Dance and Spices

So I went back to dance last night. I was so happy to get back into it. Here is a picture of me ready to go to dance

See that smiling face! I went in knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy, and I was extremely nervous about doing anything that would tweak my ankle. It was great just being back into the studio and doing my thang! We took it slow and worked on small tweaks that needed to be made. Later that night, Ed told me that I needed to go to sleep and I said why? And he said because you do not realize how tired you really are and how much that session took out of you! He was right! As much as it wasn’t a sweat induced session, dance has so many little intricacies and little movements that you don’t realize how much it adds up. It is also a mental game and you have to remember where to place this foot or that hip that yes it is very tiring and I am feeling my abs a bit today! I was so excited because as I was practicing a step in the bathroom at work (yes I practice in my bathroom at work when no one is around, don’t judge!!) the step we were working on finally clicked! He has been showing this step to us and trying to show us the right way to do it for a little while now and finally BAM! it just clicked today! I was so excited I can’t wait to try it with Ed!

 

Sugar and Spice

Okay so this area has nothing to do with sugar sorry guys! But I will be speaking about spices in some upcoming posts. First up? Cinnamon! So it is sweet like sugar so does that count? Cinnamon is such a great spice and so versatile. It can be used to add a flavor to your favorite meal or to counterbalance a spicy meal. One of the best ways to use cinnamon is to use it in lieu of sugar in drinks like coffee or tea. Today I put it in my teecino (which I have started to drink black lately and it is soo good that way. It isn’t acidic like coffee so it doesn’t have that bitter aftertaste that coffee can have especially black coffee so it doesn’t need milk or cream!). Anyways sorry I got on a rant. Back to your regularly scheduled program. So I put it in my Teecino and it tasted ahmazing! Cinnamon is naturally sweet and thus can be a great alternative to sugar in some instances. Of course, some flavors do not mix well with cinnamon so it may not work as well for everything but when you can you should give it a try! Something I want to try soon is I want to brew coffee and add cinnamon right to the coffee grinds so it brews through and creates a cinnamony goodness!

So aside from being a good sweetener, cinnamon has a few big health benefits; one being it balances your blood sugar. When your blood sugar is balanced, your insulin levels are in check. When your insulin levels are out of whack (especially if you are hypoglycemic, diabetic or tend to just eat a lot of sugar) your pancreas has to work harder which can cause inflammation and metabolic issues. By eating cinnamon, you balance your levels which can cause an increase in your metabolism and overall a healthier system. Who doesn’t want to be healthy? That along with the antioxidant punch the spice gives you and I would say that is one sweet spice you got there!

Okay until next time!