Curry Chicken Salad

It's springtime (sort of) here in Seattle and all I want are big, giant salads full of fresh veggies that I can whip up really fast after work. I've been making this one on repeat so I had to share it with you! It's really easy and sooooo good. I buy a pre-roasted rotisserie chicken from my local grocery store and use that meat to shred up and toss into my salads for some good protein. If you don't have much time after work this is a really good option. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Curry Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 bag Trader Joes Cruciferous Crunch greens (or greens of your choice)

1/2 cucumber, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro (leaves) 

1 pre-cooked rotisserie chicken (or any protein of your choice) 

1/2 can full-fat coconut milk

1⁄4 cup raw cashews

1⁄4 cup raw almond butter

1⁄2 tablespoon curry powder

1⁄2 lime, juiced

Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions

For the dressing (inspired by my friend and fellow health coach Amanda Pickering)

Blend the coconut milk, almond butter, cashews, curry powder and lime juice until creamy. 

For the salad

Pour the bag of cruciferous greens into a large salad bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and massage until leaves are tender (This helps to make it softer and easier to chew). 

Throw in chopped cucumber and cilantro.  Shred chicken and toss in bite sized pieces. Pour dressing over (may not need all of it, use to your tastes) and toss to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

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Want some more fresh food inspiration? Click the button below to get my free 5-Day Clean Eating Meal Plan that takes all the guess work out of what to eat for the week.

You'll get recipes, a shopping list and daily instructions for what to make. TOO EASY! I really hope you enjoy xx

With Love, 

Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC

How To Make a Matcha Latte

I love matcha AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT. I love my coffee too, but found a few years ago that coffee exacerbated my autoimmune symptoms and caused me to massively crash every afternoon. You know that exhausted 3pm, fiending for Lindt chocolate balls and a nap on your keyboard feeling?

Coffee is wonderful and I will never take it away from you! I swear! But for those with autoimmune disease, or adrenal or thyroid issues it can be really taxing on your system because lots of caffeine causes a surge of the stress hormone cortisol.

Matcha contains caffeine but it's a much gentler stimulant that provides more even energy throughout the day.

Matcha is a potent antioxidant. On the ORAC scale (oxygen radical absorbance capacity – a measure of the antioxidant capacity of food), it surpasses all other antioxidant rich foods including blueberries, pomegranates, and dark chocolate.

SO if you're feeling like coffee might be doing bad things for you and you're experiencing afternoon crashes, try swapping it out for matcha a few days a week and see how it makes you feel.  It's always a constant experiment to see how to best fuel these bodies of ours!

My favorite brand to use is Matchaful because it's organic and tastes amazing. Use the code 'Livewell' when you check out to get 15% of your matcha order, woohoo!

Let me know if you end up making matcha, I want to see your creations!

And as a little gift, click the button below to download a few of my favorite, easy recipes to get ya cookin'!

With Love, 

Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC

Greens & Avocado Smoothie

So I just got back from spending two glorious weeks traveling around the Philippines and the first thing I wanted (besides a shower) was this green smoothie.  I dove right in and ate amazing Filipino food while I was there (think garlic fried rice, chicken adobo, lumpia, fresh grilled fish).  But eating well while traveling and being in transit is tough! So after my fifth airplane meal and bag of mystery Filipino shrimp chips, all I wanted was something green and refreshing. 

So here it is in case you need something like this in your life too!

Greens & Avocado Smoothie

 

Ingredients

1 handful spinach

1/2 avocado

Generous squeeze of lemon juice

1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled

1/2 cup apple juice (I like this brand) 

Ice cubes and water

 

Directions

Add all ingredients together and blend. Add in ice and water to desired consistency. Top with granola or nuts for breakfast!

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Want some more fresh food inspiration? Click the button below to get my free 5-Day Clean Eating Meal Plan that takes all the guess work out of what to eat for the week.

You'll get recipes, a shopping list and daily instructions for what to make. TOO EASY! I really hope you enjoy xx

With Love, 

Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC

Why Diets Suck

Ok, come clean. What wierdo, fad diets have you tried in the name of weight loss... The Pineapple Diet? The Bacon Diet? The Baby Food Diet? The Cigarette Diet? The Clay Diet (it’s a thing, Google it) The Air Diet? I’ve heard a lot, and I’ve tried a lot. And I’m here to tell you once and for all that diets. Don’t. Work. And here is why.

Maybe in the past you’ve summoned up the willpower to start a diet where you restrict your calories for a period of time. You are miserable throughout the day trying to deny primal signs of hunger as you munch on your carrot sticks.  But you do it and you notice the weight dropping off. Success! This lasts for a period of time and you feel pretty good. You keep the weight off as long as you are restricting your calories, but as you become a bit more lax and the novelty wears off, somehow that weight begins to slowly creep back up again. Does this sound familiar? It’s a cycle of weight loss and gain that we refer to as “yo-yo” dieting and it’s a trap SO many people fall into.

Research shows us that in up to 80% of cases where weight loss was initially successful when engaged in a calorie restricted diet, reduced weight is not maintained and is actually followed by recurrent weight gain [1]

Why does this happen? And what can we do to break the cycle?

Often times we end up blaming ourselves for not being able to stick to these rigid diets. We think we are weak or worthless, and we end up with a huge amount of guilt. But friends, I’m here to tell you that it’s not your fault. It’s not. Your. Fault. It’s the way we have been taught to view food, calories and dieting and it’s time to throw it all away for something better: food freedom.

When embarking on calorie counting diets we often times focus on the quantity rather than the quality of the food we put into our bodies. We expect ourselves to be mathematical geniuses to get the exact ratio for weight loss correct. Instead of focusing on the quantity (read: calories) in the food we consume we should aim to focus on the quality.  

Food is not just calories going in us, but rather it’s information. Food gets broken down and absorbed into our bloodstream and affects every cell in our body. By focusing on healthy, nutrient-dense foods we nourish our bodies and give them what they need to come back into balance. Foods like vegetables, fruits, protein, good fats, and whole grains are essential to every process in our body and to keep it functioning optimally for prevention of disease and maintenance of ideal body weight.

Recent research has shed new light onto the importance that the microbiome (bacteria living in our gut) plays in the role of weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight [2]. By balancing the good and bad bacteria in the gut we optimize the entire digestive process and our body is able to process and store food more effectively.  The first step in maximizing our gut health is to move away from processed foods and move towards real, whole foods. Get some food inspiration here >>

If you want to learn more about how to heal your gut and never, ever, ever diet again I’d love to start you on your journey away from stupid diets towards FOOD FREEDOM!

Click the button below to book a free 30-minute Discovery Session with me so you can do this once and for all.  I've got your back!

With Love, 

Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC

[1] Anastasiou, C., Karfopoulou, E. & Yannakoulia, M. (2015). Weight regaining: from statistics and behaviors to physiology and metabolism.  Metabolism 64, 1395-1407.

[2] Thaiss, C et al. (2016). Persistent microbiome alterations modulate the rate of post-dieting weight regain. Nature 540, 544-551.