Feel This Tribe Around You: A Look at 30 Days, I Am and Y: Yoga Movie

Found my way back to Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days which I abandoned with only three episodes remaining. The last episode is 30 Days on An Indian Reservation and it was really moving. I loved it when Spurlock participated in the daily ritual of running toward the sun then greeting it then saying a prayer for his family. He also realized the importance of being present and has a transforming sweat lodge experience.

I felt full of hope after watching I Am, a documentary written and filmed by the man, Tom Shadyac, who brought you Ace Ventura Pet Detective. Shadyac has a bicycle accident that leaves him with injuries and depression. He decides to seek out the likes of bishops and psychologists to get their take on happiness et al.

One person that Shadyac interviews say:

When Darwin wrote the Descent of Man, he mentioned survival of the fittest twice and he mentioned love 95 times.

I know that I've frequently referenced survival of the fittest as well...I also like the person who said:

The basis of nature is cooperation and democracy.

Obviously, it's been said before but when you see example after example of cooperation  in nature, it can be a goose bump-inducing moment. Loved the ending. Thanks to Cindy for bringing this documentary to my attention.

At first, I didn't think that I was going to like Y: Yoga Movie. The narrator's voice seemed a bit creepy and shots of the sky seemed a bit kitschy but I got on board loved it. Diamond Dallas, featured in Enlighten Up!, is back telling the store of how wrestling took a toll on his body. He's told that he'll never wrestle again but, after doing yoga for three months, he's back in the ring. I also like when Dallas said that yoga will give you mental flexibility, a gift that I've gotten from yoga.

I love it when Seane Corn talks about how her life was, theoretically, falling apart and how her life was complicated but that she got the sense that things were unfolding as they should and she also had a sense of joy. When she thought about the source, she pinned it down to the yoga class she had been to earlier.(21:21)

There are several celebrity yoga practitioners interviewed -- probably more than I recognize but the person who stole the show for me is Andre, a teenager who struggled with bad Andre and good Andre; he's quite a character and you can see how yoga has transformed him.

At the end of the film, I loved it when he says:

To the people who fucked with me, I say thank you because, through them, I learned how to forgive... (1:14:00)

Hala Khouri, a yoga teacher and Andre's mentor, discovered yoga after a cancer diagnosis. I like what she said at the end of one of her classes:

As you drop into your breath, as you drop into your being, feel this tribe around you. We all came here today as a collective... (1:13:40)

Yummy

Alex Jamieson, Morgan Spurlock's partner, was not pleased when Spurlock decided to do his 30 day McDonald's diet but finally gave her blessing once Spurlock agreed to turn himself over to her for detoxing post-experiment.

This book was not on my radar until Farty Girl mentioned a veggie burger recipe in it.

I've so enjoyed this book. Even the cover moves me.

I tried the veggie burger recipe first. I don't think that I've found the ultimate veggie burger but I liked it -- especially since it had a level of moistness that two other recipes did not.

I had fun making recipes in this book. I tend to have a knack for finding recipes that require a lot of preparation but I was able to get in and out of the kitchen in no time with these concoctions.












Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili



Loved the Cilantro

Mini Pizzas


Yummy

Can't wait to make falafel and walnut burger patties. I'm so in the zone that I might even try my hand at almond milk.

22,000 Subways

So what does this economy taste like? caught my attention and I found myself watching Nightline on Thursday.

I've heard that McDonald's (Recession Diet) is doing banner business during this economy and it looks like Subway, with some 22,000 strong franchises, is not far behind.

The journalist believes that the advertising campaign and the store's ability to use small storefronts is significant to their success. Subway's C.E.O. also credits Jared Fogle's phenomenal weight loss story as a Subway success factor.

On the advertisement front, Subway does have some clever ads as does McDonald's.


I've seen this ad in Shape magazine several times and it always moves me. McDonald's got rid of its supersize fries after Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me hit theatres but the supersize concept is a hard one to shake.





Jared showed off his fat pants in the interview. I have my own version -- some black Ralph Lauren pants that I plan to keep. Those pants were a sweet find at $20 dollars but I want to keep them as reminder of how I arrived at plus-size in the first place. As I've been advised, I will get rid of the remainder of my ill-fitting clothing because I don't want to it to be convenient for me to wear my larger clothes again.

30 Days

While not a Morgan Spurlock joint, I did go to The St. Louis Fitness Factory for 30 days.


I first learned about the Fitness Factory from a mailer which I let expire but the offer was still being promoted on the website.

Fitness Factory

The teaser on my mailer said no hassles and it was 99.9% accurate. Other than a pitch about two months free instead of one if I joined on the spot, my 30 days was pretty much a hassle-free experience.

The Fitness Factory is beautiful. From the ultra-cool logo to the pastel blue and green walls, it's elegantly decorated. And, for some reason, the restored loft felt like a tree house to me -- the better to feel like I was playing instead of exercising.


I love the mezzanine. Even if there were quite a few exercisers, it never felt crowded since people were split up. Also, no matter what time I went to the Fitness Factory, there were machines available. I never felt like it was overcrowded.

Fitness Factory has your standard cardio machines like the elliptical trainer, treadmill, stair climber and stationary bike. They also have treadclimbers which was a new machine for me. Missing from FF were AMT, EFX and Arc Trainer machines.

Perks included towel service and free parking which is crucial since parking downtown can be a headache.

I liked the overall decor, cleanliness, digital locker system, the European-style bathroom stalls and the Kenyan shoe drop off. Fitness Factory also offered several classes, including spinning and Zumba.


Old sneakers were being collected for the Shoeman.

Shoe4Africa and RecycledRunners also collect shoes.

And one of the coolest things of all at the Fitness Factory? Pilates on the roof.

A one year membership is $539.00 dollars. With processing fees, I pay about $315 a year at my current chain fitness club.

I really enjoyed working out the Fitness Factory. In fact, I felt like I was at a spa and, speaking of spas, there are also tanning booths on the third floor of the FF.

What can I say Fitness Factory? You're Beautiful.

Protein To Go

Close your eyes, my grandmother said. I knew that she was up to something so I turned around. My grandmother was straight up trying to put some peach cobbler in my mouth. I was just going to give you a little.

Yesterday, my aunt Girt tipped me off that there was a remaining piece of sweet potato pie. There were quite a few cakes around and the SP pie had been forgotten. She told me to remind her today so that she could give me the slice.

Did you see Super Size Me? If anyone posed the super size option to Morgan Spurlock during the course of of his 30 day experiment, he had his order super sized. I feel the same way about sweet potato pie. If anyone offers it to me, I'm pretty much going to take them up on the offer.

As I was leaving my g'ma's house, I locked eyes with my aunt to say goodbye when I remembered the pie. She went to get it and we made the exchange in the kitchen.


Did you taste the chicken? my aunt wanted to know. Frankly, I'm a bit tired of chicken but I could tell that my aunt had enjoyed it and she wanted to share. I sampled the smoked bird and it was quite tasty. My aunt packed some in a bag and, as I headed down State Street, I dipped into my baggie and ate my protein for the day.

What's Earth Day Got To Do With It?

I taped Oprah on Wednesday because a teaser, What happens to our garbage?, pulled me in.

As it turns out, an astounding amount of paper (71.6 million tons) ends up in our landfills. I recently weaned myself off of bottled water and I will try to do the same with napkins and such.

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, was one of several guests on the show and is an advocate of meatless Mondays. Pollan claims that if everyone went meatless for one day of the week, it would be the equivalent of taking 20 million mid-size sedans off the road.

Pollan also said that people are not aware of the carbon footprint of food and that agriculture changes the landscape more than anything else that we do. This statement was my favorite:

When we sit down to eat, that's our most profound engagement with nature.

I also like Pollan's advice to shop the periphery of the store where the real food is at. In the middle, he said, is the food that never goes bad.

Pollan's rule of thumb is to only eat things that his grandmother would recognize which does not include items like portable yogurt. Expanding on the grandmother rule, Pollan advised people not to eat anything that won't eventually rot. It's not real food, he surmised. This advice reminds me of Morgan Spurlock's documentary, Super Size Me, in which he did several experiments with food and the composition of McDonald's french fries never changed.



Some nice stores were featured on Oprah's Earth Day show, including:

Mysigg

To-Goware

Terracycle

As you can imagine, since the organizations have been mentioned on Oprah, increased traffic has affected the websites. Whole Foods is also giving away tote bags for free but the coupon expires today.

Whole Foods Coupon