Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Try this Green Juice to Rejuvenate Your Cells

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to post this brief video about being careful of drinking the filtered water from your sink if a hurricane or tropical storm has been through your area. Call me inexperienced if you will, I thought that my filtered water that's connected through the faucet would be good enough to weather the storm of Sandy.

Guess not! Got a little queezy from whatever got shook up in the water supply. In this video, I share with you my green juice recipe that helped to rejuvenate my cells after drinking contaminated water.



Monday, October 29, 2012

Here's How to Supercharge Your Veggie Plate

Add fermented foods to your veggie dish with a dose of super nutrition!

As you can probably tell, one theme that I will continue to promote is the power of fermented foods because they are super charged with nutrition, vitamins and enzymes that help you to digest your food. You get the added benefit of bringing in good bacteria that helps to build your gut flora, thus building your immune system and improving your overall health.

Here's an example of how I supercharged my dinner last night (pictured below): mixed veggies ---cauliflower, bok choy and carrots cooked for thirty minutes in a pot of water. South western peppers, cheese peppers, onions and garlic cooked in duck fat in a covered pan for thirty minutes. I topped this veggie dish with natto beans and enjoyed a side of homemade sauerkraut.


All of the food in this meal came from farmer's markets except for the onions and garlic which were bought organic from our local grocery store. The natto beans are organic and were purchased online from Megumi. I've just started eating natto beans two weeks ago and I enjoy it, mostly because I know that it's super healthy. I am looking forward to the long term health benefits of eating natto as described below.

Here are the 3 methods that I used to power pack my veggie plate that you can use also! Come on guys, we're having fun with health so let's do this:

1) Main dish
Cook your dish in a good animal fat like lard or duck fat. You can also use coconut oil olive oil.

Benefit of animal fat: helps with digestion and helps to seal the lining of the gut. When the gut is healed, it lowers the risk of autoimmune system diseases.

2) Top your main dish with natto beans
Natto beans are fermented soy beans.

Benefits of eating natto are:
* Contains the enzyme in nattokinase which is fibrinolytic (anti-clotting ...breaks down fibrin) and it's also anti-inflammatory

* high in protein

* good source of fiber

* vitamins K2 and B2

* calcium and iron

As a note, unfermented soy is hard to digest. According to naturalnews.com, unfermented soy can have the following affects:

* contributes to thyroid disorder, especially in women

* promotes kidney stones

* weakens the immune system

* contributes to food allergies and digestive intolerance

3)Add a fermented side dish
Sauerkraut or any other fermented veggies/fruit are highly nutritious. I promote making your own fermented foods. Many fermented foods in grocery stores have been pastureized and also use vinegar. To get the optimal benefit of your food, process it yourself with wholesome ingredients.

Benefits of homemade fermented foods are:
* the process of fermenting increases the nutrition of the food adding vitamins A, D, K , B, also nutrients such as magnesium, calcium iron and zinc

* supports your immune system by helping to build a healthy supply of good bacteria in your gut which decreases your chances of catching colds, flu and autoimmune diseases

* the fermentation process produces lactic acid to help you better digest the fermented food and also aids in helping to digest non fermented food when eaten together

* the fermentation process produces lactic acid which is needed to reduce the amount of phytic acid (nutrient inhibitor) found in food which makes for better nutrient absorption

* reduces inflammation

These are some of the ways that you can supercharge and power pack your veggie plate. It's a very tasty and colorful way to add more nutrition to your veggies. Do you know of any other ways? Please share!

Resources:

http://naturalbias.com/12-reasons-why-saturated-fat-is-good-for-you/

http://www.naturalnews.com/022630_soy_food_phytic_acid.html

http://www.meguminatto.com/about_natto.html

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/nattokinase/

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/01/03/fermented-foods-part-two.aspx


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Sauerkraut for Allergy Relief

Super food to the rescue!

I think that homemade sauerkraut and other fermented veggies are the secret to my seasonal allergy relief. I used to have amazingly horrible, uncomfortable allergy symptoms. This included loud sneezes that were embarrassing at work, home and on my train commuting. We're not talking about a single loud sneeze. We're talking a three in a row, loud sneeze symphony that echoed.

This orchestra of torture annoyed my boyfriend so much that he would get upset. Come on! Did he really think that I wanted to shake down the interior structure of our home with my sneeze festival? I would say:"Come on babe. Leave me alone. I'm suffering here!".

My other symptoms included a runny nose and itchy and watery eyes. For two or three months I lived in agony. I tried all different types of over the counter allergy medications and also tried eating local honey as some people suggested. Nothing worked. By the way, does eating honey really work?

Eventually, I just gave up. I was tired of spending money on meds that were not working so, I did nothing. For years, I dreaded the idea of allergy season and wondered why is it that I have to hide from nature. I could not stand being outdoors during the spring season.

Relief came to the rescue when I started the GAPS diet. This diet helps to rebuild your immune system by eating primarily traditionally made bone broth soups, homemade fermented foods and the highly controversial but very healing saturated animal fats like lard and duck fat (more about the GAPS diet later).


I truly believe that eating sauerkraut and other fermented foods for about seven months was very instrumental for my allergy relief this past spring. It's the good bacteria and enzymes that are available in fermented foods that I feel helped to put my immune system in balance. I only sneezed about ten times this whole entire spring season! That's an amazingly huge difference from my previous experiences. This is why I'm sharing my experience with you. You might benefit from adding this superfood to your diet. It seems as though ones gut flora is related to a person's health. I had no idea!

I had not grown up eating fermented foods. I now clearly see that my immune system was out of balance, totally wacked out. I had more of the bad bacteria from sources like chemicals in food and household cleaners, toiletries and environmental pollution with no help to protect myself from this bacteria. It's kind of like they took over and I did not have enough good bacteria to fight them off or balance them out.

Here are some benefits of eating homemade sauerkraut other fermented veggies and fruits:

* Added nutrients due to the lacto-fermentation process that contains vitamins B and C.

* Helps with food absorption.

* It's a raw food that has it's enzymes intact. More enzymes than non fermented foods due to the lacto-fermentation process.

* The probiotics, (good bacteria) helps to make the sauerkraut easy to digest and also when eaten with other foods, it helps to digest those foods as well.

* Helps to add good bacteria which is needed to balance out the bad bacteria. The addition of the good bacteria helps to keep our immune system working properly. It helps to keep us healthy!


I am really looking forward to next spring season because I am still following this diet eating fermented foods. Yes. Fermented foods are in my life to stay! I predict that my allergies will be a thing of the past and I will be able to enjoy the outdoors when mother nature stars to pollinate.

Resources:
http://gapsdiet.com/INTRODUCTION_DIET.html

http://www.probiotics-lovethatbug.com/bacteria-in-sauerkraut.html#axzz2AZ1wk9Yu

http://www.easy-immune-health.com/benefits-of-sauerkraut.html

http://www.natural-pain-relief-guide.com/lactic-acid-fermentation.html

Have Fun with Fashion and a Healthy Life!


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Hi and Welcome!




Thank you for visiting!

This is blog represents a new aspect of my life that I'd love to share with you. It will combine feeling good and looking good from the inside out...Having Fun with Fashion and a Healthy Life.

You may already know me from newyorkaccents.com, Fashion Accessories with a Twist! I am a fashion accessories designer. I also work full-time in the fabulous garment district in NYC as a Product Development Associate. I'll share with you my inspiration for designing new accessories. You'll be the first to know of new and super cool designs.

I started newyorkaccents.com, Fashion Accessories with a Twist! about six years ago and it's been a wonderful journey! This journey led me to meet my boyfriend who had a ton of health problems. Within the last four years I've been on a mission to help him to regain his health and while doing so, I've realized that I have health issues that need to be resolved before it turns into a critical problem. I've healed myself of the following:

* painful menstrual cramps and heavy menstrual bleeding
* dark circles under eyes
* malnutrition/under weight (yes! malnutrition)
* fatigue
* lack of energy
* over sleeping
* ...and my seasonal allergies have been reduced by about 95% in less than one year

My diet and lifestyle changes have helped me to put on healthy muscle weight and maintain it without the need for going to the gym.

In addition to my success, I've helped my boyfriend to escape chronic symptoms of fatigue and rapid weight loss when doctors had no clue of what the problem was. We've connected the dots between food, nutrition, absorption, mental clarity and feeling good which in turn gives us a healthy life. I've tried the Master Cleanse twice, juice fasts, and the raw vegan diet. I am currently on the GAPS diet which is in my opinion a celebration of restoring balance, taking the best of both the raw vegan and vegetarian lifestyle and combining it with a traditional diet which includes fermented foods, healing soups, animal fats like lard and duck fat, meat and poultry, veggies and fruit eaten in such a manner to heal the gut and strengthen the immune system, thereby healing many of the health issues that face.

I'll share tips that have worked for my boyfriend and I in hopes that maybe they will help you as well. I am still on this health journey. I've made progress but there's still a little more work to do. It's a lifestyle change and one of trial and error. There is no one size fits all method but, I believe that the more we share and create a dialog, the more we'll help each other to feel good and look good from the inside out. It's all about having aHealthy Life!

So let's have Fun on this journey with Fashion and Health!

Oh, by the way, I'd just like to reiterate that I am a fashion designer and health enthusiast. I am not a doctor. If your condition requires medical attention, please seek the help of your doctor.

Thank you and Enjoy!