May is Salad Month

Just saying the word "SALAD" brings up images of healthy options: lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, radishes, carrots, cucumbers. Makes you want to head out to your Tower Garden and harvest!


Salads can also mean grains and legumes. How many ways can we get creative this month with our salad choices? I'll share a favourite of mine:


Mexican Corn and Red Kidney Bean Salad
Serves 4-6

2 cups cooked quinoa grain, cooled
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/2 large red bell pepper, diced
1/2 large green bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 14 oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
6 oz. chopped cilantro or to taste - more is better


Mexican Dressing:
1/2 tsp dried ground oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
finely chopped fresh chili to taste
juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


Dry-toast the corn in a non-stick frying pan until it turns golden, then remove from the heat and cool.


Place the quinoa, corn, red and green bell peppers, onion, red kidney beans and cilantro in a bowl and mix well.


Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and pour over salad. Toss well and serve. It can even be served as a dip with corn chips or a taco filling. I like to add avocados to each serving too.

What is your favourite salad?

Processed Foods

There is one change you can make today that will lower your risk of chronic disease, help you lose weight, and make you feel happier and more energized. Cut processed foods out of your life.

Processed foods are full of additives, genetically modified ingredients, preservatives, monosodium glutamate (MSG), synthetic and rancid vegetable oils, and more. These ingredients give them a long shelf life, but are unrecognizable to your body which perceives them to be foreign invaders. In response to these foreign invaders the body sends powerful antibodies to fight them.

Having to constantly produce massive amounts of antibodies to battle against these foreign foods weakens the immune system over time. This makes some people more susceptible to common illnesses, such as the flu or a cold, but causes serious issues, like autoimmune disease, in others.

Avoid boxed cereals, meals in a box, frozen dinners, canned foods, store-bought sauces and dressings, and store-bought condiments. If it has a long shelf life, you shouldn’t eat it!

Also, don’t be fooled by the words “organic” or “natural” on food packages. There are plenty of health food stores carrying “healthy” organic and natural boxed cereals, cookies, and crackers, frozen meals, and canned soups that are just as processed as anything you’d find on the shelves of your supermarket or big box store.

Try buying whole foods, that don’t need a label at all, it is the best and only way to avoid processed food.

Peppermint Slice

In this month of LOVE don't forget to love yourself! We are called to "love your neighbor as you love yourself" (Mark 12:31). We are not able to love others until we learn to love ourselves. That isn't a selfish act, that is a command from God! Some of us need to work on that one first. Self love is important to our well being. Dig deep and find out what that means for you. 


Happy Valentine's Day! This is a dessert that most everyone will enjoy. Eat it in small amounts as it is very rich. This dessert is loaded with nutritious ingredients that your body will love (with just enough chocolate to satisfy the chocolate lover!)


PEPPERMINT SLICE RECIPE:


Base:
1 cup Macadamias or almonds (or mixture of both)
1 cup dates


Peppermint filling:
1 cup cashews
5-8 drops peppermint essential oil
1/4 cup coconut cream
1/4 cup sweetener (maple syrup, honey, date syrup, or couple drops of stevia)


Topping:
1/4 cup carob, cocoa or cacao powder
1/4 cup sweetener of choice
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup hazelnuts or cashews
1/2 tsp vanilla paste


Process nuts and dates in food processor. Add a very little bit of water only if necessary. Press into 8‘x10’ shallow dish with wet hands.


To make filling, blend cashews dry first then add all other ingredients to blender or food processor. It will take a bit of blending to get the right consistency. Add tiny bit of water gradually (1/4 cup). Scrape onto base. Smooth out, then freeze while making topping.


To make topping, place all the ingredients into blender or food processor (do nuts dry first) and blend, adding a little water until thick paste consistency is reached. Smooth topping over set filling and return to freezer for 4-6 hours.

Magnesium

Do you have cravings for chocolate so intense that you can’t think about anything else? What about those muscle cramps that keep you up at night? Or your trips to the bathroom are a bit of a struggle? Chances are you’re deficient in magnesium! Magnesium is essential for over 300 different enzymatic processes to help your body function properly. It’s a common mineral to be deficient in, yet most people have no idea they’re lacking this important nutrient! Here are five of the key signs that you may be deficient without even realizing:

1. Chocolate Cravings
Your body knows best. When you truly listen closely to your body, it will tell you what it needs. Dark chocolate is actually a good source of magnesium, containing 24% of your daily needs in just one square. If your body is desperately calling out for a chocolate fix, it may be just what you need! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) 😊

2. Muscle Cramps
Magnesium helps to relax your muscles, so when you’re running low on this mineral, you’re likely to find your muscles contracting involuntarily, causing you painful spasms.

3. Anxiety
Feeling anxious? A deficiency in magnesium can have your central nervous system sending you early warning signs by increased anxiety.

4. Constipation
Ensuring you have enough magnesium is important for your bowels for two key reasons: one, it helps to relax your bowels, and two, it pulls water into your bowels creating an osmotic effect that makes passing waste easier.

5. Sleep Troubles
Did you know magnesium levels drop in your body at night? That means if you’re low in magnesium you may have trouble sleeping! So many of us have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep. A deficiency in magnesium may be a contributing factor as it plays such a key role in the function of your central nervous system.

What Zaps My Magnesium Levels?
These factors are key influencers on your magnesium levels:
 • Food and drink high in salt, sugar, caffeine and alcohol should be limited.
 • Stress also plays a role, so try implementing relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga as much as possible.
 • Check with your doctor to see if your medication is causing magnesium loss - many high blood pressure medications may be contributing to your problems rather than helping!


How Can I Get More Magnesium?
Foods that are high in magnesium include:
Avocado
Leafy greens (spinach and sea vegetables are tops)
Beans and lentils
Nuts and seeds (pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds and cashews and almonds are high in           Magnesium)
Quinoa and other unrefined grains
Dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa) and raw cacao

Try consuming more of these foods to help reduce symptoms of magnesium deficiency. You may be surprised to find out that it’s all you needed to feel better! 

Looking for a supplement? Try magnesium glycinate or magnesium citrate, they’re two of the most readily absorbed. Just avoid overdoing it as they have a laxative effect when consumed in high doses!


The most efficient way to absorb magnesium is through the largest organ in the body - the skin. Try soaking in a tub of magnesium flakes or Epsom Salt. Even a foot bath will do wonders.

Lemons

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! That's a good, positive attitude, but it is also a good health tip! Lemons have many health benefits: Lemons are alkalizing for the body (which seems wrong since they are so acidic). Lemons will help balance the body's pH. Lemons are rich in vitamin C and will help ward off a cold. Fresh lemon juice added to a large glass of water in the morning is a great liver detoxifier. A lemon contains 22 anti-cancer compounds. Even the lemon peel has health benefits. The lemon is the ONLY food in the world that is Anionic (the lemon electron has a negative charge). All other foods are cationic (the lemon’s outer electron has a positive charge.) This makes it extremely useful to health as it is the interaction between anions and cations that ultimately provides all cell energy.

When your neighbor gives you a bag of lemons off their tree and you can't possibly eat them all, squeeze them and freeze the juice in ice trays. You can take out a few at a time and make lemonade or add them to recipes. I grate the lemon peel (zest) and freeze them in measurements of 1 Tablespoon to add to recipes.

Lemons are good for your body and your environment. Enjoy them year round!

Cinnamon

If you are eating Cinnamon for your health then you need to pay attention to which kind you are eating. We used to flavor a few things with cinnamon occasionally so there wasn't much concern about which kind we were eating, but now we are using large doses of it because of the many health benefits. While there are a hundred different kinds of cinnamon, only 4 are used for commercial purposes: - Saigon, Ceylon, Cassia, and Korintje. The only real downside of cinnamon is the coumarin in it. Coumarin is a substance that can cause liver damage or complete failure. Only Ceylon Cinnamon has low levels of Coumarin, while all other varieties of Cinnamon have high levels of Coumarin. 

The problem in purchasing cinnamon is that most companies do not tell you which kind of cinnamon is in the jar. And most of it is the Cassia kind because it is much cheaper. You can tell the difference when it is still in the stick form. Ceylon Cinnamon sticks are soft, crumbly and rolled like cigar with layers of soft brittle Cinnamon bark. All other Cinnamon looks like the Cassia Cinnamon sticks and tends to be hard, hollow and have only one rolled or curled layer. Notice the color difference. Ceylon Cinnamon is lighter in color while other Cinnamon tends to be darker in color. When I can't find a brand that labels the type of cinnamon, I purchase the Ceylon sticks and grind them to make my own powder.

When cinnamon becomes a part of your healthy lifestyle, it is important to get the right kind.

Ceylon Cinnamon (Good)

Cassia Cinnamon (Bad)

Digestion

Digestion can be such a tricky thing. There are so many things that we are allergic to or have an intolerance to that mess with our digestion process. But consider the basics: God made our bodies to function well when used the way He intended. I'm not a medical person so this will sound very simplistic, but here goes:

Our stomachs have an entrance and an exit. When food is coming into the stomach (from the top) the bottom exit door (at the bottom of the stomach) is closed. That way the food is trapped in the stomach long enough for it to digest the food before moving on to the next station (about 3-4 hours). Each time we eat something (and open the top door) that food has to digest before the exit door will open. When we continue to eat between meals, that food that we ate in the morning could still be there in the evening, creating gas and bloating. We eat late into the night and then lie down to attempt to sleep. Your digestion has been working hard all day long and will have to continue to work into the night. We wake up tired and feeling worn out, only to start the process over again.

We have enough to deal with without sabotaging ourselves. Give your stomach a break between meals. Learn to recognize the hunger - thats a good thing.