Thai Pumpkin Soup Recipe

What to do with those decorative pumpkins and squashes from Halloween and fall festivities? EAT THEIR INSIDES!!! Pumpkins aren't just for carving, they are filled with loads of amazing vitamins and nutrients our bodies need during this time of year. Their bright orange color gives us a clue that they're loaded with beta-carotene (a precursor to Vitamin A) which plays a role in improving vision, maintaining healthy skin, and helping to protect our bodies against cancer and other chronic disease by acting as a powerful antioxidant.

Pumpkins and squashes are also full of fiber which can help keep you full longer and aid in sustainable weight loss.  Pumpkin seeds contains lots of magnesium (read more about the benefits here) which we are often lacking in the standard American diet.  Plus they make a great, healthy snack loaded with protein and fiber. 

Sometimes the most intimidating part of cooking with pumpkins is know how to cut them.  (I found this little video here totally helpful when cutting my Buttercup Squash).  It only takes a bit of effort and you can save the seeds and roast them with some olive oil and salt for a nice little snack or crunchy topping for your soup. If you're watching that pumpkin cutting video and are all, "Ain't nobody got time for that" you can totally use two cans of organic, canned pumpkin puree instead and I won't judge you.  

View fullsize

Thai Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

• 1, 2-3 pound pumpkin (I used a Buttercup Winter Squash), peeled and cut into 1-2 inch cubes

• 2 tablespoons red curry paste

• 1 can coconut milk

• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I used my homemade chicken bone broth)

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1 lime

• Cilantro to garnish

• Roasted pumpkin seeds to garnish

Directions

• In a pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and pumpkin and cook for 4-5 minutes.

• Add the stock, coconut milk, and curry paste and cook for 20-25 minutes, adding more stock as needed.

• Take off the heat and puree with an immersion blender or regular blender. Or leave chunky if you like!

• Place back on the stove and add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat until warmed through.

• To serve, place the soup in a bowl and top with the roasted pumpkin seeds, chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Beautiful!

xx Christina Tidwell MN, RN

Homemade Chicken Bone Broth

Bone broth has been a hot topic in the health food world lately.  You may have seen it pop up on food blogs, at your local health food store, and even in some hip, health conscious restaurants. Although it may seem like another passing health food fad (I actually just saw an article that heralded bone broth as "the new kale"), bone broth has been around FOREVER. It's what your grandmother made when you were sick because she knew it was the best way to heal.  And you're not gunna say grandma doesn't know best, are you?? Didn't think so. 

So what's with all the hype?  Recently, many autoimmune disorders have been linked to the presence of something called "leaky gut" or intestinal permeability.  Normally, the lining of our intestinal tract works as a barrier that only lets specific substances in and out to protect our body. Just think, we take in so many things from the outside world through our digestive tract it has to have mechanisms in place to protect us from bad foreign invaders.  Leaky gut occurs when the tight junctions in the lining of the intestinal tract get inflamed or irritated causing bigger holes to form. This means that substances that are supposed to be blocked by this barrier get let past the intestinal tract into the blood stream. These substances (food particles, proteins, gluten, bacteria) are too large and can cause our immune system to react in varying ways because the body sees them as intruders that need to be destroyed. 

Bone broth is a great source of collagen, which is a protein found in muscles, bones, skin and tendons. It is essentially glue that holds us together. It's also critically important to form tissue that makes up the lining of the stomach and intestinal tract. It protects and soothes this delicate lining that can get irritated by stress, food, bacteria, antibiotic use etc. It helps to repair the gut and reduce symptoms caused by intestinal permeability such as related autoimmune disorders, food sensitivities, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, and fatigue to name a few. It also provides us with powerful nutrients to help boost immunity (grandma knew this), make our skin firmer and more radiant, and aid in detoxification in the body. 

 Cozy up and make a giant batch! 

Homemade Chicken Bone Broth Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken preferably organic, free-range (can be made with beef bones as well)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 2 carrots, chopped

• 2 celery stalks, chopped

• 1 onion, peel on, sliced in half lengthwise and quartered

• 2 garlic cloves, peel on, and smashed

• Salt to taste

• 2 bay leaves, 3 sprigs fresh thyme, 5 sprigs parsley (optional)

Directions

• Place the chicken in a large slow cooker (or stockpot). Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook on high for about 4 hours or until the meat is tender and falling off bones.

• Remove the chicken, leaving the juices in the pot. Let cool and take the meat off of the bones. Place your meat into a storage container in the fridge and return everything else (bones and all other parts) to the crock pot.

• Add filtered water to the pot along with the vinegar (vinegar helps draw out the minerals from the bones), veggies, herbs and salt. If using a slow cooker put on “low” setting and cook for at least 10 hours but optimally 24-48. If using a stock pot bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for as long as possible. The longer you simmer, the more medicinal your broth will be.

• Strain all the solids from the broth, pour into a container, and store in the fridge. Use within 5 days. If you want it to keep longer, pout it into ice cube trays and store in the freezer.

 xx Christina Tidwell MN, RN

The Case for Slow Eating

In the iconic 1990s movie Clueless, Alicia Silverstone taught me that “Searching for a boy in high school is as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.” Now as a celebrity turned healthy food advocate, I recently watched an interview with Alicia where she imparted the equally valuable advice to “Eat slowly and chew your food.”  Now I don’t know if I’d take all my life advice from Cher Horowitz but she was right about highschool and gosh darnit, it looks like I’m going to listen to her on this one too.

I am SO guilty of spending time cooking up a beautiful meal only to inhale it within seconds afterwards.  People marvel at the speed at which I can take down a meal. I attribute it to being a nurse and having only a few minutes on lunch breaks to stuff food in my face, but I can’t be sure.  What I do know is that it’s a habit I’m trying hard to break for many reasons.

The process of digestion starts when you simply look at the food in front of you. Your body begins to secrete saliva and enzymes in preparation to digest and break down the food you are about to put in your body. By taking the time to slow down, look at, and appreciate the beautiful food in front of you before digging in you are actually setting yourself up to digest and absorb nutrients more efficiently.

It takes time for your stomach to send signals to your brain to indicate that you are full.  Devouring your food quickly doesn’t allow enough time for these signals to travel meaning that you keep eating, and eating and eating FOREVER, or until you satisfy your hunger. Eating slowly will cause you to actually take in fewer calories during one meal, and you’ll feel happier doing it. 

Slowing down during a meal makes you more present to the whole process rather than shoving something in your mouth impulsively and regretting it later. By paying attention to our food we are more able to appreciate the varying flavors, textures and feelings it can produce.  Eating with more presence allows you to enjoy the experience of meals and the company you share them with. Don’t we all deep down want to be beautiful, sophisticated Italians who linger over long meals at giant tables with family and wine? We do. Here are some ideas for how to slow it down…

Chew more. Aim for 20 chews per mouthful.  Not only does this action force you to slow down, but it helps break down food to aid in the overall digestive process.

Drink water during your meal.   Water helps to fill your stomach while you’re eating so you’ll feel full sooner. It also gives you a break from shoveling that food in.

Put your fork down. Just put it down. Take a moment to sip your wine, talk to friends, and enjoy the experience of nourishing your body with a meal.

Practice mindful eating. You may feel like a big weirdo, but try this exercise in mindful eating. Take the next thing you eat, say a blueberry, and look at it, smell it and touch it. Then take one small bite to pay attention to the taste and texture of it. Seriously, do NOTHING but focus on eating this blueberry in its entirety.  Then maybe never do this ever again, but you get the idea. Focusing on being present when eating allows you more connection to your food and your body to identify when you are hungry or full, or how certain foods make you feel.

So practice slowing it wayyyyy dowwwwwn this week and see you how feel!

Send me an email and let me know how this works for you! I would love to hear how it changes the way you think about your meals.

Click the button below to schedule a free 30-minute discovery session to chat with me to see how you can benefit from one-on-one health and nutrition coaching. 

 xx Christina Tidwell MN, RN

What Should I Eat Today?

There is so much conflicting dietary advice out there.  Is fat bad for you? Should I go gluten free? What about cutting out dairy? Does diet coke count as healthy because it’s less calories? It can be overwhelming and contradictory and make it seemingly impossible to answer the simple question, what should I eat today?

The media offers up conflicting evidence on what we should eat based on the latest (read: does not mean best) scientific finding.  We hear that low fat is good for us and is the way to lose weight. Then we hear that sugar is really the culprit, and fat is ok.  They tell us that all carbs are bad but we hear that whole grains might be a healthy option. We hear a report that coffee drinking can cause cancer and in another report hear that it is harmless and can be beneficial to health. UGH, it’s confusing.

The truth is, it is SO much more simple than all that.

Instead of listening to what “they” say, it’s a good idea to start looking within.  We innately know what makes us feel good and what makes us bloated, sucks our energy, and gives us acne.  The problem is we have lost our ability to really tune in to what is happening in our own bodies so we think we don’t have any answers ourselves. But we can get it back! In the meantime I’ll give you some clues…..

Eat real, whole foods and lots of vegetables.

By real, whole foods I mean food in its most natural state.  This means foods from nature like fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, beans, meats and fish, and not foods that are refined, processed, or that contain added ingredients.  And a variety of fresh vegetables should be consumed on a daily basis because of their amazing nutritional benefits. 

It’s very empowering to realize that we do not need to rely on the media, or outside sources to tell us what real, whole foods are. We treat nutrition as a medical specialty and we are highly vulnerable to every study that comes along because we are relying on others to tell us what to eat.  We believe that you have to be nothing short of a genius to figure out what to put in your own body.  That's a lot of pressure!

The thing is, our bodies already intuitively know what these foods are and naturally thrive off of their fuel. And guess what, you already are an intuitive genius, coooool! We just have to retrain ourselves to start listening to what our gut is telling us.

And right now you’re all, “No, I really don’t know what to eat, help me.”  One really helpful way to start the process of tuning in to understand what your body is telling you is to do a three day food log. Write down what you had for every meal and snack, and what symptoms (if any) you had afterwards. It’s a great way to start to pay attention to things you usually ignore like bloating, nausea, cramping, excess gas or pain. This is a great first step into strengthening the connection between what we put into our bodies and how we feel.  And we go from there! It's a total journey, so be patient with yourself :)

Want to find out more about how we can work together to figure out a food plan that works best for you? Click the button below to schedule a free discovery session!

xx Christina Tidwell, MN, RN