I love rituals.  I enjoy ones that are simple, like grinding coffee beans in the morning, listening to its whir, adding a sprinkle of cinnamon, and then finding the perfect balance of rice milk and agave syrup in a favorite mug.  I like large ones like putting decorations on the Christmas tree and singing along while Burl Ives croons.  They make the ordinary day to day of our lives a bit more special.  In September to May, we have another weekly tradition at our home and that’s making chickpea tacos with all the fixin’s and watching The Biggest Loser on television.

Although I generally eschew reality TV, I became a fan by accident several years ago.  Through work, I was introduced to The Biggest Loser UK.  The female trainer, Angie Dowds, is tough but sincere and watching her work out with kettlebells, I was excited to try them for myself.  Russian kettlebells look like a cannonball with a handle.  By swinging the kettlebells of various sizes, a person can get a great workout that engages the entire body.  As the arms swing, the lower body is essentially doing squat after squat, and the core must stay tight to keep in balance.

So when my husband and I were planning a visit to England during our honeymoon in 2006, I made an appointment for us to have a personal training session with Angie, who was much sweeter than her tough TV-persona.  I felt I was in pretty good shape, but the kettlebell workout was intense.  Angie said that professional soccer players in England had met with her for a session and were stunned at how sore they were the following days.  True to her word, David and I were yelping up the stairs in every tube station for the next four or five days.  Happy honeymoon!  (For folks with a region-free or region 2 DVD player, Angie is on the Biggest Loser UK Workout DVD, which is phenomenal.  Sadly, she doesn’t have a kettlebell section outside of a small special feature, but she still leads a great workout.)

After I got back to the States, my mom, who is a fan of the American Biggest Loser, encouraged me to watch that version.  After a while, I was hooked.  Sure, there’s some pretty over-the-top product placement.  There are times when David and I can’t help talking back to the screen.  For example, when trainer Bob tells the contestants how good fiber is for them and then shows them a processed bar that they could eat to fulfill part of their daily requirements.  We chide, “How about a piece of fruit or some vegetables or beans or whole grains?”  When the trainers tell the contestants that the way to get thin is by using a certain kind of freezer bag, we can’t help but laugh.

Even overlooking all of that, it’s still very cool to see people transform their health, their bodies, and their lives over the course of a few months.  It’s amazing to see how it affects their relationships with themselves and with other people.  Plus, it’s inspiring to watch people go from out of shape to athletes.  By the end of the program, David and I are doing sit-ups and lifting weights while we watch, motivated ourselves to make the most of our health.

The next season won’t start for a few more weeks, but we had chickpea tacos early last night in Cadry’s Kitchen to celebrate trainer Bob Harper going vegetarian. There’s an article about him in this month’s Vegetarian Times and how he was initially moved to adopt a plant based diet after reading Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin’s Skinny Bitch.  Since he’s adopted this lifestyle, his cholesterol has dropped 100 points.  With the corporate meat and dairy-based advertisers that sponsor The Biggest Loser, I’ll be surprised (but delighted) if veganism gets any air-time, but here’s hoping!

To try out kettlebells for yourself at home, this is my favorite DVD.  To make my chickpea tacos in your kitchen, here’s my recipe:

Chickpea Tacos

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• ½ onion, chopped small
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (15 oz.) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Juice of ½ lime
• Package of organic whole wheat tortillas or organic hard corn taco shells
• 1 cup spinach, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 avocado, pitted and chopped
• Hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly cover a warmed pan in extra virgin olive oil.  Saute garlic and ¼ of the onion until fragrant (about two minutes).  Add chickpeas, cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano, and juice from lemon and lime to the pan.  While the chickpea mixture cooks, add splashes of water to the pan to keep the ingredients from sticking and to make it a bit saucy (no more than ¼ cup).  Smash the chickpeas with the spatula, so that they won’t roll out of the taco shell.  Cook the chickpeas for about seven minutes.  The chickpeas are done when the sauce is your preferred thickness and the dish is heated through.  Heat the tortillas in the oven for three minutes.  Fill the shells with the chickpea mixture, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, and the remaining minced onion.  Serve with hot sauce.

Tweet