Ready to start into an alkalizing spring?!

As I told you a bit earlier this week on my blog’s Facebook page I have some new ideas and resolutions coming up for this spring. We all know spring time is cleansing time and the meteorological date of spring reminds me painfully that bikini season is just around the corner. I am not a fan of diets though, nor of starving – not, at all! But since I experimented with an alkalizing, anti-inflammatory detox last year and just felt great, different things made me come up with a plan:

1) An awesome book which I got for my bday from a lovely friend (who also does amazing vegan catering btw, check out Billie D. if you live in Malta): Crazy Sexy Diet (by Kriss Carr) which explains all advantages of switching to an anti-anti-inflammatory, alkalizing lifestyle in a great way of storytelling. (Some of her principles can be found in this article)

2) Another amazing book, which came some weeks later – also a belated bday pressie from my dear friend C <3. Aren’t my friends just awesome?! It’s called Honestly Healthy (by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson) – similar principle, easy explanations and mouthwatering recipes and photography (more info on their website)

3) As mentioned above: holy moly – summer is coming in big steps!! And at least for me it’s high time to red rid of some extra warming winter kilos!

Therefore, you’re cordially invited to join me on some weeks of good intentions for great health 😀 The principle is easy: eat as much alkalizing foods as somehow possible (at least 60, ideally 80%) and try to skip or at least minimize (let’s stay realistic 😉 the bad stuff such as refinded sugar, wheat, alcohol, coffee and ready prepared, processed food which often contain unhealthy fats, artificial flavors and taste enhancers. Instead of that there will be green smoothies, juices, yummy soups and salads and even deserts – but made in a healthy guilt free way! Combined with gentle exercise (I love my yoga for instance) this will be a great experience for your body, your mind and your health in the long run.

But what does this mean and what is it for?? By changing your normal eating habits and including more raw foods you will automatically focus on foods that decrease inflammation in your body. As some of you might know most nowadays diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart problems etc. come from inflammation. So it’s a long term investment in your health, in yourself, in your future! For more details on the alkalizing & anti-inflammatory principle do your research via the web or get one of the books mentioned above which I like even better as you can always reread and refer to it. Anyhow for some basic explanations and web tips check out my first detox article of last year, for a review of my last detox read the last one with all conclusions)

Today we start with a lovely light and healthy dinner. After a beautiful class of yoga (thanks MichelleBartoloYoga!) there’s nothing better than a yummy healthy meal, already prepared and waiting for you. To make my life easier we stocked up the fridge with tons of greens & veg like spinach, coriander, mint, rucola, broccoli, cucumbers, leeks, carrots and so on. With a full fridge like this, tonight’s soup is not only extremely easy to make, but also super delicious.

All you need…

Some broccholi stalks (never throw them away!), carrots, leek, turnip cabbage, yeast free vegetable stock, himalayan salt, some turmeric, curry powder, Asafoetida (?), cumin, some coconut oil

Optional: add some precooked quionoa or millet, fresh herbs like parsley or coriander, a squeeze of lemon or lime in the end.

What to do….

Chop up all veg and roast it a bit on low temperature in coconut oil, fill up with a bit of water so it’s only covered. Let it simmer for a bit so the veg gets some bite. Add the spices, stock cube and himalayan salt. Then top up with a bit more water and let it simmer gently for another 10-15 min. Season to taste.
If you like more substance add some healthy grains like quinoa or millet.
Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy!

Talk to you soon – and whoever is up for joining me on some healthy weeks, let’s connect and motivate eachother!

At the end of diet week 2, a new favorite place and a yummy healthy dessert.

Almost weeks ago I  was diagnosed with over acidity and candida and started with the  alkalizing Candida diet. 6 weeks are the plan. 

Yes, it’s hard. It would be a nasty lie to claim anything else. Surprisingly it’s not THAT bad as I thought to skip the alcohol, and the white wheat/yeast products… you can have plenty of other stuff instead. What really came out is that I do indeed miss my sweets the most. And I always thought I don’t have SUCH a sweet tooth – ha!?

Another thing which I experienced a lot the last weeks were some exciting dining experiments. As you should always try to keep the 80-20% balance of alkaline – acidic food you have to watch carefully what you are eating. I mainly work with two lists (PH miracle and Energiseforlife) and consider the individual recommendations which I got from Dr. Lydia Oukhaneva, my holistic doctor at Angka Cafe Rejuvenation Centre & Green Clinic.

Eating out during a detox

You might know that I love to cook my self but I love to eat out AT LEAST as much if it’s a nice restaurant with good quality food and good service. When I started the diet I was a bit scared that eating out could get a problem. But very often, especially at very good restaurants, it’s not a problem at all. You explain what you have and what you cannot have and you can get some lovely meals e.g. crispy salads with avocado and nuts, fresh fish carpaccios with olive oil, lemon and rucola or grilled or steamed fish with salad or vegetables (just don’t eat the potatoes, no matter how yummy they look ;-).

In regards of dining out I want to put the spotlight on my new favorite fish restaurant LA VELA, in Pieta

La Vela does not only have an amazing variety of highest quality fish, their service is just incredible! Friendly, warm hearted, understanding, considering any extra wishes – just a super lovely place which I can’t praise enough since we’ve discovered it some two months ago.

From all the restaurants I’ve visited this year it’s my favorite, before and during my diet. Pleasure 100% guaranteed (ok – maybe 90% for me at the moment because I have to skip the wine – hehe!)

 

When it comes to deserts I felt a bit sorry for myself. As I can’t have any fruit apart from lemon and apple and no sugar, honey and so on the only sweetener I can have is so called Xylitol which you can buy at Holland and Barret. It’s made from the birch tree and still fine in the diet. However, nobody can prepare you a dessert with Xylitol at a restaurant so I was more than delighted to find a lovely inspiration in last week’s cooking class at Angka Café. It’s actually a mix of soaked nuts (poppy seeds, almonds, hazelnut, white sesame seeds, fennel, cumin and whatever you would like to add) which you grind finely in a food processor. Now sweeten it to your taste with honey or agave sirup (me: Xylitol). It’s a kind of a base which can then be used for various things. You can have it for breakfast with yoghurt, put it on top of fruit like crumble and so on. What I want to try is to  add a hint of cinnamon to the base and make a kind of layerd dessert , top it up with some natural yoghurt and grated apple, dusted with some cacao powder. I’ll keep you posted how it goes…

For now, check out the healthy dishes which I made since the last post including:

• Tricolori rice salad with artichokes, peppers, red & green basil in a lemon dressing
  Cook Tricolori rice according to instructions. Chop up red and green basil, dice the peppers. Cut artichoke hearts (I was lucky to have fresh ones which I steamed before) in bite sized pieces and make a dressing of lemon, olive oil, 2 spoons of tahini, a bit of ginger and seasalt. Mix everything and enjoy. Perfect for a picnic, a light lunch or as a side with a BBQ.
• Chickpea salad with tomatoes, ginger and fresh mint
  Soak chickpeas over night (like this you won’t have any problems with gas). Cook them al dente in salted water. Chop up fresh tomatoes, ginger and fresh garlic and lots of fresh mint. Mix and dress everything with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, tandoori mix spices.
• Roasted baby zucchini & fennel salad with brown rice
  This works well with precooked brown rice. Use a potatoe peeler to get very thin slices of the baby zucchini, cut fennel in fine slices too. Roast them in a grilling pan without oil and add a lot of herbs e.g. rosemary, oregano, sage, marjoram and season with salt. Dress the cold brown rice with olive oil, lemon and some salt. Put the roasted veg on top and sprinkle with crushed nuts of your choice.
• Sweet sprout spread with cinnamon & cacao
  My diet’s substitute for Nutella 😉
  Grow your sprouts according to instructions.  Mix them in a processor with some lemon, honey (me: Xylitol), organic cacao powder and cinnamon. Use it as a spread with crispy bread (e.g. I can have they or kamut 🙂

Oven roasted veggies. So yummy. So easy. And easy is right :-)

There are so many complicated ways to cook. All kinds of techniques, recipes which take you hours and hours of preparation. You know what? I maybe like to eat them, but not to cook them. AT ALL.

For me cooking shall be easy, down to earth and no problem to prepare. And what I love most is spontanious cooking with what you have at home. As I leave to Austria tomorrow, I had a lot of veggies to use up from my visit to the farmer’s market last week. Gosh – and it was so worth it! For the second day in a row I made a vegetarian meal, which was so easy and tasty – just perfect for my taste, that I want at least to share one with you.

OVEN ROASTED VEGGIES with a quick sundried tomatoes dip (serves 2 hungry people)

Ingredients: veggies whatever your fridge gives you. I used 6 potatoes with the skin, a big piece of pumpkin, 2 carrots, 1 green pepper. Also works fine with any other vegetable like tomatoes, fennel, sweet potatoes, mushrooms etc.
For seasoning: rosmary, oregano, olive oil, sea, salt and pepper.

Method: preheat the oven to the max (220°C), chop up the veggies in bite-sized pieces and put them in one large or two smaller oven-proof dishes. Drizzle with olive oil and season with rosmary, oregano, salt and pepper. Also add some garlic and pieces of onion if you like. Cover the dishes with a double layer of aluminium foil and bake it for approx. 1 hour. Then take them out, take away the foil and put them back into the oven to make them crunchy and brown for another 20min or so. Prepare the dip in the meantime.

For the dip: half of a box of cream cheese (I like Philadelphia light), fresh herbs like parsley and coreander, some sundried tomatoes (in oil, not the Maltese salty ones, they are just too salty for my taste), salt and pepper, a bit of olive oil & milk to make it creamy.

A simple and sooooo delicious meal! Buon appetito 🙂

P.S. If you have leftovers, the cold roasted veggies also taste lovely on top of a salad or as a kind of cold antipasti.