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Prep Your Kitchen to Support your Brain Health this Holiday Season

Prepping your kitchen is an essential step towards supporting a nutrient-rich lifestyle. Clean out and organize, stock up on fresh and frozen produce, healthy fats and proteins, beans and whole grains to set yourself up for success in nourishing your body.

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Generous golden sunshine
pouring down from an azure blue sky
A glorious summer day
this Christmas Eve in our Cochabamba valley
embraced by Andes mountains
in the heart of Bolivia
Perched on a kitchen stool
my mama is rolling out gingerbread dough,
Shaping rabbits and deer and stars,
Hansel and Gretel, the witch, and her house
Fragrant aromas of gingerbread trees baking,
a whole forest in the making
Fragments of happy childhood memories,
an ember of love that glows anew
every December
Looking back now, my heart wonders
how much she must have been dreaming
of a white Christmas in Salzburg
Working her own Austrian baking magic
dozens and dozens of indescribably
delicious cookies in the making,
each lovingly shaped
into bite-size tastebud heaven
Suddenly stolen from us
in a car accident,
on a November morning
she’s been gone now
for more than thirty years
a love so great, I miss her still
Yet every Advent when
spices and honey and eggs
roll out into Hansel and Gretel,
a witch and her house,
the forest, the animals and stars
She is here, a love so true
that the gingerbread making,
baking and decorating
connects us again and through me
my mama and my daughter
Love fills my heart and overflows
Sharing our gingerbread magic
to wish you and yours
Love and Light this holiday season

4 Tips to Minimize Holiday Sugar Overload

Cookies and candy, holiday goodies and cocktails oh my. Sugar is everywhere! How to navigate the sugar overload that will keep coming all the way into the New Year?

Here are 4 tips to minimize monumental weight gain and the health hazards of holiday inflammation.

Drink water

Did you know that water is the #1 nutrition deficiency in the U.S.?

  • Drink water first after waking up. While you are sleeping, millions of processes in your body are hard at work repairing cells, removing toxins, literally cleaning up and moving waste into your eliminations systems (hello large intestine and colon!).  Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to help your body detox.
  • Drink half your body weight in ounces throughout the day. For example, if you weigh 140 pounds, drink 70 ounces of water (8 – 9 eight-ounce glasses).
  • If plain water is not your thing, add fruit, sliced cucumber, herbs (mint, basil) for an infused water.
  • Drink a glass of water in between each glass of wine/holiday cocktail.
  • Track your water intake. There’s a difference between what we think we do and actually do.

This is especially important to help your liver process the holiday foods/beverages onslaught and to help flush your body of excess indulgences.

Remove temptation from your kitchen

  • Processed snacks (chips, goldfish, graham crackers etc.)
  • Baked goods (bread, bagels, store-bought muffins etc.) and granola bars (unless they have 5g of sugar per serving)
  • Put homemade Christmas cookies in a tin out of sight

Skip the snacks

But if you can’t go without, stock up nourishing ones

  • Hummus, guac, goat cheese, cottage cheese, almond butter
  • Blue corn chips, pita chips, pretzels
  • Plantain chips
  • Rice cakes (no added sugar)
  • Seaweed snacks
  • Seed crackers (Nut Thins or Mary’s Gone Crackers)

Remember to always “dress your carbs”. Enjoy the pita chips, pretzels, rice cakes etc. with good fats  (hence the hummus and other options at the top of this list.)

Eat mindfully

  • Only at mealtimes
  • Take few deep breaths before eating. This gives your body time to activate the digestive processes — saliva, stomach acid, pancreatic enzymes etc –  to break down food into nutrients.
  • Eat away from digital devices, the news and distractions. Pay attention to what (and how much!) you are eating.
  • Focus on chewing until food is liquid before swallowing. Your body will be overworked the next several weeks; breaking down food thoroughly reduces gastrointestinal stress, and lets your body absorb the nutrients.
  •  Slows down while you eat. It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain it is full. When you eat too fast, you are likely to overeat.

Take these tips into the new year and build sustainable habits. Your body will thank you by performing better!

Nutrient Rich Granola

Homemade granola + good fats is an excellent transition from breakfast cereal. Enjoy with whole-milk Greek yogurt or kefir for sustained energy and to avoid blood sugar spikes.

  • Quick, easy and robust breakfast
  • Never boring because there are so many combinations
    • Spices
    • Nuts/seeds
    • Dried fruits (add AFTER baking)
    • Fresh fruits – bring seasons into my breakfast bowl – berries, peaches, and plums in the summer, sweet potato and pumpkin in the fall, cranberry, and gingerbread flavor in the winter.
  • Mix into fruit salad
  • Use for chia pudding toppings
  • Sprinkle on top of oatmeal or quinoa breakfast bowls for texture contrast

Variations:

  • Almond joy: use almonds for the chopped nuts, add 2 cuts shredded, unsweetened coconut. Optional – add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract when mixing melted coconut oil and maple syrup
  • Orange Cranberry: zest 3 – 4 oranges (depending on the size and how distinct you want the orange flavor) and mix in to the oats. After baking the oatmeal, add 1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • Banana Bread: Add 2 pureed bananas to the melted coconut oil and maple syrup mix
  • Lemon Poppyseed: zest 3 lemons, add zest to oats. Add 1/4 cup poppyseed
  • Pumpkin pie: Add 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice mix to the oats. Mix 1 cup pumpkin puree with melted coconut oil and maple syrup
  • Moroccan Sweet Potato: Add 1/2 tablespoon Golden Milk spice blend to the oats. Add 1 cup sweet potato puree
  • Gingerbread Granola: Add 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg


Halloween Witches Dinner

The “witches” twice-baked potatoes give this fall dinner a Halloween twist. Served with Roasted Pork Tenderloin, a delicious colorful medley of roasted vegetables and a spinach, pear and pumpkin seed salad, it’s one of my favorite fall menus. The kids make their own chocolate “spider” or “bat” cookies for dessert.

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10 Ways to a More Sustainable Easter

Easter is the most sacred time of year for the Christian faith. For others, it’s the gathering of family for a holiday feast.

Yet somehow Easter has become synonymous with candy and plastic eggs, resulting in an explosive uptick in plastic pollution and food waste.
I’ve found the antidote to all the excess is to be mindful. Here are 10 ways I’m aiming for a more sustainable Easter.

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Recipes

Nutrient Rich Granola

Homemade granola + good fats is an excellent transition from breakfast cereal. Enjoy with whole-milk Greek yogurt or kefir for sustained energy and to avoid blood sugar spikes.

  • Quick, easy and robust breakfast
  • Never boring because there are so many combinations
    • Spices
    • Nuts/seeds
    • Dried fruits (add AFTER baking)
    • Fresh fruits – bring seasons into my breakfast bowl – berries, peaches, and plums in the summer, sweet potato and pumpkin in the fall, cranberry, and gingerbread flavor in the winter.
  • Mix into fruit salad
  • Use for chia pudding toppings
  • Sprinkle on top of oatmeal or quinoa breakfast bowls for texture contrast

Variations:

  • Almond joy: use almonds for the chopped nuts, add 2 cuts shredded, unsweetened coconut. Optional – add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract when mixing melted coconut oil and maple syrup
  • Orange Cranberry: zest 3 – 4 oranges (depending on the size and how distinct you want the orange flavor) and mix in to the oats. After baking the oatmeal, add 1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • Banana Bread: Add 2 pureed bananas to the melted coconut oil and maple syrup mix
  • Lemon Poppyseed: zest 3 lemons, add zest to oats. Add 1/4 cup poppyseed
  • Pumpkin pie: Add 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice mix to the oats. Mix 1 cup pumpkin puree with melted coconut oil and maple syrup
  • Moroccan Sweet Potato: Add 1/2 tablespoon Golden Milk spice blend to the oats. Add 1 cup sweet potato puree
  • Gingerbread Granola: Add 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg