Tag Archives: life

  1. The Healing Practice of Pratipaksha Bhavanam

    The Healing Practice of Pratipaksha Bhavanam

    Our thoughts have the power to transform our reality.

    The Healing Practice of Pratipaksha Bhavanam

    Vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam – Respond to negative thoughts and patterns by thinking and doing the opposite.

    If you’ve followed Tasty Yummies for sometime, you are aware that my yoga practice has played a very integral role in my healing and my health, along with my journey toward self-love and self-confidence. I jokingly say that yoga is the gateway drug that came into my life, rocked me and changed me forever – the “drug” that got me on the path to healing. But in full honesty it truly was the stepping stone that brought me to a place where I could finally prioritize my health and from a totally non-ego centered approach, it allowed me to place ME and my happiness above all else. Yoga was the first introduction I had to learning to love and celebrate my body, to trusting myself and most importantly, to knowing that I was actually worthy of being happy, vibrant and well.

    It was sometime in 2006 that I first stepped onto my yoga mat, and while I didn’t know this at that time, it was that first unrolling of my mat that fully changed the trajectory of my life moving forward. It was the first time that I made a choice to prioritize my self-care above all else, to give myself permission to fully love myself and to trust that what lied ahead, while intensely challenging, would make for a better version of me.

    My yoga practice has evolved greatly over the years. From a daily, rigid, before dawn, self-led mysore practice, to group ashtanga practice, to sweaty vinyasa classes anywhere and everywhere I could take them in, from coast to coast. A few years ago my personal practice eventually reached a place that I was yearning for more and it was then that I received my 200-hour and then 500-hour certification to teach, which I used to host retreats and teach regular classes, publicly and privately. These days, my personal yoga practice is much more private and intimate, with a far less stringent, regimented approach.

    While I don’t have a scheduled 90 minute practice daily anymore, yoga still seeps into every single one of my days, even if just by way of the philosophies and methodologies inspiring my approach to daily living. Often it’s the practice of conscious breath work in a stressful moment, or quite literally physical stretches prior to or just after lifting heavy weights or having a rigorous workout of some kind. Some days I make my way to the beach to flow. Often I don’t. I find myself, most days, without consciousness, creating a symphony of breath and movement when I need it most or finding that beautiful balance between effort and steadiness in all aspects of my living. There may not be any greater constant in my life than the practices I have cultivated through yoga.

    Throughout my yoga teacher training in 2014, I had a great many lightbulb moments. Literally open mouth “Aha!” moments. Realizations not just in what my body and mind were capable of, but rather in recognizing the control that I had unknowingly harnessed through my practice over the years up to that point. The control of creating my own happiness on the mat and in my life. There were beautiful practices that I had cultivated, unconsciously, which greatly contributed to changing me and much of it finally had explanation with these teachings. I could finally put words and thoughts to them and almost tangibly hold them in my hands so that I could study, cultivate, practice and share them with others.

    Studying the yoga sutras and more specifically, Pratipaksha Bhavanam, were probably the most eye-opening aspects of my teacher training and to this day, despite my practice and my teaching career having changed drastically than what I ever could have imagined, they continue to provide daily practices and inspiration for a better life.

    The Healing Practice of Pratipaksha Bhavanam

    Yoga at 8,839 feet?

    It was at the very top of Half Dome mountain on a trip to Yosemite last week, at the end of the most intense and rigorous hike (and experience) of my life, after facing my biggest fears and heading head on into place of great discomfort – that I had a great moment of true revelation! It was on top of that mountain, while sobbing in pure pride for what I had just accomplished, that I had the great realization that it was my yoga and the practice of Pratipaksha Bhavanam that got me through and to the top of that mountain that day! Both literally in the actual hike to the peak, but also the years of healing and transformation that led me to even being able to take that journey to be there, in the first place.

    In every moment of self-doubt on the journey that day, in every intense thought of great fear, in every question of “But, what if I fall?” I had the unconscious ability to tap into this important practice and change both the dialogue and the outcome. I wouldn’t allow it to continue, I honored it in the moment, I expressed gratitude for it’s teachings and it’s purpose, then I shut that shit down and then literally heard the words – “Oh, my darling, but what if you fly?” (Erin Hanson)

     
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  2. New Year Release Ritual

    New Year Release Ritual

    2016 will go down in the books as an intensely challenging and pivotal year for a great deal of us. If you too are counting down the days to starting over in 2017 with a vow to change and have a better year, let’s reflect on these resolutions and how to make them last. Mentally we need that idea of pressing a magic reset button in hope that we can leave our baggage behind in a four digit number and wash our hands of it.  By the end of the year it’s as if our candle has been burned at both ends and we grasp at the belief of starting over at the stroke of midnight.

    I have learned through my own ritual work with the moon and seasons that everything is on a cycle and having our own practice to mark the beginning and end of them can help you manifest things you want to attract and release that which no longer serves you. The moon expands, gets full and bright and then retracts until its dark only to start the cycle again. In the fall, the leaves die and fall off of the trees, everything retreats and goes within for Winter and emerges with new life and birth in Spring. We are not immune to these natural cycles. It’s why we focus so much on the New Year!  But before we can make room to bring new things into our lives, we must release the old and clear out the clutter. I am going to help you set this intention for release through a simple ritual I have experienced results with.

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  3. Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 5: The Large Intestine

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 5: The Large Intestine

    1000px-Digestive_system_diagram_en

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process

    Here we are, at the end of the road. The large intestine is the final step in the process of digestion. By this point you probably more than understand the concept of digestion being a north to south process. We have talked about it at length starting first the brain and the mouth, and the importance of being in a parasympathetic state and properly chewing your foods, then of course the stomach and the dire need for proper hydrochloric acid production, how the accessory organs, the pancreas, liver and gallbladder  continue the process of digestion, releasing bile, enzymes, various hormones and allowing the small intestines to finish digestion but more importantly do it’s very important job of assimilating nutrients and finally last but not least, the large intestine.

    See Part One: The Brain and The Mouth

    See Part Two: The Stomach

    See Part Three: The Accessory Organs: Pancreas, Gallbladder and Liver

    See Part Four: The Small Intestine

    How it Should Work

    The large intestine, or the bowel, is compromised of 3 sections, the cecum, colon and the rectum. The leftover chyme from the small intestines, passes through the illeocecal valve and first into the ascending colon. At this point in a healthy digestive system, what is left as chyme (the digested food) after the small intestines, is indigestible fibers, lots of water, sloughed off cells and bile. The large intestine is all about absorption and recycling.

    As in the esophagus and the small intestine, the contents of the large intestine are pushed forward by a sequence of muscular contractions called peristalsis (a type of motility or muscular movement). After passing through the illececal valve the remains travels from the ascending colon, across the transverse colon where waste forms, into the descending colon, to the sigmoid colon and then the stool moves out of the body.

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  4. Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 4: The Small Intestine

    Digestion 101 // Part 4: The Small Intestine

     

    1000px-Digestive_system_diagram_en

     

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process

    As we continue more south in digestion, after first the brain and the mouth, then the stomach we move from the first part of the small intestines, the duodenum and it’s interaction with the accessory organs, the pancreas, liver and gallbladder and into the function of the small intestine.

    After we leave the duodenum, the small intestine is less about the actual process of digestion, from a sense of breaking down the food we eat and it is more about the assimilation and absorption of nutrients.

    The first part of the small intestines, the duodenum, acts more as a part of the stomach than the small intestine and the jejunum, ileum and villi are responsible for assimilation.

    See Part One: The Brain and The Mouth

    See Part Two: The Stomach

    See Part Three: The Accessory Organs: Pancreas, Gallbladder and Liver

    Digestion 101 // Part 4: The Small Intestine
    How it Should Work

    The small intestines have a dual role as an organ and a gland.

    As we talked about in the previous post, The Accessory Organs – The Pancreas, Gallbladder and Liver, the small intestine releases mucous to keep things moving and it also releases two hormones: secretin and cholecystokinin.

    Secretin stimulates the pancreas to release bicarbonate to lower the pH of the chyme and pancreatic juice. The CCK stimulates the gallbladder to release bile (to read more about these processes please see post #3).

    By the time that the chyme has left the duodenum, thanks to the processes of the accessory organs, the chyme should be almost entirely digested.

    • The carbohydrates have been broken down into glucose molecules
    • Proteins are broken down into amino acids and polypeptides
    • Fats are broke down into fatty acids and glycerol molecules

    Peristalsis, a series of wave-like muscle contractions moves these absorbable molecules into the jejunum and the ileum, the middle and end parts of the intestine.

    Within the small intestines, we have millions of villi, tiny finger-like projections that protrude from the epithelial lining of the small intestines. These villi and their microvilli absorb the nutrient molecules directly into the bloodstream, where they are carried throughout the entire body.

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  5. Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 3: The Accessory Organs – Pancreas, Gallbladder and Liver

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 3: The Accessory organs, Pancreas, Gallbladder and Liver

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process

    As we continue more south in digestion, after first the brain and the mouth and then the stomach we move onto the accessory organs, the pancreas, liver and gallbladder

    As we move further south from the stomach, while the small intestines are next in line for the food, but we first take a small pause/detour to discuss “the accessory organs of digestion”. The pancreas, liver and gallbladder, each play a very important role in the digestive process and each can be affected with their own dysfunction as well.

    The stomach, small intestines and large intestines are all part of the system of digestion we call “the alimentary canal”, “the gut tube” or “digestive tube”. Between each of these organs we have valves or sphincters that keep the food where it is supposed to be and move it along when the time and the environment is right. These accessory organs are not a part of this tube or system but they play a major role in the process.

    1000px-Digestive_system_diagram_en

     

    There is a synergistic and symbiotic relationship with the small intestines and these accessory organs, so we will discuss first how these play a role before we move into the function of the rest of the GI tract.

    The duodenum is the start of the small intestine, but it almost acts more as part of the stomach, in it’s roles of breaking things down further playing a larger part in the process of digestion, vs the rest of the small intestine being less of a digestive organ and more about absorption or assimilation.

    See Part One: The Brain and The Mouth

    See Part Two: The Stomach

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 3: The Accessory organs, Pancreas, Gallbladder and Liver

    THE PANCREAS, GALLBLADDER AND LIVER:

    How It’s Supposed to Work

    When the pH of the chyme (the digested food moving from the stomach into the small intestines) is in it’s normal range, 1.5 – 3.0 , which we talked about in the stomach post. This is very acidic and necessary to the stomach performing it’s duties. As it hits the pyloric valve and into the duodenum with it’s proper pH, this is where the roles of the accessory organs come into play. This highly acidic chyme is what triggers these functions.

    The duodenum no longer wants this highly acidic chyme and in order for the enzymes to work correctly it has to take that chyme to a neutral pH of 7.0. This happens by way of sodium bicarbonate, which is released by the pancreas to alkalinize the chyme. This release of sodium bicarbonate is signaled by secretin, a hormone released by the small intestines, which as you might have already guessed, is triggered by the (proper) acidic level of the chyme, that pH of 1.3 – 5. (Ahem, here is that reminder to look north, if the stomach isn’t producing proper HCl, then none of this will function properly, either!!)

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  6. Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 2: The Stomach

    Digestion 101 // Part 2: The Stomach

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process

    As we continue more south in digestion, after the brain and the mouth, next up we have the stomach. Before we get started, I wanted to remind you that you will constantly hear me reiterate as we go through this step-by-step process to “always look north” and I want you to truly understand what this means, exactly. I am referring to the fact that often times dysfunction that presents itself from further down the line, is actually due to a malfunction more north. For example, as you will read about in this second post and as we talked about briefly in the first, (the brain and the mouth), if you are eating in a stressful state and your body doesn’t make the necessary switch to that parasympathetic mode (rest and digest), then before your stomach ever had a chance to function properly, the brain basically threw it under the bus. So, while the symptoms may present themselves in the stomach (or even further south) it may not make sense to supplement, treat or approach the symptoms specifically until we instead move more north to investigate if these malfunctions are treatable with just some simple lifestyle and mindset shifts.

    1000px-Digestive_system_diagram_en

    This is not at all to say that all digestive dysfunction starts in the brain, that would make my job and my own healthy journey so much simpler. In fact, there are many reasons why dysfunction can exist, as you will see, but beginning the investigative process at the start, way up north, allows us to rule out the possible, more simple resolutions before we move deeper and into more challenging treatments.

    See Part One: The Brain and The Mouth


    Digestion 101 // Part 2: The Stomach

    THE STOMACH:

    How it’s Supposed to Work

    After we chew our food, it turns into what we call a “bolus”. The bolus passes through the esophagus and the cardiac valve (the lower esophageal sphincter) and the bolus then enters our stomach, At this stage gastric juices are released. I like to think of the stomach as a blender. Mucous, pepsin and hydrochloric acid are all released for the “churning and burning” stage of digestion. Both mechanical and chemical breakdown happens at this stage.

    The hydrochloric acid (HCl) being the most important of these gastric juices as it creates an acidic environment that disenfects the food and aids in the breakdown. Despite popular belief the stomach is absolutely meant to be acidic. In a healthy individual the pH of the stomach during digestion should drop to 1.5 to 3. We have a thick mucosal layer in our stomach, that acts as a barrier that protects the cells from the acid.

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  7. Digestion 101: A North to South Process // Part 1: The Brain and the Mouth

    Digestion 101 // Part 1: The Brain and The Mouth

    As many of you know, my digestion has been the source of much on and off distress over many years of my life. While I found the greatest relief by going 100% gluten-free after discovering an intolerance over 11 years ago, my digestion in the time since, has still not been without challenge and discomfort and at times, straight pain. As I began the journey to heal my body of my newly discovered autoimmune condition last year, we first needed to address my still, not-so-great digestion. This foundational approach to the healing of consequences, such as autoimmune conditions, by first treating digestive dysfunction – is a common approach, especially for functional and naturopathic doctors and nutritionists, who know that without properly functioning digestion, we cannot expect to ever find health and vitality. Without proper digestion we can be sure that we aren’t going to adequately assimilate the necessary nutrients through the food we are eating, no matter how healthy we eat and no matter what supplements or medications that we take. In working with a naturopathic doctor, we discovered early last year that I was struggling with leaky gut, and even found at the start of this year, after a year of dealing with the leaky gut, yet still not feeling 100%, that I had an unwelcome parasite and an excess of pathogenic bacteria (both likely the results of having a leaky gut, for who knows how long). It’s been a long year, to say the least.

    Through the process of my own personal journey, I have and I continue to learn so much about digestion. This personal, ongoing path towards healing and all of the knowledge and know-how I have collected along the way, is what ultimately prompted me to go back to school to become a certified nutritional therapist. I wanted to truly learn and understand all of this in much deeper and fuller way, to allow me to not only continue to help and heal myself and my loved ones, but to also share this knowledge with others and hopefully help them help themselves, in the process.

    So much of what we have been learning in school, about nutrition and more specifically, digestion, has really struck home for me. Much of what we cover are very simple concepts that I truly believe most people need to understand, and support – all of this ultimately has inspired me to share with you guys more about the process of digestion! I know so very many of you, too, are plagued by these varying epidemic levels of dysfunction and I want to empower you with the knowledge to overcome them.

    In this series of posts I am going to break down the north to south process of digestion, covering how proper function should occur and also discussing the typical dysfunctions that can derail this process along the pathway. I am also going to offer advice, tips, foods, supplements and other remedies, both traditional and not, to hopefully bring you healing.

    1000px-Digestive_system_diagram_en

    Digestion 101: A North to South Process

    Digestion is a north to south process, it begins in the brain and ends in elimination. More often than not, while we feel the signs and symptoms of poor digestion further down the line, in the stomach or the upper or the lower GI, simply treating those symptoms with band-aid-like approaches, natural or not, likely won’t get to the root of the problem. To properly address any digestive dysfucntion and truthfully many other nutritional deficiencies, dysfunctions, illness, allergies, etc – we must first start up north, acknowledging possible dysfunction and continue moving south until we address all possible culprits.

    Just as proper digestion is a north to south process, so is dysfunction. So, to properly understand and diagnose digestive dysfunction, we have to start all the way at the top, up north in the brain. Yes, the brain is one of THE most crucial elements of digestion. One of the most important take-aways, I hope this first post gives you, is an understanding that remedying digestive malfunction and dysfunction doesn’t always rely on supplements and major dietary changes, oftentimes if can be simple lifestyle changes that can make all the difference in the world. All of the tips I offer in this first post, won’t cost you a dollar, you don’t need to track down supplements or special foods and in fact, you can start today. So, let’s peel back the layers of digestion, before we supplement our way out and instead, let’s support the process as it’s supposed to happen.

    As a side-note, these northern-most points in the digestive process are probably my most favorite to cover, they are the starting points of the entire process, but they also require so little, in terms of support.

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  8. My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner – Months 2 & 3

    My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner - Month 1

    My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner – Months 2 & 3

    This post continues to share my journey of becoming a Nutritional Therapist with the Nutritional Therapy Association. To read more about how I came to selecting this program and to read about Month 1 of the program, see my first post.

    Months 2 & 3

    I am combining months 2 & 3 together, as month 2 (November) was a regular, in-session month but at start of month 3 we had our first intensive in-person workshop weekend, followed by our holiday break.

    The intensity and speed at which we were covering the first modules in month 1, has certainly calmed down a bit and with me finally catching up to my classmates (and our curriculum calendar), I am feeling much less pressure. I feel like I can breath and I can really let the content sit with me and permeate a bit more. For what it’s worth, the intensity I am speaking about, these are all things our instructors advised us of, going into the program. So I was certainly aware of this fact from the start and I wasn’t alone in feeling that way, I am sure. The content and reading materials are already starting to click quicker as new topics arise, pulling in previous content that we covered.

    Most exciting about these past two months, was our first in-person workshop weekend, where we had the opportunity to meet our fellow classmates, as well as go over the content in person and ask questions of our instructors. Additionally we further honed our skills of client interviewing, analyzing Nutritional Assessment Questionnaires and Food Journals and making nutritional recommendations based on all of these tools and we learned and practiced the hands-on functional evaluation skills, for the modules we had already covered.

    My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner – Months 2 & 3

    If you haven’t researched the NTA or if you’ve never worked with a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner you may not know what the terms Functional Evaluation and Lingual-Neuro Testing refer to:

    Functional Evaluations are one of the Nutritional Therapy Practitioner tools for assessing a client’s health. Using the innate connection between nerve endings at skin level and the body’s internal organs, NTP’s can determine where dysfunction is occurring. Reflex points connect to the neuro-vascular and neuro-lymphatic pathways which surround every organ system in the body. When an organ is in stress, these pathways accumulate fluid around them (called venous or lymphatic congestion) to support healing. This congestion results in tenderness of the reflex points. 

    Lingual-Neuro Testing (LNT) is a valuable biofeedback tool that enables a health care provider to determine the usefulness of a nutritional supplement before it is dispensed to the client. LNT accesses the body’s innate ability to discriminate between what it needs, and what it does not need, in order to correct a specific problem–a weak organ or a nutritional deficiency, for example. This simple and effective technique makes the difference between a generic nutritional therapy plan and a personalized one.

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  9. My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner – Month 1

    My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner - Month 1

    My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner

    When I started Tasty Yummies, I was never inclined to create a journal of my own personal health journey, so I often refrain from getting super personal with my healing protocols and health challenges. I have consciously avoided flooding these pages with every discovery in my own ever-evolving health and dietary challenges or with every personal plan of action. Without any certification or credentials I often found myself feeling restricted from sharing too much of the self-initiated research I was doing, as I am hyper-aware of the barrage of claims made by bloggers without credible research or science to back it up. Mostly, I have always wanted Tasty Yummies to simply be a safe space to celebrate delicious, nourishing real food, and hopefully, a place to provide inspiration to empower others to take control of their health and to be open to discovering new foods themselves, whatever their restrictions or personal path may be. I have always sought to create a place to share my personal stories when appropriate and to cultivate a virtual connection among a supportive community of open-minded souls.

    The fact remains however, that this website and my recipes wouldn’t exist without the many challenges I have experienced in my ongoing journey towards healing. Hidden within my own personal struggles emerged the desire to share, share, share! While none of my issues, in my mind, should be classified as “severe” or life threatening and while I don’t have epic before and after photos from an intense and acute health transformation, I would certainly still consider many of my health struggles to be chronic and some still unresolved. I am quite literally learning right along side many of you.

    The Challenges.

    As a child I dealt with a weakened immune system, allergies and asthma, migraines and troubled digestion. As life moved on, I discovered a severe gluten intolerance, and have now been gluten-free over 10 years – while this major dietary adjustment has certainly helped with some of these symptoms, I continued to suffer. In the early years of my adult life, even after going gluten-free, I struggled with weight gain and acne, chronic sinus infections, lack of energy and so much more, further adjusting of my diet has tackled much of this, but last year I was also diagnosed with IgA nephropathy, an autoimmune form of kidney disease. Consequently in the process of treating the kidney disease I also discovered through the help of my naturopathic doctor, that I was struggling with what we believe to be leaky gut, likely from the months of pharmaceuticals prescribed to me for the kidney disease. While I am still smack in the middle of this ongoing work to get my kidney disease in remission and my body to a point where I can feel good each and every day, I continue to share the recipes I am creating in my own kitchen, often part of my own healing path, in hopes that they may inspire some of you, within your own individual health journey, to feel less overwhelmed as you reconfigure your diets.

    Why I want to Know More.

    As a result of my own individual research and constant trials with nutrution, diet and supplementation, through my lens of seeing food as medicine and knowing that real food heals, I have come to the understanding that we are all bio-chemical individuals and there is no one protocol, diet or plan for all of us, there can’t be, we are all such beautiful and unique beings. I myself have always refrained from labeling my diet or pushing myself and this blog towards one specific label, as I find this to be ever-evolving process and for me, labeling my diet is not something I have ever felt called to. As with most everything in my life, my intuition instead constantly leads me towards balance and simplicity and learning to listen to my body’s innate cues, rather than adopting a static list of firm Do’s and Don’ts. I have found myself on a path of constant independent learning, research and exploration to find what works for me and through my search to help myself, I have oftentimes found I am able to help others as well, something I have learned I truly love and now feel called to do even more.

    I have come to realize that in sharing my recipes, through instructing yoga, hosting retreats and teaching cooking demos, these are all amazing ways I am able share my passions and hopefully empower others to take control of their own health and their well being. But, I have been feeling that when it concerns food and our health, that I wanted to make an even bigger impact, I want to be able to host cooking demos and speak with conviction and credibility about how we can deal with chronic comprised digestion, blood sugar regulation issues and I want to share the precise scientific reasons why certain ingredients are making an appearance in my recipes. I want to be able to better respond to folks seeking to make recipes fat free and explain to them in a concise way, why it is so important to include healthy fat in our diet and the list really just goes on and on. Finally, I have met so many incredible, yet desperate people over the years looking for answers, I have many family members and friends that struggle with their health daily and I want to help however I can, anyone who comes to me inquiring. I want to crush these old, antiquated myths surrounding eating and our diets and reveal the truth about food and it’s healing powers.

    All of this lead me to the Nutritional Therapy Association.

    My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner - Month 1

    Why the Nutritional Therapy Association?:

    Read the rest of this entry »

  10. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Hey friends!! Happy almost weekend and happy April to you all! 😉 I hope the spring is finally starting to show itself for you, wherever you are!! Here in Southern California, we actually had a chilly week and it was so welcomed and lovely! Here’s some photos from the last few weeks over here in my world! What’s going on in your world currently?

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    I was so super excited to get my hands on the beautiful new Oh She Glows Cookbook from Oh She Glows. As a fan of Angela’s blog for many years, I was really anticipating this book and it certainly lives up to the hype. So many wonderful vegan recipes!

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    My handsome Jpeg

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I am just loving my new Little Moments mediation cards from the beautiful Kristen Hedges. They are currently sold out, but keep checking back, she will have them in stock again soon, I am sure.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    I love getting letters from my niece, Teagan and nephew, Noah – back home in NY. This time around I got a beautiful new photo of Teagan, taken by Buffalo Baby Photography  my friend Jess’ brand new business. How adorable is she??

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    A recent haul from our gardens!! Loquats and avocados.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Got an advanced copy of the Blend Girl’s new book that officially releases on 4/8. Look for my full review and a giveaway this weekend!

    Photo Fun Day Friday That’s me, just hangin’ out at the Pixies Hollow at Disneyland 😉

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Some new tea towels hubby and I designed and hand silkscreen printed, they are also available as 8×10 prints. All are available in the Tasty Yummies store, now.

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  11. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Hi friends, happy Friday! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week and that you have a beautiful weekend ahead of you.
    What’s been going on in your worlds? Getting antsy for Spring? Excited about having more hours of daylight? I wanna hear from you. Leave some comments, let’s chat 😉

    Since it’s Friday, that means it’s time for another Photo Fun Day Friday. Here’s some photos from the last two weeks. Hope you enjoy.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Mise en place for my Spinach, Lentil and Sweet Potato Slow Cooker Soup

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Totally digging the new Thrive Energy Cookbook from Brendan Brazier. So many amazing recipes and so much incredible knowledge and the photos are gorgeous.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Scenes from a walk around our neighborhood. Not sure I will ever get used to the fact that this is where I live.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Leafy greens turned into cups and wraps. Favorite lunch. This are lettuce cups with lentils, marinated artichokes, feta, sprouts, chives and sun dried tomatoes.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Quite possibly one of the most random juices I have ever made. I call it a “CSA/Farmers Market Hodge Podge” Carrots, celery, green cabbage, red bell pepper, ginger, orange and grapefruit.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I love cooking out on our deck. So peaceful.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Mixing inks, reprinting our Home Sweet Home print.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Making some homemade chai. My favorite.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Sunrise at the beach. The best.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Writing and practicing some yoga sequences. I love the amazing light in our living room.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Turned my Dirty Chai recipe into a smoothie by adding a frozen banana and 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    These orange blossoms on our tree have just about the most amazing aroma that has ever graced this sniffer. So good!

     Photo Fun Day Friday

    I am super proud and excited to have a recipe in the April issue of Gluten-free Living Magazine – with a full page photo, that I shot and everything.

     Photo Fun Day Friday

    Working on this upcoming week’s Tutorial Tuesday post. Cannot wait to share this one with you guys.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    It’s not always easy to find time for my home yoga practice, but I am always so grateful when I do.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    This morning’s post yoga juice. So much goodness.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    A beautiful California Poppy I love seeing these things growing wild everywhere.

     

  12. California, One Year Later – Don’t Forget to Believe in Your Dreams

    Dreams Don't Work Unless You Do // Tasty Yummies

    Today we are celebrating one year since we arrived in California from New York! It seems like just yesterday we pulled up to our new home in the moving truck, tired from a long, teary-eyed adventure across the country. Since much of the last year feels like a blur and a whirlwind, I haven’t taken much time to reflect on this huge life shift, so what better time than now?

    California - one year later

    The decision to uproot our life in New York, leaving our family and all that we had built together over nearly 10 years, wasn’t one that was brewing in all that time. It started as a pipe dream just two years prior, something my husband Mark and I lustfully talked about in a very dreamy way – “wouldn’t it be amazing if we just up and moved to California” or “one day we need to live in California”. One day we decided to stop merely dreaming and started taking the actions necessary to actually make it happen. Within a year of that decision we had sold our house, we said our goodbyes and we hit the road for the west coast.

    So much has happened in this first year of living somewhere new, we have both accomplished new and major things, we have had our struggles finding our way in a new place, we’ve seen relationships change and new ones flourish and grow, but through it all – we have always had our dreams and each other.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Listening to your Inner Voice

    The most important thing I have taken from this major life shift, is that the biggest dreams sometime require the biggest changes, some of which may not pleasant. Part of allowing your dreams to come to fruition, is taking the time listen to your inner voice, to realize that your unique path isn’t supposed to or going to, be the same as anyone else’s. Most of all – you need to realize what is holding you back from that dream and with that, you will likely be forced to look your biggest fears straight in the face. Read the rest of this entry »

  13. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Well, it’s been WAY too long since I have put together a Photo Fun Day Friday post. It’s been a busy couple of months. I  went right from the holidays into my yoga teacher training program, into a month of catching up on work. February has been busy, hectic, overwhelming but as always – fun and filled with happiness.

    Here’s some of my favorite moments for the last month and a half or so:

    Photo Fun Day Friday I found this ticket in an old jacket recently, when I was cleaning out some boxes. My husband Mark and I hadn’t yet met. I was at this show with a friend, and he was, as well. The story goes that he picked me out from the crowd, from across the room and pointed me out to his friend as the prettiest girl there. Flash forward a month later after meeting online, through some mutual friends. We are on our first (blind) date, we get to talking and he realizes he had actually seen me once before at a show, he thought. I didn’t believe him and he tells me exactly what I was wearing, right down to the jacket. 11 years later, I found that jacket in a box, the ticket from that show still in the pocket. We’ve since framed it, of course 🙂

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Seri and Jpeg spooning.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    My handsome hubby.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    I checked in on my garden after a month away and it was going nuts!

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    I finally got to take one of Kathryn Budig’s classes at YogaGlo. She is so sweet and I found out she actually has a print of ours on her alter at home.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    On the Matterhorn at Disney. Took a day off to spend it with m

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Cuddling with my sweetie. Read the rest of this entry »

  14. Yoga Teacher Training – FREE Beginner’s Yoga Class in Santa Monica 1/27 & 1/29

    American Yoga School
    Hello there my Los Angeles-area friends, as many of you know I am in the middle of a yoga teacher training program this month, to finally become a registered yoga teacher. This coming week is our final week in our 200-hour training and this upcoming Friday – we graduate! As part of the curriculum, this upcoming Monday 1/27 and Wednesday 1/29 mornings – myself and my fellow classmates that are in the program with American Yoga School, will be teaching a FREE yoga class at a Naam Yoga LA in Santa Monica.

    We are looking for beginner students that would like to come to either or both of our hour-long classes next week, designed for students with little-to-no prior yoga experience, where we, as soon-to-be yoga teachers, will be working on honing our skills. There are limited spots, so it is pre-registration only. Your attendance as a student will play a HUGE role in our learning process and our growth as teachers, so it would mean the world to us to have you attend our class.

    If you are in the LA area and can attend either the Monday, January 27th: 9am – 10am class or the Wednesday, January 29th: 9am – 10am class, please email me at tastyyummies{at}me.com to reserve a spot. Reservations are required so that we can make sure we have enough room and plenty of props. Again, this class is free/donation optional and is meant for beginners or those with a newer yoga practice.

    Naam Yoga Studio is at 1231 4th street Santa Monica, CA

    Whether or not you are able to attend, if know someone who might enjoy this, please feel free to share! Thank you!

    *Above image courtesy of James Brown

  15. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Wow, it has been a very long while since I have put together a Photo Fun Day Friday post. It has really been a whirlwind of a few weeks, the holiday season seriously flew by, in a blink of an eye it went from Thanksgiving to New Years, it’s insane. So much going on! OK enough chatter, here’s a glimpse of the last few weeks. This might be the biggest Photo Fun Day Friday, yet!

    Hope you all had a lovely holiday season and are excited for all that lies ahead in 2014! I know I am.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Our Thanksgiving Day early morning beach walk.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    A boy and his mother!! Seriously, how cute are Jpeg and Indie? This is a rare site to see these two so sweetly lying together.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Sometimes, you just have to have chocolate for breakfast.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Old-timey Christmas Carolers on the beach right around the corner from our house.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    The floating Christmas trees in the lagoon by our house. These make me so happy.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Took a fun holiday trip to Disneyland with Meg and her adorable fam. Such a fun day! I love this girl!

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Yoga on the beach, in December. I still cannot get over how amazing this is!

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Gettin’ wild on my mat with my Teeki pants.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Had a little holiday cocktail party at our house in early December. Of course Lucy was invited.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Ran into Kelly from The Spunky Coconut at the Renegade Craft Fair in LA. Such a lovely surprise.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    How amazing is this sky? A regular occurrence during the winter months out here. It is magical.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    A view from the christmas lights boat tour in Newport Beach. So amazing.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Our little Seri girl got sick, which meant I had to skip the road trip to San Francisco for our last holiday show of the year. I stayed home, nursed my baby back to health and we cuddled and watched Christmas movies together. Not a bad deal, afterall. Read the rest of this entry »

  16. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Hey guys!! Hope everyone is enjoying their November. I feel like this is the calm before the crazy holiday storm! I personally love this time of year and cannot wait to get into all the festive stuff. I tend to get started earlier than most folks. (As you’ll see.)

    Have anything fun planned for the weekend? We’ll be setup at the Patchwork Show in Long Beach this Sunday 11/17, selling our hand printed goodies. If you are around Southern California, come by and check it out.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    My brand new 8×10 Namaste. Designed and hand silkscreen printed by yours truly. Available in the Tasty Yummies etsy store.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Finally got these hung in our new home. Reppin’ our roots and our present.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Look at that baby!!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    REAL apple cider from Western New York. Who knew it would be this hard to get good cider out here. Thankfully our friend Frank shipped us some from Buffalo!

     Photo Fun Day Friday

    Went to see NIN last weekend at the Staples center with Meg and our hubbies. The suite tickets were sweet!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Scenes from the Rose Bowl Flea.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Scenes from the Rose Bowl Flea. A Buffalo skull like this one, will be mine for our dining area! I can’t wait. Read the rest of this entry »

  17. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Hey all, happy weekend to you! Hope everyone is well. It’s been a busy couple of weeks here. Lots of house guests, lots of events and lots of living/loving life! Here are some snaps from the last 2+ weeks! Hope you enjoy.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    On my mat. My happy place.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Back bending with my helper.

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    First banana from the tree

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    Our booth at the Abbot Kinney Fest a few weekends ago

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    How cute are my babies?

    Photo Fun Day Friday
    End of day cuddles. The best kind. Read the rest of this entry »

  18. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Hey Friends!! Happy Friday! Happy Fall! My favorite time of year. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get into the fall mood here in Southern California without the major drop in temperature and the beautiful fall foliage and leaves everywhere. Though I will certainly miss the falling leaves, the color and the beautiful crisp fall aroma in the air, I definitely won’t miss the slowly declining weather. The looming snow. So far, I am really feeling in the fall mood out here. There are pumpkins everywhere, the nights have been a bit more crisp and with a trip to Disneyland to take in all of their fall goodness, that really helped!

    How do you get into the fall mood? 

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Pumpkins and pumpkin hard cider. It was a great trip to the grocery store!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    We celebrated the start of fall last week with a trip to Disneyland! Just the two of us!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Day of the dead!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    So many great decorations at Disney.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Green goodness. Smoothie for breakfast and a green juice for lunch! Guess I was craving some greens!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Me in Warrior II! Read the rest of this entry »

  19. Photo Fun Day Friday

    Here we go, it’s Friday again, here are some pics from the last two weeks! Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Got anything fun planned?

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Infusing vodka with figs and other goodies. Look for the how-to and some fun cocktail recipes later this week.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Went to Alex’s Bar here in Long Beach, AKA Fangtasia from True Blood with our friend Anjuli who was visiting from Buffalo. (I stopped watching the show many seasons ago, but it was still cool to see where they filmed those scenes)

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Loving these amazing bottles from Lifefactory. Glass bottles with plastic-free silicon sleeves and they are free of known harmful chemicals like BPA, BPS, phthalate, etc. The wide mouth is great for adding fruit or ice to your water and you can even carry fresh juice or smoothies, without fear of it ruining the bottle or the flavor of your drink being affected, etc. Check out all of their products here http://amzn.to/14YqQw4

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    My runs by the ocean, don’t suck. Just sayin’

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Super excited to get an advanced copy of my friend Kelly, of The Spunky Coconut’s brand new book: “The Paleo Chocolate Lovers’ Cookbook: 80 Gluten-Free Treats for Breakfast & Dessert”. Preorder it now. Look for my full review and a giveaway very soon!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Made some raw vanilla bean almond milk and chocolate almond milk for the first time with a nut milk bag and OMG have I been missing out! What a breeze, so clean and easy. This is the nut bag that I used —–>http://amzn.to/17MhEau. Here’s my recipe for homemade raw almond milk.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Working from home means I get to enjoy mid-day cuddles and sometimes naps with this girl. I just love her so much!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    A great reminder on the street near my acupuncture clinic.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I had a lady’s night dinner with Meg from Beard and Bonnet this week and I made this yummy treat to share. Grain-free flatbread with caramelized shallots, figs from our tree, goat cheese and arugula. Recipe coming next week.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I get some really fun products sent to me to try. This is wine spritzer that has electrolytes added. I cannot wait to try it. Half the calories of wine and zero sugar. Sounds like my kind of cocktail. I will report back!

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I love taking Seri to the dog park to play ball. Nothing makes that dog happier.

  20. Photo Fun Day Friday

    I have been busy bad and I totally spaced on my Photo Fun Day Friday posts the last couple of weeks, so this is a bigger one than usual. I flew home to Buffalo this past weekend for the first time since we moved to Southern California six months ago! It was my niece Teagan’s 4th birthday and I hadn’t seen her since we left at the end of February. I missed her (and everyone) sooo much! It was a wonderful trip home, I crammed in as much time with friends and family as I could and just enjoyed every single bit of it.

     Photo Fun Day Friday

    My happy place! The yoga studio here in Long Beach I currently practice at.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    A bench at the dog park. Love this.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I cleaned like crazy two weekends ago and it felt great. When I was done I had to snap a few pics, I am in love with this house.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    My running partner. She especially loves running on the beach.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    I finally found a place for my prayer flags. My parents bought these for me and they are the same ones as my favorite yoga studio in Buffalo, East Meets West. These remind me of home.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Bounty from our garden.

    Photo Fun Day Friday

    Me forward folding. One of my favorite yoga poses!

    Read the rest of this entry »

  21. Why I am Gluten-Free.

    Why I am Gluten-Free.

    It came to my attention recently that I have never fully shared my story and my journey here on Tasty Yummies about why I eat gluten-free. I also have never shared some of the “before” photos of me prior to fully changing my diet 3 years ago when I adopted a lifestyle of clean-eating and a diet free of processed-foods and other junk. As much as I enjoy seeing the visual changes from other peoples’ journeys , I have put off sharing my own, for fear of embarrassment and I guess, shame. I have lost the weight, I am healthier than ever, but there is something about seeing photos of myself from before, that is still somewhat painful. I wasn’t obese, many people would hardly call me fat. However, I felt terrible and I was crazy unhappy both in how I felt and how I looked. It is still hard for me to look back at myself at that time. I guess I have needed a few years to pass, just so I could deal with it all and be OK enough with my journey to share it; weight-loss photos and all.

    (The purpose of this post is NOT to say that I lost weight by going gluten-free! On the contrary, that was hardly the case and initially I was at my heaviest when I went gluten-free. PLEASE read the entire post!!)

    IMG_2741At my heaviest – in 2009. I had already been gluten-free for over 4 years at this point, but I just still wasn’t taking care of myself.

    Why I am Gluten-Free.This photo, from my surprise 30th birthday party, was what changed it all for me. I saw this photo and I couldn’t believe that was me. I wanted a change.
    Read the rest of this entry »

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