Pack up your stuff; we're heading out of here! Living Healthy in the Real World can now be found over at WordPress. The start of a new year seems as good a time as any to make the switch. Join me at http://livinghealthyintherealworld.wordpress.com/ for today's post.
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Monday, January 5, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Product Review: EnviroKidz
In the nice little giveaway package from Kelly, I received a number of products with the brand name of EnviroKidz. Specifically, 3 organic crispy rice cereal bars (peanut butter, berry, and chocolate), and 2 boxes of cereal ("Leapin' Lemurs Peanut Butter & Chocolate" and "Penguin Puffs Whole Grain Cereal with Brown Rice, Kamut, Corn & Qunioa").
EnviroKidz prides itself on two main points: a) being organic, and b) donating part of its sales to a wildlife charity. Aww! How sweet! Then you realize that it's 1% of all their sales. Which I'm sure amounts to quite a bit because cereal companies are a jackpot, but even so, you're making all that money and then you donate 1% of your sales to a wildlife fund just so you can stamp that on all your packaging? To me that's kind of like adopting a homeless kid just so you can drag them off to special events and show them off to people to demonstrate what a generous person you are (a la this episode on the Sarah Silverman Show).
(End of rant).
Organic Crispy Rice Cereal Bars
The front nutritional claim states that these bars contain nothing artificial and no additives. And, of course, it's organic! Turn the package over and the nutrition facts label is very similar for each bar: 110 calories per 28g bar; 2.5-3g fat, 20g carbs with 1g fiber and 7g sugar, and 2g protein. Not much in terms of vitamins and minerals, unless you count the 15% daily value of iron in the chocolate bar.
Okay, so now comes the fun part of flipping up the wrapper so we can look at the tiny print of the ingredients list. Seriously, what is it with bars and ingredients lists? The ingredients list is arguably the most important piece of information on the package and it's always in tiny print and hidden from view. No wonder we don't know anything about the food we are eating!
(End of rant #2).
They all share the same beginnings of the ingredients list: organic crispy rice (organic brown rice flour, granulated organic sugar cane juice, sea salt, organic molasses, organic rice bran extract), organic brown rice syrup, organic honey. Then they go on to include many other things, but among them is organic soy oil, organic corn starch, organic invert cane syrup, organic peanut butter, and organic cocoa.
Let's have fun for a moment and take out the word "organic" from the ingredients. Now re-read that list. Mmm, sugar! Remember that organic does not mean something is nutritious. That word on the package implies the environment is being treated right and that there's no weird chemicals, but does not mean its healthy.
Basically, we're looking at a candy bar here, although I will agree that this is going to be better for you than other candy bars because there are far fewer calories and fat in this one, and it also does use natural ingredients. Also, even though sugar is listed under different names many times, 7g of sugar for a cereal bar isn't too bad. That's just under 2tsp of sugar for the whole thing.
Now for the good part, the taste! Super delicious. The peanut butter had very distinct peanut butter and honey flavours; the chocolate was decidedly chocolatey, and I loved that the berry one used freeze-dried blueberries and raspberries in it. These are decently sized and chewy. They make for a tasty treat!
The Cereal
Leapin' Lemurs tastes exactly like peanut butter and chocolate flavoured corn pops. They are super crunchy and are honestly fantastic in a bowl with skim milk (my feeble attempts to make it somewhat healthy:)). Penguin Puffs also have a corn pops taste and their nutrition facts are almost identical to Leapin' Lemurs.
Nutrition Facts: 120 calories per 3/4 cup serving; 1.5g fat, 25g carbs with 2g fibre and 8g sugar, 2g protein.
Ingredients List: organic corn meal, organic whole grain corn meal, granulated organic sugar cane juice, organic peanut butter, organic molasses, organic cocoa, sea salt, organic soy oil, natural flavour, tocopherols.
No doubt about it, this cereal is far more dessert than cereal! Take out the word "organic" again. At least the first two ingredients aren't sugar, I suppose?
Overall, it would probably be better to not get either the cereal or the bars for your kids, because they might get addicted. Yum. These food products really can't be considered part of a healthy breakfast or snack, but they're way better than just about any other kids sugary cereals out there, and if you're looking for a tasty once-in-a-while treat that uses natural ingredients, then EnviroKidz would fit that description very well.
Tasty!
EnviroKidz prides itself on two main points: a) being organic, and b) donating part of its sales to a wildlife charity. Aww! How sweet! Then you realize that it's 1% of all their sales. Which I'm sure amounts to quite a bit because cereal companies are a jackpot, but even so, you're making all that money and then you donate 1% of your sales to a wildlife fund just so you can stamp that on all your packaging? To me that's kind of like adopting a homeless kid just so you can drag them off to special events and show them off to people to demonstrate what a generous person you are (a la this episode on the Sarah Silverman Show).
(End of rant).
Organic Crispy Rice Cereal Bars
The front nutritional claim states that these bars contain nothing artificial and no additives. And, of course, it's organic! Turn the package over and the nutrition facts label is very similar for each bar: 110 calories per 28g bar; 2.5-3g fat, 20g carbs with 1g fiber and 7g sugar, and 2g protein. Not much in terms of vitamins and minerals, unless you count the 15% daily value of iron in the chocolate bar.
Okay, so now comes the fun part of flipping up the wrapper so we can look at the tiny print of the ingredients list. Seriously, what is it with bars and ingredients lists? The ingredients list is arguably the most important piece of information on the package and it's always in tiny print and hidden from view. No wonder we don't know anything about the food we are eating!
(End of rant #2).
They all share the same beginnings of the ingredients list: organic crispy rice (organic brown rice flour, granulated organic sugar cane juice, sea salt, organic molasses, organic rice bran extract), organic brown rice syrup, organic honey. Then they go on to include many other things, but among them is organic soy oil, organic corn starch, organic invert cane syrup, organic peanut butter, and organic cocoa.
Let's have fun for a moment and take out the word "organic" from the ingredients. Now re-read that list. Mmm, sugar! Remember that organic does not mean something is nutritious. That word on the package implies the environment is being treated right and that there's no weird chemicals, but does not mean its healthy.
Basically, we're looking at a candy bar here, although I will agree that this is going to be better for you than other candy bars because there are far fewer calories and fat in this one, and it also does use natural ingredients. Also, even though sugar is listed under different names many times, 7g of sugar for a cereal bar isn't too bad. That's just under 2tsp of sugar for the whole thing.
Now for the good part, the taste! Super delicious. The peanut butter had very distinct peanut butter and honey flavours; the chocolate was decidedly chocolatey, and I loved that the berry one used freeze-dried blueberries and raspberries in it. These are decently sized and chewy. They make for a tasty treat!
The Cereal
Leapin' Lemurs tastes exactly like peanut butter and chocolate flavoured corn pops. They are super crunchy and are honestly fantastic in a bowl with skim milk (my feeble attempts to make it somewhat healthy:)). Penguin Puffs also have a corn pops taste and their nutrition facts are almost identical to Leapin' Lemurs.
Nutrition Facts: 120 calories per 3/4 cup serving; 1.5g fat, 25g carbs with 2g fibre and 8g sugar, 2g protein.
Ingredients List: organic corn meal, organic whole grain corn meal, granulated organic sugar cane juice, organic peanut butter, organic molasses, organic cocoa, sea salt, organic soy oil, natural flavour, tocopherols.
No doubt about it, this cereal is far more dessert than cereal! Take out the word "organic" again. At least the first two ingredients aren't sugar, I suppose?
Overall, it would probably be better to not get either the cereal or the bars for your kids, because they might get addicted. Yum. These food products really can't be considered part of a healthy breakfast or snack, but they're way better than just about any other kids sugary cereals out there, and if you're looking for a tasty once-in-a-while treat that uses natural ingredients, then EnviroKidz would fit that description very well.
Tasty!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Life Lessons: Reflections
Day 31 of the 100 Reps Challenge
We did it! Today is the last day of December and therefore the last day of the 100 Reps Challenge. The exercises I've chosen today are good for the core and whole body. As I've said before, I love abs, so I couldn't resist the knee tucks. Downward facing dog is a yoga/Pilates pose and that seems appropriate for this time of year because of the association with self-reflection and inner peace. Have fun!
20 stability ball knee tucks (do bicycle crunches, regular crunches, and reverse crunches if you don't have a stability ball)
20 downward facing dog
Complete this set 5 times for a total of 100 stability ball knee tucks and 100 downward facing dogs!
Fitness Tip: Go slow. You have all day to complete these exercises so really concentrate on taking your time and feeling your body working. Relax, breathe, and congratulate yourself for having made it through this challenge (doesn't matter if you did every day of the challenge, half of the days, or one day; moving and pushing yourself is definitely reason to be proud! And if you didn't do any of the challenge, then thanks for putting up with me and my challenge every day for the past month:)).
Happy New Years Eve!
There's a lot of talk about resolutions at this time of year. I think that I used to make resolutions years ago, but I haven't the faintest idea what they would have been about. Partway through high school I decided it made more sense to make resolutions in September rather than January because it's the start of the school year, so I did that for several years. One of the resolutions, I remember, was to be able to do the splits by the end of the year. That was, oh, four years ago? Still have yet to achieve that goal!
This year has been a lot about independence for me. Within a few days of the start of 2008 my heart got broken, so I spent the better half of the year trying to mend that and deal with the depression (and mild orthorexia) that came along with it. I began this blog and have learned more about health in the past year than I possibly ever did in all the rest of my years combined. I experimented with different kinds of fitness and improved my strength immensely and had a lot of fun cooking and baking. Then there was the traveling and moving out of my parents place and rediscovering my passion for writing. I certainly have had a lot of assistance and tons of support, but ultimately I found my way by doing things on my own and figuring out what I want.
While I was belly dancing and enjoying boot camp and taking up fitness challenges and overcoming the orthorexia and going through life in general, I was always working towards goals. I'd decide I wanted to do something and then somehow would find myself following through with it. I've always thought of myself as the kind of person who would say they're going to do something, but then wouldn't bother to do it. But after looking back over this year, I think that my problem in past years has been that the things I would say that I would do were things that other people wanted me to do, or things I thought I should do, or things that I only half-heartedly wanted to do.
This year was different because of all that self-growth and other cliche things we're all supposed to go through when we've been around for a couple decades (and which we actually do go through- there's a reason that they're cliches, after all). I have been listening to more of what all of me wants and from that have been able to find something like a direction, and from there, have made my little goals and resolutions.
It's for that reason that I do not make resolutions at New Years. Some of us need monumental occassions to get a jump-start on our goals; others of us find them too intimidating or obligatory and don't follow through with the goals because of that. I'm one of the latter. I think that if I were to make a resolution at New Years, it would only be because I'm supposed to make a resolution, because its expected. I'd only be making a resolution for the sake of making a resolution, rather than making a resolution for the resolution itself.
Throughout the year I am confident that I'll make lots more mini resolutions and goals, and that's what works for me. I'll be making them because I'm ready to make them and follow through and because I really want to do them.
What about you? Do you make resolutions? If you do, do you usually stick with them? What are your resolutions this year? And if you don't make them, is there any reason for it? I'm curious about your thoughts on this. Enjoy the last day of 2008- here's to another year passing and a wonderful year unfolding before us!
We did it! Today is the last day of December and therefore the last day of the 100 Reps Challenge. The exercises I've chosen today are good for the core and whole body. As I've said before, I love abs, so I couldn't resist the knee tucks. Downward facing dog is a yoga/Pilates pose and that seems appropriate for this time of year because of the association with self-reflection and inner peace. Have fun!
20 stability ball knee tucks (do bicycle crunches, regular crunches, and reverse crunches if you don't have a stability ball)
20 downward facing dog
Complete this set 5 times for a total of 100 stability ball knee tucks and 100 downward facing dogs!
Fitness Tip: Go slow. You have all day to complete these exercises so really concentrate on taking your time and feeling your body working. Relax, breathe, and congratulate yourself for having made it through this challenge (doesn't matter if you did every day of the challenge, half of the days, or one day; moving and pushing yourself is definitely reason to be proud! And if you didn't do any of the challenge, then thanks for putting up with me and my challenge every day for the past month:)).
Happy New Years Eve!
There's a lot of talk about resolutions at this time of year. I think that I used to make resolutions years ago, but I haven't the faintest idea what they would have been about. Partway through high school I decided it made more sense to make resolutions in September rather than January because it's the start of the school year, so I did that for several years. One of the resolutions, I remember, was to be able to do the splits by the end of the year. That was, oh, four years ago? Still have yet to achieve that goal!
This year has been a lot about independence for me. Within a few days of the start of 2008 my heart got broken, so I spent the better half of the year trying to mend that and deal with the depression (and mild orthorexia) that came along with it. I began this blog and have learned more about health in the past year than I possibly ever did in all the rest of my years combined. I experimented with different kinds of fitness and improved my strength immensely and had a lot of fun cooking and baking. Then there was the traveling and moving out of my parents place and rediscovering my passion for writing. I certainly have had a lot of assistance and tons of support, but ultimately I found my way by doing things on my own and figuring out what I want.
While I was belly dancing and enjoying boot camp and taking up fitness challenges and overcoming the orthorexia and going through life in general, I was always working towards goals. I'd decide I wanted to do something and then somehow would find myself following through with it. I've always thought of myself as the kind of person who would say they're going to do something, but then wouldn't bother to do it. But after looking back over this year, I think that my problem in past years has been that the things I would say that I would do were things that other people wanted me to do, or things I thought I should do, or things that I only half-heartedly wanted to do.
This year was different because of all that self-growth and other cliche things we're all supposed to go through when we've been around for a couple decades (and which we actually do go through- there's a reason that they're cliches, after all). I have been listening to more of what all of me wants and from that have been able to find something like a direction, and from there, have made my little goals and resolutions.
It's for that reason that I do not make resolutions at New Years. Some of us need monumental occassions to get a jump-start on our goals; others of us find them too intimidating or obligatory and don't follow through with the goals because of that. I'm one of the latter. I think that if I were to make a resolution at New Years, it would only be because I'm supposed to make a resolution, because its expected. I'd only be making a resolution for the sake of making a resolution, rather than making a resolution for the resolution itself.
Throughout the year I am confident that I'll make lots more mini resolutions and goals, and that's what works for me. I'll be making them because I'm ready to make them and follow through and because I really want to do them.
What about you? Do you make resolutions? If you do, do you usually stick with them? What are your resolutions this year? And if you don't make them, is there any reason for it? I'm curious about your thoughts on this. Enjoy the last day of 2008- here's to another year passing and a wonderful year unfolding before us!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Day 30 of the 100 Reps Challenge
20 stability ball reverse extensions (if you don't have a stability ball, try using a bench or chair instead)
20 standing dumbbell shrugs
Do this set 5 times for a total of 100 stability ball reverse extensions and 100 standing dumbbell shrugs!
Fitness Tip: Stretching every day is great for energizing and limbering up the body- do some shoulder shrugs (with or without the dumbbells), reach down and touch your toes, and stretch your arms high over your head while standing on your tiptoes. It's rejuvenating!
Juliet mentioned yesterday that she doesn't know how to do jumping lunges, and I realize that my explanation of them was an especially poor one. I'd do an exercise video of it for you all, but I attempted that once and it was just sillyridiculousbad, so I'll spare you that. However! I did manage to find this excellent video (thank you, YouTube!), so if you're confused by the jumping lunges, just check out the link and you'll see a very good demonstration of them. Enjoy.
20 standing dumbbell shrugs
Do this set 5 times for a total of 100 stability ball reverse extensions and 100 standing dumbbell shrugs!
Fitness Tip: Stretching every day is great for energizing and limbering up the body- do some shoulder shrugs (with or without the dumbbells), reach down and touch your toes, and stretch your arms high over your head while standing on your tiptoes. It's rejuvenating!
Juliet mentioned yesterday that she doesn't know how to do jumping lunges, and I realize that my explanation of them was an especially poor one. I'd do an exercise video of it for you all, but I attempted that once and it was just sillyridiculousbad, so I'll spare you that. However! I did manage to find this excellent video (thank you, YouTube!), so if you're confused by the jumping lunges, just check out the link and you'll see a very good demonstration of them. Enjoy.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Life Lessons: Feel Good
Day 29 of the 100 Reps Challenge
20 jumping lunges (20 for each side): sink down into a lunge, then jump up and switch leg positions. If you start with the right leg forward and bent, left leg stretched back, then when you jump your left leg should land in the front at a 90 degree angle with the right leg stretched back.
20 overhead presses with twist: hold dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing shoulders. As you press up and lift them over your head, twist your hands so that your palms are facing away from you.
Do this set 5 times for 100 jumping lunges and 100 overhead presses with twist!
Fitness Tip: Use a lot of power in those jumping lunges but maintain control the whole time. You might need to pause between each lunge to correct form and regain balance.
Remembering the Past (and A Clumsy Little Christmas)
Among an array of many fantastic Christmas gifts, I received a rather special recipe book from my mum. It is her mum's recipe book from 1952, complete with newspaper clippings and handwritten notes. We've talked about the recipe book before but hadn't seen it in years; we just figured it was somewhere in the storage unit from having moved from house to condo a couple years ago. Her mum died when I was very young and the only real memory I have of her is of her standing at the door with a plate of her amazing peanut butter cookies. And smiling. Having this book passed down to me unexpectedly was so precious that I broke down and started crying when I realized just what it was. It's such a treasure.
I have since been looking in the book and I've found two peanut butter cookie recipes; one is for regular cookies but the oven temperature and time is omitted, and the other is for molasses peanut butter cookies. I think I'll wait a while before I make these cookies, seeing as we've still got huge mounds of other kinds, but I am so looking forward to trying her recipes.
Aside from those tears, Christmas came and went mostly without a hitch. Although there was one moment when I was moving the 3-plate cookie stand from one table to another and about 2 seconds after I was warned to "be careful, those plates are really slippery", somehow I managed to let every single one of those plates slide right off the stand to come crashing down all over the table, chairs, walls, and floor. There were cookies everywhere! Butter tarts are amazingly resilient; those things are as strong as a Nalgene bottle.
Luckily my clumsiness did not result in any broken plates (just some broken cookies), and it was nothing that a broom and dustpan couldn't sweep up. I opted to not hold my baby cousins after that, just to be safe, and managed to pawn off the plate of cheesecake and apple pie for the sister to carry- better not to trust these butterfingers of mine!
Know your body
Although I have yet to get on the river and go skating this year, yesterday I found myself out jogging for the first time in a long time. I have discovered that one of the best ways to fit in exercise is to not think about it and just do it. Rather than let myself think about how bored I get from running and my dislike for it, I was putting my running shoes on and locking the door behind me before I even knew quite what I was doing.
Similar to breaking down large chunks of something (say, for example, 100 reps of an exercise) into more manageable amounts (sets of 20 or 25 reps), when we listen to our bodies and let them do the work for us, it's amazing how much sheer strength and endurance we have! Sometimes its good to let your brain shut down or get distracted and have your body take over.
Don't think, don't dread, just do it! It feels good.
20 jumping lunges (20 for each side): sink down into a lunge, then jump up and switch leg positions. If you start with the right leg forward and bent, left leg stretched back, then when you jump your left leg should land in the front at a 90 degree angle with the right leg stretched back.
20 overhead presses with twist: hold dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing shoulders. As you press up and lift them over your head, twist your hands so that your palms are facing away from you.
Do this set 5 times for 100 jumping lunges and 100 overhead presses with twist!
Fitness Tip: Use a lot of power in those jumping lunges but maintain control the whole time. You might need to pause between each lunge to correct form and regain balance.
Remembering the Past (and A Clumsy Little Christmas)
Among an array of many fantastic Christmas gifts, I received a rather special recipe book from my mum. It is her mum's recipe book from 1952, complete with newspaper clippings and handwritten notes. We've talked about the recipe book before but hadn't seen it in years; we just figured it was somewhere in the storage unit from having moved from house to condo a couple years ago. Her mum died when I was very young and the only real memory I have of her is of her standing at the door with a plate of her amazing peanut butter cookies. And smiling. Having this book passed down to me unexpectedly was so precious that I broke down and started crying when I realized just what it was. It's such a treasure.
I have since been looking in the book and I've found two peanut butter cookie recipes; one is for regular cookies but the oven temperature and time is omitted, and the other is for molasses peanut butter cookies. I think I'll wait a while before I make these cookies, seeing as we've still got huge mounds of other kinds, but I am so looking forward to trying her recipes.
Aside from those tears, Christmas came and went mostly without a hitch. Although there was one moment when I was moving the 3-plate cookie stand from one table to another and about 2 seconds after I was warned to "be careful, those plates are really slippery", somehow I managed to let every single one of those plates slide right off the stand to come crashing down all over the table, chairs, walls, and floor. There were cookies everywhere! Butter tarts are amazingly resilient; those things are as strong as a Nalgene bottle.
Luckily my clumsiness did not result in any broken plates (just some broken cookies), and it was nothing that a broom and dustpan couldn't sweep up. I opted to not hold my baby cousins after that, just to be safe, and managed to pawn off the plate of cheesecake and apple pie for the sister to carry- better not to trust these butterfingers of mine!
Know your body
Although I have yet to get on the river and go skating this year, yesterday I found myself out jogging for the first time in a long time. I have discovered that one of the best ways to fit in exercise is to not think about it and just do it. Rather than let myself think about how bored I get from running and my dislike for it, I was putting my running shoes on and locking the door behind me before I even knew quite what I was doing.
Similar to breaking down large chunks of something (say, for example, 100 reps of an exercise) into more manageable amounts (sets of 20 or 25 reps), when we listen to our bodies and let them do the work for us, it's amazing how much sheer strength and endurance we have! Sometimes its good to let your brain shut down or get distracted and have your body take over.
Don't think, don't dread, just do it! It feels good.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Day 28 of the 100 Reps Challenge
We're putting the stability ball and dumbbells away for today; let's work with our body weight!
25 mountain climbers (25 for each leg)
25 side planks (25 for each side): hold for 20-60 seconds
Do this set four times for a total of 100 mountain climbers and 100 side planks.
Fitness Tip: Move your legs quickly with the mountain climbers to get your heart rate up. Try to hold the side plank until exhaustion hits- push yourself to the limit!
25 mountain climbers (25 for each leg)
25 side planks (25 for each side): hold for 20-60 seconds
Do this set four times for a total of 100 mountain climbers and 100 side planks.
Fitness Tip: Move your legs quickly with the mountain climbers to get your heart rate up. Try to hold the side plank until exhaustion hits- push yourself to the limit!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Day 27 of the 100 Reps Challenge
20 bent over dumbbell rows (20 for each side)
20 stability ball hamstring curls
Do this set 5 times for a total of 100 bent over dumbbell rows and 100 stability ball hamstring curls!
Fitness Tip: Don't have a stability ball? Just do hamstring curls in a standing position, one leg at a time. Move quickly in a jumping motion to get the most out of this exercise if you are doing it without the stability ball. With the bent over dumbbell rows, lower the weights at the same slow speed in which you lifted them; you use slightly different muscles in raising and lowering the weights and you want to make sure that all of them are getting worked!
20 stability ball hamstring curls
Do this set 5 times for a total of 100 bent over dumbbell rows and 100 stability ball hamstring curls!
Fitness Tip: Don't have a stability ball? Just do hamstring curls in a standing position, one leg at a time. Move quickly in a jumping motion to get the most out of this exercise if you are doing it without the stability ball. With the bent over dumbbell rows, lower the weights at the same slow speed in which you lifted them; you use slightly different muscles in raising and lowering the weights and you want to make sure that all of them are getting worked!
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