Workout Wednesday: Core Strength for Stationary or Road Cycling

Tips on postural strength plus a motivating soundtrack for a 45-minute stationary spin

I’m a relatively new road cyclist and am still not completely comfortable riding around in traffic. When it comes to personal physical safety my motto is overzealous cautiousness.

In that light, I'm a huge fan of bike trainers. I’m building my cycling confidence, form and fitness while remaining totally safe. We currently have a bike trainer on loan from a friend and are trying to decide what type and brand to purchase for ourselves.

We’re really fortunate to have a large patio at our home, part of it covered, so even on a rainy day where I don’t feel like getting wet, I have no excuse not to get out there for a spin.

Cycling is a fantastic cardiovascular exercise and a great, no-impact alternative to running

As with every type of exercise – be it cardio, strength or flexibility training – I think focusing on form, incessantly, especially in the beginning, to create strong and optimal neuromuscular connections is vital.

Put in the time to create the muscle memory for ideal posture, and eventually it will become second-nature (just like playing scales on the piano or perfecting your golf swing).

Strengthen Your Posterior Chain

I discovered a kindred spirit when I discovered Dr Eric Goodman, a California-based chiropractor, speaker (check out his awesome TEDtalk, above), and author of the must-read book Foundation: Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move With Confidence.

During my years working in a gym, I saw so many people focusing on their fronts, with endless sets of chest presses and crunches. I have nothing against those exercises but I noticed a large imbalance in the number of exercises most people were doing for the front of their bodies versus the back of their bodies, like rows, good mornings, deadlifts, and back extensions.

Because a very large percentage of the work force sits, likely all day at a computer – which creates an imbalance where the muscles in the front of the body (chest, abs, hip flexors) become shorter and tighter, and the muscles in the back of the body (rhomboids, spinal erectors) become longer and weaker – focusing on strengthening the back of the body, or the posterior chain, more than the front of the body is an excellent idea. It's an idea I drill into my clients' heads.

Foundation Training

Focusing on strengthening the posterior chain is precisely what Goodman preaches, too. “Foundation training is based on the simple but unique idea that strengthening the posterior chain allows the strong muscles in your back to do their job of supporting the weight of the upper body and propelling movement,” says Goodman.

With personal trainer Peter Park, Goodman “joined forces to develop a series of exercises designed to change destructive movement patterns and build a powerful posterior chain, which begins with a strong lower back.”

Pick up a copy of the book for a detailed explanation of the basic Foundation workout, a moderate and intense workout, bonus exercises, and a foam roller workout (Goodman calls foam rolling the "poor man's massage").

Quick Workout: Postural Strength for Improved Cycling

Check out the video below with Goodman and Park demonstrating a quick workout, aimed at cyclists, for developing postural strength

Spin workout music mix

Click here to check out my latest spin mix, with a nice long warm up followed by a slow and steady climb, sprinkled with a few steep sections. Enjoy!

Travel: California Road Trip Part 2 – Cambria, Santa Monica & San Diego

San Diego's Hotel del Coronado celebrated its 125th birthday in 2013.

Last summer my parents, my husband and I flew to San Francisco, rented a car, and took a week to drive along the coast to San Diego.

It was only our second trip to California, so we chose to visit as many seaside communities as possible to get a taste for each one, with overnight stays in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Cambria, Santa Monica and San Diego.

Each city was so wonderful and unique. I gladly would have stayed the entire week in our San Francisco boutique hotel, Half Moon Bay luxury resort, Carmel historic inn, Cambria cozy bed and breakfast, Santa Monica swanky bungalow, or San Diego quintessential summer retreat.

It was truly the trip of a lifetime and a very special experience to share with three of my favourite people on the planet.

To read more about our California adventures, check out:

• The Province – A California feast for the senses, October 2013
• BCLiving.ca – California Coastal Road Trip, July 2013

Below are some of the highlights from our incredible whirlwind trip. Click the titles to visit their respective websites.

Click here for California Road Trip Part 1 – San Francisco, Half Moon Bay & Carmel-by-the-Sea

STAY: Olallieberry Inn

STAY: Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows

STAY: Hotel del Coronado 

EAT: Robin’s Restaurant

VISIT: Hearst Castle

VISIT: Fiscalini Ranch Preserve

VISIT: San Diego Zoo 

(All images: Aaron Barr)

Recipe: Hawksworth Restaurant’s Korean Fried Cauliflower

I had an amazing lunch at Hawksworth Restaurant in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia last week. In case you haven’t heard about this culinary superstar and its equally shiny executive chef and namesake, David Hawksworth, they’ve scooped up numerous industry awards in the two and a half years since opening, like the Georgia Straight’s 2013 Golden Plates Awards for best chef, best fine dining restaurant and best hotel restaurant, and Vancouver Magazine’s 2013 Restaurant Awards for restaurant of the year and chef of the year (both for the second year in a row).

In 2012 Maclean’s magazine named it Canada’s Restaurant of the Year, and in 2011 enRoute Magazine named it Canada’s Best New Restaurant.

Needless to say, the food is fantastic, and I love dining with friends who like to share plates because you get to try more of the fantastic things on the menu!

To start, we shared the pan seared scallops (below, left) with Korean fried cauliflower, green apple and sesame ($17), and the charred hamachi (below, right) with crispy pork belly, watermelon, peanut, jalapeno and coconut ($17).

For our mains, we shared the Lois Lake steelhead (below, left) with shrimp chorizo fritter, romesco sauce, chickpea, and almond crumble ($27), and the southeast Asian coconut red curry (below, right) with side stripe shrimp, mussels, bean sprouts, and shoestring potatoes ($26).

One of the things I love about dining out is enjoying fancy, fussy recipes you’d never (or at least I’d never) attempt at home. I believe using umpteen ingredients and laborious techniques is best left to the pros, and I'm not one of them.

But I felt compelled to try making the Korean fried cauliflower because it was just so darn delicious and seemed not-too-difficult. Hawksworth was kind enough to share this recipe with me to share with you!

The recipe required a few more steps and ingredients than my usual repertoire, but it was worth it! My husband, and sous chef, agrees.

And if you just can’t be bothered to make it but really want to try it, the Korean fried cauliflower is featured on Hawksworth’s lunch menu with the scallops ($17) and on the bar menu on its own ($8).

Korean Fried Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into 1” florets
• 250 grams all-purpose flour
• tempura batter
  • 500 ml rice flour
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp baking soda
  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 50ml grapeseed oil
• 200 ml Korean chili sauce (Hawksworth makes theirs in-house and I used Sriracha that I already had on hand)
• 50 grams toasted white sesame seeds
• 30 grams scallions, sliced

Instructions

1. Blanch cauliflower in salted water for 15 seconds and place in ice bath to stop cooking.
2. To make tempura batter, combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until fully incorporated (some lumps are okay).
3. Dust cooked cauliflower florets with flour and then dip in tempura batter.
4. Fry in cast iron pan with 1-inch-deep grapeseed oil until crispy, turning carefully once browned.
5. Remove from oil when crispy and toss in chili sauce (I drizzled it over top).
6. Place in bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds and scallions.

Workout: 10-Minute High Intensity Interval Training

You don't need any equipment for this 10-minute high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout!

Do the following 11 exercises for 30 seconds each, with a 15-second rest in between each exercise. This will take you 8 minutes.

Throughout each exercise, focus on keeping your transverse abdominis engaged (suck your belly button in), spine elongated, chest lifted, shoulders back, and traps, neck and jaw relaxed.

Warm up for at least 2 minutes before you begin. Here are some ideas:

• March on the spot alternating between pumping arms, forward-circling arms, and backward-circling arms

• Free-style dance party to your favourite motivating song

• Wide side steps with side-to-side swinging arms

And don't forget to stretch! Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a few of my favourite stretches.

1. Jumping jacks

• Land as softly as possible, absorbing the shock to protect your joints

2. Push ups

Push ups | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Whether you're pushing up from your knees or toes, focus on distributing the weight evenly through your palms and fingers

• Or try these inchworm push ups!

3. Lateral hops

Lateral hops | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Pay attention to your foot and ankle position throughout this exercise – land with a strong ankle and engaged foot, weight evenly distributed between the heel, base of the big toe and outside edge of your foot

• Powerfully swing your arms in the direction of movement to help propel you side to side

4. Triceps dips

Triceps dips | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• You can do this exercise on the floor or make it more challenging by placing your hands on a secure ledge or chair seat to increase the range of motion

• Don't let your shoulders creep up toward your ears

5. Squat jumps

Squat jump | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Get nice and low, like you're compressing a powerful spring , and use both arms and legs to shoot yourself straight up in the air, as high as you can go

• Play close attention to your alignment on the descent, landing softly with equal pressure around the periphery of each foot

6. Dynamic lunges

Dynamic lunge | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Begin in a lunge position with both knees at 90 degrees and spring straight up into the air, switching legs at your highest point, and landing softly with both feet at the same time

7. Superman

Superman | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Start laying flat on your front and push your pelvis into the ground as you slowly lift your upper and lower body up in unison

8. Run with high knees

High knee run | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Powerfully drive your opposite hand and knee up into the air as you run on the spot

• As with each jumping exercise, be sure to land with control, absorbing the shock by landing as softly as possibly and keeping feet and ankles in proper alignment

9. Plank with knee tucks

Plank with knee tuck | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Engage every muscle from head to toe, as though you were a rigid board, as you alternate bringing your right knee to your right elbow and your left knee to your left elbow

10. Burpees

Burpees | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Begin with knees slightly bent and arms recoiled behind you, and jump straight up into the air as high as you can 

• Land in a deep squat and immediately place your hands on the ground right in front of your feet

• Shoot your legs straight back into a plank position

• Do a push up and at the top of the movement, jump your feet back behind your hands, and jump straight up into the air as high as you can

11. Seated twists

Seated twists | The Life Delicious | Catherine Roscoe Barr

• Sit on the ground, lean back slightly, suck your belly button in, contract your rectus abdominis to flex your spine, and lift your feet off the ground

• Hold this strongly engaged core position as you twist to look over your left shoulder and then over your right shoulder

Travel: California Road Trip Part 1 – San Francisco, Half Moon Bay & Carmel-by-the-Sea

A boat cruise is one of the best ways to experience San Francisco's cityscape.

Last summer my parents, my husband and I flew to San Francisco, rented a car, and took a week to drive along the coast to San Diego.

It was only our second trip to California, so we chose to visit as many seaside communities as possible to get a taste for each one, with overnight stays in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Cambria, Santa Monica and San Diego.

Each city was so wonderful and unique. I gladly would have stayed the entire week in our San Francisco boutique hotel, Half Moon Bay luxury resort, Carmel historic inn, Cambria cozy bed and breakfast, Santa Monica swanky bungalow, or San Diego quintessential summer retreat.

It was truly the trip of a lifetime and a very special experience to share with three of my favourite people on the planet.

To read more about our California adventures, check out:

• The Province – A California feast for the senses, October 2013
• BCLiving.ca – California Coastal Road Trip, July 2013

Below are some of the highlights from our incredible whirlwind trip. Click the titles to visit their respective websites.

[Stay tuned for California Road Trip Part 2 – Cambria, Santa Monica and San Diego]

STAY: Mystic Hotel by Charlie Palmer

STAY: Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay

STAY: Cypress Inn

EAT: Burritt Room + Tavern

EAT: It’s Italia

EAT: Half Moon Bay Brewing Co.

EAT: Navio

EAT: Terry’s Lounge

VISIT: Alcatraz Cruises

VISIT: Red and White Fleet Golden Gate Bay Cruise

VISIT: City Sightseeing Bus Tour

VISIT: California Coastal Trail (San Mateo Sections 5, 6 and 7)

(All images: Aaron Barr)

My Favourite BC Wines Under $30

I think I’m a late bloomer in a lot of ways. Case in point: I visited a winery for the first time when I was 32 years old – and it wasn’t even on my own accord.

I’m very fortunate, through my work as a freelance writer specializing in fitness, food and travel, to get invited on many fabulous adventures, and that very first winery experience was one of those.

That trip took me up and down the spectacular Okanagan Valley, and I have since been back numerous times, as well as to other wine regions across BC.

It’s been such a privilege getting to know the viticulturists and winemakers creating wonderful wines in our province.

Here are some of the stories I’ve worked on where I’ve got to learn about local wine:

• The Province – Road Trip: BC’s sustainable wineries, September 2013
• The Province – We tackled BC’s Coast Mountain Circle Route via RV, October 2012
• BCLiving.ca – Sample Farm-fresh Food on the Langley Circle Farm Tour, October 2012
• BCLiving.ca – Thompson Okanagan Road Trip, November 2011

There’s something inherently wonderful about sharing a bottle of wine with the people you love – raising a glass, offering kind words, sharing heartfelt conversations – but to know who made the wine you’re drinking and to understand the care and passion put into it, makes the experience that much better.

That’s why I've been sticking to the BC section when I'm at the wine store. I just love knowing the people behind the label.

Here are, in no particular order, a few of my favourite BC wines under $30:

1. SPARKLING – Summerhill Cipes Rose, $26.95
2. SPARKLING – Steller’s Jay Brut, $24.99
3. SPARKLING – See Ya Later Ranch Syl Brut, $22.99
4. WHITE – Nichol 2012 Pinot Gris, $22
5. WHITE – Tantalus 2012 Riesling, $23
6. WHITE – Fort Berens 2011 White Gold Reserve Chardonnay, $25
7. ROSE – Bartier Scholefield Rose, $19
8. ROSE – JoieFarm Rose, $20.99
9. ROSE – Nk’mip Rose, $19.99
10. RED – Nk’Mip 2011 Talon, $22.99
11. RED – Stoneboat 2011 Pinotage, $24.90
12. RED – Tinhorn Creek 2011 Merlot, $19.99
13. RED – Summerhill 2009 Alive Organic Red, $24.95

Collected from wine stores around Vancouver – prices may vary.

A fantastic resource for discovering BC wines and planning a visit to one of our more than 200 wineries across the province is the BC Wine Institute’s website: www.winebc.com.

Workout Wednesday: Yogalosophy

In August, I read celebrity trainer Mandy Ingber’s book, Yogalosophy: 28 Days to the Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover. This is how much I liked it: I bought it after reading my library copy cover to cover.

It's a pretty big deal for a book to make it onto my sacred bookshelf. Only the best get a coveted spot.

The book is full of inspiring quotes and anecdotes, is rooted in self-love, and combines yoga and strength training moves in multiple sequences for an awesome, challenging, energy-enhancing, grace-building workout.

Plus, each chapter ends with an action checklist. I love taking action and I love making checklists! This woman is awesome.

10-minute Yogalosophy Workout

Here’s a fantastic video from PopSugar Fitness – a great resource for workout videos and fitness information – where Ingber (she’s Jennifer Aniston’s trainer! Have you seen Aniston’s body?!) leads a fun but tough little 10-minute workout. Hope you enjoy!

Travel: The Okanagan Valley

Sunny, spectacularly beautiful, and bountiful with food and wine, the Okanagan Valley is one of my favourite places in the world – and every time I visit I discover something new and wonderful.

To read more about my adventures in the Okanagan, check out:

• The Province – Road Trip: BC’s sustainable wineries, September 2013
• BCLiving.ca – Thompson Okanagan Road Trip: Eating and Drinking from Vernon to Osoyoos, November 2011

Below are some of the best places I’ve been to. Click the titles to visit their respective websites.

Stay: Manteo Resort 

Stay: Sparkling Hill Resort 

Stay: Spirit Ridge Vineyard, Resort and Spa

Stay: Summerland Waterfront Resort and Spa 

Stay: Watermark Beach Resort 

Eat: Bogner’s of Penticton

Eat: Eldorado Hotel’s Lakeside Restaurant 

Eat: Local Lounge and Grille

Eat: Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek 

Eat: Sunset Organic Bistro at Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Eat: Terrafina at Hester Creek 

Visit: LaStella Winery

Visit: Le Vieux Pin Winery

Visit: Mission Hill Family Estate Winery

Visit: Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre and Nk'Mip Cellars

Visit: Okanagan Crush Pad 

Visit: Summerhill Pyramid Winery 

Visit: Tantalus Vineyards

Visit: Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 

(All images: Aaron Barr & Catherine Roscoe Barr)

Recipe: Walnut Ginger Apple Crumble

There are loads of reasons to celebrate fall in BC and local apples are one of them!

To identify a high quality BC Tree Fruits apple, "Look for the Leaf" and you'll see its iconic green leaf sticker.

Did you know that the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative is owned by 520 local grower families who account for 7,894 acres of orchards in the Okanagan?

More fun facts about BC Tree Fruits:

• The apple season is one of the busiest times of the year for BC Tree Fruits' growers.
• Apples are the largest crop grown by BC Tree Fruits orchardists, with this season’s apple harvest estimated at 2.5 million cartons.
• There are 14 different varieties of BC Tree Fruits apples – see them pictured below.

One of my favourite afternoon snacks is a big, juicy apple, a handful of almonds, and a hunk of aged cheddar cheese. Yum!

But when I really want a treat, I gather everything I need for an apple crumble, and rub my hands together in anticipation as it bubbles and bakes.

The addition of walnuts and ginger give it a wonderful crunch and zing. I hope you'll love this recipe too!

Ingredients

• 6 of your favourite BC apples (McIntosh are mine for baking and snacking), cored and chopped (I leave the skin on for two reasons: less work and more nutrients)
• 2 tbsp fresh, grated ginger
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp cinnamon (read about cinnamon's amazing antioxidant properties here)
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In large bowl, combine apples, ginger, lemon juice and cinnamon.
3. Place apple mixture in casserole dish and sprinkle walnuts over top.
4. In separate bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, butter and coconut oil.
5. Pour flour mixture over apple mixture and gently press down.
6. Bake for about 35 minutes or until apples are bubbling and topping is crispy.
7. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Workout Wednesday: 20-Minute Skip, Strength & Stretch

Follow these 10 steps for an awesome quickie workout.

You'll need:

• Jump rope
• Pair of 2- to 5-pound dumbbells
• Yoga mat
• Foam roller

Throughout these exercises, focus on keeping your transverse abdominis engaged (suck your belly button in), spine elongated, chest lifted, shoulders back, and traps, neck and jaw relaxed.

1. Sun salutations – 3 minutes

• Focus on inhaling and exhaling, slowly and deeply, moving with your breath
• Complete four cycles
• For more detailed instructions, check out Yoga Journal's breakdown of sun salutations

2. Jump rope – 3 minutes

• Land as softly as possible, absorbing the shock to protect your joints

3. Bodyweight squats – 1 minute

• Inhale as you lower your hips back and down, engaging your glutes, hamstrings, quads and calves for a smooth, controlled decent
• Keep your knees strong, without wobbling, and equidistant apart
• Exhale as you raise your hips, squeezing your glutes, hamstrings, quads and calves for a powerful ascent

4. Dumbbell reverse flys – 1 minute

• Focus on sliding your shoulder blades down your back and squeezing them together
• Flex your rhomboids (the muscles that move your shoulder blades), and lock your elbows at a slight bend, before you begin to move to help isolate those muscles
• The movement should come from your back muscles not your arms – keep your arms as relaxed as possible
• P. S. These flys, done in a squatting position, follow the bodyweight squats on purpose for the added leg work. Enjoy the burn.

5. Inchworm push ups – 1 minute

• Thanks to Katya Hayes, yoga and CrossFit instructor at Mountain Trek (an incredible hiking and wellness retreat I attended earlier this year near Nelson, BC), for showing me this one!
• Inchworm push ups are an awesome exercise that’s halfway between a knees-push up and a full-push up

6. Jump rope – 3 minutes

•  See above

7. Bodyweight squats – 1 minute

•  See above

8. Dumbbell reverse flys – 1 minute

•  See above

9. Inchworm push ups – 1 minute

•  See above

10. Stretch – 5 minutes

These are a few of my favourite stretches that focus on the chest, spine, hip flexors and hamstrings. Add a few of your favourites too, and spend about 45 seconds on each stretch.

Chest & shoulders

Chest & abdominals

Hip flexors (repeat on each side)

Hamstrings (repeat on each side)

Travel: BC's Coast Mountain Circle Route

Last September, three of my best friends from high school in Montana – Leslie, Nissa and Katie – who I hadn’t seen in 15 years, came to Vancouver for an amazing RV adventure.

The four of us piled into a 26-foot RV from West Coast Mountain Campers, driven by yours truly, and set out for the 600-kilometre Coast Mountain Circle Route.

We stopped at RV sites in Harrison Hot Springs, Lillooet, Whistler and Vancouver, and visited some of my favourite parks and producers in British Columbia including The Farm House Natural Cheeses, Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park, Fort Berens Estate Winery, Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, and Mile One Eating House.

>>> Check out my story about our adventure for The Province HERE <<<

Below are the highlights from our trip. Click the titles to visit their respective websites.

STAY: West Coast Mountain Campers RV (rental)

STAY: Harrison Hot Springs RV

STAY: Fraser Cove Campground, Lillooet

STAY: Riverside Resort, Whistler

(Image: Riverside Resort)

STAY: Capilano River RV Park, West Vancouver

(Image: Capilano River RV Park) 

EAT: The Copper Room at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort

EAT: Mile One Eating House

VISIT: Agassiz Circle Farm Tour (bike rentals at Jamie’s Quadricycle)

VISIT: Othello Tunnels at Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park 

VISIT: Hells Gate Airtram

VISIT: Fort Berens Estate Winery

VISIT: Joffre Lakes Provincial Park 

VISIT: Pemberton Distillery 

VISIT: Whistler’s Valley Trail

VISIT: Vancouver’s Seawall 

Book: The Immune System Recovery Plan

I just finished reading a great book called The Immune System Recovery Plan, by Dr Susan Blum, that teaches you how to help prevent or treat any autoimmune disease – like celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease – by fixing these foundations:

1. Food
2. Stress
3. Gut
4. Liver

The book also has over 40 delicious recipes that are free from gluten, dairy, corn and soy.

The Four Foundations of The Immune System Recovery Plan

1. Use food as medicine – identify foods that trigger inflammation and remove them from your diet
   • “You will learn how to evaluate and understand what makes you biochemically unique, and then I’ll show you how to use this information to create your own personalized nutrition plan.”
2. Understand the stress connection– stress hormones have a huge impact on your immune function
   • “To get healthy and stay that way, you must learn skills to keep your mind from dwelling on particular thoughts so that you don’t damage your body with chronically high levels of cortisol.”
3. Heal your gut– fix your intestinal flora
   • “Seventy percent of your immune system is located in your digestive tract so it’s easy to see why it’s critical to keep this area healthy.”
4. Support your liver – help it do a better job of clearing out toxins  
   • “Preventing and treating toxin-related illness involves a combination of identifying what you’re being exposed to and removing it, then helping the liver cope by giving it nutrients to support metabolic detoxification.”

Here’s a list of dietary changes I'm implementing after reading this book:

1. Eat more cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and bok choy, as well as dark leafy greens like kale, chard, collards and spinach
2. Get creative with salads – try adding different kinds of beans, nuts and seeds
3. Get creative with porridge – add ground flax, chia, cinnamon, coconut oil, sunflower seeds, chopped Brazil nuts, and chopped apple
4. Make dips, like hummus, to have with chopped vegetables for snacks
5. Discover more tasty lentil, millet and buckwheat recipes
6. Use coconut milk as an alternative to dairy in cereal, shakes and chocolate milk (made with organic cocoa powder)
7. Add a probiotic to my daily supplement regime

Notice that I’m not denying myself anything – just adding lots of healthy choices to leave little room for unhealthy ones.

My dad has celiac disease so I'm trying to eat as little gluten as possible to reduce my risk of developing a sensitivity or the disease itself.

But I'm not quite ready to completely remove every source of gluten from my diet because I love to treat myself to a crusty baguette or gooey cinnamon bun every once in a while, and I haven't found any gluten-free varieties that do the trick.

I highly recommend this book if you regularly suffer from any of the following:

• bloating or gassiness
• exhaustion upon waking
• fatigue during the day
• irritability
• brain fog
• joint pain
• nasal congestion
• muscle stiffness

These symptoms could suggest an autoimmune disease or lead to one in the future.

For more information, visit the book’s companion website, www.immuneprogram.com.

Recipes: See Ya Later Hunny Punch and Juicy Soda Can Chicken

Being outside in the sun, celebrating life with good food, good drinks and great company is my version of heaven.

Last weekend we had some wonderful friends over for a BBQ and tried some summery recipes that the amazing folks at YEW Restaurant + Bar shared with me [check out my recent post on this fabulous, sustainable restaurant here].

The food and drinks were a hit, I hope you’ll enjoy them too!

Justin Taylor's See Ya Later Hunny Punch

This cocktail recipe (pictured above) comes from YEW’s super talented bartender Justin Taylor, and features See Ya Later Ranch’s 2011 Hunny Late Harvest Riesling, which was named Best Dessert Wine at last year’s BC Wine Awards.

Add some gin, Campari and ruby red grapefruit juice to the mix and you’ve got yourself a seriously refreshing drink!

Serves 10

Ingredients

• 2 cups See Ya Later Hunny
• 2 cups gin
• 1 cup Campari
• 4 cups freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients together in a pitcher or bowl and serve in your favourite patio glassware over ice.

Ned Bell’s Juicy Soda Can Chicken

I’m terrible at multitasking when it comes to preparing food and chatting with my guests, so I’m usually running around in a panic at the last minute trying to get everything ready before they arrive.

In my haste, I forgot a few key ingredients for the following chicken recipe, which is care of YEW’s brilliant and wonderful executive chef Ned Bell. His juicy soda can chicken calls for a can of soda water to set the upright chicken over top of. I forgot to buy that. His accompanying BBQ vinaigrette calls for molasses and malt vinegar. I forgot to buy those too.

Fortunately there were still plenty of ingredients that I did have on hand, and the chicken still turned out juicy and flavourful, with deliciously crunchy skin.

Instead of sitting the birds on a can and baking them, I split them along the frontal plane (so both breasts and wings were on one piece, and the legs, thighs and backbone were on the other – pictured above) and barbecued them for 80 minutes on low, flipping each piece over every 20 minutes (I’m paranoid about undercooking chicken so I err on the side of overdone, especially when feeding guests).

Ingredients

• 1 whole organic chicken
• 1 lemon, cut in half
• 1 can soda water
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed in the skin
• 3 tbsp molasses
• 3 tbsp malt vinegar
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Stuff the chicken cavity with the cut lemon, herbs and garlic, and then with the open can of soda water.
3. Stand the chicken up in a deep casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.
4. Remove from oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, to prepare the BBQ vinaigrette, remove the soda can from the chicken cavity and combine the contents with the pan juices, molasses, and vinegar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
6. Simmer for 10 minutes until reduced and syrupy.
7. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and squeeze in the lemon halves from the chicken cavity.

Bell suggests serving the chicken with asparagus, golden spuds and yams tossed in olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper, grilled on the BBQ – as well as grilled bread to soak up all the juices.

Yum-o!

*For my panicked version of this recipe, I just smeared the birds with a mixture of thyme, rosemary, minced garlic, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper and lemon juice.

Grow Your Own Food with Let’s Patch Self-watering Planters

Let's Patch's self-watering planter folds small enough to fit in your mailbox. Order yours through their Kickstarter campaign by Friday, June 14 to help fund their project.  We just moved to a new home in February and after not even having a patio for a few years, we now have a massive outdoor space with a terrace and our very own garden. It’s so amazing, I have to pinch myself every day.

I’ve been so excited to grow our own food – herbs like basil are crazy delicious but expensive to purchase at the grocer – but hadn’t got around to it until yesterday.

Mostly what was holding me back was the fact that plants don’t seem to stay alive under my care. We bought a bunch of houseplants when we were first married, almost 11 years ago, but they quickly died and I guess we sort of lost our nerve.

So when I heard about Let’s Patch, I jumped at the chance to try their user-friendly, self-watering planter, whose founder, Vancouverite Kent Houston, “was fuelled by the idea that anyone could grow food, anywhere.”

See Houston talking about Let’s Patch in the video below.

Houston says, “Let’s Patch was founded to give people the tools they need to grow healthy herbs and vegetables at home. We believe that if you grow it, you’ll eat it” – a philosophy that’s especially important to today’s children who’ve become dangerously disconnected from the source of their food (as most of us have).

To this end, Let’s Patch has donated 150 planters to 32 BC classrooms participating in the Classroom Gardening Program run by Growing Chefs! Chefs for Children’s Urban Agriculture.

The lightweight planter, made from Tyvek (a durable, water-resistant, recyclable synthetic made from high-density polyethylene fibres), arrived in an envelope in my mailbox, measuring 12 inches by 6 inches by 1 inch.

I took my gardening assistant (my labradoodle Charlie) to GardenWorks to pick up potting mix and a basil starter plant – seeds seemed too challenging for my first real gardening project and apparently I’d already missed the prime time to plant seeds anyway – and then I assembled the planter, without incident, in less than five minutes.

Ta-da! My precious little basil plant soaking up the sun (and the perfect amount of water from its Patch Planter) on my patio. 

The indoor/outdoor planter is sleek enough to sit on your coffee table or windowsill and durable enough to sit on your patio. Mine is now perched on a window ledge outside my office window, so I can gaze out at my food-growing aptitude and, one day soon, clip the fragrant leaves to serve on my adjacent patio table.

Patch Planters can be purchased through Let’s Patch’s Kickstarter campaign, which hopes to raise $50,000 by Friday, June 14, 2013 at 3:00AM. With only 8 days left, 50 percent of their goal has been pledged, so they need another $25,000 for the project to be funded.

“With Kickstarter we can bypass investors, get real metrics about our market and showcase the forward-thinking innovation behind our self-watering Patch Planters,” says Houston. “We need to go from beta to mega to make this game-changing method of growing food a reality and make a positive impact on communities around the world.”

Visit letspatch.com for more information about the Patch Planters, and head to Kickstarter to purchase one planter for $38, two for $69, or three for $98.

Social Entrepreneur Mark Brand Launches A Better Life Foundation

A Better Life Foundation | Mark Brand | The Life Delicious

Being hungry sucks.

“You ever been hungry? You know what that feels like? Unacceptable,” said social entrepreneur Mark Brand, during his incredibly moving TEDxVancouver talk, The Impact of an Unconventional Solution (see below).

It’s hard to focus on anything else when you're hungry. It’s hard to make good decisions, it’s hard to be positive, and it can even be hard to be kind, when you’re absolutely starving.

Now add to that equation the fact that you have no roof over your head, no support system, and it’s cold and rainy. Maybe you’re even struggling with mental health or addiction issues.

The Impact of an Unconventional Solution

If you’re reading this, it’s likely you’ve never experienced this unacceptable scenario, I haven’t either, but the thought of it is heartbreaking and a reality for way too many people – way too many people right here in our community.

Brand is Working to Turn Things Around in His Hood

Brand is working ridiculously, unwaveringly hard to turn this reality around, and he's starting where he lives and works in Vancouver’s downtown eastside (DTES) – his businesses include Save On Meats, Portside Pub, The Diamond, Boneta, Sea Monstr Sushi, Sharks and Hammers, and the newly opened pop-up restaurant No. 1 Noodle House.

I had the honour of attending the launch of his latest venture, A Better Life Foundation, on May 25, 2013 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (who generously donated the space), with partners Vancouver Community College, Donnelly Group and brand.LIVE providing delicious food, drinks, and event production, respectively.

This is Our City to Fix

A Better Life Foundation | Mark Brand | The Life Delicious

Mark Brand, centre, with Preet Banerjee, right, and Elliott Hashimoto, corporate chef for Mark Brand Inc. (Image: Wendy D Photography)

“We need to invest in the people that are our community,” said Brand during the launch party, after being introduced by event host Preet Banerjee, whom he met on the TV show Million Dollar Neighbourhood. “This is our city to fix.”

A Better Life Foundation is investing in the community by providing more than 500 residents of the DTES with a nutritious meal every day, and plans to offer more help as the charity receives more donations.

A Better Life Foundation Hopes to Feed 1,500 People Every Day

Speaking to The Rush host Fiona Forbes and guest host Grant Lawrence in early May, Brand said, “The charity works specifically to do our barrier employment program – for clarification that’s people with developmental disabilities or coming out of rehab or simply kids who can’t get another shot because they’ve been to jail, etcetera – and then this program [details about the token program here], which can expand, and then our meal program that we’re hoping to expand to 1,500 [per day].”

Building community is an integral part of Brand’s personal philosophy. “You know what it feels like to be part of a community? There is no feeling like it,” said Brand at TEDxVancouver. “There’s nothing like knowing your neighbours and knowing you’re working towards a common goal.”

Building Community One Meal At a Time

http://vimeo.com/67129742

“The simple act of making sure that your belly is full in the morning makes a huge difference,” says Banerjee, sitting next to Brand during a promotional video for the foundation (see above).

“The fact is,” says Brand, “if you have that one meal in your belly, that does get you through the most important part of your day, that you’re more prone to reach out to a social service, or a service that gets you into rehabilitation or into employment or into that next step in your life where you go further forward.”

In the same segment of The Rush as mentioned previously, Forbes asked Brand something I was curious about too: “Why do you do this? You’re a businessman, you don’t have to have to make these tokens and feed people, you don’t have to do what you did with the sign [details about the sign here]. Why do you?”

We Can Be Catalysts For Positive Change, Says Brand

“I love it,” replies Brand. “I truthfully really love our city and our neighbourhood and I think that we can be catalysts for positive change. I know we have been already. And I don’t mind fighting the fights, is the other part. I think people come and they foray into social entrepreneurship, you know, it’s hard, most of the time you’re funded just enough to fail."

"I’m born to have these fights and arguments and discourse, and I think if I can do it and sort of forge some more path, then people will come behind and go, ‘I can do this, I do love this neighbourhood, I do want to help.’”

One Person Can Inspire Change in a Community

A Better Life Foundation | Mark Brand | The Life Delicious

A Better Life Foundation's Mark Brand. (Image: Wendy D Photography)

Driving along East Hastings Street or walking through Gastown and seeing the poverty, pain and suffering can feel very overwhelming, to the point of feeling totally helpless.

But hearing Brand’s story and witnessing his evolution as a social entrepreneur has helped me see that one person can absolutely inspire change in a community, with actions large or small – whether it's giving someone a chance when no one else will, participating in fundraising efforts, giving someone a sandwich token, or just offering them a smile.

Check out A Better Life Foundation’s initiatives, goals, outlook and values, below.

For more information on the foundation or to give a charitable donation, visit abetterlifefoundation.ca.

A Better Life Foundation’s Initiatives and Goals

1. Provide meals to those in need.

2. Facilitate acquisition of relevant skills training and work experience to those with employment barriers.

3. Provide an educational and job readiness programs that equip individuals for success.

4. Provide outreach and referral programs that provide encouragement and support.

5. Provide and maintain a high quality working environment that integrates teaching, learning, and community engagement.

A Better Life Foundation’s Outlook and Values

1. PARTICIPATION – We strive to facilitate programs that increase participation, community involvement, and mutual responsibility.

2. HEALTHY COMMUNITIES – We strive to support the community we serve by being attentive of its needs and values, creating innovative food and employment programs that address these needs and respect these values.

3. INNOVATION – We aim to be a part of a larger discussion around food provision and sustainability in Vancouver by partnering with a diverse group of organizations to find unconventional solutions to prevalent social issues.

4. DIVERSITY – We value diversity and are devoted to equal, dignified treatment of all individuals – respecting diversity through inclusion of all persons in our programs and services.

5. EQUALITY – We incorporate practices in our daily actions that address the issue of equality, by recognizing the power dynamics that are negatively affecting individuals wellbeing.

6. SUSTAINABILITY – We strive to facilitate sustainable change by working in collaboration with a diverse range of organizations, creating innovative self sustaining programs.

7. ACCEPTANCE – We value acceptance – promoting individual’s ability to pursue chosen goals in life by respecting diversity.

8. COLLABORATION – We value collaboration therefore we work collectively with community members and organizations to form long lasting supportive relationships to promote the wellbeing of the DTES.

Fabulous Food: YEW Restaurant + Bar

Clockwise from top left: One of executive chef Ned Bell's mouthwatering BC spot prawn dishes, YEW's seafood charcuterie board,  bartender Justin Taylor's "YEW Shake It" whiskey sour cocktail, and pastry chef Bruno Feldeisen's to-die-for apple pie. (Images: Catherine Roscoe Barr)

791 West Georgia St, Vancouver, BC  |  yewrestaurant.com

Why YEW Rocks:

• Using 100 percent Ocean Wise seafood and ethically sourced, naturally raised, antibiotic- and hormone-free animal products, YEW’s incredible menu is always changing, in tune with the seasons, and inspired by passionate local producers with whom executive chef Ned Bell has cultivated close relationships.
• Sommelier Emily Walker’s seafood-friendly wine list is fabulous on its own (and many of the selections come from organic, biodynamic, sustainable, and family run vineyards), but with 50 percent off each and every bottle on Wine Down Sundays, the by-the-glass wine preservation program featuring 14 carefully selected wines in 2-, 4-, and 6-ounce pours, and her Wine of the Week, it’s super fabulous
• Bartender Justin Taylor’s cocktail menu is just plain awesome, and many of the signature and classic drinks contain barrel aged spirits, made in-house and displayed on shelves behind the bar. His “We make it, Yew Shake it” whiskey sour is particularly lovely, and quite the workout since you’re doing the cocktail shaking yourself.
• Epic weekend brunch. Three courses. Decadent and delicious. Enough said.
• “All dinner guests are given one of Ned’s power cookies to take home at the close of their meal,” says public relations director Kate Colley. “The sentiment being that the guest will eat the cookie for a healthy breakfast and be reminded of the great dinner they had the night before.” How sweet is that? Here’s the recipe.

The YEW Team:

Executive chef Ned Bell

"Our food focus is being seasonally fresh, globally inspired, but locally created and sustainable. Food doesn't need to be complicated, but it is important to know where it comes from."

Pastry chef Bruno Feldeisen

"I always look for local, organic, independent farmers to provide us with the freshest foods at their peak ripeness. For example, we are using Vista D'oro apples for our apple pie, Glasshouse Farms strawberries in the strawberry trifle, and Golden Ears Cheesecrafters provides us a truly unique quark cheese that we use in all our cheesecake recipes.”

Sommelier Emily Walker

"As a Sommelier there is no greater privilege than working in a city where we have access to beautiful local ingredients and benefit from the proximity to such diverse wine growing regions in our own backyard. Our aim is to offer a well-rounded selection of local and international wines designed to enhance the flavours of our seafood concept and elevate your dining experience."

Bartender Justin Taylor

"YEW's cocktail list is simple. It's everyday favourites that are elevated by our passions and playfulness, like our unique barrel-aging program. Our drinks are uncomplicated, approachable and friendly, while keeping true to our seafood concept."

YEW in the News:

• Silver Medal for Best Seafood at the 2013 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards, Vancouver Magazine, May 1, 2013
• Vancouver and Whistler 2013 “Where to Dine” Critic’s Choice winner for Sustainable Seafood, Where Magazine, May 1, 2013
• YEW Restaurant + Bar at Vancouver's Four Seasons Hotel Launches 100 Percent Ocean Wise Menu, BC Living, June 25, 2012
• Four Seasons’ YEW restaurant + bar delivers stellar seafood with a West Coast vibe, The Georgia Straight, May 30, 2012
• Sea change puts Yew in class by itself, The Globe and Mail, January 27 2012

Travel: The Sunshine Coast

Last year I visited the Sunshine Coast for the first – and second – time and wrote about my adventures for BC Living and The Province. It quickly became one of my favourite places on earth, I strongly recommend a visit if you’ve never been!

To read more about one of BC’s best getaways, check out:

• Exploring the North End of the Sunshine Coast, my story for BC Living

• Hiking the province’s unknown other trail, my story for The Province

Below are some highlights from my visits. Click the titles to visit their respective websites.

VISIT: Sunshine Coast Trail

VISIT: TerraCentric Coastal Adventures

VISIT: Footprint Nature Explorations

VISIT: Townsite Brewing

VISIT: Skookumchuck Narrows Provincial Park

VISIT: Breakwater Books and Coffee

EAT: The Boardwalk Restaurant

EAT: Nancy’s Bakery

EAT: The Savoury Bight

STAY: West Coast Wilderness Lodge

STAY: Desolation Resort

STAY: Beach Gardens Resort and Marina

STAY: Herondell Bed and Breakfast

STAY: The Historic Lund Hotel

10 Books on Brain Chemistry

It’s no secret, I love talking about brain chemistry! Have you heard about my “Winning Trifecta of Wellness”? The trifecta includes stress management, exercise and nutrition, which are actions that produce optimal brain chemistry.

When you cultivate optimal brain chemistry, you feel good.

When you commit to consistently cultivate optimal brain chemistry, you look good.

“If you strive for optimal brain chemistry, everything else will fall into place.”

Isn’t it incredible how your thoughts and actions directly affect your health and happiness? Isn’t it empowering to know that you’re in control of what you think and how you act?

The following ten books have given me tangible new insight into improving my health and happiness.

They’ve helped me become more aware of the effects of my thoughts and actions – and more empowered to improve my health and happiness.

I hope you’ll find them interesting and insightful too!

1. Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-body Medicine by Candace B. Pert

2. Must Have Been Something I Ate by Peggy Kotsopoulos

3. Your Brain on Nature: The Science of Natures Influence on Your Health, Happiness and Vitality by Alan C. Logan and Eva M. Selhub

4. The Mars and Venus Diet and Exercise Solution: Create the Brain Chemistry of Health, Happiness, and Lasting Romance by John Gray

5. Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom by Rick Hanson

6. The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer by Gretchen Reynolds

7. The Happiness Diet: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain, Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body by Drew Ramsey and Tyler G. Graham

8. Love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become by Barbara Fredrickson

9. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey

10. Super Brain by Deepak Chopra & Rudolph Tanzi

A Few of my Favourite Things: International Chicken Recipes

I get so excited reading about new recipes, shopping for ingredients, and preparing meals for the people I love. I especially enjoy trying new flavour combinations and using herbs and spices to add flavour without adding calories. After learning about the about the inhumane conditions that many poultry products you buy at the grocery store are raised in, I've solely purchased free-range or organic birds.

A local company raising free-range, medication and antibiotic free chickens is Maple Hill Farms in Abbotsford, found at numerous grocery stores and butchers in and around Vancouver. They offer whole birds, a range of cuts, and eggs.

Here are three of my favourite international chicken recipes, which you can see in their entirety, along with dozens of other recipes I've tested at home, at BC Living.

Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

Visit BCLiving.ca for the Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas recipe.

Pineapple Cashew Chicken Fried Rice

Visit BCLiving.ca for the Pineapple Cashew Chicken Fried Rice recipe.

Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans

Visit BCLiving.ca for the Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans recipe.

The Energy Project

(Image: The Energy Project)

I’ve had a few aha moments over at The Energy Project, so I thought I’d share some of my favourite tips from them about performance and productivity.

They offer a curriculum called peoplefuel, which “teaches people at all levels in companies to more efficiently manage their four sources of energy.” Those four sources of energy are:

1. Physical
2. Emotional
3. Mental
4. Spiritual

This concept, of taking an inventory of your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy, applies to everyone, including self-employed individuals like myself, and serves to make you aware of areas where your energy is needlessly being zapped.

I love the idea of regular self-inventories!

Energy Rituals

One of my favourite Energy Project concepts is energy rituals, which are “highly specific behaviours done at precise times.”

The idea is that if you develop rituals for your daily routine – setting your alarm for the same time every day, always working out first thing in the morning – you’ll have more energy leftover for the important stuff like productivity at work and being present with friends and family.

I cook a nice meal most nights of the week, which would take far too much time and energy if I didn't prepare for it, but every weekend I make a menu for the week ahead and from that I make a grocery list for all of the items I'll need. Then I pick up everything except for the produce needed for the end of the week, which I'll pick up mid-week so it's fresh when I go to use it.

That way, during the course of my day I never have to distract myself from work, thinking about what's for dinner and whether or not I have everything necessary on hand.

All I have to do is turn on some music, pour myself a drink (whether that's sparkling water or wine), and whip up a healthy meal.

Also take a look at The Energy Project’s CEO Tony Schwartz’s article about energy rituals for the Harvard Business Review.

Energy Quadrants

Another concept that struck me as useful is the idea of energy quadrants, which is defining your current energy as one of the following:

1. Performance
2. Recovery
3. Burnout
4. Survival

Schwartz says, “Human beings are actually designed to pulse. We’re most productive when we move between expending energy and intermittently renewing our four energy needs: sustainability (physical), security (emotional); self-expression (mental) and significance (spiritual).”

So, in terms of energy quadrants, alternating between performance and recovery is ideal. If you’re hanging out in the burnout or survival quadrant, it’s time to survey your energy sources, address which areas need improvement, and follow through with step-by-step actions.

Be Excellent at Anything

Lastly, Schwartz has a new book, which is on my to-read list, called Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys To Transforming the Way We Work and Live. You can have a peak at it on Google Books.