Chic Galleria » healthy

Wednesday Soup: Healing Soup

Editor — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:09:05 +0000

Why is this healing? Healing demands specific nutrients for cellular rebuilding, balanced body chemistry and optimum organ function. In this soup for example, the artichokes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, celery and onions provide great fiber, minerals, and are low glycemic. The ginger, garlic, and onions are anti-inflammatory. The anchovies and salmon contain essential oils (Omega 3). The sea salt provides trace minerals. The artichokes, onions and cabbage are high in anti-oxidants and have detox properties. The entire recipe is very alkalizing. And the great taste, well that’s for you and I to savor! Bon Appetite !

Ingredients:
5 cups water
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons sea salt (or to taste)
2 tablespoons diced garlic
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups cubed sweet potatoes
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped cabbage
3/4 cup chopped artichoke
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons anchovy paste
1 teaspoon powdered or finely chopped ginger
2 Bay leaves (organic ingredients are preferred)

Preparation:

Boil 20 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.

Place in serving bowl and then add 2 tablespoons of pre-cooked wild caught salmon.

Serve with a dusting of Paprika.

Dr. Tom Potisk is an award winning holistic family doctor, speaker and author of Whole Health Healing: The Budget Friendly Natural Wellness Bible for All Ages, and The Healing Cookbook: Recipes That Taste Great and Get You Well. For more recipes and other healing information see http://www.wholehealthhealing.com

This soup is great for healthy living! What else will you pair with the soup?

Meet Television Star Ayla Kell

Jumi Young — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:06:56 +0000

Ayla Kell, who currently stars as the powerful yet graceful gymnast Payson Keeler in ABC Family’s hit teen drama series and Teen Choice Award Nominated Series Make It or Break It, is a multi-talented star who is definitely someone to keep an eye on. If she looks a little familiar, that might be because she has also appeared in Weeds, Malcolm in the Middle, Without A Trace, CSI: Miami, and films Rebound starring Martin Lawrence and What Just Happened alongside Robert De Niro. Before she landed her break-out role, Ayla was a professional ballet dancer with more than 15 years of training at the prestigious Royal Academy of Ballet as well as the Los Angeles Ballet Academy. Did I mention she is also a certified baker? Yup, she does it all.

Despite her many achievements, she is still a sweet and down-to-Earth kind of girl. She is a proud supporter of IMAGINE LA, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping make Los Angeles a city where no child sleeps on the street.

I had the chance to talk to her and ask her a few questions:

How has growing up as a dancer helped you as an actress and as a person?

I think that dance has trained me to do a lot of things that have also shaped how I am as an actor and how I am as a person. It’s made me so ultra driven and ultra focused. You have to be thinking about it as soon as you wake up, as soon as you’re eating something and the second you should be at the studio, so it’s constantly in your head. So it got into my head that when you’re doing something you’ve got to throw yourself 150% into it. You have to be all completely there and you have to commit. I think outside of dance, I’ve found that it really, kind of bleeds over into other things that I do and I am super, super picky about making sure I know all my lines, making sure all my character choices are solid, all those kinds of stuff I am just as obsessed about as I was with ballet as I am with everything else now. And I think I have the best posture I’ve seen in a while because most girls slump over. Because of ballet, I constantly stand up straight.

Do you have any other plans or projects lined up for the future?

Yeah, I have a project. There’s a comic book called NEW-GEN that is really big in Comic-Con. It’s a fantastic graphic novel series and they are looking at making it into a movie, so I am lucky enough to be a part of the team right now.

Can you give our readers a few tips on staying healthy and in shape?

Absolutely. My favorite thing I have to say is a body in motion stays in motion. And, I’m a very big fan of not working out by myself because I’m not as motivated when I’m by myself. If I have a workout buddy or a partner or I’m going to do a competitive sport or something, my drive is always there then, so I try and always have a buddy. What’s great is that my mom will always go out with me. She’ll walk with me and my dog will always go play tennis with me; my friends and I always play beach volleyball, we’re always doing something. And it’s a lot easier when you’re always just doing something, rather than “I need to go spend my hour and a half at the gym,” because that’s just not gonna happen in my world. My life it too exciting and fun and filled with beautiful colors for me to sit inside of a gym for an hour and a half. So I always go outside where I don’t have to breathe recycled air with everybody’s stink in it.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I like to do a little bit of everything; I bake a lot, I cook a lot, I’m obsessed with movies, there’s a lot of movie watching in my life. I take a lot of pictures. I like to go to museums, I like to go to concerts. If there’s something you can do, I’d probably like to try it. I have this disease where I have to ask questions. So if I see somebody whittling, for example, I have to ask questions and I’m gonna end up with a whittling set, I know I am. I’ve met some awesome people from asking questions randomly.

What is your favorite movie?

One of my favorite movies is absolutely Adam’s Rib. It has Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy; it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. It was written in another time when women didn’t have the rights that we have today, and it’s a proactive women’s rights movie in the least in-your-face way I’ve ever seen. There’s this wonderful dynamic between Spencer and Katharine where their banter and their timing and their repartee is completely unique for that time. They didn’t do that kind of dialogue in that kind of relationship back in that day, it was all very I Love Lucy-ish instead of this back and forth “Well I’ll jab you if you jab me” thing where they’re always trying to one up each other almost; that’s really today if you think about it. And, they have this chemistry between them that just, is uncanny, and it’s actually because they were having an affair in the middle of this movie. So you’re watching and going, “Wow, they were actually hooking up right now.” It’s a really good movie, if you haven’t seen it you definitely should.

Keep an eye out for Ayla in the future, and be sure to check her out in the season 3 premiere of Make It or Break It on March 26.

Friday Dessert: Chocolate Mousse

Editor — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:19:48 +0000

We used to think that desserts are prohibited if we want to lose or to keep weight. However, you can make this light and delicious dessert very quickly, and enjoy it without gaining a pound. Use chocolate which contains more than 70% cacao. The Glycemic Index of such chocolate is only 20; which means that your blood sugar level and insulin level will not increase dramatically after consuming that. The recipe does not include bad carbs or saturated fats. Easy to make, delicious and healthy!

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of instant coffee

11oz. dark chocolate with more than 70% cacao

2 fl oz. Coffee flavored Brandy

1 orange

2-3 table spoons of fresh orange juice

6 eggs

1 pinch of salt
Preparation:

Make a 1/3 cup of the instant coffee.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, coffee and brandy. Stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick and smooth. Remove from the double boiler.

Grate the orange zest, using only the surface part of the peel. Put half the zest in the chocolate and mix.

Separate the eggs and put the yolks in a large salad bowl. Whip the whites until stiff, and add 1 pinch of salt.

Pour the melted chocolate into a salad bowl with the yolks. Mix well.

Add orange juice and whites gradually, stirring gently.

Fill individual dessert dishes, sprinkle with the rest of the orange zest and chill for at least 6 hours.

Dr. Irina Koles is a retired physician with international experience, currently Health/ Weight Loss and Life Coach. She is an author of upcoming book “Taste of Thoughts. How Changing Your Eating Blueprint Will Improve Your Life”, and the founder of Weight Loss Coaching Program “Chose Your Weight”. Find more at http://WeightDestiny.com

What other tasty treats have you served in martini glasses?

Meatless Monday: Where Do You Get Protein? – Beet Hummus

Editor — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:26:52 +0000

Where do you get your protein? A question that is always asked when seeking to be a healthier, happier you. Beans will be your best friend as well as a few other substitutes to meat. Dr. Mary Clifton helps by explaining these facts:

Calorie for calorie, beans have as much protein as red meat. Luckily for us, beans are a great source of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, the healthy fats that people need to keep their cellular metabolism functioning at peak performance. Both beans and whole grains contain higher concentrations of flexible, anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats than animal protein sources. When people avoid meats and dairy, favoring a diet rich in beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, they have higher omega-3 concentrations in their bodies than people who eat mainly fish as their protein source. Beans also have plenty of complex carbohydrates to provide sustained energy, and a healthy dose of dietary fiber to further decrease risk of heart disease and colon cancer.

Not a fan? If you like beans but they don’t like you, be sure that your beans are thoroughly cooked and thoroughly rinsed of their cook water. That will improve digestibility immensely. Start with a little portion, like a tablespoon a day, and eat them daily in a slowly increasing amount. Give your colon some warning that changes are coming, and it will make the necessary enzymes to help you break down these new protein sources like the superstar you know you are.

Think of using these crazy healthy beans anywhere you’d use meat. Lentils are marvelous replacement for ground meat in cabbage rolls. Beans look great and taste delicious in hearty soups and stews. Veggie burgers make a quick midweek dinner. Hummus is a hearty snack.

You’ll also be loving the effect of beans on your pocketbook. Rice and Beans with Cajun or Mexican flair is one of the cheapest little dinners a gal can cook.
Beet Hummus

Ingredients:

2 medium beets
2 14-oz cans chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp tahini (this is just crushed sesame seeds)
1 tsp hot sauce
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation:

Drain and rinse your chickpeas thoroughly. Put all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend until well combined. I think you can limit the olive oil to just a few tablespoons, and use water instead to cut the calories and fat. Enjoy!

Dr. Mary loves black bean burritos, and always has a case of black beans in the pantry. She lives and writes in Traverse City, Michigan, and blogs on nutrition and life as a doctor at DrMaryMD.com.

What else do you enjoy eating hummus with?

Pecan Butter

Lauri Rottmayer — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:11:49 +0000

I have a friend on twitter who calls herself Paleo Bride. The other day, she made almond butter. I was really interested to see how it worked and watched for her tweets. When you go to the store and find almond butter on the shelf, you have to look at the ingredients just like everything else to make sure what is in it. I like my almond butter just plain, with no additives and it can sometimes be hard to find.

About ten minutes later, she was back telling of her success. I asked her if she had added anything and she said no, just put the nuts in the food processor and turn it on. Awesome! I wanted to make some myself. I got almonds at the store but was a little worried about my food processor. Even though it’s new, almonds are hard nuts and I was afraid they might break the processor.

So I decided to try a softer nut: pecans. We have five pecan trees and, now that I know where to get them shelled, quite a nice supply of usable pecans.

I put about three cups of nuts into the processor

put the lid on and turned the motor on.

After a couple of minutes, I could see the nuts collecting on the sides. So I stopped the motor, and scraped the sides down.

I did this a couple more times until the nuts finally became nut butter which took less than ten minutes.

Pecans are sweet nuts and the nut butter is fabulously sweet! My preferred method is to eat it off of the spoon but it was equally tasty on celery.

So there you have it! Easy as one, two, three you have healthy nut butter with no yucky stuff in it. I’ll be trying the almonds soon and I doubt I’ll ever buy processed nut butter again!

Lauri Rottmayer is the author of Rott-I-Tude. Visit Lauri’s website www.rottitude.com