Tag: healthy eating

Let Food Be Thy Medicine

Posted on by Michael Devon
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” -Thomas Edison
It’s time to go back to the old ways… modern medicine has its place but if you understand how to prevent disease from occurring you won’t need to rely on medication for the rest of your life.
Let food by thy medicine and optimize your health. Real food is powerful and if you eat it in the right amounts and balance what you eat then you’ll find that when your friends and family catch a cold or are suffering from allergies you’ll be as healthy as a horse because your immune system is functioning at high capacity because you fuel it with high quality foods.
  • For starters limit grains, avoid fake foods because they’re ridden with chemicals that disrupt our normal metabolic function, cut down on your alcohol and caffeine consumption, and drink more water. Red meat is fine just make sure it’s grass finished with no hormones or antibiotics, same with eggs and other sources of protein.
  • Fats like olive, coconut, and avocado oils are great, even REAL butter too. You can never go wrong with an avocado, and snacking on nuts instead of a bag of chips will really transform your energy levels!
  • Load up on vegetables of any kind, the more color variety the better… and yes potatoes count as a vegetable. Just don’t turn a potato into junk by constantly using cream and making mashed potatoes or loading up a baked potato with sour cream, cheese, and bacon bits. Try baking them and then cutting them up and sautéing with protein and veggies like beef, chicken, or eggs! Potatoes over rice and rice over pasta and bread.
  • Cut down on your artificial sweet treats and if you can’t then I’d suggest limiting them to a special occasion. Fruit gets a bad stigma because it’s loaded with sugar but it’s sugar in its natural form so fruit in moderation is okay because it’s also loaded with vitamins and minerals to help boost your immunity. Some fruits have less sugar than others and when it’s all said and done, snacking on fruit to get a sugar “fix” is a better choice than reaching for a brownie.
So to recap, drink more water and eat real food: protein, vegetables, quality fats, and moderate amounts of fruit. Limit, cut back, or cut out fake foods, alcohol, caffeine, refined sugars, grains, and heavy carbohydrate consumption.
If you found this post to be helpful and want to learn more about what you can do to live a healthier lifestyle then contact us to set up a FREE consultation!

Guidelines for Healthy Eating

Posted on by Michael Devon

All of us pretty much know what food and drinks aren’t great for our health, yet we still over indulge and make poor decisions from time to time. The information that circulates about health and nutrition can be overwhelming, contradicting, and constantly changing. We want to share some helpful tips that you can use as a guide when making decisions about your diet!

  • Lower your carbohydrate intake. Most carbohydrates should be supplied by fruits and vegetables. Try to significantly limit carbohydrates from breads, chips, pastas, and foods that use traditional flours.
  • Avoid corn, wheat, soy, and sugar as much as possible. All of these are filler ingredients in most processed foods and can lead to health complications, from fatigue to leaky gut syndrome.
  • Limit dairy consumption. Dairy can cause inflammation in the body which can further lead to other health issues, such as GI upset and headaches. Note: pasteurized dairy is safer to drink but is linked to everything from allergies to heart disease. Raw dairy has a better nutrition profile but has been linked to harmful bacterial ingestion because it was not pasteurized to kill germs. Overall consider the quality of the dairy you’re consuming, if it has a ton of preservatives then its probably not the best choice. If you do decide to drink raw milk then make sure it’s from a healthy cow that wasn’t fed a bunch of hormones and antibiotics.
  • Lower or eliminate grains, most people have trouble digesting grains so this leads to intestinal bloating and metabolic diseases. From a nutrition standpoint there is nothing positive about refined grains, they are low in nutrients, fattening, and harmful, and most of us are eating way too much of them.
  • WATER- aim for 4 Liters a day, not including other beverages like tea or sparkling water. Water is important for survival, every cell, tissue, and organ in your body needs water to work properly.
  • Avoid sweetened beverages, especially if it contains artificial sweetener. Decreasing consumption of sugary beverages will automatically decrease the amount of calories you consume on a daily basis- leading to weight loss in the long run! You’ve heard the old saying, don’t drink your calories.

While there’s more information about diet and nutrition out there, we wanted to keep things simple and show you that making a few little changes would be the best place to start on a path to a healthier you! Even if you can’t follow all of these guidelines right away or all at once, start with implementing just one into your life. If you don’t drink enough water everyday then start there, if you have no problem staying hydrated then start working on lowering your carbohydrate intake. The best part is that almost everyone can benefit from these guidelines as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Recipe: Smoothie Goodness

Posted on by Michael Devon

The best smoothies have a little bit of everything for a well rounded nutritional boost! This is a smoothie that supplies me with energy throughout the entire day, and it’s also a delicious treat.

To make this one you’re going to need:

  • Almond Milk
  • Coconut Water
  • Kale
  • Dates
  • Banana
  • Walnuts

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender, to your taste, add ice, and enjoy!

This smoothie packs a powerful punch of nutrition, you get a dose of calcium from the almond milk, electrolytes from the coconut water, magnesium from the kale, iron from the dates, potassium from the banana, and omega-3’s from the walnuts… to only name a few!

Recipe: Collagen Pistachio Chocolate Bites

Posted on by Michael Devon

These chocolate bites pack a serious punch of nutrition, not only are they tasty, but their health benefits make them worth every bite! As the name of the recipe suggests they contain collagen, which is the most abundant protein in your body and supports the cells of every single tissue in your body! Collagen is a major component of your health, it promotes skin elasticity, holds together your bones and muscles, protects your organs, and provides structure to your joints and tendons. As you can see these chocolate bites are way more than just a dessert, they’re “skin firming, antioxidant rich” sweet treats!

Here’s what you’ll need to make them:

  • 1 cup cacao butter, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons raw honey
  • 1 cup raw cacao powder
  • 3 tablespoons grass-fed collagen powder
  • 1/4 cup pistachios, chopped (can sub for nut of your choice)

Baking instructions:

  • Melt the cacao butter into a double boiler, whisking until it is fully melted, and remove from heat immediately.
  • Add the honey and whisk into the melted cacao butter. Add the raw cacao powder and collagen powder, and whisk until very smooth.
  • Pour the melted chocolate into an ice cube tray or cookie sheet and top with chopped pistachios.
  • Let the chocolate chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before removing from the mold.

Total time: 40 minutes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Inactive time: 30 minutes

Serves: 10

Recipe provided by: paleohacks.com

Recipe: Mint Chip Smoothie

Posted on by Michael Devon

I found this smoothie recipe when I was in Florida on a business trip and I fell in love! I wanted to share this tasty recipe because it’s filled with ingredients that are good for you and the best part is, it tastes like a dessert!

All you need is a banana, 2 big handfuls of spinach, 1 small handful of mint (depending on your taste), cacao nibs (to taste), and cashew milk. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

Pro Tip: add a frozen banana for a creamier, milkshake like texture… you’re welcome 🙂

Ps. I had to experiment with ratios on this because the smoothie shop that I found it at wouldn’t share the recipe- go figure. The ingredients are all listed so it’s up to you to get creative and make it your own- enjoy!

No-Churn Avocado Ice Cream

Posted on by Michael Devon

Here’s a follow up to the No Bake Brownie Bites we made last week! Now you can have a scoop of ice cream with your brownie, without all the guilt. This ice cream has only 5 ingredients, all from real foods, making it one of the healthiest alternatives to ice cream you’d eat from the store.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 large Avocados, ripe
  • 1/2 cup Honey
  • 2 cups Coconut cream
  • 2 tbsp Lemon or Lime juice
  • 1/4 tsp Salt (again, we used Pink Himalayan sea salt)

Instructions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and creamy
  2. Pour mixture into a loaf pan or other container and freeze for 4 hours (or overnight)
  3. Allow ice cream to set out 5-10 minutes to soften before serving

This recipe is great for a healthy homemade treat, however I’m not advocating that you only eat sweets and desserts, no matter how healthy they are. What I’m saying is that when you do treat yourself, you should try to make it as healthy as you can by choosing natural ingredients that are good for you. If you build your body’s foundation with nutritious foods then it will operate more efficiently leading to a healthier lifestyle, healthy weight management, and a healthy mental state!

Healthy “No Bake” Brownie Bites

Posted on by Michael Devon

Here’s a healthy recipe that I was turned onto by a client- and now I’m hooked! These no bake brownie bites are made with only 5 ingredients and while they aren’t actually brownies, they sure do hit the spot. I bet you just can’t eat one!

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 cups Walnuts

2/3 cups Cacao Nibs

1/4 cup Cacao Powder

1 1/2 cups pitted Dates

Pinch Sea Salt; more or less to taste (we used Pink Himalayan Sea Salt)

Combine the walnuts, cacao nibs, sea salt, and cacao powder in a food processor. Once processed, add dates, a few at a time. If dough needs to be thicker add more dates, one at a time. Once dough is thick enough roll into balls.

Once we rolled our Brownie Bites into balls we stuck them in the refrigerator, because who doesn’t like their chocolate treats a little cold. If you’d prefer, you can certainly eat them as is or leave them out of the fridge when you store them.

These brownie bites can be eaten as a healthy snack, pre workout fuel, or a sinless dessert to get your sweet tooth fix!

Perks of Meal Prepping

Posted on by Michael Devon

The term meal prepping has a lot of buzz around it yet most people don’t understand what it means to meal prep. It can be different for everyone, some people spend their entire Sunday in the kitchen cooking meals and portioning them out for the rest of the week, others spend time each morning preparing their meals for the rest of the day. For us, it means taking time to set yourself up for success when life gets in the way so you can keep up with your healthy eating habits.

A typical Sunday afternoon in my house is spent washing produce, cooking beans, or preparing proteins like chicken, fish, or grass fed beef. My version of meal prepping is having everything washed, cut, seasoned, and ready to grab and go or grab and cook. For example, today I came home for lunch and was in a hurry so I got out some of my precut veggies (tomatoes, onions, and peppers) sautéed them in a pan with avocado oil and scrambled some eggs with them to create a healthy veggie scramble… then of course, I topped it off with some avocado.

When my produce is already washed it’s as simple as reaching into my refrigerator and pulling out an apple or an orange and adding it to my lunch or just eating it as a snack. I’ve found out that if I don’t wash all of my produce in advance, then when I’m in a hurry I will just reach for something else that’s already cooked and then my body misses out on the vitamins and minerals it needs from the fruits and vegetables I should be eating.

I’ll often prepare a big pot of black beans or lentils, I’m talking several bags worth of beans, so that I can portion out a big bowl for the rest of the week and then portion out the remaining beans into smaller containers that I can put in the freezer. That way they don’t go bad and I can pull them out of the freezer the night before and have them for lunch or dinner the next day. The real benefit is that I don’t have to make beans every week, if I’m going to spend the time making a pot of beans I might as well triple the recipe so that I can have enough leftovers to eat in the coming weeks and then when my stock in the freezer is running low I know it’s time to make another big batch.

Simply having the “staples” ready to go can help me continue making healthy eating choices when I am in a hurry and don’t have time to cook an entire meal from start to finish- in those cases it would be easier to roll through a drive through and pick something up that’s ready to eat. However, through past experiences, it may be easier in the moment but I’ve found that it’s harder in the long run because I don’t have any energy to get me through my day, I start having digestive issues, or I make myself sick because my immune system doesn’t have the nutrients it needs to keep me well.

So for us, meal prepping doesn’t mean we have all of our meals prepared for the entire week but it does allow us to prepare enough food to create healthy meals throughout the week. We wash all of our fruits and vegetables, we even precut the veggies we like to cook with, we prepare beans or lentils in bulk, and we cook our proteins for the week. Taking these steps allows us to eat well balanced meals everyday, for lunch I can take some chicken that is already cooked and chop it up and add it to a salad that I made from my washed and ready to eat produce, or I can sauté some pre cut veggies and add them to my already cooked beef. Eating healthy in our culture is already hard enough, don’t make it harder on yourself by overcomplicating your meal prep, keep it simple and sustainable by preparing food that you can eat a lot of different ways while still making it a healthy meal.