I am grooving on this new healthy cookbook by Shelley Alexander, who has enjoyed a lifelong love of delicious, locally grown, seasonal foods. She received her formal chef’s training at The Los Angeles Culinary Institute. She is a certified healing foods specialist, holistic chef, and owner of the holistic health company, A Harmony Healing, in Los Angeles.
Holistic chef and certified healing foods specialist Shelley Alexander provides you with everything you need to know to prepare whole foods that nourishes, strengthens, energizes, and helps heal your body. Written from the perspective of a chef and ardent food lover, “Deliciously Holistic” demonstrates with each mouth-watering recipe that good nutrition never has to be at the cost of great taste. The hunger-inducing book also includes:
• A shopping guide, seasonal menu plans, cooking tips, recommended resources
• Tips on the best super foods and how to improve your digestive health
• A bounty of gluten-free and vegan recipes
Here is Chef Alexander’s favorite smoothie from the book:
Wild blueberry smoothie (raw, vegan)
3 cups vanilla Brazil nut milk *
2 cups fresh or frozen wild or organic blueberries
1 peeled banana organic or fair trade
2 to 3 cups organic baby spinach
1 small avocado – peeled and pitted
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
(Optional) a preferred protein powder.
Blend all ingredients until creamy. Blueberries are an amazing fruit packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients. In her book, Chef also illustrates to make your own fiber-rich nut milks, which are super healthy and scrumptious. *
When does food legally become medicine?
While we are on the subject of scrumptious, I just brewed my first medicinal tea to help me get to sleep; Choice Organic Teas have recently released their new “functional botanical teas” that are carefully formulated to match FDA quality standards for “Herbal Daily Supplements.” USDA-certified organic, these herbal remedies have been formualted to address symptoms on insomnia and breathing efficiency as well as Mental Focus, Regularity and Simply Detox.
If I can brew myself a scientific tea to help me get to sleep or avoid constipation, then, sign me right up. If it helps me skip OTC medicine for the same conditions, perfect because I love sipping tea as a form of my medicine. Drink up.
What supplements or nutrients are you taking this month to feel more dynamic and energized?