Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to. -Bill Vaughan
3,500 kcal=1 pound
Posted: March 27, 2013 Filed under: Random, START HERE, Thoughts | Tags: counting calories, Health, healthy-living, Nutrition Leave a comment »I hate counting calories. Honestly, what could be more annoying than tracking your food on a daily basis? Unfortunately, I’ve learned that there are times when that is exactly what we must do (temporarily).
Possible Reasons:
When you have completely fallen off the path of eating high nutrient foods.
When you are facing medical conditions or injuries.
When you need to track a certain individual category such as sodium, carbohydrates, etc.
When you’ve hit a plateau in your wellness journey.
You may also want to track when you are traveling just so you don’t go crazy when eating out.
Scenario:
My 3 friends (that I grew up with) and one grown daughter were at our bi-weekly (okay, sometimes weekly) lunch last week when the subject of “my fitness pal” came up in conversation. It seemed that most of us used this method of tracking at one time or another. Super easy to utilize!
If you are looking for a good way to track your daily nutrients and/or exercise, check it out.
They also have a phone app, which makes tracking incredibly easy.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/mobile
Happy tracking! ;)
Vitamin De
Naturally Clean
Posted: April 3, 2012 Filed under: Random | Tags: Baking soda, Bathrooms, Clean, Detergent, Non-toxic, Vinegar 4 Comments »Early on in our marriage, my husband took the responsibility of cleaning our bathrooms (I’m blessed with the rest of the house). He’s a champion bathroom cleaner and I suspect it’s from being in the military for his entire adult life. There was only one problem…he used so much cleaning product that we would have to open the windows to air out the fumes and we would both be coughing up a lung.
Well thank goodness our bathrooms would be sparkly clean when they came in to find our dead bodies.
AND, that’s when I knew it was time to find some non-toxic cleaning product “recipes”. Just like my food recipes they needed to be quick, simple and with the least amount of ingredients. The following “recipes” are from the book “Ani’s Raw Food Essentials” by Ani Phyo.
ALL PURPOSE CLEANER
½ cup vinegar
¼ cup baking soda
½ gallon water
Essential oils, for scent (optional)
Place all ingredients in a bucket, mix, and use to clean most surfaces.
*I placed all ingredients in a spray bottle as well, so I could have it ready when needed.
GLASS CLEANER
¼ cup vinegar
½ tablespoon eco liquid soap or detergent
2 cups of water
Place all ingredients in a spray bottle, and use to clean glass.
*We have found that it works way better than store-bought glass cleaner.
“A clean house is a sexy house.” -De Soave
Picture by: Anne Taintor
Those Damned Chedder Bay Biscuits
Posted: March 3, 2012 Filed under: Random 2 Comments »
Seafood restaurants can be one of the healthier dining out places. If you choose wisely. So today Eat by Stars is giving a lesson in seafood restaurant dining with Red Lobster as our muse.
We're comparing entrees and sides. Oh, and those sinister cheddar biscuits.
Cheddar Bay Biscuit
Per Biscuit: calories 150, fat 8g, carbs 16g, protein 3g
I haven't been to a Red Lobster in years.
One blog that I follow regularly is essentialsofnutrition.com and I couldn't resist sharing this post with you. Who doesn't love the Cheddar Bay Biscuits at Red Lobster? Anyway, if you can resist them, there are some other healthy choices (as the author points out). My favorite is the broiled flounder. My friend (Nic) taught me to carry my own little packets of healthy olive oil or Balsamic Vinegar for my salad. Little packets of crushed red pepper to spice things up and to order salsa to top off my baked potato. I successfully spent last summer going out to eat almost on a daily basis without gaining weight and without eating un-healthy. Is that even a word? Anyway, if I can do it, you can do it! :)
P.S. To read the entire article, just click on the Red Lobster sign.
New Year’s Eve “plan”
Posted: December 30, 2011 Filed under: Random | Tags: frozen strawberries, Margarita, New Year's Eve, Non-alcoholic, raw honey, Strawberries, Virgin Strawberry Margarita 4 Comments »My husband and I are soooo excited for New Year’s Eve! I know you are dying for me to tell you what we are doing, right?
We are renting our favorite movies, ordering Sushi (I seriously need to have my mercury levels checked) and cuddling on the couch.
Seriously, we are excited about these plans. I’m not even kidding you.
Blame it on middle age.
Anyway, I just found this drink that I’m going to make Saturday night and thought I’d share it with you. Yes, of course it’s healthy! :)
VIRGIN STRAWBERRY MARGARITA
Ingredients
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
1 lime, juiced
2 tbsp raw honey
12 oz water
12 ice cubes
Place strawberries, lime, honey and half the water in a blender.
Blend thoroughly.
Add ice and remaining water gradually to reach desired consistency.
Add more ice if desired.
For those of you asking where the alcohol is; you’re most likely missing the point…so just add your favorite liquor! 
Wishing you a FUN AND SAFE New Year’s Eve!
*Revised recipe from Oxygen magazine.
*Image from Wordans
A “Raw” Birthday
Posted: December 29, 2011 Filed under: Random | Tags: 40, Adoption, aging, Middle age, Nutrition 2 Comments »In around 10 days, (depending on your time zone and/or your mathematical skills) I will be 44 years old.
Un-freakin believable!
In my 30’s, I felt like I was in my 40’s and now that I’m in my 40’s, I feel like I’m in my 30’s. All thanks to good nutrition! Just think how I will feel when I start working out consistently…
Let me get back to my birthday. I love my birthday. Seriously, I do. Some of you may have heard me say it before and I’ll say it again…I prefer my special day to last about a week straight. Maybe because I was adopted, I appreciate the fact that I was even born at all. That was deep, huh?
Anyway, you can imagine my excitement when I received a gift 10 days (give or take) early! On top of that it was books and on top of that, it was books about nutrition. What an awesome way to start my 44th birthday!
Thanks’ to my Irish Twin (Jeny) I’ll have some new healthy recipes to share very soon.
Age is a matter of feeling, not of years. -George William Curtis
Change is in the air…
Posted: December 26, 2011 Filed under: Random | Tags: Boot Camp, Change, Fitness, New Year's Resolution, Nutrition, Personal Training 6 Comments »I love change. Not coin change, but change as in new beginnings. Coin change just annoys me until I can head home and put it in my stolen Hinckley and Schmitt water jug.
Let me back track a minute. A few changes in life I don’t particularly care for. I don’t like when the grocery store changes the layout of the store so that I can’t find anything for the next two months. I don’t like when the military constantly changes my primary care doctor and then I have to explain my health history over and over again. I don’t like when my favorite TV shows change their time slot or worse yet, they get canceled. AND last but definitely not least…. TIME CHANGE. Who ever thought that was a good idea???
Other than that, I love change.
I love new and fresh beginnings so the New Year is like frosting on the cake for me. I actually don’t eat frosting or cake but humus on a gluten-free vegan cracker doesn’t quite create the same effect, does it?
I’ve already made my list of goals for 2012. Some would say this is crazy since the world is supposedly coming to end (12-21-12) but I’m forever an optimist.
Personal Goals
Re-do my address book. It’s a mess. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Complete
Organize family pictures and scrapbooks. Granted this has been on every single one of my “fresh start” lists since the 1900’s. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Complete
Visit daughter in South Korea before daughter decides to move to some other country. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Plane tickets bought
Spend time with my son before he has to go back overseas.
Develop a successful “move back to the States” (September 2012) plan for my husband and I. That could possibly change, but we love change, right? UPDATE 2-13-2012: Complete
Nutrition and Fitness Goals
I’m starting a 4-week “detox” on Jan 2nd. I feel myself slipping a little so it’s time to tighten the belt. Literally. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Complete
I’m seriously thinking about starting a 6-week boot camp program. Okay, so this is totally out of my comfort zone. First of all, I’m the laziest healthy eater-nutrition crazed lunatic on the face of this earth (I rather do anything but exercise) and second, I don’t really “like” the gym. Why, you ask? One word sums it all up…. GERMS. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Injured first week and could not complete.
BUT
I’m going to start an 8-month journey to obtain my personal training certification. Quit laughing. It’s a long story but it will help me to fulfill another goal that I’ve been longing to achieve. With that said, it’s probably a good idea to get back in the gym. Like it or not. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Started program only to find out, I’m really not interested enough in exercise to be a personal trainer so I need to continue to focus on my passion; healthy food! I’m so excited!
Continue to search (and create) for the “least amount of ingredients” recipes that can accommodate people with food intolerances. UPDATE 2-13-2012: Continuous!
Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? Personal goals? Things you want to do before 12-21-12? :) UPDATE 2-13-2012: How are you doing on your resolutions?
These are a few of my favorite things…
Posted: November 12, 2011 Filed under: Random | Tags: Kitchen 5 Comments »It’s the little things in life that excite me. Seriously, I’ve never been one to spend a lot of money on kitchen gadgets and appliances. I guess I’ve always gotten by with what I had and it probably also stems from my mom having a minimalistic approach in the kitchen as well. Anyway, I just wanted to forewarn you (on my simple choices) before I let you take a peek inside my favorite kitchen “things”. :)
http://www.oxo.com/s-21-good-grips.aspx
What is it about oxo’s good grips that keeps me coming back for more? The garlic pressed gets used and abused in this house.
http://www.oxo.com/p-491-salad-spinner.aspx
Soggy salad really bums me out. The salad spinner can eliminate that.
*There are times you just can’t use a whole avocado. I can’t remember where I purchased this.
http://www.hutzlerco.com/products/c/foodstorage/
I’ll admit I was first attracted to them because of how dang cute they are but they really do serve a useful purpose. Keeps your produce fresh longer.
http://www.corelle.com/index.asp?pageId=61&pId=74
*Winter Frost White always matches everything, right? Clean, simple and affordable. Let’s face it, trying to use good china in this house would be a tragedy.
http://www.avalonorganics.com/?id=92&pid=53
My favorite hand soap. It smells so good without being overwhelming.
Last but definitely not least. Our friends Marsha and Jerry bought us this (thank you!) before they left England. It’s so pretty and something I wouldn’t buy myself. I use it every single day.
What are your favorite kitchen “things”?
So many books, so little time
Posted: October 31, 2011 Filed under: Random | Tags: Books, CD, DVD, Favorites 2 Comments »Below is a list of some of my favorite books (per request). I’ve also included one of my favorite DVD’s and a CD. I’ll continue to update this list.
The China Study
Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health
T. Colin Campbell, PhD
Thomas M. Campbell II, MD
THRIVE
The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life
Brendan Brazier
Veganist
Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World
Kathy Freston
The Beauty Detox Solution
Eat your way to Radiant Skin, Renewed Energy and the Body You’ve Always Wanted
Kimberly Snyder, C.N.
Foods That Cause You To Lose Weight
The negative Calorie Effect
Neal Barnard, M. D.
Skinny Bitch
A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous
Rory Freedman
Kim Barnouin
Yogaworks (DVD)
FOR EVERYBODY
Beginner Basics
AM: Awaken Your Body and Mind
PM: Relax and Unwind
*After my personal trainer/friend moved away, this is the first yoga DVD I purchased. It’s great for beginners or for a day you want to take it light. I continually go back to this practice when I feel I need to re-focus.
All yogaworks dvd’s
Yoga Revolution
http://yogarevolution.org/cd-series/
Has anyone read Fork over Knives yet? Since I’ve started school, I haven’t been able to read as many books as I normally do, but that is one I really want to read ASAP.
” The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.” ~James Bryce
Bag lady
Posted: October 27, 2011 Filed under: Random | Tags: Eco-friendly, Re-usable bags 2 Comments »So, this fall my husband and I decided it was time to start using re-usable bags. It was way past due, but sometimes it takes us awhile. Blame it on middle age. :)
I was all excited to write about the benefits of using re-usable bags when I came across the article below. Sometimes, you just can’t compete with perfection.
http://www.reusethisbag.com/25-reasons-to-go-reusable.asp
Below is the bag that I’ve been using. I really need to find a manly looking one for my husband.
My friend, Gina (we grew up next door to each other, so we are more like sisters) just recently sent me the two bags below. How dang cute are they!
Do you carry re-usable bags? If so, do you have cute one’s to share? Don’t laugh, I believe you can be eco-friendly and fashionable at the same time! :)
“Don’t blow it – good planets are hard to find.” ~Quoted in Time
Love me some D!
Posted: October 16, 2011 Filed under: Random 6 Comments »So, you may wonder why my blog is named Vitamin De. Okay, I know it’s obvious in reasons that my name is De and it’s a blog about healthy living but what you don’t know (don’t worry, I’m just about to tell you) is that my favorite vitamin is D. You may think it’s odd to have a favorite vitamin but I credit good old Vitamin D for pretty much saving my life. Maybe, just maybe, I’m being a little dramatic, but seriously, between the “D” and changing the way I eat, I conquered my fibromyalgia. Take that, fibro!
Vitamin D: A steroid vitamin, which promotes the intestinal absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorus. Under normal conditions of sunlight exposure, no dietary supplementation is necessary because sunlight promotes adequate vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Deficiency can lead to bone deformity (rickets) in children and bone weakness (osteomalacia) in adults. MedicineNet.com
So quickly, (cause nobody wants to read super long blogs) I was diagnosed with fibro, docs tried some different drugs (they didn’t work) and I was barely getting by with my day-to-day activities when my husband and I moved to England, the docs here tested my Vitamin D levels (super common to have a deficiency here in jolly old England) and found that I was deficient. I started taking the prescribed mega doses and within a couple of weeks, BAM, I felt like a whole new person! I took the mega doses weekly for around 6 months and now I take them every other week. AND….that’s why my favorite vitamin is D. :)
Vitamin D deficiency symptoms: Vitamin D deficiency may be characterized by muscle pain, weak bones/fractures, low energy and fatigue, lowered immunity, symptoms of depression and mood swings, and sleep irregularities. Women with renal problems or intestinal concerns (such as IBS or Crohn’s disease) may be vitamin D deficient because they can neither absorb nor adequately convert the nutrient. http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/vitamind.aspx
Hope you all have a GREAT week!
Ta Ta
