These pickles are quick to make and are so good for you!
Ingredients (all organic of course!)
Slice the cucumber into 4 inch long spears and put in jar vertically – pack tightly. Stuff garlic cloves in amongst the cucumbers, sprinkle dill on top and cover with apple cider vinegar. Put the jar lid on tightly and refrigerate. Marinate overnight and enjoy!
Here is a fact that might get your attention: managing stress will help you lose weight! It will also make Valentine’s Day much more pleasurable 
When we are stressed we
Guess what organ of your body is the major reactor to stress? Your HEART!
Your heart sends messages to tell your brain how you are feeling. Your brain interprets the information and then decides what to do. So, if we can get out of our heads and focus more attention on our hearts, we can rid ourselves of stress! How nice would that be?!
Too often, people try to relieve stress with a quick one-time “cure”, like a massage or going shopping. These short-term, one-time activities will not change how you habitually react to stress. It is much more effective to manage your emotions WHEN you experience stress, rather than AFTER the fact. Living a lifestyle that reduces your stress can be a heavenly experience.
Here are some aspects to a healthy, stress-free lifestyle:
Here are some tips to help you eat more healthfully:
Use these tips to help you manage your stress and manage your weight! Remember to slow down, take a deep breath and enjoy your food and enjoy your life!
Slightly sweeter than the canned variety you might be used to, green garbanzo beans have a fresh flavor similar to peas. Serve this extra-green guac with raw veggies and baked tortilla chips or baked whole grain pita chips.
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen organic Green Garbanzo Beans
1 clove garlic, halved
1 avocado
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 fresh plum tomato, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeño pepper, optional
Cook beans according to package instructions. Drain and run under cold water to cool. Place cooled beans and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped but not puréed. Transfer to a medium bowl and add avocado, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Mash until evenly blended. Stir in tomato and jalapeño, if using. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
*Adapted from Whole Foods Market Recipes*
These gluten-free muffins are a great part of a healthy breakfast. Try adding more carrot
s, raisins, some shredded apple, or any chopped nut for a denser, more nutritious treat.
Makes 1- 1 1/2 dozen muffins.
Ingredients
Directions
Adapted from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, 2nd Edition
Do you get overwhelmed by lofty goals and stressed out by change? Does the thought of losing weight sound impossible to you? Do you feel like you need to change too many habits in your daily life in order to lose weight? If you are thinking about making a change in your life for the better, this article is for you.
Losing weight and melting away fat to uncover your beautiful body is a tough journey for everyone. But it can be done! First, you need to realize that trying to lose weight overnight is not realistic. Setting a goal of losing too much weight too quickly can lead to avoidance of the goal and giving up early. Weight loss starts with the first pound and the first pound starts with making tiny changes in your day-to-day lifestyle. W
hat are some tiny things in your day-to-day life that could be changed to make you a happier and healthier you?
When was the last time you actually wrote down your goals? Maybe on New Year’s Day? Did you set any health or weight loss goals? You’re much more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. It’s also important to set short term and long-term goals. For example, a long term goal would be “I will lose 20 pounds by July” and a short term goal to help you achieve that goal would be “I will lose 10 pounds by April 1st”. But the MOST important goals to set are what tiny things you are going to do EACH day in order to accomplish your goal. For example, “in order to lose 20 pounds by July I will make a healthy smoothie every weekday morning for breakfast and I will take the stairs instead of the elevator to my office at work every day”.
When you make tiny changes in your daily life – like getting in the habit of taking the stairs instead of the elevator or making a smoothie every morning for breakfast – over time you will start to see big changes. But it all starts with the tiny things you do each day. Change your life–start today with one tiny change.
Wintertime can be a tough time of year to keep your moods balanced. You may feel a little down, unmotivated, sluggish and a little depressed. That’s because the sun isn’t around as much helping us to build serotonin and vitamin D. Here are some tips to stay happy and optimistic no matter what the weather!
Carbohydrates and the Food Mood Connection
By Tom Malterre
Anxiety and depression are often treated with medication that alters the effect of a mood hormone called serotonin. When serotonin levels in the brain are high, people are calm, patient, and optimistic. When levels are low, people can suffer from anxiety, depression, or become irritable. Is it possible to alter this hormone with diet? Absolutely! Serotonin is made in the body from an essential amino acid called tryptophan with the help of nutrients such as folic acid (think beans and greens as good sources), vitamin B6 (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collards, garlic), and vitamin C (papaya, bell peppers, broccoli, papaya, strawberries). Unfortunately, tryptophan happens to be the least plentiful of 22 common amino acids in our typical diets with a meager average intake of 1 to 1.5 g per day.
Tryptophan also has a few more hurdles before it can get to the brain and make serotonin. If a person is deficient in vitamin B3 (niacin), 60mg of that person’s tryptophan may be used up in order to make 1mg of niacin. If what little tryptophan that is around makes it to the blood brain barrier, it has to compete with 5 other amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, isoleucine, leucine, and valine) in order to actually get passage into the brain. The sorry truth is that approximately 1% of ingested tryptophan ends up in the brain, and unless people are eating lots of fruits and vegetables rich in folic acid, vitamin C, and B6, the conversion to serotonin might not be too good.
What can you do with your diet to increase the odds of getting more serotonin?
1. Eat complex carbohydrates with every protein rich meal, and eat less meat as a protein source. Complex carbohydrates stimulate the secretion of insulin at a steady rate from the pancreas. Insulin acts like a key to allow muscles to suck up the amino acids that compete with tryptophan for passage into the brain. With less competition at the blood brain barrier, then significantly more tryptophan passes easily where it is needed most. This may be why depressed people naturally crave carbohydrates: to stimulate the production of more of the anti-depressant neurotransmitter serotonin. The key to this process is making sure these are unrefined, low glycemic load (raise blood sugar slowly) carbohydrates like beans, legumes, and whole grains. Refined carbohydrates and sugar-laden foods like pastries, sweetened cereals, beverages, or candy can cause a quick spike in insulin. This may cause an opposite effect of having tryptophan being converted to things other than serotonin. Meat contains higher amounts of the amino acids that compete with tryptophan to become serotonin. Vegetarian meals allow for higher serotonin levels in the brain.
2. Eat plenty of the fruits and vegetables that contain the needed nutrients to help in the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin. For example, broccoli is a good source for folic acid, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. All dark green leafy vegetables are very beneficial as well.
3. Stay away from foods that irritate your upper intestinal tract. People that have reactions to either dairy (casein, whey, and/or lactose), or gluten (wheat, barley, rye) often have compromised digestion (breaking food particles from large to small), and absorption in the upper intestinal tract. Unfortunately, this may leave them with lower amounts of important mood nutrients such as tryptophan and folic acid in their bodies. Studies show that even celiac patients who have been on a gluten-free diet for 10 years may need additional folic acid supplementation to bring levels back to normal.
4. Realize that the consumption of gluten may alter mood all by itself if a person is immunologically reactive to it. Even the National Institute for Health recognizes that one of the most common symptoms in children with gluten sensitivities is behavior change including ADD/ADHD like behavior. International gluten expert Dr. Peter Green stated his New England Journal of Medicine review article that around 50% of all gluten reactions take place outside of the intes
tinal tract in places like the central nervous system.
5. If depression, anxiety, or insomnia is persistent it is often advised that you consult your health care practitioner about nutritional supplementation or further testing to evaluate the disorder. Many alternative practitioners consider recommending supplemental tryptophan, 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), 5-MTHF (5-methyltetrahydrofolate), vitamin B6, and other nutrients as well as dietary change. We recommend you consult your health care practitioner as mood disorders may be quite serious.
***This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended for diagnoses or treatment of any disorder.
Are you looking for a healthy and natural energy drink to get yourself going before a workout? Try this simple and delicious smoothie that will give you the energy you need to get through a workout or a work-day. The cocoa not only gives this drink a nice chocolatey taste, but it also provides a small amount of caffeine to increase your focus and help you start burning fat during your workout.
Here is the simple recipe:
Blend the following ingredients:
*Add one shot of espresso if you are needing an extra energy boost!
A great thought to have to begin the New Year! “If you could make a decision to never allow negative emotion to linger within you – and at the same time acknowledge that it is your work alone to refocus your attention in order to feel better, rather than asking someone else to do something different or for some circumstance to change to make you feel better – you will not only be a very healthy person, but you will be a joyful person. Joy, appreciation, love, and healthy are all synonymous. Resentment, jealously, depression, anger and sickness are all synonymous.” Esther and Jerry Hicks
Definitely a holiday must!
Recipe from: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook
Place all ingredients in a large pot. Simmer, covered, over low to low-medium heat for about an hour. Strain out spices by pouring contents through a fine mesh strainer into another pot. Keep warm on the stove to serve throughout the day.
Merry Christmas!
