Excercise and a chocolate shake! They don't go together, do they?

Healthy Eating? Check.  Vitamins? Check.  Reduced Stress?  Check. Exercise? hmmm, does walking around the San Diego Wild Animal Park count? 

Okay, so I confess, I don't exercise.  I really have never had to.  I've had a great metabolism.  But when my husband pointed out a roll to me on my stomach a few weeks ago (husbands, I DO NOT recommend for the health of your marriage to do this by the way)--I realized that now that my body is processing food in a good way and I was snacking on nuts way too much, I needed to make a change.  Oh and that my husband-- who himself is a marathon runner and Ironman -- also pointed out the need for heart health, I was doubly convicted.

In came the treadmill yesterday. My mom has had one getting dust on it in her garage, so we brought it into our house.  Therefore, this next week I am making a commitment to get up a half hour early the next week and use the treadmill.  Its a start and I am never going to be an "Ironman" but I want a healthy heart and the roll to go away and not get friends.  And by honestly telling you about it, my reader, I will have some accountability.

The other thing that hit me is that when I was watching Jamie Oliver, my mom and husband noted he had gained weight from his early days.  And I got to thinking, while he eats healthy and champions the cause of no fast food, he probably does not exercise the way he needs to.  He is a busy guy after all-- fighting the LA-Unified School District and being a husband/dad.  But all of us need to exercise, so here I go.

Ok, now onto the good stuff.  I got a craving this weekend for yogurt so yesterday we stopped by a yogurt shop.  In order to see if a blend was gluten free I obtained a copy of their nutrition facts.  And was startled to discover that at this particular yogurt place,  Yogurt Heaven,  their yogurt is all made with High Fructose Corn Syrup and artificial ingredients.  So I got up the courage and walked out.  I had never done that before.  And it felt good, like I actively using my "buying power" to say NO to something that was not good for you.

But this, of course, did not satisfy my yogurt craving.  So when we got home I went straight to the blender.  Can I make a shake with just the ingredients I had, I wondered?  I went for it. And it was good.

Therefore, I will share:
about 1-1.5 cups of coconut milk
7-9 ice cubes
spoonful of almond butter
1.5 tbsp of Dagoba cocoa powder
1/4 cup of melted Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips
1 tbsp of agave

Blend & enjoy!  Even my husband liked it and he is the true taste tester as his taste buds aren't "purified" yet.

A wedding gift, The Naked Chef and Food Matters

A couple weeks ago I ran into a family that the Mom, Mrs. J,  has MS.  A few years ago she let me borrow Montell Williams book on MS which I read but I was not ready to do the "holistic thing" at that time so I wasn't sure.  Mrs. J, was trying some of what was recommended about diet and nutrition as she couldn't handle the MS medication.  The medication definitely can do some crazy stuff to you.  Well, a few years later, and here I was talking to them about the importance of diet with your MS.  They could not agree more as they are working on slowly changing their diet.  Well, they recommended two things to me to look at:  Jamie Oliver & the Food Revolution and the documentary "Food Matters".  Just in the few moments I spoke to them, reminded me of how God has put people in our lives to encourage us, teach us and share with us.  We just have to be open to recieving it.
I went home from that and remembered I had a cookbook by Jamie Oliver in my cabinet, which I confess was a wedding present and I had never used it these past 5 years!!.  That day I opened the cookbook and was impressed by the easiness of most recipes and how they include a variety of produce.  Well I had just gotten my box of produce from my CSA Be Wise Ranch and it had fennel in it.  Fennel, what?  I had no clue how to make something good out of fennel--it just smelled like yucky black licorice to me.  But I made it in Jamie Oliver's Pan Roasted Summer Salmon dish and LOVED it! So I vowed to try at least 1 new Jamie Oliver recipe a week.  So 5 years later, an un-used wedding gift is bringing joy to my home with some delicious healthy recipes.
Also to mention is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  Supposedly it is supporting getting healthy food back into our school system and keeping the cost low.  I'll be checking out the series as it airs on ABC.
links to Jamie Oliver:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/
http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/recipes

The other suggestion this family made was to watch "Food Matters".  Wow is all I can say.  It is definitely thought provoking about our food supply, disease, vitamins, and raw foods.  I must say that after watching it I am trying to make breakfast my "raw" food meal by having a smoothie with some veggies in it.  It's actually tasty and good for you too!  Also I did talk to my allergist about the documentary and he said he has seen the Vitamin C treatment for cancer work in patients that have come to the Center for Advanced Medicine.  Definitely something worth thinking about.