Crotchet Creations by Leila Pare

One of our pastor's wives at WCF has begun actively marketing her crocheted hats, scarves & kid's purses in time for the Christmas season. I like her work and have purchased in the past, but this year I had a special order to put in.

I had purchased a water bottle carrier in Mexico a few years back. It sat in a drawer unused as many a souvenir does until I discovered my preference for drinking water out of a stainless steel thermos this past summer. Not only did my water stay ice cold all day but the thermos fit the crocheted holder perfectly making toting my thermos around less conspicuous and cumbersome.

My Mexican carrier was fine through the summer but as the weather has gotten colder and my wardrobe switched to darker colours, I decided a new one was needed. I brought my original to Leila and within a few short days my new black one arrived and it was reasonable priced too. I was thrilled!

I drink out of stainless steel because the perils of drinking from plastic are becoming more and more known. What good is it to drink healthy, purified water from plastic that is leeching chemicals that could eventually cause cancer?

I prefer to drink from glass bottles but anyone who has tried this will discover as I have, that they break easily at the least convenient moments. To find a glass bottle that holds a substantial amount of water, fits in cup holder and keeps the water cold all day, is near impossible.

Stainless steel water bottles abound but if you've used them, you'll find that the metal allows the water temperature to rise quickly to the environment temps and the bottle sweats too. Once I realized that my wide-mouthed stainless steel thermos would keep my water chilled all day/night, I was hooked.

To be truthful, the thermos belonged to Shawn but was rarely used. I adopted it and recently the whole family has acquired new thermos' when they realized how nice my water was to drink in comparison to the water in the average household container.

You can pick up stainless steel thermos' at Canadian Tire in or Meijers in the US. I'm sure Leila would welcome any orders for water bottle holders. You can select your own size & colour.

Gymboss

I've mentioned this before but it's worth mentioning again. I was introduced to a handy little gadget by a former client of mine that has proved to be invaluable many times.

It's call the Gymboss. It's a small timer that clips onto your waistband and can be set to beep loudly, softly with or without vibrate. The vibrate option is really helpful too for those times when you want your timer to be discreet.

You have the option of timing indefinitely not only one time span but two. If you are outside running for a certain amount of minutes and walking for another amount, you can set this gadget and it will beep and/or vibrate at the set intervals and continue to do so until you stop it.

The benefit of this is that you don't have to look at your watch constantly, fuss with resetting buttons or have two separate timers going at the same time.

When I first purchased this tool, it was for my walk/jog intervals. Very helpful.

When I signed up for the running clinic, I pulled it out again to help time my turnaround point for my weekly runs. Wonderful. I just ran until I heard the beeping, turned around and ran home until it beeped again.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was setting a timer on my computer to help signal water breaks in an attempt to drink more water consistently throughout the day. The computer timer was helpful but not for the periods during the day where I am not at my desk.

I discovered the my Gymboss timer is an excellent all-day timer that I can wear from the moment I wake until I go to bed at night. Consistent cues all day long to reach for my thermos and drink that water.

At first I had the beep on loud because I find it easy to ignore more subtle cues, but as this new discipline has become more natural, I've been able to put the timer on vibrate. This is way less disruptive to my day and to the people around me who look somewhat disturbed when a timer begins beeping loudly out of nowhere.

I started with 60 minute intervals between sips but once I developed the expectation of regular water breaks I found myself reaching for my thermos more often without any cues. That was when I set my timer for regular 30 minute vibrates and this has worked beautifully.

Considering that remembering to drink my water was one of my biggest challenges this year, I am very pleased to have found a reasonably simple way to stay on track and look forward the benefits of staying consistently hydrated.

I highly recommend the Gymboss. It's inexpensive, small, lightweight, practical and relatively easy to use. It uses AAA batteries and is very durable.

One side benefit from my new timer/water drinking habit is that Paris, my daughter, has followed my example. She tends to get headaches and has discovered that if she drinks water frequently during the day she can avoid many of these debilitating episodes. She uses her watch but when we are together, she watches me to time her sips. She has asked for her own Gymboss...shhh...don't tell her, but I ordered one for her in hot pink. This way she can wear it to school and never disrupt the class.

If you are interested in purchasing your own Gymboss, go to: www.gymboss.com

Somethin' Pumpkin

It's been a little while since I've blogged but it's not because I've ditched my healthy choices and gone the way of cream-laden coffees and glazed donuts. No, I'm still at it. I have been shifting gears internally and my fragmented thoughts could not be expressed coherently so I've waited. Some may call it writers block but I see it more as the receding of the ocean water just before a huge wave is about to hit. So get ready!

One delight I was introduced to by my mom on Thanksgiving Day is the Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake. Anyone who has been reading my blogs regularly will know that my two biggest downfalls this year have been cake-inspired. With my year of healthy choices commitment coming to an end, this recipe for pseudo chocolate cake-like treats is a great way to allow some fun back into my diet without reverting back to bad habits.

Pumpkin in chocolate cake? Yuck!! That is exactly what I thought until I tasted it. I don't eat anything pumpkin so I was skeptical. You can't taste the pumpkin and yet, it's in the recipe giving you points for vegetable consumption with every bite.

Here's the recipe:

1 Duncan Hine's Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
1 14-15oz can of pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling-that's different)
1/2 cup water

Mix the pumpkin & water together in a bowl. Add cake mix. Stir and pour into muffin pan. Bake according to package directions.

Yield: 24 cupcakes. Each cupcake contains: 90 calories, 2.3g fat, 0.8g saturated fat, 17g carbohydrates, 0 protein

Now, in my sugar deprived state, this cupcake is wonderful just as it is but some people prefer to put just a little icing on top just to give it that extra touch. Another person actually baked this recipe as a one-layer cake complete with walnuts & frosting. You can do whatever you want so long as you know that anything added will also add calories, sugar and fat too.

What you don't get is the eggs and oil that cake recipes usually call for and you get the benefit of vegetable nutrition. In fact, it has been discovered that these tasty little desserts will assist you greatly if you tend to be a little constipated. Warning--do not eat four servings and then go for a run!

I will admit that my family has not embraced this recipe as I have. They knew what was in it before trying it and they swear it doesn't taste good at all. I think that if you make this recipe for your family they will enjoy it and never know that it has nutritious ingredients at all.