Moringa Iced Tea

Moringa is packed full of anti-oxidants and has many health benefits to offer you and your family. It is hailed the new superfood. However, unlike rooibos tea, moringa is not very palateable. Here are some ideas to make a fruity iced tea to disguise the taste and offer you some liquid refreshment, without any added sugar!

Make the tea infusion first and then add apple juice, fresh mint and ice. Alternatively add some fruit pulp as per the suggestions below. To make a jug of ice tea mix the following:

1 piece fresh ginger

Rind of ½ orange or lemon

2 stalks lemon grass peeled and smashed

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

2 cups boiling water

Mix together and allow to steep and cool slightly for about 15 minutes. Add 2 moringa or rooibos tea bags or 2T moringa powder. Steep for an hour, strain and pour into a jug with ice. Garnish with fresh fruit.

BERRY SPLASH

Blend half-cup of strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Add fresh basil leaves and moringa tea. Serve over ice and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

SPICED PEACHES

To get this warm and sweet blend, take some fresh peaches and blend them together with vanilla extract. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

TROPICAL STORM

Blend 3 pineapple rings, a piece of ginger and add the inside of one passion fruit for a tropical flavour combination. Add some mint for a splash of green.

Easier Ways to Meditate?

Do you find it tough to sit still and quiet your mind? There are a millions things going on in your head, least of all your to do list. Meditation is a state of focusing on the present moment. Many people say it is the time when they are most enlightened, when they receive inspiration and good ideas come to them. Do we have to sit still to experience all this?

What if you focus on the moment and clear your head by focusing on a single repetitive task. Can washing the dishes become your new quiet time? If you garden, can you clear your mind and quieten your thoughts by digging up weeds? Why not? I am sure than for many running is the time when they move their body and clear their mind. It is a time when you can be alone, reflect or not, and come back feeling invigorated or exhausted.

So the next time you garden, go for a walk or wash the dishes, put on your headphones, play your meditation music and tune out of life. Experience the moment and see what happens. You may be surprised!

To Liver Cleanse or not to Liver Cleanse

Recently the ladies in my aerial yoga group purchased a liver cleanse kit. I decided to do some research first before making the choice. I acknowledge the benefits of detoxing, eating clean and improving gut health, but understood relatively little about liver cleanse.

What I learned is that you need to use natural remedies to stimulate the liver to cleanse itself.There are a number of herbs that can stimulate this process, such as turmeric, peppermint, milk thistle, chicory root and dandelion. They should be organic and processed sugars, chemicals, additives and preservatives should be eliminated from your diet for this to be effective.
I found this article to be very informative.
Liver Cleanse Information

Whilst I did not complete each step, I am improving my diet and trying to excluded all processed foods and foods with additives and preservatives from my diet.
I also drank this shot drink every day for a week
2T apple cider vinegar
2T lemon juice
1t ground ginger
dash of cayenne pepper
dash of cinnamon
It is hard to drink and you need to chase it with water, as the ginger burns your throat a bit. Alternatively dilute it with water and honey and sip throughout the day. I can't say I noticed a huge difference drinking this, but I did not spend the day on the toilet..........a side effect of the liver cleanse my yoga friends experienced. This could be as a result of the Epsom salts included in many liver cleanse programmes.

I chose a less aggressive route, but noticed my skin break out and then clear up and look better after a week. I also did not experience chronic fatigue, a side effect often noted on a liver cleanse that requires you to be near a toilet.

My advice is, read up as much as possible about the subject. Decide on what your goal is and then choose your liver cleanse programme. I don't doubt the benefits of a liver cleanse, but prefer a less aggressive approach, and am improvement in lifestyle and eating habits rather than a one off event.

What is Clean Eating?

When researching trends and peoples tastes for my blog, I often come across catch words and eating plans du jour. There is so much information out there. After a weekend spent kitchen and taste testing my gluten free recipes for my new family cookbook, I decided to have a clean eating week. What does this mean? And of course I went to the Internet to find out.
Clean eating seems to focus less on the quantity and calorie content of food and more on the origin of food. So I am focusing on eating unprocessed foods, unrefined foods and cooking them without reducing the nutritional content of the foods.

I will focus on eating as much raw fruit and vegetables as possible, and sourcing these from farmers markets to ensure freshness and possibly reduce the chemicals used on them. Eat fruit and vegetables fresh and ripe to get the best benefits. Placing fruit and veg in then fridge can alter the nutrients you get from them. This will take a little more planning and more regular shopping, but I am trying it our for a week.
I will try to limit my intake of meat to steamed and roasted white meat and fish. Reducing the amount of oil used, definitely keeps your food clean. Olive oil used to cook food at low temperatures is allowed, as long as it is cold pressed.
Need a little bit of sweetness, unrefined honey on oatcakes that are gluten and salt free may be a good snack. Home made cream cheese and sugar free jam could work too.
Oats cooked slowly over low heat to burst the flakes into a soft mouthful of goodness is my breakfast staple. I do eat over night oats made with cinnamon, soaked chia seeds and homemade yoghurt. Topped with fruit and pumpkin seeds, this is a good start to the day. A boiled egg with a few slices of tomato softened in a pan, is a great way to keep hunger at bay, Just limit the salt and pepper.
Herbs and naturally ground spices are a wonderful way to improve the taste of food. Whole spices that have been toasted and ground in a coffee mill, impart a wonderful flavour and smokiness to poached meat and soups.
My green goddess soup has no recipe, I fry some sliced courgettes in a splash of olive oil over a low heat. Once gently browned I add some broccoli and 1T freshly ground cumin and coriander mix. Then I add enough home made vegetable broth to cover it and simmer over a low heat until the veggies are tender. Then blend with 2T yoghurt and enjoy. Use this recipe for mushroom soup, fry the mushrooms and stir in cauliflower that has been cooked in broth and pureed, or for a butternut and pumpkin soup. Add herbs and/or curry paste to alter the taste or some apple puree to sweeten the butternut soup.

Super foods are a fabulous way to improve your diet. I include nuts and seeds, berries, avocado, broccoli and key greens, but I also include fresh ginger and lemon tea made from scratch. Including key spices in your diet can improve your digestion and my favourites are cinnamon, turmeric and moringa powder. Each morning I make a power bowl. This is for my health, not for taste, but I guess you could add freshly squeezed orange juice or honey to it. 1T moringa powder, 1T linseed, 1t turmeric powder, grind of black pepper, sprinkling of cinnamon, dash of cayenne pepper and 3T yoghurt. Mix and eat.

I was wondering if fermented foods are part of a clean eating diet. Opinion differs on this and so I have excluded them this week. This is why. Fermentation is the process of converting starches and sugars into acids, thereby preserving them for longer. If we are to exclude processed foods such as sugar, I thought it best to exclude foods that may contain sugar to start the fermentation process. I guess that also excludes wine?

I usually start my day with 2T apple cider vinegar, but will also exclude that this week. Whilst I acknowledge the benefits of eating fermented foods, I want to keep my eating plan simple this week. I will eat 3 meals a day and limit carbohydrate rich vegetables and foods such as potatoes and exclude rice and other grains, except oats. This is a personal choice. I am gluten intolerant so I have excluded bread from my diet already. I will also have 2 snacks a day so keep hunger at bay, one mid morning and one mid afternoon. I am an active person and find I need this boost of energy. I will limit tea and coffee, and dairy, except yoghurt that I have made from organic milk. No cheese, only homemade cream cheese that I make from hanging my yoghurt in a cheese bag over night to strain off the liquid. Add fresh herbs and enjoy.

In summary, clean eating does not involve counting calories and excluding carbs. It promotes understanding the source and quality of your food. You can make a delicious chocolate or lemon mouse with cacao/lemon, eggs, honey or maple syrup, and whipped cream or unprocessed additive free coconut milk, and enjoy it. This weekend I made a decadent banana and yoghurt ice cream with caramel sauce made from honey, cream and homemade butter. It was delicious and guilt free. But of course the honey and butter do contain calories to be mindful of.

Once again, balance keeps us on the right track and harmony of body, mind and spirit in everything we do, even food!, let's us live our best life. Have a wonderful week.

Gut Health?

Much has been written about gut health and leaking gut. I have read and watched many articles on gut health and still I seem to have only scratched the surface.
I need to be clear that I have no nutritional qualifications and this is my story gained purely from experience.
I was aware of problems with my health when I became dizzy and several blood tests showed no blood sugar problems, thyroid problems, cholesterol problems or any other conventional diagnosis.
I decided after a problem loosing 6kgs I had gained over the period of a year, to try Patrick Holford's low glycaemic load diet and fat burning 8 minute exercises. 12 weeks later I felt much better, had shed the 6kgs and no longer experienced dizzy spells. But I still experienced intense sugar cravings and felt constantly deprived of sugar.
It was then that I watched a show on television covering the basics of gut health and identified with many of the sub topics discussed. I decided to investigate further and after I suffered from severe rossacae earlier this year, I decided to include superfoods in my diet and reduce refined sugar and carbohydrates in my diet. I went from baking every week, to not baking at all. I have two children and felt that they needed to have some treats when they come home from boarding school every weekend. I started to google carbohydrate and sugar free recipes and now I am writing a cookbook with my own favourite recipes that I have developed. My health is my improved and I feel better than I have in years. I think that the IBS I suffered from for years was affected by gluten and now avoid gluten in my diet.
Would you like to share my journey? I will write a piece at a time describing my new eating habits and what I include in my way of life. I am not struggling with weight issues at present. Here are the basics.
I try to include items from all the food groups in my diet
I eat only slow releasing carbs such as oats and butternut squash
I eat three small meals a day and two snacks mid morning and afternoon
I focus on eating more vegetables than fruit
I am slowly introducing fermented foods into my diet
I include cinnamon, ginger and turmeric in my diet every day
I supplement vitamin C and zinc in tablet form every day
I cook all my meals from scratch and limit the use of store bought jam, mayonnaise, tomato sauce etc.
I limit my intake of salt and pepper, and season my food with herbs and spices
I avoid processed foods at all costs and anything with added MSG, transfats, preservatives and colouring

Sounds like food prison?!! Not really as I vary my diet and ensure that everything is freshly made and full of flavour. I do have treats over the weekend made from gluten free and refined sugar free ingredients and I eat 80% cocoa chocolate every day, just two squares!
My favourite superfoods are berries, avocado, pumpkin seeds, fresh salmon and tuna as a treat, moringa powder said to increase your metabolism!, hot or cold almond milk cacao latte with cinnamon and honey, green goddess soup made with broccoli and zucchini and flavoured with toasted cumin and coriander, chia seed jam on oatcakes..............There is so much inspiration out there to eat well and nurture your body every day..........you just have to look for it.

Food that's Good for You

On my journey of self discovery, I have focused on the trilogy and interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit. For years I battled my sweet tooth. My life was a mishmash of feast and famine, rarely a happy medium. The minute I ate something sweet, the cravings would errupt and lead me down a path of bingeing, and ultimately to self loathing a further attempts at abstinence. The more I fought the more my body fought back.
My journey lead me to the discovery of what you should eat to have a healthy gut and the benefits thereof. A bad case of rosacea and reluctance to try yet another anti-biotic, got me eating better.

I have changed my lifestyle and my attitude towards food. None is my enemy, but many can nourish my body in a way that elevates the trilogy of body, mind and spirit, and propels me towards synergy.

There is so much literature about food that aids your microbiome and enhances your well being. This is neither the forum for a lengthy explanation, nor can I profess complete understanding of it's complexity. But I am eating better and I feel better. In summary I focus on:
- simple and fresh foods
- ingredients in season
- cooking from scratch - no packet food for me
- making certain food in batches that can be cooked in bulked and stored for quick and easy use
- finding quick and easy ways to cook delicious meals

Today I surprised myself by making a healthy and tasty zucchini soup. Here is my recipe

1 punnet zucchini, sliced
1/4 cup cauliflower
splash of olive oil
1/2t whole coriander seeds
1/2t whole cumin seeds
1t good quality vegetable stock powder mixed with 1/2 cup boiling water or the equivalent of good vegetable stock
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt

Dry heat the coriander and cumin in a pan until toasted. Ground in a pestle and mortar.
Brown the zucchini in the olive oil. Add the cauliflower, 1t ground spices and cover with the stock. Add more boiling water if required so that the vegetables are covered. Simmer until soft. Add the yoghurt and heat through. Puree in a blender and enjoy.

Be still my wandering mind

Ever felt that you have a washing machine in your head? The same thoughts run through your mind over and over again? I call this the washing machine effect. And trying to banish them just seems to have the opposite effect? I once read "what we resist persists". I no longer fight my own thoughts. I try to observe them, accept them and let them pass. Most of the persistent thoughts are of what has happened in the past. So I guess I need to drag my mind back to the present.

At the end of my aerial yoga class, we have 10 minutes relaxation time suspended cocoon like in our sling. With a tired body, this quiet time is an opportunity to focus the mind. Mentally filling our bodies with rejuvinating light and focusing on positive thoughts, the session ends with everyone feeling relaxed and rejuvinated. Everyone smiles and leaves feeling uplifted. They are not focused on anything that happened before the class. This has taught me so much about being present and how that changes our thoughts and our lives.

If you are not into meditation, take time to clear your mind. This really works after intense exercise. Sit down, relax and close your eyes. Adjust your breath and your thoughts. See what happens.