Tag: Lifestyle

Health Bites, Hormones

Carrots and Estrogen?

Angela Ireland

Turns out that Bugs Bunny was right, a carrot a day or two or three or more may keep the doctor away. The simple garden carrot can be an amazing tool for your endocrine and digestive health! Here are just a few reasons why I’ve become obsessed with eating a raw carrot salad daily.

As you probably know by now, I am a Functional Nutrition Counselor and it is my goal to help clients get to the roots of their symptoms using a nutritional approach through a functional nutrition matrix. With that in mind, I am always looking for simple ways that people, women in particular, can improve their health, whether they are working directly with me or not. So before you rush out to grocery store to buy up bags of carrots, this is what you need to know.

Carrots contain and indigestible fiber that helps the body perform its detoxification more efficiently. When you eat a carrot, the fiber in it binds to the excess estrogen that is circulating in the body. Why is this important? Well, excess estrogen is known to cause bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, weight gain, anxiety and panic attacks and more. And since we’re exposed to it in our diets and environment in the form of xenoestrogens, which are hormone disrupters, eating carrots can help!

In addition, the fiber in the carrots can lower the non beneficial bacteria in the intestines. Did you know that imbalances in gut bacteria can also contribute to hormonal imbalance? So, think of the carrots as a daily scrubber for your intestines. They bind up the bacterial toxins, which causes inflammation and it removes the excess estrogen. So, that within a few days of eating daily your raw carrot salad your digestive and hormonal health will shift positively. That sounds like a win to me!

I can’t end this post without pointing out the skin enhancing benefits of raw carrots. Carrots contain Vitamin A and Beta-Carotene. These micronutrients, are especially important for skin, can you say, “good-bye acne,” and liver health.

By now, you’re probably wondering how to consume the carrots. Start with one organic carrot, shredded with a splash of vinegar, a splash of coconut oil or avocado oil (fat helps with absorption), sea salt to taste and enjoy. You’ll want to consume on empty stomach 30-60 minutes before your dinner or in my case lunch.

Let me know if you decide to add this humble recipe into your routine. And if you’d like to learn more check out this website: https://biochemnordic.com/dr-ray-peat-carrot-salad/

To your vibrant health,

AngelaChristine

Advertisement
Alopecia

Are you suffering from hair loss?

Angela Ireland

Jill McLaughlin Grunewald is a longtime holistic health coach and has suffered from alopecia since she was a teen (she was half bald at one point), but always turned it around. And for the last eight years, she’s been supporting the alopecia community in her private coaching practice and online courses.

She and her co-coach, Dr. Elizabeth Naylor, are offering a 3-hour workshop this Saturday, April 23, called 9 Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make When Reversing Alopecia. It’s FREE with the code CANADY and you’ll also receive Jill’s Alopecia Labs Guide that outlines what she feels are the most important tests for assessing root cause of hair loss. This guide has been “gold” for so many of her clients and students!

This class is for anyone suffering from hair loss, whether it’s total, patchy, or diffuse/androgenic (although not all diffuse loss is androgenic) and whether you’re new to a holistic/whole body approach or you’ve previously taken part in the full Reversing Alopecia mastercourse. (Jill and Elizabeth don’t claim to help men with pattern baldness.) They’re also going to cover post-covid loss.

It’s going to be a good one! If you can’t make it live, no problem, as the workshop will be recorded.

Follow the link to complete your registration. Please don’t forget to type CANADY at checkout.

https://bit.ly/3MdgL6r

Cooking, Family, Health Bites

Butternut Squash Soup

Angela Ireland
October 13, 2021

Growing up, I was blessed to have two grandmothers, who not only cooked but cooked well. I can’t say for certain that I inherited my ability to cook from them, but I’d like to think that their culinary skills did rub off on me just a little bit. Only sharpened by the necessity of cooking for a special needs kid and my own autoimmunity.

As the weather cools, I feel more inclined to cook heartier meals that reflect the produce of the season. So, tonight I took all of the butternut squash that I had in the freezer and combined it with leftover rotisserie chicken along with the aromatics of garlic,yellow onions, celery and carrots in the Instant Pot. In addition to the salt and pepper, I added organic poultry seasoning to amp up the flavor. And to add depth to the chicken broth, I squeezed fresh lemon juice into the broth before sealing the pressure cooker.

Shazam! That soup turned out to be a flavor explosion in the mouth. As I ladled all three bowls it occurred to me that in addition to the fresh parsley, I should a little more fresh lemon juice to each bowl. It was delicious! My only regret was that I didn’t prepare a gluten free bread to accompany the soup.

Though I didn’t follow a recipe nor did I write down the steps I followed to make the soup, it was made with love and it was wholesome. In my very humble opinion, I believe that love is the main or primary ingredient for cooking. Without it, anything you make falls flat.

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Cooking, Family, Wellness

What’s On Your Dinner Plate Tonight?

Angela Ireland
Dinner 10.12.21

Though not at 100%, I still felt strong enough to cook us a decent meal for dinner. While cooking may be laborious at times, there is just something special about cooking for the ones that you love.

Since frozen salmon is quite expensive at the moment, I decided to buy wild caught canned salmon and turn it into what people used to call it here in the south “croquettes.”

If you want the recipe there really isn’t one, because I just make stuff up and then after I make it, I say to myself, “you should have written it down, so you can make it again.” I’ll make it again and it will be slightly different because I will inevitably have an ingredient that is missing and will have to do a substitute. But hey, this is just the way I live. 😂😂

Salmon croquettes, made with fresh onions, celery, red bell pepper, about two teaspoons of honey mustard, one egg and about a half cup of cassava flour.

I steamed the petite green beans and finished them with coconut aminos and garlic, sautéed the squash, with onions, red bell pepper, parsley, oregano and tomato paste. I’d say it turned out well, because we have no leftovers. 😋 Cooking is an expression of love.

In Christian love,

AngelaChristine

Cooking, Health Bites, Lifestyle, Wellness

Spices Are Medicine Too!

Angela Ireland
Various spices

In ancient times, spices were more than just a condiment added to various foods for flavor. In fact, in many cultures, spices were used not only for consumption but for medicines as well. There was really no distinction between spices that were used to flavor food from spices that were used for medicine. In fact, spices were so valuable that they were often used as articles of exchange and trade.

As a student of functional nutrition, it is always my goal to find foods that not only taste amazing, but can aid in the healing of various health issues.

Here are a few of my favorite spices and how I like to use them to perform double duty.

For my coffee lovers, who also love the various creamers and syrups but are trying to avoid dairy and sugar. Consider adding cinnamon to your brew. Why?? Cinnamon is not only a natural sweetener, but it has been shown to lower blood sugar, which is a big deal if you are diabetic or borderline. It also has anti inflammatory properties. And I love it mixed in tea and in my chicory root coffee.

Turmeric, is another favorite, this brightly colored spice is so commonly used in Indian cooking, I would almost question the authenticity of any Indian dish that doesn’t include it. Turmeric is anti inflammatory, provides anti-oxidants and may also improve memory, as evidenced by the fact, that Indians have the lowest rates of Alzheimer’s globally.

Another favorite around here is ginger. I always have a few numbs of ginger in my freezer, not just for cooking but for stomach aches, nausea, or just as aid for digestion. Did you know that ginger, though spicy is anti-inflammatory? It is an anti-oxidant, anti-viral, reduces arthritis pain, relieves asthma and may even protect the brain from oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. Wow!

I could go on! But the point is this, if we’re trying to live our healthiest and to minimize dis-ease, I think we can take a page or two from the ancients. They seemed to understand that food should not only nourish and stop hunger, but should simultaneously have a medical benefit as well.

How would you incorporate healing spices into your daily regimen?

With love,

AngelaChristine

Rosemary, garlic, sage and thyme

American, Belief, Current Events, Faith, Freedom, Mindset, patriot

I Am Not Woke Enough

Angela Ireland

I see color. Just like everyone else in the world. When I meet someone I notice immediately the color of their skin, their hair color and sometimes their eye color. To say that I don’t see color would be ignorant and a failure to acknowledge the person standing in front of me.

What I don’t do is decide that they are a certain way before I get to know them based on their physical appearance. In other words, I make a point not to make assumptions until I’ve had an opportunity to get to know them. If upon further interaction I discover that we just don’t jive, it’s not because of their skin color, it’s simply because we have nothing in common, or their character is not compatible with mine; which in my opinion should be the only measure. I mean we don’t get along with every person in our same ethnic group, do we?

You see the problem with making judgments about someone based on skin is this, color or race is not indicative of the type of person one is. Sure, people share commonalities amongst race and ethnicity. But that may be where it ends. You may find that although you may share many of the same features, there might not be one thing you share in common that would make you want to spend time with that person or that, that person would want to spend time with you, outside of the obvious.

In 2021, that very much seems to be the case for me. Due to the turn my life has taken, many of my deep meaningful relationships are with people that look nothing like me. But our lives intersect in several key areas. Number one, our values are similar. We were raised in traditional homes, where our father’s were the primary breadwinners. We’re college educated and well traveled. But the main reason our lives are so intertwined is because we share the experience of raising vaccine injured children.

Through our life experiences, we have forged strong friendships that transcend color and race. We support each other, have lunch and sometimes travel to visit each other. We may not be climbing the corporate ladder in our careers, or globe trotting with our families, but when it comes to knowing diet, nutritional supplements, treatments and therapies that work best for our our children and spotting corruption from miles away these friends are hands down the best.

Oh and did I mention that we represent every race and ethnicity there is? I refer to every single one of them by their name, never their race. Even when I mention one of them outside of our community (or inside), I can’t remember saying that so and so is white, black or purple. They have names and personalities.

So, while the rest of America goes through the cultural revolution (or dissolution), of division along color lines, we’re going to stick together, support one another and continue to heal our kids. It’s what we do.

You see when I stand before God at judgment, I’m pretty certain he won’t condemn me to hell for not being “black” enough; my condemnation will come from not living a set apart, Christ centered life. In other words, not enough Christ in me. I’m just not woke enough to participate in the dissolution of our republic and I’m pretty certain, I never will be.

And he made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26&27

In Christ,

AngelaChristine

Faith, Family, Lifestyle, Mindset, Wellness

Common, not Normal

Angela Ireland
Debilitating Fatigue

Needing a nap every afternoon is not normal!

It could be a sign, that you need to take a closer look under the hood.

That was me, before I received my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s in 2018. It started after I had my son in 2011, and I just chalked it up to being postpartum. But when it continued for over a year after, I did talk to my doctor. She ran the standard lab tests, but everything came back normal, so to her everything was fine. Well, clearly everything was not fine, because by the time I received my diagnosis seven years later, I had gained much of the weight that I gained while pregnant with my son, a good bit of my hair had fallen out, the fatigue was so bad that getting out of bed was painful and even my joints hurt! I couldn’t even get through the day without caffeine (thus the start of my three cappuccino a day habit) and my inability to concentrate, made me think that perhaps I had ADHD.

How many of you can relate?

Although common, it is definitely not normal. You were made to feel good and to thrive! No matter where you are on your healing journey you can see improvements. Remember, healing occurs in stages and rarely in a straight line.

If you’re ready for your upgrade, both physically and emotionally, then allow me the honor of showing you a better way.

To good health!

AngelaChristine

Thriving
Belief, Faith, Love, Mindset, Service, Wellness

Leadership Retreat 2021

Angela Ireland
Gatlinburg, Tennessee

How do you know that you have landed in the right place?

When you show up in a place you’ve never been and spend the weekend with Facebook friends that you have never met and they love on you like Jesus would and they talk about how the foundation of our businesses should be built upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ.
And then you spend an evening sitting together to sing hymnals and to pray and share testimonies.

When I got on that road to Tennessee last Thursday, I was excited to meet up with my team to learn all the things to build my Plexus business, my pen and notepad were ready.
Instead what I learned was how to love more and how to serve more, so that God could be glorified by this business.

I know, I have heard the comments, many of which are valid, but at it’s core, this business is about serving and giving and growing in Christ.

My heart is overflowing from all the laughter, hugs and genuine love that I have never experienced in all my years of working.
If you want hope and an opportunity to love and to serve, then I am inviting you to a experience a better way.

With love,

AngelaChristine

Team Freedom