Homemade Honey Roasted Sea Salt Almond Butter

Make sure you have all the ingredients you'll need to make the best almond butter.

You'll need 2 cups of almonds, honey, coconut oil, and sea salt.

 I like roasted almonds to make my almond butter, but it's optional. If you choose so, set oven to 400.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Grab your food processor. Blend until flakey. 

Continue blending for a few more minutes until chunky and scrape from the sides. 

Blend until desired consistency.

Now add 1 tablespoon softened coconut oil, 2 pinches of sea salt, and 1 tablespoon of honey. 

Blend for a couple more minutes. Total blending time will be 10-15 minutes. 

Put it in a cute mason jar.

Keep it for yourself...

Or tie it up and gift it to a friend...

Enjoy!

Glorious Grains!

I've been really inspired lately by the nutrition school that I am in right now, and have been dying to write about the wonderful world of whole grains. I know I mentioned them in my last post, but I wanted to go a little deeper with that subject and talk in detail about why I am such an advocate for eating grains and ancient grains. I know that a lot of people struggle with a gluten intolerance, however, wheat is not the only grain in the world. Here are a list of non-gluten grains:

Buckwheat, aka Kasha
Quinoa
Brown rice/Wild rice
Amaranth
Millet
Teff
Sorghum
Corn

Andrea Beaman introduced me to the health benefits and importance of whole grains. Whole grains do a lot in the body. The bran and fiber content keep your colon moving, they increase your energy, balance blood sugar levels, and on top of it all, chewing grains more finely assimilates digestion... not to mention they fill you up. Grains include:

Enzymes
Iron
Dietary Fiber
Vitamin C
B-complex Vitamins

To take a look into history for a moment, it's important to recognize that grains have been central to every culture and region since the beginning of time. Brown rice contains the highest about of B Vitamins than any other grain... pretty cool. So something about grains that isn't very well known in the general community, and is new to me too, is phytic acid. There are so many articles written about phytic acid and how it is an anti-nutrient to your body. It has binding properties which extract minerals from your body. However, if you are relying solely on grains to get minerals and fiber, there is an issue... you should have high amounts of vegetables and leafy greens being absorbed into your body every day.

Here is the upside of phytic acid AND ways to reduce phytic acid.

Phytic acid is said to be a powerful antioxidant and is helpful in ridding the body of heavy metals and other toxins. One great way to reduce phytic acid AND is a good thing to do for easier digestion is to soak your nuts, grains, and seeds. Soaking these foods also reduces tannins and helps to decrease health disease and conditions. There are a lot of articles on phytic acid if you want to learn more, I know I am definitely still learning, so I recommend checking out this article that Andrea Beaman shared on her Facebook page:

http://wakeup-world.com/2012/03/04/the-benefits-of-soaking-nuts-and-seeds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-benefits-of-soaking-nuts-and-seeds

I hope this provides at least a small amount of insight on grains! I also understand that not everybody enjoys eating them, and that's fine too... but for those of you who are questioning the consumption of grains, I hope this was a tad educational.

Or Maybe Not...

I thought that the Whole30 was going to be this amazing life changing experience and I would prove to myself that I could do something like cut out 6 different variables from my diet and be a new woman. But honestly, that's not what I want. Here's the thing about me... I already know how to listen to my body. After one day of doing the Whole30, I quit. I know that's like no time at all, but cutting out things that I know I need to feel great didn't make sense to me. In school we are encouraged to live by bioindividuality. One person's food is another person's poison. The cleanse and what I am learning in school were contradicting themselves, and at this point in my life my biggest concern is developing my knowledge as best I can, and that includes trying on what I'm learning in class.

Whole grains for example. They are carbs. But they are also much more. How many people in your life do you know that stay away from carbs to save their life? It's completely ridiculous....but, I respect it if that's the way they want to eat. For me, I am a grain fan. I love how they make me feel, I love that they are full of nutrients and phytic acid. And more so, I love ancient grains. AND.... not all grains have gluten... so the gluten-intolerant card doesn't work all the time. Millet, buckwheat, sorgum, amaranth, kasha. So many yummy grains that are so so good for you. Don't be afraid to eat grains and the RIGHT carbs. Here is a new sandwich that I've crafted that I absolutely love:

Rudi's Ancient Grain bread- panfry in coconut oil or ghee
Sliced Turkey
Sliced Avocado
Thin-sliced Roasted Golden Beets
Vegannaise or Light Canola Oil Mayonnaise
Sea Salt

When I decided that I didn't want to do the Whole30 I definitely had a complex about it. But really what matters is always listening to your body, and alwasy reminding yourself that what works for one person will not work for the next. And that is why there are SO many different ways to eat.

So I am back to posting my favorite smoothies, the wonderful things I am learning and trying in nutrition school, and always motivating people to get out and do yoga and try new things!