antioxidants

Olive Oil… In My Coffee – Can You Imagine?

November 17, 2017 By Kristen Helmstetter

I’m passionate for olive oil this year. I have some every day, either on my salad or drizzled of other foods. Sometimes I drink a spoonful if I neglected to put it on food. There are wonderful health benefits associated with olive oil (anti-inflammatory polyphenols, antioxidant powerhouse), and it feels so right having it in my life. I simply love “true” extra virgin olive oil.

Why the seemingly sudden adoration for it? I mean, it’s not like I’ve never had olive oil. I’m Italian. Very Italian. However, for whatever reason, I was primarily opting for grass-fed ghee and coconut oil these past years – unless I was dressing a salad, of course. Or, dipping sourdough bread. When I think about it, the issue was that I was avoiding the use of olive oil in hot foods because I always thought that was a no-no. When I learned that we can indeed cook with olive oil, I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

My 7-Year Old’s Lunch: Salad – Keeping My Kid’s Diet Healthy

November 7, 2017 By Kristen Helmstetter

I wrote earlier that one way we maintain healthy eats in our home is with choices of healthy eats. Like… do you want zucchini or blueberries?

Another way is I simply serve food. What I serve is what we eat. I do add a few things to entice, like dried cranberries or some organic raisins.

I have to admit that I think she generally enjoys these “adult” foods because I never served her “kids” foods. At restaurants, we always ordered her meal from the adult menu. We opted for appetizers if we wanted something small (which was perfect for her), or we ordered an entree and Greg had some or we brought home leftovers.

She’s had french fries twice in her life. She doesn’t eat conventionally fried food because we don’t eat fried food. She has never had fast-food – she’s never been to McDonald’s or Burger King or Taco Bell (except to use the bathrooms). The closest thing we come to “fast-food” is eating once every couple of months at Chipotle, which actually uses mostly great ingredients.

Chipotle: rice, black beans and guacamole plus Dr. Cowan’s awesome veg powders I brought along.

I always have something in my purse for snacking while out running errands (Bison bar or organic dark chocolate or nuts with raisins – something easy to grab). If we’re going to be gone longer and need lunch while out… I simply bring a cooler bag packed with healthy foods. It’s not fucking hard. A few slices of homemade sourdough bread, grass-fed cheese, nuts. Easy easy easy. I save money and I keep us healthy.

She’s never had a sucker or lollipop or the conventional candy options. Her candy is dark chocolate, Justin’s peanut butter cups. She’s never had goldfish crackers or cheerios. I always chose differently.

She drinks tea, coffee, and water. Once in a while we get organic tart cherry juice. It’s not a sweet juice, lol, it’s the tart shit and she likes it. I’m ok with that. It’s like a treat.

It’s not like she doesn’t consume sugar, because she does, but not candy. She enjoys Straus organic grass-fed ice cream and she enjoys gluten-free cookies. However, that’s the extent of it and it’s not every day. AND… I oftentimes (though not every time, if she had an exceptionally healthy dinner) serve something healthy with it. For example, her bowl of ice cream will have pecans on top sometimes or her cookies will be on a plate next to some sea spaghetti (dried seaweed). She never overeats on the stuff either. Sometimes I put three cookies on the plate for her and she only eats two.

It’s our routine and she expects it. It’s not weird or abnormal to her. If we’re out running errands and someone offers her a “treat” she immediately says “no thanks.” If she goes to a party (or friend’s house) I pack something because inevitably there’s a snack or dessert time. Sometimes I just send her with a bar of organic dark chocolate and call it a day.

We talk about this stuff, too. We talk about food choices. She knows how to view a food label. She understands and appreciates why we eat healthy – she wants a healthy brain and a strong body. She is witnessing her Papa’s dementia and she doesn’t like it. She knows that food choices during one’s whole life effects one’s brain. We answer her questions.

I share this because it’s how we live. It’s not weird and it is possible.

What I find strange is the number of people (family and strangers) who want to offer her sugar because they think they’re being nice. They think she will be happy having this. I guess they think she’ll like them more? The Taoist in me chills out – I realize they’re trying to be nice and we pass – saying thanks but no thanks. I don’t want to judge – they’re being generous after all, right? Thank you, Universe, for generous people. But, fuck fuck fuck, what is it with people thinking this is OK? Why is the default to always offer candy and sugar to kids?

We were at a concert over the weekend, sitting at a table with a few strangers. We’re all enjoying the music. My daughter is sitting there enjoying the music, tapping her feet on the ground, smiling. I don’t even know the people next to me and they tap me on the shoulder asking if they can give my daughter candy milk chocolate they just bought from the vendor at the festival. So sweet of them to offer and share, but fuck, what the fuck? Why is it always sugar etc? How about just talking with my daughter and saying, “Hi.” She’d love that more than a fistful of sugar. The ungrateful wench in me wants to say, “Thanks but she’d like to keep a healthy brain and teeth.” However, I get a hold of myself before it gets out of control. I smile graciously and pass. I feel shitty for even writing about this.

Yes, on rare occasions, we are at a restaurant and we share a dessert. However, that’s so rare it doesn’t warrant mentioning since A) we rarely eat out – not usually healthy enough and definitely not frugal enough for me and B) if we do eat out we don’t get dessert. Maybe once in a blue moon or a birthday. It’s just not the norm. And, that’s the point, right? The dose is in the poison they say.

We had 2 of these at the table and we 3 split them. Birthday.

There IS more to health than food choices. I’m a firm believer in that. Still, smart choices are my default. I used to freak the fuck out about our food. I’m sure it did more harm to my body than all the healthy eating I did. So I used common sense and thought about evolution as well as the longest living cultures. I stopped labeling myself as vegan or paleo or raw or gluten-free. That level of restriction didn’t work.

When we travel, I don’t get my panties in a bunch over food choices. I make the best choices I can, and let it go. It’s true that there’s a balance to be had. And, there’s this brilliance I remind myself…

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a ride!'” Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

Be still my beating heart. I made this. Homemade sourdough.

Anyway… back to the salad – the meaning for this post. I served the salad, at the top of the post, for lunch (another reason homeschooling is awesome is that I can easily serve foods like this).

And… she gobbled it up.

Organic romaine
Apollo olive oil
Balsamic vinegared
Organic red bell pepper
Dried cranberries
Parmesan cheese
Sea salt
Organic pecans
Grass-fed liverwurst

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Vitamin C Material: Where to Start, What to Watch

November 1, 2017 By Kristen Helmstetter

Some good information about Vitamin C.

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 30, 2017

Vitamin C Material: Where to Start, What to Watch

Commentary by Tom Taylor

(OMNS Oct 30, 2017) There are numerous vitamin C videos online on the web. This article is an effort to provide recommendations to quality material. Although vitamin C is one of the most researched substances in medicine, the best research seems to see the light of day mostly through these videos. How best to learn about vitamin C can be confusing and intimidating. Where does one start, and what is important?

Videos are the easiest source to access vitamin C information, so most of the reviews that follow are for videos. There is also one paper and a few books on the list. As far as ratings, the video and paper by Dr. Robert F. Cathcart gets the ultimate 5-star rating of excellence. Cathcart’s paper and lecture stand out as packed with the most information.

The review ratings and criteria are mine. Your conclusions may be different. I did try consulting the feral cats I have been assigned by my wife to feed. But as typical for cats, they gave me the look as if to say, “We make our own vitamin C (which they do; see Suzanne Humphries below), so we don’t care about your videos.”

Having invested many hours in watching and reading this material, do I feel it was worth my time? The answer is yes, and here is an example. Being in my early 60’s, I cannot visit with a group from this age range without someone talking about their recent back/hip/shoulder operation, or how they are taking multiple prescription meds, or their doctor-shopping activities. Some of these people know their drugs like others know fine wine. I do not do or know these things, including the wine. My doctor is the guy who gives me an FAA required pilot’s medical exams and calls me “disgustingly healthy.” I really enjoy that wise-crack. Clearly to me, a major factor for my clean health and reasonable blood pressure is I learned the art of taking vitamin C over the last 14 years. Vitamin C has definitely and unquestioningly saved me many a home sick-day. It has definitely been my most effective solution for controlling hay fever and cat allergies. So yes, it works and is worth it. Proving to yourself vitamin C’s value is relatively easy: you try it.

Five Star Rating

A very useful video is Dr. Robert F. Cathcart’s 26 minute presentation at the Silicon Valley Health Institute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkkWDDSti_sThis is rapid fire and information packed, so much so that I have listened to it multiple times. My personal judgment is that every rapid-fired word he says is true and you should act on that basis until you have personal data to prove otherwise. Much of what he says is easy to prove for yourself.A critical success factor for vitamin C use is Dr. Cathcart’s statement. “A person must be good at taking vitamin C.” Cathcart is saying that the need for vitamin C varies daily. A person needs some each day, the amount depending on their general health, but the instant of that first sniffle or extreme fatigue that signals you are about to get sick, one needs to shovel vitamin C in until the threat passes. These dosage amounts vary with the individual and requires individual discovery.
Secondly, this seminal paper Dr. Cathcart should be studied to the point you can start reciting key passages. http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.htmlPrint it out, carry it around with you. You and your friends will be healthier and wealthier (low doctor bills, no sick days) for it. Actually, your friends will be very annoyed by your vitamin C comments while they are eating ice cream and such. (I learned not to do that.) If you just want to “know the facts” only, Cathcart is a quick study and he is right as far as I can discern. If time is limited and you are just busy, busy . . .well, then, learn Cathcart.
Vitamin C dosing can be very confusing and puts off many people. Doses up to 100,000 or even 200,000 milligrams per day sound way off base when one first hears about them, but sometimes these doses are necessary. The best explanation of dosing I have found is the book Ascorbate: The Science of Vitamin C (2004) by Steve Hickey and Hilary Roberts. This book starts with Cathcart’s paper and expands it with associated research to give a full picture of dosage.
60 Minutes New Zealand (New Zealand’s version of CBS 60 Minutes in the USA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrhkoFcOMII&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7O_Wrvbqn0 Fascinating true-life story of a family’s efforts, and massive doses of vitamin C, clearly saved a farmer’s life. Even so, the medical circles chose to view this as a fluke.

Strange Meals: My Breakfast Chocolate Salad

October 27, 2017 By Kristen Helmstetter

I like having salads for breakfast because they’re fresh, crisp, and get my day started with vegetables. My daughter does, too. One day I simply presented it for breakfast and she ate it. No questions.

Why not?

And, why not pancakes for dinner? Or sourdough french toast for lunch?

My daughter is also keen for pizza at breakfast (frozen gluten-free crust cooked with organic tomato sauce or tomato paste, sea salt, and raw, grass-fed, mozzarella cheese). It takes longer to make than a bowl of cereal (something we’ve never done in our house), but it’s worth the extra few minutes.

Miso soup is a great breakfast, too, especially on a chilly winter morning. Try that instead of coffee. Well, maybe not instead of, but perhaps after your first cup.

Omelets for lunch slathered in grass-fed whole-fat Greek yogurt. Yes.

Some nights we do savory oatmeal mixed with scrambled eggs.

Mix up the meals, no need to stick to tradition. Doing so can make it easier on you, because you can cook in the moment, with what you have on hand. Trust me, the family will enjoy it.

I even fed my family dessert for dinner one night. Whoa, that was a fun surprise… Grass-fed ice cream with gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

My Breakfast Chocolate Salad:

Organic romaine lettuce
Organic olive oil, courtesy of Apollo Olive Oil from California (polyphenol rich and fabulous!)*
Balsamic vinegar
Dark chocolate with ginger
Dried cranberries
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Macadamia nuts
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toss it together. Start the day right.

* I’m on an epic olive oil kick right now. Ever since I was enlightened to the fact that you can cook with extra virgin olive oil, I started consuming more. Funny though, the learning inspired me to buy more but then I started eating more salads and drizzling it raw on everything. Still(!), one can (and should) cook with it. More on that here. In my search for TRUE olive oil, because did you know they’re not all “true” (more on that in future posts or just read this book, Extra Virginity), I learned about the throat burn of olive oils, high polyphenols, processing, origins, health benefits, etc. I’m Italian and I should’ve known as much, but I didn’t. Better late than never.

This olive oil from Apollo Olive Oil keeps it local, California, and is a trusted source for TRUE olive oil. It’s fabulous. One of my favorite aspects is the bottle – it should always be a dark container and never clear glass – I love it’s pouring spout and wood top. Adorable. Smart. Delicious.

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Four Sigmatic Tonic Mushrooms in My Health Tool Kit

October 3, 2017 By Kristen Helmstetter

Four Sigmatic – Let’s Live Past 100 Years Together

I’ve been loving Four Sigmatic products for years now. I started using them pretty close to when they first came on the market after my sweet friend, Lauren, introduced me to them.

10% Off Your Four Sigmatic Order! Use Coupon Code: KRISTENSRAW

I wrote a long blog article about why I chose them as my main source of medicinal mushrooms/tonic mushrooms. For starters, they do everything right. Secondly, they’re an easy way to get a high quality dose of medicinal mushroom. Thirdly, they’re fun and delicious.

I learned that it’s not wise to just buy any ol’ tonic mushrooms like reishi or chaga at just any ol’ store. If you want the best assimilation and bioavailability, they need to be processed precisely and Four Sigmatic does everything right. They use high quality ingredients. They test their products for crap and ensure clean ingredients.

They’re a great company, with very cool people, and it was fun meeting them in person at the Bulletproof Conference last year. I remember having a bad headache when I was there and one of the Four Sigmatic sweethearts brewed me up something extra special to help.

2016 Bulletproof Conference – Early birds get the good seats.

I’m especially fascinated with mushroom products for brain power and longevity. I want to maintain a strong brain for, well, forever. I plan to live past 100 years of age and I want Four Sigmatic to help me do that. After listening to the Awakening with Alzheimer’s series this week, mind blown on what I learned (no pun), I’m keeping things like this in my tool kit…

As such I’m especially enamored with Lion’s Mane for cognitive enhancement (memory and concentration) as well as cordyceps (a medicinal food for energy and mitochondrial adaptogen – important for brain health).

Of course I’m gaga for reishi and chaga, as they’re super immune boosters which are excellent for the upcoming winter months. Still… I’m more focused on Lion’s Mane and Cordyceps lately.

Although I’m a paying customer, and affiliate of Four Sigmatic, they sent me a lovely box of products to enjoy on the house. Thank you, Four Sigmatic.

There was a new product (to me)… ground coffee with Lion’s Mane and Chaga mixed in that you actually brew with a regular coffee pot. Just like traditional coffee, but amped up with awesomeness. I’ve been using my french press to make it (I no longer have my beautiful Technivorm drip coffee maker. We are moving abroad next year, so I sold it). The ground coffee mix was tasty, smooth, and effective. Brain power (Lion’s Mane) and Energy (caffeine) and Immune Boost (Chaga).

Also, I am a fan of their individual packets of coffee with tonic mushrooms or plain tonic mushrooms. Instant packets for my purse, the airplane, road trips, camping (some with coffee – yum – and some without) that I can just dump into a cup of warm water and drink. They’re convenient. Nuff’ said.

Chaga – Immune Boost – One of my favorite medicinal mushroom flavors.

PLUS. They just came out with a new product … and guess what it is?

MATCHA!!!!! PLUS!!!! LION’S MANE!!!!!!!

I haven’t tried it yet, but I will this week. I will report back.

Good news! You can get 10% off your order when you order with my link and use this coupon code: KRISTENSRAW. As I wrote, I’m a proud affiliate of this company. If you use my link I get a little kickback that I can use to buy more of their stuff 😉 Thanks in advance for supporting my writing.

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Iced Mint Matcha Coffee – Gross or Brilliant?

July 25, 2017 By Kristen Helmstetter

I was getting ready to head out of town and I had two drinks I was enjoying… my polyphenol-rich, energizing iced coffee in one glass and my polyphenol-rich, zen-boosting matcha green tea, made with refreshing peppermint tea.

See why I love Matcha Green Tea so much here

Instead of gulping one down so I could just take the other with me… with a little cringing, I combined them and added ice. I figured I’d had grosser things so I didn’t have much to lose.

Well Hells Bells! It was great.

I thought the mint background in the green tea might make the coffee disgusting, but it didn’t.

And? It’s a bad-ass, army-green color.

Recipe: Iced Mint Matcha Coffee

Brew your peppermint tea, as usual.
Once it’s the proper matcha green tea temperature (about 175 degrees F), mix in the matcha green tea powder, as usual.
Get your iced coffee (or take your hot coffee and ice it).
Add the peppermint matcha green tea.
Add more ice.
Enjoy.

I love accidental recipes like this.

By the way, check out my new favorite matcha by Pique Tea! Get a discount of 5% for new customers.

I love the packets for travel and I love the pureness of it!

antioxidants

Olive Oil… In My Coffee – Can You Imagine?

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My 7-Year Old’s Lunch: Salad – Keeping My Kid’s Diet Healthy

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Vitamin C Material: Where to Start, What to Watch

Vitamin C Material: Where to Start, What to Watch

Commentary by Tom Taylor

Five Star Rating

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Recipe: Iced Mint Matcha Coffee

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