Keep Stillness Inside Of You

If you keep up with my Facebook and Instagram then you might know that I went to USJ (Universal Studios Japan) yesterday. AND, it was awesome but I felt bittersweet to be there. Sweet because it was indescribably fun. Bitter because I felt for the multitudes who would never be able to enjoy such an experience because of poverty, equality, injustice or some other unfortunate circumstance. We, the wealthy generation are incredibly lucky and often we forget that. Not that going to a theme park is luck or happiness but just having the freedom, the funds and the option to do so is fortunate. Anyways, I am going to work on a Savvy Tokyo article on USJ, so to hear more and see the HD photos, y’all just have to wait. Anywho, I came across a beautiful quote today:

In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. -Deepak

PS please excuse my unfortunate tan-lines in the last photo >.<

So I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you. -Paulo Coelho

If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all. -John Green.

Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit.” – ‘Abdu’l-Baha

I think you are very beautiful. And I’m not even talking about your face or legs or butt or eyes or those elbows. (Though they are all very lovely) I’m talking about you. -Bianca Cash

The weather isn’t perfect and my socks have gotten wet but my heart is full of promise so I’ll take what I can get. – Dallas Clayton

Food Presentation And Why I Do It

Ever wonder why there’s food in my flowers? Sorry I mean flowers in my food? Dear reader/random passerby, wonder no more. Read about it on my new Savvy Tokyo article, HERE. Oh, and share it with your family and friends, and neighbors, and students, and pets, and keep me on their popular page.

Wholewheat organic bread from iyouwaie.

Mindful Eating For Dummies

Are you constantly hangry? Are you constantly craving EVERYTHING?

STOP! Don’t exit. This is not some generic ad for an ab-machine.

What this is, is a few simple steps in winning this seemingly impossible hunger game we, the wealthy 21st century humans, all seem to be playing.


1. CHEW
Remember my post about the health benefits of smoothie bowls? The more we chew, the more our stomachs signal our brains that we’re full. Apparently, we’re supposed to chew our food 20-30 times before swallowing. I hear ya! Ain’t no body got time for that. Well, I ain’t got time to buy new jeans either.

2. USE A PLATE
Try to do this even when you’re feeling angry or upset. No doubt, you’re less likely to eat a whole packet of Oreos if you see them on a plate. This visual reality check will instantly show you that the portion is too big.

3. EAT AWAY FROM THE SCREEN
Checking the number of likes on your new profile picture can wait. Experts caution that eating meals or snacking while distracted by our cellphones and/or computers makes our food seem less satisfying. Dissatisfaction will most likely cause us to seek out more snacks later. This concept also applies to eating food “on the go”: driving/studying/etc/etc. So like, don’t eat a muesli bar with one hand and hold the steering wheel with the other. Instead, pull over and smell the roses. This means focusing on the taste, texture and aroma of each and every mouthful. Remember, we are among the very few privileged individuals of this day and age who actually have access to such an abundance of food. Which means we are seriously obliged to give our food time, energy and respect.

4. PRIORITISE SLEEP
Lack of sleep can mess with our moods, food cravings and even cause our skin to breakout. It does this by increasing our levels of cortisol, the stress hormone that causes inflammation and turns on our oil-producing glands. In addition, insufficient sleep causes hormonal changes that decrease our satiety after eating, lower the calories we burn during the day, and turn on obesity-promoting genes. BRB snoozing!

5. BEWARE OF OTHER HUMANS (A tad OTT, but true.)
Other people can hugely influence our food choices. When US researchers looked at groups of three people for the 2012 Friends Don’t Let Friends Eat Cookies study, they found that if two friends restricted their intake of biscuits, the third friend followed suit, NOT ONLY when with the group but also when alone! On the other hand, when two friends ate more biscuits, the third friend also tucked into more, and again, ate more when alone. In short, pick healthy friends. Or, be that healthy friend. Let’s do this together <3

How to be a successful health-food blogger in 13 straightforward steps:

Step one: acquire one but preferably two appealing children (one of each gender is best). That, or an attractive man-friend (man-bunned hipster is preferred) or cute furry creature or both.

Step two: dress children and/or boo-thang in trendy attire.

Step three: promote over-priced actually-high-in-calorie-regardless-of-health-factor raw “bounty” bar/“Nutella” spread/ “caramel” “cheesecake” through them.

Step four: assemble cooked (or in this case, uncooked) food in a creative fashion: alongside inspirational typography, fresh flowers, loose ingredients (scattered nuts are popular), macbook, engraved spoons, patterned cloths, charming children and or shirtless and smiling (both important) man-thang.

Step five: capture food using expensive high-tech photography gadget

Step six: zoom in.

Step seven: put a filter on it

Step eight: add a pinch or two of common every-day middle-eastern ingredients to blatantly Western dishes to fancify them: saffron CHEESECAKE, turmeric ENGLISH MUFFINS. Pistachio SOUFFLE, pomegranate PORRIDGE etc.

Step nine: appropriate Asia while you’re at it: sushi, matcha, tofu and black rice are currently on trend.

Step ten: occasionally dine out at hipster restaurant and photograph your symmetrically placed order making sure your raybans are in frame.

Step eleven: frequent farmers’ markets making sure to capture the morning light as it gently caresses the purple carrots.

Step twelve: do yoga.

Step thirteen: last but not least, travel far and distant. For it is not the vegan cannellini bean stuffed sweet-potato in your kitchen but the vegan cannellini bean stuffed sweet-potato on a bamboo raft in the now-not-so-authentic tropical forests of Phuket that guarantees followers.

Review No26 Dot Cafe

Traditional Japanese eateries are nice and all…but, as with all good things, a breather is needed once in a while. That, is where Dot Cafe comes to the rescue. So cool so contemporary, a visit to Dot Cafe will undoubtedly rejuvenate you and here’s why: 1.They play RECENT music. As in 5SOS and not Celine Dion or Frank Sinatra (no offence to both). 2.An extensive menu (not just Japanese) including pad thai, nasi goreng, curry and pizza meaning you’ll have a hard (but happy) time choosing. 3.There’s more than 40 drink options to choose from – including Indian chai! 4. Decent SALADS! (seldom can one find good salad options in Japanese restaurants except seaweed salad which is, put politely, not nice). 5.KILLER DESSERT PARFAITS. 6.Mr O the owner is a MAGICIAN. Yep, you read right; a full-blown magician. So, if you’re lucky and he’s about, be sure to ask him for a trick or two and just like that, instantly upgrade your casual evening meal to a first class “dinner and show”. 7.Upstairs is the most lush yoga studio – don’t take me lightly on this, the studio is seriously beautiful. 8.Next door, Katsuragi boasts one of the best onsens (hot pool) I have been to. Need I say more?