Resolutions

It's that time of year again...reevaluation, goal setting, planning, and since I'm an organizer-driven person I am...I'm really excited to start making some lists, a fitness calender, some charts...yah, you call me a bit nutty, but hey! That's how I am...

We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.
~Jesse Owens

Getting inspired and hope you are too,

Charis

Merry Christmas!

"Immanuel, God with us!" I'm SO grateful to God that He sent His son...so that we could have His Holy Spirit with us and in our hearts! His Presence in my life is so precious to me!

Now I'm off for an evening of family fun...and watching of a Christmas Classic, "It's a Wonderful Life"! Can't have a proper Christmas without that!

This is going to be such a special Christmas (they all are!), but I'm looking forward to the special family time together! Hope you all are having an amazing Christmas with your friends, family, and loved ones!

Dry Skin Helpers

I don't know about anyone else, but I've been having crazy dry skin this last month or so...I guess it's the dry winters that we have here.

Here's some things that have helped me with the common, winter skin:

• I used to get irritated, flaky skin by my eyes and couldn't figure it out...then I realized that it was because I was taking my eye makeup off with harsh soap. My solution: Coconut oil...this works WAY better than any typical, store bought remover and hydrates your the sensitive skin around eyes at the same time.


• Baking soda! When my skin actually looks so dry it has flakes, this is my perfect answer! It leaves your skin super soft. Just be gentle when you use it as it can be irritating if you scrub too hard or too long. Be sure to moisturize afterwards with a dollop of olive or coconut oil. Wipe off excess with a tissue.


• Washcloth! Use it gentle, circular motions on your face and it should do what the baking soda does...slough off the dead skin cells.


• Do a little spa treatment. Here's one that I do occasionally, and yes, it sounds a little odd. I first scrub my face with baking soda. Then I steam my face with a hot washcloth for about 30-60 seconds. After that I put Miracle Whip on my face until it's dry and gummy. (I know, it's weird...here's a blog post I did on it a while ago). Then I rub and wash it off. Then you just moisturize with a good face lotion. Wala! Smooth, moist skin!

Two more tips for you!

1. Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. You have to moisturize from the inside out!

2. Try an MSM lotion with is repairing, renewing, and super absorbent. Here's one I like which I got from Raw Guru. Alex has a great site there, totally recommend looking it up!

3. Make sure you get enough fats in your diet...coconut, avocado, olives, yogurt...you get the idea. If you don't get enough dietary fats it will show up in your skin.

Balancing Meals

When I came home, I decided that I really didn't get a lot of protein in my diet...I just don't crave protein as much as other things...so I've been working on trying to incorporate more protein in my meals and snacks.

The shakes above is one of my attempts at this...I bought these...and I love them! They're an all raw product that is simply loaded with fibre and protein (two VERY important things!), plus heaps of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. I tried to buy them at Nutiva, but they only ship American so I ended up getting them at Vitacost, which is a Canadian health food discount site. The people at Nutiva were super nice too, very helpful...in fact, they were the ones that told me to try Vitacost, which ended up being a better deal for me anyway.

They have 3 flavours and I got the Berry and Chocolate version. My sister bought the one below, the Amazon Acaii. Frankly, I don't feel their flavour is really tasty in of themselves, but since I put the hemp protein in with frozen fruit and almond milk anyway, it ends up tasting very good. The chocolate one isn't as good as the berry ones...but it's actually more high in fibre than the fruit flavours. What I do is add cocoa powder to the shake when I use it and it is then converted from flat to fantastic. I often like to add raw, organic maca powder to these smoothies too.

Chocolate Hemp Smoothie (you could also just use the original Nutiva hemp powder too, if that's what you have, just add more cocoa)

2-4 TB. Nutiva chocolate hemp powder

1 heaping TB cocoa powder (or carob, if you like that flavour)

1 frozen banana

1 tsp. raw, organic maca

about 5-8 oz. raw almond milk (depending how thick you like it)

2 ice cubes

Blend to your heart's content...

Optional: top with bee pollen, add coconut or flax oil for some healthy fats, or top with hemp seeds or cacao nibs (my favorites with a chocolate shake!)

We're back!

Me and my sister Anne-Marie

Wow, it's been a while, but we came back from a really special, amazing music tour...but it's great to be home again.

I actually came home with the H1N1, which in my experience, was the worst flu I've ever had...took me a while to get over that...I guess when you travel a lot you get exposed to lots of bugs and viruses...anyway, I feel great now! :)

So now, I'm just getting used to life at home again...trying to get back into a routine of healthy eating...I try to eat as healthy as I can on the road, but it's a lot easier at home...

I'll try to post in the next day or two about some fun stuff. Till then...

Trail Mix

Just a quickie post before I hit the sack...tomorrow morning our family is leaving on a month long music tour, so don't expect any posts till I get back. :)

On one post a while back, actually on another singing tour we did, I posted a trail mix recipe that I did...now I'll just post what I did for the West Coast Trail that I recently did. Nothing special, but I thought it tasted fantastic.

Mix up the following:

• freeze-dried strawberries (this totally made it!)
• raw sunflower seeds
• raw almonds
• dried bananas
• dehydrated apples
• dried apricots
• dried peaches
• broken up pieces of an organic, dark chocolate bar (just do cacao nibs if you want it all raw)

I really like trail mixes that are mostly fruit for some reason...it feels lighter and much better in my tummy, I guess. I'm not really a nut person...nutty in personality, but not in food tastes. :)

Anyway, see ya'll in a month.

Hiking Girl

...I haven't written in a while, but I have an amazing excuse...I've been gone about a month and I was able to do the most amazing thing ever! I went on the famous "West Coast Trail" on Vancouver Island. People come from all over the world to do this backpacking hike and lucky me, my brother, myself and 8 other friends were able to go and do it!!! It was such an amazing experience, but a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Hiking on the beach...that's me on the far left.

Being "eco-friendly", lol...I found some garbage on the beach and was getting rid of it. :)

So slippery, muddy, and rainy

We had to climb an insane amount of long, long ladders...sure got your heart pumping, especially with a 50-55 pound pack on your back!

Hiking in the forest...

I think I'm seriously addicted to backpacking now...the pamphlet says the trail is for experienced backpackers only, so I was a little apprehensive about going (I've NEVER backpacked before, only day hikes!), but I did it and loved it all! Anyway, there's a short update on my life...hope you enjoyed!

Oh, and on the health side of things, totally unrelated... I like to limit my sugar intake (the GI on raw honey is ridiculous, over 100), so here's something I've discovered I like to do with my apples. Chop 'em up, sprinkle with a little bit of stevia and cinnamon. It's perfect, plus, it's less calories. :-) The perfect afternoon snack.