We are now in the midst of our first week of Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training at Urban Yoga Chicago where we have 9 radiant women taking the course. This year we are blessed with a team of teachers who come in daily to prepare the lunch for the group. It is such a treat to have meals prepared by such generous souls and to have others prepare recipes that I have created. So far, they are working out nicely! I'm not doing great with the picture taking, but I want to share what we are eating this week. For breakfast each morning, we offer crock pot oatmeal, toast, dates, walnuts, almond butter, apples, bananas and clementines. I love having oatmeal with a big spoonful of almond butter, a couple of dates, some banana and maple syrup as well as a piece of toast with coconut oil. We start our day with yoga and meditation at 5:30am so by the time breakfast rolls around, I'm hungry!
Dinners this week have varied from a meal out at Chicago Diner to a bit of leftover kitchari. I'm not always hungry after eating a big lunch, but try to eat a little something so my stomach isn't grumbling during sadhana the next morning. 😳 Overall I'm feeling very excited about how this week is going. The food has been so tasty and being in training again is inspiring and energizing. It's truly an honor to witness and support these new teachers on their journey.
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Over the last two weeks I have had the honor to work on the meal plan for our Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training which begins tomorrow. Two years ago, when we had our last training, the meal planning felt like a daunting task - managing the budget, variety, dietary restrictions while offering hearty, nutrient dense meals. An angel in our community made the brilliant suggestion to focus each day on a different type of cuisine. She made a list of different flavor profiles, ingredients and recipes and we were off with a solid, exciting meal plan with a good bit of variety. Making notes on what worked and didn't during each week of training helped me prepare for this year's course. While we are cooking on a larger scale, these are tips you can apply to meal planning whether it's for yourself or your family. Meal planning helps to save money because we can focus on sale and in season items and when we know what we are cooking for the week, there is less temptation to eat out or grab something on the run.
Here are a few more of my meal planning tips:
I would love to hear from you too, what are your meal planning tips? Sharing my food is prompting me to try new things. I'm one of those people who could eat the same thing every day and be content. But something I'm working on this year is to mix it up a bit. With that said, when it comes to my pre-run eating that will remain the same & it's boring so I won't post a photo every time. I started my day with the brown rice tortilla, date, hemp seeds, almond butter delight that I shared in my previous What I Ate Today post and headed out for a run. I felt like I was running on the moon. It was freezing and the snow and ice crunched loudly with each step. But there is such a feeling of accomplishment to complete an activity in less than ideal circumstances - and we are about 50 degrees away from ideal circumstances. 🤷🏻♀️
Dinner was a date night at Urban Vegan. The awesome part of going to a vegan restaurant is - we can eat everything on the menu, no questions asked. The challenge is - we can eat everything on the menu and there are so many options! Which is why I usually order the same thing every time. In the spirit of doing something different, today I had miso soup followed by steamed dumplings in a green curry sauce which were creamy, slightly sweet and spicy, and Spicy Thai Basil Tofu with perfectly cooked green peppers and onions. I would definitely order this meal again and feel inspired to replicate this dish in my own kitchen.
I have struggled with my digestion since I was a child and over the years, my digestive challenges have manifested in different ways. Learning about ayurveda and how to prepare my food and eat ayurvedically have helped me to enjoy my meals and digest them more easily. Two of my biggest takeaways from ayurveda is enJoy my meal and to chew my food, chew it well, chew it into liquid.
I ran today and I always have the same thing before running, coffee with half of a brown rice tortilla (heated on the stove) with about 1 Tbsp almond butter, 2 dates and a sprinkle of hemp seeds. It's not pretty, but it is a light breakfast that is filling enough to send me out the door without feeling like I'm running with a brick in my belly. I also try to drink about 24-32 ounces of warm water during my morning sadhana so I'm well hydrated as my day begins.
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AuthorI am an animal loving-Vegan runner, I practice and teach Kundalini Yoga and I love to cook and eat flavorful plant-based food. Archives
May 2020
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