I is for Inflammation

ABCs for healthy living are quick takes on simple strategies for creating a healthier life.

Eating fruit reduces inflammation in our bodies.

Any type of stress on our bodies causes inflammation on a cellular level. Increased inflammation is a primary factor in the onset of chronic illness, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, and many types of cancer.

Inflammation can be caused by anything that puts stress on our bodies. Some common causes of increased inflammation are exposure to environmental toxins, eating processed food full of toxic ingredients, using cleaning products and cosmetics full of harmful chemicals, leading a sedentary life, not getting enough sleep, and going through periods of physical,emotional, mental, or spiritual stress.

We can reduce the inflammation in our bodies and the illnesses it produces by limiting our exposure to the things that increase inflammation. Eliminating processed food from our diets and eating real food with lots of anti-inflammatory nutrients is a great way to reduce inflammation.

If you want to decrease the inflammation in your body, try adding these great anti-inflammatory foods to your diet: almonds, bell peppers, beets,blueberries, broccoli,cherries, chia seeds, cinnamon, coconut oil, flaxseed, ginger, limes, pineapple, sweet potatoes, tea, turmeric, walnuts.

Check out this post for a great recipe for ginger tea that includes four anti-inflammatory ingredients. Ginger Tea Recipe

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F is for Farmer's Markets

ABCs for healthy living are quick takes on simple strategies for creating a healthier life.

Bounty from the Kansas City Farmer's Market

Farmer's markets are a great place to find lots of fresh real food.The food is usually grown locally so it has not been transported over long distances before you buy it. Many farmer's markets offer organically grown produce. You can often speak to the person who planted and harvested the crop to ask questions about the use of pesticides and GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds. Organic farmers are great advocates for eating real food and are frequently willing to discuss their growing methods with you.

Farmer's markets are located in towns large and small around the country. My friendly little hometown has a population of a little over 3000 and we have a farmer's market that you can visit every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday during gardening season. Red Bay Farmer's Market

There is a wonderful farmer's market in Madison, AL where we shopped many Saturdays when we lived there. Madison City Farmer's Market

We enjoy traveling in our motorhome. I love to buy fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmer's markets when we are crusing around our beautiful country. We discovered a great one when we were in Kansas City, MO. The historic City Market has been selling fruit and vegetables in approximately the same location in downtown Kansas City since 1857. It was a fun place to visit and to restock our supply of fresh produce. Kansas City Market


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7 Healthy Apple Recipes + 3 Apple Dessert Tips

Over 2500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States

I made three major lifestyle changes that led to my recovery from fibromyalgia. Making these choices can help moderate symptoms, not only from fibromyalgia, but also from many other chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases. 

• I got as many chemicals as possible out of my home environment by changing what I used for cleaning and personal grooming. 
• I stopped eating most processed food. 
• I started eating real food with a lot of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients.

Check out the post from February 8 for info on the health benefits of adding antioxidant rich foods to your diet. Want to make something with almonds? Check out last week's post. This week is all about apples. Buy organic ones when possible. If you are lucky enough to live in an area that grows apples, you may be able to find an organic apple farm that allows you to pick your own fruit.

Apples are on several dirty food lists because of the high concentration of chemical residue in commercially produced apples. If you buy them from the supermarket,wash thoroughly and peel before eating. 

Or try this. Put 1/4 cup of plain white vinegar in a large metal or glass bowl. Add apples. Fill the bowl with water until the apples are covered. Put a heavy plate on top of the apples to keep them submerged. Or turn the apples every few minutes to make sure the whole surface is coated. Soak in the vinegar and water mixture for 15 minutes. Rinse the apples in plain water and dry them with a paper towel. This helps lift chemical residue off the apples. I also soak grapes, lemons, berries and any fruits that may have been exposed to pesticides and other chemicals in the vinegar mixture before eating. 

I have searched the web this week for healthy apple recipes. Here are seven delicious ways to use this antioxidant rich fruit.

Apple Spinach Chicken

Baked Apples

Beet and Apple Salad

Chicken with Apples and Cranberries

Pork Chops with Apples and Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Pumpkin Apple Soup

Updated Waldorf Salad


Apple Desserts

Apple pies, crisps, cakes, and tarts are delicious for dessert. Here are three tips to make your apple dessert recipes a little healthier.

Add healthy ingredients. To increase the nutritional value of the dessert, add healthy ingredients that blend well with the flavor of apples. Try adding chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, raisins, or medjool dates. Add 2 tablespoons of flaxseed or flaxseed/chia seed mixture to the dry ingredients. Replace part of the butter called for in the recipe with organic coconut oil. Replace part of the flour called for with rolled oats.Use unbleached flour and whole wheat flour instead of refined white flour.

Sugar. Consuming too much refined sugar is linked to a variety of health problems. Instead of white refined sugar, use raw organic sugar, raw organic honey, real maple syrup, or molasses for sweetener. Reduce the amount of sweetener called for in the recipe. I have reduced the amount by up to half with delicious results.

Shortening and oil. If your apple dessert recipe calls for oil, always use pure olive oil. Olive oil is much healthier than corn oil, canola oil, or other vegetable oils. If the recipe calls for shortening, try using organic coconut oil instead. Coconut oil looks like solid shortening and works much like shortening in recipes. Try this coconut oil pie crust.

Coconut Oil Pie Crust


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Daily menu of healthy food

I had to constantly remind myself to maintain an attitude of gratitude during the months it took for me to gather all of the information I needed to recover from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.  Maintaining a positive outlook while getting the chemicals out of my environment was easy. Remaining cheerful while making drastic changes in my diet was a lot more difficult. It took time, prayer, and patience.  I eventually learned to be grateful for what I can eat instead of being bummed out about what I can't eat.  

I have been eating healthy whole foods that are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties for over a year.  It took several months to get all of the unhealthy, processed, chemically laden food out of my system because I was on a learning curve finding out what I needed to eliminate and which healthy whole foods were the best choices to add.

I have been symptom free for almost five months.  Every morning I am amazed that I wake up with no pain and no debilitating fatigue. Here is a typical daily menu.

BREAKFAST

scrambled egg                  

whole wheat toast with raw honey sprinkled with almonds 

dark red grapes and fresh pineapple

hot ginger tea (recipe in earlier post)

LUNCH

grilled steak sandwich

raw carrot sticks and radishes with vinaigrette dip

chips

orange and half a banana

DINNER

ground turkey meatballs with tomato basil sauce

pasta

mixed green salad

berry oat muffin

SNACK

baked apple drizzled with raw honey and sprinkled with walnuts and cinnamon

I am grateful that I have a glass (and plate and bowl) and that there are plenty of choices of healthy food to put in them.


                    

To Snack or Not to Snack? Hmmmm.

I enjoy eating snacks and treats. I've eaten far too many of the wrong kind for decades.  But I knew myself well enough to know that I wasn't about to give up snacking completely.  It was obvious that I could not continue to eat the prepackaged cookies and candies I had been consuming because of the chemicals and additives they contain. But the truth is I was trying to find a food plan I could live with for the rest of my life. On a practical level, I knew I did not have the time or the inclination to make every single thing I eat from scratch. 

I use some packaged foods. I have become an avid label reader. The things I buy tend to contain only a few ingredients. The brand of dried cherries I buy has one ingredient: cherries.  I stay away from items that contain dyes, preservatives, trans fats, and other harmful chemicals.  I have found that if I eat whole foods 95% of the time, I can tolerate some packaged foods the other 5% of the time.  You may discover a different formula that works for you.  I got well and I have stayed symptom free on this plan.

Some day I may decide to make my own bread, mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles, chips, dried fruit, granola, yogurt, and almond butter but right now these are things I purchase that someone else has made.

I had to learn to think a new way and be creative in my choices. Being willing to change was a key factor for me.  I'll admit that I had a serious internal struggle with this.  It was six months from the day I first read about chemicals in the environment and processed food as a possible cause for fibromyalgia to the day I finally decided to go for it and alter my lifestyle.  I felt so miserable and hopeless by then that I was willing to try anything to get better.  Today my fibromyalgia pain is gone.  My debilitating chronic fatigue symptoms are gone. And now I wonder, why in the world did it take me so long to decide to do this? 

Here are some snack ideas you might want to try:

Wash and freeze grapes.  Take out a handful to munch on at night while watching TV.  They are a cold, crunchy treat.  Red or dark purple are my favorites.  Fresh pineapple is also delicious frozen.  

Sprinkle organic granola over a cup of Greek yogurt.  Add walnuts, almonds, and dried cherries.

Have an apple, banana or an orange.  Drizzle with raw honey. Sprinkle with nuts and a spoonful of crunchy almond butter.

Spread chocolate almond butter on a graham cracker. Most graham crackers contain some partially hydrogenated fats but no other harmful chemicals.  I do well with them as long as I eat only two at a time and do not eat them too frequently. 

Have a single serving size bag of potato chips.  Read the ingredients label.  I eat chips that list three ingredients:  potatoes, oil, and salt.  Some brands also list food additives, preservatives, hydrogenated fats, food dyes, and other chemicals as ingredients.  I steer clear of those

Make ginger cookies with molasses and freshly grated ginger.  My favorite recipe makes about 100 cookies. Ginger is a main ingredient and it is an anti-inflammatory food.

I love chocolate.  Occasionally I make homemade brownies with walnuts.  Walnuts are on my good foods list.   I bake and freeze the brownies and defrost only one at a time.  I do the same thing with the cookies.

These are the four key points to my snack attack plan:

Limit refined sugar

Read the ingredient labels on every single package

Eat plenty of whole fruit

Find healthy substitutes for unhealthy foods

What is your favorite healthy snack food?