Optional: Avocado
Mix cilantro, onion, jalapenos, garlic and lime juice in the Vitamin or blender. Add Sea salt, and Tomatillos.
GF, Refined Sugar Free
Happily serves 6-8
Sweet salsa could be served as a breakfast side dish.
ALL ORGAINC INGREDIENTS
Vegetarian, Gluten Free
Happily serves 8-10
1/2 Cup Avocado oil
1-2 TBSP Raw Coconut sugar or Monk Fruit
1/3 Cup Coconut vinegar
1 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp Himalayan Sea salt
1 Cup black-eyed peas or Kidney beans
1 Cup black beans
1 Cup Aduki Beans
1 Yellow Onion
2 Green Onions
2 Garlic Cloves
1 diced Green bell pepper
1 diced Red bell pepper
1 diced Yellow bell pepper
Handful chopped cilantro
2 TBSP Lime juice
Optional: 1/4 Cup Jodi’s Salsa
Whisk together the Avocado oil, coconut sugar, coconut vinegar, chili powder, and salt.
Combine beans, red onion, and bell peppers. Stir in cilantro.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight to blend flavors.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Grain free, Refined sugar free, Dairy free, Gluten Free,
Happily Serves 12
ALL ORGANIC INGREDIENTS
1 Egg
2 Cups Black beans rinsed, drained & cooked
One avocado
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1/2 Cup Coconut Brown sugar
2/3 Cup Carob
1-2 tsp Coconut oil
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Himalayan Sea Salt
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8 x 8″ baking stone.
Mix egg, black beans, avocado, vanilla and sugar in the food processor until smooth.
Add the Carob, coconut oil, baking soda, baking powder and mix again until smooth.
Batter needs to be sticky to be fudgy.
If you want it thinner add a tablespoon or so of coconut milk.
Fold in the chocolate chips spread in the pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
Tips: The food processor is best. It blends and hides the consistency of the beans.
Inflammation is the body’s way of defending itself against disease and is a self-protective mechanism that can support the natural healing process. However, when the inflammation is chronic because of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, then this can leads to conditions where disease manifests. The good news is that there are various natural anti-inflammatories that can ease many of the chronic inflammatory conditions.
Below are a list of the key ingredients that can improve inflammation…
Any of the above nutrients can help to provide inflammation relief. Curcumin and Serrapeptase are particularly powerful as they are highly researched and have been documented as helping thousands of people improve their health conditions, due to their anti-inflammatory properties. When they are taken on a daily basis, they can provide long term results. Alongside taking these nutrients it’s recommended to follow an anti-inflammatory diet, as it’s then possible to find significant relief from the painful symptoms of inflammation.
Herbs for Anxiety
Not looking to use Conventional Drugs to help ease Anxiety? Try some of these herbs.
Licorice Root contains a natural hormone alternative to cortisone, which can help the body handle stressful situations, and can help to normalize blood sugar levels as well as your adrenal glands, providing you with the energy necessary to deal with the stressful situation at hand. Some claim licorice stimulates cranial and cerebrospinal fluid, thereby calming the mind.As a soothing tonic, drink it warm as in a tea.
Kava Kava, an herb from the South Pacific, is a powerful muscle relaxer and analgesic. Kava Kava is also effective at treating depression and anxiety associated with menopause. http://www.care2.
Some herbal supplements reduce anxiety without making you sleepy (such as L-theanine), while others are sedatives. Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is squarely in the second category. It is a sleep aid, for insomnia. It contains sedative compounds; the German government has approved it as a treatment for sleep problems.
Valerian smells kind of nasty, so most people take it as a capsule or tincture, rather than a tea. If you want to try it, take it in the evening—not before you go to work! Valerian is often combined with other sedative herbs such as hops, chamomile, and lemon balm.
Yes, it’s in beer, but you won’t get the tranquilizing benefits of the bitter herb hops (Humulus lupulus)from a brew. The sedative compound in hops is a volatile oil, so you get it in extracts and tinctures—and as aromatherapy in hops pillows.
“It’s very bitter, so you don’t see it in tea much, unless combined with chamomile or mint,” says Blumenthal. Hops is often used as a sedative, to promote sleep, often with another herb, valerian. Note: Don’t take sedative herbs if you are taking a prescription tranquilizer or sedative, and let your doctor know any supplements you are taking.
If you have a jittery moment, a cuppa chamomile tea might help calm you down. Some compounds in chamomile (Matricaria recutita) bind to the same brain receptors as drugs like Valium.
You can also take it as a supplement, typically standardized to contain 1.2% apigenin (an active ingredient), along with dried chamomile flowers. In one study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, in Philadelphia, patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who took chamomile supplements for eight weeks had a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms compared to patients taking placebo.
The University of Maryland Medical Center states that passionflower has shown in a few studies to work as well as some of the benzodiazepine medications that are usually prescribed for treating anxiety.
A four-week double-blind study, for example, compared passionflower with oxazepam. Results showed oxazepam worked more quickly, but by the end of the study period, both treatments were shown to be equally effective. Bonus—side effects like daytime drowsiness were fewer with passionflower.
A second study also showed that passionflower helped ease symptoms like anxiety, irritability, agitation, and depression in participants going through withdrawal from an opiate drug addiction.
Dosage: Try one cup of passionflower tea three times daily, 45 drops of liquid extract daily, or about 90 mg/day.
A 2010 multi-center, a double-blind randomized study of lavender oil compared to anti-anxiety medication lorazepam found that both were effective against generalized and persistent anxiety. Bonus — lavender had no sedative side effects.
“Since lavender oil showed no sedative effects,” researchers stated, it could be an effective and “well-tolerated alternative to benzodiazepines” to treat generalized anxiety. An earlier 2000 study found similar results.
Dosage: Try about 80 mg/day of the supplement, or use the oil as an aromatherapy solution.
Though usually found in combination with other herbs, lemon balm also has anti-anxiety powers on its own.
Research published in 2004, for instance, gave participants a single dose of lemon balm extract (300 mg or 600 mg) or a placebo, then measured their mood after one hour. The higher dose resulted in reduced stress and improved calmness and alertness. Even the lower dose helped participants do math problems more quickly.
Dosage: Use in aromatherapy, try 300-500 mg of dried lemon balm three times daily, 60 drops daily, or 1/4 to 1 teaspoon of dried lemon balm herb in hot water for a tea four times daily.
A 2012 double-blind, placebo-controlled study gave participants either placebo or a capsule containing 300 mg of high-concentration full-spectrum ashwagandha extract, twice a day. The study lasted for 60 days. Those taking the ashwagandha showed significant improvements. Even the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were substantially reduced in those taking the extract. And there were no serious side effects.
In an earlier 2000 study, ashwagandha had anxiety-relieving effects similar to those of lorazepam.
Dosage: Typical dosage is 300 mg standardized to at least one to five percent withanolides, once or twice a day.
This one isn’t really a herb — it’s a water-soluble amino acid, but it’s gotten such good research behind it, we had to include it here. It’s found mainly in green tea and black tea and is also available as a supplement.
Studies have found that it acts directly on the brain, helping to reduce stress and anxiety—without causing drowsiness.
Research from 2008, for example, found that those participants taking 50 mg of L-theanine a day had a greater increase in alpha (relaxed brain waves) activity than those who took a placebo.
An earlier 1998 study found that 200 mg a day leads to increased alpha brain waves and a relaxed, yet alert, a state of mind.
A later 2011 study found that it was also associated with reduced anxiety, and was well tolerated and safe for participants.
Dosage: A typical cup of black tea contains only about 25 mg of l-theanine and green tea only about 8 mg. While a cup of tea may be calming, if you want more potent effects, try a supplement, about 200 mg a day.
Lots of people have “gym anxiety”. You know that feeling that you get when you want to go to the gym, but don’t know what to do, or where to start. Muscle and Fitness has the answers.
Link to Muscle and Fitness Starter Guide
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| workout routine | There is no definite way to define this, but Muscle and Fitness has put some great routines together. |
| weight loss | Weight loss has many paths. Here are some great plans to achieve your weight loss goals. |
| strength training | is a type of physical exercise specializing in the use of resistance to induce muscular contraction which builds the strength, anaerobic endurance, size, skeletal muscles |
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The digital detox is nothing more than taking a break from your devices. While on vacation, we are constantly connected over social media, email, and by using our devices to find the best restaurant on Yelp or the best route on maps. “Some of the changes I’ve noticed in clients after they’ve taken a digital detox are that they are more balanced and calmer in their lives due to periodically stopping the continual digital exposure throughout their day.”Try to have at least one hour before bedtime where there is no digital stimulation so you can unwind. Don’t let digital devices stay on at night next to you unless it’s mandatory.
And although others take a more hardcore approach with week-long ‘summer camps’ or designated holidays, pledging to take just one day offline while you travel means you can reap the benefits of a detox, without sacrificing the joy of staying connected to your family and friends or taking the perfect Instagram or Snapchat shot.
Some suggest that the discipline in these smaller detoxes can be hugely beneficial to your mental state, and you can implement them on a smaller scale in your everyday routine.
This video points out the daily grind, and why we could all use a break.
This concept can be difficult at first, the benefits are real. Many detoxers find a real world connectedness that enriches and enhances our lives in a way no Wi-Fi connection can.
These short-term benefits are just part of the story. Mentally, even a short break from electronics can have long-term benefits that can make you happier and more successful in every aspect of your life.
Today, in a world where the average user logs almost 2 hours per day on social media alone, this idea is somewhat terrifying. Dr. Yvonne Thomas, a psychologist and therapist based in Los Angeles, puts it simply: “You can be so preoccupied with your digital devices that it’s all too easy to inadvertently sacrifice time, relationships, sleep, focus, productivity and balance in your life. Many people are not even aware of the toll their extensive usage of digital devices costs them until they have suffered a loss or upset because of this.”.
Could this cure-all of the tech world provide more benefits to the humans using the tech than the devices themselves? Digital detox devotees think so, and they’ve started a movement that seems to grow louder and larger with every tech announcement or app update.
Not convinced? Try it for one week.
How to detox without losing your job or social life.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to detoxing. Randi Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, believes in a ‘digital sabbath’, while Google chairman Eric Schmidt believes in scheduled ‘on’ and ‘off’ times, and commits to gadget-free meals.
When traveling and taking a vacation, every notification you receive– emails, instant messages, text messages, social media notifications– takes a moment to acknowledge, another to process and another (or a few depending on how soon that deadline really is) to forget. Suddenly the notification, even if you neglected to react or respond to it, is a significant distraction from what should be a chance to explore another culture and enjoy some time away from the screen. Multiply this by the 50+ notifications many of us will receive in a day, and you can start to get a sense of what you’re losing to your device.
Dr. Thomas has seen first-hand how deep the benefits can be. “Some of the changes I’ve noticed in clients after they’ve taken a digital detox are that they are more balanced and calmer in their lives due to periodically stopping the continual digital exposure throughout their day.
“Try to have at least one hour before bedtime where there is no digital stimulation so you can unwind. During this digital-free time period, try to connect with yourself through meditation, reflection or awareness. Don’t let digital devices stay on at night next to you unless it’s mandatory.
