They were five little words – well, they contain two contractions, but I’m not splitting hairs.
Five words that have inspired me since discovering them.
Five words that have motivated me to be better.
Five words that are helping me push several tasks to completion.
“Enough!”
“Give me the @#%& five words!”
Hold on to your hat, pilgrim, I’m getting there. Just a minute.
These words were wrapped around a small square of goodness called Dove dark chocolate.
I’ve emphasized the important benefits of dark chocolate over the years – namely an abundance of all the good things: trace minerals, and antioxidants such as polyphenols, flavanols, and catechins. All-in-all, these compounds in dark chocolate have been studied showing that they can help with our cholesterol profile, lower heart disease risk, and help with brain function.
Of course, eating the entire bag of Dove dark chocolate squares would be counterproductive. Moderation in all things. Remember my personal mantra: “It’s so good, you only need one!”
Anyway, these little treasures are individually wrapped in foil which makes for a neat, clean, conveyance of just the right amount of tasty satisfaction – contrary to Hershey Kisses which are a bit too small to quench that chocolate urge.
Printed on the inside of each wrapper is a clever saying that assists the consumer with a contemplative thought to savor while that square of bliss melts in the mouth.
You might see messages such as” “You’ve got this,” “Cherish each moment,” “Be fearlessly authentic,” “Share a smile,” or “Study a flower.”
The maxim that has recently inspired me so much is a play on words we often shared with our children: “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right,” or “Be your best in all you do,” – all in our best parental efforts to inspire them to put their best into every task.
These five words embodied those thoughts and maybe more:
“Don’t stop until you’re proud.”
By Lauren N. Colorado
Not proud and boastful, but proud as in pleased at a good job well done. Proud because the deed has your name on it, and it more than passes muster.
Are you slogging through a long project? Or maybe a short project required more than the usual effort?
Any advancements on my commitment to daily exercise were shot down with that sprained ankle I sustained early last month. Standing and any kind of locomotion were problematic, at best. It’s still a bit swollen, but I can at least walk without a limp now – although zingers in that foot bother me each night.
My successful weight loss project was simply treading water while I recovered. I totally lost my mojo and was struggling to balance my new eating patterns with the proper exercise to stay in shape and lose the last five pounds.
Then, into my hands plops this inspiring message: “Don’t stop until you’re proud.”
So, each day, steps were taken; ankle was iced and elevated, and more steps taken. I reconnected with my plank buddy, and we are texting a thumbs up emojis for every minute of plank we do. In the beginning, my planks were half planks done from the knee to elbow, but they were done.
Finally, I can walk without pain, tennis shoes can be worn, and full planks are being accomplished. I also discovered the effectiveness of doing at least a minute each of straight arm/full body plank, followed by elbow/full body plank, followed by elbow-to-knee/half plank.
Like the little engine that could, I’m getting there to tighter abs with each minute of effort. Four minutes total today. I am just starting to feel a teeny bit like I’m on the right track again.
Hang in there.
Don’t stop until you’re proud.
In health-
Deidre
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Remember the story of the little Dutch boy who stops a dam from cracking and flooding the town by plugging the hole with his finger until adults could come to the scene to affect a more permanent solution? Legend has it that he stood there all night before more help could be obtained.
Judging from just the cursory view last week of what is an autoimmune disease and how it might happen, we could conclude that our dam has more than one hole. In fact, we are running out of fingers to plug all the holes.
Where are the holes? Look to the millions of us with autoimmune diseases and see if there is a common experiential thread…
In the residual chemicals found in our food from growth practices
In the chemicals added to our highly processed Western diet which is also high in sugar, fat, and salt
In the consumption of food that is pro-inflammatory
In the polluted air we breathe
In the chemical exposures we subject ourselves to in cleaning products, toiletries, and cosmetics
In the chemicals we use in our yards and gardens
In the stress hormones of the feedlot animals we eat
In the chemical transfers of packaging, storing, and cooking food in plastic products
In stress
Eventually – in the air, as we breathe nano dust particles of plastic which do not decompose but just degrade into smaller and smaller pieces
Clearly, there is no one answer, but taken as a whole, it is easy to see that the world we have created is not the world our genes were built to withstand.
As promised, I want to bring up just one facet of how genetically susceptible people might be opening the door to the lurking wolf on the outside. And I believe that there are more of us genetically susceptible than we may realize.
Dr. Alessio Fasano
Let me introduce you to Alessio Fasano who is a world-renown physician and researcher. He holds numerous positions both in Boston and in Italy. To read his biography HERE: Alessio Fasano – Wikipedia is to be awe inspired and grateful for all the lives he and his teams are helping.
In 2000, Dr. Fasano discovered a protein in the lining of our small intestines called zonulin. The lining of the small intestine is just one cell thick. Touch your tongue to the side of your cheek – that’s the same sheet of cells that extends from our mouth all the way through our digestive system to the very end.
Thin, yes, but strong and resilient to keeping our insides in and the outsides out. Each cell is connected to its neighbor by what’s called a tight junction.
Better be tight. Lots of stuff in the pipeline. Don’t want random particles of food or toxins punching through to the other side without first being properly broken down and absorbed by the blood stream and taken through several filters.
Turns out zonulin is a moderator of sorts for what can get through this layer of cells. An uptick of zonulin will cause these tight junctions to open wide, allowing large, foreign/non-self materials to flow through to the gut tissue and eventually be absorbed unfiltered by the blood stream and land anywhere in the body.
Because these large particles are foreign, our body will wage an attack.
According to Dr. Fasano, “When the zonulin pathway is deregulated in genetically susceptible individuals, autoimmune disorders can occur.” Check out this list of autoimmune diseases to see if you can find what has been plaguing you and if you might be genetically susceptible: Autoimmune Disease List • AARDA
This brings us full circle. Remember those questions I posed for us to ponder a couple weeks ago?
Can you see a DON’T TOUCH – WET PAINT sign and not touch the surface it’s indicating?
If you know a certain food will cause an immediate harmful reaction in your body, will you eat it anyway?
Is there a habit you have or a food you eat that will most likely cause problems for you down the road, but you justify continuing it by saying, “I’ll stop when it starts to bother me”?
It might be time to check out some anti-inflammatory practices found in my book, Toolkit for Wellness, to see if you could be more proactive in controlling your health destiny.
I am doing this for myself as well, as I continue my experiment of eliminating my beloved grits and oatmeal.
Since following my Noom way of eating starting this February, grits and oatmeal have become a staple in my morning. Simultaneously, my hips and knees have been complaining. This is not the first time I’ve experienced this potential cause and effect.
Knowing that many aches and pains are self-induced, I’m accepting responsibility by eliminating a couple foods I love to see if the picture improves. Who wants to bet that grits and oatmeal are inflammatory to me?
Time and abstinence from delish menu items will tell the story.
You had me at, “What is an autoimmune disease explained in 5 minutes.” If you have 5 minutes, it’s worth absorbing Gabriel Arruda’s easy to understand explanation – because an understanding of how our natural immunity works is needed before plunging into the deep waters of autoimmunity.
Yes, I thoroughly covered how inflammatory foods and lifestyles can lead to autoimmunity in my first book, Toolkit for Wellness, but I wanted a fresh take.
A little animation helped, and I agreed with his basic approach, but not necessarily with his entire online program. Mr. Arruda presents one of the many ways autoimmunity can occur – I’ll share another one.
He took me back to my teaching days, using Pac Man as a symbol for white blood cells munching up the bad hombres floating around our bodies.
Autoimmunity is when your body’s natural defenses somehow get scrambled and are no longer able to correctly identify foreign threats; instead the attack on invaders is misdirected onto self. Thus auto/self-immunity.
As mentioned last week, I an offering this discussion because we are in the middle of an explosion of people suffering with autoimmune diseases.
One might ask, “What’s happening to cause this? Spontaneous worldwide meltdown of our internal defenses?”
Well, you be the judge.
Clearly, an appropriate immune response is an intricate cascade of events that enlists organs and organ systems throughout the body. What we’re throwing at our bodies in terms of stress and chemicals has changed considerably in the last 40-50 years. What hasn’t changed is our genetic make up to handle these new factors.
I’ve read more than I want about the autoimmune crisis and there are at least 10 tabs open on the computer right now. That said, this article revealed so much new information that I’d like to summarize some key points for you:
-Favorite direct quote: “As such, autoimmune diseases could be the product of our own success as an industrialized species. This vexes researchers, because autoimmunity is not only one of the most prevalent disease categories but also fiendishly complex, a tangle of factors that scientists have yet to fully understand.”
-Doctors cannot agree on what constitutes an autoimmune disease. Right now, there are about 100.
-Unlike diseases such as cancer, there is no national data base for autoimmune diseases and, thus, no shared research, no coordinated data – it’s pretty much each disease subset is on its own.
-The rate of autoimmune disease uptick is far outpacing our DNA/gene’s ability to change and be the cause for such a shift.
-The diversity of our gut’s microbiome is a key element to our overall health and appropriate immune response. It’s been discovered that under-developed countries have an exceptionally low incidence of autoimmune disease along with a well-diversified gut microbiome. Whereas developed countries have less diversified microbiomes and have a high incidence of autoimmune disease.
-Studies of adults in 2003 and in fetal cord blood in 2005 revealed the presence of man-made chemicals including industrial compounds, pollutants, insecticides, dioxins, and mercury. The fetal cord blood study showed 287 different chemicals that were transmitted to those babies prior to birth.
-Americans report ever greater levels of personal stress. Who hasn’t taken a stress hit this past year? One last quote for the day: “The stressed-out individuals were more likely to be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, more likely to develop multiple autoimmune diseases, and tended to develop autoimmune diseases earlier in life.”
Whew! That’s just the sprinkles on top of the cake, dear readers.
What started out as a simple assignment – “get the bad guys” – has been muddled by so many factors that have made identifying, what is foreign and what is self, almost impossible.
Next week, we’ll look at another common factor that can stimulate another cause of autoimmunity: leaky gut.
Don’t know about you, but I’m headed outdoors to harvest some organic veggies, sit under an umbrella, and soak up the sounds of nature.
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Before I start my mini-series on autoimmune diseases, I want us each to consider our individual level of commitment to mindfully guiding our health outcomes.
Let me pose some questions.
Can you see a “DON’T TOUCH – WET PAINT” sign and not touch the surface it’s indicating?
If you know a certain food will cause an immediate harmful reaction in your body, will you eat it anyway?
Is there a habit you have that will most likely cause problems for you down the road, but you justify continuing it by saying, “I’ll stop when it starts to bother me?”
Why am I offering this discussion in the first place? Because we are in the middle of an explosion of people suffering with autoimmune diseases … in a way not seen before.
Judging from the descriptions of my friends on Facebook, their autoimmune-challenged lives are constant torture – filled with inexplicable bouts of painful, life-disturbing days when even just lying around can be a challenge.
Is our human race crashing and burning?
Rather than crumbling strands of DNA inside of us, it may be a case of having to be ever more knowledgeable, vigilant, and proactive about our internal and external environments
As readers know, I believe we are designed for health, not disease. Foodtalk4you investigates what we are using to fuel our engines, offers ideas on making changes based on knowledge and experience, and then explores what we can do to restore much of our lost health and vigor.
The world of autoimmune disease seems to be growing exponentially. The coming posts will not solve all your problems, but may open your eyes to possibilities.
In the world prior to this autoimmune explosion, life was simpler, food choices were fewer, and air was cleaner. We also had fewer cures, limited access to medicine, and little knowledge of how deadly many things were – smoking is one of them.
Let’s not go back. We are in the present, dealing with today’s world.
First, just consider what your commitment to your improved health might look like. Are you willing to wait until something hurts, or are you willing to be proactive now, so it won’t hurt later?
Think about it.
Deidre
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Have I been anything but brutally honest with you? No, I can promise you, I haven’t.
This week is no different.
First, a big shout out to my dear friend and editor for foodtalk4you, Sheree Alderman, for pitching in on the writing side of things with her post, Life in the Stairwell. When she told me of her experiences during those scary hours leading up to, and during, the tornado, I immediately knew it was a story best shared in the first person.
Which was very timely for me, because I was seeing both of my adult children and grandchildren, simultaneously, for the first time in fifteen months! Fully vaccinated – except for the children, at this point – we shared hugs, laughter, delicious five-star restaurant-worthy home cooking, the warm spring weather, walks with two rambunctious and loving Goldendoodles, and happy family trips to nurseries for spring herbs and flowers.
In other words, a slice of heaven for this mother.
Just hearing my son and daughter, who are separated by 3 thousand miles of land plus an ocean, as they talked, laughed, and caught up with each other – made my heart sing.
Ten days of blissful memories carried me through being solo on Mother’s Day.
Still smiling here.
That brings me to EBS. Empty Brain Syndrome. Yup. I’m blaming EBS for my lack of fresh ideas. It’s a part of the umbrella diagnosis of PVS. Post Vacation Syndrome, which may be familiar to you.
PVS is now placed under the new diagnostic category of: First Time Getting Together with Vaccinated Family After Being Isolated in a Global Pandemic Syndrome. FTGTWVFABIIAGPS.
All I really want to do is sit outside, enjoy the sounds of nature, drink coffee/fuzzy water/wine, and just BE.
And prop up my sprained ankle with an ice compress – that’s another story, altogether – still savoring the happy feeling in my heart full of warm memories, while also planning on making more.
Hmmm.
This EBS/PVS/ FTGTWVFABIIAGPS is not such a bad thing after all.
There’s not a stressful thought, feeling, or twitch on the horizon.
When was the last time you could say that?
I think the dark night of my soul during February and March has passed. Nothing that a little sunshine, the safety of being vaccinated, and being around family again couldn’t cure.
Now, about that Empty Brain thingy…
Make sure to subscribe to foodtalk4you to easily receive next week’s post about some mindful exercise and body check-in techniques I learned about during vacation. The brain is beginning to percolate.
By now, most everyone has probably heard about the storms that ravaged the great state of Texas this past week. Of course, they’ve damaged more areas than that, but I currently live in North Fort Worth, which was particularly hit hard the other evening by some very unique, brutal waves of high winds, hail, and even a possible tornado.
When you live in Texas, you soon realize that this type of weather is not that unusual, especially in certain areas of the state, which match – and sometime kick off – angry thunderstorms that march straight into Arkansas, Louisiana, and sometimes bolt north into Oklahoma. All this can happen in a matter of hours; and – at times – without much warning.
On the morning of April 28th. The day started out normal, it was full of sunshine and pleasant temperatures, with no peculiar or alarming weather broadcasts for the day. However, I did see where the National Weather Service, NWS, was mentioned earlier we had a particularly good chance for an evening shower.
I went about my day and texted my daughter, Abby, to let her know she might want to keep in mind we could have a storm later on in the evening/ They are a family on the go, with three children – one being old enough to drive.
Truthfully, I don’t think anyone takes me seriously in these situations, but I trudge forward and hope for the best. After retiring from Emergency Services some years ago and having lived in an area where we got yearly hurricanes – and tornados from them, I did take it seriously, very seriously. I’ve seen what a powerful storm can do, and I keep a healthy respect for each and every one of them.
So, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, started out as any other day.
About 5:00 o’clock that evening, I was scouring the Internet for ideas beside the window of my apartment, when out of the corner of my eye, I notice a flash. I immediately knew it was lightning. As I looked more closely, the lightning started coming quicker and with more of it. Kind of like when the DJ kicks up the strobe lights on a fast tune that’s so loud, your spine vibrates.
They do still do that, right?
My apartment overlooks the courtyard and business office and is open for miles when you look straight out. Over the next 20 minutes or so, I watched this lightning start to evolve from what seemed to be miles across the street from me, to being within a mile or two, it seemed to get a lot closer a lot quicker – and the sky darker.
By this time, I was getting more concerned about this electrical storm they were now projecting. I kept checking my phone for the weather update when things went bad to worse. Going online two some of my favorite weather reporters, they were running constant radar on our location and, by 6:30 they were saying there was a super cell with tornadic activity in our area.
In fact, moments later, it had a slow rotation that was starting to pick up. I knew immediately that meant a tornado was forming, whether it would develop into a full-fledged tornado or not, remained to be seen. However, the lightning was off the charts. It, at times, looked like the lightning was striking four and five times within a second in the same area. This lightning was going right down to the ground. I could tell as it progressed, it was getting closer and closer to me.
Now the weatherman was starting to alert us that hail was on its way and I start to have tiny pellets of it hitting all my windows. He had an alarm in his voice you never want to hear, telling us to be prepared – we have rotation on the ground, very large hail coming your way, and get prepared to go to safety quick.
I could literally, see the storm forming in front of me with a lighter sky on the right, where it had pulled the dark clouds in, and on the left was gray. But in the very middle was this giant, angry, black ball of swirling hail and debris.
Within minutes, the weatherman was spitting out the tornado’s coordinates – and it exactly where my apartment was. Although, I have been thoroughly trained to handle situations such as this in my career, it is an entirely different issue when you are standing in your window, seeing this monster coming at you. Within seconds, what sounded like pebbles were now large rocks were hitting the windows – so hard – I thought they would surely break in a thousand pieces.
At the same time, the larger, what they now refer to as gorilla hail, started hitting my windows, the tornado sirens started screaming. It was upon us. As the tornado sirens swirled the alarms, the NWS loudly paged my phone, telling me to get to shelter – in a basement, a cellar, or somewhere safer than where I was – our storm had now upgraded to a tornado warning – meaning, they were seeing one in our area.
I just stood in the middle of my apartment terrified. What do I do? Where do I go? I hurried to my door which leads out into the interior of the building, then turned back to my windows, and repeated that behavior briefly. I finally decided I was risking my life to stay; but where I do I go? I just couldn’t believe this was happening.
As I finally stepped out of my apartment and into the corridor, I nearly ran for the stairwell. The sound of the hail and debris hitting everyone’s windows was deafening. You could not have had a conversation for a single person out in that hallway.
There’s only one place I could think of to go – the stairwell beside our building’s elevator. At least there are no windows there and I would be surrounded by cement blocks and iron.
I thought to myself, there is no way I am going to have any windows left when I get back here; but I hurried as much as I could, heading for the relief of the stairwell. At least there was less chance of this thing getting to me there.
You might think after me telling you all of this, there would not be much good news – but you are mistaken. As I reached the heavy door of the stairwell, I could hear voices. Many voices. I saw familiar, happy faces smiling at me as I stepped into a peaceful atmosphere.
There were neighbors from all three floors sitting inside with their dogs and cats – a lot of them chatting about a variety of topics. One person had an emergency radio, many had their cell phones and tracked the storm that way, some didn’t have anything to rely on but just trusted those around them.
The most touching part of the stairwell was the beauty of the genuine, deep concern for one another. If someone had a need, another would take care of it. They found chairs and blankets and water for each other. People would think of a neighbor that wasn’t there and volunteer to go get them so they would be safe.
Down in the stairwell, there were people of every color, every religion, every walk of life – and none of that mattered to anyone. People were praying out loud for our safety and the storm to pass. Some were singing praises. Periodically, someone would holler out where we were in the hot zone, right up until the time we had passed through it and were okay. I learned more that night than just where to find safety in a storm.
It was a beautiful place to be, and I thought of how heaven might be just like this. I remember sitting there at the top of the steps, looking about, and thinking, I wish the world could see all of us piled in this one little part of a stairwell – the room bursting from the gentleness of the human spirit – bonding us together always. My heart was filled from witnessing the kindness of others.
Some of us may have been complete strangers going in, but we sure were besties going out.
Never underestimate the storms of life that come to you, because they just could lead you to the stairwell and be a blessing in disguise. I know where I’m headed if another storm comes my way.
God bless us everyone.
Sheree Alderman,
Editor-at-large,
N. Fort Worth, TX
Over and out!
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Millions of people – somewhere in the 50 – 70 million range in America alone – have sleep problems. Geez. That’s a lot of tossing and turning. A billion-dollar industry if pillow, mattress, medications, lotions and potions, and doctor visits are added up.
Aside from those of us who can’t turn off late night TV, Netflix, or those who choose to lean over their cell phones all night, there are those who just can’t get to sleep.
Body in bed.
Eyes closed.
Brain spinning, or brain worried about not going to sleep.
Now that’s really going to help.
Not.
The book, Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, continues to amaze me. After writing about it recently, I continued to peel back the layers of Nestor’s discoveries and personal experiences.
My copy is the most highlighted, underlined, dogeared book I’ve ever read. Even the appendix is riveting. Every breathing human should have a copy – just saying.
Today, I want to revisit the box breathing technique I shared with you HERE and the 4-7-8 Breathing technique. Both breathing patterns can relax you to sleep.
BOX BREATHING
Decathletes and Navy SEALs use breathing techniques such as this to calm down, slow pulses, and increase focus. You can do it in any situation, and it’s easy:
Inhale to a count of 4; hold 4; exhale 4; hold 4. Repeat.
To increase the body’s relaxation response, lengthen the exhalation to this pattern:
Inhale to a count of 4; hold 4; exhale 6; hold 2. Repeat.
The longer exhalation assists the body to relax deeply enough for sleep.
4-7-8 BREATHING
Dr. Andrew Weil, one of my favorite wellness gurus, made this technique famous as it encourages the body into a state of deep relaxation, allowing for sleep.
I am bringing rose buds, African daisies, and chive flowers into the house, just to bring that spring vibe indoors.
My Aussi and Kiwi readers, I know, are now nestling into the fall season of harvest: but spring has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere! We are just now setting out new plants in anticipation of colorful blossoms and produce to come.
Ah, the faith of a farmer – gardener!
It seems to touch us all. My regular trips to the local garden center are showing every age, socio-economic level, race, and gender walking the isles of seedlings, young blooms, fertilizer, chips, and bags of “dirt” as we all seek the color and promise of outdoor life in the coming months.
No longer are we indulging in out-of-season fruit grown in South and Central America. Our strawberries are coming from the United States and, man, are they sweet!
Our local strawberry fields are ready for customers. My neighbor sent me a picture this morning of her cardboard flat filled with ripe strawberries after just a short time of easy picking.
Are visions of strawberry cakes, pies, layered truffles, and jam filling your head?
Not mine.
I’m relishing every bite of fresh berries possible.
Sporting an average of 4 calories each, strawberries are a filling, SWEET, food and are satisfying and good for the body. Woohoo!
A quick check on their nutritional benefits HERE will remind you why strawberries are so beneficial. To summarize:
Strawberries are 91% water and just 7% carbohydrates – 26% of the carbohydrate is comprised of fiber, so the net carb content is low.
The soluble and insoluble fibers found in strawberries help contribute to great gut health by feeding the good bacteria found there.
The high fiber of strawberries contributes to their low Glycemic Index which helps prevent blood sugar and insulin spikes.
Strawberries are a good source of Vitamin C, manganese, folate, and potassium, as well as several other vitamins and a host of antioxidants that decrease inflammation and oxidative stress.
Why add empty, white flour carbohydrates, cholesterol-raising saturated fat, and even more carbohydrates in sugar to something that screams PERFECTION and HEALTH?
Looking for hors d’oeuvre? People will rush to get a fresh strawberry.
Want to ramp up your oatmeal in the morning or as an evening snack? Add a dollop of non-fat Greek yogurt and several sliced strawberries. Simply divine!
Looking for an awesome snack? Several fresh strawberries will rock your world, without rocking the calories or the blood sugar.
There are some folks who are allergic to strawberries, especially young children and people with sensitivities to birch pollen or apples, who may have symptoms after consuming strawberries.
Until the blueberries are available sometime in late May or June, fresh strawberries will be gracing my breakfast, snack, salad, and dessert plates for a while.
How about you? Are you going to choose strawberries in the raw without the detractors of flour, sugar, and fat?
Our editor, Sheree, advises to pick only the fully ripe strawberries because they will not ripen after picking – they only age out.
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Have you ever eaten a slice of Mock Apple Pie? I had only heard of it, and I vaguely remembered the pseudo-fruit pie used Ritz Crackers with their all their “buttery goodness.”
A quick jump into the internet HERE revealed some interesting facts:
The mock apple pie, made from crackers, was probably invented for use aboard ships, as it was known to the British Royal Navy as early as 1812.[24] The earliest known published recipes for mock apple pie date from the antebellum period of the 1850s.[25][26] In the 1930s, and for many years afterwards, Ritz Crackers promoted a recipe for mock apple pie using its product, along with sugar and various spices.[27]
Apparently, the Limeys lacked all forms of fresh or dried fruit, not just citrus. Bravo to their creative cooks who cobbled together a pie crust filled with saltines and flavored with sugar and spices.
With fresh fruit at my fingertips, no desire to add sugar, saturated fats or white flour, and a desire for a bit of “healthy dessert” – I set out on my quest.
But first, the back story …
As much as I adore my Grits ‘n Eggs ‘n Okra breakfasts, it’s nice to vary the diet, so I occasionally stir up some oatmeal combo to which I add what I call “sweet spices.”
Check out page 161 of Toolkit for Wellness to see how using cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and other spices/flavorings can decrease or eliminate the need for sugar.
One day, I got the idea to stir a half can of pumpkin puree into my cooking cereal. After adding vanilla and a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, I was enjoying all the pie satisfaction without tons of sugar or milk – or fattening crust.
I will fess up that my oatmeal is cooked with just a bit of brown sugar – recipe to follow – but the need for more is simply not there. Since there are always leftovers, I soon discovered that a small serving of my Mock Pumpkin Pie was a satisfying, HEALTHY dessert, filled with an orange veggie and fiber.
After putting a small shot of whipped cream on top, I was feeling quite special.
A Mock Apple Pie was soon to follow. Check out these satisfying ingredients and the recipe.
NOTE: Photoshoot day featured fresh apples and strawberries. In hindsight, I’d save the strawberries for the garnish alone – unless you were not planning on having leftovers. Strawberries lose their intense color after cooking. If using immediately, you could stir in the diced strawberries last minute, just prior to serving.
MOCK APPLE PIE a la FOODTALK4YOU
Ingredients
1 cup/250 ml old fashioned rolled oats – I use gluten-free
½ cup/250 ml steel cut oats – I use gluten-free
3 cups/750 ml water
2 tablespoons/30 ml brown sugar
1 cup/250 ml unsweetened applesauce
½ fresh apple, diced – I use Ambrosia apples
1 tsp/5 ml apple pie spice
Splash of vanilla extract – optional
Dash of salt – optional
Method
Add all oats, brown sugar, salt, and water into a saucepan on medium heat, stirring to combine.
Continue stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the pan. When the spoon begins to leave a “track” at the bottom of the pan, add the applesauce and diced apples. Continue to cook, stirring every so often.
When apples are heated and cooked to your desired doneness, remove from heat, add vanilla – if using – and serve. I prefer to leave some fibrous crunch to my apples to preserve their fresh fruit quality.
A cup and a half/375 ml serving makes a hearty breakfast.
A ¾ cup/187 ml serving is exactly right for dessert or an evening snack.
Certainly, this recipe easily adapts to canned pumpkin, or an array of fresh fruit. I hope you enjoy this hybrid Mock Apple Pie.
In health – even at dessert
Deidre
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I believe personal growth starts when the comfort zone is in the rearview mirror.
That’s what happened on April 12th, seven years ago. Goodbye comfort zone. Hello, foodtalk4you.com!
The thing to understand is – growth is not linear. When you grow in one direction, little accompanying offshoots spring up and out from your initial effort, all requiring additional growth.
My musings about total body good health out there for the world to read?
Geez. Who was I? How do I even start?
Hostgator? Domains? WordPress? What’s all that?
Foodtalk4you has led me to self-publishing, marketing, advertising on Amazon, to putting a full-fledged, free course on Teachable.
So far.
Maybe you are actualizing your desire to watercolor; it’s not something you’ve ever learned how to do. Maybe you have never done anything artsy before.
First comes learning about what kinds of brushes you need. Then comes the type of paper to use. Where or how are you going to learn watercolor techniques? Pretty soon, you are conversant about different kinds of paint, types of palettes – maybe even easels.
You start out with a simple still life and then discover the world of plein air art. Shading. Light. Perspective. Focal points. Seasons. Now, there’s matting and framing to consider.
You have amassed a sizeable collection of paintings that you now want to share with the world. You learn about getting a booth at the local farmer’s market and then you learn how to attractively present your beautiful pictures.
Business cards? Well, there you go. You learn how to design them. You learn where to get them printed.
One of your watercolors was bought by an elementary school teacher who asks if you would come to her class to demonstrate to the students the basics of how-to watercolor. You, teaching others? Now your comfort zone is really being stretched. But you go for it, and the students were wonderful, talented, and they hung on your every word.
Eventually, your tiny little shoot of growth has matured into a thriving tree with many branches. Bravo!
Stepping out of our comfort zones is where life is. Where there’s life, there’s growth.
So, go ahead. Step out of that comfort zone. It’s just one step, but it will lead to many others. Pretty soon, you’ll look back and marvel at all you have accomplished.
Happy seventh birthday, foodtalk4you! The trip is just getting started!
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