Your Water Footprint is Bigger Than You Think

Before I went out of town for summer instructor training, a friend and fellow Air Force wife asked me if I would be interested in volunteering at an upcoming event she was organizing. Amanda is the education coordinator for the 4H program in Valdosta and visits county classrooms delivering environmental and agricultural lessons and organizes camps and workshops at the cooperative extension (yes, I am very envious of her job...). The upcoming event was a "Water Day," with educational presentations and activities relating to water in the morning and water games such as relay races and a slip-n'-slide in the afternoon. Obviously, Amanda did not have to ask twice for my participation.

In thinking about what I would teach on Water Day, I considered several lessons I had prepared and taught previously, but each was focused on a particular (non-Georgian) location. I decided to write a new lesson based on topics drawn from several previous water conservation lessons that I had taught. Truly, this lesson was born from one tiny aspect of a lesson prepared by the Albuquerque Water Utility that I used in my middle school classroom. That lesson was primarily focused on how much water is involved in producing electricity for Albuquerque, but they included 3 or 4 slides containing the amount of water that goes into the production of some common products like jeans and sodas. These amounts are staggering and surprising, enough so that it makes one wonder about other products and may even inspire lifestyle changes. And so, I wrote this lesson expanding on the concept of a "Water Footprint."

Lesson Plan: Your Water Footprint is Bigger Than You Think
Grades: 6-9
Time: 45 minutes

Objective: Educate students about the "hidden" water used in the production and transportation of products and food and to inspire consideration of alternative choices that could decrease the size of an individual's water footprint.

Materials: Apple, Knife, 1 gallon of drinking water, printed slides and handouts (Water Footprint Powerpoint)

Procedure: 

1. Start off with the well-known "apple as the world" activity to demonstrate that despite the earth being 75% water, water (and land) resources are limited. Cut the apple into quarters, one quarter represents the land component of earth. Cut the quarter representing land in half, put one half to the side - this represents deserts, mountains, tundra, swamps and other areas that are uninhabitable. The other 1/8 sized piece is land that people inhabit. Cut this piece into fourths, making 1/32 sized sections and set three aside. These three 1/32 pieces represent places people live but are too steep, rocky, cold, wet, dry, or have poor soil, or are covered with cement and development and therefore cannot produce food. The single 1/32 sized remaining piece is land that produces food. So, it is obvious land is scarce, but 3/4 of earth is water! How can water be scarce? Well, only 3% of all that water is freshwater. Of that 3%, 2/3 is frozen... so only 1% of all the water on Earth is available for drinking and food production.
2. Discuss desalination with students. Some people may point out that salt can be removed from water and therefore we cannot run out of water. But, desalination requires large amounts of energy, so one scarce resource (water) is being produced by using up another scarce resource (energy), making the process an unsustainable solution to water scarcity. Additionally, desalination plants are on coasts and the water must be transported inland, using up even more energy.
3. Fresh water is scarce - availability is shrinking, demand per person is growing, and the human population is really growing! The consumption of water by humanity is no longer sustainable and places around the world are suffering; rivers are running dry, water levels in lakes are dropping, and species are becoming endangered and extinct.
4. So, how much water is each of us really using? It doesn't feel like very much because most of the water we use is "hidden." As humans, we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but we actually consume 25,600 glasses per day. This equates to 583,000 gallons per year! Pass around the gallon of drinking water for students to feel and see how much water a gallon really is. It is difficult to visualize and grasp how much water 583,000 gallons really is. Try to picture thousands of gallon containers stacked up. How much space would they take up? Does it feel like you use that much water? No! That is because 95% of water consumed is "hidden water."
5. Where is all this hidden water? There are two categories of hidden water: your direct water footprint and your indirect footprint. The direct footprint is much easier to see and understand. This is water that you use directly, like flushing the toilet, washing dishes, taking a shower, watering the lawn. Have students brainstorm components of their direct footprint. 
6. The indirect footprint is more difficult to see and understand; this includes all the water involved in manufacturing, producing, packaging, and transporting our food and goods. Have students brainstorm specific sources of indirect water usage (watering crops, extracting fuel, producing vehicles and machines, producing pesticides and fertilizers, etc.). These things add up... to big numbers.
7. Show slides (product printed on one side and the water footprint printed on the reverse side) of foods and goods and have students guess how much water went into making them. After doing a couple and they start to get the hang of it, they can use thumbs up, thumbs to the side, or thumbs down to vote if the product will have a larger or smaller water footprint than the previous product. See examples below (more slides are included in the full slide show):
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Students will likely notice a pattern as your go through these slides. But as you reach the last slide, ask students if they notices things that products with large water footprints have in common. Animal products and processed products generally have larger footprints. Discuss all the steps that go into producing processed foods. Ask which will have a larger footprint, corn chips or corn? Animal products use more water because they are higher on the food chain. They include the water foot prints of each of the organisms that they consume. So which would have a larger water footprint, a carnivore or an herbivore? A carnivore or an omnivore? A plant or a plant-eater? If students are not seeing these patterns on their own, show them this graph that I made to help students visualize the pattern: Water Foot Print Bar Graph
9. Calculating an individuals water foot print is actually quite complicated and uses computer models (think lots of calculus). You can use these models to calculate your water footprint using the quick or extended water footprint calculator provided provided by waterfootprint.org. You can also do a quick calculation of the water you use in the bathroom in an average day (see handout from slideshow). Have students calculate how much water each of them uses in the bathroom each day and then have a student collect everyone's totals and add them up to find out how much the class uses in the bathroom in one day! It will be a lot. 
   
10. Now it is time to consider how to reduce our water footprint and use fresh water more sustainably. Have students get into groups to work together to brainstorm ideas for reducing their direct and indirect water footprints. Remind students to come up with realistic ideas; it is probably not realistic to suggest replacing your home toilets (expensive!), but it is feasible to replace shower heads!
    
11. Bring the class back together and have each group read their two best ideas. Discuss ideas as your go around. Some ideas I have heard include: turn off water when brushing teeth, xeriscaping, don't water lawn during the day, turn off the water when washing dishes, use a dishwasher, make sure dishwasher is full, take shorter showers, eat local food, eat more vegetables, have hens to for eggs, keep goats or cows for milk, hunt for your own meat, eat vegetarian or vegan, eat organic, shop at thrift stores, shop less, use products and foods that have smaller water footprints, use local products (soap, honey, jams from farmers' market)
12. Debrief: Was it difficult to come up with ideas to reduce your footprint? Was it harder to come up with direct or indirect water saving ideas? Was there anything you knew would reduce your footprint, but you don't want to do (take shorter showers, drink tea instead of coffee)? Are some uses of water more important/better than others? Will you actually carry out any of the ideas you came up with? Should products be labeled with their water footprints? 

Extension: Students can write a detailed action plan to reduce the water footprint of their school or camp. The action plan can be presented to the principal or camp director and suggested changes can be implemented and enforced by students.

This lesson went really well with the group I presented it to. The students were shocked by how much water was used in the production of food and manufactured goods and appeared really interested in minimizing the amount of freshwater they consume. We had an interesting discussion about actions we could take, but don't really want to - like taking shorter showers; sometimes doing good takes sacrifice. 

I also came to some realizations about eating and culture in the south. Despite our conversations about trophic levels and the water footprints of animal products, not a single group of students wrote down vegetarianism as a means to reduce their indirect footprint. Amanda suggested this idea to a group when I was close enough to overhear, and their response was as comical as it was disturbing. Overall, the students were shocked and appalled at the suggestion and wondered aloud how or why anyone would be vegetarian. I told them that I am a vegetarian and they looked at me like an alien and asked how I ever feel full. The most vocal girl in the group declared that a meal is not a meal if it does not have meat, that she eats meat at every single meal, and that salads are only side dishes. The truth is that I was just as horrified by her diet as she was by mine. When I relayed this story to Jamie, he was unsurprised. He also noted how many overweight people there are in our new town.. 

I feel lucky to have had this opportunity to interact with local students and they really were a great bunch. On the actually "water day," it was pouring and all games had to played inside in the barn. The slip-n'-slide, water guns, and water balloons were left in the closet. Despite this, the kids maintained a really positive attitude, participated actively, and seemed to have a blast playing games inside. I really hope I get to work with this group again sometime. Maybe eventually I will convert an avid Georgian meat consumer into an environmental vegetarian...

Breathe Deep: Yoga Meets Science

In attending years of yoga classes, I have heard uncountable descriptions of how yoga benefits the body and mind. I firmly believe that yoga does have many positive effects on the practitioner, but sometimes a yoga teacher will spout a benefit that just does not seem realistic. Claims surrounding one practice in particular, pranayama or breath practices, drove me crazy for years. At the beginning (and end) of most yoga classes, the teacher will instruct some form of breathing practice to help the students get centered and grounded and more able to focus on the class. The teacher will often list the benefits of the practice as he or she instructs, and these can include a huge variety of claims, but the one that I heard most often and most often questioned was "increased oxygenation of the blood." Based on my understanding of biology and human physiology, this just did not seem true. Hearing this in class disturbed me and stole my focus away from the practice at hand. As a result, pranayama would cause more dialogue in my mind instead of less. At the suggestion of my teacher, I finally researched the topic more thoroughly and wrote an essay on the true and fictional effects of pranayama on the body and mind.

“What really happens when we breathe deeply?”

Maggi Mars Brisbin - RYT-200

Pranayama is defined by the meanings of the two Sanskrit roots that make up the word: prana and ayama; prana means respiration, breath, life-force, or animating energy and ayama means to lengthen, stretch, or extend. Taking the definitions of these two words together, pranayama means to lengthen, stretch, and extend the breath or life-force (Dharmashakti, F-18). In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the primary text of yoga, pranayama is only mentioned in sutras 2.49-2.53. In these sutras, Patanjali states that pranayama is the control of the movement of the inhalations and exhalations, that “modifications of the life-breath are external, internal, or stationary” and are “regulated by space, time, and number and are either long or short.” Patanjali advises that if pranayama is practiced and mastered, the “veil over the inner light is destroyed, and the mind becomes fit for concentration (Carrer, 369-370).” Despite the limited amount of information provided by Patanjali, there has been a large repertoire of pranayama practices created to provide an array of physical, mental, and emotional benefits to the practitioner. Several common pranayama practices include Deergha Swasam, Nadi Suddhi, and Kapalabhati and their many declared benefits include, but are not limited to, oxygenation and purification of the blood, improved resistance to infections, calming of the central nervous system, stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system, relaxation of skeletal muscles, drawing of the mind inward, preparation to enter a meditative state, and improved vitality (Dharmashakti, F-18). Many of these effects are challenging to measure and quantify and it can be difficult for a skeptical practitioner to accept them without scientific experimentation and explanation. As it turns out, some of the purported benefits of pranayama have been medically investigated and validated, while others lack scientific evidence.

In order to understand how the benefits of pranayama, particularly the oxygenation and purification of blood, may or may not occur in the body, it is necessary to examine the physiology of breathing. The respiratory system includes the respiratory airways leading into and out of the lungs and the lungs. Air entering the nasal cavities proceeds to the pharynx, trachea, primary bronchi, secondary bronchi, tertiary bronchi, bronchioles, and then the alveoli of the lungs, which are the site of gas exchange. Gas exchange, the primary function of the respiratory system, is executed through the process of diffusion and therefore relies completely on concentration gradients. At sea level, air pressure is 1atm or 760mm Hg. The air is composed of a mix of gases, mostly oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, and the total air pressure is therefore composed of the partial pressures of these individual gas components. In the ambient air, the partial pressure of oxygen (PO₂) is about 160 mm Hg or 21% of the total pressure. Inside the alveoli of a normal, resting human being, the partial pressure of oxygen is about 104mm Hg and the partial pressure of CO₂ (PCO₂) is 40mmHg. Blood returning to the lungs from the body has a PO₂ of 40mmHg and a PCO₂ of 45mmHg, so there is a large concentration difference between the blood and the air inside the alveoli. Subsequently, oxygen diffuses into the blood and carbon dioxide diffuses out of the blood (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm).

The PO₂ gradient described is significant because it necessitates that the blood entering the alveolar capillaries will leave with 100% oxygen saturation (PO₂ 100mmHg and PCO₂ 40mmHg). The blood is then pumped through the heart (no gas exchange) and into systemic circulation. Body cells are low in oxygen and high in carbon dioxide from the energy producing process of cellular respiration. Following the concentration gradient, oxygen diffuses into body cells and carbon dioxide diffuses into the blood, where it binds with hemoglobin or is transported as bicarbonate ions. When the blood returns to the alveolar capillaries, it again has a PO₂  40mmHg and PCO₂ 45mmHg, allowing for gas exchange between the alveoli and alveolar capillaries once more. In order for gas exchange to continue, the concentration gradient must be maintained; this is accomplished by breathing and continuously bringing fresh air into the alveoli (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm).

            To aid in understanding the effects of PO₂ on the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin, the oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation (saturation) curve visually describes the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin along varying partial pressures of oxygen and different conditions. Under normal resting conditions within the body, hemoglobin is near oxygen saturation (75-80%) at a relatively low partial pressure of oxygen (40mmHg). Keeping resting conditions in the body, the saturation of hemoglobin will increase with increasing PO₂ until it reaches 100% saturation; hemoglobin is 97% saturated at PO₂ of 60mmHg and 100% saturated at PO₂ of about 100mmHg. Remember that the PO₂ in the alveoli of the lungs is 104mmHg, so as blood leaves the lungs, the hemoglobin is 100% saturated with oxygen.

Body cells generally have low levels of oxygen (PO₂ 40mmHg), meaning about 20-25% of hemoglobin molecules passing by will give up their bound oxygen to them. This is extremely adaptive as it allows more oxygen to be released where it is needed if a person becomes more active. Active tissue may have a PO₂ much lower than 40mmHg and blood will quickly offload oxygen to active tissue. In addition to a more dramatic PO₂ concentration gradient, active cells with increased cellular respiration produce heat along with metabolic waste products such as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide undergoes a reaction in the blood that produces free hydrogen ions and lowers the pH. Increased temperature and lowered pH both decrease the affinity of hemoglobin towards oxygen, allowing more oxygen to be released from the hemoglobin molecules. Finally, active cells will produce a substance called 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, which changes the shape of the hemoglobin molecule causing oxygen to be released more readily. Active cells therefore change their immediate environment – increase temperature, increase carbon dioxide levels, decrease pH, and increase 2,3-diphosphogylcerate – to assure that oxygen is delivered exactly it is most needed in the body (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm).

            Pranayama practices that involve long, deep breathing are said to deliver more oxygen to the body and to detoxify the blood. With an understanding of hemoglobin saturation in the body, it is clear that breathing more deeply cannot increase the amount of oxygen in the blood nor would it remove carbon dioxide more quickly. These claims surrounding deep breathing are most likely based on an understanding of respiratory volumes and capacities. Tidal volume (TV) refers to the volume of air moving in and out of the lungs during normal, resting breath and is generally 0.5L in adults. Inspiratory reserve volume (IRV) is the volume of air that can be inhaled after a normal breath and is approximately 2.3-3.2L in adults. Expiratory reserve volume (ERV) is the volume of air that is able to be forcefully expelled after a normal exhalation and is about 1.0-2.0L in adults. The residual volume (RV) is the volume of air that remains in the respiratory system after the ERV has been expelled. The RV, generally 1.2L, is the air that cannot be purged from the respiratory system. The inspiratory capacity (IC) is the TV+IRV or the maximum amount of air that can be inhaled. The functional residual capacity (FRC) is all of the air that is not expelled during normal breathing (ERV+RV). The vital capacity (VC) is the total volume of air that an individual is capable of moving in and out of the lungs (TV+IRV+ERV). In adults, there is also about 150mL of dead space or dead air, which is air that is moved in and out during breathing but does not reach a gas exchange surface and does not participate in gas exchange. While we are breathing normally at rest, we are moving only the tidal volume in and out of the respiratory system. Because of the reserve volume, residual volume, and dead space, there is mixing of inhaled and exhaled air. This is the reason that the partial pressure of oxygen in the alveoli during normal, resting breathing is only 104mmHg instead of equaling the partial pressure of oxygen in the surrounding air, which is 160mmHg. If a person is utilizing the full vital capacity of the lungs while breathing deep slow breaths, they may be able to increase the partial pressure of oxygen in the alveoli by more completely expelling air from the lungs and therefore inhaling a larger amount of fresh air with less mixing. This, however, will not actually provide more oxygen to the body, since hemoglobin is already 100% saturated when the partial pressure of oxygen in the alveoli is only 60mmHg (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm).

             In an experiment illustrating the noneffect of deep breathing on blood oxygenation, Pratap et al. (1978) drew arterial blood from ten volunteers proficient in pranayama breathing techniques before and immediately following pranayama practices. The levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood were measured and compared; no significant changes in arterial blood gases were found after pranayama breathing practices. Pratap et al. concluded that a neural, rather than chemical, mechanism must be responsible for the reported benefits of pranayama (Pratap et al. 1978).

            The action of breathing consciously and unconsciously is controlled by skeletal muscles regulated by the phrenic nerves, several control centers in the brain, and chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors in the body. The physical movements of breathing are performed by skeletal muscles. During a normal inhalation, the external intercostals and the diaphragm contact. Contraction of the external intercostals elevates the ribs and sternum and increases the front to back dimension of the thoracic cavity. Contraction of the diaphragm pulls the diaphragm downwards, which increases the vertical dimensions of the thoracic cavity. The contraction of these muscles increases the volume of the lungs by about 0.5L and decreases the pulmonary pressure by 1mmHg, which causes air to enter the lungs. During exhalation, the external intercostals and diaphragm are relaxed and the volume of the thoracic cavity returns to the pre-inspiratory volume, which increases pressure in the lungs and forces air out. The external intercostals and the diaphragm are innervated by the phrenic nerves that originate mostly from the 4^th cervical nerve, but also from the 3^rd and 5^th cervical nerves. The phrenic nerves, with sole motor control of the diaphragm, contain motor, sensory, and sympathetic nerve fibers and are influenced by the respiratory center in the medulla (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm).

The medulla’s respiratory center is divided into the ventral and dorsal group; the dorsal group or inspiratory center is composed of “I neurons” that stimulate the phrenic nerves that bring about contraction of the external intercostals and diaphragm. The dorsal group also contains “E neurons” which inhibit the “I neurons” and allow the external intercostals and diaphragm to relax and therefore allows for exhalation. The ventral group, or the expiratory center, stimulates phrenic nerves and then intercostal nerves that innervate the internal intercostals and abdominals.  The expiratory center produces a “forced exhalation.” There are also two respiratory centers in the Pons: the pneumotaxic center and the apneustic center. The pneumotaxic center slightly inhibits the medulla and causes shorter, shallower, quicker breaths, while the apneustic center stimulates the medulla and causes longer, deeper, slower breaths.  These four centers control normal breathing, but respiratory centers in the hypothalamus can impact breathing based on emotional responses, pain, and sexual arousal and respiratory centers in the cerebral cortex exhibit voluntary control over breathing and can override the medulla during talking, singing, and exercise (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm).

During exercise, there is often an increase in breathing rate and depth. When breathing in this manner, the scalene muscles, the sternocleidomastoid, and the pectorals are recruited to aid the external intercostals and the diaphragm in increasing the volume of the thoracic cavity. These muscles are voluntary and the increased rate and depth of breathing during exercise is due to a conscious awareness of exercise. The cerebral cortex responds to the awareness of increased activity by stimulating the accessory muscles of external respiration and the respiratory center in the medulla. There is a steady state increase in rate and depth, which is gradually altered to match gas exchange needs (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm). In purposeful deep breathing practices, the cortex is used to override natural resting breath and the muscles recruited for deep breathing during exercise are consciously engaged.

Chemoreceptors in the body respond to chemical changes in the blood and convey signals to the respiratory centers of the brain, which induce changes in breathing rates and depths. The peripheral chemoreceptors in the carotid arteries and the central chemoreceptors in the medulla are very sensitive to the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the blood. An increase in carbon dioxide and/or the resulting decrease in pH stimulates the inspiratory center and results in increased ventilation. A severe decrease in oxygen levels in the blood will stimulate increased ventilation, but a moderate decrease in oxygen levels in the blood will not have this effect (http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm). Many people are surprised to learn that the desperate urge to breathe that is experienced during prolonged breath holds is a response to increased carbon dioxide rather than lack of oxygen.

The importance of mechanoreceptors to breathing is seen in the Hering-Breuer Reflex. The Hering-Breuer reflex prevents the over-inflation of the lungs by sending nerve impulses along the vagus nerve to the brain in response to the stimulation of pulmonary stretch receptors in the smooth muscles of the airways. The inspiratory region of the medulla is directly inhibited and the apneustic area of the pons is inhibited, which stops it from stimulating the medulla’s inspiratory area, resulting in exhalation. This neural circuit involves several regions of the central nervous system and utilizes motor and sensory components of the vagus nerve. The lung afferent neurons also send inhibitory projections to the cardiac vagal motor neurons, which send motor fibers to the heart by way of the vagus nerve and cause tonic inhibitory control of heart rate. Therefore, an increase in the Hering-Breuer reflex causes an inhibition of the cardiac vagal motor neurons and an elevation of heart rate. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hering%E2%80%93Breuer_reflex). This is part of the system that causes an increase in heart rate during inhalation and a decrease in heart rate during exhalation. This normal varying of heart rate is referred to as sinus arrhythmia (Pal et al. 2004). Slow, deep breathing stimulates pulmonary stretch receptors and by initiating the neural loop described by the Hering-Breuer reflex, it is believed that slow, deep breathing tones the vagal nerve, improves autonomic nervous system functions, and shifts the system towards parasympathetic control (Pal et al. 2004, Jerath et al. 2006).

Pal et al. (2004) investigated the effects of pranayama on the autonomic nervous system using several common tests of autonomic function - basal heart rate, heart rate response to standing, the difference in heart rate during inhale and exhale while deep breathing, and the heart rate response to a prolonged Valsalva maneuver – before and after the experiment. In the experiment, 60 volunteers were divided into the slow breathing (n=30) and fast breathing (n=30) groups and the groups were further divided into test and control groups. In the slow breathing test group, volunteers were instructed to inhale through one nostril for 6 seconds, hold the breath for 6 seconds, and then exhale out the other nostril for 6 seconds. This practice was done twice a day (am and pm) for 30 minutes over the course of 3 months. The fast breathing test group was instructed to take deep and fast inspirations and expirations for one minute and then rest for 3 minutes and to repeat this exercise 8-10 times over a 30 minute period twice a day for 3 months. The results showed that the in the slow-breathing group, basal heart rate was significantly decreased, the heart rate response to standing was significantly altered, the difference between heart-rate during a deep inhale and a deep exhale significantly increased, and there was no difference in heart rate during a prolonged Valsalva maneuver. Interestingly, there were no significant changes in the fast breathing group. The study demonstrated that slow deep breathing lowered basal heart rate, which is a function of the parasympathetic nervous system. The study suggests that decreased heart rate and blood pressure is accomplished by improving the tone of the vagal nerve and decreasing sympathetic discharge (Pal et al. 2004).

In another study, Pramanik et al. (2009) investigated the effects of deep slow breathing with and without the administration of hyoscine-N-butylbromide, a parasympathetic blocker drug. Volunteers (n=39) breathed at a rate of 6 breaths/ minute for 5 minutes with a 4 second inhale and a 6 second exhale while sitting in a comfortable seated position. The blood pressure and heart rate of each volunteer were measured before and after the breathing exercise. Another group (n=10) took the parasympathetic blocker drug and performed the same breathing exercise with the same parameters measured before and after the exercise. In the group that did not take the drug, systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly and the heart rate fell slightly. In the group that was administered hyocine-N-butylbromide, no significant change in heart rate or blood pressure was measured. This study shows a clear connection between slow deep breathing and the parasympathetic nervous system. Benefits from deep, slow, purposeful breath are the result of activation of pulmonary stretch receptors leading to the activation of the parasympathetic system and the inhibition of sympathetic activities. Over time, the activation of the parasympathetic system leads to improved functioning of the autonomic nervous system (Pramanik et al. 2009).

Improved function of the autonomic nervous system and a shift towards parasympathetic control can account for many of the reported benefits of slow, deep breathing, including decreased oxygen consumption, decreased heart rate, decreased blood pressure, improved immune function, and reduced stress levels (Jerath et al. 2006). The increased ability to meditate and the turning inward of the mind may be explained by another result of the activation of pulmonary stretch receptors. Hyperpolarization of neural and non-neural tissue has been observed in response to the stimulation of pulmonary stretch receptor. Hyperpolarization of nueral and non-neural tissue means that a larger stimulus is necessary to trigger an action potential in the tissue. This may mean that small physical disturbances and distractions are less disruptive because they are unable to trigger action potentials (Jeranth et al. 2009).

There is quite a bit of ongoing discussion and research regarding the effects of slow, deep breathing and other pranayama practices. Much of the interest surrounds how reported benefits can be explained in terms of human physiology and the root cause of many benefits have not yet be illuminated. While many will be better understood in the future, it is possible that some reported experiences surrounding pranayama may be a result of the placebo effect. Regardless of the science behind the practice, pranayama has brought physical, emotional, and mental benefits to humans for thousands of years and is a practice worthy of the interest it attracts.

Works Cited

Carrere, Jaganath. “Inside the Yoga Sutras. ” Integral Yoga Publications, Buckingham, Virginia; 2006.

Dharmashakti Yogin “Intensive Study Program and Yoga Intensive & Teacher Certification Program Training Manual.” Nob Hill Yoga, Albuquerque, NM; 2012.

Jerath, Ravinder, Edry, John W., Barnes, Vernon A., Jerath, Vanda (2006) “Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanism that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the sutonomic nervous system.” Medical Hypothesis.

Pal, G.K., Velkumary, S., Madanmohan (2004) “Effect of short-term practice of breathing exercises on autonomic functions in normal human volunteers.” Indian J Med Res. 120: 115-121.

Pramanik, T., Sharma, H.O., Mishra, S., Mishra, A., Prjapati, R., Singh, S. (2009) “Immediate effect of slow pace Bhatrika Pranayama on blood pressure and heart rate.” The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 15(3): 293-295.

Pratap, V., Berrettini, W.H., Smith, C. (1978) “ Arterial Blood Gases in Prana Yama Practice” Perceptual and Motor Skills. 46: 171-174.

Websites Consulted

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hering%E2%80%93Breuer_reflex

Namaste

Dinner at Home

The move into our new house can best be described as fractured. We closed on the house on the Thursday before memorial day weekend. The highlight of the day was the electrical utility worker backing into my parked car while he chatted on his mobile - the first time I ever parked in my new driveway. The final walk through (my first time in the house) was otherwise uneventful and we drove the hobbled Fit to the lawyers office. The signing of papers was long and boring, and the grumbling in my tummy did not help my patience. Dealing with insurance companies and making sure the Fit was safe to drive ate up our allotted time for lunch. There was some hold up in the communication between the loan office and the lawyers office, and we sat for an hour waiting for final clearance to be passed down to issue checks to the sellers and us. I was not pleased. Eventually we gave up, said we would come back later to pick up the checks, and we raced to find something to eat. Jamie and I killed some Moe's Burritos; I even ate all the complementary chips with my burrito and started in on Jamie's chips.

Officially homeowners, Jamie dropped me off at our friends' apartment so I could finish up the lesson plans I created for my summer trip. Jamie graciously brought the Fit to the autobody shop and procured a rental vehicle. After loading up the rental, we drove to our new house for a celebratory champagne toast with friends. Jamie and I fell asleep that night on an air mattress is an empty house, that we owned.

The next morning, Jamie whisked me to the Valdosta airport, which is even smaller than expected. I flew to Atlanta and then on to Raleigh for Broadreach summer staff training. After a week of learning about the other trip leaders, role playing possible trip scenarios, playing games, and finding out about my students and trip itinerary, I flew back to the tiny Valdosta airport. Jamie picked me up with an exuberant little Gnasher pup and we did some house shopping and went out to dinner. This night we fell asleep in a house full of unpacked boxes, but we slept on our own bed (my first time in a real bed in almost a month!)!

The following morning, Jamie's alarm starting complaining at 5:00am. I grudgingly climbed out of bed and drove Jamie to his squadron. He was on his way to N. Georgia for a week of SERE training. I spent the week unpacking boxes, teaching yoga classes, reading about Thailand, and resuming my "Clean" cleanse to get my digestive tract back on track after eating lots of unhealthy (SYSCO) food at Broadreach training. The "Clean" program requires smoothies to be consumed for breakfast and dinner; solid food is only prescribed for lunch, and I usually just have a salad and some almonds.

The point of all this, is that when Jamie got home last night we had technically owned our house for 2 weeks, but I had not cooked dinner in the house once yet and we had not eaten dinner together in our new dining room at all. So, it was a big event! Our very first dinner together in our new home needed to be healthy, filling, and delicious. I decided to try a recipe for veggie pasta that I had seen in "Natural Health" magazine that would allow me to stay pretty close to the regulations of the "Clean" program, which outlaws gluten, soy, corn, sugar, nightshades, dairy, and other things. There were some tomatoes in the recipe, but of the foods eliminated in the clean programs, tomatoes seem to be less toxic to my body than others (dairy is the worst). Now, when I say veggie pasta, that is a bit deceptive, the "pasta" is actually very thinly sliced zucchini and carrots. In the magazine picture, it really looked like multi-colored spaghetti. I think mine ended up looking like just a pile of cooked vegetables, but it did taste pretty good.

Ingredients: 

Olive Oil

Salt  & Pepper

Freshly Dried basil, thyme, oregano (from the neighbors garden)

Onion

Garlic

Asparagus

Broccoli Florets

Jalapeno pepper (from neighbors garden)

2 yellow zucchini (neighbor!)

1 green zucchini (neighbor!)

2 Carrots

1 Red Pepper

Baby bella mushroom

1 can diced tomatoes

Wash all veggies. Cut the ends off of asparagus and cut into 1 inch pieces, before submerging in boiling water until just soft. Remove soft asparagus with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of ice water. Cook broccoli florets in an identical manner.

Slice carrots and zucchini into the thinnest strips your cutting ability allows. Mine ended up a bit thicker than they should of been, which diminished their "spaghettiness." Submerge in boiling water until limp when picked up by the middle and then plunge into a bowl of ice water.

Dice garlic and onion and saute with olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Sprinkle in salt, pepper, and herbs. Clean and cut mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and add them to the pan. Cut the red pepper and jalapeno pepper and add to pan. Finally, add the can of tomatoes to the pan. Continue to cook over medium heat  until liquid from tomatoes comes to a boil, then lower heat and cover to keep warm.

In a separate pan, saute zucchini, carrots, asparagus, and broccoli with olive oil. Serve the zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and asparagus first and arrange on the plate as if pasta. I used tongs to grasp the veggies and arrange them on the plates. As you can see mine didn't really look like pasta, but it was close.

Use a ladle to heap the tomato and veggie mixture on top of the zucchini and carrot "pasta."  Here it ends up looking like a giant pile of veggies, but with a little more skill it could certainly look like a veggie pasta with multi-colored noodles. 

Since it was our first dinner at home together, I actually set the table. Our table looks rather small in our new, large dining area. We have so much more space in our new house - all of our things look a little dwarfed. 

This recipe was a great first dinner in our new home. It was relatively quick and simple, but most importantly it was made up of all healthy, whole ingredients, with several even being super local (next door). I did have fun preparing it, even if it did not look magazine perfect. I feel happy and contented to have set the tone for many wholesome meals to come! I am excited to start producing more and more food in my own yard and finding creative ways to prepare them. 

Coming up... many adventures in owning our own home (yard and home projects), but first a summer teaching in Thailand! 

Sketti Done Right

By now, most people have been exposed to "Honey Boo Boo," the precocious chubby Georgia beauty queen, and her indescribable mother due to their disturbing, but hard to ignore reality television show, "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." The family is poor and has been raised with questionable eating habits going back generations. The mother is severely obese and feeds her children repulsive meals and snacks. Honey Boo Boo loves her gogo juice, which is mountain dew and red bull mixed together. The child slurps it through a straw and then runs amok, beating her mother, jumping on furniture, and saying crazy things that make us all laugh, but are slightly scary.

One of the family's specialty foods is "Sketti," which involves butter and ketchup being microwaved together and then poured over spaghetti. The children love it, but are clearly not having a nutritionally balanced dinner. The mom repeatedly declares that she feeds the family on a very tiny budget and that "sketti" is their best choice (see clip below). Exclamations like this have inspired many to take up demonstrating preparations of healthy foods on a budget, and I, too, been compelled to create my own version of "sketti."

My "sketti" brings together simple, inexpensive ingredients, most of which can be stored in the pantry. I use canned diced fire roasted tomatoes ($.80), canned garbanzo beans ($.80), frozen basil cubes (1 cube = $.20), ramen noodles ($.20), and fresh spinach ($1.50). The total cost of my "sketti" is $3.50, and provides three adult portions. My husband and I can both have a serving for dinner and there is some leftover for one to have for lunch the next day. This version is certainly tastier and more nutritious than the TV version, but I am not touting the nutritional value of ramen noodles by any means. This meal is quick and cheap and provides protein (garbanzo beans), phytonutrients (spinach), amino acids (tomatoes and spinach), and carbohydrates (noodles), but is still not for everyday consumption. 

Preparation takes about 5 minutes. I bring a small pan of water to a boil and add the garbanzo beans first. The beans taste better and share their flavor more when they are boiled. After about 2 minutes of boiling the garbanzo beans, I add the ramen noodles (discarding the flavor packet), and boil for about 2 more minutes. Next I drain most of the water out, add the can of diced fire roasted tomatoes in tomato juice, 1 cube of chopped basil, salt and pepper to taste, and the spinach. I heat the final mixture until the spinach is wilted and soft. And, Voila! It is delicious, colorful, nutritional, cheap, and fast! Hooray! I hope moms out there can choose this adaptation instead of the original "sketti!"

On the Move

Here I am: sitting at my kitchen table at a friend's bachelor pad (they have no furniture). I have just completed my first military DITY move and it was more work, more stress, and more devastating than I could have imagined. Exactly 7 days ago I ate at The Grove one last time, picked up my moving van and got this crazy process underway. I am not sure why I thought it would be easy. Sure, some of Jamie's co-workers were coming to help load furniture, but I still had to pack boxes, clean the house, run for the zoo, meet at UNM to work on data analysis, and do several last minute errands. Saturday flew by; I got all the heavy things in the truck and most of the boxes packed. I fell asleep on the therma-rest pad in less than 20 minutes and slept restlessly through most of the night. I woke up a couple times to nightmares of over sleeping and eventually woke around 6am to get back to packing. I packed and cleaned for a couple more hours before I rode my borrowed bicycle to zoo for the annual "Run for the Zoo and Walk With Us, Too!"

As always, my students were late and confused. I ended up only meeting 2 for the actual run/walk, but it was still a lovely way to enjoy the morning of my last full day in the town I had grown to love. I kept looking towards the mountains, trying to memorize their shape and contrast against sky. I memorized the rio grand and the elephants. I took in all these things I had seen over and over and committed them to memory, promising myself I would lose them. At the conclusion of the run/walk, I took off on the bicycle towards the university and Anapurna's for some soul sustaining vegetarian and ayurvedic grub. Kitchari was just what I needed. After nourishing myself, I headed across the street and got some data done. Analyzing data is like unwrapping a present. You are never quite sure what you will get, but sometimes there are pleasant surprises. No pleasant surprises yet, but there is still a lot of work to do. The scientist I have been working with did invite me to come back to do my doctoral work with her though; PhD in plant ecology? Maybe!

I cycled home at 5pm (later than planned), and Beth came over to help me pack and clean. This is when things really started to get crazy. Beth was such a huge help, I could never completely thank her, but I still didn't finish everything before I was completely exhausted. Again, I passed out on the therma-rest on the floor, but I think I fell asleep in less than 5 minutes for the first time all week.

I woke up the next day at 5am and started sprinting back and forth to the truck and running up and down the stairs frantically scrubbing, transporting, vacuuming, dusting, and sweeping. At about 7:30 it became apparent that I would not finish everything by my 9am checkout time. I called the housing office and they graciously informed me they could only push back the appointment if I drove to the office and changed the time in person. I am not sure how that could possibly be helpful in the midst of a move, but they were unwilling to negotiate. They sent their inspector to check on me at 9am, anyways, and alas, I was not finished. The inspector is short and stout. He has brown hair and brown eyes and looks as if he is afflicted with Down's syndrome, but he is not. He has strange mannerisms and a very judgmental glare. He walked into my house and appraised my work with a disapproving scan of the living room and a disappointed "so you really aren't ready, huh?" He drove back to the office and said he would try to squeeze me in for another appointment later in the day.

The little man parked in front of my house some 20 minutes later and waddled up to my front door to inform me that my new appointment was at 2pm. Great, thanks. I knew I did not need that much time, so I slowed my pace to just slightly frantic and kept working. After pulling the appliances away from the wall and sweeping behind them, dusting the tops of the cabinets, scrubbing the hard water lines in the toilets with a pumice stone, a lot of sweat, and a few tears, I felt like the house was ready for inspection. It was 11:30am.

So, I headed out for some errands before the inspection. I went to wally-world for a lock for the truck, pet-land for a 50lb bag of dog food, Salam Academy to drop off some grading, and Comcast to give them back the modem and router we haven't actually used in over a year. I also hit up Trader Joe's one last time for some lunch and road snacks. I got back to the house at 1:45, and snuck in some last minute dusting before the small, unfortunate looking inspector showed up again.

He looked displeased to be at my house again, but it is his job, so he was there. He around walked slowly, checking for dust by rubbing his stumpy fingers along surfaces as he went. I was so incredibly nervous; my stomach was tied in a knot in my chest and my heart was sucked up to my throat. It felt like a final exam; I had worked my tail off and this "walk-through" was what it all came down to: would I have to pay fines or not. I would. I was fined $20 for missing house keys, $30 for a broken set of blinds, $2 for an exterior light bulb being out, and $20 for not taking down all the light globes and cleaning their interior. The last couple fines he laid on me were what really angered me. During our first meeting several weeks ago, the little man told me that garbage could be left on the front lawn. I was appreciative, because this was actually convenient, and as I was moving, I bagged up garbage and put it on the front yard. On that final walk through, he told me that I would be charged $25 for the garbage and $25 for the recycling because it needed to be picked up prior to move out. Fifty dollars for garbage removal when he had told me it was ok to leave it? I was really mad. I packed all the garbage into my moving truck and my neighbor graciously took the recycling. I went to meet the man at the leasing office and sign the paperwork.

Despite the last minute relocation of my trash, the leasing agents still wanted me to pay the $50 because the trash was there during my appointment. I fought so hard I am actually a little embarrassed seeing as it was for $50, but I eventually won so perhaps it was worth it. With less than $100 of fines, I was finally leaving Kirtland Air Force base. I saved about $200 by doing a "self clean" (it is $300 to "pay and go"). I am not sure if the self-clean was the best option. It would have felt better if I did not have any fines, but if could have been worse, I suppose. I drove out the Wyoming gate for the last time.

I grabbed a Starbuck's iced coffee and I was officially on the road. It was 4pm. Driving east on I-40, I shed a tear as I passed through the Sandias, and then it was open road and crappy radio reception for a long time. Almost as soon as I passed into Texas, the deserts succeeded into grasslands and then trees started to appear. It was verifiably damp outside when I hit a raccoon with a huge thump and knocked the truck out of gear. I had no idea why the truck wouldn't go anymore. It was about 11pm in the middle of nowhere Texas, and my heart was beating loudly, pumping high levels of adrenaline throughout my system. All the possible outcomes of the truck breaking down then were spinning through my mind. I took a deep breath and looked past my shaky hands to my speedometer and watched it slowly reading lower and lower speeds: 45mph, 40mph, 35mph. But then, my gaze drifted just below the odometer and I noticed that the transmission was in Neutral. I shifted back to drive; the truck responded to the gas pedal and picked up speed. I took this as a sign that it was time to get off the road and pulled into the parking lot of the very first motel I spotted.

The motel was the only one for another 40 miles and I was scared they would not let me stay with Gnasher. So, I didn't mention my sweet little co-pilot and simply registered and drove over to my room. I let Gnasher out for a short, secretive walk and he did pee, but almost immediately after entering the room, he lifted his leg and marked the corner of the California King sized bed taking up most of the motel room. The bed was big enough that I just slept on the other side, but I really hope they was the sheets and blankets there!

The next day brought many more miles between Albuquerque and I. I made it to Dallas at lunchtime and visited with my Aunt Renee at her palatial Texas home and then drove on towards New Orleans. I made it to Baton Rouge and stayed at a pet friendly Motel 8 that Gnasher enjoyed much more than his first motel experience. The room was smaller and had laminate flooring, but most importantly, it was significantly quieter. The first room was next to a freight train line and very close to the highway. Every time a train or truck would speed by, Gnash's little head would perk up and he surveyed the situation for danger for several minutes before resting his head again. He was so anxious, I don't think he slept much that night, but, this night was a little better.

On to New Orleans! We woke up early and jumped in the truck to see Matt, my co-lead from last summer and his girlfriend, Brittany. I pulled up in front of his apartment about an hour and half later and we walked to a nice little breakfast joint, The Ruby Slipper Cafe. Along the way, Gnasher ate a crawfish shell and a shrimp tail, seeming to enjoy the local fare even if I was downright disgusted. At the restaurant, I was disappointed that there was butter in the grits and I became worried that this will continue to be a problem for me! I love grits and was looking forward to participating in the grits and everything traditions in my new home, but butter makes my belly upset. I had eggs and spinach and mushrooms instead with some delicious coffee and donated my decadent looking and certainly very buttery biscuit to Matt. After breakfast, Matt studied for his upcoming mega-medschool-test and I worked on my lesson plans for my upcoming summer trip to Thailand. It completely boggles my mind that Matt has been studying 8 hours a day for two months to take this test. That is a lot of studying.

When Matt was done studying for the day (I think he would have went a lot longer if I wasn't there), we went to Juan's Flying Burrito for dinner, which had a cute outside seating area on the sidewalk. The waitress was attentive and friendly and the green veggie burrito tasted virtuous and delicious. The guacamole was some of the best I've had, although the "green chile" was not green chile as I have come to know and love it. I am fearful that missing green chile will become a serious problem for me as life goes on in Georgia. We stopped by Angelo Brocato Ice Cream & Confectionary for dessert and I ordered some tangy raspberry and sweet mango sorbet. I was slightly rebuffed when I asked for chocolate chips and the sales girl quipped "we don't really do toppings here," but she was not as snotty as her comment and was easily forgiven. Matt and I walked back to his apartment with our frozen desserts and chatted about New Orleans and how it has changed. He pointed out spray painted x's on buildings and told me that in the four corners of the x you could find the date the building was searched, how many people were found, how many alive, and how many dead. It was a chilling reminder that the city went through a nightmarish tragedy and I tried to picture the streets and houses underwater as we continued on our way.

The next day, I continued on my way to Valdosta. I was excited to see Jamie and terrified at what I might find when I reached my new home. I was slightly relieved to leave New Orleans; there was a grittiness there that I had not encountered before and it made me feel uneasy. I arrived in Valdosta before dark and Jamie drove me over to our new house. It was exciting, even if I could only see the exterior for now. The house is on a beautiful piece of land and is blue with a red door. I just love it and I cannot wait to move in. For the next week, though, we will continue to stay on an air mattress on Jamie's coworker's floor.

The town is bigger than I expected and has many eating and shopping options. I am not sure what I will do for work yet and that remains the primary question about life in this biggish town surrounded by farms in all directions. Will I work? Will it be fulfilling? Will I be advancing my career and building my resume? Or, will I be frustrated and stunted? I think the work question will ultimately determine my experience here, but so far I am appreciating the green foliage everywhere I look, the morning dew and afternoon rain showers, and the sweet smells of green grass, hyacinths, and summer on the east coast in general.

My rocky relationship with running

I have had an on again, off again relationship with running since high school. If I am honest, our relationship started even before that. It is like when you hear a couple talking about their first kiss being in kindergarten and then teasing and bullying each other until high school, when they realized they were really in love. In 1st grade, I beat all the other kids in relay races in the parking lot of my Catholic school. Once in public school in 3rd grade, I beat the other girls in the 800m on field day. In 4th and 5th grade, I was the fastest girl in my class and was selected to run a special cross country event in a near by county park. I really loved running, it felt great, it was fun, and it gave me something to be proud of. Other girls started joining extra-curricular cross country teams, but I did not; I chose to join a gymnastics team instead. I think that decision was what first put my relationship with running on the rocks. 

In middle school, I was practicing with my gymnastics team 9 hours a week and in 7th grade, when students are allowed to participate in intermural, I added 6 hours of cheerleading in the fall and winter seasons. When Spring track rolled around, I was exhausted and more interested in going home after school. Occasionally, I would run around the block, but I didn't really keep up any level of running fitness. My natural running abilities lay undeveloped and unused until I was in high school when I signed up for Varsity track. 

Once on the track team, my delight in running was rekindled, but I felt frustrated that I could not keep up with the other girls. True, everyone else ran cross country in the fall and winter track in the winter, while I was cheerleading, but I desperately wanted to be a star on the team. I ran the 400m and 400m hurdles mostly because everyone else hated those races and I usually could at least place and get points for the team. I jumped high jump because I could use my gymnastics training in that event, and was actually good at it. To tumble, one must jump straight up and then perform a maneuver at the highest point, which is also true for high jump. It is necessary to jump up first, then arch over the pole. I always scored in high jump and jumped quite high for a very short girl. But, I wanted to run fast! Now, when I look back at my times, I can't believe how fast I actually was. Time certainly helps one appreciate the gifts of youth. 

As an undergraduate, I officially broke up with running and we were never, never, ever getting back together (except for a few flings here and there). I was focused on studying and partying and certainly wasn't fast enough to run college track. I missed the feeling of being on a team, though. I also missed work-outs facilitated by a coach; I am not the type of person to push myself, and will not work out until I am too sore to walk, unless someone is aggressively encouraging me. But, whenever I did decide I needed to get some exercise, I hit the track or the treadmill. I continued to feel that running was the only real workout and the best way to exercise. I just couldn't commit, and I only exercised about once every three months. 

After my undergraduate degree, I found myself really enjoying bicycling. I was interested in the green movement, and liked the idea of biking instead of driving. Also, my car at the time was really unpleasant to drive. I rode my bicycle most places I went, and even rode back and forth the the restaurant where I worked about 15 miles from my home. Cycling 30 miles a day did improve my fitness, even if I still thought bicycling was a rather lame form of cardiovascular exercise. Eventually, a friend suggested I start running again, and I did. I started with a mile, then 2, then 3, and eventually I ran 5 miles in a row. That same friend suggested I sign up for a half-marathon just a couple months later, and I did. Two weeks before the race, I ran twelve miles along Dune Road. I remember meeting a friend who was driving down the road on the way to the beach. I told her, "If I stop to talk now, I will never start again!"

The Queens half marathon that fall of 2009 was an amazing race. The course was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and I finished! I do not remember what my time was, just the flowers and water views. After that, I was hooked for the next 2 years. I joined New York Road Runners and subscribed to Runner's World. I read about running and training techniques. I ran races in the city on the weekends and ran a couple small time 5ks near my parents' house. I joined Team In Training and ran my first full marathon in San Diego. I ran enough NYRR races to qualify for the NYC marathon and finished NYC in 4:09. The NYC marathon was one of the proudest days of my life. 

Once I had achieved my graduate degree, I moved away from New York, and since then it has been difficult to find the same joy in running. I learned to love running in NY and places with different weather or terrain don't make the activity more enjoyable, despite what one might think. Last year, I ran the Nashville marathon and did all my training where I now live in Albuquerque. I had some IT band issues and many of my long runs were thwarted. I finished in Nashville, but my time was a huge disappointment. After the race, I came home and ran some smaller races. I ran my fastest 10k and 5k that I had since high school and was just starting to enjoy running again. And then I went away for the summer. 

I lived on a sailboat this last summer. Running was impossible. The fitness I built up simply atrophied. When I got back to ABQ, the altitude and full time farming left me exhausted. Since then, I have been trying to rekindle my relationship with running. I thought signing up for a 5k might get me on track, but it didn't and I simply skipped the race. A friend of mine bought two pairs of Nike Frees in the wrong size. She purchased them from the employee store, so she could not return them, and offered to send them to me. I thought new sneakers would surely give me a kick to my step and help me hit the pavement with enthusiasm. I look cool with neon shoes, but I am not fast. 

I feel like I am now courting running and running is the one who is rebuffing me. I just can't get fast or really enjoy running right now. I am sure that running and I are not truly divorcing, but right now I think it is safe to say that running is not answering my text messages. 

Vegan Enchiladas Are Delicious

I have made these enchiladas a couple times now and I swear that they are better every time I make them. I made them again last night and they were so good, I think it is finally time to write a blog about them. These enchiladas are surprisingly easy to make and honestly delicious: another vegan recipe that meat eaters will enjoy and appreciate. This time, I got most of my ingredients at Trader Joe's and it turned out being quite an inexpensive dinner, as well.

Ingredients:
Enchilada Sauce
Organic Wheat Tortillas
1 can black olives
1 can black beans
2 zucchini
1/2 onion
Daiya Vegan Cheese, Jack Style Wedge
1 block extra firm tofu

First, I rinsed the zucchini and cut the zucchini and half onion into slices. I drained a can of black olives and added them to the food processor with the zucchini and onions. I pulsed these ingredients until they were coarsely diced. Then, I added the drained black beans and pulsed again until the ingredients were well mixed, but not pureed.

After noisily pulsing, I transferred the mixture from the food processor to a large mixing bowl. I drained a block of organic extra firm tofu and cut it into cubes. The cubes were added to the mixing bowl and mashed up with a mixing spoon. I tried to have the tofu mix evenly with the olives, onions, beans, and zucchini. On previous enchilada nights, I added the tofu to the food processor, but it had became too pureed and the texture was not right. Mashing the tofu and stirring it in created a much nicer texture and made the final product much more pleasing. 

Next, I added enchilada sauce and equal parts water to the mixture and stirred well. I used half my bottle of enchilada sauce here, so I added water to the bottle until it was full again for the sauce that gets poured on top of the tortillas. I scooped generous amounts of the filling onto each tortilla, evenly spread it out, and rolled the tortilla up. I only had 6 tortillas (I should have bought two bags!), so I was trying to use as much of the filling as possible, but adding plentiful amounts of filling also made this dish better than previous times I had made it. 

One of my husbands friends had broken my full-sized pyrex dish this week, so I had to really cram the enchiladas into a smaller pyrex dish. Luckily, tt ended up not mattering much. I poured as much of the 50:50 enchilada sauce/water mixture into the dish as would fit, and topped the tortillas with cubed Daiya jack-style cheese wedge. I had used the shredded Daiya before, but this is what I had this time, and it was so, so much better.  

I cooked the enchiladas at 350F for about 30 minutes and then we enjoyed them with some TJ's hot sauce. I usually serve them with green chile sauce, but we are sadly out of green chiles. The green chile sauce does make them better, but they were able to shine on their own this time without being overshadowed by the green chile. I had previously thought of enchiladas solely as a vehicle for green chile, but I was able to enjoy the enchiladas as enchiladas this weekend. 

These enchiladas are quick, easy, cheap, delicious, and full of healthy choices for you and the environment. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!