New Year Solutions

New Year: Drop Your Resolutions. 

Resolutions fade. Solutions are long term. 

This post has been moved to my new blog. You can find the health tips on Conveying Awareness. 

Choose, eat, and live well! 

Snowball Cookies with a Healthy Twist

It is snow much fun to have friends over for a snack and craft play date, isn't it?! 

With an average of 3 inches of rain per year in the high desert, the chances of having snow to play in locally is slim to none. I did hear about some scant snowfall 3 years ago. So, why not bring the snow to where we're at even if for an hour! 

My son and I made snowball cookies! 

Recipe: 
1 3/4 cups of organic flour 
1/4 cup organic flax seed, milled, (see note 1)
1 cup of softened organic butter
1 cup of organic powdered sugar (or make your own see note 2)
1 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of chopped nuts of your choice (I used almonds)

Add this to YOUR wellness journey!

Ch-ch-changes.

How do you know the supplement you've chosen was the right choice? You know when your lifestyle changes and I'm not talking about money. I'm talking health because it is the greatest wealth.

Your product(s) should change you; it should change your mindset about having (being in) a healthy lifestyle. You can't simply use your product as a way to stay the same. When there is no transformation, there is no growth.

You may need to question your intentions. Why did you select the product in the first place? Is it still meeting your needs today as it did when you first selected it? Has it become an income earner for you but you're not totally in love with the product (anymore)? I've seen and heard all of this before.

What if? 

What if you could have both - a product you absolutely enjoy and can make some income sharing it, and a third reason - with a company you respect. I think all components are important but nothing, and I repeat, nothing beats a changed lifestyle. If your product offers you a safety net so that you don't have to make the real changes then it's not going to be a long term solution for you. I believe that most people who go into wellness and align themselves with a product are doing so for a health need. Some see the potential dollar signs and are in it only for the income. Be cautious of these kind. They *may* not have your best interest at heart. I did not run into these kind when I first learned about Juice Plus+. I ran into people who had a passion for wellness. They were in the medical field and they were into incorporating more holistic changes in their day to day activities and in the services they provided. 

Where it began: 

You see, nearly six years ago, I was eating one fruit OR one veggie a week, if that, and I knew nothing of ingredient labels. I didn't know about pesticide overload. I didn't know that filtered (heavy metals removed) water was the best drink for hydration. Oh, I could tell you about snack cakes and the cereals that I thought were 'healthy' because they had the words, natural or made with fruit, but I (we) know this means absolutely nothing - the proof is in the ingredients! When I first heard about Juice Plus+, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, who isn't when they hear about the 'next best thing'? Plus, I don't make haste decisions about investments. (More information on my wellness journey, visit my About section and my guest post on Honey Colony.

So, I looked into it a bit more and then I read the studies, the first one that caught my eye was from the Journal of Cardiology that I interpreted to mean that whatever high (bad) fat foods I was eating; I could neutralize it with the Juice Plus+. (You can read the study here.) This thought gave me hope because I ate horribly but then I really had no idea how JP+ would change my mindset about food! It did. It took about 5 months for me to start seeing / feeling any changes because I was not a healthy individual. I had years of GI problems. 

Wild-caught. {A Fish Recipes Collection}

Fish. It's what's for dinner. 

I wish I could share with you a story and images of our family fishing for our own fresh, wild-caught marine staples, but, I haven't gone fishing since I was a kid! In my youth, I enjoyed spending some peaceful quality time with my parents when I went fishing with them. In high school, I did learn how to crab but you know what, I may have enjoyed both experiences more if I had enjoyed eating fish. It wasn't until much later that I even tried fish. 

At one time, I thought fish sticks were real fish (some may be but most are probably filled with junk). But when you don't know, you don't know! I never liked fish sticks (filled with junk kind). While we were visiting Dublin, Ireland in 2007, we had the BEST fish and chips and from there I was hooked (no pun intended!). 

Then fast forward some more time. It wasn't until I studied to become a certified health coach did I learn the difference and the importance of eating low-mercury fish (medium is okay but in-moderation is essential) and wild-caught over farm raised. I used to eat tilapia but all of it is farm-raised (and it's low-mercury as seen in the chart below but I no longer choose / buy it). That's why it's so cheap! There are plenty of articles (like this one from The New York Times) that addresses tilapia being farm raised and what they eat! It's not even food that fish naturally eat; it is soy and corn (both genetically modified (the top two crops of highly GMd)! When you know better, you do better! 

So, before I share a collection of fish recipes and education about fish (importance of Omega 3s), I'm going to share a resource from Nordic Naturals on the mercury levels of fish. If you're looking for a quality fish oil to bridge the (Omega 3) gap, you may be interested in Nordic Naturals. If you'd like wild-caught as fresh as you can get without fishing fish, you may be interested in Vital Choice. 

Nordic Naturals has a handy pocket guide on mercury levels based on information from Natural Resources Defense Council (nrdc.org). I reproduced the information below, but you can also find more materials pinned here.