Detox Bath

I talk a lot about eating organic and natural food but since its not always available its good to cleanse your body of toxins it can store over time from additives and chemicals in the food we eat and the products we use on our skin (yes it soaks in).  A great way to cleanse and detox is a Detox Bath.  It is very simple and inexpensive, but very effective.  I always lose at least 1 lb every time and there is nothing harmful in the bath so you may do it a couple times a week if you like!  All you need is 2 cups of Epsom salt and 1 box of baking soda.  Pour both into a hot bath (as hot as you can stand) and soak for at least 20 minutes.  Don't shower off until the next day.  The combination of Epsom salt and baking soda work by drawing out toxins, replenishing nutrients and increasing circulation.  Its kind of like exercise for your insides!  You can also add a handful of dead sea salts to feed and improve the health and appearance of your skin.  This bath completely relaxes you (and may improve insomnia) so I always do it before I go to bed and I fall right to sleep! 

The Big Question - Organic vs. Non-Organic

The big debate has been for a while now...is it really that important to eat organic and what is the difference between Organic and non-organic foods.  Well hopefully I can clear that up for you.  Organic refers to the way the crops are grown and handled before they get to you.  For example, conventional farmers apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth, spray insecticides to reduce pests and disease and use chemical herbicides to manage weeds.  On the other hand, Organic farmers apply natural fertilizers such as manure or compost, use beneficial insects and birds to reduce pests and disease and rotate crops, till, hand weed or mulch to manage weeds.  Conventionally grown crops are stored in warehouses and artificially ripened with gases while Organic grown crops are delivered fresh daily.  The problem with conventionally grown foods is that all of the harmful things they use in the growth of their produce cannot just be washed off, it is in the soil, soaked up through the roots and implanted directly into the food you are eating.  While it isn't financially possible for most of us to eat everything organic, because yes it does cost more, I did some research on the subject and came up with a list of the conventionally grown produce that is most contaminated with chemical pesticides and should be eaten organic if at all possible.

Nectarines - 97% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Celery - 95% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Pears - 94% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Peaches - 94% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Apples - 91% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Cherries - 91% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Strawberries - 90% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Imported Grapes - 86% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Spinach - 83% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Potatoes - 79% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Bell Peppers - 68% sampled contained chemical pesticides

Red Raspberries - 59% sampled contained pesticides

There is some good news though, I found that the following produce was said to have had the least amount chemical pesticides when it was tested so should be pretty safe to buy conventionally...

Asparagus, Avocados, Bananas, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Corn, Kiwi, Mangoes, Onions, Papaya, Pineapples and Sweet Peas.

I know this is a lot to take in but I think it is always best to know what you're putting into your body.  Would you drink a glass of chemical pesticides or rub it on your body...I didn't think so, and while you aren't getting it that concentrated as actually drinking it, it is building up in your body over time and will lead to sickness, disease and deterioration.

So bottom line, in my opinion Organic is better and I try to buy as much organic as possible.  I think if you are going to buy packaged food, it is always best to buy organic because they put so many ingredients and preservatives in the regular ones. If buying organic packaged food isn't possible or isn't available to you, look for items that contain less than 10 ingredients and make sure you can pronounce all of them and you should be pretty safe.

How Convenient Is It?

How convenient are convenience foods? I'm talking about frozen entrees, canned foods, premade pasta, packaged desserts, etc. I read an article the other day that said on average it takes just under an hour to prepare a meal, regardless of whether convenience foods made up less than 20 percent or at least 50 percent of the meal. Long story short, its not any faster to use all that unhealthy prepackaged stuff that has goodness knows how many additives in it. So remember, a dinner made out of fresh foods may reach the table just as fast, has more nutrients in it and is better for the environment since there isn't all that packaging!

Be Careful With Nuts

So yesterday I ate a lot of almonds. Almonds are fine on my diet but I've always noticed my stomach doesn't feel very good when I eat them. For some reason I went overboard yesterday and had breakfast made with almond flour, unsweetened carob covered almonds for my morning snack and roasted almonds for my afternoon snack. Besides gaining 2 lbs this morning (!!!), probably due to the almonds since I didn't eat a whole lot else, I was laying in bed last night and had a horrible allergic reaction. I was itching so bad I was crying and ended up falling asleep cuddling ice packs. Needless to say, I woke up this morning and threw all of my almonds and things containing almonds in the trash, I will miss my almond butter the most :( I guess the moral of this story is to listen to what your body is telling you...I've always felt kinda weird when I ate almonds so I should have known better than to consume large quantities of them. Its the same thing with appetite...listen to your body, it knows when you are full! If you are eating something just because it tastes good, not because you are still hungry, put it in the fridge and save it for later, it will still be there in a few hours or the next day and your body will be able to use it for energy rather than packing it away as fat because you've already had your fill!

More Cookies....Surprise Surprise

You may have noticed, but I have a major sweet tooth! I'm always experimenting in the kitchen to make healthy foods taste like the unhealthy stuff I love so much. I'm pretty sure this is my best recipe yet...even my husband liked it [that says a lot!]. This recipe can easily be cut in half.

I call them....

'Mock'olate Chip Cookies

-1 cup coconut flour

-1/2 cup melted butter

-2 T Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

-1 cup Xylitol (granulated sweetener: it tastes exactly like sugar with no aftertaste like Stevia)

-4 eggs

-1/2 tsp vanilla

-sprinkle of salt

-3/4 cup unsweetened carob chips

Mix together butter, coconut oil, Xylitol, eggs, vanilla and salt. Stir in coconut flour, then carob chips. Roll dough into 1-1/2" balls then flatten [they don't really change shape when you cook them so i would flatten them to the size you want them]. Place flattened balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375F for about 15 minutes. Cool and Eat!

note: my recipe is sugar-free but keep in mind if you use chocolate chips instead of unsweetened carob then the recipe will no longer be sugar free.

Dinner at Home

Yesterday was my 3 year wedding anniversary...YaY! Our usual tradition is to go to a ridiculously nice restaurant but since I am still on Phase 3 of the HCG diet (no sugar, no starch), I decided to cook steak & enchiladas and key lime pie at home this year. You never know what restaurants are putting on your food (example: sugar, msg, etc...) so this way I had control over what I ate. Now my husband isn't a huge fan of most of my healthy creations so I did half of the enchiladas with regular flour tortillas for him. I don't think he was a big fan of my crust-less key lime pie (I made up the recipe when I realized my strawberries had gone bad that I was going to use in my original dessert) but I thought it was amazing! I decorated my dining room like a romantic restaurant and I barely missed going out! Here are my recipes if you'd like to give them a try...


Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
-1 8oz package cream cheese. softened
-1 small container of sour cream
-1 large jar of salsa
-4 cooked and shredded chicken breasts
-10 tortillas (I used Ezekiel Sprouted Tortillas. no starch)
-shredded cheese
While chicken breast is still warm, stir cream cheese in with it then add 1/2 of the jar of salsa. Add a heaping spoonfull of chicken mix to tortilla and roll up placing the seam side down in a greased 9x13 pan. After all the chicken mix is used. Mix sour cream and the rest of the salsa together in a bowl then spread over the enchiladas. Cover with cheese and bake til cheese is melted and golden brown.

Crustless Key Lime Pie
-1 cup heavy whipping cream
-10 drops of Stevia
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-8oz cream cheese
-1/4 cup softened butter
-Juice of 1 lime
-1 tsp lime zest
-lime slices and grated unsweetened coconut (optional: for garnish)
Combine cream, stevia and vanilla, whip until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Mix cream cheese, butter, lime juice and lime zest until mixture is smooth. Gently combine both mixtures and spoon into serving cups. Top with coconut and chill for a couple hours. Add lime slice and serve.

Decisions Decisions

When you're on vacation or away from your healthy stocked fridge, there are a lot of decisions to make about whether to stay on track and make healthy food choices or just say to heck with it, i'll get back on track when I get home. Well I've worked really hard to change my eating habits and one little memorial day camping trip isn't going to ruin it all! Although it was especially hard when my husbands friends showed up with brownies, chips and cookies...ugh! Nevertheless if you come prepared like i did, hopefully you can just say no! I packed some nuts and fruit to snack on and for dinner I put some chicken and veggies, wrapped in tin foil, in the hot coals under our fire and made a delicious little dinner that me and my husband both enjoyed. For breakfast I know a really easy omelet trick, perfect for camping, but you can do it anywhere you have a boiling pot of water. Before you leave, put eggs, tomatoes, cheese, spices, peppers and whatever else you like in a little sandwich sized ziploc bag (make sure its a strong bag like Hefty or Ziploc because the cheapo ones might break open). Bring a pot of water to a boil over a camp stove or your fire and drop the baggy in. About 30 minutes later you have a beautiful omelet! Enjoy!

Easy Easy Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

I think I've mentioned it before, but...I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER! I also love cookies but they are usually complicated recipes and include ingredients that are totally off limits for me. However, these peanut butter cookies are a little piece of heaven because they not only taste just like the real thing, they are super simple to make.

As I pictured above, there are only 3 ingredients...yeah you read that right, 3! I told you this would be easy!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all natural granulated sweetener (I used Stevia, but some people don't like the taste)

1 cup Fresh Ground Peanut Butter

1 egg

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. Form into 12 small balls and press them flat on a cookie sheet with a fork (that way you get the little crisscross design on top). Bake for about 15 minutes. Cool. Eat!

Before & After

After ^

Before^

Ok I said I'd show you my before diet and after diet pictures so i got brave and here they are! The top picture is me now (today actually) feeling healthy and confident!

Carob Fudge

I want to share one of my favorite recipes in the whole world...Carob Fudge...it is awesome.

Carob Fudge
3-4 tsp warm water
2/3 c. carob powder, sifted
1/3 c. agave syrup
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c. dry milk powder
3/4 c. peanuts or pecans

Combine the ingredients in the order listed (add a little more water if too dry). Line the bottom of a small loaf pan with plastic wrap and spoon in the fudge. Pat the top so it is flat. Chill in fridge or freezer. Enjoy ya'll!!

read: the agave syrup can be exchanged for unsweetened applesauce.

Real Food

The hcg diet I'm doing has 4 phases...I'm currently on phase 3. Phase 3 of the diet states you can eat whatever you like as long as it has absolutely no sugar or starch. I have to be pretty creative with my cooking and make most everything from scratch but I've found some premade items that make my life much easier. From the top: Row 1--TRUVIA all natural sweetener made from the stevia plant with 0 calories, it comes in little packets and can even be used in baking. FITNUTZ peanut butter powder, love love love and less than half the calories and fat than even my favorite fresh ground peanut butter, when water is added it looks and taste just like the real stuff. CAROB POWDER has been a childhood favorite of mine, its like chocolate but doesn't need sugar to make it sweet and since i couldn't have chocolate growing up, it was the next best thing. Row 2--PEANUT BUTTER, I'm a peanut butter freak and this stuff is fresh ground at my local grocery store...yum :). EXTRA VIRGIN COCONUT OIL replaces butter in almost everything and has healthy fats needed in your daily diet, and I love the subtle coconut taste, i even use it as a luxurious skin moisturizer. LEMONAISE is made with lemons and is a substitute for mayonaise and taste exactly like it, it was the only one in the entire health food store that didn't contain sugar! FLAXSEED MEAL, i use it as a replacement for flour (i can't have starch) and sometimes i mix it with organic coconut flour for more desert-like things. It has tons of fiber but it is super absorbent so i have to double my liquids in recipes. Row 3--TURKEY PEPPERONI is sooo good and an excellent little snack with much less fat and no additives of regular pepperoni. SPROUTED TORTILLAS have saved me and are sooo versatile; great for mini pizzas, burritos, enchiladas, wraps and they can even be sliced up and baked like tortilla chips. They are made from sprouts so they are not starchy! CHEDDAR CHEESE is an awesome little snack and they come in these great little 3/4 oz packages so i don't eat too much of it...because i love cheese and i would totally overdue it.
So these are my favorites, if you have any great products that you love, let me know! I'm always searching for more ideas!

I guess i haven't mentioned it before, but I just finished doing phase 2 of the HCG diet...for those of you out there who haven't heard of it...you can read the entire original manuscript describing every detail on my page to the right titled "HCG - Pounds & Inches". I've also added some pages titled Phase 2, Phase 3, & Phase 4 describing each phase of the diet in detail. But I'll tell you this, it changes your life (for the better if you're committed to it). I wasn't seriously overweight but I just didn't feel healthy and needed something drastic to makeover the way I think about food and health. Its funny how easy it is to get out of the habit of taking care of yourself. Growing up in the south, surrounded by fried everything, bbq and decadent deserts, my mom made sure we had none of it. That means no butter, sugar, fast food, beef, pork...the list goes on. I don't think I tasted steak or chocolate til i was 17! Which is right around the time everything I had instilled in my brain about living a healthy life when out the door. I moved out of my parents house, and away from their watchful eye, to go to college in utah. Living on your own as a college student doesn't exactly promote health! Staying up late and living on juice and candy packed on my freshman 15 in a hurry. 7 years later, and many diets later, have landed me here, embarking on my journey to total health happiness inside and out.

My next post I am going to show some of the food that makes my life easier, it can all be purchased at your local health food store.
Also I am going to post some before and after pictures of myself so tune in for that!!

Cookies :(

Ok, this is the temptation I have to deal with at work! Look at all those cookies!

My Fabulous Healthy Life

My mom has always told me "Eat to live, don't live to eat". After all this time, I think i'm getting it.