Category Archives: Fitness

The Powerful Ways Yoga Can Help with Posture

Source: http://www.sonima.com/videos/help-with-posture/

Watch video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRVaZNCzzwg

The greatest benefits of yoga lie in its ability to improve mental well-being. That said, it’s no coincidence that the practice also brings considerable physical benefit, and has been embraced in modern society as a calisthenic workout. In this video featuring John Campbell, Ph.D., an Ashtanga yoga teacher and associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia, you’ll be taken through a series of standing postures as Campbell expresses the importance of each physical and subtle element of the pose. One of the central components of the body’s adaptation to healthier forms, and the shedding of habitual patterns that cause pain, lies in the power of the breath, which as Campbell says, becomes the axis point for the body.

Related: The Importance of Breathing in Yoga

 

 

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Should Everyone Go Gluten Free?

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/01/28/should-everyone-go-gluten-free/

“Should I stop eating gluten?”

As a dietitian, that’s a question I get asked a lot by my AnneTheRD nutrition counseling clients. I’ve been thinking about doing a post on gluten for awhile, so when in the comments of my 7 Common Nutrition Myths blog post many of you requested a post on gluten, I decided it was time.

should i go gluten free

Before I get into my opinions, let’s talk first about what gluten actually is. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, spelt, triticale, and rye. It acts as a sort of elastic, helping foods to maintain their shape.

wheat

For people with specific medical conditions, it is importa…

How to Make Quesadillas Kids Will Love

Source: http://www.sonima.com/videos/how-to-make-quesadillas/

Watch video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA3CUo0duvE

In this video, join Sonima chef Andy Clay and his daughters, in assembling the perfect quesadilla. In just a few simple steps, Clay explains his tricks of the trade, and has his little helper chefs share some of their favorite healthy meals. All you need is a pan, oil or butter, a tortilla, cheese, and any protein of your choice.

Related: Healthy Breakfast Recipes for Kids

Photo by Ben Gately

 

The post How to Make Quesadillas Kids Will Love appeared first on Sonima.

The Curious Cookware Of A Williams-Sonoma Founder Lands In A Museum

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/01/28/462694422/the-curious-cookware-of-a-williams-sonoma-founder-lands-in-a-museum?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Clockwise from top left: French copper pate mold circa 1870, potato steamer c. 1950, poacher for turbot fish c. 1960, Earthenware tripiere pot c. 1920, terracotta toupin for simmering stews and soups from c. 1940.

Clockwise from top left: French copper pate mold circa 1870, potato steamer c. 1950, poacher for turbot fish c. 1960, Earthenware tripiere pot c. 1920, terracotta toupin for simmering stews and soups from c. 1940.

Courtesy of The Culinary Institute of America

When Chuck Williams, the founder of Williams-Sonoma, died in December at the age of 100, he left behind a vast collection of culinary artifacts.

It included everything from a copper pig mold (for serving suckling pig), terrines adorned with rabbit heads and pastry equipment from the early 1900s.

Some of the items filled his San Francisco residence. Others were in storage. Now, Williams’ estate has gifted the nearly 4,000 piece collection to the Culinary Institute of America. Many of the pieces …

Unconventional Productivity

Source: http://zenhabits.net/productive/

By Leo Babauta

There isn’t a productivity guide in the world that will solve the problems that pretty much all of us face daily.

I’m the same as you — I face these obstacles to getting stuff done:

Doing busywork, instead of important work.
Going to distractions instead of doing difficult work.
Being tired and not feeling like tackling hard tasks.

These are all really the same problem: when you have important but difficult tasks to do, you run to distractions, or do busywork, or just goof off because you don’t have the energy.

I deal with this every day, and I don’t always solve it. But what if we could dive into this problem, and figure out what was going on? We’d be masters of the universe.

Pause Training

In truth, we face this problem of running from discomfort all the time, but we just don’t normally see it happening. This is why meditation is such a great training ground for the mind — you sit there and have nothing to do but notice the mind running from the discomfort of the present moment. Over and over. And in time, you learn how to work with this.

So I suggest you use your important tasks as meditation training, so that you’ll learn to work with the discomfort that arises.

Here’s how:

Pick one important task you really should get done today.
Clear space in front of you to do this task. Close the browser, or all browser tabs except the one you need to deal with this….

5 Ways to Feel Better in Your Body

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/K3vnLLUIehs/

Woman raising arms

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” ~Maya Angelou

We’re bombarded by advertisements that tell us if we’re thin, we’ll love ourselves. If we suddenly look a certain way, all our worries will vanish.

I’ve always been thin without really having to work at it—well, in my younger days at least.

Yes, I was skinny, but that didn’t mean I was happy. I was suffering from depression, had terrible skin, and just felt awful in my body.

Being a “perfect” size is not what will make you happy, because happiness isn’t about how you look or how much you weigh; it’s about how you feel about yourself and how you feel in your own skin.

One day I went shopping for a wedding dress and I was so depressed afterward that I swallowed most of my prescribed medication.

All I wanted to do was sleep, and sleep I did.

When I woke up I was hooked up to tubes and lying in a hospital bed. This was a major wake-up call for me. I was ashamed, and also mortified of how this was going to look.

Again, I was focusing on other people’s opinion of me, and not enough on how I felt inside.

After the overdose I knew I could take one of two different roads. I could go back to the way I was without…

Guest Workers, Legal Yet Not Quite Free, Pick Florida's Oranges

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/01/28/464453958/guest-workers-legal-yet-not-quite-free-pick-floridas-oranges?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

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A worker harvests grapefruit near Arcadia, Fla.

A worker harvests grapefruit near Arcadia, Fla.

Dan Charles/NPR

In citrus-growing areas, you see lots of old converted school buses on the road; these are company buses, carrying the workers who will harvest oranges and grapefruit. And in the evening, some of those buses roll into a truck stop on a two-lane country road south of the town of LaBelle. Young men scramb…

The Truth About Carbs (and Why You Need to Be Eating Them)

Source: http://greatist.com/eat/complete-carbohydrates-guide?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Ask a friend or coworker about carbohydrates and you could get an earful: They’re bad for you. They’re fine—but only if you work out. They’ll make you gain weight. Or maybe: Low-carb diets are the only way to go.

Confused? You’re not alone. There’s a lot of legit information out there, but there’s also a lot of pseudo-science, making it hard to translate any of it into daily, healthy practices.

But before we dive into separating myth from fact, let’s get a few of the basics out of the way. Carbohydrates are one of the main nutrients your body needs, sometimes called macronutrients (There are three macros: carbs, protein, and fat). Carbs are the most important source of energy for your body. Your body will break down carbs into glucose (the sugar found in your blood), and your blood helps transport this fuel all over your body to provide the energy you need to do everything from run and jump to sit and sleep.

Unless your doctor has told you otherwise, carbs are part of an overall healthy diet. But not all carbs are created equal, so it’s important to learn which (and how much) you should be eating. Here are some of the most common carb misconceptions—and the science-backed truth.

Carbs: The Good, The Bad, and The Bogus

1. Myth: Carbs will make you fat.

Truth: It…

Why Every Adult Should Be Screened for Depression

Source: http://greatist.com/live/new-depression-guidelines?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Every adult (yes, even you) should be screened for depression, according to new recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The group noted that depression is the leading cause of disability in people over 15.

This recommendation is a huge deal. Just think of the number of screenings the government suggests everyone should undergo—you can probably count them on two hands.

The screening is really just a set of questions primary care doctors can ask during regular checkups. The hope is the answers to these questions (like “How many times in the last two weeks have you felt like a failure?” or “Have you been feeling tired, zapped of your energy?”) will lead to more early diagnoses, and even help reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. After all, if you’re being asked about depressive symptoms right after measuring your height and weight, it has to be pretty common. (And it is: One in four Americans deals with a mental health problem.)

These recommendations are similar to the guidelines released by the task force in 2009, but this time around the group emphasized the importance of screening women who are pregnant or recently gave birth: About 9 percent of pregnant women and one in 10 new moms experience some form of depression.

Finally, an App to Get You Out of Every Awkward Situation

Source: http://greatist.com/live/gotta-go-app?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Gotta Go App Gotta Go! App

You’re on a bad date, stuck chatting with that guy at the party, or sitting through another one of those never-ending work meetings. And just when you can’t stomach another fake laugh, you think, “Man, if only there was an easy—and socially acceptable—way to bail.” Well, today is your lucky day. The app gods (more specifically, Chelsea Handler) have blessed us with Gotta Go!, an iOS app that texts or calls you with the perfect excuse.

If you know you’re heading into a situation where you might want to conveniently dip out, open the app, create an excuse (your roommate is locked out, your best friend’s car broke down), and set the timer for anywhere from one minute to two hours. Like magic, the app will shoot you a text or give you a ring at the scheduled time. We preferred the texting route, but you have to try the phone call at least once. When you pick up, Chelsea is on the other end of the line, coaching you through what to say to the poor person you’re bailing on.

And best of all? It’s free. Like you, now.

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