Tag: #bodyimage

Food, Mood and My Phat Ass

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized

A Little Extra Thicc..

Guys.  It’s time to get real.  I’ve put on a little extra cushioning lately.  I knew my jeans were fitting a little less perfectly, but I wasn’t really too worried about it. Sometimes we get off track, and the last months have been trying for all of us between Covid, our political situations, and the divide that seems to be happening between folks, even close friends and family members. It’s been kind of miserable, but there have also been aspects of beauty in the chaos, if we look for it.

With the cooler weather, I’ve also been a little more slack about my simplex carb intake, (I looooove Wood’s gf pumpkin scones and damn, there’s a lot of stress in the world…) have not being nearly consistent enough with my yoga practice (see above ) and I’ve been spending much more time sitting on my backside than ever working on editing my book.  This last week has been especially bad as I injured my back stacking wood so I’m unfortunately not doing a whole lot of anything when it comes to real exercise. 

But while on a couple of fun trips recently, (Oregon coast, and last week  to the Olympic Peninsula) my hubby took a some pictures of the spectacular scenery with me in the frames in front of him.   I was a little shocked to see that my ass had grown to extra thicc proportions, not a great look for my small frame.  Not that I have ever had an expectation of having a straight or thin physique – I’ve always been curvy, and love my figure –  but I  have small bones and when I put on a few pounds, that extra weight tends to pass my upper body to go directly to my hips and, you guessed it, backside.  So when I carry extra weight that is not muscle you really see it.  As clearly demonstrated by my hubs’ photos. 

 I am passionate about understanding, practicing, and teaching the science and spirit of co-creation (you may have noticed). Creating a healthy, whole, and happy life should be a balance between nurturing and caring for the mind, spirit, and body. Our bodies are the temple of Spirit, after all, and should be a reflection of our inner realities. Lately, though, I realize my slacking in care needs to change, so it’s time to get back to a routine that includes daily exercise and less simple carbs. 

The thing is, I’m really not good at denying myself things that are delicious.  I can’t eat gluten as it does an awful number on my digestive system, so when I want a treat, it’s usually prepared with white rice flour.  Which may be easy to eat (Woods GF pumpkin scones) but the body quickly converts simplex carbs into glucose, and unless you are exercising frequently, converts to fat fairly equally quickly.  Which, as I mentioned, goes directly to my ass and hips.  The body is an amazing thing – it puts calories away into storage for those lean times when we really need them.  But when was the last time the average American had a “lean time” in which we didn’t have an abundance of food to eat – so we don’t really need to be storing fat for the winter, amiright? 

My point is, if I don’t want to have a butt the size of Bermuda and hips that can rival Jessica Rabbit on my petite frame, I have to keep my simplex carbs to a minimum, with the exception of a cheat day each week. (Saturday Sundays!)  But I also don’t want to feel like I am denying myself, so there are a few little tricks I use that help a whole lot to get back on track:

  • Consistent routine.  I start my day with some form of exercise.  Period.  For me, it’s usually yoga and walking, but I also do some HIT and weight training.  But whatever gets you moving is a good thing!  I also try to get in a few sets of 10 push ups and squats throughout the day.  
  • Staying on track with my Intermittent Fasting.  I usually eat my first meal between 10 and noon and my second between 4 and 5:30.  I don’t eat anything after that.  Again, consistency is key.  For most, eating 6 on,18 off might not work. 12 on, 12 off is much more typical.   I’ve experimented quite a bit with my hours and this seems to be the best for me for feeling physically at my peak. 
  • Sleep!  Getting to bed at a decent hour makes a huge difference in my eating patterns the next day.  Less rest means our bodies look for the missing energy elsewhere, often by consuming extra calories.  
  • Shiritaki noodles.  You can buy either the yam or tofu variety, but most science shows that too much soy increases estrogen which can be no Bueno.  And I love to eat  tofu, so I pretty much stick to the yam noodle variety.  These noodles are super low calorie, (20-40 calories per bag)  no to low carb, filling, and incredibly versatile and easy to prepare.  I love throwing a rinsed package into a pot of broth and veggies for a delicious pho, but I also do a marinara on either the angel hair or fettuccine variety, a light olive oil and parmesan, or one of my favorites, a spicy pasta putanesca with green fettuccine.  The noodles will take on the flavor of whatever you are cooking with, much like tofu.  
  • Trader Joe’s Jicama wraps.  I pan-fry two, slap them together so they don’t fall apart while I’m eating and fill them with whatever sounds good at the time.  Last night’s dinner was gyro meat with herbed tahini and sprouts on these wraps.  Tonight I made monk fruit-sweetened mole with chicken, cauliflower, sweet potato, black beans and peppers.  Served on the wraps  with shredded cabbage and avocado-cilantro crema.  Believe me when I tell you, both meals were spectacular, and with these delicious meals I don’t feel like I am denying myself one bit. 

  • Cabbage.  Cabbage is an underappreciated food hero.  It is high in fiber, vitamin C, K and A, is anti-inflammatory, and feeds your intestinal flora.  Healthy intestinal flora=healthier weight.  I try to incorporate it into my meals as often as possible.  An easy and tasty slaw is shredded cabbage, black beans, salsa and a bit of light sour cream.  I also throw in pepitas and sunflower seeds, high in chlorophyll and a variety of other nutrients.  Earlier I mentioned easy, healthy pho?  Chopped cabbage, ginger, fresh garlic and a jalapeno cooked into the broth, and topped with fresh cilantro takes it to a whole new level.  Cilantro and ginger are two more antioxidant, anti-inflammatory superfoods worth eating regularly.  This is also a great immune-boosting soup to make if you are feeling a little under the weather.   

  • Hydration!  Drink first if you think you are hungry, then wait 10 minutes.  Often we misinterpret our bodies’ natural cues and eat when we are actually dehydrated.  Urine should be light yellow to clear.  ‘Nuff said!
  • Healthy, low-carb, gluten-free baked goods.  I have found that it is usually when I deny myself of things I enjoy that I fall the hardest into poor eating habits. (I’ve been good for weeks...Just one(or 5) cookie won’t hurt… So once a week or so I bake a “sweet” using almond, flax, and coconut flours.  I use monkfruit to sweeten.  Last week’s treat was a low-sugar, low carb blueberry-apple-ginger cobbler.  We enjoyed it warm with dairy-free yogurt for breakfast one morning and for dessert after dinner another night.  So delicious!  Having something that feels a little indulgent keeps me from craving things like chocolate chunk cookies, though I intend to try an almond flour dark-chocolate chunk cookie one of these days…
  • Greens.  Years ago, I had a nutritionist tell me that we could practically eat a bathtub of greens without gaining weight, and I took that advice seriously.  I love serving salads or sauteed greens with each meal, and in these cold winter months I throw every veggie I have on hand into my soups and stews.   It’s also a good way to sneak veggies into meals without kids realizing it!

And last but most importantly, mindset.  How do you want to feel in your skin?  We all have different body types, shapes, and metabolic processes, but ultimately, what makes you feel your best?  Lizzo is a voluptuous goddess who loves herself as she is – but also works out regularly so she can perform well and feel fabulous.  I have several Pacific islander friends who are bigger boned and carry a little extra thiccness – and look exactly right and hot as hell as they are.  I am both curvy and athletic, so feel my personal best when my body reflects both aspects of who I am. 

Late last summer…Feeling Fabulous!

 No matter what your “normal” might be, I hope you can look into the mirror and see your inherent gorgeousness.  If COVID and the stress of the recent divisions within our society has caused you to stress-eat or stop exercising, that’s ok.  I feel ya, literally.  But regardless of what’s happening outside, my wish would be that you would feel your absolute best inside.  Sometimes we fall off the wellness wagon almost by necessity, but at some point, your body deserves to feel it’s optimum.  You deserve to feel your best.  I know I’m ready to get back to feeling fabulous in my skin; my outer reality reflecting the inner reality I desire rather than the stress I may have been feeling of late. What is the reality you most desire for yourself, in your body and beyond?  Whatever it is, you deserve it, beautiful.  Much love!

  • Terah

Self Image/Self Love – Goddess Mindset

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized

Do you love your body?  Do you celebrate those genetic propensities that make you uniquely you?  How we feel about our bodies plays a huge role in how we interact with the world.  How much time do we lose each day, each week, each year obsessing over an image of beauty that is not our own truth?  I am guilty of this, myself.  I’m sure I have lost years of my life in a quest for some ideal that wasn’t me.   I wish it wasn’t so, but for nearly as long as humans have had written history there are examples of how society imposes an ideal – especially on women – and we follow these ideals to feel beautiful, to fit in, to be accepted and approved of.  

Until the 21st century, women with curves were generally celebrated, but by the 1920’s, oddly coinciding with the beginning of the women’s revolution, women’s figures became thinner and flatter, and for nearly a century,  this seems to be a trend that hasn’t gone away.  It seems that women, in our desire to be strong, independent humans, subconsciously think we need to be less of what makes us feminine. 

Alternatively, we think we need to make ourselves smaller to be socially acceptable.  So we starve ourselves as we disappear into anorexia.  Or exercise compulsively and to excess.   Or we rid our bodies of the calories we consume through laxatives or bulimia.  If we could each truly see the way we inflict self-harm to our bodies and our minds from an outsider’s perspective, I believe we would begin a love relationship with ourselves that would bring us as individuals and society back into balance.  

What is it that creates the need to be thinner, to be younger, to be less of who we are at any given moment? Maybe it’s time to get back to an ideal that represents what we should be – healthy and glowing – instead of what a patriarchal society has insisted is beautiful.  I did a basic google search on “beautiful female bodies” and every single image was basically the same. Every single image. Women who were largely lighter skinned, thin with a touch of curve in the “right places”. It’s no wonder there are an estimated seven million girls and women with eating disorders.

God, I could cry or scream to think of how all of the girls and women who don’t fit that ideal must feel when they see what society expects of them. But what if instead of thinking we needed to be taller, thinner, more curvy, more beautiful from the media’s standpoint and saw yourself as a Goddess or God – a divine being, how much better would we treat our body and mind?

In the middle ages, women padded their bellies to appear more attractive because if you were a little soft, you could afford to eat, which meant you were healthy.  Cleopatra was said to have wished for varicose veins, and who hasn’t admired the gorgeous curves and hint of muscle of the Venus de Milo statue, or the rubenesque beauty of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus? 

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

 

As we begin to celebrate the beauty in greater ethnic diversity, curves have once again come into popularity, which is wonderful – but we have once again found a way to distort this celebration of the feminine body,  women taking drastic measures to have impossibly thin waists and surgically implanting fat or silicone to enhance breasts, hips and butts.  But isn’t this the opposite of self-love?  Surgically altering our appearance isn’t loving ourselves – it’s loving an impossible and often unhealthy ideal.  

But what if we could look in the mirror and see our own loveliness, exactly as we are?  What if we saw that sweet little bit of belly, the softness of our inner thighs, the curve of our hip and just loved it?  What aspect of your physical being might not be considered standard beauty, but are still stunningly you? Maybe you have eyebrows like Frida Kahlo, hips like Marilyn Monroe or  I have small-ish breasts, but I love how they suit my narrow shoulders perfectly.  My daughter inherited her dad’s  broader shoulders, but they offset every aspect of her curvaceous figure to stunning effect.  I have a beautiful “sister from another mother” who is tall and slender, but also very strong looking.  Growing up, she thought she was too boyish, but there are few women who don’t envy her narrow hips and strong arms.  All I see when I look at her is one fantastic woman. 

Lizzo is one of my current heroes.  Dang.  That girl has it going on in so many ways, from her incredible voice to her sassy personality, but I looooove the way she celebrates her splendid curves.  We should all feel the way about ourselves that she describes in the song “I’m in love with myself”. 

Feeling Fabulous

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t aim to be overweight, though I think the modern version of what overweight is is grossly generalized and out of date.  I have friends of different ethnic backgrounds and I’m sorry, but 130 pounds for 5’5” island girl just isn’t realistic.  For that matter, someone who has a denser muscle mass will be significantly heavier than someone who doesn’t.  And who doesn’t dread getting weighed at the gym or the doctor’s office?  There’s something wrong there.  

Eating healthful, nourishing foods and getting plenty of exercise – are ways that we can not only keep our bodies healthy and strong, but also love ourselves with self-care.  Giving ourselves good fuel is no different than giving a high-performance car high-performance fuel.  What foods speak to you?  Do you need more greens, more fruit, or some good dark chocolate?  An occasional doughnut or a bowl of ice cream is good for the soul, but if you are feeding your needs more than your desires, the odds are good that you won’t often crave food that doesn’t serve your body. 

I like to follow a 80-85% rule.  Eighty-five or so percent of my meals are healthful, whole foods. But we have “Sunday Saturdays” at my house, indulging in an extra-special treat once per week.  I eat twice a day instead of once, following an intermittent fasting diet.  Not because I’m trying to lose weight, but because it feels best for my body.  Because I am only eating twice, I aim for 500-600 calories my first meal and a minimum of 700 calories for my second.  I  eat more on days that I exercise.  Experiment with what makes you feel most alive.  


Exercise also keeps bodies and minds in good condition and helps us live longer, happier lives, especially if we are getting outside for that exercise.  But rather than obsessing over perfection to please someone else’s ideal, fall in love with yourself.   Celebrate those aspects of yourself that make you so uniquely you.  You are beautiful.  You are a queen, and deserve to love yourself.  Believe it! Much love, you gorgeous thing.