lovely, colourful food

i've just finished one week of a 30 day raw food program and i'm loving the adventure. i've been eating almost 100% raw and it's pretty good.

today i just HAD to take a picture of the wonderful food i had for dinner

tabouli with hemp instead of bulgar
red pepper and almond dip

i made enough to share but doesn't it just look so colourful?

mmmmm more hummus

so i made the spinach and artichoke hummus but i swapped lime juice for the lemon juice and i added 1 tsp of cumin and a generous splash of chipotle hot sauce

it was awesome!!!

almost tasted the same as guacamole

and i finally found sugar snap peas in my local grocery store

have you ever tried them? great to eat raw

healing with the angels cards

ok so i'm still new to EFT and i really need to look for my handout again because i NEED to get back on that train

but another thing i find that helps me before i go to sleep is my healing with the angels cards.

it a deck of beautiful cards and each has a different word

i shuffle, pick three then read the description for each

they are all positive and they remind me that i'm loved and that all is well

ahhhh they're like a breathe of fresh air

what do you do to help settle your mind before bed?

memories of safety harbor hummus

or really you can call this artichoke and spinach hummus

i haven't really eaten much of any spinach and artichoke dips because this became popular after i started eat to live and gave up dairy...most are laden with cheese and icky stuff that makes me cringe so i think i may have taken a little taste of one once but didn't ever think that you could make a hummus with spinach and artichoke

after many years i find myself in safety harbor florida for the t-tapp retreat and my wonderful room-mate and fellow t-tapp trainer jen had stocked the fridge we had by accident with lots of fresh fruit and veggies in addition to an artichoke and spinach hummus

wow...was i amazed at how good it tasted...we ate it with fresh veggies and were actually the envy of some who saw us walk into a meeting with a plate full of cruditees and this awesome hummus.

i left the retreat and knew that i needed to make up my own version with no added oil or added salt...i'm a eat to live groupie or nutritarian...are you surprised?

well i finally got around to it and as promised in my previous post, here is the recipe...

artichoke and spinach hummus

3 cups chick peas, cooked
half a pkg of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed well
2 gloves of garlic
juice of one lemon
1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained
1/4c water to get 'er going

i threw this all into the vitamix and blended until it was pureed. if you prefer it a bit chunky then pureed the chickpeas, garlic,lemon juice and water first then add the artichokes and spinach and blend to the desired consistency

awesome and oh so tasty

i gave my husband a bit to taste and he said i should probably hide it because my older son will be more than willing to help me eat it all up



this is my new favourite hummus

nori wraps

i'm truly in heaven

i just finished eating some wraps that i made for lunch.

originally i was going to make artichoke and spinach hummus and eat it in some romaine lettuce leaves with some extra veggies and sprouts...super tasty as is

on our way from a two hour hike with lots of dips and climbs i needed sprouts and happened to walk by nori in the store and *ding* a light bulb went off. why take some extra time to wash the lettuce (i still had to get home and make the hummus too) when i could roll it all into some nori sheets and have awesome wraps

i saw this idea once on someone's website and it stuck with me but i never tried it

boy am i glad i did

i made the hummus (recipe in the next post) then i lay a thin layer on the nori, topped it with some baby spinach leaves then added some fresh carrot slaw mix from the produce section and topped it off with sprouts.

i filled them a little too much but by working quickly i could gently squeeze the filling and pull the nori...very gently!

i ended up with some fantastic wraps and i'm thrilled it was so good

the hummus was so good it deserves it's own post

the key thing to note when working with nori is that it is dry and brittle until you add a moist ingredient...then it is soft and kind of stretchy. if you don't fill them too much you can actually roll it completely and the hummus will help it stick together into a "burrito" of goodness.

my camera and video camera batteries were both dead so i got my phone because this was worth documenting

the possibilities are endless...i hope you give this a try and let me know what you made!!

mmm i made the soup

as you know...based on my previous post...i was craving soup

it is a longer process than any other soup i've ever made but it was soooo worth it

here's the final recipe with a few more mods

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Ingredients
•1 butternut squash – cut, remove seeds and roast (cut side up) 45-60 min at 350
• 1 bulb of garlic – roast for 45 min
Saute the following until the onion is caramelized
• 1 onion diced
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 1 leek, sliced
Add 10 cups water
• 4 potatoes cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 large yam cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 can chickpeas (drained and soaked)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Puree once you add the roasted squash and garlic and everything is soft.

Add some hot sauce or lemon juice when serving to jazz it up

it's cold...i want soup

I'm coming off a raw fruit and vegetable detox and the biggest irritation has been feeling cold the whole time.

I'm craving a warm soup and I've got the perfect recipe to start off with.

I found it here

They forgot to mention the garlic in the ingredients. By omitting the salt and oil it should pretty much be perfect for me. I won't bother with vegetable stock...I'll just add some carrots and celery to the onion and leek mix to give it more flavour.

Oh and I'll probably add a bay leaf and skip the maple syrup and cinnamon...hahahaha. There's a reason I said it was the perfect recipe to start off with.

I also hate recipes with long instructions...c'mon it's soup not brain surgery.

Here is my modified recipe

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Ingredients
•1 butternut squash – cut, remove seeds and roast (cut side down) 45 min at 350
• 1 bulb of garlic – roast for 30 min
Saute the following until the onion is caramelized
• 1 onion
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1 or 2 carrots diced
• 1 leek
Add 10 cups water & 1 bay leaf if using curry
• 4 large red potatoes cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 large yam cubed (soaked and drained)
• 1 can chickpeas (drained and soaked)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon or curry powder (depends on mood)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Puree once you add the roasted squash and garlic and everything is soft.

I'm going to try a raw detox

Since the retreat I have been eating very clean and have really focused on improvements I need to make to kick up my eating and health up a notch.

I came across this website and I signed up...why?

why not?

I met Lisa, a new T-Tapp trainer, at the retreat this year and she was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. She went high raw and she looks and feels fabulous.

She has inspired me to try eating raw for a little while. It can't be too difficult for me since I already eat two meals a day raw. I think the extra focus will help me clear out the coffee I let sneak back into my life.

Tommorrow is day 1 of the 5 day prep BEFORE the detox. I'm thinking that this weekend will be a good time to drop my daily coffee and deal with any headaches.

This is exciting!

I'm enjoying my recent exercise buddy

This week my youngest son announced that he was going to exercise daily - run, pushups and sit ups.

On Monday I casually asked him if he wanted to join me as I did T-Tapp. Imagine my surprise when he said yes. This from the guy who 5 years ago told me that T-Tapp was the worst thing that ever happened in his life...I wanted them to workout for me one month...as my birthday gift...no one lasted more than two weeks..he quit after a week.

Tuesday and Wednesday he joined me again. Today he made very healthy choices for dinner. I'm impressed.

I know I shouldn't get my hopes up high but I'm enjoying the company and the funky handshake, high five, finger wiggle combo we ended our workout with today.

How do you encourage your kids to increase their physical activity other than what they do at school?

T-Tapp Retreat

This year was my fifth retreat in a row. One retreat and I was hooked.

I love the atmosphere, the friends I've made over the years and of course getting my butt kicked and learning new things.

This was my first year at a retreat at a trainer too. Last year I certified near the end of the retreat/certification combo. It was very nice to be completely relaxed.

I learned lots of new things and the retreat gave me the motivation to push towards my final goal as mentioned a few posts down. On a side note I've eaten very clean since Thursday...skipped junk at the amusement park, skipped ice cream when celebrating a late Thanksgiving dinner with my parents and family and skipped chocolate too!

Casey is recapping all the retreat days one by one so no use reinventing the wheel.

Check out her awesome blog here for a recap of day 1 and here for day 2's recap.

Take care of yourself!

EFT quick summary

At the 2010 T-Tapp retreat we had a great seminar with Lisa and Renee to teach us EFT.

I had heard about this before and I did it about two years ago to help me deal with a difficult situation I was having then I kind of forgot to use it after that.

This is great for people dealing with emotional issues and even pain. I am going to try this again for periods where I am stressed, emotional or craving something.

They went through the process and gave us a great handout to summarize the technique.

While I don't have a scanned copy of their handout, I found this one that explains what EFT is and it has the sequence. In our seminar we did steps 1, 2 and 3.

Have a read, try it out and let me know what you think.

Is T-Tapp worth it?

Here is an awesome post from Charlotte, an amazing woman and a T-Tapp trainer who has had lots of success with her transformation.

http://charlottesiems.com/worth

Fit and Fabulous and 40...my next project

Ok, how many of us start something, get cocky and don't really finish it?

You know, you look good, you get compliments and you start to indulge here and there because you've done such a good job you can splurge a little and relax.

Been there, done that...and I'm tired.

I surpassed my original goal when I started Eat to Live many years ago and I felt great, looked great and it looks like I've relaxed too much to the point that although I know I have more to lose I keep staying stuck.

Well, I'm done!

So I'm putting it out here for all to see. In 30 weeks I will be 40 and I want to finish what I started and clean up the loose ends that are compromising my final stretch.

This past year has been a disaster however I'm ready to forgive myself and move on.

The T-Tapp retreat was my kick start into this next project which was officially supposed to start the day after my 39th birthday but that didn't happen.

No more splurges or indulgences...I know I have to work on some issues and get past them rather than turning to food to dull whatever I'm feeling. I learned about EFT at the retreat and I plan on using that.

Wish me luck and follow along for the ride!

Forget Counting Calories--Make the Quality of the Calories Count

I got this message from Dr. Fuhrman today and it is absolutely the best way to summarize the way I eat.

I hope you enjoy it and are encouraged to adopt a more plant-based diet.

Health and Weight Loss Basics

My nutritarian food pyramid illustrates the principles of my Health Equation: Health = Nutrients / Calories (H = N / C) which defines how health is impacted by the micronutrient per calorie density of the diet. In other words, the future of your health can be predicted by the quality of the calories you consume. Micronutrient per calorie density is important in devising and recommending menu plans and dietary suggestions that are the most effective for tackling weight loss and for preventing and reversing disease.

The base of my nutriarian food pyramid – the foundation of the diet - are the foods with the highest ratios of nutrients to calories (highest ANDI scores). The large majority of your daily diet should be made up of nutrient rich plant foods, whose calories are accompanied by health-promoting phytochemicals: green and other non-starchy vegetables; fresh fruits; beans and legumes; raw nuts,seeds, and avocados; starchy vegetables; and whole grains.

Even though processed foods, and concentrated sweets are included on the pyramid as foods to be used in minor amounts, it is certainly a health advantage to reduce these foods to special occasions or not at all. Animal products should also be limited to the condiment level, and certainly under 10 percent of total calories.

It is not merely that these foods are not micronutrient rich and displace protective foods off our plate, but also that too much animal protein is linked to higher levels of IgF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) increasing risk of breast and prostate cancer. By keeping these low nutrient foods to a minimum and striving to eat at least 90% of calories from unrefined plant foods you construct a health-promoting, disease-preventing diet that has tremendous potential.

My experience in the last 20 years of medical practice is that individuals following this type of diet have transformed their health, and are living well in their 80’s and 90’s without the diseases plaguing other Americans. I call those who strive to follow a high nutrient eating style for its disease-protective properties, nutritarians.

Nutritional science has demonstrated that colorful plant foods contain a huge assortment of protective compounds, most of which still remain unnamed. Only by eating an assortment of nutrient-rich natural foods can we access these protective compounds and prevent the common diseases that afflict Americans.

Learn more:

• Become a nutritarian

• Best foods for weight-loss and disease protection

• Compare it to the USDA MyPyramid


By following the guidelines of my nutritarian food pyramid and eating an abundance of high nutrient foods you can obtain superior health, lose weight, and recover from chronic illnesses such as headaches, indigestion, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.

~Dr. Fuhrman

my husband lost 14lbs so far!

A few weeks ago my husband was told by the dr. that he needed to lose weight. He wasn't feeling well, had some pains, another kidney stone developing and apparently he had lots of fat around his organs.

If you've seen my husband you'd know that he isn't huge but depending on the season his mid-section expands and contracts. He is active, runs on average 10km and even participates in races BUT he loves food and at times it is more apparent than others.

Well...this time I told him he was going to do things my way. So I started him on an Eat to Live kind of plan. He isn't perfect and when we have parties or get-togethers he's on no plan what-so-ever.

I'm happy to announce that he's lost 14lbs so far. He has been feeling better and it's fun to have someone else in the house who eats like me on a bit more than a casual basis.

The best thing is that he is, surprising to him, "not starving"! I have known this for years and it's one thing I love about being a nutritarian...no shaky, weak hunger at all!

So...he needed to get a warning from the dr. and I needed to put my foot down.

What do you need to get you going?

What three things have you done today to get closer to your goals?

We all have ideas or dreams about what we want. I want to weigh ### lbs, I want to fit into a size X, I want to ride my bike through the whole course without getting off once, etc etc etc.

Are yours written down?
Do you see them daily?
Do you remind yourself what you need to do today in order to reach the final destination?

I suggest posting them anywhere you spend more than 30 minutes at a time. Your desk at work, your computer at home, your bathroom, your car. Nothing wrong with having them in more than one place.

Put a calendar beside them in one spot and put a check mark each day that you read them out loud. At the end of the day put a check mark beside that day when you did 3 things that day in order to reach your goals.

Try it and let me know if it worked.

Take care!

A Sedentary Lifestyle is not good!

If you're feeling glorious because you fit in your daily workout faithfully every morning but then you're sedentary the whole day and night then please pay attention!

You must increase your activity throughout the day too!

People who are sedentary most of the time are still at risk for cardiovascular disease and other health issues. It might also help you gain weight in your thighs too!

I can help you analyse your daily habits and sneak in ways to add some activity in spurts to help combat the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

T-Tapp's hoe-downs are a great way to break up a long period of sitting at your desk.

Here's a little video that explains how to do it...

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Quick guide to reading food labels

This little video will help you determine if something is a good choice pretty quickly.

I'd cut the sodium guideline to half the number of calories but this is still a good video.

Don't forget that the best foods are in the produce aisle and you don't have to worry about labels there :)

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Spring is here and I'm craving salads

The sun has been shining all weekend and I saw a fennel bulb in the grocery store with my name on it.

I love this easy salad that I make which is crisp, sweet and reminds me of spring and summer. You might want to try it when you want something other than your regular repetoire of salads.

Fennel & Orange salad

1 fennel bulb, sliced
1/4 red onion sliced, very thin
2 oranges
fresh crushed black pepper
red wine vinegar

Place the fennel and onion into a bowl. Cut the peel off the oranges making sure that you cut into the flesh and have no white pith on the orange. Do this over the bowl to catch any juice that may drip. Supreme the orange segments so no membrane is on the segments. Squeeze the remaining orange after you've placed all the segments in the bowl.

Add as much black pepper and red wine vinegar as you'd like.

That's it! The orange juice and vinegar are enough to dress this salad and the fennel has a wonder crisp anise taste.

Another salad that I love is bean salad. We have this popular recipe that was passed down throughout my family for ages but it includes oil, salt, sugar etc etc.

Over the years I cut a little here and removed a little there and now all I do to dress the salad is mix a little agave syrup (just a few spoons) with white vinegar and it's done. The key is to let it marinate for a while.

This week's version has lots and lots of green and yellow beans, some red kidney beans, chick peas, lima beans, green pepper, red onion and some black pepper.

Chipotle Black Bean & Sweet Potato Stew

I love trying new recipes...especially fast, easy and nutritarian ones.

I googled Chipotle Black Bean & Sweet Potato Stew after reading an article regarding male vegans or "hegans". I found this one that wasn't too complicated and was easily modified to fit into my whole food, plant based way of eating without added oil or salt.

All I did differently was I used no oil and water sauteed the onion instead. I also did not add salt.

It was so fast and easy and I love how the sweet potato balances the subtle yet spicy taste of the chipotle.

You HAVE to try this recipe no matter what your typical fare is. Trust me...it's great. I think it would be a wonderful filling for burritos too!

I'm pretty sure that those who resist healthy cooking would like this.

I've been eating it for lunch over a bunch of kale or steamed broccoli but some brown rice would be great too.

Let me know if you try it and whether or not you liked it as much as I did.

I love success stories

I find success stories so inspiring because they provide examples of real people who have been there/done that.

Here are two of my favourite success stories for both Eat to Live for Health and T-Tapp

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Charlotte is so inspiring because she has 12 kids, homeschools and still found the time to put herself first. I had the pleasure of being her room-mate at a T-Tapp retreat when she was in the midst of her transformation and it has been amazing to follow her progress. She shatters the excuse "I don't have time to exercise". If Charlotte could do it in as little as 15 minutes a day then anyone can!

I had the pleasure of meeting Emily last year. What a wonderful adventure to meet her and Dr. Fuhrman. Not only has she transformed into a radiant and vibrant woman but she is helping to spread the message of good health through eating a whole food, plant based diet like me...hooray for nutritarian living. One thing that is really inspiring is that Emily was faced with very difficult times in her journey and she chose to continue rather than throw her arms up in the air and giving up. Life is hard--healthy living helps you cope.

I hope you find both success stories as inspiring as I do.

Let me know how I can help you become the next success story. Click here to contact me and let's get the party started!

February Blues? What are you eating?

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of winter already…and we’ve had it pretty good so far this season. No huge snowfalls but still too dull, grey and cold for my taste. I love the carefree days of spring and summer. This time of year seems to bring out sad feelings in even the most chipper people I know. Although many don’t suffer from depression we might all get a mild case of the blues by the time February rolls in.

This too shall pass but I do want to highlight some interesting information about how your eating can help or hinder you right now. I know from personal experience if my eating, exercise or sleeping is off then I feel less “with it”. In order to perform my best I need all three. Right now I’m a little sleep deprived and I can feel it.

If you’ve embarked on a new diet or you’re still celebrating like it’s the holidays then you need to make sure that your diet is as whole, unprocessed and nutrient rich as possible. If you have a tendency to get sad or depressed check out this quote:

Three recent studies document that consumption of processed foods increase odds of depression, and not only that, but those high protein, high fat diets (high in animal products) are also linked with more depression.

You can get the full story here

I often tell my kids that when they get their first car they are going to be so proud and so careful. They won’t pour just anything into the tank; they’ll want high-quality fuel to ensure their new baby will run smoothly. Why do we treat our bodies with lower standards? (Note to self: Remember this when a strong Doritos craving hits)

I highly recommend Eat for Health or Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman as a mini nutrition education. You'll be amazed at how much you'll learn about the relationship between eating and your health.

Take care of yourself....if you don't, who will?

the whole family wants to eat healthy?...that's an adventure!!

Many times over the past seven years many have asked me if my whole family eats like me and sadly many times I have said..."No, not regularly." Over the years we have modified a lot...we have no cookies, chips, ice-cream, juice boxes, pudding cups, snacky-type things in the house for regular consumption. However, the guys still have lots of opportunities to eat stuff that I don't eat.

I eat a diet based primarily on fruits, veggies, beans and nuts with a few whole grains thrown in for good measure. Low sodium and no added oils too! I learned about this way of eating from Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his book Eat to Live. His most recent book Eat for Health is also very good and provides a more gradual approach to eating this way....more on that another day.

I have tried to share my knowledge with them over the years in a non-threatening way but I don't want to sugar-coat the facts. Well on Saturday night I told my son (mr. picky) that many kids his age (12) have the start of heart disease and he quickly exclaimed "I don't!" and when I said that chances are he does he was shocked.

When I advised the boys that daddy was considering eating better and that they would all have to no one seemed too bothered by the news. Folks...I'm trying not to get too excited...this has happened before.

So I quickly tried to figure out what to make on Sunday so that they'd start off the week enjoying the predominantly plant-based diet I had planned for them. What did I make? Here's what I made and what I had planned for it.

Ful Mesdames is a lovely fava bean dip/spread that goes well with pitas, served with veggie sticks or even in a tortilla wrap. I made a batch of this for lunches.

I made a carrot/chickpea salad for me - 4 big carrots grated or in thin match sticks, 1 can of chick peas (drained and rinsed) 1 tsp cumin, a few shakes of freshly ground pepper and juice of 1 1/2 lemons. I'll probably eat this with some of the fava beans on the side. I had some today with some left over coleslow too.

I threw together a soup with crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, mixed beans, celery, carrots, mushrooms, a pkg of frozen spinach....kind of like an ad hoc minestrone soup. This will be dinner on Wednesday and maybe Thursday along with a huge salad.

Black bean, corn and sweet potato burritos - Stir two cans of black beans, a can of corn and your favourite jar of salsa along with 1 to 2 tsp of chili powder. Set this aside. Steam and mash 3 large sweet pototoes. When they're done spread onto a whole wheat tortilla along with the bean mix. Roll it...Enclose it...or fold in half and put it under the broiler like a quessadila...everyone loved this for dinner after our 32 oz romaine lettuce salad.

Dinner for today and tomorrow for the guys was a Vegan Lasagne...it was shaped like one so I'm calling it that.

Isa's Vegan Lasagne

Saute - 1 onion, 1 stalk of celery, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 3 cloves of garlic chopped. When it's getting soft....

Add - 1 big zucchini chopped, 1 big carrot chopped, 4 or 5 mushrooms chopped (I love my Pampered Chef Chopper). Stir it around a bit then...

Add - 1 cup dried red lentils and 2 cups water.
Cook until the lentils are soft and mushy. The key here was to give the filling a kind of creamy texture that would give it some body rather than being just veggies.

When that's ready add a large can of your favourite spaghetti sauce or add a large can of crushed tomatoes along with one pkg of defrosted frozen, chopped spinach....or add it frozen...it's up to you.

Simmer this and add basil, oregano, rosemary, chili sauce or pepper depending on your preference. I added more garlic and some onion powder to make it tasty without added salt.

Cook a box of whole wheat lasagne noodles. I used 16 in total.

Then assemble like you would a regular lasagne with 3 layers of filling.

I baked it in the oven covered for about 20 mins then let it cool because we were planning on baking it a bit more today.

This was served with another huge salad and everyone was satisfied with one or two pieces...hence the leftovers will be for dinner tomorrow.

My dinner was just salad. I don't eat processed grains very often but I'm trying to make it as enjoyable as possible while increasing their veggie intake and decreasing their animal product intake.

If you're still with me...let me know what Eat to Live or Eat for Health type foods your family enjoys.

Soooo…how’s it going?

Can you believe January is almost done? Time certainly flew by.

What goals did you set for yourself this year? How are they coming along?

Have you forgotten what they were?

Here’s a little trick that will help you remember them AND follow through with them.

Create a calendar for each month and in each day add two little boxes. This is what you do each day…

1) Read your goals out loud and think of what three things you can do to get closer to achieving those goals. Put a check mark in the first box for the day.

2) Through-out the day take the three steps mentioned above.

3) At the end of the day review the goals and if you took the three steps put a check mark in the second box.

That’s it!

Would you believe it’s that simple?

Make sure to put the calendar in a spot that you see each morning and each night. For example, try a bathroom mirror, door or your bedroom door. The key is to have it visible.

Let me know how you’re doing and if you need help or more tricks I’d be happy to share.

Take care of yourself!

Happy New Year! Let's work together to make it a fantastic year!

Wow...the holidays flew by. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you're ready to hit the ground running.

Are you feeling a little bloated, disappointed and beating yourself up or are you ready to put the food indiscretions behind you and excited to get going on a new action plan to make this your healthiest, fittest and most fabulous year ever?

I'm not beating myself up...I had a great holiday and even though I planned some splurges I also had a few unplanned ones as well...hey...no one's perfect and I certainly am the first to admit it.

I am so excited about kicking things up a notch this year not only with myself but with you too. I know how great it feels to get everything lined up...eating, exercise and sleeping....let's work on this together so that we can really make it a fantastic year.

Check out the updated class and clinic schedule often and if a date or time doesn't work let me know and we can work something out.

Take care of yourself...if you don't who will?