Tea Time

What are you drinking?

One of my favourite morning routines is to start with a good cup of Matcha tea.

Keeps me hydrated and its got tons of anti-oxidants.

An excellent cup of tea goes a long way!

Skirt Steak Wrap

Healthy Meals

Ingredients
1. c. 500 grams of local, organic Skirt steak (serves two).
2. Wholewheat pitta wrap (toasted)
3. Fresh salad of choice

How to?
1. Chop the pepper & tomatoes into thin slices & grill in the oven for 4-6minutes. (Add some onion & garlic to the mix if you like the taste.)
2. Lay the skirt steak on a hot barbecue and cook for 2 minutes on each side for a medium-rare steak. Add another minute for a medium to well-done steak.
(If you’re using a griddle pan, set it over a medium to high heat until smoking hot and cook the steaks for 2min each side).

Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1. One onion
2. One garlic clove
3. Fresh/dried Chilli, mixed herbs.
4. One chopped tomato can (check the salt content of the jar – some brands are lower sodium)
5. Salt & pepper
6. One jar of kidney beans (check salt content again)
7. Udon’s Choice

How to?
1. Saute the onion until soft
2. Add some garlic
3. Add the spices + salt & peppar
4. Add tomatoes
5. Add the Kidney beans
6.Turn off the heat & finally add some Udo’s choice

My 5 Reasons to Press Up

PRESS UP

not dress up

1) MORE CORE:

When powering out a push up, you’d ideally ensure that your spine is in a totally neutral and position and that the abs are tightly engaged throughout the movement. You’ll also want to avoid letting your back collapse as this would place undue stress on the lumbar region (which would become hyper extended). This is where you’ll need a strong core, and that musculature around your midsection will help to maintain a correct spine position to carry out the rest of the motion correctly. It’s a high plank position with added chest engagement, so as a basic foundation of the exercise, your abs should absolutely feel the burn in tandem with your arms and chest!

2) SHOULDER THE BURDEN:
Repeated practice of the press up will develop the scapular and rotator-cuff muscles, to help stabilise your shoulders. If you choose to pursue the bench press instead of press ups, that’s ok but you aren’t forced to use those muscles anywhere near as much, thus the compounding benefits of the exercise are lost!

3) LEG UP:

Maintaining what is effectively an active, very dynamic plank engages all sorts of unexpected muscles. A proper session of press ups, executed on tiptoes and with straight and engaged legs, requires the engagement and constant activation of the quads. It’s not one you feel immediately but after a while, it’s one of the more prominent lactic burns that suddenly takes over!

4) ARM FULL:
With the pivot point being your elbow joint, something’s got to get that body back up to the starting ‘high plank’ position… Cue the upper arm, or more specifically, the triceps brachii and the brachialis, which work antagonistically like a little team to control your trunk’s horizontal pitch. Both anterior and posterior deltoids do their fair share of the stabilisation at either end of the motion, and even the forearm gets in on the action at the nadir of the press up (this is especially the case in the narrow-grip variant). Warning: slender arms are an unavoidable consequence.

5) THE TREASURE ‘CHEST':
This is the main attraction. Many women I know often think it’s not for them, that it’s purely a ‘guy’ exercise: I couldn’t disagree more. We ALL need a strongly conditioned chest to help lift or push anything heavier than a sack of sweet potatoes. It’s also one of those ‘just in case’ muscle groups that you might need to spring into action, with serious power, at a critical moment; just letting the sternal and clavicular (the two constituents of your ‘pecs’) shrivel up is simply no way to go. The humble press up can rehabilitate those neglected little fellows, and develop a strong muscular ‘armor mesh’ across the breadth of the chest, from hitting the outer-pec at the base of the motion, to the inner pec at the top.

HOW TO EXECUTE THE CLASSIC PRESS UP IN 4 STEPS:
1. Lie on the floor face down and place your hands about a shoulder-width apart while pressing your torso up at arm’s length, on tiptoes.
2. Next, lower yourself downward until your chest almost touches the floor; inhale as you descend.
3. Now, press your upper body back up to the starting position while squeezing your chest, and exhale as you do so.
4. After a brief pause at the top-most contracted position, you can begin to lower yourself downward again for as many repetitions as needed until you reach utterly fatigued failure!

The "How To" Squat

HOW TO SQUAT?
1. Sit down and back, as though you’re sitting down onto a chair. Ensure to squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Deeper squats are fabulous at really exhausting the lower body, but are not recommended for those with weak knees!
2. Keep the weight on the heels and try not to extend the knees beyond your toes.
3. Keep you abs tight, roll your shoulders back and stand tall, maintaining a straight back.
5. Exhale with exertion.
6. Keep a soft bend in the knees when you push up. This will keep the work in your legs and not your knee joints.

DON’T FORGET TO STRETCH!
If some of your muscles are tight, it can indeed limit your technique and range of motion. For example make sure to stretch the Piriformis, hip flexors and, if possible, execute a full body stretch as after all you are working pretty much all the significant muscles in your body!

Berry Power

Berries pack a PUNCH!

The antioxidants in berries can help your body fight oxidative stress caused by free radicals that can lead to illness. Eating a diet rich in antioxidants can help improve your health, protect your skin and hair, and prevent certain diseases. All fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, but nutrient-rich berries are some of the absolute best sources

One of my  favourite Berry Smoothies (Great breakfast or snack!)

•1 small banana - sliced

•1/4 cup (60 ml) frozen raspberries

•1/4 cup (60 ml) diced frozen strawberries

•3-4 drops of vanilla

•3/4 cup (175 ml) Silk soy or almond beverage, any flavour except chocolate
Blend until well mixed - I prefer a thicker smoothie, but you can always adjust it by adding more liquids.

Enjoy!

Walk the Plank!

The modern day human spends an disproportionate amount of time seated; at a desk, in a car, by the computer or watching TV at home. Often, this means slumped shoulders, a curved neck, and generally ‘weak posture’… and then eventually, the scourge of ageing Britain, back pain. Whilst some muscles will naturally grow tighter and others weaker, there are exercises and stretches you can perform to encourage a stronger core. The word ‘core’ mainly describes the central band of the torso, and the purpose of training it, is to encourage better support and protection for the load-bearing joints in and around the back. Almost every move the body makes relies on the core – balance, running, reaching, lifting, kicking. Therefore it’s crucial to build and maintain well-conditioned core strength. This post is about doing exactly that! Read MORE to see 4 flavours of plank…

Raspberry Goodness

raspberry-chia cream smoothie

dairy, soy, and gluten free, vegan, raw

makes one smoothie

12 ounces raw coconut water

juice of 1 lemon

1/3 cup raw cashews

1/2 pint organic raspberries

2 tablespoons chia seeds

In high speed blender, combine coconut water, lemon juice and cashews, blend at highest speed until smooth. Add raspberries and chia seeds, blend until smooth. Enjoy immediately.

Props to Spabettie

Lemon Goodness

On the go?
This is what I like to have whenever I work-out or at the office.

Lemon Mint Water

1 bottle/tall glass of Cold Water

1 small handfull of Mint Leaves

4 Lemon Slices or Splash of Lemon Juice

Combine all ingredients in bottle or glass, stir glass contents or roll bottle back and forth. Enjoy. The lemon helps balance your acidic an alkaline levels, on top of being a great cleanser!

Meditation is the key to Relaxation

Find your Zen

This post focuses on my 5 key benefits of meditation. I don’t practise it with the mechanical regularity I’d like, but when the opportunity arises (like on this private little outcrop high atop the Caesar Augustus in Capri), it’s a joyous delight. Some may read this and instantly think ‘oh, that meditation spiritual malarkey, it’s not for me…‘ but you’d be depriving yourself of some exceptional medically proven benefits! Read on for MORE, and to discover my latest fabulous fitness fashion ensemble from the wonderfully-affordable Onzie, straight out of care-free California!

Shopping for a VEGAN

On the go?
This is what I like to have whenever I work-out or at the office.

Lemon Mint Water

1 bottle/tall glass of Cold Water

1 small handfull of Mint Leaves

4 Lemon Slices or Splash of Lemon Juice

Combine all ingredients in bottle or glass, stir glass contents or roll bottle back and forth. Enjoy. The lemon helps balance your acidic an alkaline levels, on top of being a great cleanser!

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How to Grocery Shop for
Packing Healthy Lunches To-Go 

Today I’m going to show you step-by-step as I put together a grocery list as if I were planning to take 1 lunch + 2 snacks on the go for 5 days of the week. I’ll walk you through each step as I plan the ingredients I’m going to buy and the meals that I going to eat and take on the go. You can follow this guide exactly as is, or simply use it for inspiration for your own snacks and meals.

So, for all of you that have just returned to school, or perhaps just vowing to start packing your lunch more (ahem, like me for example) this post is for you!

Planning My Shopping List

The first thing I do when I’m planning a grocery trip is take an inventory of what I currently have in my kitchen. This really helps me prevent waste because I can buy fresh ingredients that compliment the ingredients that I’m trying to get rid of. I’ve taken a look into my pantry, freezer, and fridge and these are some of the ingredients I’ll be keeping in mind when writing this week’s shopping list.

Ingredients on hand:

Pantry/dry: tri-colour quinoa, pumpkin seeds, cashews, dates, and raisins

Freezer: sprouted grain bread, frozen berries

Fresh/Refrigerated: bananas

Next, I want to focus on coming up with some lunches and snacks that:

• are easy to take on the go
• require minimal preparation and time
• use mostly staple ingredients that I usually have on hand
• and use lots of the same ingredients to minimize my shopping list
• are healthy and satisfying
• provide enough variation to keep my food interesting

I’ve assumed that the average person attends school or work 5 days a week and needs 1 lunch + 1-2 snacks per day.

Meal Planning – Lunches

For each lunch I’ve included a couple of links to examples of similar meals that I’ve posted on Garden of Vegan in the past. These are just meant to give you an idea of how you have customize any one of these ideas to your preferences and the ingredients you have on hand.

spicy baked tofu salad - baby spinach, baked sriracha & soy sauce tofu, brown rice or quinoa, chickpeas (optional), pumpkin seeds or hemp hearts (optional), avocado, and hummus or balsamic vinaigrette for dressing.

• Food on the go: sriracha & soy sauce tofu, pumpkin seeds, spinach, brown rice, avocado, grape tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette.
• Recipe: Baked tofu, baby spinach, brown rice, and avocado salad.

crunchy rice wraps - rice paper wraps filled with thinly sliced red bell pepper, carrot, cucumber and green onion + strips of baked sriracha & soy sauce tofu and sesame seeds with a spicy peanut sauce for dipping.

• Crunchy veggie + tofu rice wrap preparation photoset
• Crunchy veggie + smoked tofu rice wraps with spicy peanut sauce

vegan power bowl - base of quinoa or brown rice, sriracha & soy sauce tofu, chickpeas, and leftover steamed or sautéed veggies + toppings like guacamole, fresh avocado, sriracha, hummus, etc.

• Vegan power bowl (pictured above) – quinoa,  carrot, zucchini, sriracha and soy sauce tofu, avocado, hummus and tomatoes.
• Vegan power bowl – tri-colour quinoa, baked sriracha and soy sauce tofu, zucchini noodles, carrot, and avocado.
  

PB & apple sandwich - peanut butter, apple slices, cinnamon and hemp hearts on whole grain bread or English muffin.

• Almond butter + apples slices on an English muffin
• Toast with peanut butter + apple slices

leftovers - pretty self explanatory, I think it’s safe to say that you would have leftovers from the previous nights dinner at least once a week. A quick note on lunches and leftovers: You could totally have leftovers for lunch 5 days a week, this is probably the easiest way to pack a lunch. All you have to do is begin purposefully cooking an extra serving or two of dinner each night!

Meal Planning – Snacks

veggies + hummus - your choice of fresh veggies, this week I’d use carrots sticks, celery sticks, sliced cucumber, and broccoli florets with hummus (add 1-2 tbsp of hemp hearts to hummus for a protein boost.)

vegan berry yogurt parfait -  layer vegan yogurt with fresh or frozen berries, pack the granola separately to prevent sogginess.

homemade trail mix - your choice of nuts, seeds, dried fruit and other add ins like chocolate chips or banana chips.

chopped apples + PB - apple slices with peanut butter (or almond butter), add some cinnamon, dark chocolate chunks, or walnuts for a twist.

fresh chopped fruit - your choice of fresh fruit, this week I’d use orange slices, chopped apples, and green grapes.

crackers with pickles and smoked tofu - or sub smoked tofu for soy sauce and sriracha tofu.

quick and easy healthy sweets - Banana Chocolate Chip Superfood Cookies or PB & Chocolate Superfood Bites

ants on a log - celery sticks spread with peanut butter and a sprinkle of raisins

Props to I Love Vegan

Great lunch ideas, healthy and delicious!