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I cannot tell you tell you how much I love going to the local farmer’s market. You are often able to get fruits and vegetables that you would never find at most grocery stores. For instance, I ALWAYS make a special trip in early-to-mid September to buy fresh romano beans. I really love them and when they are fresh, I’ll make a nice salad or I’ll make a rice and bean dish. The taste is completely different from canned romano beans or the dried ones.

The farmer’s markets are still open for business in most cities and there are many great treats to buy!

I’ve listed below some of my favourite photos from a recent trip to the local city farmer’s market where farmers come down and sell their fare to city dwellers like myself who rarely make it out to the city centre.

Buying from local farmers makes sense because it helps support a local industry, you get to buy food that has not travelled as much, therefore it often won’t contain as much junk to preserve the food longer and you save the planet because farmers can sell the fruit of their labour locally than if they have to ship to a foreign country … therefore there is less carbon gas polluting the planet.

On an aging-well note, making the trip to a local farmer’s market is so pleasant and such a great way to connect with the people who produce your food … it just might make the experience of eating fresh fruits and vegetables more enjoyable for so many people!

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Have you noticed how you can now buy strawberries year round? Strawberries are in season at the end of the summer and that’s when they are red, juicy and they smell so fruity … they are irresistible!

Eating strawberries in December with whipped cream might seem natural to many, but it actually isn’t. Most people who eat off season fruits and vegetables end up eating fruits or vegetables that are tasteless and odorless or they eat fruits and vegetables from foreign countries.

Now, don’t get me wrong, since avocadoes will never grow in my area, I will gladly buy avocados from Mexico … that said, when you buy fruits and vegetables that have travelled long distances, you usually eat them when they are not in their optimum state. They often lack the flavour that locally grown foods have.

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Do you remember my post on how my ethnic background predisposed me to eating hot peppers as frequently as I eat jam?

You can still read it here: Why I will never gain weight!

Well, plantains are another one of those staples food I ate as a child and I still eat today with much enjoyment.

I don’t eat my plantains fried the way my grandmother used to make them … she not only fried them … she fried them twice in saturated vegetable oil (aka twice-fried plantains) that had been used over and over again. I love my grandmother, but even she would no longer cook this way today with the knowledge that’s available on nutrition.

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Post and recipes presented by Dr. John Berardi, PhD

When most people add sauces and dressings to their food, they’re usually also adding a ton of unwanted sugars, unhealthy fats, and a laundry list of artificial ingredients barely worthy of a sewage pond, let alone their bodies. Sure, the food tastes better. But at what cost?

Well, here at Precision Nutrition, we like great tasting food. However, we also like food that improves our health. So it’s been our mission to create great tasting food that’s also great for us.

Therefore today, I’m going to share with you four awesome “physique friendly” dressings that are not only missing all that crap found in the store-bought varieties, they’re also loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids … you know, all those healthy fats that are good for your heart, for your brain, and for your metabolism.

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When you look at Dr. Jonny Bowden’s photo, you know that you are looking at a man who practises what he preaches. I’ve known Jonny for two years now and I’ve always been quite impressed with his knowledge of health and nutrition.

The following article from Dr. Jonny might be a good wake-up call for a lot of you who have been putting off exercising:

Post presented by guest health expert Dr. Jonny Bowden

A new fascinating study presented at the American Physiological Society meeting shows that a single bout of exercise can reduce fat by-products inside the muscle, thus affecting insulin sensitivity.

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Here’s a really interesting connection for you from Dr. Jonny Bowden.

Back in June I wrote about studies by Arthur Kramer, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Illinois, who found that exercise increases brain volume. One way it may accomplish this is by boosting a protein in the brain called BDNF.

This study was widely reported largely because of the promise it showed for helping people improve memory, cognition and brain function. In fact, Kramer wrote at the time that their analysis showed in “unequivocal” terms that aerobic exercise improves cognition in older people.

That alone would be reason enough to want to boost brain levels of BDNF.

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If you are like most women, you are juggling family, after school activities, a career, unpredictable situations and now you are dealing with keeping it all together in this financial meltdown.

With schedules that are bursting at the seam it’s really hard for a lot of women to put themselves first and take time off to take care of their health and manage their weight.

“According to USA Today, 62% of American adults are overweight or obese. In fact, 98% of all dieters gain their weight back… and many gain back more!”

These are some of the startling facts that are preventing so many busy women from achieve their ideal weight. Most people know what they need to do, but it’s a question of getting everything in their lives lined up to actually take the necessary steps forward.

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It’s true that nothing from Hollywood would surprise me anymore. I surely know that after reviewing the “baby food diet” in my last post from my new favourite British series on weight and diet “SuperSize vs SuperSkinny”, anything goes in Hollywood when it comes to staying as slim as possible in front of the camera.

It’s true that it’s easy for me to judge since I don’t have agonize over the fact that most people in North America are watching HDTV now, which is unkind to any signs of aging or “imperfections”, but it’s still mind-blowing to hear how many celebs under-eat and how many women avoid carbs.

A friend of mine insisted that I take a look at these videos because she said that the humour was so sleek … I’d really enjoy the double (and triple) entendres.

The videos are really funny and they remind me of the Visa: “If life was that simple … you wouldn’t need Visa” ads (where your monthly balance is always zero regardless of how much you spend) … hey … you can’t blame a girl for dreaming!

1)  Policeman and latte

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Post presented by guest expert Dr. Jonny Bowden

Earlier this year, I was so proud of myself when I hit a sale on soy milk and loaded up enough of them to open my own little soy coffee shop.

Two days after that purchase, I had read an article that actually warned against the consumption of too much soy. I’ve got to tell you that because of certain medical pre-disposition, I quickly grabbed my sales receipt and went back to the grocery store and explained my situation and they were kind enough to give me my money back since I had not opened the soy milks that I had purchased.

Our nutritional expert, Dr. Jonny Bowden has a very interesting take on soy products that I think is worth the read:

Another Look at Soy by Jonny Bowden

The latest issue of the journal Nutrition and Cancer reports on a study by Korean researchers showing a protective effect of soy on the risk of developing breast cancer.

If you’ve read my book, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth” you know that I’ve not been a huge fan of soy. And if you’ve read any of the writings of Sally Fallon and Mary Enig (“The Ploy of Soy”) or the book, “The Whole Soy Story: The dark side of America’s favorite health food” by Kalia Daniels, PhD, CCN, you probably know why.

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I’ll often surf on W Network (Women Network) when I turn on the telly because they feature a lot of great British shows that I quite enjoy.

I discovered my newest favourite British show called “SuperSize vs SuperSkinny” a few weeks ago.

The premise of the show is quite brilliant and I’m sure that we’ll see a U.S. version in no time.

“SuperSize vs SuperSkinny” is a show about diet and nutrition. Each show features a diet swap between an obese person who eats far too much and a borderline-anorexic person who eats far too little (and often eats no carbs).

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I really like cooking. OK, I’m totally lying … I L-O-V-E cooking. I usually spend most of my Sunday afternoons cooking for the week or at least partially prepping for the week.

It saves me a lot of time because my weeks are usually hectic and unpredictable. Since I work fairly long hours, I always have found it important to make food preparation a priority because I can easily store everything in plastic containers and store them in the fridge or freezer for later use.

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Most Canadians have just finished celebrating Thanksgiving and most Americans still have a few weeks to go until they celebrate this holiday. A few weeks after that we jump into the countdown to a series of Christmas parties and what I call the season of uncontrollable eating and drinking.

A lot of you will simply postpone any weight loss goals until the New Year because what’s the point of trying to lose weight before the holiday season, right? Wrong! What about going into the holiday season looking smashing and getting all heads at the party to swivel when you walk by? What about enjoying the holidays at a healthier weight? What about having more energy during the coming months than you’ve ever had before? And what about getting your 2009 New Year resolution started NOW?

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I’m all about finding any product that can help control my acne. Not long ago it hit me that I’ve been battling acne since I was in my very early teens and I only had a short respite from acne in my 20s and early 30s.

I have to say that never in a million years would I have ever thought that I’d still be battling with acne at my age. The reality is that more and more women are dealing with acne well into their 40s and late 40s (I’ve actually spoken to women in their 50s who dealt with acne) because of environmental and nutritional changes that are affecting our hormone levels.

Another major cause of acne is stress! We’re living in a time where we are “on” 24/7. We’re multi tasking … we’re double and triple booked … we’re flying around the globe for business meetings or conferences … we’re working longer hours … we’re sleeping less now than at any other time in history … we’re eating low quality food on the run. It’s really no wonder why so many women deal with acne in their 30s and 40s.

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Apple season has finally arrived in North America. This is the time for apple picking and lots of apple eating!

It’s safe to say that most people who aren’t big fruit eaters will at least have an apple here and there. It’s also safe to say that among all the fruits sold at markets and grocery stores in North America, apples are the most popular among them.

The great thing about apples is that they are not only great tasting fruits, but they are really good for your health and your skin.

You’ll notice there are so many different types of apples at the grocery store and at markets and you can choose from tart tasting ones to the sweeter varieties. In fact, there are over several thousand different varieties of apples grown around the world!

Here are six practical reasons why apples are a great fruit:

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Halloween candy here, Halloween candy there, Halloween candy everywhere!

That should truly be the theme for the month of October.

I can tell you that I’ve noticed that most grocery stores and drugstores had started selling Halloween candy just after they had stored away the back to school supply. Yup, stores have been selling Halloween candy since the second week of September!

This is the time of year where things start getting a bit scary in most offices. By scary I mean you’ll start finding a lot more candy and goodies around the office and the temptation to eat far more candy than anyone will ever need is just that much easier.

When you combine the amount of sugar most people eat in October to the fact that most of us will be partying it up at Halloween parties where there will be alcohol and some not-so-healthy-snacks, you can see how you can end up the month of October with a few extra pounds.