Community News
How to Eat Mindfully

It makes sense that we actually have to set an intention to slow down as we pick up our fork. We’ve all scarfed down a meal and not long after feel like we swallowed a bowling ball. Recognizing physical fullness is part of mindful eating and ditching dieting. Ideally, you can gift yourself 20 minutes to eat mindfully, the time it takes to register fullness. If you only have 5 minutes, make them mindful minutes. Create a speed bump on your plate by taking a moment to visualize what half of your serving looks like. Once you are half done put your fork down for a moment. How full are you? Place your hand on your belly if it helps you connect. If you’re still hungry continue eating slowly and mindfully, until you feel physically satisfied. The goal is NOT to eat less, it’s to FEEL GOOD!

Lisa Kehler, Off Your Plate Nutrition, www.offyourplatenutrition.ca

Float Your Way to Happiness

People generally have heard about floating by the terms “pods” or “tanks,” and start to feel claustrophobic. Float “Cabins” are different. Float Cabins come as large as four feet wide, eight feet long, and nearly seven feet high, and they are easily accessible easy to come out of with standard swing or sliding doors. Within each float cabin, 10 inches of water is infused with up with 1,000 pounds of dissolved Epsom salts, this makes the water extremely buoyant. With the option to remove light and sound, you experience the sensation of floating through space. Other options include the ability to play your own music and enjoy colour therapy as well. Floating regularly helps reduce physical and mental stresses on the body. The brain gives out alpha waves associated with meditation that allows the body to recover from stress and relax. Floatation therapy is a simple way to invest in your own health and happiness.

Fluid Float Studio, www.fluidfloat.com

Have You Tried Kefir?

Kefir is a unique cultured dairy product and one of the most probiotic-rich foods on the planet. Drinking Kefir has incredible medicinal benefits for your digestion and gut health. It’s tart and refreshing flavor is similar to a drinking-style yogurt, but it contains beneficial yeast as well as friendly probiotic bacteria found in yogurt. The naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in combine symbiotically to give superior health benefits when consumed regularly. It is loaded with valuable vitamins and minerals and contains easily digestible complete proteins. For the lactose intolerant, kefir’s abundance of beneficial yeast and bacteria provide lactase, an enzyme which consumes most of the lactose left after the culturing process. Drink up for benefits to your immune system, your bowels (see you later, IBS symptoms!), and your bones. It helps fight allergies, improves lactose digestion, supports detoxification, and even kills candida.

Disability Tax Credit, www.disabilitytaxcreditwinnipeg.com

Positive Mental Health is a Laughing Matter

While living with mental illness is no joke, laughing for positive mental and physical health seriously works. In fact, evidence supports the claim that a joyful heart provides a similar benefit to that of medicine. Although not considered a replacement for medical treatment, some doctors are using laughter as an adjunctive therapy. In the short and long term, laughter has been shown to, 1. Stimulate/boost the immune system; 2. Alleviate pain; 3. Reduce anxiety and stress; 4. Reduce depression; and, 5. Promote a sense of hopefulness. What if you don’t feel like laughing? No problem, fake it until you make it. Physiologically speaking, for the most part, your body doesn’t know the difference. And, faking it often leads to the real thing which may be exactly the health supplement you need to get to the positive side of negative circumstances.

Sean Miller, Canadian Mental Health Association, mbwpg.cmha.ca

Book Club: Big Magic Creative Living Beyond Fear!

Empowering author Elizabeth Gilbert asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

Did You Know?

Blue corn has been popping up as an ingredient everywhere from tortilla chips to breakfast cereal. New research suggests that anthocyanins, the nutrients that give the corn its blue color, may help protect against metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer!

www.newhope.com

Clean Eating: Spaghetti Squash “Mac ‘n’ Cheese”

Ingredients:

1 large spaghetti squash

3 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp spelt flour

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion or garlic powder

pinch ground black pepper

1 cup (4 oz) any hard cheese, shredded.

Red pepper flakes, to taste. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Wash squash, cut in half lengthwise and remove seeds with a spoon. Place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 40-50 minutes. Let cool and separate into strands with a fork. Preheat medium pot on low-medium heat and melt oil. Whisk in flour and milk until smooth. Add salt, onion powder and pepper; whisk and let simmer for about 4 minutes or until sauce has slightly thickened. Add cheese and whisk again until smooth. Add squash and mix gently with a spoon to combine. Cover and let squash warm through for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

www.ifoodreal.com

Make Exercise Fun!

It’s a brand-new year and the gyms are busy with people starting their new year’s resolutions. There are different goals we can choose, ie – burn calories, increase strength, improve cardio, or simply be more active more often. There are different exercise approaches to attain these goals, but they must be right for you. You can tailor it for yourself to ensure you are getting what you want out of it, but are enjoying it as well. Cycling, swimming and even playing tennis are just 3 of the many ways you can attain your goals. You can burn between 475-550 calories for just 1 hour of moderate intensity of one of these activities. There are so many ways to meet your goals without simply lifting weights and running on a treadmill. By performing one of these you can get a workout, get a sweat, and of course, have a lot fun!

Heath Vermette, CAT(C), www.southsherbrook.com

Kundalini Yoga for Lungs and Circulation

You feel full of energy and in control when the lungs and circulation are in excellent shape. Sadhana means spiritual practice and there is no greater spiritual practice than breathing deeply into lungs that are healthy and consciously coordinated. From February 10th until March 22nd Yoga Public and Karma Yoga Winnipeg are teaming up to help you to transform your body and mind by becoming a master of your breath. For more information regarding this exciting new program, please contact us at 204-990-9642. “For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.”

Sanskrit Proverb. Jitendra, www.karmayogawinnipeg.com

Attending to Heart Issues

We often have a fatalistic view about heart disease, cancer or diabetes in families. We believe that we inherit and are programmed to die of these chronic conditions. From the day of our birth, life stresses and joys can take us from Valentine celebrated heart throbbing love to heartache; from wellness to heart disease or attacks. It does not have to go that way! Countering this negative view is the scientific information that has shown how these genetics are quite heavily influenced by the environment. Brainwave Optimization is an environment that can help balance your brain at the physical level, so heartache and heart disease can be addressed or have less of a grip on the pre-dispositions we fear. This neuro-technology opens possibilities for those healthy lifestyle choices that can turn things around in your environment. Having a strategy for restoring health is always a good thing!

Joanne Couture, RMFT, RSW, www.lalobatraumarelease.com

The Mindful Valentine

Valentine’s Day.. a day for celebrating love (and chocolate). I often refer to mindful eating as a way of practicing self-care around food. Taking care of yourself by making conscious decisions that leave you feeling better after eating. Not worse. How do you show love for yourself around food? Write yourself a letter and count the ways you love thee or could love thee. “I eat sitting down. I pay attention to my first few bites. I chew thoroughly before my next bite. I eat anything without guilt. I ask myself if I’m hungry before I eat. I listen to my body to see how hungry I am before my first bite. When I eat too much, I just learn from it and move on. I eat for fuel, nourishment, and pleasure. Every day is a day for showing yourself love around food. Celebrate how you nourish your body and spirit.

Lisa Kehler, Off Your Plate Nutrition, www.offyourplatenutrition.ca