Holla! Happy New Year y’all! I hope everyone had a fabulous holidays with their friends and family. I know mine was wonderful, and full of delicious foods that lead me to indulge on more than one occasion. And now that we have rung in the new year it’s time to say goodbye to 2013, look forward to 2014 and make plans for another awesome year ahead of us. So, having said that, I’d like to share with you a few of my plans for 2014 plus a tasty beet and grapefruit salad recipe.
2014 – The Year Ahead
I’m going to be honest with you – December was such a slamming month for me, with my first term of school winding down, big deadlines at work, and then the holidays, that I burned right out, and I haven’t really had the brain power to think or plan out my big goals for 2014. So as of right now, my goals are more short-term:
Get started on my case studies for school, finishing 2 by Jan. 31
I’ve got 12 of these suckers I gotta knock out in the next 6 months in order to graduate from school (let me know in the comments below, or contact me through Facebook if you want to work with me and be a case study!)
Eat more veggies & cut out sugar for 21 days
Santa brought me a juicer for Christmas, so I’m experimenting with adding green and vegetable juices to my diet as a way to eat more greens and veggies (more on this in another post). Plus, with all of the treats and indulgences over the holidays, I’m going to participate in the The 21-Day Sugar Detox
Volunteer as a foster parent for orphaned cats
In case you don’t already know, I’m a borderline crazy cat lady. I had my cat Chloe for 17.5 years and totally loved her to bits (we just got each other ya know?). Unfortunately, we had to put her down in November, and I miss her like crazy. While I would love to fill my apartment with new kittens that I can keep forever and ever, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us right now with our current lifestyle. So, a great option is for us is to foster kitties through an amazing organization called VOKRA.
Post more on Wild Health (aiming for at least 1 post per week) and share more on social media
I know I was pretty M.I.A. in December on Wild Health, as like I mentioned above I was so busy that something had to give. I felt really bad about it, like I was letting you, and myself down. I’m going to work harder and smarter to make sure I post and share more.
Once I’ve settled back into my regular work/school/life routine I intend to make more detailed, goals for the year ahead. How about you, have you set any goals/intentions/resolutions for 2014? I’d love to hear your plans in the comments below.
Grapefruit and Beet Salad
I typically only eat grapefruit in the winter. This is when the tasty grapefruit from Texas arrives on our produce shelves. Then, when my parents showed up on my doorstep with a box full of beets harvested from their neighbour’s garden, I just had to put these two delicious foods together into a pretty, little salad. The grapefruit is packed with vitamin C (perfect for boosting immunity during the winter months) and the pink colouring of this tasty fruit indicates the presence of lycopene, an antioxidant that can help protect your cells against free radicals and aging. The beets are a grounding vegetable, that can bring you a feeling of stability and rootedness. They’re also high in many vitamins and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorous, irons, and vitamins A, B, C, beta-carotene, and folic acid. Lastly, they are a wonderful tonifying food for the liver, and since we probably all over-indulged a little over the holidays, it’s a good time to show our livers a little love.
Just a quick note about grapefruit: Grapefruit and grapefruit juice can interact with certain medications and make them less effective, so ask your doctor or pharmacist if you should avoid grapefruit.
- 1 large pink grapefruit
- 2-3 medium sized beets - cooked, peeled & cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/8 cup red onion - sliced thin
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- crumbled goats cheese (optional)
- 1/4 cup grapefruit juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp raw honey
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar to taste (optional)
- Peel and cut your grapefruit into bite sized pieces, making sure to not include any of the white skin that divides the sections of the grapefruit as this is the bitter part of the fruit. (I actually didn't know how to do this so I followed these instructions: http://bit.ly/yrXt72 )
I have been battling depression for years; well, you saw this for yourself in Noosa. I’m certain there’s a link between how I’ve eaten and how I’m feeling. I’m hoping to learn from your posts. Happy New Year, Aly! Be healthy, and the cat fostering is a great idea. X
Happy New Year to you too! It’s a definite possibility that there is a link. It’s really good that you recognize that! I’ll keep you posted on if I learn anything specific that you may find interesting/helpful xo