Hot Yoga to the Rescue!

I finally feel like my digestion is back on track. I guess hot yoga helped last night as I imagined it would. I can't emphasize how wonderful I feel after doing 90 minutes of hot hatha yoga, it feels so good. It's kind of sad to realize that I can't bend the way I used to and do some of the poses with the same ease that I once did but it's not as if I didn't expect it.

Last night I came home at around 8:30 pm after yoga class and wanted something to put in my mouth. I wasn't really hungry but I wanted something. Given that I knew I was going to bed fairly soon I didn't want anything that would take too long to digest so I used up some of the fruit in the fridge and made myself a fresh fruit juice. Oh my god was it GOOD! It was perfectly sweet, cool and refreshing. Probably found my favorite combination of fruit ever and it was simply by pure luck: peach, apple and orange. Ran all three through my juicer (which I guess I won't be returning after that miracle) and tada; easily digestable, healthy and delicious evening sustenance:

I apologize for the crappy photo but it was late therefore there was no natural light so I had to use the flash =\

In other news, I think I finally figured out what is making me so gassy and irregular: tahini. I made zucchini hummus this weekend and it called for a ton of tahini and then some more sesame seeds and I think it may just be too heavy for me to digest. Shame, because it's so delicious. It took a little while to grown on me but now I'm really liking it! It tastes nothing like hummus but oh well. What I have started to figure out about raw foods is that they are always better if allowed to sit overnight. Unlike with cooked foods, flavors don't combine together immediately because there is no heat to break down the bonds of the food thus allowing all the flavors to fuse together that quickly. The blender obviously breaks down some of the bonds but heat is a catalyst in many reactions so without the artifical catalyst, the natural catalysts in food take longer to work therefore food never tastes the same (and sometimes as good) when you make it at night and the following morning. Okay, just a little basic chemistry for your Wednesday afternoon.

And in case you want to give it shot, here is the hummus recipe:

Zucchini Hummus by Gena:

Ingredients:

2 zucchini, chopped

½ cup lemon juice

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 cup raw tahini (the Artisana brand is nice; substitute regular tahini if you need to)

4 tbsp olive oil

½ cup raw sesame seeds

Vitamix directions:
Put all ingredients in your Vitamix and blend to a rich perfection!

Food processor directions:
Same as above. You may have a hard time blending the sesame seeds, so I recommend soaking them for a few hours first, halving the recipe, and stopping frequently to scape the bowl. You can also omit the seeds entirely, but in that case I also recommend omitting the olive oil to keep a thick consistency.

I did not use a food processor or a vitamix, I used my regular old blender so mine wasn't nearly as smooth or creamy and it's very thick. Probably because I also didn't soak the sesame seeds or halve the recipe. I think next time I will try using less of the tahini and less of the sesame seeds. This was just too heavy in my opinion. Though still quite delicious.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, I'm off to do some work! TTFN!