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Hidden Ingredient in Almond Milk

A few days ago I received an email titled

“Beware of unsafe Ingredient in store bought almond milk”.

It really got my attention right away.

You see at our home we have always been on the forefront of all “holistic health foods”. I practice what I preach to my clients and family 24/7. We eat little meat and if we do it is free range, pasture raised and free of any antibiotics, hormones and byproducts. Our produce is from our own garden, bought at local organic farms or Whole Foods Market. I make sure I know where our food comes from. Dairy is very limited, cheese, butter, yogurt etc. are also from pasture raised animals and rather than drinking milk my girls prefer almond milk. It is in their morning cereal, smoothies, straight up from the carton all day long and we have even made popsicles and ice cream with almond milk. There favorite is most likely everyone’s favorite out there.

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Spring Detox

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Detoxifying your body for good

Detoxifying your body is a great way to eliminate toxins, waste and build up of chemicals in your body. As much as I am all for detoxifying and cleansing the body, I am not a fan of radical cleanses taking the body from your everyday diet to a drastic change of juicing and cleansing with a raw food diet.

Unless you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and see now other way out of it, don't do it! A 3,7,10 day cleanse…. I am all for it, but then please don’t ruin it by going back to your old eating habits. Stick with what you learned, how great you felt during that time, more energy, clarity, no mental fog, better sleep, your skin glow and overall well being should count to make it last a lifetime.

You see what I hear from most of my clients is that the look fine on the outside, but they can feel that something is not right on the inside. So should they detox and cleanse for a few days or should they change their nutrition habits for good?

Let’s take a closer look at what is really going on here.

From my experience the problem always is INFLAMMATION…………

Do you have weight gain that seems to just slowly creep up on you? Inflammation!

Are suffering from falling asleep or staying asleep, 3pm crashes and always feeling exhausted? Inflammation it is!

Mental fog, concentration problems, bloating…the list goes on, the end result INFLAMMATION!

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So Hum

This month I joined, like many others, a 21 day meditation challenge provided by no other then Deepak Chopra & Oprah herself. You might have heard of it and maybe even joined yourself to practice with the guru of meditation and self care.

I have stuck to this now for over a week, practicing daily at the same time, complete silence in the house, phones off, nobody home, just me and the dog. I have struggled to keep my mind quiet, breathing, relaxing and letting go of thoughts interfering…………unfortunately to no avail, there has not been one day were I made it through the exercises without interruption.

Today at day 10 I have come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try to succeed at meditating my mind just keeps on wandering and disobeying. I chant my mantra, I visualize my favorite place and I try and try hard to stay focused on my breathing, my body and spirit. It’s just not happening.

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Real Food rots

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves............

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10 spices & herbs to help you lose weight

Are you trying to lose weight and can't seem to get those last 5-10pds. off?

How about adding some new herbs & spices to your daily meals.

Here are the top 10 spices to add to your meals that will help you along:

Black Pepper: boosts fat metabolism, promotes absorption of nutrients and improves digestion

Cayenne Pepper: it's capsaicin is know for it's "fat-buring" abilities

Cinnamon: helps lower blood sugar and promotes the processing of carbs

Ginger: diuretic, improves gastric mobility and prevents the absorption of cholesterol

Ginseng: combates fatigue & increases stamina so you can excercise; it also lowers blood sugar

Green Tea: boosts metabolism and burns fat

Guar Gum: decreases bad cholesterol (LDL) and helps to control diabetes

Gurana: diuretic, stimulates nervous system, helps with depression & stress which may lead to emotional over eating

Laminaria: helps regulate the thyroid gland

Tumeric: speeds up metabolism and burns fat

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5 ways to a healthier YOU!

1. Eat breakfast ~ it doesn't have to be breakfast food, whatever it is it will keep you from binging at lunch and throughout the day, speed up your metabolism and get your day off to the right start.

2. Stop counting calories ~ its hard not to when that's all everyone ever talks about. Your body needs food dense in nutrients, so stop playing that game, enjoy your food and change the way you think about it. I promise you its works!

3. Ditch the sugar ~ and with that all refined foods together. Consuming refined foods (pasta, breads, cookies. etc) not only adds to your waistline, but also causes inflammation in your body leading to premature aging and disease.

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Yummy Beets

It has been a long struggle of getting my daughter to eat beets. I have cooked, broiled, roasted and mashed them, tried to sneak them into her salads, sauces and stir-fry's..........no luck. She found them each and every time and refused to eat at times worried that I was up to my tricks again.

The reason why I refused to give up is simple: the health benefits for one and everyone else in this house loves them, no matter which way I serve beets, no matter the color, everyone always eats them. Just not Gabby.

Well, this past weekend I was decided to give it one more try by adding them to our morning juice of carrots, oranges and mint. I was on a mission to get beets into that girl one way or another!

As you guessed correct, she drank the juice not even wondering why her normally orange drink was a deep red (she was after all busy reading and never looked up when I put the glass in her hand). Only after she downed about half her glass did she look up at me asking what was in it besides her usual. I should have taken a picture of her expression the moment I spoke the word "red beets"............silence for about a minute and then a " Well, I guess I like them now too." which was followed by "In my juice only!".

In her juice only! I take that, I can live with that and it certainly is a start.

If you would like to recipe to her new favorite juice here is the link:

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Organic vs. conventional

As a health coach I am a big advocate of eating a healthy whole food diet of food grown and raised organically, farm raised and free range.

What does “organic” really mean?

Organic produce is grown on farms that are under very strict guidelines of not using any synthetic fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide. Organic meat and dairy livestock or not to receive any antibiotics or added hormones and are raised on organic feed only. Organic products never use genetic engineering or irradiation.

Promoting healthy soil, biodiversity, conservation of water and ecological systems are key points in organic farming. This helps to keep chemicals out of the earth, water and air. Another interesting point is the focus on using renewable resources.

Understanding the stickers on your produce:

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Putting things into Perspective

I woke up on the “wrong side of my bed” today as a mom would say. Cranky, moody, irritable, and bitchy, PMS you say…….. Sorry, not the case with me today.

You see its holiday time and my husband’s 60^th birthday right around the corner. With that a lot is to be done and accomplished in our home. Unfortunately or fortunately it’s left to me. It’s left to me to decorate our home, shop and bake, plan a surprise birthday party, organize dinners with friends and prepare for family that is going to come from overseas and will be staying with us. All while sticking to my own busy schedule meeting with clients, working out and attending events.

I should be delegating is what you are thinking.

Well here is the thing, my husband works 24/7 at this time of the year so he can close his business for two weeks between Christmas and New Year’s and therefore can’t be bothered with any of it. My oldest is away in College and won’t be back till 2 days before Christmas Eve. My younger daughter has a schedule that makes even mine look like a walk in the park. So you see it’s just best if mom does a good 95% of it. The other 5% will be done in corporation with the girls as we get closer to the festivities. I know it’s not much, but it is something and I take it.

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Live Well & Be Well

~Doris Ditz-Eggens~ CH HC, AADP