Aug 27, 2020

Thoughtful Thursday

   Not sure about anyone else but this has been a weird week. I've been still feeling blah because of my sinus issues. On top of that I've been trying to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night which has been a complete bust. I'm suppose to talk to my doctor again to see what could be causing it. That't the story of my life at this point. Besides that, I've officially got my Reiki & Chakra healing certifications. I'm working on the distance healing certification now. I should have that done by the end of this week. Enough of me rambling, here are some thought from Billy Chapata today:










     Tomorrow, I may post a recipe. If not, I think I'm going to go back to post on Monday. Not sure yet but who knows what will happen in a few hours. Until then, Peace & Blessing, everyone!!

Aug 25, 2020

Fitness Tuesday: Benefits of Napping

     Last week, was a rough one for me. I haven't been sleeping well lately. Part of it is the mattress that I sleep on & the other part is my sinus issue. My dentist told me that some people with sinus problems, sometimes their undereye/ side area hurts. For the last couple of days, that's what has been going on with me. Plus, I just felt blah & didn't feeling like posting anything.


One thing that I'd did more of last week was napping. I know there are people who dislike naps, but this girl isn't one of those people. That's one thing I miss about being a kid: having to take naps during the day. I've always been a big nap person. I usually take a 20-30 minute nap if I take one during the day. Personally, if a take one longer than that, I consider that sleep. Below are benefits, how to nap, & why you should nap from the Mayo Clinic & Sleep.org that any adult can get from taking a nap:

A person should consider taking naps, if they experience:
-Unexpected sleepiness-Fatigue-Sleep loss -Lacking energy
Naps should be limited to 10 to 20 minutes. 20-minute is called stage two nap. This type of nap can enhance motor skills and attention. Napping after 3 p.m. can interfere with nighttime sleep. The optimal hours for napping is between 1:00pm and 3:00pm. Blood sugar and energy starts to dip after lunchtime. Napping in a dark room will help falling to sleep faster. Avoid drinking coffee, cokes or anything else with caffeine in the afternoon or evening. Drinking caffeine late in the day can negatively affect your sleep.

Some benefits of napping include:

-Reduced fatigue
-Increased alertness
-Improved mood
-Improved performance
-Quicker reaction time 
-Improved memory

When I finally start working for someone else again, I might take naps during lunch. I use to do that at some of my other jobs that I've had in the past. It gave me the energy to get through the rest of the day. Naps should be a must for companies. That's just my opinion though.

Peace & Blessings!

Aug 13, 2020

Thoughtful Thursday

     Happy Thursday! This is kinda late but better late than never. I was in the process of trying to order a Bid Day gift for someone going through recruitment at Alabama right now. So, people send flowers & other things along with the Bid Day gifts that they get from the sorority that they join plus people who want to send flowers & such. I know that I'm extra but Bama recruitment is a whole different level of extra. She gets her bid on Sunday so, we'll see where she end up going (fingers crossed, it'll be ADPI). 

Anywho, the quotes for this week are from Billy Chapta's book, Flawers. All the quotes for most of August are going to be from his books. Here are some quotes/thoughts for today:










Tomorrow, I'm posting one of my go-to easy chicken dinner recipes. It's from one of my favorite Southern Living cooks, that I still haven't found from the move almost 3 years ago. I think I shared it a long time ago, but that was years ago so I'm glad to be able to share it again. Peace & Blessings, all!

Aug 12, 2020

Best & worst foods for helping with Sleep

 

   During Covid, I haven't been sleeping as well as I was before. It could be from the mattress, being unemployed, or the stress of everything going on. I usually go to be around 12/12:30 am. I've been trying to get my diet back to normal since it's been crazy, which could be contributing to my lack of sleep. Nearly 70 million Americans are sleep deprived. Since, I'm sure I'm not the only person with sleep & diet problems right now, I wanted to share some of the best & worst foods to eat before bed. All of the information for this is a combination of list from Nutritious life, Cooking LightHealth.com & Eat This, Not That.

Foods to help with better Sleep

Almonds, Walnuts, & Cashews: contain magnesium, which acts like a natural sedative; a small deficiency in magnesium can lead to trouble in the sleep department. 
Apricots: full of vitamin C which can help relieve stress, shown to help your body recover faster from stress.
Asparagus: high in folate; folate has been linked to helping with anxiety & mood.

Bananas: a source of  melatonin (a sleep hormone) that helps to decrease the time it takes to fall asleep, increases sleepiness and may also increase the amount of time you spend asleep. & potassium, which helps normalize heartbeat. 
Cheese: a good source of tryptophan (particularly swiss or cheddar), an amino acid that encourages the release of melatonin.
Nutmeg: improves blood pressure and cholesterol levels; home remedy for cramps and anxiety. 
Tart cherries: loaded with anthocyanins, an antioxidant that lowers inflammation, as well as cholesterol and triglyceride levels; natural source of melatonin.
Oatmeal: contains tryptophan; converts to the sleep controlling hormone, serotonin; one cup provides you with 60 mg of magnesium. 

Some other foods that help with better sleep include: Lentils, Spinach, Legumes, Salmon, & Milk, 


Foods to avoid before bed

High fat foods: unhealthy fats and refined carbs have caused disturbances in the sleep/wake cycle; stimulates the production of acid in the stomach, causing heartburn; disrupt body’s natural circadian rhythms, making you sleeper during the day.
Coffee: contains caffeine is a central nervous stimulant; skip later in the day;
Dark chocolatecontains theobromine, another stimulant that can increase heart rate and sleeplessness; chocolate dark has more than white & milk chocolate; eating a whole bar of chocolate before bed could keep you up due to the caffeine.

Alcohol: causes the quality of sleep through the night to be worse & can cause one to feel groggy; metabolizes quickly in your system, causing you to wake up multiple times during the night; makes snoring worse. 

Spicy Foods: can trigger heartburn; can interrupt sleep by increasing core temperature (core temperature naturally decreases closer to bedtime). 

I've been drinking Calm & using supplement called Relaxing Sleep from Herb Pharm that has helped some. I'll probably share my bedtime routine at some point. Next week,  I'll be sharing some of the other Herb Pharm supplements that I take throughout my day & the benefits of them. Until next time, Peace & Blessings, all.

Aug 7, 2020

Recipe: Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl

     For some reason lately, I've been craving cauliflower rice bowls. I usually go get one at Zoe's but everytime I got ready to go get one, something happens. So, I decided to make one at home. I did a mixture of quinoa & cauliflower rice instead of just the rice by itself. I've been trying to eat better again since I can go to the gym some again. Here is how I made my Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl:

For the base, I used this Success quinoa & a bag of frozen savory garlic cauliflower rice. I boiled the quinoa on the stove for 10 minutes. I cooked the cauliflower rice for 6 minutes in the microwave.

This is what it looked like after I mixed the two together. I did add some brown rice that I had left over too on this day when I made it for lunch & black chia seeds. Other than that, every other time I made it without the brown. 

For the chicken, I used the seasoning that I've been using on all my chicken lately. I bought this at Wal-Mart. They have other flavors as well like Lemon & Oregano.

I usually brine my chicken for 15 minutes but I didn't have time on this day. Before I sprinkle the seasoning on the chicken, I used butter (unsalted, of course but you can use olive also) to cover both sides of the chicken tenders. Once the seasoning was added, I cooked the chicken at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. 

While the chicken was cooking, I diced a small tomato & added to the rice/quinoa mixture.

I diced up a few slices of cucumber, adding them to one side of the bowl.

I then added 1/2  cup of feta cheese to the rice. 


In the middle of the bowl, I added some tzatziki dip I bought at the store.

Once the chicken was done & cooled for 5-6 minutes, I cut up 3 tenders & added that to the last open spot on the bowl. The above is the end result. You can also make this vegetarian by substituting some of the above items. That is it for this week. I think, I finally have gotten down a posting schedule that I like so we'll see how that turns out.

Peace & Blessings. Have a great weekend, all!!



Aug 6, 2020

Thoughtful Thursday

     The last couple of days, I've been in a funk. I'm somewhat over social media at the moment, hence the lack of post. I've been doing some other activities like meditating more, catching up on reading some & being outside more. I needed a social media break for a minute to figure out some things in my personal & professional life (pertaining to my business plan & such). I think that I have some idea of what I want & need to do in both sometime very soon so, we'll see what happens. This week I'm back with some more quotes from one of my Billy Chapata books. I find that they make you think about how you see yourself & relationships but that's just me. Here are a few for this Thursday:











   
     Tomorrow, I'm actually going to post a recipe for something that I've been eating for the last week. It has become an easy go-to meal that can be made with meat or meatless. Until then, Peace & blessings.