Blog | Simple Living

Six simple ways to reduce anxiety and manage stress

March 15, 2017 No Comments

By Norelle Done I run a business with my husband, and it gets really stressful sometimes. We’re a bootstrapped startup, employing 23 young professionals. Sometimes their individual stress levels and drama brings in a whole new element of management that I often don’t have the bandwidth to handle. Sometimes our clients can be challenging, too. As our business has grown, I noticed that my stress started affecting my health in significant ways, including having real panic attacks when checks haven’t come in on time. I knew it was time to learn how to manage my stress before I got serious health problems. If you’re in the same boat, please keep reading. Stress is bad news for your body I started with some research. First, I found a few scary stats on stress: Stress increases the risk of heart disease by 40 percent, heart attack by 25 percent, and the risk […]

Family, Health, Home, Recipes, Time

Super fast, super healthy Roasted Beet Hummus

March 4, 2017 2 Comments

I’m always on the lookout for super easy, no-brainer and super healthy snacks and meals. So here’s one I just found from the Institute of Functional Medicine: Roasted Beet Hummus. It’s fabulous, fast and super healthy. And by the way – it’s light years better than the hummus you buy in grocery stores. I’m usually disappointed in them, and the fact is, it’s really easy to make your own. This recipe takes minutes to prepare, and it’s well worth it. What’s so great about beets? Let’s start with the beets. Beets are high in immune-boosting vitamin C, fiber, and essential minerals like potassium (essential for healthy nerve and muscle function) and manganese (which is good for your bones, liver, kidneys, and pancreas). Beets also contain the B vitamin folate, which helps reduce the risk of birth defects. But we’re not finished. You can buy pre-cooked, cleaned beets at Trader Joe’s […]

Relationships

Ready for raw honesty in your relationship? Find out why its the key to marital happiness

February 24, 2017 No Comments

By Norelle Done How honest are you with your partner? My husband and I have been together for 11 years, married for 7 1/2, and I firmly believe that the most important thing that’s kept us together and happy has been the depth and openness of our communication. After all, surveys show that poor communication is the number-one reason couples break up. We got married quite young: I had just turned 21, and he was nearly 22. This was nice for us because we had the opportunity to ‘grow up’ together, but it also meant that we had a lot of learning to do. We looked at the relationships of couples around us, with their varying degrees of success (and failure), and noticed some big issues to avoid in our own relationship. For example, dishonesty was a problem for many couples, and not always to the extent of lying outright. […]

Family, Health, Recipes

Sick of being sick? Five best ways to boost your immune system

February 20, 2017 3 Comments

Don’t you wonder why some people never seem to get sick and others seem to pick up every bug? I’ve had so many people get sick around me this year that I decided to research what I need to do in order to NOT get sick. Guess what? It’s not that difficult to build your immune system and stay healthy. Here are five simple ways to start: One: Follow a seasonal diet Did you know that a seasonal diet actually has immune boosting properties for each season? Who knew? Many of us get into a rut with the food we buy, even resorting to processed or frozen foods that lack important immunity-boosting vitamins and minerals. Fall and winter are orange season – think orange fruits and especially veggies like squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, orange and yellow peppers, yellow beets and pumpkins. These bright-colored fruits and vegetables contain zeaxanthin, flavonoids, […]