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Lentil Bean Veggie Burgers…It was a surprise!
Lentil Veggie Bean Burgers I love it when I discover something really easy and delicious, and it absolutely delights me when it happens quite by accident! This time the accident turned out to be Lentil Bean Veggie Burgers that were “meaty” and delicious!! Last week I made a vegetarian mixture to go over Organic brown rice and quinoa pasta. The result was ok, but it was not my favorite creation, and I had quite a bit left over. The next night, I decided to make burgers out of it. This was a complete experiment, but often it can turn out well…and it’s always a fun adventure! I took some of…
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How to begin eating organic without spending a fortune
How to begin eating organic I constantly hear people saying they would love to eat organic, but it’s so expensive. I understand as I’m always watching prices and trying to shop smart myself. From my perspective, if you think eating organic is expensive, try getting really sick and see what that does to your budget! With that in mind, let’s talk about how to begin eating organic. We’ll talk about three foods you can easily switch to begin your organic adventure. They’re items that you probably (or should) eat often, and the organic versions are usually easy to find. Because a huge fresh salad should always be on the menu,…
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Artificial Sweeteners and Weight Gain…could they be sabotaging your diet??
Artificial Sweeteners and Weight Gain I was told a long time ago by a holistic chiropractor that artificial sweeteners could bring on a bout of depression with just a couple of servings. This resonated with me as I suffered from depression for decades. I wouldn’t go near the stuff. But what about artificial sweeteners and weight gain? I thought it would be interesting to share a post written by one of my favorites, the integrative medicine guru, Dr. Mark Hyman. In this post, he said: “When you trick your body and feed it non-nutritive or non-caloric sweeteners, like aspartame, acesulfame, saccharin, sucralose, or even natural sweeteners like stevia, it gets…
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Soda Stream…Water Doesn’t Have to be Boring!
I love my Soda Stream machine! I enjoy a really great drink that I make with a machine called Soda Stream. It’s called water. That may sound like a wise-crack, but hear me out. Water is wonderful, and we all need to drink lots of it. It’s good for us. Sometimes we wish we could spiff it up a bit; make it a little fancier…a little more fun. In our western food culture, we often think of soda as a refreshing drink. Whether sugar-sweetened or sugar-free (with sugar substitutes like high-fructose corn syrup and the like), that’s what so many of us reach inside our refrigerators to grab or order…
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Did you know February 12th is National Plum Pudding Day?
Did you know February 12th is National Plum Pudding Day? By the way, National Plum Pudding Day has absolutely nothing to do with healthy eating…just sharing a fond memory of a sweet dessert I used to love… In my family, for Thanksgiving and Christmas, our holiday dessert was always plum pudding. My mom would steam it in a double boiler to heat it up, and she made the most amazing “hard sauce”. It wasn’t hard, so I never quite understood the name. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that there was sherry in the recipe. I don’t know. But it was thick and rich and sweet and…
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Are You Confused? How to Read Sugar Labels
How to Read Sugar Labels Let’s talk about how to read sugar labels. Why is the DV% for sugar always blank on a food label? I always teach people to look for the truth about what’s in their food by reading the label on the back of the package. Think of the front as a billboard. That’s all advertising, and frankly, the manufacturer doesn’t have to necessarily tell the truth. They can exaggerate or call out the buzz word of the month. Like “loaded with vitamin c” or “get your daily calcium with one serving”! The food label on the back of the package must tell the truth. For instance,…
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Eat to Relieve Depression…changing your diet can work wonders!
Can you eat to relieve depression? If you think you can add a few specific supplements to your diet to handle your depression, think again. Instead, begin to eat to relieve depression! You are what you eat, and that’s true for your mental health as well as the health of the rest of your body. The drugs used to treat depression have had limited success out in the world; the field of psychiatry is finally turning its attention to diet and how what we eat affects depression! Dr. Drew Ramsey, an integrative psychiatrist at Columbia University says, “We’re now facing this huge epidemic of mental health disorders. Depression is the…
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Probiotics and Depression…can taking probiotics help?
Probiotics and Depression…can taking them help? This post contains some important information on probiotics and depression, but first, did you know you actually have two nervous systems? One, the central nervous system consists of your brain and your spinal cord; the other is the intrinsic nervous system which exists in your gastrointestinal tract. While we have always believed our brain to be running the show, it turns out that our gut is actually sending more data to our brain than the other way around. The information is sent via the vagus nerve which runs from the brain stem down into the abdomen. Toxic stomach bacteria, linked to depression can…
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Can You Get off Antidepressants Safely?
Can You Get off Antidepressants Safely? What do you do if you want to get off anti-depressants? Do you wonder…can you get off antidepressants safely? Because I’m not a doctor, I can’t give you medical advice, but I can share my own experience. I have been on and off antidepressants several times. Getting off them is tricky, and you really have to be careful. Consult with your doctor before you begin the withdrawal process. Whatever you do, don’t stop them quickly. When you try to get off them, some of the side effects you may experience include anxiety, fatigue, nightmares, trouble sleeping, depression and mood swings, loss of coordination, muscle spasms and…
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Fat Intake and Depression…is there a link?
Fat Intake and Depression Is there a connection between fat intake and depression? I often tell people I cured myself of decades of depression and lost 20 pounds by changing how I eat. One woman’s response was, “if I lost 20 pounds, I wouldn’t be depressed either!” I thought that was pretty funny, but had to tell her it went beyond just being psyched I lost unwanted weight. It felt so good to no longer live with depression; to struggle on a daily basis with the debilitating dark mood and sadness. The low fat/fat free craze of years ago has produced a lot of brain issues that we’re dealing with…
