by dnshah | Jul 8, 2018 | Main Dishes, Recipes
This unripe fruit makes an excellent starch which is used to make a tortilla/wrap for a number of sandwich or taco fillings. It is heavier than most tortillas so it is very satisfying and “no grain” at all so ideal for Paleo or Corn-Free or Gluten free type of diets.
Total time: 5 hours – Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS for Taco “Meat”
1 Tbsp. coconut or avocado oil
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
1 avocado
Iceberg lettuce leaves
INGREDIENTS for Sauce
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
INGREDIENTS for Tortilla
1 large green plantain
METHOD
- Heat medium skillet over low heat and add coconut or avocado oil. Add walnuts and mushrooms and sauté until browned. Add in shredded carrots.
- Add all sauce ingredients to the blender and mix until smooth.
- Heat 2 to 4 cups of water to a boil. Slice plantain with skin on and add to water for 2 to 5 minutes. Peel plantain slices and add to food processor. Will create a dough-like ball. Cut into 4 equal-sized pieces and roll into a ball.
- Cut open a large plastic sandwich bag so it is one piece. Put the “dough” between the plastic and roll into a tortilla.
- Heat skillet with cooking oil or coconut oil and add plantain tortilla, cook each side until lightly browned.
- Add the filling, sauce, avocado, and greens to the tortilla and enjoy.
by dnshah | Jul 8, 2018 | Age Defying, Diet and Weight Loss, Health and Wellness Tips, Stress Management
People are still conflicted on taking a daily vitamin or not. Most people tell me they prefer just eating nutritious meals and forgoing a supplement. Many people tell me they just don’t believe in multivitamins. I know that while it is BEST to get everything you need from your foods – the reality is it is too difficult unless you are logging everything you eat and calculating your last meal based on what you still need to eat. In today’s world, that just too difficult!
Our current American Dietary Guidelines indicate that supplements may be useful for providing the nutrients you may be lacking from diet alone. So consider taking that multivitamin – even if not every day. Current guidelines credit good nutrition with each of these benefits:
- Healthy aging. Over time, our bodies have a harder time absorbing nutrients. That’s why after the age of 50, some of our nutrient needs go up. In these cases, taking a multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement can improve deficiencies.
- Elimination Diet Catch-Up. For some people on elimination diets, or for some that are reducing a food group (ie dairy), it becomes more challenging to get all the nutrients needed daily. The multi-vitamin allows a little catch-up for those that are temporarily not eating all foods or all food groups. (ie Paleo diets are short on calcium and vitamin D; Vegetarian/Vegan diets may be short on iron and vitamin B12).
- Hitting the RDA. The path to consistently hitting your RDA targets is to have a great vegi-regimen, which means loading up on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes/lean protein. Despite vitamin and mineral fortification of many common Western staples, some US adults are still failing to meet their daily requirements for vitamins and minerals. In an effort to avoid illnesses from routine deficiencies, the multivitamin regimen is strategic.
- Energy Boost.In today’s world, everyone can use an energy boost. This only comes when all of our cells, tissues, and organs are working optimally. Our cells need oxygen, vitamins, minerals, and rest to power through our days. So in addition to adequate rest and fluids, the multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplements are a path to functioning optimally.
- Managing stress.Every person handles a certain amount of stress. But when daily life is creating more stress than you can handle, the daily vitamins and minerals support and preserve your brain’s cognitive processes. So a supplement (which includes B vitamins) is a good idea to reduce stress and support a healthy mood.
Remember to check with your doctor before starting a vitamin regimen and ensure there are no contra-indications with any current medications you may be taking or any foods you routinely eat.
by dnshah | Jul 8, 2018 | Age Defying, Diet and Weight Loss, Health and Wellness Tips, Obesity, Stress Management
Please note that before anyone changes their diet that they should speak to their doctor about their health goals and their desire to use ACV to reach them.
Losing weight is a cumulative process involving one’s dietary consumption, lifestyle, fitness/activity levels, stress, sleep, and digestion. The point being that just adding ACV into one’s diet does not imply one will automatically lose weight. That said, there is a 2017 study involving rats showing that ACV attenuates oxidative stress and reduces the risk of obesity. No word on how this impacts humans, but I believe ACV could help humans similarly as long as there is a moderation of food and ample movement, sleep, and intent to lose weight. The ACV dosage for weight loss is 2 teaspoons diluted in 16 ounces of water daily. Food should be combined with a protein (at every meal) for the metabolism boost needed to change the way the body processes food. A sensible weight loss diet consists of adequate protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. To understand how much is recommended daily, one should seek the support of a nutritional therapist or dietician.
One should NOT combine ACV with foods with baking soda. Mixing vinegar and baking soda can cause an acid-base reaction creating carbon dioxide inside the body.
ACV can prove to aid in weight loss when combined with a SENSIBLE nutritious diet, moderate exercise, and adequate sleep. For many people it work as a natural appetite suppressant allowing one to reduce their appetite and shrink their stomach. Again it is one factor in weight loss – and there are many others (quantity of food, stress, sleep, activity, etc.).
Aside from dietary reasons, ACV is used for a number of health/cleaning/detox goals, and the dosage varies for each goal. For ramping up the antimicrobial capacity to best manage candida albicans (yeast that causes infections in the mouth, intestinal tract, and/or vagina), the dilution would be 1:2 ACV. The dilution would be 1:50 to inhibit the growth of E-coli. Of course many people use ACV diluted in equal parts for gargling to relieve sore throat or bad breath. Those suffering from acid reflux have experimented with ACV to help the root cause of their reflux. For those that have reflux due to insufficient acid, the ACV helps balance out their acids. The dose for that is 1 teaspoon of ACV followed by a glass of water. Daily ingestion may fight off sinus infections by cleaning the lymphatic system.
In fact there is also an “Apple Cider Vinegar Detox” where one wants to clean the lymphatic and digestive systems. It involves ingesting ACV 3 times a day diluted in water (as a tea)
Some get a benefit from ACV by topically applying it… for relief of itching of bug bites, or on the skin directly, or rinsing their hair with it after a shampoo. It can also help with teeth stains by rubbing it into the stain on the tooth and then rinsing well with water.
Aside from consumption and topical use of ACV, it is a great cleaning agent combined with water. And this cleaner is highly recommended with little ones running about during the cleaning. Because if they come into contact with the cleaning solution, there is little negative effect even if swallowed for most.
That said, ACV is not for everyone; some are particularly sensitive to it (those sensitive to apples cannot partake). Regular consumption of ACV may cause tooth enamel erosion, so it is wise to use a straw or rinse the mouth after consuming it. It could interact with medication (including diuretics and insulin) so talk to your doctor if you are on prescription medications before using ACV. And finally ACV is acidic in nature so it could irritate the throat and stomach, especially if taken on an empty stomach. Dilution is key to avoid this irritation so drink plenty of water if irritation occurs.
by dnshah | Mar 8, 2018 | Age Defying, Diet and Weight Loss, Health and Wellness Tips, Main Dishes, Obesity, Recipes
I have tried cauliflower “rice” with other curries and I really didn’t notice too much of a difference in taste. If you are a rice fanatic and you need your rice daily, you will definitely notice a difference – but consider swapping it out occasionally for nutritious variety and gain. And if you don’t eat it every day, and can add more flavor and taste with side dishes, I think it is a phenomenal swap! Here’s the nutritional breakdown
| 100g of each |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fiber |
Calories |
Protein |
Carbs |
Sugars |
Fat |
Vitamins |
Minerals |
| Cauliflower |
3 |
25 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
0.4 |
C,B-6,Folate |
K,Mn |
| White Rice |
0.4 |
130 |
2.7 |
28.2 |
0.1 |
0.3 |
Folate, Thiamin, Niacin, B-6 |
Mn, Se, Fe |
| Brown Rice |
3.4 |
362 |
7.5 |
76.2 |
1.1 |
2.7 |
B-6,Folate, Niacin |
Cu, Mg, Mn, P, Zn |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So choosing cauliflower over white rice helps us because our bodies need more fiber, and cauliflower packs more than 7x what white rice gives us. Most of us would rather spend our calories elsewhere than rice or cauliflower, and cauliflower is 5x less calories – for the same 100 gram comparison. Cauliflower is 5x lower in carbs. It provides some natural sugar – which is okay, and it provides some vitamin C and potassium which is needed for our immune systems daily.
Other fringe benefits include faster prep time because it is actually faster to food process and oven roast cauliflower than to boil long-grain white rice. Cauliflower is part of the cruciferous family of vegetables touted for their anti-cancer properties. Other health benefits for cauliflower over white rice include collagen production, good blood clotting, blood pressure regulation, bone health, and a metabolism boost!
So overall this particular swap is a great one!
Why would someone not want to choose cauliflower over rice? If you have a food sensitivity to cauliflower, you’re better off switching between white and brown rice! If you have thyroid issues, you have to watch overeating of goitrogenous vegetables, like those in the cruciferous family. If the cauliflower is cooked, it should not pose a health issue.
To make cauliflower rice, simply process the cauliflower (food processor) until it is rice-sized. Then boil in stock or saute with other flavors for 2 minutes. Voila! you have a cauliflower rice.
by dnshah | Mar 8, 2018 | Health and Wellness Tips
About 1 in 3 Americans are affected with high blood pressure (hypertension); and according to the latest study, it seems that vegetarian diets may protect against hypertension and help manage this stage before progressing into a more advanced stage (cardiac issues). It is crucial to manage it before it becomes more serious to avoid chronic illness and the time, energy, and cost of managing a chronic illness in today’s America (think health care crisis). The onus is on each of us to manage our health for better quality of life as we age. In fact conventional medicine points towards a specific diet for hypertension sufferers: DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).
In other studies, people on DASH were able to lower their blood pressure within 14 days! The DASH diet consists of these daily servings:
- 7-8 servings of grains
- 4-5 servings of vegetables
- 4-5 servings of fruits
- 2-3 fat-free dairy products (or calcium fortified non-dairy alternatives)
- less than 2 servings of fish or poultry
- 4-5 servings of nuts, seeds, or legumes/beans
- less than 2 servings of fats/oils
It also cuts back on anything high in saturated fats, cholesterol, trans-fats, meats, refined salts, and refined sugars. Of course doctors may advise to eliminate salts from your diet, but the challenge is to keep our tongues happy also. So a great strategy is to acclimate your palette to a little less salt, and then each week reduce it just a little further. Other strategies involve:
- Reducing meats to less than 6 ounces/day. In fact people have been quite successful with meatless Mondays and incorporating more lunches that are meat-free yet still satisfying. Some choices include: bean burritos, lentil burgers, tofu stir-fry, seitan (faux meats) hotdogs, veggie nuggets, pasta primavera, and veggie pizzas!
- Try plant-based milks and non-dairy alternatives; Ripple is a company that is featuring a variety of plant-based milks that taste delicious. This helps avoid the fat and cholesterol from regular dairy milk. Daiya is a company that features non-dairy cheeses which are being used for pizza and pasta quite successfully.
- Adding an extra salad at lunch or dinner (no salt needed).
- Adding an extra portion of lentils or beans to satisfy both the vegetable and protein requirement simultaneously.
- Use an apple in between meals to curb hunger; other good snacks include celery with nut butter, raisins, brown rice cakes with nut butter, and unbuttered popcorn. The main thing is to avoid pre-packaged foods and go for natural real foods.
- Steam and boil foods vs. sauteeing with butter, lavishly adding spices/condiments to flavor foods. Aside from nutritional therapy, exercise can help with hypertension.
If these beneficial changes seem intimidating, consider working with a health coach that can do all the research and customization of a meal plan for each individual lifestyle. Make an appointment today!
