Category Archives: Natural Health

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Energising Yoga for a lazy sunny Sunday

22 Sunday Jun 2014

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I woke up feeling out of sorts. A little stiff and not really refreshed. So I had my “Not so smooth energy smoothie” for breakfast, a giant mug of organic coffee (that large crashing sound was my health guru myth collapsing ). Still feeling blah decided a get up and go wake up yoga routine is what I needed. I have followed this video before.

This routine is very well thought out. Challenging but never too much. She gives options as to how far to take poses. If something seems too much you don’t have to stop your yoga and just watch whilst feeling inferior. I did watch her do the headstand, it was a good reminder on correct positioning, as I have bad habits! I feel amazing after it, all that blood to my head really woke me up. My limbs are acting like my own again. I ready for the outside world once more 🙂 Hope you guys like it too. have an amazing day! Xs Aissa.

Sunshine, salad, kale and strawberries.

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in juice, Natural Health, Savoury, Superfoods, Vegan, yoga

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O what a glorious few days of sun we have had. Got up into the high twenties (low 80sF). I got home from work, dropped shopping, jumped into shorts and was out the door. Sun, sun, sun sun O how I adore the big glowing ball of radiation! I practiced my yoga outdoors again, curling my toes in the warm grass. I reached up into the solid blue sky in my shoulder stand. I was extremely warm but also the heat increased my flexibility, my happiness to be in the good weather may have helped too! A lovely hour practice- including sun salutes as I mentioned in my last post- as it seemed rude not to 😉

I listened to the radio, read and just lay there for another hour and a half, as if there was nothing else I had to do. You have to take the sun when you can get it here in Ireland. You never know when the clouds will reappear.

I am still doing my healthy juice a day. I wanted something super green! I had eaten a plum and green apple while laying in the grass. I decided that was enough fruit so made a veg based one. It is CRAZY green and REALLY NOT sweet. So much so I had a beautiful ripe strawberry with it to balance it out. Now that I’m typing I’m thinking I could have diluted it… but eh!

kale and strawberry

kale and strawberry

Kale and Stawberries etc.

  • Four leaves and stalks of flat kale (cavolo nero)
  • A bunch of wheatgrass just under one inch in diameter (approx 2cm)
  • Three small carrots (equal to one large)
  • An inch long 1mm(.05inch) thick piece of organic ginger*
  • Half that amount of turmeric root
  • A couple of mint leaves
  • Optional: a quarter teaspoon of magnesium to balance the oxalic acid in the kale
  • Two ripe strawberries- to eat with the juice
  • I recommend diluting it with some water or water kefir

*organic as sometimes non-organic can have been irradiated

I made a salad with organic leaves, sunflower sprouts and miso

Organic salad

Organic salad

 

 

Grass Green Juice, Green Grass Yoga!

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in juice, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan, yoga

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Green Grass Juice- pre the juicing!

Green Grass Juice- pre the juicing!

Summer continues to be summer here in Ireland. It is a rare and beautiful thing. Every free moment I have is being spent in sunshine. I am building up vitamin D stores and the pale is going off me too 🙂

After work today I headed to a grassy sunny spot. It was over 25C (about 80F) lovely, sunny a hint of a breeze. I decided to do my yoga routine. My neighbours prob. now think me a little odd…. well odd and flexible! It was great, I have never done yoga outdoors on soft thick grass before. I started with sun salutes, seemed appropriate, headed into Triangle and Warrior one and two. I did a more yin practice after that, open hip positions, Pigeon, Double pigeon, Swan, Mermaid, leg stretches,some back bends and shoulder stands. I ended with some core, Crow and Shavasana Feeling the grass and gripping the uneven surface of the earth with my toes really focused my attention. It was much more calming away from the distractions of my living room. The breeze reminded me to breath, the grass tickling my nose helped me relax. If you get the chance and have your vegan sunscreen I highly recommend it.

I took this image from etnayoga.blogspot.ie I am not familiar with her blog. I had a glance it seems nice, I must go back and have a proper look. I think this simple drawing is very effective.

sun salute

sun salute

I stayed out reading and warming my bones for another hour or so after. When I came back in I was ready for a refreshing anti-oxidant hit.

In honour of the good weather and the outdoors I made Green Grass Juice!

  • Six dark flat kale leaves and stalks (Cavolo Nero)
  • An inch an a half in diameter of wheatgrass
  • One unwaxed golden delicious apple
  • one little carrot
  • One unwaxed lemon
  • A 2mm (.10 of an inch) thick slice of organic ginger
  • Roughly the same amount of organic turmeric root
  • Three stalks inc. leaves of oregano
  • Five mint leaves
  • Optional: A dash of organic apple cider vinegar (one with the mother)
  • Optional: A double shot of water kefir- for the good bacteria and yeasts
  • Optional: A third of a teaspoon of magnesium powder*

*I put in magnesium as I worry about the oxalic acids in the kale, it will bind with the magnesium from what I have read.

This is enough to make two small juices or one big mug of a juice. My partner found it a little sour, prob. due to the giant lemon and apple cider vinegar. I like the sour and intense green taste. If you are new to green juices or wheatgrass, perhaps half the wheatgrass and add another apple. This juice is supports the bodies natural detoxification process. It is alkalising and energising. The ginger and turmeric are good for digestion and have anti-inflammatory compounds. It is packed with vitamin C , the B vitamins and vitamin K and the super lemony-ness was really refreshing after all my time in the sun! It tastes summery.

Grass Green Juice!

Grass Green Juice!

Wishing you all good weather and a good yoga practice. Xs Aissa

Colourful Juice

10 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Colours….

Colours….

Green juices have been all the rage for a while now. There are other lovely colours in our fruit and veg. I believe we should be eating and drinking as many different ones as possible! Therefor any colourful juice is great! Those colours indicate different antioxidants and nutrients all having their benefits. Not dissing the green! Green is fantabulous, chlorophyll rich, helps deliver oxygen, boosting energy. I always have a green goody in there like wheatgrass. Beetroot has vascular dilation effects and helps lower blood pressure. Great if you are about to do some exercise. The herbs I’ve added are good for your digestion and oregano leaf is a fantastic anti-microbial. With the a dash of water kefir it will do extra good things for your gut 🙂

Here is the uber juicy palette for my Colourful Juice

  • An bunch of wheatgrass an inch in diameter
  • Half a head of green oak leaf lettuce
  • A red beetroot
  • Two small carrots
  • A stalk of celery
  • A half cup of celery leaves
  • One green pear
  • Half a small cucumber- 3inch/9cm piece
  • A slice of ginger
  • A quarter inch / 5mm piece of turmeric
  • Three mint leaves
  • Three oregano leaves
  • Three sprigs of curly parsley
  • Optional: A double shot glass of water kefir.
Colourful Juice

Colourful Juice

Xs Aissa

 

Functional Sweet Treats with reishi!

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Chocolate, Gluten Free, Natural Health, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

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Functional Sweet Treats

Functional Sweet Treats

These are packed with good stuff! They taste pretty amazing too, if I don’t say so myself. Tomorrow I am helping to give a demonstration to nutrition students, it is on how to use medicinal mushrooms ( I did this morning, it went well 🙂 ). I am bringing along sweet goodies made with reishi mushroom powder. Reishi has been used for thousands of years. It is one of if not the first medicinal food to be written about, in China roughly 2,000 years ago!Paul Stamets is a good name to look up if you want know more about these natural powerhouses, his Ted talks are a good intro.

Savoury is generally they way we go when it comes to mushrooms but why not with cacao? Or blueberries? Think of the antioxidant levels! Picture the immune boosting! Discover their adaptogenic properties!! Imagine the tastiness!

Here we go Functional Sweet Treats

    • Two dessertspoons of goji berries. Soaked over night in just enough water to cover them. I used water kefir.*
    • Half a ripe avocado- should a bit of give to it when pressed and be going a dark sap green colour.
    • Two big dessertspoons of blueberries
    • A flat dessertspoon of organic coconut oil
    • Two generous dessertspoons of raw dark agave/ date syrup / maple syrup. Whichever you prefer.
    • A generous cup plus two dessertspoons of ground almonds
    • Two generous teaspoons of raw cacao powder
    • A sachet of reishi powder which includes mint, licorice, star anise and stevia. Great for those adrenals. *
    • Optional: Half a teaspoon of pre-gelatised maca powder
    • A half teaspoon of vanilla powder or the scraped inside of one vanilla bean.
    • A quarter of a teaspoon of good quality sea salt or himalayian pink salt.
    • A third of a cup of organic desiccated/shredded coconut. For sprinkling on top or rolling in.

*This is about double the goji needed. I do more incase some stay a bit hard and eat the left overs. Yum.

*If you are using reishi capsules make sure there are not tons bulking agents, these could change the flavour. One capsules may do, go by taste.

Grab your soaked goji berries. It really is up to you what you would prefer. I don’t want goji lumps on my cacao reishi fantasticalness so I cut or shred my softened gogis. If you like big hits of the gogi then just chop them in two. Put them to one side for use as a topping later.

Mash your avocado and coconut oil together. Add your one dessertspoon of the blueberries and mash again. Should be a creamy paste.

Add the liquid sweetener and Mash MASH mash… again. Add the other spoon of blueberries and mix through. I press this less, as I like having more whole pieces of blueberries too.

Colourful even in the orange light of my kitchen diner.

Colourful even in the orange light of my kitchen-diner.

In another bowl combine all the dry ingredients (except for the coconut, that is for on top). Make sure there are no lumps of ground almonds or cacao. Sprinkle the salt in so it is evenly dispersed.

Dry goodies

Dry goodies

Add the dry things to the omega rich, mct containing, antioxidant abundant….stuff. Mix, stir, combine and merge the ingredients. Pressing the mixture to make sure the fats are taken up well.

Here is the one I used

Here is the one I used

My preferred Option A: You can roll them into teaspoon size balls. Prepare a plate with your gojis and one with coconut. Roll the balls in goji and then roll them in the coconut. Pop them on a dish and stick them in the fridge to set. They need to live in the fridge (and die in your tummy) as they will go squidgy when left unchilled.

Option B: Get a 7.5 inch cake tin/ tart dish and spread the mix a one centimetre deep. Ah the mixed measurements! That is 20cm cake tin and a quarter inch thick! 😉 You can the sprinkle and press the goji and coconut on top. Pop in the fridge for fifteen minutes. Take out and cut into one inch (2.5cm) squares. Put in the freezer to set. It is happier in there all the time really. It gets shy and melty at room temperature.

Hope you like these!Xs Aissa

P.S. There is a wealth of info on line but here are a few of links about reishi!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/reishi-mushrooms_b_2200808.html

http://www.alive.com/articles/view/17705/reishi_mushroom

And for a bit more of the nitty gritty science bit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92757/

How’s the Ferment?

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Fermentation, Gluten Free, Natural Health, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

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About a month ago I posted my Sauerkraut recipe. Any one join me at the time? Here is what mine looks like now. The water is nice and clear. No floating scumminess. Nothing on the glass above the water line. This is a sign all is well. It has a good strong vinegary smell too. Fermented foods are sadly missing from many of our diets, and they are so good for us!

The backlighting is flattering!

The backlighting is flattering!

 

I also keep Water Kefir and Kombucha. The water kefir is very active in the current warm weather. I changed mine last night. I thought it would be nice to add extra flavour. The orange colour comes from the rapadura sugar I feed it, i always put in a little ginger too. After straining it I added organic parsley and mint. It is a lovely drink for these warm long evenings. Filled with billions of good live bacteria and yeasts, fantastic for keeping your gut happy and healthy. I hope the summer will continue in this form and in another month I will be sitting in the sun having my sauerkraut with a big organic salad! 🙂

Xs Aissa

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Intense Juice

01 Sunday Jun 2014

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Intense Juice

Still having my juice a day, for that extra nutrient blast! Wanted to go for bitters and fabulous organic stuff that is good for the digestion.

I have been juicing for a while and I have built up the intensity of greens I can take. If you have just pulled your new juicer out of the box do not start with this one! Have a look at my other lighter recipes and certainly do not juice garlic. I would even recommend diluting this with some water kefir or natural mineral water if it is your first green veg juice. Also sip the juice, take your time enjoy.

Intensity of colour, intensity of flavour, intensity of nutrients!

Intensity of colour, intensity of flavour, intensity of nutrients!

Intense Juice packed with flavour!

  • Two large pak choi leaves
  • Four or five kale leaves and stalks
  • Four catalogna leaves
  • Three red cabbage leaves
  • Half a pointed red pepper
  • Two stalks of celery
  • One green apple
  • A nub of turmeric (as thick as tip of your baby finger)
  • Half a lemon
  • A slice of ginger ( half cm thick)
  • Optional: one small clove of garlic
  • Optional: A dash of water kefir

As I said this is Intense! If you think your palette or your system is not ready for it yet you can A: reduce the green leaves by half  B: Dilute the juice. C: Come back to it another time 🙂

The catalogna are bitter green leaves, “bitters” stimulate the digestion. All the greens are filled with energising chlorophyll. The cabbage’s red colouring is an antioxidant. Along with the greens it is a massive source of vitamin K. This juice gives an intense hit of B vitamins, vitamin C, glutamine,potassium, the enzyme superoxide dismutase with a massive etc. The addition of the lemon, turmeric, ginger and garlic gives it anti-inflammatory,antibacterial and extra anti-oxidant properties. It also does taste lovely!

Xs Aissa

P.S. Even the pulp is amazing looking!

Rainbow pulp!

Rainbow pulp!

 

 

Posted by | Filed under Fermentation, juice, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

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Drink your Greens

25 Sunday May 2014

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Hey, just a quick juicy recipe! This an Uber green concoction, if you are not used to intense greenness you could increase the apple or add a little lemon juice! First gather your organic goodies and prepare for juicing!

 

a bowl of green

a bowl of green

  • Four kale leaves
  • Half a teaspoon of magnesium powder (to balance the oxalic acid in the kale)
  • Two pak choi leaves
  • Five lettuce leaves
  • A stick of celery
  • Half a green apple
  • A third of a cucumber
  • An inch thick bunch of wheatgrass
  • Half a purple kohl rabi
  • A baby finger tip size of ginger
  • If you have it add a double shot size of water kefir to the juice

It is fabulously green. It gave me a great energy boost!

Super green with a delectable frothy head!

Super green with a delectable frothy head!

Here’s one I had while writing this one up!

  • Half a green apple
  • Half a purple kohl rabi
  • Three lettuce leaves
  • Three pak choi leaves
  • A half inch bundle of wheatgrass
  • A couple of inches of cucumber
  • Half an organic unwaxed lemon
  • A slice of organic ginger

It was very refreshing a lighter green but great greeny nutrition all the same!

Drink your greens two- too

Drink your greens two- too