Sharing some VITAL advice...

Just the other day as a friend and I discussed why I love my GREENS, she asked if Greens would help with more than just feeling better but if it could help her loose weight too. So for her, I'm sharing an Company article with all my BLOG followers.

Tips from Dr. Don Verhulst - Health Consultant for It Works Global

Many times, people are overweight because they're eating the wrong kinds of foods that lack vitamins and minerals. Often times when people feel junk food cravings, it is actually because the body is hungry for minerals, also called a mineral-deficient state.

If you are not eating 2-3 fruit, 4-6 vegetable, and 5-11 whole grains servings 365 days a year, then it is very likely that your body is deficient in one or more major vitamins or minerals. Aside from helping control cravings, you need nutrients to maintain ideal weight and help your body function optimally. That's why I take It's Vital every day.

It's Vital is a unique formula that you will not find anywhere else. First, it's highly bioavailable, which means that it is easily absorbed by the body, unlike many products that simply pass through and aren't actually absorbed.

You can actually put a tablet of It's Vital in water and see it begin to break down as it would in your stomach. Try that with other popular multi-vitamins on the market today, and you may be surprised by how many sit there like a rock. With It's Vital, we know that its patented dissolve technology helps for better absorption in the body, which means better nutrition for you and results you can feel.

So what does that have to do with weight management? With 77 different forms of vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and antioxidants derived from premium ingredients, It's Vital can help you control junk food cravings and nourish your body to help you get and stay healthy naturally.

Plus, using It's Vital can help you see better results with the Ultimate Body Applicator. The nutrients it contains will allow your body to remove toxins more efficiently, helping our detoxifying body contouring formula in the Ultimate Body Applicator produce more dramatic results. Do you know your body's pH level? Probably not. Chances are, if you eat like most people, your pH level tends to be acidic.

Processed foods, fast foods, and packaged foods all contribute to your body's acidity level. Your body responds to acidic molecules by wrapping them in tough-to-lose fat—something we would all like to avoid.

The solution? Eat alkalizing fruits and veggies! It sounds so simple, right? But 8 full servings of fruits and vegetables are tough to fit into a day, which is why I highly recommend Greens.

Greens is a blend of 38 nutrient-rich superfoods and gives your body vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and enzymes in a naturally occurring, bio-active, bio-available form. This tasty orange-flavored powder can be mixed in either water or juice, and each serving contains the nutritional value of 8+ servings of fruit and veggies. By far, this is the simplest, most effective way I have found to get the phytonutrients and antioxidant benefits of veggies and fruits to your body each day.

Want to really amp up your Ultimate Body Applicator results? Drink Greens on the days you wear the Applicator. Because of its alkalizing and detoxifying properties, Greens can help your body be able to let go of that stubborn fat and will help amplify your body's ability to flush out toxins. Did you know that your body can store 8-10 meals in your distended colon if you aren't "going" regularly? That extra waste not only affects your waistline, it affects your health as those toxins build up in your body.

Regular contains detoxifying and pH-balancing herbs for an ongoing colon cleanse—yet another life-changing product from It Works that can also boost your Ultimate Body Applicator results by aiding in the detoxification process.

This Article was taken from April 2011 Issue of Living It Up Newsletter
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Letting yourself live out one little dream at a time...

Wow! I'm so excited! I am actually going to see Dr. Wayne Dyer in Calgary tomorrow! Might not seem like much, but for me another little dream gets checked off my list. I’ve followed Dr. Dyers work for 7 years, and always wanted to see him, but I almost didn’t get there! And it was all because I didn’t believe I would. But, something changed, and sure enough, thanks to all the cards falling exactly into place, I am going after all!

At first I figured I just probably wasn’t going to be able to go. I had heard about the event, but I guess just assumed it would be sold out by that time. So I didn't even try... WHY the heck not? Why wouldn't I have at least checked if there were tickets? Here I had basically assumed I wasn't going to get to go without even considering it. Why wouldn’t I believe that I would get to do something that I’ve always wanted to do? Why is that I would automatically assume it wouldn't happen for me? It was as if an old feeling that “I don’t get to do what I want” was sitting in my head, or maybe it’s that “MOM” thing where we put what we want last over the family, whatever it was, I didn’t believe that something I wanted could actually happen.

Then...I came across a flyer at a trade show this weekend for this exact event and, even as I looked at it, I thought... “In no way do I have the time, there is no way could I get tickets, there can’t be any seats available and I probably shouldn’t spend the money”. Sure enough, as I read on...right there it said...”Tickets still available...from $59.00”. Ha-ha, WOW, it was like something was saying...“Excuse me, but I couldn’t help but overhear”. OK, so now I’m paying attention... maybe I should at least go as far as to look into it.

So I did at least, at this point, start to look into it. I looked and sure enough there were seats available, but when I looked at the seats available, and told myself...”Well, they aren’t that great of seats...” I know... Trying to still squirm out of it! And the next day, although I was still on the fence, I started poking around the internet and sure enough, I ran across a site that gave me the promotional code to get an additional 10% off.

Ok, so far...the signs are all pretty clear are they not? There are seats; I have all the means and an extra 10% off. Isn’t that enough to tell me, “Just go already”! But still...I waited another day yet.

So I logged on one more time today to look for seats and sure enough, by some miracle, there was a set of 2 AMAZING seats centre stage, 5th row that weren’t there yesterday... definitely WEIRD! (But they were more than the $59). At this point I should’ve known I was meant to go, but I still figured I’d see if I could do better. Yup! I still wasn’t convinced I was supposed to go. REALLY?! I picked up the phone and I phoned Ticketmaster, just wondering if there was something better? Something better than 5th row center with a discount to listen to someone I have followed for 7 years that rarely comes to Calgary? What the heck was holding me back...every sign so far is pointing to JUST GO ALREADY! And sure enough, the Ticketmaster agent told me, he couldn’t even do any better than that set of seats for that price, and the closest he could get me was the upper balcony at the same price. So you’d think I’d be convinced by now right...still not quite yet...

Then I proceeded to tell myself..."well, I probably can’t get a babysitter". So I sent a text message to our sitter, who we haven’t seeing in months, as we have been so busy, knowing full well she is usually busy with school, work and extracurricular activities, usually one of which I was sure fell on a Tuesday and I wondered if I would even get a text back in time before those tickets were gone, sure enough... she text me back almost instantly, and was available!

OK. So now I have absolutely no reason that I wouldn’t go right? WRONG...One last thing...better check with the husband...He’ll most defiantly say no right? WRONG! He was all for it and told me I should defiantly GO!

Um, so I guess as hard as I tried to sabotage doing something I know I wanted to do, to find some reason I couldn’t go, I was undoubtedly told this was going to happen! If ever there was divine intervention pushing you to do something...this was it.

It just goes to show how many little things all have to fall into place for a busy mom to take time to do something for herself and I hope that if you ever find yourself dragging your feet to do something you know you want, need or would love to do you take a moment to just say YES to giving back to yourself, to go for those little dreams, and realize that you have something in your corner, encouraging you to do it. If it’s in your greater good to do it, I know you will get a little glimpse of some divine intervention helping you to do those little somethings for yourself, checking off your little dreams. It's just your job to accept it.

So today I accepted the signs to go for it, and tomorrow, despite my little efforts to sabotage my way out of going and doing something that I love, I’m going to see Dr. Wayne Dyer Live in Calgary and live out one little dream of mine.

If you want to become a follower of Wayne Dyer, I definately recommend his works. Here is his website:
You can also find him on HayHouse or searching the web.

You just can’t mess up a muffin!

When camping season hits, out come the frozen bananas, and the baking begins! I happen to have some self proclaimed infamous banana chocolate chip muffins that always get brought the May Long weekend, so as camping season approaches, I set out to make the batches that I knew would get passed around the campsite. But I decided to do a little experimentation with one batch...yes, no panicking... I will make the usual... but one batch I made a little different for me and the kids. And sure enough...more Kitchen Magic!

I decided to test out my new NINJA food processer (which by the way...LOVVVVEEE IT!) and, using my old recipe with a few twists & turns created some amazing muffins that passed the kids and husband test!

Mixing it all in the Ninja making it super easy....as follows: I kind of threw together stuff, so the recipe is FAR from exact...Here are my guesstimates...

First I crushed some fresh pineapple I had in the fridge, in the small attachment, that came to approx 2/3 cup I then added it to a lunch kit size organic applesauce cup, around 2/3 cup butter, and about 2/3-3/4 cup organic agave syrup and 2/3-3/4 cup organic raw cane sugar into the largest mixer and blended it well. Then I blended 4 eggs separately, again in the small attachment and 6 bananas separately, in the medium attachment and added them together to the big blender with the mixture.

In a large bowl I stirred together 1 cup whole wheat flour & 1 ½ cup white flour, 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp baking soda, sprinkled in about ¼ cup organic ground flaxseed and made a well in the centre.

I added the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, stirred until well mixed and added about ¾ cup of chopped pecans and poured into lined muffin pans. (No greasing the pan here!) I sprinkled a few pecans on top for visual and a little extra crunch and baked them at 350 for 18 min.

YUP! New Ninja + Old Banana muffin recipe + Healthier mindset = Kitchen Experiment perfection!

It made 2 dozen muffins, and you could definitely do this with a hand mixer and canned crushed pineapple I’m sure would be just as good. Pureeing the pineapple and banana just left for a smoother texture and blended the fruits into the muffin beautifully.

and WOW!... They turned out great! Yup! I’m impressed with myself...a little self-pat on the back for me today thank you very much! Mind you, I’m of the belief that you can throw just about anything in a muffin and rarely ever mess it up. It’s my favourite way to pack extra nutrients into the day since the kids love baking and it is a treat for them. I soon realized these had passed the kid test as my son snuck a second one before they were even cooled, yes, he eats anything...but I couldn’t resist either as I ate TWO warm out of the oven with my afternoon latte. They have great flavour, are very moist and have a nice crisp crust. Not bad for a baking experiment, and I can feel better knowing that my family is getting less sugar, more whole grains, extra fruit packed into their snack and healthy nuts instead of chocolate chips. I’m sure that walnuts would be great too with all the healthy omegas, so maybe next time I’ll try walnuts, or even half n half with the pecans. Mmmm. You just can’t mess up a muffin!

Today’s Kitchen Experiment...

Well, it's that time...Time to make up burgers for the summer! I always make a couple batches for the freezer at the start of the season to have burgers on hand throughout the summer. Of course burgers make perfect quick meals for summer time and it is always a neccessity for camping and for summer gatherings.

By the end of last season, I was so tired of hot dogs and hamburgers, I was welcoming winter just to get a break from the food! Now that summer is on it’s way, I’m definitely welcoming the sun, and looking forward to the BBQ again to rescue me from my humbug supper routine.

But as I thought about summer coming up, I also thought about my bathing suit... and the thought of all those heavy summer favourites and junk foods... about all those hot dogs, smokies, hamburgers and steaks for some reason were just not as appealing this year. Maybe it was in having kids and eating those foods more often that it has become less of a “treat” to have the “summer favourites” that has finally was starting to turn me off, or maybe it has a little to do with aging and my appetite changing, or maybe it has to do with wanting to take care of my body a little better,or maybe it is all of that on top of staying trim for bathing suit season, but it was all kind of making me nervous just thinking about it.

So...getting to the point... I ran a little kitchen experiment looking for an alternative to burgers this year... Turkey Quinoa Veggie Burgers! I found a Turkey Quinoa recipe online, and then added a little of my own style to it...

Here is the experiment:

I combined and blended 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs, 8 baby carrots, a few mushrooms, a cup of spinach, about ¼ of an onion, and a ½ cup of cauliflower puree in a food processor then added 2 cups cooked quinoa and blended this with the mixture until well combined in the processor, added some sea salt, fresh ground pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder, then mixed this in a bowl with 2 packages of extra lean ground turkey. I formed into balls and pressed them between wax paper and plates to make them perfectly flat. They stick together great and made perfect patties!

It made 12 burgers. I left them pressed in the wax paper and froze them individually on a cookie sheet, then transferred them into a Ziploc for summer storage, so I could just take out one at a time for myself or the kids if my hubby still wanted to make beef patties for supper, then at least I could have something different when I want.

I’m guessing from the recipe I based this on and the info on the turkey and quinoa packages that this would run around 4-7g of Fat, 225-250 Calories, 2-4g of Fibre and around 20-25g of Protein and low Cholesterol around 65-70mg. Where a standard burger runs anywhere around 25-35g of Fat, 350-425 Calories, .5g of Fibre and a only a little more Protein while usually around 160mg of Cholesterol.

Next it’s on to making the beef patties for the summer... But I won’t be making them the old-fashioned way, no, I’ll be hiding a little bit of “healthy” in those too!

Here is how I make beef patties:

I add ½ cup broccoli puree, ½ cup carrot puree, chopped onion, 2 eggs to lean ground beef, and in place of bread crumbs I’ll use half whole wheat bread crumbs and half all bran buds ground finely. Because the all bran is soluble fibre, it will help prevent some of the fat from the beef from being absorbed into your body. I often add minced mushroom as well, and then season with seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder.

Making turkey burgers was no harder than making beef burgers, maybe even a little easier as they formed so well, and I wondered why I was so hesitant before to think that making something different when it was so easy to make that change, to step outside the box and try a different style of cooking...I guess I thought it’d be difficult, and was not in my skill set, or that I’d miss out by not having beef so I just made the same tried and true recipes over and over again, but I was wrong. It was not so hard after all. But the test to pass was surely going to be the taste...so I actually decided to test one out for myself for lunch before I attempted to serve them to my family...

They cooked up beautifully on the BBQ, did not shrink much at all in size and did not stick or fall through the grates. So they passed the prep test, and now they passed the cooking test...so next...to taste...

I added some mozza cheese and served on whole wheat with cucumber, tomato and a little mayo. . and YES...I was pleasantly surprised, I actually liked them! I even think that if next time I tried them with some BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, slice of red onion, and a little mustard & relish they would even pass to feed to my husband...

There are tonnes of great online recipes for all kinds of burgers! Let this be the summer you step outside the box!