I post a lot of small sips on Facebook that may be easier to digest than my longer blog posts but not everyone is on Facebook and even for those who are, it isn’t always easy to navigate to the information you want from your favorite pages because not everything comes into your feed. So I decided I’ll bring my facebook posts to you in one spot so you can scan the list and see what interests you – that way you can slurp up the small sips that you think will be tastiest!

So here goes my first attempt at this! Here’s what I posted this past week!

Small sips of Nourishment, Movement, Reconnection, and Restoration

Nature

Do you garden? Gardening is wonderful for so many reasons; being outside and soaking up the vitamin D and fresh air, getting your hands into the healthy bacteria in the dirt that have been shown to have anti-depressive qualities, being around plants that has been shown to lift your mood and lower stress levels, and being active is just plain good for you, lowering disease risk and even helping with chronic pain. And that’s just the act of gardening! If you have a vegetable garden, you also get to eat all the nutritious, delicious food you’ve grown.

We learned how walking in nature boosts our immunity from AllTrails

and

Outside magazine showed us how to plain the perfect cabin get-away

Breathing….

It was time for a quick breathing session to get us over the hump of‪ ‬humpday! Here’s how:

Close your eyes. Try and relax from your head to your toes (or your toes to your head!). Take in a deep, full breath through your nose for 4 seconds. Exhale slowly through your nose for 8 seconds and really push out all that stale air sitting in your lungs. Only think about your breathing in and breathing out. Repeat for at least a minute but it’d be even more rad if you do 5 minutes! Are you a breathing champ already? Go for a 5:10 or 6:12 ratio.

Sleep…

Do you have trouble falling asleep? It could be what you’re eating. Foods that can promote sleep include cherries, bananas, almonds, flax, and honey. Lycopene (found in tomatoes and grapefruit), selenium (found in brazil nuts and tuna), and vitamin C in strawberries and kale) have also been shown to help regulate sleep.
Foods that may keep the z’s at bay include coffee, chocolate, alcohol, anything spicy, or anything fried.

Meditation…

I am starting to meditate each day. Just for 5 minutes per day right now but it’s a start! Meditation leads to all kinds of health benefits, from less stress and lower blood pressure to less pain and better digestion. I posted more on my meditation experience here.

Movement…

Do you want to be more active but feel like you don’t have enough time exercise? Maybe we just need to reframe the definition of “exercise” – it doesn’t have to be an hour logged at the gym or running on the treadmill! Being active just means that you’re moving. So how best to move? Engage in activities that are fun for you and get that movement in whenever have even just a few minutes.
Got 5 minutes? Spend them moving – dance, do a couple stretches, shadow box, chase your dog or your kids, or do a couple sprints. Got 20 minutes? Do something you enjoy; go for a walk or a bike ride, practice yoga, run (or walk or jump) some stairs, hit the heavy bag or lift some heavy things. Got an hour? Go for a hike or a swim, play a game of frisbee golf, or grab your board. 
It doesn’t matter what you do, just move and have fun!

and…

Have you checked out MovNat yet? Pretty fun way to get a workout in. And now there’s some guidelines to create your own MovNat MOD and play the way you want to play! 

plus

if you need more reasons to PLAY, Mark’s Daily Apple explains why getting outside to play everyday is a MUST!

Food….

We grilled up some veggies on  “It’s grilling Sunday!!” The grill isn’t just for meat, you can grill up your veggies, too. Did you know you can grill lettuce? It sounds crazy but it’s quite delicious.
You’ll need a heartier head of lettuce (think romaince, endive, or radicchio). Chop that puppy in half, brush with a little oil or butter (or oil the grate with some oil on a paper towel), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place on the grill over high heat. Flip it a couple times and you’ll have some grilled lettuce deliciousness in less than 5 minutes! – sprinkled with some balsamic and olive oil or some homemade blue cheese dressing makes it even more scrumptious!

and…

Picket Fence Paleo showed us how to make a delicious crock-pot cashew chicken for all you Chinese food foodies!

plus…

Braising

I shared my new favorite cooking technique: Braising! My new favorite way of cooking beef brisket – I’ve been playing around with it and haven’t gone wrong once! And it’s simple. Here are the basics:

Preheat oven to 350.
Rub your brisket with seasonings of choice (last night I did paprika, chopped garlic, ground mustard, cumin, coarse sea salt, and black pepper).
Chop up an onion and place in the bottom of a cast iron skillet or shallow roasting pan.
Pace the brisket on the onions and place in the oven for 1 hour.
After one hour, remove from oven and lower temp to 300.
Place a bit of liquid in the pan – I’ve used strained tomatoes, beef broth, wine – whatever your little heart desires, just make sure it covers about the bottom 1/2 inch of the pan.
Cover and put back in 300 degree oven for 3-4 hours, check on occasion to make sure there’s still liquid but the liquid will mostly carmalize the onions into deliciousness so there shouldn’t be a lot left at the end!

and finally…

Experience Life magazine helps us stock our pantry.

And to finish it all up….some small sips of just plain fun…

Tom Thum shows how beatboxing is done!

I hope this compilation of some small sips is helpful! Let me know if you like this format – if so, I ‘ll do it every week!

As always, hit me up on facebook, on twitter, leave a comment, or shoot me an email at mycuppajo@gmail.com!