Thursday, February 18, 2010

Olympic Athletes eat McDonalds and drink Coke, yeah right!

Happy Thursday!


So, I just read this great little post by Richard on Discovery Naturopathy about how fast food and processed food companies are infecting the Olympic games with various forms of advertising. I notice this as well, but basically ignore them whenever they come on, and this is a lot! Yet, Richard changed my perspective about all these fast food images being pumped out to the public. For every healthy folk out there (Athletes included!) that are avoiding these ads and these foods, there are ten other people (just guessing here!), kids and adults, who are taking these ads as an approval for eating crap and eating more of it. They may even think that the Athletes in the commercials and ads use these eating establishments and processed foods to get to the top of the podium. YIKES! I saw this first hand when the torch was passing through Nelson. Ry and I were just walking through the crowd when these happy, smiling faces approached us handing out bottles of Coke. Not cool!




Yes, the Olympics may inspire some to get off the couch and go the gym or dust of their skis, but does this outweigh the heavy streaming of ads for crappy food? I think society is heavily influenced by people placed in the spotlight, whether they are an athlete or a celebrity. Right now athletes are the celebrities, and people are fixated on their every move. And who aspires to celebrities the most? Children! Ever heard of Hannah Montanna or the Jonas Brothers? Case and point, my friends!



Athletes eat clean! Plain and simple. They want that top podium spot and they have to cover all their bases in order to achieve that dream. Why would you want to take a step backwards and eat foods that go against everything you are training so hard for? That's why they don't eat something from a drive-thru window. I'm not saying they never, ever eat something from a fast food joint, but I bet its seldom. Those are definitely not "Whopper" legs.




This article by US News explains a little bit about how athletes have to eat in order to maintain their peak physical condition. It depends greatly on the sport and the energy expenditure that sport requires, obviously. But they have to eat double or more of what the average man and woman are supposed to eat. They also work closely with dietitians and other specialists to get their diets on the track to success.


Yet, here is where the moral dilemma comes in. In order to train and succeed you need money, and lots of it for some sports. How do they get that money? Sponsorships (mainly). As they train everyday for 7-8 hours, its nearly impossible to have a job. The main sponsors are of course big corporations and brands that have large amounts of cash to give out to an Athlete who will wear their logo and eat their product in an ad. So, what are you going to do? Watch your Olympic dream fizzle away because you cannot afford to compete, or sign with a large company that you know is poisoning the nation in order to reach the top? This is just another example of how big corporations get ya! They know they have what you want and if you want it bad enough, you will sign on the dotted line. I find this a catch-22 situation and wouldn't want to have to make this decision. So, I understand these athletes that do sign on with these companies and I don't hold it against them. I just wish there were broccoli farmers and avocado farmers sponsoring these athletes but I know deep down that that may (I have hope!) never happen.


All in all, we vote with our dollars. So, if we buy more from great, "real" foods companies, then possibly in the future, we could have an organic sponsorship. Now that would be more realistic.


So Yes, the games are highly commercialized but the spirit of the athletes, their families, and the fans will be what fills the worlds heart and minds, while the rest will be forgotten.

This photo is courtesy of The Province




This photo is courtesy of The Province



This picture is courtesy of The Province



Enjoy the games everyone! And if you don't care for the games, just check out pictures of Vancouver. I live about 1/2 hour east of the city but you'll get the gist! Hope you can come and visit sometime.


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sunshine on a cloudy day!

Hello again guys and gals!

I just checked my comments and Evergreen from The Happy Raw Kitchen gave me a Sunshine Award.

Thank You Evergreen, you are a gem! I am honored and feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful community that is the blogosphere. I have found it to be one of the most supportive environments that I have ever experienced. I love sharing my journey with you and feel so much more confident in many areas of my life.

So, the rules are that I have to link to the lovely person who sent me the award. Here she is, just in case you wanted to check out her awesome site one, two, or three more times. Then pass this award on to twelve other people who bring you sunshine. So, here we go (in no particular order):

Nikki- Yummy Raw Kitchen

Heathy -Adventures of Raw Goddess Heathy

Averie - Loves Veggies and Yoga

Kevin and Annmarie Gianni- Renegade Health

Gena - Choosing Raw

Meredith - The Raw Seed

Meghan - Making Love In The Kitchen

Susan -Rawmazing

Bitt- A Bitt of Raw

Pam - A Love For New Recipes

Shannonmarie - Rawdorable

Elise - Hungry Hungry Hippie

So check out these awesome bloggers and I'm sure they will bring you some sunshine, whether it be an awesome recipe or sheer quirkiness! Enjoy!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Valentine's meal + too much cake:(

Happy Tuesday!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Did you do anything special for Valentine's day? It was a pretty lazy weekend here, besides work. The weather wasn't great either so going outside wasn't a treat like it had been all week. Went to the gym on Saturday morning and had a killer workout and then followed that with an awesome breakfast at The Full Circle..yum! Then on Sunday night I made something new for dinner-nori rolls. I also made a carrot cake with cashew frosting. As we really didn't catch up on our sleep, Monday was a pretty laid back day at our household. Hence, the late blog post! Ryan walked to school only to find out it was a Pro-D day. I didn't know they still had those in college. Apparently they sent a notice through email but as it so worked out, our internet was down all weekend. I worked but felt pretty sluggish and I totally know why (I'll get to that later). Ry had a long nap with Nemo (apparently he was feeling sluggish too)...ahh the life of a student lol!




Now for the food! I followed the directions for the nori rolls in Nomi Shannon's The Raw Gourmet. I made some of her sunny roll-ups but I wasn't a fan of having so much Sunny Pate in there so I made a mix of this recipe and her Vegetable Nori Roll-Ups. I started out with about 2 tablespoons of her Sunny Pate. PS Check out Gena's version of this pate. I added slivered carrots, zucchini, and cucumber. Topped this with slices of avocado, and finally I added lentil sprouts. I didn't have any other sprouts ready at this time so feel free to use other sprouts. I did not marinate the veggies as Nomi suggests but the results were still fabulous! I am definitely going to experiment more with roll-ups. Some things I want to improve upon are:






  • Keeping the nori as crisp as possible. I think my cutting board was too moist and so by the time you ate the roll-ups they were a bit chewy.
  • Perfect my roll-up skills. I got some of them to stay (the moist ones) but others unravelled quickly
  • learn to proper placement of the veggies and pate to make rolling up easier and the end product a whole lot prettier.

If you have any tips about roll-ups please let the world know!! I am all ears..or eyes in this case!


On to Dessert...The hubby wanted carrot cake so I decided to make this recipe I found on Vegweb with this recipe for cashew frosting except I used brown sugar.

It was really good except I think I should have used a shallower pan. It was a little too soft in the very center. The frosting was really good too but I want to learn how to make a raw frosting that is pretty close to cream cheese frosting that is traditionally found on carrot cake.

I haven't made such a large dessert in a long time. I usually just make something that is suitable for two people. And for this I paid the price. I was weak and even though my inner soul was screaming for me to stop, I snacked on the cake all day yesterday. A spoonful here, a mouthful there. I totally lost it and gorged myself. I felt gross - my mind went to mush, my body felt weak , I was moody, and my intestines were pissed off. I am finally feeling a bit better today, but I still feel off. I am amazed at how quickly I feel gross and lethargic by sugar and flour now. My body really went for a spin and I did not like it one bit. I can really appreciate how awesome I feel when I'm eating clean. I take this as a lesson and I'm going to learn from it, big time! I also learned another lesson: If its not there you won't eat it. It's simple and really profound. I told the hubby after this experience that I was going to only make a bunch of great raw treats and freeze them for when we are in the mood for something sweet. Yet Ry suggested that I should only make something small that is going to be eaten that day and so there are no temptations later on. I totally agree (for once..lol jk) and have decided to only make desserts fresh and in small portions. Maybe this will work for you too if having sweet goodies around is just too tempting.

Have a great rest of the week and don't eat too many cinnamon hearts! I'm off to make a green smoothie with some berries hoping this will help restore my body back to its normal self!







Thursday, February 11, 2010

Juicing the blending way + Cocoa woes

Happy Thursday!

I finally received my AC adaptor so I'm once again able to post picts:) Thank goodness! But when I originally turned on my laptop, all my personal settings were gone. All there was was this big blue screen staring back at me. I was mainly concerned with losing all my picts and music and so I searched to see if they were still there somewhere..and they were. PHEWW!! So, I did a drastic move and did a system restore. I set my comp back to when I turned it on last..and TA DA..all my settings are back to normal. At least from what I've seen so far. It think this is a sign that I need to back up my files. Note to self! Anyways, it's almost the weekend!! I'll be working once again but it's all good. What are you doing this weekend? I know restaurants are going to be packed and the rose growers will be rolling in the dough as Valentine's is upon us once again. I'm going to do things a little bit differently this year. Ry and I are going to go out for breakfast on Saturday after the gym on Sunday and then I'm going to cook dinner and dessert ( he wants carrot cake) and just maybe watch a movie..at least that's where I'm ending it..lol!

I was going to make some raw chocolate from the recipe on Evergreen's blog but I can not find cocoa butter anywhere is Nelson. The co-op said they needed to special order it in but it would take awhile to get here. I'm so choked that I won't get to make the chocolates! I'll be on the hunt when I go to the coast in a month.


But, the exciting thing I did today was try juicing with my blender. It actually was really cool and everything went well. A bit more hands on than using a juicer but the result was yummy! I found this post by Bitt and followed her instructions and suggestions from a video on that post. I used a paint strainer bag to strain the juice and it was really handy as it had an elasticized edge that I just wrapped around my bowl. My blender sounded angry and I had to add a little water to the mixture but it went smoothly otherwise. It was fun "milking" the juice LOL and a little messy but nothing too crazy. I wasn't feeling too well due to my menstrual cycle so I decided to make a juice that was high in calcium. So, I looked up a recipe in Jay Kordich's book The Juiceman's Power of Juicing. The one I chose was called Green Power and I really loved it. It wasn't too sweet and it wasn't too bitter...mmm! This really helped my tummy too and it kept me pretty full throughout the afternoon which surprised me. I will for sure try this method again but probably not until the summer as it would cost me too much of my budget to buy all the veggies. I went organic with the ingredients as I knew these was going to be absorbed pretty quickly into my cells and I didn't want any junk getting in the way. But, I could totally see this getting addicting and now I understand why so many people are doing it!

The last thing is what to do with the pulp? I saved it and put it into the freezer. I has the consistency that I think would work well with a nutloaf or burgers. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!


So, overall it was a great experience that I can't wait to try again. The possibilities truly are endless which is what attracts me to juices and blended drinks. It really it medicine in a glass!



So, if you think you need a fancy juicer to be able to drink some healthy juices, think again!! Give this method a try and I'm sure you will not be disappointed. Although your pets might be lol!



Have a great Friday everyone and give your loved ones big hugs this weekend..and always:)


























Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lovely Lunch + Great Giveaway!

Hello all!


Hope you are having a fun humpday Wednesday! I haven't had much time to make extra goodies this week as we have been hitting the gym pretty late and afterwards I'm pretty beat. Today I decided to make a greater energy packed lunch as I found I was was getting hungry only an hour or so after I ate my simple salad. So to add some PUNCH to my salad I placed an avocado in there. All those healthy omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids really made a difference to my satiety. I also made some lovely pate that was so good with my Ryvita crackers.


Here's the breakdown..


Greeny Salad
1 bunch of organic spinach, washed thoroughly, cut into bite sized pieces including stem
handful of parsley
1 avocado, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons Nomi Shannon's Miso Mayo ( I made it into a dressing by just adding more water)


Yep, that's it! You can add more veggies if you want. I just took what I had left in my fridge.


Of course you could add whatever dressing you want, I just wanted to give the miso dressing another shout out as it is so fabulous!


I was in heaven eating this, I really didn't want it to end!

Lovely Pate - Love is in the air ...and in the pate!

1 Cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight
1/2 Cup sundried tomatoes, soaked for 1/2 hour, keep the soaking water
1 small onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove
juice from half a small lemon
pinch sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cumin

Place the sunflower seeds in your food processor and grind until you get the texture that you like. Add the sundried tomatoes and blend until they are all encorporated. I add some of the sundried tomato soaking water as I prefer the pate pretty smooth (this also helps my small processor blend easier). Add the onion and garlic and blend until you cannot see any big pieces of onion. Add the lemon juice and remaining ingredients. Adjust the spices as needed.


You can eat this with crackers, lettuce leafs, veggies. It is so yummy and easy!

I have been eyeing all the amazing chocolate recipes that are around the blogosphere, here, here, and here. I'm so looking forward to trying some of these out, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Making my own raw chocolate, how cool is that? So, to get me geared up on my chocolate journey I decided to make the Chocolate-dipped Date Truffles featured on Carmella's blog The Sunny Raw Kitchen. They are actually just about ready as I type this. Hold on, I've got to try one right now.........WOW!! definite winner. They have this chewy center with an almond butter-stuffed date and a chocolaty coating. I'm telling you its pure heaven. What a great treat. This was made with all raw ingredients except the almond butter (roasted) and cocoa powder.


Chocolate-Dipped Date Truffles

Chocolate Dip:
1/4 Cup raw honey (original recipe called for agave)
1/4 Cup coconut oil (can also use coconut butter)
3 Tablespoons Cocoa (original recipe used raw Cocao or carob)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch sea salt
Truffle:
8 dates ( I used Deglet Noor dates, would be best to use medjool)
cold almond butter


I took off the stems (hard part at one end of the date) and cut a small slit to take out the seed. I wasn't too successful at keeping the slit from spreading. Yet, once I got the almond butter in there it acted as a glue and so you couldn't tell if they were a bit more split. Once you have done this with all the dates set them on a plate that has some wax paper on it. Move on to the chocolate dip. Heat the coconut oil so that it is completely melted. I placed a bowl over some hot water and that seemed to do the trick. Add the cocoa powder then the honey, vanilla, and sea salt. Mix until smooth. Now dip the dates in the chocolate and roll them around to get all sides. Place back on the wax paper. Repeat with remaining dates. Place in the freezer 5-10 minutes.


Now, I had some leftover chocolate dip and decided to try something out. I cut a banana into small chunks and rolled it in the chocolate. Placed them in the freezer with the dates. Do you see where I'm going with this? Yep, I want to see what kind of softserve this will make. I'm sure its going to be awesome!


Last , but definitely not least, Gena from Choosing Raw is having a great giveaway! She is giving away 2 Tribest blenders. These are really cool as you can use glass jars to blend in. I looked into these a couple of months back, and there are lot great reviews out there. Looking at the amount of comments she has received, 475 to be exact, and soon to be 476, this is a hot item! So, head on over to her site and shoot her a comment. Good luck!


Ps sorry for the crappy pictures. I took this with my blackberry as I'm still waiting for my laptop parts to arrive....
Have a great rest of the week and enjoy a piece of chocolate today!











Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Fit Day and Miso Dressing

Happy Tuesday!

Hope you are having a great start to the week. I went to the gym with the hubby (cheering squad!!) after he was home from school yesterday. It was good, just too many people crammed into a small space. There was a lot of testosterone floating around that room..lol! I was always intimidated to be around so many people when I worked out, especially guys. I always felt like they were judging me with their eyes (this was usually not the case) and so I would like to hide in the corner and finish my workout in a rather weak manner. Now, I'm LOUD and PROUD and I do what I have to do. It's still hard sometimes when you have to work around guys who think they own the gym and have tons of weights on all the equipment, but I just shoot them a smile and usually they are accommodating. I'm starting to realize that I was always stressed when I went to the gym and that pretty much contradicted my workout. Remember my little talk on stress hormones,? Ya not good. So, I take a minute and look around to see how many people are in the room and what areas are really crammed and which areas are more open. This way I can have an action plan and I know where I'm headed- I have a plan! As I stated in yesterday's post I was going to start an account on Fit Day , and I did. I'm not sure exactly how accurate the data is but it will give me some idea as to where the bulk of my calories come from. The first thing I noticed was that I was not eating enough greens or veggies. Funny hey? Ya, I was eating a lot of fruit but I wasn't balancing it out with greens. So, that is an area I'm going to work on. I've made my profile public if you want to see what I am eating. Just click on this link.

Now onto the good stuff! I have Nomi Shannon's The Raw Gourmet from my library and I tried my first recipe from it last night. As I'm on a new salad dressing kick, I thought I would give the Miso Mayo Dressing a shot. WOW, amazing combination! I made it without the liquid amino's and it still turned out fantastic. The hubby said this was the best dressing yet! I will definitely be making this one again. I looked around online to see if Nomi had the recipe posted somewhere but I couldn't find it. Sorry all, wish I could pass along this recipe. So, get your local book store or library and try it out!

Have a great day everyone and here's to more greens this week!!



Isn't this little guy too cute?...lol! This was taken in beautiful Banff, Alberta. Thank you National Geographic for your endless pictures of this beautiful world we live in ( and all its creatures).


Monday, February 8, 2010

Why you are not losing weight

Hey everyone,

I thought I would talk about weight loss on the Monday after the Super Bowl. Fitting hey? According to ABC, the Super Bowl is the 2nd largest gorging fest, next only to Thanksgiving. Americans consumed 30-35 million pounds of snack food on Sunday. Who knows what that value would be if it included Canada or other football-loving nations. Phew, that's a lot of calories and fat, and we didn't even include the beer! I did not watch the game ( I don't have cable) but I did consume some pizza with a huge salad! Yum. It's possible that those people who gorged themselves are going to go to the gym for 10 hours this week to burn off those last nacho bites. While you are burning calories, you are not allowing your metabolism to work overtime after you leave the gym. Although exercise is crutial to allow you to lose weight, you can never out-train a bad diet, as Craig would say. Weight loss is not only about calories and high intensity workouts, your body has to have a favorable environment to allow fat to leave its comfy storage sites (hips, but, thighs etc). So, here are 5 reasons why your fat cells are not budging.




  • Your body's pH may be too acidic (below 7) - When the body is in an acidic state it will take the excess acid and store it in fat cells. As the body recognizes the acid as being harmful to the body's physiology, it will keep it harnessed in these fat cells. Hence, making it more difficult to lose body fat. Try dumping the processed foods as these foods are highly acidic. Replace them with green smoothies containing alkaline forming vegetables and fruits. You can get pH test strips to see if you are acidic or alkaline (this is optimal!) at your local health food store or drug store.

  • You are doing too much long, slow, boring cardio- How many hours do you spend at the gym? I'm there for about 4.5 hours a week. This includes my workout, steam room, sauna, pool time, and shower. My workouts are usually 45 minutes in length including High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). I used to be a cardio junkie but I've learned that this is not the most effective way to work my body. Craig wrote about a study on his blog that compared two groups. The first group did 40 minutes of slow cardio and the second group did 20 minutes interval training. Guess who lost more weight? Yep, the 20 minute interval group. A study completed at the University of Guelph in 2007 showed that interval training increased fat burning by 36%. That's huge! So, give up the slow cardio and do some intervals instead. Try going at an 8/10 pace for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds rest (3/10). Complete this 8-10 times and you are going to do some awesome fat burning, even after you leave the gym! Of course, always be safe and ask your trainer or doctor if you want to give this a try.

  • You are lying to yourself about how much you really eat- One chip? or was it one bag of chips? Huge difference there and of course this only puts you further away from your goal. One of the best ways to keep your eating in check is to start a food diary. In fact, keeping track as to what goes in your mouth can increase your weight loss by 50%. Being honest is always good and in this case it will do your weight loss efforts some good as well. I'm going to start this today! I am going to make an account at fitday and see what I really eat in a week. I eat pretty good but I'm sure there is room for improvement.

  • You are producing too many stress hormones- Ahh, stress! Nobody likes it, but everybody has too much of it! These little hormones reduce the hormone DHEA which is responsible for increasing muscle mass. We need lean muscle mass as it burns off the excess fats cells and reduces insulin. High insulin can increase the secretion of cortisol. Cortisol is often associated with abdominal fat and for good reason. The cells found deep in the abdominal wall have 4 times the amount of cortisol receptors on their membranes. So, when we get stressed cortisol is secreted and the fat storage cycle is initiated. Stress hormones can also be triggered if you are deprived of sleep. So get some zzzz's tonight!


  • You do not have a support system in place - You need a cheering squad! Whether its a co-worker or someone online, you need someone to help you with your weight loss journey. If you are surrounded by friends who eat at McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, your progress will most likely be pretty minimal. I'm lucky that my hubby is into going to the gym and eating healthy or my journey would definitely be more difficult. Check out sparkpeople or TTmembers for some awesome online support. I can be your support too!! Drop me a comment if you need some encouragement!

Hope you have a wonderful week! Try to get to the gym or go to the park and do some push-ups against the benches as your kids play around. Whatever it is, I hope you keep at it!