So - vegan, huh?

I get asked all the time why I follow a vegan diet. So here is a blog post that I wrote on that very topic for a friend's blog. I have also added some photos of some of the very yummy food that I get to eat as a vegan.  Enjoy!

It is not something that I actually like to bring up in conversation. Especially if people are eating. But, one way or another, it comes up and there is no avoiding the awkward silences, the defensive comments, the jokes, the lectures...

Yes – it is true. I am a vegan. 

But I don’t get why that makes other people so uncomfortable – I mean, I am the one with the 
restrictive diet but I'm not complaining! Other people though can have a really big issue with it.

Satay tofu sticks on roasted vegetables

The first thing people usually want to know is where I get my protein from. Or my iron. Or my calcium. Or my B12!! I usually just point out that being a vegan or even a vegetarian actually requires you to be very focussed on what you eat and what your meals are made up of and that I definitely think more about these things now than I did as an omnivore. Then I ask them how their B12 levels are. And then they usually move on to a different line of questioning. Like...

“Aren’t, you wearing leather shoes though? You know the cows don’t just donate their skin for you to have a pair of boots. They killed the cow that they came from. In fact, you should thank me for eating the rest of it.”

Kale salad with pesto dressing

Ok. It is true. I own leather shoes. Handbags. Belts. I even have a pair of leather gloves. But since going vegan, I haven’t bought anything made from animal skin. This is going to sound pretty bad but it is the single hardest challenge that I have had to face since becoming a vegan. No more cheesecake? Fine. No more Christian Louboutins? Are you FRICKING SERIOUS???

In my heart of hearts though, I think it is worth it. But no - I did not throw out all of my existing shoes and bags away because I just think that would be worse. And instead of replacing them when they wear out, I will just get them mended. And when my favourite leather shoes can’t be fixed anymore? Well, hopefully I will be earning enough to replace them with a pair of Stella McCartney heels. So don’t bother calling me a hypocrite, alright? Because I am fine with my decision. And also, if you do, I am going to tell you exactly where the beef came from to make your burger and, if you have any humanity at all, it will make you cry like a baby.

Raw vegan brownies - these are super tasty and incredibly easy to make - check out the recipe here

People also like to tell me that I am wasting my time. That I can’t make a difference through my choices – everyone else eats meat and they will just cancel me out. In fact, some delightful people have offered to eat all of the meat that I don’t eat so that the world isn’t affected. These are usually the same people who don’t believe in climate change and who think that refugees are all criminals though so I tend not to bother with them much. Basically, while it might be true that I may not make much of a difference to

the world by being a vegan, I feel better knowing that I am not making things worse either.

Finally, there are those people who just cannot imagine a world without meat. “Don’t you miss it?” they ask, their eyes wide with concern and confusion. “What else is there to eat? Do you just have side-dishes?” Well, sometimes, yes - all that some restaurants offer me to eat are hot chips or a plate of “greens”. But that is ok – I mean it is still food and at least I won’t be starving. If it is up to me though, I will be eating something pretty awesome – curries, soups, stirfries, burgers, pasta, cakes, chocolate – everything can be made vegan. It just takes a little more effort to find it or you have to make it yourself. 

But it all tastes great and I never feel like I am missing out.

Almond butter and jam sandwich cookies - seriously nommy

At this point in the conversation, I usually remind people that their steaks are getting cold and we get stuck into our meals. They seem happy enough to continue what they are doing and I probably haven’t changed their views on what they eat or anything. But I like to think that something might sink in. And even if they just eat a little less meat than they currently do, we will all be better off.

Yoga as therapy

My new year exercise regime of daily yoga and occasional jogs hit a few road blocks this week.

The first was that I started a new job. I like to do yoga in my lunch break during the week but my new work is further away from my gym. The extra distance means I will be hard-pressed to fit a 45 minute class into my lunch hour (and I haven't yet worked out whether I have the flexibility for my lunch "hour" to be a lunch "hour and a bit" so long as I make up the time elsewhere).

But that is easy enough to fix - there is always before work or after work to fit in some yoga goodness. And given that I use YogaGlo, I can do great classes at home whenever it suits me.

What isn't as easy to sort is my stupid lower back. It has been giving me grief for a few days now. Kind of a dull ache across my sacrum. I ignored it for the first few days in hope that it would just sort itself out and I kept up my usual routine, including strong, vigorous vinyasa classes and bouts on the treadmill.

Imagine my surprise when this kind of just made it a little bit worse.

Have I seriously learnt nothing?

Once I came to my senses though, I gave my body and my poor achey back a nice break from all forms of exercise. And that certainly improved things.

I was concerned, though, that maybe there was something that I had been doing wrong that had caused the pain in the first place. (Although, it is also very likely that it was just a sign that my body was tired and wanted me to just stop for a little while. Bodies are so wise - I should really listen to mine more often!) So I Googled my symptoms to see what the likely causes could be and, more importantly, what I could do differently to avoid it in the future.

Apart from a few nasty causes that I quickly dismissed (spinal stenosis or herniated disk anyone?), the most likely cause was a strain from overuse. Oh, and let's not forget that I am getting old. And what did most of the websites I looked recommend to prevent it from reoccurring?

Yoga!

I had been so caught up in thinking of yoga as a workout that I had forgotten all about its amazing therapeutic effects. Unlike most of the other things that you can get up to in the gym, a yoga practice actually has the ability to heal your body and to prevent injuries.

This was such a brilliant realisation as, after two days rest, I was itching to get back on the mat. So that I didn't run into the same problems though, I have done a couple of classes that have been specially designed to care for and strengthen the lower back. The great thing about these classes is that they usually set you up with some great tips that can then be applied to any class so that you can get your alignment right and prevent any future aches and pains.

Yoga IS therapy. You just need to adjust your approach slightly to address whatever concerns your body is telling you it is having. 

Greening my diet

My biggest vice is probably that I drink a lot of coffee. I love coffee.

I mean, I really love coffee. I probably have at least three proper barista-made coffees a day.

Given that I otherwise have a pretty clean diet that is free of all animal products and I don't drink at all anymore, I tend to give myself a break when it comes to coffee. It isn't like I am an intravenous drug user or anything - I just consume a whole lot of caffeine.

I have in the past made numerous attempts to give my lovely coffee. I have tried going entirely caffeine-free and replacing it with dandelion tea and assorted other herbal teas. I have tried replacing it with green tea. I have tried to just have it now and then as a treat. All of these attempts have done is given me a nasty headache and an even nastier attitude. It was not pretty.

At the moment, I am in a happy place where I try to only have normal coffees before lunch time. If I want one after that, I'll have a decaf (which I don't think is that awful to be honest). And right now, this is all that I am willing to do. I figure that this should at least ensure that the caffeine has enough time to leave my system so that I won't be overstimulated when I go to bed.

Recently, though, I have been reading more and more about the importance of balancing your body's pH level by including more foods in your diet that have an alkalising effect on the body. For example, this article on MindBodyGreen sets out a rather scary list of the negative effects that having an overly acidic diet can have on the human body.

I always take these types of lists with a grain of salt mind you - they are often based on scant or skewed research and tend to over-state the results - but there is a growing volume of literature which ties negative health consequences to acidity. And certainly enough for me to take stock of my own diet.

And wouldn't you know it? Coffee is a pretty god damned acidic. But, more surprisingly, so are a lot of other foods and beverages that I consider to be healthy and regularly consume - like nuts. And jeez - purified water!?!

I am not that keen to toss these things out of my diet. If I try give up coffee again, I am likely to lose friends and, quite possibly, my job. Also, let's face it, as a health-conscious vegan, my diet is already pretty limited. So, instead, I am focussing on including more of the foods that are on the other end of the pH scale and will have an alkalising effect on my body. Thus, hopefully, bringing my bod into a lovely balance.

If you look at the super-alkaline end of the spectrum shown in the article I mentioned before, you will notice lots and lots of green things - spinach, seaweed and the like. As much as I would love to say I can happily gorge myself on these foods, in all honesty I can't. I don't mind having them with things, but find it hard to get excited about them as the main event.

And that is where the amazing green smoothies come in!

Green smoothies are basically an easy way to sneaking greens into your diet (as well as a few choice other wonder-foods if you like) by whizzing them together with some yummy fruit and ice. You may have already seen lots of recipes for green smoothies - they are a pretty popular thing for health and food bloggers to post about at the moment (and don't forget the millions of photos on Instagram of green goop in recycled jars). The great thing about the green smoothie is that there are so many different ways to make these blended beauties. You can just keep experimenting with different ingredients until you come up with the concoction that best floats your boat.

So I figure - why don't I just add another green smoothie recipe to the blogosphere? So here it is - the green smoothie recipe that is currently rocking my world:

• Medium-sized banana - frozen and chopped into chunks
• About one cup of baby spinach leaves
• The same again of kale (if you can't get kale, just double the amount of baby spinach)
• Half a mango
• One scoop each of ground chia seeds, LSA mix, green powder (like wheatgrass, barley grass, spirulina etc) and protein powder (I use pea protein but you can use whatever you like - just try to avoid anything with added flavouring because it can mess with the taste of the smoothie - and not in a good way)
• A tablespoon of tahini
• A splash of almond milk (or whatever milk takes your personal fancy)
• Enough water and ice to get it to the right consistency (gluggy but still able to be poured

If you really like sweet things, you might want to add a sweetener like stevia or agave syrup. I personally think the banana and mango make it sweet enough so I don't bother.

The method could not be simpler - bung it into a blender, press go and, when all the bits have become one liquidy awesome mess, press stop and pour it into a big-ass glass. Et voila!

I am actually having one of these for dinner most nights because it is hot and I am crap at preparing real food for myself - especially after work. Most normal people would probably say to have it for breakfast though.

I should also note that this is my summer recipe. Once the mangos go out of season, I will start to substitute the mango and ice for blueberries and cacao powder. Granted, this looks more like a mud smoothie than a green smoothie thanks to the cacao - but it tastes like a really rich chocolate thick shake so - win! 

I am always tinkering with the recipe so I don't get bored too. Would love to here any variations on the green smoothie that you guys might have - just leave your recipe in the comments! 

xox

Take it outside

While doing yoga in a hot and sweaty room is lovely, doing it outside is something else altogether.

Instead of going to my usual lunch time class at the gym, yesterday my friend and I decided to head along to one of the free yoga classes that are run in Hyde Park in the Sydney CBD by Lululemon Mid City. They get different teachers from local yoga studios to take the classes in the park each Monday throughout the Summer. We were lucky enough to have the lovely Vicki from Preshana Yoga taking the class yesterday. 

Given my recent experiences with Bikram, doing a flowing vinyasa class with our mats laid out on the grass under a giant tree and the sun shining through the leaves felt incredibly freeing. There were quite a few people who had turned up for the class, all of them buzzing with the thrill of being out of the office, even if for just one hour.

While Vicki took us through a pretty strong practice, the class felt really easy. I think it was the distraction of the new - the sounds and smells of the outdoors, having a strong breeze wash over us every couple of minutes so you never really felt too hot or sweaty, in spite of all your efforts. And then, following a short but amazing shavasana, I got to open my eyes to this. 

And it was the perfect break in the middle of the working day. While we may have raced to park to get to the class on time, hoping that it was going to be worth all of the effort, we were in no real hurry to leave our mats after the class. We literally floated back to the office with our lungs full of fresh air.

Obviously doing yoga in the park isn't something you can do all the time - and I'm certainly not planning doing yoga outdoors during the nasty winter months - but it did remind me of how good it is to mix up the routine every now and then. Even if it is just changing your surroundings. 

Next - I want to head down to the beach and do a few asanas by the sea before the end of the summer. Anyone want to join me? 

Hitting the treadmill

For the last couple of days I have been doing something that I haven't done for ages - I have been jumping on the treadmill and having a bit of a jog.

This isn't really that big of a deal, I suppose. I mean, I used to run all the time. I've even done a couple of half marathons. But for the last few years, it hasn't really been part of my regime. Like, at all.

When I started to exercise regularly (which wasn't until I started working full-time), I loved to get my cardio on. Running, high-energy aerobics, boxing, dance classes - anything that got me out of breath and red-faced was my thing. I became a total gym junky, going to the gym 6 times a week, eating clean, drinking protein powder and cataloguing my calories.

And to begin with, it was great! For the first time in my life, I felt fit and strong and I looked the best I ever had.

But I couldn't keep the momentum up. After a while, I was just too exhausted to keep exercising at the same intensity (and on a relatively tiny amount of calories). My muscles ached all the time. And, thanks to what my physio informed me were "oddly small knees", I was constantly dealing with injuries. Basically, it stopped being fun.

So I took a break for a little while.

When I finally did join a gym again, I wasn't really interested in doing any of the cardio classes anymore. I think I was worried about waking my inner cardio beast or something. Instead, I was drawn to the calmer, more focussed workouts like pilates and yoga. I had been doing yoga and pilates before, but they were always as a supplement to my "real" workouts and were done on my rest day (which explains why I was always in pain and injured).

Now, though, they became the main event. I felt so good after class. I was energised and yet also calmer. It was brilliant! Soon, I wasn't do anything other than yoga. Whenever I could fit it in and any kind of class that I could get to.

While I have no doubt at all that yoga has made me healthy and strong, I do feel guilty about letting cardio-health slide. I have had health assessments since dropping the cardio and they confirmed that my cardio-health was "normal". Which I must admit got to my ego a bit - I mean, who wants to be "normal"?!? Also, I occasionally have those freak-outs where I start to wonder if I would be outrun an attacker or a rabid bear or some other kind of danger. Because, right now, unless the attacker (or bear) has asthma or something, I don't think I would stand much of a chance.

This week, while work is slower and the gym is quieter, I have decided maybe it was time to add a little bit of cardio back into my routine. Just a 15 minute jog before yoga. Nothing too strenuous but enough to get my heart-rate up. And it felt gooooooooooood. When I got to yoga, my muscles were already warm and it meant that I was able to get deeper into my poses sooner. Super-winning!!

Hopefully, I will be able to find the time (and will!) to keep it up throughout the year - even after I start my teacher training and become REALLY immersed in yoga-goodness. 

Some like it hot: my adventures in Bikram

Even though I have been practising yoga for years now, before today, I had never given a Bikram class a go.

I have done lots of hot yoga over the past couple of years (these are normal vinyasa or hatha classes that are done in a room that is heated to around 35°C) but not an actual Bikram class.

For those not familiar with it, a Bikram yoga class is a 90 minute session made up of a specific series of 26 poses (or asana) and breathing exercises (or pranayama) taught in a room that is heated to around 40°C with 40% humidity. Sound intense? Cos it is!

Source: www.ballnroll.com

I had heard a lot about Bikram since it got popular a few years back and had heard various things about it from fellow yogis (some who were major Bikram enthusiasts and others who had done it a couple of times but weren't really taken by it). And to be honest, I never thought it would be my cup of tea. 

It is taught in accordance with a strict system and there are a lot of "guidelines" that are meant to be followed - like when you should drink water, when you can lie down, when you can wipe your sweat away (and trust me, there is a LOT of sweat - and the guideline is that you shouldn't wipe it off at all during class). My first reaction to hearing these was that it sounded too rigid - like some kind of cruel yoga dictatorship - and I was not interested in partaking in it at all. I didn't want someone tell me what my body needed at any given point in my yoga - surely I was the best judge of that!

But it is a new year and I figured I couldn't really judge it if I had never tried it - so I enlisted one of my lovely work buddies and headed to a class at Bikram Yoga Darlinghurst. 
The teacher and the other students all seemed pretty relaxed and not too showy at all so that put me at ease straight away. Also, the "guidelines" that I had heard so much about were more like suggestions and teacher would give you gentle reminders - but certainly didn't do any dictating. 

As newbies, we got ourselves set up in the back row. Unfortunately though, because the class was quite full, the only places we could find were right in front of the vents where all that lovely hot air was coming from. But even with the hot air blasting on me, I figured that I should be able to survive the class. I mean I had done yoga in heated rooms before and, even though they were no where near as hot as this one was, a Bikram class doesn't involve the same fast flowing between poses like my usual hot vinyasa classes. Also, I was from tropical Queensland.  I could totally handle a bit of heat and humidity for 90 minutes - I used to breathe it in for about 9 months of the year! 

Source: www.yoganonymous.com

Well, I was wrong. By about the 8th pose, I was starting to feel a bit woozy. After a few more, I knew I was going to throw up if I tried to stay standing any longer. So a took a bit of a breather on the ground for a little bit until the nausea past. (Apparently my ego would much rather deal with having to lie down in the middle of class than to throw up on myself - so I learnt that about myself today!) Once I recovered, I was able to get back to the class but still felt a little bit weak. Thankfully, though, all the standing poses are done in the first half of the class, so the second half was much, much easier to get through.

After the class, I felt pretty fuzzy and light-headed and that feeling stayed with me for quite a few hours. Also, even though I had tried to drink plenty of water before the class, sipped water during the class and guzzled water when I was done, I still felt dehydrated and a bit headachy. Given how popular Bikram is though, my guess is that these side-effects start to get less and less with the more classes that you do. 

And hopefully I will get to find out if I can get used to it too - the introductory offer for new students was a 10 day pass for $17 - so I can do as many classes as I like for the next 10 days. Bargain! While I don't think I will be going daily or anything crazy like that, I am such a sucker for a good value so I will definitely try to get along to a few more classes before my pass runs out. 

I doubt that I will keep doing Bikram as part of my regular yoga practice in the long term, but who knows? Maybe I will become a Bikram addict in spite of myself!

Give yoga a chance!

As someone who is madly, head-over-heels in love with yoga, I am always taken a bit aback when someone tells me that they tried yoga and didn't like it.

How is that even a thing?

The reasons they give are varied but the most common seem to be:

1. I was crap at it.
2. It was boring/ not strenuous enough.
3. It was too weird and intimidating

The first one is easy-peasy to deal with: basically, you are wrong. I simply cannot accept that anyone can be "crap" at yoga. Not possible. I read a quote once that was something like "everyone can do yoga - except for lazy people". And I totally think that is true.

Source: www.blisstree.com

Of course, trying anything for the first time is going to be hard and will feel a bit weird. And as adults, it always sucks to be in a place where you don't understand what is going on and you feel out of your comfort zone. But you know what? Nothing truly awesome will happen in your comfort zone. That is why you wanted to try something new in the first place, right? 

Well, just like with everything else, yoga is going to take a bit of time before it starts to feel really awesome. So my advice to people who think they are too crap at yoga is this:

• Keep trying! Take a couple more classes before throwing the towel in. I am certain that you will soon get a better feel for it and start not to feel like a fish out of water anymore.
• Don't worry about what everyone else is doing in class - no one is judging you! Yes, the girl next to you may have her leg way over her head and that might make you feel like your attempt at the same pose (maybe with your leg still bent or using a strap because you can't reach your toes) is a failure. But it isn't! Just focus on where you are at and it will all come with time. And that girl will be doing the same thing - she will be too busy focusing on her pose to be judging you in any way at all (or, if she is in fact staring about the room with a smug look on her face, then I would suggest that perhaps SHE is the one who is crap at yoga and not you!).
• If the class you have tried really does just seem too advanced or intense for you, seem out a slower class or one that has been designed for beginners - you can go back to the intense class once you get your yoga mojo on later. Or maybe try a different style of yoga - there are many different types out there and it is possible that the first class you have tried is not right for you (or maybe the style is fine but the teacher is not right for you). Try a few on for size and you are bound to find one that you click with.

But what if you think that yoga is boring or doesn't give you a proper work out? Well, if I was a purist, I would probably tell you to just jog on. Because yoga is not meant to be sport and that it is not the sort of thing you should be doing if you want to achieve some kind of hardcore workout or to feed your ego (check out this great article if you are interested in reading more about this perspective). And this is, of course, all true. But even if all you want is a good sweaty workout, I honestly believe that you can still do yoga and, yes, take advantage of some of the amazing physical benefits it brings. 

That said, yoga will not on its own help you drop lots of weight, train for a marathon or build up a pair of guns as big as The Rock's. But it can be an amazing workout, make you sweat loads and give you an amazing, healthy and toned body if that is what you are after. After something that is physically challenging? Look for a studio that offers Bikram, ashtanga, power or vinyasa yoga classes and, trust me, you will find muscles that you never even knew you had.

Source: www.elephantjournal.com

And you never know, later down the track, you might start looking beyond the workout that yoga gives you and into all that other "stuff" that has to offer. 

The third reason that I hear - that the class they attended was a bit too weird, there was too much talk of chakras, auras and other spiritual guff that they didn't really get into to, or that it was all too serious or pretentious.

These are things that I have actually experienced and had to grapple with myself. I am ok with a certain amount of, what my husband calls "hippy, off with the fairies stuff", too much can really turn me off my yoga and I find it actually to be a negative distraction for my practise. Also, I find that when a studio or a particular teacher takes their yoga too seriously (no smiling and a complete absence of Lululemon leggings in the classroom is usually a tip off), it can be really ostracising for newcomers. Especially if the other students seem cliquey or treat newcomers with suspicion.

If this has been your experience, then my suggestion is just to leave them be. Find a new class with a teacher that smiles and enjoys helping new students. There are amazing teachers out there. But, equally, there are ones that are total wankers. And life is too short for a yoga class that doesn't leave you feeling uplifted and generally good about yourself. 

So yoga, huh? Maybe it is time to give it another crack. I promise it will be just like fun! ;)