'Student Spotlight' Vegan Budwig Cream
It's Friday... time for another IIN Student Spotlight. My Friday feature to showcase the talents of my fellow students from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
This week I am introducing Alexine Thompson with a fabulous breakfast (or bressert!) recipe to share with you. She says:
This recipe is adapted from an existing recipe created by Dr. Budwig and re-adapted by Dr. Kousmine, who was a Swiss doctor that cured a lot patients from cancer and chronic illnesses through a whole food, alkaline diet. It is originally made with fat free Greek yogurt, but I adjusted it to make it vegan. On the picture, however, I am using honey, because I ran out of maple syrup, so that makes it “almost vegan”.
It is a delicious, refreshing and filling breakfast, that my husband makes every day for our kids. It is very complete as it containes healthy fats, protein, fiber, and alkalizing fruits.
Recipe: Vegan Budwig Cream
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup coconut kefir
- 2tsp flaxseed oil
- 1 banana, or ½ banana and ½ grated apples
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tsp maple syrup (or honey), optional
- 2tsp (or more) whole cereals, freshly ground (alternate between buckwheat, millet, brown rice and gluten free oats)
- 1tsp (or more) of seeds and/or, alternating (or mixing) between flax, chia, sunflower, almonds, pumpkin, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, brazil nuts, etc… I usually grind the flax, but like to chew on the other ones.
- A handful of seasonal fruits, preferably alkaline. I love to use berries, but you can use pineapple, peaches, more apples, pears, figs, pomegranate, kiwi, honeydew, etc…
Method:
Mix the oil with the kefir until you have a uniform cream. Add the mashed banana and grated apple, the lemon juice and the maple syrup. Mix together. Add the cereals and the seeds/nuts. In this picture, I added more seeds than the recipe calls for. You can also omit the grains if you are following a grain-free diet.
Lastly, add whichever fruits you like and enjoy for breakfast or mid-afternoon snack!
The beauty of this meal is that it is very versatile, as you can vary the fruits, grains and seeds on a daily basis and create endless combinations! The coconut kefir is full of healthy probiotics for healing the gut, the banana and lemon juice are very alkalizing, the flaxseed oil gives you plenty of anti-inflammatory omega 3, you get carbs and fiber from the whole grains for energy and the seeds and nuts are rich in healthy fats and protein. It’s a win-win!
'Spotlight Interview'
1- What first drew you to study with IIN?
While I have always been watching what I ate (since adolescence) because I wasn’t the naturally skinny girl, my focus on health vs. weight loss started when my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago. That is when I really started researching and learning about healthy living. I became the expert among my friends in terms of nutrition and finally decided to make it my job. When I stumbled upon IIN online, it just felt like the right fit.
2- How has your life changed since becoming a health coaching student?
My life has changed drastically in the last year, but not just because of IIN. I have relocated with my family, from Los Angeles, California, to Switzerland, where I am originally from. I closed my practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist, started studying at IIN while seeing some therapy clients here and developing couples’ workshops, as well as teaching and supervising therapists in Emotion Focused Therapy. I feel like my life has diversified, and IIN has been a good grounding for me, to remember to take care of myself, eat healthy, pay attention to primary foods. I have also learned quite a bit about nutrition and health, to the point that I feel confident about being able to help others as a health coach.
3- What do you hope to take away into the world and how do you plan to help others once you graduate?
I would like to help raise awareness about the link between what we eat and how we feel, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am appalled at what kids are being fed these days, and the things people put into their bodies. I have experienced first hand the shift that can happen when you feed your body real foods, and would like to spread the message and help people make that shift in their own life.
4- Being a ‘wellness crusader’ what one thing would you wish to change about the world?
Only one thing? That’s a tough one! I don’t think I can limit myself like that. But in one sentence, I’d like to help people understand themselves and each other better, build community around them, grow their own garden and utilize local resources.
5- What would you choose for your 'final meal on earth’?
A salad! Definitely a salad! With lots of things in it, like avocado, figs, feta, pecans, purple onions and things like that.
Share The Love!
You can find Alexine via her website: eating4healing.com and also at her my blog: eatingforhealing.blogspot.com.
I'd love you to join me in other places too!
Why not sign up for emails in my sidebar where I feature roundups and special offers. If you are new round here check out my 'About' and 'Getting Started' tabs up top. To buy nibbles you can also find me over at Wholeplus. Day to day you can also find me in these places:
'Student Spotlight' Khichdi
Another Friday... another Integrative Nutrition 'student spotlight'. This week I am introducing Neha Tuli with a delicious traditiona Indian recipe. I love indian food and spices and would love to learn more about herbs and spices in general.
Neha is a busy mom of two, a beauty buyer in the big apple, a certified make-up artist and is currently training with IIN. She is passionate about helping women transform themselves from the inside-out and reach their optimum potential.
She says: "This is a really delicious and nutritious recipe that is #1 comfort food for me and a lot of my Indian friends and Family".
Recipe: Khichdi
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Moong Dal (Lentils)
- 1/2 cup rice (you can use brown rice or white rice)
- 1 tspn oil of your choice.
- 1 pinch Asafoetida ( also known as Hing)
- 1 tspn Turmeric Powder
- Salt to Taste
- 1 tspn Whole Cumin (Sabut Zeera)
- 1 tbspn chopped onion
- 1 tbspn chopped tomato
- 1 tspn Ghee (or sub coconut or olive oil to become vegan)
- 3/4 cup of raw vegetables (optional) of your choice. I like to add carrots, cauliflower and some green beans.
Method:
In a pressure cooker, add 1 tspn oil. Once the oil is warm, add 1/2 tspn cumin seeds, and 1 pinch of asafoetida. Once the mixture starts spluttering, add the moong dal, rice and 21/2 cups of water. Then add 1 tspn turmeric powder & salt. Stir, cover with the lid of the pressure cooker and after one whistle, let it simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can use a regular pan but you will have to cook the mixture for a longer time till both the lentils, veggies and rice gets cooked and almost unified.
Once cooked, remove the pan/ cooker from the heat. Take a separate frying pan, and add 1 teaspoon ghee on medium heat. Once the ghee is warm, add 1 pinch asafoetida, 5-6 cumin seeds and once the mixture is cracking, add the tomatoes and onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add this mixture to the main lentil & rice pot. Mix well.
Enjoy!!
'Spotlight Interview'
1- What first drew you to study with IIN?
The fact that they focus on 'primary' food and not just nutrition really resonated with me.
2- How has your life changed since becoming a health coaching student?
I'm definitely more aware of what what foods nourish us and have made lots of changes to my whole family's way of eating by substituting regular salt with only sea salt and eating a lot more green vegetables.
3- What do you hope to take away into the world and how do you plan to help others once you graduate?
I hope to educate families in particular moms on how to add more nourishing foods to their diet, eat clean, eliminate processed foods and eat organic dairy and meat if they aren't vegan. Food is actually very simple, it's all the unhealthy processed food, fast food chains and the marketing that supports these products confuses and tempts people to eat this way.
4- Being a ‘wellness crusader’ what one thing would you wish to change about the world?
Go back to basics where there was no gmos, processed food and factory farming.
5- What would you choose for your 'final meal on earth’?
I love Indian food. I would choose a delicious naan (Indian bread), dal (lentils) and saag (spinach vegetable).
Share the Love
You can reach our and find Neha here: www.nehatuli.com.
I'd love you to join me in other places too!
Why not sign up for emails in my sidebar where I feature roundups and special offers. If you are new round here check out my 'About' and 'Getting Started' tabs up top. To buy nibbles you can also find me over at Wholeplus. Day to day you can also find me in these places:
A beautiful day
I'm struggling to post recipes in a major way at the moment.... i have inspiration coming at me and out of me at all angles with so many recipes ready and waiting and so many more i want to cook up, but I don't seem to be able to channel any of it into blog posts as my time gets so caught up with my coaching courses, product development for the Real Food Source and pushing Wholeplus forward.
It's getting closer and closer to Christmas and I have so many ideas I still want to explore, ideas that have been bouncing away in the back of my mind for about a year but I haven't had the confidence to materialise.
So, i'm gonna do it!!! (even if it kills me!)
Now its time to put myself out there. It doesn't matter if i'm not perfect and it doesn't matter that I won't know everything. What does matter it that I know enough to help and inspire some people... even I can open the minds of a few to explore and think outside the box then I will be a very happy girl indeed.
So, i'm finally writing an e-book and simultaneously crafting a seminar on the same theme. The ebook will be released in January; whilst personal wellness and health motivation is at the forefront of everyones mind. It will be based on 'fit-food' a collection of simple recipes for active people, with some old and some recipes never seen before on the blog, I will also include all my tips and tricks for speeding up the processes, simple heathy subs for all recipes and words of motivation thrown in for good measure. It will also be full of photography as most of you will already have seen that's a big deal for me on my blog.
Anyway, I digress, more on all that very soon as things begin to take shape! But back to the title of this post.....
A beautiful day.
I have now tentatively begun my practice coaching sessions as part of my courses and as part of that practice I am working with a friend to elevate her health and wellness and ultimately her self confidence. It's all about little steps and this first week had seen her achieve the goals she set out to do. Im so proud of her.
Part of my role has been to help keep her accountable to go for a run first thing every other morning. On Friday, i'd had a late night the night before but knew i had to set my alarm early to text her before she left the house as we'd agreed. I didn't want too let her down.
Bleary eyed, I picked up my phone upon hearing the alarm sound and spent a few moments collating my thoughts.
"it's going to be a beautiful day"
It was a moment of epiphany for me, that fully woke me out of my semi-slumber (that's my excuse for the rubbish typo in the message!). IT WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO BE A BEAUTIFUL DAY.....THE DAY COULD BE ANYTHING I WANTED IT TO BE. IT WAS DOWN TO ME TO CHOOSE THAT IT SHOULD BE BEAUTIFUL!
Sorry i just shouted that at you, it was just such a huge revelation for me since the first few moment on waking were filled with a chaos of mind chatter... how little sleep i'd had, how much I had to do, how was I going to fit it all in, berating myself for not writing blog posts..... blah blah bah. You know the score. We all do it from time to time.
But as soon as I typed those all important words, my world was silenced and I knew they could be true.
If it hadn't been for my friend, and her run and my accountability then I would never have had that opportunity to be grateful for that moment. Then to see her positivity come back at me just 30 minutes later simply sealed the deal.
I hope you choose to have a beautiful day too.
P.s i promise I have some awesome recipes lined up for you next week.... please bear with me! Also if you are cool with the more 'motivation' and 'thought' related posts of late please let me know as I am conscious my blog is settling into a groove that is less focussed solely on the recipes than in months past and I'd love to know what people genuinely felt about that?
Coaching.... thoughts continued
Tuesday is my main study day for the IIN course after the new module is released on Monday morning. I have to admit that in many ways I am finding the IIN course easier to get underway because it is highly structured with a new module each week and so there is a great incentive to maintain a steady pace and not get left behind.
However TCA course is totally self structured and I need to enroll on the various modules and fast track days at my own pace under my own steam. Erm... that's kind of meant that so far I haven't made a significant start- I guess it's the overwhelm kicking in a little, since something that is self directed is easier to 'put off' and prioritise others less unknown tasks. Not that I want to undertake the course any less than IIN, so it's interesting how the two very different structures become assimilated into my daily life. I think the self directed study has actuality presented itself as something I need to work on...not relying on 'others' to assist but making the moves of my own accord. i'll keep you posted on that in the next few days as I will definitely be making a start!!
One of the lectures from the last module was by Robert Notter, who talked about self care. This was very important to me as it is a key area I need to work hard on and I often undervalue it's importance. This is a brief bulleted summary of the notes I took:
What to do you do in your daily life that gives self care? Are there areas that you know need a little more attention? I'd love to hear your thoughts too!