Joyous Health: Book Review

This book has been living on my counter. I am constantly grabbing it to reference things - from how to cook quinoa to the dirty dozen list. This book is a valuable resource of healthy, whole and clean eating. Joy is great at providing information in an interesting and knowledgeable way. She recommends taking 6 weeks to work through her book - I read it in one night and then started adapting different aspects into my life. I have since gone back and started to work through it. Since reading Joyous Health I have been more conscious about what I am eating and have been working at creating healthier meals. Rather then being restrictive I have found the book to really open my eyes to new and different ways to cook a foods that I already love and how to start incorporating other fresh foods. I also really like how uplifting Joy is in her book. This is NOT a diet book. It is much more about lifestyle then it is about being restrictive. She gives stress management tips and information on how to live a fuller healthier life. Following the first part of the book, full of Joy's information and knowledge, the second part is a traditional cookbook, fully of healthy easy to make dishes. All of Joy's recipes are delicious and easy to follow.  What I personally really liked about the book is that Joy is Canadian.  It was great for me for because the information in the book was relevant and I could find all the ingredients listed (there is also a US version!). 

Simple Change

Lululemon Water Bottle

There is one simple thing that we can all do to change our health, save money and better the environment.  All we have to do is commit to carrying around a reusable water bottle. We all know that we are suppose to drink 8 glass of water a day for our health. I don't know about you but unless I have a water bottle with me as a reminder I always forget. Carrying one around is a simple and easy solution. 

Bottle water is extremely expensive. I personally prefer tap water but I know that I am one of the few. If you have safe and clean drinking water I don't know why you wouldn't drink tap water. In some areas its actually better for you and it only costs pennies. If you like your water cold stick a jug of tap water in the fridge and fill up your bottle as you need it. 

Plastic water bottle produce a lot of waste there is no way around it. Why are we diverting even more waste into our landfills when there is a simple solution? Use a reusable bottle. My office is completely plastic water bottle free and my school is moving that way as well.  

Its a simple change, that once you start will become a habit after a while. So why not? Pick up a cute reusable bottle and it will pay for itself many times over within the week. 

Green Smoothie Challenge - Storing Greens

I started doing the Green Smoothie Challenge  at the beginning of April and then I got sick and stopped for about a week (I really just didn't want to eat anything) but I am back at it and I am loving how energized I feel. They are tastey and full of delicious goodness. 

The one thing I found was that I wasn't able to go through a bunch of greens fast enough before it started going bad and that washing greens everyday was time consuming and annoying. I found a simple solution to both those problems that I thought I would share with you. 

Take your green (in my case Kale) and break it into small pieces.

 Wash and drain your greens 

 Dry throughly. (It would probably be faster to use a lettuce spinner...which I don't own...the joys of student living. haha a clean kitchen towel did just fine) 

Store greens in a ziplock bag with a paper towel placed inside to capture moister and keep greens fresh longer. Also if you find you have way too many greens you can simply throw the ziplock bag into the freezer. 

Hope this helps! 

For my favourite green smoothie recipe click here. 

Jaclyn 

Study Snacks

With exams coming up for a lot of people I thought I would post some of my favourite study snacks. I love munching when I study but I try to keep it healthy. My favourite is air popped popcorn which I sometimes mix with m&ms or mini chocolate chips.  I also usually have a huge mug of tea next to me while I study. There is just something so comforting about a warm cup of tea while you memorize about 1000000 terms lol. What are your favourite snacks? 

Good Luck on Exams!
Jaclyn