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The Best Breast Cancer Screening Options: Non-invasive, you can start now!

Education, Lifestyle · 

You know when you go to the doctor’s office and they ask you about the medical history of your family? There are typically questions concerning cancer in your family, and if you are a woman, they specifically want to know if there is a history of breast cancer.

I see these questions every single time I go in for a wellness checkup.

I am asked each time about my family’s history, and it makes sense. My grandmother was a breast cancer survivor, and so it would make sense that this is something I should be particularly aware of.

However, every year I go in for a wellness checkup and I never get anything besides an ordinary breast exam. When you are young and still in your 20’s and 30’s it seems like there is nothing you can do about then stay educated and take precautions. But how do you start preventative care before you mammograms aren’t even recommended for another 20 – 30 years?

On top of this, there is so much information out there about preventing breast cancer, how do you know what is real and right for you?

I’ve heard about what you shouldn’t do because of long-term effects, such as not to wear your bra too tight because it can prevent your lymph nodes from draining, not to wear antiperspirant deodorant, and to stay off birth control.

I don’t know about you, but these are things that have been pushed on me since I was a teenager. I needed to stay on birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies, or I needed to be on it to fix almost any issue you may have with your period. And we are told that you’ll offend someone if you don’t wear a bra.

While I’m not out to burn my bra (itty bitty titty committee probs!) I have considered non-metal options and as it turns out, there aren’t as many options as I would have guessed.

I also found it difficult to walk into a store and find a deodorant without antiperspirant ingredients in them. We have villainized sweating and are told we need antiperspirant so as not to offend our office mate.

Besides trying to figure out if any of these things is truly preventative, I’m always looking to explore options that can save lives without being a high risk like starting mammogram early. So when I came across a preventive therapy called Thermography that was a non-invasive, non-radiation look at the breasts I was instantly intrigued. After some research not only did I want to know more, but I wanted to know why I had never even heard about this before. Especially with a history of breast cancer in my family.

How You Can Start Screening for Breast Cancer Now

I decided to talk to Tina Clemmons the owner of De Nuvo Scan who’s been administering scans for over 7 years in Scottsdale, Arizona and what I learned was fascinating!

I heard that birth control that causes estrogen dominance and bras can affect our lymph nodes, both of which can affect breast health. I have yet to burn my bra, but I was curious if this was true, especially after seeing that the De Novo Scan could pick up both.

Clemmons explained that in fact, birth control can cause estrogen dominance and bras can have a significant impact on our breast health. “Bras not only keep your lymph nodes still, but people are also wearing underwire bras. When we’re walking through a sea of EMF’s, WiFi, and Bluetooth signals, that’s electricity, and the wire is nothing but a conduit for all the electricity.

Birth control, on the other hand, can also be bad, as “Estrogen dominance is terrible for breast health…[and] we can get it from the plastic that contains BPA. That’s causing estrogen dominance. Our environment, our foods, the chemicals causing it… There’s a lot of women that come in here that are her two positive, which is an estrogen dominant [form of cancer].”

Clemmons was certified by Dr. Ben Johnson, an integrative oncologist. During her training, he taught her that the lymph node system is the largest organ in the body that doesn’t have its own pump, so you have to be able to be able to move it to rid cellular waste. Every day you have cells that die off, but they need to be able to get out of the body, and if you don’t move the lymph nodes, it stays stagnant and builds up.

What is Thermography?

The De Novo Scan is new technology and focuses on the use of thermography, a technology that has been around since the fifties but wasn’t approved until 1982 after over 800 peer-reviewed studies. Clemmons took us through a history of thermology and how it was initially used for the military, and then in meteorology to see the eye of storms using different colors. They then began to use it on the body to “define inflammation where there might be intense blood flow to a tumor or infection.”

Thermograms are another way, besides mammograms, to screen for breast issues. Today, mammograms are the standard method of testing for problems that can arise in the breast, but that doesn’t mean that it is the best.

The Problem with Mammograms

The problem with mammograms is that they do not provide early detection, and as Clemmons notes, “They’re using radiation to find cancer, but radiation also causes cancer… and by the time a mammogram finds something, you already have the disease because it took years for it to grow big enough to be detected.”

Clemmons found the way thermology searched for hotspots in the body where blood was feeding tumors. This allows us to see more than with other types of scans. This allows us to see a tumor when it starts to form at the earliest stages, during a time called angiogenesis, which creates blood vessels to grow. When you have more blood flow to an area, the blood is warmer and it is going to show hotter temperatures. This allows you to find tumors early so you can reverse them from becoming breast cancer.

This is something that mammograms can’t do. Clemmons explains that “mammograms can only look for calcifications, but not every tumor produces calcium, so nobody talks about all the tumors that mammograms miss.”

Using Thermography to find Breast Cancer

When you go in for a De Novo Scan images are taken and run through software that measures and compares temperatures. If anything is off and one side of the breast has a point that is hotter than the other, it indicates that there is a cause for concern because, as Clemmons points out, “Breast cancer is not symmetrical, it’s asymmetrical.”

Thermography is the start of long-term cancer prevention because it is a way to get early detection. Tina Clemmons recommends that you get a De Novo Scan once a year to keep monitoring your body. Most people don’t start getting mammograms until they are in their 40’s, but for many women, this is too late. Cancer can happen earlier than that and it is best to detect it when it first begins to develop.

Overdiagnosis and How to Prevent it

The rise of mammograms has also lead to overdiagnosis, according to a study that was featured in the New York Times, and was leading to overtreatment. This overtreatment can actually do more harm than good.

Mammograms may also come with risks as well. Clemmons explains that “every two or three women are being treated when they shouldn’t be [and some of these women are] going through chemo when they really didn’t even need it… You are more likely to find something in a self-check than with a mammogram.” Clemmons also notes that she never wants to tell someone not to get a mammogram, but instead says that it is about giving people as much information as she can so they can make their own informed decisions.

They can be especially risky if you start too early, Clemmons notes, due to the radiation, which thermography leaves out.“Thermography is, it’s noninvasive. There’s zero radiation. You can do it as often as you want.”

If you were to get mammograms early on, beginning in your twenties, you are exposing premenopausal breast tissue to radiation and this can cause problems because, it’s changing the DNA structure. If you change the DNA structure of the tissue, it’s going to mutate later because it’s different.”

Safe, Non-invasive Breast Cancer Screening

Because thermography scans are so non-invasive and can cause zero radiation, Tina Clemmons recommends that you have one done once a year. Your first visit will be with her and you will have your first scan. Based on the scan you’ll have a follow up 3-6 months later to establish a baseline. After this, you only return annually for a checkup. If a scan picks up something that raises a high level of concern, you will be recommended a followup with your primary care physician.

If you live in near Scottsdale, Arizona, De Novo Scan needs to become part of your annual checkup, especially if you have a family with a history of breast cancer. Don’t wait until your 40’s or 50’s to start mammograms that may end up missing issues occurring within your breast, or may end up in an overdiagnosis. Start your scans early so you can stay on top of your breast health.

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Southwest Sweet Potato Hash

Dinner, Lunch, Recipes · 

Healthy and Delicious Sweet Potato Southwest Hash with Ground Beef

Welcome to your sweet potato and beef sweet dream. I was sent a similar recipe by a friend who tempted me to try it. Unfortunately, I forgot to bookmark the recipe so I kind of winged it. It did turn out amazing so I wanted to share. If you want a sweet and sassy southwest meal that’s bursting with superfoods, this is it.

I chose to serve this with a southwest salad although you can serve with any green veggie to even out the meal. One variation I think I will try next time is adding broccoli into the mix as well for extra greens.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)

  • 1 large yellow pepper

  • 1 large red pepper

  • 1/2 large white onion

  • 1 lb of grass-fed ground beef

  • 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

  • 2 tbsp organic taco seasoning

  • 1/3 cup grass-fed organic shredded mozzarella cheese

  • 1/2 cup water

  • 2 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

  1. In a large sauce pan or skillet place the cubed sweet potatoes with the water over med high heat and cover with a lid and cook until the sweet potatoes are fork tender (about 5-8 minutes.)

  2. In a separate pan cook ground beef and cilantro down with 1 tbsp of taco seasoning until cooked all the way through.

  3. When potatoes are fork tender, add in peppers, onion, remaining taco seasoning and drizzle over 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and saute veggies until tender uncovered.

  4. When the beef is cooked, add to main sweet potato pan and then mix. Top with mozzarella cheese and let it melt.

  5. Serve and enjoy!

Here is another version of a hash that’s great for breakfast!

What are the Health Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet…and is it Right for You?

Education, Lifestyle · 

The keto diet has been around for a long time, but recently it has become one of the most popular ways to lose weight. Everyone seems to be doing the keto diet to lose weight, and there are books, videos, and websites all dedicated to helping you follow the perfect keto diet. If you haven’t joined the keto train yet, and have weight that you want to lose, it may be one of the diets you are considering trying.

Keto is an effective weight loss method, but this is not the only thing that it is good for. There are many health benefits to being on a keto diet, and putting your body through ketosis, that you may not have realized.

Before you start a keto diet or any diet for that matter, it is important to know a few things first:

  • What is the keto diet?
  • Are there health benefits to keto?
  • How do you follow a keto diet?
  • What types of foods are allowed on a keto diet?
  • Are you a good candidate for keto?
  • Most importantly, is keto safe?

What Is Keto?

The keto diet is based on the act of burning fat by putting your body into ketosis. Ketosis is a term you might have come across when looking for information on diabetes or how to lose weight, but what is it? It is a normal metabolic process which keeps the body working when there aren’t enough carbohydrates from digested food for your body cells to metabolize into energy. In such a situation, the body directly breaks up its fat reserves, instead of breaking down muscle cells into glucose for energy purposes. In the process, it produces ketones, which are byproducts of the body metabolizing fats when there is an inadequate carbohydrate intake (1).

If you are healthy and consuming a balanced diet, your body has leverage on how much fat it burns. In this situation, it doesn’t produce ketones. However, when you cut away carbohydrates and calories, your body switches to ketosis in a bid to produce energy for it to keep running.

So, is being in ketosis a good or a bad thing?

Ketosis becomes dangerous when ketones build up in the body. High levels of this byproduct result in dehydration, and can also change the chemical composition of your blood. However, if induced responsibly, it has several medical and therapeutic ways it can help the body, including losing weight.

Health Benefits of Keto

Effective for Weight Loss

Keto is one of the most effective weight loss strategies since it is entirely anchored in consuming a low carb diet (2). Apart from helping your body burn more fats, keto can make you feel less hungry and help you maintain your body muscle by leveraging on fat reserves. For healthy people who are not pregnant or have diabetes, ketosis can begin in as little as 3 days after consuming less than 50 grams of carbs on a daily basis. It can also be induced by fasting.

Improves Brain Function

Apart from losing weight, ketosis improves brain functionality, boosts memory and improves learning. A study conducted on rats established that inducing ketosis on aged rats improved their cognitive skills (3). A similar study also indicated that placing rats under a ketogenic diet protected them against diet-induced brain impairment (4). Another study conducted on humans indicated that giving a ketogenic diet to the elderly helped them improve their memory functionality.

A low carb and high-fat diet were also found to significantly increase the number of mitochondria in the body. These improve learning, emotions and cognitive skills.

Migraine Treatment

People suffering from migraines have reported significant improvements after switching from the normal diet to a low carb, high fat one. These claims are not just supported by anecdotal evidence. A scientific study in the journal of headache pain found out that patients who induced ketosis through a ketogenic diet were able to relieve the intensity of their migraines (5).

According to the study, a ketogenic diet relieved ameliorates headaches, subsequently reducing the number of painkillers consumed by patients. A normal diet was found to have no significant impact even on short-term observations. Another study studied twin boys who suffered from frequent migraines. After being switched to a high fat and low carb diet which induced ketosis, the severity of their pains decreased considerably (6).

Physical Endurance

It is not uncommon for runners to pock and ingests gel packs in the middle of a race simply because they want to replenish their glycogen reserves. When on ketosis, you are not reliant on glycogen, so you are in a better position to keep going even when other athletes cannot handle it any longer. Research also indicates that people who do high-intensity short burst workouts such as bodybuilders do benefit from ketosis. In their case, they can consider a highly ketogenic diet before hitting the gym.

Several studies on endurance and ketosis paint a clear picture of the sentiments above. One of the studies named FASTER studies the relationship between sports endurance and fat utilization and found out that athletes who regularly took a ketogenic diet developed mitochondria as opposed to those on normal diets. Having more mitochondria implies that the athletes with more ketosis had lower oxidative stress and load since they could metabolize more fat to produce energy (7). Several other studies indicated that having higher levels of ketone increased performance and endurance.

Another study published back in 2016 indicated that ketone supplements alter substrate utilization patterns when exercising. This slows lactate production and significantly improved performance in professional cyclists (8).

Prevent and Manage Diseases

Doctors often put children with epilepsy on a ketogenic diet – which basically includes low carbohydrates and a super high-fat content since scientific evidence shows that it helps prevent and manage seizures (9). Adults suffering from epilepsy are also put under modified Atkins diets (10). Other research suggests that ketogenic diets have the capacity to reduce the risk of developing heart complications (11). While others show that people with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes can benefit from this diet too. Can be used to Test the number of Ketones in your blood It is possible to test your body’s level of ketosis by testing for ketones in your urine or blood.

Even better, there is no need to go the doctor since you can purchase over the counter test strips to test your pee at the comfort of your home. There are also blood sugar meters which are used by doctors to measure the level of ketones in your blood. If you are not sure on how to test for ketones, don’t hesitate to speak to your diabetes instructor or doctor. Very high levels of ketones are dangerous. You need to stay safe.

How to Follow a Keto Diet

When you are following the ketosis diet, your primary focus will be on the amount of fat that you consume, as this is where the majority of your calories will come from. On keto, 60-75% of your calories will come from fat, 15-30% will come from protein, and the remainder of your calories will come from carbs. This is typically around 5%. The idea is to cut your carb intake and replace it with fat. You can even use an online keto macro calculator to help you figure out the macros you should be consuming.

As you plan out your meals, it will be important to note the macros of everything that you consume. Macros are the proteins, carbs, and fats that are contained in food.

Following this diet will put your body into ketosis so that it uses the stored fat in your body for energy, rather than burning carbs. This can lead to significant weight loss.

What Foods Can You Eat While on Keto? What Should You Avoid?

While you are on the keto diet there are several foods that you will want to focus on, and even some that you will want to avoid.

Meals consumed on keto are typically high in fat, but you want to be sure you are consuming healthy fats, such as from olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados.

Here is a quick list of foods that you can eat while on keto. Note that this is not the entire list, but should provide you with enough of an idea to get started:

Meat – Chicken, beef, fish, lamb, etc.

  • Low-Carb, Leafy Veggies (Spinach, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.)
  • Nuts and Seeds
  • Healthy Oils (Coconut oil, olive oil, etc.)
  • Greek Yogurt
  • Butter
  • Whole Eggs
  • Cheese
  • Avocados

There are also several foods that you will want to avoid due to their carb content or unhealthy ingredients:

  • Grains (Wheat, rice, corn, cereal, pasta)
  • Fruit (Bananas, apples, oranges, etc.)
  • Juice and sodas (any beverage high in sugar)
  • Potatoes and Yams
  • Sugar (including honey and agave)
  • Processed foods

Is Keto Right For You and is it Safe?

If you have a lot of weight to lose, then keto may be right for you. This has been a popular and successful diet for those who are extremely overweight. Many people find this diet to be less restrictive and easier to stick to because they can still have some of their favorite foods, such as butter and cheese (because who doesn’t like butter and cheese?)

Most experts find ketosis to be natural and safe, but it is important to talk to your doctor before you attempt any new diet. It is also important if you are trying to lose weight to find out if your diet is the underlying cause of your weight gain. Your doctor may even be able to help you create a nutrition plan for you to follow, or refer you to a nutritionist.

Conclusion

There has been a lot of buzz around keto lately, and it seems like the benefits live up to the hype. This is also a diet where people learn healthier eating habits, rather than jumping on a crash fad diet just to gain the weight back.

If you are looking to lose weight, then keto is a good option, but if you are just looking to lead a healthier lifestyle, you can easily do this by cleaning up your diet and removing processed foods from your diet.

References:

  1. “WebMD Heart Disease Health Center – Information About Heart Disease.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/heart-disease/default.htm.
  2. “The Atkins Diet.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/diet/atkins-diet-what-you-can-eat.
  3. Xu, Kui, et al. “Diet-induced ketosis improves cognitive performance in aged rats.” Oxygen Transport to Tissue XXXI. Springer, Boston, MA, 2010. 71-75.
  4. Davidson, Terry L., et al. “Inter-relationships among diet, obesity and hippocampal-dependent cognitive function.” Neuroscience 253 (2013): 110-122.
  5. Di Lorenzo, C et al. “Short Term Improvement of Migraine Headaches during Ketogenic Diet: A Prospective Observational Study in a Dietician Clinical Setting.” The Journal of Headache and Pain 14.Suppl 1 (2013): P219. PMC. Web. 14 July 2018.
  6. Di Lorenzo, Cherubino, et al. “Diet transiently improves migraine in two twin sisters: possible role of ketogenesis?.” Functional neurology 28.4 (2013): 305.
  7. “Fat Adaptation: The Emerging Science from FASTER.” VESPA, www.vespapower.com/the-emerging-science-on-fat-adaptation/.
  1. Egan, Brendan, and Dominic P. D’Agostino. “Fueling performance: ketones enter the mix.” Cell metabolism 24.3 (2016): 373-375.
  2. “Understanding Are Seizures? What Causes Them?” WebMD, WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/understanding-seizures-basics.
  3. Westman, Eric C., et al. “The effect of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet versus a low-glycemic index diet on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus.” Nutrition & metabolism 5.1 (2008): 36.
  4. “Heart Disease Health Center.” WebMD, WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/default.htm.

Vanilla Blueberry Chia Yogurt

Breakfast, Recipes, Snack · 

I am always looking for ways to make quick and easy breakfast, so when people started posting chia seed pudding, I was intrigued. But, after much gagging and trying over and over, I was unable to the texture. However, I once had cottage cheese with the chia seeds in it, and it wasn’t so bad.

So I thought about making my yogurt a chia “pudding” and they don’t get all gooey right away so the texture doesn’t bother me. This is so quick and easy. I use Organic Valley Grassfed Vanilla Yogurt and it’s just delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup Vanilla Yogurt

  • 2 tbsp Chia Seeds

  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup blueberries

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a bowl, scoop out 1 cup of vanilla yogurt.

  2. Top with chia seeds and blueberries.

  3. Mix well.

  4. Enjoy!

These bowls are a great way to get in healthy protein, carbs, and fats in a delicious, replace your cereal, kind of way.

This recipe makes 1 serving and is simple to whip together for just you, or a make a bigger batch for a bunch of people at once.

The Hangover Cure Juice

Breakfast, Drinks · 

After a night of a few too many cocktails, I like to come home and drink a lot of water. But the next morning, in order to help with the inflammation from drinking, I like to juice a lot of veggies.

This is an easy to drink power house of soothing veggies and a punch of tart from apples.

So next time you find yourself hurting after a night of drinking, this pick me up juice the perfect cure.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 lbs Kale

  • 2 Cucumbers

  • 2 Carrots

  • 1 thumb sized piece of peeled ginger

  • 4 apples cored

  • 1 bunch of celery

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Chop your veggies into small enough pieces to fit into your juicer chute. Make sure to remove the apple seeds as they are not safe to juice.

  2. Juice all of your veggies and set aside.

  3. Fill 2 large glasses with ice and pour the juice into the glasses.

  4. Gently mix

  5. Enjoy!

This recipe makes 2 approximately 24oz juices. Everyone’s juicers are different and so are their fresh produce yields. You can always add more or less to get the volume of juice you want.

To make the fun layers, juice your carrots and apples into a second cup, and then layer the juices for a pretty visual.

“Good Morning” Green Smoothie with Spinach and Pineapple

Breakfast, Drinks, Recipes, Smoothies · 

We all need a good go to wake up drink, and for me, it’s a green smoothie. I started with this one as I was transitioning to green smoothies I wanted to focus on making sure I liked the taste. Now I use whatever is in season but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find your favorite fruit frozen to start.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups spinach

  • 1 frozen banana

  • 1 cup frozen mango

  • 1 tbsp ground flax seed

  • top with water

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Place all of your ingredients into a blender.

  2. Make sure to fill the water up to cover all the ingredients. Use more water for a juice-like smoothie, and use a little less for a thicker smoothie.

  3. Blend and enjoy.

If you would like a detoxing smoothie to drink in the morning, and prefer something a little more savory, then click here for the breakfast detox smoothie!

 

Carrot Spice Cake Gluten Free Donuts

Dessert, Recipes · 

I used to have a thing against gluten free desserts. First off, at the store, anything pre packed was always loaded with soy additives which don’t support my health. It also had a lot of unhealthy oils and sugar in them. But I never tried making my own until the last two years. Now I love to bake and try new things.

Gluten free is getting increasingly popular so I wanted to make sure my desserts to accommodate the most amount of people. I went for a carrot cake but ended up with a carrot spice cake that was just delicious. The carrot is more subtle and the spice really rounds it out like a delicious morning coffee cake.

I created these at Fresh Box in Scottsdale and you can find a variety of these weekly at the restaurant.

You’ll need a special donut pan for this recipe. I got mine pretty affordably on amazon. Click here to see the ones I use.

Ingredients:

donut:

  • 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-1 Baking Flour

  • 1/2 cup organic whole cane sugar

  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger

  • 1/4 tsp himalayan pink salt

  • 1/8 tsp allspice

  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg

  • 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

  • 2 tbsp melted coconut oil

  • 1 large egg, room temperature

  • 1/2 cup freshly grated carrot

  • 2 tbsp drained crushed pineapple

  • 1/4 cup crushed walnuts

glaze:

  • 2 cups confectioners sugar

  • 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and grease your donut pan with palm oil.

  2. Combine all of your donut dry ingredients and whisk together.

  3. In a separate bowl whisk together almond milk, coconut oil and egg.

  4. Create a small well in the dry ingredients and pour in liquid ingredients, then whisk together.

  5. Once these are completely combined, add in your carrot shreds and crushed pineapple.

  6. Fill each donut pan 2/3rds of the way full, using a piping bag for convenience.

  7. Bake donuts for 8-9 minutes, they are ready when they gently spring back from being pressed (careful not to burn yourself.)

  8. Let donuts completely cool and carefully remove them and place on a cooling rack to get glazed.

  9. Whisk all the icing ingredients together until sugar dissolves and drizzle over the top of the donuts.

  10. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts.

The Essential Green Smoothie

Breakfast, Drinks, Education, Smoothies · 

Why am I so obsessed with breakfast smoothies?

Well, let’s start with this. Nothing starts the morning off better than a high dose of vitamins, minerals and the essential nutrition your body truly wants. Knowing how powerful veggies are doesn’t really make eating them first thing in the morning any easier. Which is why drowning them in a mix of powerful fruits and blending them to a lazy lady’s portable breakfast is perfect.

Why have a smoothie for breakfast:

  1. Get in your veggies without worry, or tasting them really!

  2.  Quick to prepare.

  3. Packed with tons of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

  4. Portable for that girl whos putting on her shoes and eating breakfast in the car.

  5. Filling. Seriously filling.

  6. Easy to change up so you don’t get bored.

  7. Can be made the night before for even more convenience in the morning.

So if those don’t sell you on trying out green smoothies, you’re just not into smoothies…or happiness…or puppies…and that’s cool too. Lol.

Ingredients:

  • 1 frozen banana

  • 2 handfuls of a kale, spinach or power greens mix (try to get one with at least two types of greens)

  • 1/2 cup frozen mango

  • water to blend

Instructions:

  1. place your greens and frozen fruit in the blender and bring water to the top of the ingredients. You can add ice if you want to drink it very, very cold. I don’t find that necessary because the frozen fruit makes it very cold when blended.

  2. Blend until smooth.

  3. Pack and take with you.

Ways to boost the power of this smoothie

Add Fat

One way to up the nutritional anty of this smoothie is to add 1 tbsp of ground flax. I recommend using the ground flax as it is more available to your body and know that it is broken down beforehand so you can access the fats when consumed. While starting off most people are not as eager to try a bunch of stuff in the smoothies and that’s ok. But once you start drinking these, the flax addition will provide essential fats to your body that will help with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.

Use ripe fruit

Another way to get the most nutrition is to free spotty bananas at the peak of their freshness to make them easier to digest. The same goes with using frozen fruit which is flash frozen at the peak of freshness and ripeness.

Go low glycemic

If you are looking for a lower glycemic smoothie you can easily swap the mango for the same amount of frozen berries of any kind. You can also just use frozen berries instead of the banana as well but that is not going to cover the taste of the greens as well as a banana would. I started out using a lot of banana and eventually made my way to more greens than fruit.

Make it a protein green smoothie

You can make this a protein smoothie by adding one scoop of vanilla protein. It comes out more like a milkshake than a smoothie but just as tasty. If you don’t want it to be too sweet you can follow the simple recipe below.

Ingredients:

  • 1 frozen banana

  • 2 handfuls of power greens mix (or just spinach)

  • 1/2 cup of frozen berries

  • 1 serving of natural vanilla protein

  • water

Instructions:

  1. Place all of the fruit, greens, and water into a blender. Make sure the water comes to the top of the ingredients.

  2. Blend and enjoy!

Enjoy!

Coconut Chia Pudding with Nut and Seeds Mix

Breakfast, Dessert, Recipes, Snack · 

Why try chia pudding?

This easy breakfast is also a great anytime snack. While we made this with Freshbox and used coconut milk, it was also delicious with almond milk as well. Cashew milk could work too.

This snack is packed with healthy fats and plenty of heart and gut healthy fiber. That also means that this is very filling and will help you stay fuller, longer. The beauty of these bowls is that the toppings you put on it also add to the nutritional benefits. Add your favorite fruits and topping like nuts and granola. I usually use what is in season which at the time of this recipe was strawberries.

Easy chia pudding prep

The best way to start this recipe is by doing all the prep the night before to let the pudding thicken and you can just dump the toppings on in the morning.

The place I love to find my dry toppings is the bulk section of my market. I love their varieties of granola. The only thing they don’t have usually is sprouted granola in that section so I do buy that in bulk online. That’s also a great place to make a delicious seeds mix!

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups coconut milk

  • 1 cup chia seeds

  • nuts and seeds mix (sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds mixed together)

  • 1 pint of strawberries chopped

  • Granola of your choice (I like the sprouted granola!)

Instructions:

  1. In a large bowl combine the coconut milk and the chia seeds and stir. Then cover and place in the refrigerator.

  2. Leave overnight in the fridge and let the chia seeds thicken into a pudding. In the morning mix the pudding thoroughly and divide into four or 6 large bowls.

  3. Top the pudding bowls with the seed mix, strawberries, and granola. Add a little more to make it a meal.

This makes a great breakfast, or you can go lighter with the toppings for a lighter snack. Either way, this makes for such a delicious bite throughout the day and can be stored in the fridge for a few days covered. Keep topping separate until ready to eat.

Then enjoy! And let me know, what do you top your chia pudding with?

Recipe Extra: How to make Chia Pudding 4 Ways!

Open-Face Sprouted Breakfast Sandwich

Breakfast, Recipes, Uncategorized · 

Ingredients:

  • 1 sprouted english muffin

  • 2 eggs

  • slices of sweet onion (2-3 slices)

  • 4 slices of bacon (no nitrates added)

  • olive oil spray

  • 1 tbsp of water

Instructions:

  1. Start by warming a nonstick pan over med heat and lightly spraying it with olive oil spray

  2. Place bacon and onions in pan and cook four slices of bacon until crispy

  3. Take bacon and onion out, place on side and let drain on a paper towel, save fat in the pan

  4. Crack two eggs and cook for approx 1-2 minutes, then add 1 tbsp of water on eggs and place cover on pan

  5. Split english muffin in two and toast in the toaster to liking

  6. Cook until slight white film covers egg yolk and whites are no longer runny

  7. Place toasted english muffin halves on a plate, top with egg, then onion and then bacon

Enjoy!

This open-faced breakfast is easy and delicious. It can be eaten with a fork or if you are on the go, place both eggs and all bacon between the muffins for a delicious sandwich. Just be careful to cook your eggs longer as the yolk is runny in this recipe and can spill all over your clothes.

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