Self Improvement with Irinä: May 2017

Woohoo world!

Swiss ball is not only for sit walls and ab work.
It can help a lot with stretching too😊

This is a fitness/health related arcticle, aiming to explain the importance of stretching not only as a post-workout practice but as a staple in your daily life.

Stretching is easy, quick and holds multiple benefits for your physique, health and quality of life.

But, why? Let's take a closer look:

Stretching is a natural reflex. Most obvious reason to stretch is to relieve ourselves from muscle soreness caused either by poor sleeping position, or, a long day on the chair. It's an almost automatic reaction of our body to seek ways to restore back to normal

Another amazing benefit of stretch, is stress relief. Musicians stretch before their warm up on stage. Public speakers stretch backstage before hitting the stage. Stress tends to be stored in the muscle, and releasing before a stressful event or during a hectic day can give you a much needed boost on your mental health. No matter if you just hit a workout or you are simply sitting on the sofa, stand up and stretch!

With that out of the way, let's review the goodies we get in return, for stretching:

Stretching on a daily basis benefits

Physical and mental preparation to start the day. Stretching in the morning definitely boosts the energy levels and contributes to a better mood.

Posture improvement means moving with less pain everyday, having a much flattering silhouette, having correct breath intake and as a consequence, reduced tiredness levels during the day.

Prevention of muscle soreness and injuries [due to tightness], improvement of balance, increase of muscle flexibility (leading to significantly higher efficiency during the workout) and whole body strengthening (especially while performing dynamic stretching exercises).

Blood circulation booster which plays a key-role on shortening the muscle recovery time, promoting the organs' well-function and cell growth as well as equalizing the blood pressure.

Gaining control of proper breathing (mostly during of static stretching) automatically leads to balanced distribution of oxygen. This is essential for optimal performance on your workout since you delay the accumulation of lactic acid around your muscles (aka the pain when you are close to failure during a set).

Stress reduction is a result of 2 main factors that stretching targets: release of concentrated/build-up tension inside the body accompanied by endorphin production and secretion.Endorphins are kind of "miraculous" hormones responsible -among others- for your happiness.

Mind tool:

Stretching can strongly affect your ability to concentrate and focus, allowing you to maximize your efficiency on your daily activities and therefore improve your skills. It is a highly recommended habit especially for mentally demanding activities such as teaching, studying or working with data.

Sleep quality is based on the body's ability to relax, regulate the blood pressure and certain hormones along. To reap those benefits, stick with neck/head/shoulder'back stretching before you go to bed.

Some nice examples :)

Blood sugar regulation and potential decrease on fat storage. Extremely important and beneficial for diabetes patients.

10 minutes of dynamic stretching can be a great warm up before your workout. Prolonged dynamic stretching can serve as exercise for people suffering from arthritis. Such people usually stay inactive due to their condition, which indeed needs special treatment, but is frequently used as an "excuse" to skip. Dynamic stretching is 100% harmless as it doesn't strain the body and promotes muscle preservation.

Trance. Controlled breathing and concentration during a stretching session promote control over the flow of air and energy in the body. Said skills are highly associated with meditative activities and in many cases can help you achieve mind calmness.

*All of the benefits mentioned above refer to correctl stretching practice. Everybody has its own limits, range of motion and individual needs. Performing under a safe range of motion will not harm, strain or damage the body. Listen your body.

Thank you for being here and I really wish you will benefit from the information shared above. Always treat yourself with love, care, kindness, It's the most valuable thing you have!

If you found some value here, spread this energy around.

I am really looking forward to receive your feedback.

Till next update, stay safe,calm and take care.

Much love.

Irina

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Nutrition: Recipes: 3 Whole wheat flour recipes :

BREAD - CREPES - TORTILLAS

Welcome back my dear friends!

This is a really rare photo of me
both smiling and wearing light colours.
#legendary_ May 2017

Summer is here and I tend to feel double or triple hungry everyday ( almost turning to Snorlax soon hahaha) so I decided to make a recipe related update to welcome the productivity of this month.

Today I'm going to share with you 3 recipes mainly consisted of whole wheat flour.

This means, the following options are high in fibers, really healthy, delicious, nutritious and are the best option/alternative for your carbs snacks replacing completely the white flour products.

I'm using black whole wheat flour instead of white flour in any recipe I've tried so far and I can guarantee that the taste is insanely good.
I have tried all three recipes multiple times and I highly insist that you should give them a try too :) .

Let's get started ;)

NUMBER ONE : WHOLE WHEAT

[WHOLE GRAIN -optional-] BREAD

Ingredients

500gr whole wheat black flour
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1 tbsp of nutmeg
1 1/2 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. honey (or brown sugar)
1 tbsp of butter (thick solid almond/peanut butter also works fine)
1 portion of dry yeast (aprox. 7-9 gr)
300mL of lukewarm water

Optionally: linseed, oatmeal, sunflower seeds or any seeds you like

Instructions

Mix the flour, salt, dry yeast and honey (or sugar) all together. Right after, crumble the butter inside the flour mixture until it is completely embedded. Add half of the water slowly and stir your mixture using a spoon or any tool you find more practical. Start kneading the dough and add as much water as needed so your dough will be thick and not sticky. It needs aprox. 10 minutes of kneading (you might need extra flour if the dough is sticky but usually with these exact proportions I don't need any) and then you can either cover your dough with a clean towel and let it rest in room temperature or put it in a preheated oven (50 degrees Celsius for 20-30 minutes).

If you want to make wholegrain bread, it's the right time to top your dough with all the seeds you prefer. Last step, after your dough has gained enough volume you can either shape the whole dough into a loaf or smaller ones. Another suggestion is use a part of the dough to form small round pieces for your breakfast.

Baking: 15minutes in a preheated oven of 210-230 degrees Celsius and then 25-30 more minutes on 180-200 degrees (depending on your oven).

It has a wonderful smell, really satisfying taste and matches great with both sweet and savoury tastes.

The final result:

NUMBER TWO : WHOLE WHEAT CREPES

Sadly, mine was the left one w/ honey, banana, cinnamon and linseed. Still delicious but I was jealous of the beast on the right

Yes, yes and YES. Your vision is right. C R E P E S. W H O L E _ W H E A T. H E A L T H Y.

How? Take a look:

Ingredients

200gr wholewheat flour
400mL of milk ( I use lactose free one, you can use ANY milk you consume, either vegan or not)
2 eggs
1 tbsp of honey (or brown sugar)
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. butter or oil (i used oil)
olive oil (for the pan)

How to prepare the dough:

You won't necessarily need a mixer, I blended the mixture in a bowl with a fork (!) so I believe you can do it just fine without a mixer too. First stir the eggs in a bowl and then add : the honey/sugar, salt, milk, flour and oil/butter. Stir as much as needed until you get a smooth creamy dough.

Preheat your pan in L O W - MEDIUM temperature, and when it's warm (for example I used scale 4-5 - maximum heat is scale 9) spray on some olive oil. If you don't have it in spray format, use a piece of paper, pour some in your pan and spread it around with the paper. Repeat this process before cooking each crepe. This recipe is suitable both for sweet and savoury combinations, If you're using it to make breakfast or deserts you can add some vanilla extract in your dough for a sweeter smell.

Om nom nom nom still heavy breathing....

NUMBER THREE : WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLAS

If you're as addicted as I am to wraps and tortillas, here's your jack pot. Healthy way to enjoy them as frequently as you please, really easy to make while the epic taste and lack of anything unnecessary are definitely a huge plus.

You will need just:

1 mug of whole wheat flour
1/3 mug of water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 spoon baking powder
a pinch of salt

*Alternatives: you can also add curry or garlic or paprika or tomato in powder format to make another flavor of wraps.*

How to do it:

Mix all the ingredients except the water in a large bowl and then start adding the water gradually as you're stirring in the meantime. A mixer will also do a great job as well. You must end up with a thick dough. [ If yours isn't thick enough add some more flour ]. Let it rest for 15-25 minutes and then divide the dough in 8-10 equal portions. Each one will be a tortilla wrap. Use a rolling pin to format your wraps and then cook them in a preheated pan (don't over do it) . It usually needs 30 seconds for each side. Always prefer medium heat as a high heated pan will make your tortillas dry and you won't be able to roll them afterwards.

In loving memory of this REALLY EPIC meal with minced meat,
tones of vegetables, corn, honeymustard mushrooms and peppers

BONUS :

I made sure to cover your sweet-tooth too with some healthy whole wheat flour recipes to make your favourite treats with the healthiest alternatives ;) Find out pics and all the details below

This is one of the days I find it extra hard to make a conclusion for my articles (mostly because I got hellish hungry after all this food related description :p) so I'll just leave the recipes here and I hope you're discovering the majestic taste of these snacks on your own. If you do so, leave me a feedback and let your stomach love you forever ❤

Thanks for your visit here, stay healthy, treat yourself nicely and keep on self improving :)

Till next update take care and follow your dreams❤

*super sudden conclusion*

*off to raid the kitchen*

*overeating*

#noregrets