Upbeat Living: Beat Acidosis to Beat Illness and Feel Great!

Tags

Acidosis, beating fatigue, breath, Eating, Eating right, energy, exhaustion, fatigue, Feeling energized, Health, pH balance, stress, Stress Management, tired, UpBeat Living

© 2014  Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

Microsoft

The Upbeat Living philosophy is to encourage people to switch little habits that will lead to big results, to feel our best and enjoy life the most. And little changes often can help you have a lot more energy, plus feeling and looking younger!  Would you consider making one or two easy changes in your daily habits, if you could feel much better as a result?

Here are some points to ponder regarding a condition affecting many people and causing silently deteriorating health, yet which you can easily and inexpensively control. It’s called acidosis, meaning excess acid in the body’s fluids.  Stress, eating habits, lack of exercise, and too little sleep all contribute to this condition.  And dealing with stress, changing your eating habits, exercising, and sleeping more—these can all help correct the condition.

Relative acidity is measured on the pH, or potential hydrogen, scale that indicates hydrogen  ion concentration. The pH scale goes from 1 (extremely acidic) to 14 (extremely basic, or alkaline). The body operates best when its acid balance, or pH, is between 7.35 and 7.45, ideally at 7.4. Yet diet and stress tend to acidify the body’s fluids. More biochemical waste in the body can also lower pH, making the body more acidic.  To see some beautiful graphics of the pH scale, put “pH scale” in your search bar and enjoy.

While the condition is simple, the symptoms are many. A person with acidosis may experience frequent fatigue, allergies, bronchitis, colds and flu, foot fungus, acne, boils, eczema, age spots, arthritis, diarrhea and/or constipation. Effects less easy for the individual to see are serious internal processes, such as the inflammation of veins, arteries, and the muscle tissue of the heart. This creates cardiac system issues that result in elevated blood pressure, which in turn increases heart deterioration.

Fotolia

Acidosis also leads to premature aging via accelerating free-radical damage to cells. Cells are actually poisoned by inefficiently eliminated cell waste. An acidic pH prevents the proper storage and release of cellular energy, meaning that the body cannot respond fully to stress or infection.  This means you’re tired! Red blood cells clump together, which limits their oxygen-carrying capacity and leads to fatigue and weakness. Cancer cells thrive in lower-oxygen  (acidic) environments such as acidosis can create. Other mechanisms caused by acidosis may lead to pancreatic dysfunction, diabetes, weight gain, and osteoporosis.

The body has natural mechanisms for monitoring and controlling its acid-base balance. When plasma is too acidic, the respiratory system speeds breathing, and the kidneys can produce substances that turn the pH around. The body also uses intracellular absorption of hydrogen atoms by molecules of protein, phosphate, and carbonate in bone, thus raising the pH to less acidity.

So what can you do to help yourself beat acidosis? First, get litmus paper from your pharmacy and test your saliva. The litmus paper will turn color to show the acidity of your saliva. If your saliva’s pH is too low/acidic, re-assess your current stress, exercise (or lack thereof), sleep, and diet. Consider these dietary changes:

1. Stop drinking any sodas or sugared drinks, or any artificially sweetened products. Switch to juices or filtered water.
2. Stop eating sugared desserts and foods made mainly with white flour and yeast, such as pizza and bagels.
3. Eat dark-green leafy salads, other green vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, celery, parsley), and root vegetables (carrots, yams, daikon radish).
4. Eat fruits, especially fresh fruits, such as apples, apricots, bananas, cantaloupe, dates, figs, grapefruit, peaches, and grapes. For dried fruit, try raisins.
5. Eat rice and buckwheat, almonds, dairy products, and eggs.

Try changing your diet for a week, and add exercise and sleep more. Check your pH again. Notice if these changes make you more relaxed, clear-minded, and vital. If so, you are making a major investment in your long-term health. Why not feel your best, starting now?  That’s Upbeat Living!

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links!

• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 
• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)             

● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

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UpBeat Living: Tips for Hot Summer Thriving

Tags

Eating, Effective living, energy, energy foods, exhausted, fatigue, Feeling energized, heat, heat stress, heat stress tips, hot days, Kebba, stress, summer stress tips, The life you want

© 2014  Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M.  World Rights Reserved.

Yikes!  It hit 110 degrees today in Phoenix!  Summer is our weather-stress season, like winter is in cooler areas.  In the Summer heat where you live, have you felt great today?  Or were you hot, tired, and fog-brained?  Maybe even a little sick?  So could you use some expert heat-stress tips?

Feeling good, being well, and being productive, can be challenging in weather like this.  But you can feel great and thrive during even our desert summers, if you take these tips to heart:

1.  Get out of the heat. Do get 15 minutes of sun on your hands and face each day, for your body to produce enough Vitamin D. But you can get that while driving to an errand. The rest of the time, get out of the sun or wear sunscreen and sleeves.  And don’t stop to think in the full sun!  Adjust that grocery list before you go out the front door!

If you love to be outside, you can now buy special sun-blocking clothes from travel companies. You can get shirts designed to provide SPF 50 or higher, plus broad-brimmed hats with mesh-side crowns for through-flow of air. More difficult to find is the safari hat with its own built-in fan, but they are great for hiking. Cooling neck scarves are now widely available. Soak them to activate the gel inside, and store them in the frij between wearings.  Water bottles, with a battery-operated personal fan attached, are amusing and do actually help you keep cooler.

If you get too much heat, you’ll generally know it. But if people tell you your face is bright red, this is not good.  If your skin is totally dry, or if you feel nauseated or are vomiting, or if you feel totally drained and confused, these are clues you have heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Get to a cool, dim place, put a cool, damp cloth on your forehead, and try to drink water (with the chlorine filtered out).  Remember:

Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun.

~ Rudyard Kipling

2.  Protect your skin. If you don’t want to cover it, at least wear some sunscreen. There are new generations of sunscreen in clear or opaque forms, or colored to function as makeup foundation. Many moisturizers and makeup products contain SPF 15 or higher for day use. Powdered mineral-based foundation makeups provide non-chemical SPF 15. If you’re wild to have tan skin, and you weren’t born with it, check out spray tanning or tanning moisturizers. Be aware that these do not provide sun protection, however, and skin cancer is a concern.  And remember to drink water to hydrate your skin. Support your skin by also eating foods that can help it stay moist and young-looking: fresh fruits, avocados, and dark greens like kale and baby romaine.  Get the organic versions if you can, and you’ll have more energy.

3.  Use common sense. Rest if you need to. Plan extra time to get enough sleep every day.  Nap if you need to.  And focus on thriving, throughout the month.

Next time: Keeping your energy up when it’s over 100!

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links!

• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 
• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)             

● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

● Please comment!

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● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Pump Up Your Potassium for Energy

Tags

Eating, energy foods, Feeling energized, Potassium, vitality

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

© Pamela Hodson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

One secret—and quickly cured— source of fatigue for many is a low level of potassium in the blood.    Potassium is an essential electrolyte and the third most prevalent element in the body.  It helps your brain, muscle, and heart functions, lowers blood pressure, and increases the body’s processing of carbs and protein.  The right amount of potassium can also prevent strokes.

Especially during the hot weeks of the year, a person can sweat away potassium and end up depleted, feeling strangely lousy.  Low potassium may cause vague thinking, dry skin, fatigue, less muscle control, more muscle cramps, and heart function oddities.  People who are very athletic or who have high blood pressure often have low potassium levels. Basic blood tests will tell you if your potassium is low.

So what to do?  The USDA recommends you get 4500 mg of potassium every day.  Yes, you can drink sports drinks, which will also contain other electrolytes, and sometimes large amounts of sugars or artificial sweeteners.  Sugars can fatigue you after the initial kick, encourage future diabetes, and hurt your teeth if you don’t rinse with water. Artificial sweeteners can be hard on your kidneys and favorable to cancers.

Of course, you can take supplements.  And your doctor can prescribe potassium tablets.  However, you can quickly bring up your potassium levels by eating from a list of very pleasant foods.  Good sources of potassium include bananas, orange juice, avocados, cantaloupes, tomatoes, potatoes, lima beans, fresh or cooked spinach, flounder, salmon, cod, chicken, and other meats.  Some examples:  Whole almonds have 1006 mg per cup, bananas 806, roasted cashews 774, lima beans 765, avocados 728, orange juice 496, baked potato 239, fresh spinach 167 (that’s 1 ounce of fresh spinach in the cup).  Rotisserie chicken breast has 284 mg per 100 g (almost 4 oz), and broiled salmon 384 per 100g.  Love filet mignon?  It has 357 mg potassium per 100 g.  Love your Caesar salad?  That romaine lettuce has 247 mg potassium per 100 g.

So enjoy your proteins, fresh fruits and veggies!  You’ll get lots of potassium and notice you feel better.  Your doctor will smile, and so will you.  Have an energized summer!

 

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● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise of  Good Karma.

 

● Liked this blog?  Then why not buy Kebba’s books on Amazon?  Just click the links!

• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (http://tinyurl.com/abd47jr)
• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 

 

● Please comment!

 

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UpBeat Living: Why You Should Drink Coffee

Tags

Cancer, Coffee benefits, Eating, energy, energy foods, Green coffee extract, Health

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

 

Photo by Fotolia

The case for coffee as a health drink has been building.  In my book, Discover The Secret Energized You, there is a section (p. 53, “Perk With Coffee”) on the health benefits of coffee.  In the several years since the book came out, everything it said about coffee has been further proven, and more medical benefits have come to light.

Of course, this article is not medical advice.  Chat with your doctor before making any dietary changes.

Coffee is one beverage found delicious by people in many cultures for centuries.  And now it is known to have many health perks.  While many think the only ingredient in coffee is caffeine, coffee actually contains thousands of organic compounds.  The lift people get from drinking it may come from the antioxidant compounds, more than from the caffeine.  And, it contains only 6 calories per cup, if you don’t add the sugar, the syrups, the milks, or the whipped cream.  Or that muffin that looks so good, over there in the glass case.  Save yourself hundreds of calories per serving by drinking coffee black.

Speaking of dieting, recent medical research has shown that green coffee beans can help you lose weight surprisingly fast.  Bottles of green coffee bean extract are flying off store shelves. But if you want  less caffeine and more beneficial compounds from your coffee, use dark roasts, even espresso, and keep the brewing time short.

According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), the antioxidants in coffee may reduce inflammation and thereby reduce the risk of potential disorders related to it. Cardiovascular disease is one of these. Phenols, volatile aroma compounds, and oxazoles in coffee contribute to its high antioxidant content. A typical serving of coffee contains more antioxidants than typical servings of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries, and oranges, according to another study in the AJCN.  Antioxidants fight aging.  Would you like to age more slowly?

Coffee drinking is now associated with lower risk of cancers of the kidney, liver, and prostate.  It’s also associated with lower risk of Type 2 diabetes (tends to lower blood glucose), with Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and dementia.  Short-term, coffee helps you feel more alert and improves concentration.

Possibly the most interesting research indication currently is that coffee seems to raise the activity of Bifidobacteria in the digestive tract. You may have noticed coffee stimulating elimination.  Some people even use coffee for enemas.  But lactobacillus Bifidus is a primary digestive bacterium specific to the large intestine. So you could get more efficient digestion and possibly a flatter abdomen from drinking coffee. Or taking green coffee bean extract.

So do you love coffee? Do you feel good, feel alert, and function well with a cup or several per day? Then why not relax in a favorite chair, sip your favorite blend, and let the research roll in?

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (on Amazon.com under Books, Buckley), and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (on Amazon.com under Books, Button).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: What Are The Rules Your Body Is Trying to Teach You?

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at choice, choices, Dealing with stress, Eating, Effective living, energy, Feeling energized, fulfilled, Health, Stress Management, vitality, What works best for YOU, Your body's rules

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Photo by Fotolia

Recently, I was privileged to attend seminars by Dr. Kenneth Muhich of Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Muhich is an expert on natural, yet medically proven, solutions for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. I was fascinated by the range of symptoms his fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue patients have. While following a general protocol, each patient must observe how her/his body responds to different stimuli and how s/he can best work with the condition. Each patient’s body is essentially teaching the patient what its rules are. The more closely the patient follows her/his body’s rules, the greater the recovery and the greater the chances of complete recovery. Many of Dr. Muhich’s patients have attained complete recovery.  I have met some of them, and they are not kidding about their debilitating experience and their recoveries.

This conversation made me think about the differences in body requirements among the many hundreds of patients and clients I have worked with. Each person’s body has preferences about stimuli, diet, sleep, level and type of activities, weather, and people and places it could be exposed to. These are only a few of the factors for which your body may have rules. It pays to ask yourself, “what rules is my body trying to teach me?”

Perhaps easiest to consider among your body’s rules are its preferences about foods.  Does your body love protein and feel weak on a high carbohydrate diet?  Is your mind most clear when you eat dark green leafy salads, while you lack concentration after eating sugary foods? Is your abdomen flatter when you eat yogurt with live cultures every few days? Do your hands swell after you drink alcohol? Then follow these clues to feel great.

What about sleep? Does your body get the best sleep in a cool room or a warm room, with heavy covers or light, on a firm or soft mattress, with your feet under or outside the covers? Do you get deeper sleep with total silence, with background noise like the hum of traffic, or with white noise like “surf” from a sound generator?  Does sleep work best for you between 10 pm and 6 am, or are you a natural night owl, lively until 4 or 5 am, then sleeping until noon? Do you feel refreshed after naps, or does napping make you tired? How can you better arrange your lifestyle to fit with your sleep metabolism? Several of my clients wake up for 3 hours in the middle of the night, do some paperwork, then go back to sleep for two hours; this has always been their pattern, and they make the most of it.

Some people I know are living life with one lung.  Their bodies’ rules include minimizing aerobic exercise. But many people need at least 90 minutes of high activity every day, or they feel stressed. Studies show postmenopausal women need an hour of active exercise a day for efficient metabolism and to basically “feel good”. Many people thrive on quiet exercise such as yoga, while others love the extroversion, music and group stimulation of classes like Zumba. With what activities and levels have you found your body feels great?

Some people are easily overstimulated and do best in quiet environments. Others feel best in busy environments, perhaps with phones ringing, music playing, and lots of conversation. When you go to a party, do you lose energy (introvert) or gain energy (extrovert) over a two-hour period? Your nervous system is trying to teach you how much quiet it needs.

Many aspects of natural environment may affect your body. A hot or cold climate, dry or moist air, presence of negative or positive ions, relative brightness of the skies, and frequently shifting weather fronts all affect the brain and nervous system. What elements does your body prefer?

Often, people are aware they are affected by places and people, in ways that are hard to define. We may enter a building and have a strong feeling of wanting to stay or go.  Around a new person, we may have a strong feeling we can’t explain, either of being very drawn to the person or of wanting to get away. We need to honor these sensations.

So what rules is your body trying to teach you? In this New Year, as you set your resolutions, why not resolve to honor more of your body’s rules, to cut stress, feel great, be sick less often, and enjoy your relationships more? After all, it’s your life. Only you can live it.

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You, and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core.  She is also an ordained minister.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column!

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

 

UpBeat Living: Foods for Better Moods

Tags

Eating, foods and moods, Health, holiday stress tips, Kebba, Stress Management

©2012 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

 

Eating to beat the blues is a popular strategy.  Cartoonist Cathy Guisewite made us laugh sympathetically about binge eating, with the namesake character in her award-winning cartoon strip, Cathy.  For over 30 years, the character, Cathy, could eat an entire cake in one sitting, when her boyfriend was behaving in a puzzling way.  After eating a cake, Cathy would be portrayed sprawled out on a couch, clearly feeling sick and frazzled.  Did eating like that bring her joy and resolution?  No.  Eating an entire cake as a response to stress was not a successful strategy.

 

However, there are successful ways to use foods to have the best moods.  Bear in mind that the body has about 70 trillion cells.  And your body has only what you put in your mouth—food and drink—from which to make new cells.  So does it make sense that your cells would function well on a diet of, for example, cake and diet soda?  A well-rounded diet of lean protein, dark green leafy vegetables, other non-starch vegetables, fresh fruits, and whole grains, will give you a baseline of great nutrition.  Switch to this simple list for a few days, to begin feeling strong and clear-minded.   Vegetarians can use organic beans, including garbanzos, instead of lean meats, in salads and stir-fry dishes.  Of course, coordinate with your doctor before going on a very different dietary regime.

 

If you eat out a lot, order the whole grains, egg dishes, other lean proteins, and dark green salads every day.  Kale salad is a current fad food that is widely available in restaurants and offers great nutrition.  Grilled chicken- or tuna- Caesar salad is another very nutritious, popular dish that is available at most restaurants.  These dishes will leave you feeling clear-minded and balanced.  And you will be, um, regular, which will also clear your emotions and mind.  Bean dishes contain a phenomenal amount of fiber, so if you like those, they can assist in cleansing your intestines and even help you lose weight.  In Chinese medicine, sadness or depression may be related to the energy of the large intestine.  See if your mood improves when you are eating a high-fiber, low-sugar diet.

 

Speaking of sugar, the more nutrition you can get for your calories, the better you will feel.  So why eat foods rich in refined sugars?  When you crave something sweet, reach for grapes, berries, a banana, or a peach.  There are many vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidant compounds in fresh fruits.  Fruit without added sugar is now widely available in your grocer’s frozen food section.  And in the canned-food section, it is easy to find fruit in its own juice.  Health food stores even have fruit-sweetened waffles and other baked goods, plus powdered fruit sweeteners.  Switch to fruit and fruit-sweetened foods, and you will be eating at a lower glycemic index.  That index is a measure of how fast a food is metabolized, compared to glucose.  Many people feel better, have a flatter abdomen, and lose weight easily on a low glycemic index diet.

 

For low-calorie snacks, veggie sticks—carrots, celery, jicama, green beans, cucumbers—are very filling and massage your intestines from the inside out.  So, in addition to being satisfying, these leave you more relaxed.  For quick energy snacks, consider going nuts.  Yes, nuts!  Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts are great for both giving you energy and supporting your health.  Brazil nuts are very high in protein and also contain selenium, a mineral linked to mood improvement.  Almonds are high in potassium, which is key for metabolic balance, mood and blood pressure regulation.  Almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts are all rich in magnesium, a vital mineral in converting blood sugar to muscle energy, via the Krebs Cycle process.  Low magnesium is also a cause for constipation; so nuts can help by contributing both magnesium and fiber.  When the intestines are well, you will be in a better mood.

 

With the Thanksgiving-Hanukkah-Christmas-New Year’s holiday feasting season fast upon us, consider the traditional holiday depression so many experience.  Are the holiday blues really just emotions and associations?  Or can you eat and drink differently and miss the blues altogether?  Why not experiment?  After all, it’s your life.

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You, and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column!

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Food & Drink for Desert Summer Thriving, Part 3

Tags

Brain health, choices, DHA, Eating, energy, energy foods, exhausted, Feeling energized, food, Health, heat, Kebba, stress

© 2012 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

The second-biggest danger of the summer heat is going out of your mind.  No, seriously, in the heat, you need to keep your brain especially well hydrated and well-nourished.  Salmon is a star in the galaxy of DHA-rich foods, which keep your brain bouncy and clear-functioning.  Here is a simple recipe with some options for fun snacking later.

Pan-Broiled Salmon  for two and for later

Note:  You will need 2 10-inch sauté pans

2-2 ½ lb salmon fillet, boneless and skinless (easy package to

find in a warehouse club, usually super fresh)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Mixed peppercorns in grinder

Use sharp kitchen shears to cut the piece in half, so one half will fit in each of your 2 10-inch sauté pans.   Lightly oil the 2 sauté pans and sprinkle salt and pepper across the oiled surface.  Heat to medium-high, until you see the oil shimmer.  Place 1 salmon filet half in each pan.  Cook on that side until well-browned.  Salt and pepper the uncooked side, and turn with wide spatula.  Cook the second side until well-browned.  Turn the heat to medium-low (4 of 10) and cover.  Set a timer for 6 minutes.  Check the thickest piece for doneness: it must have no dark pink showing in the center.  Cook for several more minutes, if necessary.  Let cool on a platter until you are ready to take the portions for your salads.  If you are weighing cooked portions, weigh the amount you want, and then break up the salmon into attractive bite-size flakes.  It will look like much more than an unbroken piece.

Use the salmon hot and serve with a side salad, or chill it to use in portions on meal-size salads.

Lowfat Creamy Herb Salad Dressing (for 2)

½ c plain nonfat Greek yogurt (tastes creamy, is high protein, yet is nonfat)

1 T white vinegar

1 ½  T dry ranch dressing mix

Blend in a rocket/bullet blender for 30 seconds.  Add water 1 t at a time, and blend 10 more seconds, if a thinner consistency is desired.

Salmon Salad for Sandwiches

For each sandwich: flake 3 oz of the pan-broiled salmon

Blend with 1 T of the dressing

Use the freshest bread, include organic baby greens, and slice in some very fresh, ripe tomatoes.  Trim the plate with a few Kalamata olives.

Quickest snacks

Part of the art of eating well and healthfully in the hottest times of summer is having quick food to grab.  Because you and your family will often come home tired on blasting hot days, you’ll be grateful to yourself for keeping healthy cool foods ready to eat.  Some of these could be:  celery sticks, jicama sticks, cherry tomatoes, cherries, berries, grapes, bananas, pineapple chunks, dates, peaches, nectarines, Pan-Broiled Chicken, Pan-Broiled Salmon, hard-boiled eggs, boiled organic potato chunks, cans of organic beans or chick peas, and raw almonds or cashews.  You might call this collection, “the fastest slow food you can get”.

Can you have great days and wonderful relationships in the desert summer season?  Absolutely, you can.  Eat well for the weather, follow the other tips in this series, and you will sail triumphantly through the hot season!

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● Your comments are welcome!

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Food & Drink for Desert Summer Thriving, Part 2

Tags

at choice, choices, Eating, Effective living, energy, energy foods, exhausted, fatigue, Feeling energized, food, happy, Health, Kebba, Summer, vitality

© 2012 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Here are more recipes for cool, light, filling, energizing foods for sizzling summer days.  The curried shrimp/rice salad makes a complete meal.  The pan-broiled chicken recipe gives you delicious chicken to use cold in salads or as protein snacks, or cut into pieces to add to stir-fry dishes.  You can stay cool and stay energized!

Curried Shrimp Secret-Energy Salad for two

Prepare the rice:

In a saucepan, sauté ½ large yellow onion (mild), chopped, in 1-2 T olive oil.  When the edges are brown, add

1 c basmati rice

2 ½ c water

1 t sea salt

20 twists black or citrus pepper

1 T dried parsley flakes

Bring rice to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook on medium-low for about 20 minutes.  Batches will vary, so sample it and see if it needs more water.  When tender, fluff it.  Set aside 2 c of this to cool to room temperature.

Now prepare the shrimp:

Take 16 medium-large (31-40 per pound frozen cooked shrimp and drop them in a wok with 1 T olive oil and 1 t curry powder (or ½ t cumin + ½ t turmeric + dash of clove, + dash of cinnamon, + dash of red pepper powder).  Yes, this will seem like you are wokking rocks at first.  Keep stirring with a bamboo spatula so that the spices evenly coat the shrimp.  The shrimp are done when they are curled and firm.  Set aside to cool on a dish.  Remove the tails if they have them.

Now prepare the bed of the salad:

5-6 oz. organic baby romaine lettuce, baby Italian mix, or similar dark greens.  Favorite brands are Earthbound Farms and Private Selection organic.  You will get the most energy from baby greens and from organic greens, with organic baby greens having the most energy.

Use sharp kitchen shears to cut up the greens to bit-size.  Divide into 2 salad bowls.  Toss with Golden Yogurt Secret-Energy Dressing.

Golden Yogurt Secret-Energy Dressing  For 2

1 sweet golden tomato, chopped (can substitute 1 c

golden cherry tomatoes)

2 T olive oil

¼ c plain yogurt

10 mint leaves

1 t fresh lime juice

Pinch sea salt

20 twists white or pink pepper

In a mini-processor or small blender, blend until smooth.

Now layer on each salad artistically:

1 c chopped cucumber

1 c rice (sprinkle across)

8 shrimp

5 kalamata olives to trim, 1 in center

Parsley flakes—sprinkle across center

Mix the drinks and serve!                                                                                      –    –   –   –

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Now consider this simple recipe for chicken.  Chicken prepared like this can be used hot when just done, cold as a plain protein snack, or cut in chunks and added, a minute before completion, to a stir-fry dish.  Enjoy!

Pan-Broiled Chicken  for two and for later

5-6 chicken breasts (“family pack”)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Mixed peppercorns in grinder

Use sharp kitchen shears to cut away fat globs from the chicken pieces.  Lightly olive-oil 2 10” sauté pans and sprinkle salt and pepper across the oiled surface.  Heat to medium-high, until you see the oil shimmer.  Place 3 chicken pieces in each pan.  Cook on that side until well-browned.  For a char-grilled flavor, cook until just black.  Salt and pepper the uncooked side, and turn with tongs.  Cook the second side until well-browned.  Turn the heat to medium-low (4 of 10) and cover.  Set a timer for 8 minutes.  Check the thickest piece for doneness: it must have no pink showing in the center.  Cook for several more minutes, if necessary.  Let cool on a platter until ready to slice enough for your salads.  Note:  If frozen chicken breasts were not entirely thawed when you needed to brown them, don’t worry.  Just follow the directions and be sure they get cooked all the way through.

Note:  Do not microwave these chicken pieces instead, since the flavor will be nothing compared to pan-broiling.  Flavor satisfies and brightens life!  The more satisfied you are, the fewer calories you will eat before you feel full.  Eat well and feel full, yet light, with these refreshing summer foods.

_______________________________________________________

● Your comments are welcome!

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Food and Drink for Desert Summer Thriving, Part 1

Tags

antioxidants, at choice, choices, Eating, Effective living, energy, energy foods, exhausted, Feeling energized, food, Health, Kebba, Recipes, Summer, tired

© 2012 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Can you enjoy life and feel energized during the desert summer, even when it’s 110 degrees outside?  Absolutely!  And the right foods and beverages can keep you feeling fabulous.

When it’s hot out, you may often come home feeling drained.  You may crave sweet drinks, alcoholic drinks, and high-carb quick-fix meals.  However, if you each fresh produce and drink naturally energizing beverages, you’ll be surprised how much more you can do in your evening and the next day.  You will also be surprised at how clear your mind is, and how easy it is to be enthusiastic, since you feel better.  Try it!

Green Moteajo (“Mo-TEA-ho”)  Makes 2.

This is a nonalcoholic and energizing takeoff on the mojito.  Do eat the mint sprigs.

3 green tea bags

Filtered water (chlorine removed)

In microwave, heat 1 ¼ c water for 3 ½ minutes on high.  It should be bubbling slightly.  Steep all 3 tea bags for 8 minutes.  It’s better if you cut the teabags open and put the cut tea in a metal tea ball, then steep.

With 2 tall glasses, place in each:

8 ice cubes

½ c steeped green tea

6 oz/ ¾ c organic ginger ale

1 oz coconut syrup (optional) or coconut juice

1-2 8” springs of fresh mint

Stir slightly and serve.

 

Apple Limeonut (LIME-oh-nut) LuLu  Makes 2.

Organic apple juice

Coconut juice

1 large lime

Ice cubes

With 2 tall glasses, place in each:

8 ice cubes

6 oz/ ¾ c apple juice

4 oz/ ½ c coconut juice

½ lime, cut in wedges and each half-squeezed

Stir slightly and serve.

 

 

Secret-Energy Salad  For 2

5-6 oz organic baby romaine lettuce, baby Italian mix, or similar dark greens.  Organic spring mix is OK, but the flavor is different.  Favorite brands are Earthbound Farms and Private Selection organic.

Use sharp kitchen shears to cut up the greens to bit-size.  Divide into 2 salad bowls.  Toss with Secret-Energy Dressing.

Secret-Energy Dressing  For 2

2/3 cucumber, chopped

2 T olive oil

1 t each:  fresh, minced oregano, parsley, and mint

2 t apple cider vinegar

1 t fresh lime juice

Pinch sea salt

20 twists citrus pepper

In a mini-processor or small blender, blend until smooth.

Now layer on each salad artistically:

1 c chopped jicama

1 c chilled, boiled organic potato cubes (try a circle around the

bowl rim)

4 oz sliced pan-broiled chicken (recipe follows), or pan-broiled salmon, or chick peas (drained).  Arrange these across

the center.

8 organic cherry tomatoes (around rim, reserving 1 for center)

Sprinkle each salad with 2 T boiled egg sprinkles (pressed thru sieve) or 2 T shredded parmesan cheese.  Put that last tomato in the center.  Mix the drinks and serve!

 ________________________________________________________________

● Your comments are welcome!

 

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Staying Energized When It’s Over 100°

Tags

Eating, energy, energy foods, heat, Summer, tired, vitality

© Kebba Buckley Button 2010.  World rights reserved.

Last time, I covered the basics of thriving in the desert heat.  Your body needs to get out of the heat, your skin needs extra protection, and you need to get enough sleep and general rest.  This time, I share strategies for staying upbeat and energized, thriving rather than just surviving when the weather is searing.  Mall shopping is obvious, but what if you don’t want to shop?

1.  Use the cool hours to leverage your energy for the day. Run errands before noon and after dark.  Play tennis at 10 pm.  Phoenix City parks are open until 11 pm.  Try moonlight hikes, such as the Sierra Club’s monthly full moon hikes.  Schedule runs, picnics and day hikes at breakfast time, as close to daybreak as you can. The air will be 30 degrees cooler than later in the day, and you can be active and even enjoy it.  Also, do your yard work or gardening at sunrise, while it’s cool.  Plan other outdoor activities according to when your yard, or the activity area, will be in shadow.  Sun-sensitive walkers can use the hallways at malls as early as 7 am.  Arrange your activities like this, and you may be surprised at how much better you feel all day.

2.  Try a change of location. Go to a town or campsite at a higher elevation, to a lake or to a coast, and take a cool climate break for a day or three or longer.  This will give your metabolism, your brain, and your emotions a time-out.  You’ll get a fresh start on your return.

3.  Keep your attitude and activities fresh. The most damaging aspect of the desert heat, for some, is the tendency for the brain cells to bake until they don’t work well.  With heat stress, you can lose your concentration quickly, then your attitude, and then your enthusiasm for anything at all.  Filled with heat-blahs, you can make mistakes with people and actually damage relationships.  So resolve that you’ll stay as positive and perky as you possibly can.  Please, don’t get sucked into conversations about how hot it is!  This will increase your sensation of being hot.  Ignore the comments or say something cheery like, “Yes, it’s almost like Phoenix in the summertime!”  Then talk about fun things you have been doing.

Novelty will help you stay alert and enthusiastic about life.  Do things differently.  Have you been to all your local art museums and galleries?  Round up a group to go to the local ice skating rink.  Take a summer foods cooking class (see #4).  Try swimming lessons. Go to any desert resort for day use (usually under $20) of the pools, cabanas, drink and snack service.  Go to summer concerts and plays in locales like Sedona and Laguna Beach.  Go to any ski town, ride the ski lift, and take photos. Visit Santa Fe on Labor Day weekend for the Arts Festival; you’ll need your down vest after sunset.

4.  Eat cooling foods. This is not necessarily the same as cold or icy foods.  In fact, many foods we think of as cold and therefore refreshing are actually dehydrating and/or weakening.  Sugar is dehydrating, so limit your sweetened teas, sugary “vitamin drinks”, milkshakes, coffee drinks with syrups, and frozen desserts.  Skip the diet drinks, also, because most artificial sweeteners cause ill effects.  Instead, drink lots of water and some fruit juices. Energizing yet cooling foods that are easily stocked in your frig include:  broiled chicken or salmon, hard-boiled eggs, corn on the cob, green peas (thaw, don’t cook), pre-washed greens, canned organic garbanzo beans (“chick peas”), avocados, celery sticks, jicama sticks, carrots, and fresh fruits.  Learn to make smoothies out of fresh fruit, juice, and favorite dairy or nut milks; the newer blenders are easy to use and clean.  Make your own salad dressings in the blender, using a half cucumber or a tomato as the base for an herbed vinaigrette.  For dessert, would you like to experience something novel?  Try making something like Raw Coconut Soup (such as this recipe:  http://2raw.wordpress.com/raw-creamy-thai-coconut-soup/).  Raw foods give you far more energy than cooked or previously frozen foods.

So this summer, when others are melting and moaning, you can feel wonderful and have all the energy you want.  Use these techniques to rise to any occasion as the temperatures soar.  Feel cool yet vibrant, and this will be your best desert summer ever—so far!

Reach the writer at: Kebba@DiscoverTheSecretEnergizedYou.com .