Blog Posts - Holistic Living: Your Pathway to a Balanced Life

Homesteading Update: Spring Is Springing...Slowly

4/3/2016

Spring garden

It already looks like a garden...
though a weedy one.

It's been a while since my last homesteading update, so I thought I'd do a quick one today - not much to share so far, as spring has been dragging its feet.... We started off March in the 70's and everything went nuts, and then for the past few weeks it has been a lot cooler - so cool, in fact, that last night it snowed (hopefully the last snow of the season!) - and we woke up this morning to a dusting of white on the green, green grass.

I had meant to get my potatoes planted this weekend, but as the lows this week are predicted to be in the 20's again, I'm waiting another week just to be safe. Nonetheless, the garden already is looking beautiful (though I may be a bit biased! :-)

I picked up some organic potting soil today, and indoor seed planting will be underway this week, despite the chilly temps outdoors. I'm so excited to get things growing!

Here are some springtime pics from around the homestead. The daffodils have been beautiful, with even more blooming than last year, but unfortunately it seems a wascally wabbit has discovered the tulips, and eaten the buds and stalks all the way to the ground - along with many of the leaves off my strawberry plants!

The Only 2 Rules for Healthy Eating You Will Ever Need

3/27/2016

Healthy eating

It's a jungle out there....

When it comes to food and nutrition, that is.

With thousands of different fad diets, diet books, and nutritional guidelines, it can seem nearly impossible to figure out what you are really supposed to eat for good health.

Low-fat, low-carb, gluten-free, sugar-free, fat-free, Vegan, Paleo, organic, grass-fed, free-range - and that's just what's on the label!

Not to mention things like eating alkaline foods vs. acidic, whole foods vs. processed, or whether or not you should avoid GMO's. Some diet books even advocate eating certain combinations of food together - or not.... For example, some authors say you should only eat carbs with fat and protein, and others say you should never eat these things together!

Is it any wonder that we are becoming a nation that is completely neurotic about food?

Well, I'm here today to clear up all this confusion - once and for all. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may have heard my two rules for healthy eating before, but I don't think I've ever explained them fully, so today I'm going to do just that. Since I have touched on many related topics before, I will provide links below for further reading on those topics if you are interested.

Firstly, let me just say that I am not discounting any of the approaches mentioned above. I am more and more aware that everyone processes food differently, and what works for one person may not work for another. I know people who have been unhappy, miserable, and sick on a Vegan diet, and others who seem to do quite fine with it. Some people can't tolerate gluten, and others don't seem bothered by it. And so on.

However, I firmly believe that everyone can benefit from following the 2 simple rules for healthy eating that I have listed below. No matter what other dietary preferences or needs you may have, incorporating these 2 rules into your eating habits will bring you better health and well-being in the long run.

But this post is especially for those who are just confused and fed up with all of the conflicting information out there about what is healthy when it comes to food. If this is you, I give you permission to go ahead and throw out all your diet books! Don't pay any mind to the media attention to whatever fad diet comes along next. Don't worry about whether you should be eating more of this or less of that. Instead, just commit to eating by these 2 simple rules. Doing so will undoubtedly benefit your health in more ways than you can imagine.

Bread: Food Of Life - Or Death?

3/20/2016

Bread

Today I would like to address one of the most misunderstood and maligned foods out there these days. You may have heard that bread is the root of all evil, gluten is the cause of all modern health problems, or you should avoid carb-heavy foods like bread as much as possible. But as you will learn in today's post, this isn't necessarily true....

My husband and I have been watching an excellent NetFlix series based on Michael Pollan's new book, Cooked. (It is really well done, and I highly recommend it if you are at all interested in food, cooking, or health!) Last night we watched the episode on bread, and it got me thinking about all of the misinformation that abounds about this ancient and time-honored foodstuff.

Read on to learn why bread is not as evil as you have been led to believe, and how you can eat all the bread you like, while enjoying the true health and nutrition provided by this unique traditional food.

[Video] Debunking the Biggest Healthy Diet Myths

3/13/2016

Healthy diet myths

If you're interested in health (which I assume you are, since you're reading this blog) :-) you've probably looked into a variety of different diets and eating plans.

One of the most popular diets right now (and maybe even one you have tried) is the Vegan diet, and while it may work well for some people for a period of time, despite what "vegangelicals" will tell you, it's not necessarily the healthiest diet for everyone long-term.

How do you know when your diet isn't working for you? And if it's not, what changes should you make to ensure you are eating the healthiest foods for you?

I ran across this very interesting interview with author and blogger Kevin Gianni, who spent many years on a raw vegan diet. Here is his take on this type of eating, and how to find balance in your own diet and health journey - as well as how to listen to your body in order to determine what foods and types of eating really work best for you individually.

Watch the video below to learn what Kevin says about healthy eating myths, "cheat days," blood tests, health fads, balanced eating, and even the healthiest types of wine.

7 Simple Steps to Achieving the Body You Want

3/6/2016

1. Eat Whole Foods

Step 1...

It's no secret: Pretty much all of us could benefit from eating less and exercising more. Just look around you, and that's easy to see! However, unfortunately it doesn't seem that easy for most of us to do.... If it was, we wouldn't be the most obese nation in the world!

If you struggle with weight loss, but can't seem to stick to a diet (or workout plan) long enough to make a difference, you may be approaching the problem all wrong. Instead of trying to make a huge change and overhaul your entire life and diet so you can lose, say 30 lbs, try a smaller, more incremental approach.

In fact, rather than focusing on losing a certain amount of weight, instead, try making a few simple, gradual healthy changes to your overall lifestyle. Not only will you build a healthier body in the long run, but you will end up losing weight naturally - without even feeling like you're trying! For example, did you know that not getting enough sleep causes weight gain? In fact, you could lose a few pounds per year just by sleeping more - how awesome is that?!?

Here are 7 simple tips that you can begin incorporating into your life today, to help you achieve and maintain your desired weight, while building a healthier, stronger, more resilient body in the process.

3 Foods To Stop Eating Now

2/28/2016

corn

I bet you think I'm going to say "salt, sugar, and fat," right? In fact, that's not what I have in mind with the title of today's post. I'm also not going to say potato chips, french fries, and candy, although you wouldn't be quite as far off the mark there. If you guessed high-fructose corn syrup, processed vegetable oils, and bread, you would be even closer, but still not quite there.

In fact, I have in mind a more general list of the 3 top foods we consume in modern America. In fact, these foods make up a shocking 67% of the modern Western diet (based on calorie intake)! This is a huge change from the way our ancestors ate, when, on average, primitive man consumed over 3,000 different foods on a regular basis, and over the course of history, humankind has eaten approximately 80,000 different species of plants, animals, and edible fungi. With these numbers in mind, the fact that we now get 2/3 of our calories from just 3 foods should give us pause.

It should also make us wonder if this unprecedented lack of variety in our diet might not have a causal link to today's increased incidence of many modern diseases...

It's time to bring diversity back to our diet. But first, if you're ready to find out which 3 foods you're eating more of than anyone has ever before in human history, read on.

Homesteading Update: A Year In The Life Of A Hay Bale

2/21/2016

Hay bale garden

The start of our first hay bale garden
(2015).

I've been meaning to do a summary post of our first year of hay bale gardening for a while now, and though it's not really garden season right now, I figured it would be as good a time as any to recap Year 1 of the haybale gardening experiment - especially as we will be kicking off Year 2 in just a few weeks!

I posted a few updates throughout the season last year, so feel free to check those out as well if you've missed any, but this time, I wanted to recap the 6 most important lessons I've learned from our first hay bale garden. If you're thinking of trying it, you will want to read this first, so you can avoid making some of the same mistakes I did!

Valentine's Day Recipe: Guilt-Free Chocolate Fudge

2/14/2016

Healthy chocolate fudge

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last week I got all serious on you with my grass-fed rant, so I figured this week I'd mix it up a bit with something fun. I don't usually post recipes here, but this one seemed fitting - after all, what goes together better than chocolate and Valentine's Day?

Unlike your typical store-bought chocolates, which are packed full of sugar (often of the high-fructose corn syrup variety), unhealthy fats, and sometimes even wax (yes, it's true - some of the cheaper varieties of chocolate contain wax as a filler/stabilizer), these chocolates are just the opposite; they're actually healthy!

In fact, instead of all the nastiness listed above, they're full of fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and healthy fats - and they taste like a rich, creamy truffle! How's that for a Valentine's treat that says "I love you"?

The Truth About Grass-Fed Beef

2/7/2016

Grass-fed beef

** Updated June 2016**

I don't usually like to call out my fellow health-minded writers; after all, we are all in this together, right? We are all trying to do our best to help people learn to make healthier choices and lead healthier lives. And while I'm sure the author of the article I read this week about grass fed-beef had good intentions, it got me pretty fired up, and since this topic is near and dear to my heart, I felt I had to address some of the many points in her article that were misleading, misinformed, or just plain false.

The title of her article is "Is Grass-Fed Beef Worth the Money?", and you may have a different answer than me, and that's fine. But I want to make sure you are getting the facts straight before you decide, so here is my rebuttal.

3 Foods You're Eating Wrong

1/31/2016

Strawberries

Okay, I'm super busy this weekend (dinner with hubby's dad this afternoon, and I still have to update Facebook and get your weekly newsletter put together!), so instead of writing a super long post today, I thought I'd share a helpful article from one of my favorite resources....

The team at BioTrust has lots of great information and articles on healthy eating, and they also provide top-quality supplements designed to keep you healthy and help you maintain a healthy weight. If you want to check out what they have to offer, you can visit them at BioTrust.com.

In the meantime, here's a quick little article that I thought was interesting.... It's about 3 healthy foods that aren't nearly as healthy if you eat them the wrong way!

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