Great Fall Treats

"Well look I'll treat you good; My man treats me better." -Positive K

Fall, glorious fall! The return of crisp air, golden hues, endless football…and longings for all those cool-weather comfort foods. Stay trim this season while still indulging your cravings with these seven tasty low-cal snacks.

69 calories: 8 Danielle Pumpkin Chips

60 calories: Pure Maple Candy Man

49 calories: 2 tablespoons sweetened cranberries

50 calories: 1 Dancing Deer Baking Co. Chocolate Bar

60 calories: 4 ounces apple cider with a cinnamon stick

50 calories: 1/2 Anjou Pear

59 calories: S'more (1 large marshmallow, 1/4 graham cracker and 1 Hershey's chocolate bar square)

Let's Make This Simple

"Why do you make something so easy so complicated." -Usher

I keep tearing out articles and snippets about what vitamins are found in what fruit/vegetable and what it'll do for you specifically. I hang them on the fridge like, "Oooo, I'm gonna start eating more x (enter in any fruit/veggie of your choice)." But I know I won't. I won't make an concerted effort to seek out that new, anti-aging fruit that, while supposedly works miracles, can't be found anywhere.

What I suggest, as much to me as to you, is to eat a wide variety of fruits and veggies and don't worry about it! But make sure you're eating them! Start your day off with fruits so that you are eating them on an empty stomach (fruit acids produce a fermentation that can upset stomachs and slow digestion of other foods) then have veggies with dinner and as a late night snack (vegetable may be combined with either proteins or carbohydrates). See HealthyWayMagazine for a good article on this concept.

So, while it's great to know what every vitamin will do and how to get it, I'm going to stop collecting these types of articles, stop with the guilt of not incorporating each and every vitamin into my daily diet (take a multi if you're so concerned) and just start eating 'em!

Lifestyle Websites

"Online, all right, let's get this party started." -Krayzie Bone

Local Harvest - Use their website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.

Library Thing - Catalogue what's on your bookshelves and see who has the same taste in reading materials as you. The world's largest book club.

Life Style Map - A space where wisdom meets style and timeless principles work for today. Get your map and start living a life meant for you.

My Food Diary - By recording your food intake and your activity level, you will gain insight into the quality of the foods you are consuming, and you will have a better understanding of your metabolism and how food and exercise come into play.

Easy Container Gardens

"Cause next year this time I'ma sell out the Garden." -Wyclef Jean

Live in an apartment or condo where there is no place to plant a garden, or anything for that matter? Take these ideas, where you can even plant vegetables.

Potted herb garden

Potted salad garden

Potted cutting garden

Also, try planting nasturtiums, which cascade out of pots or climb trellises, they are a cinch to grow. Sort of remind me of morning glory's, except these are edible with an intense peppery flavor. They are colorful and make for lovely arrangements in salads.

Harvest: As soon as the plants begin to bloom, you can gather for eating. Opt for young flowers and small tender leaves. Nasturtiums are cut-and-come-again - the more you pick, the more they bloom so don't hold back.

Prepare: Soak them in cold water for two hours. It makes the texture of the leaves much perkier. Dry and scatter a handful over greens.
Dress: Use a tablespoon tarragon white-wine vinegar to three tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and plenty of sea salt (you won't need pepper because of the spiciness of the nasturtiums), then whisk it all up with a fork. Pour the dressing over the salad just before you ready to enjoy.

Or, wait three months or so until the plants are well established before picking for arranging; that way, you'll get good long trailing stems. After cutting, sear stem ends in boiling water for 20 seconds to increase their vase life. Trailing nasturtiums look great arranged in small vivid pitchers or glasses.

Garden Ideas

"In the garden of fruitfulness, You plant and it grows, yeh." -Ziggy Marley

Three different garden plans from Real Simple:

The Succulent Garden


The Shady Garden


The Annual Garden