Taste Me Please

31/07/2024

Improve your health by improving your relationship with food. Here are a few actions to guide you in elevating your health. These actions are simple but not easy. In the long run, they are worth it.

Why is this necessary? We eat too much (portions & # of servings), too often (3 meals + snacks), too late (close to bedtime), and often of the wrong food (processed junk food).

Every transformation begins with a new mindset. So to begin you have to want to change and have an unrelenting "why" for wanting it.

1. Reduce your portions and servings. Don't eat until you are stuffed. There is an old Japanese custom to consider, "eat until you are 80% full".

2. Eat two preferably one meal per day. One meal a day often referred to as OMAD is optimal and is not a new concept. We have been wrongly led to believe that we are supposed to eat 3 times a day. Breakfast which means "break fast" from your fasting period while sleeping can be had any time of day. When and what you consume is based on your goals and objectives.

3. Reduce/eliminate ultra processed (junk) food. There is a direct connection between junk food and weight gain and chronic illness. If you replace junk food with natural food you will very likely experience weight loss if you do nothing else.

4. Make your last food consumption 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. This allows your body and brain to dedicate sleep for rest, restoration, and detoxification.

5. Incorporate intermittent fasting (IF) into your lifestyle if your current health allows it. IF is beneficial for weight loss, detoxification, overall health, and anti-aging. Fasting could be problematic with certain health issues like gout, kidney disease etc. and may need physician guidance. Fasting provides your body to reset and regenerate. People pay thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars for growth hormone injections to maintain their youth while the body produces that same hormone when we fast. I recommend slowly transitioning into a fasting regimen if you are new to fasting.

Eating healthy is not a zero-sum/all or nothing game meaning you can still have foods or beverages you enjoy unless there are direct health concerns like diabetes, addictions, etc.

I am not a fan of trendy dietary fads with one exception. I do recommend and follow a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet. There are variations that include being strictly plant based to consuming some meat/seafood. A WFPB is healthier than a vegan/vegetarian and carnivore diets. The focus of any variation is to eat more whole natural food and less ultra processed “junk” food.

Choose to Have a Healthy Life!

Darin
Holistic Health & Wellness
Coach & Instructor

23/01/2024

Good info to help choose the proper apple for your recipe!

While an apple a day keeps the doctor away it was given to a teacher for appreciation because it represented knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom about health also keeps you away from the doctor.

This infographic offers a bite (or bit) of knowledge that may be helpful to those choosing to add more apples to their diet.

22/01/2024

3-Ingredient Chocolate Cookies

One of the most difficult challenges when transitioning to a healthy lifestyle is letting go of the sweet comfort dessert-like food. Those "one night stand" foods that you enjoy in the moment but regret it the following day. Good to you but not good for you.

Well here is another choice. This cookie contains all natural ingredients. You might say it is authentically decadent! The beauty is in its simplicity and its sweetness gifted by nature. If you are seeking true love if only for a moment, then try these cookies. Three ingredients and about 20 minutes of your time. Forgive the photo. Still working on my food photography. Don't let looks stop you from giving them a chance!

Ingredients:
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted.

1 cup of nuts of your choice.
(Original recipe called for Macadamia Nuts)

1 tablespoon cacao powder.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C), and line a cookie tray with parchment paper; or with aluminum foil brushed with almond flour.

2. Blend all ingredients together to form the dough. (I found that soaking the dates for at least 1 hour make them easier to blend. I soak them overnight mainly because I like to use the infused water for other recipes like smoothies as well as drinking it.)

3. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop a ball of mixture and place it on the cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the cookie balls about 2 inches apart. If your mixture is too doughy making it difficult to scoop & roll, place your mixture in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cookies begin to brown. Remove from the oven.

5. Let the cookies sit for a couple of minutes to finishing cooking and then loosen them from the cookie sheet.

Experiment with adding other natural healthy ingredients like cinnamon.

Dates, nuts, and cacao all have health benefits. Dates are an excellent source of essential nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals; and provide energy, aid digestion. They can be consumed in moderation for those dealing with insulin resistance/diabetes. Cacao contains magnesium and iron, two essential minerals.

Rule of thumb: The less ingredients in your food choices the better.

Original source for recipe: Food Matters Institute

22/01/2024

We are 3 weeks into 2024. Are you progressing with your health & wellness goals?

This year I M WELL Holistic Health & Wellness, an I M partner is encouraging and empowering folks to live a more natural lifestyle. This is an extension of the "2023 - Reconnect Me!" which focused on reconnecting with Self, Humanity, Nature, and the Divinity within it all. I M WELL will be sharing content & resources on natural foods, home remedies, natural body care products, learning to grow your own produce, etc.

It is time to be intentional about your health & wellness. Just remember these healthy nuggets:

1. There are many paths to optimal health. Find one that you that is sustainability.

2. Optimal health is more than diet & exercise.

3. Optimal health is a lifestyle that permeates in everything you do and everything you are.

4. Never stray to far from the fundamentals.

5. Focus on your diet, stress management, optimal sleep, movement/exercise, a meaningful connections.

The best gift you can give your loved ones is a health version of yourself!

27/11/2023

Join our holistic health & wellness session tonight, 11/27 @ 7PM on the power of herbs and reestablishing a relationship with Nature through consuming authentic food.

Register at imwell.impossiblemall.com/eventmgr

Sincerely,
Coach Darin
Integrative Coach & Consultant

27/09/2023

Register for I M WELL Health & Wellness "Living Our Best with Less Stress" October Series.

We all experience moments and/or periods of stress and anxiety. It may be relatively short-lived such as a deadline, running late, or a simple annoyance like being stuck in traffic. The stress may be for a period such as a financial setback or even longer like illness or the loss of a loved one.

Regardless of the type of stress, our body responds to it the same way: fight, flight, or freeze. Our brain signals our body to release hormones in preparation to deal with the stress and this become problematic when we live in a 24/7/365 stress environment.

Living Our Best with Less series begins next Monday led by one of our favorite nutritionist from Giant Food Supermarkets, Thu Hunyh, MDA, RD, LDN. She will share her knowledge on how to mitigate stress by living mindfully in all areas of our life beginning with our food choices.

Join this live discussion and Q&A session to learn how to improve your health & wellness by reducing your stress.

To register visit imwell.impossiblemall.com/eventmgr .

Living Our Best with Less Stress October Series

October 2 - Living Mindfully

October 9 - Science of Stress & Your Health

October 16 - Introduction to Aromatherapy & Essential Oils

October 23 - Herbs Work Wonders

October 30 - Meditation, Nature, and Exercise

13/09/2023

Hello!

If you haven't started already, I encourage you to start growing your own produce. Don't let your location or space limitation prevent you from starting. You can grow something and there are plenty of free resources to learn.

There are many health benefits to growing produce. A major benefit is reconnecting to Nature. I am ending my first season of growing produce and it has been an extremely wonderful and humbling experience. I grew tomatoes a couple of years ago in a small pot outside and some herbs inside. I got one small tomato before the season changed.

This time I got courageous and grew everything possible. I did not get consumed by rules, seasons, my new location, or anything else as doing so may have intimidated me and prevented me from starting.

I began by purchasing a stack of small pots from Amazon and soil from Loew's. Everything was planted in containers outdoors. I used seeds from produce I consumed. My overall harvest was not bountiful but everything grew and I did have multiple harvests on a several vegetables and herbs.
For the experienced gardeners here, you are probably saying, "Bless his heart, he is so excited about growing veggies." Yes I am excited and preparing for the fall season. Please join or continue your journey and drop some seeds in soil and allow Nature express it's magnificent.

There are many reasons why you want to start now!

01/07/2023

There are links in the article to other articles to improve your kitchen and minimize food waste. If all suggestions don’t apply to you or you don’t agree with them that’s okay. In the words of the late great Bruce Lee, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.” The art of learning!

Check out these common pantry mistakes you may be making, from not cleaning regularly to disorganization. Learn how to solve these mistakes so you can use your pantry to its full potential.

01/07/2023

When we were in the catering business one of our objectives was to reduce our food waste. Food waste is not only costly it is also an environmental issue. Though the food was paid for by our clients, we still viewed remaining food as a waste which we determined to minimize. We encouraged guests to take as much remaining food as possible. Sometimes that wasn't enough. Our plan was to establish relationships with social services to guide us in delivering the excess food to those in need. Unfortunately that did not happen before we ended our catering service.

Now I share ideas on how to use most of your food items to reduce food waste at home. More food is wasted in homes than commercially. Research food waste and you will be surprised at the quantity of food sent to the landfills.

Have you ever boiled the skin from oranges, lemons, limes or pineapples to produce naturally flavored tea filled with nutrients? You can then boil those skins one more time for a natural air freshener? Keep your eye on your boiling pot! Then use those same skins to deodorized your garbage disposal or use it in your compost to return to Nature for the next cycle.

Here is a short video that hopefully will inspire you to be conscious of your food waste. The business of upcycling food is becoming more popular. Why not learn to upcycle at home!

Why You Should Eat Ugly Food

Beef hearts, soy waste and stale bread, oh my! There’s a growing movement in the U.S. to use normally discarded foods in inventive ways to combat food waste. According to the Upcycled Foods Association, roughly 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. never makes it to a dining table or grocery...

30/06/2023

If you are looking to reduce your meat consumption whether it be for health, environmental, animal cruelty or economics reasons, consider making black bean burgers instead beef burgers.

This recipe was demonstrated this week on Inside/Outside on Wellness Wednesdays which shares tips how to improve your health & wellness inside your home and outside in Nature. Inside/Outside is streamed via Facebook Live from The Power of Now group on Wednesday evenings 8PM.

Link to download recipe:
www.tastemeplease.com/recipes/blackbeanburgers.pdf

15/06/2022