anti-inflammatory food ideas Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Hangover Smoothie Ingredients You’ll Love

Hangover smoothie is a good way to describe a healthy soothing beverage-is-medicine solution when you’re feeling an over hang.

…Most people even these days aren’t aware that a hangover comes from dehydration.

Late night alcoholic drinks is often blamed as the cause. Because alcoholic beverages are diuretics.

And around town, you need to say no more the next morning when you tell others you were out or up late. They get why you’re sluggish.

A hangover, like moods, is best described as symptoms where you don’t feel your best.

And they often start your day, the most important part of your day…

At least for productivity.

And hangovers don’t just come from late nights (with or without alcohol).

Losing an hour in daylight savings can give you that lesser feeling, and headaches from mental hangovers where a situation hangs over you head.

…I remember I felt a hangover when I lived off the highs and lows of life… feeling happy from social events and a fun day shopping at the mall… but then gradually the let down feeling of now what? creeping in… and wanting to keep that high feeling up.

The highs and lows are the worst, and more maturely eventually exercising my contentment muscle cured that… and allowed me to exercise greater self-control that’s an underrated personal development skill that helps throughout life.

But that high-low hangover feeling was a subtle feeling compared to a hangover from alcohol and dehydration….

Where drinking more water helps restore the immediate balance. Remember, our bodies are about 60% water.

Through drinking water and osmosis, we can hydrate our body cells to get us back to our optimal feeling selves in those situations.

👉 Amount of water daily rule of thumb you can use: divide your weight in half and then divide by 6 to know how many 6 oz. glasses to ideally drink per day.

For 130 lbs, that’s about eight – 8 oz regular glasses.

So point #1 is to feel good: and make sure you’re getting enough water.

Going to the toilet a zillion times a day is better where you’re preventing health issues and hangover effects you could have.

And if your urine is a dark yellow anytime, then you know drinking more water is and a tall glass is in order.

Also, adding in more electrolytes with calcium, potassium, and sodium. Some drinks like coconut water or V8 have this without the added sugars and are good for hangovers.

…And if you’re still feeling a hangover effect, then a hangover smoothie can be just what you need for your healing! 🧉

It can help you get on your feet when you feel malaise and want to stay in bed in the morning with throbbing pains and aches.

Headaches are the most common hangover effect.

There are many food ingredients too that can help you feel better faster. And a smoothie is a quick one to make.

Smoothies are also light when you don’t feel like eating.

Below is a great hangover smoothie recipe with berry and citrus to help you especially on those days!

The citrus alone will bring some happy flowing and brightening vibes. 🌼

…AND these common smoothie ingredients are not just good for hangovers.

They’re also good for an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, and incorporating foods that don’t cause inflammation (that is a big known cause for common chronic diseases like heart, diabetes, and certain cancers).

Living inflammation-FREE is a good mission and what I’m talkin’ about 👯

In 2020, I experienced eczema for the first time and since then I’ve learned to eat enjoyably with a lot less sugar and eczema-inflammation free.

Honey, fruits, and monk fruit sugar sources are what I use mostly in baked goods.

…Because Brandy is my name that also means sweet… and this girl is not giving up the sweet taste!

In the Western world, we’ve gotten used to the sickenly sweet pastries we see every time we venture out.

And the more we eat, the more we want since sugar is an addictive substance.

…So controlling the sugar intake is a better way, just like feeling contentment is better than high-low happiness based on current situations in life.

…And so a smoothie is a great way to develop better healthy eating and sweet habits!

You end up with more fruits with vitamins and antioxidants, than needing to add any other types of sugar sources (with zero nutritional value).

it’s a great daily replacement.

Plus, adding healthy, fresh plant-based fruit and veggie ingredients reminds you of an experience of what you get when you order a healthy smoothie from a smoothie shop.

That’s often a look-forward-to treat that becomes an event you mention to others. There’s some sort of cool feeling about it like going to a smoothie shop after yoga class. And we know feeling cool means feeling good. 👍

…Btw, I’ve always had good luck with smoothie shops… once I won a smoothie shop gift card and I’d never won anything before. It felt like winning a small lottery.

I also found the shops make great meetup places in the afternoon past coffee o’clock when you wanna sip and sit outside.

I mean, you gotta celebrate where you have luck 🎉, where you meet nice people 😊, good things happen…oh, AND you hydrate your thirst 💦 as part of your healthy fill!

And these days, you can order some of the healthiest anti-inflammatory ingredient smoothies on the planet that come in colors that look like they’re outta this world. 🌎

Something like this mermaid blue instead of a blue sugary slushy…

You can also easily source your own ingredients and make wellness and hangover smoothies at home.

And if that’s calling you 📣, I have a challenge I think you will love that highlights the healthy, budget-friendly special ingredients that you see or walk past whenever you’re in a grocery store.

…It’s a 7-Day healthy smoothie recipe challenge.

👉 And if you signup now you’ll get the additional FREE bonus baking recipe challenge for anti-inflammatory living (that are some of my fave desserts!).

If you’re like me (a foodie! 🙋🏻‍♀️) who likes sweets without giving up tastes, these 12 healthy bake recipes may do the trick! 💕

…They’re simple to prepare and bake with healthy-inspired ingredients that will help you feel good especially on all-day restore comfort, PJ days!

My healthy food mission is about delicious and staying the same comfortable weight year-round (and lifelong).

…So there’s no loss, and everything to gain.

…That’s something good to add to bakes and smoothie tastes.

And I like to blend the two with smoothie dessert tastes that are drinkable without any of the bad stuff. 🍥

Natural ingredients are good for hangover feelings.

Plus, a healthy hangover smoothie is a great way to balance your body, and add vitamins and nutrients you could otherwise be missing.

Like consider these killer hangover smoothie ingredients:

Berries – Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries all have high anthocyanin antioxidants and polyphenols that give a berry fruity-forward taste.

As fruits go, berries are not as high in natural sugar so adding them to a healthy hangover smoothie will help bring out other flavors.

Look for organic berries because regular berries are highly sprayed with pesticides. You may have better luck in the frozen aisles when they’re not in season. 😉

Citrus – Grapefruits, oranges, lemons, and limes are all super high in Vitamin C antioxidants.

Vitamin C is one potent vitamin that I’ve never heard anything bad about… and like you, I’ve lived through some decades of food debates and nutrient controversies.

And Vitamin C is one of the few vitamins that you won’t overdo as your body will naturally flush out the water soluble source.

Citrus as juicy vitamin fruits make great hydration foods for a detox hangover smoothie.

Oh, did someone say detox?

Ginger always seems to come to this mind.

Ginger – is great if you have a stomach ache. Ginger ale may be something that you drank to calm your gut growing up.

But even better is eating raw ginger straight up. Or adding small chunks to your smoothie so they’re not as spicy-gingery.

And along those lines, adding mild mint calms upset stomachs and bloating. Having mint leaves close by is a good idea.

Like an herb plant that’s below to the LEFT (and on the right is a no care-needed avocado seed plant good for mental hangovers 🌱)

Peppermint is a specific herb and mint ingredient that’s menthol powerful. Mint tea is good to have in your food-as-medicine cabinet.

…And is actually super helpful right away for many aches, from headaches to stomach aches (that remember link in the mind-body and direct mind-gut connection).

And these healthy ingredients can all go in one smoothie… ahhh, but wait there’s more!

These are other smoothie pairing enhancers great for a hangover smoothie.

Tropical fruits – besides vitamins, pineapple and mangoes are great adds to cure a hangover because they have a high natural fruit sugar content (so they help to replenish glucose levels and detox). They’re super sweet for a reason. 🥭🍍

Eaten in moderation, they are healthy fruits from nature’s labels.

Bananas are also great staple adds in smoothies because they add back what’s missing. It’s a good source of potassium that helps to add back body electrolytes.

They are also a great simple filler food that’s on the BRAT diet when you don’t feel like eating (aka. hangover or sick feeling).

A banana is great for smoothie texture and taste. 🍌

You can peel and freeze ripe bananas and have them ready-to-go. They won’t be yellow pretty, but they will do the trick!

And then when you add your smoothie liquid, you get the much needed hydration for your hangover feeling.

Milk (or plant-based milks) can be the bulk of the liquid added where you get even more electrolytes than just water in a smoothie.

Now that you have the ingredients and then some that you can mix up and use in a daily uplifting smoothie…

Ready to make the simple blender hangover smoothie?

Oh, and do check out other Magic Bullet recipes.

Berry Citrus Hangover Smoothie

This is one refreshing smoothie that will help with your headaches too!

Ingredients

1 tbsp fresh mint
1 medium banana
1/2 grapefruit
1 tbsp blueberries
1/2 lemon
1 tsp ginger

Instructions

Add all ingredients and blend. If you prefer oranges for citrus, substitute the grapefruit. And if you prefer strawberries or raspberries over blueberries, have at it! There are no wrong answers! It's your delicious and healthy smoothie!
If you want to make a green smoothie, you can add brewed green tea, spinach. To counterbalance the bitter, add a sweet fruit like pineapple..

Lemon Cookie – With Strawberry

Lemon cookie in a recipe is one tasty way to brighten up your holiday and Christmas cookie baking fun. 🎄And even better to brighten up a Christmas in July! Basically a lemon cookie is great year round and when you pair with strawberries you’ve got a heavenly tasting pairing!

Around the holidays, it may sound strange to bake in lemon.

…Because when we think of Christmas cookies, we traditionally think of chocolate, pistachio, or spices for Christmas-y vibes… and not summery lemon-y ones.

…But actually lemon is a winter fruit as most citrus fruits are. So think year-round lemon cookie!

Tip: you can buy lemons in the grocery stores in the winter months and freeze them for year-round use. You can save money this way as lemons are abundant in winter and when their price falls.

And these two healthy-inspired lemon cookies warm up the holiday baking season and festivities…

How to make this lemon strawberry and lemon cookie with rosemary is easy to divide up!

…So now that we’ve established lemons 🍋 are great, tasty year-round ingredients, they’re also super healthy.

Lemons are loaded with Vitamin C and full of limonene that’s an antioxidant.

And not only body healthy, the sunny lemon yellow is going to put anyone in a good happy mood… while brightening up tastes.

…Just ask those in the Mediterranean regions where cooking lemon into the daily diet for longevity reasons is a happy way of life.

Healthy Lemon Cookie

And so… in search of making one happy, anti-inflammatory lemon cookie, I was inspired by using healthy oils (no butter) and more healthy, natural sugar sources that have vitamins.

…But that was waayyy before I started baking all of my own sweets including cookies (my favorite!) for consumption…

Actually, I used to play a game with myself in the cookie grocery store aisle where I would find the healthiest cookie in a package with the smallest amount of sugar for the tastiest effect.

That was how I defined high cookie value.

Those were the day before I discovered how easy it is to bake your own cookies (that’s faster than if you go to the store and back).

And if you’re trying to lower your sugar intake (that’s a good idea! 💡) but love cookies, tart lemon is a great ingredient dimension add to cookies so the focus isn’t on sugar.

…The sour taste buds are doing a front row Radio City Rockettes happy dance with the secondary sweet buds behind. 👯

Like in this celebrational plate of healthy cookies with a strawberry lemon drizzle dessert surprise (made of Greek yogurt and buffalo mozzarella) in the middle.

plate of homemade and baked cookies including a lemon cookie with strawberry. — Clockwise from left to right: lemon strawberry cookie, lemon almond thyme cookie, spiced cookie

Baking in healthy ingredients is anti-inflammatory for skin and gut heath.

And making a cookie without butter or white sugar of any kind — that’s also deliciously tasty, holds together, and is crunchy (wow, that’s a mouthful!) — similar to store-bought cookies, is a dream come true! 💕 ..

And these lemon cookies with strawberries 🍓 fit the bill. They’re zesty and sweet in every way…

…Maybe that’s where zest-for-life came from?

And you can make lemon cookies like these with mostly healthy ground almond flour where you can save money by chopping your own whole almonds with a machine.

Recipe below.👇

…Or you can make a thyme-rosemary lemon cookie that’s Mediterranean-diet-lemon-and-olive oil healthy.

Since you’re using oil instead of butter for this cookie, you don’t need to refrigerate or cool the dough before rolling out as an added bonus.

For the flour for those lemon cookies, use gluten-free flour like coconut or almond flour (again).

And for the sweetness, use a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup.

Those sweet ingredients also act as binders along with the olive oil. Honey is great for moisturizing in dry, winter months and maple syrup for cooling down in hot months. But either are great year-round!

You can measure the healthy EVOO, but it’s much more fun if you look at cookie making as a new adventure like the wonder you had as a kid. 💭

…In your wonder, you can take a cup of flour and make a mound. Then, make a small well in the middle (like you would if you were making pasta) and add a tablespoon of olive oil in the well and start combining… and see what happens.

You’ll probably see that you need more oil to hold the flour together.

Try another tablespoon of EVOO. Then add a tablespoon of honey (or maple syrup).

Then add lemon zest from one lemon, and you can also add your herbs like rosemary and thyme.

Keep combining and adding a little bit more of the ingredient amount you need, like more olive oil…

Cookies are super forgiving. 😋

When the cookie dough can hold together with crumbly bits falling off, that’s when you know you will have a good cookie crunch when fully baked.

Place a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper on top of your dough, and roll out the dough (or flatten dough with the palm of your hand for imperfect cookies).

Then you can form your cookies into the shape you like by hand or cookie cutters.

Bake on 325°F on the higher baking shelf for about 12 minutes. I like to flip the cookies (from bottom to top) about 5 minutes before they’re done so they are baked more even as the bottoms get brown faster.

Lemon cookies also tend to burn quicker than darker color cookies like gingerbread cookies, another favorite for this ‘lil Miss Cookie Monster! 😋

Lemon Strawberry Cookie

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1/2 cup almonds (or use almond flour)
1 tbsp coconut oil, solid
1 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of salt
strawberry
1/4 cup bench flour

Instructions

Use a chopping processor machine to chop almonds to a fine almond flour or use store-bought almond flour. Combine with all ingredients except bench flour to make the cookie dough.
Add bench flour to your working surface and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes and add to a baking cookie sheet with a non-stick surface (Silpat or use baking spray).
Bake on 325°F for about 12 minutes or until sides are golden brown.

Anti-Inflammatory Food Ideas With Fun Trivia Questions

Anti-inflammatory food ideas are delicious and good for health prevention. Finding the right healthy pairings, spices, and flavors bring make the rainbow variety out. 🌈 Learn more about anti inflammatory foods in this article.

One of my favorite happy and healthy topics is probably no surprise to you, it’s food… and coming up with food ideas to eat. And for a low-sugar but sweet treat with anti-inflammatory benefits, see the Chai Cookies below. 🥠

And I’ve probably talked about anti-inflammatory food ideas even more times, and this anti-inflammatory food guide for grocery shopping and easy meal planning ideas.

…And so to spice up your healthy food knowledge, here are 5 Trivia Questions for you.

The answers are at the bottom… but I have a hunch that you may know the answer to one or more of them, and will definitely by the time you finish reading to the end. 😉

…So here we go with the 5 questions!

What is the difference between an herb and a spice?

Which 4 vitamins are fat-soluble?

Where is gluten found in wheat?

Besides wheat, what are 1-2 starchy CROP foods we could eat? (Hint: Grown and raised in big fields)

AND…

What food category does pumpkin fall in?

I had to add that last tricky trivia question in there because pumpkin is all the rage in taste these days. It seems earlier and earlier each year.

I’m still pouring coconut flavors into my beverages as it’s too hot for pumping pumpkin for me just yet… and maybe you too where you are?

In all healthy fairness though, pumpkin puree we often add to our dishes and bakes, is a nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory food loaded with fiber prebiotics good for gut health.

The downside: it has a high/fair GI rating so it can raise blood sugar spikes but still good for an anti inflammatory meal plan idea.

And so, you’ve probably heard of nutrient-dense foods at the core of anti inflammatory food which means they’re packed with nutrients compared to calories. And they have few ingredients. Often they’re whole foods like fruits.

They’re preventative protectors to help fight inflammation that’s recurring, ongoing, or chronic inflammation. Inflammatory properties often have at least one of these symptoms: redness or irritation, heat, swelling, or pain.

Those are earlier signs that can lead to certain chronic diseases such as heart disease, Diabetes 2, certain cancers, and cognitive decline diseases. So one way to handle is to reduce inflammation occurrences with a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating.

And you’ve probably heard of polyphenols that are nutrients in plants and the orange color in pumpkin gives away its healthy advantage rich in beta carotene that’s converted into Vitamin A in the body as needed, so you can think of them as one and the same 🎃

Polyphenols protect the plant, but we get the benefit as an antioxidant (to help protect against disease) in vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, tofu, and our plant-based diet. These are also good for weight loss meal plans.

There are 13 essential vitamins our bodies can’t make on their own. We get them through food or supplements. They’re critical for key functions like immunity, metabolism, and digestion that help us lose weight and maintain healthy weight.

These are essential nutrients on the anti inflammatory diet and anti inflammatory food ideaas for your food plans.

Vitamins A, C, E

These 3 essential vitamins fight inflammation or swelling. These are important antioxidants that fight cell-free radicals, to help protect against cancer. And you already know one way (eat more 100% pumpkins!).

Since Vitamins A and E are fat-soluble, it’s good to pair healthy fat in your body with them. Like sweet potatoes with walnuts or a drizzle of olive oil that’s common in a mediterranean diet… or how about a healthy bake like carrot coconut oil cake? 😋 That’s one of my anti inflammatory recipes.

Foods like avocados and almonds are rich in Vitamin E and (monounsaturated) healthy fats, so that’s why you probably see these superfoods in the healthy news headlines everywhere you turn.

Vitamin C is easy to find in fruits, but it’s water soluble (I think of it like going down a water slide out of your body). And so, you can take more and that’s why I take a daily supplement, in addition to eating from the rainbow Vit C foods.

Vitamins B

Daily, we need our B vitamins. All 8 are essential like those listed in a B-complex vitamin, and they work in synergy with each other.

Vitamins A, E, D, K are also essential and are the fat-soluble vitamins. Sometimes you naturally take advantage of this. Like when you use EVOO to cook your salmon.

But being more intentional, you can find other opportunities like:

Carrots with hummus made with EVOO.

Spinach with walnuts.

Or an avocado green smoothie with a plant-based milk.

And, here are some of my fave good anti-inflammatory food ideas:

One morning snack I enjoy is celery with almond butter that has protein and fiber. Or natural peanut butter paired with a Granny Smith apple, sliced up bananas, or in good old-fashioned PBJ (or favorite seeded jam) toast.

Another good starter is watermelon with EVOO and mint. If you have a headache, the first thing I do is drink water that’s always good for hydrating your system. And mint is good for the aches.

In fruits and veggies, the different polyphenol-phytochemical pigments are healthy antioxidants. Here are some food examples and how you can eat from the rainbow 🌈:

Red

Red Apples – If you like crisp, Fuji or Gala varieties are easy to find. Or a traditional Red Delicious that’s a softer apple and tends to bruise easier.

Tomatoes – if you find a tomato medley, they all have differing degrees of sweetness, like a green tomato is less sweet. Yellow tomatoes are less acidic and taste sweeter than a red cherry tomato. And a plum tomato usually found in an Italian dish has a deep red or red-orange color different than a slightly sour grape tomato for a Greek salad.

Both overall, tomatoes and avocados aren’t as sweet compared to other fruits. They’re botanical fruits, but we think of them as veggies in our dishes. They actually come from the flowers of plants.

Squashes are considered fruits, and pumpkin popular in September and October is considered a squash. So a pumpkin is a fruit (and that answers that trivia question).

Orange

Carrots – are underrated I think. A bag of carrots is always good to have on hand and are usually abundant year-round. You can eat them as snacks, or cook them slightly soft for better nutritional benefits.

Or you can julienne them or puree them for your carrot cake and breads. If carrots get too dry left out, you can simply add them to a bowl of water to revive them. They’re a lot like us even though their roots are different! 🥕

Oranges – are seasonal even though we see them sometimes year-round. They’re more abundant in the cold winter months like November – January in the U.S.

But, nothing is guaranteed for any food, and you may have found oranges harder to find as there has been a crop shortage, as of 2021. You can find mandarin oranges or small clementines more easily. They’re less acidic and easier to peel if you want to find their good sides.

Yellow

One of the most practical fruits we have around is a banana. Green bananas have a lower GI (glycemic index) than ripe bananas. That makes sense as they’re not as sweet. I like to eat green bananas and use the ripe ones for baking or a smoothie. If you shop around, you’ll know where to get the greenest ones in your town.

Green

Avocado – already mentioned as a superfood, besides on toast, you can make a smoothie or a mousse dessert. You can add on top of any salad. And since they don’t last long after you cut into them, you can easily make an easy guacamole dip. 🥑

Spinach – spinach is a powerful vitamin-rich food and Popeye learned this when got his strength guzzling spinach down.

But for us ordinary characters, we can get bored with the bland spinach taste in a salad. So, I have many anti-inflammatory food ideas:

One idea is to wilt with a little liquid and heat, and then add to your plate slightly cooked to keep the nutrients intact. You’ll find you can add a lot more spinach once it’s tamed down with water and heat

It’s the difference between when your hair is just blown out shiny straight, compared to a wild frizzy humid hair day. 😄

And… when you have a big bag of spinach that can last a couple of weeks in the fridge, but by then is not as fresh… here are some FRESH spinach ideas:

Smoothie: Spinach, pineapple, Granny Smith apple, and nut or plant-based milk. The tart and sweet complements the green smoothie goodness. Add your powders and seeds all day! And you can substitute with kale.

Spinach con queso dip

On medium stove heat, you can wilt the spinach with warming milk, and then add cheese to melt, while stirring. And you can sprinkle baked kale chips on top for extra anti-inflammatory food ideas.

Tortilla with melted cheese spinach (Quesadila)

Bake tortilla. I like low and slow (200°F for an hour) so they don’t burn, and then add shredded or cut-up cheese that’ll be quick to melt in the oven. Add your fresh microgreens or herbs on top AFTER you bake.

I like to add allium-healthy flavors like red or green onions. And tri-color bell peppers for a mouth fiesta 🎉. And a bean spread (with EVOO smashed pinto or cannellini beans).

That is a super anti-inflammatory food idea and you may have heard that beans are the vitamins that Blue Zone Centenarians take. 🫘

Maybe spinach ain’t so bland after all!?

And one food that hasn’t been mentioned yet is fatty fish oils found in fish. Good healthy eating ones are small fish like sardines or wild fish like wild salmon. They would be good to add to any meal planns.

Blue

Blueberries – bake well into morning bars, balls, or scones.

blueberry muffin bites.

Blueberries also great for smoothies, and jams. And if you’re not a fan or allergic, you could do the other common berries like strawberries or raspberries, or the newer popular berries like elderberries or red lingonberries. I think it’s interesting that we haven’t even come close to identifying all the berries around the world!

Purple/Black

Black beans – I like to bake black bean brownies or energy balls that makes these longevity bakes. You can add espresso on top of the cocoa to give some deeper flavors. Or you can make a cool beans soup. 😋

…Now that’s thinking like a Centenarian! These are worth adding to your anti-inflammatory food ideas.

Red Onions – On the outside, they’re s dark purple hue and inside they’re white. They are pretty and healthy.

Onion rings – And you can easily make healthy baked onion rings. Cut rings (parallel to the top of the onion like the latitudinal equator lines if you could imagine it like a globe). Then dip into a whisked egg, then flour, and then Panko bread crumbs. And then bake. So easy and impressive for a snack!

White/Brown

Mushrooms – these are fascinating as they have so many benefits to the earth and our immunity. The earth needs us and we need the food on the earth.

And adaptogens like mushrooms help with our stress and anxiety. And they have become a whole new taste revolution. Umami – oh, mommy!

Cauliflower – they are a good source of Vitamin C and low in calories for healthy weight loss. You can bake them into your pizza crust or eat my favorite ways, as Crudite. That’s raw on a veggie plate we always had when I worked in hotel catering.

mushroom porridge or oatmeal are fantastic anti-inflammatory food ideas

Breakfast Mushroom Oats Porridge

What’s not to love?

For plant based breakfasts, there are many anti-inflammatory food ideas worth keeping:

Breakfast Quinoa – as a pseudo grain and naturally gluten-free, this is my go-to cereal. Quinoa takes a little bit of cooking time like rice, but you can batch cook in advance so it’s cool and ready for the next few mornings.

Lunch/Dinner Quinoa – It’s also versatile for your savory lunch meals and dinner salads. My favorite combo is chickpeas and quinoa with a coarser Celtic sea salt.

Warm Oats – this is definitely a morning staple. I like to eat warm with fresh fruit but that’s about Vata-me… and what about you?

Cold Oats – You can also do Overnight Oats and just pull your cup or glass out of the fridge in the morning. Add your chia seeds, berries, yogurt, and bananas for a Pitta perfect parfait. 😊

Almonds – these are great snacks. And unlike a chip, it’s good to eat more than one. They have the healthy fat, but also vitamins, minerals, and protein.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil or EVOO

Besides cooking, EVOO is good for baking, dips, and on toast for some other anti-inflammatory food ideas.

Spelt and sprouted grains come from whole grains and have high levels of vitamins and minerals. They’re easier to digest with a lower GI (but not to be confused with gluten-free!). You can get GF versions, but those are wholesome wheat grains.

And that’s a good idea and thought to leave it on! I hope this helps you on your food healthy lifestyle!

…Oh, and here are the answer to the 5 TRIVIA questions above (that I copied here):

What is the difference between an herb and a spice?

Which 4 vitamins are fat-soluble?

Where is gluten found in wheat?

Besides wheat, what are some other starchy crop healthy foods we could eat?

What food category is pumpkin in?

Trivia Question Answers:

1.An herb comes from the leaves of plants, and spices from the other parts (flowers, fruits, seeds, roots).

2.Vitamins D,E,A,K

3.Gluten is found in the starchy endosperm in the middle layer of the wheat cereal grain. The seed is deep inside and the bran is the outside of the grain.

4.Corn, rice, and millet are a few. Millet is more popular for humans to eat outside the U.S. but you can find it if you look around.

5.Pumpkin is a squash, and squashes are fruit. So, a pumpkin is technically a fruit. You may never look at pumpkins the same, and at Thanksgiving when you think you need a fruit pie on the table.

And that’s a wrap!

For healthy recipes you can check out this one especially if you have a sweet tooth and want to avoid the inflammatory sugar.

Print Recipe

Low-Sugar Easy Chai Cookies

These delicious and simple-to-make chai bombs are loaded with antioxidants.

Course desserts

Cuisine American, Indian

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 tsp all spice (cloves)
1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon (add more with preference
1 tsp chai tea bag, grinds
1 tbsp molasses (or honey)
2 tbsp coconut oil, solid form
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp cardamom

Instructions

The secret to these delicious cookies is to mix the ingredient dough and refrigerate for several days so the flavors have a chance to penetrate. Then scoop into balls and bake as you would cookies.