The Incredible Eggs

The incredible egg. This small food is a breakfast favorite and rightly so!

 

 

 

Eggs are an incredibly versatile food that pack a lot of nutrition as well. Eggs can be served by themselves, top salads, bind meatballs, and bake themselves into delicious desserts. How you choose to eat them is what makes them healthy.

Eggs pack healthy protein and relatively low calories. They are filling due to their high protein content and can help satisfy hunger for longer after a meal. They are also known to raise healthy cholesterol levels in our body. Their vitamin A, B2, D, and Zinc content also boost your meals nutritional value.

Eating both the yolk and the white provides protein and healthy fat for your body. However, those who are keeping their fat intake down, one yolk with several egg whites can help keep your dishes low fat while still providing the nutritional value that the yolk offers. Making an omelet with one whole egg and several whites is a great way to make a lower fat version of your favorite breakfast.

When cooking eggs, consider learning to poach eggs (tricky but worth it!) to avoid having to use oil or butter in a pan to help them cook. Also, there are several baking recipes with eggs over potatoes that bake without the use of much oil or butter. Plus, there is always the age old hard boiled on a salad to get your eggs into your meal.

Look for upcoming recipes with eggs including:

Avocado Baked Egg Boats
Eggs in a Basket

Plus, if you like Breakfast hash, look back on our SouthWest Breakfast Hash!

Enjoy your eggs!

Processed Free Beauty

For those of you looking to switch to less processed beauty routine there are so many great choices out there and it's worth looking into it. I did it because all aspects of what you put on and into your body affect you. Even though your skin is a barrier to the outside world, it is still porous and absorbent. So while we focus on making sure we put the least amount of artificial junk into our bodies through what we consume, it's also good to take a look at the chemicals we expose our skin to everyday. For whatever reason you are doing it, don't get discouraged if you do not know where to start.

The world of beauty is a vast array of marking campaigns and beauty products to help us feel good day to day. But further than that, it is our soaps, shampoos,  deodorants and lotions. It is the acne medicine and facial masks we buy to fix skin problems. It is the whitening toothpastes and nail polishes that make us look shiny and new. Now before you think I'm condemning using beauty products, especially soap, I want to say that in no way do I think that you shouldn't use any of these things. Just as I am not here to say if you should eat meat, dairy, or wheat on a daily basis or not. The concept of this blog of course is to help you live a less processed life and in doing so just bring to light some of the things that might be affecting you.

If the focus is to take the chemicals and additives out of our bodies so we can live a healthier life by allowing our bodies to concentrate on the thing it does best, taking care of itself, then it doesn't hurt to look at more than just diet. Whole and natural foods allow our bodies to work at it's best and allows us to work on constantly healing and renewing ourselves. The same goes with things we use on our skin everyday.

Here are my top five trade outs:
Body Lotion
Shampoo/Conditioner
Body Wash
Toothpaste
Perfume

Each of these beauty products have so many natural alternatives that it is easy to find one if you want to look! Body Lotion and the use of unrefined and unprocessed coconut oil will be it's own post because of the many uses and benefits of that product. I will also post on alternatives to all the other beauty products that you can find.

Honey Lemon Tea

 

 

Everyone gets that tickle in their throat or that annoying sneeze that not only won't go away, but seems to always be followed by an annoying cold. Being sick always puts a damper on working out or ever eating right if you don't have the stomach for it. But there are a few things that can boost your immune system and help you fight off a cold. And if you do end up with a full blown cold, here is a recipe for a very soothing drink that has helped me make it through when I'm feeling sick.

First things first. When you feel like you are getting sick the first thing is to make sure what you are putting into your body isn't taking away from your immune system when it should be fighting a virus. Put down the processed foods, the only make your body work harder to get rid of all the junk that they are made of. Alcohol is the same. Even the smallest amount can make your body work harder to fight off sickness. And of course, what everyone always tells you, get some sleep! It's so important for your body to heal itself.

Then if a cold does hit, try this delicious recipe for hot tea.

Ingredients:
Tea of your choice, uncaffinated
Honey, Raw and Unfiltered
1/2 Lemon squeezed

Put 1 tbs. of honey into the bottom of a mug and pour boiling water over it. Then suqeeze half of a lemon into the mug and enjoy. This toasty drink should warm your insides and sooth you.

Progress not Perfection

For those of you who have heard this speech a hundred times. It might be good to sit through it again. I have reminded myself, and written many times about the journey to your fittest self through diet and exercise, as well as striving and doing your best with out striving for perfection.

Every journey looks different. Every end result looks different. One person's idea of perfect is different than another. So striving for the "perfect body," the "perfect diet," or the "perfect workout," can put unnecessary stress on your lifestyle that is an ongoing process. Strive to do your best. Strive for health over a certain look. And strive to get away from wanting to be perfect.

Sometimes you will mess up your diet and have too much pizza. Three days in a row. Sometimes you will skip a work out. For your entire vacation. It's always alright. No one is perfect. But we must never forget that our journey is a series of steps everyday that we take towards our goals. And if we take 10 steps forward one week and one step back, that doesn't bring us back to step one. Set backs don't mean starting over. They are just a few steps on a long path way. Remember that.

Remember to be good to yourself. To forgive yourself.  To believe in yourself. To love yourself. Even when you're not "perfect."