Healthy Diet and Lifestyle
Posts tagged recipe
Disease Prevention: Kidney Disease
Jan 10th
It is estimated that 11.5% of adults over 20 have physiological evidence of chronic kidney disease and 15.7% of those under treatment die!
The kidneys, each about the size of a fist, play three major roles:
- removing waste products from the body, keeping toxins from building up in the bloodstream
- producing hormones that control other body functions (regulating blood pressure & producing red blood cells)
- regulating the levels of minerals or electrolytes (e.g., sodium, calcium, and potassium) and fluid in the body
After the blood has circulated through the body, it passes into the kidneys. The kidneys filter waste products and excess salt and water out of the blood, and pass these out of the body as urine. The kidneys also make hormones that control blood pressure, as well as maintain bone metabolism and the production of red blood cells. It’s a serious problem when the kidneys stop working.
Living with Chronic Kidney Disease: There are some ways to prevent or slow down the progression of kidney disease.
Wellness is a state of physical, mental and social well-being. Factors that help achieve wellness include:
- A well-balanced diet
- Regular physical activity (ideally 45-60 minutes four to five times per week)
- Good blood pressure control
- Good blood glucose control if you have diabetes
- Stopping smoking
- Managing anemia (maintaining a normal blood count)
- Weight control
- Limiting daily alcohol to two drinks or less
- Taking medications as prescribed
Healthy Foods for People with Kidney Disease: Red bell peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, onions, apples, cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries and red grapes (for detailed info about each of these foods check out my book, Full Day Menus by Judy Fleming available at Hallelujah Acres Canada)
Here is a fabulous recipe to try with some of these great foods:
Cranberry Grape Pudding: Soak the dates for 1 hour then drain. Put the following Into your blender:
1 cup cranberries (raw or frozen)
½ cup red grapes
½ cup dates (soaked and drained)
½ cup ground flax seed
½ tsp of each: allspice, cloves, nutmeg
Blend until smooth then put aside. In a separate bowl put the following chopped fruits:
2 of each: pears & apples
1 cup pineapple
½ cup raisins or currants
Set this aside and make the nut crust below:
Almond Crumble: Soak the almonds overnight then drain. In food processor grind:
1 cup almonds
½ cup dates
Process until mixed well so that it is a crumble.
Layer the cranberry mixture, then the crumble, then the pear/apple mixture in a dessert glass. Serve cold – this will keep overnight in the fridge.
Disease Prevention: Diabetes
Jan 1st
This Week we will talk about Diabetes
Today, more than 9 million Canadians live with diabetes or prediabetes.
• 3 million with diabetes (2.5 million diagnosed, 700,000 undiagnosed)
• 6 million with prediabetes
It is anticipated that more than 400 million people worldwide will live with the disease by 2030.
Diabetes is a chronic, often debilitating and sometimes fatal disease in which the body either cannot produce insulin or cannot properly use the insulin it produces. This leads to high levels of glucose in the blood, which can damage organs, blood vessels and nerves. The body needs insulin to use glucose as an energy source.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the pancreas no longer produces any insulin or produces very little insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is a disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to meet the body’s needs and/or the body is unable to respond properly to the actions of insulin (insulin resistance).
The serious complications
• Diabetes can shorten life expectancy by 5 to 15 years
• 80% of Canadians with diabetes die from a heart attack or a stroke
• 42% of new kidney dialysis patients in 2004 had diabetes
• Diabetes is the single largest cause of blindness in Canada
• 7 of 10 non-traumatic limb amputations are the result of diabetes complications
• 25% of people with diabetes suffer from depression
People with diabetes can expect to live active, independent and vital lives if they make a lifelong commitment to careful diabetes management, which includes the following: Education, Physical Activity, Nutrition, Weight Management, and Lifestyle Management.
Diet Guidelines to reduce Diabetes (or any other major disease)
- avoid refined starches, such as bread and pasta
- avoid fruit juice and dried fruits
- avoid all sweets, except fresh fruit in reasonable amounts 1-3 servings per day (the best fruits are those with less sugars such as: grapefruit, oranges, kiwi, berries, melons and green apples)
- avoid all oils, raw nuts are permitted (one ounce per day) – raw coconut oil/butter would be best choice of oil
- limit or avoid all animal food that consist of high saturated fats
- green vegetables and beans should make up the most of your daily food
- exercise daily
If these guidelines were followed by the general public, diabetes, heart and stroke would practically disappear from our society! So what should we eat to prevent diabetes? The same foods that help to manage weight – here are just a few: Apples, beans, peppers, berries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, cinnamon, coconut, cucumber, flaxseed, greens, kale, mushrooms, pears, sea vegetations, spinach. All of these are best in the raw form.
Here are two recipes to try from my book (mention this article and get 10% off the book!
FULL DAY MENUS: A collection of Vegan Recipes from “In the Kitchen with Judy as she Talks About Disease Prevention”. BREAKFAST / LUNCH / SUPPER / and …. DESSERT! by Judy Fleming
Flax Pepper Crackers:
In a large bowl soak the flax seed in water for ½ hour while getting the rest of the ingredients ready:
2 cups freshly ground flax seed and 2 cups water
Put the following in your food processor and process well:
1 cup of each: chopped tomatoes & red bell peppers
½ cup of each: chopped onion & celery
1 tsp of each: curry powder, turmeric, sea salt
2 cloves of garlic
Add this pepper mixture to the flax mixture, water and all, and stir well.
Spread onto a Paraflex lined tray (about ¼” thick). To make crackers score in 2″ squares or leave un-scored to make a pizza crust. Put into your dehydrator for 6-8 hours. When firm, turn onto the fine-mesh screen and dehydrate for another 2-4 hours until crisp.
Red Pepper Seed Cheese:
In your food processor put the following:
2 red peppers diced
¼ cup chopped red onion
½ tsp of each: paprika & cayenne pepper
1 cup of each: soaked sunflower & pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 lemons juiced
Process on high until creamed (add more lemon juice to make it creamier). Keeps well for 3-4 days in fridge.
Serve with veggie sticks (such as carrot, celery and cucumber) or the flax crackers above.
Living Green Menus
Nov 10th
LIVING GREEN
Here are some choices and options we can do right in our kitchen every day:
- Because we already eat mostly raw food we are saving on all the paper, cans, boxes that are used to package dead food reducing the amount of waste materials that are piling up as result of the S.A.D. where people produce 2-4 recycle boxes of things that need to go to our garbage dumps.
- Plan a menu for 3-4 days and buy just what you need, it will save you money in the long run because you will not be throwing out food that has spoiled. If you have the groceries right in your kitchen and fridge you will never worry about what to have for dinner? And if you have what you need it takes only a few minutes to make most raw recipes. Also when you plan there is less waste – plan to use the leftovers from your 3 day plan in your juice or in a big smoothie or in your soups.
- Compost all the waste from the raw foods you are using that day in your menu so if you have a garden you will save on fertilizer cost and give your plants a treatment they’ll love.
- Eat out less and save! We can make a great 4 course meal for a family of 3 for what you will spend for just one meal at a restaurant.
LIVING GREEN Menu
Now here is a simple Green Menu that use a variety of foods from one recipe to the next making a more efficient kitchen!
Mint Cocktail Try starting your meal with 1 tsp of BarleyMax Mint per person mixed in water with crushed ice and served in a shot glass for great visual effect!
Spinach Seed Cheese the basic recipe for this is an assortment of seeds and nuts that have been soaked, add some celery, onion, garlic, lemon juice and nutritional yeast, today we had added spinach and cilantro. Processed it well with your food processor then served it on a slice of cucumber or used it as a stuffing for zucchini.
Hale to Kale Salad again we are making this as green as possible so we have green veggies only that are chopped finely. We have kale, green cabbage, cucumber, celery, broccoli, fresh mint, and green onion, and we have added pumpkin seeds and a minty lemon avocado dressing.
Creamed Broccoli Soup we always start our soups with the basic ingredients of onion, garlic and celery to this we will add broccoli, the stuffing from the zucchini, cilantro, and season to taste. Add water while cooking until all is tender. To cream this we blend on high in a blender until smooth.
Lime Pudding can be a real treat by using ripe avocado and bananas and the juice from 4-6 limes as well as the zest, then we sweeten it up with honey or raw agave – blend it well until a creamy pudding. To keep it bright green make just before serving (it taste best cold so put in the freezer for 20 minutes before serving).
For the full recipe of the above Green Menu look in the books: In the Kitchen with Judy and the newest one Full Day Menus – by Judy Fleming These books are available here at HA Canada by calling 1-866-478-2224.
The Hallelujah Diet
Jul 25th
Every week join me to see what has happened here at our head office in Canada. I will be sharing with you what we did in our classes or workshops as well as a recipe from them.
I will also give you some hints as to how I stay on the Hallelujah Diet and what I have done this week to keep it interesting!