Notes and Tips:
Keep elbows wide (they should be in your peripheral vision).
Avoid pulling your neck – allow your head to be heavy in your hands. Think more about pulling the tips of your ribs towards your hip bones versus lifting your head.

1. Hundreds
Starting position: laying on your back, arms long by your side, legs in table top.
Inhale, prepare.
Exhale, curl up and straighten your legs only as low as your low back does not arch and feel strained.
Inhale, pump your arms 5 times.
Exhale, pump your arms 5 times.
Continue pumping your arms with this breath pattern for 100 counts.

Tip: Keep arms straight and make your pumps tiny.

2. Lift and Lower
Holding your curl, take your hands behind your head.  Externally rotate your legs. Hold your crunch the whole time.
Inhale, lift your legs up above your hips.
Exhale, lower your legs to a diagonal line only as low as your low back does not arch and feel strained.
Repeat 10 times.

3. Abdominal Curls, legs at a diagonal
Hold your legs at the low point where you can support your low back, hands stay behind your head.
Inhale, lower your torso.
Exhale, lift back up.
Repeat 10 times.

Ouch!!

Notes and Tips:

If you feel ANY pain in your low back, angle your legs slightly forward of your body, otherwise be in a long line from your fingertips to your toes.

1. Sidebends.
Lie on your side with the bottom palm facing the floor.
(Inhale) Prepare.
(Exhale) Lift torso and legs into a sidebend, keeping bottom hand on the floor.
Repeat 10-20 times.

2. Lift + Lower.
(Inhale) Hold sidebend.
(Exhale) Lift top arm and leg.
Repeat 10-20 times.

Repeat on the other side!

©MauroPilates2012

Do 20 reps of every position.

Carbs. Do you crave ‘em? I do!! What’s amazing about flax is that it satisfies like carbs but unlike most, you stay full! I’m not even kidding. And–while it has a similar mineral and nutrient makeup to grains, it is NOT a grain and is in fact LOW in carbs! On top of this, flax is super high in fiber and healthy fats which is why it leaves you feeling full and more likely to lose weight.

Fiber. Good luck finding any other food with as much insoluble and soluble fiber. Read: healthy gut, blood sugar regulation, and cholesterol lowering benefits.

Vitamins. High in magnesium, B vitamins, and manganese. This is a little rockstar seed!

Omega-3. Omega-3s are vital in fighting against inflammation, the culprit of a large number of chronic illnesses. This being said, it’s also important to eat plenty of cold-water fish, like salmon, because they are different types of Omega-3s that play off of each other in order to fight disease.

Phytochemicals. There is a high amount of lignans contained in flax seed. Lignans are really useful for women in that they can help promote fertility, balance female hormones, prevent breast cancer, and even decrease peri-menopausal symptoms. For both males and females, lignans help prevent Type 2 Diabetes. Flax is also very high in antioxidants and phytochemicals.

Side note: My new favorite cereal is Enjoy Life’s Crunch Flax Cereal. It’s super filling and I add milled flax seed with chopped up bananas and blackberries with almond milk. I’m usually hungry allll day and this week I added this into my breakfast routine and it is keeping me FULL!

Nutritional Facts: Only 200 calories per serving. 3 g fat. 115mg Sodium. 42 g Carbohydrate. 6 g Fiber. 7 g Protein. It also provides 15% of your daily Iron and Vitamin B6. Yess!! I highly recommend this cereal.

Tips on Eating Flax:

- Eat milled or ground flax seed instead of the seeds or the oil. The seeds are not easily digestible and the oil does not contain the phytochemicals or fiber found in the milled seed.

- Store in a cool, dark place like the refrigerator or freezer. Whole flax seed can stay good for a year, the meal for 3-4 months, and the oil for only a few weeks. It’s most cost effective to purchase whole seeds and ground them up yourself using a blender or food processor.

- If purchasing milled flax seed, be sure the package says when it was milled so you can be sure it is fresh. It should be in the refrigerated section of the store and should also be in an opaque bag instead of clear because light leads to spoilage. You want your seed to be fresh so you get all the benefits! It fresh it will taste nutty.

- Drink plenty of water! If you don’t drink enough water and you aren’t used to eating a lot of fiber, you could get constipated.

- When baking, you can substitute the following:

* 1/3 c. oil –> 1 c. milled flax seed

* 1 egg –> 1 Tbsp milled flax seed + 3 Tbsp water

* Substitute up to 1/5 of the flour in the recipe with milled flax seed.
How do you eat your flax?

It was my first time to Boston and I have fallen in love with this city. In many ways it’s like Austin – it’s on the water, there’s a great alternative feel to the town, and there’s a lot of students which keeps the city feeling so youthful. What I love about Boston is the diversity of people, the depth of passion for the Red Sox (it truly is a part of Bostonian heritage), the pockets of the city – like the Italian North End and Cambridge, efficient and easy public transportation, the ease and ability to walk everywhere, and I could go on and on. It’s a really special place and one I’ll definitely be coming back to. Like Austin, I was pleased to find the restaurants in Boston to be very health conscious and allergy friendly. Read on for my Boston food experiences.

STOP 1: Bertucci’s

There are 3 Bertucci’s locations in Boston and after leaving the airport, my friend and I were hungry and didn’t put much time into picking a good spot. Everyone there was very nice and accommodating to my food allergies but the food was absolutely tasteless. With all the great Italian food in Boston, I don’t recommend this one!

STOP 2: Flour Bakery + Cafe in Cambridge

What a treat to find!! Every time I googled gluten-free, this place would pop up. I thought it was so odd since it’s named “Flour” – clearly not gluten-free, but called anyway to ask if they have gluten-free desserts. They DO! They had several: a chocolate layered cake that looked very rich, different types of meringues and macaroons, and my very favorite – a dacquoise. I had never heard of this delicacy and it is so good! This one had layers alternating between hazelnut meringue, almond meringue, and chocolate cream. It was surrounded in a thin layer of chocolate with hazelnuts and sliced almonds on top. Perfection!

I went back several times for this delicious treat and eventually had to cut myself off. But, please if you ever go to Boston and you love dessert, go to Flour Bakery + Cafe!

STOP 3: Cafe Luna in Cambridge

This spot was close to our hotel and when walking around looking around for a breakfast spot, we found Cafe Luna. We both ordered a Smoked Salmon and Avocado Omelet (pepper crusted smoked salmon with avocado, tomato and chive cream cheese). Because I have a dairy allergy I had mine without the cream cheese. In all honesty, I’ve never been a huge omelet fan but as omelets go, this was very tasty. Again, everyone here was very accommodating to my allergies. On our last morning we went back.  I ordered the same omelet which seemed to taste even better than the first time and my friend ordered a grilled spicy black bean burrito that looked fantastic. Thumbs up to Cafe Luna!

STOP 4: Piccola Venezia in the North End

We stopped here for a bite to eat with a glass of wine. I had a bowel of mussels and my friend had a salad. I let the server know that I have a gluten allergy and to not bring any bread with the mussels and bread came with the mussels (a serious pet peeve of mine). So, I had to send it back and have them remake it. I don’t know if the first bowl of mussels was better than the second or if the chef was just angry I sent the first bowel back. I’ve been a mussel fanatic my whole life and never have I had so many broken shells end up in my mouth. It’s not very pleasant biting into shell after shell. It was like the chef hurled each mussel individually into the pot determined to break them. Needless to say, I don’t recommend Piccola Venezia.

STOP 5: Pomodoro in the North End (I can’t find a website for this place! And it’s been there over 20 years! But, check out the raving reviews here.

We stopped here after our first glass of wine and what a treat!! This place is tiny and easy to miss, squeezing about 8 tables into their charming space. Every bit of our experience here was delightful. Spending a great deal of my childhood in Italy, this place reminded me very much of somewhere we would have gone in Taormina, my dad’s childhood home. Because we had already eaten before, we only ordered entrees and wine but both were fantastic. I had a vegetable risotto with chicken and my friend had spaghetti with marinara sauce (he was keeping his diet simple in preparation for racing the Boston Marathon). One of my favorite dishes is risotto and I order it at every opportunity I have. This was hands down the best risotto I’ve ever had. A nice ending to the meal? Complimentary Tiramisu! My only complaint? I can’t bring this place back to Austin!

 A lovely touch: adding olives into the olive oil for dipping bread.

Our last evening found us back at Pomodoro where we ordered a delightful antipasto spread filled with good cheese, olives, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, and a white bean salad. We both ordered the same entrees but this time I topped my vegetable risotto with a piece of grilled salmon. I will miss you, Pomodoro.

STOP 5: Life Alive: Urban Oasis and Organic Cafe in Cambridge

Once I found Life Alive, I went every day and sometimes twice a day! This place has all gluten-free foods, raw food, healthy smoothies, and fresh juices. Places like this are gems for me and such a treat to find! Again, a wonderful surprise just blocks away from where we stayed. Some things I had… a smoothie with Blueberries, Bananas, Strawberries, Dates, Flax, and almond milk… a smoothie with Strawberries, Bananas, Dates, Flax, Coconut Oil, and almond milk… a juice with cucumber, celery, greens, lemon, and aloe. Yumm!!

 They also sell my favorite gluten-free cookies that are impossible to find! Lovely Liz Cookies. They had SO many flavors and two new ones that I tried are: Oatmeal Raisin and Snickerdoodle. Both were delicious.

STOP 6: Fenway ParkThere are times I feel very thankful that gluten-free is “trendy” and being at the Red Sox game was one of those instances. Fenway Park now serves gluten-free beer, pizza, sandwiches, sushi, and more. Pretty awesome and very progressive!

STOP 7: The Friendly Toast in Cambridge

In searching for a gluten-free brunch, we came across this spot that has all kinds of gluten-free pancakes! It was exciting to find but I felt the food was a bit sub-par. We ordered a lot: a blueberry gluten-free pancake, sunny side up eggs over black beans with roasted potatoes, a side of fruit, and scrambled eggs with avocado, black beans, and roasted corn salsa. On Sunday this place opened up 3 hours before other brunch spots which probably makes it really popular but I really don’t have any desire to go back. Best part? The fruit was very fresh and they gave us a really nice portion of it.

STOP 8: Aragosta Bar + Bistro

The night before the marathon, my friend wanted to find a good Italian spot. Since the north end was packed with other marathon runners looking to do the same thing, we found an Italian restaurant, Aragosta Bar + Bistro, right on the water underneath a hotel. It was really good food and they were great with my food allergies but in wanting a hearty Italian meal, I left feeling like it was something from a healthy spa restaurant. It was really good but not what I was in the mood for. I’d probably go back but only when in the mood for something light. Again, my friend had a bowl of pasta with marinara sauce and I had a beet salad and roasted organic chicken with broccoli and green beans. Everything was very good and very healthy.

STOP 11: Clear Conscience Cafe in Cambridge

This was a darling cafe we stumbled across that was attached to a grocery store co-op (can you tell I was in heaven?!). It was the only coffee shop I could find serving both organic coffee and rice milk – and it was GOOD! I went there several times and had an iced rice milk latte and my friend enjoyed their regular lattes.

STOP 10: Modern Pastry in the North End

On our last night, we stumbled across a bakery in the North End with a long line out the front door with a sign advertising gluten + dairy free Whoopie Pies! Wahoo!! I absolutely waited in line for that and it was SO worth it! In fact, I plan on having them ship me some more! Thankfully two of my newest favorite desserts are too far away to make impulsive eating decisions about..

And back I return to life in Austin.  I suppose vacations must end, indulgent eating can’t go on day after day, and workouts must resume. Said as I nibble on my last whoopee pie..

Why Spinach? Turns out Popeye was right!

- Eating these dark green leaves (really all dark green leaves), protects you from cognitive decline. Given that I’m already pretty forgetful, I’m going to keep adding spinach to my smoothies!
- Protects against cancer. There are more than a dozen individual flavonoid compounds in spinach (Livestrong) that act as antioxidants and neutralize free radicals in the body, aka, fights cancer. In fact, boys, there is a carotenoid in spinach that actually causes prostate cancer cells to kill themselves and then prevents them from coming back! (The Journal of Nutrition) And, ladies, don’t you fret because spinach is good for you too. Women who eat a lot of foods containing the antioxidant kaempferol (spinach has a lot of this) show a significantly reduced incidence of ovarian cancer. (Livestrong) Other foods that contain kaempferol are blueberries, grapes, red wine, citrus, apples, leeks, onions, curly kale, broccoli, St. Johns’ Wort, and non-herbal tea.
- Improve cardiovascular healtlh. Stressed? A salad-size serving of spinach will lower your blood pressure level in hours. Spinach also has 65% of your daily intake in folate which “converts harmful, stroke-inducing chemicals into harmless compounds. (Livestrong)”
- Lots of nutrients! Seriously low in calories and packed with nutrients, this is a rockstar food to include in your diet on a regular basis! One cup of these leaves has only 40 calories yet also has almost 40% of your daily magnesium requirement, nearly all your manganese and folate, and more than your vitamin K and vitamin A requirements! It is also considered to be an excellent source of dietary fiber, protein, and calcium. Pass the green stuff, please!

With the hottest months of the year coming up, please include this goodness in your smoothies — it’s SO easy! Check out this yummy recipe below of the smoothie I had for lunch today.

1 c. unsweetened rice milk
1/4 c. frozen organic mango
1/4 c. frozen organic raspberries
1/2 c. frozen organic wild blueberries
1 Tbsp. chia seeds
Fill the rest of the blender up with spinach and blend!

How else do you eat your spinach? Please share your recipes!

Juice the following ingredients:

1 peeled grapefruit
2 celery stalks
1 inch piece of ginger
1 green apple
6 kale leaves or 1 bunch of bok choy

Enjoy! Please share other ways you boost your metabolism!

How-To: (Inhale) Start in a side plank on your forearm reaching opposite arm up to the ceiling. (Exhale) Reach lifted arm forward as you rotate into a forward plank. Repeat 10-30 times per side.

Tip: Be sure to square your hips down when rotating to your full plank!

Modification: Do this on your knees if the full plank is too intense.

©MauroPilates2012

1. Improves Digestion.
If you’re like many Americans, digestion is not always as seamless as one would hope. Drinking lemon water helps flush out unwanted toxins and promotes bile production by your liver which is a necessary component of digestion.

2. Diuretic.
Lemons promote increased urination which in turn causes toxins to be flushed out of your system more quickly.

3. Balances pH Levels.
Most of us have an acidic pH which is a breeding ground for disease and poor health. Lemons are highly alkaline and will cause your pH levels to drop with regular consumption.

4. Weight Loss.
People who maintain a more alkaline pH tend to lose weight much easier. Also, lemons are high in pectin fiber which fights food cravings.

5. Immune System Booster.
Lemons are another food that has a lot of Vitamin C which helps fight colds and other yucky ailments. Due to their levels of potassium they also help improve brain function and to control blood pressure.

6. Clear Skin.
Have a scar? Rub lemon on it regularly to help diminish the appearance. Remember that lemon gets rid of toxins? A nice side effect of this is having less pimples. The Vitamin C in lemons also helps to minimize wrinkles and acne.

Tips:

- Drink warm lemon water — cold lemon water does not have the same benefits.
- Drink your lemon water first thing in the morning to help your liver functioning from the moment you wake up.
- Once you’re finished with the lemons, grind them in the garbage disposal for a natural air freshener!

PS – I’m kind of proud of this creation…usually when I play around with recipes, it’s a total flop and this time it’s a success! Probably the best bread I’ve made yet. AND it’s gluten-free!

Ingredients:

1 c. all-purpose GF flour
1/2 c. GF oat flour
1/2 c. GF cornmeal
1/3 c. vegan sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Himalaya salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

3 Tbsp canola oil
2 large eggs
1 c. blueberries
3 mashed, very ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until just combined. Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray and pour ingredients in. Cook bread for about an hour (mine cooked for 54 minutes). Allow bread to cool and eat, eat, eat!