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Showing posts from February 2, 2017

Carrots ‘N’ Cake Turns 9 + Win a Designed to Fit Meal Plan

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Good morning! There’s a lot to celebrate today! It’s National Carrot Cake Day as well as the day that I started Carrot ‘N’ Cake  NINE (!!!) years ago. I love this crazy coincidence and feel like it was just meant to be! First off, I just want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for reading CNC. This blog wouldn’t be what it is today without you, and I can’t even begin to explain how much each of your comments, questions, messages, likes, and emails mean to me. <3 If you’ve followed CNC for awhile now, you know just HOW MUCH my life has changed since the start of this blog. (Related: Here’s  a little recap from February 2008 – present .) And now I’m moving on to another phase of my life:  Designed to Fit Nutrition .  It’s something that Kerrie and I talked about for years and now it’s a reality. We’ve already put so much time, energy, and money into this business, and we’re just getting started. I’m SO EXCITED to see what the future holds for us! Local readers: We’ll be

My Training at 45

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So…I am now a rounding error away from 50. That’s, kinda wacky to contemplate, but here I am. I remember my parents at this age and they seemed OLD. The naïveté of youth blinded me to what real age and decrepitude would look like for my parents in a few more decades, but yea, they seemed OLD. Bad food, smoking and little exercise certainly took their toll. I must admit that reflecting back on that process in my parents and extrapolating forward with myself is not a pleasant experience. This is likely a good argument for pulling a bit of Zen perspective into things and just doing my best to remain in the present, and let the phantoms of both memory and future expectations flutter away. In a more concrete way of dealing with the uncertainties of getting older I’m hopeful that what I’m doing with regards to sleep, nutrition, training and lifestyle will put me on a very different path than my parents. Time will tell on that, but part of these yearly updates is an accountability process. I

30-Day Challenge Analysis Part 2: Abusing The System – How We Screw Up The Process & Ourselves

  We’re human and let’s face it, we are REALLY good at f#%@-ing things up. It doesn’t matter what it is, someone, somewhere is going to figure out a way to make it a complete FAIL. 30-day challenges/transformations are no exception to this ‘fail phenomenon’. Yeah, we’ve figured out a way to take something that’s meant to change health and lives for the better and basically turned it into something about as useful as a “Thighmaster” – I don’t care what Suzanne Somers says. It’s hard to say how things got so out of control, but they did, and its escalated past the point of isolated individual fails to large groups all ‘failing’ at the same time. What am I talking about? (As if I wasn’t going to tell you…) We talked about the general pros and cons of 30-day challenges in Part 1 of this series, so if you somehow managed to sleep through that post, I would highly recommend reading it before you proceed here – you know, background information. Always helpful, always. For those of you t

What’s Wrong with the “Best Diets”?

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Every year, it’s the same thing: U.S. News and World Report ranks 38 of the most popular diets from best to worst . And every single time, the paleo diet—or some variant, in this case the Whole30 plan—comes in dead last. I’ve written about this before. You know my stance. You know how silly the whole thing is, and why you shouldn’t care about a ranking, especially when you’ve transformed your health eating the “worst diet in the world.” Frankly, I’m skeptical these reports have much impact anymore. But I got another barrage of emails about the rankings, so I’m going to address them. Instead of defending ancestral eating, which I’ve already done plenty of times before, I’ll scrutinize the two so-called “best diets.” The pair that wallop paleo and Whole30. The ones you’d apparently be fools not to adopt. The most ironic part of all this is their descriptions of the “best diets” have the least citations supporting their ranking. In bashing paleo, they had to acknowledge five studies a

My Favorite Organic Non-GMO Snacks and Party Food!

I know many of you may be heading to Super Bowl parties this weekend where traditional Doritos, Lays and Ruffles are being served but you don’t have to eat those dirty processed chemical filled GMO snacks! There are an incredible amount of … Continued The post My Favorite Organic Non-GMO Snacks and Party Food! appeared first on Food Babe . from Food Babe http://ift.tt/2l0wPM8

3 Immunity Boosters to Add to Meals

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Cold and flu season is tough, and you may need help to make it through unscathed. Whether you’re hunkered down on the couch with a case of the sniffles, or just trying to avoid any sick days, these easy ways to add immunity boosters to your meals may help keep you healthy. Turmeric Long part of Eastern medicine traditions, this spice contains a component called curcumin which can help decrease inflammation. This antioxidant may help soothe inflammation caused by symptoms like sore throat and stuffy nose. Spoonfuls of turmeric may also help shorten the length of a cold by bolstering the immune system. If you can find fresh turmeric root (similar to ginger root) in a store’s produce department, snatch it up. As with most foods, the whole plant contains the most potent components, but the dry, powdered spice is a powerful alternative. Add turmeric to a wide variety of drinks and dishes: your morning mango smoothie, cinnamon oatmeal with raisins, chicken noodle soup or cooked greens wi

Paint Nite Date Nite

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This post is sponsored by Paint Nite Last Friday night, Thomas and I had the chance to attend a really fun Paint Nite event right here in Charlottesville. Paint Nite hosts events all over the country (at more than 3,500+ locations in 1,500+ cities) and they are held at local bars and restaurants so you can order drinks or food while you paint. Our event was held at Keglers Lane bowling alley in its private room. Paint Nite can organize private events too, so check out the website for more information on that. When you search for events in your area, you’ll get a preview for the painting that will be the model for each night, so you can see what you’ll be painting ahead of time. My grandmother was a talented painter, but I didn’t inherit those genes from her. I’ve been told in a nice way my whole life: “You’re good at  abstract art.” Haha – in other words, my trees never look like real trees. So I was a little nervous to take a stab at such a realistic painting. No experience