Entries from August 2008 ↓

I have a bad sugar addiction which I’m still working on. In the meantime, the one thing I have mastered is how to have a very healthy breakfast.

I’m sure you’ve already heard that a healthy breakfast is important for your brain and energy, “Yadda, yadda, yadda”. And this is all so true and so essential, but I’m guessing if you’re reading this blog then you’re also concerned about your skin. So you don’t want to eat anything that will aggravate your acne, cause a breakout, or contribute to premature aging.

To eat for our skin, we want to follow three simple rules -

1. Eat low Glycemic Index foods
2. Avoid refined sugars
3. Eat as many nutrients as possible

These three simple rules are all very easy to follow for each meal that you eat throughout the day. And breakfast is probably the easiest.

If you want to be ridiculously healthy, then you can follow a raw food diet and drink a powered up green smoothie, or you could make a savory grain ‘porridge’ out of something like amaranth or quinoa.

I’m not quite there yet myself, so I’ll give you my daily breakfast which tastes amazingly good, is exceptionally nutritious, and of course one of the best ways to start the day.

What I eat every day for breakfast

I love oatmeal. Now before you groan and click away, hear me out.

Oatmeal never used to be something that I loved. I liked how my mother used to make thick creamy oats in winter (that I used to cover in sugar), but when I grew up and tried to make it myself, it was always a bland disaster.

There is no fine art to making good oatmeal, but there are a few secrets that can turn your boring-bland-cardboard-tasting oatmeal into a meal that you’re going to go to bed at night dreaming about waking up to in the morning. And you don’t have to coat it in sugar to make it taste good.

I have even converted my travel buddy into an oatmeal-aholic. In the first few weeks of traveling together, he took one look at my oatmeal and opened a box of Cheerios or Wheatabix. And then one day he actually tasted my oatmeal. He’s since never gone a day without eating it!

Fran’s the best breakfast ever oatmeal

Continue reading →

I was reading a natural beauty book in the health store yesterday which claimed that people with acne or acne prone skin always have the problem of touching their face too much.

My immediate reaction was “Yeah, sure, whatever”, until I really thought about it and realized that perhaps there was some truth to their claim after all. Let me explain.

The formation of a pimple is really quite simple.

1. A pore gets clogged with dead skin cells, oils and cosmetics.
2. If toxins and bacteria then get stuck in the pore too, it creates an infection - a pimple.

These toxins and bacteria can either come from the inside-out as part of your bodies natural cleansing process, or from the outside-in from things like old bacteria-ridden cosmetics, pollution, and you guessed it - dirty hands. Continue reading →

This is a smoothie I threw together today with what I could find in the kitchen. It tasted so good that I had to post the recipe.

This is a very easy smoothie that you can make yourself at home. If you use a milk alternative (like almond or soy milk), then it’s a very healthy drink for your body and for your skin that you can even have for breakfast.

Chocolate banana smoothie

Serves 1

1 cup of milk or milk substitute (my favorite is almond or oat milk)
1 banana
a small handful of blueberries
1/2 teaspoon of raw honey
1/2 teaspoon of cacao powder
a large pinch of shelled hemp seeds

Put all the ingredients into the blender, then blend until smooth.

It’s time. I’ve run out of my toxic night lotion (aka Dove) and toxic day lotion (aka Oil Of Olay) so it’s time to switch back to natural products.

And even though I’m really excited [because I love trying new products], I’ve also been procrastinating a little on my new purchases because there’s a lot of research involved in finding the prefect lotion.

Today I visited The Big Carrot in Toronto and browsed the huge range of organic and natural skin care products they have in store.

I was kind of lost a little and overwhelmed with what to choose. And of course I was stupidly more attracted to the pretty packages than anything else.

Eventually (and maybe out of frustration), I decided that I just hadn’t done enough research yet so took the easy way out and bought two sample sizes of Dr. Hauschka face cream to trial and see how they go. …Okay, the truth is I was staring dumbly at the Dr. Hauschka line when a staff member asked if I needed help, I guess because they’d noticed I’d been walking up and down the aisle for a good 15 minutes looking confused. So as usual I bought a trial size of the first thing a sales rep recommended.

Yes, I’m very easy to sell to AND an impulse buyer. Continue reading →

If you’ve ever wondered what I actually look like in person or want to meet me, I’m teaming up with my travel buddy and blogger friend, Yaro Starak, to host a Toronto Bloggers meetup this Thursday.

So if you’re in Toronto and have nothing to do this Thursday night (August 21st), come and hang out with me at the Live Organic Food Bar on Dupont Street (just across the road from Dupont subway station).

Full details are on this Facebook page - http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=24673968029

Why Live Organic Food Bar?

Live is my current fav restaurant in Toronto, and it is AWESOME. Everything on the menu is raw, organic, vegan, super healthy and super delicious.

Travel buddy and I rode our bikes to the restaurant on Saturday afternoon, and between the two of us quickly ordered and gulped down three “Chocolate Surrender” milkshakes straight up when we got there.

These milkshakes are my favorite item on the menu. They’re chocolaty, delicious, and good for you. They’re actually sweetened with dates and figs which is a combination I’d never thought of before.

I’ve secretly memorized the ingredients so I’m going to try and reconstruct it at home. Mmm, I wish I had one in my hands right now.

The first time I went to Live I’d never been to a raw restaurant before so I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that raw food is really good for you, so of course I was expecting healthy yet bad tasting food and of course a ton of salads. Wow was I wrong.

If you can believe it, Live serves raw pizza, lasagna, noodles, and even sushi. Of course because it’s raw there’s no bread, pasta or rice, which is what makes these alternative twists of the traditional dishes even more delightful.

Guilt-free pizza and chocolate milkshake

I just had to show you my pizza and chocolate milkshake combination I ordered at Live after my bike ride. It’s a great healthy alternative to the greasy mess of a pizza and chemical cocktail milkshake you get at many other eateries.

I love how Live takes some of our favorite ‘junk’ foods and turns them into incredibly healthy alternatives.

If you live in Toronto and can’t make it on Thursday night, make sure you drop into Live sometime and try their food.

Oh, and if anybody lives in New York, I’ll be visiting in a couple of weeks time and I’d LOVE to know if there are any raw or organic restaurants in Manhattan. Umm, and if anybody recommends the Sex and the City tour