Posted by Monica Bautista on Fri, Feb 03, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
Quinoa was once called the "gold of the Incas". It is a nutritional powerhouse. Quinoa is a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids, making it a wonderful choice for vegans concerned about getting adequate protein and a delicious choice for all!
Quinoa is often served with vegetables in a savory dish, but this recipe is for a slightly sweeter quinoa that is great for breakfast, snack, or even dessert.
Fruited Quinoa (recipe from Nutrition MD)
You will need:
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 1 1/2 cup vanilla rice milk
- 2 TB raisins (or dried fruit of your choice)
- 1 cup fresh or canned apricots (can also be replaced with fruit of your choice)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Thoroughly rinse quinoa. Combine quinoa and rice milk in a sauce pan. Bring to a slow simmer and then cover and cook for about 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender. Stir in the raisins, apricots, and vanilla. Transfer about 1 1/2 cups to a blender or food processor and puree. Add pureed mixture back to the pan and stir. Enjoy warm or chilled!
For other great vegan recipes, visit PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine 21-Day Vegan Kickstart.
For support with your healthy lifestyle, contact Alicia Leeds Meyers. Alicia is a Personal Healthy Lifestyle Coach who walks the talk and helps her clients uncover their path to a healthy lifestyle. Eat Well Tri Hard Coaching
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 @ 02:48 PM
As a Personal Healthy Lifestyle Coach, I did not take offense when a new client said she'd heard a rumor going around about me that I was the woman who made people eat more fruits and veggies. Of all the things to be in this world, being a produce pusher is fine by me...
Last night I took a photo of my dinner to share with you all.
Super star - sweet potatoes are here on the right, peeled, cut into wedges, lightly misted with olive oil, sprinkled with cinnamon and roasted until tender at 450.
My newest delight - Alicia's "Steamer Casserole" on the left. In a large soup pot, sautee onions in 1/4 cup veggie broth, add chopped sweet orange peppers (or carrots) and stir. Then layer green beans, sliced ginger root, broccoli and kale (or swiss chard). Cover. Let the steam from the veggie broth cook through to the greens on top.
You can add variety and create your own blend. Try adding cubed tofu on top of the greens and sprinkle a little soy sauce before serving with brown rice or quinoa or roasted baby white potatoes. The possibilities are endless.
And just when I thought I had cornered the market on how to create vege variety in a snap - I get this photo from one of my healthiest and adventurous clients who said she thought of me when she put these in the oven... awww. I m flattered!
Can you guess how many veggies are in this dish? Do you have ideas to share?
Bon Apetit!
Alicia Leeds Meyers is a personal coach who walks the talk and helps her clients uncover their own path to a healthy lifestyle.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Wed, Jan 18, 2012 @ 02:23 PM
Paula Deen announced her diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes on national television yesterday. She admitted that she'd been living with diabetes for three years and had not made her condition public because she "had nothing to bring to the table".
But now she has a new partnership with Novartis and is marketing her sons' cooking shows. All this has set the blogosphere on fire with rants against her, criticisms and complaints about her choices, and most amounting to something like she gets what she deserves.
A few of my clients asked for my opinion, so I watched her announcement on the Today Show, and did a little research.
Let's start with what it means to have Type 2 Diabetes. Here is a brief summary of the complications of this chronic disease:
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Eye problems, including trouble seeing (especially at night) and light sensitivity. Blindness.
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Feet and skin can develop sores and infections. After a long time, a foot or leg may need to be removed. Infection can also cause pain and itching in other parts of the body.
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Diabetes may make it harder to control blood pressure and cholesterol. This can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or other problems. It can become harder for blood to flow to legs and feet.
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Nerves in the body can become damaged, causing pain, tingling, and a loss of feeling.
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Because of nerve damage, there can be problems digesting the food. There can be weakness or trouble going to the bathroom. Nerve damage can also make it harder for men to have an erection.
- High blood sugar and other problems can lead to kidney damage. The kidneys might not work as well, and they may even stop working
I asked myself if this is a diagnosis I would wish on a friend, family member, neighbor? I saw Paula talking about her new website campaign, Diabetes, In A New Light, which promotes the hope of living fully with this chronic disease and heard her say that she wasn't about to change her life (but she would make small changes...) I saw her breakdown on Entertainment tonight, sticking to her story of eating her famously butter laden recipes "in moderation".
And the more I watch, read and think, the more compassion I feel for Paula Deen. She is a chef who, for three years had "nothing to bring to the table".
Paula is an icon of an American value - food as entertainment. She has grown up in a country in a time when we have learned that our health (and how our food relates to our health) is a back burner issue. What's up front? Career, money, fame, celebrity, reputation, butter. Of course she doesn't want to give up everything she's believed in, everything she's been taught, her empire, her cookbooks and royalties and her TV show. Would you?
There is no doubt that Paula Deen, a wealthy and educated woman, knows that a diet high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and a program of daily exercise could help her to beat this disease (possibly without drugs) but still she is willing to risk her health and her life for what our culture has taught her is more important. Butter.
We are all Paula Deen. Keeping what we know to be true close to our chest until we are ready to make a change. And even then, the changes we are willing to make may not be enough for our critics. It took me 25 years to develop a healthy lifestyle that truly reflects my own mind, body and spirit.
Do I wish Paula would get on national TV and tell the world she was wrong about her recipes? That she's decided to make a lifestyle overhaul and be a role model? That she's on a mission to promote fruits and veggies and whole grains and exercise? Sure.
And she may do that one day.
But here's how I found my compassion for her.
I start by saying what her critics say, "I am nothing like Paula Deen"
then I realize, "I am something like Paula Deen"
finally, with Grace, "I am nothing but Paula Deen".
Type 2 diabetes is a terrible diagnosis, no matter how you got there. We can see what Paula Deen has to lose by holding on to her lifestyle - but if we are compassionate - if we are all nothing but Paula Deen - what we can come to is a question that is not about Paula at all.
What Do We Have to Lose?
Alicia Leeds Meyers is a Personal Healthy Lifestyle Coach who walks the talk and helps her clients uncover their path to a healthy lifestyle.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Tue, Jan 17, 2012 @ 05:37 PM
My clients often ask me what to read and watch that offers good information about healthy lifestyle. There's a lot of good stuff out there. Here's what inspires me recently:
FOOD, INC - Documentary Film
Forks Over Knives - Documentary Film
Economy (an essay) by Henry David Thoreau
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant Based Nutrition, Julianna Hever
Forks Over Knives, Gene Stone
Becoming Vegan, Brenda Davis
Yoga and Vegetarianism, Barbara Gannon
The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink
Women, Food and God, Geneen Roth
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollen
In Defense of Food, Michael Pollen
What to Eat, Marion Nestle
Overcoming Overeating, Dr David Kessler
Total Nutrition, The Only Guide You'll Ever Need from the Mount Sinai School of Nutrition, Edited by Victor Herbert M.D., F.A.C.P and Genell J Subak-Sharpe, M.S.
The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, Michael Murray N.D.
Hunger, An Unnatural History, Sharman Apt Russell
The Hungry Self, Women, Eating and Identity, Kim Chernin
In My Mother's House, A Daughter's Story, Kim Chernin
The Obsession, Reflections on the Tyrrany of Slenderness, Kim Chernin
Appetites, Why Women Want, Caroline Knapp
Fatland, How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, Greg Critser
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
The Food Revolution, How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World, John Robbins
The Secrets of Skinny Chicks, How to Feel Great in Your Favorite Jeans When It Doesn't Come Naturally, Karen Bridson
The Omnivore's Dilemma, A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan
The Sex Life of Food, When Body and Soul Meet to Eat, Bunny Crumpacker
Would love to hear what's inspiring you! Please post your comments!
Alicia Leeds Meyers is a Personal Coach who walks the talk and helps her clients uncover their path to a healthy lifestyle.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 @ 06:05 PM
The guys at Ember Therapeutics, heavily funded by the NIH and graciously assisted by the nice folks at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have spent a lot of time and money recently looking at fat.
Humans have two kinds of fat.
Brown fat =Good (burns energy), White Fat=Bad (stores energy)
What these well educated guys found is that a hormone they call irisin (named after the Greek Messenger Goddess Iris) can stimulate white (bad) fat cells to produce brown (good) fat instead. Their research on fat rodents showed that "... even relatively short treatments of obese mice with irisin caused an increase in energy expenditure with no changes in activity levels or food intake, resulting in improved glucose homeostasis and weight loss."
Translation? ... the mice eat whatever they want and lay around all day while Irisin (the Greek Goddess of Ka Ching!!! $$$) manages their calories and blood sugar for them, and they even lose weight!
So goes the research on mice and... Ember Therapeutics hopes... men.
Guess the theory is we could just inject everybody with Irisin so we can eat all we want, do nothing and lose weight! - What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
Nevermind that humans are not designed to withstand endless consumption of calories and forget the fact that we are guests on a planet we do not have a right to destroy in our never ending quest for MORE beef jerkey.
$$$$$$$???????
Call me a luddite... but wait... cause here's my favorite part! - a quote by Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, lead researcher, “We believe that innovative brown fat targets and therapeutic pathways are key to developing new and effective treatments for metabolic disorders and that, given these data, Irisin could be a therapeutic for human metabolic disease and other disorders that are improved with exercise.”
Because it's not enough that we already know that HUMAN METABOLIC DISEASE AND OTHER DISORDERS ARE IMPROVED WITH EXERCISE!!!
Hold on to your hats, everyone... and your wallets, these guys are betting on hitting the jackpot with this magic pill and they're investing your tax dollars to do it, too!
Me? I'm putting on my yoga pants and betting on Nike.
Alicia Leeds Meyers is a Personal Coach who walks the talk and helps her clients uncover their path to a healthy lifestyle.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Jan 09, 2012 @ 02:58 PM
Make a big difference in your health and the health of the planet by cutting your meat consumption in half - Mark Bittman talks about changing how we eat to save ourselves and the planet.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Wed, Jan 04, 2012 @ 09:11 AM
How do you choose what to eat? What questions do you ask yourself about the food before you take a bite? For many people the only question is - how does it taste? For others, there might be some version of - is this healthy for me?
But are you asking other questions like: Where does this food come from? How far did it travel? Who grew it and how many chemicals were sprayed on it?
How is the food packaged? Is the packaging recyclable? Are the people who work for this company being fairly compensated for their work? Does this company take care of the environment? Or does it pollute the air, land and sea?
Are animals involved and how do I feel about that?
What is the price, vs. the actual cost of this food? Are the methods of obtaining this food sustainable? How does this choice affect my family? My community? The planet?
What exactly am I eating?
I pose these questions, not because I have the right answers for you... but because the food industry has made it their business to try to distract us from asking deeper questions about our food choices. The industry depends on us buying for taste (and maybe quantity).
I believe that the more questions we ask, and the more information we collect, the easier it is to make the right choices for ourselves and our families. I believe that every choice we make about the food we eat has a profound impact, not only on our bodies, but on the entire planet.
(Read Alicia's - Evolution of My Whole Foods Plant Based Diet Here)
When we decide to lose weight, or we decide to eat healthier and hope to make lasting lifestyle change, we tend to think of it as something that can happen overnight, like making a New Year's Resolution. But lasting change doesn't usually happen that way. Change occurs as a result of experience, learning, curiosity, evaluation, application of principles, trial and error, and persuasion. I believe that lasting change occurs within a ongoing practice of mindful awareness.
How do you choose what to eat? Well... What do you want to know about the food choices you make? Why not resolve to start asking questions. Resolve to incorporate the answers you find. Resolve to choose based on what you value. Resolve to Evolve your diet so it reflects your highest self, mind, body, spirit in alignment. Your health, your life and nothing less than the planet depend on it.
WHAT TO WATCH and READ? Click Here to Learn More
Alicia Leeds Meyers is a Personal Healthy Lifestyle Coach who walks the talk and helps her clients uncover their path to a healthier lifestyle.
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Mon, Dec 26, 2011 @ 03:33 PM
It's that time of year when many people are thinking about how to get healthier by making New Year's Resolutions. Are you?
Is this the year you will lose twenty pounds? The year you will run your first 5K? Is this the year you will take up yoga? Or go skiing again? Is this the year you will stop waiting for something different to happen and take charge of your life instead?
Whatever your resolutions are, having a Personal Coach can help you turn your resolutions into results.
How?
Expertise, structure and accountability.
A coach can help you set realistic short and long term goals. She can help you break down those goals into time limited tasks and then she can hold you accountable for checking those tasks off the to do list. She can help you remember what your goals are five weeks from now when life has gotten in the way of your resolutions. And she is an expert in her field.
From surgeons to elite athletes to CEOs, people work with coaches because they want to get better at something, they want to change something. If you are serious about making changes, coaching is the way to go.
At Full Life , we are pleased to announce that this January we will be adding a variety of options for you turn your resolutions into results.
Leslie Meyers, a USA Triathlon Level 1 Certified Coach with many years of Personal Training experience is joining our coaching team. Want to swim, bike and run your first triathlon this summer? She can get you there safely. How about your first 10K? She can help you do that , too. And if you just want to get up and get moving, and have some fun doing it, Leslie is the fitness coach who can help you make PA a daily part of your life.
If your focus is on weight loss, healthy eating, stress reduction and making peace with food, Personal Coach and Full Life Founder, Alicia Leeds Meyers can help you uncover your path to a healthier lifestyle. With over 13 years experience in weight loss and healthy lifestyle maintenance, Alicia can help you learn to make changes that last a lifetime. Read what Alicia's Personal Coaching Clients have to say about their experience here.
Start the New Year off right by scheduling a FREE Consultation with Leslie or Alicia by emailing fulllife@earthlink.net or calling 508-843-1547. We can help you turn your resolutions into results!
Posted by Monica Bautista on Mon, Dec 12, 2011 @ 08:57 AM
Portabella mushrooms are a great addition to a Meatless Monday dish. They are large, hearty and are often used as a meat substitute and in many vegetarian dishes. They are low calorie and a great source of many vitamins and minerals. Combined with HMR Mushroom Risotto, they make a nutritious and delicious entree for a Meatless Monday!
You will need:
- 1 HMR Mushroom Risotto Entree
- 1 large portabella mushroom
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1/2 cup red pepper, diced
- black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with PAM and set aside. Scoop out the "meat" from inside the mushroom and dice it. Spray a saute pan with PAM and saute onion, red pepper, and portabella "meat" until tender. Add garlic and saute for another 1 - 2 minutes. Add Mushroom Risotto Entree and heat through. Add pepper to taste. Stuff mushroom and bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until mushroom is tender.
Expert Tips:
To add a kick to this recipe, use your favorite seasonings, such as garlic powder, red pepper flakes, or cayenne pepper. You can also add other vegetables, such as diced zucchini, green pepper, or spinach.
Bon Apetit!
Order your HMR Entrees Now!
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Wed, Dec 07, 2011 @ 11:13 AM
At Full Life, we are always looking for new ways to help you reach your weight loss, health and healthy lifestyle goals.
We are assembling a panel of experts to come up with new offerings in 2012 - but nothing is more important than hearing from you!
Please take this quick survey and tell us what you need to help you achieve your healthy lifestyle goals. If you ask for it - we will do our best to deliver!
Live workshops? Online and phone classes and materials? Personal Training?
Click here to take survey
Help us help you by taking this quick survey! and THANK YOU!