Category: Health & Wellness

Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl

On By juliemarie87In Health & Wellness, Juices & Smoothies, RecipesLeave a comment

Hello wonderful people!

You may have noticed I haven’t posted anything new during this last week. This is because I was away on vacation for my beautiful friends wedding in the Dominican Republic.

DR 2016 beach
Beautiful White Beaches in the Dominican Republic

I had a wonderful time, but I’m glad to be home (minus the cold temperatures haha) and reunited with my sweet kitty Calvin! Boy did I miss that little fur ball!

Anyhow, I learned a thing or two about keeping healthy while traveling on this trip, and unfortunately I did so the hard way. Normally I eat pretty healthy, limiting my intake of processed items, sugar, dairy, gluten, meat, etc. and apparently my body has become accustomed to this and quite enjoys this sort of diet.

How do I know this? Well, because I made the mistake of eating and drinking all the things I’ve cut out over the past year or so my tummy was NOT impressed! I spent most of the time with a stomach ache, which really I knew better and should have been smarter about my dietary choices. But hey, I learned some valuable lessons about keeping healthy while away traveling. Here are some of the things I learned:

  1. Try, as much as possible, to maintain your usual diet to avoid running the risk of experiencing gastrointestinal issues. This can be tricky with so many tasty looking treats around (not to mention all those sugar loaded tropical drinks!), but in my experience it’s worth the extra trouble.
  2. Try to maintain your typical activity routine at least to some degree. Normally I do yoga about 3 to 4 times a week, plus workouts with light weights about 4 times a week. I did none of this while I was away and I can certainly feel my body is more lethargic, lacking energy and strength, and my GI system is out of balance.
  3. Attempt to get a reasonable amount of sleep (between 7 to 8 hours) each night. I know it’s tempting to skip this and the thought goes something like “I didn’t go on vacation to sleep”. Well yes, this might be true but you’re body doesn’t really care and requires adequate amounts of sleep to function properly. Mess with this and you run the risk of disrupting your internal balance and ending up not feeling very well.
  4. Continue taking any supplements you regularly take. I was smart enough to bring with me my amazing Pro-15 probiotics from Hyperbiotics that I take daily (I’ll be writing a whole bunch about these in the next few months so stay tuned!). I think this is why I didn’t have more severe GI issues due to my poor dietary choices while on this trip.
  5. Take a break from work! Most of the time I enjoy my work, which makes it not really feel like “work” at all and gives me incentive to keep at it. While not exactly a bad thing, it’s important to take time away from the usual routine to find some stillness and reflect. Enjoy nature! Fortunately, this is one thing I DID manage to do right while away and it was wonderful!
DR 2016 wildlife
A crane hunting for some lunch
DR 2016 turtles
Turtle watching from the poolside – I adore turtles!

Now back home in Canada my tummy is still a bit sore and I expect it’ll take a few days for it to recover. Fortunately, I was able to get right back into my regular eating habits and I can already feel the difference it’s made. My energy levels are improving, along with my mood, and my stomach is slowly but surely feeling less bloated and back to normal.

DR 2016 flight home
Sunset as seen from my window on the plane ride home

This morning I woke up feeling much better than I have the past few days, but noticing my guts still feel a little off I thought I’d make use of a fantastic natural remedy for stomach issues – GINGER! Considerable research has accumulated suggesting that ginger is effective for treatment of GI issues, nausea, and a great many other health issues. If you’re interested, this article from Authority Nutrition discusses some of these implications in greater detail.

As I was saying, I love ginger and use it whenever I can; in everything from soups to smoothies, stirfrys, and especially when I’m having tummy trouble, it really does the trick! So this morning I enjoyed a cup of one of my favorite teas from David’s Tea – their Organic Ginger Pear tea. Almost instantly I could feel my stomach being soothed.

I then decided to make a yummy smoothie bowl for breakfast featuring some serious “superfoods” including ginger, acai berry powder, and strawberries. I was pleasantly surprised with just how delectable this recipe turned out to be, especially considering it helped my tummy ache to feel better too, boosted my energy, and kept me feeling full for several hours after.

Strawberry ginger acai smoothie bowl 3
Yummy Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl

I like making smoothie bowls because I can put fun toppings on afterwards and feel like I’m getting a real treat haha. However, they do take more time to prepare and eat, so if you’re pressed for time and on the go, please remember you can simply leave this in a travel cup and take it with you. Don’t forget your straw! 🙂

Anyhow, here’s what I did for 1 serving of my Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl. As always, try to use fresh, organic whole foods when possible:

Ingredients:

  • 1″ ginger, peeled and diced
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 1 cup (approx.) almond milk
  • 1/2 Tbsp. Acai Berry powder
  • 1 Tbsp. raw honey
  • Toppings: chia seeds, trail mix, walnuts, shredded unsweetened coconut, One Degree Organics Sprouted Brown Rice Cacoa Crisps

Method:

  • Combine ginger, banana, strawberries, and acai berry powder in blender. Add enough milk to just about cover the contents. Then add honey. Blend until smooth, then pour into a bowl and top with some of your favorite, healthy items
  • Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think of one thing for which you are grateful
  • Smile and enjoy! 🙂
Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie bowl 2
Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl

I hope you’ll find this as delicious and nourishing as I did. It’s a great tasting, nutritious recipe for kids too, particularly if the little ones are having tummy troubles.

If you give this tasty recipe a try I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Don’t forget to share photos of your version of this yummy, wholesome creation with #genuinelyjulie

Wishing you much health and happiness!

xo Julie

 

 

Advertisement

Honey Banana Oatmeal

On By juliemarie87In Breakfast, Health & Wellness, Recipes1 Comment

I really like honey. Like, a lot. I buy the stuff by the pail. No kidding I actually have a 5kg pail of Golden Rod honey from Clovermed Aparies in my pantry right now. Admittedly I do have a sweet tooth. As I kid I was the type to find my Easter chocolate and skulk off into some corner, hiding from my parents, and eat as much as I could until I felt sick haha. Fortunately I outgrew that behaviour, but my sweet tooth has remained, albeit to a lesser degree.

As my awareness of the implications of proper nutrition on both physical and mental health have grown over the years I’ve sought to educate myself on these topics. In doing so I have gained greater awareness of the detriments of sugar, particularly highly processed sugars. I decided to take action and began cutting items high in processed sugars out of my diet. If you’ve read food labels and paid attention to how much sugar is in many food items we eat, it’s pretty scary!

By cutting food items that are highly processed and packed with sugar out of my diet I noticed some incredible things: I had more energy and felt much less lethargic. And much to my delight, the levels of anxiety and feelings of depression I had felt on a daily basis for years began to subside. Perhaps you’re wondering if I miss those sugary items because, lets be honest, sweet stuff is pretty tasty. Truthfully though, I don’t miss it at all!

Not only do I physically feel better and have noticed positive effects in my cognitive function and emotional valence, but my taste preferences appear to have adjusted too. Now if I eat something really sweet I find it over powering and it makes me feel a bit ill if I consume too much. Further, I notice that if I start to eat sweets consistently (eg. over the holidays) I begin to feel lethargic and my mood is negatively influenced.

Please note that these changes do take time though. So if you decide to cut down or try to eliminate processed sugar in your diet be patient, as seeing and feeling the effects and noticing a difference doesn’t happen overnight.

Although my “sweet tooth” has changed, I do still like a little sweetness here and there. I was faced with the challenge of how to find a balance between enjoying some sweetness in my food and making health conscious dietary decisions. What did I do? Well, I did what the researcher in me loves and I hit the books, databases, and internet search engines to find the information I needed to make competent, informed dietary choices.

What I learned in doing my research is that there are many natural substitutes that can be used for sweeteners, including raw unpasteurized honey. That’s the key here: the unpasteurized factor means that the nutrients in the honey have not been degraded. Most honey you pick up in the grocery store has been pasteurized. So while it still tastes yummy, the health benefits of it have been significantly reduced or eliminated through processing. That’s not very good either! Thus if you’re looking for honey, try to find that which is unpasteurized in order to obtain the greatest benefits from it. Also please be aware that it is not recommended for children under the age of 1 year to consume unpasteurized honey, the reasons for which are explained here.

Honey
5 kg pail of some tasty “Golden Rod”  Honey

 

What are some of the benefits of raw honey? For more detailed discussion I’ll direct you to these two resources that do a great job of summarizing the relevant information. “Health Benefits of Honey” by Organic Facts goes into great detail on this subject. While “Is Honey Bad for You, or Good? The Sweet Truth Revealed” by Authority Nutrition provides a brief and concise explanation of relevant information that has been supported by scientific research.

In a nutshell, honey is a better option than processed sugars. It does contains some important nutrients, but more importantly it has antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties which may aid in health restoration and maintenance. It is now well established that inflammation is likely at the root of many pathological conditions including cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and mental health challenges such as depression.

Thus, if consuming honey in moderation can not only provide the sweetness to food that I enjoy, but also help reduce inflammatory mechanisms within my body and improve my overall health, than logically it makes sense for me to do so. I will leave you to make your own decisions, but I can say that based on the evidence I’ve reviewed and my own experience, I am confident in honey’s efficacy.

If you’ve made it this far you’re probably wondering when I’m going to get to the good part (ie. the food). Okay, okay.. as much as I love talking science and nutrition, here’s a tasty and easy Honey Banana Oatmeal recipe that makes the perfect nutritious and filling breakfast…

Honey Banana Oatmeal 1
Honey Banana Oatmeal

For Oatmeal (1 serving):

  • 1/2 cup almond or coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup plain oats (such as these)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp walnuts or pecans (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp raw honey

For Honey-Banana Sauce:

  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 1 Tbsp raw honey
  • 1 banana, sliced (approx. 1/4″ slices)
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Optional topping ideas: chia seeds, shredded unsweetened coconut, natural peanut butter, cashew nut butter, etc.

Method:

  • For oatmeal: Combine all ingredients except honey in a small pot over medium heat. Cover and cook approximately 5 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (note: if mixture starts to get too thick, just add a bit more water)
  • Once cooked turn off heat and stir in honey
  • For bananas: in a small pan add coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add in honey, then sliced bananas. Try to lay them all flat. Sprinkle with cinnamon
  • Reduce heat to medium and saute bananas for about 3 to 5 minutes, flipping half way through, until softened and golden brown
  • Pour oatmeal into a bowl and top with honey-banana sauce
  • Smile and enjoy! 🙂
Honey Banana Oatmeal 3
Hot and Tasty Honey Banana Oatmeal

Please let me know if you decide to give this tasty breakfast treat a try – I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! #genuinelyjulie

Wishing you good health and happiness!

XO Julie

 

 

Black Cherry Avocado Smoothie Bowl

On By juliemarie87In Breakfast, Health & Wellness, Recipes1 Comment

Good day wonderful people!

If you’ve been following the latest health trends then you’ve likely noticed the good ol’ avocado has been getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason! It’s packed with vitamins, healthy fats, and a bunch of other nutritional and health benefits which you can learn about through this great resource.

I often hear people say that they aren’t a fan of the taste or texture of avocado though, which deters them from eating it. Well, you’re in luck because I’ve come up with some clever ways to use avocados and you won’t even know they’re in there! The recipes are also kid friendly, especially if you have a picky eater! Mix up one of these smoothie bowls and you’ve got a nutrient packed, delicious dessert or breakfast that will surely be a hit! Toss it in the freezer for an hour or so to alter the texture and you can even call it ice cream. Now that’s what I call a win!

I’ll also mention that for anyone out there who finds eating solid food challenging, a problem faced by many who have had laryngectomy surgery such as myself and for some elderly folks, this is an awesome recipe for you too! It’s quick, easy, nutritious, and super yummy!

Okay, so today I’m going to share with you one of my favorite smoothie bowl recipes which uses black cherries, avocado, banana, and spinach to create a filling and energy packed meal that will keep you going through the day! A few things you’ll need: a blender or single serve mixer such as a Magic Bullet or Ninja, the ingredients (obviously), and a smile. Why a smile? Well, why not?! Even if you don’t feel that you have something to smile about do it anyways. Studies have shown that when a person smiles it actually influences neurochemical mechanisms in the brain associated with emotion which have the ability to boost one’s mood and elicit a more positive attitude. Pretty cool eh?! So smile away 🙂

Alrighty, enough chit chat from me… lets get to the good part!

Black Cherry smoothie bowl 1
Black Cherry Avocado Smoothie Bowl

For 1 serving you’ll need:

  • 1/2 to 1 avocado, pitted
  • 1/2 frozen banana (peel, cut in half, then freeze in bags or containers for easy access)
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen, pitted black cherries
  • 1 handful spinach
  • 1 cup almond or coconut milk (or other milk of choice)
  • 1 Tbsp raw honey
  • Optional toppings shown here: One Degree brown rice crisps (SO delicious, organic and GF), shredded unsweetened coconut, acai berry powder, and trail mix.

Method:

  • Place avocado, banana, cherries, then spinach into mixer. Add in milk (just enough to cover things), then honey. Blend together until pureed and mixed well.
  • Pour mixture into a bowl and top with your favorite, healthy toppings such as those suggested above.
  • Breath, Smile, Enjoy!
Black Cherry smoothie bowl
Black Cherry Avocado oh-so-yummy Smoothie Bowl

I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as I do! If you give this recipe a try I’d love to hear about it and please feel free to share with Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest (#genuinelyjulie)

Well friends, as much as I’d love to keep chatting I do have some hot “Chai and Mighty” tea to drink from David’s Tea while I read “Missing Microbes” by Dr. Martin J. Blaser. “Missing Microbes” discusses how the overuse of antibiotics is having detrimental effects on the gut microbiome and by extension our health. I could go on and on about the topic of the gut microbiome and it’s implications for both physical and mental health and well-being (this is one of my major research interests), but I will save this discussion for another time.

Good reads
“Missing Microbes” and some “Chai and Mighty” Tea for this chilly Sunday afternoon

Wishing you health and happiness!

XO Julie

Kicking Off the New Year with a Juice Cleanse!

On By juliemarie87In Health & Wellness, Juices & Smoothies, RecipesLeave a comment

I hope that everyone’s New Year has been off to a great start! If you’re anything like me and maybe overindulged a bit during the holidays you might be looking for a way to get back on track. Something I love to do about twice a year and especially after the holidays is a 3 day juice cleanse. I find it really helps me to reset my body and get my clean eating habits back in order. Something I love about juice cleanses is that they tend not to leave one feeling famished, as fasts often do. And as I tend to get “hangry”, I don’t do so well with fasting. Juice cleanses on the other hand are fairly easy to stick with for the 3 days, and afterwards I always feel more energetic with an improved mood.

My mom makes the BEST shortbread cookies! Okay, I might be a little biased, but they are seriously delicious and she only makes them at Christmas (thank goodness!). Needless to say I take advantage of this once a year opportunity and eat more cookies than I need to. While I love them, after a few days of eating cookies and other sweet, sugary things I notice my body starts to feel lethargic. My mood also begins to deteriorate and I start feeling rather down – a pattern I’ve noticed over the years when my consumption of highly processed items, particularly sugars, increases significantly. This is when I know it’s time to do a little “reboot” of my system and the best way I’ve found for doing this is a juice cleanse!

If you’re new to juicing a great site to check out is “All About Juicing” – they share tons of great info on basically everything to do with juicing, from the different types of juicers available to various juicing recipes. Over the past few years I’ve experimented with different juice recipes and come up with my own new creations. I like variety so I try to do different juices each time I do a cleanse. This time I came up with 3 of my own creations based on past experiments (must be the scientist in me because I love experimenting, especially with FOOD! heh).

I always try to buy fresh and when possible, organic, produce. This is especially important when one is doing a juice cleanse so as to minimize exposure to potential toxins or harmful compounds found in foods. However, I know this is not always feasible and access to certain items can be difficult depending on your location and the time of the year, so just do your best. As a rule of thumb, try to buy local and fresh as much as possible. A great place in my area I like to get my produce from is “Globally Local“, which offers a variety of organic items and they even deliver! For those of you in the USA, a great new resource is “FarmersMarket.com” – which develops local markets for farmer and artisan products in various locations.

Okay, onto the cleanse! To simply things I’ve listed the actual recipes mentioned here on the “recipes” page of my blog.  Basically, I mix up all of my juice for the day in the morning and store it in mason jars in the fridge. Try to consume 1 glass of juice every 1 to 1.5 hours throughout the day, with water in between. At the end of the day I have one solid meal. I like to keep it all veggie based and simplistic, but adding in a lean protein is fine. Avoid any processed items or additives.

It’s best to mix up your juice fresh that morning, but if you’re tight for time it can be done the night before. Alternatively, you can prep your produce the night before (this is what takes the most time anyhow) and then juice it all in the morning. For those of you with kids, this is a great way to get them involved in learning how to prepare food. This is something I know I personally take for granted – knowing how to prepare my own food – which I learned how to do when I was a kid. Literature suggests that individuals are more likely to give something a try if they have some knowledge and a feeling of competency regarding the task, and cooking is no different! If kids don’t know how to prepare food items, even something as simple as how to properly peel an orange or carrot, they may not have the confidence to try using these items later on. Thus it’s important to get kids involved in the process of preparing and cooking food so that they can learn these essential skills that will be important tools for cultivating wellness and health throughout their lives.

For day 1 I decided to make what I like to call Sunshine Beet Juice. It’s a tasty combo of beets, carrots, oranges, grapefruit, and ginger. I finished off day 1 with a mushroom, kale, and beet stuffed bell pepper.

Sunshine Beet Juice
Sunshine Beet Juice – The Goods

Ingredients:

  • 6 medium beets, cut in half
  • 8 – 10 carrots, scrubbed (or peeled if you prefer)
  • 5 oranges, peeled
  • 4 grapefruits, peeled
  • 3″ ginger
Sunshine Beet Juice
Sunshine Beet Juice

Day 2 of my cleanse was a simple Green Juice consisting of apples, cucumbers, kale, ginger, and lemon. I wanted to add some raw turmeric to it but wasn’t able to find some this time around. It’s a great item to add in if you’ve got it! I finished off the day with a spinach salad topped with tomatoes, avocado, and walnuts. I used a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. I get my olive oil and balsamic vinegar’s from The Pristine Olive Tasting Bar. Seriously, the BEST olive oils and vinegar’s out there! I am not ashamed to say that on more than one occasion I have licked my plate clean after finishing my salad because the dressing is just SO DELICIOUS! If you’re not a fan of salads these dressings will change your mind – I actually crave salads now! One of my favorite combos is their Arbosana olive oil paired with the Cinnamon Pear balsamic vinegar. Amazing!!

Ingredients:

  • 6 – 8 apples, washed and cut in half (remove seeds)
  • 4 – 6 cucumbers
  • 2 bunches kale
  • 1 – 2 lemons
  • 2″ ginger
  • 2″ turmeric (optional)
Green Juice
Green Juice

Finally, on day 3 I decided to make some Pumpkin Juice (aka. wizard juice haha) consisting of a pumpkin, ginger, lemons, oranges, apples, and carrots. I finished off the day with Cinnamon Pear balsamic vinegar roasted beets and carrots, along with cashew crusted cod.

Ingredients:

  • 1 small pumpkin; seeds removed, peeled, cut into large chunks
  • 2 – 3 lemons
  • 4 oranges
  • 6 apples
  • 10 – 15 carrots
  • 2″ ginger
  • 2″ turmeric (optional)
Pumpkin Juice
Pumpkin Juice

Method:

  • Add each item one at a time. My juice pitcher fills up quickly so I keep a large bowl on hand to pour the juice into and combine.
  • Once you have finished juicing everything and combined it in the bowl, pour into mason jars and store in the fridge.
  • Serve cold and enjoy!

Have fun and happy juicing! 🙂