Welcome to the Casa Zisa- Wellness Curate blog where I explore a multi-faceted approach towards optimizing health and wellness. I am a certified health coach with additional certification in hormone health. My mission is to use my intuition, tools, and research to help inspire and empower you towards the realization that you are powerful, incredibly resilient and able to create the narrative of health, vitality, and wellness you desire! I am here to guide, support, and empower you to discover this for yourself.
This month, I am hosting a FREE WORKSHOP on "Spring Cleaning for Wellness" which includes support around cleaner eating options with recipes. Another focus will be in detoxifying your home by ridding it of the many harmful and toxic chemicals lurking in your house cleaners and helping you make your own cleaners with clean and simple ingredients. Lastly, I focus on cleaning up your beauty regimen by suggesting some favorite clean beauty items, as well as implementing some simple modalities to support facial suppleness and radiance naturally. Email me at casazisalifestyle@gmail.com to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and join the FREE WORKSHOP.
One of my focuses around cleaner eating is around eating high quality whole foods that are nutrient dense, and crowding out foods that aren't in alignment or support of your wellness goals. This month, I am focusing on eliminating seed oils from your diet.
In case you aren't aware of why eliminating seed oils from your diet can be a lifestyle game changer, let me try and summarize. Seed oils (canola oil, grapeseed oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, vegetable oil) produce free radicals in the body which are unpaired electrons looking to match. They then attach and restructure cell membranes and red blood cells, and damage DNA. Free radicals play a significant role in nearly every disease, cause pre-mature aging and wrinkles. Additionally, our bodies, not being able to process linoleic acid (created by seed oils) in large amounts end up storing it as fatty tissue, causing chronic inflammation and weight gain.
Ok, so eliminate seed oils. Should be pretty easy, right? Well, yes and no, depending on your lifestyle. These insidious oils are lurking in nearly ALL processed and pre-packaged foods, dessert foods, as well as being the main cooking oil used in restaurants and fried foods. So, eliminating seed oils as a first priority will also shift your eating lifestyle to more naturally align with whole, nutrient dense, and un-processed foods. Even. "healthy snacks" labelled vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free can also contain seed oils.
Some of my favorite quick and easy meals to make at home are salads and avocado toast. Let me show you a few of my go-to's!
This salad is a powerhouse of omega-3, antioxidants, vitamin c, k, helps boost the immune system, and even may have some anti-cancer abilities. And it's delicious! I make this at least 2-3 times a week and also love it with a piece of grilled salmon, 1 can of tuna, or a piece of grilled chicken.
Ingredients: 2 cups finely chopped kale
1 avocado
1 lemon
2 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds (roasted are cooked in seed oils)
red onion
1 cup sliced shitake mushrooms
1 handful of cilantro or basil
Preparation: In a large bowl, add 2 cups chopped kale, 1/4 cup chopped red onion, 1/2 avocado cubed. Add 1/2 lemon to avocado to prevent from turning brown.
In a skillet over medium heat, sauté shiitake mushrooms in olive oil, garlic powder, turmeric, salt and pepper cooking for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are slightly crisped and golden. In a small pan, add raw pumpkin seeds and cook over medium heat stirring frequently to avoid burning and toast for about 3 minutes. In a blender, Add the additional half avocado, handful of cilantro or basil, 1/2 lemon, 1/4 cup of water, drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tbsp maple syrup and blend.
Finally toss mushroom and pumpkin seeds with rest of salad and add 1/2 of the dressing. Enjoy!
Another absolute favorite thing of mine is avocado toast- they are so customizable and you can really get creative with what to add. I eat these for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and add anything from shrimp to broccoli rabe, to pomegranates.
The recipe for the photo above is very simple and gives you a vehicle for broccoli sprouts, which are incredibly nutrient dense. Here's a quick bit on broccoli sprouts: these tiny sprouts have high levels of sulforaphane which can help protect against brain stroke, Parkinson's. Alzheimer's, promote gut health, has anti-cancer properties, and help improve joint health. How amazing are these little guys! So adding them to avocado toast is a no brainer!
Ingredients: 2 pieces of toasted sourdough bread
1 avocado
1/2 cup of broccoli sprouts
2 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds
1 lemon
sliced red onion
salt, pepper, everything but the bagel seasoning, cayenne pepper
Preparation: Toast sourdough bread to a light-medium toast and set aside. Mash 1 avocado with salt, pepper, and juice of 1 lemon, use a fork and set aside. Toast raw pumpkin seeds in a small pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes. tossing frequently to avoid burning. Add 1/2 avocado mixture to each toast, sprinkle everything but the bagel seasoning, dash of cayenne, add pumpkin seeds, then thinly sliced red onion Finally, top with broccoli sprouts and enjoy!
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