Gluten-Free Salmon with Lime and Sesame Seeds Great for the Season

November 18, 2020 Looking for the Light7 Comments

Gluten-Freedom by Alessio Fasano, MD with Susie Flaherty

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds salmon (wild-caught preferred with skin on)

Juice from 2-3 limes

Olive Oil

Sesame Seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and coat very lightly with olive oil. Place salmon, skin side down, on parchment paper in the pan.

Squees the juice of 2-3 limes into a bowl. Use a pastry brush to coat salmon with lime juice. Coat the top of the salmon with sesame seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork. Be careful to not overcook.

Enjoy!

In Health,

Melinda

Every Day Health Hacks

November 18, 2020November 22, 2020 Looking for the Light22 Comments

Despite having Chronic Lyme Disease, Fibromyalgia, Hypogammaglobulinemia, and Dementia, I’ve been relatively healthy for the past six months. I count my blessings and chalk it up to some big lifestyle changes.

I believe self-care is the things we do every day to stay healthy, not just the special moments we spend taking care of ourselves. I’m learning more every day about the importance mental health plays on physical health, they are intertwined.

Below are the simple but important steps I work to accomplish every day, there may be a day or two where I don’t get outside or go to Starbucks but as a general rule the outline is my daily schedule.

We go to the Starbucks drive-thru for a coffee. We have a huge container of Clorox wipes and have a routine we go thru before leaving the drive-thru to ensure we don’t get the virus.

Taking all of my medications is critical to my physical and mental health.

Women’s over 50 Multi-Vitamin with Calcium.

Biotin for healthy hair.

Calcium 1200mg.

Vitamin D with K-5000 IU of D3 and 180 Mcg of K2 MK7

Probiotics 100 Billion CFU

Nicotinamide 300mg-Recommended by my Lyme doctor to help improve the immune system at the cellular level.

Manuka Honey, Certified UMF 20+ (MGO 850+)

Use Clean CBD products.

Eat fresh fruit and yogurt for lunch.

Reduce stress by meditating several times a day for at least 5 minutes.

Only watch one hour of news, 30 minutes local, and 30 minutes national.

Light an aromatherapy candle, placed somewhere I won’t forget it’s burning.

In spite of COVID, I still schedule critical doctor’s appointments and lab work.

Getting outside for fresh air even for 10 minutes. Just hearing a bird call can change the outlook on my day.

There are several bird feeders and a birdbath at my kitchen window that my husband takes care of for me. I can not tell you the enjoyment I get out of seeing the birds, woodpeckers, and squirrels every day.

Spend multiple times a day with my dogs, one on one attention and training. it’s rewarding to watch them grow and learn. The love I get is unconditional.

Bedtime Routine:

Go to bed 2 hours before bedtime. In those 2 hours, there is no sound, no computer, no phone, nothing. I lather up with my CBD creams and favorite hand lotion and a touch of aromatherapy oil. Sometimes I’ll turn on the diffuser.

Those 2 hours give my mind time to wind down, get all the ramblings out, and let my mind completely calm down. At bedtime, I take my sleeping meds and another round of CBD cream. I’m now ready. Rarely do I have trouble going to sleep.

There’s no one size fits all to have the best healthy life but we all can take steps every day to push ourselves forward. What small steps have you taken each day to improve your physical and mental health?

In Health,

Melinda

Men & Womens Health

#Wordless Wednesday *Thirsty Bees

November 18, 2020 Looking for the Light8 Comments

Hi, it’s Wednesday! I’m thrilled you’re here! These little bees were enjoying the flowers on my Purple Ivy plant during the Summer. They were so tiny and very thirsty. What do you think about these photos? Do you like little creatures?

In health,

Melinda

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

Vegan Gifts for Women Over 40

November 17, 2020December 1, 2020 Looking for the Light3 Comments

Aromalief Team

November 13, 2020

New from the Aromalief blog is a great Women’s gift guide. Annabel has done an excellent job of rounding up gift ideas that I would love to receive, especially the Passion Planner and Aromalief package.

Holiday shopping has started earlier than ever this year! To help you pick out some thoughtful gifts for the women in your life (or for yourself!), we’ve rounded up some of our favorite Gifts for Women Over 40. All wonderful and unique ideas to end 2020 strong and begin 2021 full of energy and positivity!

Our Vegan Gifts for Women Over 40 brings has wonderful and unique ideas to end 2020 strong and begin 2021 full of energy and positivity.

The holidays are just around the corner and 2020 has been a challenging year in so many ways. From COVID to fires and more, the country is under stress and for those of us with chronic pain, this may translate into pain flare ups. However, we need to take care of ourselves and try our best to choose hope because the world needs more people that look for the light instead of falling into darkness.

1. It’s like your mini 2020 survival kit that includes your basics during COVID and still be stylish. Be Well Kit contains a plant-based hand sanitizer, a body serum to relieve dryness, an antibacterial powerhouse in a roll-on for an aromatherapy boost and a cotton face mask- all bundled in a signature reusable pouch.

$45 Shop Be Well Kit from OY-L

2. The Positivity Candle from Scentsability will help with your state of mind. Light it up for a gentle reminder for the light you wish to be for the world. Based in South Florida, Scentsability provides training and work for adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). A blend of fresh mandarin and bergamot with water lily, lemon blossom, driftwood, musk, and amber, creating a scent reminiscent of blue skies, energizing you to increase the POSITIVITY in your day.

$25 Shop Positivity Candle from Scentsability

Courtney Black Quilt Vegan Sustainable Cross-Body Bag

3. This stylish bag is made from recycled water bottles. They have several other wonderful designs, but this one has the perfect size and shape to wear daily or to a special occasion when we go back to doing those things.

$135 Shop Labante USA Cross Bag

Weekly 2021 Annual Pacific Blue - Passion Planner

4. This is my favorite planner and I have been using this for the past 2 years. Some of my favorite features are the weekly motivational quotes, a personal and work list because we need to not just work, but also take care of ourselves as people. The other great thing is the monthly reflections section. This planner is perfect to live life with purpose.

$1 for every planner sold will benefit charity: water, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring clean and safe drinking water to people around the world through community-owned and sustainable water projects

$35 Shop Passion Planner in Pacific Blue

5. No list would be complete without Aromalief. Our brand has been steadily growing thanks to the wonderful support of our customers. This winter we excited to bring you the Aromalief Day & Night Gift Set that comes in a beautiful box and ready to gift. This is the perfect gift for a wonderful and caring person that may be stressed and suffering from aches and pains.

$64 Shop Aromalief Hemp Pain Relief Creams Day & Night Gift Set

These amazing Vegan Gifts for Women Over 40 are perfect for giving to others or even for yourself.

Be sure to check out the other great products offered at Aromalief For a limited time get 50% OFF MILD SCENT

FREE Shipping Orders $30+

In health,

Melinda

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

Making Life a Little Easier for Your Elderly Loved Ones

November 17, 2020 Looking for the Light4 Comments

If you have an elderly loved one in your life, it’s extremely important to keep an eye out for them and to help them wherever possible. Sure, it may feel odd looking after these people. After all, they are often individuals who looked out for us and helped us while we were growing up. But now, the tables have switched and it’s your turn! Now, in particular, they are likely to need more help than ever, as we’re living through a pandemic. Here are a few steps you can take to make their life as easy as possible!

Pandemic Related Help

Coronavirus has wreaked havoc for almost everybody this year. But the virus and disease are most dangerous to elderly individuals – the over 70s – in general. So, your elderly loved ones may need a little more support during this time. Here are some steps you should be taking to help them out!

Provide Them With Up to Date Information – right now, many of us are getting our news from our smartphones. We get notifications and can read the news on a second by second basis to see new guidelines and regulations. Elderly people, on the other hand, tend to get their news from newspapers, the radio, or the television. This makes updates slower. So, keep them in the know by updating them yourself.

Do Their Shopping for Them – supermarkets are packed with people. Sure, many may be implementing social distancing. But it’s generally best to pick up your elderly loved ones’ shopping for them. This can include food shopping, toiletries, picking up prescriptions, and other essentials.

Keep In Touch – it’s easy for the elderly to feel pretty lonely right now. Keep in touch to make sure they’re feeling loved and so they can have a chat. Give them a call regularly.

Day to Day Life

There are steps you can take to make the elderly’s day to day lives – whether we are in a pandemic or not – a little simpler. Here are a few to consider!

Adapting Their Home – there are many changes you can make to your elderly loved one’s home to make it more comfortable and easier to get about. Whether that’s a stairlift, a walk-in bath, or anything else.

Helping Their Mobility – sometimes elderly people find it a little difficult getting from A to B. Maybe they’re no longer comfortable driving. Maybe they don’t have the energy to walk long distances. This is when you can contact Scooters ‘N Chairs. They have all sorts of mobility equipment available.

Consider Care Services – some elderly individuals need a little help around the house day today. If you are unable to provide this yourself due to other commitments, you may need to look into care services. This could include at-home care or moving your loved one into a care home. A proper assessment will determine their needs.

These changes aren’t all too big. So, make the effort to ensure your elderly loved one is getting everything they could possibly need on a day to day basis to make their lives as easy as possible!

This is a collaborative post.

In health,

Melinda

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

4 Ways You Can Support Elderly Relatives

November 16, 2020 Looking for the Light6 Comments

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Your parents and older relatives spent their time supporting you through a range of roadblocks you encountered in life. Now that they are older, it’s your turn to repay the favor. But how can you, your partner, siblings, and children provide the vital support that seniors need as they grow older?

Help Them Find Communities

It’s easy for seniors to become isolated from the world around them. Their friends may not live close enough anymore. Or they aren’t as mobile as they once were. However, staying in touch with a community can help stave off degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which will ensure their quality of life is as good as it can be. There are plenty of elderly communities around that you can find and introduce your relatives to, allowing them to meet people their age who share their interests. This means they won’t solely rely on you for the company, and can even have new experiences.

Give Them Ways to Contact You

Life can be exceptionally busy, there’s no doubt about this, and because of this, there’s a risk that you neglect to get in touch with your elderly relatives as often as you should. However, this shouldn’t mean they cannot get in touch with you when they feel like a chat. Smartphones, laptops, and tablets may intimidate them at first, but they are crucial for ensuring that they can contact you, allowing you to offer the support they need. They won’t need the latest smartphone, but something easy to use and with a strong wifi connection will do the trick.

Include Them

When planning how to support your parents, you need to remember that they are not just there. They are still human, and they will always have their preferences for how they want to live. Because of this, you must include them in any plans you have for offering support. Don’t neglect to ask them what they want to do, whether it’s visiting them at their house or go somewhere else where they can get some fresh air. It’s easy to feel like you lose your autonomy the older you get, so providing a chance to retain their independence will do wonders for their well being.

Assess What They Need

Sometimes, you can’t provide exactly what your elderly relatives need, so you need to assess these needs and look for solutions. While they might live at home now, medical conditions could impact how easy this is for them. If this is the case, you can consider retirement homes or care workers who will visit your relatives to provide the treatment they need. Services that offer such assistance include https://catholiccarecenter.org/long-term-care/, which will provide expert service and give you and your relatives the peace of mind you need.

Support

Supporting your elderly relatives will help them manage their senior years more comfortably and prevent any of the loneliness or isolation problems that can come from old age. Whether they require a helping hand now and again or need more professional support, you can be there for them no matter what and make the best of the last years you have with them.

This is a collaborative post.

In health,

Melinda

Health and Wellbeing

Great Gluten-Free Dessert For Of All Ages

November 16, 2020 Looking for the Light5 Comments

From Helen Allan Christchurch, New Zealand

For your next birthday party, make a “pavlova” – a delicious meringue shell filled with whipped cream and topped with fresh fruit. With it’s sweet, fluffy interior and crunchy crust, meringue is a favorite for kids of all ages. The desert, which is claimed by both New Zealand and Australia, was created for the great imperial Russian ballerina, Anna Palova, during her tour in the 1920’s.

INGREDIENTS:

4 egg whites

1 cup fine granulated sugar (castor sugar)

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar (if desired)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberries and kiwi fruit

Preheat oven 250 degrees. Beat eggs whites on high speed until they look like ribbons when dropped from the beater. Add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. Beat meringue mixture until it forms stiffs peaks but isn’t dry.

Fold vinegar, cornstarch, and vanilla into mixture. Using parchment paper on a cookie sheet, spoon the meringue mixture into a circle on the sheet about six to eight inches in diameter ( a rubber spatula really helps with this step.)

Bake 1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off and open the door, leaving the meringue to cool. The meringue shell will fall as it cools but that is okay.- that’s when whipped cream is for.

When the meringue shell is cool, whip the cream in the mixing bowl until it thickens. If desired, add sugar and vanilla to the cream. Don’t overbeat the cream or it will clump. Cover meringue with whipped cream and sliced fruit. You might want to make two-this is a very popular dessert! One pavlova serves six to eight people. And just in case you’d like the kids to eat dinner before dessert, try this traditional New Zealand family dinner one weekend.

Enjoy!

In Health,

Melinda

Celebrate Life · Fun

Happy Birthday Gramps (1918-2012)

November 15, 2020November 15, 2020 Looking for the Light16 Comments

My gramps would be 102 today, it’s hard to believe it’s been almost eight years since he died. Gramps was the only father figure I had in my life and he was rock solid. On the first date, he made the guy give his driver licenses, car plate number, home phone number, parent’s name, where he went to school, and what movie he was taking me to see. I was mortified and remember telling granny if this is would happen every date I wouldn’t be dating.

My gramps loved me unconditionally, always living by example and telling me I could do anything, be anything. When I was a young girl we would watch Miss America and I would say I want to be Miss America, he said okay, you can if you work hard and really want it.

In all my life he only lost his temper three times, two I deserved. The other, well…..he was too sick, dying really and I don’t count that one. I had the privilege of being a caregiver to my gramps while he was dying. You find out what a person is made of and what you are made of when you’re faced with death.

He had kidney failure and we knew he would go into a coma a couple of days before dying. One morning he woke up talking but not making sense, I knew we were getting close. I made his favorite meal, potato soup, and called family. He would not get into the hospital bed until that day, he had refused. That day he knew the end was near.

We talked about how he would be with my granny soon and see his parents again. He loved my granny so much and was ready to see her, she had died several years earlier. I feed him or tried to, I ended up spilling soup down his face, we laughed.

There wasn’t a need to say a tearful goodbye, we had months to talk and share our feelings, say what we wanted to say and so there weren’t any tears. He was not in pain, just sleepy. What a beautiful way to die. Being able to talk about good times and then go to sleep.

My gramps loved to play Lotto scratch-off games. In this photo rendering, he is enjoying several cards we bought for his birthday. It was always the simple things that made him happy.

I know he’s proud of me and was the daughter he never had.

I miss him terribly and not a day goes by without thinking about him or the lessons he taught me.

Happy Birthday, Gramps.

Melinda

Health and Wellbeing

Easy To Make Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

November 15, 2020 Looking for the Light1 Comment

By Anna Quigg

One of my favorite sweet treats during that ravenous time in my second trimester was a homeade peanut butter cookie. The recipe is so quick and it’s easy, it’s a snap.

INGREDIENTS

1 beaten egg

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

Mix well and drop on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 dgrees for 10 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!

In Health,

Melinda

Health and Wellbeing

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

November 14, 2020 Looking for the Light3 Comments

Photo by Sara Santos on Pexels.com

This is not my recipe but has been a big success around our house and feedback from readers has been overwhelmingly positive.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter or non-dairy alternative (Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) shortening (or Earth Balance Shortening Stick)

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated cane sugar

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract (Neilson Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla)

2 large eggs (or reconstituted Ener-G egg replacer or applesauce)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/2 cups Jules Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour or other brand

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or dairy-free chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips (available dairy-free), M&M’s, or a mixture

Bring the butter and shortening to room temperature and then beat together with sugars until light and fluffy (several minutes). Mix in the vanilla extract and eggs until combined.

In another bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Gradually stir these dry ingredients into the sugar mixture. Stir in chips and nuts, if so desired.

Scoop dough into a container (metal, if possible) and cover tightly. Refrigerate of freeze until very cold (overnight is ideal). Preheat oven to 350 degrees (static) or 325 degrees (convection).

Drop measured tablespoons onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, at least 1 inch apart. Bake 8-9 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned. Let them stand 5 minutes before removing them from cooling racks.

Makes approximately 60 cookies

In Health,

Melinda