\  Delicious Recipes  January 28, 2020

Quick & Easy Recipes: Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients:

  • Sprouted tortillas
  • Chicken – prepared ahead of time
  • Goat cheese or feta cheese
  • Jalapenos and onions (optional)
  • Avocado slices
  • Coconut oil or REAL butter for toasting

Directions:

Spread a small amount of coconut oil or butter on one side of each tortilla. Place one tortilla in hot skillet (butter side down). Add chicken and cheese on open face. Lay other tortilla on top with butter side up. Cook until toasted and heated through and flip. Toast other side.  Serve with fresh salsa and avocado slices.

  \  Tru Mindset  January 27, 2020

Eggs Might Not Be Good for You… WRONG!

Eggs are a food that are rich in EFA’s and Protein. Great for breakfast or snack AND if you are like my family…we LOVE EGGS for dinner. It makes for a wonderful, tasty, light meal. Because of our love for eggs, I wanted to make sure we weren’t overdoing it.

Past studies in the U.S. have indicated that eggs are high in cholesterol therefore they cause high cholesterol. Eggs are high in fat therefore that make you fat. Both of these couldn’t be more off base. There is a controversial “debate” going on between the Egg Nutrition Council and the Egg/ Chicken Advocates.

Eggs are a healthy food filled with vital nutrients. Take a look at this study done by Mother Earth News that shows the nutritional difference between eggs from the supermarket and eggs that are from chickens that are truly free range/pasture eggs.

 “Mother Earth News collected samples from 14 pastured flocks across the country and had them tested at an accredited laboratory. The results were compared to official US Department of Agriculture data for commercial eggs. Results showed the pastured eggs contained an amazing:

  • 1/3 less cholesterol than commercial eggs:
  • 1/4 less saturated fat
  • 2/3 more vitamin A
  • 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
  • 7 times more beta carotene
  • 4-6 times more V-D

Full results of the tests are available in the October/November 2007 issue of Mother Earth News, or on their website at http://www.MotherEarthNews.com/eggs. Check Eatwild’s Pastured Products Directory to find free-range eggs near you.”

I find the data collected from this study truly amazing. Who would have thought that by simply allowing chickens the ability to be “free” would have this type of an effect on the egg itself? Food for thought…that goes for people too, I imagine. Break free from the chains that bind you, whether they are toxic beliefs collected throughout your life, spiritual, or emotional, break free from them and your metabolism will be set free as well.

Here are some other interesting tidbits about eggs that may help you in getting the freshest possible.

Some things you might not know about eggs:

  • No refrigeration required for eggs from pasture-raised hens (unless they were refrigerated before you picked them up.
  • Do not pre-wash pasture eggs, the egg is naturally coated with a light layer of natural sealing agent called “bloom”. This coating protects the egg from “aging” by the air and from the bacteria in the air.
  • The fresher the egg, the white will appear cloudy.
  • Beware – the lighter colored the yolk, the chicken was corn fed.
  • A yolk w blood spots is caused by a breaking of a blood vessel along the surface of the yolk. This is not a contamination.

Nutritive information you may not know about eggs:

  • Egg yolk supplies the cholesterol needed for mental development
  • Eggs are rich in vitamins A and D
  • Eggs are rich in Choline for mental acuity in adults. (Choline is a coenzyme needed for metabolism, choline exists in all living cells, but is probably best known as a major part of lecithin–the emulsifier that keeps fats and cholesterol from clumping together in the blood)
  • Eggs are one of the few foods which contain all 8 of the essential amino acids (out body can make whatever non-essential proteins needed from the 8 essential ones)
  • Eggs from free range chickens will not raise cholesterol. This study was in the New England Journal of Medicine. The factory supermarket eggs have a ratio of omega 6’s to omega 3’s, 20 to 1, whereas the eggs from free range chickens are perfectly balanced ǿ 1 to 1.

Eggs are one of the wholesome foods we choose to eat. Find a local farmer in your area. They typically post signs out on the drive in the rural areas. You can also try, http://www.localharvest.org/, they will have a listing of local farms in your area.

  \  Delicious Recipes  January 6, 2020

Quick & Easy Recipes: Tuna or Chicken and Avocado Salad

Ingredients
1 tuna steak (cooked and flaked) or 1 chicken breast cooked and (diced/shredded)
½ apple (red)
1 avocado (ripe)
½ celery
1 teaspoon dill
½ cup red onion
¼ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Sea salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions
In a large bowl, mash up avocado with the back of a fork or potato masher. Add in tuna or chicken, celery, red onion and apple. Mix well. Add in lemon juice, dried dill, cumin and salt and pepper. Mix well. ENJOY!

Will keep up to one week in refrigerator.

  \  Tru Mindset  December 16, 2019

The Least Talked About Game that Women Play—The Comparison Game

Do you play the comparison game? You know the one…your best friend shows up at your door and she looks beautiful. In the face of this beauty, you begin to doubt your own beauty and start down the rabbit hole of self-criticism by picking yourself apart.

Not only does this effect the way you see yourself, but your every experience is judged by this one thing…Do I look good enough? Am I skinny enough? Do I look too big compared to my friend?

Your memories of this fabulous night out with your friend are clouded because you were so busy measuring yourself against everyone else, that you forgot to have fun.

Now that is a bummer!

I used to be filled with so much self-criticism that I would have sharp pains in my stomach the whole evening. It would not only be painful, but my stomach would swell. That is what you call emotional pain being reflected into physical symptoms.

As you may have experienced, the comparison game leads to self-criticism and judgement. Next on the emotional circuit is shame and unworthiness. Then we finish up with a plan for future restriction and punishment.

You devise a great strategy to eliminate the enemy, your body. The next day’s schedule consists of an early morning run, followed by fasting with the intention to shrink the stomach, followed by another form of exercise because the run wasn’t enough to make you feel better about not measuring up.  In your eyes, you haven’t earned that right yet. At this point you are so hungry that you give up fasting and you overeat, not just mildly, but punishingly overeat.

The result is shame. Shame that you can’t even go 1 day without eating. Shame that your body isn’t what you want. The cry for mercy is; “Why can’t I have a cute figure like everyone else?” or “Why can’t I eat whatever I want and not gain weight like everyone else?”

Do you see how shame is taken to the extreme? The rampage started with only 1 friend and it ended with “everyone”.  The result of this tirade is a feeling of true aloneness.

This is a disconnection.

Not with your friend but with yourself. Once you are disconnected with body and soul, you take on eating and exercising behavior patterns that do not get you where you want to go. In fact, in this place your body responds in only 1 way, with stress. In a stress response the body stores fat and burns muscle along with a host of other physiological reactions that sabotage your goal.

As Don Miguel Ruiz says in his book, The Four Agreements Companion Book, “we believe about ourselves what everyone and every mirror has ever told us about who we are and what we look like.” We can’t see ourself, so we take everyone else’s word for it.

All of these perceptions are distorted. They are UNTRUE. Yet, we believe them anyway.

So, how do we overcome this tendency to rate and judge our own body? After all, she is rather lovely J and truly a miracle of a being.

First, understand that we are all made differently. We are each blessed with the physical body that is needed for our own personal journey on this earth.

Here is the logical point of view using physiological fact. There are 3 main body types: ecto-morph, endo-morph and meso-morph:

  • Ecto is long
  • Endo is curvy
  • Meso is power

In short, an endo will never be an ecto and a meso will never be an endo and an ecto will never be a meso, and all vice-versa.  There are combinations of all of these and these combinations make us who we are individually. Not only physical shape but our likes and dislikes as well. It is really quite fascinating.

In the case of my example, the friend that comes to your door is long limbed and you are curvy; it is unrealistic to be critical of yourself. You, being curvy, will never be long limbed…no matter what stretching machine you put yourself on…it – will – not – happen.

So the big question is…Why are you not happy with the way your body is now?

The more soulful point of view is:

It is time to give your belief system an overhaul. You cannot continue to live your life in judgement, comparison and criticism. The body cannot withstand this type of anxiety and stress without being effected by it later.

First, meditate and mull over this beautiful scripture, Psalms 139:14: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works: my soul knows it very well.

This verse shows the incredible and unique essence of our physical body. Each individual is created differently, each having their own characteristics, curves, strength, power, length, breadth and so on. Each one is unique and very special. Once you see yourself from your creators eyes, things will begin to shift for you.

To solidify this, I teach my clients to integrate body love rituals into their day. For example, a mindful shower where you bring all the senses into play from prepping for shower to applying lotion after the shower.

Use body love rituals to integrate the connection between body and soul so they coalesce in a beautiful dance. This is how you stop the comparison game.

Be embodied, one with your body.

This brings love, appreciation, gratitude and forgiveness.

This has you operating from your heart. When our heart guides us, we see the world and the people in our world differently. Most importantly we see ourselves differently and only then will we begin to treat ourselves differently. We begin to take care in how we eat, move and exercise, how we treat and show honor to others.

Dropping the comparison could change your life.

When the heart leads our mind isn’t on our physical body tripping us up on judgement and criticism. We can finally Experience Freedom from the Comparison Game.

The next time your girlfriend shows up at the door, open the door with your heart. Not your head.

  \  Tru Mindset  December 16, 2019

Movement for the Soul

Exercise is not for everyone. Why do you think that is? The structure of the human body was made to move, leap, skip, jump, walk, run, balance, bend, arch and stretch. Do you do any of these on a daily basis?

As many as 50 million Americans (35-45 % of the population)1 are living sedentary lives, putting them at an increased risk of health problems.

On the other hand, there are those that seek exercise for a thinner body or a sense of control or accomplishment, instead of seeking it out to create a healthy lifestyle and gaining pleasure from it. For some of these individuals, exercise can be addictive and taken to the extreme. Which is very similar to the way extreme dieting leads to eating disorders, or in extreme cases it is an activity disorder.

Over-exercising or punishing exercises are as detrimental to the health as a sedentary lifestyle. The former causes the body to operate in a sympathetic stressed state the majority of the time. Which as you know from my previous articles on stress, this is damaging to the digestive system, the musculoskeletal system, the cellular system, and muscle to fat ration.

Here are a few “sure signs” that you are over-exercising or participating in punishing exercise.

  1. Obsessive concerns with body weight and body fat.
  2. Excessive, purposeless physical activity that goes beyond your normal training regimen.
  3. Punishing exercise – meaning you have to work-out because you ate “too much” or in your mind you haven’t done enough activity to deserve relaxation.
  4. Uncomfortable with rest or relaxation.
  5. Dependent on exercise to balance mood.
  6. Rationalize activity level to protect involvement in said activity.
  7. Exercise no matter what… even if experiencing physical exhaustion.

All of these cause the body to reside in the Sympathetic Stress Mode, which kills the body’s ability to build muscle and protect bones. If you are going to spend all those hours exercising, don’t you want to build lean tissue and maintain good bone health?

Where do we find the balance in our exercise regimen or what I call movement for the soul?  It comes from with-in. Only you know what form of movement will be nourishing for you. Experiment. Don’t settle for something that doesn’t bring joy, excitement or energy to every fiber of your being. It must be an activity that you look forward to and that nourishes you for your life purpose.

Moving for your Life Purpose takes the pressure off. Now you can move with the soul intent to gain a healthy body and soul. Healthy movement is vital for the soul (mind/heart/emotions). When time is set aside for movement that is nourishing, the soul comes to life and a balance is reached. When the soul is nourished, you are unstoppable.

The 1st thing to remember is to MOVE. Don’t live a sedentary life. The body was built for movement. The 2nd thing to remember is to move for the soul… with the sole purpose to nourish, strengthen, calm and restore your health.

1Source: American Psychological Association

  \  Tru Mindset  December 16, 2019

Make SLOW the NEW YOU!

“Slowing down is the NEW internal mechanism you need to increase your metabolic power.”

Slowing down is not NEW… it just isn’t used. And now is the perfect time to wipe the dust off and put that part of you to good use. Notice I said, “internal mechanism”. This is something that happens from within, it doesn’t mean you move slow and don’t get anything done… it means breathing, ebb and flow through stress, allow it (slow) to come in and seep through your body, soul and spirit so you are more effective with not only the running of your body but most importantly how you do life and how you share yourself with others. That combination is what makes a healthy body, soul and spirit.

What does SLOW do for you??

  • It puts you in the optimal state of digestion.
  • Your body will burn fat for energy.
  • You will increase calorie burning power.
  • Your immune system functions optimally.
  • Optimal state of assimilation of nutrients.
  • Increased oxygen uptake = metabolic power (burn more calories at rest).
  • Healing happens in your body.
  • Maintenance and repair of the body.
  • Healthy meals eaten in a relaxed state, you will receive full digestion, assimilation and nourishment of that food.
  • You will experience the 8 sacred metabolizers: love, truth, courage, compassion, commitment, forgiveness, faith, gratitude and surrender.

That sounds like a divine way to live doesn’t it?

All of this is available to you. Make the decision to slow things up with-in you, today…it’s never too late.

  \  Tru Mindset  January 11, 2017

Fit Forever: Keep Your Wellness New Year’s Resolution

It is around two weeks into the New Year, and 32 percent of Americans making a New Year’s resolution to improve their wellness have already given up. Fortunately, thanks to Mannatech’s TruHealth 30-Day System, you have the perfect tool to help you keep your New Year’s Resolution and shape a new you.*

The TruHealth 30-Day System will help keep you on a healthy path of nutrition and exercise that will give you energy, satiate your appetite and help you reduce inches.* Health and wellness experts at Mannatech also have a few tips to help you make your New Year’s resolutions real. (read more …)