I know this cycle very well, because it was me for three decades. I began my journey from living an unhealthy lifestyle to a holistic lifestyle about 12 years ago. I’m Amber Caudle, aka Chef Amber, professional chef, holistic lifestyle advocate, and your host of the show Wholicious. I will help and coach you on how to have a healthy relationship with food and your body. This Wholicious episode is going to make you feel so good because I’m going to show you some delicious and healthy cozy comfort foods. And you know what, without the guilt.

Accepting Yourself

Before it comes to food, I’ll show you a tool that can help you really love and accept yourself and your body. One of my favorite spiritual practices is my meditation and affirmation practice. You’ll find many more in my new upcoming book ‘Hungry, Why I F***ing Eat.’ I’ll provide you with tons of profound tools, mantras and insights about my journey to a healthy and holistic lifestyle. The meditation and affirmation practice is something I’ve been doing for years. It’s of such great value when you really have had a hard time loving and accepting yourself and your body. I have spent the last decade helping myself and 1000s of others to stop escaping and self-numbing with food and to really start loving and accepting their bodies. 

This meditation and affirmation practice enables you to feel connected again, and know when to pause when you want to turn to food for comfort, stress relief or to reward yourself. And I have to tell you that when I’m in acceptance with my body, I’m able to make better choices to fuel and nourish my body with the right food. Because people always ask well, ‘how did you form this healthy relationship with food and body?’ Well, this is one of the practices that really helped me, right? If I’m walking around pessimistic with a negative attitude, I’m not likely to go choose the healthiest option. Okay, I’m going to choose something so I can continue to numb my feelings. 

So this is a great practice to really shift your energy and really help heal your relationship with food and your body. 

Daily Affirmation

All right, so this is how I do my affirmation practice, I actually like to do it looking in the mirror at myself, bathroom mirrors is fine. So we’ll pick an affirmation. And you can start with two minutes, you can do it for a minute, I think two minutes is a really good window. I have about 50 different mantras that I rotate through. Really tune into your being and really connect with yourself and mean it. You can pick the affirmation that really feels in alignment with you. And my suggestion is take post it notes and I like to post my affirmations on my bathroom mirrors. I have some in my car, in my wallet, and even on my refrigerator. So you can walk by and remember, oh my gosh, I am radiant. 

This will help you whenever you’re feeling sad, triggered, or going through an emotional low. It will immediately shift your energy, it will help you get back into acceptance as your subconscious mind will adjust to your spoken affirmations. And I have to tell you, that the power of thought and the power of words really does matter. I believe that what we put out into the universe, we can really bring back and really attract to us. Meaning I’m definitely not going to say, “I feel fat or I feel ugly.” I’m gonna say, “I feel or I feel poor” right? Or “I don’t have enough money.” “I am abundant. I am prosperous. I am aluminous. I am beautiful, right? I am radiant.” And maybe you’ll have to start with this practice and fake it till you make it. That’s okay, you’re still doing it. 

Once you’ve picked your affirmation, really tune into your body. Like I said, take a bunch of deep breaths if you can really look at yourself in the mirror, relaxing all of your body parts, focusing on your breath. And then repeat your affirmation for one to two minutes and take advantage of your car, the shower, when you’re getting ready, and sometimes I’ll go into the bathroom at work when I need a little energy shift. 

I believe that we can enjoy our favorite foods and feel strong, sexy, powerful, beautiful and aligned in your body. Today our menu is plant based and gluten free of course, and we’re going to make a nacho bar than a creamy mac and cheese and then finish with a banana ice cream. So join me in the kitchen and let’s start cooking.

Vegan Nachos

Okay, are you ready to make some comfort foods? I am. I’m so excited. For years y’all I deprived myself of my favorite foods, my childhood favorite comfort foods because I was so afraid of gaining weight or getting fat, so no more of that, no more deprivation. Food is my life. I love food and food is supposed to be enjoyed. So today we’re going to make some amazing nachos. Then I’m going to make a mac and cheese and then finish with the banana ice cream. And today everything is plant based, which makes me really excited because I love to show my meat eaters and dairy eaters how satiating it can be with a plant based meal especially nachos with cheese and sour cream made out of cashews. 

Nacho Cheese

Okay, let’s get started. This is a Vitamix episode, y’all. I couldn’t live without my Vitamix most days. So we’re going to start with our sour cream. Okay. All right. So right here, I’ve got my two cups of cashews, and I’ve already soaked the cashews overnight. I’ve strained them and I’ve rinsed them. You never want to use the water that you’ve soaked your nuts in overnight and I explain this in every episode when we soak the nuts. 

Why Do You Soak Nuts Overnight?

The reason that I soak nuts is to remove any enzyme inhibitors that are blocking the absorption of any nutrients and minerals that are active in the nuts. Especially if you struggle with a leaky gut or any gastric issues.

Definitely soak your seeds and nuts. Okay. All right, so I’ve got my cashews. Then I’m going to add some lemon juice, and hemp seeds make this so creamy. Plus, we get all of our yummy omegas and tons of plant protein. Okay, now, I’m going to add some nutritional yeast to this. This gives it the cheesy flavor the nacho cheesy flavor. And I just wanted to show you that nutritional yeast it’s really easy to find now. Loaded with B vitamins it’s actually got five grams of protein per tablespoon, so loaded with protein. And also I just want to mention it’s an inactive yeast. Okay, so if you have like a yeast allergy, this is different than like a bread yeast or yeast that they use in beer. Okay, it’s inactive. 

Alright, so we’ve got our yeast, we’ve got cashews, our lemon, I’m going to add our water in here. Okay, we’ll start with that. So I don’t want it to be too runny. I want it to be nice and thick and creamy. And then I’m going to add all of our spices. I’ve got garlic powder, chili powder, a little bit of Tumeric paprika, Okay, I’m going to add a little pinch of salt. And we’re going to blend. 

Nacho Bar

Okay. Oh my gosh. Smells just like nacho cheese y’all. Like just like nacho cheese. Look how creamy that is! It’s so delicious! Oh my god. I can’t wait for you to try this. Okay, I’m gonna add because we’re gonna make a nacho bar. I love making Nacho bars. Every time I go home or I host like a taco party. Having a nacho bar is so fun because then everybody can make their own plate of nachos. Alright, so there’s our nacho cheese. Oh, yeah. Okay, now I’m going to rinse this out really quick so we can make our sour cream.

Sour Cream

Now we’re going to make the sour cream. We just made the nacho cheese. Here we are. And let’s get set for our sour cream. Again, we’re using cashews. Now if you’re allergic to cashews, you can actually sub macadamia nuts. It’s the only nut that I’ve subbed for both of these sauces. Okay, I have not used almonds yet or any other nut just a little side note. Okay, all right. So we’ve got cashews, lemon, and apple cider vinegar for the acid. I’m going to put a little bit of salt in here. And then I’m just going to put a little bit of water. We’ll just do that because I want this to be nice and thick also. And we’re going to give this a blend. Okay, oh my gosh, look at our creamy sour cream. Amazing. Smells just like it. 

Nacho Bar Tips

Now I’m going to make a nacho platter and I’m going to show you how to make a bar at your own house. Okay, so I’m gonna pour our sour cream in here. Okay. Now when I was growing up, I’m from Atlanta, and we would go to our favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant at least once a week. And I would always come home with the worst stomachache and headache. And just the quality of the ingredients, all the GMO and all the dairy and the gluten. 

So this is just a really fun, substitution, super clean, won’t wreak havoc on your body, but you can still enjoy one of your favorites. I mean, nachos seriously is one of my favorite comfort foods. It makes me so happy. Okay, so we’re gonna make a platter. And I want to show you my favorite tips I use. 

So you can obviously use any corn tortillas, any organic corn tortillas. I’m gonna use the CFA chips. They’re made out of cassava flour. And this also makes a really great paleo meal because it’s a grain free chip, lower glycemic. Right. So let me put my chips here. All right, that’s good. All right, perfect. All right, then. So I just use some organic canned black beans. And we’re gonna put some black beans on here. And so I’m going to make a platter right now. But if you were to do in a bar, you could sit out black beans, ground bison, roasted fish, your dips. And then if you have meat eaters and plant based eaters, you can really, you know, appease both of them. 

So I’ve got this and then if you go back to my bone broth episode where I spoke about gut health, I made a cauliflower rice that cauliflower rice would be amazing with this. Okay, so we’ve got our beans then I’m going to put some tomatoes on here, just like this. Oh my gosh, okay. And I want to put some scallions, lots of scallions and then I’m going to put a ton of fresh cilantro leaves, like this. And let’s get into this nacho cheese. So mix it, get a nacho cheese here. And I’m just going to do a nice drizzle, a big drizzle. And I will leave this bowl out because I always want like a little extra on the side. And this sauce y’all is so great. If you’re making like a charcuterie board, and you want to dip your veggies in it. It’s amazing. Dipping like toast points or pita points in it. Alright, so there’s our nachos and or nacho cheese. 

And then a little bit of sour cream. Okay, I’m just gonna drizzle like a little bit of sour cream right across the top. Look at that. How amazing. Okay, messy is good. Okay, what else are we putting on here? Oh my gosh, we’re putting some of our avocado on here. We’ll put some big dollops of Olive avocado right across the top. Okay, and then I’m going to do a squeeze of lime. All the way around all over, give it a little zing. I’m going to top with more scallions for presentation. And I’m going to put a little pinch of salt. Okay. Oh my gosh. How good does this look? Check out these nachos. I mean, they look like the real deal. Right? You’ve got your cassava tortillas with tomato, black beans, sour cream, nacho cheese, avocado. I mean, it’s everything. This is literally a full complete meal without wrecking havoc on our bodies. 

So the one great thing about these nachos is you can eat them at room temperature. You notice that I didn’t heat anything up. If you want these to be hot, you can totally heat up your nacho cheese. Pour the nacho cheese over the cassava tortillas first, throw them under the broiler for like one minute and then pull them out and then you can top it with all the toppings but I find that this is satiating. I love it. Exactly as is, but I wanted to give you that other option. And I can’t wait to get in here and try this. Oh my god. I can’t wait for you to try this cheese. It tastes exactly like the real deal. Oh my gosh is so delicious. I can’t wait to dive into our mac and cheese next and our banana ice cream.

Mac and Cheese

Okay, are you ready for the creamiest mac and cheese? All right. I’m so excited to do this with you guys. First of all, I grew up on mac and cheese. It was the Kraft mac and cheese that always wreaked havoc on my system. Until finally I realized there’s a different way to enjoy my comfort foods without feeling awful. And like I said before, like I don’t want to feel deprived when it comes to food. Food is my life. Okay, I restrict myself from mac and cheese for almost 30 years y’all. 

Noodles

All right, so I’ve already boiled our pasta and I want to show you the pasta that I’m using today. I’m definitely using a gluten free pasta you can use whatever pasta you want. I’m using this brand that’s actually made out of garbanzo beans. One serving has 20 grams of protein. Okay, so this is a great way to really sneak in that extra protein, specially if you’ve got any picky kids. I can’t seem to get enough protein into my nephew, but he will eat this. Okay, so I’ve got my two boxes of pasta here. 

Cheese

Then I’m going to add in some almond cream cheese. Now, this is Kite Hill is the brand I did not make this. This is why this mac and cheese is really easy. Okay, this dish takes under 10 minutes to make. Kite Hill has a delicious, really clean cream cheese made out of almonds. So I’m adding my cream cheese. I’m also going to add a couple tablespoons of plant based butter. So I’ll just cut off like that. And it’s the Myyoko’s brand. It’s made out of cashews, it’s delicious. Again, you can use any butter of choice here, and I’m going to give this a nice stir. Okay, the cream cheese and the butter is melting, making this nice and creamy and delicious. 

Magic Sauce

Hey, now, we’re going to make a sauce because I want this to be kind of like a version of my childhood favorite, the Kraft mac and cheese. If you want to keep this white, you can totally keep it just like this and add a little bit nutritional yeast. And then you can have more of like a white mac and cheese but I like the yellow mac and cheese. It reminds me of being a kid. Okay, I’m going to sit this behind me. And we’re going to make our mac and cheese sauce. 

What is the Secret Magic Ingredient You Use in Mac n’ Cheese?

Roasted carrots.

So I’ve already roasted these carrots, it’s about one cup a little bit over a cup. And what I love about this again, is that you can really sneak in healthy ingredients in this sauce. So like my nephew is six, he would never touch a roasted carrot. But with this sauce, he will definitely eat the sauce. We’re using cashews. So I’ve got my cashews. They’ve already been soaked and rinsed. Okay. And then I’m going to add a little bit of apple cider vinegar for the acid. Some more of nutritional yeast to give it that cheesy flavor. I’m going to put a big pinch of salt, about one and a half teaspoons here. And then I’ve got onion powder and a little bit of nutmeg. Just a little bit of fresh nutmeg really brings out the cheesiness flavor, the onion flavor and gives it that perfect zing that really reminds me of that Kraft mac and cheese sauce. 

Okay. Then I’m going to add a splash of water. I’m going to start with a little bit of water we can always add more. Okay, and now I’m going to give this a blend. Okay, let’s see our sauce. Oh, yeah. Look at this sauce. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait for you to try it. I have to taste it. Oh my god. It’s so sweet. And cheesy. Hmm. So good. 

All right. Now I’m going to grab our pasta. And we’re going to add all of our cheese into here. Okay. Really, this is going to be so decadent. This is guilt-free decadence, y’all. Nothing’s better than that. Okay, let’s do a nice stir. Look at how creamy this is. I have said this to so many cheese eaters and they really are blown away. They cannot believe how much this tastes like real cheese. It’s very exciting. Loaded with so much protein, fiber, healthy fat. Of course, we’ve snuck in our carrots, and we’ve got the protein pasta. 

Protein Hack

If you want to add even more protein, I hack that I do for my family especially my nephew’s is I add a couple tablespoons of collagen and now this would not that would not make this plant-based but I do add collagen to most things for them because it’s really hard to get in enough protein into their diets. Okay, so this is looking absolutely gorgeous. Okay, now, it’s also really delicious. If you want to bake this you can put this in a casserole dish and bake it for about 15 minutes and then top it with the crunchiness of the Brazil nuts. So I’m gonna plate us and make us a little bowl. Okay, look at how creamy this is. Oh my god. That is a nice serving mac and cheese. I am so ready for it. Oh my gosh. Okay. 

Crunchy Topping

Now we’re going to add some Brazil nuts on top. I love the Brazil nuts. It gives us an a nice little crunch. You can also use toasted breadcrumbs, but the Brazil nuts, I really liked the nuttiness and the texture. Alright, so I’m going to chop these up and it adds a little bit more plant protein. It’s all about the protein. Okay, these okay, look at this. If this isn’t a comfort meal right here, y’all, this is the creamiest mac and cheese. I cannot wait for you to try it. 

But before I dive into this, I’m going to make some banana ice cream because it really finishes off my favorite three comfort meals. And if I had one dessert left, and somebody said, “What is your last dessert that you can ever have?  It would be ice cream. I grew up on ice cream. I love ice cream. Okay, I’m gonna make this ice cream that seriously is so guilt-free and delicious. I’m going to rinse my blender really quick because we’re gonna make it in the Vitamix really fast.

Banana Ice Cream

Okay, it’s time to make dessert, the best part. All right, we’re using frozen bananas. So I want to show you what I did. I took about four bananas and sliced them into about inch thick slices. And I freeze them flat in the freezer and then whenever I want to make ice cream, you can just pull out the baggies and it’s ready to go. That’s the easiest way to do. It takes a little bit of prep, but once you get the hang of it, it’s so easy. You can also use frozen bananas obviously for your smoothies. And a couple other episodes. I’ll show you my favorite smoothie bowls. So my whole freezer is literally layered baggies of frozen vegetables and frozen fruit. Make sure when you freeze your bananas that you don’t roll them into a ball. It’ll be one huge big ice cube make sure they’re flat. I know that might seem silly, but I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened at my restaurants and then it takes forever to blend. 

Alright, so I’ve got my four bananas. Okay, then I’m going to add some cinnamon because it seriously makes everything tastes better. So cinnamon then I’m going to add about half a cup of almond butter. And the almond butter really makes this. It makes this so creamy. Okay, I’ve also made this with tahini before banana tahini ice cream. I mean, come on, it’s like the best. And then I’m going to do a small splash of almond milk. Just a little bit like a fourth a cup. We can always add more but I want this to be really thick. And I’m going to do a pinch of salt. Okay. All right. Now I’m gonna blend away this is takes a little bit of some muscle okay. Oh my gosh. So thick. So creamy. Oh my gosh. Okay. This is my favorite part.

Top it Up!

Oh, yeah. Perfect. So thick. So I want to add some of my favorite toppings. So I have some Marcona almonds, which I think are the sexiest nut in the world. So I’ve got some toasted Marcona almonds here. Okay, I’m also going to add some paleo chocolate chips that are made with coconut sugar. I mean, why not? And a little pinch of salt. Okay, oh, check out this creamy banana ice cream. 

It’s really fun to test this out on your real ice cream eaters and see if they like it. Because it really hits all the spots. I have to try this oh my gosh. It’s perfect. It’s really the perfect ending to a night of comfort food. Thank you for joining me today. Take care of yourself, your mind, your body, and your soul. And if you love this episode today, give it a thumbs up. If you have any questions, please comment in the section below so we can stay connected. Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can be an active part of my vision of a healthy world through food. And remember that healthy is the new sexy and I’ll see you next time. Bye!

The post Chef Amber’s Wholicious™ – Episode 5 What Are Healthy Comfort Foods appeared first on Chef Amber.

Gentle Detoxing & Cleansing

You can make a big life changing move by using gentle detoxing and cleansing methods. There are a lot of misconceptions in this area that can be very confusing. However, many have abused fasting, detoxing and cleansing as a way to diet which is not mindful and I’m speaking from experience. Okay, I’m Amber Caudle, aka chef Amber. And I’ve been a professional chef for over 25 years. A holistic lifestyle advocate, Author of the cookbook ‘Sexy Nourishing Food to Fuel Your Mind, Body and Soul’ and your host of the show Wholicious. I have helped and coached 1000s of people over the past 10 years to balance their lives through healthy delicious food. And I know about all the misconceptions buzzing around when it comes to cleansing and dieting. 

When is a Good Time to do a Detox?

You could do a detox and cleanse when you’re feeling rundown, fighting an immune challenge, or after a big trip where maybe you’ve eaten some foods that your body’s not used to.

What do I really mean by cleansing and detoxing mindfully?

First, we want to set an intention before cleansing. By setting an intention before you start will help connect you to your big WHY which will help you stay grounded. We always intend to heal and strengthen the body and gain mental clarity when we’re cleansing. Gentle detoxing starts in our brain and in the mind. 

Healthy Intentions

So a really great one would be, ‘I intend to let my body let go of any inflammation and pain.’ Find your powerful intention. If you go into a cleanse without a mindful intention, and use it for a quick fix, it will backfire on you. And believe me, I’m speaking from experience because I did it for 30 years. That’s really when a shift begins. What you put into your body matters right now. And you will hear me say that 1000 times. This can be food, your thoughts, your emotions, and all impulses and impressions during the day. So when we cleanse, we’ll use it more of a reset. 

When you constantly worry about your situation, your job, the economy, your health, your family’s health, the list can go on and on. You get it, right? All of your anxiety and worry and the daily stressors can really negatively affect how your body functions, especially the liver, which is our detoxifying organ and the central organ of metabolism. 

What’s an Option for Cleansing?

One healthy option I want to give you for cleansing is pick one day a week to eat plant based. It’s a really great way to start and will give your body a break from digesting so much food.

What’s an example of cleansing meals for a day?

I would start with my smoothie in the morning, eat my salad for lunch, and finish with my soup at dinner. You could do that for one day as a reset. 

Maybe it’s a Friday, maybe every Friday, you eat plant based. For myself, I usually do a whole week a couple times a year focusing on a plant based diet with raw and cooked foods to really give my body and my organs a break from all the digesting. I am not a big fan or promoter of fasting or juice cleanses anymore because it can really trigger disordered eating. And honestly, I really think we need more fat in our diet so our body can absorb the nutrients.

Today’s Episode

Today’s menu is a great intro to cleansing and will give your body a break from digesting so much food. We’re going to make a detox smoothie. Then we’re going to make a raw carrot and beet salad with avocado, cilantro and pumpkin seeds. And then we’ll make a creamy sweet potato cauliflower soup topped with Brazil nuts. All right, let’s get cleansing! Okay, let’s go over our detox menu for today. Like I said before, this is a great menu if you want to do a one day, three day or five day reset. Alright, first I’m going to start on our detox smoothie. Then I’ll move on to our coconut cauliflower sweet potato soup. And then we’ll finish off with our raw carrot beet salad. 

Detox Smoothie Recipe

Okay, let’s go. This smoothie is a favorite. I know I say that about everything. But this smoothie I’ve been drinking for years, it feels so good. And I mentioned earlier that I don’t do juice cleanses anymore. One, I feel like we need more fat when we’re cleansing to be able to absorb the vitamins and the minerals but two, as a person with that struggled with eating disorders and disordered eating. That juicing was a way for me basically to starve myself. So when I’m cleansing and detoxing, I really like to have a little bit more fiber and fat and protein. So this is a great liquid meal to start the day. And the base of this is I’m actually going to use a little bit of water, and we’re going to make our own almond milk. 

If you caught episode two, then you saw that I’ve already showed this hack and it’s my favorite. So instead of using coconut milk or storebought almond milk or making almond milk, right from soaking almonds and straining and all the things. We’re going to add water and a couple tablespoons of nut butter. So it’s going to give this smoothie nice protein and fat. And I always say when I’m cooking, there’s many options for substitutions. 

What are Other Options You Can Substitute for Butter?

So you can do tahini here, cashew butter, pecan butter, nut butter. 

Celery So Good

So this is going to be our quick almond milk, okay? All right, so we’ve got our almond milk, right. I’m going to add some celery. Celery, high end fiber, so many benefits of celery, the celery phase, I don’t think it will ever end it feels so good. So I’m going to add celery. It’s also a great way to get in celery if you don’t like the flavor because it’s going to be hidden under the banana and the blueberries. I’m going to add some wild blueberries. So in this smoothie, there’s a ton of ingredients that help with antioxidants and removing heavy metals from the body. One we’ve got wild organic blueberries. 

What is Duluth?

It’s got a little bit of a seaweed flavor and is high in iodine. I actually started doing duluth when I was healing my thyroid.

Duluth is a hard sell. Not gonna lie, but underneath the banana and the blueberries, you can’t even taste it. So I’m going to do like a big teaspoon here. It’s something that you’ll have to talk to your natural doctor about. But it really helped me because I had very, very low iodine levels. And it really helped me heal my metabolism and my hormones. 

What are Some Benefits of Spirulina?

It’s loaded with B vitamins and helps protect from radiation and also helps from pulling heavy metals from the body. 

So far, you’ve got the blueberries, the duluth and the spirulina. Then to add some more plant protein and some omegas, I’m going to add a couple tablespoons here of chia seeds. Also, it’ll make this nice and thick. I love some chia seeds. Okay, and our banana. I’m going to do like a big half of a banana here. Add that potassium, and for the protein powder today, I’m gonna use new zest as protein powder. 

Careful with Protein Powders

Now the reason that I like this protein is because there’s only three ingredients, it sustainably source, it’s clean, it’s made from peas, it doesn’t bloat me out, give me gas, you know, you’ve got to be really careful these days with protein powders because if you turn around and you look at the ingredients, there could be 10 15 20 ingredients, half of them we can’t pronounce. It’s not necessary. So be really careful with your protein powders, there can be a lot of sneaky ingredients that we don’t need in our bodies. Okay, and also there can be a lot of added sneaky sugars, which I never really understood that either. 

So this is pure protein, we’re gonna get about 20 ish grams of protein even more on top of almond butter and the chia seeds. Okay, so what else are we forgetting? This is it. Let’s blend away. Okay. I’m gonna give this a quick blend. Okay, perfect. Okay, Love it. I mean, seriously, all this really tastes like is banana and blueberries, and then you’ve got all this amazing stuff underneath. 

Sneaking in Healthy Ingredients

I’ve had a lot of parents feed this to their kids, they can actually sneak in the healthy ingredients underneath. It’s all about getting sneaky with nutrition. Y’all. Okay. All right. Now, like I said, I love breaking my intermittent fasting with this in the morning. I drink my lemon water, maybe I’ll have my Tumeric latte. Or I’ll go straight to this. Starting the day off with liquid and ending the day with liquid with our soup really gives our body a chance to really take a break from all the digestion of all the solid foods that we eat. So this is something that I’m gonna be drinking with Sandy a little later, and she’s gonna love it. Delicious. 

Cauliflower Soup Recipe

All right, so next we’re going to jump right into our raw carrot and beet salad and our sweet potato cauliflower soup. Okay, you ready to make soup? I am. I love soup and I literally eat it all year round, not just in the winter. Okay, let’s get in here. So this is a sweet potato cauliflower soup with coconut milk. And right now I’m gonna do a little quick peel and a dice for our sweet potato. Best thing about the way I make soups y’all is you can chop up all your vegetables really roughly, throw them in, boil them, and blend it. That’s it. Okay, we’re not going to saute. And also we are cuts don’t have to be perfect, right? Because we’re going to blend the crap out of this. 

White Potatoe

All right, so now you can also use any sort of sweet potato or yam, but I like to use a white one for this specifically with the coconut milk and the cauliflower. Because it reminds me of a creamy potato soup. And I’m not anti-potato, but when I’m cleansing, I don’t eat potato when I cleanse. Okay, so I do a little bit less starchy lysine, lower glycemic, and this is also a great paleo soup. Okay. So for those of you that are unfamiliar with paleo. Paleo, no grain, no dairy, no gluten, but also they don’t do beans or potato, okay. Alright, so I’m gonna give this a quick little dice here. Rough dice, chop, I guess, more so, and I love a blended soup while I’m cleansing. 

Soup Cleanse

And in fact, I’ve done soup cleanses instead of a juice cleanse, meaning I’ll drink like three or four soups during the day along with my bone broth, because an all liquid day really gives your body a chance to take a break from digesting all the solid food all the time. So soups are a great way to get a liquid meal in without it always having to be a smoothie. And it adds a little extra fat and plant protein and fiber and it’s warm. 

Okay, here we go. So I’m going to do sweet potato. We’re going to add this to our pot here. All right, oh, well, not what that beet. Okay. All right, that is for our carrot and beet salad. All right. Okay, I have about one small onion here, put the onion in. And then I’ve got one small head of cauliflower about five six cups. Now add the cauliflower in. And then I’m going to add some full-fat coconut milk and a little bit of water. 

Creamy Coconut Milk

I love the coconut milk, it makes it super creamy. You can definitely sub any liquid of choice if you want to do almond milk or if there’s another seed or nut milk of your choice. Okay, I’m gonna turn this on. And we’re going to crank this baby to that medium. I’m going to add a couple teaspoons of salt. Okay, a little bit of black pepper. And my three garlic cloves and I don’t need to chop them because we’re going to blend it. So I’m going to add the garlic cloves in. So I’m going to give this a little stir. We’re all set in here. I’m actually going to add a little time sprig. Save a little bit for garnish. Okay, here we are. And we’re going to let that cook for about 35/40 minutes. Okay, I’m going to cover it. And all right, we’re gonna let that go. 

Carrot Beet Salad Recipe

Okay, let’s get into our raw carrot and beet salad. This salad is the ultimate detox salad. It’s loaded with vitamins and minerals that really helps detox the liver. And what I really love about the salad too, is it’s so high in fiber. And it’s really great to help with elimination. 

Elimination

And we haven’t really spoken a lot about elimination. It’s actually one of my favorite topics, but we’re talking about detox and cleansing. And so it’s really important to eat enough fiber while we’re detoxing and cleansing and have really great elimination. 

Beets Help the Liver Detox

Okay, so we are going to shred the carrots and the beets. And we’re going to keep this raw. This is actually a staple in my house. I don’t actually just eat this when I’m detoxing. You know, we really have to take care of our liver on the daily because our liver gets taxed by outside stressors and daily life and our diets and everything. So it’s really great to really have foods that can help detox the liver, and beets are one of them. All right, so and our raw carrot salad, like I said, it will help with constipation and help with regularity. Okay, so I already have some beets and carrots, but you know, you can just peel your beat, and then do a nice little grate here. 

Okay, and I’m making a mess, it is messy. And I’m gonna grate a little bit of carrot also. Okay, so luckily, I was prepared for y’all. And I already graded a bunch of beets and carrots, so we can just put this right in here and add that we just cleaned really amazing. Okay, so we’ve got carrots and beets right here. For our acid. I’ve got a little bit of lemon juice here. And I’m actually going to add a little bit more lemon, because I’m just feeling it. So we’re gonna add a little bit of lemon. And then I’m going to add some sea salt, about a teaspoon, a pinch of black pepper. And to do a nice drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. And really nice to find a really nice organic extra virgin olive oil here. 

Spice & Nuttiness

Hey, we’ll add a lot of spiciness and nuttiness. And then I have a nice big handful of Italian parsley. So what I’ll do is I’m just going to do a rough chop here, don’t need to go crazy and I use the stems. So the stems are loaded with vitamins, they actually also help pull heavy metals from the body. So and really great for the liver. So I’m going to add the parsley. And I like to add pumpkin seeds in and on top for textures. So I’m going to add a little bit of pumpkin seeds there. And then we’re going to add this avocado. So this is going to be I think we’re going to do the whole the whole avocado here. So just gonna put this in big chunks because I’m gonna mix this up, actually with my hands. Okay. And so this avocado does not have to be perfect. So we’re gonna mash it up. Actually, the avocado is going to be kind of part of the creaminess of the dressing along with the lemon and the olive oil. Okay, there’s that. Okay, perfect. 

So I’m gonna get in here with my hands. I love to use my hands in the kitchen. Don’t be scared using your hands in the kitchen. Really get in there can get a little bit a little messy. It’s your salad. Okay, this is going to be creamy. And it’s a little sweet from the carrots and the beets. The acid from the lemon. Okay, perfect. And I don’t like to mash up the avocado all the way. I like to leave a couple pieces kind of big like that. I’m gonna put this to the side. Okay, and I’m gonna wash my hands. 

Finishing up the Soup

Okay, let’s check out our soup. Okay, it looks perfect. Go. Hey, it’s cooked down. Nicely. All right. Now I’m going to finish that with a little bit of orange juice from the juice of one orange and then a little bit more lemon. Okay, so we’ll add a little bit of lemon. And now I’m going to blend this okay, this is the last step here is to blend it. Make this nice and creamy. 

And then we’ll plate our soup and our salad. Alright, so I’ve got a label here. And I love this soup too because soups freeze really easily. So I’ll make a big batch you can freeze these in you know plastic cups in the refrigerator or make a half batch this kind of a big batch but I love a soup. Okay, let’s see. Okay, amazing and it looks like cream of potato. And it actually tastes a little bit like creamy potato. Okay, so let’s finish these babies. Hey. All right, so for the soup. Oh yeah. Okay, for the soup. I like to finish it with some fresh thyme leaves. Okay. 

Why are Brazil Nuts Good for Us?

High in selenium. It really supports cardiovascular health, supports the immune system, great for thyroid health, and it supports the production of glutathione, which is our body’s antioxidant.

And then Brazil nuts. Love some Brazil nuts. Four Brazil nuts a day gives us selenium in our diet. Okay, so I’m going to put a little bit of raw Brazil nuts on top, it’s going to add a nice little crunch, give us some extra fat and some extra protein. And then of course, I can’t do anything without sumach. Give it a nice lemony flavor at the end, a little bit of zing. And I’m going to do one nice drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Okay, look at this soup. Okay, so gorgeous with the crunchiness from the Brazil nuts, this thyme leaves, it really, really, really is going to taste like a creamy potato soup. 

Pumpkin Seeds

Hey, all right, let’s finish our salad. Okay, so we’re going to do a nice big scoop of our salad here, just like this. And how gorgeous is the salad? Come on. Hey, and then I’m going to top it with some of our sprouted raw pumpkin seeds. And pumpkin seeds high in magnesium. Really actually supports heart health and is claimed to help with weight loss. So really great when detoxing and cleansing. 

I mean, this meal right here, y’all, this is, this is a cleansing meal that’s going to make you feel so good, but you’re not going to feel deprived, you’re not going to feel starving. For me, it doesn’t trigger any of my disordered eating. So if you want to use this meal today, we made our smoothie, we have our salad and our soup. 

In fact, every Friday if you want to do a plant-based day, or you could say you know what I want to cleanse for three days, five days, seven days. You can eat this meal for the whole week if you want, okay. You’re getting enough vitamins, fiber, protein. Going to feel so good. You’re going to give your body a chance to really relax and detox and digest the food. And sometimes I’ll drink the smoothie for breakfast, I’ll drink the smoothie for dinner, and have an early dinner and then have a nice window of intermittent fasting. And then maybe have the salad and soup for lunch. So you can kind of play around with this. I can’t wait to share this with Sandy. I know she’s gonna love it. 

Special Guest Sandy Abrams

All right, y’all. I’m so excited to introduce you to my friend, also entrepreneur and Author of the book ‘Breathe to Succeed’ Sandy Abrams. Sandy, thank you so much for being here. 

SA: Thank you for having me. 

CA: Welcome. You’ve always inspired me and always remind me to breathe and how important breath is and breath is our lifeforce. So thank you. 

SA: Thank you, and likewise. You always inspire me to eat well!

CA: Awesome. And so today’s episode is all about cleansing and detoxing the body and really having a reset and feeling good in our bodies. And so I thought it was perfect to have you come on today and talk about how we can cleanse and detox the mind with breath. But before we get started, I made us some detox smoothies, so we can stay fueled during our conversation. And so we’ve got blueberries and duluth and almond butter, banana. We’ve got chia seeds, celery, and of course some spirulina. So this is a really great reset smoothie detox smoothie, it feels so good. So cheers.

SA: Thank you feel so good. So good. So delicous, nourishing.

CA: Alright, well,let’s start by telling me what inspired you to get into breathwork? Like, why did you become so passionate to start spreading the word about breath and writing ‘Breathe to Succeed?’

SA: I’ve been practicing yoga and breath work since 1989. And normally I’m sort of a fast paced type A entrepreneur, and breath really changed my life back in 1989 when I first started with yoga. I used to be known as the girl who would leave yoga class right before savasana because who’s got time to sit still. But then I learned that lying still at the end of class is what yoga is all about. And for the first time in my entire life, when I actually stayed for shavasana. And I took three deep breaths, I actually felt that grounded, centered stillness and the quiet that made me so curious about well, if I can do that here on my yoga mat, I want to take it off the mat and use it in my life. And so I’ve been using it in my life ever since. And the reason why I was inspired to share it was because I started seeing such burnout in with my entrepreneurial friends, but also in the business sector and with parents and in really everything every sector, because technology had revolutionized the way that we work and we live and we’re connected to our devices. It’s just the way that we live.

CA: It’s the way that we live. It’s the truth. I

SA: f that’s the truth, but there are consequences to that. So breath is the antidote. And it’s like nourishment for the mind. It’s hydration for the mind. And it really helps us feel more in control of our emotions and our mindset. And our energy, which is a big part of holistic wellness.

CA: when I finally learned to breathe, it was a game changer. And I was giggling the whole time you were because we’re so much alike. We’re fast moving entrepreneurs. We’re always on the go, right? And so when I finally I was I would be in Shavasana. I was like, Who the heck has time like, I got stuff to do y’all. Right? I would totally, I was like, going over my grocery list. And I wasn’t even taking the breaths. And when I finally started to learn to breathe, it was a game changer for me to be like, Well, I’m now becoming present with myself and my body. This is actually helping my stress, my anxiety. And I became addicted about 10 years ago when I finally learned to breathe. And you know, breathe is our breath is our lifeforce. And it’s free. And it’s such a gift. And it has such an overall impact on our health. So I kind of want to touch on breath and health because yeah.

SA: Yeah, I love the way that you explain that breath is life. And it is I look at it as this human superpower that we all have. And that’s the beauty of it is that breath equalizes well being because every single person around the globe has access to this medicine to this nourishment. Yeah, that we all have. And the great thing is, is that we have the power to override our nervous systems. So a lot of people think about breath that it’s only for calming our nervous system, which is terrific. And I would say most people use it for that. But you can also balance your nervous system with breath. And you can also boost your nervous system with different breath tools. So just like I like to say that a calorie isn’t just a calorie and a breath is just a breath. 

CA: It’s just not! I love that you said that. Because so one of the episodes of Wholicious, I’ll demonstrate Breath of Fire. And so for me, that’s one of my breath, I always go to whether it be in my car, not when I’m driving, or I’ll step into the bathroom at work when I’m so tired. And even here filming Wholicious I’d get really tired. And I start on that breath. So like I love how you mentioned a lot of people think breath is like to calm you down all the time, which like you said is fantastic. But not our each breath is created the same because there’s energizing breath too. So definitely the crew of Wholicious has heard me do my loud, oh, Goddess breath, which really just like I do it before I go on stage and just take a breath that helps me really feel embodied. Calm down, get centered. So breath is everything. And breath is so important right now these last, you know, here as we’re dealing with COVID and really wanting to build our immune system. So do you want to touch on that point a little bit? 

SA: Yeah, breath has been just a saving grace for so many people during COVID. First of all, it made us I’d say one of the silver linings of COVID was that we’ve become more self aware of of our breath, we’ve become more protective of our respiratory system, because we fear losing that. But at the same time, then we want to nourish it, we want to exercise it and we want to get like the optimal gas exchange, the oxygen, the carbon dioxide, when everything is like a well oiled machine, just like your gut when the respiratory system is also working optimally. We feel our best. Yeah. And that’s what’s really important for health. And mindfulness paired with breath makes it exponentially as powerful because like he said, your goddess breath. I love that because you embody that feeling then. The minute you do that breath, you create your best mindset and energy for what you need in that moment. Yes. And that’s what I hope people begin to understand and experiment with because yeah, there’s a breath for everyone and everything and every different mindset and mood and perspective that you need. There’s a way to breathe, to help you embody that and create that within yourself.

CA: I love that it’s so important. And what I want to know is what are a couple breaths that we can go over? Like what are some takeaways that you can give to the Wholicous community, some practical breath tools that they can incorporate into their daily lives for holistic living? Okay, good, because I know you’ve got a bunch of breaths. So what are maybe like three breaths that you want to share with with the Wholicious community.

SA: The first one is to get out of like autopilot chest breathing. The shallow, rapid, quick breath that that we mostly live in. The problem with that is it actually leaves us in a low grade state of chronic stress. Okay, and talk about inflammation and everything. That’s what happens when all we’re doing is breathing rapidly and shallowly. So the first tool you is a balancing breath, also known as coherent breath when you make the inhales and the exhales to a count of five, or six, five or six, so inhale and are we inhaling through the nose through the nose. The reason

we inhale through the nose is because it heats and it filters and it treats the air that’s coming into our lungs. Versus if your mouth is open, and you’re taking it in, you’re not filtering that air at all. Okay, it’s going directly into the lungs. So bacteria, germs, everything is invited in. So inhale through the nose to count of five or six, and then exhaling through the nose or mouth. To five or six. Most of the time when you’re breathing normally, throughout the day, you want to breathe, inhaling and exhaling through the nose. But when I just do those little mini breath practices, I feel more of a sense of release when I exhale through my mouth. 

CA: Yeah, me too. 

SA: Totally fine. Yeah. So that would be the coherent breathing is one to try to do as often as possible.

CA: Okay, as often as possible throughout the day, it doesn’t mean you have to be stressed or anything. It’s more like, it’s just the breath to go to. 

SA: Exactly. And it doesn’t even have to be like hard, like light as a feather.

Oh, it can be light as a feather. 

CA: I’m glad because I want to be over here like, yeah, no,

no, right, like getting in there. So it doesn’t have to be like that, it could just be

really helpful. 

SA: Because otherwise less is more smart. It’s a very common, okay, too, because people feel like if they breathe in really hard like that, okay. And it’s just that’s a common reflux or compromised to it, but like that, really. And then if you picture like a feather under your nose on the exhale, you don’t want to move that further. And it’s gentle, I love that. 

CA: And nobody even needs to know you’re doing it. Nobody needs to know. Okay, this is brilliant. I love that be the default mode. Not this anymore. 

SA: Yeah, not that’s just like suggest you get used to starting it at the belly with your diaphragm. Because if you’re not using your diaphragm is known as your second heart. Yeah. And when you don’t use that, and you’re just starting, breathing like that, it’s yeah, you’re doing your system harm. It’s you’re doing your system, no favors. So if you start the breath down with your diaphragm, and you bring the belly out laterally, light as the feather and for five or six, how light as a feather five to six, that should be your default breath during the day. And if that seems odd, at first, just try it. Try to integrate it every time you refill your water bottle, or walking into your car or in an elevator or whatever, attach it to something that you’re already doing. Make that sort of the new routine of like, Oh, I’m also going to think about how I’m breathing. 

CA: Okay, I love that breath. Okay, so that’s breath. One. I love that one.

SA: Coherent breathing balanced, five, five or six. Okay, the next one I would love to share is alternate nostril breathing. Okay, which is also another balancing breath. But what you do is you gently close one nostril will close the right nostril. Okay, we’ll inhale through the left side to that same count five or six. And then once you take that inhale, you close the left side, you exhale on the right. Okay, and then you inhale on the same side that you exhale. So okay. Inhaling right, close right. Exhale, left, inhale, close, left, exhale, right. And what’s happening is when you inhale through your right nostril, you’re connecting to the left side of your brain, which is your analytical, logical side. When you’re inhaling through the left nostril, you connect to the right side, the more creative side. Also, the left nostril is the calming nostril. So if you really want to calm down, you can also close your right nostril and do both inhale and exhale through the left side. 

CA: I love this. Okay. 

SA: And then if you want a little boost, like in the morning, okay, close your left nostril. Inhale and exhale, both on the right side. 

CA: This is a great tip. 

SA: So that’s both balancing, but it could also just be calming or boosting.

CA: Calming or boosting. Okay, so if I’m feeling stressed or anxious, then I can I can get in there with this alternate nostril technique. Yeah. Okay. 

SA: And we actually our nostrils alternate on their own throughout the day, but this is a way to take charge so that if you can test it during the day, you can like, place your finger under your nose and exhale, and I can see right now my left nostril is dominant. Oh, okay. Um, right now interesting if we wanted to get a boost, which says a lot yeah. Calm. But so if we wanted a little boost, we would close our left nostril and breathe in and out on right sides.

CA: Love this. Okay, this is a great takeaway. Okay, so those were two breaths. Okay, what’s your it’s so simple to so simple and it’s free. I know. It’s so easy. We all have access to it right?

Exactly. Yeah. 

SA: My favorite one for boosting is what you already talked about is Breath of Fire. Okay, the quick I do like around a 15 of them, okay, I’m three times, okay. But I rest in between, okay. And I call it espresso in the form of breath work.

CA: Same. it’s my morning coffee. If I’m feeling exhausted, I always do a little Breath of Fire. And, I mean, I when I was demoing it, you know, I’ll say, Hey, you guys can do this in the car. When it’s parked. You can do it in the bathroom at work. I mean, sometimes I’ll be so tired at work, or I need a little bit of an energy boost and I’m not drinking coffee. So I go in the bathroom and I just I start to breathe. So yeah.

SA: Exactly. And the one thing I would add to breath of fire sometimes in between rounds is posture. So you can do like Power Pose. Okay, so that really boosts your energy. We’re used to texting and our laptop. Okay, you in between rounds of Breath of Fire. You want to do the power pose. Okay, it’s so empowering and does give you a boost. 

CA: Okay. Should we do one round of 15? Yeah. Okay, let’s do one round of 15. Okay.

SA: Okay, so close eyes. Yeah. Both feet on the floor for more grounding, okay, palms face down on your thighs. And we focus on a rapid exhale. And the inhale just happens automatically, you know? Yeah. So it looks like this. Let’s do it together. Ready? And then breathe normally. Maybe power pose. 

CA: Power pose it? Yes!

SA: And you can also on the inhale. And on the exhale, give yourself a hug. 

CA: I love this. 

SA: And then you can do it again.

CA: It’s just already I have energy total me It’s amazing. It I love how you call it your morning Espresso because I always call it my morning coffee. Like I’m like, there’s so many ways to wake yourself up in the morning and I will share in other episodes dry brushing, slapping and Breath of Fire. I mean, there’s so many ways to do it besides going to that sugar or the coffee like we have access to our breath. So yeah, so brilliant. So I love these three breaths. We have the rapid Breath of Fire the espresso morning coffee. We have the alternate nostril breathing, which you can use for energizing or calming. And then we have the coherent breath for balance.

SA: What about one more? Okay, let’s do one more Lion’s Breath. Which you know. 

CA: Okay, love lion’s breath, right? Explain that lion’s breath. Yeah, and the benefits. 

SA: So Lion’s Breath is just the quickest way to immediately exercise to immediately let go of any negative or stagnant energy in your body. It’s great because kids can do it. Older people can do it. It’s never too late to learn Lyons breath. And who doesn’t need that during the day just to immediately get rid of any negative or stagnant and make it your own. And that’s I’m glad you brought that up. Because breath is customizable. And just like food, it’s individualized as people like the Keto, the vegan. Everything that you know, from your restaurants, people are always thinking about exactly what they want in their food. And quality matters. And same with breath though. You can make it your own on lion’s breath, you can shake out your hands, you can shake out your body. You do whatever makes you feel good. So Lion’s Breath looks like this. You close your eyes. Take a long, slow, deep inhale. And exhale. 

CA: I know it’s a goofy thing to do. Right when we started doing it. So basically lions breath, your tongue goes out and your eyes are rolling up.

SA: But and you can’t do it and not

laugh you know. 

CA: Right? You can’t be serious and sad after.

SA: And laughter is breath too. Yeah. So I do that every single morning when I wake up, I just do three lion’s breath, not even necessarily to get rid of any worry or thought. Yeah, just to like clear.

CA: Thank you for reminding me of that. Yeah, thank you for remind me of the Lion’s Breath. Because I used to do Lion’s Breath and it kind of, it’s not my rotation. So now I’m gonna think of you when I get up in the morning. With all the other 100 things I do in the morning for my morning routine, I will definitely do a lion’s breath. Well, I know that we could talk forever and ever and ever. This is so fun. I’m inspired. I actually feel like I learned a lot today. So thank you so much and stepping up. Yes, you’re welcome. And I want you to tell everyone where they can find you.

SA: Sure on Instagram and Twitter at Sandy Abrams and my website is theceom.com.

CA: Okay, excellent. And you guys definitely order her book. I love your book. I think when it came out and gave it to like 10 people for Christmas that year. I love it. So thank you again. I appreciate you. And this was such a joy. I can’t wait to connect again.

SA: Me too. Thank you for sharing me with the Wholicious community. I’m excited to be part of it. 

CA: You’re welcome.

Thanks all so much for joining us. Today take care of yourself, your mind, your body and your soul. And if you felt inspired by the breath today and you love this episode, give it a thumbs up. And if you have any questions or comments please comment below because I love staying connected with you guys.

The post Chef Amber’s Wholicious™ – Episode 4 How To Detox with Special Guest, Sandy Abrams appeared first on Chef Amber.

What’s Our 2nd Brain?

Our gut is considered our second brain? 

Your vagus nerve is the nerve that goes directly from your gut to your brain and is responsible for healthy communication between your gut and brain. But it also controls almost every aspect of digestion. If your gut is unhealthy and suffering from any gastric issues or leaky gut, this can affect your mental health and emotions as it did for me for almost 30 years. Along with gut healing delicious recipes that I’ll show you later on in my Wholicious kitchen, you can also watch my episode with my guests, Dr. G. We talk a lot about gut health and make sure you check my episodes specifically on immune boosters if you haven’t already. 

Visualization Technique

Okay, so today, we’re going to use a fire visualization technique that will activate your self healing powers. The only side effect I’ve experienced visualization is that it will create a new self image and increase your self esteem and inner freedom. Sometimes I do a quick one in the morning for a couple of minutes after my meditation or sometimes I’ll do it before bed. Okay, so before we start, before we pick our intention, I like to clear my space clear the energy. So right here I’ve gotten some sage. 

Sage

Sage is really great to clear any unwanted energy. I like to light my sage sick, and then kind of just clear around me all over my body, any other energies that are kind of like stuck on me that need to be cleared. 

Palo Santo

And then what brings in the energy is Palo Santo. So palo santo ring and some nice beautiful energy. So I like to light this after I light my sage. And as I’m getting ready to pick my intention. 

Select Your Intention

So today, because our episode is all about gut health. My intention today is going to be to have perfect elimination and perfect digestion. And because so many people, including myself have struggled with constipation in the past, I think this is a really great intention. So you’re going to sit in a comfortable position, you can sit in a chair, you can sit on the floor cross legged, you can close your eyes and you’re going to take your hands and you’re going to place your hands right over your belly button. 

Now we’re really going to focus on the solar plexus which is about three inches above the belly button. Okay, so start to take some deep breaths in and out of your nose, exhaling out of your mouth and really start to picture a warm fire a warm light in your solar plexus. Really growing with every breath that you’re taking. 

You can start to visualize feeding and fueling your body with the right foods. You can take a couple seconds really sitting in quiet, having gratitude for your strong beautiful body. After you finish for 2, 10, 30 minutes visualization, I like to sit with my palms face up on my knees. Ah I take a couple deep breaths to finish my meditation visualization, really allowing my mind body and my soul to connect and really allowing any clarity or insight that wants to come in. 

Today’s Episode

Our fire visualization is a good foundation to now jump into my Wholicious kitchen and start on dishes that are going to support a healthy gut. Okay, this is a bone broth episode, which is my favorite thing to talk about. We’re going to start with bone broth. Then we’re going to make a creamy blueberry bone broth jello smoothie. I know it sounds weird, but it’s amazing. And then we’re going to make cauliflower rice with bone broth with a soft cooked egg, peas and a bunch of herbs. Okay, before we get started, the equipment we need today is a crock pot and of course my handy Vitamix. 

What is the #1 Thing I Use for My Gut Health?

Bone broth.

Gut Microbiome

Let’s talk about our gut microbiome. So all of the healthy good bacteria in our gut is responsible for absorbing and storing all the minerals and the nutrients that we need in our body. This means that we have a healthy gut flora, which will help us fight inflammation in the gut. So I drink bone broth every single day. So let’s jump in and get started. And I’ll go over a little bit more of the benefits because I can talk bone broth seriously all day long. 

What Causes an Unhealthy Gut, Unbalanced Flora?

Processed food, lots of sugar, too much alcohol, too much caffeine, not enough fiber.

Bone Broth: Step One

Now, I’m going to use a crock pot today. It’s easier, we’re going to cook this for 24 hours, we’ll put it on low and you can walk away and go. So we’re going to first talk about the bones. Okay, don’t be creeped out, because we’re using some chicken feet today. These little guys are a little creepy, but they’re loaded with collagen. So we’ve got organic chicken feet, and I’m also using some beef Morrow bones, you can also use any cut of beef bones that you can find at your butcher. But it’s really, really important that you find pasture-raised, grass fed, organic beef bones. You don’t want to make a bone broth when your bones are dirty. So really pay attention to where you’re sourcing your bones. That’s a big, big thing. This is so easy. It’s a little bit of a labor of love. But getting started is very easy. 

So what I’m gonna do, so I’m going to put all my chicken feet and all these bones in my crock pot here. Okay. All right, then, the key and the tip is for bone broth, is pour your water where it’s about one inch above the bones. Okay, I’m going to do that nestled even here. Perfect. All right. 

Next, I’m going to use some apple cider vinegar. So the apple cider vinegar helps extract the minerals and the nutrients from the bones. Really important. I’m going to do about two teaspoons. Okay. And then I’m going to do about one teaspoon of sea salt. So I’ll just do that. Alright, so that looks good. Let me show you. See how I have the water just right above the bones. Okay, that’s going to cook on low for 24 hours. Peek at it after about 12 hours and if the water looks like it’s resting right under the bones, just go ahead and add a little bit more water. Depending on the strength of your crock pot and how hot your crock pot is. You don’t want too much of the water to boil down. Okay, so 24 hours, bam. 

Step Two

Okay, this is step one. Step two, after 24 hours, I then take this and I strain the bone. So I’ve already done this. And now here I have my strained hot bone broth. So my bone broth is going to go in the refrigerator for 24 hours. And what’s going to happen is in the morning, you’re going to have this thick layer of fat, which is actually the beginning of making tallow. This is actually really, really healthy fat to cook with and the fat rises. And then what you can do is with your spoon is kind of pull away the fat it’s so easy, just like this. Okay, and I actually like to save this fat and use it for cooking my fish and meat and it’s delicious for cooking eggs. And, you know, cooking with oils is such an important topic too. This is such a healthy oil and fat to cook with because it won’t burn and turn toxic in our body. Okay, so I’m scraping the fat and I’m left with all this jello. Look at this bone broth jello. This makes me so excited. 

So about six months ago at my restaurant at Hermosa Beach, The Source Cafe, I decided, you know what, what is a way that I can get bone broth in to some of my customers that are kind of terrified of bone broth that they don’t like the flavor. So I was like, What about a bone broth jello smoothie? I know it sounds so weird. But it’s become kind of famous and it’s a daily drink of mine. 

Why Do I Drink Bone Broth Y’all?

A happy gut, happy brain. Okay, so there’s one. Two great for hair, skin and nails helps repair the lining of the gut. High in available minerals and nutrients. Loaded of course with protein. It’s high in glycine. And glycine is an amino acid that actually helps with sleep and with depression. And glutathione which is the body’s master antioxidant. Very high in that. So you’re getting all these amino acids instead of taking pills or protein powders.

Bone Broth Jello Recipe

So we’re gonna get right in here, we’re gonna put about a cup of the bone broth jello. And you’ll notice that at the bottom of the bone broth, there’s a bunch of the marrow and stuff. And this is actually really, really amazing. There’s so many amino acids and vitamins and y’all if you’re feeling sick, you’re fighting a cold, get into the bone broth. Then I’m going to do about one cup of blueberries. I’ve done frozen mango. It’s delicious with frozen mango and frozen strawberries, but I really prefer the blueberries. 

Collagen

I’m actually adding a little bit more collagen because I want about 40 grams of protein in this. So this is grass fed Vital Proteins is the brand and I love it and it’s clean and so I like to add a little bit more collagen to it. 

Cinnamon

I’m adding cinnamon. One because it’s my favorite and it tastes amazing. But two, it’s really great for fighting inflammation and great for circulation. And I do have to say that if you’re sensitive to the bone broth flavor that the cinnamon will hide it a little bit. 

Low Sugar

And then we do need just a little bit of either maple, raw honey or stevia. And to keep this low glycemic and no sugar, I’m going to do a little bit of just a couple drops of organic stevia right there. And then for the fat because actually, bone broth is not a high high fat product because we’re scraping all the fat from the top. It’s loaded with protein and minerals and vitamins. And it does have a little fat, but I want this to be really nice and balanced with the fiber, protein and fat and it’s going to make it so creamy. So I’m going to do a big scoop of avocado. And we’re gonna blend, okay, and you’re gonna see how freaking creamy and delicious this is. Okay, let’s see, I’m so excited for you to try this. 

Look at this. And the first time I made this in front of my friends, I thought I was crazy and then tasted it was like, “Oh my gosh, I cannot believe how good this tastes.” And I’m telling you, you can’t even taste the bone broth. Like it really is an amazing way to sneak it in. Look at this. Look how creamy it is. It’s fluffy. It’s like a mousse. Oh my gosh, obsessed. It’s so good. I drink this every day and people comment all the time. Oh my god your skin you’re glowing? Well, you know what glowing from the inside out, nourishing and fueling our bodies with the right food right, but collagen baby bone broth. So super jazzed to share that with you. 

Cauliflower Rice Recipe

Next we’re going to make cauliflower rice and I want to show you how to make cauliflower rice using our bone broth jello. Now first, what we’re going to do is we’re going to actually use some of that fat that I scraped off from the bone broth, might as well and use it to cook our cauliflower in. So I’m going to put a couple tablespoons in there. Yep, that’s great. And then I’m going to add our cauliflower rice. Now I rice this in the food processor, but I usually get lazy myself at home and I just buy it frozen, or you can buy it non frozen. They have both options at the grocery store. If you don’t want to rice it yourself. This is going to take under 15 minutes. I’m gonna give this a little stir. We’re just going to brown the rice cauliflower for about 30 seconds to a minute. 

Seasonings

Okay, and I’m going to add all of our spices. We’ve got cumin, paprika, and add a little crushed red pepper. And put all that in there. Alright, perfect. And now we’re going to use our bone broth jello. So I’ve got about a cup and a half here. We’ll add our jello. I’m going to add some fresh oregano. I’m going to turn this down now to about medium low and add a little squeeze of lemon. Okay, now we’re gonna cover this for about 10 to 12 minutes. Okay, we’re gonna let this baby cup. 

What Does Soft Boil Mean? 

I boil the water, add the eggs and set my timer for six minutes. And then as soon as that timer goes off, it’s really important that you have a small bowl with ice water. And you take your egg and you put it in the ice bath and immediately stop cooking. That way you get a really nice medium yolk.

Sexy Runny Yolk

So let me show you. Oh my gosh, look at that. How it’s a little bit runny. Oh my gosh, so good. This is how I eat all my eggs. Okay, we’re going to finish this cauliflower rice today with a little bit of red wine vinegar, some fresh parsley and some peas. So right here I’ve got about one and a half cups of frozen peas. And the reason I add my peas at the end is because I don’t want them to turn to mush. And I still like to have like a little bit of crunch to the pea, okay? Perfect. That is cooking, baby. Okay, all right. So let’s add our peas here. I’m also going to finish this with a bunch of fresh parsley. Okay, I’m going to finish with a little drizzle about two teaspoons of red wine vinegar. That’s about it. I don’t really measure. This looks amazing. So I’m going to let this go for about 30 more seconds. Okay, great. So I’m going to finish it with a little squeeze of lemon. 

I’m loving it. It smells delicious. And all right, I’m gonna get going a little bit. We Oh yeah. Perfect. I’m going to put our egg right on top. I mean that’s sexy. A runny yolk is so sexy. I’m going to take a little bit of more parsley leaves, and I’m going to put some parsley on top like this. And I’m going to do a nice drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, right across the egg. Oh yeah, pinch of Malden seasalt right here, and then sumach sumach. If you’ve been watching my episodes, I basically put it on everything. It’s a shrub and it will add a nice lemony zing. And I’m going to put that right there across the egg, just like that. And that’s it. Oh my gosh, check out this amazing cauliflower rice with bone broth, peas, fresh oregano, parsley, and that six minute egg. You can eat this warm, you can eat this cold, you can add this to your eggs in the morning. Really delicious. If you want to add any sauteed meat to this, you can serve this with some roasted fish on top if you don’t want the egg. There’s so many options. 

So I hope you got inspired today and learned a ton about gut health and how to take care of your gut. I can’t wait to know how you love the bone broth smoothie. Subscribe to my channel and comment below because I love staying connected with you especially if you have any questions. Okay, I’ll see you next time. Bye!

The post Chef Amber’s Wholicious™ – Episode 3 Gut Health appeared first on Chef Amber.

What is Our Biggest Immune Organ?

Our skin.

What is the Main Function of the Skin?

To protect us from outer invasions.

How can we Support our Skin and Give it some Daily Love? 

Dry brushing.

What is Dry Brushing?

Dry brushing is a tool that can actively connect the body, mind and nervous system. It stimulates the lymphatic system which directly affects our immune systems.

What are the Benefits of Dry Brushing and Why do I Love it?

I love it because it removes dead skin, leaves my skin feeling super soft, helps reduce the appearance of cellulite, helps with circulation and promotes detox and helps clean the pores. 

How to Dry Brush

Alright, so I’m going to show you how I dry brush. So to start, I like to use a dry brush mitt. Always start at the feet. And you start at the feet coming up the legs. And basically every body part. I’ll do my calves. I’ll do my thighs, my inner thighs. I’ll go to my back. Don’t forget your booty. Okay, every body part we’re doing 10 strokes. Come up to my arm, get the palm of my hands, really coming up. You’re always moving upward toward the heart center, because the heart is where the lymphatic system drains. So you know we wouldn’t be brushing like that right? We’re brushing up. So really brush up, come up to the neck, get your other side of your body and really feel the dry brush on your skin and take a moment to really feel embodied and get present with yourself. It feels really yummy. 

Okay, so after a dry brush, I then start slapping. So start on my arms, get underneath your armpit, you can do your heart and lung chi. I like to get into my liver and gallbladder and when I was healing my adrenals the adrenals and liver are in your lower back. So I like to take my hands and really slap my lower back for about 30 seconds to 45 seconds. 

What’s in Today’s Episode?

Now that we are fully prepared for the morning, let’s go into my Wholicious kitchen to show you how to start your morning with immune boosting foods. Today we’re going to be making a creamy Turmeric latte, a breakfast salad with sweet potatoes, broccoli sprouts and avocado and a really profound manuka honey elixir.

Okay, so now that we’re feeling energized from dry brushing, we have an amazing immune boosting meal today. So first off, I just want to say that when we connect our mind, body and soul and really start to fuel our body with nourishing healthy foods, it really automatically affects our immune system. Really what we put in our body matters right now. 

Turmeric Latte Recipe

So the first thing that we’re going to start with is a Tumeric latte. And this is going to be made with almond milk and this is one of my favorite hacks to show in the kitchen. Okay, I want to show you a no fuss almond milk. Usually with almond milk. You soak the nuts overnight, strain the nuts, blend and then you use a nut bag. Okay, so check this out here in the VitaMix. I’ve got a little over two cups of water and then I’ve got raw organic almond butter. Okay, so I’m going to add my nut butter here to the water. I’m going to add a pinch of salt and we’re going to blend for quick easy almond milk.

Okay, so I like to have this hot. So I’ve already got some milk steaming behind me. So I’m going to empty this one out. You can also drink this cold. This would be a great place right now if you wanted to go ahead and add your herbs, spices and maple to make a cold latte and put it over ice but I want it hot today. Okay, let me grab my steamed milk here.

Okay, now I’m going to add a little bit of maple because I want just a little bit of sweetness but if you don’t want sugar, you can definitely add a couple drops of Stevia. Now I’m going to add tumeric, cinnamon, and ginger. All great for fighting inflammation. I love cinnamon because it’s really great for cholesterol and blood pressure. And then I have a pinch of black pepper I’m going to add in here. But why am I adding black pepper to this? Well, black pepper is really important because it really helps our bodies absorb the tumeric. So anytime you’re cooking with Tumeric always add a little bit of black pepper. Okay, all right, where’s my lid, we’re going to do a little blend here.

Turmeric latte. So amazing. If you’re feeling under the weather, you feel like you’re having an immune challenge. It’s also really great for gut health. This is a perfect way to start the morning. So for me, my morning routine is really important to me. So I get up in the morning. And before I dry brush, like I said I drink a big glass of water and then I go straight into my latte. Delicious. 

Breakfast Salad Recipe

Okay, here we go. Let’s jump into this breakfast salad. A little backstory on this breakfast salad. I put it on the menu at my restaurant in Manhattan Beach, The Source Cafe, about a year ago and it stuck. I love a salad for breakfast because I can get all of my veggies in protein and healthy fats. I tend to eat high protein, high fat and a ton of fiber when I’m not feeling great to give my body a little bit of a break for digesting the food. So the base of this is going to be our sweet potatoes. Okay, so let’s jump into our sweet potatoes here. I’ve already got them all cut. Now you can use white sweet potatoes or orange sweet potatoes does not matter. I’m going to do a nice big drizzle of oil, and then I’m going to add paprika. And let’s do a little bit of salt. Okay, pinch of salt, and pinch of pepper, and do a little whisk.

Definitely needs a little bit of greens. So I’m just going to grab a couple pieces of cilantro and dill. I love dill in my eggs. Obsessed with dill in my eggs, it really adds a nice zing. Okay, and I’m gonna give this rough chop. And I’m going to add a little bit of oil and already have some sweet potatoes roasted, nice and caramelized. And I’m going to do I don’t know a nice handful here. And what my pan pretty hot with the oil and the sweet potatoes. And I’m gonna let this go for just about a minute before I add my eggs. I don’t want to add my eggs to a cold pan because they’ll get really runny. So it’s really important to have your pan hot, the sweet potatoes hot, and then we’ll add our eggs. Okay. All right, while that’s heating up and get my bowl ready. 

Our salad. The thing about breakfast salads too, is it’s a great way to use any of your meal prep that maybe has, I don’t know it was going south or it needs to be used from the night before I like to add roasted vegetables. If you caught episode one I made broccoli rice and I made a buddha bowl. So what’s really delicious in my eggs in the morning is I’ll add a little broccoli rice, I’ll add a little bit of the squash, any vegetables in the fridge basically. You can add in and like what a great way to start your morning off is to get in your greens and your veggies right? All right, here we go. That’s looking great. My pan is hot, the potatoes are looking nice and caramelized and now we’re going to add our eggs. This is going to happen really quickly. I don’t want overcooked eggs. Hey, I’ve got my spatula here. Really I keep stirring my eggs really quickly. 

What’s the Key to Not Over Scrambled/overcooked Eggs?

Turn off the heat when it’s about medium and they’re still runny and your pan is still hot so you can continue to cook your eggs.

Salad Assembly

So that’s perfect. That’s about a medium to medium well egg. And like I said, they’ll continue to cook in the pan. Oh my gosh, that looks. I’m so excited. That looks amazing. Okay, let’s assemble this baby. Alright, so I’m going to put a big handful of baby greens here, and I’m going to add our eggs and potatoes. See how nice these eggs look. They’re a little runny, the worst is having overcooked dry eggs. Okay, so I’ve got my greens. Now I’m going to add a handful of broccoli sprouts. Now broccoli sprouts, I chose to introduce these today. I don’t think they’re a fan favorite of many people. But this is a really easy way to get your sprouts in. We’ll get into more about digestive health and gut health in the next episode. I’m going to add some avocado because I always have to have avocado. I’m going to just slice it like this and scoop my avocado right underneath the skin and make some nice slices here. Perfect! And put it like this. Now to finish this, I’m going to put a little bit of Maldon sea salt and some sumach.

What’s Really Great about Broccoli Sprouts?

They are really great for fighting inflammation, great for immunity. They’re basically a superfood and great for digestive health, which is so important.

What’s a Great Healthy Fat Food?

Avocado has protein, really great brain health and it’s a low inflammatory food.

What is Sumach?

So sumach is a shrub from the Middle East. it will add a nice lemony zing. You can put it on your avocado toast, on your soups, on fish.

We put sumach on everything. It has a lemony flavor, it really adds the best zing. You can put it on your avocado toast on your soups, on fish, and we’re going to put a lot of it. We’re going to put another sprinkle here. People always ask for more. It’s delicious. You’ll see the lemon really brings out the flavor of the egg with the paprika and the sweet potato and the avocado. It’s delicious. 

Okay, so this is our breakfast bowl, but hold on. Let me add some more dill because I have to have extra dill. This really makes it and this is a great way to to get rid of any extra herbs in the fridge. So if you have parsley or basil, whatever mint, you can toss that right on top and then you’re getting all that freshness. Okay. All right, so here’s our breakfast salad. This is a perfect meal for fighting inflammation. It goes beautifully with our Turmeric latte. 

Manuka Honey Elixir Recipe

The next I’m going to show you is one of my favorite immune boosting elixirs made with manuka honey.

What is Manuka Honey?

It actually has the highest antioxidant value and also has great antiviral properties.

All Honey is Not Created Equally

There’s tons of different brands, this is not the brand I’m sold on, can find whatever manuka honey, whatever you do, look at the U M F, the higher the UMF number, the higher quality and the more potent the compounds in the honey are okay. There’s so many benefits of manuka honey, it actually has the highest antioxidant value and also has great antiviral properties. So I’m going to show you what I take when I’m starting to fight a cold and feeling rundown. 

Ginger Hack

First, I want to show you a hack. One of my other favorite hacks in the kitchen is how to clean ginger. So I’m going to cut off the ends here. And with the spoon, instead of using a peeler or a knife, you can kind of just peel the skin like this. It’s so easy. And ginger and garlic are gonna go in this honey and you’re probably like that’s weird. And it is a little weird, but both of these have antiviral antibacterial properties, and it’s hard to get raw garlic in. So the honey is going to hide this. I’m going to cut this into small little pieces because we’re going to actually mix it into the honey, just like this. And I’m actually gonna slice our garlic. Also, I learned this from one of my naturopath years ago and became hooked. So basically what we’re going to do is we’re going to take our garlic and ginger and we’re going to put it in our manuka honey. So I’m going to scrape out our honey here. And it’s really important that you find a high quality honey. If you can’t find manuka, you can also use a raw local honey, that’s really powerful. But I don’t suggest using anything that’s not raw, I would definitely highly recommend using raw raw honey.

Can I Heat up Manuka Honey?

Well, when you heat up the manuka honey, it kills all the yummy properties. So definitely important to keep it raw. 

Okay, so I’m adding the garlic and the ginger right into the honey. Just like this. Look at this you guys. I know this is kind of weird. Might take a minute to get used to, but the honey hides it. So what I do when I’m feeling sick is I will walk by my little bowl here and I’ll take a tablespoon in the morning and at night, and you know what it really the honey really hides the garlic and the ginger flavor. And so you can just take a spoonful like this and get in there. I’m not going to do it right now the whole spoonful, but it is amazing. You will feel so strong and powerful. So this is a really great thing to have on deck when you’re not feeling great. 

You’ve got your creamy Turmeric latte. We’ve got our amazing breakfast salad. And then you’ve got your manuka honey, garlic ginger elixir. 

Garlic Tip

And another little tip for the garlic, ginger and honey is if you want to add this to the blender with a little water, cold water or cold coconut water, you can blend it and take it as a shot. If you can’t stomach chewing the raw garlic. It’s hard for some people. So that is another little tip. 

So I hope you got inspired and learned immune boosting tools today. Take care of yourself, your mind, your body and your soul. And if you have any comments, I love connecting with you guys and subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can be a part of this Wholicious journey with me and part of my vision for a healthy, happier life. And remember, being healthy is the new sexy. I’ll see you next time. Bye!

The post Chef Amber’s Wholicious™ – Episode 2 The “Power Of Immunity” appeared first on Chef Amber.

Meet the Chef

I’m Amber Caudle, aka Chef Amber, I’ve been a professional chef for over 25 years, a holistic lifestyle advocate, and your host of the show Wholicious. On our delicious journey, it’s all about how you can become the most powerful version of yourself. I’ve created many recipes that help you feel better in your body, let go of immune disbalances, inflammation, and extra weight. Get rid of brain fog, increase your energy and have more focus and clarity, and feel more confident and happier in your body. 

What’s the First Step When it Comes to Food? 

Learn how to simplify things to maximize your quality of life. A big first step towards this is by learning how to prepare your own healthy food which I will show you later in my Wholicious kitchen. I will teach you how to cook and prepare meals that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and free of processed sugars. 

Healthy is the New Sexy

I want to get rid of the stigma around the word ‘healthy’ as the food we will cook together is so much more than that. My favorite word to describe food is sexy. You will hear me say that a lot. Healthy is the new sexy baby. You don’t have to deprive yourself of food and eat food that doesn’t light you up because you know what? Food is supposed to make you feel amazing. One vital ingredient that also flows into Wholicious is self-care and faith. Throughout the series, I’ll meet you here on my spiritual corner and I will share profound spiritual practice tools that will help you create a supportive mindset and body, mind, soul connection. When you are in total acceptance and in love with your body, the noise in your head is calmer and you’ll feel free and clear-minded. You will start to feel grounded, centered, vibrant, and gain more energy. Also, my guests throughout the series will join me to share different perspectives on forming a healthier relationship with food and body, helping you to live a life full of abundance and freedom. 

Today’s Episode

So for today’s episode of Wholicious, I’ve invited a remarkable guest and friend Dr. Christian Gonzales aka Dr. G. He is an expert in naturopathic medicine and believes everything is connected from the foods we eat to the way we think and interact with the world and the people in our lives. I agree with that y’all. Let’s dive right into my Wholicious kitchen so we can create some delicious sexy food. 

Today we are going to be cooking this beautiful yummy budda bowl with broccoli rice, delicata squash, roasted oyster mushrooms, some pistachio pesto, and then we’ll finish with a decadent sweet potato brownie loaded with adaptogens and served with a creamy bureau nut cashew cream.

Kitchen Basics

And so before I get started, I want to go over my four essential pieces of kitchen equipment that I can’t live without. First, a sharp knife. Second, this le creuset.  I use it for everything roasting, steaming, boiling. I haven’t everyday pan my always pan. Okay, I use this mostly for my eggs and poaching, sauteing and last, the Vitamix. The Vitamix, I really can’t live without my Vitamix. I use it for pesto’s and soups, and purees, sauces, basically anything. And of course that can make a really mean Margarita. 

I already introduced Dr. G. He’s going to be on a little later. And today, Dr. G and I are going to be talking about the healing properties of food, cancer-fighting foods, and the powerful world of adaptogens. And so the menu today is really inspired because of Dr. G being on the show. And I really wanted to make a bowl today that had all different types of components. And so I wanted to make a budda bowl. 

What is a Buddha Bowl?

A budda bowl is a vegetarian bowl, loaded with different veggies and grains and beans. 

And it’s actually a really great way to eat the colors of the rainbow. It forces me to eat the colors of the rainbow. And I really believe that when we’re fueling and nourishing our bodies with the right foods, that’s really when we glow from the inside out. And y’all I firmly believe that what we put in our bodies matters right now today. 

Budda Bowl Recipe

Okay, let’s get started on this broccoli rice. First I’m going to add my onion and a little garlic.

And I like to saute with avocado oil or coconut oil. I finished with olive oil. That’s usually what I finish with and I saute with avocado and coconut. Okay, so I’ve got my onion, my garlic, my oil, I’m going to let that go just for a couple minutes, I’m going to add a little bit of salt. Okay, and I’ve got this on high heat right now because I really want the onions and the garlic to carmelize. 

Okay, while this is going let’s go ahead and get our delicata squash chopped up. So delicata you can use any squash here you could use kabocha, butternut squash is pretty accessible all year round. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to cut off the ends of the squash. And then I’m going to cut it in half and then it’s pretty easy to cut it in half again. Now going with the spoon, I’m going to scrape off my seeds and I’m going to do it down into my trash here. All right, then cut some really nice half moons about half-inch thick. Let me get these seeds. So about a half-inch thick, just like that. I’m gonna put my squash in here. Really a staple in my house always for meal prep, I always have broccoli rice ready. And I always have squash roasted and that way you can have all of your different vegetables and grains and rice ready in the fridge and then you can assemble your bowl. 

So while I’m slicing the squash, I’m actually going to add our broccoli rice. So this is rice broccoli, I actually did this in the food processor, but you can cheat it. You can buy this frozen and you can also buy this in the produce section non-frozen too to make it easier. Okay, so I’m going to add my broccoli rice and give it a little stir here. I’m going to let this saute for just about a minute before we add the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients. I’m gonna let that go for a minute. 

Now, to add a little bit of avocado oil and paprika. I’m using a smoked paprika, my favorite. All right. And I’m just gonna give this a little toss. Okay, and we’re gonna roast this in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes. All right, so our broccoli rice is looking perfect. I’m gonna go ahead and add some coconut milk and I’m using whole fat coconut milk and I’m going to turn down our heat to about medium now.  Okay, that looks amazing. 

Broccoli Hack

Now I want to say one thing that I did learn from Dr. G that I’m sure we’ll talk about later today is a good hack in the kitchen for cruciferous veggies which broccoli is. To use mustard seed powder and mustard seed powder brings out the nutritional benefits and actually makes it a really powerful cancer-fighting food. So I can’t wait for Dr. G to go over a little bit more of that also. I just added all of our spices. I added cumin, mustard seed powder, salt, pepper, and more paprika. Cumin and smoked paprika is a favorite combo of mine. 

I’m going to add a squeeze of lemon here and I just squeezed the lemon right my hand just don’t get the seeds. Okay, and that’s perfect. Okay, I’ve got some Swiss chard here. So next what I’m going to do is give this a nice little chop here and it can be rough because it will cut down into the broccoli rice. Then I’m going to cover it and I’m going to let this cook for about eight minutes. I don’t like to cook my broccoli past about 10 minutes because it really loses the nutritional value. So that’s just like a nice rough chop. I’m gonna add this to my rice. Okay, and I’m going to cover this. Okay. Smells so good. All right, so our squash is roasting. I already have some squash ready for us. We’ve got the broccoli rice going. Now I’m going to start on the oyster mushrooms. 

Cancer-fighting Mushrooms

So the oyster mushrooms are one of my favorite mushrooms. Because it’s so great for brain health. It’s a cancer-fighting food. It’s loaded with vitamins and minerals. For me, it satiates me and makes me feel like I’m really getting some meat in my dish. Okay, I’m going to turn on this and I’m going to go ahead and saute the mushrooms and I’m going to use again some avocado oil. Can you tell how much I love my avocado oil. Okay, I’m going to do a big drizzle of that. I’m going to do about medium-high on the heat. And I’m going to let those go. Perfect.

Pistachio Pesto Recipe

So today, we’re gonna do a pistachio pesto with cilantro and parsley and a little bit of basil. Hey, so I’ve got my pistachios. Why do I love pistachios? I love them because they are great with so many vitamins and minerals and really great for brain health and heart health. Second, the cilantro and parsley. They both help pull heavy metals from the body. They’re both really great herbs to help with liver and cleansing. So I’ve got my herbs, I’ve got my pistachios, I’m going to add two whole garlic cloves here. I’m going to do the juice of two oranges. 

I really believe to make the good pesto, you need an herb, a nut, a good olive oil and a good acid and so today the acid is going to be some oranges. Then I’ve got again, some cumin and salt, pepper and I’m adding a little crushed red pepper here because I want like a little spice. But when you taste this, you’re going to love the creaminess and the sweetness of the pistachios with the cumin. It’s to die for. And then I’m going to add our olive oil right here. And I’m going to give this a good blend. Okay, that is not a good sound. 

Ginger Hack

Okay, I forgot my ginger y’all. So I want to show you a hack for ginger. You can take the end of a spoon and really just peel it like this. Look how easy this is. Sometimes I think people fight with the ginger and you have to get the peeler off out or the knife. So here we are. Look at this. So good. And I’m only going to need about a tablespoon of this. So this is a that’s a nice big tablespoon and that will make this a little spicy also. Okay, all right, we’re almost there. Let’s check our mushrooms. Beautiful. Oh yeah. So you can see they’re starting to get nice and carmelized. I’ve liked when I sauteed mushrooms. I keep the heat to medium and high and I let them sit for about two to three minutes before I go and move the pan. If you continue and constantly move the pan, they might get a little bit watery and you’re not going to get that nice and carmelized brown on the outside of the mushroom. Okay, I’m going to add my salt and pepper. A nice little pinch. Okay.

And you know the beautiful thing about oyster mushrooms. You don’t really need a lot. This is so simple. We’ve got a little bit of oil, salt, pepper and we’re going to finish it with lemon. They don’t need to be overcomplicated. Okay. Oh yes. Beautiful. Okay, let’s check our broccoli rice here. Okay, our broccoli rice is looking good. I’m actually going to turn this off the heat and I’m going to let that sit. 

Time to Assemble the Bowl

To finish, I’m going to add a big handful of basil. The basil really adds a lot of sweetness, especially with the cumin and the paprika. And we’re done. And then we’ll assemble our bowl. Okay. The basil, my gosh, that smells so good. And I am going to add a drizzle of lemon. Because it’s all about the acid. You know, really the two components to make a great meal y’all. It’s acid and salt. That’s it. If you’ve got that, you can make anything taste amazing. All right, this looks perfect. Okay. Oh yeah, look at this. So nice and carmelized. So brown. Those literally have about one more minute. 

So a big, big handful of baby greens. And then I’m going to put a nice big scoop of broccoli rice. Hey, oh my gosh, Dr. G is going to love this. Then I’m going to add some mushrooms. Hey, look at those mushrooms. So carmelized nice and brown. Oh, so good. And then we have our squash. We have our roasted delicata squash with paprika. Hey, I’m just gonna take some of these guys. Look how colorful this bowl is. Do you see all the nutrients do you see all the vitamins, healthy fat. This is loaded with plant protein.

If You Eat a Plant-based Meal Does that Mean you’re Going to be Deprived of Protein?

And that’s not true. There is so much protein loaded between the squash and the broccoli.

Healthy Fat is Good for the Brain

We’re actually going to add some avocado. There’s about eight grams of protein per avocado. Okay, so so far, we’ve got our broccoli rice our mushrooms, the delicata. Now let’s add a little avocado because I have to basically put avocado on everything. And it’s really great for brain health. Has protein and the amazing healthy fat for our brain. 

Okay, like to cut that in half. And then to take my spoon and spread right underneath the skin like that. And then can just do a couple of nice slices. And I’m just going to put those right on top. Okay, then to finish this baby, I’m going to add a little pinch of maldon sea salt. Okay, it’s the best salt. A little bit of sprouted pumpkin seeds. And I buy sprouted. I think the brand is called Raw sprouted, but it’s really important to buy sprouted pumpkin seeds because you can digest them better. So I’m doing Sprouted Seeds. I’m gonna do a little drizzle of lemon on top. And then to finish some amazing extra virgin olive oil. Oh, and I know what I forgot. Hey, that’s amazing. A big scoop of this creamy, amazing, delicious pesto. Oh yeah, that’s what makes it. Right there. Okay, all right, y’all look at this. Our budda bowl with broccoli, rice, delicata squash, carmelized oyster mushrooms with baby greens, avocado and that delicious, creamy pistachio cilantro pesto. 

Cashew Brunette Cream Brownie Recipe

Now for dessert can’t wait. We’re going to make a sweet potato brownie loaded with adaptogens with a cashew brunette cream. Okay, for the sweet potato brownie today, we’re going to keep it easy and simple. We need two pieces of equipment. The food processor and of course the Vitamix. 

For the Love of Brownies

Okay. I love this brownie. Let me tell you why I love this brownie. First of all, it’s impossible to mess up. It’s very easy. It’s fast. It’s simple. We’re gonna make it in the food processor. When I bake y’all I keep my baking really hassle-free and really easy. I’m a blender baker, okay? Then we’re going to make a brunette cashew cream, and we’re going to make that in the VitaMix. 

Okay, so to get started, everything is going to go in this food processor. Every time I go home y’all when I go home to Georgia to visit my family. I always make this. It is such a favorite. I’m adding the coconut sugar. Okay, and don’t worry, I’ll give you the ingredients. I’ll give you the the measurements. And so then I’m going to add some raw almond butter, raw organic almond butter and this is where I love to give substitutions. So if you’re allergic to almonds, you don’t like almonds, any butter of choice we’ll set up here. You can do tahini, cashew butter, walnut butter, pecan butter, anything peanut butter, peanut butter, chocolate delicious. So I’m going to add our almond butter. This is where I like to say like get creative in the kitchen right? Or maybe you want to you wake up one day and you have all the ingredients and you’ve got tahini in the in the pantry but you don’t have almond butter than make it with tahini and see how you like it. Alright, so I’ve got my almond butter. Great. Then I’m going to add our coconut oil. I’ve already melted it here. Okay, make sure your coconut oil is melted. And this brownie is so great because it’s loaded with plant protein, healthy fat. I’m making this the Paleo version today. 

What’s Paleo? 

Paleo is grain-free, dairy-free, gluten-free. 

And the flour today we’re going to use is almond flour and coconut flour. And the chocolate chips today are actually a raw cacao chocolate chip that’s made with maple and and coconut sugar and so that way this stays really low glycemic and low sugar. So I’m going to do about a cup. Okay of almond flour. Okay, then I’m going to do coconut flour. You know what I love about coconut flour is that it is loaded with protein. Like nobody realizes how much protein coconut flour has, and so much fiber. So where did the adaptogens come in? Well, I’ve chose to put Chaga mushroom and Lion’s Mane powders, they’re mushrooms. They’re flavorless. You can’t taste them. Adaptogens. 

What the Heck is an Adaptogen? 

Well, an adaptogen helps our bodies adapt to outside stressors. 

And I started putting adaptogens in my food and drinks years ago to help me with some hormonal balances. I was I was recovering from Adrenal Fatigue. So I was using a bunch of maca root and I always use Lion’s Mane because it’s so great for brain health and it helps me really with mental clarity and focus. The Chaga mushroom, Chaga mushroom is like the queen mushroom and it’s got the highest ORAC value, the highest antioxidant value and it also has antiviral properties. It’s so great. And I know Dr. G will say that he loves the Chaga mushroom, because it is known to help with cancer-fighting properties. 

Alright, what else are we doing? Oh my gosh, our main ingredient is the sweet potato. So today I’m actually using a roasted yam. And here again, you can sub pumpkin, you can sub white sweet potato, purple sweet potato, orange sweet potato, any of those work. I’ve even used roasted zucchini in this and steamed pureed cauliflower. So see how I mean how easy it is to be creative and do substitutions and play around. 

Keto Substitutes

If you really want this to be more of a Keto brownie, you can make sure that your chocolate chips are made with monkfruit. You can sub instead of the coconut sugar we use, you can actually sub monkfruit for that and then make it really low glycemic try using cauliflower instead of the potato. Okay, if you’re a Keto if you’re a Keto person out there. Alright, what else are we adding, we’re going to add a little bit of vanilla extract. Okay, and then our cinnamon and baking soda, okay, and a little pinch of salt. Okay, so now I’m gonna give this a quick little blend. 

Perfect. Now I’m going to add our chocolate chips. Okay, I’m going to save a little bit for the top because I like to put a little bit of chocolate chips on the top to melt. So we’re going to do a little bit of chocolate chips, we’ll save some, and then I’m going to put, I don’t know about a fourth a cup of coconut flakes in there. Give that a little bit of texture. And we’ll do one more little blend. Okay, perfect. You know what the best is about this dough is you can eat it raw. It’s so delicious. Why? There’s no egg in it. And it’s basically loaded with loaded with protein. So good. 

I’m gonna do a little spray here. And then I am going to use my hands it works best. My hands are clean. And this is my brownie in my kitchen right so I’m going to definitely use my bare hands for this and flatten it. And I’ve got the oven preheated at 350 that this will go in for about 20-25 minutes. Let me get all the chocolate chips out here. Oh and another adaptogen in here that I forgot to talk about is the raw cacao from the chocolate chips from the Paleo chocolate chips and raw cacao is really great for energy. 

What is an Adaptogen Really Great for Energy?

Raw cacao is great for energy and actually helps with depression. Do you ever eat chocolate you feel happy after? So it kind of releases the happy hormone. It’s actually got a high antioxidant value also.

When I was getting off caffeine, I actually started drinking raw cacao drinks in the morning instead of coffee. So this is an adaptogen brownie and then when we get into the brunette cream, we’ve got even more adaptogens over there. Okay, nice and flat. I’m going to put this in the oven for about 25 minutes. Okay, so that’s going to bake for 25 minutes at 350. Okay, let’s start on our brunette cream. First of all, let’s talk about bureau nuts. 

Bureau Nuts are my Favorite Nuts. Why? 

They’re the highest antioxidants. They actually have the highest amount of protein and they’re the lowest unsaturated fats. So they became really popular because of the lower fat, higher protein and higher antioxidant value and they are from Brazil and they’re fabulous.

They’re delicious. They’re a great snack. And what I like about them is that they’ve got a nice nutty peanut flavor. And so if you’ve got a peanut allergy, this is a great way to get your peanut butter fix. So you’re going to notice when you try them that they definitely have like a little bit of a peanut butter flavor. So in the Vitamix, I’m going to add the bureau nuts, and I’m going to add cashews but before I blend this I want to talk about soaking nuts. 

Benefits of Soaking Nuts

So I have soaked both of these nuts overnight and rinsed them and strained them. You never want to use the water that you’ve soaked your nuts in. The reason that we’re soaking the nuts is because it removes any of the enzyme inhibitors that are blocking any absorption of any of the minerals or nutrients that are coming actually from the nut. If you ever noticed that you eat nuts and seeds and you feel a little bloated or gassy. You can start to soak your nut. So these have already been soaked and rinsed and strained. Okay, same with the bureau nuts. 

Alright, there we are. We’ve got our cashews, our bureau nuts. Then I’m going to add maca root and mesquite. So the maca root really really known for hormones actually known for sexual vitality and health and libido and energy and I took a lot of maca as I was healing my hormones and my adrenals, and my thyroid. Okay, I get that and the mesquite gives it a nice and multi flavor like I love a multi a multi flavor. Okay, I’m going to add some coconut milk, and I’m using whole milk coconut milk. And here’s another way that you can substitute to y’all like if you are allergic to coconut, then you can sub almond milk here or any liquid of choice. Okay, I just like the creaminess and the fattiness from the coconut milk. And then I’m gonna add some maple syrup. Okay. Now I’m going to blend away. Okay, perfect. 

Let’s take a look at this cream. Oh, yeah. Okay, so All I smell is the maple and the maltiness from the mesquite mixed with the bureau nut. It’s so good. So this brownie I made earlier, so we didn’t have to wait. So let’s get in here. Okay, I’m going to cut a nice slice here for us. And let it take this delicious cream here. So creamy look at this cream and I’m going to put a nice bed here on the bottom of it. And one thing I love about this bureau nut cream is that there’s so many options for it. First of all, it’s delicious drizzled on nice cream or ice cream, a smoothie bowl can put it on your yogurt and granola. I love it on toast with some bananas or apple slices. Or you can use this as as a dip, like I’ve used that. Use it as a dip for apple slices before and it’s delicious. 

Okay, that’s a big dollop of our adaptogen maca, bureau nut cream. And then I’m going to take our brownie here. And what I also love about this brownie is that usually adaptogens are in drinks and elixirs, but it’s really fun to use adaptogens in creams and brownies, it’s a great way to get them in. So just wanted to say that okay, I’m going to add some chocolate chips here for a garnish. Oh my gosh, Dr. G is going to love this. I can’t wait for him to try the budda bowl and our sweet potato adaptogen brownie. I just know he’s gonna love it.

Special Guest: Dr. Chrisitan Gonzalaz

Okay, y’all so excited. Christian Gonzalez is in the house today, aka Dr. G. He is definitely a great friend, an amazing naturopathic doctor. And I’m so excited he’s here.

CA: Thank you so much for coming on the show today. 

Dr. G: Thank you. Oh my gosh, walk in. There’s food everywhere.

CA: Oh my gosh, you’re like, Yes!

Dr. G: I know. It’s good quality. 

CA: Thank you. 

Dr. G: It’s coming from you. 

CA: Thanks so much. So one thing I always think of when I think of you is I think of you as a person that live definitely a holistic lifestyle. And you really walk your talk, right and you live with so much integrity. And I really appreciate that about you. And you have inspired me over the years to make so many changes in my health and live a life that’s more holistic. And there’s a joke and a saying and my friends group, my family that if we’re making a change in our makeup or laundry detergent, or I’ve switched rock a cow or cleaning products, right? Somebody will say is it Dr. G approved or all say, “is it Dr. G approved?” and I can kind of get like my family to make a change because my mother loves you too. And I’ll say Well, Dr. G approves Mom, come on. 

Dr. G: So it’s amazing. And it’s beautiful when your work can transcend that and yeah, all of a sudden, someone could say like something is Dr. G approved. Yeah, I hear that. Sometimes they’ll be like, Oh, I’m talking to my mom. And I brought in something. I’m like the groceries and she goes to that Dr. G approved? And it’s funny. It’s a nice thing that has caught on. 

CA: Today we’re going to be talking about the healing properties of food and the powerful world of adaptogens and cancer fighting foods because I know that’s a passion of yours too. But before we get started, I know the Wholicious community wants to see your take your reaction and taste this budda bowl. So let’s talk about the budda bowl. For me, I love a budda bowl because it forces me to eat all the colors of the rainbow. So we’ve got broccoli rice with a little Swiss chard, some oyster mushrooms, and you know I love the oyster mushroom. We can talk more about that. Delicata squash, we have a raw pesto here. Definitely some raw sprouted pumpkin seeds and avocado because I always eat avocado for fat and brain health. So you can have a bite here. But this is like the Mac Daddy bowl. This is the Mac this is a Mac but it will and there’s just so many things that we can talk to to this bowl. That’s why I was like okay, what am I going to make for Dr. G? I need to make a budda bowl because I want to talk about healing properties of food. And a couple kitchen hacks that I’ve learned in the kitchen from you. Those oyster mushrooms. I love the oyster mushrooms because they’re so meaty, so meaty. 

Dr. G: Man. Every time I eat your food. It’s so flavorful, but so nutritious and I feel like a new man.

CA: I love that that’s a great compliment.

Dr. G: But I’m glad you put in the mushrooms. This is actually a powerful anti cancer bowl.

CA: Powerful anti-cancer bowl because we’ve got the mushrooms, and I know both and we’ll get more into adaptogens later. And then we’ve also got the broccoli rice. And I have to tell you what I put in here. And it’s something I learned from you a couple years ago is I started adding mustard seed powder to all my cruciferous veggies, and I stopped overcooking my broccoli, right, keeping it about eight minutes as you recommend, I think that you taught me to cut up the cauliflower and broccoli, and maybe let it sit for a minute. 

Dr. G: Well, broccoli is incredibly nutritious. Yeah, not only for anti cancer, but really for hormones to. The sulfur in it is conducive to us detoxifying, it’s a very sensitive vegetable. It’s got  big sensitivity. That’s what I say, yeah. But certain vegetables are really resilient. And you could just cook the crap out of them, and still get all the benefits. But generally speaking, we overcook our broccoli. And we’re really just benefiting from the fiber at that point. But we’re breaking down all those important components. So if you’re a fan, is really that therapeutic component. But for that to be created. There’s an enzyme, which is really, really delicate. That enzyme when we eat raw broccoli, we chew it mechanically, we activate that enzyme to create those. So for your body, right? Yeah, but most of us, including me, don’t like raw broccoli, it hurts my stomach, it’s too much. So I need to cook it. Now there’s two ways. There’s a mustard seed route, which, you know, we take our broccoli, cut it up, and then we can cook it lightly. And then add in mustard seed to replenish those therapeutic nutrients, which is amazing. But some of us don’t like mustard seed powder. There are a handful of people, I don’t think as much of a taste, it has a little bit of a taste. 

CA: But it doesn’t make a difference for me, either. 

Dr. G: But for the people who do, you can just cut your broccoli or cauliflower. And that’ll mimic the mechanical movement and your mouth, and the crushing and the activation of that enzyme to create those of your fans. And leave it out. Leave it out for 30 minutes or so 40 minutes and you’re ready activating it. And then if you want to cook it, you can cook it too. But you’re already activated and you don’t need to put the mustard seed powder. But those are two routes, where with this one hack, all of a sudden we’re going through life now more empowered and going yes. Okay, if I’m making a budda bowl. And it’s got some broccoli components in there. I know I did my part to make sure it’s therapeutically powerful, perfect, 

CA: Right? Because we don’t want to just eat it and not get the therapeutic benefit. Exactly. Yeah. So that’s, I love that that’s been a favorite hack. I’ve shared that with so many people. So thank you. It’s amazing. And then let’s talk about what else is in here. Well, we’ve got those oyster mushrooms. So I know brain health and it’s a great cancer fighting food too. 

Dr. G: All mushrooms are mushrooms, mushrooms are especially and a lot of my work was in breast cancer. Mushrooms are one of the most powerful foods across the board, Reishi shitai, white button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, Lion’s Mane for the brain. But regardless, all of them have incredible therapeutic properties. And all of them have some sort of effect some more than others on the immune system. We want to all optimize our immune system, especially in the past three years, everyone’s more aware of oh, I need to be immunologically stronger and healthier. Although it’s not just eating a mushroom. And now you’re immunologically strong, there’s so many more levels. But if you’re having a food like this every single day, we see in studies that it can reduce the your your risk for breast cancer, white been mushrooms was the one that was studied. But regardless, they all act the same way because they have a carbohydrate chain, a polysaccharide chain where the immune system sees it and they go alright, we need to activate. It actually initiates the immune system to activate. Now even if you have autoimmune disease, where you quote unquote have a super hyperactive immune system. It’s interesting the intelligence of food it can help modulate to so it doesn’t get over activate it goes okay, let me actually pull back and calm down. That’s the powerful part about mushrooms. It can modulate your immune system. It’s underactive, it can bring it up to more active if it’s overactive. It can it could come down the fire. 

CA: Amazing. I didn’t know that about calming down the fire. 

Dr. G: New modulating foods and that’s it when you think about it. The intelligence of food and the connection to the body. It’s literally inflammation to all of our systems, how to work in harmony, and what to do. 

CA: Amazing. I love this. And what are some other cancer fighting foods?

Dr. G: Aside from broccoli, just all cruciferous vegetables the whole class is really powerful, especially when it comes to hormonally driven cancers like prostate, or breast, uterine cancers. These are the things that we need to look for because they all have components with hormones, the cruciferous vegetable, the whole class of vegetables, which is like kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli sprouts, all of them have a positive effect on clearing estrogen from our body and also opting for the healthy accretion of the healthier form of estrogen. For example, when we eat a really inflammatory diet, and we’re exposed to a lot of Zeno, estrogens like plastics in our environment, or endocrine disruptors like scents or fragrance that we’re breathing in all day, plugins, for example. What happens is in our body, those chemicals mimic estrogen. And in that mimic phase, it’s being metabolized to a very specific pathway that is not conducive to breast health, or really health in general. I think of it like three roadways when estrogen is being metabolized. And one roadway is the clearest one, which we want most of the estrogen to go to the highest ratio. The other one’s got bumps and other ones got bumps and glass and roadblocks. Now, when we have all of these endocrine disruptors, it’s going through the bumps and it’s opting for that, that bumps glass robot road leads to genetic damage. And genetic damage is essentially what’s leading to things like breast cancer. So when you’re eating these cruciferous vegetables, it’s actually shifting the road which estrogen is being metabolized through which is amazing, right, because again, eating food is signaling the body. It’s helping clear out that toxic form of estrogen and opting for a healthier form of estrogen which is easier metabolize. So cruciferous vegetables across the board, one of the most powerful being broccoli sprouts. 

CA: Broccoli sprouts I know and they didn’t make them on the bowl today but I have an

easy 

Dr. G: It’s easy because you can you can dress them with sprouts you literally have like, you can put tahini and make a sprouts snack.

CA: I put in my smoothie, like get the broccoli sprouts, then. Yeah.

Dr. G: Especially if anyone has a predisposition to hormonally based cancers like your dad had prostate cancer, your mom had breast cancer or your dad has breast cancer even or you have just endocrine disruption, like hormonal acne. 

CA: We all have, I feel like we all have disruption, right because of plastic in the environment. And I mean, I finally years ago, I started cleaning up my makeup and my laundry detergent and stop drinking out of plastic water bottles. I mean, all the things that disrupt our hormones.

Dr. G: I mean, 93% of people was 2,000 participated with 93% of those people run by the CDC have BPA high levels of BPA, which is metabolized in like a day or two, which is pretty crazy in a day. Because that means within the past day, we’ve been exposed to some sort of endocrine disrupting plastic, and that’s one of the nastiest ones out there. There’s others but regardless, 

CA: They terrify me. You can’t even touch the register tape.

Dr. G: I do sometimes but sometimes I opt not for it. 

CA: Me too. 

Dr. G: Unless I’m making a purchase, which I might bring back. Yeah, but other powerful foods. Tumeric is one tumeric and ginger. And there’s a really good spices, you roots that you can use. I know you use a lot of it in your foods, but something that can be utilized really easily. You can make a tea at night, right? You can add it to your food, you can add it to your smoothie, ginger and Tumeric both but Tumeric tends to be the one that is even more studied, and showing so much variety and the routes of how it helps people with their immune system and reduce cancer inflammation, reduce growth of blood vessels to cancer. Blows up cancer cells like a grenade. It’s pretty incredible how intelligent Tumeric is. Turmeric when it comes to healing the body and it’s potent anti inflammatory. Ginger works very similarly to. So two really amazing spices that we see beans and legumes. We don’t really talk about beans and legumes. I know they do have yeah, they do have anti cancer, anti cancer data behind them. It’s really amazing stuff. And interesting is a lot of us demonize beans and legumes for the anti nutrients. But many of these anti nutrients are the very nutrients, nutrients that have been shown to help be helpful at reducing or preventing cancer, okay, which is incredible. So you have to find your happy medium, some of us are sensitive to it. So we can cook them out we can soak them.

Exactly, yeah, 

CA: If I eat legumes I’m definitely soaking my beans overnight. Any of my grains and legumes. Yeah, please help a little bit with the enzyme inhibitors. 

Dr. G: Yeah, that’s easy. It’s an easy process. And you know, it’s not like I’m on my process. So and then when it just comes to one of the most powerful easy ones is leafy greens. And this is this should be obvious but if we think about it, there are very important nutrients in leafy greens and really all vegetables and fruits. Yeah, but you have to think of in terms of color, right? Yes, because each color class represents a different levels of polyphenols, flavonoids, different nutrients that have been shown to be the very nutrient or antioxidants that have been helpful for reducing inflammation and overall cancer. So the way I the way I see it is leafy greens should be one or two servings a day. Okay, and then the rest you just want to get in there. You want to get all the colors and this is what how colorful this.

CA: I know and I had to add the delicata because I’m such a squash. I have an obsession with all squash, kabocha, and delicata right now, but it’s like getting the colors of the rainbow and sometimes I’ll catch myself eating broccoli and spinach and it’s like, oh, no, where’s my squash or where my yams and let me get some lentils in there and yeah, yeah. 

Dr. G: I’ve been adding a ton of pomegranate to my yes adding seeds on pomegranate seeds on there and different color squash but it’s even more visually appealing yeah to the body like we know and if you have kids aside from the topic of cancer, if you have kids that’s visually more appealing to and you can teach them you can make mushrooms taste good. So really, really important is one thing I always say is the variety, variety variety, 

CA: Variety is so important and I love going back to the kid thing because one of my favorite famous things I always make and I have it on one of my episodes are my veggie smoothie bowls, and I use a purple sweet potatoes. With blueberries right? I’ve made one for you before and it’s bright purple and it’s beautiful. But underneath I’ve got cauliflower and I’ve got zucchini and a teeny bit chlorella so you’re already sneaking in those extra veggies and it looks beautiful and it tastes like ice cream and it’s all about sneaking in the health you know without and making. It tastes great. 

Dr. G: If a kids see a blue bowl. Yeah, or a green bowl and

CA: it kind of tastes like ice cream or yogurt.

Dr. G: But look, we’re taking a step back from your skill is to make it taste good. Not everyone. I tried to do what you did. It did not taste like that. It tastes like raw cauliflower. 

CA: You’re like this taste like raw cauliflower. 

Dr. G: Right? So we really have to hone in on the taste. Yeah. Because me I got a taste but like a kid. I’m like, it doesn’t taste good. I don’t want it. Yeah. But yeah, so those are some of my favorite foods like tumeric, ginger, all the cruciferous vegetables are so important to have the variety in that. And leafy greens having one or two servings of those. And then just getting into variety. It also speaks to not just the antioxidants, but when we talked about all these foods, they’re all fiber rich. 

CA: They are and we’re deficient in fiber. I read that we like there’s 2% of Americans that eat enough fiber.

Dr. G: 2%. Very small amount, very small amount, especially evolutionarily. Right. And fiber is important signal for our microbiome, which is indicated in inflammation in our body which is implicated, and blood sugar, which is implicated in hormonal balance. Right? So if you think about where is where is a lot of our body dysfunction happening? It’s starting at the microbiome, right? So if we can heal that it’s stands to believe that a lot of our physical health can be healed from that point. We know you and I love mental, emotional, spiritual health. Yeah, Mind Body stuff. Yes, though, if we’re talking solely on physical, you have to have to nurture your microbiome. Yeah. And you do that with variety. And you do that with colors. And you do that with fiber rich foods, right throughout the day, and then you train it over time. And then all of a sudden, you go, Well, I don’t have gut issues. I feel like my arthritis is better. My skin issues are better. It’s because you’re giving the body what it needs. 

CA: Yes, I love that. We touched on gut health because it’s a very passionate topic of mine. And in a couple episodes on Wholicious, I dedicated a whole episode to gut health. And we really focus on healthy microbiome. And when I finally started to clean up my diet, probably about eight, nine years ago, I mean, I was drinking too much alcohol, too much caffeine, eating processed foods, I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was putting in my body. I was gassy, bloated, fatigued, and I didn’t even realize there was like a gut, brain connection also. So yeah, it all starts in the, in the gut. And I know you and I, we always like to go mental, emotional, spiritual. So maybe we can touch a little bit on that part.

Dr. G: What we see as doctors is someone come in usually to the point where they have found a physical dysfunction or if something’s uncomfortable, or they just my knees really hurting and keeps getting inflamed, or, you know, I’m starting to get these rashes on my body or my my stomach’s starting to bloat. But what you’re seeing is above the glacier, below the glacier is a culmination of so much. And I was just having this conversation before we got on air is you can’t, at least as a practitioner, you can’t practice fully as a practitioner, and only see the physical. Which is unfortunately the paradigm of medicine in the United States. It really is. That is half medicine for me. Yeah. Full medicine, holistic medicine is to address those physical issues. But also look at what’s under the glacier. Now inevitably, what we see under the glacier is childhood stuff, connection with your parents, your siblings, lovers, lack of authenticity and your own body and body meant not standing in integrity or your own truth, lack of community, all of the very things that you know that you’ve been holding back from yourself, but not putting onto the surface and seeing yourself in the most honest light. It’s those things that really take a toll on the body. And actually there is a there’s a measurable connection, right? We can test how stressed you’re making yourself, right? By tracking your cortisol throughout the day, right? It doesn’t have you can get off work. You can be home all day and you can just be with your own thoughts, and we can still track your cortisol right? And what happens is we tell ourselves stories over and over about everything about ourselves, about our relationships, about our work, yeah. And they perpetuate our reality. But what happens is they also perpetuate the release of cortisol in our body over and over and over. When it comes to trauma, when we experience it, or we think about it, it’s like it was yesterday. It’s like the inciting factor happened yesterday. Many times, it happens when we were young, and we adapted to that trauma. And when we have that adaptation, becomes part of our persona. And we forget that we don’t cry, or we forget that, you know, we’re really stone cold, or we forget that we’re really codependent with people. Yeah. However it manifested for people. It’s the same version. It’s the same part of a movie though the same thing. It’s just a manifestation. So like that, you have to get to the root of that. Because there’s no one walking on this earth, who’s not carrying a generational trauma?

CA: No, everyone is. I just learned that a couple years ago, and I’ve been looking underneath the glacier and peeling back the layers. I was like, why aren’t I? Why aren’t I at optimal health right now? And it’s like, Oh, I gotta look at some generational stuff.

Dr. G: Right? So yeah, so you see, you see two people, people who are unknowingly carrying generational trauma or people who are carrying the burden of working through it. Yeah, that’s it. That’s two different types of people. Why? Because the world is the way it is. And the world is the way it is because we carry so much crap. Right? Because we are so egocentric, right, and it carries through generations and generations. As we’re growing now and becoming more self aware we’re understanding that, okay, we can break that generational trauma, and also step into our own authenticity. The thing with that is that when we do we realize true health for me, yes, there’s no such thing as health until you embody your authentic self. Then comes all the other stuff. Then comes all of all of the gut healing foods, then comes all the exercise and the diets and biohacking. You can’t do any of those things. Without the first one. 

CA: You can’t. And I’m so glad you touched on that because it really is like a band aid. If you’re doing all the other things. You’re not really looking at the root cause.

Dr. G: I work with patients. And before I really had this realization, especially and I had it to the cancer treatment, I saw them and they pick up be on the best diet. They could be on the best biohacking. They could be best exercise regimen, best detox, they could spend all this money. But until they stepped into like, I really need to repair that relationship with x. Yes. And I need to step into my own self, my newest self, I need to shut that. Yeah, I mean, we’re afraid to be ourselves. We live in fear. And what do you think that fear energy does to our physiology? We live in fear. We don’t know what it is to be living in love and be ourselves. And listen, I’m guilty of it. I don’t wake up every day. Sometimes I’m like, oh, no, I’m back to my old field. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But awareness and caring that and that you can always have a choice. You always have a choice. 

CA: I always say to myself that I wake up and I need to shift my energy to the right a little bit through. I’m like, wait a second ever, you can either choose faith or fear today, what are you going to do? Like, what’s your game gonna be? You know, because of course, we’re human. Of course, I wake up and I’m like, Oh, my God, a room. I’ve got all the noise in my head. But it’s like, yeah, how do I want to live today? I want to live in faith, and be the best version of myself today. And it’s hard. It’s not easy.

Dr. G: That’s what that’s what I say, bearing the burden of breaking generational stuff. Yeah, you could tell which people were doing it because you sit down and talk to them and you could tell they have going, they’re going through it. I’ve gone through it. Yeah. But it’s what you’re doing is you’re setting the precedent for when you do have kids if and when. You’re creating a new space for those children to grow up authentically, without the crap that your grandfather held, or your grandmother held there, your dad or your mom. And now you have space for this child. That’s the biggest blessing you can give your kid, period.

CA: It is. I’m so glad we touched on that. I didn’t even ask you at the beginning. I wanted to know like what inspired you to get into naturopathic medicine. What was like the thing?

Dr. G: I was in dental school, two years into it, and my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer. And I went home for my winter break. And I was taking her to these visits. And I was just so displeased with how conventionally she was being treated, or how we just treated cancer. I was on another plane thinking that oh, you know, we there’s more of a team effort or we understand cancer more. And then when I went into the oncologists office, I was like, we don’t know shit about cancer. Nor do we know anything about even diet, because they were they brought her home, they brought me home at two boxes of ensure boost, and just looking at these products. And at the time, I knew enough about nutrition, at least like fitness nutrition to go, why would I ever give this amount of sugar, this amount of ingredients first ingredient being inflammatory, that second and third, high sugar and that opened up my eyes to another world and going that there’s a big disparity between what we can do for cancer patients and what’s being done. So it just so happened and it’s funny because as soon as your awareness opens, you get presented with things left and right. Exactly. And it’s like my blinders opened and then all sudden this book comes into my life and it’s funny because I can tell the story. I’m on the plane on the way back to dental school in the Midwest, and I see ND and I go, the author’s name and ND to this book. And I couldn’t believe that the editors made a mistake in writing ND instead of MD, and I go, this is this is stupid how, like how, and I opened the first second page, and I read about the author and I go ND but wait, what’s happening? Naturopathic Doctor, at the time, I didn’t have an iPhone, so I couldn’t like look it up. Even when I landed, I had a flip phone. So then I went straight home, and I opened up my computer, and I did all the research. And I had like a hot flash of intuition. And it was like, this is where you need to be not here. Now define my logic on all of those loans that I had. I left and through leaving, it opened up the sense of purpose. And that’s how it happened. After that, I was able to go treat people with cancer and my mom did pass away. I was able to treat people after seeing even that process of death, too. It was the whole process. I just think that the way we do death in America, the way we do cancer healing and treatment in America is so off. It is off. So off. We are not working with the body. And people aren’t dying with dignity.

CA: No, they’re not. I lost a family member too to cancer and they’re not dying with dignity. It’s crazy.

Dr. G: It’s horrible. So through that process, I learned okay, it’s not just for me, I was like, oh, well, all they need to do is just eat a healthier diet and no cancer. It’s not just diet. It’s there’s so many more factors to it. Two of the factors we weren’t talking about in school, and in residency were and I learned more when I was doing my own work about environmental toxins, which I do talk a lot about, we talk about like a cow and heavy metals and pesticides. And then the trauma stuff we were just talking about. To me the two biggest factors, the two biggest factors for cancer. Were number one is trauma that you’re holding in the body, and two is environmental toxins. Then comes diet then comes exercise, all the other things, but those two biggest factors for cancer are those two.

CA: Okay, so we have to talk about adaptogens because I know you and I have talked about adaptogens that we can do it all day. It’s my favorite topic of mine. And I love my mushrooms. So I started drinking lion’s mane and Chaga and Rishi putting those three mushrooms in my tea about two and a half years ago when I was healing my adrenals from Adrenal Fatigue and I was coming off the caffeine. They gave me so much energy. They also helped balance my nervous system and really helped with brain health because I had so much brain fog. And then I always do maca, maca for my hormones, sexual health, energy too. So I want to ask you and I love we’re gonna taste the brownie here in a minute because I think it’s unique to put adaptogens in food and not just drink them right. So we do have some maca and all three of the mushrooms and our brownie later. But what are some of your favorite adaptogens? And yeah, tell me just a quick.

Dr. G: It’s fantastic when you could think about doing adaptogens and food. Yeah, because not everyone is going to comply and take all these tinctures and powders. Yeah, I do love Reishi as a powerful adaptogen that you can take at night actually because it’s not an energizing one. Quadriceps is another one and actually grows on bugs. But quadriceps is more of a stimulating one that you can take during the day especially for athletics. So let’s say before workout quadricep mushrooms is pretty good one that I like. Sometimes I couple that with something called Rhodiola.

CA:I love Rhodiola. It’s fantastic for nice energize. 

Dr. G: Yeah, that’s an energizing one. Make sure you take that. Whereas something like schizandra or holy basil, usually those are more calming, but  they help your adrenals and your nervous system. Some things that we don’t talk about are vitamin C, and how important that is for your adrenals. When your vitamin C deficient, your adrenals are suffering. When you’re sick or your stressed, you’re using a lot of vitamin C, and your adrenals are working. So a lot of adrenal rich foods or adaptogenic foods that we don’t talk about are all the vitamin C rich foods. So and the thing is remember, we can eat a bunch of vitamin C rich foods, but a week later, it’s not gonna be stored in our body, we’re gonna be paying it out to water soluble vitamin. So you always have to make sure you’re replenishing vitamin C rich foods. It’s not just for the immune system. It’s also for your stress system. So another one of my favorite ones, and I love maca too. Yeah, great one.

CA: Yeah, I love maca. Okay, I know we could talk about adaptogens all day. So I think we should try this brownie. 

Dr. G: Let’s do it. Okay. 

CA: I had to bring myself a fork because I just had to get in here. So I’m going to tell you what this brown is. It’s a sweet potato brownie using sweet potato as the base. And then it’s got almond flour and some paleo chocolate chips. So there’s no sugar that’s made with coconut sugar, and a little bit of coconut and then in the brownie. I’ve got lion’s mane and Chaga and then in the bureau nut creams, you’ve got a lot of antioxidants with the bureau nut and then we’ve got macca, lucuma and tocos. 

Dr. G: It’s like a treat. It’s like a treat. Right? It’s a more early afternoon treat. I love these.

C: It gives me so much energy and it’s a desert without the guilt and it’s loaded with healthy fat and plant protein. 

Dr. G: That’s why I love your food. It’s things like this with no sugar. Exactly. And I can enjoy it, but it tastes so good.

CA: I know I mean this my whole mission on earth is to make a paradigm shift in the world through food and have healthy food taste delicious, right? It doesn’t have I think healthy food gets the stigma of being so bland and boring. And all the things and no, like when we’re eating good food, and we’re filling our bodies with the right food. We feel confident, amazing, sexy in our body. So I always like to say that healthy is the new sexy. Like when it comes to food.

Dr. G: Well, there’s the thing because every time I eat good, like good, flavorful food, not like something really boring that I’m putting together that is healthy. Yeah, but flavorful. It gets my it gets my whole juices flowing. I feel alive. Yeah. You know, I come into your restaurant, I’m dancing on the chair. My body’s just moving. And I’m like, oh, I need more food like this. I always forget. But then I come back and I go I need to eat like this day. Love it, I get home and I really bland meals, then I come back. So this type of food.

CA: Always love cooking for you. And today was amazing. We could talk for hours, this was so fun. And I just want to thank you for making such a difference in my life and inspiring me and my family. So thanks for the work you’re doing for the world and the community. So yeah, it’s really amazing. 

Dr. G: And likewise, thank you for the gifts your talents that you’re giving us, community and people. It’s really amazing stuff.

CA: Thank you. And one last question for you. Is there a tip or a tool that you can share with the wholicious community that they can implement, and their daily life for holistic living?

Dr. G: Yeah, make time for yourself. You have to make time for yourself. I don’t care if it’s 10 minutes in the day, three hours in the day, if you have time in the morning, especially to set yourself up. And finally just to come back yourself to come back to your body to get in your body. Whether it’s yoga, whether it’s meditation, whether it’s breathing, whether it’s journaling, whether it’s just going on a walk, something that it has nothing to do with your phone or your family or your partner or anything. You time.

CA: All these spiritual practices. I’m going to be sharing the Wholicous. It’s all about coming back to yourself being present yourself. Like you said 10 minutes. Okay, so before we go today, tell people where they can find you.

Dr. G: Okay, most of my work is on Instagram. So it’s at d-o-c-t-e-r  dot Gonzalez g-o-n-z-a-l-e-z. I’m also a co-founder of the swell score, which is curated and handpicked supplements. But not only that, things for the home, beds, bedding, air fresheners, whatever it is, all by doctors and scientists. And it’s a platform where you can just it takes all of the guesswork out. You know all the research out and you just go yes, I want to know the best b 12 The best vitamin C the best bedding, the best pillows, all there. So check it out. That’s just swell score. Perfect.

CA: Okay, awesome. All right. Thanks again. 

Thanks y’all for joining today. Take care of yourself, your mind your body and your soul. And if you felt inspired today and you love this episode, give it a thumbs up. And if you have any questions, comment below because I love staying connected with you all. Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can be an active part of my vision of a healthy world through food. And remember, healthy is the new sexy. See you on the next episode!

The post Chef Amber’s Wholicious™ – Episode 1 The “Healing Properties of Food” appeared first on Chef Amber.

Do I have days where I do not love myself unconditionally? YES of course I do! I am human! I have days where I judge myself with my food choices or how much i ate or I have judgement around some body part. These are putting conditions on the way we love ourselves.

I am the queen of preaching about fueling and nourishing our bodies with the right foods, how important it is to have a healthy relationship with food and how important it is to love and accept our beautiful bodies now. All of these are actions of self love.

And do I fall off the wagon with these things? Yes of course I do, but I now have the tools, faith and inner confidence to lean into these moments and emotions when they arise.

Self love for me happened after I surrendered to having to control everything about my body and food. I did this through meditation, developing a strong spiritual practice and choosing faith over fear. Trusting the Universe/God/The Divine was my answer. I knew once I trusted and turned it over, I didn’t have to do this journey alone.

Then I started to make small steps in loving myself. I started creating boundaries, saying no, letting go of toxic relationships, having honest conversations, being true to myself, learning to have a healthy relationship with food and taking small steps in loving and accepting my body. Which was a lot lol and not easy! Like I said, it is a daily learning process.

And because all of my shit is wrapped around my dynamic emotional relationship with food, I knew I had to learn to love myself first and then I could begin to heal my relationship with food. It was impossible for me to have a healthy relationship with food and my body when I had no idea what the concept of self love meant.

I always push myself outside of my comfort zone to grow and expand…never being complacent. Loving myself all along the way through the ups and the downs. It’s a daily journey. And I try my best to respect my body daily by making the best decision with food, exercise and positive self talk. It is not always perfect and that is part of this journey-continuing to love ourselves with all of the mistakes and messiness.

How do I get back to loving myself and body when I am in a low and out of alignment with my inner self: through prayer and meditation first. Then using some of my self care tools like dance, naked mirror practice, calling a friend and talking it through, taking some quiet time to journal and reflect, get outside and rest. And remembering that I AM perfect as I am now. Most days I can now quickly stop that inner critic and turn it around without wanting to numb with food or hide. But some days are harder than others. I know I need to take a quiet day and sit in my feelings and look at what is trying to be revealed.

The biggest thing I have learned that has helped me really get back to loving myself is to let go of the judgements while I am in that low. Not attaching to it but observing it. And honoring what I am feeling in that moment. Like I said, I usually do not need to be numb with food anymore, but when I do, I do it with love and acceptance instead of judging, criticizing and shaming myself along the way. Because sometimes all I want and need at that moment is some coconut ice cream! And that’s ok! The worst thing for me to do is to judge myself for wanting that treat which in the past would lead to a huge binge. Now I allow myself to eat that thing with love. This has been a huge part of learning to love the way I feed myself and heal my unhealthy relationship with food.

I can’t wait to share my book HUNGRY Why I F*cking Eat with you! I dive deeper into this subject and give tons of tips and tools on how I started to create a healthy relationship with my body and food. If you relate to this post and are feeling some emotions, there is hope and it is possible to learn to love and accept yourself and have a healthy relationship with food.

I see you, I feel you and I am here for you.

Thanks for being on this journey with me. Much love xoxox

The post How To Come Back To Self Love appeared first on Chef Amber.

There was never any talk when I was growing up on different body types/shapes/sizes and how it is ok that we are all uniquely different. And seriously how boring would it be if we all looked the same!?

I love now that there is so much attention on body positivity and how all body types, shapes and sizes are beautiful. This is such an important message. One of my missions is to help inspire others to love and accept their beautiful bodies now. And to help people create a healthy relationship with food, their bodies and self. If you are reading this and struggling, there is hope! It is possible to feel confident and beautiful in your body!

And do I have days where I am not in acceptance of my body? Of course I do!! I am human! But now I do not have to act on it thru compulsive dieting, over exercising, starving myself, laxatives and negative self talk. I acknowledge my uncomfortable feelings and then know it is a sign to dive deeper inward. Usually when I am triggered with my body/bootie/stomach, it really has nothing to do with that body part. It actually is me needing to address what is really bothering me. This is where the inner work starts…not easy at all, but so worth it. I can’t wait to share more on this topic in my book HUNGRY Why I F*cking Eat! Coming end of year.

A year ago I would have never put this picture on IG! No way I would have had the nerve to show my stomach! I had so much shame around the shape of my body and number on the scale. This work towards loving and accepting my body now as it is, has been a very long journey. But today I can say I love my body, my curves and feel comfortable in my skin. I always want to feel alive, confident, beautiful, lit up and turned on in my body! I am on this journey with you! And love connecting with these conversations. Take it a day at a time and take small actions to start to love and accept your beautiful body. Examples of small actions: dancing naked, looking at your body in the mirror, moving your body, more rest, meditation, fueling your body with the right foods and letting go of trying to have the “perfect” body or diet.

I am here for you! DM me if this resonates with you. This is a journey and I am grateful to be on it with you. Much love to you all xoxoxo

The post Body Positivity appeared first on Chef Amber.

2021 has been the year of DOING for me. I did not realize how tired and stressed my body was until I actually got to Albania. It was such a blessing to be so far away because I did not have the need to check my phone every 5 minutes for texts, calls, IG and emails! I was forced to really relax, get quiet and BE.

This was hard for me at first to really settle into. It is actually uncomfortable to go from overdoing to BEING. This was one of my first ah ha moments where I saw I had gotten myself out of balance. And for me when I get out of balance, I start to get very controlling with my food and body. This is always where my work is. My intention always is to love the way I feed myself, love my body and have freedom around food and my body.

Once I really let go and surrendered in Albania, I started to see some shifts happening with my control. I went to Albania honestly in complete control fear mode. I was terrified that I would not be in control of my food or eating schedule. I was not going to be eating my usual “perfect” meal plan. I knew I would be eating pre set courses every night. I knew there was going to be foods that I usually do not. This was truly a terrifying feeling for me! I was not in control for the first time of my food and what time I would be eating. This fear almost stopped me from going to Albania! So I decided I would pack 10 cans of tuna fish, some protein powders, bison jerky and seeds.

I am so used to planning all of my meals and also the timing of when I eat. I love the structure. But sometimes I do not allow for the flexibility in my food plan. Allowing no flexibility leads to me usually restricting and binging. When my body gets too tired and run down, my overcontrolling tactics around food help me have a false sense of safety. But this false sense always leads to me restricting or compulsively overeating. It always leads to me trying to do something to stay in control like longer fasting periods, over exercising, strict intermittent fasting weeks, and restricting certain foods.

I had no choice when I got to Albania but to surrender and let go. After my first couple of sessions with my coach of releasing the tension and stress from my body, I started to relax and enjoy myself. The “noise” in my head got quiet. I let go of the need to figure out every meal, every ingredient. By the 3rd day, I was eating foods I usually do not eat on my meal plan like gluten and dairy. I get so worked up on having the “perfect” meal plan. It is so exhausting! It felt amazing to allow flexibility in my food plan and know I was going to be ok and not gain 100 pounds! In fact, my body felt great and I digested and metabolized my food. I did not gain any weight.

This was a huge slap across the face and wake up call for me around how much intense negative energy I put around having this “perfect” mindset. The more I stress about eating a certain food or ingredient, the more stress I put on my body. I am basically telling my body that the food I am eating is “bad” and I feel like my body holds on to it, even it is an apple. So I decided to change my mindset and eat with joy. Trust and relax and thank my body for digesting the beautiful food. This was the first time ever I let go of the “noise” around food on vacation. Usually when I eat, my mind is saying “you will get fat if you eat this, or this is not something I should be eating, or this food will make me bloated and constipated, or when I get home I will basically have to over exercise and starve myself”. If I always have this energy and noise when I eating, how do you think my body will respond? But instead when I ate the meals in Albania, I ate them with love and joy. I had zero digestion and elimination problems. I feel like the more stressed I am when I eat or stressed about what and when I am eating, I am doing more harm to my body. And this is what keeps the weight and inflammation on for me.

Letting go of the need to be “perfect” with my food is such a blessing. My coach reminded me that to chase perfectionism is a waste of energy because perfectionism does not really exist. There is no such thing as the “perfect” diet or the “perfect” meal plan.

And just so you know, I never ate the 10 cans of tuna fish! I did eat my jerky and seeds but I was eating the most beautiful and freshest fish daily so there was no need for canned tuna!

I felt called to share this new shift with you. This trip was meant to be because when I was there I was editing my final chapters of my book. I have a whole chapter in my book on having structure vs flexible food plan. I am so passionate about continuing to share my journey with food and my body in hope to help or inspire someone that is also struggling in this area.

My book “HUNGRY Why I F*cking Eat”, will be out late May! I can’t wait to share it with you! Thank you for reading and being on this journey with me! Reach out anytime! I love connecting with you! Much love to you all. xo

The post Letting Go of “Perfect” appeared first on Chef Amber.

I also believe that it is impossible to nourish ourselves with the right foods and let go of those numbing tools if we are not in acceptance with our bodies and if we do not love ourselves. I have been sharing through IGTV, ways I pushed myself to start to accept my curves, my sensuality and everything about my body. This has been a major journey.

My intentions for 2021 are to experience total inner freedom and to embody unconditional self love. And I can not experience either of these if I am out of acceptance with myself or if I am not taking care of myself and my needs. I like to block one day every week to schedule self care dates. And throughout the week, I sprinkle in time for self care. Not all of these dates and acts need to cost a ton of money. Though I do like to splurge on manicures, massages, acupuncture, facials and the Korean Spa when it opens again. Other things I schedule and block time for: hiking with Sadie, time at the ocean, laying out in my backyard, buying myself fresh flowers weekly, breathwork, naps, times with friends, FaceTime dates, extra meditation, quiet time, finding time for play, cooking for myself or a friend, going out to dinner, tai chi and dancing!

I suggest you start by making a list of what makes you feel good. What acts of self care can you start to pepper in your day and week? Then from this list, I would commit to putting a couple of these into your days and week. I usually take Sunday as my quiet day and allow myself to do what brings me joy and pleasure. It is so easy to get caught up in life and work and forget about ourselves and the importance of play and taking care of ourselves. I am speaking from experience! 2020 I put myself last, lost myself in work, allowed my boundaries to be broken, blew out my adrenals, got back into my self numbing drugs; caffeine, alcohol and sugar and was not nourishing my body with the right foods. I committed this year, to really put myself first and create the life I want to live and experience. And so far, it is amazing and so many blessings have happened in 2021!

One blessing is that I finished my book during quarantine in January! My Dynamic Emotional Relationship With Food will be out this June followed by my cookbook this summer! So many exciting things I cannot wait to share with you. Stay connected and share with me some of your self care acts and what you are doing to honor and take care of yourself. Love to you all xoxo

The post Self Care Practices Lead To Self Love appeared first on Chef Amber.

I had to be in a very strong mindset as I entered this fast. I felt really confident and strong in my body. I had fueled and nourished my body the previous week and had tons of water to prepare! I had tried a 1 one day dry fast a week before to test it out, and it was pretty easy. So I was mentally ready to go for 3 days.

My first day I had my last meal at 12pm. That way I had some water and food that day. This day was the hardest with my thirst level. I wanted water so badly that day. The next morning I had to open up my restaurant and run my ass around for almost 8 hours serving food and drinks! That was a mental game for sure and hard. I was more hungry the 2nd day than thirsty. It was too much activity for me that day. I was very cranky, impatient and bitchy…not a great combo when working with the public! That night I allowed myself to watch tv and connect with a girlfriend.

I woke up the morning going into my 3rd day and was very weak, tired, starving and honestly wanting to give up. I did not think I could go on. I was so freaking hungry. More hungry than thirsty. I had a hard time getting going that morning. I took it a minute at a time really. Thinking at any time I was going to break it and have some water or coconut water.

Dry fasting is a mental game. It forced me to slow down and really go inward. On my 3rd day, I meditated a lot and did breathwork, napped, took a very short walk, sat outside, wrote, journalled, took baths (without letting the water near my face), and stayed very quiet. I was very present with all of my feelings and emotions. I was slow and moved with intention. I realized I can do hard challenging things as long as I stay focused. I knew that I was safe and I would be fine. I really allowed myself to BE and stop all of the DOING.

I will not lie, every time I licked my lips I fantasized about drinking really cold water. Things that helped the hunger and thirst: I did an enema-they recommended doing this when feeling hungry, I took multiple baths per day, rested and breathed in peppermint essential oil. I also created a safe healing container that last day ½.

Nights are not bad because I get to sleep. Those last couple hours before I got to have my first drink were intense. Seriously I took it an hour at a time.

What I gained from this: self confidence, inner self esteem, a feeling of feeling empowered and strong and knowing I can handle whatever life throws at me! If I can abstain from eating or drinking anything for 3 days, I can do anything. It also reminded me to be present with my food and drinks and that I will not starve! I can slow down and be mindful when I eat. I have a new gratitude for clean water and for showers and to be able to brush my teeth!

I am going to try to do a 3 day fast monthly. And I am trying to do dry intermittent fasting instead of with water. I like to eat my dinner at 4pm and breakfast at 9am. So for those 16-17 hours, I will not drink water. I will see if this works for my body. This is not for everyone. I was encouraged by a practitioner to try this and see if it would shift anything in my body. Definitely check with your doctor before doing any type of extreme fasting.

I broke my fast with cold water with a little salt. Then I had some coconut water. And then I sipped on bone broth and turmeric tonic. I took a shower and got my face wet and brushed my teeth! The small things we take for granted daily.

I am really grateful for this time to connect with God, my inner being and Goddess and allow for some beautiful soul healing. Thanks for reading and much love to you all xoxo

The post Dry Fasting – Why I recommend it appeared first on Chef Amber.