Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!
Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!

But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!
We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.

SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Friday, March 16, 2012

What I am doing to stay active: Second Trimester

So, I already talked about what I am eating. And, hopefully you got some inspiration from that. But, I have also been trying to stay very active and have been staying on track with my weight gain (yay!).

So, here is what I have been doing to keep that regimen up:

At least once a week (more earlier in my pregnancy) I do at least one workout from the Denise Austin Fit and Firm Pregnancy DVD.

Once a week as well, I do the Second Trimester Express Workout from the Summer Sanders Prenatal workout.

Someone also gifted me the Yoga Journal and Lamaze Yoga for Your Pregnancy DVD and I LOVE IT!

I am also taking a prenatal water exercise class at a local fitness club. It is 50 minutes, 2 times a week. And, it is SO NICE to get in the water.

Oh, and I am continuing, when I can, the yoga class I was taking pre-pregnancy at my place of employment. The instructor is great at offering modifications for me and seems to have a good working knowledge of prenatal yoga practice.

Is that enough? Did I mention I will be teaching a jazz class when the new school term begins?

Notes about each workout...

Denise Austin-

This DVD has a great 20 minute cardio routine. It feels like it is just enough to get things going and be worthwhile, but not too much to handle. It also has second and third trimester toning workouts. I have only done the second trimester one, but it is a good 20 minute session with some weight lifting and other things that are pretty important. Haven't watched the third trimester one yet... all in due time. But, I have a bit of an obsession with Denise Austin and was glad she had a prenatal DVD.

You could start this workout DVD at any fitness level and feel good. Oh, and it has a postnatal session as well to help you bounce back!

Summer Sanders-

This one is a bit more intense. The "express" workout is 35 minutes long. So, I usually only do it on weekends. You need an exercise band for the workout, and you will feel the burn. I have not had a chance to do the full length one yet, perhaps because I have been a bit scared.

But, I do like getting this one in once a week as I feel it does a great job of helping me keep some tone to my arms, shoulders and back. Plus, there is a nice relaxing segment at the end.

I love her motto too... "Growing Belly equals Healthy Momma equals Healthy Baby". We say it a lot in our house now!

I would not reccomend this one to someone who was not at a higher fitness level pre-pregnancy. It is pretty intense.

Yoga Journal-

This is a GREAT DVD for yoga folks of all levels. Each work out shows three women practicing using different modifications so you can choose the one that works best for you.

There are also a bunch of different practices on the DVD for different benefits. I like the 30 minute Energizing practice. It stretches me well and feels like it is a good workout for my muscles. I just did the 15 minute Relaxing practice the other day, and it will be very useful when I get much bigger.

AND, to top it all off, there is a Birthing Room section that talks through poses that will be useful when in labor AND a postnatal practice too.

I am really grateful that I was gifted this DVD. It will be hard to give up after all is said and done.


My group workouts are great. The water exercise class is nice because it is giving me a chance to connect with other pregnant women. I am the least pregnant in the group. One class member is due TODAY and was in class last night! I am going to have to sign up for more sessions of this as it ends in a few weeks!

And, I have always liked doing yoga with my colleagues. I am glad I am able to fit that in my schedule.

The most important thing to remember is that it is all about what feels right for you. I need to stay active as long as possible because I am such an active person. I am so glad the weather is getting nicer because we will start walking more too!

But, remember, if you are expecting as well, TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR before you start anything new. And, don't use your pregnancy as the time to kick your workout routine into gear. I was already working out 5-7 days per week before I was pregnant. If you weren't, I would start very slow!

Alright, I know that wasn't so food related, but when you are pregnant, it is hard to think about anything other than being pregnant.

Happy eating! Hoping for at least one post after this weekend when Paul and I head out for our Babymoon! :)
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1 comment:

Hillary said...

Great work!! I found I was able to do the second trimester modifications on my yoga DVD up until the last couple of weeks of pregnancy - I found the third trimester too easy because I had stayed so active, and I suspect that you will too. Anne offered some great modifications, like twisting out instead of in. The post-natal yoga will be really nice for your first post-natal workouts, but I suspect you'll be ready to move past those pretty quickly. Keep up the great work!!!

March 17, 2012 at 9:22 PM

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