Welcome to Green Beans and Jam
GB&J is a food blog featuring healthy eating & vegan recipes for all. Feel free to browse through old posts, look around the site, and make sure to check out the ‘recipes’ tab above for easy, healthy, yummy food.
June 21, 2011 1 Comment
LOOKBOOK COOKBOOK | Eat Food, Look Hot
We all know about LOOKBOOK.nu, right? No? Well, it’s a hipster-cool, user-run website for fashion lovers the world around.
LOOKBOOK COOKBOOK takes it a step further by adding…food. Attractive people eating food with recipes to boot. What could be better than that? Oh, and it’s vegan.
xox
January 16, 2012 Leave a comment
FYI Cool Websites
our interpretation defines our experience
- The Daily Om has astrology, chill music, articles & more. It’s a cool site, dudes.
- Want some MAGIC in your life? Erin Stutland is one amazing chick.
- Crafts, fashion, cute stuff, DIY tutorials, & more at the Wayward Daughter.
- More Yoga! Check out yoga lady Sadie Nardini.
- This girl is pretty inspirational. She has a bunch of links to pages & tutorials for yoga & reasons to practice.
Be a living smiley!
- This guy aims to Chillax the world through his awesome blog.
- Alltop is just fascinating. Top stories in a broad range of categories. This site will introduce y’all to tons of new sites & it’ll keep snowballing. :-)
- An interesting article about What Americans Don’t Understand About Weight-loss (from a Japanese-American perspective).
- Seth Godin has snappy advice for people who want to start living out on a limb. His posts are super-short, easy to read & practical. These posts make you think–read them.
I know I just bombarded you with a zillion sites, but I truly love them all & I hope you’ll find at least 1 or 2 that resonate with you. 
January 11, 2012 Leave a comment
Undressed Skeleton, the importance of Planning, & Tarot~
Hello my loves. I have a lot of exciting news to share! =)
I’m so addicted to Tumblr…it’s not funny! But here’s a secret: it doesn’t have to be an unhealthy addiction. I’ve always known about “thinspo” aka. pictures of super skinny girls usually used at motivation to fuel eating disorders…but I’ve recently been introduced into the world of “fitspo” and it’s super motivating! Basically, “fitspo” is a broad category with motivational quotes, tips, photos, and reasons to stay active. Basically, inspiration to live a rich, healthy life. Isn’t that beautiful?
One of my favorite of such blogs is Taralynn’s, the Undressed Skeleton. It’s about a girl’s journey from overweight to fit. She’s super organized and has a ton of great tips, like how to stop bingeing, and how to live the healthy lifestyle. She does a bunch of cool things like organizing her fruits and veggies in the fridge, pre-packing lunch, planning out her weeks, and labeling everything. Another thing: she’s a college student! It’s great to see that people can change their lives in a healthy way at college.
It is so important to always plan ahead. In the Philippines I am super lucky because I never need to plan my meals or workouts. In college, I did not take the time to plan, and as a result, went on an unnecessary emotional roller coaster (overeating, under exercising, eating late at night, etc).
Taralynn makes this really cool weekly schedules. A great way to keep on top of things!
I also am a pretty intense person. I like being able to go from 0 to 100 in no time…but realistically, this is not the way to make permanent, long-lasting changes in my lifestyle. So I vow to stop making empty promises and start planning… planning out meals & times to exercise (yoga, belly dance, at home DVDs etc) in order to live a happy, balanced life. It’s all about the Middle Way, right? 
Skinny Yoga Girl is another great blog that inspires me to stay organized and plan things out ahead of time! She posts her weekly exercise plans as well as inspirational quotes, photos & stories of her life. Check it out. =D
I usually eat better when I cook for myself. That way, I know exactly what I’m putting in my mouth & it’s usually much more ‘whole’ and fresh. One great resource is the Vegan Stoner, a fun website with quick and easy vegan recipes that are also pretty healthy.
I almost forgot about the last part of this post–Tarot! I’ve always been interested in reading tarot cards, and my all time favorite book (most accurate by far for me) is Teen Tarot by Theresa Francis-Cheung and Terry Silvers. Love it! It’s super empowering. I was re-reading the book today and it made me realize that we really get to choose how we respond and react to things. Amazing!
December 22, 2011 Leave a comment
Crazy Sexy Common Sense
It’s so much easier to have common sense when there isn’t much else to worry about. I’m fr-e-e-e-e-e. I just submitted my final paper and I’m finally, officially on winter break. And damn does it feel good.
I am still doing the “cleanse” in that I am exercising regularly (all break!! and beyond~) and eating extremely well. I’ve just been jet-laggin’ so my sleep has been so-so. I’ve also not been following the cleanse day to day since “day 8″ so I will pick it back up on “day 9″ rather than fast-forwarding. Yes, I know this extends it beyond the 21 days, but I will be continuing on anyway, so what’s the difference? I may even repeat the cleanse when I get back to school–that’s where the words of motivation & wisdom will be most helpful!
I’ve been belly dancing again and love it. Love love love.
Tomorrow will be my second BD sess. 2 hours of pain and pleasure. Seriously, though. It’s amazing. It feels so amazing to be moving again.
December 18, 2011 Leave a comment
Dream
Now in Manila. Just finished Erin Morgenstern’s the Night Circus. Amazing piece of magical fiction. 
Go read it right now! I can’t be more emphatic about this. Okbaigtg.
December 18, 2011 Leave a comment
CSC Day 7 & 8
On day 7 I did not fast. On day 8 (today–the 13th–I did really well until about 9pm when I ate a ton of food).
For the past week I haven’t been eating past 8pm, which is great for me, but tonight I decided to treat myself with some banana ice cream & couldn’t stop. I ate the ice cream, granola, more ice cream, more, beans & sea weed, more ice cream with macs & more granola, & then went overboard with fresh ripe banana + TOO MUCH coconut butter.
It’s ok though–one day of eating too much doesn’t kill the cleanse.
I’ve been doing YOGA! I love it. :-) I’ve also been sleeping more–so I’m going to bed now since it’s 1:49 AM and this is the latest I’ve been up in a while.
In general I am proud of myself & won’t let today’s eating episode mess with my mind.
I did not dry-brush today (but I did yesterday).
One big pro is green smoothies in the morning. Loving them!
December 14, 2011 Leave a comment
CSC Days 5 & 6
The answers below will be for both Saturday (Sa) and Sunday (Su).
20 Questions
1. Did you abstain from coffee? Sa & Su: Yes.
2. Did you abstain from alcohol? Sa & Su: Yes.
3. Did you abstain from gluten? Sa & Su: Yes.
4. Did you abstain from animal products? Sa & Su: Yes.
5. Did you abstain from crack (aka sugar) and choose low-glycemic fruits and better alternatives such as stevia or agave? Sa & Su: Yes~ but on Sunday I ate a granola bar that probably had some “real” sweetener in it and I also ate warm baklava for dessert.
6. Did you dry brush today? Sa: No. Su: I plan to!
7. Did you clean your sinuses with the good ol’ neti pot? Don’t own one yet.
8. Did you move your body for at least thirty-five minutes? Yes! Went to a yoga class both on Sa & Su.
9. Did you meditate for 15-20 minutes? Yoga= moving meditation
10. Did you chew your meals thoroughly and mindfully? More or less..
11. Did you laugh out loud and tell someone you loved him or her today? Yes. (both days)
12. Did you spend time in nature? Even five minutes is better than nothing. Yes (walking around town)
13. Did you get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep? 7-8
14. What did you eat today and did you juice? No juicing on either day. I did do green shakes, though. On saturday I went overboard with coconut butter. On sunday I went to the Ethiopian for dinner- yum!
15. How much purified water did you consume? Not sure. :/
16. What supplements did you take? Vitamin D and B12 supplements
17. How was your elimination? Pretty good.
18. What time did you stop eating? Around 8pm/ 8:30.
19. How do you feel physically? Tired and a little sore.
20. How do you feel emotionally? Tired but good. A bit stressed about upcoming exams.
***
I am a little too obsessed with Adventure Time right now.
With Confetti & Kisses,
Serena
December 11, 2011 Leave a comment
Crazy Sexy Cleanse [ Day 4 Recap ]
Yesterday was crazy because I spent all day inside,working on my final animation project (for my “Digital Photorealism” class). Basically, we had to create a 30-sec animation using the program Maya. The main problem was that we were taught how to use Maya in such an abstract, conceptual way, that I did not have a grounding in any concepts of animation (or Maya for that matter)…Basically, a lot of the practical how-tos were left up to us. So, yesterday I buckled down and finished the animation (after realizing I did not know how to make my character walk!)–and now I’m done. Free!
But because of yesterday’s craziness, I did not leave the building and I did not see nature, nor did I exercise or dry brush, and my eating was a bit iffy. So let’s see how the 20 Q’s will zero-in on this…
20 Questions
1. Did you abstain from coffee? Yes.
2. Did you abstain from alcohol? Yes.
3. Did you abstain from gluten? Yes.
4. Did you abstain from animal products? Yes.
5. Did you abstain from crack (aka sugar) and choose low-glycemic fruits and better alternatives such as stevia or agave?
6. Did you dry brush today? No.
7. Did you clean your sinuses with the good ol’ neti pot? Don’t own one yet.
8. Did you move your body for at least thirty-five minutes? No.
9. Did you meditate for 15-20 minutes? No.
10. Did you chew your meals thoroughly and mindfully? Not super mindfully…
11. Did you laugh out loud and tell someone you loved him or her today? Yes.
12. Did you spend time in nature? Even five minutes is better than nothing. No.
13. Did you get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep? No. (Just over 7 I think).
14. What did you eat today and did you juice? I ate a lot of coconut butter today. Probably too much. I also ate probably 8 bananas or more throughout the day. I drank some barley tea, ate some raw granola, and ate maybe 4 mangoes and 2 under-ripe persimmons. (I just can’t wait!) I also made a nasty green shake with pea shoots that I threw out.
For lunch I had blackbean pasta with seaweed, steamed broccoli, truffle oil, and butternut squash soup.
Dinner was rice, seaweed, soup, broccoli, and bananas, and then after dinner I had more rice, bananas, and seaweed.
A pretty ‘simple’ day of eating but high-volume.
15. How much purified water did you consume? Not sure.
16. What supplements did you take? Vitamin D and B12 supplement.
17. How was your elimination? Pretty good.
18. What time did you stop eating? Around 8pm.
19. How do you feel physically? Tired and a little sore.
20. How do you feel emotionally? Stressed and a little nutty.
***
On the bright side, I bought the Breaking Dawn album, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. I really loved the music throughout the movie. The only other Twilight album I’ve owned is the first one, but I prefer this one by far. I don’t know what it is about the first one, but it annoyed me.
Anyway, today is Day 5, and I’m kicking it off with a BANG of water, yerba mate chocolate tea, and an 11 am Yoga class!
With Confetti & Kisses,
Serena
December 10, 2011 Leave a comment
Crazy Sexy Cleanse [ Day 3 Recap]
20 Questions
1. Did you abstain from coffee? Yes.
2. Did you abstain from alcohol? Yes.
3. Did you abstain from gluten? Yes.
4. Did you abstain from animal products? Yes.
5. Did you abstain from crack (aka sugar) and choose low-glycemic fruits and better alternatives such as stevia or agave? No. 
I ate my hot chocolate powder mixture (with a bit of water lol) which has crack up the wazoo. I didn’t even realize this…
But I didn’t eat *that* much, and that was it in terms of processed sugar for the day!
6. Did you dry brush today? Unfortunately no :| But tomorrow I shall before I bathe!
7. Did you clean your sinuses with the good ol’ neti pot? Don’t own one yet.
8. Did you move your body for at least thirty-five minutes? Pretty sure I did. I went to a yoga class but ~30 minutes into it the fire alarm went off and we all had to go home.
9. Did you meditate for 15-20 minutes? Yoga is my moving meditation.
10. Did you chew your meals thoroughly and mindfully? Not super mindfully but no mindless eating today. so-so
11. Did you laugh out loud and tell someone you loved him or her today? Yes.
12. Did you spend time in nature? Even five minutes is better than nothing. Walkin around the ‘city’…
13. Did you get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep? Yes.
14. What did you eat today and did you juice? Crazy (not so sexy) breakfast (described in last post), followed by a green shake, 2 Japanese yams, salad + homemade dressing, and a banana chia pudding (with lotsa frutas in between).
15. How much purified water did you consume? Not enough. D: But I’ve been sipping all day…
16. What supplements did you take? Vitamin D and B12 supplement.
17. How was your elimination? Pretty good all day.
18. What time did you stop eating? Around 8pm
19. How do you feel physically? Good but tired.
20. How do you feel emotionally? Pretty good. Stressed because I have to get everything done in the next week (working on an animation due friday and an essay due next week). But overall doin’ pretty well. 
***
Watched Breaking Dawn part 1 and I loved it. Don’t judge me.
Also, today’s affirmation is so cute so I must share it:
I am so frickin’ cool and delicious and pretty and witty and sharp! I love every inch of me! Who wouldn’t?
Another great quote:
Be good to yourself. If you don’t take care of your body where will you live?
-Kobi Yamada
***
Peace, love, and polka-dots,
Serena
December 9, 2011 Leave a comment