MORSELICIOUS Monday-Time to cut the C.R.A.P.

April 29, 2013 by 2 Comments
Mo & her rainbow salad

Mo & her rainbow salad

Do you struggle to to eat a rainbow every day? Are you sick of the CRAP?  I know my joke is old to some of you, but SKITTLES do NOT count as eating a rainbow.

It’s time to CUT the CRAP!  You heard me correctly…the MORSELIST is gettin’ dirty!

Cancer and most chronic inflammatory diseases are caused by consuming CRAP!

C-carbonated sodas
R-refined sugars
A-artificial anything
P-processed /preservatives

Let’s reverse that by:

C choosing CLEAN

R real -(rainbow)

A and

P pure

FOODS!!  :)

Which C.R.A.P. will you choose?

Please share your comments here and on a FUN note, my dad, Mac, came for a visit this past weekend and we had a grand time!  Here is a photo of us at the California Science Museum: Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit!  INCREDIBLE!

Mac-n-Mo at Space Shuttle Endeavor

Mac-n-Mo at Space Shuttle Endeavor

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life
and find that I lived just the length of it.
I want to have lived the width of it as well.”
- Diane Ackerman

 

Kaledioscope CA Science Museum

Kaledioscope CA Science Museum

I’m now taking orders for my upcoming ULTIMATE 21-day MORSELICIOUS Detox e-cookbook, as well as appointments for one-on-one health coaching sessions/group workshops.

Please contact me to schedule a free consultation and/or to pre-order your e-cookbook.

Mo with lemons & limes

Mo with lemons & limes

Happy MORSELICIOUS Monday!
www.themorselist.com

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A Sunny MORSELICIOUS Monday & EARTH DAY

April 22, 2013 by 4 Comments

Happy MORSELICIOUS  Monday and what an Earth Day ’tis! The sun is shining brightly here in Sunny CA! How do you plan to celebrate/honor Earth Day? Please share!

Mac-n-Mo

Yours truly was asked to be featured in the upcoming Fall issue of WhereWomenCook Magazine and graciously, she accepted! :)  The incredible photographer, Martha fr0m iseethemoonphotography arrived at 7:30 am yesterday morning for a MORSELICIOUS shoot!  Here are a few sneak peaks from my phone camera.

Mo & cuppa Mojo

In addition to some Mo and her MORSELICIOUS Treats photos, they are featuring a few of my new recipes from my upcoming cookbook, The Ultimate 21 day MORSELICIOUS Detox.

Please email me directly if you want to find out how to pre-order.

Mo's comfy porridge

Harvest Surprise Souffle

Mo's crispy veggie patties

Now onto some NON-FOOD MORSELICIOUSness!

This article was published on examiner.com a few weeks ago and many of you asked me post here. Ask and ye shall receive:  Please feel free to add some of your own ideas. I’d LOVE to hear and have a MORSELICIOUS week!

http://www.examiner.com/article/mo-s-morselicious-tips-for-inexpensive-or-free-non-food-rewards

‘Tis time to reward yourself for all of your MORSELICIOUS detox accomplishments, that is assuming you have been following Mo’s 85/15 rule and eating clean, whole, REAL food at least 85% of the time, incorporating a RAINBOW of colors into your daily meals. Remember skittles DON’T count! ☹ I have completed week 1 of my Ultimate 21-day MORSELICIOUS DETOX e-cookbook and currently in the middle of week 2 and have been inspired to create mo’ lists and ideas for MORSELICOUSLY fun way to eat clean and reap the rewards.

The dilemma most of us face when rewarding ourselves for being 85% perfect (remember strive for progress NOT perfection), is that most of us choose to reward ourselves with decadent-less-than-optimal-healthy food choices. I use the word, “choose” loosely, because oftentimes it’s not a mindful choice, but a habit. Admittedly, I am guilty of this sometimes, too, which is why I have created this list for you. Here are some MORSELICIOUSly creative, fun and inspiring reward ideas. Please feel free to add your own and share with the rest of us. ENJOY!

• Treat yourself to a fragrant and colorful bouquet of flowers.
• Plant some colorful succulents in your garden.
• Start an herb garden.
• Visit a museum.
• Take a bike ride.
• Take a hike…☺ a nature walk, a walk around ANY body of water. It’s amazing how it clears the mind and fresh air is beyond therapeutic.
• Take a class in an activity or subject you’ve always wanted to try.
• Volunteer. Maybe read to the eldery or under-priveleged children, or take a meal or two to a neighbor-in-need.
• Visit the library and check out a book you’ve been thinking of reading, but never got around to it. Make it a fun one!
• Create a visualization board or journal and travel in your mind. Fantasize about your new goals, dreams and accomplishments.
• Treat yourself to a foot massage or full body. Find a massage school for some incredible deals.
• Write someone a handwritten note on colorful paper/stationery. It will brighten their day as well as yours.
• Call a friend. Invite them to join you on a little adventure, walk, bike ride, swim, museum excursion or a vintage store shopping spree.
• Try something new. Make it FUN!
• Watch the sunrise
• Watch the sunset
• Pour your fancy spa water into your reusable water bottle and take it with you everywhere.
• Spoil yourself, or better TREAT yourself as you deserve to be treated!
• Buy extra thick/cushiony socks. Believe me, it makes a HUGE difference on your hikes/walks and you will WANT to walk further.

red & orange daisies
For those of you who want to schedule a one-on-one health coaching session with Mo, please email me directly and visit www.theMorselist.com

mo@macnmos.com

xo

Mo

Filed Under: Call to Action, Healthy cookbook, Healthy Living Tips, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Your brain on sugar

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Happy MORSELICIOUS Monday and Happy Passover!  Did you have a grand weekend? What did you do? What greens did you eat? Did you move your body?  Please share.  Yours truly was busy creating mo’ recipes for my 2nd e-cookbook and OMG, are they MORSELICIOUS, if I do say so myself! :)

Today’s guest post is from Fooduciary’s Brad Shepherd.

This is your brain on sugar, literally; in pictures.

fructose-keeps-you-hungry-and-makes-you-overeat

Fructose is a sugar found in almost all processed foods, in a very easily digestible state. Using MRI tests, scientists for the first time were able to document the reactions and processes in the brain after we eat fructose.

 

The MRI images showed that fructose consumption causes changes in the brain that directly lead to cravings for more food. Considering that two-thirds of adults and a third of American kids and youth are overweight or obese, this is a study that is worth our attention.

 

The federally funded study appeared in the Journal of American Medical Association in January. Researchers stated that drinking a fructose sweetened beverage doesn’t signal to the brain a feeling of being full. Considering the amount of fructose consumed today has almost quadrupled from what Americans were eating 50 years ago it’s no wonder our country is more obese than ever.

 

The researchers studied 20 young, normal-weight adults before and after drinking solutions of glucose or fructose in two separate sessions several weeks apart.

 

The MRI scans showed that glucose “turns off or suppresses the activity of areas of the brain that are critical for reward and desire for food,” according to a leader of the research team, endocrinologist Dr. Robert Sherwin of Yale University. “[With fructose], we don’t see those changes. As a result, the desire to eat continues. It isn’t turned off.”

 

Confirming the results, the scans mirrored how hungry the study participants said they felt. According to Dr. Jonathan Purnell, an endocrinologist at Oregon Health & Science University, the study “implies that fructose, at least with regards to promoting food intake and weight gain, is a bad actor compared to glucose.”

 

The next step of the study is to see if obese people react the same way to fructose and glucose as the healthy weight individuals did in the study.

 

Any nutrition expert worth their salt has been warning us for years to avoid any food that contains high fructose corn syrup. That’s a very helpful first step in avoiding highly processed foods that contain high levels of fructose. HFCS is found everywhere from salad dressings to chicken nuggets to pickles. It takes conscious effort to avoid it.

high-fructose-corn-syrup-is-everywhere

As controversial as it was, New York City’s ban on oversized fructose sweetened beverages could help lower the city’s consumption of fructose. All of us would be wise to follow the same example and limit our intake of sweetened drinks without being told to do it by our mayor. (No, you don’t get a pass by drinking diet drinks, which is only trading diabetes for cancer or depression.)

 

Despite what the corn refiners’ industry says, all sugars are not equal, even if they contain the same number of calories. Cane sugar is half fructose and half glucose, while high fructose corn syrup is 55 percent fructose. This is also why we stopped recommending agave syrup as an alternative sweetener. Depending on the brand, agave can be anywhere from 55 to 97 percent fructose.

 

Well what about fruit? That has fructose right? Yes, but in its whole form, the fructose is safely contained within fibrous cell walls. Fructose in whole fruit is accessed more slowly and its effects are blunted because of the fiber in the fruit. Fruit juices don’t carry the same benefit and instead can lead to dangerous spikes in blood sugar just like refined sugars.

 

If you find yourself consistently overeating, or struggling to lose weight, forget picking up the next fad diet book. Pick up your food, turn it around, and read the ingredients. Ditch the corn syrup and other refined sugars. Cook at home. Sweeten smartly and naturally. Eat real food and consider your new year’s resolutions in the bag!

Brad is the co-creator of Fooduciary.com – Happy Living through Healthy Choices. The closer to nature and the less tampered with any food is, the better it will be for you. The most important thing in healthy eating is to keep it real. For more visit: www.fooduciary.com/five-days-to-clean-eating.html

cookies crumbleAVmeme

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Filed Under: Call to Action, Healthy Living Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

National Heart Health

February 25, 2013 by 9 Comments

Happy Morselicious Monday!

Please watch my new VLOG clip and let me know what you think:

VideoImgMoVLOGfinal
Mo, the Morselist VLOG intro

What did you think of the OSCARS?  Did you watch? Let’s dish:  I LOOOVE the gowns, there, I said it…I’m vain! :) AND healthy..so here’s a recipe/article I wrote last week for Isla Organic Magazine created for last night, but you can make ANY night! I won’t tell! 

islaorganic.com/a-morselicious-oscar-party-pie/

Today’s post was written by the incredible Karen Whittier of Embrace Activism in honor of National Heart Health Month.  Thanks a million morsels, Karen!

February is National Heart Disease and Stroke Month.

Go Red for Women

It’s important for women in particular to be aware of their risks and what they can do to minimize those risks.

Did you know?

1. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the United States
The risk for heart disease in both women and men is related to high cholesterol,

high blood pressure, and obesity.

There are some risks that are more pronounced in women, such as:
1. Metabolic syndrome
Your shape matters. Fat distributed around the midsection plus high blood
pressure, high blood glucose and high triglycerides equals metabolic syndrome.
Pre-diabetes commonly associates with metabolic syndrome.
Individuals with diabetes suffer from heart disease (or stroke) more than twice
that of non-diabetics.

2. Mental health
Depression affects women more than men. It makes it difficult to maintain
a healthy lifestyle, potentially increasing your risk of heart disease. Another
emotion-related condition is broken heart syndrome. Broken heart syndrome,
an apt name, describes a condition of heart muscle failure that results following
extreme emotional stress.
3. Hormone levels
Estrogen can have a protective aspect for women, with no family history of heart
disease, lowering their risk of heart attack pre-menopause. After menopause
though, the risk is roughly equal to men.

4. Heart attack symptoms are different for women
The main symptom of heart attack is chest pain. However, that’s not always the case,
especially for women. It’s important women recognize these symptoms from the
Mayo Clinic:
*Neck, shoulder, upper back or abdominal discomfort
*Shortness of breath
*Nausea or vomiting
*Sweating
*Lightheadedness or dizziness
*Unusual fatigue

5. The heart is a muscle—keep it strong and healthy!
1. Exercise
A muscle must be exercised to stay healthy and functioning properly. Work up to
30 minutes per day of aerobic activity.

Sukhasana namaste2
2. Reduce stress
Stress is toxic. Yoga is an effective method for reducing stress.
Yoga gives women an avenue to lower the effects of stress;
one that doesn’t involve medication. In fact, incorporating a
healthy lifestyle with a heart-healthy diet, regular exercise,
abstaining from tobacco and including only moderate levels of
alcohol could reduce the amount of medications needed.
Recently there was an article on how yoga helps the heart
specifically for individuals with atrial fibrillation. If you find it
hard to quiet the mind and relax, follow these 6 easy steps
to meditate. It’s easier than you think! To me, meditation
means immersion in the present…my favorite way to meditate?
A moving meditation walking!

NO Smoking sign

3. Don’t smoke

Cigarettes are the only products produced in the US that, when used as intended by the manufacturer, will lead to death. Yes, cigarettes contain tobacco, but are you aware of the hundreds of other additives? Smoking is deadly for women. The American Lung Association highlights the impact smoking has on women.

You depend on your heart to pump oxygen-rich blood to the body, to deliver nutrient-rich blood to the body, don’t let your heart down. Live a heart-friendly lifestyle. Go Red for Women lists several strategies for keeping your heart healthy and strong so the beat(ing) goes on.

headshot compressed

Health, Wellness & CURES!!
Karen

Karen Whittier, Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) , Chief Activist and founder of Embrace Activism, is passionate about health and wellness.  Embrace Activism is the online source for yoga products with a CAUSE.  Health & eco-friendly as well as socially-conscious, Embrace Activism allows you to do MORE with your practice!  Her blog, On & Off the Mat, shares tips, suggestions and articles on health and wellness topics/  Visit the website at http://www.EmbraceActivism.com

NOW is the time!  All “Shockingly Pink” yoga products are 50% off retail.

Why Embrace Activism?  Embrace Activism products are
1.  Health & eco-friendly materials used for products:  No phthalates or heavy   metals, latex-free
and 100% organic cotton
2.  Comfort & stability emphasized:  Over-sized mats—almost 3x thicker, with a non-slip,
‘sticky’ texture
3.  Supportive of your yoga journey:  Props available to facilitate postures and support alignment

Now is the time to begin your yoga practice.
Now is the time to take control of your health and wellness.
Now is the time to use your practice to fight breast cancer.
Now is the time to add supplies to your yoga studio.
Now is the time to donate yoga products for survivors practicing yoga.

Doing yoga is good for you; Embrace Activism makes doing yoga even better.

Don’t wait, now is the time to shop Embrace Activism! http://www.EmbraceActivism.com/shop

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Filed Under: Healthy Living Tips, Morselicious Recipe Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Nutso-Sweet Homemade Almond Milk

February 18, 2013 by 6 Comments

Happy MORSELICIOUS NUTSO-SWEET MONDAY!
How was your weekend?
What did you do?  Please share! Thank you, Chris for today’s question.

Q. What is the nutritional info on homemade almond milk? I’d like to make my own.

A.  That is a very good question. And while we pondered on how exactly to be precise when determining the nutrition after the pulp is removed, we thought it best to share a simpler method of preparation where accounting for pulp (or lack of) is not necessary to determine a reasonably accurate nutritional tally.

There is more than one way to prepare your alternative milks (almond, coconut, cashew…) and I admit I like to keep it as simple as possible. Less time, less mess, less confusion (on the nutritional count) – no pulp to deal with. Since I’m not removing anything after the fact, I simply can tally up the ingredients I add into the mix.

Simple Almond Milk

 

When I make homemade almond milk, I use blanched almonds. That’s almonds without the skin! You can buy them that way or blanch them yourself. Here’s how I do it:

I simply soak 1/2 cup almonds in filtered water overnight in the fridge. The next day, I rinse and peel them (the skins slide right off), and they’re ready to blend. My ratio is generally 1:5, almonds to water, but you can add more or less liquid. I add in a touch of vanilla and process in my Vitamix high-speed blender. It’s delish! As for nutrition facts, you don’t have to worry about how much pulp is extracted, you simply add in the nutritional data for the amount of blanched almonds (and your flavoring if any) into the nutritional tally.

Nutrition per 8 oz serving: Cal 140, Fat 13g, Chol 0mg, Sodum 5mg, Fiber 3g, Sugar 1g, Protein 5g

Easy Coconut Milk 

As for coconut milk, and I’m sure Mo can assure you as well, coconut meat is delicious and nutritious. Simply buy a pre-cut coconut or crack it yourself, extract the yummy coconut flesh and place it into a high-speed blender. Add water, depending on how thick and creamy you prefer, and vanilla (if you like). I like a 1:3 ratio, coconut flesh to water, that means for 1/2 cup coconut flesh, I add in 1.5 cup of water (and 1/2 tsp vanilla) to make 1 cup coconut milk.

Nutrition per 8 oz serving: Cal 110, Fat 10g, Chol 0mg, Sodium 5mg, Fiber 3g, Sugar 2g, Protein 1g

http://nutrisavvysblog.wordpress.com

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