My NutriBullet Experience

A couple months ago, I wrote about how the NutriBullet was an awesome way to get your fruits and veggies in every day (especially if you hate grazing as much as I do 😜).

For my birthday, I that I wanted to try the NutriBullet for myself and I couldn’t be happier!!!

Here’s a couple of the nutriblasts I make regularly:
Mixed Berry kiwi:
*1/2 organic kiwi
*handful of organic blueberries
*handful of organic raspberries
*2 large organic strawberries
*2 or 3 organic baby carrots
*1 leaf of organic kale or lettuce
*a pinch of cinnamon and ginger
*1 scoop of soy protein powder
*6-8oz of water

Mango berry kiwi
*1/2 organic kiwi
*1/2 organic mango
*1 leaf of organic kale or lettuce
*handful of organic blueberries
*handful of organic raspberries
*pinch of cinnamon and ginger
*1 scoop of soy protein powder
*6-8oz of water

I’m sure you can tell I love organic foods, haha!! Seriously though, you don’t have to use organic, but I love how organic makes me feel and I encourage y’all to give it a shot! 😀

Every time I have my nutriblast, I know I’m doing right by my body now and in the long run. Over the past month and a half, I’ve noticed my sugar cravings decrease DRAMATICALLY!! To give you a sense of how bad my sugar addiction was, I bought a gallon of vanilla ice cream and a case of Mt. Dew every week when I went to the grocery store. Now, I can barely drink a can of soda without feeling my teeth rot.

A NutriBullet may not be the best option for you, but I just hope you’re willing to try it.

Remember, that all we have is our health and EVERY investment (whether you’re eating healthy once a month or every day) counts!!

Talk to y’all soon!! 💖

Food Can Bring Out Your Natural Beauty!

The yummy foods you eat also enhance your beauty!

Last Friday I tuned into Bethenny to see what she would discuss in terms of her “Diet Debate” segment, but what interested me more was her segment where she tested our beauty knowledge. Like me, Bethenny is a firm believer in using what you’ve got to improve your life, and it turns out that several common kitchen items can bring out your natural beauty and/or heal a specific health concern.

These three remedies impressed me the most:

1. Turmeric is traditionally used in Indian food, but it works wonders on acne. One of turmeric’s main ingredients is called curcumin and it works so well because of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. You can either mix some turmeric in a glass of water or make a paste and let it sit on your skin for 10-15 minutes.
2. Strawberries make delicious preserves and jam, but did you know that they are also an effective sunburn treatment? The anthocyanins, the compound that gives the strawberries their gorgeous red color, have awesome anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. To get the most of this treatment, mash some fresh strawberries and spread it on your sunburn like a salve. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes.
3. Mint has been shown to be an excellent way to reduce the puffiness under our eyes. The flavonoids help increase the production of antioxidants in the skin under our eyes. Those antioxidants, in turn, help fight the free radicals that give us the dark circles and puffiness we hate. To use mint, crush some fresh mint leaves and make a paste and leave it under your eyes for 15-20 minutes.

I’d love to hear about how well these remedies have worked for you!

Ginger is a KEY ingredient in Your Health

Tummy troubles? Give ginger a try!

Ginger has been revered for over two millennia for its unique combination of culinary and therapeutic properties.

My cabinet always has to have ginger in it because it works miracles on my menstrual pain – without ginger in my diet, I’m just counting down the days until my body puts me on involuntary bed rest.

Ginger works wonders on several ailments, ranging from hypertension to migraines. Here are the benefits that shocked me the most:

1. A study from the University of Michigan Medical School found that a daily ginger root supplement helped reduce the level of inflammation in participants’ colons in less than one month. This is crucial because inflammation in the colon is an indication of colon cancer.
2. Ginger has an uncanny ability to combat nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Using ginger to alleviate the insanely damaging effects of chemotherapy is a great first step to making the transition into making homeopathic remedies the initial recourse for preventing and treating many major illnesses (I know I’m hoping for a little too much considering how much of a strangle-hold Big Pharma has on healthcare, but the growing interest in organic foods gives me hope 🙂 ).
3. Last, but definitely not least, a study, done between 2005 and 2006, from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center revealed that ginger can reverse ovarian cancer! To test their hypothesis, the researchers exposed ovarian cancer cells to a ginger powder solution and and the cancer cells started COMMITTING SUICIDE!!!

You’d think with astounding results like these, the medical community would be doing everything possible to ensure the world has this knowledge, but I guess it’s up to us to show the world why simple, natural foods like ginger are invaluable in reversing this insane trend of malnourishment, illness and obesity in the United States and around the world.

I would be remiss if I didn’t remind everyone that although ginger is a naturally wholesome spice, it can cause some side effects like diarrhea, upset stomach and heartburn. These side effects are rare occurrences and are frequently the result of using too much ginger at once. Another precaution relates to those who take blood thinners like Warfarin: because of its anticoagulant properties, ginger should be used under the guidance of your doctor.

In closing I want to make a recommendation for people who are on prescription blood thinners. Most doctors are over-burdened with the number of patients they have to see because of Big Pharma, so if they try to convince you that trying ginger instead of the pharmaceuticals isn’t worth the effort, GET A SECOND OPINION! Yes, doctors have advanced training in medicine, but YOU are the final authority as concerns what you put into your body. There are physicians who focus the core of their practice on fulfilling Hippocrates’ best quote: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.” Dr. Joel Fuhrman is the perfect example; he does an excellent job of explaining why we need to incorporate as many colors of foods (and as simply prepared as possible) into our culinary repertoires.

My New Hamburger is a Salmon Burger

I loved hamburgers when I was a kid and I’ve been craving to have a burger for a couple weeks now. Knowing how bad red meat is for me, I saw something called salmon burgers in the grocery store and decided to give them a try. It’s a great way for  me to get my protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

I wasn’t sure what spices and/or herbs I should use, so I looked in my cabinet and found some garlic powder, ginger, black pepper and rosemary. After I mixed my herbs and spices together, I sprinkled it all over the salmon burger and put in a frying pan on medium heat for 4 minutes each side and this is what I had made:

As I was cooking the salmon burger, I remembered that I’d also bought some feta cheese, so I crumbled a few piece and made a nice little protein-packed salad. This was DELICIOUS!

A salmon burger flaked apart with some crumbled feta cheese.

I can’t wait to see how it’ll taste when I can get back to the grocery store and pick up some spinach, berries and quinoa.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is an incredible spice that not only brings zesty flavor to your favorite foods, it’s also believed to be a powerful antidote against multiple ailments, including arthritis, diabetes, headaches/migraines, and LDL (bad cholesterol).

Western medicine has yet to commission detailed studies on how this ancient Chinese herb can improve your health, but there are fabulous resources, such as GreenMedInfo, that focus on alternative medicinal therapies like spices and herbs. GreenMedInfo does a fantastic job of differentiating between the two main variants of cinnamon, Cassia and Ceylon.

Most cinnamon available in the United States is Cassia (milled mainly in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam); this is the weaker of the two but is still an awesome source of manganese. Manganese helps to build healthy bones and increase your carbohydrate and fat metabolisms. Cassia cinnamon should be avoided if you are taking blood thinners like Coumadin because it contains higher traces of coumarin, a natural blood thinner.

Ceylon comes from India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Brazil and the Caribbean. This variant is considered the “true cinnamon” because it is sweeter, lighter and more refined than cassia.

Long story short, both kinds of cinnamon will adequately flavor the dishes you use it on, but it’s important to heed the warning about cassia consumption.