The Dessert Myth

It seems we've always been told that desserts are bad for us. They have tons of calories, fat up the wazoo, and they're only allowed after we've finished our healthy dinner. But I'm here to tell you to forget what you've been taught and start taking matters into your own hands! Do your own research, read all your ingredients, and take control!

Here's a recipe for CLEAN cookies that are absolutely to die for, courtesy of "Clean Food" by Terry Walters. ENJOY!! :)

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup brown rice flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened dried coconut

Pinch of sea salt

1/4 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In medium bowl, combine bananas, oil, syrup, and vanilla. In separate medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, coconut, and salt. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and blend until just combined (do not overstir). Fold in chocolate chips.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop batter by the heaping teaspoon onto sheet. There is no need to roll, flatten or shape the mounds. Place in oven and bake 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place directly on wire rack to cool.

Makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies.

/R. Angelina

If you can't afford to be HEALTHY, you definitely can't afford to be SICK!

A fellow Team Dynasty Beachbody Coach, Jen, whipped this up after doing research on the topic. I know it can be difficult to look at the cost of a month's supply of Shakeology (about $120) as worth it, but it TOTALLY is. It comes out to about $4 a shake...so $4 a meal because you typically use a shake as a meal replacement. Many of us are spending more than $4 a day at Starbucks or close to $10 going out to lunch, so Shakeology is a wonderful option!! Questions? Visit http://shakeology.com/raquelafiorillo :)

About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese. Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese, according to the CDC. For the first time in history, children born after 2000 are projected to have a shorter life-expectancy than their parents. It's time to purchase healthy, sometimes more costly, all natural nutrient-dense ingrediants that fuel our body and help PREVENT diabetes.

Cost of Obesity-Related Diabetes


Heart Attack
Direct Costs: Ambulance transportation, diagnostic tests, hospitalization, and possibly surgery and a pacemaker or implantable defibrillator. Long-term maintenance of heart disease is also expensive, including medications, testing, and cardiologist appointments.
Indirect costs: It's harder to grasp the indirect costs of heart disease, but they can be enormous. The biggest are lost productivity and income. Many people might be able to return to work a few months after having a heart attack. But even losing income for a few months can cause grave financial problems. Surveys show that most people would be only 90 days away from bankruptcy if they stopped getting paid. People with more severe disease may never able to return to work full time, or at all.
Those who don't have good health insurance, or no insurance, can be financially ruined by heart disease overnight. That can also be true for people who do have decent health insurance. The lost wages alone can be crippling.
Even if you don’t develop heart disease, it's still costing you. "You're paying for cardiovascular disease whether you have it or not," Heidenreich says. "You're paying for it in your taxes and your health insurance premiums." He estimates that the average person in the U.S. is paying $878 per year for the societal costs of heart disease.
Despite diabetes' ominous potential, learning about the complications serves to reinforce the treatment regimes necessary to reduce, if not eliminate the potential pitfalls of the disease.

Cardiovascular Disease
Heart disease and strokes are the leading cause of death in diabetics, accounting for approximately 65% of all deaths. The most common types are coronary heart disease, resulting from fatty deposits in the arteries, and high blood pressure, or hypertension. Approximately 74% of adult diabetics have high blood pressure or use prescription medication for hypertension. High cholesterol is also a cardiovascular disease complication.

Diabetes/Kidney Disease
Kidney disease, or diabetic nephropathy, is the leading cause of kidney failure. The condition is the slow deterioration of kidney function, which can ultimately lead to kidney failure. Diabetic kidney failure is known as end-stage renal disease or ESRD, and accounts for approximately 44% of all cases in 2005.

Diabetes/Nerve Damage
Nervous system damage, or neuropathy, affects approximately 60%-70% of diabetics. The neuropathy damage varies widely in scope and type of affliction. Damage can include reduced sensation, possibly pain in hands, feet, arms and/or legs, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Amputations are also a possible result of neuropathic damage. Autonomic neuropathy, a type of nervous system disorder, can affect the autonomous nervous system, which controls breathing, sexual function (men and women), circulation, urination, digestion and temperature regulation.

Diabetic Retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in adults (20-74), approximately 12,000 to 24,000 cases a year. Retinopathy progressively destroys the small blood vessels in the eye, affecting vision. Ultimately, the disease can advance to blindness, known as proliferative retinopathy.

/R. Angelina

Would anyone care for some mixed messages?

I'll admit it...I love to read magazines. All different types. Fashion, cooking, magazines about music, crafting, teeny-bopper stuff, and most of all, health & fitness magazines. My favorites have become mags like "Shape", "Women's Health", and "Self" but I have to say, I do NOT love seeing all the advertisements for fat-burning pills, gastric bypass surgeries, and magical drinks that enable you to lose 10 pounds in 24 hours. How is it that we have these magazines with articles about how to healthy eating on page 10, which exercises are the best to tone your butt or rip your abs on page 17, and then when you turn to the next page, you see an ad that completely diminishes and counteracts everything you just read, learned about, and absorbed? I really feel that the editors of these magazines are doing a disservice to their readers when they include these types of hyped-up, false advertisements. Now, I'm not naive - I know companies need to make money so they advertise for products and companies to gain a profit. But why not advertise something you truly believe in, something that is relevant and true, something that you can feel good about promoting?

Just my 2 cents.

/R. Angelina