Benefits of Cacao

There’s so much to say about cacao that it’s hard to know where to begin. Although, I think as good a place as any is to confirm that what you’ve heard about chocolate being good for you is absolutely true. It is incredibly good for your health on so many levels. However, before you go out and buy yourself a large mars bar quoting that you saw it written somewhere that chocolate is great for your health!, you might like to read the rest of this post to find out exactly the chocolate I’m talking about. Although, I’d say that if you’re any way savvy or like to read a little, you had your doubts about it being the convenience store variety.

So, which chocolate does have these amazing health giving properties? Well, it is the actual cacao bean that chocolate is derived from. The one that is grown in the regions of central and south America, before it meets our processing plants. I can understand that when people hear that chocolate is good for them, they are delighted, and can’t wait to nip off to tescos to top up on a few bars. The thing is, even if you do buy 70% cacao which is a whole lot better for your than milk or white, it still contains quite a lot of refined sugar. It was the Europeans who first combined the cacao bean with sugar to form something similar to what we find in our stores today, but luckily the raw version is beginning to show its face again, in select outlets throughout the world.

We now know that the refined sugar that is in most chocolate bars draws minerals out of the body and causes blood sugar problems and is highly addictive. This added refined sugar also lowers the healing quality of the cacao which is so rich in nutrients but it is the more bitter variety that we need. The chocolate that is sweetened with agave, yacon or stevia, even zylitol retains more of the health giving properties, particularly if it is in raw form, but ou may find these hard to locate in your local shop.

Cacao starts off life, after it has been pollinated, as a green pod-like fruit. It changes colour green to red, orange and even yellow as it begins to ripen. It takes approximately 5 to 6 months for each pod to ripen. Each fruit contains anywhere from 20 to 50 almond shaped beans or seeds that we know as the cacao bean. This is also what is known as the raw or natural form of chocolate and it is this “chocolate” that is exceedingly good for you.

Top 5 Reasons for Eating More Chocolate

According to David Wolfe, Superfood Expert Cacao is the best natural food source of the following nutrients:

1. Antioxidants
Cacao contains the highest concentration of antioxidants of any food in the world. By weight, cacao has more antioxidants than red wine, blueberries, acai, pomegranates and goji berries.

2. Magnesium
Magnesium is one of the most deficient major minerals for those on the Standard American Diet. Magnesium is an essential mineral for heart health, causes strong bowel movements, helps build strong bones, it also is one of the few alkalising minerals that our body needs in order to maintain a healthy PH. Cacao also seems to be the number one food source of this macro nutrient also.

3. Iorn
A low iron count is experienced by people suffering from anaemia. If you’ve ever experienced a low iron count, you will know how important this nutrient is to maintain good health. It keeps our blood healthy. Cacao is high in iron too.

4. Chromium
Is very helpful for balancing blood sugars. Cacao contains enough of this nutrient to reverse a chromium a deficiency.

6. Zinc
Zinc is a trace mineral that we only need small amounts of. Zinc plays a critical role in supporting the immune system, liver, pancreas, sexual fluids and skin. It is also involved in thousands of enzymatic reactions through the body.

So, now, if you've managed to get through this blog, you totally deserve to go out and eat lots and lots of chocolate!

Loving, delicious, chocolate filled moments!

Kitchen Greenie.

Ps: I will post up a recipe for a simple, cacao smoothie in the next few days.

Pss: Now you know how good the guilt free, raw cacao macroons are for you.

Raw Cacao Macroons

My contribution to dinner at a friends!

Raw Cacao Macroons
3 cups desiccated coconut
11/2 cups cacao powder
1 cup agave
1/3 cup coconut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

Method
Combine all ingredients in large bowl and stir well. Using a tablspoon, scoop out all mixture and pat into flat circles. Roll in coconut and place into the fridge until ready to eat.

Dulicious!!

KG.

Nettletastic

Hello Kitchen Greenies,

I've just had my morning green smoothie and today's was nettle. As I was making it, I thought "I must write something up about this much under valued, wild edible on my blog" and so here it is....

Stinging nettles get a lot of bad press, and if you've ever walked through a field and being stung by a bunch, you'll know exactly why. That said though, I feel that they do not get the respect they deserve, particularly because they are so good for us. They are high in iron, silica, magnesium, calcium, sulphur, Vit A, B and C. They also have diuretic properties that help flush toxins out of the body and also strengthen the blood. Sulphur is also excellent for healthy hair, skin and nails and is also good for detoxing the body. They are particularly good at clearing the blood and helping to cure anaemia.

The question that’s probably on everyone’s lips is “won’t they sting when I blend them?” and the answer is no, they won’t. Firstly, pick young stinging nettles or only use the leaves of older ones if you can. Another little tip is to wash them first, then run boiling water over them for a few seconds, before plunging them into ice cold water. You don’t actually have to do this, but if it will neutralise some of the formic acid that causes the sting and may put your mind at rest. This should do the trick and will render them safe for blending. A note of warning however, about picking these little weeds initially, please uses rubber gloves or you definitely won’t be using them in the kitchen.

Here's my recipe from today....

1 cup full of stinging nettles
1 banana
1/2 an avocado
2 cups of water.

The reason I added the avocado is because I've read on many other blogs that when usuing stinging nettles the smoothie must be drunk immediately after making it. This seems to be particularly true in the case of nettles, but if you add a half an avodaco i.e. good fats, the fat acts as a binder and stops this separation. It also makes it so much creamier. However, there was quite a strong taste of avocado off mine (which I love), so if would prefer to soften the taste, then just add another banana. You could always add some lemon juice too.

I hope this has helped in some way and you will now be picking those weeds in your backgarden and using them for the nutritional power houses that they are.

Feel free to share this post!

Have a super healthy day.

Kitchen Greenie.

7 Day Spring Cleanse

Kitchen Greenie’s

7 Day Spring Cleanse

A lighter, brighter, healthier you…in just one week.

Have you got some nasty little food habits that you would like to kick?

Are the pounds creeping on?

Are the kids taking it out of you now because you’re not as young as you used to be???

What about too many aches and pains?

Just feel sluggish after the comfort eating of the winter?

Well then maybe this 7 day kick start cleanse is for you…..

Look, there’s no easy way to say this, but we are a great big bunch of energy zapping addicts.  Addicted to sugar, coffee, alcohol….the list goes on.  Thing is, in order to break this habitual way of eating….e.g. eating any old thing just to fill the gap or constantly eating those little treats, that are more the norm rather than the exception nowadays. By undertaking a cleanse you are choosing to nip these nasty little habits in the bud and end up feeling pretty great as a by-product of this elimination process.

The bottom line is, we all need to do a cleanse every now and then in order to maintain a healthy God Pod and Spring is the perfect time to do it.  Just think about it, with the brighter weather and longer days, we feel intuitively guided to clean our homes and wear lighter clothes. We also seem to have no difficulty doing this, yet when it comes to our body, we seem to think that we can eat what we like, when we like, so long as we exercise it off! And get away with it.  Well, guess what?? You can’t. Let’s think of your body as less like a house, and more like a bank account.  If we continually take money out of my bank account, our account ends up in the red right?  Well, the same holds true for your body.  It was not designed to take the daily onslaught of pollutions, from the environmental type such as those we find in our atmosphere from cars, microwaves, televisions to those found in our food such as pesticides, herbicides and growth enhancers and many more.  However, all this said, our bodies are constantly detoxing from the by-products that are produced from respiration and our normal metabolic processes, and unless you are facing a serious illness, you should consider undertaking a cleanse slowly.  If you were to stop eating all together for a week and only drink water, the body may feel it safe to dump a lot of acids into your system, because of the reduced load from the lack of food, however, it could be quite unsafe to do so. My advice is that is it is always better to undertake something like a detox slowly, to let your body slowly acclimatise. 

The purpose of this 7 day cleanse is to help you regain some of that good feeling back into your own body.   To help you feel at home in your body again and to allow our natural bodily systems to remember what it is like to feel brighter, lighter and healthy again.

Our habits, both good and bad are deeply ingrained in us.  Our habits feel comfortable.  Like a best friend. But just because something feels comfortable doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Your future is definitely in your hands and one seriously good way to have a brighter one is to make different food choices.

Give me 7 days of your life and I will help you change the way you eat forever……..

What you will get from me………

• A daily email of inspiration and motivation, support and guidance.
• Recipes galore for those evening meals that you won’t have a clue what to make because the recipes don’t contain meat, to lunches that won’t leave you craving for something sweet afterwards. You will receive a recipe daily whether it’s how to make your own dairy free, nut milk to some super, charged, incredible desserts that you will be able to have while cleansing.  These emails will help keep you on track and provide an arsenal of live, great food recipes that you can use time and time again to wow your friends.  Being healthy has never been so good.
• Access to your very own personal, holistic health and lifestyle coach.   I will endeavour to answer your questions within 24 hours from cleansing reactions to providing motivation when you’ve fallen off the wagon, which most of us do, but if there’s someone that you have to be answerable to, it’s much easier to get right back on and begin again.
• Advice on which are the best supplements to take.
• Alternatives to those toxic household and skincare products that you may currently be using.
• Email advice on acid/alkaline balance and how the best tips for keeping it in balance.  This will include the top 5 best easiest and hassle free ways to change your body’s ph to one that is more alkaline.
• Physical exercise reminders. These will be gentle, but a reminder nevertheless.  You won’t get fully healthy until you begin to move.  You need to raise your heart rate at least 30 mins a day for optimum wellness.

With all this in mind…..I am only one person.  I will always try to answer your questions to the best of my ability, however, I need to remind you that I am not a doctor.  Nor do I have any form of medical training.  I have been working and studying in the natural health and wellness industry for over 20 years, but it doesn’t mean I am perfect.  I have training in both health and fitness and naturopathic nutrition, but mainly I know about the power of cleansing from doing it myself.  I also know how good a tin of shortbread tastes.  This cleanse is not about being perfect, however, it is about giving it a go.  It’s an inexpensive way for you to link into something that will have you feeling a lot better physically that you do now.  There will be an emotional release at some stage, so if you find yourself crying in the middle of your kitchen for no apparent reason, that’s ok. It is a perfectly normal reaction and all I can say is just go with it.

All this aside, I can almost guarantee that you will feel lighter, brighter and healthier.

Financial Details

Cost: I will be charging €40 for the week’s cleanse. 

Method of payment is either via cheque to my home address, which will be provided upon application or via Paypal if you have an account set up with them.

Kitchen Greenie 7 Day Cleanse

Juice, rocket fuel for the cells!

Making a Green Smoothie

Smoothie Recipe for Beginners

Greetings Greenies!

Today, I wanted to write up a couple of basic smoothie recipes for you to try out at home. Remember, if you are making them for the first time, it may feel a little odd to pop your kale into the blender along with some fruit, but what I do ask is that you please, please refrain from judging these strange looking concoctions until you've at least tried them for three mornings in a row.

Anyway, here we go, you will need the following.

Beginners Basic Kale
3 to 4 leaves of kale
2 soft, ripe pears
3 to 4 dates (pitted)
1/2 cup of water (more if desired)

Blend everything together in a blender. I like to blend my greens up first before adding my fruit. I also remove the really strong stalk if I am using a less powerful blender, but also because they can add a bitter taste to your smoothie. Pour into smoothie container (if you have one) or glass (if you don't) and enjoy...An oldie, but a goodie!

Mangolicious

1 cup of spinach
1 ripe mango
Handful of pineapple
1/2 cup of water (or more if desired)

Bananatastic

1 cup spinach
2 bananas
1 cup water

For both mangolicious and bananatastic, blend all the ingredients together in blender. If you feel you would like a green smoothie that is less thick, please feel free to add more water to get it to to a consistency that is perfect for you.

Sometimes I add a little lemon juice to make the mixture even more alkalising, not to mention helping the body absorb the calcium from the spinach. You don't have too, it's just a good thing to get into the habit of doing when you are using spinach.

Remember, green smoothies are meant to be delicious, nutritious, creamy drinks, so feel free to change any parts of the above to suit your own palate. The idea is to help you introduce more greens into your diet, and if you're anything like me, you will only do this if it is easy to make and delicious to taste, so please, no suffering in silence, no nose pinching and most certainly, no "bottoms up"! Adjust and amend to your liking.

I think you will be very surprised by what you think of these lovely greens that you are making part of your life for the next 3 days.  Whatever you think, I'd like to hear about it.  Please write to me with your experience...I don't even mind if it's really bad or that you are never, ever, going to try one of these drinks again! Your comments mean that I can improve and understand more about how others feel about taking greens in this way.

Well, that's it from me for now.

Keep up the good work!

Kitchen Greenie.