Lisa Cummings Health

Feed Your Cravings With This Quick Pizza Makeover

Do you crave forbidden foods like bread, chocolate, meat and sugar? And if you give in and eat them do you feel guilty and worthless and blame yourself for failing to stick to your diet which seemed so promising just a week ago? It’s never the program’s fault, it’s always our fault, right? Or at least that is what we think.

Cravings are the body’s natural solution to underlying imbalances, and food becomes a kind of medicine to regulate our current inner state. (From Integrative Nutrition, Feed Your Hunger for Health and Happiness)

Did you ever think that the diet or the foods themselves that we are eating may be flawed and are causing us to crave these “forbidden” foods?

Let’s take a look at pizza, a common craving. It’s often thought of as a junk food that sends us off track. It certainly can be, if it’s eaten plain, all the time and in large amounts. If you give your pizza a quick makeover by adding more nutrient-dense ingredients that contain more fiber, vitamins, minerals and super foods, you’ll feel very satisfied and eat less.

• How to Give Your Pizza a Quick Makeover

(adapted from Whole Living Magazine)

Take a frozen pizza (I recommend Amy’s Frozen Organic 4 Cheese Pizza) or get one delivered, or make your own using a gluten-free crust mix, (I like Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free crust mix). Give it a quick, healthy upgrade by topping a plain cheese pizza with a combination of fresh vegetables and herbs. Let inspiration be your guide!

Serve it with a fresh green salad or a side of roasted vegetables. You’ll most likely have only one slice of pizza rather than devouring several slices with this upgrade. Doesn’t that sound like a better plan that leaves you and your family satisfied rather than over-stuffed? And it’s really easy to do any time of the week with what you already have in your fridge.

Vegetable Combinations:

Bell peppers, tomatoes, fresh spinach

OR

Eggplant, tomatoes, olives, fresh basil

OR

Chicken, corn, tomatoes, fresh arugula

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Take your pizza and top with your favorite vegetable/lean protein combination. Heat for about 15-20 minutes. Take out of oven and add your fresh herbs and leafy greens on top, then serve.

Drizzle with olive oil and add fresh ground pepper for extra flavor.

It’s methods like these that restore balance to the mind and body and help manage weight, cravings, mood and stress levels to look and feel great. There’s no need to yo-yo diet anymore when you master techniques like this every week, one meal at a time.

Want more tips like this to upgrade your weekend (and weeknight) dinners?

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My VIP One-Day Wellness Makeover

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In your One-Day VIP Wellness Makeover, you’ll have an opportunity to:

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• Discover quick, simple flavorful food solutions that add nourishment and energy (and turn back the clock!)

• Create a plan for dealing with and eliminating cravings that get the best of you

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All of this is so much easier when you have a guide on your side to show you the ropes. I can show you how simple it is to apply nutrition principles to fit within your busy lifestyle that will give you the quick results and satisfaction you’re looking for.

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Healthy Fast Food: Fresh Figs

It’s fig season! (July –early September) Snack time and your dinner parties will never be the same.

So what’s the big deal with figs? Figs are an excellent source of cleansing fiber, energizing potassium and naturally sweet tasting.

I‘ve been craving figs almost everyday and will cherish them right up until the last minute. I had a medium sized-bowl of fresh, ripe figs in our fridge last week and they were gone in 2 days. My husband thought it was a mistake or I threw them away. No, I ate them all.

I had them fresh for breakfast. I topped them on salads for lunch. I blended them in salad dressings. I think they’re best raw, as shown here, sliced in half with a piece of goat cheese (from Alta Dena, a raw, cheddar-style goat cheese) and a drizzle of honey, topped with sea salt.  There’s something about the sweet and savory combination of the tender fig and the creamy cheese that makes this mouthful of flavors so satisfying. And don’t they look gourmet? It’s a light and easy way to start a dinner party with a beautiful glass of wine or sparkling water.

Make sure when you pick up your figs from either your local farmers market or your health food store, they’re tender and ripe. You’ll get the best flavors that way. Take them home and rinse well. I like to keep mine in the fridge so they last a little longer.

This quick, no-hassle snack/appetizer is much better for you and cleaner and tastier than any order of fries, packaged cookie, baked good or bag of chips which all add toxicity to the body and keep weight on.

If you try switching out this snack for one unhealthy snack a couple times a week, you’ll notice a difference in how you feel in your body right away. Try it and let me know what you think!

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Five Minute Summer Salsa

It’s so much easier to dice, chop or blend foods bursting with fresh flavors during summer rather than turn on your oven.

What about trying tomatoes? Tomatoes are in season now, so if you have a bag of gorgeous organic summer tomatoes staring you down and an additional 5 minutes to spare, you can have yourself a healthy, incredibly flavorful appetizer or snack by making this salsa recipe for yourself or serve to guests in no time.

All you need is a food processor (you can do this by hand if you don’t have one, but the food processor is what makes this recipe take 5 minutes!)

This makes about 3 cups.

2 lbs. fresh tomatoes (about 6-8)

1/2 small red onion, peeled and quartered

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

For some heat, you can add one jalapeno (seeds removed for less heat)

Pulse onion, garlic, lime juice, sea salt, cilantro, jalapeno in food processor until coarsely chopped.

Add tomatoes and pulse until combined.

Place salsa in a fine mesh strainer and drain briefly.

Serve in a bowl and dip with whole grain corn tortilla chips or romaine leaves.

Here are some add-ins to give your salsa more density and flavor. I recommend adding these ingredients in by hand at the end:

fresh raw sweet corn in season, right off the cob

chili powder

black beans (canned and rinsed well)

avocado

red, yellow or green bell pepper

Enjoy!

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Banana Soft Serve Ice Cream

If your favorite indulgence is soft serve ice cream, I’m here to tell you, you’re in for a real treat this summer! You can indulge guilt-free in this healthy soft serve ice cream, made from frozen bananas, that’s it, nothing else. It’s 100% raw, 100% natural and it’s so delicious. When I first learned about it from a colleague of mine, I thought, why is she so excited about this? And now I understand…

I love the creamy texture and the fact that I know in my head I’m eating something completely unprocessed and totally nutritious. Either way, you must get a bowl of this in front of you ASAP to find out for yourself.

It’s ridiculously simple to make. And since it’s 100% unprocessed, you can enjoy it any time of day. I’ve even had it for breakfast, but love it as a dessert or an afternoon snack on the weekends.

Step 1:

Freeze your bananas in a ziploc or airtight container. It usually takes up to 4 hours. Make sure they’re unpeeled first. (I learned the hard way).


Step 2:

Take 1-2 frozen bananas and cut them into chunks and place in a food processor.



Step 3:

Blend bananas until they get to a “soft serve” consistency. Usually takes about 3-5 minutes. Blended bananas tend to form a ball, that’s ok. You can stop and scrape down the sides and continue blending. It will turn into a creamy consistency in a few more minutes.



If you’re really feeling decadent, make some raw chocolate “syrup” by combining 2 tablespoons of agave nectar with 1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder. I also like adding unsweetened shredded coconut or shaved dark chocolate on top.

Serve in your favorite dish and enjoy! Here it is plain (but still heavenly and ready to be devoured)

Or with the decadent homemade chocolate “syrup”. Either way, you can’t go wrong!

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