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Avocado & Grapefruit Salad Recipe

Avocado & Grapefruit Salad Recipe

Avocado & Grapefruit Salad Recipe

½ to ¾ teaspoon dijon mustard or white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
ÂĽ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large ruby red grapefruits
2 firm but ripe Hass avocados

Instructions:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified.
2. Slice the peel and white pith off the grapefruits and then cut between the membranes to release the grapefruit segments.
3. Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits and peel off the skin. Cut the halves into slices.
4. Arrange the grapefruit segments on a large platter or 4 small plates. Arrange the avocado slices with the grapefruit.
5. Drizzle with vinaigrette and sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Charity Godwin
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Taco Quiche

Taco Quiche

Taco Quiche

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground meat (I used turkey)

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 1/4 cup bisquick (I make mine from scratch)

1/2 cup sour cream

3 cups chopped lettuce

2 chopped tomatoes

1 bunch chopped green onions

Sliced black olives

Avocado, Chopped

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In skillet, brown the ground meat. Add seasoning to meat. Spoon meat into a greased 9X13 dish. Mix eggs, milk, bisquick and pour over the meat. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes, then spread with sour cream and layer with veggies and cheese. Pretty & tasty!!

Charity Godwin
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Broccolini Frittata with Feta

Broccolini Frittata with Feta

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 4 to 5 stalks baby broccoli, ends trimmed
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup whole milk, or dairy free
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 ounce crumbled feta

  1. Preheat oven to 425Ëš.
  2. Heat an 8″ oven-safe skillet over medium, add 1/2 tablespoon olive oil followed by the onions. Cook the onions, stirring often, until tender and beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove and set aside.
  3. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Place the baby broccoli spears into the pan and cook until the green brightens and the ends are browning, turning occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from pan.
  4. Whisk together the eggs, milk, black pepper, and salt. Pour into the pan and cook for roughly 5 minutes, just long enough for the bottom to set. Lay the cooked baby broccoli on top of the eggs then sprinkle with onions and feta.
  5. Transfer pan to the oven and bake until the frittata has puffed and top is beginning to brown, 15 to 18 minutes.
Charity Godwin
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Clean Water is it really important?

Clean Water is it really important?

Drinking CLEAN water may not even be something on your radar but it should be for health reasons!

Charity Godwin
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Clean Eating and Reading Labels

Clean Eating and Reading Labels

Eating organic is considered “clean eating”. Clean eating means eliminating highly processed-packaged foods w ingredients you can’t pronounce, cutting back on foods with added salt/sugar/fat, avoiding foods that are drastically altered from their natural form, & preparing and eating more foods at home.

     It’s super important to read the back label for the items your interested in purchasing, so you will know what you’re eating. For example on a conventional package of natural Jennie O turkey bacon these are the ingredients: Ingredients Mechanically Separated Turkey, Turkey, Water, Sugar, Contains 2% or Less Salt, Potassium Lactate , Natural Smoke Flavor, Flavor (Canola Oil,Natural Smoke, Natural Flavoring), Sodium Diacetate , Sodium Phosphate , Natural Flavoring, Sodium Erythorbate , Sodium Nitrite. I like to purchase sugar free paleo turkey bacon and these are the ingredients listed on my package: turkey, water, sea salt, cultured celery powder, paprika, white pepper, onion powder. There’s a huge difference between what I can pronounce between these 2 items, and the healthier package of bacon is the second one without all of the unhealthy added ingredients. 

        Nitrites can cause migraines, if you eat too many foods with sodium phosphate as an additive it can cause kidney problems, sodium diacetate is a preservative that can cause itching, burning, dry skin, rash & more! Sodium laurel sulfate is another ingredient best stayed away from but it’s a challenge because it is everywhere. Many additives and preservatives in our food and body care products are considered hormone disrupters, many can cause autoimmune diseases, & other issues. Our FDA in America are not as concerned about additives and preservatives as other countries. In other countries, for example they have banned many of these unhealthy ingredients. America has much to learn. For help on learning about any harmful side effects from your cleaning and beauty products I recommend the “think dirty” app where you can type in any products and see if they are healthy or not. For your foods, keep reading those labels and try to eat clean foods as close to their natural state as much as possible for lifelong health benefits. 

Charity Godwin
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The Magic Pill

There is a super informative documentary I once watched on Netflix called “The Magic Pill”. I believe they have since removed it, but you can still find it by searching online. In the documentary, they follow a few people with health issues like autism, diabetes, low thyroid, & asthma for 6 weeks. They taught and encouraged healthy diet and lifestyle changes.

          The makers of the documentary challenged people to eat clean & incorporate exercise. They went through the participants pantry and fridge to read labels and get rid of any items that were unhealthy. They then taught the participants to eat healthy fats with their meals (organic olive oil, avocado oil, unrefined coconut oil, avocados, ....) (Studies have shown that eating avocados can help lower blood sugar.) Basically they proved that healthy fats don’t  make you fat- eating trans fats, processed foods, artificial sugars, and not exercising DOES! At the end of the participants 6 weeks they were all so much healthier, they were able to stop taking their prescription medications under their doctor’s supervision. The asthmatic no longer needed inhaler, the diabetic no longer needed medications to lower blood sugar, the autistic child’s brain was able to respond so much better that she was able to talk again. The American diet is very carb laden, and the documentary proved that increasing  healthy fats into these people’s diets was the exact fuel source their bodies needed. (I’m not against carbs at all, but it’s important to incorporate healthy carbs as a source for energy.)

        I tried for years to get my parents on board with trying clean eating. I recommended this documentary to them and they watched it. They decided to change their lifestyle when my mom came down with an autoimmune disease called CREST Syndrome. My mom was to the point she couldn’t walk without a lot of pain. My dad switched their diets and cleaned out their pantry and guess what?! 6 weeks later my mom was walking without any pain. The inflammation that caused the pain went away with their clean eating. 

        There’s not one magic pill 💊, shake, exercise machine, or diet to help your complete health. There are special health benefits from every organic fruit and vegetable, though. A simple change in perspective with healthy lifestyle changes which include eating 5 servings of organic veggies and 2-3 servings of organic fruits daily, exercise, less sugar, more healthy fats, & clean eating can get you on the right track for a healthier tomorrow.

Charity Godwin
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cashews protein

Protein

Protein is a crucial part of every cell in your body. Your hair, skin, nails, & eyes are made up of protein. The cells that make up your kidneys, heart, lungs, & nerves are made of protein as well. Protein has many health benefits.
Some health benefits of protein are: improves fat burning, stimulates muscle building, improves learning & memory, promotes a positive mood, important for heart health, improves bone density, slows the aging process and promotes longevity, and stabilizes blood sugar levels.
It’s important to know how much protein your body needs, because eating too much protein can turn into glucose through the process of gluconeogenesis. According to Google, adults in the U.S. are encouraged to get 10% to 35% of their day's calories from protein foods. That's about 46 grams of protein for women, and 56 grams of protein for men. There are some great free protein calculators online to give you a better idea of how much protein your body needs specifically.
Loss of muscle is more common in the elderly but unnecessary and avoidable. It’s important to do resistance training (using hand weights, resistance bands, etc.) to prevent muscle loss and muscle wasting. Resistance training prevents your muscles from atrophying and keeps your body from using your muscles as food for energy as you get older. Studies have shown the doing a weight workout before a cardio workout increases the amount of calories burned during the cardio portion. Studies have also shown resistance training makes a huge difference even if you have never tried it and start today.
Meat is not the only protein source available. If you are vegan, there are many other plant based protein options like pea protein milk, plant based protein powders, lentils, edamame, beans, nuts, quinoa, chick peas, broccoli, & more! I’m not personally vegan, but I love to drink pea protein milk as my milk of choice because it has the same amount of protein as dairy milk, 50% more calcium, & I have the option to buy sugar free. Depending on the brand, one cup of dairy milk has a whopping 12 grams of sugar!! I will share some more about sugar in my next article.
Charity Godwin
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What’s the difference between organic and natural?

What’s the difference between organic and natural?

       It seems like everywhere we turn in the grocery store there’s a label screaming “natural” at us. What does “natural” mean? Are natural and organic the same? Are natural foods healthy? What is a GMO? 

     GMO’s are genetically modified organisms. GMO refers to any living thing that’s had its DNA altered using genetic engineering. This could be a plant, animal (including humans), or bacterium and it’s usually done to introduce a desirable trait into the organism, such as larger fruit or drought resistance. 

       There are some differences between organic and natural foods. With organic foods: toxic pesticides, irrigation & sludge, growth hormones, GMO’s, & antibiotics are not allowed but with “natural” foods these things are allowed. With organic foods: there are “allowable materials” restrictions, animal welfare requirements, certification & inspection requirements, cows on pasture for pasture season, audit trail from farm to table, & lower levels of environmental pollutions but with “natural” foods none of these restrictions, requirements, & certifications are required legally. Natural and organic are not the same. Natural foods may be a bit healthier than conventional foods, but organic foods win the healthy award here.

     I challenge you to compare the list of ingredients between a natural and an organic item at the store to see the difference. There’s often items you can barely pronounce in the natural foods like in turkey bacon (Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite, phosphates) whereas with organic foods you might see things like (turkey & salt) that you can pronounce. In my next article I will share more tips about reading labels. 

Charity Godwin
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My Journey to Better Health

My Journey to Better Health

7 years ago I began a journey to better health that changed me and my family’s life forever. I decided I had enough with a diagnosis of PCOS & infertility. My husband was told he had a 1 in a billion chance to ever have a baby. I had 2 miscarriages and I had Bell’s Palsy for a short time. My neighbor came over to bring me essential oils, and my Bell’s Palsy started healing within a week. My husband and I noticed we had mental “fog” and sleepiness after every meal. Our family as a whole was dealing with sicknesses every month (strep/flu/head colds). I thought there must be more to these oils and a healthy lifestyle than I had ever known. I didn’t grow up in a family who ate regular fruits and veggies. We ate pizza rolls, toaster strudels, a lot of TX BBQ, fast food, & pop tarts. 

       I started switching our regular grocery store routine with organic items and we immediately noticed a huge difference in taste. Organic celery tasted fresh and non-organic celery tasted like dirt no matter how much I washed it. Organic strawberries were the item that brought my husband on board- they tasted so sweet like a strawberry should taste. Some benefits of eating organic foods are: they help boost your immune system, prevents cancer & premature aging, higher in nutrients (especially when eaten raw), free of neurotoxins, no artificial colors, not exposed to gas-ripening, reduce cancer risk (some studies say up to 25%!), no chemical fertilizers, brain and body booster (more energy!), & it lessens your exposure to antibiotics/synthetic hormones/& drugs. 

      When we made the switch to organic foods we felt so much more energy. As a whole, my family noticed we stopped getting sick as much, we were able to get pregnant naturally with our daughter. The PCOS I was diagnosed with I was told would never go away- but every year they have checked my labs and every year I no longer have it. We used to say that paying more for organic food wasn’t worth it, but then we tried it and we have decided our health and wellness is worth it. We choose to let food be our medicine and medicine be our food. -Hippocrates 

Charity Godwin
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