Book Expo of America

And so the Book Expo of America begins. With a few days of relaxation behind me I am excited and energized to begin a few days of meetings, signings, and cooking demos. I have packed comfortable shoes because this expo is enormous. Imagine 2 football fields full of books. It’s incredible and quite overwhelming at the same time.

If you are attending the Book Expo this year please stop by my booth: # 2741. I have a signing today at 1 pm. Tomorrow I will be hosting a cooking demonstration with yummy recipes from The Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids at 2:30 pm (followed by a signing at 3:00 pm) in booth # 5255.

I imagine by the end of the weekend I will be pretty worn out, but it’s all for a good cause: to spread the word of Eating Clean!

Clean Eating from Orangeville to L.A.

Good morning Clean Eaters!

I had a great time last night at my seminar at Henning Salon in Orangeville. The event raised over $1000 for Family Transition Place, an organization that provides support, counseling and safe shelter for abused women and their children in the Caledon and Dufferin area. It was a wonderful event for a wonderful cause.

I met a fanstastic group of men and women from as far away as London and Peterborough, Ontario! We had some good laughs and good questions to help people through their Eat-Clean journey. There were also some seasoned Clean Eaters there to share their successes. I heard from 3 people (men and women) who had all lost over 50 lbs through Eating Clean. I also talked to a wonderful woman who says that Clean Eating helped her back into her normal clothes only two weeks after having a baby! They were shining examples of the power of Eating Clean.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Everyone getting comfortable with themselves!

Mag Ruffman (of 'Road to Avonlea' and 'Anything I Can Do' fame) and I

Today, I’m off to California. My husband and I will be taking 2 days to relax and celebrate our birthdays before the Book Expo of America begins in Los Angeles. I am hoping the weather will hold out. The last time I was there it rained for 3 straight days! I believe this is unheard of in California, although please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. My husband and I usually like to tour around Venice Beach and visit our favorite Clean Eating restaurant, The Firehouse. I'll let you know about all of the great things I ate once I get back.

Off to catch my flight!

What Are You Doing Monday Night?

Happy Thursday everyone! Today is my 49th birthday. I am saying that loudly and proudly because I feel better today than I did when I was 29 and even 39!

Happy Birthday to anyone else out there celebrating today!!! Wahooooo!!

I am celebrating by having lunch with my mother and sister this afternoon, and by having dinner with my husband and children this evening.

I also wanted to remind those of you in Orangeville, Ontario that I will be running a seminar on Monday, May 26th at 6:30 pm at Henning Salon on Broadway. If you would like to attend please contact Henning Salon at 519 942 4297. You can also visit their website for more information.

I'd love to meet you, answer your questions, and start you on your journey to clean and healthy living!!

In the meantime, have an excellent weekend.

Happy Victoria Day Canadians!

This is all belated, course.

How did you spend the long weekend?

Well, where I was it was cold and rainy most of the weekend. Luckily, I had all of my girls home. We went shopping in Yorkville on Saturday and had a barbeque on Sunday to celebrate my husband's birthday. He doesn't like his birthday to be recognized, but I couldn't resist.

I made grilled chicken, filet mignon, salmon skewers, quinoa salad, corn on the cob, Greek salad, hummus, mixed greens, and roasted potatoes. We had quite the spread for 18 of us. It was delicious. And we finished off the meal with Tofu Chocolate Mousse... my favorite... and mixed berries. Yummy! It's too bad I was barbecuing in the rain.

Anyway, it was a fairly relaxing weekend with everyone around.

Now, I am gearing up for a busy week. My birthday is on Thursday and I have a couple of deadlines to meet before then. Phewf!!

Have a great day everyone! Keep it tight!

Speaking at Schools

I had the honor this week of speaking with a group of grade 7 and 8 students from St. Paul's Elementary school in Guelph, Ontario. We gathered in the gym to chat about nutrition and exercise in a non-classroom, interactive setting.

The first thing I asked was how many of them had breakfast. Then I asked what they had for breakfast. The resounding reply was a laundry list of sugary cereals from Fruit Loops to Cap'n Crunch. I hope I surprised more than a few when I showed them that Fruit Loops have the same nutritional values as a Mars bar. There's a good way to start off your day:


After about 25 minutes of questions, answers and giveaways we got up for a half hour of no-nonsense circuit training. It was a great time and left us all sweating profusely by the end. Actually, I am still sore today. I hope the kids are okay!

Thank you to Ms. Melanie Rose-Wideman for setting up the event, and the staff at St. Paul's for hosting.

If only one kid went home that day and changed their eating habits then I have happily done my job.

WSIB

Well, this post is a few days overdue, but last week was a little crazy... hence the one post for the week. So now I'm finally getting around to posting about the WSIB seminar I did last Wednesday. That's me to the left with my trusty Powerpoint presentation, showing off a bowl of chips... yuck (Photo Credit: Bonnie Schulman). What a great experience! The WSIB is the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board up here in Canada. They host a Health and Wellness week and asked me to be a guest speaker this year. Little did they know this would be their most popular one. Take a look at the photo (Credit: Bonnie Schulman) below of the list (p.s. you can click on the image to enlarge it). My seminar sign-up is the middle column. Not only was the list full, people started signing their names off the list. It was great! We had a full house of very attentive listeners with great questions. I also met a big fan, Ginette, and her husband, Ron, at the event. They were the cute couple sitting in the front holding hands. How refreshing! Afterwards, my assistants and I went to lunch at this delicious little place in Toronto called The Sultan's Tent. We shared a couple of excellent Moroccan dishes, including some tasty hummus concoctions. Thanks again to the wonderful team at WSIB. I hope this is something I can do again soon. I just love sharing the message with so many attentive listeners.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

To all the Clean-Eating Moms out there....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

I know I am one day late, but it's the thought that counts.

I celebrated with my children, stepchildren, husband, sister, nieces, nephews, and my mother.

It was a lovely day filled with very special moments. Especially our morning breakfast of scrambled egg whites, oatmeal, fruit salad and coffee. Yummy!