Book Club

Now in between my full time job at a magazine publisher, and part time Nutrition studies I do find it hard to fit in my leisure reading time. However I have recently stumbled across an amazing book which is taking up a lot of my spare time.

Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss is an amazing read - and I am only half way complete. Dr. Myss offers a stunning picture of the human body's hidden energetic structures, while revealing its precise spiritual code and relationship to the sacred energy of creation. She specifically focuses on the seven levels of spiritual development, the stages of power in every day life. Put simply, she allows us to develop an understanding of the correlations between our energy centres and our health, relationships, and spiritual development. 

Anatomy of the Spirit is richly interwoven with research and examples of her practices. Some fascinating examples that stood out for me was one man who had suffered from chronic heart disease and Dr Myss identifies this as a result to his suffering all his life in his turbulent marriage and relationships. Many more example of people suffering illnesses that have come as a result of years of emotional abuse or suffering. Now it is not implying everyone who has been through a tough time is going to develop illness. But she merely is allowing us to develop an understanding of these correlations. Very fascinating.

RRP $24.95 from most reputable bookstores.

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Featured Recipe: Raw Power Balls

Ingredients

    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/4 cup desiccated coconut
    1 cup nuts (raw almonds, cashews, macadamias)
    1/2 cup pitted chopped organic dates
    1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
    1/2 cup raisins
    2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
    1/8 teaspoon natural almond essence
    1 tablespoon fresh orange juice (use real oranges)

Directions:

1. Mix the coconut and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside for rolling.

2. Put all other ingredients except orange juice in a food processor, and slowly add in the orange juice if it doesn’t bind together completely.

3. Roll into small balls and coat with the coconut mixture.

4. Store in a sealed glass container in the fridge.

Makes: Makes 12-18 balls, Preparation time: 15 mins

Source: http://www.vegweb.com/

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You DO make friends with salad...

Our favourite yellow man Homer Simpson once gallivanted around Springfield singing 'You don't make friends with salad' ... well sorry buddy do I have news for you! I think perhaps he was referring to a boring garden salad; think your typical iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, carrot and grated cheese - YAWN! Good news, there are salads that are interesting, creative, packed with flavours and lots of vitamins AND may even win you a friend or two..or three? HA!

Now here is one I prepared the other day that easily fit the criteria above.

‘You do make friends with salad’ salad

What do I need?

• Spinach Leaves (4 large handfuls)
• Quinoa (1 cup, rinsed)
• Red Capsicum (1)
• Brown Lentils (1 cup)
• Cannellini Beans (1 cup)
• Chickpeas (1 cup)
• Kidney Beans (1 cup)
• Grape Tomatoes (1 punnet)
• Cucumber (1)
• Carrots (1 grated)
• Pumpkin Seeds (1/2 cup)
• Sunflower Seeds (1/2 cup)
• Red Onion (small handful chopped)
• Firm Tofu (1 small packet)
• Coconut Oil

What do I do?

Firstly boil the Sweet Potato and Quinoa - set aside to cool. Next lightly brown the Tofu on medium heat over a fry pan, with a small amount of coconut oil, don’t worry if you don’t have coconut oil, use a small amount of olive oil. Make sure you have medium heat on the stove though. Chop, dice and slice the remainder of the ingredients and mix it all together in a huge bowl. Add the Quinoa, Sweet Potato and Tofu and bobs your uncle you’re good to go.

This salad is epic, not only is it extremely delicious there are so many textures, and a huge dose of vitamins – that you’re bod will be singing hallelujah and screw you Homer! Right here in this salad you are ingesting a large amount of your vitamins including Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Magnesium, EFA’s, Potassium, Vitamin B, C and E and even Zinc!

Sorry Homer, but I think you could do with a few servings of this!

Enjoy.x

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Natural sweetness in your life!

This post is inspired by the "I promise I'll start next week-ers"... think, if you have heard these words come out of your mouth or your friends mouths "OMG, I need chocolate", "I can't function without my sugary coffee in the mornings", "If I don't eat some form of sugar right now I am going to go crazy". We all know this country, no this world is addicted to the stuff. Sweets play an integral role in our diets and lifestyles and to satisfy these cravings, Australians ingest approximately 45kg of sugar per person per year. Sugar is addictive, and manufacturers know if they put it in their products you will keep coming back for more!

Now the sugar I am referring to Refined Sugar - this is nasty. All the enzymes, fibre, vitamins & minerals have been stripped back aka refined to create this substance that now has no nutritional value at all..zilch, nadda, zero! It is addictive as its usually combined with foods that contain lots of fat, cholestorol and calories! They raise blood sugar quickly and once it falls off, we need more more more! Hence the addiction. Excess amounts are stored in the liver as glycogen, which is then released into the bloodstream as fatty acids, and ends up usually saying hello as a love handle. Now you know why I say its nasty.

Now I am not trying to preach and say you have to give up your fave cupcakes - more importantly there needs to be clarification that you can still enjoy a bit of 'sweetness' in your life by substituting these nasties with natural, healthier alternatives to refined sugar. Now I am going to introduce you to my friend AGAVE Nectar or Syrup. This is featured in the yummy raw chocolate post below. He's back! Agave is a high-nutrient sweetener that can actually be beneficial to health. It doesn't contain any processed chemicals & the raw version contains vitamins & minerals. It is also absorbed slowly into the bloodstream it doesn't have significant impacts on blood-sugar levels.

Other good substitutes for refined sugar include; brown rice syrup, raw sugar, barley malt syrup, maple syrup or molasses. All of these can be used in place of refined sugar in any product or recipe. So you can all still have your cake and eat it and feel good about it!

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Loving Earth Organic Raw Chocolate!

A dear friend of mine recently surprised me with a little delicious treat in which I have to share. Now you may be sceptical given the nature of this blog, when I say this certain treat is a Chocolate Bar. This is not your ordinary Chocolate Bar people, this bar is actually good for you :)

Now as I work in Marketing I am always a bit sceptical of marketing tricks and spiels. In particular how many products use the organic angle to win over consumers. However this is no marketing ploy - this product is a winner. Read on to find out why...

This delicious treat is made of organic chocolate and is Raw. This means it has up to twice as many antioxidants as your average conventional chocolate, as it uses organic raw cacao powder. To put it into perspective Raw Cacao Powder has 3 times the amount of antioxidants of that in Goji Berries (Source: US Department of Agriculture). Loving Earth products use raw organic Agave Syrup (a natural, low GI sweetener) instead of cane sugar.

The particular one I tried was the Sour Cherry & Acai Organic Raw Dark Chocolate...WOW. This is what chocolate is meant to taste like. It was delicious, with little bits of organic sour cherries and Acai powder to add that extra tastiness.

You can buy these in most health food stores.

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Healthy Body, Healthy Mind





"If you wish to see why the body is the way it is, look at how you have been thinking for the past 10 years. If you wish to see how your body will be in 10 years time, look at how you are thinking now"

Buddha 550BC

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Winter Workout Tips

So winter has officially arrived in Sydney, today is a chilly max temperature of 14 degrees Celsius. I personally am the worst when it comes to the cold; for example last year whilst travelling through Europe - it was probably about 10 degrees in London and I was concerned I would get frost bite (yes ... self confessed hypochondriac).

Anyways, apart from the fear of frost bite; this cold weather kills so much of our motivation to still workout. We tend to use any excuse we can find to avoid a work out - "It's too dark to even get up yet, it is surely not safe running in the dark", "It's so cold outside and my bed is so toasty", "I can just cover up any extra winter weight with all those layers of clothes", and the list goes on.

So I have come up with a few little tips to keep you motivated, and keep up your healthy lifestyle even when frost-bite is a major risk!

• Cock-a-doodle-do! Not so natural Alarm Clock: If you can only fit in exercise in the mornings - set your alarm on your phone and leave it on the floor away from your bed. So you actually have to get up out of bed to go turn the annoying thing off. Once you are up you will find it much easier to stay up!
• Strategic Gym Clothes: Prepare your work out clothes the night prior and leave them out so you can just jump out of bed and throw them on - leave them near the phone alarm - for extra motivation.

• Bikram or Power Yoga - this is an amazing winter workout because you are working out in temperatures of 30-40 degrees! Not to mention all the benefits of this form of yoga, allowing for a more intense flexibility workout & the flushing of toxins in your body.
• Get a Workout-Buddy: If you have a friend to workout with, you are more likely to commit to it. Instead of going and catching up for a vino, maybe suggest catching up over a 1 hour walk.
• Bikini Bod: Maybe keep your motivation by leaving out a pair of your favourite bikinis in sight... hang them next to your trench coat! Remind yourself you want to get back into them after the chill season.
• Lighter work-outs: Because your body is using up a lot of energy to keep itself warm in winter. You can cut back on the hardcore workouts, maybe try for light running, walking, yoga and pilates classes to stay fit and healthy.
• Productive Lunch break: Why not try fit in your workout on your lunch break? It is much warmer at the middle of the day. Also it is great if you are a runner, you won't get nearly as sweaty as you would in summer; so can go back to work after a shower and not feel all red-faced and sticky.

Have Fun and Enjoy!

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Ginger, Chili & Garlic Salmon

A delicious meal I like to cook, is Ginger, Chili & Garlic Salmon. Salmon is an excellent source of Omega-3, an essential fatty acids our bodies need as they have anti-clotting, anti-inflammatory and immune stimulating functions. Salmon is one of the more expensive fish types; but it is worth spending the extra pennies. 1-2 serves a week is sufficient and also easy on the wallet - coming to approximately $6 for 1 steak; depending on where you buy it from. So anyways, I whipped up this little salmon concoction last night with my housemates whilst we belting out some music - cooking and listening to music...*BLISS*.

Anyways here is what I came up with, so easy and nutritious.


Ingredients

• 1 salmon steak
• 1 red chili
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon of chopped ginger
• 1/2 lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Side Salad

• 1/4 cup Rocket leaves, rinsed
• 1 Carrot grated
• 1/4 Red Onion chopped finely
• 1/2 Cucumber chopped into strips
• 1/2 cup Sweet Potato - boiled
• 1/4 cup Red Lentils - boiled
• 1/4 cup tinned Chickpeas & Kidney beans
• 1/2 Red Capsicum chopped into fine strips

Method
Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Place salmon steak in some aluminum foil - top with chopped chili, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce & ground pepper. Place salmon into oven and cook for 10-15 minutes.
For the side salad combine all the ingredients listed in a large bowl.
For serving - place the salad on the bed of the plate & top it with the salmon. All the juices & olive oil will flow through the salad as a natural dressing.

Delisss!!! Enjoy!

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Tasty Tofu Obsession..

Those of you who know me well, probably know about my little 'food obsessions' I go through from time to time. It is like I am a pregnant women with my bizarre cravings - however the body is usually telling us something when we crave certain nutritional elements. One week for me it was Eggplant! However at the moment I am so into Tofu it is not even funny. I am addicted to the stuff. I think my addiction is infectious as some of my freinds and my dear sister are also on the Tofu bandwagon!

I am by no means a vegetarian, so don't worry I am not going to delve into a vegetarian spiel. Although it would seem appropriate to discuss this topic after the reported E.Coli outbreaks in Europe, the horrific treatment of animals being exporting to Indonesia; just to name a few - don't even get me started. This is a whole new post ((watch this space)).

I do however follow a sort of 'vegetarian' type diet, consisting of a lot of raw food,  organic foods & meats - wholesome food. All the GOOD stuff! I do not eliminate animal products, but I do chose wisely by opting for as organic as I can get, and therefore chose lean meat and fish. Tofu is a great option for vegetarians, but also a delicious and nutritious addition to your stir-fry & salads.

Some facts about the white slab of goodness, based on 1.5 cup serving of raw Tofu:

• High in protein - Contains 10grams of protein - The Recommended Daily Intake is 56g for most men, and 46g for women
• Low in calories - Contains 94 Calories
• Low in fat - Contains 5g of fat and is cholesterol-free
• Good source of Calcium - 227mg of calcium (or about 22% of the RDA)
• Good source of Iron

If you wish to add more flavour, marinate it in some home made ginger, garlic and soy sauce. Deliss!

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Butter Vs. Margarine

There is much debate in the health industry regarding which is best for health, butter or margarine. In particular, there is much concern over the intake of trans fatty acids and the possible risk it poses to health.

Many of us are ill-informed by marketing ploys and fad diets, but we actually do need fats in our diets. However don't be fooled...this does not mean a Big Mac is okay to go chow down on. The fats in these types of foods are the ones that provide no nutritional value. The "Good Fats" are the Essential Fatty Acids - these are needed by the body but not made by it in sufficient amounts. They have anti-clotting, anti-inflammatory and immune stimulating functions.

Margarine is made using a process called 'hydrogenation' and hence contains trans fatty acids. These are said to be the bad fats we all hear about avoiding - they have the capacity to interfere with natural balances in the body & may contribute to the process of degenerative disease. They are also seen to interfere with Essential Fatty Acids & Cholesterol functions.

Butter is more natural than margarine in that it doesn't contain trans fatty acids; but many butters do contain additives. When shopping look for one that is 'pure butter'.

I have discovered many wonderful alternatives to these common spreads as we don't even think about when we slap it on our morning toast or vita-wheat snacks. My favourites include:

• Avocado
• Hommus
• Tahini (Paste made from sesame seeds)
• Nut Butters (e.g. almond paste, cashew paste)

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Hump Day Inspiration

A light hearted post for today - for this fine Wednesday, the first day of Winter

Some beautiful inspiration, quotes and images...

Images courtesy of http://imgfave.com/wena504/page:8

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