Tag: health

Super Salad

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Hi,

Today I want to talk about a salad that I purchased for lunch last week.

This may seem strange, but it was a really tasty, though simple salad. It was promoted as a ‘super food’ salad. So I thought I would research why it was so ‘super’.

What was in it?

Rocket leaves,

Baby English Spinach leaves,

Finely chopped Chinese Wong Bok

(or Napa) cabbage,

Pepitas,

Lemon juice dressing.

Now for the ‘Superfood’ part.

It seems that Rocket leaves are a very nutritious salad green. Apart from providing a little ‘peppery burst’ in each mouthful, it is very good for us.

  • Salad rocket is very high in antioxidants.
  • Also it seems that Rocket is a rich source of certain phytochemicals, which may offer protection against various cancers.
  • Fresh salad rocket is one of the greens rich in folates and an excellent source of vitamin A. Studies found that vitamin A and flavonoid compounds in green leafy vegetables help keep humans protected from skin, lung and oral cavity cancers.
  • This vegetable is also an excellent source of the B-complex group of vitamins, which are essential for optimum metabolic functions.
  • and Rocket also contains healthy levels of vitamin-C.

The English spinach is another salad green with health benefits, many similar to Rocket.

  • Spinach is storehouse for many phyto-nutrients that have health promotional and disease prevention properties.
  • The dark green pigments indicate the presence of antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals such as beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin – important for healthy eyes.
  • It is also good source of omega-3 fatty acids.

The Chinese cabbage also has similar health benefits to the other leafy greens. I have chosen to highlight just 2.

  • Napa cabbage is incredibly low in calories. 100 g fresh leaves carry jus 16 calories.
  • Napa is also packed with many antioxidant plant compounds. Scientific studies suggest these compounds are known to offer protection against breast, colon and prostate cancers. They also help reduce bad cholesterol levels in the blood.

Finally, the Pepitas or Pumpkin seeds (I like mine toasted)

  • The kernels are especially rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids that help lower bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol in the blood.
  • Pumpkin seeds carry good-quality protein. In addition, the seeds are an excellent source of amino acid tryptophan and glutamate which helps reduce anxiety and nervous irritability.

The nutrition facts were found on http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/

So, it would seem that the very tasty salad that I bought for lunch, was in fact ‘super’.

I have purchased the same greens and replicated the salad more than once now, it is very easy to make and is still really tasty. This salad also works really well with the addition of crumbled Feta.

Enjoy the week and until the next post,

Live Clean n Prosper

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Toxic build up

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Today I thought that I would share why we changed the products that we use in our home.

In my first post I mentioned toxic chemicals or chemicals that can be absorbed by the body. A build up of these chemicals over time can cause an adverse effect on our health. This is what many health practitioners, nutritionists and dieticians call ‘toxic build-up’.

Through attending a health seminar we also learned that what we put on our skin, could also contribute to this ‘toxic build-up’ making us unwell.

Our skin is our body’s largest organ

and is vital to your health, yet many of us fail to take good care of it. The skin is a semi-permeable membrane. This means it has the ability to absorb much of what you put on it. So informed choices are critical to optimise your health. You should give your skin the same thoughtful care you give your diet, because much of what goes ON you ends up going IN you.

Dr Mercola.com summarises this best; ‘Putting chemicals on your skin or scalp, such as getting a hair dye, may actually be worse than eating them. When you eat something, the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help to break it down and flush it out of your body. However, when you put these chemicals on your skin, they are absorbed straight into your bloodstream without filtering of any kind, going directly to your delicate organs. Once these chemicals find their way into your body, they tend to accumulate over time because you typically lack the necessary enzymes to break them down. There are literally thousands of chemicals used in personal care products.’

‘Many of the same poisons that pollute your environment are also lurking in the jars and bottles that line your bathroom shelves. We all risk becoming a toxic waste dump from the products we use, the foods we eat, and the environment in which we live.’

We also did a bit of our own research and found that in Australia there are several different regulatory standards. Depending on how the product is classified. The one common standard in Australia, the US and the EU that we could find is ‘cosmetics must have a list of ingredients on the label, regardless of whether it is toxic or not.’ There are still many chemicals being included in our personal care products that can ‘build up’ in our bodies. These chemicals can contribute to health issues down the track. You just have to do the research to find a company that that leave these ingredients out of their products.

So, after making some changes we have had some notable results.

The occasional war with Dandruff ended along with a reoccurring skin irritation.

Once we noticed these improvements we decided to make other changes.

So in the pursuit of better overall health we decided to avoid as many added, unnecessary chemicals as possible; from our household and personal care products to the food we eat.

Till the next post,

Live Clean and Prosper

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Super Smoothies

Todays post is about Smoothies.

Now that the ‘silly season’ is over we are concentrating on getting back on track with our food choices and increasing our movement.

Starting with Breakfast….

We are big fans of ‘smoothies’ for breakfast, ever since we attended a seminar on ‘gut health’ by Dr Peter Dingle. It was at that seminar that we learned about the absorption of micronutrients, the ‘microbiome’ in the gut and how it is all linked to our overall health.

A healthy gut has several important jobs, including helping to fight off infection, as well as performing all of its usual digestive and regulatory functions, like absorbing and synthesising nutrients that are essential to keeping your body running at its best.

Probiotics and a healthy microbiome in our digestive tract is now recognised as one of the most critical conditions for our health and wellbeing. While it is obvious when it comes to many digestive disorders recent research has shown it can be involved in virtually every form of chronic illness. **Dinglewellness.com

Smoothies are one of the ways to get a bunch of good micronutrients into your gut. I have shared one of our favourite smoothie recipes.

 A Super Blueberry Smoothie

 approx. ½ cup frozen blueberries

 ½ a banana

approx. 20 raw almonds

1 tsp Maca powder

1 tsp chia seeds

1 tsp super greens powder (our choice is called ‘Green Qi’ from Modere)

¾ cup Coconut milk (You could use your preferred type of milk instead)

About the Ingredients 

Blueberries are rich in polyphenols, which have an antimicrobial and antioxidative effect. **Dr. Mercola.com

Almonds are an excellent source of protein, healthy fats, and antioxidants. Almond skins even contain beneficial phenols, flavonoids. and phenolic acids. **Dr. Mercola.com

Maca contains over 55 beneficial and naturally occurring phyto-chemicals (plant chemicals). It’s also a powerful adaptogen, which means it has the ability to balance and stabilise the body’s glandular-hormonal system, nervous system, cardiovascular system and musculature.

Chia is a legitimate superfood because of its nutrient content. The seeds are full of healthful omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, they have high levels of protein, fiber, and no cholesterol. They also contain minerals in significant amounts, including calcium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese. **Healthy Smoothie.com

We choose to use Coconut cream & water instead of milk as we try to keep our dairy milk intake to a minimum.

and get moving….

We are also making an effort to get moving and go for a morning walk on our days off as well as monitoring our incidental movement throughout the day.

This has been a bit of an eye opener; it’s really surprising some days how little we move. There are also some mornings when I really don’t feel like going walking, but you know, once I have made the effort and I’m walking down the street, I’m really glad I did. It wakes me up, gives me time to think about my day; what I need to do and what I want to achieve. Of course it gets the metabolism up and running for the day. Walking increases the heart rate, burning those calories and improving lung capacity.

 Till next post,

 Live clean ‘n’ prosper.