How Long Does Healing Take?

A month or so ago, Seth Godin commented on the concept of success and Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Outliers in his blog.

The main two points that he brought up are:
-> Where you're born and when you're born have an enormous amount to do with whether or not you're successful.
-> Becoming a superstar takes about 10,000 hours of hard work.

Even though that particular blog post dealt with the idea of extraordinary public recognition as success, what a great concept for people interested in becoming healthier, especially people ravaged by chronic disease. It's an especially interesting concept for me at the Breakfast Lab.

People in the alternative health world are very familiar with a "healing crisis" or a "plateau" -- this is where most people get discouraged and quit. Making a recovery through food and lifestyle changes is hard work. What does it take to truly recover? Is it an open mind? Curiosity? Patience? Hours of hard work? Support from family and close friends?

Knowing that it doesn't take a day, what would it take you now to become a healthy superstar? Are you willing to put in 10,000 hours and push through the self-doubt?

Here's a question out there for people in the blogosphere: how many hours have you put into becoming healthy? How much support have you had? And what enables you to go on?

Since I believe in small steps, one in front of the other, here are some suggestions of small changes that you might want to add to your morning routine to start on the path to a healthier you:

# Drink tea instead of coffee

# Eat 3 carrots before you have your morning pastry

# Switch from white to whole grain bread

# Use fresh fruit instead of processed jelly on your peanut butter & jelly sandwich

# Practice drinking a glass of water and waiting for 3 minutes before eating that thing you know you 'shouldn't have'

# Chew your food, 30-50 times a bite. Take the time to really enjoy it and revel in the flavor.

Seth Godin's post

Malcolm Gladwell's book the Outliers: Story of Success

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Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Apple Pancake Balls

A delicious no lactose breakfast treat, these baked apple pancake balls are made with whole grain brown rice flour. Unlike white rice, brown rice is highly nutritious - especially full of manganese, B6, niacin and magnesium. Combination of these nutrients is especially good for the morning, as they help relax the muscles and support the health of the nervous system.

Ingredients
2 apples
1 egg
1 - 1.5 cups rice flour
pinch of lavender, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg
1/2 cup of cranberries
1/4 cup walnuts

Shred the apples or cut apples in small cubes. Add flour, egg, lavender, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cranberries and walnuts in a bowl and mix until you form a sticky batter.


Once dough is ready, shape into small balls with cranberries in the middle. The size should be about a tablespoon or smaller. Drop onto a hot pan for baking (20-30 min 325 deg F), or steamer for about 10 minutes or until they look and taste ready.

This is how the balls look steamed: (Please be aware that they will be gooey, because apple gets softer as it heats up.)

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Do You Think Oats are Sexy? Rude Health thinks so

"Morning Glory...contains organic British oats which the makers claim 'enhances libido by re-balancing oestrogen and testosterone levels to help keep your stamina up all morning'....

Previous medical studies show oats can improve sex drive, help hangovers, prevent heart disease, fight infections, heal skin and even help smokers to quit because they have a calming effect on the nervous system." - via Scottsman

True. Steady blood sugar from oats (in a good breakfast) gives energy to frolic and makes a mind feel good and balanced. And feeling good makes everyone else feel good. And isn't love about feeling good? Wouldn't it be funny if breakfast is all it took to help us reach world peace?

Conversely, with no food in the belly, people tend to make poor choices, get cranky and suffer from that mid-morning energy crash.

A recent study in Japan points to the differences between teens who have breakfast and those who don't: teens who don't have breakfast tend to get pregnant much earlier and have worse relationships with their parents than teens who eat a meal in the morning. Crankiness and poor choices indeed.

Which factor affects the other? Is it the bad family environment or the way teens feel inside? While we can debate forever, I'm going to stick with my healthy breakfast.

Funny, isn't it? All it takes is a little oats. And some loving.

I don't have any recipes with me today, but check out www.rudehealth.com for some oat recipes.

Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
http://www.rudehealth.com/

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Milky Goodness! Choosing the Right Milk Substitute

Photo by Gwire used under the Creative Commons license

Hitler's breakfast usually consisted of a glass of milk and 2 slices of dry bread. The internets told me.

That is not to say milk is bad because Hitler enjoyed it. I can't blame him for that, afterall... If you've ever tried dipping crispy fresh bread into milk, and biting in, you know what I'm talking about -- the soggy smooth pleasure mushing inside your mouth, the textures and the taste - satisfying milky smooth taste.

But milk can also play havoc on the human body - from digestion, increased cancer risk, to that whole dioxin thing.* And with milk substitutes and the real thing's popularity increasing worldwide, what's the best and healthiest choice for our morning's cereal?

This is Part 1 of 5 of the Breakfast Lab milk series which examines milk substitutes available today.

Part 1: Almond milk
Popular since the Middle Ages, when it was called Almond Mylk, almond milk keeps fresh longer than cow milk, and is a rich source of vitamin E and magnesium, nutrients that are vital to human health.

Good for lactose-intolerant or gluten-intolerant people, for general brain and heart support

Bad for people with nut allergies

Sample Recipe: Spiced Raisin Almond Milk
1 cup ground almonds (please do NOT use bitter almonds.)
3-4 cups water
(if you want to make more, keep a ratio of about 1:3)
soaked raisins
cinnamon, nutmeg, salt if you need it

Grind almonds and raisins in a food processor or a mortar if you want to go medieval. Pour water in the almonds. Let stand for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sieve or finish pureeing until smooth in a blender. Add spices to taste. If it's too bland, add a tiny pinch of salt.

(If you sieve, you can use the remaining almond putty for other recipes, like breakfast cake.)

You can also find almond milk in health food stores and online. I like Pacific Natural Foods brand and Blue Diamond Brand unsweetened milk but they don't stand up to homemade.

Homemade spice: about $3 / 4 cups
Pacific Brand: about $4 / 4 cups
Blue Diamond Brand: about $3.50 / 4 cups

What do you like about Almond milk? Have you ever made any interesting flavors? Please share. :)

* More Reading:
Cancer Prevention Coalition
Weston A. Price Foundation
Harvard School of Public Health
www.notmilk.com
www.nomilk.com

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Special Holiday Treat! Cranberry / Strawberry Dairy Free Gluten Free Cake with Chocolate Brownie Nut Crust

If you have any type of dietary restriction, you know what it's like to stare with longing at a trans-fat-laden chocolate-covered high-fructose-corn-syrup infused monstrocity being devoured by relatives/friends/significant others and having none.

It sucks being the "special one," while everyone is eating to excess in drunken holiday mirth, even though it's pretty clear the cake won't be very good if you have it. And after that, you will either be suffering from a belly ache, headache, depression or other symptoms of sugar overload.

This gluten-free/dairy-free cake masterpiece is a favorite in any house I bring it to. Make it and become the brilliant cook instead of a weirdo with a dietary restriction. And then, of course, you can have it for breakfast, if there's anything left, that is...

Recipe
1/2 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 or 2 fresh apples
3-4 tablespoons of agar agar
2 tablespoons of kuzu starch
1 package of gluten-free brownies
1-2 cups of nuts
cinnamon, allspice and dried mint
1 tablespoon of honey or agave syrup


Make the nut shell:
Combine brownies and nuts in a food processor until mixture is even and easy to work with. (should be like play-doh consistency, or a bit stickier. Line a mold or some kind of pan with wax paper (or aluminum foil) and spread the mixture over the paper, forming a shell.

Alternatives for the nut shell:
Another (vegan) option is to skip the pre-made brownie, and try combining nuts with dried fruit, like prunes, apricots, dates or soaked figs. You can also add raw chocolate for that chocolate kick.

Make the mousse filling:
Boil strawberries, cranberries and apples in a pot. Add spices to taste or until a nice smell has traveled through the whole kitchen. When cranberries are cooked, add agar agar. Add kuzu to cold water to dissolve and then add kuzu water to the pot.

Take out half of the fruits and puree them in the food processor. Add it back to the pot. Stir. Pour into your brownie shell.

Stick it in the fridge to set. Should set in 2-4 hours.

For other brilliant variations, see

Passover Blueberry-Prune Cake
Raw Hazelnut Carrot Cake

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Garbanzo Wonder Salad

My favorite breakfast. It is. This salad has a lot of complex carbohydrates and protein, so instead of falling prey to the mid-morning "feed me!" stomach grumble, I last until lunch.

It's also chock full of amazing nutritious properties -- take dill, for example. Did you know that it contains oils that help neutralize benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke? If you're living in the city, this breakfast will help protect your body from free radical damage.

Chickpea Salad Recipe
2 cups cooked chickpeas (also known as garbanzo bean)
1/2 onion
1 cup red cabbage
1-1/2 cup fresh dill or parsley herbs
sesame seed oil or olive oil to taste

Combine chickpeas with diced onion, cabbage and herbs. Sprinkle oil. Eat. Enjoy. Delicious, right?

makes 4 servings
total cost: $2

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Warm Healing Breakfast: Pumpkin Soup

Cold winter days bring wind and snow and sneezing. Lots of it. But I'm not worried -- I have this soup to soothe me on the days I have a sore throat, warm me on the days the icy winds blow and heal me with its immune-boosting Vitamin A, C, beta-carotine and potassium.


Simple Pumpkin Soup Recipe
1/4 of a pumpkin
1 onion
enough water to cover the chopped pumpkin (around 1.5 quarts)
cinnamon, sea salt, pepper to taste

Sautee onions in pan. Peel and cut pumpkin, and throw into a pot with water on high heat. Boil. Add browned onions to the pot with pumpkins and reduce heat to medium. Let it percolate on the stove for 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is falling apart.

Puree the ingredients, add cinnamon or other spices and slurp the sweet deliciousness.

This is a simple recipe of course. You can spice it up, add more vegetables for a more complex flavor or substitute pumpkin with other winter squashes for variety.

Pot of organic pumpkin soup was around $6 and lasted 3 days.

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