Two Fit Moms

Tag: essentials

  • Building a Healthy Pantry

    Building a Healthy Pantry

    PantryJarsA well-stocked pantry can help you stay on track with your healthy eating plan.  With the right ingredients on hand, meal planning can become an intuitive and simple part of your life.  Quick meals will come together with just a few fresh ingredients from the supermarket, and healthy snacks will always be available.  As with any endeavor, preparation is key.  Stock your pantry with healthy staples, and you are bound to make healthy choices in the kitchen.

    Because the pantry is home to all of your long-shelf-life items, it has the potential to hold lots of unhealthy food choices that are chock full of preservatives and processed with unrecognizable ingredients.  This week, start out by making room for healthy pantry staples.

    Get rid of the junk food, the highly processed canned goods, the refined flour and sugar, anything with artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, artificial dyes, or ingredients that you can’t pronounce. Once you purge all of the obvious items that will not serve you in your wellness journey, move on to re-stocking.

    Be economical.  Build your pantry slowly.
    Before you get started, keep in mind that re-stocking a pantry takes time and money.  Rather than spending a small fortune on your first trip to the market, plan on buying a few new items each time you shop.  Don’t try to buy every type of organic bean that you find.  Pick one or two varieties for now.  Likewise, pick one or two grains to purchase.  You can always add to your pantry staples over time.

    Here are my suggestions to build a solid, healthy foundation for your pantry.

    Whole grains
    I like to keep several different types of whole grains in my pantry, but steel-cut oats and brown rice are two examples to get you started.  Oats are a great way to start the day, and brown rice provides a great base for a quick vegetable stir fry.

    Quinoa
    It cooks like a whole grain, it looks like a whole grain, but technically speaking, it’s a seed.  I always have quinoa on hand.  It is packed with nutrition, and it cooks very quickly (15 minutes or less) in comparison to other whole grains like brown rice, which can take nearly an hour.

    Beans
    Beans are the perfect addition for soups, stews or salads.  You can also puree beans to create hummus or a tasty spread for sandwiches.  Keep a variety on hand—canned chickpeas, kidney beans and black beans are my favorites.  Also, make sure to buy some dried beans, too. Dried lentils or split-peas have a long shelf life and are quick to cook.

    Cold pressed oil
    When shopping for oil, look for cold pressed oils like olive oil, or if you prefer oil without a distinctive flavor, try safflower oil.  The goal is to avoid oils (such as canola) that are refined through solvent extraction, neutralization and bleaching.

    Nut butter
    Almond butter, cashew butter or peanut butter…take your pick!  Nut butters are a great addition to smoothies (see our Apple Pie Smoothie recipe), and they make a quick snack or lunch for you and the kids.  This is one pantry staple that you will not regret buying!

    Vinegar
    If you love making salads of any kind—vegetable salad, noodle salad, potato salad, rice salad, etc, you will want to have a variety of vinegars on hand.  Vinegar adds lots of flavor, and it is a picnic-safe alternative to mayonnaise.

    Liquid for your smoothies
    Keep your pantry stocked with organic non-GMO soy milk, almond milk, rice milk or coconut water so that you have liquid to blend your smoothies.  Smoothies make a great breakfast or snack.  Yes, you can buy soy milk in the refrigerated section of your supermarket, but if you don’t use it regularly, pick up a box of shelf-stable soy milk, and leave it in your pantry until the urge for a smoothie arises.

    Nuts
    I know that I already listed nut butter on the pantry essentials list here, but nuts are also great to have on hand.  This is a great portable snack to keep in your bag or desk drawer at work.  Throw a handful of crushed nuts onto your oatmeal in the morning or into a salad for lunch to make your meal heartier.

    Vegetable broth
    In an ideal world, we would all have time to simmer our own big pot of vegetable stock.  Fortunately for us, there are a few excellent, organic vegetable broth options right on the shelves of your supermarket.  I like to always keep a minimum of two cartons of broth in my pantry. Use vegetable broth instead of water to cook couscous or to make soup, simmer vegetables, add flavor to sauces or stews, etc. The possibilities for vegetable broth are endless.

    Canned tomatoes
    Canned tomatoes can be used in soups, stews, bean salads, or marinara sauce.  I like to keep a variety of tomatoes in my pantry:  crushed, diced, pureed and whole.  For a quick meal idea using canned tomatoes, see this week’s recipe for Weeknight Marinara.

  • My Yoga Bag Essentials

    My Yoga Bag Essentials

    When I roll into class to teach yoga, I look like a pack mule.  I’m not even kidding— I have my yoga mat slung over one shoulder, my portable sound dock hanging over the other shoulder, and my bag YogaBagEssentialsis splitting at the seams with all sorts of items that I’ve deemed necessary to carry into the studio:  a notebook with yoga sequences and dharma talk themes, a stopwatch so that I can keep track of the time while I’m teaching, extra hair ties, headbands, chapstick, tissues, a hand towel, and a bottle of mat spray.  And that’s not even half of it!  While there are many things keeping my bag heavy, there are seven items in particular that keep my soul light and happy.  Let me introduce you to my yoga bag essentials:

    China Gel

    The first necessary item in my bag is China Gel, which Laura and I affectionately call “Yoga Crack”.  Yes, it’s really that addictive, and you need your own jar.  We massage our students with it at the end of class, and we rub it onto our own sore, tired muscles.  It feels hot. It feels cold.  It’s many soothing sensations all at once, and we can’t get enough of it.  You must give it a try yourself.

    Taste Nirvana Coconut Water

    The second necessary item is Taste Nirvana Coconut Water.  I remember the first time my yoga teacher offered me a bottle.  I just finished two back-to-back yoga classes, and I was hot and depleted.  I was not a fan of coconut water, but my teacher assured me that it was not like any other coconut water that I had tasted.  She was right.  I took my first sip, and that was the beginning of my love affair with Taste Nirvana.  It was refreshing and delicious, and surpassed all of my expectations.  I wish I could adequately describe how much I love this stuff.  If you’ve convinced yourself that you don’t like coconut water, try Taste Nirvana, and you will change your mind.  If you love coconut water, you are in for an amazing treat.

    Bobble BPA-Free Water Bottle with Built-In Filter

    The Bobble is a reusable water bottle that filters contaminants from the water as you drink.  The filter, which comes in lots of cool colors, is good to go for 40 gallons (or about two months of use).  Forget about buying individual bottles of spring water at the supermarket and try a Bobble.  I have multiple Bobbles that I keep in various bags and locations so that I always can drink tap water without stressing.

    Yogitoes Skidless Mat Size Towel

    I thought my yoga mat had a great non-slip grippy surface until I took my first hot yoga class.  I was sweating like a beast, and my hands and feet were slipping in basic poses like downward facing dog.  My teacher recommended that I use a non-slip yoga towel on top of my mat, and that suggestion made all the difference.  Once you start sweating, this towel with rubberized grips on the underside makes all the difference.  I stopped slipping!  It was like a mini miracle.

    Brown Rice Crackers

    When I go to the gym, I lose my appetite.  When I go to yoga class, I somehow end up ravenous.  It’s a strange situation, and I don’t understand it, but I embrace it and stock my yoga bag with this particular flavor and brand of brown rice crackers.  These little crackers are so good, and they are the perfect single-bite size to fit right into your mouth. No crumby mess in your car!  I will warn you that you need to exercise a bit of self-control.  It’s hard to eat just a few.  In fact, I eat about half the package in one sitting.  I love the very simple ingredient list, and the product is “Non-GMO project verified”.  It’s also gluten-free, for all of you out there with sensitivities or allergies.

    Women’s Health Big Book of Yoga

    Does anybody else carry books in their yoga bag?  Maybe it’s just me, but I carry books everywhere.  This particular book is wonderful for beginners because EVERY page is covered with glossy photographs of poses, instructions and sequences.  Use it as a reference guide, and use it for daily inspiration.  I LOVE this book.

    Havaianas Flip Flops

    Ok, I will admit it—I am a germaphobe.  Walking around barefoot in the yoga studio makes me cringe.  I can’t handle thinking about the random hair, crumbs, dust and germs all over the floor.  Of course, in order to preserve the sanctity of the room and to keep the floor relatively clean, I do not wear shoes in the studio.  I just try very hard to keep my mind off of my feet.  However, I DO keep a pair of Havaianas flip flops in my bag to slip on to go to the bathroom or to walk in the outer hallways of the studio.  I love these flip flops because they are so thin and light in my yoga bag but sturdy and fashionable.  I have them in all sorts of prints and colors.  Check them out and add a pair to your yoga bag, too.