Healthy Eating

The best recipes, advice and products for a healthy lifestyle!

Weight Loss

An Easy Trick to Cut Calories Without Even Trying

Calories matter in weight loss. Current diets focus on protein, older diets focused on carbs, and who knows what future diets will focus on. But at the end of the day, calories do matter in weight loss. Although I didn’t count calories very often when I was losing weight, I had a very good sense of how many calories were in a serving of foods because I was an avid label reader and measured my portions until I knew exactly how much food was in a serving. I…

Across the Bay 12k Race Report (and weekend recap)

[PSA: “like” my blog’s Facebook page to get tips and updates on my blog posts in your news feed.]It’s Sunday and I am, yet again, exhausted. This is likely going to be my shortest race report ever. But before I get to that, a quick recap of the day prior. I arrived at Sonoma Mission Inn on Friday evening. My mom, aunt and sister were already there. Two generations of sisters, what could be more fun?? They’d already had a few drinks when I arrived so I had a quick couple glasses of champagne and was soon in the festive …

No walls, no roof.

Happy Monday, friends! This weekend was fairly low-key. Carlos played poker on Friday night so after I hit the gym, I came home and hung out with Iggy, and a dog we watched for about 1.5 weeks, Rico. I took the dogs for a walk and just cannot wait until all the snow melts because the dogs get so dirty walking around outside and then track it all through the house, even though I have…

Colloidal Silver Gel: Non-Toxic Deodorant Alternative

First, I first gave you the facts, benefits and risks of Colloidal Silver. Yup. And now comes a true story that’s straight from the pits… the armpits, that is. Out of nowhere, my armpits started itching on a Tuesday. Oh yes they wuz. And by Thursday? The itching was so intense I almost clawed my pits raw. Trust me when I tell you I was just about ready to go completely mental over the situation. I was extremely agitated and highly uncomfortable. If I didn&#…

The Power of No – Weekly Weigh In

If you did not have a chance to read Tuesday’s post…do it, now!  I will wait… So, you know that my friend Heidi asked me to not eat sweets with her for a while.  Of course I was hesitant at first but then, once the decision was made, the decision was made. …

Advice for a Vegetable and Fruit Hater Who’s Been out of the Game So Long

I’ve been reading since the beginning…I found you from spark people years ago when trying to lose after my first child. I lost doing WW (Weigh Watchers) back then using all packaged products. I then had another child and undid all my progress, and also decided to return to school, further distracting me from losing weight. While I’ve followed you the whole time, and saw your transformation to a more healthy lifestyle, I just spectated and was happy for you. Now, I’m finally about to graduate (at 31), so I’ve went back to WW, but the …

Misty Shaffer 100 pound loss in weight: Army vet’s wife shares dieting secrets

For Misty Shaffer, a 100-pound loss in weight is astonishing, and that’s putting it nimbly.

Essential Oils for Weight loss & Healing

Essential Oils for Weight loss & Healing I had a fun opportunity to try some essential oils from Puritan’s Pride (they sent me free product to test and I’m an affiliate as well).  I received Peppermint and Eucalyptus 100{967bf23b37ec6a673a83041540b3f904a815b4119ddf673afb961c1e7592ebdd} essential oils plus a plug in diffuser and a bottle of Wonder Oil. Essential oils serve various purposes. Many of …

Turning Wine Back Into Water – How Hydration Is Your Best Friend

Guest post We all know that we should probably be upping our water intake. 2 litres a day has become something of a health mantra and, following the indulgences of the festive season, “drink more water” is likely to be one of the main players on the New Year’s resolutions list. But do we fully understand why water is so important to our health and well being, and what the impacts are of not getting enough? Many of us wait until we are thirsty before we reach for the bottle of water. However, evidence suggests that our thirst sensation doesn’t actually occur until we are 1- 2{967bf23b37ec6a673a83041540b3f904a815b4119ddf673afb961c1e7592ebdd} dehydrated, and by this time it may already be having a negative impact on how our body and mind perform. On …

A New Chapter in the Book of Love

Hey guys! I mentioned it briefly in my Expo West recap, but I want to document it here so that when I’m old and suffering from memory loss, I can come here and troll for glimpses into these special moments This past Sunday, my boyfriend and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. It was the Sunday after Expo West, so all I wanted to do was lounge around. He got me a fancy new beach cruiser as a gift and we went to drop off my old bike at my mom’s since she didn’t have one. There were no signs that he was going to propose, except for one little thing: he did not get me a card…

Weekend Mash Up

Without any big projects on tap right now, it was a weekend to do whatever we felt like whenever we felt like it! I started off with a good workout at the gym: Exercise Set/rep/weight Plank 3 sets of holds for 60 seconds each Prone Cobra 3 sets of holds for 60 seconds each Lateral raise with external rotation 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs Overhead Squat 3 sets of…

Four miles. First sweaty miles of the year. Here comes summer!

Four miles. First sweaty miles of the year. Here comes summer!

Is Our Obesogenic Environment Making It Hard to Lose Weight?

The term obesogenic has been around for a while, but I haven’t seen it being used in mainstream media until recently. What is an obesogenic environment? A publication from the University of Nevada indicates that an obesogenic environment is one that helps or contributes to obesity.  In other words, how our neighborhoods are set up, the food in schools, the availability of food, the number of restaurants, the cost of food, our sedentary lifestyle, etc. all contribute to obesity. In thinking about this term, I thought a lot about the cultural environment we live in and pondered how our environment does contribute to the obesity rates in the United States and in other parts of the world. I read…

Mashed Potato Dust

[PSA: “like” my blog’s Facebook page to get tips and updates on my blog posts in your news feed.]Moments ago I was struck with a craving for chocolate. Not so bad that I opened the bag of chocolate chips (that are patiently awaiting my next batch of chocolate chip cookies), but bad enough that I dug into the last unused party favor from Marek’s birthday and ate the Lego shaped chocolate favors. It’s better than eating ice cream, which is what I did last night. That reminds me, I need to unload that ice cream (also leftover from the party).My overall eating remains just ok. As I’ve hinted at a few times, I’m going through some life transition stuff …

whoa there, wine-o!

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I changed up my coffee consumption which has been going well. But now, it has become obvious that isn’t the only beverage consumption I need to change. I’m going to need to switch up my wine consumption. As in, WHOA THERE, WINE-O! Here’s the deal… I enjoy going home and having a glass of wine. A glass of wine is no problem. Going home, pouring a glass of red wine and sipping on that glass of wine while I’m cooking dinner. Zipping around the kitchen, going from chopping to sautéing, from stirring sauces to plating dishes, all while I sip …

Greedy Recipe! Easy Mashed Fake-tatoes

Why should breast implants, hair weaves and Monopoly money have all the fun? In world of imitators, this is a damn good bowl of Fake-tatoes. You’re gonna go wild for the stuff. I promise. click on image to enlarge the tastiness  MASHED FAKE-TATOES serves 3-4 hungry stomachs 1 large head cauliflower coconut oil (amount will vary) white cooking wine onion powder garlic powder pepper sea salt DIRECTIONS Cut cauliflower into large florets and boil all until tender. Transfer strained florets to large bowl for mashing. Substitute coconut oil for the same amount of butter you would normally use in a regular mashed potato recipe. Generously sprinkle in onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and sea salt. Splash in a tiny …

Top 10 Trader Joes Healthy Food Picks

Hi, my name is Jacynta and I’m having an affair with TJ! So, I have a love affair with a guy named Joe. Trader Joe to be exact! Shhh, don’t tell my hubby although he’s seen his name quite a few times on the AmEx! You see, all my clients know that I’m constantly saying, “Have your tried this or this from Trader Joes?” I love everything about the place. First, it is easy to shop there because they have no gimmicks! There are no BOGO’s! Thank God! The prices are amazing and you don’t have to cut coupons or be …

Note to Self…

Good work keeping yourself accountable with the food journal. You needed a little structure. Nice job rearranging your schedule to get a trip to the gym in even though your morning routine was disrupted. And finally, it’s time to start running again. You’ve given your leg plenty of time to heal. Sneak in at least a mile

Losing 50 Pounds on the Atkins Diet

Kristine, age 21, is elated that she’s lost about 50 pounds. Two years ago she weighed 174 pounds and was wearing black clothes everyday to look thinner. Her mood was bad and she often felt fatigued.That’s when she decided to try the low-carb Atkins diet. The Atkins diet doesn’t ask you to count calories or watch your portions. It does severely restrict your carbohydrate intake. She was able to eat all the protein she wanted and never felt hungry.The pounds started dropping off and when the weight loss started to plateau, she also added exercise. Now, two years later she weighs 125 pounds and in the best shape of her life. She feels very joyful to be so healthy now. See

Saturated dairy fats don’t cause heart attacks: study

Dairy UK has welcomed a study, published by the University of Cambridge this week, which says there is not enough evidence to support heart health guidelines for a diet low in saturated fat.

National Strawberry Day!

It’s National Strawberry Day. Everyone around here loves strawberries especially our granddaughter.  My personal favorite is fresh strawberries but frozen will do in a pinch. I even have a Pinterest board on Everything Strawberries.  I could use a lot more healthy strawberry pins so if you have a recipe or know of any healthy strawberry recipes, comment away. I would love to fill that board up. My favorite way to use strawberries is on top of waffles with Greek yogurt or in a smoothie. Or a delicious, simple and healthy dessert is a couple strawberries and a banana. Yum!  So refreshing. The Eating Well online magazine has some delicious healthy strawberry…

Losing Pain and 60 Pounds

Congrats to Teri who lost sixty pounds seven years ago and has maintained this weight loss since then. She says she used to be a yo-yo dieter all her life and had tried many diets. “I had a stressful career, and my position required excessive travel. I was home on average of three days a month, and mostly I wined and dined for a living (sounds tough, doesn’t it?). When the weight creeps on at five pounds a year, it doesn’t seem so bad. At least not …