Fruity toast for breakfast

My toast has almond butter, banana, cinnamon, blueberries,
goji berries and pumpkin seeds.

We all enjoy toast for breakfast, but we are usually in such a rush, or too lazy to make it fun, tasty, and to be quite honest, filling.

Try out this fruity toast which has a balance of the macronutrients we need to provide us energy! These macronutrients are fats, protein, carbohydrates and amino acids.

After toasting your bread (I recommend bread that has no preservatives or fake ingredients), the extra steps to make this fruity toast takes less than two minutes. And the best part, you can use any combination of ingredients you have in your kitchen so you don't have to buy each listed below! Best news ever!

To complement this breakfast, a green 

smoothie will round it out leaving you full

for hours! 

Cauliflower pizza...what?

Oh yeah, Cauliflower pizza! Eating Paleo consists of approx. 80% of my diet. My choice to go out and eat pizza is normally at the very bottom of my list, so finding an alternative is music to my ears.  

The first time I ate cauliflower pizza was a couple weeks back when visiting my friends Aleem and Farrah for dinner. Aleem’s wife Farrah is such an amazing cook and freestyles the crap out of every meal. Since she knew my boyfriend and I were coming over, she made cauliflower pizza.

It was honestly such a perfect substitute to a thin crust pizza. The consistency, the taste and texture replicated a regular pizza crust and I knew I had to try it out for myself.

I adapted my recipe below from this website, tweaked it and made it simpler to follow. I do not provide a recipe for the toppings since there are a million ways you can top a pizza! I want you to be creative but have a great veggie base to start with. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Try something new, drink a ``Green Smoothie``

It seems that lately everyone is talking green smoothies and has finally decided to ride the green smoothie band wagon. I think this absolutely wonderful since it is an excellent way to get in a lot of veggies in one drink. I am a veggie beast, I absolutely love them. If I don’t have veggies at every meal I feel guilty.

I know a number of people that don’t eat many veggies at all. They will opt for cereal and milk, bagels or toast at breakfast, a slice of pizza, a burger and fries, or a sandwich with minimal veggies on it for lunch, and then a big piece of meat, starchy carbohydrates such as rice, with a small serving of veggies at dinner.  Even though this makes them happy, they are totally missing out on the amazing benefits of vegetables that have been put on this earth to help us heal and feel good.

Morning Body Booster

This past year I have been making a drink in the morning that helps detoxify and alkalize my body all while providing the protein it needs. This drink is a combination of water, chia seeds, freshly squeezed lemon, cayenne pepper and maple syrup (recipe below).

We all know why we need to drink water (such as keeping hydrated, essential for our health), but do you know why you need to add the ingredients I listed above?  Let me explain.

Why Chia Seeds?

Energizing

• The word Chia comes from the Mayan language meaning strength (scientific name is Salvia hispanica L). It has a balanced blend of protein, carbohydrates, fats and fibre. Athletes have reported that Chia seeds help them perform at optimal levels for much longer periods of time.

Hydrating & Detoxifying

• Chia seeds are hydrophilic which means they have the ability to absorb and retain water! These seeds can retain up to 9 times their weight in water, which helps keep you well hydrated, and maintains electrolyte balance which is great for athletes. Chia’s gelling ability soothes and lubricates the digestive tract, helping to preserve the health of cells, as well as eliminate excess waste and toxins.

Nutritionally Dense

• Chia seeds have an ideal ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 (3:1), they are high in fibre, full of protein, an excellent source of antioxidants, full of iron, calcium, niacin (Vitamin B3), Magnesium, Zinc and Phosphorous.

For the love of Coconut Oil

If you haven’t tried this amazing, multi-functional, health benefiting product, let me tell you why it’s time to start.

If you have ever looked at the nutritional profile of coconut oil, you will see that 1 tablespoon has 120 calories and 14 grams of saturated fat. Most of us would shy away from this product because advertising on TV has programmed us to immediately think that all fat is bad. We say that fat is bad, because it makes us fat! Well there are definitely bad fats out there that will make us fat, and do more harm to us other than our waist lines. You may not believe me, but the fat in coconut oil does wonders to your body inside and out. Let me explain.

The saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are mostly Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs). The main contributor to coconut oil is of a type rarely found in nature called Lauric acid. When consumed our bodies convert Lauric acid into Monolaurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-protozoa properties. MCFAs are better for the body since the molecules are smaller and are easily digested. They are immediately burned by your liver for energy, like carbohydrates, but without the insulin spike. Other oils such as vegetable or seed oils are comprised of Long Chain Fatty Acids (LCFAs), which are larger molecules, so they are difficult for your body to break down and are predominantly stored as fat.

Quinoa, Adzuki and Mung Beans, oh my!

About a month ago, my boyfriend Julian held a fundraiser to raise money for kids with cancer. His ultimate goal in raising the money was to participate in his first ever 100km run (if you want to see how it went, please check out the video at this link). The fundraising event was a complete success and was different from anything he had ever done before. It consisted of 3 components, a circuit training workout, yoga, and a holistic nutritionist talk. While the nutritionist was talking, everyone was chowing down on some tasty snacks, made a la moi, and I received a lot of great feedback. One of the things I made (with help from my bf of course) was a quinoa, adzuki and mung bean veggie medley. Many people had asked for the recipe, and after a month of putting it off, I finally wrote it down! Check out this link for the recipe.

But before you go out and buy these ingredients, I want to tell you about them first so you feel much better about your purchase J