There's a birthday in the house

Would you believe this here little blog of mine is 1 year-old? I find it hard to believe myself. But it's not about how much time has passed; it's more about how my life has changed (so much!) in one short year.

Last year at this time, I had just started my journey to better health. Last December I was paying much more attention to what I was putting in my mouth and my body began responding -- my waist shrunk without much effort and the unneeded pounds melted off. I still eat lots! The key here is that the quality of the food changed!

These changes in my body lead me to enroll in the Canadian School for Natural Nutrition's Holistic Nutritionist program, which I am LOVING.

And it didn't stop there, I also learned that my body has trouble breaking down gluten proteins. I also want to point out that I figured this out through listening to my body, not by subjecting myself to unnecessary blood tests. I'm adapting to a gluten-free lifestyle quite easily as well as a healthier lifestyle in general and enjoying its benefits.

But mostly this year has given me a remarkable appreciation for health and how to stay healthy without the need of pharmaceuticals and vaccines, but through nourishing my body with what it requires! The human body is such an amazing instrument and unbelievably resilient – but remember to treat it well!

I honestly believe that this year, which also marked a milestone in my life with my 30th birthday, has been my best and most life changing yet. I'm so glad I started Everyday Rae to capture some of these moments.

Happy 1st Birthday!

xoxo

My favourite wellness and nutrition blogs, Part 2

Early on in this blog's existence, I posted a little summary of some of my favourite healthy living blogs. Spurred on by a request, I thought I'd add to the list, and maybe revisit a couple, because they are what I consider the best of the best (that I've come across, thus far).

My New Roots
A Canadian holistic nutritionist and vegetarian chef living in Denmark. Great blog, lots of lovely recipes.

Cook Bake Nibble
Kristin is a natural food chef. She has great recipes, pretty much exclusively gluten-free and many grain-free.

Joyous Health
Joy is a holistic nutritionist based out of Toronto. She's got lots of great stuff on her blog, including recipes, healthy living ideas, and the mind-body connection. She's genuine; you can tell.

Gluten-Free Goddess
Karina seems to be the queen of all things gluten-free. She has a large following, especially in the Celiac community. Amazing recipes. Not the easiest mind you, but if you're more than a beginner baker, I'm sure you can pull her recipes off.

Inside-Out Nutrition
Josh is a clinical nutritionist. He knows the ins and outs of it. I've had great "aha" moments reading his posts. Things just make sense.

Comfy Belly
The blog of a mom with a sick child. She chronicles the recipes she's created to heal her child -- all gluten free!

Eat, Spin, Run, Repeat
Angela, based in Kitchener, Ontario, writes a daily blog about healthy eating and exercise. She's young and fun and so is the blog.

Ok and I have to mention again my healthy blog staples. Such amazing stuff here:

Making Love in the Kitchen
I'm such a Meghan Telpner fan. I read her blog religiously everyday. I can't get enough -- I even went to Toronto for a weekend to take in some of her healthy living/eating classes that she offers. So amazing, so inspiring!

Oh She Glows
Angela from Oh She Glows is the most amazing food photographer; she can make anything look good. But she doesn't have to because her stuff is so amazing on it's own. She blogs about a completely plant-based diet. I've tried many of her recipes, and no complaints here! Again, super inspiring Canadian woman.

Elana's Pantry
Elana has the simplest recipes I've ever come across. Very few ingredients, but maximum flavour. Her recipes are all gluten-free, but also grain-free as she eats according to the paleolithic diet. She also has a couple cookbooks, if you're so interested!

Please share with me your favourite blogs. I'd love to add more to my roster!

I won a giveaway!

I won my first blog giveaway! From one of my most favourite blogs!

A few weeks ago, Meghan Telpner from Making Love in the Kitchen held a giveaway for a great gift basket from Prana.

Prana is a fabulous little Canadian gem of a company, based in Montreal, that make great snacks (sweet and savory) from healthy and organic nuts, seeds and fruits.

I found out about the 'win' on a Monday, and by Tuesday my package had arrived. Now in my usual excitedness about getting packages in the mail, I tore it open before I even thought to take photos. I tried to stuff all my goodies back into the basket to take a photo but I couldn't do it justice; so just pretend everything is in the basket and it's all wrapped up in cellophane and some pretty ribbon. You'll also have to imagine I took nicer photos where I've taken care to make sure the background is clear of say Dyson vacuums. But at the time I didn't care about the quality of the photo, I wanted to EAT these goodies!

My loot!

Included were:

Sumsuma Sesame Squares
Ignore that the bag has already been
ripped opened in this photo

Chia Oil
.
.

White Mulberries
Brown Manuka Raisins
Raw Walnuts

Sundried Tomatoes
Dried Apple Rings
Dried Cherries
Pumpkin Seeds

They also included a lovely note and a coupon for 20% off an order from their online store.

 

What a lovely gift! Let's just say the sesame squares were gone by the next morning. So good, but full of sugar, which is not good for maintaining a steady blood sugar, which then leads to cravings... So these will only be a treat.

The chia oil is lovely. Lighter in colour and taste than a flax oil, but both are very high in Omega 3 fatty acids (an essential fatty acid that the body does not produce on it's own). I used most of it in my morning smoothies, but I also made a salad dressing with it and it was lovely.

The rest of the loot (all the seeds, nuts and dried fruit) got poured into a big jar and shook up! Instant trail mix! I've been picking away at it for a few weeks. It nice when you get home from work and are hungry and need a little something to satisfy you while dinner is cooking. Due to the fact that there's a good blend of all three macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrate), it sustains and doesn't make you reach back for more and more. And plain and simple it's so darn good together. The different textures and flavours blend so wonderfully. One thing to watch for when purchasing dried fruits is that they are often loaded with sulfites to preserve them. Sulfites can trigger asthma and allergies in certain people. It's always best to eat the cleanest, most natural foods available. Prana delivers on this with all organic products.

I've been really impressed with the pumpkin seeds as well as the raisins and dried cherries. I think my discount coupon will be spent on stocking up on those.

Check them out and maybe order some items for yourself! Or find their products at a store near you.

Thank you Prana for your gift. I thoroughly enjoyed and am continuing to enjoy it!

My favourite wellness and nutrition blogs

Recently I've come across some excellent blogs that deal with nutrition and wellness. I find them to be inspiring and chock full of great ideas and recipes. If you're interested, take a peek!

Oh She Glows
I only found this site yesterday, but I'm in love. Angela is so inspiring and has a great ideas and recipes. Her recipes are all vegan, but if you're not vegan (like me), you won't care! She claims to have a sweet tooth so there is lots of dessert-y stuff.

Making Love in the Kitchen
Megan is passionate about food and living a healthy lifestyle. I find her writing to be quirky, but I enjoy it very much. She's made me think a lot about how I live my life from her daily entries.

Whole Story
This blog is by Whole Foods, the American natural food chain. Makes me wish we had one in Ottawa... I heard rumors that there might be one going in with the Landsdowne revamp – but that will be many years in the future at the rate it's going. We are lucky enough to have lots of independent natural food stores that I'd rather support anyway. This blog includes great ideas for entertaining and lots of recipes too!

Elana's Pantry
Amazing gluten-free recipes. I've been lucky enough so far to tolerate gluten, but my god, even if I couldn't I think life would be just fine so long as I have access to Elana's site! Mmm, mmm, goodness.

Jamie's Nourishing Bites 
Jamie is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist in the Greater Toronto Area. Her postings aren't daily, but she has really simple good ideas to make everyday recipes that much more full of goodness.

I hope you find some inspiration to make your everyday meals even more nutritious!