healthy breakfast.

A healthy breakfast is an important way to start the day.  Why eat a healthy breakfast? The mayoclinic.com says:

It might be the last thing on your morning to-do list, or worse, it might not be on your list at all. But a healthy breakfast refuels your body, jump-starts your day and may even benefit your overall health. So don't skip this meal — it may be more important than you think.

Even if you're short on time, quick and flexible options you can grab at home give you plenty of healthy ways to put breakfast back on your daily menu.

The Benefits of a Healthy Breakfast:

Breakfast gives you a chance to start each day with a healthy and nutritious meal. It also lays the foundation for lifelong health benefits.

Benefits for adults
When you eat a healthy breakfast, you're more likely to:

• Eat more vitamins and minerals
• Eat less fat and cholesterol
• Have better concentration and productivity throughout the morning
• Control your weight
• Have lower cholesterol, which may reduce your risk of heart disease

Benefits for children
Breakfast is especially important for children and adolescents. According to the American Dietetic Association, children who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to:

• Concentrate better
• Have better problem-solving skills
• Have better hand-eye coordination
• Be more alert
• Be more creative
• Miss fewer days of school
• Be more physically active

Here are some healthy food choices from zenhabits.com

Scrambled tofu. Healthier than scrambled eggs. Add some onions, green peppers or other veggies, some light soy sauce or tamari, maybe some garlic powder, and black pepper, stir-fry with a little olive oil. Eat with whole-grain toast. Fast and delicious.

Fresh berries, yogurt, granola. Get low-fat yogurt (not non-fat, as it often has too much sugar) or soy yogurt, cut up some berries or other fruits, add some healthy cereal. I actually use the Kashi Golean Crunch instead of granola, as many brands of granola have way too much fat and/or sugar.

Grapefruit with whole-wheat toast & almond butter. Add a little sugar on top of the grapefruit, and it’s actually pretty good. The almond butter is healthier than peanut-butter, with lots of good protein to fill you up.

Fresh fruit salad. Cut up some apples, melons, berries, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes … any or all or whatever your favorite fruits are. Add a little bit of lime or lemon juice. Perfect.

Protein shake with extras. I use soy protein powder, but whey works well too. Blend up with low-fat milk or soy milk, some frozen blueberries, and perhaps some almond butter or oatmeal. That may sound weird, but it’s actually pretty good, and pretty filling. A little ground flax seed works well too.

Eggs with peppers. I’m not a fan of eggs, but many people love them. Egg whites are healthier than whole eggs. Scramble with a little olive oil, red and green bell peppers, maybe broccoli, onions, black pepper. Goes well with whole-wheat toast.

Cottage cheese and fruit. Get low-fat cottage cheese. Add any kind of fruit. Apples, citrus, berries.

Gibb’s muffins & jam. While most muffins you buy at a coffee shop or grocery store are just empty carbs with lots of fat (basically, cake), this is a delicious recipe with lots of fiber and nutrition. (Note: the recipe in the link doesn’t mention it, but it’s actually a recipe from Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James — it’s her husband Gibbs’ recipe). Bake them the night before, and they’re perfect in the morning (and for days to come). A little honey or jam makes them perfect.

We are big time cereal eaters here at our house.  Some of these healthy breakfast websites suggest having a baked potato with veggies on top for breakfast and other crazy stuff that I would never eat fro breakfast.  I know Koreans eat breakfast like it's lunch or dinner.  I just can't bring myself to do that!  I've got to have breakfast for breakfast, lunch for lunch, and dinner for dinner.  Eating something like stirfry for breakfast?  I just can't do it!  I'd much rather have a bowl of mostly healthy cereal. 

If your family keeps the grocery store in business just because of how much cereal you buy, check out this information:

(from mayoclinic.com)

What to look for in dry cereals:

Cereal may frequently be your go-to item for breakfast, whether your grab a handful to eat dry while on the run, or you have time for a quick bowl with milk. But not all cereals are created equal. So when choosing a breakfast cereal, try to put a little thought into your decision by reading the nutrition label and ingredient list. Remember that a serving size is typically 3/4 cup to 1 cup. The key items to look for are:

• Fiber. Choose cereals with at least 3 grams (g) of fiber per serving, but if possible, aim for 5 grams per serving or even higher.
• Sugar. Added sugar doesn't automatically make a cereal unhealthy. But try to choose cereals that have 13 grams or less of sugar per serving.
• Calories. If you're counting calories, choose cereals lower in calories, ideally less than 120 calories per serving.

Sources: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21; USDA What's in the Foods You Eat, 3.0

Remember to top off your bowl of cereal with some sliced fruit and low-fat or skim milk. Or if you're on the go, take along a piece of fruit and a carton of milk with your dry cereal.

healthy. LIFE.

The Time Traveler's Wife.

I read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger a number of years ago.  It was an intriguing book with a relationship in it that passionate and commited and wonderful and at the same time tragic and heartbreaking.  After I finished reading it, the character's stayed with me for a while and the feelings of the story were hard to shake.

That all has happened again after seeing the movie, The Time Traveler's Wife, last night.  The adaptation to the screen was very good as far as the story went and I think the portrayal of the way Henry travels through time was excellent.

Of course, the director and editors had to leave out some things and I didn't think we got as much of a feel for Henry's experiences when traveling and how often he travelled as I would have liked to have seen.  Also, Claire is completely commited to him in the book and doesn't wish her life were different.  She's in it for the long haul and loves Henry and knew what she was getting into when she married him.  That's the part that's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.  As much as she loves him they still miss moments together and she still remains passionately in love with him.

When he dies, when he talks to his daughter about when he dies, shen you start to realize that this time traveling thing has some serious downsides to it...when Henry slowly starts to put together the pieces of when he will die.  There are some heartbreaking moments that may have been a bit over the top with sentimentality. I don't mind a sappy movie occassionally, though...

Overall, I really loved the movie.  It made me want to go back and get out my dusty copy of the book and read it again.

movie. LIFE.

***All images in this post are copyright The Image is Found.***

NEXT WEEK: Angela Anderson

{To nominate women you'd like to see in this series please list them in the comments-or if you have a question you'd like to see in the interviews--make sure to include your info in the comment fields so that I can get in touch with you- or write to me at: davina at davinafear dot com }

As always make sure to leave comments for the women who are featured. They like comments as much as I do I'm sure...let them know if you have questions or just to say thanks! for their insight and wisdom...

Make sure to check out the rest of the series by clicking here. Tell a friend!

* How did you create such a strong marketing/branding presence?

            when started our business 7 years ago we had a "fake us" brand and had three years of dismal bookings and zero job satisfaction.  after our third year of disappointment we said "F" it and threw a hail mary pass...which is basically our brand as you see it today. we committed ourselves to looking outside of the wedding/portrait world for branding and image inspiration and instead looked at the brands we loved and images that actually moved and inspired us. most importantly we decided from then on to be 100% true to ourselves and let our brand and business be totally transparent.

* What does your workflow look like?  Do you outsource or keep everything in house?

            we strongly believe in outsourcing. my philosophy is that i don't want to do anything that i don't love. i use colorati for our raw processing because they are way better and faster than i could ever be ;) i delete through the wedding, give them the raw files to edit, and 5 business days later, it's back in my hands. it's brilliant! i still love (most of the time ;) ) designing and editing albums so i still do it. along these same lines, we have an intern. she handles shipping/packaging, uploading files, ringing credit cards, running errands, filing, cleaning, and so much more. if you're swamped doing stuff that someone else could easily do, get yourself an intern. all our interns have been friends (a good place to start) but you can also find one by checking out your local college. lots of students need to intern somewhere for a class credit and would highly benefit from a hands on experience.

* What do you do to help your clients be so comfortable with you during a photo shoot?

            lots of talking and laughing, little bit of shooting. repeat.

*What are you most proud of creatively?

            the ability to be consistently inconsistent. i love that two clients don't receive the same images and they give us the freedom to do whatever we want.

* You have a great style that has become highly sought after in the last couple of years.  Tell me about your style, how it came about, what you did to create it, and your thought process in making it your own.

            a huge component of our brand is applying the fundamentals of our brand to all of the images we will show on our blog, website, etc. everything we show MUST go through the filter of our brand...if an image doesn't fit within our brand, then it doesn't get shown.  everything we show is EXACTLY the type of work we want to be known for and do more of.  by showing only what we like and are passionate about, we send a very clear signal to our clients about what we do, and what we don't do, thereby attracting the types of clients that are in love with our vision.

*What do you recommend women do who are just getting started in the industry?

            there are so many resources for people just getting started. forums, blogs, workshops, second shooting, assisting, interning. oh, and shoot, shoot, shoot!

*What do you do to keep your love fresh and fun with Nate, especially when stress may be high?

            we go on a date every tuesday :) sometimes we go all out and go to dinner downtown or go go-kart racing. other times, we just spend a few hours sitting in a restaurant talking. it doesn't really matter what we do or where we go, just some time away from the kids and the business is all we need :)

*What do you do for fun…that has nothing to do with photography?

            i love to cook. we recently became vegetarian so i'm learning all kinds of new things to cook. i also play the piano (it gets all the stress out) and i'm a big fan of good tv. it's always sunny in philadelphia, lost, 30 rock, the office, project runway and so many more :)

*What are you most proud of as a business woman?

            i am so proud of the fact that i have a successful business and two kids and have not gone crazy :) in all seriousness though, right now, i am most proud of our shootshops. i love that we have the opportunity to teach other photographers and help them progress with their images and their businesses.

*You have a gorgeous studio, tell me about that process and what made you decide to get a retail space?  What did you do financially to make that leap?  Has is been worth it?  In what ways has it been worth all of the effort?

            i love our studio! having a place to go to work helps me leave it there when it's time to go home. for me, just that's worth the money. we actually started with a much smaller studio that cost about $300 per month, and back then even that was a huge leap for us!  the monthly investment in that studio quickly paid off though, with a higher percentage of clients booking, those clients booking higher packages, and our portrait sales increasing because we had a place to do sales sessions.

*What would you say is your best way of bringing in new clients aside from word of mouth?

            other photographers. whenever we're booked, we refer potential clients to photographers in our area and they do the same for us. it's a great way to get work and make friends :)        

*What do you do that your clients rave about most?

            take awesome photos that don't look like all the ones their other married friends have :)

* The Image is Found is extremely busy!  It looks like you make time for fun, though.  How do you do that and not feel guilty?

            by outsourcing our raw conversions, we're able to deliver clients their images quickly so i have no problem taking a time out for some fun. last week, we took a family trip to portland. while we were there, colorati was editing 3 weddings and our intern was holding down the fort at the studio.  we also only take a limited number of bookings each year...just enough to be financially comfortable, but not so many that we go crazy and are slaves to our business!

*What is the best thing you’ve done to make your business successful?

            we formed a brand. oh and blogging. branding and blogging...they make the world go round.

* What do you do to keep from feeling overwhelmed?

            i'm a working machine on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays (and saturdays for weddings) and a stay at home mom on tuesdays, thursdays, and sundays. setting my life up this way was the best thing i ever did.  oh, and we try to vacation in one way shape or form at least once a month :)

* What three products or things help you stay organized?

            if you're on a mac, you must must must get "things." we use it to organize all our workflow as well as other projects like print orders, branding/design, trips, and even home improvement projects. heck even the mammoth men have their own category ;) you can set due dates, create different projects, and assign tasks to different people. this is particularly helpful with an intern because she always has a to do list.

            secondly, i'm obsessed with quickbooks. i think it's my inner high school math nerd coming out. i love how i can see where we are at financially today, last month, last year etc. it helps me keep track of how our money comes in and where it's going.

*What is something that you think women in the industry should not do?

            care about what the rest of the industry thinks.

* What is something that you think women in the industry should do?

            enjoy your job...it's a good one :)

 To see more of The Image is Found work and other goodies:

***All images in this post are copyright The Image is Found.***

new floor.

Some of you have seen my facebook status saying that I'm trying to put new floors into my studio.  Once we got past the complications of putting the flooring in around the door we've gotten a little more momentum going.  Hopefully, we'll be finishing tonight.  I'll give you a bit of peek at what we've finished and show you how much Gracie is loving the new floor...

I'm very excited and now that I've moved everything out of my studio and I'm seeing this super cool white Ikea Tundra floor going in, I've got ideas...thoughts rolling around inside my head.  I'm posting a couple of pictures from magazines to show you some things I love.  I'm trying to put my thoughts together of what I'd like my studio to look like now.  I don't know that I'll be making any major changes yet but they'll be coming!

I love this room (magazine tear out below), except with a white floor.  As I look through magazines and tear things out, I'm leaning toward an Ikea/West Elm meets Anthropologie/Etsy kind of look... 

What do you think?  Do you have pictures, inspiration, fun stuff that you think I'd love?  Send it to me at davina at davinafear dot com  I'd love your thoughts and ideas!!

new. LIFE.

10,000 steps.

Here's a little fun from Nancy Sinatra since we're talking about walking:

Walking is an easy way to get your 20 minutes a day in.  There are recent studies that have shown that walking 10,000 steps a day will greatly improve your health and fitness.

This is from thewalkingsite.com:

"Maybe you have heard the recent guidelines about walking 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person's stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles.

A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits. I have outlined the basic 10,000 steps program, but also added a commentary below.

A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day. Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.

There are many ways to increase your daily steps. Use your imagination and come up with your own list:

Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend

Walk the dog

Use the stairs instead of the elevator

Park farther from the store

Better yet, walk to the store

Get up to change the channel

Window shop

Plan a walking meeting

Walk over to visit a neighbor

Get outside to walk around the garden or do a little weeding

If you want to get a walking program startedcheck out the help that you can get here.

August contest winner:

Laura C. you're the winner!  What a CLOSE contest this month!  Four people were in the running and within just a couple of days of each other.  Laura went to bed before midnight and got at least 7 hours of sleep for more 28 days this month!  I'd like to know the secret to that streak!  Awesome job, Laura.  I think I know where you want your gift certificate from, email me just so I can be sure though!

September contest:

Four winners this month!! Okay...since Nancy's got our boots in the mood for walking, let's have that be our contest this month.  Log in every day to the Move it Monday post and tell us how many miles you walked.  The FOUR people who walk the farthest (most miles) this month will be our winners.  Yes, I said four people.  The top four walkers will win a $30 gift certificate to their favorite healthy place to eat, spa, or place to to shop.  So get out those walking shoes (if you have to...dust them off...) and let's get walking.

If the physical benefits of walking haven't yet put you over the edge to get out there and pound the pavement, here are some emotional incentives to get you going.  You can find the list below here:

Walking slows mental decline. A study of 6,000 women, ages 65 and older, performed by researchers at the University of Cali­fornia, San Francisco, found that age-related memory decline was lower in those who walked more. The women walking 2.5 miles per day had a 17-percent decline in memory, as opposed to a 25-percent decline in women who walked less than a half-mile per week.

Walking lowers Alzheimer’s risk. A study from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville found that men between the ages of 71 and 93 who walked more than a quarter of a mile per day had half the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who walked less.

Walking improves sleep. A study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that women, ages 50 to 75, who took one-hour morning walks, were more likely to relieve insomnia than women who didn’t walk.

Walking lightens mood. Research reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that walking 30 minutes a day boosted the moods in depressed patients faster than antidepressants. Why? Walking releases natural pain­killing end­or­phins to the body – one of the emotional benefits of exercise. A California State Uni­ver­sity, Long Beach, study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were.

Besides these mental benefits of walking, it also serves as a form of meditation. An outdoor stroll can help erase a bad day as you instead start to focus on the surrounding environment. Carolyn S. Kortge began walking in the ’80s and entered her first race-walking competition in the ’90s, eventually becoming a USA Track and Field Association bronze and silver race-walking medalist. Carolyn, who lives in Eugene, Ore., was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in 2004, but continues to keep her mind off the pain in her knees and hands by walking daily.

“When you’re walking there’s an opportunity for meditative intent.  You can be silent and focus on creating a connection with your body through prayer, breathing or a phrase,” she says. “It’s a wonderful way of changing your focus.”

walking. LIFE.