NaturalCounselor Health and Wellness Blog For Women

Are you trying to beat your sugar cravings?  Why not try one of these recipes; they can help you balance your hormones, boost your energy, or with weight loss and detox.

Healthy Detox Ginger Carrot Breakfast Cookies

Ginger promotes circulation, stimulates lymphatic flow, and can help detox the body.

The taste of carrots help fight your sugar cravings as well as improve your eyesight, lower cholesterol and prevent heart attack and stroke.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup oat flour
• ¼ cup brown rice or barley flour
• 2 cups cooked millet
• 1 and ½ tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• ½ cup water

Directions:

Lightly roasted oats and flour by stirring over medium heat in skillet, until toasty smelling but not browned. Mix all ingredients and add just enough water for a moist, (not mushy). Shape into cookies on an oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

adopted from the Self-healing Cookbook by Kristina Turner

Tasty Fennel and Orange Detox Salad

Fennel stimulates the liver, improves fat digestion, and contains essential oils that can help get rid of excess fluid and thus weight.

Orange is rich in vitamin C and can help boost your immune system.  You can also lift your mood by using the zest of the oranges.

Onions can cleanse and detox your liver and skin; they also have antiseptic properties.

Ingredients:

• 2 oranges, sliced
• 1 bulb fennel, sliced
• 1 red onion sliced into rings
• juice of 1 orange
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• zest of 1 orange
• mint or parsley to garnish

Directions:

Place a layer of oranges, then a layer of fennel and then a layer of onions. Mix orange juice with apple cider vinegar and drizzle over the salad. Add orange zest and mint or parsley to garnish.

Beet and Apple Juice Detox Recipe

Try this delicious detox juice recipe to feel and look fabulous.

Beets stimulate the liver and can help to detox and cleanse the digestive system and blood.

Apple adds sweetness and fiber which can helps to detox your body.

Spinach contains antioxidants that can fight free radicals to helps boost your immune system.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium beet
• 1 large apple
• 1 carrot
• 1 cup fresh spinach leaves

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in the juicer or blender and process. If you wish, you can dilute with filtered water to taste.

Bon Appetit!

Breathe, smile and be happy.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Relationship Expert

We all know that illness can be caused when toxicity in our body increases.  To reduce toxicity you can always try weight loss detox with whole foods and detox recipes.  But did you know that toxicity can be increased by stress.  So why not try to reduce your stress first?

To reduce stress you can learn to relax, improve sleep quantity, or try some breathing exercises.   If you reduce your stress you may be able to reduce female hormone imbalance and ease pre-menopausal and post menopausal symptoms.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.  ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

One of the best stress reducers is to try to do nothing for five minutes.  Can you do it? It will be even better if you lie down and put your legs up on the wall – in Legs-up-the Wall Pose. This detoxing pose will help you to relax, drain lymph from the legs and increase blood flow.

If you are not sure how to start, some directions from yogajournal.com might help:

Start with your support about 5 to 6 inches away from the wall.

Sit sideways on right end of the support, with your right side against the wall (left-handers can substitute “left” for “right” in these instructions).

Exhale and, with one smooth movement, swing your legs up onto the wall and your shoulders and head lightly down onto the floor.

The first few times you do this, you may ignominiously slide off the support and plop down with your buttocks on the floor. Don’t get discouraged. Try lowering the support and/or moving it slightly further off the wall until you gain some facility with this movement, then move back closer to the wall.

Try to relax on the floor doing nothing every day, and if you think you don’t have time, lie down while you watch TV, talk on the phone or plan a weekend  getaway.  Breathe, smile and be happy…..

Let us slow down and learn how to do nothing from time to time to feel and look fabulous, shall we?

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health Coach and Counselor

NaturalCounselorBlog.com

Are you ready to keep your body toxin free? Then you may want to start by by including more  detox herbs and cleansing spices in your recipes.

For a super simple detox diet, incorporate the cleansing spices, such as Turmeric, Cumin, Coriander, Cayenne, Ginger, Fenugreek, and Clove. Here are some reasons why.

• Turmeric – contains the flavonoid curcumin, which is known to have anti-inflammatory properties. It helps detoxify the liver, cleanse the blood.
• Cumin – contains oils that are effective in helping to detoxify the liver and aid digestion
• Coriander- contains oils that are effective in helping to detoxify the liver and aid digestion
• Oregano – liver and gallbladder cleanser
• Rosemary – colon cleanser, may help reduce levels of the carcinogenic heterocyclic amines
• Fennel – colon and liver cleanser
• Fenugreek – cleanses the stomach, bowels, kidneys and respiratory tract of excess mucus
• Clove – parasite cleanser
• Ginger- stimulates circulation, relieves congestion
• Cayenne – blood and tissue purifier

Are you ready to use these spices to make some super healthy simple detox recipes to help you detox your body and feel and look fabulous?

Dip / Dressing Detox Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp plain yogurt
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• 1/5 (or less) cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs almond butter
• kelp with sea salt to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. You can use it as a dressing for salads, as a dip, with fish, meat, etc.

Curry Detox Recipe

• 2 tbs turmeric
• 2 tbs cumin
• 2 tbs coriander
• 1 tbs ginger powder
• 1 tbs pepper
• 2 tsp cardamom
• 2 tsp mace
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Mix well and place in airtight container.

Bon Appetit!

P.S. find more easy detox tips and recipes in the e-Book “Detox – 101 – Super Simple Detox, The Ultimate Guide for Beginners.”

Breathe, smile and be happy.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach

NaturalCounselorBlog.com

Happy and Healthy New Year!

Do you have frequent colds, mood changes, nervousness, headaches, constipation, insomnia, or backaches? These symptoms might be signs of toxicity.

We can get toxins from everywhere: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, our, make up, the household products we use, the clothes we wear, in other words, just about anything we touch.

Just by using shampoo, eye shadow, lipstick, mascara, and perfume, you can be exposed to hundreds of chemicals.  And we wonder why we get headaches, rashes, hormonal changes, allergies, infertility and cancer.

During the winter season, many of us consume much more fat, sugar, alcohol, meat, etc., causing our bodies to become even more toxic

So why wait till spring to detox, when you can feel better all year long with a super simple detox.

Just by drinking more water and shifting from the most congesting foods (sweets, diary products, bread, fats, fried foods, refined flours, meats, hydrogenated fats, drugs) to the least (fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes) you can achieve weight loss, and detox at the same time..

After stressful holiday season support your liver and cleanse your blood and lymphatic system, with some New Year healthy and natural weight loss detox tips:

Tip I. Take Milk Thistle twice a day.

The active compound in this antioxidant herb is silymarin, which helps to repair liver, remove alcohol, metals and pesticides from the body.

Tip II. Incorporate more detoxifying foods into your diet:

* Sulfur rich foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, garlic, parsley, celery, watercress, dandelion greens, turnips, avocados, radishes, bell peppers, cranberries to support the liver.

* Fiber rich foods, such as lentils, beans, grains, fruits to get rid of constipation and eliminate toxins.

* Lean protein (wild caught salmon or other fish, organic chicken) is rich in amino acids to prepare toxins for elimination.

* Cleansing herbs, such as red clover, garlic, echinacea, dandelion root, yellow dock root, burdock root, milk thistle, parsley, cilantro, peppermint, licorice, flax seeds to cleanse liver, blood, lymph, kidneys, colon, skin.

* Cleansing spices, such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, cayenne, ginger, fenugreek, clove, cayenne to detoxify the liver and blood, aid digestion, cleanse gallbladder, colon and kidneys.

Let us be detox smart if we want to feel and look fabulous and have happy and healthy New Year, shall we?

Breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach, Counselor, and Relationship Expert

Are you ready to detox?  Why not go natural and detox with herbs?

Some herbs you may want to add to your diet are: as red clover, garlic, echinacea, dandelion root, yellow dock root, burdock root, milk thistle, parsley, cilantro, peppermint, licorice, and flax.

The combination of vitamins, minerals and special chemical compounds in these herbs make for a perfect super simple detox.  Here is a list of some of detox herbs and their benefits.

• Red clover – blood cleanser
• Garlic- blood cleanser, natural antibiotic
• Echinacea – lymph cleanser, antimicrobial
• Dandelion root – liver and blood cleanser, diuretic, filters toxins
• Yellow dock root- skin, blood and liver cleanser
• Burdock root – skin and blood cleanser, diuretic, antibacterial
• Milk thistle – liver cleanser
• Parsley leaf – diuretic, flushes kidneys, breath freshener
• Cilantro -helps in the chelation of heavy metals such as mercury and lead
• Peppermint - skin cleanser
• Licorice – colon cleanser
• Flax seeds - colon cleanser
• Oregano – liver and gallbladder cleanser
• Rosemary - colon cleanser, may help reduce levels of the carcinogenic heterocyclic amines

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Simple and Natural Detox Cleansing Salad Recipe with Herbs

Ingredients:

• 1 small burdock root, thinly sliced(you can find it in Whole Foods or any Health Store)
• 1 cup dandelion greens, rinsed and dried
• 2 tbsp prunes chopped
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tbsp parsley chopped or 
• 1tbsp cilantro chopped
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds or sunflower seeds or pine nuts

For the Dressing:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp plain yogurt
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• 1/5 (or less) cayenne pepper
• salt to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, add the dressing and serve.

Bon Appetit!

Breathe, smile and be happy.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselorBlog.com