, I am doing my best to make sure that I am eating enough and taking in enough nutrients. Food=Fuel, people. I have to be completely honest… since I have made sure to eat wholesome, healthy food every couple of hours, I haven’t had a “junk” craving at all. Not. At. All. (Knock on wood!!!) I am really trying here and I am happy that my efforts are not going to waste. So, really, what I want to do with my get the healthy glow back challenge is to break this cycle completely. I want to keep feeding my body healthy foods for fuel. Because that is what food is. Of course, I will make sure to indulge every now and then on my favorite treats. But, the tricky part there is to not over do it, which is hard for me.
Week 1, Day 4 -Already day 4 of my healthy glow challenge! Crazy!!
Breakfast this morning was an intensely satisfying bowl of oatmeal.
 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water, cinnamon, pinch of brown sugar, egg whites (stirred in toward the end). Then, I added some blueberries and WCW peanut butter.
Mid-morning snack was a clif zbar
 I took photos at my job today which always seems to rev up my appetite for some reason so I was starving for lunch! I couldn’t get it prepared fast enough! I toasted an english muffin, then topped it with a sliced peach and some swiss cheese then popped it in the microwave so the cheese would melt.
 Peaches are so good right now! So, are cherries! I had some on the side
Pre-Workout snack was half a banana with peanut butter.
 At the gym, I did 3 sets of 12-15 reps, focusing on shoulders, chest and triceps. I ended my workout with a 2 mile treadmill run, some push ups, crunches and a lot of yummy stretching! I snack on a chobani when I got home.
 I made some time to cook a real meal for myself on a week night! I felt pretty great about that one. I picked up some tempeh at the grocery store as an impulse buy the other day. I have eaten tempeh at restaurants before but I had never made it myself. I was kind of nervous but it turned out delicious! I marinated the tempeh in some orange marmalade, soy sauce, salt pepper and garlic for about 30 minutes. Then I cooked the tempeh on the stove top (kinda got burnt, oops!)
 I served the tempeh with some roasted broccoli on the side. I am sure that I will enjoy one of those amazing jello chocolate mousse cups once I hit publish
Total Intake for the day:
214 g Carbs, 68 g Protein, 53 g Fat.
Percentage for the day:
53.33% Carbs, 16.95% Protein, Fat 29.72%
My overall intake for today was pretty good! However, when I was focusing on getting enough healthy fats, I skimped on protein!! This whole balanced eating thing is harder than I thought! Well, one thing is for sure… I will never skimp on my carbs
Good night! xoxo
Hi!
I am feeling rather unmotivated at work I start school in 1 month so I have that feeling of anxiousness leading up to the first day already accumulating. I have been out of school for 3 years!!! I have been waiting and waiting to start school. For. Three. Years. I am so excited to say the least which leaves little room for motivation at my full time job. Meh.
Week 1, Day 3
Breakfast this morning was a bowl of oatmeal. I let it cool down before I dug in. Oatmeal always tastes fabulous.
 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup egg whites, mixed berries, white chocolate wonderful PB and soy milk.
Mid morning snack was a peach and a string cheese.
 I adore the combination of fruit and cheese. Mmmm..
Hummus and Turkey Wrap for lunch!!
 and some cherries to snack on while staring at my computer screen.
 I was starving when I got home so I made the most filling snack that I know of. Protein Ice Cream.
 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 scoop chocolate whey protein powder, 1 tbsp cocoa, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1 tsp xantham gum. It filled up my empty tummy and fueled me through a fun bike ride!!
Hans asked me if I wanted to go for a little ride so I canceled my planned work out at the gym in favor of some time outdoors with my sweet boy. We rode at a pretty easy pase for about 12 miles. There are 3-4 long, steady hills right next to our apartment and no matter how much I pace myself with my ride, those hills always kill me!! There is no way around those suckers either. I guess that is a blessing in disguise. It is just making me stronger!
I came home for a quick dinner.
 An Italian style veggie burger on an english muffin with marinara sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
I also had some lightly steamed broccoli for some added nutrients. I need some okra in my life!!! Okra is my favorite veggie but I haven’t found any at the farmer’s market yet.
Dessert tonight was a jello chocolate mousse cup.
 Total Intake for the day:
205 g Carbs, 80 g Protein, 39 g Fat.
Percentage for the day:
55% Carbs, 21.46% Protein, 23.54% Fat.
I was conscious about my fat intake for today since it was low yesterday. I added a little peanut butter to my oatmeal and a serving of parmesan cheese to my veggie burger when I normally wouldn’t have. I have felt completely satisfied these past 3 days. My sweet tooth hasn’t been raging like it normally is so I think this little challenge of mine is working
How will I hold myself accountable for the healthy glow challenge? I tracked my measurements, body fat % and weight yesterday. Every 4 weeks, I will do the same until the end of the challenge in 12 weeks. I think the best way to hold yourself accountable and to track your progress is a combination of your measurements, body fat % and weight instead of just going by the scale.
Time to catch up on Top Chef! xoxo
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