Greens are full of vitamins A, K, D, and E which are fat soluble. To absorb these vitamins make sure to add a teaspoon of dietary fat, such as butter, olive or coconut oil, nuts, cheese or salad dressing. This will make sure your body absorbs all of the vitamins in the greens. Vitamin K helps calcium and phosphorus bind onto the bone protein matrix.

  
 MIXED SUMMER GREEN SALAD  

Ingredients:
1 handful, Spinach
1 handful, Arugula
½ head, Red Leaf Lettuce
½  head, Green Leafy Lettuce
1 medium bunch of Parsley
3 Celery pieces, chopped
1 medium Cucumber, sliced in rounds
¼ cup pine nuts

Directions:
1.  Mix greens together in a bowl.
2. Top with celery, cucumber and pine nuts.
3. Serve with Mint salad dressing.

TIP:  If you are planning on this lasting for the next day, do not mix the cucumber in.  Put it in a bowl on the side and add to each serving of salad.  A mix of the basic ingredients without the cucumber will last 3 days in the fridge.

 Here is a salad dressing with greens already in it!  This is a refreshing tasty dressing with a little mint flavour.

LEMON-MINT SALAD DRESSING

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh mint (or 2 tsp. dried)
Salt to taste
Few drops of stevia

Directions:
1.  Blend all ingredients.
2.  Add salt to taste and stevia to taste and re-blend.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

I have had various experiences with the wild plants in my yard and garden. Some of them are pleasant experiences, and some of them are not.  This story falls into the second category.

During our recent set of interviews with Health Tribe Forum, Diana was talking with Stephen Buhner, a world plant expert. He explained that THISTLES are actually quite good for your health. He also explained in the same breath, that Chickweed (or Lamb’s Quarters) is just wild spinach. 

 It happens that Chickweed and Canada thistle are some of the healthiest plants in my garden.  I like eating chick weed so was very interested in the thistle idea. I was intensely curious whether you could actually take away the prickles. I couldn’t imagine how this could happen.  Visions of millions of happy Canadians feasting on enormous salad bowls of this prickly plant filled my mind.  I wanted to ask about Canada Thistle in particular but didn’t want to interrupt. Perhaps I should have.

I had also heard that you can either cook or blend thistles.  Blending is easier so that is what I tried. I pulled out several young plants (because that is what you are supposed to do) and just threw them in water and blended.

Amazing – the prickles were gone.  I could not feel them with my fingers in the blender or the few cautious drops in my mouth.

But the SMELL! It started drifting up even when I first started blending and got even stronger as I went along. Imagine blending up someone else’s smelly socks knowing you were going to eat the mixture! How does your body feel as you imagine this?  This is how my body feels several hours after I tried this.

The taste was not AS bad. It didn’t have a lot of taste to begin with but the aftertaste closely resembles the smell. BAD!  I did not throw up but was well on my way!

OK so I’ve learned I can’t eat Canada thistle like this.  But what was Stephen talking about? I will certainly ask him and do some research but perhaps you, as a member of the Health Tribe Forum or Real Food for Life, can help me?  Please leave your comments below. (You can even comment on how dumb I have been.)

This is what the Health Tribe Forum is all about. – combining our own direct experience and inner intelligence with the knowledge gleaned by mankind over the ages and combining it with modern scientific understanding.

Questions that come up in my mind:

• Does my reaction mean Canada thistle is not good for me, ever?
• Would cooking or blending with something else balance this effect?  Maybe if the thistles were fried in butter and onions and a dash of salt!
  
• Is there some particular compound in Canada thistle which causes this kind of reaction?

What do you think?

Cooking Beans & Lentils

Ingredients:
Dried beans or lentils
Water

Directions:
  1.  Wash beans in cold water and soak overnight in three times the volume of water.
 2.  Next day, pour off the water.
 3.  Place beans in a pot and cover with water 1 inch above the level of the beans.
 4.  Bring to a boil.
 5.  Let simmer with lid ajar.
 6.  Skim off the foam.
 7.  Add more water if necessary, as the beans should always be covered with water while cooking.
 8.  Cooking time will vary according to the type, size, and age of the bean.
 9.  Most beans will need approximately 2 hours cooking time.
10.  Beans should be soft.  This is the stage that you can salt and other seasonings.  Do not add salt while cooking as above.

Adzuki Vegetable Bean Stew

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
3 sticks of celery, sliced
1 zucchini, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 – 5 garlic cloves, minced
1- 2 inches of fresh ginger, chopped
1 1/2 cups adzuki beans 
3 pieces of Wakame Seaweed, rinsed and broken into pieces
2 – 6 tbsp. Tamari
Few drops of stevia (optional)

Directions:
1.    Cook adzuki beans for 1 – 2 hours (time is dependant on the age of the beans) according to recipe titled ‘How to COOK BEANS’ above.
2.    When beans are soft, add Wakame and cook for another few minutes.
3.    Then add onions, celery, zucchini, carrots, ginger and garlic.
4.    Simmer for ½ hour or till vegetables are tender.
5.    Add Tamari to taste and a few drops of stevia.
6.    Serve with a whole grain. 

Check out the Nutrition Facts on a Serving Size 1/4 cup (48g) of Adzuki beans!

Calories 160                  Protein 11g
Total Fat 0.5g               Potassium 600mg
Dietary Fiber 6g            Sugars 0g
Total Carbohydrate 29g

For Vegan Chili recipe:  http://realfoodforlife.com/veganchili/

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

Lentil soup has all the benefits of lentils (see article) plus much more.  And by the way, it tastes great.

Ingredients:
1 large Onion, chopped
3-6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pieces celery, chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 cup green whole lentils, cooked with water cooked in.
1 piece Kombu*
2 carrots, diced
2 cups fresh (or tinned tomatoes but fresh is best)**
3-5 tsp salt
1 tsp each of thyme and basil
3 tsp marjoram
Fresh parsley

Directions:
1.    Sauté onion, garlic and celery in oil.
2.    Add remaining ingredients.
3.    Simmer for one hour, adding more water if necessary.
4.    Remove Kombu and chop; return to soup.
5.    Serve in bowls garnished sprigs of fresh parsley.

* Kombu makes beans more digestable but you could easily leave it out.

** Uusally I do not make this soup with tomatoes any more which makes it into a stew.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

There are 2 Categories of Squash:

Summer Squash, which have bush vines, tender skin and are eaten when small and immature.

Winter Squash which are hard skinned and good for storage.  Summer squash is a tasty offering savoured by people from around the world. Its nutty flavour and moist texture enrich a vast array of dishes, ranging from dumplings to salads.

Summer squash

Summer squash has an abundance of manganese and vitamin C, and also magnesium, vitamin A, fibre, potassium, folate, copper, riboflavin, and phosphorus. It also has omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, calcium, zinc, niacin, and protein. So you see it is a very healthy food.

Zucchini: still dominates as the best known summer squash.  It has thin skin that is usually green but can be yellow or striped or speckled. Being tender it cooks fast and it has edible flowers are often used cooking.

Other Summer squashes are:
Crookneck and Straightneck Squash:  usually have a yellow skin and sometimes a green skin. Crookneck squash is partially straight with a swan-like neck. It was genetically altered to produce its straightneck cousin that is shaped as its name implies.

Pattypan Squash: a small saucer shaped squash with skin of either pale green or golden yellow. Its flesh is more dense and a little sweeter than the zucchini.

Winter Squash

Winter squash has a high amount of Vitamin A (beta-carotene), with vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber and manganese. It also has folate, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, copper, vitamin B6, niacin-vitamin B3 and pantothenic acid.

Butternut squash: Tan colour with small seed cavity. This squash stores well and has a good flavour. Fairly dense golden flesh, makes an excellent puree.

Pumpkin: Good in sweet and savoury recipes. 

Acorn squash:  A deep black-green colour with a rich orange thick flesh – Delicious! Good for baking in the skin.

Spaghetti squash: Has a fibrous flesh which looks like spaghetti when cooked.

Doody or white pumpkin: Has pale greenish-white flesh and a delicate flavour.

Buttercup:  Dark green colour with a deep orange flesh. This extra dry squash has a sweet flavour.

Delicatta:  A creamy colour with green stripes. This squash is like a Sweet potato squash.

Spaghetti: Creamy colour with an oblong shape. The Flesh resembles spaghetti when cooked. Top with your favourite sauce!

Small Wonder: Light orange colour vegetable spaghetti looks like a soft ball in shape. It has more flavour than spaghetti squash. Great with salt, pepper, and butter.

White Acorn: A creamy white on the outside, pale yellow on the inside. It has a delicate nutty flavour.

Kabocha:  A pumpkin shaped winter squash. It has a rich, sweet flavour and when cooked its texture resembles that of a tender potato. Kabocha squash weighs an average of three pounds and has spotted or blotchy dark green skin. It can be baked, steamed, stuffed or pureed. Works well as a substitution in recipes that call for pumpkin or sweet potatoes. Kabocha is generally available all year round. (this is obvioiusly my favourite!)

When selecting a winter squash, do not select those that are soft or show pitting. Also, check that the stem is intact and looks fresh. Store up 1 – 3 months in a cool dry location that has good air circulation.

Here are a few squash recipies:

KABOCHA SQUASH SOUP

BAKED SQUASH  

In upcoming posts we will be posting more RECIPES of squash!  Don't miss it by opting into our newsletter

Feel free to share this information with others.  Twitter and other links below.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

One-third of Americans (and an even higher percentage of Canadians) takes vitamin and mineral supplements each day. Reasons include:

1. Our new understanding of the body's requirements for particular chemical nutrients. For example, Vitamin C helps reduce free radical damage in cells.  It's easy to take Vitamin C in capsule form and to assume that it will give you the same benefits as a glass of orange juice. 
2. Our food supply is not as nutritious today as it was in the past.  This is due to large-scale farming which focuses on quantity, shelf life and profit rather than quality and nutrition. 
3.  Our modern lifestyle makes eating a balanced diet more difficult.  Increased stress has also boosted our need for certain nutrients.
We now assume that a vitamin pill will fill in these ‘gaps’ in our nutrition.  It may seem like a simple solution, but they often don't do enough.  And sometimes they just DON'T WORK.  Why is this?

A report in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association concludes that the formula for optimal health isn't in the supplement aisle of a health-food store but in the FOOD AISLE. The American Dietetic Association is the largest organization of professionals that deals directly with your diet. It also has access to the most data and research in the field. So why do they state that foods are better than supplements?

5 Reasons To Use a Food Based Approach

1. Vitamin supplements are limited to what is written on the label. If it lists 20 chemical isolates, that is all you get. In comparison, every whole food has thousands of different micro and macro nutrients. This is why the better (and the more expensive) the supplement, the more factors it has in it.  But the best supplements are whole foods.  An orange, for example, has not only vitamin C but bioflavonoids, beta-carotene, folic acid, fibre, magnesium potassium and many other valuable nutrients. 

2. Foods contain nutrients we don’t fully understand.  Nutritional science is still young. Each day it discovers new phytonutirents which have profound influences on the body. More importantly, nutritional science is only just discovering the relationships between the various nutritional factors: how one factor influences another and how different ratios of nutrients affect the body.  The ‘facts’ of nutrition may change tomorrow, so why should you depend on them today?

3.  Each person has UNIQUE nutritional requirements. These requirements will change over time and in different environments.  If you take this into account and try to prescribe isolated vitamins and minerals it becomes very complicated very quickly. The ‘gaps’ are constantly changing.  You would need expensive professional help to pinpoint the best nutrients for your body.  And they can only determine what your body needs at a single point in time while your needs will change from one day to the next. 

4.  The body absorbs foods best.  Mere decades of nutritional research cannot compete with millions of years of natural evolution. The body evolved to eat real foods. Isolates found in artificial supplements are poorly absorbed and are often eliminated by the body before they can be used.  Many isolates are not recognized by the body as food, and may even be interpreted as toxins. Although certain higher quality supplements offer superior absorption, again, they usually do so just because they are closer to real food.  Unfortunately, they still can't compare with whole foods. Why not give your body what it deserves and eat food instead of pills?

5. Foods have LIFE.  There is something about the aliveness of food that makes it instinctively attractive. Fresh food is always more attractive than leftovers.  People have recently discovered the value of raw foods. This value can be measured in terms of enzymes and specific nutrients, but also in qualities that are harder to measure like energy and vitality.  All of these qualities are important for our physical and mental well-being.  

Health with Real Foods is the Wave of the Future: 

Right now, it is easier than ever to embrace whole-food based nutrition. New knowledge is helping people along this path to health, and we are here to share it with you. Many grocery stores are stocking a greater selection of high-quality foods in their organic sections and new supplements are emerging that are based on whole foods. Some of these supplements will have higher quality and value than the dead pills of the past.  But they still imitate what nature has already perfected.

I don’t know one person whose life has been radically changed by buying a bottle of vitamins or pills.  I do know thousands whose lives have become healthier and more energetic by changing their APPROACH to food.
This approach involves eating more whole, fresh, raw and organic foods as well as eating them in the proper combinations. These are the principles we teach individuals in our various programs that help them achieve healthier lives.

To be fair, the American Dietetic Association did recommend that a few isolated groups could benefit from targeted supplementation. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, people with certain health conditions, and elderly adults may need to fill dietary gaps. But if you are in one of these groups, many of these gaps (like higher iron intake for women) can also be achieved with whole foods.  One just needs to know what to eat, and to be motivated enough to want to improve their health. 

And there’s the rub.  It's hard to know where to look and to put in the effort to make healthier choices.  It's so much easier just to take a pill—one that contends to solve all of your nutritional problems.  But it isn't that easy. Sometimes the harder road is the wiser one; it is the road to better health.  

Feel free to comment on these ideas (below) and share this information with others.

Edited by Michael Fisher

Copyright © Randy Fritz You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

NUT LOAF

Ingredients:
½ cup cashews
½ cup almonds
10 almonds for decoration
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup walnuts (chopped)
1 cup short grain brown rice
1/3 cup soya flour
4-6 tbsp soya sauce
1 onion
2 pieces of celery
¼ cup water
2 tsp basil
2 tsp. marjoram
2 tbsp flax meal

Directions:
1.    Lightly roast cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in the oven.
2.    Chop and sauté onion and celery.
3.    Chop all the nuts and seeds.
4.    Mix all the ingredients together and moistening with water.
5.    Pat mixture into a well-oiled bread tin.
6.    Decorate top with 10 almonds and line bottom of tin with grease proof paper.
7.    Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.
Serve with mushroom or onion gravy.
   
Usually the problem with cranberry sauce is that it is full of sugar. Here is my version of the popular Cranberry Sauce without any sugar which is no easy thing when is comes to cranberries as they are so tart.

CRANBERRY SAUCE (sugar free)

Ingredients:
1 Package whole, organic cranberries (fresh, not frozen)
1 Organic Apple, cored and chopped
1 Cup Apple juice
1/4 Cup Organic, Brown Rice Syrup
1 tsp Stevia (Sunny Dew is best)
Pinch of salt

Directions:
1.    Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and let simmer for a few moments.
2.    Remove and let cool.
3.    Taste and add more Stevia or Brown Rice Syrup if you like it sweeter.

Nutritional Tips: Cranberries are high in vitamin C, and have antioxidant and antibacterial effects in the body.

In clinical studies cranberries have been shown to help maintain a healthy urinary tract and be especially beneficial to the eyes (significantly improve symptoms of cataracts, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy)

ASPARAGUS WITH LEMON JUICE

Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus, washed, trimmed, and cut diagonally into 2 inch lengths
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon juiced
Dash of Spike seasoning

Directions:
1.    In a large frying pan over low heat, heat the olive oil
2.    Add Asparagus and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
3.    Add Spike and stir cook an additional 1 minute.
4.    Add lemon juice stir well and serve.

Nutritional Tips: Asparagus is full of nutrients!  It is a very good source of vitamin K, the B vitamin folate, vitamin C, vitamin A and also numerous B vitamins (B1, B2, B3 and B6) as well manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium and protein.

 
Here is a simple dish to make and have in the oven at the same time as your nut loaf.
 BAKED SQUASH WITH VEGETABLES

Ingredients:
1 medium squash
2 sweet potatoes
2 medium carrots
2 parsnips
10 very small onions
3 – 7 cloves garlic, sliced (optional)
1 tsp rosemary
3 tbsp. vegetable oil or butter
Salt to taste

Directions:
1.    Cut carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and squash into 2 inch pieces.
2.    Remove skins from onions and leave whole.
3.    Place all vegetables into a glass casserole dish.
4.    Mix in sliced garlic, rosemary, vegetable oil, and sprinkle with salt.
5.    Bake in 450º F. oven for 35 to 45 minutes till tender.
6.    Stir occasionally while baking.

Copyright © Diana Herrington  You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com  or the direct link to this post.

I've created more new dishes from my kitchen in the last few days than in the last few years.  I'm the 'test cooker' for Diana's new recipe book filled with Powerfoods.  That means I get an advance copy and see if I can easily follow all the directions and come up with great tasting meals.

The key words here are easy and practical. I've done my own cooking for a long time but I don't tend to use cookbooks because they are so fussy and particular. I find that I can go to all kinds of work getting the ingredients for just a single recipe and not use it a lot, therefore wasting the ingredients and my time. Because of this, I end up eating a limited set of meals I know I can make well and fast.  It HAS to be simple, easy and useful.

It's great therefore to learn new possibilities and master new skills – and that is what this book was intended to do.  It gives a new person starting into a healthy way of eating the basic knowledge and skills to get on a healthy diet. One that was easy to prepare. 

Diana has carefully planned out every possible meal for more than two weeks.  It includes a shopping list of easily available food items that will be used several times thought the program, special getting ready sessions that allow a person to prepare several aspects of the weekly routine ahead of time,  and then the actual recipes themselves with plenty of nutritional and cooking tips included.

The reason I like this book and think it would be great for others is:

• Gives a new person an easy simple start to eating and cooking healthfully – so they don't get discouraged or overcome.

• Shopping lists filled with Powerfoods can be bought almost exclusively at the local grocery store so that a person is not spending a lot of time buying unknown (read weird) stuff that they are not sure of.

• Many of the meals are simple meals that a person has already experienced or heard about. They are included because they are already in a healthy category or they have been slightly adjusted to make them more healthy

• Carefully planned out the meals for maximum efficiency have been created by Diana. For example she plans you to make extra rice for your evening meal because she has a menu that uses that rice for the next day's salad or a dessert. This kind of efficiently saves both TIME and MONEY.

• Book is filled with nutrition tips and preparation tips.

• The meals taste great. Do I need to say more?

• Once a person has mastered these meals – there will be more advanced planners to keep it all interesting and more refining in terms of balancing the body.

Using this cookbook has even made my daughter more polite!  My just-past-teenage daughter Asha usually kind of ignores or avoids my cooking whenever she can.

Just last night for example I had asked her if she wanted to eat with me but she said she was in too much of a hurry and was going to eat with her friends.  As soon as she tasted the peanut sauce  I had just prepared from the book though, suddenly she had lots of time to hang around the stove and dip steamed vegetables into the sauce with her fingers … and eat up a large portion of my meal!  This kind of thing has happened several times since I started on the book. I'm sure she was just being polite. The only other explanation would be that these meals actually TASTE better than my own regular fantastic meals …..but that is impossible of course. Yes it's most certain that her personality has changed.  It's amazing

The only problem with being the 'test cooker'  is that I am no longer  the 'test taster' for these meals which I used to be.  Diana would cook the meals herself and I got to feast with the only requirement that I give her feedback.  That was one of the better jobs in my life!   Oh Well…..I look forward to the next book – the one with the more advanced recipes – with a little more gourmet quality integrated in – and more tasting!  I'm also looking forward to the rest of THIS book – since Diana only gave me the first week.

This nutrition/recipe book is not yet available but will be soon.   We will let you know.

Feel free to share this information with anyone who you feel may benefit from it.

P.S.  Those of you who know me (Randy) know that the picture is a joke.  I'm not that scary!

I have always eaten my smoothie rather then drink them.

From the beginning, I saw that it made more sense to eat them rather then drink them and that is not just because I prefer to eat. Digestion starts with the digestive juices in the mouth.

Also, when I heard that jaw exercisers were being sold to people who drank lots of green smoothies all day…..I knew I was on the right track. Diana