Day 240

Early practice this morning - 5:30 a.m. Getting up wasn't too hard and getting on the mat was okay, but right around Marichyasana C I could feel myself slowing down. Then a thunderstorm moved through the city and the dog freaked out. She spent some time trying to insert herself into my Marichyasana D before retreating to the bathroom to hide behind the toilet (she's not a fan of thunder).

When I got up to check on her, I knocked over an empty glass of water I was drinking before I started and the glass shattered, necessitating a quick clean up (I was still finding glass on my Mysore rug as I finished the practice). With my momentum broken, I found it difficult to push through to the end. I could really feel a shift in my energy level after the thunderstorm/glass moments.

This is a good lesson to just *keep going* in the mornings. In the wee hours pre-dawn, momentum is everything!

In the comments, Jacqueline asked me what I eat for breakfast. She's on a grain-free diet, combined with CR. So this post is going to wander a bit into the realm of CRON (Calorie Resriction Optimal Nutrition), as I respond to her question. However, I feel this is yoga-related because hydration and breakfast are sandwich my practice.

When I wake in the morning, I make the bed and prepare the apartment for my practice by tidying up anything on the floor and sweeping the floor. While I do this, I drink two glasses of very warm water with some lemon juice. I eat breakfast after I practice.

Breakfast is my largest meal of the day and I try to make sure that it packs a real nutritional punch. Ideally, I like to have at least 18 grams of protein, most of my RDAs for vitamins and about half of my RDAs for minerals in that one meal. I add ground flax meal to my juice and my cereal for the omega 3 fatty acids it contains (I buy the seeds, grind fresh). I absolutely love the way flax tastes and I find that if I don't add it, something is 'missing'. Funny how your taste buds adjust! I selectively supplement for iron and calcium.

Confession: every morning, I take a half-teaspoon of cod liver oil. I still define myself a vegetarian - I don't eat meat and generally won't eat fish, but this little compromise adds some beneficial fatty acids to my diet and gives my vitamin D a boost in the winter.

I eat a great variety of foods, in smaller quantities than is typical for most people. In the photograph, you'll probably notice that the plates and bowls are smaller. Things are even smaller than they appear! ;-) Because I eat small portions, I find that it makes sense to have small plates to serve them on.

I'm odd in that I like to munch of fresh veggies in the morning and will usually have a couple of servings of them. Loblaws had a manager's special on sweet peppers this week, so I'm eating a lot of colourful peppers. I also love celery and carrots in the morning.

I do eat grains in the form of bran cereal.

I don't tend to vary my breakfast very much at all; I eat the same thing every morning, occasionally switching out a different tofu, vegetable or citrus fruit.

Here's a typical breakfast:
(I start my day, before practice, with two glasses of very warm water with lemon juice)
Egg white omelette 50 grams
Ying Ying Gourmet Tofu (sweet and sour flavour) 25 grams
Bran Buds 30 grams with 1 tsp flax meal, 20 grams banana, 1/4 cup Natura rice milk
Homemade (by me) probiotic yogurt, 75 g with a dab of sugar-free jam
Grapefruit, sliced, 66 grams
Sweet peppers, 90 grams
Celery 100 grams
V8 low sodium vegetable juice with 1 tsp flax meal
Green tea 500 ml



This breakfast contains 18 grams of protein, 20 grams of fibre (more than a typical North American eats in a day), 82% of my RDA for vitamins, 61% of my RDA for minerals, 1.6 grams of Omega 3 fatty acids. Also notable: by the time I finish this meal, I've already consumed four cups of water.

It takes me about 15 minutes to prepare this meal and I allow 30 minutes for a leisurely breakfast most mornings.