Food as Medicine: Eating for Stress Management

Let’s face it – most of us feel like we’re experiencing some level of stress in our lives at the moment. Whether it’s family, work, financial or physical stress, our bodies are under some form of stress on a daily basis. While some stress is a good thing  - it’s what gets you out of bed in the morning and motivates you be a productive person – many of us are feeling too much stress too often or for too long which puts us at risk for various health conditions.  

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8 Natural Hangover Cures + Vitamin Water Recipe

The sun is out, the weather is heating up (at least in Denver it is!)....which means backyard BBQs, Sunday beer sessions, happy hours, parties and weddings are kicking into gear. Spring/summer is my favorite time of year and when I enjoy being the most social. Sometimes being social translates into being over-served. 

As fun as drinking can be, the body really takes a hit. After a big day/night out, you gotta give your body some love. No one likes to feel badly after having a good time so here are my top tips for enjoying a drink (or 10) and not suffering (too much) the next day!

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Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip)

I love an afternoon snack of veggie crudites (celery sticks, baby carrots, cucumbers) with hummus. It's a great way to deliciously satisfy hunger between lunch and dinner while loading up on vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and healthy fats. As much as I enjoy hummus, I can get a bit tired of it and am always looking for ways to mix it up, i.e. adding sweet potatoes and chipotle in for a Mexican twist, or swapping out the chickpeas for zucchini -- that kind of stuff. That's all good, but I really wanted to expand my horizons. This dip - called muhammara - answered my prayers. 

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The Ultimate Raw Chocolate Paleo Protein Balls

I have to admit, most bliss balls I've tried are a bit disappointing. They look great, but when I buy one and eat it, it's just not that good. Not sure what the deal is, but rather than trying to figure it out, I decided to try my hand at making my own to see if I could step up the game a little. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but these are pretty damn delicious. 

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10 Tips for Eating Clean on a Budget

One of the most common excuses and/or complaints I commonly hear regarding making the switch to a whole foods diet is that it’s too expensive.  I won’t argue with you that grass fed meat and wild fish are pricier than Hot Pockets and Pizza Bites. By buying organic and making your meals from scratch using real food ingredients, you will no doubt notice a jump in the grand total on your grocery receipts. But once you get started and get the hang of it, you’ll see that there are ways to eat clean and save $green$. You can also think about it this way – eating high-quality, nutrient-dense whole foods is your health insurance policy. By spending a little more each week now, your healthy and disease resistant body will actually save you in medical bills and expensive treatments later on! Do your best to invest in your health today as your future depends on it!

Even on a tight budget, you can make small upgrades that will have a massive impact on your health for the better. Below are some thrifty tips for transitioning into a more plant-based, healthy and happy lifestyle: 

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5 Common Sleep Issues and How to Fix Them

In life, we can choose to move with or against the current of nature’s natural rhythms. Our daily rhythms and hormonal fluctuations are tied to the cycles of nature and, when these are all in sync with each other, life seems a lot easier because you'll be 'going with the flow.' 

According to Ayurveda, the stress of living against these natural cycles is a fundamental violation of healthy living. Living in sync with nature’s cycles is a powerful lifestyle tool to de-stress the body and mind and feel like you're in the flow of things.

Ayurveda suggests that, in nature, there are two 12-hour cycles that are each divided into three smaller cycles. 

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What is the Paleo Diet? + Sweet Potato Cookie Recipe

I'm sure y'all have heard of the Paleo diet by now. It seems to be the latest health trend / buzzword. You may be wondering, though, what actually does the Paleo, or caveman, diet entail... I get asked this question a lot so I thought I'd write what I know about it and also hook you up with a delicious and Paleo-friendly cookie recipe in case you want to jump on board the caveman train. 

In a nutshell, the Paleo diet is about eating in a manner similar to how our caveman ancestors did before the agricultural revolution. This means eating unprocessed meat, saturated fats (from animals, avocados, coconuts, etc.), non-starchy veggies, nuts/seeds, eggs, and a little low-sugar fruit. It also means eliminating any food that arrived since farming and processing began, about 10,000 years ago -- stuff like grains, legumes, dairy, vegetable oil, etc. 

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Naughty Salad Dressing Turned Nice

Last weekend, I visited my yoga-camp-roomie and dear friend, Michelle, in San Diego. We met in Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand last February during our month-long 200-hour yoga teacher training. You can read more about that incredible experience here. We got along like a house on fire from the moment we realized we were bunkin' up in the same 400-square-foot room and have been great friends since. I went to visit her in San Diego to celebrate our one-year yoga anniversary (just kidding, sort of). I was keen to catch up with Michelle, check out SD and spend the weekend at the beach to mix it up from my usual weekends in the mountains.

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Buffalo and Sweet Potato Chili

Ok guys, here I am delivering on my promise from last week. If you're thinking of giving the Two Week Red Meat Experiment a try, this is the perfect dish to make on Sunday for a week's worth of no hassle red meat lunches. Portion it out into mason jars and bring one to work with you each day. Too easy! Even if you aren't doing the Experiment, this recipe is sure to please! I'm on a bit of a chili-making kick at the moment and this one is by far the best from my repertoire. Hearty, protein-y, spicy and moreish -- what more could you want from a winter lunch? It will get you through your afternoon without thoughts of chips or chocolate (I can pretty much promise). I'd definitely recommend doing one of the two creamy-add-ons, as well as garnishing with a healthy handful of cilantro to get some green into your midday meal.

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My Two Week Red Meat Experiment

For those of you who followed my blog through my Asian travels at the beginning of last year may know that I was 'vegan' for about 6-ish months. You can read more about my meat-free life here. Once I started culinary school in August, it was pretty difficult to maintain a fully vegan diet as we had to learn to cook animal protein and I wanted to taste all our creations! For the time I was in school, I ate and enjoyed whatever animal protein we made, but maintained a vegan diet at home. So, with that, let's call it about a year with limited animal foods, and particularly minimal red meat consumption (probably 5 times the whole year). 

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5 Reasons to Eat Fermented Foods + Spicy Kimchi Recipe

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, said disease begins in the gut. True, and so does health. There is growing research showing that the state of your gut health impacts everything from your immune system to the glow of your skin. We know that having lots of good bacteria taking up residence in your gut leaves little room for the bad bacteria (i.e. candida) to proliferate. All this healthy gut flora inoculates your intestinal tract keeping you happy, healthy, balanced and beautiful. 

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Fresh is always better? Think again! + Green Detox Soup Recipe

As a nutrition coach, I always trying to get my clients to eat more vegetables. I follow a general approach of teaching my clients to 'crowd out' the junk by adding in lots of nutrient-dense foods, especially veggies. One of the common hurdles on the road to a plant-based diet is that fresh produce often entails a lot of prep work (washing, peeling, chopping) and that takes time! Time that most people don't have! So what do I tell them?? Eat frozen veggies. When it comes out of my mouth, a tiny part of me cringes a little because few things make me happier than coming home from the farmers market / grocery store and stocking my shelves and fridge with heaps of fresh fruits and veggies, and I want my clients to share in a similar (probably not quite so enthusiastic) joy. BUT I would much rather them eat all frozen produce than put the idea of eating vegetables in the "too hard basket" in view of the time factor. That said, I decided to do a little bit of research around the nutritional value of fresh versus frozen vegetables and I was pleasantly surprised and humbled. The science gave me the humbling I needed to shut down that little cringer when I promote frozen produce to my clients. 

There is no denying the convenience of frozen produce, but let's check the science on whether we are sacrificing micronutrient and antioxidant value for the sake of luxury...

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5 Ways to Stay Healthy This Winter + Immunity Soup Recipe

I don't know about you guys but I think the flu shot is whack. I used to get it every year when I was younger but I've read some articles recently which suggest that it's actually not even that great at preventing the flu. In fact, a study at the University of Minnesota found that receiving a flu shot for one strain my contribute to a higher risk of contraction and severity from the flu of a different strain the following year. Additionally, I don't like the toxins that are in the vaccine. For example, Fluzone contains formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen. Yuck! No, thank you. 

I am not trying to persuade you one way or another, just merely informing you of some of the risks associated with the flu vaccine, and giving you ways to boost your immunity during flu season with alternative methods! So let's get to it, shall we? 

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Ayurvedic Green Gram

I haven’t eaten any animal protein (meaning: chicken, fish, pork, red meat, etc.) since I left Australia last Christmas to travel in Asia. I began my meat-free life in India at the Ayurvedic detox center, as animal products (except for milk) were not an option. The wellness retreat in Thailand where I stayed for yoga teacher training served only vegetarian meals. In the Himalayas in Nepal, we learned that no animal is allowed to be slaughtered in the Everest region (the Sherpas who live there are Buddhists) and therefore meat for the trekkers comes to the region either by plane or by road. It is then transported up the mountain to the teahouses on the back of a yak or Sherpa, in a straw basket “protected” from the sun and flies by a tarp over the top. After walking past a few of these yak trains or over-loaded Sherpas, my vegetarianism while trekking was confirmed. From there, we headed to Ubud (Bali) which is like a healthy hippie vegetarian heaven. There are at least a dozen restaurants right in the main part of town serving up incredible and unique plant-based cuisine so I thought choosing the meat option seemed like a waste. By the time I got back to the U.S. in April, I figured I would want to tuck right in to a nice piece of wild-caught Alaskan salmon or a beautiful organic and pasture-raised chicken breast, but I didn’t. There was nothing in my body or mind telling me I wanted meat again. I didn’t feel malnourished, weak, or tired; in fact, I felt light, energetic and wayyy less bloated! The latter being the most exciting for me as I have struggled with my digestion for quite some time. While I’m not saying my digestion is 100% healed with perfect elimination and zero bloating, I am confident that it is much better than it was six months ago. No longer eating animal products may be a large factor or a small factor in that equation, but one thing is for certain - you need a strong digestive fire to digest animal protein and, at the moment, mine is still a little flicker.

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Blissful Bali

When we were planning our Everest Base Camp trek, mum and I knew we also needed to schedule in at least a week of R&R somewhere warm after that kind of strenuous adventure in Nepal. Neither of us are lay-on-the-beach-all-day type of holidayers, but we basically wanted somewhere with cheap massages and healthy food. We decided on Ubud as mum had never been to Bali and always wanted to and I’d heard it was a healthy hippie haven in the jungle, which sounded right up our alley! It turned out to be exactly what we were after plus a lot more. We absolutely loved almost everything about this cultural mecca of Bali so I wanted to share with you all of our faves in case you want to put Ubud on your travel list! 

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Everest Base Camp Trek + Sherpa Nutritional Wisdom

My mum is a keen world traveller and a beyond anal organiser. She hasn’t finished one adventure before she’s got the next already in the pipeline. In the days (sometimes weeks!) leading up to any trip, whether she’s going for 6 weeks or 2 days, she has over-run the guest room in our home with all of her lists, piles, ziplock baggies, and travel-sized bottles, laid out over both beds and covering the floor. Admittedly, the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree, so when we are teaming up for a mother-daughter junket, I’d be damned if we weren’t well-equipt! Especially in the healthy snacks department. I rarely, if ever, leave home (even for an afternoon!) without some form of healthy food in my bag. I am definitely a victim of low-blood-sugar hangry (hungry-angry) episodes. Even more than that, I hate being out and about and having to stop what I am doing to go in search of something healthy to eat, which can often, especially when traveling in unknown places, be hard to come by. Hence, I always make sure to have a small bag of almonds, a bliss ball, a piece of fruit or something of the like to keep me going. 

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Day in the Life of a Yoga Teacher-in-Training

In case any of you guys are interested in getting your 200-hour yoga teacher certification, I thought I would give you a little run-down of what our daily schedule was like during the teacher training course I did on Koh Phangan in Thailand. Our course was 23 days and included two days off for relaxing and/or exploring the island. Because the timing for these courses is usually pretty tight, they cram a lot in each day so we were very busy! 

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5 Natural Remedies for PMS + Kitchari Recipe

Premenstrual syndrome is one of the most common ailments for women, affecting more than one third of the female population between the ages of 18 and 52. That’s a large percentage of us who are miserable…and perhaps making our family/boyfriends miserable...every month! To make this time easier on you and those around you, start slowing down and taking a little more rest in the days leading up to your cycle, eliminate stress and agitations and start doing more nurturing things for yourself that keep you feeling calm and happy.  

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