Salty Sweet Nut and Seed Bars

One of the fastest ways we can reduce our uncomfortable symptoms of menopause during midlife is to support our adrenal health.

Our adrenal glands are two tiny glands sat on top of our kidneys that are responsible for producing cortisol as part of our stress response and also producing our juicy hormones estrogen, testosterone and progesterone.

During the hormonal change of peri-menopause, the baton for producing our sex hormones is passed from our ovaries to our adrenal glands, which are responsible for drip feeding us low levels of our juicy hormones to protect our health and well-being.

Problems arise in this process is women are experiencing chronic stress and our adrenal glands are already flat out producing cortisol.

Stress, is created in the body by our thoughts and feelings, poorly managed blood sugar, low-level infection, over-exercising, under-eating, toxic or inauthentic relationships, poor nutrition or nutritional deficiencies, caffeine and alcohol. AND let’s face it, the world is currently an unsafe, toxic and stressful place to live for women with empathy and a sense of justice.

Many of us feel our bodies fall off a hormonal cliff in our mid-forties as our adrenal glands do not have the capacity to pick up the baton from our ovaries. We feel exhausted but cannot sleep through the night, we are anxious all the time and mortified about weight gain around our middle, the classic symptom of excess cortisol in the body. We have brain fog, feel achy in our shoulders, feet and hips, wake up in the morning feeling drained and overwhelmed by our daily schedule and crave carbs and sugar or subsist on caffeine and alcohol. It really does feel like it is all downhill from here.

We need to address our chronic stress and pronto because excess cortisol in our bodies is damaging to our metabolic, brain, heart and bone health.

One of the tools we can use is dense nutrition that specifically nourishes our adrenal health.

Our adrenals love fat, salt and vitamin C to function. If you have been on a the low fat/no fat bandwagon for part of your life as a strategy to lose weight you have been starving your adrenal glands of nutrition.

These bars are designed to offer our adrenal health all the healthy fats they could wish for in a crunchy, salty and chocolaty treat.

Switch out bagels, cookies, doughnuts, ice-cream and muffins, to indulge in a snack that is going to leave you satiated and deeply nourished. Unpacking diet culture to deeply nourish our bodies in midlife is going to save our adrenal health and reduce our symptoms of menopause. Let’s get into the nutritional details!

The nuts and seeds in this bar are a rich source of minerals to support our thyroid health and shore up nutritional deficiencies.
Ground flax and chia seeds provide fibre and omega 3 fatty acids to the body.
Almond butter is packed with vitamin E for great skin and vaginal health and to support your cardiovascular system.
All of these ingredients are rich in our relaxation mineral magnesium in which 70% of the population is deficient if eating the modern American diet, drinking alcohol and coffee and taking medications as they deplete magnesium from the body.
The bars are sweetened with dates which are rich in iron, provide fibre and protect our nervous system with the B group of vitamins.
I topped these bars with dark chocolate to add more magnesium and iron and as chocolate has been shown in clinical trials to boost serotonin, our happy neurotransmitter, in the brain. Whats not to love about that!

Make batch of these bars and freeze to defrost and enjoy whenever you feel your energy flagging or your joy depleting.

Ingredients

11/2 cups pitted raw dates
1/2 cup crunchy almond butter
1/2 cup chopped raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts 
1/2 cup chopped Brazil nuts
2 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp local raw runny honey
1 cup melted dark organic chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients, apart from the chocolate into a food processor and blend until combined and formed into a sticky ball.

2. Line a 9”x9” pan with parchment paper.

3. Using hands dampened with water, press the date ball into the pan. The water on you hands stops them from sticking to the date bars.

4. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water or gently in the microwave.

5. Spread the chocolate evenly over the date mix and place the the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes to set.

6. remove the bars from the freezer and cut into 12 squares.

7. Enjoy these salty, nutty and chocolaty bars with a cup of tea when you feel your energy flagging or eat them as desert after a meal. Know you are deeply nourishing your body with healthy fats, fibre and minerals to support your adrenal health.

Chimichurri Salsa - Added Nutrition to Plop onto Everything

Peri-menopause can be overwhelming.

One minute you have all the plates spinning in a very busy life and the next, you’re experiencing brain fog, can’t sleep through the night and have energy crashes during the day. You just don’t feel like your ‘old self’ anymore.

The good news is… you can reclaim your energy and mojo, get back into sleeping like a baby and regain mental clarity and a memory for where you placed your car keys, using nutrition and lifestyle.

But Louise, I feel too overwhelmed with exhaustion and hot flashes to overhaul my whole diet and lifestyle! I don’t have the time to spend cooking every night and what you’re asking of me is too much in this chapter of my life!!!

Here is the good news! When you are changing your diet, habits and lifestyle, you are going to experience the most success when you only take teeny, tiny, baby steps.

We have all done those diets that cut out whole food groups, measure or weigh our foods and require us to cook separate meals from the rest of our families and we know it is not sustainable. This repeat fail on diets throughout our lifetimes erodes our self-trust and puts us into a battle with our bodies.

This is why my online downloadable nutrition course Menopause U suggests taking only three tiny baby steps in each of its 13 modules. Your baby steps will guarantee your success and keep you out of overwhelm while you shore up nutritional deficiencies, cut uncomfortable symptoms and feel your energy bouncing back!

Peri-menopause is the perfect time of life to unpack the baggage of ‘diet culture’ we have carried through life as girls of the low fat not fat generation! Now is the time to start to take small, manageable, steps towards the body and lifestyle you desire for yourself. Shame and guilt are not a part of this process…remember, we are ditching ‘diet and restriction’ to ‘deeply nourish and nurture’ our bodies through hormonal change, offering our body the support it is crying out for, in the only language it knows…symptoms.

Always look at your plate and think about where you can add MORE nutrition to your meal. Follow your pleasure! This recipe for a moth popping Chimichurri Salsa is designed to be fast, easy, and to tickle your taste buds when you add it to your meals.

Flavour packed and full of nutrition, this easy to prepare, make-once-and-eat-all-week recipe sits in your refrigerator so you can add dense nutrition to every meal you eat. (Add it to eggs with slices of avocado for a protein rich, flavourful breakfast!)

Put is on a chicken breast or piece of salmon. Dollop onto the macaroni and cheese you made for the family or into a lunchtime sandwich. Dip roasted potatoes in Chimichurri salsa and add it to mayonnaise for a nutritious, quick and spicy tuna melt.

The more you eat, the more nutrition your body receives from the vitamin C and mineral packed leafy greens. Heart healthy olive oil and garlic support your cardiovascular health and your blood sugar is balanced with lemon and vinegar. This salsa deepens the nutrition in your meal while helping your digestion to absorb maximum nutrition from your food.

If you want to start today, using nutrition as a tool to manage your menopause experience, follow the recipe instructions below and get Chimichurri Salsa on hand in your refrigerator or download my FREE recipe book and pick one recipe to try.

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley roughly chopped

1/2 cup fresh basil roughly hopped

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

1/2 tsp dried oregano

3 -4 garlic cloves sliced (How spicy do you like it?)

1/2 red onion diced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 tsp coconut or other unrefined sugar

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Place all of the ingredients into a blender or tall container for a hand blender.
Blend until you have a chunky salsa/ sauce
Add more olive oil if you need more liquid and adjust vinegar to taste.
Place the Chimichurri salsa in a glass jar or container in the refrigerator and use throughout the week to add dense nutrition and delicious mouth popping flavour to your meals.

Finnish Salmon Soup

Fresh or frozen wild salmon is a delicious source of protein packed with ant-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids which protect our brain health and reduce inflammation.

When we are reducing inflammation in our bodies, we are reducing menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and pain from aching joints and muscles.

I love salmon baked, grilled and poached but this was my first time making the Finnish salmon soup, Lohikeitto.

This soup is delicious and incredibly easy to make. I kept the skins on my potatoes for additional fibre and vitamin C.

The flavour profile is light and creamy with the dill giving the soup a lift and a taste of Spring. My soup contained the additional pretty pink of peeled local shrimp just because they are delicious and available to me at this time of year.

If you want an easy mid-week supper, this soup ticks all the boxes and would be delicious served alongside bagels or toast spread with cream cheese if you have hungry kids to feed.

Ingredients

3 tbsps butter melted in a large pan
2 leeks washed and chopped
1lb wild salmon
1lb potatoes chopped
1 medium carrot chopped
5 cups fish stock or Dashi
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch dill finely chopped
1 packet of peeled local shrimp
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large pan and as the chopped leeks

2. Put the lid on the pan and cook on medium until the leeks are soften

3. Add the potatoes and carrot to the leeks and pour in the fish stock or Dashi

4. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes until the potatoes are just cooked through

5. Add the salmon pieces and cook for 3 minutes until the salmon is cooked through

6. Remove the cooked salmon to a board and flake into bite sized pieces removing the skin

7. Add the flaked salmon back to the potato and leek broth with the cup of heavy cream and the finely chopped dill (I added a packet of peeled local shrimp with the dill just because they are available and delicious.)

8. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately

9. Warm any leftovers gently to prevent the cream in the soup from curdling.

How to Make Dashi

If you do not have fish stock on hand, you can make a quick Dashi, a Japanese stock used in soups and stews.

Dashi is made with dried seaweed and dried anchovies which can be bought at your local Asian market and will keep in the store cupboard indefinitely. The seaweed and anchovies provide minerals and iodine to support your thyroid health and boost your energy.

1. Add a large piece of dried kelp or kombu to a pan with 5-6 cups of filtered water. Add 5- 10 dried anchovies and 4-5 curls of lemon peel. I added the leek tops to provide more of the sweet leek flavour.

2. Simmer for 20 minutes. Drain to remove the solid ingredients and leave a clean stock.