In This Issue:

What's new at www.healthy-green-lifestyle.com?
Featured Article: Focus On Fiber
Featured Recipes: High Fiber Flax Crackers and Banana Berry Coconut Smoothie
Featured Deals: Special Offers for Valentine's Day

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What's new at www.healthy-green-lifestyle.com? I just started a new feature on the website where readers can contribute their favorite healthy recipes. I would love it if any of you would head over and share a recipe or two by going to: favorite healthy recipes.

You will get your own page and I will acknowledge your contribution with a link back to your site or blog if you have one.

Any contributions are very much appreciated. If you would like to leave a green living tip in addition or instead, please go to: green living tips..

Thank you so much in advance!

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Featured Article: Focus On Fiber

If you want to be healthy (and maybe lose a few pounds), eating plenty of fiber is really important. Eating high fiber foods helps you feel full sooner and for longer after eating (which means you'll eat less overall!) than when you eat low fiber foods.

Fiber supports healthy blood sugar levels by slowing down digestion and it also inhibits the release of too much glucose. This contributes to stable, low insulin levels in the body, and low insulin levels are associated with a healthy weight and good health overall.

Foods generally contain two types of fiber- soluble and insoluble. Foods that are high in insoluble fiber include fruits like apples, nuts and seeds, and vegetables such as green beans, zucchini, cabbage, beets, carrots, cauliflower, and tomato. Most grains also contain insoluble fiber.

Foods high in soluble fiber include oats, beans, peas, rice, barley, citrus fruits, broccoli, carrots, root vegetables, apples and berries.

Eating lots of vegetables, particularly those from the above lists, is a great way to increase the fiber content of your diet. Raw and cultured/lacto-fermented vegetables should be stressed. Lacto-fermented vegetables are particularly good as they help to establish healthy amounts of good bacteria in the colon. There was a recipe for homemade sauerkraut in the January issue of the newsletter, and you can find additional cultured foods recipes here.

Fruits such as berries are high in anti-oxidants as well as fiber and these are great additions to your diet. Prunes are well-known high fiber fruits often recommended for constipation, but take care with them as they contain a lot of natural sugar.

Adding flax seeds to your diet is another wonderful way to boost your fiber intake. You can add 1-2 Tb. of ground flax seeds to any grain dish (like crockpot oatmeal) or any smoothie. You can add ground flax seeds to salads, or sprinkle them on soups before serving. You can also make a bedtime drink of ground flax seeds mixed into water (this usually allows you to have a bowel movement the next morning), or you can make grain-free, “raw” (dehydrated) crackers with them (see recipe below).

Another food very high in fiber that you may want to try is coconut flour. Coconut flour contains no gluten, and retains some of the healthy coconut oils, as well. It is naturally sweet and is excellent for use in healthy desserts. Because it has no gluten and is so high in fiber, some adaptation needs to happen in recipes when you use coconut flour: Cooking with Coconut Flour: A Delicious Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Alternative to Wheat is a good resource. I will be adding some baking recipes for coconut flour to the website soon.

As an alternative to baking with it, coconut flour can be added to smoothies to increase the fiber content. Try adding it in small amounts at a time so the smoothie does not become too thick (see recipe below).

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Featured Recipes: High Fiber Flax Crackers and Banana Berry Coconut Smoothie Flax crackers
2 cups whole or ground flax seeds (flax meal), soaked 4-6 hours

Optional additions:
1/4 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos or wheat-free tamari or salt to taste
1 cup almonds or pumpkin seeds
juice of 1 lemon
2 carrots, juiced or blended in a Vita-mix
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 cup parsley, chopped
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
1/8 cup basil, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tb. fresh ginger, minced
Place soaked flax seeds or flax meal into a food processor or blender. Blend with enough water and whichever optional liquid(s) you are using to create a thick and smooth consistency. Add additional ingredients listed to taste and mix well.

Spread mixture as thin as possible on your dehydrator trays with a teflex sheet on top. Keep your hands wet as this will help with spreading the flax seeds (or use a spatula). Score the crackers when you first put them onto the Teflex sheet so that they break along the lines later.

Place in a dehydrator. Dehydrate at 115°F. for 6 hours and then flip the mixture and remove the teflex sheet. Continue dehydrating until the mixture is completely dry, approximately 5-6 hours.

High Fiber Banana Berry Coconut Smoothie (2 servings)
1/2 cup coconut milk plus 1 cup water or 1 1/2 cups plain organic yogurt or kefir
1/2 banana
1 cup frozen berries
1 1/2 servings whey protein powder
1 Tb. ground flax seeds
2-3 Tb. coconut flour
1 Tb. coconut oil--optional

Place all ingredients into a Vita-mix or blender. Blend until smooth. Add water/ice as necessary to produce desired consistency.

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Featured Deals: Special Offers for Valentine's Day



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