Food Balance Your Body Type Archives - Page 43 of 45

Spaghetti Squash – Anti-Inflammatory Food Dish

Spaghetti squash is an anti-inflammatory food. And if you’re trying to stay away from gluten or inflammatory foods for healthy eating, then squashes fit the bill. Spaghetti squash can even take the place of spaghetti carbs.

Spaghetti squash is a good gluten-free and allergy bowl substitute. — Make this spaghetti squash bowl easy from the recipe steps below 🍝

It also has more fiber. And you can count on A, B, and C vitamins.

Both vitamins A and C are antioxidants that help to protect against chronic diseases that can develop from chronic inflammation.

And your allergies and eczema skin symptoms can be telltale. It doesn’t always have to be an internal diagnosis as inflammatory warning signs.

I learned this firsthand when I experienced adult eczema in a nightmarish way during the world pandemic. It was a 3 month saga I’d love to forget. But then ended up in the hospital emergency room a year later for a related episode that had to do with food eating habits.

Before then, I knew common allergy foods from the outside as I planned parties and food menus working with thousands of groups with known food allergies and gluten sensitivities.

Gluten flour was a red flag for the chef foods prepared and I’d add a special label to food items on food tables that were gluten-free

For my preventing eczema better food habits, white flour and white table sugar are ingredients I try to use less of in my recipes and low-sugar desserts. That seems to do the trick (along with skin moisturizing often)!

Gluten free flours is more healthy. — Choosing gluten free flours for pasta is more healthy for most people and those with allergies.

Because white table sugar is a primary inflammatory food source. It raises blood sugar.

That’s probably no surprise as too much sugar can make your skin crawl (itch) and no research (other than asking your sweet taste buds 😋) has sanely suggested that sugar is good for you.

But that’s hard news to swallow when you’re a sweet tooth (and a Vata body like me).

But I’m happy to say that even though I love baking (and do it weekly), I’ve learned how to bake healthy and keep eczema at bay. And yes make bakes that are sweet tooth satisfying (otherwise why bother?).

…Boring rice crackers are not my cup of tea. I’m looking for the sweet childhood desserts I remember that leave no inflammatory memory.

Because I’m a foodie…

And when I started in catering management for upscale hotel chains, there was only a vegetarian menu option outside of what others ate.

Then common requests grew like “hold the onions” and “hold the garlic.”

And peanut and nut allergies cropped up.

When I dug deeper into creating menus for food allergy group requests, we found that guests who had some peanut allergies could sometimes eat tree nuts like pine nuts.

They even reported back they liked certain dishes with them.

And shellfish can be another tricky allergy area, but gratefully I didn’t work much with those foods.

An affected person who has even a trace of the shellfish can experience a life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis shock. Like gluten to Celiac disease people, it can be a real issue.

Your body gives different health conditions signs as warning. But a warning is a warning..

And in my trial-and-error food tasting experiences, I learned eczema was dramatically reduced with low daily refined sugar intake and reducing processed white flours.

Honey and gluten-free flours seem fine.

So substituting food ingredients became my way. And I remembered spaghetti squash from my catering days.

Plus, adding more anti-inflammatory eat-from-the-rainbow foods including vegetables, whole fruits, lean healthy proteins, healthy fats and whole grains.

All grains like flours are not created equal. How they are prepared and the details of their ingredient profiles change their effect.

A frequently asked question is: what foods are high in gluten?

The answer: whole grains are healthy. They’re also guilty.

Wheat, barley, and rye are the sources.

Being smart about healthier low-glycemic index starchy carbs and nutrient-dense foods pays off.

Also corn, oats, and quinoa (pseudo-grain) meals are good ideas since they are naturally gluten-free.

Corn is actually the largest agricultural crop produced in the United States.

But what spikes the blood sugar of one person is different for another person in our biodiversity.

Testing food and exposing yourself to a variety of healthy foods helps the body function as you get more vitamins, minerals, and anti-inflammatory nutrition.

Adding more organic plant-based 🌱 in nature when possible, and less plant based (factory) foods 🏭 help your entire body system run better.

Every little bit of our effort counts…

And adding more healthy food variety, and nutrient-dense plant-forward foods is a double-win, scoring points for our bodies and our earth. 🌍

Small switches can be as easy as exchanging pasta made from flour for a spaghetti squash bowl (steps below).

Also, focus on anti-inflammatory foods and include a Mediterranean Diet or Mediterranean-style diet. Many of the foods are found in both diets. Like spaghetti squash would be acceptable on both diets.

Changing your habits like a regular sweet one for a plant-based breakfast is doable. I’m living proof. 😊

And I take another page from my catering days where Crudite was a platter offered at almost every event.

That’s basically raw veggies like cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and asparagus.

Those are good sources of fiber that your body needs to better absorb foods.

We often forget about the fiber as we’ve been primed to think of the macros (protein, carbs, and fat).

Instead of sodas, I opt for a healthy beverage or smoothie that is made from foods with high fiber.

That could be your start. And you can look forward to your baked in gourd spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti Squash (Gluten-Free) and Roasted Seeds

I discovered spaghetti squash as a meal substitute when vegetarians requested special meals when I was working in hotel catering planning. It's an easy anti-inflammatory food bowl or dish to prepare.

Course dinner, lunch

Cuisine American

Total Time 1 10

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

Bread knife or safer sawing knife.
Spoon

Ingredients

spaghetti squash gourd
extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Instructions

Score the gourd lengthwise. do not try to cut the hard gourd raw
Bake your spaghetti squash for about 20 minutes at 350°F or so. Then softened, you can cut where you scored. Tip: for the ends (like on pumpkins, take the firmly planted inside squash knife and twist to the right at the top and then at the bottom of the squash and that should do the trick break it open fully into two halves)
Face the two halves down on a baking sheet. You can add a ‘lil EVOO if you like.
Bake for 50 minutes or until you can scoop out strands easily with a spoon. You can test with a fork if you like. About half way through, when you see browning, flip the halves so they're facing up, and add a 'lil more EVOO drizzle.
Optional: keep the healthy seeds and enjoy them as snacks! Roast them along when you're baking the squash.

Heart and Soul Centering To Live Your Best Life Now!

Heart and soul is a part of our bodies that we can’t see, but we can feel daily. Pizza is heart and soul food (recipe below for making a heart shaped pizza 🧡).

A daily heart and soul-centering check-in can change your life! You could be an old soul or have an old soul like some of us who remember young life before the internet.

…I remember when I first started out working and ambitiously I thought I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. It didn’t take many years before I shifted my priority to wanting better work-life balance.

And with those intentions, I career pivoted that gave me that outcome. But had I not picked my head up to see what my heart and soul was telling me (and now I know my spirit was helping me), I would’ve missed the message about finding time to work on me. Personal growth was something I had to go outside of work to find in volunteering and discovering myself.

It’s never too early to start checking in. Maybe now is a good time to set this priority in your life as you had to rethink parts of your life in 2020, along with everyone else (so you’re in good company!).

There were many external changes made affecting your life, that you had no control over, and may help you later on in ways you may not see how yet at this moment.

So for now, you can just keep going, growing, and focusing on creating the best that your life offers in abundant possibilities that you put intention to until the next step. There’s always a next step when the timing is right.

It’s better to think this optimistic way and joyfully pivot into your forming newer overall life, including work, relationships, passion, and purpose, so you can enjoy the process with greater ease (and not create unnecessary dis-ease or woes-me feelings).

That doesn’t mean you don’t have varying feelings with so many gray areas and small decisions you need to make, but that you’re finding your happier way now in the process (and possibly then seeing through a different lens than the one you may have been previously looking from).

I provide a lasting impactful way to do a heart and soul check-in, further below. ⬇️

Encouragement: Our Society, You, and Your Gained Ideas

In America, convenience is at our fingertips, and many of us started last year to positively lean into our interests, curiosities, and skills development.

You may have learned how to grocery shop differently, cook meals, bake your own bread, and learn new digital skills as a way to communicate with the rest of our virtual world and the local community.

You picked up other life skills that everyone needs so you could stay relevant.

You may have even discovered or rediscovered a few passions and hobbies, and read more books than you sought out originally to do. Those were some of the common gains for many of us.

All was not lost in our home life, and more has been gained (and is being gained) in our overall lives if we choose to focus on the higher lens way of living.

It’s helpful for you to reflect and personally remind yourself of the progress over perfection you’ve made, so you can stay feeling uplifted in your spirit. It’s too easy to get sourly influenced in our culture.

You can be less on guard, open up to your authentic self and reap the benefits in a new era where we’re all finding our way in many ways.

Over the past year especially, you may have changed some lifestyle habits or behaviors that you like, that work better, and that you decide to keep forever.

And you may have gained clarity about what you want in the next chapter of your life. Even though you wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t challenged to do so. But you can use your situation to your good advantage!

You may even have found the better way, and experienced that good changes in your life can show up as a combination of thinking, doing, and feeling what is right for you. You get internal clues and they can help you find your second or next act.

If you took or take your connect-the-dot lessons one step further, you can reflect on how you felt about what you first thought about specific ideas. You can then take another brave leap of action so you can try and replicate best practices and discover even more new ways, as our world is evolving. This creates innovation and gives you a better way of doing things.

For example, you’re inspired to try a new recipe and that seemed to work out and made you happy, so the next time you tweak the recipe and create something new and different that you enjoy. This works the same with a new workout, new route, or a new passion project you’re developing. Variety and innovation keep you making progress!

And that’s how personal growth attitudes and creative progress are fed and can seep into every fiber of your life if you’re open to new ways and ideas.

New ideas can take time to form in the process and as you start dabbling with curiosity, you can become less intimidated to make mistakes. That’s how you grow and learn.

In this forming introspective way of life, you can also dig deeper into yourself to find what gives you more meaning and joy than what you previously found made you happy, as you become more of who you are and will become.

You can also reach higher levels of contentment and then feel fewer emotional ups and downs.

Many positive changes can be happening all at once in this complex life, with yourself and your life.

You may have even re-thought your life’s retirement plans and this year’s optimistic and realistic plans. And you’ve probably learned to be more grounded in reality and to get back to simple basics, focusing on what actually is happening to you and around you.

As a global society, we’re still not able to freely travel and create safe, live events. From these changes, new ways have been born and are birthing, such as the newer apps where you’re entering live global event conversations safely and without travel hassles.

You could use the saved travel time and energy to work on your life, to double down on a new purposeful trajectory, or seek a new mission in your life.

Just one idea can change your life and if you have an extra few minutes, that could be the difference-maker in your life.

So where would you spend those extra minutes? Here’s what I do and what I suggest.

Prioritize a Daily Heart and Soul Check-in

Especially as we’re all distracted, prioritizing a heart and soul check-in can be the best way to (re)focus on your life.

Below you can be reminded or learn to take a specific step for long-term impact and to find your daily heart and soul-filled joy, peace, and balance. Continue reading “Heart and Soul Centering To Live Your Best Life Now!”

Orange Smoothie – Creamy Dreamsicle

Orange smoothie sounds good to me! Navel orange in a smoothie is a dream come true with creamy popsicle vibes. It can be made like the frozen treat I grew up around ice cream trucks and drink stands with colorful fun signs.

This sign is orange (and not lemon-ade) like you often see.

And you can make a healthy orange smoothie dream come alive with oranges like these.

For beverages, the orange flavor is calming to the body.

Oranges calm our parasympathetic nerves that directly impact if we feel anxious or not. It’s also one healthy way to celebrate that we have decadent beverage variety choices when we get a ‘lil creative.

The orange calming factor can give you a new reason to be happy today. 😊

An orange dream smoothie like this will help your calming morning with your breakfast. — Orange dream smoothie recipe below.👇

Your body, balance, and sensitivity to tastes and smells change all the time. What’s good for you in this season may change in the next or even tomorrow.

You can come up with your own creative dream smoothie ideas like I did and stumbled on the creamy dream orange smoothie.

Stumbling upon keeps life interesting!

And this is one sweet and healthy smoothie to add to your list.

As a natural Ayurvedic Vata, I was born with a sweet tooth, so if I think a dessert is too sweet, then believe me… it has waaay too much sugar, so that’s why I came up with less sweet, healthier options!

Especially in America, where foods are loaded with sugars, our healthy taste buds and sense can be off track.

The average American consumes over 70 grams of sugar a day, when 25 grams of maximum recommended added or processed sugar is agreed on by both the FDA and American Heart Association.

While fruit sugar (fructose) is a better kind of sugar, it’s still sugar at the end of the day.

And that’s what makes this orange dream smoothie irresistible!

When I first made this creamsicle orange smoothie, I loved the textured beige-cream frothy color beverage (and maybe you do too!)

A creamy orange smoothie like this will help your calming morning.

The whole orange is much healthier than concentrated orange juice if you want to do a small step replacement for healthy habits.

And a much healthier version than the childhood popsicles that this special creamy orange smoothie comes from.

Use one whole orange. A Calfornia navel, blood orange, or Cara Cara navel orange will give you a more balanced sweetness than a Florida orange.

If you can, opt for organic or heirloom oranges especially if you’re using the outside peel or zest that’s a great idea for taste and texture.

Heirloom navel orange peel for ayurveda elixir drinks and creamsicle smoothie drinks is a healthy start and finish if you prefer. — Look for heirloom, organic, or local farmers market produce as in season (free of pesticides, good for us and the environment). This would be good for your drinks, bakes, and even Creamy Orange Smoothie.

The magic add is 1 tsp orange marmalade (add bold sweetness but you don’t need much) or you can stay wholesome with your orange zest only

Add vanilla milk

Also add vanilla yogurt (to thicken) or if you prefer, you can add a banana that will slightly alter the taste but still pair well with an orange.

And ideally you will have a full-on orange smootie.

How?

Make some orange zest from one medium orange. That can be very calming too while you sniff orange scents.

Blend with a teaspoon of marmalade, yogurt, and vanilla milk. Marmalade has sugar so that’s why keeping in moderation is a tasty-good idea for this Creamy Orange Smoothie.

This one tastes like the orange cream popsicle but without so much sugar. If you want to add some protein, blend in fine almonds or add powders.

And if you want to have low-sugar, then eliminate the marmalade and cut down on the orange zest.

Enjoy your dreamy orange smoothie morning!

A creamsicle smoothie like this will help your calming morning.

Creamy Navel Orange Smoothie

Course beverage, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 orange (a navel or California orange will give you a balanced sweetness)
1 tsp marmalade (add bold sweetness but you don’t need much)
Vanilla milk to thickness liking
Vanilla Yogurt (to thicken)

Instructions

Blend. Zhugh glass rim with orange zest. Enjoy!

Notes

Creamsicle Creative Smoothie

1 orange (a navel or California orange will give you a balanced sweetness)

1 tsp marmalade (add bold sweetness but you don’t need much)

Vanilla milk

Vanilla Yogurt (to thicken)

Make orange zest from one medium orange, blend with a teaspoon of marmalade, yogurt, and vanilla milk.

This one tastes like an orange creamsicle popsicle if you know what those are. If you want to add some protein, blend in fine almonds or add powders. And if you want to eliminate sugar, then eliminate the marmalade and cut down on the orange zest.

Check out other and the latest healthy beverage recipes!

Onion Ring + Plant-Based Diet to A Balanced Meal Plan

Onion ring is a healthy stack and snack if baked and not fried. Because onions are one of the healthiest foods out there. They’re prebiotic foods that are fiber and feed the good bacteria in the gut. AND they are great for immunity. Plus they add so much savory flavor without much effort.

Red onion ring recipe below.

Jump to Recipe

In cold and flu season, I stock up on onions. And they’re such an easy add to foods and plant based dishes.

Plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have to give up non-plant based foods like meats. It simply means adding more natural plants into your diet (and less processed plants 🏭).

While a full plant-based diet is not what I do, I have incorporated one plant-based meal per day that matters. I share below a meal plan that I think is a good way to maintain a consistently healthy ideal weight, year after year.

Eating healthy and balanced doesn’t just affect your physical body, it also positively impacts your brain, daily thinking mind, and mental health.

Getting proper vitamins and minerals that come from animal proteins help our brains function properly, that helps us keep our mind-body system balance.

I believe that not including fish, meats, carbs, fruits, and vegetables is missing what God gave us here on this earth.

We hurt our bodies when we don’t eat enough from any of these categories, or we eat too much.

In most meals, strict vegetarians don’t receive enough vitamins and micronutrients (minerals), some that are richly found in animal protein. Fish that are also considered animal meat, contains necessary B vitamins and good omega fat sources that healthy vegetarians usually come to realize they’re missing.

If only we could take vitamin supplements as a 1:1 nutrient exchange for food, but that’s not the case and especially with diluted vitamin pills.

Here’s just a quick journey into how I evolved into my way of eating today…

Journey to My Daily Meal Plan

I’ve eaten the same general diet for over two decades now, which includes the same food categories that are on the nutritional food charts. That may sound boring, but it has worked to keep me at the same ideal healthy weight.

Growing up, the four basic food groups turned into the FDA-approved 23 servings per day pyramid food group that’s still used. In America, we don’t necessarily take FDA rules as gospel as there are always changes, but that should tell us a ‘lil something.

Whether it’s 4 categories or 23 servings, we need many food vitamin sources to function daily, in a healthy way.

When I was a child, my diet contained mostly fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, rice, pasta, whole milk, yogurt, animal proteins, and too many processed snacks. Like many American diets back then when there were less healthy options, I ate more orange salty snacks than orange fruits. Definitely as far away from a plant-based diet as one could see.

Continue reading “Onion Ring + Plant-Based Diet to A Balanced Meal Plan”

Morning Thoughts Healthy Reframe Exercise

Morning thoughts that aren’t always pleasant tpop up when we’re groggy and half awake coming out of dreams we don’t control.

And we can change our thoughts and attitude from this one exercise and yoga exercise habits described below. 👇

Below are some yoga moves so even you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or have a busy day, you don’t miss out on your best day where you feel good when your head hits the pillow at night.

Wake up, Sunshine! Rise and shine. In the morning when you get out of bed with groggy morning thoughts.

But you can change this with your breaths in present moment.

Morning is a great time to start deep breathing for more oxygen… a natural way to get more energy.

Sitting up and standing helps to clear your passages that can be stuffy from laying down.

Survey your home and where the best morning light is if you’ve never done that.

That will be the eastern exposure windows or if you have indoor/outdoor living.

Be sure to let light into your eyes for at least 30 seconds.

Wearing blue glasses to protect eyes from digital screens and shades during the day outside is is a good idea! 😎

In the morning when it’s not direct sunlight like at noon, take them off to look outside and see what’s happening in your natural environment while you enjoy your morning water, smoothie, coffee, etc.

If you’re not a morning person, this is especially good so you wake up.

And if you experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD), this can change your outcomes.

Women need more sleep than men and children need more sleep than adults. Waking up adult energy changes and depends on many factors including a Kapha imbalance (could be mind or body).

If you’re naturally a Kapha body, then this is your natural way more than your Vata and Pitta counterparts.

If you’re not sure which imbalances you currently have and want restoring suggestions on your specific body imbalance symptoms, then I encourage you to take the body balance quiz.

Morning Yoga

Morning yoga even for 5-minutes is worth the effort for restoring good morning thoughts!

Everyone has 5 minutes they can sneak in.

And getting into Table Top pose and doing Cat and Cow can change your day.

Your Ayurvedic routine can include ginger and water. And finding your imbalances. If you’re super tired, Kapha is dominant.

If you’re super hard charging, Pitta is dominant.

If you’re feeling scattered, Vata is dominant.

And if you feel all, know that your Vata runs the show. The other name for Vata is wind, so like howling wind, that will dominate. But then later in the day you may find that your other (Pitta and Kapha) moods kick in.

These are all natural but the more you can feel less moods and restore them to peace and calm, the better.

It’s like your healthy body that doesn’t have symptoms. And when there are symptoms, then you’re focusing on how you can fix the symptoms.

So in the morning, maybe in the kitchen or bathroom, survey what your mood is. Do you need to calm from anxiety, worry (Vata) or being critical of yourself or others (Pitta)? Or are you tired and withdrawn (Kapha) or the opposite extreme of being needy (also Kapha)?

Yoga can change your day. And deep breathing on your mat will help all these restoring needs…. calming anxiety, lowering blood pressure, and breathing in oxygen for energy.

This is a good way to ease into the morning even if you only have 10 minutes before someone or something needs you.

My stretch routine is below (and if you’re a yoga beginner or think you’re not-good at yoga because of body issues, I’ll explain how not to be intimidated).

Here’s a daily yoga morning practice that you can try and tweak to how you like.

Do your Sun Salutations that are done standing.

You can rise up slowly and as controlled as you can like one spinal vertebra at a time, into a standing Mountain pose position.

From there, test your body for where there are kinks in the body, where there’s tightness and especially cracking sounds that are common in the morning or if it’s cold outside.

It’ easier to do this seated or laying down.

Seated, do a Seated Spinal Twist to see if your sides are tight. This was one we did as kids (maybe, hoola hooping, doing Twister, or Sit-n-Spin).

Then check your back. Lay on your back in Corpse pose. Survey. Then when you’re ready, do a Bridge pose. See if there’s tension in your bridge.

Easy Yoga for Beginners

If you’re intimidated by the idea of yoga and doing poses wrong, don’t be…

I’ve been in yoga classes before where I would hear people say they’re “not good at yoga.”

Re-framing your morning thoughts help and then you’re better at it in the future!

We all start as yoga beginners and each morning is a re-start so your body feels different than the day before. It’s a good metaphor for being a lifelong learner.

If you look at laying down flat on your back as another name for Corpse pose, you can make the connection that yoga can be a fancy name for “just being.”

Besides, the funny and interesting thing is, no one is looking at anyone else in a yoga class. Everyone is too busy concentrating and looking at their own body parts and poses.

No one talks about other people’s poses, in or after class. The point of yoga is that it’s an individual sport. You get to look inward and see yourself like when you look in a mirror.

If you’re self-conscious, then yoga can help you break away judgmental feelings about yourself.

If you’re a beginner, doing more yoga gives you self-confidence, and you feel better about your body when poses work.

When I attended my first class I didn’t like it because I didn’t know what was going on, and that’s just par for the course of learning a new skill.

And practicing yoga at home gives you more confidence. So don’t be too quick to rule out yoga as a sustainable activity for you and your morning.

If that’s you at this stage, just have fun with getting to know your body, and center your mind on parts of your body and intention for your practice. The rest will work itself out.

We all have weak spots and our vulnerabilities and bringing them to light is how to go through them. You never know, you may end up loving yoga like I did and do.

And if you’re beyond beginner yoga overthinking or any yoga insecurity, then maybe use your morning yoga practice to work on your patience and resilience.

So that’s my morning routine start (that you can use) before my coffee and catching up with my daily news.

Then I make myself a breakfast smoothie or a breakfast snack and get to productive work.

I hope by reading this, you’re a wee more happy inspired to get up in the mornings and kick those negative morning thoughts to the curb!