CHOCOLATE BROWNIE MIX BAKED WITH DIET COKE

Seriously?????

The author of this “healthy” recipe claims that adding just Diet Coke to your box of chocolate brownie mix is healthy because it makes it lower in sugar and fat.  Okay, maybe it does, but labelling it as a “healthy food” is going way too far!  For starters, it is NOT even FOOD!  There is no REAL FOOD substance in a box of highly processed brownie mix and since when is a can of chemicals and neurotoxins considered food?

Which brings me to the healthy part.  If something contains NO REAL FOOD and instead contains highly processed ingredients and chemical substitutes that your lovely, natural body has to treat as toxins, how on earth can that be healthy????

Let me be brutally frank here:  highly processed foods are no longer food….chemicals and artificial flavours, colours, sweetners, etc have NO PLACE in your beautiful body.  And for goodness sake – brownies never have been and never will be a healthy food choice!  If you NEED brownies and sweets then what you REALLY NEED is some help to get to the underlying cause of that PERCEIVED NEED.  Brownies should be a small occasional treat at the very most – GET REAL, GET FRESH, EAT CLEAN!

Since fresh, organic food is labour-intensive it comes at a higher price so I excitedly brought home my first bundle and began searching for ways to use every bit of every plant I had just received.  The spinach was so tender and sweet I used it immediately to create a fresh spinach salad and tossed in the beautiful fresh radishes I had also just brought home.  I tossed it in a bit of olive oil and crumbled a bit of goat’s cheese over the top – and voila!  The tastiest salad I have had in years!  Even the kids loved it!

But what about those radish tops that normally one would toss out?  These were so leafy and green – there had to be some way to use them.  So, I found a simple and delicious way to sauté them:

Ingredients: fresh organic radish tops (washed and dried); 1 tbsp butter; 2 garlic cloves (pressed) or more to suit your taste; pinch of sea salt

Melt butter in cast iron skillet (no toxic fumes like Teflon pans!) and add in pressed garlic

Sauté the radish leaves in the butter & garlic just until they wilt

The radish leaves really shrink up! I added some fresh cucumbers and organic tomatoes seasoned with sea salt/herb mix - ready to top off with your favourite protein!

1. My sheer excitement and sense of fulfillment to see how the right coaching can lead you to such meaningful personal reflection and discovery….leading to true empowerment to make lasting, meaningful changes in your life.

2. This client has summed up the powerful link between emotions and eating habits so well…we can all take something away from this – and yes, sometimes the coach learns from the client.  Enjoy!

It’s funny but time and time again I have heard people talk about the idea of emotional eating, never fully understanding what people were actually talking about. Was it that people just wanted to blame their eating habits on something intangible, like our emotions, or was there something deeper to this idea of emotional eating.

For the last month now I have been monitoring my eating habits. When I felt like eating, how much, and what kinds of foods I’m attracted to or dare I say, what foods am I craving.

Let me share with you some of my findings.

1. Stress and worry brings out binge eating for me. I don’t feel like eating often, but when I do its a craving for highly processed, fatty fried foods. Foods I know are clearly not good for me. Foods that may seem fine while you are eating them, but make your emotional state even worse afterwards.

2. Feelings of depression cause cravings for high carbohydrates like breads. Commonly referred to as comfort food, these foods tend to turn to sugar immediately upon eating them and giving the body a false sense of comfortable bliss. For others, your favorite ice cream or sweet dessert could also be included here. For me, it’s bread and other high carb foods.

3. Deep feelings of anxiety or extreme busyness generally shut my system down. Or so I think. During these types I just don’t feel like eating. However this is just as bad for me as piling on the carbs or sweets. When your body is forced to go without food, it immediately goes into protection mode. Protection from starvation, and will begin to store fat for what it believes will be future use. You see, my body is not shutting down at all, my emotions are taking over and doing the shutting down causing a very unhealthy situation for me. Skipping meals is never a healthy alternative. It is for this reason you hear people talk about the importance of never skipping breakfast because you’re just too busy.

4. Peace. A sense of peace and contentment in my life allows me to be more in tuned with what my body is communicating to me. It allows me to experience how important my food choices become with properly fueling and nourishing my body. When I am at peace and feeling content, I feel in harmony and in balance with myself and only ever crave food full of nutrients and ingredients that are healthy for me.

5. Feelings of fun, enjoyment, and excitement. These feelings for me need to also be carefully monitored, but not as closely as the other negative emotions. I still feeling like eating during these times, and generally my choices are healthy, however this is where I need to monitor portion control. During these times its not so much about what I put in my body as it is about how much I put in my body. This is the time where healthy eating is still fun and enjoyable, just in moderation.

I have given you 5 personal examples of how my eating is effected by my emotions. It wasn’t until I really started to pay attention to this that I noticed myself as an emotional eater. All I need to do now is monitor my emotions and my eating, and watch the improvements in both areas of my life.

The main conflict in the plot is between two characters of extreme: the mayor of the quiet little village who controls everyone and everything and strictly denies himself every morsel of food and pleasure, and Vianne, the free-spirited, vibrant, generously caring chocolatier who arrives in the quiet village at the beginning of lent to “tempt” the villagers with her “evil pleasures”.

The mayor needs to balance his extreme self-discipline by allowing himself to live life with pleasure, to indulge in the extraordinary experiences occasionally, to fully live and enjoy life.  Perhaps then, he could truly accept others for who they are and release himself of the self-imposed responsibility of controlling everyone’s thoughts and deeds.

The lovely Vianne is too free-spirited, roaming from village to village with her young daughter in tow – never setting down any roots or establishing meaningful relationships.  She needs to balance her extreme free spirit with a bit of self-discipline to allow both her daughter and herself the joy of companionship and being able to let others care for her sometimes.

The question is: Are you the mayor or the chocolatier?  Too strict and disciplined or too free-spirited?  It doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that you let go of your ways a bit and allow yourself to explore other patterns.  Go ahead and indulge a little.  Or maybe you indulge too much and you could exhibit a bit more self-discipline.  The point is to breath, to smile and laugh, enjoy life and do what is best for you in the long run.  Oh, and I highly recommend watching the movie – but watch out for the chocolate cravings that could follow

Love and appreciation are two very powerful elements in a healthy, prosperous life.  Without love and appreciation, your health will fail and you will lack true prosperity (which is not really about money at all! – click here for more on prosperity).  We all need to love and be loved, to appreciate and to be appreciated.  In this light, that is the true meaning of Valentine’s Day.  It is not about flowers, candy and expensive dinners or jewellery – these are all just tokens that we can easily live without.  So stop stressing over that “perfect” gift, bouquet or restaurant and listen to your heart…

Who are you grateful for? Your significant other, your parents, your children, your friends, neighbours, service providers?  Our lives are full of people that affect us every single day, yet often we are so hurried that we don’t take notice and they are taken for granted.  What would tomorrow be like without those people and their contributions?  Be conscious of those around you – those you know well and those you have just met.

How can you express your gratitude in a simple, meaningful way?  Perhaps this is where the traditional paper heart valentine comes from.  A simple note of thanks and appreciation is very thoughtful and incredibly meaningful.  Not the type for paper heart notes?  What about an email, video email, phone call or a face-to-face “Hey, thanks for everything you do for me – I love you!”  Perhaps a small act of kindness will genuinely relay your message of love and appreciation – and this works for complete strangers!  Hold the door for someone – Smile and say hello – Offer to help by carrying a package to a car, or returning a shopping cart – Say thank you – Offer a sincere compliment….once you get going, the list of possibilities is endless!

The simple act of openly radiating love and gratitude will touch your heart and provide infinite fulfillment.  You will make a beautiful difference in the day of everyone you encounter – and you may never realize the full impact of that small moment.  By giving your love freely, the universe will return that fulfillment to you ten-fold. You are a beautiful person with infinite potential. Will you share your inner beauty and love with others – will you be a valentine today and tomorrow and next week? Your small meaningful actions and deeds will be remembered long after the roses have wilted and the chocolates have been devoured.

What did you accomplish last year? Before you start criticizing yourself and setting your goals for this year, take some time to reflect on last year.  What was great about last year?  Consider every positive step and every success, no matter how small it was.  You may not have achieved all of your big goals or kept all of your major resolutions, but you definitely made some progress and moved in the right direction.  Remember that success is not just the end result – it is all the little steps along the way, all those small decisions you make each and every day that add up to real accomplishment and noticeable success in the end.

What does your heart tell you? The heart is more powerful than the mind.  If you want to know the desires of your heart, consider where your mind wanders to.  Your mind naturally follows your heart.  True fulfillment in life requires that we follow our hearts.  Tune out everyone else’s opinions and all the media and advertising out there.  Look inward, that is where the real answers lie to your fulfillment.

Are your goals too big?  People commonly make big resolutions at New Year’s: I am going to lose 30 pounds!  I am going to get a promotion at work!  I am going to be more patient!  I am going to get fit and healthy!  These are all admirable goals but are they attainable?  The answer is YES, but not when simply stated like this.  Goals need to be broken down into smaller, more manageable mini-goals.  That way, instead of getting frustrated because your ultimate goal is so far away and seemingly unattainable, you can celebrate all your successes along the journey to your ultimate goal.  Weight loss is a common example: Break that 30 pounds down into a reasonable 2 pounds a week – that is a weekly celebration that done consistently will have you at your ultimate goal before you realize it!

Do you have a plan?  You wouldn’t set out on road trip without a plan of how to reach your destination.  How are you going to reach your goal?  What steps do you need to take?  What changes do you need to make?  Using the weight loss of 30 pounds, broken down into 2 pounds a week, consider what you need to do each week/each day to accomplish that.  Perhaps you need to purge your kitchen of all the tempting food items that you need to avoid.  You need to know what you will eat and how you will prepare it.  You will need a back up plan for those crazy days.  Decide what exercise you will do, when you will do it and how often.  Put your plan in writing, review it regularly and modify it periodically.

Do you have support?  Big changes can be very difficult.  You need support.  Finding a good friend with similar goals and working together can offer tremendous support.  Unfortunately, friends can have the same weaknesses as you and often may not risk taking a stand to tell you when you are off track.  Consider this carefully.  Perhaps, you are ready for a coach who specializes in the area of your goals.  There are plenty of dedicated business coaches, relationship coaches, health coaches, life coaches and wellness coaches out there.  A professional coach will work with you on your goals, consider you as a whole and unique person and will help hold you accountable.  Choosing the right coach can make all the difference in your journey to attaining your goals.  For advice on choosing the right coach for you, check out my post on coaching: The Value of Coaching   

Are you being fair and reasonable? Most of all, be kind to yourself.  You wouldn’t let anyone else speak to you the way to speak to yourself sometimes.  Make conscious choices everyday, knowing that all those seemingly small and meaningless steps will lead you to success in the end.  Be reasonable.  You will make mistakes, you will have bad days.  Consider your errors, reflect upon them and their causes, learn from them, then let them go and move on.  Continue to make positive, conscious decisions throughout each day of your journey.  Congratulate yourself for everything, everyday.  You are a beautiful, wonderful person who is committed to self-improvement.  Love and appreciate yourself for who you are.

Coaching can help transform your life by changing how you think about yourself, your health, your work, your family, your community and world. Good coaching is holistic – working with you as a complete and complex individual.

Coaching is very different from therapy and counseling. It focuses on today and tomorrow and moving you from functional to optimal. Your past should not hold you back from your future – choose your starting point and move forward with the empowering help of your personal coach.

Be sure you are ready to work with a coach:
• Are you ready to make real and positive changes in your life?
• Are you willing to overcome self-limiting behavior?
• Are you prepared to take action to achieve your goals?
• Are you looking to achieve a sense of fulfillment in life?
• Do you want to benefit from someone to hold you accountable and help you stay on track?

Everyone can benefit from coaching. With your needs in mind, look for the following in a coach:
• Offers a FREE or very low-cost initial consultation – this is important since you need to know that you and your coach understand each other and you feel comfortable and confident that this is someone you can work closely with
• Specializes in the area you are most interested in – there are health coaches, life coaches, wellness coaches, business coaches…choose the one that can best focus on your individual requirements
• Clearly holistic in their approach – you do not want to have your life compartmentalized – you are a whole person and all parts of your life are intertwined and affect one another
• Has program and payment options – allowing you to choose what suits your schedule and your budget

Let the power of coaching transform your life from ordinary to extraordinary!

Most people immediately think of money when they imagine prosperity.  One could not argue very strongly against the idea of money being attached to prosperity, but money is not the only key.  Imagine having all the money you could ever want, but you have no family or friends and people regard you with disdain.  Are you truly prosperous? Successful?  Happy?  I wouldn’t think so.

Success and happiness are also major keys to true prosperity – one might even argue that these two keys would make you more prosperous than money alone.  Success is a favourable or desired outcome.  So really, success is something different for each person and changes frequently depending on ones goals.  If your only goal was to get out of bed today, I suppose you might consider yourself a success if you are sitting upright on the sofa.  But are you truly happy, content or satisfied with that?  Doubtful.  That brings us to the happiness key.

Happiness is a state of well-being and contentment.  Again, happiness is created somewhat differently for each person. However, I have to revisit the “state of well-being” part of that definition.  What is well-being?  Is it not wellness? health? comfort? security?  In that light, your overall wellness plays a big part in your happiness.

Prosperity has three keys: Happiness, Success, and  Wealth – in that order.  

Start with happiness – achieve and maintain optimal health and wellness.  Your body, mind and spirit are all connected.  True wellness comes from a balance of optimal nutrition, movement and fulfillment.  A wellness coach can help you to find that balance in your life.

Success will be more attainable if you have true wellness and happiness.  You will have the energy, creativity and confidence to set admirable goals for yourself and to maintain the path to achieve those goals and experience your success with gratitude.

Wealth will follow.  Being well and having successful habits will attract wealth.  You will have all the money you need, but you will have riches greater than that – health, peace, love, joy and gratitude in abundance.

Now, you truly have prosperity.