Acai Berry: The Beauty Berry

I am pretty honest when I discuss my personal journey to optimal health through nutrition. Prior to being conscious about what I was eating and drinking, I was obsessed with processed juices.

These days I very rarely purchase any store bought juice, unless it is 100% natural or freshly juiced, that was until I discovered Genesis Today. This brand has me completely in love with their Acai Berry Juice. Unlike the selection of juices I chose before, this juice contains no high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweetners. Instead, it is complete with ingredients high in nutrition; loaded with antioxidants, 500% of B12 vitamins and even has 16,000 mg of Acai in each serving.

Here a few benefits of the super-fruit, Acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) Berry:
  • Mental Function (especially women of menopausal age)
  • Healthy Digestion
  • Beauty/Skin/Anti-Aging
  • Energy Booster
  • Weight Loss
Take a look at all of the products Genesis Today offers. If you are at the grocery store, these juices can be found on the outside perimeter, next to the frozen foods.

Holy Kale!

One of the green leafy vegetables that I am always in discussion about is kale. It is one of the toughest greens, but among the most nutritious.

Here are some health benefits of kale:
  • Kale acts as an anti-imflamatory 
  • Kale is high in Calcium
  • Kale helps to detoxify your liver
  • Kale is full of Iron
  • Kale is high in Vitamin K (great for a healthy brain)
  • Kale is high in fiber, low calories & 0 fats
There are several ways to add kale to your diet. Many people choose to add kale to their green smoothies, I on the other hand am not the biggest fan of this, purely based on my taste buds. I do prefer the addition of kale in my green juices, with other ingredients that offset the bitterness.

There are a variety of ways of including kale in your diet. A few easy methods would be to sauté them in a skillet with your choice of seasonings, create a healthy (raw or cooked) kale salad, or bake kale chips. Kale is difficult to digest, so be sure to cook the kale if you require it to be more tender.

Below is a simple recipe to make kale chips in the comfort of your own home:

  • What you'll need: leafs of kale, your choice of sea salt, seasonings, & coconut or extra virgin olive oil.
  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil & place chopped leaves of kale on the pan.
  • Lightly cover the chips with the oil, sprinkle on sea salt & seasonings.
  • Cook for about 5 minutes or until they have formed into crispy chips.
  • Eat and enjoy!

What is Green Vibrance?

I have taken this powerful supplement for little over a year and it is my secret weapon! My intake has been in pill form, but I have recently switched back to the powder to add to my green smoothies. It is one of the best grass powders I have experimented with!

Please take a moment to hear from the Founder of Vibrant Health, Mark Timon, as he introduces you to Green Vibrance and its benefits.


Thank me later! 

P.S. the product can be pricey (well worth it), so do your best to search around for the best price/current version.

Healthy Living at Houston Community College Part III


Many thanks to Houston Community College for allowing me to speak to their students! It was such a treat to shed light to not only healthy living through nutrition, but also mental health this week.

I look forward to the next time we meet, until then, be in good health!

A GREEN Smoothie for Mental Health!

The color for Mental Health Awareness is green (which happens to be my favorite color and birthstone), so I decided to create a green smoothie recipe for the special week. This recipe will also allow for you to get additional greens into your diet.

Add the following ingredients to your blender & blend away:
  • 1 1/2 cups of Spinach (or any other leafy green)
  • 1/2 Avocado 
  • 2 Celery Stalks
  • 1 Banana
  • 1/2 cup of Pineapples
  • 1 scoop of Ground Flaxseed
  • 1 scoop of Green Vibrance
  • 1 cup of Almond Milk
  • 1 handful of ice
  • Measure water for preferred consistency

Mental Pollution

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and I thought it'd be best to challenge ourselves to de-clutter...mentally. I don' t know about you, but life seems to be happening rather quickly lately. I have been so busy with day to day operations, that I have neglected my own mental health and that is entirely unacceptable! After having a wildly draining week, I decided that I needed to shift gears and what better time to do so?!

Feeling major distractions or a sense of uneasiness are the first signs of stress. Practicing self-awareness, you can easily recognize these signs early on before it becomes a much larger issue. Just as you would de-clutter your personal space, it is also a healthy practice to identify and remove unwanted clutter from your mind. This process, on a continuous basis, is sure to help improve your overall mental well-being.

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Week, I would like to challenge you to relax and take care of yourself. If you are wondering how you can do so, here are 10 tips that I pulled (and tweaked) from the "The Healthy Living Manifesto" blog post:
  1. Get enough sleep (try to commit to 7-8 hours a night)
  2. Pray and/or meditate
  3. Exercise (3-4 hours a week)
  4. Journal ("Write the vision, make it plain...")
  5. Breathe. Deeply. (& often!)
  6. Remove negativity (this includes unhealthy people & also media)
  7. Love yourself
  8. Avoid or stop smoking
  9. Eat 3 clean meals per day (remove processed foods, drink at least 50 ounces of water per day, eat more fruits & veggies)
  10. Live a life with purpose!!!
What are some ways that you care for your mental well-being?