Go Greek!

 I think today is a great day to make an EASY meal that is LIGHT and HEALTHY... so that you can save your cooking time and calories for THANKSGIVING. 

Check out http://www.healthy-quick-meals.com/ for other great HEALTHY and QUICK meal ideas by Ellen Gray.

Baked Salmon Fillet Recipe:
Greek Salmon

Here's a quick baked salmon fillet recipe that tastes as great as it looks. It is much easier than you would expect!
If you don't have fresh tomatoes, you can substitute about half a cup of diced canned tomatoes. Be sure to drain them well.
Instead of fresh parsley, you can use a teaspoon or so of dried parsley.




1 Tbsp/15 mL olive oil
1 lb/500 g salmon fillets
1 Tbsp/15 mL lemon juice
1 tsp/5 mL oregano
1/2 tsp/2 mL basil
pepper
1/2 cup/125 mL sliced black olives
2 tomatoes, choppped
1 small red onion, sliced
1/2 cup/125 mL crumbed feta cheese
2 Tbsp/30 mL fresh parsley
Preheat oven to 400F/205 C.
Get out a glass baking dish large enough to hold all of the salmon in a single layer.
Drizzle the olive oil over the bottom of the baking dish.
Arrange the salmon in the baking dish.
Sprinkle the lemon juice, oregano, basil and pepper over the fish.
Arrange the olives, tomatoes and onion slices over the salmon.
Sprinkle the feta cheese and parsley over top.
Cover with foil.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove the foil.
Bake for at least 10 more minutes, until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Greek Salad Recipe

This Greek salad recipe is quick and delicious - and much easier than I expected. It's made right in the serving bowl, so there is almost no cleanup!




Make this when tomatoes are in season and bursting with flavor. This makes a nice lunch, or a delicious side salad with dinner.
English cucumbers are the long skinny variety. At the supermarket, they are often sold wrapped in plastic wrap. There is no need to peel them. If you can't find English cucumbers, use two medium-sized ordinary cucumbers, but be sure to peel them.
If you have a lemon on hand, use fresh lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice will work too.
Try to find Kalamata olives. If you can't, use any other black olive.

4 tomatoes
1 English cucumber
1 cup/250 mL feta cheese (about 4 oz/125 g)
2 Tbsp/30 mL dried oregano
2 Tbsp/30 mL lemon juice
1 Tbsp/15 ml olive oil
pepper
10 black olives

Cut the tomatoes and cucumber into chunks, and put them in a shallow serving bowl.
Crumble the feta cheese into the bowl.
Add the oregano, lemon juice and olive oil. Stir gently to mix well.
Sprinkle with pepper to taste. Toss gently.
Add the olives.

WEIGHING In This Holiday Season

(http://www.amazon.com/)

WEIGHING yourself regularly is ALWAYS a GREAT IDEA, and especially so during the HOLIDAY season.  Weighing yourself frequently helps you to get in tune with your body.  The scale lets you know how your eating habits and workout habits effect your weight. 

It has been shown that people who weight themselves regularly are more likely to NOT GAIN WEIGHT and even more likely to LOSE WEIGHT if desired.

Many sources recommend different frequencies of weighing yourself- every day, once a week, once a month???

Personally I have found that people's HABITS change DRAMATICALLY from the WEEK (Monday-Thursday) to the WEEKEND (Friday-Sunday). For this reason I always recommend weighing yourself TWICE A WEEK, every MONDAY MORNING (to know how you did over the weekend) and every FRIDAY MORNING (to know how you did over the week).

If morning doesn't work for you that's okay, it can be any time of day as long as it's CONSISTENT. Since our weight naturally fluctuates throughout the day I recommend ALWAYS weighing yourself at approximately the same time of day.

DO NOT OBSESS OVER THE SCALE, it is simply meant to give you feedback each week on how you are doing with your health habits. Your body will naturally fluctuate weight within a small range over the course of a month... but if you notice that number growing every single time you step on the scale maybe it's time to address what has changed with your eating, drinking, working out, sleeping, and stress in you life.

The Downlow on Vitamin D

(esj1.com)

The healthcare organization I work for ran a little VITAMIN D experiment of its own last year. They issued FREE VITAMIN D supplements to ALL HEALTHCARE WORKERS at ONE of their many locations. This SITE ended up having a significant DECREASE in the number of sick days the workers took and an INCREASE in the employee's productivity.

Our bodies make plenty of vitamin D when we are getting adequate sunlight on our skin but the reality is that 41% of men and 53% of women have LOW LEVELS of VITAMIN D.

VITAMIN D's MANY ROLES:

• Bone health
• FAT metabolism
• Cancer prevention!!!
• Immune system regulation
• Fertility
• Type 1 & 2 Diabetes
• Cardiovascular disease
• Decrease Joint and other INFLAMMATION

Sound Pretty GREAT Right! Well Vitamin D is thought by many experts to be the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT supplement you can take to INCREASE YOUR HEALTH (right up there with FISH OIL -refer to last week's post).

We all remember the horrible H1N1 flu scare last year... upon studying the infection it was found that LOW Vitamin D levels were a RISK factor for CONTRACTING the disease and for how SEVERELY the disease would manifest itself. Wow, this stuff really does work!

Former government guidelines were recommending only 200IU of Vitamin D a day, but recently this has been found to be much to LOW to recieve ALL THE BENEFITS Vitamin D has to offer. Many doctors are now recommending 1000-2000IU of Vitamin D supplementation EVERY DAY, and some sources recommend as high as 5,000IU A DAY.

The Good News: Vitamin D is a relatively CHEAP supplement... you can easily get all the Vitamin D you need for about $20 per year.



References:

1. www.medicalnewstoday.com
2. The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf

WATCH Your Results

A GREAT tool to help you set goals and track your progress is a WATCH- the perfect workout companion! There are so many great features on workout watches such as: heart rate monitor, calorie counter, running distance calculator, cycling pace calculator, workout timer, swimming lap counter, workout log, virtual race partner, GPS path tracker, the list goes on and on!

Here are a few of the watches available right now: (A sports watch makes a GREAT gift!)

Gaiam Zone Trainer 3.0 Heart Rate Monitor ($100)

(http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Scientific-Se331-Gaiam-Trainer/dp/B0044RWYTA)

Garmin Forerunner 110 GPS Heart Rate Monitor Sports Watch ($250)

(http://www.rei.com/product/805132)

Garmin Approach S1 Golf Watch ($250)

(https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=261&pID=83068)

Timex Ironman 50-Lap Watch ($64)

(http://www.rei.com/product/794709)

Polar FA20 Fitness Computer ($110)

(http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/product-detail/product.jsp?id=CIU1035&sc=CX10M075&cm_mmc=portal-_-googlebase-_-na-_-rrs206-CIU1035)

Nike Triax Swift Sports Watch ($80)

(http://www.amazon.com/Triax-Swift-Digital-Sports-WR0090-021/dp/B0006H1I8A)

The Dreaded PLANK

The PLANK is my ULTIMATE favorite SINGLE workout move. There are so many creative variations, they don't require any equipment, and they can be done anywhere... at the gym, in your living room, at a hotel while you travel, etc.  PLANKS are an AMAZING ABDOMINAL WORKOUT and also help to tone your butt, chest, and arms... basically it's a total body workout all rolled into one move.

Instead of boring old crunches TODAY Try My 15 minute PLANK ROUTINE... you will FEEL the results.

Plank on Hands Hold: Get in plank position, don't let stomach sag or stick butt u p in arm. Hold for 1 minute, repeat x 3.

(health.howstuffworks.com)

Plank on Elbows Hold: Same as above but start on elbows, hold for 1 minute, repeat x 3.

(extreme-fitness-now.com)

Plank Opposite Arm/Leg Raises: Get in plank position (down on elbows or up on hands) and raise up opposite arm and leg; 2 sets of 10 lifts alternating sides. If this is too difficult just lift alternating arms for one set and just lift alternating legs for second set.

(complete-strength-training.com)

Plank Press Ups: Start in plank on elbows, one arm at a time press up into plank on hands. Immediately reverse and one arm at a time lower back to plank on elbows. Continue this as many times as you can for 2 minutes. (THIS IS MY FAVORITE!)

(au.lifestyle.yahoo.com)

Standard Plank Twists: Start in plank position and raise one arm overhead twisting body, hold for 5 seconds and return to plank, repeat on opposite side. Continue for 2 sets of 10 reps. Make sure that as you are twisting you don't loose your form.

(fitnessmagazine.com)

Side Plank Dips: Get into side plank on elbow position with feet stacked. Dip hips down toward the ground and return. Repeat 2 sets of 10 reps.

(abs-exercise-advice.com)

Side Plank Twists: Get into side plank on elbow position with feet stacked. Place upper arm behind head and slowly twist down until elbow taps the ground, return to starting position. 10 reps on each side.

(esquire.com)

Plank with Leg Taps: Get into standard plank position and tap one leg out to the side and back in. Perform 15 taps and then switch legs and perform 15 more.

(commitmentisliberating.com)

Cute Plank: I couldn't resist this one!

(insaneworkoutreviews.com)

Tis The Season

The holiday season is filled with GIFT GIVING and what better way to show you care about someone than to GIVE A GIFT that promotes health and wellness. Try one of these ideas as a hostess gift or stocking stuffer.

Jonathan Adler Market Bags ($9.50 each)

(http://www.preppyprincess.com/jonathanadler.aspx)

Jonathan Adler Thermal Travel Mug ($14.00)



(http://www.charmingcards.com/item/Chevron-Travel-Mug/2769)

Bonterra Organic Wine ($14)

(http://www.bonterra.com/our-wines/whites/default.aspx)

Alterra Fair Trade Coffee ($9)

(http://www.alterracoffee.com/Home.aspx)

Zhena Gypsy Tea's Antioxidant Rich Tea Sampler ($9)

(http://www.gypsytea.com/Herbal-Tea-Sampler-P66C16.aspx)

BSAB Organic Soy Candles ($20)

(http://www.bsabcandles.com/soy-candles)

William Sonoma's Essentials of Mediterranean Cooking Cookbook ($34)

(http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/essentials-of-mediterranean-cooking-cookbook/?pkey=ccookbooks%7Cctlcbkess)

Aveda's Vitamin Rich Moisturizer ($19)

(http://www.aveda.com/products/CATEGORY10691/Body/Moisturize/index.tmpl?PRODCAT_ID=CATEGORY10691&PAGENUM=1)

How To Drink & Eat GREEN

A few tips from Christie Matheson's Green Chic on how YOU can Drink and Dine GREEN:

1. EAT LOCAL FOODS: Typically food travels 1,500 MILES from where it was grown/made to your plate and so by buying your food local you will be using 30 TIMES LESS dangerous greenhouse gases. Also produce becomes LESS HEALTHY the farther it has to travel. Local food is HEALTHIER, TASTES BETTER, SAVES THE EARTH, and SUPPORTS YOUR LOCAL ECONOMY. For restaurants that BUY local check out http://www.dinegreen.com/.
2. EAT ORGANIC: I wont harp on this point too long as I've already blogged about all the reasons you should eat organic... BUT I will say this: Obesity has skyrocketed and continues to get worse and worse every year which is CORRELATED with the increase in PROCESSED foods (over 17,000 new processed food items are added every year). As Christie says, "Green women don't get fat!"
3. DRINK ORGANIC: Lets be honest do you really want to drink wine made from grapes grown in pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides... gross! Check out my favorite organic wine: Bonterra Vineyards.
4. BE AWARE OF PACKAGING: Choose food with minimal packaging. Avoid single serving containers, avoid plastic packaging, and carry your groceries home in a reusable bag.

Check out this great website by LOCAL HARVEST: "The best organic food is what's grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies."

(15 Miles Farm)