challenge

No Processed Foods for the Month of May: Who’s With Me?

This is my great-grandma. She ate dessert and chicken fat, but she cooked it herself. So you could make a pie in May as long as you make it from scratch!

As many of you know I occasionally do food challenges for my own anecdotal experimentation. I’ve tried being vegan, eating raw, no sugar. None of them have stuck, and I normally do this challenge in February because it’s the shortest month of the year.

This May I’ll be trying to do no processed foods. Want to join in the fun? It’s one month, how bad can it be? Here are the ground rules:

1) Because it’s a long month you get to pick any two days and take them off

2) Wine and cheese are a-okay (I tried Vegan and don’t need to do it again.)

3) Otherwise follow this simple rule: if it has more than one ingredient, it’s out
4) Basically nothing that comes in a box
5) You can make anything […]

No Processed Foods for the Month of May: Who’s With Me?Maggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:12-04:00

Does Movement Feel Good?

When was the last time you went to a fitness class and it felt good? Hopefully, the answer is, “Yesterday, I love the way my (insert class name here) feels every week.” I hope you thought that. I’m with you. I love to move. Throw me in almost any type of class and I’m going to enjoy it. I’m happy in motion, probably to a fault. But even when it feels good to move, it’s not always fun.

There is a free, silliness to movement that we tend not to hold onto as we age. It’s been drilled out of us. I watch my friend’s kids giggling over summersaults. They will spin in circles until they collapse in a heap. I’m not advocating circle spinning. The thought of doing that now makes me nauseous. The last time a rolled down a hill (about a decade ago) I learned that it is more torture than fun in my body. Things change. But kids get so much joy out of motion, and half the moves are concocted, on a whim and beyond goofy looking. They don’t care.

I saw the video of this little girl, who was clearly enjoying herself dancing to a different beat […]

Does Movement Feel Good?Maggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:42-04:00

Conquering Fear with Breathing and Rock Climbing

I afraid of heights. I’ll go into one of those buildings like the Willis Tower in Chicago, where you can step out onto a glass floor and look down at the city below, and I’ll have to sit down and inch my butt onto the glass without looking down for a quick photo-op. I’ll try not to think about it as I’m waiting in line and then when it’s my turn and I go to step on the glass, I physically can’t move my body. I’m actually crippled by fear. This has happened to me at the beach too with waves that wouldn’t phase a child

I’m a scaredy cat. I try to convince myself that it my fear is totally normal. My brain is actually smarter than people willing to walk onto suspended glass platforms or jump from cliffs into pools of water. My brain recognizes how badly that could all end. But the truth is I want to do some things I’m afraid of. And I don’t want to be afraid.

Sometimes my fear of heights holds me back. I get scared on certain hikes. I am terrified to the point of tears of zip lines. And it’s gotten worse […]

Conquering Fear with Breathing and Rock ClimbingMaggie Downie2017-10-25T14:26:33-04:00

Handstand to Peacock

Handstand to PeacockMaggie Downie2017-10-25T14:26:33-04:00

Smoothie Challenge: Do It With Friends

Though I didn’t set myself a deadline, I’m falling behind on my smoothie challenge. I set a goal of making all 30 smoothies from a new cookbook I got. Right now I doubt I’ll have tried 30 by the end of the year, which was definitely my intent at the beginning. I’m only on number five. I thought I’d try three a week. I’m lucky when I make two.

I’ve started recruiting my friends to make it more fun. This week I made one for me and Matt’s sister and then I made a group of friends try one on our regular Survivor night get together.

The one I had with Cindy was my favorite so far. Survivor night’s was bland, but refreshing. It takes a real trooper to try the smoothies. I like to play a game where you guess what’s in it, so there is a bit of trust […]

Smoothie Challenge: Do It With FriendsMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:34:31-04:00