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10 Habits for Cultivating Optimal Health
bouldernaturalhealth.com
As we mature the majority of us begin to value how essential having good health is for quality of life. Nowadays you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who is not plagued by a terminal illness or does not know someone in their family, friends, or acquaintances who is dealing with the consequences of bad lifestyle choices or perhaps even what seems to be a bad stroke of luck. Our bodies’ are a complex culmination of the emotional, mental, spiritual, and food choices we have made over our lifespans. It is very easy to get focused on heathy eating and forget that there is so much more that feeds disease including the mind, emotions, and spirit. Even beyond consideration of holistic wellness, optimal health should also include considerations of each of the essential body parts functioning at their best. So not only are you in great physical shape, your teeth are strong, your gums, hair, nails, feet, arms, organs etc function at their best. When anything in our bodies goes awry in just one part it’s amazing what a profound affect it can have on our general well being, livelihood, and ability to perform at our best. That is because each part of our bodies’ inform the whole and vice versa. So as you consider optimal nutrition and what is the best fuel for you, I challenge you to also pay close attention to any other signs that your body is giving you that you may require some TLC.
When you take preemptive measures it will require that you spend extra time and money to maintain a lifestyle that promotes optimal health, but remember that it’s a worthy investment. Wouldn’t you rather add extra time in for flossing that pay for expensive dental work when you have gum disease? Or modify your diet now and avoid diabetes that plagues your family rather than have a limb removed altogether later? The costs of taking your wellness for granted are steep and come with a much higher price tag when things get urgent. In addition to looking at your own habits, knowing your family history is invaluable and essential to ensuring that you stay on the path of optimal health. If you know what diseases an ailments your parents or grandparents dealt with you can take measures now to adjust your lifestyle so that you never have to worry about carrying on that disease legacy. Below are ten simple things you can do to ensure that you are living optimally. These are just suggestions, but these guidelines should help you get an adequate idea of habits you can improve or add to your daily routine. Prevent now, prosper later! -XoXo Raw Girl
- Adequate Supplementation. Eating a well rounded diet that provides your body with adequate nutrition is essential but given our hectic lifestyles we still may fall short of what our bodies’ need. One way to ensure you have all of the right fuel is to supplement using super foods or high quality supplements. If you are a veggie lover, B12 should be on your list, and you may also include a multivitamin, green algae or grass powders, probiotics, flax or algae based omega-3 supplements and others depending on your body. It’s important to get tested regularly by your doctor and rectify any imbalances you may have so that you prevent long term illness.
- Regular Exercise. This is a no brainer, but it’s amazing how quickly this habit for optimal health goes out the window. I know you feel like you don’t have time, but carving out a mere 30 minutes daily to exercise will do wonders for your health, boost your energy, and keep you younger and happier thanks to the serotonin boost. Find a way you love to move and stick to a routine that works for you. If your bored with your workout, change it up and bit and venture out to try fun alternative forms of exercise. Pole dancing, anyone? Whatever floats your boat, is great as long as you commit to #MoveThatBody.
- Practice Mindfulness A.K.A. Manage Your Emotions By Any Means Necessary. We often greatly underestimate the power our emotions have to keep us healthy. Emotional wellness is key in long term health and learning healthy ways of managing our stress keeps us from adopting unhealthy disease inducing habits like overeating, smoking, alcoholism etc. There are many ways to keep your emotions under control but they all involve a daily commitment to a practice of mindfulness. Breathing helps, as does meditation, prayer, or yoga. Find something that makes your spirit sing and commit to it as the daily food for your spirit. Your soul needs food too, and the more you feed it the more peace, health, and happiness you will find no matter what life throws your way.
- Take Care of Your Teeth. Just in case you didn’t know, the health of your teeth and gums is a huge indicator of your overall well being. If bacteria in your mouth is not kept under control in can enter your bloodstream and cause infections or even heart disease. In addition gum issues and infections may be an indicator of problems with your blood sugar levels. Loosing teeth later in life is sometimes an indicator of osteoporosis, and loosing teeth before the age of 35 may increase your risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Moral of the story? Mind your mouth now, and avoid health complications later. Flossing daily, brushing your teeth, regular cleanings, and using a mouthwash are ways you can care for your teeth now and prevent health drama later.
- Eat Whole Foods and Read Your Labels. You should know this by now, but diet does play a huge factor in changing your destiny and moving your compass towards optimal health. I’ve interviewed a bunch of healthy men and women over seventy about longevity and all of them were able to completely outlive their genetic history and avoid diseases that plagued there parents and grandparents by changing their diets. We have yet to see the full implications of eating genetically modified foods, but the signs are already there that it’s taking a negative toll on lifespan and the quality of health of many people. No matter what your diet, these days you have to go out of your way to avoid anything that is not really food. Read your labels and avoid non organic meats, fruits and veg, processed and packaged foods, refined sugars and salt, and unhealthy oils whenever possible. Although the cost of your groceries may increase, there are always ways to get savvy and find a bargain. Remember that eating to live now, is a definite investment in your personal healthcare plan, and the good news is you get to reap benefits immediately.
- Schedule Regular Checkups. When you get centered on a more holistic lifestyle or GO VEG, you may find that you are sick less and less if not at all, and are able to manage health crises with your own intuition and natural cures. We get caught up sometimes in calling our primary doctors the big bad wolves, because of the prescription drugs they peddle for any ailment without dealing with the root cause. And they “the big bad wolves” think that a lot of us veggie lovers have gone completely mad with our juice making, medicine avoiding, organic loving ways. The thing is, medicine has it’s place and is still incredibly useful for all of us to assess deficiencies and catch illnesses if we commit to regular exams and checkups. You should be checking in on yourself regularly, but it is nice to get a blood test that can let you know where you may be deficient and cue some adjustments in your diet or daily health regimen. Every doctor has his or her place, so make sure even if you are like me and love the woo-woo back to nature medicine route, you still engage in regular checkups with your doctor.
- Know Your Status. Sexual health is a huge issue and continues to grow in importance as the number of people infected with sexually transmitted disease is on the rise, and a large majority of people are completely unaware of their status. It is incredibly important for you to take precautions necessary to guard your sexual health, and also ensure that you engage in regular testing. Do you know your status? If you have not been tested and are sexually active, know that by avoiding testing your are playing a very dangerous game. Also ensure that once you do know your status you take the precautions necessary to avoid STD’s. Bad news is there are tons of STD’s nowadays that can be transmitted even with use of condoms etc. so just take care, use your intuition, know the status of your partner, and engage wisely.
- Maintain Colon Health. Colon health is most likely the number one wellness issue in America today, period. The majority of diseases begin with the accumulation of waste in our colon or our “bodies’ sewage system.” When I interviewed Bernando LaPallo who is a 110 year old raw foodist and asked him what he does to maintain a healthy colon he gave a great answer which was if you eat fruits and vegetables and avoid unnatural foods, your colon health will take care of itself. It’s true that the majority of problem begin when our colons get clogged with unnatural or toxic foods that get stuck in your colons as impacted waste and slowly but surely start to cause health problems. Beyond just eating good whole foods there are other things you can do to regularly to ensure your colon is not becoming a cesspool for disease. For some ideas check out this past post: “#1 Health Issue in America: Maintaining a Healthy Colon“.
- Monitor & Value Adequate Sleep. Sleep is another precious commodity we undervalue in our culture. We are obsessed with “grinding,” getting ahead, meeting deadlines, and sacrificing vacations for promotions. It’s important to make sleep a priority so that you can be the best you everyday. Not only does sleep affect our performance, learning retention, and brain functioning, sleep plays a major role in boosting our immunity, weight loss, preventing the onset of many diseases. The best way to get adequate sleep is to attempt as much as possible to stick to a sleep schedule and go to bed and wake up around the same time daily. To learn more about sleep check out this episode of my radio show “The Power of Adequate Sleep,” in which I interviewed Dr. James Maas, an internationally renowned sleep expert.
- Engage in Regular Detoxification. Conducting regular fasts, or embarking on a detox every now and then can do wonders for your health. Your digestive system gets some time to rest, and as you detoxify your body you are taking time to rid yourself of toxins that could have later built up and caused illness and disease. Regular fasting or detox does not have to be crazy and intense, it can be yearly, monthly, or as needed, it’s just one additional way for you to pay it forward and prevent problems before they arise.
Scientific Study Finally Proves The Dangers of GMOs
This weekend I found myself overwhelmed with disappointment and sadness for the horrible turn our food supply and our health is taking in this country. Just in case you didn’t know, President Obama signed the Monsanto Protection Act, which now gives them free reign to plant their “frankenfoods”, put farmers out of business, malign natural order, and poison the American people without opposition. Beware! They are now above the law; the balance of power has shifted completely, and indeed the veggie is hitting the fan. About a week ago I posted an excerpt from paper I wrote on The Dangers of Consuming GMO’s. One of the major concerns that I brought up in dealing with the subject matter was the lack of scientific studies that properly demonstrated the extent to which consuming foods, plants, and animals that are genetically modified can have on human health as well as the environment prior to GMO foods taking over our supermarkets. We are now living in an age where 75- 80% of food on shelves contains genetically modified organisms. Until recently there were no studies longer than three months conducted that were unsupervised by the manufacturers of the GMO plants and pesticides, primarily because these studies were banned. Thankfully late last year this video was posted which gives an overview of an extensive two-year scientific study conducted in which rats were fed GMO corn.
I am not a fan of animal testing or abuse, but this is much-needed evidence that GMOs will play a huge part in destroying the health of America and soon citizens worldwide. What they found was that after three months, coincidentally the timeframe that the Monsanto approved studies ended, tumors began to develop in the rats consuming GMO corn and the tumors continued to grow until excessively large, eventually leading to the death of the rats. If you did not read my past article on GMOs I highly suggest you do so, and also please watch the short video below to learn more about the study and it’s implications. I will be writing a followup post soon that expounds upon the dangers of consuming soy products, which are the next most commonly found GMO in your food besides corn.
The veggie is seriously hitting the fan guys, it is time to stay vigilant, remain informed, and safeguard your health and the health of those you love. By any means necessary, EAT ORGANIC. Grow it if you have to while you still can, join a co-op, find some bargains, but do what you can and also avoid produce and meats that are not organic, and all processed foods, most especially those that include corn or soy. The scary thing is that many of our products are not properly labeled, and this is done intentionally. The best rule of thumb: if you aren’t sure what it is or what that long complex chemical name means, don’t eat it. It may narrow your food choices down a great deal, but it will without a doubt save your life. -XoXo Raw Girl
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Njd0RugGjAg#!]
To Green Smoothie or Not, That is the Question?
Green smoothies are a great way to get in a good serving or fruit and green leafy vegetables, especially in the morning. Typically they consist of something like l/3 of leafy greens, 1/3 fruit, and 1/3 or less of water. Or some people do more fruit than greens. You can always add more or less fruit or greens to your liking. There is some debate about whether or not green smoothies are healthy, just like with ever other health trend out there. Some say it’s not good for you because the amount of sugar (from the fruit) can make your blood sugar spike. To that I say ba-humbug. After healing myself of candida in a record five days on a high fruit diet (which most sources say NOT to eat), and hearing other people with blood sugar level issues and hypoglycemia also healing themselves by eating fruits, I am pretty sure at this point that the world is either upside down, or that most of the doctors in America are misinformed and need a serious re-education Lauryn Hill style.
Fruit does not metabolize in the body like refined sugars, and when combined with greens as well like in the green smoothie, it should further relieve any fears about your blood sugar spiking out of control. Then there are folks who may say that green smoothies are not enough to live on you must have other sources of nutrition. Well, duh! Of course, our body needs a well-rounded platter of nutrition, but the truth of the matter is that most Americans barely get in the amount of fresh greens and fruits that are in one green smoothie. Sometimes when I randomly pop through a conventional grocery store, I am shell-shocked by the amount of microwaveable, packaged, pre-cooked, pasteurized, high fructose corn syrup and canola oil laden food is in people’s shopping carts. On a good day, it’ll be lucky for me to spot one small bag of fruit in the sea of processed meals piled high in their carts. Green smoothies and even green juices are just simple ways you can get some fresh natural food into your body in the midst of your busy, I have no time for preparing food lifestyle. Blending is also simpler than juicing, for those of us who dread “the post-juice cleanup” or get a strong feeling of laziness just by looking at your juicer which may be growing dust on your kitchen counter.
If you feel sort of gassy or have indigestion immediately after having a green smoothie, by all means, please do not indulge in them or modify them with simpler fruit and veggie combinations until they do not bother you. I find that blending kale into things is just plain bad for me, personally. I prefer using lighter greens like spinach and romaine. You may be too sensitive to fruit and veg combinations and need to save your precious greens for that sexy salad you are whipping up later. If that’s the case do not feel bad about it. If you still love to have something green in your cup blend up a bunch of fruit, add a little water, and a teaspoon or two of Spirulina, or green grass powders you like. Or also try whipping up mostly green veg based smoothies and use veggies like cucumber and celery that have a high water content.
Below’s a simple green smoothie recipe that can be modified sans greens. At the end of the day the point of a healthy lifestyle is to be in tune with what your body needs along with your personal quirky cravings. So by all means necessary spend less time arguing or debating your specific dietary choices with people and just march to the beat of your own drum, or if your me you can shake a tail feather and do the electric slide, whatever works. I find that by following my bliss and my intuition, I honor myself and can never go wrong. Here’s to whatever kind of smoothie you choose to drink today, green or not, and even more importantly, here’s to all of us choosing each and every day to EAT TO LIVE. -XoXo Raw Girl
SIMPLE GREEN SMOOTHIE
2 Bananas
Equal parts frozen strawberry and mango
Large handful of spinach AND/OR 1-2 teaspoons Spirulina or green powder
Purified Water
Blend all ingredients. Serve & enjoy the bliss!
Juice! Green Morning Pick-Me-Up
Would you like to add a little va-va-voom to a basic green juice? If you are a regular and avid juicer you know how lovely it feels after having a fresh juice. I call it a juice high, and thankful it’s not an addiction that I need recovery from. Simply stated, if loving my greens is wrong, I don’t want to be right. If you need an extra energy boost, and plan to make a basic juice, to up the ante blend in or mix in some Spirulina for some additional protein and immune boosting properties. If you don’t know anything about Spirulina, check out this past post. If you are new to raw foods or just juicing and living healthy in general please be gentle with yourself. Try starting each day with a juice or a smoothie. Everyday try to incorporate more and more living foods into your diet, and you will eventually stop craving unhealthy foods and instead yearn for how groovy you feel the more you eat from Mother Nature. I can testify that it works; that’s how I got my vegan swag back. -XoXo Raw Girl
GREEN MORNING PICK -ME-UP
1 head of celery
5-7 Leaves of Lacinato Kale
Ginger (to taste)
1 apple
1 teaspoon of Spirulina
Juice all ingredients. Pour juice in blender and add in Spirulina or mix in thoroughly. Serve, drink, enjoy the bliss!
For more awesome never seen before juice recipes, a detox calendar, shopping list, and detox guide check out my 7 Day Detox for Beauty, Weightloss, and Rejuvenation!!
Recipe: The Most Bangin’ Vegan Spinach Quiche EVER
Okay so the title for this post may seem a little too boastful, but seriously this quiche tasted like a slice of HEAVEN. Made it for Christmas, for my mother who wanted to have some sort of spinach pie. I looked up a few different recipes and improvised the one below, and I must say, when I finished I was pretty darn pleased with my Vegan Rachel Ray skills. The best part about this vegan quiche is that it actually tastes “cheesy” !
If you are vegan or raw, you know that strange longing sometimes to have something that really gives the same euphoric feeling that cheese used to give, sans the chemicals, hormones, and damaging preservatives. Well, the secret ingredient to this quiche is actually tofu. I’m not a regular tofu eater, but I can handle it in small amounts occasionally. For this quiche, the tofu is not only worth it but absolutely necessary. Important thing to note is that the tofu you must buy to make this recipe work is the packaged tofu that is NOT refrigerated. Firm works best, but even if you accidentally get extra firm it’ll still work. I also added king mushrooms which was a great choice and made it more “meaty”, and used a spelt crust rather than whole wheat. Spelt seems to have a bit less gluten and therefore does not bother me as much. It also pairs well with the spinach. We really enjoyed our Christmas dinner, and I was proud of myself for giving my mother more evidence that she can still make the things she loves to eat sans meat and dairy. Try it for yourself and let me know what you think! Best part about it, took very little time to prepare. -XoXo Raw Girl
Ingredients: 
2 16 oz Bags of frozen Organic Spinach
1 package King Mushrooms (as much as you prefer)
Red Onion
Spices: 1 teaspoon Curry, 1 teaspoon Sea Salt, Dash of Red Pepper or Cayenne, Braggs Liquid Aminos to taste
1 Package of Firm Tofu (packaged but not refridgerated)
2 Spelt Crusts
Place crusts in oven and set somewhere around 375 – 425 degrees. While crusts are thawing in oven, sautee spinach with onions, and mushrooms. At some point remember to check on your crusts and poke holes in them with a fork. Add Braggs Liquid Aminos for flavor, and Cayenne or Red Pepper. I used my mother’s special red pepper from Nigeria that is ridiculously awesome but sorry, you can’t find it in the grocery store. In the blender put in your package of tofu, add 1 heaping teaspoon curry (gives it the yellow color like eggs) and 1 teaspoon sea salt. Blend tofu untilsmooth. Don’t add any liquid just work it with a spoon or blender accessory that allows you to work it all in until creamy. In a large bowl mix the spinach and tofu together. The filling is done! Take your crusts out of the oven. Fill one crust with the spinach mixture. Now, what I did next is take the remaining crust carefully trying NOT to break it (it will still be somewhat soft and place it on top of the quiche. Then stick in the oven and back until crusts are cooked and brown. Let it cool for fifteen to twenty minutes at least. Serve & enjoy the BEST VEGAN QUICHE EVER!
6 Ways to Make Healthy Resolutions That Stick
It’s December already! This month and next are probably the best months for new gym memberships, nutrition plans, and health classes because of all of the enticing discounts that hope to get you to commit to a healthier version of you in the New Year. We all say we want to make changes come January, but then what happens? For many, by mid-year their resolve to stick with that new diet or workout regimen is completely gone and they are back to square one, right before bikini season. Below are a few thoughts on how you can make some resolutions that you will stick with in 2013. -XoXo Raw Girl
- Use Whatever Word Works for You. I personally don’t like the word resolution. I usually set goals for the New Year. Having a goal for me, is more activating than having a resolution. That’s just me and how the words affect me psychologically. Figure out what works for you and use the word that motivates you to make something happen, rather than just dream about it. Here are some other words you can use if you don’t like resolution: goal, objective, target, intention. Many people are afraid to even begin the process of resolution setting because they accept defeat from the beginning. Give yourself permission to dream but obviously don’t make your goals too far of a stretch so you don’t loose heart before you begin.
- Make The Resolutions Measurable. Avoid the tendency to set vague intentions for the New Year. Don’t just say, I want to lose weight, say I want to lose 10 lbs and decrease my body fat percentage by five points. Use numbers, use a time limit if you want, just make sure your goal can be easily quantified. If you want to go raw or eat more raw, maybe you set a goal to eat completely raw three or four days a week. You get the idea. This is super important because without the specifics you cannot know when you’ve reached your goal and should be celebrating, or what numbers or data you should be tracking on a regular basis to obtain the goal.
- Find Someone to Hold you Accountable. It’s so much easier to fall off the healthy bandwagon if you have a goal an no one else knows about it. Then you can slip right back into your bad habits with no one to shame you but yourself. Having someone hold you accountable, whether it be a workout buddy, a trainer, a nutritionist, or your bestie may help you feel more motivated to stick with the plan. The trick here is that the person must be understanding but tough enough on you when you fall off so that you feel the need to get back on track. Don’t pick friends who will listen to your lame excuses for missing the gym for two weeks and tell you it’s OK.
- Have a Plan. As the saying goings, vision without perspiration is hallucination. Don’t say you are going to loose 10 pounds but not have a strategic plan. Write down in detail what you need to do daily and weekly to see that goal through, and be willing to seek advise of someone more seasoned in whatever area you are trying to change if you need pointers on how to go about it. Having your plan is also a way to hold yourself accountable to whatever actions are outlined in it. It saves you from being vague and missing your mark altogether.
- Write it Down and/or Visualize It. Apparently most people skip the essential step of writing down their goals. There is magic in writing it down, it starts the process of creation. It’s just on paper but its a start, now you can work from there to create steps to achieve it or even better let them come to you. As someone who is intense about goal setting, I have learned that it is possible and perfectly OK to have the goal and have no idea how to make it work. Just holding the intention can be magical and you will run into the right people or situations that point you to yor final destination. However, that can only happen when you have a clear, written objective. You can also do something I love to do and vision board it. Cut out images that correspond to your resolution, collage them, and put them in a place you will look at daily. I love the Vision Boarding application through Oprah.com called O Dream Board. It lets you make vision boards online using your images and stock images, collage them and make a jpeg image of the board. I made mine and then uploaded it as my desktop image on my computer.
- Track Your Progress. So you have the goal, you wrote it down, you visualized it, and maybe you also have a game plan. You are way ahead of the crowd, but still in danger of waking up mid-year wondering where the resolution went if you do not track your progress. A personal example I can use, is that I have workout goals I am trying to meet, so I track my workouts weekly and monthly. I have a calendar in my room and for each day I workout a sticker goes on the day with a brief description of what I did. This gives me a very visual evaluation of how I am doing. If I look at the calendar and its virtually blank by weeks end I’ve missed my mark. Find whatever methods of tracking work for you and make sure they are fun and not obsessive. For me the sticker on the calendar thing is fun and I feel awesome when I see a month where I really put in work.
My Big Fat Vegan Thanksgiving: Stuffed Bell Peppers
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. It was an interesting Thanksgiving this year for many reasons, one being there was no turkey on our table!! When you go from eating meat to eating veg it can be a little unsettling and you may feel like you don’t know how to cook anything you used to eat. Good news is, it’s really not that complicated. I got in the kitchen to help my mom and show her that is it possible to make somethings you made before, but with some substitutions in place of the meat products. We ended up working with her idea to make stuffed bell peppers which were incredible, cooked collard greens, raw collard greens with a cilantro avocado dressing (I made mine raw), cranberry sauce, and Haitian sweet potatoes. Let me tell you something, if you have never had a Hawaiian (purple on inside) or Haitian sweet potato you are missing out! If you all are interested and haven’t had enough of my many ways to eat an avocado I can post the avocado cilantro dressing next week.
I went light on my usual industrious dessert making this year because the week prior I made coconut macaroons, and then the avocado key lime pie. So I just made a vegan blueberry pie with a spelt crust. Below is the recipe for the stuffed bell peppers. The recipe is kind of vague because I totally improvised it, but you’ll get the gist. We had leftover black beans in the fridge so I mixed that in with the quinoa and added mushrooms and onions and stuffed it all in the pepper. A-MAZING. They are really festive and add to the holiday spirit if you buy various colors as well. What’s the best part about a big fat Vegan Thanksgiving? Your chances of actually getting fat or gaining those usual holiday pounds are slim to none. We all finished the meal and were full, satisfied, with waistlines still in tact, and had some yummy leftovers for the next day. -XoXo Raw Girl
Bell Peppers Stuffed w/ Quinoa & Black Beans
Ingredients:
Various Colored Bell Peppers (organic preferred)
quinoa
black beans
red onion
mushrooms
tomatoes
garlic
Spices: cumin, sea salt
Soak black beans overnight and cook them in whatever method you prefer. We cooked them using a slow cooker and then sautéed them with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, and sea salt. Also cook quinoa in separate pot. Mix the mushroom black bean mix with the quinoa, and add additional spices as needed. Wash the bell peppers and cut them into little containers by keeping a ‘lid’ with the stem attached.
Remove the white parts from the inside carefully with a knife and then scoop in the quinoa mixture until the pepper is full to the brim. Place the bell pepper lid back on. Wrap each pepper with its lid, in foil, and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or eat the pepper raw, whichever you prefer. Remove from oven, serve and enjoy!
Raw Recipe: Avocado Lime Pudding
Raw Girl here, and yes it is still avocado week! 🙂 This past weekend I experimented with making a pudding that still had some nutrition in it. It’s almost like a yogurt as well. I enlisted some guinea pigs to taste test it and we all loved it. Can be breakfast or dessert. I like the combination of avocado and lime, so I’m cooking up some additional dessert ideas coming soon. Hope you try it, enjoy! -XoXo Raw Girl
Ingredients:
1/2 FloridaAvocado (the huge ones) or 1.5-2 Haas Avocados
1 1/2 cups diced fresh pineapple
5 frozen strawberries
3 Pitted Dates
1 handful of spinach
1 Teaspoon Spirulina (optional)
1/2 -3/4 of a Lime Squeezed (Squeeze whole lime if you want it really sour)
To prepare put all ingredients in the blender. Add in a very small amount, maybe 1/4 cup of water and blend. If it’s too tough add a little more, but don’t go overboard with water or else it won’t be pudding, it’ll be a smoothie. Once everything is blended together, immediately pour into bowls and serve! Makes enough pudding for two.
Veggie Love: Why I’m Deeply Enamoured With Avocados
It is officially AVOCADO WEEK! If I had to profess my undying love to any particular fruit or veggie, it would be a hard call between avocados and coconuts. What is not to love about this amazing creamy fruit that can be combined with both sweet and more bitter meals. Plus I can make yogurt or pudding with it, smoothies, and add it to salads. Since I have long been rescued from the hell that is processed food addiction, I would say avocados do for me what ice cream or yogurt does for die hard dairy lovers. The creamy texture, literally makes my heart sing, and ears perk up when I hear someone say the lovely name avocado. Oh, and the joy of cutting one open and it being completely perfect! I could go on and on. I know I’m tripping, but I really love them that much. They are also on my list of aphrodisiacs, so perhaps (***clears throat and bats eyelashes***), avocados are exciting for me in more ways than one. For grown folks only: the name avocado comes from the Aztec word ‘ahuacatl’ which, um, literally, um, means testicle (I don’t like that word, hence the hesitation). I assume you can guess that avocados got the name from the way they look. So beyond just eating avocados, you also have the option to make some dirty jokes about them.
You know that saying: “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it?” Well, for a year or so I’ve had this amazing dream that I have mentioned to friends about owning a farm somewhere tropical that produced avocados, bananas, and coconuts. The reason for this is because I feel my life would elevated to a new level of bliss if I could have all of those things in unlimited amounts year round. Especially since avocados and coconuts are getting pricy these days. Well, the wish partly came true in a roundabout way. A family friend happens to have avocado trees amongst other trees growing in their backyard in Florida! And guess what? They have way too many avocados to eat. The surplus is so bad they have to give them away. So right now I have a a giant moving box FULL TO THE BRIM with huge Florida avocados. Seriously, Raw Vegan Santa must’ve answered my wish before Christmas! These aren’t the dark green small ones (Haas) we get in the grocery store. They are the mammoth avocados that are a lighter green color. Amazing right? So now, I got to figure out what to do with all these avocados! I’ve been having one a day and luckily a ton of them are still not ripe yet. I say all this to warn you, because avocados have consumed my kitchen, there are a few more avocado posts coming to the blog, but I’ll mix it up and also do a recipe or two.
So what groovy benefits do you get from eating avocado, which is also known as ‘alligator pear’? Well, they happen to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet! Avocados contain 25 essential nutrients including vitamin A, B, C, E, K, copper, iron, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, protein, phytochemicals, and fiber. You would actually need to eat at least two bananas to get the amount of potassium in one avocado. Avocados have a large fat content, almost twenty times the amount of fat in other fruits but they are extremely good-for-you monounsaturated fats. People often worry that because of this avocados will make you gain weight. Not the case, I’ll get to that in another post soon. If you eat avocados from Florida which are huge, note that they have 50% LESS fat than the Haas kind, so they are sort of the “low-fat” brand of avocados.
Onto the long list of fabulous things the wonderful fruit named avocado can do for you. Some key benefits include: maintains a healthy heart and reduce risk of heart disease, efficiently lowers bad cholesterol and can boost good cholesterol, helps to regulate blood pressure levels, has anti-inflammatory properties that help ward off inflammation related diseases, promotes eye health and prevents macular degeneration, regulates blood sugar levels, reduces the risk of stroke because of high levels of folate, protects against breast cancer and has been shown to inhibit prostate cancer, contains glutathione which fights free radicals in the body, boosts immune system, slows aging, and encourages a healthy nervous system. If all of those benefits alone were not a mouthful add to that the fact that avocados are known the world over for boosting the health and natural glow of your skin.
So my challenge this week is: How many ways can you eat an avocado? While I go off to work on that, I hope you have now been convinced that avocados are an awesome food to add to your diet. As much as I would love to keep my love for them all to myself, I know there’s more than enough love to go around so you can count on me to continue spreading the gospel. -XoXo Raw Girl
Nutritional Benefits of Starfruit
I was just introduced to the strange-looking greenish colored fruit called starfruit also known as carambola. Starfruit is native to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. My family was sent an entire box of these funny looking fruits, in addition to two GIANT boxes of avocados from our new friends in Florida who have starfruit trees growing in their backyard. I’ll get into the absolutely insane amount of avocados I have right now in another post sometime soon. When I first saw the star fruit, I was totally turned off. It looks really strange! At least to me it looked like some sort of alien fruit. Finally I got the nerve to look up more about it and how to eat it. When I took my first bite I was pleasantly surprised! To me it tasted something like a pear, plum, or grapefruit. It has a slightly sweet but sour taste. The coolest part about the fruit is the reason why it got its name. When you cut across it, it literally forms pieces of fruit in the shape of a star! You may have seen starfruit used as a garnish for cocktails for this reason.
Starfruit has some great nutritional benefits including providing 75% of the RDA of vitamin C, vitamin A, E, B complex, iron, fiber, and trace amounts of calcium, magnesium, selenium, copper, and zinc. The fact that starfruit is loaded with antioxidants and has a nice amount of zinc, makes it a great addition to an acne-free diet. There is also research being done on the fruit, because researchers believe that consuming starfruit helps to slow the aging process and delay the appearance of wrinkles. Some additional benefits of eating starfruit include: lowers your cholesterol, prevents heart disease, prevents and treats constipation, slows down agin, promotes weight loss, boosts immune function, and is useful for treating infection from bacteria like salmonella and e.coli. Starfruit has also been used as a natural remedy to recover from a hangover.
***WARNING!*** The only thing that is frightening is you should NOT consume this fruit if you have kidney failure, kidney stones, or are on dialysis. Starfruit contains oxallic acid which can be dangerous and harmful for anyone with kidney issues and cause hiccups, vomiting, numbness of limbs, decreased muscle power, mental confusion, and in bad cases, DEATH. This does not sound like something you want to mess with. In my research I read several accounts of people with kidney problems who died after consuming starfruit. If you do not have kidney problems, please don’t worry, you’ll be completely fine.
If you are interested in trying this funny looking fruit, there are a few ways you can eat it. You can wash the fruit, and remove all blemished parts and eat as is, add it to fruit salads, smoothies, or use it as an exotic salad topping. You can juice starfruit as well, and it makes a great light sweetener for your green juices instead of apple. Hopefully, the next time you see this exotic fruit you won’t run for the hills like I almost did; I recommend you try it to add some variety to your fruit choices and get a nice serving of antioxidants to keep you youthful. A starfruit a day can apparently keep the plastic surgeon away. -XoXo Raw Girl