What's up with 'Clean Eating"???

Clean eating? What the heck is that suppose to mean? And what's it mean if you don't eat clean? Do you eat dirty?? You've probably heard the term on the cover of a magazine, or your gym-rat friends are always saying how they 'eat clean' but what the heck are they talking about? 

Clean eating is a hot new diet buzz word, simply stated, it means that you eat whole, un-processed foods. If it comes from a box it's not clean eating. The style of eating is not new, but the marketing term 'clean eating' is. Human bodies are designed to eat natural foods, but industries have taken back road efforts to give us food that tastes good at the cheapest price and with the greatest shelf life. But in order to extend food that way, they've taken most of the food out of it and replaced it with chemicals and fillers. Historically speaking, our ancestors used salt, fermentation and drying, as well as smoking and cooking methods. For more on the history of food processing go here. And for a great article on what is all that processed food and what it can do to you, go here . Bottom line is this, the more processed a food is, the less it resembles food to your body. When your body doesn't recognize it as food, then your body tries to fight it as a foreign toxin. Your body has to work extra hard (expel extra energy) to break down and get rid of chemicals and then has less energy to use for it's normal function. If your trying to get healthy, eating real food is the way to go. 

Of course, there are many benefits of eating 'clean', or as I like to call it, eating food. Your body can digest real food, so your body can use the food you eat to breakdown for energy, and it is better able to absorb the nutrients that are in your food. (called micro-nutrients). This frees up your extra energy stores to use for, hey get this, energy! You'll feel better, you will most likely lose weight- as it's harder to overeat on real food, your immune system will be stronger- keeping you healthy during the cold and flu season, your skin, hair and nails will be stronger and less prone to breakage. You may find that any auto-immune diseases you have may lessen in intensity as you stop using your energy store to fight your food and are better able to heal. 

Great right? Right! So what's the downside? Could there be one? Well not really, but eating real food does take more effort. You'll need to plan ahead, shop smart, and as much as possible eat local and organically. You'll also need to learn to cook. 

What can you eat if you go 'clean'? 

Meats

Veggies

Fruit

nuts and seeds

whole unprocessed grains

hormone free dairy 

The best way to eat clean is to get to know where your food comes from, visit local farms and get to talking to farmers. Find out where they buy their foods, most farmers love to share information and enjoy teaching about how food gets to the table. 

For more info on clean eating check out this site for eating clean for dummies. 

Got a question?? Post it for me! It may be featured in an upcoming post! :) 

Cheers and Health! 

Erin

 

Amazing Oils!

Cold and Flu season is upon us! But this year I'm fighting back! A couple days ago I woke up feeling fine, but sometime after dinner it hit me like a freight train, "I don't feel good...." I whined as I plopped down on the couch. "what's wrong?" My husband asked me, I hadn't pin pointed it yet, but my head hurt and my ears hurt and I felt sick.  "I'm going to bed....." But before my head hit my pillow for the night I remembered all those pretty little bottles of essential oils I have sitting in my bathroom. I swear the hardest part of using oils, it to REMEMBER to use them! So I drug myself to my glorious collection of mis-matched oils. And started to ponder. My head hurt, so I grabbed the lavender oil. My chest felt heavy so I grabbed some peppermint and eucalyptus oils. Armed with my tiny bottles, a bottle of sweet almond oil and a toasty (The name my children gave to our numerous lavender and rice filled heat packs) I shuffled off to bed. I mixed a couple drops of lavender equal drops oils and applied it to my temples, neck and outside of my ears, and mixed the peppermint and eucalyptus oils with equal drops oil and applied to my chest. Tossed a toasty over my eyes and fell asleep----hard. And I woke up magically healed! No, not quiet. Actually, in my experience essential oils speed up healing, often by making your sickness come to it's ugly rearing head faster, but less severely. This is how I woke up the next day, my head still hurt and my body still felt sick-ish. So I got the kids to school and started 'operation: kill a cold' and it started with a large glass of water, then a mug full of warm broth (homemade chicken bone broth- seriously SO easy! Recipe at the bottom of the page) then the big guns. Oregano oil--- lots of Oregano oil. I had purchased Oregano oil capsules a while back because I had kept hearing all about how great Oregano oil is, "the natural antibiotic" I'd read. So I picked some up at my local hippy market (health food store)  I took a capsule every couple hours and drank LOTS of fluids. I also mixed up a essential oil shot-- I used peppermint, 4 thieves, and lemon 2 drops of each mixed in a shot glass with hot water. I plugged my nose and drank up... then I realized I may have made a small error. MORE WATER! Ahhhh....that's better. (That 4 thieves stuff is STRONG! *please note unless your oils say food grade-- do not ingest them. just use them topically, which after my gag experience with drinking them I think I'll stick to topical next time regardless.* Well, within 3 hours of waking up I felt less sick. "That's a fluke," I thought, but I kid you not, I'm not sick anymore! All day long I felt normal, maybe a small lingering head ache at the most. And today I woke up feeling completely fine! Essential oils for the WIN! :)

Bone broth (chicken)

Next time you want a chicken for dinner throw a chicken in your crock pot and let it cook. Toss in whatever you want to season it with. I usually use onion, celery, maybe a carrot, I've also used fennel. Salt and pepper, and let it cook.  Pull your meat off and toss all your bones back into your crock pot with your cooking juices and veggies, add a table spoon of apple cider vinegar, or juice a bit of lemon, you just need to add some acidic juices to pull the nutrients out of the bones. Fill your pot with as much water as it can hold and cook.......cook......keep cooking. I let mine go on low for a whole OTHER day! My broth cooked for nearly 30 hours, strain and save in containers. I used mason jars and kept mine in the fridge, I drink a cup everyday to help heal my gut from my food allergies. But you can freeze and use later for soup, freeze in ice cube trays for sauces, etc. get creative! I serve mine re-heated and add just a pinch of sea salt. Don't skim the fat! You want that! And don't be surprised if your broth gels as it cools, that's all that lovely healing gelatin that is doing that! When you warm it up it'll all mix in again and make a lovely, rich broth. Great for next time your sick and need some nutrients! 

Cheers and Health! 

Erin

Food Allergies

It's been a while, how's it going blog peeps? I want to talk to you guys about something I've been spending my last year learning all about: Food Allergies.

"You too??" you may be thinking. Seems everyone is talking about food allergies lately, gluten free, soy free, dairy free, no peanuts, eggs or yeast.... blah blah blah. By this time, your head is spinning and you can't think of a single thing you can actually eat. This is exactly where I stood about a year ago, I got home from my doctors visit and my mind was spinning. I literally couldn't think of a single meal I could make that wouldn't include something I was allergic too. My list was extensive: the gist of it was this, if it tastes creamy, rich or delicious it was off my menu. I stood in the kitchen and cried, my husband tried to console me, "But what will I eat?" I sobbed. He had no clue. "Salad?" He said, I cried harder. Fast forward a year and I've come a long way from that sad woman in the kitchen, I don't eat a ton of salad, but I do eat more vegetables. I want to write today about food allergies in hope that you may have a better understanding of what it is, and how you can offer your allergen sensitive friends good food.And if you're like me, recently diagnosed with a food allergy, I hope this post help you feel less alone and helps you see you really can still eat good food. 

What is a food allergy? "I'm lactose intolerant, that's allergic to milk right?" my husband asks. Well not quite, lactose intolerant is that your body has a hard time digesting and breaking down and metabolizing the milk product you eat. An allergy, is that your body doesn't even recognize your food as food, but as an antigen ( foreign substance) that needs attacked, so instead of your body spending energy digesting your food, it spends energy attacking your food. This produces and inflammatory response, flooding your body with histamine and causing systemic inflammation. Okay, that was a lot of words, whats is all mean? Continuing exposure to allergens over a long period of time will not only make you feel sick, it will also set you up for a LONG list of health issues including the biggies: high blood pressure, heart disease, cholesterol issues, fibromyalgia, lupus, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, to name a few. Chronic inflammation equals bad. Got it? Great. So what can you eat, if like me your allergic to a bunch of stuff, or maybe your thinking you may be allergic to something and you want to eliminate common allergens and do a little home testing to help diagnose potential issues. I would recommend eating a diet consisting of all sorts of fruits and veggies, lean proteins (chicken - but no eggs--, fish, grass fed beef, turkey), rice (try to limit it to one meal a day and about 1/2 cup a day) raw seeds and nuts (minus peanuts, if your cutting out allergens) So what could you eat?

Salad?? Well yes, you can eat salad but wouldn't you rather have some yummy stir fry?? Or how about a nice big beef (or better yet Bison) burger?? Topped with avocado, tomatoes, grilled onions, and served bun-less with a big side of grilled seasoned zucchini! Potatoes?? Sure! Roast them up with some olive oil and salt and pepper till crispy and delicious, eat 'em up with a great piece of steak, chicken or fish. 

For breakfast, juice your fruits and veggies or toss 'em in a magic bullet type blender and make some smoothies. 

I like a green monster:

1 kiwi

1 orange, peeled and segmented

1/2 cup spinach

1 banana

 blend it all together with some ice and serve in two tall glasses. 

The key to eating well with allergies is to stop thinking about all the things I can't have and start thinking about all the things I can eat, when I start to think positively about my food then the creativity starts to flow. 

If you know what you are allergic too (either by working with a doctor with an elimination test or by getting a allergy marker test done), then you can start to add back in more and more foods. The great thing about stores today, is that more and more are jumping on the allergen conscious band wagon. You can find gluten free mixes and products that are good quality and easier on the budget too. 

So, if you love someone with food allergies, give 'em a hug and feed them something great. And if you suffer from food allergies, begin to try to think positively about your food choices. Get creative and start experimenting in the kitchen! You may fail, once or twice, but sometime you WIN and those are the moments that make you think, "Okay, I can do this." Find some great resources, pinterest is one of my favorite resources, I often find a recipe there that I can easily swap this for that on and create something wonderful! Make friends with others in your allergen free boat, find blogs, message boards and get talking about your allergies. Lets help each other THRIVE with food allergies not just survive! 

Cheers and Health Friends!

Erin