Squirrel Snacks.......oh yes she does!

I was home from work a little early today and on the look out for my usual munchies and treats...kind of puts me in the right frame of mind for the evening!!  Ever feel like you need to separate one part of your day from the next?

Treats

So on the way home I stopped off at the local organic grocery store and picked up a new Hibiscus infused Coconut juice by Beyond.  It’s DELICIOUS and without any gross additives, added sugar, colours, flavours etc... Just coconut water and Hibiscus....straight up!  Why would you want it?  Because coconut water is yummy and loaded with electrolytes, especially potassium (I wrote of the benefits in an earlier article here).  Perfect for a roasting sweaty day such as this (35 degrees in Melbourne thank you very much!)  My pores are bucket sized!

I also grabbed a chai ball (which is one of my staple treats), made by Naked Treaties.  They are sold in health food stores, organic groceries and some cafes.  Basically they are balls of superfoods, spices, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, sometimes pea protein.....yum stuff.

THEN, I was still in squirrel mode so I raided the cupboard......and concocted this little delight.  Can I just mention that having a stash of nuts (a variety and plain, not roasted or salted or anything....you can do this yourself if you need to and it will be much healthier) and seeds, as well as desiccated coconut in the fridge is great for throwing together snacks (check below for nut and seed benefits and tips). Can also keep some dates, dried apricots, sultanas etc... It’s still sugar so go easy, but at times a much better choice than many alternatives masquerading as real food and loaded with refined sugar and other nasties!

My Cocoa Nut Smash

Ok, so I threw together a few macadamias, walnuts, sunflower and sesame seeds, brazil nuts, big pinch of desiccated coconut, teaspoon of tahina (ground sesame seeds you buy in a jar from health food stores and good supermarkets), tiny drizzle of agave syrup (low GI great, more info here) – you could use honey instead if you like, small teaspoon of both mesquite and cocoa and a little glug of coconut oil (extra virgin would have the coconut smell and taste so you wouldn’t likely need the agave as it’s inherently sweet, I only have virgin coconut oil so the smell and taste is completely neutral).  A little of the sweetness from the agave (or honey) is great to offset the slightly bitter cocoa.  It’s so yum!  The nuts and seeds are a great source of good fats, protein and nutrients!! 


I tried it another time with some sultanas as well, quite sweet although lovely!  Could try without agave and honey if you add sultanas or chopped dried apricot!

A Poem

Then I wrote out the poem called If by Rudyard Kipling as I have had it floating around on a piece of paper and wanted it in one of my many notebooks (hoarding issue I have).  It’s such a great poem...it gives me just the reminder I need sometimes.....it’s freeing....especially when working with office politics.....this poem reminds me of who I am!

Lavendar Tea

THEN....oh then...I rustled around for my lavendar tea.....inspired by Lee Holmes yet again who makes the tea and adds warm almond milk, I finally bought some to try and it is amazing!!  I just had a teaspoon of lavendar and poured boiled water on (as you do when making tea) and inhaled and sipped and inhaled and sipped .... and floated....it is so wonderful....and not at all like boiled water with a squirt of perfume in......which is why it's taken me so long to give it a go!

So that’s a wrap.

Tonight I will be gorging into a delicious salad and sloping off to the beach around sunset for a yoga stretch session with my lil bro.....am so lucky.

Heaps of love XOX

The Benefit Wrap - Nuts and Seeds!

Nuts and oil-rich seeds.  These fatty morsels are often the best source of Vitamin E which acts as a nerve protector and immune enhancing anti-oxidant.  Common nuts and seeds also contain the greatest quantity of essential fatty acids.  These fats and the fat soluble nutrient Vitamin E, play a crucial role in liver function (and attend to ill functioning liver related emotions of depression, anger and impatience).  The anti oxidant Vitamin E is required to protect against the oxidation of these oils.  We need the right balance of Vitamin E and these fats, if you have either in isolation you will ikely crave the other (Vitamin E is fat soluble...which means it requires fat to be used by the body).  So these crazy little nut and seed numbers cleverly have just what we need.....together.  Nature is great isn’t it!!  There are ALSO many additional nutritional benefits in seeds (nuts, grains and legumes are also seeds), including a wealth of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, carbohydrates and more.  The above info is taken from Paul Pitchford’s text ‘Healing with Wholefoods’ and he states ‘Looked at in total, the seed is the spark of life, a living and perfect food with all the elements necessary for vitality.’  MAGIC!

It is worth noting that rancid nuts and seeds (affected by oxidation) are not good for us at all and can do more harm than good.  Heat and light cause oxidation, ever smelt rancid nuts or oil...smells funky, kind of cheesy!  So ideally have your nuts in the shell and crack them yourself, in the shell they can last up to a year....crazy!  Or put them straight in the fridge and don’t keep them there for ages.  Use them up buttercup!  Don’t store them in plastic, oil-rich food combines with plastic to form plasticides yuk!  Always buy oils that are cold pressed and stored in dark glass bottles.  Lastly, poisons and toxins tend to accumulate in all seeds to it’s a good idea to buy organic ones.  This is a lot of info to digest right?  Go easy on yourself, just be mindful and do your best.  Little by little you’ll get there....it’s all worth it!

Something I have been doing lately when I remember is soaking my nuts and seeds overnight before using them the next day.  Just put some in a dish, pour over water and cover to leave to rest overnight.  This initiates the sprouting process which makes the fats and proteins more digestible.  You can then dry them out which crunches them up and means they last longer.  Check out Lee Holmes’ great article for more info.  As with all food, remember to chew these morsels well......it all helps our digestion and gives our digestive enzymes a chance to do their best when we supply our tummies with tiny morsels of food with the smallest surface area!

Pure Cocoa Powder  and Mesquite run down.

First, take a look on the packet, make sure it’s ground raw cocoa powder with nothing else added.

Loving earth explain that cocoa is jam packed with anti oxidants and magnesium! 

Mesquite is a high protein powder with a great mineral profile including significant amounts of calcium and magnesium as well as the amino acid lysine.  It has a hint of caramel flavour which I like and is low GI...bonus!  I have this one from Loving Earth.

XOX