This makes these mashed potatoes a better weight loss option.

This method is also much lower in carbs and lower on the glycemic index.

The trick is to substitute cauliflower for the potatoes. With a few tweaks, you have something that tastes amazingly like real mashed potatoes.

Low Carb Mashed Potato Look Alikes – 4 Servings

• 1 Head Cauliflower
• Garlic
• 1 cup coconut or almond milk
• 2 tbls. Olive, or Hemp oil
• Sea salt to taste
• 3 tbls. Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup Greek yogurt

Just multiply the recipe for larger groups of people. Go ahead and modify some of these ingredients to taste if you like.

Start by cooking up the cauliflower, or leave it raw if you are more of a raw food person. In the video she uses a Vita mix, but a good blender could be used. Start with a small amount of liquid, so the potatoes are not runny. You can always add more liquid to get the right consistency.

You could also make a vegan version of these by leaving out the dairy products.

Cauliflower is nutritious and more alkaline forming than real potatoes.

Your fat cells make a hormone called Leptin. The more fat, the more Leptin that reaches the brain.

In a perfect world,  Leptin reaching the brain causes metabolism to rev up via the thyroid. At the same time taste for sugar and sweets is reduced, appetite is down.

When Leptin is low, you get hungry and your metabolism slows down to conserve energy.

Problems arise when there is Leptin resistance. This is when the signal just doesn’t reach the brain. It’s like the brain’s ringer is off and it just doesn’t  get the call from the Leptin sent by the fat stores.

Leptin came in very handy back in the day when there were famines. Store some fat during times of abundance, but slow down the metabolism when food is scare. That way you have a better chance of having enough energy to survive a famine.

Problem is in today’s modern world the abundance of supermarkets and restaurants make famines obsolete for most people. Except when we cause ourselves  voluntary famine like conditions, by going on a calorie reduced diet. This is why a lot of people can lose weight in the beginning on a calorie restricted diet, but often hit a plateau and battle with cravings and hunger.

Causes of Leptin Resistance

• Stress
• Calorie restriction
• Sleep deprivation
• Toxicity
• Insulin issues
• Excess fructose
• Wheat consumption
• Excess polyunsaturated fats
• Excess alcohol

I’m learning more about Leptin myself. Watch the video (maybe a couple times) to really understand the concept. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments below, Thanks!

So I thought I would make another, this time Chocolate Maca version.

Maca has become a popular herb lately, it has been used historically by Incan Warriors to increase energy and stamina.

Try the smoothie and you be the judge.

Ingredient list for Super Quick Chocolate Maca Smoothie

• Chocolate protein powder
• All natural peanut butter
• Purified water
• Coconut milk
• Maca root powder
• Super greens
• Ice cubes
  Stick it all in a blender bottle and shake, baby, shake!

You can get blender bottles at your local department store. They have a little wire mesh ball inside that helps to blend the ingredients. Very handy.

This is how you can get the freshest food possible.

Container gardening is great for people, who do not have a big yard, or any space for a garden.

Also contianer gardening gives you more control over soil quality, fertilizer, watering and allows you to move the plants if sunlight or temperature needs to be varied.

Thin Your Plants for a Bumper Organic Food Crop

In this video, I share an important gardening tip; Thin Your Plants. Whenever you scatter seeds, you are sure to get way more plants growing than you need. If too many plants try to grow in too small a space, they will all just be thin and scraggly. That’s were thinning comes in. You can eat the early thinnings just like you would sprouts.  – Assuming it’s an edible plant like lettuce or greens, you would not eat tomato or pepper plants for example, just the fruit.

The other way to thin, is to get another container, fill it with organic potting soil and/or compost and transplant some of the seedlings into it. Be sure to bring some soil along with the roots, you want to disturb the roots as little as possible. Water it in good.

You don’t have to thin all at once, you can do some every couple of days as the plants grow. The bigger they grow the more room they will need. When you give each plant some good root space, as well as space above the soil, they will grow to a good size and you will be happy with the crop.

Be sure to check out Herbfest.net for more tips.

You probably do not have all these ingredients on hand, but you can glean a lot of good ingredient ideas from this smoothie recipe.

Then when you create your own smoothie, you can add in some of these ingredients to enhance your smoothie experience. I will list the ingredients below. Parts 2 and 3 of this video are also below.

Smoothie Ingredient Idea List

• Chocolate – cacao nibs or powder. A great addition to almost any smoothie recipe
• Cinnamon – a small amount adds good flavor and has health benefits
• Maca root powder – An excellent herb, look it up to find out all the great stuff it does
• Cashews – adds healthy fat
• Honey – adds some sweetness, avoid if you have blood sugar or yeast issues
• Coconut oil – healthy fat, has medium chain triglycerides. Warm it slightly to melt
• Hemp seeds – protein and omega 3 fat, ALA
• Sea salt – helps adrenal exhaustion, contains  trace minerals – not regular table salt
• Ginger root – popular anti-inflammatory
• Cayenne – go easy, hot and spicy
• Vanilla – be sure to get real vanilla, not artificial. Use just a small amount, otherwise it may overwhelm your drink recipe.
• Aloe vera – I just got a nice aloe vera plant. It is easy to grow and handy to have around the house. Pay attention to how he fillets it in the video. David Wolfe says, “Activates Genius” Learn more about Aloe at Herbfest.net
• Medicinal Mushroom powder -  Some mushrooms have some great properties
• Spring water, coconut milk or some kind of green or herbal tea
• Zeolite for detoxification

Chocolate Super Food Smoothie Recipe with David Wolfe – PART TWO

Chocolate Super Food Smoothie Recipe with David Wolfe – PART THREE

If you want good alkalizing nutrition, but have to get out the door and down the road, this smoothie does the trick.

Powdered greens, protein powder, almond butter and purified water make up this recipe.

You can also use coconut or almond milk.

To make this you need one of those blender bottles that has the wire mesh ball on the inside. This helps to blend up the ingredients. You can even put peanut butter in the bottle according to the directions. I tried it and it works great. In this example I use almond butter instead.

Add an apple of a few slices of mango and you are good to go.

If you use almond or coconut milk, look for the kind with no sugar added.

Does eating locally grown food really reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment?

Is it really healthy?

If it is organic, as well as locally grown, then yes.

However if the locally grown food you eat is dowsed with pesticides and grown with chemical fertilizer, your local environment is being polluted with the runoff from that stuff.

Locally grown food does have the benefit of being fresher, which means the vitamins, enzymes and other nutrients may be in better shape by the time it reaches your mouth. It also means you are supporting the local economy, which is good.

The gold standard is locally grown and organic. Fresh food, without chemical pesticides and fertilizer. A much more sustainable method and helps the local economy.

A reduction in “food miles”, that is the distance the food travels to your area, helps reduce the carbon footprint. Organic farming methods however, reduce the carbon footprint even more.

Remember, everything is local to somebody, somewhere.

For starters, keep healthy snacks close at hand as much as possible. That way, if a craving hits, you will not be reaching for candy, chips or fast food.

On the same vein, do not keep junk food stocked in the cupboard. If you want to have a treat once or twice a week, go out to get it. Don’t buy the large bag of candy or gallon of ice cream and keep it at the house. It may be calling your name, when you least expect.

More Tips for Healthy Weight Loss

• Eat organic as much as possible.
• Start the day with healthy food. Smoothies make a good breakfast. Aim for a good balance of protein, healthy fats and carbs.
• Eat high fiber foods, these are more filling for less calories.
• Drink pure water.
• Pay attention to portion sizes, watch out for misleading nutrition labels
• Eat smaller meals more often.
• Don’t eat late in the day, near bedtime.
• Limit sweets to once or twice per week.
• Avoid soft drinks altogether, including diet drinks.

Have weight loss tips you want to share?
Please use the comment box below, thanks.

Despite taking supplements for a decade, her vitamin B12 levels were very low.

She was having problems with her nervous system, including  hands going numb and issues with balance.

Problem is B12 can be difficult to absorb from the digestive tract.

There is really no reliable vegetable source of Vitamin B12. Some plant foods claim to contain B12, but they have B12 analogues, which actually block real B12.

Taking B12 shots is one good way to boost your B12 levels. However it is very unnatural and can be literally a pain in the butt.

In her case, she decided to start eating animal products and the result, “I feel much, much better”.

She still eats crazy amounts of vegetables. Including lots of greens and alkaline foods to balance things out.

So her formula is about the same as mine. Eat some animal and fish products (mostly omega rich seafood) and lots and lots of fresh raw vegetables.

The Omega 3 Issue Too

Another major issue with veg diets is getting enough omega 3. There are several foods which claim to contain omega 3 like flax, hemp and chia seeds for example. The problem is they contain ALA (Alpha-linolenic acid). ALA needs to be converted in the body to EPA and DHA. Most of the benefits attributed to healthy omega 3 fatty acids belong to EPA and DHA. The conversion process of ALA to DHA/EPA is very inefficient. It is also easily blocked by stress, nutritional deficiencies, toxins and more.

Test Results & Update On My Vitamin B12 Deficiency, Ep342

In todays world, it is not very difficult at all.

We tend to eat lots of calories that are sparse in nutrients.

Food just aint what it used to be.

We live in a world of abundance. Problem is calories are more abundant than nutrients. We live in a world of manufactured food-like products. The solution, – Eat real fruits and vegetables. For the best possible scenario, grow them yourself using organic methods.

They point out the real culprit in weight gain in this video. Public enemy number one, when it comes to increasing waistlines – sugar.

Cutting sugar out of the diet may well be one of the best things you can do for a lower number on the scale and good health.

Food is made to look better and smell better and therefore be attractive. Instead why not check out the colorful rainbow abundance in the produce section?

We are barking up the wrong tree. Eat to be healthy first and good looks will follow.