Nancy S. Mure's Blog, page 5

Blizzard (Tuscan White Bean) Soup

It's snowing hard here in NYC and the soup is on! Today I'm making a gorgeous hearty white tuscan bean soup in honor of the Blizzard of 2016! I've got some tuscan white beans and olive oil from Tuscany on hand and I'm going to put the ingredients to good use in this easy, delicious and healthful snow-day recipe.

Notably, white beans have extraordinary health benefits. They are high in magnesium, Vitamin C, Iron, and fiber. Additionally, white beans are low on the glycemic index and prevent the body from storing fat. That being said, white beans are incredibly delicious and hearty in soup. 

For those concerned about gas, bean soup is not gassy if properly combined. To avoid gas, beans may be combined with vegetables and starch but may not be combined with protein. To illustrate, this bean soup recipe is combined with spinach. 

Are you ready to make some soup? You will need: 

Ingredients:

1 package dry organic cannellini beans soaked or two cartons organic cannellini beans (Wholefoods)2 tablespoons good quality cold-pressed olive oil1 small onion2 cloves garlic2 cups vegetable or chicken stock or bone broth1-2 cups pure water as needed2 stalks organic celery chopped1 generous handful fresh organic baby spinach

Method:

In a large saucepan, gently sautee onion and celery until tender. Add garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in beans, chicken broth, pepper. Add the pure water one cup at a time. Bring to a simmer, then simmer until beans are molto tender.Remove one cup of the bean soup and set aside.In blender at low speed, blend 1 cup of the bean soup, then pour it back into the pot to thicken it.Return soup to a low simmer and stir in a generous handful of baby spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. Season with mineral rich himalayan pink salt and black pepper. Drizzle with truffle oil to finish.

 

Are Your Food Choices Empowering or Disempowering?

The food you eat is either empowering or disempowering. That means your food can either waste precious nerve energy or preserve it for healthy cell replacement and repair. To illustrate, foods that are fast, processed, GMO, loaded with sugar and artificial sweeteners are disempowering foods. Your body works against them. These foods are difficult to digest, stress the organs, and are a threat to your health and weight

Foods that are nourishing, live, and loaded with vitamins and minerals like plant-based foods are easy on digestion. They are empowering foods. Your body works with them and they are an asset to your health and your waistline.

When you eat foods that are disempowering you compromise your health. When you eat foods that are empowering you strengthen and secure your health. It is that simple.

Every time you reach for that bagel or Twinkie or energy bar or fast food burger or synthetic protein shake, ask yourself if you'd rather have empowerment -- the security of vigor and stellar health, or disempowerment -- the insecurity of illness and disease.

I bet the answer will be an easy one.

Make the adjustment of eating empowering foods every day until empowering yourself at a cellular level becomes a habit. Empower. Adust. Triumph! This is how it's done folks.

http://www.amazon.com/EAT-Empower-Adjust-Trium…/…/0744304849

Here's Why Varicose Veins and Venous Insufficiency Are Due To Poor Diet

Have you ever wished you had listened to your instincts? I remember the day I sat in NYU Langone Vein Center having an ultrasound of my right leg. I thought I'd ruptured a vein on the leg press machine at the gym. I had been on one of those commercial diet plans that included training hard and eating three protein bars or shakes per day. My leg had been feeling unusually painful so I made an appointment to have it checked out. The leg was swollen, achy and veiny, for lack of a better word and it made me uncomfortable. The ultrasound results revealed venous insufficiency. It seemed one of my return veins had a sort of hiccup, that kept the blood from flowing back to heart. 

Venous insufficiency is apparently very common. It is often the source of unsightly legs, varicose and bulging veins and a lack of blood flow which results in aching that ranges from mild to uncomfortable. The swelling comes from the pooling of blood in the veins. Symptoms also include varicose veins, which are related to the increased pressure within the veins as well as aching, throbbing, fatigue and heaviness—all of which worsen as the day goes on.

The doctor said the procedure would be simple. The conversation went like this:

"So Doc, tell me, what's Vein Ablation like?"

 "I give you something to relax, then I go inside the vein with a tube as thick as a piece of spaghetti, apply laser/radiofrequency energy into the vein and seal it." 

"Hmmm. What would happen to the vein?"  I asked.

"Eventually the body would absorb it."

"Where would the blood go?"

"It'll be rerouted. The other veins will pick up the slack."

"Wouldn't the loss of that vein increase the pressure on the remaining veins?" 

"Yes, it could."

Instantly, I could see there would be nothing "simple" about this procedure. Once I consented to having this done I would be a slave to it. I would have to wear a compression stocking. I would have to come back for follow-ups. If there was a complication, I would have to deal with that. The missing vein would result in the others being pressured, which would mean there's a good chance this could happen again.  No thanks. I went home and began my research.

Studies prove there's a genetic predisposition to varicose veins, but our genes are not our destiny. Many of our symptoms are diet related and varicose veins are a symptom. According to medical doctors, varicose veins are attributed to a low fiber diet, and from being overweight or obese. However, Naturopaths insist venous insufficiency and varicose veins are directly related to mineral deficiency -- namely copper. Copper is the little known essential trace mineral that helps in maintaining healthy bones, immune system and blood vessels. A deficiency will show itself with white, grey or silver hair, wrinkling skin and you guessed it -- a reduction in vein elasticity. It is also a known contributor to hemorrhoids and heart disease.

I refused the Venous Ablation procedure to heal the condition with nutrition and some temporary supplementation until I could get my diet on track. I followed a mostly plant-based diet as outlined in my book EAT!-Empower. Adjust. Triumph: Lose Ridiculous Weight improving my digestion for the best absorption and assimilation of nutrients. Because copper should be taken in small amounts, in its organic form and colloidally, I ate foods that contained copper like hummus, cashews, sunflower seeds, shiitake mushrooms, lentils. chickpeas, walnuts and lima beans, as well as high amounts of leafy greens, and fruit. Additionally, I supplemented with some organic, essential trace minerals -- plant based and in colloidal suspension to help get my diet back on track.

Within two months I began seeing DRASTIC improvements in my leg! I couldn't believe my eyes. Also, I could stand for longer periods of time without pain. Heaviness also disappeared. There were no aches, no tenderness, the veins faded and the swelling decreased! I was thrilled that my leg was returning to normal! Best of all I could wear shorts and skirts again without being self-conscious! Surely the diet/nutrition approach proved more sane than removing a vein.

When you give your body what it needs, it heals. When the body heals, it heals everything. I'll be talking about that more in upcoming posts. Incidentally, I never regretted listening to my instincts on this one! 

Trace Minerals - 1 fl oz

EAT BETTER, TRAIN LESS, REST MORE FOR STELLAR HEALTH

Fitness trainers like Jillian Michaels have been heard to say "If you want your body to change, you've got to put stress on it!" While this is true, how much stress we put on our body over time can create adverse, unwanted effects.

Overtraining syndrome is a little-talked about major concern among fitness enthusiasts. Over time hard-core training can become a detriment instead of an asset. Sure you'll have developed the muscles for the task but if you don't rest, eventually your body will force you to rest.

Thanks to The Biggest Loser, "just do it" and other athletic slogans, so many get it wrong when it comes to fitness and how it pertains to overall health. They view hard core training as something positive and healthy -- a welcomed form of stress used to build the body. What they aren't realizing is every activity the body is put through is a stressor (i.e., eating, exercising, breathing). Your amazing human body adapts by continually strengthening, until it simply can't anymore.

Rest heals both the human and animal body. Your amazing body is a self-healing, self-eliminating marvel. It adjusts to anything you do to it, but it has a tipping point. Couple heavy training with a diet too high in animal protein, processed energy bars, shakes and other junk that commercial diet plans likeNutrisystem, Slimfast, Atkins and Weight Watchers recommend and you've got a physiological time bomb. 

Let's look at the unseen ways you stress your body:

Physiological stress - Training is only twenty percent of the overall health equation. Nutrition is eighty percent. How and what you eat stresses your organs. Poor diet, overeating, diets high in animal protein, synthetic protein bars, and shakes, and GMOs are stressors of the digestive tract. It takes the body twice the time to process these foods than it does nature's foods. That being said, poor digestion is a major cause of stress on the human body. Couple that with constipation, emotional stress or an overly ambitious workout regimen and you're headed for a crash.  Lack of sleep is another damaging form of physiological stress caused primarily by overeating and poor diet, and has been proven to negatively impact health. 

Emotional stress - Work stress, money stress, relationship stress, job stress, life stress -- emotional stress adds to the stress burden on the body and affects the human body at a cellular level. Add chronic negative thinking and anger and you've got healthy cell killers.

Environmental toxins - If you've read the AutoImmune Epidemic then you're familiar with the ways our bodies work against our toxic environment everyday, in everything from soaps and shampoos to carpets, furniture and the air that we breathe. When this toxic stress response occurs continually, or is triggered by multiple sources, it can have a cumulative toll on physical and mental health—for a lifetime. 

Overtraining symptoms include:

FatigueJoint painInsomniaHeadachesDecreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)Decrease desire to train Moodiness and irritabilityDepressionIncreased incidence of injuries.

The advice to train less and secure adequate rest is no invitation to become a couch potato. Here are some sane training alternatives that keep overall stress lower and are effective in maintaining muscle tone:

YogaTai ChiWalkingStretchingSwimmingBasic Calisthenics

 

Asthma Is A Diet Related Symptom

Asthma is characterized by lung airway inflammation. It is initiated and caused by an inappropriate immune response of the airway as well as airflow obstruction. This is caused by inflammation.

As I write in my book EAT! -- Empower. Adjust. Triumph!: Lose Ridiculous Weight, Inflammation in the body can be caused by an injury, an irritating exposure i.e., a dog or cat, or by what we eat. Inflammation is always a protective response.  

However, asthmatics in general are highly symptomatic and sensitive to the world around them as they deal with a lower level of functioning in it. One noticeable symptom is secretion: Mucus secretion -- phlegm and running nose, is often the first-line defense against the barrage of irritants.

Another noticeable symptom is poor excretion. Asthmatics generally suffer from constipation or should I say poor elimination. Generally they are toxemic from excess fecal matter left behind in the colon which has been shown in studies to be a cause of wheezing. Both mucus and constipation are indicative of a toxemic state, out of which evolve the many diseases to which an asthmatic is predisposed. Toxemia, constipation and consequently inflammation, are the direct result of improper diet. 

With asthma the causes are multiple and never singular. "If asthmatics were not enervated and if their bodies were not filled with toxins to the saturation point they would not be hypersensitive to proteins and other substances." (Herbert Shelton, Hygienic Review)

Since every disease starts with inflammation and asthma is always related to poor gastro-intestinal/ gut health, correcting diet is a huge factor in getting well. For recovery there needs to be an adequate supply of the normal requirements of stellar health — mental, physical and physiological rest, simple high nutrient foods, fresh air, sunshine, warmth, and cleanliness.  

Studies show that overall, more frequent consumption of fruit, vegetables and fish was associated with a lower lifetime prevalence of asthma, whereas high burger consumption was associated with higher lifetime asthma prevalence. This makes sense since high amounts of animal meats and dairy are known to create mucus in the body.

In another study done on children it was found that sugary soft drinks that contained refined and high-fructose sugar were associated with higher asthmatic reactions where consumption of other beverages and consumption of fruit were not associated with increased asthma risk. 

The #1 Way To Eat Efficiently

If you're at all like me, you like to get things done quickly and efficiently, especially when it comes to eating. Eating efficiently means getting the maximum amount of nutrients in the quickest way possible. An excellent way to do this is by making a smoothie. Smoothies are a great way to get more nourishing ingredients like those from organic vegetables and fruits into your daily diet at one time.

My go-to, efficient, all-season smoothie is fully loaded with essential vitamins and minerals necessary to maintain good health. I make this smoothie every time I'm feeling like I need a boost of the good stuff or when I want to start my week off right. It's super easy to prepare and has only three organic ingredients, plus some distilled (ultra pure) water, which I get readily from my awesome countertop distiller. 

The smoothie is loaded with Vitamins C, A, B6, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Fiber and PROTEIN!!! Unlike synthetic protein shakes, this smoothie is easy on the digestive tract and readily absorbed and assimilated by the body as nourishment instead of discarded as waste. Believe me you want this kind of efficiency in your life!

In a high speed blender you'll need:

Organic raw spinach (packed into the blender)One small organic peeled lemon (plus some rind for flavor)3-4 organic datesDistilled water

I like to drink smoothies in mason jars, with a glass straw to avoid BPAs. My plan is to keep it clean, green and efficient for the new year. Are you ready to EAT! efficiently with me? 

Heal Cracked Heels By Eating More Of These Foods..

Ever wonder why you slather on the best foot cremes and still have cracked heels? Because the skin is an inside job.

Cracked heels are primarily an indication of mineral deficiency. The deficiency in question is zinc. Symptoms of zinc deficiency include poor growth and delayed sexual maturation in children, poor wound healing, hair loss, impaired immune function, and dermatitis. 

The cool thing about the human body is it shows symptoms of deficiencies in the extremities first, to protect the organs, so it's important to recognize a deficiency when it appears.

While Omega 3's from fish, and Vitamin D3 from the sun are also helpful in healing cracked heels, zinc can be found in generous amounts in cashews, chickpeas, kidney beans and almonds. Zinc is also found in animal meats, dairy, and seafoods like lobster, oysters and crabs but I don't recommend eating high amounts of these foods.

Before you reach for the supplements, Zinc is only needed in small amounts. The recommended daily amount (RDA) of zinc should not exceed 8 mg. daily for women and 11 mg. daily for men. Zinc, like all vitamins and minerals is best gotten from food.

To find out more about how to nourish yourself from the inside, out check out  EAT! Empower. Adjust. Triumph!  

 

Three Steps To Lick A Cold In Under Twenty-Four Hours

You get a runny nose, sneeze a few times, take a decongestant, cough medicine, some other over-the-counter-remedy and you're good to go, right? WRONG.

You're not cured. you've just primed yourself for a continuation of disease: maybe bronchitis, pnemonia or the flu.

"Today, as in the past, when a man becomes ill - he takes a pill from a box, potion from a bottle, gets an injection of a poison from a hypodermic syringe, or has an organ removed. No attention is given to cause. His life is not changed, his habits are not corrected, and in a short time he is sick again. " -Herbert Shelton, MD

A cold is the beginning of disease. It is not a disease. Let me explain. Ever think about why there isn't a cure for the common cold? Astoundingly science has not figured out how to cure a cold because contrary to popular belief, a cold is not something that we "catch," but it represents a process of getting rid of something we have slowly accumulated. A cold is a process of vicarious elimination. A cold is not a disease to cured. It is a symptom. A cold is the body's brilliant way of cleaning house. It your body's way of letting you know that you are:

AcidicStressed on unseen levelsNot getting adequate rest.

On the back of every cold is a toxemic state - a slow accumulation of your bad eating and living habits catching up to you. A cold, like all disease is remedial effort. Remedial means righting a wrong. Therefore a cold is a process of purification and repair. We actually delay a cold and prolong it by medicating it.

How do we become toxemic or acidic?  By eating a diet high in refined sugar, processed foods and low amounts of fruits and vegetables. We become acidic when we are emotionally stressed. We become acidic when we are chronically constipated. The body's reaction to this is a clean sweep of the system -- enter the common cold.

Stress is a major factor in getting a cold. There are three types of stress: Emotional stress, which is chronic high in the fast-paced world we live in today. There's physiological stress, which is caused by poor diet and the overworking of your body's processes and organs. We stress our organs when we overeat or when the body digests something difficult, like high amounts of protein, like meat. Being constipated is another self-inflicted form of physiological stress on the body. Equally chronic Indigestion is physiological stress, and yes, you can develop a cold from being cold or being overheated, as this too, is a form of physiological stress. Insomnia, the main symptom of inadequate rest is caused by indigestion. Then there's physical stress, which comes from manual labor, exercise or physical training.

There are three simple steps to take to lick cold in under twenty-four hours. These are:

Stop eating. If digestion is process, healing gets put on the back burner. You don't want that.Fast - transition yourself to a liquid only diet of pure water, broths, herbal teas, fresh, Vitamin C-rich juices. These are easily digested and allow the body to focus on healing.Call in sick and put yourself to bed. The body heals by resting. There is no other way for a body to heal other than by giving it much needed rest.

Medicating is cold or suppressing a cough is about as useless as putting a bandaid on a stomach ache. Your amazing body is self eliminating. It's form of ridding the body of mucus (also caused by poor diet) is to expel it. The body does this by coughing and with runny nose.  Allow the body reparative work and your cold will be gone in no time.