building up our health

build up your energy stores and improve your health during

The Lockdown and after

(photo by Victor Garcia on Unsplash)

stop press!! I've done a really helpful post on my yoga blog of totally doable breathing practices to build up and strengthen our lungs. And for after any unwellness for building us up on an allover health level. What I've given is not widely taught but is very effective. 

** press "yoga blog" above to connect with the breathing** 

yoga

I started to watch Les Mills instructors and Other Beautiful Bodies do an hour's bodybalance on TV. Some form of Tai Chi - gym style to warm up, followed by a really full-on yoga class, with a ten minute relax and recover at the end. "Hmmph!" Was my silent retort, "call that yoga? You'd have to be an athlete to do yoga like that". My youngest (age 32) laughed and said (via phone of course) that it used to be her easy class, along with pump. (cheeky whippersnapper)

Memory flashback: didn't I spend seven years back in the day doing equally strong poses for an hour, six mornings a week? For most of those years, anyway. An in-cred-ib-ly long time ago. But I never think that age is a barrier to most things, so I bit the bullet, got out my mat, and did a vinyasa flow class for nearly forty minutes. I only stopped because I carked out. Luckily I had reached the lying-on-my-back poses at that stage. 

My goodness, I totally surprised myself. Of course, it wasn't as hard as that TV session, nor as Buff Body perfect, but hey, I did it. Talk about sore arms after. A former yoga student of mine has been doing the Les Mills yoga each day that it's on, and she's over seventy-five. (true)

I felt that the neighbours should have been cheering and clapping at their windows at my effort, but no, the road was silent.

It's really good to do something phsyical each day, whether it's walking, stretching, weights or whatever. You Tube has a gazillion yoga workouts, but for beginners? Not many. However, Yoga with Adrienne has good reviews. And for general workouts from ten minutes to an hour, Denise Austin is very user-friendly. Easy to hard, aerobic, dancing, kickbox, weights, yoga, pilates.

     

sweetcorn fritters

One of my grand daughters, well she's an adult really, gifted my pantry and fridge lots of food prior to The Lockdown. As she's a foodie, there was lots of yummy stuff. Including canned creamed corn. At first I had it on toast, but then felt a tad guilty that I was being so lazy. What if grand daughter knew of my tardiness?

So I contacted my son who is an amazing cook (of anything) for sweetcorn fritters.

He said to have a can of corn (I used half a can), an egg, add flour to make a stiff batter. Fry. Can jazz it up with grated courgette (which is what I did), herbs (I did this too), grated carrots or cheese. 

I opened the flour container, and horrors! Where was my flour?  Who stole it? I only had a little bit which I really wanted to save for rotis. This disorganisation is what happens when you seldom cook. But I had cornflour so I used half cornflour (thickening) and half flour. 

I had my fab sweetcorn fritters with the rest of the chilli sauce that Priyanka had gifted me. Yum.