18 Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Diet

Now that the decorations are put away, the cookies are eaten, and our lives are devoid of the hustle and bustle that took place just weeks ago, it seems like a good time to replenish our energies, restore our health, and look forward to the longer days and sunshine ahead. Of course, those of us who live within just a couple of hours' drive from Canada will have to wait just a little longer than the rest of you!

In the spirit of this rejuvenation, here's a list of what you can do now to contribute to your health and wellbeing as we begin 2010! :   (In no particular order...)

1. Decrease your consumption of animal protein, and eat more greens and raw fruits and vegetables.
2. Buy as much organic food as you can, especially for the dirty dozen.
3. Eat only organic/free-range/grass-fed meats and eggs.
4. Don't buy commercial milk. --Learn to make your own nut milks (It's easy!).
5. Have a green smoothie every morning for breakfast.
6. Learn to make your own salad dressings, using organic extra virgin olive oil.
7. READ LABELS. If you don't understand the ingredients, don't buy it.
8. Replace canola or "vegetable" oils with organic extra virgin olive oil (for dressings) and virgin coconut oil (for cooking).
9. Eliminate all genetically modified foods. These depress the immune system and cause a host of other problems, most of which have not even been recognized yet. (Look out for PLUs starting with 8). Avoid these common GMO ingredients: corn, canola, cottonseed, soy.
10. Eat only organic fermented soy: tamari, miso, tempeh, for example, and only on occasion. Don't eat soy substitutes, i.e. veggie burgers, soy milk, soy ice cream, etc. Soy messes with hormones and depresses the thyroid, among other things.
11. Eat a big salad of organic leafy greens every day. Add different fruit and vegetable combinations to keep it interesting.
12. Avoid SUGAR in all forms! White sugar (and brown sugar) is a drug. See William Dufty's book "Sugar Blues." Natural sweeteners are an improvement (maple syrup, honey), but are best eliminated for several months before added back in moderation. For your sweet tooth... try different kinds of fruit. Have you ever had a persimmon? a pomegranate? a dragon fruit? Have fun discovering new things!
13. Eliminate gluten (this means wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, triticale, and oats unless labeled "gluten-free") from your diet. It is one of the most common allergens. Unfortunately, these are very prevalent in the standard American diet (SAD). Look out for pizza, pasta, crackers, breads, cereals, etc. There are gluten-free substitutes, but the healthiest way to consume any grain is in their "whole" form. Some gluten-free options include amaranth, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, brown rice, and corn.
14. Start weaning yourself from caffeine--especially coffee. Try Teeccino, Roma, or other natural coffee substitute. If you need that "lift" or mental focus try Yerba Mate tea, green tea, or Think O2 from Traditional Medicinals.
15. Avoid alcohol... at least for now. You can always add back some organic wine down the road for special occasions.
16. Avoid restaurant food. There's more in it than you'd ever want to know. It's easy to bring a salad for lunch, or pick up some organic fruit to grab on the go.
17. Instead of candy bars or even protein bars, try a Larabar. It's made of basic ingredients like dates and other dried fruit, nuts, and spices. You can even find a recipe to make your own! (just Google it)
18. When there's not much in season in the produce section, don't forget about frozen foods. You can get frozen asparagus, broccoli, peas... etc. Frozen is the next best thing after fresh. Avoid canned food!

This may seem overwhelming, so I recommend doing it a little at a time. Each week, pick one thing to work on. By summer you'll have made excellent progress and will likely reap benefits that come from eating healthy foods and eliminating the toxins so prevalent in our food supply. If that seems like too much to think about right now, start with this: Buy some buckwheat groats (they're gluten-free!) and make the buckwheat porridge pictured above. Here's the how to make it:

Buckwheat Porridge
(serves 1)

1/2 cup whole buckwheat groats
1/2 to 1 whole banana
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla

Soak buckwheat groats in water overnight. Drain and rinse in the morning. Pour into blender. Add other ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl to serve, and top with fresh (or thawed frozen) berries or fruit, perhaps sweetened with a bit of stevia. Enjoy!

An Epiphany: Raw Vegan Hot Fudge Brownie

Happy Epiphany! Today is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and the day we western Christians (who follow the historic Church Year) commemorate Epiphany, the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. Since "Epiphany" comes from the Greek word for "appearance" or manifestation, this day celebrates God's appearance (in the Person of Christ) to the Gentiles (non-Jews), including in this case the Magi.

In other countries, there have historically been special celebrations and traditions that surround this day. Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" or "As You Like It" was written to be performed at this time. Food, of course, is also a major player in such celebrations. In France, they celebrate with a special cake; in Spain, with a sweet bread; in India, a sweet rice pudding.

So, for a log house in the northwoods (in my case), how about a clone to a hot fudge brownie... maybe with some coconut creme? It's even good for you! ;) There's no chocolate, no sugar, no flour... and believe it or not, it's delicious!

This is more of a prescription than a recipe, but here goes:

Raw Vegan Hot Fudge Brownie with Coconut Cream
[This serves 1]

1-2 Tbsp Roasted (okay, so it's not completely raw) carob powder
1-2 Tbsp (same amount as carob) virgin coconut oil, liquified
2-3 Tbsp almond flour (almonds ground in coffee grinder)
1/8- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Coconut milk/cream (refrigerated, so it's nice and thick)

Slightly warm coconut oil to liquify. Meanwhile, spoon carob into a small dish. Pour coconut oil over it and stir. Mix in vanilla. Add almond flour as desired, to form a thick dough, yet just a bit "fudgey." Top with a dollop of coconut cream right out of the fridge. Enjoy!

Conscience-Friendly Christmas Delights: Part II

Merry Christmas!!!!

My gift to you... is the recipe for those chocolate cookies pictured above! They are quick, so you can still make them now for your gathering tonight or tomorrow!

Carob Coconut Truffles:

1 cup virgin coconut oil
1 cup roasted carob powder
1/2 cup Medjool dates (I used dried apricots and prunes)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
1 cup almond meal (almonds ground in a coffee grinder)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

Melt coconut oil. Combine with carob in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Set aside. In a high speed blender, blend dried fruit and water until it becomes a smooth syrup. Add dried fruit syrup to carob mixture. Stir in vanilla and salt. Add almond meal and remaining ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Using your hands or a small cookie scoop, make walnut-sized balls. Refridgerate for an hour before serving. (Or... if you can't wait... put them in the freezer. They don't freeze solid, so you can even keep them in the freezer to have them on hand).

10 Easy Ways to Stay Thinner and Healthier Through the Christmas Season

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Well, it's December, and we are only a couple of weeks away from Christmas!

What an exciting time of year! There's so much preparation that goes into these few weeks before Christmas, be it sending out Christmas cards, shopping for gifts, and oh, the food preparation! Cookies, fudge, candy, galore! It's kind of interesting how we spend lots of time shopping for special ingredients and making all kinds of delectable treats, and then eating with no thought to tomorrow or our long term health. Then, come January 1st, we make all kinds of new resolutions for solving the problem we created over Christmas: e.g. eating better, exercising more, etc. Is it possible to delight in some of the delicious food this season has to offer without having to make some major resolutions when we hit the new year?

I think so! Here are a few tips for participating in all the munching that goes on at Christmas parties and gatherings in the weeks ahead:

1. Drink... plenty of water! That will help to keep you from over-doing it when you get into the line for food.

2. Avoid/Limit... the SWEETS, especially made with white or brown sugar. Do what you can with less refined, more natural, sweeteners: dried fruits, honey, maple syrup, molasses, sucanat/rapadura (unrefined cane sugar). However, even these ought to be used sparingly. It's better to stick to whole foods.


3. Indulge... in lots of negative calorie foods. These are foods that require more energy (calories) to digest than they contain in themselves.

• Watch vegetable trays for: broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, radishes
• At a restaurant dinner, order a salad.
• For breakfast, have a grapefruit or a fruit salad of apples, mangoes, oranges, and pineapple
• Try frozen berries, especially in a green smoothie.

You'll notice all these things are high in fiber. So, whenever you can choose foods higher in fiber, you will help yourself to maintain (or help shrink) your waistline.

4. Enjoy... the natural whole food delights of the season: fresh pomegranates, oranges, apples, pears.

5. Be FESTIVE... with salads! Just another way to EAT those GREENS! Here's a recipe (more or less) for the festive salad pictured below, full of seasonal flavors:

Orange Spice Spinach Salad (all organic)
for One

Salad mix:
3 cups spinach
1 small apple, chopped
dried cherries and/or cranberries
unsulfured dried apricots, sliced
walnuts

Dressing:
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt to taste

Mix dressing ingredients together. Combine spinach and chopped apples, and toss with dressing. Arrange in bowl and top with dried fruit and nuts. *Tip: Another good addition would be clementine orange sections.

6. Create... eats and treats with coconut oil! Coconut oil helps to speed up the metabolism and aid in weight loss. You can learn all about the benefits of coconut oil at http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/. Some of the ways I enjoy using it are the following:

• Fruit Smoothies with the addition of 1-2 Tbsp of melted coconut oil blended in.
• Coconut oil instead of olive oil on a salad.
• Steamed sweet potatoes with coconut oil (instead of butter) and sea salt, as a side dish.
• Steamed broccoli or cauliflower... "        "as a side dish.
• Organic poporn popped in coconut oil, with sea salt.
• "Mounds" candy bars from the Nourishing Gourmet or Coconut Bark-Almond Joy at Real Food Living

A good resource for recipes is Eat Fat, Lose Fat: Lose Weight and Feel Great With the Delicious, Science-based Coconut Diet, by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon.

7. Stop eating at 6:00... on most occasions.  This simple rule will help to keep you from packing on the pounds. To help conquer cravings... have some herbal tea. Licorice and Peppermint are especially nice this time of year. For something more substantial, try some rooibos tea, which is more full-bodied.

8. Spike your drink... (that is, your water) with apple cider vinegar. This can help curb cravings and also help to break down body fat. Add a couple teaspoons to your water bottle and sip throughout the day. It will help keep your blood sugar level.

9. Don't stress it... Stress messes with your hormones, which can contribute to weight gain. Remember what Christmas is really about

10. Play... that is, exercise! Go play in the snow! Make snow angels, meet friends for an afternoon of ice skating, go cross country skiing, build a snow man, go sledding, try snowshoeing, go for a hike in the woods! Join the kids for some old fashioned fun in the snow. Have FUN!!!

It's November!

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Let the feasting begin!

 ...And look out for all those rich foods and junk foods coming your way!

It seems as though the trick-or-treat candy of Halloween marks the beginning of a season full of candies, rich foods, and baked goods. The fresh produce of summer and harvest time seems to fade into oblivion while rich meats and sugary treats take center stage. And it takes a toll on our health and well-being too. I do rather wonder if there's any connection between the increase in colds and flu as winter approaches and the increase in these less than ideal culinary indulgences...?

Here are a few ideas for HEALTHY SWAPS this upcoming holiday season:

Instead of: heavy, fattening stuffing or dressing...

Why not try: a lovely wild rice pilaf? (onions, pecans, parsley, dried apricots?) You can even add the additions after cooking the wild rice on its own. OR... you can sprout the wild rice and create an all raw dish!

 Instead of: adding butter and brown sugar to steamed squash...

Why not try: coconut oil (which aids in weight loss) and raw honey or organic maple syrup, plus some spices like cinnamon (stablizes blood sugar) and nutmeg?

Instead of: a creamed vegetable side dish...

Why not try: a crisp salad of romaine lettuce, fresh pears and/or apples, raw nuts, and dried cranberries, with a homemade vinaigrette?

Instead of: coffee with cream and sugar...

Why not try: caffeine-free rooibos (red) tea with coconut milk and organic maple syrup?

 Instead of: gooey sugary caramels...

Why not try: naturally sweet and chewy Medjool dates?

Instead of: the traditional baked apple pie...

Why not try: a raw version with nuts and fresh fruit?

What kind of healthy food options do you have in mind for these upcoming weeks as we approach Thanksgiving?