winter wellness

Now that winter is in full swing, I know many people who are sick: Colds, flu, a lingering virus that produces a chronic cough. My husband and I haven't been sick in years. I attribute a lot of that to our healthy lifestyle and wellness tips, so I thought I'd share some of them with you:

Wash your hands every single time you walk in your house from being out in public. Washing your hands with warm water and soap (skip the antibacterial stuff) is the most important thing you can do to keep germs from spreading. Store cart handles, public bathroom faucets and handrails, keyboards and desks are the worst for germ-laden surfaces. 

Keep your hands away from your face. Try not to touch your eyes, nose or mouth ~ or else use a disposable tissue.

I can't stress this enough: eat a healthy diet. By that, I mean real food. Stay away from fast food, prepared foods, sugar, and frozen grocery store dinners.  As Robert Lustig, MD, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco says, "If I could suggest one change to someone's eating habits for health, it would be to eat real food."

(Organic chicken cooked in the Crockpot with tomatoes, coconut milk, onion, garlic & ginger - topped with cilantro; basmati rice with sauteed barberries, onion and saffron; broccoli sauteed in coconut oil)

 Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits (click here for which produce you should be buying organic), some whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and limited dairy. If you choose to eat meat, try to buy grass-fed, local meat or choose organic at the grocery store. If you eat fish, make sure it's wild-caught, not farmed.

Certain supplements can help boost your immune system, especially in the winter. Most of us in the more northern climates are lacking in vitamin D, due to the lack of sunshine. Elderberry is powerful in preventing colds and flu or lessening symptoms. You can find it in syrup or capsule form. Make sure you're getting enough vitamin C by eating citrus fruits (and they're at their peak in winter!) and if not, take a supplement. You can also look into zinc, echinacea and other immune boosters such as organic mushroom blends. Make sure when you're buying vitamins and supplements, that you get a good brand. Google the company and see where their products are sourced from and manufactured. You want to buy from a reliable company and one that doesn't use unecessary fillers and binders in their products.

Get moving. Bundle up and go outside for a walk ~ it feels good! You not only get the physical benefits from walking outside, but the mental perk, as well. Park far away from stores when you're running errands. If it's simply too cold to walk outside, go to a huge store and walk up and down every aisle and circle the perimeter of the store a few times. If you live near a mall, go indoor mall walking. Use stairs, not the elevator. Practice yoga to improve flexibility, balance, strength and respiration. When you're in your house, maybe even doing some housework, turn on some music that makes you move. 

Practice meditation. It lowers your blood pressure, improves heart rate and breathing, relieves tension and tightness from muscles, reduces stress, improves sleep, and boosts the immune system.

Diffuse essential oils. For winter wellness, try a couple of drops each of cinnamon, clove, orange, eucalyptus and rosemary. For respiratory illness, try a mixture of peppermint, tea tree, lemon and eucalyptus. If you have pets in the house, please check with your veterinarian first about diffusing oils. Some vets say it can be dangerous for them to inhale.

Keep hydrated. Drink a lot of filtered water (I keep sliced lemons in mine for a little bit of flavor) and herbal and green teas (unsweetened, of course). Stay away from sodas, even diet ones which are filled with artificial sweeteners and are linked to numerous health conditions.

To your health! 💓

*Disclaimer: the information in this post and on this blog is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding any medical condition or treatment.

to your good health!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram have probably figured out from all my food photos that I'm not just into cooking and food, but healthy eating as well. I've talked a little bit here on my blog over the past few years about healthy eating and living, but I've gotten requests for sharing my knowledge of these subjects in regular blog posts. Healthy foods and eating are such broad subjects, that I'm hoping to do posts on individual subjects at least a few times a month. For right now, I'm just going to dive into some basics and give you a few healthy, simple recipes. These are things anyone can make. No cooking talent required!

Disclaimer: I am not a physician or any other kind of certified health professional. I am simply a lay person that reads and researches many aspects of natural health and clean eating; puts these things into practice in my own life as much as possible; and wants to share what I have learned and am still learning in order to help people lead healthier lives. The content provided in this blog and any linked sites are not intended to be medical advice. If you have any medical concerns, consult with your physician. I am not liable for any health advice that I write on this blog. 

I can tell you this much for sure: whatever you put in your mouth has almost everything to do with your health. You eat garbage, you're going to feel like garbage and your health is going suffer. "At least 80% of how you look and feel comes from your diet" (Dr Samantha Durland). You truly are what you eat. Thus said, I am far from perfect. Healthy eating is something I work on and strive for every single day. Some days I don't do as well as others. I try not to beat myself up over that. Instead, I start anew the next day.

I found a new family care physician through a friend whom I went to last week. He does some holistic care and is very much into working with the patient on a healthy lifestyle. He spent 45 minutes with me, actually talking to me and giving me healthy suggestions, and making me feel good about myself, my health and my future by the time I left. The only prescribed medication I was on was a miniscule dosage of Lisinopril for high blood pressure. I had been on it since I was 38 years old: 19 years!! I originally started out on 10 mg, but I was much heavier when I was younger. Over the years as I adopted a healthier lifestyle and lost weight, I was able to decrease my dosage of medication. I had asked my former PCP the past few years if I could go off the Lisinopril and she always said no - even though my blood pressure was always normal. This new doctor took me off the medication! My blood pressure in two different readings was low and then average. He said, "You don't need this medication." He said that if I continue to eat even healthier (i.e., more plant-based meals, less cheese) and exercise more, that everything will naturally fall into place...lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol (mine's pretty good, but could use some improvement), lower blood sugar levels (again, mine's good but wouldn't hurt to be lower). He also explained to me that if for example, I had've come to him when I was 38 years old with high blood pressure, he would not have automatically put me on hypertension medication. He would've worked with me on lifestyle change instead. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to have found a doctor like this! And I can now announce that I am medication free. That feels so good!

I know some of you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, and while I think that is fantastic, it is not for me. (I have a hard time digesting beans/legumes and I don't eat soy or soy products.) I am also not here to discuss the ethics of meat eaters versus plant eaters. I am only focusing on clean, healthy eating. 

Thus said, I am incorporating more vegetables and fruits into my diet and eating less meat. This doctor wanted me to eat beets for my blood pressure, but I told him I loathe beets. Beets and mushrooms are the only two vegetables I just cannot stand. So he told me I could buy beet root powder (I didn't even know there was such a thing!) and use it in my smoothies. I found this organic beet root powder on Amazon. I use a teaspoon in my morning smoothie and can barely taste it. In fact, I love the taste of my smoothie even more than I did before! And it makes the color very pretty. I make my smoothies by using 8 oz. unsweetened almond milk, a banana, some frozen organic fruit (I used blueberries in the smoothie shown below), 1 tsp. of the organic beet root powder, about 1 T. of hemp hearts/seeds, a sprinkle of turmeric (great for inflammation!), a spoon of organic, natural peanut butter (make sure the peanut butter you use doesn't have any added sugar and doesn't have any hydrogenated oils in it...you want to eat a peanut butter that is just that - peanut butter - and nothing else...except salt, if you want the salted kind), and a big handful of organic baby spinach.

Another healthy, simple meal idea is to top toast (please don't use processed white bread; use a bread where the first ingredients are whole grains...Ezekiel Bread or Dave's Killer Bread are excellent choices) with mashed avocado (I added fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to mine) and top with a cooked egg. This will fill you up for hours. If you're vegan or don't like eggs, avocado toast on its own is delicious. You can sprinkle the avocado with nuts, sunflower seeds or pepitas, or even some pomegranate seeds.

I'll throw in one more quick, healthy meal idea that anyone can make...when you're craving pizza, it's much healthier to make your own at home. This is something I struggle with. Pizza is one of my favorite foods! And I live in the Chicago area, so we have THE best pizza.

Make your own pizza crust, or use a prepared one. Just make sure it has minimal ingredients and no hydrogenated oils (such as soybean) or preservatives in it. The one pitfall of this type of bread is that it is high in sodium. So even pizza at home should be a special treat. Most people don't realize that bread contains a lot of sodium!

Brush your pizza crust with extra-virgin olive oil or tomato sauce seasoned with herbs. Then load on the vegetables. I sauteed my vegetables just a couple of minutes before putting them on the pizza so that they wouldn't be TOO crunchy. I used red peppers, broccoli and red onion. You could also use fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach and/or jalapenos. To do as the good doc said about cutting down on the cheese, I used fresh mozzarella sparingly. Bake at 400 degrees until done. My pizza took about 10 minutes.

I hope this post was informative and helpful and I look forward to sharing a lot more about healthy eating, nutrition and natural health in future posts. Please feel free to share any of your own stories or ideas about healthy, clean eating. We're all here to help each other.

new year goals ~ healthy eating

I don't make New Year resolutions or pick a word for the year...I'm not into that sort of thing as I feel I'm a work in progress every day, no matter the time of year. Thus said, I do set small goals for myself at the beginning of the year, and throughout. 

(Disclaimer: As a member of the Wayfair Homemaker program, I have been compensated for this post. All ideas and opinions are completely my own.)

If you're a regular follower of my blog, you'll know I'm into healthy eating. I'm not perfect with this (who is?) but it's something that's important to me and that I strive for. I make a lot of homemade dishes because that way I can control the ingredients that go into our meals. It's much healthier to eat at home using fresh, unprocessed ingredients than it is to eat out or to rely on overly-processed food or packaged products that are full of chemicals and preservatives.

Having a slow cooker is a game changer for me. And on cold days (by the way, I'm in Illinois where we're in the middle of record-breaking low temps...we could go down to -55F with the wind chill factor tonight and tomorrow!), it's wonderful to have an appliance bubbling the food away all day and making your house smell delicious and cozy. It's so easy to throw ingredients into a pot in the morning, press a button, be on your merry way, and then come home to a cooked meal. My old Crockpot worked fine, but the handle had broken off the glass lid, leaving two small holes in the top. I was using tape to cover the holes every time I used it! It was definitely time for a new one. Wayfair has many different slow cookers to choose from. I ultimately chose the Cuisinart 4 quart multi-cooker. I make many dishes where I saute the vegetables first before adding them to the slower cooker, or where I brown the meat on the stove first before adding to the slower cooker. With this multi-function cooker, you can saute your ingredients right in the pot simply by pushing the brown/saute button and then immediately switch over to cooking by pushing the slow cook button. How cool is that? No extra dishes to wash! It also steams food, but I haven't tried that function yet.

The first recipe I tried was one straight from the book that came with the slow cooker. It was for a brown rice and vegetable risotto. Sounded delicious and healthy, plus it'd give me the chance to try out the saute feature. I started out by sauteeing onions and tri-colored peppers, then adding the rice and other ingredients.

This is what the dish looked like when it was done. Looks delicious, right? Unfortunately, it wasn't. We weren't thrilled with the taste, and the texture of the rice wasn't quite right. It was still too chewy. Definitely not like a true risotto.

The second dish I made in my new cooker was a tried and true standby: Salsa Chicken. I started out by sauteeing - yes, right in the slow cooker! - sliced onions. You could easily add peppers to this, too.

With the saute feature still on, I added organic, boneless chicken thighs and browned them on both sides for just a couple of minutes. Then I switched the cooker over to slow cook.

Next comes the salsa. You can use either green or red ~ or a combination ~ which I did.

Pour the salsa on top of the chicken, put the cooker on low for six hours, and go about your day. When the chicken is cooked, shred with two forks. This is what it looks like when it's done. You can then serve over rice or quinoa or in tortillas ~ all with your choice of toppings: cilantro, green onions, sliced radishes, avocado, shredded lettuce, or shredded cheese. Maybe even a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt to top it all off. (Side note: if you're going to serve this chicken in tortillas, use a slotted spoon to remove some of the juice, otherwise you will end up with a super soggy tortilla!)

The third dish I tried in this new slow cooker was beans. As usual, since I'm loving this saute feature, I started with chopped onions, celery and carrots.

I had soaked a pound of heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo for a few hours, then I drained and dumped them into the slow cooker on top of the sauteed veggies. I covered with a couple of inches of water, added a bay leaf and let the beans cook eight hours on low. Sorry I don't have a photo of the finished product ~ I forgot to take one! Even though I can't eat beans anymore as I can't digest them, I did taste them and oh my goodness, they were delicious! I'd had dried beans before (much better than canned) but these heirloom beans were incomparable. Truly the best I've ever tasted. Cooking them all day in the slow cooker was so easy, too. 

Do you use a slower cooker? If you have any favorite healthy slow cooker recipes, please share!

soup and salads

A couple of my passions are healthy living and cooking, so I thought I'd share a few recipes that I've made lately. Last night for dinner, I made Italian Wedding Soup. This is more of a simplified recipe than the original. Traditionally, the meatballs are made with a mixture of beef, pork and veal. I don't eat veal and I don't have access to any organic pork right now (I try to only eat organic meat), so I made the meatballs with just beef. This is an easy-to-make soup that is comforting, hearty and healthy. Perfect for a chilly afternoon or evening meal.

 ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

1 lb organic, grass-fed ground beef

2 organic eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 c breadcrumbs (I keep homemade breadcrumbs in the freezer)

1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

Dried basil, thyme, oregano, parsley & onion powder, to taste

8 c broth ~ you can use beef, chicken, vegetable ~ or a combination

(I use organic, low-sodium broth when I don't have any homemade on-hand)

3 medium-sized carrots, finely diced

1/2 c orzo

4 c thinly sliced organic escarole, baby spinach, or baby kale
(or a mixture of any of these greens is fine ~ use whatever you have!)

In a medium bowl, combine the beef - spices. Shape into 3/4" balls. In large soup pot, heat broth to boiling. Place meatballs and carrots into the broth. Simmer on med-low for 7 min. Add the orzo and simmer another 7 min or until pasta is al dente and the meatballs are cooked through. Stir frequently to prevent ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add greens and simmer another couple of minutes. Taste the soup...at this point, adjust your seasonings. You may want to add salt, pepper, and/or garlic, to taste. Serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

(*Note: you don't have to cook the meatballs in the broth. I realize this adds the beef fat to the broth. You can always bake the meatballs in the oven and then add them to the broth.)

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When I went to a barbeque this past weekend, I took along an Israeli couscous tabbouleh salad. This was a huge hit and quickly eaten up. It's so light, fresh and full of wonderful flavors with the fresh herbs. I can't take credit for this recipe ~ it can be found here.

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And I can't take full credit for this recipe. This dish was brought to the barbeque by my cousin's friend and everyone demolished this salad, too. I asked how it was made and only made a variation on the veggies. This is an awesome vegan main dish (makes a great lunch) or you can use it as a side dish.

 

 1 pkg refrigerated ready-to-eat lentils
(I found these in the produce section of Trader Joes; you can always

make lentils ahead of time using the dried ones)

1 lb mixture of any kind of crunchy veggies, chopped
(I found a pkg of Healthy & Chopped Veggie Mix in the produce section of

Trader Joes ~ it's a mixture of broccoli, carrots, red & green cabbage, jicama,

green peppers, radishes & celery)

1 jar olive tapenade

1/2 lemon, juiced

Chopped fresh parsley

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Nom nom!