Self Care

Self-care is vital to your recovery process when trying to heal from disease and creating a healthy lifestyle after your healing journey. Learn how you can use physical and spiritual self-care to create a healthy happy life.

Favorite Plant-based Diet Cookbook List

[heart_this] · Apr 27, 2019 · Leave a Comment

If you are ready to start cooking with plants to create a healthy lifestyle then you need to read my favorite plant based diet cookbook list. My list is continually growing because I’m a little old school in that I love sitting down with a book in my hand browsing through and marking all the delicious looking recipes I want to try.

Today it is simple to hop on Pinterest and search for a great plant based diet recipe however there is something special about holding a physical cookbook, learing the story behind the recipe and getting to know the author’s story. It amazes me the varity of ways people have come to choosing a plant based diet for their lifestyle. Many are due to a disease in their body, some just wanted to feel better and others realized they were going to be sick if they did not make a lifestyle change.

Plant Based Diet Favorite Cookbooks

Plant-Based Diet Instant Pot Cookbook

An Instant Pot has become my new favorite kitchen appliance. It creates meals super quick compared to stove top or oven cooking. I also like how it seals in flavors to create delicious meals.

So when I saw The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook For Your Instant Pot by Kathy Hester it magically jumped into my cart. She does a great job at the beginning of the book teaching you how to use an Instant Pot if you are a beginner and then starts you out with five easy recipes to get you comfortable with the Instant Pot.

She then shares quick and easy homemade staples to save you money and then gives you chapters on beans, whole grains, vegetables, comforting one-pot meals, layered meals and of course Instant Pot desserts.

Plant Based Diet Grilling Cookbook

From Garden to Grill by Elizabeth Orsini is a must have for summer grilling. Don’t think the grill is just for meat lovers, it is not. This cookbook has over 250 vegetable based recipes for every grill master. How does Grilled Peach Salad, Grilled Zucchini Nachos or Garlic Stuffed Tomatoes sound? This plant based diet cookbook is filled with recipes for marinaades, sauces, salads, sides and main dishes all from your grill.

Plant-based Diet For Your Health Cookbook

Through my cancer jorney, one of the most impactful people that helped me understand the vital importance of using plants to help my body heal is Dr. Michael Gregger. He is a self-proclaimed nutritional scientific junkie. If you wan the real facts about foods he is your man. I was thrilled when he came out with his own cookbook, The How Not To Die Cookbook. The cookbook starts out explaining his approach to warding off disease and restoring healt from heart disease, lung disease, brain disease, digestive cancers, infections, blood pressure breast cancer, diabetes and many more.

He then shares with us about the “The Daily Dozen” which represents the twelve things we should try to eat every day so we are reminded to make each meal as healthy as possible.

The cookbook is then filled with plant based recipes for breakfast, snacks, soups, salads burgers, wraps, veggies, beans, and grains all focusing on nutrition that will help keep us healthy.

Plant-based Diet Seasoanl Cooking

I picked up My New Roots, Inspired Plant-based Recipes For Every Season by Sarah Britton for several reasons, first being the delicious looking recipes. I loved her photography and the overall feel of this cookbook. Sarah has recipes that will help you make a delicious meal that also happens to be good for you. Her Skinny Dip White Bean Fondue is amazing.

Plant-based Diet Healing Cookbook

Healing the Vegan Way is one of the first vegan cookbooks I purchased when during my cancer healing journey. I needed a no nonces way to learn plant-based eating for health and wellness. Author Mark Reinfeld gives practical tips for plant-based living, 200 simple whole-food recipes, health-supportive cleanses, menu plans, and more.

Plant-based Diet Easy Recipes

Fellow food blogger Deliciously Ella has created her own cookbook, Deliciously Ella, 100+ Easy, Healthy, and Delicious Plant-Based, Gluten-Free Recipes There are 120 plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free recipes with gorgeous, full-color photographs that capture the amazing things we can do with natural ingredients.

Plant-based Diet Menus Cookbook

Veganomicon The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook you’ll find more than 250 recipes–plus menus and stunning color photos–for dishes that will please every palate in your

Plant-based Diet Step by Step Cookbook

Eat With Intention this is not your traditional cookbook. You will not have to do a cleanse, eat kale every day, or eliminate an entire food group. Instead, you will learn the step-by-step process for eating with intention and put a stop to the never ending cycle of fad diets, constant exhaustion, and general unhappiness with your body and yourself.

Plant-based diet Raw Recipes Cookbook

Rawlicious At Home is a beautifully photographed cookbook with an appealing introduction to raw food, including recipes, straightforward advice and a 5-day diet challenge. There are over 100 raw recipes–that are also vegan and gluten-free, straight from the Rawlicious kitchens in full color, with step-by-step instructions.

Plant-based Diet 500 Easy Recipes

The Big Book of Vegan Recipes: More Than 500 Easy Vegan Recipes for Healthy and Flavorful Meals It’s not always easy for vegans to get the nutrients needed to maintain a well-balanced diet. With The Big Book of Vegan Recipes, you can ease your mind knowing that each of these dishes is not only completely vegan but also packed with flavorful, nutrient-rich ingredients that will keep your family healthy and full throughout the day. Featuring more than 500 delicious vegan recipes, this cookbook offers meals that will satisfy everyone’s tastebuds.

Plant-based Diet American Cuisine Cookbook

New American Vegan weaves together personal stories with 120 appetizing recipes, this friendly cookbook delivers authentically American and vegan cuisine that has to be tasted to be believed. Midwestern-inspired recipes range from very basic to the modestly complicated, but always with an eye on creating something beautiful and delicious in its simplicity. Clear text provides step-by-step instructions and helps new cooks find their feet in a vegan kitchen, with a whole chapter devoted to terms, tools, and techniques.

Plant-based Diet Party Recipes Cookbook

Lust for Leaf: Vegetarian Noshes, Bashes, and Everyday Great Eats is written for the veggie crowd who wants to fuel their picnics, potlucks and parties with fun and flavorful vegetarian recipes. Each recipe comes with a beverage and soundtrack suggestion to help get the party going.

Be sure and leave me your favorite plant based cookbooks in the comments below. I would love to add more to my collection.

For more recipe ideas be sure and visit The Life Giving Kitchen RECIPE INDEX.

12 Ways How To Help Cancer Patients

[heart_this] · Sep 7, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Cancer can be a long and emotional journey but with these 12 Ways How To Help Cancer Patients list, you can make a difference in someone’s life by giving encouragement, sharing sorrows and joys and understanding their needs.

When I was diagnosed with colon cancer I was homeschooling our last two kids for their junior and senior year. Knowing what I was up against treatment wise we decided to send our junior to private school and our senior, Courtney, decided to get her CNA license and stay home with me so she could be my caregiver through chemo, radiation, and several surgeries. I believe she learned more about life and what she wanted to do as a career that year than she ever would have had she gone to school. She did pick up where she left off the following year with a new perspective on life and how she would like to live her’s.

This list was written by Courtney as part of a college class presentation she had to do. It has wonderful tips from a care giver’s perspective for helping close family and friends to acquaintances that have cancer.

12 Ways How To Help Cancer Patients

1 → Give the gift of a journal. The cancer patient can journal their thoughts, write prayers out, events and milestones as they go through treatments which helps emotionally during their cancer journey.

2 → Let a cancer patient know you are there if they need to talk. Don’t tell them just once, but remind them throughout their treatments. Mail them cards periodically to let them know you are praying for them.

3 → Put up sticky notes in your home to remind you to pray for someone you know going through cancer treatments. Pray for their healing, emotional state of mind, their family, and that they would be drawn even closer to their Lord.

4 → On days a cancer patient has chemo or radiation take a meal for their family so they can rest and know their family is taken care of.

5 → Give them gift cards to the grocery or restaurants, this helps take off a financial burden and it makes it easy for their family to pick up a meal.

6 → Another good idea for how to help cancer patients is to organize a fundraiser to help ease the financial burden of cancer. There are so many little things that add up that insurance will not cover. You can start a Go Fund Me page and share it with other friends and family so they can help too.

7 → Doctors offices are always looking for a donation of snacks when people are getting chemo treatments. Many times the snacks in doctors offices lean more on the side of junk food such as chips, candy bars, and soda. Take in healthy snacks such as nuts, fruit, diet ginger ale, and natural juices.

8 → If you are crafty you can make all kinds of items that will help a cancer patient. Chemo makes a patient not able to tolerate cold so knitted hats, scarves or gloves are a good choice. You could also make cards with prayers and thinking of you thoughts in them, many people are alone and could use some encouragement.

9 → Donate books, puzzle books, and magazines to the doctor’s office. Some chemo treatments can take 5 or more hours.

10 → Give a cancer patient a copy of John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Cancer. Piper shares with the reader how Christians are called to respond when cancer invades their lives, whether in their own bodies or those of a friend or family member. Piper gently but firmly acknowledges that we can indeed waste our cancer when we don’t see how it is God’s good plan for us and a hope-filled path for making much of Jesus.

11 → Give small gifts to mark special milestones of their healing journey. Peppermint lotions, candles, and candies are helpful on days they feel nauseous. Ginger tea or gum is also helpful for nausea.

12 → Offer to clean their house and do laundry. If they feel uncomfortable having you do it hire a series to come in and help. This eases a big burden when a person does not feel good and allows them to rest.

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12 Ways How To Help Cancer Patients

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How Eating Plants Can Help Us Heal

[heart_this] · Aug 6, 2018 · Leave a Comment

If you would like to learn How Eating Plants Can Help Us Heal these resources will educate and inspire you.

The top go-to site that has helped me the most to understand why it’s so important to eat a plant-based diet is Dr. Greger’s NutritionFacts.org. Here you will find out what the latest science is saying about your favorite foods to help you make the healthiest choices for you and your family

How Not To Die From Cancer

How Not To Die From Heart Disease

How Not To Die From Diabetes

How Not To Die From High Blood Pressure

How Not To Die From Kidney Disease

Treating Advanced Prostate Cancer with Diet

Anti-inflammatory Diet For Depression

Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease with Plants

These are several videos that have impacted my thinking about eating plant-based. If you have Netflix or Amazon Prime you can usually watch most of them there. If not click the image and it will take you to Amazon.

PBS Health Link also has a show that might be of interest. With an emphasis on vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains, plant-based diets can be a healthy way to reduce your risk of conditions like heart disease, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and even some cancers. On this episode of ‘Health Link’, we examine the many benefits of eating a plant-based diet and offer tips on how to make the transition and meet your nutritional needs.

20 Vegan Meals Your Family Will Love

[heart_this] · Aug 5, 2018 · 3 Comments

Ok it’s time to get inspired with these 20 vegan meals that your family will love. There is nothing dull about eating plant-based, it’s not just carrot sticks and celery that’s for sure. These vegan meal recipes are full of great flavors and good for you ingredients.

Cuban Quinoa Bowl with Sazon Cashew Dressing is infused with wonderful Cuban flavors and filled with layers of healthy ingredients. This was the first recipe I made that my meat loving husband actually started liking quinoa!

Easy vegan mac and cheese with the creamiest vegan cheese sauce! This recipe has a hint of spice and will be your new favorite comfort food.

A Vegan Breakfast Skillet your family will rave over.

Vegan avocado toast with spiced chickpeas and sprouts is a super simple yet very nourishing meal that makes an awesome breakfast or lunch. It’s gluten-free.

This green goddess pizza comes with a crispy whole wheat crust and a creamy kale pesto spread, plus your favorite spring ingredients.

This vegan buddha bowl has it all – fluffy quinoa, crispy spiced chickpeas, and mixed greens, topped with a mouthwatering red pepper sauce!

Vegan dumplings stuffed with spinach and cashew ricotta, a delicious recipe for vegan dumplings filled with homemade cashew ricotta and spinach. They taste warm and cold super delicious and are the perfect snack for any time

Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese, the most popular classic pasta dish, and even in the vegan version this recipe is easy & quick to make and always delicious.

Detox Rainbow Roll-Ups with curry hummus and veggies in a collard leaf, dunked in peanut sauce! A most beautiful healthy desk lunch.

Roasted Garlic Hummus is a healthy easy recipe to create a delicious mellow flavored dip for vegetables, slices of bread, nuts and pita chips.

This vegan green curry recipe with winter vegetables features sweet, delicious roasted butternut squash and fresh winter greens in a simple and creamy homemade coconut green curry sauce.

Cajun Roasted Cauliflower Salad, the most delicious, hearty, filling salad with amazing cajun spiced roasted cauliflower and creamy tahini dressing.

This Super Veggie Vegan Chopped Salad with Cashew Ranch Dressing is packed with crisp, refreshing vegetables. Romaine, spinach, fire-roasted corn, peas, carrots, tomatoes, artichokes, heart of palm, pepperoncini, and cornichon pickles are tossed in a simple and super creamy cashew ranch dressing.

In just 5 minutes, you can create a healthy, delicious snack full of nutrients. Coconut oil sriracha popcorn with nori is salty and spicy with lots of umami. SO good and good for you!

Killer Vegan Chil, hold on to your soup spoons, ’cause this is some killer chili. It’s hearty, spicy and packed with slow-cooked flavor! A great source of fiber, vitamins, nutrients and vegan protein.

Crunchy Thai Noodle Salad, one giant bowl of rainbow goodness oozing with vibrant nutrients that all make magic together.

If you need an easy healthy breakfast, then my Vegan Breakfast Bowl is exactly what you need. Full of fruits, nuts, and with gluten free oats, this is not only nourishing but also delicious.

All of your favorite taco flavors come together with these Loaded Vegan Taco Fries. A fun game day snack or quick dinner.

Spicy chickpea veggie burgers with jalapeño and zucchini, topped with a tasty honey-lime slaw and fiery Sriracha mayo. These are my tastiest veggie burgers yet!

Super creamy, only 30-minute cauliflower chowder made with roasted garlic hummus and quinoa

If you try any of these 20 Vegan Meals Your Family Will Love please leave a comment below. I would love to hear how you liked them.

Diseases a plant-based diet can help prevent

[heart_this] · Aug 4, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Do you want to encourage someone that eating plant-based can make a difference in their health and healing? Give them the facts, let them read some of the diseases a plant-based diet can help prevent. As you can see by this list people could potentially reverse or avoid many diseases just by switching to a healthy, balanced plant-based diet. A printable pdf is available at the bottom of the page.

Cardiovascular disease. Eating nuts and whole grains, while eliminating dairy products and meat, will improve your cardiovascular health. A British study indicates that a plant-based diet reduces the risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Plant-based diets go far in preventing heart attack and stroke.

Cholesterol. Eliminating any food that comes from an animal and you will eliminate all dietary cholesterol from your diet. Your heart will thank you for that.

Blood pressure. A diet rich in whole grains is beneficial to your health in many ways, including lowering high blood pressure.

Type 2 diabetes. Not only is a vegan diet a weapon against Type 2 diabetes, it is also “easier to follow than the standard diet recommended by the American Diabetic Association.” Read more about it here.

Prostate cancer. A major study showed that men in the early stages of prostate cancer who switched to a plant-based diet either stopped the progress of the cancer or may have even reversed the illness.

Colon cancer. Eating a diet consisting of whole grains, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, can greatly reduce your chances of colon cancer.

Breast cancer. Countries where women eat very little meat and animal products have a much lower rate of breast cancer than do the women in countries that consume more animal products.

Macular degeneration. Diets with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens, carrots, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes, can help prevent the onset of age-related macular degeneration.

Cataracts. Much the same way macular degeneration is headed off by a plant based diet, cataracts are also thought to be prevented through the intake of the same fruits and vegetables. Produce high in antioxidants are also believed to help prevent cataracts.

Arthritis. Eliminating dairy consumption has long been connected with alleviating arthritis symptoms, but a new study indicates that a combination of gluten-free and vegan diet is very promising for improving the health of those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoporosis. Bone health depends on a balance of neither too much or too little protein, adequate calcium intake, high potassium, and low sodium. With a healthy vegan diet, all four of these points set a perfect scenario for preventing osteoporosis.

PRINTABLE PDF

Information from : Nursingdegree.net

Can Plants Reverse Diabetes?

[heart_this] · May 30, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Is it true, can plants reverse diabetes? There are many gimmicks out there that say they can but the simple truth is a diet made up of plants reverse diabetes. My husband has struggled with diabetes for years, always trying to keep it in check with his diet. After my own journey with colon cancer and realizing how important a good plant based diet is for our bodies to heal disease I encouraged my husband to try it. It was a challenge for this meat and potatoes guy that is for sure.

Honestly, he struggles with the feeling he is not full. That heavy feeling after eating meat has become a marker for his mind that his belly is satisfied.

In order for change, a person must have a realization that they are losing precious years of their life if they continue eating an unhealthy diet. I guess a sort of fear of death and desire to live a long healthy life must become a part of their thought life.

Letting them know how much we love them and why it is important to us that they are healthy is a good place to start. Also, education is the next key. If they understand how creating a healthy plant based lifestyle can make them feel and heal their disease then they are more motivated to change their eating habits and stick to a healthier vegan lifestyle.

A great place to start is NutritionFacts.org. The amount of information is huge and they are adding daily to their site information that will help you educate your loved ones as to why plant based is so important.

Share this video with those that are struggling with diabetes as a first step and then head over to their site to learn more. Then come back to my recipes page and find easy and delicious ideas to feed those you love a healing plant based diet.

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Self Care

Favorite Plant-based Diet Cookbook List