Hello to all who read this blog!

I know it has been a long time since I have added any new posts. I plan to start up again now that life is somewhat less hectic! I am still plugging along and eating my way to good health. …

doTerra’s Family Physician’s Kit

This video is well worth the 29 minutes! You will learn a lot!

It can say far more than I can in writing. Again, if you are seriously interested in doTerra Essential oils please contact me at oilsamazing@gmail.com

I’m back………..

I have not written for a year! It is about time to pick this blog back up! I hope you all had a wonderful 2013! We did!
I have so much to tell you! I have discovered something that goes right along with the healthy lifestyle that this blog has talked about all along!

How many of you would like to take more control of your health and have affordable natural ways to take care of life’s little emergencies.

I have discovered recently the world of essential oils! But not just any essential oils. As most of you are aware, there are many companies that sell essential oils. But I have discovered the very best, most pure and most effective essential oils on the market! I have done my homework on this. If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I believe in researching and finding out the truth! I am now part of the doTerra team! They are Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade, which is purer and better than organic. No other essential oil company has this high of grade of essential oils. doTerra’s oils are the only ones that are safe to take internally. There are a handful of oils that should not be taken internally by nature of the plant, but no other company’s oils should be taken internally at all!

I suggest you check out my website about doTerra essential oils and do your research. My website is oilsamazing.com You can order oils on that site or if you would like to know more about how to get them at wholesale prices just email me at oilsamazing@gmail.com and I will discuss that privately.

Essential oils can do so many things! Take away migraines within seconds, take away pink eye or ear infections without going to the doctor! I have even personally seen them take away a Urinary Tract Infection and bronchitis in the same person within 3 days! These 100% pure certified therapeutic grade oils are simply AMAZING!!
This is so exciting and goes hand in hand with our body’s healing powers– if you give it what it really needs. These oils work faster on those who are eating a very healthy (preferably whole food plant based diet) but they will help others as well. Oils do not heal or cure, but give your body what it needs to heal and cure itself along with a healthy diet. If you keep eating cheeseburgers and other foods like that as a steady diet and expect good health you will be disappointed.

I will be writing more soon about doTerra and more about nutrition in the near future. I will also send you to links and show you videos that will help you become more aware of the amazing power you can harness with doTerra essential oils! These oils have changed my quality of life the same way eating right changed my health!

Get ready for a fun ride and learning experience. You will be……..AMAZED!!

PUMPKIN OATMEAL! “BOATMEAL”

For those of you that know me well, you many still not know this one fact, but the call of PUMPKIN motivates me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! It has been difficult over the summer months to find pumpkin in the store! I am so glad it is plentiful again! I know I have told you about this oatmeal in past posts, but since it is what I look forward to in the morning, especially this time of year, I thought I would revisit the subject!

This is before baking!

Here Is the recipe: “B”OATMEAL (baked oatmeal : )

for 2 (cut everything in half for one serving)

1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon (best is Vietnamese)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
sweetener such as 2 TB maple syrup or 1-2 packets Stevia
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk (non dairy preferred) coconut or almond
1/4 tsp salt
Optional: 1-2T oil or favorite nut butter (coconut oil or butter for those who use butter)

Options: raisins, walnuts, brown sugar for the top

Preheat over to 380 degrees

Combine raw oats, spices, pumpkin and milk.
Pour into a small baking pan, or loaf pan. Cook for 20 minutes, or more until it gets firm. Finally, set your oven to “high broil” for 3 more minutes, or until it reaches desired crispy-ness ( or simply just bake longer, but broiling gives it a nice crust)

Optional additions: a handful of crandberries, a handful of raisins, a handful of walnuts, some nut butter
MY PERSONAL FAVORITE “cranberries, raisins and walnuts” together! So hearty, OH SO GOOD!

This is after baking!

I hope that this inspires you for the fall! It does take longer to make because you bake it instead of cook on the stove…..but OH SO WELL WORTH THE WAIT!!

ENJOY!!

Avocado Tostadas

This is another new favorite supper recipe. I came up with it when I was in the mood for Mexican, but didn’t want to eat something I shouldn’t ….like cheese…..or taco meat. The flavor was so good I didn’t even miss the meat OR the cheese!! I hope my recipes for favorite dinner ideas will help put some variety into your choices for dinner or supper.

Ingredients for part 1:

1 Medium size avocado
1/2 Roma tomato cut into TINY bits
Lime juice (juice from 1/4 a good sized lime)
salt (Original Himalayan Crystral Salt or Sea Salt)
2/3 TB Spanish Gardens taco sauce (my favorite) but you can use whatever you want
Garlic powder or fresh minced

Mash the Avocado up and add these ingredients to the mashed avocado and refrigerate.

Ingredients for part 2:

2/3 cup cooked brown rice ( I steamed this rice ahead of time and had it in the refrigerator)
1/2 cup of black beans
2 TB or so of water
Taco Seasoning to taste (I used Spanish Gardens)
Salt to taste (OHCS)
Cilantro (fresh or dried) 2 pinches of dried or 2 TB fresh chopped
1 TB Taco Sauce
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 small red onion or yellow chopped in very small pieces

Stir all these ingredients and blend until heated through and onions are clear

2 sprouted corn tortillas or corn tortillas with only corn and lime and water as ingredients
Put a paper towel or paper plate in the microwave, put 2 tortillas in microwave on paper towel or plate. Cook 1- 1 1/2 minutes on high. Tortillas will be fairly hard and crispy. NOTE: you can fix the tortillas however you want, but I did it this way so that I would not be added the fat of oil to the tortillas

Spread guacamole mixture on each tortilla first.
Top with hot rice/bean mixture and chopped lettuce ( I prefer romaine, but any you like is fine)
Pour taco sauce over rice mixture if you want and eat immediately! and …………….ENJOY!!!!!!

One of my favorite suppers! Brown Rice Stir Fry

Some of you have asked me what I eat for supper. I eat many different things. Sometimes a smoothie if I did something else for lunch. Sometimes I eat veggies, raw or cooked. Sometimes I eat salads with home made healthy dressing. But this is one one my staples that I can always fix because I always have a few veggies around.
This is an easy supper, a tasty supper (or lunch) and a healthy supper! Most of the time I have cooked brown rice on hand. When I run out I usually get out my Rice Cooker and cook 1 cup of brown rice in 2 cups of water. Then I put it in the refrigerator to make various things. Sometimes I make brown rice pudding…..YUMMY! That recipe will be in a future post. But sometimes I make a quick and easy and filling dinner with some veggies and the brown rice.

Ingredients: Brown rice already cooked. Some favorite veggies which include tomatoes, celery, bok choy green and stalk, cabbage,spinach, peppers, zucchini, summer squash (yellow), onion, sliced brussels sprouts or whatever you have on hand that you like to eat. This is a custom designed dinner to match your likes. It often varies based on what I actually have on hand. I do not go to store to buy ingredients specifically for this meal. I use this meal to use what I already have and need to use.

What I do: I cut up whatever veggies I am going to use. I use a Tablespoon or less of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and saute’ those veggies in that oil. If I am using tomatoes or greens I wait to add those until closer to the end of this process. Once the veggies are crisp tender I add the brown rice and saute it. I then add a touch of Nama Shoyu soy sauce (the best there is) for some flavor. I only add a scant tablespoon. I don’t want the soy to over power, just give a little flavor. Then I serve it up and enjoy!! This is sort of like eating a warm salad. Very comforting. I try not to eat cooked veggies all the time, because I like to get raw into my diet as much as possible, but there are times when a little slightly cooked veggies and some brown rice just hit the spot!

Another Version: I also do this same thing sometimes with a little bit of whole wheat penne pasta and it is very filling and a change of pace. I hope these ideas have helped your creative juices to get going. Bona Petite!

The Miracle of Greens – Sergei Boutenko

Any of you who are the least bit interseted in learning …….why greens? You will find this video most helpful! It is long, but will be one of the best all around talks on greens you will ever hear!
This is done by Sergei Boutenko. His mother discovered with much trial and error the green smoothie concept and she is known as the queen of green smoothies! This talk is extremely informative AND entertaining! It lasts 1 hour and 25 minutes!
ENJOY!!

Oatmeal, Oatlmeal, Oatmeal!

I have previously mentioned oatmeal in several posts. I have even dedicated 2 posts to Oatmeal. One about the perfect diabetic breakfast and 1 about my husband’s favorite kind of oatmeal——CHOCOLATE! Well I have discovered many flavors that you might want to try. We help fight our cholesterol by eating oatmeal most EVERY day for breakfast. When you eat oatmeal that often you have to switch up the flavors to keep it interesting. So here are a few of my favorites! I hope this post will just get your creative juices flowing and you will be able to think of other varieties. Please let me know of any that you discover or think up because we would like to try them!

1) Chocolate Oatmeal – This is easy to make. You can use either raw cacao powder which is what I prefer because it is raw and the most antioxidant for your buck! It is so rich in taste that it makes the very best chocolate oatmeal, but for starters is you don’t have that you can use straight cocoa that has no other ingredient. (Raw cacao powder can be bought at Whole Foods or other health food stores OR on Amazon.com) First you put the amount of water you need (1 cup of water for every serving) in a medium sized sauce pan if you are making 2 servings or more. Then you add a little bit of vanilla and a pinch of sea salt if you want it. Then you start the water boiling. Add a GENEROUS heaping Tablespoon of cacao or cocoa to the water FOR EACH SERVING. Stir with a whisk until the chocolate completely dissolves in the water. Cook until oats are done. Remove from heat. Stir in preferred sweetener (AGAVE or HONEY). If you like banana and chocolate you can slice 1/2 banana into the bowl before you pour the oatmeal into the bowl. Yummy!

2) Chocolate coconut oatmeal – This is a slight variation if you want oatmeal that reminds you of a MOUNDS bar! You do the same as above, but while oats are cooking stir in some unsweetened coconut flakes and some Watkins coconut extract. When I do this I do not use the banana as a general rule.

3) One more variation of the chocolate variety! Chocolate Almond Oatmeal. Cook the oats the same way as above, but BEFORE you start the oatmeal cooking, chop up some raw almonds and then toast them in the oven for about 5 minutes. Take them out and stir them into oats while cooking! Yum!

4) Lorie’s Hearty Oatmeal: This oatmeal has many thing in it! It is a very hearty breakfast. Cook oatmeal as directions call for. Add water, salt and vanilla. Then put in a generous amount of cinnamon (extremely good for blood sugar issues), a couple of sprinkles of nutmeg and a large pinch of cloves. Put oatmeal in the water and add a handful or two of raisins, and IF YOU HAVE ANY, a handful of frozen cranberries (or fresh). Add English Walnuts or Pecans for real flavor and good Omega 3’s! Cook until oatmeal is done. Add pure Grade B maple syrup and a little agave or raw honey. This will certainly stick to your ribs as grandma used to say! Very very hearty and very yummy!

5) Blueberry Oatmeal. Cook oatmeal as directed and throw in a handful of frozen or fresh blueberries for every serving and cook along with the oats. In my opinion this is one place where frozen blueberries are better than fresh! This oatmeal turns bluish purple and kids LOVE IT!

6) Bananas and Honey Oatmeal. This is a real treat and makes you truly feel like a kid again! Mash 1 banana for each serving of oatmeal. Cook oatmeal as directed and add a little vanilla to the water. After the oatmeal is about done, stir in the mashed bananas and finish cooking. Take off the heat and stir in raw honey and eat! it is like banana nut bread but totally heatlhy! You can add a few nuts of your choice if you like! If you had black walnuts on hand and you like them this would be a good place to use a few!

7) Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal: A personal favorite of mine! (but not Lyle’s) This one is called BOATMEAL!

BOATMEAL (baked oatmeal : )

for 2 (cut everything in half for one serving)

1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon (best is Vietnamese)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
sweetener such as 2 TB maple syrup or 1-2 packets Stevia
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk (non dairy preferred) coconut or almond
1/4 tsp salt
Optional: 1-2T oil or favorite nut butter (coconut oil or butter for those who use butter)

Options: raisins, walnuts, brown sugar for the top

Preheat over to 380 degrees

Combine raw oats, spices, pumpkin and milk.
Pour into a small baking pan, or loaf pan. Cook for 20 minutes, or more until it gets firm. Finally, set your oven to “high broil” for 3 more minutes, or until it reaches desired crispy-ness ( or simply just bake longer, but broiling gives it a nice crust)

8) Plain Oatmeal with fruit. This oatmeal is very easy but so yummy. When I have fresh seasonal fruit (peaches, blueberries, black berries, strawberries, raspberries, etc) I cook oatmeal according to package directions, maybe at a tiny bit of cinnamon or whatever spice sounds good with whatever fresh fruit I have. I cook the oatmeal, add that spice(s) and use a little agave nectar or honey to sweeten it and put fresh fruit on top of my choice and stir is all up! This is a great summer oatmeal choice, and SOOOO EASY!!!!!

I hope this post (long overdue) will be helpful to you in your journey to better health through nutrition, or JUST BECAUSE IT TASTES SO GOOD!
Happy Breakfast!!

How to cook beans ; )

If you are trying to eat healthier and eat no meat or less meat and you want to add more beans to your diet here are a few things to consider:

1) canned beans are OK in a pinch IF you can find some that don’t have salt or high fructose corn syrup or sugar in them. You may be surprised but many canned beans have sugar of some kind in the can.

2) dry beans are always your best choice

3) beans (have a lot of protein) and can help you not miss meat so much

4) there are many many varieties of beans to choose from

5) beans make great soup

6) beans are good on a salad, tacos, or to just eat by themselves

Cooking dry beans is so easy and you can avoid the wrong kind of salt and then add sea salt or Original Himalayan Chrystal salt to taste. The only problem is planning ahead. If you are an ahead planner this will not really affect you. If you have to use canned beans in a pinch, just rinse the heck out of them!! : )

Recipe for cooking beans:
You will need a 6 quart slow cooker (crock pot)

Rinse 2 cups of any dry bean, get any little pebbles out and put them in the 6 qt crock pot or slow cooker.

Boil a tea kettle full of water. When it reaches a full boil, pour immediately over he beans in the slow cooker.

Turn cooker on HIGH for 3 hours. For most beans this is when they are perfectly done. Some of the bigger beans may take 4 hours, but most should be done in 3.

Save beans in freezable container along with some juice. Use for soups, salads, to make healthy refried beans for tostadas or tacos, to make veggie chili or chili mac. Add salt and any other seasoning to them as you use them for whatever you decided to use them for. I have found that if I have beans cooked on hand I will use them in my diet and they are soooooo goooooood for you!!

An update on my progress and my last doctor visit for anyone who is following this for encouragement!

Many of you who have been following my blog might be curious about how the latest doctor visit for a regular check up went for me. It has now been 8 months since I had the high blood sugar that started this journey. At this point in that journey I am 44 pounds lighter, I still have lots of energy, and not one bite of meat has crossed my lips since July, 2011. That, I believe is a major part of the key to reversing my diabetes. The reason, as I have mentioned at the first of this blog is that when you are diabetic and have other problems that go along with diabetes, watching carbs is not nearly enough if you don’t want to rely on medication in the end. The reason is that the carbs are not what CAUSED the problem in the first place. Well, let me rephrase that. Processed carbs are a factor, but it is always a combination of things, and meat plays a HUGE role in the cause. You see, your cells are supposed to open their doors easily to let glucose into them. Insulin created by your pancreas is what brings the glucose to your cell. But, because of too much meat in our Standard American Diet which is saturated fat, over time it gums up the cells and the doors to the cells cannot unlock or open easily. So our body makes more insulin to compensate and for a while that works and we don’t know there is a problem. ( I am talking about a Type 2 diabetic) not one who as a young child ends up with no insulin because of a virus that attacks your beta cells and leaves you with no insulin) I am talking about the person who is probably over weight, an adult and at some point finds out they have a problem with diabetes or insulin resistance. By the time this happens (although in America more and more kids are being diagnosed with this type of diabetes because of very poor diet) you are no longer in the category where you can eat meat but just “cut back.” Someone who’s body has handled this better and does not have diabetes might be able to just cut back and get results, but most of the time, taking meat out of your diet is the only way you have hope of actually reversing this process, getting off the medication and actually getting better. You must take the saturated fat out of your life so you cells can start to clean the gunk out the their door locks so the insulin doesn’t have to work so hard. If you do not make a drastic change, you will ultimately run low or run out of insulin and you will have to go on insulin or you will die. BUT, if you take the meat away AND take the refined carbs away and keep them away, your body has a chance to do what it was made to do and start fixing things. It does not happen overnight, and it DOES NOT happen by doing the same as you have been doing, but now just in moderation. You MUST start giving your body whole plant based food and a little of only good oil – unrefined virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and rarely some walnut or almond oil. AND these fats must be used in moderation. You cannot eat bread made with processed grains. You cannot eat bread that has ANYTHING but WHOLE wheat for the whole ingredients. In other words, when the bread company lists the ingredients and it says whole wheat flour, then it says wheat flour or fortified wheat flour DO NOT EAT IT!!!!! It must be 100% whole wheat and the label does not tell you, the list of ingredients only tells you this information. If there is anything in the list of ingredients involving grain and the grain does not have the word WHOLE in front of it every time it lists the grain DO NOT BUY IT or eat it if you want to reverse diabetes!

Now, back to the visit. I had gone off my cholesterol meds 1 month after the last checkup before this one, and so that was 5 months prior to this visit. I was very nervous to find out if my cholesterol was OK. Lyle and I eat oatmeal every morning and I am taking a natural supplement called Cholesterice which I had researched as a natural means to lower cholesterol. I started out 5 months ago doing a 30 day liver cleanse after going off my statin drug for cholesterol control. Then I had been taking Cholesterice and eating NO saturated fat. Like I said, I was nervous because I had no idea what my labs would show. My wonderful doctor and myself had been somewhat disagreeing on this subject, because he was concerned about my cholesterol being too high, and I was concerned about side effects of the drug. So I did this without telling him. I was not sure how it was going to turn out. BUT, when he got into the room and gave me my reports they were pretty good. My cholesterol was slightly higher than I wanted. Total was 227. LDL (Bad) was 133, and HDL (Good was 65), but it was not really bad at all considering I had been off statins for 5 months! He was actually pleased because my triglycerides were 145, which meant they were lower than they had been even on the meds AND they were in the normal range! Overall it was a great report, and my A1C was great for someone who has been diabetic for over 10 years and considering I had been off all diabetic meds for the last 8 months! It was 6.3! If you remember back to the beginning of my blog when I discovered it was 11.1 on July 1st, that is amazingly good. The only meds I take now is for a little high blood pressure and it is improving and getting closer and closer to normal! I wanted to share this post with those who were curious if I am sticking to it and if my labs continue to be where they should be. The answer is yes! I praise God for all of this! He is the one who made our bodies and when we do what they need they generally respond very quickly! I am sticking to this for the long haul. I don’t even miss the meat anymore. I do still miss Krispy Kreme donuts and Coca-Cola, but they are not part of my life anymore. I just have learned to not give in to desires that ultimately hurt me. God is so good at giving me that strength. When I am weak He in me is strong!

Now, my reward is not something to eat that is only a reward to my tastebuds, but NOT to my body. My reward is great numbers and visit at the doctor’s office, and the peace of knowing that at least I am not contributing to my demise by what I eat. My children and grandchildren will not blame ME for leaving this world early! I might leave it early, but it won’t be because I took myself there! That means a lot to me and I hope to them as well! Just sayin…… : )

BMI – Body Mass Index

(you can click on chart to see it better)

Even though the BMI chart is not as accurate by itself as other measurements along with it, it is still a helpful tool.
If most of your waist is around your middle you still may be at risk for heart attack. So beware of that. It may not be as accurate in body building men because the muscle weight may be counted as just weight and therefore may not be accurate as true body fat. On the other hand, if you are older and have lost muscle, it may say you have a BMI that is lower than it truly is because fat has replaced that muscle. But keeping that in mind, this has been a really big day for me regarding BMI. I started this journey at a BMI of 33, which was a little into obese. Then as you go down the chart it goes from Obese to Heavy to Normal to Below Normal. I am telling my readers this because from July til today, I have gone from 33 to 24.9. 24.9 is normal! Yay!
The coolest part of this for me is that:
IT HAS BEEN 35 YEARS SINCE I COULD SAY I HAD A BMI IN NORMAL RANGE!!!!!!!!

I AM REJOICING TODAY! I PRAISE GOD FOR ALL HE HAS DONE TO HELP ME ALONG THIS JOURNEY. I AM NOT DONE YET, BUT TODAY WAS A BIG DAY FOR ME AND THERE COULD BE A DAY IN YOUR FUTURE THAT YOU COULD SAY THE SAME THING IF YOU CAN’T RIGHT NOW!! I ENCOURAGE YOU ONCE AGAIN TO LOOK AT WHAT YOU EAT AND MAKE SOME HEALTHY CHANGES!! MY BLOG IS HERE TO HELP YOU!

How to incorporate the WONDER of Chia Seeds into your diet!

Two blogs ago, I told you have absolutely wonderful Chia seeds are for you, so if you want to know the why go back two blog posts to find out!

Now we are going to explore HOW to get Chia into your diet regularly so you can have ALL THOSE BENEFITS!

My very favorite way to eat Chia seeds is in Chis Pudding. You can make it any flavor you want. My favorite 2 are vanilla and chocolate. You just won’t believe how easy it is to do!
If you like Tapioca pudding you will especially like chia pudding. I loved tapioca pudding, but in my new world that is no longer something I want to put into my system, but this makes me not miss that treat anymore!

To make the vanilla version you need for 1 serving:
1/4 cup dry chia seeds
1 cups unsweetened coconut milk, almond milk or any other unsweetened nut milk that you like. I prefer almond or coconut for this version. (make sure it is unsweetened)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract and or some ground up vanilla bean if you have it available
honey or maple syrup to taste (some use agave but just a warning, it is a processed food) (natural sweeteners are honey, maple syrup and molasses) By natural we mean it comes to us in it’s original form, not processed at all.)

One serving WILL fill you up!

To make more of this just remember the liguid (nut milk) should be 4X the amount of Chia seeds

Now just stir this all together. Wait 10 minutes and restir. Then put in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. This pudding will keep for several days, so you could make more and enjoy it throughout your week!

In the chocolate version you use whatever nutmilk you choose (I like coconut for this one), about 1 TB raw cacao powder or cocoa powder (not sweetened) in addition to the other ingredients. I still use some vanilla. You could add carob chips, almonds or whatever else. Stir, stir again in 10 minutes and refrigerate. If I make more of this one I don’t add the nuts until I eat it.

There are many more flavors you can try. You could add some pumpkin (as part of your liquid) and cloves, nutmeg cinnamon and raisins for a fall Holiday treat. Just play with your food and see what suits you! Enjoy!

There are much quicker ways to get chia into your diet.
1) Sprinkle on your salads, much the same way you would sprinkle poppy seeds or sesame seeds on your salad.
2) Add chia seeds to a glass of water (1-2 TB) add lemon and honey and drink – a super power drink
3) Add chia seeds to your favorite yogurt or smoothie
4) Add to your oatmeal, or any breakfast cereal
5) Add to salad dressing to thicken them up
6) shake on homemade fruit ice cream or any treat for a nice pleasant crunchiness

Of course, sprouting them is an option. This is not as easy as sprouting most seeds. I suggest you look on the internet for ideas about sprouting chia seeds. I am still learning this art.
But chia sprouts are so amazingly full of nutrients to put on any salad and other dishes you make.

I hope this helps you come up with ways to deliciously get more Omega 3 into your diet.

House Dressing by The Chef and the Dietician

The Chef: Chef A J
and…..

The Dietician, Julieanna Hever

One of my favorite websites is this one:
http://toyourhealthnutrition.blogspot.com/2012/01/chef-and-dietitian-episode-50-house.html

The Chef and the Dietician are so awesome and helpful for anyone who wants to incorporate more whole foods into their diet. Feel free to check this website anytime. They make healthy look so fun and easy, and really it is!!

Watch the video (2nd from the top as of 1-24-12) to see how to make a delicious, fat free salad dressing!
Most excellent.

Then scroll on down and watch others. You will be inspired for sure!

The WONDER of the Chia Seed! Part 1

Remember the Chia Pets? Actually while they are still around, they are not quite the craze they once were in the market place. But WHO KNEW how good chia seeds were for us to eat? There are so many many things that make the chia seed a wonderful source of nutrition!

Here I will name about just a few. In this blog I will tell you many of the wonderful things about why you should incorporate CHIA into your diet. The next blog, Part 2 will be many ways to do that! So here we go…..

Some ways that eating Chia seeds will benefit you or help you:

Chia seeds are very very high in Omega 3 which we seem to have a difficult time getting enough of into our diet . We all need a higher Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio. This is one way to increase that ratio to a more beneficial number. Omega 3 is usually thought of as “the healthy fat in fish”. But most don’t want to eat fish every day, and many who eat a Whole Foods Plant based diet just don’t eat fish. Chia is the riches source of omega 3 in a plant based form. This is so important for heart health and cholesterol levels.

Chia seeds are also a very easy weight to shed a few pounds. USA Weekend magazine reports on a study where overweight dieters who included omega 3’s in the eating plan lost 2 more pounds monthly than the control group who did not!

You can use Chia seeds to bake and substitute chia seeds for some of the fat to have a lower fat recipe. Chia gel can substitute for half the butter in most recipes! The Chia seeds will not change the taste! Just make chia gel from some seeds and add 1/2 the amount of the butter and that same amount of chia gel. Chia seeds will also help the baked goods to stay fresh longer! Everything from cookies to muffins, pancakes and waffles can be made with chia gel as your partial butter replacement. Try it out to see what you might come up with.

Because Chia seeds are so chock full of antioxidants, you know that chia seeds are here to stay!! We are all fully aware of how important antioxidants are at dealing with free radicals from our environment that find their way into our systems. Well this is a very simple way to add antioxidants to your diet. Some of our favorite fruits like blueberries are not always in season and easy to find, but the Chia seed is always “in season!” Since Chia seeds fight free radicals they could be part of your regimen to slow down the aging process!

Chia seeds are full of calcium which many of us are deficient in. Our bodies can’t get too much calcium from milk, (dairy), because even though it is in there it is not too bio-available to our bodies like plant sources of calcium. So, if you need more calcium in your diet eat greens and plenty of Chia seeds! Chia seeds also curb your craving for foods because they help you feel satisfied because of all the nutrients they have. They pack quite a punch!

Chia seeds also help pack a flavor punch! They take on the flavor of whatever you put them in and enhance that flavor. You can put them in smoothies, salsa, dressings, make pudding out of them….(more on all of these ideas in the next blog post).

Chia seeds can save you money because with all the nutrition they have you need less supplements and you can spend a whole lot less to put chia seeds into your diet. We all need more fiber, more vitamins, more calcium, more antioxidants, and vegetarians needs complete proteins in their diets so just do it…..give CHIA a try!!

Yes, chia seeds may be just the thing to take care of that need!

Chia seeds are full of fiber and antioxidants! They are a super food because of these things.

They can help you lose weight without starving. The Chia Seed is like dieter’s dream come true. These tiny seed will take on the flavor of whatever you fix them with. This is very helpful and versatile. They have a gelling action that is helpful in weight loss because it is a soluble fiber and that means it sweeps through your intestines like a broom! This also has the added benefit of making your body feel full without extra calories. When Chia seeds get wet they form a gel like substance around each seed but since it is from water it has no calories in that gel. Thus it fills you up very well without the calories that usually accompany that full feeling.

Chia seeds are helpful in balancing blood sugar. This is not just a consideration for diabetics, but everyone! This helps you have more energy. By having more blood sugar control you can help prevent Type 2 diabetes. It has unique combination of soluble and insoluble fiber which we all need. The gel on the outside is the soluble and the seed is the insoluble which slows the body’s conversion of starches into sugars. If you eat Chia with a meal it helps you turn your food into constant, steady energy rather than the ups and downs that wear you out and cause blood sugars ups and downs.

Chia seeds are very helpful in preventing diverticulitis and diverticulosis. Processed foods are the main culprit here and cause irregularity which is a big factor in this risky condition. To help insure regularity, you need plenty of both kinds of fiber. The chia seed is just the ticket! East seed is coated with soluble fibers which aid it’s gelling action. The exterior of the seed is protected by insoluble fiber. The insoluble fiber is unable to be digested (which, again, means it does not contribute any calories nor does it break down). Instead, it helps keep food moving smoothly through the digestive process. Soluble fiber, and the gel coating of the seed keeps the colon hydrated and ensures the easy movement of food.

Chia seeds give you energy! Chias are one of nature’s best plant based sources of complete protein. Many proteins like peanut butter and beans are not complete in and of themselves as far as protein goes. Not chia, it is a complete protein so it gives you that benefit. It helps you have steady energy, not jittery energy!

Nutrition Data

Here are a couple of good websites that might be helpful to you as you walk through this maze of how to eat healthy, really healthy.

Inflammation is a real problem in the Standard American Diet that most of us have eaten all our lives. That is why there are so many diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, obesity and many more This website below is very helpful it figuring out if some of your favorite foods are inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. It is usually the opposite of what you might think. Type in a favorite food in the box at the top of the website, then look in the list for the version you eat and see what the Glycemic Index is (looking for under 50) and the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory number is. You are looking for the highest anti-inflammatory foods to be the best. Look at cayenne pepper and then look up a banana, raw. You will see that the cayenne is extremely ANTI inflammatory and the banana is inflammatory to your body. This website should help you make much better choices:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Also, you might want to eat more alkaline foods and less acidic foods. To figure that out go to this website:

http://www.balance-ph-diet.com/acid_alkaline_food_chart.html

I suggest you find a few websites like these or these and bookmark them for easy reference. I am not writing too much today to give you time to peruse these sites.

How’s it going so far?….for me….and for YOU!

I suppose many of you who read this blog would like an update on how my new lifestyle is going? If you faithfully read you have a pretty good idea already, but here are some things I haven’t really talked about in detail. This has been the most incredible journey and I just can’t believe how much better I feel. Since July 1, 2011 til now, January 17, 2012 I have lost 42 pounds. I have gone from 33 Body Mass Index which was considered obese to a 25 BMI which is almost in the normal range. 24.9 is normal and I am 25.2 which is at the very bottom of overweight according to the chart. Just a couple more pounds and I will be NORMAL!!!!! Yay!! My goal is to be at a 22-20 BMI, which means I have 15-20 more pounds to lose. I really haven’t done any of this Lifestyle change to lose weight. That is just a byproduct of eating healthy and taking away all saturated fat! I have dropped 4 sizes during this time and almost completely replaced my wardrobe 2 times! I am thankful to God for great Thrift stores in our area!

I feel like moving instead of sitting still. I used to sit way more than was healthy for me. I just FEEL like doing things that I used to pass up. It is a great feeling to know that I don’t have to fear going to the doctor anymore, at least not having caused the problem myself by the way I eat!
I have not had any colds this winter or soar throats or flu or flu like symptoms! That is amazing considering my past during the winter! I seem to not need nearly as much sleep as I used to. I almost consider it “fun” to go to a restaurant and see what they offer that I CAN eat! Sometimes that’s more of a challenge than at other times. I have learned to cook veggies I didn’t even know existed and have experienced far more of God’s amazing variety in the food He created! I have learned that people are generally really supportive of my life changes and are encouraging, not discouraging. It has been helpful to have some knowledge of a whole foods plant based lifestyle when people ask me questions about it.

Recently I had a scare, though. At the risk of thinking I am being to personal here, I am sharing this with you because this blog is about my journey and the purpose of writing is so that someone else that is struggling with the same issues in health can be encouraged along the way in some way. That is why I am sharing this. It is real and it is part of the journey here on this earth. It is a way to remind my readers that God is sovereign over all things, even the minutest details of our lives. About 11 days ago at night I discovered a lump in my breast. I was scared. I didn’t tell my husband about it that night (still reeling from the discovery), I waited until the next evening (a Sunday evening) and then I shared that news with him. I called the doctor the next day and went it to have it checked. The doctor measured it at 4CM which was a pretty good size. I kept thinking, the way I have been eating and the fact that I nursed our babies for a sum total of 6.5 years this couldn’t possibly be cancer! I knew if it was God would give me the strength to walk through whatever was coming. I had peace in that. But nevertheless I had it checked out. The gynecologist told me to make an appointment with the breast specialist/surgeon and then he ordered imaging to be done before I went to that appointment. He said, I don’t think this is something to worry about but you have to follow through and have it checked out. The next morning I woke up after having prayed much about this, and the lump was noticably smaller. I called the doctor and asked him if I could wait a bit before paying for the imaging and the other appointment to see if it resolved itself. He said I could wait but that is had to completely resolve or I needed to have it checked out. I do not know what it actually was, but I had read about menopausal mastitis and a couple of other possibilities. I am not sure what it was, but it is about 90% resolved today and with no antibiotic, or any other type of treatment. It is so small now I would never have noticed it if it had been that size to start with. Of course I am praising God in that! Let me say that I have friends who have not had this outcome, and the only way I can explain it is that we do not understand what God has planned for each of us. I can tell you that this experience has once again caused me to look at how fleeting our life here on earth is and also as a great reminder of how we need to live each moment glorifying Him and making HIS name GREAT!

I know that affirmatively answered prayer is the reason it went down so fast and I know that eating right probably made a difference in what happened next. I know of people who have had stage 3 breast cancer and opted to fight with nutrition and it has worked. I am not saying that is a guarantee, however. God is in control and His plan prevails regardless of what we do. But, just mindlessly treating our bodies badly by a sedentary lifestyle and eating too much saturated fat and processed grains and sugars do not put us in the best position to experience the benefits of a healthy life! I do not think this is or was cancer, but whatever it was, nevertheless it is going away (almost completely gone) and I KNOW that the right diet didn’t hurt any, and very likely helped it to turn around so fast! God used that to encourage me. He meets us where we are, but we cannot abuse ourselves and then expect good health. It just doesn’t work that way. I have found God to meet me all along this journey and encourage me in ways that are hard to put into words. We must be good stewards of what we have been given, and He more that meets us there! This in itself is amazing because life in NOT about us, it is about HIM, yet He lovingly shows us mercy and grace everyday even when we live in such a way where we are saying “with our lives” ….it’s about ME! He is so very patient and longsuffering with us all! Praise God from Whom ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!

I watched a documentary called The Gerson Miracle (check it out on instant play on Netflix or get from Amazon.com) which is well worth the watch and on that video Charlotte Gerson said, “imagine living your life eating a whole foods plant based only diet and never having to worry about finding a lump in your breast!” That was a very encouraging statement to me. I did find one, but it went away on it’s own very quickly. Yes, I can imagine a world like that. No guarantees, but I have no doubt that my choices of late and God’s help in the process are the way to live the healthiest life possible, at least for me. We are what we eat, afterall!

The title of this blog post includes you. If any of you who have been walking along a similar journey of improving your health with nutrition, please let me and the other readers of this blog know about it. Please share your comments. It would be most encouraging to us all! I want to know: How is it going so far? : )

Mother/Daughter Afternoon!

While our family was all together after Christmas our girls and I went out for an afternoon of fun together. The guys, Lyle, Jeph and Kane were kind enough to watch all 9 children at our house while we were out. (Michael had to work). The girls decided that we could go to MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT (where I have choices for a change) since we had been making lots of food at our house that I could not eat. It was sweet of them to humor me that way! We went to Eden Alley on the Plaza! I have already written one post about Eden Alley, but it is such a fun and good eating place even for non-vegans that I do think it is worth mentioning once again on my blog. : )

We decided to eat lunch then walk around the corner to the Cinemark Palace Theatreand see the movie New Year’s Eve! It was a perfect day for me. Spending time with all 3 of our girls for an afternoon. Those days are not possible often. Again, thanks guys for taking care of the little ones for us!

We all got different dishes and since this blog is about healthy eating mostly, of course I am going to talk about our food. I had falafel for the first time! Yummy! Here is a picture of my dish:
I had never tried falafel yet, but now I want to make it myself. It was very good!

Tara had Dawn’s Pasta. It looked really good and she said it really was!

Jana had Tomato Bruchetta! It looke really yummy! She also said it was very good!

Heidi had a Sweet Potato Burrito! She let me try it! It was wonderful! She also had some Tomato Bisque soup! Very Very good!!

All in all it was a GRAND AFTERNOON! Thanks again to the guys for making it possible! Buckets of Blessings!

Yes YOU can have sour cream……the non-dairy version!

I tried a new recipe: Non dairy homemade sour cream! It was definitely a success. When I eat a baked potato sour cream is what I absolutely miss the most!! Well, no more! By the way, I didn’t used to eat the skin, but as a diabetic if you eat the skin along with the potato the fiber helps your blood sugar to not rise so high. Here is what I do. I wash the potato well before baking. i pour a little EVOO on the potato and smooth all around with my hands. Then I bake it as usual, 400Degree for about 40-60 minutes depending on the size. Then the skin is crunchy and very tasty. So if you want a wonderful treat of a meal do this and then……..make your own sour cream!

You need to do this about an hour ahead because the sour cream thickens up in the refrigerator after you mix it.
You most definitely will need a VitaMix or BendTec blender for this recipe. I found this recipe by purchasing a recipe collection from RawFoodArt.com. It is a great sight. This recipe is one you have to pay for, but since I am advertising for Raw Food Art I thought I would share one of those recipes with you.

Here it is:

1.5 cups pure water (spring water or alkaline is best)
2 cups raw cashew pieces (bulk at Whole Foods Market)
1.5 cups shredded coconut unsweetened!
1/2 cup + 1 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp pure and not processed salt (not table salt) Himalayan or Sea is best

Put all ingredients in BendTec or VitaMix power blender. Turn on full speed for 50 seconds. REPEAT and blend a 2nd time (this is vital) It may be a little thin at first but will thicken up. Remove from blender with spatula into another container and refrigerate until needed.

SO, if YOU have given up dairy and miss sour cream on your potatoes, tacos, etc., try this on for size!
ENJOY!!

Note: The wild rice dish you see in the picture is from the book Forks Over Knives. It is the wild rice from the Acorn Squash with Wild Rice stuffing recipe. Check it out in Forks Over Knives! And if you have netflix, watch the Forks Over Knives Documentary and you will see this recipe being served at the end of the documentary. It is a wonderful recipe!

Quinoa Delight!

This is a recipe that I consider comfort food. It is a Quinoa dish. Quinoa is treated as pasta sometimes, but it is really a seed fruit. It’s texture is superb and it is much easier on blood sugar than it’s pasta cousin couscous. Couscous is really tasty as well and is a good fill me up dish, but for me with blood sugar issues I usually substitute Quinoa whenever a recipe calls for couscous or orzo (another small pasta).

Cook your Quinoa ahead in a rice cooker. Twice the water as quinoa. I used for this recipe about 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups pure water. You can even do this a day ahead and refrigerate if you wish. However if you want to eat this today doing it first is fine or while you are cutting veggies and saute’ing them.

1 cup cooked Quinoa (closer to 2 cups or more)
1/2 large onion chopped
1/2 small summer squash or zuchinni chopped or both!
2 cloves of garlic minced or chopped ( i prefer minced in this recipe)
1/2 green pepper chopped into small pieces
3 compari tomatoes seeded and cut into bits (will resemble pimento in the dish)
Original Himalayan Crystal salt to tase or sea salt to taste
pepper to taste
Nama Shoyu (the best soy sauce in the world- found at Whole Foods Market)
1/2 cup Veggie Broth
1 TB chia seeds (optional)

Cook Quinoa, set aside or refrigerate for tomorrow
2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a skillet
saute’ onion, squash, green pepper, add salt, chia seeds, garlic, salt pepper until onions are clear and squash and green pepper are tender

Add Veggie broth to give moisture
Add Quinoa and stir together, add Nama Shoyu to taste (about 2 TB)
Stir together and mix well
Serve immediately!

Chocolate Oatmeal….YES, Chocolate!

My husband and I eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast. One of the best ways to lower cholesterol that I know of is our FAVORITE kind of oatmeal. CHOCOLATE!!! For you chocolate lovers out there can you think of a better way to start your day? Yummmm! There is not much else I can say about this yummy breakfast except……….

HERE IS THE RECIPE:
2 servings

2 cups water
1 cup old fashioned or steel cut oats (no quick oats- too processed)
2 TB cacao powder (natural chocolate powder (link on amazon to follow)
1 tsp vanilla
1 banana
2 TB agave nectar for sweetening (to taste) – you may want a little more : )
dash of salt optional

Start water to boiling, add oats, vanilla, cacao powder and cook until done. [Stir in agave nectar after you take it off the heat.]
Meanwhile slice 1/2 banana in bottom of 2 bowls.
When oatmeal is done pour over banana in bowls.
Serve HOT!

(this picture is the one I made, sorry it is a bit blurry but you get the idea)

Amazon link for cacao powder: http://www.amazon.com/Foods-Alive-Organic-Cacao-Powder/dp/B002GE9Y82/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324297231&sr=8-1

Enjoy!!!!

Yummy! Lorie’s Stuffed Acorn Squash

Yesterday I bought an acorn squash at the grocery store. Tonight I decided to make stuffed acorn squash for dinner. I did not look on the internet for a recipe. I made one up! And it was delicious!! If you have never eaten acorn squash I highly recommend it as a healthy and yummy alternative to a meat meal. You could serve it alone or with a nice salad. Either way you have a complete and healthy meal that keeps you satiated for the rest of the night or day (if you had this for lunch). If you cook 2 acorn squash for dinner you have a great left over for lunch the next day. Just reheat in the microwave.

LORIE’S STUFFED ACORN SQUASH

1 acorn squash
1/2 of a small yellow squash, cut in small bits leaving peel on
1/2 of a small zuchinni, cut into small bits leaving the peel on
1/2 small onion, diced very small
1 -2 cloves minced garlic
1/8-1/4 cup sliced raw almonds
Extra Virgin Olive oil (approx. 1.5-2 Tablespoons)
Himalayan Crystal salt or sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Rustic Tuscan Seasoning from Costco (this is a spice with roasted garlic, bell peppers, rosemary, basil, oregano and lemon) If you can’t get this spice, just mix something up with spices that you think would be good with the squash, onion, garlic and almonds.
1/2 recipe of Vegan stuffing (found at whole foods- it’s like the vegan whole grain version of Pepperidge Farms)
A little but more EVOO for drizzling
water according to vegan stuffing package directions

Cut the acorn squash in half. Scrape out seeds. Put it flat side down on a shallow pan with about 1/4 in water in the bottom. (this keeps the squash from drying out while it is baking. Turn the oven on 350 degrees. Put squash in the oven to bake for about 35 minutes. After you place the squash in the oven, immediately begin dicing the zuchinni, the yellow squash and the onion. Mince the garlic, and add salt and pepper and sliced almonds. Drizzle with EVOO and add the Tuscan spice or your own blend. Toss till coated and put in a shallow pan in the oven with the squash. Try to off stack so the mixture can brown while the squash finishes baking. You will know the squash is done when you press on the green peel and it feels soft underneath.

Now, make 1/2 the package of stuffing mix as directed using water and olive oil – bring to a boil, then take off the heat and add in the stuffing. (use only 1/2 the package and only 3/4-1 cup water and 3 TB olive oil for 1 squash for 2 people.) If you make 2 squash for 4 people or for left overs use the whole package of stuffing, and the whole zuchinni and yellow squash.

His and Hers : )

When the squash is done, put on a tray or individual plates and turn so the inside is facing up. Add some stuffing in the hole, then add some zuchinni mixture, then some more stuffing, then the zuchinni mixture until it is filled to overflowing a little. Distribute evenly between the squash you just baked. Serve hot with a nice salad, or all by itself. It is really yummy! You could add some cooked brown rice to the mixture if you wanted to. Just experiment and play with your food! You will not believe how good this is for a meatless meal!

What a great early winter/late fall meal! Enjoy!

Making it Through the Holidays!

Many of you may be wondering, how do I make it through the holidays and not cheat in my new lifestyle of a whole foods plant based diet. Well, I wondered that same thing as I realized that I would be at 3 different Thanksgiving dinners! I took a trip the week before Thanksgiving with my mother to see some dear friends about 7 hours away from where we lived. I started a few days earlier preparing some food to take so that I would have something to eat in any situation. First, I got my dehydrator out and bought some apples on sale. I sliced them with my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler Corer Slicer. I sliced the apples and dipped them in some water with Fruit Fresh (absorbic acid- Vitamin C) then put them in the dehydrator. It took about 24 hours to dehydrate them. I sprinkled cinnamon on some of them. I was amazed that it didn’t change the taste hardly at all. It was an experiment. My advice with dehydrated apples is, don’t waste your cinnamon that way for taste. Dehydrated apples are a very yummy treat. They can help a sweet tooth when others around you are eating things like….pumpkin pie. (more on pumpkin pie later in this post) I also made some granola for the trip. I took oats, raw almonds, raw English walnuts, a few raisin, some unsweetened coconut flakes, and some raw pumpkin seeds. I mixed them all together in a roaster pan. I took agave nectar, molasses, honey, and maple syrup and heated together on the stovetop. I added a little water to thin it down a bit. When it was all mixed together well, I poured this mixture over the dry ingredients, stirred it in and roasted in the oven at 250 degrees for a couple of hours. I stirred it every so often. So, let’s see….now we have apples and granola. I made 4 mason jars full of green smoothie to take with me. We were going to be gone 5 nights and 4 full days. This is about as long as you should go with an already made smoothie. (We checked ahead to make sure the motel had a refrigerator in the room and it did) I did not want to take the VitaMix blender with me, so I did it ahead. However, if I had been gone longer I would have taken the blender and bought fresh greens and fruit after I arrived at my destination. I would also have brought the cinnamon, ginger, cayenne pepper, flax seed, lime, nutritional yeast, bee pollen with me to add to the smoothies if I had to make them “on the road”. I took a variety of fruit with us on the trip also. I took a red pear, a Bartlett pear, a few apples, a couple of oranges and ruby red grapefruit. I took 1 avacado with me so that I could make it as a treat to have at the Thanksgiving meal. I also took a sweet potato with me to put in the oven at the house we were having dinner at. Our family has a tradition of making cranberry relish. It is a very simple recipe, but it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it. You take 1 orange, peel and all and cut in wedges, 1 cup sugar and 1 bag of fresh cranberries and mix together in a food processor. It is best if you make it the day before. Well, my Mom was making the relish after we arrived at the home of our friends. I asked her if she would mix the orange and cranberries together first, then take out about 1/2 cup for me then she could add the sugar. So I took that 1/2 cup and added some Agave Nectar to the mixture and it tasted exactly the same! After we arrived in the little town where our friends lived I also bought some salad fixin’s. (I brought some already prepared salad dressing with me also) So while everyone else was eating meat, stuffing, etc. I ate a salad, a baked sweet potato and some cranberry relish, along with some chopped up avacado and tomato. I was so busy fellowshipping with everyone I didn’t even really pay attention to what food was going in my mouth vs. their mouths. Well, that was one Thanksgiving down.
Note: Since we were in the South, Arkansas to be exact, when we ate out at restaurants I could always find pinto beans and veggies on the menu. That was so helpful. I live in the Midwest and it is more difficult to find those kinds of things on the menus here)

The next one was on actual Thanksgiving at my Mom’s house. My husband and I and oldest daughter and her family were at this meal. I took another sweet potato to bake. I had made the party mashed potatoes and the sweet potato casserole for this event. I did not eat any of that, but enjoyed cooking it for others. My brother had bought an avocado for me and a tomato. I had made a Crustless Tofu pumpkin pie the night before so I could have pumpkin pie on Thursday and Friday. We had 18 people in my husband’s family at our house for a Thanksgiving meal on Friday. I took a piece of that pumpkin pie with me on Thursday to my Mom’s to eat for dessert. I also had made the cranberry relish and cranberry sauce on Wednesday night for our meal at our house on Friday. I brought about 1/2 cup of the relish to my Mom’s to eat. I made both the cranberry relish and the cranberry sauce with Agave Nectar instead of sugar. No one even knew! : ) So at my Mom’s house I ate a baked sweet potato, cranberry relish, avacado and tomato, AND Vegan Stuffing I found at Whole Foods. It was made with all whole grain. It was sort of like Pepperidge Farms, except you use water with olive oil boiled into it instead of turkey broth. It was amazingly yummy! Then I had my pumpkin pie while everyone else had theirs. No, I didn’t get to have whipped cream, but that was a small sacrifice. Two dinners down and one to go.

The next day, Friday, we roasted a Turkey and I smelled it cooking all morning. You probably won’t believe this but it is true…just smelling it was enough for me! I cooked the mashed potatoes and the sweet potato casserole on Wednesday night for both meals, Thursday and Friday. So I had already done that. Our daughter made green beans in her beanpot that I could eat. A family favorite recipe. I will share at the end of this post. I steamed frozen corn and took out some before adding the butter. I had the stuffing, sweet potato, green beans, corn and cranberry relish. I was full and still had pumpkin pie to look forward to. It was a great day and so were the other 2! So, this is how you maneuver through a holiday and come out guilt free on the other side! Whew! Now it’s time to gear up for Christmas!

Green Beans

In a bean pot put 4-7 cans of green beans, drained. Mince 5-6 cloves of fresh garlic. Drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the beans. Stir garlic and oil into beans gently. Put lid on bean pot and cook at 350 degrees for 3 hours. So good and so good for you!

Happy Holiday Eating!

Lentil Chili – Vegan recipe

I just tried this recipe tonight and it was really good! My husband even liked it! That is a pretty good test!
; )

Here is the recipe. This is a really good fall/winter meal.

1 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 TB chili powder
32 oz. Vegetable broth, low sodium (I buy mine at Whole Foods and it is also Organic)
3/4 cup dry lentils
2 teaspoons Tabasco Chipotle Hot Pepper Sauce (yummy!)
2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added (Hunts is good)

Saute’ garlic, EVOO and chili powder in large pot until mixed well. Add broth, lentils and Tabasco Sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Mix in squash and tomatoes. Continue cooking uncovered at medium heat until lentils and squash are tender which may take approximately 60-90 minutes. Note: you may have to add little bits of water if the water cooks out to fast. Don’t add too much at a time, so chili stays somewhat thick.

It’s that time of year! Vegetable Soup! Yumm!!!

Just made this pot!
Vegetable soup is one of my favorite soups because you can make it with whatever is on hand! If you are eating a whole foods plant based diet you should have plenty of choices already in your kitchen. For me, there are 3 things essential and the rest is whatever you have to make the soup. I always use a turnip, garlic cloves and onion. I sometimes start the soup by cooking the onion in just a touch of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) until they start to get clear then I start adding the veggie broth if I have some, the garlic and the rest of the ingredients. Here is a sample of how I go about cooking vegetable soup. I hope you enjoy experimenting with this recipe during these chili frosty evenings this fall and winter.

Lorie’s Plant Based Vegetable Soup

Vegetable Broth (homemade) 1 QT
1 small Turnip
2 stalks celery
Fresh French Green Beans
1/3 small Red Cabbage or white cabbage
1 very small Egg Plant or 1/3 of a large one
1/2 Zuchinni
1/2 Summer Squash
5 garlic cloves
1 1/2 onion
1 Leek (if you have one)
Brocolli in little pieces
Cauliflower in little pieces (if you have some)
Snow peas (1 cup)
Dry Lima beans (1 handful)
Red Kidney beans (1 can well rinsed) or cooked ahead yourself
1 large can Hunts tomatoes
1 carrot sliced
1 cup frozen corn
1 potato (if you want)
Peas (if you have some)
Water
Garlic powder
Sea salt
Pepper
2 TB Chili powder
1 TB EVOO

Put vegetable broth into a dutch oven. Start cutting up vegetables. Add then to the pot at you cut them up. Wash and cut turnip up with peel on. Cut celery into pieces. Throw in a handful of fresh green beans. Turn on the burner to medium high. Cut the red cabbage into strips. Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes with peel still on. Cut the zuchinni into pieces with peel still on. Cut summer squash into bit size pieces with peel still on. Mince 5 garlic cloves and put in the pot. Chop the onion and add to the pot. Cut up one leek and add to the pot. Break brocolli into tiny florets and put them in the pot. Grab a large handful of dry lima beans and throw into the pot. Add snow peas in the pods. (you can cut off tips) Open a can of red kidney beans or throw some in you have cooked ahead yourself. Add 1 large can of Hunts diced or whole tomatoes. Throw in a big handful of frozen corn. Add the potato chopped into small pieces if you have one. Throw in peas if you want to. Add water till the veggies are covered about 1/2 inch. Add garlic powder to taste and sea salt and pepper. ( I use OHCS, not boxed salt) Add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the 2 TB chili powder or more if you like it hotter. Cook until the veggies are tender and the lima beans are done. (About 2 hours)

Variations or options: Put Vegetable Broth in if you have some. Use red onion instead of yellow. Use carrots also. Just throw in the veggies you have but make sure you use onion and garlic cloves and a turnip. You can use any spice you like, it doesn’t have to be chili powder. Also you could add 1 small tomato paste to the whole pot to give it a red base and you can also add Stevia (2 packets) for a little sweetness to bring out the flavor of the veggies. This works especially well along with the tomato paste. Also, to turn it into a minestrone type soup add a can of no sodium red kidney beans and/or a can of garbanzo beans to the soup as well. Lots of fiber and protein to really get the most from this soup!

Enjoy!!

Himalayan Salt Inhaler

Check out these 2 videos! This could be the best thing you can do for yourself, especially during flu season or allergy season!

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/alternative-health-best-bets-pt-2

Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Squip-Himalayan-Salt-Air-Inhaler/dp/B004M3NB48/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hpc_2

There are other inhalers and other places to buy it. This is just the most convenient way to find it online!

Just think of how much it could save you in medicine and doctor bills during the flu season!

If you go to the Amazon website, check out the testimonials! They are extremely convincing!!
If any of you try this, please post a comment after using it for 15 minutes a day for a couple of weeks! Thanks!

How to substitue in a recipe to make it more healthy!

Yummy, I smell Pumpkin-y Cornbread muffins in my oven. How can I eat a few? I substituted the right ingredients so I can enjoy along with those others with whom I will share these muffins at a get-together tonight!

Here is the original recipe and I will put in parenteses what I did and show you how I substituted other ingredients to make it do-able for a Vegan who does not eat even sugar! ( I also don’t eat dairy or hardly any eggs) I have only eaten part of an egg in baked goods 2 times in 3 months! There are 2 eggs in this recipe so I can only eat 2-3 of these and not all at once! But compared to other things you could bake, this recipe is ALMOST 100% Vegan!

Pumpkin-y Cornbread Muffins

1 1/4 cups flour (I used millet and ground the 1.25 cups into flour in my Magic Mill. You could do it in your VitaMix or Food processor or grain mill- you could use wheat, spelt, kamut or some other grain in place of wheat flour)
3/4 cup corn meal
2/3 cup light brown sugar (I used Agave Nectar 1/2 cup in place of the brown sugar [you use less Agave due to the sweetness it] and the honey- see last ingredient)
I TB baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I used Himalayan Crystal Salt)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (You can used canned, or fresh)
3/4 cup buttermilk or milk w. 1 tsp vinegar added) – (I used coconut milk and added vinegar)
1/4 cup butter, melted (I used coconut oil)
2 eggs, room temperature (I used cage free brown eggs)
2 TB honey (I left this out since I used 1/2 cup Agave in place of brown sugar above)
sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a muffin tin with muffin liners or spray pan with Pam well. In a bowl, toss together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt nutmeg and cinnamon. In another mixing bowl, mix with a wooden spoon, the pumpkin puree’, buttermilk, butter, eggs and honey, until well combined. Transfer to the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle with a little sugar on top (raw sugar best). Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until edges just begin to color. Cool to room temperature. Makes approximately 12-13 muffins.

Perfect!!

Why Water?

You have heard this all your life. Drink more water. Most of us do not drink nearly enough water each day. There are probably as many reasons why that is so as there are people who don’t drink enough water. It is not easy to get into the habit of drinking enough water. BUT, it can be done.

Many people don’t realize the whys of drinking MORE water. There are many reasons. I will name a few. First of all, it is crucial to digestive health. It helps “move things along”. Second, if you are consuming 40-50 g of fiber per day, which is what we are supposed to do for optimum health, you need that water to keep things going. Eating lots of fiber and not drinking water can cause a lot of constipation and slow digestive movement. This is not good. We want the toxins and waste out of our bodies quickly.

Third, our bodies are 70% water. We need to eat foods that have lots of water in them. That would be fruits and veggies. We should be eating 70% of our diet in food that is mostly water. The earth is 71% water and our bodies are 70% water. Water is extremely important in our bodies for them to function right.

Here are some suggestions to get more water in your daily routine.

Drink alkaline water or spring water for the healthiest sources of water.

Have bottles or glasses of water in several places in your home that you spend time; by the computer, on the side table next to your favorite chair, in the kitchen, in the bathroom.

When you see your water bottle or glass chug some water!

Get a BPA free plastic bottle for the car and always keep it full.

Take a bottle of spring water with you every time you go somewhere.

Fill up a pitcher of water every morning and make sure it is empty every night before you go to bed. Line up how many bottles of water you plan to drink every day on the counter and keep drinking until they are gone.

Every time you want coke or iced tea drink water instead. Drinking sodas and coffee, tea and milk and counting the water in them as your water is not good.

Just pick one or two of these ways to drink more water.  Pick something that fits your lifestyle the best.  It’s such a simple thing……we need to do it!

This is one of the simplest things we can do for good health. Let’s start drinking more water!!

Greens – Part 4 (Your Grandma had it right!)

Collard Greens
Collards are not something many people eat on a regular basis. BUT, our grandparents did! We, in America have changed the way we eat drastically in the last 2 generations from what our grandparents grew up eating.

Collard have so many beneficial properties that they are hard to name them all. I am going to attempt to just list the benefits so you can see how amazing this green really is. Wouldn’t you want some of it in your body on a regular basis?

cholesterol lowering
cruciferous vegetable – these veggie fight cancer!
binds bile acids in the digestive tract, especially when slightly cooked

Rich in these vitamins and minerals:
vitamin K
vitamin A
vitamin C
manganese
folate
calcium
dietary fiber
tryptophan
potassium
vitamin B6 (pyradoxine)
vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
vitamin E
magnesium
protein
omega 3 fatty acids
vitamin B3 (niacin)
zinc
vitamin B1 (thiamin)
phosphorus
iron
vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)

1 cup equals 49 calories ( a lot of punch for the calories, don’t you think?)

supports 3 body systems as do all cruciferous vegetables
1) the body’s detox system
2) its antioxidant system
3) it’s inflmmatory/anti-inflammatory systems

Collards are especially helpful to fight against bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer.
Collards help fight against toxin-related damage, a great detox for our bodies!

An excellent source of Vitamin C, beta carotene, and manganese and a good source of vitamin E and zinc, collard greens provide us with 5 core conventional antioxidants. BUT it also fights on the more complex and deeper level of phytonutrients which helps lower oxidative stress in our bodies. Oxidative stress is believed to be a primary factor in cancer.

Collards also give excellent cardiovascular support! Not only in cholesterol lowering ways, but also in anti-inflammatory ways. Scientists are discovering what an important role imflammation plays in bad cardio health.

Since folate is a critical B vitamin for support of cardiovascular health, and collards are very high in folate it is for this 3rd reason that collards are also amazingly helpful in supporting cardiovascular health. Collards contain 350 micrograms of folate in every 100 calories: That is 50% more folate than in 100 calories of brocolli, 100% more folate than 100 calories of brussels sprouts, 3 times the amount provided by cabbage and over 7 times the amount provided by 100 calories of kale! Sounds like this cruciferous vegetable definitely has a lot of punch for it’s calories!!!

Fiber is very important for our health as well. If you don’t have good digestive health you will not have good health long. The fiber content of collard greens is over 5 grams in every cup. In 200 calories of collard you get 85% of you Daily Value of fiber!

Collards also help protect the health of your stomach lining by preventing bacterial overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori in your stomach or too much clinging by this bacterium to our stomach wall.

Studies are being done now to figure out how much of a role collard could play in lowering our risk to many inflammatory diseases such as :Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, insulin resistance, irritable bowel syndrome, metabolic syndrome, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, and ulcerative colitis. As far as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome I can attest personally that collards do help correct these issues. I use collard everyday in my green smoothies and it has helped me tremendously!

In Review: Collard greens are and excellent source of Vitamin K, A, C, manganese, folate, calcium and dietary fiber. In addition, they are a very good source of potassium, viatmin B2, B6, Vitamin E, mangesium, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, vitamin B5, niacin, zinc, phosphorus iron and pantothenic acid.

Beautiful Collard Greens! 

So, my friends, you just can’t go wrong with Collard Greens! Grandma was right, after all!! : )

Back to the Green Smoothie!

It has been a while since we talked about Green Smoothies.

I will be continuing on with  my series on greens, but I wanted to take this little break to remind you that drinking a Quart of Green Smoothie everyday is the best foundation for your road back to health.  

First of all, you need way more greens in your life than you can sit down and just eat every day.  So, the only way to get that to happen is to put them in your smoothie.  That way you get 15 servings of greens every day and that is 5 more than the minimum we should eat.  It would get really old and you would not be consistent if you tried to chew that many greens every day.

Now, don’t get me wrong, a good salad is extremely good for you IF you don’t put dressings with dairy, animal fat, bad oils or sugars in them, and is also very tasty with the amazing homemade healthy dressings you can make in your power blender.  But no matter how yummy your salad is or can be, you would get so tired of eating that much in greens everyday.

You don’t have to worry about that.

Also, remember that we are to get 40+ mg of fiber everyday.  You might be able to do that for a few days if you worked really hard, but eventually you would not be able to be consistent everyday for the long haul.  But with Green Smoothies you can accomplish your first 35 mg every day and only have 5-15 more mg to go each day! 

With a bowl of oatmeal or some legumes added in, that shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish.  See how much easier it would be to keep up your health if you just added that one thing to your daily diet.  Super easy!  I know this may be hard to believe, but once your body gets used to having a Green Smoothie, you will be amazed at how you crave that to be in your system.

You can almost feel it going to every cell in your body and nourishing you as it goes!

“I could never do that”, you say!  Well, never say never, because often, later on, you find yourself doing the very thing you said you would never do!

This way of living is at least 75% easier to do IF you start your day GREEN!!! (or at least one time during the day you drink a green smoothie.  If you don’t like the color green put lots of blueberries in it!

Then it will be purple!

Happy Blending!

Note:  I have said this before, but a Vita Mix or Bend Tec power blender is a must have for the person who is serious about changing their health!

The Reason

I have been thinking lately about what it takes to be able to change your lifestyle for real. It is not easy, that is for sure. It doesn’t just happen either. You have to be motivated by something. Most of the time us humans are so stubborn that we want what we want regardless of the consequences. So, if something is ever going to change you have to have a REASON. That reason could be as different for each person as there are people!

I know for me, I had decided that if I ever went on insulin that would be the beginning of the end. Some people don’t feel this way. But I had done enough research to know that insulin is hard on you and I felt like if or when that ever happened that I would never have the hope of being healthy again. Like I have said, it is not the end of the world and I know some of you reading this post may be on insulin. I do not tell you this to discourage you, but to get you to find whatever reason will motivate you to either get off that insulin (many people have done that) or at least decrease it so the damage to your body is less.

Yes, that means you have to give up eating some of the things you dearly love and think you can’t live without. Trust me, you can and you will learn to love other things that won’t hurt you every time you put it in your mouth.

Perhaps if I had done better at this earlier in my life I wouldn’t have had to give up so much now. Actually it was a blessing in disguise though because I am now healthier than I have ever been and I wouldn’t have gotten to experience that if I hadn’t had a wake up call from all the years of eating wrong to start with. I am not talking here to the person who might be pre-diabetic, because you can change a few things and maybe never BE diabetic. This post is for that person who already IS diabetic and depends on the meds to keep it all under control.  You know who you are. When you take that road you will end up where I was, eventually. I was fortunate though. My wake up call was a high number: 325 on my glucose meter.

Yours might be a stroke that you either don’t recover from, or recover partially from OR you might die!

Or it might be heart failure. Maybe you will have the warning, by being told you have congestive heart failure or maybe it will be an attack you don’t come back from. You are the only one who can take charge of this and perhaps turn it around. You cannot do it alone, however. The Holy Spirit has to help you…..and guess what? He will help you but you can’t just do nothing and expect that to happen. He is not going to magically make you all better without you treating your body the way He made it to be treated. He will meet you there, but faith requires you to start walking that way.

You might have cancer or be wondering how those tests are going to turn out, if they suspect cancer. It’s funny how many people know that if you have Type 2 diabetes it is probably because of what YOU did and how you ate and lived that got your there. They also may think that heart problems or stroke are degenerative and since it is caused most likely from an unhealthy lifestyle that it is your fault.
But, when it comes to cancer everyone seems to think that it is not somehow in the same category. But the truth is that cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, auto immune diseases and other maladies are all in the same category. They are more prevalent in the diets of Westerners and and most prevalent in Americans. That is because all of these problems stem from unhealthy eating. It is very amazing how quickly our bodies are made to respond to the right nutrition and how quickly it will fight to turn itself around when given the correct fuel. Just something to think about. I have learned about hundreds of people who have killed their cancer with nutrition in addition to those who have reversed their diabetes and heart disease! God made our bodies to work a certain way and it is amazing how even with much abuse over the years, giving it the right things, it will fight and turn things around in amazing ways! If you need more information about this I would be glad to share what I have learned with you and the resources to check out.

I have written this blog for 2 reasons: 1) so I will never forget where the Lord has taken me and what He has done in this area of my life and 2) to help anyone else that is struggling in a similar way to have much of the information they need right here because I have done much of the research for them.

Please feel free to use this info and to share it with anyone you know who might be wanting to take the reigns of their health back from resignation (  that’s just the way it’s going to be”) to “you mean I can change things and actually be healthier than I was before all this diabetes stuff?” If that is who you want to be you can do something about it right now.

What is your REASON?

Do you want to honor and glorify Christ in your body?

Do you want to feel good, be healthier and more energetic?
Do you want to not be afraid to go to the doctor visit coming up?

Do you want to live to see your grandchildren grow up and maybe even have children of their own? Or do you at least not want them to say….if only she had eaten better, or taken better care of herself this wouldn’t have happened. You could have an accident tomorrow and be with the Lord and that would be better, but if you stay around let it be in a vibrant way.
Do you want to be able to do things you used to do that you don’t feel like doing anymore?
Do you want to lower your risk of heart attack, stroke or cancer?
Do you want to feel younger than you actually are?
Do you want the days you have left to be healthy days instead of sedentary days?

Maybe it’s one of these or all of the above or something else that motivates you….like I don’t ever want to be on insulin if I can do something to not be!

What ever it is: it can be yours IF you decide that food is not your God, and that God is your God.
If you can die to yourself and live to Christ in this area you can have all of the above and more. BUT
it has to be a complete change. Partway won’t get you there!

This is all a very personal thing, and those of you who are younger and feel fine and think this is not where you will go…….I thought that once. But the Standard American Diet (SAD) got me!

Slowly it gummed up my cells and I eventually couldn’t get the insulin in my body to do it’s job right because the cells were locked and it couldn’t. This is such a silent disease for so long and then, boom, you are there! It’s so much harder then. Trust me, I know.

I have learned with much study that it is true: You are what you eat!

So much of what afflicts us in American as far as disease goes is what is called Disease of Affluence.

Diabetes
Heart Disease
Stroke
Cancer
Even autoimmune diseases

These are all caused by diet. But the good news is they can be reversed by diet. I have read much about this in ALL of the above areas and more. So, it is not futile or pointless to try. It is amazing what our bodies do in response to a plant based diet when we have damaged it for so many years. It is extremely forgiving and God made it to be that way.

Many people have said since my kidneys repaired themselves from stage 3 kidney failure to perfect that that was a modern day healing. I know that is true, but here is partly and I suspect mostly how it is true. God made my body to need the right fuel. I abused that for 30 years. Finally I got it, and changed what fuel I use and YES my body responded immediately and quickly and now I am off my diabetic meds, have cut my cholesterol meds in half and soon hope to be off them. My blood pressure is back in the normal range, I am losing extra weight without trying.(42 pounds so far!) So the miracle was truly a miracle, and God did heal my kidneys and HOW that all happened is not really what is the important thing.

HERE IS THE IMPORTANT THING: A miracle did take place, a modern day miracle, but it was NOT the healing of my kidneys per se, it was that I had the strength, through Christ, to give up forever those foods that my body does not need and that is actually bad for me. Meat, dairy, eggs, vegetable oils and canola oils, artificial sweeteners and sugar. That is all gone forever and I wish you could feel what it feels like to have them gone. Physically there is absolutely no comparison.

I am NOT a vegan for political reasons. I don’t really care whether animals are killed for food. I am a Whole Foods Plant Based Lifestyle person because that is what it took to undo the damage of the Standard American Diet in my life.

It’s completely your choice, and a very personal one. The key is  A REASON or two (Christ being the main one)  and then educating yourself as to what all those food listed above actually do to you over time, slowly.

I hope you do much soul searching if you are already diabetic or have heart disease or any other nutrition related issue and you don’t think you can do this.
You can, with Christ….you can.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live!” Galatians 2:20a

Come along with me on this incredible journey back to health!

Greens – Part 3

Today we are going to explore a green that has become one of my favorites in the last few months.

BOK CHOY,otherwise knows at Chinese Cabbage.

As you can see it is somewhat similar in looks to celery and also white like cabbage. If you buy a fully mature stalk of Bok Choy you will discover that the white part tastes like very very mild cabbage. The green leafy part it excellent to use in stir fry.

However, what I do the most with bok choy is put it in my green smoothie. Here are some the the reasons why.

It is mostly water, as are many vegetables and fruit. Since our bodies are at least 70 % water, we need to eat mostly food that is mostly water! Bok choy is an excellent choice. In 70 g of Bok Choy 66.72 g of it is water! I has protein, a little bit of carbohydrate but not much. It also is a fiber food and has a minute amount of the good kinds of fat. No cholesterol, as in all leafy greens. However,  it is chock full of micronutrients and phytonutrients!

Here is a list of all that nutrients that are in a pieces of bok choy:
Calcium
Iron
Phosphorus
Potassium
Sodium (the good kind)
Zinc
Vitamin C
Thiamin
Riboflavin
Niacin
Panthothenic Acid
Vitamin B6
Folate
Vitamin A
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Beta Carotene
Lutein and Zeaxanthin

Sometimes I buy the regular mature bok choy, but often I buy the tiny baby bok choy for my smoothies.

Baby Bok Choy

Both kinds are good for you! I cup of shredded bok choy only has 2 g of carbohydrates and that is the complex kind that we need. Of the 2 grams 1 g is fiber. So you only count one gram of carbohydrate.

Bok Choy is a significant choice of Vitamins A and C. I cup of Bok Choy gives you 60% of your daily value of Vitamin A, half of your Vitamin C for the day!

1 cup of Bok Choy only has 10 calories!!

If you have not tried Bok Choy you should. If you like cabbage, especially, you will be in for a treat!
Even if you don’t like cabbage you might be surprised because it is such a mild version of cabbage.
Look for Bok Choy that has vibrant green leaves that are not wilted. Look for nice white Bok Choy without any brown spots. There are many ways you can use Bok Choy and I have some practically every day in my green smoothie since Bok Choy is such and excellent source of so many nutrients!

Bok Choy is an excellent choice for nutrition and calorie ratio!

Happy Eating! : )

The Perfect and Simple Diabetic Breakfast!

Yes, it’s oatmeal! It is one of the best things you can do to lower your bad cholesterol and a diabetic needs to keep that under control so you don’t do extra damage to your kidneys, heart, arteries, etc.

I make this for our whole family and everyone loves it! Even the grandchildren, well most of them!  You don’t have to be diabetic to enjoy this breakfast!

Here is what I do:
First of all I ALWAYS used rolled (Old Fashioned) oats, or steel cut oats. NEVER use Quick or Instant. That oatmeal is processed and will raise your blood sugar. Stay away from Quick or Instant Oats!

I put the amount of water on to boil that it calls for to cook the serving amount I  want of the oatmeal.  I chop up an apple or two (depending on how much I am making – I use 1 apple for 1- 2 servings, 2 apples for 3-5, etc.) with the skin still on and put the small apple pieces in the boiling water first for about 3 minutes, to cook a little before putting the oatmeal in the water. Then I add the oatmeal and then stir. Then I  liberally add cinnamon to taste. (If you are diabetic the more the better because it helps insulin resistance!) I then cook the apples, cinnamon and oatmeal until the oatmeal looks done and starts getting thicker.

If you want to add a bit of Omega 3 to your morning diet throw in a handful of walnuts!

When you put it in your bowl, pour Agave Nectar over it and it is done!

No dairy, no animal protein, cholesterol-fighting and insulin resistance fighting all wrapped up into one!

This is a super choice for breakfast as often as possible for someone who is dealing with these health issues OR someone who just wants to eat a healthy breakfast to STAY HEALTHY!!!

Yummmmmm, and great for fall and winter mornings for sure!!

Try it, I think you will like it!!!

180 Movie

 

 

 

This link needs to be watched. It has nothing to do with nutrition, but it is a powerful film about abortion: the American Holocaust. Everyone in America should watch this video.

Update on Health – the longer version

For those of you who have been following my progress with getting off my diabetic meds,  and becoming a Vegan to do it, I have an update!

I went for my labs today and my A1C test was better than it always has been when I was taking meds!
The dreaded night when my blood sugar went so high my A1C that night was 11.1  My blood sugar was 325 that night!  I will never forget that high number!  Normal blood glucose level is 70-110 fasting and under 140 an hour after a meal. A normal person’s A1C would be in the 5.0 to 6.2 range or there abouts. When I have had my A1C test done in the past on medication I have usually been able to keep it in the 6.8-7.9 range. a little higher than the goal but fairly well under control. Keep in mind that is with the medication and uneducatedly watching somewhat what I ate. I had never had one that was over 8.5 until that dreaded night at the urgent care!  11.1, to me was totally off the charts! That is when I thought I would have to go on insulin and if you have read this blog you know that story. (see 1st few posts – scroll down to bottom)

Well, today it was 6.9 without any oral meds taken for 3 months!!  Just diet alone! It was lower off the meds now than in over 10 years ON the meds!!  I was thrilled, and expect it to be even lower next time when August (my adjustment month as the sugar was coming down), is no longer included in the total.
The A1C test measure 3 months back and tells your control over that period of time!

Praise the Lord!

Cholesterol Meds

Also, I had some kidney damage and 1 year and 2 months ago my doctor told me that I would be on dialysis soon and be dead in 10 years if we didn’t get my cholesterol down. I reluctantly took a higher dose cholesterol pill after that day because I was scared. I was taking the dose of that medicine that was 2nd from the highest dose they make and that day I went higher. Today, I got my cholesterol meds cut in half for the 2ND TIME since then and am now going to take 1/4 the cholesterol meds I started on!

AND my doctor said the kidney damage is completely gone and my kidneys are perfect!! Praise the Lord, again! Doc said it was as if God had come down and placed His hands on my kidneys and healed them! Imagine that!  : )  I am just rejoicing today at all the good news! Thank you for all your prayers, those of you who have been praying for me!! The doctor said this is extremely rare and he is not sure he has ever seen this kind of  kidney damage turn around like this before!!

Right things in, good results!

LIke I have said before, God made our bodies to respond to the right treatment! 10 years of damage and in 3 short months turned around!

Then, when I left the doctor’s office,  I went to get my eyes checked since it had been over a year.  The eye doctor diltated my eyes and started looking around inside them and said, “well, no diabetic damage in there!” What a day!

REJOICING and REJOICING!!

Praise God from Whom ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!!!!!!

Greens – Part 2

Dandelion Greens!
Yep, you heard right! Dandelion greens are super good for you!

Dandelion Greens are super rich in many micronutrients. Things like copper, zinc, boron, cobalt as well as Vitamin D! Those of us in the over 50 crowd especially need more Vitamin D!! It also has Vitamin A which is very key in fighting cancers of epithelial tissue, including mouth and lungs! It is also rich in potassium in balance with magnesium. This is a real help in keeping blood pressure down.
In turn that reduces the risk of strokes.

It is high in fiber as all greens, fruits and veggies are. This helps fight diabetes or keep it under control if you already have it. It helps lower cholesterol which for a diabetic or anyone at risk of heart disease is crucial! Fiber also reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease!

Dandelion greens assist in weight loss. The way this happens is that high fiber veggies, like dandelion greens, take up lots of room, are low in calories and slow down our digestion so food stays in the stomach longer and you feel full longer! Dandelion greens are also rich in calcium which can help with blood pressure and help build strong bones.

Some of the natural chemicals found in dandelion green which have very good effects on our bodies are:

Inulin, which converts to fructose in the presence of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Fructose forms glycogen in the liver without requiring insulin, resulting in a slower blood sugar rise, which is very good for diabetics and hypoglycemics, both!

Also Tof-CFr, a glucose polymer similar to lentinan, which the Japanese researchers have found to act against cancer cells in laboratory mice; Lentinan is a yeast glucan (glucose polymer) that increases resistance against protozoal and viral infections. So it is somewhat of a natural antibiotic!

Also pectin, which is anti-dirrheal and also forms ionic complexes with metal ions, which probably contributes to dandelion’s reputation as a blood gastrointestinal detoxifying herb. Pectin can lower cholesterol and if combined with Vitamin C can lower it even more. Dandelions are a good source of both pectin and Vitamin C!!

Also Coumestrol, an estrogen mimic which is possible responsible, at least in part, for stimulating milk flow and altering hormones for the better after the birth of a baby!

Apigenin and Luteollin which have diuretic properties, anti-spasmodic, antioxidant and liver protecting actions and properties, and also strengthens heart and blood vessels. They also have anti-bacterial and anti-hypoglycemic properties.

Gallic Acid is also a micronutrient in dandelion greens, which is anti-diarrheal and anti-bacterial.

Linoleic and Linolenic Acid help in inflammation of arthritis, regulates blood pressure and prevents platelet aggregation.

Choline, which helps memory.

Several Sesquiterpene compounds which make the dandelions bitter actually are a tonic in the aid of digestion, also aids the liver, spleen and gall bladder, and are also highly anti-fungal.

Dandelion Greens contain several Triterpenes, which may contribute to bile or liver simulation;

Many of these chemicals are in other plants, they are not unique to the Dandelion, but the combination of them all in one plant are what is unique.

So, imagine your doctor tells you, on your next visit, that he has just discovered a miracle drug which, when eaten as a part of your daily diet or taken as a beverage, could, depending on the peculiarities of your body chemistry: prevent or cure liver diseases, act as a tonic and gentle diuretic to purify your blood, cleanse you system, dissolve kidney stones, and otherwise improve gastro-intestinal health; assist in weight reduction; cleanse your skin and eliminate acne; improve your bowel function, working equally well to relieve constipation and diarrhea; prevent or lower high blood pressure; prevent or cure anemia; lower your serum cholesterol by as much as half; eliminate or drastically reduce acid indigestion and gas buildup by cutting the heaviness of fatty foods; prevent or cure various forms of cancer; prevent or control diabetes mellitus; and at the same time, have no negative side effects and selectively act on only what ails you. If he gave you a prescription for this miracle medicine, would you use it religiously at first to solve whatever the problem is and then consistently for preventative body maintenance?

Would you? If the answer is yes, make dandelion greens regular part of your diet. I put them in green smoothies! Here is the funny part. I buy them at Whole Foods everytime they have them there. Did you ever see yourself actually paying money for something that grows in your yard that you consider a hindrance to your beautiful lawn? Well, never say never, because our great grandmothers really knew something we don’t know. DANDELION GREENS are super good for you!

Series on Greens – Part 1

Greens are one of the most necessary and nutrient power packed foods on the planet. I am going to do a short series on a few of the greens you can use in your smoothies and why they are each good for you in their own way.  We will be talking about Spinach, Kale, Dandelion Greens, Swiss Chard, Turnip Greens, Mustard Greens, Arugula, Bok Choy, Collards and maybe a few more in this series.

Today I am going to talk about Swiss Chard.  Swiss Chard is a very beautiful green.  It has red veins running through it’s leaves similar to Beet Greens.

There are other varieties of Chard.  One other well known Chard is Rainbow Chard.  Take a look at your neighborhood market and see how many kinds of Chard you can find!

Swiss Chard has Riboflavin (which produces an antioxidant in our body called glutathione. Glutathione also protects cholesterol from free radical attacks, keeping it from becoming potentially dangerous to our body)

– Riboflavin helps Vitamin B6 function properly in the body

-A single cup of Swiss Chards supplies about 14.7% of the daily fiber requirement of the human body

-The fiber in Swiss Chard may help prevent colon cancer

– Swiss Chard is excellent for people who have (or are at risk for) diabetes as it maintains blood sugar levels in the body

– Swiss Chard has magnesium which helps with muscle cramps

– Swiss Chard has Vitamin A (very beneficial for your eyes)

– Swiss Chard has calcium (which works together with magnesium to keep bones strong and healthy)

– Swiss Chard contains iron (iron+protein= production of hemoglobin molecules (which do the job of carrying oxygen through our body))

I think the beautiful colors of Chard are inspiring, and one of God’s beautiful food creations!

***A Caution: Swiss Chard also contains oxalates, which can crystalize in your body if too concentrated. Do not eat much if you have kidney or bladder problems. Don’t make Swiss Chard your only green in a smoothie every day. We need variety of these greens so none of them become toxic to our system.

****As long as Swiss Chard is eaten along with other greens it is an excellent source of so many good things for your body!

Forks over Knives

If you have Netflix you should watch this movie!

It is available on instant streaming and well worth the watch! I recommended the China Study to read in an earlier blog. This movie is done by the same man who wrote that book (Colin Campbell)

Dr. Colin Campbell

and a colleague of his who has done similar research in his medical career (Caldwell Esselstyn).

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn

If you watch this movie you will think differently about food. This is really a warning to you. If you don’t want to change your lifestyle DO NOT watch this movie or read the book with the same title. I love the title: implying that if you eat a whole foods plant based diet you won’t need a scalpel (knife) because you will fix your problem with a fork by eating the right things! ie: forks vs. surgery! Check out your local library to see if they have the book or the DVD.  I am on a pretty long hold list at my own library for the book, and my library system has ordered 9 copies of the movie. Go check it out!

There is another book written by a firefighter who is the son of  doctor Esselstyn, Rip Esselstyn.

This book is entitled The Engine 2 Diet.

Firefighter, Rip Esselstyn

He and his fellow firefighters at Station #2 started eating a whole foods plant based diet at their firestation after they all decided to have their cholesterol checked together at the same time.  They started this to save the life of one of the firefighters who’s cholesterol was very high when they all went to get it checked.  This book has many recipes that they now use at the station.  If a bunch of real-men firefighters can leave meat behind, maybe you can too!

Check out:

Knives Over Forks, the DVD and the book.

 

The Engine 2 Diet, the book.

Quite possibly you won’t look at food the same ever again!

My journey thus far……

For those of you who have been following my blog I thought it was time for a little update on how I am doing without my medication, etc.

While I have not been back to the doctor yet for my 2 month checkup to see how things are going, I HAVE been taking my blood sugar regularly and exercising and eating right and riding my bike.

My blood sugars are in normal range and I see a trend that they don’t spike right after eating as much as they once did. In other words, my body is acting more and more normal and less and less diabetic. I have more feeling in my feet, so that means my neuropathy is getting less and less! My blood sugar this morning, for example was 98, but more importantly than that, it was 106 when I went to bed last night and that was not a fasting blood sugar, but after eating all day. Two nights ago it was 84 at bedtime! For those of you who understand all this you know that after being diabetic on oral medications for 10 years this is just HUGE!

I have not eaten any processed sugar, dairy (except 0% fat Greek yogurt in my smoothie for probiotic purposes), eggs, animal protein of any kind or any oils except Flax, EVOO and Unrefined Virgin Coconut oil since early July.

Without even trying to lose weight I have lost 21 pounds so far!

I just wanted to encourage those who are following this that things are still right on track and I am hoping by the end of September I can go off my blood pressure meds and my cholesterol meds too! My reason for writing this blog is mainly to encourage anyone else out there that is dealing with a health challenge that is diet related.  It might be cancer, arthritis, or any number of what they call the diseases of affluence brought about by a Standard American Diet.  I also write this so I will never forget where I have been and where God has brought me thus far.   He is the one who has given me the strength and the stamina to be where I am today.  He is the one who taught me what is means in this area of my life to deny myself, to be crucified with Him and no longer live for me, but for Him instead.  I have many areas left to die to myself in, but for me this was one of the most pervasive in my life!  Praise God from Whom ALL blessing flow!!

Maneuvering Through My First “Grill Out” Holiday!

Yesterday was Labor Day and we were having family over to “grill out” for the holiday.  It was a beautiful “made to order” day.  Weather in the lower 70’s and you could feel Fall in the air!!  The Dilema:  What will I eat while everyone else is eating the standard fare:  Burgers, on the grill?  I  can’t eat the baked beans, or the potato salad. HMMMMM.  Baked beans have brown sugar in them, etc.  Potato Salad has Miracle Whip or Mayonaisse and even though the skins were left on the potatoes for extra fiber and lower glycemic index, there are too many carbs to just eat mostly potatoes, plus there were boiled eggs in the salad as well!  Not stacking up to too many choices for what I would be able to eat.

I could have opted for a salad, but I wanted to be part of the grilling.  So, I decided to get out my Shish Kabob Scewers and make myself Veggie Kabobs!  They were amazingly delicious.  I forget to take a picture of them, but I googled and found some pretty close, for you to see.  I found a great marinade recipe online that I will share with you.  I also made some coleslaw with a oil/vinegar based dressing which was really good too!  I attempted to make a little bowl of my own baked beans with some black beans I had already cooked.  They were pretty good.  I only used agave nectar, a little molasses, some onions and some liquid smoke in them.  Next time I will try pinto or white beans instead.  They will probably be more like the real thing.  Here is my recipe for veggie kabob marinade.  I used 4 skewers ( I shared with everyone else, I didn’t eat all that myself!) and I cooked a little brown rice to lay the kabob over on my plate.  It was beautiful and tasted as good as it looked.  If you use bamboo skewers, be sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before you load them with your veggies so they won’t burn on the grill.

These are not my actual kabobs, but here is what I had on hand to use:

I had cooked potatoes for the potato salad for everyone else.  I saved out one boiled (w/skin for the fiber) small potato and cut it into 4 pieces to save for my kabob.  If you don’t cook the potato ahead it will not be done enough when you grill it.  I put one piece of regular potato on each kabob.  I put one campari tomato (could use cherry or grape tomatoes as well) on each kabob.  I put spears of brocolli, chunks of red onion, the tiny red, orange and yellow peppers (whole) on the kabobs. (I get them at COSTCO) I put chunks of raw sweet potato on the kabobs. (By the way, if you haven’t tried raw sweet potato you might be surprised at how good it is!)  The sweet potato was not cooked a lot, but it was wonderful!  You can put whatever you like.  One idea I saw online but didn’t have available was to cut corn on the cob into about 1 inch rounds and put on your kabob!  You could put mushrooms if you like them, squash, zuchinni, egg plant, or whatever you like or have on hand.  The kabobs cooked a little bit longer than the burgers, but not much longer.  They were perfectly done and so bright and colorful.  Almost all the adults ate some of the veggies too!  I will never miss hamburgers again if I can have something this beautiful and delicious to take their place!!  First “grill out” …..SUCCESSFUL!!!

These are campari tomatoes ( I get them at COSTCO) They are on the vine and smaller than a regular tomato.  What flavor!!  Tastes like home grown.  They are about 3 times the size of a cherry tomato.  Perfect for kababs!

MARINADE RECIPE:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice or lime juice ( I used lemon this time)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup Dijon Mustard

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons minced garlic (If you are blending it in a power blender no need to mince, just drop in 3-4 cloves to taste)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves (didn’t have any so I used dried basil spice, about 1 teaspoon or so)

1/2 teaspoon Original Himalayan Crystal  Salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together or power blend together.  Put veggies in a container for marinading and pour marinade over the veggies.

Cover in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight if you have time.  Be sure to turn container whenever you think about it to coat the veggies evenly.

Grill on outside grill for approximately 20 minutes, to desired doneness!  ENJOY!!

My lunch on Tuesday with my leftovers!  Brown Rice, Cole Slaw and Veggies from the grill!

Let’s Talk about Fiber!

I stumbled across this book at the library: THE FULL PLATE DIET

Although it does allow for eating meat in moderation, it basically explains a vitally important thing about healthy eating. FIBER!

You see, foods with soluble and insoluble fiber are made up a great deal by water and that makes them low in calories!  Also,  insoluble fiber is not digested, really, and goes through your system in such a way as it acts as a broom sweeping your digestive tract.  This is such a lovely subject, I know : ).  But it is an important one.  One sure way to be healthier and lose weight is to concentrate your diet on foods that are very high in fiber. Fiber itself has no calories, so foods rich in fiber have fewer calories than foods not rich in fiber!  Therefore the title of this book is Full Plate Diet because if you eat more fiber rich foods you can have a full plate and not gain weight, but, in fact, lose weight if you are not already at a good body weight for you.  Even if you eat other things too, you should start your meal with high fiber foods and that will fill you up with fewer calories so you are not as prone to eating foods that may be smaller in size but low in fiber, which is why we gain weight.    If I had followed this plan of eating earlier more consistantly, I would not have to give up eating many things now.  The problem is that I am “paying the Piper” for what I did in the past with the disease called Type 2 Diabetes.

I urge you to change this about your diet now so you will not have to go as drastic as I have had to go.  I am not complaining at all.  I am so grateful that God made our bodies in such a way that even with this disease, with diet I can pretty much change the course of where I was going!  It is just that to stay on that track I have had to give up some things for good that you may not have to (meat, dairy, eggs).  This is part of the key.  Filling up on high fiber foods.  This is the best book I have found to simply explain that in a way that is so easy to understand.  There is also a handy website that goes along with this book.  See the link below:

http://www.fullplatediet.org/fiber-calculator/

With this link you can pick  out what you eat and see how far from eating enough fiber per day  you actually are or are not.  It is sort of like a game. Your kids will enjoy playing with it as well!

Most people are very far away from 40g of fiber every day! If you use this link you will probably be surprised how far from 40 grams of fiber a day you really are!  This is one reason that I love green smoothies.  I can get about 75% of that amount of fiber in the green smoothie I drink every day.  That alone would almost do it, but when I add to that snacking on nuts, seeds and fruit and veggies it pushed me right over the top and without leaving me feeling hungry or deprived.  You can also go to http://www.fullplatediet.org and download a free copy of this book.  I am going to purchase the actual book to add to my library of favorite books about healthy eating.  I found a great deal on http://www.abebooks.com for a used copy.  It is on it’s way to my house.  This book goes through the 5 top easiest found fiber foods in 5 different categories.  It truly makes this transition to a healthier eating lifestyle very easy!  Just check out the website and the calculator.  The calculator is a real eye opener as to how much or how little fiber you are actually eating each day of our daily requirement for health.  It’s a great place to start!  I believe the biggest health issue we all have is bad digestive health.  If that was better we would be healthier as a nation. This is most definitely a way to make digestive health part of your life!

Here is a list of some of the most common foods that are rich in fiber:

TOP FIVE FRUITS:

raspberries, blackberries

pears

apples

oranges

bananas

TOP FIVE VEGETABLES:

Avocado

Broccoli

Spinach

Sweet Potatoes

Carrots

TOP FIVE BEANS:

Navy Beans

Lentils

Pinto Beans

Black Beans

Kidney Beans

TOP FIVE NUTS AND SEEDS:

Flaxseeds

Almonds

Sunflower Seeds

Peanuts

Walnuts

TOP FIVE GRAINS:

Wheat

Pearl Barley

Quinoa

Oats

Brown Rice

Look on http://www.fullplatediet.org/fiber-calculator/

to see how many grams of fiber each of these foods has.  This is not necessarily the absolutely most fiber rich foods you can find but they are the most “easily found at any grocery store” fiber rich foods, to keep it simple.

Happy eating fabulous fiber rich foods!!

Friday Afternoon Date on the Country Club Plaza With My Honey!

Lyle works 9 hours a day Monday thru Thursday so he can get Friday afternoons off.  Sometimes we take advantage of that and have and early date.  Today was one of those days.

THE COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA!

We went down to the Country Club Plaza (that is a really cool place to go for those of you who are not familiar with Kansas City) and the place any girl would like to be taken for a date.  I consider dates on the Plaza a REAL date!

We took in an afternoon matinee’ at the Cinemark Theatre. The tickets on week days for matinee’s are only $4.00 each!   We saw One Day which was good, and surprising.  It was a love story or ‘chick flick’ as some would say.  Then due to all my dietary changes I suggested a restaurant on the Plaza that caters to the Vegetarian /Vegan crowd with their main entree’ options.  Most of the time we go to Jack Stack Bar-B-Q but when we do that Lyle has options and I only have one choice.  While their Spinach-Strawberry Salad is extra good it is the only item on the menu I have to pick from and I have to take my own dressing with me (I usually make strawberry vinegarette when I go to Jack Stack) and it is really good, but still, I just sometimes wish there were more restaurants around that offered whole food plant based options without loading it up with the “bad stuff” for those of us who have to be very consistent with their food choices for health reasons.

The place I found on the internet this afternoon before Lyle got home is called Eden Alley.  It is located in the lower level of the Unity Church building at 707 W. 47th Street and the only sign you can see is the awning hanging over the door in the courtyard on 47th Street and a sign over the lower level door down a ramp next to the courtyard area.  The lower door has a wheel chair accessible ramp.  The restaurant is very spacious and the people are very friendly (good atmosphere!).  This restaurant, come to find out, has been in business for 17 years and is very successful and the owner has not been a meat eater since she was very young.  This restaurant, unlike so many, has many choices that are actually options for my lifestyle!  Yay!  I think we will be coming back here again!  (Lyle is sighing in the background, but he was very gracious to go there with me and try it out.  🙂

The food was very very good.  Lyle even liked his choice.

Here is what we each picked:

Lorie’s pick today was Avacado Vera Cruz:

AVOCADO VERA CRUZ (vegan/gluten-free) Ripe avocado served on brown rice stuffed with a lovely local zucchini and chick pea Pico de Gallo topped with chili cumin aioli accompanied by a salad of mixed greens, cherry tomato, carrots, cucumbers and red wine dressing.

It was really really good and filling and it was just fun to have choices again!!

Lyle’s pick for today was Egg Salad Bruschetta:

EGGSALAD BRUSCHETTA 
a thick “slice” of grilled local bread with eggsalad, pickles, tomatoes, red onions, and carrots, sitting on greens with raindrops of red wine vinaigrette.

Here is their website for anyone who lives in Kansas City (or wants to come visit us) who might want this type of restaurant!  There are many good choices as you will see if you check out the website!!

http://www.EdenAlley.com/

Happy Healthy Eating!!

Ride Those Bikes!!!

I haven’t talked too much about exercise in this blog. That does not mean that I don’t do it.  I have just been writing mostly about the food so far.

Of course, exercise is a key to good health just like eating the right foods and not eating the wrong foods.

I walk on the treadmill almost every day for 2 miles at at least 3.0 miles per hour with inclines varying. Recently I decided that was not enough. I need to do some upper body strengthening too and I am just now trying to figure out what that will look like for me. However, Lyle (my husband) and I have been discussing bike riding as a possible way to do something together and get exercise at the same time.

Now, we are not in our 30’s anymore and we grew up in the 50’s and 60’s so we like thinks simple. Give me coaster brakes, I don’t want to relearn how to stop a bike!

That meant we pretty much wanted to look at Cruisers. For all you young folk out there I know the Cruiser might not be your “cup of tea” but it suits us just fine!

What we didn’t know until we started doing research is that they make what they call a comfort cruiser  (sounded good to me!) which means the center of gravity when riding is further back and you are not putting the weight on the front wheel. These bikes turned out to be exactly what we were looking for!  We ordered our bikes Saturday and they are to arrive today (Wednesday). We are so excited!  This is a completely new adventure for us two old fogies, so we will let you know how it goes. Our city has a bunch of trails so now we can go exploring to see which ones are best for us to take our grandchildren riding when they come to our house!  Hopefully they will all grow up with memories of us doing something active with them!

Lyle’s Bike:

My bike:

We realized that if we were going to be able to bring our bikes home we needed to get a bike rack.

Fortunately I found one yesterday on Craiglist and it was within practically walking distance to our house.  What luck! ….or would that be Providence?

Anyway, it was a 3 bike rack and very reasonable so Lyle installed that on my car last night so we are ready to go!

*****TIME LAPSE OF 24 HOURS*****

Well, we got a call that our bikes were ready to pick up!  How exciting!  We went to get them and test rode them in the parking lot!  Perfect and exactly what we wanted!!  We put them up on our new bike rack with the help of the girl at the store.

We hoped they stayed on all the way home…..and they did.  Then we took them for a spin in the neighborhood!  Wow, we were worn out when we got back!  We used muscles we forgot we had!  But it was fun and refreshing and it will obviously take time to build up to riding a long way on a trail.  We are truly looking forward to exploring all of that together.

Here I am standing by the car when we arrived home with our new bikes!

By the way, for those of you following my blog, I want you to know I am still doing well without my medication for diabetes, and I have lost 19 pounds so far in this journey back to health!

HAPPY EXERCISING, EVERYONE!!!

What Store is YOUR “CANDY STORE?”

Remember when you were a little kid and your Mom or Dad let you buy your favorite candy at the grocery store? You couldn’t hardly wait to get out of the store, into the car and home so you could eat it!! When I was a little girl I loved Russell Stover’s Candy, but we only got that at Christmas time. Even though I love chocolate, I also love non chocolate treats too like Mike and Ike’s or Hot Tamales and Jelly Bellys! Have you been to Mr. Bulky’s? Now there is a candy store!!! To any of us who have good feelings that come to mind when these things are mentioned you know what I mean by comfort with food.

Some do not particularly get tempted with sweets. As I grew older sweets were not what really comforted me. It was bad carbohydrates, like yeast hot rolls, baked potato with my steak, mashed potatoes with my fried chicken……etc. It just seemed that a good meal was not complete without hot rolls or some other glorious tasting carb. So, as I became an older adult my “candy store” was the grocery store or the restaurant where I could get my fill of the yummy (bad) carbs! This of course led eventually to my diabetes along with bad fats which caused insulin resistance. Bad carbs make you blood sugar go too high, then your pancreas goes to work to create more insulin to try to handle the extra load of glucose in your bloodstream due to the simple carbs that are processed and you have just consumed. For years sometimes our bodies can sort of handle all of this and finally it can’t keep up anymore. But there is another issue. Add the bad fats, animal protein and bad oils, like corn oil, vegetable oil, crisco, margerine, butter, and canola oil gum up the locks in our cells so that even when the insulin is manufactured to push the glucose into the cells the door-locks to the cells have been gummed up by bad fats. So at this point too much glucose in the blood and no way to get into the cells means you are at the doctor’s office finding out you have diabetes! So, I ask you, what should our “candy store” be if we want to be healthy. I know that I have come full circle in this and am no longer in bondage to my bad carbs/bad fats cycle because now my all time favorite store on the planet is Whole Foods!

I go into that store and just stare at the beautiful produce and healthy bulk items and the sprouted tortillas and bread not made with flour and processed ingredients and I know this is where I need to shop for things I cannot get at any regular grocery store.

I do not buy all things there because it is not cheap, but the things I can not get in a regular grocery store I buy there. Things like: unrefined Virgin Coconut oil, raw pumpkin seeds, spelt, millet, kamut, barley, organic dandelion greens (yes, I said dandelion greens!), xanthan gum, some special vinegars and Nama Shoyu (the best soy sauce in the world). Yes, Whole Foods is MY “candy store” now!

Hummus!

One of my favorite things is hummus. There are many different kinds of hummus. I will share with you a basic recipe and then some variations. Enjoy!

THE BASIC HUMMUS RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
• 3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini***
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.

Variations

For a spicier hummus, add a sliced red chile or a dash of cayenne pepper.

SUN DRIED TOMATO HUMMUS:

Ingredients:

• 1 can garbano beans/chickpeas (15 oz.), drained
• 3 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes in oil
• 2 teaspoons parsley
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation:

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add 1 tablespoon water until desired consistency.Serve immediately with hot pita bread, veggies, or pita chips. Store in an airtight container. Sun dried tomato hummus can be made up to two days in advance.

ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS!

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (15 oz)
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 cup -3/4 cup roasted red peppers (depending on taste)

Preparation:

In a food processor, combine beans, tahini, lemon juice and olive. Process until smooth. Add red peppers and garlic until desired consistency.Garnish with parsley. Serve warm with hot pita bread or toasted pita chips.Roasted red pepper hummus can be made up to two days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Heat up in microwave or on stovetop to serve.

ROASTED GARLIC HUMMUS!

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans (15 oz.)
• 2 tablespoons roasted garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano

Preparation:

In a food processor, process beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and oregano until desired consistency. If hummus is too thick, simply add olive oil in small increments (1/2 teaspoon) until desired consistency.Serve roasted garlic hummus garnished with finely chopped parsley with hot pita bread, pita chips, or veggies. Roasted red pepper hummus goes very well with cubes of warm Italian bread.Hummus can be prepared in advance up to two days if stored in airtight container in the refrigerator. To serve, heat in microwave or on stovetop.

BLACK BEAN HUMMUS

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans, drained (15 oz)
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

Preparation:

In a food processor, process all ingredients until smooth and creamy. If it is too thick, add half a teaspoon olive oil and a half teaspoon lime water. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator in airtight container.

***Making Homemade Tahini Sauce
To make homemade tahini, cook one tablespoon sesame seeds over medium heat in a non-stick skillet until they are lightly brown (about five minutes). Stir them constantly, so they do not burn. Pour them on a paper towel to allow them to drain and cool. Once cool, put them in a food processor for about 30 seconds. They will have a floury texture.

Add two tablespoons water, one tablespoon lemon juice, one minced clove of garlic and one tablespoon oregano. Puree the mixture until smooth.

 

You can also buy tahini already made at health food stores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Moly Tostados for Sunday lunch!!!

I made these tostados with left overs of what I took to a potluck last night!

We were invited to some friends house to watch fireworks everyone was to bring a dish! As you know, most of what is usually brought to these get togethers are NOT what I can eat because of sauces, dairy,  eggs, sodium and meat. This is just a glimpse into the life of an “accidental” Vegan. So, what that means for me is that I either need to bring a salad to supplement or enough of 2 – 3 dishes that I can eat but that will also “hopefully” taste good to everyone else. Last night I was in a Mexican Mood so I brought 2 Mexicany (is that a word?) things and some fresh brocolli and sprouted garbonzo and parsely hummus to dip the brocolli into. What I made for Sunday lunch was basically created using the Holy Moly Black Bean Dip and the Guacamole, and adding the necessary ingredients to turn that into tostadas.

First you need the recipes for the bean dip and the guacamole:

Guacamole – I took 4 ripe (not too squishy, but just right) avocados and mashed them up saving one of the seeds. I rinsed that off to place in the middle of the guacamole because that keeps it fresher longer. I rinsed off that seed and set aside for the finished product. Then I added 5 cloves of fresh minced garlic, some Himalayan Crystal Salt (OHCS), and the lime juice out of one small lime, and about 3 Compari tomatoes chopped up. I mixed all this together and then I put it in a bowl and stuck the saved avocado seed in the middle of the guacamole. Chilled it and went on to the bean dip.

Bean Dip Recipe
I got this recipe off of the Plant Based Dietician’s website. There is a video on how to make this on her website. I added one small extra ingredient. This recipe is called Holy Moly Bean Dip. Here are the ingredients and directions:

Healthy Holy Moly Bean Dip

1 can low sodium refried beans with no oil or lard, etc. (pinto or black)
(ingredients should have only beans, water, salt, maybe lime juice) I found these at Walmart and they were a Mexican brand.

1 can salt free black beans (pinto or black) or low sodium if you can’t find salt free ( rinse very well to rinse off lots of the sodium)

1 cup salt free, oil free salsa ( I used some chipotle salsa, but any will do) – chipotle gives it a somewhat smokey flaver!

1/3 cup fresh lime juice + zest if you want it

3 cloves of garlic

1 TB chipotle paste or 1/4 tsp chipotle powder (I got the powder at Whole Foods)  +* my added ingredient was 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper!

2 tsp raw cocoa powder ( I used cacao powder, but hershey cocoa would work too)

BLEND IN POWER BLENDER

Then add 1/2 cup raw hemp seed or raw cashews and blend again
( I used raw cashews)

Optional: 1/2 tsp xanthum gum for thickening ( I did not use this)

CHIPS: Get whole grain tortillas than have only corn and lime juice as ingredients, or brown rice tortillas (Whole Foods has both) I use sprouted corn tortillas from Whole Foods because they are healthier.

Cut tortillas with pizza cutter into chip pieces and turn oven on 375 degrees. Spread out on cookie sheet, preferably with silpat mat on cookie sheet or a stone cookie sheet. Put water in a small spray bottle and spray water on each chip. You don’t need any oil! Bake 5 minutes, turn over, spray again and add some Sea Salt or Himalayan Crystal salt and bake 5 more minutes. ( you could also add some taco seasoning or chili powder sparingly)  Check for crispiness and if they are done take them out, or if they are still a little soft leave for 2 more minutes! Very healthy and yummy!

HOLY MOLY TOSTADOS

Take the corn tortillas (I use sprouted from Whole Foods) and put on a cookie sheet ( do not cut into pieces).  Turn oven on 375-400 degrees.  When preheated  spray the tortillas with a mist of water.  Cook for about 10 minutes on one side.  Take out and turn over and spray more water on the tortilla and bake it about 5-6 more minutes and check it.  Cook to your desired doneness.

When the tortillas are done, spread warm HOLY MOLY bean dip on each of the tortillas.  Put guacamole gently over the bean dip and top with lettuce, chopped Compari tomatos and a dollop of oil free salsa of your choice…..or make your own!!!

This is a meal that most anyone would really enjoy!!  And it is completely plant based and guilt free!!!

Super nutrition!! Bottoms Up!!!!

I measured all my Green Smoothie ingredients on the Nutrition Scale I talked about yesterday.  This is the rundown. If you are still not convinced that Green Smoothies are the best way to get super good nutrition, this should help you to see it better!

Here is the breakdown of my green smoothie recipe according to the Perfect Portion Nutrition Scale:
You will see that this is truly the best “band for your buck”, nutritionally that you could find ANYWHERE!!

One Quart of Lorie’s Green smoothie has:

535.5 calories                                                                                              27% of the Daily Value

129 Fat Calories   (Only good fat)

14.5 g Total Fat                                                                                           22% DV

3 g Saturated Fat                                                                                           7% DV

2 mg Cholesterol                                                                                         1/2 % DV (Woo Hoo!)

201 mg Sodium                                                                                            8.5% DV

(not sodium chloride – table salt, but natural sodium)

102 Total Carbs (all good carbs)                                                            34% DV

35 mg   Dietary Fiber                                                                               139.5% DV (Woo Hoo!)

104 mg Sugars (all natural in the food itself)

36 g Protein                                                                                                   Protein DV% is determined by your weight. It should be 10-20% (plant based – you don’t need any animal based protein) of your total body weight.

If you weigh 100 pounds 50 g is your DV. If  you weigh 200 pounds your would need roughly 75 g.   1 QT of smoothie would be roughly 75% of your DV for a 100 pound person.

For a 150 pound person you would be getting a little over 50% of your DV. (Adjust accordingly)

I hope this is an encouragement to you. : )

A few of our grandkids drinking green smoothies!  We have other grandkids that live out of town, and some of them drink green smoothies too!!!

Perfect Portions Nutrition Scale

My food scale is so amazing.  It gives the amount of calories, fat, fiber, carbohydrates, sodium, cholesterol, protein, grams or ounces of any food.  It is the best thing I know to be able to make sure your portions aren’t too much.  Being diabetic I also have to watch my intake of the right kind of carbs and make sure I have enough fiber every day.  This handy scale makes that so easy!  Most scales just give you the weight, but this one tells you so much more!

Here’s how it works:

If you want to measure the grams, carbs, calories, fat, etc of a food you are going to eat, you key in a code for that food on this scale and it gives you the nutrition facts for that particular amount of whatever food it is.  For example, if I wanted to eat a palm full of raw almonds, I would turn on the scale, put a container (bowl, plate, cup) down on the scale (whatever I was going to put the almonds into to eat)- or I could just lay the almonds on the scale.  Let’s just say that I had a little bowl to put them into.  I would put the bowl onto the scale and hit the zero button and the scale will automatically take off the weight of the bowl.  Then I would add the almonds that I planned to eat to the bowl and key in the 4 digit code for raw almonds.  It automatically weighs it, and figures out all the other nutrition facts and displays them just like they would be on a nutrition facts table on any packaged food.  Sometimes those labels (if there is one) can be misleading.  It tells you how much of all those facts are in 1 serving, but sometimes we don’s always eat exactly one serving. This takes the guess work out of it for you!  You can also toggle back and forth between ounces and grams of weight.  It will also keep track of what you have weighed all day and save the total.  You can get a picture of your whole calorie intake and then the next morning you can erase the totals and start again. Amazing!

If you want to make a salad, for example, it will also add all the ingredients one by one and show you the total when you are finished making the salad.  You can add the dressing and total that onto the whole amount as well!  If you want to put your whole meal on the platen (one item at a time) and add up all the things on your plate to find out the nutrition facts for everything on your plate you can do that also.  There is a laminated booklet with about 1900 food codes in it that comes with the scale.  It has most of what you will need, however, there is a way to custom code up to 99 of your own foods that are not in the booklet that you most regularly eat. Some of the foods you eat on a regular basis that might not be in the book can be added and assigned a code number.  When you first add it you need to get your information from the nutritional panel on the package or look up fresh veggies and fruit or grains  (that might be unusual and not in the book) on the internet to enter the facts so the scale can remember it after that.

Here is the website so you can learn more about this nutrition scale:

http://www.perfectportionsscale.com/food-scale-nutrition-facts

This scale is a real help in living a healthy lifestyle!!

You can get this scale on Amazon, or the Perfect Portions (see link above) website OR Bed Bath and Beyond.  I got mine at BB&B with a 20% off coupon.  It retails for 49.99 but with that coupon it was $39.99!

“How will you handle going to someone’s home for dinner?”

 

One of our daughters asked me this question when I made these radical healthy changes in my life.

My response to her at that time was: “I will take one event at a time a figure out the most gracious way to deal with it.”  When you are surrounded by others who don’t have to or don’t want to make the changes you have had to make it can be a bit tricky figuring out how to socialize and fellowship without that affecting how people feel about you or  about being a hostess to you. It is therefore, your burden to put them at ease because it is YOUR change. I had my first experience since all my dietary changes of being invited over to someone’s home after church for Sunday dinner. God was good to me. My husband told me we were invited and that I was to call them back to confirm.

So, I called the day before we were to come and told the hostess that we would be coming and that I had something else to tell her. She was so gracious. She made it so easy. I told her that due to some dietary changes for health reasons I would probably not be able to eat much of what she would fix. I assured her that Lyle would really enjoy whatever she fixed because he doesn’t get as much “regular” food at home as he used to. I told her that I was looking forward to the fellowship and that was the main thing anyway.  I told her that basically I could not eat meat, dairy or eggs. I asked her if she planned to fix a green salad. She said yes. (Otherwise I would have offered to bring one to add to the meal) I asked her if there was anything I could bring. She said no. I told her that I would bring my own dressing for the salad because I also could not have any processed sugar (which is in most purchased salad dressings and I could not have any oils except EVOO and coconut oil.  She said that she understood because her Dad had gone off his oral medication for diabetes after 5 years and had controlled his with diet as well.  See, I told you God was good to me in this.  She really understood. That was so helpful my “first time out” so to speak.  She told me what she would be having and I told her that I could not eat most of it.  She asked if I could eat fruit. I said “yes.” She told me at church that morning she had fixed me a big bowl of strawberries, blueberries and grapes. I thanked her. When we got to their house she asked me if I could have Feta Cheese. I told her that I could eat around it. She said she had not added it to the salad yet. She also was adding bacon pieces. She told me she would take mine out first, then add the bacon and the cheese and toss with Blush Dressing.  So, when we went into the dining room there were plates and salad bowls on the table. My plate had salad on half of it and my salad bowl was filled with the fruit. It was just perfect! You know, 15 minutes after we started eating it just didn’t matter what everyone had on their plate, because the conversation and fellowship was the main thing!

There are a couple of other tips I have learned about eating when you are not in control of the cooking.

I take 2 small bottles (actually they are travel size bottles that Pantene Shampoo came in) with me in my purse. One has EVOO in it and one has Vinegar. I take a tiny salt shaker with Himalayan Crystal Salt in my purse. Whenever I am out eating at a restaurant I order a salad with no dressing because I do not know what is in the dressing and there is and excellent chance it has sugar and  an oil that is not the best for me.  I either plan ahead and bring a dressing from home that I made or if I find myself unexpectedly going out I put my EVOO and vinegar and salt and pepper on the salad. It beats making impromptu dressing out of vinegar and prepared mustard which I did one time!!

If I go to a pot luck I bring at least on dish I can eat, whether it be a green salad or some other kind of raw salad with whole grains, legumes and veggies, or a tray of fruit.

If you just plan ahead a little you can figure these things out little by little. You do not have to compromise your diet. Take flax crackers with you in the car in case you need a little crunch with your salad at a restaurant.

If my family goes out to a favorite Mexican restaurant I take my flax seed crackers and order guacamole and eat my crackers, guacamole and some salsa.I hope this helps you figure out your way through the maze of learning to eat differently than most of the rest of your world.

Does anyone know of any good restaurant chains that cater to vegan whole foods customers?

Almond Joy!!! Oh Boy!!!!!

I made this today!  It is completely raw and well worth the ingredients it takes to make it.  This will be my treat when everyone else it having something like birthday cake or cinnamon rolls or anything else that goes with a good cup of black coffee!

I got this recipe from greensmoothiegirl.com ‘s 12 stept to Whole Foods Course!  On her website there is a video on HOW to make this, but she does not give the exact ingredients on that video.  I will not share them here either because it is her recipe, but if you want me to give you the ingredient measurements just email me personally or call me and I will share them with you.  It is recipes like this that help a person to stay strong over the long haul.  This is actually healthy for you!!!! Guilt free!!

The ingredients you will need are: unrefined virgin coconut oil ( a pint jar ) a very good fat (but don’t over do), agave nectar, unsweetened coconut, cocao powder and raw almonds. You will also need a good blender, preferable a power blender like a VitaMix or BlendTec.

I just wish you were here to taste it!!  I’m brewing a fresh pot of decaf coffee right now…….can’t wait!!

First cut them in squares then put almost all in the freezer for other days!

This is for me!  Yum!!!!

Come join me for a cup of coffee and a yummy treat!!!  🙂