Alright people, it’s time to make 2015 awesome! Here’s a detox salad that helped me & my body fight off the negative effects of all the sugar indulged in over the holidays. There’s just been too much sugar and too little vitamins a bit too often in the holiday meals. This salad is a perfect detox lunch, because it: 1) is easy to prepare, 2) contains fresh (green) veggies, 3) is easy to bring along, 4) gives a feeling of satiety for hours. Spinach is an important source of zinc. Zinc is an important mineral for a healthy immune system. Bell pepper is a good source of vitamin C, equally important…
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Foods to Eat to Maintain a Healthy Weight + Prevent Obesity
The holiday season might be a strange time to write about limiting calorie intake but, you don’t want to wake up in January 20 pounds heavier than you were last year. Obesity is a dangerous future for all of us unless we take active steps in maintaining a healthy weight. I like to start every year fresh with some good New Year’s Resolutions. What about you? For those of you who are into detox during the holidays, I found a cool and tasty way to do that here. BMI & OBESITY The World Health Organisation definition of obesity is based on a person’s Body Mass Index, which is the…
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How to Look Your Best this Christmas & NYE naturally!
I LOVE WINTER TIME AND ALL THE HOLIDAYS IT BRINGS. What I don’t love are the magazines targeting the female population, trying to convince us that we can only look like a million bucks this holiday/Christmas/New Year if we spend a million bucks on glittery make-up (which we won’t wear on any other occasion), clothes (which we’re supposed to fit into after eating Christmas dinner), hair products (that are so hot right now) etcetera etcetera. Boo! This is not true. NOT TO SAY THAT I DON’T LOVE GLITTER, because I do. But to claim that beauty comes from the outside is wrong on so many levels. Sure, it won’t hurt…
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Organic wine, food & sunshine in Nantes, FRANCE
VISITING A FRIEND OF MINE IN NANTES, France’s fifth-largest city, was a lovely experience. The sun was shining, the city had a student-friendly atmosphere and the architecture was impressive! What could not go unnoticed was the relaxed attitude of the people there and the surprisingly Mediterranean feel of a city actually located on the west coast of France. Of course, the good food and the French wine were not missing! WALKING BY THE RIVER ERDRE one morning, my friend and I spontaneously ended up at a wine-tasting. In the morning!! We were invited after curiously staring at the people conversing at what looked like a private boat party – but…
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Zucchini Cocoa Cake
Welcome to the world of zucchini cocoa cake. It’s fluffy and it’s healthy! It is a chocolate cake that packs incognito veggies and makes your indulgence that much more awesome. Apparently zucchini & chocolate is a famous combination in the world of cakes. I decided to try it out, but gave it an even healthier spin (no dairy and no sugar). The zucchini makes the cake wonderfully moist, and gives it the texture of any old fashioned cake (where a ton of butter is used to achieve the same effect). I love making this cake as a healthy snack that I can have for a couple of days. A healthy…
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Feeling stressed? Eat this!
“A nutrient-dense diet may help amp down stress” – writes a blogger at National Public Radio today, in collaboration with Harvard School of Public Health, and I am loving what I am reading. Feeling stressed and need to eat to feel better? No problem! Just, instead turning to unhealthy fats and carbohydrates, turn to these amazing foods to help ease your stress: 1. Eggs 2. Dark, leafy greens 3. Pumpkin seeds 4. Fish rich in omega-3 5. Flax seeds 6. Dark chocolate The article is called Food-Mood Connection: how you can amp up or tamp down stress, you can find it on the NPR website.
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Best Ways to Stop Using Chocolate for Solving All Your Problems
THIS IS A POST FOR ALL EMOTIONAL EATERS, chocoholic and non-chocoholics alike. If you, in times of sorrow, feel like the only thing to do is drown in chocolate (or ice cream, or bacon), you should know that I used to feel the same way. BUT, I WANTED A MORE CONSTRUCTIVE WAY TO DEAL WITH MY MOOD. Although chocolate does help (as of course ice cream and bacon do too), I’ve realised that I no longer wanted to be someone who relies on food for fixing emotions. That is why I looked up all sorts of ways to stop using chocolate for solving all my problems. I was surprised to…
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100% Awesome Foods for After-Exercise Cravings
I LOVE MY FOLLOWERS! Click to like Facebook page or to follow on Instagram. WHAT ARE HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES TO REGULAR PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES AFTER A WORKOUT? Thank you Justin, one of the readers and a friend, for asking me that question and thereby inspiring this post! A lot of products are marketed as healthy (think protein shakes and energy drinks) making it more difficult to find out what is actually good for you. But, no worries, I’ve made a list with which you can not go wrong! 🙂 I’VE ENDED UP BOTH HUNGRY AND MOTIVATED TO EXERCISE just by writing this post! First of all: 7 FOOD RULES OF HEALTHY…
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Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts & Pecans
Crunchy, sweet and chocolatey cookies are lovely to snack on when you are having a cup of tea or snuggling up on the couch for your favourite movie. But, snacking in front of the TV is a dangerous habit if you are watching your weight… With this healthier alternative, you can practice this dangerous habit somewhat safely ;). This chocolate chip cookie recipe does not contain added sugar (yey!), does contain heart-healthy walnuts and pecans (plus vitamin E!), and packs a good punch of dark chocolate (which does contain some sugar, and which you can buy dairy-free). I use oatmeal flour as the basis, which means that the recipe is…
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Healthy Lasagna
This healthy lasagna tastes yummy but actually contains lots more vegetables than you would guess! Garfield would have eaten it up in a flash – and so will your kids! 🙂 This is also a dairy free lasagna recipe, making this lasagna way less caloric and way healthier than your regular alternative. Ingredients Serves 4. Prep time: 60 minutes. Beef, organic, minced, 300g White onions, 2 medium ones, diced Carrots, organic, 2 medium ones, cut in thin slices Celery, 5 stalks, cut in thin slices Tomatoes, 4 pieces, diced Tomato sauce, organic, 200ml Garlic, 2 cloves, finely chopped Red pesto, 4 tbsp Lasagna pasta sheets (store bought or homemade) Cheese…
