Tea of choice

I have an obsession with tea. I prefer tea over coffee anytime. It's refreshing, full of antioxidants, and always how I start my day. Usually my day includes 2 or 3 cups of green or white tea and ends with a cup or two of herbal tea.

My current obsession is The Republic of Tea. Its a little expensive but you get 50 tea bags. So in the end it's actually very reasonable.

Some of my favorite herbal tea's include Celestial seasonings. I love the variety pack because you can sample several different ones.

I've also been enjoying Tazo's Organic apple red, it tastes like caramel apple!!!!!

On Sunday morning's I love getting fancy and using my tea pot for some loose leaf tea's. Teavana is definitely my favorite.

Why Women Must Exercise for Mental Health

By Claudia Reardon, M.D.





Exercise has mental health benefits for men and women of all ages.  However, there are unique factors to consider in thinking about the mental health benefits of exercise for women in particular.  Compared to men, women have a two-fold increased prevalence of major depression throughout their reproductive life cycle.  Exercise can be a very useful treatment for depression in women at any of a number of different times in their lives:   

• During pregnancy and breastfeeding:  Depression is highly prevalent in women of childbearing age.  Medications are often necessary to treat moderate to severe depression.  However, many women wish to avoid treatment with medications during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.  At least one study has shown that women who exercised regularly reported less depression in the first and second trimesters compared with women who did not exercise.  The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recommended 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most days.

• During the postpartum period:  Exercise can also help to treat and prevent postpartum depression.  One study has shown that postpartum women who exercised three times per week had less depression than postpartum women who did not exercise. 

• During the premenstrual period:  Exercise can be useful to treat physical and emotional premenstrual symptoms.  It is less clear if exercise by itself can treat the most severe of premenstrual syndromes (called “premenstrual dysphoric disorder”), but it is still a first-line treatment strategy that most physicians would recommend. 

• During menopause:  Several studies have shown that aerobic exercise can improve both depression and insomnia occurring during menopause.  Additionally, lower intensity exercise such as yoga has been shown to improve psychological well-being in menopausal women.

Importantly, women may experience barriers to exercise.  Here are some examples of these barriers, and strategies to help address them:

• Childcare issues:  Women are often responsible for childcare, which makes it difficult for them to find opportunities to exercise.  Gyms that offer childcare services can be helpful.  Also, partners can share the workload. 

• Intimidation:  Some women may feel uncomfortable working out in the coed environment of a gym.  Consider taking women-only exercise classes, or walking or doing other exercise with women exercise buddies.

• Self-consciousness about appearance:  If a woman is already uncomfortable about her appearance, then she might worry that she’s drawing even more attention to her body by exercising, especially if wearing skimpy sports clothes.  One strategy is to try walking, which can be done almost anywhere and in almost any type of clothing.

• Guilt:  Women, especially those who are family caretakers, sometimes describe feeling guilty about taking time for themselves to exercise.  Remember, it is not a selfish thing to exercise.  You are taking time to improve your physical and emotional health, which will allow you to more effectively be there for others.  Besides, you deserve to experience the benefits of exercise!   

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The world's best hot cereal

I've been wanting to share the most delicious hot cereal combination that I stumbled upon.

In the mix:

1/4 cup Bob's spice n nice hot cereal

2 TB. Bob's muesli

water and splash almond milk

2 TB. unsweetened applesauce

dash cinnamon and sea salt

mix together and cook on low stirring often.

It creates the most creamy texture combination. And the stirred in unsweetened applesauce brings a nice natural sweetness to the whole thing.

Topped simply with Tj's almond flax nut butter and Bob's super finely shredded unsweetened coconut.

I may have eaten this combo for breakfast everyday for the last week. It is so addicting between the texture and the natural sweetness. I just can't get enough.

Diner dinner

Sometimes a throw together meal can turn out to be a fabulous one.

I hadn't made turkey meatloaf in a very long time. I took a cue from an old recipe in Cooking light and kinda made up this recipe as I went.

I mixed together 1/2 pound ground dark turkey and a 1/2 pound white ground turkey. Along with 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 of a grated zucchini (ring out any moisture from the grated zucchini), 3 TB. BBQ sauce, 3 TB. Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Mixed together and baked in a non stick loaf pan. Make sure you top the meatloaf with ketchup, a classic meatloaf topping. Covered with foil and baked at 350 degree's for about 45 min.

Served with sweet potatoes, my favorite. You could also serve it with some classic mashed potatoes or even roasted potatoes.

A little ball of heaven

Healthy no bake dough balls, and oh so yummy.

Crunchy peanut butter dough balls to be exact.

In a bowl mix:

1 cup nut butter of choice (I used Tj's all natural crunchy salted peanut butter)

1/2 cup non fat powdered milk

1/4 cup raw local honey

3 TB. raisins

3 TB. dark chocolate chips

Mix together, roll into balls and let sit on some parchment paper for 1 hour to let the balls firm up. I like my dough balls straight from the fridge, the texture is just like a peanut butter cup.

You can also take these to the next level and finish them by rolling am in coconut, drizzling with melted chocolate, or going all out and dipping the whole thing in melted chocolate, my personal favorite.

Big bowl of veggies

My idea of a perfect meal always includes a big salad.

What I love about salads is that they are super filling and nutritious. My salads are always packed with delicious flavors, like this one.

My favorite lettuce choice is mixed greens or romaine lettuce. And choked full of veggies like carrots, mushrooms, thinly sliced red onion, asparagus, celery, bell peppers, and broccoli.

Finished with the perfect cheese such as Parmesan, grated Swiss, cheddar, or feta. And topped off with some seasonings and the perfect dressing.

It's a scramble

I absolutely love eggs. They are packed with protein and are a quick and easy meal anytime.

This scramble had a Mediterranean twist to it. In the scramble is some egg whites along with half a yoke for some flavor. Combined with turkey breakfast sausage. Once the eggs and sausage were cooked I added some sun dried tomato, chopped spinach, and feta. I saved the spinach for the end so that it wouldn't get soggy.

Enjoyed with a seasonal treat, a blood orange. If you've never had one before you should definitely try one.

A delicious meal for breakfast or a quick and easy dinner.