Month: November 2015

Counting Down to Christmas

I’ve always loved Christmas.  But since meeting the Husband and having our family, Christmas has become even more special for me.  In contrast to the Christmases I remember growing up where things were different every year, I’ve tried to make Christmas for our family a time of tradition and consistency in our house.  More than anything, I want my kids to remember this time of year as a time of happiness, and love, and family; and I hope they get this through our Christmas rituals.

This year, we started the Christmas season off early . . . at Disney.  We may have been there over the second week of November, but Christmas was in full swing there.  We saw the taping of the Disney Christmas parade.  We went to Mickey’s Christmas Party.  And we saw a Santa Claus parade.  I even had my first Starbucks gingerbread late of the season while walking down a completely decorated Main Street with my son and my daughter watched Cinderella decorate her tree in her castle.

But in the weeks that have followed, while the kids excitement for Christmas has slowly been building, I just haven’t been able to find the excitement that I normally have for the holiday season.

That is . . .until today.

As I sat down this morning to plan out the week ahead, menu plan and otherwise get organized in the kitchen, I clued into the fact that December 1st is THIS TUESDAY!!!!  That means decorations go up, Elf on the Shelf makes his annual return (this is the one tradition I wish I could kill off . . .literally), and advent calendars come out.

Which brings me to my point.  Advent calendars.  The one tradition I remember as a kid is having a small chocolate advent calendar.  So without question, each of my kids gets one of those every year.  They also each get a lego advent calendar.  And then there’s the wooden advent calendar that I fill myself each night with a note for the following day outlining what special Christmas activity we’ll be doing that day.

So, once all the food planning and weekly organization was taken care of, I sat down to try and plan out what special things I’ll do with the kids this December.  And as I started to map out the things we will do – decorate, bake, make holiday crafts, spend time with family, and spend time as just the four of us – I found the weight of all that is going on right now start to lift, and some of the joy and wonder of this season seep in.

I can’t control what’s going to happen to me over the next few weeks (yes, the weight of waiting for my blood work results does get me down), nor can I control what’s going on in the world (while I normally love nothing more than a strong cup of coffee and the New York Times first thing on a Sunday morning, today’s paper was downright depressing).

But I can control what goes on in our house.  And for the next 27 days, our house is going to be filled with happiness.

It’s also going to be filled with a lot more sugar than normal!  While I try to make sure the kids (and the grownups) don’t have sugar during the week, they are allowed treats on the weekend.  And yesterday, we made one of my favourite weekend treats – Peppermint Chocolate Bark.

This is a really tricky recipe (hah!). . . grease a cookie sheet with coconut oil.  In 1 double boiler (or in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water) melt 3 bags of enjoy life chocolate chips.  In a 2nd double boiler (or glass bowl set over a pan of simmer water), melt an equivalent amount of white chocolate (for this I use Green & Blacks organic vanilla white chocolate bars – about 4 of them).

Once the chocolate chips have melted, stir in 1tsp of peppermint exact.  Then pour it into the prepared cookie sheet.  Using a knife, spread the chocolate out evenly in the pan.  Repeat the process with the white chocolate.  You can use a fork or a skewer to swirl the two chocolates together.  Or just leave it as is.  Put the cookie sheet in the fridge or the freezer until the chocolate has hardened.  Then use a knife or whatever other implement you’d like to cut it into appropriate sized pieces.

Enjoy!!!

And my best wishes for the happiest of holiday seasons!

xoxo

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Fairy Godmothers (sort of)

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The post today was going to be about crossfit (shocking) complete with a Rich Froning analogy (even more shocking).  But when I sat down to write, iPhoto was open with Disney pictures from our trip, which I of course, started to look through, which got me to the Fairy Godmother photo, which got me to look up all the other Fairy Godmother photos from our other trips (honestly, I wanted to see how my body had changed over the last 5 years . . . really mature, I know, but logical in the context of some of my discussions today), which got me to here . . . .

Yup.  A post on Fairy Godmothers.  Well, sort of.

As popular as the idea of a fairy godmother is, Cinderella is pretty much the only story with such a character (yes, there were fairies in Sleeping Beauty, but they are nothing like the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella).  Clearly then, the idea that a magical being can pop out of nowhere, pull you out of wherever it is that you’re stuck and completely change your life for the better is a narrative with wide appeal across generations.

There have definitely been times in my life when I’ve wished for a fairy godmother to come along and “magic” me out of a situation . . . or at least “magic” me some new shoes.  But as I reexamined the story of Cinderella again, something became apparent to me after reading this quote:

“Even miracles take a little time”

Cinderella had to put in years of hard work before her Fairy Godmother appeared.  Perhaps we too need to put in the work before fate/the universe rewards us with some magic of our own.

And then there is this quote:

“The magic will only last so long”

Right. So hard work = a little bit of magic, more hard work = a little bit more magic, and so on . . .

Which leads me to my favourite quote about fairy godmothers

“I became my own fairy godmother”
–Amy Schumer

On that note (and while I contemplate why one of my lowest marks in undergrad was in a Children’s Lit course), I will leave you with one of the recipes that I made yesterday that was really quite delightful . . . super easy lemon curd.  I know it’s not for everyone, but it’s good and I’m working on ways to use it up now . . . more on that later!

Lemon Curd

  • Servings: 2 cups (approx)
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

zest from 1 lemon

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup raw honey

3 eggs

6tbs coconut oil

Directions

  1. In a saucepan set on medium heat, add the eggs, honey and lemon zest.  Whisk constantly until the mixture turns paler and thickens slightly. Be careful not to set the heat too high or to stop whisking or you may end up with scrambled eggs!  A little bit of cooked egg is ok, you can strain it out at the end!
  2. At this point, add in the lemon juice and coconut oil.  Keep whisking well and watch as the mixture will turn a very pale yellow and will thicken nicely.  It may even start to bubble.  Once it has reached a thickness that you deem appropriate, pull the pan off the heat and strain the mixture through a fine metal sieve.
  3. Store the curd in a mason jar in the fridge.  Use as you wish!

 

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On Choice

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I’m particularly fond of the saying “you always have a choice”.  And I’m really good at applying those words of wisdom in some parts of my life; in others, well, let’s just say I have some work to do.

Yesterday, I had to go down to the hospital to have my blood drawn for my endocrinologist, which in and of itself was no big deal.  There was no traffic on the drive down to the hospital, I got parked easily on the first floor of the parking garage (a minor miracle for downtown Toronto), there was a minimal wait in the blood lab, and the nurse who drew my blood could not have been lovelier or better at her job.  Truth be told, my search for a Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar that commenced after I was done at the blood lab was far more distasteful than having my blood drawn.

So what’s the problem?

Well, my issues start the minute the nurse tapes the gauze over the pinprick in my arm and sends me on my way . That’s when the hamsters in my head hop on their metaphorical wheels and start running.  For between that moment and the moment when I’m sitting in the chair in the endocrinologists’ office to get my results, my brain will literally process about a billion thoughts along the lines of “What if . . . . . . . .”

EVERY time I do this (I have to have these blood tests done every 3 months), I go through the SAME thing.  EVERY time, I enter into the process with the mindset that ” This time, it will be different.  This time I won’t let it get to me.  This time, it really will just be no big deal”.  And in fairness, I have gotten better . . . gone are the days of complete hysteria / panic . . . And in fact this time, I thought I would get through it this time with just a mild sense of unease or discomfort.

Thought being the operative word.

Because when I got into the gym yesterday afternoon, I (sub)consciously decided to do some pretty stupid things.  PR two lifts in one day after a 10 day vacation.  Yup.  That seems like a super idea.  Why???  Because I needed to (sub)consciously prove to myself that I was stronger than all of this.  Because I needed to (sub)consciously prove to myself how far I have come.  Because  I needed to (sub)consciously feel something other than butterflies in my stomach.  And when I was called out by the Coach for being stupid (my words, not his . . .exactly) . . . well, I didn’t exactly take it so well.  I (sub)consciously chose to give into my fear, and I wanted to stay in that place.

But, in the quiet of my yoga classes that followed the gym, and the stillness of this morning before anyone in the house was awake, I had time to think.

It may take a while before I can get through these tests without some level of anxiety.  But I DO have a choice in how I respond to those feelings of nervousness.  And so, between now, and 9:30 on December 2nd (well, 9:45 realistically, because my endocrinologist is never on time) when I get my results, I am going to CHOOSE to acknowledge how I feel, but then I am going to CHOOSE to let those feelings go; to stop the thought train in its tracks.  And maybe, just maybe, if I practice this enough, this process will get a whole lot more enjoyable.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of choice, I am also going to choose some new recipes to make this weekend with the kids; hopefully posting at least one new nut-free, kid-approved snack later today/tomorrow!!

 

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Practically Perfect in Every Way

Wednesday was one of those days that was practically perfect in every way (thank you Mary Poppins, and yes, I’m still in Disney mode).

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While I may be heard to grumble from time to time about how early my kids are up in the morning, the honest truth is . . . I kind of like it.  (In case you’re wondering, yes, I’ve tried keeping them up later, putting them down earlier, exhausting them with activities, but the fact remains, my kids are simply early risers and there’s no changing biology.)   While I try to encourage the kids to stay in their rooms until 6, the reality is they are often up and downstairs with me by 5.

Since we start the process of leaving the house for school at around 8, I’m left with about three hours each morning to fill with them.  While I try not to stick to any one specific routine each morning (other than I like everyone to be dressed around 7 so there’s no mad dash to leave the house on time . . . makes things much less stressful), there are certain things we try to fit in every morning; breakfast, an attempt at bed making and room-tidying, and a little bit of mommy school.  Which leaves me with the rest of the time to fill. . . . .

Lately, we’ve been using this time to cook.  Which brings me back to why Wednesday was so perfect.  I decided this week to really involve the kids in the menu planning; they each got to choose the meat for one night and one vegetable.  My son chose steak.  And since I already had 4 pounds of boneless short ribs in the freezer, we settled on braised short ribs.

As soon as breakfast was finished, we all went into the kitchen and got to work on making the marinade for the the short ribs; the kids love peeling garlic, measuring out ingredients and they especially love massaging the marinade into the meat.  By the time the meat was ready to go into the fridge, we were all smiling, everyone has happy, and the day could not have gotten off to a better start.

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The rest of the day seemed to go swimmingly and I even had a few spare moments before running to pick up the kids to get some potatoes peeled, the broccoli chopped and the ribs into the oven.  All of which is my long-winded way of saying . . . all the dinner prep work was done so that by the time we got home from school, the house was smelling amazing from the slowly-cooking ribs, I had lots of time to spend with the kids before dinner without rushing to cook dinner, which again = happiness for all.

Which brings us to the moment of truth . . . . dinner.  There was great excitement as the kids carried their plates to the table; they couldn’t wait to taste what they had helped to make (it helped that the ribs were smelling fantastic).  I waited with baited breath as they took their first bites . . . . . . . and . . . . it was a HIT!!!  Both kids devoured their dinner.  My son liked it so much, he asked for (and got) leftovers for his school snack the next day.  And the Husband had leftovers for dinner the next night and claimed they were just as good the next day.

So that’s my story of how a braised short rib recipe made my day.  I can’t promise that it will make your day as great as mine was . . . but it is a good recipe, and I highly suggest you make it!!

Braised Honey Garlic Short Ribs

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

4lbs boneless short ribs

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup coconut aminos (or organic soy sauce)

4 – 5 cloves minced garlic

2 tbs raw honey (if your honey is semi-solid, just let the jar soak in hot water from the tap for a few minutes to soften it enough to mix in with the other ingredients)

Directions

  1. In a glass bowl, combine the olive oil, coconut aminos, honey and garlic.  Mix well to combine.
  2. Divide the short ribs in half and put each half in either a large ziploc bag or a 9×12″ baking dish
  3. Pour the marinade equally over the 2 batches of ribs and seal the bags or cover the pans tightly with plastic wrap.
  4. Put the ribs into the fridge to marinate for the day or even over night.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 300.  Put the ribs (if you haven’t already) into 9×12″ baking dishes (I found 2 worked best for this amount of ribs) and cover the pans tightly with tin foil.  Yes, include the marinade as well.
  6. Cook the ribs for anywhere from 2 1/2 hours to three hours (or longer).  There will be lots of liquid in the pan when the ribs are done which is excellent when served with the ribs and some form of mashed vegetable.

 

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My Quest for Tasty School Snacks The Kids Will Actually Eat Continues

While I proclaimed my love of Disney yesterday, the one aspect of the Most Magical Place on Earth that really bothers me is the over-abundance of sugar-laden foods.  On one had, I absolutely understand the desire to celebrate a trip to Disney with special food treats.  I do enjoy the Mickey ice cream sandwiches (and yes, I did have one on the trip).  But on the other, some of the “treats” are so over-the-top it’s hard not to shake your head.  Take for instance one of our breakfasts; it was a buffet where characters visited your table while you were eating.  As if that wasn’t excitement enough for the kids, there was a large bowl of gummy bears placed next to a tray of croissants, along with dishes of jam and butter (I wasn’t aware that gummy bears were a traditional accompaniment to croissants . . . haha).  There were also rice krispie treats, krispy kreme donut holes, and brownies.  And this was breakfast!!!

Seeing this excess of sugary foods and how easily and in such quantities that people were consuming these foods made me think just how far we’ve come, as a society, from eating, never mind valuing real (unprocessed, sugar- and chemical-free) food.

So now that we’re back, I’m even more committed than ever to making sure my kids grow up to not only value, but to enjoy and to choose real food over it’s processed counterparts.

Which lead me back to my quest to find healthy “treats” that the kids can enjoy during snack time at school and not feel ostracized by the other kids with their processed snacks.

Both my kids LOVE granola bars.  I’ve tried to buy healthy store-bought versions, but they are hard to find in school-safe nut-free versions that are actually edible (according to my kids, anyway).  And so, I started to research how to make granola bars.  And after reading LOTS of recipes, I came up with one that, at least one of the kids and I think is pretty darn good.  They’ve been requested as tomorrow’s snack, which I’m taking as a good sign.  They were super easy to make – we whipped them up after school and were ready to test after dinner!

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Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

  • Servings: 18ish bars
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup honey

2tsp vanilla extract

1/2tsp salt

1/4 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar if that’s more your thing)

2 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups puffed rice cereal

2/3 cups Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Line a 9×9″ pyrex pan with parchment paper.
  2. Heat the oven to 350 and spread the oats on a rimmed baking sheet.  Toast the oats for a few minutes (it took about 5 in my oven) until they are just a bit toasty looking in colour.
  3. While the oats are toasting, put the butter, honey, vanilla, sugar and salt into a small saucepan and heat on medium heat.  When the mixture comes to a simmer, put the timer on for about 2 minutes – when the 2 minutes are up, take the pan off the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
  4. While the mixture is cooling a bit, add the puffed rice to a big bowl, and then add in the oats and mix until they are well combined.
  5. You can now add in the butter/honey mixture.  I just dumped it in and then mixed it well with a wooden spoon.  When all the puffed rice/oats have been well  coated with the mixture, add in the chocolate chips and mix well.  If the butter/honey mixture is still warm, the chocolate chips will melt a little – personally, we all liked how this turned out.  If that’s not your thing, let the butter/honey mixture really cool before you mix all the ingredients together.
  6. Once everything is well combined, dump it all into the pan and using a metal spoon, press the mixture down into the pan so that it is really tightly packed.
  7. Put the pan into the fridge and let the bars set up.  Once they are firm, lift them out of the pan and cut into as many/few bars as you want.

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I’m Back . . . On Disney . . . And Why I want a Little Disney in our Life at Home

We’re just back from an extended vacation at Disney World.  I didn’t post while we were gone; not because I didn’t want to, but because I was simply too busy having fun with the kids and all the friends we met up with while we were down there.  And just as I was getting ready to write again, with our trip coming to a close, we learned of the horrific events in Paris, and then I wasn’t sure what to write . . . . the juxtaposition of anything I wanted to say against the backdrop of what was going on in the world just seemed, well, ludicrous.

But, after attempting to write this post over the last few days, I think I’ve finally found the words to express my thoughts.

I love Disney.

Yes, I realize that’s not the coolest thing a person of my age and stage can say.  But it’s the truth.  And here’s why.

I love that Disney is a place where you are actively encourage to be happy and have fun.  At every turn, someone is wishing you a good morning/afternoon/evening and telling you that they hope you have a “magical day”.  How can that not make you smile (at the very least because you find it a bit ridiculous); and that feeling is contagious.  I found myself smiling and exchanging pleasantries with complete strangers and vice vera.  Then there’s the parks themselves; where details big and small are designed to elicit maximum happiness.

I love that Disney is a place where you literally see dreams coming true all around you.  It is easy to laugh inwardly at the grown adults jumping with joy at seeing their favourite character; or at the huge groups of families traipsing around the park together in matching disney-emblazoned shirts.  While we may not share the same dream, you have to give credit to these people that have had the courage, determination, drive to make their dreams come true.

And I especially love that Disney is a place where you are encouraged to believe that  anything is possible; like Tinkerbell flying around Main Street just waiting to have her photo taken with small children.

And so now that we’re back at home, I hope to bring some of what I love about Disney into our regular lives.  Even in the face of the current world events, I hope to encourage happiness and joy in my kids and the Husband in the hopes that not only are they happier, but that they can spread that happiness on to others; I want to encourage them to follow their dreams and do what it takes to make them come true; and I most definitely want to instil in my kids and remind myself that truly, anything is possible.

 

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Love Notes & Intentional Gratitude (or how I was Inspired by Chanel)

There is a lovely little-known tradition in Chanel stores around the world; if a man purchases the classic Chanel handbag for the woman in his life, he is asked to write a love note to her.  For on the inside of the front flap of the bag, there is a little zippered pocket, put there by Coco herself, for the express purpose of hiding love notes.

I was lucky enough one Christmas a few years ago to receive one of these purses from the Husband (it was December 24th, he hadn’t purchased my gift, he’d known I’d always wanted one, it was the first Christmas post tumour and we were in a celebratory mood . . .).  Anyway, as I unwrapped the gift, and realized what he had done, the first thing I did was to look for the love note.  As I unzipped the little pocket, there it was, on a small piece of white paper . . . a lovely little declaration of his love for me.  And every time I use that purse, I am reminded of the little note that’s there and I feel, well, I feel loved.

So, a year ago, I was inspired by something I read to write love notes to the Husband and the kids each day for a month.  I thought it would be an awesome way to show the three of them just how much I love them.  The first day was easy.  The second, wasn’t so bad either.  By the 3rd, it was starting to get challenging.  And by the 4th, I had reduced my goal to just getting through the week of my challenge.

That is not to say that I don’t have an infinite amount of love for the Husband and the kids.  But rather, it’s hard to put pen to paper to describe these feelings – or in other words, to put the intention behind this kind of all-encompassing gratitude that I have for them.

As I continue to work with this idea of pairing my gratitude with intention, I think I will try this love notes experiment again.  Perhaps I won’t be as lofty with my goals . . . perhaps I will try a challenge like the one I ready on the Art of Manliness blog (this is an awesome post, by the way) because one note a week seems infinitely more do-able . . . perhaps I will rotate who gets the notes each week . . .but regardless of how I end up carrying out this project, it is already making me smile.  Because I know much those few words on a scrap of paper hidden in the inside of a purse can make me feel . . . and I want to give the three most important people in my life that feeling too.

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Sometimes, You Just Have to Laugh

So, I was up at 4:30 this morning.  To work on a spreadsheet.  For our vacation.  Not a spreadsheet on what to pack (I did that last week), and not a spreadsheet with a general itinerary (that was done months ago).  Nope.  A spreadsheet outlining everything that I have planned for us on each day of our vacation.

And as I finalized the formatting and hit print . . .

I laughed.

We are visiting the most magical place on earth, and here I am, STILL trying to plan exactly how, when and where we will have magical moments.

And then there were tears.  I thought I was supposed to be letting go, surrendering to what is, what could be, what will be, enjoying the moment.  And yet I can’t stop planning what we’re doing (and what we’re going to wear while we’re doing it) on our vacation.

Then there was frustration.  Really, have I not absorbed any of the stuff that I’ve been reading/talking/blogging about lately?  Did I not learn from the post where I talked about “over-planning killing magic”????

So I did the only logical thing I could do.  Set my son up with a lego set, set up daughter up with a bin of magnatiles (her current obsession), and gave myself a time out to stop, to think, and to compose myself.  And while in that self-imposed time out (really, I was putting away laundry . . . but it was a few quiet moments to myself to think), I got back to that place of laughter.

Really, it’s time to stop taking all this so seriously.

“To laugh at yourself is to love yourself”
-Mickey Mouse

And on that note, I’m going to smile my way to the gym, where I’m sure there will be lots more laughs.  And after that . . . well, I’ll do my best to keep on laughing.

Speaking of which . . . I made a fantastic dinner last night.  It was super easy, took next to no time to prepare, and the leftovers taste even better.  So here goes . . .

Pork Tenderloin with Maple Applesauce

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

2 pork tenderloins

4 apples (I used 2 granny smith and 2 honey crisp – use whatever you have in the fridge

1 shallott, minced

1/3 cup maple syrup

3tbsp butter

3tbsp olive oil

salt, pepper, cinnamon to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425.
  2. Heat a large cast iron or oven proof skillet on medium/high heat.  Add the olive oil, making sure the bottom of the pan is well oiled, and add in the pork tenderloin.  Let the pork brown on each side (about 4 minutes per side).
  3. When the pork is browned, remove it from the pan and add in the butter, and turn the heat down to low/medium.  When the butter has melted, add in the shallot and apples.  The pan will still be hot, so turn the apples frequently so they don’t burn – they may get a bit browned, but that’s ok.  Once the apples start to get soft, add the pork back to the pan so that it is resting on the apples.  Now pour the maple syrup all over the pork.
  4. Put the pan in the oven and let the pork cook until it registers 145 on a meat thermometer (or until it is just barely pink when you cut into it).  This took about 12 minutes for one of my tenderloins and about 20 minutes for the other.
  5. Once the pork is cooked, the apples should be nice and soft.  Serve by slicing the pork and putting a heaping spoonful of the apples over the pork.
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Gratitude – With Intention

I haven’t posted in a few days.  I have had lots of little thoughts, but nothing that coalesced into something bigger, worthy of an actual post.

When I got to the gym this morning, they had this amazing Tony Robbins quote up on the chalkboard wall, which got me to thinking, which lead to the idea for this post.

I am a lover of lists.  I use all manner of products to produce my lists – depending on what I need the list for – and I usually have multiple lists going at all times.  This weekend was a particularly busy one with halloween and my son’s family birthday party (which seems to be getting bigger each year with new babies coming almost every year for the last little bit).  Anyway, I know myself well enough now, that I was aware of the potential of turning into a whirling dervish by 10am if I didn’t sit down, take a few breaths and map out exactly what it was that needed to get done.  And so I did . . . a took a fresh clean piece of paper and wrote about 6 different lists on it.  As the day progressed, the Husband and I, without talking about it, went about our business, efficiently ticking things off the list.  And as we sat down to lunch at noon with the kids, we looked at each other and acknowledged that we had gotten the ENTIRE list done.  Before noon.

And with that, I finished my lunch (cauliflower soup with leftover sausages sliced up and thrown in – sooooooo good), and headed upstairs for a little quiet time.  And while I lay down, I turned on one of the Sounds True podcasts – one featuring Danielle LaPorte.  In the podcast, Danielle talks about the importance of gratitude.  But that gratitude itself is not enough; you need to understand the intention behind the gratitude.  For example, I’m grateful for the coach that introduced me to crossfit BECAUSE in turn, that lead me to completely changing my life for the better.  Long story short – it’s an awesome podcast – you should listen to it!

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to have some interesting conversations with a variety of people about “nutrition” (aka what food I choose to put in my mouth and why) and the WHO study about bacon and processed meats.  Most people I know, and this isn’t a criticism or a judgement, choose not to think about the QUALITY of the food that they ingest.  They may think about the quantity and the composition of it (i.e. they will choose more veggies over candy), but no one is really interested in going deeper and experimenting with what a change in what you eat might do to how you feel.

Which brings me to my point.  I am extremely grateful for the Coach (who is also a nutritionist) for introducing me to the idea of wholistic nutrition BECAUSE it has changed the way I feel and the way my body responds to my chosen lifestyle (I prefer to workout every day, that makes me feel better, and the food I eat can positively or negatively affect my performance in the gym, never mind in life).

But, I am confounded as to why it takes pain for people to change as opposed to joy.  Look, I won’t lie – fertility issues, a pituitary tumour and a brain tumour primed me to look for ways to minimize my changes of getting “sick” in the future.  But why does it take disease for us to look at what we’re eating, our lifestyles?  Why can’t we look, enjoy and feel grateful for all that we have now, and look for ways to ensure that we continue to feel that way???  When will we stop looking for the cheapest, fastest, most efficient ways to feed ourselves, and instead, look for the healthiest, cleanest, most enjoyable means of sustenance?

So that, well, that’s my big thought for the day.

I hope you are able to find some gratitude, understand why you’re grateful for whatever it is that you’re grateful for, and make something really good, clean and TASTY for yourself!

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