Recommendations – Page 20

Eat Your Fruits & Veggies!

August 11, 2010

Ooh they're so pretty and gorgeous and awesome!

Alright people, listen up. I am about to say something very important:

EAT YOUR FRUITS AND VEGGIES.

I am so serious.

This is so important.

Please do this for yourself.

Fruits and veggies are *magical* foods. They will rock you to your core. They are the secret to longevity and happiness. I’m not making this up! Eat them!!

The Theory

Okay, let’s get all sciencey on you. Read up on the Free-radical Theory of aging. It basically says that when certain particles in your body have too few electrons in them, they go wild! They are reactive and try to grab at more electrons, causing damage to your cells. These particles are called free-radicals, and they are VERY BAD, basically. That’s why you need antioxidants! They freely give some electrons to these free-radical particles so that the free-radicals are satisfied and stop ravaging your body. That’s why anti-oxidants slow the aging process, because they cause less damage to be done! Yay antioxidants!

The Gist of It..

The amount of key antioxidants that many species maintain in their body is directly proportional to their lifespan

-Richard Cutler, M.D., former director of Aging Research for the National Institutes of Health

Antioxidants are so amazing. Higher levels = less damage to your body = less chance for disease. Great equation.

Higher levels protect against

macular degeneration
cancers
diabetes
heart conditions

Hmm, does this sound intimidating?

Your Part.

Here’s what you should do to protect, help and strengthen yourself!

Eat your fruits and veggies! Nine servings total daily is what Health Canada recommends, AIM HIGHER! They provide tons of natural antioxidants to soothe those sad little free-radicals. Fruits and veggies are the #1 best way to get your antioxidants + they’re so yummy and so awesome so EAT THEM!
Look out for challenges! Some challenges to antioxidant absorption are stress, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, antibiotics. Look out for these and try your best (if possible) to avoid them, or supplement with extra fruits and veggies.
Get your antioxidant level measured! I got mine done at my optometrist, who was checking in order to prevent macular degeneration down the line. Ask your doctor about getting your levels tested, and talk to him about choices going forward (supplements like omega-3 oils and antioxidant pills could be recommended by your doctor)

My 'Very Good' antioxidant score - 42 thousand!

Okay, I now sound like an advertisement for the fruits and veggies society of Canada or something like that (does that even exist?) but I feel very strongly about this subject! I can’t help myself. I want all of you to be healthy + happy!

Yaddy yaddy yaddy.

Plant-centered diet is the way to go, people! Just ask Kris Carr..

Alright, that’s enough Public Service Announcements for one day. Yeesh!

I’m going to go eat an apple now. Or some carrot sticks. Or some spinach salad. Or some tomatoes. Or some onions and peppers and pineapple and peaches! YUM.

xoxo, S.

Love.

August 14, 2009

Shawty What Cho Name Is

August 12, 2009

Well it’s Wednesday morning and I already have much on the agenda. In truth, I don’t have much to blog about so I’m just going to make a list of the books I plan to bring with me to University and why. Enjoy?

Also check out my Shelfari account for a (more) complete list of the books I’ve read or loved.

Hopefully that link works..very strange.

Okay so here we go. Books are extremely important to me, so it’s important that I bring at least some with me when I go away to school.

1. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. No matter that I can already practically quote the entire book, so much so that I no longer really need to read it, it remains one of my favourite books.

2. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. What turned me into a vegetarian. I think it’ll be important to have around in University perhaps to re-read when my stamina is low?

3. This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin. This guy is my psychology teacher! Not to mention the fact that I’ve wanted to read it for a while, but never did. Now that he’ll be my professor, I think it would be a good idea to read it. :)

4. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill. Set in Montreal, award winning, recommended by a good friend, Miss Claudia Catalina, who has impeccable taste. Check her out here.

5. 1000 Places to Go Before You Die by Patricia Schultz. To help me plan my next vacation/semester abroad/grand gap year while stuck in a tiny, freezing cold dorm room. But this dorm room will be in Montreal, which is beautiful in itself. So that’s okay then.

6. Blink & The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. These books are incredible. They changed the way I see the world and I’m sure I will re-read them multiple times throughout my University career.

Now for a few I haven’t yet read, but own:

7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

8. Netherland by Joseph O’Neill.

9. The World Without Us by Mark Weisman.

10. Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss.

11. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee.

12. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

13. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov.

14. No Logo by Naomi Klein.

15. Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut.

16. Bloodletting and the Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam.

17. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

And the book I’m currently reading:

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz.

So there we are. That’s quite a few books. I may have to edit down this list, otherwise I’ll be running out of room in my room before I get there. :)

Plans for today include Ikea, Forever 21, possibly MEC and Big Al’s aquarium. Yay!

xoxo, S.

SocialVibe

July 20, 2009

So I just spent the better part of the morning mediating a battle between Firefox and Adobe Flash 10. I attempted to add the SocialVibe widget to my blog last night and was unable to work with it at all, or get onto the website. So I installed Flash, still nothing. The website and widget both work when I use Safari..but not on firefox. However, I did check another couple Flash websites on my Firefox, so I am now suspicious that it has something to do with the website itself. No matter. It’s an amazing program and I’d like to talk a little bit about my personal cause and why I like SocialVibe so much.

So for my cause, which you may or may not be able to see on my blog depending on the sillyness of YOUR flash player, I chose to start with the truth® foundation. I say start with, because since I’m not a celebrity, I am under no obligation to remain steadfastly loyal to one cause, nor do I wish to be. I looked over all of the charities before deciding, and one of the deciding factors was the dollars of funds each charity had already received through this program. That is not to say that the ones that have raised 50K + are not worthwhile causes, but I believe that every charity offered through SocialVibe is an important one, and so I wanted to begin by helping those who have not received as much funding.

I chose carefully this time, as I have always been an anti-tobacco advocate, always willing to spill annoyingly scary facts about the effects of tobacco to my friends and relatives, and was co-leader of an anti-tobacco campaign at my school a couple years back. I truly just believe it is an idiotic passtime that kills. My grandfather and my best friend both smoke like chimneys and not only do I think it’s disgusting, I don’t want them to suffer health complications, die early, or pass the effects of secondhand smoke onto me and our friends.

So if you aren’t aware of how the program works, want to learn more about the cause or are just a nice person, please click the ‘help now, it’s free’ button on my badge. It’s not a scam, simply by checking out the sponsor, the sponsor will donate money to the cause. Please help me help others! :)

Thanks guys.