This month I have been doing a nutritional cleanse and so I am having to be a little more creative with my meals.  This pasta is one of my all time favourites and I have it often.  It is super easy and super delicious. You can make it with zucchinni or with squash.  I like either, though zucchini does not have as strong a flavour as the squash so it can taste more like pasta.  You will need a Spirooli to make the vegetable into a pasta like form -  contact Janice to get one.  I was so excited when I got mine, I used it every day for weeks until it was requested that I try something other than noodle dishes.  It is inexpensive, around $40 and will make more than just noodles.

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes soaked for 2 hours
2 TBS cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS minced white onion
1 TBS minced fresh basil
1 TBS minced fresh dill
1 TBS minced fresh sage
1 tsp sea salt
1 large zucchini or squash

Run the zucchini through the spriooli, chop the sundried tomatoes and mix in all the other ingredients into a bowl.  Let chill and serve cold or serve immediately.  If you are trying this with your family for the first time, you might not want to call it spaghetti as it could be a shock if they are expecting it to taste like traditional spaghetti  This is a wonderful way to get a full meal of vegetables without much effort.

I have had a request from someone to explain the value of raw food.  I will add this to another post shortly.

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach.  She also owns CL Stevens Fitness Inc. a company that specializes in on-site corporate and community based fitness.

Follow her on twitter@cleansegirl.com
Blog: www.cleansegirl.com
Cleanse Challenge: www.isachallenge.com
www.carileestevens.com

By: Cari-Lee Stevens

I picked up the phone and a man said: “My name is Frank Pondrose (not his real name), I have a speech impediment, so I talk a little slowly…” He had gotten my name from a business where my fitness company does classes. He was looking for a yoga class. Several times in the first few minutes of our phone call, he mentioned how I might want to hang up on him because he spoke so slowly. I was saddened to think that the reason he kept mentioning this was because people had hung up on him. As our conversation went on, he revealed that he had Multiple Sclerosis and the reason for his call was that he was looking for a yoga class that might help him with his strength, balance and co-ordination. We spoke for over 40 minutes and my heart went out to this man. He was diagnosed five years ago and has such a positive attitude. He walks with a walker and can no longer drive because he is legally blind (a side effect he thinks made worse by medications he has been taking), he was unable to continue working and the Dr.’s told him it was probably only going to get worse and that as his brain continued to short circuit, the MS would continue to crawl through his body. He went on an experimental treatment that used chemotherapy to kill the red blood cells in the hope that the body would then make new ones but the chemotherapy ate away at his muscles, including his heart. He said the pain was excruciating. I told him that I would research yoga classes for MS, as our company did not offer this and that a regular class might lead to frustration. We spoke about getting his mercury fillings removed and getting his diet to an alkaline state and cleansing. I recommended a good book that everyone should read “What You Don’t Know May be Killing You” by Dr. Don Colbert.

Two things greatly impacted me about this call with Frank. The first was his positive, open and pro-active attitude. He listened to everything I said with an openness that many people, sick or not, do not possess. He wants to get better, even though the Dr.’s are telling him it doesn’t look good. He is living on a fixed income, yet he is still willing to get out there and do what he can so that he can get better. He has faith even when those around him are not offering uplifting news. The other thing that impacted me was the sad reality that people would hang up on him, especially after him stating that he had a speech impediment. In our conversation he also mentioned that he has had wonderful physiotherapists and others that weren’t so wonderful in the patience department. In telling me this, he was not complaining or judging, he was just stating that for some physiotherapists, working with people like him was not their strength and it tried their patience. I have witnessed people treat the elderly with impatience and disrespect and I shake my head. We are all going to get old someday, if we are lucky. Disease or accident could strike us at any time and take away our physical abilities, impede our speech or alter our looks. If people can’t be nice for the sake of being nice, perhaps they should consider that: “Hey, this could happen to me. How would I like to be treated?” This call today flooded me with a wave of emotions. I am not sure if it is because I also have MS and it hits close to home or if it is because I am sad to see that people are sometimes rude to him when it would probably take very little effort to be nice or if it is because I was inspired by him or maybe a combination of all of this.

This past weekend I read a quote it said: “Smile, it is a language understood by all.” I think this is good advice. You never know what someone is going through or how that smile might touch their heart. These are my thoughts for the day. Have a great Easter Week!

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach. She coaches people through nutritional cleanses and speaks at the corporate level about health and wellness.  Her company CLS Fitness Inc. offers Pilates teacher training through the Canadian Pilates Institute as well as corporate and community based fitness classes.

Follow her on twitter @cleansegirl.com

What a blast it was!

By Cari-Lee Stevens

It sure feels like the party is over.  Back to work, no more noise and parties from the street calling me to ditch work and come play.  On Saturday night, I went to Granville Island to meet some friends for dinner.  In the end, they wanted to see a band and I didn't want to stand in line for 2 hours, so we went our separate ways.   I went for dinner and got a seat at the bar at the Keg. I felt like I was in a episode of Cheers.  All those who sat around me were local.  I met Cheryl, a UBC professor and Carey Leanne who serves at the Sandbar and Reid who owns a lot of different night clubs and businesses.  We had a great time chatting and getting to know each other.  Generally I am a friendly person but because I thought the people around me were from out of town, I made more of an effort than usual to include them in conversation and welcome them.  I started more conversations than I normally would and I had a much better time because of it.  I am guessing that those with whom I chatted were also more open and friendly because of the situation.  Like my bike riding around the city which will be a hold over from the Olympics, this too will be a hold over.  I am going to continue to be more welcoming and engage people in conversation more often.  You never know who you are going to meet!

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach.  She also owns CL Stevens Fitness Inc. a company that specializes in on-site corporate and community based fitness.

Follow her on twitter@cleansegirl.com
Blog: www.cleansegirl.com
www.carileestevens.com

by @bsainsbury

How did you get involved with the Metro Blenz News Squad?

Through High Output Business Networking

Which of you blog posts did you enjoy writing the most?

The one where we found the tickets for the box game and were gifted with two box suite tickets.

What's your Olympic memory so far?

Going to the US/Swiss hockey game. It was the first game where I really started to understand and care about what was happening. I wasn’t much of a fan before.

What's your take-away from the Olympic experience?

I have heard a lot of feel-good stories this Olympics, the spirit of generosity is alive and well. It is heart warming to see.

What do you do? What's your business?

I am a professional speaker, trainer and coach. My specialty is health and wellness topics for the body and mind.  Most often I will speak in the corporate setting at a company meeting or a convention. I do keynotes, break away sessions and workshops.  WWW.CARILEESTEVENS.COM .  Through the Canadian Pilates Institute, I am a trainer of Pilates Instructors. WWW.CANADIANPILATESINSTITUTE.COM

We train people to become Pilates mat teachers.  Our instructors may be found teaching in studios, community centres, and corporate locations.  One of my greatest passions is to help people make impactful and permanent positive life changes and as such, one of my favourite roles is as a nutritional and cleansing coach.  In this role my job is to support my clients on their path to better health through nutritional cleansing.  WWW.CLEANSEENERGY.COM Lastly, I also own a fitness company called CLS Fitness – WWW.CLSTEVENSFITNESS.COM that specializes in on-site community and corporate based fitness. We send instructors into corporations, schools and community centres to teach Pilates, yoga and other fitness classes, including dance.

By Cari-Lee Stevens

Street hockey Yaletown

So there I was, walking in my trendy Yaletown neighbourhood the other day and I came across a sight that threw me back into the past.  Yaletown is not what I would consider a traditional neighbourhood, so what I saw was slightly out of place but heart warming just the same.  I grew up all over BC and some of the towns we lived in were very small and did not have indoor hockey rinks, so kids played hockey outdoors on the street or on outdoor ice rinks.  We had an ice rink in my back yard and both my brothers played hockey.  I never paid much attention to their hockey games, but I do remember when the Niedermeyers first made it to the NHL, my youngest brother told me about the speed drills they would do together in hockey school and how while everyone else was huffing and puffing to get across the ice, the two brothers would seemingly float across, thanks in part to their figure skating lessons, or so I was told.  I was reminded of the good old days when I walked down Hamilton street midday and saw a group of guys playing street hockey.  After I watched for a minute I turned to my friend and said:  “this is so fun, they should do this more often”.  Then I remembered where I was.  I am betting after Canada's big hockey win tonight, tomorrow we will see lots of hockey spirit and a few impromptu pick up games on the streets.

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach.  She also owns CL Stevens Fitness Inc. a company that specializes in on-site corporate and community based fitness.

Follow her on twitter@cleansegirl.com
Blog: www.cleansegirl.com
www.carileestevens.com

Some of the gang. Thanks Sarah for the photos.

By Cari-Lee Stevens

Friday night and I was fully engrossed in a work project, the kind that I find difficult to step away from.  By the time 8:45 pm rolled around, I decided enough was enough and I was going to head outside to check out all the revelry that I could hear from my Yaletown apartment.  The streets were unbelievably packed; it was like a busy day in Disneyland. My plan was a casual walk around the neighborhood, maybe to see the light show and check out Robson square.  My sweetie and I headed out and looped up around Mainland and Smithe, where at a stop light we came upon a crowd of about 10 young university students.  Joe chatted them up about their evening plans, which entailed going to the hockey game.  Joe asked where they were sitting; they said they were in a box suite.  I was thinking, “how nice, box seats, who do you have to know to get you and your 10 friends into box seats for an Olympic hockey game?” Then from across the street one of their friends came running saying: “dude, I lost the tickets”.  I thought he was being a joker.  As it turned out, Joe had found the tickets a hundred meters back and was surveying the situation to ensure he got them to the right people.  They were so grateful for having the tickets returned that they invited us to the game (they happened to have two extra tickets).  What good luck!  Our little 20 minute walk turned into a fun night out in a box suite watching Finland and Germany.  Thanks Elliot and gang!

View from our box - thanks Sarah for the photos.

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach.
She also owns CL Stevens Fitness Inc. a company that specializes in
on-site corporate and community based fitness.

Follow her on twitter@cleansegirl.com
Blog: www.cleansegirl.com
www.wellnesslecturesinc.com

Our beautiful City Hall

By Cari-Lee Stevens

So yesterday I had an exciting day.  I finally got my super duper new bike.  The guys at West Point Cycles suited me up with some smooth road tires and off I went towards City Hall. It was a gorgeous day for a bike ride and I really dig having a camera handy, it seems as though I notice more when I have it with me. Speaking of this, has anyone else noticed the really nice looking manhole covers in the Mount Pleasant area? They looked like native art – not kidding, and I don’t have a photo of them!  One of the stops on my little tour was to meet with a friend of a friend. This friend is the father of one of the Norwegian speed skaters.  We had an interesting conversation about the soft ice in Richmond and the fact that it isn’t a “given” that parents get tickets to events that their kids are participating in.  This father had to pull a lot of strings just to get a ticket to be here to see his son compete.  About the soft ice, apparently the heavier skaters are having a harder time than the lighter ones because the ice flakes under their weight.

Gordon Campbell working the crowd

Next I was off to Quebec house for poutine! At the price of $12 for a handful of fries, I am sure they will be able to finance a very nice new luge track for their athletes!  As I sat there savouring my little bit of Quebec, the people at the table next to me started loudly fawning over someone. I thought, “fantastic, an impromptu concert performance by a celebrity”, after all, I heard that Michael Buble was at Goldfish the other evening.  Well, it wasn’t quite as exciting as Michael Buble, at least not for me, but it was Premier Gordon Campbell and he did give me a pin.   On my way home along the seawall, I met Ziggy, originally from Poland and who has lived all over Canada and the US.  Over the past two days he has spent 12 hours making little rock statues and Inukshuks along the rocky banks.  It is really quite something to see and worth a walk along the seawall between Yaletown and Science World aka the Russian pavilion.  If you get a chance to head out on your bike, it is a great way to see what is going on in the city.  The roads are quiet and I found bike parking readily available.

Ziggy and his rocks

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach.  She also owns CL Stevens Fitness Inc. a company that specializes in on-site corporate and community based fitness.

Follow her on twitter@cleansegirl.com
Blog: www.cleansegirl.com
www.wellnesslecturesinc.com

By Cari-Lee Stevens

Party on Hamilton Street

Last night was the official start of the Olympics.  I watched it on TV then headed outside to Yaletown to experience the buzz.  As I wandered down the crowded streets, I saw what my friend called “pasterism”, (young drunk guys high fiving people and screaming “Go Canada”) a few live bands and people dancing on the streets, families with kids and people walking their dogs.  It was a good time feeling. I am embracing the Olympics because they are here and the money has been spent but I voted “NO” for having them here. I think they are environmentally unfriendly on a massive scale and a colossal waste of tax payers’ money. An example of this assaulted my senses last night as I walked up Beatty Street and came upon the scene of idling buses coupled with the intense smell of diesel/gas that turned my stomach.  We have an anti-idling policy in this city that I believe has been in effect since 2006. When I inquired as to why they were idling, I was told that they were unable to “park”, yet they seemed quite parked to me.  The street was entirely closed off to regular vehicle and pedestrian traffic and the cops were everywhere. People were boarding buses, getting off buses, these buses weren’t going anywhere any time soon. They were all idling there for at least 15 minutes and perhaps much longer than that.  To me, it seems like such a small and simple thing to do; turn the key, shut off the engine, it can make a difference.  What am I missing here?

The offending buses

Cari-Lee Stevens is a speaker, trainer and coach.  She also owns CL Stevens Fitness Inc. a company that specializes in on-site corporate and community based fitness.

Follow her on twitter@cleansegirl.com
Blog: www.cleansegirl.com
www.wellnesslecturesinc.com

By Cari-Lee Stevens

What a lovely city we live in!  After a meeting downtown today, I walked down Pender Street and I met Necito from Peru who has been here for two years.  Just yesterday he had set up his flower stand at Pender between Thurlow and Burrard.  When the tulips are out, I can’t resist loading up, so I did

I would like to say that I never take for granted that we live in a beautiful city, though I am sure sometimes I do.  A few years ago a friend of mine from the prairies came to visit Vancouver and was amazed by the fact that we had outdoor street vendors selling fresh flowers in the middle of winter.  Back home her ground was frozen solid and no one was hanging out on the street all day selling flowers.

On my walk home through Yaletown I looked up at the trees and I noticed that our cherry blossoms are starting to bud.  Yipee!  I hope they bud while the visitors are here.  How gorgeous!  This will dispel the myth that Canada is a harsh frozen land that doesn’t see the light of day until August.

Check out my blog at www.cleansegirl.com
Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/cleansegirl
www.wellnesslecturesinc.com

Summer time in February and I am not just talking about the weather!
By Cari-Lee Stevens

Wow, my neighborhood is transforming!  I live in Yaletown and have of course noticed over the past month, many workers in the area putting together structures at David Lam Park and helicopters flying about but aside from that I haven’t felt any Olympic buzz until this past Thursday.  At 5:45 pm, I came out of an hour and a half hot yoga class and the streets had come alive.  I saw the "Smurfs" that Marilyn Anderson had blogged about and people with the Canadian flag painted on their faces. Many drivers seemed oblivious to the pedestrians and were making left hand turns into cross walks without much regard for safety.  It was as though magic fairy dust had been sprinkled over everyone. Thank goodness the class didn’t dull my brain, as I was quick enough to pull a young woman out of harms way when she walked against the traffic light.  On Friday morning as I was driving to the North Shore I witnessed a near accident as someone ran the light at Georgia and Homer, the offending driver clearly seemed to be lost.  Today is Saturday and I am feeling a bit under the weather, so I decided to have a quiet and relaxing day.  Around 2 pm I got hungry and headed to the grocery store. I put my hair in ponytails, slapped on a toque and sunglasses so that no one would bear witness to how shabby I really looked and set off.  The store wasn’t busy but I noticed a high proportion of out of town men there.  One young guy started chatting me up in the vegetable department.  We had a quick conversation about the weather and Olympics and then I headed for the fish department and he headed for the check out.  Next thing I knew, he was standing in front of me asking me out! Boy, did that ever make my day.  Not only was he cute but he was also probably 10 years my junior.  I have shopped there for over two years at least 3 times a week and I have never been asked out.  The games haven’t even started but the party is revving up!  It sure feels like summer time!  So remember to keep your eyes open when crossing the street (while walking or driving) and be friendly, that is how I met Derek from Saskatoon, though we don’t have a date. I expressed my flattery and politely declined.

Follow Cari-Lee on twitter:  www.twitter.com/cleansegirl
Visit Cari-Lee's blog: www.cleansegirl.com

I live in Yaletown and I rarely drive unless I really have to. I had been planning to take a bit of a vacation at home while the Olympics went on so that I really didn't have to get caught up in traffic.  As it ends up, I have been asked to do a few presentations that are smack in the middle of the Olympics.  I have had visions of waiting in traffic or in long winding skytrain lines forever to get somewhere that should normally take me twenty minutes and then I had a thought!   Why don't I ride my bike?   I used to ride my bike everywhere.  My rule was, if it took me under 45 minutes I would ride, rain or shine.  Sure, I could make excuses for not riding, like, I might not look professional and presentable enough for my meeting but there are always ways around that, it really is just an excuse.  So during the time of the Olympics I am going to adopt this thinking again and take it as an opportunity to get back to a good healthy habit.  It isn't just good for me, it is also good for the environment.  Since it takes 21 days to create a habit, by the time the Olympics are done I will be more than half way there!

What kind of a new and healthy habit can you create that will be good for the environment and good for you at the same time?