Traditional shakshuka originally came from North Africa, but it has become quite popular in the Middle East. This is a really quick, but healthy, recipe when you don’t have much time for dinner. You can also save any leftovers for a protein packed breakfast the next day. Enjoy!
Quick, easy and just super delicious breakfast platter full of protein and good fats. A great way to start your morning off. Add a poached egg for extra protein.
Delicious protein packed dinner that will keep you going. Have it for leftovers for breakfast and start the day off right! Mmmmm leftovers … my favourite!
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Stool, poo, number 2, bowel movement, poop, whatever you want to call it, you should be looking at it! I know this makes some people squeamish, but it is so important. Your digestion is the cornerstone of your health and your stool gives you a lot of clues about what is going on in there. To learn more about what happens in your gut and how important all the little bacteria friends that live there are, check out my article 10% Human.
So, what should you look for? To start with you want to check the consistency. Check out this chart to give you an idea of what you are looking for. Too hard or too soft are both indications of trouble brewing. You want your stool to look like Type 4.
You also want to look at size, colour and frequency and if there is any mucus or undigested food in there.
Check your stool for a few days and if you have any issues you really want to sort them out as issues in your gut are associated with health issues in all other parts of your body. The solution depends on what the problem is. Every problem has a different solution. It is really best to talk to a naturopath if you think there is anything going on with your digestion so that you can get the right answers and be on the road to a healthier you.
Happy viewing!
Did you know that almonds are good for wrinkles? In a study of postmenopausal women, those who were given 20% of their daily calories as almonds had less wrinkle severity and less wrinkle width after a study time of just 16 weeks.
Almonds are full of good fats and protein along with vitamins and minerals. They are a great snack, and also good for wrinkles it seems!
I eat almonds all the time, usually as almond butter for breakfast or a snack. Here though is a recipe you can’t turn down. Although perhaps not the healthiest way to eat almonds, it is certainly one of the most delicious. And we all need something sweet sometimes so we might as well make it as healthy as we can.
Ingredients
Method
Here is a link to the study abstract if you are interested:
Is there a connection between dairy consumption and nasal secretions? (we’re talking snot here people).
There is much controversy around dairy and its health benefits versus drawbacks. I’m not going to get into the whole thing today. I just want to talk about nasal congestion and dairy. Many people will try to say that no matter what you should always consume dairy for its calcium content. There have been studies in the past, but I found a recent one clearly showing that drinking dairy increases nasal secretions.
The participants had no allergy nor intolerance to dairy, and all had a history of persistent nasal mucous secretions. All participants went completely dairy free for 6 days and then after that had either a dairy smoothie or soy smoothie each day for 4 days. All participants had less secretions during the initial stage. The dairy smoothie group had significantly increased nasal secretions compared to the soy group. This was a double blinded study meaning that neither the researchers nor the participants knew who drank the dairy and who drank the soy.
So, if you have persistent nasal secretions (or lots of snot), or have a cold, it might be worth taking dairy out of your diet for a few days and see what happens.
Here is the study if you would like to take a read: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30178886/
For more information, give me a shout!
Naturally Active Naturopathic Clinic – Natural Family Healthcare
Usually we go home to Canada in July which is just when my lemon tree in Australia is ripening. I end up picking them all before I leave and handing them out to friends. But things being what they are this year, we didn’t go anywhere. So trying to find the silver lining (if you really want to see it!), I have been baking lots of lemon recipes. My family loves muffins, so lemon muffins was an obvious choice. So without any further ado, here is my healthy lemon chia muffin recipe!
Lemon Chia Muffins
4 Tbsp chia seeds
1 cup lemon juice (juice from 3-4 lemons)
2.5 cups self-raising flour (whole wheat preferably)
¼ tsp salt
½ cup maple syrup (the real stuff from Canada)
1/3 cup coconut oil melted
1 cup milk (I used macadamia, but you could also you almond or dairy)
½ tsp almond extract
Method
Depending on how big you make your muffins, cook between 12-16 minutes.
Add blueberries, raspberries or other fruit to mix it up.
Enjoy!
There are two different kinds of exercise – incidental and planned. Planned is when you go out to just do exercise. When you go for a run, to the gym, for a bike ride, boot camp etc. Incidental exercise is all the exercise that you get through your day-to-day activities: walking to the train, walking to school, walking around the office, running after the kids in the backyard.
Planned or structured exercise is great, but this doesn’t always fit into the day. One of the barriers to exercise is that people often don’t feel like they have time to go to the gym for an hour. Whereas planned exercise takes time, incidental exercise is often done while doing other things and it can be really helpful for our health as we do it more often. Any amount of exercise is beneficial and lots of short spurts of exercise can have the same effect on your health as a longer session.
I like to turn planned exercise into incidental. Don’t get me wrong, I love to just go for a bike ride or walk the dog. But I also like to go out with purpose. I have a bike trailer that I used to use with the kids but now I take it to the shops to get groceries instead of driving. And the kicker is no matter how tired I might be; I have to make it back. Really this only adds about 10 minutes each way, but now I have incorporated exercising into shopping.
The kids’ school is about 10 minutes away. If I walk there and back that’s 20 minutes. If I do that twice a day, at least 3 days a week I’ve done 60 minutes of walking! So I’ve made a big dent into my 150-minute goal and I haven’t even gotten started on my planned exercise yet.
Some other ways you can add incidental exercise into your day are parking further from the train and adding a 10-minute walk there and back each day. Take the stairs instead of the lift or escalator. Do squats while brushing your teeth – 2 minutes per brush, 2 brushes per day times 7 days equals 28 minutes of exercise and you haven’t taken time away from anything else in your day.
The possibilities are endless. You just have to be creative and see what fits into your lifestyle. So, what are some ways that you get incidental exercise?
As the lemons start ripening on my lemon tree, I thought it would be timely to write about them.
I’m sure you have all heard of drinking lemon water. It can actually be quite helpful. I don’t suggest only drinking lemon water (seriously if you ever see something telling you to only do one thing, run don’t walk away!), but a glass of lemon water in the morning can be great.
Lemons are acidic. If you drink a glass in the morning it can help stimulate your digestive juices and get them ready for digesting breakfast.
Lemon water can help with constipation. The combination of lemon and warm water can help to get things moving in the morning.
Lemons are loaded with antioxidants and flavonoids. This means they can help boost your immune system and decrease inflammation.
Lemon water can help with kidney stones. This is due to their high citrate content. If you have kidney stones though, seek professional health advice. Don’t just drink lemon water and hope they go away. Talk to your naturopath to see if this is appropriate for you.
Drinking a glass of water in the morning will help you stay hydrated. Over night we don’t drink anything and can become dehydrated. Drinking water in the morning can get us going on the right path.
You want to drink this in the morning, ideally half an hour before eating breakfast. Consistency is best for seeing results.
Be Healthy! 