Fun With Bentonite Clay

I'm really taking a  journey with my skin this month, staging a product intervention you could say. My skin has been terribly reactive to even the slightest insulin spikes (ok..sugar binges is more accurate) in my diet. On top of that I'm guilty of not getting enough sleep or drinkign enough water and too much touching, picking, and product whoring... all of which has led to just generally bad skin. I know all the things I should do, and I've tried everything...maybe a little too much of everything at once. 

Step one of my intervention was to clean up my diet, take my multivitamins and probiotics, and stop using any products at all on my skin. Well....it's probably going to work in the long term, but I have experienced some sort of detox purge and my face got really bad!!! 

Now I'm about a month in and my diet is tuned in and things look much better. There are still a few new spots, and unfortunately lots of red marks :( its been extremely hard to give up makeup with an increase of blemishes, but I'm doing it. 

I'm adding one new thing: Bentonite Clay.

Bentonite clay has been used for thousands of years around the world and is known for its powerful natural detoxing capacity, because it has the unique capacity to pull toxins out of the body, but doesn't absorb into the body itself. When mixed with water or apple cider vinegar is creates a magnetic charge that can pulls bacteria, fungus, mycotoxins, enterotoxins, pollutants/contaminates and heavy  metals from the bloodstream, and carries them out of the body through...er...elimination. Go on...Click HERE to get science-y with your bad self. 

As a topical mask, mix the clay powder with water or ACV to make a paste and apply a thin layer to skin. Let it harden for about 10-15 minutes (less if your skin is sensitive) then rinse with warm water. The clay pulls impurities to the surface and helps purge all the yuck. Some people experience a purge breakout at first. I don't think my breakout had anything to do with bentonite, since it was "in progress" before I started. Since using it as a mask a couple times a week, I'm noticing my skin has better tone and clear pores, and it's dried out the spots I have. 

For internal cleansing you need a food grade liquid form. I have Great Plains brand. It's pretty chalky, but that's to be expected when consuming the earth, yes? The directions say for short term use take it every two hours, and for longer term daily use, just 1 tablespoon a day on an empty stomach. Lots of experts suggest mixing with psyllium husks to make sure you get things moving. You don't want all those toxins and bacteria all gathered up and just sitting around in your body. I don't believe too much internal "cleansing" is a great idea because it can disturb the ecosystem in there, so I'm just doing three days, then I'll go to just the bentonite once a day and lots of water. 

I'm not brave enough to post before pictures, but I just might post them with my after pictures if things go well. Stay tuned....

Have you used Bentonite? Tell me your experience in the comments section below!!

Kellie

Easy Weekday Cajun Gumbo (Paleo)

I've been swamped lately, and creating a lot of quick weeknight meals. Last night, we decided gumbo sounded good so I searched a bunch of recipes, did some simplifying, and came up with this one, without a roux. I suppose gumbo without roux is just Cajun soup, but it was damn good Cajun soup. 

* If you want to make a roux, it would be a lovely addition. Try this: 

To make roux, heat 1/4 cup bacon grease over medium high heat and whisk in 3 tbs each coconut and almond flour. Stir continuously until roux has a dark brown color (think dark peanut butter).
---- Courtesy of Paleo Comfort Foods

The truth is, I burned mine, then just decided to skip it. This was so delicious and warm, the whole pot was gone after lunch today. 

1/4 cup coconut oil (or bacon grease) 

2 cups onions- chopped

2 cups celery- chopped2 cups green pepper- chopped3 cloves garlic- minced1 quart (1 L) can tomatoes2 cups (500 mL) seafood or chicken stock (I didn't have any on hand so I just used water and a little more seasoning and it was still amazing)2 bay leaves3 organic chicken breasts1 pound (450 g) shrimp
1 package Italian chicken sausage, casing removed. (Andouille might be better, but this was what I had around)
3T Cajun seasoning (I used Pitch Perfect brand which is fairly clean. Ingredients:salt, spices (Including: red pepper, black pepper, thyme and celery seed), Paprika, garlic and onion) *Yeah, the use of the word including is a little sketchy.. make you're own blend if you want to eliminate any funny business
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions: 

Sautee onions and celery oil until softened. Add sliced chicken breast and sausage to brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, then turn to low and simmer another 30 minutes. 

Enjoy this alone or serve over cauliflower "rice"! 

Weeknight Delight

I know I'm not the only one who wishes they could add about four hours every day. I swear someone is robbing my day, and I think her name is Facebook. I've been super busy and haven't got around to the batch cooking I should have (or the blogging I should have). The good news is that this has forced me to come up with some super easy weeknight recipes. Necessity is the mother of invention, yes? What are your weeknight favorites? Here's a few quick meals I threw together last week.

Sausage with Cabbage and Apples

This is so simple I can't even call it a recipe....I just browned up a tube of gluten free Italian chicken sausage, threw in half a head of sliced cabbage, and one small sliced apple, and seasoned with garlic salt and pepper. Nom. We had it with some sweet potato coins deep dried in coconut oil. (update: I've made this since with kale and breakfast links and it was just as good!)






Pomegranate Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts diced
1 c pomegranate seeds
1 small apple diced
1 small white onion diced
3 stalks celery diced small
Garlic salt
1/4 c Mayonnaise (or make it from scratch if you want to be a show off- it's pretty easy)

Toss ingredients together. Refrigerate. Serve in cabbage wraps or over a bed of greens.





Grain Free Banana Zucchini Bread 
sorry...we ate this before we remembered to snap a pic. It was moist and delicious  the best I've made so far.

Ingredients
2 cups of blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoons of dried ground ginger
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/4 cup of honey
2 large eggs
1 cup grated zucchini (with green peel; not packed; if wet, dry off with a paper or cloth towel)
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup raisins
(Optional add cocoa powder, walnuts, chocolate chips)

Preheat your oven to 350°F/190°C.
Grease your baking pan (I like the flavor of coconut oil but you could use butter or olive oil)
Combine the dry ingredients and mix well.
Add the remaining ingredients and blend.

Pour the batter into your baking pan, and bake for about 60 minutes (or 50 minutes at a convection setting), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
Cool and slice. Man cub loved this in his lunch, we goggled it all up in two days, but it also can be frozen if you're up for some batch cooking.

Italian Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
Shout out to Ms. Paleo for the inspiration for this meal. I googled a bunch of recipes and hers looked the best, but I didn't have all the ingredients so, I just threw this version together... both are simple enough for a weeknight, or make some combination using what you've got.


2 cups organic Spaghetti Sauce (I used Trader Joes, again you can get fancy and make your own pretty quickly, here's a recipe I like)
1 pound grass fed beef
2 tbs coconut oil
1 cup olives, chopped
5 large portabella mushroom caps
1 cup onion finely chopped
2 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 cove garlic, minced
1/4 or so of olive oil

In a skillet, brown beef in olive oil. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for about 15 minutes.

Wash mushroom caps and cut off stems. Using a spoon, rub off/scoop out the feathery darker brown part for a clean cap. Coat with olive oil and place cap down in a baking dish. Fill each mushroom with the meat sauce.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. If you tolerate dairy, you might want to add a bit of mozzarella or parmesan as a topping. You can see we enjoyed this with some fruit and coleslaw..but I haven't quite perfected that recipe enough to post.


Soup and Salad with Garlic Rosemary Crackers

I used this recipe as crackers and they are amazing. We don't eat dairy but I made this as pizza crust for a guest a while back, and that was pretty spectacular too, so use your imagination.

*The soup recipe was not really worth posting, it was some leftover broth with a bunch of almost expired veggies thrown in with some garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, but it worked.




Breakfast For Dinner! Zucchini Fritters with Veggie Scramble

Zucchini fritters:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup shredded carrots 
1/4 cup coconut flour
Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a little cayenne to make them savory.

*In the past, I've used cinnamon and nutmeg with a little honey or stevia for a more traditional "pancake" topped with strawberries and coconut whip cream. I haven't tried banana yet but I will soon. 

I made a basic veggie scramble with this using about 5 eggs, half a small onion, and a bunch of collard greens from my garden and basic sat and pepper. We top everything with hot sauce around here, but that's optional. If you do dairy, I'm sure cheese would be a great addition! 


Enjoy!!! Monday is coming. 
Kellie

Enjoy the Holidays as a Foodie: (Without Being an Orthorexic Jerk)

Ah, the holidays! Grandma's cookies, Dad's boozy Bailey's drinks and comfort food can be hard to resist. What's even more difficult to resist when you've made lifestyle changes, are catty comebacks to some passive aggressive comments during get togethers. "You're wasting away" (no, I'm not), "you are such a food snob now" (yes, if you consider opting out of zits and bloating being snobby), and my favorite, the pat on the head along with "you have so much will power", usually followed by someone saying "good for you, I could NEVER give up my (pick your poison)"

Side rant: Will power is nonsense, I have none. It's just that sugar and gluten release domaine in the brain the same way heroine does, and makes us all crazy. No crap, no cravings, it's really that simple.

Yes friends, it's that time of year where you can either starve, bitch and moan, or sparkle and inspire!

Here's a few tips to make your holiday parties relaxed, more fun, and you might even add to your foodie cult following.

1. Look amazing.
Show up glowing and it's hard for anyone to argue with your lifestyle choices. Highlight your glowing skin, use a serum or coconut oil to make healthy hair shine, and wear your biggest smile.

2. Bring awesome food- (no salads unless they are luxurious).
It's a great idea to bring something to the party that you know you will enjoy eating guilt free. But this strategy can go wrong if it appears you can't indulge in anything and you are stuck eating rabbit food. Instead, show up with deviled eggs topped with pico de gallo and bacon, dark chocolate bark with cranberries and macadamia bits, or a great slab of meat. Salads are an excellent choice when they are filled with extras like avocado, eggs, nuts, oils and spices. Don't forget a great bottle of wine. The idea here is to kill all the diet misconceptions and show them that you still are still having a great time with this health kick you're on.

3. Eat!
Your mother/grandma/sister can't say you're too strict when your mouth is full of yums. Playing the whole foods martyr isn't cute and it's the fastest way to be labeled orthorexic. It's one day, even if the food isn't up to your normal standards, find something that won't cause too much damage and enjoy! Remember to compliment the chef as well.

4. Share the journey.
If (and only if) people ask, talk about how much you've learned, what inspired you, and the results you've seen. Don't talk too much or cram your journey down anyone's throats, and NEVER argue.

5. Don't label yourself.
"I'm on this new diet called...." Always raises be eyebrow or two. Instead, if someone asks what you're doing to look so amazing, simply reply with something like "I got tired of being tired so I decided to really clean up my diet and take better care of myself, I feel so much better". If they ask for details, you can always say things like "I eat whole foods, as organic as possible, and I learned to listen to my body to figure out which foods make me feel best and which ones were causing problems for me". If you're going to try and explain why you eliminated certain foods like gluten and sugar, be prepared with science to dispel conventional wisdom about "heart healthy grains" and "artery clogging fats"... I avoid these conversations, unless we all have wine in our hands, big smiles and open minds. Remember: you are not the food police or the chosen one. Share your journey and your food but keep your rules and opinions to yourself.

6. Don't convince.
If Aunt Ida The Vegan is happy, that's wonderful. Who are you to tell her she should do anything different? Especially if you aren't interested in being convinced to try the Tofurkey. Again, share your journey but don't ever argue or campaign. To each their own. If you really want to use science, use it as an inspiration and never a weapon. Share what you've learned about what YOU DO, but never use science to tell someone else what they should or shouldn't do. Always stop at least two sentences shy of self righteousness.

7. Offer to share more another time- then shut up about food and health.
If someone is truly interested in learning more about health and wellness, or specific topics like food sensitivities, offer to connect at a later time to share resources. It's great to share some interesting information, but it's rude to take over a party with a health coaching session, especially of your lesson involves teaching someone to reject the hosts food. Save it for another time! Ooh look, presents!

Here's wishing you a relaxed, fun and healthy holiday season, without the food hangovers or damaged relationships.

Kellie

Garden Party Smoothie

AKA Clean Out The Fridge And Dirty All Your Appliances Smoothie.

Juice:
2 Roma tomatoes (lycopene for heart and skin)
2 large carrots ( beta-carotene antioxidant)
2 stalks celery (alkalizing, and super nutrient rich)
1/2 green apple (antioxidant, aides digestion)
Handful of parsley (detoxes)

^ Add to blender with:
1 banana (potassium for circulatory health)
1/2 cup peaches (vitamins B and C for mood and immune system)
4 strawberries (anti inflammatory, antioxidant)



This super energy packed smoothie will give you wings. I was really just cleaning out my produce bin, but this was pretty tasty!

Enjoy!

Tabata Love

One things I love about a low carb whole foods (paleo if I have to label) diet is that I can eat what I want, not exercise and never gain any weight. However, I do want to build muscle so I'm going to step up my workouts again. Squat booty here I come!

I detest hours of cardio (prolonged cardio is terrible for your adrenals) or any long and boring workout, so I'm a HUGE fan of shorter but higher intensity interval workouts. If you're not down with tabatas yet, pay attention:

This short 16 minute workout is just as powerful as an hour on the treadmill, with extra strength benefits. Just pick four complimentary exercises and do interval rounds of 20 seconds work,10 seconds rest. I've had trainers set workouts where I did all 8 rounds of one exercise at a time, or rotate like I did tonight. You can download a tabata timer app or just use any digital timer or stopwatch. Track your reps with a handy little chart scribbled somewhere. For example, today I did the workout here:

This short 16 minute workout is just as powerful as an hour on the treadmill, with extra strength benefits. Just pick four complimentary exercises and do interval rounds of 20 seconds or work,10 seconds rest. I've had trainers set workouts where I did all 8 rounds of one exercise at a time, or rotate like I did tonight. You can download a tabata timer app or just use any digital timer or stopwatch. Track your reps with a handy little chart scribbled somewhere. For example, today I did the workout here:

I did as many burpees as I could for 20 seconds, then 10 second rest, the 20 seconds of squats, and so forth.

Do two tabatas a couple times a week and you're doing great! I was lazy tonight so I only did one and then two more slow sets of heavier weighted squats, but I still feel like I got a great workout in less than a half hour.

xoxo, Kellie

Resolutions

Did you make a 2012 resolution? I didn't make just one resolution... I happen to have a list of 101 things I committed to do in 1001 days a couple of years ago. (You can make your list and track your progress at http://dayzeroproject.com) I'm running out of time quickly, but I'm on track top accomplish one of the most difficult tasks on the list.....PULL-UPS.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest:, and I've been facing off with the pull up bar every time I walk past it ever since. In a few months I've moved from negatives to mini pull-ups and now I can do about 6 medium pull-ups each time (The most I've gotten in a day is about 50). By New Years Eve, I'm confident I'll be able to do 10 real ones, and show off sexier shoulders and back.

So that's my December goal...master pull ups, and check a few other things off my list. (Skydiving? Nope, too cold for that one...maybe I'll check off "own a hot little red dress" instead)

I'm also looking back at how far I've come this year. 2012 was a year of massive personal and spiritual growth for me, and 2013 looks like another year of new adventures, new learning and new faces. Something funny happened with my list...I managed to do exciting and amazing things I've never dreamed of putting on the list, and managed to avoid the boring "someday when I'm responsible" type things for 700 days.

Two things I plan to accomplish in 2013 that I never would have dreamed of putting on the list when I made it: completing my heath and wellness coaching certifications...and this:

What's your goal for December? Are you unearthing forgotten resolutions? Feeling accomplished? Planning new adventures? Tell us about them in the comments here or on Facebook!

Happy December,
Kellie