Links and Yoga

It's Saturday which means maybe you have some extra time on your hands (or perhaps you are no where near the computer because you work on one all week?)...so I have some links for you to check out...

First of all, I did my first ever guest post on Meghan's blog and it's about my trip to New Zealand. You should definitely check it out and please leave some comments :) Part 2 of my post will be up tomorrow. My hope is that it convinces everyone to take some time off and take a long flight to a beautiful country (and while you are there stop in Australia, my real favorite place). I don't write a lot about my travels on this blog, but I love to travel and see new things. I asked you guys where you wanted to hear about and New Zealand won so...go check it out!

Link #2 and #3- I went a little crazy earlier today writing articles, if you are a teacher of kids in the primary grades check out math journals and if you love pumpkin as much as I do, check out healthy pumpkin ideas.

Also, you might be wondering: How is the Yoga Challenge going? Last Sunday (November 1st) I pledged to take 10 minutes every day and do yoga. Here are some observations I have had since I began:

• I have no problem with fitting in yoga on exercise rest days, but sometimes when I give an hour to spinning, it really annoys me to have to give more time to yoga.
• Doing yoga 10 minutes per day has forced me to come up with my own yoga routines and just do what feels right at the time. I like this style of yoga for a change of pace and even when I am using dvds now I find myself adapting to the poses that I enjoy the most.
• I love pigeon pose. I have to do pigeon at least once per day. Looking at photos online I think I may be doing it wrong, but everyone at my studio leans forward and puts their head on the ground while they do it, no one online seems to do that. Oh well.
• I have discovered yogadownload.com which I love. 20 minute yoga videos for free! You do have to know yoga a little bit to do these videos since they are simply audio. I like this because I am getting sick of trying to look at my computer screen in the middle of a pose, but obviously it's not for total beginners. There was something in the video I did today (Power Vinyasa Flow #1) that I had no idea what it was. I think it was called standing splits...or something splits, but frankly I doubt I can do anything with splits in the name so I just did some extra sun salutations while they went through that part.
• I totally did not do 10 minutes yesterday. I did 20 today to make up for it. I decided to change my sidebar to say "6 days this month" instead of the days in a row. I don't want to give up just because I missed one single day. I still did yoga 6 out of the last 7 days, that's pretty good.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Clean Plate Club- Are You a Member?

Background: All week I have been thinking about Pumpkin Ice Cream. I knew from blogland that the Edy's Pumpkin was out but I haven't made it to the grocery store to actually buy it. It's to the point where I sit in tutoring plotting how I can make it to the grocery store before the next thing I have to do, but...still all I have done is dream about it.

So tonight after my kettlebell class I headed to my parents to hang out and eat dinner. My mom said she had a surprise for me and I was immediately hoping Pumpkin ice cream. But really, why would it be Pumpkin ice cream. I hadn't told her I wanted pumpkin ice cream...But obviously Mom's have psychic connections because...

Pumpkin Ice Cream!!!!!!!

Definitely made my night. I'd say my week but even I cannot claim ice cream beats out major job security. I am trying to stay focused on the baseball game on TV (Yankees vs. Twins...guess who I am rooting for?) and blogging so I do not go back for my third serving of Pumpkin Ice Cream ha ha.

The other night when I posted about how you eat, I got a lot of responses from women who eat quickly because they grew up in a big family and you want food, you go quick! This got me to thinking about how much our early influences with food shape who we are when we grow up. That's why I find it so scary when my kiddos at work eat some of the school lunches. Once they actually served "Nachos"- which was chips and dip for lunch! Now I love chips as much as the next person, but where are your nutrients? Kids need little protein and fiber in their lunch please, any meat with those chips? beans?

A big habit that is formed during childhood is the "Clean Plate Club." Fess up- who is a member? This is going to sound funny but I am sort of a member of the Anti- Clean Plate Club. I never noticed this about myself until I was in Australia. One day one of my friends pointed out that I always left a tiny bit of food on the plate when I was done in eating. She questioned if I possibly could be SO full that I couldn't eat that TINY piece of whatever was left. After that I started to notice that I do that all the time. Funny enough, I also do it in other areas of my life. I'll finish a paper except for proofreading, or except for the conclusion etc. I'm not sure if the food thing had to do with feeling like, "well at least I didn't FINISH the meal..." I'm really not sure. Now that I cook my own food, I portion control a lot more so I usually do finish every last bite of my meal. When I am out a restaurant and portions are *crazy* I like to play a little game. I leave enough left of my food that the waitress asks if I want to take the rest home. It's me vs. the waitress. If she asks if I want to take the food home, I win. If she doesn't, she wins. I win almost every time. Ah, the joy of competing with unsuspecting individuals...

It's safe to say I would be kicked out of the "Clean Plate Club" if they ever let me join. However, I know so many people who are serious members. I think it's okay (and good for your wallet) to finish your plate at home, assuming your are giving yourself a reasonable portion. However, I encourage you to join in my little game with the waitress when you are out at a restaurant. Some relatively healthy meals at restaurants have over 1,000 calories in them. You don't want to finish that! Besides, you'll be thanking me when you have leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day :)

Are you a member of the "Clean Plate Club?" Why do you think you are, or are not? I think as a parent it must be really hard to try to steer your kids away from the "Clean Plate Club." On one hand, you want to instill good habits of eating until you are full but on the other hand, you probably do portion control the meals so you do want them to finish, and plus- you don't want to make dinner #2 in two hours. Do you have any tips for getting kids to eat all of their meal without leaving them with any long term feelings of "I have to clean my plate, there are starving children in the world!" ?