The first time I saw Brooke Burke on E!, I was so amazed by her unique beauty. When she became a mother, she vowed that she would never ever take the shortcut on losing weight by taking diet pills, going under the knife . She was always pushing herself to do extreme workout combined with healthy eating. Here are 4 tips this Dancing with the Stars co-host shared at Shape.com before I check on these pool heat pumps.

Tip 1: Avoid Fad Diets
Having tried just about every diet in the book, Brooke has finally learned what diet works for her body and that is the Mediterranean diet. Her entire family follows the diet, which includes lean grilled beef, chicken, fish, salads, vegetables, and olive oil.

I also eat five small meals a day,” she says. “And I never skip breakfast, even if it’s just a protein shake. I can honestly say that I’ve never been healthier or fitter in my life.”

Tip 2: Pencil in a Workout
There is no excuse for not making time to exercise. Pencil it into your daily agenda if you have to just like Brooke does. Ideally, she works out five days a week. She normally does a cardio workout at the gym first thing in the morning after taking her children to school. Her favorite cardio activities are running the treadmill at 3.5 miles per hour at a 15% incline and the Pilates class she does 3 times a week.

Tip 3: Exercises for Confidence
Exercise offers many benefits, but self confidence is the best one of all. Being beautiful like a model is one thing, but being comfortable about who you are and with your own health brings more confidence that is even more beautiful.

I never wanted to be on magazines like Vogue or Allure; I wanted to be on SHAPE,” says Brooke. “There’s something very special to me about being relatable to other women, being healthy, and representing confidence at any age.”

Tip 4: Don’t Forget to Take Care of Yourself Too
Many women struggle with trying to take care of everyone else around them and, as a result, they often put themselves on the back burner. However, it is just as important to find time to relax, de-stress, and do something that makes you happy. For Brooke, working out is often that time. However, it can also be something as simple as scheduling a day to do absolutely nothing but sleep in.

As I was washing off some dishes this morning, I realized I have been neglecting on our kitchen sink apart from the Regulation E I need to research on! My mom always tell me to make those sink squeaky clean because it is where you wash your dishes and even food. Anyways, I like this bubblescrubber from fredandfriends. I'm sure my son will have a blast blowing bubbles while I clean off our kitchen sink.

BUBBLE SCRUBBER™
it’s a scrub brush, it’s a bubble wand

Why shouldn’t washing the dishes be just as much fun as charades
or a torrid game of scrabble? Introducing Bubble Scrubber, the
kitchen brush with an anatomically correct bubble wand hidden
right inside the bristles. And, as everybody knows: bubble wand +
dish soap + water = FUN! Hey, maybe you can even get the kids to
do the dishes! Peggable blisters.

Design: Jason Amendolara

©2006 FRED

Some people are lucky enough to find what they love doing aka their passion early on in their lives, while others end up finding their passion the whole of their lives, often wondering what their passion really is. A friend found her passion in Make-up and hairstyling as soon as she sets in her puberty years. However, it is only on her 30th birthday that she decided to educate herself and get a degree from the Regency Beauty Schools. Currently, she already finished her degree and has started her own salon business. From time to time, she would also do photoshoots.

Here's sharing a healthy dish this week before I check on general liability insurance. No picture as I can't find a good one. Hope you try this out, I tell you it's an easy whip!

FANCY FISH FINGERS:

4 pcs (400 grms ) fish or ffillet
1 small can pinaple crushed drained (reserve 2 tbsp syrup)
2 tbsps calamansi juice
1/4 kl ground pork
1 medium carrot grated
1 stalk celery or kinchay chopped
1 med size chopped onions
1tbsp soy sauce 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Procedure:
1. fillet and scrape flesh with spoon. remove bones, then marinate in pineapple syrup and calamansi juice for 15 minutes.
2. combine with the rest of the ingredients except breadcrumbs. season with 1 tsp iodised salt or rock salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. mix thouroughly.
3. form every 2 tbsp into sticks or croquettes. roll in breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown. serve with ketchup or sweet chili sauce.

Many different rice varieties exist in the market today. There is the Thai Jasmine rice, wild rice, long grain rice, California mocho rice, Southern medium grain rice and more. Of course when we eat, we want to get as much nutrients as we can from the food that we take and so it is also important that we choose the right kind of rice that will give us the most nutritional content.

They say that among all the rice varieties available, the one that will give the most health benefits is whole grain brown rice. Whole grains contain 3 layers: the Bran, the Endosperm, and the Germ and each of these layers contain different nutrients that can help improve our health. The process that transforms the brown rice into white rice is called milling and it strips off the Germ and Bran layer. This process, therefor removes the nutritional content coming from these two layers which lessens the nutrients that we can get from eating rice.

So where can we find whole grain brown rice? Whole grain brown rice can be bought in your local supermarkets and even in online stores. In local stores, they are found in the same area as the white grain rice and you can easily spot them with their brown color.

Whole grain brown rice is also available in different packaging and can be cook using different methods like stove top cooking, boiling, microwave oven or the instant and ready to eat brown rice. When purchasing rice of this kind, you can check for the label and it should say “whole wheat” to make sure that the rice that you are getting is whole grain. These type of rice products are made from 100% Whole Grains and is sodium free, cholesterol free and gluten free and contains 0 grams of trans fat and saturated fat which is good for the heart.

Health experts recommend that we consume at least 3 servings of whole grains every day. We can easily achieve this goal by eating healthy whole grain brown rice that will keep us healthy and can help prevent diseases like heart problems, cancer, and diabetes.

...and so my cravings gave in to these!
Yes, I am munching on these as I blog.

These Rice Cakes from Quaker Oats are something we always keep in our pantry. We just recently discovered this and all 3 of us love it. It says that 1 rice cake is equivalent to only 60 calories but it is so good you end up finishing the whole pack! Ayayay, I guess I need to check on these breeches site and then drink some tea before hitting the sack. Goodnight!

This is the sad part of turbo-blogging at wee hours of the night. I was just supposed to make a blog review of these mobile home floor plans then the next thing I knew, I was organizing food photos to be shared here in this blog and review some restaurants. Now, I am currently craving on these 2 dishes! One from Ikea resto and the other one from P.F. Chang's! I guess this means that I need to make reviews on these 2 places we always frequent when we want to pig out.

I am the kind of person who is careful with what medicine to take. In fact, I rarely take medicines even when a Physician prescribed me to take one. I make sure to read the literature and seek for second opinion, probably because of my dad who is very particular with our health.

A friend sent me this link about Wellbutrin Lawsuit. Apparently, Wellbutrin can result in serious injuries such as rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis is a condition in which damaged skeletal muscle tissue breaks down rapidly. Products of the damaged cells are released into the bloodstream and could destroy your kidneys. No wonder, lawsuits are being filed by many who were afflicted with these serious illnesses.

O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949

I am still up, yes, but I will hit the sack after posting this entry. The reason why I stayed so late because I had to wait for a slot for DS' summer music class which include learning how to play the Alesis Keyboards. Only a few classes are offered in our city and of course, slots are limited. After 4 hours of waiting, I was asked to wait for a confirmation of email early morning tomorrow. But thank God, I chanced upon this article which I just recently pinned, otherwise, my night would be put to waste.

"One of my most important food shopping tips ever--those annoying stickers on fruits and veggies tell you A LOT! 4 numbers mean they were conventionally grown, 5 numbers starting with number 8 means they are genetically modified (GMO), and 5 numbers starting with 9 means they were organically grown (no pesticides or nasty GMOs)"

Source: drfranklipman.com via somethingpurple on Pinterest

I am a huge fan of oatmeal-raisin cookies. I would choose this over some rich chocolate chip cookies or any chocolate-flavored cookie. Initially, I thought this would be one of those toughest cookie recipes to bake but I was wrong. You see, we have also stopped buying DS' most favorite grocery-cookies: Chips Ahoy and Oreo. I try my very best to bake homemade cookies at least twice a month. After baking chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and crinkles, it's time to try a new batch of cookies, the Oatmeal-Raisin cookies. I just had this feeling that DS would start begging for his old-time fave store-bought cookies so I better try out new recipes.

From Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday, dear hubby and I went Pescetarian/Pesco-Vegetarian. I tried to limit my rice intake for only 1/3 cup a day while hubby has to limit his to 1 cup a day. We felt good that even during Easter Sunday when we were supposed to feast on a good steak, we ended up having this for our Easter Dinner. (Did I also mention that we were able to complete our Spring Cleaning during that week? Think lotsa storage bins filled up!)

Before I check on this barcode scanner online supplier, let me share with you a couple of Running Pinterest photos I strongly relate. You can also check out some other running quotes/inspiration HERE.

This is how I feel about running.

Source: media-cache2.pinterest.com via somethingpurple on Pinterest

While, I truly believe that I need to work on my posture too hee hee before I bravely join a 5k marathon.

Source: Uploaded by user via somethingpurple on Pinterest