I’m back from a lovely hot yoga session with my friend JM.

To be honest, it was a long, dreary day. It was raining, and naturally I didn’t have an umbrella with me. After making it through a shift at the hospital, I wandered woefully into the cruel downtown streets.

My life is in disarray, I lamented to myself. Where am I going? What am I doing with myself?

I noticed a Cultures and ordered myself a frozen yogurt. I perked up a bit, and thought, “Aren’t the little things in life lovely? I’m like a ray of sunshine!” I made it about twenty steps before sinking back into my former state. It was hard staying so cheerful when everyone else was still so miserable from the rain as well. No one was moved by the rain sodden girl with an ice cream cone.

Dejectedly, I headed to King and Bathurst to the Moksha Downtown Yoga Studio for a 1 1/2 hour session. Resting in savasana (corpse pose – aka lying down) in the beginning of my practice, I nearly fell asleep. I got carried away thinking about some things that have been on my mind, and the heat on my skin felt good after being soaked to the bone from the rain. Free to relax and be still, I wanted to angst; I wanted to spend my 90 minutes lamenting over life.

Our instructor arrived, and I stared intently at myself in the mirror. My instructor told me to clear my mind, but I was resolute in defying her. I wanted to think about everything that had been eating away at me. We went into the tree pose, which involves lifting a leg. I couldn’t balance.

The thing about hot yoga is that it really forces you to take care of yourself– it’s very physically demanding, especially compared to “regular” yoga. With hot yoga, I have to make sure I eat properly and drink enough water during the day before my session, or else I get dizzy and want to pass out/commit suicide. There’s no half assing it– I’ve tried desperately chugging a bottle of water right before a practice after not having much during the day, and you can really notice the difference. So, physically, I had prepared myself.

But I forgot. If you’re not focused, you’re going to be a disaster.

My balance is generally pretty good, but today, I just couldn’t do it. I kept thinking too much. My mind wasn’t clear. Wobbling, I thought to myself, Ingrid, get your head in the game.  I started preparing myself for a High School Musical inspired pep talk. I’m serious – a Zac Efron/basketball montage was starting to play in my mind. It’s–

And then I nearly fell over. Embarrassed, I realized I couldn’t afford my ridiculous internal monologue either. My action had to be immediate. It was strange. For the first time in a long time, I was forced to just… get to it. No emotional reaction, no resentment, no thought– I didn’t have time to think, I just had to do it. For once, I had no choice.

During the next hour, my head was actually clear for once. It was really, really nice. After what’s felt like two months of continuous turmoil (mostly because of graduation), I was able to calm down for an hour and to really appreciate that thing that everyone has been telling me to appreciate for ages: the present.

I feel like I have a bit more strength now. Cheers to that.

http://www.mokshayogadowntown.com

Speaking of football and athletics though, I’m always impressed by all of that training that they do. It inspires me to stay active. I know some people pick celebrities that they admire to motivate them into working out.

I can see why this would work for some people. She looks freaking amazing. But Britney Spears circa 2001 doesn’t do anything except for make me miss Britney Spears circa 2001.

Although I’m as narcissistic as the next person, the main reason I exercise is to work on my lung capacity, cardiovascular system etc., so the things that motivate me tend to fall on the less glamorous side. In short, I need to be able to visualize the athleticism I’m trying to attain–which brings me to my #1 source of inspiration right now: the game sequences from “Friday Night Lights”. My friend PH loves razzing me by finding parallels between Tim Riggins and myself, but when I told him that I use Riggins as a workout inspiration, he was a little concerned.

Understandable. I get that it’s a little weird that I channel the fullback on a popular TV football drama when I go for a jog. Apparently, Miley Cyrus is the only person who is allowed to have a socially acceptable alter ego.

But finding motivation is tough. Some people are disciplined enough to exercise 3-5 times a week as a regular part of their routine. To them, it’s cake. Facile. I am really not one of those people, and I have to remind myself everytime as to why I’m going. I strongly dislike climbing stairs, only to feel like I might collapse and fall down them at any moment. I want to have the option of running a considerable distance in case I’m late for something. And I’m a bit bratty, so this is one of the most productive ways of satisfying my competitive streak. Plus, if there’s a zombie breakout, I’d prefer to be on the surviving end of things.

So seeing that physical, aggressive gameplay in Friday Night Lights is what drags me away from my computer down to the gym. I pick Riggins because he’s got that reckless 110% throw-yourself-into-it attitude about football that I like having when I hit the track. I certainly don’t want to look like Tim Riggins (he’s a bit too muscular for my skinny jeans) but he embodies my reasons for staying active.

I’ve also been fortunate to have work out buddies, and Twitter has been an unusually good help as well. I’ll usually tweet that I’m about to hit the gym so that I have to hit the gym, or else I will be forced to endure horrible guilt and shame if I don’t.

That’s all for now. Cheers to better health!

I thought if I was going to blog, I might as well write about the restaurant I’ve been practically living at for the past month. I was vaguely aware of this, but then my friend MK pointed out that I had tweeted about eating there 3 times in the last week…

Hibiscus is located in Kensington market. Just take the westbound streetcar outside College Station, and get off one stop past College & Spadina. Walk down Augusta Ave. and you’ll find it tucked away.

There’s not much to order there. Everyone mostly goes for the Soup & Salad special. Now hold on, this ain’t no romaine affair. I was hesitant too, when my friend GB introduced me. He usually introduces me to cool places, but for some reason I like to go kicking and screaming.

But back on track. Yes, there’s basically just the Soup & Salad special. They have buckwheat crepes as well, but you know what? The Soup & Salad special is so amazing that I have never, ever been tempted to order a crepe. Like I said, this ain’t no romaine affair. What you get with the special is a bowl filled with different piles of all these lovely, lettuce-free superfood salads. Things like quinoa with dried cranberry, sweet potato, marinated broccoli, ginger carrot, or one of my favorites– the soy paste with mushroom. There’s a bunch of other stuff, including grated beets with sesame oil. I’m usually not crazy about beets (I never understood those people who just piled those frightening, fluorescent slices of them onto their plate at the salad bar) but as my friend FM agreed, these are delicious.

Everything is delicious, and even though it’s just a bowl of vegetables, I have never met anyone who wasn’t full afterward. Even my friend CT was full– and he’s a tall, athletic, hungry guy. All the skeptical, burger eating people who have tried the special (including myself) have loved it.

It comes with a mug of the daily soup, which has ranged from butternut squash with beet to ginger carrot. Dip in their raw sunflower seed cracker that comes with your meal, and you’ll be one content son of a bitch.

Was that unnecessary language? I’m sorry, but I feel the need to be a bit aggressive after prattling on about all this flowery health junk.

But seriously, folks, this is a place you can leave feeling good.

A bunch of hippies that were sitting near me once voiced out the thoughts that I was secretly thinking– key point being secretly, as when you say things like this out loud you sound moronic and insane. But to their credit, yes, yes I did feel like all the toxins were leaving my body. I, unfortunately, was unable to match them on their spiritual cleanse…

In general, for this glorious year of 2010, I’ve been trying to stay on a bit of a health kick. Gone are my days of frozen dinners (although those cheese cannellonis seriously aren’t bad). I’ve been drinking water, eating real vegetables, and I’ve finally replaced sugar and maple syrup with agave nectar.

What the hell is agave nectar? Well, it’s this natural sweetener derived from the agave plant, and it’s supposed to be better for you. I think it’s because it’s sweeter than sugar, and thus you need less? Regardless, it’ll be a gentler calorie count, and it doesn’t have any scary side effects like aspartame. Usually, when we substitute something for something healthier, we’ve downgraded. This is not the case. I actually prefer agave nectar in my oatmeal now. It’s a lighter, cleaner taste than both sugar and maple syrup, without losing sweetness.

I feel like Gwyneth Paltrow. What the hell am I doing, touting agave? I’ve become Vanessa’s douchebag mother from Gossip Girl (“I only use agave”). But you know what? It’s pretty cool when you can find healthy things that don’t secretly sort of suck, like Hibiscus and agave nectar.

Not that I always treat my body like a temple. Sometimes, after popping all those omega-3′s and slow cooking all that oatmeal, a girl needs to eat something disgusting and awesome. Buffalo wings are a favorite. I don’t need a million different flavors– I’ll always be a Duff’s girl at heart. Last night I dropped by St. Louis’ for some hot wings with my friend MV after the Tegan & Sara concert at Massey Hall. Which brings me to a point Tegan raised on stage: when you tweet (or in this case, blog) about something, is it a form of bragging?

Things to consider.

——

Notes:

Hibiscus (416) 364-6183
238 Augusta Ave.
Toronto, ON
M5T 2L7

Closed on Sunday. Open Monday to Saturday, and you have to get in the door by 6ish as they close at 7.

Also, try their ice cream. They’re all non-dairy, but I’d stick to one of their three coconut flavors: coconut mango, coconut blueberry, or coconut raspberry. Seriously, so amazing. I tried a regular flavor that wasn’t made with coconut puree, and it tasted like newspaper. Like the stuff you expect health food to taste like.

*The picture of the food from Hibiscus is mine, but I stole the store front from yelp.ca, and the agave picture from Thursday’s Girl.

After spending a productive weekend writing two essays, I thought I’d write about something a little more carefree than Eurocentrism or a child burdened with an inferiority complex. There’s actually been a bit of a Battle of the Sexes, in regards to my blog: The girls want more shopping, the guys want more of the serious business. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, I am not so clever as to pick a specific angle to write my blog from–a logical strategy for success. Instead, my blog will be a variety of pithy little nothings with the occasional depressing (thought provoking?) entry like my last one.

I’ll start with something gender neutral, as the posts that will follow today are going to be a little more related to the gals.

I was actually going to do a post about Fast Dinners a little while back. A lot of us are under stress right now, but we’ve still got to feed ourselves. So, I was going to post these lovely, express meals. I was gonna grab a few recipes from my beloved Nigella Lawson, and take my friend SM’s delicious home made Asian noodle soup idea. I was gonna say how quick and easy it was to make a gourmet scallop & spaghetti squash dinner. I was going to preach and say how we can cook something a little more sophisticated that’s quick–other than KD or pasta and sauce from a jar. But alas, I too have fallen.

This brings me to ITEM 1: Lean Cuisine  Frozen Dinners

This all started when I ate a whole Dr. Oetker pizza by myself for dinner one day. And then the next. And then the next. Not wanting to continue on with this atrocious behavior (because I easily could for at least a month), I bought a box of Lean Cuisine Cheese Cannelloni on a whim. Instead of consuming 1,000 calories for dinner, it was a petite 240 with 5g of fat.

Now I know what you’re thinking. First of all, frozen dinners are gross.

As my friend LBK commented on my Facebook:

omg ingrid you just turned 35 sitting on your couch with you cat watching re-runs of gossip girl thinking about how nice it would be to get married. Stop eating frozen dinners now!

They’re small and pasty and often quite questionable looking. Looking? I meant tasting, as well. Second of all, I don’t know about you guys, but I have a bit of a complex when it comes to buying things that say “Diet” or “Lean”. I feel like one of those obsessive people when I do. But this is different:

Doesn’t that look awesome? OKAY OKAY IT LOOKS A LITTLE VISCERAL. Stay with me!!!

This was honestly so delicious that I went home with 6 boxes tonight (there’s a $2.99 special at Metro). I’m no cheese cannelloni expert, so maybe it’s just something that’s hard to mess up. But this was filling, rich, flavorful, and the noodles weren’t dry/stiff/thin. Plus there’s no preservatives. Now nothing’s going to beat a homecooked meal, but this is a really nice (relatively) healthy alternative.

Better? No? What about this:

…I CAN’T MAKE A FROZEN DINNER LOOK DELICIOUS, OKAY? I promise though, this is unlike any frozen dinner I’ve ever had. In fact, I’d probably be just like you right now, wondering why on earth I’m writing a blog entry about a frozen dinner– if it wasn’t for the fact that I now know how amazing this is. And their lasagna is kickass too. I’ve had quite a few frozen lasagnas before, and they’ve never been good. It’s always Regret City after one of those. But what we’ve got here is legendary lasagna. Once again, Lean Cuisine is pulling out their quality noodles– not thin, dry, etc etc. No powdery bits of ground beef, no decrepit remains of frozen vegetables.

It is honestly a hearty, tasty, no-effort healthyish meal.

Another thing– I get full. Those of you who know me well know that this never happens. I am always eating. But I honestly CANNOT eat after one of these. Like, for example, I just finished my dinner. I really want to eat a Rolo popsicle. But I CAN’T. It’s absurd. They must put an appetite suppressant in these or something. Is that how they keep their customers lean?

I’m totally gonna force myself to eat that Rolo popsicle anyways, though.

—

November 18, 2009: Chicken Alfredo is lame.

I got Japanese Cherry Blossom, Wild Honeysuckle and Unscented. I think getting the scented ones might have been a mistake though, as their smells aren’t the most sophisticated/subtle ones, which is generally a minor problem unless you’re about to eat…

I’ve also wanted to dabble in film for a while, and finally bought myself a Holga. It was $58 from Urban Outfitters (much to SK’s disapproval, although she was hypocritically wearing an Urban Outfitters dress as she voiced this opinion), plus $20 for the flash attachment.

And here I am at French Connection, waiting for what seemed like 5 years for SK to finish changing. I’m wearing my Dean Winchester jacket– and I’m not gonna pretend like I don’t feel like I can kick some ass when I wear it.