Best Dairy-Free Ice Cream

If you've tried non-dairy ice cream, and you didn't like it, than you haven't tried this.  

I'll admit, soy-and rice-based ice creams tend to taste like chalky saw dust. Nut-based ice creams can be too heavy. And eating non-dairy ice cream in general can feel like buying a Canal Street knock off instead of a 5th Avenue original. 

After trying a less than stellar non-dairy ice cream, you may be tempted to go back to a dairy-based concoctions, but with all the dairy-dangers, that's not advisable. Even John Robbins, heir to the Baskin-Robbins fortune and empire, completely shuns the stuff, after watching his uncle die of a heart attack at 54, which he believes was caused by eating too much of the family product. 

Doom and gloom aside, there is a rainbow at the end of this story. You can still enjoy rich, creamy, dreamy ice cream that's not dairy-derived. Plus, you have options: 

1. Make Your Own in Less than 5 Minutes

"Ice Cream" made with a frozen banana base is reason enough to buy a high speed blender or Vitamix. With no added sugar, yet perfectly sweet, the taste is divine, and you can eat it completely guilt-free. After all, it's just blended fruit! It's so easy to make it's ridiculous. 

Here are some of my favorite:

Ginger Banana Cream with Slivered Almonds 

Almond Chocolate 

Strawberry Mint

Blueberry

Try experimenting with your own flavors, like peanut butter and chocolate, mango, pineapple, watermelon, or banana chocolate chip. 

2. Buy Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss

Hands down, the best-tasting commercially available non-dairy ice cream. Made from a coconut milk base and sweetened with agave nectar, if you're in a pinch and want something in a pint, reach for Luna & Larry's. Available in Whole Foods, health food stores, and even many more mainstream supermarkets.  

    

5 Foods for a Bikini Body

Did you know that certain foods that can flatten your tummy and get your skin glowing?

Well, there are, and I'm going to share 5 of them with you today, just in time to get ready for the start of bikini season:

Cucumber:

• Hydrating
• Fills you up without the calories
• Natural diuretic (relieving bloating due to water retention)

Eat cucumber slices on their own, or with your favorite dip, juice them, or add to a smoothie like this Honey Dew, Cucumber, & Basil Smoothie.

Cantaloupe: 

• Hydrating
• Promotes clear, blemish-free skin thanks to high Vitamin A
• Promotes firm, youthful looking skin thanks to high Vitamin C

Enjoy a mixed fruit salad of cubed cantaloupe, honey dew, and watermelon, or blend them into a refreshing smoothie like this Watermelon Cooler.

Pineapple: 

• Packed with Vitamin C to keep skin firm and youthful
• Anti-inflammatory (can help reduce size of blemishes)
• Aids digestion and prevents gas to keep your tummy flat 

Eat it on its own, or add to smoothies like this tasty Pineapple Mint Smoothie.

Mint: 

• Reduces bloating and indigestion while soothing the digestive tract

Try this delicious Strawberry Mint Salad, or add mint to lemonade and tea.   

Dark Leafy Greens: 

• Fills you up without the calories
• Packed with skin-loving vitamins and minerals (Vitamins A, C, K, folate, calcium, magnesium and iron, to name a few).

Skip the iceberg, and go for the dark stuff, like spinach, kale, broccoli, chard, or arugula. Eat them raw in salads (like this Arugula Fig Salad, Tropical Spinach Salad, and Complexion Perfection Salad) or lightly cooked.  Here are three simple ways to cook greens.

Warm Spinach, Quinoa, & Sun-dried Tomato Salad

Baby Spinach is one of my favorite dark leafy greens. You can eat it raw, but pouring steaming hot quinoa over the tender leaves cause them to slightly wilt and brings out their sweetness. 

This is a super easy and filling salad, packed with high quality protein. Add in some extra fiber with chickpeas or beans if you fancy. 

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa (dry), rinsed

2 cups water

3 cups organic baby spinach

5-7 Kalamata olives

5 sundried tomatoes 

1/4 cup seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, or mixture of all 3)

¼ tsp. turmeric

¼ tsp. cumin

½ - 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tbs. Olive oil

Pink Himalayan Salt, to taste

1-2 tsp. juice of fresh lemon (optional) 

Directions:

1. Place quinoa and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a rapid boil, and then cover and reduce heat to low, allowing to cook for 10 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and the germ (which looks like tiny spirals) separate from the rest of the seed.
2. Meanwhile, while that’s cooking, soak the sundried tomatoes in a small bowl of filtered water and put to the side.
3.  Place spinach in a large bowl. 
4. When quinoa is done, divide it in half. Immediately pour one half over the spinach. Reserve the other half for later in the day/week by refrigerating.
5. Drain the sundried tomatoes, and toss those into the salad bowl along with the olives, seed mix, spices, and oil. 
6. Mix well, and the spinach should start to wilt a little from the hot quinoa. Enjoy while it's warm. 

Is Your Food Engineered to Make You Eat More?

Have you ever polished off an entire bag of chips or box of crackers without even realizing it? Well, there’s a reason for that, and it’s not just because they tasted good.

Despite what it says on the front of the box (“Natural”, “Low-Fat”, etc. ) the only way to truly determine how healthy a product is, is to read the ingredient list. If there’s anything in there that you don’t currently stock in your kitchen (for example, mono and diglycerides), leave that box on the shelf where you found it.

Food Designed to Make You Eat More

You read that right. There are actually scientists employed by food manufacturers sitting around in lab coats right now trying to figure out how to make you eat more (and therefore, buy more). 

While there is a laundry list of controversial ingredients currently being used by food manufacturers, there is one in particular that I keep seeing pop up everywhere. (Even in some “healthy” snacks). It’s a flavor enhancer that has quite a few unfavorable side effects. You likely already know is bad for you, but may not realize that sneaky manufacturers are adding it to your food under a different name.

The Ingredient to Look Out For

Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG can be found in foods that don’t include those words on the ingredient list. Instead, manufacturers will use ingredients that have the same effect and include the main component of MSG, glutamic acid, yet have very innocuous sounding names, including the following:

Autolyzed Yeast Extract

Yeast Extract

Torula Yeast

Yeast Nutrient

Textured Protein

Hydrolyzed Protein

Calcium Caseinate

Sodium Caseinate

Glutamic Acid

Soy Protein

Whey Protein

As the great Shakespeare pointed out, "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." In this case, MSG by any other name will still have the same effects.

The Effects of MSG

Besides just causing us to overeat by shutting off the signal in our brain that tells us we’re full, MSG and the ingredients that include glutamic acid can cause a variety of side effects, including migraine headaches, diarrhea, upset stomach, heart problems, fuzzy thinking, and mood swings. Over time, some researchers believe it can do serious damage to your brain, and even cause obesity.

Surprised? So was I, especially since I’ve been seeing “Yeast” ingredients in a lot of foods that have a healthy halo around them.

Tweet it out: Is there MSG hiding in your kitchen cabinets? Likely. Find out what to look for: http://bit.ly/17KbEjq

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For more information on the engineering of food, check out this exposé from the New York Times Magazine: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. 

The Benefits of Detoxing

I don't know about you, but I like food. 

If you like the idea of detoxing, but can't fathom going a week without food, rest assured, in this case you can have your cake and eat it too. (Figuratively, anyway.)

Nature has created potent detoxifiers, in the way of certain fruits and vegetables, so all you need is a little knowledge on exactly what to eat (and not to eat) to effectively detox your body, without pills or juice fasts. 

Why detox?

Our bodies are naturally built to remove toxins everyday as part of our normal body processes.  We detox by eliminating and neutralizing toxins through our colon, liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph and skin.

However, in this day and age we are exposed to a number of environmental pollutants in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Furthermore, our chemical-laden diet with large amounts of animal protein, saturated and trans fats, caffeine, and alcohol inhibit our bodies from properly performing their detoxification processes.

Detoxing through the diet is a great way to give your body a break and support its natural self-cleaning system.

Besides just helping your body get rid of toxins, doing a food-based detox can also help you:

• Flood your body with micronutrients
• Drop a few pounds
• Reduce inflammation
• Curb your sugar cravings 
• Increase your energy and productivity by clarifying your mind
• Bolster your immune system
• Kick start a new healthy eating plan

And since you won't be starving yourself, there is really no downside. 

If you're interested in detoxing through your diet, check out my brand new guide: Detox without the Deprivation: A 3-Day Detox Meal Plan. 

Not only will you learn exactly what foods to eat to cleanse your body, you'll also learn how to prepare them in the most delicious and satisfying way with 3 days worth of recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is even a shopping list and tons of tips to make your detox easy breezy. 

If you try it out, let me know what you think by commenting below.