How are you feeling right now? Feel overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, emotional?  You might suffer from seasonal depression – sometimes called the winter blues.

To boost the levels of serotonin necessary for dealing with seasonal depression you may need more tryptophan. The legumes: peas, beans, and lentils are some foods rich in tryptophan.

So, to feel better and overcome depression and the winter blues, you may want to try one of these three lentil recipes.

French Lentil Soup for Fighting the Winter Blues

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped 
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 cups green lentils
• 8 cups bouillon
• 1 potato, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 pinch cayenne, to taste
• 1 pound swiss chard, chopped
• Juice of one lemon
• pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

Bring the onion, garlic, celery, lentils and bouillon to a boil in a large pot. Add the potato and spices, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the swiss chard and cook 15 minutes more, or until the lentils are just tender, not mushy. Stir in the lemon juice and Immunity Boosting Spices. Serve with ground pepper to taste.

Healthy Lentil Pate Recipe for Seasonal Depression

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry green or red lentils,
• 2 medium carrots chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 2 tbsp/olive oil
• 1 tbsp. ghee
• 1 tbsp tomato pasta
• black pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

To cook lentils, cover them with water and boil for 1-2 min. and then simmer for 15-20 min. (until tender). While cooking lentils, saute onion and carrots in olive oil for 7-10 min., add garlic, tomato pasta, lentils and ghee. Mix thoroughly, season with black pepper and salt. Don’t forget to add Immunity Boosting Spices. Serve warm. You can also use food processor if you want it smooth.

Tasty Pomegranate Lentil Soup to Help Overcome Depression

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup lentils, picked over
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cups (2 quarts) water
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• ½ cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup pomegranate juice or 1/4 cup grenadine syrup
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint or 2 teaspoons crushed dried leaf mint
• 2 Tablespoons raisins

Directions:

Add water, drained lentils, rice, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer on low about 45 minutes, until lentils and rice are tender. Add basil, green onions and pomegranate juice to the soup. Simmer an additional 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a small skillet, add mint and saute until butter turns golden. Divide soup into serving bowls. Drizzle each with the mint brown butter and sprinkle with a few raisins to serve.

Bon Appetit!

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach and Counselor

NaturalCounselorBlog.com

Winter is here. During this time of the year many of us have the winter blues or seasonal depression. Did you know that simply using flashlight three times a day might help? My radio show guest Caroline Sutherland reminded me about this effective light therapy while we were talking about anti-aging, weight loss and detox. I highly recommend you listen to the show if you missed it.

Have you tried eating walnuts or squeezing orange skin to boost our serotonin level? Aromatherapy might help too – you can use different essential oils to reduce stress, get more energy and fight seasonal depression.

Here are some tips from Aromandina.com

• Bergamot and Grapefruit keep negative emotions under check while Ylang Ylangrelieves any kind of mental stress.
• If you need to regain your lost energy levels, take a pick from zesty citrus scents like Orange, Lemon and Mandarin.
• Try Clary Sage and Jasmine to calm your senses and perk up your spirits.
• Use these oils in a diffuser, in your bath water or as massage oil to keep yourself warm, happy and energized through the winter.
• It may be a good idea to try out our brand new product called Citrus Delight. This bright happy and warming blend of Bergamot, Grapefruit and Lemon is just perfect for keeping blues at bay.

If you want to know how to use essential oils for weight loss, detox and healthy pregnancy, you can listen to my interview with Cristina Proano, Aromatherapy Specialist on my Radio Show for Women “Feel and Look Fabulous with Irina.”

Listen to our discussion on How to Deal with Seasonal Depression and Anxiety with Medical Intuitive and Certified Natural Health Practitioner Iuliana Lixandru.

And of course, always breathe, smile and be happy.

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Counselor

NaturalCounselorBlog.com

Chocolate…. Mmmmm. Are you smiling already? Chocolate…

We, women, like chocolate so much because like light, exercise, laughter and sex, chocolate triggers the release of endorphins, which leave us with an instant feel good mood. In general women are more sensitive to chocolate than men, and that is why we can use chocolate can boost our serotonin level to fight our moodiness and seasonal depression.

Did you know that chocolate is better and I mean healthier than kissing? When we kiss or eat chocolate our heart rate and brain activity both increase, but with chocolate it lasts longer. We burn 34 calories in 30 min during light kissing.  I am wondering how many calories we burn while eating chocolate. 

Studies show that chocolate  the main ingredient cocoa- contains health beneficial antioxidants flavonoids. They, like in fruits and vegetables, help prevent cancer and heart disease and stroke by protecting our immune system from radical damage and fighting inflammation.

When we talk about healthy benefits of chocolate we mean healthy  dark chocolate, and the more cocoa in chocolate, the darker and healthier it is. 

Dark chocolate is very good for us, but we have to eat it in moderation because of its sugar and fat content. Even if it is made with cocoa butter and has less blood cholesterol, it still has a lot of calories, fat and refined sugar, all which can make us fat.

Good healthy quality chocolate should contain  70-75% cocoa and have cocoa butter as an ingredient. Avoid chocolate with milk solids or with any mention of alkali or Dutching / Dutching cocoa which is known to have no nutrition value.

So instantly feel in a good mood with healthy dark chocolate and a glass of red wine full of antioxidants and toast to us, ladies, while breathing, smiling and being happy!!!

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Counselor

NaturalCounselorBlog.com 

More than 75% of health problems are related to stress. We know that one of the best stress-relief tools and techniques is a body massage.

I would like to share with you the article “Massage-You Can Do It Yourself” by Michael Tasker where he explains how easily you can self-massage your body. These tips are very helpful for cancer patients to reduce stress and anxiety.

“Qi Gong Tapping is a form of self-massage is commonly used by many Qi Gong and Tai Chi practitioners while warming up before their meditative practices. This can be adopted as a method to energize yourself first thing in the morning or perhaps before a physical workout.

Start by forming your hands into a loose fist so that you can firmly tap your body from head to toe along the meridian pathways. The first step is to tap along your arms both inside and outside. Then tap your torso down the front of your chest, continuing down to the front of your thighs. Repeat the tapping on the inside, outside, and back of your legs to cover the entire lower body. Finally, tap along your neck and behind your back to cover the remaining areas. This practice can be repeated several times, until your feel your body warm up from the increased blood flow. Remember, one of the benefits of massage is to facilitate the increase in blood flow.

Abdominal self-massage is best used after meals to improve digestion or by women during their menstrual cycle. To perform abdominal massage, place one hand over the other as they lay above your naval. Breathe deeply as your move your hands together in a circular-motion around your belly in a clock-wise direction. The clock-wise direction is synchronous with the digestive pathway of your colon. Repeat this motion for several minutes focusing your mind on your hands and breathe to warm your abdomen and improve circulation.

Reflexology is a system of treatment where specific points on the hands and feet are used to improve the health and functioning of the entire body. You can benefit from this practice even without a through understanding of reflexology charts. Use some basic massage oil or hand lotion to gently rub all of your fingers and toes. Continue to rub your palms and the soles of your feet, including the back of your hand and tops of your feet. Pay attention to any tender spots you find so that you can focus more on these areas. You will soon discover which places feel the best and which ones need more attention. By adopting a massage session each day, the tension that is accumulated in these areas through the day can be relieved.

An overall ear massage can greatly benefit our health. With the use of your thumb and index finger you need to rub the outer edge of the ear, which is also called the helix. Follow the helix down the ear until you reach your earlobe. Pull gently on your earlobe several times. Move above your ear lobe and begin to massage each of the remaining areas of your ear. The tragus, which is located just above your earlobe, is very helpful to activate the mind and relieve headaches.“read more

What about you? Have you ever tried reflexology, a self- foot massage or an ear massage on yourself or a partner?

P.S. Click to listen to our interview with Shoshanna Katzman, Chinese Medicine Specialist on Benefits of Qigong.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Counselor and Coach

It’s cold outside.  Use our warming soups to nourish your body and draw energy into your digestive tract to help digest your food properly. If you have a healthy digestive tract, you will have less stress on your body.  Healthy intestines will boost your immune system so you won’t catch colds during Cold and Flu Season. 

A healthy digestive tract also helps keep your skin and hair healthy.

Here are two recipes to help you stay healthy and happy during those cold winter days and nights.

Warming Buckwheat Soup Recipe

• 4 cups water
• ½ cup buckwheat
• 2 cups cabbage chopped
• 2 cups butternut squash, chopped
• 2 small onions
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 strip wakame seaweed
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp parsley to garnish

Roast the buckwheat, by stirring in a skillet over medium heat until it turns golden brown and smells toasty. Sautee onions in olive oil for 4-5 minutes. Bring the water to boil with squash and wakame (cut in small pieces); dd buckwheat and cabbage, simmer for ten minutes. Add onions, salt and parsley. Serve with fresh dill.

White Bean and Vegetable Soup

• 1 small rutabaga, diced
• 2 parsnips, sliced
• 3 carrots diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup white navy beans, soaked for 2 hours
• 6 cups water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped, to garnish
• 2-3 fresh scallions, sliced, to garnish

Place the kombu on the bottom of the soup pot, top with beans, add celery and  water. Bring to boil, reduce hit and simmer for 50- 60 minutes until beans soft. Meanwhile sautee onions for 5 minutes in olive oil, add carrots, parsnip, rutabaga and sautee for more 10 minutes. Combine all ingredients in the soup pot, simmer for 3 minutes. Serve with cilantro and sliced scallions.

Bon Appetit!

Click to listen to Leslie Cerier, “The Organic Gourmet” on Gluten Free Cooking.

Click to listen to Wendy Battles, Clean Eating Coach on Healthy Meal Planning.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

©Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Counselor and Coach