Health Cleanse

A couple of posts ago- I mentioned that we are finally going to be setting a date for our long awaited wedding!

As always, things move fast (although, not my wedding plans until just now), I've started this Self Care Series which will run for the next 5 weeks after this week (and also means I'm practicing everything I talk about everyday). We are moving soon, and also buckling in for some great life changes at home for the long haul (I'm talking buying our first home, and expanding our family). So a lot is happening around me as I sit here and blog about it. Oh, did I mention I'm night weaning my toddler? Ah!!

No need for stress, its time for action! I want to feel and look my best not only for my wedding (but yes, it is a major plus to have a date to push towards with some healthy lifestyle goals), but for my life. So what did I do amongst all this chaos? 

I started a liver cleanse.. Was it a great idea for such a busy and hectic time in my life? I'm not so sure about that, but I'm doing it anyways. You know why? Because there's never a time like the present. No, my liver cleanse isn't planned and 100% ready to go (I had such a stressful evening I didn't get around to my tumeric tea- tomorrow is another day!), but I did a little research and instead of perfecting, thinking, dreaming and wishing I would just do it already, I'm doing it.

I've recently been talking to a friend- who is in the nutritional field- about liver function. And it hit me after that conversation that some things needed to change so I could have glowing skin for my walk down the aisle! Because of medication that I used since I was a young child, it has not been good for my poor liver, add in a couple trips to Vegas and free booze in Mexico I think its time I said "hey liver, I love you too!", right? Couldn't we all show some appreciation for such a wonderful organ that is our basic detoxification centre? The skin will usually try and help the liver by expelling toxins through the skin, so its time to give all of my organs the love that they so truly desire.

Amongst other things, here are a couple of links about foods that cleanse the liver, how to boost the functioning of your liver, and release toxins

• 14 Foods that Cleanse the Liver
• 9 Simple Ways to Boost Your Liver
• Get Rid of Toxins

So far, I've started drinking warm water (half boiled, half cold) with half a lemon in the mornings before I do anything (other than make my son gluten free toast with fruit for breakfast), I'll also be adding more liver supportive foods as I go along. I'll be doing more as the days continue, but for now I'm solely focused on my morning routine of lemon water with a tumeric milk tea before bed (yes, sounds a little strange, but the liver absolutely LOVES tumeric- add black pepper for optimal results).

On top of that, from one of the articles above it says to do tumeric milk for 3 months. I plan on doing that, but for at least 21 days I'll be doing a good enough (for my lifestyle, and I'll be doing as well as I can with a toddler, trust me, I'll be happy) liver cleanse.

Here's my recipe with links about tumeric included at the bottom

Tumeric Tea:

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp organic tumeric
As much black pepper as you handle (I like my tea a little spicy!)
Honey to taste

Heat milk slowly, add tumeric, black pepper and honey. Once steaming, drink.

Voila!

• Tumeric Milk
• Golden Milk
• Benefits of Tumeric enhanced by Black Pepper

Sorry if this post is a bit lengthy, I think my inner Wellness Geek is coming out to show the world some love :)

This picture is courtesy of Anusorn P nachol/ freedigitalphotos.net

The Self Care Series: Part I

Today's post is going to be fairly short. This move that we're doing, along with having my grandmother in town is taking a lot of my time. Lovingly, I am with my grandmother, as she is helping me finally pick out my upgraded engagement ring! I'm thinking today- if I can make it happen to either keep looking for a ring, or maybe even window shop for my wedding dress! Oh, did I mention we are getting married in April (more on that on a later post, let the wedding blogs begin!)?

So todays post is on Meditation like I promised last week. The reason I wanted to share meditation with you is because I know the mass amounts of reasons of why it is good for you; mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

What I do know, is that a lot of people tend not to meditate- including myself. For the last two years my life has solely revolved around my son, and my fiancee. At moments I'd have people comment on how "parenting is a form of meditation", but it just didn't feel the same as sitting peacefully by myself with nothing at all to think about.

So here I am, re-entering this world of peace, space, self care, and health.

Oddly enough, I signed up for Oprah & Deepak Chopra's 21 day meditation that started just 2 days ago! What a coincidence, especially since this post is on meditation.

The meditations are based around Expanding Your Happiness. The recordings are about 20 minutes in total, with the meditations lasting about 9-10 minutes after Oprah introduces the subject, and Deepak talks about it more in depth before you actually have to close your eyes. Its incredibly easy, even if your a Mama like me. And if your not a parent? Well, then you have no excuse! Right? 

I'm kidding! Life gets busy, I know! But, I'm sure if you knew it helps you to de- stress, increases your immune system, balances emotions, helps with skin issues like psoriasis and eczema, helps to clear your mind for optimal mental health, among many other wonderful benefits. 

The benefits don't stop when you open your eyes, it stays with you throughout your day- what a bonus!

If you want to look into more information on the health benefits, come check this out

7 Health Benefits of Meditation

If you really feel short on time (and you have an IPhone), look into one of my favourite apps called 5 min relaxation. Before the 21 day meditation started I only put 5 minutes aside for meditation just in the last week. Any time you put in will be beneficial!

So why not give it a shot? What do you have to loose?

I'd still love to hear your thoughts on any ideas for the last 1-2 weeks of this self care series. Is there something you'd like to me to cover? See what I plan on covering here, and drop me a line by signing into your google account, or use the open ID in the comment section just below.

Thanks! Guess my post wasn't so short after all, was it? Time to start the day, and I hope you have a good one!

The photo above is used courtesy of adamr/ freedigitalphotos.net

Feelin Good

I was watching Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Cancer trailer today. She is an incredibly resilient survivor of an apparent incurable stage 4 cancer. Most people will know someone who has either dealt with it, IS dealing with it, or may encounter it in the future. Apparently 45% of men and 41% of women will deal with this sometimes life threatening disease in their lives. 
(Stats here at Cancer.ca)

This is something I believe that with the right diet, lifestyle and mindset can either be completely bypassed, or overcome. I really want to see Kris Carr's documentary- just the trailer itself drew me in. I am not personally dealing with cancer, but I know, have known and will know someone who is dealing with it. Her mindset got her through and above any other method of treatment- she decided that she was going to live. I love that! 

But why does it take disease for some of us to begin to wake up to life? I don't want to have to wait for something detrimental to happen to me for my eyes to open. Why do I bring this up? Because how many of us have that unwritten or unspoken bucket list we've always dreamt about? Or that hobby that we just love to do that we "just don't have the time for"? 

Why wait? I've watched more than my share of her inspiring videos on YouTube (more of her that I will share in the future). Why wait until tomorrow to live your life? Why is "another day" just better than right NOW? 

I say, let's stop. Breath, and do it. Just do it! That's what I'm all about. 

What if we don't have tomorrow? In a way, it's a blessing to think like this, because if we're always waiting for tomorrow, when will our lives ever be fully lived?

You may think what I'm about to say is a bit silly- but I LOVE dancing! That's all I want to do. And from the Crazy Sexy Cancer trailer it has inspired me to make time to just dance, even if it's to ONE song daily! That's it! That's my goal right now is to get back in touch with that ultra creative, physical side of me and just let loose- even if it's just with my son. He's much more entertaining to dance with then bumping into drunk people at a club anyways :)

What is it that you've been wanting to do, but just haven't given yourself permission, or simply just the time to do?

Green Glow Smoothie

We are back for the next addition of Good Food Fridays, where I share not only time saving recipes, but healthy at that! 

I've been working on this one for a while now, so I hope you enjoy it- not only for the taste, but the amazing health benefits. There's a plethora of good fats in this smoothie- which is good for keeping a slim waist line as well as a healthy nervous system- and good greens to amp up your energy levels, and alkalize the body (which is very much needed these days). Also, I've added ginger to this smoothie to rev up your immune system, metabolism and it's also anti-inflammatory in every way possible.


Green Glow
Step 1:

Gather all of your ingredients!

• 1 cup frozen blueberries (I prefer frozen over fresh for this recipe, but if you want to add fresh blueberries add some ice cubes!)
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 avocado
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 1/4 c hemp hearts
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp spirulina
• 1 tsp matcha powder
• 1-2 tsp coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2- 1 inch of ginger (depending on your taste)
• 1-1 & 1/2 c of water (depending on how thick/ thin you like it)

And sweetener of choice if needed. I personally find this is sweet enough with banana and blueberries.

Step 2:

Put all ingredients into blender. Look at that deliciousness!

Step 3:

Enjoy! Pretty simple, right? 

Come check out these 2 links for more information on healthy fats, and ginger benefits!

• The big fat truth
• Ginger health benefits

Quick, healthy pizza

As promised, here is the pizza recipe I was talking about earlier on in the week.

Once again, I'd like to add that you can modify any of my recipes with what suits your needs. I have a highly restricted diet that keeps me away from a lot of unhealthy options. So a part of my journey is finding quick, but also very healthy food that I can eat.

I started off with a pre-made pizza dough by Sans Gluten Free. I've used so many different types of pizza crust, and this one is by far my favourite because it caters to all of my needs.

Gluten, corn, egg, gmo, tomatoe, and dairy free. Who would think that someone could make a good pizza crust without all of those ingredients? (P.S. This package is a "pizza kit" so it does include tomato sauce if you want to use it for this quick meal). 

You can opt for any other healthy, whole grain pizza crust at your favourite grocery store if that suits you, and just buy pizza sauce for this recipe.

Next on the list is the ingredients:

• A handful of spinach
• 1-2 handfuls of mushrooms
• Pesto sauce (or tomato paste)
• Coconut oil
• Goat cheese (or cheese of your choice)
• Salt and Pepper

And sometimes I like adding turkey bacon if I have it in the house. I'm in love with turkey bacon :)

Preheat the oven at the temperature suggested on the package.

Slice up the mushrooms and cook with oil, salt and pepper. After mushrooms have cooked for about 8 minutes or so, add the spinach, season again, and cover for 2-3 minutes to let spinach wilt (I found if I just add the spinach to the pizza in the oven it doesn't taste as good so I like pre-cooking my vegetables so it tastes better).

Prepare the pizza crust with

1. Sauce
2. Spinach (should be under other ingredients so it doesn't dry out
3. Mushrooms
4. Cheese

Cook for a few minutes in the oven, and viola! Add a glass of white wine (I had Lindemans 2013 Chardonnay) for hot summer days- you've got yourself a perfect, healthy dinner that takes about 15 minutes to make with very little mess!

Life Hack- Exercise

It has been too long since I've posted! And I cannot wait another day (I like to start my blogs off on Tuesdays- but I'm having blogging withdrawls). So here is a post to start off our week after a long hiatus. My 6 day trip to Mexico landed me in the hospital shortly after we arrived at home with a lovely bug, 3 days in a hosptial bed, and a week at my grandparents to help me look after my ball of energy 2 year old son.

This is where I tell you how naturally lazy I am at heart- because I am. 

Not a hard feat to admit. I can laze around in the sun all day if life (and Vancouver) permitted me to. I love hiking, river rafting, biking and snowboarding a LOT but it doesn't mean that I don't have to muster up every ounce of energy and will to actually get out there and do it. 

Sometimes if I'm hiking The Chief in Squamish to the second peak I ask myself "why oh WHY am I doing this again?!?" And then I get to the top and remember how breath taking the view is from such heights. 

(this photo was taken during a hike I did in 2009)

I've been talking about something for the past little while and it went a little something like this "I'm going to find a life hack for working out that actually works!" But I can't take credit for this one- I found it on Facebook! 

Let me introduce to you a new friend I will be becoming acquainted to this week called 

HIIT

High intensity interval training. 

Yes, this type of training is supposed to take LESS time than the normal 1 hour+ that people usually spend in the gym- and get you results FASTER! The lazy part inside of me is saying "YES! Lets do this!" And the motivated side is saying the same. As a mother of a toddler who is at his most active, curious and rambunctious state of his life- I have to fit a lot of "me" time into his nap time (which can range anywhere between 1-2 hours). And in that time I usually; clean house, cook lunch, blog, try to incorporate 15 minutes of meditation, and workout. Now all of that happens almost everyday except the last 2 which are incredibly important to this mama's life. 

So if I can fit in a HIIT workout for 10-20 minutes just before he rises I will be one FIT mama! I'm looking forward to it- are you? Come try out this easy (not so easy) 4 move HIIT workout for the next 2 weeks. I know it'll stick around longer but it gives my mind ease to have a set date (and its also awesome to have goals to work towards).

Are you like me and have been looking for this all your life? I'm pretty stoked to try this out. Whatever can get this lady toned and happy is good in my books! 

Video by: Insane Home Fat Loss 
Website: http://sixpackshortcuts.com/rdm3

Please let me know if you'll be joining me on this little adventure by commenting below!