Over the past few years, I’ve noticed oil pulling trending within health and wellness publications. Since I’m all about investigating healthy practices that promote a clean lifestyle, I jumped at the chance to try this ancient practice. In this video, I discuss what oil pulling is and the presumed benefits of adding it to my natural beauty routine.
Natural Beauty Routine: Oil Pulling
Health & Wellness News & Info. Recap, Week of 1/19
If you are new to my Health & Wellness News & Information Recap, below is a roundup of my favorite informational finds from this past week on the web. Since Pretty Wellness covers clean eating, active living (mindfulness and fitness), clean living (non-toxic beauty and home) and cancer information, you will see articles, information and posts under these content categories. Here’s my recap from the week of January 19.
CLEAN EATING
I love this post from Oprah”s OWN page on Huffington Post because the recipes listed are more unique, ranging from parsnip rice to a dessert-like sweet potato soup.
ACTIVE LIVING
I’m proud that early in my career, if I took a lunch, it was often to exercise. In fact, a few years ago, my colleagues and I started a walking lunch club. So, I got all nostalgic reading about the benefits of walking during a lunch break on the New York Times Well blog. I used to laugh at myself, swapping out my high heels for my running shoes that were kept underneath my desk.
CLEAN LIVING – NONTOXIC LIFE
I get excited about clean living tips especially those that include using wholesome ingredients to solve beauty issues. This list from Greatist.com, covers recommendations for wintertime skin and haircare.
CANCER /INSPIRATION
Last week, I was on the local news recalling my initial breast cancer diagnosis and sharing resources on how others can navigate through this painful time.
HEALTHY FAMILY:
Who doesn’t love Playdoh? Just the smell alone brings me back to my own childhood. Knowing we all used to sniff and sometimes taste it as kids, I was excited to see a DIY recipe for Playdoh made with non-toxic wholesome ingredients from MommyinSports.
What interesting story or posts did you read this week about health and wellness?
Easy Recipe: Healthy Meatloaf aka Meat Muffins
When I first started dating my husband, he shared a story about how he detested meatloaf as a child and would nearly cry every time his mother served it. His sour relationship with meatloaf continued into adulthood. So when my larger-than-life grandmother first met him, served her favorite meatloaf recipe and he actually ate it, I knew he was a keeper. But it still wasn’t something either of us prepared, until a few years ago. Once our son started eating, I looked to find wholesome food that I could prepare in advance and reheat ranging from zucchini muffin bites to homemade applesauce. It was then I tested a few healthy meatloaf recipes and changed the name. Guess what…now my husband even eats the meat muffins.
Easy Recipe: Healthy Meatloaf aka Meat Muffins
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Individual sized mini-meatloafs aka meat muffins
Author: Caryn Sullivan
Recipe type: Healthy Meat Muffins
Cuisine: Meals
Serves: 10
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 cup steamed carrots
- 1 cup panko (or bread crumbs)
- ¼ cup garlic powder
- ½ cup ketchup
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 4 eggs
- Non-stick spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Steam carrots prior and cut into small pieces (size of a pencil eraser)
- Combine carrots, panko, garlic powder, eggs
- Mix combination with ground turkey
- Use non-stick spray to coat muffin pans
- Place approximately ½ mixture into each muffin tin
- Place a spoonful of ketchup on top of each meat muffin
- Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes
- Pull pan out of the oven, and place another spoonful of ketchup on meat muffins
- Bake for another 10-15 minutes
- Take out of oven and cool for 5 minutes
Are there any foods that your family hates that you wish you could re-invent?
Guidance for Cancer Survivors and Caregivers
Today marks 10 years since my first-ever surgery, a bilateral mastectomy. Fox CT interviewed me to celebrate this milestone and highlight how others can look to handle a similar situation (video above). Being initially diagnosed young, I learned how to navigate through diagnosis and treatment while finding a few laughs a long the way. Below are some quick links to cancer resources. Cancer survivors and their caregivers can use these ideas as a guide to help navigate the diagnosis, treatment and hopefully be comfortable with being their own patient advocate.
Recent Diagnosis – Patient:
Everyone is different, know there is not one right way to act or feel. These suggestions worked for me in an effort to stay relatively sane while evaluating various cancer treatments.
Support – From Friends and Family:
When people mention they don’t know what to say to someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, I just tell them to know their audience. Treat a friend/family member in a similar manner, with perhaps a little bit more kindness, in an effort to make them feel some normalcy.
- Be proactive with support: suggest a few ideas how you can help from this list of 50 thoughtful ideas and gestures for a friend in need.
Support – Financial, Emotional for Patients and Caregivers:
The first few weeks after being diagnosed are filled with many new obstacles, including excessive stress and potential financial burdens. There are many ways to combat these issues, including finding support organizations and using mindfulness techniques.
- CancerCare – This organization provides counseling, support groups, education and financial assistance for both patients and caregivers.
- Finding time for exercise and mindfulness activities is helpful: benefits of yoga, acupuncture and walking for cancer patients.
Hope and Inspiration:
Being diagnosed at 31, many of my peers had not faced this disease before. Regardless, facing cancer is life altering, and I wanted to have hope. So I found it incredibly helpful when people shared global survival stories. Here are some quick links where you can find hope, inspiration and motivation from others experiencing hardships.
- Kris Carr – Author and inspirational speaker known for the Crazy Sexy Cancer brand outlines her journey toward wellness while living with a rare form of cancer.
- Gotta Make Lemonade – Public figure Samantha Harris and her husband have created a platform to inspire others to overcome life’s challenges. These include cancer and injury as well as professional adversity. My story was featured here, as well.
For more relevant information about my cancer journey and supportive resources, check out our cancer resources page.
Have you been touched by cancer? Please share your story or recommendations for other patients or caregivers.
Easy Recipe: Healthy Egg Frittatas for Kids
I’ve been known to motivate my child with a little “mommy marketing.” I’ll tell him that we’re not just running errands, we’re going on a scavenger hunt. This usually results in my son searching through the grocery store to find missing items needed in our home. We’ve also been known to train for our own Olympic games. We’ll run around the block timing ourselves in an effort to gain superhero strength. So it’s fitting that I often create food with this marketing spin. This week, I took a few simple ingredients for a healthy egg frittata and baked them in a train muffin tin. Obsessed with Thomas the Train for years, my son was thrilled to eat his very own healthy egg train frittatas. The clean-eating recipe is easy, wholesome and definitely kid approved.
Easy Recipe: Egg Frittatas for Kids
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Caryn Sullivan
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of milk
- ½ cup of mozzarella cheese (or cheese of choice)
- 1 cup frozen butternut squash cubes
Instructions
- Combine eggs, milk and cheese in a bowl and beat the mixture
- Pour mixture into a muffin pan
- Drop in butternut squash cubes (3 for each muffin)
- Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes
- Remove and cool for five minutes
Notes
Baking time may differ depending on the pan used.
How do you make breakfast healthier?
Health & Wellness News & Info. Recap, Week of 1/12
If you didn’t join us last week, welcome to the Health & Wellness News & Information Recap. I love to be a “student of life,” especially when it comes to health and wellness. So I will post weekly an easy to skim post where you will get the latest news, information and conversations from the wellness community.
Since Pretty Wellness covers clean eating, active living (mindfulness and fitness), clean living (non-toxic beauty and home) and cancer information, I will look for interesting articles, information and posts under these content categories in the form of my own weekly bullets and links. Here’s the news and information from the week of January 12.
CLEAN EATING
What the World”s Healthiest Diets Have in Common: I love this article, summarizing some of the world’s healthiest diets and what they have in common, including plant-based and seasonal produce and whole grains. I’ve heard a lot about the benefits of a Mediterranean diet, but not as much about the Nordic and Okinawa ones. If you are interested in learning more about these diets, check out The 5-Factor World Diet
ACTIVE LIVING
Is Rebounding Good Exercise: Over the past several years, rebounding (aka jumping on a trampoline) has been promoted as a beneficial exercise for more than burning calories. This week, the New York Times reporter Gretchen Reynolds uncovers the myths about rebounding.
CLEAN LIVING – NONTOXIC LIFE
BPA-Free in the news: Last week, I mentioned that Congress and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently reconfirmed its position that people are not being harmed by bisphenol A (BPA). Many activists still refute this position, and there are even criticisms that BPA-free water bottles may be just as unhealthy as the BPA ones.
CANCER /INSPIRATION
From Surviving Cancer Twice to Writing Tips & Tales for a Clean Lifestyle: If you haven’t checked it out already, this week my story was highlighted on GottaMakeLemonade, a platform to inspire others to overcome life’s challenges. If you have a story, big or small, where you turned life’s lemons into lemonade, you can submit your story here.
Please feel free to comment below or add your own favorite story or blog post of the week. Think of this as a destination to grab a coffee, tea or any drink, read through information on wellness and join in the conversation.
Images courtesy of marin and Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net