How to start every day with more energy
food
28th Nov 2011
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Monday morning after a long weekend – are you ready to spring out of bed and into action?
If not, don’t worry. We can fix that easily.
First, let’s start with a healthy breakfast. It will keep you going throughout the morning.
If you find that you’re not hungry when you wake up, it might be that you’re eating dinner too late or eating too much at dinner. If you skip breakfast, you may end up ravenous by the time it’s lunch. Better to even out your hunger and your blood sugar with small meals throughout the day – it will keep you in fat burning mode and out of fat storage mode.
What should you eat? Check out my special report – the 3 mistakes women make that keep them prisoner to the pounds. Because tip one is all about breakfast and will give you a number of quick and easy recipes that you can use every day of the week. You can find it and get your own copy for no cost on my website – just look in the upper right hand corner for the link to download it.
Stay tuned all week for more tips on how to jumpstart your health and life with your own anti-diet.
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How to eat to boost your immune system
diet, food
28th Mar 2011
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How can you eat to boost your immune system?
In my last post, I talked about how to eat heart healthy. All of those same foods can also be used to help boost your immune system.
If your plate contains a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, you can boost your immune system through the powerful antioxidants in these plant foods. For example try adding some of these foods into your daily diet:
Yellow-Green foods keep your eyes healthy and help protect from cancer
Foods that are yellow or yellow-green contain nutrients such as lutein, zeaxanthin and carotenoids. Lutein and zeaxanthin help protect your eyes from cateracts and macular degeneration. Carotenoids protect your cells from the damaging effects of free radicals and enhance the functioning of your immune system.
Some examples of yellow-green foods are: avocados, collard greens, cucumbers, green apples, green beans, green and yellow bell peppers, green peas, honeydew melons, kiwis, mustard greens, romaine, spinach, yellow corn, and zucchini.
Greens are great for weight loss, protection from cancer and bad cholesterol, and more
Green vegetables come in a variety of shades – yellow-green, white-green and dark green. Each type has their own healing properties:
Dark green veggies contain sulforaphane, isothiocyanate, indoles, folate, and fiber. These phytonutrients (plant nutrients) help your liver stay healthy. A healthy liver means better cleansing and fat-burning ability, and a leaner body. Folate provides protection against birth defects – important for expecting mothers or for women who want to conceive.
Some good examples of green veggies include bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (green), cauliflower (white, green, and purple), napa cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, and watercress.
White green veggies protect your brain and lower blood your pressure. They contain flavonoids, including quercetin and kaempferol; polyphenols; allicin (in the onion family). The flavonoids protect your body from oxidative stress. Allicin is a sulfurous compound that has antibacterial and antiviral properties.
Examples of white-green foods are artichokes, asparagus, celery, chives, endive, garlic, green grapes, leeks, mushrooms, onions, pears, and white eggplant.
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Are you ready to make some big changes in your health and your life?
You can kick start your metabolism with a one-week cleanse class
Questions? Just contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
How to eat heart healthy
diet, food
25th Mar 2011
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What foods are truly heart healthy?
Forget about those little heart healthy symbols on packaged foods. The true way to a heart healthy diet is to get a rainbow on your plate. And by “taste the rainbow,” I’m not talking Skittles…
Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables – and make sure you have lots of different colors. Each of the different pigments contain different phytonutrients, vitamins and anti-oxidants.
Your heart loves red fruits and vegetables such as…
tomatoes, watermelon, and pink graprefruit
These all contain the phytonutrient lycopene, which may help prevent heart disease as well as prostate, colon and rectal cancers. Cooked tomatoes contain even more lycopene than raw ones, so enjoy that tomato soup or red sauce.
Help prevent cancer with Orange fruits and vegetables
Think acorn squash, apricots, carrots, cantaloupes, mangoes, persimmons, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin for example.
Orange fruits and vegetables contain alpha and beta carotene, and vitamin C, which help protect cells and keep them healthy, and are anti cancer and may prevent lung and heart disease. The folate in orange foods can help prevent birth defects.
Orange-yellow foods boost your immune system
Foods such as nectarines, oranges, papayas, peaches, pineapples, tangerines, starfruit, and yellow grapefruit contain carotenoids and phytochemicals such as beta cryptothanixin and limonoids. They help boost the immune system and inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol, which is needed to activate cancer cell growth.
Next post, I will go into how you can eat to boost your immune system. For now, you can start eating healthier by focusing on adding more red, orange and orange-yellow foods into your daily plate.
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Are you ready to make some big changes in your health and your life?
You can kick start your metabolism with a one-week cleanse class
Questions? Just contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
How to start an anti-diet
diet, fit fridays, food
25th Feb 2011
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Dieting relies on restriction, deprivation and unnatural behaviors such as calorie counting. Yet so many people believe that this is the only way that you can lose weight. Dieting can work for people who believe that the only way they can change is if they’re being hit with the stick.
But you can take the carrot approach, too, and have a much more pleasant experience. You won’t feel like you’re dieting (because you’re not), and there’s room for you to actually enjoy what you’re eating.
But to get started, you need to do a few things:
1 – Get clear on your goals. What do you want to accomplish? How much weight or how many inches do you want to lose? By when do you want to do it? And, more importantly, why do you want to lose it? The why is the most important part – it is the reason that you decide to keep going with whatever plan you decide to do. You need a big enough “why” to keep you motivated. It can be positive or negative – depending on your personality, one may motivate you more than another.
2 – Get clear on where you are. What is your starting point? From a physical perspective, what is your size? What is your BMI? What are your measurements? Then, you need to get clear on what you’re currently doing. How much are you eating? When are you eating? What exactly are you eating? How is it making you feel? And, how does it compare to the way you take care of yourself – your exercise, your rest, and how much you enjoy the rest of your day?
3 – Get clear on what’s real. Do you know how to eat healthfully? Are you clear on what’s truly healthful food, and what’s marketed as healthy? Do you know which foods are helping you stay strong and vibrant, and which ones are making you feel sluggish and tired? Are you clear on how to eat to build muscle and burn fat?
If you’re ready to get started and need help, contact me and we can discuss how you can start your own anti diet
Delicious Life Beet and Walnut Salad
recipes, salads
23rd Feb 2011
3 Comments »
I made up this salad and served it at a corporate health fair recently. So many people stopped by my table for a sample and asked for the recipe – I’m finally posting it now. Walnuts are good for your brain and provide healthy fat. Beets give the salad a natural sweetness and can help calm sugar cravings. Carrots provide beta carotene and are good for your eyes.
Serves 4
Salad Ingredients
1 small head leafy greens – escarole, red or green leaf lettuce
2 -3 medium sized beets, boiled
2 -3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
¼ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Dressing Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch of salt
Dash of pepper
Combine all salad ingredients, add 4-6 Tbsp dressing and toss well.
Jack LaLanne – words of wisdom from a fitness pioneer
exercise, food, inspiration, magnificent mondays
24th Jan 2011
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How do you build up your bank account? By putting something in it everyday.Your health account is no different. What I do today, I am wearing tomorrow. If I put inferior foods in my body today, I’m going to be inferior tomorrow, it’s that simple.
- Jack LaLanne
Jack LaLanne was a pioneer in modern fitness and nutrition. He was one of the first to encourage athletes to work out with weights and to get women exercising. He had one of the first and also the longest-running exercise program on TV. He had his own fitness chain and sold juicers.
And he walked his talk. He worked out two hours per day, 7 days per week, through his entire life. He never ate sweets – only fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. And he celebrated his 70th birthday by swimming 1 1/2 miles towing 70 rowboats with 70 people in them.
He died at 96 of respiratory failure due to pneumonia. His legacy lives on in videos like this:
How to snack healthy when traveling
snacks
13th Oct 2010
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I’m traveling today, and whenever I’m on the road (or out of my normal routine), I like to have a few snacks with me. You never know when you’ll be somewhere and there’s absolutely nothing for you to eat. It can be especially hard if you’re stuck on an airplane, bus or train, and suddenly hunger strikes. It’s so much easier to just eat what’s there, even if you know it doesn’t work for you.
Since I stick to a gluten free diet, it’s even more important for me to know that I’ll have healthy choices. Most of the time, the offerings are limited to sandwiches, muffins, cookies, and the occasional salad – mostly gluten-laden, high-carb and low-fiber foods.
Some of my favorite on the go snacks:
Veggies: I pack a little bag of cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, carrot and celery sticks – all are fairly portable
Sunflower seeds
Organic apples with a handful of nuts (my faves are almonds, walnuts and cashews)
Peanut butter – yes, it’s portable now! I found Justin’s single serving organic peanut butter packets
Today, I have maple-tamari mixed nuts and Lara Bars – another yummy portable treat (they only have 5 ingredients, they’re organic and gluten free)
What do you snack on when you’re traveling? How do you take care of yourself when you’re traveling or on the go?
Are you feeding your whole self?
food, happiness, inspiration, love, mindfulness, mindset, relationships, self care, spirituality
14th Sep 2010
1 Comment »
The old adage, “you are what you eat,” is absolutely true – whether you mean real food or your “soul’s food.”
It’s easy to tell when you’re eating well. Nourish yourself with a well-balanced plate, and you thrive with energy for doing what you love: like flowing through sun salutations in yoga class, bike riding with your family, and spending time with friends on the weekend.
Eat empty-calorie junk food and you’ll feel bloated, cranky, irritable unfocused. Empty calories can lead to insulin resistance, diabetes, and heart issues and you’ll need to shop for bigger clothes.
Your “soul’s food” is equally important. Your soul thrives when what you’re doing is aligned with who you truly are. And you know your soul is being well fed when you notice that you:
- Skip your way to work
- Gaze at your partner like you’re still dating
- Feel the weight of financial burden lift from your shoulders
- Are at peace and feel one with the world
If you sense that you’re missing any of these key ingredients in your life, your soul is hungry. If you’re not feeding your soul, you may be walking around with that “empty” feeling. Something is missing, and you can’t put your finger on it. You may be thinking, “Is that all there is?”
Here’s the thing – it’s not that you are intentionally preventing your soul from nourishment, and it’s completely not your fault for not feeding it. Your underlying beliefs may be undermining your best efforts. And that’s mostly about what’s in your head. Really.
The good news — you can easily start feeding your soul once you clear these limiting beliefs, even if you don’t know exactly what they are.
I’m really excited to be working with Whole Mind Mastery expert Kit Furey to offer you a completely fr*ee teleclass:
Soul Food: Clear the Blocks to Attracting Your Most Essential Desires!
Wednesday, September 15 9pm ET / 6 pm PT
www.WholeMindMastery.com/preview/soulfood
During the call, we will do a quick check-in to see if your soul is getting the food it needs in every area of your life.
We will also go through an exercise to show you how to shift the self-limiting beliefs that may be keeping y\\our soul from experiencing the fullness of your passions and purpose. You’ll also discover:
- Five secret signs that show self-sabotage may lurk in your life
- Why your beliefs about what you do and love are “make it or break it” factors that drive your life
- You’ll actually be guided through a gentle exercise to remove blocks and reclaim vitality and joy while you’re on the call
- And you’ll come away with a strategy to easily overcome blocks to getting the most from your soul food, even if you don’t know right now what’s holding you back.
There’s no cost for this training, but you must sign up to access it:
Soul Food: Clear the Blocks to Attracting Your Most Essential Desires!
Wednesday, September 15 9pm ET / 6 pm PT
www.WholeMindMastery.com/preview/soulfood
Delicious find: BK Salsa
food, gluten free, snacks
8th Sep 2010
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Over Labor Day weekend, I was busy working on my exciting new class (next Wednesday – sign up because it will be great and it’s complimentary), but I did have a little time to relax. We went for a picnic in Prospect Park on Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect for lounging on the grassy lawn and enjoying some of the remaining summer sunshine. 
We brought an assortment of snacks with us to munch on and share with friends. One of the biggest hits was the BK Salsa. It’s made by our Brooklyn neighbors from as much organic and locally-sourced ingredients that they can find. The salsas come in five different flavors – one to represent each of the 5 boroughs.
They are all delicious, but we picked up just two – The Burnt (Bronx) and The Tropical (Queens), and brought the Bronx with us. It’s not your typical salsa – a spicy eggplant mixture with coconut milk to cool it down – and it’s not just for corn chips. I would probably use it as sauce or a condiment for a vegetable dish.
You can get BK Salsa at Whole Foods and Fairway or order it wholesale through the BK Salsa website.
Peach Blueberry Crumble
desserts, food, gluten free
6th Sep 2010
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The market today was filled with luscious-looking summer fruits – juicy peaches, plums, nectarines and even some late blueberries. I couldn’t resist picking up a few large peaches and a pint of blueberries for a crumble.
Since I’ve been gluten free, I’m always looking for new ways to make old favorite recipes. For this one, I turned to the Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook for inspiration. Elana Amsterdam, of Elana’s Pantry, has created a collection of recipes that is truly delicious. The thing I like about Elana’s recipes is that she’s very health conscious. The foods that she makes have little refined sugar (if at all), include lots of healthy fats (like nutrient dense almond flour) and use the highest quality ingredients possible.
So I was delighted to find this recipe in her book that not only has healthy ingredients, but doesn’t include any sugar in it at all. I know, you’re probably thinking that it can’t be any good, but I promise you it’s completely delicious.
One thing that I did change (because I didn’t have some of the ingredients) was – I subbed some of the almond flour for unsweetened coconut and used coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil. Coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid that, contrary to what you might have heard, is very good for your overall health – and it is antiviral and antibacterial.
Peach Blueberry Crumble
Filling
4 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced, or 3 cups frozen peach slices, thawed
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
Topping
2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.
To make the filling, place the peaches and blueberries in an 8-inch baking dish.
To make the topping, combine the almond flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil and vanilla extract. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until coarsley blended and crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Let the crumble cool for 30 minutes, then serve warm.
You can pick up the Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook and many other great recipe books at Amazon.
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