Make V-Day "U"-Day

Here it comes, the holiday to end all holidays (at least for those single people out there). Maybe you've got someone special to celebrate Valentine's Day with this year. Maybe you're like me, and you pretty much boycott it each year, avoiding restaurants and hallmark like the plague until the calendar page flips to February 15th. This year, I'm being proactive and turning V-Day into U-Day. Whether you've got someone to smooch or not, why don't you celebrate U-Day with me too!

When was the last time you did something just for "U?" With life as busy as it is these days, it's hard to take time out of your day to take care of yourself. So why not take a day that's all about love and use it to love yourself?

Self-care is all about rest, reflection, relaxation, and rejuvenating your soul. When these are lacking from your life, it leads to stress, sorrow and self-deprecation! If you don't love your luscious little self, who will? Your thoughts have the power to make or break your reality. If you feel down in the dumps, chances are that's how your life will play out. If you feel nourished and taken care of, the world will continue to nourish and take care of you in surprising ways! Have you ever noticed that when something goes wrong and you start to hear that Negative Nancy voice in the back (or front) of your head, it's not long before something else goes wrong too? This week, I challenge you to try something (or all things!) from my nourishment menu and see how you feel after a week of focusing more on fabulous U!

My Nourishment Menu:
-Meditate.
-Journal.
-Take a bubble bath.
-Make a cup of tea and settle down on the couch with a good book and a fluffy blanket.
-Stretch.
-Take a power nap.
-Breathe deeply for 5 minutes.
-Cuddle with my dog.
-Shake my booty to my favorite tunes (making sure no one's watching, of course).

If you made a nourishment menu, what would be on it? Write your own, try them out, and let me know how it goes!

Happy U-Day!
Katie

Day 9 of the 21-Day Cleanse

Well, I'm officially over a week into my cleanse. Overall, it hasn't been all that hard - I already don't eat dairy, meat or coffee. What I knew would be hard from the beginning was eliminating the sugar (Hi, my name is Katie, and I'm a sugar-holic) and the gluten.

How did I beat my sugar cravings? During the first few days of the cleanse, I ate dates and raisins when I would normally eat a chocolatey sugary dessert. Three days in, my cravings really kicked in and I made some hot chocolate (with coconut milk, raw cacao and agave, so it would still be within the cleanse). It was so rich and I felt so full after dinner that I haven't felt the need to do that again! After the three day hump, the dessert thing has been pretty smooth sailing!

Gluten has been hard just because I have to think really hard about what I eat! In case you're wondering, gluten-free essentially means you don't eat any wheat products. I've been avoiding my staple sprouted grain bread, as well as whole wheat tortillas, oatmeal, cous cous, and a number of other processed foods that contain some sneaky wheat (kill two birds with one stone!). I haven't really noticed any difference in how I feel other than some potential detoxing symptoms, so I think after this cleanse I'll go back to eating gluten. I've been eating millet bread which is sweetened with fruit juice concentrate, and to me it seems healthier to eat my sprouted grain bread which doesn't have added sweetener.

The last component that has been really hard was the juice fast that I did on the 7th day. It coincided with a double shift at work, which I think actually turned out to be beneficial because I wasn't sitting at home wishing that I could be eating. I had a surprising amount of energy all day once I finally got enough juice in my system to not be hungry. I think I would even do a juice fast every Sunday brunch that I have to work, because it really helped me stay focused and energized! The downfall to my juice fast was that the next day I was ravished! To top it off, I had a session with my personal trainer. Before I went, I ate some miso soup and a banana smoothie with kale and coconut milk, which was not enough to sustain a workout. I felt really weak and it was hard to do the exercises. I ate straight through the afternoon, and then binged on hummus and almond butter when I got home from work. I feel very back on track today (check out my lunch below!), but now I know for my next cleanse that I need to ease back into solid foods before I get so starving, and I need to take it easy the day after!

Overall, so far so good :) Keep an eye out for my next cleansing post!

Peace, love and green veggies,
Katie

Glorious Greens

Hi there cleansing cuties!

Try out a few of these simple recipes to add more greens into your diet. I have to say I have a soft spot in my heart for kale chips, but sautéed greens are also high up on my list too.

Kale Chips

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Yields: 2-3 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch of kale
Olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Remove kale from stalk, leaving the greens in large pieces.
3. Place a little olive oil in a bowl, dip your fingers and rub a very light coat of oil over the kale.
4. Place kale on baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until it starts to turn a bit brown. Keep an eye on it as it can burn quickly.
5. Turn the kale over and bake with the other side up. Remove and serve.

Notes:
* Try different kinds of kale or collard greens.
* For added flavor sprinkle with a little salt or spice, such as curry or cumin after rubbing on olive oil.


Sautéed Greens with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoon olive oil (or coconut oil, if you have it - the flavor is much better!)
1/2 bunch Swiss chard, chopped
1/2 bunch kale, chopped
1/2 bunch spinach, chopped
½ teaspoons sea salt
1/3 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Toast pine nuts on a cookie sheet in a 325-degree oven for 5 minutes. (If you're short on time, this step can be skipped)
2. Heat olive oil.
3. Add greens, sea salt and raisins. Stir and cook 5 minutes.
4. Turn off heat, add in pine nuts and transfer to serving dish.

Notes:
* Sprinkle with lemon juice before serving.


Enjoy! If you try these, leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

Keep an eye out for my posts over the next few weeks - I'll be talking about my 21-day cleanse!

Peace, love and veggies,
Katie

Roasted Root Veggies

As promised in my newsletter, I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes for cooking root veggies this season. It's really simple and tastes amazing!

Ingredients (use any or all!)
Sweet potato
White potato
Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Rutabagas
Onions
Garlic (you can put the whole clove in)
Salt
Dried Rosemary

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350-375.

Wash the veggies and chop into 1/2 inch strips.

You can either use a cookie sheet lined with unbleached parchment baking paper or a glass baking dish. Whichever you choose, sprinkle olive oil onto the bottom.

Toss veggies onto the pan and sprinkle with more olive oil, salt and lots of rosemary.

Cook for 30-45 minutes. Toss the veggies every 15. Dish is done when the veggies are soft.

Enjoy!

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As I mentioned in my newsletter, I'm offering a special introductory discount to the first two people to sign up for my program - just $25/month for a 3 month program! Why not get a head start on your new years resolutions? Send me an email at klclark10@gmail.com to sign up for your free health history consultation!

I'm just naturally sweet

Hi there wellness warriors!

I wanted to take the information from my newsletter a step further and talk about a few sugar alternatives. If a sugar craving hits and you're unable to conquer it with the tips I mentioned, try to eat something that is sweetened with something other than refined sugar. Since refined sweeteners have been stripped of vitamins, minerals and fiber, they can spike blood sugar, which can actually exacerbate your cravings later instead of fulfilling them! Some refined sugars to look out for are refined table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, NutraSweet, saccharin and Splenda. Using naturally and minimally processed sweeteners instead of a refined sugar can help reduce your cravings for those sugary devils.


Here are a few natural sweeteners to substitute in drinks, food and baking. Since they are all approximately 1.5 times sweeter than refined sugar, you can use less. You can find them in most supermarkets or natural food stores. When replacing sugar with liquid sweeteners in a recipe, reduce the amounts of other liquids.

Raw Honey
Everyone seems to love honey, one of the oldest natural sweeteners on the market. Honey will have a different flavor depending on the plant source. Some are very dark and intensely flavored. Wherever possible, choose raw honey, as it is unrefined and contains small amounts of enzymes, minerals and vitamins.


Agave Nectar
Agave is made through the extraction and purification of the juice of the agave cactus. It does not stimulate insulin secretion as other sugars do, so it does not create a "sugar rush." It has a delightfully light and mild flavor. There has been a lot of controversy over Agave Nectar lately, so I actually tend to lean towards Raw Honey or Maple Syrup instead of Agave. If you want to read more and decide for yourself, you can go here: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/is-agave-nectar-safe/


Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is the concentrated extract of the sap of maple trees. It adds a rich, deep flavor to foods and drinks. Make sure to look for 100% pure maple syrup, not maple-flavored corn syrup. As with all sweeteners, organic varieties are best.


Happy sweetening!
Katie

Adapted from "The Cane Mutiny," New Age Magazine, March/April 1999.

Conquering Cravings - a pre-release of November's newsletter!

So you've got a sweet tooth, eh?

The body is an amazing source of intelligence. Does your body ever forget to pump blood, or do your eyes ever forget to blink? I know mine sure doesn't. So is this reliable, intelligent bio-computer making a mistake by craving ice cream or potato chips or chocolate? Are cravings due to lack of will-power or discipline? I've been told that being a vegan takes pretty strong will-power..so are my cravings just a sign of weakness? I'd like to suggest that cravings are nothing of the sort - actually, they are little hints that tell us what our bodies really need.

The important thing is to understand why you crave what you crave. Perhaps your diet is too restrictive and your cravings are a reaction to your feeling of deprivation. Perhaps boredom or stress are the cause of your cravings. If something in your life is unbalanced, your body tries to correct that imbalance by sending you a message: a craving. A craving for something sweet could mean you need more protein, more exercise, more water or more love in your life. The key to stopping the sugar craving is to understand it and deliver what your body really needs.

I've definitely noticed that when I come home from a particularly busy and stressful day of work I crave really smooth things, and if I'm not careful I'll end up eating a whole tub of hummus or ice cream. Instead of reaching for those foods, I'll drink a glass of water, pull out my journal, put on some soothing music, and use writing as my meditation before bed.

The next time you have a craving, treat it as a loving message from your body instead of a weakness. Instead of reaching mindlessly for that chocolate bar, try these tips to respond to your body's signals:

· Have a glass of water and wait 10 minutes.

· Eat a healthier version of what you crave. For example, if you crave sweets, try eating more fruit or sweet vegetables - such as sweet potatoes, which are in season right now!

· What is out of balance in your life? Is there something you need to express, or is something being repressed? What happened in your life just before you had this craving?

· When you eat the food you are craving, enjoy it, taste it, savor it; notice its effect. Then you will become more aware and free to decide if you really want it next time.

Keep an eye out for my next post about some alternative sweeteners that you can use when you've tried everything else and you just need to get your hands on some (healthy) sugary goodness!

Would you like to be on my mailing list? Leave a comment to this post with your email address and I'll add you to my list!

Big Changes

This week has been a week of exciting steps! I'm working on a newsletter that I'll be sending out on the 15th of November. (I'll also potentially post that content here) Tonight I registered the domain name wellnessuncorked.com, so please go check that out! I'm still editing my website, but it's a good starting off point. I added my website to my email signature and my facebook as well. I'm actually starting believe that I'm a small business owner!

After I post my newsletter about conquering cravings, I'll write a blog about some good sugar alternatives that I like to use. Until next time!

Peace, love, and veggies
Katie