Blood: The River of Health
Blood is the ultimate vehicle for our life force, but we all take it for granted.
Your blood travels from your head to your toe in less than 10 seconds.
Approximately 2.4 million red blood cells are created in our body every second.
These cells live for 120 days and travel 300 miles in their lifetime.
What we eat has a dramatic effect on our cells and the state of our health. We live in a world where burger is the king and dairy is the queen, and it’s no wonder that so many people today are tired, overweight and looking for a magic bullet.
You wouldn’t feed your pets the wrong food, or put the wrong fuel in your car – but we continually put the wrong food into our bodies. Your body requires 40 different nutrients a day and your cells can die prematurely from deficiency or toxicity. Vitamins B6, B9, and B12 are required for the production of hemoglobin – a protein which carries oxygen throughout your body, and carbon dioxide out. Minerals iron and copper are needed daily to generate the necessary chemicals in your hemoglobin. Your blood cells originate from the stem cells in your bone marrow; Vitamin A helps this process. Eating the right foods may just be that magic bullet.
With today’s five new food groups – Frozen, Fast, Fried, Junk and Processed – we’ve shifted our diets away from what our bodies truly need because of marketing, convenience, and taste. Making healthy foods today is actually easier than we think, and often times cheaper. Putting a salad together, steaming vegetables, and putting a piece of chicken in the oven does not require extreme culinary skills nor a lot of time. So what do we need?
Eating three to five pieces of fruit and five to seven servings of vegetables a day provides your body with nutrients like fibre, water, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes – all necessary for optimal body chemistry. Not to mention, they help keep our bodies at an alkaline state.
Find Your Potential of Health pH represents potential hydrogen. From a holistic perspective, we can say that it stands for potential of health. It is the value given to indicate the alkalinity or acidity of a substance, with complete acid at the low end of the scale – neutral at 7.0 – and pure alkaline at 14. Your body functions best when the pH of most of its fluids are in a range of 6.5 to 7.0.
Our diets play a major role in the amount of acid produced in our body; if one has too much acid, we begin depleting our minerals – sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium – in order to buffer out the excess. If we don’t have an abundance of these alkaline minerals found in fruits and vegetables we open ourselves to a host of issues. Calcium loss results in bone density loss, and magnesium loss results in nervous dysfunction, muscle cramping and irregular heartbeat. Sustained exhaustion of this nature can lead to the diseases we see so prevalent in North America today. All meats, fish, wheat, alcohol, colas, sweeteners and condiments are acid forming in the body.
Life is about balance
We can certainly enjoy treats here and there. It is our overall diet and lifestyle that has the largest effect. It’s what we do 80 percent of the time that matters, and your diet should be 80 percent alkaline. However, most people are only at five percent. Lemons are a naturally acidic food – however, the body does not need to buffer the natural acids. The naturally occurring citric acid is a “weak” acid; once it’s done providing energy to metabolism, the remaining nutrients are alkaline. Along with almost all fruits and vegetables – a diet containing beans, flax, eggs, nuts, quinoa, garlic, and cold pressed oils will help our body remain in its ideal alkaline state.
All of those red blood cells you make each day want to live in a healthy environment. Taking responsibility of your own health can provide you with long lasting energy and vitality, and reduce your risk of the health issues that are plaguing our society today and costing our health care system billions of dollars a year. Keep nutrition simple; eat foods that grow toward the sunshine, are not found at a pickup window, and don’t have to pass a chemistry lab on the way to your mouth.
Teaching our Children to Fail in Life
What are the chances that your son or daughter might strike it big one day and start raking in the millions? I think if they did, for every parent it would be like our biggest goal being brought to fruition – if you can’t be the millionaire in the family, your child being one is the next best thing – and you’d probably love knowing that you did everything to help them get there.
What if you found out that you not only didn’t help them, but you actually hindered them from being rich?
Not just you, but your child’s teachers, the school’s curriculum and its values… Kind of wrecks the daydream, doesn’t it?
When I travel the country speaking to high school and college students about exactly what they need to do to become financially successful in life I always begin my presentation by asking three questions:
“How many want to be financially successful in life?” “How many think they will be financially successful in life?”
Almost every time I ask these two questions every hand rises in the air. Then I ask the magic third question:
“How many have taken a course in school on how to be financially successful in life?”
Not one hand rises in the air, ever.This happens every time I have asked this third question. Clearly every student wants to be successful and thinks they will be successful, but none have been taught by their parents or their school system how to be financially successful in life. Not only are there no courses on basic financial-success principles, but there are no structured courses on basic financial literacy.
Children are being raised to be financially illiterate, to be poor and to fail in life.
Is it any wonder that most of us in North America live paycheck to paycheck? That most of us accumulate more debt than assets? That many people are losing their homes? Is it any wonder that most Americans cannot afford college for their children and that student loan debt is now the largest type of consumer debt?
According to The Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt, the average student loan debt is $25,250. This debt forces college graduates to postpone buying a home and starting a family.
The second worst thing about this problem is what children are being taught by their parents and the school system. They are being taught that rich people are bad.
You think I’m wrong? Just ask your child if they have ever read Robin Hood in school. Most likely the answer will be yes. Then ask them if Robin Hood is a good guy or a bad guy. Most likely your child will say “good guy”. In fact, they very likely consider him a hero. The fact that Robin Hood was a thief who stole from others is irrelevant. He took from the rich and gave to the poor. That, children are taught, is okay because poor people are good, rich people are bad, and poor people are thus “entitled” to that rich person’s money and wealth. Our schools are teaching children that striving to become wealthy in North America is bad.In other words, the American Dream is a bad thing.You see manifestations of this “financial success is bad, the 1% are bad and the 99% are good” mindset in things like the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Buffet Rule. You cannot pick up a paper these days without seeing some article on the wealth gap. Clearly this wealth gap needs to be addressed. But current measures to address the disparity between the rich and the poor are poorly thought out and simply will not solve the problem of poverty. The real solution is to equip our children through education at home and in school with tools that enable them to become financially successful in life.
So how do we do this? Parents and our schools need to work together to re-educate our children, both through formal education in the schools and informal education at home. In the home, parents could teach their children in the following ways:
1) Set limitations: Limit T.V., social media and cell phone use to no more than one hour a day. And limit junk food to no more than 300 calories a day. Punish children when they lose their tempers so they understand the importance of controlling this very costly emotion.
2) Teach children the importance of relationship building: Have them phone friends, family, teachers, coaches etc. on their birthdays and send thank you cards for gifts or help they received from anyone. And parents and children need to set aside at least thirty to sixty minutes a day to talk to each other. By talk I do not mean through Facebook, or on the cell phone, but face-to-face, real talking. The only real quality time is quantity time.
3) Teach children to manage money: They need to learn this. Require your children to save at least 25% of their earnings or gifts they receive. Open up a checking account or savings account for them and force them to use their savings to buy the things they want. They need to learn that they are not entitled to things like cell phones, computers, fashionable clothes, flat screen T.V.s, etc.
4) Teach children that education is not limited to school: Require your children to read one to two educational books a month, outside of school-mandated reading. Have them participate in at least two non-sports-related extracurricular activities at school or outside of school.
5) Teach children how to manage their time: They should be required to create daily “to-do” lists and these lists need to be monitored by parents. The goal should be to accomplish at least 70% of their tasks on their daily “to do” list.
And through formal education at school, the curriculum should be made to include:
1) Goal-setting and goal-reaching: Require that children set monthly, annual and long-term goals. Reassure them that mistakes made in reaching (or not reaching) these goals are good, not bad. Children need to understand that the very foundation of success in life is built on learning from our mistakes.
2) Work ethic: Work ethic is critical to success in life. Require working-age children to work or volunteer at least ten hours a week.
3) Exercise: Have the students exercise aerobically 20 – 30 minutes a day. This improves their health, burns calories and delivers desperately needed oxygen to the brain and vital organs.
4) The value of financial success: Teach students that seeking financial success in life is good and a worthwhile goal. Children need to learn what the American Dream is (unlimited opportunity for financial success) and taught that it is a great thing.
Financial success is not a secret. Wealthy people do certain things every single day that sets them apart from everyone else in life. Wealthy people have good daily-success habits that they learned from their parents. These daily habits are the real reason for the wealth gap in our country and the real reason why the rich get richer. Unless we teach our children good daily-success habits, and level the playing field, the rich will continue to get richer and the poor will continue to get poorer.
Yet we frequently don’t teach them these “rich” habits. Fact is, the values in place in our society, the ones currently taught in our schools’ curriculum and backed by parental guidance, make it more of a lucky gamble than anything that children will be financially successful in life. If they’re lucky, they’ll learn these critical skills on their own, outside of their regulated education, and they’ll appreciate the value of said skills when they’re still young enough for these habits to take hold in their behaviour and become permanently ingrained. Only if they’re lucky… and that shouldn’t be the case!
How Do I Stop Overreacting?
What are the chances that your son or daughter might strike it big one day and start raking in the millions? I think if they did, for every parent it would be like our biggest goal being brought to fruition – if you can’t be the millionaire in the family, your child being one is the next best thing – and you’d probably love knowing that you did everything to help them get there.
What if you found out that you not only didn’t help them, but you actually hindered them from being rich?
Not just you, but your child’s teachers, the school’s curriculum and its values… Kind of wrecks the daydream, doesn’t it?
When I travel the country speaking to high school and college students about exactly what they need to do to become financially successful in life I always begin my presentation by asking three questions:
“How many want to be financially successful in life?”
“How many think they will be financially successful in life?”
Almost every time I ask these two questions every hand rises in the air. Then I ask the magic third question:
“How many have taken a course in school on how to be financially successful in life?”
Not one hand rises in the air, ever.
This happens every time I have asked this third question. Clearly every student wants to be successful and thinks they will be successful, but none have been taught by their parents or their school system how to be financially successful in life. Not only are there no courses on basic financial-success principles, but there are no structured courses on basic financial literacy.
Children are being raised to be financially illiterate, to be poor and to fail in life.Is it any wonder that most of us in North America live paycheck to paycheck? That most of us accumulate more debt than assets? That many people are losing their homes? Is it any wonder that most Americans cannot afford college for their children and that student loan debt is now the largest type of consumer debt?
According to The Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt, the average student loan debt is $25,250. This debt forces college graduates to postpone buying a home and starting a family.
The second worst thing about this problem is what children are being taught by their parents and the school system. They are being taught that rich people are bad.
You think I’m wrong? Just ask your child if they have ever read Robin Hood in school. Most likely the answer will be yes. Then ask them if Robin Hood is a good guy or a bad guy. Most likely your child will say “good guy”. In fact, they very likely consider him a hero. The fact that Robin Hood was a thief who stole from others is irrelevant. He took from the rich and gave to the poor. That, children are taught, is okay because poor people are good, rich people are bad, and poor people are thus “entitled” to that rich person’s money and wealth. Our schools are teaching children that striving to become wealthy in North America is bad.
In other words, the American Dream is a bad thing.You see manifestations of this “financial success is bad, the 1% are bad and the 99% are good” mindset in things like the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Buffet Rule. You cannot pick up a paper these days without seeing some article on the wealth gap. Clearly this wealth gap needs to be addressed. But current measures to address the disparity between the rich and the poor are poorly thought out and simply will not solve the problem of poverty. The real solution is to equip our children through education at home and in school with tools that enable them to become financially successful in life.
So how do we do this? Parents and our schools need to work together to re-educate our children, both through formal education in the schools and informal education at home. In the home, parents could teach their children in the following ways: 1) Set limitations: Limit T.V., social media and cell phone use to no more than one hour a day. And limit junk food to no more than 300 calories a day. Punish children when they lose their tempers so they understand the importance of controlling this very costly emotion.2) Teach children the importance of relationship building: Have them phone friends, family, teachers, coaches etc. on their birthdays and send thank you cards for gifts or help they received from anyone. And parents and children need to set aside at least thirty to sixty minutes a day to talk to each other. By talk I do not mean through Facebook, or on the cell phone, but face-to-face, real talking. The only real quality time is quantity time.
3) Teach children to manage money: They need to learn this. Require your children to save at least 25% of their earnings or gifts they receive. Open up a checking account or savings account for them and force them to use their savings to buy the things they want. They need to learn that they are not entitled to things like cell phones, computers, fashionable clothes, flat screen T.V.s, etc.
4) Teach children that education is not limited to school: Require your children to read one to two educational books a month, outside of school-mandated reading. Have them participate in at least two non-sports-related extracurricular activities at school or outside of school.
5) Teach children how to manage their time: They should be required to create daily “to-do” lists and these lists need to be monitored by parents. The goal should be to accomplish at least 70% of their tasks on their daily “to do” list.
And through formal education at school, the curriculum should be made to include: 1) Goal-setting and goal-reaching: Require that children set monthly, annual and long-term goals. Reassure them that mistakes made in reaching (or not reaching) these goals are good, not bad. Children need to understand that the very foundation of success in life is built on learning from our mistakes.2) Work ethic: Work ethic is critical to success in life. Require working-age children to work or volunteer at least ten hours a week
3) Exercise: Have the students exercise aerobically 20 – 30 minutes a day. This improves their health, burns calories and delivers desperately needed oxygen to the brain and vital organs.
4) The value of financial success: Teach students that seeking financial success in life is good and a worthwhile goal. Children need to learn what the American Dream is (unlimited opportunity for financial success) and taught that it is a great thing.
Financial success is not a secret. Wealthy people do certain things every single day that sets them apart from everyone else in life. Wealthy people have good daily-success habits that they learned from their parents. These daily habits are the real reason for the wealth gap in our country and the real reason why the rich get richer. Unless we teach our children good daily-success habits, and level the playing field, the rich will continue to get richer and the poor will continue to get poorer.Yet we frequently don’t teach them these “rich” habits. Fact is, the values in place in our society, the ones currently taught in our schools’ curriculum and backed by parental guidance, make it more of a lucky gamble than anything that children will be financially successful in life. If they’re lucky, they’ll learn these critical skills on their own, outside of their regulated education, and they’ll appreciate the value of said skills when they’re still young enough for these habits to take hold in their behaviour and become permanently ingrained. Only if they’re lucky… and that shouldn’t be the case!
It’s time to Grow A Pair!
People deliver bad service and we take it.
We allow friends to say hurtful things to us without speaking up in our own defense. We let our government – people we elect and whose salaries we pay – to take advantage of us instead of fighting back by voting them out. We sit in theaters and let people text, take and make phone calls, and talk loudly to each other like they are sitting in their own living room, and most of us never tell them to shut up. We watch people throw trash in the street and never say a word to them.
Businesses seem to be run by bad employees with poor work habits and lousy attitudes, because their manager doesn’t have the guts to discipline them or fire their lazy butts.
Sadly, some people don’t even speak up when witnessing a crime, either because they can’t be bothered to, don’t want to make waves, or because they are afraid.
This behavior must stop! We all need to learn to act with assertiveness, speak up for ourselves, take a stand, and refuse to accept less than the best from others and from ourselves. In other words, we all need to grow a pair!
Growing a pair is a state of mind, an attitude, and a way of thinking. It’s about giving up being a victim and taking control of your life at every level. It is the willingness to do the right thing, even when everyone else is doing the wrong thing. It has its roots in personal responsibility, accountability, confidence, and integrity. It’s about establishing a standard by which you will live your life. It’s about knowing your values, and becoming uncompromising in your willingness to do whatever it takes to stand up for them.
So how do you grow a pair? Here are five things you can do to stop being a victim and take control of your life:
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Don’t whine. Whining never fixes a problem, it will only prolong the problem. Stop blaming. Stop whining. Get moving!
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Become self-reliant. No one is coming to the rescue and no one should. You made the mess and it’s up to you to clean it up. Do what it takes in every area of your life to be in control of your situation.
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Don’t allow people to take advantage of you. People treat you the way you allow them to treat you. Stand up for yourself and never let anyone belittle you or disrespect you.
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Have clear priorities. Your time, your energy, and your money always go towards what is important to you. When you are clear on your priorities, everything else will fall into place.
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Don’t compromise your principles. Know what you believe and why you believe it, and never compromise those beliefs and principles for any person, group, or reason. Principles are not situational; they are lines drawn in the concrete, and are a direct reflection of your integrity.
What will be the result of growing a pair? You might be called names and told that you are mean, un-compromising, or arrogant. Sadly, people with a pair are always going to be misunderstood by those who don’t have a pair. The important thing is that you can be proud of yourself for standing up for yourself. So forget what others say, and know you are operating from a place of courage, principle, and integrity. When you do that, it will result in more success, better service, higher quality relationships, more clarity, confidence, and dignity. What could possibly be better than that?
20 Minutes to Feeling Like You’re 20 Again
What if I told you that there is a way to not only exercise quickly but way more effectively AND that you would be releasing a “youth hormone” at the same time? Sounds like a win-win situation, doesn’t it?
I recently read about the Sprint 8 method of exercise in an interview with Dr. Mercola, of health and wellness fame, and Phil Campbell, a fitness expert with over 35 years experience in training professional athletes. It opened my eyes to a new and more effective way to get fit, with a commitment of 3 days a week for only 20 minutes. As a woman who runs it all and has very little free time, how could that not appeal to me?
Why you need to try this It turns out that the way many of us have been approaching cardio workouts isn’t going to necessarily give us the health benefits that we need. Here’s why:
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Your body has 3 kinds of muscle fiber: slow (red muscle which contains more oxygen), fast (white muscle), and super-fast (also white muscle). If you’re not working all 3, you are not working out your heart muscle completely.
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Your heart needs both aerobic and anaerobic exercise but if you are doing long, slow cardio exercises, you are not getting the anaerobic work-out that your heart needs – long distance running, long times on the elliptical machine or stationary bike etc. are just not going to get you there because they only work the slow muscle fibers.
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If you do not work your fast and super-fast muscle fibers, not surprisingly, they will atrophy ,which is a huge detriment to your overall health and fitness.
The fountain of youth Aside from the obvious cardiovascular benefits, the Sprint 8 method releases the human growth hormone (HGH) – something we produce in abundance in our youth, but which declines as we age. HGH can increase bone density, increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, and increase exercise capacity (MayoClinic.com). Doing Sprint 8 exercising can cause as much as a 530% increase in this growth hormone in your system, which actually mimics the effects of taking these hormones by injection.
Burn fat longer and better Working your fast and super-fast muscles and releasing all of that HGH causes it to stay in your blood stream and means that you continue to burn fat up to2 HOURS after you have finished exercising. Your body simply does not produce HGH after long, slow exercise.
Even doctors are convinced I know that none of us have time in our busy lives to fuss around with fad diets and exercise routines, which is why this final tidbit really got my attention. Both the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine are now recommending moderate intensive cardio 5 days a week for 30 minutes or vigorously intensive cardio for 20 minutes 3 days a week. It would seem that Mr. Campbell is really on to something. After all, as he points out in the interview with Dr. Mercola, which type of athlete looks healthier overall, the sprinter or the marathon runner? The physical differences are quite pronounced.
What you need to do Whether it’s an elliptical machine, treadmill, recumbent bike or any other method of exercise you choose, follow these same guidelines.
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Warm up for three minutes.
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Exercise as hard and fast as you can (sprint) for 30 seconds. You should feel like you couldn’t possibly go on another few seconds.
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Recover for 90 seconds.
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Repeat the high intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times.
Here are the positive signs you need to look for after your sprint time:
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Relative difficulty breathing or talking after your sprint because you are in oxygen debt.
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Profuse sweating, typically beginning in the second or third repetition.
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Rise in body temperature.
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Muscle “burn” caused by increase in lactic acid.
If you are out of shape or have any health concerns at all, please speak with your doctor before undertaking any new fitness routines. Dr. Mercola recommends starting with only 2 or 3 repetitions and working your way up to 8 gradually.
Once you’ve tried the Sprint 8 method you won’t look back. Well, maybe you will, but it will only be at your old photographs to help you see how youthful this method is making you look!
Fitness and Your Love Life: They’re the Perfect Match
Most of us know the saying “the couple that works out together stays together.” Well, there’s truth to that. Getting active will make your relationship stronger, your love life better, and your sex drive higher. Fitness has a huge impact on your love life, and here’s why you should merge the two together.
Couples have been working out together for a while, and this is nothing new. So why is it relevant now? As the modern world becomes more focused around being healthy and active, it is important to keep up. The obesity and laziness epidemic is something that has put a negative impact on our world, and you don’t have to fall in with it. You are a go getter, not a couch sitter! Nothing bad has ever come from getting in shape.
I’m not suggesting anything drastic, like leaving your comfortable woman-centered gym to go and work out with your husband’s bodybuilding friends. You don’t need to go and watch him bench press while making grunting noises and creating a large pool of sweat on the floor. That’s not fun for a lot of women. I’m simply making some suggestions to include fitness in your life, if you don’t already do so. Even if you do, here’s some insight you might not realize. Adding some fitness to your life will benefit your relationship in many ways. If you’re single there are also a lot of benefits, so don’t think that you don’t count here.
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Fitness has an effect on your energy levels, as well as your body both inside and out.
There are the obvious long term benefits that come from being active, such as decreasing your risks for heart disease and diabetes. If you are married, or in a long term relationship, those are things to be thinking about when it comes to your partner. You both want to be around as long as you can! If you have children together, this is also important for their sake.
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Working on your fitness also gives you self confidence, which is crucial for your love life.
When you work out regularly, you feel better and you feel that you look better- because you do. When you feel better about yourself, your sex drive will increase.
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Unleash the sexy!
This brings me to the sexual benefits of exercise. There are many. Naturally, the most obvious one is you will feel more comfortable naked and in an intimate situation. You’ll also have the energy to keep going as long as you want, and maybe longer than you could before. Your legs won’t get tired. Your arms won’t get sore. Exercising also releases endorphins that can boost your sex drive. Sex also counts as an exercise!
If you really want to boost that sex drive through the roof, you can take some of the sexier exercise classes, like burlesque and pole dancing. Those are sure to increase your sexual activity and awaken the temptress in you.
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Your relationship will go sky high.
Where does fitness come into play in a relationship? Find some common interests. Do you both enjoy hiking? Take a Saturday morning hike together. Walk your dog or go for a jog in the park. Go on an adventure in a place that you’ve never been to, or haven’t been to in a while. Go to the beach and play some volleyball. Join a co-ed recreational sports team together. Doing activities like this together will boost your bond and make you a stronger couple.
Working out and getting active with your partner will boost your relationship in multiple ways. If you choose to do some of the more exhilarating activities together, like rock climbing, you’ll help bring back those feelings you got when you first started dating- when you were in the “honeymoon phase” and everything was new and exciting. It’s also a good motivator to stay on track and keep with it, because you have each other as support. Your attraction to each other will also increase. You’ll be able to watch each other get into shape and improve yourselves. That’s an empowering thing.
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You can take fitness with you on vacations.
Even when it comes to going on a trip, you can add fitness. Go on a weekend getaway and do some sightseeing by foot or bicycle. Some places have running tours. If you’re going on vacation together, being active will help you get the most out of your time away because you can go on excursions and outings and be able to keep up physically.
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Meet someone amazing!
Single? There are plenty of ways to meet men through fitness activities and events. Joining a recreational sports league is an excellent way to do that. A couple in my hockey league not only met playing hockey, but also got engaged right there on the ice after a game a few years later in that same league. Joining a team will give you something in common with him that you can build off and form a base connection with. You can also meet people in classes and organized sporting events.
Many single men are looking for women who are active and enjoy either being outdoors or being adventurous. These outdoorsy, active men want to be able to take you on a canoe trip without you complaining that your feet hurt or your arms are sore from paddling. Being in shape would prevent both of those things from happening. However, so would wearing proper shoes. Keep that in mind.
If you scroll through some of the usernames on online dating sites like Match.com, you’ll see that a lot of them are sports related or activity related. Those dating sites, Match.com in particular, have organized events where you can go to meet other singles. Many of those organized events involve fitness activities. You can filter your online dating search to find men who are interested in the same activities that you are, and you can use those activities as dates. This will give you something to bond over, and that will give you a good starting point on a first date- or a second, third or fourth!
Whether you’re single, in a relationship, dating, in a partnership, or anything else, being active and involved with fitness will always give you an advantage. It can be something as small as walking your dog together. Whatever you choose to do will have a positive effect on your love life, and that is worth the effort.
Pairing Wine and Food is a Delicate Balance
Dinner with wine used to be simple! The rule was pair white wine with white meat and match red wine with red meat. But most of us don’t just eat meat and potatoes or drink claret and chablis these days.
With modern fusion cuisine and wines from new regions around the world, the choices – and confusion – are great. One new school of thought is that any wine goes with any dish. However, most of us don’t put ketchup on our ice cream for the same reason we don’t drink a delicate white wine with a hearty meat dish or a powerful red wine with sole – they are mismatched flavors and textures.
When the marriage of food and wine works well, each enhances the other, making the meal greater than if you had consumed them separately. That’s why the following classic matches have survived the changes in food fashion: stilton with port, foie gras with sauternes, boeuf bourguignon with Burgundian pinot noir and goat cheese with sauvignon blanc.
Old Rules for New World Food Pairings
It helps to start with the basic principles of food and wine pairing as they still provide a basis for experimenting with new world cuisine. One of the most important elements to harmonize between wine and food is flavor. For example, a tangy tomato-based pasta sauce requires a wine with comparable acidity. Without this balance between the acidity of the dish and the wine, the partner with lower acidity tastes flabby and dull, while the other, too tart.
To find an acidic wine, you can chose one that is made in the same area as the food. Years of matching the regional cuisine and wine as well as similar soil and climatic conditions make this a safe bet. For example, you could pair a tomato sauce fettuccine with a Tuscan chianti. Or you can select a wine from a cool climate where the grapes don’t ripen to great sweetness, and maintain their tart, tangy edge. Crisp New Zealand sauvignon blancs and French chablis serve these dishes well.
Acidic wines also work well with salty dishes. For example, oysters are both salty and briny with an oily mouth-coating texture that can smother most wines. However, a sparkling wine from California, a Spanish cava or French champagne can both refresh and cleanse your palate when eating fish. Bubblies also work well with spicy foods. Hot spice in Asian, Thai, curry, and chili pepper dishes can numb the palate. Many of these foods also have high acidity from citrus ingredients such as lime juice as well as sweetness. Therefore, you need a wine with an acidic backbone as well as a touch of sweetness such as an off-dry California sparkling wine with lots of fruit.
Classic Pairings for Old Favourites
While off-dry, acidic wines go well with many dishes, the two most difficult wines to pair with food are also the two most popular: chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. New World chardonnays can be oaky, buttery, flavorful wines that overwhelm many dishes. But you can still enjoy chardonnay with your meal. Pair it with butter and cream sauces to marry similar textures and flavors.
Conversely, cabernet sauvignons can have bitter dark fruit flavours with mouth drying tannins (the same sensation you get from drinking well-brewed tea). Therefore, they find their happiest match in foods with juicy proteins such as a rare steak. The protein softens the tannin making the wine taste smooth and fruity. Steaks done with crushed black peppercorns sensitize your taste-buds, making the wine taste even more fruity and robust. However, the way in which the dish is prepared also has an impact. A well-done steak, for example, may taste too dry with a tannic cabernet.
Proteins are also at work with the marriage of wine and cheese, the cocktail classic. Red wines tend to go better with hard cheeses such as blue cheese as they can accommodate more tannins. However, whites suit soft cheeses such as brie and camembert as the creamier textures require more acidity for balance.
Game Birds and Barbecues
Game birds such quail, pheasant, turkey, duck, squab and guinea hen have earthy flavors that are more robust than chicken. Wild game often goes better with racy red wines that have a gamy quality to them, the classic being Burgundian pinot noir. The flavors of pinot noir — plum, cherry, mushrooms, earth and even barnyard (that’s a positive adjective) – accentuate the same gamey flavors in the food. Other wine options for game birds include Spanish rioja, Oregon pinot noir and lighter-style Rhône Valley wines such as Côte-Rôtie.
When it comes to barbecued and grilled dishes, go for robust reds, such as shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and barolo. Argentine malbec is the Ultimate Barbecue Wine. With it’s fleshy black fruit, dark spices and smoky notes, malbec muscles in beautifully beside most grilled fare: it’s a sizzling combination.
That Sweet Touch
One of the most challenging flavors to balance is sweetness. Dishes with a touch of sweetness such as glazed pork do well with off-dry wines such as riesling and chenin blanc. However, rich desserts such as chocolate and crème brulée demand a wine that is sweeter than the dessert, or the wine will taste thin, even bitter. Sweet wines such as sauternes, Canadian icewine, late harvest wines and port will work not only for their sweetness but also for their unctuous texture.
Your best source of food and wine matching is your own palate. Experiment with different combinations to discover not only what makes a perfect pairing for you, but also to broaden your range of possibilities. As the author Alexis Lichine observed, “There is no substitute for pulling corks.”
How to Make Yourself “Unfireable”
In my five-year study of the daily success habits of successful individuals, one important discovery I made was that successful individuals are fanatics when it comes to daily career-related, self-improvement. The reason? They are in constant pursuit of knowledge in order to help them identify opportunities. This makes them more valuable to their employer, customer, or clients and helps them to rise up the career ladder of success. I uncovered four ways that successful individuals engage in opportunity-seeking, self-Make Over Your Metabolism
(contributed by Elizabeth Anderson) Is there a war going on in your body? Every year I have to be more diligent and work that much harder at keeping weight off and being fit but as always, it’s so hard to find the time. I know a lot of you out there are in the same boat – with the corporate treadmill or running a business, raising kids, relationships, social commitments, ageing parents… We women run it all, and it’s easy to put your own health and fitness on the back burner. So, I called in our health and fitness expert Elizabeth Anderson for some help on getting and keeping motivated. Not only is she Mrs. Utah USA, but she is a Certified Sports Nutritionist and owner of Elizabeth Anderson Fitness: The perfect woman woman to give us the kick in the butt that we sometimes need. In fact, I met up with Elizabeth on a recent business trip in Scottsdale and she did exactly that with her “hotel room workout”! “When you put your health on the back burner you may not feel the results right away but then you start to feel the bulging waistline, and the clothes fitting too small and the low energy. You need a wake up call to make the shift.” Don’t let an either/or mentality get in your way! You can have a great job or a busy life AND be healthy. It’s all about getting your metabolism back in gear! Here’s where you start: Exercise (the Basics)- Get your butt moving: Anything you do to get moving is great. Take the stairs, get off the subway a stop early, go for a walk on lunch. Be conscious of ways to move more during your day and don’t ever let them slip by. They are free exercise time!
- Try a quickie: An hour at the gym can occasionally be murder to schedule. Get an aerobics step and use that for 10 minutes at a time, or jump rope for 10 minutes or take a quick walk outside for 10 minutes. Get your body moving and blood flowing.
- Breathe! When you are stressed your breathing becomes shallow. Exercise deepens out breathing into the diaphragm, fills up the lung capacity and lets all your cells get better and fresher oxygen.
- Release the happy hormones: Exercise not only creates endorphins which are the ‘feel good’ hormones, but it also releases and gets rid of cortisol and adrenalin which are two hormones that cause stress.
- Drop the drugs: Evidence shows that exercise has as many benefits as some antidepressant drugs on the market – with a ton less side-effects.
- Quit making excuses! The busier you are, the more you need to exercise so you can manage the stress and demands of your life, versus “I’m so busy, I don’t have time to take care of myself.”
- ‘Burst’ training or high intensity interval training burns a lot of calories in a short amount of time.
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Start with a warm-up for about two minutes, and then begin your chosen exercise, whether it is running outside, biking, or using a treadmill. It is important to exercise for 1 minute as hard as you can.
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Scale down your intensity slightly for 2 minutes, then repeat another minute of intense exercise. Go through this cycle 6 times!
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This will give you an excellent 18 minute workout which burns a lot of calories, gets tons of oxygen into your system and challenges your body.
Top Ten Fashion Dos for the Plus Size Fashionista
1. Embrace Your Curves Yes, you are a plus-sized woman – so what? You have curves that are not going away anytime soon, and this is okay. So what is a plus-size Fashionista to do? Embrace your curves. Own your curves. Love your curves. Once you come to terms with you and your beautiful curves, fashion will no longer be a hindrance but now a joy that you eagerly look forward to! In addition, the societal barriers will no longer stifle your inner Fashionista! So… have you embraced your curves yet? 2. Think Outside Your Traditional Fashion Box Gone are the days when plus-size fashion was ever called fashion! We now have options that stretch way beyond Torrid, Lane Bryant, Old Navy, and Ashley Stewart. While nothing is wrong with these designers, there are so many more that bring high fashion to you! Thought you could never wear jeans? There is Svoboda, Embody Denim, and James Jeans! Dying to don a designer dress? Then rock a fabulous frock from Monif C., Qristyl Frazier, or Anna Scholz. These are only a few of those who are available to you! Get my drift? Experiment! How will you know what works for your curves, if you do not venture out? 3. Accessorize to Maximize Polishing off your look has never been easier, especially now as there are more and more designers who are catching on, that not all jewelry is created equal! I would be so frustrated when wanting to buy a ring or bracelet that did not accommodate my size. A necklace that stopped just short of hitting the right mark- you know? To complete your look, you should always fashion either earrings and a few bracelets or a necklace and a fabulous ring! Do not forget your fierce handbag and your wicked heels! Its all about your finished look for your style! 4. Love Thy Tailor While many plus-size designers are paying attention to your curves, there is always a need to tailor your pieces that look custom designed for you! What a better way to make a $100 jacket look like a $500 one! Tailoring your outfit creates a polished look that pulls your outfit all together! Nothing looks worse than really cute jeans that are anchoring your curves to the ground! A dress that gapes in the hips only adds to your curves, rather than accentuate them! If you are lucky enough to not have to tailor your pieces- then this rule does not apply to you (although most women with curves will benefit from a nip and tuck of their fits!) 5. Invest in Your Fashion Staples Now, I have been told by many designers for the Plus-Size woman that they hear complaints about some of their prices. While I could agree with you in this economy right now, there are few items that you MUST invest in, in order for you to build and sustain a working wardrobe! Why? These pieces are timeless and seasonless, meaning that no matter the time of the year or whatever trend is hot, you can easily take your key item and update your wardrobe with accents rather than buying a whole new wardrobe each season. These are your classics. What are they? Every woman must have an amazing button up blouse, pair of tailored trousers, at least two pairs of butt hugging boot cut jeans (dark wash), the curve loving LBD (Little Black Dress), and a professional pant or skirt suit. 6. Walk with Confidence Nothing kills an amazing outfit than an insecure person. It distracts from the outfit, only bringing attention to you and how uncomfortable you are, rather than how beautiful you are! Yes, it does take some time to build up that confidence, but the only way you can do this, is to fake it until you make it! Wearing confidence is beautiful, allowing your beauty to reflect and enhance your fashion choices! Do not be shy or apologetic for your curves- OWN THEM! 7. Accentuate the Positive Now ladies, we all have our favorite assets, yes, even you! What are they? Do you love your waistline? Then rock cinched waist belts or dresses. Love your legs? Then show them off with shorter dresses! Basically, when you enhance whichever assets you like the best, your confidence will show through, allowing the Fashionista in you to shine! Don’t know your best feature? You probably already know without even knowing it! Ask yourself, what do you feel most comfortable in, then why? Chances are you will find a reason that relates to your best assets! Me? I love my waist and my cleavage, so I opt for pieces that enhance those curves! I am comfortable and I feel good. 8. Camouflage the Flaws We all have areas we don’t necessarily hate, but do not love either, and that is okay! What you do is hide those flaws! By experimenting with shapes and colors, you will learn how to hide these “flaws” and accentuate those which work for you! Now, by reading this, you are no longer able to say that your whole body is a flaw- NOT ALLOWED! I loathe my tummy and my handles, so you will often see me in a flowy top that flows away from the tummy area that has a v- neck and has an empire cut! 9. Have Fun and Take Risks Clearly finding amazing fashion can be a challenge for a Plus Size Fashionista for the obvious reasons, but that should not detract from the play with fashion! With more and more emerging designers, you are able to experiment with color, shapes, fits, cuts, and pieces that you once thought “not allowed” now that designers are designing with you in mind! Never worn color? Be daring in Yellow! Never worn jeans? Be sassy in the right Skinny jeans! Never gone sleeveless? Be sexy in a strappy bra- friendly top! Get my drift? 10. Let your Style Define Your Curves Each season, the fashion industry highlights the different trends, looks and styles for the season. Take these trends, digest them, and make them work for YOU! Never be dictated by your curves to only wear a particular look! Your clothes and fashion choices should define, enhance, and compliment you and all your wonderful curves! So what is your style? Laid back, boho chic, classic, trendy, or tomboy? Whichever it is, Never let your curves define your style, let your STYLE define your Curves! Keep it Curvy!- 1
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