Day 12 of Giving: Moving Day!

For today's Give please visit my brand new blog on the new toscareno.com! We will no longer be updating this site because we have switched over all blogging functions to the newly updated toscareno.com site. Thank you for your understanding and continued patronage.

Visit me on the new toscareno.com

Hope you enjoy our new home!

xoxox

Tosca Reno

Day 11 of Giving: Give the Cleanse - Holiday Detox Shake Recipe!

 On the 11th Day of Giving I give you the gift of cleansing!

Treats, sugar and alcohol are common indulgences during the holiday season. To keep your body in balance start your morning off with this Green Detox Shake recipe, courtesy of my daughter and her new favourite website The Chalkboard. This shake helps keep pH neutral, you want to do this because an overly acidic body invites disease.

Ingredients:

3 celery stalks or 1 whole cucumber
4 cups spinach
Juice of 2 ruby red grapefruit or 4 limes
1 avocado
1 tbsp nut butter (or flesh of a coconut)
1/2 cup whole strawberries
1 scoop Powder Greens - I use SunWarrior Greens (you can purchase them at rawelements.ca, and use the discount code "Tosca" for an additional 20% off)
Water and ice if necessary

Optional Ingredients
*small piece of ginger for zing and warmth
*sub strawberries for pineapple

If you are interested in maximizing your detox, as soon as you wake drink 1 cup warm water and lemon, skip the coffee and opt for green tea. Eat as clean as possible throughout the day!

And the Winners Are...

Wow!

What an incredible response we received from yesterday's giveaway. You all really like Bobbi Brown. Awesome.

I am so happy to announce our 2 winners:

Monica P
Heidi Hoff

Congratulations! Please send your full address and phone number to rcorradetti@rkpubs.com.

Thank you and stay tuned for more giveaways coming up as we continue our 25 Days of Giving.

Day 10 of Giving: Give Beauty - Bobbi Brown Giveaway!

Oooooh! I am so excited for today's Give!!!

Many of you know that Bobbi Brown and I have a great working relationship and I was honored to put on an event with her and her staff this past year.

Now she has been kind enough to offer a few special beauty products for our giveaway today.

The first prize is a mystery box full of Bobbi Brown goodies.

The second prize is her amazing Desert Twilight Mini-Brush Set and the Pretty Powerful Coffee to Cocktails Collection.

Talk about some serious goodies.

Comment below on how Eating Clean has made your beauty routine easier and we will randomly select 2 winners.

Love it!

Day 9 of Giving: Give the Little Things

By now you've likely realized that we do our best to focus our 25 Days of Giving on small, heartfelt, low-cost gifts.

And in honor of the start of Hannukah, which began last night, I am sharing my top 8 ways I really like to Give. Try these out over the next 8 days to really feel the holiday magic in your heart.

Best of all, you can do these all year long...

1. Wake up someone special in your life with coffee (or tea!).

2. Spend some time watching your favorite holiday films with your loved ones.

3. Visit a local charity in your community and donate what you can (check out The Salvation Army and Clothesline programs).

4. Donate to your local food bank, and be sure to leave a can or two of food in the donation bins located on the way out of your grocery store.

5. Bake holiday treats for your neighbor or coworker in need. Check out Clean Eating magazine's Latkes with Apple-Yogurt Dip or these super yummy Pecan & Cran Holiday cookies.

6. Take your friend to the gym with you to share one of your favorite workouts.

7. Carve out time in your busy schedule to make holiday crafts with a few special kids in your life. Then you can help them decorate their houses for the holidays.

8. Put together a family cookbook of your favorite Eat-Clean family recipes to share with your loved ones. Don't forget to share your special tips on each one. Best of all, you're encouraging health and wellness for the year ahead.

What are your ideas?

Day 8 of Giving: The Circle of Giving (Truffle Liqueurs)

Welcome Zain Jamal - our resident yoga expert and baking whiz. She shares with us today her amazing approach to the holiday season along with a don't-miss, super-delicious treat of Clean Liqueur Truffles. Yes, I said truffles. Wow!

Zain's Clean Liqueur Truffles

For any of us who have sought for love in the refuge of self-sabotaging behavior, the concept of generosity, when directed to ourselves, may feel gluttonous, indulgent; yet our spirits are so deeply nourished when we are giving of ourselves to others in the form of advice, smiles, gifts, complements, and random acts of kindness.

I mean, how great does it feel to buy a sandwich for a hungry homeless person? How uplifted do you feel when you make a donation to a charity? What is more special than to see your best friend’s eyes light up as she unwraps a beautiful package created just for her, by the glow of a twinkling tree?

“Brain scans of people in the act of giving have found that generous deeds activate the same reward centers in the brain that pleasures like [laughter] and sex do. When these areas are stimulated, dopamine and other feel-good neurotransmitters are released, resulting in pleasurable feelings that can range from contentment to euphoria.”

Why is it that so many of us experience this euphoria when giving to others, yet are unable to truly give to ourselves?

Why do so many of us turn to food or other addictions as a means of rewarding ourselves and knowingly blur the lines between self-care and self-harm?

During my journey to recovery from Anorexia, I asked myself these questions over and over again.  I wanted so much to give to others in everyway I could, so I did.  The problem was that I was not giving anything to myself and thus became depleted.

Day 7 of Giving: Visiting those in Need

On my way to Give some time.

Today I am going to pay an extra-special visit to Kelsey-Lynn, my daughter in her 4th year of university.

She has been struggling with a heavy workload including: having to prepare for and write exams, having to complete several canvases for her for fine arts program, and maintaining her job as a ballet instructor all at the same time. As a result she has been eating terrible food, running out of money, and missing home.

Kelsey-Lynn's amazing artwork. See more at Maverick Behavior.

The best thing I can give her right now is my time.

When we get to her little apartment we will scoop her up and have a delicious latte and time together.

I will help her restock her fridge, clean up her little space, and enjoy seeing her beautiful face and beautiful paintings.

Never underestimate the value of giving someone something as simple, and as valuable, as your time.

P.S. For my other school-bound daughters-in-need: I'm picking up a meal for Rachel (my naturopath-in training) who is finishing up tons of assignments and also has a set of exams, and I'm washing Chelsea's absolutely filthy car tomorrow before picking her up from the airport to bring her home for Christmas.

Oh these poor students!

Is there someone you can help out today by offering your time?