Bremner's blueberry, bluepom and cherry juices
Quality of Berries in Juice
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Healing a stiff neck
Neck pain
Somehow I injured my neck on Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning and found it extremely painful to hold up my head. Every jerk of my standard transmission car was painful. It hurt whenever I wasn’t holding my neck with my hands. I was almost tempted to ask someone to get me one of those soft neck braces that doctors used to recommend. I even tried ibuprofen to get to sleep even though I dislike pills, but it only helped a little bit. After trying EFT, BSFF and time without any relief, I started making calls to find help. On Tuesday I had a massage and my first ever chiropractor appointment. I think the magic combination was a treatment by my chiropractor James Rice followed by a treatment by my Reiki energy healer Virginia Smith and then sleeping with one of my subtle energy disks under my neck. I had substantially less pain and was able to move my neck enough to look people in the eyes. After several days and treatments I am able to move my neck (almost) normally again and I don’t have any pain, only discomfort. The best explanation for the cause of the neck injury came from my chiropractor’s receptionist – I must have hurt it when I pushed a school bus full of screaming children out of the way of danger 
Thank you also to my massage therapist Cindy at Langley’s Spa Utopia for the wonderful relaxing and pain-reducing massage.
Wednesday is Date Night at Milestone’s
I went on a “date” last night with my husband. We decided to go to Milestone’s Restaurant in Langley and were pleasantly surprised to see they had a promotion on (see blog title). For $50 we shared a healthier appetizer (fresh salsa, tapenade, humous), I had a healthy salmon, rice & asparagus dinner, and we finished off by sharing an unhealthy but yummy chocolate cookie with vanilla icecream. I wish they would offer whole wheat and/or rye as options for the breads instead of only white bread and deep-fried chips. A healthy option for dessert would be nice too, but we probably would have chosen the warm cookie anyway. The atmosphere and service were just what we were looking for. Thumbs up!
Celery with Goat Cheese
Celery with goat cheese
Today I had a yummy snack: celery with goat cheese, and celery with peanut butter. I got the crunch I love and some protein to keep me full for awhile. I use organic celery because I’d rather avoid the pesticides and it tastes healthier to me.
Eating celery is helpful for hydration since it is 95% water. It is also high in Vitamin K as well as containing other vitamins and minerals. Vitamin K helps your blod clot and may help your bones get stronger.
Healthier Meats for Carnivores
During the summer we often use our barbecue to grill meat for dinner. There are many places to buy organic meat and meat without antibiotics in BC and the Vancouver area. In addition to purchasing it in some health food stores, you can also find it in these stores:
In Surrey/Langley/White Rock:
- JD Turkey Farms – free range turkeys, turkey sausages, meatballs, soup and more. Other healthier products such as honey and spelt flour are available in their store. 10% discount for bulk sausage purchases.
- Farmer Ken’s Meats
- Heritage Meats – organic beef, chicken, and more
- Thomas Reid Farms – Langley; organic chicken in bulk by appointment only
- Hazelmere Organics – Surrey
In Vancouver:
- Big Sky Natural Meats – beef and lamb from Lumby, BC
- The Butcher
- Tango’s Gourmet Meats – the West End
- Nature’s Prime
In Port Coquitlam/Coquitlam/Port Moody/Pitt Meadows/Maple Ridge:
- Country Meadow Meats – Pitt Meadows
- Hopcott Premium Meats - Pitt Meadows
- Bruce’s Country Market – Maple Ridge
- Newport Village Meats – Port Moody
In Burnaby/New Westminster/Richmond/Ladner:
- Superior Fish Market – Ladner; fish, organic chicken and beef, bison, other organic products
- Queens Park Meat Market – New Westminster
In Abbotsford/Chilliwack/Mission:
- Sumas Mountain Farms – Abbotsford; grass-fed organic beef, free-range chicken
- Little Farmhouse Country Market – Yarrow
- Organa Farms – organic turkey and hogs
In North Vancouver/West Vancouver:
- 3P Natural & Exotic Meats
- British Butcher Shoppe
- Westlynn Meats and Seafoods
- Windsor Meats
- Queensdale Market
For other locations across Canada:
Frozen Bananas
An easy, healthy and creamy frozen treat that we like is a frozen banana.
Peel bananas that are yellow but not yet spotted
Break or cut the bananas in half
Stick a popsicle stick or chopstick into the broken half and push it into the banana
Wrap the bananas with plastic wrap
Put several bananas in plastic bags with the sticks sticking out to minimize freezer burn
Wait a few hours until they are frozen.
Remove from plastic bags/wrap and eat!
Walking with my Puppy
Our puppy Mylo
Using George Foreman Grills to Lose Weight
George Foreman grill
I used to think that George Foreman grills were over-hyped and not worth purchasing – just another electrical device to take up room in my kitchen cupboards. If my husband didn’t want to barbecue the chicken breasts, I could cook them on my frying pan. Then my 7 yr old daughter and I were visiting garage sales, looking for toys and other things she didn’t need, when I came across a George Foreman grill. At a cost of $9 I decided to give it a try. They were selling it because they felt that burgers cooked on it were not juicy enough. Since we rarely cook burgers I didn’t feel that would be a problem for us.
The first thing we tried was cooking raw chicken breasts. Wow – was it fast. And they tasted good! Since then we have cooked pork chops, lamb burgers, frozen chicken breasts, lamb skewers and bison burgers. I have also used it to quickly grill sliced red peppers and red onion. We still use the barbecue outside sometimes, and we can’t grill a whole salmon on it like we can outside, but it sure is nice when it is raining or we are out of propane. It is also faster than our outside barbecue. I’m a George Foreman grill convert!
Homemade Baked Corn Chips
Homemade corn chips
Lately we’ve been making homemade corn chips when we have guests for dinner. They are a bit time-consuming, but so yummy when they are warm. They are also healthier than store-bought as most store-bought tortilla chips are deep-fried.
Use a pastry brush to brush olive oil on both sides of corn tortillas
Place tortillas on pizza stone or cookie sheet
Cut into triangles with pizza cutter or knife
Bake for about 10 minutes at 350°F, or until they start to turn light brown
Remove from oven
Sprinkle with sea salt and put in a big bowl
Cover bowl to keep them warm while you bake another batch
Can be served with salsa or other dips, but they break easily.
Grapefruit as a healthy snack
red grapefruit slices
I love to have a grapefruit when I’m in the mood for something juicy and filling. I usually buy the red or pink grapefruit varieties because I want it to be a bit sweet without adding anything to it. I either peel it like an orange and eat the sections or I cut it in wedges. It is a great late morning or early afternoon snack.
Grapefruits are a good source of Vitamin C, and the red and pink varieties have a lot of Vitamin A. They also contain folic acid and potassium. The white pith under the skin is a bit bitter, but is rich in bioflavinoids.
Studies show grapefruit interacts with calcium channel blockers, cholesterol-lowering drugs and Zoloft so learn more before eating grapefruit if you are taking these.