What I ate in a day. Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant rich Liver & Kidney Flush Challenge

Good Morning Beauties,
I started a little challenge that I am excited to share with you in a few days. Its a 30 day morning liver and kidney flush. So first thing in the morning I made a power juice shot.

ORGANIC BEETS

CELERY, TURMERIC, CUCUMBER, BEETS, CILANTRO, ASPARAGUS, LEMON

YUMMY LIVER CLEANSE JUICE :)

TURMERIC JUICE

TURMERIC IS A GREAT ANTI-INFLAMMATORY FOR DOGS

GALANGAL

TURMERIC

TURMERIC & CARROTS

Today's teas were simple yet delicious and healing.
Orange peel tea made with the left over organic orange peels. Orange peel in Chinese medicine has been used for centuries to improve digestion, bloating, heartburn, GERD, HIGH CHOLESTEROL; also used as an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and an immune system boosting herb. The essential oils contained in the peels is great for insomnia, depression, nervous tension and anxiety.

ORANGE PEEL STEEPING IN MY PAN

Later on I had some turmeric tea. Great for joint inflammation and a skin beautifier. Indian women have been traditionally using turmeric as a brightening face mask. I tried mixing turmeric and L ascorbic acid and resveratrol to make a turmeric Vitamin C treatment and I have to say that my hands turned yellow from handling it but my face did NOT. hehe :D

HEATING UP FRESH TURMERIC BLENDED WITH WATER AND ALMOND MILK

 A FEW HOURS LATER - BREAKFAST

 I mix cacao powder with coconut milk, mesquite powder and stevia and pour this over the frozen bananas. I had maybe 5-7 baby bananas.

Frozen Chocolate Bananas with Grated Coconut 

Some hours later I did a short but intense Interval Yoga Sequence. I had to run out of the house right after that. If I can, I make sure to eat within a few minutes of working out. Otherwise I feel it the next day.

Lunch
I went to one of the healthiest places in LA, Erehwon and picked up a salad.

GARLIC SPROUTS, PEA SHOOTS, GUACAMOLE SALAD

I put some green salsa on top, I think it was salsa verde and OH GOD! The heat got me! The top sprouts are garlic sprouts and they were more than delicious, underneath there are a bunch of pea greens and radish greens, mushrooms, lentils, guacamole, hemp seeds and chipotle dressing.

Later on I managed to make two stops at Whole foods and in Thai Town.

Driving through Hollywood.

SEVA MAPLE SAP WATER

This is the first time I have seen or heard of Maple Water from the Maple Tree Sap so I got a carton at Whole foods. It tastes pretty much like subtly sweet water with a slight maple aroma to it. Seva is a Canadian company that just started exporting it from what I can gather. It's said to be really healthy full of polyphenols, peptides, plant hormones, inulin (pre-biotics), amino acids. (BTW I am drinking it as I type this)


















I had a busy day and didn't get home till 5 which is Sofie's walk time. She practically kicked me out of the house with her leash in her mouth. ;)

DINNER TIME


2 CARTONS OF BLUEBERRIES BEFORE DINNER

MACRO CAM BLUEBERRY 

ORGANIC BLUEBERRIES

LEFT OVER FROM LUNCH SWEET POTATOES AND VEGGIES

ORGANIC ASPARAGUS AND CHERRY TOMATOES

ROASTED KABOCHA SQUASH WITH MUSTARD, SCALLIONS AND MINT.

I have also been loving raw brussel sprouts with dip. (no photo of the brussel sprouts- that's proof of how much I LOVE them :P )

This dip was a beautiful orange color. Made with tofu, coconut, aleppo peppers, carrots, turmeric, barberries.

Barberries are a new favorite superfood, super-herbal ingredient of mine. Very healing. Great for high cholesterol, epilepsy, high blood pressure; used as a liver cleanser, antibacterial, anti-hystamine (for allergies) and the list goes on and on. They are sweet and sour in flavor. Known as Zereshak in Persian cuisine. Persians use them to decorate and add sour flavor to rice dishes. It's also used in some Indian chutneys. Funny thing a lot of the indian chutneys remind me of my dip recipes haha :D

DRIED BARBERRIES 

For my Bulgarian readers I think the name in bulgarian is berberis (Berberis vulgaris)

 and it's been researched in Bulgaria as an effective treatment for rheumatism and inflammatory diseases. 

I think that was a lot of nourishing food for one day :D 

LOVE AND BLESSINGS 

Best salad dressing ever! Tangerine, wasabi, chipotle, sesame, ginger

Best salad dressing ever! Super Healthy too. 

The ingredients are not traditional and you can either get them at various ethnic stores or online. I have been using a lot of dried pomegranate seeds lately. This is not the same variety of pomegranates that we normally find fresh in grocery stores. It's used in indian and a persian cuisine. The seeds are dried from a sour type of pomegranates. The antioxidant content is at the top of the charts. It's surprisingly higher than acai and goji berries! It also makes for a great salad dressing ingredient. VERY HEALTHY!

Another unusual ingredient is the wasabi powder. The one I used is from Penzey's. I randomly walked into their store in Santa Monica and got a few things that are hard to come by. Needless to say a Japanese ingredient. 

Chipotle - dried smoked mexican hot peppers. I get them at health food stores, online or mexican stores. They add a smokey flavor to any dish. They can be mild or hot. 

Aleppo pepper is a type of mild, sweet, oily pepper. It's rich and bright in color. It comes from Aleppo, Syria. It's superior to any pepper I have ever tried. I randomly bought it at an Armenian store not thinking much of it. It turns out it is the most gourmet mild hot pepper out there. Its a bit salty and oily. I am pretty sure it's from the way they process it. It's flavorful and sweet with a slowly building heat. It is not a must but if you happen to see it in your store definitely try it out. It creates a great presentation when sprinkled over zucchini "fries", potatoes, salads, etc.

Kumquats can be substituted for oranges and orange zest.

Jamaican Jerk is a combination of ginger, brown mustard seeds, onion, allspice, garlic, paprica, thyme, fennel seeds, black pepper, red pepper, cloves. OPTIONAL

Tofu can be substituted for boiled garbanzo beans. Tofu gives it a nice creamy consistency. 

Ingredients

1-3 tangerine

3-4 carrots

200 grams (organic) tofu

4-5 kumquats

a  slice of fresh ginger

chipotle or hot peppers to taste

a dash of ceylon cinnamon

2 tbsp (freshly) roasted sesame seeds

tamari sauce or soy sauce to taste 

stevia (optional) or (palm, cane) sugar

1 clove of garlic

2 tbsp pomegrante seeds

1-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp flax seed

a dash of jamaican jerk spice

2-3 tbsp of aleppo pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon of wasabi powder

water to achieve desired consistency

Blend in a high power blender. If you don't have a high power blender make sure you grind the sesame and flax first. Boil the carrots so they blend to a smooth consistency. 

DRIED POMEGRANATE SEEDS

Dried Pomegranate Seeds

Green coffee brew for creative focus, quitting coffee, super antioxidants and weight loss

I have been getting raw green coffee for years so that I can roast my own fresh coffee fresh. Roasted coffee has a very short shelf life. The oils contained in coffee become rancid about 5 days after roasting and a lot of the health benefits of coffee are diminished. Plus nothing tastes (smells) better than a freshly roasted and brewed cup of coffee. My approach to drinking coffee is to drink it on a regular basis for a few months (drinking one cup a day) and then go off of it for a while. I do enjoy it every so often and I do not buy into the two extreme camps one saying coffee is the worst and the other saying it's totally healthy. Coffee can stress your adrenals if consumed in excess. If used consciously it can increase your athletic performance, help with creative ideas and and cognitive function, decrease joint inflammation, etc. That being said I am going to discuss the best way to quit coffee that I found or how to go get off of coffee without the withdrawals.

The SECRET is in the raw unroasted green coffee bean itself.
There is very little information on the internet regarding green coffee. Recently there has been a buzz about the weight loss benefits of green coffee extract so we hear the word a lot but you still don't see green coffee beans being sold anywhere.
I like to experiment with all things natural and I always have a big bag of green beans laying around so a few years ago I decided to try green coffee in its unroasted form. I tried to grind the beans at first. Umm...but those little green babies would break even a Vitamix. They are as hard as a rocks! They would for sure break your coffee grinder. The only thing I could do is soak them and boil them for quite a while. The resulting brew tastes nothing like coffee.

The brew left overnight turns bright green almost fluorescent green

The deep green color of the first brew of the pale green raw coffee beans.

The coffee beans themselves in their raw form are pale green. Where is this rich green color coming from?

Raw green unroasted coffee beans brew/drink

 The color is deep to bright green with a somewhat vegetal, green taste. The consistency is thick and almost reminiscent of celery juice. Its hard to describe. Has something in common with green tea but personally I like it much better. Actually I love it. As far as some of its health benefit claims it is said to block dietary fat absorption and to raise metabolism and to burn of fat deposits at a faster rate. I don't know about these sort of claims. As you may suspect I don't believe in magic pills. Well... I am an herbalist so technically I DO believe NATURE is magical and herbs that come from it are miraculous "potions":) But nothing, nothing, nothing can substitute for a healthy diet, fitness and state of mind other than your actual lifestyle. I am not drinking it for weight loss purposes. As a matter of fact I am 100% sure all the big buzz weight loss supplements are more of a problem than a solution. The type of thinking that we can take a pill for an ailment is just not in accordance with nature. There are true remedies in nature and there is true healing through certain natural practices such as fasting, diet and movement. If you have a chronic condition you absolutely must adjust your lifestyle and habits. This is your body telling you that it doesn't like something that you are doing or being exposed to. Always change, always learn, always evolve! In this line of thinking I don't particularly believe that caffeine helps with weight loss. Caffeine supplements are definitely harmful. But if you are still looking for the magic pill there are some vegetables that really help with weight loss. Read my article on testosterone, estrogen, cabbage, weight loss, inflammation  HERE and my more detailed article on the healing powers of the cruciferous vegetables HERE

Rare coffee that is honey processed with some of the cherry fruit dehydrated on the bean. So the resulting brew is smooth and sweet reminiscent of honey. 

Actually in some coffee producing countries such as Yemen prize the coffee cherry much more than the coffee bean (the seed). The fruit (the cherry) has much higher nutritional and healing benefits. 

So how do I use green coffee. I soak it and then simmer it for at least 20 minutes. Soaking is not required, but it will save you time. I use anywhere from 5-30 beans. Usually around 20 beans which is minimal. If you do not drink any caffeine I do not recommend you try this now. If you decide to try it brew around 5 beans. Unroasted coffee is much smaller in size than roasted coffee is. I keep adding water to the pot as I am drinking it and I continue brewing it. An interesting observation - these 20 tiny beans never stop giving off a rich, thick, green brew. This is a testimonial to their huge antioxidant content. The taste is unusual but very good. I don't even put nut milk or sweeteners in it. That's how much I enjoy it. It does give me a mild caffeine stimulation. Not quite the same as I get from roasted coffee. It's much more pleasant. There is no caffeine rush and no crash. And the stimulation is very focused yet calm. To be quite honest with you I get very creative from it. It's very stimulating.

OK now to the genius discovery of mine. 

HOW TO QUIT COFFEE PAINLESSLY. 

I understand that coffee is a ritualistic, shamanic drink and has been used for centuries for ceremonies, meditation and creating connection to higher consciousness. Nowadays humanity is definitely not treating it as the sacred drink it once was. It's pretty much an abused plant, sprayed with too many pesticides, grown in conditions and habitats that are not natural to the plant (often not shade grown). It's over-planted, over-consumed, burnt, packaged and stored until all the aromatic oils have deteriorated. 

It was actually not meant to be consumed on a daily basis. It is a very potent elixir and it should be respected and treated as a powerful medicine gifted to us by the Earth. It became a popular drink at the beginning of the industrial revolution and the corporate 9-5 structure that our society imposes upon us. The big coffee companies have taken advantage of the indigenous populations in the coffee growing regions around the world and have used it to contribute to our wage slave mentality and work structure. Not to mention that it is one of the heaviest sprayed crops in the world and the second most traded commodity after crude oil. 

So whether you are looking to switch up your morning routine or you are thinking of quitting coffee this might be for you :)

Quitting coffee can be quite painful. The side effects of caffeine withdrawal can include headaches, muscle aches, nausea, sleepiness, irritability, fatigue and so forth. 

Well, the great news is green coffee can do the trick of helping you quit your morning habit without the nasty withdrawal symptoms. 

Basically you have to get your hands on some green coffee beans. I recommend the internet for that. Order online on ebay, amazon or from a specialty website.

The day you decide to quit coffee soak your raw coffee beans over night or just boil them a tad longer in the morning. Start with 20-30 beans even more if you are a big coffee addict. And simmer them through the day. Basically try to have a mug every few hours or as soon as you start feeling the symptoms of caffeine withdrawals such as a headache, muscle aches, nausea, etc. If you are leaving the house early you can boil a stronger brew and take it with you as a concentrate to add to your drinks or just to sip through the day.

The next day toss the beans and start over. 

Stop drinking it at around 3-4pm just in case. Overall it shouldn't keep you up because each subsequent brew has less and less caffeine in it since we are simmering the same beans. All of the brews will have a lot of taste and color to them. You should get a nice mild stimulating effect from it. Once you are off black coffee say 5-10 days later you can start reducing the beans. Start brewing 10 beans, then 5 you get the picture. At the end you are off of all caffeine without ever having to deal with the withdrawal symptoms. As a matter of fact green coffee has some great health benefits so all in all it's a good switch. 

I cant find definitive information about the caffeine content in a cup of green coffee. However it seems to be significantly lower in caffeine than brewed black coffee. Also the quality of the caffeine seems superior to me. Meaning I don't get an edgy over-stimulated feeling from it. In terms of relieving coffee withdrawals it seems to have a homeopathic effect.

BTW I got a micro lens for my phone camera and it is amazing! I never really noticed that there is so much detail on a coffee bean. This is how my coffee photo session went. After all I am a yoga teacher, nothing can happen unless a few downward facing dogs were done prior... or during. 

Coffee beans on top are Panama Honey Processed. On the bottom Ethiopia washed organic Limu Kafa

Green coffee brew in the garden

Energetics and Doctrine of Signatures, Cabbage and Broccoli Health Benefits

One of the reasons I love Chinese Medicine is because it has a more holistic way of looking at health.
A few days ago I wrote a post on broccoli and cabbage and their beneficial effects on your health. As far as Western Medicine is concerned food is not all that related to health! Western Nutritional Studies would tell you that broccoli and cabbage are both a part of the cruciferous family and they have this and that amount of fiber, carbs and protein per serving and this and that amount of vitamins and minerals. Overall both have similar nutritional properties and you can substitute one for the other if you are looking to lose weight or improve your nutrient intake.

Now it doesn't take a genius to look at the two and notice that they are dramatically different in the way they look, smell and even taste. Chinese Medicine in its deeper way of looking at things will observe the energetics of food; are they warming or cooling,  contracting or expansive, yin or yang, with an upward or downward energy, inward or outward direction, which Body Meridian are they affecting, which organs are they going to work on and in which way? For example if the food affects the lungs is it going to moisten them or dry them out (i.e.phlegm).

You see why I love Chinese medicine? It gives me answers to questions about body and food energetics that I can't get from the modern dry scientific literature.
I like to look at things from a symbolic stand point. That's why Doctrine of Signatures is so dear to my heart. Unfortunately Doctrine of Signatures is incomplete. I would love to add to the list of foods covered by it.
It is so lovely when we have known and used a traditional folk remedy for generations and all of a sudden there is a new scientific study discovering and explaining why this remedy is so healing in such ways.
For example the walnut (looks like a human brain within a hard shell like the scull) always known to be beneficial for brain function is high in DHA which is so important to brain health and cognitive function, in addition if you slice a walnut across then it looks like a heart.

"Coincidentally" omega 3 fatty acids abundant in walnuts are heart healthy :)

I am sure there are a few more nutrients in walnuts we will discover in the next decade. Maybe some much more important than what we already know. 

In comparission walnuts in chinese medicine are tonifying, yang and sweet (one of the 5 flavors). They affect the Lungs and the Kidneys. They are prescribed to people with lower back and knee pain, impotence, sexual dysfunctions, infertility, frequent urination (all kidney related); as well as asthma. 

Reminds of 2 kidneys

(They Tonify the Kidneys and can help a weak back and achey knees with coldness, frequent urination.

Nourish the blood, Warm the lungs, help the kidneys grasp lung qi - chronic cough, wheezing.

Moisten the intestines - constipation in elderly patients.)

BLACK WALNUTS CUT ACROSS LOOK LIKE KIDNEYS EVEN MORE. 

And BLACK foods and herbs in chinese medicine have an affinity to kidneys. No mistake there! 

In certain Islamic and Western Herbal traditions, in order to determine a plant's function we will observe the habitats of the herbs and plants, the way they grow, the conditions they grow in, the smell, color, shape and the taste. For example plants growing under the ground will affect the physical body and the lower part of the body. Plants growing in harsh conditions will strengthen our immune system and our ability to adapt to difficulties, stress (therefore they are called adaptogens)

Flowers and especially their energetic water imprint will affect our emotions and soul and so forth and so forth. 

After this extensive intro let me get to the point I was making! 

Brocoli and cabbage look different from one another (haha)..... ha yes took me only 5 paragraphs to come to that conclusion. Thank god I am not writing about psychology. Imagine if cabbage is so complex and complicated in my head what I will do to physics or astronomy for example........ 

So yes broccoli does look like the Lung Alveoli. And a compound in broccoli called sulforaphane is researched as a possible treatment for preventing or reducing infections in smokers and people with lung disease.

Broccoli in Chinese Medicine is used to improve vision. Now thanks to modern science we do know that Broccoli is high in Lutein a pigment in vegetables and fruits that can protect our vision. I can see some resemblance between the little branches of broccoli and the anatomy of the eye specifically the retinal blood vessels. 

Sulforaphane in broccoli is also known to block cartilage-destroying enzymes by intercepting a molecule that causes inflammation therefore preventing the onset and development of arthritis. Again I see a resemblance to joints in the branches and stalk of the vegetable. Do you?

On the other hand cabbage looks like a head and even resembles a brain. 

In chinese medicine it is used to clear "heat", lubricate the intestines and stop coughing.

Used for: constipation, whooping cough, hot flashes, common colds, frostbite.

Frostbite is obvious as the vegetable itself is a fall vegetable and has to resist frost itself.

Common cold usually affects the head.

New research is finding that cabbage has brain protective properties.

‘’Qian Jin Yao Fang Shi Zhi’’ a Traditional Chinese medicine book, says that eating cabbage often can strengthen the kidneys and brain!

Cabbage purifies the blood and clears toxins (free radicals and uric acid which is a major factor in developing  rheumatism, gout, arthritis, renal calculi, skin diseases, eczema etc.).  Cabbage, being rich in iodine and polyphenols- antioxidants such as anthocyanins(the pigment in blueberries), also helps in the proper functioning of the brain and the nervous system, as well as the endocrine glands. Bottom line CABBAGE is good for the brain and treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

(Red cabbage could cut Alzehimer's risk By Stephen Daniells, 10-Mar-2006
In a new study red cabbage was seen to reduce the build-up of certain plaques in the brain that could cause Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia that costs the UK an estimated £15 billion (€ 22 billion) every year.
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Red-cabbage-could-cut-Alzehimer-s-risk)

And if that was not enough cabbage improves circulation and can help with joint inflammation and pain. True story :) 

"One ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine book called ‘’Ben Cao Shi Yi’’ records that cabbage clears the channels by removing toxins that may block the Qi and blood around the joints, strengthens and loosens joints." *

I want this to be the beginning of understanding things from an energetic perspective and understanding nature from an intuitive and creative place!

NATUREKNOWS

NATURE KNOWS 

 *http://www.pingminghealth.com/article/227/cabbage-and-circulation-around-the-joints/

Homemade Flax Milk

I love coconut milk. I prefer it over any other vegan milk. Through the years I have made every nut milk under the stars. Favorite ones were: walnut milk, pistachio milk, cashew milk and tahini milk. Some over the top good ones were the milks I would make from just "rinsing" the blender after making raw bars from pistachios, coconut oil, vanilla, mesquite, mulberries, lucuma, maple syrup etc. So a lot of the mixture would be left in the blender and I would whip up some milk before washing the blender jar. These milks were DECADENT!
I enjoy flax milk but I tend to favor the other ones more. However in order to stay healthy and to lower inflammation in the body we need to keep our ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids at around 1:1 as opposed to 15:1 which is the case in most Western societies. In a study  A ratio of 4:1 was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality from cardiovascular disease. (Rindfleisch, A., “Inflammation: nutritional, botanical, and mind-body influences,” Southern Medical Journal, 3/1/2005.)
"A ratio of 2-3/1 suppressed inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and a ratio of 5/1 had a beneficial effect on patients with asthma" 
"Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects" omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, in PubMed

Another shocking fact I recently learned is that vegans had the worst omega 6 to omega 3 ratios due to the overconsumption of plant oils.

One way to improve the ratio is by dropping all the high in Omega 6 oils from your diet such as safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil and soy oil. In addition to that you can add flax, hemp, perilla seed, chia seed and green leafy vegetables to your diet. Neutral oils are coconut, macadamia and olive oil. General rule of thumb, chose the whole food over the extracted oils whenever possible. 

So one way to sneak in more flax seed into our diet is by using 

FLAX MILK

INGREDIENTS:

1/4- 1/3 CUP OF GOLDEN FLAX SEEDS ( if you use flour make sure it's freshly ground because the oils go rancid within a couple of days)
2-4 DATES
1-2 CUPS OF WATER
1-3 CARDAMOM PODS

 OR YOU CAN SKIP THE CARDAMOM AND REPLACE IT WITH VANILLA BEAN

PLACE ALL THE INGREDIENTS IN THE BLENDER AND BLEND AWAY! 
STRAIN THROUGH A STRAINER OR IF YOU PREFER IT COMPLETELY FIBER FREE THROUGH A CHEESECLOTH. 

YOU CAN ENJOY IT IN RECIPES THAT CALL FOR ALMOND MILK. I STILL PREFER COCONUT MILK IN MY TEA AND COFFEE BUT THIS IS GOOD IN FOOD RECIPES. IF YOU HAVE ANY TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE FLAX MILK GOOD ENOUGH TO GO IN COFFEE PLEASE LET ME KNOW. 

TO YOUR HEALTH

NATUREKNOWS

NATURE KNOWS