From the Garden

Puppy Love

Healthy Snacks!

Hi everyone,

I have had a few people ask me recently what sorts of things I eat, now that I am on this health kick. I thought it was time to start sharing a few of my favourite healthy recipes with you! So here we go:

One of my favourite things to eat, or rather drink, is the green smoothie that I have every day.

baby romaine lettuce, spinach, juice from 1/2 lemon, 

1/2 apple, 1/2 pear, a handful of celery

 1/2 banana

 2 tbsp ground chia seeds, 2 tbsp ground flax seeds

 1 scoop vanilla protein power (1/2 serving)

This drink is my absolute favourite way to start the day. It's fresh, healthy and delicious. It wakes you up, gives you so many great nutrients to keep you going throughout the morning, and leaves you feeling full and satisfied.

One of my favourite afternoon snacks is faux cookie dough. Today, I made it a little too watery, but it was still delicious. Here is how I normally make it:

1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/3 cup quick oats, 

1 scoop chocolate protein powder (1/2 serving)

 2 tbsp ground salba seeds

Just enough water to mix it all together

What are your favourite healthy snacks? I am always looking for fresh ideas to switch things up and would love to hear what you like to munch on!

More healthy recipes to come....

In the meantime... here are a few photos to help share how my dog makes me laugh. hehehehehehehehehe

What a face, hey? How could anyone not fall in love with that face. He's perfect and he makes me giggle uncontrollably. Awww, Tigs :)

Have an evening filled with laughter,
<3 SlothCat

Slowing Down

I have a confession. The past several days were interesting... each day and each night, I felt as though I was buzzing inside. I found it difficult to shut off and unwind. I tried to figure out what was causing the build up of anxiety that I was experiencing but I couldn't isolate one single cause. I suppose now, looking back on the past while, it was a bunch of small things that I held on to that all eventually added up to something big. A few days ago, I found myself frustrated with myself, and in turn, I also found myself  frustrated with others. I had no patience and I knew that that was wrong. I kept asking myself, "why can't I just turn my thoughts off for a few seconds and why can't I focus on my breathing? Why am I suddenly so annoyed with the actions and words  of others and why am I feeling so sensitive?". I was tired and grumpy and I just couldn't kick the feeling. Because the buzzing inside of me kept building and because it wasn't showing any sign of letting up, I knew I had to do something about it. I went to a hot yoga class. Within the first 5 minutes of practice, the smooth heat and rhythmic breathing immediately lifted a weight off of my shoulders. I could actually feel the tension, the frustration and the anxiety leaving my body. For the first time in the whole week, I felt my body actually slow down and focus. I felt all of my thoughts leave my mind and I was finally able to embrace and hold on to silence. I know that hot yoga isn't for everyone... but this week  I was reminded how important physical activity is. Nutrition plays a big role in our well-being, but we also need to challenge ourselves physically. Working out is a great stress reliever and a great way to unwind. If you are feeling challenged, frustrated, and stressed out, take some time to sweat it out. It might be hard when you are doing it, but you won't regret it after. Do whatever physical activity feels right for you. Find something that brings you some kind of balance and peace and try to incorporate it regularly, if you can. For me, regular exercise helps prevent that buildup of tension and it helps me to get rid of it quickly if it does sneak its way into my body. So my friends, on that note, I wanted to report that I am feeling much better tonight. If you were one of the victims of my lack of patience or grumpiness this week, I am truly sorry. I promise to make it up to you! 

Wishing you all a happy and healthy evening!

<3 SlothCat

Sunshine and Happy Thoughts

Hi everybody,

Last night's nutrition class, as it usually does, covered a lot of material. The main theme that we talked about, however, was this idea of ideals and the gap between where we are in life and where we want to be. Our instructor put it in a really brilliant way when she said, "It's like chasing a rainbow. You get somewhere and then it just keeps getting further and further away". She said that while healthy check-point goals help us to stay on the right track in life, ideals can make things get dangerous. She talked a lot about how we set ideals for our life and then we forever struggle with the disappointment of being unable to achieve them... or, more commonly, we struggle with the fact that when we do reach them, we decide that that original ideal wasn't good enough and we replace it with another new ideal (in other words, the rainbow effect). There is a very fine line between something that encourages you and something that holds you back by bringing you down and taking your focus off of the happiness of now. At the end of the session, we were reminded that instead of focussing on where we want to be or all of the things we wish we had in our lives, we should be spending our time focussing on the present, being thankful for the moments that we have with our loved ones, being proud of ourselves for our little accomplishments and learning to cherish every breathe that we are able to take. In the end, by doing this, we will all be a little less hard on ourselves and we all feel a little happier.

Out of that discussion, I decided that for this week I am going to spend a little time each day focussing on the little things that make me really happy.  I am going to push away any ideals that I might have about what would make my life better and instead focus on what is in my life right now that makes my world perfect.  So, on that note, today is another happy day. I have always been a big believer in every day being the BEST day EVER and last night's thought provoking discussion just further encouraged this kind of thinking for me. The sun is shining, I've been eating healthy, and I even managed to find time to squeeze in a little exercise today! Life is good, I feel good... and well... I don't even have one little thing to complain about! The more I think about how happy I am, the happier I feel. It's kind of weird but it's one of those cool things about positive thinking/living that I have been noticing. The more you start thinking positively, the more your life experiences become positive. Now, I am not saying that we can't have bad days... we all certainly have bad days...  even I have bad days... I would be lying if I said we didn't... but... the trick is to try and see the good in even the worst days. As my mom always says "every day above ground is a good day"... and it really is. It's actually a gift. Every day that we are alive, we have the chance to learn something, become a better person, make a difference in someone else's life, be there for someone else, create something, and so on...

And on that note, I really owe my mom a big thank you.  So, here goes... thank you mom for teaching me the most important things in life... to always see the good in everything and to always find a little happiness or rather "contentment" in every life experience. Learning to always remember to breathe in with the peach and out with the fuzz because life is too short to waste on not being happy anyway has made me who I am today... so thank you mom. I love you! 

With that my friends, I'm off to go write down all of the little things that made me happy today!

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy day,

<3 SlothCat 

The Little Things

Hi everybody,

I think it's the little things in life that really make my heart happy. Lately, when I wake up, the first thing I think about is the fact that everything in my life, right now, feels like a perfect dream. I feel so lucky to wake up and feel so happy and so good about everything going on right now! Little things keep happening to make me beam from ear to ear. With hilarious moments with Tigs, good chats with my mom and dad, sweet messages from a certain sweet someone, great friends, delicious/healthy snacks, and feeling incredibly proud of the fact that I am sticking to my new healthy lifestyle, I am  buzzing on all of the good moments in life. 

This morning, I flew down the stairs and into the kitchen with the biggest smile on my face. I whipped up my delicious crazy looking green smoothie. It's a little taste of heaven in a cup (romaine lettuce, spinach, apple, kale, banana, pear, lemon juice and a little water all blended together). The recipe comes from Kimberly Snyder and it is so good that I literally jump out of bed excited every morning to go make it and drink it! I'm absolutely hooked... sometimes I will even drink 3 of them in one day... they are seriously that good!

Speaking of delicious recipes.... my nutrition buddy Nicole recently discovered this amazing faux cookie dough recipe that I tried for the first time last night. I can't believe how delicious it is and how simple it is to make! You have to try it! I promise that you won't regret it! In a cup, you mix together 2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp chocolate protein powder, 1-2 tbsp water and a bunch of dry oats. The mixture comes together and looks like a couple of bites of cookie dough.  Umm hello, who ever thought eating healthy could be so fun and so delicious!!!! Talk about life being sweet!

Tigs has me cracking up lately! The other day he did an actual handstand while peeing. Hilarious. Tonight, he was playing with some of the other neighbourhood pups. He is so silly... He almost always either wanders away from the rest of the pack with his nose in the air like he's a snob or he just wont stop sniffing the other dogs while they try to play with him. He's learning though and tonight he tackled the biggest dog on our block! I'm so proud of my little guy! 

Dinner, tonight, consists of sesame seeds on a variety of steamed veg. It sure doesn't sound like much but, man, can you say yum!

Anyway, I should probably go... Tigs needs a bath... badly. Another dog may have accidentally peed on his head tonight... Tigs has a problem with sniffing other dogs at exactly the wrong times in exactly the wrong parts... but I suppose that that is the life of a puppy trying to figure this world out!

Thank you to everyone for your messages of support via phone, email, facebook and on here! Knowing you are all reading this and that you are proud of me makes my new life change so much easier :)

Wishing you all the happiest and healthiest of evenings,

<3 Slothcat and Tigs

p.s. A couple of tips from my nutrition course for kicking sweet cravings are to always keep sugar-free gum handy... and if you aren't a gum girl or guy... get a bottle of chewable vitamin c tablets and munch away when you feel like you are about to break and get a chocolate bar... the orange flavour picks you up during the afternoon slump and is just sweet enough to satisfy your craving mmm... I keep both in my desk at work and so far they have really been helping me get through the afternoon!!

Life as of lately...

Hello again,

I had the intention of apologizing for my absence yet again... but then I remembered that I have something really exciting to tell you. So, rather than jumping into a long apology, I am going to skip right to the good stuff. Let's focus on the positive people. Yay! 

*drumroll, please*... This might come as a bit of a shocker for those who know me but... I started an Eat-Clean Challenge on April 18th and I have  been sticking to it! That's right ladies and gentleman, I gave up all sugar, pastries, cheese, fast food, etc... & I haven't looked back since.

I'm actually very proud of myself... and those of you who know me... I know you will be proud of me too. I have not had a chocolate bar or icecream or any of my previous day-to-day pick me up goodies since April 18th. Can you believe it? 17 days... just over 2 weeks... and I am getting stronger every day. 

I have decided that my food blog will be a great place to share this journey of transforming my semi-healthy/semi-unhealthy lifestyle into one that is only health and nutrition focussed.  So, if you are interested, over the next little while, I will share with you all of the things that I learn from my nutrition course and from my own personal experiences on this adventure.

To begin... I want to tell you how HARD the first week was. It was almost impossible. I have a confession... the first week was actually so hard that I almost cried when a butter tart was put in front of me at a work conference and I knew that I couldn't and wouldn't eat it. It ruined my entire day. I am not even exaggerating. This butter tart experience, of course, was  followed by cookie tray and dessert tray after cookie tray and dessert tray... I had to say no to each and every one of my favourite things to eat, every day for an entire week. Talk about testing my limits. But, you know what... I actually did make it through that day and that week without even having a single taste of any of those goodies.

The first week of this challenge made me realize that I have been allowing myself to be very dependent on sugar and food for emotional support. I know.. it sounds a little wacky... I thought it seemed weird too. But, when you tear up over not being able to eat a darn butter tart... it really makes you think. In fact, something inside of me woke up that first week. It opened my eyes to what I have been putting into my body and why I have been doing it and it made me really realize that I have a food problem.  So today, for the whole world to see, I am admitting that... for my entire life, I have been incredibly dependent on food for an emotional "pick-me-up"... and while I always  knew I had a bit of a sweet tooth... I didn't realize how bad my dependency was.  

I am happy to report that... 17 days later... I am now finding my cravings for sugar to be slowly diminishing and when I see some of my favourite treats I feel much more in control and less inclined to want to eat them. I catch myself thinking about how much I want to eat vegetables because of what they do for my body. Cool, hey! AND, surprisingly, on a few occasions, I have even had thoughts about how I don't want to eat sugar because of the negative effects that it has on my body. While I do still have moments where I really want a chocolate bar, each day does get easier. I love learning about the food that I am eating and thinking about the benefits of nutrition while I eat. It makes you feel so awake, alive and connected with your own body... If that makes any sense at all, haha! 

What have I noticed so far? My body is definitely changing. It's not a jaw-dropping difference to the average eye, but in general, I feel lighter, more toned and stronger. I am starting to really appreciate my own body and my own reflection. In terms of wellness, I have more energy than ever before and my mind feels clear and focussed. I find myself being more productive with my time and, as a result, I accomplish much more than I used to in a day. One of my favourite things so far has been having my tummy issues COMPLETELY disappear. I am serious... no more pain, no more feeling uncomfortable. My stomach is so happy!

If you want to join me on this adventure, please do! The more community and support we build around health and nutrition the easier it is and the more empowering it becomes! I would love to hear your stories on getting healthy and getting active!

AND!!! MORE GOOD NEWS!!! Actually, GREAT news... BEST news of all.... is... I HAVE A PUPPY!!! This is Tigs, everybody! He's my new buddy and he is pretty much the best friend a girl could ever ask for :)

Wishing you all a happy and healthy day,
<3 SlothCat

Surprise Bella!

It was my best friend's birthday. Her husband and I planned a big surprise. We were so sneaky about it all that she actually had no idea that I was coming into town. Bwahahaha.

The two sparrows, her and I, were reunited... finally:

Two hungry blondes getting together makes for a very happy and delicious birthday!!

I hope that you all have been having a wonderful holiday season and that you are all filling your days with the people that you care the most about,

<3 SlothCat

A Little Food Comfort

<3 SlothCat

Pizza Night

Nothing beats family pizza night... especially when the pizza is covered in mushrooms.