Category Archives: Let Food be Your Medicine

Watch Thriver Soup on Local12 WKRC and enter to win a free copy!

Let Food be Your Medicine, , , , ,

“What’s Happening in Health” with anchor Liz Bonis featured Thriver Soup on Sunday. It starts around minute 16.

https://local12.com/health/whats-happening-in-health/whats-happening-in-health-november-11-2018?fbclid=IwAR26OaY-pqg55iemxeuvmD7dNjMsgRPmNRdZKc5BgwQ9s05Vbx_oMZL0H-U

Be a lucky winner! Like and share Caitlin Wells’s Facebook post about her drawing to win a free signed copy of Thriver Soup! Saturday join Caitlin Wells and me at the Healing Inspirations Center booth at Victory of Light, Sharonville Convention Center. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1123398107784978&set=p.1123398107784978&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1123398107784978&set=p.1123398107784978&type=3&theater

Photo by James Harrison

 

A Little Chocolate a Day

Let Food be Your Medicine, ,

A little chocolate a day keeps the doctor at bay.

~ Marcia Carrington

 

If only…

While the health benefits of chocolate have been touted in recent years, the added sugar and other ingredients can turn a good thing bad.

My answer? Make my own. Then I know what I’m putting in my mouth.

I bought some food-grade cocoa butter and raw organic cacao powder, then hunted down a recipe online for making chocolate.

Before making my own, I was inspired when my friend Laura and I toured Chocolate: The Exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum Center. The displays tell the history of chocolate from the Mayans to now. It included a tasting area (on special days) with a few samples of different types of chocolate.

In the little shop at the exit area, we couldn’t resist trying out a delicious 70% dark bar of just cacao and organic cane sugar. Mmmm. I don’t know if that bar would keep a doctor at bay, but it might help me hold off a visit to a psychologist…

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

Here’s a chocolate recipe that fits the bill for me:

https://eatbeautiful.net/2015/07/04/homemade-chocolate-with-cocoa-butter/

The recipe calls for raw honey. The many benefits of raw honey are on pg. 47 in Thriver Soup. If you believe it’s still too much in the way of carbs or simple sugars, perhaps you can experiment with other sweeteners, like xylitol or stevia, and add other flavorings.

I’m in the process of experimenting with different non-cane-sugar sweeteners and a little flavoring. So far the raw honey is smooth, pairs well with hazelnut extract, and melts quickly. I find the coconut nectar sugar makes the chocolate extra hard. The chocolate sweetened with xylitol is a little crunchy (unless you can find xylitol in a superfine variety) and pairs well with mint, almond, and vanilla flavoring. This way it tastes like a Peppermint Patty candy to me. Mmmm.

What have you tried, and how has it worked?

A Secret to Great Tea

Let Food be Your Medicine, ,

As much as you can eat healthy, it’s also important to remember to drink healthy too. Tea is very healing.
-Kristin Chenoweth, American actress and singer

The healing benefits of green tea are well documented for cancer patients. Do you try to have a cup each day? It would be easier to swallow without the bitter aftertaste. Yet there is a little secret about how to brew it, and other teas, to greatly enhance their flavor.

You’ll spend far less money on your tea, and get better-tasting brew at the same time with this method.

The secret is in the tea-making process, which I learned from my sister, Roselie, who learned it from some Turkish friends.

To get great-tasting tea, start with a double boiler, which is a two-layered pot. Don’t have a double boiler? You can create one with a regular 3-quart pot and a sturdy glass bowl. Place the glass bowl into the pot so it nestles inside but still sits a good inch above the bottom of the pot.

Pour half an inch of water into the bottom pot. In the top pot or bowl, add a few cups of water and enough tea for a typical single cup. Cover with a lid.

I let mine sit overnight on the stove top to begin the process. In the morning, I turn the heat on a low setting and let the water come to a slow boil. This will gradually allow the full flavor of the tea to infuse the water in the top portion.

Your reward—a few cups of delicious tea from one tea bag.

Loose-leaf teas tend to have larger leaves and produce more flavor. If you use tea bags instead, I would suggest removing the tea from its bag. Many bags contain unnatural ingredients that can be released into the tea at high temperatures. The loosened tea can be put in a tea ball or placed straight in the water. Then you can strain your tea through a sieve when pouring it.

With some herbal teas this slow-steeping method doesn’t bring out the flavor as well, so you might have to experiment. For green and black teas, I find I enjoy the flavor more, which means I’ll drink more to get the benefits.

Be tea-totaller. Sip your health-promoting brew with pleasure.

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

Loose-leaf organic green tea has been shown to inhibit metastasis, boost the immune system, reduce inflammation, detoxify the body, enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy, and increase bone density.

Be Like Royalty: Add Cress

Let Food be Your Medicine, ,

Roast fowl to him that’s sated will seem less
Upon the board than leaves of garden cress.

— Saadi Shirazi, Persian poet

 

Garden cress might not be filling, but it adds a peppery spiciness and lots of nutrients to your meal. It’s been cultivated for thousands of years and enjoyed by royalty.

I got my first-ever taste a few weeks ago through my community-supported agriculture program, Earth-Shares CSA. I had heard of watercress sandwiches, so I rooted around and found a simple solution: toast with butter and cress.

I tried it. What a fun new taste—and even my college-aged son loved it. We have a new summer fave. Especially because garden cress has as much anti-cancer potential as cabbage, kohlrabi, and Chinese broccoli. And apparently it even has more vitamin C than oranges.

If you know someone with cataracts or age-related macular degeneration, maybe gift them some potted cress.

Other goodies in these greens include Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper, and Manganese.

Another benefit is this annual is supposedly easy to grow in the house, so you can get a fresh dose anytime, and enjoy it like royalty.

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

Here are some cress recipes to try: https://cressinfo.com/recipes/

Sources:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0646e/T0646E0t.htm

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2437/2

https://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/garden-cress-nutritional-benefits.php

Going ’Round the Mulberry

Let Food be Your Medicine, ,

Here we go ’round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, The mulberry bush. Here we go ’round the mulberry bush so early in the morning.

English nursery rhyme

I grew up hearing this song and assumed mulberries grew on bushes, like raspberries and blueberries.

Nope. They grow on trees. My sister and I discovered this two summers ago on Long Island, where we saw a man picking what looked like long raspberries off a tree. A tree? What was he eating?

Mulberries.

Oh, we crammed our mouths with their luscious juiciness until we couldn’t reach any more. So sweet, so ripe, and no exterior seeds.

This past week my friend Laura and I took a walk and she identified a mulberry tree. I didn’t know they grew in the Cincinnati area. We filled a bag with what we could reach.

When we met again, she arrived holding a bag filled with fresh, ripe mulberries she had picked. What a treat! And then we found more. I’m in mulberry heaven.

Fortunately, mulberries have great nutritional value. According to https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/fruit/mulberries.html, they can improve digestion, reduce cholesterol, aid in weight loss, increase circulation, build bone tissues, boost the immune system, prevent certain cancers, slow down the aging process, decrease blood pressure, protect eyes, and improve metabolism.

That’s a pretty nice list of benefits. Makes me want to go ‘round a mulberry tree and pick more. Just need a ladder to catch those ones up high…

Thriver Soup Ingredient:
To find mulberries, check your local farmers’ markets or look for dried varieties in stores.
https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/fruit/mulberries.html includes nutrition facts.
Research on “Composition of anthocyanins in mulberry and their antioxidant activity”
Look up effects of mulberry extracts before considering using them.

Mandarins a-peeling against cancer

Let Food be Your Medicine,

I have picked a lemon, and with it / An orange and a (fragrant) mandarin.

Gathering with care these (precious) things, / And while gathering I said with care:

“Thou who art Queen of the sun and of the moon / And of the stars–lo! here I call to thee!

And with what power I have I conjure thee / To grant to me the favour I implore!

Aradia, by Charles G. Leland

 

Fresh, fragrant mandarins are precious, full of flavor, and full of power.

The magic lies in their peels—which are quite edible and contain potent anti-cancer properties (see links below).

Also called clementines and tangerines, these citrus fruits are fresh and sitting in grocery stores now.

If you have a high-speed blender, mix two whole mandarins (peel on) with a quarter cup cranberries (at this time of year, try frozen, not the packaged sugary snacks), a little raw honey and/or stevia, a quarter cup raw/soaked-in-salt-water pecans, and coconut butter. Blend. Mmmm! Add chia seeds if desired.

Taste the fragrance, ingest the power.

Sources:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/aradia/ara07.htm

https://www.livestrong.com/article/310997-can-you-eat-clementines-with-the-peel/

http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2006/pdf/2006-v21n01-p34.pdf

https://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/mandarin-tangerines.php

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19116217

Annie Appleseed video of “Subduing the Cancer Dragon” now live

Complementary Therapies, Events, Let Food be Your Medicine, Mapping the Emotions, Soaring with Spirit, , , , ,
Heidi Bright offering healing solutions during the 2018 Annie Appleseed conference

The video of my live talk, “Subduing the Cancer Dragon: The ABCs of Creating Conditions for Healing” during the 2018 national Annie Appleseed Complementary & Alternative Cancer Therapies conference, is now on youtube: “Subduing the Cancer Dragon”

Discover 3 key ingredients cancer patients need to improve their chances of survival. Important attitudes, behaviors, and major life choices that can help you thrive beyond cancer will be explored during the presentation.

In radical remission since 2011 from highly aggressive end-stage sarcoma, I share genuine hope and realistic options with listeners. I earned the 2014 Voices of Women Award for outstanding achievement in personal growth and transformation from Whole Living Journal, and the 2017 Champion in Cancer Care and 2017 Unsung Hero awards.

My third traditionally published nonfiction book, “Thriver Soup: A Feast for Living Consciously During the Cancer Journey,” is physician-endorsed with 250 practical healing solutions. https://thriversoup.com/book/

Power Up Your Spiritual Vibration Tues Apr 17

Events, Let Food be Your Medicine, , ,

Find out how to “Power Up Your Spiritual Vibration with Energized Food” at 7 p.m.  Tuesday, April 17, at 4251 Hamilton Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45223

Discover simple ways to super-charge your spiritual life with high-vibrational foods. Learn how to select more enlightening edibles to thrive on every level. Take home easy pointers for preparing power-packed provisions to raise your consciousness.

Heidi Bright, in radical remission since 2011 from highly aggressive end-stage cancer, shares meal solutions she learned during years spent regaining her health. She earned the 2014 Voices of Women Award for outstanding achievement in personal transformation from Whole Living Journal and a 2017 Unsung Hero Award from Cancer Family Care. Her third traditionally published nonfiction book, Thriver Soup: A Feast for Living Consciously During the Cancer Journey, is physician-endorsed with 250 healing solutions.

Where: Revelation Spiritual Church Bldg., 4251 Hamilton Ave. Cincinnati 45223
(Look for the BIG WHITE SIGN in front yard, directly across street from BIG GREEN & WHITE SIGN for a dentist.)

Sacred Journeys through Cancer

Complementary Therapies, Let Food be Your Medicine, Mapping the Emotions, Soaring with Spirit, , , ,

Find out how to identify ineffective cancer treatment products, how to deal with emotions, which supplements to prioritize, what I put in my green smoothie every day, whether to go to nontraditional cancer centers, how to do a body-centered sitting practice, and more.

This is what Beth Ann Gilmer and I talked about during her Sacred Journeys blog talk radio show Tuesday.

Listen to the interview from the beginning to 1:01:00, and then skip to 1:22:28 to finish it out: https://d1at8ppinvdju8.cloudfront.net/1/066/show_10668921_2018_03_21_01_05_29.mp3?cId=f647eb4c-8c6d-4867-b705-9a603583e167

Nutritious Food is focus of Annie Appleseed Conf.

Complementary Therapies, Events, Let Food be Your Medicine, ,

 

 

 

Did you know the seaweed nori, used to make sushi, is a source of Vitamin B12? This is one of the things I learned during the Annie Appleseed Complementary and Alternative Medicine cancer conference March 1-3.

I had spoken on Thursday to a crowd of nearly 200 about creating conditions for thriving, including how to determine your nutritional status. The annual national gathering, in West Palm Beach, Fla., explores both integrative and alternative cancer treatments.

On Friday, an oncologist and a gynecologist searched out my book-signing table. They bought a copy of Thriver Soup.

The next day they came back to my table and purchased a second copy.

Another woman came to my table during Friday’s events and purchased a copy of Thriver Soup. The next day she also came back, telling me she had a large number of cancer books at home, yet Thriver Soup topped them.

The food was incredible—only organic, and mostly fresh, raw and local; no gluten, no dairy, no meat. I have never eaten such healthy food in a hotel or at a conference.

To hear a quick, free version of my talk, come to the Art of Healing: Spring into Wellness Fair  on Saturday, March 17, at 250 East Main St., Batavia, Ohio, 45103. I will speak at 1:45 p.m. I also will be presenting the full talk at 2 p.m.  April 7 during the Victory of Light Festival at the Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.