Nut and Seed Mix

I am all about baby steps. Simple switches in the food we eat everyday so that as you move through ypour daily routine, you automatically build dense nutrition into the food you consume. Not a diet overhaul, not an overwhelming change everything situation but a simple switcheroo.

One of my recommendations for decreasing the hidden sugar in your diet and to boost the nutrition you eat daily is to JUST EAT WHOLE FOODS!

Ditching cookies, muffins, cakes, candy and energy bars is a good place to start.

I advise many of my clients to create a mix of health promoting dark chocolate drops, whole nuts and seeds to keep in the refrigerator and to turn to when they are looking for a snack.

Dark chocolate is low in sugar and rich in antioxidants, iron and the relaxation mineral magnesium. Dark chocolate has also been shown to boost brain serotonin levels in clinical trail...we really do feel happier when we eat chocolate!

Whole nuts and seeds provide our bodies with heart healthy fats, vitamin E which helps to reduce hot flashes and minerals such as selenium and magnesium which support a healthy thyroid gland and are required by the body as a cofactor for a myriad of small biochemical reactions.

Sugar is removed from the diet when we switch to eating these foods raw, whole and individually rather than smooshed together in a processed, grain based bar by SUGAR!

Ingredients

Find a medium sized recycled jar to hold your mix.
Add Brazil nuts...selenium ++, macadamia nuts, heart and brain healthy walnuts, vitamin E rich almonds, Zinc rich raw pumpkin seeds, pecans, pistachios and sunflower seeds.
Add organic, dark chocolate chips or chunks
For me the dark chocolate feels like a treat or celebration, it elevates a mundane nut mix to something special. It nurtures me.
Add goji berries for vitamin C or sugar free cranberries for a burst of fruitiness.

Keep refrigerated so that the healthy fats in the nuts do not go rancid and the jar is not on the counter as a permanent temptation 

Ditch the Oreo cookie and reach for a handful of your mix when your energy is low or pack into a small container to carry with you for when you have a busy day.

Nutrition is the first line of self- care baby ❤️

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

What do you do if you want a sweet treat and do not want to spike your blood sugar?
Balancing daily blood sugar levels is important for the midlife woman as our cells become more resistant to insulin as our hormones estrogen and progesterone diminish.
When our blood sugar levels are balanced, our hormones are balanced, our mood stays balanced, our microbiome remains balanced and we have even energy throughout the day.
But we all want dessert every once in a while and life is for living and sharing and enjoying!
Healthy eating is not all about being a kill-joy or always eating salad! It is about making sensible choices from nutritious options of real, nutrient dense food.

Enter this recipe for Chocolate Mousse which uses avocado as its base.
Anti-inflammatory avocado is packed with healthy fats that slow the passage of sugar into the blood stream as this mousse is being digested.
Smooth and rich, chocolaty and delicious, I challenge you to ask your family to guess the hidden healthy ingredient.
Serve with antioxidant rich seasonal berries for a sweet treat that packs a nutritional punch and fits perfectly into The Nourished Midlife Womans menu plan.

Ingredients

3 ripe avocados peeled and with the stone removed

1/4 cup raw cacao

1/4 cup melted organic dark chocolate chips

3-4 tbsp milk of choice (I used coconut milk)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Instructions

Place the chocolate chips in a glass bowl over a small pan of simmering water and gently melt the chocolate. Or use a microwave to melt the chocolate chips.
Place all other ingredients into a blender.
Pour the melted chocolate over the ingredients and blend until smooth.
Serve with fresh berries of your choice.

If like me you are an avocado lover and you want more of this anti-inflammatory fruit in your diet, you might enjoy this recipe for Guacamole

'Energy All Day' Home Made Granola

How you feel throughout the day is directly impacted by what you eat in the morning. Are you eating a morning meal that steadily fuels you? OR do you climb onto the sugar roller coaster?

I am going to hit you where it really hurts and tell you that during peri-menopause, because your hormones estrogen and progesterone are diminishing, the cells of your body become less receptive to insulin and the sugar that is in your diet becomes responsible for your midlife muffin top.

Many of us spike our blood sugar levels first thing in the morning, with boxed cereals, jam toast, pastries, drive through breakfasts and coffee. Yes coffee. The caffeine in your daily joe actually kicks your body into “fight or flight” which gives us a brain buzz we love, but also floods our bloodstream with glucose.

Those of us sipping lattes and flavoured coffees are also spiking our blood sugar levels with the milk sugar, lactose. When are hormones are causing our cells to lose their sensitivity to glucose in the bloodstream, this leaves us vulnerable to energy crashes, mood swings and that hangry bitch mode later in the day.

When we flood our system with too much sugar on a daily basis and the hormones estrogen and progesterone are no longer initiating insulin sensitivity in peri-menopause, our body will eventually become insulin resistant. This is when the cells of the body do not respond to the hormone insulin, released from your pancreas which is poured into the blood stream to encourage each and every cell in the body to absorb its share of sugar and to protect the veins and arteries of the cardiovascular system from sugar damage.

The trick to balancing blood sugar levels all day and avoiding energy spikes and crashes, is to eat a nutrition dense healthy breakfast. Eating a breakfast that is rich in fibre, healthy fat and protein impacts your body positively in four important ways.
1. Jumpstarts your metabolism, the body’s internal furnace.
2. Reduces anxiety. The brain will de-stress when it’s been fuelled.
3. Increases cognitive functioning and mental accuracy throughout the morning.
4. Improves mood. Breakfast sets the bar for blood sugar levels throughout the day. 5. Initiate metabolism so that the thyroid gland can ‘rest’.

Look at this bowl of goodness!
Nuts and seeds are rich in minerals that support our thyroid health and are involved in hundreds of tiny chemical reactions within our cells on a daily basis.

Slow burn carbs support our energy levels throughout the day and also help midlife women to burn fat and maintain a joyful mood daily. We need our carbs ladies, just the real food, slow-burn ones that don’t put us back on the sugar roller coaster.

This granola recipe is packed with flavour as it contains the spices cinnamon and cloves. Cinnamon supports the body to become more sensitive to insulin so that you can balance your blood sugar better and both spices are helpful in maintaining the balance of the microbiome.

Serve with berries and yoghurt, milk or a milk substitute.

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats 

1 cups crispy brown rice cereal

1/4 cup sunflower seeds 

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

3/4 cups shredded unsweetened coconut 

1/4 cup sliced almonds 

1/4 cup walnuts (or whatever other nuts you like)

1 Tbsp ground Cinnamon 

1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves

1/3 cup coconut oil 

1/3 cup (real) maple syrup 

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside

In a small bowl melt the coconut oil and maple syrup together

Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and mix until well coated

Spread evenly on one or two baking sheet s so that the ingredients are spread evenly.

Bake at 250 for 60 minutes or until golden. (I got a little impatient and turned it up to 300 or maybe even 350 at one point. Just keep stirring it every few minutes so the bottom doesn’t burn

Let cool and store in a container.

If like a breakfast that helps you to balance your blood sugar levels but tastes like a dessert, you might like this Turmeric and Honey Oatmeal. You can find the recipe here.