Still sick? Try these 3 holisitic tips

Some of us haven’t been able to hide from the bug that’s been going around this season, so for all of you that are currently sniffling, sneezing, or bed-ridden, try these top 3 holistic tips:

1.  Probiotics.  So, without getting too gross here, the average person has 7 to 25 pounds of hardened feces stuck in their intestines.  I could go on about how disgusting this gets, but long story short, you cannot attain maximum health before all of the old, hardened waste within your body has been dissolved and released.  There is a process that occurs when this cesspool of rotting matter stays in your body, it’s called autointoxication.  This is when the body poisons itself by releasing the toxins in the bowel into the blood stream, which then travel to all parts of the body.  This weakens virtually every system in the body, and can be a causative factor for nearly any disease.  A probiotic (ideally L. acidophilus or L. bifidus) will supply the large intestine with healthy bacteria, and inhibit the growth of toxic bacteria. Take between meals. Garlic also has natural anti-biotic properties that kill that bad and keep the good.

2.  Eat your greens.  I’m probably getting repetitive with this, but seriously.  Eat them.  Rich leafy greens like bok choy, kale and spinach, are chock full of great antioxidant properties, vitamins and minerals.  The food-based vitamin C and beta-carotene are awesome for preventing free radical damage in the colon cells.  Not to mention that greens are a great source of fibre.  The phytonutrients (plant nutrients) help to keep your skin looking great and gives you an energy boost.  Try steaming them lightly with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Or if you’re lazy just buy a powder/liquid and take it daily.

3.  While you’re shuffling around in slippers and your ex-boyfriends oversized sweater (because who really cares if you wipe that sleeve on your runny nose), make yourself a cup of tea.  Not just because it’s cold out, but because tea is a great source of polyphenols.  Polyphenols are type of antioxidant that clean up free radicals, which damage your DNA and can put aging on fast forward.  Try a cup of loose-leaf green tea, or sprinkle some matcha green tea powder on some organic yogurt for a one-two punch of antioxidants and probiotics!

A trip to the ER, and 5 tips to stay healthy in this weather

I spent four hours in the ER at Sunnybrook last night.  I’m happy to be able to say it was for something rather benign; I dry swallowed a pill on Saturday and it got stuck in my throat.  It kind of made its way down my throat and was effecting my breathing.  Anyways, while I was there, I started thinking about how over medicated we are in the North American culture.  At the end of my visit, my doctor gave me a prescription for an antacid, but I couldn’t understand why.  Seeing as I don’t have health coverage or understand the reason for it (she didn’t explain it, just said I should take it as a preventative), I don’t think I’m going to fill it.  It’s not just me though, I overheard several conversations in the waiting room about people’s medications.  It made me kind of sad that many people are so reliant on them, with no hope of ever getting off of them.  Meds really aren’t a solution, they just band-aid a symptom.  The other night I was out for a friends birthday, and one girl had just gotten back from a trip.  She was talking about how she told her doctor she hates flying, so she was given flying pills. Basically, anti-anxiety pills (try a natural sleeping pill next time, perhaps?).  I remember a few years ago, I read about a placebo pill that was being released.  The idea behind this was to give it to parents, to give to their little one whenever they feel “sick”.  The idea is that if the kid thinks that they’re taking medication, mentally, they’ll start to feel better.  It kind of seems like they’re taking power away from the parent, no?  I remember many times my mom telling me to at least try going to school, and if I still felt sick I could come home.  I’d say probably 95 percent of the time, I stayed at school.

It’s a shame that many people don’t even consider natural options for their illnesses.  As soon as they get sick, it’s Advil after cough syrup after Nyquil.  Then if it persists, it’s prescription after prescription after countless doctor’s visits.  I so happy I haven’t caught the disabling bug that’s been going around so far.  Given the ridiculous amount of people getting sick this year, I thought I’d share my Top 5 Stay Healthy Tips:

1. As soon as you start to feel a tingle in the back of your throat, start taking a vitamin C supplement. It’s best if you can get it in a food-based form, like a Camu berry tablet.  The food-based form helps your body to more easily absorb it with or without food.  Vitamin C is amazing for your immune system, but it’s best used as a preventative factor rather than when you’re in the thick of a cold.
2. Drink water. That’s the number one thing my pediatrician used to tell my mom.  You need to be continuously flushing out your system, that way if you do happen to catch a bug, it’ll be out before it has a chance to hurt you.  Aim for a minimum 2 litres a day.  Herbal teas can also count for your water intake. Increase your water if you drink coffee, black tea, or pop.
3. Decrease your sugar intake. This includes alcohol (sorry).  Just 1 teaspoon of sugar can shut down your immune system for several hours after you have it.  It’s no wonder people feel even crappier after a night out in this weather: alcohol, cold weather, probably inappropriate attire… it’s the perfect recipe for a cold!
4. Get proper rest. It’s amazing what a solid 7 to 9 hours of sleep can do for you.  If you’re having problems sleeping, try sleeping with a night mask on.  Also try a sleepy time tea, or valerian supplement.  Sleep is when your body recovers.  No recovery time, no healing.
5. Stay active. I know, it’s cold out, and nothing sounds better than huddling in front of a space heater watching reruns.  But staying active boosts your immune system, keeps you warm, and gives you more energy.  Hot yoga is perfect this time of year.  You also sweat out some toxins that might end up making you sick.

Hopefully there won’t be any more trips to the ER for me.  I’m trying to keep a soft diet over the next few days, so hopefully I’ll still be able to do my bikini-bod meal plan.  Stay healthy everyone!

Vegan brownies and my last day of food freedom

I’ve had quite a bit of fun with food since last week, seeing as the next month is not going to be that fun.  On Friday I put to use my massive bag of dates to make some brownies.  I was going to take a picture, but they somehow disappeared before I remembered…

For the brownies:
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of dates
1/4 cup of cocoa

Blend together in a food processor.  Depending on the dates you buy, add a little water to make it a bit less crumbly.  Press into a pan.

For the frosting (oh yes, there’s frosting!):
1.5 to 2 avocados (depending on how much icing you like, and how big your ‘cados are)
1/2 cup agave nectar (I normally I use agave, but this time I used half agave, half maple syrup, and probably could’ve just used half of the amount, it’s pretty sweet)
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt
Dash of cinnamon

Blend together and spread on the brownies.  Pop them in the freezer for a couple of hours (no baking!).  Caution: don’t lick the food processor blades, like I did.  Not fun cutting your tongue.

I’ve made these brownies before and they’re always well received, even by people that aren’t into eating raw or vegan (to quote my boyfriend, when I told him the icing was an avocado base, I got an affectionate “Fuck off!”).  Eaten in moderation, these bad boys are nothing to feel bad about!

Today is my last day of freedom.  Stay tuned for tomorrows post about what exactly this diet entails!

Subway Blues and a Meatless Monday Quiche recipe

The last few days have been my Last Supper(s… and lunches, and breakfast’s) before my beach bod diet begins.  I’ve eaten enough that it makes me want to start the diet a day early, but something tells me I’ll be yearning after the days when I could eat carbs after noon.

I tried to go to the gym this evening, but ran into a bit of a transportation problem when the subway stopped running and the five shuttle buses that passed me were packed.  Given that I was already tired, I trudged home with the big bag of spelt flour I’d picked up on the way to the subway.  I thought it’d be the perfect night to make a quiche.

Quiche really just looks fancy, it’s quite simple to make.  Basically, saute a bunch of veggies until they’re softish.  Make a super simple crust.  Load the crust with veggies, top with some whipped eggs and bake.  Done.

Simply Satisfying Quiche

It's not burnt, that's spinach!

For crust:
1.5 cups of spelt flour
1/3 cup sunflower oil
4-5 tablespoons of water
1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix, adding water as needed, and press into a pie pan.

Spelt is a high protein grain loaded with fibre, B2 and manganese.  It’s a great alternative to wheat flours, and is absolutely delicious whether it’s sweet or savory!  The recipe was given to me as a rough estimation from a friend from school, so feel free to play with it.  Its simplicity gives you no excuse to be buying a premade crust!

For the inside, I sauteed garlic, mushrooms, tomato, spinach and red pepper together in some olive oil.  I mixed in some goat cheese (maybe 1.5 tablespoons? I’m not sure, I was just using up whatever I had left) and spooned it into the crust.

I mixed together 4 eggs with some rice milk and poured the mixture on top of the spinach mixture.  I baked for 40ish minutes (might have over done it a bit) and enjoyed.  Next I’d like to make a tofu version, without eggs.

Yes, I ate half of it.  I was pretty hungry, but in my defense the pan isn’t as big as it looks.  If I hadn’t added goat cheese I could have had it for breakfast on my diet, as it’s super high protein with the spelt flour and the eggs, and loaded with green spinach goodness.  Who knows… I may cheat one morning

Mmmm all natural peanut butter cookies!

I don’t know what it is about snow, but whenever there’s a big snow fall all I want to do is bake.  This morning I made flour-less peanut butter cookies, they even got the thumbs up from a couple of non-foodies.  Try them, they’re super easy to make!

Ingredients
1 cup hulled hemp seeds
1/4 cup raw cane sugar, Sucanat
2 organic eggs
1 cup all natural peanut butter
1/2 tsp baking soda (I forgot this ingredient and they turned out great)
1/4 cup organic chocolate chips (Noah’s has awesome gluten/dairy/crap free mini chocolate chips that are perfect for this recipe, check the bulk aisle)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl
3. Spoon out small ball size portions and flatten onto parchment paper with a fork
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes

Hemp seeds are great sources of essential fatty acids, with a naturally perfect balance of linolenic (omega 3) and linoleic acids (omega 6).  It’s a complete protein source, more digestible than soy.  Sucanat is simply dried sugar cane juice, dried and crushed.  It’s got a great molasses flavour, and can be substituted 1 to 1 for refined sugar in all recipes.  It’s still a simple carbohydrate, but it’s a whole food source.  Conventional peanut butter has way more ingredients than it should.  People feel healthy spreading Skippy on their toast, but don’t realize that besides genetically modified peanuts, the main ingredient is icing sugar!  If you’re trying to convert to the natural stuff but miss the sweetness, try almond butter.  It’s quite a bit sweeter and absolutely delicious!

Good luck out there in all the snow, hopefully hot yoga will warm me up later

Cheating, and a Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Happy new years everyone… It’s been a little while since my last entry, so I’ve got a few things to update you on.  I had the pleasure of getting out of the city for new years, and spent four long, lazy days at a cottage.  The weather was mild, but unfortunately this meant that when my iPod fell out of my pocket onto the partially frozen lake, there was a couple inches of water that caused it an early death (thank god it managed to connect to my computer, I managed to save my playlists before bidding it adieu).  So I am sans music right now, which puts a serious dent in my subway rides.  However, instead of crying, I decided to pull out one of the books I got for Christmas.  When I had my music on, I’d fiddle around with the solitaire or mahjong on my iPod, or send a few messages instead of reading.  The book I’m reading is called Slow Death by Rubber Duck. It’s about two guys from Toronto that decided to see just how harmful some everyday chemicals are in our products. They tested out chemicals like phthalates, Teflon, and PCB’s.  Before chemical acronyms scare you away from the innocently named book, trust me, it’s incredibly well written!  It’s written so people can grasp the magnitude of harm that these chemicals are doing to our bodies.  I highly recommend picking it up.  Gotta give credit to a couple of Torontonians for bringing such an invaluable amount of information to the world’s attention.

So on the note of new years, there’s always talk of resolutions.  I made a couple of personal ones (like moving out of my parents basement, for example) and some for my career, but the popular health-geared ones I find are much more likely to succeed when you’ve got a reason besides the clock turning midnight.

But this wouldn’t be much of a health blog if I didn’t list at least one, right?

On February 19th I’m going to Mayan Riviera with my family for my dad’s fiftieth birthday.    I’ve got a pretty big family, as you can see from the picture (taken on our last trip together), so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of, if not the, last trip we all take as a family.  So I’ve decided that I’m going to try another crazy meal plan to get in serious bikini-ready shape.  Before I get bombardments of messages about how I don’t need to lose weight, et cetera, I know. I’m well aware, and I’m quite happy with my not totally perfect diet and pretty regular gym routine.  But let’s face it, we all feel better about being next to naked in a bathing suit when we know we’ve put in a lot of work into looking good.  From January 19th to February 19th, I am going to give it my best damn shot to eat super clean and feel my best when I go away.

Which leads to the cheating part of this post.  After eating not so holistically over the weekend at the cottage, and then last weekend when I ate out for every meal from Friday’s dinner to Sunday’s brunch, I really thought I’d want to start my crazy meal plan early.  But last night I went for dinner at Fresh with a girlfriend, and I had this crazy craving for a burger (now, for all of you that aren’t familiar with Fresh, it’s an awesome vegetarian restaurant, and their burgers are comprised of nuts, seeds, and tofu) and quinoa battered onion rings.  I even got a gluten-free dessert.  I felt wild, really living on the edge (I’m rolling my eyes, I’m aware that my dinner still sounds way too healthy for lots of people). So I cheated, again.  And it felt awesome, sometimes you really need to give in to your cravings.  Stay tuned for the Abby Gets Bikini Bod Ready Diet over the next week!