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Analysis of Cosmetic Ingredients and Product Review: Better Than Cover

Giveaway winner

And the winner of the Smarty had a Party giveaway is… Geosomin! Geosomin wrote:

Well, it’s my birthday coming up soon, and it’s right by Halloween, so I would definitely use these supplies for a birthday/halloween shindig at my place.Then I wouldn’t have as much work cleaning up after my own party :)

Congratulations! And Happy Early Birthday :) E-mail me your mailing address and I’ll ensure that you receive your party supplies.

New Health Challenge

September’s challenge: analyzing ingredients in cosmetics and household products! We talk a lot about what ingredients in food are healthy, but cosmetics and household products have been sorely neglected here at Living Healthy in the Real World. This month we are going to look at what ingredients are safe to use, what ingredients are toxic, and some of the best brands that you can choose for personal health and environmental health reasons.

Watch the video below to see my product review of Better Than Cover, a cosmetic product that is advertised as natural and mostly-organic, and to learn more about the ingredients that I researched in this product from Therapy Systems.

This is my first video blog post! The next ones will be shorter and will contain fewer “um”‘s. Any feedback is appreciated!

Resources:

Is Silica Safe? from Healthy Child Healthy World

Is Silica in Cosmetics Dangerous? from Beautiful with Brains

Iron Oxides in Cosmetics from Chemistry Question

Titanium Dioxide: Toxic or Safe? from Organic Make-up

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The 100-Mile Diet

Last chance to enter to win my Smarty had a Party giveaway for party supplies!

I’ve been really intrigued by the 100-Mile Diet for several years now. Something holds me back, however, every time I intend to try it out. Travelling is a major issue; if I’m out of the province during a 100-Mile Diet challenge, I’d have to do all kinds of extra research to determine what foods are local. Another problem is seasonal. Not a lot grows around Winnipeg that I would be able to eat year-round. We have berries and tons of root vegetables in the summer and autumn, but what happens in the winter when all I’d be able to really rely on would be canned, dried, or frozen goods? The 100-Mile Diet, to me, is harder to figure out than my Raw Food Challenge or my Vegan Challenge.

So this time, instead of doing a 30-day challenge of eating everything local, I want to simply try to eat more local foods. That’s it. No extreme challenge. No restrictions. Just a conscious awareness of trying to learn where my food is coming from. And I’m not putting a time limit on it. This is something I want to carry on practicing for life.

I managed to find a Manitoba-specific website for eating local, which makes me think that there is likely a similar kind of local eating website or local food stores directory for your area, too, wherever you are in the world. Just type “100-mile diet” plus the name of your city into our dear friend Google and see what pops up – you might be surprised!

The Internet isn’t the only place you can go, however. Start hanging around markets and smaller grocers and you might be able to find some gold mines of local foods. You can also ask around and find out from other people where they get their food. They might actually know some farmers personally, which is always a bonus.

These are some of the foods that I have discovered that are made with local ingredients or else are produced locally:

- Cold-pressed organic sunflower seed oil from The Forks;

- Whole wheat perogies from Local Meats & Frozen Treats (there are also local perogies at The Forks, but I don’t know if there are any that are whole wheat);

- Elk stir fry meat, elk burgers, and ground bison from Local Meats & Frozen Treats (there’s also grass-fed beef from Humboldt’s Legacy, though I have yet to try it);

- Free-range eggs from Deluca’s (I still have to look into the company to ensure that the chickens really do have access to the outdoors and are humanely-raised, rather than just being labelled “free-range” because there is a tiny doorway which the chickens can’t even get to because there are too many of them packed into one area. Too many farmers do that and then still slap on the “free-range” label. It’s disgusting. I’m really hoping this company is the humane kind.*);

- Popcorn kernels and rice from Local Meats & Frozen Treats;

- Pickerel fillets and other fish from the Gimli Fish Market;

- Raw cheese from The Forks;

- Baked goods from Tall Grass Prairie and Stella’s Bakery;

- A variety of fruits and vegetables from the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market;

…and more. For those who drink cow milk, there is even a local producer of organic milk which can be bought at Food Fare.

For those readers who do not live in Winnipeg or the surrounding area, the above list might not sound very helpful. But my point is that you can find a wide variety of foods once you start looking. And you can build good relationships with the owners of these small businesses, too. The owner of Frozen Meats & Local Treats seems to really enjoy talking to the boyfriend and I when we take the trip down to his store; it’s a pleasure to talk to other people who are concerned about sustainable farming.

To me, the 100-Mile Diet isn’t really about 100 miles. If I can find a farmer that owns a sustainable practice and treats his or her products humanely, and they live within several hundred miles, then I would gladly purchase their food over a farmer who lives within 70 miles of me and who runs an operation that is closer to the style of a factory farm. Buying local 100% of the time isn’t necessary or realistic, either, but being more aware of your options can be of great benefit when it comes to choosing how far you want your food to travel (and no, there is no way I’m giving up bananas just because they don’t grow here :) ).

If you’re interested in learning more about sustainable farming, I highly recommend you read The Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend (you can read my book review of it by clicking here) and that you watch the film Food, Inc (you can read my brief review of the documentary by clicking here). Both of these are excellent resources that explain the concept of sustainable farming in a way that is easy to understand and relate to.

Do you try to eat local? Have you ever tried a 100-Mile Diet? Do you have any idea where your food comes from? Share in the comments below!

*Update: I just looked at the package of Free Run Vita Eggs from Deluca’s, and it says on the carton that the hens eat a vegetarian feed ration that “includes corn, wheat, oats, sunflower seeds and dried herbs. Our hens are raised without antibiotics in a free-run system that allows ample nesting space and free access to scratch, dustbathing, roost and perch areas. The feed does not contain any animal products.” Sounds like it’s my kind of eggs! I’m still going to look into the company further, but it’s looking promising.

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How to Pack a Suitcase or Backpack

Don’t forget to enter to win my Smarty had a Party giveaway!

Packing a bag for travelling purposes can be quite a bit of fun – it’s a puzzle to try to get all of the things we want to take into a bag that we can easily carry with us. I’ve learned how to pack a suitcase from all the travels that I do, as well as from the recent back-country camping trips I’ve been taking. When you are going to be carrying your bag on your back all day long, you are able to leave behind a whole lot of items that you would otherwise have tried to squeeze into a bag that is just going to go from car to airplane!

There were piles upon piles of freebies at the BlogHer conference earlier this month. I had deliberately left some room in my suitcase to take some samples home, but I didn’t have a huge amount of space. Time to do some serious rearrangements! Here are a few tips on how to pack a bag, whether it’s a suitcase that you won’t have to carry for very long or a backpack that you’ll be wearing on a hike for hours:

1) Lay out everything you want to pack in a clean area beside your bag. When you can see everything all together, you might realize that there are some things you don’t need to take. Or that you were unintentionally planning on packing duplicates. Laying everything out before starting to pack it all up will also prevent you from accidentally putting a heavy object directly on top of something that is more fragile.

2) Be realistic about what you need. If you’re going back-country camping for two days, you can get away with wearing the same shirt and pants two days in a row (providing you haven’t been wearing them in the rain). If you are going to be staying in a hotel for a week-long trip, you probably don’t need to take a rain jacket with you. Some items you can buy at your destination (like an umbrella, if it’s rainy). You only really need one pair of pants and one pair of shorts if you’re travelling somewhere for a week or two in the summer. Carting around half of your wardrobe just isn’t necessary. Besides, there’s always the option of going shopping if you find yourself in a predicament :)

3) Ask what your travel partners are taking. You only need one tube of toothpaste between the two of you. For camping, one katadyn should suffice (but bring along a packet of water purification tablets just in case of an emergency). If you have good communication before going on your trip, you can save taking along a lot of unnecessary duplicates. You can apply this same philosophy to travelling solo, too; find out what is available at your travel destination ahead of time so that you know what you can leave behind. Normally I would have brought an empty water bottle with me to the BlogHer conference, but they let us know beforehand that we would be each receiving a free bottle. That cleared up a considerable amount of space in my bag.

4) Wrap fragile items in what you were already planning on taking with you. Scarves are the one souvenir that I always buy from wherever I travel to. When I lived with the father dear in Cambodia for a month, I bought a pile of scarves in addition to a few fragile items. Rather than wrapping up these fragile items in bubble wrap or paper padding, I wrapped them in the scarves. The same thing works with boxes: if you’re carrying around some kind of hollow object (for example, if you have a mug or a bowl with you), you can “fill it” with another smaller item that you’re taking on the journey. Figure out logically what will fit inside something else. If you have two bowls to take for oatmeal on your camping trip, have one person carry both bowls so that they fit together, rather than a bowl in each backpack taking up space.

5) Anticipate what things will look like by the end of your travels. Are you going to be leaving some things behind? Buying new things? You want to be aware of this so that you know how much space you should be leaving empty in your bag. Reusable bags pack much easier than containers if you’re taking food, for example; if you take it in containers, this will likely lead to wasted space. If you take it in reusable Ziploc bags, you can easily squish the empty bags and take up hardly any space at all.

6) Be aware of weight. If you’re hiking, you don’t want your bag to be too heavy. But even if you’re just going from the airport to the hotel, it’s still going to be easier to walk around the airport with a bag that isn’t too heavy. Keep in mind, too, that the type of bag you use will be important. A suitcase with wheels makes life much easier if you are going to be carrying it around for a while. If you are looking for a backpack, you want to make sure that it fits you properly. My backpacking backpack is designed specifically for women and it is a smaller bag so that it’s proportional to my body. Think about what you can actually carry, and what will be the most appropriate type of bag for the style of travelling that you are doing.

Umm, I think this bag might be a little too small for all my travelling needs.

7) Placement is important. Use common sense: keep heavy items at the bottom and lighter items at the top. Items you need daily should be easily accessible and near a zipper so you can get at it quickly. Use smaller bags within your bigger bag to organize it all (such as a bag for toiletries), and make use of side pockets in your suitcase or backpack. Always take a few extra large Ziploc bags and/or plastic bags just in case.

Got any tips to share? Leave them in the comments!

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Product Review and Giveaway: Smarty had a Party

Since my condo is now looking lived-in and I actually own a couch and coffee table, I figured that it was about time I had friends and family over for a “little” housewarming party (four months after I moved in, hehe). Therefore, the company Smarty had a Party chose a very convenient time to send me party supplies to review! Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for the review written here; although I did receive the products for free, the opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

My living room, with the bedroom in the background (and my floor-to-ceiling windows!)

Smarty had a Party supplied me with cups, plates, cutlery, wine glasses, a table cloth, napkins, and fake flower petals. The colours were all browns and creams, which actually works quite well for the colour scheme in my condo: I have a lot of earthy tones of greens, browns, and creams.

Because the sistertraveller has recently returned from her 9-month trip to Cambodia and Sri Lanka, we decided to have a joint housewarming party and welcome-home party (even though we no longer live together). We celebrated with my homemade sangria (recipe found here), beer, and wine, as well as a variety of cheese, crackers, dips, chips, and veggies. I had intended on the party lasting just a few hours in the evening, but it wound up lasting into the wee hours of the morning with people from all walks of life – family friends, high school friends, university friends – coming and going. A successful party for sure!

Guiltless Gourmet chips, whole wheat pitas, crackers, and veggies with dips and brie cheese, using Smarty Had a Party plates, cutlery, and tablecloth. You can also see the wine glass (with wine in the stem) on the edge of the photo.

I really liked the Smarty had a Party products. The plastic wine glasses have a hollow stem so that the liquid fills up the stem as well as the bowl of the glass; I’d never seen that before. The cups were also a decent size, and both the wine glasses and the cups look really nice. I don’t have wine glasses in my condo yet so I’ve been using margarita glasses to drink wine out of, but I would absolutely use these plastic wine glasses to hold my wine until I have “real” glasses.

My one problem with these glasses is that the plastic is so light that they are easy to knock over accidentally, particularly when there are a lot of people in one room and everyone has had a fair amount to drink. There were a few spilled glasses which I don’t think would have happened had the glasses been a little bit sturdier – but no worries! I have a dark-coloured carpet :D

The cutlery also looks very nice. It is very silverware-esque; it is also durable and works well. The same can be said for the plates: although these aren’t especially nice to look at, they are durable and work very well for party situations. I liked the napkins, although I didn’t use the fake flower petals. As for the large brown tablecloth, I thought that it was actually made of cloth… until I was cleaning up the following day and scooped it up to put it in the laundry basket and accidentally put my finger right through it! The tablecloth is made of paper but it certainly does not look or feel as though it is made of paper. It was the only thing that I threw out after the party; it would have dissolved in the washing machine, I’m sure, and it was too dirty (plus my finger had made a rip in it) for it to be reused.

Me with a housewarming present from my godmother dear :) This is my kitchen, and my computer working space in the background. And two coolers full of beer against the wall. I assure you they aren't a regular feature in my kitchen.

Overall, although some of the supplies weren’t very attractive (the fake flower petals looked cheap and Dollar Store-esque), they held up very well for their purposes. Guests were very impressed with the products. The supplies also are hardy enough that they will not easily be broken, and can be washed and re-used. I will certainly be using them again in the future and would definitely recommend them to anyone who doesn’t want to go the typical paper plate route.

Giveaway

Do you have a party coming up? Would you be interested in getting your own party kit full of fun party supplies? You can win your very own party kit from Smarty had a Party by leaving a comment below to tell me about what kind of party you would use your party supplies for, a good or bad experience you’ve had at a social gathering, or your favourite type of celebration. If all else fails, party recipes or anything vaguely related also goes ;) As always, if you leave a particularly clever, humorous, or insightful comment, your chances of winning the party kit will increase! Giveaway winner will be announced one week from today, on Wednesday, September 1st.

Because of my broken camera, the photographs are courtesy of the sistertraveller’s iPhone before the party started. Picture-taking was forgotten about once people started arriving. Oops.

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Working from Home

Shop on Open Sky

I now have my very own Open Sky store! Check it out by clicking on my Shop Healthy page. Peruse the items and let me know if you have any questions – I’d be happy to elaborate on the awesomeness of the products that I sell. These are all items that I have tried and liked; they are mostly health related and include kitchen appliances, spices, and a book that I have reviewed in the past, in addition to some food products and wine accessories. Check back regularly because I’ll be updating it as I find more products on Open Sky that I approve of :)

Working from Home

I consider myself someone who works from home part time: although I am not currently being paid for the work that I do at home, I have three “jobs” that I work on. These “jobs” are my three blogs (and maintaining the whole website), my healthy living how-to book that I’m writing, and the emotional eating book that my nutritionist friend and I are writing together. Soon I will be working from home much more frequently doing public relations work, too (excitement!).

At the vet clinic where I work about 4 days a week, you can’t exactly get “distracted”. Between taking notes during appointment for the veterinarian, answering phone calls, making appointments, and maintaining a clean environment, there’s always something to do (and if it’s a slow day, there’s always the beloved Internet with blogging to be done :) ). But when you work from home, it is very easy to get distracted.

My condo is a bachelor suite. I have a desk in one corner of the condo near my set of bookcases, and in the kitchen I have a gigantic table where I keep my laptop (it’s in the style of a large design table – the perfect height for standing in front of the computer). I keep it in my kitchen because my kitchen is enormous; it honestly takes up nearly half of my condo. This could potentially be a problem because it means that I don’t have a separate room designated to working, but I’ve learned how to get around it, as I’ll discuss below.

There are lots of distractions. Food. Books. The Internet. Cleaning. Cooking. Tiny tasks that wander into my mind throughout the day. But if you want to get the job done, you cannot allow those thoughts and distractions to take over. Here are a few ways that I have found help me to get the work done:

1) Figure out the best time of day for you to work. Around 3pm is when I get run down, no matter what I’m doing that day. So when I’m working from home, I usually like to take a little bit of time to read a book, go for a walk, or have something to eat in mid-afternoon. I also really like to exercise first thing in the morning or else I feel restless later on in the day, so if I can exercise early, I find that I am able to get started on work fairly early in the morning, too. I also strangely get really motivated to work around 8pm, so I’m usually good for a solid two hours of work during the time when most people are winding down at the end of the day.

2) Acknowledge your distractions. If it’s a beautiful day, make sure you get outside. If there is a slice of cake in the fridge that is calling out to you, have it. If you really want to check out some websites, then do it. The key is to not let the distractions take over. Set yourself a timer if you need to. Allow yourself 20 minutes to satisfy your craving for whatever it is you want to do, and then get back to tackling your work. In my experience, if you are feeling really distracted, your work will be compromised throughout the entire day. Get it out of the way so that you don’t have to think about it all day! Another great option is to decide that you will do xyz at a certain time of the day, or after you have finished a certain amount of work. Then it becomes a reward and you won’t feel guilty about taking a break.

Mid-afternoon walk!

3) Organize yourself at the beginning of the day. Decide what you want to accomplish and what needs to be accomplished first. Have a back-up plan just in case. Sometimes book-writing requires a level of creativity but my mind isn’t in quite the right place, so I will either do research for the book or cross some other things off of my to-do list for a little while, during which I get myself into creativity mode. It usually doesn’t take too long before I’m all set to start writing. I’ve also found that writing one book can inspire an idea for the other book, which is very useful!

4) Act like you’re going to an office. Don’t work in your pajamas. If you let your dress code slide, you’ll likely feel lazier and get less work done. I find that if I get showered and dressed before I’ve started my work, I’m generally much more productive than if I’m yawning and staring blearily at the computer in my pajamas. Get dressed in a power suit if you need to – seriously. And you can always take the laptop (or notebook, whichever you use) to a cafe so that you force yourself to get out into public and work with the world watching you. That is also effective :)

In the end, not everyone can work from home. I think you have to enjoy spending time by yourself and you have to know how to motivate yourself, and you also have to have a really positive home environment to be able to work there. Personally, I love working from home. I think it’s challenging in a whole new way, and my home is my castle. I feel great working there.

What are your tips and tricks for working from home?

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America the Beautiful

I finally had the opportunity to see the documentary film America the Beautiful yesterday evening. The film describes how various industries in American culture influence people to think of beauty in a very specific way. The combination of health with rhetoric is one that I can never resist, and this documentary was incredibly insightful as to how advertising can shape our thoughts.

Around 36 minutes into the film, a man on the street talks about how he really wants a six-pack even though his stomach is completely flat. Filmmaker Darryl Roberts asks, “What’s the importance of a six-pack?” After a very long pause, the young man says, “Ummm… I don’t know.”

It’s so true. What is the importance of a six-pack? Yes, muscle is very important in order to be strong and healthy, but to have an actual six-pack is simply not necessary in this day and age. This is the problem. Determining the line between that which is necessary and that which is, well, a little excessive, is really difficult. At some point, we really don’t need to build tons more muscle. At some point, we really don’t need to lose tons more fat. On the other hand, America as a whole has less muscle mass and more fat, and this is where I am torn: having an appropriate understanding of the difference between embracing who we are and loving our bodies, and being healthy.

The documentary follows a 13-year-0ld model who walks with a sexy attitude and who has a body that women in our society would kill for. She’s a child! It is such a strange concept that the “ideal” tends to be that of underage women across all kinds of societies. Another girl in the film – this time a 15-year-old – commented that she wanted liposuction to get rid of love handles and pooch around the stomach. That’s terrifying.

Granted, I’ve had my share of averting my eyes after looking in the mirror. But I don’t recall thinking that way as a child. No one should have to be down about how they look, but children especially should not have to deal with that. Why – why do do we feel as though we need to go through with cosmetic surgery in the name of beauty? In America, people apparently spend more money on cosmetic products than a country in the developing world spends on the total cost of health care. Wow.

I had never seen a cosmetic surgery procedure before this film. I knew that a “face lift” was pretty much what it sounds like, but… eep. “Knowing” is much different than seeing it. And it is frightening. Ladies and gentlemen, there is absolutely no need to go through the act of getting your face sliced open to get a “desired” look. Sliced open! With a blade! As though the face is a mask! I was squirming in my seat during the 30 second shot of the procedure, and I am not a squeamish person. The documentary even followed cosmetic surgery for animals. That’s right: face lifts and even testicle implants for dogs. Because apparently it’s not enough that we cut tails and crop ears off our pets.

One man in the film made the following statement: “Do I see women as objects? Yes I do.” After a pause, he added, “Well I mean, do women see men as objects? I don’t see anything wrong with that.” Aside from how wrong that statement was and his distastefully off-hand comments throughout the documentary, I think that there are a couple of points that can be taken into consideration:

1) It’s not just women who are victimized by the fashion industry, the media, and eating disorders. Men suffer too.

2) Our society has become one of objectification. I cannot count the number of times that I have seen girls dressed provocatively who then get angry when they are treated as objects. It is rather a conundrum: is the provocative clothing a way to liberate oneself, to feel good about oneself, and simply a preference? Or is it that people feel that they “ought” to dress that way, but then feel negatively about it when they realize they are continuing the cycle of objectification? Do we occasionally enjoy being objectified? Is objectification always negative? Questions to ponder.

The mother of the main model in the film is in her 40′s, and she says that she wants to have a flat stomach at her age and at the age of 90. She says she loves her body, and then followed up with an exasperated, “but it’s just this stomach.” At this point she squeezed a tiny bit of tummy flab (which, I can assure you, is hard enough to get rid of at the age of 20 let alone the age of 40 after giving birth to children). How many of us have said (or thought) the same thing? There’s so much focus on one body part even though in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter.

But that’s the problem: it does matter, to everyone who moans over their body. It matters because we have such a fixed idea of what we “should” look like that many people do not feel good about themselves when they don’t look like their ideal image. And that spawns insecurities and poor body image. And that causes major issues.

The model, when she is rejected by the industry, says that she will essentially “get pretty” by doing three things: straightening her hair, going on a diet, and getting breast implants. Then she mused that she’d also become a socialite. Those would be the qualifications for “beauty”, I suppose? The documentary follows up on her afterward and she doesn’t appear to have gone on to do those kinds of things, but instead goes back to high school and gets away from the twisted industry.

What I love about this film is that the filmmaker ends it by noting that we are doing no good by saying “oh, the average woman is the ideal of beauty”. This will only serve to continue to perpetuate exclusion. The ideal situation would be to acknowledge that there is no one ideal of beauty. Everything is beautiful in its own way; everyone is beautiful in their own way. It pains me when I hear people dismissing a thin woman as being “too skinny”. That’s equally as unfair as dismissing a woman (or man) of being too overweight, too short, too tall, too freckly, or as having too big of ears. We shouldn’t dismiss anyone because we think that they’re too much of one extreme or another. Why can’t we accept people for who they are?

Taking that notion a step further, I think it’s important to also bring the message home when we deal with ourselves changing. Having the same body at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years old and onwards just isn’t realistic. Age aside, the experiences that we go through are also going to prevent us from having a body we once did. We might find it harder or easier to lose or gain weight depending on how stressed we are and what our relationships with others are like.

As you can see, I found America the Beautiful to be very thought-provoking. I would love to hear anything you have to say about any and all of the above concerns that I have mentioned. What are your thoughts on the beauty industry? The effect it has on us? The notion of beauty itself? This documentary? Share in the comments section below!

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Geocaching Interview

Colgate Winners

And the three winners of the Colgate toothpaste are… fd, Clare, and Mary! E-mail me your mailing addresses and I’ll send you some toothpaste :)

This comment has also made me excited to start a brand-new challenge of raising awareness about cosmetics and household products. If there are any brands or particular types of products that you would be interested in learning more about, let me know and we’ll see if we can cover it.

Geocaching Interview

I recently spoke with Eric, a social media specialist at Geocaching, to learn more about what Geocaching is all about. Although I haven’t tried it for myself yet, it sounds like a lot of fun! Here are some of the highlights from our interview:

What exactly is Geocaching?

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt using GPS to locate hidden items. The items vary as to what you might find. There is a log with each item for you to sign your name so that other people in the Geocaching community know that the item has been found. You take something and leave behind something else of equal or greater value. These items are constantly being moved around the world; each one has an ultimate goal – for example, to get to Paris – and so the person’s job is to fulfill that mission as best they can.

So everyone can do it?

As long as you have a GPS. With the advent of smart phones, people are getting out there even without GPS systems. Sometimes there are keychains or stickers to be found, which makes it exciting for kids. There are about four to five million people around the world involved in Geocaching; it is popular worldwide.

How can people use Geocaching as a part of a healthy lifestyle?

Geocaching is about using technology to enable us to get outdoors, and part of that is about respect for nature and healthier living. Some people have even tried using Geocaching as a form of weight loss – not only to get outside, but to get healthier overall.

What do you think the future of Geocaching is?

<long pause> Geocaching is a constant evolution; the future is wide open. (Editor’s note: I take that to mean that there hasn’t been much thought behind further development of Geocaching – but I suppose with four million people involved, it doesn’t exactly need more development at this point in time!)

Are you planning on sharing information about nutrition and fitness on the Geocaching website? Maybe getting a registered dietitian on the site to encourage people to use Geocaching for health purposes?

<another long pause> Wow, that’s a really great idea! (Editor’s note: If Geocaching starts up as a healthy living program, I want part of the profits for my fabulously innovative idea ;) )

Thanks so much for speaking with me, Eric!

Weight loss with Geocaching

I also had the opportunity to correspond with Martin Pederson, a fellow Canadian whose original goal was “to lose 100 lbs while walking 2,500 km and finding 1,000 geocaches in one year” (did someone say “walking”? Yes please!). He completely transformed his way of living to adopt a healthier attitude and lifestyle. Part of that involves Geocaching:

There are caches hidden in easy parks for a quiet stroll and caches that require hours, if not days, of hiking to get to… On average I need to hike 7km and find around 2 ½ geocaches a day.

Now I must admit that I am not losing weight at the pace I hoped. I am eating better but I still have too many weak moments when family life gets a bit hectic. I will still say that this challenge has been a success and I am not going to stop even when I reach my goal. Through Geocaching I have rekindled my passion for the outdoors and I have discovered so many hidden treasures I would not have known about unless someone was kind enough to hide a geocache there. The Geocaching community is very friendly and open to new cachers and it has been a nice way to meet people in our new town.

Thank you, Martin for sharing your story with us!

Have you tried geocaching? Is this something you would be interested in trying out? How do you try to make healthy living an enjoyable experience for the whole family?

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Plea for Camera Help and a Sangria Recipe

Last chance to enter my Colgate giveaway!

Death of a Camera

My camera died. It is tragic. I was having my housewarming party on Friday evening, and it chose to die that very day. At least it lasted me through the BlogHer conference! And a couple friends were taking photos during the housewarming which was nice. The boyfriend has fixed my cell phone (several times), my cupboard door, and put together all manner of furniture for me (he’s all around fantastic), so when he told me that he can’t fix my camera, that pretty much means that it’s time to get a new one. My little camera has had a good life and it has travelled around the world with me – it is time for a replacement.

I know that many of you are bloggers with fantastic photography skills who know all about cameras, so I would love it if you could help me out with figuring out the best kind of camera to get. I don’t need anything super fancy (although that would sure be fun!). Any advice, suggestions, or recommendations would be extremely helpful!

Sangria Recipe

Like I said, I hosted my housewarming party on Friday evening. It was a really great time and I shall discuss it more when I write my Smarty had a Party review, but for now I’ll just say that we went through pitcher after pitcher after pitcher of my homemade sangria. This stuff is delicious and is certainly one of the healthier recipes out there, if sangria can be considered healthy! It is loaded with fruit, plus the red wine has all those wonderful antioxidants ;) Most sangria recipes call for at least 1/3 cup sugar per bottle of wine – mine is free of any kind of sugar (except the sugar in the wine and brandy, and the naturally-occurring sugar in the fruit and orange juice). Here’s what you do:

1) Slice up 1 orange, 1 lemon, 1 lime, and 1 apple into rounds, slices, or cubes (I like round slices, myself; it makes for pretty presentation). Drop into a large pitcher.

2) Combine in the pitcher: 1 bottle red wine (I prefer Cabernet Sauvignon), about 2 shots cherry brandy (I used a sherry glass to measure because I don’t own shot glasses), 2 shots of club soda, and 1 shot of orange juice (pure juice with nothing else added). Mix together.

3) Serve chilled. You can fill up a glass immediately after making it and add ice cubes so that it’s cold, or you can let the flavours blend together for several hours or overnight in the fridge – it is fantastic both ways! Enjoy :)

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Creating your own Health Insurance

Don’t forget to enter to win my Colgate giveaway!

Managing Good Health

At the BlogHer 2010 NYC conference that I attended last week, I met several bloggers who lamented the way that health care systems work and the expense involved for getting medical tests. There might not be a whole lot that people can do to directly and immediately change their country’s health care system (although getting involved in politics, contacting people in power who can make a difference, and getting your voice heard in general are all ways to express your concerns and bring awareness that things need to change), but we can make some indirect and more personal changes to our lifestyles as a sort of “insurance”.

Pay now – don’t wait until later. A few days before I left for New York City, I paid off a hefty visa bill (it had furniture on it). When I checked my online banking account right before leaving the country, the transference from my account to my credit card bill had not yet been processed; consequently, I forgot that I had already paid it, and so I re-paid it. The result was that when I returned to Canada and checked my online banking – after I had put hotel bills and nearly all the rest of my expenses on my visa card - my bill was already paid off. I had unintentionally placed a large sum of money on my card before I’d even spent a penny. You can imagine my delight at realizing that it was already paid off!

We can also apply this attitude to our health. I like to go to the gym first thing in the morning because my plans might change later on in the day – I might wind up staying late at work, I might be incredibly tired when I arrive home, or any number of little obstacles could arise to get in the way of daily exercise. By doing it first thing, we don’t have to worry about it as much later: any extra exercise that we do during the rest of the day can be considered a bonus.

Drinking water or tea consistently throughout the day also keeps our hydration up, which simultaneously keeps up our energy levels and keeps our bodies functioning in good order. I walk around with a (reusable, BPA-free) water bottle at work and continue to re-fill it. I also frequently have a cup of tea nearby. Most coffee shops will give you a cup of iced tap water without any problems if you forget your bottle when you’re out and about. Drinking milk or making your own lemonade, smoothies, iced tea, or hot chocolate with fresh, natural ingredients will also maintain good hydration and act as “insurance” for your health (and it will be tasty enough that you probably won’t get bored of it the way some people do when it comes to drinking water).

Think about the future. Do family members have a history of health problems? Have you noticed a slight twinge in your knee lately? Do you spend hours staring at a computer screen? Take inventory of your specific lifestyle and anticipate what future health problems may enter your life. If members of your family have had heart disease or cancer, take precautions to prevent yourself from also contracting these illnesses. If your knees or back are bothering you, start going to a physiotherapist or look into how you can do more low-impact movements so that your knees and back do not have to be needlessly strained. If you’re a blogger or otherwise find yourself in front of a screen, get your eyes checked out and be sure to wear glasses if you need them, or your eyesight will steadily decline.

You will know your personal state of affairs much better if you keep an inventory. Writing a food diary or exercise log, or monitoring your nutrients in some other way will help you to be more aware of your personal situation. We’re pretty good at not recognizing it when we neglect our health, so if you have a consistent reminder – perhaps even just a checkmark on the calendar when you went for a 30-minute walk or an ongoing tally of how many greens you’re incorporating into your meals each day – you will be better able to understand where you are at and improve or maintain your health from there.

What are some of your personal health insurance policies? How do you prepare yourself in the event of a health problem? What is your take on current health care systems and concerns around the globe?

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Colgate Review and Giveaway

Please click through to my Review page in order to check out a brand new giveaway! You can also check out who won the honey giveaway from last week.

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