This month at RISE we are learning how to lead purposeful and meaningful lives. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to let go of anything that distracts us from our goals so we can finish our race well. How do we do this? This article by Elaine Smookler, a mindful practitioner in Toronto, talks about the ways on how we can change our mindset so we can lead a life filled with purpose and meaning.

Commit to Your Vision
David and Goliath is a story of how one young man, with pluck, good aim, and timing discovered a DIY, low-cost method to use an Etsy-worthy slingshot to slay a giant. Mindfulness practice is how we develop pluck, good aim, and timing to aid in our springing up and overcoming the giants with gusto!

One of my personal life mottos is that if anything can stop you, you will be stopped. Recalling this idea has supported me in difficult moments when I have thought, Is this challenge going to be the one that stops me? No!

Puzzle Out Your Problems
For most of us, the giant that we need to sl...

Ingredients:

Toasted Coconut Vanilla Popsicles

• ½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder
• 2 tablespoons filtered water
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons powdered monk fruit
• ½ vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped
• 2 tablespoons coconut flakes, lightly toasted

Blackberry Cheesecake Popsicles

• ¾ cup coconut cream
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
• 2 tablespoons organic maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blackberries

Strawberry-Lime Popsicles

• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• ⅓ cup filtered water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons honey

Lemon-Mint Popsicles

• ½ cup fresh lemon juice
• ⅓ cup powdered monk fruit
• 1 ¼ cups filtered water
• ½ cup fresh mint leaves

Carrot-Ginger Popsicles

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, microplaned
• 2 dates, pitted
• ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce

Chocolate Crunch Popsicles

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup almond butter, unsweetened (or any other nut butter)
• ½ cup vanilla alm
...

The wonderful thing about summer is there are endless choices of fruits and vegetables to choose from. Whether you find yourself hiking, biking or swimming, it’s important to stay hydrated and nourished and fruits and veggies will help you meet that need. Dr. Mark Hyman however recommends to steer clear of produce that may be high in pesticides. Here are Dr. Hyman’s recommendations:

“Organic agriculture offers a safer alternative, but not one that’s easily available (or affordable) for everyone. If our only choice is non-organic produce or no produce at all, we should choose the former. But I believe we can do better than that. Some of us can grow at least some of our food. That way we can make sure no harmful chemicals were used, and we save money, too. Second, we can choose the vegetables and fruit that are proven to have the least amount of pesticide residue.

“There really is no need to buy everything organic. If we buy in-season produce at farmers’ markets from small local grower...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened milk of choice
• 1 cup water
• 1 frozen banana, peel on and end and stem trimmed, cut in half
•  2 mandarin oranges, peeled and quartered
•  ½ cup mango chunks
•  ½ cup pineapple chunks
• 1tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut
• ¾ cup ice

Directions:

1. Add ingredients in order above.
2. Blend until smooth and enjoy cold.

Check out more recipes by Chef Mareya here.

According to Harvard School of Public Health most of us have experienced an intense urge to eat a certain food—ideally right away. More often than not, that food is likely to be sugary, salty, or fatty, or all three. These urges are called cravings, which can pop up at any moment, and aren’t always fueled by hunger pangs.

Animal and human studies have shown that foods that stimulate the reward regions of the brain influence our food choices and eating behaviors. When we eat certain foods, the neurons in the reward region become very active, creating highly positive feelings of pleasure so that we want to keep seeking these foods regularly. These foods are sometimes labeled hyperpalatable because they are easy to digest and have enjoyable qualities of sweetness, saltiness, or richness. Hyperpalatable foods can stimulate the release of metabolic, stress, and appetite hormones including insulin, cortisol, dopamine, leptin, and ghrelin, all of which play a role in cravings.

There are als...

When overwhelming stress hits us it’s important to manage how our bodies react to it and how we can redirect our minds. One of the ways to do that is cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT which, according to Mayo Clinic, helps us become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so we can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way.

Seth Gillihan, a licensed psychologist, adds mindfulness to this type of therapy. He calls this Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MCBT) and uses 3 components to help his patients: Think, Act, Be. According to Dr. Gillihan, Think is the cognitive part of MCBT which helps us challenge the thoughts that drive stress. With the Act component, the “behavioral” in MCBT, we lower stress by doing (or not doing) certain activities. And through Be, the mindfulness part of mindful CBT, we practice being in the moment and letting go of resistance to our circumstances.

Here are seven techniques that Dr. Gillihan often shares wit...

Last week we shared an article about ways to slow down aging. This time health expert JJ Virgin shares the worst foods for aging. Here are the worst offenders:

1. Sugar
I’m sure I’m not the first person to break this news—there just isn’t anything redeeming about a diet high in sugar, especially as you age. There are a few different ways sugar works against your body to exacerbate the symptoms and physical signs of aging.

• It can create insulin resistance. After your body breaks down sugar into glucose and fructose, insulin delivers glucose to your cells to give you energy. But with a diet too high in sugar, your body starts to become resistant to the onslaught of insulin, or a condition known as insulin resistance. It will try to make enough insulin to overcome your body’s resistant response to the insulin it already has, which can lead to conditions like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease—neither of which help the aging process.

• It can cause inflammation. Eating excess...

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 small piece ginger

Bowl Ingredients

• 1 cup carrot noodles
• 1 cup squash noodles
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• red chili flakes to garnish

Directions:

1. Blend all sauce ingredients in the blender until creamy.
   
2. Spiralize the veggies with the spiralizer and set aside until ready to use.
3. Pour sauce over noodles, garnish and serve fresh! 

For more recipes by Chef Jenny Ross check out her blog here!

Aging happens to all of us. It’s inevitable. Aging can be due to cells no longer able to function optimally. The environment we live in and our lifestyles can also affect how we age. According to Johnny Bowder, author of The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer, “Only about 5 to 20 percent of the aging process has to do with our genes. The rest has to do with how we treat our bodies, which determines whether, like a light switch, we turn the good genes on and the bad genes off.” Here are 5 ways shared with us by Dr. Amen to avoid accelerating the aging process.

1. Lessen Exposure to Free Radicals
Not unlike the way rust attacks a car, free radicals attack our cells, damage our DNA and accelerate aging. Things to avoid: cigarettes, trans fats, excess sun exposure, charred meats, and pesticides. Though fruits and vegetables are great sources of antioxidants that fight free radicals, try to buy the “dirty dozen” (produce with highest chemical residue) in organic form:

• Peaches
• Apples
• ...

Ingredients

Shortbread Cookie:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

Caramel Coconut Layer:

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
• 1/2 cup almond butter (or nut/seed butter of choice)
• 1 cup pitted medjool dates, soaked for 10 mins
• 1/4–1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Hu Gems chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix together all the cookie ingredients.
3. Press the dough into the bottom of a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Alternatively you can roll/cut or press into individual cookies.
4. Bake for 13-15 minutes (a little less for cookies, try 11-12) at 350ºF until golden brown. Cool.
5. Combine the soaked and drained dates, almond butter, vanilla, and salt in a food processor. Process slowly adding water as needed until you have a thick smooth paste.
6. Pulse in the toasted coconut.
7. Spread on top of the cookie base. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.
8. Melt the
...