Ⓥ Feel Good with Delicious, Healthy Eating Ⓥ

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{New Year Inspirational Kick-Off!}

 Kicking off this new year only feels right to be boasting with enthusiasm and inspirational to get things running all the more smoothly, so, I welcome you to the New Year Inspirational Kick-Off! The next several days will be dedicated to sharing fun projects and resources you can use to keep your own life bustling with gratitude and awesomeness.

New Year Positive Power! Huzzah!

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Today (meaning our usual Sunday Vegan Kitchen Posts), I wanted to do something a little different. After too much wine, too many cookies, too much eggnog, and too much junk food in general during the holiday season, getting back into shape, quite naturally, appears on our list of New Year's resolutions. My suggestion isn't going to be to go Vegan (though I do think you should), but merely to eat healthy and to feel good about the food you put into your body. Far too frequent is the mentality that healthy food tastes awful. Eww, gross, who wants to eat vegetables? Well, while you should enjoy the taste of raw vegetables, no one said that eating healthy meant you had to eat them all raw; come on now, you can dress up your food and make it explode with delicious, tantalizing flavours. And, yes, it will still be healthy. 

The recipes posted here on ReLove Plan.et are always vegan (again, ditch the mentality that vegan food is gross… or expensive for that matter), and are also usually gluten-free and free of common allergies. On top of that, the recipes I post focus on Health. I want you to eat right, I want you to feel Good about what you're eating, and I want you to enjoy every mouthful and want more once you're done. Because that's the way we should eat, that's the way we should enjoy food. That's the way eating is supposed to be! 

So, as well as checking in at ReLove Plan.et for recipes, I am sharing some of my favourite recipe resources. And after that, some eating tips to stay on track and have a super healthy year! 

Healthy, Yummy Recipe Resources! 

• ReLove Plan.et: All the recipes you can find archived by category and name by clicking Here (or the "Vegan Kitchen" tab on the right side of the blog). You can also search the tag "vegan kitchen" to scroll through them all (click here). Recipes are always vegan, usually gluten-free, free of allergies, and healthy and oh so good! 
• Fellowship of the Vegetable: This blog is wonderful, positive, and filled with yummy recipes. Plus the photos of all the food are beautifully displayed. The recipes are all vegan, and . Kylie, who runs the blog, says "I started this blog at the end of 2011 as a way to journal my journey through veganism, but I’m hoping it has evolved into more of a place for people to come together and see how easy and fun being vegan can be." It certainly is! Kylie also does lots of restaurant and food reviews of places she's gotten to try out. I love the creativity of the recipes, and I always look forward to seeing her new recipe posts. Check it out here: http://www.fellowshipofthevegetable.com/ 
• Lunch Box Bunch: This is probably my favourite place for recipes! They have so much to offer and they are usually on the healthier side with lots to offer and plenty of pretty pictures to entice your tastebuds. Check it out here: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/
• This Rawsome Vegan Life: Every healthy diet should include more raw foods, and that's when "This Rawsome Vegan Life" comes in. If you think raw food isn't delicious, amazing, and packed full of flavour then you haven't been looking in the right places. This website is enough to make your mouth salivate the second you hit the main page with the photos alone. Raw desserts are my particular weak spot, I mean, who doesn't want to eat dessert and actually feel really good about doing so? I highly recommend you give it a try, soon all your desserts will be raw for the mere pleasure and health of it all. Check them out here: http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/
• VegWeb: Oh my! The second you go to the VegWeb webpage you are immediately thrown into fits of enticement at all the yummy images of food. VegWeb is the world's largest collection of vegetarian (read vegan) recipes. You can literally find any kind of recipe you may be looking for on here. It's amazing! While not all the recipes may be incredibly healthy, vegan recipes are always a healthy start and there are lots of truly healthful recipes on the site you can turn to. Go to the site here: http://www.vegweb.com/
• One Green Planet: "Your online guide to making conscious choices that help people, animals, and the planet." This site is not only packed full of healthy vegan recipes, but it also has plenty of vegan, health, and activism resources you can check out and stay motivated with. Oh and, of course, there is an entire recipe section, including a gluten-free one, and raw living t keep your plate happy. Check them out: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/
• PPK (Post Punk Kitchen): The PPK was created by Isa Chandra Moskowitz with the idea to have a fun cooking show to give vegans something to watch. A website was also started to support the show and to foster a vegan cooking and baking community, where they could submit recipes, share ideas and maybe gossip a little bit. PPK is a super fun and vibrant place and packed full of amazing recipes. If you're looking to go vegan this new year, this is your hotspot to stay inspired! Check out PPK here: http://www.theppk.com/
• Vega: I love Vega, and I always will. The company, and founder, really have your health in mind when it comes to the products they sell and the website they share. There are health resources, fitness tips, and an entire recipe section, all with your health and happiness in mind. Check them out and enjoy all that they have to offer: http://myvega.com/vega-life/recipe-center/

Pinterest: There are so many more website and resources I could share above to keep you motivated, by my favourite of them all? Pinterest. Why? Well! My oh my are the wonders you can find on Pinterest! I love using it as a collection of all my favourite recipes I find while trolling through the web or happen upon through any other social media site. Then, whenever I'm unsure what to make that day for supper, dessert, breakfast, or anything else, I simply turn to my list and start scrolling through tantalizing images. Here is my "Vegan Kitchen" board, I encourage you to make your own to keep motivated! http://www.pinterest.com/reloveplanet/vegan-kitchen/

I am also very much enjoying Kylie's (from Fellowship of the Vegetable) Pinterest, so you should check out hers for food ideas and inspiration as well. http://www.pinterest.com/faboofierce/vegan-yums/

Health Tips! 

Let's stay motivated and happy shall we? Here are some more tips to keeping your New Years happy and healthy! 

• Don't Overeat. It's so easy to do and it will be your biggest downfall. You should feel energized and awesome after eating, not like a lethargic mess. What you eat has a huge roll in this feeling. The other roll is played by How Much you eat. Need help? Buy yourself a smaller plate and/or bowl. It sounds kind of silly but it works. I have a beautiful little ceramic pottery bowl I bought locally that I absolutely love, and it gives me the perfect portion sizes. Just don't go back for seconds. ;)  
• Drink Lots of Water! Yes, cliche, but so important and so true. Do it! Your digestion, your body, and your mind will thank you. A few tips when it comes to drinking water: don't drink a ton of water after meals, you should be waiting at least half an hour to an hour before consuming a bunch. Drink a glass of water half an hour before meals, it will fill you up so you don't overeat and it will help your digestion along later. If you workout, drink more. 
• Take a MultiVitamin. You can do everything right, eat the right foods, exercise, and be an overall shining ball of health, but a multivitamin could still benefit you. Sadly, most of what we eat isn't what it used to be; the soil is depleted of its nutrients and therefor the food grown in it is lacking, and food is usually harvested too early in order to make it to us across the globe. On top of this, if you are stressed out then your body won't absorb all the nutrients either. Everyone could benefit from a multivitamin these days. Just make sure you choose a good one! There are plenty of bad-for-you vitamins on the market. Look for natural, organic, and vitamins that your body can absorb. I use RawOne for Women, it's amazing and perfect. If you are lacking in any other nutrients be aware and take supplements accordingly. 
• Choose Organic and Local. This should always be your first choice. Choose the right thing for the planet, your health, and the animals and people that live here. Support your community, it will not only be good for community, but their grown food is probably more nutrient rich than anything you buy in the supermarket. And Organic means freeing yourself of awful bad-for-you pesticides, chemicals, and GMO. If you aren't going to eat Organic, then at least avoid the list of the dirty dozen. 
• Eat Regular Meals. Don't skip meals, but don't spend all day eating either. Ideally, eat smaller meals every 3-4 hours, to give your digestion a break in between and to keep it happy and working optimally when you do eat. 
• Exercise. Exercise has everything to do with a health digestive system and a happy body. Exercise lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, and it keeps your digestive system flowing. It also keeps your lymph system active which will keep away colds. Twenty to thirty minutes a day is all you need, even if it's just a leisurely walk. 
• Make Calories Count. Stop calorie counting. At once! Calorie counting is an awful way of trying to be healthy and it may work in some ways but fails when it comes to your overall well-being. Not all calories were created equal, this you need to keep in mind. When you are happy, exercising, and eating the right foods your body will metabolize and use the nutrients in those foods much more efficiently. Don't fall for the crappy "Special K" products or any other gimics of the sort, at the end of the day, these are still Junk Foods. Choose Real food and you will no longer need to count calories.

Eat Real Food

Drop any silly Diet Fad you may be following and, instead, just eat Real, Whole Food. That's all there is to eating healthy. Real Food. 

While there are so many debates on different dieting, these are some simple overall rounded tips you should follow these simple rules… 

• Lessen or cut out animal products. Even those that are pro-meat will almost all agree less is more. If you're going to eat animal products, reduce once or twice a week for meat and eggs. Dairy you really should try to cut out completely, but if you are going to consume then go for one or twice a week as well. 
• Carbs are good. But not equal. Choose whole grains and you won't have to worry about following silly low-carb diets. Vegetables and fruits are healthy carbs as well, eat lots of them! 
• Eat lots of Veggies. Vegetables are the cornerstone to health, eat lots of them! 
• Fruit, fruit. Fruit is best on its own and/or in the morning. However, fruit is good for you and don't react like nasty sugars, so eat your heart out. 
• Cut Out the Crap. No junk food, no processed foods, no high saturated fats, no refined flours or sugars. Got it? Good. 
• Omegas. Omegas are sooooo important for you health, and yet most of the population don't get their healthy omega 3s nearly enough. Your ratio should be 1:1, but you can be healthy with 1:3 (omega 3 to omega 6 ratio). Your best sources to boost your omega 3s are chia and flax. 

Above all else, stay motivated by being happy. The happier you feel, the more inclined and motivated you will be to eat healthy, because you will Want to make yourself feel good all the time. Stay on track by getting a friend involved, joining an online community, or really exploring all the resources around you. And have fun with it! And remember to be grateful for your food. 

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year! I know you can do it!  

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