Just a little something to perk up your Monday

Did you know, Canadians are the second highest consumers of fast food per capita, followed closely by our Southern neighbors the US? In 2007 it was reported that Canadians spent $12.7 BILLION dollars on take out food.

Ironically, overweight and obesity related disorders cost the Health Care System $4.3 BILLION in 2001. Based on past trends, we can assume, 9 years later, that this number has grossly increased, as compared to 1997 when the related disorders cost the system $1.8 BILLION.

Sadly today it is not only affecting young and middle aged adults, but also children. One study reported that 26% of preschoolers qualified as being overweight and/or obese. PRESCHOOLERS?!? That's children aged 3-5 years old. How is this possible?

Well if you look at the adults in Canada, 23.1% are reported obese (meaning, they have a Body Mass Index, or BMI higher than 30. To find out your BMI, click here).

The results of the preschoolers and the adults almost mirror each other. Coincidence? Not from my perspective.

Healthy living is likely to be a learned behavior, in super impressive psychological terms, monkey see, monkey do. I don't disagree that there are cases where genetics play a role, but I also believe that to be a convenient little excuse for too many people. Being big boned does not mean you should be overweight or obese everyone!

So the way I look at it is simple: children have no control over what food is placed in front of them. They cannot control what is brought into the household nor can they go out and purchase their own food. So that said, how is it getting to the point of children eating an excess of so much food, poor quality food that they turn obese? You can blame the media, you can blame technology, but really what it boils down to is lack of exercise and a bad diet. If you bring bad food into the home, your children will watch you eat it. And they too will believe that is their source of nourishment and pass that on to their children, their children's children..... and before you know it our health care costs will be double what they are today, as too will the incidence of the obesity epidemic (yes, epidemic) we face today.

Break the cycle! Guess what? If you don't have bad food in your house and you're not eating it neither will your kids! Kids won't starve themselves, although they may try when you're making a drastic change like ridding the kitchen of junk, but here is a little something for inspiration...

A friend of mine, Samantha shared a great link with me, and I think the message is pretty clear. Fast 'food' isn't food... how can it be... Enjoy,

CLICK HERE NOW!

The Green Living Show

It's almost that time of year again.... EARTH DAY is just around the corner. And with the weekend of Earth Day comes one of THE greatest shows to hit the Tdot. The green living show!

Make sure to block off some time in between April 23rd-25th and be sure to catch me there, ALLLL weekend long... I'll be promoting a great, organic product Friday to Saturday from 10am til 9pm, and Sunday from 10am-6pm.

I'll give you more clues each week as to what that product is, whoever guesses correctly first (by emailing me, leigh_mcswan@hotmail.com) will win a free ticket to the show...

Good luck!

Pink Slime

Read this article from Naturally Savvy

Could this be a cause of recent bacterial outbreaks? Perhaps the reason 'meat' from fast food joints is so cheap? I guess this truly proves, you get what you pay for. And for $1.50, you can get a nice helping of pink slime, some antibiotics, growth hormones, ammonia, and perhaps a side of salmonella or ecoli.

If this doesn't change your mind about quality, I don't know what will! It's even in our children's cafeteria's?!?!

Once again, my message is to shop smart!

Bon appetite !

Not a Happy Nutritionist!

I rarely watch TV, and now I remember why!

I caught the Tyra Show today, in which she had her Nutritionist, actually she's a registered Dietitian, inspiring people to get in shape. I got so steamed at the recommendations Tyra's Dietitian was giving on national TV, I wrote a little email to Ms. Fierce herself! So I thought I would share:

Tyra, I watched some of today's episode with your Dietitian. And I AM FURIOUS!!!!!!!! I work as a Holistic Nutritionist & Lifestyle Consultant, and the information your girl was giving was NOT advice I would recommend to my clients! Recommending a burger over a salad, because of the dressing. What about the vitamins and minerals packed in the spinach? Recommending a HOT DOG?!?!- Are you kidding me?!? All she talked about was calories and "getting satisfied"- on what? Sodium, saturated fats, processed, refined flour, chemical preservatives, nitrates and nitrites? How about sending a REAL message- none of these foods are advisable, pack your own! I saw a picture of Caesar salad with iceberg lettuce- no no no no!!! Deli meat? EIIIKKK, this is something Americans need to be avoiding not incorporating. Her segment on portion control was good, I'll give her that, HOWEVER, she contradicts herself by recommending mayonnaise laden deviled eggs over one of the healthiest snacks you can eat, hummus! I get that people will eat more than they should, but the message should be to share an appetizer at a restaurant and ask for veggie sticks instead of a white pita- not avoid an extremely healthy snack because the serving size is too big- wake up! Almost everywhere you eat the serving size is too big! Where is the lesson in that? Ask the waitress for a calorie count? Come on! This episode annoyed me so much I had to stop watching, as someone who works in a Holistic health field, this was anything BUT holistic.

Seems a little harsh right? Well I've never been a believer in attracting flies with honey, I prefer to take a no nonsense approach to things, and what this really is, is my opinion in a extremely honest manner.

I believe this would be PHASE 2 of my CALL FOR AWARENESS

Thoughts?

GMO Foods

I am posting a link to a fabulous blog I follow, by a young woman who went to the same school as I did, IHN. It is on GMO- genetically modified organisms. I thought it was so well done I decided you should all read it as well.

I hope you enjoy

http://www.fullynourished.ca/2010/02/say-no-to-gmo/

Product Reviews!

I'm thrilled to announce that I have been working with naturallysavvy.com as a product tester and reviewer. How this works is simple, companies send their products in to Naturally Savvy in order to get it approved with the Naturally Savvy Seal of Approval. The tester uses the product and then writes a review, stating why the product rocked or why it fell short. All the reviews are posted on the Naturally Savvy website: http://www.naturallysavvy.com/savvy-reviews

I'm currently testing several products including facial cloths, soaps, shampoo, bath salts, cookies, deodorant, dog treats (well, I'M not specifically testing, the dogs are), body wash, sugar substitutes, waxing products and more! Needless to say, this job is GREAT! I'm able to keep up with new natural products out on the market and I get to inform you about them !

Stay tuned for more updates on my product reviews.

I should also mention, I'm writing a monthly article for Naturally Savvy which will start in April. More to come on that too!

Dead Food

Well I can't mention dead food without thinking about my Ayurveda (Ayurveda is a natural, traditional Indian practice of medicine) teacher Kamsella, you mention dead food around her and she cringes. It's what I always think about whenever I think of dead food.

Dead food is food which is literally food which is dead. Dead with nutrients, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Even health food can be dead food- kind of shocking, but true.

Say I make a salad Saturday night and don't eat it until Monday afternoon. My once healthy salad is now dead. Most people don't think of this, including myself, until it was brought to my attention, and it makes sense! When food is left out on the counter, or in the fridge it's enzymes die. Enzymes are proteins which the body uses and NEEDS for metabolic processes- everything your body does is because of the help of enzymes, so don't kill them! If you're microwaving food, your food is instantly dead, even more dead if it's last night's dinner you're microwaving.

Dead food is also packaged food, canned food and generally frozen food (think of those Michalena's microwave dinners- yuck! Loaded with sodium, chemical preservatives and microwaving it on top, no thank you! That's the dead of the dead right there). A prime example of freshly baked dead food would be a donut. This is such a dead food because it literally offers zero health benefits. It does however offer, for the exchange of a dollar or two, saturated and trans fats, sugar, artifical colouring, white, refined flour, sodium, and is cooked at high high temperatures. You can see what I mean by dead now, right?

I always talk about being prepared and planning in advance so I thought I should talk about Dead Food. It is important to prepare, otherwise you make poor choices when you're on a tight schedule. SO, prepare, but don't over prepare. Pre-cut your veggies right before you go to bed if you don't have time in the morning, for a healthy snack the next day. Do your preparing as close to the time of consumption as possible to avoid eating dead food.

The best way to avoid dead food is to eat FRESH. Reduce your cooking time and temperature (or altogether if possible...more on Raw Food later), eat what was grown from the Earth. If it was made in a factory it's going to be closer to the morgue- so skip it!

Eat fresh, eat clean, eat living enzymes!

Cuz sometimes a girl just needs some M&M's

It's kind of funny hearing the stereotype that nutritionists are perfect eaters 100% of the time. And mind you, there are some out there, and all the power to them! But me, I prefer a more laid back approach to health. I don't believe in being a militant about proper eating, I think we're all human and none of us are perfect- thank goodness for that, what a boring world we'd live in. I'm not as rigid as some people think I may be- and I'm ok with that, I don't want people to be ashamed to eat around me, or think I'm judging their food choices, that's not me! If you want my opinion or advice, ask, otherwise who cares! I think life is about balance. I think that if I'm eating well 90% of the time, 10% won't kill me- it hasn't so far anyways.

And today is Sunday, Sunday is my day of relaxation, heck it's after 6pm and I'm still in slippers and a robe! Sunday is my "cheat day", it's the day I pick up a DVD to watch with my boyfriend, a bottle of wine, we eat whatever we feel like (tonight it's peanut M&M's and layered nacho dip with Multigrain Tostito's). I LOVE Sunday's- yoga pants, my Trent U hoodie, a movie under a blanket with a good looking guy and some treats, and wine, what's not to love?!?! Oh I should also mention this is a make-up free, messy hair day- my fav, I'm not too sure it's Blake's fav tho ;)

The point of this post is BALANCE. We could all use some. Even on my "cheat days" I make sure I'm still taking supplements, I eat a good breakfast, and have it in my head that Monday is a mega veggie day. Whenever I'm stocking up on snacks for Lazy Sunday, I still try to keep my portions in check (I also find that because I eat well, I can't eat as much of the bad stuff as most can). I bought the smallest sized M&M package I could find, and we share it- neither one of us is willing to risk bodies we work hard for over a few extra M&M's. I put the Tostito's in a bowl and never eat from the bag- once that bowl is gone, that's it, no more! And we always stock up on water, not pop!

Depriving yourself of certain foods you love is not what Holistic living is meant to be about- it's about treating yourself once and a while, managing what you're eating and the amount you're eating- these are habits that once established, should never be revised.

I urge you to take cautious steps if you have, or are thinking about having a cheat day in your week. Sometimes people run with this idea and will have ice cream for breakfast, pizza and wings for lunch a bottle of wine for dinner and a jumbo bag of chips before bed- this is NOT (!) what cheat days are for, that would be known as a "Predisposing the body to Cardiovascular Disease Day".

Follow my guidelines for "healthier" cheat days, and you won't worry about CVD or weight gain!

New Recipe Alert!

So I'm getting all packed up for tomorrow, when I head over to Naturally Savvy HQ's (www.naturallysavvy.com), and at the last minute realized I'd need to pack not only several snacks and a lunch but also a dinner, since I'm going straight to another job from Toronto.
I managed to whip up my entire days worth of food in a surprisingly short period of time, and I was quite impressed with my results of a healthy meal in such a crunch, I'm posting "A day in the life of a Holistic Nutritionist, on the go!"- sorry there are no measurements, just eyeball it according to how many people it's feeding.

Breakfast

Smoothie
-1 scoop Hemp protein (i will one day find a way to make this stuff taste good i promise)
- 3 large scoops Kefir
-2 kiwi's
-frozen mixed berries
- flax seed oil (about 1 tbsp)
- ice

BLEND- 2 minutes. DONE.

Snack
Hard boiled egg.

Snack
-1 large blood orange chopped
- carrot sticks

Lunch
Roasted veggie wrap with Dijon

Take any and all veggies you have. I used red peppers, shallots, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, and baby bok choy.

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice all your veggies Julienne style, toss in cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil with pepper, garlic, and parsley (use any herbs you like in addition).
Throw all veggies BUT the baby bok choy into a ceramic dish and bake for about 35 minutes.

Add the baby bok choy for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking, this will serve as your "lettuce", for a nice crunchy texture.

Keep in a bowl overnight.

In the morning, I'll be throwing some Dijon mustard onto my whole wheat and flax wraps, rolling 2 of these up, and boom there's lunch.

Snack
Banana, handful of pecans

Snack
Cucumber slices with hummus

Dinner

1 cup cooked quinoa with 1 roasted beet, 1/2 avocado, hemp seeds and finely chopped parsley.
Dressing- I make my own to avoid bad oil, fillers and binders:
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon
1/2 fresh squeezed orange
extra virgin olive oil (can use flax here too)
a little bit of grated ginger
tiny bit of blue agave syrup

Toss together done!

I was able to prepare all of this with cooking time in one hour, while doing loads of laundry (including folding and hanging), packing my laptop for the next day and checking email. So there you have it, a day in the life! Eating right is still very manageable even for a hectic lifestyle, the key is preparing the night before and choosing snacks that are pre cut, or are just grab and go!

Is your Digestion Laggin?

Want to know if your digestion is too slow? Generally most people need to awaken their digestion and get it moving! My method of testing involves a little #2 and some beets!
All you have to do is this: Eat 1-2 beets first thing in the morning, record the time. Then, all you do is check to see when your beets "reappear"- code: Check to see when your poop turns purplish red, here's the catch... you want to note when it STOPS showing up in your #2- this is known as your transit time (the time it takes from entering the first stage of digestion- via the mouth to the final stage- excretion.

If you would like to know how well your digestion is, email me your transit time!
leigh_mcswan@hotmail.com

Happy hunting ;)

Marathon Training Day 3

My goal has been set. I'm running the Toronto half marathon this year. This is my year! Last year I signed up for it, got pumped up to do it, but my faulty knees just wouldn't keep up with me.
Since I was in high school, I've had painful knees. I love running, I loved track, I love the treadmill, I love my Nike Frees! In my first year of University I finally went to my doctor because it was unbearable. I have Patella Femoral Syndrome, a common problem for women and a common sports injury. I was in physio therapy for some time and my knees felt somewhat better. However, the advice was not something I could follow, stop running (but Im an addict!), no high heels (are you joking, I'm 5 foot 3?!?!) and stop crossing your legs (but I wear skirts and dresses, and my mom told me its un- lady like!!)

Regardless, Im pushing through and I will be documenting my progress, as well as adding another mini-series: Eating and training like an athlete (a healthy one, not an Olympian who apparently eats a certain sponsors certain fast food every chance he gets- not naming names!).

The purpose of this mini series is two-fold. I want to complete a race, and eventually do a full marathon and qualify for the Boston Marathon, Im thinking 5 years from now (surgery time included- hehehe), for the big 3-0! eeiikkk.
And I want to eat (maybe test some products along the way) and train like a real athlete while documenting my progress- successes and failures.

In order to off set my knee pain I will be back in physio, I'll be taking weekly yoga classes and swimming as often as possible.

So this is Day 3, Day 1 was off to a good start, Day 2, I managed to slightly injure myself as I slammed my car door into my jaw and thigh trying to prevent my dear puppy, Bruster from jumping out into a parking lot! YIKES, the abuse I take!!

But tomorrow is a new day, Im starting fresh, like I have never run before in order to prevent immediate injury to my knees and I look forward to my early morning 2k light with my dogs- I have a greyhound, he's very encouraging.

Stay tuned for helpful recipes, exercises, healing tips and my progress as a half marathoner!

A Note on L-O-V-E

Did you know that "love" is a word that is incapable of a solid definition? That's because it means something different to everyone. I also believe there are different types of love. Or maybe the guys writing the dictionary just never experiened it and could put it into words.

I know what my love is, and I know what it feels like to be loved. I know when I need love and when I need to give love. My love is bold, it is strong, concrete and undeniable. I think the love I give is based on the love I have received in my life, from my family, friends, pets, experiences and dreams. I hope you know what I mean by this.

Why am I talking about love on a Nutrition and Wellness blog? I'm a strong believer in love, I think it is give and take, sadly sometimes it is a one way street and we decide whether we keep that one way running or pull a U-turn. I'm a hopeless romantic and dream big. Everything I plan to do in my life is because I love what I'm doing or I love the destination it will bring me to- I thank the people in my life who have allowed me to see this.

The reason I want to write about love today is because love is essential to human life- to happiness. In terms of health, love is a huge factor. When you love yourself you make good choices and show your body respect. If you don't, you abuse your body, put foreign substances into it and treat it poorly. You need to discover what in your life is missing to make you do this and fill the void. Are you not receiving the love you deserve? Are you not surrounded by people who love and support you? What is it, find your answer, make changes. You are the director of your own fate.

I just want to say that because of the love and support in my life, I am in a good place. There were many dark times in my life, times when I was not happy for a long time, I'm not perfect nor do I claim to be, I'm human. I learned, I grew, I'm here now. The people I CHOOSE to surround myself with, people I call, people I text, people I see and keep in my life are here for a reason. I want them there. I learn from them, and hopefully they learn from me. The people who enter into your life are likely here for a reason, to guide you, to build your character and to show you new things. I strongly believe everything happens for a reason.

If you feel like you need to make changes in your life but are in a rut and can't seem to push through, are you missing something in your life? Are you in need of something you are not getting? Maybe your inner circle needs to be adjusted and modified, maybe more people need to be brought in. We cannot expect love to happen without risks and without putting ourselves out there. Support is essential to success, I believe I have mentioned this 2 or 3 times from other posts, but it's because I really emphasize it.

Add some love into your life and see how not only your perspective changes, but also your emotions, your motives and your drives. Are you smiling just thinking about how happy you could be. Don't be afraid of love- the rewards far outweigh the risks.

To everyone past and present in my life, I love you, you keep me motivated and focused, thank you!

Namaste

A Word (or 1500) on Laughter Therapy

I recently did a presentation to the Pine Ridge District School Board on Weight Management. I had such a great time with the ladies here (teachers rock, esp. you Deb), that I told almost all my friends and family about what I presented to them. One of the sub topics we discussed was on Laughter Therapy, a way of managing stress. And yes, I actually made them do this as part of my presentation, and they were all such good sports!

Now most of you who know me know I LOVE to laugh and it can be a pretty loud one, inherited from Ma Dukes no doubt! I love smiling, I love laughing, I love being around people who make me smile, and I love passing on my contagious laughter and smiles to everyone I know.

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

So I've decided, as part of my Haley mini-series to empower the rest of you to experience Laughter Therapy as a way of managing stress.

So, what is Laughter Therapy?

It is a form of therapy which encourages us to use the natural physiological process of laughter to release the painful emotions of anger, fear and boredom and STRESS.
Because the brain cannot differentiate true laughter from “forced” laughter, we get the same benefits from pretending as we do from the real thing!

And why Should We Laugh more Often?
Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University in California have been studying the effects of laughter on the immune system. To date their published studies have shown that laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies.
Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being.


Now, it's no secret I'm kind of a dork and can laugh at "stupid humour", so here are some great resources to help you find your inner comedian and begin feeling like a lunatic.
Movies which will never let you down and make you laugh time and time again...

Home Alone
Zoolander
Wedding Crashers

Ok, I'm going to stop right there and basically say any movie staring Ryan Reynolds, Vince Vaughan, Owen/Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler or any and all of the above work great!

So get that funny scene in your head:

Sit down, placing your feet firmly on the ground, back erect
Gently soften the eyes and close.
Now, imagine your funny visual and laugh,
Laugh really really loud, laugh harder, fake it if you have too!
LAUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah :)