Moringa: The Asian Superfood You Should Be Eating.

What I find so interesting about the latest health food discoveries is they aren’t newly produced foods. Instead we’re seeing food staples, which have been around for centuries, becoming the latest finds. I had the thought when I discovered Baobab, and couldn’t wait for my local health food store to call me when my special order arrived. Moringa is giving me the same kind of tingles.

One morning when my brain was still kind of fuzzy, I heard a reporter on NPR sharing her childhood superfood story of moringa. I’d never heard of this “superfood,” and it was the first I searched for when I turned on my computer. What is moringa? More important though, where can I get some?

Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing tree native to South Asia and now found throughout the tropics. Its leaves have been used as part of traditional medicine for centuries. The Ayurvedic system of medicine; the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit; associates it with the cure or prevention of about 300 diseases.

Moringa, sometimes described as the “miracle tree,” “drumstick tree,” or “horseradish tree,” has small, rounded leaves that are packed with an incredible amount of nutrition: protein, calcium, beta carotene, vitamin C, and potassium to name a few benefits. It’s been used medicinally (and as a food source) for at least 4,000 years.

Yes, the moringa trees is seriously amazing. No wonder it’s been around for so long. So what exactly does it does it do for the human body?

Moringa leaves are loaded with vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, and more. One hundred grams of dry moringa leaf contains:

• 9 times the protein of yogurt
• 10 times the vitamin A of carrots
• 15 times the potassium of bananas
• 17 times the calcium of milk
• 12 times the vitamin C of oranges
• 25 times the iron of spinach

Moringa leaves are rich in antioxidants, including vitamin C, beta-carotene, quercetin, and chlorogenic acid. Chlorogenic acid by the way, has been shown to slow cells absorption of sugar. Also, moringa appears to have anti-diabetic effects. One study found women who took seven grams of moringa leaf powder daily, for three months, reduced their fasting blood sugar levels by 13.5 percent.

Moringa is also great if you’re dealing with inflammation. The isothiocyanates, flavonoids, and phenolic acids in moringa can help reducing swelling and pain due to flare ups. Also, you can lower your cholesterol levels by making moringa part of your diet.

Your digestive system will also love moringa. It’s so high in fiber, the Epoch Times says it, “works like a mop in your intestines… to clean up any of that extra grunge left over from a greasy diet.” 

Alright so many benefits, but the big question? How do you eat this? 

Unless you have moringa tree growing in your backyard, the best way probably is in powder form. If you can make it to an asian supermarket you might be able to find moringa leaves and pods. You can use the leaves in the same way you would spinach. And pods can be used like green beans. Give them a little steam to soften them up, and viola, nutrition heaven awaits you. Here’s a simple recipe for using moringa leaves.

Moringa Leaf Loaf

• Cooked lentils, quinoa, pinto beans, garbanzo beans - about 4 cups
• Freshly picked Moringa Oleifera leaves - lots of them
• Olive oil and/or butter - 1/4 cup
• Several minced fresh garlic cloves or garlic salt
• Sea salt and/or whatever spices you like
• Wheat germ - 1/2 cup
• Chia seeds - 1/4 cup, ground in nut mill or coffee grinder
• 2 eggs 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. 

Lightly grease loaf pan with olive oil or butter. Bake 45 minutes.  

Let rest 10 minutes, slice, and serve.

Otherwise, you can go the simpler route and find moringa leaf powder. Use it in your favorite dishes. Moringa has a "pecany-spinach" taste - sort of like "nutty" greens. Sprinkle it on eggs, veggies, or maybe your favorite vegetarian chile for a little kick.

Make it part of your smoothie rotation with this simple recipe.

Moringa Green Smoothie Recipe

• 2-4 leaves of kale or chard
• 1 banana
• 1 Tbsp. almond butter
• 1 date
• ½ - ¾ cups coconut water
• 1 Tbsp. cacao powder
• ½ tsp. moringa leaf
• 1 cup ice 

Place all smoothie ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

However you enjoy this amazing superfood make sure not to buy any powder or variations of the root. There is a neurotoxin in the root bark, which can be fatal, if taken in large enough quantities. No one appears to know the exact amount, so the best advice is - don't eat the root. 

Don’t let the disclaimer scare you from this superfood. Yes, every piece of this tree can be used, but not every piece is meant to be eaten. Other than that, enjoy discovering this amazing “new” food which has only been used for the last 4,000 years. Hey, better late than never when it comes to health.

Electrolytes: Realign Your Post Workout Recovery

The thermometer has been in the triple digits recently, and unfortunately for us, it doesn’t seem like the heat is going to give up anytime soon. Working out in this weather does burn more calories, but we’re also sweating out crucial water and electrolytes. You probably think of the sidelines sports cliche. Football coach being doused with a thermos of Gatorade after the big game, when you think of electrolytes. There is a reason though, why this drink is a must for a athletes.

As the body loses electrolytes through sweat, the imbalance can result in symptoms like muscle cramps, fatigue, nausea, and mental confusion. If the electrolyte supply stays low, muscles may not fully recover, and could explain why the next day is a little painful to walk. It’s all about keeping your body in balance. Losing electrolytes means your body needs more sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and bicarbonates to help retain fluids, and maintain proper fluid balance. 

Why are these guys so important to replenish?

Sodium

If you loose too much sodium while sweating, it can lead to muscle cramps, and in some cases hyponatremia (low blood sodium) – both can lead to a decrease in performance, and can cause major health complications. Sodium is critical for maintaining fluid balance, nerve function, muscle contractions, and acid-base balance.

Potassium

Potassium together with sodium helps alleviate and prevent muscle cramps.

Calcium

We know calcium is crucial for healthy bones, but did you you know it also know it has a major impact on the metabolism of essential nutrients, and proper physiological functions. It regulates muscle contractions and heart rhythm during periods of intense working out.

Magnesium

Similar to how sodium and potassium function together, magnesium and calcium do the same. Calcium is essential for muscle contractions; magnesium aids in helping muscles relax.

Bicarbonates

Sodium bicarbonate buffers lactic acid in the blood. During exercise, lactic acid builds up which stresses the anaerobic glycolysis energy system. When this energy system becomes disrupted, the acid accumulations inhibit muscle contractions, which leads to fatigue. Replenish your sodium bicarbonates and good bye fatigue. You’ll also be enhancing your endurance capacity.

You start losing electrolytes about an hour into working out, making those studios classes a sweet spot. You might not be on the field like a football player, but taking an intense spx pilates class, followed by a day in the heat makes workout recovery necessary. Nobody wants those sore muscles the next day.

Don’t think a sugary sports drink is the only way to give your body some post workout love. You can eat your way to electrolyte recovery with these five foods to increase electrolytes naturally. 

Most fruits and vegetables

Apples, corn, beets, carrots and green beans, are all rich in electrolytes. Other electrolyte-laden fruits and veggies include limes, lemons, oranges, sweet potatoes, artichokes, and all types of squash and tomatoes.

Nuts and seeds

Most nuts and seeds are very high in electrolytes. Add some almonds, cashews, walnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds or pistachios to workout bag, and your muscles will thank you.

Beans

Lima, red, mung, white and pinto beans are the highest in mineral-rich electrolytes.

Dark Leafy Greens

Most greens are a great source of the major required electrolytes. Spinach, in particular, is high in minerals. You can choose from kale, beet greens, mustard greens, bok choy and chard, to name a few. Each of these greens holds sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, as well as “prebiotics” that foster good gut flora and digestion.

Bananas

A great source of electrolytes. Potassium is a key form of electrolytes, and this sweet fruit it one of the richest sources of potassium on the planet.

If you want to drink your electrolytes without adding unnecessary calories try one of this DIY recipes.  

Cucumber Lime Electrolyte Refresher

½ cucumber

2 limes, peeled

1½ cups coconut water

Juice the cucumber and lime in a juicer. Mix the juice with coconut water. Enjoy chilled or over ice.

Homemade Gatorade Recipe

3 cups water

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp salt

Toss all ingredients in a blender and mix well. Enjoy chilled or over ice.

Watermelon Electrolyte Booster

1 quarter of a watermelon, seeded

2 large glasses of coconut water

A pinch of Himalayan sea salt

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Enjoy!

Herbal Cooler

4 cups herbal tea (something citrus preferably)

2-4 Tbsp raw honey or maple syrup

1/4 tsp. sea salt

A few drops of trace mineral drops, such as Concentrace (optional)

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, and store in the fridge. Drink chilled or over ice.

DIY Electrolyte Sports Drink

1/2 liter of ginger water (recipe below)

1 liter of water

Juice of 3 small lemons

1/2 tsp. sea salt (you can add a bit more if you’d like)

Stevia to taste

Ginger Water:

1 medium-sized ginger root

1 liter of water

Liquid Stevia, to taste

Cut ginger into large coins and place into a large pot. Add water. Bring water to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let steep until cool. Add liquid stevia to taste and store in airtight container in the fridge.

Whether you’re running outdoors or inside an air conditioned studio, making sure you’re hydrated and electrolyte balanced will make for happy muscles, and a happy you. We can’t control the weather, but at least we can control how well we treat ourselves. 

Get Off The Hamster Wheel, Renew Your Zest For Life

Four easy ways to help you feel like your life isn’t set on “repeat.” 

We all have those moments, when life seems set to loop. Get up. Rush to breakfast. Rush to get ready for work. Rush to get work, and the myriad of other “rush” things everyday life requires. Like your workout, life sometimes needs a little mixing up, in order to give it a kick start. I like to think of it as cardio for your soul.

Try some of these ideas to get yourself mentally out of your everyday activities. Yes, we would all love to travel to Nepal, and explore the meaning of life. When your days are full of freeways, meetings, and status reports, you need to squeeze some “om” into your life, which doesn’t require a transcontinental flight.

• Go To Bed Earlier

Sometimes you feel the need to stay up an extra hour or two Netflixing away. Those late night hours seem as our only time to unwind. Don’t do it. Do the opposite, go to sleep early. Getting a good night’s sleep has numerous health benefits such as improving memory, learning, physical performance, maintaining healthy weight, curbing inflammation, spurring creativity, sharpening attention, lowering stress, avoiding accidents, decreasing anxiety, and living longer. 

Yes, so many benefits by hitting the sack early. Instead of waking up with heavy lids on a weekday, imagine waking up before your alarm goes off. Your body is ready to start to the day, because it’s had time to recharge, and run on all cylinders. 

• Wake Up Earlier

If you go to bed earlier, your body will naturally get up earlier. Imagine waking up feeling like it’s a Sunday, and brunch is the first thing on your agenda? You can have the same feeling of peace before every work day, by creating more time in your day. 

You’ll be able to make a healthy breakfast. You can exercise or go for a walk in the neighborhood. You can relax, and calmly make your to do list for the day. You’ll be more productive, and a good night’s sleep will become a regular part of your life. Nothing worse than the stress of those 10 minutes of being late to work. 

• Take A Lunch Break

Fewer American workers are taking time for lunch. Research shows that only 1 in 5 five people steps away for their midday meal. Digital life has so many ways of connecting, pings, and inboxes to check, you’ll never reach the end. Instead, unplug and give your body and brain a chance to recharge. You’ll be more productive by stepping away from your computer.

"Staying inside, in the same location, is really detrimental to creative thinking. It's also detrimental to doing that rumination that's needed for ideas to percolate and gestate and allow a person to arrive at an 'aha' moment,” says Kimberly Elsbach, a professor at the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management, who studies workplace psychology. 

Visit the outdoors, and give your mind a chance to have a new perspective. You might think of it as wasted time, but in reality, your mind will work better by letting it relax. All those emails and voicemails will be there when you come back to your desk.

• Make Meditation A Part Of Your Life

Reduce your stress levels and anxiety; improve your creativity, focus, and relationships by regularly meditating. Don’t think you need to have a zen garden with the incense sticks burning. Meditating is easy as spending 10 minutes a day, using apps like Headspace, to help center ourselves regularly.

Meditation helps your brain physically change, even if you’re not aware of it re-shaping itself. People with clinical levels of anxiety have experienced 90% reductions in anxiety. Meditation promotes ‘divergent thinking’ a type of thinking that allows many new ideas to be generated.

Also, researchers have found, compared with the people who didn’t meditate, ‘those trained in meditation stayed on tasks longer and made fewer task switches’. Lastly, meditation can improve relationships with everyone you meet. You become more comfortable with yourself, which makes it easier for others to get on with you.

We inundate ourselves with our friends’ lives, the news, and cat videos, when we can be helping our brains and bodies rejuvenate. If you don’t help your “self,” how can you truly experience all the benefits exercising and healthy eating. It’s all a matter of being in alignment with oneself. Carve out time for yourself, and your body will thank you accordingly.

Alkaline Diet: Is It The Next Atkins' Revolution?

Admit it, some of the best beauty and health secrets come from celebrities sharing their lifestyle tips. Their income is based on them looking their best. They seek out the best science, treatments, and products to maintain their fitness peak. Read a celebrity gossip blog or magazine interview, and you’ll hear an odd secret or two being dropped. Like Elle Macpherson sharing the oddest thing in her purse is a pH balance urine tester kit.

A tidbit I filed away, and like magic, I started seeing alkaline water everywhere. You know it’s a trend when Trader Joe’s has it own label version. “What is alkalinizing?” I wondered. Macpherson isn’t the the only fan of this philosophy. Kelly Ripa, Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jennifer Aniston have all admitted they are fans as well. Ripa shared it helped her with physical pain she was experiencing.

The term pH refers to the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Easy to understand examples are spas, swimming pools, and fish tanks. pH is measured on a scale of 0.0 to 14.0. Values less than pH 7.0 are acidic, and values over pH 7.0 are base or alkaline. Pure water has pH value of 7.0 - perfect balance of acids and alkaloids.

Having a well balanced diet is known to promote good health, so I can understand the concept having a balanced pH diet. We want our systems to be in a good balance, in order to have everything working properly. It’s how we prevent disease, repair our muscles during exercise, and avoid feeling fatigued. Homeostatic mechanism (a survival system) is how your body balances itself, and seeks to maintain a constant pH 7.365 in the blood. 

The body maintains and protects this pH balance by depositing and withdrawing alkaline or acidic minerals from one location of the body to others, such as our bones, vital organs, soft tissues, and body fluids. Here’s where the testing happens. The body’s clear fluids, salvia or urine, should remain at the healing pH range of 7.1 to 7.5. 

There are fervent fans of the alkaline diet. Elle says she’s been following strict alkaline diet for years, meaning 80 percent of the food she consumes is alkaline-forming and the other 20 per cent is acidic.

"The thought is that some foods—like meat, wheat, refined sugar, and some processed foods—cause your body to over-produce acid, which can supposedly lead to health implications such as osteoporosis or other chronic conditions," says Joy Dubost, Ph.D., R.D., a food scientist and nutrition expert.

If the alkaline diet is so wonderful, why aren’t more experts talking about it? Well, this philosophy isn’t without it’s detractors. 

"Your diet does not affect your blood pH at all," Allison Childress, R.D., a nutrition sciences instructor at Texas Tech University shares. Both Dubost and national health authorities agree with her. "Altering the cell environment of the human body to create a less-acidic, less-cancer-friendly environment is virtually impossible," according to resources from the American Institute for Cancer Research. 

So what gives? Why do we have these people who look like they have discovered the fountain of youth in their 50s, extolling the virtues of the alkaline diet? I think it’s because the alkaline diet folds neatly into what we consider healthy eating. 

The alkaline diet looks a foods’ PRAL or Potential Renal Acid Load score. A negative PRAL score indicates the food is basic/alkaline. A positive PRAL score indicates the food is acidic. 

A score of 0 indicates the food is neutral. Alkalizing foods are most vegetables, most fruits, sweet potatoes, almonds, chestnuts, tofu, most herbal teas, bee pollen, sunflower seeds and apple cider vinegar. Acid-forming foods include all meat and fish, rice, pastas, breads and most grain products, cheese, sodas, alcoholic drinks, coffee and other caffeinated beverages, sugar and artificial sweeteners, and wheat germ.

Looking at this list you can see why achieving a balanced pH is not something which occurs by accident. Experts who believe in the alkaline diet say it’ll take 18-24 months for a highly acidic individual to balance their lymphatic pH through diet. Now I can understand why Macpherson carries around her pH urine test. If I worked so long and hard to achieve this desired pH state, you bet your bottom dollar I wouldn’t let anything mess it up. I do say this as I’m on my third cup of coffee, so I might be out of the running any time soon.