fithiphealthy

GET LITHE!

 

Wanna learn how to Lithe?  We have a mid-month Immersion course starting next week:

Rittenhouse:   

Tuesday & Thursday beginning on Tuesday, 2.16.10 at 8:15PM  

If the Immersion classes don't work for you, you can opt to take our Lithe 101 class or a private session at your convenience. You can sign up and purchase online or call 215-545-5144 to register. 

Image of Lithe Instructor, Krista DeNofa via Dominic Episcopo.

MY MARINARA.

It's been snowing and I've been cooking.  Regardless of the weather or the season, I always have fresh sauce in the house.  I think it's important to master making a good, easy marinara sauce because it's great over a simple pasta dish or can be used as a starting point for many other recipes. 

My grandmother, Dorothy Baratelli Boggi, passed down a mean Italian meat sauce and meatballs (cooked with pork neck bones) recipe to me.  I'm not going to share that recipe with you but today (it's too involved) but I am going to share my easy, meat-less marinara.  

In the spring and summer, I prefer using fresh Jersey tomatoes from my parents Malaga, NJ farm but when it's snowy and I'm stuck inside, I grab organic canned tomatoes. 

Tomatoes are my favorite fruit and they actually increase in nutrients when you cook them! Read a little about them.  

I like to pair this marinara with Tinkyada pasta and yummy steamed kale & swiss chard (shown above) for a healthy and hardy meal! 

Ingredients: 

2 cans organic whole, peeled tomatoes

1 can of organic crushed tomatoes

1 can of organic tomato paste 

A few cherry or grape tomatoes to freshen and deepen the flavor

2-3 cloves garlic chopped or minced 

6-8 basil leaves 

Oregano 

Parsley 

1/2 teaspoon of Celtic salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

2 dried bay leaves

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 sweet onion (just cut it in half, throw it in and let it cook down).   

Do: 

You can choose to brown your garlic and onion first or you can just throw it all in raw.  Cook everything down on low for about 3-4 hours and stir occasionally to avoid burning.  

LITHE BRIDE.

Beautiful bride, Anna, sent some images along the sweetest, smartest letter that I've ever received a few weeks back.  It's taken me some time to post about this because I couldn't get through the letter-I kept tearing up before classes!    

I love that she compares fitness with marriage and giving everything you've got...So true!  Read this whether you're about to step into the white dress or not...It resonates with all of us!  Thank you, Anna. 

Dramatic though it may be, I think I can divide my life into two parts. Before Lithe and After Lithe.

In August of 2009, when I first started "lithing", my wedding and my life...were all about my thighs and my butt. And my stomach. I think to some extent my life had always been about my thighs and my butt and my stomach. Sigh. I think that was biologically passed down to me. Oh so many women in my life are their own worst enemies.

The pressure of a white dress, however, sort of exploded the issue into giant size.

I had ordered a beautiful wedding dress that - to my horror - did not fit when it was delivered (well, technically it fit, but I felt like a stuffed sausage and I could tell from the expressions on other's faces that this "would not do") and I was suddenly in the middle of the deep self-loathing wedding-induced vortex. Wonderful. The sales-woman told me to wipe my tears and that all would be well if I could just lose nine pounds from my inner thighs.

Nine pounds? Really? Fine. I'd do it. So, I called my best friends and asked them how I could do this. They told me I was crazy. And they told me that the sales-woman (more importantly) was crazy. But I persisted. And believed I was not crazy, just a failure. A big, sausagey, bridal failure. And (women being the eternal problem solvers that we are) my mother suggested I start pilates. I was new to Philly. I did a quick google search and found something called Lithe. It was only three blocks from my apartment. It would do.

I bought a private lesson, an immersion sequence, I said a little prayer...and I hoped for the best.

Now, almost two months married - and six months into "Lithing" - when I think of my wedding, I think of Lithe. Really. And not in the way I thought I would. Admittedly, yes, I think of the change in my body. I think of the inches lost. I think of the shake in my legs and the burning in my abs. And how I walk a little taller.

But, in all honesty, my time at your studio isn't really about my thighs or my tush. But it became something so much more potent than a critical focus on my 'rolls'. 

The instructors, the community, and the environment at Lithe helped me to finally drop into what this wedding and this marriage were really about: for me, marrying Dan wasn't really about becoming a bride, or a wife, or a perfect fit into a dress, or a half to complete someone else's missing half...It was about entering into a partnership as a whole and centered human being. It was about truth and health and integrity and love (for him, and for me). And it was about hard work, and the beauty that comes out of giving something everything you've got. Lithe taught me so much about how to be prepared for marriage.

My path to "whole and centered human being" has been long (almost thirty years long) and it is far from over. I imagine I am on this road for life. But I can say that I know for sure that Lithe carried me so remarkably far down that road towards a sublime bend in the road.

And here I thought I was just signing up for "pilates."

As a kid, I never made Varsity sports. I was embarrassed to change in a locker room. I was kicked out of my ballet company at age 14 for being too chubby. I have spent decades hating, dreading, and fearing this body of mine. I have played with diets, and baggy clothes, and a constantly rotating schedule of clothing to accommodate whatever weight my body rebelled and stayed at for that particular time period. I have spent too much time wishing my body could disappear. And I have spent too much time being angry with myself for never being able to keep up when I would try to 'conquer' it.

And then - then came Lithe. And my body and I became friends. Fast friends, actually.  Communicating, supportive, healthy friends. Sometimes we're not best friends (indeed, sometimes we're mad at each other). But such is life. Such is (dare I even say) marriage! But I have held my body's hand and pledged partnership with her and told her I won't back out and that I will be here to be her support, to take care of her, and to try and try and try again. Yes, to try again even when you say "one more set" and I feel like I gave you my "last set" weeks ago at on the mat. So, I guess - to borrow from you "I'm in it." And I am so glad. Looking forward to many more years of Lithe!  

With all of my sincere gratitude and love, Anna

THE GOOD LIFE.

2/22 UPDATE:  THERE ARE NOW ONLY 2 SPOTS AVAILABLE...

This weather is making me really, really look forward to our spring Lithe Escape!  We have 4 spots open (perfect for two sets of girlfriends, mothers and daughters or four singletons!)  

Liz and I are about to open up these last four spots to the national/international market next week, but before we do that, we want to give our Philly friends the opportunity to grab the last 4 spots! 

Seriously, this is the trip of a lifetime.  I've been all over the world, I've stayed at beautiful villas, have eaten great food and have been in the company of fabulous women but nothing has compared to the experience of our Escape! 

SIX.

I just got all caught up on Lither Lauren Hall's blog, Lithe Life.  

Yep, it's so true!  You'll see lithe results in as little as three weeks, but you really see major changes at 6 months once your metabolism kicks in and burns the fat right off of the muscle.  Wait until you hit your 1 year mark, Lauren!  Congrats to you, you look better than ever! 

Images via Lithe Life & Bright Star image via theanthropologist.

YOU'RE WELCOME!

I love Melissa's post about Thanking her Team Philadelphia.  I really like what she says about Lithe- She sums it up perfectly in a nutshell! 

Image via Dallas Shaw via Oh Joy!

FOAT!

I'm excited to announce that Lithe will be carrying FOAT soon!  Foat Design is run by twin sisters (who are both Jivamukti Yoga instructors!), Kaja and Zoe Foat.  

Their designs are beautiful, urban, modern, comfortable, sweatshop-free and made in the USA!

SOUP FOR ONE.

 

Here is my simple, vegan, low-sodium Mushroom Barley Soup Recipe. I originally found this recipie below on the NYTimes.com, but I add in 1 large onion sliced, 2 ribs of celery and 1/4 cup parsley to the recipe to make it more veggie!

Ingredients:

    * 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (about 1 cup)
    * 2 tablespoons olive oil
    * 1/4 pound shiitake or button mushrooms, stemmed and roughly chopped
    * 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
    * 1 cup pearl barley
    * Salt and pepper
    * 1 bay leaf
    * 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Do:

 1. Soak porcini in 3 cups very hot water. Put olive oil in a medium saucepan and turn heat to high. Add shiitakes and carrots, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown. Add barley, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to brown; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Remove the porcini from their soaking liquid, and reserve liquid. Sort through porcini and discard any hard bits.

 
2. Add porcini to pot and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add bay leaf, mushroom soaking water and 3 cups additional water (or stock, if you prefer). Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer; cook until barley is very tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Add soy sauce, and taste. Add salt if necessary and plenty of pepper. 

Image via itlooksgoodtome.com