Princess Health and Food Reward Friday. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Food Reward Friday. Princessiccia

Food reward Fridays

Gusty 13:41 Add Comment

This week's lucky "winner"... Oreo cookies!!!

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Princess Health and Raw Almond-Coconut Balls. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Raw Almond-Coconut Balls. Princessiccia

Gusty 09:19 Add Comment

These coconut balls are just 'Wow!'. One thing I like about vegan "baking" and trying new things is the excitement. I never know how the end product will taste. And I am always super-happy when it comes out delicious. This time it did exceed all my expectations!

Coconut balls were all time favorite since childhood. The only combination though was the one with cocoa and coconut. Unhealthy versions and then later healthier ones.

For the first time I tried something new, without the cocoa powder (although I love chocolate in any form). And for my biggest surprise, the taste of the almond and the taste of the coconut complement each other in such way that the taste of the balls are unbelievable! Do you know the commercial Raffaello balls? Ah, how I loved them couple of years ago! I could eat the biggest size of box of it in an hour, while watching Sex and the City :D I haven't had any of them in the last 4-5 years at least. Can you imagine how happy I was now when tasting my newest creation, and I felt again that heavenly Raffaello taste in my mouth?

And I think that the feeling of pleasure when you eat something delicious, added the thought that it is good for your body, good for your health, cannot be compared to anything! That feeling is priceless!

Most of the ingredients I used were organic. I try to by organic whenever possible.

And one very important thing about the ingredients below: the almond butter I used was raw almond butter. Most of the almond butter you find in health shops are made from roasted almonds. I only wanted to emphasize this because it is a huge difference between the taste of the raw versus toasted almond butter. And I think the taste of the raw almond is what makes these balls so amazing. Next time I will use toasted almond butter and update the post.

Ingredients (makes 11-12 balls):

-1/2 cup ground almonds
-1 cup shredded coconut
-dash of salt (I used a slightly bigger dash of it, so you can nicely feel the salty taste behind the sweetness, which makes it even more irresistible)
-2 heaped tablespoons of raw almond butter
-1 tablespoon of whole chia seeds
-3 tablespoons of whole goji berries
-3 tablespoons of agave nectar

1. Mix together the ground almonds, shredded coconut and salt.
2. Add the raw almond butter and start to work them together with your hand.
3. Add the agave nectar and continue mixing the whole doughy mixture with your hand.
4. Add the chia and the goji berries.
The mixture will not form a dough but it will be sticky enough to form balls with your hands.

Tip: Taste it, and adjust the sweetness. If the dough is not sticky enough, add some more almond butter, or agave (bare in mind that this will make it sweeter), or a little bit of plain water. If it is too sticky, add some more shredded coconut or ground almonds. The above amounts gave the perfect consistency for me.

Roll the balls in shredded coconut, place them on a plate and they are ready to eat! :)

The only time consuming part of making these kind of balls is the process of forming the balls. The above was ready in about 15 minutes with everything. If you want to make double, triple etc. portion, don't forget to calculate the time for making the balls. Children will be happy to help I think! :)

Enjoy!

Princess Health and Beans, Lentils, and the Paleo Diet. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Beans, Lentils, and the Paleo Diet. Princessiccia

paleolithic diet

Gusty 12:33 Add Comment

As we continue to explore the foods our ancestors relied on during our evolutionary history, and what foods work best for us today, we come to legumes such as beans and lentils. These are controversial foods within the Paleolithic diet community, while the broader nutrition community tends to view legumes as healthy.

Beans and lentils have a lot going for them. They're one of the few foods that are simultaneously rich in protein and fiber, making them highly satiating and potentially good for the critters in our colon. They're also relatively nutritious, delivering a hefty dose of vitamins and minerals. The minerals are partially bound by the anti-nutrient phytic acid, but simply soaking and cooking beans and lentils typically degrades 30-70 percent of it, making the minerals more available for absorption (Food Phytates. Reddy and Sathe. 2002). Omitting the soaking step greatly reduces the degradation of phytic acid (Food Phytates. Reddy and Sathe. 2002).

The only tangible downside to beans I can think of, from a nutritional standpoint, is that some people have a hard time with the large quantity of fermentable fiber they provide, particularly people who are sensitive to FODMAPs. Thorough soaking prior to cooking can increase the digestibility of the "musical fruit" by activating the sprouting program and leaching out tannins and indigestible saccharides. I soak all beans and lentils for 12-24 hours.

The canonical Paleolithic diet approach excludes legumes because they were supposedly not part of our ancestral dietary pattern. I'm going to argue here that there is good evidence of widespread legume consumption by hunter-gatherers and archaic humans, and that beans and lentils are therefore an "ancestral" food that falls within the Paleo diet rubric. Many species of edible legumes are common around the globe, including in Africa, and the high calorie and protein content of legume seeds would have made them prime targets for exploitation by ancestral humans after the development of cooking. Below, I've compiled a few examples of legume consumption by hunter-gatherers and extinct archaic humans. I didn't have to look very hard to find these, and there are probably many other examples available. If you know of any, please share them in the comments.

To be clear, I would eat beans and lentils even if they weren't part of ancestral hunter-gatherer diets, because they're inexpensive, nutritious, I like the taste, and they were safely consumed by many traditional agricultural populations probably including my own ancestors.

Extensive "bean" consumption by the !Kung San of the Kalahari desert

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Princess Health and Vegan AND Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Vegan AND Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Princessiccia

Gusty 06:50 Add Comment

I wrote AND with capital letters because when trying to find vegan dessert recipes, most of the time I run into not too healthy recipes, mainly because of the use of plain white sugar (brown sugar makes no difference either). Or some margarine, or other not really healthy ingredient.

So what I keep doing is experimenting, mixing my knowledge with recipes around the internet, trying to replace unhealthy ingredients with healthy ones. It is always a big excitement to find out the taste, the look, the texture at the end.

This recipe ended with huge satisfaction: the chocolate chip cookies are heavenly! You will be surprised that you don't have to give up on the taste you love, but instead of harming your body, you actually nurture it.

Photos are not very good, cookies look better live, but most importantly they taste unbelievable!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole grain spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup xylitol
1/4 cup rice milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegan and sugar free chocolate chips (sweetened with xylitol)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celcius
2. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt
3. Mix the coconut oil with the sugar (I did it over boiling water to melt the oil easily)
4. Add the milk and the vanilla extract to the oil mixture
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and mix them
6. Add the chocolate chips (I didn't have enough chocolate at home, so complemented with flaked almonds and shredded coconut)

Form balls with your hands, place them on the baking tray covered with baking sheet, and press them a bit to get a rounded cookie form. They grow while baking, so keep this in mind. Mine became huge cookies :)

Bake them for 10 minutes, then keep checking them after every 2 minutes, until they are getting brown a bit, and are not too soft. I baked them for about 15 minutes altogether.

Wait until they cool and enjoy! (I'm sure you will! :) )

Princess Health and EMOTIONAL EATING TO HIDE GRIEF FROM MOTHER'S DEATH. Princessiccia

Princess Health and EMOTIONAL EATING TO HIDE GRIEF FROM MOTHER'S DEATH. Princessiccia

Gusty 13:21 Add Comment

Princess Health and Recent and Upcoming Appearances. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Recent and Upcoming Appearances. Princessiccia

overweight presentations

Gusty 05:00 Add Comment

Smarter Science of Slim

Jonathan Bailor recently released an interview we did a few months ago on the neurobiology of body fat regulation, and the implications for fat loss.  It's a good overview of the regulation of food intake and body fatness by the brain.  You can listen to it here.

Super Human Radio

Carl Lanore interviewed me about my lab's work on hypothalamic inflammation and obesity.  I'm currently wrapping up a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Michael Schwartz at the University of Washington, and the interview touches on our recent review paper "Hypothalamic Inflammation: Marker or Mechanism of Obesity Pathogenesis?"  Dan Pardi and I are frequent guests on Carl's show and I'm always impressed by how well Carl prepares prior to the interview.  You can listen to the interview here.

The Reality Check podcast

Pat Roach of the Reality Check podcast interviewed me about the scientific validity of the "carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis" of obesity.  The Reality Check podcast "explores a wide range of controversies and curiosities using science and critical thinking", and a dash of humor.  This one should be very informative for people who aren't sure what to believe and want a deeper perspective on the science of insulin and body weight regulation.  You can listen to it here.

Obesity Society conference

Next Thursday 11/9, I'll be speaking at the 2013 Obesity Society conference in Atlanta.  My talk is titled "The Glial Response to Obesity is Reversible", and it will be about my work on the reversibility of obesity-associated hypothalamic neuropathology in mice.  My talk will be part of the session "Neuronal Control of Satiety" between 3:00 and 4:30, specific time pending.  See you there!

Princess Health and AFTER TWO YEARS- I MUST TELL THE TRUTH. Princessiccia

Princess Health and AFTER TWO YEARS- I MUST TELL THE TRUTH. Princessiccia

Gusty 11:13 Add Comment

I have a secret. I�ve never done the hCG protocol.

How could that be? Did Dr. Simeons� do his own protocol? I don�t know, but I do know this- you don�t have to do the protocol to witness the miraculous healing it provides to every human body that does it properly.

Over the last 5 years I have monitored thousands of patients through Dr. Simeons� hCG protocol, documenting metabolic rates, body-shape change, body fat compositions, fitness testing, assessments of hunger and energy, as well as perceived difficulty, and other physical and emotional observations. I�ve heard every fear, every complaint, and I�ve listened to testimony after testimony about the healing phenomenon of the hCG protocol. Much of these findings I published two years ago in my book, Weight-Loss Apocalypse.

Yes. It has been two years since I published Weight-Loss Apocalypse. Since November 8, 2011, I�ve continued to observe patients closely, but have also expanded my observations to people across the United States and to countries around the world. But the majority of people I work with outside of the clinic don�t come to me for help with the hCG protocol. They are seeking help with residual emotional complications with eating disorders and other addictions.

I�ve been given the opportunity to work with patients who�ve had troublesome addictions to opiates and narcotics, alcohol, gambling, exercise, food, dieting, exercise, sex, as well as religious addiction. If you�ve watched any of my videos on YouTube you might understand why.

I knew when Weight-Loss Apocalypse was published that it was a very dry and basic outline of how to approach the protocol for emotional eating. I didn�t include the complex web of influence that underlies why people choose to eat emotionally and why they continue to struggle to abandon their deeply rooted emotional need for food. To be honest, I didn�t include this detail because I didn�t know how to write it.

There were six chapters I had written (and re-written a few times) that I chose not to include in Weight-Loss Apocalypse because it was too complicated for me to write in simple and understandable terms. My editor was brutally honest about how confusing, how boring, and how not-publish-worthy those chapters were. As a temporary fix, I decided it would be better for me to capture and share this information in recorded sessions with patients. The goal of these YouTube videos was to show the Mind:Body Method in action and to expose the emotional challenges that are so difficult to understand and to describe in words.

How do you describe what it takes to redeem yourself from addiction? How do you describe the isolation, the shame, the fear of rejection, the self-hating control, the intense panic, the fear of death and desperation to live, and the need to hide from it all? How do you explain how to forgive the unforgivable? Is there an easy way to paint a picture with words that reaches down into a deep grave of mental illness? How do you breathe light and hope into a soul near emotional collapse? The protocol is simple to understand, it�s relatively easy to do, but it can�t give you the love you didn�t receive from your parents, it won�t replace your husband, and no amount of weight loss will fulfill a happy life- and that is the part I omitted from Weight-Loss Apocalypse.

Even though I�ve never done the hCG protocol, I have saved my soul from a life defined by addiction and mental illness. I have overcome an eating disorder, addiction to exercise, and an obsession with having the perfect body. I know what it took for me to recover my identity from being brainwashed by fear of rejection and fear of God, and I know what it took for me to forgive a rapist, to forgive myself, and to forgive my life.  

Since publishing Weight-Loss Apocalypse, having been given the opportunity to help people through emotional confusion, I�ve been witness to more than just physical healing. Because of this I�ve been able to refine my communication and am now confident I can express this exposing and healing process in written word.

As I take this year to write the parts I left out of Weight-Loss Apocalypse, I hope you get the opportunity to watch the videos I�ve posted on YouTube. Some videos are simple and some complex. I can be insensitive, harsh and I often throw out F-bombs and other various cuss words. You will witness my passion, my love for complete strangers, as well as my impatience for people�s refusal to take responsibility. Sometimes I�m offensive and abrasive but the message I bring is with good integrity.

If you have in any way been helped by the these videos or by the concepts in Weight-Loss Apocalypse, please share what it is that has helped you. 

Here are the last few sessions I�ve posted that will give insight into what will be in this next book.