everywomanover29

Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

Fly healthy and be happy, part 1

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Get into fly-healthy mode before you leave on a trip and be prepared so you can stay healthy while you’re actually flying – and have a fun and happy trip.  Part 2 will cover what to pack and take with you to stay healthy while you’re away and how best to eat while you’re there. 

What to do before you leave –

  • Don’t leave things to the last minute – famous last words I know! – but it’s  important to be well-rested and not all stressed out
  • Eat plenty of immune boosting foods like onions and garlic
  • Include a few servings of miso, a fermented soy paste that is very protective against radiation (flying exposes us to a fair amount of radiation).  You don’t want to boil miso, so add a tablespoon to a cooked stew or soup, or home-made salad dressing

What to do on the trip –

  • Keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water – skip the coffee as it’s dehydrating
  • Take “padkos” (South African slang for “food for the road”) – some fruit, nuts and seeds, a boiled egg, grass-fed beef jerky and even a packed lunch
  • For mild motion-sickness ginger tea or crystallized ginger works
  • For bad motion-sickness acupressure wrist bands will do the trick (they’re great for the car and boat trips too)
  • Nasal spay with xylitol will keep those recirculating airborne germs at bay 
  • Wash your hands  

Have a safe trip!

Olympic inspiration to live your dreams now

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Watching the Olympics and all the incredible athletes is just breath-taking and so amazingly inspiring. And watching this video of my cousin brought tears to my eyes.

My cousin Mark (he’s Canadian and I was raised in South Africa …long story) was honored to carry the Olympic torch in Sechelt, British Columbia on Feb 4, 2010. He is a fire-fighter and motivational speaker for Esteem Team – inspiring youth to be confident, do the impossible and live their dreams now. Be doubly inspired and watch Mark’s wonderful video – with his wife Debbie and 3 kids making it so very heart-warming!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSgnx9rVaYY

 The time is now, to live your dreams!

(You can find more inspiration from Mark on Twitter at @markhatfield66)

Detox, get healthy and lose weight

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It’s good to get in the habit of doing a detoxification program at least twice a year – early in the year and Fall being the perfect times.  Why detox? We are exposed to so much pollution, heavy metals and so many chemicals, we often eat a less-than-perfect diet and more often than not, we are stressed out.

Consider these great detox tips:

  • Participate in a guided gentle 3-4 week detox program – enjoy the group support and benefit from the expertise of a nutritionist (healthy eating, nourishing whey protein shakes/smoothies and liver-supporting nutrients make it safe and enjoyable)
  • Quit the junk food, sugar, caffeine (and dairy and gluten while on the detox program)
  • Nourish yourself with alkaline mineral-rich veggie broths
  • Try a sauna session or Bikram yoga class – and sweat away those toxins
  • Try a rebounder or mini-trampoline – and get your lymph drainage going
  • Use a dry skin brush before you bath or shower
  • Enjoy a warm Epsom salts bath – and relax and wind down
  • And drink plenty of water!

Your body will thank you with increased energy and focus, a great mood, less cravings, less aches, less allergy symptoms, improved digestion and overall better health. Our bodies have an amazing ability to restore and renew, given the right resources.  A big plus for many of us doing a detox program is weight-loss, and although this is not the main objective, it’s often a big motivating factor! Detox, get healthy and lose weight!

5 Mediterranean Tips for a Great Mood

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When it’s wintery, wet, cloudy, cold and gray, we are more prone to suffer from the Winter blues (also called seasonal depression or SAD).  Of course, one way to improve your mood is get some sunshine and a trip to Greece would certainly do the trick here…BUT another way is to take a look at what you’re eating and consider incorporating some of the Mediterranean eating ways.  A study published in 2009 in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that participants who followed a Mediterranean-style diet were 30% less likely to become depressed.  So try these great tips:   

1.  Use olive oil every day – its rich nutty flavor enhances so many foods, from salads to fish, to being drizzled over steamed veggies or rice.  Pick extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil to get the most tasty oil and best health benefits.

 2. Eat plenty of veggies and fruits – fresh is the key here and local and in-season if possible.  Think of the color of the rainbow and make sure to include as many colors as you can on your plate, in order to get the diversity of beneficial nutrients. 

 3. Eat fish a few times a week – also fresh if possible and not farmed (all the artificial colors and/or antibiotics). One exception to fresh fish is canned sardines, mackerel or pilchards. 

 4. Snack on nuts or use small amounts in your recipes – try pine nuts in a pesto sauce and keep soaked (and dehydrated) almonds, pumpkin seeds or walnuts on hand as a snack.

 5. Eat whole grains – eat grains based on what you can tolerate. The Mediterranean diet includes pasta and bread, but if wheat is an issue for you (and it is for many with mood issues), you can enjoy brown rice, buckwheat or quinoa.

Low intake of meat (or not)?

I must add that the authors of the study did mention a low intake of meat. I spent a summer in Greece in my 20s and remember enjoying some wonderful grilled lamb chops! Also, meat is an excellent source of amino acids, which are the building blocks of neurotransmitters, which are so important for good mood.  There is a proviso here:  quality is so important, so select meat that is preferably grass-fed and free from hormones and antibiotics. 

Plenty of other health benefits too

And an added bonus is that the Mediterranean diet has been shown to be beneficial for a whole host of other health conditions – high blood pressure, heart disease, bone loss, colon cancer – as well as promoting a longer life!  So eat real whole food in the style of the Mediterranean cultures to be your healthiest AND improve your mood.

We don't say wet water, why do we say real food?

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This is my very first blog post and I’m excited to be blogging at last – I’m probably not supposed to say that but why not?

I’m a huge advocate for eating whole real food and I find it so strange (and rather sad) that we have to add whole and real when we talk about eating food that is not processed and bad for us!  We don’t say wet water, so why do we need to say whole real food?  So many of us have forgotten to eat like we did as kids (I was very fortunate to eat real food growing up) or as our grandparents did.  

Whole real food!

We have health stores and the supermarkets have “health food” and “natural food” sections.  Perhaps they should label the rest of the store “unhealthy food” or “unnatural food” – which it so often is! 

Let’s change things up and go back to calling “whole real food”  just good old “food” and let’s call all the other stuff and junk “unreal food“!

I’m off to eat some food for dinner – roast beef, sweet potatoes and butter, onion and kale bake with garlic and roasted walnuts – yummmm!