Our hearts deserve to be loved and taken care of.
It is easy to love your heart. Just remember three simple tips:
1. EAT WELL
Enjoy blue, green, red, yellow and orange vegetables and fruits; healthy whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, low fat animal products and choose healthy fats such as unrefined cold pressed olive oil, sesame oil, ghee or coconut oil.
Enjoying fresh whole food meals offers our body and hearts nutritional support to thrive. Lush fresh produce like kale, chard, radishes, broccoli, asparagus and more offer antioxidants, natural plant phytochemicals to support the immune system, minerals, vitamins, live enzymes to support digestion, and low fat protein.
Whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds offer fiber, protein, minerals, vitamins and healthy fats for the diet. Your heart will appreciate the extra fiber too! Fiber helps to lower cholesterol and keep you in good shape.
Grass-fed, wild fish and poultry support the heart with high quality protein and health but low amounts of animal fat. Remember a serving size is 3-4 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards.
Add fresh herbs and spices to your meal and the flavors and aromas peak. Herbs and spices offer their potential to protect and enhance the immune system as well as support digestion.
2. EXERCISE DAILY
Our hearts need us to exercise or at least move everyday for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. You can break that into two 15 minute activities on busy days.
Walks, bike rides, playing handball or tennis, hiking, gardening, all of these pleasures can bring health to our hearts. Moving is the key. We spend too much time in chairs or on couches.
Walking is probably the easiest and surest way of moving without needing to schedule an activity in your calendar. A simple tip to increasing your walking is to park at the back of parking lots when doing chores. You might also walk for the first 15 minutes of your lunch break and then enjoy your lunch. After dinner walks help digestion and relax the body too.
3. RELAX & GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP
Finding time to relax in our high paced lifestyle is not so easy. Many people are so hyped up from the daily stress of work, or lack of work and the economics of making ends meet that they rarely get a good night’s sleep. However our hearts need rest. Replenish yourself by taking time to sit down and just breathe deeply. Breathing brings in more oxygen and relaxes the body.
There are regular practices that support relaxation: Yoga, Qigong, meditation, listening to or playing music, art, singing, getting a massage! These will all help you to relax and hence let your heart open to a rhythm of rest.
Herbs can help you to relax. Think of lavender, kava kava, or chamomile tea next time you want support in resting your tired body.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Wishing you Health
Through and Through!
JoEllen
Tallarin Verde (Green Spaghettis)
A family recipe from Lizzette Picasso
This recipe is vegan and oil free. But you can make a traditional pesto with olive oil. Serve with chicken if you like.
2 bunches of washed spinach leaves
1 small bunch of arugula
Pesto
salt, pepper to your taste
1/2 - 1 cup coconut milk
Spaghetti or Linguine noodles
Start the water to boil, with a dash of salt
In a blender add the spinach, arugula, pesto & coconut milk, Blend into a nice thick creamy consistency. If too thick add a little more coconut milk a little at a time.
Taste it to make sure you get the pesto and spinach flavors jump out at your taste buds right away. If it doesn't try adding more pesto.
Once water boils, cook pasta. Drain and keep in the same pot.
Make sure every one is at the table now and waiting with hungry bellies.
Pour the sauce over the spaghetti just before you serve. The stove should be off at this point.
Stir so that the sauce coats every single noodle.
