WINNERS UPDATE: Get out your legwarmers and your handweights, Ladies, because you are the winners: Sue Rogers; Martha C and Marge!
Can we combine Mother’s Day with health, fitness and food? I say yes! I’ve been testing, reading, cooking and rocking my my core over the last few months to assemble this Mother’s Day Gift Guide. Though, looking at the list, these are all products I believe we should just be able to buy ourselves, moms or not, because they’ll add to our energy to our lives. So whether you gift or get, please enjoy the following:
Comment below to win a set of videos from Acacia Fitness! 3 winners will be drawn on Mother's Day.
Acacia Fitness DVDs : I love when the people at Acacia send me a new batch of their great fitness videos because I really like variety in my workouts. And, I recently broke up with my gym after an incident at yoga class, so I’m unattached at the moment. Who better to workout with than Kristi Yamaguchi or Kathy Smith? No one– because these women are no pushovers. I lent my friend Ryan the Kathy Smith video and she whined to me that next day, “That was hard!” Yes, have you seen Kathy Smith? She didn’t get that way doing it easy! New videos out by Acacia Fitness include yoga asanas from Shiva Rae, the Sparkpeople Boot Camp and the Canyon Ranch. (I love the Shiva Rae More Daily Energy dvd with 7 different 20 minute practices.) Want to win a set of Acacia Fitness videos? Leave a comment and 3 winners will be drawn at random on Mother’s Day at noon PST. Each winner will receive 2 videos, including a copy of Sparkpeople 28 – day Boot Camp. Thanks, Acacia Fitness for providing the videos.
You got a veggie or grain? This book has a recipe!
5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking : 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness by Camilla Saulsbury I love, love, love this cookbook. For those of you who’ve been following long with my weekly organic produce delivery on Facebook, you’ll know I’ve been trying to incorporate more greens and veggies into my cooking. But sometimes, the veggies arrive and I have no idea what to do with two bunches of rainbow chard or purple baby artichokes. Enter this compendium of healthy recipes from famed Canadian cookbook publisher Robert Rose. And I mean compendium! 5 Steps to Healthy Cooking may not be the snappiest of titles and you don’t get a lot of fancy photos, but you get a LOT of recipes for almost anything you can think of in your farmer’s market basket. Some of my faves so far: Quinoa Kale Breakfast Casserole, Warm Cauliflower and Parsley Salad and Shrimp, Grapefruit and Watercress Salad. Good nutritional information included with every recipe. Lots of non-meat options. Click here to find the author’s great food blog Enlightened Cooking and the recipe for my new family standard sidedish: Lemony Quinoa Salad
Click here for lots more information on the book and Ashley
Mom Energy by Ashley Koff and Kathy Keahler Yes, another book, but this one is all about eating, nutrition and exercise without the tempting dessert recipes. The authors are heavy weights in their respective fields of nutrition (Koff) and fitness ( Kaehler) . If you really want to dig deep into how you can make your body perform the everyday functions of being a mom at the highest levels– and you’re a bit of a nutrition-geek– then Mom Energy is right up your alley. Here’s a hint: it’s not coffee and energy bars! Ashley Koff describes her approach as “qualitarian”– eating good quality foods with high nutritional impact. I saw Ashley Koff last year at a presentation and she blew me away with her own momenergy! And Kathy Kaehler has always been one of my favorite fitness personalities with her great attitude and commonsense approach. This is a book that will get you thinking. I learned a tremendous amount from reading Momenergy. To learn more about Momenergy, including how to get a free download of a sample chapter, click here for AshleyKoff.com
The boys love these after a hard workout.
Sambazon Smoothies Sambazon professes to be the Amazon Superfood company and those are catch words that I fall for every time. Why just eat food when you can eat a superfood? And if that food comes with the approval of the Fair Trade Partnership to protect the rainforest? Win-win. My sons and I tried these as a free sample and we were hooked. I’m a little suspicious of the promise of smoothies, but the Sambazon delivers in taste and nutrients. The boys ( and their many friends who eat my food) love the chocolate/almond/coconut milk variety. (So much so that one of the friends actually asked if I could buy some more!) I go for the greens. To read more about Sambazon Smoothies, click here
Don’t forget to comment to win a set of Acacia Fitness DVD’s . Tell me what’s on your list to get healthy this spring.
Embracing my Chaos, Lian
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I really would like those videos as a Mother’s Day gift from a satellite sister.
All of the videos sound terrific. I’m always looking for something new to try out.
And I thought I was the only one still using videos! I’m a Mom with 5 year old B/G twins. My only workout time is at night…. Except for the sprint to the school bus. Yes, chaos is life!
I have been running and walking all winter and spring to lose a few pounds. It would be great to have fitness videos since it is starting to get hot here in Texas. I would love to have a way to get a workout indoors!
A fit and fabulous Happy Mother’s Day to all!
Lian, thanks for the great suggestions. Just listened to the podcast, and there must be a way to combine the peer pressure influence idea with the healthy eating and exercising (I guess the Nike+ challenge on Satellite Sisters is a good start.)
A perfect reminder to give a mother’s day present to myself and get back into my fitness program. (if only working out was as enjoyable as curling up with a good book…)
Thank you as always for such great content on topics of interest to me! I am terrified of the summer – when my boys are home from school, my workouts go out the window. Maybe with the videos I could squeeze a workout in during the summer! : )
I would love to add more yoga to my fitness routine. I love going to the studio but need something to inspire asanas at home!
Thanks for the podast, I love it. I have 5 & 7 year old boys and I love to hear about what I have to look forward too. I just started listening and am listening to season one. I loved the episode about going to the incoming freshman breakfast at your son’s high school.
I’ve been doing Dr. Oz’s 7 minute morning workout everyday and I’m adding more short intense workouts when I can sqeeze them in. So far so good, I feel alot stronger. My goal is to be in a bikini by July.
I love boot camp workouts. I would love to win this.
My goal for Spring and Mother’s Day is to kick my training into gear, but more importantly embrace my kiddos. The videos would be great, for rainy day options, but after my panini generation weekend, this Mother’s Day I just want to snuggle.
The videos are great to change it up when my husband travels and I can’t get to the gym. Love a challenging video!
Thank you for the book recommendations! I got a copy of Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld’s wife) and my goal is to make the Chocolate Cake with beet puree. I’ve already stir fried the beet greens and they were delicious.
Hmmm, my get fit ‘project’ for spring is working towards a 5K. I won’t be breaking any time records, but I’d like to complete one. I’m sure the video’s would help
Thanks for the recommendations, Lian. I’d love to win the videos. Will also get the cookbook from the library.
Ok you have my attention – fitness and nutrition!! Not that you didn’t have it before, but this really perks up my ears … I used to have so many great sites bookmarked for both topics and I lost them all when I lost my hard drive recently. I added the two nutrition/cooking sites you mentioned – they look great! My healthy spring includes yoga of course, walking daily and I’ve really stepped up the strength training including a killer bootcamp style class – it’s hard, but I love doing what I can do! Also eating a ton of vegetable based meals and having fun experimenting.
Would love the Videos could really use then to kick start my new fitness goals for the summer when I might be un-employed because they are moving our plant to Ohio. Exercise hopefully will help improve my mood and reduce my stress.
While leaving a basketball game, a Mom told her son they were having quinoa for dinner. He asked what kind of animal quinoa comes from…
Thanks Lian for having this give away drawing!
I love the idea of working out at home. There are no gym hours nor commuting to worry about when you use videos for your workout.
Thanks for all the info – a new food blog, yeah. The sparkpeople DVD is on my wish list on Amazon, would love to win it. Since Easter I have begun a new health and excercise routine – a variety of excercise and healthy eating.
Thank you for the tips. I need to raise the exercise bar from simple dog walking.
I would love to win these to help me do the work!
I need to win these! My gym is 45 minutes away in the town where I teach and so I won’t go over the summer…my goal is to loose 5% more body fat and I know I have to do more resistance training…..I’d love these!
Love Hungry Girl. The other day, she responede to my tweet and I was very flattered.
and– go, sandy go ,sandy! That App sounds great. it’s a weight loss classic– track your calories!
Thanks for the comments. Wish I had videos for you all! Lian
I would love the videos! My sons (8 and 14) and I just started martial arts a couple of weeks ago. I have gone to a plant based diet and the boys and husband are eating meatless meals a few times a week.
Always looking for new recipes and then ways to work off the calories!
I am a big fan of Hungry Girl. She started as a newsletter and now has a tv show on the Food and Cooking channel. Her recipes in her bestsellin boojs are so practical for the busy mom and she always figures out a way to satisfy my cravings. This quarter I am really focusing on a combination of her recipes plus weightwatchers. She definitely would have been a satellite sister interviewee in the old days. She is on Dr. Oz this week talking about my biggest challenge — carbs!
They all sound great. Happy Mother’s day to you.
These videos would be great. Maybe if I had videos to use at home I would exercise, at least I like to think I would.
Hey Lian! I heard of a free website/iPhone app called Lose It on the Today show last month. I am keeping track of my food and my exercise and have lost 5 pounds so far. I’m eating healthier and exercising more. 10 more pounds to go!
Lian- the cookbook and the Mom Energy book both looks great. I’m going to check both of them out. (and of course, the workout videos would be amazing to win!) Thanks for the Mother’s Day suggestions.
I could really use those videos!
Great info, Lian! I just tried a new quinoa recipe today! Will try yours next!
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