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Reorganizing the Kitchen for Health

8/28/2017

I work with fat loss clients and life challenges of all sorts: emotional recovery from abuses, violence, or natural disasters. Folks need to use food as fuel and medicine. The food we take in affects or hormones, our mood regulators and all the systems files by the hormones. Food is found in the kitchen. So today we will look at reorganizing the kitchen for a healthy lifestyle and keep cravings at bay.

The first thing I do with my clients is have them write down their BIG WHY. Why do they want this time to be the time they figure out their lifestyle change for the better, long term? Why do they want to be healthy now? Are they desperate or scared enough to make changes, whether in behavior, words, or reorganization of their physical surroundings? Successful outcomes take work.

Then we tape that BIG WHY to the cupboard or pantry where they go to on a daily basis to make meals for themselves or for their families. They can see their BIG WHY daily and be reminded of the goal, as well as the deep reasons behind the goal.

I focus on the pantry or dry good cupboards.The pantry is sifted through by my clients, with me as their cheerleader. I'm their life and wellness coach, but I don't do it for them. I show them how to remove the packaged and processed fake foods from the home and how to place the healthy items front and center. Junk foods, sugary cereals and breads, crackers, pasta, etc., will be donated to charity, go on the highest or bottom shelf so it isn't in easy eyesight. If they want to donate it to charity, great. If the other family members still eat processed foods, then they can still stay on the shelves, just not where the person shifting to a healthier lifestyle is going to feel pulled into cravings.

Cravings are real. Real food is attainable. Both are real. That's real talk. How we shift is important. We can shift by reaching for water first. For me that's my number one tip. When I drink water with lemon or cucumbers, I can identify whether I am truly hungry or just socially and emotionally hungry. Water works!

If you are truly in need of fuel, then I suggest going to the middle shelves of the pantry. Stock up on raw nut and seed butters from the middle shelf and spread on veggie or fruit slices. The middle shelf should have some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to easily take and put on a salad or chopped veggies.

I place dried and roasted Nori sheets as well as salted and roasted seaweed on my middle shelves for a crunchy snack that is helpful when trying to lose fat and feel full.

My protein bars and cans of already prepared protein shakes are ready to go in my purse or backpack when they are within arm's reach in my pantry.

Homemade kale chips, seed bars, dried fruits & veggies, and jerky of all flesh proteins made without added sugars are a good source of fast and healthful fuel when trying to feel good and honor the long term goals.

I hope this helps. I want to hear from you!
Sincerely,
KJ Landis
Author and Creator of the Superior Self series
Visit me at www.superiorselfwithkjlandis.com

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C is for Chocolate

8/21/2017

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CLICK HERE FOR A HAPPY HEALTHY YOU!

C is for Chocolate!

What is chocolate? It is the result of fermenting, drying, roasting, and pressing the seeds from a large mango shaped fruit from the cacao plant. The fruit, commonly called pods are about as big as your hand and are tough skinned and colorful on the outside. The colors range from orange to green to yellow to brown. Inside, the flesh is white and fibrous, and tastes similar to a mild plum or lychee, with a subtle bittersweet aftertaste. In this blog I am going to use the words cacao and chocolate interchangeably.

The flesh decomposes very quickly so it is illegal to export unless it is frozen before shipping. I have only seen cacao fruit smoothies in one shop in San Francisco. The chocolatier named Dandelion Chocolates in the Mission district has a boutique and cafe that sells them.

Inside the pulp are dark purple seeds. These are the magic beans we are going to discover more about today. They turn darker after drying and roasting and begin to look dark brown or even black the longer they are roasted.

Cacao trees are naturally found in Central and South America. Nowadays they are cultivated all over the world in tropical and subtropical climates. Chocolate consumption has been around for a couple of thousand years, but adding sugar to the bitter cacao has only been done in the past 200 years.

The first person to come into contact with cacao and its importance in the culture of the Americas was Christopher Columbus. He and his crew saw the locals using the cacao beans as currency.

There are 3 types of cacao plants:
Forastero-most common plant found and accounts for greatest mass
Criollo-rarest with the most delicate aroma and flavor, more expensive
Trinitario-hybrid between the two

Originally the cacao beans were fermented, dried in the sun, and then ground on a flat surface or with a mortar and pestle. It was boiled with water or wine or both. It was consumed at hot, warm, and cold temperatures. It was extremely bitter. Sometimes it was seasoned with vanilla, pepper, or cinnamon. It was used as medicine. Those of you who know me know I love the saying by Hippocrates, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Chocolate was drunk for many reasons in the era when it was first believed to be consumed, about 500 A.D. Cacao was seen as an aphrodisiac, an immune builder, as a source of long lasting energy, and suppressed appetite, the last two items probably due to the high fat content.

When the Europeans first consumed the drinking chocolate in the 1500s and 1600s the documents reported it was too bitter and unpleasant for their palate and took some getting used to. Even when mixed with water or wine, it was an acquired taste, like medicine. Later on the Europeans added sugar and took out the wine and chili pepper. That's when chocolate drinking houses took off in popularity, rivaling tea and coffee houses.

In the 1800s the hydraulic press was invented. This made it possible to separate the cacao fat from the powder solids in the beans. That process made it easier to not have the fat float on top of the hot chocolate they were making. It also led to the creation of the first chocolate bar, because with the fat separated, it was much easier to blend the sugar evenly with the powder solids and then remix back in the fat later on. It also led to other powdered ingredients blending very well into the mixture, like powdered milk, thus leading to the world's first milk chocolate bar.

In the past 70 years the processed food industry has added a lot of unnecessary ingredients to our beloved chocolate. I personally believe this is due to the overflow of too much corn and soy farming in the United States, subsidized farming practices backed by our government, leading to innovative uses for the extra produce and their offshoots.These additives and preservatives give the chocolates a longer shelf life and a shiny, silky luster.

Most chocolates are sweeter than they were 70 years ago as well. Some chocolates have no real cane sugar in them at all, opting for high fructose corn syrup instead. There are some with added emulsifiers and thickeners. The most common added thickener and emulsifier used in chocolate production is soy lecithin.

Soy is a well known plant that is adding to the estrogen dominance in our hormonal system, society wide, creating an out of balance endocrine system. There is soy in plastics, plastic wraps, and every man made container holding our organic products. Soy is in our cereals, and every other processed and packaged foods. Soy is even in our cleaning products and in the fumes we inhale from air fresheners. Soy is in our personal care products.

Soy and corn are the largest crops known for using GMO practices in the USA. If women have too much estrogen in our body, called estrogen dominance, the other hormones go out of balance, which may lead to inflammation, weight gain, hot flashes as we get older and nearing menopause, and we may experience mood swings. In men, it may affect testosterone going down, leading to metabolism imbalances, weight gain, the dreaded man-boobs, and overall fatigue.

So the point here is to eat cacao products in the closest form that nature made it. Our bodies understand nature. Our bodies can more readily absorb the nutrients in food if they are close to their natural form. What is in the cacao that is good for us?

Let's start with the fat. Cacao fat is a saturated fat. Recently saturated fat has been let out of jail like eggs were about 10 years ago. New studies indicate that healthy sources of saturated fat satiates the appetite for a long period of time. It allows the food we eat alongside the fat to be absorbed slower so the glucose levels in the bloodstream remain stable for longer periods of time. This in turn gives us energy to go about our daily activities. Fat does not turn into fat like previously believed in the old dogma of 70 years ago, if it is the right kinds of fat.

Our brains are over 2/3 fat, so fat literally feeds our brain power. Chocolate has been found to help with focus and memory. Furthermore, the fat in chocolate coats the teeth and may actually prevent plaque from forming. It is the sugar in foods that cause cavities, not the fat. Like any other food with sugar, brush your teeth afterwards to thwart the plaque from forming. We can solve the sugar dilemma by using chocolate products without sugar and without chemical sweeteners. I like ones used with coconut dew crystals or xylitol made from the bark of the birch tree. Some products are made with stevia but personally I find that stevia has a metallic aftertaste. It is subjective, like wine, coffee, or beer varietals. We will sample some products today made with sugar and without and you tell me your impressions.

Chocolate contains polyphenols. Polyphenols are compounds in plants that are tannic, which means bitter or acidic in our observation during taste. The polyphenols compounds are good for the body because they are alkaline in nature even though the taste or smell may be acidic. Alkalinity in the body's systems has been linked to a lower inflammatory response to all foods and stressors overall, which is good for keeping joint aches and pains down as well. The polyphenols in chocolate are found in other plants too, but the highest source of polyphenols are in chocolate, coffee, black tea, and spices. The bitter aftertaste in high quality chocolate is your clue that it contains polyphenols.

Chocolate contains bioflavonoids. Bioflavonoids are components in plants known to be antioxidants. This means they provide oxygen to every cell in the body and rid the body of toxic byproducts when cells deteriorate. Where do we get the toxic products to put into our body in the first place? It is in our environment, the air, the chemicals we use to clean or the chemicals others are using to clean, the foods we choose to eat, and in the atmosphere as byproducts of modern living and societal choices. Antioxidants are also an anti-inflammatory. We want our system not to be inflamed because this puts our hormones in fight or flight mode all of the time as our body tries to heal. Bioflavonoids reduce the body of heart disease. We may find bioflavonoids in dark colored vegetables as well.

Chocolate has over 300 chemical components in it that, when combined, have the wonderful ability to release pleasure hormones in the brain. The pleasure hormones are oxytocin, dopamine, and seratonin. When these hormones go up the fight or flight hormone cortisol goes down, thus leading to a general mood elevation.

Keep in mind here that I'm talking about high quality chocolate. I encourage you to purchase fair trade, sustainable, organic chocolate. Fair trade means child slave labor was not practiced in the cultivating of the chocolate and a fair wage for community standards was paid consistently to the farmers and manufacturers.

Finally I want to share with you the facts about raw chocolate. Raw chocolate is prepared in small batches that are not allowed to heat above 118 degrees Fahrenheit in any step of the process, in the fermentation, the roasting, the grinding, pressing, separating of fat from powder, remixing, etc. It is a slower process, and costs more to produce, but the enzymes and antioxidant properties are at their highest when the consumer eats it. I personally taste the difference and feel different afterwards when eating raw chocolate.

Okay, so let's taste chocolate!
I want to hear from you!
Blessings,
KJ Landis

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Here's How to Add More Minutes to Your Day

8/14/2017

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CLICK HERE FOR A HAPPY HEALTHY YOU!

As an author, workshop facilitator, blogger, mother, photographer, and personal trainer, I have a lot on my plate at all times.

One simple tactic I use for not wasting time and being more productive is writing down my to-do list everyday. I stick to the plan when I see it right in front of me. I check the tasks off when they are done too, as it makes me feel accomplished.

Another thing I do is delegate tasks to others when I can. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness and I'm not a super hero. There are only 24 hours in a day! This is an efficient way for me to get extra hours in my day.

Time efficiency in my research for my books comes by ordering all books and ebooks from the library in advance from my phone. Then I'm going to the library only once when most of them come in. Listening to books in the car while driving to and from my kids' activities saves reading time. Repeating aloud the important phrases on my iPhone recorder allows me to take notes on the fly and remember more from the repetition.

I have a personal character flaw which has turned out to be my biggest time gain. I have to be everywhere very early, like at least an hour. So, if there's no traffic and I do have that hour at my leisure, I have that time to answer emails from my phone, take notes from the books that I carry in my car, meditate, listen to peaceful music, write in my journal, or call my family. I also call in to the pharmacy and have my medicines mailed to me as a bonus time saver when early for work or events.

The biggest time waster is cruising Facebook and TV shows I really don't care about. Folks can do something better with their brains! TV shows that are on just to be on, but they don't really grab me is a time waster. I have learned to walk away and do something more productive. If I'm watching a silly show with my teenaged kids that I really don't understand, I'll offer an alternate activity to have quality time with them. If the show has value for their sensibilities then I excuse myself from the room. YouTube channels really irritate me (waste time) when my kids are watching other kids live their lives rather than living their own! Some shows on YouTube really are devoted to simple things like "a day in the life of 12 year old Cassie." (Ugh!)

Thanks for allowing me to share my opinions and expertise.

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The Real Scoop on Fermented Foods

8/7/2017

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With all the hullabaloo about fermented foods and the intestines needing probiotics, folks have been eating yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, Kimchee and other stinky food like wildfire.

While I am happy to see so many people wanting to improve their gut mocrobiome and their immune system, there are a lot of products in the pickled and fermented world that aren't so healthy after all.

First of all, if any fermented vegetable has been pasteurized it can sit out on a shelf for a couple of years. So the pickles, pickled veggies, and sauerkraut on the non-refrigerated aisles in the grocery stores have no good bacteria for your intestines. The pasteurization process is heating the food to the point where the probiotics are killed. The big manufacturers usually add sugar and vinegar too. They still have fiber and taste good though. Remember the fermentation is raw, natural, and takes time. Afterwards the fermented foods must be kept in a cool, dark place like our ancestors practiced, or placed in the refrigerator to stop the fermentation process. The fermented foods to buy at the grocery store should say raw on the package.

The dairy that is fermented like kefir, yogurt and cheeses should have no sugar added. Some major label brands advertise millions of probiotic cultures inside their tasty and expensive yogurt. There is also about 2-3 teaspoons of sugar in the container too. Sometimes there are stabilizers and additives and preservatives on the label. The sugar makes our glucose level in our bloodstream rise up and negates any good the probiotics may do. I suggest sticking to plain yogurts for the probiotics you want to plant in your intestinal garden.

I want to hear from you!
Blessings,
KJ Landis

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Reorganizing the Kitchen for Health

C is for Chocolate

Here's How to Add More Minutes to Your Day

The Real Scoop on Fermented Foods

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