COOKING CLASSES NOW FORMING

Learn how to cook delicious nutritionally dense plant-based meals to enhance your health and well-being.

To register for classes go to:
www.lifetransformations.co
Or call 970-261-1060 to reserve your spot.
There will be afternoon and evening classes to
choose from.
Classes begin: Thursday May 7th at 1:00pm and 6:00pm and will run every Thursday for three weeks.                                                                         Cost: $129.00

Taught by Holistic Health Counselors and Chefs Walt & Ellie Legits. Three separate weekly classes with over 3 hours of instruction per class. This is a hands on class so be prepared to help prepare some of these foods & taste them. Recipes are provided for every item we teach.

All this for only $129.00

• Do you have an interest in learning how to cook “real” food?  Food free of chemicals and additives?  Want to improve your health?
  Then you won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn how to change what you eat and how it’s prepared.
  Some of the topics covered are:
  Super food breakfasts to start your day off
  Highly nutritious main courses that you will love
  Cooking with seeds and nuts and much more
  Healthy snacks

Avoid these 10 items and improve your health!

Thanks to Dr. Mercola for this info graphic. We make very similar recommendations to our clients. There is a never ending parade of toxic chemicals out there. For optimal health stay away from these items

Are Synthetically Modified Foods the New GMOs?

This month, we’re thinking a lot about the genetically modified organisms that make their way into our food supply, and what they mean for our environment and our health. It’s a complicated and controversial issue, as we explored last week—and looks like it’s about to get even thornier.

A technology has just hit the market that brings new questions and concerns to the GMO debate. Synthetic biology, or “synbio,” doesn’t just change the makeup of certain natural entities, it actually grows new organisms that make things more efficiently than nature does.

Without getting too deep into the science, here’s how synbio works: By taking genes from a plant and giving them to yeast, scientists employ the process of fermentation to create the same compound that plant produces.

Proponents of synbio tout a long list of benefits. Synbio doesn’t require any land, which means it doesn’t harm the environment the way farming does and isn’t subject to uncontrollable factors like weather. It also doesn’t require any laborers, can be sold at a lower price, and will even have a better taste than the products it replaces. They also claim that each synbio product has undergone rigorous safety testing, and, since they are chemically identical to the natural products they mimic, they can be technically viewed as “natural.”

This opens up a big question about synbio products: should they be allowed to be marketed as “natural”? And should products with synbio ingredients be labeled?

Critics point out that these products are slipping through a regulatory loophole that allows them to avoid government regulation, safety assessment, and labeling. They argue that consumers don’t know the difference between completely natural and synthetic, and that there needs to be a more transparent process in place to flag when a product uses synbio ingredients.

The first and only synbio product on the market today is synbio vanillin, an alternative to artificial vanilla flavor. The artificial vanilla that most people are used to buying is made from petrochemicals and paper mill waste—not exactly healthy stuff—and so the makers of synbio vanillin see their product as a “natural” alternative. However, you won’t know if you’re eating something that uses it—International Flavors & Fragrances , the company that makes it, isn’t revealing the food companies that use it.

In the synbio pipeline are saffron, stevia, the antioxidant reservatrol, and maybe even synbio dairy, which wouldn’t require any cows at all.

As this technology rolls out, the questions continue to roll in. What does “natural” really mean? Do consumers deserve to know if their products have been made in a lab? Do we need more assessment of the health impacts of synbio foods? The science is solid, the benefits are big, but the questions are serious.

Would you buy a synbio product? Would you feed it to your family?  Tell us what you think in the comments section below!

Pure Nutrition!

The time has come to start being more thoughtful of what is on the end of our forks.

Don’t let this great American fruit fall into obscurity

Have you ever had a delicious ripe persimmon?  Most of us haven’t ever tried one.

The American persimmon is native to the eastern U.S and is higher in nutrients like Vitamin C, calcium , iron and potassium than the Japanese Persimmon. Its fruit is traditionally eaten in a special steamed pudding in the Midwest and sometimes its timber is used as a substitute for ebony (e.g. in instruments).

The American variety  is an astringent  persimmon and  must be very ripe before eating or it will make your lips pucker like crazy. When ripe they are sweeter than their Asian cousins which are non-astringent. Either way, both varieties are delicious.

The non-astringent persimmon is squat like a tomato and is most commonly sold as fuyu. Non-astringent persimmons,  are far less astringent before ripening, and lose more of their tannic quality sooner. Non-astringent persimmons may be consumed when still very firm, and remain edible when very soft.

 One persimmon Contains the following vitamins and minerals

• Vitamin C               21% of  DV
• Vitamin A               55% of DV
• Vitamin B6             09% of DV
• Manganese           33%  of DV

So don’t discount the high nutritional value of this rarely recognized fruit. They are only available in late fall and early winter so don’t wait to get some.

 

FIVE STEPS TO ULTIMATE HEALTH AND A DISEASE FREE LIFE

Are you ready to take your health back?

Ever wonder what you can do to achieve the ultimate health that you’ve always wanted? Unfortunately there’s so much information and disinformation out there that one can feel totally overwhelmed. I personally follow this plan that I formulated and I have reached the goal of being disease free and  having ultimate health. Follow these simple guidelines and you will reach your goal of taking back your health.

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Step 1.   Eliminate processed foods. 

If your grandparents or great grandparents (depending on your age) went to the grocery store with you, they would be astounded. They would have no clue what most of the products would be or how to use them. In the early years of the 1900’s there were about 600 food products for sale in markets. Today we have over 550,000 different products, most of them the causes of chronic disease.

Here are some guidelines to go by when shopping.

• Always read labels.
• Try to keep total ingredients to seven or less
• Avoid products with added sugar
• By organic and non GMO products when possible
• If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, don’t buy it
• Be prepared to do more home cooking and buy fewer pre-made foods
• Eliminate all soda and soft drinks from your diet. Drink only purified water preferably hot as hot water has therapeutic properties.
• Eliminate white and brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup and any other artificial sweetener. Replace with healthier alternatives like Stevia, coconut palm sugar, honey, maple syrup and brown rice syrup.

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Step 2. Increase your intake of fruits,vegetables and legumes (beans)

Replace processed foods with fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably from local sources if possible  (or grow your own). These contain phyto and macro nutrients that your body needs to be strong and fight off disease. Beans, fruit and veggies also have the fiber you need to keep your intestinal tract clean of toxic build up. With out fiber, you leaving yourself susceptible to cancers of all types. 

Tips for buying and preparing produce

• Buy produce as fresh as possible, preferably local farmers markets or join a CSA. (community supported agriculture)
• If possible try to eat fruits that grow indigenous to your area. Keep tropical fruits to a minimum.
•  Eat at least five servings of vegetables per day and 3 servings of fruit. eat at least 3 servings of legumes per day. Don’t worry about over eating. Eat as much of these  as it takes to feel satisfied.
• Always soak beans 24 hrs. before cooking to remove anti nutrients and eliminate gas and bloating issues.
• Eat a variety of produce. Try to include all the colors.
• Eat both cooked and raw vegetables, especially cruciferous veggies, as the bioavailability of vitamins and minerals increases dramatically when these types of veggies are cooked. Eat as many raw veggies as you have a desire to.

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Step 3. Eliminate or drastically reduce animal products.

Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it. In the case of meat and dairy you are feeding disease. Even Kaiser Permanete, the largest health insurer in the U.S. is now recommending a Whole Foods Plant Based Diet for better health.

Animal products are not needed for us to be strong and healthy. Does a gorilla  grow to 400 lbs eating steak or drinking milk? No, his diet is leaves, grass, fruits and nuts. A plant-based diet.

So where will you get your protein? The average american consumes too much protein. We really only need about 10 – 12% of our diet to be composed of protein. Where will I get my Calcium for strong bones you ask?

Many plant based foods contain more protein and calcium than animal based products and without the associated disease caused by animal products.

Here is an abbreviated list of foods to eat to get protein and calcium.

• All Vegetables and fruits.
• Seeds and nuts of all kinds, especially, chia, sunflower, pumpkin (pepitas), sesame, quinoa, amaranth, hemp seeds.
• Lentils, beans (especially black), brown and wild rice, garbanzo beans.

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 Step 4.  Excercise/movement.

Our american sedentary lifestyle has led to an obesity and diabetic epidemic approaching catastrophic proportions. Over 30 million people have diabetes in the US. Two thirds of the US population is considered obese or over weight.

• More than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese.
• More than 1 in 3 adults are considered to be obese.
• More than 1 in 20 adults are considered to have extreme obesity.
• About one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be overweight or obese.
• More than 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be obese.

Some form of daily movement is essential to staying limber and slim. Having good sleep patterns, improving flexibility, brain function, heart function, and so much more.

What can you do? Vary your type of exercise each day and try the following:

• Ride a bike daily
• Walk at least 3 miles per day
• Practice yoga at home or take a class
• Jog or run
• Weight Training
• Dance class
• Hiking or mountain climbing.

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Step 5.  Reduce stress.

Stress is a killer. Because of the chemical reactions caused in the body by stress, it leads to numerous health conditions including obesity. You can feed your body the bests foods on earth, but if you don’t eliminate stress,  reaching ultimate health will be unobtainable So here are some things to think about to reduce stress.

Meditation important to overall health.

According to reports, there have been over 1500 separate studies since 1930. All were related to meditation and its effects on the practitioners. Some statistics on people who meditate include results like:

• Heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and oxygen consumption are all decreased.
• Meditators are less anxious and nervous.
• Meditators were more independent and self-confident
• People who deliberated daily were less fearful of death.
• 75% of insomniacs who started a daily meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
• Production of the stress hormone Cortisol is greatly decreased, thus making it possible for those people to deal with stress better when it occurs.
• Women with PMS showed symptom improvements after 5 months of steady daily rumination and reflection.
• Thickness of the artery walls decreased which effectively lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke by 8% to 15%.
• Relaxation therapy was helpful in chronic pain patients.
• 60% of anxiety prone people showed marked improvements in anxiety levels after 6-9 months.

Yoga

The potential health benefits of yoga include:

• Stress reduction. A number of studies have shown that yoga can help reduce stress and anxiety. It can also enhance your mood and overall sense of well-being.
• Improved fitness. Practicing yoga can lead to improved balance, flexibility, range of motion and strength. And this means you’re less likely to injure yourself in other physical endeavors or in your daily activities.
• Management of chronic conditions. Yoga can help reduce risk factors for chronic diseases, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Yoga might also help alleviate chronic conditions, such as depression, pain, anxiety and insomnia.

Love your job or find a way to love it. Look for a new job you love.

Forgive those who have hurt you and forgive yourself also.

Start a religious practice

Turn off your cell phone after 6:00 pm

Heal your relationships

If you’re not sure where to start and would like guided help, I offer a 6 month program to coach you on how to transform your life and take control of your health.

Click here to contact me

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Kale, The Wonder Green

Raise your hand if you love kale!

Many believe that the nutrients in kale are only preserved if eaten raw. But hold on……what if you cooked it? Are the nutrients then lost?

Look at this chart below to see the amazing difference. The bio availability of nutrients is increased dramatically when cooked. A good rule of thumb would be to eat a mix of cooked and raw kale for optimum health. Its the same with cabbage. Vitamin  C is increased by 20 times when it’s fermented because the nutrients are trapped when raw.

Dietary fat: is it good or bad?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aug. 2014 newsletter. Recipes  and more.

Cant read the text? Double click each image to enlarge

 

 

Cook a healthy romantic dinner.

It’s so important to keep the spark alive in a relationship. By taking the time to do the little things that matter your relationship with your partner will continue to thrive and grow.  
So…..last night I decided to cook my beautiful wife a surprise secret romantic dinner, but I wanted it to be healthy, nutritious and delicious!  I also had nice soft piano music playing and the meal was followed up with dancing.

Have Extra Zucchini?

 

Extra zucchini and squash from your garden?

No problem! Try this amazing nutrient packed healthy baked zucchini, potato, tomato and onion bake.

 

Zucchini potato bake

Here’s how.

• 3 medium zucchini sliced 1/8″ thick
• 3 small yellow straight neck squash sliced 1/8″ thick
• 4 small red potatoes sliced 1/8″ thick
• 5 Roma tomatoes sliced 1/8″ thick
• 1 large sweet onion slices 1/8″ thick

Next

Carmalize onions in a large frying pan on medium high heat until nice and brown using no more than a teaspoon of olive oil.

 

Line a tart pan with foil so juices don’t leak out of the bottom while baking. Spread onions on bottom of  the pan.

Take all remaining ingredients and toss in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil.

• Add Italian spices.
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. pepper
• 1 t. garlic powder
• and any other spices you may want.

Gently mix till all veggies are coated in oil and spices.

Begin arranging veggies on the bed of onions alternating colors.

The final product should look something like this.

Optional,

• Sprinkle 1/2 t. parmesan cheese on top.
• Bake at 400 until well browned and potatoes are crispy
•