Naked or Dressed?

Do you like a naked salad, or a dressed salad?

Which one is the healthier approach?

http://gigieatscelebrities.com/2012/12/11/unfashionably-dressed-salads/

Powerful combinations

Have you eaten any of these lately?

Powerful combinations - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

Five swaps for this Cinco de Mayo meal

Five swaps for this Cinco de Mayo meal - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

Pizza please!

You can still have pizza night.

Pizza please! - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

The Sunday sum up

Catch up on what you may have missed this past week!

The Sunday sum up - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

Baby your baked goods

Have you ever replaced oils, fats, etc with baby food?

Baby your baked goods - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

Seduce with stew

What are your Valentine's Day plans?

Seduce with stew - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

Buon appetito!

I would love some clam sauce to be poured down my throat right now! What about you?

Buon appetito!

Breaking the plate

Smash that sucker and start fresh!

Breaking the plate

The new "Doomsday"

The new "Doomsday"

Innovatively interesting ice cream

What's the weirdest flavor of ice cream you've ever tried?


Innovatively interesting ice cream

Can the canola oil

Toss this SHEEZE!


Can the canola oil

Oily protection

I LOVE OLIVE OIL so this makes me HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oily protection - Boulder Nutrition | Examiner.com

Don’t wipe the food off your face

For your skin's sake... play with your food!

Don’t wipe the food off your face

Misleading munchies

Be smart about nutrition... this month... and actually - for the rest of your life! :)


Misleading munchies

Popcorn pizzazz

POP AWAY!


Popcorn pizzazz

Grab some spacho!

Grab some spacho!

What's in your olive oil?

This PISSES ME OFF... let me tell ya!




What's in your olive oil?

Beauty from Around the World!

Just made it back to Boulder, Colorado... and let you tell you, I am a bit of a mess!


I guess it doesn't really help that I rolled out of my hotel bed this morning around 5am to get a work out in before my parents and I decided to hit the road around 8am... Oh and that it decided to DOWN POUR when I went into the grocery store to pick up a few supplies that I needed for my apartment (so with no umbrella or any sort of cover, I braved the torrential rain and got completely drenched... why I have yet to change, I am not quite sure).


Oh and guess what I stumble upon as my internet loads to my Yahoo.com home page... "Beauty Secrets from Around the World"... was that a "hint, hint, nudge, nudge" on the whole, "you look like crap GiGi" thing??!! Well, SCREW YOU YAHOO... but of course I clicked the link because after all... who isn't looking for a new way to primp these days? I even know guys who are looking for a way to better their appearance!


Curious... where here's the list (copy & pasted from the source):

Australia

Australian makeup artist Napoleon Perdis says yarrow extract is used by Australian Aboriginal women to prevent stretch marks, thanks to its moisturizing and hydrating properties. “Yarrow root is also an anti-inflammatory, which soothes the skin.” Calm your complexion with his Auto Pilot Pre-Foundation Primer , which contains the extract as a key ingredient.

Chile

Chilean women credit the antioxidant powers of red grapes for their luminous skin. They create a paste by mashing up a handful of the fruit and adding 2 tablespoons of white flour. They then apply the mask to their face and leave it on for 10 minutes before washing it off. “It wakes up the appearance of tired and fatigued skin to give you an amazing glow,” says Shalini Vadhera, author of Passport to Beauty

Dominican Republic

“If you ever meet a Dominican woman, look at her nails––chances are they’re super-strong,” says Vadhera. What’s their secret? Women in the Dominican Republic swear by garlic to keep their nails tough as…well, nails. They chop up fresh garlic, add it to a bottle of clear nail polish and let it stew for 7 to 10 days. “There will be an initial smell, so if you want to ward off vampires this is a great way to do it,” jokes Vadhera. “But the scent goes away. Garlic has so many strengthening properties and is naturally antibacterial as well.”

Egypt

According to Vadhera, Cleopatra’s beauty secret was taking milk baths to soften her skin and remove dead cells. To try the treatment at home, Vadhera recommends adding 2 cups of powdered milk to your bath. “It will make your skin look absolutely gorgeous and feel so smooth, silky and soft.”

France

“The French woman sticks to a scrupulous and preventive skin and body care routine,” says Shannon Gallogly, lead aesthetician for French beauty brands Decleor and Carita. “This means she has weekly facials, regular massages and religiously takes her makeup off each night.” Gallogly’s recipe for an at-home facial without the price tag of a spa version: Mash up cherries and pomegranate seeds and apply as a mask to the skin for about 6 minutes. “This mask will help brighten skin with natural enzymes while firming at the same time.” Remove the mixture with a warm towel to help boost circulation.

Greece

“Greek women are blessed with Mediterranean skin, which is light in color but has enough melanin to shield and absorb harmful UV rays,” says New York City dermatologist Macrene Alexiades, MD, PhD, who is half Greek. But even if you aren’t genetically blessed, you can still take a cue from the women of Greece. “There are other factors that contribute to their glowing complexion: They eat a Mediterranean diet high in fish, which provides skin-rejuvenating omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as fruits and vegetables, which provide antioxidants and vitamins. They also believe their intake of olive oil contributes to their great skin." So, start reaching for the olive oil instead of butter for better skin.

Israel

Cygalle Dias, owner of New York City’s Cygalle Healing Spa, was born in Israel and believes in the healing powers of sea salt. “When you swim in the Dead Sea, all of the salt helps your body rid itself of toxins, and it has also been known to help cure skin diseases.” To get the detoxifying benefits of sea salt at home, Dias shares her spa’s Lavender Sea Salt Scrub recipe: Mix together ¼ cup sea salt, 1 pinch seaweed powder, ½ cup massage oil and 10 to 15 drops lavender oil. Apply to skin to gently exfoliate.

Italy

How do Italian women maintain their glossy locks? According to Fabio Scalia, Italian hairstylist and owner of Fabio Scalia salon in Brooklyn, New York, the answer is right in your kitchen. Italian women keep their hair shiny by combining yogurt and olive oil and using the mixture as a conditioner. “The protein in the yogurt gently nourishes and conditions.” To whip up the rich treatment at home, Scalia recommends mixing 1 cup of plain whole-milk yogurt with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Then apply the mixture to washed hair, let it sit for 5 minutes and rinse with cool water.

Japan

Titi Branch, the half-Japanese cofounder of Miss Jessie’s hair care line, credits seaweed for Japanese women’s long, silky hair. Nori is a rich source of the trace mineral iodine, which is essential for healthy hair growth. (According to Branch, the iodine added to table salt isn’t the right kind to nourish your hair because your body doesn’t easily absorb it.) Seaweed is also a rich source of other mane-strengthening minerals—including iron, zinc, selenium and copper. “Japanese women either eat nori seaweed or boil it and apply it to dry hair as a nourishing paste.” Head to your local Asian grocer or health food store to pick up sheets of nori. “It’s traditionally used to wrap sushi, but you can use it like a tortilla to wrap up veggies with a dash of soy sauce, or crumble the sheets and sprinkle them on a salad, rice or stir-fry,” advises Branch.

Spain

Spanish women bring out natural, subtle highlights in their hair by rinsing it with cranberry juice, says Vadhera. Try mixing ¼ cup pure juice (not cocktail blends) with ¼ cup water and doing a final rinse with it in the shower. “If you’re going to be in the sun, the cranberry juice brings out the rich hues in your hair,” she says. “It works amazingly on brunettes, but if you’re blonde you’ll want to use lemon juice instead to avoid ending up with pink hair.”

Sweden

Swedish women attribute their glowing, healthy skin to their diet of antioxidant-packed fresh berries and grilled fish, says Petra Strand, Swedish makeup artist and creator of makeup line Pixi, now available at Target. Give yourself a hit of antioxidants by trying Strand’s at-home treatment: Boil mineral water with a green tea or white tea bag, let the tea infuse the water and then freeze it into ice cubes to use instead of a toner. “Saunas are also a big part of Swedish culture,” says Strand. “The dry, clean heat rids your body of toxins.” To get the effect of a sauna at home, Strand says to take a handful of rock salt and add a dash of olive oil and about 10 drops of pure eucalyptus oil. Rub it all over your body and rinse with a blast of cold water.

So which one of these habits do you already do??? None of these say sitting in wet clothes enhances beauty... so while you figure out what habits you might want to start adopting, I'm going to get out of these sopping clothes and make some hot tea! (Hold on, where's the "tip" about drinking green tea & beauty... I know I have read that somewhere!!!)

Seriously, It's the grilling holiday of the year??

[Yes I am exaggerating a little but seriously... it should either be like this outside or SUNNY AND WARM!]

Yeah, it would be a lot more believable that it is Memorial Day if it weren't 28 degrees outside and on the verge of snowing!


I feel so sorry for my poor ol' grill outside, all he wants is to grill oozingly delicious bison burgers, scrumptious salmon fillets and flavorful spatch-cock chickens... but I guess he is just going to have to wait until the weather actually acts like the season it's suppose to be! If I were a nicer "owner" perhaps I would cover him up with a grill cover but... eh, I am just trying to "butch" him up so he can grill up a mean steak when the sun is shining!!!


So really since grilling is out of the question today... unless my father and I decide we are DIET HARD... I wonder what will be on the Memorial Day menu today! Honestly... this day probably won't be treated like any other day because we are not having anyone over to celebrate. To be honest, I would be surprised if my parents and I even stay up until 8 pm tonight.


You see, we just got back from Turkey the other day [AMAZING, by the way, but that's for another post]... and we are all still suffering from jet lag. Currently it's 6:30 am... and let me tell you, it was VERY hard for me to stay in bed until now! I have been up since 5 [thanks in small part to my dog who decided he is fighting jet lag too and had to make sure EVERYONE knew that], laying in my bed wondering what the EFF to do... Typically I would get up and work out... but knowing that I really have no plans today, I told myself, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT... So yup, here I am now... actually ATTENDING TO MY BLOG!


Any ways, back to the whole Memorial Day thing...


What are all of your plans? When I close my eyes and think of previous Memorial Days I think of burgers... ketchup... mustard... salmon [we're a big fish family!]...


So do you "follow the trend" and make the typical Memorial Day fare, or do you create nifty original concoctions that no one would even think about making?!?!



All I can say is... please don't go NUTS on the fatty fare today!


- If you want potato salad, nix the mayo and use olive oil...

- If you want to grill up some mean hot dogs... try these... I have taste tested them for you...

- Or if you want some burgers... go exotic and try and find some grass-fed bison, elk, ostrich, beef... simply delicious!

- Oh and as for condiments... try this ketchup... AMAZING!

- For fried chicken... why not roll those chicken legs in hemp seeds or crushed up flax seeds?? Um, healthy, nutty, delicious, no?!

- And instead of re fried beans... cook up some black-eyes peas! [Or really have the beans but simply boil them in salted water!]

- Hm... and yes, I know there is dessert and it's rather tricky to find a substitute for the real thing... so while I would suggest berries with maybe a touch of whip cream [if you must]... having a TINY bit of the real thing probably won't kill you... TODAY! ha ha ah! Oh but wait, I have heard that grilling fruit is actually pretty tasty... so jump on that before you dive head first into that huge apple pie!


Good thing my grill cannot read this post or else he'd start getting antsy... who am I kidding though, I am antsy for the both of us... perhaps I will be "die hard" today?!


PS: Don't forget to take some time to remember those who have fallen, after all that is what this holiday is about... not just gorging ourselves with food!!!