Yes!! Yippee!! Yahoo!! I’ve got news, as freshly pressed as my fave green juice recipe! So what is this news you ask?

I’ve got myself a joyous book deal with Penguin Canada – yes, this is pretty gosh darn EXCITING!! I’m absolutely thrilled to the moon and back that this is happening.

My book will be called “joyous health” and half of my book will be healthy delicious recipes with mouth-watering photos (because who doesn’t LOVE a gorgeous food photo??) and the other half will be my health tips for living a joyous life.

My book is set to be released in Spring of 2014. So this means between teaching my workshops at 889 Yonge and courses at IHN, consulting, writing and speaking, I will be creating, creating, creating in my joyous kitch!! I won’t be able to post as many recipes as usual (I hope you don’t mind), but I’ve gotta save a few for the book. You’ve still got hundreds to choose from here: http://www.joyoushealth.ca/holistic-recipes/ and I plan on releasing new recipes on my blog from time to time.

I also would love to get YOUR advice. Please tell me below if you have a favourite joyous health recipe? Because I will feature a few in my book, but want YOUR input.

Lastly, I want to thank you all for your support over the years. From my very first blog, to this day. Your enthusiasm over pinterest, twitter, facebook, and in person sharing photos of your recipes and hearing all your stories of positive change has been absolutely fantastic and inspired me more than you will ever know. I LOVE when someone tweets me to tell me they loved a recipe and are now a kale lover. Please keep doing this!

Be joyous,

Joy

Ps. Stay tuned because I would love to test out YOUR recipes and I’m going to feature a reader’s recipe in my book with a credit to you of course. If you want to get a head start, then email me your recipe with a photo to joy@joyoushealth.ca

One speaker in particular, Jully Black (she’s a singer by the way who is freakin’ amazing!!!) was very memorable for me. She talked about not letting your past live in your present. This brought me back to the year 2007 when Feist released the song: Past in Present. My itunes says I’ve listened to this song hundreds of times!

These are the lyrics:

I dedicate to this post to all the quinoa-virgins out there who have yet to this amazing gluten-free, complete protein, hypoallergenic, grain-like food. These are the posts that have received the most Facebook likes, retweets and feedback from my clients.

Please enJOY and do let me know what is your favourite!

Kale Sweet Potato Quinoa Bowl

Lentil Quinoa Curry Loaf

Antioxidant Warm Quinoa Bowl

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Apple Maple Quinoa Porridge

And if you want to start really simple, here’s a step-by-step on How to Make Quinoa Smashingly Delicious!

Upcoming Workshops in 2012:

Feel Good Food: May 12

Fall Eat Well Feel Well 6-wk nutrition + yoga class

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well, live well and be happy.

Joy has clients from all over the world and consults via phone and Skype. Contact Joy today and take the first step.

I love dark orange chocolate. Even better, when it’s combined with brown rice crisps, into a crunchy delicious treat.

So, when I was in London last Friday for the CHFA, I had a bit of free time to wander around Covent Market. I found a little health food nook and bought myself some orange flavoured extract by one of my fave brands: Simply Organic.

I created this wickedly delicious chocolate orange crispy bark. This recipe is gluten-free, mostly raw and contains an extremely high level of antioxidants due to the raw cacao. Raw chocolate is also a source of iron and magnesium.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw cacao
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (learn more about the health benefits)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup (or more to taste)
• 1 tbsp of orange omega3 oil* or you can use Simply Organic orange extract (but you won’t get the omega3 benefits obviously)
• 1 cup brown rice crisp cereal1 tsp organic orange rind

Method: Melt the coconut oil on very low heat. Remove from heat, let cool a little and mix in raw cacao. Let cool further (almost completely), but do not let it solidify.

Mix in the maple syrup, omega 3 orange flavoured oil or orange extract and brown rice cereal. Grease a small pan (approx: 10″x5″) and pour the mixture into the pan. Sprinkle with orange rind. Let it solidify in the fridge.

Cut into small squares and enJOY!

Be joyous,

Joy

Upcoming Workshops in 2012:

Feel Good Food: May 12

Fall Eat Well Feel Well 6-wk nutrition + yoga class

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well, live well and be happy.

Joy has clients from all over the world and consults via phone and Skype. Contact Joy today and take the first step.

I was chatting with my mom this morning and she told me about this free health magazine she gets from the grocery store. It had a great article on the health reasons to have more sex. So I thought to myself, this is something I need to write about!

I must preface post this by saying to those who are single and might not be getting busy with anyone else, that there’s no reason you can’t have fun on your own (like I need to tell you this)! And furthermore, I know single people who have more orgasms than couples — so your “status” doesn’t make a diff. Just get busy will ya, because the health reasons to “do it” are abundant.

1. Mood Boosting! Getting busy (even if you don’t actually have an orgasm) releases endorphins and oxytocin (the “love” hormone) which are feel good chemicals that relieve depression and anxiety.  Have you ever noticed that you don’t feel like pounding back a pint of cookie dough ice cream after a rump in the bedroom? Thanks to those happy brain chemicals!

2. Strengthens your digestive system (indirectly). Having sex tones certain muscles, in particular those that support your bowels – your pelvic muscles.  Also, having sex tones your kegel muscles which supports the bladder and helps to prevent pee problems like when you sneeze and you pee your pants (yes, this is actually quite common, especially for women). And of course, sex can be a good workout — you burn calories, work your cardiovascular system (just make sure you share the “work” — well, it’s not really work, but you know what I mean). Don’t be a wet noodle in the bedroom!

3. Stress-buster. In stress tests, including public speaking and doing mental arithmetic out loud, the people who had no sex at all had the highest stress levels, according to a study. People who had sex had the smallest rise in blood pressure.

4. Boosts your immune system. There’s a definite link between how often you have sex and how strong your immune system is, researchers say. A study in Pennsylvania found that students who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of an important illness-fighting substance in their bodies that reduces the cold and flu.

5. Gives you a healthy glow. Orgasms release the beautifying anti-aging hormone DHEA, which not only works as an antidepressant, but promotes tissue repair tissue and keeps your skin looking healthy. Plus, getting your heart rate up increases your circulation and you have a youthful red-cheeked glow for hours.

Next week I will give you five more reasons to have more sex, including reduces the risk of dementia and prostate cancer.

Be joyous,

Joy

Upcoming Workshops in 2012:

Fall Eat Well Feel Well 6-wk nutrition + yoga class
Feel Good Food: May 12

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well, live well and be happy.

Joy has clients from all over the world and consults via phone and Skype. Contact Joy today and take the first step.

I got home from a business trip late in the afternoon absolutely starving, opened the fridge and found nothing that was going to satisfy my belly. So I check my kitchen pantry and there it was, a lonely can of Eden Organic (BPA-FREE) black beans just waiting for me to create something delicious.

Simple food with very few ingredients that tastes incredibly delicious is my philosophy, so if you are a new reader to my blog, just stick with me because I always promise to bring you the very best in both the taste AND nutrition category!

Here’s what I did:

I drained and rinsed 1 can of black beans.

Then I tossed them into my gorgeous 1000 watt blender along with:

• 2 fresh garlic cloves
• Handful of parsley
• Handful of chives
• 2 green onions, ends removed
• 3 basil leaves
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 2 tbsp hemp seed oil (just add more EVOO if you don’t have hemp)
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

I don’t normally have all these herbs fresh on hand, but I made an asparagus herb risotto, which I MUST get around to posting, on the weekend so I had extra. However, you could just use dried if you like.

Blend, blend, blend for as long as it takes to turn it into a smooth delicious dip for veggie sticks or crackers.

The mixture of protein and good fat in this recipe will keep your bully satisfied for hours!  Plus the minerals including iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and vitamins including, A, C, E plus selenium make this a highly nutritious snack.

EnJOY!

Joy

I just kept thinking how when I finish teaching tonight I can’t wait to get a nice big hug from someone I love. I want them to smother me with love and affection and that will make everything feel better. Fortunately, as I progressed through my yoga practice at Eat Well Feel Well, I continued to feel more peaceful and loving thanks to Michelle’s AMAZING class.

But as I was laying in savasana (and for those who don’t do yoga, that’s also called “corpse” pose) focusing on nothingness, it came to me. So I tweeted it after class:

Instead of being all whiney and needy, I realized that in order to be loved, that I should be loving. It gave me such a feeling of empowerment and confidence that I felt completely rejuvenated by the thought that when I see my boyfriend, I would share my love for him… instead of telling him how I just needed a hug.

So that’s what I did. I taught my one hour class, then met him and we went out to grab a bite to eat before going home. My thoughts and choices completely changed my whole entire outlook on how I was feeling. Instead of focusing on my exhaustion I felt so loving and grateful and thankful.

Your thoughts are so incredibly powerful. If you want something, it’s important to be that something for others. I really believe in this. Not only with love, but with kindness, generosity and of course, giving others the benefit of the doubt – ALWAYS.

So before I go, I want to leave you with one more thought that I shared in a workshop I taught yesterday morning on Stress Busting Foods, Lifestyle Habits and supplements. Here it is:

Have a joyous day!
Joy

Upcoming Workshops in 2012:

Fall Eat Well Feel Well 6-wk nutrition + yoga class
Feel Good Food: May 12

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well, live well and be happy.

Joy has clients from all over the world and consults via phone and Skype. Contact Joy today and take the first step.

Hopefully you’ve tried out the Apple Spice Rice Bake inspired by my nutritionista friend Julie Daniluk recipe in her Meals that Heal book. Since I love this recipe so much, I’ve updated it again — with bananas this time!

Here’s the deal. I’m all about making your mornings quick and easy, but that MUST include eating a healthy breakfast. I made this on Sunday night so that I could enjoy a quick, insanely joyously delicious and nutrient-dense breakfast for most of the week. So I recommend you do the same and I know this is a recipe your whole family (including your kidlets, if you have any) will enjoy.

Nutritional Highlights:

• Great source of bioavailable protein from the brown rice, walnuts and eggs (use chia if you are a vegan).
• Good fats from the nuts to keep your belly from growling until lunchtime and your blood sugar in check.
• Fibre to slow down digestion from the brown rice, bananas and nuts.
• Source of nutrients including: selenium, magnesium, potassium, tryptophan, manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin E
• A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated the importance of choosing whole grains such as brown rice rather than refined grain in keeping weight in check.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 tbsp real maple syrup (Want it sweeter? You could also add 4-5 drops stevia liquid)
• 2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3 bananas, sliced like how you slice pepperoni for a pizza
• 3 large organic eggs, whisked or 3 eggs substitutes ie. chia seeds

Method: Use a fork to mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Pour into a greased 11 x 7 x 2 baking dish and bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes. If you are using an egg substitute, bake 10-15 minutes longer. Makes 8 servings.

How to enjoy it:

Breakfast: I recommend that you schlop some greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top when you make it for breakie.

Dessert: Add about 1/4 cup of vanilla bean coconut milk ice cream – Oh.My.Gawd – foodgasmic with those warm bananas!!

Another great breakfast recipe and it’s a meal-in-a-cup if you like a slightly sweet taste is my last post for Dreamy Banana Cream Smoothie.

EnJOY!

Joyous

Upcoming Workshops in 2012:

Fall Eat Well Feel Well 6-wk nutrition + yoga class
Feel Good Food: May 12

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well, live well and be happy.

Joy has clients from all over the world and consults via phone and Skype. Contact Joy today and take the first step.

So I created a dreamy banana cream smoothie and it was EXACTLY what I wanted. Sweet perfection. It tasted almost like banana cream pie! Dreamy, indeed.

There are a few ingredients that I must tell you about because it’s possible you’ve never used them before: hemp seeds, mesquite powder and medjool dates. Even if you’re familiar with these nutritionally dense and delicious foods, I must tell you why they will make your body joyous.

Hemp Seeds: Specifically, I used Ruth’s Soft Hemp seeds (but if you can’t get them in your city, go to your health food store and ask for the best tasting hemp seeds). They are certified organic and grown on the Canadian prairies. They are called “soft” because after removing the hard shell of the seed, the inside is revealed and it’s delicious, soft, and full of nutrients: 40% protein (very high quality with all essential amino acids) and loads of Essential Fatty Acids, including Omega 3, 6, 9 and gamma-linolenic acid.

This makes hemp seeds a complete protein, an anti-inflammatory food thanks to those healthy fats and they are the ingredient in this smoothie (along with the almond butter) that satisfies your belly for a few solid hours.

Mesquite Powder: I was first introduced to this ingredient when I was at Belmonte Raw getting Carol’s famous “Comfort Smoothie” and was curious what gave it a sweet smokey flavour. I had never used it before and then low and behold one week later I was at Mylk Uncookies chatting with the owners Elaine and Toni and they gave me a bag! I was thrilled to try it out.

So mesquite (mes-keet) is a traditional staple food of indigenous cultures from the arid regions of the Americas. Native to South America, the mesquite tree produces large seed-filled pods, which are collected, ground into a delicious flour, and used in recipes.

The flour is an excellent form of fibre – which not only improves digestion and detoxification but further benefits sugar metabolism. It also contains lysine (an amino acid important for tissue repair), as well as notable quantities of digestible protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. I used Navitas Naturals brand of mesquite and loved it.

Medjool dates: The soft, moist date is one of mother nature’s sweetest treats. They add a smooth sweetness to this smoothie recipe and what might surprise you is that medjool dates contain a fibre knows as Beta-D- glucan.

Beta–D–glucan decreases the body absorption of cholesterol as well as delays the absorption of glucose in the small intestine. This in turn helps to keep blood sugar levels even!

Dreamy Banana Cream Smoothie

• 4 tbsp soft hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tbsp mesquite powder
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 frozen banana
• 4 medjool dates, seeds removed
• Almond milk + water: enough to cover all the ingredients.

Blend and enjoy!

Serves 2.

Upcoming Workshops in 2012:

Feel Good Food: May 12

Fall Eat Well Feel Well 6-wk nutrition + yoga class

Joy McCarthy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach of Joyous Health, loves to inspire others to eat well, live well and be happy.

Joy has clients from all over the world and consults via phone and Skype. Contact Joy today and take the first step.