MONDAY BASICS: Switch to Filtered

In this Monday Basics Series, I have touched on the importance of water consumption and the timing around that consumption. I have a few more water-intake posts planned for later this year, but today, in honour of The Minding and Upkeep of You, (a new thing I'm doing with my one-on-one practice with clients) I am going over one of the first and most basic changes I recommend to my newest clients: SWITCH TO FILTERED.

We're talking water, of course. We're talking nix the straight up tap water, instead filtering it so it's of gentler support to your body. There are lots of reasons, first and foremost because of chlorine. This chemical is found in our tap water and thank goodness it is – to be clear, this prevents our water supply from contamination which means it saves us from disease and infection from bacteria that could be found in our water supply. Adding chlorine to our drinking water means we can prevent getting sick from water-borne diseases like cholera, E.coli and Giardia. Really quite brilliant, yes. But all of this disinfecting comes with a price.

Chlorine reacts chemically with other substances naturally found in our water or ones that are in our bodies to form dangerous toxins that have been linked to certain human illnesses like asthma, eczema, cardiovascular disease and bladder issues and linked to damaging effects of many organs and systems including the heart, kidney and central nervous system. These byproducts contribute to free radical buildup and damage in our bodies too, which can contribute to cell damage and setting the stage for cancer. We are all biochemically unique individuals, and so how much each person is affected by the chlorine in our drinking water differs from one person to another.

Another big concern with chlorine is that it is just that, a bacteria-erasing chemical. If our guts have microflora or probiotics or good gut guys, whatever you want to call them, this chlorinated water is going to eradicate what we are trying to cultivate. Having good microflora in our gut (or a balanced microbiome) is essential to overall optimal health and immune support. If you haven't yet, I highly recommend watching this video to understand the magnitude of looking after our gut flora.  So by filtering our water, we will be ensuring a more hospitable environment where our gut microbiome can thrive and in turn, look after us. Win-win, kids, win-win.

As well, the chlorine in water has been shown to have a negative effect on the thyroid. In the body, the chlorine molecule looks a lot like the iodine molecule; if you look on the periodic table of elements, chlorine is in the same column as iodine, and the same one as fluorine and bromine. Studies now show that ingesting these chemicals can run interference with organs that depend on iodine, chiefly the thyroid. There is even some suggestions to add a chlorine filter to our shower heads! 

SOURCING OUR WATER

As water is fundamental to our body's function and living, it is imperative we ensure our water source is the cleanest possible, and that we pay attention to limiting the negative effects of some of the chemicals that can be found in our water. Our best choice? For drinking water, go with spring water as this natural unprocessed water source is controlled and measured for any volatile compounds or contamination from local agricultural or industrial sources.

But ensuring spring water as your main drinking source is not a possibility for everyone; my second best recommendation would be to invest in a good water filter. There are many options out there, find the one that will best fit your budget. Shop around, ask friends what they like. Check to see if your refrigerator's water supply came with a filter! If it did, make sure you're changing your filter on a regular basis. If you're going for a stand-alone filtering system, there are jugs or stand systems with charcoal filters that are great at removing chlorine, some particulate matter and some of the heavy metals as well as some bacteria, parasites and most viruses. But these carbon filters can be a breeding ground for bacteria: make sure to change your filters on a regular basis. They do remove the majority of chlorine but won't take out fluoride. Not a concern in Calgary, as our city has since removed the fluoride that used to be added to our water. For those in Calgary who would like to know more about our water supply, follow this link. 

Reverse osmosis systems may be the way to go for some, as it takes out 100% of all organic matter including the minerals; know that you should consider re-incorporating minerals into that water for drinking purposes. Adding a pinch of sea salt to your jug of RO water may be just fine, or running it through a system that will re-introduce minerals may work for you too. What system you choose is a personal choice; do your own research to find which one best suits your needs and budget.

Because your thyroid, your gut called and your immune system all called. They say thanks, in advance.

I often have gut and thyroid based talks on the go, make sure to check on the Events page to see if something is on the horizon. You might find the information presented useful!

For those who ferment at home, getting a water filter of sorts will be of great benefit to you, as chlorinated water also halts or may hinder the fermentation process. Think of the doors that will open up with this new filter in your life!

New Blog Series - MONDAY BASICS. Today: w a t e r

I'm starting a new blog series for this new year, and it's a simple thing, really. It's called Monday Basics and it's meant to be a quick read for your Monday mornings on one manageable thing you can add to your day / your life / your regimen, one simple and effective change in order to help you achieve optimal health. It won't be complicated; there may be some recipes involved at times. Oh sure, some posts may involve a bit more work, but I guarantee you balance with some easier to achieve tasks, some simpler things to make it all work. Most of these posts will delve into food and nutritional things, but I promise to veer off the path to include some simple lifestyle changes that may be of support to you. How much you take in is up to you. So check back here every Monday morning for the weekly post on how to up that nutritional ante.

This week's post is one of the most basic things, one of the easiest things you can add to your regimen and perhaps one of the most over-looked things we can do in order to best support our bodies. Today we're talking WATER.

This is one of the foundations of my practice, recommending water to each and every one of my clients. Adults are 60% water, and newborns up to 80%! Our body needs water for blood, sweat, tears, urine, saliva; it is necessary for digestion, injury repair and getting nutrients to where they need to be, but my favourite part is that we need it for elimination. It helps get the colon rollin (yes I just said that) but also helps to flush out toxins from every nook and cranny of our body: it is a main component in our lymph system, that mysterious part of our body that looks after taking our body's garbage to the curb. Drinking water is a fairly easy and inexpensive thing you can do; there is evidence that we as adults should aim for 2 litres a day. This two litres includes herbal teas and things like meat stock or other beverages you consume, other than caffeinated teas and coffees and alcoholic beverages. To help you get enough in in good time, you may want to download an app that reminds you to have a cup of water every hour on the hour, or use your timer on your phone to give you a nudge to down a glass every ninety minutes. You can fill a glass 1L jar twice a day, aiming to consume the contents by supper hour. You can buy yourself a fancy new water bottle to entice you to carry it with you wherever you go, or if your work keeps you in the air or unable to have a glass handy, a hiking camel-type container you can keep on your back might be of use to you.

The most important part of today's write up is the timing around your water consumption.

In order to best support your digestive system, it is recommended you stop drinking water 30 minutes before a meal and that you wait a whole hour until after the meal to resume your water consumption. Minimize or eliminate beverages with your meal, unless they are filled with protein like milk, or bone broth / meat stock. If you do choose to drink water with your meal, make sure it is room-temperature and don't have more than one cup. Any cold beverage can slow down your stomach's digestive function thus impeding the digestion of protein in your meal. Consuming too much water before or during a meal can dilute the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can hinder your ability to digest protein and this can have a long-term impact on your body's overall function. (Check out this event if you want to learn more about how best to digest like a pro!)

This is where we start, my food-loving friend. I hope you enjoy this wee series I have dreamed up, and that you will come back for more. Every Monday morning from here until the end of 2016, I promise you one easy add-on or swap in order to best support your sweet self towards optimal health. Let's do this. (Well now, we did do this. Find the full write up of ideas here: The Monday Health Basics wrap up!)

(Oh yes we will talk what kind of water later, and may delve in to other things about water as the year progresses. For now, just work on getting your consumption up, and working on the timing. Bonne chance.)

#mondayhealthbasics

BEET KVASS

I recently had the pleasure of hanging out in Malcolm-from-The-Light-Cellar's kitchen as we cracked jokes about the bloodiness of beets with All Hallows Eve lurking around the corner, and talked of the purported legendary status of beet kvass in the world of aphrodisiacs. What is beet kvass, you ask? If you are asking me, I will rattle off the nutritional content and point out all of the benefits of consuming a fermented beverage for improved overall health. But if you put those sciency things aside, I will tell you that it is one of my favourite beverages, tasting of the salty earth, a drink I have every day and never tire. 

Beet kvass is meant to be consumed as a tonic, so a little goes a long way. It's also ridiculously easy to make. I invite you to check out this video I am attaching here to the blog, to find out how easy it is to make your own batch at home! It is a part of The Light Cellar's series called Easy Upgrades. Take a gander, and let me know how your batch turns out (and what you put in it!):

Why I love it: it's quick and easy and really inexpensive to make. You don't need any special equipment. It's a liver-loving and kidney-supporting beverage that will help protect your sweet self from free radical damage, good for cleaning up and building blood, protein digestion, a purveyor of the mineral boron which is needed for building bones and our sex hormones (hence, the aphrodisiac reputation from ancient Roman times!), also pumps out the betacyanin which is shown to be a potent anti-carcinogen. It's good for someone who owns a liver, a kidney or two, a heart, a gallbladder, a stomach or intestines.

Oh, and beet kvass has been shown to help flush out uric acid, so talk about busting the gout! Now if you are one that is typically wary of oxalates, you are saying to yourself right now "Luka, this beet love you have going on is dangerously high in oxalates." From the DID YOU KNOW files: fermenting a veggie high in oxalates has been shown to drastically reduce the oxalates in question. BOOM.

Go make a batch. And let me know how you flavoured it. 

BEET KVASS
The players (per litre of filtered water):
1-2 good sized beets
2-3 tsp sea salt
a knob of ginger, sliced
a knob of fresh turmeric, sliced
1 garlic cloves
1 L filtered water (or enough water to fill a 1L jug once the rest of the ingredients are in the jug)

My favourite flavour additions:

• you can take out the ginger, turmeric and garlic in the recipe above and add in the extras listed below, or keep them in the mix. Up to you! Highly recommend always adding in some seaweed.
• adding in some green onions and fresh rosemary sprigs in summer for Liver Lovin
• adding in dried hot peppers + handful of goji berries + 2tsp burdock root for Heart Health
• tossing in the inside of cabbage 'hearts' with 2 strips of astragalus for blood sugar balancing
• 2 tsp fennel seeds + 2 tsp fenugreek seeds + 1 tbsp rosehips for extra Gut loving
• adding in a slice or three of reishi medicinal mushrooms + few strands of kelp + 1 tbsp nettle for added Adrenal support
• want to go Old World? Toss in a few bay leaves + 1 tbsp caraway seeds.
• Love dill pickles? Toss in your garlic and add in big handful of fresh dill and some peppercorns.
• Play with the flavours and what you have in your pantry. And comment below with combos that really hit it out of the park!

SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE BECAUSE... snow. and pumpkins.

Not sure what it's like where you are today, but the snow showed up this morning here in our part of the world. At school drop off this morning, had a chance for a quick visit and chat with a few parents and we got to talking hot chocolate. And coffee. And tea. And all things warming. And I thought well it's high time we figure out a way to make some yummy hot chocolate that can impart some superpowers in the process. (*not documented nor measured superpowers yet. The lab results haven't come in yet...) Enter: THE SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE.

This is a variation on a super delicious Pumpkin Chaga Latte dreamed up by one of the loveliest of the lovelies, Angela Bewick whose face you may recognize if you are a frequent Amaranther. (Make sure to click on that recipe and try it out, it's most delicious!) So thank you Angela for having inoculated me into the world of medicinal mushrooms and started me on this journey of super charging foods. 

If at the sight of the word 'mushrooms' you are contemplating veering away from the blog, I say don't! There is no taste of mushrooms to these kinds of bevies, I assure you. The mushrooms impart minimal flavour to the concoction, but what they do share are these superpowers, helping support your immune system, your adrenals, providing a fabulous amount of antioxidants assisting your body and liver in keeping good working order and reducing free radical damage. One of my favourite things about these medicinal mushrooms is the research that is showing how supportive they can be for someone undergoing radiation or any kind of cancer treatment. For a full write up on the benefits of the mushrooms in today's recipe, you may want to check this page for Chaga mushrooms, and this page for the benefits of consuming Reishi mushroom tea. Know that there is no caffeine in these mushrooms, so this is a good kid-friendly tea.

THE PRELIMINARY: (I did these yesterday)

• Roast your leftover jack-o-lanterns at 375F for an hour and 10 minutes or until soft, set aside to cool. Scoop out the pulp away from the skin, and blitz in a food processor or with an immersion wand.
• Put up 6 cups of filtered water with 5 slices of Reishi mushrooms and 1 tbsp of Chaga mushrooms, bring to a simmer and put a lid on, let it simmer on low for a minimum of 6 hours. 

Where to find the mushrooms:  your favourite local health food store; if you're in Calgary, you can also find some at The Light Cellar in Bowness.

VARIATIONS: you can use canned pumpkin instead of roasting your own. If you do end up roasting your pumpkins, store the leftovers in ice cube trays, and tuck them in ice cube sized portions in freezer bags for easy retrieval when you will make this super charged hot chocolate in the coming winter months. (A super-full ice cube equals roughly 2 tbsp of puree). I tuck them in freezer bags to use in sauces, soups and to thicken things or to add fibre, nutrients and a hint of sweet to a dish like a good greens curry. 

I make a reishi/chaga infusion every Sunday for the week ahead. It takes all of 3 minutes to put it on, and I dip into it every day or two for a good tea. VARIATIONS: you can simmer the mushrooms with some fresh ginger slices, or a cinnamon stick and maybe a few cardamom pods to add a chai flavour. I just bring it back to a boil before using it for teas and store it on the stovetop for those 4-5 days it will take me to get through a batch. You can also make a big batch and keep it in a glass jar in the fridge if you like, or prepare this in your slow cooker and let it simmer on low all week as you dip into it for sauces or additional nutrients to your meals when you need to thin something or steam the broccoli a little further.

The players: cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla powder, chaga and reishi mushrooms, roasted pumpkin, cocoa powder. Super Charged Hot Chocolate.

SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE
THE PLAYERS:
2 cups of chaga reishi tea
5-6 heaping tbsp roasted pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp vanilla powder or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cocoa powder or raw carob powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
2-3 cardamom pods, cracked open (put shell and seeds in your pot)
1 tbsp coconut oil
2-3 tbsp maple syrup or honey

Put all of these ingredients in a pot big enough to hold it all. Bring it to a simmer, and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Next, fish out the cardamom shells. In your blender or in a bowl that will accommodate your immersion blender, put 1/2 cup to 1 cup of either creme fraiche or coconut milk or any milk of your choosing (making sure to pick one with a higher fat content) along with roughly 1 cup of your super charged hot chocolate, and blend until smooth. Add the remainder of your super charged hot chocolate to the mix, again blending until smooth. Voila! 

There are so many benefits to this Super Charged Hot Chocolate, but I won't bore you with it. Sometimes it's good to just make some food that tastes good and feels good. Now that's nourishing.

A barista I will never be. A cuppa Super Charged Hot Chocolate. For you, sweet one.

HOMEMADE CHAI

Oh but it's a cold one these days in southern Alberta. But in true Fall fashion in these here parts, these snowy windy times are but making a brief appearance before Ma Nature ushers back in those glorious warm winds that make this my most favourite season in the foothills, a warm, colourful and most pleasant place to be with the bluest of blue skies you've ever seen.

In the meantime, my kiddo has made her way out to the prairies along with her Girl Guide group to finish one of their four-season-camping challenge they've thrown themselves this year. In the midst of that wild wind I thought was certainly uprooting trees in my neighbourhood, I wondered what kind of parent am I, to leave my girlie in this kind of storm, imagining she was shivering in her bed soaked with rain, snow and tears wondering why she was left to her own devices. (Don't we always imagine the worst?) This morning when I woke up, I thought how invincible those girls must feel, having made it through the night. Sure they may be wet and cold when we go to pick them up this evening, but they may also feel like they've gone through something together that really called them to come together and support one another, and I imagine they'll be giggling and laughing when we do make it to that little spot on the Bow River to bring them back home.

In order to help kickstart the defrost in a most delicious (and nourishing!) way, you can bet I'm making a batch of our favourite homemade Chai to take in a thermos for when we greet them. Just to make sure.

HOMEMADE CHAI TEA

In a big enough pot, add:
2 cups filtered water
2 cups milk of your choice (dairy, goat, coconut, almond, half cream half milk, etc)
2 bags of organic black tea (or orange pekoe)
1/4 tsp ground ginger powder
1/2 tsp ground vanilla powder or vanilla extract
4 cardamom pods (split open, as the flavour is in the seeds inside the pods)
2 tsp local honey

Bring it to a simmer. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Pour through a strainer. Enjoy. 

And feel your insides start to warm from the toes up.

*Want to learn about the superpowers of spices, specifically cardamom? Follow this link, and then go make yourself a cuppa.