Category: Happy Belly

Food, glorious food!

Friday Five

Let’s try something new! I want to share articles & products that I think are interesting, helpful, inspiring, funny, just plain good. I’m interested to see what you think! So take a look below for a quick description of each of the items and let me know how it goes! Which is your favorite?

Stuff You Should Know

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This podcast was introduced to me by my Fiancee over thanksgiving last year. I have listed to two podcasts a day since. I can’t get enough of it! They make my commute on the NYC subway system 1000x better.

Download it on iTunes – it’s free and I promise you’ll learn something. (Happy Mind)

HUM Nutrition

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Their mission is simple: to become the best beauty nutrition business in the world. Depending on your needs, their nutritionists suggest micro nutrients that help support your health & beauty goals (my vitamins were Red Carpet, OMG! Omega The Great and Flatter Me). All this happens online and to make your life easier, they ship personalized vitamins, minerals and botanicals right to your doorstep. AMAZNG RIGHT!

Available online and at Sephora. (Happy Body)

Skinny Garlic Shrimp Recipe

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“I am from the Louisiana coast, so I MUST have seafood in my diet,” says Shelly Marie Redmond, MS, RD, LDN, founder of Skinny Louisiana. “I love making this for a date night or a quick weeknight meal.”

THE RECIPE: Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup chopped onions, 1 teaspoon chopped garlic, and 1 lemon, unpeeled and cut into small pieces. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add 1 pound of uncooked shrimp (look in freezer section of supermarket). Cover and cook 3 minutes, until shrimp turns pink. Reduce heat to medium and cook 12-12 minutes. Remove from heat. Let set 5-10 minutes.

(Serves 4) Per Serving: 170 calories, 8g fat, 1g sat fat, 3g carb, 1g fiber, 23g protein. (Happy Tummy)

Find more healthy recipes here.

The Equalizer

Not really the mood that this blog typically has but I loved it, so you’re hearing about it. If you’re into Action/Crime/Thriller movies, this is one you NEED to see. Denzel Washington plays a mysterious average man who brings the hammer down on some seriously messed up people. It was awesome!

IMDB Description: A man believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and has dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. (Rated R)

Tuja Wellness 30 Day Meditation Chalenge

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This is currently in the middle of the30 days, but their 16th day Chakra Balancing meditation was so wonderful and I want you to try it out.

If you like it and want to sign up for the 30-Day Challenge Click here to sign up! (Happy Soul)

 

See you next week for the next Friday Five!

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Soup Recipe

This is my first winter outside of Sunny California and even Sunnier Arizona. AND I just got back to NYC from a wonderful New Years Eve in the Bahamas, so you can imagine my worry when the weather forecast is 15 BELOW zero tonight with wind chill. Yeah. Can I just teleport from the office to my cozy bed? Where’s The Doctor when you need him?

Since teleportation technology is not yet a thing (maybe at CES 2016) I’ll warm up a traditional way, food! More specifically, SOUP! This soup can be vegan or meat filled. It just depends on if you want to include the meatballs. Let me tell you, it results in one happy tummy.

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The recipe is originally from True Foods Cook Book but I’ve edited it to my taste. I’d love to know what you think! Also, what’s your favorite recipe for cold nights? I’m going to need more!

Enjoy!

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Find the Recipe Card Template Here

The New Wave of At-Home Workouts

Recently I started doing a home workout video called 21 Day Fix from Team Beach-body. They are the same people who do Insanity & P90X. Have you heard of them?

Well, this video is kicking my butt. I feel better after just the first week and can feel myself improving. I didn’t weigh myself though because I am more about feeling great, rather than focusing on a number on the scale. The DVDs come with meal plans and directions on how to portion food so that you are maximizing how healthy you are during the 21 Days. My favorite thing about the DVDs though is that each workout is only 30 minutes, and they are hard core. I honestly thought, how hard can it be? It. Is. Worth it.

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But the best part? I ordered a shake from them that I drink daily now! It’s called Shakeology – weird name. Awesome drink. Majority of days I drink it for breakfast but sometimes I add other things to it to make it dessert. My favorite dessert recipe so far? Mixing the strawberry shake with chocolate milk. Yum. Yum. Yum.

I love it so much I’ll be giving away three samples to people who comment below with their favorite flavor: chocolate, vanilla or strawberry. As easy as that! I’ll announce winners here on Friday.

If you want to buy your own, click here.

Must live in the U.S. to win.

WHY We Eat The Rainbow

The saying goes “You are what you eat.” Well, then why would you eat anything other than beautiful food? Natural beauty that is, not man made or processed beauty.

What is the most beautiful natural option you ask? A rainbow is my answer.

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This image is taken with the fruits & veggies I had in my refrigerator. It includes red potatoes, red, orange and yellow bell pepper, a peach, sweet potato, banana, fuji apple, avocado, plumb, and a red onion.  And water.

Red fruits and veggies –
Red foods contain lycopene. It helps clear your body of free radicals, protects against prostate cancer, as well as heart and lung disease. They also have tons of antioxidants which can help keep heart disease away by preventing blood clots and may also delay the aging of cells in the body.

Orange fruits and veggies –
Orange and Yellow foods are loaded with alpha carotene, which is known to help protects against cancer, but also contain beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. This protects your skin against free-radical damage. Beta-carotene is also good for night vision.

Green fruits and veggies-
Green foods contain chemicals that help ward off cancer by inhibiting carcinogens. Chlorophyll is the component that makes a plant green, and is purifying in the body. Many green foods also contain calcium and minerals.

Blue & Purple –
Blue and purple fruits contain the compound anthocyanin’s that not only give food their color but also have been shown to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and increasing heart health.

And Water
I wanted to write something about rainbows coming from rain, which is made by water…. But that’s a silly connection. SO just drink more water, ok?

Information from www.sheknows.com

Set SMART Goals

Hey! YOU. What goals are you working towards right now? How’s it working out? Are you getting anywhere? Well, if not… this could help you! Actually, it’s pretty good information for everyone!
We all have places we want to go, things we want to see and careers we want to have. In other words, we all have goals. The question is, are your goals within reach? Are they SMART goals? The image below is a great way to remind yourself of how to set realistic goals and how to reach them.

SMART-Goals

Where am I in my life today? Where do I want to be in a month, a year, 5 years? No a five year plan will probably not work out how you want it to… there are too many uncertainties but you can define your wants, dreams and goals and work towards reaching them.
Now think:
In 30 days I want__________
In 60 days I will___________
In 90 days I have __________
What goal will you be working towards? Something in your personal life? Or your professional life?

Why Watermelon Rocks

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So. What’s my favorite food you may wonder? Only the best food on the planet. Watermelon.
Besides the fact that it is pink, crisp and delicious, it is super healthy for you!
Lets take a second to just list off what it can protect you against: lung and oral cavity cancers, colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers, oxygen-free radicals, harmful UV rays, stroke and coronary heart diseases, and infectious agents. Read below to find out why and how.

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It will rehydrate you! Like a delicious piece of candy after a long run, Watermelon is a great way to get rehydrated, replenish electrolytes and some flavor in your mouth rather than a sugary high fructose sport drink.
Vitamin-A (helpful for sight, your skin, mucus membraned and your immune system), a powerful anti-oxidant is only one of the great vitamins stuffed in that green ball of goodness. 100 grams of fresh fruit provides  you with 569mg (or 19% of daily-required levels of this vitamin). Also! Eat as much as you like because it is said to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers. Yes.
It is also rich in anti-oxidant flavonoids like lycopene, beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and cryptoxanthin. These antioxidants are found to offer protection against colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers. Phyto-chemicals present in watermelon like lycopene and carotenoids have the ability to help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen-free radicals.
Watermelon is an excellent source of carotenoid pigment, lycopene and indeed, superior to raw red tomato which studies suggest may offer certain protection to skin from harmful UV rays.
It is loaded with potassium; an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure that will protect against stroke and coronary heart diseases.
Vitamin-B6, B1, C and Manganese (Which you should take anyways) is all in there. They say taking vitimin pills isn’t as effective the real thing, which seems obvious but it is hard to know you are getting enough of everything. Making the pills just an easier option. Well, just eat Watermelon. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase.
Information from http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/watermelon.html