I missed out on this – but I know it was an incredible experience for those who attended. The theme as of lately has been to inspire, inspire, inspire. Myself and hopefully others someday. This is a good start.

www.socialightconference.com

A: Hi Melinda! It is so great to see you! Hope that you’ve been having a great break you start filming Degrassi Season 12.

M: Yes! Absolutely!

A: Recently, you told me that you started a new “raw” food diet! Raw gets a pretty bad rap, most people think it’s all about eating stocks of celery all day. What made you want to try it out?

M: Yeah I know! But since the New Year, I’ve put my sister and I on this new plan. We’ve always been healthy and active so this is just taking things to the next step for us. We live together now in Toronto and we grew up doing martial arts for most of our lives (16+years for me 18+for Melanie). I started ballet when I was 3, so that combined with karate always lead me to a healthy life style.

Eating healthy at home when I lived with my parents was important to them, my family owns a martial arts school in Ottawa (Where I was born and raised), and for as long as I can remember we’ve always been very health conscious especially since our father has diabetes. Going raw wasn’t hard because my diet previously wasn’t much different. My sister and friends call me a health sergeant because i’m always bringing up health facts or guilting them out of butter or fatty foods. I’ve always heard of this diet and met someone before the new year who lived 100% raw and I loved the facts and things she told me regarding the lifestyle. It was the little push I needed to commit, I was sold on the idea. Basically our new diet consists of any and every fruit and vegetable, lean meats and limited carbs. Sushi is a huge part of our diet which is amazing because it happens to be our favourite food.

A: What kind of foods to you make? Any favourite recipes?

M: Coming from a household where I was spoiled into never having to cook a thing ever, this is a fun way to explore my inner master chef. Luckily the stove/oven usage is limited when raw but necessary when cooking the meat unless it’s prepared like Japanese sashimi (raw fish).

Learning how to cook has made me happier because I know exactly what’s going into my body unlike when eating at restaurants. I’ve even become housewife and I prepare my sister’s breakfasts and lunch so she doesn’t have the urge to cheat. Quinoa -a grain, has been a large part of my diet. That must be boiled but its a rice/heavy carb substitute in meals. The point of the raw diet is that the nutrients in food are killed when heated up and cooked, so we avoid that as much as possible. Salads sound boring but the trick is to switch up the contents, adding new types of fruits/veggies, using different greens as the base, variety of meat, making your own dressings etc.. My favourite recipe is a Mango ginger soup that I make from scratch, it’s amazing if I say so myself :)

A: Do you have any favourite cooking sites? blogs?

M: I Google Raw recipes almost every day but Goneraw.com is my favourite site because the variety keeps me loving the diet while getting to whip up fun meal ideas. Most people thing going raw means eating like a bunny but they’re wrong, check it out for yourself on that site!

A: OH! I’ll definitely check out the site. Since starting this diet, do you feel a difference in your health? Do you ever crave anything?

M: Since starting this diet I feel like I have more energy, and i’m more excited to prepare meals since it’s up to me to not be hungry or bored of food. My parent’s laughed when they found out that I was the one in the kitchen preparing our meals and didn’t believe me until my sister vouched for my kitchen skills! Unlike most diets, this one doesn’t limit eating in the slightest.

I think I’m actually eating more than I used to because everything I eat is unprocessed, limited to no preservatives and healthy so moderation isn’t as big of a factor as it would be if ordering from McDonalds. Luckily I don’t have a huge sweet tooth and I genuinely dislike greasy fried things. I do however, have a weakness for red velvet cake. If I ever have a craving, i’ll substitute a slice of cake for a mini Red velvet cupcake to compromise. Cravings can be the death of diets, If I ever really want something, i’ll just have it. It goes back to that rule of the more you restrict something the more you want it. As long as you don’t go overboard with the cravings, you’ll be fine.

A: You are so right. It’s all about balance and about sustainable habits.  Are there any food or health tips you’d like to leave us with?

M: The main food tip I can give is just having the right kind of food/snacks available at all times. I started walking around with pre made snacks in my purse to avoid having to go to the “whatever’s closest” if I want something to eat, unless I find a healthy restaurant or store. The day I do my groceries, I wash and cut up the fruits and veggies right away and put them in containers, make salads, and smoothies so that when I open my fridge I have ready made options so I don’t have the temptation for anything else.

I dare you to say that FIVE times fast! *haha! Anyway, here are some of my favourite things that have really cheered me up this winter:

1) Malin + Goetz : I adore the brands’ simplistic packaging and all their wonderful scents. I am using the cilantro hair condition as well as the eucalyptus deodorant. Both smell fresh, light and spring-y.  As someone who is allergic to most deodorants, this one was such a wonderful buy! Plus it smells like mint. Mmmm. As for the conditioner, it has really kept my recently colored hair from getting too crispy and tangled in the winter wind. I purchased both at Jacob & Sebastian and I also left with a couple samples of the Malin + Goetz body wash and detox face mask, which I am eager to get the full sizes of. PRODUCT RAVE!

2) House of Harlow Double Starburst Necklace: I got this wonderful necklace for Christmas and have been wearing it every other day since. It is classic, yet shiny enough for nighttime and costume-y accessorizing! Anything Nicole Richie approved is fine by me, but this particular necklace is elegant and can be worn in multiple different ways (starbursts to the front, or one at the front and one at the back – as seen in the photo).

3) Downton Abbey: This award winning  PBS masterpiece classic- is the show I race home to watch. Season 1 (which is only 7 episodes) is available on Netflix and the perfect indulgence after a rough day at the office. The soothing British accents, beautiful costumes, and romance from both the story and the gorgeous scenery is a satisfying trip without using any vacation days.

4) Madewell Boots: I picked up these awesome boots when I was in NYC. I adore the thick leather and the heavy wooden heel. My friends complain that they can hear me from a mile away, but I don’t mind. The wooden 4′inch heel is sturdy and perfectly built for long walks.

I was able to get a hold of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and take it for a spin. I never quite liked 7-inch tablets, and felt a 10-inch tablet was optimal for viewing. I’m hoping this 8.9-inch tablet will change my mind, because a smaller tablet is just easier to carry around on the go. Just to preface this convo, I’m a iPad 2 owner, so most of familiarity comes from owning an iPad. However, I’ll never give up a chance to test out a new piece of hardware and see if it is worthy of a buy, and tossing my current hardware to the sideline.

The Hardware

Samsung makes a nice piece of machinery. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 was love at first… umm… touch. It is light and feels great in hand. This thin little bugger is 0.34 inches thick, weights lighter than the iPad 2 at just under a pound, and is covered in plastic instead of aluminum like the iPad. Don’t let the plastic deter you because this thing is built solid. It has a minimalist design, with only a power button, volume rocker, headphone jack, and proprietary charger port on it’s exterior. Not to mention, it has a microSD slot at the top, great when you want to quickly view your pictures from your camera on a bigger screen. My only gripe with the buttons is that the power button is too close to the volume rocker. Too many times I found myself accidentally hitting the volume buttons when I wanted the device to wake up.

I’ve tried a few tablets, like the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (7-inch), and I felt the screen size was too small for surfing on a tablet — so I had my reservations before I tried the device. However the 8.9-inch screen on the Galaxy Tab 8.9 does the trick. If you’re looking for a tablet that is big on screen real estate, but small in your bag, 8.9-inches does the trick. I still prefer a 10 inch screen, but I can easily get use to a slightly smaller screen and more portability. There is always one thing you can count on when you buy a Samsung product and that’s their rich and beautiful screens, so expect no less from the Galaxy Tab 8.9.

This puppy is available in either 16GB or 32GB, LTE 4G or Wi-Fi only, and Bluetooth 3.0. In terms of battery life It provides up to 11 hours of use, but this varies immensely, and should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Software

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb (Google’s mobile OS which is optimized for tablets). Also, let me get this out of the way because the question of Flash always comes up and I’ll can safely say – “Yes, it runs Flash.” Don’t expect much from the Flash experience, just like on any tablet, Flash slows things down a bit. But it doesn’t matter, these days all Flash is good for in my opinion is ad banners.

Compared to the iPad I found browsing a little slow using Wi-Fi (didn’t get the opportunity to try 4G LTE… drat). Also I found that the iPad rendered fonts on website much better than the Galaxy Tab 8.9. Nevertheless, browsing on the Galaxy Tab is still a comfortable experience. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 runs 1080p video in a broad variety of popular in formats, so unlike the iPad, you’ll take comfort in knowing you can download some video to the tablet without having to convert it first.

Not In A Flash

Tablets don’t bode well in this area of photography and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 does not differ. However, for a tablet, it takes a great set of pictures with it’s 3.2 megapixel camera at the back, and a sub-par 2.0 megapixel camera at the front. The biggest problems with this tablet’s camera is it takes way too long to focus.

It’s App-etite

If apps are your thing, then you might be a little turned off. The Android Market has roughly 5,000 apps design for Android 3.0 and higher, and all may not be specifically designed for tablets. Compared this to Apple’s 140,000 apps designed specifically for the iPad, and there’s no competition.

Wrap up

I had loads of fun using the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and would definitely recommend this bad boy for anyone looking for an iPad alternative, who’s tired of Apple everything, or simply because you think Android kick butt (which in some cases it does). It is comfortable to hold, has a beautiful display, and is great for entertainment on the go. Oh yeah, the 16GB 4G LTE tablet goes for about $430 on a 3 year Bell contract, or $630 with no strings attached.

Nud Fud was created by Julia Kirouac, a Dragon’s Den alum, and an apparent former employee of 889 (they really walk that talk).

Ingredients for Green Energy (the one I got):

• Organic banana
• Organic coconut
• Organic sesame seeds
• Hawaiian spirulina

And that’s it!

Basically delicious and nutritious in a bag.

Pick it up!