We all know change is good, especially when it comes to making healthy changes.
This spring I am giving my pantry a new look. This new look will incorporate some even healthier changes to my current diet and lifestyle.
Here are some of the changes I am making:
- Swapping Regular Honey for Raw Honey
- Swapping Butter for Ghee
- Cooking with Avocado Oil instead of Extra Virgin Oil
- Swapping Store Bought Nut Mylks for Homemade Nut Mylks
- Eating local, in season fruits and vegetables
Now let’s talk about the benefits of making these changes.
RAW HONEY
We all know honey has many great health benefits and is a great choice as a sweetener compared to other, more refined and processed sugars on the market. But what you may not know is that there is a big difference between consuming regular honey vs raw honey.
Regular honey is processed by being heated and filtered and therefore is stripped of some of its amazing antioxidant and nutritional properties. It also contains little-to-no bee pollen. Bee pollen has amazing anti-inflammatory properties, may be great for your immune system in fighting off illnesses, and may even help alleviate symptoms of seasonal allergies. In fact, if you are looking for a natural way to kick those seasonal allergies without any medicine, you should also consider buying local, raw honey so that the pollen in the air will be the same bee pollen found in your honey. By having little traces of bee pollen in your honey daily, you are allowing your body to create an immunity to it, and therefore becoming less allergic to it. (1)
Since I suffer from seasonal allergies, I have already made the switch to raw honey. Check your local farmers market or the organic isle at the grocery store for local, raw honey. You can even purchase raw honey on Amazon, just check to see where it is sourced from if you are really serious about kicking those seasonal allergies the natural way.
GHEE
I’ve recently learned about what Ghee is and am now going to start using it instead of regular butter. Ghee is clarified butter, meaning the milk solids and impurities have been removed from the butter, so most people who are lactose intolerant have no issue consuming it.
I don’t cook or use butter much but some foods just taste better with it (pancakes and butter please)?! And since Butter can be tough to digest for those who are lactose intolerant, ghee is the perfect solution!
Ghee also has many other great benefits. It has a high smoke point of 450 F, even higher than butter which is 350 F, it is richer in Vitamins A, D, and E than regular butter, and also contains higher %’s of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids, which means our body metabolizes the fat better. (2) So what’s better than butter? O-M-GHEE!!
Tip: Try and buy grass-fed Ghee similar to this brand that I recently bought. Grass-fed cows are fed a better diet and generally source more heart healthy omega 3’s than corn and grain fed cows.
AVOCADO OIL
I have been roasting my vegetables in the oven with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO—hello Rachel Ray!) for as long as I can remember. After recently discovering that EVOO has a low smoke point of 320°F, I have made the switch to roasting with Avocado Oil instead as it has smoke point of 520°F—huuuuge difference! That means I can crank my oven to 475°F when roasting those veggies for the perfect crisp. Using olive oil at a higher temperature than its smoke point can cause it to produce chemicals and strip out its great health benefits. Regular or Light Olive Oil is fine to cook with as it has higher smoke points than Extra Virgin but its more refined and processed, so not as healthy. EVOO is best used at a lower heating temperate or as a dressing.
Tip: Purchase an Avocado Oil spray (non-aerosol and chemical free) for even easier roasting! I use Chosen Foods Avocado Oil spray.
HOMEMADE NUT MYLKS
If you’ve been reading my blog regularly or following me on Instagram, you would know that I’ve been on a make-my-own nut mylk kick lately (it’s da bomb.com). Read more about why I am officially making the switch to homemade nut mylks here: Homemade Nut Mylks
LOCAL PRODUCE
This one could not come at a better time. With all the farmers markets popping up now that the temps are warmer, I am going to take full advantage of eating locally, in season fruits and veggies.
During the winter months, I use frozen berries in my smoothies but now that it is almost berry season in New England, I am going to start picking or purchasing them locally instead.
Frozen is a great alternative if you can’t afford local fruits and veggies as they tend to be more expensive. Fruit is frozen just after it’s ripened and picked so that it maintains is peak nutritional value. Whereas produce that is shipped or exported is picked before its ripened which causes it to lose some of its nutritional value. That’s why it’s great to eat local, you are purchasing from somewhere that has picked their produce just as it’s ripened and it’s fresh from the farm since it doesn’t need to be shipped far.
Another reason to eat local, you are consuming the fruit and veggies that have been cultivated in your area. These fruits and veggies contain microbes from local soil which then feeds our bodies with healthy bacteria. We are therefore adapting our bodies to the dirt around us and feeding some of that good bacteria back into our bodies in order to help fight off that bad bacteria around us.
Tip: When purchasing berries, try and buy organic as berries contain high levels of pesticides (especially strawberries). Check out the dirty dozen.
Hope you have found this post to be informative. Follow along as I create nutritional recipes this spring and summer using healthier options mentioned above; you can follow me on Instagram: @fitgreengal or subscribe to my blog posts on my page.
Are you starting any new healthy habits? Comment below on any spring changes you are making! I’d love to hear your ideas.
1. https://draxe.com/the-top-5-natural-allergy-fighters/
2. https://www.google.com/amp/s/draxe.com/ghee-benefits/amp/
