Guest Post - Battling Cancer

We have something different for you today. A guest post! One of our readers wanted to share this inspirational and completely amazing story with you. I can't imagine going through what she did! 

Battling Cancer

I couldn't wait to start being a mother. By the time I was pregnant, I was ready for anything that could happen. I had read books about being a mother, eaten healthy foods throughout pregnancy and gone to the best doctors I could find. Each day, I devoted time to planning my life as a new mother. Once I gave birth to my child, motherhood was amazing. As soon as I looked at Lily, my newborn daughter, I just knew that I was the most fortunate mother on earth. 

Eventually, I found out that I hadn't been prepared for everything after all. 3 ½ months after giving birth, my doctor diagnosed me with a form of cancer known as pleural mesothelioma. Unfortunately, the prognosis for mesothelioma is bleak. According to my doctor, I would have had 15 months to live without treatment. Right away, my focus was on being able to see my daughter grow up. 

My husband and I eventually settled on me traveling 1200 miles away to Boston for mesothelioma treatment. I wasn't able to be there for a month of my daughter's life while I was getting surgery to take out my left lung, heart lining and diaphragm. Afterwards, I received radiation and chemotherapy for what remained of the first year of Lily's life. I had been planning on spending this time with my daughter, but instead I was fighting to stay alive. Luckily, my parents took care of Lily during that time in order to avoid the stress of my cancer and treatment. I also have a wonderful husband and many others who gave me their support.

After we returned home from Boston, I played with Lily outside, went for walks with her, took her to the park and brought her to play with friends when I had enough energy. Those days where I was too tired, I was able to relax with Lily next to me, giving her my love and thinking about how fortunate I was to have her in my life. 

Although my life has undergone some changes since I gave birth to Lily eight years ago, it is still the same in many ways. We have been incredibly lucky to be raising a daughter who is so beautiful and positive. In addition to being optimistic and good-natured, Lily also understands how valuable life really is.  She knows what our family experienced, and she realizes how precious she is to us. Although she might not remember too many things from that first year of her life, the experience will never fade from my memory. 

Mesothelioma was a horrible experience. During that time, we didn't know what might happen in the future but we were able to stay hopeful and are now able to see the positive aspects we have gained from winning this fight; our family values each other more than ever before, and we never take our lives for granted. I want to share this story with others so that people in similar situations can relate and ultimately feel a sense of hope.

What an amazing story, right?! Thanks for sharing with us!

Happy Monday everyone!

Healthy Recipe Roundup

I am three quarters of the way through my wheat-free, sugar-free month and I have to say that I have cheated. I went out for super with a friend last week and had pasta. I don't feel guilty because it was delicious! So creamy and yummy that I still think about it.

I have had to be a little more creative though. I've been pinning and trying lots of "healthy" recipes but they can be a hit or miss. Some of them don't taste very good at all, and some of them taste so yummy you want to eat the whole plate. To help you out, I've grabbed a few of my favourite recipes. These recipes don't have flour or sugar in them and they are kid and husband "approved".

1) Avocado Alfredo 2) Chocolate Lava Cake 3) Southwestern Chicken Casserole

4) Hot Chocolate 5) Tropical Cranberry, Lemon, & Coconut Squares 6) Cauliflower Pizza 7) Chocolate Chip Blondies

I tried the Tropical Squares last night and then had them for breakfast again this morning. So. yummy. 

Are there any good and healthy recipes that you've been trying lately? 

We'd love to hear about them!

Another New Beginning

I love the New Year. I always get a feeling like a fresh start is here. Unfortunately, this year I feel a little draggy (is that a word?) and just unmotivated. I'm assuming it's because of what I've been eating lately. Wheat, sugar, processed foods, chocolate, candy, chips, pretty much anything I can get my hands on.

In the spirit of getting my year off to a good start, I decided not to have sugar or wheat for the month of January. Sounds pretty scary and hard, but it's actually not too bad. I gave myself until yesterday to start since I had another party to go to on the 1st.

Even though it's not for the whole year, I think it's a pretty good idea. Get myself into shape for the rest of the year!

                                                                         Source: positive-notes.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

It will mean taking more time to think about what I'm consuming for my meals and snacks. It will mean not eating out for an entire month (I can do that, right??) And it will mean being more creative so that I don't get stuck in the meal "rut".

If you're thinking about trying this out with me, I have a few tips for better success:

1) Start on a weekend if you know you're going to be busy. There's nothing worse than having a headache on the busiest day of your week!

2) Drink lots of water and eat lots of fruits and veggies to combat and headaches you might get.

3) Don't skip meals. If you think it's easier to skip a meal then find something healthy, make sure you have healthy snacks already prepared in your fridge or cupboard.

4) Get rid of all the junk food in the house. If it isn't in the cupboards, you won't eat it!

5) Try to get your family in on it too. It will be easier for you if you don't have to cook 2 different meals every night.

I'll be posting a few healthy recipes and giving a few more nutritional tips in the next few weeks. If you want to join me, comment below! It's always better to do something crappy with someone you like :)

5 Ways to Live Healthier for the Normal Person

Since it's been a while since I've posted anything about health, I thought that I would give you my top five tips for better health. Most people assume that being healthy means you have to eat organically all the time or go to the gym every single morning at 5am. While both of those are great, we don't all have the time or money to be able to do these things. Here are my tips for the "normal" person.

1) Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Water cleanses our body on a daily basis. 75% of North Americans are chronically dehydrated which can cause a myriad of health problems. If you tend to get headaches, drink more water - you might just be dehydrated!

2) Get 6-10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. And no, potato chips and popcorn do not count. A serving is typically 1/2 cup, so your large salad that you had at lunch is a good start towards getting there!

3) Go to sleep at a reasonable hour. By reasonable, I mean before 11pm. Yes, it may seem like you get more things done at night but you're actually damaging your immune system by staying up so late, so make sure you catch your zzzzz's.

4) Get some form of exercise every day. Sitting on your butt actually accelerates quite a few diseases including heart disease and some cancers. Running around outside with your kids counts, as does gardening or going for a 30 minute walk.

5) Take time every day to be thankful for a few things. Thankfulness is actually very good for controlling stress. When we focus on the things we're thankful for, we stop worrying about the things in our lives that we can't control. It also makes you a much happier person!

So what do you think? 

Do you agree with my list or have some other great tips to add in there? 

Share with us!

Long Weekends and Chocolate Pudding

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! I know I am for sure. We've gotten stuff done around the house - my lawn looks fantastic!

We went to the beach with family

Took in some gorgeous fireworks

And just lazed around the house doing nothing. It was perfect!
I also decided to make some dessert today for a special meal. I knew I wanted something with chocolate since I love chocolate. I found this recipe and thought I'd see if it actually tasted as good as it sounded. I have already had a bowl of it and it is fantastic! If you are looking for a way to sneak some healthy foods into your diet, this is a great way to do it!

The original recipe can be found here with a few changes of my own added in.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

2 very ripe avocados
2 ripe bananas
2 tbs raw cacao powder
1/2 cup almond, coconut, or regular milk
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1 tsp of lemon juice (stops the avocado and banana from turning brown which sounds strange since you're making chocolate pudding but trust me!)

Peel the bananas and avocados and put them in a blender along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend together until nice and smooth. Store in the fridge until you're ready to serve it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your long weekend :)

Remember, if you don't want to miss a post, 

subscribe to us via email or RSS feed or "like" us on Facebook!

Healthy Popsicles

With this heat wave that we've been experiencing, we've been trying to keep cool any way that we can. My phone is telling me that it is 31 degrees celsius out there. For Ontario in June, that is stinking hot!

One way that we've been keeping cool is with nice cold popsicles. My girls love popsicles. I mean, what kid doesn't?! The only problem that I have with them is the fact that they are full of sugar and preservatives. So every once in a while I buy popsicles, but mostly I make them myself.

Instead of making them with fruit juices, usually I make a smoothie and then freeze them. My favourite is mango banana popsicles. Because they have a yogurt base, they are nice and creamy!

Mango Banana Popsicles

2 bananas (extra ripe is better!)
1/2 cup chopped mangos (I use frozen)
1 cup of plain yogurt
2-3 tbsp honey (use maple syrup if you're planning on giving them to a baby under the age of 1)

Put everything in the blender and blend for a few minutes until it's nice and creamy. Add cold water if it is too thick. Poor into popsicle moulds and set in the freezer for a few hours. Enjoy!

You can substitute the mangoes for any other fruit. I've used berries and pineapple. I've even added some avocado to make it even creamier. If there is a dairy allergy in your family, substitute with coconut or almond milk instead of yogurt.

If you're looking for some more great recipes, try here and here. If you're wanting to make them healthy, try avoiding anything with corn syrup or sugar. You can always substitute extra bananas, honey, maple syrup, agave syrup or stevia to give you the sweetness you want.

One of my current favourites uses this recipe to make chocolate popsicles. Yumm! The best part? They have no dairy or sugar in them. So good!

My little monkey enjoying her chocolate popsicle :)

What Goes On Your Skin

A while back, I did a post on some simple grocery tips for living healthier. I got a lot of positive feedback and interest about it and quite a few people who said they were going to change a few things to make their family's healthier. I love that! 

But it got me thinking - what about the cosmetics and beauty products? How many people actually pay attention to what they put on their skin? That doesn't just include makeup, but shampoo, conditioner, hair products, baby products, the works. I counted all of my products to see how much stuff I put on my body in a typical day and the magical number was... drum roll please... 10. And I don't even consider myself a high-maintenance person! 

Yes, I know it's a lot...

Your skin actually absorbs most of what you put onto it. All of those little pores not only eliminate toxins but also absorb moisture, nutrients, and unfortunately, anything that you put on your skin. That's why your night cream works so well. 

So with all of those chemicals being absorbed into your body, what do they actually do? Here are some of the most common extremely scary ingredients to watch out for:

Sodium lauryl sulfate - good for creating a lather. Also used as a car engine degreaser, and car wash soaps. Pretty powerful stuff! It can cause eye-damage, central nervous system depression, laboured breathing, diarrhea, severe skin irritation, and in some animals it causes death. 

Parabens (ethyl-, methyl-, butyl-, and propylparaben) - is great for extending the shelf life of cosmetics. It can be found in almost every cosmetic.  The unfortunate part is that it's an endocrine disrupter. What that means is that it disrupts your body's natural hormones. Our hormones are sensitive enough without trying to disrupt them with more chemicals. 

Propylene glycol - is great for retaining moisture in the skin. In other industries, it's actually just called anti-freeze. It's also found in brake and hydraulic fluid in your car. Beyond the fact that you wouldn't normally just put anti-freeze on your face, it also causes kidney and liver damage as well as acne, 

Mineral oil (petrolatum, petroleum, liquidum paraffinum - also known as posh mineral oil) - It is basically just crude petroleum. It's used so much because it is so incredibly cheap. It "suffocates" the skin, causing acne and premature aging. It has also been found to cause cancer. 

Fragrance - it is used in almost everything to make that wonderful smell. It can also be any of over 4000 ingredients that the company's don't have to list. They can cause headaches, dizziness, allergic reactions, skin discolouration, rashes, and vomiting. 

Toluene - found in most paint supplies including nail polish. It is the main reason that you're not supposed to paint your nails when you're pregnant and why they wear those masks at the nail salon. Long term exposure causes serious nervous system disorders, including spasms, tremors, speech impairment, liver and kidney disease, and skeletal/muscular disease. Awesome, right?

So before you madly rush to the bathroom to throw out everything that comes in a bottle, just slow down and instead check the ingredients. There is this handy little database that you can put your cosmetics into and it will tell you on a scale of one to ten, how bad it actually is for you. Go to http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/  . I tested all my cosmetics this morning and the worst that I got was a four for my lip gloss. Yay!

Hopefully this has been helpful and not just scary. I'm sure everyone will thank us for taking care of our body's like this when we're 80 years old and still have the mind and skin of a 25 year old. Ok, that may be pushing it a little bit, but we can all hope, right? 

So how did everyone do? Any products that scored really well or terribly? Which ones should we watch out for? Let us know!

Sun Tea Recipe

I don't remember my mom ever buying us iced tea from the store. She would always make it from scratch. The first day of spring that the sun was warm enough, she would fill up a big pickle jar with water, add some tea bags and sit it out on our deck to steep. At the end of the day, she would bring it inside, work her magic with a few ingredients and voila, iced tea! It always tasted better than what you could buy anywhere.

When we got old enough, she started letting us help her make it. We knew that we had to put exactly 11 capfuls of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of sugar for it to taste just right.

Now that I have my own house, I still make my own iced tea. On days like today where the sun is shining, I get out my pitcher and fill it with water and tea bags. I've made a few changes to the recipe, but the premise is the same.

To make your own "sun tea", fill a pitcher with drinking water. Add two or three tea bags. You can even used flavoured teas. Today, I'm making chamomile honey. Place some plastic wrap over the mouth of your pitcher. This is important so that bugs don't climb in. Set it out in a warm spot in the sun until the tea is fully steeped to your liking. In the hot summer, it only takes a few hours. Once it's ready, bring it inside. This part is completely up to you. I like my tea quite lemony (is that a word?) so I put quite a bit of lemon juice into it. I also put honey or maple syrup into it as a sweetener but you can use sugar if that's all you have. Add some to taste and stir quite a bit! You don't want any sugar granules floating around, you want it all to dissolve. Then put the pitcher in the fridge until it's nice and cold. Enjoy!

I love drinking this tea to cool me down after I've mowed the lawn. That's on my list of "things to do" today since the grass is so long it's just embarrassing. Unfortunately, it looks even worse since our neighbour's lawn is always perfectly manicured. You can tell they don't have kids! Anyone else have that problem?

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

If you don't want to miss any of our posts, "like" us on Facebook 

or subscribe by e-mail or our RSS feed. Thanks!

Homemade Iced Coffee

I love summer drinks. There is nothing better than iced tea or coffee and lounging out on my chair in the warm sun. When you are out for a meal, it's always easier to assume that buying an iced coffee or an iced tea is actually healthier than a soda but it's not.

Iced tea sounds healthy because it's just tea that's chilled, right? Actually, by the time the iced tea reaches you, there aren't any of the polyphenols (the good part of the tea) left in the drink. It's mostly sugar water with some artificial ingredients and flavours thrown in there to make it look and taste good. It's better to grab a bottle of water to go along with your meal or make your own at home before you leave.

As for iced coffee, here's a great article for you to read from www.smallnotebook.org on some of the not so wonderful ingredients that you get in McDonald's Iced Coffee.

Since I don't really want or need to have diarrhea from my iced coffee, I decided to make my own and save money at the same time.

For you to make your own at home, all you'll need it coffee, cream, and maple syrup (you can also use honey or stevia). Pretty simple right?

Brew 12oz of coffee (you can even use any coffee that you didn't drink that day). Add maple syrup to the coffee so that it's sweet enough for you. Add the amount of cream that you would normally add to your coffee. Place it in the fridge for about 3-4 hours or until it's chilled. You're done! The total cost is about .. 25 cents? All I know is that I'm saving a lot of money!

Hope you enjoy it!

 If you already haven't done so,
be sure to 'like' us on Facebook
or subscribe via RSS
so you can know when we post anything new!

Spring Cleaning for You

I love spring. I always have more energy when the sun comes out and it's not so cold that it steals your breath when you go outside. The beginning of this March has been a little bit of a tease with warm days followed by freak snowstorms. You gotta love Canadian winters.

Since it's been sunny for three days in a row, I'm starting to think about spring cleaning. Most people just clean their houses, but here are a few of my favourite things to do to clean out your body and get it ready for spring. Most of them don't cost a lot of money and you can use ingredients that you have on hand!


Carrot Energy Drink:

2 carrots peeled
1/2 lemon
1 organic apple (if not organic, wash it really well!)
1 tbsp fresh ginger
1/2 cup orange juice

Juice everything together and enjoy! It's also a great recipe for getting rid of spring colds.

Yogurt and Salt Scrub:

Add 2 tbsp of coarse sea salt to 1/2 cup of yogurt, spread it evenly over your face and leave it there for 10 minutes. Use cool water to rub the mixture over your face gently until it's completely rubbed off. If you do this twice a week, it will prevent the formation of spots and fight off bugs. (You might want to do this when your kids are in bed or you're by yourself, I made the mistake of doing it when I was doing chores around the house. Bella screamed and wouldn't come near me!)

The last one is a pretty simple one as well. Use fresh flowers in your decorating and get rid of your artificial room deodorizers. They have chemicals in them which can cause mental confusion which lets be honest, we can use all the help we can get!

My hubby bought these for me this weekend "just because". What a sweetie!