Category Archives: Going Healthy

The Squatty Potty: You’ve Been Pooping Wrong

03/18/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

My thoughtful wife gave me poop better for Christmas 2 years ago. For the first time ever on that glorious Christmas day, I upgraded my poop posture with this cool new ~~toy~~ stool (ha ha, get it?) and, holy crap, I’ve never been so relieved!

squatty potty, poop, health, colon, weight loss — Figured I would spare you from a photo of it in use. 🙂

The Squatty Potty has been providing every day relief since, with the only exception being when I travel. If I didn’t need to carry more items, I’d make it my carry-on item so I never had to go without it. They do, however, have an inflatable Porta-Squatty which I’ll have to look into.

The Squatty Potty is an ergonomic stool that elevates your lower half into a squatting position right over the toilet. Squatting is the natural posture for humans to poop, and it allows you to either stand over the toilet in a full squat or mimic the posture while sitting on the pot.

Why not just find any old stool to do the same thing? You could, and I tried on vacation once, but there was a slight stability issue. The Squatty Potty is designed to allow natural squat posture while remaining sturdy so you don’t slip, and it fits around your toilet for easy storage. A regular stool would get in the way and, if there are any boys in the house, become victim of tinkle sprinkle. Hey, it happens!

When we simply sit on the toilet, our colon becomes kinked. This is why you can sit there for 20 minutes playing on your smartphone and never feel fully relieved.

But, when you pop a squat, literally, the colon is free and open to rid your body of all collected waste. For me, this equals much less of a bloating feeling and a flatter stomach. This just might be the fastest way to safely lose weight!

When I first started using it, I just raised my feet up on the platform and sat on the toilet. This alone proved quite effective at making me poop better. But then I did a little research on their site and found that the intended method to get the full effect is to stand over the pot in a squatting position. Basically, keep your rear in the air.

Sure, there were a few balance issues at first (please note: tight-fitting shorts/pants are not recommended!), but once I figured out the correct positioning, I found even greater poop elimination than when I sat using the stool. If you don’t already, keep a plunger nearby. Just saying.

TMI? Well, it is a post about a handy tool used to squat for a better poop, what do you expect? Plus, being a parenting site, I assume many parents read this; aren’t we all pretty immune to poop talk? I mean, we discuss the day’s “cloggers” during dinner.

Other than getting used to performing the full stand and hover squat, or the awkwardness of having your kid coming in a staring, I can’t find anything to complain about with the Squatty Potty. It’s simple, easy to clean, doesn’t get in the way, and best of all, is the most natural cleansing method I can think of. You’ll even end up using less toilet paper when squatting since things are more…err, open.

With the Squatty Potty, you can get in and out of the bathroom with the feeling of full relief. No need for laxatives or other drugs to help move things along, which apparently is used by many Americans.

Have you heard of or tried the Squatty Potty before?

Does poop talk gross you out? If so, sorry, but it’s a necessary part of everyday life, and now it’s a less time-consuming part!

Click Here to get your own non-laxative, completely natural cleansing product known as The Squatty Potty!

Want something a little more classy to stand on as you poop? They also offer Squatty Potties in Bamboo…

….or Natural Wood. These are classy enough for the White House!

Full Disclosure: All opinions in this post are 100% my own. My wife purchased the Squatty Potty as a gift for me and I have not been compensated in any way. That said, there are affiliate links that, if you click on them, I might earn a few cents. So, please click them, I like cents!

Food, Going Healthy

Protein-Packed Spicy Black Bean Burger Recipe

03/16/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

These spicy black bean burgers were created by accident. I intended to make them more of a cake (think crab cakes without the crab), but ended up with more of a flat, burger-like patty.

Do you ever do that; set out to make one thing, and wind up with something else? I guess that’s how a lot of great things have come into existence…..the slinky, microwave, Post-it notes, and even chocolate chip cookies, to name a few.

I mixed everything together, thought it was too runny, so I added more dry ingredients. Then a little more dry ingredients. You know, just to be safe.

Apparently, the addition of dry ingredients was just a little too much. Instead of a moist and tender bean cake, I wound up with a slightly crispy and tasty black bean burger.

Meh, I’m still eating them like a cake and leaving out the bun! These would’ve great formed into rectangles for a fun kid-friendly finger food you could use with cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, or just mustard as delicious dips.

Remember when I mentioned these on my last Meatless Monday post? Well, here’s the recipe as promised. This recipe is one delectable mistake that I’ll be making again; on purpose this time. Try it for yourself and let me know how you like it or what you did different.

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

black bean burger, cake, recipe, healthy, vegetarian, cooking — Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Shittake Mushrooms take the…errr…um…cake?

by RC Liley

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 50 min

Ingredients (Serves 4 – 6)

1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight or 2 (15oz) cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
6oz of your favorite salsa; the amount varies, just eyeball it and add more towards the end if needed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bell peppers (any color); chopped
4 cloves garlic; crushed and minced
4 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 whole eggs or 3 egg whites; you can use 1/4 cup ground flaxseed or chia seeds to make this vegan
3/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup unflavored protein powder; can use more coconut flour as a substitute
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons cumin
Ground black pepper to taste; no need for salt as there should be enough in the salsa and mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
3 tablespoons dried cilantro

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat, sweat onion, bell peppers, and garlic; add beans, cilantro, and spices and cover to let simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
Remove beans from heat and transfer to large bowl to let cool; you don’t want to cook the eggs!
Using a large fork or potato masher, mash most of the beans leaving a few ones intact for texture.
Add remaining wet ingredients to bowl and mix well. Sift dry ingredients in small bowl and slowly mix into wet.
With a large spoon, scoop the mix onto a parchment lined baking sheet, form into patties or whatever shape you want, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, and then flip over and cook another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven (should have a crispy brown crust) and let cool on pan for 5 to 10 minutes.
Top each cake with salsa, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, or mustard and any of your favorite toppings. Serve with a big side of steamed veggies.

Food, Going Green, Going Healthy

Why Meat Lovers Should Partake in Meatless Monday

03/14/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Remember when the USDA retracted its statement referencing “Meatless Monday”? Yeah, the Cattlemen’s Beef Association flexed its “beefy” bicep when the Ag Dept posted a message to its employees about helping to reduce the environmental impact of eating meat by skipping it one day of the week.

I know very little on the inner-workings of lobbying and getting messages out to the public, but I figure money is the biggest concern; not public health. When I see/hear any sort of “this is good for you” promotion from the government or any big business, I raise my brow and take what’s being pushed with a grain of salt.

Just ask yourself these 2 questions when you see claims on packages, the television, magazines, billboards, etc:

Who or What will reap the most benefits of this statement? – It says it’s healthy, but the 50 ingredients in this pretty package don’t seem very good or natural.

How much money was spent so people like me can see this claim? – Only the big industries have great power to push their products for all to see. Small, local companies producing small batch, whole food goods, don’t have the funding to really advertise as well.

I like all types of meat and fish, but I eat red meat sparingly and only grass-fed…preferably local too. The economic cost of producing beef is just not worth it to me. Just think of all the cheap, junky beef products fast food chains are rolling out to so many people each day; it’s crazy! Sure, the $1 menu “deals” seem appealing to those who are ignorant to health and are short on cash; sadly, this is a common correlation.

Costs associated to produce a quarter pound of beef.

But consider other costs; the cost to get the meat wrapped in a paper package and handed to you through the window of a drive-thru…mmm. Producing just a half pound of beef requires 7.40 pounds of CO2, that’s equivalent to driving 9.81 miles. Now take into account that in 2009 the U.S. consumed 14 million tons of beef; and 72 million tons for the world. That’s a lot of gas! (Source for this info.)

meatless monday spicy black bean burger

I will happily choose a couple meatless meals per week to help reduce emissions just a little bit. If we all did this, our little changes will have a big impact on the health of our economy and bodies. So give the USDA and Beef Industry the finger a carrot, and enjoy a meal with the spicy black bean burger in the pic above instead! Recipe coming soon.

Check out wannaveg.com for a list of 10 reasons to go vegetarian one day each week.

I wonder what what the CAFO supporting beef industry would do if more people helped the health of the Earth and their bodies by abstaining from meat for one day? They’d be as mad as cows for sure, so I would assume their well-paid lobbyists made sure the posting was removed. And it was……only hours after being posted.

I would never ask anyone who loves meat to go vegetarian (I’m certainly not!), but please reduce the consumption of meat, especially from fast food or the cheap store-bought kind, and reap the benefits on cost, healthy, and experiencing new food!