Updates from Leah Negrin

I have been asked a lot recently about bone health. Maybe it's the winter time and people are worried about falling and breaking bones or maybe it's because of the serious lack of vitamin D since it's really dark seemingly allllll the time....(or at least in Chicago😉)   

Different vitamins and minerals work together synergistically to keep our bones strong and healthy. These include Calcium, Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Phosphorus, Vitamin K and Magnesium. Below are some of the foods that can be helpful not just for bone health, but for everyday life too! This clearly isn't an exclusive list but it's a great start! Don't forget to get in some exercise, especially weight baring ones as running, dancing and lifting weights which can stress your bones in a good way and signal your body to make more bone cells.

👉Calcium: Collard greens, spinach, turnip greens, kale, okra, Chinese cabbage, dandelion greens, mustard greens and broccoli

👉Vitamin C: Red peppers, green peppers, oranges, grapefruits, broccoli, strawberries, brussels sprouts, papaya and pineapples.

👉Vitamin D: Fortified plant milks, orange juice, cereals, certain mushrooms, and SUNSHINE☀️

👉Vitamin K: Dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, collard greens, spinach, mustard greens, turnip greens and brussel sprouts.

👉Magnesium: Brazil nuts, spinach, beet greens, okra, tomato products, artichokes, plantains, potatoes, sweet potatoes, collard greens and raisins

👉Phosphorus: Sunflower, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, pine nuts, oats, quinoa, rice and pistachios

👉Zinc: Spinach, flaxseeds, and pumpkin seeds

👉 Potassium: Tomato products, raisins, potatoes, spinach, sweet potatoes, papaya, oranges, orange juice, bananas, plantains and prunes

There is a ton more information out there but this is a good start if you're wondering about bone health!🦴 

💕As most people are aware today is Valentine's Day💕 When I was young I would desire (not straight up demand but feel unloved if I didn't get them) flowers, jewelry, chocolates, a night out-the works! Now I'm all like, yes let's go out to eat (because truly there isn't a day I don't want to eat delicious food😉) but if you'd like to spend a lot of money just buy me a plane ticket instead mmm k?🧑‍✈️

This morning I was listening to one of my favorite personal development businessmen, Darren Hardy, and he had the most beautiful message about making love. I jumped at the title of the email, because well, think about it 🤣💕 but the email was a video of Darren (from his Darren Daily) that talked about the small things that can bring joy to people's lives

It doesn't have to be this big huge romantic love gesture but it can be little acts of love! Some simple examples:

👉holding the door for someone
👉shoveling someone's walkway if it's covered in snow
👉bringing in some fruit or other healthy snack for your office-mates
👉returning someone's cart for them at the grocery store
👉letting someone go in front of you in line
👉bringing in someone's garbage cans

👉smiling at people! (well maybe less in NYC because since that always throws people off 🤣)
👉leaving an extra generous tip when you're out to eat or getting coffee

👉Being a good listener. Sometimes the best way to put a smile on someone´s face is to just let them share away

💕 Spread your love seeds everywhere!💕

💕"It doesn't require a grand or heroic gesture to positively impact someone's life." Darren Hardy💕

Well it's been a whirlwind of a week and yet again it's only Wednesday when this thought comes to mind 😂. I had been meaning to share some of my knowledge that I seem to think everyone just knows, but as I'm reminded by others, indeed everyone does not know what I know (really we all have unique knowledge even if we all had the same degrees or life experience!) Today's focus is drum 🥁 roll please......gut health!

I could write pages upon pages upon pages to discuss this with plenty of sources but we'll keep it simple for now🙂 (if you want more info feel free to DM me!) Here are a list of some foods that have been shown to help many with their gut microbiome (myself included!) It isn't just that our gut health can be helpful with digestion and bowel movements but our gut health impacts our mental health too! So let's keep both our brains happy and add in some of these yummy foods below!👇

Sauerkraut: It is rich in probiotics, potassium, vitamins C and K. Choose an unpasteurized sauerkraut as pasteurization destroys most of the beneficial bacteria. (when I'm having a legit gut health attack I eat this straight out of the jar, is it fun? NO lol but sometimes not fun=feeling better lol)

Kimchi: Fermented cabbage, has much of the same probiotics, vitamins, and antioxidants as sauerkraut. This food can be pretty spicy depending upon your choice of brand/recipe so I tend to opt for sauerkraut.

Kombucha: The booch. So many fun things about this probiotic tea can be said, but again we'll keep it simple. Basically this tea starts with a SCOBY starter, which if you have ever swallowed one of these you know they aren't the most fun, but don't worry, you can still consume this yummy beverage without having that happen🙂 One of my favorite brands is Kevita, it's lighter and has a slightly different fermentation process than some of the other booches on the market (although I love a lot of those too!)

Coconut yogurt: The GTS coconut yogurt (I opt for plain) is hands down one of the best products to help support gut health and those dealing with candida.

Tempeh: Fermented of the soybeans (or if you can find a chickpea version). Because of the fermentation process tempeh (no matter which type) has some probiotics to help pump up that gut health.

Miso: Miso paste can be turned into a wide variety things but for the sake of keeping it simple many people use it to make a miso soup or I have used it to make a 'cheesy' sauce to go on zoodles or my veggies. Miso has many antioxidants, B vitamins, and beneficial probiotic bacteria. In case you're making a soup, don't use hot water with the miso paste as it can kill the bacteria present, so use warm water🙂

Hope some of these tidbits help make your gut a bit happier this week🙂

Veggie soup to me is one of the easiest things to make in the kitchen. I generally throw in whatever veggies are in the fridge or freezer, some garlic, veggie broth and go! This recipe is a little more structured to give everyone an idea of how to make your own veggie magic ✨

Veggie Soup Recipe: 

Serves about 8

1 box of organic vegetable broth
4 organic potatoes cut into cubes
1 bunch of organic Bok choy ripped or cut into pieces (or organic spinach if bok choy isn't available!)

1-3 cups of organic broccoli (I end up using frozen a lot, depending upon season and travel plans)
2 chopped organic red bell peppers (this could be orange, green or yellow-whatever floats your boat!)
4 organic celery stalks
½ of an organic onion
4 whole organic carrots cut
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (I use this brand because there is no synthetic folate in it and it tastes delicious!)
2-3 bay leaves
2-3 organic garlic gloves
1 tbsp of olive oil (I'll use coconut oil at times as well!)
Salt and pepper to taste (I don't love pepper so I don't end up using this, but I know I'm the exception with this)

First put the bay leaves and the vegetable broth into large pot on low heat. Next chop up the onions and garlic gloves and sauté in separate pan (when I'm time crunched I simply sauté these in the soup pot before I add in the bay leaves and veggie broth). After those are cooking, cut up the potatoes and the carrots and put into the large pot with the vegetable broth. Once the potatoes and carrots are cooking cut up the rest of the vegetables and add them along with the nutritional yeast.

Let cook until the carrots and potatoes are your desired texture, whether more mushie or a little crunchy! 

When I have time to make breakfast I love to make a tofu scramble. For years I have tried to perfect my recipe and although it changes from time to time the below recipe is what I tend to start with. I took the recipe from one of my favorite bloggers the Minimalist Baker and changed it a bit. The tofu scramble is a great breakfast to start your day, protein, fiber and vegetables!

Serves about 2 or 1 person for two breakfasts!

6 oz extra firm organic tofu

1 tbsp coconut oil (about)

2-3 cups of organic spinach (frozen or fresh works!)

½ a purple onion (can sub with white onion)

½ red or yellow bell pepper

2 garlic cloves (or 7 whatever works for you 😜)

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ tsp turmeric

½ tsp mustard powder

1 tbsp of Nutritional Yeast (this is the one I LOVE because it doesn't have the synthetic folic acid)

-Take out tofu and dry by putting paper towel around it and putting something heavy on top in order to help liquid drain out (if you have time, let's be real, I don't always have time or patience to do this😉)

-While the tofu is drying out make a sauce by combining the mustard powder, turmeric, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper with a little bit of water or oil to make an almost pourable sauce

-After slicing the onion, mincing the garlic cloves and cubing the bell pepper add them to a pan with the coconut oil

-While this is going on cut the tofu and use a fork to crumble into small pieces.

-Take the tofu and mix it with the sauce created earlier and then put the tofu into the pan with the onion, garlic cloves and bell pepper.

-ENJOY