Starbucks has a menu of refresher drinks including the Starbucks Pink Drink and a choice of exotic fruit drinks on their current menu, including these:
Star Drink, Pink Drink, Strawberry Acai, and Mango Dragon Fruit.
A couple of these drink names don’t describe the drink ingredients exactly. Like, the Starbucks Pink Drink has passionfruit and gets its pink name color from the strawberries.
The Star Drink is kiwifruit-based, but the name reminds me of star fruit (that’s star-shaped). When you cut it up, it can have a similar green color to a kiwifruit (but isn’t nearly as sweet).
Curious Tropical Fruits
Tropical fruits make for very unusual and refreshing summery drinks (great for balancing Vata and Pitta). Tropical and most fruits have Vitamin C plus their variety of vitamins and nutrients. The kiwifruit is a superfruit with amazingly high Vitamin C content.
Tropical fruits have strange exteriors, fascinating interiors, and unique colors. They can make you curious…
Like the kiwifruit with an egg-shaped, smooth coconut-looking exterior and the interior of a perfectly patterned seed.
And the dragon fruit, that’s one strange looking fruit with a fireball-exterior color/shape with artichoke-like stems, and contrasting oreo-cookie color polka-dotted interior… whew, that’s one long description…sorry, I tried my best here to describe it to you
What can I say?… it’s in a league of its own.
Then there’s the passion fruit with a soupy-mushy interior with contrasting peach orange and plant stem green colored seeds.
I have to admit passionfruit is not a taste I prefer. I’m passionate about fruit, but not the passionfruit… some people love the taste (calling all Pittas!), but it gives me a pucker face when I drink it because it’s too tart for my taste.
Me — I like pure sweet, but maybe that’s because I’m a Vata… so kiwi, pineapple, or strawberries are more my jam. Those are the sweetest fruits I know 😊.
The good news is, added sugar like the kind you find in a girly pink lemonade drink isn’t necessary as natural fructose sugar is enough.
Dreaming Up Your Drinks
In making my dream version of a perfect Starbucks Pink Drink, I think I’d mix strawberry, basil, and coconut froth. To each her own.
In making your homemade drinks, you can always stick with the fruit basics if all of this is too exotic for you.
You can use strawberry, banana, and orange, but I-yyy think you can get a little more creative!
You could make a virgin pina colada smoothie with pineapple and coconut milk and then zhugh up with a dessert maraschino cherry (that’s lower in sugar than you think 😉).
…Can you tell I turn into my ‘lil girl self when I talk about the fruits?
Other fruits to consider are berries and watermelons — perfectly ripened in the summertime. Watermelons are refreshing and contain lycopene, an antioxidant that you often hear about in tomatoes. You can add mint or basil for a great refresher-balanced drink.
Cantaloupe is another good fruit choice, loaded with Vitamin A. And it’s fun to cut up. I like to cut in half, use a mini-scooper, and add the chunks back into the cantaloupe bowl. That’s a perfect environmentally-conscious way to take mixed fruit to a picnic 😉. But less waste is a whole ‘nother topic I’m passionate about besides fruit.
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.
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.
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…
Mental Health Awareness Month is in May. But every day is an opportunity for wellness and mental health awareness for everyday people.
Mental health disorders and anxiety run rampant for people in our lives. In keeping wellness up, we can only do our part and be supportive of others and ensuring our own mental health is in order.
Mental Health Awareness Month is one of the several recognized events throughout the year to keep a reminder going.
And we can all check in on how we’re doing these days.
And others have strayed away from natural growth and becoming better and healthier, into less productive habits that lead to their self-inflicted destructive behavior patterns.
In some cases, this has led to a growing anxiety medication epidemic crisis in America. Too many people are taking them willingly like popping candy without questioning their doctor’s recommendation, and for longer than prescribed.
In college when I didn’t know any better, I took OTC sleeping pills for a semester. When I got off of them, I felt like I was drowning.
That was the wake up call that was needed to get me up and out of looking for a med crutch, when there is a choice to self-medicate and seek inner peace.
We’re all here to evolve and get better, but that’s up to each of us.
And some of the best remedies any of us can apply in Mental Health Awareness Month is wellness practices.
This can be in yoga, meditation, nature walks, and all of the above. Wellness and self-care is the best mind-body answer.
You’re the only one who can choose and do your better life. So for Mental Health Awareness Month (with emphasis on awareness), these are some ideas that you can implement for your healthy wellness lifestyle changes:
Healthy Wellness Lifestyle Changes You Can Make (For Mental Health Awareness Month)
And in your practice, you can get to the root of discovering the healthy you!
Through mind-body connection, maintaining both mental and physical health plays a big role.
When you’re aware that the mind-body directly communicate with each other, you can make positive changes to your life.
Let’s look at mental health (mind) and physical health (body) that we can influence in our wellness.
For physical health changes:
Many recurring or chronic flare-ups don’t have to be a regular or seasonal occurrence when you know the source.
With many interruptive symptoms, you can avoid them with better lifestyle choices and making healthy changes like having less stress in your life or purging past memory baggage.
And removing post-trauma that can stay invisible to you today, and be a part of your everyday.
And general symptoms such as eczema, acne, acid reflux, other GI tract, IBS issues, or sinus infections are preventable.
If you make a simple lifestyle adjustment, you can live more enjoyably, and prevent bothersome symptoms that can otherwise leave you worried, stressed, or moody.
Let me show you how simple these lifestyle changes can be.
Eczema – too much sugar can trigger eczema and food allergies, so finding alternatives. When you don’t eat sugar over time, your cravings can disappear as your tastes change. So slowly removing refined sugar and eating plant-based including fruits is a solution.
Acid reflux – a diet such with highly acidic foods and beverages, and wrong combinations of food eaten together can exacerbate. Using ACV with “the mother” as a food as medicine ingredient in your daily or weekly plan could benefit you. And changing up your meals as most of us eat the same categories of food. Adding more alkaline foods can do you good. For example, if we eat cheese, we tend to eat more than we need. Or we lean into tomato sauces when we could alternate with a butternut squash or other healthy alternative.
Sinus infections – we can’t do anything about the air we breathe in around us, but we can use a neti pot to clean out our nasal passages regularly to prevent sinus infections.
The preventative neti pot me saved me, a person who had experienced back to back sinus infections from a work environment that had mold behind the modern-built walls.
And like a magic potion (there’s no magic!), the prevention prescription for these annoying symptoms can be natural. If we can prevent ailments and nip-them-in-the-bud before they grow, then we don’t have to take medicine that hurts our microbiome.
Some of these “grandmother” and “old world” ways that are Ayurvedic ways, come from generations before us where modern medicine didn’t exist and the people then were able to live longer than they would have because they found natural solutions, like these:
A low sugar and balanced diet, apple cider vinegar, and sinus cleansing (neti pot). Those are pretty easy healthy fixes compared to the physical symptoms.
These changes are all healthy and easy to implement with a desire to change small habits.
We can pick up habits easily and unaware we don’t notice what we’re consuming, doing, or not doing. Being sensitive to our body’s “calling out” through imbalanced body symptoms can wake up our awareness.
For happiness-sadness mood swings:
Taking supplements such as the correct amount of daily Vitamin D3 can change your daily happiness.
Had I known this back when I was a teenager and young adult, my SAD (seasonal affective disorder) mood that came up every February (when naturally Vitamin D sunlight was far less) could have been better or non-existent if I took the right amount of Vit D. Proper vitamin and mineral nutrients are essential where some are daily critical.
And getting enough tryptophan from foods helps with your serotonin “happy hormones” where 90% is produced in your gut.
And finally taking the right amount of magnesium that most people don’t usually get enough of absorbed into their system or in their diet, can be helpful to relax a stressed, anxious, or worried mind-body.
For mental health disorders:
Feeling anxious, severe Impostor Syndrome, or prolonged depression can often be naturally altered. For those who are born healthy, we learn behaviors that if kept unaware to us, can turn into mental health disorders that affect daily life.
Getting your heart rate up in exercise, taking a shower, or getting outside to take a walk and appreciating those moments where you can see nature can help you stop wanting what you can’t have right now.
Our brains can be our worst enemies or best friends. You choose. Exercise ignites happy chemicals in your brain.
Challenge your thoughts. They don’t always help so tell the ones that are not helpful, to take a hike! And you take your healthy hike outdoors. 😊
Walking away is better as there’s nothing more dangerous than an ego that’s unleashing thoughts affecting your counterproductive behavior. Catch your ego in the act in observation. And do the opposite. Find the loving and productive thoughts.
And one thought change at a time, changes your mind’s perspectives where you develop your happy, loving, and healthy mind for life.
If you have a situation or trial, find a positive to be gained. There is one if you look hard enough. On the other side of the rainbow, you will gain patience, resilience, self-control, and other traits that you couldn’t have learned otherwise or through other people’s lessons.
If you feel stuck in your current situation, you can try to come up with one step you could take today to change or start exploring a new direction?
In the beginning, a baby step is all it takes. Getting to the shower or your yoga mat even when you don’t feel like it. Do it anyway. And afterwards, you’ll feel much better.
And then you will have trained your mind to “just do it anyway” because it works! And the brain loves when it works, because that’s a sign of accomplishment and success.
Peace and wellness be with you.
A healthy wild cod with Vitamin D with a “3 Sisters” plant-based accompaniment is a good source of Vitamin A, K, protein, and fiber. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and the fat-soluble vitamins will absorb better.
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)! 😊
Ideas for healthier lunches is always on the agenda year-round.
The time we take for lunch is often hurried and goes by in a blink of an eye. There are ideas for healthier lunches that you may have forgotten to try in your busyness.
We learn to speed through lunch when we’re old enough to learn. Lunches can be an afterthought when we’re hungry, running in between activities.
I would encourage the idea that lunch is the most important meal of the day (one I don’t recommend skipping or skimping on) when you need the extra energy to carry out your day!
If you like and can eat carbs or pasta, this is a meal where you can get the most efficiency out of your carbs.
You need and burn the energy in a working or working out afternoon. If you focus on carbs for your dinner meal, as you age, this can slow you down.
That’s why I like the idea of the plant-based dinner. But that doesn’t always fill you up during the day when you need the energy boost to keep you going like carbs can.
Growing up you have a memory about your overall childhood lunches.
My public-school lunches were both memorable… and not.
They were a special time that I could sit and spend time with my friends, and that probably helped me appreciate just sitting around with others socializing and chatting.
