Raw and Dirty David Wolfe

Ladies love David Wolfe.

Nobody knows raw food like David Wolfe. Well maybe they do, but no one has been able to get so many people excited about it like David does. It’s evident by the amount of cheering women on their feet after he gave his talk at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (IIN) Mega Conference. Here he is on stage making a smoothie with blueberries, coconut, chlorella powder, dried mushroom blend, honey and some other interesting treats.

This guy really does his research. He talks about living in the woods and growing his own superfoods like chaga mushrooms, aloe vera, and even noni. He has written books called Naked Chocolate, Eating for Beauty and Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future. If raw foods is something that you are interested in learning about these are some great resources.

One of the many great things about IIN is that it teaches all different dietary theories from the top experts in the field. Then, you get to pick what feels right, sounds right and works for both you and for your clients. Some people, like David, thrive on raw food diets. Others do well on mostly cooked foods. Yet, most of us tend to combine both into our diets. I’m in the combo camp. Some raw, some cooked, and throw in some fermented grapes!

If you are interested in learning more about the healing properties of raw foods check out David Wolfe’s website: http://www.davidwolfe.com/

Posted March 19th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

DIY Detox Green Soup

Here is my classic do-it-yourself detox soup recipe. When I’m feeling polluted from days or weeks of extra splurging I take 15 minutes to make this yummy soup and eat it for as many meals as I can. Within a couple of days I am feeling better than ever!

1/2 onion, chopped
1 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red potato, chopped
3 tbsp of olive oil
1 cup water
1 cup vegetable stock

1 head of broccoli, chopped
chopped greens—any combination of any greens, such as kale, collards, swiss chard, spinach, romaine, bok choy

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh or frozen basil (or about 1 tablespoons dried*)
1 tablespoon cashew butter (optional, but good)
sea salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper (to kick it up a notch!)

Place the first 4 ingredients into a pot and sautee until onions become translucent. Add the water, stock and greens and let everything cook until tender. About 10 minutes or less. Put leafy greens in towards the end so they don’t become mushy. Add your seasonings. Use a hand blender to puree the soup or, blend in batches in a regular blender—be careful because this is hot and splatters easily. The whole process should be complete in 15 minutes and it’s super healthy and delicious!

Posted March 16th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

Rice and Veggie Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Here’s a great healthy alternative to the traditional Italian sausage and pepper combination. I don’t do pork. I use veggie sausage and whole peppers.

I made this recipe up as I went along. If you know me, you know that I don’t measure anything. So bare with me and use your judgment. They were delicious and super healthy! Buon Appetito!

Serves 4 (plus extra stuffing)

4 bell peppers (various colors)
1 cup brown rice (Trader Joe’s quick cook organic brown basmati rice)
vegetable stock (optional)
½ onion
olive oil
1 cup chopped mushrooms (crimini, shitake, or your favorite)
3 chopped veggie sausages (or turkey or chicken sausages)
½ bag of chopped kale (I buy this from Trader Joe’s as well)
2 peeled carrots
salt and pepper to taste
A mixed seasoning (like a taco seasoning or a rub, red in color from paprika)
white wine

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the tops of the peppers and clean out the seeds. Place them on a baking sheet and into to the oven while you prepare the stuffing. Total baking time about 25 minutes.

Start your rice. Follow the directions on the bag. I replace half of the water with reduced sodium vegetable stock for added flavor.

In a large pan add chopped onion and cover it in olive oil. Let the mushrooms cook over medium to medium high heat until they turn translucent. Add mushrooms for a few minutes and then add the chopped sausages. Add a little more olive oil and cook until the sausage browns. (Total cooking time at least 15 minutes from the start) Add all seasoning to taste, chopped kale, carrot slices and a few dashes of white wine. Cover and let cook for 3 more minutes before turning off the heat. Let sit until kale is bright green and cooked.

By now, your peppers should be ready to be taken out of the oven and stuffed with your goodness. You can add some parmesan cheese to your rice mixture or simply garnish with it.

 

Posted March 9th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

Miss Representation

“The most common way people give up their power, is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker

As I looked around the Long Beach Convention center this past weekend at the 4,000 attendees and watched the names of the 2012 Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (IIN) graduating class on the mega-sized screens scroll away, something became very clear. Women are the majority, not minority when it comes to the health industry. More than 90% of the students, grads and employees of IIN are women. Women are more likely to buy health books, DVDs and supplements than men. Women are mostly doing the food shopping and cooking for the family. Women are in charge!

So why is it that women are still represented poorly in the media? I don’t have the answers to this question, however, there are solutions in the form of education and empowerment. At the IIN conference, they played a movie trailer called Miss Representation created by Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

“Missrepresentation.org is a call-to-action campaign that seeks to empower women and girls to challenge limiting labels in order to realize their potential, and encourage men and boys to stand up to sexism. Join the movement. Start taking action today.”

Take a few minutes to watch the trailer and share it with your girlfriends, daughters, and sisters. It’s a great compliment to Stilettos and Self Defense, which empowers women to learn how to avoid and protect themselves against violence. I’ve never considered myself a “feminist” but I do think that it is time to start educating our young girls and boys around a very big issue. Education + Empowerment = Change. Go girls!

Click here to watch the trailer.

Posted March 8th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

Geneen Roth at IIN Mega Conference

Geneen Roth is a best-selling author, appeared on Oprah and now for the first time was a speaker at the latest Institute for Integrative Nutrition conference. Her latest book, Women, Food and God, I read last summer and passed it on to my mother.

Her subject is complex, the issues that women create around food and their weight. However, her guidance and message is simple.

The following are a few of her tenets:  (Words in bold are hers, the rest is my interpretation)

How we eat is how we live. Or as one of her teachers says, “How we do anything is how we do everything.”  It’s deep, but it could be a great metaphor for your life. How do you eat? Ferociously, recklessly, carefully, or thoughtfully? Hmmmm.

We don’t change by guilt, shame or fear. We change only by accepting where we are and being kind to ourselves. I love this, because it’s so true and I have seen it in my own life as well as many of my clients. The ones who beat themselves up very rarely get positive results.

It’s not about the weight. But it’s not not about the weight. Right on sister! Weight gain is always connected to some deeper emotions. Maintaining one’s perfect weight can be done after peeling away the layers and doing some inner investigation. So, it’s not really about the weight. But the weight is a consequence of years of inner turmoil and not taking care of one’s whole self.

Beyond brokenness, is a place that has never been broken.  We are all whole and perfect before anyone or anything happened to make us think differently. With time and self discovery, that place can be uncovered again.

For those less touchy-feely people who just want some straight advice on eating to maintain your perfect weight, here are some of her guidelines:

1. Eat when you’re hungry.
2. Eat sitting down. This does not mean in a car!
3. Eat what your body wants (not your mind).
4. Stop when you’ve had enough.
5. Eat with the intention of being in full view of others. No closet eating or binging.
6. Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure.

For more of Geneen Roth’s insight, books and retreats visit her website at: http://www.geneenroth.com/

 

Posted March 7th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

Re-IINspired!

This past weekend I, along with 4,000 others, attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s (IIN) Mega Conference in Long Beach, CA. I graduated from this school in 2005 and am still lucky enough to attend their free conferences where some of the top nutrition experts in the world speak.

I’ve been to these weekends before but this past weekend was different for me. I left there with my health coaching batteries so recharged that I actually can feel the energy pulsing through my body.

We heard from raw food expert David Wolfe, emotional eating expert Geneen Roth, addiction expert Julia Ross, super smartie pants Gary Taubes, Asian medicine expert Paul Pitchford, and best-selling author John Robbins. Intermittently, we heard from graduates who shared their success stories of using their health coaching skills to change the world. Stay tuned for individual blogs on each of these expert talks.

What changed for me is the fact that when I was in the program back in 2004, nobody had really heard of IIN, let alone knew what a health coach was.  I combined my health coaching skills with my martial arts and fitness training to create a thriving practice. Over the years, I got a Master’s degree in nutrition and concentrated on my fitness business most. However, I think the world of health is changing. I think more and more people want to learn how they can rely on themselves to take care of their health and less on doctors and drugs. I think people want guidance and education on their health, energy and longevity. Fitness is fabulous but it is only one component of true health, the kind of health that lasts for a lifetime. Therefore, I am shifting my practice back towards nutrition, wellness and health. Look out for the launch of some new group programs that will be coming in the next month.

Thanks IIN and Joshua Rosenthal for re-IINspiring me to follow my mission as a health coach and expert!

Posted March 6th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here(1)

The Skinny on High Protein Diets

A high protein diet is normally suggested by fitness trainers and diet centers and has been very trendy over the last two decades. Usually, the goal is to shed excess body fat and give the body enough amino acids to repair muscle from the micro-tears and trauma due to heavy workouts . Body builders and people who are looking to put on muscle mass do well on this type of diet. The diet which is considered eating 50% or more of your total caloric intake in protein, teaches the body how to use fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. However, it is a diet that I would not recommend using for more than six weeks at a time.

Why not longer? There are plenty of side effects that come with a high protein diet that a lot of people don’t think of. There are obvious signs like lethargy, bad breath, or constipation from lack of fiber. In some cases, when carbohydrate intake is low to nonexistent, your body goes into a state of ketosis, which is a dis-ease state of the body. The longer effects of a high protein diet are really dependent on what type of protein you are OD’ing on.  If it is animal meat then you are dealing with all of the things that goes into your cow, chicken, pig, etc. This means growth hormones, antibiotics, and a soy and corn based diet which increases the inflammatory fats in your meat.

So what’s my advice? If you do want to try a high protein diet, be sure to choose organic, free range meat, wild caught fish and eggs and include plant based proteins like nuts and legumes. Don’t skip on vegetables for your carbohydrate intake, instead cut out the processed ones like sugar, bread and pasta. See how your body reacts to the change and how you feel and please, make sure you are working out. You need to earn this diet!

Posted February 22nd, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here(1)

Stilettos and Self Defense DVD Series Finally Here!

I am proud to announce the official launch of my Stilettos and Self Defense DVD series! They are now available for purchase for women and men everywhere. They are even a great Valentine’s Day gift for your best friend, daughter, girlfriend and wife. Men: don’t be fooled, these are not just for girls. The Defensive Tactics and Improvised Weapons videos are right up your alley!

Stilettos and Self Defense:   In this easy-to-follow seminar format, you will learn the ABC’s of self defense and how to be smart in your stilettos. Watch and follow along with girls learning to keep their balance and fight back against punches, chokes, and grabs while in their stilettos. Learn how to knee, kick, and strike your way to safety. Why stilettos? Because chances are you are not going to be attacked barefoot while out on the street.

Defensive Tactics:  No weapon? No problem. No matter what your size, height or gender you will learn how to avoid danger. However, sometimes danger gets the best of you so you must know; the 3 rules to a fight, how to use your body as a weapon and key techniques to escape different grabs, holds and chokes and even to deflect blows.

Improvised Weapons:  Learn how to use items you may have on you, or in your purse, to defend yourself. How can a rolled up magazine, steel-barreled pen or set of keys save your life? Find out how to hold your weapons, where to strike, and what techniques will work best to create enough damage to escape.

Watch the trailer here!

Purchase your DVD’s here.

Posted February 8th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

Listen to my Podcast on Self Defense and Weight Loss

Listen hear to a podcast interview I gave to DosLives.com. Find out where I learned my martial arts skills, why I created Stilettos and Self Defense, self defense tips every woman should know, who are my fave celebrity clients, and how to stick to your new years resolutions. Click here!

 

Posted February 8th, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

Dos Lives Fans: Win a Free Self Defense DVD

Today I had the pleasure to give an interview with Dos Lives. After it goes live on Dos Lives website tomorrow, the contest to win a free copy of my Defensive Tactics DVD begins!

The Defensive Tactics DVD is the first in the Stilettos and Self Defense series. However, don’t let the name fool you, these tactics are fit for any man or woman. Regardless of your size, weight or your gender, everyone can learn to use their body as a weapon, create maximum damage and have time to escape harm’s way.

Here are the contest rules:

You will need to become a fan of the Jennifer Cassetta Facebook page.

Then, leave a comment on that page that is 1-2 sentences about why you should be the winner. The contest ends at 12pm on Wednesday, February 8th.

Based on your comments I will choose the winner on February 8th and announce it on Facebook and Twitter.

Be creative! I can’t wait to hear your comments.

Posted January 31st, 2012 by Jennifer | Comment Here (0)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »