Posted by terrepruitt on April 18, 2009
I was in my refrigerator the other day and I noticed that both of the vegetable drawers were empty. That in itself is NOT a good thing, but what it lead to, is a GREAT thing. It reminded me that I had had a conversation with my mom about this so I thought, “Heck, maybe it would be an ok blog.” My mother actually couldn’t believe that I don’t clean my refrigerator.
Well, to be exact, I don’t empty the entire thing out and wipe it down as often as you might think. What I do, is wipe empty drawers and shelves. I HATE emptying out the entire thing so when there is an empty spot I wipe it. If there is a shelf with hardly anything on it, I put those things on another shelf and wipe the now empty shelf.
Veggies are always leaving remnants of themselves in the drawers so I tend to wipe (and dump) those out more often.
There are a lot of great things about the wiping-an-empty-spot method. For one, you don’t have to take everything out and deal with it—-I so hate that. Another thing is, if you are trying to put the few items from one shelf on another so you can wipe an almost empty shelf sometimes that “forces” you to throw away an outdated something rather. I have a tendency to keep things because I hate being wasteful, but when I have an almost empty shelf and I just need space to move one or two things but there is an outdated item in my way—-great time to toss it.
And a BIG HUGE benefit is guests. They come in your house and go into the fridge and they say, “Wow, your fridge is so clean.” When in fact it might not be sooooo clean, they are just focusing on the empty spot—-because that is usually what they are in there in the first place, they want to put something in there. And they see the empty spot which you just wiped so they think the whole thing is clean. AND in reality, it IS cleaner than it would be if you actually only wiped it out when you took the time to empty the entire thing.
What do you think? Do you think my wiping-an-empty-spot method is good? Might it help you out? Well, my mom liked it.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: clean refrigerator, refrigerator, refrigerator cleaning, vegegtable drawers, Vegetables | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 16, 2009
All of these mugs warm my heart and make me smile.
This mug has another side, but I am only showing you one.
I love cats and dancing. Ha, what do you know dancing cats!
My dad gave me this when I moved out. Cute, huh?
Sooo pretty! You get to see both sides of this one.
Of course, she would be here!
My FAVORITEST mug!
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: Cats, cats dancing, coffee mugs, Dancing, dancing cats, God, heart warming, husband, joy, lefty, love, Mugs, Nia, pleasure, praise | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 14, 2009
I love cheese! I have often said that if I had to give up cheese life would not be worth living. I love cheese so much that I recently caught myself in a lie about cheese. I had convinced myself that cheese was in the protein category and I was allowing myself a lot more cheese than I should have had it been in the correct category. The correct category is fat. Cheese is primarily fat, which for me means, I can’t eat it at every meal as I would like. I need to restrict my fat intake—especially saturated fat.
Anyway, today I had a sandwich and I think the primary reason I wanted a sandwich was so that I could have cheese. But I also didn’t want to have as much fat as a slice or two of cheese would have been. So I happily took my yummy chunk of Havarti to the grater. I grated a little bit on half of the slice of bread and voila! Cheese taste and creaminess without ALL the fat and calories a whole slice would have added.
Grated cheese on sandwich
I am sure you remember the grater for a lot of your favorite recipes that call for cheese, but don’t forget you can use it to put the cheese in your sandwich and not end up with a big slice. Yum!
Share with me what your favorite cheese is? How do you eat it?
Posted in Food | Tagged: Cheese, cheese grater, food category, grated cheese, Harvati, protein, saturated fat | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 11, 2009
I want to remind everyone that Nia™ or Nia Technique® is a specific practice.** It was created in 1983 by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. They were married and now they are not, but Nia is such an important part of their lives and so important to them, that they continue to work together.
Nia has different belt levels; White Belt, the newly added Green Belt, Blue Belt, Brown Belt, and Black Belt. Each Belt has its own set of principles, except for Green. You must wait a year in between belts before you can take the next intensive. (Except for green because it a newly added in the system to assist teachers.)
Click here for more info on classes and Nia
I am a White Belt, so I continue to work with the thirteen White Belt Principles:
1–The Joy of Movement
2–Natural Time and the Movement Forms
3–Music and the 8BC System
4–FreeDance
5–Awareness – Dancing Through Life
6–The Base; Feet and Legs
7–The Three Planes and the Three Levels of Intensity
8–The Core of the Body; Pelvis, Chest, and Head
9–Creative Arm and Hand Expressions
10–X-Ray Anatomy
11–Business and Marketing
12–Continuing Education
13–Dance What You Sense / Teach What You Sense
When I talk about Nia it is based on what Debbie and Carlos have created. They have been working and growing with Nia for 25 years. And if you look at their work and information you will see that it has morphed a little. It is the same basic practice but I believe it gets refined as they grow and change.
So please keep in mind when I talk about Nia, I am talking about something wonderful and specific and it is entirely based on the work of Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
Please join me in San Jose for a Nia class. Visit my website for the schedule http://www.helpyouwell.com/
**This post is to explain that “Nia” and “Nia-things” I talk about are primarily from the creators of Nia BUT please keep in mind . . . . Nia is also a workout that can be experienced, just like a Yoga, Zumba, Jazzercise, or any group exercise class. One can show up to class and just move and get a great workout. One does not have to participant in the intensive and the belt levels.
Visit Nia’s main website at: www.nianow.com
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: 8BCs, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, exercise class, exercise classes, great workout, group exercise, group exercise class, Jazzercise, joy, Nia, Nia Belt levels, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, San Jose exercise class, San Jose exercise classes, San Jose Nia, the joy of movement, thirteen White Belt Principles, workout class, Yoga, Yoga class, Yoga Practice, Zumba, Zumba class | 3 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 9, 2009
Ok, now say it out loud. Say it again, but this time listen. Ahhh. Funny, huh? Well not too long ago I was at my first Tweetup—oh yeah, when Twitterers meet in person— at the Red Rock Café in Mountain View and I was hungry. It was after my Wednesday morning Nia class and I hadn’t had my coffee and I needed my lunch. So in addition to my latte and sandwich I got a biscotti. Ya know, you’ve seen them in those huge glass canister. This one was called Chocolate Maniac which I thought was odd because it was blonde and sitting right next to ones that were clearly ALL chocolate. I had too much to carry so I stuck it in my pocket and forgot about it.
Later, near the end of the Tweetup I put my hand in my pocket and was shocked by the feel of plastic, then I remembered it was biscotti. I decided to eat it on the way home. Not the best choice, I’ll tell ya. I should have waited, it so deserved to be savored and not gobbled up between stop lights. It was what I think of as a “normal” flavored biscotti, but had a layer of chocolate on it. But it wasn’t “normal” it was REALLY good. A LIGHT crispy nutty cookie with a thick layer of gooey—but not so gooey as to interfere with my driving—yummy chocolate. After it was gone I was sad because it was gone. I looked at the ingredients and I realized why it was so good. There was nothing in it I could not pronounce. It just had good old fashioned baking ingredients it in. I read the company name and then proceeded through the intersection because the light had just turned green. As I was driving it dawned on me–Naughty Biscotti. How funny. How cute. How silly. How yummy. AND they are local. In Santa Clara. How nice. I like to support local business, so when they are as good as Naughty Biscotti—I am there. I hope you will try some.
http://www.naughtybiscotti.com/ *
Remember, my blog, my rules, this isn’t related to Nia, working out, personal training, health, wellness , or fitness, but, I said that I was the one that would decide upon what fell into that realm. And this could be stretched into an eating-a-treat-with-all-natural-ingredients-is-more-healthful-than-chemicals kind of thing, yes? Get Naughty. Tee hee!
*As of 06.06.20 – this site appears to not exist. Sorry.
Posted in Food | Tagged: Bay Area Tweetup, biscotti, Chocolate, cookie, fitness, health, Mountain View, Naughty, Naughty biscotti, Nia, Nia class, nutty, personal training, San Jose Fitness, San Jose Nia, San Jose Tweetup, savored, Tweetup, wellness, Working Out | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 7, 2009
Well, would you? Do you? Do you floss?
First let me say, although you might not have noticed, my blog is late. I went to the dentists today. I go to one in Milpitas even though there are probably hundreds in San Jose that I pass to get there, but EVERYONE there is so nice and pleasant. I like my dentist office. If you don’t like going to the dentist, you are going to the wrong one.
Anyway, back to my ramble about flossing.
If you want to feel great and aid in the prevention of numerous health issues, floss. It takes less than two minutes (for most of us) and it can add years to the life of your teeth and gums. I heard someone say, “Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” Ha! I thought that was pretty good.
But flossing is about more than just keeping your teeth. It is really helps with your overall health. It seems like more and more, studies are showing that dental health is connected to overall health. Hmmmm, imagine that?
Basically everything in the body is connected and that is one of the things that makes being healthy a bit of a challenge because everything needs attention and care in order to keep the body running properly. But one of the EASIEST and FASTEST things you can do to assist in your health is floss. In addition to making your mouth feel great, sometimes you end up with that I-did-something-you-didn’t-do-attitude (just like you get when you do your workout in the morning) since you know most people don’t floss.
Now what’s this about wealth? Well, if just the fact that you will be healthier does not encourage you to floss, what about saving money? Oh yeah, the healthier you are, the less money you will end up spending. Hmmmmm, imagine that? So investing a few dollars and a few minutes in floss is just the thing to assist you in saving your money* for other things.
So why not give it a shot? There are so many types of flossing products that I am sure you can find one that makes it safe and easy for you to get your floss on. What do you say?
*06.06.20
Sometimes links go dead so “saving your money” has been replaced with a different link.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: dental health, floss, flossing, health, Milpitas Dentists, running, San Jose Dentists, San Jose Nia Workout, saving money, spend less money, wealth, workout | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 4, 2009
I believe one of the most useful tools in the quest for health and wellness is the food diary. There are many ways you can keep track of what you eat (and drink). Remember that unless it is water, it counts for something. Sometimes we are not very conscious of what we are eating. Especially if we are busy or it is a habit, for example you cut the crust off of the sandwich for the kids and automatically eat it. That counts. Bites of things count. If you don’t eat the whole dish of ice cream but you have a few bites that counts.
So, you need to decide what your goal is, then you can decide how you want to keep track. You can simply write down everything you eat or you can keep track of what you eat AND how much. You can include calories, you can include amount of fat, you can include amount of protein. Your goal will assist you in deciding how much information you want to keep track of.
Now-a-days there are hundreds of options to keep track of what you ingest. There are online food diaries, or digital diaries, if you have an iPhone there are numerous applications that can help you. Food Diaries (of food logs) run from really easy to difficult. It depends on what you want to keep track of. I used to use one that I really liked because it was simply. But they changed it and made it difficult, so I am not going to even bother mentioning it here. There are plenty of free ones out there so you don’t need to pay a sign-up fee or a monthly fee. Once you decide what you want to keep track of I am sure you can find one that will do exactly that. You might want to keep in mind a few things, even if you don’t want to keep track of a certain thing now you might want to in the future so it might be nice if the one you use can keep track of multiple things (vitamins, minerals, etc.). It is really important to use one that allows you to customize your food. I found that most of the ones I looked at have a ton of Fast Food already programmed in, but I don’t eat fast food, so I had to input most of my food, then once I did that I could just click on the custom entry whenever I ate it.
Try it. Even if at first you just write down what you eat. It is a GREAT tool. Try it and you will see.
Posted in Food | Tagged: 408 area code, Coffee, Food Diaries, food journal, food log, food logs, health, Help You, helpyouwell.com, http://www.HelpYouWell.com, Terre, tools for health, Water, wellness, www.HelpYouWell.com | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 2, 2009
My blogging intent was to blog about healthful things, exercises, nutrition, but I keep thinking that readers might like other things too. And I keep thinking of things I want to share. I have so much I keep learning about Nia, we are doing more things in San Jose, and life is just full of stuff. I am going to try to start posting three times a week instead of two. I think that I am going to keep up with my opinion on healthful things on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but on Thursdays my posts will be different. We will see how this all goes.
With my first post that is less-in-the-realm-of-wellness-and-the-like will be simple. I wanted to share, that my house smells like flowers. I love Star Gazers** and recently (almost two weeks ago), my husband bought me some. He bought roses and Star Gazers, but the Star Gazers have lasted longer. And they make our living room and dining room smell so nice.
You cannot walk down the stairs or sit on the couch without getting a big whiff.
They are so gorgeous. What is your favorite flower?
**Lilium “Stargazer” (the Stargazer lily) is a hybrid lily of the Oriental group according to Wiki
Posted in Flowers, Star Gazers | Tagged: exercises, Flowers, hybrid lily, Lilium, Nia San Jose, nutrition, Oriental group, San Jose, San Jose Nia, Star Gazers, Wiki | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 31, 2009
Nia™ is about joyful movement. Move with joy. Move for joy. Move to joy.
A Nia workout includes elements from three disciplines from three different arts:
From the martial arts, we use moves from T’ai chi, Tae Kwon Do, and Aikido.
From the dance arts we embrace styles from Jazz Dance, Modern Dance, and Duncan Dance
And from the healing arts we are mindful of teachings from Feldenkrais, the Alexander Technique, and Yoga.
At times we might move slow, focusing on movements centered around the body’s inner core, as in T’ai chi. We might kick or punch as one might do in Tae kwon do, and these movements might flow into a spiral motion that is associated with Aikido. We could decide to play the showman and do the entire routine with a jazzy flair or just add movements of creating shapes, dropping and then recovering the body’s own weight as a modern dancer might do. There is always a chance we could give into our inner child and run free and honest with the playfulness of a Duncan dancer. While we’re doing one these things we are keeping in mind the teaching of Moshe Feldenkrais and being conscious of sensations. We could stretch to the top with utmost concentration one might contribute to the Alexander Technique, then move onto a dance of bone alignment increasing awareness, relaxation, and balance the could be thought of as Yoga.*
So in one workout you can experience all those things. Strength is balanced with grace. Fun is balanced with seriousness. Body is balanced with mind.
The music is varied and is intended to promote the movement of the routine. There is no doubt something for everyone.
*based on information from The Nia Technique by Debbie Rosas & Carlos Rosas
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: Aikido, Carlos Rosas, core, dance arts, Debbie Rosas, disciplines, Duncan Dance, Feldinkrais, flow, fun, grace, Healing Arts, inner child, Jazz Dance, joy, joyful, martial arts, mind, modern dance, movement, Nia, Nia San Jose, playfulness, San Jose Nia, sensations, showman, strength, T'ai chi San Jose, Tae kwon do, Tae kwon do San Jose, Tai Chi, the Alexander Technique, The Nia Technique, The Nine Basic Movements Forms Of Nia, Yoga, Yoga San Jose | 13 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 28, 2009
My husband took Jujitsu for a little while. Martial Arts are amazing because from what I have heard most of them are not just an exercise class or a practice, a lot of them involve other “things” and in the case of my husband and his Jujitsu class, it involved potions and lotions.
Since in Jujitsu you use your body a lot and it can sustain damage, part of what he was taught was how to heal that damage or at least minimize the time frame of healing. One thing he brought home was Zheng Gu Shui. Oh how I love my Zheng Gu Shui. If I even THINK I hurt myself, I put this stuff on and —BAM!—it is gone sooner than not. 
Ok, I have to admit sometimes I forget about it, but here is what had me wanting to blog about it. I recently strained something in my neck changing the sheets. Oh yeah, BTW, I usually don’t injure myself working out or exercising it is usually while I am doing normal everyday stuff. So I flicked the sheets like you do when you are putting them on the bed. And –twang!—I hurt something. That night I woke up four or five times because when I went to change sides I couldn’t turn my head without pain. In the morning I tore my closet apart looking for my bottle of Zheng Gu Shui. I put it on from my shoulder all the way into my hair because that’s where it really hurt. Then I went about my day. After one application I was able to move my head, but I still felt a twang. So every once in while I would remember that I had hurt my neck so I would put more on. I applied it maybe four times. By the evening if I really put my mind to it I could still feel the pain, but I was able to completely move my head. The next day, I was asking my husband if I could blog about Zheng Gu Shui and it dawned on me, it was 7:00 pm (I ran to the clock to check) and I had not THOUGHT about my neck ALL day because it was better.
According to many websites Zheng Gu Shui means rectify bones liquid. I use it when I think I am going to bruise or feel that I have strained a muscle or something. What it does is promote circulation. This seems to allow the issue to resolve itself faster than it would on its own. It is very strong smelling and it will tingle to the point of burning on tender spots (didn’t feel good on the back of my knees) and it might stain clothing, so use it with caution. Always follow a products instructions. It is awesome. And it is VERY affordable.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: healing, Jujitsu, martial arts, promote circulation, Zheng Gu Shui | 10 Comments »
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