Lunch-time

My green cocktail for lunch was incredible. I can feel my body "waking" up, as I am cleansing my body. I want to drink green juice everyday for a while now. Just to give it a little detox and get all "wintery" stuff out of my system..

As you can see, I added fruits to my juice and that is mostly because it covers up the edgy vegetable taste. Some of you are able to do straight up vegetable juice, and that`s awesome.

 

Looks like the sun is shining... I want to go for an outdoor run. First one since fall!

-Kathrine-

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Fresh fruit and vegetable juicing

On this half sunny, half cloudy morning I took our new moped out for a little drive. 7AM is still very peaceful as far as traffic goes, with my newly learned skills in driving the moped that is perfect for me. 

Lately I have not been wanting to eat vegetables. It comes in waves, sometimes all I want to eat is a different kind of salad for all my meals. Then there are times when all the greens I get is in stir fried foods. Waking up in the morning tired, is a sign to me that I need to pat attention more to what I eat and make sure I get allot of high quality whole foods rich in nutrients.
As I was cruising around the neighborhood this morning, I wondered if I could do the far drive to the one grocery store in town that makes fresh green juice. I considered the roads, the busyness and my skill level and quickly decided that it was not a good idea.

It dawned on me that I have a juicer in my garage, it was given to me a year ago by some sweet friends of ours and I have not even used it. You see, the last juicer I had was a crazy little machine I got at a thrift store for $6. It juiced my vegetables well, but it was super loud and it took at least 20 minutes to clean up! Joy filled my heart when I discovered that it was broken and I could throw it away =)

Anyway, I got home, parked the moped and found my "new" juicer. I used all kinds of vegetables - carrots, apples, lemons, golden beets, spinach and cucumbers and got 2 cups of really refreshing and tasty juice.

"The juice of fresh fruits and vegetables is the richest available food source of vitamins, minerals and enzymes." -From the book Juicing for life.

I am excited for my next cup of juice!

-Kathrine-

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Super-food Week

Happy Monday everyone =)

It`s always nice to start a new week, especially if last week was challenging.
My focus this week is on eating plenty of incredibly nutritious foods that will strengthen my immune system and boost my overall health. I will be posting my meal plans for some of the days and add the recipes along with it.

Super food are foods high in nutritional value and low in calories. They are superior sources of anti-oxidants and essential nutrients that our bodies cannot produce on it`s own. It`s food with allot of color, it usually tastes awesome in it`s natural state and can be found in nature.
These foods have high concentration of easy digestible nutrients, vitamins and compounds to burn fat, protect and heal our bodies. The green leafy vegetables are especially rich in chlorophyll, which our cells thrives on.
This can be foods like, but not limited too: goji and acai berries, cacao, vegetables, fruits, seeds (chia, flax, hemp etc) and nuts.


Here is my super food meal plan for today:

Breakfast - Papaya Salad (ripe papaya, blueberries and blackberries)

Lunch - Baked beets and Quinoa salad (gold beets, cooked quinoa and minced baby broccoli)

Snack - Coconut water, bee pollen and homemade chocolate fudge,

Dinner - Belgian Endive salad (endive, arugula, avocado) with apricot garlic crumbs (dried apricots, almonds and 1-2 cloves of garlic in a food processor)

Vitamins - pro-biotic, multi vitamin (B12, B6, C, folat etc) and flax oil.

I will post pictures after every meal. I really love capturing amazing foods on photos ;)
Have a wonderful day -Kathrine-

Resources: Eating for Beauty

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The superfood: Quinoa

It`s a superfood that I love to use as an alternative to rice, flours and pasta. It`s pronounced keen-wha, and it`s one of those foods that you might have to go out of your way to find, but the health benefits are outstanding and makes it worth the while.

For instance, it is a "complete" protein because of the rich content of all 9 amino acids which is required by the body as the building blocks of our muscles. Another great thing is the high content of fiber and vital nutrients such as magnesium and copper.

If there is a meal I have to make on a weekly basis - it`s this quinoa dish. The healthy version of mac n`cheese, kinda, sorta. I mix in cheese for J`s dish - and leave it out for mine =)

The steps to making this dish is:

• Cook quinoa for 15 minutes on medium to medium high heat with a dash of salt. 
• Cut up the tomatoes, avocado and press the garlic and mix together in a bowl. 
• When the quinoa is ready add in cheese - if desired
• Mix with the fresh vegetables and enjoy! 

The garlic gives the meal a great flavor, the avocado makes the texture smooth and the fresh tomatoes brings a sweetness to it all. This dish works perfect alone - as a salad, it`s also tasty next to lemon baked chicken (gave that to Jeffrey), fish and other grilled foods.

Back in the days I used to eat all raw and vegan foods only. Cooked quinoa was one of those foods that I knew my body needed for the nutrition, so I never gave it up =) Have you ever tried to be on a raw diet? It`s a great transitional diet and a great way for people to learn how to eat natural food.

This is a meal that can work for most everyone - it`s allergen friendly, diet friendly and it`s easy-to-make.

Have a good evening

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Water

How is everyone`s fitness goals going? I am curious! =)
For the last 5 days my knees have been completely stressed out and not very co operative, and I have not gotten my work out`s done. This is beyond sad, but has made me realize how important our joints are.

I got on my computer and did some research and found several articles, researches and discussion boards about how dehydration can cause joint paint. "Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers". Here are some other facts I found interesting:

• lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue
• having a "dry mouth" is an extremely late sign of dehydration
• 75% of all Americans are chronically dehydrated

So most of us could be drinking more water. Who`s up for a challenge?
It is said that we should drink half our body weight in oz, (if you weight 120lb. Drink 60 oz. of water etc), but I think that should be an "at least" amount. Jillian Michaels golden number for how much water to drink is 100 oz a day. There will be some bathroom run`s, but lets just get used to it and become avid water drinkers!

Here are some benefits to drinking water:

• protects and moisturizes our joints
• helps with our metabolism
• regulates body temperature
• relieves fatigue
• reduce the risk of cancer
• detoxifies our body
• helps our organs to absorb nutrients better

-Kathrine-

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Healing foods

When you discover you have sensitivities to gluten, you most likely have an inflamed gut. Luckily, you can now get on your way to heal it up, with a gluten free diet. It can take weeks, even months before it starts working like it should. During this time, it`s crucial to know what foods to choose, and what to stay away from.

These are foods that I found was best to avoid: dried fruit, oats, diary products, additives, caffeine, raw cruciferous vegetables and processed foods.  As I`ve said before, everyone is different, and you`ll have to learn how your body reacts to these foods. The "amount" of how much trigger food you can have before your stomach reacts, is also a crucial thing to discover as it will empower you for future success.

 Here are a few foods I have found that are nice on the gut:

• Grape juice - grapes are phenomenal in reducing abdominal discomfort. Measure equal parts juice and sparkling water, it`s one of my favorite drinks. 
• Vegetable juice - drinking fresh vegetable juice will give you a bunch of important nutrients, in a "pre-digested" state. I often juice carrots, or make spinach smoothies.
• Millet bread - it`s good tasting, nutritious, Gluten Free, and can work on calming  an upset stomach. If you suspect that you ate gluten, have a slice of GF bread, it helps! mmm.. toast with cinnamon - yum.
• Steamed vegetables - yes, I will say steamed as opposed to raw.  This is because the latter is harder to digest. 
• Bananas - known to sooth the gastrointestinal track due to the high content of pectin, a soluble fiber that normalizes bowel function. Try blending frozen ripe bananas and serve it with fresh berries and home made granola ;)
• Papayas - packet with enzymes that help digestion, especially in digesting protein.
• Pears - pause.................. I love pears. Also an excellent source of pectin, they are often recommended more than other fruits because they are less likely to produce an adverse response.

Also, pay attention to what kind of food you pair together. For example, fruit is awesome on an empty stomach. But for a sensitive stomach, a slice of orange after dinner can make you bloated. I am not sure why fruit and other foods don`t work together, I just know from experience that it does not.

I have found that grains are nice to incorporate little by little. Read more in the article I wrote about The Healthier Alternative, it`s about flours and how to bake gluten free. It will help you get started on baking yummi GF foods.
 

-Kathrine-

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