Insanity in a Moist Room

Right now, I’m snacking on a post-workout pick me up of super sweet mango, chopped up and sprinkled with cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of roughly chopped walnuts. I discovered this delicious combination while I was bored at work yesterday and happened to have both mango and walnuts on hand. If you have the right mangoes (those super juicy ones that are yellow on the outside and a little soft to the touch), the result is not unlike candy. So I’m back because I figured, if I have time for a snack before I finish my disorganized attempt at packing, I have time to bust out a quick blog post.

Dinner with Erik last night was wonderful. We went to The Naked Sprout, which is a full-service vegan and raw restaurant in the GTA. This was my second time going to this restaurant, and I will most definitely be returning. To start, I ordered a juice called “The Beet Goes On”, which was made from apple, beet, raspberry, strawberry and lemon. I don’t know whether I’ve ever really had beets properly before, but I after this juice,  I realized that maybe beets were not something I  should be afraid of anymore. Beets are super good for you, with benefits such as blood purification, a good source of ion, potassium, magnesium, and some vitamin C (p.22 of Jonny Bowden’s The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth…this is a really cool book). I really need to start incorporating them into my diet more often. For my main course, I ordered a dish called “Somebody Kelp Me” which was one of  their raw dishes made from zucchini and kelp noodles, red cabbage, red pepper, broccoli, carrots, and a super tasty almond  tamarind sauce. This dish was really fun to eat because it was super crunchy and, being the kind of person who likes to play with their food, I really enjoyed putting my bites together. It did have maybe a bit too much of the same flavour, so I did end up tagging the boyfriend  in for some assistance. For dessert, Erik and I shared a slice of key lime pie, which turned out to not have any actual  key lime in it. The Naked Sprout’s key lime pie is actually made from avocado, lemon juice, agave, coconut oil, coconut butter, with a seed crust on the bottom. This was also really yummy, but I didn’t want to go overboard since I had a slice of chocolate and vanilla mousse cake waiting for me at home (Erik and I shared this later in the night…yum…). The menu at the Naked Sprout is pretty creative and diverse, and I’m already looking forward to the next time we go so that I can try something new.

Yoga this morning was excellent. I should probably explain why I’m going to yoga pretty much every day of the week, actually. I spent all of March and April doing Beachbody’s Insanity workout program, which was incredible. The majority of the workouts consist of some intense plyometric madness and are the most challenging cardio workouts I can ever remember doing. Even though I’ve finished the program, I still try to do at least 2 Insanity routines a week (which is a bitch because the air conditioner at  my house is broken). Anyway, after putting so much strain on my body, I’ve noticed a couple of uncomfortable  places developing in the back of my left knee and  in my right ankle, and I realized how important it is to take rest days and vary your workout routine. So I bought a two month pass to my local yoga studio (I had attended classes there last year, but could not afford to keep doing it  because of my stupid expensive tuition) and I’m trying to take advantage of it as much as I can. I really want to work on my flexibility as well as relieve some of the stress and tension in my life.

This morning’s class was a yoga cross class, and after a week of kind of taking it easy on myself and trying to decrease  the intensity of my workouts, I was terrified because the studio describes yoga cross  thusly: “A physically intense yoga class focusing on body conditioning, strength, endurance and core work. Feel your body and spirits lighten as you improve your body composition and work towards your personal weight management goals.”  The class started out with a short and fast-paced warm up before we dove into cardio circuits of mountain climbers, jump squats, push up jacks, heismans, etc, followed by strength circuits of moving push-ups, burpees, and more. My competitive nature really came out in this class, and I was really happy to see that my cardiovascular ability hadn’t really suffered from a bit of a rest week. The class was still pretty challenging, and was a bit like doing an Insanity workout in a hot room. Madness.

So,  I kind of rushed my telling a little bit at the end there,  but Abbey and I have got to get to  Erik’s because we leave in, like, 20 minutes. And I really need to hit bulk barn for some nuts and coconut water for some leisurely snacking at  the cottage. But I think I’ve said most of what I wanted  to say here.  See  you next week! 🙂