Heal Yourself...With Your Mouth

Gluten Free Veggie Pasta and Kale Chips!!

Food, food, food!!!! Food is one of the biggest parts of our daily lives and also plays one of the biggest impacts when it comes to the health of our life. Food can not only impact our physical health but it also plays a huge impact on our mental health, spiritual connect, and emotional well-being. A lot of us do not take the time to think about what we are putting into our bodies and how it is affecting us. We tend to make decisions of what to eat out of convince rather than deciding to eat for optimal health and well being, and I was once one of these people. For those of you that know me my diet has changed many times over the years from eating crap take out all the time, to salads every day, to having a protein shake or two a day, to gluten free, and then finally to being gluten free, meat free, dairy free and consuming mostly organic foods. It took me many years to figure out what worked for me and what did not work for me in my diet and in some ways I am still figuring this out. I read tons of books and articles on food educating myself and learning why eating certain ways and items can make us feel better and others can make us feel not so great. Here are some tid-bits that I have picked up over the years from educating myself that have lead to my decisions and lead to me feeling better than I ever have felt before.

All aboard the gluten free train! Gluten is a protein that is located in most grains that include but are not limited to; wheat (this one is the biggest candidate), barely, some oats, and buckwheat. This protein was not actually located in grains 50 years ago but is actually an additive due to grains being genetically modified to keep up with the rate that the human race is consuming them, this protein also helps increase their storage life. Anyway, gluten can affect the human body in many many ways; bloating, foggy mind, fatigue, depression, chicken skin (or the little tiny red bumps that you get on your biceps and thighs), gas, IBS, vitamin deficiencies, swelling of joints/muscles and much much more. Gluten can also make certain diseases and illnesses worse; fibromyalgia, MS, IBS, Crohn's, anxiety disorders, chronic depression, and arthritis. For me, my first indicators of why I should go gluten free were; looking like I was 6 months prego every time I ate gluten, constant low energy, chicken skin, and I hate to say it but gas. Not everyone's body has a gluten intolerance but everyone can benefit from limiting the amount of gluten you ingest. I suggest trying to eliminate gluten from your diet for a week and see how you feel, some differences you might notice are; feeling lighter, more energetic and happier!! Plus lets face it there are some truly yummy g-free foods out there these days...cupcakes anyone?!

Organic vs GMO foods....this I know is sometimes a touchy subject for people because of cost and the old saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I understand cost is hard for some people to wrap their minds around, however, how does ingesting wax, formaldehyde and food colouring every time you bite into an apple that cost you maybe 20 cents cheaper than an organic one sound? GMO foods were created for a few reasons but the biggest one is so that the food can have a longer shelf life and grow in conditions that it was not meant to grow in. One of the best examples I can think of are blueberries; GMO blueberries have had salamander cells added to them so they can resist frost and also have blue food colouring added to them as after they have been picked they lose their colour with in the first few days. Now I do not know about you but having salamander cells crossed with my blueberries does not sound like something I want to put into my body. GMO foods contribute to many many health issues but I will only list the most common here; weight gain (yes even though you are eating your fruits and veggies you will still gain weight!), acne, seasonal allergies, vitamin deficiencies, Autism, ADHD, and many more. Now I know buying organic can be costly, and I will be honest I buy as much as I can organic but I do cheat with a few things, here is a list and link to the foods you should be buying organic as they contain the most harmful chemicals and additives: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#slide-1.

Meat Free and Dairy Free Cabbage Rolls!!

Last but definitely not least the two touchiest subjects; meat and dairy!!! These are very very touchy subjects and once again not everyone needs to go meat free and dairy free but everyone can benefit from having less of the two in their diets. Meat is one of the biggest contributors to; hormone imbalances, infertility, immune system deficiencies, obesity, heart disease, MS, crohn's, cancer (as meat is acidic and a cancer free body needs an alkaline diet) chronic fatigue syndrome and high/low blood pressure. The Canadian Food guide recommends having 2-3 servings of lean meat/proteins a day and the average Canadian usually ingests about 3 servings of meat and about 2-3 servings of protein making that an average of 5-6 servings a day, and to top it off a serving size is about 3 ounces or the size of the palm of your hand not a 10 ounce t-bone. Unlike meat which has been included in our diets for many years, dairy was never meant to be included in our diets, it was added because humans were not getting enough vitamins from other sources and because of the creamy delicious taste. Human's had to develop a make shift enzyme in their body to even digest dairy! Ingesting dairy takes a huge toll on the body it takes about ten times longer to digest something that contains dairy than it does to ingest dairy free items. Indicators of being lactose intolerant are; acne, hormone imbalances, gas, bowel issues, phlegm in the lungs/throat area upon waking, asthma, vitamin deficiencies, etc. I know what you are thinking; but we need protein and the vitamins from meat and dairy to live, yes it is true you do need protein and vitamins, like vitamin D, to live but there are so many other ways to get these besides meat and dairy. Some excellent sources of protein that do amazing things for your body are; lentils and beans, spinach (yes I know it is true!!), nuts/seeds, broccoli, cabbage, hemp, brown rice, and my favourite quinoa. I would like to note that I did not include soya, or  edamame in the protein sources because 90% of the worlds soya and edamame is highly processed and genetically modified.  As for the vitamins that your missing from dairy try adding more greens to your diet, almonds, hemp hearts, cacao (raw chocolate!), and the easiest, spending a minimum of 30 minutes outside a day. Now like I said before I am not saying everyone needs to go meat and dairy free it is a choice you need to make for yourself, but even simply cutting back on meat and dairy and using other sources to get your nutritional requirements does wonders!! Try having two meatless days a week and switch to organic, free range meat sources and you will see a difference with just that.


Listen to your body, and not society, on what your body needs to function to its best ability.  Your body will tell you what food it can and cannot tolerate you just need to listen to it carefully. When I first started trying to figure out what kind of a diet worked for me I would take a few minutes right after each meal to do a mental scan of my body and see what was going on, then about an hour later I would do the same thing again once the digestion process had started, this helped me to really figure out what my body wanted in my diet and what it did not. Often we eat certain foods because we think we have to, its convenient or because it is socially acceptable but this leads to so many health issues that could be avoided. Not everyone needs to live a vegan gluten free life but making simple changes to how you consume food and why, could save your from a lot of physical, emotional, and mental pain down the road. Plus I must say there really are delish things you can make that are healthy, gluten free, dairy free, meat free and amazing in taste. I encourage everyone to take what you have learned here, do a little research and then figure out what it right for you, after all its all about loving your body because it is the only one that you have!