I never thought I would really get weighed down by stuff. I am not a collector. Collecting figurines or a pretty series of don’t-eat-on-me plates just never appealed; maybe because, at heart, I detest dusting. I have learned through the moving process, though, we generally saved either the wrong stuff or, mostly, too much stuff.
Having moved into our home some 34 years ago, raising two wonderful children, starting and pioneering a video production company in Eastern North Carolina, returning to college for nursing, teaching for 17 years, collecting partial household goods from both sides of our family, and retiring from video and teaching, we have gathered a lot of stuff.
Stuff can eat you alive. It creeps in around you, slowly but surely getting a choke hold around your neck.
Eating too much of highly processed foods, oils, and truck loads of sugar can be like accidentally gathering too much stuff, too. You just know you don’t feel as light and free as you used to. You are literally weighed down by what feels like sludge.
While I exercised a throw-out mentality at least twice a year with the closet change of seasons, clearly I was not doing enough. Similarly, we all may be seen making brief spurts in “eating better,” only to return to gathering sludge.
As the participants in my Designed for Health class are learning, making small, sustainable changes in their eating and life styles is becoming a daily habit. Change is no good if done in a quick flourish with over-charged engines. Gradual and consistent. A couple glasses of water first thing in the morning. The “ah-ha” moment of enjoying a Keystone breakfast’s lasting energy until past lunch time– which begs to easily be repeated.
These are sustainable. And liberating. Lightening. Empowering.
Right now, I am in the throes of moving most of my “stuff” from one level of the house to another in preparation for installing new flooring throughout the main living level. Closets, too! With an installation date finally on the calendar, I have to take a back step on meaningful food blogs.
However, as I am seeing ways to sell and give away as much as possible—believe me, if I am not going to realistically be using or wearing something, it will not be returning to its original location in our living space—I can see a distinct parallel to eating pure, whole food that is easily digestible. Like the excess stuff, body sludge will be gone with better, cleaner food choices!
You may find a little closet and drawer cleaning to be liberating, too! I have vowed to my children not to leave them with our house stuffed to the rafters with “stuff”. Really, there will be no museum in my name to document every breath and possession. I have done that kind of post-mortem “museum” clean outs twice, now, and I wouldn’t wish that task on anyone.
Similarly, in taking better care of our bodies, we are lightening the load for our families as we maintain our health to enjoy their company, not to rob them of their energies taking care of the avoidable diseases we are headed for with unwise eating patterns.
So, whether you are just starting out, wishing you could afford good “stuff”, or you are just plum proud of the good “stuff” surrounding you, or you are over-loaded with “stuff” and wondering what to do with it all, I challenge you to understand what life is all about. At the end of our life, will we be wishing for more “stuff”? No. We will want more time with our loved ones.
It’s a matter of choice. Everything is. And it’s a responsibility. Choose to lighten your load. Your physical load and your material load. It just feels so darn good to be free of physical sludge and environmental clutter. Freedom!
Have you considered that you are a Freedom Fighter? When talking about improving health through better, informed, and mindful food choices, one’s mind could assume a negative approach is needed. Somewhere in the process of saying no sugar, no grains, no dairy, no processed foods, we are appearing to be some kind of a “no-no-Nannette”……Wonder why?
First of all, we have to re-frame our approach. Most of any effort is 90% mental, so let’s rid ourselves of all that negative baggage once and for all. It’s not about what we can’t have. It’s all about what we are freeing ourselves from. (Grammarians read: It is all about that from which we are freeing ourselves). We are re-establishing a positive, trusting mental connection to our bodies through a more mindful approach to feeding and respecting them. Our mental approach is spiriting us to being more proactive for the daily outcomes of how we handle the relationship we have with our bodies. Choosing gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and preservative-free is like casting a vote for yourself!
Being freed from the tentacles of sugar means we are no longer slaves to that unquenchable desire for “more, more, more”. We are free from massive rises and falls of blood sugar. I am so happy to be freed from my emergency stash of nabs (that’s Southern for peanut butter crackers) in case I had yet another blood sugar crash— not knowing my rescue snack of carbs and low quality protein was ultimately feeding the problem.
And who could complain about being freed from endless bloating and gas? Isn’t it fun to be able to predictably fit into our clothes— not having to try on several outfits in case it’s a “bad day”?
How about that happy belly? Would you exchange that for a plate of grain-based pasta and French bread? Really? And would you want to get back those achy body joints, too? Surely not! Or would you give up clear thinking in favor of whole grains and a return to foggy brain? See my post on this subject: Your Brain on Wheat.
Feeling better, enjoying stable blood sugars, getting that spring back in our steps should NEVER be regarded as restrictive.
We fight for freedoms, don’t we? We naturally want to free the oppressed where ever we find them. Bad food choices, made through several decades of mis-information, are oppressing millions of people to a lesser quality of life and dooming them to crippling, life-robbing diseases.
Become a Freedom Fighter for yourself, first, and then for your family and friends. Spread the word; share contacts; refer others to this site; ask for better choices in grocery stores and restaurants; take a class and learn more.
You know what a keystone is, right? It’s the V-shaped stone placed at the top of an arch. It holds the whole thing together. Remove the keystone and the arch, along with everything above it, it will collapse. There are keystone habits we can do each day that will set us up for a great day of feeling balanced and ready to meet the tasks ahead of us and will keep our “engines” running for a smooth ride.
In our first session of a seven-week series of classes called “Designed for Health,” held at First Baptist Church in New Bern, North Carolina, we touched upon the mechanics of habits and how we might nudge those habits in a way that would still give us the desired reward (which is emotional), but would yield improved results in terms of body chemistry outcomes (as in increased nutritional value).
Dr. Tom O’Bryan states that there are three important things we must do for great, balanced health:
1) Drink 2 glasses of water each morning,
2) Eat an anti-inflammatory diet, and
3) Basically, don’t sweat the small stuff; enjoy the moment.
Understanding how habits work is critical to modifying them. First, there is a “trigger”: something that initiates the habit. A trigger could be a thought, emotion or circumstance, just about anything that leads us to the actual thing we do which is the “action.” With the action comes the “reward” for having done the action. Rewards are usually mental/emotional. We like the results. Understanding the results we want is key to modifying habits in order to maximize positive habit results for long-term health rather than a fleeting flash of a blood sugar high, which can have dire results metabolically.
Case in point: I have made swishing out my mouth first thing each morning to be a trigger to remind me to drink a glass of water. Drinking the water is the action. The reward is the knowledge that I am doing my body a favor, assisting it to function at an optimal level, and I have already done something positive for myself before my eyes have really opened. The second trigger is right before I leave the bathroom; I drink the second glass of water. Downing two glasses of water at once is too much for me, so I have found that drinking a glass of water at the beginning and end of my morning routine works best. There! I am on a roll now of doing positive things, so that leads me into the bedroom to take 30 seconds to make the bed! Wow! Two pluses and the day has hardly begun! Keystone Habits!
Once we enter the kitchen, there is another Keystone Habit that can pave the way for a day of even energy flow, maximum nutrition, and stable blood sugars. A great breakfast is the answer, but so many of us do not have the time to scramble a couple eggs in “happy butter” (from pastured and totally grass fed cows) served with a generous portion of veggies.
Some of us actually dash out the door, stop off at the nearest fast food chain for a highly-processed, gluten-filled, greasy biscuit filled with some kind of highly-processed, edible food-like substances, followed with a sugary drink or a sugar-laden latte to be eaten at in the car or first thing at work. Stomach in knots, blood sugar levels guaranteed to plummet later, and require to be “fixed” by a vending machine snack…. So goes the day. Sound familiar?
If you do not have the time to reheat last night’s protein and veggies, or to cook from scratch each morning, may I introduce you to a Smoothie? I’ve spoken of them before, but would like to share some different ideas today. Smoothies can actually be made the night before. It’s fun to concoct a blender-full with someone else. It could be a family affair; chances for family-wide buy-in to drinking a nutrient-dense smoothie skyrocket when everyone helps.
First of all, smoothies are not about being sweet. The goal is nutrient density. Fruit is just a part of it. If your goal is for the most stable blood sugar levels possible, fruit choices should remain in the berry category. Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries should be at the top of the list because of their low glycemic load, followed by strawberries. In any case, fruit should be measured at about ½ cup per 8-ounce drink. The rest is a choice of seasonings (salt, vanilla extract and “sweet spices” as I call them), fluid (water, coconut milk, almond milk, coconut water, or strong green tea), a good fat (avocado, coconut oil, or flax oil), and a good protein (nuts or nut butters, whey protein, powdered egg whites, and various seeds that also provide a good fat profile: hemp, chia, and flax), and greens (baby spinach, kale, and chard). Believe me, those greens really do not change the flavor substantially, but they are vital to make this the Keystone/Powerhouse drink we want to hold us for hours and help our bodies function optimally.
Now here’s the thing. You put the fruit, seasonings, fluid, and fat in the blender and blitz it; then you add the protein and seeds; blitz some more. Pause. Enjoy the color! If blueberries were your choice, you’d have a great blue/purple color. Lovely! If red berries or cherries were your choice, wow! Gorgeous pinks and reds!
But, wait! There’s more! We haven’t added our nutrient-packed greens, yet! OK. You remember art class back in school? Red and Green makes……right………brown.
Now this is where my being the instructor of future medical students comes to play. I remember the speech now…. Class, what color is blood? Red. Very good. Now is blood in its natural form dry or wet? Wet. Excellent. So, from now on, when you see blood, it will be pointless to scream like someone who has never seen that red, wet fluid, won’t it? Get over it. Blood is red and wet. Done! No screaming!
Either you can handle the potentially gloomy transformation of your beautiful, colorful concoction into varying shades of brown or puce, or you can’t. If you can’t “man-up” about it, or if your car-pooling colleagues might grab for a barf bag, or if you just don’t want to start “that” conversation again at work, I have a solution!
Let’s look at before and after pictures of today’s recipe of 2-3 Tbs. coconut cream, 1 cup coconut milk (unsweetened), enough water to make things a good consistency (about 1 cup or so), cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, salt, 2 coffee scoops each of hemp hearts, ground flax seeds, and chia seeds, ½ banana, and 1 cup of mixed berries and cherries. This recipe is for at least 4 servings.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
See that spinach on top; yet to be blended?
Just makes you want to drink it, right?
Yummmmm!
Well, I can handle it; maybe because I used to be a nurse, but many people can’t. So here is my answer to the problem! Behold, the Mason jar decorating trick!
This could be a great family project! I selected watermelon shades that would remind me of the previous look of my beverage, before the greens.
First thing you do is clean the surfaces to be painted with alcohol
Then you apply the first coat, making sure to keep any painted area well away from the drinking area- at least ¾ of an inch.
Wait one hour for the first coat to dry, then apply the second coat.
Wait another hour before painting in the watermelon seeds.
Once your creation is totally dried, put the pieces in a cold oven. Shut the door. Turn oven to 350 degrees. When the oven has come up to temp, set the timer for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, turn the oven off and WAIT. Wait until the oven has thoroughly cooled down. I did this one evening and just waited until morning to take the jars and lids out. DO NOT open the oven to peek at any time because that could crack the finish. Once completed, the objects are dishwasher safe.
So, enjoy your smoothie! Whether it turns out to be a green monster (I like those, too!) or something that’s perfectly puce, you can have fun while enjoying your nutrient dense drink and get the reward of knowing you are doing something really good for your health and well-being that will set you up for smooth running all day long! Keystone Habit!
Hope arts and crafts time is fun for you and yours-
I feel as if I have sort of dropped the ball with the Detox, Plan, Moves, and Life Series. Starting a major project on the cusp of vacations may not have been the wisest approach. Hopefully, you have been able to garner enough “ammunition” to take strides into more healthful eating habits and patterns even while on vacation! I am trying to address at least two of these basic topics in each current post.
I am in the midst of planning out the scope-of-course and lesson plans for my Designed for Health Classes in New Bern, North Carolina. Classes will be held at the First Baptist Church from 6-7 pm on Wednesday evenings starting September 10th and will continue for 7 weeks. If you are interested in attending, please call the church office at 252-638-5691 to reserve both your slot and a copy of the book we will be using for the class. The class is open to anyone in the community who would like to attend. If you would like more information, please leave a comment here or email me at foodtalk4you@gmail.com
Well, my coffee brewing time is really getting busy! While waiting for the java to brew, I am working on planks, squats, and arm circles! Remember when I mentioned how much easier it is to slip a new habit into sharing a time slot already committed to something else? Well, apparently there is a name for that! According to James Clear, it’s called “habit stacking.” Who knew? Makes sense to me.
We’ve all done this when parking farther out from the store so we can get a bit more walking in. Only takes a minute longer, but the leg stretch is easily acquired without special scheduling. Then when it’s time to walk out to the mail box, we jog instead…maybe we even jog around the house one time. Waiting for water to boil? Do some slow motion squats or some TTapp-inspired arm motions as described in previous posts. Stack a good habit on top of some period of time that is “already there” so-to-speak. Try it! Let me know what you do to “habit stack.”
There are two approaches to being gluten-free. You can replace starchy baked goods with gluten-free versions. That’s fine and good sometimes. There are days when a breakfast just needs some toast to sop up that yummy egg yolk! However, incorporating the idea of nutrient density into our meal plans usually eliminates the additional carbohydrates found in baked goods. Therefore, the second approach should include, perhaps, a vegetable or a good fat source such as some avocado. Again, I am not saying no gluten-free breads ever again, I am saying that for at least 80% of the time we should be aiming in favor of nutrient density.
Therefore, I would like to revisit Cashew Gravy; this time with pictures of my latest batch! I was grilling some burgers the other night and knew some gravy would really add some “Umami” to my meal. Umami is that extra “something” that makes this delicious, yummy, and delightful. So here’s the recipe:
Slicing onions is no big deal, and a knife and cutting board are a snap to clean. Since I was going to use my food processor, which has four parts to clean for additional tasks, I chose to use it instead. After making the gravy, I sliced up more onion and then a bag of Brussels sprouts to prepare Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Vinegar to complete the meal.
So here are the onions after processing….
You can purchase cashew butter already made, but I usually make my own by putting them into the food processor and processing them for a looooong time. Sure enough, a paste will form. If you are making your own, it will take a bit more than a cup of nuts to make a cup of nut butter. If there is extra, don’t worry. It will taste great on some gluten-free toast!
Then sauté the onions for a long time- probably 20 minutes- until they caramelize. Not much stirring is needed early on in the process, but as they become more cooked, more frequent attention is needed.
Once the onions are starting to turn golden, add the water, cashew butter, tamari (wheat free), pepper, sage, or Mural of Flavor spice.
After incorporating the ingredients and allowing them to cook a few minutes, process in about three batches in the food processor or blender, blitzing until smooth. Pour the now smooth gravy into a sauce pan to finish cooking a bit.
Enjoy on just about any kind of meat. It was great on my lamb burger; is awesome on beef, and can make poultry sing! This gravy also freezes very well!
Talk about nutrient dense! What could be better than bone broth? Do you know why? Yes, Mom gave us chicken broth when we were under the weather, but did you know that savory bone broth just might keep you out of “bad weather”?
Particularly in terms of osteoporosis? Being gluten and grain free enables our bodies to better absorb calcium and other minerals because there are no phytates blocking that process. (1) So, bring on rich bone broth as something just to drink everyday as many are doing, but also as a basis for some yummy soup.
Honestly, there are so many wonderful foods we can be eating every day, I have a hard time fitting them all in; but I do try to whip up a vat of sturdy bone broth at least once or twice a month. In the fall I use ox tails, but right now it’s chicken!
Right here, I have to make an addendum before going to the recipe below. Is it broth or is it stock? I have just finished ready several postings from about the web and rather than having things clarified, the issue is even murkier than before. So to avert a landslide of bad press, I am sharing a recipe that cooks meat-laden bones and flavor-enhancing vegetables for a while, removing the meat and returning bones for a lengthy simmer for the purpose of making a soup base. Call it what you will.
I have learned today of another way to do things by just using bones
for the sole purpose of making a perfectly clear ‘broth’ that may be even healthier. According to Summer Brock’s recent post, she parboils the bones-only broth for a few minutes and discards the water before the 24-48 hour boil and simmer in a new vat of water. This eliminates some of the foam junk that accumulates in the beginning that may be not that beneficial to consume. This method renders a very rich ‘broth’ that can be the base for some Pho or just used as a daily bone-boosting beverage.
Having said all that, I have adapted a recipe by Kelly Bejelly (in her blog A Girl Worth Saving) for Chicken and Dumplings by adding a couple ingredients, vastly extending the cooking time, and staging things differently because of the more beneficial cook time. When these bones are finished, the cartilage at the end of the bones has turned to jelly and the ends of the longer bones are practically falling off!
Bones are the operand word here; bones, joints, necks, and –yes- chicken feet! OMG! You may say, but it’s true! I actually have run out of chicken feet for this batch, but they are easily found at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Buy a bag of chicken feet, use 3-4 and freeze the rest! This may be the part of the soup making process you need to hide from your family. We are not going to eat those poor feet, but they add so much gelatin and collagen which makes bone broth worth its weight in gold!
Chicken and Nut Dumpling Soup
To make the broth:
Chicken parts – This time, I used 4 leg/thigh quarters, 2 wings, back and rib bones (saved the breast meat for kabobs)
1 ½ – 2 tsp. of poultry seasoning
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 Tbs. gelatin dissolved and stirred into ½ cup water
2 carrots peeled and cut into large pieces
½ onion cut into large pieces
3 ribs of celery cut into large pieces
Your soup pot should look something like this:
Cover contents with water – it took 10 cups for me – and add about 2 Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar. The vinegar helps to break down the bones and to release their minerals.
Bring to a gentle boil, reduce to a simmer, and forget about it for 3 hours. At this point, I use a slotted spoon to bring the meat/bones out into a bowl. Let the meat/bones cool, and remove most of the meat but return all bones and clumps of cartilage to the broth. Save the cooked chicken meat to finish the soup or to use for other purposes. The bones should continue to cook for a total of at least 12 hours. With my sensitive sense of smell, I am not a fan of over-night cooking, but if you are not bothered by cooking aromas in your sleep, go for it. I usually cook several hours one day, cool off the pot, and place it in the refrigerator until next days’ simmer.
Once the bones are falling apart, strain the broth using a colander or sieve and a large bowl or another soup pot. Discard the bones and the way-over-cooked veggies. You could stop here and just drink a cup – full of broth every day; many do. If you want to go on to soup, keep cooking!
To make the soup
Cut into your favorite soup-sized pieces:
2-3 carrots
½ onion
2-3 ribs of celery
Cut up and add as much of the cooked chicken meat as you like at this time, using the rest for other purposes such as chicken salad.
Add to pot of broth to simmer. Adjust seasonings to your taste.
While the veggies are cooking, prepare the Nut Dumplings as follows:
1/3 cup of broth, cooled
½ cup Tapioca flour
1 ½ cups of sliced or slivered almonds, preferably have been soaked and dehydrated to inactivate the phytates which will make the broth’s mineral richness more absorbable to the body.
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. poultry seasoning
Place the Tapioca flour, almonds, salt, and seasoning into a food processor or blender and process until the nuts are pretty much like flour. With the machine running, gradually add the cooled broth to the flour mixture until you have soft dough. Shape the dumplings to your preferred size by scooping out a spoonful of dough into your hands and gently rolling into balls. I like making really small ones, pinching off a bit of dough using an iced teaspoon, and dropping it into the pot.
Bring the soup to a low boil, and add shaped dumplings gradually. At this point, you could also add some quick-cooking vegetables as well: small broccoli florets, zucchini or summer squash. I also add a lot of fresh parsley leaves, chopped, at this time for added richness!
When veggies and dumplings are cooked, serve and garnish with added parsley if desired. Bon appetite!
Let’s summarize what we are doing and where we are. We are creating and following The Plan of eating, learning how to do The Moves in exercise, and embracing The Life that will bring us renewed health with each meal and with each day’s activities. We are taking ownership of everything we put into our body, realizing that what we have been told in the past about nutrition (whole grain, low fat, high carb, count calories, eat less and exercise more) is probably where our troubles started in the first place.
For the first ten days of The Plan in the detox phase, we’ve ditched the sugar, dairy, gluten, grains, alcohol, and caffeine! Congrats if you were able to go all the way with this! I had a slip or two, but it’s okay; this is something I am doing for no one else but myself! I can live with it!
I truly hope you were able to decrease your dependence on sugar, and that living without constant bread and starches has opened up a whole new world of satisfying eating.
The point is how do you feel? How are your energy levels? Has the brain fog lifted? Has joint pain gone? Is your belly happy? Are you sleeping better? Have more bounce to your step? I hope so!
Now the detox has ended, clean eating has not! That should be part of your life plan anyway! What is needed now is perhaps a bit of liberality still within making nutrient dense food choices that will “do your body good.” We are always looking for ways to cram in as many nutrients (protein, good fats, and veggies) into all recipes.
Having wiped the slate clean and having gotten reacquainted with how your body functions without food pollution, you can try singular items every few days in order to assess how you react. Easy does it, one thing at a time. Make a small step towards dairy; see if you can tolerate ghee (clarified butter) without experiencing any gastric distress.
This ghee was given to me. I will probably have to order it online. Then use some pure, clean butter made solely from grass-fed cows. I use Kerrygold brand which is available from Harris Teeter. Nothing can add more lusciousness to lightly steamed broccoli than some real butter! Oh, my!
If you want to continue into the dairy world, a few days later, try some unsweetened low fat Greek yogurt. The low fat yogurt concept was explained to me this week; usually clean eating never shies away from good fats. Good fats include avocado, extra virgin olive oil, fat from grass-fed meat, dairy fats from grass-fed cows, nuts and seeds, and chocolate. Most low fat products just add sugar to keep that “bliss point” in the flavor palate. But non-fat plain Greek yogurt has way more protein in it than full fat yogurt so – Yay! Bring it on! I currently am using regularly available store-bought Greek yogurt; if I had access to yogurt from pasture-fed cows, I’d do it!
Here’s what I did with my yogurt yesterday. Is it a pudding? A cold cereal? Or, if slightly frozen, is it ice cream? I don’t know, but it is certainly helping me as a nighttime snack and could help others who do not feel like traditional breakfast food.
In Advance –
Usually I do this each night after cleaning up dinner’s dishes or right before bed – presoak the chia seeds and flax seeds in water. Presoaking these seeds at least a few hours allows them to swell up as they absorb the water. These seeds are a great source of fiber, but to benefit by them, you want the water absorption to happen before they get into you, lest the ‘helpers’ actually cause constipation by absorbing water in your intestines! These seeds also are wonderful sources of good omega-3 fatty acids and ramp up the protein count whenever you use them. I prepare chia and flax seeds daily not knowing exactly where they will end up- usually a smoothie, as a thickener to sauces, but sometimes like this in a Berry Blend!
Also a few minutes in advance while you are getting the ingredients together- gradually stir the gelatin into about a half cup of cold water for one minute. If you rush this, trust me, you will end up with weird shapes of hard ‘stuff’ in your final food product! Gross!
Creamy Berry and Seed Blend
Place the following ingredients in a food processor or blender:
2 – 5+ ounce containers of non-fat Greek yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Vanilla extract to taste
1 coffee scoop EACH of chia seeds and flax seeds, whole or ground, soaked in 1 cup water
2 Tablespoons of gelatin stirred into ½ cup water for one minute
Blend, blend, blend.
Transfer to a container and pop into the refrigerator for a few hours.
That’s it! Today’s breakfast consisted of some reheated leftover okra, a bit of leftover zoodles and shrimp cooked in pesto, and for dessert, a bowl of this Berry Blend. Yum!
Next post will be about other high-nutrition options along with a great barbeque sauce recipe that has no sugar in it and is bursting with flavor!
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I have two recipes for you that will fit both into the detox phase, (gluten, grain, dairy, sugar, and caffeine free); but also into the overall life plan of being gluten free.
First, I created an awesome smoothie combination which resulted in one of my all-time favorite blends of flavors just this past week after discovering mini melons at the fresh produce stand!
Here it is:
Melon-Mint-Coconut Smoothie
In blender put:
4-5 cubes ice
20-25 fresh mint leaves
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
1 peeled, seeded, and cut up mini melon – they are the size of a baseball and have light-colored flesh
2 scoops of whey protein
Big handful of greens – I used that mix of baby kale, chard, spinach, and carrot from Sam’s
Few drops of vanilla extract to taste
A pinch of salt, if desired
A sprinkle of cardamom to taste
Enough unsweetened coconut milk to make things flow
Blend. Pour. Enjoy.
This was enough for now and later!
Being gluten-free created a bit of a vacuum in terms of gravy. You know…good ol’ gravy? That was until I read a recipe in Penzeys’ catalogue last year! Oh, it looked and sounded so good! Could it really fill the bill? Well, I gave it a crack and, lo and behold, it really did the trick for me, was so easy to prepare, reheats well, and I usually keep some frozen.
Behold, Cashew Gravy:
Cashew Gravy
Ingredients:
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 large onions diced
¾ cup cashew butter (You can buy this nut butter found next to peanut butter at the store, or you can make it yourself by grinding cashews in the food processor- that’s what I do.)
½ cup wheat-free tamari
2 ½ cups water
¼ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. ground sage or Penzey’s Mural of Flavor
Method:
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until caramel in color, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. As the onions become browner, stir more frequently. Add the cashew butter, tamari, water, and spices and cook until heated through.
Place in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Be careful with blending as hot liquids tend to foam up—fill only halfway.
I have used this gravy on beef, turkey, and lamb. It would also work with chicken, I am sure. So if you feel like pouting because you don’t have a bun to go with that burger, don’t! Use some of this luscious gravy and the others around the table will get jealous! With this good gravy, I don’t even want a gluten free bun— just too much bread (read carbs). Makes me want to run to the store to get some extra onions so I can replace my gravy stock!
Speaking of running….How is exercise going for you? Have you tried any slow-motion squats? I am expanding upon my newly formed habit of doing a bent-knee plank during coffee brewing time, (my husband is still drinking coffee), and have added 6 slow squats this morning.
While waiting for the last of the brewing to finish, I added arm circles but with a twist. I learned from doing T-Tapp exercises (more on those later) that a big change in arm dynamics can come about with just a turn of the palm. Instead of arm circles with palms down, turn your palms up facing the ceiling and bring your arms as far back as comfortably possible! Really cool!
For standing exercises like this, according to T-Tapp, the proper stance is feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, tuck pelvis in, suck tummy in, shoulders back! Really works for better posture and general body dynamics.
The also works with progressive arm “flaps” where-by you pump your out-stretched arms at your side with palms up. Start by standing with arms straightened out as if you were making the letter ‘T’. Bring arms as far back as you can comfortably with palms up. Lower your arms just a third of the way down for 6-8 reps, then continue lowering and raising them about two thirds of the way down for 6-8 reps, then bring arms all the way down your side and back straight out for 6-8 reps. All done with palms facing up! I loved returning to this old exercise.
A gentle wake up and body activation all done while the java was brewing. Such a schedule is easier for me to maintain because that time is a fixed allotment every morning; it’s already there to make use of without scheduling something special later in the day.
Hope you enjoy these recipes and exercises! If you have any questions or comments, please do so below, and remember to share your success with others! You are doing great!
Last night’s half-serving of smoothie held me so well that I wasn’t even hungry for breakfast at all, so I didn’t eat until lunch and enjoyed a crouton-free chicken salad mixture on a salad with tomato, cucumber, and bell pepper at a favorite local restaurant. Salt, pepper, and a splash or two of balsamic vinegar were all that was needed on top. It was so satisfying and I still have a bit of the chicken left over for later. Dinner tonight will be leftovers from last night’s shrimp, chicken, asparagus, artichoke heart, and olive sauté served over zoodles.
Years ago I read an article, probably in the Reader’s Digest, describing the merits of exercising slowly. For instance, if you are lifting weights to exercise your biceps (arm curls), instead of going at things quickly and trying to get as many repetitions, (reps), and sets done as possible, the better method would be to do the movements very slowly and do fewer reps. Why? Well, that article and others that I am reading right now suggest, in moving a weight slowly, more muscle fibers are called in to get the job done. Try it. Flex your elbow holding a modest weight (3, 5, or 10 lbs.) and do it five times fairly quickly. Should be not a problem. You could go on for quite a few reps. Now, using that same weight, flex your arm very slowly taking a count of 10 to get to the fully-flexed position and then slowly extend your arm taking a count of 10 to get almost fully extended. Repeat for a total of five times. You should certainly feel the dramatic difference that slow movement creates!
What I am studying now indicates, shorter, slower workouts are much more effective—to the point that they only need to be done 10 minutes ONCE a week. That 10 minutes will not necessarily be a walk in the park; doing slower exercises can and should be a challenge. If 5-6 reps doesn’t tire you out, then the resistance needs to be increased—that’s the weight. If you can hardly complete the 5 reps, then maybe you need to start at a lower weight. Safety is first at all times. If a 2 lb. weight is what you need to start, then that’s fine. An extremely short period of intensity ONCE a week is fine by me!
This can all be done at home with weights easily bought at the store. There will come a point when I will need to transfer my efforts to a machine at a gym to help me increase the weight/resistance. But, for now, no daily trudging to the gym; and when I do decide to go to a gym, it will be a brief period once a week. I am learning there are only a few moves that we need to do that will incorporate the major muscle groups which will, in turn, take care of trouble spots, even without addressing them directly.
Remember always to consult a health professional before starting any kind of exercise program. Each one of us has certain limitations, and your health professional will be able to guide you. I am merely sharing what I am doing according to what I have learned.
One move that I will cover today is the squat. At first, you may need no weight at all, and in fact, you may need to be near a chair or counter in case you need added stability. Without a weight, a squat is done standing with feet spaced under your shoulders and arms extended out in front of you. Bend at the knee and hip, and as you begin to lower yourself into a sitting position, keep your knees no further forward than your toes. You lower yourself, optimally, until your thighs are parallel to the floor, but that may take practice. Just be comfortable and safe.
So right now, the weight you are dealing with is just yours. Do a few squats at regular speed just to get the hang of it. Now do them slowly: a ten-count down and a ten-count up. It’s a whole different game, now, isn’t it? Once your own weight does not challenge you for 6 reps, add a modest weight, holding it to your chest with both hands. Notch up the weight when six slow reps no longer challenge you. At the end of six slow reps, the goal is to have maxed-out your ability to do anymore. Not to kill you; but you certainly should know “that was enough.”
Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a full series of basic exercises is to be done only once a week. We’ll cover another move in a few days.
Getting so ready for The Plan that I’ve practically started it already! I almost reached for a beverage tonight that would only have added sugar to my blood stream, so I grabbed the big pitcher full of mint water instead! That was a major victory for me!
So, what’s for breakfast tomorrow?
There are two approaches:
Something with eggs or a smoothie.
My personal favorite is a Big Scramble: Two eggs whipped up with salt, pepper, and a splash of unsweetened coconut milk, (So Delicious is the brand I use) poured into the pan in which I have already re-heated some left-over zoodles or cooked some minimally-processed sausage, along with some sautéed mushrooms. Basically, any non-starchy vegetable will do. That’s where variety comes in. Sometimes I will reheat some left-over salmon along with some leafy greens before adding the egg mixture. Other times, I will pan fry some okra first as a side dish to the eggs. As long as there is a veggie in there somewhere. Spices also create variety. Penzy’s spices has a Bavarian Seasoning that I just love to add to eggs. Sometimes it’s their Mural of Flavor seasoning. Any way you cut it, that’s a nutrient-dense meal that will last for hours and not cause blood sugar spikes.
Smoothies are perfect for breakfast or lunch. My previous article on smoothies will give you a start. If you are blessed with the mother-of-all-blenders: the Vita-Mix (oooo-ahhhh), then the sky is the limit! My daughter has access to one and she is whipping up smoothies with beets and carrots; but a good quality, general kind of blender (like mine……) will probably do best with ½ cup of fruit, a couple handfuls of greens, whey protein, some fluid, ice, and sweet spices.
Note to self: Ask Santa for a Vita-Mix!
What’s for lunch?
Smoothies are transportable in wide-mouth mason jars which can be taken to work, kept in the refrigerator, shaken up, and enjoyed at any time.
Lunch can also be a giant salad. My favorite greens actually come from Sam’s and are Taylor Farms Organic Power Greens Kale Medley of baby spinach, kale, chard, and carrots. Cooked, served raw in a salad, or blended in a smoothie, these greens really do the job! So tasty!
What goes into the salad needs to be nutrient-dense and non-starchy. We are not talking pasta salad here! Good fats are essential for a better balance of omega 3s to omega 6s. (We generally get way too many omega 6s in the Standard American Diet.) Avocado is stellar in that department along with olives, olive oil, and crunchy nuts.
So what else? We need some protein! I usually grab whatever left-over meat I have and add that sliced or chopped to my salad, or use some canned tuna. After that, you can add salt, pepper, and avocado oil to call it done, or you can expand with carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, and perhaps a small handful of berries…. Go for the colors; the more, the better! The dressing can be as simple as avocado oil only, or balsamic vinegar only, or olive oil and vinegar. Just none of that creamy stuff from a bottle made from who-knows-what and has a highly processed “Frankenoil” at its heart.
The basic rule?
Eat until you are full! Personally, two eggs are fine for me at breakfast, but some people need more. Do not leave a meal hungry. When I make a smoothie, I usually have leftovers that will be my go-to snack later in the day. Eat enough protein and non-starchy veggies at dinner to fill you up!
What’s for dinner?
Protein, non-starchy veggies, and good fat. Nothing is breaded—we will learn about gluten-free breading later. Just wonderful meat, poultry, fish, or seafood. Grill something; so easy to do this time of year!
Stir up some zoodles with pesto, steam some broccoli. How about some baby greens in olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil? Sauté some Brussels sprouts in olive or avocado oil, season, then finish cooking by steaming on low with a lid on the pan. For a special treat, finish your veggies with some toasted sesame oil! Yum…I could drink that stuff!
Speaking of which, what’s to drink?
During the initial ten-day detox phase of The Plan: Anything with no caffeine, alcohol, or added sugar. That’s why the post on flavored water the other day. Herbal teas make delightful hot or cold beverages, as well.
Snacks?
Is it possible to be hungry between these meals? Well, once in a while I am, so here are some options that work for me:
– Left-over smoothie
– Hard-boiled egg
– Small handful of crunchy nuts
– Sliced avocado with lemon pepper
– Spoonful of almond butter
After the 10-day detox period, a piece of 70% or greater dark chocolate! Oh, yeah!
Tomorrow, I will describe how to turn an average nut into something that is easier to digest and allows for better absorption of nutrients: Crunchy Nuts.
Here’s to giving our bodies a rest from the constant assault of artificial ingredients. A time to re-set our metabolism and digestion. A time to heal from inflammation-causing foods.
With the kick-off start date to “The Plan” fast approaching (Monday, July 7th), let’s hope we do not get any major delays due to any ill effects of Hurricane Arthur swinging by our coast. May all be safe, and as the Governor said yesterday, “Don’t wear a stupid hat!” Ocean waves may beckon but the undertow and rip currents are stronger than all of us! When approaching a flooded intersection: “Turn around, don’t drown!”
Did you catch the story featured on MSN News this week? It appears there is yet another reason to going paperless when paying our bills and in receiving various statements, than just in saving the trees and our environment from the pollution it makes to create paper. Trees need to be saved for something else!
There’s tree pulp in a great deal of the fast food we are consuming. Yup! Oh, it’s not called a pine bark burger or a maple tree smoothie, but the tree pulp is there!
How? It sneaks in under various guises: cellulose gum, cellulose powder, powdered cellulose, but it is wood pulp all the same. This non-absorbable fiber provides anti-caking properties (aka: anti-caking agent), acts as an emulsion-stabilizing agent, and improves cling (how creamy stuff stays together).
What this is to the fast food industry is cheap filler that enables them to increase profits by decreasing the real/costly ingredients such as chicken and cream. Are you saying “yuck” yet?
The article cited studies that suggest adverse effects on cholesterol. Who knows what will follow?
It turns out McDonalds is the biggest offender with 14 menu items containing this wood pulp, followed by: Burger King at 13, Wendy’s at 10, Taco Bell at 9, and Hardees coming in at 6 menu items.
So those special, re-invented buns we’re seeing, creamy cheeses and sauces, cakes, smooth shakes, fries (that do not stick together), meats….just about anything… have been made, err formulated in a chemistry lab, to what?…Taste better?…Seriously?….Be more healthy?…Come on! To be more PROFITABLE for THEM!
Listen up America! Save a tree! Eat REAL food! Save YOURSELF!
Deidre