Friday, September 30, 2016

Best Homemade Guacamole!

Do you like guacamole?
Do you fix guacamole at home?
In a minute, I'll tell you my favorite recipe for making guacamole with the help of a natural mix.

I like fresh guacamole served at some restaurants, but I don't like ready-made ones sold at grocery stores.
The whole family loves avocados and we eat one several times a week.
Our favorite way to eat them is to just cut one in half and scoop the green goodness out with a spoon, bite by bite.
Actually, one of the first foods we introduced to my daughter when she started eating solids was avocado!
Her doctor recommended it, in fact.
I love the creamy taste and the fact that it's very nutritious.
In Japan, avocados are sometimes called "butter of the forest" because of the creaminess and fattiness.
You don't need to worry as long as you eat them in moderation, though. Most of the fat is unsaturated fat, the so called "good fat".
Avocados also contain nearly 20 vitamins and minerals.

We buy 3 to 4 avocados once a week.
In the past they have sometimes spoiled after being left on the kitchen counter for a couple days or so, but not any more since we started putting them in the fridge and taking one out the day before we use it.
This prevents them from ripening before they are ready to be used. 
Try this if you've had the same problem.
Also, I believe they are much more flavorful when served at room temperature.

Last weekend, my husband got a guacamole mix called "Frontera Original Guacamole Mix (from Chef Rick Bayless)" and said "Let's fix guacamole!!", so we did!
It is super easy.
All the ingredients you need are two avocados and the mix.
The mix contains the following:
Roasted tomatillos, tomatoes, green chiles, onions, cilantro and garlic, citric acid, salt, evaporated cane juice.
The directions are the following:

guacamole
1. Scoop two ripe avocados out of the skin and mash it.
We tried to use a fork but it was kind of hard to mash so my husband squeezed them by hand.
2. Put the guacamole mix into the bowl with the avocados and mix the ingredients well.
The direction on the package says to add salt to taste but we didn't.
This is not required, but we diced some tomatoes and put them in as well.

I tried the guacamole and said "This is so yummy! This is the best!"
My husband and daughter loved it too.
We will definitely make this again.

We had a great weekend.
Let me tell you about it below.
We know a couple with a baby boy who was born just four days after my daughter (!) and they live in the same neighborhood as us. (Pseudonym: Goldman family and baby Gavin)
There is another couple with a baby boy who was born about a month after my daughter who also live in the same neighborhood. (Pseudonym: Kamper family and baby Ken)
We all had a lunch at a restaurant and had a great time.
There were papers and crayons so my daughter tried coloring for the first time!
The food was very good, too.
I ordered a chicken pot pie in jumbo size (it was just a dollar more than regular size) and my husband ordered a Greek omelet, French fries, and cheese grits.
My daughter enjoyed trying all of the items.
One thing that surprised me was that my daughter didn't fuss when the other babies were eating snack that the other mommies brought ahead of the meal.
Usually, when we have food out in front of her, she makes a lot of noise to let us know that she wants some, too, but today she didn't and waited calmly.

Thanks for reading and have a great day :)

Friday, September 23, 2016

Ideas to Fit Exercise into Your Busy Life

Do you exercise regularly?
What kind of exercises do you do?

two girls doing yoga
The way I exercise has changed as my life stage has changed.
At one point of my life, I went to a gym almost every day and exercised for an hour, but that's not what I do now.

You get more health benefit by walking for 20 minutes three times a week rather than running for 10 miles once a month.
Also, if it's too hard or boring, you may not continue it.
So, try something that you can do 2 to 3 times a week and that you enjoy, or you can have separate routines for weekdays and for weekends, which I do.

I'm going to write what I do.

1. What I do daily
-Rotate the neck
-Lunges
-Shoulder stretch (stretch the arms toward the back)
-Stomach crunches
These can be done in a very short time, I don't feel they are burdensome, and I can continue them easily.

Other examples that you can try are: lifting dumbbells, jumping on the spot.

2. Several times a week
-Radio calisthenics
Do you know what radio calisthenics are? It's a Japanese exercise.
When I was a kid, in the 80's, elementary school kids and some parents used to do this "radio calisthenics" at 6:30 AM along with radio, gathering together during summer vacation.
I heard that nowadays fewer and fewer people do this.
This routine contains various gentle movements that stretch various parts of your body.
The radio program contains an instructional voice and piano accompaniment.
Since I did it for six years every summer vacation, I still remember how to do it.
This takes about 10 minutes.
In my case, I remembered how to do the series of calisthenics but you can find some short exercise programs you can do along with TV / internet video.
The point here is, it's easy to do an exercise session of short to moderate length several times a week.

Other examples that you can try are: going for a walk, cleaning a small area while being conscious of stretching/muscle movement.

3. On weekends
-Dance along with a DVD
It's so fun to dance!
I choose a different DVD from time to time.
My current favorites are "Dance with Julianne Cardio Ballroom" by Julianne Hough and "Dancing with the Stars Dance off the Pounds".
Since it's fun, I can continue it easily.
You can do something that takes a bit more time on the weekends.

Other examples that you can try are: going to a gym, bicycling, swimming, Wii Fit, Xbox Dance Central, cleaning large area(s) while being conscious of stretching/muscle movement.

I hope you've gained some useful hints!
Below, I'll outline how the way I exercise has changed as my life stage has changed.
From elementary school to high school, I belonged to a sports team and I exercised a lot.
While I was a university student, I went to my apartment gym almost every day.
When I started working full time, I went to the gym less frequently.
However, when I moved into a different community, I completely stopped going to a gym. I believe one of the reasons for this was because I had to cross a major road with a busy intersection to get to the community gym.
I also noticed that I started getting bored with exercising in a gym. I became more interested in dancing!
That's why I started dancing along with DVDs.
What makes you more excited?
Find your way of enjoying exercises!

Thanks for reading and have a great day :)

Monday, September 19, 2016

Sensitive Skin / Skin Irritation after Giving Birth

Do you have sensitive skin?
Did your skin get irritated after giving birth?

straight faced girl
I used to have combination skin, a little bit oily on my nose but some other parts are drier, but my skin was relatively healthy.
I was able to use skin care products with lots of chemicals without any problems, although I mainly used natural ones.
However, after giving birth, my skin became irritated.
It got red on the sides of my nose and around my eyebrows, and itchy on the cheeks (it looked like seborrheic dermatitis when I googled, but not sure.)
It seemed that my skin's barrier system was lost, which caused my skin to be sensitive.
The redness and itchiness frustrated me.
It improved a lot around the time when my daughter became 6 months old, and then returned to normal when she became 10 months old.
Here is what I did to improve.

1. Rinsed my face with water in my hands, rather than directly from the shower head.
I used to rinse my face directly with the shower before giving birth and I had no problem.
However, doing so isn't good for your sensitive skin because of the shower water pressure.
It's better to put some water in your hands and rinse with that.

2. Stopped using soap/face soap when I washed my face in the morning.
I noticed that my skin was dry so I stopped using any kind of soap when I wash my face in the morning.
I just touched my face with water in my palms very, very gently.
I washed my face this way for a long time.
After my skin got better and produced more oil, I started to touch my face in a way that oil on my skin was transferred to my palms but I still didn't use soap in the morning.
Now, since my skin returned to normal, depending on my skin condition, I use face soap in the morning sometimes.

3. Used skin care products for sensitive skin.
I felt my skin was so dry.
The products I used to use without any problem before now made my skin dry.
So I searched for new skin care items.
I tried two new items first: one is a lotion with fulvic minerals. Actually, all the ingredients are fulvic minerals and purified water.
It seems it's very good in the long run because of various kinds of minerals in it, but this one was not hydrating my skin.
The other is rose water. The ingredients are, water, natural vegetable glycerin, and hydroessential rose oil.
It seemed natural and good, but it was not hydrating my skin well either.
So I pulled up a skincare/makeup products reviews/rankings website that I always use (it's a Japanese site) and searched for skin care products for sensitive skin.
I tried these two new items. One is this lotion: Minon Amino Moist Moist Charge Lotion II (extra moist type).
This hydrated my skin!
 I sometimes felt that it takes a bit of time to be absorbed in my skin though. Over all, it helped moisturizing my skin.
The other is Minon Amino Moist Moist Charge Milk.
This kept my skin moisturized.
These were developed for people with sensitive skin.
You don't need to use the exact same products above. Choose the ones that work for you.

4. Stopped using face powder.
I used to use face powder but one day I noticed that my face was dry and caked.
I stopped using it and noticed I didn't need it since my skin didn't produce much oil.
Now that my skin returned to normal, I started using it.

5. Tried not to wear makeup.
It's the best if you don't wear makeup at all.
However, you want to feel pretty now and then, right?
So I wore makeup only when I took photos, etc.

6. Tried to eat healthy.
I'm into health so I try to eat healthy regardless of if I have a skin issue.
I believe that eating healthy helps your skin.

The above is what I did.
Although I didn't go, it is a good idea to go to see a dermatologist too.
Another thing is, you are sleep deprived and may have less nutrition after giving birth, so your skin may improve as your life becomes more under control and you sleep a little more.

I hope your skin gets better soon (if you have irritated skin).
Thank you for reading and have a great day :)