Join Marilu.com and get Fiscally Fit and Fabulous in April!

Health is not expensive. Au contraire! Health is cheap, compared to illness.

Get tips for fiscal well-being in this class. Save your money so you can invest in your health – perhaps attending Kripalu with Marilu in July, or gifting a friend a membership here at Marilu.com (so you can take classes together), or buying your own Vitamix, or taking a vegan cooking class, or attending Dr. Furhman’s Health Getaway with Marilu, or… well, we could list a lot of other ways to invest in your health. Take the class and you’ll get the skills to allow you to make the choice!

Stay tuned – more details to come!

Yes! Vegan oatmeal cookies! And they’re as easy as any basic “dry + wet” cookie recipe, with no unusual ingredients.

This recipe is from Joanne Stepaniak’s book Table for Two: Meat- and Dairy- Free Recipes for Two. Check it out.

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Schoolyard Oatmeal Cookies
Yellow * Makes 12

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup molasses or sorghum
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon water
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment paper.

Put the flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl. Stir together and set aside. Put the molasses, oil, water, and vanilla in small bowl, and mix well. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients along with the nuts and raisins, and mix thoroughly.

Drop the dough by 12 rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Flatten each cookie lightly with the back of a spoon. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack using a metal spatula. Cool completely before storing.

Looking for a new way to work out? Try one of these!

• Boot Camp * high-intensity military-style workout.
• Spinning * invigorating, sweat-producing, group indoor biking.
• Buddy System * partner workout.
• Zumba * world dance moves plus aerobics.
• TRZ Suspension Trainer * apparatus attaches to something solid, body weight creates resistance.
• Interval Training * alternating bursts of high- and low-intensity work.
• Strength Training * developing muscles; often uses free weights or weight machines.
• Aerojump * swinging and jumping that burns 450 calories in 10 minutes.
• Piloxing * figure-polishing, core-strengthening Pilates blended with boxing moves.
• Kangoo Jumps * shapes legs and booty with a reinvented 90′s workout.

One of the ways your body takes care of itself is with its waste disposal system. The system works best when it has sufficient fiber to carry the waste. Yes, fiber is your personal garbage collector.

What is fiber? * Fiber is plant roughage. Animal-derived foods have zero fiber. Plant roughage is the part of beans, grains, seeds, nuts, vegetables, and fruits that resists digestion.

What does fiber do? * Fiber moves everything through your intestines, picking up and pushing it through, even scrubbing it clean as it goes. Fiber also absorbs all the chemicals and toxins you’ve ingested and gets rid of them.

How does it work? * The waste disposal system in your body starts with the liver, which continuously filters your blood. As your blood passes through the liver’s network of capillaries, liver cells remove toxins, chemicals, cholesterol, medications, waste hormones, and whatever else your body doesn’t want. These undesirables are sent from the liver through the bile duct and into your intestine. There, fiber soaks up this waste bile and carries it out with other waste products.

As long as you’re eating lots of plant foods, your waste disposal system will work pretty well. If you eat a lot of animal-derived foods, the liver filters out the toxins and chemicals, sends them through the bile duct, and then… they have nowhere to go. So they get reabsorbed back into your bloodstream, and the whole process starts over. Think of it this way – not enough fiber equals a higher percentage of waste in your blood. And that makes your blood the garbage dump… and not the toilet.

Eat your fiber.

Work your obliques! Obliques are part of your abdominal core, so making them strong helps with your total core strength. They also make your waist look smaller when they’re toned.

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Rest your head in your hands, but keep your shoulders back and relaxed (like you’re going to do a sit-up).
2. Raise just one shoulder blade up while pressing the other to the floor. As you raise up, twist to move your elbow in the direction of your opposite knee, squeezing from your abs and waist. Press your back firmly to the floor throughout the movement — don’t let it arch.
3. Slowly lower your shoulder blade to the floor and repeat.
4. Do two sets of eight to 12 repetitions per side.
5. Look hot in your bathing suit!

Of course, you can firm up those obliques with dance, too. Remember The Twist? (Maybe not, but you can still do it!)

We all know that salads can be incredibly unhealthy – it all depends on what you put on them. This salad has the good plant fats from avocado and sunflower seeds, as well as a homemade tahini-based dressing.

If the farmer’s market is open in your area, make it one of your regular stops for produce. Salad greens are one of the earliest foods ready from the garden, so make good use of salad season while you can!

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Green Salad
Blue * Serves 6-8

6 big handfuls organic salad greens
1/2 organic avocado, cut up
1/2 cup organic cucumber, sliced
8 organic cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Dressing
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 teaspoon Spike
1 cup organic tahini
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, combine salad greens, avocado, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and sunflower seeds. Put garlic, Spike, tahini, cumin, and lemon juice into a food processor or blender and pulse to blend. Add water, bit by bit, until you achieve the proper consistency of dressing. Pour onto mixed greens and toss.

Every day brings some kind of gift that you don’t have to plan for or make happen.

What gifts will you find today? Take special notice of them; enjoy them; be grateful for them.

Dr. Fuhrman’s 2011 Health Getaway
June 26 – July 2, 2011
The Grand Summit Hotel, Park City, Utah

Dr. Fuhrman invites you to join his 2011 annual Health Getaway. From the moment you arrive at Canyons Resort an inspiring, learning and fun-filled stay awaits. Daily events include lectures and workshops led by Dr. Fuhrman, delicious high-nutrient nutritarian cuisine, health screenings and planned social events. Dr. Fuhrman’s program is a health-promoting life-changing experience for you and your loved ones.

Dr. Fuhrman is pleased to announce this year’s special celebrity guest emcee, Marilu Henner!

All-inclusive package includes *

• Daily lectures presented by Dr. Fuhrman on the latest nutritional research
• Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritarian cuisine at every meal
• Deluxe accommodations
• Health screening
• Cooking demonstrations
• Exercise classes – twice daily
• Roundtable discussions – “living it” with Lisa Fuhrman
• Discussion groups to support you in a nutritarian lifestyle
• Fun and activities for the whole family
• Outdoor pool
• Whirlpool tub
• Scenic gondola rides
• Hiking / mountain bike trails
• Each room comes with complimentary wireless high speed internet
• Welcome gift for each guest

Find more information here.

Member Kecia suggests taking a bag along for trash when you go on a walk.

I challenge everyone, while you are out, if you see a piece of trash, pick it up. Think how lovely our planet would be if we all did this every time we walked.

Plus, when you bend down, you can do a squat! Think about how great your booty can be!

~ Kecia

Today’s song is a small show of thanks to Chef Ryan for sharing his foodie expertise with us these past two weeks in the Mix It Up March online class. It may seem like an unusual choice, but Ryan’s been around THMers for over a decade, and he knows we talk about all kinds of things here – including thongs.

For you? It’s time to get up and get moving. Use the song to motivate you as you pick up your office before leaving for the weekend, or to get you to “shake that thing” as you prepare dinner.

Just make that booty go! Swivel your hips, shake what your momma gave you, move your ass-ets.

Note: Explicit

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