A crazy sexy kind of Christmas

This Christmas was a pretty crazy, sexy type of Christmas.  Firstly because this Christmas I was a Breast Cancer Survivor...now that's gotta be crazy!  If someone had told me last Christmas that I'd be saying I was a Breast Cancer Survivor this Christmas I wouldn't have believed them for even one second.  But sh*t happens and life moves on and for me I have moved on to an even healthier and happier life than I had ever imagined before despite having had Breast Cancer.  I am just so excited about the future and can't wait to see what 2013 has in store.  There is life after Breast Cancer and that life could be a hundred times happier, healthier and more fulfilling than ever.  I found out how this is possible and I can show you how in my blog over the course of 2013.

The second reason why this Christmas was crazy and sexy was because this Christmas the whole family ate a whole food, plant based Christmas lunch (with a bit of fresh salmon on the side)!  Now let me tell you this is no mean feat as my husband and his family are meat lovers of note.  There was not one of us in the room that didn't feel kinda sexy after Christmas lunch because we all felt well nourished and we didn't feel bloated either because we hadn't just stuffed ourselves full of turkey and fatty roasted potatoes and we all felt really content and light!!  The other exciting thing is that the whole family all LOVED the meal and family members were later seen dotted around the house furiously scribbling down recipes from the lunch they had just devoured...now that's testament to an awesome meal if ever I saw one.  What makes me feel so good about this is that just by me being mindful about what I put in my pie hole, the rest of the family had a think about what they were eating which is great as I really enjoy inspiring and educating others to live healthier happier lives.  This also highlighted to me that if we educate others on how to cook healthier meals they more often than not tend to stick to healthy meals as they are not only tasty but good for you too!

The third reason that this was a crazy sexy kind of Christmas was because I received a copy of Kris Carr's recipe book entitled "Crazy Sexy Kitchen" which I absolutely love!  This book contains 150 plant empowered recipes to ignite a mouth watering revolution.  I tried out one of her recipes tonight on the family called 'crazy sexy bean chili' and without a word of a lie I had family members photographing the recipe before they left for home this evening.

This Christmas was just the start of something big for me and its only going to get bigger and better as I immerse myself in living a healthier/happier life and therefore in doing this I will create a ripple effect around me which educates and inspires others to be the same.

I have also introduced quinoa to a few friends.  Quinoa is an ancient super grain and is one of the most protein rich foods we can eat with all 9 essential amino acids and almost twice as much fibre as other grains.  It is so versatile and easy to cook that it should be a staple in every ones pantry.  I will write more on this later as I have a list of ten different things you can do with quinoa.

So before I get too carried away, below is a picture of what we had for Christmas lunch.  We had Roast salmon with pickled fennel, cucumber & mint salad.  Alongside that was some freshly dug new potatoes straight from the garden and a side of Crunchy Bean, Quinoa and Carrot Salad.  Yummo!!  I a miso glaze ontop of the salmon to make it extra special.  Miso paste has wonderful health benefits.  This is a great meal to serve up to guests at any time of the year if you'd like to impress them, I promise they will not be disappointed.  Always remember that if you look at a recipe and you don't have all the ingredients, don't be put off, there are always great substitutes around.  I added pomegranate to the Christmas quinoa salad to make it look 'festive' which everyone loved.

Lets reflect

 

I have been inspired by others to write a list of what I am most grateful for in 2012 and a list of achievements from the year.

At first the thought of this was met with a bit of resistance because 2012 was the year that I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had year long surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.  But then I read a quote that said "the times in your life when you feel the most resistance are the times in your life when there is opportunity for the most growth in your life" and I believe this to be true.  Wouldn't it be great to be able to look back at 2012 and write a list of things that I am grateful for even after what I have been through.  This can only do me good and will enable me to grow.  So...here you go:-

 

Grateful for:

The support I received from my friends, family and even strangers whilst I was going through my therapy.   From meals dropped off at my front doorstep, to phone calls telling me that they were thinking of me to complete strangers walking up to me in the street and telling me that I look beautiful (even though I had a bald head) and that I was inspiring to them...these are all things that pulled me through a very tough year;


The down days that I did have were very few and far between and this was partly due to the support I received from supportive people around me;


A very patient boss and job that I could go back to whenever I felt well enough;


The odd day sprinkled in between my bad days where I had enough energy to play with my children in the park or sit and read them a story;


My cancer - I know this may sound very odd to say that I am thankful for my cancer, but having cancer has opened up my eyes to so many things in life that I would never have appreciated if I hadn't become ill.  I will write more on this in 2013.  Me having cancer has also revealed to me what I'm passionate about most in life which is to become a Health Coach and inspire and educate others to lead healthier happier lives;


Enough money to cut my work down to 2 days a week and the ability to focus on becoming a Heath Coach so that I can expand my knowledge on true health and happiness;


Two healthy kids who are doing just fine after spending a year with their mom who was very sick most of the time;

Achievements:

Kicked cancer in the bum and have come out the other side feeling stronger and happier than before;


I bounced back to being relatively normal (besides the fatigue) from a year's worth of treatment in only a few weeks.  This is not just pure luck either, I have changed a lot of things in my life for this outcome to be possible and I will write more on this next year;


I married the man of my dreams in March of this year;


I kicked my craving for sugar and caffeine;


I made a decision to invest in my future and start studying at IIN;


Saying yes to myself more often and no to others by becoming more aware of my own needs and putting myself first more often than not;


Learning to slow down and listen to my body (this is still work in progress!);


The ability to be present by learning to do a little meditation and the guts to just be myself rather than be someone that others want me to be.

A jar full of memories and gratitude

I love this idea...start 2013 with an empty jar.  Throughout the year fill it with memorable moments or things that you are grateful for.  When Christmas time rocks on round again you can sit down in a nice cosy quiet spot and have a read about all the good things that happened in your life that year and perhaps be reminded about things that you had forgotten about which are worth remembering, its a great way to keep things in perspective.  You don't even have to wait until the end of the year...open it on days you are feeling down for a bit of a lift.  Go on 'JUST DO IT'...I promise you you won't regret it xxooxx

Words to live by

 

I am busy reading a book at the moment by Dr Libby Weaver called 'Rushing Woman's Syndrome'. 

I honestly feel that this book was written just for me.  So many of the things she writes about in her book I can relate to.  The book is about the effects that being a 'rushing woman' can have on your health and I truly believe that me being a 'rushing woman' partly contributed to my cancer diagnosis.  One of the many things I will be working on next year will be to slow down and take more time to 'smell the roses' so as to speak.  In her book she describes a 'rushing woman' as someone that continually feels that there is a sense of urgency in her day and whether she has two or five things to do, she seems to go about her day feeling rushed all the time.  She writes that you are prone to the effects of 'rushing woman's syndrome' if you do things like reply to texts at traffic lights or catch up on your emails whilst sitting on the loo...this is not just good use of your time.

In her book she writes a piece written by Kate Northrup who is a woman with a deep care for other women and whom she met at a conference in the USA recently.  Her sentiments echo many of my own and I encourage you to be inspired by what she writes and to write a few of your own that you look at from time to time.  She writes "here's what i know":-

• Doing something for the money never ends up being worth it;
• If its not a hell yes, its a no;
• You are valuable because you exist.  Period.
• You are enough.  You always have been.  You always will be.
• Your place of greatest ease and joy will also be you place of greatest service;
• Its okay to sleep for ten hours or more a night from time to time.  In fact its critical.
• No accomplishment or moment of recognition will ever replace feeling loved, by your-self or anyone else;
• You know.  you always know.
• The fact that it feels good is reason enough to move every day.  The fact that it will tone your ass and make your waist smaller are mere side effects;
• Organising your life around what feels good is the single wisest choice you can make;
• Saying yes to someone simply because you don't want to disappoint them is not only unfair to you, it's unfair to them;
• Sleep, water, movement, greens, and a good cry cure almost anything.
• Loving yourself more is the best place to start to solve any problem;
• Nothing is random.  Everything happens for a reason.
• Your body is wise beyond what you could possibly imagine.  Listen to her.  She will lead you home every time.

Now its your turn to write some that resonate with you and by which you can live by.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATION:

I deserve only the best

Anti Cancer chickpea & potato curry

 

Following on from my post "is your diet the bomb?" I promised to post a recipe that had at least 2 or 3 ingredients from the 'g-bombs' list.

This recipe is not only VERY easy to make, it tastes delicious too and is great the next day for left overs.  You know how you always seem to rotate a handful of recipes (or perhaps two handfuls if you are well organised)...well this is one from my handful.  This recipe has heaps of coriander (cilantro) which has amazing health benefits as well as a a spoonful of tumeric  in it which is a  great cancer and overall wellness fighter and of course this recipe contains a couple of 'g-bombs' too!
Serve this up for dinner and have the left overs for lunch the next day...you're gunna love it!

So without further a do...drum roll...here is the recipe:

1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 whole coriander (cilantro) plant - washed and set aside
2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
1 tablespoon tumeric
half an onion chopped
2 medium size potatoes washed and diced
300g can chickpeas drained and washed
2 medium sized tomatoes washed and cubed
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup warm filtered water
1tbsp tamari (or salt reduced soy sauce)
1/2 tsp brown sugar
salt to taste

1.  Place peppercorns in a blender or mortar and pestle.  Add garlic and coriander plant.  Blend or pound to a paste.  Add coconut oil and mix well.
2.  Transfer paste and onion to a heavy bottomed pan and cook over medium heat for 2mins stiring frequently.   Stir in tumeric and cook for another minute.
3.  Add potatoes, chickpeas and tomatoes.  Stir so the potatoes are covered in the tumeric then add the coconut milk, water, tamari and sugar.  Bring to the boil and then let it simmer slowly for 15minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
4.  Season to taste and add some extra coriander to serve for a bit of fancyness!

Enjoy xxooxx

IS YOUR DIET 'THE BOMB'?

 

Whether or not we believe that our current diet is the bomb or not, we could all benefit from taking a closer look at what we eat, becoming more mindful about how we feel after eating certain foods and making adjustments here and there but for the most part the hard work can be when it comes to knowing what is right for you and then sticking to it. 

We are all unique, not any one of us is the same in this whole massive big world of almost 7 billion people!  If you think about just that for a moment, its quite amazing to say the least.  And because we are all so different, there is no one perfect way of eating that works for everyone.  This is where a concept called bio-individuality comes in.  Each person has very specific needs for his or her own health according to age, constitution, gender, size, lifestyle an ancestry.  We are living in an age of modern nutrition which means that a lot of people are on some kind of diet or another and every day we are bombarded with new ways to lose ten kilos in 60 days or some new discovery of healthy benefits of a certain food that you HAVE to eat if you want to live to a ripe old age and be healthy and happy at the same time.  To think that a certain diet may be right for you just because you have read the book or it sounds easy is bordering on crazy unless you actually take the time to listen to what your body is telling you when you eat and be mindful of how you feel after you have eaten.  Nutrition is the only science where two apposing theories can be proved correct and that is because we are all so different with very different needs.

 

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer ten months ago I felt that I was literally scrambling around trying my very best to feed my body what I thought was right for it based on what I had read and what was supposed to be an 'anti-cancer' diet.  I  had a broad understanding of what the main diet principles were, but suddenly I felt that I needed to be an expert in the field of nutrition if I wanted to give myself the best possible chance of living a long healthy and happy life.  What I didn't know was the concept that we are all individuals with unique requirements and that the very best diet to be on is in fact an anti-cancer diet whether you have cancer or not and this anti-cancer diet can be different for everyone.

I had friends/family contacting me from across the globe telling me that they had read articles about people that had taken a spoonful of asparagus puree every day since they were diagnosed and were now cancer free.  I had someone tell me about a specific type of fruit tree that is only found in deepest darkest Africa which is touted to be a cancer cure.  The problem with all of this was that at the time I was feeling very vunerable and I would have eaten my husband's left toenail if it was supposedly going to cure me of cancer.  I was very grateful that they took the time to tell me about these things that they had come across, but it highlighted to me that people just have no idea what the best way is to approach a healthy diet that is right just for them because they are bombarded every day with new dietary theories and best sellers.  What we need to do is listen to your body!!!!  It knows what foods you need, when it needs them and what is best for you.  Research what foods are best for your blood type, your metabolism and what foods were typical for your ancestry.  Begin by making small changes and pay attention when you eat so you can decide when you're full.  Even though each person is a distinct individual, we all share the same instincts.  Don't ignore the personal messages your body is sending.

There are 6 foods that seem to pop their heads up again and again in my research which promise to be the most nutrient dense, health promoting foods on the plant no matter who you are or what diet you are on.  Whether or not you embrace all 6 of these foods or find that you can only tolerate one or two (remember to listen to your body first), you will be well on your way to eating a diet that is extremely effective at preventing chronic disease and promoting health and longevity.  These 6 foods are called 'G-BOMBS' and they certainly are "the bomb"!

The 'G-Bomb' acronym was cleverly created by Dr Fuhrman who is a board-certified family physician, NY times best-selling author and nutritional researcher who specialises in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods.  If you try and incorporate at least one of these 6 foods into one meal a day you will be doing yourself a massive favour.  The great part about it is that these foods are easily found and you probably have at least two of them sitting in your pantry right now!  For a full explanation of exactly how nutrient dense these specific foods really are, please visit his website.  I encourage you to click on the link and read for yourself the benefits of these foods as my explanations below very limited.  So without further ado, below are these six super sexy nutrient packed super foods of the 'G-Bomb'!! :-

1.  Greens

They only contain about 100 calories per pound and are the most nutrient dense of all foods.  They protect our blood vessels and are associated with reduced risk of diabetes.  They are also packaged with beneficial phytochemicals.

2.  Beans

Beans (and other legumes as well) are a powerhouse of superior nutrition.

3.  Onions

Onions along with leeks, garlic, shallots and scallions make up the Allium family of veggies which have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems as well as anti-diabetic and anti-cancer effects.

4.  Mushrooms

Consuming mushrooms regularly is associated with decreased risk of breast, stomach and colorectal cancers.  A Chinese study where women ate at least 10 grams of fresh mushrooms each day (about one mushroom per day) had a 64% decreased risk of breast cancer.

5.  Berries

Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods.  They are low in sugar and high in nutrients - they are among the best foods you can eat.

6.  Seeds

Nuts and seeds contain healthy fats and are rich in a spectrum of micronutrients including minerals and antioxidants.

This week I will post a recipe on my blog that incorporates at least 3 ingredients from the 'G-Bomb' acronym.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY:

I only feed my body with food that is nourishing and I do this out of self love.

Cool cucumbers rock

There are many of us in this world that feel like we are the lady in this picture when it comes to the silly season.  The good news is that we don't have to be the stereo typical rushing/frantic woman of the silly season.  There are many things we can do to calm the nerves, feel well, rested and nourished and slide into this period as cool as a cucumber.  Its just a matter of doing a bit of ground work beforehand to ensure that we are the coolest of cucumbers on Christmas day!

There are many things you can do in the build up to Christmas so that you feel that you are well prepared, but the trick is which ones will benefit you most.  I always find that there are many tips and tricks out there in every magazine/blog post/internet site that I lay my eyes on on how you can enter the festive season feeling calm and collected, but instead of feeling overwhelmed with all the advice you are reading and then not doing any of it, rather concentrate on just one, two or even three things that you feel will make you feel grounded and balanced during this period..  Just those few things will go a long way to making you the coolest of cool cucumbers in town!

I have had to think extra long and hard this Christmas about how i was going to remain stress free since I have just completed a years worth of surgery, chemo and radiation for breast cancer.  I have been doing a lot of reading on this subject and have come up with five things that for me I believe will ensure that I start the silly season feeling stress and worry free.  I hope that even just a few of these points resonate with you and you decide to put them into action.  If you do you will be well on your way to a happy, healthy stress free Christmas and holiday period.

1.  Stock up on the basics and know what you've got

This is a big one for me.  If you take 15mins out of your day to check your grocery cupboards and have some sort of plan in your mind about what you will be eating on Christmas and Boxing Day (even if you don't know exactly what you will be eating) then write those things down and go and do a big grocery shop of the essentials.  This will save you running out of things on Christmas day or having to rush off to the shops at the last minute and run the risk of sitting in heavy traffic or getting unduly stressed out.

2.  Get help with the cooking

There is always someone around that can help you with the cooking.  They don't have to be a trained Master Chef like yourself (haa, haa), but there are many ways that your husband, kids, mother in-law etc etc can help you out by doing little things to make your day easier.  I think we all try to be super hero's on Christmas Day, but remember no one likes a stressed out or frazzled super hero! So have a look at who is around you and what needs doing and DELEGATE!

3.  Take time out for yourself

Once again no one likes stressed out super heros, so ensure that you take time out just for you during this busy period.  You will need extra rest because you will be extra busy and extra tired.  I feel that the number one myth that people think at this time of year is "I just don't have the time!"  You do have the time, you just need to make it a priority.  I'm not saying that you need to go off for a few days on you own or even for a day...just half an hour here or there to attend to your own well being will be worth a couple of days in the long run and you will feel like you can take on the world with a renewed sense of purpose, energy and cool cucumberniss!

4.  Breath

For some of your tip number 4 may read very strange...what do you mean 'breath?'.  The breath is something that i have been focusing a lot on lately and i am astounded as to what is actually going on with my breath most of the time.  If you actually take the time to notice your breath in times of anxiousness or perhaps when you feel you have a busy mind you will notice that your breathing can be pretty shallow and erratic.  This in turn gives our subconscious mind the message that we are stressed out and we go into 'fight or flight' mode.  The toll that this 'flight or fight' mode takes on our bodies is immense.  Take the time to monitor your breathing, you can do it anywhere.  Make sure that you are doing nice deep breaths which cause the diaphragm to move up and down.

5.  Move

Yes...MOVE!  Christmas time can be a time of excess in many people's lives.  Even if you a wellness warrior and you are aware of the benefits of nourishing your body with real food you will still find great benefits in getting out there and going for a walk/run/bicycle ride etc etc.  The list of health benefits that exercise has on your mind, body and soul are endless as I'm sure most of you know.  So get out there and make it a priority especially at this busy time of year.

What are your favourite top tips to ensure your own wellness and  creation of balance at this time of year?

POSITIVE AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY:
I feel well organised and rested today

Why primary food is so important for our wellbeing

You may very well be thinking, what the hell is 'primary food'?...and quite rightly too.  I was just recently introduced to this concept when I was reading an e-book that IIN sent me about nurturing your body and feeding your soul.  Simply put, primary food is any food that can't be served up on a plate and which nourishes you as a whole and which contributes positively to your overall well being.  I hadn't really thought too much about this before.  Yes we are all told that we need to sleep  more, stress less, have more facials/massages and the list goes on...but do we make those things a priority in our lives...most of the time I don't think we do.

I never used to read many books before i was diagnosed with cancer, but since I was diagnosed I have used reading books as a tool to help myself feel more educated and empowered in a situation where I felt quite out of control.  I felt that treatment decisions were being made for me without me knowing much about the pros and cons of the treatment and decisions had to be made in a very short time period.  From what I have learnt I believe that cancer is not caused by one specific thing as such, its a combination of things that happen in your life that lead you to become unbalanced and unwell.  One of the things that I believe contributed to my cancer is the fact that I did not give myself enough primary food.  I thought that I was the the picture of health at the time I was diagnosed...after all I had just completed a half marathon, I was changing the way I ate and was looking and feeling my best.  Anyone that looked at me would have thought 'wow, she looks fit and healthy'...but little did we know that my boobies were ticking time bombs!  Before my diagnosis, I approached my life very much from the angle of 'everything will be alright, just push on no matter how you feel and put your big girls undies on if you're having a bad day'...very rarely did I listen to my body and what it was trying to tell me...for the most part I just ignored it!  Yes we are told to 'listen to your body' give it rest, but do most of us REALLY know why we are told that?  I don't think until now that I really understood why we need to listen to our body's and nourish ourselves by giving ourselves primary food constantly.  Being diagnosed with cancer was a huge wake up call for me and the Universe/God's way of telling me to listen up before its too late!  If I had known what I know now about health and well being (and there is still so much more to know) i would have lived my life differently and treated myself differently.  My life was way out of balance and 'primary food' was severely lacking in my life.  Unfortunately I had to go through a cancer diagnosis before I would listen to my body.  It is my wish and goal of this blog to make people listen up to advice given to them on how to truly nourish ourselves and be the happiest we have ever been BEFORE being given ultimatums by our bodies like cancer diagnosis's.

This past w'end I went with the family over to a spot that we have been trying to get to for a very long time.  This place is a secret little paradise and we are lucky enough to only live 1 hour away from it!  We drove over to Decanter Bay on Friday late afternoon for two blissful nights.  The photos at the start of this blog post are of the view from our holiday home and the actual holiday home that we were lucky enough to stay in.  This place was my 'primary food' for the w'end.  There was no cell phone reception and no TV which was great, no need to get distracted with things like that when you have a beautiful paradise to explore.  How often do we get distracted by whats truly beautiful in life just because we feel the need to update our Facebook status's, check our text messages or watch that TV program that we just can't miss!  I must admit that at first I felt a little uncomfortable that I couldn't check my phone or switch the TV on...but it only took an hour or two and I was truly pleased I had non of those modern conveniences around which was testament to the fact that most of the time we believe that we need certain things in our lives but in reality we probably don't we just think we do!  The entire w'end was spent getting back to grass roots i.e. catching fish for our dinner, soaking in a true kiwi tub under the stars overlooking the ocean, playing in the ocean with the kids and keeping the windows open at night in our bedrooms to listen to the waves lapping the ocean floor...the list goes on.  This was great 'primary food'!

Particularly at this time of year in the lead up to Christmas it is very important to make sure that we look after ourselves and feed ourselves with 'primary food' as much as we can in a season of over overindulgence.

What have you done lately or what have you got planned over the Christmas period to ensure that you are fed your 'primary food' and are truly nourished?  Have a think about it for a moment and if you can't think of anything then put something in place to ensure that you are nourished.  If you start with nourishing yourself first you will be surprised just how many other things fall into place in your life that you may have been struggling with before.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY:  I deserve to nourish myself EVERY day

Crunchy Bean, Quinoa & Carrot Salad

This morning i had a whole heap of things that i needed to do.  I needed to go grocery shopping, i need to take photographs of things that we'd like to sell on trademe to de-clutter the house and i need to make a much needed start on my Christmas shopping!  It seems that the 1st December pops up on your calendar and you instantly feel panicked that there is not enough time to get everything done by Christmas Day!  Do you feel this way too?  Its strange how we behave as humans...just a week before the 1st December was upon us i felt like there was heaps of time to get things sorted for Christmas but as soon as you see 1st December appear on your calendar you are suddenly filled with 'oh no, do i have enough time to get everything done before Christmas!'.  Why could i not have started preparing for Christmas in November?  Its almost like the 1st December is that fire cracker that you need under your bum to get things organised!  Anyway, my point is that instead of rushing around like a blue arsed fly this morning getting chores done and running myself down, i decided to nourish myself instead and do what i love i.e. listen to some health talks videos on Jessica Ainscough's website and write a blog post!  I can tell you that i'm going to feel MUCH better after doing that than i would have felt rushing around the shops and i'll be setting myself up for the day to feel good about myself which will then show in how i act/behave around my kids and husband.  Yes i know i still need to get my chores done, but i have looked in my diary and i have created space to do them some other time.  One of the many things i have been focusing on at the moment is the need to nourish yourself and create space and time for yourself.  If you do that then you'll find that you feel like you have so much more time in your day even when you felt like you were busy before.  Look after No. 1 aka: YOU and the rest will take care of its self, i promise it works!  We just need to learn how to look after ourselves properly and that is one of the main reasons why having a Health Coach in your life is very beneficial as they can show you how.  Unfortunately in this modern day of age we have forgotten how to look after ourselves because we are too busy looking after everyone elses needs and we tend to neglect our own.  Remember what the airline video says when you get on the plane "always put your own oxygen mask on first before you tend to anyone else"...and that is true for how we should live our lives.

Something else that i have been made aware of through the Nutrition school is 'bio-individuality'.  No one diet works for everyone because none of us are the same, we are all made up differently with different needs so whatever diet may work for one person doesn't necessarily mean it will work for the next person.  I hate using the word 'diet' so for the purpose of this blog i'll refer to diet as 'a healthy eating plan' instead.  There are two important things to remember when you are thinking about scrutinising your healthy eating plan and that is:-
1.  Whichever healthy eating plan you decide is right for you, the number one priority is to ensure that it is REAL food and what i mean by that is make sure its wholesome WHOLE food, nothing genetically modified and be sure that you use only the freshest ingredients where ever possible.
2.  Listen to your body.  Your body requires different nutrients at different stages in your day/life so what may feel right for you today may not feel right for you next month or next year.  We are continually changing from day to day, the seasons are changing and what we do physically today may not be what we do tomorrow, so its important to listen to what your body might be telling you and not to ignore its needs.  When last did you actually listen to what your body was asking to feed it instead of just stuffing a sandwhich down your throat just because the clock said lunchtime...was your body even telling you that it was hungry?

So i have a recipe for you today (hence the heading of this post).  I found it on one of my favourite go to websites called www.greenkitchenstories.com.  Green Kitchen is an inspiring source of organic and tasty vegetarian food, with ingredients  straight from nature, using whole grains and seeds, good fats, unrefined sugars and no meat.  I tried this recipe about about a week ago and as you can see from the picture if looks pretty too (the picture that i took was from the salad that i made, not the picture off the website, impressive for a novice hey!!  It is also packed with so many nutrients it will blow your mind.  Here are some of the nutrients your body will be thriving on if you eat this salad:
Beans:- low in saturated fat and sodium (salt); a good source of Vit B6, Iron, Magnesium, Protein, Vitamin C and Folate.
Quinoa (this grain dates back 3 to 4 thousand years and originates from the Incas): It is a complete protein containing all 9 essential amino acids.  It contains Iron which keeps our red blood cells healthy.  Its rich in Magnesium which helps relax blood vessels and in turn will help alleviate migraines.  There are a heap of other nutrients in quinoa but i can't name them all.  Type 'quinoa benefits' into google and have a read for yourself..you will be astounded.
Carrots: they are nutritional heroes' as they store a goldmine of nutrients.  The main nutrient in carrots is carotene which the body converts to Vit A which is essential for so many bodily functions.

Anyway, before i go on and on about how good this salad is for you, below is what you have all been waiting for, the recipe.  And once again i'd like to thank greenkitchenstories for creating this masterpiece of a recipe and for inspiring me to write about it!  The important thing to remember is not to get bogged down by coming across something in the recipe that you may not have in your pantry.  If you don't have it leave it out or substitute it with something else...make the recipe your own!  For example if you don't have heirloom carrots (I didn't) then use normal carrots instead.  If you don't have lingonberries either leave them out or replace them with cranberries.  Go on use your imagination, you will be surprised at what you come up with and how good it tastes!

Crunchy Bean, Quinoa & Carrot Salad
Serves 4
If you time it right, this salad can be prepared while the quinoa is cooking. Then you won’t only have a quick salad, but it will also be lukewarm, which is how I like it best. If you don’t time it right it will be served cold, but that tastes pretty darn good too.
1 lb (450 g) green and yellow beans, trimmed
2 cups quinoa
8 heirloom carrots, sliced thinly
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped or halved
1/2 cup lingonberries (can be replaced with red or black currants or fresh cranberries)

Dressing
4 tbsp Dijon mustard, preferably coarse grained
3 tsp honey
juice from 1 medium sized lemon
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
sea salt & black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Trim off the edges of the beans and put them in a large sauce pan with boiling water and a pinch of salt. Remove after only 1 minute, using a sieve. Put the water back on the heat. Rinse the quinoa and then add them to the water. Let boil for about 15 minutes, or until you can see the small tails on the quinoa. Meanwhile, add the carrot slices to a small bowl. Pour about 2 tbsp olive oil over them and toss until all are coated in oil. Spread evenly on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Sprinkle some salt over and bake for about 7-8 minutes (depending on how thinly sliced they are). Keep an eye on the oven so they don’t burn. Remove when the edges are starting to curl. Now it’s time to make the dressing. Whisk together mustard and honey. Add lemon juice, vinegar and oil and whisk for about 30 seconds. Add salt and pepper according to taste.
Assembling: Add beans, cooked quinoa, roasted carrots, onion and raisins in a large salad bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss, using your hands, until everything is well mixed. Top with toasted hazelnuts and lingonberries and serve immediately.