Teaching Heart Blog

I feel so lucky! I had the opportunity to attend a cooking class (offered through my AWESOME boot camp). Janet McKee, a certified Holistic Health Counselor, led the class. Janet is part of the Cancer Project. The Cancer Project promotes cancer prevention and survival through a better understanding of cancer causes, particularly the link between nutrition and cancer. Janet believes; “Food is a key component to good health and having good health is important to live a happy and fulfilling life. For most of us, you need to enjoy the food you are eating to enjoy life. The key is to understand that there are so many fabulous, delicious and satisfying foods that are extremely good for you too. Once someone is given the opportunity to learn and experience positive changes, they become improvements that they enjoy for the rest of their lives.” You can watch one of Janet’s cooking shows on her website at http://www.janetmckee.com/videos3-25-09.php  .

Janet’s Title for this particular presentation I saw was, Foods for Energy and Balanced Weight. Janet is a wonderful speaker. Once you see how excited she gets about the benefits of good food, you want to hear and learn more and more from her. Her positive attitude and love of good clean foods is contagious. Our presentation was about two hours. She made us five yummy recipes. While she cooked, she answered questions and shared great information on the benefits of clean foods for balancing your weight.

I learned so much in just two hours and loved all the yummy dishes she made. I am excited to try making some at home. I also learned about some new clean foods to try or add to my diet. I will touch on some of the things I learned and followed up on when I returned from her presentation. The links I supply are just ones I Googled, based on the information she presented.

Hemps seeds –  Janet told us how hemp is full of protein. She added these to a wonderful smoothie she made. Her smoothie had frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, apple concentrate, hemp seeds, rice milk, and vanilla. It was great.

I thought this article was a great write up on the benefits of adding Hemp seeds to your diet.

Garlic – This article gives a good description of the benefits of adding real garlic to your diet. Janet mentioned, in order to get the most health benefits from garlic, that you should press the garlic and then let it sit for ten minutes before adding it your food.

Garbanzo Beans – I have always loved these. Add them to my salad often. Janet made delicious Hummus with these. She also mentioned that research has shown a study where the beans have been linked to a reduction in Belly Fat. HELLO!!! She shared the canned Eden brand with us.
This article explains Garbanzo Bean Health Benefits

Organic Cacao Powder. – This is a low-fat way to experience the health and zing of chocolate. Perfect for blending into recipes or smoothies. Add nut milk and a natural sweetener for an amazing hot chocolate. Janet shared a wonderful recipe with us. She has a similar recipe, Chocolate Banana Frozen Dessert, on her website here. Mmmmmm!!! I did buy some Cacao Powder. It was yummy!

Hopefully these few things I learned from her presentation will be helpful to you too.  Be sure to check out Janet’s site for more great resources.