Belly-warming detox soup!

Autumn is officially starting to take hold in Sydney. The days are still sunny and warm but the mornings and evenings are definitely getting colder.

And these cool, dark evenings coupled with a little bit too much indulgence over easter (mmmm hot cross buns!!!!) inspired me to cook up a huge pot of belly-warming vegetable soup for the week. 

I cook this up almost every other weekend during winter. Because I work full-time plus now with teaching yoga on the side, it is so great to have my dinner sorted out - a massive batch will last me for most of the week. I just come home, heat it up and I have got a nutritious, warming and filling dinner. 

And because it has nothing but good stuff in it, it is great for those times when you have been eating too many crappy foods and want to detox. Nothing but vegetables and legumes with a little coconut oil and lots of spices! 

And it is stupid easy to make. Like, ridiculously easy.

Ingredients:

- Lots of vegetables 

Can't make vegetable soup without 'em! I don't really have a set recipe for my soup and the veges change each time I make it. Other than that, I just chuck in whatever vegetables I felt like buying that week (or what I can find/ what is on special!). Last week this included carrots, celery, cauliflower, butternut pumpkin, broccoli, zucchini and a leek. 

- 2 brown onions 

- 2 cloves of garlic

- Coconut oil (about a tablespoon)

You can use any oil, but as you will be using it for browning the onions and leeks, I like to use coconut oil because it has a high smoking point so won't oxidise when heated at high temperatures. It is also has many other great benefits that have been written about extensively. Here is a starting point though if you are curious.

- Tumeric (2 teaspoons)

- Chilli flakes (1 - 2 teaspoons depending on how spiky you like your food)

- Cumin seeds (1 heaped tablespoon)

- Vegetable stock powder (3 teaspoons) 

- Dried lentils (3/4 cup)

You can use any kind of lentils that take your fancy - brown, green, red, yellow - it is all good. Or even swap them out for dried beans like navy beans.

- Split peas (1/2 cup)

Make it happen

Chop all the veges into bite sized chunks. If you are going to blend the soup (you can leave it chunky if you prefer), the size of the pieces doesn't matter that much but they will cook quicker if they aren't too big. Finely slice the onions and leeks (if you are using them).

Heat the coconut oil in a really big-ass pot. Once it covers the bottom of the pot, chuck in the onions. Keep stirring them until they go a nice golden colour.

Add in the turmeric, cumin seeds, chilli flakes, leek and garlic. (I just use a garlic crusher on mine but you can just as easily chop it finely with a small, sharp knife.) Keep stirring until the leek goes nice and soft.

Drop in all the veges, the lentils and the split peas and pour in enough water to cover everything with about an inch of water above it. Add the stock powder.

Give it a quick stir, take it to the boil and then allow it to simmer over a low heat with the lid on the pot.

And then you just wait! Leave it on for an hour or so, giving it a stir now and then to make sure it is all looking good.

Enjoy!

Once it is done, you can serve it straight up if you want it chunky or otherwise put it in the blender for a few seconds to make a smooth, thick soup. Add a piece of heavy, grainy bread if you want or just enjoy it as it is.

It will keep in the fridge for about a week and freezes well too. And the best thing is - it tastes even better the day after you make it.

YUM!!!!!

A very yogi christmas!

It is a poorly kept secret of mine that I absolutely LOVE christmas. To give you an idea of how much I love it, I have been listening to christmas songs since November - as I do every year (this was a rule imposed by my dad - because otherwise we would start listening to them in, like, July).

So you might be thinking (hopefully) what would a yogi like me (and especially me) want to receive under his or her christmas tree? Well, you are in luck!!! Because this post is totally dedicated to helping you pick the perfect gift for the yogi in your life!

And if you think that this is a carefully constructed ruse to give a massive hint to people re what *I* would like for christmas? Yeah - you are probably right. But hopefully it helps some others out too. I live to serve after all.

1. Yogeeks Apparel - all the things!

I have only recently found out about Yogeeks Apparel - one of the owners of this awesome yoga and vegan friendly clothing line is involved in a new project that I am part of, Yoga in the Park. They are a Sydney-based business that makes wicked-cool clothes for yogis. Just reading their mission statement makes me swoon:

"We’re all about making compassion fashionable. We test our yoga clothing on yogis, not animals & are dedicated practitioners of ahimsa (non-harming) in our own lives & throughout every stage of our design & production process."

Awesome, right? There are so many things that I want on their website. But to get the most bang for your buck, how about spoiling your yogi with a multi-pack? My choice is the muscle tee multi pack (4 muscle tees in the latest, coolest prints) but there are tank and singlet multipacks too. What better way to start off what will no doubt be a long term affair with this ethical, kickass design house? 

2. Namaste, b*tches!  

Not for every yogi, but I think this tote (available through Cafe Press) is rad. 

3. The ultimate mat

I have more than one mat already. So technically, I don't need another one. BUT if you really, really wanted to buy me (sorry - your "friend") a new mat, please let it be this one. And in Acai purple, please. Thaaaaaanks!

This is a Manduka Eko - it is like the legendary Manduka PRO and is uber durable and grippy but made from sustainable, eco-friendly  natural rubber. Plus, purple! 

4. Flop your flips to class

What better way to get to class than in a pair of flip flops that are made from yoga mats? Yep - Sanuk Yoga Mat flip flops are made from yoga mats, are vegan and are THE most comfortable flip flops I have ever worn (and as an Australian who lived most of her life on the coast, I am somewhat of a flip flop aka thongs connoisseur). I bought a pair in Hawaii but if you would really like to buy me (I mean your friend!!) a pair, this pair in brown look FAB!

5. Your in-house yogalebrity

I know - in an ideal world, you would like to be able to give your friend me for christmas (meaning private yoga classes with me, of course!) But the next best thing is surely to do yoga in the lounge room with yogi extraordinaire, Tara Stiles. Easy-peasy. And relatively cheap too!

I was lucky enough to do a class with Tara when I was in New York earlier this year and visited her beautiful studio, Strala Yoga. Her feel-good flowing classes are all centred around the idea of moving with ease - something I have focussed on in my own practice and teaching since. Her DVDs are an excellent way to bring some of this sweetness into a home practice and are ideal for someone who is just getting started. So if you are buying for a yogi newbie, this set of 4 DVDs is the ticket!

6. Super hot pants

Sexy pants make yoga more fun. Sexy pants made from recycled water bottles make yoga fun and lets you feel super-smug because not only are you a sexy yogi, you are also environmentally friendly. Doesn't your yogi loved-one deserve to feel sexy, fun and smug? Yeah? Then grab them a pair of these Teeki pants!

I have a couple of pairs and I LOVE them. They feel amazing, fit great, are a flattering cut, super comfortable and always elicit lovely compliments from my fellow yogis. I have the Clouds Hot Pant and Mermaid Goddess Capris, but this cheetah print (called Awakening) is the next on my wish-list. I am sure yogi in your life would love them too!

7. Ahimsa* assistance

Shopping for a vegan or vegan-curious yoga buddy? Give them a helping hand by buying them a gorgeous vegan cook book! There are heaps out there, but I am going to suggest this new one, Veganissimo, by Sydney-based vegan cook, Leigh Drew. I picked it because I have been lucky enough to have eaten Leigh's yummo vegan cooking before and can attest that it is AMAZING!

*Not sure what Ahimsa is or what is so yogi about it? Well, ahimsa is one of the five yamas or restrictions that form the first of the eight limbs of yoga. It essentially translates to "non-violence" and while it encompasses many practices such as abstaining from violence in all forms (i.e. violent actions, words and even thoughts), it is often interpreted as not only meaning you should not harm other humans, but also not harming all other animals too. Which is why many yogis are also vegetarian or vegan.

8. The "Ohmygoddess I love you more than my Lululemon Wunder Under pants" gift 

This is the absolute ultimate yogi gift. Like, you will get so many karma credits for this puppy that you could probably get away with killing someone and still be in the black. Well not really because ahimsa, you guys! But you get my point. This is pretty massive.

The yoga retreat!!!

There are many of these, but I would LOVE to go to this one in Ubud, Bali next year which is being put on by my fave yoga studio, House of Yoga. A week long retreat of yoga goodness at Michael Franti's Soulshine Oasis Retreat Centre.

Drool. I can't imagine anything more magical!


But remember, while all these gifts are shiny and pretty (and feel free to buy me ANY of them!) christmas is a perfect time to celebrate all of the gifts that you already have - because you already have everything you need to be happy residing within you. So surround yourself with love, be grateful for everything this beautiful life bestows on us, and smile a lot. It will give you so much more than even a week in paradise can! (Although, there is nothing to say that you can't practice gratitude and smile lots while at a retreat wearing sexy pants and practicing asana on your lovely new mat... arm, right?"

xox Namaste! ;)

Up for the challenge?

Have you seen this great TED Talk by Matt Cuts where he asks us to try something new for 30 days?

The idea of committing to something for a month - whether it be growing a moustache or not drinking - is not exactly new. But watching this talk really inspired me.

I always have these grand - and some not so grand - plans in my head: things I have always wanted to do, habits I have wanted to break, routines that I have wanted to start. There are always so many of them, though, that I often feel too overwhelmed and end up doing none of them. Or if I do start them, I do it in a half-arsed way.

That is why this talk makes so much sense. You just pick one thing and then you commit yourself to it for the next 30 days. And then the next month, you can choose something different.

The great thing about 30 days is it is short enough not to intimidate, but it is long enough to start making a real change in your life. (Or, if it doesn't work out, you haven't really wasted that much time either.)

So how transformative can one month be?

Well, it was because of a 30 day challenge that I set myself 2 years ago that I was able to make the shift from vegetarian to vegan. I had made a couple of previous attempts at going vegan. Each time I started, I assumed it was the beginning of a life-long change. And I would go ok for a week or so, but then something would come up - I would be at an event where I had forgotten to tell people I my dietary requirements, or I was eating out with friends and there weren't any vegan options on the menu (I now know better than to just rely on menus and always ask restaurants what they can do for me or I ask them to change an existing vegetarian meal by ditching the cheese). Whatever it was, it suddenly all seemed to hard, I would start making exceptions (only when I eat out) or excuses (it is just too hard) and then I would be back to where I began.

But, when I decided in 2011 that I would eat only plant-based for the whole of July, there was no need for excuses or exceptions. Because giving up eggs and dairy for 30 days (or 31 in my case) didn't seem like that big of a deal. And because I wasn't stressed about it, I was able to enjoy the experience. I ordered my first ever vegan pizza, found vegan cupcakes and tried vegan chocolate and I also started asking cafes and restaurants to make things vegan for me. And by August, it was done. I was a vegan!

Once you realise that vegan chocolate exists - and is delicious, it isn't so hard.

With today being the first day of spring, I felt inspired to set myself a new challenge. I have decided to make September all about yoga (surprise!). Given that I will be a qualified yoga teacher by the end of October (fingers crossed), I want to put a nice, regular yoga practice into place so that I will have a strong platform to build on when I start teaching.

So, for each day in September I will be doing at least 45 minute asana practice and 10 minutes of meditation. My intention is to wake up earlier to get my practice done before the day even starts. But even if I don't manage that, I will be doing it before I go to bed. Every. Day. For 30 days.

Sadly, I won't be yoga-ing with these views every morning :(

Wish me luck! I will be giving updates on my Facebook page if you want to follow along. And feel free to join in - I would love to hear from others about their successes and experiences!

Namaste xox

Keeping your face kind

I am going on holiday to the US and Canada in a couple of weeks. Cannot wait!

I plan on hitting all the shops, museums, art galleries and cafes that I can fit in while in New York City and also Toronto. Then, to end the trip, I am going to be in Hawaii, soaking up rays, playing in the surf and eating all the tropical food I can. And, of course, I will be trying out a few different yoga studios along the way.

Bliss!

One of the things that I will definitely be stocking up on while I am in the US will be cosmetics. Due to the high Australian dollar and also some really weird regulations in Australia, cosmetics can cost almost three times as much in Australia than they do in America. You can order some products online direct from America and save $$ that way, but a lot of them won't deliver here. So whenever I go to the States, I go on a buying frenzy and come back with at least a year's worth of cosmetics. 

Given that I am a vegan, it makes sense that I would also like the products I buy to be cruelty free. So I have done a bit of research first to make sure that I am only buying products that are worthy of my dollars. But finding information about who does and does not test on animals (either directly or indirectly) can be incredibly confusing and it changes all the time. While I thought I had been doing ok on this front, I recently became aware of a few brands that I had always thought were ok have now been added to the list of companies that DO test on animals or are affiliated with animal testing. 

Sad. Face. 

Why do so many companies continue to test on animals when there are proven, cruelty-free alternatives readily available? Well, it seems that one of the key reasons is so that the companies can sell their products in China - Chinese laws require animal testing to be undertaken on cosmetics that are being imported into China. 

So companies that had for a long time abolished animal testing - including Estee Lauder, Mary Kay and Avon - have now resumed animal testing of their products to gain access to the lucrative Chinese market. There are other big companies that are also involved in animal testing, including L'Oreal and Johnson & Johnson. These companies own a huge number of popular brands - which means that all of the brands that they own are also not 100% cruelty free. 

Some popular brands that are NOT cruelty free (according to the PETA website) include: 

• Aveeno (Johnson & Johnson)
• Bobbi Brown (Estee Lauder)
• Bumble & Bumble (Estee Lauder) 
• Clinique (Estee Lauder)
• Garnier (L'Oreal)
• Jo Malone (Estee Lauder)
• Kiehl's (L'Oreal)
• L'Occitane
• Lancome (L'Oreal)
• M.A.C Cosmetics (L'Oreal)
• Neutrogena (Johnson & Johnson)
• Revlon
• Shu Uemura (L'Oreal)
• SK-II (Procter & Gamble)

To all of these brands, I say BOOOOO!!!!! There are many other mean brands too - this is just a sample of some of the ones that I have previously purchased but will no longer be buying. It is worth checking the PETA website to see if your favourite brands are listed too. (And information and practices change all the time - so companies come off and on the list all the time. You should check the list regularly to make sure your brand is still behaving itself!) 

Ok. So that is depressing, right? But fear not! There are still some lovely, amazing, quality brands out there that do not test on animals!!! HOORAY!!!!!

Source: www.themescompany.com

To act on my beliefs via my credit card, I am only going to buying cosmetics from companies that are proudly cruelty free. I have made a list of some of the brands that I can happily buy so that I don't get confused by all the pretty colours when I walk into Sephora (if you aren't familiar with Sephora, it is this amazing super-store that sells pretty much every brand of cosmetics you could ever want - I can spend hours and many, many dollars in there). 

Here are some of my favourites:

• Urban Decay (this edgy, vegan, cruelty free brand is going to replace my M.A.C addiction).
• Stila (gorgeous colours, gorgeous textures, kind to all animals)
• Lush (natural, animal friendly and it all smells delicious - just try not to eat it)
• Kora (Miranda Kerr's organic skin care range that really works)
• Ultraceauticals (active ingredients for serious skin care, and cruelty free)
• Aesop (makes your hair and skin look great and smell amazing thanks to high-quality natural ingredients)
• Philosophy (another great skin care range that can deliver amazing results without needing to test on animals - and their shower gels are to DIE for!)
• Illamasqua (this brand makes amazing, innovative make-up, like the kick-ass blue lipgloss that I bought recently, without touching animals)
• Kevin.Murphy (given I won't be buying any more Bumble & Bumble hair products, this is going to be my new go-to, animal friendly hair care range)
• Manic Panic (the leaders in extreme, unicorn hair colours - pink, blue, green, orange, purple - it is all good)
• Butter London (nail polish in amazing colours, free from formaldehyde, toluene and DBP and is kind to the animals)

Source: www.freegreatpicture.com

Again, this is not an exhaustive list. If you want to know if a particular brand is cruelty free, first check out the PETA website. If it isn't listed on the list of companies that DO test and it isn't listed on the DO NOT test list, the next step is to check out the company's website. And if you are still unsure, email the company and ask them whether they test on animals. 

(It is also worth asking them if they supply to China because if they do, they basically HAVE to be testing on animals - even if the product supplied to you in Australia or elsewhere hasn't been tested. A dead give-away is if their statement is something like "We do not test our products on animals or use ingredients that have been tested on animals unless required to by law" - this is code for "We test on animals so that we can supply to China". BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!)

They don't make it easy to make sure you are looking cute without hurting any animals - but it is totally worth it. 

Source: www.reallycuteanimals.co.uk

And the bunnies thank you!!!!! (And I do too!)

(PS - I made a decision not to add any pictures of the bunnies and other animals that have actually been subjected to testing. If you haven't already seen the horrific photos, I am sure you know, in your heart of hearts, that this testing is incredibly detrimental to the rabbits and that they suffer greatly just so we can wear a particular brand of mascara or use a certain shampoo. But if you happen to be curious, or if you are thinking that maybe it isn't that bad and companies wouldn't be doing anything too awful to these gorgeous, innocent creatures, have a look for yourself here. It will break your heart.)

Chocolatey goodness!

Happy Easter you guys!

Whatever your religious beliefs, most of us tend to indulge in a bit of chocolate over the Easter break. And I am definitely not an exception! Right now, I am basically experiencing what can only be described as a chocolate coma.

As a vegan, my Easter treats are a little more limited but there are still plenty of dairy-free goodies for me to get my chocolate on. And it just keeps getting easier to buy animal-friendly chocolate too - there are even vegan Easter eggs! Like this yummy Organic Times dark chocolate egg:

Source: www.biome.com.au

Nom!

It is important to note that not all dark chocolate is necessarily vegan - you have to read the label to make sure it doesn't contain milk solids or butter fats. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the more likely it is that it will be dairy free (but this still isn't a guarantee). It is worth searching for though and at least you know that, while you might be being a little bit naughty, at least you are getting a nice dose of antioxidants at the same time!

There is also another issue with our Easter noms that has got a lot more attention this Easter - the use of palm oil.

The use of palm oil is controversial as palm oil plantations have caused the destruction of rain forests in Indonesia and Malaysia, where around 85% of the world's palm oil is produced. This has resulted in habitat loss for a number of endangered species, including the orangutan. You can find out more about this here. Because of its direct impact on the welfare of animals, a lot of vegans avoid palm oil even though it isn't an actual animal product itself.

Palm oil is used in a lot of products - it is usually just listed as a vegetable oil so it is hard to know what you are buying. And this Easter, it was showing up in the ingredients list for a number of brands of hot cross buns - including Woolworths' and Coles' home brand varieties. This received a lot of negative press though so hopefully most people bought their hot cross buns from local bakeries instead.

Baked goods aren't the only thing that can contain palm oil - in the past Nestle has copped a lot of flack for using it in its chocolate.

One way to guarantee that you won't be getting any of these nasties is to make your own. Yes - even chocolate!

I was lucky enough to attend a special Easter yoga event this weekend at the gorgeous yoga studio, House of Yoga in Redfern. After sweating it out through a yummy 90 minute vinyasa class, we all got to indulge in some AMAZING homemade raw chocolate goodies.

I am not exaggerating when I say these were some of the yummiest treats I have ever tasted. I mean it - they were SO. GOOD.

Instead of being made with cocoa (which is what most chocolate is made from) they were all made using cacao. While they might sound like they are the same thing, the differences between the two are very important. Cacao is basically the seed that is used to make cocoa, but that hasn't gone through the cleaning, roasting and processing that cocoa goes through. So cacao is essentially raw. Why does this matter? Well, when it is processed, cocoa loses most of its nutritional value. Even if you eat dark chocolate, if it has been made with cocoa, it won't contain anywhere near the same levels of antioxidants and other nutrients that you get in cacao. In addition to high antioxidant levels, cacao also contains iron, copper, zinc, magnesium and calcium as well as a whole host of vitamins. 

The basic ingredients of cacao chocolate are cacao powder, cacao butter (not actual butter obviously - it is just the fat that comes from the cacao bean) and some kind of sweetener, like honey or agave syrup. The tasty treats that we were served up also had all sorts of amazing ingredients added in - coconut, almonds, dried figs, fresh ginger. All tasty and all super good for you! Win!!

But what if you can't / don't want to make it yourself (or be lucky enough to have yoga teachers that make them for you)? Well, you can buy chocolate made with cacao too so you have no excuses! My favourite is Loving Earth but there are lots of other brands out there and more and more are showing up in the shops as people learn about cacao's amazing properties.

Another easy way to get a dose of cacao is in powder form - I add it to my green smoothies to turn them into perhaps the healthiest chocolate thick shake EVER. You can also use to make up a hot chocolate - definitely something to keep in mind when it gets colder.

So, even though Easter is practically over for another year, you can totally justify getting your chocolate on all year round so long as you make sure it has been made with cacao (oh and, you know, blah blah moderation blah) aaaaaaand you can feel good about doing it! Yay cacao!!!!

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.