Mayo done different
Have you ever looked back and realized something that seemed bad at the time actually led you to something better? I definitely have.
One of these has been in the area of food. Along my journey to heal how sick I was, I found out I was allergic to eggs and soy. I was seriously sad! My favorite meal often was breakfast, and much of that was egg-based … or even scrambling tofu with some veggies and seasoning. The info about my allergies pretty much threw breakfast right out the window!
But I moved on and changed. Figured out different things to eat, different ways to prepare favorites. In this quest, though, I kept coming up against figuring out something to bind like mayo does. Not that I ate much of it, but that little bit really works when you want to make, say, chicken salad. For one chicken salad I make (chicken, green grapes, walnuts), yogurt is a perfect companion. But for some others, yogurt just doesn’t do it. Plus I couldn’t make any creamy-type salad dressings.
I didn’t give up though. Below is a recipe I found to make a mayo replacement that I have used now for years. Even if you can eat mayo, making this instead is, I think, better for you. It’s made out of quality ingredients that you recognize and choose plus it’s easy and tastes great – better than regular, store-bought mayo, in my opinion.
Mayo Done Different:
Mix together 3/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1/4 cup cream cheese, the juice of one lemon, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, a bit of pepper, 3 tablespoons of parsley and 3 tablespoons of chopped chives or green onions. Play with the quantities a bit to get the thickness and taste you prefer. Store in a jar in the refrigerator and enjoy!
Pain can teach your heart to expand
“There are places in the heart that do not yet exist;
suffering has to enter in for them to come to be.”
~ Leon Bloy
In memory of and dedicated to Lexie,
whose smile and wisdom charmed everyone who knew her
Super simple, quick health changes that will stick
Sometimes it’s just hard to put one foot in front of the other, isn’t it? Let alone change how you eat, find time to exercise, spend time with family and friends, work, conquer stress … and so on.
That, unfortunately, is why people end up getting so stuck when they want to reclaim wellness. It’s just too much. It’s simply overwhelming. You’ve actually just added another stressor to your life.
You want it all, right? But you can’t have it all … unless you claim it a bit at a time. It’s like the old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! (Though, seriously, please don’t go around trying to eat elephants!)
Here’s how to head back to being healthy. Make the smallest change that will help you get well. Just one change. Just one, tiny change. Something that feels so easy you absolutely know you can do it.
You know why you want to only commit to this small change? Because it’ll be so blasted simple and quick that you’ll do it. (And, a little secret, you’ll probably do more.) Break down whatever you are wanting to do into tiny steps. The smaller the better. Then commit to that one, consistent action, day in and day out.
What’ll happen? You’ll so quickly, so easily, so effortlessly incorporate that one tiny switch into your daily routine that becoming well will begin to feel so very do-able. That, right there, is immensely important. You’ve just reclaimed your “Hey, I can do that!!” energy.
So guess what happens next? You’ll be chomping at the bit to add in one more tiny change. (And, no, do NOT jump from successful tiny change to huge overhaul.) And that one also will work its way in without being a big deal.
And then the next and the next and the next. Before long, you can look back, and easily see: Wow, look at how far I’ve come! Who would’ve thought? That didn’t seem so bad. And it was easy!
I can’t give you a much bigger gift than this. So, please, take it, ‘kay?
Your life; your choice
“Every person, all the events of your life are there
because you have drawn them there.
What you choose to do with them is up to you.”
~ Richard Bach
Feeling unwell? You may be missing this simple mineral
Milk: It does a body good (not really, but that’s a whole other blog post). The other white meat. Guinness is good for you. Subway: Eat fresh (okay, I’ll give them that in part but how about a healthy, honestly whole grain bread?). Breakfast of Champions (I sort of doubt it).
We get lots of marketing messages about what we apparently need to be well. But what we really need doesn’t sell. These items can’t be patented so they don’t get big advertising campaigns thrown behind them.
It seems that anymore we are seriously in need of a couple key items in our diet/lives. One of these is the decidedly unsexy, unmarketable magnesium. You can buy it pretty cheaply as a supplement (I’ve been told chelated magnesium is the best form) or eat it fairly inexpensively in whole grains, pumpkin seeds, chocolate (darker is better AND has more magnesium), almonds, cashews, spinach and fish (halibut is the king of magnesium here).
Why do you want to pay attention to magnesium, even if it doesn’t have a totally cool advertisement to go with it? Because, the symptoms of a deficiency can make you feel like … heck. (Hey, I said that nicely!)
If you’re not getting enough magnesium, here’s what might be bothering you:
Migraines
Constipation
Muscle tension and cramps
Backache
Jaw joint issues or TMJ
Feeling too “uptight” and nervous
Trouble sleeping
Supplementing with magnesium also appears to help with disorders such as high blood pressure, asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue, epilepsy, anxiety, panic disorder and more. Of course, check with your doctor – allopathic or holistic – first.
The RDA, which often is too low to be of any real use, is 350 mg. of magnesium a day. A therapeutic dose appears to be 400 to 1000 mg. in divided doses. Generally, too much magnesium isn’t believed to be dangerous. The worst that generally happens is that you will be running to the bathroom! The one danger is for those who have kidney disease. If this is you, most definitely get medical advice before making any changes. If not, consider adding up the magnesium in your daily diet to see how far off you are and whether you want to consider supplementation.
