Healthy Life Lessons

I had a revelation recently. If you're happy and fulfilled, regardless of what you are doing in life, then you're successful. I am at the very least trying to convince myself of this. I have never felt successful on the professional front. Why? Well because while most of my friends have been building work experience, I've been racking up basically useless graduate degrees because I wasn't clear on what I wanted to do for a career. During the periods of my life where I have been working, and even, in some cases, hobnobbing with important people and making good money, I've been miserable and unfulfilled. Now, I am almost completely unemployed (except for my weekly spinning class and occasional seminar I present for the corporate fitness company), for the first time since my undergraduate degree, which I completed 14 years ago. So no income to speak of and back in school for my 4th university degree after which I will be starting a new career, right from the be...

I had a ton of leftover rice from Wednesday's dinner so I decided to make this yesterday. I made it low-fat so Adam can enjoy it without worrying about his cholesterol, but I really wanted to see if the girls would eat it for breakfast. It's actually pretty nutritious (calcium, fibre, protein, complex carbs, etc.) and I used very little sugar considering it made a lot (next time I might add even less). It was a HUGE hit with both girls! You can make it richer, if you want, by using 2% or whole milk and whole eggs. You can also add raisins or other dried fruit, if you wish. 2 cups cooked brown rice 2 cups skim milk 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup egg whites (or 2 whole large eggs) 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon Heat milk and sugar in large saucepan over medium heat. Beat eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Bring milk to a boil and remove about 1/4 cup of milk, whisking hot milk into eggs to temper them. Add rice, vanilla, cinnamon and egg mixture and simmer until mi...

P1: Well I just completed my third course in the Miscarriage/Infertility certificate program, so I'm now officially half way through. I got an A+ in the Counselling Ethics course for my Masters, and am currently enjoying my Counselling Methodologies--Behavioural and Cognitive Modalities course. Still no word from Dr. M at Mount Sinai, inspite of sending her a reminder email last week, so no progress on the research project. Sigh! P2: The parenting consultants warned me that things with Big A might get a lot worse before they get better because she will really start testing the limits with me once I make changes to my discipline system. So I was very surprised when we had an amazingly easy week with her. Therefore, I should NOT have been shocked when she had a major flip out last night. It started when we got in the door at the end of the day and she threw her coat on the floor and ordered me to hang it up for her. I told her that this was rude, and to please pick it up, apol...

Aside from weight loss, the other thing it seems everyone is in pursuit of is more energy. Look at the abundance of energy enhancing products on the market these days. Red Bull, etc. is everywhere and there is also energy gum, candy, and brownies that I have seen. Wake up folks (ha ha, no pun intended!), these are not a good solution. Most of them are full of crap along with that caffeine and mix of "herbs". They can also have nasty side-effects. At the CAN-FIT-PRO conference I got a free sample of an energy shot ( http://www.screamingenergy.com/energy_drink_51.php). I gave it a try and instantly got hot and tingly and broke out in itchy hives all over. Turns out it has a lot of niacin in it, something I am very sensitive to. People claim niacin flushes are good for you but it sure didn't feel good! I had to take a Benadryl to get the hives down. What is the best way to get more energy? * GET ENOUGH SLEEP! I can't stress enough how important sleep is, and n...

The change in my relationship with Big A since the consultants were here is amazing. She really does seem to respect me more and even enjoy my company more. The challenges have not gone away, but they are much easier to manage. For example, she did her usual routine this morning of refusing to put her clothes on, using every excuse in the book and begging me to get her dressed (something the consultants said I have to stop doing altogether). I often have given in because I simply don't want to deal with a tantrum at 6:30am. This morning I told her she had to dress herself. Period. She whimpered and whined and resisted and even yelled at me, but eventually, after about 25 minutes, she was fully dressed. Later, I told her how proud I was of her that she dressed herself and she said, "I'm proud of myself." I guess that says it all. I took Big A to the dentist for her bi-annual check-up yesterday. Everything looked great when the hygienist and dentist cleaned and...

This past week was a rough one. Adam was in Ottawa for work so I was alone with the girls. Things were okay until Thursday morning when Big A and I had a huge blow out. It was triggered by me asking her to put her socks on, something she is supposed to do before the television goes on in the morning. But she didn't bring them downstairs when she came down so I let it slide. I went up and got them from her room later on and told her she had to put them on or the t.v. was going off. She fought me on it so I turned off the t.v. So she turned it back on. So I picked her up and brought her to her bedroom for a time out. She hit me and pinched me and would not stay in her room. She came downstairs and turned the t.v. on again. I called Adam in Ottawa at this point desperate for help. He advised me to disconnect the satellite. Big A then screamed and yelled from that point until I got her to school. It was a nightmare. Perfect timing for the parenting consultants to come ove...

Big A has requested this dish so many times that I have refined it quite a bit. Here are two versions, the second one is a sneaky way to get some veggies in your kids. Ironically, Little A loved it but Big A would have no part of it. But the joke was on me - she saw the bag of cauliflower and asked for some on the side. Before I knew it, she and Little A had gobbled down about 2/3 of a pound of cauliflower! I think because it was frozen cauliflower they liked the fact that it was so soft and mushy. 1/2 lb whole grain linguine, broken into 1 inch pieces 3/4 cup light cream cheese 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated 1/2 cup milk 2 cloves garlic, minced OPTIONAL ADD IN: 2 cups frozen cauliflower, steamed and pureed (to make about I cup puree) Cook and drain pasta and place back on stove with burner off (if using gas stove) or turned to low (if using electric). Add all other ingredients and stir until creamy.