The Power of Exercise

January 6, 2019

    Hello again.  I’m so glad you came back.  Okay, I realize that for some of you I just pop up in your inbox with an email reminding you that “hey guys, I just published a new blog post. Please read me.”  If you follow through and actually read my post, HOORAY!  Thank you.  And if you are new here, welcome and thank you for coming along on the ride.

    When last we met, I told you about my real plan for 2019, which was to focus on living a happier life.  You know, “live my best life ever!”  No biggie.  Thanks Oprah!  And I want you guys to do the same.  So we have to start somewhere and get to work.  But where and how?  Well, I am going to start with the one thing that so many people try to take on at this time of the year:

    Exercise.

    You know it’s true.  It’s the start of a new year and I am sure many of you have made resolutions to start working out more.  In fact, it’s one of the top resolutions people typically make, right up there with eating healthier and saving more money.  Okay, so why do you want to exercise?   Many of you will likely say, “to be healthier of course” and while that is an honorable goal, I bet that if many of your are really honest with yourselves, I bet if you read in between the lines of that goal, it’s to “lose weight so you can look better” and I bet it’s because you think that THIS is the one thing that will make you truly happy.  

    I am sorry to tell you folks, Yale’s Lauren Santos, tells us, studies have shown that it will not.  Wanting to exercise to make changes to you physical self, will almost certainly not guarantee happiness, in fact, many times it may make you even more depressed.  Why is that?  

    At first when I heard this fact, I thought, it must be because limiting of carbs and calories and sweating profusely in a gym only served to make people grumpy.  Spaghetti must make people happy…I mean think about all the runners that “carbo load” before a big race.  And then they are always going on and on about that “runner’s high” right?   (I have never experienced that), but that must be it, right?  The elusive runner’s high.

    Well, no.    

    Every January, gyms are jam packed, you often can’t find a treadmill at a convenient time.  You start off strong, you may even over do it the first couple of work outs and then quickly discover, you are so out of shape that muscles you never knew you had are sore.  And then, by the end of February, or mid-March, your resolve has weakened.  Maybe you are shortening the time of your workouts.  Maybe you are skipping days and soon, before you know it you are back to your old habits of not moving at all.  Are we sad because we failed?  So you must be thinking, why bother?

    Look, I AM NOT suggesting that working out is pointless.  It is true, that exercise, can lead to better health and it may in fact help you reach a weight loss goal.  But what AM suggesting is that you think about exercise differently.  When you think about why you should exercise, think about how happy it will make you.  Happy?  Yes, exercise, does crazy fun things to your brain that boost your mood and make you happy.  It also helps you sleep better, but more on that on a later blog post.  It deserves its own examination.

    Think about what happens as your go through your day.  Your mind and body can fill up with the stress of work, daily annoyances like traffic, and general anxiety.  Exercise is the tool to use to burn off all this bad energy.  Otherwise, you are just sitting there letting all those bad vibes form a chokehold on you, creating tension which accumulates in the long term.  Let that $hit go people.  Make room for the good stuff.  But to make room you need to move.  And the good stuff, that can build too and can make you more resilient to life’s ups and downs, and lead you to have an overall better day, every day!  I know I want that.

    Apparently, moving 3x a week for 30 minutes each time will help add to your happiness.  And it can take any form too.  Do you like to run?  Dance?  Go for walks with your dog?  Ride a bike?  Be like Nike.  Just do it.  Commit yourself to something that moves you and just do it.  And if you are going through something?  A bad breakup?  The death of a loved one?  Exercise is even more critical for you.  Studies have shown that exercise can help people recover from their sadness.  Think of it as the best form of self care possible. 

    Also, exercise boosts your cognitive function.  Are you a student?  Don’t worry about grades, exercise.  It can improve the way you learn and retain information.  Are you older?  Movement not only helps keep your body strong, but can keep you sharp as you grow older.  Oxygen people, oxygen is key to keeping your brain young and you happy.

    So what am I doing for my happy exercise goals?  Well, I decided that I wanted to do various things, like Zumba or Barre, but even better, I wanted to start running again.  About 14 years ago I ran my first marathon.  And I loved it.  Now I don’t want too run any marathons, but I do think running lends itself well to a goal.  So I decided to try to train for a 5k race.  And I chose to run Oak Park’s “The Good Life 5k Race”.  You guys, really, that’s what it’s called.  The “good life” race?  Come on!!! It’s a cosmic sign.  This is my race to have my best life ever.  Okay. I’ll shut up now. Anyway, I will be following my couch to 5k program, going to the gym to run 2-3 times a week and if I can fit in a bonus Zumba workout, all the better.  Sunday, April 7th, 2019.  Root me on internet friends…I am very excited.  I will keep you posted on my progress as time goes on.  

    In the meantime, I hope I have convinced you that exercise is mission critical on the path to happiness.  And if you happen to look better as you dance, run or bike, well bonus…but I bet it’s because you are SMILING AND HAPPY.

    See ya’ soon,

    Kallie

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    Ok Oprah, I want to live my best life too…Let’s do this.

    January 1, 2019

      Hi again everyone!  Remember me?  I’m back!

      I know I have taken a long break from blogging, but I have been busy living life and trying to get it together in 2018.  It’s this “get it together” part that I want to talk about today and share as the main theme of this blog post and as an ongoing theme for 2019.  Read on.

      So a few months ago, I read a post from my old college friend, Scott David Moe.  He publishes a great round up newsletter called “Thoroughly Thursday”.  And yes, you guess it, it goes out every Thursday.  I highly recommend it.  In his post, he linked to an article about Yale University’s most popular class, “The Science of Well-Being”.  What?  A class on “well-being”?  Yes.  You read that right, a class about how to be happy.  But more than that, it’s a class that gives you the scientific reasons behind what makes us happy and why we are often wrong about the things that we think will make us happy, but ultimately do not.

      I was intrigued.  I love stuff this kind of stuff.  It feeds my obsession for reading about what makes people happy.  Like why are the Danish happy even though it’s cold and dark there most of the year? Is it because of all that “hygge”?  In fact, why are all the Scandi-land countries deliriously happy?  And why is Canada always in the top 10 of happy countries?  Is it because they have a never ending supply of hockey players, maple syrup and snow?  Is that it?  Do you need to have a lot of cold and snow to be happy?   Or is it that they eat the most Kraft Mac and Cheese in the world?  True story.

      I am curious about these things, not because I am unhappy.  By all measures, my life is pretty amazing. Logically, I could point to many wonderful things and see that I have a lot to be happy for.  But if I had to be honest, sometimes I get a little out of sorts, a little more stressed than I care to be, and generally a little scattered.  I just feel like I could be in a better mood more often.  And with all that good I had, why wasn’t I eurphoric 24/7.  Was I just ungrateful?  Or is the idea of “feeling content all the time” just a fantasy?

      I soon found out that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.  In fact, most if not all of my friends felt the same way in varying degrees.  Here we were, a group of highly successful people with all the trappings of a great life and yet we all secretly harbored escape fantasies.  Plans A, B and C in case the life we were currently living went south or we just couldn’t “take it anymore”.  What is it about us or the life we lead that makes us feel this way?  It made no logical sense and we were all acutely aware that the things we complained about were a laundry list of FWPs, or “first world problems”.  We all had enough to eat, lived in a great city with a lot to do and great careers that funded those lifestyles.  So why weren’t we suffering from joy instead of aggravation? As my father likes to say, “it’s not like you are barefoot in the mountains tending to a flock of sheep in the rain.”  Point taken dad.

        Maybe it was a matter of perspective.  The article went on to say that in a time where the United States had more wealth than any other country in the world, Americans suffered more depression, anxiety and malaise than at any other time in history.  Have you ever wondered why kids in third world countries are smiling and laughing while kicking around a half deflated soccer ball while  kids in the US had the latest web-based gaming system and were just miserable, dissatisfied and constantly complaining?  I needed to know more about how this was possible. I wanted to know why.

        That is where the class “The Science of Well-Being” came in.  So in the fall I registered for the online class taught by Laurie Santos at Yale University and learned all about the scientific reasons behind what does and does not make us happy.  I told a friend of mine about the class and she wanted to know more too and that’s how our “Oprah-esque” endeavor to “live our best lives” was born.  We basically decided that we were going to spend the last week of 2018 planning all the things we should be folding into our lives on a daily basis to make a better, sweeter, more delightful life.

        I know it sounds like the mother of all New Year’s Resolution and on some level, some parts of it might sound that way.  But much of this plan is an attempt to arm ourselves with the knowledge and understanding about what makes us happy and apply it to our day to day. 

        What if I told you that science says $75,000 is all you need to feel happy?  And more money does not make you happier.  If you suddenly made double that amount, you might think you would have double the happiness, but in fact you would not.  You might temporarily feel a “happy boost”…but after that, if you were miserable at $75,000, you will ultimately end up miserable again at $150,000.  It’s an odd quirk of the brain called “hedonic adaptation”.   Basically, once your basic life needs are met, food and shelter, the brain gets used to the new income boost, it becomes the new normal and goes back to its baseline level of happiness.  Back to daydreaming about exit plans from work. Annoying right? So now that you know this, aren’t you curious about the things that science suggests will actually make you happy?  I know I was.

        And so, I want to share this journey I am going on, with you.  You will be a first hand viewer on my attempt to cultivate more happiness, or live my best life.  I love saying that.  It sounds so cliche but it perfectly encapsulates the goal.  Follow along as I attempt to roll out a series of habits and changes that will hopefully add to my happiness level.  What types of topics will I be covering?  Here is a snippet:

        1. Body – Physical changes we can make to be happie
          1. The true power of exercise
          2. Want to be more efficient? Go to sleep.
          3. Be like Bruce Lee, be like water
          4. Vitamin Happy
        2. Mind – Mental changes we can make to be happier
          1. Gratitude, the killer of envy
          2. Be here, right now or how to live in the moment
          3. Real luxury = Time.
        3. Soul – Spiritual changes you can make to be happier
          1. Meditation – the Jedi mind trick 
          2. Be kind to self and others
          3. Memory creation, invest in experiences not stuff
        4. Your Happiness Toolbox – a list of things for a happiness boost
          1. Things you can watch
          2. Things you can do
          3. Things you can eat

        And so, while my friend “T” is my official accountability buddy for the day to day part of this journey, I am also recruiting you guys, my internet audience.  I am going to take you along on my journey towards living my best life and I hope you join me too.  After all, they don’t say “the more, the merrier” for nothing.  And as you all know now, we need more “merry” in our lives.  Should I call it “living our merriest lives” instead?  No?  Maybe? Okay bye.

        See you next week. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

        -Kallie


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        Porkchops and Applesauce…okay just applesauce

        February 11, 2018

        Did you guys ever watch the Brady Bunch as a kid?  Do you remember the episode where Peter starts imitating Humphrey Bogart and telling everyone they were having ‘Porkchops and applesauce” for dinner?  Click here to see what I am talking about.  LOL.

        Have your ever had pork chops and applesauce?  I never have.  Is it a good pairing?  My mom just slow braised pork chops in lemon juice and white wine and oregano until fall apart tender.  But that’s not what this blog post is about!  I can fill 100 blog posts about all the things my Greek-American girlfriends and I never tried as children that all of our regular American friends indulged in.  You have never heard so many sad tales of “I never got to order off the kids menu as a child, I had to have a t-bone steak!”  Can you imagine?  A 5 year old with a t-bone steak in front of her?  Yeah, that was me.  FWP (first world problems).  LOL.

        Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program…you guys, how did I not know that applesauce is so good?  How have I been living unaware of this fact for so long?  Okay, truth be told I wanted to make some applesauce for Miss Magdalena since she is starting solid foods now.  But I tasted some and was like “whoa!”  I found out it was so super good and I had to share this simple little sweet treat.

        What else can you do with applesauce?

        • a side to pork chops
        • latkes and applesauce
        • use applesauce in your baked goods like muffins and cakes
        • topping for your oatmeal

        Now I am all, “I can’t wait for fall to go apple picking!”  Get ready Michigan road trip!  Apple picking and apple cider doughnuts.  Alas, it’s only February!!!  It’s snowing like crazy in Chicago.  We probably got 8 inches on Friday and another 5 inches Saturday night into Sunday morning.  It’s a slow motion snowpocalypse…never ending snow. Heavy, wet, slushy snow.  Actually the slush reminds me of applesauce, but golden and cinnammon-like…ok, never mind.

        Applesauce…try it.

        I like to top vanilla ice cream with a  few spoonfuls of warmed applesauce and a little caramel sauce and it’s heaven!  So here is my husband and baby approved applesauce.

        Cinnamon Applesauce – makes 4 x 8oz jars

        Ingredients:

        4 lbs of apples (I like gala or braeburn)

        1.5 cups of water

        2 sticks of cinnamon

        Directions:

        Peel, core and slice your apples

        Place in a big pot and add water and cinnamon sticks.

        Bring to boil, then turn down and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring from time to time.

        Mash or puree or waz it up with a fancy immersion blender,

        Eat with a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg or use in your favorite recipe for baking or top your vanilla ice cream, or top your oatmeal, or just enjoy plain.

        Enjoy!

        -Kallie

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        A recipe that’s easy as pie, but it’s cake…not pie.

        February 4, 2018

        Okay guys, I am pretty sure my mom is secretly a blogger writing recipes on Food52.  I am not kidding.

        So last week I discovered a recipe that was easy as pie, but it wasn’t pie.  It was cake.  Easy as cake.  But you know, pie isn’t that easy either sometimes.  But this cake was.  Easy that is.  Okay, okay…just keep reading.

        I get these emails from Food52 every week.  It’s one of my all time favorite foodie websites, and kitchen gear websites, and lifestyle websites.  It’s totally my aesthetic, my jam , ya’ know?  Well, one day they emailed out this recipe for a “no measure chocolate cake”.  What on earth does this mean, “no measure chocolate cake?”  What is this?  Like one of those “no kneed breads?”  Something that sounds like blasphemy but is really a miracle?

        A cake is baking and baking means measuring.  Measuring means being exact.  And why be exact?  Because science people!  Science! Baking is science!

        Not this recipe.  It uses the slightest notion of a measuring tool.  The plastic cup of a yogurt container…much like my mother’s approximate baking theory uses a coffee mug.  I had to do a double take and make sure she wasn’t secretly blogging for Food52 and doing product placement for Fage Greek Yogurt.  This recipe is so up Vasiliki’s alley.

        So, I tried it and it was so easy.  We are talking chocolate cake in less than an hour.  More like 45 minutes.  And it was good man.  Do you want dessert?  Make this cake.  Do you want a slightly sweet treat to accompany your morning coffee?  Make this cake.  Do you like chocolate?  Make this cake people!!!  I can’t believe how easy it was.

        I changed it up a tiny bit.  I used olive oil instead of canola, well because I’m Greek. There I said it. Canola…come on! Now that’s blasphemy. I also put a tiny splash of vanilla.

        And so, I share the cake that’s easy as pie…but cake…okay bye.

        “No measure” Chocolate Cake – adapted from Food52

        Ingredients

        1 container Greek yogurt (7 oz)

        1 container olive oil

        1 container sugar

        2 eggs (LARGE)

        2 containers self-rising flour (NOTE THE SELF RISING FLOUR, OKAY?)

        1 container cocoa powder (unsweetened, DUTCH PROCESS PLEASE!)

        1 container coffee (use a cup of coffee that you make the morning that you make this)

        small splash of vanilla (don’t bother measuring)

        Powdered sugar for dusting OR chocolate frosting, because, chocolate. I love chocolate.

        Directions

        Pre-heat over to 350.

        Open your yogurt container and make note of where the yogurt is leveled off in the container.  You will want to “measure out” the rest of your ingredients up to this appoximate level as well.

        Empty the yogurt into a mixing bowl.  Using that same container measure out your sugar and olive oil.  Add the eggs and beat until mixed.  Next, add your flour, cocoa and coffee and mix until smooth.  Pour the whole thing into a greased and floured spring form pan and bake for 35 minutes.

        Let it cool, frost it or dust it with powdered sugar and pat yourself on the back.  Drop mic.  You just made the simplest chocolate cake.

        Enjoy.

        -Kallie

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        The Holiday Cookie to End All Cookies…Melomakarona

        December 31, 2017

        Cassandra, this one’s for you.

        Have you ever had a cookie that just basically stops time?  One that makes you stop in your tracks and re-examine your life?  No?  Well, I have a cookie recipe that will make you philosophical.  It’s called melomakarona.  And during the holiday season, when you are constantly bombarded with peppermint this and pumpkin spice that, melomakarona sing a different tune.  These cookies  gently embrace you with the classic wintertime flavors of orange (yes, oranges are a winter fruit), cinnamon, and a kiss of honey.

        But if that’s not enough to convince you, what if I told you they are healthy too?  Yes, a cookie can be healthy.  Can’t it?  No?  Yes!!! Let me explain:

        These cookies are a unique concoction of all that is good and right in the world.

        1. Olive oil – full of heart healthy fats and anti-inflammatory properties.
        2. Orange juice – vitamin C.  Just what’s needed for the winter time cold season.
        3. Eggs yolks – all protein and the most nutritional part of the egg.
        4. Honey – hell, honey makes this cookie almost paleo.  It’s anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and has healing properties…it’s the good kind of sugar right?  Right?
        5. Walnuts – full of more protein, those feel good omega-3 fats and vitamin E too (shiny hair folks).
        6. Cinnamon & clove – they have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and also help in diabetes management.

        Have I convinced you yet that this cookie is “not that bad”?  Okay good, because you are going to need to remember all this stuff I just told you when I tell you to bathe them in a pool of honey simple syrup later.

        Wait what?

        But they are so gooooood.  These cookies are move the earth kind of good…trust me please!!!

         

        Well, instead of writing a soliloquy extolling the virtues of melomakarona…why don’t I just tell you how to make them and you decide!  It’s a multi-step process, but nothing you have to do all in one day and it’s all pretty easy.

        Here we go:

         

        Melomakarona – makes 45 “question the meaning of life” cookies

        Ingredients for the cookie part:

        3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

        1.5 cups olive oil

        1 sticks of melted unsalted butter

        2 egg yolks (large)

        1 tsp honey

        1 tsp cinnamon

        1 tsp clove

        1 rounded tsp of baking powder

        1/2 rounded tsp of baking soda

        grated orange rind of 1 orange

        approximately 4 – 4.5 cups of all-purpose flour (approximate baking theory folks, read about it here)

        Ingredients for the simple syrup:

        3/4 cups sugar

        1 cup of honey

        1 cup of water

        Ingredients for the topping:

        1 cups of walnuts finely crushed in a mini food prep, or mortar and pestle if you’re old school

        2 tbsp of sugar

        1/4 tsp of cinnamon

        Let’s talk about how to make them below:

        Directions for the cookie:

        Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grate the rind of one orange, it equates to about a healthy tablespoon and set aside.  Squeeze the juice out of that orange and another if needed to get about 3/4 cup of orange juice.

        In a large stand mixer, place the olive oil and orange juice, beat on high for 20 minutes.  Next, add your melted butter and egg yolks and beat for another 20 minutes.  Your batter will turn thick and creamy and a pale shade of yellow.  You want to beat them for this long because it will add air into the batter for a nice tender cookie.

        Now that 40 minutes have elapsed and you have finished checking your email, Facebook and Instagram pages, add, the cinnamon, clove, honey, orange rind, baking powder and baking soda.  Mix for 5 more minutes.

        Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and begin adding the flour one cup at a time.

        Note: you can probably add the fist 2- 3 cups of flour and beat it in with you mixing stand, but after that I recommend you mix in the final 1 – 1.5 cups with your hand.  You really need to feel the dough and get the right texture.  You want to add enough flour so that the dough pulls away cleanly from the bowl, but not so much that the dough gets dry and cracks.  You want the cookie to be smooth when you roll it out.

        Next, roll out your cookies by hand like little football shapes about 2 -2.5 inches long and then press little indentations on them with a fork like in the picture above.  We do this for several reasons.  It helps to prevent the cookie from cracking, but also to create a little texture for them to hang on to syrup, walnuts and cinnamon sugar afterwards.  Bake at 400 degrees F for about 18-20 minutes.  They will become a nice toasty golden brown.  Much like your favorite camel colored coat.

        Ok ignore me.

        Directions for the honey syrup bath and walnut topping:

        After you have baked all of your cookies.  I recommend you let them cool.  Do not taste them.  They are not sweet yet.  It’s this next part, where you give them their sexy little honey syrup bath that transforms them into magic.  You can do this part after they have cooled or even the next day.  Or two days from now.  No one is rushing you, even though you will want to after you taste them.

        To “honey” them, begin by adding the sugar, honey and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil to melt the sugar and honey into a syrup.  Once that has occurred, turn your burner down to low to keep the syrup warm.  Add about 5-6 cookies at at time and let them swim in there for about 1 minute.  Could be more, could be less time, but it’s rather quick.

        I would recommend doing a tester one first to see how long it takes for the syrup to soak through the cookie.  The trick is to have enough of the syrup permeate the cookie to sweeten it, but not so much that you have made mush.  You want the cookie to hold up and not fall apart when you handle it or take a bite.

        After a minute, remove the cookies onto a sheet tray to cool and add the next 5-6 cookies.  While you are waiting for the new set to take their dip in the syrup, you can top the ones you just took out with finely crushed walnuts and sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.

        And that’s it!  You are done!  You have now aligned the sun, moon and stars with all that is right about the world.  Enjoy!

        -Kallie

        Here is my little melomakarono…hope your holidays were as magical as this cookie.

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