Monday 30 November 2015

A Better-For-You Chocolate Chip + Sea Salt Cookie Recipe

Chocolate and salt? You true foodies have never balked at the uncommon combo, have you?
New to salty chocolate? Try any of those fancy salts: the precious pink fleur de sel, or the smoky, dark black salt. Be sure someone is there to catch you as you take your first bite, as you just might fall over.

Sweet-n-Salty Cookies


Makes 12 large or 24 small cookies
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup non-hydrogenated vegan margarine (recommended: Earth Balance)
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) sugar
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) lightly packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 3½ cups plus 1½ tablespoons (1 pound, 2 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1¼ cups (4.4 ounces) rolled oats (not instant)
  • 1¼ cups chocolate chips
  • 2 tablespoons fleur de sel or gourmet salt of your choosing
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the margarine, sugars, and vanilla, and cream together with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and mix again to ensure that all the ingredients are combined, about 30 seconds more.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soy milk and oil. Slowly add the soy milk mixture to the sugar mixture, and mix to combine.
4. In another separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the oats and chocolate chips. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until a dough forms.
5. Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets with a spring-loaded ice cream scoop. Use a 2-ounce scoop for large cookies and a 1-ounce scoop for small. Leave 2 to 3 inches between each cookie and gently pat them down with your fingertips.
6. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges of the cookies begin to brown.
7. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the tops of each cookie with fleur de sel (about ⅛ teaspoon over each one). Using a spatula, remove the cookies from the pan and set on a wire mesh rack to cool.
Reprinted from Sticky Fingers’ Vegan Sweets by arrangement with Avery, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2015, Doron Petarsan




by Doron Petersan
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-22619/a-better-for-you-chocolate-chip-sea-salt-cookie-recipe.html

What Actually Leads To Long-Term Weight Loss & Health

Our country is obsessed with dieting and working out. But despite having the most gyms, diet books, and exercise DVDs, we are one of the heaviest, sickest nations in the developed world.
That's why, when it comes to weight loss, I believe we've got it all wrong.
Functional medicine recognizes that weight gain is a symptom, not the cause of health problems. In other words:
We have to get healthy to lose weight, not lose weight to get healthy.
Weight-loss resistance is a sign that something is going on underneath the surface. And that can rarely be solved in the long term by just another fad diet. Research shows that calorie counting almost always fails when it comes to sustainable weight loss.
We need to ditch dieting and get healthy first. Then we'll reach our goal weight and look great, by accident. It will simply be a natural by-product of radiant health.
How do we do this? By healing. Here are the four key areas — your mind, emotions, gut, and hormones — that you need to heal first in order to reach your health goals.

1. Heal your mind to break repetitive habits.

The first step to healing yourself is to become aware that we spend most of our day lost in compulsive, unconscious thought.
In fact, Stanford research estimates that a staggering 90 percent of our thoughts are actually repetitive. Think about that: Nine out of 10 of your thoughts are ones you have constantly.
How can this harm your health? For many people these thoughts are not just repetitive, they're also negative. This chronic stress can raise inflammation in our bodies and could contribute to health problems in the long term — unless it's kept in check.
Further, research out of Cornell University found that we make about 200 food-related decisions each day. The problem is that most of these food decisions, the researchers found, were made on mindless autopilot. We aren't consciously aware we're making most of them, which could be further contributing to poor eating habits.
That's why increased consciousness of our thoughts is the first step to healing and long-term health. Observing the presence of our thoughts brings us into the here and now, and breaks the addictive cycle of our past.
I recommend practicing mindfulness meditation as one way to become more aware of our health choices and eliminate negative, repetitive thought patterns. Read 11 Ways To Keep Negative Thoughts From Harming Your Health for more practical tips.
Instead of punishing your body by restricting foods, nourish it with good food medicine.

2. Heal your relationship with your body.

Anxiety, fear, and hate are some of the most common emotions that can keep you from reaching your health goals.
These emotions will flood the body with stress and stress hormones. And stress is linked to an increased risk of weight gain and many other heath conditions.
You can't heal a body you hate. So instead of punishing your body into submission by restricting foods, make food your friend.
The key is to eat it consciously and rationally. Your body is a gift that has taken care of you. Love yourself enough to nourish your body with good food medicine.
Further, try to pinpoint what you might be holding onto from your past that's keeping you from your goals. Forgiving yourself and others can be a revolutionary act of healing.
I consider this emotional healing to be vital in my work helping patients overcome their health obstacles.

3. Heal your gut.

Now we have to deal with the physical body itself — recovering from years of unknowingly mistreating your body.
As Hippocrates said, "All disease begins in the gut." The health of our microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that live within us, determines many facets of our overall health, including our weight.
I often see weight gain as an underlying gut problem. Your microbiome could be damaged after years of junk food, toxins, stress, and harmful medications— and you might be seeing the effects in your health.
Healing the gut is a process, which I go into more detail in other articles. But herbal medicines like slippery elmmarshmallow root, and deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) can help. Nourishing bone broth is also on my list of favorite foodie ways to heal the gut.

4. Heal your hormones.

We tend to think we crave foods or can't get healthy because of a lack of willpower. But often, it's really an underlying hormonal problem that's disabling you from making rational choices about food and keeping you stuck in a cycle.
For example, I often see brain-hormonal connection problems in my patients, such as thyroid conditionsadrenal fatigue, and leptin resistance (when your brain doesn't get the message from your hormones that your body is full).
Years of stress and poor diet can do a number on brain and hormonal health, further perpetuating hormonal dysfunctions. Many people struggling with health problems have some level of brain inflammation, which not only can contribute to anxiety, depression, and brain fog, but can also hurt your hormones.
Healing your hormones is often the first step to healthy weight loss and long-term wellness.
To find out more, check out my free guides to Heal Your Gut and Heal Your Hormones. You can also consider a free webcam or phone evaluation to talk about your specific case.
Photo Credit: Stocksy

Shedding Layers of Pain and Learning to Love Our Bodies

Amy Pence-Brown
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection.” ~Buddha
I cried when I watched the YouTube clip of Amy Pence-Brown standing in a bikini in a crowded marketplace in Idaho.
In the clip Amy asks people to write on her body. Her arms are wide open, she has a blindfold on, she has curves and cellulite, and she is completely vulnerable.
Why did she do it? Because she wanted to say: Here’s my body, complete and real. You can choose to accept me or reject me, but here’s my body. I want to make a statement that all bodies are valuable. I want to work toward self-acceptance.
I cried because she was doing the inverse of what we have trained ourselves to do.
I cried because I have spent most of my life disliking my body.
I cried because I recognized how brave Amy’s gesture was.
I cried because people were kind and wrote words and symbols of love and acceptance all over her body.
I cried because I’ve experienced the inverse.
I cried because so many of us have experienced the inverse.

Let’s acknowledge just how deep it goes.

I know a lot of people write about this. The advice is usually that we need to ignore the billboards and societal pressure and to stop striving for the body perfection we’ve been taught to seek; that instead, we should embark on a journey to love the skin we’re in.
This is all true but it doesn’t really acknowledge just how very hard this is to do. It’s flippant.
The fact is that many of us have had days, weeks, months, and years of messaging. It’s first come from external sources but is then repeated over and over again internally. The messaging is that our bodies are not okay; that they unacceptable.
We have been living in a house that we’ve been taught to dislike or hate for a very long time.
So when we are told that we should learn to love our bodies, we need to recognize that this is not an easy thing to do by any means. It’s going to take work and focus and a lot of grace and love.
The whole debate about whether someone should be happy with themselves as “fat” or “thin” or “athletic” or “normal” is immaterial.
When love is given, it doesn’t matter what shape it’s given to. It’s just given. Really, that’s what we are all looking for. When we think of our body we want to think of it lovingly. I’m not talking about pride here as pride arises from comparison and ego; I’m talking about love.

Can we remember what it was like before?

How on earth do we learn to love our bodies given that we have years of training to hate them?
When I thought about what it would really take to love my body, given what I was up against, I had a fleeting memory of myself as a young girl playing in a stream on a sand island off the coast of Australia.
I was determined to build a wall to block the stream so I could have a bath. I remembered how fun that was and exactly how it felt to be in that body.
I then remembered other experiences in my young body like doing high jump, running around in bare feet, climbing up trees, dancing, and swimming in the ocean.
I remembered back then I didn’t think of my body as anything other than a vehicle for adventure. In fact, there were many times I didn’t think of my body at all.
I then started to think about the exact point in my life when I started to acknowledge and dislike my body. For me it was around puberty when my body started to fill out.
I got pimples and started to be rated by others as attractive or unattractive. Soon boys rejected me or were indifferent, and the appearance of my body became a priority. My outside was now part of my worth.
My body was affecting my social standing. I saw the people who had better bodies become more popular; their experience of life seemed effortless. Whether or not this was the reality was lost to me.
In these formative years I would consciously or subconsciously direct my thoughts to how much I disliked my body.
I had years of training before my twenties hit, so these thoughts didn’t go away even though, in my case, the pressure to have the perfect body did.
After all of this remembering I asked myself, how I could get back to the little girl in the stream that was determined to build that dam?
I looked down at my body. It’s not something we body traumatized people often do.
Then. One by one, little by little I saw grey layers form around my body.
I knew that these layers were old.
They had formed over many, many years.
They built on each other, binding together.
They built over the little girl.
They were the specific experiences that had haunted me. They were the memories of the people who rejected my body, who had called me ugly, whether it was through a gesture, a look, or words. They were the moments when I experienced overwhelming dislike for various parts of my body.
I acknowledged that there were a lot of layers and my job was to work through them bit by bit. To thank the memory and experiences, to cry and to say that’s enough, I’d like to move on, thank you very much. You will not define me or my concept of who I am anymore.
For the truth of it is that these are just layers and underneath them all is the girl that didn’t see her body as anything other than a vehicle for adventure. She is still gloriously there.
I know there a lot of us out there who have these layers.
I know that the journey toward body love is not simple.
I wondered what would life be like if we worked through these layers and shed them with the goal of coming back to the part of ourselves that is unencumbered. I wondered if this would mean that this part of our existence would be a little freer, a little more joyful?
Amy Pence-Brown did a very brave thing and stood in a crowded marketplace. She asked people to love her body, and they did.
Her reward for this brave act was a shedding of some her own layers of pain and hurt and I’ve no doubt that she loved herself just a little more on that day.
We have that opportunity to love in this lifetime as well. We just need to remember.
Photo by Melanie Folwell 
Kaylia Dunstan

Sunday 29 November 2015

Trace mineral boosts weight loss and cuts cravings

This overlooked trace mineral may be the secret to shedding pounds, according to a new research conducted by the University of Vermont.
Yale researchers also found this mineral to be an effective way to help diabetics manage their glucose levels.

What could this magic mineral be? The answer is chromium.
According to the researchers at the University of Vermont, supplementing diets with chromium helped dieters not only lose pounds, it helped eliminate unsightly, unhealthy excess belly fat, as well. Chromium helps fight cravings for carbohydrate-dense foods and sugar-filled snacks by promoting balanced blood sugar levels throughout the day.
Interestingly enough, eating food with high sugar content not only increases your chances of becoming overweight due to calorie consumption, it also depletes the chromium in your body.
So, to get the most out of a chromium supplement, it is best to eat a diet low in sugar, with lots of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and healthy fats. Eating a healthier diet will not only make you lose weight, it can also make you feel better. If you want to speed things up, add chromium to your diet. This trace mineral will definitely make it easier for you to feel better, faster.

7 Signs Your Inner Shaman is Awakening

awakening your inner shaman
Shamans are medicine men or women who use their connection with nature and the spirit world in order to heal and awaken others.
Shamans journey into the Spirit world using drums, herbs and crystals and retrieve psychically guided information about a soul from their spirit guides, gods and ancestors.
They also have the ability to channel other spirits, gods and deities and are powerful creators of the world around them. They also rely on their connection with Mother Earth in order to discover healing plants and herbs.

Shamans are usually initiated after experiencing some sort of death and rebirth process. This death and rebirth process can be physical, emotional or energetic and is often an indicator that the soul is ready to step into the role of being a Shaman.
In many ways, Shamans are energy healers that also have the gift of mediumship and herbalism, however traditionally their knowledge is obtained from the spirit world and not a text book.
In fact the word Shaman translates to “he or she who knows.”
Shamanism has evolved through many cultures and is similar to the practice of witch doctors, energy healers and alternative medicine practitioners.
But because this type of healing as been condemned for so long and witches were burnt at the stake, a once common practice has now become “alternative” and largely forgotten.
It is believed that once you have been initiated as a Shaman in one life you are destined to come back and impart some of your knowledge in subsequent lives.
In a previous life you may have also been working as an apprentice or building up to your initiation as a Shaman and it may be part of your calling in this life to finally step into your role.
If any of this resonates with you, here are 7 more signs that your inner shaman may be awakening:

1.You have recovered, almost miraculously from a serious or rare disease, experienced psychosis or you have been struck by lightning.

They may sound random, but these experiences have all been linked to the call of the shaman. It is believed that in order to be a Shaman you must experience a complete ‘death and rebirth’ of your soul and often this can manifest as a temporary illness of some kind.
During this experience some people report journeying into the spirit world and being implanted with some sort of crystal or knowledge about their role as a Shaman before they return back to Earth.

2. You have a strong connection with nature and animals.

Shaman’s have a special relationship with the world of nature and animals and use them as guides or messengers.
If you find yourself receiving messages from plants or animals, or you are sensitive to nature and your environment this may very well be a sign of your inner shaman awakening.

3. You gravitate towards herbalism or foods for healing and you instinctually know what you need to use.

Using the wisdom from the spirits, Shamans are able to blend natural herbal concoctions in order to heal both the energetic and physical body. Interestingly, a lot of the herbs used in traditional Shamanism for healing have now been backed up by science.
If you find yourself naturally gravitating towards the kitchen and the herb garden in order to heal any ailments, this may be a sign of a past connection with the world of Shamanism.

4. You astral travel or have vivd dreams of visiting other worlds or dimensions.

Shamans have the ability to travel into different dimensions and retrieve information about your soul’s past, future and present.
If you hold the gift of Shamanism, you may find that you astral travel while asleep or that you have strange dreams about meeting alien like or spirit beings.

5. You have psychic abilities, receive premonitions or have the gift of mediumship.

Because Shamans work so closely with the Spirit world they often possess gifts of mediumship and clairvoyance.
As a Shaman reborn it is likely that you would have carried these gifts over into this life as well.

6. You feel awakened, joyful or calmed by the sound of drumming.

Shamans use drums and maracas in order to help them journey into other worlds or channel other spirits.
If you find yourself with a strong passion for the sound of drums and other percussion instruments this may be a sign that you hold roots of Shamanism.

7. You start to hear the calling of your Shaman roots.

One way to know for sure if you hold the gift of shamanism is if you start to feel the calling either from another shaman, your dreams or the spirit world.
Often another Shaman or messenger will enter your life as a way to remind you of your gifts and the path you are destined to take.
Do you feel your inner shaman is being called to awaken?
by Tanaaz

10 Cool Facts You Didn't Know About Pomegranates

Sweet and tart. Tangy and juicy. Delicious.
That's the pleasure you get when you crack open a fresh pomegranate and suck on the deep red seeds of the luscious fruit. Or when you simply crack open a bottle of pure pomegranate juice and take a satisfying gulp.
Not only are pomegranates tasty, but they're also full of natural health benefits. After all, this fruit's rich ruby-red look comes from polyphenols, the potent antioxidants. Plus, both the fruit and its outer skin are rich in flavonoids (a compound with important health benefits). That's part of the reason pomegranates have recently generated a flurry of excitement in the scientific community.
Bonus: November is National Pomegranate Month. So I recommend enjoying the delightful little gems while they're in season this fall and early winter. Not only is drinking an 8-ounce glass of unsweetened pomegranate juice a great way to start your day, but the fruit's vibrant red hues also make a wonderful addition to holiday meals. 
Here's a look at some of the fascinating benefits of pomegranates discovered by researchers around the world:

1. They're anti-inflammatory.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University discovered that eating pomegranates reduces the production of chemicals that cause inflammation. In other words, they could provide relief of chronic inflammatory conditions and have anti-aging effects.

2. They're good for the heart.

As we know, pomegranate juice is rich in polyphenols with high-antioxidant potential. Research from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing notes that it's a heart-healthy fruit that can help reduce blood pressure.

3. They can assist with weight loss.

Chinese researchers found that a polyphenol in pomegranate might help reduce obesity caused by high-fat diets and protect against metabolic disorders.

4. They help protect your skin from damage.

The strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of pomegranate might help protect skin against sun-induced damage, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

5. They could improve sexual health.

Pomegranate juice has been shown to enhance blood flow. And a pilot studyfound that pure pomegranate juice could have beneficial effects on erectile dysfunction.

6. They protect the liver.

Chinese researchers found that polyphenols and flavonoids, the major antioxidant components harnessed from pomegranates, might protect people from liver damage.

7. They help fight infection.

Pomegranate has been recognized for its antimicrobial effects. For example, the dried powder of pomegranate peel has been shown to strongly inhibit candida and yeast.

8. They could help women in labor.

study from the University of Liverpool discovered that pomegranate extract has the potential to be used to encourage the uterus to contract during labor, through a rise in calcium, which is necessary for any muscle to contract.

9. They protect against arthritis.

Pomegranate is used as a nutritional therapy in alternative medicine for inflammatory conditions like arthritis. U.S. scientists discovered that pomegranate could help reduce severe arthritis and joint inflammation and help keep your bones strong.

10. They help with brain health.

An international team of researchers led by the University of Huddersfield discovered that a natural polyphenol compound found in pomegranate can inhibit inflammation in specialized brain cells, to help prevent or slow down Alzheimer's development.
Want to learn more about how to enjoy pomegranates? Check out the recipes I created for The Fat Resistance Diet.
Photo Credit: Stocksy

Saturday 28 November 2015

How Vipassana Meditation Can Change Your Life

shutterstock_250381006
Vipassana courses are built upon the meditation technique of the Buddha, passed down in a chain of teachers for 2500 years.

And let’s face it, who better to learn meditation from than the Buddha? The technique clearly worked for him.
Vipassana meditation has been spread in over 280 international centers by one of the late teachers in this lineage, S.N. Goenka.
He believed that Vipassana Meditation isn’t meant to be kept a secret. It’s also not reserved for monks, but a tool that anyone and everyone can use for self-transformation. He’s generously shared this wisdom with thousands of students all over the world. Vipassana courses are truly a gift. Meditation is not easy — it requires a technique and a teacher, and Goenka put into place a system that offers all of this without any financial pressure.
If you want to learn how to meditate, grow as a human being, and tame your wavering mind, read on to know what to expect.
vipassana-course-change-your-life

Enrolling in a Vipassana course

Enrollment for Vipassana courses takes place on their website at www.dhamma.org. Don’t let the simple website put you off — the course is legit, and it’s not a cult. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your experience with meditation, your medical background, and your current state of physical and mental health.
Vipassana courses book up quickly so plan ahead. Don’t be discouraged by a waiting list. I personally signed up for four Vipassana courses and had to cancel three before I could finally swing eleven days off from work. Many others are in the same boat and have to cancel last minute, so it’s entirely possible to work your way off of a long waiting list.

Before you go

You’ll receive a list of items as to what you should and shouldn’t bring to the course. You’ll need sheets or a sleeping bag, loose comfy clothes, and toiletries. Leave everything else at home. You’ll have to turn in your phone during the course and aren’t supposed to do any reading or writing. You’re literally there for one reason and one reason only: meditation. Leave the distractions behind.
vipassana-course-change-your-life

The 10-day vow of silence

Vipassana courses are 11 nights long. Speaking is allowed on the first evening and the last day of the course, but other than that you’ll be taking a ten day vow of silence. And this is the ultimate vow of silence–no speaking, no touching, and even no eye contact permitted. As hard as I thought it would be to shut up for so many days, it was much easier than I expected.
It helped me to eliminate all of the distractions and projections that come from human interaction. I couldn’t call my boyfriend or check on my work email. There was only person to focus on: me. That allowed lots of time for introspection and self-work.
I could cut out my extraneous jabber and simply focus on the meditation work at hand. And once the course was over, words took on new meaning. They were suddenly much more precious and chosen with great care.

The Vipassana meditation technique

Every Vipassana course is the same no matter where in the world you attend. Recordings and videos of S.N. Goenka serve as the primary teacher, and there’s a resident teacher who meditates with you and is available to answer questions. The days begin with 4:30 am morning meditation and ends around 8 pm with ten hours of meditation in between. Yes, it’s a lot. But that’s the point of the course, and I have to say that it is incredibly beneficial.
Goenka teaches the Vipassana technique step by step, introducing a new step each day. It takes a couple days to transition into silence and really hone the power of concentration. Moving slowly gives plenty of time to master the method. The Vipassana technique focuses on the connection between mind and body. It teaches observation of body and breath, both of which are deeply entwined with the emotions of the mind. It’s not complicated, but it’s powerful.
The beauty of Vipassana courses is that you don’t need any prior experience with meditation. In fact, it’s better if you don’t have any meditation experience. Mixing methods can impede your progress. Goenka asks that students forget whatever they’ve previously learned about meditation and instead follow his instructions, and his alone–at least while the course is in session.
vipassana-course-change-your-life

Is it worth the work?

I won’t sugarcoat it — sitting a Vipassana course was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I thought about leaving for the first six days. Meditating for 10 hours a day was killer. But I stuck it out, kept my vow of silence, and left with a few life-changing realizations about myself and my place in the world. It helped me break free from some of my emotional hangups. That’s really not the point of the course, but it’s definitely a positive side effect.
I think that everyone takes away something different. A drinking and drug-using friend of mine decided to sober up because of the course, and he stuck with it. It’s kind of amazing what can happen when you have solid time to go inward, separate yourself from the influence of others, and observe the fluctuations of the mind.
Sitting a Vipassana course is hard work. But I do believe it’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. It’s an opportunity to learn a powerful meditation technique that the Buddha used to reach enlightenment.
And whether or not enlightenment is something that you believe in or even believe you can attain, you can still reap the many benefits of meditation like reduced stress, stronger immunity, stable emotions, and more energy.
So, is the work worth it? Absolutely. It’s a challenge to be silent and sit with the mind, but one that ultimately transforms the self for the better.
Have YOU been to Vipassana course? Share your stories and insights with Zenward community — you never know how many people your comment might help. :)

P.S. Want to build a home yoga practice but are not able to stick to it?

By Julie Bernier