Hot to squat

9:30am: Alarm goes off.

9:32am: Hit Snooze.

9:45am: 2nd alarm goes off.

9:46am: Hit snooze again/throw phone under bed.

10:00am: Get up to make hot tea.

10:05am: Too cold outside, back to bed.

10:05-10:45am: Browse various medical journals/lifting articles/instagram.

10:45-11:30: Roll around bed/stretch/wallow in laziness/make a mental grocery list/think about how hungry I am. 

That's why I love Fridays. I don't love Thursdays; Thursdays used to be my favorite day of the week, not anymore. Now, Thursdays start off at 8:30 in a math lecture, continue on with more 2 hour lectures and end up around 1:00am, with me yelling at MyMathLab through my laptop. Not ideal. Anyway, during my little internet browsing session this morning, I found lots of good information on cholesterol and saturated fats, but as for something that people will actually find interesting, I discovered that the perfect life does, in fact, exist.

This lady, Rachel Brathen, (rachelbrathen.com) is a yoga instructor that travels all around the Caribbean, Central and South America doing workshops and teaching the practice. Pretty freaking amazing. Finding this made me realize two things: I really miss Costa Rica, and I need to put yoga back into my daily routine. When I lived in Austin, I did yoga on the reg. More for relaxation rather than a workout, but it has translated very well into what I do now (Olympic Lifting and Crossfit), and I really need it back in my life. There really is no one too old, too out of shape or too inflexible to do yoga. In my opinion, it is the best way to take care of your soft tissue and mobility issues. It allows you to slowly stretch your muscles and release any lactic acid that may be built up from continuous use; that stuff that cause stiffness, joint pain and tension. All of the extreme gains in shoulder, trunk, hamstrings, quads, core and butt strength and flexibility, will also translate into better posture and all-around body awareness. It's also been known to lower cholesterol, blood pressure and triglyceride levels. Not to mention how stress-relieving it is. I dare you to try to go to yoga and leave in a bad mood. Spoiler alert: it won't happen. So, if you have ever seen me in the gym and wondered how I can do the splits/handstands/weird looking things on the rings when I'm warming up, or how my butt almost touches the floor at the bottom of the squat; not to toot my own horn, but it's because I have pretty damn good hip flexors and excellent mobility, which I owe to doing yoga over the past years. If you beat your muscles, tendons, ligaments, all-around self up on a regular basis doing Crossfit, running, biking whatever, it wouldn't be a bad idea to check out doing yoga a few times a week. That being said:

Sweet Potato Brownies

1 Sweet Potato, cooked and peeled

3 Eggs

3 tbs. Coconut Flour

1/3 cup Honey

1/4 cup Dark Chocolate, melted

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

2 tbs. Coconut Butter, melted

1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

Handful or so of Coconut Flakes, optional

Some Cinnamon, Vanilla Extract 

Pinch of Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray (or melt more coconut oil and spread) glass baking pan. 

2. Mash sweet potato in medium size bowl until it's got a smooth consistency.

3. Mix in wet ingredients; eggs, honey, coconut oil, coconut butter, dark chocolate, chocolate and whisk well. 

4. Add dry ingredients; coconut flour, spices, coconut flakes, more dark chocolate chip chunks if you're awesome. 

5. Mix all together very well, again.

6. Pour into baking dish. 

7. Bake on 350 for about 20 minutes. Mine came out a little soft, because I was scared to burn them. So, if you want them firmer then obviously cook a little longer, but keep checking them. 

I topped mine with a little more cinnamon and a little more melted coconut butter. I'm so obsessed with both of those ingredients, it's ridiculous. I made these for a sweet friend's going away dinner tonight and  they are stupid good. It was really hard not to eat them all right out of the oven; one of the easier Paleo treats to make and definitely my new favorite. I'm aware I say that every time I make something new. Disclaimer: I don't encourage a diet solely of Paleo goodies, I've just been experimenting lately and had lots of reasons to celebrate. I'll make something else this weekend that won't be a dessert, promise! Have a good weekend!