Health + Recipes: Banana Chai Smoothie

Simple recipes with less ingredients are not only fun and easy, but healthier for your body! This simple smoothie recipe from Free People is delicious and nutritious. Make this at home as part of your breakfast or for a mid-day snack!

Cinnamon is known to help lower blood sugar for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It can also lower LDL cholesterol levels. Chai on the other hand is a great digestive aid! And of course bananas are packed with potassium and fiber ;)

Enjoy the taste and the health benefits!

Makes 1 smoothie

1 banana
1 cup almond milk
1 tbsp chai spice (add more or less, depending on your taste!)
1 cup ice cubes

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth.  Top with a little bit of nutmeg or cinnamon!

Beauty: Make Time for Beauty

Us women may have the excuse of being too busy to do our at-home beauty duties. However, its now or never to start taking care of ourselves and restore both our health and our youth. Apply these simple beauty tips to your lifestyle in order to keep your natural beauty alive and healthy! Make time for it. It will surely pay off ;)

Use as less heat, dye and any other damaging chemicals as possible! It may be hard to stay away from the flat iron, but try to lay off the frying heat at least 2 or 3 days during the week to give your hair a break. Once a week, try an at-home hot oil treatment with cocnut oil. Simply bring 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to a boil. Let it cool until warm and apply to your hair. Next, wrap your hair in saran wrap and let it sit for 45 min to an hour. This will soak your hair in hydrating bliss, leaving your hair silky smooth and a little healthier. 

Moisturize with the right moisturizers! Focus more on using moisture in its most natural form, like oils. Rather than applying a moisturizer with a million ingredients and chemicals, keep it simple by applying natural oils that can be used for not only your skin, but your hair as well! (i.e. coconut oil) 

Mask your skin! Clay masks and at-home DIY avocado/cucumber/honey or lavendar mixtures are great to do once or twice a week to revive your skin's health. Make it a part of your routine. Throw on a mask in the morning then make your coffee, breakfast or any other morning duties necessary. Just because you have a mask on doesn't mean you can't multitask while detoxing your skin ;)

Sprits your way to flawlessness. Our faucets at home, more often than not, provide very hard water that is drying and can leave your skin dehydrated after rinsing.  Rose water is more kind to your skin when cleansing and rinsing. It will leave your skin more hydrated and smooth. Especially for those with sensitive skin. 

Take your vitamins! Taking care of yourself on the inside reflects your health and beauty on the outside. Vitamin E can hydrate the skin and speed up melanocyte production! This leaves your skin glowing, fresh and radiant. And of course, it leaves the rest of your body fueled with essential vitamin e nutrients :)

source

Beauty: The Benefits of Coconut Oil

Coconut

Who knew that one of the most simple cooking oils could be so useful? 

According to Dr.Oz...

Coconut oil can also positively affect our hormones for thyroid and blood-sugar control. People who take coconut oil also tend to have improvements in how they handle blood sugar since coconut can help improve insulin use within the body. Coconut oil can boost thyroid function helping to increase metabolism, energy and endurance. It increases digestion and helps to absorb fat-soluble vitamins.

Can coconut oil reduce cholesterol?

Coconut oil has a saturated fat called lauric acid, a type of MCT. It has been shown that lauric acid increases the good HDL cholesterol in the blood to help improve cholesterol ratio levels.  Coconut oil lowers cholesterol by promoting its conversion to pregnenolone, a molecule that is a precursor to many of the hormones our bodies need. Coconut can help restore normal thyroid function. When the thyroid does not function optimally, it can contribute to higher levels of bad cholesterol.

How does coconut help keep weight balanced?

Coconut fats have special fats called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). It has been shown that breaking down these types of healthy fats in the liver leads to efficient burning of energy. One 2009 study found that women who consumed 30 milliliters (about 2 tablespoons) of coconut oil daily for 12 weeks not only did not gain more weight, but actually had lowered amounts of abdominal fat, a type of fat that is difficult to lose, and contributes to more heart problems.

Is it true coconut can help with aging?

The oils found in the coconut have a positive antioxidant action in the body. This means they help our body stop the damage to other healthy fats and tissues in our body. Oxidation is considered a major contributor to cardiovascular problems and skin aging. Coconut oil can actually help our bodies reduce the need for antioxidant intake.

Is coconut oil good for my skin and hair?

We tell our patients that from the time of infancy through the senior years,  coconut oil is a wonderful moisturizer for skin and hair. It has good amounts of the antioxidant vitamin E, which is very protective. If you are using on the skin regularly, it is best to try to find an organic coconut oil, to reduce the absorption of toxins and pesticides through your skin.

We even recommend new parents massage infants with coconut oil after a bath. One 2005 study of 120 babies showed that a coconut oil massage is safe and has health benefits.

How can I use coconut oil?

Coconut oil works in both baked goods like zucchini and banana bread and with vegetables. It is especially tasteful when paired with bitter greens like kale. You can use it as part of the onion and garlic sauté, where it offers a surprisingly different and pleasant full-bodied taste. It is also a wonderful addition to oatmeal to make it even creamier, while staying healthy.

No Bake Oatmeal Granola Bar

Clean Eating Made Easy

Try this new and healthy recipe for a great snack! It's easy, fun and absolutely delicious. 

Enjoy! 

ngredients:

• 2 cups (200 g) Arrowhead Mills Old Fashion Oats
• 1/2 cup (70 g) dried cranberries, fruit juice sweetened
• 1/3 cup (50 g) raw cocoa nibs
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch sea salt (optional)
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) coconut oil
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) honey
• 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (200 g) raw, creamy almond butter

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, cranberries, cocoa nibs and cinnamon. Stir well.
2. In a small pot, combine the oil, honey, vanilla extract and almond butter over medium heat. You want to warm this enough to combine the liquids well. But DO NOT BOIL!  Stir constantly to avoid any simmering. This warmth is strictly to get everything to combine as well as to make it a bit more fluid for mixing with the oats.
3. Pour the nut butter into the mixing bowl and mix well to completely coat the oats.
4. Press mixture into an oiled or parchment lined baking dish. (Mine -pictured above- was 9 x 4 1/2)
5. Freeze for 2 hours.
6. Cut bars with a sharp knife and store in the freezer for up to 2 months, tightly wrapped so no air gets to them. Note that by the time lunch time comes around, these will no longer be frozen and will be perfect to eat. (These keep in the fridge for about a week.)

source

Beauty: Quick Tips on Rose Water

Rose Water

My new favorite thing! Rose Water makes me want to wake up in morning, wash my face with cleanser, and spray on. It's so refreshing and feels like the spa. After you spray, apply your serum moisturizer with light sunscreen :)

- Jenny

Get this rose water here!

Daily Om: Gut Response

Our bellies can be wonderful monitors of our emotional health and the truth can always be found there.

So often, emotions that we long to express get stored in our bodies instead. The space where this most often happens is in our bellies. Rather than telling people, our even ourselves, the way we truly feel, we may stuff our true feelings deep inside of us, where they take up space until we are ready to let them go. Stuffing our feelings in our bellies may feel like the “safe” response, since we then don’t really have to deal with our emotions. Yet, doing so can actually be detrimental to our emotional well-being and physical health. 

One way to connect with and release your emotions is to do a focused exercise with your stomach area. Take a moment to center yourself with some deep breathing and quiet meditation, relaxing your body fully and turning off the chatter in your brain. With your right hand on your stomach, tell yourself three times: “Please reveal to me my true emotions.” Listen for the answers. Repeat the exercise as many times as you would like, allowing yourself to drop deeper into your body each time. Notice any physical response in the stomach area, whether you have a warm, relaxed feeling in the middle of your body or if you feel tight knots in response to any emotions that do come up. You may even want to write down any answers that come to you. Remember that the body doesn’t lie. 

Releasing our pent up feelings from our bellies can prevent disease and allow us to live more authentic and expressive lives. Sometimes, if too much emotional energy builds up inside of us, a blowout can result that can cause discomfort. You can help to alleviate this compression by doing the same exercise and adding sound to your emotional release. The more guttural the sounds released through your mouth, the more emotions you are likely letting go. Releasing your emotions from your belly doesn’t have to be painful and hard; rather, it can be organic and effortless. It’s important not to judge whatever comes up for you. We tend to stuff our feelings in our bellies when we are ashamed of them or not ready to express them. There is nothing wrong with having feelings, whatever they may be. You can’t help your feelings; if anything, you can help yourself by acknowledging the truth of your emotions so you can set yourself free. 

PL Moms: Back to School Lunch Ideas

Back to School Lunch Ideas
Little Italy Chicken Pita
A smart trick to this zesty sandwich is using oil from the sun-dried tomatoes to prepare the vinaigrette. Prepare the chicken filling ahead of time and pack separately. Fill pitas just before eating.

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced 
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 3/4 pound)
• 1 cup chopped tomato (about 1 medium) 
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Asiago cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil 
• 6 (6-inch) pitas, cut in half
• 3 cups mixed baby greens 

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in chicken, tomato, cheese, and basil. Line each pita half with 1/4 cup greens. Divide chicken mixture evenly among pita halves.

post source

PL Well Being: Meditate

I don't know if it's the second baby or the expansion of my business, but I'm very thankful that I found the benefits of meditation in my life.  I'm a strong believer that God only gives you what you can handle so it's no surprise in a very filled life that meditation has become a regular habit of mine.  It's been a little harder to stay on top of it with a newborn, so I hope some of you can integrate this into your lives and zen out for a few moments on my behalf ;).  It's truly amazing the mind's natural ability to organize and calm its' own thoughts.  If you've never done it, TRY IT!  Read below some of the great benefits of this practice.  xoxo Jenny

Thank you to rodalenews.com & it's DAILY FIX for such great information!

#1: Meditation can make you more productive. If you feel like you're just not as sharp as you used to be, give mindfulness meditation a shot. A study in the journalEmotion found that mindfulness, a meditative practice that requires you to sit quietly for a few minutes focusing on your breathing and other specific physical sensations without letting your mind wander, was highly effective in improving people's working memory; working memory is the short-term memory system we tap into for managing information, controlling emotions, problem solving, and complex thought. The best part? The study found that you can reap all these benefits with just 12 minutes of meditation per day.

#2: It's good for surly teenagers. Remember your teenage years, when it felt like the entire world was against you? If you'd been meditating, you probably wouldn't, according to research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In a study of high-school students' demeanor, psychologists found that deep breathing and relaxation improved their moods—a free (no-stress!) way to cope with all the drama of teen years and those hormonal mood swings.

#3: Meditation helps you ditch the painkillers. A 2010 study by researchers in Montreal found that a particular type of meditation called Zen actually thickens the part of the brain that regulates pain, and that thickening of the brain lowers your sensitivity to it. Zen meditation is the form favored by Buddhist monks. It's similar to mindfulness meditation, but rather than focusing on a specific physical sensation, you focus on breathing and posture while trying to keep your mind from wandering.

#4: It'll keep you happy. Meditation has been frequently used to help combat the nasty side effects of multiple schlerosis, which include fatigue and depression. One study in the journal Neurology had people with mild to moderate multiple schlerosis take an eight-week class on mindfulness meditation, and at the end of the study, those people saw a 30 percent reduction in depressive symptoms and lower levels of fatigue. Though that study was on a specific group of people suffering from a chronic condition, multiple studies reinforce the idea that meditation can help people with depression, in part because those people learn how to avoid focusing on negative thoughts. Researchers in Wisconsin have also found that people who meditate have more electrical activity in the brain's left prefrontal cortex, an area associated with positive mood.

#5: Meditate, combat hot flashes. During menopause, the one feeling most women try to shut out is body awareness. After all, who wants to embrace the uncontrollable bodily changes that signify the next phase of life? However, mindfulness meditation might actually aid you in dealing with the inevitable. Various studies suggest that this type of relaxation therapy helps women handle menopause symptoms. You might feel funny when you first try meditation as a way to settle your menopausal anxiety, but it beats taking medication to try and fight off those unruly hot flashes or night sweats.

#6: Your heart loves it when you meditate. Haunted by heart problems? Your cardiovascular system benefits from any practice that reduces stress, and both Zen and Transcendental (when you let your mind go free and 'transcend' the present by repeating a mantra over and over again) meditation are effective stress-relievers. Zen is thought to improve certain aspects of your body’s inner workings, such as blood circulation and breathing, by helping counteract stress arousal and anxiety. And Transcendental Meditation might save your life. In a study presented at a previous American Heart Association annual meeting, transcendental meditation produced lower rates of heart attacks and strokes by 50 percent.

Daily Om

Live your life as if your glass is half-full rather than half-empty, all you need is a change of thought.

We are all familiar with the metaphorical story of two people looking at the same glass and one perceiving it as half-full while the other sees it as half-empty. As much as we’ve heard this, it’s still a valuable exercise to really observe our minds and notice whether we are engaged in half-full or half-empty thinking. People will refer to themselves as being of one type or the other as if it was a permanent characteristic, but we are all capable of shifting into a half-full consciousness if we simply make the effort. 

When we look at our lives with half-empty consciousness, we perceive a lack and think that the other half of what we want is missing. We are coming from a position of expectation and entitlement. On the other hand, when we look at our lives as half-full we perceive fullness. It is as if we recognize that our cup could be fully empty and so we are grateful for what we see as bounty—not something we expect or believe we are owed, but a gift. In half-full consciousness, we count our blessings. When we look at our lives we see all the elements that are in place and all the things we do have. This doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t seek more, but we seek from a place of fullness instead of from a place of lack. This fullness draws positive energy into our lives and often attracts more abundance. 

If you would like to begin to make the shift into half-full consciousness, try imagining your life as an empty glass. This is your life without all the people you know, the work you do, your home, or your current state of physical wellbeing. This is just an empty, open space waiting to be filled. Once you have that feeling of openness in your mind, begin filling it with all the people, things, and places that make up your life. You may be surprised to find your glass overflowing.

Zucchini and Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

Thank goodness for Pinterest! We've found our new favorite deliciously healthy, gluten free, and vegetarian side dish. Try this savory appetizer at home!

Ingredients

• 1 lb mushrooms
• 1 tbs butter
• ½ cup quinoa
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 1 small zucchini*, diced small
• 1 cup organic low sodium vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 tbs white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp lemon zest
• ½ cup shredded cheese, Italian blend

Instructions

1. Separate the stems from mushroom caps. Small dice the stems, and set aside.
2. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.
3. Add quinoa, garlic, and zucchini squash. Saute until quinoa is toasted, then add mushrooms and saute another minute.
4. Add stock and bay leaf, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Quinoa should be fully cooked and fluffy in about 20 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese. When cool enough to handle hand pack stuffing into mushroom caps.
7. Coat a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and arrange mushrooms in it.
8. Bake for 16-18 minutes.
9. Serve with sprinkle of Parmesan cheese or squeeze of lemon.

Daily Om: The Golden Rule

July 8, 2013

Do unto Others

The Golden Rule

by Madisyn Taylor

When we honor others by following the golden rule, we honor ourselves too.

All over the world, there exists a simple precept that, when followed, has the power to end conflict and banish strife. It is the Golden Rule, a key concept in many philosophies and spiritualities that admonishes us to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” Its meaning is clear: treat others only in ways that you would want to be treated. However, the golden rule is not always easy to follow. It can be a challenge to honor others as we wish to be honored. Yet, when we do so, we bestow a gift of loving kindness on our fellow human beings. And, in honoring others, we honor ourselves. 

It is as uncomplicated a tenet as one could wish for. When we live by it, harming another person becomes nearly impossible. The Golden Rule is rooted in pure empathy and does not compel us to perform any specific act. Rather, it gently guides us to never let our actions toward others be out of harmony with our own desires. The Golden Rule asks us to be aware of the effect our words and actions may have on another person and to imagine ourselves in their place. It calls on us to ask ourselves how we would feel if what we were about to do were directed toward us. And yet this rule invites us to do more than not harm others. It suggests that we look for opportunities to behave toward others in the same ways that we would want others to act toward us. Showing compassion, being considerate of others, caring for the less fortunate, and giving generously are what can result when you follow the Golden Rule. 

Adhering to the Golden Rule whenever possible can have a positive effect on the world around you because kindness begets kindness. In doing so, you generate a flow of positive energy that enfolds everyone you encounter in peace, goodwill, and harmony.

Health: Kale Chips by Ellie

Kale Chips…

Mmm are so good! Such a healthier alternative to other crunchy snacks and it doesn’t take much time to prepare, which makes these chips a win, win situation. The ingredients are simple. All you need is kale, salt, olive oil, and an oven. Sometimes I like to sprinkle chili flakes before baking to add a little heat to them. If you’re sharing or making for a party, I suggest using more than one head of kale because once you start; you won’t be able to stop!

*recipe courtesy of www.foodnetwork..com