 The "homecooked" Sunday dinner in Dublin, one meal is enough for 2 people! Oct 2 How to make eat like the Irish…home cooked meals! This week I had the privilege of being in Dublin on a Sunday where the tradition of the “Sunday Roast” is a BIG deal and I love this!! Every Sunday afternoon families and friends get together in the local pubs (even the kids) to share a meal and connect. It was so great to see this tradition being carried on. How many people do you know still get together or even make a traditional Sunday dinner? Why has this tradition seemed to be lost? As the fall and winter approaches this is the perfect time to start thinking of warm and cozy comfort foods. Why not start your own tradition of feasting on comfort food that not only nurtures the body but the soul as well. When my girls were still at home I loved theme nights for dinners and Sunday was the one night I liked to set the theme as a traditional Sunday dinner. I would put dinner on to “roast” early in the day, the girls loved setting the table “all fancy” and getting dressed up for dinner. They loved helping with the preparation, having multiple utensils and drinking their water out of fancy goblets at the tables. Plus we stepped up the manners on Sunday night. All of the things we let slide a bit during the week and it was a great time to just be a family and I hope my girls continue with their own families. I have heard feedback from clients when I suggest getting back to traditions so here are the answers to the questions that come up the most… What if I live alone? If you live alone why not invite a friend or family member to dinner and start the tradition of meeting once a week over a lovely meal you make or you use this day to go out and enjoy a meal in a restaurant? When we live alone we can get settled into our own routines but what I found in Europe is that family, friends and socializing is still a major part of their lifestyle. What if it’s just the two of us? If you are a couple, why not make your Sunday a day where you go on a date once a week or cook together, set the table with candles, get dressed up a bit more than usual and enjoy each other. You could also invite another couple to join you or go out for dinner as well. What if I’m too busy with kids/work to do this? If you have a family then this is more important that you realize! I believe the tradition of the Sunday Family Dinner is beneficial on so many levels. You can use this day to connect with your family over a lovely meal all of you prepare. This is not something where I want one of you slaving in the kitchen to prepare a huge meal. This is not the 1950’s, this is the best time to “teach” and involve the kids in the preparation of the meal. Have your family do the prep work, have them set a beautiful table and dress up for your Sunday dinner. I know we are super busy these days so I thought of the following Sunday meal ideas… When I think of Sunday dinners I think of make ahead, comfort foods that have been cooking or simmering all day so that the smell permeates through the house all day Cozy Sunday Dinner Ideas Roast Beef - slow cooker roast beef, potatoes, roasted vegetables and gravy. It’s super easy to put a roast in the crockpot, potatoes and carrots on low for 6hrs. This is honestly one of the easiest meals to make, one of the best proteins in our iron deficient world and the best part is that you may have some delicious leftovers to make roast beef sandwiches for lunch or at least have a meal for lunch the next day. Roast chicken is one I also use the slow cooker for but you instead of a whole chicken you can buy a big bulk package of cut up chicken, season it, put on on a sheet pan (or slow cooker) to cook and add oven roast vegetables such as potatoes, and root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, whatever is in season. Here are some other delicious meals and also search the internet for some recipes you may like. One of my favourite websites is Half Bake Harvest, she makes the best home cooked, easy crock pot meals so check her out! Vegetable or Beef Chili with homemade cornbread. Beef stroganoff with egg noodles, another slow cooker meal that is a family favourite. Chicken & Dumplings - treat yourself to dumplings or home cooked buns. Lasagne - this is a great one for leftovers the next day or better yet, make two lasagnes and freeze one for another week. Cook once, eat twice is the best way to save time. Beef Stew - inexpensive cut up chuck roast, a bag of baby potatoes and cut up root vegetables all into a slow cooker takes minutes to put together. I hope you start googling recipes and enjoying the cooking process. It's not hard to do, it just takes time and some planning but the rewards are huge!
Thank you for following my journey to writing a book series! Stay balanced, LeeAnna.B.Nutritionist
0 Comments
 Corfu Island, Greece Sept 24/22 Getting outside is great for stress! How to relieve stress quickly... Stress is one of those things that seems unavoidable. Even if you don’t have work stress, money stress, relationship stress or family stress very often, at some point stress will creep in so what happens when you do? Here's my inspiration for this week's blog. I was going to write about my olive oil experience here in Corfu this week but my 19yr old daughter Halle and her 21yr old boyfriend Derek found themselves in the middle of one of Canada’s worst storms in history, Hurricane Fiona. They moved to PEI only a few weeks ago, were staying in a temporary Airbnb and have no family or friends there yet and together they endured the Hurricane that hit in the middle of the night, Friday, Sept 23. When she finally messaged me 9hrs later all she said was one text "It was bad", my heart was breaking for them. I felt I could only write about stress because that is what myself and so many people have gone through these last few days.  Derek and Halle inspired this weeks blog on stress As a mother my stress level rose because I was worried about her as I was thousands of miles away unable to help her or comfort her. I can’t even imagine what she really felt that night as the storm reached Charlottetown at 3am when everything was pitch black and things were crashing down all around her throughout the night. She texted me at 1am before the storm hit but my 1:30am and after she showed me a video of the wind and rain, she heard a loud "gunshot" which was a transformer blowing up and then I didn't hear from her for 9hrs. She was all I could think about and I had to learn how to relieve my stress and worry FAST.  Halle joined me in Cabo this past Feb 2022 Stress is one of those things that can be short term, long term and chronic. To deal with any kind of stress we need to break things down and start with baby steps. Try with the easiest one which I believe is DEEP breathing. As I experienced stress when my daughter was in the midst of a hurricane, what I am sharing with you today helped me cope with my short term stress and I hope they help you in whatever you are feeling. Recognizing when stress is affecting you is step one. Are your muscles tense? Do you feel jittery? Is your mind racing? Is your breathing labored or you feel you can’t catch your breath? Are your energy levels either really sluggish or in overdrive? I felt my brain was just so tired from constantly thinking of my daughter. One of the things that helped me was to GET OUTSIDE and repeat good thoughts such as “She is going to be OK”, “Everything will be alright”. Saying those affirmations helped so much!  If you feel stress and need to manage it quickly... Breathe deeply The absolute best tip and the easiest. Just stop, close your eyes and breathe! This has an amazing way of calming your brain and nervous system. I love Dr. Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing technique (linked below) which basically has you breath in for 4 sec, hold for 7sec and exhale for 8 sec but there is a little technique so be sure to watch the video I linked below. Get outside Feeling the sun or rain or even the crispness of a cold winter's day on your face can be an amazing stress reliever. Close your eyes and breathe in the fresh outdoor air. I guarantee you will feel better after 10 min outside. Just be one with nature, it’s incredible. Repeat positive affirmations What your mind hears your body believes so say affirmations out loud or in your head but the power of positive thoughts works. Say whatever resonates with you, “I am ok”, “Everything is going to be OK”, “I feel calm”, this is so important and it works! Listen to music My all time favorite song is “Let It Be” by the Beatles. Music is a powerful way for our brain to be distracted, to focus on a different frequency and thankfully in this day and age you can just search YouTube “stress relieving music” and you have all kinds of choices. Avoid alcohol This will do you no good at all, try warm, comforting teas, even hot chocolates or a warm cup of soup, drinking something soothing has a way of calming us instantly. Alcohol will just lead to emotions that will not serve you so stay away! Connect with people People that relate to what you are going through, people that can be your support system, people that will listen and not judge, just open up and talk, holding things in will only make your body hold onto stress more.   I hope you find these tips as helpful as I did and the biggest takeaway for you is to JUST BREATHE! Consistent breath work daily is a great way to relax the body, mind and spirit. Stay Calm,
Thank you for following in my journey to writing a book series! LeeAnna.B.Nutritionist R.H.N/C.H.N Registered Holistic Nutritionist Certified Health Coach  I'm in Albania this week and loving the brain healthy foods! Sept 18 - How to have a healthy brain…it's more important than ever! Brain health has never been talked about more until now. This is such a big topic and without sounding too “medical” because if this is something you are interested in there are many books out there on the subject that get really technical. Dr. Amen being one of my favorites to follow! For the purposes of this blog let’s simplify things and get right to the good stuff, what you can do NOW to make sure you have a healthy brain for your entire life. Memory loss is usually the first sign but the damage has been done in the brain years before so it’s time to start TODAY! So what can you do NOW to protect your brain forever?  OMEGA 3 Supplementation/Food This is by far the easiest way to be consistent. Our brains are made up of 70% fat so we need the right kind of fat for proper brain function. Omega 3 fatty acids are the essential building blocks for our brain that we need for learning and memory. I believe in food first but the amount our brains need is hard to get from food but absolutely eat avocados, eat salmon and fatty fish every single day but also take an omega supplement every evening! In my practice I found what I believe is the best supplement and I will link above because this level of supplement is "generally" only found in a clinic, not a health food store but you can purchase it from my clinic's online store. For every 1.25tsp this supplement delivers 4600mg of EPA/DHA which if you look at labels in your local health food store you will notice that maybe those will have 1200mg if at best. While DHA is only part of the process of keeping your brain healthy, in my opinion it's an easy place to start.  Salmon I cooked in France Aug 2022 Doesn't this look delicious? It's an amazing source of Omega, have it 3x a week! B12/B6/Folate Supplementation/Food B12 is needed for cognitive development, this is why I worry about my Vegan and Vegetarian clients. You MUST take a supplement or eat animal foods like liver or take liver supplements but you must take something. B vitamin “therapy” works best with higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids so make sure you take these supplements with Omega or eat foods high in B vitamins with healthy fat like olive oil or avocados. Some good choices are animal organs such as liver and kidneys, clams, sardines, beef, tuna but also Nutritional Yeast is amazing sprinkled on your food to give you a boost of Vitamin B12. Even with eating the proper foods a B12/B6/Folate combination is something I believe in which you can find in any health food store.  Beef from the Inn at Bay Fortune in PEI, Canada This was the best beef I've ever had so I wanted to share it! I believe slow cooking beef is the way to go! YOU JUST HAVE TO MOVE...SERIOUSLY YOU HAVE TO Our brains need oxygen and exercising has you taking in more oxygen. Plus you need to move to keep your weight in check, to keep diabetes from creeping in and it’s just something you need to do to be healthy. While cardio or burst training that gets your heart rate up is amazing and exercise that involves concentration such as balance, coordination things that challenge your balance (yoga and dance) are SO good for your brain.  My daughter Megan, her roommate Hannah and me doing yoga outside in the beautiful Lunessence Winery in Summerland, BC, Canada but it's all about balance right? CHALLENGE YOUR BRAIN Think of your brain as a muscle, if you don’t use it you will lose it. Your brain is actually an organ that plays a huge role in controlling your muscles so it's important to keep it healthy! Learn a language, keep your social circles full and happy, and provide new stimuli to your mind constantly! Just think about it, as we are young and growing we learn a lot. By the time we are in our 40's and 50’s sometimes we just go through life and not really learn anything new so our brains are not getting challenged. You need to do something stimulating enough that actually makes you frustrated…like learning a new language or building something and you have to keep things new because once you learn it it’s not new and stimulating anymore.  Bottom line is you can do nothing, you can do a little or you can really incorporate these SUPER easy suggestions (like the food above is super easy to eat) so that in 10-20yrs you won't have your brain look like the one on the right of Dr.Amen's Brain SPECT scans. Alzheimer's is not an "old" person's disease anymore. It is affecting adults younger and younger and you don't want to be one of the unfortunate statistics so just make a plan and be consistent!  I LOVE Dr. Amen and I watch his YouTube videos religiously on brain health and if you want more "clinical" information than please visit his website and follow his social media and learn more about keeping your brain healthy! Thank you for following my journey to writing a book series!
Stay balanced, LeeAnna.B.Nutritionist |
Categories |
RSS Feed
|
LeeAnna Binder R.H.N/C.H.C
Registered Holistic Nutritionist Certified Health Coach E-RYT 200 Therapeutic Yoga Instructor Certified Meditation Practitioner Level 1 Reiki Practitioner Certified Cupping & Detoxification Therapist Level II Iridologist Nutritional Live Blood Analyst Owner: Balanced Whole Body Health Wellness Clinic |
LeeAnna is currently traveling and writing a book series with 50 titles each focusing on protocols for individual issues based on her clinical practice. The Holistic Health Series were inspired by her clients, family and friends that each had very individual health concerns. Some titles are fun, some are serious and all are focused on "How to" live a healthy lifestyle, naturally.
HEALTH DISCLAIMER:
This website provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this website or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment. If you or any other person has a medical concern, you should consult with your health care provider or seek other professional medical treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something that have read on this website or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or emergency services immediately.The opinions and views expressed on this website have no relation to those of any academic, hospital, health practice or other institution.
This website provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this website or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment. If you or any other person has a medical concern, you should consult with your health care provider or seek other professional medical treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something that have read on this website or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or emergency services immediately.The opinions and views expressed on this website have no relation to those of any academic, hospital, health practice or other institution.