Tag Archives: nuts

Improve Your Sleep

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Many in today’s population are suffering from a lack of sleep.  The majority of people report difficulty falling or staying asleep on a regular basis.  Sleep is an important part of a healthy life.  Our body uses our sleeping hours to repair damage, rebalance hormone levels and engage in physical healing and maintenance.  Sleep deprivation has been implicated in heart disease, increased stress levels, diabetes, increased accidents, depression, lowered sex drive and diabetes.  A good 8-10 hours of sleep is important for vital health.

External Steps to Improve Sleep:

  • Make sure your room is dark.  Invest in blackout shades or an eye mask to increase the darkness in your sleeping space.  Move cell phones and other light emitting items out of the bedroom.
  • Stick to a schedule.  Try to go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day.  Our bodies respond best to a regular routine.  Following a similar routine every day signals to our bodies that bed time is approaching.
  • Use the bed for sleep and/or intimacy only.  Don’t bring computers or work into the bedroom.  Maintain the sanctity of the bedroom as a place of rest.
  • Invest in ear plugs if noise is a problem.  White noise machines can also be helpful to block out unwanted sound.
  • Engage in relaxation, meditation or breathing exercises:  The Legs up the Wall yoga pose done for 5 minutes right before bed can improve sleep.  To calm a racing mind, engage in 4:6:8 breathing.  Breath in for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 6 seconds and then exhale for 8 seconds.  This breathing engages the para sympathic (rest and digest) part of the nervous system.  An Epson salt bath taken before bed can also be helpful.
  • Eat and drink regularly throughout the day.  Maintain a balanced blood sugar level by eating roughly every 3-4 hours during the day.  Try to include a mix of protein, carbs and fats with each meal.  Keep your body well hydrated by sipping water or tea throughout the day.  To decrease the likelihood of having to go to the bathroom during the night, avoid drinking within 90 minutes of bedtime.  If you do consume caffeinated beverages try not to do so within 6 hours of bedtime.  Be sure to eat dinner 2-3 hours before bed so your body has time to digest your food.
  • Avoid alcohol within 2-3 hours of sleep.  Alcohol may help people fall asleep faster but seems to reduce REM, the restorative phase of sleep and can impact breathing while sleeping.
  • Avoid vigorous exercise within 3 hours of bedtime.
  • Try to get outside in natural light every day.  Exposure to natural light helps regulate your sleep/wake cycle by regulating melatonin production.
  • A tincture of Valerian Root can be used as an herbal sleep aid.  Talk to your health care professional about an optimal dose.  (Do not take if on other muscle relaxants or if have heart issues.)

Food to Help with Sleep:

  • Tart cherry juice contains melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate the sleep wake cycle.  Drink eight ounces of Montmorency tart cherry juice twice a day to improve sleep.
  • Grass fed beef, lamb, chicken and wild game:  All are natural sources of tryptophan, a pre-curser to melatonin.  Oats and white beans are good vegetarian sources of tryptophan.
  • Other plant sources of melatonin:  Corn, rice, barley, ginger and bananas all offer some melatonin to aid in sleep.
  • Eggs:  Eggs are a rich source of tryptophan and their protein helps stabilize blood sugar to prevent night time waking.
  • Nuts and seeds: Squash and pumpkin seeds are rich sources of the melatonin producing tryptophan.  Eating them with a carbohydrate helps your body to absorb the tryptophan.
  • Magnesium rich foods:  Think of magnesium as the relaxation mineral.  This critical mineral is necessary for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues. You must have it for your cells to make energy, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax.  Pumpkin seeds, walnuts, oatmeal, potatoes, spinach and almonds are great vegetarian sources of magnesium.   Salmon, halibut, yogurt and shrimp are other non-vegan sources of magnesium.

Try some of these tips to improve your daily sleep!  I would love to hear if you have found any other solutions.

Lime and Chocolate Cashew Cream Cheesecakes

Lime, raw, vegan cheesecake with raspberry sauce.

Lime, raw, vegan cheesecake with raspberry sauce.

For the Fourth of July, we were headed up to the Olympic Peninsula to spend time with my in-laws.  They live in a somewhat rural area on the Puget Sound.  Everyone in the family loves to go up there because not only do we get to spend time with the grandparents but the area is filled with great outdoor activities.  Our days are consumed with fishing, kayaking, crabbing, hiking, biking and walking on the beach.  The other thing I love about going up there is all the yummy natural food.  There are multiple small farmer’s markets within 20 minute of their house.  The Sound is filled with fish and crab and the forest has wild blackberries and huckleberries.  I love to take advantage of the natural bounty!  Usually, when I am there in the summer, I end up making some sort of berry cobbler for my father-in-law’s birthday.  Crazily enough, he is one of the few people I know who doesn’t like chocolate so I like to try find desserts that will make him happy.

Before going up there last week, I was cruising around the internet and came upon the beautiful blog, Healthy For Happy.  Lisa, the blog’s author, had posted a recipe for a yummy sounding raw, lime, vegan cheesecake.  I had made a raw key lime pie before using the recipe from the I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude cookbook.  It was super tasty, particularly the crust.  I decided to combine the two recipes to make my own raw vegan cheesecake.  (I also knew that most of the people at my in-laws DID like chocolate, so I decided to make half mini lime cheesecakes and half mini chocolate cheesecakes.)

 

Chocolate, raw, vegan cheesecake with raspberry sauce.

Chocolate, raw, vegan cheesecake with raspberry sauce.

Lime and Chocolate Cashew Cream Cheesecakes

Ingredients

  • FOR CRUST:
  • 11/4 cup of macadamia nuts
  • 11/4 cup of pecans
  • 1/4 cup of packed dates
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp of salt
  • FOR FILLING:
  • 2 cups cashews soaked overnight (or at least 4 hours) and then rinsed and drained
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup of maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil
  • small amount of almond milk as needed
  • Juice of 1-2 limes depending on how juicy they are
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 1 tbs of cacao powder
  • couple of squares of dark chocolate, melted

Instructions

  1. To make the crust, put all crust nut ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor.
  2. Process until nuts are small and crumbly.
  3. Slowly add dates while continuing to process nut mixture.
  4. Crust will begin to stick together.
  5. Press crust mixture into muffin tins lined with paper liners.
  6. The crust should hold together well in bottom of tins.
  7. I made two different types of cheese cake so I had to divide all the filling ingredients in 1/2. If you are only going to make one type, you can pour all the ingredients into the blender at the same time.
  8. To make the filling, add 1/2 the cashews, 1/2 the vanilla, 1/2 the maple syrup, juice from 1 lime, lime zest and 1/2 the coconut oil to a blender.
  9. Blend until smooth.
  10. Taste to see if it is limey enough.
  11. If not, gradually add more juice until it tastes as limey as you want.
  12. Once the filling tastes as limey as you like, add lime filling to half of the prepared muffin tins.
  13. Clean out the blender.
  14. Add other half of the ingredients, plus the cacao and melted dark chocolate to the blender.
  15. Process until smooth.
  16. If not getting creamy, you can add small amounts of almond milk to help your blender process the nuts.
  17. Taste to see if chocolaty enough. If not add more cacao to the blender.
  18. Once all the nuts are ground up, spoon filling into the prepared muffin tins.
  19. Smooth top of the cheesecakes.
  20. Place in the fridge for a few hours to firm up and then ENJOY!
  21. You can serve them with a raspberry sauce if you like. Recipe to follow.
https://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/lime-and-chocolate-cashew-cream-cheesecakes/

Here is a picture of all the nuts for the crust before they get chopped up.

Pecans and macadamias before they become crust.

Pecans and macadamias before they become crust.

Below is a pic of the nuts, processed into the crust mixture and then pressed into the cup cake pan.  They are just waiting for the filling to be ready.

Crust before filling.

Crust before filling.

A pic of the muffin tin with the chocolate and lime fillings added.  Everything is now ready to go into the fridge.

Chocolate and lime raw vegan cheesecakes.

Chocolate and lime raw vegan cheesecakes.

I have a crazy amount of raspberry bushes in my yard and last week the were filled with berries.  I decided to use some of the berries to make a raspberry sauce to go on the cheesecakes.  The cheesecakes are super yummy without the sauce but if you want to add a little extra zing, this is one way to do it.

Raspberry on the vine in my yard.

Raspberry on the vine in my yard.

Homemade Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of fresh raspberries (I am sure frozen would work too)
  • 1/4 cup of agave syrup
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Put all ingredients in a pot on the stove over low heat.
  2. Stir frequently to prevent burning or sticking.
  3. When raspberries are broken down and the sauce starts to thicken, turn off stove.
  4. Allow to cool.
  5. Put in glass jar and store in the fridge.
https://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/lime-and-chocolate-cashew-cream-cheesecakes/

Enjoy!

Shared on the Plant Based Pot Luck Party, Live Laugh Rowe, A Glimpse Inside, Real Food Fridays, Gluten Free Homemaker and the Nourishing Gourmet.

Tiny Tip Tuesday: Protein for Vegans and Vegetarians

 

Photo by rusvaplauke with text added by me.

Photo by rusvaplauke with text added by me.

My vegan and vegetarian friends say they are always asked about how they get their protein.  However, recent research has pointed to the fact that it is easier than you think to get your protein needs met even without eating meat.  Protein, along with fat and carbs,  is one of the three macro nutrients that are essential for life.  You have protein in every cell in your body.  Protein is composed of amino acids.  Non- essential amino acids can be made by your body but essential amino acids must be obtained through food or supplementation.  Proteins are lumped into two categories- complete and incomplete.  A complete protein contains all nine of the essential amino acids in the correct ratios.  Incomplete proteins either lack some of the essential amino acids or the amino acids aren’t in the correct ratios the body needs.  However, a protein can be made complete by combining more than one incomplete protein.  Conventional wisdom use to state that to make a complete proteins the incomplete proteins had to be eaten in the same meal.  It is now known that  as long as you eat your incomplete proteins within 24 hours, they will combine to make a complete protein.  Below is an easy list to help you form complete proteins.  Simply eat food from two or more of the different categories in a 24 hour period and you will get all the amino acids needed to form a complete protein.

GRAINS : barley, corn  meal, oats, rice pasta, bulgar, wheat, amaranth, spelt,  quinoa, millet or other whole grains.

LEGUMES:  beans, lentil, peas, peanuts or soy products.

SEEDS & NUTS:  sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, nut butters or other nuts and seeds.

VEGETABLES:  leafy greens, broccoli, corn, mushrooms, carrots, yams or other vegetables.

Added to REal Food Forager, Gluten Free Homemaker, Rock My Vegan Socks and Urban Naturale,

 

 

 

Seven Seed Bars

Photo by Naomii on flickr.

Photo by Naomii on flickr.

One of the major bonuses of being in a Wholistic Nutrition program is having other students and teachers cook for you.  We have shared some seriously tasty meals in the year we have been in school.  In one of our beginning classes, the Wellspring teachers brought a snack bar that has become a stable in our house.  This bar is something I can cook up in a short amount of time and know the boys are getting some good, healthy nutrition in a grab and go package.  These bars do not hang around very long in our house.

Measured quinoa.

Measured quinoa.

 

Roasting macadamias and quinoa.

Roasting macadamias and quinoa.

 

Stirring up some seeded goodness!

Stirring up some seeded goodness!

 

Seven seed bars ready for consumption.

photo 3 (20)

 

Seven Seed Bars

Ingredients

  • ½c quinoa toasted
  • 1 ½c almond butter
  • ½c maple syrup (I don't like mine really sweet, so I often short my 1/2 cup a little.)
  • ½c brown rice syrup or agave (I will also short this a little too.)
  • ¼tsp cardamom
  • ¼tsp cinnamon
  • ½c sunflower seeds toasted
  • ¾c pumpkin seeds toasted
  • ¼c hulled hemp seeds
  • ½c macadamia nuts toasted & chopped
  • ¼c cacao nibs (sometimes I leave these out, depending on if I have them or not)

Instructions

  1. Toast nuts and quinoa in 350 degree oven or on the stove top in a heavy pan.
  2. Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  3. Mix almond butter, syrups and spices.
  4. Add all seeds.
  5. Mix well.
  6. Oil a 9x13 pan and spread batter evenly.
  7. Bake 15 minutes til golden brown.
  8. Cool before slicing.
  9. Stores well in the fridge for about a week but only if they don't all get eaten in the first hour.
https://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/seven-seed-bars/

As you can see, these are an amazingly dense bar, packed with nutty nutrition.  These bars offer a high amount of protein in a small package.  Quinoa is a gluten free seed which is an excellent source of vegetarian protein.  It contains eight essential amino acids our body needs to thrive.  One cup has 5 grams of fiber and is an excellent source of manganese, potassium, copper, B6, phosphorous and thiamine.

Almonds have been recommended for years as a quick source of healthy protein.  They contain two essential brain nutrients, the amino acid, l-carnitine and riboflavin.  Both nutrients have been shown to increase brain activity.  Almonds help raise the HDL cholesterol, “good”  cholesterol, and lower the LDL (bad cholesterol) in the body.  They also contain high levels of phosphorous with helps build strong bones and teeth.

Depending on the other nuts or seeds you choose to use in this recipe, you can create a nutritional powerhouse for your own family based on the flavors and textures they enjoy.

This post shared with Gluten Free Homemaker.

 

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