Natures Fusions Cleanse

I know I didn't exactly keep it a secret how much I HATED being pregnant. However, there is something worse! Trying to lose baby weight! With a good diet, exercise, and a little help from my favorite natural helpers, I am documenting my own weight loss extravaganza day by day. If you want to follow along, check the blog daily! :) 

You'll need: 

Natures Fusions:

        Cinnamon oil

        Lemon oil 

        Grapefruit Oil

        Peppermint Oil

Naturesfusions.com

Common foods I use in clean eating

Produce
Assorted Fresh fruits and Veggies
Sweet potatoes
Frozen fruits and Veggies
Cucumbers
hummus
AVOID: potatoes unless they're sweet potatoes

Meat
Deli meat (no nitrates)
Turkey Burgers
Venison
Elk
AVOID: meats with nitrates, not free range or grass fed or processed meats

Grains and Seeds
Quinoa
Brown rice
Chia Seeds
Flax Seeds
Oat Flour
Steel Cut Oats
AVOID: processed white flour

Sweeteners
Maple syrup (pure! No aunt Jemima... let's do the real thing!)
Honey
Coconut sugar
AVOID: Cane sugar, High fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Artificial sweeteners

Energy
Green tea
Matcha Tea
Crio Bru; Cavella Roast
AVOID: unnatural caffiene, soda, sugar, energy drinks

Dairy
Hormone free cheese (or raw if it's available)
Greek yogurt (plain!)
Full fat cottage cheese
Raw milk
AVOID: homogenized and pasteurized milk, dairy that isn't labeled hormone free, "low fat" or "fat free" labels.

ALL IN ALL: if you're reading labels and can pronounce it or don't know what it is or know it doesn't come from an all natural source, DONT USE IT!

If you are wanting to follow along, and have any questions about certain foods I have listed to avoid or have a common food you eat and are wondering if it is "clean," PLEASE email me at healwithfood33@gmail.com

Hypothyroidism Recipes; Give your thyroid a Jumpstart!

if you're anything like me, you went over my post from yesterday, got a little overwhelmed with the foods that help thyroids and decided you just will have to be fat your whole entire life.
however, never fear. i am also the type of person who has a lot of down time at work at decided it would be fun to find recipes that not only were healthy, but would also would benefit a sluggish thyroid. i cant vouch for any of these because i have yet to try them...but i got a lot of them from a nutrition coaches blog who healed her thyroid via food!

enjoy!

Blackberry Power Smoothie

Prep time: 7 min
Making time: 1 min

Serves: 1

The Ingredients

• Handful of organic blueberries
• Handful of hemp seeds
• 1.5 tbsps of ground flax seed (flax seed meal)
• 1 tbsp of milk whistle
• 1/2 tsp camu camu powder
• Handful of almonds, pecans or walnuts
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil or ghee
• 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp raw honey (optional)

The Making

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender.
2. Blend till either very smooth or somewhat smooth if you like chunks in your smoothie.
3. Touch your heart and tell it you love it

Elimination Diet Friendly Almond Bread for your Thyroid Nutrition

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Makes: 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

The Ingredients

• 1.5 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 4.5 tbsp water
• 1 1/4 cups almond flour
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

The Making

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Add water to ground flaxseeds and mix well. Let sit to start forming a gel.
3. Grease the bottom of a baking pan
4. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together.
5. In the same bowl with the flaxseed mixture, add the honey and coconut oil and mix well.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (be careful not to burn it!)

Enjoy this filling bread as is, with some coconut or almond butter, or fresh berries.

Thyroid Diet: Bill’s Chia Seed Pudding

Prep time: 5 min

Standing time: 15 min

Serves: 2

The Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1.5 glasses of coconut milk or any nut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• optional: 1 tablespoon coconut butter or oil for extra richness
• sea salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 handfuls of fresh raspberries

The Making

1. Warm up the milk but do not boil
2. Add a pinch of salt
3. Whisk the chia seeds into the warm milk, add coconut butter or oil (if using) and let stand for 10/15 minutes to set to a gel consistency
4. Reheat after standing if required, or allow to cool completely
5. Whisk in the raspberries and drizzle on the honey
6. 2 tablespoons makes a very thick mixture, you can adjust to your own taste

Nutritious Thyroid Diet: GAPS Casserole

Have a hankering for a delicious, steaming casserole? Then this is the recipe for you! It combines a GAPS Stew with a cauliflower blend. Excellent for your a balanced, nutritious thyroid diet. Enjoy!

To make the stew:
The Ingredients

• 500g ground beef
• 15 cups (measured raw) of vegetables (carrots, broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, kale, etc.)
• Animal fat, ghee, or coconut oil (as much as you want)
• onions, chopped
• garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

The Making

1. In your choice of fat, saute the chopped onions and minced garlic for 6-10 minutes.
2. Add ground beef and brown it.
3. Add tons of a variety of veggies!
4. Add water to reach all but the top two inches of veggies.
5. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
6. Add salt, pepper, and ghee.
7. Blend, if desired.

To make the casserole:
The Ingredients

• A head of cauliflower, chopped
• Ghee
• Meat/bone broth
• Salt and pepper to taste

The Making

1. Make stew, above.
2. Separately, steam the chopped cauliflower until soft.
3. Blend it with ghee or meat/bone broth, salt and pepper.
4. Fill half of a loaf pan with stew.
5. Top with blended cauliflower.
6. Drizzle with ghee or broth.
7. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

Roasted Honey Mustard Chicken with Tarragon

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1.5 to 2 hours

Serves: 4

The Ingredients

• 1 whole free-range organic chicken
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Dressing Paste

• 3 tbsps raw honey
• 2 tbsps mustard
• 5 sprigs of tarragon, finely chopped
• 2 tsps sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 lemon, juice of (the rest use for stuffing)

Chicken Stuffing

• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 lemon, cut into two halves

Gravy (optional)

• 1 glass of dry white wine

The Making

1. Preheat the oven to 350F or 175C
2. Wash the chicken and pat it dry
3. Mix honey, mustard, tarragon, lemon, salt and pepper into a smooth dressing paste. If too thick, add a little olive oil
4. Lift the skin off the chicken and gently distribute the dressing paste under the skin, all around the chicken including the legs
5. Stuff the chicken with the onion, garlic, parsley and lemon
6. Give the chicken a final rub with the olive oil and place it in a pan
7. Stick the chicken in the oven
8. When browned on top, stick a wooden spoon into the cavity and turn the chicken around – this should happen at about the half-point (1 hour)
9. Roast the chicken in the oven for a total of 1.5 to 2 hours
10. Let the chicken cool off before cutting it into pieces
11. If you would like to have some gravy, place the pan you used to roast the chicken on a stove and pour a glass of white wine into it, stirring the pan so all the pieces come off. Keep boiling it until the liquid reduces in half.

Poppy Seed-Stuffed Apples

This is a very festive dish that will fill your house with so much aroma that people will wonder what is it that you are celebrating at your house. I learned to make (or rather eat) stuffed apples in Poland where I was born. Whenever mom had nothing sweet to serve, she would bake apples. Over time, she became more and more creative with what went into the apples. Poppy seeds and nuts were my absolute favorite and this is what I would like to share with you.
The Ingredients
12 large organic apples (yes, you want to get organic)
1 cup poppy seeds
¼ cup honey or coconut nectar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, chopped
½ tsp all spice
2oz (50g) dark orange chocolate, chopped to small pieces
2 tbsp coconut oil
The Making

1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C)
2. Wash and dry the apples
3. Grease a glass baking form with half of the coconut oil
4. Cut out the core of the apples using a large spoon but do not cut through to the bottom
5. Use the rest of the coconut oil to cover the outside of each apple
6. Combine poppy seeds, honey, vanilla extract, nuts, all spice and chocolate in a bowl
7. Stuff apples with the filling
8. Bake till the outside of the apples is soft
9. Serve warm (not hot) or cold

You can make a whole batch of them and freeze them too. What a great grains-free, gluten-free and nutritionally rich desert.

Salmon Avocado Dip

Prep time: 10min

Cooking time: 4 min

Serves: many dips

The Ingredients

• 1 ripe organic avocado
• 6oz or 170g smoked salmon (or any smoked fish), you can also use canned pink salmon
• 2 tbsp fresh dill
• juice of 1 lemon or apple cider vinegar
• olive or coconut oil
• salt and pepper to taste

The Making

1. Mash avocado flesh with a fork
2. Separate salmon into small pieces and add to the avocado mash, continue working it with the fork
3. Add lemon, dill and the oil, and continue mixing it with the fork till texture becomes smooth

Serve on crackers, as a dip or add to a burrito wrap. Yum!

Arugula with Smoked Fish

Prep time: 7 min

Serves: 2

The Ingredients

• 2 handfuls of baby arugula
• smoked fish – as much as you like (make sure it’s free of nitrates)
• 1 avocado
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

The Making

1. Combine arugula, smoked fish (torn to chunks), and avocado slices in a bowl
2. Whisk olive oil, balsamic vinegar (or lemon) and salt together they they emulsify
3. Pour the dressing over arugula

 if you visit the link, she has MANY other awesome looking recipes and most of them are paleo for you weirdo's like me. :) i am so grateful to have the time everyday to research and share my findings with you all!! lets change the health industry for ever! 

 

 

happy healthy healing!

<3 KBS

Under Active Thyroid

I have heard the word "thyroid" being tossed around lately. I work at a health and wellness company so naturally everyone seems to have two things on their mind: health and wellness. That and money...

When I was first married I went to the doctor with complaints of weight gain, exhaustion, and all around hormonal discomfort. I cannot tell you how many times I have told my husband: "I didn't used to have mood swings like this." or "I just feel off, I don’t know what is wrong with me." 

The first thing my doctor checked for was pregnancy. Naturally. I was a 20 year old in Utah County who pretty much OD'ed on birth control not wanting to get pregnant. But what the heck? Draw more blood than necessary AND make me pee in cup. That’s cool. 

Luckily I wasn’t pregnant! But after several tubes of blood and a long week later, the nurse called and said I had hypothyroidism. Cool? I asked what I should do about it and she said the doctor would call me in a few days. Great.

I ended up having to follow through with the doctor but she seemed less than concerned about this new long word that was clearly messing up my body. After all, she felt fine...why would she care if I was exhausted and a moody brooding mess? She said she wouldn't be too worried about it and that it is a common thing in women. Yeah...cancer is common too but I don't want that, either. 

So it was whatever. I went along with life getting fat and feeling tired. Crying a lot. Testing high for cholesterol despite my mainly plant based diet, all of the sudden being effected by gluten, being stressed, and just feeling gross. 

now, fast forward two years, eating 1200 calories a day, eating real foods, eating healthier than ever and still staying the exact same weight I was two years ago. It all started while I was sitting behind a desk talking to a lady who was talking about how she gained a lot of weight when her thyroid slowed down. I had a "that's so raven" moment but I wasn't seeing the future, I was remembering the past... "Your blood results showed positive for hypothyroidism..."

DUH!!!!! 

No wonder I haven't been losing weight despite eating like a rabbit. No wonder I’ve been at a plateau since April. My stupid hormones are making it impossible for me to do so. 

Dumb doctor...why didn’t you drug me up while you had the chance...now you couldn't pay me enough to swallow a synthesized pill.

So, what do I do? I heal with food. :) 

Common reasons for a sluggish thyroid

There are so many reasons we could have issues with our thyroids. Some are common knowledge and some were really surprising. 

1. Auto immune diseases. Our thyroids don't know how to respond to chronic inflammation in our systems. Because our bodies are so complex and ready to solve its problems as quickly as possible, it takes everything in us to calm the inflammation, not leaving much power for the thyroid to function.
2. Gluten. Gluten intolerance has become more and more prominent among Americans. My personal belief is it is from the lack of quality control in non-organic fields, but whatever the reason, it causes the body to inflame...making #1 a big a problem.
3. Heavy metals and other toxins. Things like mercury and pesticides tend to get into the body and make it impossible for the thyroid to do its job. With the body fighting off foreign objects in the body it can't properly function in the thyroid. That is why detoxes are so important...it eliminates harmful things in the body and allows all other parts of the body to function the way they are supposed to. 
4. Stress. It is no mystery that stress really can mess with our bodies. And it has also been rumored that stress can make you gain weight. For some it’s because they are stressful eaters, which is entirely another scenario. But when it comes to people who aren't stressful eaters, it affects their thyroid. When you become stressed, your body’s immunity breaks down and is more vulnerable to illness. When if you're susceptible to illness and your body is consumed with fighting off illness, your thyroid isn't going to get the power it needs to do its job.
5. Franken foods. You should probably see a similar pattern in thyroid problems by now. Basically if there are things in your body that are unusual and require extra energy to fight off, it’s going to disrupt your thyroid. Genetically modified foods are no exception to this. Your body has NO idea what to do with them and it ends up trying to fight it off. 
6. Lacking in vitamins and minerals. lack of: 
1. iodine
2. vitamin D
3. omega 3's
4. selenium
5. zinc
6. vitamin A
7. B vitamins may cause your thyroid to not function properly. If you feel like you are experiencing any hypothyroid symptoms, try to boost your thyroid with foods high in these vitamins and minerals.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

Pain in the patootie weight gain and impossible weight loss aren't the only problems someone with an under active thyroid may experience. That is only the beginning. Other symptoms may include:

1. exhaustion
2. mild depression or anxiety
3. forgetfulness or bad memory
4. weight gain
5. difficult weight loss despite healthy eating and exercise
6. cold hands and feet
7. low body temperature
8. dry skin
9. thinning hair
10. constipation
11. fluid retention
12. long term issues like diabetes and heart problems

 If you are experiencing any or all of those symptoms, try healing with food. 

Foods to help Hypothyroidism

1. iodine: foods high in iodine include things like: baked potatoes, hard boiled eggs, lobster, iodized salt, navy beans, seaweed (sushi, anyone?), cod, shrimp, turkey breast etc. 
2. Vitamin D: fish oil, cod, catfish, mollusks, salmon, trout, halibut, etc.
3. Omega 3's: fish oil, omega 3 supplements, flax seed, olive oil, etc. 
4. Selenium (mineral that helps eliminate free radicals): meat, poultry, Brazil nuts, mushrooms, eggs, fish etc. 
5. Zinc: roast beef, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, dark chocolate, peanuts, crab, mutton, oysters, veal liver, etc. 
6. Liver, cat elopes, apricots, cayenne pepper, lettuce, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc. 
7. B vitamins: crabs, mutton, oysters, shrimp, beef, liver, octopus, caviar, etc. 

Conclusion

If you're lacking in any of the aforementioned vitamins and minerals, your thyroid could be at stake. There are other reasons you may be suffering from hypothyroidism and that may be up to a doctor to decide. However, if it is a simple fix such as changing your diet, it will be cheaper and better for your body. If you can find a doctor that practices functional medicine in your area, go to them. They will more than likely help you in the most holistic way possible. 

Best of luck!

Happy, healthy, healing! 

<3 KBS