Balanced diet recipes Archives - Page 8 of 10

Fresh Orange Juice (No Juicer Needed)

Fresh orange juice is a popular, year-round favorite. In the winter, oranges are in season, so you can find an abundance of oranges.

orange juice

That’s also when most people load up on Vitamin C that they associate with orange juice, and why orange juice grocery shelves can be full or running empty.

And summer is a popular time too as it’s served in vacation towns and resorts.

I share below how you can optimize an entire orange in homemade fresh orange juice squeezed by hand.

If you’re inspired by fresh juices, this is a smart idea to save money, be healthy, and enjoy conveniently at home.

And speaking of enjoyment, last week I had a nice surprise.

I won a gift card to a local smoothie place I’m inspired by. They are my inspiration for tropical smoothies.

One day I saw someone coming out of a yoga studio in my town who was carrying this mermaid blue color bowl that’s the size of a large yogurt container.

I had to find out what this healthy ingredient is!

I learned it comes from an ingredient called blue majik (that’s the magic in the blue bowl). 🥣

The South Block smoothie chain also uses ingredients like camu camu and maca root.

You feel like you’ve been invited to a new array of rainforest superfoods shipped from an exotic locale in the world and infused in your made-to-order bowl or smoothie.

It’s dreamy, no?

OK, I could go on and on excited!…

But, today I also wanted to share how you can optimize oranges in a house-made fresh orange juice.

I’ve become super sensitive to how much sugar I consume and that’s healthy motivation.

And that hopefully inspires you to think healthy food and drinks at least most of the time (as it does for me).

Vatas are attracted to oranges and sugar so this is perfect for satiating sweet cravings.

Next time you think about getting orange juice from the store, consider making your own fresh orange juice from whole oranges where there’s no added sugar.

Fresh Orange Juice

organic navel orange peel for fresh homemade orange juice. — Look for heirloom, organic, or local farmers market produce as in season (free of pesticides, good for us and the environment)

And oranges are one of my favorite fruits as I love the smell of oranges. Here’s why…

They are good for calming anxiety, aromatherapy, and if you’re leaning into the Vata mind-body ways or wanting to restore any Vata imbalance.

If you can’t get the work life balance or life is stressful, keeping an orange near you to sniff and that’ll help calm you.

And making fresh orange juice will also in its healthy-balancing effects.

And if you feel it in your nervous digestive tract, you can try an orange elixir like this recipe:

organic navel orange peel for ayurveda drinks

Orange Digestif Juice

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 orange (pulp, zest, peel)
Apple cider vinegar (amount adjustable to liking)
5 Spice blend (Five spice is star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and black pepper) - (amount adjustable to liking)
water (dilute as needed)

Instructions

Zest and peel an orange. Keep all the parts. Tip: use navel, Cara Cara, blood, or heirloom oranges. They are good for the calming (and good for parasympathetic nervous system also affecting good digestion).
Squeeze the pulp into your orange juice container (or enjoy).
Add your zest and peels to the container.
Add five-spice blend.
Add apple cider vinegar
Fill up with water. Shake and refrigerate. Enjoy when you have an upset stomach.

There are so many orange varieties to choose from. I love the Cara Cara sweetheart orange variety (common around Christmas) that can be juicier and sweeter than a California navel orange that’s in season a little earlier.

Plus fresh orange juice makes me think of my second home, staying in nice hotels! Once upon a time I worked in hotel catering management where I got my first taste.

And you may have seen out and about those gigantic commercial machines that crank out fresh orange juice from whole oranges. That would be a fun job for a day!

You may have seen one of these at selective grocery stores if you live in a larger metro area.

Fresh orange juice definitely ruined me for any added sugar orange juice that comes from a carton (like I grew up drinking).

Concentrated is high sugar and harsh on the stomach, and especially along with a morning coffee routine that Americans commonly do. That’s double acidity.

Plus ontop of that, most common foods are usually acidic.

And if that’s your typical morning routine…

👉 You can opt for making your own organic cold brew coffee and diluting orange juice with water.

So let’s begin and get your fresh orange juice-on!

For equipment, you can use a citrus squeezing tool, which is one of my favorite kitchen tools because it’s bright yellow so I have no choice but to be sunny with the brightening citrus when I use it 😉.

And a zester microplane tool that looks like a zester.

Orange zest from a fresh orange juice.

These are the parts of the orange.

Orange Zest (essence). Before I cut into the orange for orange juice, I go around the orange peel, grating, and capturing all the outside orange zest as essence for zhughing up other sweet morning smoothies, dishes, and garnishes (that’s where my former-catering mind goes and yours can go wild too!).

Orange Pith. Most people throw the spongy, slightly bitter part out, but consider keeping.

This would good in the orange digestif recipe mentioned already.

The orange pith is high in Vit C (as is the juicy pulp) and anti-inflammatory flavonoids. For those reasons alone, it’s worth considering mixing in foods and drinks/smoothies.

Plus leaving no traces of fruit is good for not attracting critters. 😉

Orange Juice and Pulp. Then cut the orange in half (perpendicular to the top or the stem or from left to right).

I know it’s tempting to cut the orange any which way since it’s perfectly round, but cutting the right way lets you cut through each orange segment to maximize juice.

Otherwise you could get stuck on a pillowy-feeling orange segment.

Now you’re ready to squeeze each orange half or use a citrus squeezer tool, and squeeze away the juice into a tall glass.

Let go of all your stress squeezing oranges. Activating calming oranges around you is a relaxing sensory exercise.

Keep repeating until you have the amount of juice you want. Add back pulp as desired if you like high pulp juice.

You can also add some water to dilute some or stretch the juice out for more.

And enjoy!

No-Waste Eco-Friendly Ideas: Save the orange pulp if you prefer high-pulp OJ and add small orange pieces to your drink.

Save the seed to grow a plant. Save the pulp and zest for cooking and baking recipes. Save the pith that has the most nutrients for digestifs and foods. Save the orange sticker as a reminder for getting the Produce LookUp (PLU) item again. 😉

If you like fresh juices, you may want to give Fresh Peach Juice and Mango Juice other sunny yellow inspiring fruity juices a GO.

3 Tips For Your High Acidic Stomach and Cleansing With Alkaline Foods

Here are some common signs you have a high acidic stomach (or higher than your usual), and where you can restore to a normal PH alkaline with your diet:

-Stomach discomfort especially where your GI tract meets the upper stomach intestinal wall.

-If you drink coffee and after you’ve eaten something light, food adds discomfort to your stomach. Btw, coffee on an empty stomach can “tear up the stomach.”

-If you burp more often, and especially if that’s not common for your body.

-You know you’ve been freely eating more of whatever you want, whenever you want, and maybe a usual food offender to your stomach. Our stomachs are naturally acidic and most of the foods we eat that we enjoy are acidic so maintaining a balance between joy and health will make the difference.

-And, if you have the taste of acid washing back up your throat (referred to as acid reflux), then that’s a sure sign. Many people pop antacids like candy after meals. But that’s masking an opportunity for a better and healthy solution of changing your eating lifestyle and habits.

Here are some quick fixes you can make to alleviate acidic stomach pain or discomfort: Continue reading “3 Tips For Your High Acidic Stomach and Cleansing With Alkaline Foods”

Summer Mediterranean Recipes + Faves from Foodie Restaurants

Off and on with my 20-year hospitality career, I worked behind-the-scenes in catering planning and event execution for Spanish, Italian, and Lebanese restaurants and fine hotels in the Washington, DC area — a top foodie hub. During that time, I picked up many great summer Mediterranean recipes and experimented with my own.

Some of my fondest memories were the large corporate and bridal events where I could get creative with the festive food and elaborate decorations.

From those experiences, I learned to create balanced menus for preferred and customized tastes around the specific seasons and events.

I’ve taste-tested delicious foods, recipes, and dishes from the chefs I worked with who came from around the world.

Some of my favorite summer Mediterranean recipes(great for warm seasons!) that I’ve added my take and twists to, are below:

Continue reading “Summer Mediterranean Recipes + Faves from Foodie Restaurants”

Vitamins A-Z Checklist For Prevention and Balance

Vitamins can have a positive effect on your physical and mental health like sunscreen, where you’re better covered. For Vitamin A, it’s retinol for skin cell turnover and also a fat-soluble carotenoid that is needed for essential daily organ and body functions.

Vitamins are a healthy preventative measure.

In appreciating our bodies, we can keep them nourished as nature intended. And we can make it fun with our eat from the rainbow food where we get nutrients like vitamins and minerals.

Rainbow meringue pie recipe. — This rainbow grit pie recipe below 🌈

These days, deficiency in Vitamin D and iodine is common as we intake less cow’s milk and salt as we’re taught that they are harmful in large doses. Finding the right daily balance is not easy.

So then we learn the habits to cut out these foods and beverages.

And we end up with a deficiency that we can supplement. And it’s still complex to fine line balance as research findings are constantly evolving…

One day, one grocery item is on the good list. And the next, it has been replaced by another consumable item.

Vitamins Stay Constant

So then vitamins in powder, capsule, and gummies can be the supplement that fortifies and serve as a “just in case.” A multi-vitamin can be the catch all.

You may not think absorbed vitamins are helping as you don’t see immediate daily changes, but HOW I believe in them as a person that grew up with them, is as a backup to food nutrients that’s the primary source of vitamins.

I first learned about vitamin supplements when I was a child. We would take the generic brand Fred Flintstones candy vitamins that tasted like Pez candy. That’s similar to the gummy versions offered today.

Then when I was halfway through college, I took a semester off to learn more about high-absorption nutritional supplements through a health-conscious product company.

I volunteered for the American Cancer Society that was in my area backyard. “Eating Smart” promotional campaign posters were plastered around to get the word out about disease prevention.

Those experiences offered me the opportunity to learn deeper about health and free radicals (yeah, that was known for those interested in cutting-edge health trends and predictions)…

And so much so, I considered nutrition as a career major.

Back then the leading causes of death were heart disease and cancer (the same ones today). By taking antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E (ACE for short), you could prevent health issues down the road. Hey… not bad for pre-Millennial century knowledge.

Learning about the “good stuff” vitamins by default teaches you about placebo multivitamins having a low-to-no effect. They’re the inexpensive vitamins claiming A-Z still sitting on store shelves. They make us feel better about ourselves that improves mental health, but aren’t adding anything positive for our bodies.

So they are helping in some way no matter what.

You get to decide. And you are your best health advocate.

You get a sign you’ve taken a “placebo” vitamin if you have dark urine as an indicator that the pills weren’t absorbed by your body. So the quality of vitamins does make a difference. And liquid gel capsules are more absorbable than horse pill tablets.

Back then, I was drinking powdered supplement shakes before smoothies became a thing. We took a reusable plastic water bottle (yes, those existed!) with some water and shook the contents, which still works. Most of the shakes had a strong chalky taste, but they started a healthy breakfast drink movement.

Back then, the large Baby Boomer generations were the influencers like Millennials and Gen Z today. Predictions were found in books like Ken Dychtwald’s Age Wave.

Then the young to mid-adults helped to push the healthy eating movements today similar to fueling the healthy food shopping, plant-based, sustainable, and organic food movements. You can check out this page of 200 anti-inflammatory A-Z list of healthy foods.

Antioxidants were a known concept, but polyphenols today have made many live longer headlines. We drink more tea, coffee, and red wine for their polyphenols good health effects.

The fitness zeitgeist beliefs were precursors to cardio fitness and getting your heart rate up. Fitness teachers like Denise Austin taught through aerobic class tapes, a lot like how we create and watch YouTube videos today. Btw, she has been on interviews more recently and looks the exact same if not better!

These days, I would say you have to be more careful about what fitness channels you follow as anyone can teach a class. You can hurt yourself at any age, and even by doing simple stretching. Videos online don’t always show you the protective ways. And there’s not much discussion about post-workout regimens.

Cooling down and replenishing your body’s nutrients after a workout is important for recovery even if you’re only working out 10 minutes at a time.

You don’t hear much talk about minerals, but below I list a few that are vitally critical in a daily routine, and you may not be getting enough of in your life and diet…

Continue reading “Vitamins A-Z Checklist For Prevention and Balance”

McDonald’s Breakfast Ideas You Can Make Healthy at Home

McDonald’s breakfast menu items is something many of us grew up with as it was fast and filling on-the-go. And decades later, it’s still a part of my Happy Meal youth memories.

With whatever opinion you have of McDonald’s, the golden arches is popular because it’s fast, inexpensive, and fills you up quick! The McDonald’s breakfast menu hasn’t changed much over the years and the 760-calorie Big Breakfast hasn’t changed much over the decades.

Everyone in America grew up seeing the golden arches. It’s also an American icon around the world and a convenient and consistent option if you’re on the road.

I haven’t had a need to drive-thru one in ages…

But, the fast-food franchise provides food value to millions each year. You wonder how they would cover the cost of ingredients with a McDonald’s breakfast dollar menu if they didn’t serve millions each year.

At home, you’re smart to make your healthy breakfast every morning, and they do have some great ones modeled after McDonald’s popular breakfast menu… yes, healthy options!

If you want to have a low-sugar breakfast, you pretty much have to come up with your own prepared menu meals where convenience is your fridge and pantry cupboards.

…And here’s how you can create your healthy-inspired McDonald’s breakfast without much effort. You can choose from the following high-fiber options…

Egg McMuffin – Sautee potatoes and scramble eggs and serve on sprouted Ezekiel bread (optional: add cheese). I think this version is so much more delish as it’s homemade and sprouted bread is wholeness… more nutrish than an English Muffin. And if you want to give a ‘Lil French gourmet taste, add a sprinkle of tarragon — that’s the secret ingredient that upscale restaurants use.

Hot Cake and Sausage – Make whole wheat or buckwheat-based pancakes and then add a drizzle of honey. Add bananas, blueberries, or dark chocolate chips with 70% or more cocoa. Skip the heavy sausage patty and make a high fiber black bean cake that can be so tasty and make you feel lighter (and keeping your morning routine bathroom life regular).

Sausage Burrito – Black beans and rice burrito is the same concept, and instead of a high-calorie corn tortilla filler, use a piece of whole wheat pita bread you can easily bake at home when you’re tired (or sprouted wheat) sprouted wheat toast to gain energy and fiber.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie – This is a newer item on the McDonald’s breakfast menu as smoothies didn’t become popular until after the 21st century began. It was all about the high calorie milk shake.

To a smoothie, add a frozen or fresh strawberries depending if they’re in season Add a banana that has fiber, and almond milk or oat milk. Or substitute the vanilla, strawberry, chocolate shakes with your favorite protein powder. In any of these options, the experience is like night and day to your body and the taste is not that different from a sugary smoothie.

Orange juice – OJ skip, O-K! The added concentrated sugar you and I grew up with doesn’t help your day. Combined sugar and acidity are hard on the stomach. Opt for a gentler to your gut option. Make your own fruit juices using a whole orange with water that only takes a few minutes. You can also make your own lemonade or limeade with whole fruit.

The best part is you probably won’t even like sugary fruit juices after you make the switch. You re-train your tastes and that helps your health and your daily moods as you don’t have additional sugar sitting in your system.

If you’re debating whether to eat something for breakfast, and planning to have a beverage other than water or milk, it’s a good idea to cushion your stomach lining with food first.

A typical American drink breakfast with coffee and OJ together with a meal is bad news for your stomach.

Regular coffee has high acidity and espresso is a no-no for sensitive stomachs. Cold brew coffee is better because of the process leaving less acidic grinds. Your stomach also hasn’t had a meal in 8 or so hours, so a snack is usually in order.

If you’re in the habit to feeding sugar cravings for your breakfast morning, make yourself a quick smoothie or prepare no-added refined sugar granola to munch on so you get your sugary fix without all the sugars loaded in pastries.

And if you’re a Vata 🙋🏻‍♀️, then you’re likely to want to switch up your foods from time to time and daily. If you’re not sure if that’s you, you can better know by this preference alone as Kapha and Pittas don’t need to constantly change up preferences. It’s not an ADD disorder in case that’s a worry.

The Vata breed simply prefers to have variety. So you can have a few options available to feed your Vata preferences and don’t get in a rut.

To Dairy or Not?

You can find shelf-stable almond, oat, and coconut milk is a good staple to have in your pantry. I found that having non-shelf stable milk around (besides being an evolving dairy no-no) was stressful with an expiration date where he milk can go to waste.

Making a parfait with a Greek yogurt with probiotics (good bacteria) is also a good start.

Toasting the morning with yogurt parfaits.

It’s all a balance. And that’s with sugar too…

Low Sugar Breakfast Foods:

Create a yogurt parfait with lower sugar and granola– Chobani Complete or Fage are around 7 grams of sugar per cup compared to double that amount or more. Then add dry oatmeal. Or if you take a few extra minutes, you can toast Quaker Oats Old Fashioned in your oven with honey as the binder.

To make granola cereal clusters, simply bake one layer on a baking sheet in your low-heated oven and mix with your favorite dried fruits like raisins a few spoonfuls of honey, and a drizzle of vegetable or canola oil (less is more). This becomes healthy-ish compared to high sugar cereals.

Believe me, for a sweet tooth like me (…is that you too?), I could eat a baked good and feel sweet happiness, but then as the effect wore off I’d be feeling bad because of all the leftover empty calories and indulgent skin-crawling sensation. This awareness seems to happen more as you age.

Many of us experience this as part of sugar’s dire consequences, and we don’t always immediately associate it with the sugar in our lives. Eating sugar unaware, if we’re not careful, can become an unhealthy habit. The more we indulge, the more we want.

A small sugary taste can be all you need to satiate your sweet tooth, but skipping sugar is the better option.

Or you could bake orange scones with no-added sugar.

You can also remember to do a weekly healthy drink, like a green tea smoothie so you can add more plant-based and yes, veggies to breakfast. That’s one you won’t find on a McDonald’s breakfast menu.

Green tea has caffeine and polyphenols that are good for heart health. You can add a dash of lime juice and a handful of wild blueberries for a spritzer. Or enjoy a simple green smoothie with banana or yogurt to thicken in a few minutes. And that can prep you for your veggie start like this Easy Veggie Breakfast Frittata.

…where both your mind and body start the day happy (with your new breakfast happy meal)! 😊

Easy Veggie Breakfast Frittata

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

eggs
toppings (favorite vegetables like mushrooms, olives, peppers)

Instructions

Cook eggs on a stovetop in a sautee pan until the edges have firmed.
Add toppings you like if they need to cook. If they simply need to be warmed up, add at the end before the next baking step.
Bake in oven at 325°F for at least 20 minutes, until firmly set, or edges start to brown.
Cut with a pizza roller or knife and enjoy!