I love looking through cookbooks and finding recipes that inspire me to nourish my body with healthier food. I believe that eating healthier leads to a better me physically and mentally.

Over the years I have acquired a lot of different types of cookbooks. Some are definitely more dog-eared than others. One cookbook that I love is Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks’ Super Natural Love: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Foods in to Your Cooking. Not only does it have a lot of great recipes, but it also has a lot of great information on different types of natural ingredients. 

Because Valentines Day is just around the corner I wanted to giveaway some love – love that will help you become a healthier person! I am giving away a brand new copy of Super Natural Love: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Foods in to Your Cooking. To enter all you need to do is leave a comment and let me know what your favourite healthy snack is.

Deadline to enter is February 12th and giveaway is open to Canadian/ U.S. residents only. Winner will be randomly selected using a random number generator and will be announced on February 13th.

Please note that I have no affiliation with the author of this cookbook. I just really like it!

Source: sxc.hu

According to yesterday’s Toronto Star article Canadians are fatter, sicker and weaker. Great news especially for my own age group -

The proportion of adults 20 to 39 who had dangerously large waist circumferences quadrupled among males since 1981, to 21 per cent, and rose fivefold among the women, to 31 per cent. (Source: Toronto Star)

To be honest these results should not really come as a shock. Just go and visit your local food court at lunchtime and observe what the majority of people are eating. Mouths are busy devouring the latest offerings from many fast food joints that are there. Those that are trying to eat healthier at a food court are  not exempt – this applies to me. As much as I try to bring my own packed lunch I more often that I would like end up at the food court. I try to pick something healthy, but if I am really honest with myself I end up eating more than what is necessary. Most days after work I do go and workout, but then perhaps I fall into this category – remeber Time magazine’s article on does exercise make you fat?

So, what are Canadians to do to become healthier?

It’s truly a hard call. Are video games and all the modern technologies to be balmed for our excess baggage or does the responsibility lie with us as individuals or perhaps it’s the “not having enough time  to be healthy” excuse? Would employers giving their employees extra time to workout be the solution? Probably not for 90% of people – extra time may just mean extra time at the bar or in front of the television.

I think out of all these thoughts I believe the responsibility of looking after you lies with you. Make the time to look after yourself.

PS: Or maybe we need a campaign like New York’s Department of Health? Watch this video if you drink soda.

Salt and vinegar chips...my downfall

So after completing four weeks of outdoor boot camp I have come to the following conclusion – if I want to see better results I need to start improving my nutrition which for me means cutting out things like the daily glasses of red wine and the occasional salt and vinegar binges. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t see good results at last night’s weigh-in and measurement taking, but as a Type-A personality I know I can do better. But more on that in another entry! I must say though that the 2 inches I have lost off my behind are impressive!

What to do?

Every four months or so I write down new goals for myself – tend to fall under the belief that if you write things down they have a better chance of coming true. So, this week I have drawn up the new career, personal and health goals. One of the health-related goals is this:

“I commit to healthier eating and 85% of the time I will avoid the foods that are bad for me.”

Yes, I’m giving myself a 15% cheater’s allowance – I know myself enough to not say I will never have a glass of red wine again or another salt and vinegar chip. This is just not realistic.

One of the ways that I intend to eat better is to increase the amount of times per week I cook at home. Maybe I have forgotten to mention that I am queen of delivery (coming home most nights after 8 p.m. is not helping). The delivery options I choose may be somewhat healthy but I have a funny feeling I may be better off cooking at home.

To help me avoid the lure of delivery and eat healthy I have found two new tools that will be helping me with my goals (actually three if I start making the daily Booty Camp recipes they send me!):

• The Greenbeltfresh blog has some great local recipes in it and since I’m into eating more locally I’ll be subscribing to this blog to give me some inspiration.

• Supercook, I feel, could be the saviour I was looking for. I found out about this website via the Globe and Mail and it is absolutely genius. You type in the ingredients you actually have at home and it suggest recipes for you. How great is this? This website may be the solution to “I have nothing at home” whine.

Let the cooking and healthy eating begin!

After being away for the weekend I did what any sensible person would do and that’s catch up on all the latest Internet goodies. One of the links that a friend of mine had saved recently caught my eye:

The best of the money blogs — Globe and Mail

Normally I avoid things like these like the plague, but lately have found myself trying to figure out all things financial.

Within the article there was a link to something called the Squawkfox blog. I admit I clicked on it because it was described as “unapologetically girly”. Maybe I was hoping that a girly blog about finance would be somewhat more manageable?

Once there  I was pleasantly surprised as the blog was written by an Ironman Triathlon finisher who in addition to writing about living and investing intelligently also had some great tips on how to look fabulous while not spending a bomb. 

Check out her Insider’s Guide to Frugal Food & Fitness as it looks like it has some good ideas on how to buy healthy food on a budget and how to get fit without a gym membership. Nice. 

Oh and I’m also still looking for a good blog on how to buy your first home!