Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/02/12/food-fitness-highlights-from-the-week/

Hey friends! I’m loving the excitement on my Win a Trip to Run the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler post! Thank you so much for reading my blog and for your kind comments. Please keep those entries coming – I wish I could have ALL of you to run it with me!

As always, it’s been a busy week over here – starting in late January/early February I usually see an increase in new AnneTheRD nutrition client sign ups and this year has been no exception, so I had a bunch of new clients this week. I worked downtown Tuesday through Thursday which was also nice – I’m so much happier when I’m not home by myself! On Wednesday, I had a morning client in Arlington and didn’t have time to pack lunch before getting out the door. No worries – perfect excuse to have a lunch date with a coshared office buddy downtown!

We hit up MASO, a nice make your own salad and sandwich spot that I’ve been to a few times now. Always delicious! I made my own salad with all sorts of veggies, salmon, quinoa, and feta. …

Source: http://greatist.com/live/change-someones-mind?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Ah, the art of persuasion—a superpower for us mortals. It’s how your parents got you to eat your veggies and clean your room, even though you probably wanted to eat chicken nuggets and live in a pigsty.

Everyone has their own style when it comes to swaying others. Some get aggressive, while others kill us with kindness. And now science has figured out the most effective way to change someone’s mind. The researchers followed ChangeMyView (a forum on Reddit where users post opinions and see if any replies makes them change their mind) for two years to determine which techniques worked best. It’s not the perfect sample—this study took place entirely online, and the users knew others were going to try to persuade them. But there are still three big-picture strategies to employ when trying to win your next argument.

1. Determine if they’ve got their mind made up.

Some people are easy to sway, and others are downright stubborn. Before you come with guns blazing (which isn’t a good tactic anyway, as you’ll see below), take a moment to get a read on how open the person is to other ideas. Researchers found people who use “I” statements are more malleable than those who opt for the universal “we.”

2. Use calm language.

We know what speaking calmly sounds like, but calm language is a little different. It’s all about avoiding words that excite us and make us feel riled up or upset, like “threat” or “loser.” Duller language ca…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/02/12/466284145/what-the-heck-is-natural-wine-heres-a-taste?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Bottles for sale at Passage de la Fleur, a natural wine shop in Brooklyn, N.Y. For some, natural wines must be completely unadulterated — without the use of sugar, clarifiers or other additives common in modern winemaking. Other natural winemakers, however, will use a little sulfur or added yeast to correct problems, according to Stephen Meuse, a wine buyer in Massachusetts.

Andrea Shea for NPR

If you follow the vast world of fermented grapes, you ma…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/meditation/20-most-brilliant-insights-ever-shared-about-love/

This Valentine’s Day, and every day, aim to live with more patience, compassion, understanding, and love for your partner and those closest to you. To help keep these practices front-of-mind, we sought guidance from history’s greatest teachers—from poets and philosophers to scientists and spiritual leaders—on love. Heed their advice to open your mind and heart whether it’s to manifest love, better understand your partner, be less critical, or learn how to make love a real priority in every relationship, especially with yourself.

“As you perform good actions selflessly, true love will blossom, which will purify our emotional mind.”
—Amma, spiritual leader and guru, Amma.org

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it be rather a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”
—Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, The Prophet

“So if there is a verb, for me, that comes with love, it’s ‘to have.’ And if there is a verb that comes with desire, it is ‘to want.’ In love, we want to have; we want to know the beloved. We want to minimize the distance. We want to contract that gap. We want to neutralize the tensions. We want closeness. But in desire, we tend to not really want to go back to the places we’ve already gone. Forgone conclusion does n…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/being-delusional-can-help-relationship?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

When you spend enough time dating someone, they’re bound to get on your nerves—whether you can’t stand the way they chew food or you’re upset they forgot to take out the trash again. But a recent study suggests there are benefits to seeing your significant other through rose-colored glasses. As this video from The Science of Us explains, people who describe their partner in the same way they would their dream guy or gal (even if the description isn’t totally true) tend to be the happiest. By fooling ourselves with positive thinking, we may encourage our partners to live up to our higher expectations.

So if you say your partner is super thoughtful, despite the fact that they occasionally forget about weekend plans, you could be helping your relationship—even if you’re lying to yourself a little. (Or maybe the researchers came to this conclusion because people just didn’t want to trash talk their partners.)

The researchers make an important caveat in their findings: You shouldn’t use this technique if you’re in an abusive or toxic relationship, but couples in healthy relationships can benefit from giving each other a little more credit than they deserve.

…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/02/11/466050766/citrus-in-the-snow-geothermal-greenhouses-grow-local-produce-in-winter?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Russ Finch holds up half of a Cara Cara orange grown in his geothermal greenhouse in Alliance, Neb.

Courtesy of Grant Gerlock/Harvest Public Media

For the Midwesterner who likes to eat local, this time of year is a challenge. Browse the produce shelves in middle America — or any place where snow falls in winter — and you’ll find carrots from Mexico and peppers from Peru.

Some visionaries think greenhouses could help meet demand for year-round local produce. But there’s a problem with greenhouses: They can be energy guzzlers, typically lit and heated by burning fossil fuels.

“It might actually, energy-wise, make more sense to ship from faraway distances, because we do have a lot of energy-efficient ways to ship, including trains, barges and such,” says Dawn Thilmany, who studies the local food system at Colorado State University. But if you can cut out those carbon-rich heat sources, growing local greens in greenhouses starts to make sense, she says.

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Source: http://greatist.com/live/masturbation-affects-sex-drive?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

It may still be the punchline of many a joke, but self-pleasure has come a long way since American Pie’s apple pie incident. While the stigma around self-love is slowly shrinking, we have to ask: Is it possible it’s affecting our ability to get it on IRL?

Masturbation actually helps keep your sexual pilot light on, says Megan Fleming, Ph.D., a sex and relationship therapist. If you get in the habit of bringing yourself to orgasm and experiencing that onslaught of dopamine, oxytocin, and stress relief, you won’t start with a cold engine when you want to get revved up with a partner. Getting excited to get it on may not be a problem for some, but if you tend to have a low libido, solo sessions can help you know exactly what turns you on, Fleming says.

And while no one’s going to touch you exactly like you do, having a super-great time with yourself won’t necessarily diminish a bout with someone else, says Megan Stubbs, a sexologist and sex educator. Instead look at masturabation like an opportunity to communicate with your partner—touch yourself in front of them, walk them through what you’re doing, and they’ll pick up tips.

Whether or not you want to make masturbation a teachable moment, there’s no reason to worry about…

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/BCCe6UhojEo/

“The hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve been into mindfulness for a long time but having never been much of an artist, the mindfulness coloring craze had bypassed me until recently.

I brought a book and some colored pencils to keep me amused during a recent train trip but enjoyed it so much I’ve continued the habit—and to my surprise, the work I’ve done looks quite good!

I’d heard that mindful coloring is good for reducing stress levels and being more present, but I found even more benefits. For example, after coloring I noticed that I had flashes of inspiration and ideas that seemed to come out of nowhere for someone not usually known for their creative genius.

Coloring is less about passing time now and more about helping me connect to the present moment and activate the creative part of my brain. It has also taught me a few life lessons, which I’d like to share:

1. We create what we envision.

Life is a blank canvas; we make it what we want it to be.

Like the pages of my coloring book, each new day is blank with potential and possibility, and I get to choose what colors I use, how, and when, and the attitude with which I approach the page or the day.

I can spend the day…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/videos/chicken-wraps/

Taco Tuesday has passed, but you still have a stack of tortillas in the fridge. Put them to good use with this perfectly-seasoned, easy-to-make Middle Eastern Chicken Wrap recipe. In this cooking video, Sonima chefs Andy Clay and Laurent Large will show you how to prepare this feast that’s light, fresh and full of unique flavors, like za’atar. The fragrant and tangy spice blend, which you can buy pre-made or whip up at home, is generally a combination of ground dried thyme, oregano or marjoram mixed with toasted sesame seeds, sea salt, and the tart, lemony-flavored secret ingredient, sumac. If you’ve never tried za’tar or sumac, this is a great introduction to a popular Middle Eastern seasoning that translates so well on many dishes, including eggs, grilled vegetables, mashed avocado, fish, red meat, and pasta salads.

Photo by Matthew Aron Roth

The post Middle Eastern Herbed Chicken Wraps appeared first on Sonima.

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Source: http://greatist.com/move/bodyweight-boot-camp-workout?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

By now you should know that you don’t need equipment to get a great workout. There are seemingly endless possibilities when it comes to bodyweight moves, and this workout proves it.

In just 15 minutes, you’ll work up a sweat, build strength, and spike your heart rate, thanks to variations on mountain climbers, push-ups, and some plyometrics. Take a few minutes to warm up before starting this workout, and hit play below when you’re ready.

To recap, here’s the workout you’ll be doing. Perform each exercise below in order for 10 reps.

Side-to-Side Bunny Hop to Mountain Climber Plank Run to Plank Jack Standing Long Jump to High Knees Spiderman Run Donkey Kick Mountain Knee to Elbow and Diagonal Lateral Launch Alternating Lunge Tuck Jump Push-Up Clap Sit-Up Toe Touch to V-Sit Mountain Climber Progression Boxing Punch and Kick Diagonal Mountain Climber Assisted Alternating Pistol Jump Squat Tuck Jump …