Ep 31: Anticancer Living – Transform Your Life with the Mix of Six

Do you want to feel vibrant, look your best and perhaps save your life? This week’s guests on “Happiness through Hardship” – The Podcast can help you do just that! I’m honored to share this episode with husband and wife duo and co-authors of “Anticancer Living – Transform Your Life and Health with the Mix of Six,” who have helped many people, including me, thrive with cancer, cope with other chronic illnesses and feel their very best!

50 Clean Eating Tips – If You Don’t Know Where to Begin

Can you imagine eliminating your morning “pretty coffee” filled with sugar and creamed toppings? What about cheese, desserts or fried everything? So many times people tell me they can’t stop their favorite foods, so they don’t even think about committing to a newish lifestyle. I get it. That was me. I obsessed over cheese plates, craved creamy frostings and longed for bulky pastas. I had been drinking tons of diet soda for almost two decades, so only remembered life being bloated. But that all changed when I started eating clean. And trust me, you can take small steps and get there, too.

Five Healthy Substitutions for the Sweet Tooth

I love to be loved. I enjoy the positive attention, outpouring of notes and thoughtful acts of kindness dedicated to me especially on my birthday. In my 20’s, I started a new tradition: I’d be calorie conscious most days of the year, but my birthday marked the one day to eat gluttonously without guilt. Now that I’m super focused on overall wellness, I’d rather not go that route, so I’ve found substitutions. Since I’m a sweet tooth, here are my five new favorite go-to-dessert-like treats. Syrups, agave, coconut sugar, honey, stevia, white flours and all the other various sugar words are still a “sometimes food,” as we say in our house.

Simple Foods to Eat Healthy With Less

A child of the 1980s and 1990s, I was a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. I read all the “Little House” books and caught every episode of the simple life of living on the prairie in the late 1800’s. The idea of working in the kitchen or fields during the day and singing by the fireplace at night warmed my heart. By no means, can I now compare a pioneer life without electricity to our techno-centric world with “social distancing” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, somehow I’ve found a calm in preparing simple foods in the kitchen, like the Ingalls’, for our family dinner around the table. We don’t have a garden and we’re hibernating due to my compromised immunity, so our grocery deliveries are minimal. I’ve had to focus on a few simple foods and ingredients that I have in bulk and here is how I’m doing it.

How to Add More Nutrients in Your Life

My favorite fruit and veggies as a kid were green apple Jolly Ranchers and the infamous steakhouse bloomin’ (fried) onion. As I grew older, I walked away from candy and fried foods, thinking I was eating healthy with my bag of Baked Lays and fruit infused frozen yogurts. It wasn’t until my wake up call with stage IV disease that everything in my diet changed. Truth be told, it wasn’t just my diet that shifted, it was my mindset about the food we eat and how nutrient dense food was important for my survival.

How to Eat Healthy at MLB Ballparks

I’ve always been surrounded by ballpark food. Before launching Pretty Wellness, I spent most of my career in sports and entertainment. I’ve been to many arenas, stadiums and various events, both as a guest and an employee. Whether I was organizing a group of media backstage or running the rafters to shoot confetti at a concert, I was often surrounded by unhealthy, greasy grub. Back in the day, I ate numerous malt cups, ballpark hot dogs and drank tons of diet soda. In fact, part of the allure of going to sporting events was that I couldn’t feel guilty for eating gluttonously because I had no options. Most venues only sold this type of food, but not anymore. Now you can eat gourmet to gluten-free at many venues throughout the country. So to honor baseball season, we’re taking you on a trip through the MLB ballparks, hoping you will find some healthy options you like.