healthy food choices

New Year, more Vitality with Valerie

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Happy New Year readers! I hope you enjoyed your holiday season as much as I did, and your 2017 is off to a good start!

With the start of a new year comes many resolutions and goals to become the best version of yourself. I wanted my viewers to get a better glimpse into my past to learn more about me and my journey toward a better lifestyle. I hope this is something many of you can relate to because I want to assist you all on your health journeys as well. Everyone is different, but just recognizing the need for change is the hardest part in this process.

Enjoy the video, and allow me to help you live a life of Vitality- with Valerie! 🙂

Holiday Cranberry Mimosa!

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Hi friends! Thanksgiving has passed and if you’re like me, you have lots of leftover cranberries. I like cranberries sauce more and more every year, and I make a very delicious and easy cranberry sauce. I came across a Food Network show about the holidays, and in it they discussed mimosas. I had a eureka moment and thought, “Wow, what if I use my delicious cranberries to make a mimosa!” Well, I have to tell you that we have enjoyed them so much that we drink them frequently (but responsibly)! 🙂 I have included the recipe for my cranberry sauce and cranberry mimosas. They are so pretty and festive, besides being really darn good. They make a nice centerpiece to your holiday table. The cranberry sauce itself is so flavorful and bright, and with no added sugar is a healthy addition to your meals. Bon appetite!

Cranberry Sauce

  • 2 -8 ounce packages cranberries, fresh or frozen
  • 1 orange, zested and juiced
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat and simmer until the cranberries burst and the sauce thickens, about 15-20 minutes. serve at room temperature or cool and refrigerate. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving.

Cranberry Mimosa

  • 1 teaspoon of cranberry sauce
  • 1 glass decent quality champagne

Put the cranberry sauce into a champagne flute. Add the champagne to the glass and give it a quick stir. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

 

Poolside Healthy Choices!

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Hi friends! Do any of you belong to a community, subdivision, or private pool? We do because we don’t have a pool at our house. The upside is that it has a outdoor cafe where food can be ordered, but that’s the downside too. It is very difficult to make healthy food choices when confronted with chicken strips (ours are the best ever, unfortunately), French fries, huge cheeseburgers, and all other manner of deliciously, dangerously high caloric food options. 

Luckily our pool also offers healthy items and whether you have a pool, have joined a pool, or don’t care about pools, I’ll still try to offer some advice to assist you in making good food choices this summer. 

First and most important is to avoid the fried food. No matter how good it looks, believe me it’s not good for you. The oil used to fry food is artery clogging, and the food, once fried has virtually no resemblance to the healthy chicken or potato it started out as. This may seem obvious but once you start smelling the fries it’s so tempting to give in and order them, but not only are they bad for you, they’re very high in calories too. Not good for the bathing suit look!

  
Second, choose the healthiest protein you can. A large double cheeseburger, while full of protein, is not a healthy option due to the amount of calories contained within. Some large cheeseburgers have over 1,000 calories. Definitely not the way to go. Instead, I choose a Cobb salad (no blue cheese because I don’t like it), with tons of protein (turkey, bacon, feta cheese, hard boiled egg) and vegetables (cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce) to fill me up and keep me satisfied. A super choice! Also, don’t top your healthy salad off with an unhealthy dressing (no ranch or blue cheese), I love vinaigrettes of all kinds- and if they make them fresh there it’s an even better option!

  
Third, avoid the processed carbs. Those bags of Doritos and Fritos are full of empty calories and zero nutrition. If you want something crunchy and salty go for air popped popcorn. A new brand I’m digging is Sexy Pop- many flavors and under 100 calories per bag- it’s incredible! The Brazilian coconut flavor is to die for- and all natural too!  Or pop your own and bring it with you. I always think popcorn is better the next day so you can pop it ahead and bag it up for later. 

Fourth, don’t eat the ice cream sandwiches, or Chaco tacos (it’s really a thing and it looks sooo good), or huge ice cream cones- avoid the sugar!  Sugar is the source of many illnesses and should be avoided at all costs. A small fruit salad would be a healthy substitute. And I’ve seen people make all fruit Popsicles at home- better than processed ones, but still should only be an occasional treat.

  
These are my poolside tips for healthy eating in the summertime. Make sure to enjoy yourself no matter what and let me know what you do to stay on your healthy food path in the summer. Making healthy food choices will help you live a life of vitality- with Valerie! 

“Over the River and Through the Woods…” Healthy Holiday Travel!

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Traveling by plane to Florida in March!

Traveling by plane!

Are any of you traveling over the holiday season? I am, though just for one night, thank goodness. I went to Las Vegas a week and a half ago, traveling by air of course, and came home SICK! I’ve been suffering since then with flulike symptoms. Of course I’ve done all of my homeopathies and cold remedies that I’ve discussed in a previous post “HEALING Cold Remedies”, and if you haven’t read it you definitely should. However, with the hectic pace I’ve been keeping up lately I haven’t healed as quickly as I’ve wanted. So I thought about all of my wonderful readers and I wanted to help all of you to travel and stay healthy over the Christmas holidays. Here’s my list and it works for both car and air travel.

One of my favorite photos of car travel long ago with our golden, Princess!

One of my favorite photos of car travel long ago with our golden, Princess! She always looked so sad in pics but she LOVED traveling in the car to grandma’s house!

1. Make sure you take frequent pit stops to stretch your legs- traveling by car or plane can be very rough on your circulation and increases the risk for deep venous thrombosis, which are deep blood clots that can travel to the heart, lungs or brain. They can be fatal and the best preventative is to get up and move to increase circulation to the extremities. If you’re driving get out to stretch your legs every few hours. When I’m traveling by plane I always sit on the aisle when possible so I can more easily get up and move around. I always take off my shoes and keep wiggling my toes, and flexing/extending my calf muscles to improve blood flow.

Traveling by car!

Traveling by car!

2. Remember to make healthy food choices, especially while on the go- When traveling, it is very tempting to hit a fast food place, either on the road or in the airport. It’s quick, cheap, and easy. But DON’T DO IT MY FRIENDS! Or if you have to do it, make the best fast food choices possible. Read my previous post, “HEALTHY Fast Food?” for tips on making healthy choices at fast food restaurants. If you can stop for a “real meal”, I highly recommend that instead. One thing we did when traveling by car when Jacqueline and Danielle were young was to hard boil some eggs, peel oranges, pack some nuts,  bring turkey lunch meat, and bottles of water to make impromptu meals when on the road.

Another long ago car trip!

Another long ago car trip!

3. Stay hydrated- This is super important whether traveling by car or plane. Make sure you’re drinking WATER as that is the most hydrating beverage. I’m drinking alkaline water right now as I feel it will super hydrate me. You can read my past post “Walking in a Winter Wonderland? How to protect and hydrate in the cold!” to get more information about this type of water. Any water is better than no water, or than sodas or other types of unhealthy beverages, so you can’t go wrong with drinking lots of water.

4. Take your Echinacea- This was my fatal error when traveling last week, I didn’t take my Echinacea! Echinacea is an herb that helps boost the immune system and protect you from all the germs you’re likely to be exposed to whether traveling by car or plane. It really does work, and I’m very sorry right now as I’m coughing and sneezing all over the place that I didn’t bring mine with me!

Girlies traveling to and from Purdue!

Girlies traveling to and from Purdue!

5. Keep moving when you get there- This one is super important. Even while spending time with grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends, remember to take time for a walk, a bike ride, or a workout at the gym. You will likely be eating more than usual too, so making sure to work off some of that food is critical to keeping on your healthy way of life.

So there are my tips and I hope they are helpful to you. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthful and blessed New Year. Safe travels to all of you who are traveling! Utilizing my tips will help you to live a life of vitality- like Valerie!