Be Good To Yourself...

Today has been a chilly day...one of those days where it's wet,damp and just plain cold. I don't want to complain about it too much because, well, there is nothing I can do except make the most of it. As in life!

While driving to work this morning, I had planned my entire day out as I normally do. I don't know what happened around mid day and all of a sudden, the elaborate meal planning and activities didn't appeal to me. All I wanted to do was get home and just sleep off the exhaustion of the last few weeks. I felt a sudden pang of guilt as I mentally crossed off stuff I was still finishing up. Half an hour later, I decided I would just be a little lazy, a little self indulgent and I ended up taking a 45 minute nap when I got home. The nap was exactly what I needed. Surprisingly, I had no phone calls,texts from work or elsewhere to distract me. It was meant to be.
This evening, dinner plans went to hell and I just made do with the ultimate of comfort foods- Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup and a Salad.

The best part is I don't and didn't  feel guilty! The old me would have felt bad for hours for serving such an effortless meal to the kids. Not today! The kids were happy, bellies full and off they went in their own directions leaving me content. This is a beautiful thing- it's called being good to yourself. 

I always used to sign my posts and hand written letters with "be good to yourself" to my loved ones. I finally took my own advice!
Now onto a good cup of Lemon-Honey tea and some fluff Danielle Steele Novel to finish off the day!

Comments OFF,

-T

Healthy Eats: Chickpea and Spinach Salad

This is one of my favorite ways to have a salad....with lots of Chickpeas and mixed greens, Spinach especially.

I had this for lunch, and it kept me full for a long time, I didn't even need a snack! This is SO easy, and you can put just about anything in it to keep you satisfied until dinner time!

 Here's what I put in it:

2-3 handfuls or more of Baby Spinach leaves
1/2 cup- Canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed really well
1 small sliced red onion
A handful of shredded carrots
Few slices of fresh mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes, and any other veggies you like!
Few wonton strips ( any flavor you like, and completely optional)
Few croutons, again any flavor and completely optional ( I like my salads to have a little crunch)
A handful of torn romaine leaves, I just threw them in there because I needed to use them up.

Optional add-ins: pineapple, broccoli, corn, cauliflower, cucumbers etc etc! ( have it your way!)

For the dressing, I used a low fat balsamic vinaigrette and added some of my addictive SRIRACHA sauce!
that stuff is amazing on anything! Toss everything together,and NOSH away!

Headache update: I've been Ok with headaches, they are still there, but ever since I have cut down my dairy products by 50%, I find I am better. So, I haven't been having any raw cheese, cold fruit yogurts and milk in large portions. It seems to have helped. The only time I have milk is in my morning tea, the rest of the time, I am sipping on Green teas and my everyday herbal ayurveda teas......lets see if it makes a difference in the long run.
As for exercise, I am still doing Yoga every chance I get, the kids and I had been pretty sick last week so that took a backseat, but I kept up with my "Kapalbhati" breathing everyday. Its been a rainy, wet winter here so walking outside is OUT of the question at this point. Oh well.....Spring and Summer are around the corner anyway!

Thanks for the lovely and supportive emails! I love reading them so keep them coming!  

Until next time, be well everyone. Enjoy the weekend.

Comments OFF. Please email me for any questions/concerns regarding this or any post in this blog.

Headache and Food Diary - Yogurt vs Migraines- a connection?

So many wonderful readers have given me tips lately on controlling these headaches of mine, I'd like to tell you that I really appreciate it!
One reader asked me to look into yogurt- something that I have almost every morning, to see if it triggered any headaches later in the day, and sure enough, the day that I did have some yogurt, I DID get the pain!

I am going to turn this into a personal study and chart the results for 2 weeks just to make sure.

This is what I had yesterday:


Breakfast: Masala Chai at 600am

Mid morning snack- Fruit Yogurt with Flax Seeds and Strawberries and herbal tea with the daily vitamin supplements.

Lunch: Greek Salad Pita with other toppings 

Afternoon tea: Tetley Tea and a couple of chakris

Dinner: Indian fare: Yogurt rice and a tiny bit of mango pickle...
( no headache after the yogurt rice, though- weird)







I felt the head pain later in the afternoon, around 230-300pm.....and I was tempted to have coffee from the Tim Horton's chain, but resisted and had homemade tea instead along with some chakris. Yay!

That helped some...but the pain lingered a bit and I finally massaged some GHEE around the temples to cool off whatever was happening in the head! it worked!

I headed off to bed at 1015 after my favorite show " The New Adventures of old Christine" I *love* that show!

 So, over all, an OK day...I hate it when these headaches pop out of no where. I'll be back with an update later! till then, take care!

Feb.02, Food and Headache diary

An Ok day today, no headache as such, but I still had that nagging pain that lasted around a half hour or so which felt really strange. But it wasn't so bad as it has been for the past week so I was happy!  :)

Here is a breakdown of today's meals:

Breakfast: Special K cereal with 2% milk and multi-vitamins. I take Vitamin D, Omega3, and Calcium in the morning.
Pic: google













Lunch: Pita Sandwich with Lettuce, Peppers and some low fat sauce on the inside, I used very little.

Snack: Some dry toast and some India tea with Splenda

Dinner: Leftovers from last night- Okra Shaak and Chapatis





Before I headed off to bed around 1030pm, I had some triphala tea in warm water along with my daily women's multivitamin. Triphala is supposed to remove the toxins in the body, I have been using this for a long time now and it does work well for me. Always check with your doctor before starting any new supplements though. What works for me may not necessarily work for you.
See you tomorrow with another update.

Headaches and Ayurveda.....

My headaches have been with me ever since I was a little kid, and they have bothered me tremendously....I have had several tests done, but not much has come out of it. I have had to endure these headaches/migraines and have tolerated them so far..... but I'll never accept them.

Ayurveda plays a big role in my life, I drink herbal teas each day, practice Kapalbhati, and do Yoga poses, or at least try to!
Instead of starting another blog, I am going to document some remedies and food diary here...I tried to run two blogs at once, and its been too much. Several readers who used to follow my other blog have asked me to resume, and so here I am. I hope I can be of some help to those readers who are in the same boat.

I have had a BAD headache all day today, and finally, I decided to tackle it by looking up some Ayurvedic remedies. I massaged my head with some coconut oil in my hair, and my temples. Though the smell of the warm oil made it feel a tad worse, the massage really helped. I am also going to make myself some caffeine free herbal tea with hot water, ginger, tripahala, and ajwain along with some cinnamon. Hopefully this will help.

I checked my blood pressure, it was 115/85 at 500pm.

Today's meal included:

Breakfast: Masala Chai
Lunch: Cereal Chewda and some juice
Dinner: Chana daal and some rice

I wasn't in the mood to eat anything because of the head pain.....maybe tomorrow I can make myself a decent breakfast. I know sometimes, this can be a part of the problem when you don't eat enough, but I tend to feel nauseous so I'd rather not eat when I have a headache.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Ayurveda Migraine remedy- Smita Naram (Gujarati)

Comments off. Please email for any questions. Thanks.

pic: icakusa.com