innerspaeth

Sad UP. Confident Jawbone.

I was more excited for that Jawbone UP then I really should have been. Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t really think it was going to be the answer to a more active lifestyle, but I was excited to track my progress, patterns and use it to my fitness advantage.

A mere three days after my upbeat and optimistic blog post, my UP vibrated and died. No more tracking. No more patters. No more movement alerts. Seriously? Yep. I should have just gotten the FITBIT. Maybe I still will.

Then, after tweeting about my broken and sad-faced UP, a friend of mine sent me this link. Too ironic right? That never happens to me. The article states:

Jawbone has released an announcement that it will offer a no-questions-asked refund policy on the UP in order to win back customer confidence.

I submitted my information and yesterday I got my refund in the mail. Nope, they weren’t kidding.

I’m not sure if this has really changed my opinion of the UP. After all, I did buy it from the Apple store and I’m sure they would have taken it back.

Overall thoughts: The data it collected was interesting, but not ground breaking. Again, the sleep data was by far the most interesting but not necessary. It didn’t help me sleep better, in fact I probably slept worse knowing it was tracking me ALL NIGHT LONG. The feature that allows you to compete against other people was motivating. I was waiting for my sister to get one and the day she did mine stopped working. Hilarious.

Overall great idea — I’m anxious to see what they come out with as an adaption to the UP. Will I buy it? Maybe. I haven’t lost my confidence in Jawbone.

Finding your truth and the F word.

I was surfing my TED subscription on YouTube and came across Gabrielle Bernstein‘s TEDxFiDiWomen Talk. I can’t recall how I heard of Bernstein, but she’s a motivational speaker and author of Add More Ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness . She also has a YouTube channel that I subscribe to and quite enjoy. She posts short vlogs on recent thoughts or just general words of motivation.

Her TED Talk below put me in a good mood yesterday and convinced me that I need to start living beyond my wildest dreams, every day.

26 Days of UP by Jawbone

Yeah so Hi. It’s been a while since my last post on my favorite smoothies. I’ve started and stopped several posts until NOW.

Yesterday I purchased the UP by Jawbone and I am officially IN LOVE. UP is a new device created to track daily activities, specifically: eating, sleeping and movement to inspire healthier lifestyles. The device itself is a bracelet that you wear 24 hours a day. It collects data on steps, workouts and food intake during the day and sleep patterns at night. I really like the bracelet because it’s both stylish (IMO) and comfortable. I forget I’m wearing it!

So far the most interesting data collected is while I’m sleeping. It tracks how often I wake up and whether I’m getting light or deep sleep. IT’S CRAZY! The first night I slept horribly — probably because I was anxious to get the reading as soon as I woke. This is what the reading looked like on my first day:

The other really cool feature is that you can set it as an alarm clock – a silent alarm clock that vibrates to gently wake you. The technology is designed to intelligently wake you at the ideal moment in your natural sleep cycle just before your desired wake time. This might be the best feature.

The active data is interesting – not sure how accurate it is though. I wore it to the gym today where I did cardio for over an hour – a mix of running, step and latter work. It couldn’t accurately calculate my steps on a machine, but it did calculate my time on the treadmill.

Another very cool feature is the movement reminder. Set an interval of time (I set mine at an hour) and your UP wristband will vibrate on your wrist to remind you to move when you’ve been inactive for too long. This could also be my favorite feature.

The food log is, eh OK. It tracks food with images you take with your phone, which is a great reminder but it can’t accurately tabulate calories through those images (that would be cool!). I wouldn’t suggest getting the UP solely to track food intake since the data collected isn’t giving a reading of anything useful if you are trying to count calories.

I’m anxious to use UP steadily for the remainder of the month of December. I’ll report back in January with a more accurate review once I’ve used it daily for 26 more days.

Protein-Packed Smoothielicious Recipes

After surviving an awful stomach bug a few weeks ago, I still don’t have my appetite back. No complaints however, I’m still showing off my goal weight – booyah!

The only thing that I have had an absolutely overwhelming craving for are smoothies – BUT not just any smoothie – POWER PROTEIN SMOOTHIES. That’s right people – I can jam pack anywhere from 20 – 30 grams of protein into one cup of smoothie awesomeness. I am also getting a full serving (sometimes two) of the fruits and vegetables that my body craves. These smoothies fill me up, increase my protein intake for the day, AND pump me silly with vitamins and antioxidants.

Lots of you have asked me for some healthy smoothie recipes. Here are a few that I suggest. Just dump all the ingredients into your mixer and blend until smooth! Comment below – let me know what you think of them!

Spring Cleaning Smoothie via Eat Clean Diet
Don’t let the color turn you off – this smoothie packs 14g of protein and a whole lot of flavor. Try it for breakfast on the go!

Ingredients
• 1 tsp / 5 ml Spirulina powder
• 1 serving hemp protein powder (or any kind of protein powder you prefer)
• 1 Tbsp / 15 ml coarsely ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml dry oatmeal
• 1/2 banana
• 1/3 cup / 80 ml applesauce
• 1/2 tsp / 2 1/2 ml vanilla
• Handful of ice cubes
• 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced (Optional: save 1 or 2 slices for garnish)
• 1/3 cup / 80 ml low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup / 120 ml milk of your choice
• Juice of 1/2 orange

Tropical Tango Smoothie via Oxygen Magazine
If you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain you’ll LOVE this healthier rendition.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup mango, sliced
• 1/2 cup pineapple chunks
• 1 cup non-fat vanilla soy milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 ice cubes
Optional – Top this smoothie with 2 teaspoons almonds, sliced.

Cake-like Vanilla Blackberry Smoothie via the Clean Eating Club Online
Who doesn’t cake? Celebrate your hard workout at the gym this morning with this as your afternoon treat!

Ingredients:
• 1 cup Light Silk Soymilk
• 1 scoop vanilla flavored protein powder
• 1/4 c. frozen blackberries (sub any frozen fruit you prefer)
• 1 tbs. wheat germ
• 1 tbs. ground flax seed

The Purple Protein Shake from the Feb 2011 Issue of Oxygen Magazine
This is my new FAVE! If you want to ward off the flu or dodge that cold which has been floating around your office – this shake is definitely for you. Mangoes are a real boost to your immune system with a superior blend of vitamins A, C and E!

Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup frozen mango pieces
• 1/4 cup frozen cherries
• 1/2 cup sugar free & fat free yogurt (plain or vanilla)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 tsp flaxseed oil

I met Gabrielle Bonheur tonight.

Breathtakingly gorgeous, Coco Before Chanel was an amazing look at the life of Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel, the pioneering French fashion designer who’s menswear-inspired fashions with expensive simplicity make her one of the most important figures in the fashion industry, ever.

The film began as the quiet young Coco, at the age of 12 years, was dropped at the orphanage of Aubazine where she learned the trade of a seamstress. After six years in the orphanage she left and continued her work as a seamstress by day and a cabaret singer by night. She performed in clubs where the regulars called her “coco” after the songs she used to sing: Vous n’auriez pas vu Coco?

Chanel was a determined young woman. She was tough, hard working, dedicated to her craft and terribly ambitious. While living as a mistress with Étienne Balsan, a French textile heir, she continued her work in the tailoring shop then began designing hats as a hobby. She designed many hats for Balsan’s friend — the theater actress Gabrielle Dorziat which helped her gain recognition as a designer. Her hobby soon turned into a deep interest, a passion that took her to Paris and opened her eyes to the world of fashion.

After becoming a licensed hat maker (modiste) in 1910, Chanel opened a boutique at 21 rue Cambon, Paris named Chanel Modes. She continued to design luxurious hats for Gabrielle Dorziat until the love of her life, Captain Arthur Edward ‘Boy’ Capel, whom she met through Balsan, died it a tragic car accident. The film portrayed Chanel’s devastation as life changing, fully propelling her fashion design. She spent her days and all hours of the night developing her ideas into a career as a fashion designer.

The film’s cinematography was sensational. Each frame was gracefully articulate in color, composition, lighting. Here are a few frames in sequential order.

Watch the trailer and submerse yourself in Coco.

Get INSPIRED!

This weekend we’re holding the AIGA DC retreat for board members. In a nutshell, this is what the weekend is all about:

“Wired” to the iPad

I wasn’t sure I really cared about the iPad. I mean, how much more technology do I really need (I totally feel like my grandma saying that).

Here’s the thing: technology is changing the way we engage with each other and with content. The iPad is going to enable magazines to thrive again, using multidimensional experiences to re-engage with their audience. This is so cool! Check out this video by Wired on their new iPad App:

Yogurt & the 14-day Activia Challenge

I’m not sure if it was the money back guarantee or the fact that I was sick and tired of an upset belly on a daily basis, I tried the Activia 14 day Challenge. What did I have to lose ya know, especially since a 4-pack was on sale for $1.99 at Wegmans at the time.

As most of you know, I just started writing professionally for Weight Lost Plans and as part of this week’s news assignment I decided to do a little research on probiotics and all their hype. First it’s important to understand that yogurt is made by introducing non-harmful bacteria into milk. All yogurts contain the starter cultures Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. It’s significant to also note that between these two bacterial, there are a number of strains, and studies show that all of these strains are associated with reducing diarrhea, which means yogurt on it’s own is naturally good for your digestive system. Recently though, several manufacturers of yogurt — and other products — are beginning to add extra probiotic strains to their products in the hopes of providing extra health benefits and improved marketability.

According to a Johns Hopkins health Alert, Dannon Activia was the first yogurt to market itself as “probiotic,” meaning that it has added live bacterial cultures. The added bacterial that it contains is called Bifidobacterium animalis DN-173 010, otherwise known as Bifidus Regularis, a proprietary strain trademarked by Dannon. The interesting thing about this strain is that it has been shown to survive the trip through the digestive tract and reach the colon intact.

And so it began for me – almost a month ago I began the challenge. At first I didn’t really notice much, but about 3 days in I realized that I ended the day with no cramps or bloating as I normally have. By the weekend I totally forgot my mid morning yogurt snack and by Sunday my belly was noticeably rumble-ly. HUH! Back to focus on Monday and through the next weekend, I was hooked. This yogurt was really doing the trick and to this day I’m still eating it. Marketing ploy or not, the 14-day Activia Challege worked for me!

What does Julia Child have to do with me?

This was the question that Julie Powell asked herself before she started her ‘deranged’ assignment where she spent the next 365 days cooking her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That’s 524 recipes and she even writes a blog about her adventure. This is the most darling true story, and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I loved the cooking, I loved the baking, I loved the story, I loved the blogging, I loved learning about Julia Child’s life. Please, if you have 2 hours watch this film. It’s purely delicious.

Joy Bauer’s Pumpkin Pudding

If you can find canned pumpkin, after the almost disastrous shortage over Thanksgiving, I recommend trying this recipe. A lovely low-fat afternoon delight!