Change to Vegan

We moved 4 weeks ago, but the house needs major work.  It will be about 6 to 8 weeks before all is ready.  We have two kitchens and lots of space to relax and enjoy the beautiful mountains of Costa Rica, where the air is always cool and fresh.  We will have vegan/vegetarian cooking classes, a B&B for healthy foodies, and we will be producing and selling some vegan food products locally.

We are currently painting, changing tile, re-doing plumbing and electrical, remodeling bathrooms, building a salt water sanitizer pool.  We are cooking up some vegan delights and will post some new recipes here soon.  We did not have internet for the first few weeks here.

Our place is called Casa Metta – house of loving kindness.  It is set on an almost 3 acre sight with amazing views – even an ocean view on really clear days.  It will be a healthy, relaxing retreat with space for up to 4-6 guests, once all is completed.  We are loving our new lives and our new challenges.  We look forward to sharing fantastic vegan foods with others, in our new locale.

I am vegan and gluten free.  And, I live on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica where the products you can find in other countries do not exist.  So, I have no bread or crackers that I can eat available here.  I have to make my own.  I just made a 5 seed fry bread that is tasty, healthy and filling.

I mixed together the ingredients and cooked large spoonfuls on a pan sprayed with non-stick spray, over low to medium head.  10 minutes each side, press down with spatula when you flip, and back over if not quite done.

Vegan Gluten Free Bread

Ingredients

1½ cup ground buckwheat or buckwheat flour/meal

1 cup ground flax seeds or flax meal

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups filtered water

⅓ cup sunflower seeds

⅓ cup whole flax seeds

⅓ cup pumpkin seeds

¼ sesame seeds (white, black, or a mix)

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

This tastes excellent as a sandwich bread, with tofu dogs, as a side with main courses, or even as a garlic bread – toasted with olive oil and crushed garlic.  Yummy and good for you.  No guilt bread!   Buckwheat is actually a seed, so this can be a 6 seed bread.

Or, you can dehydrate for a raw bread – about 4 hours each side.

My good friend, Johanna, has written an amazing eBook of vegan desserts. All of these recipes are made without regular cane sugar. Instead, they are sweetened with fruit sugar from fresh, dried, and frozen fruit and berries. Agave syrup or maple syrup is also used. Agave syrup is a yummy low GI sweetener that works really well in these recipes.

All but 5 of the recipes can be made 100% raw, but if you don’t have 100% raw resources such as genuinely raw cocoa powder, you can still make them and they will taste incredible!

Check it out: http://www.miss-best.com/LLLD.html

There is absolutely no reason that as a vegan you cannot enjoy some of your favorite non-vegan foods, changed but even more delicious.  This is a vegan spinach, open-faced enchilada.

I adore Tex-Mex food, but enjoy it even more using vegan variations.  I eat enchiladas, tostadas, tamales, rice and beans, etc.  All super healthy, filling and delicious.

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Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. — Hippocrates, father of medicine, 431 B.C.

A long time ago, Hippocrates knew more than most people understand now.  You are what you eat.  Your health, vitality, energy, skin, hair, disposition and outlook are all directly related to what you put in your mouth.

People are looking for the quick fix, the pill, the super food to overcome all the crap they put in their mouths.  It does not exist.  You have to be responsible for your choices.  You have a choice each and every day about what you put in your mouths.

I have heard people say, “Heck, I’m gonna die anyway, so why not die happy.”  That is justification for a big steak, baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon, and maybe a few carrots for decoration.  And, then when the heart attack comes, they utter, “Why me?”

Your body, your choice.  Be healthy or destroy your body by eating processed, fatty, cholesteral laden foods that will kill you one way or another.   Eat to live.  Enjoy your families and friends.  Enjoy your high energy levels and trim figures that allow you to do more.  Enjoy the glow you have from eating healthy foods, instead of the pallor, obese body, labored breathing, and exhaustion your body feels from eating badly.

It’s a new year and you have a choice.

Every day I read articles about how nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables can protect you from illnesses or decrease symptoms of diseases such as cancers, diabetes, MS, etc.   Every day I read articles about how eating dairy and meat  can cause health problems.  Why are people so determined to be unhealthy, just to please their palates?  That makes an assumption that eating a plant-based diet is not satisfying.  On the contrary, eating a plant-based diet makes the palate sing with delight and increases the well-being, health, energy and positive vibes of the body.

“The vast majority of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases,
and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented
simply by adopting a plant-based diet.”

T. COLIN CAMPBELL, Ph.D.,
former Senior Science Advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research
Director, Cornell-China-Oxford Project on Nutrition, Health and Environment 1983-1990

“An unrefined plant-based diet, together with
appropriate exercise consistently followed,
would eliminate most of the degenerative
diseases that curse our western world.”

RAY FOSTER, M.D., FACS

You become what you ingest. You become what you put into your mouth.  The food that you put into your mouth helps make you who and what you are.

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Turmeric is one of nature’s most powerful healers. The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. Tumeric has been used for over 2500 years in India, where it was most likely first used as a dye.

The medicinal properties of this spice have been slowly revealing themselves over the centuries. Long known for its anti-inflammatory properties, recent research has revealed that turmeric is a natural wonder, proving beneficial in the treatment of many different health conditions from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease.

Here are 20 reasons to add turmeric to your diet:

1. It is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns.

2. When combined with cauliflower, it has shown to prevent prostate cancer and stop the growth of existing prostate cancer.

3. Prevented breast cancer from spreading to the lungs in mice.

4. May prevent melanoma and cause existing melanoma cells to commit suicide.

5. Reduces the risk of childhood leukemia.

6. Is a natural liver detoxifier.

7. May prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by removing amyloyd plaque buildup in the brain.

8. May prevent metastases from occurring in many different forms of cancer.

9. It is a potent natural anti-inflammatory that works as well as many anti-inflammatory drugs but without the side effects.

10. Has shown promise in slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis in mice.

11. Is a natural painkiller and cox-2 inhibitor.

12. May aid in fat metabolism and help in weight management.

13. Has long been used in Chinese medicine as a treatment for depression.

14. Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it is a natural treatment for arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

15. Boosts the effects of chemo drug paclitaxel and reduces its side effects.

16. Promising studies are underway on the effects of turmeric on pancreatic cancer.

17. Studies are ongoing in the positive effects of turmeric on multiple myeloma.

18. Has been shown to stop the growth of new blood vessels in tumors.

19. Speeds up wound healing and assists in remodeling of damaged skin.

20. May help in the treatment of psoriasis and other inflammatory skin conditions.

Turmeric can be taken in powder or pill form. It is available in pill form in most health food stores, usually in 250-500mg capsules.

Once you start using turmeric on a regular basis, it’s fun to find new ways to use it in recipes.

I have been really busy lately, dealing with my Mom’s Alzheimer’s, etc.  It has used a lot of my energy.  One thing that it has enforced in me is how important it is for us to live healthy, eat healthy and exercise.  Alzheimer’s is now thought to be caused by high cholesteral.  If this is really the case, we can absolutely control it through diet and lifestyle.

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