Recently I made a visit to the Chiropractor due to some pain in my shoulder and elbow. I had been working in the yard for a couple of days as well as increasing my exercise routine. I saw a new doctor in the office I went to. This doctor noticed that one side of my collarbone was bulging significantly higher than the other. I had never really noticed it, so the doctor had me go look in the mirror to see for myself. I then asked the doctor if it could be fixed. The answer came back to me very gently, but expressively, “No, it can’t”.
Several weeks later, I drove further to see a different Chiropractor we also use. I explained the collarbone issue that had been brought to my attention. This doctor confirmed the problem. When I asked “Can you fix it?”, the answer came back a very gentle and confident “Yes, I can fix it.”
Looking back on my life and even current circumstances have caused me to wrestle with tuff issues when I am forced to cry out “I can’t fix this!” This past week I was unable to sleep, fighting my anxious thoughts, dealing with areas of very real concern. These are the times in the middle of the night when things are quiet enough to hear a wonderful still small voice. I was able to reflect back on my life, to many times when I personally was such a mess that others looking at me would agree “I can’t fix this”. And then I remembered the two stories of my collarbone. I could hear in my mind the precious gentle words “Yes, I can fix this” coming from the One who fixed me. Jesus fixed me. That’s why He came. He already fixed the unfixable. He took it all on Himself.
I was filled with a sense of calm and encouragement. I felt a real sense of victory already won. I was also totally overwhelmed by the Grace that covered all about me what could not be fixed any other way – Grace that took my place and washed me white as snow.
Two beautiful songs about this wonderful Grace flooded my mind. Yes, He can fix “it” (whatever your “it” is). Here are the links to the songs and the lyrics that so comfort me. I pray they can be a comfort to you as well.
When our youngest son was four or five he fell in love with bugs of all kinds. He could say very early on “I want to be an Entomologist”. He had some pretty sever issues with dyslexia, which magnified the importance of making learning fun and exciting for him. One of the Specialists we were working with praised the fact that we were home schooling which allowed for very personal one on one education for him. We really had to think outside the box and we focused our educational instruction around things he wanted to learn about. We immersed into the world of insects and arachnids. We were the proud owners of a very large tank of hissing cockroaches as well as a tarantula named Curley (just to name a few). No, this post is not about eating insects. What I wanted to point out was that in the insect world, the brighter the color often served as a warning sign to other insects of danger. Colors like yellow and black or red and black. Even poison dart frogs (not part of the insect family) have beautiful bright colors which signal danger.
This is not so in the food world. Our goal when choosing healthy foods to eat is to find the brightest variety of colors we can. I have always heard that the brighter the color, the more antioxidants, and the better it is for you. Along with this thought is the statement often quoted, “Eat the Rainbow” (which is totally not to be confused with the Skittles version of “taste the rainbow” ha!). I’ve said it myself many times. I try to live by that concept and use many different brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and the tastes are fabulous together. While I do want to be your greatest encourager in this area (even taste alone would force that issue), I decided to search out facts from others more qualified that I to prove the truth of this concept.
I typed in this question in the search bar: Do bright colors in foods have more nutrients?
There was a lot of great information on this topic, but I wanted to share just a short excerpt from one article, in case you needed a push in this direction. The link for the entire article is here:
“Kathy Hoy, EdD, RD, nutrition research manager for the PBH, says eating a variety of foods helps ensure the intake of an assortment of nutrients and other healthful substances in food, such as phytochemicals, noting that color can be a helpful guide for consumers. “Nutrients and phytochemicals appear to work synergistically, so maintaining a varied, colorful diet with healthful whole foods is a pragmatic approach to optimal nutrition.”
And since the average American is eating less than five servings per day of their peas, carrots, and cantaloupe, when it should be upward of seven to 13 servings for most adults, many consumers could be unknowingly missing out on a gold mine of disease prevention.1 It turns out that having clients count colors instead of calories may be an easier fix for not only weight control but overall wellness.”
I think I feel a song coming on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”….. you can listen if you want to, just click your heels together (or click the button below) and say…..There’s no place like home.
There is a wonderful beverage called “Bullet Proof Coffee” and I wanted to give you the true original site that you can go to here Original Bulletproof. That entire website has been one that as exploded since I first came across it and you can go here to see for yourself Bullet proof site. His line of products, including cookbooks is growing every day. I was impressed but I knew that I had my own financial limits. As you can see, many of the items were a little out of my budget, so I just had to do what I could with what I could afford. So I buy organic coffee I can afford and brew it in my Bunn coffee maker. I pour the pot of coffee into a large, slender pitcher and use a hand held immersion blender to froth the coffee ingredients. I do have a Vita-Mix which can also be used, but requires more set up and clean up.
I mix in about 2 – 3 Tbsp. of unsalted grass-fed butter or ghee, about 2-3 Tbsp. of organic coconut oil (or brain octane from bulletproof), and about 1 Tbsp. of Monk Fruit and Chicory Root for sweetener and mix with immersion blender for about 10 seconds. That creates a lovely frothy top and it is delicious. For a Christmas gift I was given some true Bulletproof Brain Octane and I am very impressed. Again, research and explore for yourself, but I do love this every morning (so does the rest of my family and any guests that come to visit). There is even a real Bullet Proof Coffee shop in California. Who knows, there may be a whole chain of shops coming soon. I need one in my front yard.
When I began exploring trying to incorporate healthy Paleo options into my diet, I started with muffins and desserts. I knew that if I could find healthier ways to make these items, the rest would be a “piece of cake” (I wanted it all to be a piece of moist delicious, healthy, time effective, cost effective yummy cake! ha!) I usually explain to people in my workshops that I found when I typed in the work “paleo” in front of any recipe I was looking for, the options were incredible. Since I began several years ago, those options have totally exploded! I am often overwhelmed by all the choices. Again, part of the purpose of WellStone Gardens was to help to narrow some of those choices by allowing workshop participants the opportunity to taste a recipe before going to all the time and expense of blindly shooting in the dark. This recipe has been tweaked and tested several different times in several different arenas and it continues to be a crowd-pleaser. (It’s not considered “cake” but it is moist and delicious).
These moist and delicious muffins can be served with breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack any time. They do freeze well, so you can make large batches and save them.
Author: Melanie Dearing
Course: Breakfast/Sweet Treat
Ingredients
2 cups blanched almond flour (I use Honeyville)
¼ tsp. baking soda
⅛ tsp. sea salt
4 tbsp. maple syrup (or raw honey)
1 cup coconut cream (I use heavy coconut cream from Trader Joe’s)
4 tbsp. grass-fed ghee, melted (or melted coconut oil; organic unrefined; cold pressed – I use Costco’s)
2 eggs
½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I use smaller frozen wild blueberries when I can- Costco’s)
1 tsp. fresh orange or lemon zest (optional)
½ tsp. orange or lemon extract (optional)
2 tbsp. coconut sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven at 350°F
In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients – almond flour, baking soda, salt.
In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients – coconut cream, eggs, maple syrup and melted ghee. (zest and extract if using)
Combine wet and dry ingredients and gently mix the batter.
Fold blueberries into the batter ( I sometimes wait and add them later to each muffin cup)
Sprinkle with coconut sugar if using.
Scoop batter into paper lined muffin pan cups (or I use silicon cups) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops turn golden brown. Wait until they are completely cool before removing them from the baking pan.
Recipe makes18 regular muffins or 36 mini-muffins. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
There are a multitude of no bake, ball shaped snack recipes available. This recipe was a power packed healthy on-the-go snack I originally created during our home school coop days. The kids joked at the time that this was the equivalent to the “Miracle Max” pill from the movie Princess Bride. They called it Miracle Mel’s power ball (to be used only when you are “mostly dead” ha!) I have revised it a couple of times since then, but once you have accumulated these potent powders, rest assure they last a very long time because you use so little of each one. Once again, don’t be afraid to sub out or adapt these items to fit your personal taste or budget. My job as an educator is to help teach you to understand how to “catch a fish” not just to catch one for you. Feel free to always think outside any sample “box” I may suggest.
I used this same recipe a couple of times giving a healthy snack workshop with kids for Live Blue KC. They kids loved helping to mix and roll the balls. All the kids loved the taste (several were eating them as fast as we were making them). Enjoy and remember – eat them only when your “mostly dead”! (Just kidding)
This is a great healthy on-the-go snack/treat that is very filling. It can be packed in the car for those "food emergency" times when you may be tempted to grab something not as healthy.
1 Tbsp. chopped dark chocolate bar (at least 55% or higher)
1 tsp. cinnamon
(1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, chopped nuts of choice or hemp seeds for rolling finished balls in to coat the outside)
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed. Remove and roll into one large ball. Then divide by rolling into small meatball sized balls. Roll small balls into unsweetened shredded coconut, chopped nuts such as almonds, pecans or walnuts or raw hemp seeds. Best after refrigerated for at least 1 hour. Store in refrigerator in a closed container.
