Golden Milk is a creamy, hot drink that is soothing and oh-so healing.

I’m hot on Golden Milk lately. Why? Because I recently started indulging a lot in Matcha green tea lattes, and while they’re delicious, Matcha is caffeinated. Caffeine is false fire, not real fire. And I’m about building real energy, real fire in the body, not false energy. False energy bottoms out. Real energy builds and grows. 

Plus, caffeine overloads your kidneys and liver, acidifies your body and ages your tissues, think premature aging inside and out!

But… like you, I want to enjoy yummy, warm drinks too, but I want them to be healthy and nourishing, not depleting or hard on my adrenals (or yours!).

Hello Golden Milk.

Every ingredient in Golden Milk is oh-so healing, and comes together oh-so deliciously. Turmeric, a root native to Indian cuisine,  is touted as being even more effective than some pharmaceutical mediations for inflammation and depression. Ginger, an anti-inflammatory too, helps with digestion, absorption and is anti-bacterial!

Add a few more ingredients, like black pepper, to enhance the benefits of curcumin, the healing compound in turmeric, a little cinnamon and stevia to sweeten it, and voila, you’ve got a delicious healing drink without any side-effects.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• 1 inch fresh turmeric
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch or two of cinnamon
• Stevia to taste

Put all the ingredients in a high speed blender and puree. Strain and heat on your stove, until hot and foamy. Sprinkle with a little added cinnamon and enjoy!

Yes, you can find recipes that use powdered ingredients. Not me. I include fresh, live ingredients, to get the fresh, live benefits of these healing ingredients when they are in their whole-food state. Nothing processed can ever provide you with the same electricity that a fresh, live ingredients provide.

And since you’re after energy, try the recipe my way. You will love it!  Let me know how you like it in the comments section below.

BONUS: But you say, I like the energy I get from coffee. I say add Maca to build real energy by nourishing your endocrine system, rather than depleting it. Maca is an adaptogenic root from Peru, which will help balance your hormones and build your energy naturally!

 

Six months ago Margaret joined me for Your Best Health Project as a private client. And even early on, she told me that she wanted to write a blog about my program, how it had changed her life, and what it was like to work with me. I knew we had found a serious stride, but I also knew we had so much more time to create together…

When her “testimony” about our work together arrived my heart felt so full. I was so moved by the time and heart Margaret invested in to writing this letter.

Oh yes, I felt the connection we made, and pretty much near immediately. It happens with all my clients. It happens because I believe in them and all that I know is possible when we live inside a healthy body.

But the following acknowledgment feels super special — Margaret took a lot of time and care to describe what it was like for her to work with me, and what became possible beyond simply ‘eating healthy.’

Margaret wrote:

I’m writing in a notebook that says, “Be Brave with Your Life” on the front. I feel like I’ve been brave with my life.  

I’ve had a lifelong battle with food and health. Late in 2016 I went to a Tony Robbins event, an event that gives you tools to help you make changes in your life so you can function at your personal best. Tony recommends hiring a coach to help you move through the areas of life that have caused long term struggle. For me, I knew this area was my health.

I had been following Carol’s blog for the better part of a year. I always learned from her and appreciated her holistic approach to health. In her blog, she told me to drop sugar and the “F” bomb — two things I intuitively knew would improve my life if I left them behind. She was straight-forward and no nonsense, I knew that would be a good fit for me. I had considered other programs but none seemed as well rounded, health-centered and personal as Carol’s.  

Let me be clear, I am driven and successful. I run my own business, own my own home and parent without a partner. I’ve successfully worked through and surmounted the obstacles life brought my way. But for some reason I didn’t consistently prioritize my health long enough to make more than small changes.  

I told myself aging and genetics were my problem, and resigned to wearing clothes that I didn’t love, but felt made me look better. I avoided the camera. I avoided events and invitations. I felt like no matter how much success I earned, my struggle with food diminished my wins. I didn’t feel like I was my best me, and it weakened my confidence and my sense of self. I ended up avoiding social gatherings. Avoidance felt way easier than trying to pretend I looked pretty when I didn’t feel it…

I began to realize I had become a master doer, but no longer felt comfortable relaxing. Every success I gained depended on me working near 24/7. I felt like I always needed to be productive at work and at home.  But herein lies the problem, the more I worked, the more comfortable I became with working, which made it more uncomfortable with relaxing, which led to a life of unhealthy habits. I grabbed food on the go, I didn’t exercise regularly. I rarely had a good nights sleep and self-care was limited at best. My life had become very one-dimensional. My nose was always to the grindstone.  

At 52 years old, I knew I didn’t want to wait for a diagnosis to force me to create healthy changes. I knew I wanted to stop thinking and worrying about my weight. Plus, with all the inspiration from Tony Robbins event, I reached out to Carol to discuss the details of her 1:1 coaching program.  

Initially, the obstacles to working with Carol were money and time. Did I REALLY need to spend money to work with a coach and did I REALLY need to do it for six months? Surely, three months would be enough time to whip me into shape, right?

I called a friend to discuss the pros and cons of hiring a personal coach.  My friend asked, “What would you do if one of your kids had this problem and wanted to work with a health coach?” Enough said. Based on my love and “anything for my kids,” and my respect for Carol’s work, for the first time in 24 years of parenting I treated myself like I would treat my children and signed up for the Carol’s program.

I started the program in January and committed myself to rigidly following the plan. Carol recommends that you begin with the elimination diet. I did exactly what she recommended. I wasn’t sure what would happen following her protocol, but I had a bit of a doomsday feeling and thought I would suffer from cravings terribly. I thought I would need a lot of support.

I couldn’t imagine what I would eat if I eliminated what was literally my personal food pyramid at the time.  

Eating had become, like many other areas of my life, an area that I gave myself no love or care.  At the end of a long day, I would tell myself, the least I deserved was to eat or drink what I wanted.  And that was true, it was the very least I could do for myself.  This led to slow and steady weight gain, an increase in health issues and resignation that this is what happens with aging. Yes, I had grown more comfortable caring for others than caring for myself.

Carol offers a lot of support, but fears of being her worst nightmare and neediness for a lot of hand holding concerned me. But that was not the case. I did go through an adjustment period, but it was not as nearly as hard as I expected. I had occasional cravings, coffee in the morning, wine at night, but she offers alternatives, so the adjustment and the cravings felt very manageable.

Carol’s program is significantly more self-care focused than food-focused. Once I eliminated the “inflammatory” foods she recommended taking out, it felt simple, so I could then get creative. I tried new foods, new recipes and new ways to prepare my meals.

I began to take time to grocery shop, prepare and invest in healthy take-out. I began to consistently take better care of myself. I never would deny my children healthy care, yet I had fallen into the trap of regularly denying it to myself.

Carol’s 1:1 program consists of weekly calls or video chats and starts with clean eating, but moves to eating to heal. Each week Carol would offer up her recommendations, and I would commit to, or not, what my actions would be for the week ahead. The food plan is simple and Carol offers many delicious recipes and alternative food options to some of our standard fare. The program entails nutrition, yes, but self-care and mindset strategies too, so by the end I had a well-stocked personal care tool box.  

I found myself looking forward to my Friday morning call each week. Carol is a wealth of information. In our conversations she offered me insights, strategies and “tools” to deal with whatever was needed to get me closer to my goals. Carol asks probing questions and helped me breakup life-long patterns and ways of thinking about things, to empower me to stick with all that I learned after my program ended.

I thought cravings would be my biggest struggle, but for the most part, I adapted easily to my new diet. My biggest trigger was centered around taking time to care for me. I realized that my lack of reverence and appreciation for myself and my body was the root cause of my weight and health issues. Food, self-discipline, self-control and adherence to eating clean were never the answer. Who knew?

Once I took inflammatory foods out of my diet, added more fresh vegetables and fruits in, and learned to think differently about all that I was doing, while learning to take better care of me, discipline with my food choices was no longer necessary.

I learned, and it’s true, that once cravings are gone, I went from blaming myself for a lack of discipline, to forgiving myself for ever thinking I could control the craving beast. During my time in the Carol-program, I immersed myself in reading about health and watching health related documentaries to support my experience. I learned that ultimately we are responsible for the state of our health.    

Ready to hear my results?

The first thing I heard was, “You look healthier and younger,” and I still hear it frequently! I lost 35 pounds in the first four months. Weight loss has since then slowed, but I continue to steadily lose weight.

My big win from the program is that I have stayed true to all that I learned. I regularly go out with friends and socialize. I enjoy a little treat here and there when I want them, but I immediately go back to my clean eating style.  

It feels so good to feel so good. It feels good to not be obsessing about food and weight. It feels good to feel clear mentally. Carol often talked about mental fog, but I never thought I had a problem. If my thinking wasn’t clear, I blamed it on aging too. However, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my mental clarity and memory from the program. Brain fog was NOT aging, it was from the food I was eating.

It bears repeating, it feels so good to feel so good, to choose clothes I love and to move comfortably and think clearly. I will never stray from my new healthy lifestyle. I feel so much more relaxed. I feel peaceful and much more confident. I used to feel harried. My life felt chaotic, but that doesn’t happen when you are taking care of yourself. From my efforts with Carol, I feel radiant again. I feel like I’ve improved all areas of my life.

The investment of time and money were nominal for the substantial personal and professional gains I made. 

The secret sauce of Carol’s program is her coaching and the accountability she offers. Carol is an experienced coach. She has an array of coaching strategies she uses to help you move forward each week. It wasn’t effortless on my part, it took commitment and dedication, but Carol holds a high bar. She wants the best for herself and she wants the best for her clients — me in this case.

I believe Carol’s coaching-style is perfect for professional, driven go-getters who aspire to achieve their best. She coached to the results I wanted. She was the catalyst that helped change my life in ways I had not been able to change it. She was exactly what I needed.  

I plan to live my life following all that I learned in this program. I will retain Carol for intermittent support throughout the year, for continued learning and higher levels of healthy living. I offered to write a review of my experience on the Carol program and have offered to do a follow-up report next year.

If you are driven to be your best and do your best like me, I unequivocally recommend you also be brave with your life and hire Carol. You will never regret that decision. 

After reading this letter from Margaret, imagine for a moment what she and I shared in together every week. We became sisters, as I guided her to what I like to say she already knew, but simply got lost below the world of doing… What in life can exceed such an experience? 

Here is my super-healthy spin on an Italian classic. Is it the same? Well… yes and know. Every flavor you love in classic lasagna is here, garlic and tomato, basil and cheese, and even the texture of fresh ricotta spilling over as you cut it, and the ‘meatiness’ of biting into pasta… but it’s raw, so it’s a bit different.

BONUS… this quick and easy recipes is even more quick and easy, because you create individual stacks, with no encrusted pans to wash afterwards!

You can get every ingredient for this recipe, minus the cashews, at your local Farmer’s Market, and I recommend you do. Why?

You’ll get the freshest possible ingredients, with the most vital nutrients, since it was just picked, plus… you not only support your local farmers, you support local farmlands and farm communities. Buying from your local farmer is a win-win-win, for you, for your farmers, and for your local community!

Ingredients:

• 3 Zucchini, sliced thinly into sheets
• 3 tomatoes, sliced
• Cashew Cheese
• Raw Marinara
• Pesto, or freshly minced herbs, basil, parsley & oregano

The Recipe:

Lasagna Pasta Sheets: 

3 “Good-size” zucchini. Slice them into thin sheets on a mandolin. Place the veggie sheets in a large bowl with a drizzle of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, a pinch of sea salt and 2 cloves of freshly minced garlic. Set aside and let marinate and soften (30 minutes or all day. Do what works)

After you make each ingredient, the pasta sheets, the cashew cheese, the marinara and the pesto, leave them out for an hours, so they are room-temperature when you assemble your lasagna stacks

Assembly 

• On each plate, layer of the marinated zucchini sheets, overlapping them as you would pasta sheets
• On top of this, layer the cheese, the tomato sauce, slices of fresh tomato, the pesto or the freshly minced herbs
• Repeat 2 or more times, and finish with crushed red pepper and minced fresh herbs

PS — Rather than give you the cheese, pesto and marinara recipes here, I led you on to another recipe where they are, to be sure that you put those recipes on your to-make list too! The Raw Fettuccine Alfredo and Spaghetti and Meatballs are ‘to-die-for!’

Buono Appetito!

Do you have an allergy? Let me know what it is, I’m pretty good at substituting things out. I’d love to help you make this in a way that works for you!

I’d LOVE to hear how you like this recipe after you make it! Let me know in the comments below.

Want more healthy and delicious recipes? I’ve got 10 quick, easy and healthy soup recipes for you in my new guide, Soupify! You can download it for FREE here. 

Move over juice cleanses… Hello souping!

TREND ALERT

Detox Soup cleanses are the latest craze, and for very good reason. Detox soups, unlike their sugary, fruit-laden, smoothie counterparts, heal the digestive system and cleanse and revitalize every cell in your body with savory ingredients, rather than sugary ones.

While souping is not really a substitute for juicing (C’mon, you know me better than that!), it offers many similar health benefits, like easily digestible meals for increased energy, weight loss, glowing skin and cleansing benefits!

SATIATING AND DELICIOUS

The cool thing about souping, rather than juicing is, if you’re a newcomer to things like fresh-pressed-juices, with soups, you retain the fibre content like you do in smoothies. Soup recipes are sure to satiate your palate, satisfy your desire for something more ‘meal-like,’ plus give you energy, vitality and a very satisfying new lunch and/or dinner option.

Think savory smoothies to have any time of the day…

SOUPIFY

And I’ve created a guide for you, Soupify, with 10 super-healthy and super-delicious recipes, including my favorite Tomato Bisque (and the best tomato soup you may ever have… I know, I know, that’s a pretty big accolade! But I do feel that confident!), Creamy Raw Zucchini Soup with Pumpkin Seed, Rosemary Crunch and my very own “Tortilla” Soup, plus 7 more recipes!

Download Your Free Soupify Guide!Soupify, offers you an easy, creative and new approach to your soup-making. Each recipe is made with only fresh and raw ingredients, to bring the most nutrient dense, live, vital nutrition to your body.

Think NO crusty pans to wash, oh yeah… plus glowing skin! What’s missing?

Plus, they are all healing and delicious combinations that will change the way you think about what you eat, while giving you a blast of live, vital nutrition to your body!

NOW YOUR IDEAS

After you look the guide over, or even try one, tell me which one is your favorite and why in the comments.

What recipe did you make, but put your own spin on?

What favorite soup recipe can I help you put a healthy spin on?

OR, tell me what flavors you like in the comments below and let’s whip up a recipe together!

For many of us, summer means it’s ice-cream time! OK, maybe any time is ice-cream time for you (Cynthia, is that you? :-)…  and me! But maybe like me, you no longer want to indulge in the dairy-laden, sugar-laden commercial kinds. Hello, Strawberry Nice Cream! This super-simple, super delicious 3-ingredient recipe will totally satisfy your craving for ice-cream! Promise.

Nut free  •  Dairy free  •  Sugar free  •  Guilt Free  •  Just pure delicious decadence, with a special shout out to you, Cynthia, who loves ice-cream! 

• 3 cups organic frozen strawberries (OR raspberries, blueberries or blackberries)
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped (match the berries of your choice above!)
• 1 cup raw cauliflower, chopped (or more)
• Stevia to taste

Add all ingredients to food processor and process until smooth and creamy. (Maybe a little almond milk or water, if you need to lighten the density of the mix). Top with:

• Fresh, sliced strawberries, or
• Strawberry sauce — 1 cup of strawberries blended with stevia until smooth, or
• Chocolate sauce — 1/3 cup almond butter, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, 1/4 cup raw cacao and stevia to taste, blend until smooth by hand in bowl (add a little water to thin if needed).

Optional: Two caps of live-probiotics to make Strawberry Cheesecake Nice-Cream

Happy Summer! Enjoy!

Raw Fettuccine Alfredo

I love to create uber-healthy spins on classic recipes, especially classic recipes I used to love! Fettuccine Alfredo was one of my favorites, but as I leaned more and more towards healthier options, the classic version left me feeling bloated, lethargic and imbalanced.

I’ve added an even extra-special spin to the Raw Fettuccine Alfredo recipe I offer you here — it’s lower in fat than many ‘raw food’ versions, which means it won’t bog you down! The secret is zucchini in the sauce too! Nuts are heavy and hard to digest, but add a creamy texture, so I’ve included a little, but only just enough!

You’re likely going to giggle, like I do when I taste it, like my friends do when they taste it! It’s an awesome, low-fat, super-healthy and super-delicious spin on a popular classic! Really!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cashews, soaked overnight
• 1 small zucchini, chopped (for sauce)
• 3 small zucchini, spiralized, or peeled into thin fettuccine noodles with vegetable peeler
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1 clove garlic, small – medium size, chopped
• 1 lemon, juice
• Sea salt, cracked black pepper, to taste
• Fresh basil, chiffonade
• Fresh oregano, minced
• Crushed red pepper, to taste

Prepare

Noodles: Spiralize zucchini and set aside

Sauce: In a high-speed blender, process cashews, small zucchini, garlic, lemon juice, salt and cracked pepper

Combine: In a large bowl, with your hands, massage the noodles and peas with the sauce

Plate: And garnish with fresh basil, oregano and crushed red pepper

Buono Appetito! 

Your turn:

Tell me how you like this recipe in the comments below. I’d LOVE to hear!

 

You must go to Sun in Bloom in Brooklyn,  NY. You’ll have one the best salads you’ll ever have in your life. It’s called the Bella Divine Salad and highly recommend you go there and order it, that is if you’re in 100 mile radius of the restaurant. Everything they offer is delicious, but this is my favorite. I order it every time I go.

But… until you can get there, I offer you my take on this “best salad” recipe.

I always do this — I go home after eating something that I love when out at a restaurant, and I work to recreate the flavors of the recipe myself.

Are my ingredients exact to the original? No. I intentionally created my recipe a little bit different, with added ingredients I thought would enhance the original, but also to not infringe on the chef’s original recipe. Of course, there’s no way I could know exactly what the exact ingredients are anyway…

But as I say often, because I do this all the time, my take is a “close enough second.” Plus, it’s super delicious and super healthy too!

Serves Two

Salad Ingredients

• 1 bunch curly kale, destemmed, and ripped into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 cup raw fermented sauerkraut
• Dulse, 1 sheets cut into thin strips (or to taste)
• 1 Avocado, sliced
• Hot pepper, chopped coarsely (optional)
• 1 cup kalamata olives, chopped coarsely

Optional: Thinly shaved carrot (use a vegetable peeler), Vidalia onion, shaved thinly, and/or radicchio, sliced thinly

Dressing

• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 lemon, juice
• 1 garlic clove, (small), minced
• 1-2 inch knob of ginger
• Coconut aminos to taste
• Stevia (optional)
• Water, blend to create thick creamy texture

Blend all ingredients until thick and smooth.

Massage kale with dressing until the leaves soften. Add sauerkraut, dulse, hot pepper and kalamata olives (plus other add-ons from the optional suggestions). Combine well. Plate salad. Top with avocado, and voila!

I hope you enjoy!

Buono Appetito! 

You’re in luck! I’m amping up my leafy greens intake even more than usual these days, so I’ve been playing around with ingredients and recipes! I’ve created a super-light, super delicious and super nutrient-dense smoothie that I think you’re going to love!

Every ingredient is super light. Every ingredient is super nutritious. And every ingredient blends together with delicious perfection! PLUS, there’s NO sugar… just a little stevia to taste, so it won’t feed imbalance in your gut = super-yay!

This is a smoothie recipe that you’ll love drinking and sharing — even the most resistant-to-healthy, or resistant to anything green, will enjoy this because it is so refreshing, satisfying and good!

Ingredients:

• 12 – 16 ounces of steeped mint tea
• 1 cucumber
• 1 romaine heart
• 2 limes juiced
• 1 handful fresh mint (peppermint or spearmint)
• Stevia to taste
• pinch of cayenne (optional, but delicious!)

If you try it, let me know how you like it in the comments section! I’d love to hear!

Cheers!