What I eat in a day High Carb Vegan

Blog number 3 (I think) on What I eat in a day :)

Most of my food made it in the photos :)

Good morning Beautiful Yogis. The day here was bright and sunny. Sofie loves 15 minutes of sunbathing in the morning. She gets her vit D :) One other thing Sofie LOVES is kumquats (always cut and deseeded). I can't take a kumquat photo without her getting her little self ready to jack me out of my kumquat :)

My day started with Some Reishi "Coffee" Reishi Coffee Recipe Video HERE
BTW I have been getting a lot of questions in regards to knee pain. This recipe nourishes the kidneys which govern the knees in Chinese Medicine. Generally kidneys and knee pain is almost always related. So definitely check it out and if you can source the herbs indulge in its grounding, nourishing, earthy goodness.
I added cardamom and ginger to make it easy on the digestion. Rehmannia can be a bit heavy as its prepared traditionally in a reduction of wine and black bean juice. This is a deeply rebuilding herb that supports vitality and fertility, it can regulate the menstrual cycle and reduce inflammation.

Rehmannia, Reishi mushroom, astragalus, cardamom, ginger brew

After I left it simmering for a while I was ready to enjoy a few mugs.

Reishi coffee with hazelnut stevia and Dream Blends Hazelnut Cashew milk

The first brew is always bitter and intense and I have to add vegan milk to it. The subsequent brews are milder and I have them with no add ins.
I was working while drinking my reishi so an hour or two later I made some GREEN COFFEE as I was quitting black coffee.

Kumquats, Persimmons and Green Coffee with non dairy milk

Notice Sofie in the background. You couldn't script this if you tried to haha

FOR MY TAKE ON GREEN COFFEE, HOW TO QUIT COFFEE, HOW TO PREPARE IT AND THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF GREEN COFFEE YOU CAN CLICK here

Later on I had some baby bananas.

I am not sure why I prefer them over regular bananas but the taste is pretty close. The baby bananas seem to have a lower water content and taste more like banana bread, banana dessert or something. Also they are less hybridized.

On some days I have 5 of them (we split with Sofie of course) on others 15. Depends what quantity makes me feel satiated for the moment.

A big baby banana - size reference (Yes!! She thinks she is getting sum lol) 

I worked on a L Handstand & Legs Routine for 20 minutes. This workout was very intense and a ton of fun for the advanced yogis. I am hoping to shoot it this week and upload it as soon as I can. Then I made some of the celery lime drink from my chaturanga challenge class, the link to the class is here. A few of you asked for the ingredients so I remembered to photograph them.  If you want to join the chaturanga challenge this is the link to the video. There is nothing more important for arm balances than mastering chaturanga dandasana perfectly.

Cilantro or parsley, celery, jalapeno, lemon, garlic(optional) and some savory and other dried spices.  Blend with water!

A few hours later I had some of this stevia sweetened sparkling water.

SPREE with vitamin B12

Followed by some more Kumquats

Kumquats

This is how much she loves kumquats! She is all business around them.

Oh but she wants them!

She actually knows to never grab anything from the table, trash or grocery bags! Phew! 

Dinner time. As usual I had raw and steamed/roasted veggies and dip. Salad and dressing.

I made the best salad dressing ever! This was an incredible combination of flavors. I combined tangerines, kumquats, wasabi, chipotle, sesame seeds, tofu, flax seed, ginger, pomegranate seeds and a few more ingredients to make something that tastes out of this world. Recipe here

Some veggies and dip

Pumkin tofu dip

As a rule adding mashed pumpkin, peanut butter, carrots, tofu and sesame seed to dips makes them amazing. This dip was made with pumpkin, tofu, chipotle, cinnamon and a few other ingredients.

Sauteed (no oil) carrots for dipping. Glazed in orange, pomegranate molases base.

Glazed carrots (orange juice, pomegranate molases glaze)

Tofu tomato carrot dip with sumac and raw brussel sprouts

I ended up eating around 1500 calories and around 15% of the calories from fat. Why I don't eat more calories? I have changed how I train in the past 4 years quite a bit. I think I mentioned in my BIO that I used to teach up to 20 classes a week. Most of which were power yoga classes lasting an hour and a half. So I know quite a bit about being very physically active. I am a person that needs balance in certain areas of my life. Yes, certain areas only. Knowledge is off limits. There! I allow myself to be on the extreme side. Overall I follow what I consider for me a middle path. So if I eat 3000 calories as promoted by many health gurus then I will have to exercise more which is not optimal for me. I prefer to exercise enough to be fit, strong, flexible and balanced and that's not that much exercise. :) 

Why I dont believe in low sugar, low carb diets - that's a future post. I have eaten the same way pretty much since the age of 15. Meaning mostly fruits and veggies with some other additions such as beans, grains, nuts and seeds. Superfoods to me are a fad. Herbs however are Natures Superfoods! As far as dry powdered superfoods most of them are not bad for you but extremely overprised and of average health promoting efficacy compared to the local varieties of FRESH veggies and fruit in your area. Herbs however are a truly powerful medicine. I turn to Nature when I need to heal. I love herbs more than I love yoga. Sorry Yoga you are still my second biggest love :P Yoga is a way to connect with the human soul. Herbs are a way to connect with the soul of Mother Nature. They are the expression of her genius. 

Time to walk the little monkey! 

What I eat in a day

Namaste Beautiful Yogis,

I am continuing with "What I eat in a day" blogs once a week :)

If I continue the date & banana and veggies & dip trend it might get boring and redundant, but I do go through phases :) And then I move on. 

For example last summer I went through a broccoli phase. Couldn't get enough broccoli. Now the love affair with broccoli is over and i have moved on to bigger and better relationships haha

This week was all about tomato dip.... just tastes divine.

So yesterday's breakfast was late. I had tea in the morning and got caught up working so didn't get to eat till 2pm. 

Here's my morning tea "ceremony".

The republic of Tea milk oolong. If you want to try Oolong tea I would say get a different one. This is my least favorite of the Milk Oolong varieties I have tried so far.



I got caught up in work so next thing I know it's 2 o'clock. I had some hojicha tea (I am on a  rare tea kick which passes quickly- usually I have a lot of herbal teas) with dates and shared a few bananas with Sofie (she wanted her cut for protecting me 24/7)

Then some more work. And a raw cacao herbal drink with shilajit, dandelion root, chipotle/cayenne, slippery elm, peppermint, hazelnut, coconut milk.

An hour later I had a ton of dates with cacao cayenne tea. This drink was amazing. Not sure what made it so delicious. Maybe the dates.

Then it was time for Sofie's walk. She practically kicked me out of the house with her leash in her mouth. She figured she's been patient long enough. Beautiful flowering tree in my neighborhood on the walk. 

Any guesses what the name of the tree is?

My whole neighborhood smells like Orange Blossom - heavenly aroma reminiscent Jasmine flowers in May.

(THIS IS TURNING INTO MY TEA DIARIES) 

Embarrassing but a fact- I had more tea after that- Organic india Tulsi Vanilla Cream and saffron. IMO vanilla and tulsi do not go together. 

After the walk I shot the next challenge which I will upload later. Then I went shopping for food and came home and worked out for only 10 minutes but at a high intensity. 

Dinner time! Woohooo

The secret to eating vegan, 80/10/10 , Raw or High in fruits and Veggies diet is Dips and Salad dressings. They taste divine. You can prepare amazing high in anti-oxidants concoctions with healing spices and herbs and that way you can get all your healing herbs in, plus your raw veggies. I eat a lot of raw veggies. Big portions. I had a few refills of what you see below:

Raw cabbage with tomato pumpkin hummus almond dip.  Summer savory, chipotle, sage added. Over the cabbage I sprinkled some designer mexican chile and some kelp. (I had it in my cupboard- you can sprinkle anything on it really) 

I also played with creating some pineapple, tomato, pepper salsa-dip. Refreshing!

I also experimented with some saffron pumpkin dip. Turned out tasting like an ethnic amazing dessert that you may find in a small shop in a strange country while traveling the world.  :) This is a pumpkin, cinnamon, mesquite powder, saffron, tofu dip. It's sweet, but if you add onions and chile to it it's sweet and savory ;) (this is either gross or divine depending on interpretation) it's like durian recreated.

 I love the color!

After dinner I had some organic lolly pops (do not recommend you do that haha)  They are so flavorful so I had to try them. Just FYI last time I had pops was 2 years ago so it's not a regular part of my diet. Those ones 2 years ago were mango chipotle- I had to have them. The reason I put chipotle on everything is because it's freaking DELICIOUS. I learned that from a mexican farmer probably 8  years ago. I was in a Vegas orchard picking fruit- apricots, figs, pecans, peaches, nectarines, etc. And he saw me holding apricots and asked me if I knew how to eat them. Silly farmer! of course I know how to eat fruit- I eat it off the tree haha....

OK not the answer he was looking for- you open it in 2 halves, remove the stone and sprinkle some salt, chipotle and lime on it. And then it's ready to eat (tastes amazing on watermelon and mango- even cilantro and black pepper can go on top)  :D I skip the salt now but chipotle goes in everything nowadays. 

On a side note, in the evening I wanted to make some anklets and bracelets. I have never been into crafts before, NEVER; but I had these beautiful beads laying around and wanted to make bracelets. However, I realized that I had to order elastic string for it in order to complete my jewelry-making skills out. 

Beautiful Beads- semi precious stones. Two colors of turquoise, rose quarts, garnets, etc.

Thats all my foods and activities for the day :)

These is probably around 1700 calories at around 80/10/10 ratio (carbs to fat to protein percentage from calories)

Love and Light 

What I ate Wednesday

What I eat on a daily or weekly basis is a question I get all the time. 

It's hard for me to photograph everything I eat because I tend to be random. Here is a day of food I was able to capture in photos. :)

I don't claim to be a nutritionist.  I am not telling anyone to do what I do. I have been vegetarian for almost 20 years. Since I have been a devoted yoga practitioners, I have been very in tune with how I feel. I am very aware of how my energy level is and how my mental clarity is. I do what makes me feel great. If I can breathe deeply during my practice, if my heart is open, and light; my mind is clear and positive and my energy through the roof, then I know I am eating well.

I am always changing my diet up. No 2 days look alike. Seasonally I change my diet quite a bit as well. Right now I am doing 80 10 10 diet, mostly raw. I always come back to it. Even if I go higher fat when I travel eventually I get back to 80 10 10. Have been doing it for almost 10 years. It's especially healing for certain conditions.

OK onto my grubs :)

Breakfast: I was indulgent - freshly roasted coffee (I buy single origin honey processed green beans  and roast them myself-very bohemian haha), silky oolong tea.(both not 80 10 10 approved, but I am a rebel haha)  I keep rebrewing it all day. I learned that at my herbal school during a tea ceremony in Ben Lomond, California. The more I re-bew it when it's a high quality tea, the more calming the effect is. Silk Oolong also known as "milk oolong" named for it's milky flavor achieved through a special process of fermentation. It's a delicious energizing drink reminiscent of milk and toffee with a silky texture. 

I had some cacao butter, honey (not vegan obviously), herbs (slippery elm, rose hip powder, etc) cacao power  herbal mix to go with the tea. I am constantly working on healing herbal concoctions, super herbs, superfood mixes, etc. So this was a jar I had from some herbal healing recipe I was working on previously. 

I hardly ever eat breakfast. Since childhood. Around noon as I was working on a class I  had a handful of dates with my tea. :P

These are dry black abada dates. 

A few hours later another handful or two of dates. 

An hour later a couple of ripe bananas. 

Water and tea through the day.
I didn't workout that day. So generally this makes for  a lighter food day. 
I got hungry in the late afternoon so I had frozen sapote, bananas, cherymoyas and peaches with almond milk, mesquite power (adds sweet caramel, vanilla flavor), a huge scoop of cacao power, stevia and chipotle. All mixed up. Tastes like a decadent chocolate fruit caramel ice cream. I had a big bowl of that heaven. This photo is before the cacao powder. I add a cup of almond or coconut milk and chop it all up. 

Then I took Sofie for a 2 mile walk. 

And after that had dinner. 

A huge serving of raw veggies - romaine lettuce, fennel. I had some more than what's in the photo. And a dip made out of raw carrots, frozen peas, cilantro, tomatoes, almond milk, chipotle, white pepper, onion, garlic, masala, orange juice, balsamic vinegar  etc. 

In the evening I had some ginger candies.  

I had around 1300 calories that day which is somewhat low for 80 10 10 but I didn't workout that day and the following day my energy was very strong so it was perfectly enough food for this gal :)

NAMASTE