Healthy Life Lessons

Good morning and welcome to the last Monday of January. At least February is a short month, huh? As you know, I am a huge fan of shirataki noodles. I eat them many times a week, and not just because they are healthy or low carb or low cal, but because I truly love them. For my recipes check out my konjacforlife website. I hadn't really bothered trying shirataki rice, possibly because I have had bad experiences with other shirataki noodle shapes, such as fettuccine and penne (though in both cases these were the shirataki noodles made with tofu, which I don't like much). Then I discovered a new brand (to me) at my favorite local grocery store, Fiesta Farms , which is the awesome-ist, family run grocery store that carries a crazy-ass selection of healthy food and gourmet foods and has good prices. Its called Better than Rice, and it is vegan, gluten-free and organic. Unlike the shirataki noodles I use, it contains oat fibre along with the konjac. I used it for my recipe...

Good morning and happy Friday! I for one am super happy its the weekend. Adam has been in NYC all week for work. He gets home late tonight. Things started out fairly smoothly but as the week progressed Big A started getting more obnoxious and the girls started fighting more and more. Thank goodness for apples! I love apples. In fact, I like to think I am quite the apple afficionado. Don't you dare give me a Macintosh or Red Delicious! Blech!!  My palate is too refined for that. I like more upscale apples. Oh, and I don't bite into a whole apple. Ever. No, I cut them up and eat them with a knife and fork. Okay, I am kidding! But I do cut them up first, because otherwise the skin gets caught between my teeth and it hurts. Anyways, I really would rank apples up there as one of my favorite foods and my most favorite variety, as I have probably told you a thousand times, is Mutsu, which you might not have ever tried before. You are missing out! Honeycrisp are also pretty a...

Good morning, its Workout Wednesday here today and I'm reviewing some DVDs for you. I waited patiently all fall for the new DVD set I ordered from Cathe . Turns out by late fall, they meant it would arrive after Christmas while we were in Florida! Sadly, I am disappointed :( First off, I don't find any of the videos as challenging as a few of hers I have already, and I guess I was expecting them to be. Second, one thing I have loved about her DVDs is that almost every one includes an awesome unique ab workout. All the DVDs in this set use the SAME ab routine. Blah, what a cop-out! Third, a few of her past DVDs have used real music, but most of it in this series is instrumental yuckiness, and I didn't recognize a single song. Here is what is included (I have not yet opened the cycling DVD, but hope to one day): PHA Training PHA (peripheral heart action training) maximizes the amount of blood that circulates to your upper and lower body as you complete a se...

Oy, has the last month been stressful! At my annual physical this year, my doctor handed me a requisition for my first mammogram. Because my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at 52, the recommendation is that I start them 10 years earlier, which is this year. I have been nervously anticipating this for the last 20 years! What a rollercoaster this has been, and I now understand why experts often disagree about screening timing, frequency, etc. It's pretty murky in terms of what the best course of action is (I just read an article in the paper summarizing a large study that found that mammograms do not cut death rate for aggressive/late stage breast cancers, but do significantly increase the rate of false positives. Anyways, here is how things went down: December 16 - Mammogram at  Princess Margaret Cancer Hospital. Wasn't painful at all for me, though lots of women find they are. The next day hospital called to say they wanted me back for follow up ultrasound...

If I think back far enough, I remember having a lunch box as a kid, but what the actual food was wrapped in, I don't recall. By highschool, it wasn't cool to have a Charlie Brown lunchbox (or maybe it had Lucy on it), so I threw a sandwich in a plastic sandwich bag, and threw that in a brown paper lunch bag with an apple. Nowadays,if you do that for your child, the Eco Police will be at your door in minutes and you will be marched away for the parent walk of shame.  Besides, a lot of schools (like ours) have waste-free lunch policies so you aren't allowed to bring anything that has to be thrown away. Even Tupperware is frowned upon because of the toxins from reusable plastics. We've gone through a range of options with the girls but their favorites are always wide-mouth thermos containers, both because they keep food hot or cold, and because, they are perfect for dinner leftovers, which the girls prefer for lunch because it means they don't have to make a lu...

As promised here is a recipe using Yves Veggie Ground Round that I came up with. The weather has turned rainy and unseasonably warm, but the dampness still makes me crave, hearty comfort food, how about you? Did you ever eat Hamburger Helper as a kid? I did not! My parents aren't health foodies, but they are foodies, so they mostly cooked from scratch. I doubt I missed much though. I know I didn't from a nutrition perspective, that's for sure! In any case, I've created a healthified version, using the Yves Ground Round we were sent, that is super yummy. Its that time of year when we crave warm, heavier, comfort food. Believe me, this fits the bill, even though it is vegan, low-carb and low calorie. I promise you won't miss a thing! You can add cheese at the end, if you wish, if you eat dairy, or a non-dairy cheese. I planned to but, forgot, and it was still delicious! Shazamburger Helper 1 pk. Yves Veggie Ground Round (or other soy crumbles) 2 cl...

Despite most people assuming I am vegetarian or vegan, I am completely omnivorous. That being said, I do minimize my consumption of red meat (like really I only eat it a few times a year), and I do try to make the majority of my meals meatless. For proteins, I eat chicken/turkey, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, soy...and faux meats. Yes, I love me a good veggie sausage! Now some health gurus squawk about faux meat because they are processed. Yes, they are. They do tend to be high in sodium, so if that's an issue for you, be warned. But as someone who needs lots of protein (I crave it like no tomorrow!), and wants as much variety as possible while keeping my consumption of animal proteins to reasonable levels, I love the flexibility of using faux meats. For many years, I have been a consumer of Yves Veggie Cuisine products. If you have tried just a few faux meat products in the past and not been impressed, keep in mind that there is a lot of variety and they range from barfy to fant...

Its a chilly one today, though, only compared to early this week when we were having unseasonably mild weather. If you live in a cold climate, you will love this new product. Though I have a blog...and 2 websites, you can probably guess by the lack of prettiness around here, that I am not much of a tech expert. At age 7 and 10, the girls are already miles ahead of their parents over here, when it comes to social media and digital gadgets. One of the things that I have never been a user of is Bluetooth. I don't even know what it is except that it allows you to do things wirelessly...right? Anyways, I was recently sent a Blu-Toque to try out with Bluetooth technology. Its essentially a winter hat, which comes in a variety of styles, and includes the following features: Pair with iPhone, Android device, or tablet in seconds. Listen to music and take phone calls with built-in mic. Great style and warmth for winter weather. Stereo sound with left and right spea...

Skin. The biggest organ in our body. Skin problems, even if not life threatening, can be uncomfortable, unpleasant, and/or can cause serious mental suffering due to shame and self-consciousness. I lucked out with having relatively dry skin as a kid, I never had much acne. Unfortunately, dry skin becomes more problematic as you get older, at least from an aesthetic perspective: it looks sallow,  dull and shows lines! Even worse, is when, like me, your skin is super sensitive. Ugh! Finding facial products and cosmetics are tough for me because I need stuff geared towards dry skin, but according to the dermatologist, because my skin is so sensitive, I need to avoid anything heavy, or containing oils. Hmm, great! Experts say a basic moisturizer is the last thing you should spend a lot of money on, because just coconut oil will do as good a job. Having finally used up the $400 worth of Arbonne products I was swindled into buying 2 years ago, I decided this winter I would ...

Yeek, not only is it Monday. Its the kids' first day back at school. It's January, and its grey and cold. I suspect a lot of people had a hard time getting going this morning. Despite the dreariness of this time of year, its when everyone has vowed to turn over a new leaf and adopt better habits or give up bad ones. Losing weight, of course, is always at the top of the list. Losing weight is hard. Very hard. But not impossible. Want to know the secret? Find a strategy that works for YOU. Keep trying different ones until you do. The ones that work best for most people are not radical or extremely strict. So, if you are looking for another weight loss strategy to try, and are sick of eliminating entire food groups, or only drinking liquids, you may want to try Buddha's Diet. Don't worry, it doesn't involve committing yourself to a new religion, but it does rely on the philosophies of Buddha and most of it makes a lot of sense. The book, Buddha's D...

Potato chips rank up there as one of the most addictive foods out there. Not only do most people love them, but they will also admit they have trouble controlling how much they eat of them. Of course, this isn't a good thing health-wise! Chips are pretty calorie dense and light on nutrition. But if potato chips are your favorite guilty pleasure (and for a lot of folks they are!), then at least choose the best ones possible. For my weight-loss clients who say they can't imagine living without potato chips, I tell them to not even try. Find a way to incorporate your favorite foods into your weight-loss plan. So maybe you have a handful of chips with your lunch every day, or a small cup of ice cream after dinner. It doesn't work to swear off your favorite foods altogether, and I find once people are given license to eat them regularly, the power the food has over them diminishes, and they naturally start eating them less often or in smaller quantities. So, back to chips...

I know chili can be very controversial. Some people abhor beans in their chili. Some insist it must be spicy. Some like ground meat, some prefer chopped. Personally, I think chili should be thick, and some styles I have seen are thin and soupy, and look like ground meat in broth more than anything else. Ick! Nope, I like a good hearty chili, with either ground chicken or turkey, or vegan, but ALWAYS with beans, and a thick, rich sauce. That's exactly what this chili is and it is so good! I made it when friends came over for dinner because the wife doesn't eat meat. It is also mild because she can't eat spicy food, but you can add as much heat as you wish. It is so incredibly easy to make, which is an added bonus. I departed from tradition and did not do a mirepoix, skipping the celery and carrots, and instead just using sweet red and orange bell peppers and onion. I also used both sprouted bean mix and canned beans. The sprouted beans have a more toothsome consis...

Good morning and welcome to 2017. How did you do with your healthy habits over the holidays? I did okay food-wise, but definitely indulged a bit too much in the fermented beverage department...and I don't mean kombucha! I also kind of wimped out on workouts while we were in Florida. I didn't go the the gym at all, but did manage to at least do some core workouts and Essentrics. I think physically and mentally I needed a bit of a break, and I definitely took one, getting more sleep than usual too! So, how did you spend New Year's Day? We went to iFLY for indoor skydiving! I have to admit, I woke up yesterday, with a food and drink hangover, and started to regret booking this adventure for us. Even by 3pm when we left the house to go, I was feeling pretty rotten and wondered if the whole thing wasn't a big mistake. But no way I was going to cancel, the girls were so excited, and I love how fearless they are! So off we went. After we got there, signed...