Tag Archives: wellness

Enjoying Life- Taking a Break for Total Wellness

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IMG_1771Sorry I’ve been missing for a couple of weeks now. Life has seemed to take over lately. So I just gave in and decided to take a break for my sanity and for my families! Stress levels were starting to sky-rocket and a much-needed family vacation was coming around the corner. So instead of spending time stressing about trying to work on blog posts. I decided to bag it and just enjoy my lovies! Life definitely has proven in the past two weeks that it is some times, very short and can also be very heart breaking. While traveling with my beloved family, we lost a close family member and a family friend. Both way too young and just starting their lives; makes it more gut wrenching. Realizing life still has to go on, it was hard most times to enjoy whatever we were doing without thinking of everyone involved, but it also puts life in perspective. Cherish the ones you love the most because we don’t know when we’ll ever get that time back. Tell everyone what they mean to you, forgive your enemies, share your love, pass along your knowledge, spread your wealth, give back, donate your time…

I’m guilty of this too, letting the little things consume me and take over my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. In the grand scheme of life, they don’t matter. There will always be someone who doesn’t like you, or disagrees with your opinion and beliefs.  Life’s way too short to dwell on them anymore. So hug your kids or grandkids a little tighter next time you see them, call your grandmother or grandfather if you’re lucky enough to still have them here, (mine get a phone call almost every week and she can’t wait to hear from me) tell your parents thank you for always believing in you, repair old friendships, (if they’re worth repairing) and most of all take time for YOU!

Give yourself the gift of a mental health day to do what you love to do most. You’ll be IMG_1641more appreciative, your mind, body, and spirit will thank you, and be grateful for your loved ones and everything you have to offer, live life passionately and chasing your dreams. ”Life is sweet, precious, and beautiful. Hold on tight to the ones you love so desperately. Soak in even the smallest moments and make them unforgettable.”

Maintaining Your Healthy Lifestyle on Vacation

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photo credit: www.denverchamber.org   This comes just in time as I prepare for two trips in the upcoming weeks!! Love this post from guest blogger Cole Millen. Check out all his great ideas for staying healthy while you travel, which can sometimes be the hardest thing to do especially on vacation!

You may have worked hard to get into shape, and the last thing you want to do is blow it while on vacation. Traveling is rife with unhealthy temptations, but you do not have to give in to them. Keep your weight down and your health up by planning well.

Traveling There:

Before you leave for the airport, take time to eat a well-balanced meal. Load up on lean proteins and complex carbohydrates, such as oatmeal, to keep you satisfied for several hours. This will help you resist the temptation for high-calorie foods later. In addition, bring your own healthy snacks for the flight. Almonds are high in protein and omega 3 fatty acids. Dried fruits can help you satisfy an urge for sweets, without all of the sugar and fat.

Many airports are like miniature cities or shopping malls. They are full of tempting restaurants and places to buy candy and other types of junk food. When you have a layover, avoid settling yourself down at one of these places to eat a high calorie meal. Instead, look for places with light salads on the menu, fresh fruit, healthy smoothies and similar fare. This may mean traveling a ways away from your gate, but the walk will be a good workout.

Healthy Preparing:

Picking the right hotel can be the most important part of staying healthy on vacation. After all, it is your home for the time being. Doing a little research can go a long way. In my experience, reviews from other travelers provide the best forms of information. I recently took a trip out west and found a great site that listed hotels in Las Vegas along with all the amenities and offerings. With the help of these great reviews I was able to find a hotel with a list of amenities as well as a gluten-free restaurant in the lobby! As you plan your trip, look for a hotel that has on-site fitness equipment or that is near a park. This makes it easier to get exercise while you are away. Most hotel restaurants offer their menu for viewing online. Check out the menu to see if healthy food choices are offered. Most upscale hotels understand that many travelers want to stay on their diet and fitness program while traveling. These hotels will most likely have healthy options.

At Your Destination:

After you have checked in to your hotel room, seek the nearest supermarket or health food store. Load up on bottled water and healthy snacks to keep in your room. Eat these instead of high-calorie snacks from the mini-bar or the hotel cafe.

You should keep a bottle with you during any sightseeing trips. Drinking plenty of water will help curb your appetite in addition to keeping you hydrated.

Healthiest Menu Items:

Everyone enjoys having nice restaurant meals while on vacation. You do not need to avoid restaurants. You can still eat healthy by following some general rules. Avoid any course that is fried, battered, covered in creamy sauces or other high-calorie sauces or breading. Instead, choose menu items that are labeled heart-healthy, baked, or loaded photo cresit: www.freshhealthyeating.comwith vegetables. Baked or grilled fish, especially salmon, with a few side vegetables is one example of a healthy and delicious meal.

Beverages:

You can let yourself enjoy a cocktail or two, but keep in mind the calories these contain. All alcoholic beverages contain calories, but some are higher-calorie than others. Avoid sweet, syrupy cocktails such a daiquiris and pina coladas. Instead, opt for light beer, white wine or simple mixed drinks such as vodka and cranberry juice, vodka and water or scotch on the rocks.

By keeping up your healthy lifestyle, you will have more energy and feel better while you are on vacation and after you come back home. Just plan it ahead to keep on track.

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Benefits of Gourmet Salts-Shoud You Be Using the Good Stuff?

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www.fengshuidana.comSalt has always gotten a bad rap, only because we use way too much on everything! “Table” salt really has no nutritional value and we load up on enough sodium throughout the day in all the junk we eat, there’s no reason to salt your food anyway. But gourmet salts may be the way to go instead. Even though they are still high in sodium, using a little to cook with and then a pinch to flavor the meal may be beneficial to your health. Some beg to differ, but I can guarantee that they will flavor your foods, add minerals to your diet that you may other wise not be getting, and gourmet salts are a great way to season all your favorite dishes.

There are over 100′s of different kinds ranging in different textures and tastes. Salt is naturally formed in the earth and range in colors from pink, red, white, even black. They are high in mineral and iron content. Normal table salt usually has the iodine removed which we need for T3 and T4, which are your thyroid hormones. In turn your thyroid hormones effect every cell in your body! This includes giving your energy, stabilizing your body temperature, helps maintain a healthy body weight, brain development and function, emotional health, and keeps your hair, nail, and skin healthy! And because I am a foodie, you’ll never meet a chef that won’t praise a gourmet salt and how well they enhance their dishes or how much they truly love to cook with different kinds.

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Cacao, Cherry & Coconut Cookies- A Healthier Version

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photo credit:www.healthfulpursuit.comInstead of regular ol’ sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day. We decided to make a healthier version for the holiday. By taking traditional ingredients, we substituted a few of the not so good for you ingredients for ones that are better for your health. My picture didn’t turn out so well. But here’s on from www.healthfulpursuit.com so you can get an idea of what they should look like. Yours will just have sprinkled coconut on top! Hope you love them!

Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 C of almond flour
  • 1/2 tsp of baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp of Pink Himalayan salt
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter-room temperature
  • 1/2 C of sugar in the raw or xylitol
  • 3/4 C light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 C cacao powder
  • 1 C dried cherries
  • 1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1/2 tsp of maca powder (remember to check with a doctor or do your research with new supplements or herbs- may not be suitable for particular health concerns)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, basking soda, and salt. In another bowl, using a mixer, beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs until combines. Add to flour mixture and beat. Then add cherries and cacao powder.
  2. Use a spoon to make about 2 tablespoon-sized cookies. Sprinkle coconut on top. Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes. Let cool for 1-2 minutes. Eat and enjoy!

Be Heart Healthy This Month

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photo credit: www.dedrickspharmacy.com

February is American Heart Month, it’s the perfect excuse to start taking care of your heart and your health. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in both men and women every year. Here’s my guide to simple ways to start being heart healthy you only get one so why wouldn’t you give it the love it deserves?

  1. Watch what you put on your plate- Reduce high fatty foods, lower salt, cut back on sodas, sweets, and munchies. And load up your plate with filling foods high in fiber, incorporate more fruits and vegetables, cook and use better oils such as olive, grapeseed, and almond oils, try cocoa instead of chocolate, and up your garlic intake.
  2. Maintain a healthy weight-  Focus on lowering your BMI. (Body Mass Index) All you need to know is your height and weight and then calculate to get your percentage at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lower cholsterol, glucose levels, and exercise more. I know we all hear that all the time. But even on the days you can’t possibly think of doing another thing, just 15 minutes of exercise will jump-start your system, get your blood flowing, and motivate you to do more.
  3. Reduce stress- Stress can wreak havoc on your entire system. Show yourself some love, take time to rest, sleep more, nurture yourself, treat yourself to a massage or a spa day. Learn to decompress whether that includes reading a book, taking a bubble bath, or having a movie night. Go easy on your heart, it works hard for you day in and day out.
  4. Give love to someone else- Volunteer your time to an animal shelter, be a mentor, or spend time with the elderly can do numbers for your heart. Leave a small gift on your neighbors doorstep without a card, you’re bound to make their day. Do something extra special for your kids, spouse, parents, or if your lucky enough to still have grandparents. (I still have 2 grandmothers and touch base with them often. I know they love hearing from me.)

Whether you’re eating better, spending more time at the gym, meditating, reading a new favorite book, helping a friend, or visiting the local nursing home. I hope you take sometime this month to truly take care of yourself and be a little more heart healthy.

Vitamins & Supplements…Which Ones Do You Really Need.

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photo credit: www.skepticalraptor.comIs opening your medicine or supplement cabinet a hazard to your health? Do you carefully open the door hoping all the bottles don’t come spilling out across the counter? Sick of taking all those supplements everyday,or maybe you’ve become a victim to Dr. Oz’s recommendations and found yourself rushing out to buy everything he suggests on his show? There’s a simpler way to cut back on your supplements, while cleaning out your cabinet, and save you tons of money all at the same time!

Supplements are just that…supplementing something you’re not getting. Meaning if you’re missing something in your diet like meat, dairy, you have a chronic illness or deficiency then yes you should be supplementing. But we’re all stocking up on every supplement out there to make sure we’re getting enough Vitamin A, C, D, and E, iron, zinc, and calcium. Which by the way, calcium doesn’t get absorbed without magnesium or vitamin D, and you have to absorb Vitamin D through unexposed skin (meaning no sunscreen) or through your unexposed eyes (no sunglasses) to absorb the calcium that has to be absorbed through your blood before your bones get any of the benefits Really think that calcium pill is still doing everything you think it should?

So what’s the answer? Eat your vitamins and supplement what you’re not getting in your diet. How do you do that? By changing your diet and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet. There are some of us out there that choose different lifestyles and supplementing is a must. So how do you know what you should supplement? Assess the way you and your family eat. Research what’s best for you, and if there is a deficiency or illness take that into account. But the first thing is figure out what you’re missing in your diet and go from there. You really don’t need to be taking 20 supplements a day because you’re not eating enough fiber. Here’s 4 supplements you should be taking on a daily basis, especially if you’re lacking any of these on a daily basis.

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Delicious & Yummy Super Bowl Recipes!!

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photo credit: www.farmfoodieandfitness.comThe big day is only 2 days away!! Even though my team is in their off-season and my favorite guy (RGIII) is recovering from a knee injury sustained during their Ravens show down, but I’ll still be rooting for the guys in purple. As we all plan for the parties, get togethers, and the day of constant gorging, instead of the same ol football food why not change it up and try something different this year?

Here’s my menu for Super Bowl Sunday! Jicama and mango salsa, Turkey Sliders with homemade arugula and walnut pesto, and my spin on a New Orleans tradition. Want to come to my party? ;)

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Give Up the Fad Dieting! It Doesn’t Have to be That Hard!

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www.facebook.com/noknownsenderWe all get super excited as the new year rolls over. It’s a jumping off point to start to make changes, feel better about ourselves, set goals, and get our health back on track. But it’s also the perfect time for big companies, book writers, and every celebrity health guru to push every fad diet out there in your face!

Literally, while on the treadmill at the gym last week, not even really paying attention to the tv put more concerned with getting all the words down to my new favorite song. :) I caught the tail end of two infomercials, a Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers commercial, some new diet called the “Scrap Diet,” (What the heck is that!) and a man on the Today Show talking about his new book “The Miracle Berry Diet!” So now you can drink water with lemon, take this new miracle berry (found in West Africa) that they’ve turned into a  pill and it’ll change the taste of the water to make it taste like lemonade! This guy is a big time chef and seems to have stumbled across something huge! And it will probably be the next big thing so I say kudos to him!! But, seriously it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re taking some kind of pill to change the way you eat, lose weight, speed up your metabolism, or whatever you’re looking to do for the “quick fix.” ( I know I get a lot fired up about this logic.)

It doesn’t have to be that hard! I think we end up torturing ourselves more than we really have too. And I’m not knocking Weight Watchers, etc. They have a lot of success stories but you never see the people who it didn’t work for! Diets are hard, strenuous on the body, you’re cutting out so much of what you love to eat, it only leaves you grumpy, short fused, and miserable. (Have you seen someone detoxing off of coffee-Yikes!) photo credit:www.southwestcommunitycenter.wordpress.comThese kinds of diets still leave you eating out of a plastic container, a card board box, or tin foil-all loaded with chemicals, sodium, and low on nutrients. Eating well takes a little more time, planning, and sometimes costs a little more at the grocery store, but in the long run you feel better, you lower your BMI, cholesterol, glucose levels, you start having more energy, sleep better, and you start seeing  results. The yo-yo diets leave you heart-broken, frustrated, giving up, and starving.

All it takes is a little determination, will-power, and time. Things aren’t going to dramatically change in two days or a week. But if you give yourself and your body time to heal, you will begin to notice the changes in your health, body, mind, and spirit. All you have to do is set some health goals for yourself or your family. Shop the perimeter of the grocery stores, avoid the center isles as much as possible! Buy whole foods, items with one or two ingredients, find a little extra time to prepare the meals, change your mind about all the coffee, candy, chips, soda, and junk you consume regularly and choose to eat them in moderation. These types of food are supposed to be a treat. We, as humans tend to over-indulge ourselves ALL the time. And we lose the satisfaction of actually “treating ourselves.”

All these wacky diets, crazy procedures, cooky pills, and boat loads of information they constantly push on us every day, all day through the tv, radio, magazines, and books doesn’t have to consume your life and leave you disgruntled and disappointed. Just choose to eat healthy for a healthy lifestyle, it’s a simple as that! So save yourself the money on all the new diet books out there and buy a little more greens for salad and vow to eat one at least once a day. Make that your first step! Start by changing one thing at a time to see the life long difference.

5 Ways to Make Your Lifestyle Changes Stick in 2013

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photo credit: www.farmfoodieandfitness.com

So it’s January 2013, and everyone is ready to get back in shape, get healthy, achieve some goals, and do things you didn’t do last year. We all jump on the inspiration for a new year and a clean slate to change habits, start over, try something new, forgive, move-on, re-evaluate, refocus, find hope, and make them all stick so that we can feel good about trying and succeeding on whatever we set our minds to.

Here’s my guide on how to make your changes stick in 2013.

  1. Put It Down on Paper- We all have tons of ideas, recipes, things to do, places to be, errands to run, things to accomplish, dreams to chase, and passions to pursue. There is no way to focus on just one without getting them down on paper. So put them in a journal, chalkboard, cork board, break them out into categories on different sheets of paper and go for them!
  2. Decide to do Something for Yourself- As humans we tend to focus on everyone but ourselves. Don’t you think 2013 is the best time to actually focus on something you’ve always wanted? It’s not being self-fish or abandoning your loved ones (believe me I feel guilty all the time!) Think of how much better of a parent, spouse, child, grand-parent, or friend you’ll be if you focus on yourself for once!
  3. Set Goals- This can be anything from going to the gym 4 days a week to cleaning out your pantry and buying only good for your foods. From saving up for the vacation of a lifetime to learning a new instrument. To putting yourself out there more, making new friends, discovering new things, or even to just start living your life.
  4. Put Your Health First- That old saying that keeps coming round… “without your photo credit: www.strokemyfire.comhealth you have nothing,” is so true. If you’re chronically sick, laid up in bed, eating from every fast food joint in a 10 mile radius, overloaded on sugar and coffee, and laying awake at night so you don’t miss the “Late Late Show.” You’re bound to be sick, in pain, exhausted, miserable, and unable to function. Jump on the health wagon and start taking care of yourself-then you’ll be able to do anything you set your heart or mind to do!
  5. Reward Yourself- You’re making changes and seeing the results. You’re finally seeing a difference in yourself, health, family, and lifestyle. Now go reward yourself! Not to say go eat the biggest banana split you can gobble down. Splurge on that aerial yoga class you’ve been wanting to take, go out for a nice dinner with friends, take a mini trip for the weekend, or buy that new outfit that you’ve been eyeing up that now fits you and is 2 sizes smaller!

Sometimes we all take life way to seriously. We never slow down long enough to see all it has to offer us because we’re too busy running around in a fury! 2013 is a new year to start everything all over. Cook more, sit down with family and eat, rekindle those old friendships you miss, start something you’ve always wanted to, set goals to get to Switzerland to go skiing in 2020. Put your mind to something and go for it! You’ve got a clean slate and nothing but yourself to hold you back! Just a small change in your lifestyle and who knows you may change the world! ;) “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” -George Elliot

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Given Half The Chance, The Body Will Heal Itself

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photo credit www.dailyheal.comIt’s been said “what you put in, is what you get out.” I believe this whole-heartedly! If you take care of your body’s needs with good nurturing foods, exercise, adequate sleep, lots of water, rid your body of vices, (smoking, heavy drinking, stress) nurture your soul and truly take care of your mind, body, and soul, it will repair itself from disease, injury, illness, fatigue, malnutrition, and stress.

The body is an incredible machine. You just have to give it a chance. I’ve seen people reverse their diseases, repair injuries, lose excessive weight, fight chronic illness and cancer, and transform their health, lives, future just by what they put into their bodies. Not to say you have to become a radical 100% of the time and give up everything you love, brings your comfort, motivates you, or soothes and relaxes you.

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