On eating meat
photo by Kevin Dooley I, Andie Mitchell, am crazy about animals. So let’s start there. I’m one of those annoying people who emails friends with the latest video of a squirrel and a duck playing together. I can’t pass a dog on the street without breaking into a wide-eyed grin and saying hello in this really crazy, babyish voice (absolutely as terrible as it sounds). I cry when I pass a dead raccoon on the side of the road. Just a month and a half ago, I found a teeny tiny mouse, …
Sorbetto Mimosas
Yield:Serves 1Ingredients 2 Tbsp. sorbetto, choice of flavors 1/2 cup champagne or sparkling wine fresh berries, mint, or fruit for garnish InstructionsClick Here to see the rest of the instructions
Don’t Let Your Dream Die Inside of You
By Dr. Shauntel Peak-Jimenez – If you have a dream bubbling in your heart, what are you doing to move forward? It is time for you to stop simply dreaming, and start becoming your dream. How do you become your dream? You have amazing gifts and talents that God has placed inside of you. But […]
Serenity Stewart: A Near-Death Experience Inspired Her To Chase A Dream
It took a brain aneurysm to literally knock some sense into her head, says 56-year-old contemporary jazz artist Serenity Stewart. The single mother of four was living on the working mother’s treadmill of putting in long hours at her daytime office job and then working even longer hours managing her family’s needs. Her own dream […]
Nutrition Tip: You Eat What You Buy.
You’ve probably heard someone say, “Out of sight, out of mind.” The meaning behind this idiom is simple. If you don’t see or hear about something, you’ll stop thinking about it. And when applied to nutrition, this strategy can prove extremely powerful. If your pantry, cupboards and refrigerator are stocked with unhealthy options like chips, […]
The Old Belief about Vegetarian Food is no Longer Valid
In todays world there are still a lot of people who believe in that stigma about vegetarian foods that it has no taste but this belief is without merit in these years. People are doing great things with with vegetarian…
Vegetarian Food Pyramid
When it comes to vegetarian nutrition, it is always a big subject to provide sufficient nutrients required for our body. The vegetarian food pyramid provides us with good chances of achieving that. However, there are three things that you need…
Vegetarian Food Diet
Many people around the world are slowly moving away from a daily meat-based diet. More and more people are becoming vegetarians. A vegetarian does not eat meat, poultry, fish or their by-products. A vegan is a vegetarian who does not…
Vegetarian food Variety
Actually so many foods that can be eaten or eaten by the Vegetarian. Not like that envisioned in the minds of people who think that if we are vegetarians we would lack nutrients and vitamins from all the food that…
Delicious & Nutritious Food
At one time, the vegetarian diet was not widely known or accepted. Vegetarians were seen as a fringe group composed of odd people. Thanks to several outspoken vegetarians and vegetarian advocacy groups, the concept of a vegetarian diet doesn’t seem…
Being a vegetarian
People choose to be vegetarians for many reasons and many vegetarian families are indeed knowledgeable as to their family’s nutritional requirements. But handling vegetarian diets to ensure that all the major nutrients are being met can be a challenge for…
Giveaway: Rick Hanson’s Hardwiring Happiness and The FBG’s Anti-Diet Book!
By Crabby McSlacker
So today we have a giveaway featuring 3 copies of each of these fine books…
So SIX Winners!
Plus the giveaway includes Canadians!
And yeah, this is the weirdest blog post formatting ever, and I shudder to think what happens on a mobile phone, but I couldn’t figure out any other way to not put one book “on top” and the other “below.”
Both are well-written helpful books by writers I’m already quite fond of: The “Fit Bottomed Girls,” (Jennipher Walters and Erin Whitehead), and Rick Hanson. So it would bug me not to treat them equally–even though I know the authors themselves don’t give a f… um, fig! who goes on top.
At first glance these titles might seem to have nothing to do with one another. So one might wonder why on earth I’ve combined them for this giveaway. (Aside from the fact they have the same publisher, which I did NOT know until after I already decided to put them together.)
But there’s actually something interesting they have in common:
It’s The Whole Mind vs Body Thing!
Ostensibly, The Fit Bottomed Girls Anti-Diet is about how to improve your Body.
While Hardwiring Happiness is about how to improve your Mind.
But what I love about these authors is that they, like clever Cranky Fitness readers, are hip to the fact that the whole Mind/Body division is a false dichotomy. Right?
The Fit Bottomed Girls do not approach “getting the body you love” as many so many diet/fitness books do: solely as a series of things to eat or not eat, and a list of exercises to do or not do. They emphasize all the mental aspects of healthy living, from motivation to self acceptance to avoiding self-defeating behaviors to bonding with others.
And likewise, Rick Hanson’s approach to rewiring your brain to achieve greater happiness and peace of mind is so powerful in large part because he incorporates basic physiology into his explanations and simple practices. When you can actually appreciate the ways that changing your thoughts and behaviors can change your body’s chemistry and your brain’s very structure, it offers a much more grounded, science-based framework for embarking on psychological self-improvement. (Which can help you feel much less like an ass if you tend to feel self-conscious when embarking on any woo-woo personal growth stuff).
Anyway, to get a little more specific:
The Fit Bottomed Girls ANTI-DIET Book:
- There are a LOT of great ideas for how to be more fit and healthy, improve your body image, and live a more balanced life.
- Much of this advice can help you lose weight if that’s a goal, but it never feels like a restrictive, bossy, scoldy “diet” or “weight loss” book.
- The steps are broken down into 10 minute fixes so you can pick and choose where to focus and not get totally overwhelmed.
- The tips and discussions are all based on either science or common sense. So you can actually trust what you read and not find yourself rolling your eyes at crazypants notions or insanely unrealistic advice.
- The focus is positive and empowering.
- But there is a lot of acknowledgement of the real challenges and difficulties involved in changing old habits, and there are tons of real-life practical strategies that can help.
And guess what? The book is not officially launched yet, and doesn’t go on sale ’til May, so if you win, you will get to read an advance copy! You will be first on your block!
But if you don’t win, consider pre-ordering the Anti-Diet book because you get a bonus free thing! The FBGs “Little Book of 10-Minute Fixes and Recipes.”
Rick Hanson’s Hardwiring Happiness
Hardwiring Happiness is one you definitely want in your library! A few reasons:
- More happiness, contentment, calm and confidence? What’s not to like?
- There is a solid scientific foundation for all of the suggestions and practices, so you can feel reassured you are not dealing with some screwy new-age nutball, but rather with a respected authority in neuropsychology.
- Yet all the sciencey things are explained and translated in a very approachable way and feel very common sense and graspable.
- There are lots of specific, simple practices to choose from. You can dabble or dive in!
- Rick writes beautifully, and incorporates many real life examples you can relate to. Plus he has a sense of humor about his own challenges and foibles and does not come across like some “I’ve got all the answers” a–hole.
- There is no pretense that this is all easy or quick, and sometimes Rick can almost read your mind in terms of anticipating obstacles, objections, and potential slackitude.
- The book made the NY Times best-seller list, and there’s a reason for that.
But probably most importantly:
This stuff really works.
I know because I’ve been following Rick for a few years now.
And while I’m still a quirky cranky contentious creature, I am WAY happier as a result of taking his advice and working hard (well, for a McSlacker) at the practices he suggests.
And also, before we get to the giveaway stuff a quick nod to… Books for Better Living which I discovered through the publisher of both these fine books. It’s not just a marketing vehicle, and in fact is extremely quiet about any books that might be available by some of their knowledgeable contributors. But it has some really useful content on meditation, fitness, food, relationships, happiness etc., so check it out!
Giveaway Rules:
Has anyone ever noticed I run the weirdest giveaways on the web? If sponsors are silent on details, I like to rig things to encourage both random fly-by commenters but also, if I have multiple copies, sneakily rig things to favor those who actually put some effort into the whole commenting process, either in this post or in general. I do that by creating a small pool of finalists based on merit, and then randomly choose from that pool.
Note: this extremely generous giveaway could be horribly humiliating if I have more book copies than entrants! I rarely get more than a couple dozen comments on giveaways anymore, and that often includes me pumping it up.
So, here’s the deal:
1. One copy of each book will be given totally at random, so if you just put down any kind of comment, you can win.
But additionally…
2. One copy of each book will be set aside for those who report some sort of sharing activity–twitter, facebook etc. While this sharing slightly decreases your chances of random winning if it brings in more entrants, it hugely boosts your overall odds of winning because almost NO ONE ever bothers to do this and you will be in a very small subgroup!
3. And finally, one copy of each book will set aside for those who put some thought into their comment and let me know why they’d want a free copy of the book.
Giveaway winners will be announced a week from today, on Weds the 26th (which, holy crap, is the day I take off on the first leg of my trip, yikes!) based on comments made by sometime Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.
Are any of you guys working on your Body or your Mind or Both? Wanna Free Book?
Quinoa & Black Bean Bowl with Blood Orange Sriracha Vinaigrette
Lately we’ve been hooked on easy, throw-together meals here at Casa de EBF and bowls of all sorts have been happening. So what’s a bowl? Well… I make big batches of things that keep well (grains, beans, cooked veggies, etc.), toss them in a bowl, top with a sauce and call it a meal. As you […]
The post Quinoa & Black Bean Bowl with Blood Orange Sriracha Vinaigrette appeared first on Eating Bird Food.
How To Use Thoughts That Hold You Back
Ever had a negative thought? Then you’ll know that negative thinking can prevent you from being happy, trying new things and achieving your potential, as well as many other drawbacks. One of the most serious and life damaging effects it can have is to hold you back from doing things that you actually want to […]
Contest for bloggers, reviewers, social media gurus and extraordinary people.
Review one of the books and win an iPad and a weekend in sunny Florida! To win: Write a minimum of 250 word review on one of the books on Amazon or Goodreads.com or a blogpost. Additionally, to increase your chances: tweet, share on Facebook what you like about the book or engage on other […]
Ways to Keep Your Wits When the Children Are Unruly
Ken Myers – It can be exceptionally hard work being a parent. At times the level of frustration you feel can be almost overwhelming. For a parent with multiple children near the same age group, the complications can easily multiply. However, you need to keep your wits about you for the sake of the children. […]
Workshop Journal: Athens, Greece
Last weekend I traveled to Athens, Greece for the second time conducting an Ashtanga yoga workshop. I loved the Greek people and the country before and this second time it only reaffirmed my experience and love for this amazing place. Of course the lan…
Ginger for Recovery from Kidney Disease
Having a daughter that suffers from Kidney disease means that I have done a lot of research into the causes and effects of different alternative therapies for Kidney disease. Sadly, for us this is not an issue as Taylor has inherited a bad gene from both my wife and I so most therapies would not […]
The post Ginger for Recovery from Kidney Disease appeared first on Fitness Tips for Life.
You Are Not Broken
Friend, from the very beginning, you were not broken.
You were not born into sin. You were not destined for the spiritual garbage heap. There was never anything fundamentally missing from your life.
You just thought that there was. Others tried to convince you that you were not good enough, because they too felt not good enough. In your innocence, and with no evidence to the contrary, you believed them. So you spent all those years trying to fix, purify and perfect yourself. You sought power, wealth, fame and even enlightenment to prove your worth as a ‘me’. You compared yourself to other versions of ‘me’, and always felt inferior or superior, and it all became so exhausting, trying to reach those unreachable goals, trying to live up to some image that you didn’t even fully believe in anyway, and you longed for the deep rest of yourself.
But you were always perfect, you see, from the very beginning. Perfect in your total imperfection. Your imperfections, your quirks, your flaws, your weirdnesses, your unique and irreplaceable flavours, were what made you so loveable, so human, so real, so relatable. Even in your imperfection, you were always a perfect expression of life, a beloved child of the universe, a complete work of art, unique in all the world and deserving of all the riches of life.
It was never about being a perfect ‘me’. It was always about being perfectly Here, perfectly yourself, in all your divine strangeness.
“Forget your perfect offering”, Leonard Cohen sings. “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
(Jeff Foster)
I Followed My Dream
By Miriam B Medina – “Almost no goal is impossible of attainment if you can accept it as being within the realms of possibility” –Jack Addington I always loved to sing, act and dance, as far back as I can remember. Coming from a financially limited family of nine, including seven children and my parents, […]
Three Annoying Questions for Gigi of Gigi Eats Celebrities!
Interview By Crabby McSlacker
Our next victim for “3 Annoying Questions” is the hilariously healthy Gigi at Gigi Eats Celebrities. Her videos and blog posts on celebrity diets, fitness trends, and other aspects of healthy or deranged living are so fun and informative that we can almost forgive her for being all gorgeous and talented and clearly destined to be a big-time celebrity herself. So please welcome Gigi as she bravely fields Crabby’s “3 Annoying Questions!”
Ready Gigi?
1. Which celebrity would you currently most like to eat and why?
For the obvious reasons (well to me at least) I would adore the chance to sink my teeth into Ryan Reynolds. I mean, his lean muscle mass would be the perfect fuel.
We all know protein is necessary in any diet, so let me grab my bib and then head on over to the TMZ headquarters so I can get an exact on his location!
2. What was the most atrocious experiment you ever undertook for the sake of your fans?
It’s a toss up between bungee jumping into a pool full of molasses and falling off an elephant while trying to balance a pumpkin on my head. Okay, just kidding… However, if my little web show gets a bigger budget, these scenarios could turn into reality!
But since I am working within my means at this current point in time, I think I am going to have to offend Coolio. Sorry “gangsta in paradise” but… The “Coolio tricked out tilapia,” was not so good… I assume it would taste like Lindsey Lohan if you smothered her in tomato sauce and beer.
Maybe I can blame the cod I substituted for the tilapia, since, if you watched my video, that fish is the mirror image of Courtney Love on drugs. That being said, the recipe did make for a good video, and Coolio’s music will forever be pure and utter genius to me!
By the way, my favorite quote by the rapper turned “chef”:
“My mom’s fried chicken would literally put on tennis shoes and run the f*** into your mouth.”
Coolio, you need to work on making yo mama proud!
3. Did you ever have any of your videos go horribly awry, and if so are there any humiliating links or outtakes?
I find it to be quite a compliment that you don’t think the videos I post are just compilations of outtakes! I am definitely not a one shot Sally over here… My neighbors can attest to this. I honestly believe they think I am hexa-polar (aka: have 6 personalities) and you know what? At this point, I don’t think I could defend myself against their beliefs!
While I never get embarrassed, I have to say my shoving a heaping spoonful of turmeric into my wide-open trap was pretty horrific. I would not even force my worst enemy (if I had any) into such torture. For some reason though, I did not film what erupted after I tried to swallow. The cinnamon challenge has nothing on the turmeric challenge video.
Thanks so much Gigi! So anyone want say hi to Gigi or any of her six personalities?
Financial Goal Setting: How to Create a Plan to Get What You Want
James Torres – Life requires planning, and we all know how to do that. If you want to become a doctor, take a vacation or throw a dinner party, you make a plan; you figure out the steps to take and resources to use to achieve your objective. So why do so few of us […]
