Vegan lunch – Spicy red lentils with rice and kale.

This is how I usually eat. There are few dishes I love as much as rice with lentils. I just threw whatever I had into a pot without any precise measuring since I kind of know by sight how much of each ingredient to use. It required about 20 minutes cooking time.

The ingredients in this are:

Red lentils(at 13g per 1/4 cup, an excellent source of protein – I used about 1/2 cup)

White Basmati rice

Chopped kale

A splash of olive oil

Curry powder

Red cayenne pepper powder

Garlic powder

And I used water instead of vegetable broth. I would have used vegetable broth if I had some.

It came out alright, though a little on the mushy side. It was kind of Indian or Middle Easternish. I joggled for an hour this morning and this vegan, gluten-free meal was a great way to refuel. If anyone has any good ideas for improving this, let me know.

This dish is kind of part of my heritage – my ancestors lived close to where this was and is commonly eaten.

Winter is officially here

Now that winter is officially here with all its challenges and positives, I keep thinking of the how different it was when I joggled during the summer and its own unique challenges.

I joggled many times around this lake during the summer. This photo was taken in the Rockefeller Preserve, Pocantico Hills, NY.

In a strange kind of way, I miss it, especially as the weather gets colder. It’s like I have forgotten the profuse sweating, the heat-induced muscle fatigue causing me to slow down or drop the balls, the countless insects biting me or flying into my face, and the sunscreen I had to rub over much of my body to prevent sunburn. Okay, maybe I haven’t forgotten, but I still achieved bliss on a good run. I remember joggling in the summer wishing it was the heaven that is winter.

And now sometimes I wish it was summer, or spring. How ironic. The middle of the winter means heavy clothing, shorter days, a running nose, the risk of frost-bite, kids throwing snow balls, and sometimes stiffer muscles. If there is snow or ice, winter joggling can be especially problematic – be not afraid of new challenges. And the local kids should know they can’t win in a snow ball fight with a joggler!

“When you long for a life without difficulties, remind yourself that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure” – Uknown

Although I have to adapt to the weather, all the rules for joggling are the same. For beginners, this is very important: Maintaining the proper rhythm and posture is everything. It is like music, making beautiful music, becoming one with the rhythm and one with the balls. You may hear the music, you may not. If a melody develops, literally run with it. Hum along if you want.

With all this emphasis on rhythm, and music perhaps it would be better for jogglers to forget about running and to think of themselves as dancers. Running simply takes you from point A to point B. But juggling adds a new magical dimension to the running; going from point A to point B^3.

It really doesn’t matter what kind of dancer-joggler you think of yourself as. If you prefer the grace of a ballerina, go with that. Or if you prefer hip-hop dance, go ahead. You don’t even necessarily have to do the 3 ball cascade pattern, although that is most efficient and easiest for beginners. Above all, be creative. You may surprise yourself and learn all sorts of new things about yourself through joggling. If it really does make us smarter, that isn’t such a surprise.

In the new year, whatever your fitness goals are, it helps to be as creative as possible, to think outside-the-box, to make it as fun as possible and to not care what anyone else thinks.

And for the record, I’ve decided to stop eating eggs, which makes me vegan yet again.

My visit to Whole Foods

Many health-conscious people simply can’t live without Whole Foods. Or rather, make that rich, health-conscious people. Even though I seldom ever shop there, it can be fun to look around, especially since much of the store is a wild carnival of vegan products. And gluten-free products. So it’s a great place to shop if you’re a vegan and/or have celiac disease. Or rather, I should say, rich vegans, and rich people with celiac disease.

The selection they have is simply amazing. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as sprouted almond butter until last night. Look at that price!

And it’s not even organic, sprouted, raw, whole, gourmet almond butter. Don’t forget Fair Trade! It looks yummy alright, but I prefer my peanut butter and only the occasional unsprouted, poor man’s almond butter. To be honest, I’m not sure if the sprouting process does anything to improve the almond’s overall nutritional status, but it probably improves profit margins. I say this as someone who used to sprout nuts and seeds on a regular basis. I think they are best fresh and unprocessed, so homemade is best.

It seems some people may mistakenly believe if something is sold at Whole Foods, it’s gotta be healthy. Or healthier than what is sold at plebeian supermarkets. I don’t buy into this. It seems a large part of Whole Foods appeal is you can buy “healthy”, more expensive junk food there.

Calories are calories, organic or non-organic.

Look at this section devoted to that healthiest of healthy ingredients – sugar. Of course, as we all know, if sugar is organic, or vegan, or fair-trade, it’s healthier than regular sugar. Or at least some people might want you to believe this. I can’t say I am one of them. As a vegetarian though, I can understand the point of vegan sugar, since bone-char is added to regular sugar as an anti-caking agent by some sugar manufacturers.

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

When it comes to organics, I am ambivalent, though I believe we should minimize pesticide use as much as possible(both organic pesticides and conventional pesticides). I eat mostly conventional produce and food, I simply try to avoid the foods with the highest pesticide(like strawberries or peaches) content or I wash them thoroughly. It’s also best to eat locally grown when possible, organic or not.

The part of Whole Foods that has some of the truly healthiest and most reasonably priced items is the bulk grains/seeds/nuts section.

Although I see better prices elsewhere, this isn’t too crazy.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“Live organic vegan euphoria” – I’ve thought I’ve heard everything.

I can’t eat this though, due to a nasty chocolate allergy, and the price.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It is interesting how this tiny health food store manages to stay in business just a few blocks away from Whole Foods.  

 
 
 
Just about everything you need to eat healthy can be found at your local grocery, supermarket, or farmer’s market. You don’t have to eat expensive foods to be optimally healthy. If you know how to identify edible wild plants, you can even get vegetables for free if you have a large park or wilderness area near you.

New joggling record set in the rain

Laugh at bad weather. Unless the rain is especially heavy, or there’s tornadoes or a hurricane, don’t let “bad” weather interfere with your running routine. Yet again I learned the important lesson today to not let the weather prevent me from performing at my best.

It was raining, but luckily it was light. It was about 40 farenheit(4.4 C) but I didn’t feel the cold. There were a lot of puddles around that I dodged or jumped over. There was just slightly more than a hint of wind. I recently purchased some new sneakers, but wore my older pair since there is still some life in them. I wore sweatpants instead of shorts and had gloves and sunglasses(not very dark ones because of how cloudy it was)on. I didn’t really feel that energetic in the morning when I joggled. My breakfast was my usual bialys with sunflower seeds. 

Unfortunately, my feet got a little wet due to the rain and due to stepping in a few puddles(I need to work on this!), and my gloves got wet also. My sweatshirt and hat also got very wet. Worst of all, my sunglasses got wet and foggy, in spite of the baseball type hat I had on. I sometimes had trouble seeing the balls or my surroundings, but I couldn’t dry them for obvious reasons.

And yet, I broke all previous records. I consistently joggled 3 balls in 1 hour and 5 minutes, covering a distance of 6.7 miles(10.7 km) from start to finish without dropping any of the wet balls even once. I still have trouble believing it. I almost dropped the balls about 5 times(usually while doing tricks) but managed to catch them at the last second. I didn’t even intend to break any records, since I was kind of tired and thought the wet weather would interfere with my joggling. It didn’t. It was an amazing experience, though very exhausting toward the end. I didn’t even do any warm-ups before the run.

I still consider myself to be a total clutz.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I hope everyone has a happy Turkey day. For me it is “Sweet Potato Day”, since I’m a vegetarian.

I may try to squeeze in some joggling and/or juggling today, even with everything I have to do. There’s nothing like a wild joggle this time of year to help put my mind at ease. The autumn colors in my area are spectacular.

If the winter or being busy during the holidays starts eating away at your fitness routine, remember these wise words from Aristotle:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

Always think of creative ways of incorporating exercise into what you do. See if you can teach a family member how to juggle. Go for a walk with your family after Thanksgiving dinner if possible, but above all, have a good time. Be thankful for what you have. Happy Thanksgiving again, and Happy Holidays!