Hello, I'm Pamela. Welcome to my...
YOU ARE BROWSING
Screen Shot 2016-04-03 at 9.20.25 PM

Breakfast or Dessert?

You’ll never know with this raw cacao smoothie bowl. Did you know that cacao has 20x more antioxidants than blueberries!! Switch up your breakfast with this yummy treat perfect for you or your kids

Ingredients (2 servings)

  • 1 cup organic quick oats
  • 2 Bananas
  • 2 tbsp organic cacao powder
  • 1 cup of Vanilla Rice Milk or milk of choice
  • 2 tbsp natural peanut butter

Directions

  • Blend well
  • Sprinkle with shaved organic chocolate or carob chips
Screen Shot 2016-01-26 at 11.25.10 PM

This green plant food gets the green light  for so many reasons…

Spriulina powder is extracted from blue-green algae that grows in salt or fresh water. It’s a nutritiously complete superfood. If you’re looking to buy one supplement that has it all, this is the one.  It’s packed with vitamins (especially high in B vitamins), minerals, antioxidants, omega’s 3-6-9 and all of the essential amino acids, making this a complete protein.

Chlorophyll, which gives it that green pigment, is detoxifying for the blood.  Spirulina’s high levels of beta-carotene (an antioxidant) produce anti-cancer properties. It’s also high in fiber and iron. If you’re suffering from any type of disease, inflammation, stress or recovering from illness or surgery, this is something you should definitely add to your diet.  I recommend looking further into this super food, as the range of both nutritional and health benefits it provides will amaze you!

Spirulina powder should be bought organic. The best way to ingest this powder is by mixing it with a liquid like water or juice in order for it to re-hydrate.  As with any supplement, do your research to ensure optimal quality guarantee.

In all honesty, I don’t love the taste and odour of Spirulina, but I do love all the goodness it provides!  I like to add Spirulina  to my smoothies, especially when  I’m in need of an immune-boost or extremely fatigued.  This smoothie can be enjoyed for a mid-morning or late afternoon snack or even post-workout. Here’s a simple and tasty smoothie recipe.

– 1 tbls organic spirulina powder
– 1 cup water
– 2-3 ice cubes
– 2 tbls organic peanut butter
– 1 Bosc pear
– cinnamon to taste
– 1-2 tbls pure maple syrup

Blend all ingredients in your high speed blender until smooth

Top with coconut flakes and hemp seeds and enjoy!

Screen Shot 2016-01-13 at 10.06.41 AM

Can you actually achieve the weight you want without the deprivation of a strict diet? Yes, you can!

I realized a long time ago that people love diets. They love boundaries and they love being told what to eat. Funny enough, no one cares to understand why they are given certain foods, drinks or pills. If you are losing more than 1-2lbs per week, you’re probably engaging in an unrealistic diet that will, in the long run, do more harm than good.

Even though i’ve been physically active my entire life, it took me a long time to understand what eating healthy was all about. Food is fuel that is converted to energy for our bodies to use in order to successfully function. It shouldn’t be abused nor restricted. What you eat and how you eat has to do with your behavioural habits. It’s psychological as well…it has to do with how you feel about yourself. Of course your taste-buds, culture and upbringing play a big role in this too. My goal isn’t to get people to only eat seeds and salads, but to actually recognize what they’re eating and why. We have to understand how to nourish our bodies properly. Above all, the goal here is to live life fully and have a healthy relationship with not only food, but our bodies too. Diets are nothing more then an unrealistic fix to a much bigger issue. In real life, you may eat a piece of cake at the office on a Monday afternoon because someone received their first promotion….Because well, life happens.

Balance is the epitome of what a healthy diet is all about. For some reason, this is the hardest diet for people to follow. It has no rules or restrictions….it’s simply a matter of having awareness of what your body needs nutritionally, versus what you want in that moment. Most of your cravings and eating habits stem from emotional, hormonal, or environmental influences. Appreciate and eat that piece of cake in that moment if you really want it, but also be aware that it isn’t nutritionally sound. Hopefully this knowledge will help you to only eat one piece versus three! I don’t deprive myself of anything and therefore don’t feel the need to binge or restrict.

I also believe I lead a balanced lifestyle; steadily working out 3x per week, eating a variety of food and never skipping meals. I don’t eat the same thing everyday. I also don’t wait until the weekend to have a treat. I’ve become comfortable and happiest living this way and believe it’s the healthiest for me. My diet IS the real-life diet. It’s comprised of awareness of both good and bad food but ultimately, an enjoyment for ALL food. Perhaps my only “restrictions” if you will, are to eat fresh, preservative-free, organic food. However, i’m also aware that in the real-life diet that can’t always be the case. I cannot control what others serve me at a dinner party, or restaurants etc, but I can control how I fill my fridge and cupboards. When given the option, I do my best and choose wisely.

If you’re looking to change how you eat and what you eat, try to dig a bit deeper. Once you understand food from a nutritional stand point and look further into your habits, you will want to feed your body properly and engage in a balanced way of living. The real-life diet is just that.

Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 9.02.50 PM

Dessert or snack, pears are full of vitamins C, E & B2 and high in fiber. Ricotta cheese is whey, and so it is a great source of protein. I grew up eating this delicious cheese and love its smooth and sweet taste. Purchasing fresh ricotta without additives is always best.

Directions

  1. Slice pear of choice in half and bake with skin at 350F for 30min or until soft. I prefer Bosc pears!
  2. Top with fresh ricotta cheese
  3. Add granola of choice. I used my sesame-hemp granola with raisins.
new-year-new-you

New Year…New You?

Here we go again. It’s that time when you say “this is my year to get healthy.” That time when you start your raw-juice cleanse, dust off your old gym membership-card and dig out your runners from deep in the closet.

January is that time when everyone seems to want to press REFRESH on their lives. I’m not saying the motivation and inclination to change is a bad thing, but be realistic with your expectations of change.

You won’t go from never working out to working out 5x a week. From eating no fruits or veggies to becoming a vegan! The first and biggest change has to be in the way that you think. Health starts in your mind. Achieving that mind to body connection isn’t easy, but be completely honest with yourself and don’t follow something just because your friends told you too. Don’t be so eager to join a gym you will never go to…. Or start a crazy diet that you know you can’t follow through with… Blowing money just to force you to commit to something isn’t a good idea.

Start simple. Do something realistic.  Something that you enjoy. Something that fits into your routine and that you actually look forward to doing.  For instance, for those of you who are not active at all, a daily or nightly walk with a loved one or friend may be just enough to get you to want to do more. Or, if you don’t eat breakfast on a regular basis, make an extra effort to eat it everyday. Look at the New Year as a starting point to your eventual goal. It took you a long time to get to this point, it will take you some time to fully commit and understand what a healthy, balanced lifestyle is all about. Remember, it’s a gradual process, not a drastic one.

You have to WANT this change. And only you can make it happen!

Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 11.11.10 PM

Get into the season with one of my Holiday favourites. It’s not just pretty, it’s simply delicious and healthy too. I think it’s important to eat fruits and veggies that are in-season. Pomegranates are an incredible fruit filled with powerful antioxidants, and when paired with the sweet liquorice taste of fennel, the combination is really delicious.

Ingredients

  • Sliced Fennel
  • Sectioned Orange
  • Pomegranate Seeds
  • green onion
  • Pine Nuts
  • Dress with olive oil, honey, salt and pepper
Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 10.25.25 PM

I had a look in my cupboards…and came up with this. Simple, yummy and nutritious. I prefer jarred peaches over canned peaches. Fortunately, my family picks and jars peaches every summer and so I always have them on hand.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of quick oats
  • 1 cup of sunflower seeds
  • 4 tbsp of agave or honey
  • canned peaches
  • cinnamon
    (Makes approximately 24 mini tarts)

Directions

  1. For dough, mix quick oats, sunflower seed and agave or honey and blend until dough is formed.
  2. Place muffin-tin liners in your muffin tray and press mould your dough to the shape of the cup
  3. For filling, slice jarred peaches, add cinnamon and fill cups
  4. Bake for 10min at 350f
Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 4.53.06 PM

If you need a simple and healthy snack or dessert for yourself or your kids, this is a great guilt-free one!  Chickpeas are naturally sweet and high in fiber, making them a perfect go-to base for baking.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp of flax meal
  • 6 tbsp of water
  • 2 cups of organic chickpeas
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
  • 3-4 tbsp of natural smooth peanut butter
  • Large organic chocolate or chocolate chips as desired

Directions

  1. First prepare your flax-eggs by mixing 2 tbsp of flax with 6 tbsp of water. Stir well and refrigerate for 10 minutes
  2. In your food processor, blend organic chickpeas, agave or maple syrup, vanilla extract and peanut butter and flax-eggs.
  3. Stir in chocolate or carob chips.
  4. Scoop generous tablespoon size cookies onto your baking tray on parchment paper.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes at 350f
  6. Let cookies cool for 20 minutes uncovered.
Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 7.08.33 PM

Salty + Sweet! I love this combo. Sweet potatoes are high in beta-carotene (in our bodies this converts to vitamin A) which is good for eye and skin health as well as immunity. For me, the salty taste of feta balances out the sweetness of the sweet-potatoes.

Directions

  • peel and chop organic sweet potatoes into small chunks
  • drizzle olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper
  • Place on flat pan and bake at 400f for at least 30 minutes or until desired texture
  • top with crumbled feta-cheese of choice
kale-quinoia-BLOG

Quinoa is a whole grain that is famously known for being the only complete plant protein containing all 9 of the essential amino acids. It is loaded with vitamins and nutrients and even better, it’s a great gluten-free option that can be used in a variety of ways.

Ingredients

  • organic quinoa
  • chopped kale
  • olives
  • green onion
  • avocado
  • grated Parmesan cheese