honeydew – in thriver words

Five Easy Ways to Freshen Up Your Summer Menu!

Here are five ways to freshen up your summer menu! When it’s hot and humid, the last thing you want is to eat is a heavy meal. Fresh, cool, and light seems much more appealing. My preference is to live on gelato in the summer, but that’s not really practical. Of course, I’d be happy to add ice cream, fresh peach granita, or banana popsicles to the menu – again, not exactly practical.

So what are some easy ways to freshen up your summer menu?

Salads
Many of us default to salads as our lighter fare for the summer. Salads are a great place to showcase seasonal fruit and fresh herbs. Strawberries, blueberries, and peaches are all great additions to spring or bitter greens. It’s also a great time to use tomatoes as a base for Insalata Caprese! Mint and watermelon pair well with salty feta cheese while a salad of cucumber and dill will lighten up the meat off your grill.

Cold Soups
Cold soups can fill you up while cooling you off. I love gazpacho in the summer! The traditional version has a tomato base, but you can also begin with watermelon, cantaloupe, cherries, or strawberries. If you’d rather have a milder flavor, vichyssoise made of potatoes, leeks, cream, and broth may fill the bill. One of my favorite cold soups combines honeydew, cucumber, and jalapeño peppers.

Chilled Condiments
In the winter, it’s comforting to add complimentary flavors to your dish by serving a warm, thick sauce or gravy. In the summer, pico de gallo, salsa, chimichurri, tzatziki, raita, or another cold condiment will add layers of flavor without the heaviness of gravy. I recently made chimichurri with baby arugula instead of parsley. It was delicious with grilled steak!

Iced Drinks
Icing down anything when the thermometer hits 100º just seems reasonable – coffee, water, lemon water, juice, gin, and vodka are commonly served with ice. In the South, we also drink a lot of iced tea! Adding muddled mint or cilantro and leaving out the sugar makes the tea even more refreshing.

Cold Desserts
Summer is the perfect time to serve chilled banana, tapioca, or rice pudding. It’s also a great time for no-bake fresh fruit pies. My mom made a fresh peach pie that makes my mouth water every time I think about it. And really, there’s no need to cook – a bowl of fresh fruit topped with a tiny bit of plain yogurt sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg can easily satisfy your sweet tooth in the healthiest way possible.

Freshening up your summer menu with chilled food and fresh produce is practical, easy, and delicious! Give these 5 ways a try.

Need Pain Relief? Try These 5 Steps.

pain When you need pain relief, reach for the origin and you may not need a pill. A visiting friend recently asked me for some ibuprofen. I looked in the medicine closet and I didn’t even have acetaminophen. A lack of ibuprofen didn’t surprise me. Every time I take it, my cheeks immediately turn red and start itching so I don’t buy it, but even I was surprised that there was NO pain reliever on the shelf.

Of course, I’ve long recognized that taking a lengthy round of pregelatinized starch causes my stomach to hurt so I have a bit of aversion to pills that contain it. I guess at some point I forgot to restock.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have pain. I lift weights which means I often suffer muscle soreness. I grind my teeth which leads to jaw pain. I get occasional headaches. And, in spite of a gluten-free lifestyle and eating at regular intervals, I have significant stomach pain periodically.

I’m not a stoic or a masochist. I just prefer to determine the origin of my pain and follow its process before I reach for a pill bottle. For me, this works so much of the time that I rarely need further intervention. I like that because all pharmaceuticals come with risks and side effects. Why ingest them unless I have exhausted other options?

What process do I follow to eliminate pain?

1. Observation
Over time, I have observed the factors in my life that are frequent contributors to pain. For instance, my headaches are usually caused by dehydration, hunger, or lack of caffeine. Sometimes too many sweets in the evening make me feel hung over.

2. Process of Elimination
Using my long-term observations, I review and eliminate possible culprits until I find the most likely source of pain. If I’ve had plenty of coffee, I eliminate lack of caffeine. If I haven’t taken a long break, added reps, or increased weight to a lift, I eliminate my workout as the cause of knee pain.

3. Address the Remaining Possible Cause(s)
I start with the most likely culprit. If I address that and the pain begins to diminish, I’m done. If that doesn’t work, I move on to the next possible cause. If I carried heavy boxes up the stairs in heels, I do some knee stretches and wear comfortable flats or walking shoes to address my knee pain. If it’s severe, I may limit my time standing for a day or two.

For stomach pain, an easy to digest diet for a day or two can sometimes do the trick. Yogurt, frozen yogurt, bananas, honeydew, watermelon, pears, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and chicken are easy for me to tolerate. If that doesn’t work, I sometimes revert to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for awhile.

4. Get to Work
If I’m absorbed in a mind-engaging activity, my pain eases. A computer problem, a recipe test, or even yoga changes my focus and helps me experience pain differently.

5. Use a Natural Pain Reliever
In the event that stretching, hydrating, fashion, or diet changes don’t work, I try cherries or cherry juice. Studies have shown that tart cherries can effectively relieve pain and inflammation.

If none of these work and the pain is unbearable, I make a trip to the store and get acetaminophen. I just don’t make the trip until I’ve tried this process.

I realize the pain I have described here is not the pervasive, chronic pain some of you suffer. I am not saying no one should seek medical or pharmaceutical pain treatment, but I am an advocate of ascertaining the origin of pain and/or any underlying conditions prior to beginning a pain treatment plan.

I know what it feels like to ache so much you cannot sleep, hurt so much you can’t lift your arm, and to have to fight to pay attention to anything beyond your abdominal pain. I was lucky enough to discover that my chronic pain could be eliminated by removing gluten from my diet. Going from constant pain, weakness, and fatigue to the minor pain I now experience is the thing that keeps me from ever wanting to eat gluten again!
relief
If you suffer from occasional pain, try this process. If you suffer from significant chronic pain, I wish you medical care that seeks to determine and treat the origin of your pain. I also wish you relief, comfort, and peace.

Dehydration Can Increase Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Joint Pain

tree Dehydration can increase gastrointestinal symptoms and joint pain. Today it’s 97º with a heat index of 105º. I’ve been without power for the past 4 days since a tree took down my electric lines in a storm. The air is back on now, but it still feels hot in my house. Even minor activity like wiping out the refrigerator I had emptied early in the outage causes me to break a sweat…inside…in the air conditioning. I keep drinking water, but I feel like I can’t get ahead.

With the constant heat and humidity, it’s a continual battle here to drink enough water in the summer. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to become dehydrated. And for someone like me who has digestive issues, dehydration can make them worse.

One of the early warning signs of dehydration is pain ranging from heartburn to gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD). If you have Celiac Disease or are gluten intolerant, this pain can be mistaken for a response to an accidental gluten ingestion.

Another indicator is joint pain. The cartilage in your joints is composed mainly of water and, lacking blood vessels, is dependent on water to deliver the nutrients required for maintenance and repair. Dehydration contributes to abrasive damage that happens when cartilage surfaces glide over each other when you bend your arms or knees. Since the inflammation experienced by those of us who suffer from autoimmune disorders often experience joint pain, this too can be mistaken for a problem other than dehydration.

If you feel extra tired or depressed, it can be a reflection of a lack of sufficient hydration. All I wanted to do this afternoon was sleep. I’m certain this was a result of all the hours I’ve spent in extreme heat the past few days without managing to drink as much water as needed. I have functioned through sheer force of will which is absolutely not the healthiest way to function.

When I get too hot, I don’t notice that I feel hungry or thirsty. Sometimes, I have to stop what I’m doing and eat something salty to trick myself into drinking more water.
water
So, how much water is enough?

Of course there’s no easy answer. It depends on size, weight, environment, and activity level. Some experts recommend between one-half and one ounce of water for each pound you weigh every day. That’s 9.375 eight ounce glasses per day on the low end and 18.75 eight ounce glasses or 2.34 gallons per day on the high end for a 150 lb person. Hardly any of us drink 2.3 gallons of water each day!

If you notice that your urine is dark, you have a headache, you’re overly tired or experience the other symptoms mentioned above, increase your water intake and see if the symptoms improve.

Also keep in mind that many fruits or vegetables contain a significant amount of water and are refreshing when served chilled. Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, raspberries, grapes, cucumbers, zucchini, and spinach are all high in water content. A chilled wedge salad or a cup of gazpacho can fill you up and hydrate you at the same time.

As summer moves toward its peak, we’ll all have plenty of opportunity to be reminded to hydrate. For those of us who struggle with gastrointestinal or joint pain, a little extra water may bring us some unexpected relief.

Bottoms up!

https://www.healthambition.com/how-much-water-do-you-need-daily/

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

http://nutritioninfo.tripod.com/id19.html

My Top Five Gluten-Free Summer Snacks for 2016

asparagus Here’s a list of my top five gluten-free summer snacks for 2016. I don’t know about you, but I am a snacker. If I don’t eat a little something every three hours, I begin to feel bad. Three hours isn’t really enough time in between meals so snacking seems like a good solution to keep me feeling great all day!

Of course there are a million snacks available so sometimes it’s hard to know what to choose. I’ve already picked my favorites for this summer. Perhaps you’d like to try them out too:

Number 5: Medjool Dates
These dates are large, soft, and incredibly sweet. Each date has approximately 66 calories,4 grams of protein, 18 grams of carbohydrates, and 1.6 grams of dietary fiber. These dates also contain Vitamins A, K, Niacin, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Choline, and Betaine along with Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper, and Manganese.

Number 4: Raw Cashews
I love raw cashews. They have a subtle flavor that borders on sweetness. The crunch is good, but softer than that of almonds or peanuts. One ounce of cashews has 155 calories, 5.1 grams of protein, 12 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of dietary fiber. Cashews contain Vitamins C, E, K, Thiamin, Niacin, B6, Folate, and Pantothenic Acid along with Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, and Selenium. The amount of Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Manganese range from 17 to 23% of the recommended daily allowance for these minerals.

Dried fruit and nuts are great snacks that require no refrigeration, preparation, or fancy packaging.

Number 3: Chilled Asparagus Spears
When I eat asparagus hot, I prefer thin spears, but often those aren’t available. Luckily, I prefer thicker spears when I eat them chilled. I lightly steam the spears until they’re firm, not crunchy. Then I sprinkle on some lemon pepper and salt or lightly salt and squeeze some lemon juice over them. Other times, I just salt the steamed spears and put them in the refrigerator. One cup of asparagus has 32 calories, 5 grams of protein, 3 carbohydrates, and 3 grams of dietary fiber. It also gives you 73% of the RDA of Vitamin C, 29% of the RDA of Vitamin A, plus calcium and iron along with Vitamins E, K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, 61% of the RDA of Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Choline, and Betaine.

Number 2: Ice Cold Honeydew Melon
When it’s really hot outside, an ice cold honeydew quickly quenches your thirst and cools you down. It’s lightly sweet and surprisingly filling. One cup of honeydew has 64 calories, 1 gram of protein, 16 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of dietary fiber. It also contains 53% of the RDA of Vitamin C plus Vitamin A, Calcium, and Iron along with Vitamin K, Thiamin, Niacin, B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, and Choline.

Number 1: Cooking2Thrive Dorm Room No Bake Cookies
You didn’t think I’d only choose healthy snacks did you? While these cookies have added sugar, they also contain peanut butter, oatmeal, and dark chocolate which add nutritional value and antioxidants. Two cookies contain 208 calories, 4.37 grams of protein, 12.27 grams of fat, 22.09 grams of carbohydrates, and 2.8 grams of dietary fiber. These cookies take less than 10 minutes to make and they’re chocolate. Need I say more?

Next year may be different, but in 2016 when the hot sun blazes and humidity hovers, I’ll be feasting on these 5 favorite gluten-free snacks. Yummy!