I’m happy to announce a pre-Thanksgiving contest to give a free Fitness Magazine Prize Pack to one of my readers! The prize pack includes: Fitness Magazine subscription, cosmetic bag, umbrella, apron, hat, notebook, and massager.

Submit your entry to win a Fitness Magazine Prize Pack by leaving a comment in this post with your answer to the following question:

What’s your favorite healthy snack?

All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, November 25th at 11:59pm EST. The winner will be chosen at random and notified by email. If you win, I’ll need your name and address to give to Fitness Magazine so they can send you the prize pack.

Thanks to Fitness Magazine for providing this offer!

A recent study published in the journal Circulation found that the nutrient glutamic acid can help reduce blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke (Ref: Women’s Health Mag, Dec. ‘09, p. 30). This amino acid is found in those vegetarian protein sources I mentioned above (as well as meats and cheeses).

Try to add more vegetarian protein sources to your weekly diet. Edamame are a great snack to have after work when you’re really hungry and need something to munch on before dinner. You can buy packages of them frozen in most grocery stores (look in the organic/natural section if you can’t find them next to the other veggies).

Also, I found a wonderful Three-Bean Salad recipe with quinoa on the Whole Foods site. You don’t even need their store brand salad dressing (although it’s probably delish), just mix together some olive oil, vinegar, and cracked pepper for an easy substitution.

Top 50 Healthy Living Blogs

Thanks to Jimmy Atkinson, The Health Sensei, for letting me know.  I appreciate you!

Kashi®

Quick fact: Kashi® products are packed with whole grains and fiber and are “minimally processed, and free of highly refined sugars, artificial additives, and preservatives.” Wahoo!

Samples:

Heart to Heart Cereal, Honey Toasted Oat – I liked this cereal, but I had it with vanilla soy milk and it was a little too sweet for me. Next time I’d try it with plain soy milk or would mix the cereal into some plain yogurt. If you like a really crunchy cereal, this is a good one for you to try.

TLC Fruit & Grain Bars, Dark Chocolate Coconut – This snack bar had a layer of dark chocolate, coconut, and walnuts on the top. I wasn’t sure if I would like the coconut, but it was yummy to my surprise. The main portion of the bar was chewy granola, making it a filling snack.

Other Kashi® products I love (they didn’t send me these, but I wanted to recommend them):

GOLEAN® Blueberry Waffles – These frozen waffles are really tasty. I love the blueberry ones with a little almond butter or all natural peanut butter on top. My sister and I like to put two together like a sandwich and take it to-go, wrapped in a paper towel.

Cinnamon Harvest Cereal, Whole Wheat Biscuits – These are Kashi’s version of mini-wheats and they are so good. The cinnamon flavor is subtle but makes your milk taste so good. Plus, I love the simple ingredients: organic whole grain wheat, organic evaporated cane juice, organic cinnamon, natural cinnamon flavor. That’s it! My favorite cereal!

Bear Naked®

Quick fact: Their granolas, cereals, and granola bars “contain no preservatives and nothing artificial, and are free of trans fats, cholesterol, hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup.”

Samples:

Fruit and Nut Granola – While I love to make my own granola, this brand is a great option when you don’t have time to do your own. I loved the big pieces of nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans) mixed with chunks of dried fruit (raisins, cranberries), seeds, and granola. Great to sprinkle on top of yogurt.

Cranberry Raisin Cereal - I enjoyed the taste of this cereal and it had a lot of variety of dried fruit and nuts added in. My only complaint was that it was really crunchy for me and almost hurt my teeth. I think it’s just a matter of preference because some people really love a crunchy cereal. I guess the granola products are my favorite when it comes to the Bear Naked® brand.

I thought this was a very important cause and a great message to spread, so I wanted to share it with you. I am so inspired by these mothers who are making the health of their children a top priority, even when faced with very difficult economic circumstances and unhealthy environments.

Please check out this promotional YouTube video. Plus, you can download the book for free at this link: BeWell eBooks in English and Spanish.

For more information, go to BeWellBook.org.

Tonight I re-warmed some quinoa with a little olive oil in my sauté pan. Meanwhile, I chopped up some fresh kale and steamed it for a couple minutes. Lastly, I pan fried two eggs over-medium, cut them up into bite-size pieces, then tossed everything together in a bowl with a dash of salt, pepper, and hot sauce on top.

This was a quick, easy, and balanced meal that will sustain me for the rest of my night without making me feel heavy or too full. If you want to try this out, feel free to experiment with fresh or dried herbs and spices. I opted for easy seasonings tonight, but there’s no reason you can’t flavor it up when you’ve got the time!

Does that look kind of crazy? Haha, all I know is it was yummy!

Speaking of eggs, I found a great tip from Sara Snow, natural-living expert, in the Nov/Dec issue of Fitness Magazine, p. 108. ( The generous folks from Fitness sent me a subscription to periodically review their content. Each month, I’ll share the best of what I find from their nutrition and healthy eating pages.)

In her “Ask Sara Snow” tip, she explained the difference between free-range and cage-free eggs. Free-range chickens have outdoor access while cage-free chickens have an open room with space to stretch their wings. But Sara points out that eggs labeled organic may be the best choice. Neither free-range or cage-free labeling has reliable regulations, but organic eggs are guaranteed to be free-range (and they are usually cage-free). Remember organic also means the chickens are not fed antibiotics, hormones, or grains with harmful chemicals. Make sense? Thanks to Sara for her helpful tip!

Hoping you’re all doing well! Talk to you soon,
Laurel

Whole grains are a healthy food that’s CHEAP. Plus they’re packed with fiber and B vitamins. You can buy grains in bulk and make big batches that will last you all week.

An easy way to get more whole grains in your diet is to switch to brown rice instead of white rice. White rice is basically the starchy center of brown rice (with all the nutrients removed). Go for the brown rice my friends!

Some other whole grains you can try are: amaranth, barley, buckwheat (kasha), quinoa (my favorite), oats, and millet.

TIP!

One of the things I learned when I was training to become a health counselor is the importance of really chewing your whole grains. The majority of whole grain digestion happens in your mouth where you chew and mix food with saliva. Chew your grains fully and give your body a chance to absorb all of the beneficial nutrients!

The leftover fruit salad had apples, oranges, banana, and raspberries in it. I put it in my blender and added some frozen strawberries and blackberries, organic vanilla yogurt, goji berries, and orange juice.

It made four popsicles with some leftover to save for a breakfast smoothie tomorrow morning. Check ‘em out friends!

Cheers, and I hope you had a great weekend!

This weekend I was craving oatmeal. I couldn’t find any steel-cut oats in the neighborhood I was in, so I just bought regular old-fashioned oats and heated them up with some yummy fixings: plums, toasted walnuts, cinnamon, and honey. Plus a few raspberries on top. It was warming and oh-so-comforting.

I also made a big batch of chili…but I forgot to take a picture of it before I scarfed it all down. (So use your imagination! haha)

Here’s a few other healthy recipes you can try to keep your body strong and warm during the cold months.

Butternut Squash Soup

Three Sisters Stew

Wishing you a great week,

Laurel

UPDATE:
I made some more chili! I found a fun Turkey Pumpkin Chili recipe on the Whole Foods site and had to try it out. Yum! The pumpkin adds extra nutritional value and a beautiful orange color.

I stuck to the recipe, except I added a few extra cloves of garlic.

Clearly, further research needs to be completed before the claim can be truly proven. But the Times reached this bottom line: “Research is limited, but it suggests that garlic may indeed help ward off colds.”

From my point of view, I’m a big garlic fan. Of course, I love the taste, but I also believe in its power to keep the immune system strong, lower cholesterol, reduce the risk of cancer, lower blood pressure, and heal candida or yeast infections.

Here are some of the easy ways to get garlic into your diet:

—Try this Roasted Garlic Spread recipe (mmmmm)
—Saute a clove of garlic with your daily serving of greens or other vegetables
—Add cloves of garlic to sauces, soups, stews, and chili
—Take a daily garlic supplement (especially during flu season)
—Have garlic for breakfast by adding a little to your eggs

See also my previous posts on garlic:

Yea for Decomposing Garlic

Fresh Garlic is Where it’s At

Chop or Crush Garlic Before Cooking