sick day juice smoothie

While I had to stay home a few weeks ago, I decided to use some of the fruit I had in the fridge to make a vitamin packed drink. I make smoothies a lot, but this time decided to just keep it as drink, so I eliminated the ice.

blend together

grapefruit
cranberries
strawberry yogurt
honey
garnished with blackberries

its definitely not the sweetest drink, its more for the antioxidants and vitamin C. but you can always add more sweetness if desired.

my own recipe

Waking up to the rain with no particular plans for the day is totally dreamy. So I decided to make waffles. I looked up an average recipe and added my own twist to it to create my very own Costi Recipe! I basically just substituted what I had on hand because I usually have such weird stuff.  Its healthy and scrumptous!
I'm calling it...

Hearty Healthy Waffles

1 cup whole wheat flour              2 eggs
1 cup finely ground oatmeal        1 1/4 Kefir
4 tsp baking powder                    1/4 cup unsweet applesauce
1 tbsp brown sugar                      2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt                                    1/4 cup chopped walnuts

combine first five ingredients and mix second five. combine and mix all together. pour 1/2 cups separately in waffle maker till golden brown. enjoy!

serve with pure maple syrup and fresh fruit. I only use pure maple syrup and the difference is astounding! It tastes so real and very sweet, a little goes a long way. I didn't have any butter and it was still delicious and incredibly moist.

oh and i used my good china! so fun...try it, for no special reason at all.

Resolve to Resolute

Ok my brother and I are in this huge contest where we have to have good eating and exercise habits. We are keeping tally everyday of how good we did for that day. And at the end whoever ends up with the most tallies wins! And we get to pick out ANYTHING, well like a $400 limit,  for the other person to give us. Like I told him I'd buy him a plane ticket somewhere, or whatever motivates him the most. Maybe a meal at a super elite restaurant.

So here's my motivation----which is subject to change. its actually the gray one, but for some reason only the brown one shows up.

A few more resolutions I've come up with----Take more pictures and get an Etsy account for my cards.

Happy 2010! The year of my 10 year highschool reunion!

My Favorite Bars

I recently had a friend of mine ask me what some of my favorite bars are. Its one of my favorite things to discuss and one of my favorite things to eat. I could live on nutritious bars!

I think this would have to be my number one favorite. I've tried lots and lots of bars. I think this is the most filling. After a Clif bar I feel like I've eaten a meal. Its one of my favorites as a quick breakfast.

Since I don't eat much meat, the protein bar is something I really need. Out of all protein bars on the market I like the Clif because its the most natural and has a lot of protein. I usually consume a bar like this after a hard core workout when I need replenish my muscles. Or if I haven't had meat in three or four days.

This is another good protein bar. I'm a peanut butter lover so this gives me my fix.

 This is just a snack bar for me. Can't resist Luna's scrumptious flavors! Like this Chocolate Raspberry and the Peppermint Chocolate.

The Odwalla is also usually an in between meal snack for me. They are filled with fruits and grains. I prefer the fruity flavors and enjoy this bar when I'm low in fresh fruit at the house.

One for the O's

Since the blood type O is another common one, and since I've been getting a lot of questions regarding the O's, I thought I'd just put up some key aspects about this Profile.

As far as personality O's tend to be leaders and have the ability to focus and be productive. They are also really good in sensing and thinking logically. They can become agitated or overly stressed which heightens when not on the proper diet. Cardiovascular exercises are very beneficial not only physically but also emotionally. It's a must!

A few interesting tid bits I found were that O's should eat all meals, even snacks seated at a table. And should avoid alcohol and caffeine.

When following the Blood Type Diet, they split up foods in three categories Beneficial (like medicine to your body), Neutral, and Avoid (like poison). For this purpose I will include only a few. O's thrive on meat, and should stay away from gluten and wheat products....that's a lot of breads to avoid!

So basically, eat all the meat you want (in reasonable proportions), except bacon and pork and some fish. The only dairy you can have is butter, feta cheese, mozzarella and goat. Click here for a laid out detailed chart.

Start off making small adjustments and slowly build up. I mean you're not gonna die if you consume the "avoids" but you'll feel a whole lot better!

I was lucky enough not to have had to make too many major changes. But I can honestly say I feel fantastic! I swear even my skin looks better.

My A-ness

While I was working at The Little Greek Restaurant I was able to meet all sorts of cool people around the Alexandria area. One family in particular is this one, The Brady's. I could probably list 101 things on their list of awesomeness. But I might post that another day.

One thing they have shared with me was about their lifestyle, which includes The Eat for your Blood Type Diet. It very much intrigued me as they started explaining to me how different foods react differently to our body. I would sense that a lot in body especially, as I would exert myself in various activities. At times it felt like such a strain to run, like I just couldn't do it. I thought it might have to do with what I ate, but I could not easily put my finger on it, nor thought it would really matter.

Since then I have been on the quest to find out my blood type, my father informed me that I'm either an A or O. Then as I spent a wonderful evening with The Brady's on Friday night, we narrowed it down that I'm an A! What a relief!

My diet will change, but not too drastically. Its funny how it worked out because most things that are on my "avoid" list were already, I guess because I unconsciously noticed their unpleasant reaction to my body and chose other foods over them. I am not a huge fan of red meat, which is a good thing because thats a no no. My diet will be almost Vegan now. But I'm really excited to see how I feel. I will experiment for a few weeks and see what happens.

Another thing to remember for Type A's is that we should not engage in too strenuous activity. And as I did push myself to be a runner, I wondered if I was cut out for it at all. I thought a few times "maybe I'm just not supposed to be a runner". Turns out to be accurate. So I will continue to do the various weekly activities which include spinning, belly dancing, weight lifting, walking, dancercize, yoga, pilates and I'm sure a weekly short run will not hurt.