Health tip #10 - Do not go to the grocery store hungry. Make sure you have eaten a healthy snack to avoid binge buying products you would normally not buy. This tip comes from Zema’s Creator, Jill Motew(bio on tip #9).

We’ve all done it…not enough time to eat a sensible snack, rushed off to the grocery store before school lets out and purchased over $100 of junk in the meantime. Eating that healthy snack prior to shopping will not only help you avoid making bad, quick-fix decisions in the aisle, but will also prompt you to choose healthy foods around the perimeter of the store instead of down those processed food aisles where those hidden empty calories and sugars live. Come home with healthy, happy grocery bags full of natural vitamins and minerals.

Try this quick wrap before rushing off.

1 brown rice wrap
1/2 cucumber, sliced lengthwise
1 cup baby spinach
sliced tomatoes
hummus

Spread hummus around the wrap and lay down the veggies in middle. Season with sea salt and pepper. Roll up tight and enjoy. Simple, quick, light and filling. Perfect for a quick fix.

For more information about Zema’s Madhouse Foods GF Baking mixes, please visit www.zemasfoods.com or our facebook page.

Health tip #9 - Think out of the box. Next time you are at the grocery store, try a new fruit or veggie you would never have thought of purchasing before. This tip comes from Jill Motew, President and creator of Zema’s Madhouse Foods, a line of ancient-grain, gluten free baking mixes. Jill, a native of Highland Park, is a self-taught health foodie. Jill caught the “alternative health food” bug early in college while shopping and cooking for all her friends. Jill lived on the island of St. John, where she developed a love of tropical flavors and then headed North to the Redwoods, where she learned about “hippie food”. She lives in Highland Park with her husband and 5 kids, 3 dogs and 2 lizards.

The Daikon Radish

Daikon Radish is an everyday component of Asian cuisine. In fact, it is the most widely grown vegetable in Japan. You’ll find it with your meal at almost any Japanese restaurant. It can be prepared almost anyway you like, including raw, fried, grilled, boiled.

Eaten raw, Daikon has a spicy taste and is deliciously crunchy. Daikon is also good for you. It is very low in calories, helps in digestion and is a a good source of vitamin C, phosphorus and potassium. There is even some evidence that it helps fight cancer.

The word Daikon is made up of two Japanese words: dai, which means “large” and kon which means “root”. There are many varieties grown (coming in many different shapes and sizes) but the most popular looks like a big white carrot (pictured below). Other popular names for Daikon are oriental radish, Chinese radish or Japanese radish.

Daikon Radish and Ginger Salad

2 t. minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons olive oil(or canola oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons GF, low-sodium soy sauce
1 large daikon radish, peeled and thinly sliced, cut into matchsticks
1 bag of broccoli slaw
3 green onions, white and tender green parts, thinly sliced

In a large bowl, whisk together the ginger, oils, vinegar and soy sauce. Toss all the vegetables in the bowl with the vinaigrette, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Great with grilled salmon or chicken for a meal.

For more information about Zema’s Madhouse Foods GF Baking mixes, please visit www.zemasfoods.com or our facebook page.

Health tip #8 - Chew, chew, chew! Take time to chew your food. We Americans are always in such a rush to the next activity that we are not chewing our food long enough to maximize the nutrient benefits of our food. Meet Karen Malkin, a Glencoe native, wife, mother to 4 sons and health counselor. Karen is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC and is working on the Integrative Nutrition Graduate Immersion Program.

It’s not just what we eat, but how we eat.

Chewing can change everything. Digestion actually begins in the mouth, where contact with our teeth and digestive enzymes in our saliva break down food. But these days most of us rush through the whole eating experience. We eat while distracted and swallow our food practically whole. On average we chew each bite only eight times. It’s no wonder that many people have digestive problems.

You can experience the benefits of chewing by increasing to 30 chews per bite. Try it and see how you feel. Also try eating without distractions, just pay attention to the food and to your breathing and chewing. You have to eat every day-why not learn to savor and enjoy it?

There are many great reasons to slow down and chew your food:

• Saliva breaks down food into simple sugars. The more we chew, the sweeter our food becomes, so we don’t crave those after-meal sweets.
• Chewing reduces digestive distress and improves assimilation, allowing our bodies to absorb maximum nutrition from each bite of food.
• More chewing produces more endorphins, the brain chemicals responsible for creating good feelings.
• It’s helpful for weight loss: when we are chewing well, we are more apt to notice when we are full.
• Chewing can promote increased circulation, enhanced immunity, increased energy, endurance, improve skin health and stabilize weight.
• Taking time with a meal, beginning with chewing, allows for enjoyment of the whole experience of eating.

  For more information, plrease visit www.karenmalkin.com.

Health tip #7- Spring means it’s time to go green with our bodies. Try some new leafy greens and see how your body’s garden of health grows. Meet Dena Mendes, a Highland Park native and mother of two, who holds a Doctor of Naturopathy Degree. Dena is also licensed and certified as a Health Coach, Holistic Yoga Instruction, Holistic Chef and Pranic Healer.

Dena is committed to guiding others towards a healthier U. Dena’s book, The Wellness Cookbook for a Healthy U, shares quick, easy, healthy and absolutely delicious recipes with U! Be sure to visit Dena’s website for more health and wellness information at www.denashelathyu.com.

Your Body is Your Garden!

All gardens must be cultivated with sunshine, water and good quality alkaline soil to ensure the growth of sweet fruits and vegetables.

What does this mean to us? It is imperative to have a balanced terrain/body. A good quality lactobacilli is a great way to feed the gut and intestines the flora it so desperately is in need of and is typically depleted in due to our acidic way of life. Just remember that flora, while great for you, is simply a band-aide if you are consuming beverages and foods that are acidic, like fast food or soda, MSG or chemicals and drugs prescribed or recreationally. Whatever your weakness is my motto is greens, greens and more greens! I incorporate greens in almost everything I eat.

Now that my favorite season is upon us we can revel in the season’s bountiful harvest of greens, sprouts and seasonal fruits by juicing. My favorite juice recipe is offered in this month’s recipe section. Its Yummy and Pure alkalinity in glass!

Alkalinizing our garden/body helps ward off yeast and fungus as well as a variety of dis-ease and health related issues such as arthritis, bone loss, tooth decay, liver and kidney failure, irritable bowel, crones, chronic acne, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, arthritis, psoriasis, and cancer and a multitude of other diseases too numerous to mention

Acid forming foods include: * asparagus, barley, beans (dried), beechnuts, BEEF, BREAD, buckwheat, BUTTER, cashew nuts, Cereals, CHEESE, chestnuts, Chicken, CHOCOLATE, clams, cod liver oil, Cottage Cheese, Cornmeal, cottonseed meal, crab, cream, EGGS, farina, FISH, FLOUR, frog legs, Halibut, HAM, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, hominy, HONEY, horseradish, Jell-O, kohlrabi, lamb, lentils, lobster, mackerel, Macaroni, maple syrup, Margarine, MEATS, mussels, Mushrooms, OATS, pasta, peanuts, Peas, pecans, pistachios, pomegranate, PORK, prunes, quinces, Rice, rutabagas, Rye, sauerkraut, SALMON, scallops, smelt, smoked herring, sole, spaghetti, SUGAR, syrups, tapioca, turkey, walnuts, WHEAT, wheat germ & WINE, alcohol.

Alkaline forming foods include: * agar, ALFALFA(sprouts), almonds, APPLES(apple cider), apricots, artichokes, BANANAS, beets, beet tops, blackberries, blueberries, BROCCOLI, Brussel sprouts, burdock, cabbage, cantaloupe, carob, CARROTS, cauliflower, CELERY, celeriac, chard, cherries, chives, COCONUT, CRANBERRIES, cucumbers, currants (fresh), dandelion greens, DATES, dill, dock, endive, figs (dried), flaxseed, GARLIC, GRAPES, Grapefruit, green beans (fresh), guava, huckleberries, Irish moss, KELP, kohlrabi, leeks, LEMONS, lettuce, LIMA BEANS (fresh), limes, loganberries, loquats, mango, MELONS, millet, mint, molasses, mulberries, muskmelons, mustard greens, nectarines, okra, Olives, olive oil, ONIONS, ORANGES, papaya, parsley, parsnips, passion fruit, Peaches, Pears, persimmons, PINEAPPLE, plums, Pumpkin, radishes, RAISINS, Raspberries, rhubarb, Romaine lettuce, rutabagas, sea grass, sorrel, Soybeans, Spinach, squash, Strawberries, Swiss chard, tangerine, turnips, Vegetable oils, water chestnuts, watercress, watermelon.

Eat more raw, fresh, organic foods!

Dena's Spring Awakening Green Goddess Juice

1/2 bunch kale
1/2 bunch collard greens
1/2 bunch swiss chard
1 apple
1/2 pear
1 small, walnut sized piece of fresh ginger
1/2 lemon squeezed into juicer
a pinch of sea salt

Combine ingredients in a juicer and enjoy your liquid life juice!

Health tip #6- Health and wellness begins from within, not what we put on our plates. Next time you are taking a walk alone, driving alone or in your home alone for a moment(folding the laundry, for example), try shifting your focus to positive thoughts. Meet Lorri Newman, LCSW, who resides in Highland Park with her husband and 3 children. Lorri has devoted her whole life to counseling others on walking that path of positive growth. She works at the Highland Park Hospital Eating Disorder Unit and is back at school gaining another degree to further her goals of counseling students.

Health is an overall mind–body connection. It is important to exercise, eat healthy, nutritious foods and seek good medical care; however, without positive thoughts and a healthy emotional life, we can ultimately sabotage our efforts.

According to Christiane Northrup, M.D., “The simple truth is that the people who heal fastest, and remain healthiest the longest are those who feel that their lives are fulfilling and joyful.” We can start improving our overall mental health by focusing on the positive, giving ourselves loving and accepting messages, and surrounding ourselves with supportive friends. It is important to eliminate negative self talk and tendencies to focus on blame or shame.

For today, try to be mindful of your thoughts, and reframe them from the negative to the positive. Notice how this effects how you feel emotionally, and from there if it impacts how you eat and what you eat. It’s all related…..

Now, after starting your day on a positive note, enjoy Lorri’s recipe for her favorite:

Morning Mango Smoothie

1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into chucks
juice of 1 lime
½ c. organic apple juice
2 T. honey/agave nectar
1 T. flaxmeal(or chia seed or hemp seed)
1 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup coconut milk(or alternative milk source)
Blend and enjoy!