Cherries the super food

Super Food

Sweet, tart and abundant cherries are a wonderful source of food, but did you know they were a power punch against cancer, pain, weight loss and more? Cherries can be eaten alone, cooked into many dishes, or added to salads.

There are many health benefits that come from the small super fruit, you can start experiencing them if you eat 1-2 servings of cherries a day. The fruit can be eaten frozen, dry, or fresh and will still give you the health benefits you see below. Both sweet and tart cherries offer these benefits but tart cherries are better source then sweet cherries.

Health benefits of Cheery
Helping ease arthritis pain
Helping ease gout pain
Reducing risk factors for heart disease
Reducing risk factors for diabetes
Reducing risk for many cancers
Helping increase the levels of melatonin in the body
Helps prevents memory loss
Helps delay the ageing processes
Helps reduce body fat
Helps reduce inflammation
Helps reduce cholesterol levels
Weight loss

Recipe: from www.allrecipes.com
Christmas Cherry Cake

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
12 ounces golden raisins
8 ounces halved glace cherries

Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease and line with parchment paper one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Cream butter or margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and orange juice and mix well.
Sift flour and baking powder. Reserve 1/3 cup of flour mixture and toss with raisins and cherries (this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Add flour mixture to batter and blend. Add floured raisins and cherries to dough and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 2-1/2 hours. Don't serve until several days old. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap or foil and store in a sealed tin.

Refrences:
http://www.choosecherries.com/health/main.aspx
http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_benefits_of_cherries
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Christmas-Cherry-Cake-2/Detail.aspx

Yummy

Hi holistic friends,

I am in the process of studying for finals, working on projects, starting new classes, working on a content entry and a few new recipes (and other things). In the mean time, please enjoy these pictures from some foods we (my husband and I) have had in the last month or so. If you have any recipe request or any questions please feel free to comment, or e-mail me @ HolisticCyndi@aol.com.

Arroz con guandules

Rice and pigeon pea

Arroz con guandules, avacado and chicken breast (for the husband)


Brownies with banana and strawberries

Rice and black beans and baby spinach



AHerb chicken breast ( all meats were made for my husband)

Vegitarian chicken nugget subsitute and potato wedges

A very heft soup

Vegitarian buffelo fake chicken, salad and backed potato

Broccolli & Speghetti

Pinapple chicken and plantains

Beans with raddish and spinach among many other ingredients.

You can look forward to the bean recipe and the guandule recipe coming soon, along with an entry about the swine flu and how to stay H1N1 free.

Avacado

As a daughter of islanders I grew up knowing exactly what an avocado is and “how good” it taste. I am not a huge fan of its taste but my father, mother, and husband are obsessed. I also must admit that it has AMAZING health benefits.

“The avocado is colloquially known as the Alligator Pear, reflecting its shape and the leather-like appearance of its skin. Avocado is derived from the Aztec word "ahuacatl."” – www.whfoods.com
Health Benefits:
· Optimum health
· Heart Health
· Increase Your Absorption of Carotenoids from Vegetables
· Avocado Phytonutrients Combat Oral Cancer

Avocados are a good source of vitamin K, dietary fiber, and vitamin B6, vitamin C, foliate and copper. Avocados are also a good source of 
How to select an avocado:
An avocado that is ready to eat is slightly soft. The hard avocados are not yet ready to eat, though edible they will not taste as good.

How to eat avocados:
Avocados are a great side dish. My parents love to eat them with their plantains. My husband likes to eat them in his sandwiches. They can also be chopped up and added to you salad for a creamy taste or made into guacamole.


Click on the link bellow for a healthy guacamole recipe: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/guiltless-guacamole

Pumpkin Seeds

The Benefits of Pumpkin 

By Cyndi Morel
‘Tis the season for pumpkin carving, as Halloween quickly approaches and you begin carving your pumpkins, do yourself the favor of notthrowing away those pumpkin seeds. They can be made into a delicious and very nutritious snack, especially for men.

Health Benefits of pumpkin seeds are as follows

*Promote Prostate Health
*Protection for Men's Bones
*Anti-Inflammatory Benefits in Arthritis
*A Rich Source of Healthful Minerals, Protein and Monounsaturated Fat
*Pumpkin Seed Phytosterols Lower Cholesterol

Ingredients
*A Pumpkin
*Sea Salt
*Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Instructions
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut & Scoop & Rinse the seeds.

2 Spread olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. 

Cyndi's Leek & Potato soup

Ingredients

6 person serving size
6- Large chopped up carrots
6- Large chopped up potatoes
6- Leeks chopped up
- Cilantro (amount to your liking)
3- Chicken bouillon from Goya
1- Teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3- Bay leaves
2- Chopped up onions
- Bunch of chopped up green onions
- Bunch of chopped up broccoli
- Teaspoon of Adobo- This is not needed
-Teaspoon of sea salt- This is also not needed and can be substituted by table salt.
-A bag of egg noodles- This is not needed

Instructions

1. Prep all your ingredients. (Wash and chop your vegetables, and make your other ingredients available.
2. Put your potatoes in with water & and your chicken bouillon (the amount of water is up to you depending on how much broth you would like, the broth in this soup is delicious. Keep in mind all the ingredients that you will be putting in the pot and the fact that some of the water will be boiled off.
3. Put the carrots, adobo, sea salt, onions, bay leaves, cilantro, and leeks in and stir every so often.
4. Once every vegetable in the soup seems soft add your broccoli and noodles.
Make sure to let your soup cook to allow the potatoes to create a creamy broth.
5. Add your olive oil right before serving. The olive oil should be put in last because its properties are very sensitive to heat, and all the nutrient of it would burn off.


To change the servings size- just divide these ingredient amounts by 6.

Please digg this article, by clicking the button below.

I forgot to take a picture the last time I made this recipe so I have posted a pictures from another website. The picture seen above is from, http://timeinc.net

SKIN EATS Part 5: Skin Brushing

Skin Care Part 5
Brushing your skin

Brushing the skin is one of the best ways to exfoliate. This is the process where you brush off the top layer of the epidermis. This process stimulates the growth of newer, fresher skin.
It also opens your pores, making it easier for toxins to leave your body. Brushing can also help improve blood circulation, tighten, tone, get rid of cellulite, and leave skin feeling refreshed and renewed. Skin brushing also removes uric acid build up and helps our kidneys. Brushing your skin also helps your skin turn sun light into vitamin D.

After weeks you will no longer need lotion, because brushing your skin will allow your oil glands to produce enough oil for all your skin.

Update Oct 6th 2009 - I have been using this technique for about 4 days now and I am not using as much lotion as I normally need too. My skin feels amazing.