Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Tips For Making This Thanksgiving: Happy, Healthy and Guilt Free by Deborah Francis



Thanksgiving is traditionally a time of year when families get together and overlook indulgence in food as they enjoy their time together. As we know if you really LOVE your Loved ones you will take care in what you eat this Thanksgiving. We all want to make it to the Christmas and New Year season without regrets of food that may have tasted great but was not beneficial for our waistline. So without further delay I would like to share my Top 5 List of Making this Thanksgiving: Happy, Healthy and Guilt Free.


Tip 1: For appetizers look to using fresh fruits and vegetables. Serving a vegetable and/or fruit tray will begin the festivities on a healthy note.

Tip 2: After appetizers you can opt to serve soup and/ or salad. Filling up with healthy, fresh vegetables before the other courses of your meal is a great way to prevent overeating. Homemade fresh soups and salads are antioxidant rich and curb your appetite. Here is a suggestion using the super foods kale and gogi berries.

Kale and Gogi Berry Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large head of kale (about 4-6 cups)

• 1 cup finely chopped red onion

• 1/2 red bell pepper

• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped carrot (2 small carrots)

• 1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped halves)

• 1 avocado, chopped

• 1 & 1/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes (or other variety)

• 1/2 cup mixed raisins and Goji berries

• 1/4 cup ground flax seed

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Dressing: Add your choice of dressing or opt for apple cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil with some tossed fresh herbs.

Directions:

1. Chop vegetables and mix in a large mixing bowl. Reserve flax seed, walnuts, raisins and gogi berries for sprinkling on top.

2. Tear the leaves of the kale and chop into small bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry kale leaves.

3. Mix the vegetables, kale leaves, and dressing in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.

5. Place in fridge to ‘marinate’ for 10-15 minutes. Serves 4.

Tip 3: You have options other than actual meat based Turkey for the main entrée. You may opt for one from the suggested list or a combination of two.


Alternatives to serving Turkey

*Gardein brand vegetarian “meats” are universally loved. Gardein meats are delicious, aesthetically appealing, easy to use and absorb other flavors well, so you can cook with them and add any spices you like, just like real meat.

**Tofu Mock Turkey Loaf.

**Healthy Lentil and Rice Loaf

**TVP and Tofu loaf

**Natures Burger Mock Meat Loaf


I truly hope that you enjoy this Thanksgiving with family, friends, and all Loved ones joyously laughing while enjoying a healthy meal.



Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving from our Family to Yours!

If you are interested in living a happy and healthy life pick up Joy of Healthy Living: The Guide to Eating Right for Life at Amazon and Barnes and Noble .com December 2011.



Do you want complete physical, mental and social well being? Do you believe that you are what you eat? Fruits and vegetables are the key to unlocking solutions of all questions you are having about Your Health and Your Wellness.



The Joy of Healthy Living: The Guide to Eating Right for Life is an: Easy-to-read and filled with positive, practical information and tips on the powerful health benefits of fruits and vegetables for every day, at every age and stage of life. This book will provide…

• Solutions for health and nutrition including cancer, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes , and more

• Eating for healthy aging

• Functional foods with health-promoting phytonutrients and antioxidant power.

• Overcoming Food allergies and intolerances, including celiac disease.)

• Carbohydrates and the glycemic index

• Eating for high performance (sports)

• Feeding children– with guidance on high performance based on nutrition from fruits and vegetables

• And more!

Get The Joy of Healthy Living: The Guide To Eating Right For Life at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com, December 2011.




Deborah Francis, MSED

Health and Wellness Consultant, Author and Speaker
Connect with me on Facebook!

Deborah Francis is CEO of the Joy of Healthy Living, LLC. Recognized health and wellness expert, Deborah promotes the correlation of eating right as a healing tool towards prevention and pursuit of good health. As a wife, mother educator, entrepreneur, author and speaker, Deborah supports her “Joy of Healthy Living” message with practical ways to eat to live as opposed to living to eat!

As an accomplished author, Deborah has written numerous books, including Built To Prosper For Women: The Principles of Self Mastery this comprehensive guide uses real life wisdom to delve into what limiting thinking can do, and best of all, how to conquer this thinking and rapidly transform your life. It is time to learn and apply the principles of success, so you can position yourself to live well and prosper in all areas of your life may they be spiritual, mental, physical or financial. This book inspires you to take action to be empowered to stay healthy in mind, body, and spirit. • Be a winner, no matter what they say!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

7-Tips For A Healthier Thanksgiving




As my husband and I shopped for Thanksgiving dinner today, I was very selective of my ingredients. In fact, over the past few years, I have learned how to make healthier choices in the grocery store and I want to inspire you to make healthier choices for your family this holiday season.

This Thanks Giving,  my menu includes: Mustard Greens, Sweet Potatoes, Turkey (for the meat lovers), Black eyed peas, macaroni, potato salad, Stuffing (I call it dressing), Cakes, pies, spaghetti and drinks.

About five years prior to writing this blog post, my Thanks Giving meal also included Chitterlings and Ham. I am so glad that we decided to cut the pork!

Just in case you are wondering, how you can make the holidays at your home much healthier? It's easy, choose healthier ingredients!!!

I am going to share with you, some all natural and healthy ingredients that are low-cost and are healthy for your family:

  1. Replace the white sugar with Organic or Raw Sugar.
  2. Instead of using seasoning salt, use Sea Salt, red onions, spices and green peppers to add flavor to your foods.
  3. If you have to add meat to your Greens, beans or Cabbage, consider turkey necks. Ham Hocks are high in fat!
  4. For those egg lovers, choose organic or vegetarian fed eggs for your cakes and pies.
  5. Don't forget the milk. If you want low-fat cakes and pies, consider Almond or Coconut milk. If you don't like plant based milk, choose organic milk.
  6. Are you a butter lover? Consider using a soy based butter like smart balance. It has no animal fat and still taste like butter!
  7. Spaghetti lovers! If you just have to include meat in your spaghetti, use ground turkey. It is much lower in fat than Ground beef.
Be sure to Keep the Hot Foods Hot and the Cold Foods Cold!

I hope that you have been inspired to make healthier choices this holiday season. In fact, your decision to choose healthier ingredients will have a great impact on your family's health!

Happy Thanks Giving to you and your family!







Shiketa Morgan
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Friday, November 18, 2011

How To Make A Meatless Veggie Wrap


If you are striving to reduce the amount of animal protein that you eat on a daily basis, enjoying a veggie wrap is a great place to start. As you look at the picture above, you will notice a meat looking ingredient on the lettuce. That meat like ingredient is called " TVP" a.ka. Textured Vegetable Protein.

TVP is a highly nutritious soy protein. It is loaded with protein, contains no animal fat and it is an excellent alternative to meat. Moreover, it is a great source of fiber, iron, magnesium and phosphorous. Also, TVP is made from defatted soy four that has been cooked under pressure and then dried. You will find TVP at your local Whole Foods store for less than $5.00 and it contains 11 servings per package; now that's cheaper than buying meat.

I want to share with you a quick way to Make a Veggie wrap that is made with TVP. Follow the steps below:

  1. Boil a pot of water
  2. For 1-2 servings of TVP, pour 1/4 of the bag in a Large bowl
  3. When the water has completely boiled, pour over the TVP; stir and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
  4. You will notice that the TVP is no longer dried, but hydrated and it may look like ground turkey.
  5. Place a pan on the stove, turn the stove on low, add a vegetable based oil in the skillet and and pour the TVP into the skillet.
  6. Season the TVP with an Liquid Aminos All Purpose Seasoning made from soy protein and stir. (see picture below)

         7. As the TVP cooks in the pan, place Romaine lettuce over a tortilla wrap, then add the TVP, diced
             tomatoes and low-fat ranch dressings, wrap and enjoy!

I look forward to your feedback about this post. Feel free to let me know if you have tried this recipe or any recipes made with TVP.


Shiketa






http://www.thenaturalwayofliving101.com
Follow on Twitter @naturaliving101




Tuesday, November 8, 2011

What You Are Eating Today Is Creating or Preventing Disease in those that you care for?


Is what you are eating today Creating or Preventing Disease in those that you care for? Check out this video.




  



To Your Health and Wellness,
Shiketa Morgan
For more Health & Wellness tips visit my Juice Plus site:
https://www.juiceplus.com/nsa/content/Home.soa?site=sm42884

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