New Website

Hey everyone, just to let you know all blog posts will now be found at www.purelifewellness.ca, under the heading "Blog".

I will keep updating this site but my main mode of operating is now my new website.. which is still very much a work in progress!

Thanks for following!

xxoo

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!