Go Beyond Salad...Eat Root Vegetables

When you think about healthy eating, salads and green vegetables usually come to mind. But how about adding a little more variety to your plan?

Root vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, and turnips, are a rich source of nutritious complex carbohydrates. Instead of upsetting blood sugar levels like refined sweet foods do, they help regulate them.

Why Eat More Root Veggies?

Long roots – carrots, parsnips, burdock, and daikon radish – are excellent blood purifiers and can help improve circulation in the body. Round roots – turnips, radishes, beets, and rutabagas – nourish the stomach, spleen, pancreas, and reproductive organs.
Which root vegetables do you eat most?
If you’re like most of the world, it’s carrots and potatoes. Here are a few others to explore:

·       Beets contain an abundance of antioxidants and are highly detoxifying.

·       Burdock is considered a powerful blood purifier. This long, thin veggie is a staple in Asian and health food stores.

·       Celeriac, also known as celery root, is rich in fiber and has a respectable amount of antioxidants.

·       Jicama is crunchy and refreshing and contains a generous amount of vitamin C. It’s a favorite in its native Mexico and South America.

·       Onions are rich in antioxidants and other phytonutrients, making them prized for their ability to strengthen the immune system.

·       Parsnips, which look like giant white carrots, boast a sweet, earthy taste. They’ve also got plenty of fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, niacin, thiamine, magnesium, and potassium.

·       Radish is an excellent source of vitamin C. It’s also rich in calcium, molybdenum, and folic acid.

·       Sweet Potatoes contain unsurpassed levels of beta-carotene and are also rich in vitamin C, phytonutrients, and fiber.

Excited to add more roots to your diet? Here’s a fun, easy recipe:

Roasted Root Vegetables
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25-35 minutes
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

·       1 sweet potato

·       2 parsnips

·       2 carrots

·       2 turnips or 1 large rutabaga

·       1 daikon radish (or substitute/add in other favorites, like squash)

·       extra virgin olive oil

·       salt and pepper

·       herbs: rosemary, thyme, or sage (fresh if possible)

Directions:

·       Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

·       Wash and dice all vegetables into bite-sized cubes.

·       Place in a large baking dish with sides.

·       Drizzle with olive oil; mix well to coat each vegetable lightly with oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and herbs.

·       Bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes until vegetables are tender and golden brown, checking every 10 minutes to stir and make sure veggies are not sticking.

Tip: any combination of vegetables will work. Roasting only one kind of vegetable also makes a nice side dish.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (beta-carotene). They are also a good source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, vitamin B6, potassium, fiber, niacin, vitamins B1, B2, and phosphorous.

I love baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato chips (make your own), and sweet potatoes fries.

Anti-Aging Foods

• Black garlic helps to repair age-damaged skin. Uniquely colored due to its fermentation process, black garlic contains double the antioxidants as regular garlic and can be eaten raw. It strengthens and restores skin cells damaged by the aging process. Use it in place of regular garlic in most recipes.

• Jicama is a crisp root vegetable that can help fight crow’s feet by boosting collagen and fighting wrinkles. It’s also an excellent source of vitamin C. Try it either raw or cooked.

• Jerusalem artichoke can help to fade the appearance of under-eye circles. Their beauty secret is iron – they contain five times more iron as potatoes. Eating them can help to correct an iron deficiency, a common cause of paleness that makes your under-eye bags more apparent.

• Purslane is an herb that is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that help to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. It also is a great source of vitamins A, B and C. Add it to yogurt or salads.

• Sunflower Seed Butter works to unclog your arteries. It’s rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids including one that lowers your cholesterol. Try it instead of peanut butter.

• Salmon is among the highest omega-3-containing fish, making it a go-to fish for healthy skin. As we age, cell turnover slows down, causing an accumulation of rough patches and dry skin; our skin also begins to produce less oil, diminishing our natural glow. Brighten your complexion with omega-3 fatty acids. Try to eat salmon two times per week to bring radiance back to skin.

• Sweet Potatoes, Peppers and Almonds are representative of ACE foods, or foods that are high in vitamins A, C and E. They’re rich in antioxidants that combat damaging and aging free radicals in the body. Brightly colored vitamin A foods like sweet potatoes help to tackle the free radicals. Peppers have the highest levels of vitamin C and should be eaten raw to maximize their benefits. And like all foods high in vitamin E, almonds keep skin moisturized and soft by promoting oil production.

• Pure noni juice, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, can help fight the formation of tumors – and wrinkles. Noni and noni products build collagen and are high in antioxidants and polyphenols.

• Tuna contains omega-3 fatty acids that fight UV-related cell damage and are a rich source of niacin, a deficiency of which causes skin rashes.

• Black currants contain a compound called anthocyanosides, which can help improve vision. Additionally, this superfood contains five times the vitamin C that oranges do, making it a superb immunity booster.

• Wheat germ is rich in zinc, which plays a crucial role in the production of new skin cells. It also has anti-inflammatory properties to help prevent eczema; recent studies even indicate that wheat germ can help reduce acne. Get half a cup of wheat germ per day for your daily dose of zinc. Try sprinkling it over salads and yogurt or adding it to smoothies.

Sweet Potato Hash

SUGAR CRAVINGS

It is said that sugar is eight times more addictive than cocaine! It’s no surprise then that sugar cravings are very common. Do any of these apply to you?

• Feeling lightheaded after a high carb meal
• Craving chocolate or caffeine constantly
• Feeling tired throughout the day
• Moody
• More thirsty than the average person
• Excessive sweating

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, author of “The Blood Sugar Solution,” the average American consumes 152 pounds of sugar per year, much of which is hidden in processed foods. Sugar strips the body of nutrients and can lead to a weakened immune system, candida, yeast infections, poor digestion, skin rashes, joint pains, diabetes, liver problems, headaches, poor sleep, bad breath, cravings, disease, spectrum-related issues, and poor concentration. Beware of products that are made with fake sugars such as Sweet’N Low or diet drinks, as they have the same effect on your system.

Keeping your blood sugar balanced will not only stop sugar cravings, but is a key to weight loss, disease prevention, and mood stabilization. Sugar in its most natural state, such as in fruit and starchy vegetables, contains fiber, which slows down the release of insulin into the blood. But when pure sugar hits your bloodstream, your body produces insulin to lower the glucose levels and then glucose levels drop too low, resulting in the crashing feeling after the spike. If this continues for an extended period of time, your body can become resistant to the insulin and rather than converting the glucose to energy, it converts it to fat.

Tips To Reduce Sugar Cravings Include:

• Adding cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, or cloves to your meals or smoothies to naturally sweeten your food.
• Consuming root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, yams, or parsnips.
• Consuming more protein to balance blood sugar.
• Eating foods high in B vitamins, such as:
• Grass-fed meats (preferably organic) 
• Fish such as salmon or sardines 
• Nutritional yeast 
• Cage-free eggs 
• Leafy greens and vegetables such as kale, asparagus, and spinach
• Lentils 

1.Making sure the body has adequate minerals (sea salt is a terrific source, as well as sea vegetables). 

2.Exercising and relaxing — often we reach for sweet treats when we’re feeling stressed.

Often cravings are physical and sometimes they are emotional. Begin journaling daily to discover what areas of your life are depleting you. You can fight sugar cravings by eating more protein, hydrating your body, consuming healthy fats, and having healthy bacteria in your gut. Finding the power to just say no to a sugary treat that will disrupt sleep, leads to toxicity, low sex drive, and metabolism issues has to come from a deeper place. Find your reason for Why.