• Clean Eating

    Does a Mediterranean Diet Reduce Stroke Risk?

    Does a Mediterranean Diet Reduce Stroke Risk? Because my own mother’s good health was destroyed by multiple strokes, I am particularly sensitive to and interested in this subject.  I want to know the answer to the question, “Does a Mediterranean diet reduce stroke risk?”  I also want to establish for you and for me what the basics are that comprise a Mediterranean Diet. There have been numerous studies done on the effects of a Mediterranean diet and our health.  Relative to the risk of stroke, the findings indicate that especially for women over 40, a Mediterranean diet is effective in reducing the risk of stroke.  The reason is not clear,…

  • Depression

    Depression Recovery – It is possible for you?

    Depression Recovery – Is it possible for you? Last week I shared with you that my new book about my depression recovery had gone to be formatted and was almost ready for Prime Time.  This week, I can tell you it is published and up on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback!  While this has been a journey for me and I am proud to have reached the finish line, I’m most excited about the difference the book has the potential to make in so many lives. Did you know that more than 20% of women over the age of forty in this country take some kind of prescription medication…

  • Depression

    Did you ever want to write a book?

    Did you ever want to write a book? Many years ago, I wanted to write a book…specifically a mystery book.  Mysteries were always a favorite read for me, and I had a great ending in mind.  The trouble was, I couldn’t come up with a beginning or a middle, so I abandoned the project rather quickly. In recent years, the thought returned to me as I have been looking for ways to share my accidental recovery from chronic depression with others.  I started to write a book several years ago, honestly without knowing what I was doing.  I just started it as an online challenge to write five thousand words…

  • Healthy Eating

    What Processed Food Tastes Like and How We Got Here

    What Does Food Taste Like to Us, and How Did We Get Here? Yesterday I was food shopping, which I actually love to do.  My challenge was to find some sun dried tomatoes as my favorite brand seems to have vanished for the moment.  My usual brand has olive oil and not much else which I love.   It seemed everything I picked up had some kind of oil I won’t eat or sugar in it.  In fact, why would you need sugar in sun dried tomatoes?  All this made me wonder what processed food tastes like, and how did we get here? If you read your food labels, which I…

  • Healthy Eating

    How to Get Started with Healthy Eating

    How to Get Started with Healthy Eating I thought it might be helpful to share some ideas for substitutions for your favorite processed foods to illustrate how to get started with healthy eating.  I’m very respectful of how hard it is to change eating habits as the big food companies design their “food” to be addictive and hard to resist. We make clean eating promises to ourselves, and they might last a few days.   Then the cravings for bread, sugar, pizza etc. just become too much.  We fall off the wagon and get mad at ourselves; too often, we just give up. This pattern feeds into the yo-yo dieting, lose-gain-lose-gain…

  • Healthy Living

    Perseverance…in diet and in life…it’s everything

    Perseverance The topic of this post is a bit different than what I usually share.  I want to address the topic of perseverance and share a recent personal story. Perseverance relates to all aspects of our lives including health and healthy eating.  Staying on track with the best food choices is not always the easiest or the most popular way to go.  I speak from personal experience as this weekend I attended a family event with great food, not all of which were the best choices for me. My solution in these cases is most often to sample a small bit of the foods that are delicious but that may…

  • Healthy Eating

    Growing up with Food

    Growing up with Food To understand your current relationship with food, it’s helpful to think about how food fit in when you were growing up.  Back in the 1950s and 60s when I was growing up, I realize it was a time of transition food-wise. I think it’s important for us all to remember our past and revisit growing up with food. Our family meals at home were of an English/northern European eating style. Our food was very traditional and, to be honest, not very interesting.  My mom was a fantastic baker though, and desserts were always the high point of the meal! There was some kind of meat at…

  • Clean Eating

    New TV Episode of Thin Strong Healthy…Cod Dinner with Tomato Tapenade

    Cod Dinner with Tomato Tapenade You’ll definitely want to check this out! We focus on the benefits of eating fish, but more importantly I share an easy, delicious recipe you will love!  And…you can use the sundried tomato tapenade on more than just white fish! Take a look: Let me know if you try it and if you come up with other ways to use the tapenade. I can’t tell you how good it is in or on an ommellette!  I’ve used it as part of the filling with mushrooms, onions and spinach and also as a topping on the finished work of art! Helping You Achieve Major Wellness in…

  • Healthy Eating

    Addicted to Junk Food?

    Are You Addicted to Junk Food? Are you addicted to junk food? No? Let’s try a little experiment: double bacon cheeseburger … pepperoni pizza with extra cheese … doughnuts … ice cream …extra-large order of french fries … potato chips… soda…your favorite cookies… candy bars… If just reading that list of nutritionally deficient foods got your mouth watering and had you searching for your car keys to run out and grab a quick fix, you just might be addicted to junk food. Defining Junk Food – What Is It? Segen’s Medical Dictionary defines “junk food” as any food which is extremely low in essential nutrients, while also high in calories,…

  • Healthy Living

    Aging and What You Eat – Sugar

    Aging and What You Eat – Sugar Aging and what you eat…does it matter? We all would like to look and feel younger.  So many of us think it’s the luck of the draw.  Does your gene pool dictate that you will age more quickly than others?  Is your rate of aging out of your control?  The short answer is you have a lot of control over how you age, and that is very empowering!  Today we’ll look at the effect sugar has on aging and will touch on 3 main points to consider…your weight, your body’s acid or alkaline environment and how sugar affects your body’s level of inflammation.…