Living well | Silver Magazine

Healthy Recipes

Healthy DIY Hot Cocoa

There’s no other nostalgic feeling quite like sipping a cup of hot chocolate by a warm fire as the cool breeze outside brushes the windows. Hot chocolate reminds me of being a kid—specifically around the holidays, and watching every holiday-related movie that came on TV. It also reminds me of being around family, and the people I love. The only bad thing about hot chocolate—you guessed it, is the excessive amount of sugar in the store-bought hot chocolate powders. Well, I’m here to save the day and tell you that there’s another way. Make your own batch of healthy hot chocolate—without the added sugar. Below is a DIY healthy hot chocolate recipe with the rich taste that you remember and without the artificial sweeteners. Easy home made hot chocolate recipe Ingredients: 1 cup plant-based milk of your choice 1 Tbsp raw cocoa powder 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup 1⁄4 tsp

Charmaine Millaire January 8, 2020

Healthy Recipes

Smoky Jackfruit “chicken” salad

A delicious spring or summer vegan recipe…you can make it winter too if you want to feel more like summer. I recently started experimenting with jackfruit recipes, and I discovered that jackfruit makes a fantastic sub for chicken in a traditional chicken salad. My goodness, it’s delicious (and not only is jackfruit delicious, it’s rich in vitamin C too)! Because jackfruit has such a mild flavour, it takes on all the wonderful flavours in this dish—tangy lemon and dill, creamy eggless mayo, savoury garlic, and smoky paprika. I’ve added fresh vegetables like celery, green onion, and bell peppers to give it a great crunch and loads of fibre. Serve this salad in pieces of Boston or Bibb lettuce, in a wrap, sandwich, or on crackers. To boost the protein, I like adding hemp hearts. You can find canned jackfruit online, in health food stores, Asian grocery stores, or in the

Alex Hurst January 5, 2020

Fitness

Top 5 Gym Etiquette Rules

These days there are more and more people in the gym. Of course, the biggest spike is in the New Year with many making fitness New Year resolutions. It can become frustrating sometimes trying to workout with so many others. Here are the TOP 5 Gym Etiquette Guidelines for you to remember: #1 Don’t Stare – Many people coming to the gym are uncomfortable with even being there. It can be really offsetting when someone is starring at you while you are trying to get your sweat on. Even if someone is attractive, it can be intrusive for some to have people starring at them while working out. So just try not to stare and focus on your own body and regime. #2 Wipe the Equipment – Nobody likes to eat off a dirty table and on the same token people don’t like to come to use a piece of gym equipment that is covered in

Max Brennan January 2, 2020

Fitness

Workout breathing exercises

Are there different breathing exercises for different workouts? Oh yeah! BREATHING often gets overlooked when we exercise. As a former competitive amateur boxer and kick boxer, I know the importance of proper breathing techniques. Without it, boxers can easily get fatigued, which in turn can lead to injury. I teach and incorporate proper breathing techniques into all aspects of my training—it is essential for so many reasons. Proper breathing increases your performance and endurance and keeps you safe during your workouts by decreasing the workload on your heart. Oxygen gets absorbed and transported through your blood cells when you inhale, and toxins such as carbon dioxide are removed when you exhale. Common mistakes with breathing while exercising include holding your breath, breathing too deep or too shallow, breathing too fast or too slow, and inhaling and exhaling at the wrong times. Breathing techniques for training and workouts Strength training breathing

Nichelle Laus January 2, 2020

Longevity

10 Tips for living happy in 2020

According to the World Happiness Report in 2019, Canada is the 9th happiest in the world. So, not only are we polite! We’re generally happy. But let’s face it, with the state of global politics and the seemingly angry world of social media, it can seem hard to be happy! Well, we folks over 48, we’re resilient and we’ve been through a lot! 2020 is the start of a new decade and there’s lots to be happy about. So we’ve made a list of ten ways to be happier in 2020. Top 10 Happiness Tips for 2020 Finding time for you: with work, family and other commitments, finding time for ourselves can be hard. But it’s critical to helping keep your brain healthy. Carve out a little time each week to do something just for you. You’ll be happier and others around you will also benefit. Get outdoors! Research is

Giles Crouch December 31, 2019

Travel

The art of survival with Les Stroud

Les Stroud has been bitten by sharks, chased by a rampaging bull moose, survived solo adventures in extreme conditions across the planet, and undergone shamanic rituals in the darkest jungles. Through it all, he strives to follow one simple rule: Remain calm. Les Stroud has led a life of extremes, but he’s not an extreme guy. As the star of Survivorman, he pretty much invented the genre of solo adventure TV, but he grew up in the city of Toronto. A former outdoor guide, he and his (now ex-) wife lived far off the grid, experimenting with a Paleolithic existence. On his latest TV show, Beyond Survival, he joins in rituals among indigenous peoples across the globe, but he also teaches survival skills to elite members of the Canadian Forces. A member of the prestigious Manhattan-based Explorers Club, he also refers back to what he learned as a garbage collector.

David Holt December 23, 2019

Health

A different approach to goal setting

Traditional goal setting often doesn’t work. The mindfulness you learn from yoga can help. We begin with the best intentions, whether our goal is to lose 10lbs, run a marathon or work out five times a week. Recent research has emphasized creating SMART goals: goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. However, even these goals have a high failure rate. The statistics are dreary, with 80% of us not achieving our new year’s resolutions. What are we doing wrong? When we create goals focused on a singular outcome, they by their very nature set us up for failure. These outcome-focused goals can trigger resistance and frustration because we are constantly fighting against learned behaviours, old habits and prior experiences that create “negative chatter” in our minds. Instead of persevering when we miss the mark, we give up. Adopt a yoga mindset When we adopt the yoga mindset off

Anne Green December 23, 2019