New Year, more Vitality with Valerie

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Happy New Year readers! I hope you enjoyed your holiday season as much as I did, and your 2017 is off to a good start!

With the start of a new year comes many resolutions and goals to become the best version of yourself. I wanted my viewers to get a better glimpse into my past to learn more about me and my journey toward a better lifestyle. I hope this is something many of you can relate to because I want to assist you all on your health journeys as well. Everyone is different, but just recognizing the need for change is the hardest part in this process.

Enjoy the video, and allow me to help you live a life of Vitality- with Valerie! 🙂

Creamy, Healthy, and Easy Soup du Jour!

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Hi friends! My second video blog is here for you today. I made a delicious, healthy, and easy soup that you will enjoy making almost as much as you’ll enjoy eating! Here’s the recipe:

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

4 cups chicken stock

1 cauliflower

1 brick cream cheese

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

4 oz butter

Salt and pepper

1/2 lb bacon

Paprika

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Chop the cauliflower into small florets, add to the stock and boil until tender. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy. Drain and set aside. Add the mustard, cream cheese, and butter to the cauliflower in the stock. Use a hand mixer or a blender to combine until smooth. Add the bacon crumbles, paprika and walnuts as a garnish. It’s creamy and has so much flavor. You’ll love it! Eating low-carb soups like this will help you live a life of vitality- with Valerie!

Colds or Flu? This is for you!

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Hello, my friends! Anyone feel like I do today? I have cold symptoms- runny nose, scratchy throat, aches, exhaustion, along with stomach virus symptoms as well. I won’t fill you in on those, just suffice to say I feel pretty miserable today! However, I’m planning to feel much better tomorrow because I have too many things to do to let this slow me down for long. How am I planning to feel better in one day, you ask? Good question, my wonderful readers! I am utilizing all of my home remedies, along with my healthy eating habits to make a (close to) full recovery. Then I thought that I probably have readers who are suffering right along side of me now who could use this advice to feel better too. Obviously check with your own physician before using these or any homeopathies or medications. I’m going to share my remedies with you so you can be up and running soon. Read on, here we go!

The strategy is 3 fold, first treat the immune system, second treat the symptoms, and third use food for minimization of symptoms and for comfort. I will discuss each area individually. I always try to choose the healthiest, most natural remedies that I can find to put in my body, because I feel it speeds up the healing time. Sometimes when using cold medicines, you can have more disturbing side effects than the symptoms you are trying to treat! So for me, natural is the best strategy, and that’s what I’m sharing with you today.

First, to treat the immune system I utilize four really important products, Transfer Factor, Reboost (sometimes called oscillococcinum), 100% raw Manuka honey, and Imu-Max. All of these products help boost the immune system so that your body can heal itself. See my previous post entitled “Healing Cold Remedies” for more information about how to utilize these super amazing products.

https://vitalvaldecap.com/2014/10/24/healing-cold-remedies/

Second, I treat my symptoms. Now, obviously it depends upon the symptom as to how it is treated. Right now I’m taking Cocculus compositum, which is a homeopathic, for my nausea and dizziness, nux vomica, also a homeopathic, for nausea, and Mucalyxir for my runny nose. If I had a stuffy nose I’d also take a nasal decongestant. The Manuka honey also helps the scratchy throat as well as the immune system so it does double duty! Follow the directions on the packaging for instructions about how to take these products. See my previous post entitled, “A Honey Of A Cure” for more info on one of my favorite natural remedies of all time, Manuka honey! You can get any of the products listed in number one and two at a good health food grocery store, as well as some wonderful organic fruits, vegetables, and proteins for number three.

https://vitalvaldecap.com/2014/09/05/a-honey-of-a-cure/

SOUP finished

Now on to the third phase of treatment, which is food. My main healthy food remedy for colds and the flu is chicken soup. I have a great recipe for chicken soup and you can see it in my past blog post entitled, “From Soup to Nuts, Soup’s Got It All!”

https://vitalvaldecap.com/2014/08/06/from-soup-to-nuts-soups-got-it-all/

Chicken soup is hot, which acts as a natural nasal decongestant, it’s full of chicken and vegetables, so it’s got protein and antioxidants that help with healing, and it’s gentle on the stomach for those with flu or stomach symptoms. It’s the thing I CRAVE when I am sick, and right now I’m definitely having a chicken soup craving. If you don’t have the energy to make your own, check out your local Vietnamese restaurant. I have one near my house called Sandra’s Rice and Noodles and they have really good chicken and rice soup. It’s almost as good as mine. 🙂 If you don’t have a Vietnamese restaurant near you, canned chicken soup has been found to be almost as good for you as homemade. Just make sure it’s organic and has minimal ingredients and processing.

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Another food I really like when I’m sick is eggs. They are full of protein and vitamins so they help boost the immune system, and they’re pretty bland so they’re gentle on the tummy. I prefer scrambled or soft boiled eggs when I’m sick. I’ll make some scrambled eggs as soon as I am done writing. Read more about eggs in my post entitled, “An Eggceptional Protein!”

https://vitalvaldecap.com/2014/08/22/an-eggceptional-protein/

Of course vitamin C is critical to the immune system, so if you can tolerate it eat foods like red bell peppers, broccoli and kiwi. Read my previous post, “Beyond the Orange, Better Sources of C!” for more information. I won’t be eating those foods yet because my stomach is not ready for it. However, if yours feels good then go for it!

https://vitalvaldecap.com/2014/11/07/beyond-the-orange-better-sources-of-c/

Finally, and this isn’t a food source but something you definitely shouldn’t neglect, and that’s to get plenty of rest when you’re feeling flulike symptoms. As soon as I eat my scrambled eggs I’m going to lay down because rest allows the body to heal more quickly. See my blog post, “Nap Your Way To Success!” for more information about the healthy benefits of napping.

https://vitalvaldecap.com/2014/09/03/nap-your-way-to-success/

So when you’re feeling flulike symptoms make sure to first treat your immune system, second treat your symptoms, and third use healthy foods to minimize yucky cold and flu symptoms. And don’t forget to rest to let your body heal itself! Taking care of your symptoms as naturally as possible will allow you to live a life of vitality- with Valerie! 🙂

 

 

If My College Students Can Do This, You Can Too!

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Hello my friends! Life is pretty cool in Indiana, well actually it’s pretty cold to be honest but it is pretty with the sun, snow and ice.  Here’s what my backyard looks like right now.

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Snowy but pretty, right? Anyway, when it’s cold and snowy outside I long for warm, comfortingly delicious but healthy food. My girls texted that they wanted to make dinner together in Jac’s apartment, and did I have any ideas for a good recipe for them? Did I ever! Danzy’s been a bit under the weather since going back to school, so I wanted to give them something that was healing and soothing too. A top priority though was something easy to make for them. I think we succeeded, so come and join me for another episode of “Cooking with Jac and Dan!”

Baked Chicken and Rice

  • 5-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1/2 of a large container of organic low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups brown rice
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

First, make 2 cups of organic brown rice according to package instructions.

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Preheat oven  to 375 degrees. Chop onion, carrots, and celery.

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Add the evoo to a large frying pan and add the carrots, celery, and onions. Saute until softened. Then, salt and pepper each side of the chicken thighs and add them to the pan.

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Brown for 5 minutes on each side. Add minced garlic and the remainder of the salt and pepper.

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Add the rice to the pan and chicken broth. Stir until combined.

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Pour that all into a baking dish and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until the broth is absorbed. Enjoy with a salad of mixed greens lightly tossed in a vinaigrette.

IMG_6977That’s all there is to it! The chicken is loaded with protein, has 30% RDA for niacin, 15% of phosphorus, vitamin B6, and Zinc, and 10% of riboflavin. It’s high in healthy monounsaturated fats, and has 6% of your RDA for iron. The chicken and broth are known to have medicinal properties to help fight colds and infections, and the carrots, celery and onion have tons of vitamins as well. The brown rice is a great source of fiber, and protein, along with magnesium, phosphorus, thiamine, vitamin B6, niacin, iron and zinc.

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If my college students can make this, I know you can too! It’s delicious, warm, comforting, and healthy. This dish has it all! Jac and Dan’s opinion was that it was easy to make, but they didn’t like how long the rice took to cook (45 minutes!). My suggestion for that is to make a double batch every time you’re making rice and put the extra in the fridge. It will keep for a week so when you need to make dishes that contain rice, it’s ready and waiting for you! They thought it was delicious which is the most important part! Eating food like this will help you live a life of vitalty- with Jac, Danz, and Valerie! 🙂