Healthy Living

My Fave Health & Wellness Apps

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The iPhone has a massive list of health and wellness apps available, it is fairly overwhelming.  Some of the apps are really great and other ones are, meh, nothing to write home about but after a few years of trying out a variety of apps I have found a few that I love. Although I love Angry Birds (who doesn’t?) and Instagram, I’m not here to talk about them I want to discuss my favorite health and wellness apps, which include:

Couch to 5k (C25K)

When I first started running this was my go to app for my running workouts. I would recommend this app to anyone who is looking to start running, it is the perfect tool to help guide you to running a 5k. The Hubz and I both used this app to help us in preparing for our first 5k and I plan to use it again once this baby comes to help me get back to running.

RunKeeper Pro

Before I purchased my Garmin I used RunKeeper Pro to track my runs and walks.  It is great for tracking mileage and time.

Free Menstrual Calendar

This one is for the ladies! Once I went off BC I chose to track my menstrual cycles and possible fertile days.  I tried a few different apps at first but finally found the FMC app to be my favorite and I absolutely love this app and it was perfect for me.

21-Day Vegan Kickstart

The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart app gives you recipes and resources to improve and regain your health and includes step-by-step recipe photos (source).  Already being vegan I have not participated in the 21-Day program but I do love the app because it has really wonderful selection of healthy vegan recipes.

What are you favorite health and wellness apps? 

Workout Playlist: My Top 10 Songs

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My workout playlist could also be called my “guilty pleasure” playlist because it features songs that I wouldn’t normally listen to if I wasn’t getting my sweat on.

Pre-Pregnancy Body (I hope to see you again one day)

When I run I don’t listen to music unless I’m on the dreadmill but when I do any other workouts I love to have music to help me through my workout.

My Top 10 Songs:

  1. “Run This Town”- Jay Z
  2. “Dynamite” – Taio Cruz
  3. “Don’t Stop The Music” – Rihanna
  4. “Til The World Ends” – Britney Spears
  5. “Take Me To The Riot” – Stars
  6. “Amazing” – Kanye West
  7. “No One” – Alicia Keys
  8. “Daylight” – Matt & Kim
  9. “White Crosses” – Against Me
  10. “Feelin Fine” – Classified

 

What is on your workout playlist?

Quick, Cheap and Easy Meal

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Today I am doing a Living Healthy on A Budget workshop and in preparation for the workshop I decided to make a quick, cheap and easy meal of chickpea-quinoa salad, tofu and squash with tahini sauce. What I loved about this meal was how easy it came together and how little work it was for me. It is also packed with nutrition and uber tasty.

Chickpea Quinoa Salad 

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as en entree); 6-8 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving:~ $1.75 (Entree); ~$0.85-1.16 (side)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup  organic quinoa, rinsed +2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup organic scallions, sliced
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1/2 bunch organic fresh parsley, chopped
  • 2 cups cooked or canned organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Add quinoa and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.  Let stand 5 minutes.
  2. While the quinoa cools combine remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Add quinoa and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Delicata Squash

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes plus oven heating
  • Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving: $0.63
Ingredients:
  • 1 medium delicata squash; washed, halved, seeds removed and sliced into half moons
  • salt and pepper, taste

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat an oven to 350F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper
  2. Place the delicata squash slices on the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-30 minutes until fork tender.

Baked Tofu

  • Prep Time: 2 minutes plus oven heating
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving: $0.55
Ingredients:
  • 1 block extra firm organic tofu, drained and cut into 4 large triangles
  • 2 tablespoons organic shoyu

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat an oven to 350F.
  2. Place the tofu in an 8×8 baking dish, prick with a fork and evenly our over the shoyu.
  3. Bake for 25 minutes, flipping after 15 minutes.

Tahini Sauce

  • Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
  • Servings: 4 (as a side)
  • Cost per serving: ~$0.60
Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons water, add more water if you would like a thiner consistency
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Place in a blender or food processer and process until smooth.

Total Cost Per Serving: $2.63

(4 complete meals plus 2 extra sides of chickpea-quinoa salad)

{Giveaway} Beauty Without Cruelty

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Have you ever considered what is actually in your nail polish? Most nail polishes are filled with toxic ingredients, including phthalates, toluene, and formaldehyde. In addition to being filled with toxins many nail polishes, like other beauty products, are tested on animals.

Beauty Without Cruelty, a British based company, has spent over 40 years dedicating itself to creating natural, color cosmetics that are NOT tested on animals and do NOT contain any animal ingredients. In 1989, Beauty Without Cruelty was introduced in the United States and later that year natural skin care line was developed to compliment the color line from England. Today, Beauty Without Cruelty has a full line of cruelty-free, vegetarian skin, body, and hair care products made with the finest natural ingredients and aroma-therapeutic essential oils, and a full line of colour cosmetics to meet the needs of every woman.

My first experience with Beauty Without Cruelty was with their hair care products, which I absolutely love, so I was delighted when I was given the opportunity to try out one of their nail polishes from their Attitude collection.  I chose tangerine because it was not my normal colour and I thought it would be fun for summer.  As soon as the package arrived I  opened it up and tried it out right away.  I was impressed that I didn’t need to do a million layers to get the right shade and how quickly it actually dried. I have had so many “quick dry” nail polishes that always took forever to dry, but the BWC nail polish dried super fast.

The nail colour lasted, without chipping, for about five days.  For me this is impressive; most nail polishes that I use last me for about an hour before I chip them.  Overall I was impressed by the colour and quality of the nail polish and have already asked my husband for three more colours for my birthday.

Giveaway Details:
Winner receives 1 Attitude Nail Colour, in a shade of their choosing.

– 2 Winners total

– US residents only

Giveaway is open until August 6th at 8pm EST. CLOSED.


Giveaway requirements:

  • Visit the BWC website and tell me which colour of nail polish you would pick. (Mandatory)
  • Become friends/follow BWC on facebook. (Mandatory)
Leave one comment telling me your colour choice AND that you follow BWC on facebook.

Additional Entries:

Leave one comment for each additional entry.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: Beauty Without Cruelty provided me with a sample of their products to review and giveaway, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway.

Goodbye July, Hello August

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Neil and I spent the last weekend in July enjoying an outdoor concert, a trip to the pool and working. Yes, working.  We have been gone almost every weekend this summer and August looks like it will be that way too so we tried to catch up on a number of different projects. I was going to take the weekend off from blogging but then I remembered that I needed to write my Thrive in 30 post, so that went up yesterday. Although we did work a bunch this weekend, we did find time to relax and enjoy ourselves since it was the weekend.

Friday: Coffee, Coffehouse Games & Live Music

Beautiful Coffee.

Game- Barista. Even though I worked a summer as a Barista, I failed horribly at this game.

Bright Eyes & The Mountain Goats at Shelburne Museum Concert on The Green

Saturday: Pool Party and A New Beverage

Relaxing by the Burlington Tennis Club Pool

New Beverage. It was meh okay, not great.

Sunday: Work Day, Raw Muesli & Iced Tea

Homemade Raw Muesli. It was good until I put a gross almond milk on it (different brand than I usually buy).

Yummy Iced Tea. I made two other flavors too.

How did you spend your last weekend of July 2011?

Now it’s August and I have been thinking about goals.

My August 2011 Goals:

1. Stick to Pre-Training Plan.  Two 30-45 minute runs and one mileage run per week PLUS two-three days of strength training and at least one day of yoga.

2. Meal Plan.  I have been really thrown off lately with our schedules and our CSA when it comes to meal planning and I want to get back on track.  I do so much better when our meals are planned out ahead of time.

3. Organize my kitchen.  I love to create recipes but lately it’s been difficult because I feel like our kitchen is so unorganized. It’s time to go through and reorganize and purge. I should rather say just get organized in general because I need to organize all the rooms in our house and my personal, blog and health coaching things. 

4. Early to bed, Early to Rise. I would like to be in bed by 9pm to read and lights out by 10pm.  I would like to be up and out of bed by 5am.  I used to be in bed by 8:30p and up by 4:30/5a most mornings but since we have become more social I’ve been going to bed too late and getting up too late.  I am so much more productive in the morning too.

5. Read two books. This one goes with goal number four. 

What are your goals for August? 

Thoughts on Thrive in 30

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Thirteen days ago I signed up for the Thrive in 30 program, a 30 day program with Brendan Brazier that provides you with the tips and tools to achieve optimum health and vitality. The Thrive in 30 program teaches you:

  • How to combat stress using whole, plant-based foods and high net-gain nutrition
  • The whole food truth about protein, fats and carbs— and how balancing your diet will help you build a younger body
  • How you can alkalize your body’s pH to combat disease, improve sleep and lose weight
  • What superfoods to use to balance hormones, detoxify body or lower cholesterol
  • How to identify common foods that cause unexplained, mystery illnesses
  • How to use nutrition to strategically fuel your body so you’ll have greater endurance, maximize the return from your workouts and recover faster
  • Why nutrition, exercise and sleep are the secret to empowered mental health
  • Long-term strategies that will help you transform your health for life

The first task is to Examine your current diet (I did wrote this on July 18, 2011- my start date) and write a list of all the things you eat that you think might be taking away from your energy or aren’t supporting your health and fitness goals. Mine are as follows:

  • Wheat/Gluten. I am a huge bread lover.  I could easily sit and eat a whole loaf by myself (don’t worry I don’t) but I also know I don’t feel great after I do. This is a challenge for me but I know if I was to reduce the amount of bread, crackers, pasta, ect. that I eat I would feel better.
  • Soy.  I actually don’t eat nearly as much soy as I once did but lately I find it sneaking into our grocery cart more often.  As much as I love soy products and tofu my stomach doesn’t agree.
  • Alcohol. I am a huge beer lover. I notice a big difference in my energy and body in the morning even after only having one beer.  I have been doing pretty well at staying at a two beer max, usually only having one beer, but still more per week than I’d like.  My goal here is to not drink at all on nights before runs because that is when I feel like it effects me the most so that would limit consumption down to 3-5 alcoholic drinks max per week.

In addition to breaking these habits/crowding them out of my diet. Thrive in 30 suggests the following five tools to make the most of this program (I’m not going to reveal everything so you’ll have to sign up yourself to find out more):

  • Eat throughout the day
  • Drink a nutritious smoothie each day
  • Eat a big green salad every day
  • Eat a raw energy bar every day
  • Eat a substantial, balanced afternoon snack

As part of the Thrive in 30 you receive an email every few days with a lesson filled with important information, tips and tools on how to make achieve optimal health. I just received lesson 7 of 12 and so far I have found the lessons informative and helpful.

Each lesson has a specific topic that is covers and a short video clip featuring an informative video lesson by Brendan Brazier.  Below the video there is information regarding the topic followed by take-away points and finally how you can take action. Since starting this program I have:

  • Lesson 1: Stress & Diet
    • I have reduced my intake of processed and convenience foods by eating more fruit and vegetable snacks.
    • I have reduced stimulants such as coffee by reducing the amount of coffee I drink to 3-5 cups per week.
  • Lesson 2: High Net-Gain Nutrition
    • I have added even more high net-gain foods (whole foods, raw foods, superfoods, alkaline forming foods) to my already highly nutritious diet by adding blueberries to my oatmeal, taking a chlorella supplement and adding sea vegetables to my salad.
  • Lesson 3: Myth-Busting
    • I didn’t get as much out of this lesson because I am vegan, I add flax to my oatmeal, I bake with natural sweeteners and whole wheat flours and I love to top by salad with hemp seeds and flax (all suggestions in lesson 3).
  • Lesson 4: Alkaline v. Acid
    • In this lesson you are to rate the amount of alkaline versus acidic foods that you are eating.  I found that I regularly eat 25 out of the 32 alkaline-forming foods listed and 3 (coffee, peanuts, chocolate) out of the 21 acid-forming foods. The other suggestion is to be more active which I feel that I can always be a little more but I am fairly active running on average 8-12 miles per week as well as doing cross training 2-3 times per week.
  • Lesson 5: Digestion
    • In this lesson it is suggested that you regularly eat high fiber foods, which as a vegan I eat tons high fiber foods such as leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and legumes.  The other action that is suggested is to take a probiotic.  This I actually do not take a vegan-friendly probiotic supplement but I do often use brown rice miso (a whole food source probiotic) and Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer in my smoothies.
  • Lesson 6: Superfoods
    • I include a number of superfoods in my diet including maca, chlorella, hemp, flax, dark leafy greens, quinoa, sprouts and coconut.
  • Lesson 7: Food Sensitivities
    • I have reduced my soy, gluten and wheat intake after noticing the negative affects on my digestion. As a vegan I already don’t eat dairy so I can cross that allergen off my list.  I have not yet removed corn or yeast but besides nutritional yeast I do not eat much else.

Overall I think that this program is great for those who are looking to jump start a healthy lifestyle.  The tips and lessons are laid out in a way that is easy to follow.  The program is great for different learners as well because it has a visual element, written and then action to help implement the tips and tools suggested. As a vegan who tries to live a healthy lifestyle already I found that many of the actions where things that I already do, however there is always room for improvement.  As a health coach I found that most of the information is similar to what I discuss with my own clients and has provided me with some new ways of approaching various topics.  So far I am finding Thrive in 30 to be a great resource filled with great tips and tools to jump start a healthy lifestyle.

Interested in starting Thrive in 30? You can sign up free here: http://thrivein30.com/sign-up-now/

Thrive in 30: Day 1

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I have just signed up for the Thrive in 30 and I am really excited to participate in the program.  I am hoping to learn new tips and techniques that I can then go back and use to help my health coaching clients as well as bring back to you through healthy living posts.  Based on the introduction this program contains similar information that I already teach in 6 month program which is great and will really help me to expand more and learn new ways to support my clients.

The first task is to Examine your current diet and write a list of all the things you eat that you think might be taking away from your energy or aren’t supporting your health and fitness goals. Mine are as follows:

  • Wheat/Gluten. I am a huge bread lover.  I could easily sit and eat a whole loaf by myself (don’t worry I don’t) but I also know I don’t feel great after I do. This is a challenge for me but I know if I was to reduce the amount of bread, crackers, pasta, ect. that I eat I would feel better.
  • Soy.  I actually don’t eat nearly as much soy as I once did but lately I find it sneaking into our grocery cart more often.  As much as I love soy products and tofu my stomach doesn’t agree.
  • Alcohol. I am a huge beer lover. I notice a big difference in my energy and body in the morning even after only having one beer.  I have been doing pretty well at staying at a two beer max, usually only having one beer, but still more per week than I’d like.  My goal here is to not drink at all on nights before runs because that is when I feel like it effects me the most so that would limit consumption down to 3-5 alcoholic drinks max per week.

In addition to breaking these habits/crowding them out of my diet. Thrive in 30 suggests the following five tools to make the most of this program (I’m not going to reveal everything so you’ll have to sign up yourself to find out more):

  • Eat throughout the day
  • Drink a nutritious smoothie each day
  • Eat a big green salad every day
  • Eat a raw energy bar every day
  • Eat a substantial, balanced afternoon snack
To learn more about this program and/or participate yourself visit the Thrive in 30 site.