Maggie's Weight Loss Vlog #1

Here is my very first vlog, it was super fun to make, so feel free to giggle and laugh along with me. The run down of this week's vlog episode:

-An introduction to me
-The purpose of the vlog
-My weight and my weight loss history
-Before and after pictures of my progress thus far
-A brief mention of my workouts
-And of course the "Tip of the day!"

Hopefully this video plays well for everyone, it's uploaded through Youtube so it should work well. Next episode I plan to address what I eat, more detail on workouts, plus some other fun stuff :)

Enjoy!

My vlog idea...

Me! Right before my week 2 Day 5 of the Couch to 5km running program :)

I have been so focused on my health lately that I've been absent in terms of writing in here. I've been thinking about adding some video to this blog. I thought it would be pretty fun to do a few 4 minute videos of my everyday health and weight loss journey. I would love to look back at the videos to see how far I have come, but most importantly I want it to help others in similar situations. I know watching other health and weight loss vlogs I've been able to relate, be inspired and encouraged by their hardwork and changes :)

I'm pretty sure i'm going to try it out, see how it goes..might be fun and it would let me focus on both food, recipes, exercise, health, and weight loss :)

What do you think?

I love you day ♥

What's your Valentine's story?

This morning I woke up to post-it notes all over the kitchen, bathroom, living room and everywhere else I looked. Each one had a sweet message written to me about why I was loved ♥ It eventually led me to a card and Valentine's hedgehog stuffie holding a heart! I felt very special and loved today ♥

For my boys I decided to make some raw chocolates, which I have not made in quite some time. You can find the recipe I used for the chocolate here. The chocolate really works well in the molds and it does not take long before they are done setting. This time around I wanted to do something a little different, so I decided to try out different fillings.



~Chocolate Strawberry Smooches
~Chocolate Almond Kissables
~Chocolate Peanut Butter Love Bites


I basically poured a little bit of chocolate into each plastic mold, covering the sides and then threw it in the freezer. Once the chocolate hardened I spooned in a bit of whatever filling and back into the freezer it went. After a few minutes I pulled the chocolates out of the freezer and poured more chocolate on top of the filling to eventually fill the mold.

<---Here is the Chocolate Peanut Butter Love Bites ready for more chocolate to be poured on top! Each chocolate surrounds a whole natural raw almond
Chocolate covering a strawberry puree filling (To make the filling whip 4-5 strawberries in a food processor till they are a saucy consistency)
Chocolate cups with a natural raw peanut butter filling

You may have noticed the Coconut, almond and date mix in the ingredients photo, this was used for the truffles. I couldn't resist making truffles...rich, soft and delicious!


This recipe is basically the same as the one above, I just add about 1/2 cup more cacao powder. This seems to give it a thicker consistency, perfect for rolling out truffles.
Step 1: Tablespoon of Truffle Mix
Step 2: Almond Filling
Step 3: Roll into a Truffle
Step 4: Cover in a Coconut, Almond and Date Mix
The finale, a few pieces of each in a heart shape container for my sweethearts ♥

Mornings

Every morning I tell myself this, sometimes I listen and sometimes I don't. Yesterday my body and mind did not listen. I was exhausted all day, so I went to bed knowing that I would be able to at least get 8 hours sleep and I ended up getting 9.5! Oh how I love sleep in mornings :)

After stumbling out of bed and doing all those toiletry type things, I usually pick out a favorite tea :) I sometimes do coffee, but you will more likely catch me with just a glass of water.

This is my new tea set up, I used to have them lined up over my stove, but thought this was a cute nook in my kitchen to use for them. Right now I just have my favorites:

Organic Chai(my absolute fav!)
Herbal Lemon Zinger
Herbal Cranberry Apple
Vanilla Chai(not a fav but others enjoy)


My Morning Fruit BowlLayer your favorite fruits, I keep it simple by only adding 2-3 types of fruit. My mix included:

+ 1 Banana
+ 1 Kiwi
+ 5 Strawberries

Then add your favorite nut butter, I chose a natural peanut butter. There is something about natural raw nut butters that are so much better than the processed, added sugar types, but then again that is usually the case.

+ 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter

Then I sprinkle on some toppings. This morning I chose a tablespoon of my favorite topping mix:

+ Almonds
+ Coconut (Shredded/dry)
+ Dates

I take about equal parts of each and mix them in a food processor till they are crumbly. Be careful when adding your dates because if you add to many it will become a nice dough mixture perfect for a pie crust. I usually make about 1 cup of the mixture and store it in a jar. I typically use it up during the week.


Here is an estimate on the nutritional break down of this meal (toppings included):
291 Calories
50 Carbs
9 Fat
7 Protein

It's a yummy, long lasting start to a day, which I love if I know I'm going to be working out before lunch.

Enjoy breakfast everyone! I'm off to eat mine :)

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Mommy Blogger E-Book

I am really proud to share with you an e-book project I was part of....

"Mommy Menus-A compilation of kid menus submitted by health conscious moms", is a beautiful book brought together by blogger mom's from all different walks of life. I've had the chance to read through this entire book, read each of the mom's bios, review and tried some of their recipes and it really is a wonderful addition to my raw and health conscious collection of recipe books.

This book was created by Rawkinmom from Color Wheel Meals and Rawkinmom's Blog. She contacted me a few months ago to see if I wanted to be one of the mom's part of the project and I of course said yes!

Here are more details from Rawkinmom herself...
"Each mom submitted their blog/website information, a detailed Bio about themselves, and a recipe for a Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Dessert, and Drink. They also provided pictures of some of their creations. The result is an amazing and inspirational E-book.

I would love for you to receive this valuable E-book so I have priced it at only $12-this is less than a fast food meal for a family of four-these recipes may change your families life and health forever!"

Here is the paypal link if you are interested in checking out this fabulous e-book!

Enjoy all you wonderful parents!

Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer Elite!

I really do love juicing, but this Christmas I was not expecting to find this under our tree!!!
This juicer is one of my dream appliances for my kitchen. I used to drool over the infomercials, uhh not that I watch infomercials haha. Anyways, I love this juicer! It makes the best juice I have ever tasted, not to mention squeezes out ever last drop of liquid from whatever you are juicing. I don't know if you can see it on the box in the picture, but it also makes soy, almond and rice milk. I have yet to try it, but it's on my list of things to do.

Last night I was reading some news headlines and I came upon this!

"Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru who inspired television viewers to trim down, eat well and pump iron for decades before diet and exercise became a national obsession, died Sunday. He was 96." (The Record)

The link will take you to the actual article. The man was 96 years old and a fitness icon. Thank you Jack for encouraging people to exercise and live healthy lives :)

It seemed fitting that my lil one and I would make our favorite juice this morning.

The ingredients:


Juice the apple, orange and pineapple. I sometimes add 2 apples to this recipe or an extra orange. Whatever I have more of really :) Just remember to peel the orange, otherwise you will get a very bitter juice. You can also juice the apples whole, however there is conflicting research about whether or not it's healthy to consume apple seeds. I usually cut them out, just to be safe.

The juice..mmmm

Here is an action shot for you :)





If you want to take your juice one step further like we did this morning, than pour it all into your blender.

Add one med-large banana or if you prefer 1/2 cup plain yogurt.

5 cubes of ice or 1/2 cup of crushed ice.

Blend till smooth!





The final result! Delicious!
2 common questions?!
There are 2 questions I am always asked about this juicer. The first is "Do you really get more juice?" The answer is, yes! The infomercials claim it makes about 30 percent more than other juicers. To be honest I was surprised, I thought it would be more. I guess my old juicer was just that horrible!

The second question is, "What's clean up like?" Clean up is easy, I just remove any pulp and rinse. I was concerned that the filter and blade would be difficult to clean, but I don't even need to take a scrub brush to it. I just rinse everything in my sink and give it a wash and dry. Takes me about 5 minutes.



To end this post I think this quote is appropriate and oh so true...probably more truth behind it now than ever in North America.

“The only way you can hurt the body is not use it. Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it’s never too late.” -Jack LaLanne

When a blogger is away...

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!


This winter I took a hiatus from blogging. I was uninspired to write and I pressured myself into thinking that I HAD to write something on here. It was a vicious cycle, so I decided to shut the blog down for the winter. Over the break I have came to the realization that this blog is for me, its purpose is to make me happy. I shouldn't feel like I have to live up to any one's expectations but my own :) I created this blog as an outlet for me to begin with, so why would I want to change that.

So here we are into the middle of January 2011! With most new years everyone sets out resolutions. I usually don't make any because I think that I could make resolutions to "change" something in my life anytime of the year and stick to it. This year, well last year, particularly December 1st, I decided that I needed to jump start my weight loss and get into shape. Yes the dreaded "lose weight, tone up" resolution. To be honest even though I eat healthy it was easy to go over my daily calories and just maintain my weight. I joined myfitnesspal.com and started tracking my food and exercise. I've been at it since December 1st and so far have lost 12 inches from my chest-waist-hips and altogether 17lbs. I'm really happy with the results and am determined to continue.

One of my very best friend's Caleb and I hiking in cold December weather!

I'm trying to eat about 75-80% raw, clean food a day. That 20-25% that isn't raw are made up of things like cooked vegetables, yogurt, oatmeal, grains (multi grain bread, wraps, shredded wheat), warm soups, protein shakes, and on occasion a salmon fillet. Sometimes my daily food intake is more raw than other days, but it all depends. What makes me happy about this is that I feel really great and not deprived. I also have money in my wallet. I was having some financial issues in terms of funding a really high raw lifestyle for my whole family especially in the winter. I'm pretty confident in saying that once the summer harvest hits we will be able to spend and consume more fresh, clean food.

This blog will continue to be about fresh healthy food, but also continue to be about my journey towards becoming a heathier, happier me.

~Maggie