Dark Chocolate Is Good for Your Health!
Besides being delicious, here are some reasons why you should eat dark chocolate:
- Nutrition: packed with antioxidants, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper, and chromium.
- Mood boosting: the polyphenols in chocolate physiologically boosts your mood
- Improved digestion: fiber and polyphenols in chocolate improve gut health by promoting good gut bacteria
- Heart healthy: chocolate reduces cholesterol
Personalized Meal Planning
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE EATING FOR DINNER TONIGHT? Stop stressing over what to eat and spending too much money eating out! If you want delicious, health meals but don’t have time to plan them, you’re in luck! Try a PERSONALIZED MEAL PLAN!!!
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Heart Health Benefits of Salmon & Garlic
In honor of February, let’s talk about HEART HEALTH!
Salmon and garlic are both delicious and great for your health!!
Salmon is filled with tons of omega-3 fatty acids! Studies have shown that eating salmon 2-3 times per week can reduce risk of heart disease by reducing cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, and blood pressure.
Garlic is awesome and has multiple therapeutic effects including reducing LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and reducing blood pressure.
Try the delicious, heart healthy, garlic lemon salmon recipe!
How to Eat for Your Heart
Diet plays a major role in heart health! Thankfully, eating a well balanced diet can help you prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Eat these foods to maximize your heart health:
- Leafy green vegetables
- Berries
- Avocados
- Fish
- Beans
- Dark chocolate
- Tomatoes
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Hemp seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds,
- Almonds & walnuts
- Whole grains
- Green tea
Keep Your Heart Healthy with Exercise
Exercise is great for you heart health!
Regular exercise lower blood pressure, strengthens muscles, lowers stress, reduces inflammation, and helps control weight. Exercise can also stop of slow the development of diabetes and can even help people quit smoking! For the best heart health, doctors recommend 30 minutes of exercise 5 days per week.
Here’s a great workout that you can do in your living room!
Happy Chinese New Year!
Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate, put on your favorite red shirt and try this delicious, healthy moo goo gai pan recipe!
Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners
While you read this, take a couple minutes to center yourself by focusing on your breath. Follow these steps below now, and every time you want to meditate.
1) Put your phone on silent or airplane mode.
2) Set a meditation timer with a nice alarm tone. That way you’re not tempted to look at a clock and you won’t need to worry about spending too much time meditating. You want to come out of meditation slowly, so don’t be in a hurry to open your eyes. Take a few moments to remain present in the stillness you’ve created. When you’re ready, gradually become aware of your body and surroundings.
3) Sit in a comfortable position. If you’re sitting on a cushion, feel your sit bones rooting you into the ground. If you’re sitting in a chair, place your feet firmly on the ground and feel your body weigh heavy in your chair.
4) Close your eyes, be still and sit up straight with your chin tucked in slightly. If you find that closing your eyes makes you sleepy, then softly stare at a spot on the floor. Maintain a small smile on your face as this helps you maintain a relaxed and peaceful experience.
5) Breathe deeply. Breath through your in and out through your nose deeply and slowly. Alternatively you can breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, letting your breath flow effortlessly in and out of your body. Don’t force your breathing here – just breathe naturally and observe your breath without thinking about it.
- If you’re having trouble focusing on your breath, there are techniques to help:
- count the time it takes to inhale/exhale
- count the number of breaths you’re taking up to 10, then restart
- say the word “inhale” so slowly that it takes the entire inhale to finish saying the word and repeat for exhale.
6) Let go of your thoughts. Let go of things you have to do later today or pending projects that need your attention. Simply let thoughts come and go and be at one with your breath. Sometimes it’s tough to calm your mind down, but focus on your breathing and what your body feels like. You can imagine a relaxing picture in your mind like waves on the beach, or bring your attention to parts of your body. Don’t think or analyze, just focus on your breath or the image.
7) Continue to purposefully watch your breath, focusing your sense of awareness on its pathway as it enters your body and fills you with life. Imagine every cell in your entire body filling with air, from the top of your head down to your toes.
8) Then watch with your awareness as it works its way up and out of your mouth and its energy dissipates into the world.
9) Smile when you’re done and give yourself a high five! Be grateful that you had this time to yourself, that you stuck with your commitment to meditate, that you showed yourself that you’re trustworthy, where you took the time to get to know yourself and make friends with yourself. That’s an amazing two minutes of your life.
How to Prevent Heart Disease
Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the US. But thankfully, there are many different ways to reduce your risk of heart disease!
Here are some tips so you can live a long and healthy life:
- Get enough sleep – people who are chronically sleep deprived are more like to have high blood pressure and heart attacks
- Manage your stress – meditation and deep breathing techniques help effectively manage stress
- Regular exercise – exercising for 15-30 minutes 4-5 times per week reduces your risk of heart disease
- Eating a healthy diet – Plenty of vegetables and fruits, 1 serving of healthy fats per meal; reducing red meat, fried foods, and carbohydrates improves your heart health.
Rosemary, Chicken, Bacon, Avocado Salad
Bacon makes everything taste better, especially salad!
(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon
- 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 6 cups spring greens or power greens
- 1 package bean sprouts
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 large avocado, thinly sliced
rosemary vinaigrette:
- 1-2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
- salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (ensuring that there is a lip of parchment paper so that it can contain all the bacon grease). Put the bacon on the parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 13 – 17 minutes.
- After bacon is done, chop into bite sized pieces.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees, remove cooking racks and transfer bacon to a plate. Put chicken breasts on parchment paper in bacon grease and sprinkle with salt & pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and rosemary. Bake for 15-30 minutes until 165 degrees.
- Whisk together the rosemary vinaigrette ingredients.
- Let the chicken rest for a few minutes while you assemble the salad. Add bacon.
- Slice chicken and avocado, place on top of salad.
- Drizzle rosemary vinaigrette and enjoy!
Smokey Cauliflower Bacon Hash
Everyone knows that bacon is the best food ever! Here is a delicious, healthy recipe for smokey cauliflower bacon hash that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 1 large shallot
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 – 4 cloves of garlic
- 8 pieces of bacon
- 1 – 2 zucchini
- 1 – 2 lb mushrooms (shiitake, portobello, or white)
- 2 cup frozen riced cauliflower or fresh chopped cauliflower
- 8 eggs
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp chicken broth
- 1 – 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Red pepper flakes to taste
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (ensuring that there is a lip of parchment paper so that it can contain all the bacon grease). Put the bacon on the parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 13 – 17 minutes.
- Chop shallot into fine dice. Chop zucchini into small dice.
- Heat large frying pan on medium heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil.
- Saute shallots until softened, approx. 2 minutes.
- Add zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, salt/black pepper, paprika, italian seasoning, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes. Saute 4-5 minutes or until vegetables soften.
- Add chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
- Add riced/chopped cauliflower and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- While cauliflower is cooking, cook the eggs by preheating a large frying pan on medium heat. Add olive oil, crack eggs and cook until egg whites are nearly set, then add 1/2 cup hot water and cover with lid. Let cook 30-60 seconds until yolks are a desired consistency.
- Remove from hash frying pan heat, stir in cheese and lemon juice.
- Chop bacon into bite sized pieces and add to hash.
- Divide into 4 servings and top with 2 eggs.
