Detoxify Your Life - Healthy Fats

Day 3 of the Detoxify Your Life Challenge from 360YourLife.com is here!  Today is all about FAT!  Sometime in the last 20 years, everyone began to associate being overweight with consuming fats.  The food market began pumping out all kinds of foods labeled "Fat Free" or "Low Fat".... yet the obesity epidemic has continued to skyrocket!  All these chemicals added to food in order to make them "low fat", or "fat free" have since been proven to be more harmful for our health, and actually a cause of unhealthy weight gain.  Check out the labels of foods that claim to be "fat free" or "low fat", the natural fats have been stripped away, but often replaced with starch or sugar and sugar substitutes to replace the flavor of the natural fat content.  It's probably better if you avoid any product labeled "fat free" or "low fat" and instead, focus on getting natural foods that are already low in fat.  Also, there is such a thing as "Good" fat, and certain fats are necessary to help us have a balanced diet and a properly functioning body!  Just cutting out fats alone will not make you lose weight, as our society is quickly learning!  Especially when these fats are simply being replaced by unnecessary sugars, chemically altered sugar substitutes, and addictive nutrient free starch!

Healthy fats can actually lower your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol.  They also improve brain function, improve your mood, provide energy, and help the health of your skin, hair, and fingernails.  Monounsaturated fatty acids are one example of healthy fats and can be found in Avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and poultry.  Polyunsaturated fats are also beneficial to your health and are most commonly found in fish such as salmon and mackerel.  There are a few sources of saturated fats which are also considered to be good for you (although most sources of Saturated fat are not good for you, if you get them through the right sources they are proven not to increase cholesterol levels) and these are the fats from coconut oil, organic grass-fed beef, and butter that is organic and made from grass-fed cows.  The fats to avoid are called "Trans fats" and these are typically found in fried foods, and any food with oils added.  Another name for Trans fat is "partially hydrogenated oil" and this should be avoided.

Today's challenge is to find a recipe using a "healthy fat" from this list of foods which naturally contain the best kinds of healthy fat.

Avocados
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
Nuts
Seeds
Beef (Clean / Organic / Grass Fed)
Salmon (wild caught)
Poultry (Clean /Organic / Free Range / Vegetarian Fed)
Raw, Organic Butter (from grass fed cows)

Find ways to incorporate these healthy fats into your cooking, snacking, and general diet.  Avoid the things with Trans Fats and Partially hydrogenated oil, as well as staying away from things labeled "Fat Free" or "Low Fat".

My Favorite easy Salmon recipe!

Honey-Mustard Broiled Salmon

ingredients;
Wild-Caught Salmon Fillet
2 tablespoons Honey
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tablespoon whole Mustard Seed
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

Directions; 
In a bowl, mix together everything except the salmon.
Place thawed salmon on baking tray, skin side down.  You may want to line the tray with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Use a spoon to place the honey mustard mixture on top of the salmon in a thick layer.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let some of the flavor soak in to the salmon.
Turn broiler on high to pre-heat.
Place the salmon under the broiler, 6 to 8 inches below heat source.  Broil for 7 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness of the salmon.  Cook until it begins to flake easily with a fork, but be careful not to overcook or it will be too dry!
Enjoy!

Detoxify Your Life - Protein Challenge

For Day 2 of the 28 Day Challenge from 360YourLife.com, we are learning about Protein.  Protein is an essential part of your diet.  All Proteins that you eat are converted into amino acids that our cells need in order to function properly.

There are a few things everyone should know about protein.  First of all, most of us were raised with the "Protein Myth", to believe that the only source of real protein is through meat products.  While meat products DO provide protein, they are not the ONLY source of protein available!  Getting our protein from a variety of sources is very important, because we need to make sure we are getting as many different amino acids as we can.  There are 20 different kinds of amino acids, several of which our body cannot create on it's own and we need to get them through our foods.  These are called "essential amino acids".  The best way to make sure we are getting a variety of the 20 different kinds of amino acids is to get a variety of proteins in our diet.  When people let go of the myth that "meat is where I get my protein", they become open to other great sources of proteins and essential amino acids which will help their body function at it's very best!

Some non-meat high protein foods are;
Cheese (especially Mozzarella and cottage cheese)
Tofu, Soy, Soy Beans
Beans; Kidney beans, White beans, Lima Beans, fava beans, black beans etc
Eggs (especially egg whites)
Milk, Cheese, Yogurt
Nuts and Seeds (pumpkin seeds, almonds, etc)
Spirulina
Flax Seeds
Chia Seeds

I'm not saying you should or have to go vegetarian, just that it is beneficial for you to make sure you are getting your protein from a wide variety of sources!

The other thing everyone should be aware of with protein; is it safe?  Do you know where it came from?  In the case of meat... how was it raised, what was it fed, how was it processed?  When it comes to other protein sources that are plant based; were they grown naturally?  Organic?  Are they from genetically modified crops?  I know how it is, you're thinking "I would go crazy if I knew the truth about my food and where it came from.  I'd rather not know."  You're partly right, once you know the truth about this stuff, you can't forget it.  You can't un-know it.  But in this case, is Ignorance Bliss, or is Ignorance a death sentence?  Studies have linked the consumption of conventionally raised meats with cancer and heart disease, hormonal disorders, etc.  The long term effects of Genetically modified foods (GMOs) is still uncertain, but early testing of animals has shown a direct relationship between GMOs and cancer.  The sad truth is, the food industry isn't interested in the quality of what they produce, as much as they are in the quantity, and in the end... the profit.  So, even with your meats, there are healthy protiens in them... yes.  But what else are you getting along with those proteins?  I'm pretty sure a side effect of cancer or early heart disease is not what you wanted when you bought that steak.

What to do about it?  Here is what you need to look for;

Clean Protein Options

• Organic, grass fed beef
• Organic, free range chicken and turkey
• Wild-caught fish
• free-range, organic eggs
• non GMO Soy

There are several documentaries available now which explore these ideas and the truth about the food industry.  I would highly recommend you watch these;

Hungry For Change - http://www.hungryforchange.tv/
Food Inc. - http://www.takepart.com/foodinc/film
Food Matters - http://www.foodmatters.tv/
Frankensteer - http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/frankensteer_2005/
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
Vegucated - http://www.getvegucated.com/

People tell me "I don't want to know."  Just stop.  You NEED to know.  The only way we can make a change is to first wake up and be aware, and then we can know what changes to make!  The more people start changing their eating habits (and their shopping habits), the industry will follow suit and change to provide the people with what they want!!

Today's Challenge was to substitute the protein in one of your favorite recipes with a "clean" protein from the list above.

This morning I had my daily protein shake.  I love using Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein Powder* to make shakes, because it is high in protein, has essential amino acids, plenty of vitamins, and it is made using non-GMO Soy!

Today's recipe;

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 1/2 cup Almond Milk

3 Tablespoons Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein

1 tablespoon Flax Seeds

1 tablespoon Chia Seeds

Put everything in the blender except for the Chia seeds.  Blend until smooth.  Add the Chia seeds when you pour the smoothie in a glass.  Stir & enjoy!

*If you are interested in purchasing the Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein, or curious about other Shaklee brand products, contact me!

I also went to the store and found some Organic, Grass Fed beef to use in our spaghetti!  

and a couple other things I found at the store, while I was in the process of locating clean and healthy proteins;

Wordless Wednesday - Green Juice!

 

(Recipe; HERE)

 

 

Wordless Wednesday!

D.I.Y. Laundry Essentials!

Recently a friend shared with me this great blog post with some wonderful DIY, Home-made laundry essentials!  I have already been making my own laundry soap for about 2 years now, but I thought this post had some great tips and I wanted to pass it on!
Top 3 DIY Lavender Laundry Essentials!

So check it out!  Today I had a "Laundry Day"... I washed some laundry, made the Lavender Scented Dryer balls as mentioned in the other blog, also made the Lavender Scented Fabric Softener!  I was already using Vinegar as a fabric softener but I loved the idea of making it scented!  Then I washed some more laundry because I had to try out my new products!  I must say I Love the Fabric Softener and Dryer Balls!  Thanks so much, Camp Wander!!

I went ahead and made another batch of laundry soap, since I was almost out.  I make a liquid soap version vs. the powdered version mentioned at the other blog, but the ingredients are pretty much the same!  Here is what I do;

Supplies;
1/2 Cup Borax Powder
1/2 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 bar of Pink Zote Soap
* 4 scoops of Oxi-Clean (using the scoop provided in the container... looks like it is also about 1/2 cup)
A cheese grater
a 5 gallon bucket to mix everything in
a medium sized pot for the stove

Directions;
Grate the 1/2 bar of Zote soap with a cheese grater.  You don't have to use the Pink kind, the plain white bar works fine too.  You can also substitute Fels-Naptha soap.  These can both be found in the laundry section of most grocery stores.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients... the Borax, Washing Soda, and optionally the powdered Oxy-Clean (Oxygenated Bleach).  Set this aside.

On the stove, bring the medium saucepan filled with water to just below boiling.  Turn the temp down to medium, medium low to keep it warm.  Slowly add in the grated Zote soap while stirring, you want it to melt evenly and avoid clumps and I find it works best if you just sprinkle a little at a time into the hot water while stirring.

In the 5 gallon bucket, fill it half way with warm water and add the dry mixture of Borax, Washing Soda, and Oxy-Clean.  Mix until all the dry ingredients are dissolved.  Slowly pour in the melted pink Zote & water mixture from the pan you had on the stove.  Mix well.  Add more water until the bucket is full, mixing well. 

Cover the bucket with Plastic Wrap, set it aside somewhere safe and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.  It will thicken and become more gel-like.  Mix again, and then you can add it to empty bottles to be used for laundry!  I used empty bottles from store-bought detergent I had bought before, because they have the lid for measuring and store easily.  Hard to believe that I have been using those same bottles for nearly 2 years, just refilling them with my own home-made soap!

For washing I use 1 cap full of detergent for small loads and 2 cap fulls of detergent for large loads.  I sometimes add more Oxy-Clean if the clothes are particularly stained, or for my work shirts which need to be very white!  Adding 1/2 cup of plain white vinegar to the water at the rinse cycle really helps soften the clothes and leaves them deodorized.  Check out that blog post above to learn how to make the scented version of this fabric softener!

After making my Dryer Balls, my Laundry Soap, and the Fabric Softener, I decided I needed to clean my laundry room, because these great products need a nice cozy place to live, right?  I swept, mopped, and wiped down all the surfaces in my laundry room (top of washer & dryer, and top of the water heater)  Now I have lots of lavender-scented clean laundry to fold and put away, but that doesn't sound too terrible!  I am gonna sit down in front of the TV and start folding!  Sounds like a great way to wind down from my busy day!

My 3-Day Detox!

Hello friends!  I know it's been awhile since I have blogged here, and I hope to remedy that!  I hope you are all doing well and that 2013 has been amazing for you so far!  It's been pretty fantastic for me so far!

I wanted to tell you about something I did this last week!  I did a 3 day detox to help remove toxins from my bodies.  I was thinking a lot about how the sugars, processed foods, etc have lots of added stuff we don't need, and how our bodies sometimes need help getting rid of those toxins!  The best way to get those toxins out of your body is to avoid the source of those toxins! 

For THREE Days I had; No Meat, No Dairy*, No Sugars, No Processed Foods, No Coffee!  I did this to give my body a chance to cleanse itself, sort of a Re-Boot of my system!  I recently started taking a new vitamin supplement; VitaLea from Shaklee.   I was also using Shaklee's Energizing Soy Protein Powder added into smoothies every day before work. Within 6 days of taking these I was already noticing a huge difference in the way I felt!  More sustained energy, better mood, less fatigue, less body aches, and the bronchitis I had been fighting off since Christmas finally went away!  This was great, but I figured if I felt this good now, how much better would I feel if I detoxed my body of all this other junk and really gave my body the ability to fully absorb some of these great nutrients I was giving it!  So I decided to do a 3 Day Detox and give my body the Re-Boot it really needed!

For Day 1, I started with Shank Prakshalana.  This is an ancient Yoga method for clearing out the bowels, intestines, and colon.  It's basically a salt-water cleanse in which you drink salted water and then do a series of yoga moves to open the intestines and get the water flowing through your system.  It's not very glamorous, and I won't go into too much detail here... but the point is you remove a lot of the "stuff" that gets stuck in all the twists and turns of the intestines and lines the inside of the colon.  There are many health benefits to doing Shank Prakshalana, and I highly suggest you research it and learn as much about it as you can before you give it a try!  Learn more HERE, and Here, and HeRe. :)

After the Shank Prakshalana I ate a bowl of cooked rice with butter.  It's necessary to eat something solid, yet easy on the system, and suggested to have something buttery to help lubricate the intestinal walls.  But you want to stick with something very plain... nothing spicy or overly flavored, and nothing too hard to digest. 

For awhile after eating my rice I just sipped some water with lime slices and mint leaves added in.  I made sure to drink plenty of water the rest of the day and through my whole 3 day detox. 

Later on that day, I made a smoothie.  I made it with Blueberries, Almond Milk, Plain Organic Yogurt, and My Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein Powder.  *(the plain organic yogurt is the only dairy, other than some butter in my rice, that I had for this whole 3-day detox.) With this I took my daily multivitamins, and then some more water.  I continued to sip on water all day. 

At dinner time I had another bowl of rice with butter, but I also added in some fresh baby spinach.  More water before bed!

Day 2, for breakfast I made myself a nice cup of hot green tea with some organic honey, and a bowl of plain oatmeal.  Usually I have coffee with lots of flavored creamer, and if I have oatmeal I usually add milk and sugar or use the pre-flavored sweetened kind.

A little before lunch time I made a juice with my juicer - I used 2 grapefruits, a large cucumber, and about 3 big handfuls of baby spinach.  It was delicious!

For Lunch I had another smoothie, the same as on Day 1.

For Dinner I had more rice with butter, and with cooked baby spinach and carrots added in.

All day long I drank LOTS of water!

For Day 3, I had my Green Tea, no honey added.  I didn't have any oatmeal or anything else to eat.  Surprisingly, I just wasn't feeling hungry yet. 
About an hour after I got up, I made another juice in my juicer; Grapefruit, Spinach, cucumber, and beet. YUM!

For lunch I made my smoothie again, but this time I added spinach to the blender!  2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves, lots of blueberries, plain organic yogurt, and Almond Milk, the soy protein powder.  I had never added spinach to my smoothie before... it was only something I had used in my juicer!  A friend had suggested it and I have to say... it was fabulous!  My smoothie didn't taste like spinach, I could only really taste the blueberries!  The texture wasn't awful either... in fact I think the spinach made it MORE creamy!

Later on I made a simple Apple-Carrot-Ginger juice in my juicer for a bit of a "snack"... didn't need much because I wasn't starving! 

For dinner I had tomato soup.  This was the only store-bought pre-packaged food I had eaten, but it was a Healthy Choice brand chunky tomato soup, so I didn't feel like I was "cheating".  Plus, I was all out of rice and spinach!  Of course all day I drank lots of water, and had more water with dinner and before bed.

----------------------------------------------
And that was it!  After that I on the 4th day I allowed myself to eat & drink whatever I wanted.  Honestly I wasn't craving too much... I wanted more fruits and vegetables!  My body wanted more of the good stuff I had been feeding it for 3 days!  I did have a coffee this morning, but with soy milk instead of cream.  I was happy to realize I was having this coffee because I WANTED it, not because I needed it to wake up.  I felt awake in the morning without having coffee first!  And, I realized... I made it through 3 days of no coffee without getting a headache or a migraine!  Could this mean I have kicked my caffeine addiction??
I'm also drinking more water.  Spending 3 days paying Really Close Attention to what I put in my body made me realize I haven't been drinking enough water and it also got me used to drinking water again.  Now if I don't have a water bottle right next to me, I feel lost! 
It wasn't all easy!  Day 1 was rough because Shank Prakshalana is not easy on the system and requires some rest afterwards... I got the rest but felt rather cranky and discouraged by the end of the day.  But I stuck with it and in the morning I felt a lot better!  Day 2 was pretty easy.  Day 3 was pretty easy too, although I started seeing things I wanted to eat in my pantry and really had to fight off the urge a few times.  Because I knew it wasn't something my body needed, just something I craved due to old eating habits!

So this has been a really long blog post, but I had to share that I am feeling GREAT!  I think I gave my body a great advantage by letting it go for 3 days without a lot of junk!  I spent a lot of time thinking about the food choices I make and am ready to continue to make better healthy choices.  And I know I will continue to feel better with the Shaklee supplements I am now taking.

If you want to know more about Shaklee, please fill out the form HERE or watch the links on that page under the form.  I am excited and more than happy to share with you these great products!

Easy Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

This is what I am making for dinner tonite.  I thought I would share the recipe, because it's really easy, and a recipe to fit a tight budget.  Cheap and Easy, just the way I like it!

Easy Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

You Will Need;
4 - 6 large chicken breasts, thighs, or legs.  Bone-in or boneless, whatever you have available!  You can either cut the chicken into smaller pieces, or leave it in big pieces... whatever!
1 large can (26 oz) Cream of Chicken soup (condensed)
1 large can (26 oz) Cream of Mushroom soup (condensed)
2 cans buttermilk biscuits.  You know, the refrigerated kind of biscuits that come in a tube that you peel open?  What are those called?  Canned biscuits?  I've never really thought of it before.
Various chopped vegetables.  Your choice.  Carrots, onion, celery, potato, mushroom.  All of those would be good but in a pinch I would choose the celery and carrots.
Water
your large crockpot
4 to 5 packages of Ramen noodles, any flavor but for this recipe I am thinking Chicken would be best :)  These will be used later, and are optional.

Directions;

Thaw the chicken.
In the crockpot, mix the condensed soup (both cans) and one can of water (26 oz).  Mix until there are no lumps.
Add the chopped vegetables and the chicken.
Mix well and turn the crock pot on low heat for 4 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

About 30 minutes before you want to eat (and when you have checked that the chicken is fully cooked), open the canned biscuits.  Separate the biscuits and cut each biscuit into fourths.  These are your "Dumplings" Mix the biscuit pieces into the crockpot.  They will float on top.  Stir well, replace lid, and turn the crockpot to High.  Let cook another 30 minutes.  ** Check the dumplings.  They should be soft and doughy on the outside, but cooked in the middle like bread.

Serve on top of pasta, or in a bowl like soup.
Enjoy!  :)

** If you want to serve this on top of noodles, cook your noodles while the dumplings are cooking.  I usually just use chicken flavored Ramen Noodles but you can substitute any kind of pasta you want.

I'm back! And I brought TACOS!

Well, I haven't blogged in forever and a day! But latley I have felt inspired to blog again so I figured I would come back!  It involved spending some time convincing Google that I am indeed the creator of this blog, since I hadn't used it in so long and had forgotten my password.  So here we are!  We survived another summer in the desert, and it's starting to cool down again.  Today was beautiful with a high of 78... it's that time of year that we all LOVE living here.  Kids are all in their second quarter of school - I still have trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that they are in 8th, 3rd, and 1st grade this year!  I have many ideas for things to blog about, but for my re-entry into the blogging world I figured I would keep it simple and just share a really easy recipe with you.  This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was a great hit!

 

Turkey Tacos

1 lb ground turkey

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can diced green chile peppers

1 packet taco or fajita seasoning (brand of your choice)

1 package taco shells (hard or soft)

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 package shredded cheese - your choice

 

Brown the ground turkey in a large skillet.  Drain.  Add the can of green chile, the (drained) can of chopped tomato, and the taco seasoning pouch.  Mix well on high heat until bubbling, then reduce heat to a simmer and stir occasionally.

 

Meanwhile, chop up the big tomatoes and get the shredded cheese ready.  Toast the taco shells in the oven as directed.

Stuff the taco shells with the meat mixture, a layer of shredded cheese, and the tomatoes.  Optionally, add some sour cream and hot sauce... we love Tapatio brand hot sauce for our tacos!  These would be great with some avacados on top too, if they are in season!

There you have it, an easy meal!  Ground turkey is a leaner meat and a great healthy choice to substitute instead of ground beef, and my family loved these tacos tonite!  For a bigger family you might want to double the recipe... my family of 5 gobbled down all 12 tacos!  (And I only got one!)  Serve them with some Refried beans or spanish rice, or even just with a nice fresh salad and enjoy!