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Showing posts from July 1, 2020

Epigenetics, or What I Mean by “Reprogram Your Genes”

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You can’t change your genes. But you can program them. The modern world presents a number of problems for our genes. The world we’ve constructed over the last 50 years is not the environment in which our genetic code evolved. Our genes don’t “expect” historically low magnesium levels in soil, spending all day indoors and all night staring into bright blue lights, earning your keep by sitting on your ass, getting your food delivered to your door, communicating with people primarily through strange scratchings that travel through the air. So when these novel environmental stimuli interact with our genetic code, we get disease and dysfunction. The genes look bad viewed through a modern prism. They get “associated” with certain devastating health conditions. But really, if you were to restore the dietary, behavioral, and ambient environments under which those genes evolved, those genes wouldn’t look so bad anymore. They might even look great. This is epigenetics: altering the programmi

Healthy & Organic 4th of July Cookout Recipes (Entire Meal Mix & Match!)

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Back in the day, 4th of July to me was a big BBQ with hot dogs, potato salad from the supermarket, and popsicles full of artificial colors and corn syrup.  Eating this type of food – even just on a holiday – made me feel horrible. I woke up with a food hangover, my face looked puffy, and I was tired all the time.  I’ve since learned that it’s not worth it to sacrifice my health and weight with additive-filled processed foods on holidays – and now I’ve figured out how to celebrate with fun and festive food that is actually healthy.  Healthy food doesn’t need to be boring! I put together a round-up for you of my 4th of July cookout favorites, and it features a couple new recipes from my new cookbook, Food Babe Kitchen.  Look at all this fun, healthy food… You can mix and match these recipes around any way you want. This is one way you can do it… And, you can go vegan too…  Main Dishes I feel like you can’t have a 4th of July cookout without burgers, that’s why the main di

Picnic Cheese Board

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Picnics are perfect for spring and summer! This picnic cheese board is a great way to take a date outside, whether you’re picnicking in your backyard or on a hike.  When I was young my family and I often had what we’d call a “French picnic” for lunch or dinner. The spread included a combination of meats and cheese, fresh fruit, and bread or crackers. AKA – all the ingredients we love in a cheese board that make such great picnic foods. I learned so much about cheese boards from my Plenty collaboration last fall when we created the Thanksgiving Charcuterie Board . In that post you’ll learn what to include in a cheese board, how to slice and arrange charcuterie, which order to assemble the ingredients, and how to add finishing touches to make it look bountiful and beautiful. While an artfully designed cheese board is wonderful for a home party, taking one on-the-go isn’t exactly easy! Slight shifts in travel can mean fruit and nuts spilling off the edges, and packing crackers in w