Tag Archives: Green leafy vegetables

Apples

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Rosh Hashanah – It is a wonderful time. It is a new beginning with the deepened love, understanding, resolutions, commitments and sweet familiar feeling of celebration. It is time for new and old – like our traditions.

Traditionally we start the celebration by dipping apples into honey and wishing each other sweet year!AppleGala600

If you are, like me, eat according to the season, then you have not had apples for a while. Last season apples lost their taste and vitamins long time ago. Lately our tastes for fresh produce were mostly attracted to strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches and similar summer seasonal fruits.

And now I am excited for a new crop of this year apples – the first ones so tender, juicy with wonderful aroma. So many different kinds – all taste so amazing like never before!

New crop just in time for old and wise tradition to have apples for Rosh Hashanah!

Organic apples are so delicious and packed with vitamins.  “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is an old saying that most of us are familiar with, but what makes this fruit so special? What health benefits are associated with eating apples?

As one of the most cultivated and consumed fruits in the world, apples are continuously being praised as a “miracle food”.  Apples are extremely rich in important antioxidants and dietary fiber. Apples deserve to be called “nutritional powerhouses”. They contain many important nutrients: Vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, iron, and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and potassium.

Apples could be enjoyed in so many different recipes: just raw (with or without honey), baked, in salads, applesauce, as stuffing and many more.

Here are couple simple healthy recipes:

Baked apple slices, with raisins, almonds, and dried cherries in pomegranate juice and honeyReadyTo Bake Apples

Ingredients:

  • 4 organic golden delicious or granny smith apples
  • 1 cup of raisins
  • ½ cup dry cherries
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  • 1 cup pomegranate juice
  • 2 Tbsp organic raw honey

Cooking Instructions:

Cut apples to 8 slices each and place in the baking sheet (see picture above), evenly spread raisins, almonds and dry cherries. Mix pomegranate juice and honey and pour over apples. Bake for 30 minutes in 350 F without cover.

Enjoy for dessert or mid-day snack!

baked Apples

Blanched collard salad with gala apples, peanuts, sesame seeds and parsley

CollardAppleSalad_300Ingredients:

  • 2 leaves organic collard greens and stems
  • 1 quarter raw organic gala apple
  • 1/4 cup minced organic parsley
  • 1/4 cup peanuts
  • 1/8 cup toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:

Freshly squeezed lemon juice mixed with a few drops of brown rice vinegar, a few drops of soy sauce and a tea-spoon of peanut oil

Cooking Instructions:

Wash and check collard. Cut the stems off. Put stems in a pot with boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the hot water and let cool off. Put collard leaves one by one in the boiling water for 30 seconds.

Slice blanched collard stems, collard leaves, apples, parsley and mix together. Sprinkle with roasted peanuts and sesame seeds. Add dressing.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! Sweet and healthy New 5776 Year !

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We all have heard some form of this saying. Another popular wisdom says: “Eat your breakfast, share your lunch with a friend, and give your dinner to an enemy”. These are old sayings but what is the basis for paying a special attention to a breakfast?

We all have busy schedules – whether you need to get to work in the morning, get your kids to schools, take care of your elderly, pray Shacharit or all of the above…

where to find time for breakfast?! and why bother?!

Some people skip breakfast in an effort to lose weight, but that might be not such a good idea. It can backfire. Skipping meals, especially breakfast can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal, or nibble on high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger.

While adults need to eat breakfast each day to perform their best, kids need it even more. Their growing bodies and developing brains need regular refueling from real food. When kids skip breakfast, they don’t get what they need to be at their best.

Short on time? Eating a wholesome, nutritious morning meal will probably save you time in the long run. By recharging the brain and body, you’ll be more efficient in just about everything you do.

Breakfast is setting our bodies for the day. If we do not have a proper breakfast, it is difficult to manage the rest of the day. Some of us suddenly feel low on sugar and start eating cookies or chocolate, and continue snacking throughout the day. Some of us have uncontrollable cravings for bread or sweets or salt or spicy or meat. Some of us sleepy, some are irritated, some are anxious or depressed.

Millet Veggies

Your day could be much different only if you had a proper breakfast.

  • Breakfast should be about one hour after you wake up.
  • Breakfast should be enjoyed sitting down and chewed well.
  • Breakfast should be balanced and rather plain – not too sweet, not too spicy, not too salty.

If the breakfast is too sweet, your taste buds will call for something salty and vs versa later in the day.

Oatmeal Broccoli

Healthy nourishing breakfast consists of complex carbohydrates (whole grains), freshly cooked vegetables or seasonal fruit and a small portion of protein. Light warm vegetable soup could be a nice start of the breakfast to promote healthy digestion. It brings relaxation if your condition is too tight. A warm cup of organic green tea or kukicha tea is a perfect satisfying conclusion to the breakfast.

Carbohydrates are macronutrients needed for optimal brain function and energy through the course of the day. Whole grain porridge contains a high amount of complex carbs, which gets digested at a slow pace, unlike simple carbs. This gives you lasting energy and balances blood sugar.

Those who start the day with vegetables may experience higher energy, improved mental clarity, and reduction in crazy food cravings, loss of pesky pounds and more. Starting the day with green vegetables will not only keep you satisfied for many hours, it will also gently cleanse your body and set a fresh, healthy tone for your day… and your life as whole!

Are all vegetables born equal? 

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The majority of people know that eating fruits and vegetables is very important.

Vegetables are essential to our health because they are whole foods, created by nature and are rich in large amount of nutrients. The processed foods that we so commonly eat, can never compare to the health benefits provided by broccoli or carrots which have fiber, vitamins, and enzymes built right in.

By eating variety  of vegetables, one can get the best all-around health benefits. Different color vegetables contain unique health components that are important to our health.

Vegetables have many common properties – vitamins, minerals and fiber. One might think that it doesn’t matter which vegetables to eat; that they provide equal benefits. It is fascinating how different they actually are, even just  by looks – size, taste, shape, and color

Green vegetables

Green vegetables contain chlorophyll  (a protein compound that aids in creating healthy Kale Green 300x400red blood cells), fiber, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and Beta-carotene. The nutrients found in these vegetables reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels, normalize digestion, support health of our eyes and vision, and boost immune system activity.

Green vegetables have fewer calories, less sugar. They are cleansing and provide light uplifting energy. They are good throughout the year but especially during spring – natural time for body cleansing after winter when our system was collecting and storing to keep us warm.

G-d created people in balance with the nature. Signs and hints are everywhere around us. Green leafy vegetables grow during the spring. Spring is the first season when nature is awakening after the winter. New green leaves are emerged on trees and bushes, and new green grass covers the land.

Spring is the best time of the year to eat leafy greens – arugula, watercress, parsley, bok choy, mustard greens, etc.

But even among green vegetables some possess undesired properties.

Chard, spinach, rhubarb, beet leaves – are stressful vegetables. They might increase risk of osteoporosis and kidney stones since they contain oxalic acid, which binds calcium and eliminates calcium from the body.

Green paper – is one of nightshade vegetables (as tomato, eggplant, red pepper, potato) which is better to avoid. Nightshade vegetables speed up the heart rate and slow down digestion. They are high in alkaloids which block vitamin B absorption. They might contribute to arthritic and rheumatic symptoms.

List of Healthy – Healing – Good For YOU – green vegetables:

Kale Dinosaur 330x400

Broccoli,

Brussels sprouts,

Green Cabbage,

Kale (green, red, dinosaur)

Collard, Bok Choy,

Parsley, Cilantro,

Arugula, Watercress,

Dill, Mustard greens,Leek 300x400

Cucumber, Kohlrabi,

Chinese cabbage,

Romaine lettuce, 

Dandelion, Celery,

Green onion (scallion),

Leek, Zucchini, 

Sugar snap peas,

Green beans.

**Health Tip: Kale and Collard provide more vitamins, minerals and protein than meat (pound for pound)