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Salmon Cakes and Avocado Salad

Dr Peggy — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:53:47 +0000

Fun in the Kitchen with Dr. Peggy

Salmon Cakes and Avocado Salad

A few weeks ago I introduced you to some very delicious salmon cakes. This past Friday, I was making lunch for a friend and included the salmon cakes cold on this delicious salad. It was soooo yummy

Ingredients:

1-2 cold salmon cakes (see recipe here)
1 sliced avocado
A plate full of mixed greens
2-3 tbsps of Kick Ass Asian Salad Dressing (see recipe here)
2 tbsps of shredded carrot

Directions:

Place mixed greens on a plate
Add the sliced avocado
Add the salmon cakes
Sprinkle the shredded carrot on top
Add the salad dressing

Enjoy!

Dr. Peggy Malone is a Chiropractor and an Athlete who helps other athletes to overcome injury and get back to their sport. Her weekly Television Series 'Living Well" inspires people from all walks of life to take control of their health to be as happy and as healthy as they can be.

A former varsity Basketball and Rugby player, she has since entered the world of endurance athletics where she has completed 2 Ironman Triathlons, 3 Marathons, several Half Marathons and many other Triathlons, Road Races and Off-Road Adventure races of varying distances.

Her own athletic endeavors and injuries have given her valuable insight into working with athletes in her practice for both the care of injuries as well as for the improvement of athletic performance.

Salmon Cakes

Dr Peggy — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:04:12 +0000

Salmon Cakes

by Dr. Peggy Malone

These salmon cakes are so yummy warm right out of the pan or cold the next day! I like to have them on a salad.

Ingredients:

2 cans of wild salmon, drained
2 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp minced red onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp green onion, minced
dash of Rosemary, Sage and Black Pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1-2 tsp coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut oil

Directions:

Mix the salmon, eggs, red onion, garlic, green onion and spices and coconut flour in a small mixing bowl.
In a large pan over medium heat, melt the coconut oil.
Form the salmon mixture into 4 equally sized patties and place them in the pan.
Cook until the patties are brown on one side before flipping and cook through

Enjoy!!

The Key to Lasting Health Change

Dr Peggy — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:24:19 +0000

The Key to Lasting Health Change

By: Dr. Peggy Malone

Many people are able to make a change in their health habits for a few days or a few weeks but then their old habits often sneak back up on them to a point where it’s hard to recognize any change at all.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Is this a routine that you have found yourself falling into each year at the New Year or at your birthday?

Do you want to stop the merry-go-round and finally stick with your health changes long term?

Through many years of working toward my own health goals and helping others to make long term changes on their health journeys, I have noticed that the single most important key in sticking with the change is this…

Accountability

The ultimate goal is hold yourself accountable. To partake in your new health habits every minute, day and hour because you have created a very strong habit loop and you are committed to your ‘Why’, to the reasons that you want to be healthier.

That said… when you are working toward your goals for a healthier you, remember that you don’t have to do it alone.

Especially in the beginning it will serve you to ask for help, to lean on others and to follow the advice of someone who has already walked the path or who has a map

Here are some ways that you can build layers of accountability into your schedule so that you will be more likely to be successful on your health and wellness journey.

Find a Support Group

Having a group of like minded people to bounce ideas off of and to get support from when things are tough is an amazing way to build in a layer of accountability that will lead to continued success.

Find an Accountability Partner

This is a great way to increase your odds for success. This is something that I have implemented in my life and it has made a huge difference. I have a scheduled phone meeting with my accountability partner at 8am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. We check in with one another and take note of what the other wants to be held accountable for before our next call. Sometimes the checklist is for health and sometimes it’s for business but in either case it makes it more likely that you’ll get it done because you know that someone is going to ask you about it.

For example, if you told a friend that you would meet her at 6am at the corner to go for a walk, you will be much more likely to throw the covers off and get moving. Without that extra layer of accountability built in, you might be tempted to stay in bed.

Get a coach or a mentor

Having a coach for a sporting team or an athletic endeavor is so common that we don’t even blink and it’s more and more common to have a coach or a mentor for business as well. But what about hiring a coach to help you with your health and wellness goals? That seems a little more novel.

But it really is a great idea, especially when you recognize that without investing in your health first… you are unlikely to be super successful in any other area of your life.

Remember that your health is your first wealth and finding someone to direct you on the right course is an amazing decision that will build massive accountability into your health and wellness plan.

So remember, ultimately you are looking for accountability to self… but this takes practice and time. Step by step with the help of accountability partners you’ll get there.

By building in these layers of accountability, you will be much more likely to succeed!!

Live Well,

Blueberry Crumble

Dr Peggy — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:58:19 +0000

Fun in the Kitchen With Dr. Peggy

Blueberry Crumble

This is a yummy, guilt free, dessert.

Ingredients:

4 cups of organic blueberries
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup chopped nuts (walnut, macadamia, almond, cashew)
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Place blueberries in a 9X9 baking dish and squeeze half of the lemon juice on them and toss to coat.
Combine the almond meal, nuts, coconut oil, maple syrup, remaining lemon juice, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl.
Spread the nut topping evenly over the blueberries and bake until the fruit is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. (Approx. 30-40 min)

Enjoy!!

What is Your Springtime Health Plan?

Dr Peggy — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:27:06 +0000

What is Your Springtime Health Plan?

By: Dr. Peggy Malone

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carrol

Last week we talked about making the decision to get healthy and now it’s time for the plan that will get you there.

It’s time to start taking some action steps to get healthier.

People usually think about their health 2 times per year:

1. At their birthday. When people are thinking about getting older… which makes them think about their mortality… and therefore their current state of health.

And…

2. At the New Year. When everyone is making New Years resolutions

Other than these 2 times, most people don’t ever really consider their health (unless they lose it.)

Most people don’t take time to look around and take stock of where they are when it comes to health and wellness, let alone make a plan for their future health and wellness.

People might consider setting goals for their career or for family or for other areas of life…

Why not consider making some goals for your Health and Wellness?

And no need to wait for your birthday or the new year… today is a good day to start!!

Write Your Goals Down

Of those people who actually do make goals for their future, very few ever write them down.

Successful people write down their goals, and they use these written goals as road maps to achieve their dreams.

There is power in writing something down.

Specific, written goals help to clarify an idea; the act of writing is the first step in committing to the idea. It takes the goal from a thought or a dream or a wish; something that is vague and makes it concrete. The act of writing down a goal solidifies it as a real thing.

When it is something tangible outside of your head… your likelihood of success is that much better!!

Your goals should be SMART goals:

S: specific
M: measurable
A: achievable
R: realistic/reasonable
T: time bound

So a vague goal might be: I want to lose weight.

A SMART goal would transform that into: I want to lose a total of 20 pounds at a rate of 1 pound per week over the next 20 weeks.

Specific, written, measurable goals will put you in the top 3% of the people and will increase your chances for success!!

Make sure to revisit your goals often.

Just because you have them written down doesn’t mean that you can then throw them in a drawer and forget about them until the New Year or your next birthday.

Referring to them often (every day!) and having them posted prominently in a place where you can see them will increase your odds for success!

E.g.: Put a picture of you how you want to look on the outside or even the inside of the fridge!

Schedule Your Health and Wellness:

Make your commitment to yourself and to your health and wellness just as important as a work meeting, a dentist appointment or your daughter’s piano lesson.

Schedule your meal planning session, your grocery shopping, your exercise sessions etc. and then keep the appointments just as you would keep an important business meeting.

What will Your life look like When…

Visualize what your life will look like when you have achieved the goals that you have set for yourself. So if you want to lose 20 pounds, imagine what that will feel like, what you will look like in the mirror, how other people will react to you, what clothes you will wear, what your energy level will be like.

Your subconscious mind works in pictures, so if you give it visual images of your future with your goal achieved, it will work hard to lead you in that direction.

Expect Setbacks:

Every successful person has experienced a setback on the way to success.

They will happen. When they do, recognize it as a setback… not a failure. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off… forgive yourself and get back on track.

There is no need to wait until the New Year or your next birthday to start again.

You can start over at any week, day or minute moving toward your goals.

It’s about progress… not perfection

You are worth it!

It’s Time to Make a Decision

Dr Peggy — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:21:40 +0000

It’s Time to Make a Decision

By: Dr. Peggy Malone

“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.” – Ben Stein

Last week we dug in and clarified your ‘Why’. Why do you want to be healthier? Why do you want to make a change in your current health and wellness reality?

Once you have established your ‘Why’, the next step on your journey to healthier and happier is to make the decision to do what needs to be done to get you there.

Well that doesn’t seem so hard does it?

For many people, this is difficult. They won’t commit to making one decision to do whatever it takes to get them to their goal.

“The greatest accomplishment began as a decision once made and often a difficult one.” ― Michael Rawls

Most people think that in order to be healthier, they need to change:

What they eat and drink.
How they move their bodies (exercise.)
How they manage stress.
The amount of toxins that they are exposed to.
Their bad habits.

And yes… these things are important but not nearly as important as changing one vital thing…

YOUR MIND!!

Your mindset is 90% of the reason for your success or failure.

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Many people are presented with an opportunity to make a change in their health and instead of making a decision to act, they get overwhelmed and just continue doing what they have always done.

Make a decision to take action, to do something different than you have done before.

(Because what you’ve been doing up until now hasn’t got you to where you want to be!)

So change your mind. Make a decision right here right now that you will make the necessary changes to get healthy!

You are worth it!

Once you have made the decision to do whatever it takes… the next step is to make a plan. We will get to that in next week’s newsletter… stay tuned.

Until then…

Live Well,

So you are Ready for Change. What’s Next?

Dr Peggy — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:09:56 +0000

So you are Ready for Change. What’s Next?

By: Dr. Peggy Malone

As promised a couple of weeks ago, I want to remind you of some things that you can be doing in this Spring Season to get you on track to be your happiest and healthiest as we head into summer!

We discussed that change is not something that people do when they are feeling comfortable.

Are you in a place on your health and wellness journey where you have gotten so uncomfortable with the way things are that you have made a decision to do something different?

Good! Let’s get started…

The first place I will encourage you to start is to ask yourself what you want to accomplish for your health and wellness and then ask yourself why you want to accomplish that.

The ‘what’ is your health and wellness goal.

In previous posts we have discussed goal setting and why it is so important for success. You can read about goal setting in detail there, but the basics are these: Only about 3% of people have concise written measurable goals and their resultant success is what separates them from the pack.

So whatever your health and wellness goal is… make a plan, write it down… put it somewhere that you can see it every day. Expect that you will have some setbacks. Believe you can do it.

The ‘why’ you want to accomplish your goal is the fuel that will take you there.

Finding your ‘why’ and attaching meaning to a goal of any kind will better motivate you to get your butt in gear and go after it.

The more emotion associated with your ‘Why’, the more motivating it will be and the more likely you will be to push until you succeed.

For example: If, when I asked you why you wanted to learn to eat better and lose 25 pounds, you told me, “Because my doctor told me that I should”… sure it’s a good reason but that’s not the most powerful ‘why’.

If instead you told me: “Because I want to be able to play with my children and set a good example for them so they don’t end up with health challenges like mine when they get older”. Well… now we’re talking. That’s a ‘why’ that you can really feel. And because you can really feel it, it will be there for you when the going gets tough to motivate you to keep moving towards success.

What is your ‘Why’?

Your friends and family
Your children
Your career
Your independence as you get older
The ability to stay active and healthy to travel
A race or event coming up

There is no right answer as to what your ‘Why’ should be.

It has to be important enough to you and associated with enough passion and emotion that you consider it a good reason to keep working toward your goals for health and wellness.

Each one of us has to make a conscious choice every day to make health a priority. Make one decision today that will change the next three months of your life leading into summer and beyond!

Once you have decided on the goal that you want to achieve, attach a powerful ‘why’ to it and you won’t even recognize yourself when July 1st rolls around.

Believe you can do it. I believe you can

Live Well,

Garlic Cauli-mashed “Potatoes”

Dr Peggy — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:27:45 +0000

Fun in the Kitchen With Dr. Peggy

Garlic Cauli-mashed “Potatoes”

An amazing alternative to mashed potatoes!

When you are looking for the health benefits of your veggies and the comfort of mashed potatoes, this recipe is a great fit!

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower
4 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil
1 clove raw garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
pepper to taste

Directions:

Chop the cauliflower into 2 to 3 inch pieces
Steam the cauliflower until it is tender
Place cauliflower, butter or oil, garlic, salt and pepper in the food processor and puree until smooth and creamy.
An alternative method is to mash the ingredients together by hand with a potato masher.

Serve as you would mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Healing Your Energy Body

Dr Peggy — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:43:33 +0000

Healing Your Energy Body

Guest Article by: Wanda Davis

As a Holistic Health Practitioner I observe the whole person, discuss any symptoms that may be causing issues with the client and together with the client, we discuss a plan of action for the treatment. A holistic practitioner treats the whole person. The types of treatments that I provide help heal the energy body, the person’s energy system, what I think of as another body system that everyone has and what needs to be looked after for good health.

So what is our energy body? Everything in the universe is made of energy and so are we as humans. From the atoms and molecules that make up our body to the chemical reactions that occur to keep us alive, there is “energy” of many forms in our bodies.

Eastern cultures have believed for thousands of years that there is a life energy flowing through our body that keeps us alive. It has been called many names: chi or ki or prana. Better flowing energy means better health.

Energy blockages may occur in areas of pain or injury and different holistic treatments can help remove the energy blockages to restore balance and harmony in the body. This life energy travels along several different pathways in the body.

It can flow along the meridians to different tissues and organs. If you have ever had an acupuncture treatment, the practitioner was working to unblock these meridian pathways. Another energy pathway involves the chakras and nadis.

Energy from the universe is taken in through the chakras and dispersed throughout the body along the nadis.

So we all have this energy system where our life energy flows through our body. At times of stress, illness, pain or fatigue our “energy may be low” and we may need a “boost of energy”.

As mentioned before, pain or injury in an area may indicate an energy blockage and most likely the energy is not flowing properly through that area. It is beneficial to have balanced energy flow to promote whatever type of healing is needed.

There are many types of energy therapies that can treat the energy body. When I give a holistic healing treatment I usually use a combination of many modalities unless the client asks for one type specifically. I find using whatever technique I am guided to use helps get to the root of the problem more quickly and easily.

All techniques that I use, whether it is Reiki, Healing Touch or Therapeutic Touch™, are all heart-centred and done with the intent of the highest good for the client. All of these types of treatments will reduce stress, reduce pain and promote relaxation and promote healing of the body, mind and spirit.

All use light or “near body” touch and the client remains fully clothed, lying on a massage table or sitting on a chair. With any type of treatment the relaxation response in the body is activated and when the muscles relax, more healing can occur.

So now I will explain a little bit more about each of these healing techniques. Reiki is a Japanese technique that reduces stress and increases relaxation and also promotes healing. Reiki was developed by Dr. Mikao Usui in the early 1900’s. Rei means universal and ki means life force energy.

The Reiki practitioner brings in this universal Reiki energy and directs it to different areas of the client’s body and the Reiki energy goes to where it is needed. Reiki can only be taught and activated by a Reiki Master/Teacher and Usui Reiki comprises of 4 levels (I am a Reiki Master/Teacher). Healing Touch is a program developed by Janet Mentgen, RN, and is well known as a nursing continuing education program and is endorsed by the American Holistic Nurses Association.

Healing Touch is a collection of teachings and techniques from many known teachers in the field of energy medicine. Anyone can learn Healing Touch from a qualified instructor.

The Healing Touch Certificate Program is widely recognized and there are different techniques for different purposes such as back pain techniques, lymphatic drainage and pain drain. Dr. Dolores Kreiger, a nurse-research scientist, and Dora Kunz, a clairvoyant healer, developed Therapeutic Touch™.

Therapeutic Touch™ practitioners learn to attune to the universal energy field and direct the life force energy to the client and clear and balance his/her energy field.

All these techniques have a positive effect on the energy field of the client. There is evidence-based research for each of the methods. Remember that we need to be aware of the health of our own energy body and seek ways to keep it vital and healthy. Ways to do this include reducing stress in your life, meditating, eating properly, exercising and, of course, getting an energy healing treatment.

Learning Reiki allows you to help others in addition to giving self-treatments. Remember that each of us has universal life force energy flowing through our bodies and that we can help balance that energy for better health.

Wanda Davis is a Holistic Health Practitioner and Reiki Master/Teacher in London, Ontario, co-author of the book Getting Well: Mind, Body and Spirit. www.WandaDavis.ca

Chocolate Pudding

Dr Peggy — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:07:52 +0000

Fun in the Kitchen With Dr. Peggy

Chocolate Pudding

This awesome dairy-free, refined sugar free yummy chocolate pudding will take you back to the comfort of childhood and it’s sooooo good for you!

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados
1/4 cup unsweetened cacao powder
3 tbsps of coconut milk or almond milk
3 tbsps of maple syrup or raw honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

Directions:

Put the flesh of the avocado in a food processor.
Add cacao, coconut/almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon and sea salt and process until creamy.

Enjoy this creamy and dreamy and healthy chocolate pudding dessert!

A former varsity Basketball and Rugby player, she has since entered the world of endurance athletics where she has completed 2 Ironman Triathlons, 3 Marathons, several Half Marathons and many other Triathlons, Road Races and Off-Road Adventure races of varying distances.

Her own athletic endeavors and injuries have given her valuable insight into working with athletes in her practice for both the care of injuries as well as for the improvement of athletic performance.