Healthy Life Lessons

Good morning and welcome to a new week! What are you having for breakfast today? Hopefully not cereal!! If there is one food I am actually not sorry my kids have started to reject, its breakfast cereal. I am sure you've read at least one of my rants about cereal: most are like eating a bowl of cookies for breakfast, and even the lower sugar, higher fibre ones often leave you hangry in no time. Studies consistently show that you will have more control over your appetite all day, and more energy, if you eat a high protein breakfast. So I find it infuriating that so many cereals market themselves as health or diet food. One of the most outrageous ones is Special K. Back when I was a kid there was only the original variety without any added fancy stuff. But even the basic cereal is almost void of any nutrition. So why commercials always showed skinny, perfect-looking women in skimpy bathing suits, I could never understand. Of course, since then Kellogg's has come up with a...

If you are a fitness freak, like me, than chances are you are loyal to a particular brand of athletic shoe. Once you find what works for you, it makes sense to stick with it. For me, that's been Asics or New Balance running shoes for at least the last 10 years. I choose running shoes because, though I don't do a lot of running, they just work better for me, and I like to have the option of being able to run in them, without having to have two different pairs of shoes. But since first seeing them in a fitness magazine, I have been fascinated by HOKA ONE ONE shoes. Given my bad feet, I am definitely someone who needs lots of cushioning in a shoe, and it doesn't get any more cushioned than HOKA! Like so much cushioning, they make you taller...which is good for short little me! It wasn't until this past weekend though, that I ever laid eyes on them in a store. We were in MEC looking around before taking Little A to the kids activities at the TIFF Lightbox . I w...

Though this blog is mostly about health, fitness and nutrition, my career is focused primarily on infertility. About 80% of my counselling clients come for infertility support. My passion for my work comes from my own experience with infertility and pregnancy loss, and from witnessing the pain and suffering of friends, family and my clients who have been through it. So, of course, I eagerly agreed to read the memoir of Nadine Kenney Johnstone , which describes her experiences with infertility. Johnstone is a college English teacher and writing coach in the Chicago area. Her husband has compromized sperm quality due to cancer treatment he received prior to their meeting. They underwent IVF and Johnstone experienced a rare, life-threatening complication to the treatment. After doing one failed embryo transfer they managed to spontaneously conceive. In utero, it appeared their son may have a serious kidney malfunction, but he was eventually born healthy. The book is well written,...

We are enjoying Family Day here in Ontario, ending what has been a lovely long weekend. I meant to post this recipe Friday, but the day was so busy I completely forgot. Salad might sound like a strange thing to post in February, but the weather here has been gorgeous and unseasonably warm. In any case, I eat salad all year long, they just tend to be heartier in winter, like this one. I love my fatty fish, and since discovering I can't digest flax or chia seeds, I am trying to eat more of it to get in my Omega 3s. The most inexpensive fatty fish are canned, like salmon, tuna, herring and sardines. I know not everyone is a fan, but fortunately, I am. Though I refuse to buy salmon with bones, blech! Only boneless thanks. The dressing contains no oil or mayo, just yogurt. You can use Greek yogurt to bump up the protein content further, and non-dairy yogurt if you can't eat dairy. You can also use greens instead of coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage, but I adore the extra c...

When my kids get up in the morning, they spend 10 minutes meditating before greeting me lovingly and politely and sipping a mug of hot water with lemon. After getting dressed, they happily eat a bowl of organic Greek yogurt with berries, pumpkin seeds and beet juice powder. Then they pack up their lunches for school, made up of bento boxes full of fresh fruits, veggies and legumes for protein. At dinner time, whatever healthy meal I place on the table, they gleefully eat, only after thanking me profusely for the time and effort I put into making it. ARE YOU F@CKING KIDDING ME? Just because I am a health nut, doesn't mean this is what it looks like in our home! I wish, but no. The girls are impossible when it comes to food, just like most kids, and could do a lot better when it comes to nutrition. We are going through a particularly tough time right now because suddenly a lot of kid-friendly foods they used to love, they now hate. Little A won't touch veggie do...

Did you know that women claim one of the biggest barriers to using their lunch hour to workout is concern about their hair and makeup? What a shame, to bypass the million benefits of exercise just to avoid smudged makeup and frizzy hair! If this is you, then you will be happy to know, there are beauty products that are sweatproof! I was very pleased with Oxygenetix foundation when I tried it before, so I was very happy to offer to test it out as smudgeproof. This time I ordered a darker shade (Ivory instead of Pearl) and found I like it even better. They offer their makeup in 14 shades! Now, I workout at home and at 5am, so you better believe I do not wear makeup when I am exercising, but it is easy for me to test sweatproof makeup anyways, because I am always sweating, even in winter. I find my office, and most buildings way overheated. Before taking this selfie, I not only had spent several hours in my office sweating, but it was pouring rain outside (which later tu...

So, despite my love of step and longing to find a good step workout DVD that doesn't require a PhD in Dancing with the Stars to be able to follow, I gave up my search. I decided it just probably didn't exist. The world has moved on from step to other fitness trends. You know how much I hate trends. Social evolution is not the same as progress. Often we move from one trend to another because of social, cultural or economic influences, not because we are improving on what we had in the past. The fitness industry is a perfect example of that! Step is such an amazing cardio, fat burning, low-impact, weight bearing workout, yet we have since moving to spinning, barre and boot camps and tossed the step aside.  Why why why? What makes step better than spinning, for example, is that spinning is a singular, repetitive movement and not weight bearing. With the step you move in all planes and directions and therefore work all the muscles in your lower body. A few weeks ago after ...

Anxiety is extremely common among kids. What could a child possibly have to worry about, you wonder? Oh man, where do I start? For one thing, anxiety has a genetic component. If you and/or your partner, or someone in your immediate families struggles with anxiety or depression, you and/or your child may have a predisposition. Parents also model behaviour for their children, so if your kids see you getting anxious over your weight, finances or health, they may develop anxiety about these things too. Either way, kids these days, have tons to worry about, from bullying, body image, and academics, to parental strife and divorce, household financial strains, global crises, and a million other issues! I have read several articles that suggest many behavioural issues we see among children are really a manifestation of anxiety. Unfortunately, we focus on the behaviour (anger, violence, withdrawal, defiance) without exploring the true cause. Unfortunately, it can be tough to treat an...

Good Monday morning! I want to talk apples again. Come on, they are my obsession. You know how most people these days get excited when a new smart phone or gadget comes out? Ya, well that's how I get when I discover a new fruit or vegetable I haven't tried! Giddy! No, I'm not weird, you're weird! I was recently at our market when I saw a new variety of apple I hadn't seen before: Pacific Rose Apples! They taste like a cross between a Red Delicious and a Honeycrisp, though apparently they are a natural cross of a Gala and a Splendour (some New Zealand variety of apple). Yum! If you think you don't like a particular fruit or veggie, try a different variety, or try cooking it in new ways. Remember, we were designed to eat plants (as well as meat), and you really can't be healthy without them. If you need to improve your diet, the easiest way to start is the 1/2 your plate method. Just make every meal 1/2 a plate of veggies/fruit, 1/4 protein, and 1...

Lots of parents are concerned, given everything happening around the world right now, about what and how much, to tell their children. Do we shelter them from it? Some people believe that children should be left to be carefree, and not burdened with adult worries. The problem is, it isn't really possible to do this anymore unless you live in a very remote community and restrict your child's access to media. Information is everywhere and kids do a better job finding it than we do! I think the decision partly has to depend on your child. In principle, I think kids should know what is going on in the world around them, including injustices, and crises, but I have friends and family members who have sensitive children that are easily traumatized. Too much exposure to the wrong information can lead to anxiety, insomnia and nightmares. Obviously, if your child is this sensitive, it makes sense to tread carefully. We are fortunate in that our kids are curious, thoughtful and em...

My kids don't eat at all the way I would like them to, and this has been the case since each of them reached the age of 1 or so. Up until then it was breastmilk only to 6 months, and then only organic fruits, veggies, oats, rice, eggs and meat, Once too old for 'baby' food (or exposed to other foods at daycare) it became a total shit show. Its pretty tough to control given that we live in such a toxic food environment. Their real food, salt, sugar and refined grain-free diet went right out the window. I do manage to get a good amount of nutrition in them with all my healthy baking recipes, but they have a long way to go in the savoury food department. Big A could live on carbs and sugar, and getting protein into her is a major challenge.  Little A falls short in the vegetable area. But both of them like many different fruits, at least, and they have no problem with the fact that I only allow whole grains and grain products in the house, and cook and bake with alternati...