healthy life Archives - Page 7 of 8

Chocolate & Cacao

Today’s post is about Chocolate and Cacao.

Those people, who know me, know I like my chocolate. I have always claimed that it is good for us and it is. Specifically it’s a raw cacao chocolate has health benefits.

Cacao can refer to any of the food products derived from cacao beans – the seeds or nuts of the cacao tree. These include cacao nibs, cacao butter, cacao paste and most commonly, cacao powder.

This is my favourite chocolate recipe.

Raw Chocolate bar

for (approx.) 200gram block

* 100g Cacao butter

* 50g Cacao powder

* 33g Liquid sweetener (Rice malt, Maple, Agave syrup)

* tiny pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt

Melt butter on a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

(The original recipe instructs to put the melted butter into a blender or processor with the other ingredients to mix. I think this wastes too much, so I do it differently.)

Once the butter is melted, I then add syrup, cacao powder & salt to the bowl. Take the saucepan off the heat and mix. I use a stick blender to mix the ingredients together while the mix is still in the bowl, over the hot water.

Once mixed, I pour the chocolate into a lined rectangle cake tin with other ingredients such as chopped mint, nuts, dried berries or ginger.

I then put it into the freezer so it’s ready to eat in approx. 20 to 30 min.

Cacao v Cocoa, what’s the difference?

Raw cacao powder is made by cold-pressing un-roasted cacao beans. The process keeps the living enzymes in the cacao and removes the fat (cacao butter).

Cocoa looks the same but it’s not. Cocoa powder is raw cacao that has been roasted at high temperatures. Sadly, as a result, roasting changes the molecular structure of the cocoa bean. This reduces the enzyme content and lowers the overall nutritional value.

Recent studies reveal that 60% and 90% of the original antioxidants in cacao are lost through common “Dutch processing”. Dutch processing was originally developed to reduce the bitterness, darken the colour, and create a more mellow flavour to chocolate

Here are 5 reasons to enjoy Raw Cacao’s chocolatey deliciousness.

Raw Organic Cacao has over 40 times the antioxidants of blueberries.

Source of Iron

It is the highest plant-based source of iron known to man, at a whopping 7.3mg per 100g. This compares to beef and lamb at 2.5mg, and spinach at 3.6mg. As the iron in cacao is all plant-based, research revealed that to get the maximum benefits you’ll want to combine it with some vitamin C. Think oranges or kiwifruit.

Full of Magnesium for a Healthy Heart & Brain

Cacao is among one of the highest plant-based sources of magnesium. Magnesium is important for a healthy heart, and helps turn glucose into energy enabling your brain to work with laser-sharp clarity and focus. The reason why you might turn to a bar of chocolate in the afternoon.

Loaded with Calcium

Raw Organic Cacao has more calcium than cow’s milk, as much as 160mg per 100g vs only 125mg per 100ml of milk.

Interestingly, research also shows that dairy inhibits the absorption of antioxidants from raw cacao.

and finally

A Natural Mood Elevator and Anti-Depressant

It is a great source of 4 scientifically proven bliss chemicals – serotonin, dopamine, anandamide and phenylethylamine. These chemicals are associated with feelings of wellbeing, happiness, and as a result, alleviate depression.

See, it is good for you.

Till next post,

Live Clean n Prosper.

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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