3 Tips to Increase Your Inner Peace During The Holidays

November 28, 2016 by Kathryn 22 Comments

Staying calm, peaceful and balanced is hard at the best of times, but during the busy holiday season it can sometimes feel impossible. This year especially, stress is taking its toll on my well-being more than ever as we settle into a new house in a new city, prepare to shop for our forever home, get the boys settled in a new school and deal with the overall hustle and bustle of the upcoming holidays. That’s why I’ve decided to take steps to reclaim my inner peace and find my Zen so that I can enjoy the holiday season to its fullest. And these are the three ways I’ll be doing that!

Early Morning Meditation

Daily meditation offers a plethora of benefits, including increased mental focus, improved immunity, reduced blood pressure and improved memory. But finding the time to meditate when life gets busy can feel almost impossible. That’s why I’ve started setting my alarm fifteen minutes early so that I can use that extra time to reflect and prepare for the day. By meditating first thing in the morning, I don’t feel like I’m stopping my work flow or losing time. And those few minutes of self-reflection also help me to feel more peaceful and energized throughout the entire day. [Read more…]

New Eat Smart Plant Powered Protein Salad Kits Make a Perfect Energy-Packed Lunch

September 25, 2015 by Kathryn 66 Comments

I’m a nut for vegetables and because of that, I’ve loved the salads from Eat Smart for quite some time now. The convenient bagged kits include fresh greens, healthy superfoods, add-ins such as croutons, nuts or berries and a tasty dressing so that creating the perfect fresh and healthy side dish takes just seconds. Now, Eat Smart has taken lunch to a whole new level too with a new line of scrumptious salads packed with plant-based protein!

I was a vegetarian for over six years in my twenties, and while I did start eating meat again after having children, I still eat quite a lot of vegetables, legumes and other plant-based foods. At the same time, I also favour meals that are high in protein and low in simple carbohydrates. The new Eat Smart Plant Powered Protein salads looked like the perfect lunch choice for my dietary goals and I was thrilled when I got the chance to try them out myself. [Read more…]

You Can Earn Free Groceries When You #EatMoreStars with #GuidingStarsCA #PCStars

September 7, 2015 by Kathryn 7 Comments

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is its own reward when it comes to good health, and over the last few months my family has had the chance to do just that thanks to the PC Guiding Stars Program. The new initiative makes it easy to find healthy food with a simple rating system that awards one to three stars to healthy food based on expert dietitian advice about the foods’ nutritional content. I love how easy the program makes healthy eating, and my boys love looking for food that has the most stars!

When I became a part of the program, I started logging in to check my progress using my free PC Plus account. And it wasn’t until I did that I realized I’d been missing out on potential points that I could use towards free groceries. Each week, I have the option of loading my exclusive offers onto my card to get great bonus points on my purchases. The offers are tailored to me so that the more I shop, the more points I can earn. One week I earned over 2000 points just buying cheese! [Read more…]

Wake Up with an Easy Three-Star Breakfast Berry Parfait

August 13, 2015 by Kathryn 28 Comments

Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and to ensure that I have the energy I need when I’m especially busy, a good breakfast is a must. This month, as part of the President’s Choice Guiding Stars program, I was challenged to create a recipe using only ingredients that the program has awarded three stars. Since so many women find it hard to enjoy a nutritious breakfast, I decided to share my quick and easy Breakfast Berry Parfait recipe! It’s filling, packed with nutrition and uses all three-star ingredients!

Breakfast Berry Parfait

Easy and healthy breakfast parfait with berries and granola!

Course Breakfast

Keyword berry parfait, breakfast parfait, healthy breakfast

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 1

Author Kathryn

Ingredients

1/2 cup Oikos Greek Yogurt plain
1/2 cup Kind Healthy Grains Cinnamon Oat Clusters Granola
1/2 cup mixed berries fresh or frozen

Instructions

Layer ingredients in bowl or parfait glass.
Serve immediately.

[Read more…]

Challenge Yourself to Choose More Stars with #PCStars #GuidingStarsCA

July 9, 2015 by Kathryn 6 Comments

Last month I had my first introduction of the PC Guiding Stars program and I absolutely loved how easy the system was to use. Simply look for foods with one, two or three stars to ensure you’re making healthy choices for your family. The more stars a food has, the more nutritionally dense it is. Since learning about the Guiding Stars, I wanted to go further and improve my eating habits with help from the program. So I signed into my free PC Plus account and opened my Guiding Stars profile to see what improvements I could make.

As it turned out, I was already at the highest possible level, a Level 5! We tend to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in the house along with lots of lean protein, so it was exciting to see that those habits were ones that the Guiding Stars program recognized as healthful. But I knew we could do even better, so I set out to substitute some of our usual weekly purchases for products with higher stars.

[Read more…]

Experience the Meta Effect with Metamucil and Recipes from Harley Pasternak-Giveaway

June 22, 2015 by Kathryn 196 Comments

Despite the hustle and bustle of being a busy mom, I manage to live a pretty healthy lifestyle. I walk every day, I try to avoid processed food and I eat lots of lean protein and produce. But even so, I sometimes have issues getting all the nutrients my body needs. And one of my biggest challenges is getting enough fibre.

I’m a big believer in the importance of fibre in the diet. When I get a proper amount, I have more energy, my digestion improves and I even feel lighter. But there are days when reaching the recommended 25g of daily fibre feels almost impossible. That’s why I’m taking a tip from celebrity trainer and nutritionist Harley Pasternak and experiencing the Meta Effect by adding Metamucil to my daily routine!

[Read more…]

Help the Men in Your Life Stay Healthy with These 4 Easy Tips #ONatural

June 18, 2015 by Kathryn 40 Comments

My parents separated when I was quite young, and after my dad remarried I didn’t see him very often throughout the year. But one day that my siblings and I always spent with our dad was Father’s Day, and it was always a day we enjoyed. Thinking about how much I’ve grown since those early celebrations on my dad’s acreage often make me think about how much older my dad is too. While he’s pretty healthy overall, he does have some issues that make me worry at times.

Luckily, there are a few things that men of any age can do to ensure optimal health, and lots of them are pretty easy! These four easy tips are ones that will help men on the road to good health for decades to come:

1) Drinking Green Tea

I must admit that I’m not really a fan of the taste of green tea, but its many health benefits make it worth drinking anyways! Regular consumption of green tea is said to boost immunity, act as an anti-inflammatory and increase metabolism. It’s even been shown to help improve memory!
[Read more…]

Eating Healthy is Easier with Loblaws Guiding Stars Program

May 22, 2015 by Kathryn 52 Comments

I do my best to feed my family healthy and nourishing meals and for the most part, I think I do a pretty good job. But sometimes deciding which foods are the best choices is tricky. I try to always glance at food labels and check the amount of sugar, protein, fibre or other nutrients that some of my purchases contain. But I simply don’t have time to compare every variety of yogurt to determine which brand has the least sugar and fat while still providing protein and calcium.

So what’s a busy parent to do? Turn to the Guiding Stars! This new program from President’s Choice is in Loblaws stores across Canada and gives popular foods a simple star rating so that families can determine with a quick glance which choices are the healthiest. The system grades foods based on a credit and debit system and then assigns the star ranking. Things like vitamins, minerals and fibre increase a food’s ranking while things like saturated fat and added sugar move it down. The program makes good food choices easier and, best of all, it’s easy enough for a child to understand! [Read more…]